It's been a while, but while I have some time, I figured I would try to whip up a oneshot for you all. I have to say, it feels fantastic to get back into the world of fanfics. I've missed it.
I do not own The Vampire Diaries.
Christmas had always been Elena Gilbert's favorite time of year. Ever since she was a little girl, Christmas had always brought out the best in her, but not this year. This year was different.
This year was a mess,and Christmas was the furthest thing from her mind. In fact, she just wanted to push Christmas away, lock it in a closet, and open it again when she felt like herself again;bt she had watched How The Grinch Stole Christmas, and she knew how much she didn't wanted Christmas, Christmas would come.
Her brain felt fuzzy as she settled back on the couch in the Salvatore living room, the heat from the fire roaring in the fireplace, hit her skin. In some ways, the fire represented how she felt. Fire represented anger, and that's what she was, angry. She was angry at the world for taking away practically every person she'd ever loved, for everything shitty thing that had happened to her in the past year and a half.
"Knock knock," A voice called from the entry to the parlor. "Mind if I join?"
Elena didn't look away from the fire as she responded. "Sure,"
"Someone's boring tonight," The blue-eyed man joked, taking a seat next to Elena on the couch.
"What do you want Damon?" She barely met his eyes as she spoke, but he was smirking, she knew that much.
"World peace, a kiss under the misletoe, a strong drink,"
Elena didn't even bother rolling her eyes at his sarcasm. "Can you be serious for two seconds?"
"Nope," Damon replied, lifting up her feet, and sitting them in his lap.
"I don't know why I even bother," Elena muttered.
Damon ignored her. "What's going on in that pretty little head of yours?"
"I'm thinking,"
"About my brother I presume,"
"Actually no," Elena answered quickly, actually looking at Damon for a change. "I'm thinking about how much Christmas and how much has changed in the past year. It's funny, Christmas was always my favorite holiday as a kid, and now, I don't even want to celebrate it this year."
"You're just not in the spirit this year, that's all,"
"And you are?" Elena challenged, rasing an eyebrow at him.
"This isn't about me. This is about you,"
"Okay Mr. Know it all, how do you expect me to get in the Christmas spirit? I didn't even put the tree up this year, I almost made Jeremy, but Christmas was always we did with my parents and Jenna, it didn't feel right,"
"I there's an old tree in the attic and probably some ornaments too," He offers quickly before he even dared about taking the words back. His brain has not yet wrapped around that he, badass Damon Salvatore, offered to put up a Christmas tree.
She nodded, excepting his offer, biting her touge, telling herself not to question anything Damon had said. It shocked her, of course it did because she's never (not once) heard Damon mention anything about having a Christmas tree. Hell, she didn't even think the guy liked the holidays to begin with.
The attic was a dark and dusty place and it wasn't until Damon pulled on the small chain light, that Elena noticed how old the room was. It smelled of must and she guessed that no one had stepped foot in the place in years.
"I know," Damon said and for a moment she could have sworn he was somehow reading her thoughts. "It's not the best place in the world and the smell is even worse, but we shouldn't be up here to long. I just have to see where Stefan put the tree."
"I didn't even think you guys owned a tree," Elena said a few moments later.
" I didn't even know until I was up here a few months ago digging through some of Stefan's old junk, out of boredom," She rolled her eyes, of course he would be going through Stefan's stuff.
She watched Damon as he walked around the attic, his boots made footprints in the layer of dust on the floor. It was after a few minutes of watching him that Elena decided to do her own digging as well.
The boxes were fairly clean as she made her way over the opposite end of the attic, her back turned on the blue-eyed vampire. Prying opening a few boxes and then sighing in defeat when she couldn't find the ornaments or the tree.
"Did you find anything?" She called over her shoulder, beginning to go back and look in the boxes once more.
"No," Damon answered, promising to let her know if he did.
A nice sized box caught Elena's eye. There was neat cursive handwriting on the side, a handwriting Elena did not recognize. She chewed her lip, prying open the box with her hands and brushing off the layer of dust on the top.
Inside the box, different colored bulbs sparkled in the dim light of the attic. Elena reached in and pulled one out. It was dark gray, with almost a gold tint near the bottom. It was a beauty.
"That was her favorite," Damon's voice almost made her jump, but she held her ground. The ornament dangling from her fingers as she turned around to face him. She saw the in his crystal eyes. "My mother's. She always said it made her think of me. She once told me that the gray represented the mischief I was always getting into as a child, but the gold was my heart and who I really was." Damon paused to take a breath, making his way over to her. "It's cheesy I know."
"Not at all," Elena disagreed. "She was right." She placed the ornament gently back into the box with the others and wiped her hands on her jeans. Without another word, the two of them (Damon had found the box with the tree) carried the boxes out of the attic.
Elena watched a Damon put the tree together, her arms crossed over her chest. She had offered to help, but Damon promised she could be the one to decorate when he had finished putting the limbs in place. (It was an old tree, so the limbs had to go in piece by piece.)
"Done," Damon said twenty minutes later, stepping back to admire his own work. He turned to Elena, smirking. As much as she didn't want to admit it, he had done a wonderful job putting the tree together and fluffing it in all the right spots.
"Now you can leave the pro to decorate," Elena told him teasingly, stepping up next to the tree with the box of Christmas ornaments in her hands. She set the box on the ground and Damon handed her a strand of lights.
"I'm going to get a drink. Do you want anything?" Elena shook her head, she did not feel like getting smashed while putting up Christmas decorations. "Oh come on, loosen up a little Elena." He gave a slight hurt look as he walked over to the drink table.
"No thank you," She commented, stringing the lights through the branches. "Not after the last time I got drunk with you. I had a massive hangover for the next two days. Not to mention the headache was hell."
"Your loss," Damon shrugged pouring his good bourbon into a crystal glass.
Elena ignored his last words as she fought with the lights and getting them into the right places on the tree. She hated this part (her mom had always done the lights and she and Jeremy had always hung ornaments) but she felt bad already because Damon had put the tree together.
"Need some help?" She heard the smirk in his voice.
"I got it," Elena answered, fumbling with the branches.
"Let me help," Damon said, setting his glass down, and walking over to her.
"I'll get it eventually," Elena bit her lip.
"God, why are you always so stubborn?" Damon asked, grabbing the strands of lights from her and easily stringing them through the fake branches.
"Why do you always have to be right?" Elena pushed, watching him string the lights like it was nothing.
"One of my many character traits," He smirked, plugging the lights into the wall. "Your welcome." He commented, stepping back next to her and admiring the newly lit tree.
"Thank you so much Damon," Elena said sarcastically.
"Your welcome," He answered, poking her in the stomach with a smirk. Elena wiggled away from him and set to work on the tree.
She worked away in silence, trying to avoid the feeling of his eyes on her. She wouldn't admit this to anyone, but the way he watched her made her feel something. Something she knew she wasn't supposed to feel. After all, this was her boyfriend's brother and they were just friends. Damon was just Stefan's sometimes pain in the ass brother who just happened to be attractive (not that she would ever admit that either).
When she hung the last decoration on the tree, Elena stepped back beside Damon to admire how much the tree made the boarding house look like a home for the first time she'd been there.
"Looks good," Damon commented, throwing back the rest of his liquor in one large gulp.
"I think so too," Elena agreed, loving the way the tree lights bounced off his blue eyes. "Should I go make some hot chocolate?"
"I said we could put up the tree, I didn't say we could curl around the fire and sing christmas carols," He sat his glass down (rather roughly) on the coffee table, making it shatter into thousands of little pieces.
The sound caused her to jump. her eyes catching his angry glance. She wondered what she had done or said, for that matter, to set him off.
"Damon," She said softly, watching him as he turned to face her.
His voice was bitter. "Go home Elena,"
She tried again. "Damon,"
"Go," He commanded, clearly not wanting to deal with whatever it was that had upset him. Elena watched him, quietly picking up keys up off the coffee table, and slipping on her coat.
Elena didn't return to the boarding house until the next night. When she entered the parlor, the once lit tree was no longer providing light, and Damon was no where in sight.
Elena sat her keys on the table. "Damon?" She called, listening for his footsteps to come into the room, but they never did.
She finally decided to head up the stairs.
His door is on the left. She reminded herself, turning the corner and heading to his door.
Bracing herself for the worst, Elena turned the knob.
"Welcome to my humble abode," The voice slurred as she walked into the bedroom.
The room smelled strongly of alcohol, and so did the shirtless vampire laying in the center of the bed. Elena's nose wrinkled and she fought the urge to cover her face. It was no doubt that Damon had been drinking since the night before. Which meant that she should expect the worst as she had suspected before. God, he was a complete mess.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" She questioned, picking up one of the many bourbon bottles lying around the room.
"I was trying to have a good time, honey," Damon spoke bitterly, picking himself off of the bed and staggering over to her. "Haven't you ever just wanted to do that? You know, loosen up a little." He flashed her a toothy grin, his breath reeking of liquor.
"Not like this," Elena answered, crossing her arms over her chest.
Damon pressed a newly opened bottle to his lips, taking a long pull. "But you've thought about it," He challenged.
"No," She answered swiftly.
It was a lie, she had thought about it, more than once actually. There were time where she had thought about doing something like this, being reckless, and not giving a care about what anyone else thought about her.
"You're lying," Damon said through his teeth, leaning his face close to lips.
She could smell his breath. "I think you've had enough," She spoke, trying to take the bottle from him.
"I'm just getting warmed up," Damon replied, swiftly pulling his face from hers. "Join me."
"No," Elena held her ground.
"Why not?" He asked, his body swaying as he took a step.
"Because you're a jackass,"
"Awe, Elena, I'm wounded," He placed his hand over his heart in a mock gesture.
She scoffed, recognizing a look in his eyes.
Even though he was only pretending to be hurt, deep down, she knew that he really was. The look was one that she had noticed in his eyes on the night that he had snapped her brother's neck, and it rocked her to the core.
"Why do you do this?" Elena asked after a few moments silence.
Damon almost seemed surprised at her question, setting down his bottle. "Do what?"
"You hide, under everything. You try to make it look like you don't get hurt, but you know what, you do. Last night, everything was perfectly fine until, I mentioned one little thing, and just like that, you snapped. God Damon, I don't even know what to do anymore," She rested her hands at her side.
"So what," Damon said. "you're done?"
"Maybe I am," Elena answered. "I'm tired of this Damon."
He nodded. "I know," His voice was soft.
"Then why do you do it?"
"Because I don't what else to do, how else to react. I don't talk about my feelings, I'm not my brother Elena,"
"No," Elena agreed. "You're not."
"Then what is it that you want me to do? This is who I am Elena. This is what I do,"
"I don't know," She whispered.
The room was quiet again.
"Are you pissed at me?" Damon questioned.
"Not all the way," Elena admitted. "In some ways I am a little."
"You'll get over it, somehow you always do,"
She glanced at him. "Call me when you sober up,"
I hope you enjoyed that. I tried to capture the characters as best I could. I get that the ending is sort of open-ended, and this story took its own direction as I wrote. I do hope you all understand why Damon was upset about Christmas.
It wasn't the Christmas fanfic I was expecting myself to write, but I think I like how it turned out. Reviews are appreciated.
Merry Christmas!
XOXO.