Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries, or anything associated with it. All I own is a dirty mind and a bad case of insomnia.

Warnings: This is Slash (maleXmale) so if you don't like that don't read it. Flames will only make you look like an idiot when I laugh at them.

A/N: This is slightly AU. Elena wasn't in the car with Matt when Rebekah caused the accident on the bridge, it was Jeremy instead. And as such, it's Jeremy that was turned and subsequently was sired to Damon. Read, review, and enjoy!

Come To Me

Silvery moonlight glittered across the dark surface of the lake, and as a light breeze stirred the water the ripples caused the light to shimmer and distort. It was beautiful, but it did nothing to distract me from the hollow feeling that had settled in the pit of my stomach over the past few days, ever since I had told Jeremy to leave. When I had lied and told him that it would make me happy if he left, forgot about me, and moved on with his life. I watched him drive away that night, and it felt like a wooden bullet scratching at the walls of my heart. And I would know, I've been in situation on more occasions than I'd care to admit. Only this time the wood couldn't be taken out, and the wound refused to heal. But I had to do it. Elena and Stefan made sure I knew that.

This had all started nearly two months ago. Jeremy and Matt had been driving over Wickery bridge, and Rebekah had tried to kill them, thinking that it was Elena in the car with Matt. When Stefan had tried to save Elena's brother first, Jeremy had refused, making him save Matt instead, and by the time Stefan had gotten back to Matt's truck, Jeremy had already drowned.

When Stefan called me and told me that he was dead. I felt a sharp pain in my chest. I realized that I felt bad for not being nicer to the younger Gilbert, for always being such a dick to him, and I wished I could have at least had the chance to set things right before he died. In truth, I had always liked Jeremy. He was sweet and passionate. A caring sibling that would do anything for Elena. He was everything I secretly wished I could be, but would never achieve. Like I had frequently told Elena, I'm not the good guy. But Jeremy… He was good, to the very core. It hadn't taken long for me to realize that I had feelings for the young man, but I knew where that road would lead. Stefan would get on his moral high horse and freak the fuck out, reminding me, once again, that everything I touch turns to shit. Oh yeah, he would have been more eloquent when he said it, of course, but it amounts to the same thing. A warning to stay away from Jeremy, lest I ruin him forever. And Elena… Don't even get me started on her. She would not have been pleased at all that I wanted her brother. Bonnie would probably get her Witch on and give me yet another aneurism before staking me. Caroline would protest out of principal; everything Damon related is bad. It would ruin the balance of the universe, after all, if I found someone that would love me without being compelled into doing so. The only person that knew how I felt had been Alaric, the best friend I had ever had. But he was gone now, dead thanks to a spell that had temporarily killed Elena, and I was alone. Stefan had his human. Caroline had her Hybrid, Tyler. Bonnie had, well, no one, but that was her own fault. She never seemed to be able to keep a guy, with that pompous attitude of hers. Honestly, in a town overrun with the supernatural you'd think she would learn to live with it, especially since she was a witch, but she was belligerent toward anything that either had fangs or kept a close eye on the lunar cycle.

I was completely alone however, as they believed I should be. And then Jeremy died, and with his death I felt regret. All those times I had treated him badly in an effort to hide how I really felt, and now I would never get the chance to tell him how sorry I was.

But then he woke up again, and he was in transition. See, Jeremy had been injured earlier that same day, and Meredith Fell had given him some of my blood to heal him. None of us had known the extent of his injuries, or that he had consumed some of my blood, so it was a surprise to all of us when his eyes had opened and he gasped for breath once more. I kept my cool, pretended that it didn't matter, but secretly I was happier than I had ever been. I had a chance to set things right with him, even if I still had to hide my feelings, so I began to educate him in the ways of being a vampire. I told him that he needed to drink from the vein, rather than feeding on animals or from blood bags, but Stefan, of course, had other ideas in mind. At first, he tried to get Jeremy to adopt his self-inflicted torture of feeding on animal blood, but Jeremy's body rejected it almost instantly. The same happened when he drank from a blood bag. Honestly, that should have been our first clue that something was wrong, but we were all too concerned with keeping Jeremy alive to really look into it too deeply.

As the days went by, Jeremy stuck close by my side. Whenever an argument broke out, whether it was about unimportant things, like school, or something more drastic, like our latest Klaus-related problems, Jeremy agreed with everything I said. It had been at my suggestion that he killed the vampire hunter, taking on the ancient curse that would have killed him had another hunter not been created only a few hours later. But during his period of hallucinations he had been held prisoner by Klaus, and it had been the Hybrid that had figured it out. Of course, he was way too much of a dick to tell us what was happening, instead choosing to drop small hints with Caroline while he tried to woo her. In the meantime, Jeremy had practically moved in with Stefan and I. He had some legitimate reasons, which he spouted to the others, like how he needed us to keep watch on him so that he didn't go off the rails like my dear brother seemed so fond of doing. They bought it, but I could see the ulterior motives in his eyes. So a few days later, I confronted him. We were in my bedroom, and he was sitting on my bed as I rifled through my wardrobe, searching for a decent shirt to wear. He was talking about Klaus, and how Tyler was trying to help the Hybrids to break away from him, when I suddenly stopped and looked at him.

"Why are you really here, Jeremy?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" He asked innocently, looking away. His act was good, I'll give him that, but I wasn't fooled.

"I mean, why are you really here all the time? And why are you always with me?"

"I'm sorry." He murmured in a hopeless, defeated tone. "I didn't mean to upset you. I'll go, if you want."

His tone caught me off guard, and it hurt me to see him looking like he was on the verge of tears. I crossed over to the bed and sat beside him, looking him in the eye.

"Hey, I didn't say you have to leave." I told him. "I just want to know the truth."

Jeremy's pupils were dilated as his eyes dropped from my face to glide across my bare chest and arms. Unconsciously, his tongue ran over his bottom lip for a moment. Then he remembered where he was, and his eyes shot back up to meet my startled look, guilt and panic clearly evident in his features.

"I should go." He blurted out hastily, getting up and starting toward the door. In less than a second, I moved in front of him, blocking his path.

"Jere, wait…" My soft tone must have surprised him, hell, it surprised me too, but he stopped. I took a step toward him, and he took one toward me. We each took another step, and then we were standing in each other's personal space. I could feel his breath ghosting across my skin, and it took every ounce of what little restraint I had not to grab him and have my way with him right there and then.

"Jere…"

"Damon, I –"

Rather than continue, he pressed his lips against my own. It was a soft and gentle kiss. I could feel that his lips were rougher than the girls I had kissed previously, and his faint stubble scratched against my face, and I loved every second of it. When he pulled away, too soon in my opinion, a soft growl came from my throat, and I pressed our lips together again without thought. His arms came to wrap around my waist, and he pulled me over to the bed, where we collapsed against one another in a frenzy of mindless kissing and touching. When my teeth grazing his neck, he moaned and bucked his hips up into me. I could feel his erection grinding into my thigh, and that, above all, made reality come crashing down around me. A moment later, I had put a few feet of distance between us, leaving him to stare up at me from the bed in confusion.

"Damon, I'm –" he started, but I cut him off.

"Don't." I said firmly. "Don't say you're sorry. There's nothing to be sorry for. I wanted that just as badly. But this," I gestured between us with a hand, "can't happen. Jere, I'm sorry, but we'd have everyone against us. Stefan, Elena, Bonnie… Everyone is going to have a huge problem with it. And you have enough trouble as it is, being a vampire and all. We can't."

Jeremy frowned. "I don't care what the others think."

"They care, unfortunately." I pointed out, pulling on a shirt and crossing over to the window, hoping the fresh air would help clear my head a little. "And they'd make it their mission to get you as far away from me as possible."

Jeremy got up from the bed and came up behind me, wrapping his arms around me. "Let them try. Damon, it doesn't matter what they say about you, or about me. What we have between us, whatever it may be, isn't any of their business. Least of all Stefan and Elena."

I smiled, in spite of myself, and turned in his embrace so that I was facing him. "You realize of course that they'll find out all too quickly, right? The only thing that spreads faster than death in this town is gossip."

"Then let them talk." Jeremy whispered against my lips before closing his eyes and kissing me. I let myself believe in that moment that it didn't matter what the others thought, and that maybe there was some hope, and I could end the loneliness and get the guy I wanted. But of course, I was naïve to think that.

It had been two short days later when the scandal got out. In that time, all Jeremy and I had done was a bit of light touching above the belt and some serious making out, but Caroline had spotted us one evening when she stopped by the house to talk to Stefan about something that, in her mind, was no doubt of earth-shattering importance. She had told Stefan, who instantly told Elena, who told Bonnie and the human, Matt, and it was only an hour later that they all began ganging up on me. They told me I was taking advantage of Jeremy, that I had somehow tricked him. Anger coursed through my veins, and I wanted nothing more than to stake Vampire Barbie for running to Stefan in the first place, but I kept my temper in check and brushed their comments aside with some witty remarks and snide commentary. But after that, Elena ensured that Jeremy spent as little time with me as possible.

Caroline then put two and two together, and remembered something that the Hybrid bastard, Klaus, had told her. She told Stefan, and the next day, the two of them confronted me.

"Jeremy is sired to you." Stefan said bluntly, while Blondie stared at me with wide eyes. I snorted with derision, letting out a small laugh.

"Right." I said. "That must be the dumbest thing I've ever heard come out of your mouth, brother."

"Think about it." Caroline interjected before Stefan could retort. "Jeremy can't feed on animals or blood bags because you told him he can't. And he sides with you with absolutely everything. Any suggestion you make, he does. He's sired."

"Jeremy isn't sired." I scoffed. "You're wrong about this."

"Then you wouldn't mind proving it." Stefan said evenly, and I could see he already had a plan in mind, but I didn't feel like co-operating with him. Instead, I chose to be difficult.

"Sure, I'll get right on that. Not that there's any way to find out, or anything. But if the mighty Stefan Salvatore says there is…"

"Shut up, Damon," Stefan cut me off, "and listen to me for three seconds."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Fine, Stefan. What do you have in mind?"

Stefan was glaring at me, but I ignored it. Then he tossed a blood bag onto my lap.

"Tell him to drink that."

"He can't." I drawled back, as though I was talking to a child. "His body rejects it, you know that."

"Because you told him he can only drink from the vein." Caroline stated. "But if you told him that it would make you happy if he could drink from blood bags, and he manages, we'll know he's truly sired. If he still can't, then we were wrong."

I rolled my eyes again, but gave in. "Fuck, if it'll shut the two of you up, I'll do it, okay?"

They nodded in response and left, off to go to school or whatever it was that good little vampires with daylight rings did when the sun was up. Unimpressed, I decided to meet up with Jeremy at school and prove to them that they were wrong about him having a sire-bond…

As it turned out, however, they had been right. The evidence was right there, and I hated it. That explained the kiss, the feelings, everything. None of it was real, and it made me feel more alone than I had felt in my entire life. Stefan and I travelled to New Orleans to track down a Witch that could possibly break the sire-bond, but as it turns out I had the ability to do that all on my own. All I had to do was send Jeremy away, and tell him that it would make me happy if he moved on with his life without me.

Yeah, like that was so easy.

But Stefan told Elena, of course, and the two of them ganged up on me, telling me that it was the right thing to do, that I was no better than Klaus if Jeremy was sired to me.

That rankled, but deep down I knew they were right. Jeremy resisted, of course, but after one last day together I couldn't take it anymore, knowing that his feelings for me were nothing but a stupid sire-bond. I told him to go, to live his life and leave me behind, and after a few tears he did what I asked. I watched him drive off into the darkness of the night and then phoned Elena, asking if I could stay at her family's lake house for a while so I would be away from Jeremy. She agreed before I had even finished my sentence, a mark of how badly she wanted me away from her little brother, and by sunrise the next day I was at the lake house, alone.

Days passed, and like I said, it was like someone had shot me with wooden bullets. Or wrapped my heart in vervain. Either way, it hurt, and I missed him. Staring out at the cold, black water and the moonlight rippling on it, I sighed and took a drink from the bottle of bourbon clutched in my right hand. Closing my eyes, I let my mind wander over those few short days that I had had the younger Gilbert, feeling a warmth spread through me and dull the pain in my heart momentarily.

"Jeremy…" I whispered quietly into the night, getting no response other than the sounds of nature around me. As I turned to head back to the house, however, my phone rang. The caller ID was unknown, so I answered in a bored drawl.

"Hello?"

"Damon… Hi…"

The voice was soft and husky, and it made me freeze in my tracks.

"Jeremy?"

He chuckled. "Expecting one of your other boyfriends to call, Damon?"

I rolled my eyes, and I smirked. This boy knew how to get under my skin, and in a good way.

"Boyfriend, huh? Is that how you classify us?"

I heard him snicker a little, but then he was all business. "Stefan, Elena and Caroline ran into some trouble today." He informed me.

"Was said trouble tall, over a thousand years old, and speaking in an annoying accent, by any chance?" I asked, wondering to myself what Klaus had done this time.

Jeremy laughed, and I couldn't help the smile that spread over my face at the sound of it. "Close. It was Rebekah. She's back, and she's pissed about being staked yet again. Honestly, she spends more time dead than alive, but whatever. She compelled them, and forced Tyler to turn. Luckily they escaped, but not before Rebekah got what she wanted."

"Which was?" I asked. It's not that I didn't care about the others, but if they had been hurt it would have been the first thing Jeremy told me, so I assumed they were all alive and well. Or undead and well. Something like that.

"Something about an ancient Witch named Silas. Does that ring any bells?"

I shook my head, then remembered that he couldn't see me. "No, it doesn't. Maybe Stefan knows something, I'll call him in the morning and see if he can shed some light on the subject."

"I'll see what I can get out of Elena tonight." Jeremy promised, and then there was a lull in the conversation, and things began to feel awkward.

"Look, I've gotta go." I said, and it bugged me how sad I sounded.

"Not yet." He said quickly. His breathing was ragged and uneven, but there was determination in his voice. "Something happened today. I realized something about you. About… us."

Stefan would have wanted me to hang up there and then, but as always my curiosity got the better of me, so I waited for him to elaborate.

"And you can say that it's the sire-bond, you know what, maybe it is, but I'm telling you it's the most real thing I've felt in my entire life."

Still I said nothing, but I noticed that my breathing had become faster, rough even.

"I love you." He said, and every muscle in my body seemed to ignite at those simple words. "I love you." He repeated, and I could hear his smile in tone. A warmth began to spread inside of me, and a part of my brain wondered when I had turned into such a girl. Three words, and I was putty in his hands.

"Look," I said, closing my eyes and trying to fight the insane grin that was threatening to split my face in half. "I'm going to find out about this Silas character, and we'll deal with Klaus and his sister."

"Damon –" he said, but I spoke over him.

"But listen closely, Jeremy." I told him, trying to steady my heart and my breathing as I did so. "I want you to get in your car. Right now. And come to me."

There was only a second of pause before he replied. "I'll be there soon."

With that, he hung up, and I knew it wouldn't be long before he arrived.

When I heard his car pull into the driveway, a rush of nerves nearly bowled me over. I don't know why I was so nervous. Maybe it was because he had told me he loved me. Maybe it was that there was a chance that tonight we'd take our relationship, or whatever it was, to the next level, or maybe it was because Stefan would definitely try to rip my heart out of my chest if he knew what I was doing.

I heard Jeremy open the front door and step inside, and I wondered briefly when Elena had invited him in. Or if she had finally gone and gotten herself killed, like she seemed so hell-bent on doing.

I stared into the fireplace, the appearance of cool and calm, but from the moment I heard his footsteps enter the room behind me I felt a rush of excitement and happiness.

He didn't say anything at first. He walked across the room and came to a stop behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist, and I could feel his arousal pressing into my backside as he pressed his lips to my neck and took a deep breath. After a long moment he spoke in a low, lustful tone.

"You smell really good."

I wanted to reply with something witty, but all I could do was lean back further, grinding his groin into my ass and letting out a soft moan of appreciation. His hands began to work on my belt with swift, calculated motions as his lips moved across my neck, and between moans I found myself wondering when the littler Gilbert had become so good at this. When his hands left my belt momentarily I wondered what he was doing, but then I felt a palm press firmly against my crotch, rubbing with slow, rough strokes. I let out a breathy moan and spun in his arms, grabbing hold of the front of his shirt and moving to pin him against the wall. In this new position, I saw his face for the first time; skin slightly paler than it had been as a human, and his pupils blown with lust and desire. Slamming our lips together with bruising force, I grinded into him, making him gasp and claw at my back as if to rip my shirt away. A second later, he had spun us around and had me against the wall, one hand pushing my pants down while the other stroked me through my boxers. Without preamble I ripped his belt away and pulled his pants down so fast that I destroyed both button and zipper, then pressed our lips together again in another heated kiss while our barely clothed erections glided against one another with only our silky boxers between them.

"Bedroom. Now." I growled, and he instantly complied, using his new strength to lift me off of my feet and move us to the nearest bedroom. In our lust driven state, Jeremy didn't bother to open the door first. He simply smashed right through it and, lips locked against mine, collapsed on the bed with his arms still wrapped firmly around me.

I broke away from the kiss, staring into his eyes with a cocky grin. "I like this side of you, Jere." I said breathlessly. "Very macho."

Jeremy grinned somewhat coyly, momentarily looking like he had back when I first met him; all awkward and shy and cute. His fingers began working on the buttons of my dress shirt deftly, stopping for a second only to pull off the T-shirt he was wearing before undoing the last few buttons and sliding the material off of my shoulders. He then lowered his body onto mine, connecting our bare skin as his lips found my throat once more. My fingers wound in his hair and I arched my back, grinding our boxer-clad cocks together roughly. He moaned against my throat, running his hands over my chest hungrily and teasing my nipples with his fingertips. His mouth travelled to my chest, trailing kisses all over my flesh. His tongue traced patters on my skin and over my nipples, sending jolts that felt like electricity through my body, which only intensified as his lips travelled lower, kissing over my stomach and abdomen while his hands tugged at the waistband of my boxers and pulled them down my legs. I hissed in pleasure when he changed his tactics and suddenly took my member into his mouth in one go, gripping the sheets tightly in clenched fists and trying my best to not buck my hips and gag him on my length. As suddenly as his mouth had engulfed me it was gone again, and his lips crashed against my own once more. He climbed onto me, pressing the length of our bodies together, and it became apparent very quickly that he had removed his underwear while I was too busy writhing to notice. His naked erection slid over my own, slick and hot, and I grabbed his ass tightly, making him grind into me harder and faster. He moaned into my mouth hungrily, hands gripping my shoulders almost painfully as we rocked back and forth, enjoying the delicious friction between our bodies. I was done letting him take the lead, though, so I flipped us over and straddled his hips, pinning both of his arms above his head as I did so, thrusting our cocks together in long, hard movements. He moaned loudly, back arched, and I knew that he was getting close to the edge. Rather than continue rutting, I drew back and smirked at him, taking in the image of him being undone so completely at my touch.

"I don't suppose you thought to bring any lubrication, did you?"

Jeremy shook his head, his eyes glazed over with desire. "I don't care. Do it anyway. Just be – um – gentle…"

My smirk became a real smile, and I leaned over to press a soft kiss to his rosy lips. "Of course."

I slid a hand between his legs and slowly worked him open with my fingers, careful to not hurt him. Judging by his expression, it was only mildly uncomfortable at first before he began pressing down onto my hand. Rather than take that as my cue, I continued to stretch him for a few more minutes, my free hand ghosting up and down his member to keep his interest as I did so. When I finally deemed him to be ready I looked into his eyes for his go-ahead, and he nodded sharply, biting his lip.

I positioned myself between his legs and pressed the head of my member against the tight ring of muscle. I pushed into him at an excruciatingly slow pace, giving him time to adjust as I went, and after what felt like an eternity I was completely buried within him. After a moment I pulled out a little and pushed back in, relishing in the steady stream of profanities and moans of pleasure that came tumbling from his mouth. He gripped his own member and began pumping it to the same rhythm as my thrusting, and I could already feel the way that his walls were clenching around me, adding more sensation to an already intense feeling of bliss. The jerking motions of his arm became steadily more erratic and faster, causing me to pick up the pace to match him, and with a few more tugs he came over his own chest with a loud cry. His muscles constricted around me like a vice, sending me over the edge and into a blissful oblivion as I came inside of him. I rode out my orgasm, all other thought gone from my mind until at last I collapsed against him, spent and sated.

We laid together for a long time, each listening to the other's breathing, until at last I found the strength to get up and fetch a lukewarm washcloth to clean ourselves with.

Jeremy smiled at me wistfully, accepting the cloth and wiping the fluids off of his body before handing it back to me.

"Not that I'm complaining," he said in a sweet, sleepy voice, "but weren't we supposed to stay apart? You know, sire-bond and all…"

"Screw that." I said, crawling onto the bed beside him and wrapping my arms around his waist. "I love you. And you already told me that you love me. So Stefan, Elena, and the sire-bond? They can all go to hell. Because I'm not letting you go again. You're staying here with me."

He smiled softly again and curled against my chest, dropping off between one thought and the next. For a moment I simply stared at him with a dopey grin that I would never admit ever showed on my face, listening to his soft snores. He looked so peaceful and happy, not to mention cute, and I was resolved to stick to my words. No one was going to come between us. If they tried… well, I hadn't ripped out a heart in a while. It would be good to get back in practice. Jeremy was worth it, after all.

~o~O~o~