A/N - Hello my fellow fanfiction readers! First I want to apologize about the lack of any kind of fanfiction from me lately but mostly the lack of Dalaric as I did promise at the end of my last story, Home Is Where You Are that I would be writing a one shot on how the boys figured out and admitted they were in love and a sequel about Caleb coming to Mystic Falls and I intended to do just that but after the final episode of season three I was just a wreak and couldn't write anything without bursting into flood of tears but I think I am slowly getting better and I will continue to write Dalaric the way it should be and I am starting now because I am currently on holiday in the Scottish Highlands and have no internet connection so all of this, what ever I write will be uploaded upon my return to the 21st century which I guess is now as you are reading this….. Oh well, on with the story. This one shot is a prequel to Home Is Where You Are as Alvarin requested a story of how our boys fell in love. Hope you enjoy.

My Vampire

If you had asked Alaric just how he thought his life would have worked out ten years ago he might have said that he and his wife would be living happily in a house on a quite street with a kid or two and may be a dog. What he certainly would not have said was that he would be sat in the semi darkness of his loft nursing a glass of bourbon and staring a photo.

Alaric had always liked to have photos around of the people that were important to him, dotted around the place there was photos of his family back home, his brothers and sister, his nieces and nephews and some newer additions, mainly Elena and Jeremy but the one that was troubling him at the present moment was one of himself and Damon Salvatore, he couldn't remember when it had been taken or who had taken in but it was his favourite, they were seated somewhere, most likely the Grill and had their arms slung around each others shoulders and their sides pressed up against each other, Alaric looked at the photo version of himself, his smile was wide and true and there was a sparkle in his eyes, one he only saw when he was with Damon and caught his reflection. His eyes then slid over to, in his opinion the more attractive view in the photo. Damon was beautiful, there was no way around it, if he ever heard Alaric say that then he would snap his neck, again, but it was the truth, his electric blue eyes shone with a light that they seemed to create themselves and they clashed perfectly with the coal colour of his hair and they both stood out so brilliantly against the paleness of his skin. Damon had changed in the time he had known him, a part of him wished he was the reason for the change, when they had met Damon had been a dick and now, well he was still a dick, always would be but he cared about people now, he cared about right and wrong and he let it show, he let his love for Stefan show, for want of a better phrase, he was more human and Alaric had found himself completely in love with the man that was his best friend and the sad thing was that he didn't know it himself until Elena pointed out the obvious to him a few month ago and since then he thought of nothing else, he wanted Damon so badly but he was convinced that it was a dream and always would be, unfortunately the vampire thought the same thing.

Damon Salvatore did not mope, he did not mope around the house clutching a glass of bourbon like it was the only thing that was anchoring him to the earth, no this was not moping; it was pondering as he told Stefan as often as he could even if his baby brother paid no attention. Stefan was the only person who knew Damon's true feelings for his best friend and the impossible thing was that he knew Alaric felt exactly the same but Elena refused to let him tell his brother as she insisted that they had to figure it out on their own but Stefan couldn't hold out any longer when he wandering into the study and observed Damon wondering around aimlessly as he stared down at a piece of paper in his grasp, on it was two sets of handwriting, Damon's elegant script and Alaric chicken scratch, perfected after many years of taking lecture notes at university followed by years of grading papers. It was childish but on the paper was the notes the two of them had been passing between them at a council meeting that, if he wasn't already dead would have bored Damon to death. So he tore a sheet from the note book in front of him and wrote,

'How boring is this?' and then proceeded to pass the note to Alaric who glanced at it then at Damon before accepting it, unfolding it, scanning it then rolled his eyes before scratching a reply,

'Seriously? How old are you?'

'About a hundred and seventy years, I think, I lost count.'

'That's about how long I feel I've been sat here after listening to the latest anti vampire protection the town is getting, all the while there is a very annoying one sat right next to me'

'Ahhh, now who is being childish?'

'Sod off, dick.'

And it went on like that until the meeting had ended ten years later (really a hour later) and Damon had been sure to pick up the paper as they left, not least because it had a lot of incriminating evidence on it but also because he wanted it, to have something of Alaric close to him no matter how much like a fifteen year old girl that made him.

Stefan sighed and walked into the room, Damon turned away from the window he had been looking out of to see his brother.

"Right that's it, I've had it, screw what Elena says, she can be mad at me for a few days it will be worth it if it stops you from moping"

"I don't mope…." Damon tried to say but was cut across by the younger Salvatore.

"Yes you do, Damon and I know exactly why, because you are in love with Ric and have convinced yourself that he doesn't feel the same"

"He doesn't…"

"Will you let me finish? Damon, he does, he is in love with you as you are with him, even though it took Elena pointing it out to him for him to see." He told his older brother.

"Look Damon, why shouldn't he feel the same?"

"He isn't gay, he was married…."

"Are you gay or is it just Ric?" It was a very good question, true Damon had slept with one or two guys in the past but it was nothing like how he felt for Alaric. He also knew that Alaric had experimented in college as he had confessed one night after one too many drinks. It was entirely possible he could feel the same but Damon was still hung up on the why. Why would he feel this way? Then something occurred to him.

"Hang on, how long have you know we both feel this way?" with the question Stefan became interested in his shoes and avoided Damon's gaze,

"Stefan?"

"A while, Elena figured it out and when she told me it all fell into place, why you had been acting the way you were but she said that you had to figure it out for yourselves but it was killing me seeing you like this when the thing that can make you happy is most likely sat at home thinking the same about you." Damon turned away from his brother and ran his hands over his face then looked out the window and made his decision. Turning back around he side stepped Stefan and started heading for the door,

"Where are you going?" Stefan shouted at his brother's back,

"Where do you think?" Damon shouted over his shoulder before descending the stairs. Stefan smiled so much he thought his face was going to split into two as he walked to the window and watched as his brother walked out of the front door, shrugging on his leather jacket before climbing in to his car and speeding off towards the loft.

Damon sat outside Alaric's building for a while in his car, just staring up at the windows, from which a faint glow was coming from, informing him that Alaric was still awake, which Damon was relived about as he hadn't noticed the hour when he left. After about half an hour he got out of the car and started across the deserted street until he reached the door, grasping the cold metal handle in his hand he yanked and pulled it towards himself before stepping in side and used his speed to climb the stairs before the door had fully closed, he stood outside the door to the loft for a moment with his hand on the handle, wondering if he should just go right in like he normally did but he didn't want Alaric to have any reason to be pissed off with him when he was trying to confess his love,

'Good God.' He thought to himself as he stood there, 'I really do sound like a fifteen year old girl, I wonder if its time to whack on the new Taylor Swift album.' Finally he knocked twice and waited for about thirty seconds before Alaric opened the door.

Alaric was shocked but incredibly pleased to find Damon stood outside his door at two twenty in the morning, standing back to let the vampire in he said,

"Since when do you knock?" When Damon didn't answer Alaric became worried, it wasn't like him not to have an answer to everything.

"Ric, can we talk?" the vampire asked, already walking to the sofa,

"Sure." Alaric followed him, pouring a fresh measure of bourbon into his glass and then another in to a second glass and offered it to Damon who took it with a warm smile.

"Is everything okay?" Alaric asked although he was distracted by how the low light that was being cast by the single lit lamp was making Damon's features more pronounced and if possible, more attractive.

"Yeah it is or at least I hope it will be soon." Damon said before draining his glass in one gulp and placing it back on the table.

"Ric, I need you to be quite and let me get through all this because I wouldn't be able to say it all again and this is the hardest thing I will ever do." Looking his friend right in the eyes Damon told him everything,

"I love you, Ric, I don't know why and I don't know when it happened but I am, I care about you more than anyone I have ever known, you are the first thing I think of in the morning and the last at night, you are the first one I check is okay after a fight, you are the one I want when I'm scared or lost or need advice, this life that I lived, it used to be fine, I had everything or at least I thought I had, but lately I just want you, I want you with me in everything that I do, I've dreamt about us, I'll never be the typical boyfriend, I am unpredictable but I am trying and I will always try for you, I just love you so much, and if you don't feel the same I understand but I thought you had the right to know so that we can put all our cards on the table and know where we stand."

The response he got from Alaric was not what he expected, even though Stefan had told him that Alaric felt the same, he expected him to stumble over his words while he tried to explain that he didn't feel the same or he expected him to punch him, the last thing he expected was for Alaric to lean across to him and place a small kiss on his lips before pulling back slightly to see the vampire's reaction. After Damon had processed what had happened he leaned to Alaric and smashed their lips together, bringing one hand up to hold Alaric's face and the other one flew to his hip and Alaric's wrapped around his waist and pulled him closer. This kiss was like nothing that either of them had ever felt before, it was caring yet rushed, it was sensitive yet passionate, it was unfamiliar but also felt like they had been doing it for the longest time. When they finally broke apart, both were breathless which was strange as the vampire didn't technically have to breathe but that was the last thing on both of their minds at the moment. Alaric leaned his forehead against Damon's and began to get lost in his eyes as a stupid smile worked it's way onto his face before he asked,

"Why on earth haven't we been doing that the whole time?" Damon chuckled and answered the question with a question of his own,

"So, I'm guessing that you feel the same?" Alaric arched an eyebrow,

"You think?" Damon responded with the brightest smile that Alaric had ever seen on his face, and that was saying something.

They both leaned back in for another kiss, each fighting for control which Alaric eventually won, something that he suspected Damon let happen but he wasn't complaining as he used his weight to press the vampire into the sofa as hands began roaming around, Damon grasped locks of dirty blond hair in one hand at the base of the other man's head as his other hand slid down Alaric's sides until it reached the hem of his shirt and found its way over all of his partners mussels as Alaric tangled his left hand in the silky dark strands of Damon's hair while his right hand wandered down to the belt buckle of his jeans. Damon pulled away slightly,

"If that's the way its gonna go then we are doing this right." He told Alaric, motioning his head in the direction of the bed; Alaric couldn't help the smirk that worked its way on to his face,

"Oh Damon, I had no idea that you were such a romantic." He teased but all the while he stood up, gripped Damon's hand and pulled him up, flush against him and kissed him all the way to the bed.

The next morning Alaric woke when sunlight was fighting to get past his eyelids as he had failed to close the blinds the previous night. He smiled before he opened his eyes as he could feel the weight of Damon's head resting on his chest and of the protective arm that was slung over his stomach. Blinking in the wake of the sunlight he look down to find the picture in his mind was pretty much the same in reality, Damon was splayed over him, to an outsider it might look like Damon was snuggling into him and a part of that was right but the bigger part was that he was protecting him as he was using his body to cover most of Alaric's even though the hunter was a good few inches taller. Alaric studied the vampire for a moment, he was so still that had his chest not been moving ever so slightly, something that still confused Alaric, it might look as though he wasn't alive, even though technically he wasn't but it was too early for that kind of thinking. His jet black eyelashes laid peacefully against his cheeks, the arm that was thrown across Alaric was lean and toned, as was the rest of his body, it had light hairs all along his forearm before it reached his big hand with the fingers spread out, palm down across Alaric's own rather toned stomach. He followed Damon's body right back up to his face, which was when Damon muttered, eyes still closed,

"Is this your new hobby? Damon watching?"

"New hobby? I've been doing that for a long time now." Damon's eyes began to flutter open to peer up at him,

"Ric, that is in equal parts awesomely adorable and slightly creepy." He told him as he pulled himself into a sitting position next to Alaric who had moved over to create room.

"Yeah because you haven't been checking me out from afar?"

"I will neither confirm or deny such a thing!" Alaric chuckled and rolled his eyes before placing a kiss on Damon's lips before climbing out of bed and pulling a pair of shorts on before heading for the kitchen in which Damon joined him a few minuets later and was about to instruct Alaric on just how he liked his coffee before the blond looked at him and said,

"Strong but with lots of cream and three sugars." It wasn't a question. (I have no idea if Damon even drinks coffee never mind how he takes it but I imagine it's a little girly.)

"You even know my coffee habits?" he asked as he sat on one of the stools next to the breakfast bar,

"You know mine." Again not a question,

"Yes but that it because you survive on the stuff, drinking it more than anything, next to bourbon." Alaric didn't answer to that, he didn't really need to. They kept making eye contact over the coffee during a comfortable silence. It should feel strange, how domesticated they appeared to be but it didn't, it was like something had finally fallen into place between them. Damon was first to break the silence,

"So, what exactly are we? I mean where to we go from here?" Alaric smiled softly,

"Well I was thinking that as this is the start of a new relationship we should just hold up here for a while and well, I'll leave the rest to your imagination and then after then we can be a normal couple, well as normal as a vampire and vampire hunter can be. You said last night that you weren't the typical boyfriend and that's fine, as long as you are my boyfriend, I'm tired of drifting around, Damon, you anchor me to something solid and I love that, and you and that's all I want."

Damon had waited to hear those words and now that he had it was like the final piece had slotted into place and everything that Alaric had just said was everything that he wanted too, why couldn't he have what Stefan and Elena had?, Caroline and Matt? Jeremy and Tyler? It was his turn to have something like that the fact that his was the first time he had been in love with it being compelled from him he and he knew this was his chance. He moved his hand to clasp it over Alaric's and leaned across the bench to kiss those soon to be very familiar lips.

"I can not wait to see everyone's faces when they find out." He said before going to drink his perfect coffee.

Three days later everyone was getting concerned about the two of them as neither had been seen since Wednesday, well everyone part from Stefan who was sat with a smug smile on his face at the table in the Grill with the rest of the gang. Elena sighed as she pressed the hang up button on her cell as she tried calling Alaric again; no one had been able to reach either of them.

"What if something has happened to them?" she fretted, playing with the ice in her glass of cola.

"They would have sent a signal if something had happened, somehow." Caroline told her, trying to sooth her worries.

"Yeah I mean, who can get in the way of team Badass?" Matt asked from her side.

"Were they even together when they disappeared?" Tyler asked from where he sat with his arm around Jeremy's shoulders. Stefan had to bite the inside of his cheek in an effort not to smile even more.

"You've heard nothing from Damon?" Jeremy asked him as leaned into Tyler's embrace.

"Erm, no nothing." He said, hoping his lie was believed, in actual fact Damon had called him the morning after the night before and told him he wouldn't be around for a few days and as it seemed he couldn't wait to get off the phone Stefan took it was a good sign.

"You aren't bothered where your brother and his best friend are?" Elena asked him but before he had a chance to respond she was talking again,

"I just wanna know where they have been and if they are okay." Stefan was about to say something when he saw the doors of the Grill swing open and his brother and his best friend, wait, boyfriend? Walk in,

"Why don't you ask them yourself?" he said as he looked pointedly over at the pair, automatically five other set of eyes swung their way and almost immediately found their way to their hands that were entwined. Most of the jaws dropped as they made their way over to the group and sat down and waited for someone to speak,

"Wow! You two finally figured it out then?" Elena asked excitedly.

"Well we had some help." Damon told her, his eyes on his little brother who Elena rounded on,

"Stefan! They were meant to work it out themselves!"

"Oh please, we would still be at a stalemate if I let it continue. Plus I couldn't stand him moping anymore."

"I do not mope!" his protest went ignored.

"So I guess Damon is officially off the market then?" Caroline asked, ignoring the look from Matt,

"No way I could tempt him away?" She asked jokingly,

"Nope." Alaric said, grasping Damon's hand harder,

"My vampire." Everyone burst out laughing.

A/N - Well? What did y'all think? I hope you liked it and it wasn't too much like you didn't want, I don't know I just ran with one or two things, I think it's the mountain air here in the highlands! Oh and by the way if the scene where they finally tell each other how they feel and they kiss feels way to romantic then blame my itunes because my Dalaric playlist came on as I was writing it (Yes, I have a playlist for each of my ships.) Let me know what y'all think and keep an eye out for they sequel to Home Is Where You Are. (This is the prequel to that.)