"Hurry up, Damie! I wanna show you what Daddy and I built!"
The young boy, nine years old, dashed after the little girl as her long, fine brown hair flew out behind her. Her brown eyes had been shining with excitement when she'd told him that she had a surprise, and that he couldn't tell anyone about it if she showed him. Of course, he had agreed; curiosity had gotten the better of him.
"Slow down, 'Lena!" he complained, a tree branch nearly poking him in his blue eyes as he fought to break through them; he was tall for his age, so it was more difficult for him to dodge the branches of the trees than his seven year old friend here.
"No!" she said with a giggle. "We're almost there, and if we slow down, we'll never be back in time for supper!"
Damon Salvatore groaned, ducking down under a thicker branch and bumping straight into tiny Elena Gilbert, sending them both tumbling down a small hill. Elena shrieked and giggled, landing on top of him when they came to the bottom.
"Topsies!" she claimed proudly, poking his nose. Damon pouted with irritation; she always wound up on top, because she was so small.
"No fair," he grumbled, pushing her off. "We weren't even playing!"
"Don't be a sore loser, Damie… oh!"
Elena scrambled to her feet and ran forward, stopping when she got to a certain tree that, Damon noticed, had a ladder attached. Puzzled, Damon sat up and got to his feet again, brushing the dirt off of his jeans.
"What is it?" he asked, jogging over to her.
"It's my secret club house!" Elena said, stepping up onto the ladder. At this point, Damon had cast his gaze up and noticed for the first time the wooden structure balanced up in the tree.
"That can't be very safe," he said, scrutinizing it. Normally he wouldn't care; he and the boys at school climbed trees much taller than this. But Elena was a girl. A little girl. She didn't belong in trees; she belonged on the ground, having tea parties with Caroline and Bonnie.
"Is so!" Elena objected as she started to climb. "Daddy nailed it down nice and good for me so I wouldn't fall."
Damon frowned, getting onto the ladder and climbing after her. "I bet he said you couldn't come out here by yourself, too, right? Bet you aren't even allowed to climb up the tree on your own!"
Elena scowled down at him, climbing up the rest of the ladder to the small hole in the bottom of the house. "Am too! Daddy said I could! You can just go home if you're going to be a meanie! I'll bring Steffy next time."
Damon scowled back and climbed faster, causing Elena to squeal and bolt up into the house and out of sight.
"My dad wouldn't let Stefan out here by himself! He'd be too afraid of him getting hurt!"
"Then why are you out here?" Elena sneered as she huddled up in the corner, setting up her dolls.
Damon poked his head up into the small house, frowning over at her. "'Cause my dad don't care what I do, that's why!"
"That's a dumb reason," Elena said, sticking her tongue out at him.
"Is not!" Damon snapped, leaping up into the house and clenching his fists.
"Is too! Your daddy don't let you do whatever you want! I heard him yell at you before when you was bad!"
Damon frowned, cringing at the memory. His father yelled, alright; and it was always at him. Little Stefan could do no wrong, but Damon? He was the bad one. Always being yelled at, grounded, and slapped…
"You be quiet!" Damon yelled, storming over to her and snatching her doll away. "I… I could beat you up if I wanted to for that!"
Elena's eyes widened with fear and they flooded with tears as she huddled backward, suddenly afraid that he may do just that. "No, Damie, no!" she wailed, and the nine year old boy's anger melted away when he saw the tears running down her face.
"Aw, 'Lena," he complained, dropping to his knees and putting her doll down. "Don't cry…"
"You said you was gonna beat me up…!"
He shook his head, moving closer to her and pulling her into a hug. "I won't. I won't hit you…"
Of course, his words didn't help at all. She just continued to wail and cry into his blue t-shirt, her tiny form quivering. Damon felt awful for making her cry; he always felt awful when he made Elena cry. But, he had a temper on him; a temper he'd inherited from his father…
"Hey… why don't we go back to the party? Get some birthday cake, huh? I bet Jeremy wouldn't mind if we stole a few pieces…"
Elena sniffled, looking up at him with her big brown eyes. "Cake…?"
Damon nodded lots. "Yeah! Lots of cake… I bet it's chocolate, too; your mommy makes the best chocolate cake."
Elena grinned and wiped her tears away, shaking her head. "No way! Your mommy does!"
Damon leapt up to his feet, grabbing her small hand in his. "Come on, then; before stupid Stefan eats it all!"
Giggling, Elena shook her head. "No, Steffy wouldn't do that; he don't like chocolate cake. Only chocolate bunnies at Easter time."
Damon shook his head as he towed Elena toward the exit. "Stefan and his bunnies…"
… . … . … . … . … . …
"Truth or dare, Bonnie?"
"Umm… truth!"
The little girl nodded, her dark pigtails bouncing as all of the children sat in a circle in the grass, eating cake and ice cream; Damon was wedged between Elena and, much to his distaste, Stefan. His mother had insisted that he let his little brother play with them all, because it was only fair. Begrudgingly, Damon had agreed; he did just about anything his mother asked, mainly because Angelique Salvatore always asked him nicely. Unlike his father…
"Who's the cutest Backstreet Boy?"
"Ewwwww, Caroline!" Bonnie said, pretending to gag. "Boys are icky!"
Caroline rolled her blue eyes and tossed her blonde curls over her shoulder, huffing. "You're so impature, Bonnie," she sneered, and Damon snickered.
"Immature, Caroline…"
"That's what I said, doofus!" she snapped, glaring at him. "Anyway, the answer is obviously Nick. Nick is the cutest."
"Nuh uh!" Elena objected, turning to look at Caroline, who was sitting beside her. "Brian is the cutest! Me and Mummy both think so!"
"Is not!"
"Is too…!"
"Oh, whatever! It's your turn!" Caroline huffed, and Elena grinned, turning to Damon.
"Truth or dare, Damie?"
Damon looked thoughtful before responding with, "Dare."
Elena was about to speak when Caroline leaned over, whispering something in her ear. Elena giggled and nodded, turning to face Damon again.
"I dare you… to kiss me!"
Damon's eyes widened, moving backward a bit. "Kiss you?"
Elena nodded, proud of her dare. It was the most grown up one any of them had done so far. The best part was there was no way Damon would do it.
"On the lips!" Caroline said, grinning deviously, and there were numerous gags around the circle, most of them coming from Matt Donovan and Tyler Lockwood.
"Gross!" the said at the same time, and Caroline grinned wider.
Damon was conflicted. The boys were right; kissing girls was strictly forbidden. It was gross, and everyone knew it gave you cooties. Cooties could kill you, right?
Damon thought about his parents fleetingly; well, they kissed, and both of them were still alive and well. He was older than all of the other kids, too; maybe one little kiss wouldn't hurt him. Surprising everyone, he leaned forward and puckered his lips.
Horrified, Elena squealed and leapt to her feet, dashing away across the lawn. "Damie, no! That's icky!"
His lips formed into an irritated pout as he got to his feet and chased after her. "You dared me to! If I don't, I lose!"
"No!" Elena squealed, running faster when she realized he was gaining on her. "I'll get cooties!"
"Come back here!" Damon yelled, running as fast as he could. "I gotta kiss you, dummy!"
"Noooooo!" Elena shrieked, squeaking when she tripped and fell on her face into the grass, rolling onto her back just in time to be tackled by Damon.
"Topsies," he said with a smirk, leaning down and placing a clumsy kiss to her lips, pulling back quickly.
"Ewww…!" Elena said in a high pitched voice, a look of disgust on her face. "Damie…!"
"Gross!" he complained, wiping his mouth on his arm. "You gave me girl slobber!"
"You kissed me, icky boy!"
"You slobbered on me, icky girl!"
The group of children were hysterical with laughter; Caroline was rolling around on the grass, and shrieked with horror when Matt and Tyler both pounced on her in attempt to kiss her and get revenge on Damon's part, seeing that, miraculously, Elena's girl cooties hadn't killed him.
"No!" she screamed, thrashing around. "Everybody needs to stop kissing me!"
Both boys were cackling with delight, and Bonnie pounced on them in attempt to rescue her friend. "Dumb boys!" she squealed.
In all of the excitement, the group had failed to keep track of Stefan. None of them had even thought of him until…
"Oh, my God! Look!"
"Angelique, go grab him!"
"Stefan, no!"
There was a squeal of tires, numerous shouts from the adult crowd, and then all was deathly silent. A few moments later, Stefan started to wail.