Title: Words
Author: AppleL0V3R
Beta-reader: N/A
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Characters: Damon Salvatore and Elena Gilbert
Other Characters: Stefan Salvatore
Theme: Sometimes I stop myself too late (15 minute fics)
Summary: She knows she doesn't mean it but the hurtful, untrue words have already escaped her and it's too late to take them back. She sees the damage they do and hates herself for it.
Word Count: 720
Rating: T
Type: One-shot Collection – Complete
Genre: Romance (Unrequited), Pre-relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Drama, Present tense
Warnings: Monologuing?
Disclaimer: If you've heard of it before, then it's obviously not mine.
Started: February 27, 2017
Completed: June 4, 2017
Last Edited: June 4, 2017
Note: Confession time, I totally stopped watching The Vampire Diaries sometime around season 4 (ish) and trying to pick it back up has been like pulling teeth for me (no offense to anyone who loves it) so this, and any other works I do in the fandom will be set up to season 4 and will be canon divergent if I go past that. Sorry for any inaccuracies up front.
*.*.*
At some point, even before she signed off on being the owner of the house, the Old Salvatore Boarding School turned new mansion had become more home than even the house she lived in was. So when she hops in her car at school with the intention of going home to just sleep for the next decade or so after all the drama that has filled her life for so long and sapped so much of her emotion and energy and optimism, she almost isn't all that surprised when she drives to the mansion while on autopilot rather than actually heading to her house.
She has a key, but the door isn't locked when she gets to it. Bone deep weariness makes it near impossible not to trudge as she navigates the halls and rooms of the mansion, intent on finding one of the unused upstairs rooms that the place has in spades. But, as is her luck since first meeting the Salvatore brothers, she doesn't quite make it past the main story sprawling living room. Perhaps if it had been Stefan, she would have sucked up, found it in her exhaustion to drum up a smile and make small talk until she could excuse herself. But it is not Stefan lounging on the sofa, a stylized glass full of alcohol in one hand and a lazy smirk paired with daring eyes painting his expression.
It is Damon.
And Elena never seems to have enough energy or patience to deal with the older Salvatore brother. Even if she does feel inexplicably drawn to the ruggedly handsome vampire. Damon is always altogether too much to wrap her head around, her heart around, and feels her nonexistent energy levels drop at the mere sight of him. Still, she fights to muster a smile for him. He's done no harm today, inspired no animosity. Before she can say anything, do anything, Damon is across the room faster than she can blink and invading her personal space. Pushing boundaries, and awful habit that's certainly gotten him smacked more than once.
So instead of friendly, those eyes of mesmerizing blue as the dare her to react, she gives him grumpy. "Not today Damon, I just want to go to sleep right now." His smirk turns into a mischievous smile and she remembers too late that Damon is a vampire a natural predator in a way that Stefan was a natural gentleman. And she had just bated him.
He takes a tiny step closer, until she can see the slivers of grey that make his blue eyes seem grey in certain lighting. She cannot tell what mood he is in, Damon is too hard for her to read more often than not, and is too tired besides. But his grin is at once inviting and boyish and she knows what he's going to say before he opens his mouth. "Why, Elena, is that an invitation?"
She does not think before she opens her mouth, "No! It's not an invitation, it's never an invitation!" Grumpy, it seemed had turned bitchy and she sees hurt in those blue blue eyes before his mask, the cold one that makes him seem incapable of any compassion, shutters his expression. Too late to call the words back, she sighs, feels guilt press for the need to apologize. But he's back on the couch in the next instance, pointedly ignoring her and she knows he won't listen to an apology now.
The damage is already done, she tells herself. Forces her feet to step forward, and carry her out of the room before anything else can go wrong.
Hurting Damon causes a her chest to clench, but she cannot see any other way. Knows he is unstable and unpredictable and in the wake of her breakup with Stephen, he is the last person she should be turning to or letting in. She's up the stairs before she can do anything stupid, but she glances back before she can help herself.
Surprise and renewed regret mingle when she finds Damon standing at the base of the stairs, watching her walk away from him until she turns the corner and neither of them can see each other anymore.
It's for the best, she repeats to herself, and ignores the way it feels like a lie.