Freaking Out

***Hello once again! Sorry if this update came a little later than expected but hopefully I can get back on track now that summer's started. I'd like to thank all of you who reviewed the last chapter and those of you who favorited or are now following my story. Every review makes me more motivated so please read and review!Enjoy!***

"I think I'm in love with him, Stefan." Damon confessed, cheeks turning bright crimson for the umpteenth time today. He didn't know exactly why he was spilling his guts to Stefan, of all people, but it felt good to say it, finally release that pent up emotion and just voice it out loud: He loved Ric. Of course, he realized what would probably happen. Stefan was his brother, and therefore had all rights to mock and make fun of him, though he would probably be happy to hear Damon wasn't pursuing Elena anymore. Nevertheless, Damon Salvatore didn't fall in love with just anybody, especially not his male best friend. But he had. And so he blushed and looked at the ground, awaiting Stefan's laughter, ridicule, whatever was to come as punishment for his recent admissions.

But Stefan only gave a simple "I know," not a trace of humor in his eyes, merely acceptance and a hint of something else… possibly pity? Sympathy?

"You know? Since when?" Damon asked incredulously, staring up at Stefan with surprise. Oh God, was it really that obvious?

"A few weeks." Stefan shrugged as if it was no big deal, like this was completely normal.

"How?" Damon pried, wondering what had tipped Stefan off to his feelings.

"Well, with vampire hearing it wasn't really that hard. I might've heard you moaning his name while you were with that girl the other day."

"Eww, gross! You were listening to me have sex? Shame on you, Stefan." Damon tsked, smirking at his little brother, relaxing slightly as it appeared Stefan wasn't going to make fun of his infatuation with the mortal man in the room upstairs.

"I try really hard not to but you're so damn loud! Do you know what it's like to live in the same house as you? Thanks to you all my innocence is lost." Stefan shot back, returning Damon's smirk.

"Can't blame me for that one, Steffy." Damon grinned. "You lost it a long time ago." But he couldn't help but worry at Stefan's words. He was really that loud? Had Ric heard? He remembered that the man recalled the kisses from the Lockwood Cellar and gave a little shudder of embarrassment. He hoped to God Ric didn't guess at his feelings, but maybe he had already figured it out. That would explain his weird behavior this week…

"Hey Stefan? You don't think Ric knows, do you? I mean, could he have heard? Could he have guessed?" Damon asked, steering the conversation back to a more serious topic. He was wringing his hands and pacing the floor with a nervousness Stefan had never known his brother to possess, amazed at how much it seemed that Damon actually… cared.

"I doubt it." Stefan replied, patting his shoulder reassuringly. "I mean, the man doesn't exactly have vampire hearing. And I know you better than anyone on this planet. We've been brothers for over 150 years now, so I know when something's up. I've only seen you in love a few times, so I knew that's what this was when I saw how you looked at him, how you touched him and acted around him. The actual hard evidence like the kissing and stuff was only backing up what I already knew to be true just from watching you."

"God, am I really that transparent?" Damon sighed, putting his face in his hands. Being in love sucked the vast majority of the time, he knew from experience. It seemed like this time would be no different.

"Only to me." Stefan smiled, pulling Damon in for a hug. To his utter shock, he accepted, putting his head on Stefan's shoulder and wrapping his arms around his back.

"You know, I'm glad I've got a brother like you. Sometimes." Damon said, smiling a little despite his anxiety.

"And I'm glad I've got a brother like you… sometimes." Stefan replied releasing Damon from his grip and giving him a smile of his own.

"But what the hell am I going to do? I can't stop thinking about him and I don't want to creep him out! He can't know I feel this way… I don't want to lose him." Damon decided. "But then again, I don't know if I can control myself. He just smells so fucking good! I just want to… God, I just wanna lick him!" Damon suddenly cried.

"Maybe you should talk to him. You might be surprised by what Ric has to say." Stefan advised, thinking about the way he saw Ric looking at Damon too. He didn't know the man as well as his brother, but he had a hunch Alaric liked Damon as more than just a friend. Not that he was some relationship guru or anything.

"I don't think so. He would just be disgusted. And even if he wasn't, things would never be the same between us again. Just promise me you won't tell him, alright?" Damon asked, hoping that he could really trust his brother to keep this secret. If Ric ever found out…

"Of course. Just think about talking to him, though, okay? Don't do anything you're not comfortable with, but it's probably better he finds out that way than if you lose control and end up licking his face off."

"Yeah, yeah whatever. I'll think about it." Damon said, if only to appease Stefan. He really had no intentions of saying anything at all to Ric about these entirely inappropriate feelings. "Thanks again."

"Anytime!" Stefan said, knowing that Damon wasn't going to take his advice. Oh well, he'd just have to find out for himself how Ric was feeling…

….

Damon walked back into Ric's room, smiling to see that he was sound asleep, facial expression one of complete serenity and peace. He acknowledged somewhere in the back of his mind that this behavior would probably be considered strange and suspicious, but he didn't really care, sitting on the edge of the bed and staring at his friend affectionately.

Stefan was right. He probably would end up licking the poor guy's face off, or something equally as horrifying. Seeing as he was watching him sleep right now, things were already getting off on the wrong foot. Normal friends did not watch while their other friend slept, softly running their fingers up their leg. No, that was admittedly not a normal friend behavior.

But Damon continued doing it anyway smiling at the expression on Ric's face, so euphoric in dreams, and his mess of brown hair, sticking out at odd angles on the pillow, which Damon began to stroke with much care, trying not to wake him. He then took a leap of faith and leaned in to place a feathery kiss right on Ric's lips, so light that there was no way Ric could awaken because of it. He was wrong.

"Damon?" He heard Ric murmur, turning over, eyelids fluttering. And just like that Damon was out of the room and in the other end of the house, breathing heavy and mind shouting a constant stream of curse words.

Shit, fuck, dammit! He was so stupid! Alaric's presence must have taken away all of his common sense because what the hell had he been thinking?!

Maybe avoiding Ric altogether was the only way to go.

….

Ric's eyes slowly opened as he groped around for a body that wasn't there, searching wildly for the firm flesh that had so recently been in his arms. Reality sucked. If only he hadn't woken up from that dream… it had been heaven. Damon had leaned in to kiss him, admitting that he really did love him as more than a friend, and heated kissing and caressing had ensued. As the dream went on things became naughtier and naughtier until, well, you know… things happened.

Ric sighed and rubbed his eyes, slightly disappointed. The final kiss, just a slight brush on his lips, barely detectable, had seemed so real it was almost scary. How much he wanted it to be real was almost scarier.

Then the memories came flooding back: Damon's panic when he was lifeless in his arms, forcing that delicious blood down his throat, kissing all over his body, until kissing him right on the lips, just like in his dream. If he hadn't been in so much pain, that would have been heaven too.

And it would be so easy to accept those kisses as something more, as an indication of romantic love, but Ric knew that wasn't the case. They had been in a moment of pure terror and heartbreak, but romantic they were not. He knew Damon too well, realizing that was his way of showing he cared, his desperate attempts to get Ric to awaken, not expressions of a deep and undying love. He knew Damon cared about him greatly as a friend and would have been freaking out had he thought Alaric might die or was even in harm's way, hence the brutal yet swift killing of that bastard Adrian.

Or at least, that's how Alaric explained the lips on his limp form, on his neck, on his mouth, because he couldn't let himself think for even a second, not even hope, that Damon returned his feelings of lust and love. No, that was unthinkable. If he let himself believe it he would do something stupid like kiss him again and ruin everything, and that would be inexcusable. He couldn't entertain these overly optimistic notions when he was sure Damon didn't, couldn't, feel that way about him. It just wouldn't make sense, considering everything he knew about the vampire. He loved Elena, had always loved Elena. Goddamn that girl! Ric loved her to bits but he wished she would stop leading Damon along. He knew she intended on staying with her beloved Stefan and was just keeping Damon hanging on by a thread. She just wouldn't let him go.

But it didn't matter anyway, because Elena or no Elena, Damon didn't like Ric in that manner. And Ric wasn't planning on revealing his own feelings. Ever.

…..

"Hey Stefan." Ric said, walking into the kitchen with a loud yawn, stopping to stretch his arms along with the rest of his aching body. God he was sore! Where was Damon with more of that healing blood?

"Sorry, Damon just left to feed, but is there anything I can do for you?" Stefan said, as if reading his mind.

"Nah, that's okay, I was just going to get something to eat." Ric replied, shuffling over to the cabinets to pull out a bowl, spoon, and some brand of cereal that had little granola pieces in it, before proceeding to the refrigerator where he got some OJ and milk. He didn't even know what time of day it was, but breakfast always sounded like a good idea.

He sat down at the table and poured a bowl of the unknown cereal with milk and a glass of the orange juice, shoveling the contents in his mouth hungrily. It was surprisingly satisfying and he poured a second bowl after finishing the first in a matter of minutes. He was so focused on the food before him that he didn't even notice when Stefan sat down in the opposite chair with a mug of steaming coffee until he started to speak.

"So, Ric… how are you feeling?" Stefan asked with a smile, apparently attempting to make small talk, something Alaric really wasn't in the mood for. He knew the brown-haired vampire was trying to be nice, so he returned the smile.

"A lot better, though I'm still a little sore." Ric said, wincing and rubbing his neck as if to reinforce the statement.

"Yeah, that usually happens, especially after drinking so much vampire blood." Stefan assured, nodding sympathetically at the human pain he couldn't really understand anymore.

The teacher just smiled again and returned to his bowl, not exactly sure what else to say, settling instead for an uncomfortable silence. Not that it was really that awkward, he just didn't know why Stefan was still sitting there as if he wanted to say something else, or wanted Ric to say something else. He had never been as close to the younger brother as he was to the older one, considering Stefan was his student and didn't have as much of a drinking habit as Damon. They had never progressed to the point of ease with which Ric and Damon talked, despite liking the guy well enough.

"I want you to know that I really care about my brother, okay?" Stefan finally blurted out looking a stunned Ric straight in the eye. Where the hell was this coming from?

"Yeah… okay." Ric finally said, feeling slightly unnerved at the sudden outburst. Where was this conversation going…?

"So… I just wannna know… do you like him?" Alaric was taken aback by this question, and he raised his eyebrows in disbelief. Like him how? Did Stefan know something?

"Ummm… of course I like him. I mean, he's my best friend!" He answered, suspecting this was not what Stefan meant.

"I know you care about him. But do you, you know, like him like him?" Stefan prodded. At this point, Alaric was stunned, having no idea what to say. If he told Stefan the truth he would probably tell Damon… but maybe he could convince him to keep this a secret. How did he know all this anyway?

"What are you insinuating, exactly?" He asked suspiciously, stalling.

"C'mon, you know what I mean!" Stefan said, exasperated. "Do your feelings surpass those of friendship? It's okay to tell me, I won't tell Damon, I just want to know for the sake of everyone involved here. It's perfectly alright to be… attracted to him."

"Alright, fine! Of course I'm attracted to him! I keep dreaming about him and after kissing him everything's turned all weird and I want to kiss him again but I think he'll be disgusted by me so I'm trying to keep myself under control but I really like him and want to touch him and I'm afraid our entire friendship, which I value greatly, is going to go to hell if Damon ever finds out how I feel, okay? Happy now?" Ric said, allowing all the words he had wanted to say for days now erupt out of his mouth like lava, spewing into the air with such force that Stefan actually leaned back a couple inches. It did feel good to finally admit everything out loud, but now that there was another person who knew his secret, it was going to be that much harder to keep quiet. His situation wasn't aided by the fact that Stefan just sat there staring at him with this shocked expression on his face, eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open.

"You kissed him?" He asked stupidly after a long while of just looking at Ric with wonder and a tinge of amusement.

"Hell yeah I did! And it was fucking awesome!" He exclaimed, emotions on overdrive after his long confession. Stefan couldn't help but snicker at this one, covering his mouth with a hand to try to muffle the noises, but Ric just glared at him. "Shut up! It was a big mistake anyway. I played it off as a joke, of course, but I think Damon must've seen right through me because things have been off ever since. Every time we touch he cringes away from me and he's always averting his eyes, never looking right at me." Stefan knew the real reason Damon was acting this way, but damn, he had promised not to tell Ric. This was getting complicated. Should he tell?

No, he decided, his brother had trusted him enough to confess his deepest inner feelings, so he shouldn't break that promise, and he couldn't break his promise to Ric either. He'd have to keep both of their secrets, even though each would be elated to hear what the other had to say.

"I wouldn't sweat over it too much, Ric." Stefan advised. "I'm sure that's not why Damon's acting this way. I know he has other things on his mind. But maybe you should talk to him, you know, tell him what you just told me." Alaric just looked at Stefan like he was crazy, shaking his head, incredulous.

"Are you kidding me? He would never talk to me again! Telling him is out of the question. No, I'll just have to get over it or ignore it, one or the other. Thanks anyway, though." Ric said, moving to put his bowl in the sink and leave the room before the real regret of telling Stefan, Damon's brother, set in. That had been stupid. Stefan would most likely tell him, considering how much he supposedly cared about him. But if Stefan did end up telling, Ric did have a bag full of vervain darts, wooden bullets, and stakes…

"Damon's a lot more accepting than you think. In fact, I'm sure he'd be really happy to hear how much you care about him. He'd be flattered." Stefan tried, attempting to put emphasis on just how happy Damon would be if he heard how Ric truly felt. But it was all to no avail.

"Thanks but no thanks, Stefan, I don't think hearing that your best guy friend is in love with you is particularly comforting."

"Would you be happy?" Stefan asked.

"What, if Damon said he was in love with me? Of course I'd be happy! But that's different because I'm already in love with him."

"Well, maybe he's already in love with you." Stefan said, wincing inwardly at how close he was to just telling all and explaining his earlier conversation with Damon on this exact same subject. But no, he couldn't betray his trust like that.

Alaric gave Stefan another 'are you fucking insane?' look before bursting into laughter.

"Yeah, the moment Damon Salvatore is in love with me is the day it snows in July." Ric said before exiting the room in a huff, feeling only slightly better than before. This little talk had solved none of his problems.

….

A few hours later, when Stefan was out hunting and Damon was holed up in his bedroom fantasizing about what Alaric was doing in the living room and Alaric was sitting in the living room fantasizing about what Damon was doing in his bedroom, the doorbell rang.

Ric sprang up to answer it, jolted out of his reveries and instantly thankful to whoever had done it. He shouldn't be wishing for things that were never going to happen.

"Oh, hi Elena. Come on in." Ric said, swinging the door open and motioning for her to enter the house.

"Is Stefan around?" She asked, kicking off her shoes and setting her bag on the ground before plopping on the couch.

"Sorry, no. He just went hunting, so it might be awhile." He smiled apologetically, watching as Elena turned to look behind her, eyes lighting up as she saw something or someone to her liking. He also turned and saw the object of her excitement: Damon. Looking damn sexy too, with a tight black sweater and black jeans, all coordinating with his midnight black hair, messy and wild from being laid on wrong. The monochromatic outfit only served to highlight the single thing of color: his eyes, a perfectly clear blue that seemed to burn out from underneath his arched brows and heavy black lashes. Ric's breath caught in his throat and he had to remind himself to exhale and inhale, take it easy, it's only your best friend, Damon Salvatore, who just so happens to be an extremely attractive vampire that sends shivers down your spine with a single glance, makes you lick your lips and stare in embarrassing ways just because he's so. fucking. hot.

Damon immediately turned to look at Ric as well and his cheeks flushed crimson, (Jesus, how many times was he going to blush today?) remembering the humiliating thoughts he had constructed upstairs in his bedroom. He turned away quickly and looked at Elena, who was drooling over him like a lovesick puppy, no shame in ogling him despite the fact that she never admitted to liking him as anything more than a friend, maintaining that Stefan was her true love. As if.

"What are you doing here, Elena?" Damon asked casually, an air of indifference about him. Because frankly, he didn't give a shit what Elena was doing here.

She frowned slightly at his tone, but perked back up and gave him an award-winning smile.

"I thought you could help me with my homework. It's really hard and you're so smart… so… yeah. Want to?"

"To be honest, not really. But I will if you really want me to, I suppose." He said, shrugging. "And I'm not that smart, so stop trying to flatter me. Why don't you just wait for Stefan anyway?"

Elena was taken aback by this. Damon always jumped on the chance to spend time with her, especially when Stefan wasn't around. And now he was acting like he could give a shit less about hanging out with her? What the hell was going on?

"Well, I wanted some help now and I thought you might want to, I don't know, hang out with me a little bit." She said flirtatiously, shooting him another sexy smirk. But apparently he wasn't buying it.

"Yeah, not really." He said, seemingly unaffected by her attempts to woo him.

"Damon, is something wrong?" She asked suspiciously, actually a bit concerned.

"Yes, there are plenty of things wrong right now, but none that concern you, so don't bother asking about them."

"Damon, come on. You usually love to spend time with me! Why are you acting like this?" Elena said, sounding rather hurt.

"Because I'm in love with somebody else, okay?" Damon snapped, looking a little embarrassed.

"Oh." Was all she managed to say, utter and complete shock and disbelief stamped on her pretty features. To say that Alaric was shocked was an understatement. He was frozen still at the admission, mouth ajar, blinking rapidly like he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

At first Elena looked disappointed, sad, and maybe even slightly angry, but she quickly shook her head and smiled a little shakily at him, walking over to pull him into a hug.

"Oh, Damon. I'm really happy for you." She said, giving him a genuine smile. "But who is it? I have to know all the details!"

Damon's eyes drifted over and rested on Ric for a split second before returning back to Elena, cheeks even redder than before.

"I don't feel comfortable saying yet." He muttered, looking down at the ground.

"Okay, that's fine, no pressure or anything." Elena reassured him, giving him a final pat on the shoulder before heading upstairs. "I'm going to go wait in Stefan's room. Feel free to tell me whenever you're ready. I can't wait to know! We can go on double dates and everything! I wonder if Stefan knows yet…" Elena babbled excitedly as she ascended the stairs, finally reaching the top and heading to Stefan's room.

If Stefan told her, by God Damon would kill that bastard…

Then Ric cleared his throat, causing Damon to whirl around and face him, looking rather sheepish and Ric looking rather upset. Damon loved someone else? Life really sucked. He was finally over Elena and now he'd moved on to some other girl? He had no chance in hell of ever winning him over. Not that he had any plans to do so, but one could always dream. And dreams could always be crushed.

"You didn't tell me? I thought we were best friends." Ric said, hurt visible behind his dark blue eyes.

"Ric..." Damon started, unsure of what to say. 'I didn't tell you because it's you I'm in love with' followed by a passionate kiss and Ric serving him a punch in the face? No thanks. "I meant it when I said I wasn't comfortable divulging this information yet."

"But I won't tell anyone. I mean, you really are my best friend! Don't I deserve to know?" Ric asked subconsciously moving closer until his face was right in front of Damon's, chests nearly touching.

The vampire's eyes moved directly to Alaric's lips, seeming entranced by their smallest movements. He licked his own lips and looked back up to hold his best friend's gaze, eyes filled with lust. God, he wanted him so bad, his head was cloudy from their proximity, and gazing into those deep blue eyes, those never-ending pools of water, all he wanted was Ric to be his. And that wonderfully delicious smell that seemed to surround the teacher at all times once again had Damon woozy with desire.

"I can't tell you because I'm in love with – "

Cliffhanger! Mwa-ha-ha-ha! *evil laughter*