This went in a totally different direction than what I had planned. Not much Damon in this chapter.
WARNING: You could probably read this part as unrequited!Tyler/Alaric or Tyler/Alaric preslash. I had no intention of pairing them together when I wrote this and somehow it got away from me.
Alaric is a moron. A stupid, naive, too trusting moron and he has no one to blame but himself. He had promised himself when this. . .fling started that he wouldn't get attached. Damon and he were casual lovers and that's it. And what does he do? He falls in love. He'd fallen in love with Damon Salvatore, heart breaker extraordinaire.
He'd been going to Elena's house to check on Elena and Stefan and he'd seen it.
The kiss.
He didn't even get out of his car. He'd been frozen in place, totally shocked and when he regained control of himself, he'd driven away, determined to get home before he broke down. He made it halfway before he had to pull over, before he stopped the car and pressed his face into his hands.
Alaric feels like a fool. How had he not seen the truth? Of course, Damon would be in love with Elena. She's young, untarnished and beautiful, not some middle-aged high school teacher with a vampiric ex-wife and a drinking problem. Plus, it must help that she looks exactly like Katherine. Bitterly, the teacher wonders if Damon will whisper things to her in the dead of night when she can't sleep, things about love and eternity and how much she means to him.
He lowers his hands back to the wheel and leans his head back against the seat. He can't do this right now. He needs to go hom-
There's a knock on the window and Alaric jerks his head to the left, looking out at Tyler. He rolls down the window as he hastily wipes his eyes.
"Tyler, what are you doing out?" His student looks dejected and lost and Alaric is immediately concerned.
"My dad's dead." It sounds so cold, so detached, like Tyler's repeated it so many times he's not even listening to himself. Alaric climbs out of the car, unsure of what to say or what to do, but Tyler keeps talking. "I just- I don't want to go home, you know? Everywhere I look, he's there and-"
Alaric knows that Tyler's a strong kid, mentally and physically, but he's breaking down; Vicki's gone and now his father's gone.
"Can I drop you off somewhere? Matt's house?" Tyler laughs bitterly.
"Matt and I aren't there yet. I messed up; I always fucking mess up." He sinks to the ground, his hands cupped around the back of his head.
"Hey." Alaric follows him down and pulls him into a loose hug. "Everyone messes up. Everyone fucks up, Tyler."
"Not like me." Tyler wraps his arms around Alaric's back. "Never like me."
They sit there like that by the road in an awkward hug for a while, Tyler just calming down and Alaric focusing on someone other than himself. It's nice for the moment and then, Alaric spots Damon stalking towards them.
Tyler can feel him tensing and they pull apart, standing up as Damon reaches them.
"How cute." He's seething with rage and jealousy and Alaric keeps thinking You lied to me, you told me I meant something, ! "Having a moment, are we?" He's sneering at the teacher, totally ignoring Tyler.
Who's looking between Damon and Alaric like he's seeing something new, looking beneath the skin to see the bruises Damon's painted on him, like he can smell them on each other.
"We need to talk." Damon steps forward and Alaric wants to hit him.
"No, we don't." He refrains though, tells himself that he doesn't need Tyler spreading it around school, but it's really because he knows it's a fight he can't win; it's a fight Alaric's already lost because he fell in love.
The look in the teacher's eyes makes Damon pause. But when Damon doesn't back up, Tyler steps between them, narrowing his eyes at the vampire. There's tension there now and Alaric knows that Tyler was raised to fight even if he doesn't know why and he knows that Damon would kill the kid just because he can.
"Tyler, we're going." Alaric's not going to sit here and watch the teenager destroy himself and he's definitely not going to watch Damon help.
"You're not going anywhere until you talk to me." Damon's acting like he's done nothing wrong and Alaric wants to kill him, wants to kill him and have him stay dead; he closes his eyes for just a moment and all hell breaks loose.
There's a growl and then flesh hitting metal and Alaric opens his eyes to find Tyler pinned against the car, snarling as Damon pushes him. It's like watching two predators fight for the carcass (which apparently is Alaric) and he's just surprised that Tyler's not wincing from Damon's strength; instead, the teenager just seems fueled by it and he shoves back at the vampire. What shocks Alaric even more is that Damon moves. He's sent back and Tyler charges forward, ready to attack again when Alaric grabs his arm.
"Enough!" Tyler turns, about to hit him, when he stops; Alaric swears that the boy's eyes are yellow, but when he looks again, they're brown.
Alaric and Tyler get into the car with no more protests from Damon, but the teacher sees the confusion and hurt in the vampire's eyes.
He still drives away because he knows Damon can see the hurt and betrayal in his.
"So you and Salvatore?" Tyler's voice is gruff and when Alaric glances over, his student is looking out the window and not at him.
"Is it that obvious?" He doesn't know why he doesn't try to deny it. Before he was gung ho about no one knowing and now . . . And now he can't seem to care.
"Not really. To be honest, I don't even know how I knew. I just-" Tyler pauses. "I just knew."
"Well, it's not a problem now." Alaric won't tie Damon down when the Salvatore really wants to be with someone else. He's not cruel.
"What he'd do?" It's immediate and he almost laughs.
"What makes you think it's his fault?" He's going back to his house, not even thinking about it.
"Screw ups tend to know each other." Tyler's back to self-loathing and Alaric's having none of that. "Damon and I are exactly the same."
"At least you learn from your mistakes. Damon keeps making the same ones over and over again." He wonders if Tyler realizes how fucked up Alaric is, falling for vampires every single time. "Sometimes I think Damon and I deserve each other." There's silence then as Alaric pulls up his driveway and parks the car. "I'm sorry. About your dad."
It's so terribly inadequate that the man wants to swallow the words back down, but Tyler just looks away. They climb out of the car and he unlocks the front door; he's about to push it open when Tyler grabs his wrist. The hairs on the back of Alaric's neck stand up and suddenly, he's all too aware of how close the teenager is and how those eyes are locked on his.
"You deserve better." The hand on his arm is hot, coaxing the blood beneath the skin to the boiling point, and the eyes (he could swear they look gold again, but Alaric's not sure of anything now) are trying to pull him apart, trying to delve into the teacher's soul.
"Tyler?" Alaric thinks that bringing the boy home might have been a terrible idea.
"Do you love him?" It's whispered, so sweet like poison from a devil''s tongue, and they're in public; anyone could see them pressed together (and is this the point Alaric's hit that he's not concerned with the actual act but with the possibility of getting caught?).
"Yes." It's the truth.
And Tyler has the gall, has the stones, to laugh bitterly, pulling away. "That was your first mistake." His eyes (and they're brown again; what is going on-) are cold and angry. "Never fall in love with someone like Damon."
Tyler pushes his way inside the house and Alaric is left on his front stoop. His keys slip from his hand and he doesn't even try to pick them up.
"Damon and I are exactly the same."
What has he gotten himself into?
Read and review please.
Also, side question: What do you think of Tyler/Alaric (in that order)? What are your favorite pairings?