\\/

"Alright, you have your choice," Damon slurred towards Alaric, standing at the bar inside the Mystic Grill, tons of different drinks in front of him. "Bloody Mary, Screwdriver, Brunch in a Bottle." The vampire downed a shot of whatever he had poured into his glass and chased it with orange juice, then looked at Ric, who was still sitting there grading papers. Damon sighed. "Come on, Ric, I can't drink all this by myself. Well, I mean, I can, but you know…somebody's getting naked." He eyed the girl bartender heavily, and Alaric felt a large stab of jealousy in the pit of his stomach. The human still didn't look up completely, and Damon rolled his eyes and touched Ric's shoulder gently. "I can't believe you're making me drink alone."

Still looking at his papers and incredibly agitated, Alaric finally spoke. "I'm busy."

Damon poured himself another drink, slightly hurt at Alaric's annoyed tone. He certainly didn't show it in his voice, though. "It's the eve of Klaus-ageddon, and you're doing homework? You were all about having fun last night, loverboy." The vampire wagged his eyebrows, and Alaric's heart tugged heavily, but he had had enough.

"This may come as a shock, but I am not here to hang out with you." Even as Damon kept on with the classic eye-fuckery thing he did, Alaric didn't falter in his speech, no matter how badly he wanted to kiss the smirk off Damon's face. "I'm here to see Jeremy, who is an hour late for his shift."

"Kids today, where are their values?" Damon stared dramatically off into the distance, hoping to get a laugh from Alaric, but all he got was a paper dropped in front of him. He glanced at it, and saw that it had Jeremy's name on it.

"That's his mid-term paper. Copied it straight off the internet, didn't even try to hide it." Ric started gathering his things.

Damon smiled. "Ooooh, somebody's getting grounded."

"Did you say you were waiting for Jeremy, as in Jeremy Gilbert?" The blonde bartender asked Alaric. He sighed.

"Yeah."

"He was fired last week." She walked away, and the smile on Damon's face got much bigger.

"Oops," The vampire poured scotch into two separate glasses as Ric's face fell and annoyance emitted from him. "Looks like it's time to go back to my place for sex and whiskey."

"No, Damon, it's not." Whether Alaric agreed with Damon or not, he still took the scotch from him and downed it.

The vampire leaned in closer to Ric, pouting out his bottom lip and giving the man his best puppy dog eyes. "Come on, Ric, you know you want to."

Alaric sighed again. "I do, but I can't. I have to inform Jeremy's sister of his erratic behavior." He jerked his head back, and Damon looked over Alaric's shoulder at Elena sitting with Bonnie at a table. He smiled.

"Look at you, being all father figure," Damon said, stepping a little too close to Alaric. He leaned down again, this time to the human's ear. "It's hot."
The low voice in his ear sent electricity throughout Alaric's body, but he tried not to show it. "Damon, we're in public. Stop." Alaric knew Damon was drunk, and that was the only reason he was acting that way but it was beginning to get all over his nerves and he didn't know what he would do if he snapped.

"Aw, why can't I flirt with you? No one can hear." Damon's lips were terribly close to Alaric's. It took all either of them had not to kiss each other.

"Elena is right back there, and as far as she knows, you're her little plaything, so go flirt with her." Ric looked from Damon's gorgeous baby blue eyes to his undeniably perfect lips. Everything in his body was trying to pull him into the vampire, trying to force him to kiss those perfect lips, but he resisted.

Damon's expression visibly changed, and he stood back up, sipping his scotch. "Dick."

"Yeah," Alaric stood up and pressed his lips to the vampire's ear. "Mine was in you last night." He walked away, towards Elena, leaving Damon at the bar with his mouth hanging open.

That night, after an entire day of dying, coming back to life, then almost dying again, Alaric was completely exhausted. Not to even mention the fact that Jeremy was leaving after being compelled to do so. The human's heart hurt, he knew he would miss Jeremy, but he also knew it was what would be best for the boy. He didn't need to be around all of the shit that was going on in Mystic Falls.

After putting the jeans he had died in in the washing machine, Alaric started to head downstairs to refill on whiskey. The front door was open, and he heard Elena and Damon talking on the porch, and another sharp pull on his heart made Alaric remember what had happened at the bar earlier with Damon. He sighed and stopped at the first landing of the staircase, crouching down and listening intently to what was going on outside. He could see Elena standing by herself.

"No, you know what?" Damon's voice said. "If I'm gonna feel guilty about anything, I'll feel guilty for this." Then, Damon stepped on the porch, took Elena's face in his hands, and kissed her.

Sinking. Alaric's heart was sinking, all the way down into the pit of his stomach. Cold, lifeless shame poured over him as he watched the man he was falling in love with, kiss someone else. He clenched his chest, trying to get the tight pain to go away, but it didn't. It got worse as he stared at the scene in front of him. He wanted to look away, to save himself from this pain, but he couldn't. It was like a fucking car crash that he couldn't take his eyes off of.

"Goodnight," Damon said to Elena, staring in her eyes. The girl stood shockingly still as Damon walked away and disappeared into the night. After a few moments, Elena turned to walk back inside, and Ric quickly stood back up, acting like he was just walking down the stairs.

"Hey, I'm going to-" Elena started, but Alaric held up his hand.

"Bed. Gotcha. I'm going out to get more whiskey before the liquor store closes." Ric's voice was emotionless. He couldn't give away anything, because if he did, he knew he would most likely smack the shit out of Elena, and that wasn't right at all. She had no idea about he and Damon, it wasn't her fault that he felt like his heart had been ripped from his chest.

She stared at him. "Are you okay to drive?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Alaric stepped past her and threw on his jacket, taking his keys out of the pocket.

"Because you died…? Ric, are you sure you're okay?" Elena's voice was laced with so much concern, it almost made Alaric sick to his stomach.

He sighed, but didn't look at her. "I'm fine, Elena. Just go to bed, and lock the door. I'll be back whenever." He didn't give her time to respond before he walked out and shut the door behind him.

\\/

Daylight streamed in small cracks from the curtains in Damon's bedroom, and his head still swam from the ridiculous amount of alcohol he had drank the night before. The vampire opened his eyes, expecting to see Alaric lying beside him, but he didn't. Sighing, he sat up. "Ric? Where'd you get off to?"

Almost immediately, the ghost appeared, standing a foot away from Damon's bed. "Hey. You slept almost all day." The smile on his face never faltered as he sat down at the end of Damon's bed.

"I drank an entire fucking brewery, what do you expect?" Damon's hand shot up to his head, throbbing mercilessly. "You wouldn't be able to get me any aspirin, would you?"

"Nope. Inanimate objects fall right through my hands unless I'm just touching them briefly."

Damon sighed, getting out of the bed. "Well, you're just loads of help." He smiled at Alaric.

"You're capable of getting it yourself, I'd just be spoiling you." Ric stared at Damon's perfect smile, wanting to kiss those lips, but forcing himself not to.

Damon's eyes washed over the ghost's entire body. "I wish you would spoil me, stud."

"Alright, Damon, let's go downstairs and get you some aspirin before you get too rowdy." Alaric's lips turned up in a smile before he pushed Damon towards the door to the bedroom. The vampire rolled his eyes, but walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs, ghost close behind him. Before they could get to the kitchen for aspirin, they found Jeremy and Elena in the living room. Damon sighed.

"What do you two want? I'm very busy."

"We just came to see how you and Alaric are doing," Elena said, smiling warmly and walking up to Damon. "Jeremy told me Bonnie did the spell yesterday."

"Yeah, she did, and it worked. Look, Elena, my head hurts really bad, and I need some medicine. I'll be back in a minute." Damon sped out of the room and into the kitchen. He fiddled through the medicine cabinet and found the small white bottle full of pills, and he was about to open it when the most magical scent filled his nose. He found the source of it; an open bottle of blood. It was warm. He assumed Elena had left it there when she heard him coming down the stairs. Damon stared at it, feeling his face change and his fangs slip down. He didn't want it. He didn't need it. He wasn't going to be Stefan…he couldn't be. He had Alaric back. He didn't need blood until he was stable again.

But the scent flowed around him, enveloping his senses and making him step towards the counter. He took the bottle in his hands, arms trembling. Every bone in his body felt like it was twisting and tensing up with anticipation, but Damon put the bottle back down, his head clearing as he pictured Alaric's perfect smile in his mind. He started to walk away.

Something warm was on his hand, and he looked down to see a few drops of the blood on his finger. Before he could think, his finger was in his mouth. He sucked all the blood away. When there was none left, he turned back to the bottle of blood and poured the crimson liquid in his mouth.

It wasn't enough. His throat burned for more. He needed more. He needed it fresh, he needed to feed.

Damon sped into the living room again, shoving Elena out of the way and sinking his teeth into Jeremy's neck. Fresh, hot, sweet blood filled his throat and instantly the burning went away. He ignored the boys screams, as well as Elena's shouts. Alaric's voice is what pulled him out of his animal-like state. He shoved Jeremy away from him, Damon's face never returning to normal but complete and utter terror engulfing his expression.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Damon?!" Ric shouted at the vampire, but before Damon could respond, Elena had him pinned to a wall. Damon stared at her vampiric face for the first time.

"If you ever hurt Jeremy again, I will fucking kill you, understand?" She sounded too much like Katherine. Damon couldn't take it. He pushed her, too hard, and she flew across the room, slamming into the drink cart and falling to the floor. Glass shattered everywhere and Elena was soaked in whiskey. When she stood back up, Damon was gone.

A/N: Ten chapters! :D I guess I was just kidding about the boring part o_o To be honest, I'll probably have the next chapter up within the next few hours, so do not fret, my dear readers (: PLEASE REVIEW THIS CHAPTER.