Damon.
Damon tossed and turned in bed, cursing at himself for not being able to fall asleep. Finally after what seemed like hours of trying Damon got out of bed. Damon looked at the clock that read "6:35". He let out a loud sigh and decided it was time to get ready for school.
He got dressed into a red sweater, and dark blue jeans. The red sweater was covered in blood, and Damon let out a frustrated sigh when he figured out that he couldn't wear it to school. Damon looked through the 4 different shirts he had and they were all covered in blood. He only had 4 shirts because it was easier for Damon to move place to place with less belongings. Damon cursed, and started looking through his old dresser, only to realize that the last time he was here he destroyed all his clothes. He quietly opened the door to his room because he knew Stefan would still be sleeping.
Damon crept to Stefan's room and opened the door quietly. He looked at Stefan's bed and saw a very peaceful looking Stefan. Damon opened one of the drawers and grabbed the first shirt he saw, and quietly crept out of the room. He took off the red sweater and put on Stefan's blue T-Shirt. It was very big on Damon, which he thought was weird because he was always more muscular than Stefan. But he pushed the thought away and made his way down the stairs.
Damon could now walk properly, he was still a little bit weak, but not so much that it was noticeable. He sat on the couch and pulled out his phone. He scrolled through his phone for what seemed like a minute before Stefan came down the flight of stairs.
"Morning," Stefan greeted happily. Damon rolled his eyes, and let out a groan to acknowledge that he heard Stefan. "Feeling better?" Stefan questioned, while opening the fridge.
"Yup," Damon replied in an annoyed tone. Wow Stefan was already making Damon annoyed, just by standing in the all powerful vampires presence.
"Are you ready for school?" Stefan asked, after he drank a packet of animal blood.
"I guess so," Damon stated. Stefan put on his backpack and threw an empty black backpack at Damon.
"I got you a backpack," Stefan explained.
"Wow thanks Stef. I'll use this for the 2 days that I stay in school," Damon sassed. Stefan just rolled his eyes, and started walking towards the door. "Hey! Wait for me!" Damon yelled, using his vampire speed to catch up with Stefan. The two brothers started walking towards the school together. Until Stefan looked Damon up and down, looking super confused, before he smiled slightly.
"Is that my shirt?" Stefan asked. Damon just sighed embarrassedly and rolled his eyes.
"All my shirts were covered in blood," Damon mumbled. "I don't have any clothes," he said embarrassingly, hoping Stefan wouldn't hear him. But then he remembered that vampires had super hearing. He cursed at himself in his head for forgetting. "Well do you want it back?!" Damon snapped at Stefan, half joking, half not.
"No, no," Stefan repeated, in a surprised tone. "Just-" he cut himself off, looking into Damon's eyes. "Tell me next time you need something. You don't need to sneak around," he comforted. Damon felt his eyes gloss over, which he thought was extremely weird because his humanity was off, but he pushed the thought away. "Maybe, we could get you some new clothes?" Stefan questioned. Damon just nodded and looked away from Stefan.
"I guess that would be nice," Damon mumbled, and he saw Stefan smile slightly. The brothers walked in silence for a couple more minutes until they got to school.
"What class do you have?" Stefan asked.
"Math," Damon stated angrily.
"Oh good luck bud," Stefan laughed, hitting Damon on the shoulder. "You suck at math," he laughed, and was immediately met with murderous eyes. "Sorry, we aren't there yet," he mumbled. Damon nodded and stuck his tongue out at the little brother, and walked away sassily.
Damon made his way to the math classroom, and sat down in the only empty seat in the class. He was sitting beside a blonde jock, and a blonde girl. She looked at Damon and started curling her hair with her fingers.
"Hi, I'm Caroline Forbes," she greeted.
"Hello Caroline," Damon said. "I'm Damon Salvatore," he winked.
"Salvatore?" She questioned. "You have a brother right?"
Damon let out a frustrated sigh. "Yes I do. And he's a pain," Damon added. Caroline laughed at his comment. The teacher walked in and everyone stopped talking.
"We have a new student today," she stated. "Do you want to come introduce yourself?" It was more of a demand than a question, but Damon would have done it anyway.
"Of course," he smiled evilly. He casually walked to the front of the classroom. "Hi, I'm Damon Salvatore," he greeted.
"Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?" The teacher questioned.
"I'm 17, I think?" Damon joked. "You're probably only going to see me twice because I'm most likely going to drop out," he stated, and everyone laughed, but the teacher. "And? I'm really into hard rock," he added.
"Okay? You can sit back down," the teacher demanded. Damon bowed and then took his seat.
"Wow, you're very confident," Caroline complimented.
"Yup. I'm good looking, so confidence just kind of comes with the package," he laughed, cocking an eyebrow to make himself look better. She laughed at his joke. Then Damon focused back on the teacher, seldomly sending flirtatious looks at Caroline.
After an hour and a half of math, it was time for lunch. Damon grabbed his backpack and ran out of the classroom. He went down to the cafeteria, and cursed when he realized that he brought no money.
Whatever. I don't need to eat. He thought. Damon moved away from the line and went outside. He sat at a table and pulled out his phone. Before he knew it a bunch of people started walking towards him. It was an entire group of girls.
"Hey, ladies," Damon smiled.
"Hey!" They replied in unison, all laughing. "Can we sit here?" One of the girls asked.
"Of course," he winked. Damon saw his brother sitting with Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie.
He let out a sigh, because he was really hungry. Usually Damon could go weeks without eating human food, but his little meet and greet with Mia really did a number on his health. Vervain is pretty nasty stuff.
All the girls at the table were curling their hair on their fingers and sending him flirtatious smiles, that of course Damon would return. He looked back over at Stefan and saw him laughing at something Elena had said. Stefan looked over at Damon, noticing that the older brother was staring at him. Damon quickly whipped his head in the direction of all the girls, still watching Stefan out of the corner of his eye. The girls were talking to each other but Damon wasn't listening, he really didn't care what they were talking about.
Stefan said something to Elena, got up and started walking towards Damon's table. Damon groaned when he felt a hand on his shoulder, which he knew belonged to his little brother.
"Hey, Stefan," the girls said in unison.
"Hey, girls," Stefan replied. "Can you guys go while I talk to my brother?" He asked hesitantly.
"Of course!" One of them responded, and all the girls followed her as she started to walk away. Stefan took a seat next to Damon.
"Why are you bugging me?" Damon asked in an annoyed tone. "It was going great with those ladies," Damon pointed out.
"Why aren't you eating?" Stefan questioned, getting straight to the point. "I haven't seen you eat anything since you've come back to the house," he added.
"I've eaten," Damon snapped back defensively.
"Okay, sure," Stefan replied sarcastically. "I'm going to ask again. Why aren't you eating?" He questioned, a little bit louder this time.
"I'm not hungry," Damon lied in a monotone voice. Stefan nodded and rolled his eyes.
"Why aren't you eating, Damon?!" Stefan practically screamed. Damon looked around embarrassingly. People at the nearby tables were looking at the two vampire brothers. This included Elena's table.
"Stop babying me!" Damon yelled. He didn't want to yell, but Damon always did when he was put in a position like this. "I don't need your help!" He snapped back at Stefan.
"I care about you Damon! I just want to help!" He reassured, loudly.
"Stop caring about me!" Damon yelled back. "Because I don't care about you!" Damon snapped angrily. Stefan immediately went dead silent.
"I-I-I" Stefan stuttered, trying to think of something to say to the older vampire. "I know you don't," Stefan whispered. "But I just want you to know that I care about you more than anything. I just want to make sure you're okay," Stefan stated softly. Damon looked away quickly, because if Damon looked at Stefan he knew he would hurt him, and deep down he didn't want to do that.
"Just leave me alone!" Damon yelled, losing his temper. He stomped away and left the little brother to his own thoughts. He marched straight to the gym since P.E was the next class he had. He walked into the gym and saw a group of girls on one side and a group of boys on the other. Damon walked towards the group of girls. "Hey ladies!" He said flirtatiously.
"Hey, Damon!" They squealed. Damon loved that they already knew his name, it gave him a power of control in his own mind. To Damon it showed that he was important enough to remember and Damon really needed to be enough. Damon and the girls talked about some exams that were coming up that none of them actually cared about.
"Yeah it's not like we need to go to college to do the things we love," Damon pointed out. "Plus none of us are really that-" but he cut himself off, when he saw Stefan enter the gym through the corner of his eye.
Stefan looked terrible. His eyes were glossed over and it looked like one thing would make Stefan go over the edge and send him sobbing. He had red rings under his eyes, and Damon could tell that he most likely had been crying. Even from halfway across the gym, Damon could see how stressed Stefan looked. As the younger brother rubbed the back of his neck wearily. A sudden wave of guilt washed over the older vampire.
I shouldn't have said that. Damon thought. But then Damon snapped back to reality. He deserved everything that came at him. Remember you promised him a eternity of misery. Damon convinced himself in his head. He decided that this was the truth. Stefan walked over to the boys on the other side of the gym. And for a couple minutes he talked to that blonde jock that sat next to Damon in math class. After a couple of minutes, and a lot of anxious glances, Stefan finally started to walk out towards Damon. He hesitantly put his hand on Damon's shoulder.
"C-c-can we talk?" He stuttered anxiously.
"Fine," the older brother responded, letting himself be dragged away from the big group of ladies.
"Damon I-" he started but got interrupted by someone else.
"Everyone come to the middle of the gym!" The gym teacher yelled. Damon speed walked away from Stefan, very thankful that the teacher had interrupted their conversation. "Today we will be playing dodgeball," the teacher stated. Damon saw a bunch of the boys cheer, and a couple of the girls. "I will number you for teams," she told the class, giving everyone either a number one or a number two. Damon got given a number two, and walked over to his team. Damon sighed when he saw he had the most shitty team in the world. His team was pretty much all the girls who are scared of dodgeball. There were a couple of guys other than Damon but they were all nerds. Damon saw Stefan get sorted into team number one, and he smiled when he realized he could make this living hell for Stefan.
The teacher instructed everyone to go to the wall and then he counted down to one and everyone ran to the center. Within about two minutes everyone on Damon's team was all out but him. Now Damon was actually going to start playing. Damon doesn't like playing in teams, they just get in his way. Someone on Stefan's team hurled a dodgeball towards Damon, but he caught it easily. He didn't even have to use his vampire speed for that catch. Damon smiled evilly and signaled the guy that he was out. Damon threw the ball he was holding at one of the other people on Stefan's team.
The game went on like this for about 3 minutes until the only people standing on the court were the two Salvatore brothers. Damon starred Stefan down and gave him an evil smile. Stefan threw a dodge ball at the older brother and Damon caught it.
Damon shook his head. "You really gotta try harder than that, Stef," Damon laughed, throwing the ball with all his strength at the younger brother. This sent Stefan backwards when he tried to catch it, and Damon smiled happily when Stefan dropped it because of the impact.
Damon heard everyone on his team explode with cheers. Damon smiled, when everyone from Stefan's team came towards him, and asked him how he got so good.
"Just practice," Damon shrugged. Every single person was crowded around Damon except for Stefan and a blonde haired guy. Every girl was flirting with Damon and the boys kept hitting him on the back and congratulating him. Every now and then someone would ask Damon if he wanted to be on their team in the next gym class. He nodded and made his way across the gym.
The teacher dismissed the class and Damon quickly started walking home. He looked behind him to make sure Stefan wasn't following him. All of a sudden Damon felt himself hit something.
"Get out of my way!" Damon yelled, whipping his head around to face who he had run into. He saw it was Elena.
"Sorry," Elena mumbled.
"It's okay, darling," Damon winked. He heard Elena sigh in annoyance. But then she looked up at Damon and furrowed her brows together.
"You're Stefan's brother, right?" Elena asked. Damon didn't miss the hint of sadness in her voice. Damon let out a frustrated sigh.
Why do people always ask me this?! He thought in annoyance.
"Yeah, I am," he groaned.
"Oh," Elena paused. "Stefan has talked about you a lot," Elena told Damon. And Damon cocked an eyebrow at this comment. Elena looked down at the floor and then back up at Damon, like she had just remembered something sad. "Your parents?" Elena questioned. At this comment Damon immediately felt his chest tighten. "Stefan told me that your parents died," she told Damon. Damon flinched when she said the word "died". He looked away from Elena, and instantly the memory of when he found out how his parents had died started to replay in his head.
June 18th, 1857.
A newly turned 18 year old Damon was reading a 10 year old Stefan to bed. Their parents had decided to go to a party, and Damon had to babysit. Damon was okay with it though, because they always went out anyway, so he was pretty used to babysitting.
It was Damon's birthday today but his parents really didn't care. Stefan and Damon had celebrated Damon's birthday all day. It had been a very good day for Damon, probably one of the best birthdays that Damon's ever had. Usually his parents beat him on his birthday so if they weren't home they couldn't do that. And Damon was very thankful for that. He loved Stefan more than anything so spending his birthday with Stefan was the best thing he could ever ask for.
"Goodnight Stef," Damon whispered, planting a kiss on the 10 year olds forehead.
"Goodnight, big brother," Stefan grumbled sleepily. Damon shut the door as quietly as he could. He slowly walked downstairs, grabbed a book, and sat on the couch. He was reading "Great Expectations" again because it was his favorite book. He was on page 32 when he heard a knock on the door. The 18 year old jumped up, walked to the door, and opened it. Damon saw one of the police officers that he actually knew.
"James?" Damon questioned. "Why are you here?"
The police officer looked down at the ground, and furrowed his brows together. Damon immediately started to get worried.
"James?" Damon asked, a little bit louder this time. James looked back up at Damon, and Damon saw that James' eyes were glossed over.
"I'm sorry Damon," James whispered. "I'm so sorry,"
"James. What happened?!" Damon demanded, almost yelling.
"There was an accident with your parent's carriage," James stated softly. "I'm sorry Damon, they're dead," James apologized quietly. Damon's eyes went wide, and his eyes glossed over. Damon shook his head, and let out a sad laugh.
"Good one," Damon laughed sadly, as if this was a sick prank that James was pulling on him.
"I'm sorry, they're dead," James said sadly. Finally it hit Damon like a brick. He felt sick to his stomach.
My parents are really dead. He thought sadly.
"No, no, no, no," Damon repeated, shaking his head, and felt hot tears fall down his cheeks. "They can't be," Damon said. "They can't be!" He yelled. "You're lying! This isn't funny James!" He screamed even louder, now sobbing. Damon was about to say something else but he heard a small voice sound from behind him.
"Brother? Why is everyone being so loud?" The voice whispered. Damon whipped his head around and saw that it was Stefan.
No, no, no. Get out of here Stefan. Damon thought vigorously, trying to hide that he was crying from the 10 year old.
"Damon? Why are you crying?" Stefan asked worriedly. Stefan always called Damon "brother" unless he was actually serious. And Stefan was very serious. Damon looked in the opposite way of Stefan and saw that James was no longer there. "Damon?" Stefan questioned again. "What happened?"
"M-M-Mom and Dad," he sobbed. "They're dead," Damon said at last. Damon heard small sniffles from behind him.
"What?" Stefan sobbed from behind Damon. Damon turned around to face his younger brother. Stefan had collapsed to the ground on his knees. Stefan was pretty mature for 10 years old and he definitely wasn't stupid like Damon. Stefan knew how to face the facts. Damon sobbed even harder at the sight of his brother. Damon then fell to his knees as well, and crawled to his sobbing little brother. The 18 year old pulled Stefan into a hug, as they both cried. This was seriously the worst birthday Damon had ever had.
"I'm so sorry Stefan," Damon managed to squeak out in between sobs. Damon then started sobbing even harder when he realized that he would have to be Stefan's parent from here on out. Damon squeezed his little brother as tight as he could, and so did Stefan. The two brothers had a very strong bond but what happened next was going to put their relationship to test. And maybe their bond wasn't as strong as they thought it was.
Damon's eyes glossed over at the memory.
Dang it Stefan. Damon thought. Stefan always said things like this and Damon hated it with every part of himself.
"I'm so sorry," Elena whispered. Damon shook his head.
"Why?" Damon paused. "It was so long ago, I'm over it. It doesn't matter," Damon replied.
"Stefan told me that you didn't eat or sleep when they died," Elena sighed sadly, meeting Damon's eyes. Damon's eyes widened and turned dark blue when he started to relive the terrible moment.
It had been a couple weeks since the Salvatore brothers' parents passed away. Damon had been taking care of Stefan. That is as well as he could. He was really bad at it, but Stefan really didn't seem to mind.
Damon was lying in his bed very much awake. He was thinking about what he was going to do with Stefan. The 18 year old rubbed his face with his hands and let out a long stressed sigh. Damon was so exhausted, and he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep that wasn't corrupted with nightmares since his parents had passed away. Damon was usually also always awake either thinking of how to be a parent to Stefan, or just because he couldn't sleep. Damon also stayed up because Stefan would wake up with nightmares and Damon would have to comfort Stefan to the best of his ability.
Damon was way too caught up with trying to help Stefan the best he could that he hadn't been taking care of himself. Damon had barely eaten either. Damon knew he was getting a lot skinnier than what is healthy but he just couldn't bring himself to eat. Besides he was too busy with Stefan, at least that was what he told himself. Damon really didn't want to admit that he was starving himself but he knew that was the truth. Damon was getting weaker and weaker and it was a struggle to move. But he just had to get up for Stefan. Stefan was his reason to live. Stefan was everything to him, and without Stefan, Damon had nothing.
Damon looked at the grandfather clock wearily, and saw it read "7:34" so Damon decided to get up and prepare breakfast. He walked downstairs and saw that Stefan was already sitting on the couch.
"I couldn't sleep," a 10 year old Stefan sighed.
"Oh," Damon replied, shaking his head. He walked into the kitchen, and Stefan followed him. Stefan always followed Damon wherever he went since their parents died, and Damon didn't mind it one bit. "What do you want for breakfast?" Damon smiled weakly.
"Pancakes?" Stefan questioned.
"Sure!" Damon replied softly. He was trying to sound enthusiastic but he just sounded exhausted. He walked over to the fridge and took out a couple of eggs and a jug of milk. He walked towards the counter but all of a sudden got extremely dizzy. Damon swayed on his feet, and he heard Stefan calling his name but he sounded so far away. "S-S-Stefan?" The 18 year old stuttered before he crashed to the ground.
Damon woke up in his bed. He looked around uneasily until he spotted Stefan sitting beside his bed.
"Brother?" Stefan questioned looking straight at Damon. Damon just nodded, he was too hungry and tired to say anything. Stefan picked up a plate that was next to him and shoved it at Damon. "Eat," Stefan demanded. Damon just laughed. He wasn't going to do that. "Damon, I'm serious. You need to eat. You'll die if you don't," Stefan stated, his voice breaking on the last sentence. Stefan pushed the plate of pancakes closer to the 18 year old. Damon just smiled at the last sentence. At least if he was dead he wouldn't have to deal with the pain anymore, and he was willing to make that sacrifice. Stefan frowned and his eyes glossed over. "Please, brother," Stefan pleaded in a broken voice.
"I'm sorry Stef," Damon replied weakly.
"Please!" Stefan yelled, tears now falling down his cheeks. "Just eat. Please," Stefan pleaded with the older brother in just over a whisper. "I can't lose you too," The 10 year old mumbled through sobs. Damon's eyes widened and he realized that Stefan needed him. If Damon died, Stefan would have no one. He would be 10 years old and already had lost everyone he loves. Damon was going to make sure that doesn't happen to Stefan. No matter how much pain Damon had to endure by staying alive.
"Give me those pancakes Stef," Damon smiled weakly. He saw Stefan's eyes light up and he handed the starving 18 year old a pancake. Damon slowly nibbled at the corner of the pancake until he realized just how hungry he was and devoured the entire thing. He gestured to Stefan to give him the other pancakes and he devoured the rest of those so quickly that Damon thought that he had set a world record.
Over the next few months Stefan made sure Damon went to sleep and ate. Even if Damon had nightmares, Stefan still made Damon sleep as much as he possibly could. Damon slowly got better and Damon and Stefan talked about their parents as much as they could, to make sure each of them were okay.
And after a while Damon got better at parenting Stefan. And they slowly got better at accepting their parents' death. They were healing slowly but they would never be able to fully move on, and both of them knew that. This took several years though. Stefan and Damon only had each other, and each other was all they really needed.
Damon shook his head trying to get the bad memories out of his head. It was easy when Elena interrupted all these terrible thoughts.
"Stefan said that you really scared him," Elena told him sadly.
Why does she even care? She doesn't even know me! Damon thought angrily. Damon was so angry at Stefan for telling Elena all this stuff.
"Stefan told me all this because he was trying to help me," Elena responded to Damon's angry expression. Damon's eyes turned dark blue and were filled with hatred for his little brother. He didn't care what Stefan was trying to do, he cared that Stefan told Elena his secrets.
"Well, Stefan can go to hell," Damon spat bitterly through gritted teeth. Elena's eyes widened, and Damon walked away. His mind was completely clouded with hatred as he walked to his locker to grab his empty backpack. Damon furiously opened his locker and took his backpack out. He was about to slam his locker shut when he spotted a piece of paper lying in his locker. Damon picked up the piece of paper and read what it said.
Elena helped me figure out why you weren't eating. Take this.
-Your little brother.
Damon looked down at the bottom of his locker and saw a roll of crumpled up bills. Damon took the elastic band off and saw the roll was made out of hundred dollar bills. The enraged vampire cursed at Stefan. Damon walked to the nearest garbage can and was about to chuck the dollar bills into the trash until he realized that he actually needed the money. Damon let out a frustrated sigh and shoved the roll of hundred dollar bills into his pocket.
Damon started walking home, trying to get Stefan out of his head. He walked into the Salvatore boarding house and went straight to his room without sending a single glance at Stefan who was pacing worriedly in the living room. Once Damon was in his room he heard Stefan let out a stressed sigh. Damon crashed onto his bed.
Did Stefan care or is he just using me? Damon questioned. Either way Damon was just happy that he was with his brother deep down. But of course he was never going to say that out loud. Damon was furious at Stefan. But maybe Stefan cared. And if Stefan cared that was all the reassurance Damon ever needed. With that comforting thought Damon was finally able to fall asleep for a nap peacefully. Or so he thought? Maybe Stefan caring wasn't exactly what Damon needed to have a peaceful sleep?