Stefan is sat on his bathroom floor, thinking. Just three weeks ago he got back from getting out of the safe that Silas trapped him in then pushed into the water, making Stefan drown over and over all Summer long. He looked down at his wrists where there were cuts just a second ago before they healed, a razor laying on the ground in front of him. The blade littered with his blood and a couple drops on the floor underneath.
Again Stefan picked the razor up and slid it across his wrist and fore arm causing a deep scratch releasing some blood. He kept on repeating this action before switching to the other wrist.
Everyone thinks he is better and okay now that he's starting to talk to them more compared to when he first got back. Except for Damon, yes he hasn't exactly been the best brother since he and Stefan turned, the whole promising a lifetime of misery thing. But Damon can tell when there's something going on with his baby brother and all he has to do is figure out why. Surely it can't be about the safe and drowning incident because Stefan would come to him or at least to talk to him about it a little right?
Behind what Stefan may think of his older brother, Damon does care for him. More than he wants to admit, but of course he does Stefan will always be his brother no matter what happens.
Damon is sitting on one of the couches in the main room with a glass of bourbon in his hand and the tv on playing re-runs of old sitcoms from the 70′s. He was carefully thinking of a way that he could get Stefan to open up, allegedly he came up with nothing before going into a daze.
It was getting later and Stefan finally stopped cutting himself feeling somewhat a little better. There are some littered left over cuts that hadn't healed but he paid no attention to them. He took deep breathes before falling asleep, hoping to not have any nightmares tonight cause he doesn't think he can hold in the screams so Damon can't hear him anymore like he had been holding them the past weeks. Before that Stefan grasped one of his pillows bringing it towards his chest, hugging it tightly.
Damon quickly jolted awake hearing screams coming from inside the house. At first he looks at his surroundings, the living room...he must of fallen asleep here. Then he listened and soon realized that those screams were coming from Stefan.
Worried he vamp sped upstairs to his brothers room, surprised that his door is unlocked. He got closer to the screaming and squirming Stefan, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Stefan...come on wake up. It's just a dream...Stefan?" Damon slightly shook him.
That only caused Stefan to swing around to face him, still asleep but now hyperventilating. Damon started to shake his brother more cautiously now, who knew how hard it would be to wake Stefan up from a nightmare. More specifically now because when they were still human and kids, Stefan used to get bad dreams all the time and would just go to Damon's room for his comfort. But that all stopped when they got turned into vampires...
"Stef! Wake up!" After more shaking and talking to Stefan, he finally sprung up, awake.
While Stefan is trying to calm his breathing down, Damon twisted to his side and turned on the lap that's placed on the nightstand.
"Damon? W-what are you doing in here?" Stefan asked his older brother, confused as to why he was in his room.
"I heard you screaming because of a nightmare and I needed to know you were alright" Damon said softly and gently pushed Stefan back down so he was lying down again.
"No, no y-you don't care I-if I'm alright or not" Stefan said looking away from his brother.
Damon had a hurt look on his face, but hid it before reaching his hand out and placing it on Stefan's shoulder. The action making his little brother face him with dried tear streaks down his cheeks.
"Stefan of course I care about you. Yes I may not say it a lot but I do" Damon said gently and wiped the tear residue off his face.
"You do?" Stefan mumbled with a tiny pout on his face from his dream and everything going on around him right now.
Damon nodded and pulled him into his arms, Stefan immediately climbed into his brother's lap like he did when they were kids and started to sob into his chest while Damon ran his fingers up and down his back soothingly.
After some time Stefan pulled back to look at his brother with teary eyes and his hands shaking. Damon gently grasped his hands to stop the shaking and looked down to see an angry red patch on his brothers wrist. Bringing his wrists up closer to see, he rolled up the sleeves of Stefan's hoodie to show all of the scratches on his wrists and forearms.
"Stefan? Why would you?" Damon was at a loss of words.
Stefan looked at him in the eyes, mouth parting, wanting to explain but just can't and doesn't know how to.
"Stef, you need to tell me what made you do this. Is it from being locked in the safe all summer?" Damon asked more gently this time.
Stefan nodded slowly with tears running down his cheeks.
"I dr-drowned all summer l-long and- and friends w-will think I'm w-weak. C-cutting myself helps t-take pain away fr-from me" Stefan explained, whispering.
His older brother quickly wrapped his arms around him again. Stefan relaxed a little into his brother, nuzzling his head into his chest before he started talking.
"Why don't you think I'm a freak? You can be honest, we both know the answer is yes" Stefan mumbled.
"Stefan you are not a freak, don't ever call yourself that again. If anyone ever calls you a freak, you tell me and I'll make sure to raise hell on them." Damon explained and placed a kiss on top of Stefan's head which he hasn't done in a very long time.
That brought a small smile to Stefan's face and he mumbled out an 'okay'.
Damon is about to get up but Stefan quickly wrapped his arms and legs around him tighter making sure he won't leave him alone.
"Don't worry Stef, I wasn't going to leave I was just going to get into the bed so we can get a bit more comfortable than on the chair" Damon reassured him.
Stefan nodded, understanding and got off Damon, climbing into the bed. He moved over a bit so his big brother could also get in. When Damon laid down, right away Stefan cuddled into him, using a strong grip.
"Stef, promise me you won't ever cut yourself again and if you do have those thoughts just come to me and we can talk about it" Damon kissed the top of his head.
He looked up at his older brother and nodded, "I promise Damy" Stefan mumbled.
Damon smiled hearing Stefan's child nickname for himself while he started to doze off on his chest.
"I love you Damy" Stefan said right before falling into a deep sleep.
"I love you too baby brother" Damon responded, knowing full well that Stefan can't hear him.