Morosis: def. the stupidest of stupidity

Chapter 9: Fuck the Gilberts.

So, I had been taken out of commission for the first game of the season after having glass decorate the inside of my knees. Needless to say, I'm more than a little pissed off about it. "Stupid fucking Gilbert," I mutter as Bonnie uses a pair of tweezers to dig out the remaining glass.

She laughs, "You don't blame Tyler?"

"Oh," I say angrily, "Tyler's getting an ass kicking from me at a later date. He knows how much I love these things, and he's probably expecting my foot up his ass at some point."

Bons smiles before splashing some antiseptic on my knees, making me wince, and she quickly puts two large band aids over the numerous cuts. "I'll pull the rest of the tiny bits once we get home with some of our witchy woo, but that'll do to just sit on the bench."

I can't help but roll my eyes at that. I hate watching football, and I'm not looking forward to just standing there during halftime while the girls do the routine me and Care made over the summer. I was excited for that, dammit.

Fuck the Gilberts.

Oh wait, there might not be a game when they can't find Mr. Tanner.

*

I proceeded to walk over towards the boys' locker room after telling Care and Bons that I had left my bag in the girls' locker room, which I had just in case I actually needed an alibi.

As I walked over, I saw Stefan and Matt having a heart to heart. Aw, two boyish guys having a heartfelt conversation is actually really adorable.

I keep thinking that as I see Damon move over to the darkened corner of the building. I quickly positioned myself behind a van and proceeded to watch the Salvatores interact. The sage and vervain spelled sack made it to where they didn't notice my presence, and I was once again grateful that I was reborn supernatural in this world. Seriously, things could've gone to absolute shit if I was just human and trying to change everything.

In fact, I'd probably become a vampire as quickly as possible if that had been the case. Besides the point, as Matt left, Damon clapped his hands at the show of brotherhood before exiting the cover of darkness. Man, these Salvatores are pretty in the moonlight.

Alright, any light.

Que the infamous 'Damon the Dick' smirk, as he says mockingly, "Isn't that nice? Stefan joins a team, makes a friend. It's all so 'rah, rah, go team, yeah!'"

I don't think I've really seen Stefan roll his pretty forest green eyes, but he does at Damon's goading, "Not tonight. I'm done with you."

Ha! You wish!

Damon does the vampire speed thing, and appears in front of his brother. Very spooky. Damon's blue mischievous gaze turns a little flinty before he says, "Nice trick with Elena. Let me guess, vervain in the necklace? I admit, I was a bit surprised. It's been a while since anyone's been able to resist my compulsion, well, aside from my little witch girlfriend."

Stefan nods slightly, but I think he's just unsure what to say in response to that, starting to look more than a little annoyed.

"Where'd you get it?"

From your 'however many' great nephew.

"Does it matter?" Is all Stefan replies, and even I know that it's the wrong answer as Damon's countenance gets colder. Stefan turns to leave but Damon is used to having the last word, and he will in this circumstance.

"Guess I could seduce her the old-fashioned way. Or I could just... eat her," he says nonchalantly, but the threat in his tone is very present. Stefan pauses, slowly turning back to face his brother.

"No," he says in a way that sounds nearly cocky, "You're not gonna hurt her, Damon."

"No?"

Telling Damon what he will and won't do was literally the cause of the majority of the problems the other timeline faced.

Stefan steps closer to his brother, speaking in a low, patronizing voice, "No. Because deep down inside, there is a part of you that feels for her."

Ew.

I can see the moment that the elder Salvatore's surprise morphs into rage, but Stefan continues boldly, "I was worried that you had no humanity left inside you. That you may have actually become the monster that you pretend to be."

Goddammit, Stefan, this is gonna be almost entirely your fault.

"Who's pretending?" Damon retorts in a quiet, startlingly cold tone.

"Then kill me." Once again, very bold of you, Stefan. You're lucky that deep down, Damon still loves you despite everything, or you would be dead.

"Well, I'm- I'm tempted," Damon says, slowly returning to his 'Damon the Dick' mode, and even I can tell that he's about to lose it. Why does Stefan keep pushing it?

"No, you're not," Stefan says, and I'm unsure whether on not his tone sounds a bit more sincere, as if begging, "You've had lifetimes to do it, and yet, here I am. I'm still alive. And there you are. You're still haunting me, after one hundred and forty five years. Katherine is dead."

I see Damon swallow reflexively, and clench his fists. I wish Katherine was dead, Stefan.

"And you hate me because you loved her, and you torture me because you still do. And that, my brother, is your humanity."

He was 100% right on the money, but he shouldn't have said anything when Damon was like this. Altogether, terrible idea with poor execution.

"Salvatore!" Mr. Tanner calls out. Terrible timing, douche canoe. "What the hell? We've got a game to play!"

I see the smirk on Damon's face, and quickly mutter, "Sine dolore est," before lighting the potion bottle from my pocket with a match. The smoke silently wraps around Mr. Tanner, and I smile in victory. I had made that spell on my own, and I'm glad that nature had approved of my intentions and allowed it to pass.

"If that's my humanity," Damon starts threateningly, "Then what's this?"

He runs and tackles Mr. Tanner, causing the older guy to yell in surprise rather than pain, thanks to me. Damon's teeth tear into his neck in a gruesome display as Stefan yells, "No!"

And with that, Mr. Tanner painlessly slips into death. A lame end for a lame guy. His fresh corpse hits the pavement, and I torch the sage and vervain sack, alerting the brothers to my presence as it burns instantly.

I pop out from behind the van and glance at Mr. Tanner's body, slightly sad that he had to die that way, but not enough to let it show as I glance at the two brothers with an arched brow.

My eyes slightly widen as I take in Damon's appearance though. His shoulders are heaving heavily, a wild grin on his now bloody lips. His beautiful blue eyes are caked in veins, and he looks positively feral in the prettiest of ways. He looks back at me hungrily, intensely taking in my reaction and probably looking for some sort of judgment on my face. The elder Salvatore doesn't find whatever it is he was looking for in my eyes and instead just stares at me.

I glance over at Stefan, and his forest green eyes are wide and apologetic. For what? I'm not sure. He blinks at me, as if looking to make sure I'm alright, as if I was the one who was attacked and not our history teacher/football coach. Still a weird combo. The looks I'm getting from both brothers are enough to get my heart pumping for different reasons before I brush it off wit a mocking glare at both of them.

"Really, guys? At the football game? You guys are a bit too old to be this sloppy," I say, dusting my hands off before turning to Mr. Tanner with my hand outstretched.

"Igneo morte."

Instantly, his corpse burns to nothing but ash, and I quickly grab my lavender thyme bundle to spell away the smell of burning hair. Burning bodies smell disgusting. Both brothers are once again looking at me like I'm crazy, and I stroll up to Damon, grabbing some napkins from my purse that I got from my lunch at Subway, and offering him them. The older brother blinks at me owlishly.

"What? You look a mess. You're my ride home, and I'd like to be able to eat something after this," I say, raising a brow at him, and he slowly takes them, gauging if I was being genuine or not.

Oh, I mean it. You owe me a new milkshake.

He starts wiping off his face and I whip out my matchbox, lighting the herb bundle and setting it on the black mark that was Mr. Tanner's body. Rest In Peace, Mr. Tanner, sorry it had to go that way. I then stand up, glaring at both of the brothers.

"Look, I personally don't care if you guys fight, or whatever, and generally I don't care who dies, however," I pause, making sure I'm giving both men ample eye contact to drive home my point, "I'm seen with both of you on a regular basis. If the Council starts finding bodies in town, they're gonna be looking at the two new guys, and I might be found guilty by association. Especially, since they already think my grandma is a witch. You're both very pretty, but I'm not dying for you."

Damon laughs in disbelief, shaking his head as he crumples up the now bloody napkins. I'm pretty sure I hear him mutter 'wacky witch' but decide to ignore it as he turns his attention back to Stefan.

"Anyone, any time, any place, Stefan. Remember that," Then, he turns back towards me with a wry grin, "I'll be in the car when you're done, Ally Cat."

I nod and he's suddenly gone. Stefan rushes up to me, grabbing my shoulders gently and looking me over. I smile at how kind he's being, but it's unnecessary, I had mentally prepared myself for the amount of death that was coming, and I'd seen a lot of deaths vividly in my memories. It definitely bothered me at first, but once you see something that often, you get a bit numb to it.

"I'm so sorry you had to see that, Alessia," he whispers genuine, his large hands suddenly cupping my face and looking into my eyes with that weird soul searching stare. All I feel is my heart beat jump at the sudden closeness, and I softly cover Stefan's hands with my own, slowly pulling them off of my burning cheeks.

"Stefan, I'm fine," I whisper back, and he looks like he doesn't believe me at first, before reluctantly taking my word for it. He doesn't move away, however.

"You scared the shit out of me. Damon is unhinged, and he could have seriously hurt you," he mutters harshly, "He still can, Alessia."

The way he growls out my name sends shivers up my spine, but I once again grow irritated with Stefan's obsession with telling me what to do.

"You're not the boss of me, Stefan. I could kick your ass if I felt like it, I can definitely handle Damon. I'm not weak."

I will not be treated like Doppelena. I'm not weak, and I don't need you to save me.

He audibly exhales through his nose, clearly getting frustrated, "You're still a human. Just because you're a big bad Bennett witch doesn't mean you're invincible."

I can feel myself getting angry in turn, and decide to turn to my usual response to anger, sarcasm.

"Oh, thank you, Stefan. Sometimes I forget."

"I didn't mean it like that, Alessia, and you know that."

I roll my eyes, turning away, "Whatever, Stefan. If I wanted someone to parent me, I'd call my absentee father, not some vegetarian vampire."

Suddenly, I'm yanked back and spun by my wrist, colliding into Stefan's broad chest. Both of us are breathing hard, but I refuse to be shaken up, just glaring back at him.

His eyes are bright, angry, and so very deep. Stefan's breathing is heavy, and his minty breath brushed across my face. Oh god, he smells like pine. His gaze looks across my face wildly, searching for something, but I don't know what. All I know is that it's making my heart thump wildly. His large hands slide up to my shoulders softly, and I become aware of a completely different kind of tension in the air.

And then I'm snapped out of it by hearing Elena's voice in the distance.

"Stefan? Where are you? Everyone's looking for you!"

I immediately leap out of his large arms and see that he seems as shocked as I do. What the hell had just happened? Elena appears from around the corner, and as soon as she sees me by Stefan she starts walking with purpose towards us. I take a soft step back, and I can't look away from Stefan's gaze. He seems to have a similar problem until Elena tugs on his jersey.

"Stefan? Are you okay? Why the hell are you out here when the game's about to start?" She asks, when she suddenly points a meaningful glare my way, "You know that better than anyone, Alessia, why are you distracting him?"

Ugh, ew. Nope, not dealing with this right now.

"Bye, Stefan," I say with a turn of my heel, trying to calm my racing heart before I get to Damon's car.

I think I'll just leave now, instead.

Little did I know that green eyes had followed my every step as I walked away.

*

Damon wouldn't stop to get me food, so I had been driven directly home after we left the game. He didn't say anything, just occasionally glanced my way nonchalantly, but I could see the gears turning in his head. I don't know what he was thinking about though, as he promptly dropped me off with a 'see ya' and left.

I have promptly decided to forget whatever the hell happened between me and Stefan tonight. We were both just mad, he was shocked that Tanner died, really, it was no biggie. And with that, I went inside, took the remaining glass out of my fucking kneecaps, and got my ass to bed.

*

Tap.

Tap. Tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I blinked, my eyes still blurry from just waking up, when I hear another tap at my window. I turn over in my burrito of blankets, my hair covering a good portion of my face.

Goddammit, the bonnet fell off. Now, my hair's gonna be all frizzy for that Founder's party.

I look towards my window, and see the lovely Damon perched on my windowsill in a black t-shirt and jeans. He winks at me and I groan loudly. Considering it was Sunday and I didn't hear any 60s music playing downstairs, I guessed that Grams must've gone to that book club she's been raving about lately. I groggily stand up, walking towards the window, when I trip on my backpack that I had left on the floor last night and faceplant right onto my nice shag rug.

Damon busts out laughing, so loud I can hear him through the glass. I glare up at him, wide awake now, and walk over to open the window. He's still laughing heartily, and I roll my eyes before using my magic to shove him off my windowsill.

He falls back as I turn around to pick a dress for tonight, and when I glance back, he's back on it with a playful glare.

"That wasn't very nice, Ally Cat."

"I'm not very nice, D," is my quick retort as I flip through the first few dresses in my rack. Oof, this is harder than I thought. I turn back to Damon holding the red and the purple one.

"I'll let you pick. Which one of these?"

He raises a dark brow before running his intense gaze over the two dresses. The red one was longer, like to my feet, and had a halter neckline along with a gold belt around the center. The purple one went just above my knees and had black scalloped lace from the waist down with a sweetheart neckline.

He sighs, "Don't you have one inbetween those two styles?"

"If I did, I would've picked it."

Damon bats his hand like he's shooing a fly, gesturing for me to move away from the closet so he can see. After scanning for a few seconds, his eyes narrow towards the back before he points his finger at one in the closet.

"That green one towards the back, let me see that one."

I pull it out, and to be honest I had totally forgotten about this dress. I had worn it once for a date that had gone sour and promptly shoved it to the back of my closet. It was an emerald long sleeved cold shoulder dress that clung to my waist and hips tightly and went down to just above my knees. It was a dress that had the elegance of a grown woman, and if I'm being honest, it was perfect for the occasion. Dressy, but not too dressy.

"Alright, Damon. I'll admit you're right this one time."

He smirks at that, crossing his arms, "You're welcome, Glinda. And thanks for getting with the program quickly."

I warmly smile back at him, before turning to go take a shower, "You're welcome, Count Chocula. I'll be ready in like 30 minutes."

*

Okay, so it was more like 45 minutes, and I really don't have a defense this time. I just really enjoyed my hot shower today, and I wanted to try and fix my potential bad hair day before it got messy. I decided to just straighten it again, but this time I took a curling iron to it to make it look all cute and super model-y.

I walk back into my bedroom, and Damon has made himself cozy on my windowsill, but he's changed into a suit. The asshole is lucky my window is basically covered by a tree. He doesn't open his eyes as he says, "You take literally forever to get ready. And I would know, I'm immortal."

I bend down into my closet, grabbing the gold pumps I got for my 15th birthday and sliding them on. "Well, I look outstanding so I make up for the time I use."

He blearily opens one pretty blue eye, then opens both of them upon seeing me in all my green goddess glory as I put on a thick gold choker. He sighs before rolling his eyes, "You're lucky you look stunning, I've eaten people for less."

Cue my eye roll, "Trust me, I'm aware. Saw it last night and everything, remember?"

Damon nods before standing up to a crouch, "I'll meet you by the front door, so hurry that perky ass up, would ya? We're gonna be late again."

I strut out of the room as I hear him land in my front yard, and promptly rush down to meet him after grabbing my clutch. Damon gives me a mischievous grin as I open the door, extending his arm out to me.

"Let's get this over with," I say as I link arms with him.

"What? Don't like being my date?" He asks with a quirk of his brow.

"I'm fine with that, since you're cute, but I really fucking hate the Lockwoods."

*

We walk into the party, and I can feel the envy of the married women of Mystic Falls. Hell, even Mrs. Lockwood was glaring a hole into my head. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Elena and Stefan walk up and shake hands with the Mayor. Said Salvatore must've felt my gaze, because those pretty green eyes locked on me in seconds. I don't know what my face looked like, but I saw his perfect jaw tighten as Damon put his arm around my waist and started guiding us towards the couple as they move towards the historical artifacts.

Elena is wearing a gold-ish, red-ish dress, a veritable hodge podge, and she looks very pretty. Her and Stefan make a pretty picture, and I wonder if Damon and I do too.

I hear her ask as we walk up, ".. And Stefan Salvatore?"

Damon, who's most likely heard the entire convo since we came in, gleefully interrupts, "The original Salvatore brothers. Our ancestors. Tragic story, actually."

A small grin graces my cheeks as I listen to his teasing tone. Never let it be said that Damon Salvatore doesn't know how to entertain. Stefan must not feel the same way, because his gaze hardens.

"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past."

Elena looks minutely irritated before her smile reappears, "It's not boring, Stefan. I'd love to hear more about your family."

Damon's typical grin becomes more feral, and I can feel it in my gut.

I'm gonna need a drink.

*

A/n: Hope you enjoyed the recent chapter! It's so exciting to see what you guys are guessing will happen and to read your comments in general. Thanks again!