Chapter title: I Sing I Swim.
Summary: Ever since he turned, Jeremy can't stand to be alone. It feels as if every emotion he's ever felt is resting on the edge of his heart, ready to flow forth.
Author's Note: Thanks so much for the positive feedback! I appreciate it. I do expect this to turn into slash, but I'm easing into it. I don't want to rush. I'm still trying to lay the ground. Anyway. Chapter title is from the song I Sing I Swim by Seabear. Check it out.
Jeremy doesn't really realize that he's been sleeping in Damon's bed pretty much every night for the past week. It's not his fault, really. They go out into the forest late at night. He doesn't feed off humans but sometimes Damon catches a squirrel for him to have. He much prefers the hospital blood. Usually they just walk, in the quiet, in the night. Ever since he turned, Jeremy can't stand to be alone. It feels as if every emotion he's ever felt is resting on the edge of his heart, ready to flow forth. Damon says it's normal, though. His soul is just readying itself to turn off and is purging itself of feeling.
Jeremy asks what Damon did when he went through this, but Damon doesn't answer, only scowls slightly as he twists the leaves of the Jasmine flowers through his fingers.
After this, they go back to the boarding house and Jeremy feeds while Damon drinks wine. And then Jeremy drinks wine while Damon watches, a slightly amused expression on his face. Jeremy won't admit it, not even to himself, but he almost wants to see Damon drunk enough to expose some sort of vulnerability. But he's a vampire and he's older, and a fucking heavy weight to boot.
So Jeremy falls asleep on the elegant four poster bed and occasionally Damon is sleeping next to him when he wakes. When this happens, Jeremy usually sneaks out in the early morning because secretly, he likes Damon next to him. It shows some sort of bond, a bond he rarely feels with anyone else. And if Damon were to know Jeremy thought that, he'd merely push away.
And Jeremy doesn't want that to happen.
Jenna usually yells at him when he comes in and Elena usually stands behind her with a sad look on her face. But his head is throbbing so much, he ignores them and goes up to his room and sleeps until noon.
This vampire thing is something he's attempting to get used to.
One night, they go to the Grill. Someone's having a bonfire in the woods and all the camp songs piss Damon off. They sit in a booth near the back. Jeremy, much to his displeasure, is drinking a Coke, while Damon nurses a scotch. ("Don't worry," the older one mocks, "I'll get you very, very drunk when we go home.")
The restaurant isn't busy for a summer night, but they sit in a comfortable silence anyway because that's just how they are and it doesn't really bother Jeremy, if he's being honest. So they sit in their silence, observing each other and the rest of the room. And everything is wonderful and quiet and normal, (God, when did hanging out with Damon become normal?) until the door to the Grill opens and Elena and Stefan walk in.
Jeremy sinks into the booth and Damon smirks at this. "Afraid your big sis won't let you hang around me?" he asks in a low voice.
"Yes," the other answers honestly.
It isn't long before they're discovered.
"Jeremy?" Elena asks, her voice heavy with disbelief. Stefan is staring at Damon with his dark gaze. And Jeremy feels as if they're two teenagers who just got caught fooling around by their parents.
"Is this who you've been hanging around with?" she continues. "Is this why you've been coming in at seven in the morning, giving Jenna anxiety attacks every night?"
Jeremy looks up at the ceiling and his face is burning and he doesn't say anything for fear that he'll only start yelling and cause a scene.
She turns on Damon next.
"He's just a kid! You can't do stuff like that, it's irresponsible."
"We're just hanging out. What's the big deal, princess?" Even though he sounds defiant, Jeremy sees the way Damon sinks under Elena's gaze.
"Come on Jeremy, we're going home." Her hand is on his wrist and he feels himself instinctively pull away with more force then he means.
"Jeremy!" she breathes, grasping at her hand.
His eyes close and he feels dizzy and overwhelmed and he just wants them to leave.
"Jeremy."
He looks up at Damon who's looking over at him with dark eyes.
"Go home."
Jeremy blinks, folding his arms around himself. Damon's eyes flicker elsewhere.
He feels Stefan's hand on his shoulder and he stands, brushing past Elena and going outside, away from all of them.
She doesn't so much yell at him as talk at him. Which he hates even more because she's not Mom, no matter how much she tries to be.
"I just don't understand. Damon, Jeremy?" she sighs.
"You hang out with him!" he snaps back.
"He's my boyfriends' brother! And I know what he's like."
"So do I! And I'm ok with it."
It's quiet as she pulls into the driveway.
"I think you should just go up to your room. Jenna will just be glad to know you're in your own bed," she says quietly.
"Gladly," he mutters, stepping out of the car and slamming the door after him, leaving her behind in uncertainty.
Jeremy keeps himself hidden in his room over the next few days. Occasionally he'll hear Jenna creep near his door, her ear pressed close to the hinges, trying to make sure her nephew's alive.
He's not. The lack of blood starts to get to him. He starts sleeping a lot and his brain feels fuzzy. There's a lot of blinking and cringing to figure out simple things; it's like his thoughts are delayed.
The sky is clear one night as he lay stretched out on his bed, attempting to read 'Catcher in the Rye'. He's still getting used to his sharpened senses so it takes him a few seconds to realize that Damon is carefully stepping over his window, landing neatly in his room.
"Hi," Jeremy breathes, sitting up.
"What's happening, Dracula?" Damon murmurs and his casual tone is a deep contrast against Jeremy's anxious one.
"Um, nothing. What… What are you doing here?" he asks in a quick stammer.
"Oh, just in the neighbourhood," Damon sighs, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Brought you something." He shuffles through the pocket of his sweater before pulling out a familiar bag of hospital blood. The liquid is dark and heavy as it sinks from one end of the bag to the other. Jeremy watches it, a chill running down his spine. Damon tosses it to him.
"Thanks," he says, catching it and allowing it to balance in his palm. His eyes flicker up to Damon.
"Go ahead," the other says, rolling his eyes.
Jeremy feeds with nothing less then a vengeance.
"What, they starving you up here?" Damon asks, tilting his head.
Jeremy glares at him through the blood.
Once he's done, he tosses the empty bag into the small wastebasket by his desk and stands to wash his mouth.
"So what are we doing tonight?" Damon asks, stretching out on the foot of the bed.
Jeremy glances up, placing the stained red towel into the hamper. "What do you mean? I thought I was banned from seeing you."
Damon shrugs his shoulders. "Rules were made to be broken, my little vampire."
And Jeremy grins because he says it so simply like he's known it for a thousand years while he probably has and Jeremy loves the experience behind those dark pupils.
Damon takes him to the Falls and they sit on the slippery rocks while watching the water follow gravity, landing in heavy splashes against the clear pool below. Jeremy has his feet dangled, his shoes skimming the surface of the water gently.
"So how have the past few days been without Damon around?" Damon asks, curling his legs underneath him and lighting a cigarette.
"Dreadfully boring," Jeremy sighs before looking up and smiling.
"I can imagine," the other mutters, a haze of smoke escaping him. His slender fingers hold the cigarette out.
"What about you? Was Stefan furious?" Jeremy asks before taking it and pressing it to his mouth, slowly inhaling.
"Course. Everything I do is corrupt so it's only natural for Stefan to try and stop my fun. But," Damon goes on, brushing his irritableness away. "You were all ready corrupt before I got to you. So I did nothing wrong." He takes the cigarette back.
Jeremy can't suppress his small grin. "No, you're completely innocent."
"Hey," the other says, "I'm just being supportive."
Jeremy laughs, shaking his head.
They sit in the warm air, the cigarette burning lower, the night falling faster. Though it's dark, the moon is shining in the clear sky, illuminating their pale skin.
"Do you want to swim?" Jeremy asks suddenly, looking over.
"Where? Here? Knock yourself out, Little Mermaid," Damon scoffs, his eyebrows raised. Jeremy looks at him a second before standing. He pulls his shirt over his head, throwing it to Damon who looks on in his curious way. Jeremy slips out of his shoes before moving to his belt buckle, his fingers unsnapping it and pulling it from the jeans. He steps out of his pants, shivering slightly.
"Well, this should be interesting," Damon murmurs to him before he begins climbing downwards.
Jeremy stops when he gets near the bottom. His toes curl over the edge of a rock and his body pushes forward, diving down and breaking the surface of the clear water. His hair floats around him in waves and he searches with his hands, moving under the water, his body weightless.
Finally, he swims up, his head bobbing as he gasps for air. He looks p and sees Damon far above, a slight smirk visible on his lips. Jeremy doesn't say anything, only floats backward, kicking out his foot and splashing in Damon's direction.
He falls back under. The last time he was here was when he was thirteen. It was with his family. He and his dad threw a football back and forth across the pool. He remembers exploring behind the Falls with Elena and collecting rocks that looked somewhat interesting. He didn't realize how long it had been. He didn't realize how much his parents had missed over the past year.
Damon's face is moving towards him, his hair billowing out around his pale narrow face.
Jeremy pushes up, breaking for air and sputtering out water.
"Are you ok?" Damon asks. Jeremy coughs, nodding, but the other grabs his wrist anyway and pulls him to the rocks.
"My parents used to take us here," Jeremy gasps, his chest quickly rising and falling. "I didn't… it's just been a long time. I'd forgotten."
Damon is watching him carefully. "You can turn that off. That regret, that sadness… just turn it off."
"How?" Jeremy asks, his eyes wide.
"Just flip the switch."
His eyes fall shut. He feels his parents near him and he pushes them away. He pushes Anna away. He feels his body slow down, his head heart begin to shrink as every emotion is drained.
And then everything is black.