Korean? That is a first. Years of speech therapy make Damon sound more like a foreigner than a deaf person, but people usually think that he is European. He is also a master lip-reader, which further masks his deafness. Not that he would have to be one to know this redhead's intentions. She giggles at another one of his jokes and twirls her hair around her fingers. Little Gilbert warns him with a look over her shoulder. Why does Damon invite this kid? Jeremy Cockblock Gilbert is seriously cramping Damon's style. Damon decides to put Jeremy out of misery and pawn the redhead – Sage, is it? – off on Ric. Damon turns to his left and is immediately met with a drunken flurry of "No!" hand signals. Is anybody going to get fucking laid tonight? Damon notices Tyler entering the men's room with a blonde and Matt entering the ladies' room with a brunette. Good, not a complete waste of a night.
Damon unleashes a "You happy now?" scowl on Jeremy.
"Elena's not here. You don't have to pretend like you give a damn about me," Jeremy alleges, like only a teenage dumbass could.
Does Damon need to spell it out for Jeremy? What are they teaching in school? What is RIC teaching in school? Damon does not play pretend, a rather annoying characteristic at times. Case in point, right now.
Drunk!Ric interjects something about living his own sex life vicariously through Damon. Damon and Jeremy look at Ric with gross faces. Damon and Jeremy agree to set aside their differences and help a gibberish-mumbling Ric back to the Gilbert lake house.
Damon inhales several breaths of fresh country air and then proceeds to skip a pebble for a record five times. He loves this lake house full of memories. Before John drank the hateorade, the Gilberts and Salvatores spent summers together at this very lake house. Giuseppe was grateful to John for being there to help take care of and occupy a very active young Damon Salvatore when school was out. Being a single father raising two sons, one deaf, was hard at the best of times and outright brutal at the worst. Giuseppe had learned the two tools of fatherhood - belts and cash - from his own father, a father of only sons. John, on the other hand, had been blessed with a daughter, who brought about patience and grace. Also, as Damon's doctor, John knew how to deal with Damon in a way that nobody else could.
A pebble skips along, 10 times to be exact. Ric, when sober, is such a competitive dick. He was 23, fresh out of teaching school, when he joined Mystic Falls High as a history teacher, gym teacher, and wrestling coach. He coached a then 18-year-old Damon to a high school wrestling championship. Ric and Damon continued their ass-kicking partnership and amassed the titles one by one: an almost perfect collegiate wrestling record, four NCAA Division III national wrestling championships, a six-figure UFC contract, a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to complement Damon's childhood black belt in Shorin-Ryu, a seven-figure UFC contract, a perfect UFC record to date with a 75% finishing rate, and a UFC lightweight championship belt. Damon was technically self-trained during two of his four NCAA runs, as Ric was rehabilitating from the accident that killed Isobel. That was when Ric began getting in bed with alcohol on the regular. The drunken homicidal maniac that T-boned their car only got six months and a fine. Ric apparently had a sense of morbid humor about it. Why else would he always drive with an unopened bottle of alcohol on his body?
"Did you see that?" Jeremy asks excitedly. He has just flipped Matt over and executed a crude arm bar.
"You couldn't miss it. It was is in slow motion," Damon scoffs, earning a snicker from Ric in the process.
"Better than Damon at your age," Ric provokes, challenge lighting his eyes.
"Take a seat at the bench, 'Only Human,'" Damon orders. "Karate Kid wants a shot at the title." Jeremy had bought the guns, but did he know how to use them? There is more to martial arts than just bulging biceps. Jeremy runs toward Damon at top speed and throws a wayward jab. Damon ducks, turns and ends up behind Jeremy, the latter in a choke hold. "Now, all I have to do is apply a little pressure to your jaw." Damon's tone is playful yet instructive, and Jeremy nods in understanding. They reverse roles, and Jeremy executes to almost perfection.
"If he wasn't such an 'artiste', I'd be worried for your title." Ric makes quotation marks in the air with his fingers. "The guns are overdone, though."
"They help with Bonnie," Jeremy gloats, while pumping his arms and thrusting his hips. Damon and Ric look at Jeremy with gross faces.
"You're not a virgin? I'm shocked!" Damon deadpans.
Author's Note: Thank you for the feedback, follows, and favourites. Special thanks to LenaBV.