A/N: OH. MY. GOD... Everyone I am sorry for taking so long to update... I would make up like a hundred excuses but if I'm honest it's due to simply procrastinating and simply just life in general. But another chapter now done and dusted! Also, I'm not promising that I'll update quicker from now on but I can say it won't be as long as before. Sorry again guys and hope you like...

Chapter Eighteen – Gods with Grace.

The next afternoon...

There was a dingy darkness to the Salvatore's room as Damon had finally woken from his lengthy, inebriated slumber. The light from outside was desperately trying to break free from the closed over curtains however, the window was slightly ajar, letting the noises from all the holiday goers echo lightly around. A loud and hoarse groan escaped the raven-haired Salvatore as he strained himself up into a sitting position and having no sense of time whatsoever – until he took it upon himself to reach over for his mobile that had been lazily chucked onto the night-stand hours before. This was when he noticed something odd stuck against his brow, his blue eyes cross-eyed to get a better look yet to no avail. He grumbled unintelligibly to himself as he ripped – what seemed to be some sort of note – off of his forehead, wincing lightly as he did. Damon rubbed at his eyes before even attempting to read the piece of paper that was signed with a 'S' … No doubt from Stefan. He went to check the time again, this time his eyebrows heightening due to how late it already was. With a dramatic sigh he read the note that had slowly crumpled in his grasp:

We both know it's highly unlikely you'll be up in time but the rest of us have gone to breakfast.

Decided to have a lazy day at the pool, that's where we'll be.

If not I'll text.

And please clean up your side of the room. S.

Damon snorted as he read to the end, screwing up the small piece of paper into a ball and aiming it into the trash can at the far side of the room. He glanced the round at the mention of his side being a mess that the eldest Salvatore couldn't deny it was a tip. Of course, Stefan's part had his bed already nicely made, shoes set out accordingly at the end and clothes hung neatly in his wardrobe. Didn't his brother not know there are people who work here for those sort of jobs?... He thought bitterly before finally swinging his legs off the bed and getting to his feet. Damon refused to comply to Stefan's demands and instead headed straight for the bathroom to intend to get ready.

At the poolside...

"So what happened after we left last night?" Caroline had asked her fellow blonde Rebekah as the four girls laid nonchalantly across each of their sunbeds, a drink in hand and bikinis on.

Elena and Bonnie had been up before anyone else that morning, both deciding they wanted a more relaxing day than yesterday and agreeing that a lazy day beside the pool would be their prayers answered. The two girls made sure at least three beds had their towels ready and placed however, Elena mentioned on adding another for Rebekah as she felt that maybe she had taken a turn for the good which made a change. Once their task was done, Bonnie went to wake up Caroline where as Elena bravely dared to disturb the Salvatores.

Stefan had already been up getting ready as he had an early night with much less alcohol compared to his brother whom at that point was still very fast asleep.

Breakfast was a quiet interaction. Rebekah had turned up moments after with Klaus and Elijah in tow, joining the girls and Stefan which led them up to this moment now.

Rebekah gave a simple shrug, her arm over her eyes as the sun shone brightly down on them all. "Not much really, which is shocking to say the least. Stefan wasn't too far behind after you three and Matt, Jeremy and for some odd reason Kol was not long after him, leaving Elijah, Nik, Damon and I." She uttered the latter part with a clear tone of distaste.
"Sounds entertaining..." Bonnie decided to give her input with closed eyes, enjoying the weather. The original snorted in amusement.
"It was for the first part, Damon went a bit far on the matter of drink and basically continued to piss off Nik until he could no longer take it and went to bed." She pretended to express mild sympathy for her brother, clutching a hand over her chest.
"It was just you, Elijah and Damon left?" Elena asked, hoisting herself onto her elbow as she did.

"You're kidding right? Elijah pretty much followed Nik like a puppy on a leash as he stormed off." Rebekah retorted.

This raised a few eyebrows.
"So you and Damon?" Caroline added with a slight insinuation. The original's own brow heightened.
"What? Oh god no. I quickly finished off my drink and told him goodnight... Whatever he did after is beyond me." She answered in a brisk voice.

Elena relaxed back into the bed and exhaled a light breath. "So all in all, sounds like a normal and uneventful night." She mused and Rebekah nodded.

A period of silence loomed over them all as they watched Klaus and Stefan conversing as they swam lengths across the swimming pool. Elijah had left the group about an hour ago, being shady to where he was intended to go but none of them chose to dwell as they knew he wouldn't give an answer.

"So none of you have seen Kol or the other two since yesterday evening?" Rebekah disrupted the silence as her attention drifted from the pool. Elena decided to pipe up.
"No. I mean after I went to call on Stefan and Damon this morning, Stefan and I went to go and check but as we got to Matt and Jer's room they had the little hook that said Do not disturb. We just assumed they'll probably still be sleeping." She shrugged as she hadn't really put much thought into their absence.

"Why? Do you think Kol's with them?" Bonnie said.
"Well they did all leave together and he wasn't with Nik or Elijah earlier today." Rebekah muttered absently.

"They probably just all crashed together. Weird as it sounds." Caroline finalized and took a sip from her drink as the girls all decided to simply agree.

Matt and Jeremy's room...

Kol had not moved a single muscle from where he sat against Jeremy's bed for the most of nearly twelve hours. His eyes were wider than ever, fixated to the television screen just above his head.

After the evening they all had, Kol had demanded to watch the Marvel movies Matt had been idly talking to him about that day as the three guys made their way back to the room. Knowing that not one of them was going to win when it came to an original, Jeremy was the one to give in – also slightly intoxicated – and let Kol join their room for the night to watch the rentals if they were on the TV. To both of the human's annoyances, pretty much every Marvel film was in that category meaning that this was going to be a long night in with Kol.

It was now approximately nearly two in the afternoon and Kol had just about finished watching the final movie on the category list: Avengers Assemble. A long, long way back in the marathon, Matt and Jeremy had both fallen asleep in awkward positions on their beds, leaving the vampire in a world of his own.

As the final film finally came to an end, Kol had slowly snapped out of his little bubble and took his first movement for a good few hours. He stretched his arms up with a prolonged yawn before struggling in getting to his feet. He could now hear the snoring coming from both beds, his brow creasing over as he had not even noticed the two humans fall asleep on him during the movies.

"What a couple of pansies..." He grumbled under his breath as he decided to walk over firstly to Jeremy who was snoring the loudest of the two. Kol mischievously pinched Jer's nose, the noise instantly stopping and now only Matt could be heard. Soon he began to fidget under Kol's hand before suddenly shooting up and gasping for air.

"What the hell Kol?" He argued with a clear frown to his face as he realized exactly what the original had done to wake him up. Kol just rolled his eyes and began to walk over to Matt.

"You were snoring, it was slowly becoming too irritating to handle..." He trailed off just as Jeremy groggily got to his feet.

"Don't bother doing it to Matt, he breathes through his mouth." He told him just as Kol got ready to pinch the quarterbacks nose. He paused to turn his head back round to Jeremy.

"And you honestly think that is going to stop me?" He smirked to which Jeremy sighed aggravatingly.

This time Kol covered Matt's mouth as well pinching his nose and waited casually until the quarterback started to squirm from the lack of air. He attacked Kol's hands immediately as he woke, scrambling to the far side of his bed in shock.

"Was you just trying to kill me? What's wrong with you man? Was he just trying to kill me?" He exasperated to Jeremy in complete horror, this causing Kol to chortle in honest mirth. Once again Jer rolled his eyes as he changed his shirt, pulling it over his head before giving an answer but Kol had beaten him to it.

"I can think of killing you in at least hundred more ways than simply cutting off your air supply." He remarked back blandly as Matt got off the bed in a mood.

"Have you not even gone to sleep?" Jeremy decided to change the subject, indicating his question to the vampire.

Kol pulled a face as if he thought about it. "Well, being asleep against your will for give or take a hundred years kinda makes sleep the last thing on your mind... Besides, I was watching those films you both decided to leave me to watch on my own." He glared.

The guys all eventually got ready to go downstairs as Jeremy had a SMS from Elena about where they were. Kol had left briefly to get changed himself but met up with the two humans as they were walking out to the lobby.

"Oh, I decided whom I prefer by the way..." Kol announced about the characters which perked up both Matt and Jeremy's interests.

"Go on... But I'm sure you're going to say Iron-Man because he is better." Jeremy snidely remarked towards Matt but he chose not to acknowledge.

"Nope." Was Kol's reply.

"So you prefer Captain America?" Matt raised an eyebrow.

"Nope."

"Then who?"

Kol laughed. "I'm surprised neither of you have even figured it out. Look at me and what do you see?..." He poised, waiting for an answer.

"An ass..." Jeremy answered, gaining a glare from Kol.

"Oh!" Matt suddenly understood, even if it wasn't how Kol wished it to. "You like a villain don't you and it's probably Loki."

The original nodded and Jer clicked his tongue in frustration that he didn't figure it out.

"Should have known..." He mumbled. Kol had to chuckle and swung his towel over his shoulder.

"Well, he's mischievous, like me. Charming, like me. Godlike, like me. Naturally good looking, like me. Evil..."

"Like you, we get it Kol." Both of them interrupted duly.

"Then from now on I insist to be called: Kol, The God of Mischief." He added hand movements as he spoke. Both guys stared at him in disbelief, blinking a few time before even giving a remark.

"Are you being serious or is this just you being, well you?" Matt asked curiously.

"I'm being deadly serious." Kol replied as if he was offended by such a question.

"But that title has already been taken..." Jeremy reminded.

"Yes, by a fictional comic book character!"

"We are not calling you that Kol." Matt insisted and began to walk forward once more.

"The God of Mischief." He added after his name was said aloud, following both humans.

Meanwhile, Damon had just made it out of the elevator and caught a glimpse of the three guys heading for the doors. He whistled loudly to get their attention which he did successfully. Still feeling a little hungover, he reluctantly motioned over to them as they had come to another halt.

"Where in gods name is the damn swimming pool?" He asked as he caught up.

"Well, if I'm the god you are mentioning then I believe it is this way..." Kol answered pointing behind him to which Damon glanced at him with a creased brow.

"Seriously, what are you?" He replied as if Kol was a complete dunce.

"Oh, please don't ask him that..." Jeremy muttered under his breath and rubbed his forehead as he knew where this answer would go.

"It's funny you should ask Damon, my friend..." Kol began, wrapping an arm around the Salvatore's shoulder and motioned them to walk again. "As from now on I shall be known as: Kol, the God of Mischief." He repeated to Damon in the exact same voice and using the same hand movements.

"You made him watch the films didn't you?" He aimed his question at Matt and Jer.

"He commanded to watch them!" They argued back.

The short walk to the pool consisted of Kol insisting to be called by his new title while Damon grudgingly argued with the boys that they have now kicked off something more annoying than Kol simply just being himself.

"For the thousandth time if you do not shut up about being called Kol, the God of Whatever. I am seriously going to harm you." Damon bared his pointed teeth discreetly as the girls came into view. Kol huffed irritably at him before kicking him quite fiercely in the back of the leg causing Damon to almost trip flat on his face.

"The God of Mischief does not appreciate violence used towards himself." He folded his arms snootily as he began to walk away. Damon growled in low anger as he straightened himself out to catch up with the frustrating original.

"Oh, I'll show you violence..." He muttered and in one swift quick movement, shoved Kol with quite a force. He instantly lost his balance and stumbled a few times before harshly falling into the deep water to his side. Everyone, including Damon had to laugh at this and continued to, even when Kol resurfaced spluttering water out of his mouth with his towel dripping wet on top of his head. The girls had their mouths covered with their hands as they also found it highly entertaining – even Stefan and Klaus were snickering from afar.

"I would've thought gods had more grace than that Kol." Damon called out once his laughter had died down. "Oh, and I believe its something like... two, one to me now." He grinned, gesturing the numbers with his fingers before walking away leaving Kol treading in the water, towel still firmly on his head and dumbfounded at what had just happened...