After the door shut behind the teenager Damon let out a heavy sigh, shoulders slumping, "Seriously, thank you for not turning him over to the principal. The kid's already had a rough enough year without being expelled on top of it."

The dark haired man dropped gracefully back down into the chair he'd previously been occupying and leaned all the way back in an attempt to release some of the tension that had built up since he'd entered the classroom.

Alaric nodded in understanding, "I heard about his parents' accident from some of the other teacher's. But I thought he and his older sister were living with their aunt?"

"His sister still is. When he almost got expelled last month the principal was on the verge of expelling him because he'd been in quite a few fights since the beginning of the year. She suggested that maybe Jeremy go live with some other relatives, that it would maybe make it easier on him not to be surrounded by so many memories of his parents. They don't have any relatives that live here though so Elena kind of panicked and asked if making someone in town his guardian would suffice. The principal agreed and here we are."

The blonde's brows furrowed as Damon told him the whole story, trying to figure out exactly how Damon fit in, "So from what I've gathered, you had no idea about any of this as it was going on?"

Damon shook his head, "Elena and Stefan- my little brother- have been dating since the summer, which is how my name came up. Apparently their aunt didn't know anyone that could do it and I'm the only adult that Elena knew that had the space and means to take in a kid."

Alaric suddenly realized that Damon himself was quite young- especially for a guy who somehow had enough money to take in a teenager on top of taking care of his own little brother (he was certain that there was more to that than what he knew)- and wondered, "How old are you, anyways?"

Damon didn't seem fazed by the question and answered easily, "Twenty-five. You?"

"Twenty-six."

Damon gave the older man another appraising look and hummed vaguely, "Hmm..."

Alaric was tall, blonde, intelligent and all kinds of handsome; definitely Damon's type. But despite his attraction to the man he doubted that those feelings were returned. Damon knew he was good-looking- he'd never had any trouble in the dating department before, though he hadn't dated anyone since high school and even that had been only for a brief time- but he was sure that someone as handsome as Alaric already had someone. How could anyone turn him down?

As Damon mused about his chances with Alaric, the history teacher himself only grew more confused about the situation despite the explanation he'd been given, "So after that they went and explained everything to you and you just agreed to it. I have to ask... why? I mean, you're only twenty-five and yet you voluntarily took in a troubled teenager. That's a lot of weight to take on for a kid you'd never even met before."

Damon shrugged shyly, a little bit unnerved by the intensity of Alaric's gaze, "I just- I didn't want Jeremy to ruin his whole life because he was acting out because he's lonely. I know what that's like."

Curious, and wanting to know more about the gorgeous young man, Alaric asked, "What do you mean?"

Damon shot him a rueful grin, "Listen Ric, we've only known each other for about half an hour so I think I'll hold off on that story. Plus I'd prefer to have some alcohol in me before I tell it."

The blonde nodded in understanding, "Well you'd probably better get going. I feel like patience isn't one of Jeremy's strong suits."

Damon laughed, "Yeah, you're probably right. Thanks again for all this, Ric."

Damon headed for the door but before he could reach it a large hand wrapped around his bicep and turned him back around to face the history teacher.

The elder Salvatore looked up at Alaric's face, suddenly all too aware of just how close they were. Their proximity made his throat dry up and his heart stutter in his chest.

The taller man stared at his own hand for a moment, as if he was surprised that it had moved, and then flicked his gaze up to meet Damon's azure orbs, "Um... I know this is kind of sudden but would you like to go out sometime?"

The dark haired man was stunned for a moment and disbelief colored his voice, "Go out, as in a date?"

Alaric gave him a large, sweet grin, an expression that made his already handsome face even more attractive, "Yeah. Is that okay?"

Overjoyed at the realization that his earlier assumptions that the older man wouldn't be interested in him were wrong he nodded eagerly, "I'd love to! Do you know the Mystic Grill?"

Alaric nodded, thrown by the dazzling smile that crossed Damon's gorgeous face.

"Perfect. Here, let's exchange cell numbers just in case we need to contact each other. Does tomorrow night work for you?" They switched phones and saved each other's numbers in their contacts.

"Yeah, tomorrow night sounds perfect."

"Great!" He winked mischievously up at the older man, "And maybe you can give me some tips on dealing with teenagers. I seem to need some work."

Alaric chuckled warmly, "You're doing fine, Damon."

Damon shot him a hopeful grin and started for the door again.

He gave one last glance over his shoulder and felt his cheeks warm in pleasure when he saw that the teacher was watching him leave, "See you tomorrow, Ric."

"Have a good night, Damon."

Damon walked towards the parking lot in a daze, trying to process what had happened in the past forty minutes.

Found out Jeremy could have almost gotten himself expelled again? Yep.

Unintentionally revealed that he cared more about the aforementioned teenager than he'd previously let on? Check.

Got himself a date with a hot, buff history teacher? Yeah... somehow.

He had no real idea how he'd swung that last one but he wasn't about to question it. Alaric was probably the hottest guy Damon had laid eyes on in quite a while and the older man seemed to be just as interested in him! The eldest Salvatore found himself feeling giddy at the thought that he had a real, proper date on the horizon, his first one in years.

He began to pull himself out of his thoughts as he approached the football field and he glanced around a bit before finding Jeremy sitting at a picnic table with his iPod on.

Jeremy just so happened to look up as Damon got close to him and his eyebrows furrowed when he got a good look at Damon's face. The older man's expression was a mixture of confused and elated, an odd expression that Jeremy had never seen on his guardian's face in all the weeks he'd been living in the Salvatore house.

He paused for a moment, unsure, before he asked, "Is everything alright?"

Startled by the sudden, awkward concern, Damon frowned, "Yeah, why?"

Jeremy picked up his backpack and shrugged as he threw it over his shoulder, "I dunno, you just looked sort of out of it when you were walking up."

They began walking towards the car, "Thanks for the concern kid but I'm fine. Let's get going, I'm sure you've got some homework that you definitely need to do."

Jeremy let out a put-off groan, making Damon smirk just a little bit at the teen's misery.

Without another word they got in the car and soon they were off, heading back to the boarding house.

Yay Dalaric has a date! In the next chapter we're going to have a lot of Damon and Jeremy interaction and Damon's past will be revealed. Thanks to everyone who's favorited, followed and reviewed this so far, as always I really appreciate it. Let me know what you thought of this chapter. Thanks for reading!