The drive back to the Salvatore house was pretty quiet, not the awkward, tense silence of their usual car rides but more of a comfortable one. It was a rather nice change.

Eventually Jeremy timidly broke the silence, "So uh... did you really mean what said back there?"

Damon kept his eyes on the road but frowned in confusion, "Did I mean what?"

"About actually wanting to take me in."

Damon huffed, "Of course I meant it. Look Jeremy I get it, you're acting out and it's understandable after what happened last year-"

Jeremy grew angry as Damon unknowingly paraphrased the words so many teachers had said to him over the past year since his parents' accident.

Enraged, he snarled, "Don't give me that crap, Damon! Everyone says they understand but they don't. My parents are dead, Damon, okay?! And no amount of people telling me that they understand and that it's going to be okay is going to bring them back! So don't sit here and pretend that you understand me, everyone else has been feeding me that bull since it happened."

Damon sharply pulled the car over to side of the vacant road, brakes squealing from the force. The street was very out of the way and thus didn't get much traffic this time of the day but Damon didn't care about that as he put the car in park and turned burning glare on the teenager, "Don't you dare say that I don't understand, Jeremy. I understand a lot more than you think I do."

Jeremy huffed and rolled his eyes, "Sure you do."

The dark haired man sighed, "You ever wonder why Stefan lives with me? Why we've got so much money even though I don't work?"

Jeremy just shrugged, staring out the window with scowl.

"It's because both of our parents are dead too."

Jeremy's eyes widened and he turned to fix Damon with an incredulous look.

"Our mother died a couple of years after Stefan was born. Our father... after she died he was never the same and he got lonely and angry."

Damon inhaled a deep, shaky breath and let it out slowly to brace himself for what he was about to reveal, something that he'd never told anybody. Not even Stefan.

"It wasn't long after she died that he started taking all his frustrations out on me."

Jeremy gaped at him, brown eyes wide in dawning realization, "W- What?"

"Yep, my old man beat the crap out of me because he couldn't figure out any other way to deal with his feelings. I was the easy target anyways; my father hated pretty much everything about me from the fact that he and I didn't share any interests to my being gay. Well the gay thing didn't come into play until my early teens but still. It was all too easy for him to take that first swing and after that he just never stopped."

Damon cleared his throat, eyes bright with unshed tears that he refused to let fall, before he continued, "The old bastard died in some accident at his work when I was 18. After his funeral Stefan and I packed up our stuff, I arranged for the house to be sold and we came to Mystic Falls. I was born here, actually, so this was the only place that I could think to go after he died. There are no other direct descendants to either of my parents' families so we're the sole heirs to the vast Salvatore fortune. The boarding house has been in our family since the 1800s; our uncle Zach was living there at the time so I left Stefan with him and I just... disappeared. After everything that had happened I just needed to escape, to not be me for a while. I didn't come back for three years but when I finally did I decided to stick around. Uncle Zach wanted to leave and I just didn't want my little brother to be alone anymore, not that our relationship is all that great anyways."

With Damon's story completed the two occupants of the car sat in silence for a while, both lost in their own thoughts and memories.

Damon tried to will away the rush of pain that the memories brought and he blinked frantically to prevent the welling tears in his eyes from falling.

Jeremy merely stared at his guardian as he collected himself, processing everything the older man had just told him, and he couldn't help but look at Damon differently, in a good way though.

Their situations were by no means the same- Jeremy's family had been full of love whereas Damon's had given him not much besides pain and loneliness- but one thing was certain: Damon understood what it was like to feel what he'd been feeling for the past year.

"...Damon?"

Damon jumped a bit, startled by Jeremy's voice suddenly breaking the silence in the car, "Y- Yeah?"

"Does Stefan know... about what your father did to you?"

The blue-eyed man shook his head, "Not really, our father yelled at me all the time but he always waited until Stefan wasn't around or was asleep before he'd hit me. Stefan would see the bruises sometimes if I couldn't hide them but I would just tell that I fell or bumped into something. He was a kid so it was easy to convince him. Stefan was our father's favorite, the perfect son in his eyes, I didn't want him to turn on Stefan too so I just kept it all to myself..."

"Oh... Damon?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry that I said that you wouldn't understand how I've been feeling."

Damon let out a soft chuckle at the puppyish expression on the teen's face and ruffled his hair fondly, "I think we might have just made progress here, kid. Can't wait until I tell your sister."

Jeremy went pale at the mention of his sister, "Elena. Oh God Damon, you can't tell her or Jenna what happened today! If they find out they'll freak and send me off to Colorado-"

Damon raised a hand to quiet him, "Don't worry kid, I won't tell them about today. But you have to promise me that you'll never do something like this again and that you'll start getting on top of stuff for your classes."

The brunette nodded enthusiastically, "Deal! Seriously Damon, thank you so much. I know that I haven't exactly been the easiest guy to live with this past month-" Damon snorted, "Oh please, like you're an angel?"

Damon shrugged and grinned innocently, making Jeremy roll his eyes playfully before continuing, "Whatever. Anyways I want to apologize, you're actually not a bad guy."

Damon smiled and put the car in drive, pulling away from the curb, "Well then to make it up to me you can help me make dinner tonight!"

Jeremy gulped nervously at the sparkle of glee in Damon's icy blue eyes, slightly concerned for what the older man had in store for him.

It was just going on 6:00 when Stefan arrived at the boarding house from Matt's, where he'd spent the better part of the afternoon.

He dropped his bag and keys at the door and was about to head upstairs when he heard noises coming from the kitchen. As he approached he realized that the sounds were laughter and when he turned the corner the sight that greeted him caused him to do a double take.

Jeremy and Damon were at the island, his brother leaning against the counter trying to stifle more laughter as he watched Jeremy toss pizza dough into the air with very little success.

They were both covered in flour and a cloud of it flew into the air as Stefan watched his older brother affectionately ruffle the younger teen's hair after he failed to get it to stretch properly.

He was even more surprised when Damon began gently directing him how to roll it out from the awkward shape he had it in now to an almost perfect circle.

What the hell had happened while he'd been at Matt's?

The last he'd known Jeremy and Damon were still locked in their silent battle of wills, barely acknowledging each other's existence and now they were making pizza together?

"Well this is unexpected."

At the sudden sound of Stefan's voice Jeremy and Damon's heads whipped up to see the younger Salvatore brother standing at the door watching them with thinly veiled surprise and no small amount of confusion. Both giving him bright grins, they greeted him simultaneously.

"Right on time, little brother!"

"Hey Stefan, what's up?"

"Uh hey... Do you guys feel like explaining what's happened here? Last I knew you two pretty much wanted to tear each other's throats out."

Damon scoffed and waved a flour covered hand dismissively, "We weren't that bad!"

Jeremy laughed as he washed his own floury hands and called over his shoulder, "Damon and I worked it out Stefan, don't worry."

Stefan threw the younger teen a doubtful look, "And how exactly did you manage that?"

Jeremy thought back to the long talk he'd had with Damon and all of the things the older man had revealed to him. He caught Damon's pleading gaze and gave Stefan an easy grin, "Oh you know, the usual way guys work out their problems."

"What, you found a boxing ring and went a few rounds?"

Damon laughed and shot Jeremy a grateful smile before putting him in a loose headlock, "Of course we did! Can't you tell who won?"

Jeremy snorted as he struggled out of the hold, which wasn't really that hard, "Oh please, I bet you couldn't wrestle your way out of a wet paper bag!"

Stefan rolled his eyes, unable to help the small grin at Damon's indignant squawk, and threw up his hands in defeat, "Well whatever, as long as it got worked out I don't care how it happened."

"Glad to hear that you approve, Saint Stefan."

Jeremy burst out laughing at nickname causing Stefan to roll his eyes again but he smiled nonetheless, glad to see his big brother looking so light and genuinely happy for the first time in a long time.

The air has now been cleared between Damon and Jeremy, finally! I really wanted this to be a mix of angst, with the revelation of Damon's past issues with his father, and the lighter side of Damon and Jeremy turning over a new leaf in their relationship and I'm pleased with how it all came out. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, favorited and followed this story so far, I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. Hope you liked this chapter, thanks for taking the time to read it! :)