A month had passed since Alaric and Damon began dating.
They were in Alaric's apartment lying in bed, both naked under the sheets, and the larger man was stroking Damon's hair as they caught their breath.
"Hey Damon?"
His boyfriend shifted on his chest to get comfortable and let out a sleepy yawn, "Hmm?"
"What would you think about telling Jeremy about us?"
Ice blue eyes shot open and Damon leaned up on his elbows to lock eyes with the blonde, finding his steely blue gaze to be entirely serious.
Hope fluttered in his chest, "...Really?"
Alaric shrugged and pulled Damon back down into his chest, "Yeah, I mean we can't hide it forever. And I know that things have been going really well between you two in the last month so maybe now's a good time to tell him."
Damon sighed and began to trace random patterns on his lover's chest, "I hope that telling him, 'Hey Jer, how was your day? By the way your hot history teacher and I have been having sex for the past month and it's actually pretty serious between us."
Alaric rolled his eyes at Damon's typical snark and fondly tugged his dark locks, "If you could refrain from being, you know, you for five minutes maybe you could explain it to him in a way that won't scar him for life?"
Damon shrugged and smirked wickedly, "Where's the fun in that?"
Alaric laughed and kissed the top of the smaller man's head. He knew that underneath all of his sass Damon was truly worried about Jeremy's reaction to their relationship.
In the past month Jeremy and Damon's relationship had gone from cats and dogs to- as Damon described it- a big brother and little brother relationship. Jeremy, however, insisted that Damon acted more like a mom than an older brother when it came to him.
"He keeps telling me to do my homework and clean my room, Alaric!"
He chuckled softly as he remembered Jeremy complaining about Damon's motherly ways after class one day. He suspected that Jeremy truly enjoyed Damon's fussing for the complaints never contained any real heat, more like a subtle fondness and gratefulness for the older man's care.
Alaric pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked down at Damon, who was dozing off in his arms, "How does me coming over for dinner tomorrow sound?"
Damon lifted his head and smiled a sweet, sleepy smile, making Alaric's heart pound, "Does 8:00 work for you?"
"Sounds perfect; now let's get some sleep."
Damon groaned and shifted into a more comfortable position, his back pressed up against Alaric's chest, "Damn you sure wore me out good tonight, Ric. I'll definitely be feeling that in the morning."
Alaric barked a laugh even as his cheeks heated from the praise, "As always Damon, you say the sweetest things."
The younger man grinned cheekily into the pillow and mumbled, "'s why you like me though."
Alaric hid a grin in Damon's dark locks and pressed a kiss there, "Yeah, it is."
And with that the couple drifted off into a blissful sleep, contentedly wrapped up in each other's arms.
Saturday afternoon Damon was bustling around the kitchen preparing for dinner that night.
It was just going to be him, Alaric and Jeremy for dinner because Stefan and Elena had gone up to the Gilbert's family cabin with a bunch of their friends for the weekend. He had decided to do baked chicken with plenty of garlic and Italian seasons with some broccoli and cheese risotto and a Caesar salad on the side. He'd also made a special desert earlier in the day that he'd hidden in the basement fridge so that Jeremy wouldn't find it.
He was also making a pot of marinara sauce for dipping bread in as well as for the chicken if anyone wanted to, he could just leave it on the stove and stir it every so often until dinner. He was preparing the marinade for the chicken; Alaric wouldn't be arriving until 8:00 so that left about four and a half hours until he would be at the house, which was plenty of time for the chicken to marinate before he baked it for an hour or so. The risotto and salad wouldn't take long to whip up so he was going to make the salad after he finished the marinade and cook the risotto while the chicken baked.
Just as he was putting the sealed container of marinating chicken in the fridge Jeremy wandered into the room. He sat down at the island as Damon moved over to a large pot on the stove, checking on its contents.
"So what's the special occasion?"
Damon jumped at the sudden voice and turned around to face Jeremy with comically wide blue eyes, "Jesus, Jeremy! Make a little noise when you come in, why don't you?"
The teenager swallowed a laugh and held up his hands placatingly as his guardian took a deep breath to calm himself, "Sorry, sorry! Really though, what's all this for? I thought it was just you and me for dinner tonight."
Damon fidgeted a bit, "It is but... I have something to talk to you about, kid."
Noting the seriousness in Damon's tone Jeremy sat up straighter, tense and alert, "What is it? ...Have I done something wrong?"
"No, no, no! No Jer, it isn't anything bad I promise. It's just- I'm just kind of worried about what you're going to say, to be honest."
Now very confused and slightly concerned for his guardian Jeremy reached over the island and patted Damon's shoulder reassuringly, "Whatever it is Damon, just tell me. I promise I won't freak out."
The brunette gave him a sweet, tilted grin and Damon felt more at ease, "I've invited someone over for dinner to meet you. My boyfriend."
Jeremy's eyebrows shot up and understanding dawned in his eyes, "So that's where you've been going every Friday! You've been going out with your boyfriend."
Damon nodded and grinned when the teen began bouncing in his seat, "Tell me about him! What does he do? Do I know him? Is he hot?"
Damon snickered and answered, "He's a teacher, he's taller than me, he's twenty-six, with dark blonde hair and incredible steely blue eyes and yes, he's hot. Very hot. And you do know him."
He looked up timidly through his thick lashes and watched the younger process everything he'd just said and put the pieces together.
There was a long pause before Jeremy spoke, "Alaric? You're dating Alaric Saltzman, my history teacher?"
Damon nodded meekly and waited with bated breath for the fifteen year old's reaction.
"Since when?"
"He uh- He asked me out that day he caught you with those pills and I got called into the school."
Jeremy nodded silently and internally Damon started to panic, worrying that Jeremy would freak out despite his earlier promise. He wouldn't blame the kid though; he had just dropped a pretty huge bomb on him.
The silence lasted for a few long minutes before Jeremy asked flatly, "Are you happy?"
"W-What?"
"Are you happy?"
Damon paused and thought about that.
Was he happy?
He thought back over the last month he'd spent with Alaric. Every Friday night date, spending the night's at the older man's loft (most of that time being spent naked in the blonde's bed), the shared bourbon, the regular phone calls and texts they shared throughout the week when they didn't have a chance to see each other...
"Yeah, I'm happy Jeremy."
Jeremy's blank expression split into a pleased grin and he rounded the island to hug the older man tightly, "That's all I wanted to hear."
Damon let out a relieved breath and hugged him back eagerly. As they hugged Damon suddenly realized that Jeremy had shot up quite a few inches and now towered over him- when the hell had that happened? After a few minutes he pulled away and ruffled Jeremy's hair before gently shoving him towards the bubbling pot on the stove.
"Stir that for me, will you? Now that you know what's going on I'm recruiting you to be my helper."
I'm back! Sorry that this one's a little shorter but the next two chapters are gonna be longer since they're the last ones. The next chapter will be dinner with Dalaric and Jeremy and then an epilogue. Thanks to everyone who's faved, followed and commented on this story so far, I really appreciate it and I'm glad you all are enjoying it!
So what do you guys think of the new season so far? The flashforwards are messing with me because they're just leaving so many questions about what the hell happens in the three year timeskip. I love Damon just raising hell with the Heretics and Lily (and God do I hate Lily so much more this season and it's only been two episodes) but I'm worried that Ric's playing with fire with that stone. I was waiting for them to mention the sixth Heretic though, I'm excited to see what happens with him. I hope that maybe he's different from Lily and the others, I mean why else would he have gone off on his own rather than staying with the rest of them when they were brought back if they're supposed to be a family? Maybe he'll want to help Damon and the rest of the gang. And Enzo? Just no. NO. Bad Enzo. (If you haven't seen the episode yet, go watch it and you'll understand why I said that.)