Roses_of_Magic prompted: "Another Idea could be Matt and Tyler finding out and hunting this football player down, even if it's a camp. (I could see Damon trying to get spies on this guy cause Stefan won't let him get near or become Scary DayDay.) "

Damon can hear Stefan's yelling the minute he pulls into the school's lot. He barely puts it into park before vamping in that direction. His younger brother stands with two of his friends. Tyler's eyes are filled with annoyance, brows furrowed in anger. Matt is between the two, holding out his arms to keep them apart. His lips form a pout and sorrow is written in his own blue eyes. Damon looks over at Stefan. The young vampire has his chest puffed out, his cheeks bright red and waving his hands in the air.

"You're being ungrateful!" Tyler snaps.

Stefan scoffs. "Ungrateful?! I never asked you to do that!"

"Of course you wouldn't, that's exactly why we did it!"

Matt shakes his head. "Alright, guys, c'mon, let it go…"

"Shut up, Matt!" Stefan bites back. Matt lowers his arms, hurt replacing the sorrow. "You're just as bad as him!"

Damon sees the venom creeping up his brother's skin. He races over and pulls him back, keeping a tight grip on him.

"Calm down," he firmly whispers.

Stefan struggles against him. "You don't know what they did!"

"I don't care what they did," Damon remains calm. "You are going to control yourself right now. Look at me." Stefan keeps glancing over his shoulder at his friends. "Stefan! Look. At. Me."

Stefan reluctantly faces him. Damon demonstrates some deep breathing. It takes a moment, but the younger brother copies. Little by little, the venom on his face disappears and his muscles release. Damon nods.

"Good," he says, letting go. "Now, do you want to explain what happened?"

"I caught Matt behind the school, holding Isaac Parks to the wall while Tyler screamed in his face and punched him."

Damon raises a brow. "And who is Isaac Parks?"

Tyler takes a step forward, still looking pissed. "The asshole responsible for Stefan's new haircut."

Damon goes quiet. Matt and Tyler stare intently at him. He ducks his head. Stefan looks between the three of them, a frown coming across his face.

"What?" Silence. "What the hell is going on?!"

"Tell him, Damon," Matt whispers.

Damon growls. "Matthew…"

"Tell. Him." Matt's usually happy, puppy dog voice is firm. "It's not our job."

Damon sighs, running his fingers through his hair. He thinks back to the night before. Stefan went with Bonnie to Elena's for a movie night. Damon headed for The Grill, where he found the two stars of the football team playing pool…

"Gentlemen," Damon says, approaching the table.

Tyler looks up, cue in hand. He raises an eyebrow. "We don't know where Stefan is."

"I know for a fact your parents have taught you better manners than that."

"Well, that's usually the only reason you bother talking to us," he quips.

Matt nudges his best friend. "Shut up, Ty," he mumbles, turning his attention to Damon and raising his voice. "What's up?"

Damon sticks his hands in his pockets, looking around. No other supernatural beings are frequenting the restaurant this evening. The humans either sit in the booths or crowd by the bar. No one will overhear this conversation.

"I've tried asking Stefan, but he won't tell me." He leans against a pillar. "Who's the asshole who put the glue in the shampoo bottles?"

Matt and Tyler exchange a look. The wolf takes a step forward. "We're not allowed to tell you."

Damon arches a brow. "Excuse me?"

"Stefan has forbidden us from telling you. Says you'll kill him."

"I'm not going to kill him." The teenagers blink. Damon rolls his eyes. "I just want to talk to him."

"Regardless, we're not getting between the two of you."

"So, you're just going to let this bastard get away with this?"

Tyler and Matt share a smirk. "We never said that."

An amused smile falls across Damon's lips. He wasn't sure about Lockwood being his baby brother's best friend, but perhaps it's not all so bad.

"Oh?"

Matt nods. "The dude was suspended from camp for a couple of days, but he comes back tomorrow."

Damon's smile drops. "That's all?" This punk is the reason could've seriously hurt his brother. Damon looked into the glue, it has caused some gnarly injuries. What the hell kind of school is he sending his baby brother to?

Matt rolls his eyes. "I know, right? Tanner was a psycho, but even he wouldn't have let that happen. This new coach doesn't have a spine."

"Anyway," Tyler cuts in. "We'll handle it. Don't you worry."

"What did you have in mind?"

"We'll have a little talk to him is all. Make sure he knows what'll happen if he tries this crap again."

"A talk," Damon scoffs. "That's not going to do much."

"Isn't that what you planned to do?"

Damon fixes him with a Look. "You know what I meant." He steps forward. "Since you won't tell me who this punk is, I need you to take care of him for me."

"And risk suspension of our own?" Tyler scoffs. "Yeah, no."

"I happen to know the principal is not on vervain." Matt and Tyler's faces scrunch up. "I know, stupid move on his part, but beneficial here. Trust me, I won't let anything screw up your status on the team…" He glances over at Matt. "Or your lock on the scholarship."

Tyler and Matt exchange a look, not saying anything for several moments. Damon reaches into his pocket and pulls out his leather wallet. The first picture is of Stefan from when he was a kid the first time. He had it laminated after finding it in the attic. Even back then, his hair was long and adorable. Damon gives the photo a soft smile. Stefan hates that he has it in there, but it cheers the older brother up often.

Right now, it reminds him why he's doing this. He'd do anything to get this smile back on his baby brother's face.

Damon pulls out the bills fresh from the ATM. He shoves two in Tyler's hand. The kid is rich with Daddy's credit card burning a hole in his pocket. Money isn't his motivator. He knows Tyler won't even want it, the promise of not getting in trouble is enough. Damon has to practically pry Matt's hand open to shove five bills into his hand. He looks from it to the vampire with wary eyes.

"I don't need your money."

"Take it," Damon says. "Consider it a down payment. Plus, you can put it towards your truck. Lord knows it can use it."

Matt rolls his eyes. "Don't insult my baby."

"Your baby is a piece of crap." He looks between the two. "So. Do we have a deal?"

He holds out a hand. The boys stick the money into their pockets. Tyler shakes it first, before Matt slowly follows suit. Damon smiles.

"Pleasure doing business with you two."

"So, um…I may have paid a visit to your friends last night," Damon says, shrugging. "And gave them some motivation to teach that asshole a lesson."

Stefan's fists clench. "What kind of motivation?"

Damon plays with his fingers. "The monetary kind."

One moment, the elder brother is upright. The next, he's fallen against the turf. He grunts.

"What the hell?!"

Stefan stands above him, a mixture of hurt and anger written across his face. Damon sighs.

"Stef…"

The younger vamps away. Damon sighs, pushing himself up. Matt holds out a hand, helping him off the ground. Tyler shakes his head, folding his arms over his chest.

"That $200 was totally worth losing my friend over," he mutters.

Damon clenches his teeth. "You weren't supposed to let him catch you."

"We did our best to hide," Matt defends his best friend. "But Stefan has supernatural senses, remember? He sniffed out the blood and Tyler screaming."

Damon sighs, clamping his eyes shut for a moment before opening them. "I…I'll handle it, alright? He'll forgive the two of you."

Matt frowns. "What about you?"

"You wouldn't get it, Matty." Damon shakes his head. "Try asking Vicki. Us older siblings adjust to our baby brothers hating us."

Without another word, Damon vamps away.

It doesn't take very long to find Stefan. The boy only has so many hiding spots and given his bunny diet, even with vamp speed he wouldn't make it home that quickly. Damon searches the woods for all of 5 minutes before finding his baby brother. Stefan rips up a tree from it's roots, tossing it across the woods.

"So, you're the cause for all the deforestation problems, eh?" Damon quips.

Stefan rolls his eyes. "Go away."

"Can't do that. You see, even if you're pissed at me, the rule is you're never alone."

"Yeah, you made that clear with my babysitters." Stefan picks up a rock and for a moment, Damon is afraid it's headed for him. Instead, it's tossed in the direction of the destroyed tree. "Say, what's the going rate to watch a 17-year-old baby vampire?"

Damon shrugs. "$700 split between the two."

"Seriously?!" Stefan snaps.

"To be fair, most of it went to Matt. He needs the money more."

"You're not going to snark your way out of this one, Damon!"

"Good," Damon takes a step forward. "Be pissed at me, not your friends. I'm the one that made them do this."

"You realize how bad this could've gotten?" Stefan asks, shaking his head. "Tyler's gene is activated. What if he transformed? Not only would he have killed Isaac, Matt would be in danger too. All over Gorilla Glue!"

Damon sighs, running his hand through his dark waves.

"Look, Stef, you know me. I get…protective."

"Understatement of the fucking year."

"Watch it," Damon warns, holding up a finger. "My point is, I get why you wouldn't tell me who the little douchebag was. So, I got your friends involved. I didn't think through the whole Tyler thing, because I was focused on getting revenge."

"Something I've told you time and time again to stop!"

"I'm trying, but it's not easy!" Damon throws his hands in the air. "It is really hard to stop wanting to kill whoever hurts you. You were so upset about your hair and you want to talk about things being worse, the glue could've done a lot worse." He shakes his head, his eyes softening a little. "I can't not do something. You're my baby brother, Bunny Boy."

"Yeah, your baby brother," Stefan says, shoving his finger against Damon's chest. "Yours! Not Matt and Tyler's!"

Damon's brows knit together. "Of course you're not."

"You don't get it!"

Stefan slides down a tree, putting his head in his hands. Damon frowns, kneeling in front of him. His hand runs up and down his baby brother's leg.

"Bunny," he whispers.

Stefan slowly looks up. The anger is gone, sadness overtakes his features. It takes everything in Damon to not wrap him in his arms. He hates seeing his baby so…broken.

"Do you know how hard it is to be one of the two Littles in your group?" Stefan asks. "They say they treat us as equals, but I know it's not true. The three of them are protective of us. Elena and I get it. Is it annoying? Sure. But at least it's all on a friend level. We can pretend for at least a little while that we're not younger, mentally anyway. At least they're not as bad as our parents. They're our friends."

Stefan trails off. Damon bites his lip.

"I already have a psychotic, overprotective older brother paired with a smothering big sister," Stefan whispers. "I don't need more than that. I know for a long time I said I was good on my own, but…I like having friends." He blinks several times, trying to keep the tears away. "I need them to stay my friends, alright? Not turn into versions of you."

Damon tilts his head. "You need a break from me, eh?"

Stefan sighs. "I know you're in my corner, Damon. If anything ever happens, you're going to be there. And I love you, for exactly as you are." Damon can't help but smile. "I just…I need to have friends. Not babysitters."

Damon nods. "I can respect that."

Stefan pouts a little. "Can you, really?"

"I'll try," Damon concedes. "At the very least, I won't pay them to handle things for me."

"Thank you," Stefan mutters.

"For what it's worth, when I went to talk to them, Ty said they already planned on scaring him a little."

"I figured as much, I'd do the same for them. This was just…different."

"So, if Vicki offered you $500, you wouldn't go kick someone's ass for Matt?"

Stefan snorts. Damon hides a sigh of relief, glad he's still got a sense of humor.

"Where is Vicki Donovan going to get $500 that she won't blow on alcohol or drugs?"

Damon rolls his eyes. "Fine, Carol Lockwood."

"Alright, alright." Stefan waves him off. "I see your point."

"I never thought I'd defend Tyler, but he does give a damn. Same with Matty." Damon pats him on the shoulder. "Go easy on them, alright?"

"Fine. I'll talk to them."

His baby brother fixes Damon with that look. The one he assumes makes him look like the tough ripper with squinted eyes and a scowl. Instead, all Damon sees is a little boy playing pretend. He holds back an aww.

"I'm still not happy with you."

"That's fine," Damon says, helping him up and patting his back. "I'm sure you'll come up with a way for me to make it up to you."

"I'll think about it," Stefan mutters.

"Sure, you will, Bunny Boy."

Damon keeps an arm around him as they walk out of the woods. So, hiring Lockwood and Donovan as bodyguards is out of the question. Perhaps he should've just sent Crow to peck the little punk's eyeballs out.