Ronnie_R prompted "I was thinking of Damon using Little Stefan to pick up girls? I see that trope a lot with single dads who bring their kids to the park and I thought it might be a funny idea. It could have less fluff with Stefan becoming possessive of Damon and jealous that the attention isn't on him."

Tourist season can kiss Damon's ass. He decides this as he sits in a booth in the back of the very crowded Grill. They should've just gotten takeout, but it's not often he actually gets to have fun in public with Stefan in his younger space. His brother is none the wiser, happily coloring a placemat with crayons the bored hostess dropped off upon sitting down.

"You know what you want?" Damon asks him. "We should put our order in quick."

"Uh huh." Stefan looks up from the cow he's coloring purple. "Can I have Dr. Pepper?"

"No." Even as a vampire, caffeine hits Littles the same way alcohol does. His brother would bounce off the walls all night. "You can have juice or milk."

"Pleaseee," Stefan pleads, pouting.

Damon shakes his head. "I gave you your options, Stef. Juice or milk."

Stefan huffs and throws himself against the leather seating. Damon shakes his head, setting his own menu down.

"Keep it up and we can go home."

"Nooo," Stefan's pout increases. "Please, Day. I wanna eat here."

"I know you do. So, sit up straight and act how I taught you to eat in a restaurant."

Damon's worst fear has always been turning into one of those guardians. The one who's children throw huge tantrums in restaurants, throwing food all about and making even more work for the staff. Taking older Stefan out is never a problem, but his younger side occasionally needs some reminders. The last thing Damon wants is to have to drag him into the single stall bathroom and have a "discussion". These outings are supposed to be fun.

Stefan complies quickly, a sad look still on his face. "Can I have chocolate milk? Please?"

Damon's stern demeanor melts. "Yes, you may." He pulls Stefan around the booth and closer to him, kissing his little brother's forehead. Stefan lights up. "That's the good boy I know."

An unfamiliar voice cuts through. "Welcome to The Grill. Sorry for the wait."

Damon looks up, a very different smile taking over. The waitress must be new, he definitely doesn't recognize her. Her dark hair is tied back in a ponytail. The usual company shirt is tied to the side, revealing a dangly silver naval ring. She's paired that with jean shorts that show off her very long legs. Damon raises an eyebrow, an easy feeling taking over him.

"It's no problem at all, sweetheart."

She smiles, pulling out her pad. "I'm Chelsea, I'll be taking care of you today. I take it you've had time to think about what you want."

"Of course. A burger with everything, fries and an Avalanche." He looks over at Stefan, who's still snuggled up in his side. "What do you want, buddy?"

Stefan shyly smiles. "Chicken fingers and fries. And chocolate milk. Please."

Chelsea grins. "Oh, he's so cute." Stefan buries his head into his brother's side.

Damon beams. "Isn't he?" He runs his fingers through Stefan's waves.

"I take it he wants the ones from the Little menu?"

Damon nods. "Please."

Chelsea walks off and Damon watches after her. A slight growl escapes his mouth as her butt moves. She reaches the bar and leans over to tell Matt something. She definitely looks well above 21, making it all okay.

Stefan pulling away from him to grab his placemat and crayons brings Damon back to Earth. There's no sneaking into the bathroom right now, nor would he even want to. Still, there's no way he can let her get away. He racks his brain for the next time Stefan will be out of the house. School's on spring break so that's out. He spots Bonnie walking in with Elena and then remembers.

The Mikaelsons are holding a pool party that weekend. Damon was invited but Stefan begged for him to say no, so he could spend some time alone with his friends without "being embarrassed". Damon relented, wondering how he'd spend his night.

He's found one way.

Chelsea returns a few minutes later, holding a beer in one hand and a plastic cup with a lid complete with a crazy straw in the other. She grins as she places the pint down.

"For you," she says, then hands Stefan his drink. "And for your little boy."

Damon nudges his brother. "What do you say, Bunny?"

Stefan looks up from his coloring with a big smile on his face. "Thank you, ma'am."

Chelsea giggles. "And so polite too." She rests a hand on Damon's shoulder. Her overpowering honeysuckle perfume wafers up into her nose. "Clearly you're doing something right, Dad."

"He's my brother," Stefan replies before Damon can, picking up a pink crayon to do the maze.

"Makes much more sense," she murmurs. "You don't look old enough to be a father."

Damon snorts. "Well, I'd have been a very young one."

Chelsea squeezes his shoulder. "I put your food in. Told them to make it quick," she winks.

Damon returns her gesture with a lazy smile. She rubs her hand up and down his arm.

"Something tells me there's nothing quick about you," he whispers, feeling confident that is brother is too young to pick up on that.

Chelsea shakes her head. "You're something, aren't you?"

"I try."

She looks from him to Stefan, then back to him. "I can see you're busy. But maybe you'll have a day off at some point?"

"As it turns out, I'm free Saturday afternoon. We could meet here or another bar, if you're ever tired of this place."

"I'm good with that."

Chelsea walks off before he can offer his number. Damon plans on leaving it on the check, along with a more than generous tip. The smirk stays on his lips as he takes a sip of his beer.

"Why was she touching you, Day?"

Damon snaps out of it, looking down at his younger brother. Stefan's completed the maze and is gazing up at him with wide eyes. "Oh, um, she was just being nice."

"Why did she ask you about a day off?"

"She just wanted to hang out with me."

"Without me?"

"You go out with your friends all the time. I can hang out with mine alone."

"You don't have any friends."

There's an innocent honesty in his younger brother's voice. Damon holds back an eye roll and tousles his hair.

"Okay, silly boy, show me what you've made here."

Stefan happily shows off his placemat. He managed to stay in the lines with the pictures, though clearly cheated on the maze. Damon doesn't have the heart to point it out. While he attempted the jumble, there were some words that he couldn't find. Damon works with him to uncover them, encouraging him to sound them out and look for familiar letters. It's a task that takes a good 10 minutes. In another life, maybe Damon would be bored out of his mind by this. And yet, seeing his brother's eyes light up when he finds what he's looking for is enough to make him smile.

The lovely aroma of honeysuckle indicates that their food has arrived. Damon looks up just as she places the plates down. Chelsea leans over him to pass Stefan his ketchup, giving him a good look at what he'll see on Saturday. Damon pulls away from his little brother and grins up at her. She straightens up, that seductive look on her face.

"Can I get you anything else?"

Damon nods. "I can think of a few things…" He feels tugging on his arm but ignores it. "They'll probably have to wait until Saturday, though."

"Oh, are you an impatient man?"

"I just may be."

Feeling bold, he reaches over and rubs his hand against her bare thigh. She giggles, playfully swatting him away. Damon does it again, simply to feel her touching him. The process repeats a few more times, with her infectious giggling growing with each.

Damon sees it out of the corner of his eye. Stefan discreetly picking up his kiddy cup and getting ready to toss it.

Surely, he wouldn't…

The cup begins buzzing past his head. Damon is quick to catch it, clutching onto the plastic for dear life. He looks back at his brother, nostrils flared. Stefan shrugs.

"It slipped."

Damon narrows his eyes, trying to assess the situation. There's a bit of innocence in those puppy dog eyes and still, a tiny smirk. His brother is likely stuck in the middle of two states. And from the looks of it, the childish mindset controlled the action, while the teenage mouth is going to defend it.

Damon looks back and finds that Chelsea has moved onto a new table. He slams the cup down.

"Stefan Antonio Salvatore," Damon says sternly. "What were you thinking?"

"I told you," Stefan says, picking up a tender and taking a bite of it. "It slipped."

"Okay, that's lie number one. I watched you do it."

"I don't know what you think you saw, but…"

Damon looks around to make sure that people are occupied before grabbing his brother by the arm and bending him over the bench seat. He lays five firm swats to his backside. Stefan bites down on his lip, trying to spare his dignity. Damon sits him back up. Stefan rubs his bottom.

"You spanked me," he mumbles with a slight pout.

"You deserved that. We've had several talks about how we act while eating out. I trusted you to behave. Perhaps we should just eat at home from now on."

"Fine."

Damon raises an eyebrow. "Fine?"

"Yeah, at least at home there's no waitresses that you spend all your time looking at."

Damon's mouth drops open. Stefan slides out through the other side of the booth.

"I have to go to the bathroom."

"It's physically impossible for you to…"

"Then I think I have something in my teeth."

Stefan walks off to the back. Damon sighs, running his fingers through his hair.

He's been no virgin since returning to Mystic Falls, but he always picks them up on his own. Stefan is somewhat aware of his behavior, but as his younger brother, doesn't want too many details. When's the last time his brother watched him flirt with someone?

Damon flinches as he remembers a dive bar they frequented in 1994. He spent months working on the sexy bartender. Damon drank terrible beer recommendations and one too many poorly made cocktails in hopes of landing her in bed. Each and every time, Stefan sat beside him, rolling his eyes.

"You need to give up."

"Nope," Damon said, taking a sip of an overly sweet margarita, trying not to make a face. "I'm this close."

"I don't get it. You could have any girl in this bar. Why her?"

"Because I like a challenge."

"You're pathetic," Stefan mumbled, slamming his own beer on the table. The bowl of peanuts rattled, some knocking onto the sticky table. Damon cast him a look, which only earned him another eye roll.

"Pick those up."

"No."

"Stefan," Damon growled. "Pick. Them. Up."

The two brothers stared each other down. It had been too long since he pulled his brother over his knee and he wouldn't be afraid to do it now.

"I didn't raise you to make a mess for other people," he said.

"You didn't raise me. And besides, aren't you the guy that trashes hotel rooms?"

"Which is why I leave a generous tip for the cleaning service. And it doesn't even matter. You're not going to make a mess for Marissa."

Stefan looked from him to the bowl on the table. Damon attempted to grab his wrist before he could, only to find his brother was faster. Stefan dumped the contents onto the floor before standing up and stomping on them. Damon gasped. He got hold of his brother's arm but Stefan vamps away from him.

"See you after the tour," his little brother called over his shoulder.

Damon wouldn't see his brother again for close to a year. Stefan and Lexi stalked Bon Jovi for an entire tour, partying it up. By the time the brothers reunited, Damon had bagged Marissa and quickly moved on. The entire incident forgotten about. Until now.

Any other time they went out back then, Stefan was the perfect customer. Polite, never made more than a mess than needed. It was only when Damon began obsessing over Marissa that it started.

Damon walks into the back. Stefan locked the door, but it's nothing on him. A simple nudge pushes it open. Damon wrinkles his nose at all the smells.

"You couldn't have found a better place to hide?"

Stefan rolls his eyes, wiping his hands on the paper towel. "I really did have to check my teeth."

"I'd have told you that you look fine."

"You're not too busy with Chelsea, huh?"

Damon sighs, shaking his head.

"I shouldn't have flirted with her in front of you."

Stefan shrugs. "You can do whatever you want."

"It's our time together."

"That's never mattered before."

Damon bites his lip. "You remember Marissa, huh?"

"You knew I was leaving for 10 months and you spent it obsessing over some stupid bartender."

"I didn't think about it like that."

"Because you weren't going to miss me. It didn't matter if I was gone."

Damon shakes his head. "That isn't true."

"Whatever."

Stefan starts to leave the bathroom. Damon grabs his arm and pulls him backwards. Stefan looks up at him, a mix of sadness and annoyance on his face.

"Did you ever consider that maybe I was trying to distract myself that night?" Damon asks. "I knew you were going to be gone for a long time, with Lexi of all people." He makes a face.

"Don't make this some brotherly thing. You wanted to bang her long before I announced I was leaving."

"One, don't use that language. And two, yes, in the beginning, it was just to be with her. Normally, I would've given up. Then you told me about your plan and I realized I was going to be alone. So, I found a way to fill that."

Stefan frowns. "That's a really weird of saying you were going to miss me."

Damon releases his grip, sighing. "Yeah. Well. Communication has never been my strong suit."

"Really? I couldn't tell."

A hint of a smirk crosses Stefan's lips. Damon rolls his eyes before his face grows serious.

"I have no excuse with today. She was just…I'm not used to not going after what I want."

"Today was supposed to be our day." Damon tilts his head. "You've had council stuff all week and I've been with my friends. I guess, I just…I guess that's why I dropped. Because my brain knew I needed to spend time with you."

Damon frowns. "Bunny, you don't have to be younger for me to spend time with you. If you asked me, I would've gladly hung out with you."

"I don't know why I couldn't say it."

Damon chuckles. "I suppose we both suck at communicating."

Stefan shrugs. "Maybe."

Damon bends down and kisses the top of his head.

"Why don't we finish our lunch and then we can spend the rest of the day together?"

Stefan's face brightens up a little. "Really?"

"Yes. No more flirting with the cute waitress." Damon wraps an arm around him. "At least until Saturday."

Stefan laughs, leaning into him. "At least then, I'll be far, far away and won't have to witness it."