kimkey prompted "how does Stefan react when he's no longer sick? Independent Stubborn Stefan vs. Caring Protective Damon Argument Round 5(?)"

Stefan pulls on his favorite gray hoodie and shoves his hands in his pockets before heading downstairs. Damon is exiting the kitchen, wiping his hands on a rag. He cocks an eyebrow at his brother's getup.

"Going somewhere?"

"I was actually about to come ask if you if I can go hunt?" Damon opens his mouth to speak but Stefan presses on. "You're free to come with me. It's just been a week since I have."

"We have plenty of blood in the fridge."

"I know, but I actually need to hunt."

Damon's eyebrows knit together. "Do you remember our talk? Back when you were sick?"

Stefan chuckles. "Damon, I had puked up about half my weight in blood and couldn't keep my eyes open. Safe to say, those few days are a blur."

"That makes sense. I should've brought it up sooner."

"Brought what up?"

Damon sighs, tucking the rag in his pocket. He walks closer to his brother. Stefan knows the look on his face. The very one that says "You're going to hate me for this". The first time Stefan saw it, he was 6 and asked Damon if he could go with the elder brother's friends to the lake. In that moment, Stefan loathed him. Threw a monster tantrum that Lily barely starved off before Giuseppe found out and whooped both boys just for causing a scene.

Stefan guards himself. "What's going on?"

Damon sighs. "Stef, I don't think it's safe for you to hunt anymore."

"What? Why?"

"We know that hunters are poisoning deer to harm vampires like you."

"So, I'll avoid deer until we know for sure they're clean."

"That's not to say that they aren't doing the same to other animals."

Stefan tilts his head. "Meredith seemed pretty sure that deer blood is the only one potent enough to hide the taste of vervain."

"Dr. Fell may be somewhat of an expert vampire, but she can't possibly know everything."

"Damon, this is ridiculous. I'll avoid Bambi for now and stick with Thumper."

The Disney references do not make his brother smile like they once did. Damon's face goes from sympathetic to stern.

"The answer is no."

Stefan's mouth drops open. "You can't…you can't just take hunting away from me," he sputters. "I need to."

Damon rolls his eyes. "Don't be so dramatic. It's not as if I'm forcing you on a human diet. Meredith has agreed to continue supplying us with clean animal blood for the time being."

"You don't understand, Damon." Anxiety bubbles inside of Stefan. "I need to hunt. This isn't up for debate."

"Somehow, those of us on human blood can tolerate just bagging it. You can handle the same."

The anxiety builds up as the anger settles in. Damon's staring at him as if he's a petulant child who's been denied a toy. His brother cannot begin to understand how dangerous this restriction is.

And yet, as Stefan opens his mouth to tell him, nothing comes out. He looks further into those narrowed blue eyes and simply cannot form the words. The anxiety and anger from being denied his activity of survival collides with fear of letting his big brother down. Again.

All of the emotions cloud his head. He tugs at his sleeves and tries to make the voices go away. It needs to stop. He cannot go back down this road.

Blood, he needs blood.

He needs to hunt.

"Damon," Stefan pleads, his voice growing desperate. "You can come with me. I'll hold your hand while I do it, just please! Don't take this away from me!"

Damon takes him in for a minute, worry filling his face. "Stef…what is going on? Why is this such a big deal?"

"It just is! Please."

"I can't risk you getting hurt. I understand it's something you've done…"

"No!" Stefan snaps. "You don't understand!"

He vamps back up to his room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Stefan breathes in, then out. He crosses to the mini-fridge in the corner of his room and throws it open. Damon's began to keep some blood upstairs since Stefan got sick, just so he had easier access. Stefan throws off the top of a sippy cup and knocks it back. It quenches the thirst inside of him, but the craving still remains. Without thinking, in the span of one minute, he drinks two more.

He coughs, his stomach clogged with blood once again. Stefan drops the cups onto the dresser and runs into the bathroom. He expels the excess into the sink, quickly cleaning out all the evidence. By the time he walks back into his room, panting, Damon stands there. Panic is still etched in the older brother's eyes.

"Stef," he whispers. "What is going on with you?"

"Get out of my room," Stefan grumbles.

"Bunny…"

"Damon, I am trying really hard not to snap at you right now but if you don't get out of my room, I am going to shout things that are really going to piss you off. So go!"

Damon's mouth drops open and Stefan knows he ready to lay into him. He doesn't care, the anger and anxiety rattling his bones. Stefan stands up straight, his eyes narrow. Damon's sternness slowly fades and for a moment, he seems…afraid?

"I don't feel right leaving you like this," Damon says. Stefan growls. "You don't have to talk to me or even look at me, but I am not leaving this room."

He rolls his eyes. "Fine. Stare at the wall for all I care."

Stefan throws himself tummy side down onto the bed, burying his head into the pillows. Reaching around, he finds his rabbit and hugs it close. That and the scent of Damon are the only two things weighing him to the earth. He hears his brother settling into an armchair nearby, but doesn't bother to look at him. Stefan remains that way until a dreamless sleep overcomes him.

"So, my mom's yelling at him to plug it into HDMI," Elena says, barely able to make out the story behind the laughter. "And he claims it's not there, so then she goes behind and she can't find it."

Bonnie snickers. "Tell me you helped them?"

"Hell no!" Elena holds up her water bottle. "That was more entertaining than the movie we were supposed to watch."

Matt and Tyler begin laughing as well. Stefan can barely force a smile. He's already downed the thermos of blood he brought and it's not enough. Teeth grind together, or more accurately, fangs do.

13 days without hunting. 13 days of nothing but blood from a cup.

Elena's story drowns out as Stefan focuses in on her. She's tied her hair back in a braid today, exposing her neck. Stefan licks his lips, imagining how great it would feel to finally sink into something. The feeling of flesh tearing through his fangs. The adrenaline of knowing that for even just a moment, you are in control.

Stefan clings his thermos tighter to him, trying to find any last drop. It's bone dry by this point. His eyes travel to Matt. For so long, Stefan hasn't stopped to consider how good they both smell. His fangs starved for so long, he could feed from them both in a matter of…

What the hell are you thinking?

Guilt topples over his anxiety. It's been so long since he craved human blood. Animal sustains him. Sure, it may make him weaker than other vampires, but if it prevents him from hurting anyone, it's a sacrifice he's willing to make.

In this moment, he could've killed two of his best friends…just for a fix.

Stefan pushes himself up from the table, his chair clanging to the ground. His friends glance up at him. Elena frowns, putting her hand atop his.

"Stef, are you okay?"

He gazes down at her, the overpowering impulse taking over once more. She's so close, he could easily…

"I have to go!"

Pulling away from her, he vamps out of the cafeteria. Two more fast swoops and he's out of the school, charging for the nearest woods. It's going to take him a long time to find animals that aren't deer today. He nearly gives into another impulse and just grabs one, but then remembers how sick he got the last time.

Stefan will not spend another 3 days bent over his brother's toilet.

So, he presses on. Eventually, he's closer to the town line. A regular rabbit or chipmunk won't do, this need is great.

Deep in the woods, he finds his prey. A lone black bear, male. Stefan won't take a mother from its cub, but they'll both fare fine without the father.

The attack itself is a blur. As soon as his fangs sink into the fur, he's at peace. He hasn't eaten this fast since his ripper days. Stefan's the feral beast this time, completely obliterating the large animal in a matter of moments.

When there's no blood left, he collapses to the ground, his hand on his mouth. He licks away any excess and expels a sigh of relief.

"Why the hell are you out here?"

Stefan refuses to look up at his brother. Damon's footsteps come closer.

"I asked you a question?"

Stefan shakes his head, keeping his eyes forward. "Well, I thought it was the perfect day for a stroll."

A pinch to his ear and he's off the ground. Stefan yanks away, folding his arms over his chest. Rage is in Damon's blue eyes. Stefan hasn't seen him this worked up towards his own brother in quite a bit. Damon looks from him to the bear and then back at him.

"Okay, so even when I did allow you to hunt, I purposefully told you to not go into the woods alone!" Damon snaps. "You could drop at any moment and then get hurt."

"But I didn't."

Damon glowers. "On top of that, I told you that hunting period was off limits."

"Yeah, you did. And I never agreed to that."

"It wasn't a damn request!" Damon throws his hands in the air. "I am the older brother, your guardian, my rules go."

"Your rule is stupid!"

Damon's eyes go wild. "I frankly don't give a damn how you find my rules, Stefan! They are put in place for your own good."

"This one wasn't!" Stefan thunders. He continues on before Damon can talk. "You can be pissed at me, ground me, shove your foot up my ass, I don't care! But this rule didn't put me first! It put your own stupid fears and anxiety first! I did this to save not only myself but everyone else around me! If you can't understand that, then I'm not going to stand here and waste time talking to you!"

Stefan storms past him, ready to head back to the school. Damon grabs him by the arm. Stefan struggles against him but even after feeding, his older brother still holds more power. Damon's face falters, worry returning. Stefan holds back a whine. He doesn't want to do this.

"Stef," he whispers. "I am going to ask you again, and this is not a request, you are going to tell me. What the hell is going on?!"

Stefan breathes heavily. "I told you…I just…I have to hunt."

"But why?"

"I have to!"

"That's not an answer!" Damon shouts.

"Because if I don't, people will die!"

Damon frowns, his grip loosening. Stefan stumbles back, running his hand over his face. The anxiety, anger and guilt all morph together into a big mess inside of him. A few tears fall down his cheeks.

"The last time I attempted college, in the 90s, the college I went to was having a bit of a weird spring," he explains, his voice soft again. "It was cold then warm and it went in this weird cycle. So, the animals weren't coming back and I didn't have any to hunt from. I found a doctor like Meredith who supplied me with blood bags."

Damon gnaws on his lip, gesturing for him to continue.

"It was fine…for a couple of weeks. And then…I don't know. It was like this urge kept coming back over me. It wasn't enough to drink the blood, my body needed the experience. As terrible as it may sound, I needed to feel my fangs sinking into something. I couldn't understand why. I just kept telling myself I'd go on a big hunt that weekend. I could make it."

The memory hits Stefan like a freight train. Damon attempts to touch him, but Stefan is quick.

"I…I was at this party…and things were just getting to be too much," Stefan makes out. "I think I was dropping anyway but on top of it I just had this overwhelming urge to sink my teeth into everyone. I went outside and tried to catch my breath. But this guy, Booker, he…he followed to check on me. One minute, I was telling him to leave me alone and the next…"

Stefan lets out a choked sob. Booker's brown eyes falling into the back of his head, Stefan's fang marks indented into his skin.

"I…I…I managed to cover it up. He was super drunk, so the cops just assumed he died of alcohol poisoning. Never checked his body."

Sorrow fills Damon's eyes. "Stef…"

Stefan clears his throat. "I dropped out of school and locked myself in an abandoned cabin I found for 2 weeks. Boarded the doors, chained myself to the bed. Starved all the human blood out of my system, just like Lexi taught me."

"Lexi was also there to monitor you," Damon says. "That was incredibly dangerous to do alone."

"I couldn't tell her…or you."

"Why not?"

"Because I knew you two would be disappointed. Angry. I couldn't…I couldn't face that."

Damon shakes his head. "You didn't mean to. It's not as if you could predict what would happen."

"I thought I could handle it on my own and I did."

"No, as usual, you barely survived because you didn't want to ask for help."

Stefan chews on his lip, hugging himself. Damon walks closer and he cowers a little.

"Please don't hate me," he whispers.

Damon sighs. "Oh, Bunny. I don't hate you. I'm scared for you. I wish you had told me sooner."

"Too scared."

"I never would've put this rule into place if I knew what would happened," Damon says, his voice soft. He gently cups his cheeks. "It may have seemed like I was doing it for me, but I really was trying to keep you safe. But that can only happen if we're honest with each other."

Stefan nods, whimpering a little. "I…I almost hurt Elena and Matt. I…I don't want to do that."

"I know, baby, I know."

Damon kisses his forehead. Stefan sniffles as a few tears fall.

"Please don't take hunting away from me again."

"I won't," Damon promises. Half the anxiety drops from Stefan's shoulders. "I'm still going with you and we're avoiding deer for the time being, but as long as it seems this bear didn't make you sick, we can go back to how it was."

Stefan nods. "Thank you. I don't know why I'm like this. Other vampires manage on just blood bags."

"They're not rippers," Damon points out. "Animals don't just replace blood, but I guess the feeling of ripping into someone."

"I guess."

Damon wipes a stray tear with his thumb. "Why don't I take you back to school? Tonight, we can figure this all out." He pats Stefan's cheek. "And no more secrets, yes?"

"Yes, Day. I promise."

And this time, Stefan actually means it.