Time jump: Stefan's 8 and Damon's 14
Author's note : everything in italics will be a flashback. And everything bold will be a dream. Also I really hope dating at a young age was normalised at that time and even if it wasn't, let's assume it was lmao Idk 😭💀
Damon's pov:
It was Sunday and stefan has been begging me to take him to the park since forever. Ever since father told him it was his fault that mother died, he changed.. He became quieter if that was possible and he stopped- everything. Earlier he used to try to make us love him.. Do things to please us. Be good no matter what. Something in him snapped and just stopped trying. He believed that no matter what he does, nobody will ever love him. He started believing he didn't deserve to be loved. This was too much stress for a 5 year old child. He was always a weak kid, after he passed out the day he found out, he got a fever. The doctor told us he has bad immunity and he needs to eat food that helps him become stronger. He even had his blood pressure lower than normal when we went to the doctor's which was very rare in children. He also got really panic- y about everything. Scared to even look me in the eye, and he didn't even go near father for days. He would tremble at the sight of him. It took me a lot of time trying to explain to him that nobody blames him. I don't blame him. He half-heartedly believed me. We have grown real close ever since then. He is my confidant and I am his. It aches me to think that we could've had this since the start. I went to his room and saw him tossing and turning on his bed. Covers discarded on the floor. He was sweating and mumbling incoherently. I am instantly reminded of the day when he first had a nightmare.
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"NO! P-PLEASE NO MORE- I'M SORRY-" I hear Stefan's voice from his room. He was yelling. I don't know what happened. It was the middle of the night and as soon as I his scared screams, I ran to his room, wondering what had happened. I saw him clutching to his covers and trying to hide from whatever it was that was scaring him. "F-father please- I-" He was having a nightmare. He then started arching his back clutching the sheets tightly. Crying. I quickly got him up and tried to wake him. I hugged him tight and he clutched the back of my shirt tightly. Soon he calmed down in my arms and slowly opened his eyes and looked at me trying to seperate reality from whatever he was being haunted by in his dream. Sluggishly blinking his eyes. "D-damon? " He asked, his face full of tears and his voice reeking of sorrow. "Shh.. It's okay.. It was just a dream.. No one's gonna hurt you.. " He sobbed into my chest. "Please don't leave me alone" He said, voice barely audible. "I won't, little brother, do you want to talk about it? " He shook his head no, " It's okay, now go to sleep" . I laid him on the bed and he leaned on my chest , desperately begging for comfort without saying a word of it. I know he needed it. I heard him sob with his eyes closed, he still wasn't able to stop thinking about it. It affected him deeply and I could see it. I rubbed his back and ran my fingers through his hair and slowly, he fell.
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He was awfully disturbed after the nightmare. Didn't eat anything for a whole day and Martha and I quite literally forced him to eat the day after. Even then he ate only when we raised our voices, he ate because he was so scared that we would hurt him if he didn't eat. He shaking-ly consumed not enough food for a growing child and I saw tears in his eyes as he got up. He would agree to everything those days. I remember him yelling one night and father got me there before I did.. He whipped his back for half an hour or so, not caring about his age, health, mental state, or even the fact that it was the middle of the night. I remember the servants looking at the boy getting his bare back bloody because he was tortured by nightmares and didn't know how to quieten his screams for help. He was crying hysterically, gasping for breath begging for him to let him go, that he won't do it again. He even kept looking at me with eyes that screamed 'please help me' . I tried to interfere but all I earned was a shove to the wall and harder hits for stefan. After it was all over he layed there, exhausted and I helped him go to his room, to clean his wounds. His feet was wobbly and he staggered as I had to practically carry him. I noticed how he grew numb whenever something like this happened to him. It always crushed him so bad that he would isolate himself from everything . I noticed how he was so scared to sleep for days after that. He would bute the blanket with his teeth so that he doesn't yell. Eventually he learnt how to not scream, though I think that was worse for him. When he screamed at least I found out and helped him wake up from the nightmare, to ket him at least have a few peaceful hours of sleep, now he just suffered on his own. When I come to check up on him he gets embarrassed and ashamed of himself for ruining my sleep and asks me to go. After the whipping that night, he started not caring about what will make others mad, he knew he can't stop it no matter what he does or how good he tries to be . He knew there was no way father would love him, so he gave up. He stopped trying. He became rebellious. I still saw the fear father instilled in him but now, stefan knew the outcome and he was never surprised or lost when father was cruel to him out of nowhere. He knew that's all he would ever get from him, I think deep down he thought he deserved it. I used to think that father's cruelty was justified but that was far from the truth . The innocent child kept trying to soften his cold heart, but all he ever received was pain, hurt. I remember when father used to be kind, it breaks my heart that stefan never got to have the father that I had. Had. Past. No more. That man is long gone. I know I lost my mother, but at least I knew what it was like to have one, to have a happy normal family. He didn't. All he knew was that his father blames him for his mother's death and the only people who he can call family is me. Heck, martha is more of a parent to him than father has ever been. He's a very low maintenance child, never asks for anything. Never questions anything anymore. Just faces whatever we throw at him quietly. I shake my head trying to get rid of these thoughts and help him. I went closer to him and hear him murmur "please don't- I didn't kill him- no-" What was he talking about? "Stefan! Wake up! It's a dream! " I shake him and he wakes up. He blinks his eyes as if he's certain that I'll disappear if he closes them. He then moves his hand towards me and stops in the middle as if convinced this is all not real. I take his hand in mine and he lunges forward and hugs me as if his life depends on it. He starts crying, weeping , "you're here- you're here" He keeps mumbling to himself. I run my hand soothingly on his back, Wondering what his nightmare was about.
