Damon Salvatore One Shots

Damon can't sleep after a mission so he visits y/n

i.

He can feel the weight of exhaustion beginning to settle in his bones. The worst part is it's not the kind of exhaustion that a blood bag can fix. He needs a rich glass of bourbon, the expensive kind he hides only for himself. A bath too, it would ease his muscles and wash away the stickiness of the road trip. Then he can sleep, and drift away with the haziness that alcohol brings, soothed by soft sheets.

Except that none of that works.

Damon rolls around in bed as his brain replays the images of his failed mission. Stefan ripping out a woman's neck with his fangs. There was so much blood, he must have hit her jugular. She locked eyes with Damon as the life was ripped from her body. When Stefan let her go she fell to the gravel road in a heap of limbs and flesh. Stefan licked around his mouth, her blood dripping onto his shirt.

"That one was your fault. Don't come after me again."

He was supposed to bring him home for Elena, save the day, you know? He hasn't even called her yet. He doesn't know what to say. "Hey, your boyfriends gone ripper and killed a girl in front of me. She looked into my eyes while he did it and now I can't get her out of my head."

The boarding house is quiet, too quiet. It's only him now and it makes the house seem bigger. Full of more ghosts than he can count. Damon sits up and swings his legs over the bed, pulling on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt thrown on the floor. He checks his phone- 3:08 am- and tucks it into his pocket.

His body protests as he walks towards the front door, keys jingling in his hand. Exhaustion is tugging at his eyelids and he knows it probably isn't a good idea to drive again but there's nothing else to do and the house is making his skin itch. The car groans underneath him as he sits down in the front seat, mindlessly checking his phone. He isn't sure what he's looking for, maybe a missed invitation, a threatening message leading to another mission. Something to get his mind off of the previous events haunting him.

He squints his eyes at the unread message on his phone from y/n. He taps on her name, scanning over the message. It's a tiktok she sent at a quarter past midnight. . Even worse.

Damon rolls his eyes and watches the video with an amused expression on his face. The calm that washes over him is unmistakable. His heart rate settles into a steady beat as tension leaves his body. He dumps his phone into the seat next to him, exhaling as he wrings his hands on the steering wheel.

He needs to see her.

~*~*~

Y/n needs to stop falling asleep with her window open. Doesn't she know that the wrong people can get into her apartment that way?

With one leap Damon lands softly in her bedroom, eyes gazing at his sleeping best friend. The moonlight gives him a perfect view of her face, relaxed and soft. Little whistles are coming from her nose on every exhale and with her hand curled against her chin Damon swears she looks like an angel.

He brushes the backs of his fingers against her warm cheek, shivering at the smooth skin. Her eyes move behind her eyelids, peeling open. He sits on the edge of the bed, finding her hand and wrapping it in his.

She doesn't have to move to know who's in her room, the cold ring between her fingers tells her everything she needs to know about her unexpected visitor.

"D'mon?" She mumbles, shifting underneath the covers.

"Hey." He whispers back, squeezing her hand.

She yawns, rubbing her eyes as she regains consciousness. "When did you get back?"

"Just a little bit ago. Wanted to see you."

She smiles, all sleepy and cute, then pulls back the blankets and scoots over to the other side of the bed. It's an invitation for him to hold her, and what a fool he would be to pass it up. He kicks off his boots and slides into bed next to her. The blankets are warm and fragrant with her smell. He can only describe it as a mix of incense and Earth.

"How did it go?" She asks, her voice floating through the quiet.

Damon shrugs and turns towards her. "Well, I didn't bring Stefan home."

"So not well I presume."

Damon swallows, his brain replaying the memory of Stefan ripping out that woman's neck again. "He's a ripper. He's too dangerous right now."

Y/n turns on her side, frowning at him. "I'm sorry, I know it worries you."

The way she says it with such sincerity strikes a chord in Damon's chest. He can't remember the last time someone's been empathetic with him. He's used to hiding his emotions, having them ignored and unaccounted for.

He feels seen when y/n is around.

"You should be apologizing to Elena, she's the one who wanted me to bring him back." He responds sarcastically, trying to mask the grief he feels with 'snarky vampire'.

Y/n rolls her eyes and huffs, her breath ghosting over Damon's skin, sending goosebumps down his arm. "Elena doesn't know what she wants."

She's not wrong, Damon's thought that plenty of times, but he's never heard somebody else say it. They fall into silence again, listening to each other's breathing, easing into their bodies. Damon watches y/n's face beginning to soften, her eyelids growing heavy again. She won't be around for much longer, sleep is tugging at her body and Damon reaches up a hand, tucking a hair behind her ear.

"I'm happy you're back." She says. "I missed you."

His heart aches and he almost coos because he's missed her too. He couldn't stop thinking about her for the four days he was gone. She turns on her side, wiggling back against him and sighing in contentment when he loops an arm around her waist. On the other side of her body he feels the plush of the aged teddy bear she still sleeps with. He chuckles as he pulls it up from the mess of blankets, pillows, and intertwined legs, placing it against her chest.

"Don't make fun. You haven't been here, there's nobody to cuddle with." She pouts and Damon smiles, nuzzling the shell of her ear.

In these moments, they don't look like best friends. He feels something more than friendship in these tender moments, but he's too reserved to admit it. He brings y/n's body flush against his, muscles flexing with his hold. He knows she likes to be held snugly, with barely enough wiggle room to shift around. He remembers her saying it makes her feel safe.

"I'm here now." He reassures her, laying his head on the pillows, pressing a chaste kiss to her shoulders. Y/n breathes out, relaxing into Damon's body, bringing up her knees to her hips, curling up like a kitten. He rubs soft circles on her stomach, giving into the more tender side of himself that he reserves for y/n and y/n only.

He lays in the quiet as y/n's breathing evens out, her heartbeat slowing to an unchanging rhythm that yields to her slumber. Through her open window he can see the sky beginning to lighten with a dark blue hue giving way to the incoming sunrise. Tomorrow there will be more to his mission. He'll have to answer to a frantic Elena. But right now, everything is peaceful.

He can sleep.