Mystic Falls Loner Club - A Vampire Diaries Fic

Chapter 5: Bedside Manners

As I bring the needle down on my skin again, I hear a knock on my door. "KJ, I was gonna go grab a bite at the Grill, do you wanna come?" Jenna pokes her head in and realizes what I'm doing. "Oh, sorry. Did I mess you up?" I shake my head and put the needle down, uncrossing my legs and walking to the door. "No. I heard your door shut so you didn't scare me, I promise." She nods and smiles. "M'kay. I'll try to bring something back for you."

I smile and respond, "Thank you. Have fun!" She laughs as she makes her way down the stairs. I walk back to the desk and refill my ink, finishing up the ivy around the dagger handle I'm working on. I decided to put it on my left forearm instead of my thigh the way I originally planned. I didn't start to ink the blade because I wanted to finish the intricate leaves first. I wipe the excess ink off my skin with a paper towel and start to go over any spots where the ink didn't stay. "Now this is something I haven't seen before." I hear behind me. 

I rotate my body and look up, seeing Damon standing in the middle of my room with his arms crossed. "Are you gonna judge me or do you want to sit and watch?" "Neither. I wanted to talk." I raise an eyebrow and glance in his direction for a moment before turning back to fill in the small flowers on the ivy. "Well, I overheard your conversation with Tyler Lockwood earlier and I wanted to ask if you were okay." I shrug and reply, "Yeah. I mean there's always gonna be some ignorant person who makes rude comments about the state of my mental health. I can't break down into tears because of it."

Damon sits on the edge of my bed and says, "Right. So you didn't want to kill him earlier?" I chuckle and reply, "I wouldn't say kill. But I did think about socking him in the mouth. I held back though because I didn't want to be known as Bonnie's little cousin who's mental and has anger issue problems." He shakes his head and comments, "You shouldn't have to put up with this."

I shrug and answer, "It's how the world works. You either get used to it and suck it up or fall victim." I finish my touch-ups to the ivy and refill the ink and wipe my needle again before starting the dagger. Damon nods his head in the direction of my arm. "Does it hurt?" "Not too much. I'm used to it," My phone beeps, and I start, "Can you see who-" Before I can finish my question, Damon is  against my desk, reading my phone screen.

"It's from Bonnie. She says, 'Hey KJ. I hope Mystic Falls is treating you okay. I should be back by the end of the month. Grams has me working on some family history and I need time to digest it. Love Bonsy'. " Damon chuckles at the nickname. "I couldn't say Bonnie when I was younger so I'd yell 'Bonsy, Bonsy' whenever I wanted to call her." 

"Why'd you two ever part ways?" He asks, sitting on the other end of my vanity bench. I continue inking the dagger on my forearm and say, "No matter what, every summer, I would come down to Virginia, and Bonnie, Elena, Caroline, and I would hang out doing who knows what. We got older, family stuff got more complicated, and we eventually stopped coming."

Damon 'hmpf's and comments, "That sounds like Stefan and me in the '50s." I roll my eyes and refill my ink before going back to finish the dagger. "How'd you hear my conversation with Tyler earlier?" Damon sighs and answers, "I was bored so I wanted to see what everyone was up to." I raise an eyebrow. "You mean what I was up to." He sits his chin on his hand and nods a few times in a row. Damon groans and takes off his leather jacket. I blink and hear a rush of wind after he put it on the edge of my mirror and sat back down.

I finish tracing the tip of the dagger on my forearm so I let it dry for a minute then wipe the excess ink off. I carefully apply vaseline and wrap it before grabbing my alcohol wipes and cleaning my needles and the surface of my desk. I can feel Damon's eyes on me as I move around my room, packing up my kit and putting it back on my dresser. 

I move to look at myself in the mirror, gauging what I've looked like for the past two hours. My hair is still in the curly ponytail from this morning. I'm wearing a black tank top and grey sweatpants that fall low on my hips. I see the dark scars on my sides and across my stomach and pull down my tank top, making a mental note to doodle a design for another tattoo. "Whatcha doing now?" Damon asks, falling onto my bed with his hands behind his head. I glance over at him and roll my eyes. "Getting ready for bed. Which means it's time for you to go." Damon groans and replies, "Ugh, I just getting comfy." 

I walk into the bathroom and take my hair out of its ponytail, wrapping it with my scarf. I start brushing my teeth and say, "Fine. You have until I come back in there. And you need to stop coming through my window; it's creepy. What are you gonna do next? Watch me sleep?" I can see Damon on my bed by looking in the mirror. He sits up and locks eyes with me incredulously. "There's nothing you can say that will actually get me to leave unless you pitch a fit. And no, I'm not gonna watch you sleep, that's weird. Just remember, you can't make me move because I'm able to move bigger things than you can."

I pause in the middle of brushing and ask, "What's it like to be strong anyway?" Damon lays back and replies, "I don't know how to describe it. I mean it's normal to me because I've been a vampire for this long. It's nice to know that I'm almost invincible, ya know? And yeah, it is cool that I can dent a truck with a punch but showing off isn't what it's for." 

I roll my eyes and spit out my toothpaste. "Coming from the king of theatrics himself." He laughs before shutting his eyes and folding his arms behind his head. I rinse my toothbrush out and finish applying chapstick before I crawl onto my bed. I force myself onto Damon's lap, my knees resting on either side of his body. 

"Whatcha doing?" Damon asks, eyes still closed.  "Trying to get you to leave through forced seduction." He chuckles again and replies, "What if this is secretly something I wanted?" I roll my eyes and say, "Oh geez. Maybe that's why you only visit me when I'm in my room and nowhere else." He nods and frowns in thought. "Well, there is my house. And the reason we're in your room is that if Aunt Jenna wouldn't like it too much if she knew I was visiting you at night."

I laugh and move off of Damon. I sit back and try to cross my legs under me to get comfortable. Damon takes the opportunity and is now over me. He has my arms pinned above my head with one of his hands and his face is inches from mine. "What do you want to do, KJ?" Damon asks, looking into my eyes. I press my lips together and say, "Go to sleep Damon. I'm tired." 

He groans and falls back to the mattress next to me. "What you should've said is: 'I'm thinking I would like nothing more than to spend the night with you tangled in my sheets but given your track record for lying and compelling, I don't think it would be wise of me.'"

I roll onto my side and face Damon. "What's the big deal with compulsion?" He locks eyes with me and replies, "It makes feeding a lot easier. That or if something were to happen and we didn't want you to remember it, boom, memory wipe and good as new." I nod slowly and tuck my hands under my cheek.

"I could always compel you to sleep with me." He says, sighing. I laugh and answer, "You wouldn't. You like me too much. Damon chuckles, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling. "There's a slight chance I don't find your company excruciating and it's somewhat tolerable." I roll my eyes and reach to turn off my bedside lamp. "Good night, Damon." I roll back over, pulling the comforter closer to my chin, glancing at the other side of my bed, and see that he's gone.