Denial ✘ Stamon ✘ Defan

Part 6

Stefan woke up to a blinding halo of light surrounding a blurred silhouette, barely visible even with his vampiric eyesight. He sat against the headrest, stretching out his arms when the silhouette moved, revealing his face.

Damon.

Stefan should have known as he thought back to the previous night. He had failed, again. He hadn't been able to resist Damon despite going nowhere with him but end up in the same bed, all clothes still on.

'Stefan, it's early.' Damon grumbled, his eyes blurry as sleep tried to keep its clutches on him. 'Go back to sleep.' Damon groaned, slamming his face back into the pillow.

'No, we need to talk.' Stefan ordered, making his way out of the comfort of Damon's bed, wishing that it was his own bed for how comfortable he had felt in it.

'Stefan, it's too early to talk.' Damon grumbled again, rolling over to meet Stefan's gaze. 'What time is it anyway?' Stefan shrugged and made his way to the doorway.

'I'm going to get changed, you better be up when I get back, Damon. We need to talk.' Damon nodded in agreement albeit reluctantly. Stefan swiftly left the room, making his way to his own. Damon, on the other hand, didn't move an inch as he heard Stefan's fading footsteps.

He groaned again, rapidly blinking to focus his vision. The sunlight was beating down on him hard despite him being inside, his vampire skin still painfully delicate under light even with his ring on.

He brought his hand above his face and looked at his ring as if to check it was still there, as he did every morning. The blue of the stone reflected the light onto the ceiling creating a delicate blue wash across the room.

Damon sighed, focusing on the dancing light above him before finally drawing himself back into the real world. He felt in a daze as if to draw his mind from what happened the night before. Wrong. Again, that word rang around his mind, circling back to the front of his thought process.

Damon hurried out of bed, trying to busy his mind of the subject at hand. He stripped himself down before grabbing hold of a black shirt and trousers, pulling them on at a speed almost unachievable by humans.

He just wanted his mind to stop thinking for a moment. Like that moment when he had just woken up and all he could think about was the warmth of the comforter around him. Stefan found himself back in Damon's room as soon as Damon was about to leave. 'Parlour?' Stefan asked, not ready to speak anymore. Damon nodded and followed Stefan down the stairs and into the overly sized lounge.

Damon fell back onto one of the pretentiously expensive couches whilst Stefan paced around the room, sliding his foot against the wood letting the shuffling be the only noise in the room.

'What are we, Damon?' Stefan asked, contemplating it all himself, just as Damon was. Damon shrugged, not coming up with a reasonable answer.

'Brothers, as ever.' Damon spoke up after another minute of silence. Stefan sighed at the simplicity of the answer.

'That was not what I was asking.' He muttered, pacing faster around the large space.

'I know, Stefan. But, neither of us know, do we?'

'That's why I'm asking you!' Stefan shouting, making Damon flinch back. He kept a calm façade on his face, trying not to torment his brother anymore.

'I don't want to argue, Stefan! But, if neither of know, then how can I answer!' He sounded pleading and desperate, willing Stefan to calm down. He did but his breath was still ragged and uneven.

'I just don't know what to do.' He cried out, kicking the chair, satisfied at the crunch he caused. Damon stood up and approached him.

'We both know our feelings are more than we let on. But, we both know that's wrong. If it's any consolation, I'm trying to end things with Elena. I'm sorry that I stole her from you but it seems now, neither of us will have her. Unless she comes back grovelling to you, which is most likely.' Damon sighed and placed a reassuring hand on Stefan's shoulder to which he immediately relaxed.

'I don't mind that you took Elena, I only loved her as much as I could love any friend.' Stefan found Damon's eyes again. They both looked so desperate but neither made a move and took a step back as soon as the doorbell rang.

Their heads turned in an eerie unison before Damon walked to the door, flinging it open, trying to vent some of his leftover emotions. Behind the door stood Elena, her eyes awkwardly moving between the two boys.

'I'm sorry to interrupt but I had something to tell you, Damon. And you too, Stefan.' Both vampires nodded and gestured for Elena to come in. She looked wary but came in any way, seemingly nervous around the two vampires who had an obvious lack of control over themselves in that moment.

'Caroline told me about a ball on the weekend and I wondered if you wanted to come with me, Damon.' She stated, smiling, her confidence increasing as the vampire's ragged breaths became regular and calm. Damon nodded 'I'll come,' he said no more, practically dismissing Elena. He wasn't in the mood right now. Despite trying to let her down gently, he couldn't deal with her right now.

Stefan on the other hand, was still rather angry, even though Elena hadn't picked it up. He hated that Damon wasn't just going with Elena but the fact that he couldn't go with him. I mean, they could go as brothers but nothing more. Stefan hated the feeling of rejection he was getting at something that neither he or Damon had any control over.

Stefan kept to himself, though, and didn't say anything before making his way upstairs, leaving Damon and Elena along. Damon wanted to beg him not to leave but wouldn't ruin his pride or do that to Elena. It seemed all Damon was trying to do lately was please others. His careless façade was breaking down, piece by piece.

Neither stopped the other. They both wanted to dismiss their feelings, no matter how hard that was. It was for the best to leave each other alone and ignore the hole in their hearts. They had done it for a hundred years at one point, had they not? Shouldn't it be easy?

No...because nothing was ever easy for them.

word count: 1079

published: 12.02.17