Vampies in Love

7. Damon Spills the Beans

Damon and Elijah were sitting in a hotel room, going through news articles, police reports, and other sources of information. They were trying to find someone, but that someone was either very good at hiding, or they didn't exist.

"Hopefully we find this guy soon. Then, at least, you'll finally get rid of me." Damon's patience was waning, and he was feeling irritable. They had been looking for weeks with no luck, and there was something about working with Elijah that made him uneasy.

"Why would you think I would want to 'get rid of you'?" Elijah looked up from the paper he was reading. Damon didn't meet his eyes.

"I'm a dick." Damon didn't actually know how to handle this guy. He hadn't scared him off just yet, but he figured exaggerating his shitty personality might gain him his freedom.

"Believe it or not, I do enjoy your company," Elijah said, turning his eyes back down to the paper. "I actually find you quite charming."

This took Damon by surprise. Very rarely was his sarcasm met genuinely. He also didn't expect stoic Elijah to bust out what seemed to be a fairly emotional statement. A typical interaction of this sort stayed on the sexual level. Damon never let himself feel anything more. The only person he had ever loved had abandoned him 90 years ago. Saved herself and left him to die.

Logically, Damon knew Elijah must be messing with him, however, the self-preservation part of him told him to stop this conversation before it even started.

"You're not so bad yourself," Damon wanted to cringe as he said it. He didn't want to lead this guy on, especially considering how easily he could overpower him, but the sentence seemed to spill from his mouth.

Damon's so called "self-preservation" clearly wasn't enough to override his sense of "fuck it", but what could Damon say? He was apparently a masochist.

~~~~~~~~

Damon stumbled his way through the woods surrounding mystic falls, blood pounding in his ears and drowning out everything. His thoughts were going a million miles a minute, and he was sure that if he were human, his heart would've given out.

Eventually, he found his way back into town. He followed the streets until he arrived at the house he needed. Damon knew what he needed to do, but that didn't mean he wasn't a nervous wreck.

Damon climbed his way onto the edge of the window of the second story and peeked inside. Before he could chicken out, he pushed the window open and entered.

"Oh my god, Damon!" Elena cried, startled by Damon's sudden appearance. She was dressed in pajamas and had been rearranging some books. Now, she looked at Damon almost angrily. He couldn't really blame her, either. "What are you doing here?"

"Look, something happened, and I really need to talk to somebody," Something in Damon's voice must've clued Elena in to his emotional distress, because she sat down on the foot of her bed, leaving room for Damon to sit down. He did. "You're one of the only people that I consider a friend, and I need to tell someone before I lose my mind or rip out my hair or something."

Damon's heart hammered. He knew this moment was coming, but knowing something was coming and being prepared to actually deal with it were two entirely different situations. Elena looked at him next to her, but Damon stared straight ahead. He knew that if he met her eyes, he wouldn't be able to spit anything out.

Gathering his courage, he took a deep breath, and started talking.

"I'm in love with someone," He blurted. Saying those words out loud felt so strange. As he continued speaking, Damon felt as though it were someone else saying everything. He felt distant and numb. "And I'm afraid to tell Stefan. Or anyone. But especially Stefan."

Elena looked ahead. "Oh," she said simply.

"I know it seems like a weird thing to get freaked out over, but-,"

"Damon, we can't do this," Elena cut him off. She stood up and walked a few steps away. "I love Stefan, and you're going to have to accept that."

"What?" Damon was confused. Did she really think he would come to her room in a panic to tell her he loves her? Damon had more class than that. "Elena, I'm not in love with you."

Elena turned around to face him with a face that looked as lost as he felt. "What are you saying? You were in love with Katherine before. Who could you be in love with now that is so much worse you would be afraid to tell Stefan -?"

"It's Elijah." Damon couldn't stop himself from spitting it out. It was easy enough to say in the moment, but now that he realized it was out there, he was losing his mind. He could barely hold eye contact with Elena, opting instead to stare at the floor.

" That's what you're afraid to tell Stefan?" Elena put her hand on Damon's shoulder, a faint smile on her face. "I assume you've known him longer than you're letting on."

Damon laughed incredulously. "Am I really that obvious?" he said, which caused Elena to chuckle.

"Well, you've been acting pretty strange since he's gotten into town." Elena sat down next to Damon again, and this time, he looked at her. He was still nervous, but the heart-pounding panic he had been feeling earlier was easing its way out of him. "So, how long have you two been together?"

Damon couldn't help but smile, remembering the first time he realized he felt something more than just friendship for his current lover. He had no idea then what it would eventually grow into. "We met in 1952. I didn't realize I loved him until a year later."

"How come you never mentioned him before? Why tell me now?"

"Well, Elijah is an original with a very dangerous brother, so when he had a dispute with said brother, he wanted to keep me safe by making me forget about him. That way I couldn't be used as leverage." Damon didn't enjoy the fact that he was forced to forget the love of his life for decades, but he understood why Elijah had done it.

"Then how do you remember him now?" Of all the things Damon had been expecting to come out of this conversation, a questionnaire was not one of them.

"He compelled me to only remember him when I saw him again. He's been laying low and playing it safe until recently, when he stumbled into you, causing me to stumble into him." It felt nice for Damon to talk openly about this, but he did want to know what Elena thought of it all. "So, you're seriously unfazed by this?"

"I mean, it's a bit unexpected, but you being in love with Elijah is a lot easier to handle than all of this curse-doppelganger situation," She gave Damon a strange look. "Why? Were you expecting me to freak out?"

"A little bit, yes."

"Damon, this isn't the 1950's. There are so many gay and bi people that are open about who they are. You don't need to be afraid to love who you want." Elena stood up, giving a small pull on Damon's arm to tell him to do the same. He did. "You should tell Stefan. He'll be okay with it. He's your brother."

"My brother from the 1860's. You weren't alive back then, but it wasn't exactly an accepting world. What if he still thinks that way?" The world could have changed as time passed, but Damon knew his brother was steadfast. It wasn't crazy to think he might not approve of Damon and Elijah being together.

"If he has a problem with it, then he's going to have to deal with me," Elena said, looking at him before pulling him into a hug. "It's going to be okay. He's your brother. He'll understand," She practically whispered.

Damon pulled away from the hug. "Thank you," He said, then climbed out of the window.

It turned out that talking to Elena had been the best choice to make. Damon's nerves were going haywire, and he was still afraid to tell Stefan, but he was no longer paralyzed by his fear. As he walked back to the home he shared with his brother, he told himself that he could do this.

I can do this. It's going to be fine. He's my brother.