Fic: Hope the damn snowflakes are worth it! (Damon/Elena) (delena holiday fic Xchange 2012)
Title: Hope the damn snowflakes are worth it!
Fandom: TVD
Author adja999(lj), Original_Cypher(AO3)
Pairing/Character: Elena, Damon, Caroline, minor: Tyler, Liz.
Word Count: ~3 052
Rating: PG
Summary: Damon isn't really fond of making promises he can't keep. This time, he's not even aware he's walking right into it.
Spoilers: Set after 4x06, goes AU from there.
Disclaimer: I don't own them. I'm just playing. I'll give them back. Maybe. If and when I'm done.
A/N: Written for angelus2hot or the damon & elena holiday exchange 2012. Hope you like it!
Damon walks in the Hospital's children ward and gets assaulted by a strong cinnamon scent. He ponders whether he likes the smell of bleach and sickness better until a perky elf saunters towards him. "Hey! Who let the Grinch in?" Caroline says as a greeting. She's actually smiling and seems to be cheerful enough. It likely has something to do with her smudged lipstick and the faint canine smell on her. "You're not coming to get your supplies, are you?" She stage-whispers to him. "Too many people in today."
"No, actually, I came to see Santa's..." he trails off, looking past her at Elena approaching with a Red Ridding Hood like basket, except it is white and silver and she isn't wearing any red. “... not-an-elf.”
Caroline smirks and shakes her head. "That was possibility number two."
"Hey." Elena greets, and Caroline makes a mental note to set up a poker night sometimes against her. The unresolved elephant in the room is so clear in the way she breathes out her hello or locks gazes with Damon. He's a much better player, though, and he quickly leers at her costume. Elena is wearing a silver dress and white eyeliner. It brings out her eyes and hair, and, Caroline hates to admit it, killer legs. "And what are you supposed to be?"
Elena looks embarrassed, but Caroline pipes up. "She's the Ice Queen!"
Damon snorts. "Oh really? Did you pick that? Because that would be-..."
"Shut up. I didn't see myself in red and green so I may..."
Caroline jumps and gets distracted by hybrid hands - masquerading as another elf's - start tickling her sides. She flips around into Tyler's embrace.
"... have compelled a kid to say there should be an Ice Queen." Elena is saying.
"I'm so proud if you!" Damon quips with exaggerated cheer.
"I'm not." She groans and slips a hand under the sheet covering the contents of her basket. "Here. Have a snowflake."
Puzzled, he looks at the snowflake shaped cookie covered in powdered sugar she deposited in his hand. "Did you make those?"
"Well, let's see." She started ticking off fingers. "I'm alone in a house that's way too big for me. My brother's off doing God knows what in Denver because 'I'm no fun'. My friends are all busy and excited planning the Holidays and I'm just crossing more and more loved ones off my guest list each year." Damon opened his mouth to offer sympathy, but she went on. Instead, he bit on the cookie. Oats and hazelnuts. "And I'm experiencing major blood lust, in the most literal sense of the term. -- Is that what it feels like to be a junkie? Because I get the munchies from thinking!" she says in a slightly hysterical sidebar. "Anyway..." she goes back to her previous point, "Caroline is..." she gestured to the couple next to them being as PDA as possible in a children ward. "Caroline. Stefan's left town to 'give me space', which, to me, means 'gives himself space'. And you..." she waves a hand towards him. "I haven't seen you." she ends coolly. Then shrugs her basket, lips thinning in a contrite smile. "So, I bake. I cook. I binge."
“Those are awesome, by the way.” He says, sucking the last of icing sugar off his finger. Then he gives her a serious look. "You should have told me."
"M'fine." She mutters, both her hand closed tightly around the basket handle that she holds in front of her in a subconscious protective gesture. "Maybe I think I shouldn't have had to tell you."
He looked pained to hear she was struggling. "You know, you're... it's hard for me to be around you these days. You know that, right? It's torture." She meets his eyes and looks away guiltily. "When I'm close and invested, you say I'm too close and invested. When I back off, I'm too far away."
"I'm sorry." She amends. "I'm-..."
"Itching for something. A fight. A drink. ... I know." He brushes his fingers against her cheek and gives her a smile. He understands, he wishes he could do something. She turns her face so his hand is cupping her cheek. "Still torture, though." He reminds her, and she looks down.
She grazes the back of his hand and accompanies it down when he lets it drop. She holds a loose grip pensively for a moment and lets go. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't... I shouldn't need you so much right now... it's unfair."
"Shh... stop that." He tuts her. "You need me, you say so. I'm not gonna break. I will be here if you need anything. You get me? nything."
"Really?" Caroline pops up next to him with that creepy 'I'm-way-too-nice-I-need-a-favor' smile of hers. "Because Santa's missing."
Damon looks at her blankly for a moment. "... have you checked the South Pole? I hear it's his weekend home."
She huffs. "Hector- what's his face? You know! The guy that does Santa for the kids every year? Broken leg! Can't make it."
"Oh, you mean this..." he slips a finger under the stap of Elena's dress and snaps it. "... had a point?"
"Very funny." The blond elf says. She hesitates between glaring at the offender, or at Elena that is giggling and swatting his hand away like a fifteen year old without a curfew. And what about that goofy smile of his? What the hell?! Isn't he supposed to be all wise and smooth with old age, not giddy and so goddam obvious?
"Can't we hire someone else at the last minute?" Elena asks, sneaking a cookie for herself and snapping a piece of it off with her front teeth.
"My mom's been trying to get someone on the phone, but so far they've all laughed and hung up." Tyler supplies.
Damon gets distracted from possible quips by Elena licking sugar from her lips.
"Maybe we could compel someone?" Caroline suggests, leaning in. "You know, for the greater good?"
"Ooh. I can do that!" Damon says with a smirk.
"Really?!" Damon turns around with a sinking feeling and finds Liz Forbes smiling at him. "That i so weet of you."
“Ah, well-... that is not what I-...”
“Oh, Damon, you're a lifesaver!”
This is when it all goes to Hell.
The worst part is? Even Tyler shows no sympathy and snickers along with the girls.
***
"Stop laughing!!" Damon snarls to no avail.
Elena is hiding her giggles behind her mouth but her eyes are crinkled and watering. "...can't." She wheezes.
Despite himself, he can admit that seeing her like this is good, even though everything else is very very bad. "Where is Liz? I'm going to tell her that wasn't what I meant."
Elena gracefully ducks an eyebrow. Her and Katherine's pouts are very different, but their 'Damon, you're being an idiot' look is the same. "And then what? You'll tell her you meant to take away someone's free will and ake hem do it?"
He squints at her, lips pursed in search of a come back. "Well, at least I haven't compelled a kid today."
She makes a face at him. "It wasn't today." she said, crossing her arms and looking down at her dress.
"Sorry."
She shrugs. "You're an ass." She says. "When you're cornered, you're an ass."
He shuffles awkwardly for a moment and steps closer. "I'm being cornered by a Santa suit." he says softly, just to see her smile again. She has no idea, he thinks, how enthralling she is. She's gorgeous, but that's not it. So was Katherine. Elena is... uplifting. And seeing the joy in her eyes is a powerful high.
He makes a face and kicks himself mentally before he starts humming Joe Cocker.... "Fine. Show it to me."
Her eyes twinkle and she pulls out the suit. "Come on, really?!" he pouts at the sight of it, as if he expected it to look any other way, and she starts laughing out loud. He glares at the garment like it's personally offended him. Which, it has.
"I can't wait to see this." Elena says wheezily.
Damon darkens. "Ha ha, very funny. No you're not. You're not watching this."
She ducks her eyebrows challengingly. "Oh yeah? How come?"
"It's not happening!"
"You know it is, Damon." she smiles with a little compassion this time. "I know you. You're not going to let those kids down."
"Why?"
"Because you love kids."
"No, I don't."
"Yes you do. It hurts, but it reminds you of when you used to be one. When you were human. So you hate it, but you love it."
"Shut up." he says with no heat in it. "How did you become so insightful?" he wonders as he lets himself drop on a desktop.
She comes and leans next to him. "Maybe you're not so hard to read these days."
He turns to look at her, trapped in her eyes. He's not hard to read, huh? She's probably right. She managed to have him with his heart on his sleeve like it's 1862 all over again. It almost makes him forget that he's going through a Christmas Nightmare.
He knows she's right. He will do it. He won't let down those kids because, the minute the misunderstanding happened, he knew you couldn't walk away and have children have the Santa they were told would come stand them up.
Why?! He doesn't even like people!
But they're not people. Not yet. They're genuine. They're not false. They speak their mind and know in their hearts everything is possible. They believe in magic and are scared of monsters because they haven't forgotten they exist.
He doesn't need to cave. He already did. "When did I become such a wuss?"
"It's not that bad." she says encouragingly. Her elbow brushes his.
"I have to dress up as Santa!" He groans. "Say goodbye to swag forever."
"I don't know-..."
"You don't know? Really? Fat guy in a red suit?"
She grins at his annoyance. "Well, I kinda like red, now and... Hot guy cheering up sick kids? Kind of a soft spot for any girl I can think of..."
He pins her with a look. "Hot guy, huh?" She grins back, saucy. "Even in a fat suit."
"Well, I happen to have seen what'll be underneath..." She says as she pushes off the table and away from the danger zone.
"Oh, that's right... I forgot."
Elena slants a disbelieving look at him. "No you haven't."
He likes it when he calls him on his bullshit. He smirks. "No, I haven't." He picks up the costume. "Here it goes." He waits for her to leave. "Well?"
"Oh, come on. Is this is gonna be the one time you don't use the opportunity to put on a show? You're the most exhibitionist person I've ever met."
He leers. "I do have the goods. But... I usually don't want to get dressed back up when you're around. Which is the point here. Also, you not seeing me in the Santa Costume."
"Fine."
"Please, don't come?" he calls as she closes her hand on the doorknob. He can see the hurt in her eyes at his request. "I'll do it, but... I'm going to look like a clown and I don't want you to see."
*
'GJ, he really doin it! y u not here?'
Elena fishes her phone out of her basket and reads Caroline's text. She smiles warmly. 'He asked me not to come. How is he doing?'
'SFSG & hiralious! u should c his face! He looks pissed! He tryz hard to hide it tho.'
Elena bites her lip upon reading the text, she tries not to grin like an idiot.
'oatus he really good w/ kidz'
'o rly?' It's not the shock of the century, but she didn't expect Damon to be good with kids either.
She finishes her round and hands the basket back to the front desk. Caroline keeps texting her updates and funny details about Damon's performance. She really wants to stay away for Damon, but she's dying to see. 'pic plz?' she eventually caves and asks.
'Com c 4 Urself'
*
She resisted as long as she could, but at five to eleven, she slips in discreetly in the back and gets to see Damon blink owlishly at a camera flash with a kid perched on his knee. She came in quietly not to disturb anyone, but it takes more to evade a vampire's attention. She wasn't hoping that Damon would miss her, and she's expecting the betrayed glare he sends her way as soon as he spots her.
She can smell his annoyance and inner conflict from the other side of the room, so when he takes his lunch break, she leaves him a moment alone before following him.
She finds him in the break room, his suit open and hanging around his waist, beard on the table and munching on a BLT. "Sandwich?" She remarks.
"Well, I gotta pretend to eat like a good boy, don't I?" he grumbles, and looks relieved when she produces a blood bag. "Thank god."
"You can just call me Elena..."
"I'm not thanking you. You weren't supposed to come." He says flatly, and takes a sip from the bag.
"I couldn't miss this." She amends and comes to sit next to him.
There is a moment of silence, broken only by him drinking a few more times before he offers her the straw -the IV tube- and sighs. "I can't wait for this day to be over."
"When will they let you go?"
"Five, they said."
“Hm. I'm off now. I finished my round. Now all they have left is you.”
“Yayy...” he muttered, sarcastic.
Elena passes him back the bag and hops off the table. “Can I wait for you at the boarding house tonight?”
“...sure.” he says, cautious and perplexed.
She stares at him. "You're still mad at me."
"... no. I'm mildly annoyed, by this... masquerade." he picks up a costume sleeve and shakes it for emphasis.
"Do I get to tell Santa what I want for Christmas?" Elena asks, tapping her bottom lip with her finger.
He groans and wonders how many decades in the future he will be allowed to forget about this day.
"No, really.” Elena is saying. “Can I sit on your lap and tell you mine?" He looks up. She shrugs a shoulder sheepishly. “I'm all out of Holiday Cheer but I do have a wish.”
He squints at her suspiciously for a beat, but she keeps on looking serious and expectant. “Okay.” He says. “I'm listening.”
She hands him his fake beard. She breaks out the puppy eyes to squash his grumbling retort in the egg. “Please?”
Damon sets the blood bag aside and shrugs the suit back on, although he doesn't button it -the fact that he is room temperature and won't overheat doesn't mean he likes to feel like he's slipped on a comforter. For the final touch, he adjusts his beard. “So, Elena.” He says, only breaking character by using his actual voice. “Tell me. What is it that you want for Christmas this year?”
He's never seen the smile she gives him, then. He can't place it. It's genuine, it's fond, but there's something hungry or predatory in it too. She comes close to him and brings her hands up to graze his jaw with her fingertips, then she cups the sides of his neck, watching her movements as she does so. Then she traps him in her gaze. "I want a love that consumes me."
She feels him tense under as he recognizes his own words and as the implication dawns on him.
She remembers. She remembers everything. "I want passion, and adventure.”
She can feel the surge of heat that flash-floods through him, the heat that comes with adrenaline and tension and surprises and the kind of panic that makes you hesitate between the frying pan and the fire. She walks forward again, until he stumbles back against the table and half sits there. He looks like a deer caught in headlights, afraid to move.
Afraid to wake up. “And even a little danger.”
Her hands are on his collar bone, and she's still looking at him. He should be doing something, anything. This calls for... something. But all he can do is open his mouth to speak and once again celebrate Elena's ability to render him speechless. Either he can't get the words out or he can't find any, he isn't even sure himself.
Her hands slip up again and close behind his neck, as she leans in closer, bringing her face to his. Her cheek brushes against the synthetic beard and her hair caresses his lips, a puff of his shaky exhale makes it flutter. Elena's lips are against his ear now, whispering. “So, Damon.... What do you want?”
He reigns in a shudder as her breath tickles all kinds of feelings up his spine. He is thankful that, at least, she gives him a script to follow if he chooses to. And boy, if that's what she's saying, does he want to. "I want you to get everything you're looking for." He tells her again, and it's never been truer. Even if it means his damnation, he knows her now. Like he said before, he can't be selfish.
There's a floating moment. He feels suspended in time. He registers his fingers aching from clutching the tabletop so hard. He can hear and feel her chest heaving softly. He hears her swallow and she pulls back.
Her lips quirk when their eyes meet again, but it's not really a smile. She looks a little shaken. Revved up, like him. He's glad her little number didn't leave her unaffected, because he's not sure he trusts himself to stand right now.
She pulls away gently, steps back from between his knees and lets her arms fall away with a caress. She walks to the door, and holds his gaze until she reaches it. She smiles at him, her hand on the knob. "Five, was it?"
He swallows. "I'll see you."
Fandom: TVD
Author adja999(lj), Original_Cypher(AO3)
Pairing/Character: Elena, Damon, Caroline, minor: Tyler, Liz.
Word Count: ~3 052
Rating: PG
Summary: Damon isn't really fond of making promises he can't keep. This time, he's not even aware he's walking right into it.
Spoilers: Set after 4x06, goes AU from there.
Disclaimer: I don't own them. I'm just playing. I'll give them back. Maybe. If and when I'm done.
A/N: Written for angelus2hot or the damon & elena holiday exchange 2012. Hope you like it!
Damon walks in the Hospital's children ward and gets assaulted by a strong cinnamon scent. He ponders whether he likes the smell of bleach and sickness better until a perky elf saunters towards him. "Hey! Who let the Grinch in?" Caroline says as a greeting. She's actually smiling and seems to be cheerful enough. It likely has something to do with her smudged lipstick and the faint canine smell on her. "You're not coming to get your supplies, are you?" She stage-whispers to him. "Too many people in today."
"No, actually, I came to see Santa's..." he trails off, looking past her at Elena approaching with a Red Ridding Hood like basket, except it is white and silver and she isn't wearing any red. “... not-an-elf.”
Caroline smirks and shakes her head. "That was possibility number two."
"Hey." Elena greets, and Caroline makes a mental note to set up a poker night sometimes against her. The unresolved elephant in the room is so clear in the way she breathes out her hello or locks gazes with Damon. He's a much better player, though, and he quickly leers at her costume. Elena is wearing a silver dress and white eyeliner. It brings out her eyes and hair, and, Caroline hates to admit it, killer legs. "And what are you supposed to be?"
Elena looks embarrassed, but Caroline pipes up. "She's the Ice Queen!"
Damon snorts. "Oh really? Did you pick that? Because that would be-..."
"Shut up. I didn't see myself in red and green so I may..."
Caroline jumps and gets distracted by hybrid hands - masquerading as another elf's - start tickling her sides. She flips around into Tyler's embrace.
"... have compelled a kid to say there should be an Ice Queen." Elena is saying.
"I'm so proud if you!" Damon quips with exaggerated cheer.
"I'm not." She groans and slips a hand under the sheet covering the contents of her basket. "Here. Have a snowflake."
Puzzled, he looks at the snowflake shaped cookie covered in powdered sugar she deposited in his hand. "Did you make those?"
"Well, let's see." She started ticking off fingers. "I'm alone in a house that's way too big for me. My brother's off doing God knows what in Denver because 'I'm no fun'. My friends are all busy and excited planning the Holidays and I'm just crossing more and more loved ones off my guest list each year." Damon opened his mouth to offer sympathy, but she went on. Instead, he bit on the cookie. Oats and hazelnuts. "And I'm experiencing major blood lust, in the most literal sense of the term. -- Is that what it feels like to be a junkie? Because I get the munchies from thinking!" she says in a slightly hysterical sidebar. "Anyway..." she goes back to her previous point, "Caroline is..." she gestured to the couple next to them being as PDA as possible in a children ward. "Caroline. Stefan's left town to 'give me space', which, to me, means 'gives himself space'. And you..." she waves a hand towards him. "I haven't seen you." she ends coolly. Then shrugs her basket, lips thinning in a contrite smile. "So, I bake. I cook. I binge."
“Those are awesome, by the way.” He says, sucking the last of icing sugar off his finger. Then he gives her a serious look. "You should have told me."
"M'fine." She mutters, both her hand closed tightly around the basket handle that she holds in front of her in a subconscious protective gesture. "Maybe I think I shouldn't have had to tell you."
He looked pained to hear she was struggling. "You know, you're... it's hard for me to be around you these days. You know that, right? It's torture." She meets his eyes and looks away guiltily. "When I'm close and invested, you say I'm too close and invested. When I back off, I'm too far away."
"I'm sorry." She amends. "I'm-..."
"Itching for something. A fight. A drink. ... I know." He brushes his fingers against her cheek and gives her a smile. He understands, he wishes he could do something. She turns her face so his hand is cupping her cheek. "Still torture, though." He reminds her, and she looks down.
She grazes the back of his hand and accompanies it down when he lets it drop. She holds a loose grip pensively for a moment and lets go. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't... I shouldn't need you so much right now... it's unfair."
"Shh... stop that." He tuts her. "You need me, you say so. I'm not gonna break. I will be here if you need anything. You get me? nything."
"Really?" Caroline pops up next to him with that creepy 'I'm-way-too-nice-I-need-a-favor' smile of hers. "Because Santa's missing."
Damon looks at her blankly for a moment. "... have you checked the South Pole? I hear it's his weekend home."
She huffs. "Hector- what's his face? You know! The guy that does Santa for the kids every year? Broken leg! Can't make it."
"Oh, you mean this..." he slips a finger under the stap of Elena's dress and snaps it. "... had a point?"
"Very funny." The blond elf says. She hesitates between glaring at the offender, or at Elena that is giggling and swatting his hand away like a fifteen year old without a curfew. And what about that goofy smile of his? What the hell?! Isn't he supposed to be all wise and smooth with old age, not giddy and so goddam obvious?
"Can't we hire someone else at the last minute?" Elena asks, sneaking a cookie for herself and snapping a piece of it off with her front teeth.
"My mom's been trying to get someone on the phone, but so far they've all laughed and hung up." Tyler supplies.
Damon gets distracted from possible quips by Elena licking sugar from her lips.
"Maybe we could compel someone?" Caroline suggests, leaning in. "You know, for the greater good?"
"Ooh. I can do that!" Damon says with a smirk.
"Really?!" Damon turns around with a sinking feeling and finds Liz Forbes smiling at him. "That i so weet of you."
“Ah, well-... that is not what I-...”
“Oh, Damon, you're a lifesaver!”
This is when it all goes to Hell.
The worst part is? Even Tyler shows no sympathy and snickers along with the girls.
***
"Stop laughing!!" Damon snarls to no avail.
Elena is hiding her giggles behind her mouth but her eyes are crinkled and watering. "...can't." She wheezes.
Despite himself, he can admit that seeing her like this is good, even though everything else is very very bad. "Where is Liz? I'm going to tell her that wasn't what I meant."
Elena gracefully ducks an eyebrow. Her and Katherine's pouts are very different, but their 'Damon, you're being an idiot' look is the same. "And then what? You'll tell her you meant to take away someone's free will and ake hem do it?"
He squints at her, lips pursed in search of a come back. "Well, at least I haven't compelled a kid today."
She makes a face at him. "It wasn't today." she said, crossing her arms and looking down at her dress.
"Sorry."
She shrugs. "You're an ass." She says. "When you're cornered, you're an ass."
He shuffles awkwardly for a moment and steps closer. "I'm being cornered by a Santa suit." he says softly, just to see her smile again. She has no idea, he thinks, how enthralling she is. She's gorgeous, but that's not it. So was Katherine. Elena is... uplifting. And seeing the joy in her eyes is a powerful high.
He makes a face and kicks himself mentally before he starts humming Joe Cocker.... "Fine. Show it to me."
Her eyes twinkle and she pulls out the suit. "Come on, really?!" he pouts at the sight of it, as if he expected it to look any other way, and she starts laughing out loud. He glares at the garment like it's personally offended him. Which, it has.
"I can't wait to see this." Elena says wheezily.
Damon darkens. "Ha ha, very funny. No you're not. You're not watching this."
She ducks her eyebrows challengingly. "Oh yeah? How come?"
"It's not happening!"
"You know it is, Damon." she smiles with a little compassion this time. "I know you. You're not going to let those kids down."
"Why?"
"Because you love kids."
"No, I don't."
"Yes you do. It hurts, but it reminds you of when you used to be one. When you were human. So you hate it, but you love it."
"Shut up." he says with no heat in it. "How did you become so insightful?" he wonders as he lets himself drop on a desktop.
She comes and leans next to him. "Maybe you're not so hard to read these days."
He turns to look at her, trapped in her eyes. He's not hard to read, huh? She's probably right. She managed to have him with his heart on his sleeve like it's 1862 all over again. It almost makes him forget that he's going through a Christmas Nightmare.
He knows she's right. He will do it. He won't let down those kids because, the minute the misunderstanding happened, he knew you couldn't walk away and have children have the Santa they were told would come stand them up.
Why?! He doesn't even like people!
But they're not people. Not yet. They're genuine. They're not false. They speak their mind and know in their hearts everything is possible. They believe in magic and are scared of monsters because they haven't forgotten they exist.
He doesn't need to cave. He already did. "When did I become such a wuss?"
"It's not that bad." she says encouragingly. Her elbow brushes his.
"I have to dress up as Santa!" He groans. "Say goodbye to swag forever."
"I don't know-..."
"You don't know? Really? Fat guy in a red suit?"
She grins at his annoyance. "Well, I kinda like red, now and... Hot guy cheering up sick kids? Kind of a soft spot for any girl I can think of..."
He pins her with a look. "Hot guy, huh?" She grins back, saucy. "Even in a fat suit."
"Well, I happen to have seen what'll be underneath..." She says as she pushes off the table and away from the danger zone.
"Oh, that's right... I forgot."
Elena slants a disbelieving look at him. "No you haven't."
He likes it when he calls him on his bullshit. He smirks. "No, I haven't." He picks up the costume. "Here it goes." He waits for her to leave. "Well?"
"Oh, come on. Is this is gonna be the one time you don't use the opportunity to put on a show? You're the most exhibitionist person I've ever met."
He leers. "I do have the goods. But... I usually don't want to get dressed back up when you're around. Which is the point here. Also, you not seeing me in the Santa Costume."
"Fine."
"Please, don't come?" he calls as she closes her hand on the doorknob. He can see the hurt in her eyes at his request. "I'll do it, but... I'm going to look like a clown and I don't want you to see."
*
'GJ, he really doin it! y u not here?'
Elena fishes her phone out of her basket and reads Caroline's text. She smiles warmly. 'He asked me not to come. How is he doing?'
'SFSG & hiralious! u should c his face! He looks pissed! He tryz hard to hide it tho.'
Elena bites her lip upon reading the text, she tries not to grin like an idiot.
'oatus he really good w/ kidz'
'o rly?' It's not the shock of the century, but she didn't expect Damon to be good with kids either.
She finishes her round and hands the basket back to the front desk. Caroline keeps texting her updates and funny details about Damon's performance. She really wants to stay away for Damon, but she's dying to see. 'pic plz?' she eventually caves and asks.
'Com c 4 Urself'
*
She resisted as long as she could, but at five to eleven, she slips in discreetly in the back and gets to see Damon blink owlishly at a camera flash with a kid perched on his knee. She came in quietly not to disturb anyone, but it takes more to evade a vampire's attention. She wasn't hoping that Damon would miss her, and she's expecting the betrayed glare he sends her way as soon as he spots her.
She can smell his annoyance and inner conflict from the other side of the room, so when he takes his lunch break, she leaves him a moment alone before following him.
She finds him in the break room, his suit open and hanging around his waist, beard on the table and munching on a BLT. "Sandwich?" She remarks.
"Well, I gotta pretend to eat like a good boy, don't I?" he grumbles, and looks relieved when she produces a blood bag. "Thank god."
"You can just call me Elena..."
"I'm not thanking you. You weren't supposed to come." He says flatly, and takes a sip from the bag.
"I couldn't miss this." She amends and comes to sit next to him.
There is a moment of silence, broken only by him drinking a few more times before he offers her the straw -the IV tube- and sighs. "I can't wait for this day to be over."
"When will they let you go?"
"Five, they said."
“Hm. I'm off now. I finished my round. Now all they have left is you.”
“Yayy...” he muttered, sarcastic.
Elena passes him back the bag and hops off the table. “Can I wait for you at the boarding house tonight?”
“...sure.” he says, cautious and perplexed.
She stares at him. "You're still mad at me."
"... no. I'm mildly annoyed, by this... masquerade." he picks up a costume sleeve and shakes it for emphasis.
"Do I get to tell Santa what I want for Christmas?" Elena asks, tapping her bottom lip with her finger.
He groans and wonders how many decades in the future he will be allowed to forget about this day.
"No, really.” Elena is saying. “Can I sit on your lap and tell you mine?" He looks up. She shrugs a shoulder sheepishly. “I'm all out of Holiday Cheer but I do have a wish.”
He squints at her suspiciously for a beat, but she keeps on looking serious and expectant. “Okay.” He says. “I'm listening.”
She hands him his fake beard. She breaks out the puppy eyes to squash his grumbling retort in the egg. “Please?”
Damon sets the blood bag aside and shrugs the suit back on, although he doesn't button it -the fact that he is room temperature and won't overheat doesn't mean he likes to feel like he's slipped on a comforter. For the final touch, he adjusts his beard. “So, Elena.” He says, only breaking character by using his actual voice. “Tell me. What is it that you want for Christmas this year?”
He's never seen the smile she gives him, then. He can't place it. It's genuine, it's fond, but there's something hungry or predatory in it too. She comes close to him and brings her hands up to graze his jaw with her fingertips, then she cups the sides of his neck, watching her movements as she does so. Then she traps him in her gaze. "I want a love that consumes me."
She feels him tense under as he recognizes his own words and as the implication dawns on him.
She remembers. She remembers everything. "I want passion, and adventure.”
She can feel the surge of heat that flash-floods through him, the heat that comes with adrenaline and tension and surprises and the kind of panic that makes you hesitate between the frying pan and the fire. She walks forward again, until he stumbles back against the table and half sits there. He looks like a deer caught in headlights, afraid to move.
Afraid to wake up. “And even a little danger.”
Her hands are on his collar bone, and she's still looking at him. He should be doing something, anything. This calls for... something. But all he can do is open his mouth to speak and once again celebrate Elena's ability to render him speechless. Either he can't get the words out or he can't find any, he isn't even sure himself.
Her hands slip up again and close behind his neck, as she leans in closer, bringing her face to his. Her cheek brushes against the synthetic beard and her hair caresses his lips, a puff of his shaky exhale makes it flutter. Elena's lips are against his ear now, whispering. “So, Damon.... What do you want?”
He reigns in a shudder as her breath tickles all kinds of feelings up his spine. He is thankful that, at least, she gives him a script to follow if he chooses to. And boy, if that's what she's saying, does he want to. "I want you to get everything you're looking for." He tells her again, and it's never been truer. Even if it means his damnation, he knows her now. Like he said before, he can't be selfish.
There's a floating moment. He feels suspended in time. He registers his fingers aching from clutching the tabletop so hard. He can hear and feel her chest heaving softly. He hears her swallow and she pulls back.
Her lips quirk when their eyes meet again, but it's not really a smile. She looks a little shaken. Revved up, like him. He's glad her little number didn't leave her unaffected, because he's not sure he trusts himself to stand right now.
She pulls away gently, steps back from between his knees and lets her arms fall away with a caress. She walks to the door, and holds his gaze until she reaches it. She smiles at him, her hand on the knob. "Five, was it?"
He swallows. "I'll see you."