Disclaimer: Don't own.
Damon and Elena
Jeremy's P.O.V
Wednesday
He kind of hates Wednesday's.
There's just something so...hopeless about them.
It's the only day, Jeremy thinks, that offers nothing but pain.
Too far away from the weekend that's passed and a million miles from the weekend to come, Wednesday's are just painful because it's like being in the middle of nowhere without water.
It's a Wednesday when he walks in on them fighting.
It hasn't escaped his notice that his sister's changed and that the reason seems to be the Salvatore brothers - one quiet and brooding, the other dark and menacing - both of them, not just the one she's dating.
It also hasn't escaped his notice that while she's dating the quiet, broody one, she's begun to lean heavily on the older one and he bears the weight of all of Elena's messed up emotions without a complaint.
It's something he doesn't think can be said for the younger brother.
Those thoughts don't really matter though, when he walks into their living room and is greeted by a vase shattering dangerously close to his head. He stops, blinks down at the shards of ceramic on the floor and then looks up at the scene before him.
Elena's glaring at Damon, fury leaping in her eyes as she reaches for another thing to throw at the man standing in front of her.
Jeremy can admit, Elena's kind of scary when she's worked up - especially when she's reached the point where she'll throw things - but even she has nothing on the man standing in front of her, radiating black fury so tangible Jeremy can all but taste it.
One look at Damon and Jeremy knows that he's never seen anyone really mad before.
Damon's whole body is tense, poised for a fight and his fists are curled to the point where the skin is stretched so tight Jeremy wonders if you can break skin just by squeezing your hand together. He takes one quick glance at Damon's face - sees the ice cold murder in his eyes and the way the muscle in his jaw seems to be ticking over time - and stares at his sister incredulously as she throws a picture frame at him.
Hell, is she nuts?
He's taking two very large steps away from Damon because he's never seen anything scarier in his life and she's throwing picture frames at him?
"You do not tell me what to do, Damon!" Elena yells at him, her hands searching restlessly for something hard to throw at him again.
"Fine. Then you use your brain for once! Or did you really want to end up as someone's dinner?" Damon speaks coolly - how, Jeremy's not too sure - and sets the picture frame he'd caught down.
"That. Wouldn't. Have. Happened."
Elena's sentence is punctuated by candles flying at Damon's head.
"Oh, right, because my wonder boy brother was there. Perfect. You'd have ended up as dinner and Stefan's stake the toothpick after the meal."
Okay, so maybe he sort of understands what's going on but he doesn't really understand why Elena's so mad.
Damon was clearly trying to protect her from something she doesn't understand, hell, he can see that and he's only just run into this argument.
"I never asked you to care, Damon." Elena snarls, clearly throwing the words out without thinking about them.
Damon's jaw clenches and Jeremy watches as he flexes a fist.
"Fine. Then I won't."
Damon leaves without glancing back at Elena.
Jeremy looks at his sister who's eyes have suddenly filled with tears at his words. It's easy to see that she believes Damon will stop caring and Jeremy feels his stomach flip as something begins to break in her eyes and he doesn't think he can handle her walking around with that broken look in her eyes again. It's been so long since he's seen it and he decides instantly that maybe he's not too afraid of Damon.
"Dude, hey, dude wait."
He jogs after Damon then stops breathing when the older man spins and grips him by the throat, lifting him high into the air and snarling.
"I wouldn't follow me, if I were you."
Jeremy's sure he's never been this scared in his entire life and he stares down at Damon, who's face seems to be changing. Red and black veins are popping out as his eyes darken, he's fascinated for a second before he's dropped to the ground and Damon spins back around.
"Dude, you can't leave her like that."
Jeremy stands, massaging his throat and watching as Damon's shoulders stiffen at his words.
"Sure, I can. Someone else - preferably Saint Stefan - can deal with that."
Jeremy thinks about it for a moment and then he nods.
"Okay, you can leave her now, like that. I wouldn't want to face her but she thinks you mean you're going to stop caring for, like, ever."
Jeremy's pretty sure something flashes in Damon's eyes when he says that and because he's afraid of interruption - and most likely sarcasm - he hurries on.
"I mean, she's really insecure about stuff like this. Ever since Mom and Dad died in that car crash she hasn't had many constants in her life and you're one of them and she kind of thinks if she loses you, she'll lose that safety net. I mean, she has it with Stefan too but more so with you 'cause you're normally every where she is, making sure she's okay, even when she doesn't want you too."
Damon's dead silent for a moment, like he's running this new bit of information over in his head and just when Jeremy thinks he's going to have to say more stupid stuff, he heaves a sigh.
"I'm so going to regret this."
Jeremy watches as Damon turns and trudges back into the house.
He doesn't really need to see the way Elena looks up from the floor when he walks back in or the wariness in her eyes as Damon bitingly explains that she causes him to drink more than he should, especially when she gets mad over something as stupid - or important - as her safety and fights with him because she thinks she's right and sometimes she's not, instead she's just so damn stupid he would strangle her if he hadn't gotten used to her hanging around.
Jeremy waits for a little while before heading back into the house, choosing to avoid the living room and head up to his room instead.
As he ambles aimlessly upwards, he wonders if this is the only interesting Wednesday he'll have in his entire life.
The next Wednesday proves to be even more interesting than the first.
Not because he walks in on an argument between his sister and Damon but because Damon comes over to drag him outside.
"So...why are you doing this?"
Jeremy finds himself looking down at the football in his hands confusingly and Damon sighs impatiently.
"Because you're sister was bitching about you being holed up in your room and concluded that I'd be the only one who'd get you out of it." Damon raises an eyebrow as Jeremy stares. "It's a football, Jeremy, you throw it back and forth."
Jeremy's not really listening.
Instead, he's staring at Damon and like he's a different person and then he smirks.
Lifting his arm, he hurls the ball at the older man.
"Dude, you are whipped."
Damon growls - a truly menacing sound - and Jeremy knows he probably should take back what he said but he doesn't.
Because, seriously, the guy in front of him is the most bad ass person he's ever met. He wears black leather - and manages to pull it off - and menace rolls off him whenever he's pissed and while he can be charming, there's something about Damon that shouts dangerous.
And his sister's got him completely whipped.
"Dude, I am not."
Damon hurls the ball back at him and Jeremy catches is deftly, remembering times when he would do this with his Dad and laugh because his old man couldn't throw a ball, at all.
"You so are. Elena was bitching about me so you decide to do something about it."
The ball goes back to Damon.
"Have you heard your sister bitch? She doesn't have an off button."
Jeremy catches the ball Damon pegs at him with a soft grunt.
"Uh, hello? Lived with her for how long? Sixteen, seventeen years? Can't you just, like, turn off your hearing?"
Damon smirks. "Normally I just sit there and imagine her in a bikini. It works. Except she's been going on about you locking yourself in your room for days. And, God forbid, my brother wakes up and realizes she wants something to be done."
Jeremy hears the words Damon's not saying and looks down, juggling the ball before looking up.
"I haven't relapsed you know."
The only indication Damon gives that he's heard that sentence is a slight twitch in his jaw and Jeremy wonders why he's admitted it but gets the impression that he can say stuff like that to Damon and Damon will store it away but won't tell anyone.
Despite the sign that screams 'Danger' that hangs on Damon, Jeremy gets the feeling that the dude won't tell anyone unless he has too.
"Brilliant. I've had enough of junkies. Tell me, does she know you're just blowing up the Axis when you're in your room?"
Damon drawls it sarcastically and Jeremy stares at him as if he's grown another head and then he laughs when he realizes what Damon's speaking about.
"No." He throws the ball back and Damon catches it easily.
"Something tells me you'd better tell her. She doesn't know the difference between bitching and worrying. Sometimes, they can be exactly the same thing."
Before Jeremy can snap back, Elena walks out their back door and the look on her face is incredulous. Before she can speak, Damon speaks up.
"My work here is done, he's out of his room and has breathed air that is fresh. You can stop complaining now."
Elena's stare turns to a glare and Jeremy watches in interest as Damon walks over to her and whispers something so low, Jeremy can't hear it. He's pretty sure it's about him but he's more interested in the way Elena looks at Damon and the way Damon ghosts a hand over the ends of her hair before throwing a parting smirk over his shoulder at him and leaving.
As Elena walks over to him, Jeremy wonders just how much more interesting his Wednesday's are going to become.
And when his sister's going to wake up to the fact that there's nothing Damon won't do for her.
"I don't get it. Why's he here again?"
Jenna's standing beside him as they both stare at the scene in front of them.
It's another Wednesday, but this time, Jeremy's got a good feeling about this one.
Mainly because they're going to eat proper, home cooked food.
Elena's chopping tomatoes as Damon stirs something that smells really good in a saucepan and they're both chatting - or exchanging sarcastic, cutting banter, whichever's more normal for them - as they methodically work around each other.
Truthfully, he's more worried about the food and how awesome it's going to taste when they're done.
His stomach's doing back flips just thinking about it.
"No idea. Who care's though, right? We get to eat proper food."
He glances at his aunt and sees the pinched expression on her face and knows she's going to interrupt the work of art happening in their sadly disused kitchen, so he pulls her aside before she thinks of an excuse to pull Elena away from her part in the master piece he's dying to devour.
"Aunt Jenna, come on. We get to eat home-cooked food." He knows that that particular argument won't sway his aunt, so he goes with the look in his sister's eyes. "Besides, he wouldn't be here if Elena didn't want him to be and she obviously does. She's holding a knife and has no inclination to use it on him, that's got to count for something right?"
Jenna doesn't seem particularly convince and throws a glance over her shoulder.
Jeremy glances that was as well and sees the way Damon's berating Elena for cutting the tomatoes wrong before gently prying the knife from her hands and demonstrating.
Elena's watching him and her eyes are sparkling as he snipes about how bad her chopping skills are and how they really need to work on them.
"I just, I don't get it, Jer. Look at them," Jenna gestures wildly. "Isn't she meant to be with his brother?"
Jeremy shrugs.
"So? What if she changes her mind? He's good for her."
Jeremy sees Damon glance up at his words and knows he's heard. It freaks Jeremy out when he does that but because its an unspoken rule - don't talk about what he and his brother are - Jeremy ignores it.
"How? He's the bad boy that'd probably kill for less than fifty cents."
"And he makes Elena happy. It's not that big a deal, is it?"
Jenna seems swayed by that argument and Jeremy feels his chest puff slightly at how easy it was.
He really wants to eat the food they're cooking.
Besides Damon promised to kick his butt at Halo earlier and Jeremy thinks that if he can get Jenna to agree to him staying for dinner, then she'll have no problem with Damon staying to get his butt kicked by him.
Turns out, he doesn't have to worry.
Damon charms Jenna with awesome food and Elena soothes her just by sitting comfortably next to Damon and teasing him mercilessly about anything and everything.
By the time it comes around to doing dishes, Damon has managed to convince Jenna that she should do the dishes while he goes and shows her nephew just how superior he is at video games.
Jenna agrees without much of a fight and Elena, shooting Damon an amused glare, volunteers to help her aunt.
"So, do you really think I'm good for your sister? Because most brothers lock their sisters up when they see me coming."
Damon's question throws him off guard for a minute and Jeremy nearly drops the controller before hitting pause on the controller and listening intently to make sure that his aunt and sister are occupied.
He highly doubts that Elena would want him talking about this.
"Yep. I didn't think you were going to be, honestly, I mean you were pretty scary but you...bring back something in her I haven't seen since before the accident."
Damon snorts. "I think you're confusing me with my brother."
"No. I'm not. Sure Stefan makes her smile but you make her laugh and, well," he debates telling Damon this and then decides to plunge ahead. "If she thought she could, she would reach for your hand instead of Stefan's and she wouldn't ever let it go."
It's the only way Jeremy can think of to tell Damon that his sister's feelings for him were changing, morphing into something that she thinks she can trust and that he was the guy that Elena could see herself with in years to come.
He tries not to think of years as centuries but given the guy sitting next to him, he doesn't think that's possible.
Before Damon can say anything, Elena walks in, sporting a confused smile.
"Is Jeremy beating you? Is that why the game's paused?"
Damon rolls his eyes.
"Right. Because you're little brother could beat me at something like this. We were just having a chat."
Elena sits down on the couch - next to Damon, who's sitting on the floor, his back against the couch - her legs brushing Damon's shoulders and her fingers gently brushing the hair at the back of his head as his own lightly run down the back of her bare calf.
Jeremy watches this exchange in interest and wonders if maybe he should mention to one, or both, of them that Elena and Stefan never really contented themselves with little touches that let the other know they were there.
"Oh. And what were you speaking about?" Elena asks playfully and Damon glances up at her, winking as his smirk spreads.
"Legs." He replies cheekily. "Speaking of which, you, Miss Gilbert, have a particularly fine pair."
Jeremy hits play with a roll of his eyes, not wanting to see the way Elena would flirt back and intending to catch Damon off guard. The dude was beating him after all.
Even though he's concentrating on killing Damon on the screen, he can't help but notice Elena's fingers haven't stopped playing with Damon's hair.
He's beginning to enjoy Wednesday's.
Instead of being painful, he kind of can't wait to see what else Damon has in store for them.
He has, after all, managed to make their Wednesday's interesting.
He's ambling his way into the house when he hears an almighty crash and wonders what the hell it was.
It's followed by Elena's horrified shout.
His sister's voice is what causes him to sprint into their living room and be permanently scarred for life at the sight of Damon yanking a wooden stake out of his stomach and Stefan snapping his shoulder back into place.
Their living room is a mess of broken furniture and shattered glass and Elena's standing in the middle of it all, tears streaming down her face as she uselessly pleads with the brother's to stop fighting.
"Whoa. What the hell happened?" He asks stupidly and Damon glances at him.
"Jeremy, get out of here and take your sister with you."
Damon speaks very quietly and very precisely and Jeremy nods, stepping into the room to take his sister away from the scene in front of her, when Stefan speaks up.
"No, Jeremy, leave Elena here and get out of here. You don't know what's going on."
Stefan's voice sounds as out of control as Damon's was controlled.
Glancing around, Jeremy tries to piece together what has happened when his eyes fall on Elena's mouth - which is red and swollen - and then her shirt - which is askew - and glances at Damon only to realize the buttons of his black button down are undone and his hair looks like someone been running their hands through it repeatedly.
Ouch.
Stefan apparently walked in on Elena and Damon making out.
While she was still in a relationship with Stefan.
"Well," He starts and sees Damon glance at him, his eyes warning. "I think Elena should, uh, come with me."
Elena looks like she wants to argue, then she glances at Damon who jerks his head towards him and she cautiously makes her way over to him not before stopping by Stefan.
"Stefan. I am sorry." She whispers and the younger Salvatore simply clenches his jaw and refuses to look at her.
She looks at him before glancing helplessly over her shoulder at Damon, who simply shakes his head.
Jeremy grabs her hand and yanks her upstairs just as Damon begins to threaten his brother in a low, menacing voice.
Elena wraps her arms around herself the and sinks to the ground the minutes he slams the door to her room shut and he looks at her and wonders how she's managed to let them come to blows over this.
"Elena?"
"It wasn't planned. Oh, God, it wasn't planned. What if they kill each other?"
Jeremy kind of doesn't know what to say so he sits down beside his sister and stares straight ahead.
He's kind of in shock, its not every day you walk in on two vampire brothers fighting over one's sister.
Though he wants to know why it's happening on a Wednesday.
"Well, they won't. They're kind of hard to kill, aren't they?"
"That's not the point. I can't let him kill Stefan over me."
Jeremy snorts. "Believe it or not, Elena, Damon probably won't kill Stefan over this. He may be into you, he may even be whipped by you, but he's not going to kill Stefan."
Elena freezes at his words.
"What do you mean, whipped by me?"
"Oh please, like you don't know that Damon would do anything for you. I mean, the dude came over to play football with me because you'd been bitching about me. He always gave off the impression that he didn't even like me and he did it. For you." Jeremy sees the look on her face and rolls his eyes. "And you clearly don't see that he makes you happy. Or that when you thought he was actually going to leave you forever, your whole world felt like it was collapsing around you. Come on Elena, when you said sorry to Stefan before, you were sorry you got caught, not because you were sorry for being with Damon."
Elena pulls her knees to her chest and rests her chin on them, tears still tracking down her face as she thinks about his words.
"How do you see all of that, Jer? How can you possibly know all of that when it's so much more complicated than I ever thought my life would become?"
"Because sometimes, feelings aren't that complicated. They're simple. Circumstances make them complicated. If you see how simple you're feelings are, then the circumstances stop being complicated. Make sense?"
Elena looks at him through watery, troubled eyes and he sighs and slips an arm around her.
"It's really that easy?" She whispers as she leans into him and Jeremy shrugs one shoulder awkwardly.
"In theory. The point is, Damon won't kill Stefan. But you need to realize he won't do it not because he doesn't want to. He won't do it because killing Stefan would hurt you and he'd do anything to make sure you don't get hurt."
Before Elena can reply, another voice breaks through their conversation.
Jeremy's not really surprised that Damon's come through the window. He's pretty sure if the guy was suffering life threatening wounds, he'd come to make sure Elena's okay.
If that doesn't prove his point, then he really doesn't know what will.
"'Lena?"
She stiffens for a moment, as if unsure of what to do next and then slowly rises.
Jeremy watches the scene in interest as Elena takes one step towards Damon and he seems to take that as permission to yank her over to him, arms banding tightly around her as she shudders repeatedly against him.
Because they give no inclination that they're going to move anytime soon, especially when Elena's hand curl up under his arms to grip his shoulders and she buries her face in his neck, Jeremy stands up and quietly heads into his own room.
At least he can argue that Wednesday's can be interesting now.
Wednesday's stop being interesting, life-threatening or fun when Damon stops coming around.
Jeremy wants to know why, exactly, Damon's stopped hanging around but can get nothing from his sister but a hard glare - that shows just how much she's breaking - and 'I told him not too.'
At first, Jeremy thinks that it's because Elena's trying to fix things up with Stefan and he nearly has a go at her about it because she obviously can't see that Damon's the better one.
He's a psychopath, sure. But he's also completely whipped by her and Jeremy's kind of sure that not being around is killing Damon just as much as it's breaking Elena.
He also misses having Damon around because Damon bothered with him when he was around.
It was kind of like having a big brother who was snarky, irritable and has an ego the size of Russia throwing footballs at him or kicking his ass at video games or generally making a nuisance of himself because he has nothing better to do.
It doesn't take him long to figure out Elena's not trying to fix things with Stefan when he hears - from Caroline - that he hasn't been since that huge fight with Damon.
Though, the blonde doesn't know this and assumes that Elena's mopey because Stefan left and she's missing him.
Jeremy thinks that it might be true, but he has a pretty good idea of which Salvatore she misses more.
He finally gets sick of Elena's moping and Damon not being around and decides it's time he does something about it.
So, he storms into Elena's room and glares at his sister, who's writing in her diary on her bed, the sheets pulled up over her knees and a forlorn look on her face.
"Seriously. Stop analyzing it! God, you can be such a girl about things like this."
Elena's shocked for maybe a second and a half before her eyes narrow and she places her pen in her book very precisely and then closes it.
"News flash, Jer, I am a girl and I don't think you get it." She says quietly.
Jeremy feels his temper flash.
"Right, I don't get it because I haven't ever lost someone I love. Vicki, remember?" He sees her eyes widen slightly before rolling his own. "But we're not going to go into that, right now. What I'm saying is get over yourself. Sure, you hurt one of them, but, in case you haven't noticed, you're hurting the other one."
"And you think I don't know that?" Elena fires back. "You think I don't know that no matter what I do, I end up hurting both of them? I've thought about this, Jeremy, over and over."
"And reached the conclusion that it's easier to push one away when the other one's always been there? You hurt one of them, sure, but why punish the other one because you're feeling guilty?"
Elena's face scrunches at his words and Jeremy can see she hasn't thought about it like that.
She doesn't reply, instead she twists her sheets around in her hand as if thinking about it.
"Its not that easy, I love Stefan and - "
"You're in love with Damon, please, accept it and move on. Because this," he gestures at her sitting on her bed. "Is getting really old, really fast."
Her head snaps up at his words.
"I am not in love with Damon." She all but chokes out.
"Aren't you?" Jeremy challenges. "Because I think you are. Have you ever realized how you two are around each other? You flirt. You have this eye thing that makes you laugh even if you're not ever saying anything. You can't help but touch him when he's close enough and he always responds. Your terrified of losing him when he says something stupid like he's going to stop caring. If he'd been the one that left town, you would have chased him. You'd have gotten mad, annoyed and worried if he'd left and you'd have taken it all out on him when you caught up with him, simply because he left."
She's staring at him like he's gone mad as he runs out of steam and Jeremy waits silently for a reply and then is completely surprised by the realization that dawns on his sister's face as everything he's said and seen in the last few months suddenly seems to hit home.
He kind of expects her to jump out of bed and run to the Boarding House when she realizes it.
Instead, she bursts into tears.
"Ah." Jeremy says awkwardly.
He's not very good when he's dealing with his crying sister.
In fact, he's terrible at it because before, he was the one that made her cry.
He sits down on the edge of her bed and reaches out to take her hand.
"Elena, I really didn't mean to make you cry. Just...just forget about what I said." He offers lamely and she shakes her head.
"It's alright, Jer. It's fine. I," she hiccoughs and he winces. "I just wish I didn't have to hurt someone to be with someone else." She whispers.
"Uh, okay then. Glad that's sorted."
He's feeling really awkward now.
He was fine when he was mad, but the angers draining out of him as she cries and he wishes Damon was here to deal with this because he's really no good at it.
At all.
"What's going on here?"
Both their heads snap around to her doorway to see an absolutely livid Damon leaning against the door frame.
Jeremy's not sure why Damon's livid but has a feeling it's a mixture of Elena shutting him out, his own way of dealing with what he's feeling and the fact that she's crying.
He gets the feeling that no-ones safe when Elena cries because Damon will hurt anyone who even had the slightest part in making her cry.
'Cause he's the one thats made her cry, he slowly gets up from her bed and holds his hands up in a 'I come in peace' way.
"Uh. Just a brother giving advice."
Damon flicks him a glance.
"You are very lucky I like you."
Damon's tone is menacing and his implication clear.
Jeremy decides its a good idea to get out of the room as fast as he possibly can.
He's just shut the door to Elena's room when he here's a thunk and can only guess Elena's diary has gone flying at Damon's head.
"Don't you ever shut me out like that again, Elena!"
Damon's shout is enough for him to grab his jacket and get out of the house as quickly as possible.
As he jogs away from the house, he's kind of disappointed that this is all happening on a Thursday.
Wednesday's go back to normal after that.
Just without the shattering of vases and violence beyond any level he's ever experienced.
It also becomes very obvious that it's not the normal that it was before.
And that becomes glaringly obvious when he walks in on his sister in a full on prelude to what he suspects was going to happen in her bedroom if he hadn't come home.
Elena's shirt is on the ground near his feet and Damon's is hanging off one arm and his sister is sitting on their kitchen counter, her legs wrapped tightly around Damon who's hands are all over her - one somewhere Jeremy doesn't even want to think about - and their mouths are fused in a seriously desperate kiss.
He clears his throat.
He'd leave, but his feet have magically glued themselves to the floor.
He clears his throat again.
Damon breaks away from Elena's mouth and is trailing his mouth down her throat as Elena arches herself into him.
"Dude, that's my sister!" He yelps.
Whatever spell is on them breaks at his horrified shout.
Elena blushes bright red and Damon lets out a growl.
He yanks his shirt off the arm its been dangling on and hands it to Elena before pulling away from her completely.
"Jeremy, if I were you, I would run."
His feet are now magically unglued from the ground and he doesn't think as he obeys Damon's suggestion and takes off at full sprint.
He really doubts he's going to outrun Damon but he doesn't really care.
He's going to be scarred for life after walking in on that.
He hears Damon behind him and wonders where he can go.
Then decides to give up.
Just as Damon tackles him to the ground, Jeremy can't help but think:
He loves Wednesday's.
A/N: I think I made Jeremy's character...different to what it was on the show but I liked the idea of him having a relationship with Damon. I also like to think Jeremy's a lot more observant than he's given credit and that he loves his sister. I hope this was alright, I'm working my way toward doing either a full story or a short one with Damon and Elena - though the full story is kind of working itself out in my head. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it!