Title: Dark Candy

Type: Slash, Snark, Uncon, Angst, FirstTime, UST

Rating: NC-17

Fandom: The Vampire Diaries [ Showverse ]

Pairing: Damon Salvatore/Jeremy Gilbert

Setting: Sometime after "The Sacrifice" (Season 2, Episode 10)

Word Count: 5731

Summary: After his increasing efforts to go solo vigilante and landing himself and others in a lot of trouble (such as being held captive by Katherine in the tomb, and forcing Stefan to take his place there), Jeremy is left on house arrest, under Damon's supervision, while everyone else is out looking for clues, or on some sort of mission. With Damon as babysitter, it's only a matter of time before things get interesting, isn't it? Even if Jeremy is still unsure whether he should forgive him for almost killing him, just when he thought he had a cool "older brother" type to play his Xbox with. Don't worry Jeremy, Damon has lots of games to play so long as you behave…otherwise this might not end well. Just be sure to compliment his looks and keep the beer coming.

Warnings: Not spiteful smut, actually pre-smut for the most part. NC-17 rating is given for the series, not any individual chapter, though no chapter will be completely "clean". Might be spoilerish to those who have not seen "The Sacrifice" (Season 2, Episode 10) or any episodes prior to that. May contain short-lived dark/abuse elements. This is a co-write, so apologies if the perspective seems a little choppy but you can deal with it. Jeremy is written by VarrosGirly and Damon by me, Jaxon666.

It had been about half an hour since Elena and Stefan had gone off on their little Scooby gang missions with Alaric and Bonnie in tow; they all watched way too much Buffy, only at least that show had a heroine who was not a walking cliché. Nice, perky little tits too. It was at this point that Damon realised he had beat Jeremy at this beat-em-up game about thirty or so times, and he hadn't even played it before.

Actually, he had yet to lose a single game. Damon did his eye thing, in this instance riddled with judgmental and doubtful sentiments, tossing his designated Xbox controller to one side and looking away from Jeremy, not impressed in the slightest. Why did everyone he know require so much work? Didn't they know how to live it up? They were the living ones after all.

"OK little guy, that's enough of that. No point playing if you're just gonna keep letting me win.", he turned and looked at Jeremy again finally, brow line cocked to one side, voice full of dubious colour, "Why do you keep doing that? You think I'll kill you again if you beat me? Leave you that way this time? Big bad Damon being all spiteful vampire guy? Hmm?" For a badass, Damon was at times as animated as a cartoon character.

Jeremy was feeling a bit moody, since he was being treated like a child, even if he technically was one. He'd proven over and again that he was just as able as the rest of them, more in some cases. Not to mention that the ring he refused to take off was an asset. He might have had close calls, but he wouldn't die short of natural accident. Which wasn't too likely with the way his life had turned recently.

Jeremy was still very wary of Damon, even though it seemed the vampire had cleaned up his act a lot. And he wasn't too bad to be around when he was normal, like this. But Jeremy was amazed at how good he was at these games. The Salvatores had to have their own consoles hidden up at their mansion, surely. He didn't care too much when he kept losing, until about the twentieth time, when he really began to try. Of course vampire instincts could pick up on the strategy easily.

He leaned back against the couch after setting the controller beside him. "Well it's not something I look forward to experiencing again for a long time," he grimaced, looking at Damon. "And I wasn't letting you win. You just kept doing it." Plus he'd given up after a while, figuring that it was too hard to try beating him. Jeremy stood to make himself a sandwich. "I bet they could use some help out there," he suggested, pulling meats and cheeses from the fridge.

"Whatever, you were SO letting me win.", he did his eye thing again, but at least his tone had become more of a friendly one. Damon did that a lot, switching between the extremes of vampire menace and ridiculous audacity; it didn't do well to put others at ease, but that was the point after all, wasn't it?

While Jeremy got up to do whatever, Damon sprawled across the couch like a giant child, though his voice was far from infantile or passive, "No big ideas kiddo, YOU are staying put, even if I'd really like to be killing something myself right now. Get comfy...with Stefan and Elena on the job, it could be a while before they need me to bail them out one more time.", he always seemed like he was performing to an audience, though they were never visible.

"Was not," he muttered, slathering mustard onto a bread slice. Jeremy piled the ham and turkey on, topped it with some Swiss and a bit more mustard, then squished it all down with the other slice. He frowned at it, knowing that he'd never get out of the house with a vampire set to watch over him. But going out at all would be better now, with how much cabin fever he had going on.

"It's not like I get in their way," he said, coming back to the couch with his plate. Jeremy took one glance at the way Damon had occupied the entire thing and sighed, turning back for the kitchen counters. "And if they need help so much, why didn't you just go with them?" He took a large bite of the sandwich, glancing toward the door. "Wouldn't it be better to get the fights done faster anyway?"

"Don't try to play me Jeremy. I'm a big boy, I know when to play nice.", and yet the way Damon said so, clearly implied that he not only knew that he didn't do so often, but also that he was proud of the fact. Fine, he had to make good, and if that meant he had to stay snug with the vigilante kid with the silly face until tomorrow, so be it; his penchant for killing things and proving himself the alpha vampire wouldn't be baited by a teenage human.

"You could have got me a beer.", Damon glanced over to the kitchen, thinking about getting one for himself for a split second and then residing to the fact that he couldn't be bothered, even though he could have been to the refrigerator and back in he blink of an eye. "Sooo...are we good? You're not still holding that whole neck snapping thing against me are you? I mean...you're still alive, and I am a vampire after all.", the eye thing again, it wouldn't let up; it should have been irritating, but it was more entertaining than anything else.

Jeremy knew that Damon was being as civil as he could possibly be with him. He definitely preferred it to the other side of the coin, the one that could snap his neck without hesitation. But he was still restless here when he knew what was going on not too far away. He set down the half-gone sandwich, thinking about whether he'd actually bother getting a beer for him, deciding not to.

"Good? Yeah I'm alive, but if Uncle John hadn't left my dad's ring with me, I wouldn't be." And the fact that an angry, drunk Damon could off him without thought was scary enough. "I still don't trust you. Elena does enough, I guess, but I can't trust her anymore either." It was like vampires were the reason for their family being driven apart so much. "I'm still human, so it's not all good for me."

"Well then we have something in common...we both have our rings to thank for something.", it was obnoxious in a way that only Damon could justify, how he made light of matters that were not very light at all; the attempted murder of Elena's little brother for no good reason, no laughing matter. But he was Damon, so to him, it made perfect sense. In a way, even those who hated him most came around to thinking the same way, however slightly, in time.

"Awww you don't trust me Jeremy? But look at this face...doesn't it just scream 'humble little do-gooder' to you?", he mocked playfully and loving it, shaping his voice to one more childlike and unintelligent, for effect. "You still have a boner for the vamp thing? You're not over it yet? You should be...between you and me, I don't think you have the stones to make a good vampire...least not one that'd see it's first ten years out. Just saying.", he smirked with an inimitable dark joy that made his handsome face seem both demonic and foolish, just how he liked it.

The Gilbert boy wanted to ignore Damon poking fun at him, especially with how he brushed off the attempt upon his life. He just continued to eat until there was no sandwich left, only crumbs on a plate. Jeremy simply slid it into the sink, not caring about it. "No, it screams raging psychopath." He entered the living room again, arms folded across his chest. "Your opinion, man. Not a common one, either, I think."

As Jeremy turned to head toward his room, he couldn't help himself from biting back just a bit. "You still got a boner for my sister?" So he was bitter about the killing, understandably. And Jeremy had wanted to be a vampire so badly, especially after losing a second lover. It was too much on his young mind.

"Raging? I was going for something more…understated.", if he cared to, Damon would have laughed to himself, but with those lips so perfectly and wickedly arched, he barely needed to; it was the sort of look of gratuitous personal amusement that burnt through you. "So that's what you think?", he said, to the boy's comeback, and this time he couldn't help but chuckle.

"It's not like you're subtle about it. Stefan knows it, and Elena knows it even more." She'd written about it a long while ago in her journal. "Whatever. You keep pretending it doesn't bug you that she chose him over you." Jeremy muttered the last half of his sentence, though he knew Damon could hear it. He started up the stairs to his room, wondering if he could sneak out the window quietly later.

"Oh Jeremy...Jeremy Jeremy Jeremy-", Damon wiggled his finger in a dismissive manner, as he noticed the boy thinking of leaving the room, before continuing. He'd get back down the stairs if he knew what was good for him. But then, what Damon was about to divulge may have been reason enough to make that happen anyway, "-if only you knew what it is that I really want.", and with that, Damon vampire-sped to the kitchen and back again, returning to his previous, relaxed position with a bottle of beer, popping the cap off with one chop of his hand as he did so.

He stopped halfway up the stairs, the hook Damon had tossed out catching him very effectively, even if he could recognize it for what it was. Jeremy looked over the railing, but Damon was still on the couch, though he'd heard movement from him. The chink of a bottle opening answered that. He sighed and walked back to the living room, leaning against the doorframe. "Fine, I'll bite. What is it then?" Unless Damon was just being a dick as always, hinting at something but not telling any of the secrets piling up behind those eerily light eyes.

"You think I'm going to tell you my secrets when you don't even trust me. Probably best you don't though...I can be very...impulsive.", Damon toyed with the teenager, but mission accomplished, he was back in the room now, and the slightest attempt to leave would be futile; Jeremy ought to get comfortable.

"The Elena thing...sure, I'll do anything or anyone to make my brother's life miserable. But when it comes to really wanting someone...my standards are a little higher than that. No offence, but your sister is a tad...tragic. She makes us vampires look like we come from the land of rainbows and candyfloss trees.", and there was that wide, dark red grin again, manic in its zeal; way too pleased with itself.

Fucking mind games, that's all he ever did. Jeremy had been stupid enough to fall for it; curiosity killed the cat, Elena would say. "Not like you're doing much good otherwise," he said, picking some pieces of lint from his shirt. Jeremy frowned and walked to the side of the couch, looking down at Damon.

"I know she's tragic. She tried to make me into some human happy pill." Did Damon mean the thing about Elena's doppelganger? Or was that even out of his mind, too? "So you're just going to try and tease me with little pieces of non-information? I'm already tired, my bed's calling my name pretty loudly." Not quite true, he just wanted time alone, mostly. Sketching, reading, eventually falling asleep. Or sneaking out, though that seemed less of a reality now.

"Don't act like you hate me Jeremy, it's getting old. You never hand your precious Xbox controller to Stefan, and all those infernal stories about your iPod playlist...yep, heard them too, not that I paid much attention; it's a tad too emo for my liking.", Damon scratched at his neck before running a hand down his chest as though to massage himself at the same time as his ego.

"And don't think that when I tell you you're staying right where I can see you, it's a request. If you're tired, too bad so sad-", the troublesome vampire did his irritating kiddy voice again with that last sentence, head cocked to one side, "-you're not going anywhere-", his frosty eyes grew wide for just a second as he said that, as if they need be any more penetrative, or promoting of intent, "-don't make me have to prove it."

"I don't hate you," he admitted in a hushed tone, "I just don't trust you in any state of mind. I don't particularly like you either." Jeremy was also just a touch scared of Damon still, though that was something he wouldn't admit. He'd turned for the hallway again, but stopped at Damon's words, jaw clenched for just a second. Jeremy looked at the vampire through his hair, very displeased.

"Hearing every single thing I do can't be enough?" Jeremy slid back onto the couch, though, looking a little defeated. If he hated anybody right now, it was Elena. She was the one putting him through all this, the one who'd caused most of his problems, even if she refused to admit it. Jeremy grabbed the remote, not paying attention to the screen as he flipped through channels.

"Well, at least you only told one lie.", Damon smirked again swigging his beer, not that there was much point; it would take a lot more than the alcoholic content of one beer for his vampire biochemistry to submit enough to feel even the fraction of a buzz. He knew how to get under the skin of others, and yet usually he wasn't even trying, much like now.

"Pity you're being such a human about it...I was in the market for a new BFF. I mean there's always Alaric but how long is he really going to live?", it was obvious Damon was not being fully literal in his suggestive comments that he longed for Jeremy as a friend, but then there seemed to be some truth to it, "Guess I'll keep looking. But then, being so totally hot and epic, it's so hard to find people who want in on the Damony fun.", he swigged again, almost chuckling as he did; absolutely loving himself right now.

"Fuck you," he sighed. Jeremy looked smaller than usual with the way he'd pressed himself into the sofa. He turned his head and just looked at Damon, amazed at how self-serving anyone could be, even a vampire. Anna hadn't been nearly as bad, if just a bit needy and odd. "A new BFF? Dude...I'm going to keep being a human about getting killed, alright?" And Jeremy wasn't too sure if Damon was jokingly threatening his history-teacher-turned-vampire-hunter or not.

"I don't think you'd be able to keep anyone even if you wanted to. You're too much, all the time." It was ridiculous to him that someone like Damon would even want friends. His purpose in the world only seemed to be to wreck the lives of those around him, so long as it kept him entertained.

"If only you had an insanely attractive and ubercool vampire BFF to turn you someday and make the lives of the people he can't stand that little bit more miserable.", he quipped with a quick, sly brand of wit, never missing a trick, but then some modern day emo kid was hardly a worthy adversary. "Oh you have no idea.", Damon corrected, boastfully; he loved being hard work, and those he chose to share it with enjoyed it almost as much. When would Elena and co learn; he only pissed them off because he wanted to, it didn't happen magically.

"OK then Jer, I'll do you a solid. You want off the ride, you get a free pass. Other than situations like these, which by the way are not good for my general mood, I'll stay out of your way. No "hello Jeremy"'s, no more Xbox, no more little brother-big brother stuff. I'm sure Stefan will be an exciting replacement.", there was no nuance to the tone of Damon's words, as to how he severely doubted that; Stefan was an interminable bore.

That was a laugh. Damon hinting that he might turn him. It couldn't be more than another little seed to plant in his impressionable brain, even if it did make him wonder more. If he had successfully turned himself, he could be out there right now helping. A teen vampire wouldn't be thought of as little or needing protection like a teen human did. Jeremy stared straight at the television as Damon's words sunk in, nipping annoyingly with their weighty truths. How someone could be such an ass, such a threat, and still somewhat of a...friend...was beyond him. He sighed and leaned his head back, looking at the ceiling.

"Why can you just do this to people? You treat them like shit and then worm your way back into their good graces like nothing ever happened." He was getting touchy because he knew that Damon was right with his insinuations. Jeremy had actually liked having him here. It gave him someone to talk to, to chill with. It was only really harmful to his existence once, but still...that once was a pretty big once. "I don't know what I want," he finally said, and with honesty. Everything that had happened made him question and re-question everything he did, no matter how insignificant. But he couldn't really consider forgiving Damon for what had happened, vampire or no. He could just continue being wary, maybe.

"I'm Damon. It's my thing.", the porcelain yet handsome vampire replied, inviting twinkle in his eye, enough for a pull magnetic to be felt so much that it's provoked urge would have to be denied, "What I do...don't take it personally. I'm a vampire who likes being a vampire...I'm not all angstyboy like Stefan. That'd just be…gay. Sometimes things happen, most of the time it's unintended."

But all of the time, Damon would not apologise for it, not wholeheartedly; he had no heart to speak of, not one that beat, it was dead...and chaos was fun, wasn't it? "Well Jeremy, of all the things I love to do, spreading idle gossip isn't one of them. If you have something to say, you can tell me. After all, I am getting bored."

"It's just weird," he frowned, "You're not human at all, but you look like it. You get away with things because you lucked out on looks." Vampires were really monsters underneath, hiding in their bait. Damon seemed like something in-between, though. Not really the kind to mourn his actions, but not the kind to kill endlessly and continue it for sport. Even if he sort of had, before.

Jeremy just couldn't figure Damon out at all. Jeremy stretched, glancing back at the door, as if the motley crew of hunters would come through at that moment. "You're getting bored?" He snorted a little, shaking his head. Damon could've left him and found entertainment elsewhere. "What's keeping you here? It's not like you actually care about my well-being, right?"

"Jeremy...how dare you reduce me to a mere object of physical desire.", Damon joked with intended playful emphasis, but this time Jeremy was in on it and not the brunt, "If you try to bait me into leaving again, I'm going to have to teach you a lesson.", that impish grimace came again, his expressions making something superficial of a promise far from kind.

Jeremy turned toward the vampire, draping one arm over the back of the couch. "I'm serious, you haven't really been the protective, helpful kind. I can't figure it out." Though getting Damon to at least let him leave the room would have been nice. He wasn't nearly quick enough to make it far if he did manage to get out. "I'm not baiting...I'm just asking."

"You are baiting, and like you said I'm way prettier than a fish, so drop it.", Damon rectified, "I'm helpful in my own way...if the mood suits...and it's a cold day in Hell.", the dark vampire found himself sure at that moment, that his joke made with himself as target would provoke Jeremy's own ridiculously cute smile, maybe even a little bit of that whispery laughter.

He tried resisting the curve of his lip, he had to remember that he was mad over being killed, but it happened anyway. Jeremy even laughed a little before biting his tongue. "So what is it then? It's like you have tourettes with boyscouting or something." He couldn't have gotten any sort of answer, though, he knew. But it was nice to admit that he wasn't in horribly unsuited hands.

"I'll show you boyscouting.", in a blur, Damon pounced from his position over to the other sofa, lunging over Jeremy, but instead of attacking him, he pressed his knuckles and fingers into Jeremy's sides, tickling him hard by kneading and prodding just so at the flesh there. After a short while he stopped and sat back on his own calves, almost winking at the boy, some sort of unknown enjoyment taken in the fact that his impulsiveness could be light hearted, when he wanted it to be. Besides, it was adorable to make Jeremy laugh and struggle against it like that, when he'd do that human thing where he'd be mad at him still, even just a little. "You really want to go to bed?"

Jeremy experienced a brief moment of terror as Damon pinned him, the sudden flashback causing his eyes to widen fully. Confusion and then squirming laughter followed, impossible to prevent. His chest heaved as Damon pulled back from the tickle attack, a surprise to say the least. Jeremy's smile remained on his face, even if a little faded, because he was starting to understand the nature of vampiric impulse, sort of.

More of scratching the surface, but it was still better than assuming that he was in constant danger. Which he was still wary of, naturally. Jeremy ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. "Guess not...you can be...fun." Though maybe there was something else to the question, something that Jeremy hadn't caught. That wasn't possible, was it? "We can play a new game," he said, meaning the Xbox.

"I'm all sorts of fun.", Damon just gazed at Jeremy then as the solitary sound of one man's breath slowed down from previously frantic momentum; a look that seemed to trail slightly, a look that seemed for lack of a better word, unconventional, "If only you were a little older...and a little less mopey.", Damon was not ashamed at his potential admission, however slight, ignoring talk of further Xboxing.

Jeremy pushed himself upright again, feeling just a bit better about the situation he'd been forced to stay in. "What? Why would that..." But then he finally got it, and all the other little clues seemed to blink into his brain at once, like a lottery machine giving out a grand prize. "You'd really want that from me?" Jeremy he felt like he had enough reason to be mopey for a while, though.

"Well Jeremy, let's review the facts. Me: vampire...impulsive and short of a few morals. You: ridiculously adorable in ways I shouldn't like, and SO into me, just like everyone else. Let's not pretend it seems like an unusual idea. It's not like you haven't thought about it...is it?", Damon wasn't even trying to seduce Jeremy, that came naturally. Instead he was talking matter-of-factly, and unlike the naive, mortal teenager in Jeremy whose day was spent wondering who he was and how he could walk through high school without making an ass of himself, Damon didn't have a care in the world.

"Actually...let's not even think for a minute that I've ever thought I couldn't have whatever I want…from you or anyone else. Which begs the question, what wouldn't you give for some hot, Damon-flavoured vamp love?", Damon said through an exciting grin of brilliance, in a way that would make others hate him for being so fucking good at whatever that was that he did.

He looked down at the sofa's fabric, afraid that he may have been blushing a little, unsure if he was or not. Jeremy had thought about it plenty of times before the incident, and not at all following it. But he couldn't deny that he'd imagined it, wondered about it. Especially after finding out Damon was a vampire. But then he'd seen how ugly the dangerous breed could get, and it was more real than he had wanted it to be. In fact, thinking about the way that he'd thought about the vampire was stimulating some nerves that really didn't need the attention right now. Jeremy leaned forward, chewing on his thumbnail.

"You've got it all figured, huh?" But of course he did, there was no way around it. "I still don't trust you," he started, "And I don't know if letting those fantasies play out now is a good idea at all." Jeremy realized what he'd basically admitted and turned to face forward again, scooting to the edge of the sofa as if to leave, though he didn't stand yet, even if he felt like he was burning from embarrassment.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't offer...not that I did, technically.", Damon said casually, not even offended by the boy's coyness-induced refrain. In fact, as Damon returned to the sofa he sat on earlier and grabbed his beer again, it was apparent that his tone had seemed to set upon a more consistently subtle and warm one than earlier displayed. It was hard to keep up with his ever-changing, unpredictable moods.

"If you're really tired, I guess you can go to bed. I'll keep my ears open...it's not like I bleed from the eyes if I don't sleep...I'm not one of those True Blood vamps.", he offered the boy some leeway, "Be a good little Gilbert and keep your window closed though, won't you?", he was well ahead of Jeremy.

Jeremy rested his elbows on his knees for a moment, watching Damon stand and move. He wasn't acting like he had that one night...what could be the harm in it? Besides needing to wonder if Damon was a rough lover or really liked biting a little too much. The vampire had definitely offered, even if he retracted it. Jeremy was too confused to think clearly. "But I'm not-" he cut himself off.

"I'll go upstairs then." Jeremy stood, pausing to wonder if he should invite Damon upstairs with him, his imagination running a little too wild with that thought, causing some more uncomfortable shifting in his jeans. He turned toward the hallway and stopped, breathing deep as he looked at his feet. Jeremy turned back and decided to just go for it, everyone was out for the night most likely.

He took large strides toward where Damon sat, took hold of his face, and moved in to kiss him, not worrying about technique or anything. Jeremy pulled back after that, slowly lowering his hands. He stared into the icy eyes and waited, wondering if he had not just made one big mistake.

By the time Jeremy had come back, Damon it seemed was already over it, perhaps even a victim of ADHD, as he'd already started flicking through a nearby magazine as if Jeremy and recent events involving him didn't really matter, but then they didn't, did they? At least not to him.

As Jeremy grabbed his face and went in for a reckless struggle of a kiss, Damon quickly held him off and then away, laughing hysterically for a second or two thereafter as Jeremy resided to a less confident stance, taking a defeated position on the seat next to the vampire. "Well, it seems you know the difference between light and hard, don't you?", he did that fucking eye thing again.

"You can sleep with a light on.", funny enough to lighten whatever feelings of rejection or stupidity Jeremy might have just had, initially, "The moment's passed, little Gilbert...you should have taken the chance when you had it. You know me; my mood changes like the wind. Maybe...if there's a next time...you shouldn't hesitate. Not a fan of that.", though his words on paper may have been a little blunt, Damon still seemed friendly in his tone.

He blinked in surprise, though what else had he really expected from Damon, of all people? He slumped onto the couch with a frown, feeling more confused than before, coupled with the want to punch Damon for continuing to look at him like that. His irritating, but still sexy, eye-twitch sort of thing. Jeremy was embarrassed now, too, since his approach had taken a lot.

"Fucking douche," he said, though he was really just putting on a facade of anger. "Maybe you should get used to humans, then, you're around us so much." He stood, knocking the magazine from Damon's hand spitefully before storming toward the stairs. Jeremy knew that he should have taken the offer when it came up, since now he had to deal with wondering if it'd ever happen again. His jacket was waiting for him on his desk chair in his room, and the window was already cracked. It had to be better to go and deal with whatever was out there than brood in here.

Damon wasn't in the mood for Jeremy's adolescent sass; he was the only one allowed to switch his moods at a moments notice, because he was Damon. He blurred through the hall and grabbed Jeremy before he'd even gotten completely up the stairs, dragging the boy to his room and slamming him against one of it's walls, no light switch flicked. The darkness only accentuated the look on Damon's face; how if he wasn't kept sweet, he was the demon again, the monster, the thing to be feared. His playfulness was not to be mistaken as an allowance to provoke him and think oneself safe.

"Don't push your luck Jeremy, especially when I've been so patient with you and your little hang ups about me snapping your neck. Do you really think such things are on my mind during my day? Do you really think I care if you're all raw about me almost killing you? It bores me. And now you're just being rude.", Damon loved this, the thrill of being himself, how easy it was for him to be an evil cunt when deemed necessary by instinct, only in this case, he was not absent will also. He clutched at Jeremy's balls through his jeans and squeezed enough to cause unkind pain, "Don't think you've got enough of these to throw down with me, kid. Try again when they're fully formed.", and with that, both of Damon's hands were once again pinning the boy to the wall, with brute force, a surprise the wall behind Jeremy had not yet become damaged, though the night was young.

"Now, you're going to play nice, just like I have been. You're going to give me the respect I deserve as an animal much higher on the food chain than you. And if you even think of going near that window, it won't be just your fluffy little balls that I'll be crushing, got it?", he meant business, he wasn't playing. It would be in Jeremy's best interests not to get brave.

Jeremy instantly forgot about how let-down he'd felt from not being able to take what he wanted, now in fear of his life again. But Damon didn't want him dead, it seemed, or he surely would have been. Right? The expression he could make out was not one he was particularly happy to see, and he wanted it out of his sight. For being scared so shitless, he was not paralyzed in fright.

He struggled out of instinct against Damon, though he knew that was useless. His body didn't seem to get the message. Jeremy bit the insides of his cheek, trying desperately not to cry and make it worse. He did let out a strangled shout as his testicles were squeezed roughly, sending pain all throughout him. "I'msorryI'msorry," he choked out, his head then bouncing against the wall as Damon shoved him against it again.

Jeremy was shaking, quite a lot, and his heart was pounding. He knew that if Damon killed him, he'd come back, but he didn't want to experience dying again. He nodded, averting his eyes and hoping Damon would just go away. Just a minute ago he'd wanted to fool around, and now his life was in danger. "Notgoinganywhere," he mumbled, focusing his gaze on the sliver of light from the hallway.

Damon grunted before eventually releasing his grip on the boy, after long moments of desperate silence. The vampire could smell the salty fear that so quickly came over he boy's skin, the quickened heartbeat beneath the human's chest begging Damon to do his best to hurt and devour him. Instead Damon swallowed back a grunt and left the room. Hopefully for his own good, Jeremy got the message; Damon may have got a plethora of second chances, but he was Damon and that was allowed, obligatory even. Jeremy was not quite so fortunate.

As Damon finally left, Jeremy slid down the wall, curling into a ball and putting his forehead to his knees, trying to control his breathing. He couldn't let the others come home and see what mess he got himself into this time. It was his fault alone, really, for provoking a vampire like Damon. "I'm sorry," he muttered again to the room, crawling into bed. He shut his eyes tight and forced himself to sleep.

THE END