AN: So, after hearing Matt Davis say that he was a little bit jealous of Michael Malarkey and Ian Somerhalder after he got back in the cast, I just had to do this. I hope you like it, and if you catch some mistakes please tell me since English isn't my native language.

Alaric liked to think of himself as a level-headed person. That wasn't to say he was a saint, quite the contrary actually, but he always tried to be kind and friendly when meeting knew people. After the little problem he had had with his evil alter-ego, aptly named Evilaric by Damon, he had promised himself that he would try his hardest to stay as calm as possible if he ever had the chance of coming back to life, like everyone seemed to in Mystic Falls those days. Now that he was some kind of Super Original vampire, that promise had become his way of life. After all he didn't want to lose control and accidentally kill someone, especially since there was no one stronger than him to stop him.

Now in all this months spent comforting Elena and Jeremy for their losses, trying to pretend that he was fine even though he had lost his best friend again, and doing everything humanly possible to find a way to bring back to life said best friend, he had been able to keep his promise. Not to be smug or anything, but in those four months they had needed to bring back Damon and Bonnie, Alaric had not killed a single person. As soon as he had had his drinking buddy back, after his new disappearance in the Boarding House with Elena for an entire week, he had wasted no time in declaring himself a better new vampire than anyone else in that town. Obviously, Damon had immediately tried to shot him down saying that 'You still have a long way to go Baby Vampire to reach the Damon standard of a functioning vampire'.

All in all, Alaric was perfectly content to say that he was getting the hang of this new life he had been gifted with. Except...except now he was really considering breaking his promise to live a calm and controlled life, not to say his four months record without a victim of any kind. Why was he thinking that? Simple: Alaric had just walked in the newly rebuilt Mystic Grill, ready to spend some time drinking with his buddy, only to be greeted by a sight that never, not even in his worst dreams, had he ever imagined to see. That...that guy was sitting in his stool on the Damon's left as if he had any right to be there. How dare he! He knew there had been a reason for his immediate dislike of Enzo. He had to do something, and quickly. He was not about to lose his best friend to some kind of psychotic, witty guy with an accent. He had to establish right away that the spot of Damon's best friend, not to mention go to guy when 'there is an emergency and I need help killing someone', was already taken. Enzo would have to settle for the place as former best friend and newly returned close friend.

A man with a purpose, Alaric marched towards Enzo stopping right between him and Damon, ending their conversation by placing his hand on the bar with, maybe, a little more strength than normal.

"You're in my seat," he said to Enzo looking him straight in the eyes.

"Good morning to you too, Alaric. How are you doing on this fine day?" Enzo answered without missing a beat, raising his glass to drink what appeared to be bourbon. Now he was drinking his liquor too. The nerve of this man.

"I'm walking on sunshine, thank you," Alaric replied, lips settled in a thin line. "You're still sitting in my seat. Move." Okay maybe he was being childish, but this was a matter of principles.

"Oh, you're being serious. I thought you were joking," Enzo said putting down his glass and turning

towards Alaric. "Anyways, I don't see your name written on it. Guess you'll have to sit somewhere else."

Alaric glared at Enzo with an intensity that would have had anyone running away fearing for their lives. He was preparing himself to forcibly remove that smug vampire from the stool when a voice cut the tense silence.

"What are you, twelve?" Damon said, having observed the exchange between his two friends with something akin to bafflement. Seriously, when had Rick ever behaved like that? From Enzo he expected this kind of behavior, he was the kind of man who liked to get on everyone else nerves; Alaric on the other hand was the most cool guy he had ever encountered, the kind of guy capable of discussing about what he planned for his next history class with the same calm voice with which he discussed about the next big bad villain to kill. "Enzo, just move to another seat so that Rick can sit in his stool," he said, trying to avoid a fist match in the middle of the Grill.

"You're kidding me, right? Now you want to tell me that this is really his seat? I got here first, why should I move?" Enzo said, not believing what he was hearing.

"Because you kind of are in his seat," Damon replied, trying to end the conversation before Alaric snapped. "Also, Rick is kind of an Original vampire so he could snap you in half without too much effort."

At this, Enzo looked at Alaric for a brief moment, assessing the situation, before sighing and standing up to move to the right of Damon. Seeing the other vampire backing down, Alaric smirked in his direction as if to say 'take that' before sitting in his place and ordering a glass of bourbon. God how he missed sitting there with someone by his side, instead of being alone with nothing but memories as company. He turned toward Damon only to find his friend staring at him as if waiting for an explanation.

"What?" he said, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, or something?" Damon asked, raising an eyebrow and taking a sip from his bourbon.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Damon. I just wanted to sit on my seat," Rick said, trying to ignore the smug smirk that Enzo was throwing at him over Damon's shoulder. What the hell was he smirking about? Alaric sure wanted to punch him in the face in that moment.

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about. What was that macho thing you pulled there with Enzo?" Damon turned to said man looking him straight in the eye. "Did something happened between the two of you while I wasn't here?" he asked, because that was the only thing that would explain what was going on here. Maybe he should ask Elena about it since she had spent a lot of time with Rick.

"Nothing happened, mate," Enzo said, always smirking. "I shouldn't have sat there, my apologies. I'll be sure to remember in the future," he said nodding toward Alaric. Rick narrowed his eyes, not buying for a second Enzo's kindness.

"Uh," Damon murmured, going back to his bourbon. What followed could only be described as ten minutes of awkwardness, with Enzo chatting about everything he could think about as though nothing had happened, Damon nodding at the appropriate time even though he was trying to come up with a reason for the apparent hostility between his two best friends, and Alaric silently disapproving everything Enzo did. When Damon's phone beeped with a text from Elena asking him to come home to help her with something, followed by a surprisingly suggestive winky face, he immediately jumped up ready to go.

"Well, as fun as this is, my girl needs my help so I'm gonna go," he said throwing some dollars on the bar to pay for his drink.

"Come on, seriously? You were with Elena only two hours ago," Enzo protested, upset by having been interrupted in the middle of his retelling about the vintage car he was thinking about buying.

"Sorry, man. I'm not gonna say no to her. Bye. See you, Rick," he said looking at his friend who raised his glass in response.

With Damon gone, the two vampires were left staring at each other across the abandoned stool. Neither wanted to be the first to lower their gaze, but both of them wanted to just get this over with and go on ignoring each other until the next time they were going to be forced to socialize because of Damon. In the end Alaric broke the silence.

"Listen, I don't know what you are trying to pull here, with your forced kindness and your stool-stealing attitude, but I don't like it. So stop it," he said in complete seriousness. Enzo, however, seemed only capable of smirking because he was still smiling when he answered.

"I'm not trying to pull anything, Alaric. I was just sharing some drinks with my mate when you had to come and ruin the perfectly relaxed atmosphere we were in with your grumpy self," he said.

"He's not your mate, mate," Rick remarked, now starting to get annoyed with the other man. "He's my friend and you need to back off, am I clear?"

"Oh, so this is what we're really talking about. Damon," Enzo replied, putting down his glass and crossing his arms. "You feel threatened by me."

Alaric huffed derisively in his direction before answering. "Maybe you're the one who feels threatened, Lorenzo. You see I'm perfectly confident in my friendship with Damon. Can you say the same? I wasn't the one who got abandoned for seventy years," he said, knowing perfectly well that what he just said was a low blow. But this was war he couldn't afford to be gentle.

"So this is how it's going to be," Enzo said, now perfectly serious. "It seems like there's not enough space for the both of us in this town."

"It was inevitable," Rick said.

"Then I have a proposition for you," Enzo came out, surprising him.

Alaric narrowed his eyes but decided to listen to him, "I'm listening."

"What do you say we let Damon decide who is his best friend? That way we can resolve this...situation," Enzo said, extending his hand for Alaric to shake on. Rick knew the situation was getting pretty much out of control, and they were both behaving like children, but there really was no other way. They just couldn't go on sharing Damon like a divorced couple with shared custody. They already had to compete with Elena to get some time with their friend and they knew that if Damon had to chose between them and spending time with his girlfriend he would choose Elena. Especially after their forced separation. So Alaric knew what he had to do.

Alaric shook Enzo's hand.

"Game on."