This just came to me suddenly: thought of it in a second, wrote it in half an hour. I've been wanting to do something about Damon and Stefan's relationship for a while now and, well, here it is, just a sweet little one-shot. Hope you like...

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries

XxX

One Moment

Though he was half asleep, Stefan still heard the sound of his brother opening and closing the door. Sure enough, he heard Damon's footsteps as he came up the stairs. He held his breath for a moment, waiting to see if Damon would turn left, to his bedroom, or right, towards himself.

"Hello little brother."

Stefan shoved the pillow over his head. He didn't want to deal with his brother right now. When do I ever want to deal with Damon?

"Did you know it's pouring down with rain outside? And you didn't answer the door so I had to pick the lock."

"Key," murmured Stefan from under the pillow.

"I forgot it." Damon leant against the doorframe, watching his brother trying to sleep. His hair was sticking up at odd angles, reminding Damon of when they were children. He wanted to reach over and ruffle it playfully. "Where's Elena?"

"Home." Didn't Damon understand that he didn't want to talk? He wanted to sleep.

"Why don't we go out? How about we go visit a few bars? Or we could go back to the football pitch?"

"I want to sleep Damon!"

In honesty, Stefan didn't believe it would work. He felt the mattress sag under the extra weight, and felt Damon poking him in the side. "C'mon Stef, I'm bored!"

"And I'm tired. I had a late night yesterday, and now I am exhausted. I really want to sleep."

"You're a vampire Stefan! You don't need sleep."

"Damon, fuck off."

Damon lay next to his brother. When Stefan said that, it reminded him of something; something he use to do with Stefan when they were younger, before they met Katherine; when they were closer than any other pair of brothers they knew.

"You disrespect your older brother?" He tried to make his voice sound like it was from a bad mafia movie.

Stefan turned his head, slowly opening his eyes. Damon saw recognition in his brother's eyes, but he still didn't trust his brother. At least, not consciously.

"You need to be punished."

Before Stefan could move, Damon pounced on him. Pinning his brother down, Damon began to tickle him under the arms. Stefan squealed in laughter, struggling under his brother's iron grip. Smiling, Damon moved from under his brother's arms to his feet.

"No! Damon! Stop it!" Stefan was nearly crying from laughter. With all the strength he could muster, the youngest Salvatore pushed his brother so they both landed on the floor. Stefan then reached over and began tickling Damon back, under they were having an all-out tickle fight.

Though the brothers were enemies at times, at the end of the day that was what they were: brothers. And for one moment, that was all they were.