But You Can't Blame Me For Hating It
Title: But You Can't Blame Me For Hating It
Pairing: Damon/Elena (/Stefan/Katherine - I don't even know)
Rating: soft R
Prompt: Forever is really only a nice concept in theory. For smc_27
Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: This is for the darkship table prompt we're in this together.
"I could love you forever," he murmurs against the column of her throat. She swallows hard, her thighs tightening around his hips. He nips along her jaw, tugs her bottom lip between his teeth so she'll make that tiny noise in the back of her throat. "Let me."
"Damon." She's right on the edge and desperate, hitching her leg higher around his hip and arching up into him. "Please."
He slips a hand between them, brushing two fingers against her nerves in just the way to make her fall apart, his name on her lips and veins blooming beneath her eyes.
He loves her, and when he says forever, he means forever, and he knows that she understands that. Elena has always understood him in ways that no one else has, and he knows that she always will.
*
She leaves Mystic Falls two weeks later with Rebekah of all people. Jeremy brings him a letter, written in black ink on pale blue stationary. It's long and rambling, but the basic gist is that she's overwhelmed and needs some time away to sort things out.
It's fine, Damon thinks. It's certainly not unexpected.
They have all the time in the world.
*
Eight years, two months, and six days later, she finds him in New York.
(It's pathetic, keeping track of time the way that he does; but then, after everything he did for Katherine, this barely ranks.)
She melts out of the shadows outside of the building where he's living, saying hello and smiling shyly when he just stares at her. "I miss you," she admits before he has a chance to ask.
Elena doesn't hesitate to tell him how she's spent the years since they've seen each other. She and Rebekah found Stefan and Elijah in Austria, and the four of them wandered around eastern Europe until Stefan fell off the wagon and he and Rebekah ran off together.
"The whole thing made me realize how long it's been since I've seen you," she says simply, fingertips lazily tracing the paths made by the veins on the inside of his forearm.
"Well, sure," he says, untangling his fingers from her messy hair. "My dear brother loses his shit and everyone thinks of me."
She cranes her head to gaze up at him, her eyes blazing through the half-light. "It isn't like that." He lifts a pointed eyebrow. "It isn't, Damon."
She is earnest and lovely and Elena, so he chooses to believe what she's saying even though he knows that he's right. Believing the lie of the moment - the one that Elena is telling herself just as much as she's telling him - is easier than forcing the truth.
*
"I don't know why I ever thought this would work."
"Me either," he shoots back. "Go find Stefan, Elena. You know you want to."
The barb lands, the pain flickering in her eyes before she sets her jaw. "I should have been with him all along," she says lowly, reminding Damon that she knows him just as well as he knows her.
It's why they hurt one another so much, so easily.
"He's in Vancouver," Damon tells her, relishing the way the hurt chases the shock across her face.
"How do you know that?"
"Katherine."
"Katherine," she repeats, voice dripping with disdain. Damon shrugs his answer to the question she doesn't ask. "Fine. I'm going."
"Give Stefan my love."
*
He turns a girl, Laurel, because he's bored (lonely), and they spend almost three years flitting around the world together before Katherine shows up and stakes her.
Damon doesn't mind too much. He was just biding his time.
*
He's with Katherine when Elena finds him in Prague twelve years, eight months, and seventeen days after she left him to find Stefan.
"I hate her," Elena says when Katherine leaves them alone.
Damon shrugs, topping off his tumbler of whiskey and thinking wistfully of some of the bottles he has stored away at the boarding house in Mystic Falls.
"Do you still love her?"
He shrugs again, peering at her over the rim of his glass. Katherine and Elena are identical, but they are so different in his mind and in the way they carry themselves that he sometimes forgets. "I don't hate her," he answers as neutrally as he can. She presses her lips together. "Why are you here, Elena?"
She considers the question, then smiles, the corners of her mouth just turning up. "For you."
"She's going to leave again," Katherine says when he tells her that he's going with Elena.
Damon says nothing, working hard to keep his expression impassive, and, if Katherine's smirk is any indication, failing.
"You're pathetic."
He's aware, so he remains silent until she goes.
*
This time, Elena doesn't leave him for Stefan.
Stefan comes to them.
The three of them stay together for nearly ten years, and Damon spends the whole decade waiting for the day when Elena chooses his brother and disappears again. And even though he knows it's coming, it hurts when it happens.
He hates himself for thinking that this time would be different.
*
"Elena's looking for you."
"Keen."
"Damon."
He rolls his eyes at his brother and wonders if, after all these years, Stefan is aware that he's doing it even over the phone. "Why doesn't she just stay with you? What is the point of all of the indecisive, wishy-washy bullshit?"
Stefan is quiet for a moment. "Because she loves you, too," he finally answers. "Sometimes I think she always has."
Damon doesn't bother to deny it; he isn't in the habit of lying to spare someone's feelings, and Stefan doesn't need the hollow words. "I never wanted this." A deceptively simple phrase.
"Neither did she," Stefan replies gently.
Damon almost laughs. That's exactly why they let her do what she does.
Pairing: Damon/Elena (/Stefan/Katherine - I don't even know)
Rating: soft R
Prompt: Forever is really only a nice concept in theory. For smc_27
Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: This is for the darkship table prompt we're in this together.
"I could love you forever," he murmurs against the column of her throat. She swallows hard, her thighs tightening around his hips. He nips along her jaw, tugs her bottom lip between his teeth so she'll make that tiny noise in the back of her throat. "Let me."
"Damon." She's right on the edge and desperate, hitching her leg higher around his hip and arching up into him. "Please."
He slips a hand between them, brushing two fingers against her nerves in just the way to make her fall apart, his name on her lips and veins blooming beneath her eyes.
He loves her, and when he says forever, he means forever, and he knows that she understands that. Elena has always understood him in ways that no one else has, and he knows that she always will.
*
She leaves Mystic Falls two weeks later with Rebekah of all people. Jeremy brings him a letter, written in black ink on pale blue stationary. It's long and rambling, but the basic gist is that she's overwhelmed and needs some time away to sort things out.
It's fine, Damon thinks. It's certainly not unexpected.
They have all the time in the world.
*
Eight years, two months, and six days later, she finds him in New York.
(It's pathetic, keeping track of time the way that he does; but then, after everything he did for Katherine, this barely ranks.)
She melts out of the shadows outside of the building where he's living, saying hello and smiling shyly when he just stares at her. "I miss you," she admits before he has a chance to ask.
Elena doesn't hesitate to tell him how she's spent the years since they've seen each other. She and Rebekah found Stefan and Elijah in Austria, and the four of them wandered around eastern Europe until Stefan fell off the wagon and he and Rebekah ran off together.
"The whole thing made me realize how long it's been since I've seen you," she says simply, fingertips lazily tracing the paths made by the veins on the inside of his forearm.
"Well, sure," he says, untangling his fingers from her messy hair. "My dear brother loses his shit and everyone thinks of me."
She cranes her head to gaze up at him, her eyes blazing through the half-light. "It isn't like that." He lifts a pointed eyebrow. "It isn't, Damon."
She is earnest and lovely and Elena, so he chooses to believe what she's saying even though he knows that he's right. Believing the lie of the moment - the one that Elena is telling herself just as much as she's telling him - is easier than forcing the truth.
*
"I don't know why I ever thought this would work."
"Me either," he shoots back. "Go find Stefan, Elena. You know you want to."
The barb lands, the pain flickering in her eyes before she sets her jaw. "I should have been with him all along," she says lowly, reminding Damon that she knows him just as well as he knows her.
It's why they hurt one another so much, so easily.
"He's in Vancouver," Damon tells her, relishing the way the hurt chases the shock across her face.
"How do you know that?"
"Katherine."
"Katherine," she repeats, voice dripping with disdain. Damon shrugs his answer to the question she doesn't ask. "Fine. I'm going."
"Give Stefan my love."
*
He turns a girl, Laurel, because he's bored (lonely), and they spend almost three years flitting around the world together before Katherine shows up and stakes her.
Damon doesn't mind too much. He was just biding his time.
*
He's with Katherine when Elena finds him in Prague twelve years, eight months, and seventeen days after she left him to find Stefan.
"I hate her," Elena says when Katherine leaves them alone.
Damon shrugs, topping off his tumbler of whiskey and thinking wistfully of some of the bottles he has stored away at the boarding house in Mystic Falls.
"Do you still love her?"
He shrugs again, peering at her over the rim of his glass. Katherine and Elena are identical, but they are so different in his mind and in the way they carry themselves that he sometimes forgets. "I don't hate her," he answers as neutrally as he can. She presses her lips together. "Why are you here, Elena?"
She considers the question, then smiles, the corners of her mouth just turning up. "For you."
"She's going to leave again," Katherine says when he tells her that he's going with Elena.
Damon says nothing, working hard to keep his expression impassive, and, if Katherine's smirk is any indication, failing.
"You're pathetic."
He's aware, so he remains silent until she goes.
*
This time, Elena doesn't leave him for Stefan.
Stefan comes to them.
The three of them stay together for nearly ten years, and Damon spends the whole decade waiting for the day when Elena chooses his brother and disappears again. And even though he knows it's coming, it hurts when it happens.
He hates himself for thinking that this time would be different.
*
"Elena's looking for you."
"Keen."
"Damon."
He rolls his eyes at his brother and wonders if, after all these years, Stefan is aware that he's doing it even over the phone. "Why doesn't she just stay with you? What is the point of all of the indecisive, wishy-washy bullshit?"
Stefan is quiet for a moment. "Because she loves you, too," he finally answers. "Sometimes I think she always has."
Damon doesn't bother to deny it; he isn't in the habit of lying to spare someone's feelings, and Stefan doesn't need the hollow words. "I never wanted this." A deceptively simple phrase.
"Neither did she," Stefan replies gently.
Damon almost laughs. That's exactly why they let her do what she does.