Title: this is me pretending this is all i need
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries.
Pairing/Characters: Jeremy/Elena.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Implied incest.
Words: 500.
Summary: They only have each other after the day their world ended.
Notes: Written for
venacavaa.
He tries not to make any noise, but the heavy door always echoes when it opens and he can’t help how heavy his steps fall as he stumbles upstairs. Elena’s in his room when he finally gets there, curled up on his bed and clutching a pillow. For a moment, he’s not sure if she’s real, or if she’s just a hallucination the alcohol created. He doesn’t know, does alcohol even do that, or is that just drugs of a different sort?
She looks up at him with red-rimmed eyes, not accusatory or judging, not anything but sad. He thought he fixed that, by drinking so much be can barely think straight, he thought he made it go away, but he’d been wrong. He forgotten about her and her own sorrow. He’d forgotten that she’d been taken to climbing into bed with him since the accident, winding her thin limbs around him until she’s sure he won’t disappear on her. And he lets her, because he’s glad he didn’t lose her, too.
“Jer,” she says in a quiet, wrecked voice. “I didn’t know where you were. I looked and I couldn’t find you.”
“I was just out,” he says, tripping over his own feet to get over to his bed. He slides next her, shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip. For the first time he thinks that maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. “I’m okay.”
She sniffles and he can feel her breathe against him, heavy inhalation and slow exhale. “I didn’t know where you were.” Her voice cracks a little in the end and he throws an arm over her shoulders, trapping her against his side. She curls into him, letting the pillow slip from her tight hold and gripping onto him instead.
“I’m here now,” he says against her hair, as he slowly inches them down against the pillows. He can’t get the blankets up around them, but it doesn’t matter. They’ll be okay like this.
She looks up at him and her dark eyes look fierce for a moment, sharp and stern. “Good,” she says, and leans up. He thinks she was aiming for his cheek, but somehow his movement gets caught in the crossfire, and her lips land on the corner of his mouth and slide down to press against his jaw. And it’s okay, he knows it’s okay. He just pulls her closer and she lays her head over his heart.
He’s not sure how long they can do this, how long they can be like this before one of them breaks and leaves the other holding the pieces.
He closes his eyes and counts his way into sleep.