prodigalsavior | The first day of the rest of your life (For Elena and Ric)

Damon was torn on whether any of them should be going to the stupid Founder's Party. There were far too many of them and, honestly, nothing good came of them. But Elena did need to get out, to get on with life or whatever. Damon wasn't sure what that would look like, but he felt like he needed to help her figure that out.

Maybe part of it was the thrill of deciding something--anything--with Ric, even if they hadn't told anyone, hadn't discussed when to tell anyone, or how or...whatever. It didn't matter right now. Elena was hurting and, if he was honest, so was he. Whatever else...Stefan was his brother and he loved him and watching all he'd accomplished fall apart again hurt. No Lexi to pull him back this time, either. She was the only one who ever had, but thanks to him, she wouldn't be fixing things this time.

It seemed like Stefan didn't want to be fixed.

Damon would be damned--more damned?--if he let his brother take Elena down with him.

Which was why he was letting himself into her house and putting coffee on, and starting to bang pots around to figure out what they should make to go to the party.

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Damon smiled a little. "I like Richmond. There are ghost tours with people in costumes, I've heard. Not that I've ever done them." He really hadn't.

"What kind of costumes? Not that it's a make or break point...." It wasn't, but it sounded fun, and interesting, if he let himself unwind enough from being pulled in conflicting directions to admit it.

"Gone With The Wind meets Night of the Living Dead," Damon summarized, not sure how else to describe them.

"...I shouldn't find imagining you in that sort of outfit hot, should I?" There was something wrong with him, Ric was pretty sure.

Damon gave him a skeptical look. "Period costume or zombie period?"

"...Period in makeup," he admitted, looking every bit as pained as he felt.

Damon arched an eyebrow at him a little, smiling a bit. "Well, Halloween's not too far away..."

Ric rubbed a hand over his face and kept the pained expression but added a smile. "I'm afraid of indulging... whatever this is. Might be like feeding a germlin after midnight. Or was it getting them wet?"

"I...don't remember. I think getting them wet made them multiply and feeding them turned them all demonic?" Damon tried to remember, then shrugged. "How is this related?"

"I'm afraid I might turn into a monster, if I'm indulged too often?"

"By costume drama?" Damon asked with an arched eyebrow.

Ric rubbed the back of his neck and looked up at Damon. "More the idea that the thought of you in costume really, really turned me on."

Damon smirked a little. "Really....I have no problem with anything turning you on that much..."

"I'm not opposed to being turned on by you, either... I'm a little concerned that that did it for me." Concerned, confused. They aren't really all that different, at the moment. "Especially right now."

"Well, that is a little odd," Damon said, giving him a bit of a smirk. "But, hey. History teacher and vampire hunter? It was bound to happen."

Ric blinked a couple of times, and then laughed softly - and briefly. "You're right. I guess it's not that weird that a history teacher would have a thing for history."

"If you don't, you're so very much in the wrong field," Damon said, more amused.

"Given that I never really meant to teach...." But his love of history had always been there. "I think I've got a plan. For... things here."

Damon's eyebrows went up. "...You do?"

He was wary again, but a plan was better than no plan--it sounded like some sort of forward motion.

"It isn't much of a plan, but I want to tell at least Jeremy. Then Elena doesn't have to lie, and we don't have to do any lying or hiding in the house, ourselves. After we get back from Richmond, if other people haven't found out, we'll just... stop faking it. Go with what feels right, let them figure it out and tell them as it comes up. I really wish I could make some kind of announcement for you, but I don't think my nerves are that good." He said it all in more or less a rush, and looked pained and apologetic and hopeful all at once.

He was trying Damon. Probably way too hard.

But sincerely.

Damon listened as Ric spelled out his plan, watching him closely, listening to the words, the tone and the underlying biological cues Ric's body was giving.

"I don't need an announcement," he said quietly. Just not...hiding, not feeling like he had to keep from looking at Ric too much across a room, or couldn't lean in to murmur something too often, or say something outrageously flirtatious just to watch him blush...stopping feeling like they were doing something wrong. Keeping it to themselves, trying to figure things out, not making a big deal of it....those were all fine. He didn't need any of it to be a production. Just...not something to be afraid or ashamed of.

"It's a good plan."

Ric exhaled a shuddering breath and his knees went the tiniest bit weak. "Okay.... That's what we'll do, then." He didn't want to be hiding, either. He was just, still, a little wary and reluctant and torn, but at the same time there was nothing but honesty in his desire to not be hiding. He knew it would just be a cycle, even for himself, between acting and feeling ashamed. HE might have been willing to do that to himself, but to Damon? Not a chance in hell.

Shame really wasn't something that had any place in a healthy relationship. Even Damon knew that. And he didn't want to doom them, which was one thing he was worried about

"Okay..." He watched Ric's reaction and moved close again, this time to brush a kiss over his lips.

Ric curled his hand around Damon's jaw to return the kiss, and calmed down. "We've got this."

Damon gave him a crooked smile. "I really hope so."

The first day of the rest of your life (For Elena and Ric)

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