A Matter of Time

“Boo.”

Elena rolls her eyes and turns exaggeratedly slowly, feigning a look of terror as she takes in the sight of Damon leering at her, intruding her personal space by exactly three inches.

“Ah. How terrifying. Scary vampire brother who might just possibly be entirely crazy,” she said dryly, pushing Damon lightly on the chest in an effort to create some sort of distance between the two of them.

“Crazy for you,” said Damon cheekily, snaking an arm around Elena’s waist and drawing her closer, so that their noses nearly touched. “And although I agree wholeheartedly with your description of me, I see you’ve failed to account for my latent sexual prowess,” purred Damon. Elena’s eyes widened a bit at the words sexual prowess and wondered if Damon’s mind was going down the same path as hers…

Get your mind out of the gutter, Elena thought to herself with a shake of her head. That she continued to talk to herself like this was already worrying enough.

“Do you know where Stefan is?” asked Elena, trying not to make it obvious that she was subtly sniffing at Damon. He smelled different than Stefan did, though he wore no cologne that Elena recognized. It reminded her somehow of danger and seduction—which didn’t really make much sense. Apparently, Damon had noticed after all; he chuckled into Elena’s ear and pulled her closer so that they were pressed chest to chest, Damon’s chin resting on Elena’s head and arms wrapped tight around her waist.

“Well, I believe my dear little brother is coming down the stairs right at this moment,” said Damon conversationally, though Elena could sense the smirk that probably adorned his face. “Shall we wait and greet him together?” A flare of panic flashed through Elena as she realized that Stefan was seconds away from walking in on their incredibly intimate embrace.

“No! I mean—not together! Go away, Damon,” hissed Elena, suddenly trying to claw her way out of Damon’s arms. Damon let go of her easily enough, but Elena caught the flash of disappointment in his eyes before it was wiped away, like all of his other emotions. “I want to talk to Stefan alone.”

Damon sighed. “Very well. It’s always the pretty young ones, isn’t it? When will you realize, Elena, that handsome and elegant are infinitely more appealing than pretty?” Damon raised an eyebrow suggestively.

“Stefan is handsome and elegant!” defended Elena, crossing her arms.

Damon made a face. “He’s cute,” he said with a tone of mild disgust and a wrinkle of his nose. They heard the sounds of Stefan’s footsteps coming from the other room and Damon immediately took one half-step backwards.

“Speaking of pretty young ones, I’m hungry,” he continued, changing the subject abruptly, moving to leave.

Elena glanced at the doorway where Stefan had just come into sight and her cheeks lifted in an easy smile. However, Damon’s words sunk in a moment later, and she spun her head back to reprimand him at once. “Damon, you can’t—!”

But Damon had already disappeared. A moment later, Stefan’s arms were wrapped around her, similar to how Damon had just held her.

“Damon? Is he here?” he enquired softly.

Elena shook her head. “No. He was just here. But he said something about ‘pretty young ones’ and being hungry before he left.” She sighed, and was surprised by the unexpected flare of jealousy at the words.

“Don’t worry. He’s too scared of you to try something stupid.”

“Scared of me?” Elena repeated doubtfully.

Stefan shrugged, though his eyes tightened a bit. “He loves you. He doesn’t want to hurt you—or make you angry. Sorry love, but you are a bit terrifying when you’re mad.”

Elena sighed again and relaxed into Stefan’s hold. “And I love you,” she said dutifully, soothing Stefan’s insecurities.

A faint sense of guilt nagged at the back of her mind. Though she hadn’t lied, she wondered how long she could last before the words were no longer exclusive anymore.