Vampire Diaries. Co-written with Emily.

[PaperThings]

Written by: PaperThings

Universe: TV

Characters: Elena and Damon

Set: After the season two finale

Notes: SPOILER WARNING. Also, no explicit Delena, as I'm a Stelena shipper at my core .

Elena hovered by the window, arms folded listlessly together. She felt sapped of all her energy. Between Jenna's death, and Damon's near-death, Stefan's departure seemed to drown her. Through all of the chaos and disaster that seemed to enfold them, Stefan was nearly always her constant. What would she do without him? It was too much; she couldn't begin to think about it.

Damon gave a weak cough from the bed, diverting her tumbling emotions for the time being. "How are you feeling?" she asked, gazing at him with concern. Her heart beat with unexpected haste, remembering what had happened between them less than an hour ago. But how could she think about that, when Stefan had sold his soul to save his brother?

He shrugged, face still drenched in sweat. "Oddly human." A half-hearted glare crossed his face, but flaked off within seconds. "But not bad, considering." He stared at her, deciphering the way her shoulders sagged and her eyes held the floor. "Hey, you don't look so good."

She met his eyes at last. "Me?"

He shook his head lightly. "Listen Elena, you know you can't believe what Katherine says."

Her posture stiffened, suddenly unhinged. She clenched her phone between her hands. "We both know that's not true, Damon. Damon, he's not answering me. Not even when I told him you were okay."

"But this - " He stopped, overcome by a hazardous bit of coughing. His shoulders and chest heaved violently, but at least there was no blood this time.

"This is Stefan," Elena finished for him. "I know." She stared out the window. "But you and I both know what happens to him when he drinks human blood."

Damon shrugged. "He's been taking drops every day. His resistance has to be slightly improved." His expression changed suddenly, withdrew from her as if he were focusing very, very hard on something. He took a deep breath, and it returned to normal. Elena barely took notice.

"Not for something like this," she said softly. "If Klaus really did - " She stopped abruptly, noticing Damon's perplexed expression. There was something off about his lantern-like eyes, they looked unsteady. And she had never noticed the size of his nostrils before, but now she did, for they were pushing hard against the air, making the very tip of his nose shake slightly. His lips parted slightly and he gasped "EH!..." The gasp came so unexpectedly, Elena almost stepped back.

Face continuing to quiver, Damon waited one more second before his face shattered, clear skin crumbling and lips spreading wide enough to reveal his fangs. "EHHt'Shuu!" His hands drew up against his face, his agile body curling forward. "Heh'SHUU! EHH'SHUU!" He gave a pathetic-sounding groan, exhausted. Elena stared at him, too shocked to even say 'bless you'. In those moments, overcome like that, he had reminded her of the vulnerable Damon - the Damn she'd seen on only a few memorable occasions. And a lot in this past day.

"Elena," Damon said, hands still cupped around his face.

She blinked at him. "What?" She did a double-take. "Your nose is running?"

He nodded, eyes sharpening up. With a sigh, she retrieved him toilet paper from the bathroom, almost amused. "I didn't even know vampires could sneeze," she said. "Stefan never does."

"My brother has issues with control," Damon said. He sniffed, making his right nostril twitch uncomfortably. He rubbed at it with the tissue.

"And you don't?"

He smirked. "Different ones." She felt her face heat up slightly, feeling the way he looked at her. It was getting too hard to ignore that kiss. He blew his nose. It was almost too human, and Elena found she couldn't watch.

"Ugh," he muttered, tossing the tissue lazily onto the mattress. "This is one thing I don't miss."

"Being sick?" Tentatively, she moved from her standing position to the very edge of the bed, and sat.

"Yep," he said, eyes bright again. "Vampire can get sick, technically, but they don't very often. At least we don't get colds."

"Sounds lucky," Elena said, and she mustered up a small smile.

"Yeah. I didn't remember how lucky until now." He coughed again, his body rattling with it. Not thinking about it, Elena reached out and put her hand on his back. When he'd stopped she drew away, nervous. "Thank you," he muttered. "You know, when we were kids, our dad used to torture Stefan and I when we were sick."

"Why?" she asked. She leaned against the pillow beside his.

"It embarrassed him, I guess. He would keep us busy all day and reprimand us every time we did anything. Even sneeze." As if reminded, he rubbed his nose. "Me especially. Stefan was the good boy, after all."

Elena let out a small, near-inaudible sigh. Stefan. She rested her hands in her lap, wishing she could fall asleep and wake up to find him beside her, the same Stefan he always was.

"You can stay here if you want," Damon said, eyeing her. "Stefan's room," he added, at the look on her face.

She contemplated it a minute and then shook her head. "I shouldn't. I don't want to leave Jeremy alone." She looked back at him. "Unless... are you really sick, Damon? Be honest with me."

He smiled his usual, sardonic grin. She was surprised at the relief that welled up inside her, having it back. While she was looking at him, his eyes wilted, body confronted once again. She watched, fascinated, as his fangs sprung out in breathy desperation and his eyes fell backward, knocked shut by his more human instincts. This time there was little more than a second's jag in his breath. His dark hair fell over his damp forehead as he jerked into his hands. "Eckk'SHU! Ett'SHU! Hehh'TSHU!" There was less than a second between the sneezes and Damon sat back, exhausted afterwards. "Y-you know... you don't h-have to...ehhh'huhhh..." His lips parted beautifully, and she was reminded of a panther, stretching. He didn't even draw up his hands this time, simply turned his head. "T'SHUU! EhhSSHUUU!" The spray splattered his shirt and he sighed, wiping it. When he turned to look at her, she was taken aback by the red lines around his eyes. It reminded her abstractly of the vampire's predator look, but gentler. More human.

"I'll get you more tissues," she said, and lifted herself off the bed. She dawdled on the way back, tortured by the idea of where they stood. It seemed the world had flipped on its axis, if Damon was weak, and needed caring for, and Stefan was... She couldn't say the word evil, not even in her head. But if that's where they where, where they really were.... She took a breath. She picked up her phone and sent Stefan one more message, praying that he would answer. Damon's better but sick. I'm staying here tonight. Will you be back soon? She slipped it back into her pocket and hoped, hoped against everything that he would be fine. And then, because she knew that she would fall apart if she thought about him too long, she returned to take care of the one Salvatore brother whom she couldhelp.

---

Thank you for reading, guys! Emily is going to have her story up soon, so check back. We're going to continue to update this with more, of course.

Quick poll thing... of Stefan, Jeremy, Matt, Tyler and Alaric, who would you guys most want a story on? I'll eventually do another on Damon of course, but just so we can add a little variety .

[Ciuty80]

awwww this REALLY sounds promising!!!!

somehow i LIKE sick vampires

hm...i didn´t really follow the show so i don´t know the characters

but i´m fine with damon so far

please more!!!

[Emily]

; _ ; Now I'm starting to wonder if I can compare to this...well, I'm working on mine now and I'll have my update by tomorrow afternoon hopefully.

[silentdreamer789]

Wow, Vampire Diaries fic; excellent! And brilliantly written, too; I loved the preparation for Damon's sneezes. As for who else I'd like to see, Stefan, definitely

[Emily]

Written by: Emily

Based on the Vampire Diaries Series

Characters: Damon and Stefan

Set: Around the time Stefan and Damon cooperate to protect Elena (uhh…I THINK they did something like that.)

I don’t think it has any spoilers…seeing as I don't remember much of what happened in the book and they’re OOC anyway. Do pardon my foul mouth, by the way.

The leaves outside Stefan’s rented room in the old boarding house crunched in a most unnatural manner. They usually didn’t even rustle in the slightest.

“Damon, you bastard. Even if I don’t sleep, I could still use a little peace and quiet. Would you mind moving with the speed and agility you’ve been so blessed with?”

A very bottled-up “ehNNX-chihh”, in addition to more peace-shattering crunching brown leaves was his response. Or his unintentional response, Stefan observed when his brother appeared beside him. Damon slid his slender finger casually under his elegant nose. He snorted in obvious displeasure.

“At the very least, I didn’t ring the doorbell this time. And I thought your landlady would be thrilled to have such a brilliant young man at her doorstep at three in the morning.”

Stefan did something close to rolling his eyes, but thought better of it halfway, and ended up twirling his pupils around in a dazzling display of his forest green eyes. Damon eyed his younger brother with disgust.

“Stefan, wh-what the h-hell are you d-doIHH doing with your eyes—EH-kxt-SHOO!”

The younger brother smirked. “I didn’t think you were doing much on your part to protect Elena. Don’t tell me you’re overworking yourself to the point you actually get sick.”

“It’s contrary to my belief that vampires can contract normal human diseases,” Damon sniffed gingerly, “if I get sick. Which I’m not.” He snorted in even greater annoyance than he had before, although this time, it sounded more like a dying whale was trapped in his nose. There was no way either of them could overlook this interesting development. It just so happened that Damon had voiced his opinion on the matter first, a humiliating mistake on his own part.

“I suppose your belief will be proven wrong then.” He gave a dark chuckle and brushed his fingers through his dark, wavy hair and then gave an equally dark sigh. “What are we going to do about Elena? She’s a vampire now, and vampires get thirsty.”

“Then we feed her. If we let her go hungry then she’ll start attacking the residents.” Damon leaned back against the wooden walls and threw his arm across his face. “Although I don’t particularly care about what happens to this moronic town.” He sniffed tentatively, and the reason that he slunk his arm so strangely across his face become apparent. “Damn it.” His perfect, pale lips parted and gave in to short and desperate gasps of air.

“Hihh-huh ungh…huh-igxt! ESHTT! Hih-ehNGXXchih! EHHHihchoo-KSHuh!” His arm stayed where it was, hovering over his face. He tilted his head back, as he drew his breath in a rapidly increasing manner, preparing for the final battle. “HUH-ihh-hnggh huhXXT-ehTCHoo-hngKXTshoo-HEHNGXX!” He punctuated his defeat with a loud, undisguised sniff. Now it was Stefan’s turn to be disgusted.

“Impressive. Anything else to add that might counter your belief that vampires can’t contract human diseases?”

“Shud ub. Fugg, I cad eved sbell Eleda.” He disappeared for a split second, leaving Stefan to shake his head in amusement at Damon’s humiliation. When he came back, he looked more a mess than he had ever looked before, his eyes misted over and his beautifully sculpted nose ringed in red. “Whad kide of wobad doesed keeb tissues id her house?”

“What kind of gentleman would search a woman’s home without permission?”

Damon threw a deathly glare at his younger brother, though it would have been slightly more effective if he didn’t look so hopelessly pathetic. His eyes had distinct purple shadows beneath them that clashed dangerously with his green eyes. And nobody could look dignified with a shiny trail of mucus running from his nostrils.

Stefan took about half a second to analyze the situation and with a bemused smile playing about his lips, he withdrew a monogrammed handkerchief from his pocket. Damon was dumbfounded.

“Who, id dis day add age, carries a haggerchief?”

“Then I suppose you don’t need this?” Stefan began to fold his handkerchief and stow it away neatly. Another series of sharp inhalations began on the other vampire’s part.

“Sh-shit, gibb be thad,” Damon snarled, snatching the handkerchief. His pale cheeks would have been pink if he had blood running in his empty arteries. Immediately upon grabbing the cloth, he vanished from Stefan’s room. Loud, gasping breaths and the rustling tree branches gave away his location.

“HIH-ichoo EPSHoo UH-KNXT! Ih-huh-ihIH—FUCK—hahh-hih-HUUHH-uggh…”

Stefan smirked openly at the show going on outside his window. He hadn’t watched something like this in centuries. This was much better than Shakespeare and opera.

“hih-UHH-hih-hahCHEEh uhshoo HUHNGXTshoo huhICHHoo HAAAH-uhhh…” The show ended with a loud groan and an even louder sniff. A low gurgling noise led to the start of the second presentation. Stefan could almost hear the embarrassment dripping from his brother’s nose. Then he heard a branch break, followed by a bang, a string of curses and a single sneeze.

“Take a bow, Damon. I could never do something so outstanding. That was definitely a performance of your caliber.”

[ID2006]

I love this... even though I haven't been able to watch this since the first season and don't remember much.

[Umeko]

didn't read the first story since I don't want it spoiled for me when the series goes into the third season in september.

[27jj]

Mmm, sneezy!Damon. Super hot. I loved both of these!

[Fangtasia11]

Great stories! I've never seen the show, but I've skimmed through some of the books and they were "ok". I love the idea of a powerful vampire losing control, though. I've heard comparisons of tv Damon to Eric from True Blood, so I'll have to give the show a shot sometime.

[daystar428]

Yummm I love Damon! Thank you soo much!!