Title: A Silver Thread

Type: Slash, PreSlash, Angst, UST, Snark, Friendship, HurtComfort

Rating: NC-17

Fandom: The Vampire Diaries [Showverse]

Pairing: Damon Salvatore/Tyler Lockwood

Setting: Some time after Season 2 Episode 14 "Crying Wolf", to be treated as an alternative to what could have happened.

Word Count: 6805

Summary: Damon being Damon has kept tabs on Tyler since he left Mystic Falls with Jules, and has finally discovered his whereabouts. He visits Tyler at his family's log cabin in Aspen, where he has taken refuge with Jules to undergo training and refine himself as a newborn werewolf. Pretty quickly Damon realises that murder is no longer on the cards. Wolfboy has grown a pair and Damon likes it. Soon after, it turns into an interspecies male bonding sleepover, but Damon might just have a certain post for Tyler to scratch at, hiding under the covers. Fun flirtations and oblivious Tylerishness ensue.

Warnings: Some sexual references and adult language used, as well as unkind references to death. Mild nudity. Rated NC-17 as a series, though this chapter is not graphic in violence or sexuality. To be treated as alternate events to what happened canonly after Season 2 Episode 14 "Crying Wolf", so no strict ties to any canon events that occurred after that. This is a co-write so excuse any perspective shifts you might encounter. Tyler was written by me jaxon666 and Damon by varrosgirly in fact this was her first time playing Damon and I think she did an awesome job, so please show her some love! Comments welcome, but don't be an asshole flamer that flames for flaming's sake. Thanks.

Tyler's body was glistening with well-earned perspiration, his flesh a burnt golden colour and dewy in a way that others craved for themselves and even to partake of. His blood ran hotter than usual since the awakening of the curse etched within his spirit, so hot in fact that there was wonder to the reality that no steam enveloped his presence. He had been conditioning himself for hours, since he had risen from sleep, and he was waking much earlier than he ever had before, and doing so naturally now. His purpose was to know the beast within, form a bridge between his human self as well as his beastial nature, befriend the wolf inside once found, create a harmony between the two to his advantage.

He had never pushed himself so hard physically, and yet to say he was exhausted would have been a lie. Instead of strain, he felt new strength coated by an unknown brand of inhuman adrenalin; it was a rush that came quickly, and only continued to come with every hour he pushed his limits. New limits formed again and again, and Tyler could even feel the changes occurring within him as they happened, though they came with lessons he would later go on to understand.

It was like Jules had said; there was a wild passenger beneath the surface, not only of his body but of his mind and soul. The only way to find it and make hunted of the hunter, was to push those things to new places and make room for the animal that came by stretching them to new capacities. There was no biology or science to what gave Tyler the strength to press on, only a fire he felt, blazing new life throughout his body, from his very core. This was who he had became now; what he was. There was no going back. He took to the balance beams raising his legs until he was vertical in the air, powerful arms pinning his body in position and holding him there. He shut his eyes in pursuit of peace with the fire, clearing it of all known aspects of thought.

For moments there was only darkness, comforting; no pain, no struggle, no awareness of physical effort distributed. And then a flash of something. Something that felt like him, and yet much larger, much wilder. Tyler rebalanced his mind around what crashed through his senses, this foreign entity, this stranger, this perversity of perception that swallowed him whole and made him a stranger to himself. And then for a split second, he was one with it. He felt everything as though the child of a God. The wind's howl spoke messages to him, the leaves shook as though to warn him, his heartbeat promised to drum a beat of his choosing. The air felt as though it needed him, he could see things without seeing them, feel them running from him if living, sensing his new eyes upon them.

And then Tyler stumbled and fell, opening his demonically feral eyes of gold and black to an unexpected and inexplicable finding. The last image he had seen was that of a face he cared not to witness, of someone he had betrayed, and too recently. It was no mere memory that rushed to him without reason or pattern; though he lacked full understanding of how, he knew better than that. Damon was here, for that moment he had seen him, felt him, known him to be there in ways he shouldn't have. "Damon!", Tyler shot, stifled by the realisation he could not justify but could not deny, unfolding himself from the floor and leaping to his feet with new zeal, swinging open the door to his family's log cabin, the fresh Aspen air forcing through his nostril's like winter's breath.

"Damon...I know you're here. Come out! What do you want from me?", Tyler bellowed deeply, desperate for the fear that consumed him, but for once it was not of the vampire that may smite him, but instead of himself, and what he might now be capable of. As he stood in the doorway, one hand keeping the thick, log door from swinging back and forth under the wind's thrall, his panicked eyes searched for Damon, knowing him to be there, wishing that he wasn't.

Damon had become curious when he heard that lone wolf Lockwood had taken off to find his fortress of solitude, or whatever. It'd been almost too easy to slide out of town without an excuse, everyone with their panties in a bunch about the doppelganger business. He'd been very intrigued to find that the pup was doing solo training. Too bad for them they couldn't switch it off when needed and that it caused them so much pain, but that amused him really. If he cared at all. Damon lurked outside the windows of the small cabin, obviously still mortal-owned. Though he may have stuck outside out of curiosity anyway; this hadn't become too boring yet. Something about the kid had changed since the incident in the Mystic Falls woods, but he couldn't be bothered enough to figure it out.

Just as he was becoming horribly bored with the workout, Tyler finally seemed to sense that something was rotten in Denmark. The vampire melted into the darkness, listening to the pounding wolf heart grow louder as it came to the front porch. If only he'd been bored enough to kill the boy; the opportunity was too perfect, and the trip would have been an instant success. "Not homesick I take it," he laughed, standing at the corner of the porch.

"How's your little inner peace-kumbaya crap coming hmm? Finally got a wolfy heart?" Damon walked into the light spilling out from the open doorway, looking Tyler over. So the exercises were working, hooray for him . "I'd find out for myself, but I've got a pretty good idea what they look like now." No Jules around, he'd smelled that hours ago. Just Lockwood, all on his own. She wasn't even close; that would definitely make an entertaining evening for the vampire.

Tyler looked to Damon with redefined eyes. He still knew his humanity, but he wasn't the frightened young hot-head that Damon might have remembered, that much was clear. He didn't quake where he stood, upon Damon's announcement of self; so far removed from that version of himself he once knew that no thought of how he'd grown even crossed his mind, even for the sake of momentary pride. "Fuck you Damon. What do you want?", he held a stare with the vampire that refused to falter, the anger of his old self still churning in the pit of his stomach, but no longer dominating his actions as once they would have.

"You mean I need a reason to follow a werewolf I wanted to kill, miles away from my home, and watch him work out for hours at a time?" Damon shrugged animatedly, his eyes widening as a sarcastic smile played on his lips. "Maybe there's nothing fun to kill; maybe I just missed you." The vampire batted his eyes at Tyler. "Or maybe I'm tired of Vampire Barbie constantly switching from melodramatic complaint to being self-righteously strong, womanhood power. Whatever." He rolled his eyes, clearly over it. "What are you doing out here all on your lonesome? Pretty vulnerable out here on the porch, don't you think?" Damon poked Tyler's chest with a quick, sharp motion, though he was clearly amused with himself.

The look Tyler held with Damon quickly charred into a glare; he was no lame cub to be toyed with now, and if looks were anything to go by, he had realised himself a predator, accepting it, knowing it, no need for the weakness of petty exchanges or premature outbursts. He closed his eyes just once, listening to his environment for what it might tell him. Jules might say he was too young a wolf to depend upon his senses in this way, but then part of being the animal he had become and being it fully was trusting his own instincts. What true predator followed the instincts of another?

Without a word spoken to him, Tyler came upon a slight but certain feeling. He was safe. "I'm not afraid of you Damon.", he didn't even regard the cold poke to his chest. He turned his head to one side and took in a breath before speaking again, with a calm that might have irritated the eldest of the Salvatore brothers. "Come inside.", if Damon was looking to get a rise out of him, or face off against someone so helplessly ill-prepared, he had wasted a journey. After gesturing an arm of invitation towards the door, Tyler himself stepped through it, walking to the kitchen once he had entered.

Damon laughed once, a short and colourless sound. "Well why would you be afraid of me? Not like I torture wolves for my own amusement or anyth- oh wait, scratch that." He was surprised, though, by the invitation into the dingy little cabin. The vampire narrowed his eyes as if to see the motive through Tyler's skin, but stepped inside after him anyway. If the pup really felt secure enough to invite him into the house when he clearly had no reason to trust Damon at all, then he would go along with it. For now.

"You're not as fun as I thought you'd be, from what Caroline told me." So Tyler owned this place; there was nobody else inside, he would have smelled and heard them. But maybe the wolf was up to something. or he was incredibly stupid. Likely it was both. "So now that uncle Mason's gone, you're striking out in search of a pack?" Damon opened cabinets until he found a container of brandy, pouring that into a glass once he found one. No invitation to the alcohol was necessary, not now that he was in the house.

Tyler ground his teeth in a tensing of his jaw when his uncle Mason was mentioned, and by the very thing that had killed him. He wasn't going to pretend he was at peace with that to say the least, but at the same time, now was not the time or the place, "I'll tell you just like I told Jules. I'm here for one thing; to figure this out, what I am, what I'm going through. I'm in this alone. No packs, no moonstone bullshit. I'm not interested Damon. No matter how many of you try to drag me into this, it's not going to happen.", Tyler turned away during the moments of telling silence that came, resting with his arms spread against the fridge once he'd pulled a beer from it. He didn't even face Damon to speak to him again, "So why are you really here? I'm not running, might as well spit it out now."

"Oh, why so angsty there, wolfboy? Somebody missing their favourite chew toy?" Damon rested his hand on the counter as he drank, appreciating that the Lockwoods could at least pick decent stuff. "But why should I tell you my reasons? Are we interspecies BFF's now?" Tyler wasn't exploding in a fit of anger or running with his tail between his legs, though, which had really dampened Damon's murderous spirit. "In short: I'm bored. And I still have a message for Jules, I don't think she quite got it last time." He was tempted to pull the boy's head off and leave it on display as a warning for her, but if the pup could play nice, then he'd play nice, too, until he changed his mind. Damon set his glass down and sped to the wolf, standing a few inches behind him. "You know, you smell different. I take it you wolves don't sleep in filth."

In a way Damon would not have been expecting, Tyler shook his head and parted with a gruff mumble of lowly pitched laughter, turning to the vampire again and approaching him at the opposite side of the counter. That was of course, until Damon blurred from his sight and appeared behind him, looming as a fiend. His heartbeat didn't even quicken; Tyler was no longer afraid of the dark, or more to the point, the things that thrived in it; he was one of them himself now. He turned around slowly to face Damon, no cautionary distance put between them. "You know Damon, for someone who acts like they've got a pair, you kinda talk a lot.", and with that, Tyler approached the counter and leaned backwards upon it, elbows propping him up. He was way too comfortable for Damon's ego to withstand.

"Fine, you want to drag this out. Go for it. Otherwise, if you want to kill me, bleed me dry, rip my head off, do it. Do your worst. Just get on with it. I'm a werewolf Damon not a girl...we're not big on talking.", did Tyler really just zing Damon? And yet he made it seem like such a casual, friendly thing. Not good...or was it? He glugged down a few sips of his perfectly chilled beer, waiting for Damon's response.

Damon was no longer mildly annoyed by the lack of reaction he was receiving. He was slightly amused now, and had taken on the challenge of pushing as many buttons as he could, even if Tyler didn't realize it. "Oh, I don't think it's going to be that easy. Trust me, ripping out Mason's heart was just necessary." Damon's icy eyes stared into Tyler's dark ones, as if he might take his suggestion to slaughter him now anyway. But then a smile lit up his face, somehow darkly, and he placed a hand on the counter beside Tyler.

"You know what...I kinda like you. Too bad you're, well, you. I was almost interested in hearing about your personal growth and newfound inner peace." From the way his face wrinkled up, though, he clearly wouldn't enjoy such a conversation. "Sure you don't wanna show me how big bad you are now? Try for a little revenge? Good for the soul, you know.", like Damon could speak of what was good for the soul any more; a long time since he'd had one.

Superior height had never been something to cause concern for Tyler, and much was the same now as he looked up to exchange broad glances with Damon. "Let me say one thing-", Tyler put his beer down to one side and returned the poke earlier given to him, keeping his finger firmly pressed into the cold, beatless chest it found, "-what you did to my uncle? Not cool with that. But he was trying to take you down too. You got there first, and he knew what he was getting into with that moonstone shit. I'm not him Damon. It doesn't have to go down the same way, but I am never going to thank you for killing him. He was the last thing of my dad's I had left. I don't want to fight you, but I will...if you bring him up like that again."

Tyler was serious, without an obnoxious flexing of his muscles to give contest to who was more dominant. Damon might have thought he was pathetic, beneath him, weak and easy to kill and therefore amusing in his recent audacity, but Tyler didn't care. He was a man now, and he wasn't going to let anybody else take control of his life for him again, not like his dad, not like this curse. "Killing you won't bring anyone back.", Tyler looked away in a brief moment of emotion, effortlessly manly in the exposure of it, no whimpering boy who felt sorry for himself.

The vampire tilted his head as if only mildly interested, though it gave no indication to what he really thought of Tyler. In truth, Damon was finding the new development to be effortlessly entertaining, something that he wasn't going to let go of quickly. It positively tickled him, really. "Last thing of your dad's? How sad." Not true, though. The moonstone was in his pocket; he hadn't let it out of his sight since getting it off Elijah. "Did you know that the founders killed your dad? After the big squeal heard around the town, they thought he was like me. You know, dead. And here's the kicker: it was his idea. Poetic, really."

Damon laughed, leaning across the counter to grab his glass, closing the dangerous smidgen of distance left between the two of them. "Relax, kid, stop sulking. Inner peace, right?" Damon wouldn't deny that Tyler was far more adorable now, despite being a were. How delicious it would be to take him away from the other wolves, maybe fix that biting problem. "Speaking of the kumbaya yadayada...show me." He gestured toward the doorway, out where Tyler had been exercising. "If it's really working for you, that is."

"Fuck off Damon.", Tyler said with spicy intent, though without raising his voice, "You don't want to tell me why you're here, you don't want to level with me. You just want to play games. You want to torment someone into crying into their own poetry, go back home to Stefan.", Damon's attempt to meddle with Tyler's emotions, make them raw and prey upon them, they weren't going to work on Tyler, not now. "Must be hard for you Damon, getting in so many faces, always causing a scene and yet nobody really sees you do they? Not the real you, just the you that you want them to. I see it. You want to play headgames? You really don't want me to keep going with that one.", Tyler snatched up his bottle again and strode over to the sitting area near the fireplace, taking a seat on the large master chair, upholstered with firm, dark leather which crumpled a little as he sat. Damon was not getting the better of him. Maybe everybody else in Mystic Falls had to hold in their pee whenever Damon spewed his venom, but Tyler was over it.

Damon approved of anyone who aimed a kick at Stefan, no matter who they were, or if they pissed him off later on down the line. It was becoming increasingly difficult to push the wolf, and not just because he refused to be pushed. Maybe this Tyler kid wasn't as big of a problem as the other vampires had thought him to be. Damon emptied his glass and refilled it before taking one of the other chairs by the fireplace. "So like I said, I get bored. You're one tough cookie, Lockwood. I like it. Unexpected."

Something about the wolf reminded Damon a little too much of his own self, back when he'd set out on his own. He hadn't had the self-control, the ability to handle emotions. No, he'd shut it down and relished in vampirism. He still enjoyed it, of course. But Tyler had aged in his journey so far, and anyone could have spotted that. "This inner peace, knowing yourself, etcetera..." Damon looked uncomfortable with trying to hold an actual conversation, but his other methods were only annoying him tonight, "Is it worth being out here on your own?"

"Funny thing about knowing who you really are Damon. Not really feeling alone any more.", but then Damon lacked the knowledge and the sentimentality to care, when it came to the life Tyler had previously to the curse. He'd lived with all eyes on him, his father's only prided progeny, the star football player, womanizer who ruled the school. And yet, he'd never felt more lonely; it was only now that he realised he was. He'd always felt that nobody understood him, but in truth there was nothing to understand. Ironic that it took his life to be flipped upside down for Tyler to actually dig deep and find out who he was, and in it some meaning to go on. "What? No more insults for my dead father? No more jokes to make about how you killed Mason? Gets old, doesn't it...even for you."

Damon rolled his eyes, a little more than necessary, but then he was always had to overemphasize everything he did. "Why would I joke about it now? Barely raised a hackle on you, and that's no fun." He leaned back in the chair, staring unflinchingly at Tyler as he sipped at the alcohol. "No, you're a much more complex nut to crack than I thought. And besides...you're not...too painful to talk to." Damon shuddered at the thought of being buddy-buddy with a werewolf, but even on a good day, that was to be expected. Especially to the bitey bitch with bad California hair, wherever she was. "You hating the curse yet? Wishing you'd never asked about it?" From what he could tell, werewolves generally despised being saddled with it; not as fun of a supernatural form as vampires had by any means.

"Apologise.", Tyler monotonously insisted through a gravely tone of voice, eyes darting from the flames that danced around the hot coals in front of him, to the contrasting frost of Damon's unsympathetic eyes. "You want to be an asshole? Fine. I'm an asshole, I can live with it. You want to make threats? Go for it, and I'll still invite you in, because I'm not afraid of you, or dying, or what I am any more. But you want to talk, start over, know me? Then apologise. Not for what you did to Mason, but for what you did to me…and for what you said about my father.", as deadly as Damon was, Tyler wasn't letting this one go and such was crystal clear by the way in which he held himself and his gazes. He wasn't man enough to sit by and let Damon do as he pleased, but he was man enough to forgive, "And mean it."

Another surprise for Damon, that the werewolf would make such a brave demand of him. Nobody told Damon to apologize and actually received it; nobody had ever meant it, either. He tipped the glass to his mouth again, his own usually restless inner-beast quiet for once. Everyone was contemplative tonight it seemed. "You really did grow a pair out here in the wilderness didn't you? I can respect that." Damon smirked and leaned on the arm of the chair, helpless in the fact that he always looked up to something of a devious nature.

"Fine, want me to apologize? I do. Cheap shots at a dead daddy were a last resort anyway. Wanting to kill you, that was going to be a shot at Jules. But I can get her another way." Damon frowned and emptied his glass before continuing. "I won't apologize for any raw emotions my past actions caused, though. Ripple effects are beyond my control." He set the empty glass on the floor beside his chair. "Good enough, or should I buy you a chocolate chip cookie cake, too?" Anyone who stayed that cool under Damon's pressure deserved his respect, and he'd been honest in his apology. Mostly, anyway.

Tyler let his moody eyes trail over Damon from he ground up, letting slip a brief smile once he'd reached Damon's face again. "Thanks.", he said, sounding strong in his vulnerability, accepting Damon's apology for what it was; honest, despite a fictitious coat of unfeeling. Perhaps Damon would appreciate that someone for once had stopped pushing, and all that they had wanted from him was a moment of honesty. No melodramatic elaborations, no pleading for retribution, no promises to be a better man. If anyone had a reason to put Damon through the ringer, it was Tyler, and yet, he chose to forgive as easily as apology had been spoken. Food for thought, and without the flavour of blood.

Damon did like the freshness of a one word answer, for once. No clichés, no questions, nobody prodding him to change what he was. They were just two monsters at peace with one another. "Alright then. I say we get more booze and, well, talk. But I'll probably get bored and start messing with your stuff for the hell of it." Damon gestured around them at the various machines and shelves. This was Lockwood property, after all; maybe there was something that could be interesting and useful to the motley crew back home. Not likely that he'd actually research it, that was Ric's job. "Or hey, if we're going to be civil with each other, you can keep doing your animal totem spirit guide workout routine, and I'll just drink the alcohol." He sped to the kitchen for his refill.

"Shut the fuck up Damon.", they may have just had a moment, but Tyler wasn't about to mince his words any sooner than Damon was about to become an alter boy. He shrugged at the vampire's suggestion that he demonstrate his training, glancing over to the rest of the space in the remote cabin; other than the kitchen and sitting area, the rest of the place had been converted into a training dojo that many small town gymnasiums could easily envy. Good then that the Lockwoods were wealthy, and their holiday home had the space and resources for it.

"You're really into the idea of seeing me work out. Thought you hated werewolves. Then again I thought you liked pussy.", he casually parted with an ill-mannered joke, this time at Damon's expense. Damon wanted to get to know him after all, might as well start in honestly, and Tyler was just as big a shit as Damon, even in a good mood. "I'm done for the day. Had a breakthrough before. Kinda how I knew you were here. Get me a beer would you?", the mutual tone had quickly become more friendly. "Jules won't be back until tomorrow. You can stay here if you want. Just don't break anything."

"Easy there, big fella. Just because you finally started to figure yourself out doesn't mean you know everything." Damon leaned on the wall, smirking. "For all you know, I'm a raging flaming vampire who puts up a front. Or I'm actually a vampire. Which means I don't give a fuck about a lot of things, like sexual preferences for example." He was feeling friendly, though, and did grab a beer for his new...whatever. Damon handed it over and took his seat again, crossing one ankle onto his knee. "Well, gracious host, I may just do that." He swallowed a big gulp of brandy, enjoying the taste. "I am curious how you knew it was me, though, specifically. You already locked onto my scent?"

"Yeah right. You're flaming.", Tyler smirked with an openness exuded in Damon's direction to indicate his amusement and enjoyment towards their humorous exchanges. Damon wasn't so bad underneath it all, past crimes considered, but then Tyler wasn't some needy emotional leech like the others that plagued the vampire with demands and expectancies. In another life, maybe things would have been different. Still, Damon was here and Tyler wasn't hating it, was he? He grabbed the beer extended to him, "Not sure how I knew. It's like my senses had a life of their own, they knew things I didn't. It wasn't like I could smell you...more like they could smell you, and then I saw you. Guess there's something to that animals having a sixth sense thing.", Tyler couldn't really explain it any better, even to himself.

"So what is it with you Damon? You're an ass, that's a given...but why do you pretend to be more of an ass than you are? I don't think your half as bad as you make out. Still pretty badass though...it's not like underneath it all you're a big girl like Stefan."

Damon gave a fake gasp, putting a hand to his cheek. "Oh no, you see dead people." He smirked with a somewhat good nature after that, though, so he was at least in a more agreeable mood than earlier in the evening. "You learn a lot of fun things once you become something more than human." The vampire was almost put into a mood from the observation, but things were feeling just a little too fun to let himself get angry over such a tiny detail; at least tonight.

"Because it's so fun to watch people shit themselves whenever I open my mouth. They know I'm the biggest dick around, more ways than one thank you…and they can't do a thing about it." Damon grinned wide and put his glass down again. "But if you keep sweet talking me like that, I'll have to do something about it." He winked and didn't give a hint as to whether he was joking or not. "Hmmm…Stefan being a girl…would that make Elena a lesbian? I always did want a little sister."

"Or maybe you think that all bullshit aside, someone might actually like you, or hate you...and have you like or hate them back. For a badass you're pretty self-loathing, and I should know.", Tyler spoke from personal experience; no matter how many people hated him, no one had hated him more than himself. Better to control the hatred from others than to have no control over hating yourself. Damon's sense of humour was typically crude, although it was nothing Tyler hadn't heard before, or displayed himself in the right mood; he took personal enjoyment in making Matt blush from time to time. He laughed at the comment about Elena, and took a good few swigs of beer, Adam's apple shifting like a piston as he did so, "Funny how things work out. We've got a lot of things in common... well, except for the whole...height thing.", Tyler gave Damon a light-hearted nod of admission; the vampire was a lanky bastard.

The wolf had a point, but Damon wasn't really one to admit it. He was a gigantic attention-whore, and he did like being able to manipulate people so well. But he deflected away from thinking and talking about emotions. It made him feel icky, and people ended up dead when he did. He was genuinely growing fond of Tyler, and it'd be a shame to kill him in a drunken rage. Damon wondered if Tyler knew what his new intentions were. A supernatural buddy was good, but the vampire was liking the flavour of thoughts currently tumbling around in his mind.

"Oh it's hilarious how they do, isn't it." His eyes lit up mischievously as he stood, stepping towards Tyler's chair. "What else do we have in common? Do you measure up?" Damon crossed his arms, head tilted as he watched Tyler curiously, awaiting an answer. He did want to know, though, and now that it was in his mind, it would stick for a good while.

While caught up in laughter, Tyler cocked his head to one side as it was brought to an abrupt halt, realising what Damon had just said, and that the vampire was not standing to his side. Surely this was just another spell of Damon's offbeat sense of humour. Tyler's brow raised as though he'd smelled something sour all of a sudden, his general expression one that asked Damon to remember the confines of the bro code. He laughed again, trying to placate the awkward moment, "Yeah right. You're a sick bastard Damon." With that, Tyler stood to his feet, placing his bottle on the floor before doing a little speed-blurring of his own, returning with a bundle of clothing in hand. Drawstring pyjamas; just as well.

"Here, you should put these on. I'm gonna jump in the shower right quick. I kinda stink.", he might have been dry now, but his hours of intensive workout had left him more than a little tangy to the scent, "I doubt you even get tired but if you do before I get back, the spare room's the second door on your right", Tyler pointed down one of the hallways to indicate where Damon could find his bed for the night. "Try not to break anything or kill anyone while I'm gone." Tyler left Damon to his own devices for a few minutes, locking the bathroom door behind him before enjoying a nice, cold shower.

And there it was; the previously unnamed button Damon had been looking for was now big and obnoxiously blaring his tune. There would be a lot of pressing of it, and it would be deliciously naughty. "I am a sick bastard. But that's what makes me so much fun." He took the clothes with a smirk, making sure his cold skin brushed over the wolf's overheated hand, just to make it that much more awkward. "No promises," he chuckled, stripping to change where he stood as Tyler went for his shower. No need to follow, this was something he'd enjoy drawing out. Damon left the shirt off, comfortable in just the bottoms. He'd be comfortable in anything, especially the nude, but pants were fine for now.

While Tyler showered, Damon went to examine the spare room, his nose wrinkling in disgust the instant he opened the door. Jules' stench was all over the place, there was no chance of him even trying sleeping in there. Damon went back to the sitting room, folding up his clothes while he waited, refilling his glass of brandy for a third and then fourth time. With no other spare bedrooms, Damon knew there was only one other option; he'd take advantage of it.

When Tyler returned with fresh pyjama bottoms on, he stopped for a moment before re-entering the sitting area, surprised the fact that Damon had actually behaved himself, and was sitting calmly. He sat back down again, this time on the other end of the large leather sofa Damon occupied, turning his body to face the vampire, legs folded underneath him. "Guess you're not tired.", Tyler leaned down and stretched over to reach his previously placed beer bottle, taking a quick swig once he'd repositioned himself again. He didn't hate the lack of recovery time needed after exerting himself as a werewolf; pity it hurt so fucking much when he turned though. "You...fold clothes?", he asked, the concept of Damon being neat a little uneasy to accept.

"I may be sleepy very soon, who knows? But I am not sleeping in there. It reeks of wolfwhore." Damon let the disgust show plainly on his face for a moment before sipping his beloved brandy again. It made the nasty smells go away. He stretched one arm over the back of the sofa, turning his head toward Tyler as he spoke. "Yes, I fold clothes. I kill for fun, I love the smell of mayhem in the morning, but if you've ever cared to notice, my wardrobe is kept in impeccable form." Funny that it seemed so alien to the wolf. Damon wasn't am uncivilized barbarian in every aspect of his life. "Don't you fold your clothes? Or do you just let the maids take care of it?" He smirked, indicating a harmless joke.

"I leave the women's jobs to the women.", obviously, the boyish way in which he parted with that comment hadn't meant to offend; Tyler wasn't insisting Damon was effeminate for taking pride in his possessions, but he was a proud chauvinist, and a spoilt little bastard to boot. "I guess you can take the couch.", Tyler said, making instant note of the punishing look he received from Damon after doing so, "Or...I guess we can share the kingsize. That is...if I don't smell too much for you.", of course Tyler knew it wasn't the scent of a werewolf that Damon couldn't tolerate in his previously offered room, but more so one of a particular woman he couldn't stand. Didn't hurt to be sarcastic though, did it? Not in this company.

Damon smirked, shaking his head. "Silly little wolf. No wonder your kind are so...distasteful." Not to say that Tyler himself was a total loss. He would just need some refining. The vampire picked up his glass and drained its contents, satisfied with his alcohol intake for the night. He was feeling slightly warm, which was a sensation he liked. His crystalline eyes pierced through Tyler cruelly at the suggestion that he would sleep on the couch, something Damon would not comply with. He'd been forgiving up to a point, but really, the couch? He was no nameless grifter from out of town. Besides, he was way too hot to do something so white trash.

Damon relaxed following the next offer, though, which would lead to the real fun of the night. Pressing Tyler's buttons. Fun for all, even if they didn't want to like it. "I suppose I'll somehow manage sleeping beside a wolf. But can you handle sleeping next to me?" He smirked, eyes widening for effect.

"Less of the 'little' jokes dude.", Tyler glanced over to Damon, letting him know that such jokes didn't bother him really; he didn't have a height complex. In fact he prided himself on being a pint-sized jock, nothing like taking down the biggest player on the other team when you were almost half his size. That was a way to avoid being poked fun at for being a short-ass. Damon's question seemed a little odd to Tyler, but then what was new, "Keep the drool on your side of the bed and we won't have a problem. Don't even care if you sleeptalk...I've had years of that off Matt. Once I'm out, I'm out.", at this point, Tyler noted how Damon had no other scent but that of alcoholic spirits, and he wasn't even using his heightened senses of smell to draw that conclusion. He hoped drunk Damon wouldn't get too annoying.

"Well I'll stop making them when I finally get confirmation that we have a bit more in common." He stood and almost offered a hand to Tyler, but then that would have been gentlemanly of him. Damon didn't do gentlemanly. "So where are we bunking?" The vampire refused to acknowledge that either of them would be sleeping tonight. Maybe once Tyler has suffered enough at his hands, but definitely not before then. Damon sauntered down the hall before Tyler could show him the room, glancing into open doorways curiously.

"Oh, so you do get tired.", Tyler hurled a cheeky, shit-eating grin in Damon's direction for just less than a second, thankful in a way that it seemed he wouldn't have to deal with any fucked up drunken vampire behaviours after all. He stood up himself, the hard leather of the couch trying to cling to the bare flesh of his torso, tossing his empty bottle to the bin in the kitchen as he walked past it. "This way, asswipe.", Damon more than anyone else by now would have accepted that last word as a term of playful endearment; even Matt looked a little downhearted when Tyler got colourful with his careless namesakes.

Almost as soon as they got to the bedroom, Tyler threw himself onto the massive bed, sighing as he stretched across it, though after a few moments he gathered himself to one side of it, kicking the covers down only to pull them over himself. He looked like more of a monkey than a wolf cub when he did so. "Thank fuck you got tired, I'm beat.", Tyler said, snuggling into the comforts on his side of the large, luxurious bed, "As a general rule, if you snore, you hit the floor.", he let Damon know what happened to his buddies if they kept him awake, giggling under his breath a little at how many times he'd kicked Matt out of bed and woken him up with an unsuspecting thud, he never even felt guilty for it once.

Damon laughed at the light banter; as good as foreplay from the wolf, if he had any say to it. He followed to the room, grinning at the sight of Tyler spread out over the bed. Damon could easily imagine the wolf wagging his 'tail' eagerly for the vampire in a very similar position. With very little celebration, Damon sped onto his side of the bed, watching the way Tyler twisted and kicked his way into a comfortable sleeping position. "Oh I promise, no snoring. But you can keep up that wolfy man-giggle. I don't kick." Damon lay on one side facing the supple, olive skin of Tyler's robust back, his eyes scouting out other spots for potential harassment over the course of the evening. "Sleep tight, pup," he said, though his tone was clearly too giddy to allow such a pleasantry to come into being.

THE END