Stefan. ( a round of the name game, why not? he stresses stefanβs name, objecting to a protest that isnβt there. theyβve clashed over this for decades and while he detects a kind of resignation ( exhaustion ), his brother is still trying to find an excuse to push that boulder back up the hill before it rolls down and tramples him.
i need to know youβll be able to stop me and it is soft but striking.
( because youβve failed in the past. you left because of this twice; once in disgust, then again after nurturing it. forcing it to happen, kind of like now. because when stefanβs needed the support of his brother, damon has been nowhere to be found. he knows what his brother thinks of him and he's let him think it because lexi convinced him that was the best gift he could give. )
it twists in his gut, in spite of the fact they both know the truth: the only way damon can help stefan is by staying far away from him β and it worked, for a time. would have kept working, except that love and codependency is a two-way street and damon needs him, too. )
Am I going to be able to tear you off of some poor schmuck? Sure. Hold you back by the scruff of your neck like a wild animal? Weird but okay. ( he shrugs. ) Throw you in a cell, lock you up, lose the key? I've done it before.
But if you're asking me to stop you in a more permanent way? No. I'll kill everyone you're about to first ( so that he can't bear the guilt ) and I won't lose sleep over it. ( he can't promise anything else. he can't vow to run stefan through with a stake if he veers into lost forever territory because even as a thrill-seeking murderer who writes names on a wall and stacks heads like jenga pieces, he's infinitely better than anyone else. as far as the blood in a cup goes ( sticky on his hand, tear in his palm stitching over albeit slower than usual ), he made stefan drink once before. didn't end well. this time, he has to choose. it's apparent damon wants him to pick life, pick sacrificing others to go on surviving β he wants stefan to pick him because he's the only person that has. )
cw: the salvatores etc.
i need to know youβll be able to stop me and it is soft but striking.
( because youβve failed in the past. you left because of this twice; once in disgust, then again after nurturing it. forcing it to happen, kind of like now. because when stefanβs needed the support of his brother, damon has been nowhere to be found. he knows what his brother thinks of him and he's let him think it because lexi convinced him that was the best gift he could give. )
it twists in his gut, in spite of the fact they both know the truth: the only way damon can help stefan is by staying far away from him β and it worked, for a time. would have kept working, except that love and codependency is a two-way street and damon needs him, too. )
Am I going to be able to tear you off of some poor schmuck? Sure. Hold you back by the scruff of your neck like a wild animal? Weird but okay. ( he shrugs. ) Throw you in a cell, lock you up, lose the key? I've done it before.
But if you're asking me to stop you in a more permanent way? No. I'll kill everyone you're about to first ( so that he can't bear the guilt ) and I won't lose sleep over it. ( he can't promise anything else. he can't vow to run stefan through with a stake if he veers into lost forever territory because even as a thrill-seeking murderer who writes names on a wall and stacks heads like jenga pieces, he's infinitely better than anyone else. as far as the blood in a cup goes ( sticky on his hand, tear in his palm stitching over albeit slower than usual ), he made stefan drink once before. didn't end well. this time, he has to choose. it's apparent damon wants him to pick life, pick sacrificing others to go on surviving β he wants stefan to pick him because he's the only person that has. )