never did damon anticipate that he would find himself here. ( here : the gilbert home, attempting to do something noble. though perhaps noble isn’t the right word. are you capable of such virtue? ) all clues that the recent fire harmed him are gone. burns that had marred cool, marble skin healed over the moment the flames could no longer reach him and though an unfamiliar sense of exhaustion has settled in age - old bones, damon walks as though nothing has touched him. blue irises speak of weariness over the roguish glimmer that typically shines within. today, all roads seemed to lead back to the gilberts, but his attempt at doing the right thing remains left untaken by the boy who’s memories he was willing to erase. it’s during his path to the front door that he finds himself questioning whether his offer was the right move at all. it’s unfamiliar, the feeling that flickers through him is. perhaps an apparition of regret?
after all, what is redemption for the irredeemable? absolution for someone who doesn’t ask for it, doesn’t want it? in today’s maelstrom of flame and fireworks, damon’s redemption had taken the form of his brother -- stefan, risking entrapment in the fire himself, because he still felt that damon was worth saving. despite everything he had done to indicate otherwise. but was stefan right? jury’s still out on that one.
as damon pulls the door shut behind him, he’s met with elena nearing the top of the stairs. the garment bag in her arms has his mind flashing to hours before, back to the wrenching familiarity of her in that dress. one name echoes at the back of his mind and he knows she’s not her, but standing there with that spark of something unnamable in her eyes, damon had so desperately felt like she was. he had gone years with flashes of dark hair in his peripherals, only for nothing to be there when he turned, raising questions of whether he’d ever seen anything at all. yet with elena here, now, he still feels like he’s seeing a ghost. careful damon, your humanity is showing.
finally, he takes a few steps forward.
❝ here, let me take that for you. ❞
the disaster porch kiss for @barebite