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Chapter Text

Mystic Falls

A place of bad memories and a natural hotspot for the supernatural.

Iason can always feel a sort of draw to the place, this could be because he was born there or due to the amount of death that occurs. 

He was currently pottering about the Salvatore Boarding House making up three of the bedrooms up for his and his brothers tastes. Even though Stefan is the only one current brother there, Iason has a feeling that Damon would be joining very soon. He just hoped that Damon didn’t do anything too rash whilst getting his revenge on Stefan, Iason was never a big fan of those two feuding but he knew getting in the way wasn’t helpful. It never has been.

Iason heard Stefan, who was on the roof of the Salvatore Boarding House watching the sunrise, jump several hundred feet to the ground. He had already gotten Stefan a bag ready for his first day of school which he found a ridiculous thing to do again but we all have hobbies so what can you do.

Across town at the Gilbert house, a seventeen year old girl with straight long brown hair and brown eyes was sitting on her window sill with her diary on her lap, tapping her pen against the pages Elena starts to write: 

Dear Diary: Today will be different. It has to be. I will smile and it will be believable. That smile will say, "I'm fine, thank you." "Yes, I feel much better." I will no longer be the sad little girl who lost her parents. I will start fresh, be someone new. It's the only way I'll make it through.

Iason is aware of the girl that Stefan has become interested in and wants no part in it. He in fact very much disagrees with Stefan's actions but he never listens well. Once something is in his head it's stuck there forever. A stubborn man. Although not as stubborn as Damon because at least Stefan can admit fault easier. Iason got the paperwork ready for Stefan to be enrolled into high school and got some money so he could buy lunch. Just because they are vampires doesn’t mean they can’t do things legally. Iason was actually a fan of doing it the legal way because then there is a paper trail which then makes hunters go off the track, easiest way to get that way, no paper work then it was compulsion, then it’s vervain in the drink, then death. He would rather do the long winded process and protect his brother.

“Stefan, get in the car we’re going!” Iason shouted up to Stefan who had gone into his room to pick the perfect outfit. Stefan vamp-ran in front of him and they walked to his car which was a black Škoda Octavia and started the 20 minute journey to the school. 

At the same time Elena Gilbert was in the car with one of her best friends Bonnie Bennett who was talking about how her crazy grandmother thinks they’re witches and psychic when a large raven hits the windshield of the car. This causes Bonnie to swerve the car a bit and then look towards Elena who was a bit pale. However, Elena reassures Bonnie that she can’t be scared of cars for the rest of her life and they continue the rest of their journey a bit tense and on the look out for anything that may hit the car next.

Ahhh, Mystic Falls High School.

A very uncreative name for a high school but nothing Iason can do about it … well there is but he doesn’t care to do it. Too high a risk, no reward. He got out of the car with Stefan and walked inside the school to help enrol his itty baby brother in school. 

Luckily the woman accepted the forged legal papers with no problem which meant that no one was compelled. Iason could hear two girls whispering about their backs and how they were hot. Which was a bit annoying, these were children and not his type at all. But he can see the appeal of the back, especially those with muscular and broad shoulders, or as sometimes described the inverted triangle. Now those kinds of backs Iason could appreciate, but his own? Nothing too bad but definitely not worth the attention, neither is Stefan’s. Iason has a rectangle body type, with some visible muscles but he had more of a lithe body whilst Stefan was more trapezoid and muscles showing in his arms and back. Clearly, these girls have a very simple type, look strong and muscular, good enough. He has a great ass as well! And some nice legs, they could focus on other body parts but not just the muscles.

Come on Ladies! It’s also about personality! Look at the clothes, the hobbies, get underneath and learn the personality. Are they polite? Will they treat you right? Stop basing things on just looks, it's very shallow. 

Iason sees that everything is ready and Stefan can start his day.

“Have a good day little brother and make me proud” Iason speaks as if he was about to cry which causes Stefan to roll his eyes and walk off. Ignoring the disappointed sigh that he receives from only a single voice as it seems one of the girls had left. 

Iason makes his way back through the school corridors and goes back to his car to make the journey back home. Once he got back home with an uneventful drive back, he continues to unpack bags and boxes as well as start to convert a room into an office for himself. 

Uncle Zach luckily was able to point to an office space that was unused so he brought a box of needle and wool so that he could crochet and he brought his book collection so that he could re-sort the bookshelves. He was not looking forward to the job but when moving it’s a necessary evil. 

It turns out the office space also needed cleaning, great. More time will be added, who knows if he can finish the job before he has to pick up his baby brother from school. 

However, his worries were for naught because he was able to finish the job with an hour to spare which he then spent drinking …… Okay he spent it sitting down and staring at the wall. It’s a lovely way to pass the time, especially after doing a big job like re-sorting an office space! Iason could see though that he might need to go grocery shopping as Uncle Zach only has food for one, like come on you knew we were moving in you could have brought more food. He could survive on nothing but that’s not the point! Food is a way of expression and cooking is a delight. Ohhhh. Now Iason was thinking about recipes and back to those basic girls again. Another thing, get a man who can cook. Iason can cook but cooking with a partner is also a delight.

Great, now Iason was thinking about how single he is. Sighing, Iason stands up and walks to his car to start the journey back to the school whilst mourning about his dating life.

Outside the school Iason could see that a few students were looking at him, probably because he was new in town. Unfortunately, the attention was a lot of teenage girls which he didn’t appreciate at all.

“Ohh, there you are. Hop on in Stefan time to go home” Iason teases Stefan who gives a fake laugh.

“Ha ha. Very funny. But I was wondering if you could take us to the graveyard instead?” 

Iason gives a little sigh but nods his head in agreement before hopping into the driver's seat and going to the graveyard. During the journey Iason asks Stefan about his day at school which he is then told about introducing himself to Elena who was in the men’s bathroom, which caused Iason to pull a face. 

At the graveyard Iason feels a sense of welcome and like he was at home. One of his favourite places to be is a graveyard. So homey. Iason stayed in the car whilst Stefan went out, leaving Iason to bask in the feeling surrounding him. Opening his eyes he could see that there was a bit of fog coming in, Iason wondered if it was ordinary fog or his dramatic older brother which could be possible as he is in the cemetery as well.

A door slammed shut as Stefan got back into the car breathing a bit heavy.

“What’s up with you?” 

“Elena was there and she was bleeding. I nearly lost control.” Stefan says whilst panting.

Iason just gives a few small short nods before driving back to the boarding house. Back home Stefan goes back to his room to be all edgy and write in his diary about his day. Whilst Iason grabs a sketchpad to plan out a new inspiration for a big crochet project or a small crochet that he could sell for his business. Although thinking about business Iason has to go through paperwork soon for his cemetery and funeral business. 

It was a passion project of his where he started to make a natural style funeral place, people buried under trees, made into jewellery. Then he started to see people upset with the loss of their pets and started to do memorials for pets. It then continued to unravel and he was able to start multiple businesses in the funeral department. Of course he didn’t need all the money so he sends a lot of it to any living relative and sometimes a decent portion to his brothers. Although they prefer to live like idiots and compel themselves with everything. 

It did seem like a cliché with what he is and all. He has business with funerals but it helps him feel at home and connected to his true self. The irony is also funny. 

Stefan comes down the stairs holding a book, “Hey I’m going to Elena’s to drop this off” Iason gives a shout of affirmative back and hears the door slam close. What a silly boy. Going for the classic, ‘Oh hey you dropped this so I thought I would return. Look at me I am oh so compassionate. Love me’. He could be a bit more original with his techniques. 

Eventually Stefan comes back home and talks about how he was at the grill meeting with Elena’s friends and that there is a party he is going to go to at the Falls. However, before they can continue with their talk Uncle Zach bursts into the room looking angry and waving a piece of paper about.

“Which one of you did it?” He slams the newspaper onto the coffee table which shows that there have been two bodies found. 

“I’m a vegetarian. I didn't do it Uncle Zach. I’m not that kind of person” Stefan pleads for Uncle Zach to understand which he must because he then brings his attention to Iason who gives a deadpanned look.

“I like people food not people” Which caused him to look a bit sheepish.

Stefan then goes up to his room with a promise that he will look into it but really he was going to reminisce about his ex, Katherine.

Uhhhh. Katherine, where does Iason begin with that woman?

He hates her, that’s a start.

She is one of those gross vampires that has to compel people to love her. She also seems to think the world revolves around her and tried to get three brothers to love her which she only got two. HA. Beat it Stefan and Damon. This brother never slept with Katherine, nor did he do anything with her because she couldn’t compel him. Of course this made her mad but her witchy friend was able to calm her down and she left Iason alone, lucky him!

The rest of the day passed relatively peacefully, Iason couldn’t think of any new crochet ideas which was a little disappointing so he instead started on some of his commissions. The simple stuff, some pumpkins, flowers and some fruit and vegetables. When it came to dinner they all ordered some pizza because Iason couldn’t be bothered to go grocery shopping yet as that is a job for tomorrow. 

When tomorrow came Stefan decided to walk to school whilst Iason went and did the boring job of grocery shopping. At the store Iason got a lot of looks from some single ladies which again, come on! Do these horny ladies have nothing else to do?! Some had wedding rings on which to the more bold ladies he loved to point that out to them.

Luckily with his car there was plenty of space for people and shopping so he was able to buy a lot. See Stefan, a much better car than that old Porsche he loves to drive around. Something Iason could never get on board with his brothers was their need to keep the old fashioned cars and never get a newer model even when they are more spacious and run smoother. It wasn’t like they wanted to keep those cars in good condition either for money value as they use the cars for daily use. Idiots, both of them.

Once he gets back home Iason puts all the shopping away. When he steps back though he notices that it doesn’t make much sense so he takes a lot of stuff out and reorganises stuff because Uncle Zach seems to not be the best when it comes to keeping a fridge organised. After twenty minutes the fridge looked great and Iason thought he deserved a nice reward. So he sits down with a nice old book, Wuthering Heights, a classic read. Although not his favourite, it passes the time. 

It seemed that through his reading a few hours passed, with Iason taking breaks because he’s not a savage! In his breaks he eats some fruits and checks on the forest animals so that he can keep a track on the wildlife. He doesn’t want Stefan to ruin the natural cycle of life. No need for pointless savagery. 

The front door slams open and Stefan is storming inside with an annoyed expression on his face as he starts to make his way to his bedroom. Shouting something about an attack on a girl at the party to Uncle Zach when he asked what was wrong. Iason just sighs and follows Stefan to the bedroom, ready to watch the mess that was about to unfold. 

In Stefan’s room there wasn’t much personality, a wall full of his journals and some clothes on the floor but other than that it was incredibly tidy. Iason sees a crow fly into the room and his face lights up in joy. Ah his good old friend, how he has missed her. Oh, and his brother of course who was standing in the balcony window with the moonlight casting on him, like the certified diva that he is. 

“Damon” Stefan looked a bit disgruntled to see they’re beloved older brother again, their drama with each other all so encompassing of their lives. 

“Hello, brother” Damon smirks as he knows his very presence annoys Stefan.

Damon walks into the room to stand the opposite of Stefan, and Iason decides to step out and into the light. When Damon sees Iason he gives him a little smile and opens his arms a bit. Iason speeds into Damon's arms laughing as he is spun a bit. Damon places Iason down and sees that Stefan is glaring at him, Iason just rolls his eyes and walks towards the crow who was perched on a lamp.

“Crows a bit much, don’t you think?” Iason was a bit offended on the behalf of Lamia, she is a lovely crow that has been around for decades - thank you vampire blood. She was also a raven that Iason has personally trained, Damon just keeps stealing her.

“Wait till you see what I can do with the fog” Damon gloats a bit back at Stefan with a smug smile but Stefan remains serious as ever.

“When’d you get here?” 

“Well I couldn’t miss your first day of school” Iason watches as Damon goes to a shelf and starts to touch some of Stefan’s stuff. 

“Your hair’s different. I like it.” Iason thinks that Damon was being serious but he says it a bit high pitched so that it could easily be interpreted as mocking. However, as normal Stefan doesn’t bother with entertaining Damon. Iason feels a bit ignored but at least Lamia was here with him, nuzzling into his cheek - she had flown and landed on his shoulder. 

“It’s been fifteen years Damon”

“Thank god, couldn’t take another day of the 90s” Iason had to agree with Damon there, the 90s were not all that great. “That horrible grunge look did not suit you. Remember Stefan it’s important to stay away from feds” Damon was again touching things and Iason could see Stefan getting more fed up. Iason was just hoping his brother didn’t start physically fighting, it was a bit fun to watch their back and forth but fighting? He didn’t like that.

“Why are you here?” 

“I missed my little brother” Damon says in reply, but everyone in the room knew he was being sarcastic… at least when it came to missing Stefan.

“Ahhh you don’t miss me? So not fair I missed you” Iason was pouting at Damon who just rolls his eyes but gives Iason a smile.

“You hate small towns, it’s boring there’s nothing for you to do” Stefan was clearly trying to interrogate Damon who was having fun at simply annoying Stefan with his mere presence.

“I’ve managed to keep myself busy”

“You know you left that girl alive tonight” Damon hums, “That’s very clumsy of you”. Was Stefan trying to get Damon to kill this girl? Iason also was now paying a lot more serious attention. Was this girl a risk to the supernatural? Did she need to go? Or did Damon need to be told off? Damon knows how much Iason takes his job seriously! He doesn’t want to have to hurt Damon but he might be forced to.

“Ah that could be a problem. For you.” Iason glares at Damon for that because it also makes it a big problem for him. He’s the one who takes keeping the supernatural a secret the most serious!! But of course his brothers are too focused on each other and ignore Iason, Lamia seems to be the only one who cares. She’s his best girl. Iason gives her some head scratches and lets her peck some of his blood from a finger.

“Why are you here now?”

“I could ask you the same question however, I’m fairly certain it could be summed up all into one little word, Elena” Damon and Stefan were now facing each other and Iason could feel the tension. He might need a knife soon, maybe losing a finger could get the two of them to stop and relax. No, Stefan would give him a lecture and Damon might get even. With a smug smile Damon vamps out of the house.

“Well that was fun” Iason comments and lets Lamia go out through the window.

“Yeah, yeah, get out” Stefan really can not relax, Iason walks out the room a bit pouty that he can never spend time with his brothers.

Iason goes to his own bedroom and he can hear Stefan writing in his journal for a while before he leaves again. Sighing, Iason gets dressed into some pyjamas and just hopes that this Elena girl doesn’t ruin his family like last time. Stefan also better know what he is doing because Iason can bet a lot that is where Stefan is currently going.

Chapter Text

Great another murder in Mystic Falls, most likely from his oh loving older brother Damon. Iason was ready to give Damon a good smack around the head. Again he could hear Stefan writing in that little journal of his which was a bit annoying, he was trying to cook! 

Currently Iason was in the kitchen cooking some omelettes, some with blood, some without obviously. He wanted his brother to have good health, it was also following his vegetarian diet. Finishing with Stefan’s omelette Iason moves onto making Stefan a packed lunch, this way Stefan can see if he wants a school provided lunch which are awful. 

For lunch Iason makes Stefan a jam sandwich with his own personally made jam that has rabbit blood in it. You're welcome Stefan for making your life easier. Eventually Stefan comes down the stairs, eats his omelette and takes his packed lunch and walks off to his car. That ungrateful brat didn’t even say thanks! A bit annoyed, Iason starts to clean up the pan that he used for making the omelette and Uncle Zach eats his breakfast with thanks before going off to clean the house. See Stefan, a man younger than you has better manners!

Throughout the day nothing is needed to be done, the house is clean, food is stocked up and his personal crochet business orders are all done so that means paper work. Heaving a sigh, Iason goes into his own office, logs into his laptop and starts to fill out some needed paperwork for his cemetery businesses around the world. Some different states might be interested in his businesses and it seems that some European funeral houses are running low on funds and want him to save them. The troubles of being a successful businessman in a dying industry. Dying. Hilarious. Iason didn’t really mind helping the struggling European businesses, he loves Europe more than America. A shame he was born American, he would have rather been born in Switzerland, a nice neutral and quite peaceful place. 

He was trying to find a way for his funeral businesses to help with global warming and regrowing plants and trees and saving parks. Very difficult but he was hoping to find a way. There was the idea that a person can have their ashes placed in a jar and then be secured to a tree so then less trees need to be cut to make room for graves. There is also the idea of maybe using landfill rubbish to make little trinkets for the family in a package deal. That could be an idea but then he needs to contact the landfills in all the areas his businesses are. Yay! More paperwork. 

Hours pass as Iason works on his business, a business that works with humans and the supernatural. Of course very discrete but the older supernatural beings know, and so do big places of supernatural population. Just because their supernatural doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a proper burial and due to vampires turning grey they can’t. 

But with his business now you can! Have a supernatural buddy that has ended their life or has ended and you don't know what to do? Well here we are! Flowering Death can help you today! With a phone consultation just say what package you're looking for and we will help you out. Inform us if you're a fang, fur or mage in the conversation and you will be put through to our supernatural diversion who will give you your options. Burning? Burial? We can do it! Just give us a call and we will give your loved one a proper goodbye. Call –0—2—-5—-5 today or email: [email protected]. 

It is very successful on the supernatural side, it helps that no one else offers the supernatural a funeral service. The bad news is that a lot of people want to meet the director and give them their thanks. But no thank you! Iason would rather not meet people. He will take letters or emails, but nothing else! He wants to live his life privately or as privately as he can with two attention seeking brothers.

Iason could hear someone vamping around downstairs and paying attention Iason could identify the smell as Damon. Was he here to see him? Standing up Iason starts to make the journey downstairs but then hears a girl’s voice call out. Who the hell was in his house?

“I’m sorry for barging in but the door was - opened” the last part of the sentence was said a bit after the rest. 

“You must be Elena” Oh god no why? Why? Why is she here? Stefan get your new friend out of this house. Iason did not want his brothers fighting over a girl again. No thanks! “I’m Damon, Stefan’s brother”.

“He didn’t tell me he had a brother” Pause. What? Doesn’t have a brother! Wow Stefan, love you too, watch me make you breakfast and lunch again. Walking to the front entrance Iason says a bit loudly.

“Two exactly but who cares about me. Not the poor forgotten middle brother who does all the work” Damon gives a little chuckle as Iason stands at his side before looking back at Elena.

“Well Stefan isn’t one to brag, please come” Damon then puts a hand on Elena’s arm and takes her into the lounge, with Iason following behind just to make sure nothing extreme happens. “I’m sure Stefan will be along any second”. Yeah as soon as he hears you and Elena together Iason is pretty sure Stefan will come running.

“Wow! This is your living room?” Elena clearly was in awe at the size of the living room which Iason found a bit much, especially for poor Uncle Zach who has been living alone for years in it.

“Living room, parlour, somebody’s auction. It’s a little kitschy for my taste” A bit rude to Iason but he just sits down on one of the couches to relax, sitting in a desk chair all day is not good for the back. “I see where my brother is so smitten, it’s about time” Oh dear, here Damon goes. Now should Iason step him and stop? Although from the look on Elena’s face Damon has her hooked. Step in now and she will try to get down to the mystery and be annoyed if someone hides it or let Damon reveal the mystery and … who knows? “For a while there I never thought he’d get over the last one, nearly destroyed him”. 

“The last one?” Elena says in a quiet voice. 

“Yeah Katherine, his girlfriend” Elena shakes her head at what Damon obviously knew that she didn’t know. “Oh you two haven’t had the awkward ex’s conversation yet” It was clear that Elena was a bit uncomfortable and so was Iason. Also they weren’t dating? At least Iason hopes they’re not. One: she is too young for Stefan. Two: they’ve known each other for like two days!

“Nope” She gives a shrug and Damon looks away a bit.

“Oops, well I’m sure it will come up now or maybe he didn’t tell you because he didn’t want you to think he was on a rebound” Elena gives a small nod, “We all know how those relationships end”. This clearly sparks a little fire in the previously deflated girl.

“You say that like every relationship is doomed to end” 

Damon says something in response but Iason is distracted by Stefan who is just standing there behind them, not moving or anything. Could he be a little less weird? The weird behaviour does not come with being a vampire!

“Hello Stefan” Elena quickly turns to look at Stefan who was glaring at Damon.

“Elena, I didn’t know you were coming over” Elena leaves Damon and walks towards Stefan.

“I know I should have called -”

“Oh don’t be silly, you’re welcome any time. Isn’t she Stefan?” Stefan doesn’t respond but keeps glaring at Damon, “You know I should bring out the family photo albums or some home movies”

“Don’t you dare” Iason speaks up from the couch where he was leaning on the side. Damon just turns and gives him a smirk. 

“But I have to warn you he wasn’t always a looker”

“That’s Stefan not me” Iason teases Stefan as well who doesn’t even acknowledge Iason, again rude.

“Thanks for stopping by Elena, nice to see ya”, it seems that even Elena could feel the tension between those two.

“Yeah I should probably go, it was nice to meet you Damon” 

“Great meeting you too Elena” Damon shakes her head then kisses her knuckles. Very classy, Iason approves of that just not that he was doing it.

She goes to leave but is blocked by Stefan who is constantly glaring at Damon, Elena says Stefan's name a few times but he ignores her. A bit rude, she came here for you and this is what she gets. Eventually he moves out of her way letting her leave the house.

Once she leaves Damon lets out a whistle, “Great gal, she’s got spunk. You on the other hand look pooped. Did you over exert yourself today? Let me guess hospital” Damon again has that smirk on his face whilst Stefan looks done. Stefan is also walking towards where Iason is near the couch.

“Someone had to clean up your mess” Did he kill the girl? That wasn’t much like this version of Stefan. He wants everyone to have a chance.

“Well, were you successful? Did the power of persuasion work? Remember if you don’t feed properly none of those tricks work right” Again Damon is teasing Stefan and he walks in front of him. At least Iason can easily go over the couch to stop a fight if needed.

“How long was Elena here?

“Are you worried Stefan? Scared we may be doomed to repeat the past. Isn’t that why you play your little game, ‘I’m a high school student’”, Well Iason was a bit worried that was going to happen, his brothers were quite dumb.

“I’m not playing any game”

“Of course you are. We both know the closest you’ll ever get to humanity is when you rip it open and feed on it” Damon says this last bit right in Stefan’s ear, it was clear they were both ready to fight with how tense they were. 

“What kind of game are you playing, Damon?”

“Guess you’ll have to wait and see, won’t you.” Damon gives another grin before walking off but Iason quickly yells out before he leaves.

“Love the hair by the way!” he could hear a shout of thanks back before Damon was gone. Stefan gives Iason a look who just shrugs before also leaving to his room.

The night of the comet, not something that Iason was very interested in, he was walking through the town square going out for a walk when he saw Elena and a friend handing out flyers. Nope. No thank you, Iason did not want to interact with that girl for anything. However, he needed to look around the time square to get some inspiration for new flower arrangements, different areas, different flowers means new flower arrangements. Those two will not ruin his productive time! 

“Would you like a program? He didn’t call, huh?” The girl next to Elena asks, now Iason doesn’t like eavesdropping but he is interested in what they’re talking about. Also it’s not his fault he can hear them! He’s trying to draw inspiration for flower arrangements in the town square to then draw in his sketchbook! If he overhears stuff then that’s just for him to know.

Iason moves towards a bench and sits down and pulls out his sketchbook. On the bench he can see the different flowers in front of stores and the natural flowers in the patches of grass. Maybe a more weed style flower arrangement could be popular?

“Or text. But I realized we never even exchanged that stuff. We've never gotten to the texting part”.

“That's an important milestone in any relationship” Ah, in this day and age a phone number is all so important. Not getting to know each other face to face, but through a screen where lies are easier to hide. Iason does prefer the time of letters but he is always a fan of going out for dinner and talking to a guy face to face. Best way of getting to know someone! Of course he has only done this once or twice, not a lot of guys he’s attracted to and those dates were set up by his meddling brothers. Never has Iason felt a strong attraction to a person, he can find a person physically attractive but that’s not enough.

“Isn't it? The timing is wrong, anyway”.

“When is it ever right?” Go girl, Iason is enjoying Elena’s friend quite a bit, although she does remind him of someone.

“I'm not ready, Bonnie”. At least Iason now has the name of Elena’s friend, Stefan doesn’t tell him much, he’s bad at gossip.

“Who is?”

“At least I put myself out there”. When did she do that? Was that why she was at the house? If that was her putting herself out there then she might need to work on it. It was a pitiful sight, and if it was her putting herself out there then Iason feels a bit violated! He doesn’t want to see her trying to flirt with his brother, or brothers! 

“Is that what you're calling it?”

“What do you mean?”

“All I'm hearing is reasons why you can't”. Bonnie is wise, she seems like a good friend, Elena don’t mess up that friendship, she’s a keeper. Good friends can be hard to find when you’re involved with the supernatural. Although from what Iason can sense Bonnie is coming into herself which is all the more reason for Elena to keep her friendship with Bonnie.

Iason debates going home or staying for the festival but in the end he walks back home after finishing a drawing of a flower arrangement consisting of: henbit, white glover, wild violets, chickweed and dallisgrass. Who knows, it could work. 

When Iason arrives at the boarding house he sees Uncle Zach walking away from Stefan.

“So what’s that about?” Iason asks Stefan who looks annoyed. 

“Asking about what Damon is up to” Iason lets out an ‘ah’.

“Good luck with knowing that, anyway I have work to do. Make sure you finish your homework” Iason can feel the glare Stefan gives him as he makes his way upstairs. Iason finds it annoying that Stefan is likely just going to compel the teacher into believing he did the homework. 

Going into his office Iason starts to redraw the flower arrangement so that he can finish the design and organise with his world wide business on getting a load of the needed flowers, it was good that he didn’t technically need to sleep. It makes it a lot easier with time differences and talking to people overseas. As he was working he heard Stefan saying about going to the candlelight celebration. Iason hopes that nothing goes wrong but knowing the town's history and his brothers and the existence of Elena, Iason doesn’t think that is going to be likely.

As time goes on Iason has a little tingle go through his spine, concentrating on the feeling he notices that Damon and Stefan were arguing on a roof with a human girl who has a vampire bite on her neck. Damon threatening to let the girl and her expose all vampires to the town, great. Now Iason might have to step up but before he could Damon compels her to forget which makes him sit back down and continue with his work. Damon is walking a dangerous line.

Seeing the time, Iason goes downstairs for a much needed break and decides to cook some dinner, chili mac n cheese. As he was cooking Stefan returns through the door and sits at the kitchen island and just watches as Iason cooks. 

“Saw what happened a little” Stefan just hums as he understands what Iason means.

“He was insulting my lifestyle and how it’s made me weak, how my past ways will haunt me forever” Iason listens as he adds some ‘special sauce’ to the chili as Uncle Zach has already eaten. 

Soon the door bell rings and Stefan goes to answer it, again Iason didn’t want to eavesdrop but super hearing makes it practically impossible not to hear stuff. He just wanted to cook some dinner for himself to enjoy.

“Hi”

“Hey” Oh great it was Elena, again. Can she not leave his family alone?

“Would you like to come in?” Please say no, please say no. Stefan think, he’s cooking right now, she might be hungry, she might want some of the food, food that has blood in it. Dumb Stefan!

“The comet’s actually this way”

Elena then goes out and Stefan follows her, at least he wouldn’t have to accidentally feed her blood, pig’s blood, but still blood. Although they didn’t go far enough that he couldn’t hear them still.

“Sorry for barging in. Especially after earlier.” This is clearly something private and Iason is starting to feel a bit uncomfortable that he is overhearing it, he’s trying to focus on cooking but again super hearing!

“No, no. I'm glad you're here. The way we left things...I didn't like it” If the way you left it meant Elena would be away from here then Iason liked how you left it.

“See, the thing is, I got home tonight planning on doing what I always do, write in my diary, like I have been since my mom gave me one when I was 10. It's where I get everything out, everything I'm feeling. It all goes in this little book that I hide on the second shelf behind this really hideous ceramic mermaid. But then I realized that I'd just be writing things that I should probably be telling you” Please do not confess your love, you barely know him. And girl you can do so much better. A vampire boyfriend is not the way to go, your life already sucks because you're a doppelgänger but you could have years of peace if you leave the Salvatore family alone… although the family might not leave her alone. That’s it she’s doomed.

“What would you write?”

“I would write…”Dear diary, today I convinced myself it was ok to give up. Don't take risks. Stick with the status quo. No drama, now is just not the time. But my reasons aren't reasons, they're excuses. All I'm doing is hiding from the truth, and the truth is that…” I'm scared, Stefan. I'm scared that if I let myself be happy for even one moment that...the world's just going to come crashing down, and I...don't know if I can survive that” You probably won’t survive this world, Iason was trying to be optimistic earlier but being realistic now, she’s very dead. The supernatural world is not friendly to doppelgängers. 

“Do you want to know what I would write? “I met a girl. We talked. It was epic. But then the sun came up and reality set in. Well, this is reality. Right here”” Smooth Stefan. Oh eww. Iason could hear them kissing which he did not enjoy at all! Also they still barely know each other. This relationship is not going to end well. Supernatural involved, doomed. Doppelgänger, doomed. Barely know each other, could possibly work but could be doomed.

Putting the finished food to the side Iason goes out of the door and sees his brother making love dove eyes.

“Okay knock it off you two, Stefan dinner is ready, Elena it’s late you should go home it’s dangerous at night” It seems that neither heard him approach as they jump apart from each other and gain a blush on their faces. Soon though Stefan glares at him.

“Really?”

“Yes really, think of it as revenge for not mentioning to Elena that you have brothers” Iason gives Stefan a pointed look which causes him to sigh and look back at Elena.

“Sorry about him but I should go” Stefan points back to the house.

“Yeah, yeah. Totally, I get it. He’s right it’s getting late so I should be off”

“Yeah” They both continue to look at each other's eyes.

“Get inside before dinner gets cold” Iason calls out which prompts them to move apart.

“Bye”

“Yeah uh bye” Elena awkwardly waves as she leaves and Stefan walks up to Iason.

“Did you really have to do that?” 

“Yes. Now go inside and eat your dinner before it goes cold” Iason and Stefan step back inside the boarding house to enjoy a nice plate of chili mac n cheese with Iason teasing Stefan about his relationship. 

What are big brothers for?

Chapter Text

In the end it turns out that Stefan wants to eat the school provided lunches, the traitor. That backstabbing traitor. Maybe Iason will trade out all the blood in the house with blood worms, see how Stefan enjoys those. Iason stares at the wall in the living room as he stews in his anger, ignoring the twinge in his spine as it was low level and not very high, most likely someone feeding. Seeing that there wasn’t much to do for the day Iason decided to spend it crocheting a grey wolf, nothing better to do so might as well enjoy a hobby of his. Then he could sell the wolf or donate it to a hospital or school, he doesn’t need the stuff he crochet he enjoys doing it. 

Whilst he was wasting the day away Iason listened to some music, his taste can vary greatly depending on his mood, and he also had to take some business calls due to the new flower arrangement he’s added. Overall, not a bad way to waste the day. For lunch he made himself a cheese and mayo wrap that he then folded tightly and cooked in a flat panini/toastie presser. A great lunch, hundred percent recommend. 

Finally Stefan arrives home to tell Iason about all the drama which isn’t a lot. Turns out that he is now joining the football team, yay more lonely time for Iason - note the sarcasm. He also embarrassed his teacher Mr Tanner in class with dates during WW2, this causes Iason to roll his eyes, show offs both his brothers are, they just can’t help themselves. They also were both invited for dinner at Elena’s. WHY?!? Why did Iason have to go?

“Why do I have to go?” Iason asks, he would whine but he is a hundred and sixty five years old.

“Because she wants Bonnie to like me as her friend and that means also liking the family and you're more acceptable then Damon, so do this for me will you? Great thanks” Stefan then goes off to his bedroom before wanting an answer. So rude. Who raised him?

…

Nevermind his manners make perfect sense. So now Iason is stuck going to this dinner, yeah. 

…

Wait. Damon is upstairs. Maybe Iason should do somet-

“How were tryouts? Did you make the team? Very Emerson, the way you reveal your soul with so many...adjectives”. Well too late now, best to just listen. Iason starts to slowly pack away his crocheting as he finishes the wolf.

“What are you doing here?” Stefan sounds very aggressive, which makes sense as Damon is in his bedroom. Again.

“I've come to apologize. I've been doing some thinking, some soul searching, and...I want us to start over. We need to put the past behind us. You're my little brother, and if you want to live a normal, happy human life, then I want that for you. Maybe I can do it, too. That I can learn to be a non-living living person. Maybe there's hope for both of us” Iason did not believe that for a second and he could literally hear Damon struggling to keep a straight face.

“You know, it doesn't have to be this way, Damon”.

“Of course it doesn't. I saw Elena today, BTW. That means "by the way." She was at cheerleading practice. She looked so perky in her little short shorts. Just...simmer down, I didn't even go near her. I've got my own cheerleader now. Ooh, that reminds me...I gotta run. I have a date. Sweaty palms. Wish me luck.” Damon was clearly winding Stefan up who falls for it nearly every time. Also that sounds dodgy, Iason might have to keep an eye on that. Nearly off age teenage girls are one thing but compelling someone to do romantic and intimate behaviour. No. Not happening on his watch.

“Also very rude dragging my favourite brother to a dinner he doesn’t even want to attend, shame on you” Iason hears the sound of Damon leaving. 

…

See Stefan, even Damon can see how rude you’re being.

Iason decides to drive them both to Gilbert house where the dinner was happening and Iason was not excited at all. In fact he sort of wanted to drive off a bridge. Although that might be in poor taste, but still! He very much wanted to go home.

Staring at the back of Stefan as he rings the doorbell Iason complements just going home but his musing is cut short with the door opening.

“Hey Stefan, and—?” Elena drags on at the end when she realises that she doesn’t know Iason's name.

“Iason the middle brother” He then steps up and shakes her hand.

“Right, well do you want to come in?” Elena invites them both inside.

Iason can immediately tell from the smell that they have brought takeout food and just put it in nice bowels. At the table was also the witch friend Bonnie, well soon to be witch. Sitting down they all start their meal.

“Umm so who are you?” Bonnie asks the question towards Iason.

“Iason the middle of the three Salvatore brothers and the one who suffers through their antics” Stefan glares at Iason and kicks him under the table.

“Ow” Iason says loudly and sarcastically while the girls giggle a little. There Stefan, sociable and the girls were happy, can he go home now?

“Did Tanner give you a hard time today?” This Tanner didn’t seem like the most favourable of teachers.

“Well, he let me on the team, so I must have done something right”. 

“Ah yes the football team, are school lunches going to be enough or would you rather my cooking?” Iason gives Stefan the stink eye still not over him rejecting his cooking for lunch.

“You can cook?” Bonnie asks in surprise, before Iason can answer Stefan cuts in, again rude.

“Oh yeah, he cooks all the meals, he’s always enjoyed it. And no I should be fine with the school lunches” Still a traitor Stefan, Iason could see that Elena’s cheeks were going a bit pink.

“Are you a good cook?” Again Stefan answers instead of Iason. What was the point of him being here?

“Yeah he is! He went to some cooking schools and is trained in many styles of cooking” Okay thank you Stefan for the brag.

“Oh, are you a chef?” Bonnie asks this question, clearly curious.

“No I did it in my spare time, I run my own business and then give some money to my brothers”

“Brothers? As in Damon and Stefan? But isn’t Damon the eldest?” Elena asks Stefan, which rude Iason was talking.

“Yeah but Damon never could be bothered with getting a job and Stefan is at that age where he should be focused on schooling but he can take a part time job if he wants but I’m not going to force it”. Iason was able to beat Stefan to answering, and he could tell that Stefan was a bit upset with it. Honesty Stefan relax you can brag to your love interest later, hopefully away from Iason.

“Bonnie, you should have seen Stefan today. Tyler threw a ball right at him, and…” Elena tries to get back to the previous topic as the skills of Iason in the kitchen run dry in the conversation.

“Yeah, I heard.” Well Bonnie doesn’t seem to be a fan of Stefan. Iason wonders why??? Note Sarcasm. It was clearly because she is a witch coming into her powers and doesn’t trust the presence of a vampire. She’ll trust him though. It’s nice not being a vampire. Suck it Stefan.

“Why don't you tell Stefan about your family?” Wow Elena very nice, throw your friend under the bus by making her talk about her family in front of people she barely knows.

“Um, divorced. No mom. Live with my dad.” Iason is very much enjoying Bonnie’s attitude, it can be nearly rude but he likes it short and to the point. Also very honest, points in his book.

“No, about the witches. Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches. It's really cool”. Well done Elena, just reveal to Stefan that Bonnie is likely a witch, great. Now poor Bonnie might get used by his brothers for her magic. Bless her poor little soul.

“Cool isn't the word I'd use.” 

“I actually have a high respect for the witches in the past, all the trials they went through and they still continued on trying to live in peace” Iason says with a small smile to Bonnie who seems to be more at ease with him then Stefan. Ha! Suck it Stefan, Iason was clearly the favourite.

“Well, it's certainly interesting. I'm not too versed, but I do know that there's a history of Celtic druids that migrated here in the 1800s”. So Stefan is clearly trying to suck up to Bonnie to get her to like him, but Bonnie is much too clever to fall for something like -

“My family came by way of Salem”. ‘Sigh’ Iason had such high hopes for her.

“Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and nonconformity”, that’s what Iason basically said at the start.

“Yeah, they are”.

The door bell rings as the conversation comes to a natural pause, and through smell Iason can tell this was about to get very interesting.

“I wonder who that could be” Elena walks up to the door and opens it which causes the others to clearly hear who was at the door. Not see because there is a wall. 

“Surprise! Bonnie said you were doing dinner, so we brought dessert”. With the voice of Caroline Stefan leaves the table to join Elena at the door, leaving Iason and Bonnie just awkward at the table.

“I didn’t want to be here either” Iason whispers to Bonnie who lets out a little giggle.

“Hope you don't mind”, the voice of his loving brother Damon says to Elena who Iason can imagine having a surprised look on her face. He can hear as Caroline steps into the house but not Damon.

“What are you doing here?” Great, now Stefan is joining that conversation which means it could get very dramatic and tense for the people who don’t know what’s going on between those two. … Even knowing what’s going on it’s still dramatic and tense.

“Waiting for Elena to invite me in” 

“Oh yeah, you can …”

“No, no, no. He can't, uh...he can't stay. Can you, Damon?” Good job Stefan, that doesn’t look odd at all.

“Get in here” Caroline says to Damon but of course he can’t because she isn’t the owner of the house inviting him in. Again sucks for them.

“We're just...finishing up” Iason looks at the plates around him that still have food on them.

“You might want to finish that” Iason points to Bonnie’s food which promotes her into finishing her plate. Iason wasn’t going to let anyone go hungry.

“It's fine. Just come on in”. Drama is going to unfold right in front of Iason's eyes. 

“You have a beautiful home, Elena”, nice Damon. Throwing it at Stefan’s face that you got invited in whilst pretending to be polite.

“Thank you”.

“Well Bonnie it seems that my older brother has joined the party” Bonnie looks behind her and sees Caroline and Damon.

“Caroline?”

“Hey Bonnie, come join us in the living room there’s more room”

Standing up both Iason and Bonnie venture into the living room where Stefan and Elena were sitting on the couch together, Bonnie went towards a single seater next to Stefan, who was sitting on the far right end. 

“Ahh Iason, my favourite brother!” Damon says whilst throwing his arms around Iason and giving him a hug. Iason smiles into Damon’s shoulder because he has missed his ‘older brother’.

“Missed you too, little brother” Damon quickly gets out of the hug and lightly hits him around the head.

“Who you calling little brother?” Caroline comes up to Damon and drags him to the other single seater that was on the other end of the couch. Damon sits down first and Caroline sits on his lap whilst Iason sits next to Elena and nearest to Damon. However, Iason looks at how closely Damon and Caroline sit together and he doesn’t like what he sees. Nope. Not one bit.

Elena stands back up and offers people a hot drink which ends up with everyone having tea or coffee, except for Iason who has a glass of water. He wants to leave and a hot drink means a longer stay, although with a conversation about to start Iason feels stuck. Eventually everyone settles down in their seats with a drink in their hands or on a table surface.

“I cannot believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team. Tyler must be seething. But good for you. Go for it”

“That's what I always tell him. You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it” Iason couldn’t tell if Damon was trying to be annoying but he sort of sounded a bit patronising.

“Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today. It's only because you missed summer camp. God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines”.

“I’ll work with her. She’ll get it” It sounded like Bonnie was a bit fed up with Caroline's attitude.

“I guess we can put her in the back” Caroline says to herself but everyone hears her including Elena who just gives her a look.

“You know, you don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena,” Damon says.

“Oh, it's just 'cause her parents died. Yeah, I mean, she's just totally going through a blah phase. She used to be way more fun. And I say that with complete sensitivity” Everyone gives Caroline a look for her oblivious insensitivity which causes her to go quiet at the end of her sentence. Iason wonders if this was Caroline's normal personality or if it was Damon’s compulsion.

“I'm sorry, Elena. I know what it's like to lose both your parents. In fact, Stefan, Iason and I have watched almost every single person we've ever cared about die” Wow way to continue on with the subject Damon and thank you for bringing up those memories.

“We don't need to get into that right now, Damon”, Stefan says, clearly fed up with Damon. 

“Oh, you know what, you're right, Stef. I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was bring her up. Mmm”. Seriously?! It always comes back to her. Iason lets out a small groan and leans his head back so it’s resting on the back of the couch.

“So Iason gives you an allowance?” Bonnie changes the topic and Iason lets out a small laugh.

“Where do you get that idea from?” Damon asks Bonnie with a little glare at Iason.

“Oh from Iason and Stefan, we were talking about cooking and about how trained as a chef which led to his job and how he gives you two money” Bonnie says this with a look that meant it was clear she was being annoying on purpose.

“Yeah, well good old Iason with his studying, chef, therapist, business. The lot right?” 

“I’m sorry therapist?” Caroline repeats a bit shocked.

“Oh yeah Iason enjoys spending his life doing stuff so he decided to learn therapy” Damon brags a bit which Iason does find a bit wholesome.

“Think you can help Elena” Caroline asks Iason a bit tactlessly, Iason just gives her a look whilst Elena shuffles a bit uncomfortable.

“Nah, I’m not taking clients and anyway I use it to help with my business as I deal with families who are going through hard times” Iason obviously didn’t want to say he works as a funeral service business owner next to the girl who lost her parents recently, that would be a bit awkward. Also he didn’t really want to help these people, not when Iason has a negative bias against them and has a sort of personal connection; that’s just bad etiquette.

Elena stands up, asking for empty cups as she heads into the kitchen to clean up leaving the offers to converse.

“Umm I’m going to head outside for some air” Iason uses the gap in conversation to sort of escape. Peace and quiet. Well nearly. But being under the moonlight and the crisp air gives Iason the urge to hunt someone down. Unfortunately everyone of the supernatural are being very well behaved. Which is good! He hates when people risk the exposure of the supernatural world but at times like these Iason does just want to burn someone. Oh well. He could use this energy to threaten Damon into not using Caroline for intimate needs. 

“One more” Oh great now Damon is talking to Elena alone in the kitchen, Iason hopes this doesn’t end with Stefan and Damon making the atmosphere more tense.

“Nice save” Elena lets out a breathy laugh, it does make Iason a little uncomfortable with the laugh as it does sound like she was about to flirt with someone and in the same house as Stefan, awkward.

“I like you. You know how to laugh. And you make Stefan smile, which is something I haven't seen in a very long time”. 

“Earlier, did you mean...Katherine?” Why does it always come back to that women. Damon gives a hum in response and is impressed that Stefan hasn’t gone in there and strangled Damon.

“How did she die?”

“Fire” Go fire! Although Iason has a strong feeling that she isn’t dead, in fact he is quite positive she isn’t dead because he didn’t feel her pass on. “Tragic fire”.

“Recently?” No it was not, it was a century ago but those two keep bringing her memory up she might as well still be in the same room as them.

“It seems like it was yesterday”

“What was she like?” 

Iason can see thousands of words that are crass to describe that woman but unlike his brothers Iason can be polite.

“She was beautiful” Okay so maybe Iason has a very different opinion. “A lot like you in that department. She was also very complicated and selfish and at times not very kind, but very sexy and seductive” Well at least he was a little aware of her bad traits.

“So which one of you dated her first?” Seems that Elena can be a little perceptive.

“Nicely deduced. Ask Stefan. I'm sure his answer differs from mine. I'd quit cheerleading if I were you” Nice topic change Damon, let her thoughts fester whilst seeming like you’re just looking out for her. Manipulation 101.

“Why do you say that?” 

“Oh, I saw you at practice. You looked miserable.” Okay so Iason definitely needs to talk with Damon because hanging out at a high school is too much like paedophile behaviour. And if he is forcing Caroline then he is getting a good smack.

“You saw that?”

“Am I wrong?”

“I used to love it. It was fun. Things are different this year. Everything that used to matter doesn't anymore” That is quite common when experiencing grief. 

“So don't let it. Quit, move on. Problem solved. Ta-da” Although a very straight forward response, it is decent advice.

“Some things could matter again”

“Maybe. But...seems a little unrealistic to me” Damon trying to be helpful? Strange but sweet, go big brother.

“I'm sorry. About Katherine. You lost her, too” Stop going back to her. Iason goes back into the living room and sees Bonnie stand and go towards the kitchen. Outside was nice and refreshing but inside? Iason can feel the hidden anger in Stefan.

“Hey. Need some help?” Iason is a bit disappointed that Bonnie went into the kitchen. He would have loved to talk with her more.

“Sure, why not?” Hearing that the conversation in there is done, Iason starts to focus more on Caroline who hasn’t stopped talking since he left.

“Matt tries, but he's just having a really hard time. You have to understand that they were each other's first. You know, like, from the sandbox”, this was already a conversation Iason does not want to be hearing.

“That's a really nice scarf” Really Stefan? Subtlety is definitely not your strong suit. How he hasn’t been found out is short of a miracle. Oh wait. That’s Iason. The miracle worker.

“Mm. Thank you, it's new”.

“Can I see it? I mean, would you mind taking it off?”. That was a dumb move and Iason looks at Stefan because he generally is an idiot.

“Oh, I can’t”, shock of all shocks, she’s been compelled to keep it on.

“Why not? You ok?” A decent question and one Iason will make sure that she is okay, Damon won’t have a choice.

“Um...All I know is that I can't take it off”.

“What are you two kids talking about?” Great, now Damon is back and already is going on a slightly hostile approach. Well done Stefan.

“I was just commenting on her scarf”

“Hmm. Hey, you know, um, Elena and Bonnie are finishing up the dishes. Why don't you go see if you can help?” Good they need some alone brother time so Iason can teach Damon a good lesson.

“Does it look like I do dishes?”, no she doesn’t, she looks a little like a spoiled brat.

“For me?”

“ Hmm...I don't think so”. Ha! Rejection for Damon. Although Damon goes up to her and looks her in the eyes so he can compel her.

“Go see if Elena needs help in the kitchen”

“You know what? I'm gonna go see if Elena needs some help in the kitchen”

“Great” Alone with just the three of them, hooray.

“They are people, Damon. She's not a puppet. She doesn't exist for your amusement, for you to feed on whenever you want to”. 

“Sure she does. They all do. They're whatever I want them to be. They're mine for the taking”. 

“All right, you've had your fun. You used Caroline, you got to meet Elena, good for you. Now it's time for you to go”.

“That's not a problem. Because...I've been invited in, and I'll come back tomorrow night and the following night and I'll do with your little cheerleader whatever I want to do. Because that is what is normal to me”. 

It looked like Damon was about to leave but Iason stands up and blocks the way for Damon.

“Hold it up there. You see I don’t mind the feeding aspect of you and Caroline, quite normal for vampires. But I will not tolerate you compelling her for sex, or you creeping around a high school. Understand, Damon?” 

Damon just looks at Iason and slowly nods, it seems that even he knew who would win in a fight between the two of them, and it wouldn’t be a very challenging fight for Iason to win either.

“Good, now it was lovely seeing you Damon. And Stefan, never force me to come to a dinner like this again” Iason gives a small glare to Stefan and is happy to see a smile on Damon’s face. Seems that he isn’t too mad at him for his little threat. “Also I still think it’s wrong for even Stefan to be dating a teenaged girl so for you to do Damon is just even more gross. Why do so many vampires do it?” 

Both Damon and Stefan give a little chuckle at the clear distaste on Iason's face but they then glare at each other. The joys of being the clear favourite sibling. Eventually the girls come out of the kitchen and they all leave, with Stefan giving Elena a kiss goodbye which Iason nearly gags at whilst he waits in his car.

The next day Iason is cooking some scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast, some plates clean of blood, others not, when Stefan joins for breakfast with a little box. 

“You're not giving that to Elena are you?” Iason asks whilst eating his portion of breakfast.

“What’s wrong with the necklace? It will protect Elena from being compelled”. Was his brother purposely obtuse? What’s wrong with the necklace?!

“Oh I don’t know, maybe because you got the necklace during one of your ripper blackouts? It could belong to a dead girl? Or, hmm, maybe slightly worse, an ex?” Stefan looks down at the necklace.

“Well if that were the case then the girl is dead either way, and it’s a necklace. It’s not going to harm her” Stefan finishes his breakfast and leaves and Iason really wants to whack him. Look at what the town is doing to him! He constantly wants to hit people, especially his brothers! Or maybe that’s just because it’s his brothers.

Iason has the whole day to himself and he is extremely bored, a problem with the town they're living in, there’s nothing to do. So to pass the time Iason goes up to his study and grabs a case which holds a simple violin in. Another one of his hobbies. Gently removing it from the case Iason checks the strings and then tunes it to then form the music from Pirates of the Caribbean, movies that he is highly enjoying and wants more to come out hopefully, World’s End cannot be the end of the saga. 

When Iason finishes performing the piece he gets some snacks and sits in the lounge to binge watch the three Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He did also make himself some chicken fajitas for lunch and then loaded fries for dinner. It was a very enjoyable lazy day, well that was until late at night when Stefan stormed inside the house.

“What’s up with you?” 

“Damon” Stefan replies shortly whilst making his way upstairs.

“What did he do?”

“Killed my teacher” 

“Makes sense. Want some dinner?” 

The only response Iason gets is Stefan’s bedroom door slamming close, which is very rude of him. Honestly having a vegetarian blood diet is making Stefan weaker but the fact he doesn’t feed often is making him even weaker, the complete fool.

Chapter Text

Downstairs Iason is again cooking breakfast but maybe he might need another plate because he can hear Damon terrorising Stefan in his bedroom. Those two really need to grow up. Ignoring the commotion upstairs, Iason focuses on the pancakes he’s cooking.

“All right, I deserved that. But I just wanted to let you know, they caught the culprit. The animal responsible for killing coach Tanner and all those people”. Hearing this makes Iason very happy because it means that there will be no hunters after him and his brothers and it also means less people to learn about the supernatural.

Unfortunately it seems that family breakfast won’t happen because after the little tumble about Damon and Stefan have, Damon leaves to go be troublesome. Although Iason is happy he can’t smell Caroline all over him which means he has left her alone, good brother. Now on the fence brother, Stefan comes down the stairs and eats his pancakes which have blood syrup on them. Creative ways to incorporate blood into one’s diet is a nice speciality of Iason. 

“It’s the Founders Council heritage display tomorrow, are you going?” Stefan asks Iason who is cleaning up the pans as he already ate his pancakes whilst cooking the others.

“Of course I’m going! There is barely anything else to do” Stefan leaves not long later, to go be with his ‘one true love’ or something. Iason didn’t really care, as long as Stefan isn’t compelling her to do things he could look away from the age gap. Look away! But still highly judging. 

Iason was checking his emails to pass the time when he hears and smells Damon entering the house and then Uncle Zach goes to him. Wonder how’ll that go?

“I didn't know you were here”. Sometimes Iason loves superhearing but other times he hates it. Like right now? He didn’t mind it but wished it was quieter. He is trying to work but those two are very loud.

“Just going through Stefan's homework. Boy, this country sure has dumbed down in the last hundred years. Why he wants to go to high school is beyond me. I mean, in the seventies, he went Ivy League. Harvard, I understood. Actually, no. I didn't get that either. Go ahead, purge. Get it out. What's on your mind?” Iason understands Damon's little rant but at the same time is guilty of doing sort of the same thing. Going back into education, check, going back to a high school education, hell no! Higher education is more fun and fulfilling as well as good knowledge whilst high school is repetitive and boring.

“Why are you here, Damon?”

“To spend time with you, Zach. Family's important”, Iason didn’t believe that for a second. Damon does find family important, well he did when he had his humanity on but this Damon? Doesn't really care. He does for Iason a lot more than anyone else but Zach and Stefan? They might as well not exist to him. Which is why Iason is a bit concerned for Zach, he doesn't really want to do a funeral for Zach, on the other hand, it’s something to do? But then Stefan will get annoyed and then the violence will escalate. Being a sibling stuck in between two rivaling siblings sucks!

“I know you. You always have a motive. So tell me, what is it this time?”

“You are in no position to question me” Iason can literally hear Zach struggling for breath which Iason expected to happen but he can also hear Stefan making his way to his bedroom.

“I didn't mean to upset you”

“This is not upset, Zach”.

“What’s going on?” Stefan has joined the room, well that room, Iason was still in his office pretending to look at emails.

“Having a family moment, Stefan. Spending some quality time”, poor Zach getting dropped by Damon, he’s quite old that could’ve broken his back. Iason has a feeling that Zach might not last long in this rivalry between Stefan and Damon in the small town. Damon leaves and Iason can focus more on his emails then those two as Stefan is currently less likely to kill Zach.

As Iason does his emails he hears Zach take Stefan down to the cellars after they talk about vervain and how it no longer grows in the town. Of course when they first came back to the house Iason did a search and found the vervain, did Stefan do anything that Iason asked of him? No, no he does not. He doesn’t check a house for potential vampire killing methods or check if the relative that lives there has a positive look on vampires.

It was late at night and Iason has already gotten dressed for the founder's heritage display. Luckily, he got an invitation when he went out for a nice walk through town and found the mayor's wife who was kind enough to invite him and that he could take a plus one…. This then reminded Iason of how single his life is. His brothers fighting over a girl, sort of, whilst Iason is here single as ever. 

Iason decided to wear a notch lapel suit in a navy blue, it had to at least go with his dark hair, it is the same colour as Damon’s but longer - his hair was more of a wavy mod cut then whatever is happening with his hair. His brothers don’t really care for appearance, just that they look ‘nice’. He didn’t mind being in a suit but he’s been said to have a ‘softboy aesthetic’, which didn’t bother Iason. He wears what he finds comfortable and goes together.

He is currently waiting downstairs whilst Damon annoys Stefan who’s getting ready for the event. For someone that normally just throws clothes on Stefan was sure taking his sweet time. 

“Why are you even going?” Oh right, Damon also got an invite from the mayor, she really does just hand those things out.

“It's only fitting. We were at the very first one, remember?”

“I think it's better if we don't draw attention to ourselves” Iason whole-heartedly agrees with that!

“So you should stay here. I'll see to it Elena has a good time. My goodness, I've driven you to drink”. Why his brothers drink bourbon Iason would never understand, it’s not even that good! Iason isn’t a big fan of drinking alcohol at all but if he had too maybe a cocktail or weak cider probably but bourbon, gross. If he has his way then in every event he would drink non-alcoholic drinks but for some reason not many events like that so Iason suffers through it thirsty. It’s been decades since he’s drunk alcohol and he doesn’t see the need to start drinking when he doesn’t like the taste of alcohol.

“Can't seem to rid myself of you. What else am I supposed to do, besides go about living my life?”

“Go about living my life. See, therein lies your eternal struggle. You're dead, dude. Get over it. What do you think?”

“Can you two stop comparing sizes and lets get a move on?” Iason shouts, fed up of waiting in the foyer for those two to move it. It seems that was the ticket as they finally get a move on towards the door but they have to continue with their childish taunting.

“It's cool not growing old. I like being the eternal stud”, that’s a gross way of putting it, why did they stop walking!?

“Yes, being a 150-year-old teenager has been the height of my happiness” Stefan really did pull the short end of the stick with his appearing young, Iason looks at least a young adult - because he was twenty when he died but he does get id sometimes.

“You cracked a funny, Stefan. I should have a drink to celebrate. 1864. You and Katherine were the perfect couple. It was hell watching you dance with her”, How?! How is it back onto her again! Also Damon, lovely brother of his, can you please move on? It has been a century and a bit since her, please move on.

“My happiness was short-lived, as you well know”.

“I remember. I left the party early, I was waiting for her. The night you dropped her off, I was waiting just inside. You were such a gentleman, gave her a kiss on the cheek. And what she really wanted was...Oh, well. Here's to history repeating itself, huh?” Damon then brings out the drink he was carrying, again alcohol obsessed brothers but even from near the door Iason can smell the vervain. ‘Sigh’, a fight is going to occur and Iason is going to be forced to watch it. Damon pours the drink onto the floor, and Iason sighs out loud as he goes to get a cloth to clean up the mess.

“I admire your effort, Stefan. Pouring yourself a drink then spiking the bottle with vervain. I'm not some drunk sorority chick. You can't roofie me. But I can't help but feel a little used. I thought we were having a moment. I have to go to the party angry. Who knows what I'll do?”

Damon leaves the house and Iason was lucky enough to be able to clean the drink before it stains the floor or his suit.

“That was his favorite scotch. I'm sorry, I thought it would work” Zach says to Stefan.

“I wasn't counting on it”

“You knew it would fail?”

“Did what I wanted. It lowered his guard. He won't expect me to try again so soon”, true but he still might be able to smell the vervain.

“I doubled what I put in the scotch”.

Did those two have to have a conversation? Iason wants to get on the road to beat the high amount of traffic that is likely going to happen because of the event.

Finally Stefan is ready to leave and Iason drives his car to the Gilbert household, great now he’s a chaperone or a third-wheel. He’s starting to really hate this town. Can he leave? Yes, will he? No. Why? His brothers will kill themselves or each other, they’re really dumb.

Luckily the traffic to the mayor's house isn’t too bad and Iason immediately leaves the two alone so that he can have a look at the objects on display and maybe get some inspiration for art or crochet objects.

Iason sees that Caroline and Damon are staying away from each other, although from the look of Caroline she wants to approach Damon but he’s avoiding her. See brothers can listen sometimes. Although is the compulsion broken? Taking a deep breath in, Iason focuses his senses on Caroline and senses that she has a small compulsion but that’s it, going deeper he sees that it’s a compulsion that allows Damon to feed and that’s it. Iason continues with the small talk with a random person of the town whilst he brings his senses back to himself. Iason excuses himself from the conversation before the women can offer him a drink, as he predicted there is only alcohol even though there are some teenagers and the sheriff in the building. The life of a non-alcoholic sucks in this town.

“”The founding families in Mystic Falls welcomes you to the inaugural founder's council celebration.” Wow, look, it's the original guest registry. Look at all these familiar names—Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood. Is that Damon Salvatore? Iason Salvatore? And, Stefan Salvatore?”, great, now that doesn’t look suspicious to those who know about vampires, come on Stefan bring those lying skills in.

“The original Salvatore brothers. Our ancestors. Tragic story, actually.” Damon cuts in the atmosphere between Stefan and Elena, Iason just hopes that Elena doesn’t get any weird feelings and tries to start an investigation.

“We don't need to bore them with stories of the past.”

“It's not boring, Stefan. I'd love to hear more about your family”, Iason also didn’t want to hear about the family's past.

“Well, I'm bored. I want to dance. Damon come dance with me” Caroline pleads whilst grasping onto Damon’s arm, Iason watches him closely as he gently pushes her off of him.

“Nah not into that thing”.

“Could I just borrow your date?” Caroline turns to Elena who looks surprised and Iason can see Stefan looking uncomfortable.

“Oh, uh”

“I don’t really dance” Stefan tries to back out of it but Iason can see the grin in Damon’s eyes from where he’s standing near a display of some earrings. The founder's items are really boring but it was something different to do.

“Oh, sure he does. You should see him. Waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk. He does it all”. Caroline lets out a little squeal at the idea of dancing.

“You wouldn't mind, would you, Elena?” 

“It's up to Stefan”, even Iason can tell that Stefan is about to be forced to dance, this Caroline that’s Iason only known for a few days, he can tell she’s stubborn and wants her way.

“Well sorry, but I'm not going to take no for an answer” Iason moves towards a wall so he can watch as Stefan is forced to dance with Caroline who drags him to the dance floor. The downside to this was that some single older ladies sometimes walk up to him and ask if he wants to dance, which he always politely declines. 

“I want to apologize to you for being such a world-class jerk the other night when I tried to kiss you. There's no excuse. My therapist says I'm...Acting out, trying to punish Stefan”, that’s what Iason said and he’s not Damon’s therapist. He’s no one's therapist, he doesn’t take clients, he’s just licensed so he can approach grieving families better. This also led to Iason making mandatory sessions for his workers to also help them gain better techniques when talking with grieving families. 

“Damon told you to ask me to dance. Didn't he?”. Iason could understand why Stefan thinks that but for a change it’s not Damon, just a bored teenage girl.

“Now why would he do that?”

“Would you like one?” Stefan offers to the underaged girl who legally cannot drink in a room full of adults and her sheriff mother some champagne. No brain, at all.

“Okay, just tell me if you see my mom”, wonder if she will kick Stefan?

“The Salvatore name was practically royalty in this town. Until the war. There was a battle here—” Great, instead of entertainment now Iason is forced to watch Stefan getting a teenager drunk whilst Damon teaches Elena the family history. Can nothing ever go Iason's way?

“The Battle of Willow Creek”, Iason thinks about giving up his life but that’s not a good reason to, he can power through the boring event. Maybe something interesting will happen?

“I know, we talked about it in class. Confederate soldiers fired on a church with civilians inside”, sounds like Stefan is having fun in history, well before Damon killed the teacher.

“What the history books left out was the people that were killed. They weren't there by accident. They were believed to be union sympathizers. So some of the founders on the confederacy side back then wanted them rounded up and burned alive. Stefan and Damon had someone they loved very much in that church. And when they went to rescue them, they were shot. Murdered in cold blood”, true that did happen, Iason didn’t love that woman but he was tempted to kill father.

“Who was in the church that they wanted to save?”, someone that really needs to learn how to stay dead.

“A woman, I guess. Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?”

“Look, I'm sorry that you and Stefan have this thing between you, but I can't get in the middle of it, Damon. I just...I hope you two can work it out”

“I hope so, too”, Iason was struggling to tell if that was a lie or the truth but he too wanted everything to work out. He was fed up with having to split the years between his brothers. Hunting them down to have fun with them, looking after them. He just wants to be a family with his brothers but they’re too involved in this rivalry or staying away from each other that Iason has nearly lost hope of a family. It sometimes felt that he was a second thought, even as the ‘favourite’ sibling.

Soon Damon and Elena join Caroline and Stefan outside where people are dancing, feeling left out. Iason also goes outside so he can watch people dance better as he was previously looking through a window like a weirdo. 

“What'd we miss?”

“We were just chatting. Drink, Damon?”

“No, thanks, I'll pass”, shock, after nearly being poisoned he wouldn’t accept a drink from the person who tried to poison him.

“Stefan, do you have another dance in you?”

“Absolutely”, the power of liking a person, they can make you do things that you normally hate doing.

“They look so cute together”

“Don’t talk to me, please” Damon is taking the stay away from Caroline very seriously because he leaves her and stands next to Iason to watch the people dance.

“Is anyone there free to snack on?” Iason just smiles.

“In what way?” 

“Oh, in the devour their body and soul way”, Laughing Iason shakes his head.

“Unfortuanly and fortunately not, people in the know have kept in their family and no one is breaking rules so no one for me to eat”

“Shame”

Iasam hums in response because it complicates his role in the supernatural. An upholder of the balance and keeping people from not knowing about the supernatural and keeping the supernatural laws in place. A very important job that Iason takes seriously but his predecessors have made such a name for themselves when people break the laws that no one does anymore, leaving Iason very bored in his role.

“I hope Damon didn't drive you too crazy,” Stefan says to Elena.

“No, actually, he was on good behavior. He even apologized and explained why he is the way he is. And it all goes back to Katherine”, can they not go at least four hours without bringing her up.

“So tell me about her. What happened?”

“It's not something I like to talk about”

“From where I’m standing you two don’t know how to not talk about it” Iason mutters, knowing both of his brothers will be able to hear him. He gets a light smack at the back of his head before Damon starts to walk off. Sometimes Iason wishes his brothers will stay around him more and spend time with him. He puts in a lot of effort to care and love for them, yet they do not show a reciprocation of those feelings. 

“The truth is, Stefan...I don't really know that much about you, and I'd really love it if you would open up to me”, Iason focuses back on the two as they stop dancing and finds Elena’s words a bit humours because she decided to kiss Stefan without knowing him a full week.

“Damon said something, didn't he? He likes to play games and cause trouble, Elena”

“This isn't about Damon, it's about me trying to get to know you. Look, you're the mystery guy, and I like that. But with mystery comes secrets, and this thing with Katherine”, so Elena doesn’t like secrets? Their relationship isn’t going to end well at all. Vampires and the supernatural come with a lot of secrets over the years.

“Let it go. I don't want to talk about it”. Even to Iason that sounds like Stefan is purposely hiding something that he doesn't want someone to find out. What a way to make a girl feel special. Iason feels tempted to leave but watching his brother's relationship crumble a little in front of him, is sort of nearly funny. Iason did warn Stefan to stay away from the girl so it’s his own fault.

“Well, then, say something about yourself. Anything. Otherwise, I'm left with nothing but what other people tell me”

“Don't you see what Damon has done here? He's trying to get you to turn against me”

“Well, then I guess it’s working” Elena then leaves Stefan and Iason finds himself on Elena’s side. Blaming the brother when you don’t open up about yourself? Not material for a healthy relationship. Iason can feel himself feeling sick to his stomach that he’s on the side of a doppelgänger for anything.

Eventually Stefan and Damon go their separate ways and Iason just continues to watch the couples dance and mentally plays a game about their relationships. Who is cheating? Who’s keeping a dark secret? That sort of game.

After a while as Iason was getting really bored he hears Elena walk up to Damon and push him. Entertainment?

“There is something seriously wrong with you. You stay away from Caroline or I will go straight to her mother, the sheriff. You got it? Stay away from her”. Good for her for sticking up for her friend but not fully needed because Iason is on the watch. Although from Elena’s point of view, a vampire bite might look really suspicious but at least that’s all Damon’s doing to her. Iason made sure of it and he’s constantly keeping an eye on them both, with his senses he can tell the magic on Caroline and he can smell if they’ve done anything which they haven’t. Iason walks inside as he’s grown bored of watching people, maybe he’ll play the game with the couples inside.

“I'm sorry. I take it all back. You're completely right about Damon”, so now Elena is going to talk to Stefan about the situation, well his answer is most likely going to further derail the relationship.

“What did he do?”

“There are bruises all over Caroline's body. Bite marks, and he has her all confused and messed up in the head. You don't look surprised”

“Um...I'm handling it”

“Handling it? Stefan, you should be having him arrested”, first couple fight? In front of everyone?

“Elena, please. I...I don't expect you to understand”, good one there Stefan. Tell a person they don’t understand something when they’re upset and a bit mad, because that will go over very well.

“I don't understand anything, Stefan. So why don't you just clear it up for me?”

“Look, there are things that you don't know, okay? Things that I want to tell you, but I can't. And I may never be able to. And I just need you to trust me”

“Trust is earned. I can't just magically hand it over”, Iason feels more disgusted that he’s still taking her side, mainly because of what she is but there’s still time! She might turn out to be a backstabber and manipulative like the other ones.

“I'm so sorry. I have to go” Stefan then goes to leave to where Caroline and Damon are standing and Iason decides that he’s had enough of the event. Nothing was inspiring and he’s been bored for ages just listening to people gossip, and listening to his brother's relationship drama. Getting into his car Iason waits for a minute before Stefan gets in and he sees that Damon is tied up in the back seats.

“Seriously? I just want to go home and now you’re bringing your drama to my car?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry now can you drive us to the house?” Iason gives Stefan a look for his attitude before starting to drive back to the house.

Stefan and Zach lock Damon up in the basement and luckily Damon believes Iason when he says he’s not a part of it. As it’s well known that Iason doesn’t take sides when it comes to their drama and lets them hash it out unless it gets dangerous.

Iason cleans up any mess that’s in his car because Stefan can be messy when it comes to Damon when he gets a tingle in his spine. Concentrating Iason sees the sheriff, the mayor and a random guy talking about five bodies drained of blood and discussing how ‘they’ve come back’.

Great now the hunters know, well done Damon.

Chapter Text

It’s been three days of complete hell, pun not intended, and he constantly hears Damon complaining about being hungry. It was annoying because Iason is trying to work but he’s always whining. This is why he hates being their brother sometimes. Although Stefan is taking Iason job in protecting the supernatural by punishing Damon lightly, if it was Iason then Damon might not be alive. 

Over the past few days Iason has been stress baking and crocheting which he then donates. His baking choice? Shortcake, pies and muffins. The baking was enjoyable, gave him something to do and reduced his stress and it made the house smell nice. Downside? A lot of people now found him generous and wanted him to bake them stuff for parties and the likes. He’s really starting to hate the town. 

Luckily he was able to do some work but his company doesn’t often need his input, although he does like to keep on top of the supernatural side of the funeral as he keeps documents on the death, how long they lived, where they died, how they died and who killed them. He tries to gather this information because it allows Iason to be aware if there is someone dangerous getting close to any of his brothers. This did come in handy for 1920, but Stefan was an idiot.

Soon Iason hears and sees Stefan come out of the basement and goes to Zach. What was Iason doing? Sitting on the couch watching a cooking show whilst cuddled with a crochet crocodile, he was very much being lazy after so much baking. Which Stefan didn’t even appreciate!

“He's awake. He's weak, but it's probably best to stay out of the basement. He's Damon. I'm not sure how dangerous he still might be”

“You're going to school?”

“Came here to live a life. It's about time I get back to that. And Elena, if she's still speaking to me”

“Why haven't you called her?”

“What am suppose to do, feed her another lie? I hate lying to her, Zach. I'm not good at it. She already thinks I'm hiding something”

“What choice do you have? You came here because you wanted to live as normal a life as you could. You knew this was going to be a part of it”

“I hope you do know I’m not moving from this couch, Zach can die and I will not move, okay?” 

They both looked at Iason with annoyance.

“We get it, you won’t do anything. But seriously stay out of the basement” Stefan then leaves for school and Iason goes back to becoming one with the couch. 

He also had no faith in Zach, he was going to do something stupid. He’s always been curious about the three of them and now he has a chance to talk to one of them? The crazy one. No chance he isn’t taking the shot and it will lead to his death. Iason knows there is no stopping it. Salvortores are stubborn and don’t listen to reason so Iason was going to let them suffer some consequence, also Zach was going to die from the start. He had hope but since coming back to the Mystic Falls, Iason just had a feeling. 

And a while later Iason hears Zach go down into the cellar like an idiot. Was he the only one with reason? 

“I'm full of vervain. I've been putting it in my coffee for 16 years. My blood will only make you worse. Damon?”, smart Zach, tell him who's to blame for vervain, immediately making yourself a target.

“So it was your vervain. Good for you. Good for you. Family only runs so deep”

“We're not family, Damon. Only in the most dysfunctional sense. In fact, I avoided having a living, breathing, loving family because of you”, Iason paused the tv as he listens to the conversation, after all it was sort of free entertainment. Nothing that’s happening is really affecting him yet so he doesn’t need to get involved. Although he is keeping an eye on those hunters, they were already in the know so he doesn’t have to kill them but he might if they harm his brothers. Or should he? Letting them hurt his brothers a little might teach them a lesson.

“I don't guess I could talk you into bringing me a rabbit or something? I'd settle for Stefan's diet at this point”, that would be fun to watch as Damon struggles to be vegetarian.

“You know I can't do that”

“You succeeded, Zach. I'm shutting down. You're like your grandfather. He didn't like it when I came to visit, either”, Joseph Salvatore, someone that Iason never got to meet but a man whose soul Iason enjoyed tormenting. A man who sold Damon out to that society leading to his capture, Iason was able to help him and his friend escape when Iason sensed his brother in trouble. He did end up hiring Damon’s friend to work for his company as the man didn’t know what to do, he works in the French section for now as he likes to travel and change sections. 

“But you don't visit, Damon. You appear, unannounced, reminding me that this isn't my house; that you're just permitting me to live here. Hell, that you're permitting me to live”

“Someone had to mow the lawn”

“I came to say good-bye, Damon” the sound of the front door opening happens at the same time as Damon grabbing Zach, who Iason can hear struggling for breath.

“Unlock it. Unlock the door, Zach” 

However, Stefan joins and frees Zach who breathes heavily.

“Keep it up, Damon. The more energy you expend, the faster you'll go”

Stefan comes back out and talks to Zach about how he shouldn’t have gone in the cellar whilst checking his throat. Seeing that nothing else is happening Iason stands up to continue making his home made pizzas. He made enough dough for a good pizza for all three of them but as Iason was making the pizzas Stefan says at the door that he’s going to the Grill to meet Elena and he’ll be back later. He better not eat at the Grill because the pizzas are for dinner. Whilst he was putting the pizzas in the oven Iason gets a text from Stefan saying he’s having dinner at Elena’s.

…

Iason now wants to kill Elena.

And Stefan.

All the effort into making the pizzas and what does he get? 

Nothing!

Ungrateful brat his brother!

Looking at the pizzas he knows that none of them have blood on them, a little punishment to Stefan. It was going to be in the drink instead! With no blood on the pizza it meant that Stefan’s pizza can go to the bin.

…

“Here you go Damon, a non-blood pizza that was meant for Stefan but he bailed” Iason slides the pizza to Damon who looks more awake at the smell of the pizza.

“So rude of him, no blood? Guess he’s been a bit of a troublemaker for you then” Damon eats the pizza. 

“Yes. Oh! I’ve also been feeding Lamia and preening her feathers. I also made sure to trim her nails as they were getting a bit dangerously long” Damon nods but soon he gets tired and falls into a little nap. Disappointed, Iason goes upstairs to eat his own pizza. It was nice talking to Damon, even though it wasn’t much of a conversation.

Another Stefan talking to Damon and failing moment and then Stefan is off to this ‘Sexy Studs Car Wash’. Iason was tempted to go but then he learnt the car wash is done by teenagers and he immediately sat back down. 

NO THANKS!

It sounded like a recipe for arrest. 

So for the day Iason did some … sketching. And by sketching he just drew some random shapes together and it formed a weird monster-ish figure. 

OH!

That’s a good idea, turn one of the monster-ish figures into a crochet plush and then sell them or donate them. Could make a bit of money and if they are popular he might have them on the sell list. It could attract the more goth or alt people to his store. Maybe even the fairycore and cottagecore, who knows! They all have variety in taste. 

It was fun drawing the monster figure and trying to place it into a doable crochet pattern but whilst he was doing it he got a sense. 

Someone’s in the cemetery.

An annoying sense that he gets all the time. Being sensitive to death and cemeteries. Ignoring it as he senses that it is just teenagers smoking as normal he goes back to the patterns when he hears the front door open. 

Caroline.

Damon is crafty. And smart, he’ll give him that. But still dumb enough to gain the hunters attention.

“Damon? Damon? Damon? Oh, my god! What is this? How did I know that you were here?”

“Because I wanted you to. Very, very badly. Let me out of here. Please”

“You bit me”.

“You liked it. Remember”, gross, Iason did not want to hear that. He was confident that he meant it non-sexual as well because he kept a tab on them and nothing had occurred since he threatened Damon. Just normal blood drinking. Although, if it was a sexual way then it was before Iason stopped Damon and he feels bad for Caroline.

“Why do I keep remembering the same things, but in different ways?”

“You remember what I want you to remember. And now that the vervain has passed out of your system, you won't remember what you're about to do”

“What am I about to do?”

“You're gonna open the door. You're gonna open the door”, Iason hears the door open but he also hears Zach run down into the cellar.

“No! No! Get out of here. Run! Run!”. The smell of blood sticks in the air alongside death which makes Iason a bit hungry and ready to hunt. Soon Caroline runs through and out of the door with Damon trying to catch her but he gets burnt by the sun at the opened door.

“Clean up your face, it’s covered in blood” Damon steps into the living room and rolls his eyes at Iason.

“I think it’s one of my best looks”

“Then your delusional, clean up before you stain something”, thankfully Damon does as Iason required and cleans up his face but then he goes on the hunt for his ring, leaving Iason alone. He could have taken the time to talk with Iason but his hatred for Stefan is more important.

It’s a couple more hours before Stefan returns and he immediately goes into the cellar because he can smell the blood and finds Zach dead. Iason was sitting on the couch just watching out of the window as time passed.

“Zach! Oh, no, Zach…” 

A massive tingle goes through Iason.

Great, more trouble.

Damon was also gone and Iason was always alone in the big house.

But then Iason senses it.

Damon was in the cemetery with the teenagers.

Stefan grabs a stake and Iason watches as he goes to the door and -

“What are you?”

Elena is close to the truth.

Chapter Text

He’s going to need to call Vera and add this Elena girl to the list of people who know.  

Stefan doesn’t say anything so Elena repeats the question.

“What are you? What are you?”, she sounded a little distressed. Iason gets his phone from the couch side ready to shoot a message to Vera, his closest friend and someone who works for him in keeping information.

“You know” Stefan replies in a faux answer. 

“No, I don’t”. It seems that Elena is in denial but she will learn the truth soon. 

“Yes, you do, or you wouldn't be here”

“It's not possible. It can't be”, it is sometimes entertaining to see people go through the stages of learning about the supernatural, but after a while it gets repetitive. 

Now should he kill Stefan for revealing the supernatural to Elena?

Technically he can if he does reveal it and he should. It is his job.

However, Elena is a doppelgänger which is supernatural so Stefan gets off free. 

Plus, he can’t kill every vampire that reveals the supernatural, that would be dumb. What he does is stop people from revealing the supernatural to a big mass of people or those who will be quick to expose the entire supernatural world.

“Everything you know...And every belief that you have is about to change. Are you ready for that?”. Is he being dramatic?

“What are you?”

“I’m a vampire”

Dun. Dun. Dun. 

“I shouldn't have come”, Elena pants out and Iason can clearly hear the fear in her voice and Stefan trying to get closer to her.

“No. Please”, he then hears her try to run away but then Stefan vamps in front of her. As if that wouldn’t make her more afraid. Now would Stefan compel her to forget? Or is going to remember. Either way Iason sends off a text to Vera to mention that Elena is now in the know and to add it to her already pre-existing file. 

What?

She’s a doppelgänger.

As soon as Iason saw her he messaged Vera to start a file, she’s going to cause problems and Iason is most likely going to need to clean some of them up or maybe he won’t, all depends.

“No. No. How did you do that?”

“Please don't be afraid of me”

“Let me go”

“No. Elena, there's things that you have to know and understand”

“Let me go”

“Elena, please”

Iason hears a car start and drive away and soon enough Stefan vamps away. He felt tempted to follow but he wasn’t desperate for entertainment. Looking at his phone Iason does some calculations and thinks it would be nice to hear from Vera but then he gets a feeling again.

And Damon killed those three at the cemetery. Another three people died because of his brothers, can they ever take a rest?

Dialling the number it doesn't take long for it to connect.

“Hi babe”

“Hey, so what do you think?”

“You were right. Your going to have your work cut out for ya”

Iason just groans, he might like to do stuff but when it's worded as work he hates the idea of doing it.

“I know. I know. But hey at least it’s easy to be near everything. You can stop problems from spiralling. But anyway this Elena is going to cast a lot of attention on the town”.

“She is. I have baby vampires, untriggered werewolves, an untriggered hunter, human hunters and my brothers”. Vera's laugh is crystal clear.

“And then the big guys are going to come into town for the doppelgänger, wouldn’t want to be you” 

“Well, do you want to come into town and join me?”

“Oh hell no! I would rather kiss someone's feet than do that!”

“It’s not too bad yet"

“Yeah but you have Damon, the horny brother who won’t leave me alone”

“True he is annoying and needs to keep it in his pants. I’m sure that if there was some form of vampire aids Damon would be a massive carrier”. 

“Very true, anyway we all know your the only one I would sleep with out of the Salvatore's”

“Awww, thanks babes”

“No problem, want me to suck your dick?”

Iason laughs at how serious Vera sounds.

“Speaking of sleeping around, have you found a special partner yet?”

“Ughh, no I haven’t. Worse part of this time, everyone wants sex! Can I have some good love dovey romance without the sex!?! No! It sucks!”

“I’m with you hunny, the single life isn’t friendly to us” 

“No it is not”

“Oh! Something big is about to happen” 

“Lay it on me”

“The human hunters got the Gilbert watch again”

“No. Really? Your life just got worse”

“Thanks”

“No problem, anyway I’ll file the paperwork. Talk to see whenever”

“Whenever”

Vera hangs up and Iason grabs a cushion and just screams into it. Why does the watch have to reappear? 

The death in the town is probably going to stay the same but Iason now very much wants to vacation away from his brothers. He wasn’t about to let them take his brothers! 

…

Although getting caught can teach them a good lesson to be more discreet!

He desperately needs a break.

So he goes for the next best thing! 

He goes to bed.

The next morning Iason makes some egg muffins and adds some blood sauce for Stefan who looks downcast. 

“Not working well for you? What can I do for you? I’ll help however I can”

“Can you just stay here? I’m meeting her at the Grill today” Iason just nods and watches as Stefan eats his muffin and leaves without another word. It was a similar sight to when he got out of a ripper bend. Those were the worst! But he helped him through them, with the aid of Lexi.

As Iason goes about cleaning the house, someone has to! Zach is dead. Iason senses that people are in the cemetery and are investigating the body. It was the hunters. Oh good, now they are going to probably get aggressive.

Whilst he’s cleaning the door opens and Iason smells death and his brother, so it was Damon. Looking into the living room he watches as Damon drags a teenage girl into the room and puts her onto the couch.

“Where are you, Stefan? I'm trapped at the house, and I'm getting really bored and really impatient, and I don't do bored and impatient. Bring me my ring. Damn it.”

“Hey! Get her off the couch she’s bleeding”, Damon turns to look at Vicki and sees her bleeding from the neck.

“Aw, don't get blood on the couch!” Damon pouts towards Iason and shrugs. 

“Clean it and fix it, or I will get you to get a new one from miles away and have to drive it back”. Damon rolls his eyes at the threat  

“Please? I got you good, didn't I?”. His brother is very strange. Talking to an unconscious girl that was clearly his food. “Well, you're not gonna be any fun today. I'm so gonna regret this”. Iason watches as Damon bites his wrist and feeds it to the girl. 

“Oh, you're going to regret that”, Iason verbally agrees with Damon who gives him a pointed glare which Iason raises his hands in surrender at. Seeing that nothing else was really happening he continues on with the cleaning.

“Drink up. Drink it up. Don't drip. There you go. Good girl. That's it”. Sometimes listening to his brother makes Iason think they are massive creeps.

When he got to the upstairs cleaning Iason hears music loudly playing, which is never a good sign. Loud music means that someone is trying to have fun or block superhearing. Iason decides to trust his brother and just continue with his cleaning in the hallway. 

…

That lasted all of a whole five minutes before he started to make his way downstairs. However, before he gets down there he senses it.

Vicki is about to die. 

Great. Another vampire.

That was likely the smell of death that was coming from around Damon, Iason must be really out of it if he couldn’t recognise the difference between the smell of someone killing people and someone about to die. He blames the town and the amount of worry it's giving him but he resolves to start to centre himself more so he can have a better hold on his abilities.

Stepping inside the living room he watches as Damon kills Vicki.

“A mistake in the making, huh?”

“Don’t start, go back to cleaning, maid” Iason glares at Damon. Not just for the comment but because he was also making a mess of a room he just cleaned. As retribution Iason goes up to a curtain and opens it causing it to burn a bit of Damon's skin.

Damon yelps out in pain and goes to the other side of the room.

“What the hell?!”

“Watch your manners” Iason closes the curtain and continues upstairs to clean, it was pointless to clean downstairs as Damon and Vicki were going to make a mess. Oh! Remembering that Vicki is a vampire, Iason sends a quick message to Vera.

Iason: Hey, Vicki Donovan is transitioning, high risk to supernatural secrecy. A drug addict. Keep you updated.

Vera: Ha! Have fun loser. 

Vera always did find it funny when Iason suffered mentally on the job. She’s a great best friend! 

Soon enough the music gets a bit quieter and Iason hears a door close. Looking outside he watches as Vicki leaves the house. 

Is Damon serious? Did he want the whole town to know about vampires?

Watching as soon Damon leaves with a smug face, Iason puts down the clean supplies and just rests his head on the wall.

How is that nearly two weeks and so much has happened?

After his little break Iason continues with cleaning for twenty minutes before he gets the feeling again. 

Someone is in the cemetery.

Vicki.

Letting out a groan, Iason puts down his cleaning supplies and goes into his car so he can get to the cemetery. He wasn’t in a big rush as she isn’t a full vampire and the others are likely also hunting her down.

Getting out of the car, Iason walks for a little bit until he sees that Vicki and Stefan are talking.

“You'll fade quickly...And then it'll all just be over”

“I'll be dead”

“Acutally, you both will be dead if we don’t move”. This causes their conversation to stop as they look at Iason.

“What?”

“Really, Stefan? ‘What’, I’m saying a hunter is here and we need to move now”.

However, as is normal Stefan ignores him and continues talking with Vicki. Is he a joke? This is why he ends up having to save his brothers constantly. Iason plans to watch Stefan get shot then.

Teach him a lesson that he likely will ignore.

“I know. It'll be ok. You're gonna be ok. I can help you”

“Is it better? Is it better? Will I be better? I wanna go home. Will you take me home?”

As soon as Stefan says ‘ok’ he is shot in the chest and the hunter Logan Fell steps out. Look at that, Iason is right, again. The cemetery is his grounds, he knows everyone who steps foot there and knows his way around instinctively. Like how Damon is coming up to them.

“No!”

Damon comes out of hiding places and drains Logan of most of his blood and drops his body unceremoniously onto the floor. He then swaggers up to Stefan and pulls the bullet out of his chest, doing it in a way that would inflict pain.

“It's wood. They know. If anyone's gonna kill you, it's gonna be me. My ring”

As Damon talks to Stefan, Vicki who smells the human blood rushes to Logan and begins to drink the remaining amount of blood, finishing her transitioning.

Could Iason have stopped her? Maybe, but it would be a testament of how fast he could move and if Damon would have stopped me; which would have been highly likely.

“No! No! Vicki!”

“I'm sorry”

“Opps”, Damon says it never much not apologetic. Iason also watches as he takes the Gilbert device off of Logan’s body. That probably will still end up coming to hurt his brothers.

Iason gets back into his car and drives back to the boarding house whilst his brothers go off in their separate ways and Vicki likely goes home.

She is definitely not making it that long.

Iason: Vicki is now a vampire

Vera: Yeah! Druggie vampire! Want to bet how long she’ll last?

Iason: 31st, she will die. October 31st.

Vera: So tomorrow?

Iason: Yes.

Iason: There is also another

Vera: Vampire?

Iason: Yep!

Vera: Who?

Iason: ▯▯▯▯▯ ▯▯▯▯

Chapter Text

Iason, after finishing cleaning up everything from Damon yesterday and completing the house, felt like being lazy. He wanted to relax. Meditate and do some yoga. 

But what does he get?

Both brothers and a newbie vampire.

“I don't understand why I have to stay cooped up here. Why can't I just go home?”

“Because you're changing, Vicki, and it's not something you wanna do alone”.

Big toe yoga pose.

“There's nothin' about that Logan guy I killed in here. Not a word. Someone's covering it up”. Well Iason could easily tell them who but they never ask him and he doesn’t want to help them. Ignore his advice and help, he will stop giving it. Simple.

“What is that?”

Crescent moon pose.

“This is a very special, very old compass. What was Logan Fell doing with it? Aren't you curious?”

“Well, if you're so worried that somebody's onto you, why don't you just leave town, Damon?”

“We should all be worried”

Eagle pose.

“Hey, um, I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?”

“Here”

“What is it?”

Triangle pose.

“It's what you're craving”

“Heh. Don't lie to the girl. It's so not what you're craving, but it'll do in a pinch, right, Stef?”

“What is it?”. Vampires are a popular media, how can she not guess what is in the cup?

“Yeah, what is it? Is it a skunk? Saint Bernard? Bambi?”

Caterpillar pose

“Go on. Give it a try”

“She's new. She needs people blood. She can't sustain on that stuff”

“Yeah, why can't I have people blood?”

“Yeah”, the fact that Damon can act like a teenage girl is sort of embarrassing.

Butterfly pose.

“Because it's wrong to pray on innocent people, Vicki”

“You don't have to kill to feed. Just find someone really tasty and then erase their memory afterwards. It's so easy”

“No, no, no. There's no guarantee that you can control yourself, okay? It takes years to learn that. You could easily kill somebody, and then you have to carry that with you for the rest of your life, which, if I haven't made clear, is eternity”. Some vampires learn to live with that guilt later on so they are fine.

Cow face pose.

“Don't listen to him. He walks on a moral plane way out of our eye line. I say snatch, eat, erase”

“Hey, look at me. We choose our own path. Our values and our actions, they define who we are”

“Okay, count deepak. I am outta here”

“Can I have some more?”

Seated gate pose.

Damon comes downstairs and Elena is at the door ringing the bell which Damon then opens. Iason can probably guess that Elena has a pinched expression and doesn't want to see Damon. Well same here! Iason just wants some peace but he can never get it.

“Is Stefan here?”

“Yep!”

“Where is he?”

“And good morning to you, little miss ‘I’m on a mission’”

Head to knee I pose

“How can you be so arrogant and glib after everything that you've done?”

“And how can you be so brave and stupid to call a vampire arrogant and glib?”

Damon has a great point. Calling a vampire names often leads to that person dead. Vampires often have short tempers.

“If you wanted me dead, I'd be dead”

“Yes, you would”

“But I’m not” Iason was getting tempted to do it himself.

“Yet”. Amen

Heron pose

“Where is Stefan?”

“He's upstairs singing ‘The rain in Spain’. Knock yourself out”

Damon leaves and Elena starts to walk through the house but Elena stops to look at Iason who very much wanted her eyes off of him.

“What’s he doing?”

Lord of fishes pose

“Yoga”. Iason says like she's an idiot, which she sort of is if she needs to ask.

“Stefan? Stefan?” Elena shouts, everyone in the house can hear her, no need to shout.

“Yes”

“Where is Vicki?” 

“She’s upstairs”

“What happens now? Because my brother is out there searching for her with the rest of the town. What do I tell him?”

“I'm working with her, but it's gonna take time. She's a very volatile and impulsive personality. She's a drug user. I mean, all that's gonna play a part in how she responds to this”

Half pigeon pose

“So, she's a vampire with issues? What am I supposed to do? Because I'm lying to everyone that I care about. What's gonna happen to her?”

“I'm gonna keep her here with me until I know that she's safe”

Probably not going to work out all that well as she is going to die.

“How long is that?” Vicki appears and asks Stefan clearly fed up of being stuck in the house. She could join him in yoga or do something productive.

“We can talk about that later”

“Hey Vicki. How are you?

“How am I? You’re kidding, right?”

Wide split pose

Nailed it! 

All the others go into the kitchen and Iason can smell that some coffee is brewing, they better not be using his nice coffee. Taking a more focused attention on smell Iason notices that it’s the cheaper stuff for guests. Good. Iason might have killed someone if they touched his stuff.

“Coffee is our friend. It's the caffeine. It circulates through our veins, and it warms our body so we're not so cold to the touch”, Stefan explains to both Vicki and Elena who were in the kitchen with Stefan. It was a bit rude of him to make Vicki a drink but not offer anyone else one. Common host decency. 

“Well, what if I wanna drink human blood?”

“You're gonna have to learn to live with that urge and fight it on a daily basis one day at time”

Staff pose

“Oh god! Don't start with that whole 12 steps thing. School counsellor has been down that road, and it doesn't work for me”

If she did feed Iason has a feeling that she would be a ripper.

“It can work. It's your choice, Vicki”

“So you've never tasted human blood?”

“Not in a long time”

“How long?”

“Years and years. I’m not proud of my past behaviour”

“Does this sketchy feeling ever go away? It's like I have a massive hangover. This daylight thing is a bitch. I need more blood. Where's your bathroom? I have to pee. Why do I have to pee? I thought I was dead”. Vicki walks off in the direction of a bathroom.

Banana pose.

“I'm going to, uh...I'm gonna get her some more. All right. I'll be quick”

Stefan then leaves but Vicki returns leaving her and Elena alone. So should Iason step up if Elena gets into trouble?

“False alarm. My body's feeling really funky. It's a good funk, but it's weird”

“Hmm, who are you calling?”

“Jeremy”

Protective sister mode engage.

“Vicki, you can't see Jeremy anymore”

“Oh come on don't you start. I'm gonna see whoever I wanna see”

Supine foot to head.

Girl fight?

“Even though you could hurt him?”

“I would never hurt Jeremy”

“I know you think that but I can't take that risk. You're gonna have to let Jeremy go now”

“Oh really? And how long have you been preparing the ‘you're not good enough’ speech? I'm assuming it predates the whole vampire thing”

Happy baby pose

“All I am saying is Jeremy is not getting involved in any of this. I mean it, Vicki.”

“Or what?”

Iason hears the sound of vamp speed and a thud against a wall.

“Let's get one thing straight, you perky little bitch. You had my brother whipped for fifteen years. Fifteen years and then you dumped him. When I look at you that is all I see, just so you know. And I'm gonna see Jeremy whenever I wanna see Jeremy, because I have some fun new toys to play with, and I won't think twice about ripping your little head off. You got it?”

Vicki lets go of Elena who starts to cough and she leaves her to go around the house.

Victory for Vicki.

Surprise straddle pose

Stefan soon returns and goes to Elena and they both go up to his bedroom where Vicki is lying down, listening to music.

“She threatened me”

“She's on edge. Imagine every sense in your body operating at super speed. I mean, she's uncomfortable in her own skin. And then when you throw in her other issues…”

“How long before it settles? Hours? Days? Weeks?”

“There's no rule book”

“Well, how long before you learned to control it?”

“A while, But I didn't have anybody helping me. I had to do it on my own. The thing is it's hard to resist certain people especially when you're new, it's difficult to separate your feelings. Love, lust, anger, desire...it can all blur into one urge, hunger”

Waterfall pose

“What does that mean?”

“It means that Jeremy can't see her, not now. She might not be able to resist him, and she could hurt him”

“Or worse”

“I'm not gonna let anybody get hurt”

Not a good promise to make, also this is Mystic falls; people get hurt all the time.

“I need to get going”

“Elena…”

“Please Stefan. There’s only so much I can take”

Elena comes down the stairs and Iason is relieved that there are fewer people now in his house. At least it is more peaceful.

Oh wait!

Take that back, Damon is back and going to Stefan’s room.

Groaning Iason just lays on the floor in defeat. He was able to do his yoga but he couldn’t get his desired peace.

“What are you doing?” Damon asks towards someone, Iason couldn’t tell as he wasn’t in the room.

“Just contemplating the next hundred years. Why did you do it?”, Vicki responds and at least now Iason knows who Damon is talking to.

“I was...bored”

That is such a Damon response and he really needs to start making better choices when he’s bored or angry.

“You did this to me out of boredom?”

“It's one of the pitfalls of eternity”

Eternity sucks and Iason very much just wanted peace and quiet for a bit. There was no one in the house most of the time and now people won’t leave. Is this going to be his life forever now?

Iason gets up and goes towards the kitchen to start baking chocolate cookie cake. 

And yes it was all for himself, the others don’t deserve it. They’re ungrateful.

“Now I'm bored. And all I can think about is blood. I just want some blood. I can't think about anything else. What is that about?”

“That'll ease up. You've just been cooped up all day. Let's go”

“Where?”

“Your life was pathetic. Your afterlife doesn't have to be”

And yet Damon has spent his afterlife trying to make Stefan miserable which is quite pathetic.

“What are you doing?”, Stefan cuts into their conversation being the responsible one.

“She's been cooped up in your room all day. She's not Anne Frank”

“No no. Hey hey...Now's not the time for this”

“If you're gonna teach her. Teach her. Show her what it's all about”

Although Damon rarely has good intentions, he does make a good point. Vicki doesn’t like sitting around so therefore her best method of learning would be kinaesthetic and life experience.

“She could hurt someone”

“I'm not takin' her to Disneyland. We're going in the front yard. Come on”

Does she even have a daylight ring? Iason is sure that going out might not be the best as she could burn from the sun. But what does he know? Iason preheats the oven to 350°F

“Bad idea Damon”

“She's a vampire Stefan, she should know the perks”

“Like what?” Vicki is interested to learn more about being a vampire.

Iason grabs a large bowl and with a hand mixer starts to beat in the butter, ¾ cups (170g), and brown sugar, 1 cup (200g)  together, which he will do until creamy. 

“Like…”

Iason hears some running around upstairs and then–

“Whoa! How did you do that? Ho ho ho ho”

“Come on Vicki, live a little. No pun intended”

The sound of someone vamping around is heard alongside the sound of the front door closing.

“Uh…my bad”

Iason then adds in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla whilst scraping the sides of the bowl so everything gets combined.

The door slams shut again as Stefan leaves the house to follow Vicki.

In a different bowl Iason whisk together flour, 2 cups (250g), corn-starch/ cornflour, 2 teaspoons, baking soda, 1 teaspoon and salt, ½ teaspoon.

And now Damon has left the house. 

Finally some peace and quiet.

…

…

…

It’s the Halloween carnival today.

Why? Why does it have to exist?

That means people are going to go to the cemetery all day.

Iason continues making his cookie cake and feels annoyed with life in general.

When Iason finishes with making the cookie cake he puts it in the oven and sees that it has been quite awhile. He of course took some breaks whilst baking, he can still get back pain from standing around for too long.

Okay, he doesn’t get back pain but he does clean up whilst baking. Got to keep the station clean. So as Iason puts the cookie cake in the oven he feels cold go through him and feels as Vicki dies.

Iason: One day like I said

Vera: :(

Well at least there shouldn’t be too many problems for now. 

Chapter Text

Life was sort of peaceful at the moment Lexi and Stefan were playing in Stefan’s room and Iason was doing some email work, he was currently having many conversations with land fill sites about reusing some of the garbage into trinkets. However, there is the issue of radiation so they were going over talks about how he might organise some of his workers to help with going in and finding items that are radiative; the workers will be vampires of course.

“Stop. I don't know, some freak shot at me with wooden bullets. I bail in under sixty. And why is a news reporter hunting vampires?”

“I don't know who knows about us. That guy did. There could be others. Do me a favor, while you're here, please be careful”

“Why stay? I'm headed to New York for the weekend. Bon Jovi in the Garden. "Wanted dead or alive", it's our theme song. It'll be a blast”

“Do you think he would actually remember us? That was a pretty crazy weekend huh?”

“We can make him remember us. Come on! Let's go. I mean, what's keeping you here?”

“I told you, her name is Elena”

“Let's hope she's better than the last girl you got all sprung over”

How is that even when busy and listening into a conversation, Iason just knows they are talking about —

“You didn't even know Katherine”

Yeah, her. It is actually sort of impressive to Iason on how much she keeps turning up in conversation.

“'Cause if I did I'd kick her ass. Little bitch. Speaking of...where's Damon?”

“Inflicting misery somewhere. You gonna be okay here alone? 'Cause I got some things I gotta take care of”

Alone?! Is he a joke? He knows that he is busy and won’t be able to entertain Lexi but he is still here.

“It's not exactly like I can go anywhere. And you and Damon are the only ones with these nifty little daylight rings. I have a mood ring from '75! Trade ya?”

“Doesn't work that way and you know it”

“Yeah”

“Hey Lex. I'm really glad that you came here”

“What are we doing for your birthday? It's not everyday a guy turns a hundred and sixty-two years old”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah”

Yes, Stefan’s birthday. Iason has a special blood cake that he is going to make fresh for Stefan but he’s going to have to make it later today, around lunch. Stefan leaves the house as he has to meet with the sheriff and talk about Vicki's disappearance, Stefan is hoping to reduce the suspicion and make people believe she left town but Iason thinks that the hunters know the truth. It was too much of an odd timing.

As Iason continues with his work, he doesn’t hear Lexi doing anything so he assumes that she’s relaxing, there isn’t a lot to do in the house. Maybe Iason should invest in some board and card games. Might have people who are visiting be less bored…. Okay he’s thinking about himself but it will benefit other people. Soon the front door opens and Damon enters the house. Great! Now Damon is going to annoy Lexi which isn’t going to go well at all. Iason also feels like he is going to get a lot of hate from Stefan later. He hasn’t been forthcoming. He has a feeling that Lexi is going to die, technically he can stop the death from happening and he plans to warn Stefan! He does! But Stefan is a stubborn man and sometimes not a great listener. 

Whilst thinking about how he should warn Stefan, he hears a body colliding with a wall, it seems like Damon has annoyed Lexi. 

“I'm older and that means stronger”

“SorRy” Damon wheezes out.

“Don't ruin my time with Stefan, 'cause I'll hurt you. And you know I can do it”

“Yeah”

Iason hears Lexi let go of Damon and leave the room so she can be away from him. Good. Now it is more quiet so he can focus on his emails and then he can make the cake. Eventually Damon also leaves the house which makes it a much better and relaxing atmosphere but it doesn’t take long for Stefan to return and go and try to find Lexi, who of course used the opportunity to hide from him. As they were playing a hide and chase game Iason gained some great new intel.

Iason: Human hunters are now suspicious that vampires can walk around in the day. Elena has learnt about witches through Bonnie Bennett.

Vera: 👍

Nothing can ever be easy in this town. He sometimes finds it annoying how much information goes into his brain, everyday he learns about anyone who’s learnt about the supernatural, and he can sometimes feel when something big is going to happen. It can be annoying. What is lucky is that the death aspect is mainly focused on the town he’s staying in and about people he cares for. So he doesn’t get a feeling about every death around the world, he can focus on a celebrity and know when they are going to die but every person, he can’t. 

“So this Elena girl. She'll come around. I'm sure of it. Have you had sex yet?”

Oh gross! Why did he have to tune into his surroundings to hear this conversation? 

“No”

“Sex always works. I mean you'll rock her world so hard with your vamp sex, she'll be yours forever”

“Yeah, but see, this isn't about sex or...or compulsion or any of our other tricks. She has to want to be with me on her own terms”

“Wow. That sounded all mature and grown-up”

“I’m not getting any older”

“Want some?”

Iason starts to make his way downstairs so that he can start making the cake and he hears as Damon walks into the house.

“No. Thank you”

“Relax, I didn't kill anyone for it. This phlebotomist I went out with a few times, he's my supplier. Oh don't judge, ok? Listen I tried the animal diet; lasted three weeks”

“It doesn't matter. Cause if I started again...I just don't know if…”

“You could stop”

“Lexi, I'd never judge you”

“I'm just jealous of your restraint. I have none. I delight in hedonism. Speaking of which, what are we doing tonight?”

“Funny you should ask”, Damon enters the living room just before Iason who was going to continue on his way to the kitchen but Damon grabs him and forces him to stay in the room. Why? He just wants to make Stefan’s birthday cake.

“Well I wasn't asking you”

“There's a party at the grill. You'll love it. Banquettes, Tacky wait staff, All of Stefan's friends”

“Yeah, I don't want a Birthday party”

“That’s right Damon, we were going to stay in and I am making Stefan a lovely cake”, Iason tries to go towards the kitchen but Damon grabs him again and pulls him into a side hug which is really a cage. He could get out of the hold but Iason was going to take this opportunity by being able to hug his brother…. Which was probably Damon’s plan but he doesn’t care! 

“Well, it's not for you. It's a party party. No one's gonna know it's your birthday. Caroline's throwing it”

“Damon, stay away from Caroline”, in Damon’s defence he has left Caroline alone, he’s just currently probably using her to have the party… and the sense of death is getting closer.

“We're friends, it's cool. It's important for the town to see us out and about like normal folk. We need to blend” Iason watches as Damon looks closely at Lexi's supply of blood. “I prefer mine at 98.6”. Then he lets go of Iason and leaves the house, well at least Iason got some time with his older brother even if he was mostly ignored… again.

“Let’s go. Please?” Lexi gives Stefan a puppy look which causes him to sigh and for Lexi to cheer and run off to get ready.

“This is a bad idea Stefan”

“When isn’t it? Damon throwing a party is never a good thing”

“Yes, but Stefan. All day I have been feeling death surrounding Lexi and it’s only getting stronger. Her time is going to an end”

Stefan looks at Iason and he can see Stefan’s jaw tighten.

“Nothing is going to happen to her, I won’t let it”

Stefan leaves to also get ready for the party and Iason just knows that Stefan is really going to need some cake to cheer himself up. There is a low chance that Stefan is going to succeed, it is possible but Stefan can be gullible sometimes.

Going towards the kitchen Iason starts to get the ingredients out to make Stefan a chocolate fudge cake with some fresh cream and strawberries. To think that Stefan is going to that party over having some of his cake.

Starting to make the cake takes a while as Iason also had to empty the dishwasher and sort out a pile of laundry that he placed on the couch. During the time that Iason left the cake for a second so chocolate can melt he starts to fold up some of the clothes and he hears the sound of a shower turning off and Stefan going into a room.

“I’m almost ready”

“I can't believe you actually think that we should go to this thing”

“It's not like I'm asking you to run outside midday without your ring. I mean, seriously, it's a party”

“A party that Damon wants us to go to, you know? So my question is why? I think he's up to something”, there is also the fact that Iason told Stefan that Lexi is going to die but of course he likes to ignore his warnings.

“Who cares? What can he possibly do with all those people in a public place?”

“He knows how to keep a low profile, believe me”

“Okay so he'll behave. Come on. One day a year I get you, one day that you're not brooding and existing in your own head”, well that is not true because Stefan has definitely been brooding today.

“It's my birthday, yeah?”

“It's my day. And that guy that jumped naked in the Trevi fountain and got drunk on the torch of the Statue of Liberty, that guy can take a break from all of his worrying for one night and go to a stupid party. So quit your whining and go get ready”

“Fine”

As Iason continues to fold the laundry and keep an eye on the chocolate that’s melting.Then Stefan vamps down the stairs and takes a shirt which causes a lot of the folded laundry to fall and he then hears the sound of a door slamming and water starting. He is so ready to kill his brother but maybe he won’t need to because in the speed that Stefan just went it’s clear he didn’t hear the sound of a car pulling up or smelled Elena. Well this is sure to get interesting seeing as Lexi is walking through the corridors with only a towel. 

When Lexi is walking down a corridor Elena knocks on the door and Iason prepares for some entertainment, Stefan is about to get scolded. 

“It's open! Come on in”

The door opens and Elena comes in and she probably looks equally as shocked at seeing the sight of Lexi in just a towel as Lexi is at seeing a doppelgänger.

“Oh my God! How...uh- wh-...Who?”

“I’m Elena. Who are you?”

“Lexi, a friend of Stefan's”

“Is he here?”

“He's in the shower. Do you want to wait?”

“No”

“I'll tell him you stopped by”

“That’s okay”, the front door closes and a car drives away, whilst Lexi storms towards Stefan’s bedroom. Iason didn’t even have to do anything and it feels like he’s getting revenge on Stefan. It’s all the better as it looks bad in both directions, Iason wonders if Elena thinks Lexi is someone Stefan is sleeping with. Soon the sound of water shutting off and door banging rings in Iason ears, show time.

“Are you out of your freaking mind?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I just met Elena. You have some serious explaining to do”

“Can you get dressed and I’ll explain everything to you”

It’s quiet and Iason can only assume that Lexi is giving Stefan a disappointed look and she does get dressed. He feels a little let down, he really wanted Lexi to bring him a new one. He just hopes that Elena gives him a hard time. Stefan deserves it for ruining his hard work with folding the laundry. He would have Stefan doing some of the chores but he wouldn’t do them as he barely stays in the house, too desperate for Elena.

Iason leaves the clothes when they are folded into piles and goes back to baking the cake whilst listening to Stefan justify himself with wanting to be with Elena. It was a boring explanation, ‘she feels special’, ‘she’s different’ and a lot of the cliches.

“You have some serious emotional damage”

“No, it's not what you think. She's not Katherine”

“Then they're related, 'cause they can be twins”

“I don’t know”

“You don't know or you didn't find out?”

“No. Maybe. I don't want to know. I have no desire to tie Elena to Katherine.” That would be impossible because they look the same and also you have compared Elena to Katherine and talked about their differences. “Ok yes, yes the resemblance is what drew me in. But that's it. Katherine and Elena may look the same on the outside but on the inside they are completely different”.

“So Elena is not a raging Bitch then, huh?”, there’s still time Lexi, there’s still time.

“No. Elena is...Elena's warm and she's...she's kind, and she's caring, and she's selfless, and it's real. And honestly when I'm around her, I...I completely forget what I am.”

Gag

“Oh my god! You're in love with her.”

“Yeah. Yeah I am”

Double gag.

Soon he hears the both of them come down the stairs and Iason grabs an unused spoon and holds it behind his back as he approaches the door that they’ve opened.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come?”

“Yes Stefan I don’t want to go to the party that is going to end in death”

Stefan glares at Iason whilst Lexi looks confused and exasperated.

“Stop stressing, the both of you. No one is going to die, it’s a party”

As Lexi leaves Stefan gives Iason a look and turns to walk out of the door but Iason quickly pelts the spoon at the back of his head. 

“Ow!” 

Stefan rubs the back of his head, bends down and picks up the spoon before turning to Iason.

“Did you seriously just throw a spoon at me?”

“No. Did you seriously ruin all the folded laundry I was doing? Yes, yes you did” Iason gives a cheeky smile to Stefan who just rolls his eyes and throws the back at Iason who catches it and watches as Stefan closes the door.

He’s not going to be all happy when he gets back.

Sighing Iason turns back to the kitchen to continue with making the chocolate fudge cake and also himself some food. Maybe some eggy bread? Which is a more savoury version of french toast.

Whilst Iason was eating his lunch and waiting for the cake to bake he feels that same feeling and realizes that Damon has killed a boy and left a girl alive. Great, a new person who knows, Iason sends a quick text to Vera that a girl in the town was attacked but not erased and he’ll keep an eye on her. It took thirty minutes for the cake to cook and Iason took it out of the oven, bare-handed, and placed it on a cooling rack. As Iason was grabbing the strawberries and making the cream, he gets the feeling and knows for a fact that Stefan failed.

Lexi’s dead.

It didn’t take long for Damon to appear and go straight for the bourbon.

“Good party?”

“It was a blast”

Iason ignores Damon who just focuses on drinking and then goes up to a random study but Iason can tell that his peace isn’t going to last long.

And what do you know, here comes Stefan storming inside.

“Told you I’d take of it”

Stefan vamps to Damon and punches him in the face and then knocks him into the ground and with the strength he put behind it, Damon knocks into a cabinet. Stefan then goes up to Damon and crouches over him so he can repeatedly punch him in the face. Iason can smell a bit of Damon’s blood and debates about going up there to stop them.

But then he hears as Stefan is kicked backwards and the both of them charge at each other, with one of them pinned. 

“Come on, I did this for you. To get them off our trail”

You never do anything for anyone but yourself”

Iason can suddenly smell a lot more blood and he realised that Stefan had just stabbed Damon with a stake. 

“You missed!”, Damon sounds both surprised that Stefan stabbed him and that he missed.

“No. You saved my life. I'm sparing yours. We're even. And now we're done”

Stefan then leaves Damon on the floor to go to his own room so he can grieve and Damon pulls out the stack.

Iason just places the strawberries near the cake and puts the fresh cream in a bowl.

“Stefan there’s some cake for you” Iason says a bit loudly so Stefan can hear him with his weaker super hearing. Moving away from the cake he starts to clean up, then he sees as Stefan vamps down and takes the cake before going back upstairs.

This is why he still made the cake even when he was told not to.

Chapter Text

Why?

Why does life hate him so much?

“So Vera, there is now another hunter in town”

“Oh, this is not your year”

“No, it’s not”

“Do we have this hunter on record?”

“I think we do, Alaric Salzman. Known about the supernatural since his wife was turned. Then started to learn how to kill vampires and has a confirmed kill count of seven”

“Well he is now Stefan’s new history teacher”

“I’ll be fun to see Damon kill him”

“I guess it will”

Hanging up the phone Iason sighs and continues with his crocheting. He was currently making a large amount of the monster dolls, he’s already completed the orders on his website. He’s planning on making a wendigo, chimera, cockatrice, scylla and umiozu. A fun day for him where he has to research these monsters and then make a pattern for them, then decide on the colouring. There is even a chance he might start one!

Whilst Iason is having a good time on the couch Damon is going upstairs with a coffee to Stefan’s room. Damon is trying to make it up to Stefan for killing his friend and Iason does find it a bit sweet.

“Rise and shine! You’ll be late for school”

“What? What are you doing?”

“Peace offering. Come on, you need it for blood circulation. Does dead flesh good! All right. I'm sorry”

“Step aside, please”

“I got the town off our back. It was for the greater good, but I'm sorry. And, to prove it, I'm not gonna feed on a human…… For at least a week. I'll adopt a Stefan diet! Only nothing with feathers.” Iason very much wanted to see that happen. But at the mention of animals Iason knows that soon he is going to have to go through the forest and count animals to see if too many are being killed.

“'Cause I realize that killing your closest and oldest friend is beyond evil, and yet somehow, it's worthy of humour”

“Are you mimicking me?”

“Yes, Stefan. Now that the secret society of vampires haters is off our back, I can go back to my routine of “How can I destroy Stefan's life this week?””

“And I can go back to sulking and Elena-longing and forehead brooding. This is fun! I like this”

“And I will finally reveal the ulterior motive behind my evil and diabolical return to Mystic Falls”

“Yeah. I'm done. “That's just like you, Damon. Always have to have the last word.””

Listening to his brother squabble was quite refreshing and enjoyable to Iason, he just wishes that they could be more like that with him. But do they? No, all he does is look after his brothers and the house. It’s exhausting, he wants a life outside of them but he also wants them to return some of his feelings and show that they care for him. He knows that he’s their favourite sibling and that they love him but it never feels that way. They see him for a few minutes a day and then ignore him for the rest. He wants more! 

Looking at the failed pattern attempts Iason heads out into the forest with a notepad to count the animals. He needs some air to refresh himself.

What is there to look at?

Rabbits,

Deers,

Squirrels,

Skunks,

Hedgehogs,

Owls,

Robins,

Other birds,

Fox,

Raccoons,

Going through the forest Iason keeps a tally next to the animal so he can compare to the other list on how many animals he senses. Every time he sees an animal or senses it, it goes through his head and he then puts the mark down.

Rabbit,

Rabbitt,

Rabbit,

Squirrel,

Squirrel,

Owl,

Fox,

Salvatore estate,

Deer,

Hedgehog,

Rabbit

Scouting out the forest isn’t fun but it was nice getting the air and if Damon was serious about the change in diet for a week then they are going to need more blood bags. As Iason was walking around Lamia joins him and he starts a nice conversation with her and she even gets him a rat, in return he gives her some blood from his finger.

Looking up at the sky Iason realizes that going though the whole forest took up most of the day, well at least he has something to do for tomorrow. As Iason starts walking back to the house he gets a strong sensation.

A ghost is possessing someone.

Emily

Bonnie

He just wants a peaceful day.

Iason makes a note that deers need to be left alone as there are a lot less deers in the forest and to also leave the foxes alone. Other animals seemed to be still in high enough numbers where it is safe for Stefan and Damon to consume their blood. Although, looking at the deer Iason does have an inching to try and crochet a deer. It could even be highly popular on his website. He has debated before about doing a suggestion box for what he should crochet next but he’s a bit worried about the amount of different things people will request. Then again he does have a lot of spare time so it might be worth it.

Seeing the house coming into view makes Iason happy because he is quite hungry for some lunch which is going to be a simple egg mayo sandwich with mature cheddar.

Going inside the house Iason decides to leave the crocheting and instead cook some dinner. His choice? Minestrone. It takes a whole hour to make the soup and Iason is very excited to eat it. Whilst it was boiling he made sure to put away his crochet hooks and wool. But also something that did happen was that he felt Emily stop possessing Bonnie, so whatever she did it was done quickly and it also felt like the risk of exposure was reduced. So she clearly did something good in his books.

When the soup was finished and dished up Stefan arrived home with some teary eyes. Iason was about to ask if he was alright but he went straight to his room and it didn’t take long for Iason to hear him cry.

Iason had a guess what his brother was crying about.

Elena

Chapter Text

The day has just started and already a woman is dead because of that other vampire. Iason has mainly left the other vampire alone because unlike Vicki he’s less of a risk. Been keeping to himself, not been seen by hunters and isn’t addicted; he’s even hidden some of the bodies. Maybe the other other vampire could be an issue but she has only done small stuff and normal vampire behaviour, for now.

A decent vampire in keeping the supernatural a secret. 

Although his personality might not be decent, Iason doesn’t care about that as he just cares about keeping the supernatural a secret.

SECRET.

Feels like sometimes vampires and even werewolves forget that in this day and age. 

Ever since those blasted twilight films came out, vampires have become a little more daring. Any time vampires or werewolves are romanticised they see it has some sort of permission to become lacking in protecting the secret of the supernatural. However, luckily not to the point where Iason has to stop them. 

Annoyingly his brothers are planning on moving already. When he gets settled into the town, move it! Move it! It sucks! He just wants a place to call home and to always go back to. But no… his stupid bratty brothers have to ruin everything. He’s happy to leave the town! However, he would have liked it to be done a lot earlier. Furthermore, his brothers are going two different ways so Iason has to decide which one to follow. And they are sort of getting along which is weird to see.

Currently Iason is in the parlor with Damon staring out of the window, he is currently looking over the different patterns with his favourite fruit. Dried cranberries. A delicacy that not many people appreciate which means all the more for him. Stefan comes into the parlor and stops near the end of the couch, opposite Iason.

“So, any idea of where you’ll go?”, Stefan asks Damon who is staring out of the window to pass the time which is something Iason can get behind.

“I don't know. London, maybe. See some friends”

“You don't have any friends, Damon”, Iason lets out a little chuckle at that because Stefan is in fact wrong because Damon’s one friend is under his employment.

“You're right, Stefan. I only have you”, Now Iason is offended. Damon has Iason and Enzo, he should snitch and get him into trouble with Enzo; that would be fun. Damon turns from the window and looks at Stefan. “So, where are we goin’?”. Yay! Iason doesn’t have to pick a brother.

“We are not going anywhere. I'm gonna live my life as far away from you as possible”. Nevermind. With the way Stefan is going, Iason is going with Damon.

“But we're a team! We could travel the world together. We could try out for “The Amazing Race””. Damon walks up to Stefan so they’re face to face.

“Mmmm, that's funny. Seriously, where are you going? Because we are not staying in this town”.

The doorbell rings and the two look at each other but it's Stefan who goes to answer the door to Sheriff Forbes. With the sheriff here Iason wonders if they’ll be able to leave the town or not. He doesn’t think so even though he hopes. In the end Mystical Falls brings all the supernatural to it.

“I'm here to see Damon”

“Uh, sure, ok” Stefan stutters out, was it really that surprising someone wanted to see Damon…. Yes it was. Iason even put down his sketchbook to give his full attention to the conversation that’s about to happen.

“Sherrif, what a surprise” 

“Sorry to bother you, but we need to talk”

“Come in”

They walk through the house and Iason watches as Damon leads the sheriff outside to the back courtyard. 

“Um, I hope you understand the secrecy. Stefan doesn't know about this yet and I'd like to keep it that way”

“Of course, kids are too young to be brought into this. But what of your other brother?”

“Iason knows but he doesn’t want anything to do with it, he’s got his businesses to run after all, much too busy. So, what do you need?”

“There's been another attack. A female victim, her throat torn out, completely drained of blood. It fits the pattern”. Oh, that would be the other vampire, his recent kill did feel a little different but it was a small difference. Clearly he’s trying to bring attention to himself now and clearly he’s gotten it.

“I'm sorry. I don't understand. I thought we solved that problem when I ...staked the blond one”, Iason looks towards Stefan who has a clenched jaw, Iason was about to get up and give him a hug but Stefan turns away from him before he could even get off the couch.

“I'm thinking she must have turned someone. Or multiple someones. I don't know. The story for the town is another animal attack but I'm not sure how long we can keep lying to them. The council is in an uproar. We thought we were past this”. The council, it’s sort of impressive that they’re still going on with people believing as it’s been many years since a vampire has been in Mystic Falls, werewolves yes, vampires no.

“So, uh, what do we do?”

“You're the only one who's ever taken on a vampire. We were hoping you could tell us”

Iason just stops paying attention and goes back to his patterns. Listening to Damon try to explain that they need to find the vampire and that they could try and trap the vampire is quite boring. Stefan, though, seemed interested as he never stopped eavesdropping. The rest of their conversation seems to end quickly because Damon and the sheriff walk back through not long later. 

They stop at the front door with the sheriff facing Damon. “Thank you for stopping by”, at least Damon can be a decent host; if it was Strefan he would probably just leave them to leave. Iason is still not over Stefan’s bad manners, he can be really rude in recent times. 

“Let me know what you come up with”, Damon then opens the door for the sheriff like the great host he can be, Stefan take notes!

“Absolutely”

The sheriff leaves and Stefan immediately vamps to Damon and pushes him against a wall. 

Annnndddd here they go again!

“What is wrong with you? You killed somebody?”

“Get off of me. A...don't touch me. B...if I had, I wouldn't have been so obvious about it.  C...There's another vampire in town” Damon walks back towards the parlor where Iason is still looking over the patterns. The wendigo, chimera and cockatrice look alright but the other two he might not do. However, he puts them in a folder where the failed patterns are so he can revisit them if he wants to try again. No good wasting a pattern when he can alter it at a later date so it can work.

“That’s impossible”

“Obivously not”

“Then, who could it be?”, Iason knows! Look at him, he knows but do they ever ask him. No! He might as well be invisible right now!

…

…

…

Iason quickly checks to make sure he hasn’t accidentally made himself invisible again.

No, he hasn’t.

There so they have no excuse!

“Ah, what do we care? We're leaving anyway, right?”

“No, I can't leave now and you know that. How are we supposed to find this person?”. And look at that! They are staying in the town after all.

“Let the adults handle this, Stefan”

Damon finally enters the parlor and pours himself a drink.

“You want one?”

Iason just gives Damon a look and he just looks back and shakes a drink at him.

“Come on, not even a little sip? Why don’t you break that sobriety of yours?”

“No, Damon. You know I don’t like alcohol”

Damon just sighs, “What a pity. More for me” and drinks the entire glass before pouring himself another glass and another. Iason thinks that he’s trying to get drunk but he can’t be too sure. Stefan comes in the parlor before Damon can drink his fifth glass, he really needs to learn how to slow down.

“I’m off to school and I’m going to warn Elena about the other vampire”

“Oh Elena. Say why is it now there’s another vampire but not a second ago, hmmm?” Damon looks pointedly at Stefan and glares at him.

“Can you two not for two seconds? I’m trying to work here and I would appreciate it if I can be around my brothers without them arguing every second”. Iason stands up and leaves the parlor to go to his room, ignoring the fact that neither brother looks his way. They believe that Iason is invincible but forget that he has feelings.

Inside Iason's room he puts the folders of patterns down on the bedside table. There is the sound of the front door closing but Iason just focuses on his breathing and keeping calm. He can feel the inferno inside him ready to burst free. Breathing in deeply Iason calms himself and recenters himself to the nature all around him. He feels for death in the air, the natural chaos of the world.

He consumes it and lets it feed him.

There we go much better.

Iason, feeling a lot more relaxed, goes onto his bed and decides to watch some tv in his room surrounded by some of the crochet animals he’s made. His favourite being the crocodile that is 57 inches and 145 centimetres. It’s great for being cuddly and holding. Grabbing the crocodile, Iason turns on the TV and starts to watch a cake boss. It was a bit fun to see the people stressing but still being able to complete the work. Whilst watching the show he ignores the sound of the door opening and closing as his brothers leave, leaving him home alone again. This time though he enjoys it as he can be at peace and away from the negative atmosphere the others make. It’s just him and cake.

And now Iason feels the temptation to bake but he might do it later, he wants the comfort of his lovely bed.

After a good lovely hour of peace Iason smells dried blood so he groans and makes his way to Damon who is swearing up a storm and is on the phone to Stefan.

“Logan Fell is a vampire and when I find him again, I'm gonna destroy him limb by limb”

Iason walks up to Damon with a clean cloth and a bowl of water so he can clean the blood off of him, Damon just nods and takes his shirt off.

“No, I'm not ok. I was ambushed. I was shot. Now, I'm vengeful. Just got to find him”. Wiping down the blood with the lukewarm water Iason absently listens to the conversation that Damon’s having on the phone with Stefan.

“You're kidding me. Why the hell is he there?”

“Well, I'll be right there”. 

Damon hangs up the phone and Iason backs away as all the blood is washed off.

“You knew about vampire hunter vampire, didn’t you?”, Damon looks at Iason accusingly which causes him to sigh as it’s not the first time this has happened, most likely won’t be the last.

“Of course I did but you never asked me so I didn’t tell”. Damon gives Iason a hard which he just ignores whilst packing away the cloth and water. He hears Damon vamp away and just sighs annoyed. It’s now his fault because his brothers forgot that he always knows when someone is turned. They knew a vampire was in town but didn’t bother to ask him, like right then. Damon knows that they didn’t turn Logan so there is another vampire but did he ask Iason who the vampire is? No. So now Iason knows and he still isn’t going to tell, don’t ask, no information.

Putting the cloth in the blood stained cloth pile Iason pours the water in the sink and starts the process of baking some cookies. He wants to do some baking and he might just walk around and see if anyone wants some cookies, maybe the children? A lot of the town people are now aware that he bakes stuff for fun and donates or just has some on him. It’s been made into a game by the kids to ask him for something and see who can get the most baked treats off of him, there’s a tallie and everything. Some twelve year old is in the lead with seven baked treats. Apparently the rules of the game is to get the most baked treats for the school term and win a prize, only kids are playing and parents are seen as the enemy as they try to stop them; all in good fun because parents find it amusing and harmless fun as they not many get a treat.

Walking around the park Iason has so far had two children run away from their parents to ask for a cookie, which he did give them and watched as they ran back to their parents who were watching with a smile. He keeps walking around and even has some nice chat to some probably future clients of his, old people. Very enjoyable and humorous to talk with, they think themselves so wise due to their experience in years and yet there are people much older than them walking about. What makes it funnier is that they are wiser than most vampires as vampires are turned quite young, early twenties and so are often immature forever and never learning from their mistakes. Iason himself was ‘turned’ at twenty but he was able to bypass the vampire blood and grow a bit older until he was happy at the age of twenty-seven. 

So beat it Damon! He’s technically older as Damon is stuck at twenty-five. Of course Damon always says this never counts but sometimes Iason likes to tease Damon with it. 

It doesn’t help that Iason is clearly more mature so people do think he’s the eldest and Iason just enjoys watching Damon rage inside. Growing those few extra years was definitely worth it in Iason's eyes because he’s seen that stuck at twenty-five Damon is still immature and Stefan is also quick with his emotions, so being at twenty-seven allowed his brain to fully mature.

Iason walked to the park and continued walking around enjoying the air but decided to walk back home as it started to get dark. Arriving back to the parking lot he sees a car but ignores it as he can clearly see who it belongs to as she is heavily making out with his brother.

Gross

Iason does not want to see Stefan get it on with a seventeen year old, or get it on at all. He watches and hears as they go into the house and continue kissing. But he just stands outside and debates about going inside to his bedroom but then he hears the first moan and immediately turns around and walks away.

He can find somewhere else to stay, he hates when his brothers do this!

Now where to stay, a hotel, the woods or cemetery?

…

…

…

Obviously the cemetery, he’s not a weirdo who sleeps in the woods.

Chapter Text

Iason lays down comfortably in his family crypt, just annoyed in general. He had a great sleep but he was woken up because Alaric killed a vampire which is just annoying, he had to send off a message to Vera who just sent laughing emojis at him. 

One thing after the other in this awful town. 

Getting up from the crypt Iason walks back to the boarding house and wants to start cooking some food. Stefan is upstairs trying to contact Elena and mentions a picture which means Elena found Kathrine’s picture. More drama in the town. Enough is enough of it but is it ever going to end? Probably not.

Eating some breakfast Iason listens to the house and realises that Stefan had left at some point leaving him alone. Thinking on what to do as he has a bit of energy, Iason decides to make some brownies for some good fun, the brownie also has some chocolate m&ms on the top for extra flare. Another thing he made clear to the parents and people who he gives his baked goods to is that he never bakes anything with nuts inside, this then means that they know and trust that their kids are safe. It was a bit weird when he went to a grocery store and some women looked in his cart to see if he had anything with nuts, every time they did there wasn't anything there. Iason doesn’t like nuts so he never buys them.

Finishing up the brownies Iason decides that he wants to add to his book collection so he heads to the library with the brownies in his crossbody tote satchel. Inside the library are a few kids who are working on their assignments and Iason ignores them and starts to look at different books sections, non-fiction and fiction, to see if any genre screams at him.

“Hey! Your Iason Salvatore, right?” Iason turns to see a brown haired, brown eyed teenaged boy talking to him and a few paces is a young teenaged girl who is also a vampire. At least Iason knows more about how she looks instead of a vague idea.

“Yes I am, anything you want kid?”

“Umm, I'm Elena’s brother, Jeremy, she’s sort of dating your brother…”, Iason just chuckles a bit and decides to sort of ruin the kids' day.

“I know Elena is dating my brother, she sort of is the reason I couldn’t sleep in my own home”. Both of the teens look a bit confused which means he might get asked and they will hundred percent regret it.

“Why does Elena staying over mean you couldn’t sleep there?”, when Jeremy speaks he does so with a hesitant tone like he knows it’s a sort of trap and he might regret the answer; which he will.

“Oh you know, thin walls, loud moans” Iason waves his hand a little and smiles internally at the horrified and disgusted look on Jeremy’s face.

“Oh gross! I didn’t need to know that!” The end of the sentence is higher in pitch which causes Jeremy to duck his head in embarrassment.

Iason chuckles, “Well you did ask, anyway is there anything you need or did you just come over to introduce yourself?”. Jeremy gains a shine in his eyes.

“Do you have anything? Like cake wise or cookies, ohhh; muffins?” Iason can see that both of the teens look excited so Iason again chuckles, reaches into his bag and brings out two brownies that are in a brown bag. Jeremy takes the bag and starts to eat the brownie causing a chocolate mess to get on his fingers.

“There are napkins in the bag as well”, Jeremy nods and walks away with the brownie looking very happy and pleased. Iason is sort of surprised the vampire didn’t try and cause a scene with him but maybe she still wants to be on the down low? Not his problem for now, she’s changed some person which has caused a bit of death but so far it’s not too severe that he needs to step in. Even though she does have a few vampires helping her now, they also haven’t done anything, but a Logan Fell at the moment.

Going back to the shelves Iason starts to scan the books and decides that it's been a while since he’s read a history book so he looks in that section and grabs a couple of the books so that he can put in for them to order a copy for him. The women at the front desk gave him a funny look.

“I need something new to read so I wanted a change in genre. I also like history. It’s quite fun to think about how it could have changed with something so small, it’s also quite fascinating on the different ways fashion and people have influenced history in architecture and conflicts”

“That will be $75”, Iason sees that the woman is very bored so he just smiles and pays for the book order and leaves the books with her before leaving, whilst giving the office lady his number so that they can contact him when they have his books. He just hopes that no one else gets a copy of his number, some of the single or divorced ladies keep trying to get a claw on him and it makes him really uncomfortable.

Iason goes outside the library and ignores the conversation that the vampire and Jeremy are having about the founders journals inside. Again, not his problem. Yet.

Walking back home Iason enjoys the scenery and Lamia flies onto his shoulder which causes some people to point and children who have just gotten out of school to try and touch her. Iason and Lamia entertained a few of the children, Lamia loves the attention on her. Preening herself and even playing fetch with a small twig. All of the children were ‘ohhh’ s and ‘ahhh’s, with the parents trying to record Lamia as it’s not often they meet a trained raven.

After a while though Iason says goodbye whilst handing out the rest of the brownies before leaving to the boarding house whilst Lamia flies around him during some of the journey. But after a while she flies off to go somewhere else.  

Back at the house it was surprisingly empty which was a bit odd as it wasn’t that late in the day. Then again, his brothers love to cause chaos so they are probably doing something they shouldn’t. Shrugging it off Iason makes himself some lunch and then goes into his office to deal with some paperwork and emails.

Turns out that there is a couple of supernatural’s dying and that means money for him and someone getting a respectful burial or goodbye. Seven vampires, two werewolves and four witches. When Iason looks at the deaths he sees that they are all in different locations and not related at all, they’re in different countries! Iason sends the work off to some of his supernatural workers but keeps a tab on things because he likes to have a hand with the supernatural funerals. Whilst doing that Iason looks to see if Japan, China, India or Korea have answered any of his emails about a desire to purchase and start a branch of his funeral services over there. It’s something he’s been trying to do for years! But it seems like after waiting so long Japan is allowing him to do business there. Finally! It’s a good thing that the owner of his business is always a ‘family member’ which is big in Japan, and Korea, so it looks a bit better than some random person every few years trying to start a branch in their country.

For a couple of hours, Iason focuses on his work and tries to convince some people in different areas of Korea, China and India. It seems like he’s getting some head way but it has happened before, but then they pull the rug from his feet and he has no progress and back to square zero. 

Eventually Stefan comes home but he’s quiet, maybe upset over something? Iason doesn’t really focus on him though because he needs to concentrate on the funerals for the supernatural. He couldn’t email the business people of different continents all day, so he went over to help with the funeral preparations. Making sure that they’re to the clients wishes and done in a quick orderly manner. It’s quite normal for the supernatural funeral to occur on the same day of the request so that vampire bodies are not left to stink the place up or be found by someone in the unknown and then have it reported. If the vampires have a quick funeral service, then it’s only fair that the werewolves and witches do too. 

Iason is about to stand up and head downstairs to start cooking himself a lovely dinner, sausage ragu. But then the door goes and Elena and Stefan start to talk, Iason sits back down because they need the talk and walking downstairs will make it awkward. 

“I wanted to tell you”

“You said no more lies. Only the truth. I can handle the truth, Stefan. As crazy as it is, I can handle the fact that you are a vampire. And that you have a vampire brother. And that my best friend is a witch. I can accept the fact that the world is a much more mysterious place than I ever thought possible. But this...this lie, I cannot take. What am I to you? Who am I to you?”

“You are not Katherine. You are the opposite of everything that she was”

“And when did you figure that out? Before you kissed me? Before we slept together?”

“Before I met you”. Oh dear, this can go very wrong quite quickly. Iason knows what Stefan is referencing, it is about death after all. But it can make him look very guilty. ‘Did you compel me to forget? Have you erased my memories? How could you! I trusted you! See, it can go bad very quickly and no more relationship….

Okay maybe it should go bad, Elena and Stefan are no longer together? Sounds great! Stefan will be safe, they can leave town; all is better in the world.

“What?”

“The first day of school. When we met. It wasn't for the first time, Elena”

“Then when was it?”

“May 23, 2009”

“But that was…”

“That was the day your parents' car went off the bridge”

“You were there?”. Only because Iason told Stefan that people were dying in the lake, he wouldn’t have known otherwise.

“Every couple of years I come back here, to see Zach and see my home. Last spring, I was out in the woods, by old Wickery Bridge. And I heard the accident. All of it. I was fast getting there, but not fast enough. The car was already submerged. Your dad was still...he was still conscious. I was able to get to him, but he wouldn't let me help him, until I helped you”. Okay so Stefan is lying a little bit but not too much, still annoying. Stefan didn’t hear all of it, Iason told him that ‘already new in town and death happens’, Stefan being the saviour had to ask and then go save them; thus witnessing it all. 

“Oh my god. When I woke up in the hospital, nobody could figure out how I got out of the car. They said it was a miracle”.

“I went back for them. But it was too late. I couldn't-- I couldn't save them. When I pulled you out, I looked at your face. You looked like Katherine. I couldn't believe the resemblance. After that, I spent months making sure that you weren't her. I watched you. I learned everything that I could about you. And I saw that you were nothing like Katherine. And I wanted to leave town, but, Elena, I couldn't. I couldn't leave without knowing you. I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you. I wanted to. But you were so sad”

“Why do I look like her?”

“Elena, you've been through so much”

“Why do I look like her, Stefan? What are you not telling me?”

“It didn't make any sense to me. You were a Gilbert. She was a Pierce. But the resemblance was too similar. And then I learned the truth…You were adopted, Elena”

Oh so not the sort of thing you want to learn from your boyfriend. 

Iason hears as Stefan lets Elena inside and Iason just sighs and walks downstairs into the kitchen, they both ignore him so either they didn’t notice him or don’t care. Either one is highly possible.

“How do you know all this?”.

Getting a nice decent sized pot Iason starts to cook himself dinner, he might give Elena some of it in a tub. Not a nice tub though, he doesn’t trust her to return it so she gets a cheap tub.

“Your birth certificate from the city records. It says Elena Gilbert, Mystic Falls General. But there's no record of your mother ever being admitted. There's no record of her ever being pregnant”

Watching pasta boil is very boring but Iason sort of didn’t want to be seen by either Elena or Stefan as they are having a private conversation and the illusion of privacy is sometimes better than nothing.

“What else do you know?”

“For me to go any further, I would've had to look into the Pierce family, and I couldn't do that. It's too much of a risk. If someone found out I was asking about Katherine...Listen to me, it doesn't matter. You are the woman that I love. I love you.”

They both start to kiss and Iason has enough and goes into the living room.

“Okay, break it up you too. I already had to sleep in the crypt once and I’m not doing it today”, they both jump apart and look down in embarrassment and in Stefan’s case also frustration.

“Wait, what do you mean slept in a crypt?”, Elena asks and Stefan becomes a bit bashful.

“Ask Stefan”, Elena looks at Stefan expectantly.

“Well, with super hearing we can often hear when people are being intimate…”

“Oh! OH! Oh my god! Iason I’m so sorry! Stefan, why didn’t you say anything!?” Elena looks very mortified which Iason thinks is an appropriate reaction.

“Eh, it’s happened a couple of times and is likely to continue happening. I left after the first moan so I didn’t hear much” 

Elena groans into her hands and Stefan starts to glare at Iason which causes him to grin.

“I keep forgetting about the vampire aspects of your lives”

“You need to start then because it’s only going to get worse, now anyone does want some sausage ragu. Don’t worry there isn’t any blood cooked in it as i’ll add it in the end but Stefan you need to start consuming blood more often, you're weak enough with only having animal blood. But skipping out on it most of the day? Unacceptable. You need to start upping your intake” Stefan nods and looks down, well and truly scolded and embarrassed he’s being treated like a child in front of his girlfriend, a girlfriend who knows he’s over a hundred years old.

“If it’s not a problem then I don’t mind saying over for something to eat”

“Okay, but make sure your guardian knows you're here” Elena nods at him and Iason walks back into the kitchen to continue making the dinner but he also sends a text to one Jenna Sommers. 

How did he get her number? 

Well when Elena and Stefan first started dating he approached her and asked for her number so that he can always tell her if Elena has snuck over to sleep round with Stefan. Teenagers and sneaking around is quite common but he wanted Jenna to feel a little less worried so he tells her if Elena’s at the house. Like yesterday. Elena slept round but did she tell Jenna? No. So he did on the way to the crypt, Jenna might have stayed awake all night worried out of her mind about Elena.

“Is he always like that?” Elena whispers to Stefan which makes Iason smile a little, it wouldn’t stop him from hearing her but it was sort of endearing. But he is still insulted at being called a vampire, he pretends to be one but he still hates it.

“Like what?”

“Eh…parental? I guess”

“Ahh, yes he’s been like that for a couple of years. Any time me or Damon start to go on the deep end Iason is the one to step up. He also makes sure we are well fed and are not in danger of being found by hunters”

“But Damon’s older so why isn’t he more caring?”

“He doesn’t want to be and that’s who he is. Iason is younger then Damon yes but he is more mature and often acts like the oldest. Damon will listen to Iason and Iason will take actions against Damon to bring him into line”

“Woah”

Iason walks into the dining room that is connected to the kitchen and puts down the plates.

“Hey dinner is ready”, Iason doesn’t shout as it’s not needed and the two come into the dining room and Iason points to Elena’s plate when she hesitates, obviously not knowing which plates have blood in them. It is only one plate but she doesn't know that.

Whilst eating dinner Iason asks the both of them about school and grades, Iason does go into another lecture with Stefan about if they’re staying in town then he better start going back to classes.

“But it will take time to re-enrol"

“Well then it’s good you never unenrolled, then”

Seeing the confusion on Stefan’s face, which isn’t hard to do as he is often confused but it's always entertaining. “Come on Stefan I know how much you wanted a life here so when I got the letter about needing approval to let you unenroll I rejected it and spoke the principle and said you were going through a bad mental health phase and needed some time. So when you’re ready you can go back, it is affecting your grades and attendance though. And don’t think for one second you can compel yourself good grades” Iason threatens Stefan with his dinner knife and Stefan sighs, nods and continues eating. Iason also sees Elena smiling down at her plate, clearly enjoying watching someone get told of like a child. 

Eventually Elena leaves and walks home and Stefan gives him another look before going to bed and Iason wants to hit him because he could have at least helped with the dishes or walked Elena home in the dark.

Chapter Text

First thing for today?

Check the storage of vervain. Iason is downstairs in the cellar checking on the plants and knows that keeping a stock is probably for the best but he also doesn’t trust his brother's tempers. 

Someone will do something and then use vervain, the other will get free and then burn the vervain and then regret it.

So, Iason starts to look at house listings so he can buy himself a property and keep a nice stock of vervain…. and because he wants to escape to a comfy bed if someone has sex in the house again.

He loves the cemetery, he does but it’s not a comfortable place to sleep. He would change forms but then someone might see and freak out, Iason just can’t be dealing with that.

The plan is a three or four bedroom house nearby to the cemetery. Not a lot of people live around there so there are a few options and it will be nice and quiet on the superhearing. He will mainly stay inside the boarding house but he wants a personal escape. The nice part of technically being alive is he can own a house and stop vampires. HA! Beat it Stefan and Damon. Vampire blood had no effect on him and he was already unkillable so his death did nothing. He can fake the face of a vampire as well, it’s quite annoying to do though so he doesn’t do it often.

He doesn’t own the boarding house because Stefan and Damon have vampire connections who might want to come to the house and Iason might not be in so it gets tedious. 

Back to housing!

He wants a bedroom, spare bedroom and one to turn into an office. So three bedrooms is preferred but the other bedroom can be used for something else. To grow vervain they need a lot of sun and Iason plans to have them in pots around the house and garden. Obvious? Yes. But people can be very dumb and just overlook things. Although maybe a fourth room can be used for the vervain as he might invite vampires to his house and he doesn’t want to be a bad host. 

Great so now he needs a four bedroom house, near the cemetery and in decent condition.

…

…

Okay maybe the condition doesn’t need to be perfect, he will have something to do! 

It is a bit annoying having to pay for some furniture for the house. Another thing about being vampires is housing. As they have to move they leave houses a lot which is a waste of money, if the vampires even pay for the house.

So, Iason buys the house, furnishes it and then rents it out. Problem solved. The house doesn’t go to waste and neither does his furniture and it can be seen as a return investment. Iason has quite a few properties around the world, some of them are currently on a list to be rented so Iason could move back into them easily enough.

Stefan is at Elena’s house talking about the other vampire in town, they think there is only one but there’s more. Whilst Iason is looking he hears Damon start to throw books around which causes him to speed run over to him.

“You throw one more book and I will break an arm”, Damon freezes, turns and looks at Iason with a book in his hand clearly tempted to throw it. “Damon, put the book back on the shelf or the floor gently and we won’t have a problem”. His arm starts to shake from literal restraint but then he just… drops the book. He looks at Iason and tries to vamp away but Iason grabs him by the arm and throws him on the floor.

“No you don’t. Look at the mess you’ve made, you clean this up right now”

“Or what?! You're not my mum, gods Iason lay off”, Iason puts more pressure and dislocates Damon’s shoulder which causes him to groan. 

“Lets see, damage to the books which mostly belong to me, ignoring my reasonable request and then trying to escape from the consequences of your actions. So what does that entail? Maybe a nice bite or scratch?” Damon’s face goes pale and he starts to thrash a little.

“Okay, okay! I get it! I’m sorry! I’ll clean up the mess!”

“And?”

“And treat books with respect”

“Good”

Iason lets go of Damon’s arm and watches as he picks the books off from the floor and makes a neat pile with them on a side table next to the couch. After he finishes he goes back to looking at the books but puts them in the neat pile instead of throwing them. Iason moves himself to the couch to continue watching, just to continue with the embarrassment Damon must be feeling. 

Good.

He’s over a hundred years old, he needs to learn to respect people’s belongings.

As Damon is looking at the books Stefan comes through the house and also starts to watch Damon but then sees Iason watching Damon.

“You get into trouble?”, Stefan says in a smug and teasing tone which clearly irritates Damon.

“Shut up! Didn’t you get into trouble a few days ago?”

Stefan frowns as he remembers the incident, Iason does too and gives Stefan the stink eye. 

What did Stefan do?

He threw away good food, including his cranberries. 

So he forced Stefan to pick all the cranberries and other food he wasted out of the trash, to collect them and figure out with maths the amount of money he threw away and then made him throw it back into the trash again. Stefan also had to buy him new cranberries, Iason walked with him to the shop and watched him with his arms crossed as he brought the cranberries with real money. The arms crossed was a signal to other adults that Stefan had done something so they asked and Iason enjoyed telling them. Some looked at him like he was ridiculous but when he explained that they're his favourite fruit and they’re known for years not to touch them, well they changed their attitudes and agreed with him. Stefan of course looked mortified, so overall a great punishment.

“What are you lookin' for, Damon?”

“Not your concern”

“No, but putting Elena in harm's way, that is my concern”

“Hm hm. What are you talking about?”

“I'm talking about Atlanta.”

“Oh, yeah. Elena and I had a blast.

“I get it. You're just bitter because one of us gets to be with the person that we love, and poor Katherine is just out of reach. Unless there's another way for you to get into that tomb. Is that what Bree said?”

“You're pathetic when you're fishing”

“And you're transparent when you're deflecting”

“Don’t you have school?”

At the question from Damon, Iason looks at Stefan which causes him to quickly leave. Iason turns back to Damon and gives him a pointed look before making his way to the kitchen to grab some cranberries and to look back at house listings.

Looking at a few houses for nearly two hours is quite boring but Iason has it down to two options and he’s contacted both of the retailers and offered a price to pay it off them for full ownership.

Fun time in the business world. 

He goes downstairs to make some toast for lunch when Elena and Stefan walk in and sit on a couch in the library. Sighing, Iason sends a text to Jenna to inform her that Elena is round but he doesn’t know for how long. This girl really needs to learn how to contact her guardian.

“Why me? What does he want with me? A-and if he's trying to kill me, then why call first?”

“That's because we're predators, Elena. We hunt. We stalk. It's often as exciting as the kill. I want you to take this.”

Iason doesn’t know what he just gave Elena but it’s probably going to bite them back… so it was likely the compass. That is the only thing in the house that poses a risk to his family at the moment.

“This is Jeremy's pocket watch. How did you get it?”

“I took it from Damon, who took it from Logan, who must have taken it from you”

Iason thinks about what he might want with the toast. Cheese? Scrambled eggs? Bacon? Ketchup and sausage? 

Ohh, that sounds nice, he even has leftover sausage so it works out great.

“What happened to it?”

“Well, it's not just a watch. It's a...it's a sort of compass, but it points to vampires”

Iason prepares the pan and grabs the bag of sausage and grabs four of them and starts to cook them. Maybe he won’t have it with toast as that is a bit strange. Bread is much better for ketchup and sausages.

“Why did my father have it?”

“Gilberts were one of the founding families, and back in 1864, they were among those who sought to eradicate the vampires. The compass was used to find us.”

“Did you know them?”

“Yes. I want you to keep this. That way, you'll know if you're ever in danger”

Their conversation stops and Iason groans when his sausages are done. Stefan and Elena have stopped talking but they also haven’t eaten which means he should be responsible and feed them which is ridiculous because they are old enough to be able to look after themselves.

Making his sandwich Iason eats it in the kitchen whilst waiting to see if either of them come downstairs but they don’t. So after finishing his sandwich Iason makes Elena a cheese sandwich and Stefan a jam sandwich, made with blood jam. Finishing the sandwiches Iason goes to the library, knocks and walks in.

“You two need to start eating more often. Here's some lunch” 

The two look at Iason in surprise and then down at the sandwich, Elena must have noticed she's hungry as she holds her stomach. 

She goes to grab a sandwich, “Not that one, it has some special Stefan jam inside”. Elena recoils her hand and Stefan just groans.

“Do you have to call it that?”

“If it means I get to embarrass you? Then yes, yes I do”

Elena gives a small smile and thank you to Iason before grabbing the cheese sandwich. Iason goes to the door to leave but stops when he opens the door. “Oh and if there is a mess, you better clean it up or you both will be forced to make me some fresh butter”. Stefan seems to pale and Elena looks confused but as Iason leaves he can hear Stefan explain the process to Elena.

The best thing about that punishment is that Stefan cannot use superspeed as it doesn’t make butter quicker, in fact it ruins it; as they’ve learnt through previous punishments. Stefan has been thinking he can get away with some things but now? Iason is back to being a bit mean, Stefan wants to behave completely like a child, he will get treated like one. Oh! And the healing bit to remove fatigue, well Stefan on his animal diet doesn’t heal that quick so he feels the fatigue. It’s great.

Iason goes down into the kitchen and cleans up before going to continue the talk with the house owners. Both are happy to sell the house and his offered price, clearly wanting the property gone, and they must have spread the word because now Iason has messages from most of the other houses on sale around there in his email inbox.

Now what?

Clearly they don’t care about the properties which mean they have stopped maintenance which then causes it to go into disrepair and then no one will buy it.

…

…

…

Fine! 

Iason agrees to buy the houses.

All of them.

Instead of one house, he now owns seven.

Great

Just perfect

He wanted one house to live in and repair, now he has this.

Grabbing some paper, Iason sets out a plan.

1 - Sign paperwork of the house deeds.

2 - Figure out the state of: electricity, plumbing, heating, the foundation.

3 - Contact some companies to see if they can bring some people out to fix the houses if needed.

4 - Start to clean the houses.

5 - Paint

6 - Furnish

7 - Decorate

A seven step plan for seven houses.

Even though he doesn’t own the houses yet, Iason starts to look at some companies that might be willing to help him out and finds that they cannot send all of their people out for seven houses. So Iason bargained with the companies for a bit and was able to get a deal, not the best but it works. He got it down to two houses per company with one company having a single house. That makes it a lot better for Iason because he doesn’t want the more dodgy looking companies near his houses.

Finishing up with the emails and phone calls Iason just rests in his chair and rests his eyes a bit. He can hear Stefan and Damon talking about their father’s journal. Can he not just have some peace? After talking and looking at a screen for ages Iason wants some peace but instead he gets them chattering away. At least they're civil. 

Iason just sits there and sits there, and they stop talking, letting Iason sit and rest his eyes in peace. Stefan leaves to go to Elena who is getting ready for the dance and Iason continues sitting there and then Damon takes a phone call and leaves to go to Elena’s.

Ahhhh.

Peace and quiet.

Iason stands up and stretches before going out to walk around the house. It feels nice to simply mindlessly walk around without having to worry about getting lost. Just him and the many walls around him. 

Caw

Caw!

Iason looks to the side and sees Lamia looking at him and snapping her beak and pointing her head down. Sighing, Iason approaches her and holds out a finger so she can drink some of his blood.

“You know I was having some peace and quiet until you came along”

Lamia looks up and flaps her wings at him and caws again but a bit meaner this time before aggressively poking his finger.

“Sorry, but there’s no need for that attitude. I love spending time with you, you just brought me out of my peaceful mind set”

Lamia gives him a look before flying off out a window and Iason is now out of that lovely daze and is conscious of everything again. Great. Now what? Iason goes downstairs and decides to do some yoga and then do some crochet to pass the time. It will be a while until his brothers come back from the decade dance, he can also feel in the air a bit of death.

Yay, death.

Uhh.

Iason is just waiting for it to happen as he’s doing his yoga, he just hopes that it's not when he’s in a hard pose and he falls over from the surprise of it.

Turns out that doesn’t happen, instead he stabs himself a bit with his crochet hook. If it wasn’t for his tough skin Iason would have a broken nail right about now.

Well one vampire down, more to come. Iason sends a text to Vera that Stefan has killed a vampire so she can add it to the count.

What? He keeps a check on everyone.

Chapter Text

Iason current location?

The kitchen, hating his siblings with a little part of his body. Why? Elena. She is back in his house and she again didn’t tell her guardian. Elena is starting to get some really bad habits and Jenna needs to discipline her ward more. 

He’s making some breakfast, waffles with some fruit and listening to Damon who’s waiting outside Stefan’s bedroom. Iason is watching the waffle presser to make sure the waffles don’t burn whilst making some blood syrup.

“Mmmm, good morning”

“I could get used to this”

“Rise and shine, sleepyheads”

“Damon, please!”

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, stop being smutty”

“Seriously, get out of here!”

“If I see something I haven't seen before, I'll throw a dollar at it. Now listen, we have some very important business to discuss”

“And it has to be right now?”

“So, in order to open the tomb, we need to find the journal to get the grimoire to undo the spells. First things first-since you are Elena Gilbert, you're on journal duty”

“Since when am I helping?”

Iason really wished they could plot some other time, maybe after breakfast. They plot, get dressed and then leave, forgetting to eat.

“Well, Stefan's helping, and you've taken up residence in Stefan's bed, ergo…”

Yes, she practically has taken up residence in Stefan’s bed and Iason is having a meet up with Jenna to discuss it, he’s fed up with her just walking into the house. Another reason he wants to own a house for himself, people won’t just walk in. The work is starting in two days which is exciting; he got the paperwork sent to him earlier this morning to own seven houses.

“You don't have to do anything that you don't want to do”

“I’ll look for it tonight”

“Good”

“How do we know that this journal will hold the location of the grimoire? We're really going to take the word of this vampire? He seemed like a bit of a dimwit”

“In lieu of any other options”

“OK, what exactly is a grimoire, anyway?”

“It's a witch's cookbook”

“Every spell that a witch casts is unique unto itself, so every witch would document their work”

“Yeah. Cookbook”

Hmmm, a cookbook. Now that is an idea. Iason normally has to remember recipes or look at some and then change them but maybe he should make himself a homemade cookbook. One for cooking recipes and another for baking. Oh! He should also make another version for vampires. A way for them to hide blood in everyday things. Then he can sell it through his funeral business as it’s trusted in the supernatural circle. Although he first needs to write all of his recipes down and do the normal version of it first.

“What about our mystery vampire? Dimwit obviously wasn't working alone, so whoever's out there knows who we are”

“And I don't like that disadvantage, so... Chop, chop. You know, I really like this whole menage a threesome team thing. It's got a bit of a kink to it. Don't screw it up”

“He doesn't– Oh, right, yeah”

Damon comes down the stairs and Iason gives him a waffle that has some blueberries and blood syrup, he takes it with a smile.

“Thanks Iason”

“Ok”

“Oh! No, come here”

“We shouldn’t –”

“Shh”

Iason then hears some kissing and he gently puts down a bowl of fruit on the counter and looks at Damon.

“I think they’re having sex” Damon tells him with a grin.

Iason just gives Damon a deadpan expression and makes his way upstairs.

“Ohh, Stefan is soo in trouble”

Going to Stefan’s door, Iason knocks heavily on the door but continues to hear them ‘get into it’. So sighing he pushes the door open and walks into the room, crosses his arm and watches the sheets move.

“You know if you two don’t stop I will pour ice water over you”

The sheets stop moving and two heads pop out of the top of the bed.

“I–Iason!” Stefan’s face is a bit red and Elena isn’t looking in Iason's direction.

“Does Jenna know you’re here Elena?”

Elena's eyes widen and she looks increasingly nervous, “Y–yes she does”. Like Iason would believe that even if he wasn’t in contact with Jenna.

“Well, breakfast is ready and the two of you need to be more considerate of others in the house, we can hear everything and we don’t want to. Now out of bed, the day is starting and you both have school to get to, so out of bed now. Unless you want me to do something that will really get you moving?”

“Okay! Okay! We get it! Can you just leave so we can get dressed”

Iason gives them both a look and leaves to the kitchen again where Damon is smiling.

“Ah, there he is, how is parenting a hundred year old vampire?” Damon acts like he has a microphone that he holds out towards Iason's face.

“That sounds a lot easier than parenting the two I’m currently parenting”

“Well, yes of course — Hey! You’re not parenting me!” 

“Yes, of course, you’re right” Iason turns his back to Damon and starts to plate up some waffles for Elena and Stefan.

“I’m being serious! I’m the older brother, if anything I’m parenting you and Stefan”

Iason gives a hum in response, continuing with the plating, “Of course Damon, do you need any money in your bank account?” 

“Only a little top up, my car is going into the shop soon” 

Smiling, Iason puts the plates on the kitchen island for Stefan and Elena who come down the stairs and start to eat.

“Look who it is, enjoy getting scolded?”

“Lay off it Damon” Stefan snaps at Damon who holds up his hands in surrender with a smirk.

“What can’t make a little fun of my brother for getting caught doing a naughty?”

“Really Damon, can’t you leave us alone for like two seconds?” Elena asks Damon with a small glare towards him.

“All of you stop arguing and eat your breakfast, Elena you still need to go home and get dressed, Stefan you need to get ready for school. Damon you’re a grown man so do what you normally do but safely”

They all look at their breakfast and continue the rest of it in silence whilst Iason cleans up the batter bowl and other equipment he used to make the waffles as well as the plates that were added to the sink as Damon, Elena and Stefan finished and left the boarding house.

Life is getting really exhausting.

After doing some jobs and continuing with the organising of the workers, Iason then moves to start a plan on how to make a cookbook but he leaves it quite quickly when it becomes around 5 o’clock as he is meeting with Jenna. As he goes to leave Damon comes down the stairs and looks at him.

“Ohh, where are you going?”

“I’m meeting with Elena’s guardian, we need to talk about her and Stefan”, Damon gains a glint in his eyes that Iason doesn’t trust all that much but it wouldn’t be too harmful to play along with him.

“So, he’s in trouble, I’ll come with. You know as the responsible older brother. We need to get Stefan’s unruly behaviour under control”

Sighing, Iason turns around and gets into his car whilst Damon vamps into the passenger seat. The drive there Damon plays some music on his radio which Iason doesn’t even fight Damon over as he has a highly varied taste in music.

Pulling up to the Gilbert residence, Iason ignores Damon as he knocks on the door to reveal Jenna. 

“Hey Iason, come on in” Iason steps through and Jenna sees Damon coming up as well. “Um, what is he doing here?”

“I wanted to be a part of the conversation, I take Stefan’s behaviour really seriously”

“Right, well I just don’t believe that”

“He ran into the car when he heard I was visiting you”

Damon sends an irritated glance at Iason and Jenna’s cheeks go a bit pink.

“Oh, right well come in Damon, I guess”

“Thanks, Jenna”

They all go towards the kitchen where Jenna has started to try and cook a dinner, seeing the ingredients and how they are cut lopsided and very differently makes Iason cringe inside and want to take over. But he doesn’t. It’s not his house so he shouldn’t take control of it.

“Sorry, it’s getting close to dinner so I’m trying to make something”

“Yes, we can see that” Damon drawls also looking at Jenna’s attempt at cooking with a sour look, however Jenna sees our expressions.

“What? I know it doesn’t look the best but I’m trying my best”

“Oh, we know. It’s just… Jenna, you do know the Salvatores are descendented from Italy? We love cooking. And Iason here trained as a chef”

Jenna gains a small horrified look, “So I’m embarrassing myself in front of two professional cooks”. She holds her head in her hands.

“I can help whilst you talk with Iason”

“Really?”

“Sure, I did come uninvited, you two also want to have a discussion. So I cook, you two talk”

Jenna nods and grabs a glass of wine and a bottle to put on the kitchen island. “Do you two want a glass?”

“I’ll have one, Iason doesn’t drink”

“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t even think. I pretty sure there’s something else in”

Jenna starts to pitter about the kitchen looking for something that Iason can drink. “It’s fine Jenna, I’m fine with a glass of water”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure”

Iason gets given a glass of water and Jenna sits next to him with a glass of wine whilst Damon starts to prepare a pasta dish with tomatoes.

“So, Stefan and Elena”

“Yes, as I’m sure you’ve noticed Elena keeps sleeping round our house without permission and is sneaking around”

“Yeah, I’ve talked to her but she doesn’t listen”

“I’ve also caught the two of them being intimate a couple of times now”

“What! Are they being safe?!”

Iason knows that vampires cannot procreate but Jenna doesn’t and he’s not going to lie.

“No, they are not”, Damon looks back at Iason and smirks before continuing with cooking.

“How can she be so irresponsible!”

“I know Jenna, I thought Stefan knew better. I believe that I will start to keep an eye out and I will start to bring Elena back if she sneaks into the house or stays too long”

“Yes, that will be great, she shouldn’t be staying over in the first place. The amount of times I wait hours by the door, just to get a message from you about Elena’s whereabouts”

“Although kicking her out of the house at night will stop them a little, there is still the issue of them sneaking around. They will continue to do so”

“I don’t mind them being close, it’s the secrecy, not telling me and not being safe”

“Maybe they need to sit down and have a talk?”

Damon lets out a little chuckle and Jenna also smiles, “That does sound like a good idea, maybe Jeremy should join in the conversation, he is getting at that age”

“But of course, can’t let the youth be irresponsible now can we?”

“No, we can’t. All this talk about dating, what about you two? Anyone you’re interested in?”

“No not really” Iason answers Jenna honestly whilst Damon gains a thoughtful look.

“Don’t know maybe, but probably no one that Iason approves of”

“Oh, you need Iason approval for dating?”

“Not really, but it’s nice to have”

“I get that, what about Stefan and Elena? Do they have your approval?” Jenna turns to look at Iason with her glass of wine near empty, alcoholics the whole town.

“No, they don’t”, she clearly wasn’t expecting that as her expression dropped.

“What? Why?”

“Simple, Elena resembles an ex of Stefan’s that was toxic for him and I fear that he may spiral into the same bad habits”

“Oh, so it’s nothing to do with Elena but everything to do with Stefan?”

“For now, yes. Stefan is not good for Elena”

“Okay, that's insightful. So anyone else you need the approval of? Parents?”

“Oh our parents are dead” Damon chimes in.

“I’m so sorry you two”

“No it’s fine, but if you want to know. My father never approved of anyone I dated, which only made me want them more. Of course. What about you?”

“There were a few guys. Logan isn't the only loser I've dated”

“They ever find him? Or is he still missing?”

“He's not missing. He's in the Bahamas working on his tan. Very entitled, that one. Marches to his own drum. He's a Fell. They're all snooty” Damon chuckles and walks to Jenna to refill her glass of wine before continuing with cooking and Elena walks into the kitchen.

“Hello, Elena”

“Hey. Where have you been? We're cooking dinner” Jenna looks a bit annoyed at Elena who looks a little sheepish.

“Is Stefan with you?” Damon then asks.

“Um - he'll be here soon. So what’s going on?”

“We were talking about you and Stefan” Iason tells her and she stands up straighter and looks at all three of them.

“About us? What about us?”

“How you keep sneaking out and staying over at Stefan’s, without asking me first” Jenna looks at Elena who gets a bit pale.

“We–we–well, it’s just –”

“Just nothing Elena, you’re seventeen, I’m your guardian. You can’t just keep doing what you want. I’ve stayed awake worried out of mind because I don’t know where you are. If it wasn’t for Iason I would have called the cops by now!”

“What does Iason have anything to do with this?”

“Oh I don’t know, how about how he tells me whenever you stay round theirs?” Elena looks at Iason with a betrayed expression which confuses Iason a little because why does she think he wouldn’t tell?

“Jenna look its not too bad”

“No, Elena, it is bad. Anyway, when Stefan gets here we’re all having a chat” Jenna leaves it at that and Elena walks towards the table confused but starts to set it up for dinner.

Iason just sits at the kitchen island and enjoys not cooking for once and lets others do the work, there isn’t much to do and he did offer but he was rejected. Jenna even asked him to think about the conversation and for him to lead it as she doesn’t know what to do. He agreed of course, he can see that she is clearly struggling.

Damon starts to bring some of the food into the dining room and starts a conversation with Elena that Iason definitely didn’t want to hear.

“Don’t do that”

“Do what?”

“You know what. That move was deliberate"

“Well yeah, I was deliberately trying to get to the sink”

Damon walks back into the kitchen and Elena follows, if she wants to be away from him, why does she follow him around? 

“Speaking of Stefan, where is he? He's missing family night, which I am enjoying immensely. Is it real?”

“Is what real?”

“This renewed sense of brotherhood. Can I trust him?”. Iason thinks it’s really sad that neither of his brothers can truly trust the other, there is always a scheme happening. He just wants his family together and be semi-normal.

“Yes, you can trust him”. Elena’s heart skips a beat which shows that she’s lying, something that Damon likely picks up on as he vamps in front of her when she goes into the dining room. Luckily Jenna was sorting herself out in the bathroom.

“Can I trust him?”

“I'm wearing vervain, Damon. It's not going to work”

“I'm not compelling you. I just want you to answer me. Honestly”

“Of course you can”

Lie

“There was a time when I trusted him more than anyone”

“Trust breeds trust. You have to give it to get it”

“Are you lecturing me?”

“Do you need to be lectured?" The irony of lecturing is definitely not lost on Iason and Damon, who he can hear is struggling not to laugh.

“I just want her back. I'm sure you can understand that” Oh come on! Iason has tried before to help Damon get over Katherine but it goes through one ear and out of the other.

“I can understand that you would do anything for her, yes”

“Then you understand what I will do if anyone gets in my way”

Iason stands up from the kitchen island and goes to have some of the dinner and is disappointed that Stefan hasn’t arrived yet. That boy is getting worse and worse with his manners. Iason apologised on behalf of Stefan’s behaviour which is unacceptable but Jenna waves it off. When everyone finished eating they go into the living room where Jeremy and Damon start to play some games whilst Iason drinks some of his cranberry juice, he had some in his car and then placed it in the fridge, he wasn’t going to drink it warm so that’s why Jenna asked if he wanted some wine. 

“You said you never played this thing before”

“I'm a fast learner. Quick reflexes. — Who are you dodging?”

“This girl Anna. She can be, uh, persistent”. So Anna is using Jeremy? That’s not very nice, not nice at all.

“Is she hot?”

“Yeah, yeah, but she can be weird”

“Hot trumps weird, trust me” Jeremy laughs and Iason disagrees, it seems Jeremy doesn’t like Anna’s personality which means if he tries to have a relationship it wouldn’t work.

“Do not trust him Jeremy, he can’t keep a stable relationship” Damon glares at Iason who just takes a sip of his drink whilst Jeremy looks intrigued. “If you want a stable relationship then it needs to be more than just looks, personality, hobbies and little things they do. Often people overlook stuff because they look attractive or think it's just something small but in reality it's something huge and you're miserable. If you think she’s weird in a negative way then don’t go for it” Iason explains to Jeremy and he hopes the teenaged boy will take his words into consideration but he doesn’t have high hopes. Teen boys around here often think only about the sexual pleasure of their bodies. 

With the silence and no one else talking Jeremy and Damon continue playing the game and Iason hears Jenna and Elena in the kitchen talking and no doubt Damon also hears.

“He is ridiculously hot!”

“Shh! — He’s an ass”

“What are you doing with all this stuff?”

“I thought there might be something about my birth parents”. 

“Have you told Jeremy?”

“I will. When the time is right”. There is never a right time, things get in the way and then it gets put off; suddenly it's announced by someone other than you and that person will see it as a betrayal. Poor Jeremy, he’s probably not going to have a happy life in this life. The door bell rings and both Damon and Elena go to the door for Stefan. Show time soon.

“Well?”

All three of them step outside and Jeremy is about to leave but then Jenna comes in and tells him to stay on the couch. Confused he does and now they have to wait for the three to finish their conversation, in the meantime Iason asks Jeremy about his hopes for the future to fill in the silence.

“Who took it?”

“I don’t know”

“You know what, it's that teacher. There's something really off about him”

“No, he doesn't know anything. Somebody got to it right before me”

“Who else knew it was there?”. Iason looks at Jeremy who has started another game in boredom and Iason feels like things might become a little tense.

“No. Damon, leave him out of it!”

“Why, what's the big deal?”

“Damon!”

They come back into the house and straight into the living room and Damon sits next to Jeremy who looks a little lost and Jenna looks annoyed.

“So....I heard you found a really cool journal from back in the day. Who else did you show it to?”

“Huh?”

“Don't ask questions, just spill”

“You're kidding me, right?”

“Jer, did you tell anyone other than Mr. Saltzman about Johnathan Gilbert's journal?” Elena sounds desperate, she sounds like she fears for her brother's life which isn’t too far fetched as Damon can be very impulsive.

“Why is everybody so obsessed with that thing?”

“Who else did you tell?”

“Just the girl Anna”

“The hot, weird one?”

“Yeah”

“Wait, who is Anna?”

“That’s what I want to find out”

Elena’s phone rings so she leaves to answer the phone, Jenna and Iason are highly annoyed because they wanted a talk and they all seem to be ignoring them.

“How do you know her?”

“I just know her. She wants me to meet her at the Grill tonight”

“Perfect. I’ll drive. Come on”

“O-Okay”

Jeremy stands to get up, “No, you can sit right back down Jeremy” Jenna says annoyed and Jeremy looks at her confused whilst Damon seems to have remembered what is going to happen.

“Right, I forgot the important talk you want with those three”

“Wait, what talk?”

“Nothing for you to worry, why don’t we just sit and wait” Damon leads Jeremy back to his seat and they wait for Elena.

Iason listens to Elena finishing her conversation and Stefan entering her room.

“Where’s Damon?”

“Downstairs, they all are. Something about a talk and they’re waiting for us” 

“Okay, Hey whats th-” Elena stops talking so Iason assumes that it must be a secret as they are quiet and then come downstairs and take a seat next to Jeremy and Damon moves to sit on the arm of the seat Jenna is sat on. All of the kids look confused about why they are being sat down.

“Do any of you know why you are sitting in front of us today?”, the three of them look at each other and Iason is sort of excited to make them embarrassed and uncomfortable.

“U-um no?” It’s Elena who answers Iason's question, Jenna stays silent as Iason is going to be doing most of the talking.

“It’s simple really, it’s come to our attention that some of you or well all of you are at that age where you start to explore the throes of passion”

“OH God!” Jeremy exclaims whilst trying to climb over the back of the couch but Damon gets up and pushes him back down. Elena and Stefan look horrified and pleading with their eyes for Iason to stop.

“It seems that a conversation is needed”

“We don’t need a conversation, we know how this all works” Elena snaps at Iason, both Stefan and Damon look at her in surprise and worry, then look at Iason with some bit of fear. 

“Do you? Are you really Elena? Because Iason was telling me that he's caught you and Stefan being highly intimate many times, with no protection!” Jenna shouts at the end to Elena, Stefan looks at Iason annoyed and irritated.

“We don’t need it” Stefan says as an explanation but then realised that he made a mistake when everyone turns to him. “I- I mean”

“See this is why we need to have this conversation. Protection doesn’t just stop unwanted pregnancies but they also stop the spread of STDs” 

“Can you please stop” Jeremy pleads but Iason ignores him.

“Prepartion is also very important, being fast might cause your partner pain and that’s not fair. Being in a relationship should be a pleasure for you both. Now boys make sure that your partner is being treated right, preparation is important and listening to their feelings. If they ask you to stop part way then you stop”

“I think we get it, Iason you can stop now” It’s Stefan who pleads next and Iason can see that Damon is loving everything at the back of the couch.

“Now, if you're in a relationship it’s healthy to spend some time apart. Being in the presence of your partner all the time can become unhealthy quickly. You should also inform your loved ones if you're going to be spending the night somewhere else” Iason looks pointedly at Elena who ducks down and Jeremy looks at her in anger.

“We’re having this talk because of you?!” 

“Yes, Jeremy you are. You see Elena keeps sneaking out and spending the night at our house without informing Jenna. She and Stefan are constantly lying to Jenna so they can spend time together. They’re also skipping school. So, you two, what’s going to happen now is that Elena is forbidden from staying round unless she has permission from the both of us” Iason gestures to Jenna.

“What! That’s so unfair!” 

“Is Elena? Is it unfair that I want you out of my house when you constantly walk in like you own the place? That I want you to actually go to school? To stop making your aunt sick with worry?” Elena looks at Jenna and must have seen the pale skin and hidden dark circles.

“Jenna… I’m sorry”

“You should be Elena, I’m tired of you always sneaking out, so now it stops. Both of you need some time apart, and if Iason finds you at the house after 8 o’clock then he’s dragging you back here”

The three look at Iason who just grins at them, Stefan shivers a little but nods and looks down.

“Do you understand?”

“yes”

“I asked if you understand?”

“Yes” 

The three of them answered him a bit louder and Iason enjoys the looks of discomfort on them and feels a sense of accomplishment. That Stefan is for making his past few days uncomfortable.

“Now, do we need to go over the same sexed sex?”

“No!” Jeremy climbs over the couch and runs outside with Damon following after him whilst chuckling.

“You two have ten minutes upstairs and then we’re leaving”

Those two go upstairs and Iason hears them talking about the journal and Iason rolls his eyes. He knows where the item they want is, he can sense it.

“I think that went well”

Iason looks over at Jenna who is nursing a cup of coffee. “Yes, but now we have to stick with it. They are going to test us both and we need to stay strict”

“Strict, got it”

Iason chuckles at the look of determination of Jenna’s but that chuckle dies when Jenna's face becomes teasing as she looks at him.

“So same sexed sex? Is that why you keep rejecting all the ladies?” Jenna wiggles her eyebrows at Iason who just sighs.

“You caught me”

“Really?! That’s so great” Jenna starts to vibrate in her seat and sparkles shine in her eyes. “It’s been so long since I’ve been able to talk guys to someone. So what’s your type?” 

“Polite, well spoken, intelligent, is able to look after themselves but wouldn’t mind being cared for or caring for me. I want someone who’s in it for life and not just for sex”

“Okay… so you want a life partner who can respect you, be independent but wouldn’t be cared for. That’s really sweet! Next, what’s your love language?”

“Easy, gift giving and cooking”

“Wow, that was fast”

“I’m always making stuff and I like to give it out but I also like to make stuff for the people I care about and to cook for them”

“Got it, I will keep an eye out for you”

Elena and Stefan come down stairs and are about to head out of the front door.

“And where do you two think you’re going?” They freeze at the tone of Iason's voice before turning to look at him.

“We - uh lost something and are heading to find it” Elena lies to them whilst telling part of the truth.

“Very nice, well then me and Stefan can retrieve the item and you Elena can head to bed” Iason looks at Elena who refuses to move before standing up and walking in front of her. “If you attempt to come with us I will drag you up to your room, over and over again”

“Jenna!” Elena looks at her aunt for some help but she just sighs and shakes her head.

“No Elena, we’re just had this conversation and already you're lying and trying to sneak out, so no I’m not going to help you. In fact I agree with Iason, go to your room and stay there for the rest of the night”.

Elena looks at everyone before storming off to her room. “Well done Jenna, that’s how’s it done”

“She’s going to hate me,” Jenna mutters to herself.

“No, she loves you, she's going to be annoyed at you, yes, but that’s the hell of parenting. You’ll get used to it. Also I would recommended having a look at her window”

“Her window? Why?”

“Sometimes when kids are desperate they will climb up a window or their boyfriends climb up through the window” Iason gives Stefan a look and he ducks his head down.

“Seriously Stefan?! You’ve climbed through Elena’s window! Do you have any idea how creepy that is? How illegal it is?”

“We’ll be seeing you around Jenna”

“Yeah, bye Iason” Jenna glares at Stefan and Iason drags him to the car.

“Well, to the cemetery then”

“How do you know it's in the cemetery?”

Iason gives Stefan a look for being dumb, “I can hear you. Also I know everything about the cemetery, remember?”

“Right… did you have to do that though?”

Ah, here’s the outburst.

“Yes, and if you don’t understand why it needs to happen then I will force you to read a lot of psychological studies about people and cases of teenagers being arrested for climbing through windows. Oh! Maybe I should arrange you a talk with the sheriff next?” 

Stefan shakes his head and is quiet for the rest of the car journey, Iason wonders if Stefan will continue and plans to talk with the sheriff about the possibility of having a talk with Stefan and Elena.

At the cemetery they quietly walk to their ‘beloved’ father’s grave.

“Well the shovels are over there” Iason points and Stefan gives him a dry look. “What?”

“Are you not going to help?”

“Hmmm, nope”

Stefan sighs and starts to dig up their father’s grave. 

It takes a while for Stefan to hit something solid and he starts to open the grave but his eyes start to get watery.

“Stefan you don’t need to do this, we can leave” Iason starts to approach Stefan but he shakes his head and grabs the grimorie from their father’s skeleton.

“Well, what do you know? This is an interesting turn of events”

“I can't let you bring her back. I'm sorry”

“I’m only here because he was going to bring Elena and that’s not happening, now can I go home?” Iason asks but his brothers are now locked onto each other.

Yay! More brother drama that’s going to end up with someone hurt.

“So am I. For thinking for even a second that I could trust you”

“Oh. You're not capable of trust. The fact that you're here means that you read the journal and you were planning on doing this yourself”

“Of course I was going to do it by myself, because the only one I can count on is me! You made sure of that many years ago, Stefan”

“So what are you going to do now? Because if you try and destroy that, I'll rip her heart out” Damon refers to Elena and Stefan looks a bit worried, after all Damon is faster than he is and would get to her first.

“You won’t kill her”

“You don’t know that, but say I won’t. What stops me from turning her?” Damon grins at Stefan who looks scared.

“Don’t hurt her”

“Ohh, it might not be me. Could be her brother, I was with him for a long time. So what’s it going to be brother? The book or Elena dead?”

Stefan seems to debate himself but ends up handing the book to Damon before running off. Iason doesn’t hear a car door so he sighs and messages Jenna about how Stefan ran off and to kick him out when he gets there.

Iason looks at Damon who’s staring at their fathers grave, instead of speaking Iason walks up to him and gives him a hug.

“You don’t need to do this Damon”

“Not you too” 

Damon tries to push Iason off but he tightens his hold.

“I’ve already told you about the tomb and how she’s not there but you don’t listen, but that’s fine, make your mistakes. But Damon, know that you can trust me and I love you” Damon lightly returns the hug which makes Iason grin and he can feel some tears but he ignores them and instead comforts his brother. “Come on, I'll drive us home”.

Together they walk towards Iason's car, and he doesn’t speak about the tears or how something is going to happen soon.

Death

Again.

Chapter Text

Iason is at his desk looking over all of his projects whilst Damon is sitting in a chair in the corner reading through father’s journal. He still seems a bit off but is trying to keep a brave face so Iason is letting him have some space to collect himself and calm down. 

It’s nice and peaceful in Iason's office, that is until Stefan walks in without knocking.

“Anna took Elena”

“Yeah, I got that from your 600 voice mails”

Stefan walks further into Iason's office to stand in front of Damon and Iason feels tempted to kick Stefan out and make him knock.

“Stefan, get out of my office”

Stefan whirls around and looks at Iason in disbelief.

“This is a serious matter, Iason!”

“Yes, well I’m fed up of your bad manners and you didn’t knock so get out of my office and if you knock I might let you back in”

Damon looks seconds away from laughing and Stefan, annoyed, does as he’s told and closes the door. Iason looks at the door as Stefan starts to knock and then he lets the silence hang in the air for a second. Stefan knocks again and waits. And again but heavy.

“You can come in” the door opens and Stefan walks back in highly irritated, “Next time don’t barge in and don’t be so harsh on the wood”.

Stefan goes back up to Damon. “Damon, all night long, every single street in town, I've been searching. What if your blood hasn't passed out of her system?”

“Well, then at least you know you'll see her again”

“Please. What do you know? You were with Anna, you must know where she's living. Just tell me where I can find her”

“Nope. You can go. Really”. Did Stefan think Damon was going to help Stefan after all the backstabbing they have both done to each other?

“You know, all I can remember is hating you. There might have been a time when that was different, but your choices have erased anything good about you. But see, I also know you have just as much reason to hate me. This all began with me. Katherine got taken away from you because of me. And I'm sorry.”

“Apology accepted.”

“So please, just tell me what you know”

“Huh”

A good response. Why is it the only time his brothers apologise is so that they can emotionally manipulate the other into doing something for them. This is why they have little trust in each other. Nothing is ever genuine or without alternative motives. 

“It's Elena, Damon. If you know something, tell me”

“I mean this sincerely. I hope Elena dies”

Damon then walks out and Stefan looks down in defeat. Iason also sort of wants Elena dead so that they can leave the town and drama behind but that mostly won’t happen. Stefan walks out and starts to mope and plan a way to find Elena and Iason goes back to his lift.

• Recycle memorial tokens
• Seven new houses
• Cookbooks: 1 cooking, 1 baking, 1 vampire cooking, 1 vampire baking
• Getting business in Japan, China, Korea and India

Not too much to do but it still makes him very busy, this is also only the extra big stuff he’s putting onto himself and not the small stuff and his daily work. The recycle memorial tokens have nearly been agreed upon with a few landfills that will enjoy the help with clean up and his staff have nearly completed training so there’s not much to do for that. Negotiations are going well with Japan and Korea so he will concentrate on those before going back to India and China. The houses he doesn’t need to do much for at the moment so that means he can concentrate on the cookbooks.

Look at him go!

As Iason starts to write out a layout for his new upcoming books Damon returns and goes to Stefan to listen to the phone conversation he’s having with Anna. She’s getting very desperate. But Iason just focuses on his work as he isn’t needed at the moment and he’s enjoying being productive. 

With the layout all finished Iason goes downstairs and makes himself some dinner, egg mayo and mature cheese in a baguette, when Elena walks inside the house and goes upstairs to Damon. Does this mean Iason can kick her out today? Finally something exciting, although with the smell in the air and the high amount of energy going through him. Iason thinks his brothers are doing something risky which means he might finally get to go on one.

A hunt

Something that he hasn’t been on in a long time, some rule breakers might emerge free from that tomb. They haven’t had time to control their thirst and are at a high risk, he will let them out but if they do something then Iason is burning them.

Iason hears Damon say that he’s trusting Elena which makes him a bit upset because Iason knows that Damon is probably going to get his heart broken and tonight is not going to go well.

Elena comes down stairs so Iason walks up to her.

“Miss Gilbert” She stops in her tracks and turns to Iason.

“Um Iason… hey”

“Hmm, may I ask why you stormed into my house without knocking?” 

“Well, I well– I got permission from Stefan to come over”

“To come over. Yet, he’s not here is he? And if you were asked to come over, you still knock. Don’t you?” Elena slowly nods and starts to back up towards the front door with Iason following her at a leisure pace. “Now, if you come into my house without knocking one more time, I will, with the permission of Jenna, remove your bedroom door”

“What!” Elena looks at Iason furious. “You can’t do that! It’s an invasion of my privacy!”

“Privacy? What about my privacy? You storm into this house without thinking about the people living here. So, you don’t respect our privacy and yours won’t be respected back. And don’t worry I’ve already spoken to Jenna about this and she agrees”

Elena storms out of the front door and Damon follows after her with a smug smile and Iason goes back to the kitchen to clean up the mess from his dinner. Annoyed that Stefan is skipping another meal.

After cleaning up he walks to a window and just watches the night sky and already one vampire is dead.

Iason: Ben McKittrick, vampire, killed by Stefan through fire

Vera: ohhh, something going down

Iason: They’re opening the tomb

Vera: You’re letting them!?

Iason: Yes, let them learn their mistakes, clean up after them, let them be miserable

Vera: All of them?

Iason: Just one, Pearl, the mother of Anna; for now

Vera: Not too bad then

Iason: That’s if they do it right

Vera: Well, knowing that town something is going to happen and the rest are going to get free, then you clean up

Iason: That’s me, the clean up crew

Vera: Have fun :D

Sighing walks to the living room and just sits down and waits for his brothers to return. The first to return is Stefan who ignores him and goes to get some blood. At least he’s eating, but then he answers the phone to talk with Elena.

Damon soon comes into the house and sits next to Iason. He just brings Damon in for a hug and lets him rest his head on him and just sit in silence.

When Stefan comes in and sits down Iason gets the feeling, Sheila has just died and now the secret of the supernatural is in danger.

Chapter Text

Already one person is dead from a tomb vampire. 

It’s not even been that long and Iason is sort of dreading and excited for what the tomb vampires will bring. 

Currently Iason is in the kitchen remembering his different recipes, trying them out, tweaking them and then writing them down in a post it note. He’s sure that the town and children are going to enjoy all the treats as well as the donation he’s going to make. The curse of wanting to make a cookbook is having to make all the recipes to make sure they’re perfect. The one he’s doing first is the baking as he felt like that would be more fun to do and he likes the sweet treats. 

Inside of the boarding house Damon is currently feeding on some sobriety girls, Iason is making sure that Damon is only feeding on them in a safe amount; which Damon is even in during a low moment of his life. There is loud music playing but it cuts off as Stefan returns home. He ignores their conversation as he gets a message from Jenna about the Founder’s Fundraiser and asking if he has any cakes. Iason looks at the counter full of baked goods and debates saying no but instead he sighs and takes a picture and sends it to Jenna, who’s response is simply ‘(⊙o⊙)’. 

Going into the living room Iason has Damon compel the women and they all leave and Damon flops onto the couch with a drink in his hand.

“Come on then, I baked some blood brownies for you, it’s human” this gets Damon off the couch and into the kitchen but he walks back in with the whole brownie tray and a fork. Iason sits next to him and just rests his head on his shoulder and lets Damon come to terms with everything. 

“Thanks” 

Damon mutters it quietly but Iason hears it, he doesn’t react as it will make Damon pull away so Iason just stays next to Damon as he eats the brownie. 

“Why wasn't she there? After everything and she’s just not there”

“I know, she only wanted to use you and now you have your whole life to yourself. You can be free from her now, and Damon don’t let her control you” Iason brings Damon into a hug and feels him cry a little into his shirt, he just strokes his head and lets him grieve the time wasted.

“I should have listened to you”

“Shh, it’s fine now. You wanted to hope, and you put your whole heart into it and never gave up, that takes courage and strength. Now you need to continue being strong and slowly move forward and become a free and happy man”

Iason and Damon sit on the couch with Damon sometimes eating from the brownie and offering some of it to Iason who politely refuses. When Damon finishes the brownie he sits up, goes into the kitchen and heads to the grill. He looks a bit better but Iason believes that Damon might go from fine to angry.

Standing up Iason goes into the kitchen to make sure all the baked goods are warm and placed into tube wear so he can take it to the fundraiser. Whilst he was doing this a person dies, a woman, and from the feel of things it was a compelled human; Iason has to go into a deeper connection with his senses to identify the women and grab the name.

Iason: Trudie Pertson, murdered by a human who was compelled by Isobel Flemming

Vera: More death, \o/

Stefan is walking around the house and Iason is making sure everything is fine when he senses Elena coming up to the house so he leaves the kitchen and goes to the front door which opens with Elena on the other side. However, when she sees Iason standing near the door she freezes.

“Heeyy…”

“Get out and knock on the door”

Elena doesn’t say anything and just looks at Iason.

“I don’t need to knock I have permission to come in”

“Yes you do need to knock and that permission never was granted and never will be granted, and if you don't leave and knock then I will drag you out”

Groaning Elena walks out of the house, closes the door and knocks and is about to open the door.

“You knock and wait to be let in Elena Gilbert”

The door stops moving and closes fully with Elena knocking on the door again, and again.

“Now you may come in”

Elena storms in and past Iason to go to Stefan's room upstairs.

Iason just sends a quick message to Jenna.

Iason: Might want to take down Elena’s door as she doesn’t seem to learn.

Jenna: Seriously? Already? Well alright, one door coming straight off!

With everything packed up Iason goes to his car with his baked goods and drives to the grill. It’s the second time he’s been at the grill, the first was when he was having a look around and found everything to be too greasy and alcoholic for him. Again, the town is just full of drunks. 

Once at the fundraiser with the baked goods the mayor’s wife takes them off his hands and places them at the bar but Iason sneaks to them and puts a name tag to say who they were baked by. If he’s having his food here then he’s going to have the credit and not the mayor ‘s wife who he can already hear talking about all the things she did which she didn’t as he can hear her heart when she lies.

Iason looks around and sees Alaric and Jenna, Alaric the hunter and not someone Iason has really met yet. He walks up to them as they are starting a conversation.

“That's a good look for you”

“What? Embarrassed and uncomfortable?”

 “Yep. That's-- that's the one”

“Hey, look, um, I'm, uh, sorry about earlier. It was just kind of a--a shock”

“No, I'm sorry for dropping it on you, but I felt like you should know”

“No, I get it”

“At some point, maybe you and Elena could talk. I'm sure she'd like to hear about Isobel, what she was like”

”Yeah”

“Uh...Or not. No pressure”

“I don't know if that's a--a great idea. At least not—not for a while”

“Well hello Jenna”

“Oh, Iason hello!”

Iason stands next to Jenna and can see the confused look that Alaric sends his way, he clearly didn’t do his research on the Salvatore’s.

“Oh Iason this Alaric, Alaric, Iason”

They both shake hands and say a greeting.

“So Iason, what do you do around here?”

“Oh, I cook and bake stuff that I then donate to places around here”

“That’s nice but doesn’t sound like you can make a living off of that”

“Oh, Alaric, Iason is a Salvatore, Stefan’s brother”

“A Salvatore?” Alaric gives Iason a dirty look and he just gives him a small smile.

“Yep! Now Jenna, do you need help with Elena’s door?”

“Oh, thank god! I thought I would have to do it myself for a second. But yes, I would love some help”

“What’s wrong with Elena’s door?”

Both Jenna and Iason at each other annoyed, “Elena keeps sneaking off to the Salvatore’s Boarding house, walking in without permission and sleeping with Stefan”

“Oh”

“Yeah, so me and Iason have had enough and are trying to stop their behaviour”

“Seems like parenting is challenging”

“Oh, Alaric you have no idea, sometimes it feels like you're parenting a toddler but in reality they’re over a hundred years old”, Jenna laughs a little at the ‘joke’ but Alaric just glares at Iason. 

“If they’re that old then they shouldn’t need parenting”

“No they shouldn’t and yet I’m burdened with that responsibility”

“Yes wel–”

“Come on Alaric, lighten up, Iason is telling a joke. No need to be so serious all the time”

“Right… sorry”

Iason gives a hum and watches the women who keep whispering and looking at the different men.

“Iason, how did you get out of being a bachelor?” Jenna asks curiously.

“Simple, I never answered the phone, send a message to all the people I know that I’m not going to be a bachelor for the fundraiser so the mayor couldn’t sneak me in”, Jenna laughs and Alaric looks thoughtful.

“You think you can get me out of this?”

Iason gives Alaric a little smirk, “Nope”, and receives a glare in response.

“Anyway, Iason stops making me laugh” she lightly hits Iason on the shoulder and he pretends to be in pain which she rolls her eyes at. “Do you two want a drink?”

“I’ll have a bourbon”

“I’ll just have a coke”

“Oh, not much of a drinker?”

“Yeah, Iason doesn’t drink” Jenna then walks off to the bar leaving them alone.

“What do you want with Jenna?” Alaric turns to him with a serious expression.

“With Jenna? Get her to stop Elena from coming to my house” Alaric seems surprised by his answer.

“Why? Aren’t Elena and Stefan together?”

“Yes, and I would much rather they not be together”

“Are you like Damon or Stefan?”

Iason knew what Alaric was asking and decided to be honest and confuse him a lot, “Neither and both”.

“What?” 

“I like people food but not people but I also like animals”

Alaric still looks highly confused which Iason enjoys immensely, “You’re messing with me”

“Yes and also no. I don’t drink from people if that’s what you're asking, nor do I kill them”. Alaric looks relieved but Iason does kill people, only when they pose a threat to the secret of the supernatural of course. It’s also quite rare for him to do so. But Alaric doesn’t need to know that. 

Jenna comes back and hands them their drinks and before Alaric leaves, and Jenna and Iason start to talk about the other people attending and how their behaviour is fake. She is quite an enjoyable woman to be around. 

Soon though the bachelors are brought up onto a stage and the women line up with their tickets, Iason ignores them and goes to the leftover baked goods to see what's popular so he can understand the taste of the town better. Turns out none, the entire baked goods are all gone so they have no specific taste and will eat anything; which makes his life easier. Iason gathers up all of his tubs, cheap tubs as he wouldn’t use nice tubs where they can get stolen, and brings them to his car. 

When Iason finishes he looks and sees that Elena is pacing outside the Grill with Stefan trying to calm her down a little. However they soon go back inside when Elena mentions recognising a man, she has good instincts but at the same time is reaching. There is something big going on at the Grill and she’s shocked to see a man there when a lot of people are around? He could have lived in the same place as Tudrie’s and wanted to go see the event at the Grill, nothing special.

Iason debates about going back inside but he doesn’t want to as he can sense that death is about to happen, specially the man Elena is worrying about. He could just leave but he wants to stay, but staying means acting… going now sounds much better than staying. Iason gets into his car as Elena steps back outside and she and Stefan start to talk with the compelled man. Iason checks to make sure he has everything but just as he’s about to leave the man walks in front of a truck which kills him.

People start running over and Iason sighs but drives away as the crowd isn’t that big and not from inside the Grill. Not being there is a lot easier than acting, acting is just not his way. Iason drives home and makes it before anyone else.

He goes into the kitchen and leaves the tubs in soak before going into the parlor where Damon is now pouring himself a drink after just arriving.

“Are you really this stupid?” There’s some banging as Damon fights against what smells like Alaric, Iason just sighs and walks into the parlor. “You gonna put down the stake?” Alaric gets into a fighting stance, ready to fight against a vampire who is clearly stronger than him, Wow, that’s courage”

Iason walks towards the wall and leans back to watch the interaction, ready to stop them from spilling too much blood as he quite likes the wooden floor and doesn’t want to clean blood from them. It takes a long time.

“Where's Isobel? What have you done to my wife?”

“You want me to tell you I killed her? Would that make you happy? Because I think you know what happened”

“I saw you feeding on her”

“Yeah, I did, and I wasn't lying. She was delicious”

Alaric rushes at Damon who easily gets him on the floor, Iason isn’t in that much worry as he feels like Alaric's death isn’t happening anytime soon, mostly because of that ring he’s wearing. Iason hates the rings. He wants them gone as they are a cheat, the rings come at a price and Iason and the others debated the destruction of the rings and it was decided that people can wear them and be turned mad, they kill them and then get the ring. Unfortunately not many people have gone mad with the ring, Iason just now needs to convince Alaric to hand him the ring over… yeah he might just wait for him to go mad and then kill him.

“Oh, come on. What do you think happened? Not an inkling? Never considered the possibility? — I turned her”

“Why?”

“She came to me. All pathetic, looking for vampires. There was something about her, something I liked. There was something special”

“You turned her because you liked her?”

Great, now Iason is again hearing about his brother's sex life, can they ever just not talk about women, sex, murder or alcohol?

“No, I slept with her because I liked her. I turned her because she begged me to. Yeah. But you knew that, too, didn't you? Hmm. I guess she wasn't happy at home, wasn't happy with life in general, wasn't happy with you”

Alaric rushes Damon again but he grabs the stake and punctures his lung, that better not get blood on the floor. Iason steps a bit closer and sees that the blood is mainly soaking into his shirt which is better than the floor.

“Ah, this is a shame. We're kindred spirits, abandoned by the women we love. Unrequited love sucks” Damon then removes the stake “Sounds like I got a lung. Which means I get to sit here and watch you die”. Damon throws the stake away, goes to the couch and has a drink whilst watching Alaric.

Soon Alaric ‘dies’ and Stefan comes into the parlor and sees the ‘dead’ body, 

“What happened? What did you do?”

“Do what? He attacked me?”

“Damon”

“All I did was tell him the truth. His wife didn't want him anymore. It's not my fault he couldn't handle it”

“Like you’ve been handling Katherine?”

“I'm handling it fine. You know what? Isobel came to me. She found me. And if she's related to Elena, that means she's related to Katherine. Maybe Katherine sent her to me”. No! Poor Damon, that’s definitely not what's going on.

“Stop it. You don't have to keep looking”

“Can't be a coincidence Isobel sought me out. Uh-uh. Can't. I'm assuming you'll take care of this”

Damon leaves the room and Iason wants to comfort him but he just knows that Damon will take it the wrong way and push him to the side. Stefan goes over to Alaric's body and looks confused and then Alaric comes gasping back to life.

“What happened? What's going on?”

“You were just...Did Damon turn you?”

“No. I - I went for him and then he, uh-- he stabbed me”

“No, no, no. You must have vampire blood in your system. Somebody slipped it to you”

“No. It's, uh, it's something else”

“Then how?”

“I, uh… Isobel”

“Iason” Iason looks at Stefan who looks frustrated, “Why didn’t you stop Damon?”

“Oh, that’s because I knew he wouldn’t die”

Alaric looks confused but Stefan knows what he means, and he nods before helping Alaric up.

“H-how did you know?”

“Oh, I just do. If I were you I would throw it away, maybe I can handle it for you?”

Alaric glares at Iason, “No, I think I’ll keep it for myself”

“Fine, it’s your madness and funeral”

Iason shrugs and walks off to the kitchen to clean the tubs, and just hopes that no one becomes friends with Alaric because then that means Iason might have to steal the ring from Alaric and then destroy it before it destroys him.

Chapter Text

For a change Stefan is at school, mostly because Iason dragged him there which Stefan did not appreciate as some kids were laughing at him but it might have gotten his point across, hopefully. 

Again Iason is doing some baking but later on he’s going to go and check on the work starting at his houses and sign some documents, overall it’s going to be a sort of decent day with only a small amount of death. So a win in Iason books. 

Unless of course someone decides to ruin his day.

Whilst Iason is baking and writing his recipes down, Damon is wondering about moping but he sometimes just sits and watches Iason. When this happens he just lets Damon bask in his company and sometimes when he’s walking around he’ll touch a shoulder or ruffle his hair; just small stuff. 

However, two unwanted vampires come into the house and Iason hopes they don’t ruin his day. He’s trying to bake some nice cookies! Raisin cookies, chocolate cookies, sugar, shortbread, big and thin. The lot.

Damon groans and walks into the living room to be greeted by the sight of Anna and Pearl. Iason was also about to kick them out but they started a conversation before he could.

“Hello Damon”

“Ever hear of knocking?”, seems to Iason no one in the town knows how to knock, maybe a whole town meeting? Or should Iason start calling the police because they are trespassing, it could leave an impression so people learn how to knock.

“An invitation wasn't necessary. I'm surprised that no living person resides here. Is it just you and your brothers?”

“Yeah. How do you keep out unwelcome vampires?”

“I kill them”

There is some struggling but not for long and Iason has to assume that Damon lost because Pearl continues to talk and breathe. “Have a seat, Damon. I was hoping we could have a word”

“Sure”

Well Damon must have been curious or he knew he wouldn’t win against them. Iason grabs some blood cookies that he’s made to look like red velvet and white chocolate cookies and goes into the living room. 

“So does anyone want a blood cookie?” 

They all turn to Iason who’s walking into the living room and places the cookies on the table, Damon is the first to reach for a cookie and then it’s Anna.

“Anna, how do you know if it’s got Vervain in it or not?” Anna freezes before rolling her eyes and eating the cookie.

“Because he didn’t know we were coming so he was cooking these for his brothers. Also he makes the whole town cookies and cakes that are safe”

Pearl ignores her daughter and talks to Damon, Iason just goes back to the kitchen to grab his note book and then sits on the couch. He’s going to listen to their conversation whilst fixing his recipes. 

“We've taken up residence at a farmhouse just outside the town. It'll suffice for now”

“All 25 vampires?”

“Not all, some. I imagine that a few have already left town. Others are probably still in the woods or like us acclimating”

“How did they get out of the tomb?”

“I think the witch screwed up that part of her hocus pocus” Anna speaks around a mouth full of cookies which earns her a look from Pearl.

“I understand from Anna that the founding families still have a secret council?”

“And you're a part of it”

“That's ridiculous” 

“I've been in Mystic Falls since the comet, Damon. I'm up to speed” Anna looks at Damon like he’s an idiot which he sometimes is.

“And so am I. And now that you've infiltrated the council, I'll need to know everything they know. Starting with a listing names of all the council members and their families”

“And everyone you've supplied with vervain”

“Yes, that will have to stop immediately”

“What exactly are you trying to achieve?”

“Mystic Falls is our home, Damon. They took that from us. Our land, our home. It's time we rebuild”

It sounded like Pearl and Anna are sort of threatening the lives of the whole town which isn’t good, they will not make this place overrun by vampires, he doesn’t want another New Orleans. Now that is a massive debate, it doesn’t break the rules but the other and Iason are not happy about it but they are keeping an eye on it and are ready to stop the vampires if they go too far.

“What, are you crazy? It was 1864. Wake up woman. The world has moved on”

“As a reward for your help I'm willing to give you what you want most”

“I want nothing”

“Katherine”

Iason looks at Damon and could see him trying to keep the emotions off of his face and Iason is about ready to kill this vampire.

“You wouldn't even know where she was. You've been under the ground for the last century and a half”

“Katherine and I were best friends long before we came to Mystic Falls, Damon. I know how she thinks, I know her patterns, I know where to find her”. Katherine doesn’t do friends, she does people and uses them.

“I no longer have any desire to see Katherine ever again. And there's no way in hell I'm gonna play the role of your little minion”. Damon stands to leave but Pearl pushes him back into the couch and Iason is about ready to stand up but Damon gives him a look which calms Iason down a little as Damon wants to handle it on his own. But Iason is ready to step in if it's needed.

“I'm not asking for your help, Damon. Finding Katherine was just a mere gesture of kindness. The rest is non-negotiable”

Pearl goes to put her fingers into Damon’s eyes but Iason is already up and grabbing her wrist to stop her, Anna stands up to help her mother who starts to try and remove her wrist from Iason's grip.

“Attack my brother in my home again and you might not leave with your life, don’t forget this. I’m stronger than you”

Iason glares at Pearl and pushes her away, she glares back at Iason but he stands in front of Damon so he’s safe. 

Pearl looks around Iason to speak to Damon, “I have four hundred years on you, little boy. I'll rip you from limb to limb without even blinking and you know it. I'll be in touch”. Both Anna and Pearl leave and Iason turns to look at Damon.

“Are you alright?”

“Peachy” Iason nods and goes back to his notebook, “Hey, Iason” he looks at Damon who is getting himself a drink, “Thanks”. Iason nods again and smiles at Damon before writing the blood velvet cookies in the book, it seems that they were enjoyed. Iason has made sure that Damon and Stefan will give their honest opinions about his food so he can know if they need improvement. 

Iason also knows that he’s going to need to go into a shop and buy some new notebooks soon and rewrite the recipes, again. For now all the baking is in one notebook that he found but the vampire and human recipes are going to need to be separate so he wants different notebooks for them. Around four for the final and then maybe another four for testing. 

So much work to do! 

It’s great!

An hour later Damon is leaving to go to the grill and Iason gets into his car to go and fill in some paperwork. The drive was nice and Iason enjoys the atmosphere of the neighbours being next to the cemetery. There were a few people looking at the amount of drivers and people doing work but Iason ignores them as he parks and walks towards what looks like the supervisors.

“Hey, no one should be around here, whole street is closed for construction”

“I would hope so considering I’m paying for it and don’t want to pay for someone’s medical bills. Iason Salvatore.” Iason shakes the hands of the different supervisors. “So, do you guys have a plan?”

“We are thinking about splitting the week into different slots so that the street is blocked and our guys can work without worrying about the other companies getting in the way”

“Yeah, so three or two of the week, one of us will come then the others would work”

“Okay, I get that. So, I was told that I needed to meet with you all today?”

“Yeah, we have paperwork for you to fill out. The usual”

Iason takes all of the contracts and reads through them before signing them off and giving them to the workers. He also sees as the mayor walks up to them.

“Well, looks like this place is getting spruced up”, Iason turns and sees Mr Lockwood.

“Mayor Lockwood, Iason Salvatore” they shake hands, with Mr Lockwood tightening it for some reason but Iason doesn’t react.

“A lot of work going on in this street, I signed the approval of it of course, it’s nice to see people having some love for this town of ours”

“But of course Mayor Lockwood, I do hope this is going to be to your liking?”

“New houses that I don’t need to take responsibility for but earn money off? Of course I’m happy about it” the mayor goes over some paperwork before signing and going off.

“Umm, Mr Salvatore? He does know that he won’t get anything from these houses, right? You own them completely”

“No, he doesn’t know that but he’ll learn eventually, I just needed his permission and what better way then to wave money at his face so he bites”

The supervisors chuckle before going to work and Iason gets into his car to drive home.  Back at home Iason starts to prepare to make himself some spaghetti with cheese sauce made from soft cheese. As he’s about to start cooking he hears people park their cars and come into the house, four teenagers, who he knew were going on a double date. Iason looks at his dinner preparations and puts them in some tubs and back into the fridge before making a bigger dinner that can feed all the guests in his house. 

Stefan and Matt go off to look at Stefan’s car and Iason decides to make some chicken spaghetti. It’s going to take a while for it to cook but at least the kids will be fed, unless they fight amongst themselves and then leave, leaving him with a massive dinner and no one to eat it… That better not happen. He isn’t wasting food.

Whilst he’s waiting for the pasta to cook Iason has a look at his emails on his phone but then hears more people enter the house, Damon and some women who smell is similar to the boy Caroline brought.

There is some commotion as Damon kisses the guy, Matt, mum and then they both leave. At least there are still enough people to eat the pasta. Unfortunately it doesn’t take long for Elena to also bail, the one time he doesn’t mind her here and she leaves! Along with Caroline so he has a massive dinner that no one is going to eat. Just great!

Iason brings out the pasta when it’s done and puts it on a rack to cool down. As this is happening someone breaks through a window and attacks Stefan, Iason runs in and sees a tomb vampire stab Stefan with a shard of glass, Damon pushes the guy off Stefan and starts to fight. But then another tomb vampire arrives and fights Stefan, leaving Iason looking at the scene wondering if he can help his brothers, the tomb vampires are the same age but Damon and Stefan have more experience in fighting as vampires so they should win. As he’s thinking Stefan breaks a chair and stabs a female tomb vampire, who he learns when she dies, Bethanne and the male tomb vampire runs out.

“Damn it”

“I remember them from 1864. They were in the tomb”

“Yeah… about that”

“So is anyone going to fix my window?”

Both Stefan and Damon look at Iason who is highly unimpressed with the mess. “You make a mess, you clean it”

“They started it!”

“Yes they did, but it was caused by your two’s actions so clean it. Also dinner is ready”

Iason turns around and sets the table up for his brothers to have some dinner after they finish cleaning. Although Stefan is on the phone with Elena. “Stefan, if you don’t help Damon tidy up, I will make you clean the entirety of the house with me behind you”. This gets Stefan to hang up and clean up the broken wood around the house, Iason looks at his phone whilst eating his dinner at chairs that can replace the broken ones during the fight. Maybe he should hide some wooden stakes around the house?

After Damon burns the body he comes into the dining room and helps himself to a plate of food, a large plate which Iason is grateful for as it’s less food wasted. Stefan soon comes in and bins the wood and helps himself to a large plate of food and Damon explains that the tomb vampires are free. 

Iason just feels that Jeremy Gilbert is now aware of vampires. 

Another one to the list.

Chapter Text

A fresh day and Iason has a bad feeling about it, there is something dark in the day. A good amount of death might happen today, but why and how, he does not know. He goes downstairs where Elena, Damon and Stefan are. Damon is boarding up a window that was broken yesterday.

“She better have knocked on the door to be let in” they turn to him and Damon laughs a little whilst Elena glares.

“Oh she did, I made sure for you”

Iason still needs to go to the Gilbert’s and remove the door so he will do it today, he sends a message to Jenna who agrees that he can do it today.

“That’s good, well I just made plans to go to Jenna’s and remove Elena’s door today”

“What! But I’ve been knocking!”

“Only for today, you didn’t yesterday. Also this is your punishment and I will be going through with it. Jenna was busy yesterday and didn’t agree with the time”

Iason leaves to the kitchen where he makes himself a bowl of cereal and yoghurt for breakfast and then goes to an empty room to do some yoga for a bit. His brothers were planning on what to do with the tomb vampires and wanting to kill them. Right now though is time for yoga and inner peace.

Just him and the world around him. 

Doing yoga for twenty minutes Iason checks the time and heads off to the Gilberts to take down the door. The drive was nice and peaceful with some classical music and rock mixed in the playlist and when he got to the house Jenna let him inside and showed him the tool box. Taking down the door wasn’t that hard but they had to debate on where it should go until they decided on the late Mr and Mrs Gilbert. Elena most likely won’t go in there and so the door will be safe and out of the way. Whilst Iason is removing the door Elena did glare at him which he just gave her a cheeky smile back, it’s her own fault after all. Respect the privacy of other people. She was warned constantly. Hopefully now she won’t go into houses or rooms without knocking, the rude little girl.

When he has a glass of water after removing the door he gets a sense that one of his brothers is in danger which is quite normal as they are quite idiotic and Elena’s phone rings which is annoying on the ears, especially as it keeps ringing but she ignores it. Iason wonders who’s on the other side of the phone but that question is answered when the door knocks and Elena opens it to reveal Damon.

“You’re ignoring me”

“The 6 missed calls? Sorry. My phone is dead”

“Is Stefan here?”. Great Stefan needs saving and Iason does hope that he’s alright and not in too much danger.

“No. Why? Something wrong?”

Yes, there is something wrong, his brother is missing and could be hurt. Iason walks through the living room and goes to his brother who looks confused on why he’s there but keeps talking with Elena.

“He went out in the woods and didn't come back. I can't get him on his phone. I figured he was here with you”

Elena gets her phone and tries to call Stefan but it doesn’t go through, “It's going straight to voice-mail. Where could he be?”

“You're not going to like what I'm thinking”

“I don’t think we will, Damon earlier I did get a sense someone was in danger” 

Damon gives Iason a nod of acknowledgment before leaving the house to try and find Stefan, Iason is often called in as back up. They like to try and fix the problems themselves before calling Iason.

“Did you have to take my door?”

“Do you have to keep walking in rooms without knocking?” 

Elena glares at Iason before huffing and sitting on the couch to watch some tv but she keeps looking at her phone. Iason goes back into the kitchen where Jenna is trying to sort out the fridge with the tool box, apparently she’s been putting off some fixes in the house but now the tools are out she doesn’t have an excuse. Seeing her clearly struggling, Iason offers his help and spends some time fixing little things around the house like lights, loose screws in drawer and wardrobes. 

Iason sees the time has gotten a bit later and says his goodbyes and heads to leave the house but at the door he gets a call from Damon which he answers immediately, it seems it didn’t take him long to find Stefan.

“Iason they have him in a house and I can’t get in, I need your help”

“I’m on my way”

Elena, who was walking by, overhears and starts to get ready to join him.

“Your staying here”

“What! No, I want to help”

“It’s dangerous so you need to stay here”

“It’s in a house that your not invited into, I can get in”

Elena looks smug but Iason knows better than her, “I wouldn’t be so sure” and he leaves to his car and makes the way to the address that Damon sends to him.

He drives to the woods and gets out of his car when he sees Damon nearby so he steps out and ignores the car behind him. Elena parks and runs to Damon and he looks annoyed at Iason.

“You knew I was at the Gilbert’s house, she followed me, I said no but she doesn’t listen”

“What happened? Where is he?”

“They have him. I can't get in”

“Why not?”, is this girl being serious? 

“Because the woman who owns the house is compelled to not let me in”

“I can get in”

“You're not going in there” Damon grabs a hold of Elena to stop her from marching her way to the house and getting herself killed. Iason wished he brought a snack.

“I’m going!”

“You're not going in there”

“Why are they doing this? What do they want with him?”

“Revenge”

“We gotta do something”

“I know”

“We can't let them hurt him. We gotta get him out of there”

“I know. Elena, I know. But right now Iason is are best shot”

“How? He can’t even get in!”

Damon and Iason look at each other but he shakes his head.

“Let’s just say I have a good friend named Dáinn who can help us”

Elena looks confused and Damon just smirks as he knows what’s going to happen to the vampires hurting Stefan inside. 

Iason leaves both Elena and Damon behind and calls for Dáinn to help and he appears before him and soon all that can be seen is the intense fiery orange eyes glowing in the woods.

Dáinn stalks through the forest, hidden in the shadow listening to the scream of a Stefan Salvatore echo in his ears.

Approaching the door he politely knocks and a vampire, Frederick, answers but when he sees the fiery eyes he screams and tries to run away. Dáinn steps over the door threshold and he grabs Frederick by the neck and lets the flames consume him, turning him into the grey husk of a dead vampire but his eyes turn black with orange ambers flickering in them.

Smelling the house he senses the other vampires, which he cuts through without mercy. The others who heard the warning try to escape but Dáinn summons flames around the house, trapping them inside. Another vampire collapses to the floor. He starts to ascend the stairs.

They all huddled together in a single room, scared about the death. They don’t know what Dáinn is but there are whispers of demons and other names that Dáinn does not care for. A vampire guarding the door is easily killed. Looking at the door Dáinn simply burns it down and walks in and looks at the vampires.

They all breathe before charging with wood at Dáinn.

A foolish mistake.

Dáinn burns through their bodies without lifting a finger and they all fall down.

Eleven vampires dead

All so simple.

A shame, he wanted them to last a bit longer, but he’s here on a mission.

Dáinn approaches the stairs and goes down into the cellar where Stefan is tied up and lets him free.

He staggers up and Dáinn stares at the vampire who is cowarding in a corner.

“Not him, please he was trying to help”

Dáinn looks at the boy before removing the wood from his body and helping Stefan out of the house, the vampire following behind.

“What is he?”

They don’t respond and just leave the boy behind and walk through the forest.

Stefan and Dáinn approach Damon and Elena, one looks frightened, the other hesitant to come near. Dáinn drops Stefan’s body on the floor before turning back into the woods.

“Stefan!” Elena quickly goes to Stefan who is weak on the floor and struggling to heal, when she gets to him though she cuts her hand on a rock. Damon starts to look around.

“Hey, I’m going to find Iason, he’s probably saying thanks to Dáinn”

Damon then goes off into the woods to go back to the house and meets Pearl. However, leaving Stefan and Elena alone she feeds Stefan her blood due to her worry of his wounds not healing and he lets her.

Iason returns to his car with Damon and they go back to the boarding house together.

“Hey, thanks for calling Dáinn”

“Yeah, it’s fine. You know him, he loves a good kill. I had to make sure he didn’t go too far though”

Stepping into the house they both smell a lot of blood so they follow their senses and see that Stefan is surrounded by blood bags.

Oh no

Not again

Chapter Text

Hunting a rabbit helped Iason with the urge to hunt but now that Stefan is back on human blood he might not use the rabbit so Iason has to use it for something. Maybe a rabbit stew? It will be nice to experiment with. It might have some potatoes, carrots, and sweetcorn. He might go to the shops and look at the vegetables to see what he feels like.

…

Oh?

The tomb vampires?

Yeah, he left their bodies where they were, Dáinn doesn’t like it when Iason moves the bodies and those who are burnt like that don’t get a funeral. Their death shows that they are either rule breakers or they crossed someone they shouldn’t but most of the supernatural know not to touch the victims of the hellish flames that Dáinn possesses. 

After having gone on a hunt Iason is feeling a lot calmer and he doesn’t feel as tense, a good hunt always makes him feel better. Apparently Damon and Alaric went back and destroyed some of the vampire bodies and talked to Pearl, Iason doesn’t really want to focus on that but instead his brother who is going back to bad habits.

Whilst Iason is gutting the rabbit he can hear Damon tease Stefan with a glass of blood, clearly trying to test how far gone Stefan is in his blood lust. 

The body of Vicki was found and a funeral service was held. Iason gifted the family some nice baked goods and fresh meals which they were grateful for, something about not knowing how to cook. Iason did find this worrying as Matt does often lives on his own and doesn’t know how to cook, so he might offer him some lessons so he can learn and handle living on his own better. Maybe some help on money management as well?

Stefan isn’t going to school which he finds annoying but also relieving. With his blood lust out of control it’s not safe for him at the school but annoying because he had to call the principal and explain a situation. Something about Stefan not eating and suddenly becoming ill and aggressive, the whole school now thinks that Stefan is sick and has an eating disorder. Not his aim but it does excuse Stefan from school for a bit so they need to get it under control and quickly.

Damon leaves to go for a council meeting, leaving Iason on Stefan watch which is going to be fun. Ripper Stefan and Iason have a nice history, it’s quite fun throwing him around but we’re not at Ripper Stefan just yet. With the Rabbit prepared Iason gets in the car to travel to the shop and Stefan decides to go to Elena as school finishes, something he messaged Damon about. It takes a while to catch a rabbit and gut it! The fur got everywhere and he had to clean up the blood.

At the store, Iason gets a load of flour and baking ingredients because he is running low and then he starts to shop for the rabbit stew. Some vegetables, sweetcorn, carrots, peas, onions and some swede. He also gathers some bacon, bay leaves, apple juice and some bay leaves. Thinking that’s enough Iason goes to the check out and pays for the ingredients but gets a message from Damon that he’s meeting Elena. Knowing Stefan he most likely returned back home and is spiralling so he gets in his car and drives back home. 

When at home he carries his shopping in one journey and sees that Stefan is drinking some whiskey and looks highly stressed.

“Hey Stefan, why don’t you come help me with some cooking?” Stefan nods and follows to help Iason in the kitchen, likely grateful for the distraction.

They start to make the stew as it takes two whole hours and Damon comes into the kitchen.

“Smells great, now who’s up for a 150 year founder’s anniversary kick-off party? Not named by yours truly. Too wordy and not flashy”

“No.”

“Oh come on Stefan, it will be fun with all those people”

“My control isn’t all back yet and I could be a danger to all the people”

“Yes and you can test your control and I will stop you if you go too far, so what’s to fear?”

“I don’t trust you”

Stefan cuts very aggressively into the carrots but Iason lets him because the food doesn’t have to look pretty, just edible.

“Well, Iason is going and he’ll keep a good eye on you”

“Who said I was going?”

“Iasoooon”

Damon pouts at Iason which he rolls his eyes at, “Fine, I’ll go. I have to give them some baked cookies and cakes any ways”

“Yaayy! Now Stefan you are coming with us, it’ll be a family day”

Iason and Stefan give Damon a look which he pouts at before also joining in on the cooking, they won’t be at the party for long and the stew is going to be on a low heat. Although it’s very dangerous for them to leave the stew, it should be fine…. Okay he’s going to burn the house down. Looking at the ingredients Iason knows he can’t stop the stew now unless he ruins it which he doesn’t want to do.

“So, who’s going to watch the stew whilst we’re gone?”

“Oh, I’ll get someone” Damon grins at Iason who sighs and continues with cooking.

At least the stew will be safe.

With the stew slowly cooking on a low heat and someone compelled to watch over the house so it doesn’t burn down. Iason drives himself and his brothers to the founder’s anniversary and hopes that nothing bad occurs… yeah that’s definitely not happening. Iason parks his car and joins his brother inside the building where the party is being hosted and people are dancing.

“Oh god! I shouldn't be here”

“Come on, don't be a downer, it's a party for the founding families! That would be us. That would be rude to skip it”

“I really liked you a whole lot better when you hated everybody”

“Oh I still do. I just love that they love me” What a Damon response but Iason did feel majorly ignored as he was the one who drove them and they are ignoring him. “How are you feeling?”

“I'm good, I'm fine”

“No cravings? No urges? Is that whiskey you've been drinking all day doing its job? We are who we are Stefan. Nothing's gonna change that”

“Ah! Nothing will make you happier to just see me give up huh Damon?”

“Whatever, it's inevitable”

“Well, I'm gonna find Elena.”

Stefan walks away from them without looking back at them and Damon, being who he is, shouts at him “Don't embarrass me young man!”. The one doing the embarrassing is the pair of them with Iason suffering. Iason walks to a table and places down the cookies and cakes that were requested to him and paid for. Is he upset that he has again been given the role of baking for an event he doesn’t care about? Yes, yes he is. But at least he’s getting paid a decent amount.

Iason looks around and sees everyone mingling and Jenna talking with Alaric, which he doesn’t want to be a third wheel, so the only person he can talk to is busy. Now what? He’s at this dumb event and he can’t even do anything or talk with anyone. For most of the event Iason stands there and watches people dance, he is really starting to hate these events. Some women come up to him and ask about his cakes which he answers politely but when they start to touch his arm he always moves out of the way. Again, back off horny women! Go to your husbands! 

Whilst he is avoiding the women he senses that Damon killed John Gilbert, temporarily. Yay! The other ring is here…Iason is really hating the Gilbert family men. Jeremey is not there yet but he still has time. 

But still, Stefan on that dance floor was sort of strange, he really doesn’t like dancing. Iason doesn’t like dancing with women because when he does they always get expectations and he hates feeling like he’s leading them on. Dance with friends who know nothing will happen, fine. Dance with a strange woman? Not fine. 

Walking around Iason grins as he sees Jeremy all alone so he goes up to him after he asks Elena about Vicki’s death.

“So you think murder?” Iason asks from behind Jeremy which causes him to jump.

“Jesus man, don’t sneak up on me”

Iason laughs a little, “Well, you do make it easy, being all distracted. So what’s up with you and your sister? Some sort of tension?”

Jeremy scoffs clearly annoyed, “She’s keeping something from me, stuff about Vicki’s death and she keeps pulling away from me”

“Of course she is, I mean she did learn about the supernatural before you and wants to keep you out of it”. Jeremy looks at Iason with wide eyes as he spits out the coke he’s drinking. Why do the children get cokes but Iason gets looks when he tries to order one? He’s even had bartenders scoff and leave him! 

“Y-you know!?”

“Of course I know, all the founding families know”

“A-all of them?” Jeremy breathes out in disbelief.

“Of course, even your uncle. When a child gets to a certain age the family will share the secret. Some believe, others don’t”

“Elena knows?”

“She knows and she's been dealing with some issues with the supernatural and wants to keep you out of it, to protect you”

Jeremy scoffs at the word protect, “Protect me? How is keeping me ignorant going to protect me?”

Iason shrugs his shoulders, “I do not know, I can’t read her mind”

“What am I supposed to do now?”

“Nothing, live your life. Learn how to protect yourself, learn about the supernatural world. Up to you”

“Can you teach it to me?” Jeremy looks at Iason hopefully and Iason is conflicted. Why should he? The Gilberts so far have been nothing but trouble, Jenna isn’t a Gilbert, and doing this will likely annoy Elena and cause a bit of mayhem….

“Sure, why not”

Jeremy grins at Iason and they look towards the Mayor who comes back from breaking up a fight outside to ring a bell. Small towns have some weird traditions. 

“Oh and Jeremy?” Jeremy looks at him, “Don’t ever invite anyone into your home. Ever”.

“Why?”

Iason chuckles at the clueless boy, “Because then a vampire will have access to your home, and you never know when they want to eat you” Iason grins at the pale-faced boy before walking off outside. “Jenna has my number if you want those lessons”.

Stepping outside Iason sighs and approaches his brother who is above a man, “Okay, Stefan up we get”. Iason helps Stefan get off the man and feels that he is highly tense. Stefan leans onto Iason and they walk away from the scene and go to his car. He straps Stefan into the passenger seat where he is heavily breathing. Iason doesn’t say anything and gives his hand to Stefan who squeezes it tightly but Iason doesn’t complain and lets Stefan re-centre himself. 

He drives them to the boarding house and stops outside, they stay there for a few minutes in silence.

“Stefan, are you okay now?” Stefan doesn’t say anything and just leaves the car to run away, probably to Elena’s. Iason groans and goes into the house after turning and locking his car. He sees Damon drinking as normal.

“Iason, this Uncle Gilbert is going to be a problem”

“I know that Gilbert men are often a problem” Iason replies but Damon doesn’t say anything so after standing around for a minute waiting for Damon to continue Iason goes up to his room, hating the whole day.

He lost some plates through that party. 

Chapter Text

Iason is going to murder Stefan, better yet maybe Dáinn will have a good bite out of him. 

What has Stefan done?

Gone behind his brother's back and broke into a hospital to basically steal their whole blood supply.

The complete fool!

Now the council are going to be on their tail again! And the uncle Gilbert is in town which Damon isn’t happy about. Well, no one is happy, apparently the guy is someone no one likes. 

He’s taking the day off!

He needs a nice break so he’s just reading a book with a nature documentary on in the background with some of his crochet stuff nearby. He could get bored of his book and want to do something productive. It’s quite nice that all the children are busy and away from Iason, he’s already regretting helping Jeremy out a little bit because with his number he keeps asking questions! 

Iason has already told him the important stuff:

1. Never invite anyone inside unless you are sure they are friend and not foe
2. Have multiple pieces of jewellery that have vervain in it, some in hard places to find (ankle bracelet, earrings, other body piercings).
3. Consume vervain as well
4. How vampires compel
5. Know how to make a stake to kill a vampire
6. How to kill a vampire
7. What not to do to annoy a vampire

Although that lesson is going to be a work in progress as he is a teenage boy and is going to annoy vampires, mainly Damon. But Jeremy has been very happy with the tips that Iason has been giving him, he’s also recommended Jeremy to join a gym or fighting club. Just because vampires heal faster and are harder to damage doesn’t mean they are immune to pain. So learning how to defend himself with physical fighting or simple weapons training could be helpful. Jeremy of course was happy to join one as he hated that Iason admitted that Elena knows vampires, befriended vampires and had them compel him, so he’s taking the lessons so he can protect himself from a vampire being up to close. 

It’s quite exhausting but Jenna has been thrilled by Jeremy's improvement. He’s doing better in school and hasn’t been drinking or doing drugs. An unintended benefit of helping him. She’s even asked if Iason could help with tutoring Jeremy to get his grades even higher so he can graduate next year. This conversation was taken in front of Jeremy who was highly embarrassed but admitted that his grades are a bit too low and he needs them higher to graduate so Iason reluctantly agreed.

More stuff on his plate!

Look at his bleeding heart!

He also asked about Matt, who apparently kicked out his own mother which he did find a bit sad for the boy. He hunted him down after school to ask about his life, which went a bit awkwardly.

Iason standing in front of the school felt like a complete creep. Here he is like those horrible people who scope out teenagers. At least he didn’t have malicious intent! But still the imagery is there. Luckily people didn’t seem to pay him that much attention as his brother does go to the school but Iason isn’t here for Stefan but Matt.

A boy he doesn’t really know at all but has heard about through Elena, Stefan and Jeremy. Someone that is suffering through normal life with no one helping him so Iason has decided to be that nice person who helps another out. It won’t be much but it will help Matt in the long run. 

The issue though is that he doesn’t really know what this Matt guy looks like, all he has is what he smelt like when he was visiting the house. Another issue. In high school smells get covered by other teenagers, sex, drugs and sweat. A disgusting combination of smells that kill off a sense of smell. Unfortunately Iason has a very strong sense of smell. Good thing is he’ll be able to smell Matt, bad because he can smell everything else still. 

Looking at the kids walking out of the school Iason can feel shame spreading throughout his whole body.

He’s not a creep

He’s not a creep

He’s not a creep

Ah!

Matt has just left the school.

Watching him leave the school building Iason debates if it’s weirder to go straight to him or follow him to somewhere more scheduled.

…

“Hey, Matt. Right?”

The teen in front of him is highly confused by Iason's presence which is highly understanding but his question, slightly insulting.

“Umm, yeah. Who are you?”

“Iason Salvatore”

Iason brings his hand out for a shake but Matt ignores it and starts to walk off so Iason groans and starts to walk beside him. Now he looks like a weirdo following a child he has no connection with.

“Dude, why are you following me?”

“Well, I was trying to start a conversation but you walked off”

“I don’t know when Stefan is getting out, now leave me alone”

“Yeah, well I’m not here for Stefan but you”

Matt stops and looks Iason highly confused again but also curious. Which is good, curiosity and confusion is better than horror and what his words could highly be misinterpreted as. 

“Me? What, you here to talk about Elena and Stefan? I don’t care, they can do whatever they want”

“First off no they cannot do whatever they want as they are still underage, but no I’m not here to talk about them”

“Then what do you want?”

“I heard about your mother and –”

“Yeah, I get it but I’m fine. No need to be concerned or anything, I’ve heard it and I’m better off without her”. Matt becomes annoyed and starts to walk away but Iason grasps his arm gently.

“I get that but I want to ask about your cooking”

“My c-cooking?” Matt splutters.

“You’ve now mainly looked after yourself for a while now but I want to know if you are able to cook. Make yourself meals, know what produce to buy for meals and how to budget meals”

The talking about budgeting and cooking meals seems to gather Matt’s attention as he fully turns to look at Iason again, instead of facing away and looking for an escape. 

Way to make him feel even more like a creep.

“Uhh, no I don’t know how to cook. Normally just buy the microwave meals”

Iason could feel his soul leave his body and a grimace appears on his face very visible as Matt becomes highly offended.

“What microwave meals not good enough for ya? Some of us struggle okay?!”

“Yeah, I get that but it’s just that the amount of salt and preservatives in microwave meals increase diabetes by a lot, as well as heart failure. Also, Matt? I’m a trained chef so talking about microwave meals is going to kill a part of me”

“You're a trained chef?”

“Yup, I went to college for it and everything. It’s why I wanted to talk to you, I’m here to offer lessons about cooking”

“You’ll teach me to cook?”

“Of course, no one else is going to teach it to you and so I thought why not”

Matt grins and his eyes look less burdened and Iason has to wonder how much meals were weighing down on his mind.

“I’d like that”

“Here’s my number, and you can decide when it is best to do the cooking lessons. I know that you have work at the Grill so I’ll try and work around your schedule but I might have to cancel some lessons at times. I’m highly busy sometimes and other times I'm doing nothing”

“That’s fine, thank”

Matt waves and runs off and Iason is just relieved no one was calling him a creep or calling the cops. Walking back to his car he sees Stefan looking at him strangely as he walks to his car but they don’t talk. 

So, again, Iason has added more to his plate by giving a teenager some cooking lessons. 

More things to his list. 

Although he can also multitask with Matt’s lessons as they can be added into the cookbook. It seems that Matt has also spoken to others about it because he was questioned by his brothers and Elena, like he was doing something malicious. He’s just offering a boy who’s living on his own some cooking lessons. Then Jeremy messaged him and asked to join in! Iason asked Matt because the lessons are for him but he didn’t seem to mind and thought it would be less awkward if someone else was also learning so Jeremy is now in the lessons. Which is sort of good, hopeful one person in the Gilbert family might learn how to cook, Elena can’t and Jenna is … something in the kitchen. 

So Iason has to make a lesson plan for some cooking lessons for his two new students. Iason is also debating telling Matt about the supernatural. Why? All his friends are supernatural, that wolf smell around him is untriggered but it's still supernatural. But he’s leaning towards not telling him yet. If he gets too involved and compelled then Iason will step in. Poor humans always get the short end of the stick and constantly live in confusion with massive blank areas in their memories which make them fear they are going insane. Better to confess the supernatural then make him doubt his own sanity and waste money on medical exams that won’t show the problem.

However, that's for another time.

The current problem of today is that Stefan was caught lying to them both as he’s been secretly drinking human blood. He’s in the dog house but Iason is sort of hoping the council will scare Stefan straight. Currently he’s not listening to either Iason or Damon and when he gets like this he can get sloppy which gets him caught, and when he gets caught he then cuts back. That’s what Iason needs, Stefan to cut back a little so he can gain some control. Maybe Elena would be a motivation? Stefan needs some sort of motivation and what’s better than the love of his life.

Texting two teenagers that Wednesday and Saturdays are the days for cooking lessons is a bit weird. Not the lessons but that’s he texting teengars, but at least one guardian knows, Jenna and the sheriff… Iason wanted all bases covered. He’s not getting done!

On the couch, where he feels like he’s always sitting, Iason is going over the calendar and making notes in a book for his lessons. Another note book that he had to buy, when the door bell rings and Damon answers it to a male Gilbert which Iason audibly groans at.

“Hey partner!”

“What do you want?”

“You haven’t returned any of my calls”

“Most people take that as a hint”

“Where do we start looking for vampires?”

“How do you act, John? You obviously don't care about catching vampires, you're here talking to me”

“Actually, I care very much”

“What Isobel say about that? I mean, considering that she is one”

“Isobel and I share a mutual interest. The original Jonathan Gilbert has an invention that was stolen by a vampire. That vampire was then burned alive in Fell's church, or so Jonathan thought and the invention was lost forever. But then the vampires weren't killed, were they? They were trapped and now they're free, thanks to you which means the invention is retrieval”

“What is it?”

“The only thing that matters is that I want it back and you're going to help me if you want your secret safe”

“Why bring me into it John? I mean, I don't know what you are talking about, much less who has it”

“Oh come on Damon! You were around back then, you know who these people are, what they look like. He was friendly with a woman who turned out to be a vampire. Her name was Pearl. Does that ring a bell?”

“I'm not playing anymore. Get out. Get out”. Oh so John must have been let in but only slightly as Iason doesn’t see either of them. 

“I beg your pardon?”

“You know, I only entertain this whole blackmail scheme thing of yours because I thought that you and Isobel could lead me to Katherine but see, now I know you've no idea where Katherine is, because if you did you would know that Katherine and Pearl were best friends. See, you don't know everything, do you John?”

“I'll tell the entire council what you are”

“Go for it! I'll kill every last one of them. Then I'll sever your hand, pull your ring off, and I'll kill you too. Do you understand that?”

Oh dear

Why is he surrounded by guys that have to measure up to each other?

Luckily John listens and leaves and Damon enters to have a drink but Iason looks at him which causes him to put it down. Damon is currently on a time out with the drinking, he needs to learn to blend in more which means more human like drinking. And that means all day, if he does it all day then he can do it for an hour in a bar. 

Looking at the cooking plans and feeling happy with them Iason gets ready to go to the annoying pageant that he has to give some oat cookies to. Again, paid work but still annoying. Could he reject? Yes. Will he? …. Unsure. 

He would like to reject the request to bake but he does like to use the excuse to get out of the house and have a break from his pile of projects. 

Inside the founder’s hall everything looks white and Iason feels sort of blinded. He goes straight towards the snack table and puts down the oat cookies. He can hear the girls getting ready and he sees Jeremy looking bored and alone so he goes to him as Damon is talking to Anna. 

“Jeremy”

“Iason!”, Jeremy’s face lights up at the sight of Iason. “What are you doing here?”

“I was asked to bring cookies and I’m here because I saw you looking bored”

Jeremy chuckles a little and scratches the back of his head, “Yeah, it’s just there’s nothing to do in this event”

“It isn’t that forgiving for the observers. But I also have to tell you that I’ve got a lesson plan for you and Matt”. Iason goes into his bag and hands the notebook to Jeremy who starts to flick through it.

“Uh, seems like you’ve got it all planned. Do you think you can make a copy so I could buy my own ingredients?”

“Sure, I’ll give you a budget for the ingredients and you need to stay inside it. It will be a good life lesson”

“Hey, thanks for doing this for me and Matt. No one has bothered”

Iason puts a hand on Jeremy’s shoulder and squeezes, “It’s fine, someone needs to make sure you youngins can look after yourselves” he then pushes Jeremy’s head lightly which he laughs at but then frowns as John Gilbert walks towards them.

“You look miserable”

“I am now. Is there really a whole month of these events that I'm supposed to show up at?”

“Sorry Jeremy but yes, at least I’m also being forced along” Jeremy smiles and looks visibly relieved that he won’t be alone at the events and he can see John frown at their closeness. 

“You could fight it if you want but it's part of being a Gilbert”

“Yeah, you mentioned you know a lot about the family. You know anything about our ancestor Jonathan Gilbert?”.

Oh dear, Jeremy is probing and it's quite obvious.

“Prolific writer, crazy inventor. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I read his journal”

“Is that right?”

“Yeah, I actually found it in all dads' stuff”

“There are more of them?”

“Jonathan Gilbert journaled his whole life. Right down to the bitter, insane, drunken end. He had a lot of demons”

“And did you read them?”

“I've browsed, yeah”

“What did you think about what he wrote?”

“Crazy ramblings of a mad man, of course” John then turns and looks towards Anna who is watching them, “She’s very pretty”.

“Yeah—uh—she's a friend of mine. Excuse me”

Iason grabs Jeremy's arms before he can leave which causes John to tense up and Jeremy to turn back around. “You still have my notebook”.

“Oh, here. Sorry”

“Hey, it’s okay. But I’ll be seeing you in lessons”

“Lessons?” John asks, voice louder than normal which causes the attention to go to him and Jeremy to look confused and annoyed.

“Yeah, cooking lessons. You know, because no one taught anyone how to cook and I need to eat good food”

“Oh, I could teach you”

“Yeah, no thanks. Iason is a trained chef, I would rather learn from him. See you then”

Jeremy runs off to Anna and John watches after them before following along. Iason doesn’t move as he decides to listen in from afar and makes a decision to talk to Jeremy more about the life of the supernatural. 

Iason decides to walk around as the people start to dance inside and try to wait for Jeremy to stop talking with Anna. Stefan starts to feed on a girl but lets her go and when he runs after her Iason is about to follow but Damon beats him to it. Well that’s awfully convenient. 

He turns back and sees that Anna has left and Jeremy is on his own. 

“Jeremy Gilbert!”

Jeremy turns around and looks shocked to be shouted at by Iason. “I-Iason? What’s up?”. Iason quickly smacks him around the head, harder than before. “Ow! What’s that for?!”.

“That’s for being a right idiot! You do know that John followed you right? Someone that knows about vampires and is on the vampire hunting council overheard you talking about someone being able to change you into a vampire”

“W-what?!” Jeremy's eyes widened and his mouth hung and it looked like his eyes became a little misty. “I-is he going to kill her?”

“I don’t know, yet. He might but honestly why are you trying to turn into a vampire?”

Jeremy’s face hardened at the question, “Like you care and what does it matter to you? Also how on earth did you even hear that conversation?”. Sighing, Iason whacks Jeremy lightly over the head again.

“You’re an idiot. Don’t you find it strange that there has been no mention of any other Salvatore’s and then suddenly three come back with the same names as the ones from over a hundred years ago?”

Honestly Jeremy’s face is constantly wide open, maybe Iason should stop shocking him? No. He needs to learn and gain a brain. “Y-your vampires?!”

Iason quickly covers his mouth, “Are you trying to get us killed? Don’t yell it out so loud! But yes.”

“Then you should know why I want to turn?!”

“No”

“W-what?” the puzzled expression has returned yet again, honestly.

“Well, I get that you might want the benefits but you want to be stuck in the body of a fifteen year old? Stupid choice. You will constantly get id checked and people will make comments. Also if adults are attracted to you then it’s wrong, if you date someone who is fifteen then you’re in the wrong”

“How would I be in the wrong? I would be dating someone my age”

“No you would be dating someone who thinks your the same age but in reality your a eighty year old man sleeping with a fifteen year old”

Jeremy’s face paled and he looks a bit sick, “T-that’s that’s –”

“Yes, it’s statutory rape. Is that what you want Jeremy? Do you want to be a grown man who sleeps with teenagers or a teenager who sleeps with older looking people who are paedophiles?" 

Jeremy shakes his head very quickly, “Good, now if you want to be a vampire wait till your older” 

“I-i asked Anna to turn me”

“I know and she was right to turn it down. The fact she’s around you is gross, she’s from my time”

“She is?”

“Well, yeah. She’s over a century old. Also she’s a vampire who was asking about your ancestors vampire hunting journal because it had the answer that she needed. Jeremy she was using you, she might not be now but is that how you want the relationship to be based off?” He becomes quiet and looks down sad. “My advice, grow older before going into the decision on turning, and go into a relationship that doesn’t start with a girl trying to use you for information for her own selfish needs”

Iason turns and walks to his car and hopes that Jeremy takes his suggestions seriously, he doesn’t want to see him get heartbroken over that girl. He deserves better.

The boarding house is very lively when he gets back from his drive, with Damon and Elena locking Stefan in a cell in the basement so he can get control over his bloodlust. See, Iason trusts Damon to help out their baby brother. 

Chapter Text

The day is going…. It's going.

Elena has left and Damon is watching Stefan starve in a cell. Iason is going over his emails and work because he has a life unlike everyone else. He overhears Damon talking to both Elena and Alaric, which is annoying because that means Elena is going to be coming back into the house. Although Iason wouldn’t have to watch Stefan and can work in peace.

His work is going very well at the moment, Korea has actually agreed to allow him to make a branch!  However, it did mean that he had to find some employees to travel to Korea and search for the supernatural and make connections then get some new employees. Luckily he had some that could already speak Korean so they were chosen and some others who were interested started to take lessons so that was one problem figured out. Then construction, he already has a location but now he needs to wait for the building to be finished and then it can start being functional. Life there is going great.

Getting a message from Jeremy explaining that Anna is now at the school and ended their friendship, a bit weird to be telling him. But he decided to comfort him and he was happier, Anna didn’t take it well but she understood his reasoning and swore to win him back which Iason isn’t all too thrilled about. Jeremy will hopefully have more control over dating people because he’s lonely. Date someone you like, not because you want someone beside you. He did send this to Jeremy who asked about his love life which he just responded with ‘sad’. Of course Jeremy found this hilarious. Teenagers.

So for the day he completed a lot of work with calls and emails to Korea and his employees trying to make up a plan on how it should all go. It’s a lot of effort and work but it's finally happening and he’s thrilled that he can finally start his work in Asia. Whilst working he does ignore Stefan’s talk to Elena about the past and how he kept some details from her. No he didn’t focus on it one bit. 

What he did focus on though is that the vampire hunter has killed another vampire, which he then sent to Vera in a message.

…

He has too many responsibilities. 

He has a lot of regrets.

He needs to stop complaining that he’s bored and then pile himself up with a lot of jobs. But at least most jobs don’t need him there, just need his overview and permission. 

Recapping on his projects.

Seven houses are going well, a branch in Korea has now started to begin, cookbooks are getting written, cooking lessons are planned. He’s probably missing something. 

As the day passes by with Iason spending it at his desk with only a few breaks for some food, he eventually hears that Damon has returned from killing that vampire with Alaric. He hears that Damon and Elena are talking, with Damon being annoyed that even when expressing his regret Stefan is leaving out the details about how he forced Damon and Iason to turn. Something that both of them haven’t forgiven, Damon more so than Iason. Thinking about Stefan there is a chance he could die tonight as he’s attempting to take own life.

…

…

“Stefan”

“Iason, there’s nothing you can do to stop me”

“I know, but I wanted to talk”

“There’s nothing to talk about, I should have died that night and I should have let Damon die, too”

“I agree that Damon should have had the right to go through with his choice, but you? You made your choice and I’m happy that you decided to stay, it meant I wasn’t alone. I could live happier with my baby brother by my side”

Stefan turns to look at Iason who walks to stand by his side, “But the sun? Stefan, I can respect your wishes to die but I cannot allow you to go through with such a harsh death. Your my baby brother and I would rather you go peacefully or fighting then a slow painful death”

“Its what I deserve for everything I’ve done”

“There have been worse men out there who have died a more peaceful death, you Stefan are not one of those men. Your heart is still good”

“I’ve done terrible things”

“So have great men, but those men learn from those terrible things and rise above it. So brother, why don’t you rise above it? Come back home, to me, to Damon, to your family”

Stefan is quiet and Iason doesn’t comment on the tears going down his face, he wants Stefan to choose this. He wants him to want to live. If he wants to die then Iason will respect that but he wants him to understand what he will be doing, what he will be losing. Stefan sighs and puts his ring back on and gives Iason a hug which he gladly returns.

“Now lets get you home”

“Iason… thanks”

“No problem. Also your grounded”

Stefan laughs as they start the journey back to the house. 

“For what?”

“For making me worried, for making Damon worried, and.. Oh I don’t know trying to end your life in such a dumb and dramatic way”

“It wasn’t dumb”

Iason gives Stefan a look, “You were about to make yourself burn through a slow and terrible death. Sorry that I don’t want that for my brother”

“So what would you rather I do?”

“Not telling. Anyway the fact you were going to go through that sort of death also shows that you were doubting the decision”

“I–I was?”

“Of course, a slow death is a death that can be stopped. You wanted to die but you also didn’t. You wanted to be stopped and I gladly did”

Stefan is quiet but then he speaks again but is a lot less confident in himself, “Was Damon really worried or was you just saying that?”

“No matter what you have done, we may disagree and try to make you regret your decision but you are still our brother and we both worry for you in our own ways. And that includes Damon” 

Walking into the house they see that Elena is getting ready to leave but stops at the sight of Stefan.

“Stefan… I was about to go out to try and find you”

“I’m here”

“Yeah…”

“Well this is awkward, I’ll leave you two kids to it”

Iason walks to his office but stops at the library to talk with Damon.

“Damon”

“Iason”

“Be careful with Stefan, okay?”

Damon looks at him and nods before going back to what he was doing. Iason, knowing he can trust Damon, goes back to his office to see if anything has happened for the little while he was gone.

Turns out no. Nothing has happened which is good, no one has mucked something up. Sitting at his desk and looking at the amount of work he’s done and still has to do, Iason is a bit annoyed at the knowledge that John Gilbert has killed two vampires. No rest for the wicked or whatever.

Sending a quick message to Vera, Iason sees that Jeremy has sent a message about Anna trying to go to his house but he didn’t let her in as he wants to take time to understand himself. Good, Jeremy is taking the time to self reflect and not just sleep around with girls or go into quick relationships. The boy is maturing.

Chapter Text

People today are a bit serious. 

Stefan is back to his most normal, Iason also makes sure to check in on him from time to time. He’s even going back to school! The teachers were understanding about Stefan’s struggles. Of course when Iason told Stefan and Damon about those struggles, well only one of them had a good laugh. 

He’s annoyed that another vampire is in town, and she’s compelling two people as well. They are clueless about the supernatural but are being affected. He cannot tell what the vampire's motivation is but when Damon says that he’s heading to the school. Well maybe they know.

He doesn’t join Damon, two vampires, a hunter and a doppelgänger is already enough of a crowd, no need to add Iason to the mix.  

The work for the day has already been completed, go over a few emails and crochet some stuff for his small businesses and upload the new crochet monsters, which have been doing very well. 

When the time for school ended Iason finds himself in the kitchen surrounded by ingredients.

“Okay so it seems that the pair of you have gotten some decent ingredients and you stayed within budget. The spices are also going to be used more than once and you don't need to buy oil as you can use the one here. Now onto spaghetti puttanesca” 

Yep, cooking lessons with Matt and Jeremy. 

Both of them were taking it more seriously than Iason thought they would but he likes it. At least he knows he’s not wasting his time with teaching them. Matt looked more serious than Jeremy, probably because he knows that he’ll benefit from it whilst Jeremy is fed up with bad food from his aunt. 

Teaching the two teens how to cook wasn’t as boring either as he thought. It was quite enjoyable, especially when Jeremy started to ask about how different spices would go with the pasta and Iason told him to experiment at home but in small quantities. Less food wasted if the experiment tastes gross. He taught them how to crush garlic and how to cut onions, a skill that is useful is cutting so they both paid good attention and Iason watched them cut. He is after all supervising two teenagers and he has to keep them safe. 

Jeremy found the onions annoying because he tears up whilst Matt got some tomato juice fly into his face whilst copping them.  

When they finish cooking dinner they all sit around a table to eat.

“Hey, where are your brothers?” It was Matt who asked the question, looking all confused.

“Stefan is with Elena at the grill and Damon is with your history teacher”

“Damon is friends with Mr Saltzman?” Jeremy asked with shock, maybe that Damon has friends or that a teacher has a life outside of school.

“Yes he is, a man that loves to drink is a man that Damon is friends with”

“Makes sense, it’s just… it seems a little lonely here” Matt says it with a slight sad tone and was sympathetic to Iason but all the people at the table were lonely in some way.

“Ah, it can be but I distract myself with work and I have a lot of it”

The two boys look at each other and then look at Iason.

“What about a girlfriend?” Jeremy asks whilst raising both his eyebrows a few times.

“Yeah, a girlfriend might help you not feel so lonely”

“Well, sorry to say boys but a girlfriend is definitely off the table”

Again the boys look at each other clearly confused until Jeremy’s eyes light up.

“You're gay!?”

Matt chokes a little on his food, clearly caught off guard by Jeremy’s exclamation, “Dude”.

“Yes, Jeremy I’m gay” Iason chuckles a little at the fascinated look on Jeremy’s face until it scrunches up in pain as Matt kicks his leg.

“Ow!”

“Stop staring”

“What? I can’t help it! I’ve never met someone who is gay”

“Well it’s rude to stare” Matt is very serious when he’s talking to Jeremy, which is also quite endearing.

“It’s quite alright I don’t mind”

“See Matt, he doesn’t mind”

Jeremy looked all smug at Matt who just looked fed up at the youngest behaviour. 

“So, why don’t you have a boyfriend?”

“Because I want a relationship that is based on trust, personality and time. I would rather a relationship be slow then for someone to go at me and in the end just want sex”

“But sex is great” Jeremy says in a way only a childish teenage boy could. The type that thinks sex is everything.

“I don’t really care for it. A relationship built on sex is an arrangement not a relationship”

It seems that his words get to Matt as well.

“Built on trust, heh? What if you know that your partner is keeping secrets?”

“Wait for a bit and see if they tell you, if they haven’t then you can ask but respect that they have a right to keep some secrets. However, if they start lying to you and constantly avoiding you, then you start asking because then they’re most likely hiding something; not always of course but statistically. What brought that question along?”

Matt just shrugs, “Feels like all my friends are keeping secrets from me”

Jeremy clearly becomes uncomfortable as he knows what the secret is but Iason just smiles at Matt.

“Then maybe they’re not just friends”

Matt nods and Jeremy looks a bit shocked but goes back to eating his dinner, then Matt smirks a little and looks at Jeremy.

“So how is everything with your girlfriend?”

This time it's Jeremy who chokes a little on his pasta before he takes a drink to clear his airways.

“W–what?”

“You know the girl that you're always hanging around with?”

“Anna?”

“If that’s her name”

Matt looks a bit smug whilst Iason looks at Jeremy curious about his answer, although he looked very uncomfortable.

“She’s not my girlfriend”

“Yet?”

“No, not yet. Maybe not ever”

The finality in his tone surprised everyone and Matt looked very taken aback.

“Really? I thought you two were close?”

“We were but then I realised that she was using me to get something and that we didn’t even know each other all that well and she’s trying to kiss me. So I called it off before it even began”

“You know what Jeremy, that’s very smart”

Jeremy looked surprised and happy to hear the approval in Matt’s tone and Iason smiles at Jeremy when he looks at him. 

“So Iason, how did you know you were gay?”

Matt groans but Iason finds it quite cute, the way a sibling finds other siblings' questions cute, that Jeremy was so curious.

“My brothers were constantly talking about girls and I just looked and felt nothing. So I thought there must be something broken with me but I didn’t say anything. My father is … let's say religious in his beliefs. But one day I saw a lumberjack and that’s when a lot of stuff started to make sense. I didn’t tell anyone, kept it too myself until I got older and finally confessed to my brothers”

“What about your dad?”

Matt looked at Iason in pity but he didn’t take it personally or anything, it was a long time ago and maybe Jeremy has remembered that Iason is old and from a period where it's a sin to be gay and looked a bit shameful. 

“He never learnt, even when he died I kept it a secret”

“Oh, I’m sorry”

“Don’t be, he wasn’t the best father”

Matt looked even more uncomfortable so Iason asked about their school grades and other activities.

“Oh! I joined one of those fighting clubs and they're really fun!”

“You joined a fighting club?” Matt asks with disbelief that is clear in his whole body.

“Yeah, Iason said that I should spend my energy doing stuff and recommended fighting clubs and they’re really fun”

Matt also looked intrigued and asked for the clubs.

Is Iason accidentally starting a club with these two boys?

First cooking and now fighting clubs.

After dinner and cleaning up Matt had to leave as the school was helping in the construction of a float but Jeremy decided to stay around at the house. Something about it being boring at his place. 

“Hey, what's going on with Elena and the others?”

“Hmm, what do you mean?”

“I mean that they keep sneaking around, whispering to each other. Also how is Bonnie involved in all this?”

“Well Jeremy, you might want to sit down”

In the living room with a hot beverage between them Jeremy sits down and looks at Iason expectantly.

“Are you sure you want to know? Because I can give some details but some of it would be better to come from your sister”

“Well she’s not telling me anything, you will. So yes tell me everything”

“Well Isobel has come back into town, who is Alaric’s wife who was turned into a vampire by Damon and is also Elen’s mother”

“What!”

Jeremy stands up and starts to pace, “Elena found her birth mother and didn’t say anything? And she’s our history teacher’s wife?”

“I honestly thought you knew this as Jenna knows the wife and mother part”

“No! I just knew Elena is adopted”

“Okay, so she’s back in town and wants a device that Damon has and is threatening people in the town. She’s also not working alone and has other people with her”

“And this device, why does she want it?”

“Unknown at the moment but it once belonged to the Gilbert family, one Johnathan Gilbert”

“Oh… right sorry about earlier”

“What do you mean Jeremy?” 

“You know the questions about you being gay. It was sort of rude and I forget you were from a time where that was unacceptable”

“Oh... it’s fine Jeremy, I didn’t mind and they weren’t that offensive to me at least. Now the device is a weapon against vampires and Isobel wants it and so does your uncle who we suspect is working with Isobel”

“So, don’t trust uncle John. Sounds easy, been doing that all my life”

Iason chuckles at the distaste Jeremy has for his uncle “Yes, well it is getting a bit later and you’ve been here for a while. So go on, enjoy the rest of the day and sun”

Iason walks Jeremy to the door and says his goodbye and just groans. Peace and quiet. He honestly didn't mind the two boys but after a couple of hours, it’s a lot.

Now it's just him and quiet. 

Although the house does need cleaning.

Letting out another groan, Iason starts the horrible process of cleaning the house.

Unfortunately cleaning in peace isn’t an option because comes one, comes them all. Damon returns and starts to quietly drink. Which is nice, it keeps the vibe all nice and peaceful, but then a knock sounded and Damon opened it to Elena who started to talk about the device and a plan for it with Bonnie slowly walking in after her.

Now they are talking very loudly and passionately and Iason is just trying to clean his oven.

They are talking about removing the magic from the device and Bonnie showing off her magic acting like she’s powerful now because she’s had a little practice. She should practice more often but she’s still afraid of her own powers.

In the end though Damon gives them the device and walks into the kitchen to pout as Iason cleans the kitchen. It’s quite funny seeing the scary Damon pout away at the kitchen because he can’t do it his way. Grabbing his phone and getting the camera he quickly takes a picture of a pouting Damon who quickly snaps his attention to Iason.

“Delete that”

Iason pretends to think about it, “No, I don’t think I will”

“Iason I’m serious, delete the photo”

Iason grins and goes to his contacts and finds the perfect one before sending it. “Opps”

Damon gets out of his chair, “What did you just do?”

“I might of ‘accidentally’ sent it to someone”

“You sent it to Stefan?”

Of course Damon would think he sent it to Stefan, who would hold it over Damon’s head and tease him about it.

“No, someone a lot worse”

This causes Damon to stop his pursuit of Iason around the kitchen, a very slow pursuit as the photo has already been sent.

“Who?” Damon asks slowly.

“Enzo”

Iason drags every letter out and he can see the moment that Damon flushes and starts to quickly run at Iason who starts to run away.

“Get back here!” 

“Never!”

Iason goes into the living room and stops at the sight of Stefan, Bonnie and Elena looking at the device. Damon nearly crashes into his back and quickly takes Iason phone and reads the reply from Enzo, flushing and then giving Iason his phone back before watching the three who were staring at them.

“What?”

Elena and Bonnie look back at the device but Stefan stares at Damon bewildered. 

“Why did you run in here?”

“None of your business Stefan” Damon snaps at Stefan who only grew more curious at Damon's simple defence but Iason just decides to leave them to it. He hears that Jeremy has been taken and he hopes that Jeremy can be saved, sad that Isobel took him as Iason was starting to like the kid. 

Now those lot can deal with the drama in the town and Iason can deal with cleaning the entire house.

Yay, such fun for him.

Chapter Text

Today is going to suck

Iason is unsure on what is going to happen but the day is going to be bad.

Founder’s day, a day based on men that take and take and think their best. Not a good day. Made worse that he’s at the high school helping out with a bake sale as he’s the best baker in the town and he must help them out. He has a whole table full of his cakes, cookies, muffins and brownies. He’s already stopped many people from taking them off the table for a little snack.

Thieves, the lot of them.

He’s trying to set prices for the bake sale that he thinks will be fair and not the mayor stealing from them. Something also annoying is that the mayor will be getting most of the money raised and probably will be pocketing it and not giving it back to the community.

Whilst thinking about prices with some small little pieces of paper he can hear Damon and Stefan talking about Elena, again. Those two are helpless when it comes to women. Soon though Elena comes into their view looking very much like Katherine and Stefan goes off with her to talk. 

Luckily his attention is taken by his phone when he gets a message.

Jeremy: Anna just dropped by my house and gave me a vial of her blood if I wanted to turn.

Iason: If you take that blood and try to turn I will make your immortal life a living hell. Do you understand me?

Jeremy: I understand! I wasn’t going to take it, just thought you should know

Iason: Bring it with you, I’m taking all temptation away from you

Jeremy: What! 

Jeremy: That’s so unfair!

Jeremy: It’s for when I want to turn so I should get to keep it

Iason: If you keep that vial of blood, every time something stressful happens there is going to be a little thought in your head about how you should take the vial and end it. After all, you’ll come back. So no. You cannot keep the blood because it's too much of a temptation. I’m trying to keep you alive here.

Jeremy: Fine

Iason: I’ll give you a free cookie

Jeremy: Be there soon

Does he need to watch Jeremy more? 

The boy does have a history with substance abuse but since the compulsion he’s been doing better. Although that’s not really him doing better as it's the compulsion. He’ll keep an eye on him, but the fact that Jeremy told him about the blood is very good. He’s a trusted adult for him. Which clearly Jeremy needs in his life.

Going back to the prices he finally decides on the pricing and puts the small pieces of paper in front of the corresponding dessert. There, his table is set up. Now Mrs Lockwood can’t shout at him.

“Reorganise the desserts, they look too messy!”

Never mind.

That woman is impossible to please, the desserts are fine as they are. None of them have nuts in them. Cookies are together, muffins together, cakes together and brownies on their own.

Ignoring her, he lifts up a little money tin that will be used for change and for when people pay for the desserts. He’s got some students that will be helping out with the table as he doesn’t want to do it all day and the students are supposed to be helping. From under the table he also brings out a large amount of plastic bags with some napkins. Not the best due to plastic but it’s either that or plates which are equally as bad. He’s stuck with two evils.

“Hey Iason” 

“Hello Jeremy”

Jeremy smiles at him and walks around the table to be on the same side as him. He then subtly hands over a little vial to Iason who nods and hands him a cookie which Jeremy is quick to start eating. Chuckling a little Iason walks over to his bag that is on a chair behind him to put the blood inside.

“Thank you Jeremy for giving me the blood” Jeremy just shrugs and continues eating. “So are you my helper or are you doing something else?”

“Nah, I signed up to help this table”

Iason nods and starts to tell Jeremy how the table will be ran, the pricing so that people don’t try and say it's something else. 

“And if you forget a price check the paper, it has happened before where you ask the person and they give a cheaper price”

Then about how to handle the desserts, “Use the tongues and put them inside the bag and include a napkin. If there is no one around then prepare some bags to have napkins inside already so it's easier”

As Jeremy starts to help with the bags and napkins Elena runs up to the table and Jeremy loudly groans at it which Iason smirks a little at. 

“Jeremy! I was wondering where you were. You look great, and you guys did a really great job on the float”

“Go away Elena” Jeremy doesn’t even look at Elena and continues to help with the bags and napkins and making sure that everything is clean.

“Jeremy, come on! Please! I don't want it to be like this between us”

“Why don't you have Damon erase my memory again? Then I could go back to being your in-the-dark little brother”

“Jer, please”

“Just don't! You can't fix this that easily; something like this doesn't just get fixed” Jeremy then looks up and glares at Elena and moves behind Iason who steps forward.

“I think Elena that you are blocking the table from possible customers and it would be for the best of everyone if you move along, please” Elena looks behind her and sees that there is a line of unhappy people before she moves along and Jeremy steps out to help the customers.

“Thanks” Jeremy whispers a bit quietly but Iason hears it anyway.

Soon the floats come out and Jeremy looks relieved to not be watched, although Iason is sure that he remembers from Stefan that Jeremy was supposed to be on the float.

“Wasn’t you supposed to be on the float?” Iason asks Jeremy.

“Yeah, but when I heard about your stall I changed as this seemed more chill than being around Tyler and having to act” Jeremy shrugs and severs a customer with a smile. Looking at the teen he can see that he’s very relaxed and if this is better for him then who is Iason to refuse it.

Another float comes on and Jeremy makes a look at the sight of his sister with Stefan still highly annoyed at her but Iason just serves customers. A load of customers come over and start to order some desserts and Iason and Jeremy focus on keeping up with the demand and Iason is a bit worried that there aren't enough desserts for everyone. 

As time passes Iason can feel a dark feeling pass over him. 

Something is going to happen, something big and dangerous.

Looking around suddenly Anna is in front of the stand and people are walking towards the mayor for the firework show.

“Anna?” Jeremy exclaims in surprise at the sight of the girl. “What are you doing here? My uncle could see you”. He starts to look around for his uncle but Iason notices that there is a high amount of deputies walking around the area.

“I don’t care about that, I needed to find you. Come here” she holds a hand out for Jeremy to take but he doesn’t.

“I can’t Anna, we aren’t together, in fact we’re barely friends. So can you please just leave? I don’t want to see you hurt” Anna looks devastated but she nods and starts to walk away before she falls down and grabs her head in pain. A deputy comes up and injects Anna with vervain and Jeremy starts to walk towards them.

“Hey what are you doing? Leave her alone!” Another deputy grabs a hold of Jeremy and they watch as Anna is taken away. Jeremy then turns to look at Iason and sees him standing there, completely fine. He looks at him confused but Iason puts a finger to his lip and leaves.

Walking around Iason finds a little hidey hole and calls Dáinn about the vampires who are free for the picking.

Dáinn walks around the edges where a lot of vampires are trying to escape the many deputies. On the outside there are a lot less deputies so it’s easier for them to remain conscious due to not getting an injection of vervain in the neck. But Dáinn finds that these vampires are a threat. And threats need to be removed.

Walking to a vampire he grabs a hold of its neck and looks into their eyes. The vampire starts to scream in pain and flames burst through their cheeks and their eyes turn grey with ambers flickering. Dropping the body Dáinn smells another vampire not too far away so makes his way over.

His eyes are like burning flames, his fangs sharp and ready to tear through throats if needed. If he’s attacked, well they are going to find it hard to go through his skin. 

In a little alleyway is a little girl asking after a woman who's screaming and holding her head. The girl is stroking the vampire’s back but the vampire suddenly vamps out and pushes the girl down. At the sight and the sudden movement the girl screams out in fear but before the vampire can do any harm Dáinn grabs her throat and looks in her eyes, killing her in seconds.

He throws the body down and looks at the little girl, she looks frightened at Dáinn but he goes close to her and holds a hand to her head and the girl falls asleep. There, she will think it’s just a bad dream and the deputies will blame the vampire.

Nowhere near him is a vampire but he can sense one on the further part of town so he goes to the shadows and blends inside them and steps out in front of a male vampire.

The vampire looks at him with begging eyes, not knowing that Dáinn is the last thing they’ll see. He uses his preferred and quick method of burning the soul from the vampire's eyes. Smelling the air Dáinn feels that there is no other vampire except the ones who haven’t been a problem and the ones caught by the deputies. 

He was about to go to Iason but senses that Damon is in danger, growling irritated he goes back to the shadows and appears inside a burning building. Well, this is familiar.

Looking around at the ground he sees Damon coughing loudly from the smoke, walking through the flames he goes to him and easily lifts him up. Damon tenses and is ready to fight but at the sight of Dáinn he relaxes. Dáinn doesn’t bother with hiding himself in the shadows and teleports to the boarding house and puts Damon on the couch and goes back to Iason.

Seeing Damon on the couch and slowly healing from burn marks, Iason goes to the basement and grabs some blood whilst taking out his phone.

Iason: Damon, all good.

With the message sent to Stefan he goes to Damon and gives the blood before taking out his phone and phoning Jeremy.

“Hey Jeremy”

“What happened?”

“A supernatural device that shows vampires”

“Is Anna okay?”

“Sorry, but your uncle got her”

Iason can hear Jeremy’s breath hitch, “What about your brothers?”. Iason finds it sweet that even when upset Jeremy still cares to ask about him.

“Their fine, Stefan had Alaric to keep himself, a friend of mine saved Damon from a fire. I just wanted to ask if you could pack up the table and bring the tubs to my place?”

“Yeah, that’s fine” 

Jeremy hangs up and Iason focuses on his brother who is drinking the blood bag and laying on the couch with his shirt in ruins. He could see basically his entire chest and Iason does wonder if his couch is going to be fine.

“So Jeremy a new project of yours?” Iason rolls his eyes a little at the jealous tone in Damon’s voice.

“Just helping the kid out. Now Stefan and Elena are together at the grill, Jeremy is coming with my tubs and you can spend time healing” Damon groans and lays down more and stretches his body out. “You better not get anything on my couch, so if you can stretch you can shower, so go, go, go” Iason grabs Damon’s arm and pulls him up even when he’s groaning and trying to drag himself back onto the couch. “No. You will shower, you stink of smoke”. Finally Damon stands up and goes upstairs and Iason hears a shower start.

Honestly a man child.

Seeing that he has some free time he gets his phone out and starts a message to Vera.

Iason: Ten vampires dead, Anna dead from a stake by John Gilbert, six other vampires killed by fire caused by John Gilbert. Untriggered werewolf Richard Lockwood killed by vampire in the fire. Three vampires killed by Dáinn.

Vera: Well, looks like today’s been eventful.

Iason: Yep.

Finishing that conversation he then goes to another contact.

Iason: Just saved Damon from being burned alive in a fire from a vampire hunting council.

…

…

Staring at his phone Iason looks at the three dots and waits for the response.

Enzo: I’ll call him.

A knock on the door brings his attention so he goes over and sees Jeremy holding a load of tubs. Smiling, he lets him in and they go to the kitchen together and start to clean up.

“Oh, and Aunt Jenna knows I’m here” Iason smiles a little, it seems like Jeremy knows all about what got Elena into so much trouble. Damon walks down the stairs and into the kitchen, he leans against a counter and looks at Jeremy.

“Anna’s dead” Jeremy stops cleaning for a second before continuing.

“I know, Iason told me” Damon gives a little look at Iason before looking back at Jeremy.

“I know that you cared about her”

“I mean we were becoming close but I stopped when Iason pointed out that she was just using me so no, we’re not close” Damon looks a bit annoyed but nods his head in acceptance, “Why?” Jeremy asks, suddenly suspicious of Damon playing nice.

“I took away your suffering once before. Thought I would offer to do it again but if you're all good, guess there’s no need” Damon shrugs and Jeremy smiles at Damon a little.

“Nah, all good but thanks” Damon nods and walks off to the front door.

“Where are you going?” Iason slightly raises his voice to Damon.

“Elena’s, making sure she knows that my greatness continues to thrive. Also stop snitching on me” The door slams shut and Iason smiles and shakes his head whilst Jeremy looks at Iason confused.

“Who did you snitch to?”

“To Damon’s best friend”

“He has friends?”

Iason laughs and Jeremy joins in as they clean in a peaceful setting.

Chapter Text

He’s checking in with Matt who’s at the hospital with Caroline, he’s getting a bit more convinced that he should tell Matt about the supernatural by the day. In the hospital he’s sitting next to Matt and keeping him company whilst Jeremy is across from them doing some workbooks that he's given him. Jeremy wanted to catch up with school work so he got him some workbooks to help him. 

He was at his house doing the washing up with Jeremy when he got a call from Matt that he was in the car crash with Caroline so he asked if he wanted him to come to him but he was going to be fine for the night. Jeremy then slept round the house and the next morning they got Matt some breakfast and went to the hospital to give it to him. He was forced to stay overnight at the hospital because there was a high concern of a concussion so he was kept for observation but was let out in the morning, however he stayed because of Caroline. Before they left the house though Iason gave Jeremy the workbooks so he wouldn’t be bored whilst at the hospital. 

Whilst there a small TV started to play the news, it showed a few body bags and spoke about individuals found in alleyways with burn marks, cheeks exposed and grey eyes with amber flecks. They were debating about how it could have happened and the dangers of being alone at night and that there is a hunt for the killer.

Ignoring the TV he focuses on Matt and keeping him calm, the poor boy has gone through a lot and doesn’t need all this stress of the supernatural. But at the same time not knowing is probably going to make it worse, he’s in the town of supernatural drama and friends with the doppelgänger, he’s going to get dragged in at some point so it might be more responsible of Iason to get him informed more early on. 

It’s decided, he’s telling Matt about the supernatural.

As they are sitting down and waiting to hear about Caroline, Bonnie walks up to Matt and starts to talk with him about how Caroline is. Matt mentions that Tyler heard a noise which caused him to lose control of the car, when Matt mentioned the noise Iason glared at Bonnie. It is her fault the device went off and his brother could have died. If they were caught by the council because of their idiocy then sure he wouldn’t be mad but one was caught because she betrayed their trust. 

Witches always think they are better than anyone else.

He can hear other people arriving and talking about ways to heal Caroline and Bonnie goes off towards them leaving the three of them alone.

“I do believe a change of scenery will be good for you Matt” He looks up from the floor and glares a little at Iason.

“I’m not leaving her!” 

“I know you don’t want to leave her but staying here isn’t going to be good for you, your back will hurt, you’ll get cramp and you need fresh air and some food otherwise you’ll get weak, fall asleep and might miss out on Caroline waking up” 

Matt is quiet and looks back down at the ground so Iason leaves him in his thoughts whilst watching as Damon goes into Caroline’s room and then back out again. A sigh brings him back to Matt who looks at him sadly.

“You're right, but we’re not going out for long” A compromise is better than Matt staying here all day.

“Well we better be quick then. Are you coming, Jeremy?” Jeremy looks up from the workbooks and quickly starts to shove them inside his bag and puts the bag over his shoulder.

“Yep, all ready!” He gives a big smile and Iason shakes his head.

“Those workbooks better be in decent condition as I’ll be marking them” Jeremy nods his head.

“They’re good” 

“Let’s go then” Walking through the hospital corridor with two teenagers following him Iason has a mental image of a mama duck with ducklings. 

Once they get outside the hospital he can hear the teens groaning and taking deeper breaths. Seems that the idea of fresh air is a hit.

“So do you want to go to a café for a drink and cake?” Iason offers and the boys look a bit brighter and happier which is Iason's goal. 

“Yeah”

“Let’s go!”

Iason goes towards his car which is parked in the hospital car park and the teens fight for the passenger seat and Matt wins who gloats towards the pouting Jeremy. Honestly, the pair of them. When they are safely in the car Iason drives off towards the town so they can go to a café and Iason will use the time to also tell Matt about the supernatural.

“Hey, Matt. You want to know what everyone is hiding from you?” Both of the boys perk up, Matt looking at him hopefully whilst Jeremy is a bit confused and horrified.

“What! You’re going to tell him?”

Matt turns in his car and glares at Jeremy, “You know?” Jeremy looks a bit guilty at Matt, “Iason I understand, he’s an adult and knows stuff but you, Jeremy?” 

“If I may inject here, Jeremy only knows because he read Elena’s diary” This does seem to calm Matt down but he ignores the apologies of Jeremy who quietens down and pouts. “And Jeremy, Matt deserves to know because he’s going to get stuck in it, he knows too many people who are involved so he will get dragged in” 

Jeremy nods a little and Matt looks a bit concerned and Iason thinks back on his words. Going over them Iason realises that it sounds like they're in a gang, which might have been better than what it really is.  

“So why not tell Caroline too?” 

“Because I have a feeling that she’s going to remember soon”  Both of the boys are confused but Iason just focuses on parking his car so they can get to the café. 

Finally finding a space and getting out Iason takes the boys to the outside part of the café where no one else is sitting, not many people were out and about which means there is likely a likelihood of someone overhearing them.

“You two find what you want, don’t worry I’ll pay” This seemed to calm Matt down and Iason feels again worried for the boy’s finances. Is he getting money from his mother? Someone from the café sees that a table has been filled and someone comes out to take their orders which they do, two hot chocolates, one latte, one brownie, one carrot cake and one chocolate muffin. When the woman goes Matt looks at Iason seriously and his face is set hard.

“Tell me what’s going on” Iason finds the attitude a bit rude, but then again Matt is getting the answers he’s been looking for and doesn’t want Iason to go against his word.

“It’s rather complicated to explain –”

“There’s vampires!” Jeremy blurts out and Iason just groans whilst Matt looks annoyed.

“Seriously? Vampires? That’s what you're going with? I wanted to know the truth and instead you're pulling my leg” Matt goes to stand up to leave but Iason grabs his arm and makes him sit back down. Matt looks at him shocked, either because of his strength or that he pulled him down.

“We’re not pulling your leg, unfortunately” Iason says to Matt who again just looks at them with disbelief. “The supernatural is real, vampires, witches and werewolves those are very real” 

“Are you on something?” Matt asks and Iason is very offended and it seems that Jeremy is too.

The door to the café opens and someone comes out with all the drinks and cakes which are placed in front of them with the worker then leaving. Iason takes a sip of his drink before looking at Matt who is highly tense and Jeremy is looking awkward and is looking at Matt and then Iason.

“So let’s talk about the supernatural” Matt tenses again and he looks ready to bolt, “There are many witches in the world, they know spells, some that can heal and some that can damage. Vampires were made over a millennium ago by a witch, a vampire is made by a person drinking vampire blood then dying and then drinking human blood. A vampire is not necessarily good or evil. The werewolves have been hunted to near extinction, they are mostly human but when they trigger the curse they can turn into a wolf on the full moon, but they’re not in control and often try and hunt down vampires” 

Whilst he’s talking Matt is just looking at him like he’s crazy or just disbelieving. 

“Right and you both just expect me to believe this?” He looks at Jeremy who just nods, Matt scoffs and is about to stand up, “You two are crazy if you think I’m staying for this”.

Iason again grabs his hand and Matt tries to pull his arm out, “Hey dude, get off” Iason yanks Matt’s arm with a bit of strength which causes him to fall back into the chair and he then grabs a hold of Matt’s face and makes him look at his face. Matt’s eyes are flickering around, he’s looking panicked and Iason feels very guilty with making Matt panic.

“Hey, look at me” Matt still looks around and Iason grips his face a tiny bit harder, it’s not too hard but enough that Matt focuses on him. Iason takes a breath and forces his face to change to be like a vampire's, the darker eyes and black veins under the eyes. 

Matt’s eyes widen and he stops fighting and he looks at him in shock, Iason has his face turn back to normal and lets Matt’s face go and sits back. He takes a sip and Jeremy is watching Matt with open curiosity. 

It’s quiet for a while as they all just have a drink and eat their cakes and Iason is a bit worried about how Matt is reacting and thinking. 

“So what are you?” Matt asks, he sounds a bit afraid and doesn’t look at Iason, but he doesn’t take too offence from it.

“The face you saw was that of a vampire”

“So the big secret was this?” Matt looks at Jeremy whose face gives it away that there’s more. “What else is there?” 

“All the animal attacks recently were actually vampires” Matt turns to him in surprise and horror, “None of them by me, there was a tomb filled with vampires that were locked away and when they were freed they were hungry and started to kill. My brother, Damon, also had a bit of a hand in the killing”

“Your brothers are vampires?”

Jeremy gains a grin and leans over to Matt, “They’re the original Salvatore brothers”. Again Matt is in surprise as he starts to look over Iason.

“Huh”

Iason just takes another good sip of his drink and eats a bit more of his cake.

“Wait? Your brother killed all those people?” 

“No. He didn’t kill all of them but some, he’s actually not killed anyone in awhile. What you need to understand Matt is that a vampire is a predator who hunts humans for blood. A vampire has a different mindset, they can care about a person but some don’t”

“And I’m supposed to be alright with that?” 

“No, you don’t have to be alright with it. In fact all of them believe you shouldn't know anything but you know too many people who are a part of the supernatural”

Matt looks at him with a bit of suspicion, “Who? Who do I know?”

Iason sighs, “Bonnie is a witch, the family of Bennett’s have been witches for over a thousand years, Tyler is from a family with the werewolf gene but he’s untriggered, my brothers are vampires and then Elena is a doppelgänger”

“What’s a doppelgänger?” It seems that Matt is going to be ignoring everything else until he understands everything, he does feel bad that he’s dumping all of this on him but it’s better then not knowing.

“A doppelgänger is someone who, by magic, looks the exact same as someone else. Elena is the current doppelgänger, and there is a vampire doppelgänger out there who also looks like her. So don’t ever invite Elena inside the house. Ever”

Both of the boys are now looking at him in concern, “Why?” Matt is the one who asks.

“A vampire can only enter a house if they’re invited in” 

“Huh”

“Wait, someone out there looks like Elena?”

“Yes, Jeremy. From what I have heard, she’s been invited inside your house and cut off your uncle’s fingers” the boys are again looking at him, a bit horrified. 

“I wanted to tell you about this Matt so you can be safe in this world, it can get very dangerous with the supernatural. What you need to understand Matt is that a vampire can compel someone, this means a vampire can force you to do whatever they want, they can erase all your anatomy and even erase your memories”

Matt starts to look panicked again, “Have you done that to me?”

Iason looks at Matt straight on, "Absolutely not, I hate the idea of compelling someone. Some vampires would compel their shopping for free and are foolish with their actions. Compelling someone is how vampires are often found out and then killed by hunters”

“Hunters?” 

“Yes, Matt, there are hunters out there who know about vampires and hunt them and kill them. In fact the founding families most the time have one member that is on the council which is a vampire hunting council” 

“The council knows?!”

“Indeed, yesterday they let off a device which let out a frequency that only vampires and werewolves can hear. It’s why Tyler lost control of the car, he heard the noise. He’s also not aware of the werewolf gene”

“This is crazy”

“I know man, I learnt about the supernatural and then Elena had my memory erased, then I learnt about it again through reading her diary”

Matt is again horrified, but he’s looking at Jeremy instead of Iason.

“Now Matt, I know we’ve told you a lot but what I’m about to tell you is important and you deserve to know” He gets Matt’s attention on him and Jeremy must know what he's about to talk about because he looks down at his drink. “Vicki’s murder was caused by Stefan”. Matt stands up quickly and his breathing is hard.

“What?!” 

Iason also stands up and grasps Matt’s arm, “Let me finish explaining” he brings Matt down back to the chair and then sits back into his own.

“Let’s start from the beginning, Vicki came round my house with Damon for reasons I’m unsure about, they both started to drink and party. Damon was in a mood, and when he’s in a mood human life isn’t important, so he fed her his blood and then killed her” Matt’s breath hitches but Iason continues on, “Vicki then left and went to the Gilbert house to talk with Jeremy and then you were called. Soon Vicki went to the cemetery and me and my brothers met up with her, Stefan was trying to comfort her and I went to warn them about the hunter nearby. They didn’t believe me and Stefan was shot with wooden bullets but Damon killed the hunter, but the smell of blood caused Vicki to drink the blood, transitioning into a vampire. When someone is transitioned into a vampire their traits are amplified, and for Vicki that included her addiction. She started to struggle with blood lust and her temper, Stefan tried to get her on his animal diet but she started to crave humans and eventually attacked Elena, Stefan then staked her through the heart. Damon buried her body in the woods” 

When Iason finishes he can see that Matt has tears in his eyes so he stands up and gives him a hug. It must be hard for the boy to learn everything but then to learn that his sister's death was caused by people he knows and that they hide it from him must be overwhelming. 

A worker comes out and Matt is quick to wipe away his tears and Iason steps back a bit and pays for the bill. Jeremy sees that all their drinks and cakes are finished so he grasps Matt’s arm and starts to walk back to the car and muttering about how he felt about learning of the supernatural world and about Anna. Iason follows slightly behind the pair and gets inside the driver seat whilst the two boys sit at the back and talk about how to survive the world. 

“Vervain is the way, it stops vampires from being able to compel you. Iason grows it so he can give it to you. But as you have a house to yourself you could probably grow it yourself. Oh! I can show you how to make a wooden stake, Iason showed me so if I ever needed to kill a vampire I can” 

Iason can see that Matt is looking very overwhelmed with everything but is still paying attention to Jeremy. He drives the teens back to the hospital and they all go back to Caroline’s room but Iason keeps a bit of distance from Matt as he can tell the teen is a bit uncomfortable around him. Matt goes into the hospital room and starts to talk with Caroline who is feeling a lot better and is healing up. Jeremy and Iason are just standing close together and Jeremy is near leaning on him. 

Five minutes later Matt walks out happy and walks to them, “They say it a miracle, she’s practically all healed up”.

Jeremy looks surprised but looks at Iason and sees that he’s not surprised with the news, “You know something, what is it?” Matt then turns to Iason and also looks at him with curiosity.

Iason sighs a little, they should probably know about it know, “When Damon came to visit Bonnie asked him to heal her which he agreed to he fed Caroline vampire blood, this healed her up but it also puts her at risk”

“What risk?” Matt asks, back to being concerned.

“If she dies, then she’ll turn into a vampire”

Both of the teens look at each other and then back to Caroline’s door.

“That shouldn’t happen, right? I mean she’s safe in the hospital” Jeremy says slowly and Iason knows that Jeremy is trying to comfort himself and Matt but isn’t too confident. 

“We can only hope, but from how things are going I wouldn’t have too much hope. However, if she does turn then she will have help” 

The boys nod and they leave the hospital again and then go back to the car as they have all been invited to the Lockwood mansion. Jeremy makes sure to message Jenna that he's still with Iason and is going to the mansion. When they got to the mansion Iason saw that Elena and Jenna were outside and waiting for Jeremy who ran out of the car to join them, leaving Iason and Matt alone together. Matt is still highly distraught in the back and Iason felt really bad but he felt that Matt needed to know. 

“Everything okay back there Matt” He doesn’t look up from where he’s hunched in the back seat and Iason is worried if Matt even heard him.

“Yeah” It was very quiet but Iason was able to hear it. 

“Do you want me to take you home?” If Matt couldn’t handle the event then he wasn’t going to force him into attending.

“No, I – I think I’m good” Matt takes some breaths and sits back up and Iason feels guilty at seeing the tears in his eyes. He goes into the glove department and grabs some baby wipes and tissues and hands them to Matt who clears his face with a whispered “Thanks”.

“Look I’m sorry that I put all of this on you but I promised myself that if there is one more incident that you’re involved in then I would tell you about the supernatural. I thought you deserved to know, however … If you want – and I don’t really like it but I’m going to offer anyways – I can compel you to forget everything about the supernatural if you want” 

It looked like Matt was complimenting his choices and Iason really doesn’t like people being compelled as it feels wrong but if it's what Matt wants then he will help. It makes it a bit better in his mind that it will be Matt’s choice, about his own anatomy. 

In the end Matt shakes his head lightly, “No… I just need time to get through – all this… But thanks”. The side door opens and Matt leaves to go inside of the mansion and Iason is just hoping that nothing goes wrong. However the fact he can sense more than his brothers inside the mansion is not really a great sign. More vampires, more drama. 

Sighing, Iason sees Elena, Jenna and Jeremy go inside of the mansion so he finally gets out of his car, locks it and approaches the mansion. This is not going to be enjoyable but at least he didn’t have to bake this time. By the time he gets inside the mansion he knows that Elena has hurt Damon with her words and that he might need to make sure Damon isn’t going to go down a spiral. 

…

Iason: Damon kissed who he thought was Elena, the human doppelgänger, but it was actually Katherine. Elena then said she finds it surprising Damon thought she would kiss him back.

Enzo: I’ll call him.

Iason: Thanks

Okay, so Damon is going to get help and Iason will continue keeping an eye on him. Iason starts to walk around the mansion and sees Jeremy go inside a room and hears him talking to Tyler. At the smell of alcohol Iason also goes into the room and sees as Tyler offers the flask to Jeremy who looks highly tempted and is shaking his head but Tyler is very persistent in offering. Iason clears his throat which causes Jeremy to look at him in relief and Tyler to be annoyed and confused.

“Who the fuck are you?” Well, Lockwood’s are typically very rude. 

Before Iason could answer a werewolf enters the room and gives Iason the stink eye. 

“Hey, what’s going on in here Tyler?” 

“Nothing, nothing” Tyler tries to hide the flask filled with alcohol but that just brings the werewolf’s attention to it. For some reason the werewolf then looks at Jeremy with distrust. Wait a second. Is he blaming Jeremy? Oh, that’s not going to stand.

“Yes and nothing is going to happen with Jeremy, am I understood, Tyler? Because before I came in here I heard you offer alcohol to Jeremy and then when I came in you were pushing the flask towards him even after he said no” 

It seemed the werewolf didn’t know this and was giving Tyler a disapproving look, and Tyler? He looked mad and was glaring at Iason.

“Why do you care? Also that crackhead always likes to get his hands on this stuff” Jeremy flinches a little at the cruel ‘nickname’ that Tyler has given him and the werewolf is still looking at Tyler with disapproval but also is a bit stunned. 

“I care because in recent months I’ve grown fond of the boy and have been helping him out which also includes making sure he doesn’t relapse as he’s recovering” Jeremy seems to have stepped behind Iason to hide from Tyler which Iason finds a bit sad, so he gently grabs his arm and starts to the door so they can leave but the werewolf is in the way. 

It seems the werewolf doesn’t know how to perceive him as he’s looking at him like an anomaly. Iason looks at the werewolf but the man doesn’t move, even Jeremy is looking at the man oddly but he doesn’t get the hint.

“May you excuse us? We wish to re-join the others” The werewolf’s eyes widen and he hastily steps away from the door.

“Yeah, sorry about that, lost in thought” He gives an awkward laugh but he doesn’t pay the wolf any more attention and instead leaves with Jeremy. 

When outside he lets go of Jeremy’s arm but the boy doesn’t move too far away from him and so they make their way to Jenna who is trying to look politely interested but is actually bored out of her mind. 

“Hey you two, having fun?” Jenna puts on a more genuine smile.

“No more fun than you it seems” She smiles sadly at the pair.

“It’s not the most fun of events to be at” 

Jeremy goes up to his aunt and sighs very loudly which causes Iason and Jenna to look at the teen.

“Can we go now? We came, showed our respect. Do we have to be here for any longer?” Jenna’s eyes light up at the idea of leaving.

“Yeah we can go, we just need to find Elena” Jenna starts to stretch her head around, trying to find Elena.

“She’s outside with my brothers” This causes Jenna to frown at Iason.

“Both of them?” She seems disgruntled and Iason can guess it’s because of Damon and the whole kissing Elena.

“Yes, Stefan got a bit hurt so Damon is helping him out” Jenna's eyes widened and she became a bit sheepish.

“Oh. Sorry for assuming the worse it’s just –”

“Just that Damon is Damon” Iason raises an eyebrow a little and Jenna lets out a small awkward laugh.

“Yeah…”

“So can we go?” 

This seems to snap Jenna back to attention as she looks at Jeremy like she forgot he was there, he could see that Jeremy also knew this and seemed a bit hurt by it. 

“Right, let’s go and get Elena and we can go. Are you coming with Iason?” 

“Hmm, yes I will. I can offer my brothers a lift home” 

Together they all go outside where they find Elena, Stefan and Damon near a bench around the Lockwood mansion. As they approach them Elena sees them and leaves Stefan and Damon to go to them, she also waves goodbye to the pair. 

“Hey Jenna, we leaving now?” 

“Yeah. See you around Iason” Jenna turns and walks away with Elena and Jeremy looks a bit put out by being left behind.

“Hey, Jeremy” He gets the boys attention and he can see the sadness and loneliness in the boy’s eyes, “If you ever want to stay round mine you can” 

“What about your brothers?” Jeremy looks around Iason towards Stefan and Damon who are pretending not to listen in but Iason knows that they are too nosy not to be.

“Well considering I’m paying for the house, their opinion isn’t that relevant. But they probably won’t mind…. Scratch that Stefan won’t mind but Damon will complain loudly and bug you but also give you your space” 

This causes Jeremy to crack a smile, “Thanks for the offer, I — I might take you up on it sometime”. Jeremy gives him a quick hug before waving at his brothers and then running off to his aunt and sister. 

Turning to his brothers he can see the teasing looks on their faces and just rolls his eyes. Children, the pair of them.

“Are either of you wanting a lift home or am I leaving you here?” Both of them look at each other and then come towards Iason who guides them to his car. Before getting to the car he sends a message to Matt who responds that he’s going to be walking home so Iason gets in and drives them all home.

Once home Stefan runs off to the woods to hunt for his dinner and Iason goes off towards his office to check his emails and work. Damon is downstairs in the living room pouring himself a drink, at the Lockwood mansion Damon didn’t have a single glass which is good; making himself look a bit more normal and not a full alcoholic. Being seen not drinking for once might make the town more inclined to like him … which is how he got Damon to not drink at the event.

As he gets to his office he sends a quick message to Enzo that they have returned to the boarding house so that he can call Damon. Turning on his computer he was about to start his work when he realised that Katherine had entered the house.

…

Nothing is ever going to be simple with her around, his brothers are going to go mad at each other and Elena will probably make it worse with her presence alone.

With his computer on he goes to his emails but he’s not very focused as he’s busy listening in on the conversation going on downstairs. It isn’t too bad but when he hears them kissing he’s quick to go downstairs and pull Katherine off of Damon. They both seemed surprised to see him but Katherine is better at hiding it and she dusts her clothes off from where Iason threw her to the floor.

“Ahhh, I was wondering where the middle brother went off to, miss me?” She pouts at Iason who isn’t even affected.

“Damon are you alright?” He turns his back to Katherine and helps Damon stand up, his brother seems annoyed at him but he still accepts the help. When he turns back around Katherine is still there and is looking annoyed, most likely because she’s not getting attention but once she has it back she smiles all sweet at them.

“Ohhh, are we going back to the good old days?” 

Iason just looks at her, “You stringing my brothers along and being desperate for my attention? You tell me?” Katherine glares at him but Iason gives her a polite smile. “I do want to know something though, tell me Katherine, did you ever love my brother?” It seems that the question threw Katherine off a little but she’s quick to recover and she rolls her eyes.

“Why would I tell you that? Don’t tell me that you want me too after all this time?” She bats her eyes at him and Iason is very strong-willed to keep his stomach from rolling. 

“I do wonder if you know what’s been going on in this town? Very brave to come here, likely with plans after what happened” Katherine rolls her eyes again.

“You think you can trade information that I already know? Vampires burnt by the council, it’s all so poetic” 

“Ah, so you don’t know. Guess you were very foolish then” Iason shrugs and turns to Damon who is struggling to look unaffected by everything but he knows that he’s likely got Katherine’s attention. For her information is key to her survival so it’s the best way to get what you want. 

“Stop” Iason turns back to Katherine and Damon looks at her too and Iason, without looking at him, knows that he’s likely looking at her hopeful. “The truth is…I’ve never loved you. It was always Stefan” She says it to Damon who looks heartbroken but is trying to hide it but they all knew it was there. Iason steps more in front of Damon and grasps his hand from behind his back and squeezes his hand.

“Now tell me what you're hiding” She demands and glares at Iason.

“Well if you were watching the news then you would have heard about the vampires who were killed around the edges of town… by fire” 

Katherine looks annoyed as Iason doesn't give anything else to her, “That’s it? Didn’t know you were one to hold out on a desperate girl in need” 

“Well as a desperate girl I’m sure you know how to find old showings of the news. I’ll give you a hint it was earlier today” Katherine rolls her eyes and vamps out of the house.

Rudely she leaves the front door open, she’s centuries old but doesn’t have the decency to close the front door. He turns to Damon who is looking highly upset and Iason can hear his phone ringing in his jeans pocket.

“You might want to answer that” Damon reaches for his phone and Iason can see a small smile as Damon reads the caller ID and answers the phone. Iason hears the English accent of Enzo but decides not to really listen in and instead brings Damon to the couch so he can sit down and then goes into the kitchen to make him hot chocolate which he brings to him. It seems that Damon appreciates it as he gets a smile. 

Iason is about to leave to go back to his computer for work but is stopped by Damon grabbing his arm and pulling him quite hard back onto the couch. Iason just accepts Damon’s demand for comfort and leans against his side. It’s not often that Damon gives his version of asking for attention or comfort so he always feels happy whenever Damon asks him for it. There aren’t many people that Damon will get comfort or physically close with, the vulnerability of it all is often too much for him, the only people he allows are him and Enzo.

When Stefan comes back he gives them an odd look but Iason tells him through his eyes and expression for him to drop it and move along, which he does. Damon is tense when Stefan arrives and makes a lot of noise, most likely not wanting Stefan to hear Enzo as he’s protective of his friend and doesn’t want him around Stefan. But once Stefan is gone Damon relaxes again. It’s all calm and hopefully Damon can use Katherine's admission to move on and gain some more peace with himself. 

Of course his mind changes when he senses that someone is in transition, why world? Why?

Chapter Text

It’s another one of those days. A day full of work, work and work. Even with a new vampire in town Iason is focusing on his work. He’s been a bit worried about Matt but Jeremy has also kept in contact with him and is helping him through it, even supplied him with a bit of vervain and spoke about how to fake it - an important lesson Iason taught Jeremy. Faking being compelled can be something that is life or death.

His work is — manageable. There’s a couple of emails and phone calls he needs to make, including a publisher. His more … human side of the books is likely going to be easier to get published than the vampire side. It’s the main problem he’s currently having with his work. The different ideas he has is to wait until Halloween to publish them, get someone to compel a publisher to allow it or make his own publishing company and factory to publish the books himself then also offer the service to other vampires so they can also sell their own work. 

…

Unfortunately due to his … morals, it’s looking like the third option which is really annoying as it adds more work onto his pile. A publishing company is a lot more work so he’s thinking of getting someone else to mainly run it but he’s the name behind it all. He’s running his funeral company but someone else can do the publishing one, he has enough right now. 

Because he’s always planning Iason has already made a list on how to start the publishing company but it was just as a last resort, he was trying to think of other ways. He could try to self-publish but he doesn’t like the idea of using some of the platforms for self-publishing as they aren’t used often and people are more likely to buy a book that is in store. He’s not as worried for the vampire side as he will sell those inside the funeral service to get word around. 

This sucks.

Luckily the housing is going very well and Iason has made sure the workers are being efficient and aren’t doing anything half-measured. So far the houses are in good condition and mainly now need to be decorated. Most of the houses needed some refurbishing and rewiring which made it take a lot less time then he thought, although one house did need a new roof which made Iason ask for the roofs to all get looked at and repaired which made the work a bit longer. In the end he now has seven empty houses. He’s only planning on putting in some basic furniture and then slowly increasing the amount inside as he wants there to be input in his tenets. Although his house is definitely taking priority, he has an interior designer doing that for him.

With everything that went on yesterday, meaning he was a bit forgetful and couldn’t be bothered, Iason made sure to message Vera about Matt now knowing about the supernatural. He’s also had a check in with Enzo over the phone and then checked in with Damon. It seems that Damon is down in the dumps and Iason is trying to give him attention but he has a lot of work so he picked him up and dumped him on a nice chair in his office. Surprisingly, Damon didn’t put up much of a fight and just slumped in the chair. 

Emails being easy to do and being a quick professional with organising funeral Iason has plenty of time to start up a new company. 

… Yay …

However, part way through him working Damon’s phone rings and he answers it to Mrs Lockwood. He can see the restraint Damon has in himself to not roll his eyes, which is none. The conversation doesn’t last long and Damon takes joy in hanging up the phone and groaning.

“Dear Carol wants to talk to me about the council” 

Iason looks at Damon with open concern, “Are you going to be alright going?”, unlike with Stefan Damon tries to be sort of open and honest with him.

“Yeah, should be all dandy” Damon leaves his office and his response isn’t all that reassuring but Iason knows pushing Damon is not all that good so lets him go.

He also makes sure to message Stefan about where Damon is going, in case Damon starts to want to be around Elena for … ‘comfort’.

Continuing on with his work, he gets another hour in before Iason gets a message and the sound is that designated with Matt, he’s quick to look at his phone and feels like bashing his head in.

Matt: I think Caroline might be a vampire? She’s not eating and she’s avoiding the light.

Iason: She’s a new vampire then and is going to be freaking out, she’ll also have bad self control so be careful around her. Do you want me to do anything?

Matt: Dude, I have no idea what to do, of course I want you to do something!

So.

He can confess to his brothers, one who might be a bit patronising to Caroline or the other who will try and kill her. Or deal with himself even though he’s not really cut out to teach a vampire on controlling thirst.

Forcing back the groan that wants to escape, Iason mournfully leaves his work and goes downstairs. Both of his brothers are downstairs and are talking about the Lockwood's, it's taken this many years to finally realise that something is up with them. He waits until they finish speaking and he is a bit annoyed that Katherine is back because they are going to keep talking about her. 

“Cheers!” Damon lets out as he drinks from a blood bag and Iason takes that as his cue to walk in, sue him he’s also a bit dramatic.

“Hold that thought” Damon groans and lowers his drink whilst Stefan looks curious at him. 

“What now?” Damon grits out and Iason knows that this news is going to make the pair react.

“Just got a message from Matt, Caroline is avoiding sunlight and refusing to eat” Both of his brothers are quick to look at Iason, he could tell Damon was calculating whilst Stefan was concerned.

“It’s probably just a coincidence, right?”

“Awfully convenient coincidence" 

“So anyone got a plan that doesn’t involve straight murder” Iason gives a pointed look to Damon who raises his hands and blood bag before flopping down into a seat and drinking his blood.

“Well if no murder I think this is a job for Stefan” Iason and Damon look at Stefan who is confused.

“Why me?” 

Damon lets out a very loud and dramatic groan, “New baby vampire needs thirst control, I want to murder her, Iason is no help which leaves you” He points the blood bag at Stefan who sighs but in the end grabs his coat and vamps away.

“Any hope that Caroline will make it?” 

“Not a single speck” 

Iason refrains from rolling his eyes at Damon’s response and just gives him a smile and heads back into his office to do some work. He makes sure to send a message to Matt that Stefan has gone to help Caroline but that his brothers don’t know that he knows. 

The time is slow going and Iason is dreading it as it passes because there is the high school carnival that he has to attend. Does he want to attend? No. Does he have to? Yes, because he can bake. Getting stuff done for tomorrow was done last night, he doesn’t need that much sleep but he enjoys it so he did a lot of the baking late into the night. Groaning, he gets out from his desk and into the kitchen to grab all the desserts. 

It’s nice to have a break but not when that break involves being around a lot of children that might be screaming. A few trips back and forth is what it takes to get everything inside his car and once he’s all ready to go and in the driver’s seat, Damon vamps into the passenger seat and gives him a cocky smile. He ignores it and just drives to the high school.

Once there he’s quick to put all the desserts at a stall for the carnival and is annoyed that he's going to have to supervise the kids running it. As he knew kids were running the event he used the bad tupperware, he’s not trusting them with the good stuff. 

Mostly the carnival is uneventful until Stefan starts walking around with Caroline who looks terrified but strangely also confident. They both go up to Damon who is watching Tyler arm wrestling and then the werewolf uncle joins in. He does find it funny when Stefan is volunteered and then loses, Damon makes fun of him before walking off to Elena to explain about the Caroline situation.

Iason is sort of happy he’s away from the drama but also irritated that he’s stuck at this stall. He needs to learn to say no better, he keeps getting himself in this situation when he said that he wouldn’t.

…

That’s it! 

This is the last event he’s catering for!

Children and more children keep coming up and buying desserts and he doesn’t know if he should rejoice or cry. On one hand he’s constantly serving children with barely a break, on the other the sooner the desserts are gone the sooner he can leave.

Oh dear a person is dead and Caroline has committed her first murder.

…

At least there is a carnival going on, it’s not that strange for someone to go missing at a carnival and then end up dead. Not his taste but less suspicious than a random murder on a Tuesday stroll. His face doesn’t react to the feel of the murder but he continues to serve the children until finally, FINALLY! He’s out of desserts and he can close up the stall. 

Iason dismisses all the children helpers and gathers up his tubs, realises someone stole one, then goes to his car to put them away. After closing the backdoors and getting into the drivers he’s met with the sight of a pouting Damon whose clothes are burnt. Iason chuckles at the sight which causes Damon to scowl.

“Not a word” 

“Of course”

Iason puts on the radio and drives the pair back home where Iason will spend some time cleaning up his tubs and to message Vera about new baby vampire Caroline.

Chapter Text

The first thing Iason got in the morning is a message from Jenna about the fact Elena is coming to the boarding house and Iason felt tempted to burn the house down. However, he didn’t and instead went out for a walk and had a count of the animals. By the time he was finished with the quick count and walk, Elena and Alaric were inside the house and talking about the Lockwood’s which he found funny and then he went upstairs. 

His plan is to quickly make some calls and do some emails about the publishing company and to the interior designer and then he will need to start the set up for his cooking lesson with Matt and Jeremy today. When he found that Matt was still coming he felt extremely happy that Matt wasn’t cancelling out on him. With everything going on he finds it really sad that he’s happiest with two teen boys. Having a lot of work is Iason's favourite technique to make him forget how lonely he is with his brother’s constant fighting or entertaining women. 

Matt was originally going to spend his day off work to go to a water hole with Caroline but she didn’t answer his calls and instead decided to do the lesson. He can understand the anger from Matt about Caroline ghosting him.

His calls and emails don’t take too long and Iason even gets to have a little song on his violin which is nice as he forgets about it most of the time. When he finished the song he put away the violin and heard a knock on the door which he opened to find Jeremy and Matt with bags of groceries. Stefan was out of the house teaching Caroline how to feed, Damon is with Elena in Duke.

“Hey Iason”

“Hello you two, come on in” The boys are quick to enter and walk straight to the kitchen to dump the bags on the counter. The meal plan for today is to teach the boys how to cook a steak with cajun potatoes and cole slaw, both of the boys are very excited about this meal. Iason knows this because it was one of the meals they both asked to be taught and were talking about two days ago. 

“We stayed within in the budget”

“Yeah, the steaks were even on a deal!” Jeremy grins at Iason, who smiles back and ruffles Jeremy’s hair up a bit.

“Good on you, now it’s quite early so are you planning on having dinner for lunch?” 

“Have nothing else to do so thought it was best to come here” Matt shrugs but Iason can tell he’s upset.

Sighing, Iason takes a hold of Matt and drags him to the living room, with Jeremy following close behind, and gently pulls him down onto the couch, with Jeremy on the other couch opposite them.

“What’s wrong Matt? I can tell something is eating up at you” Matt refuses to look at them and instead just looks at the floor but Iason can see the boy holding back tears. So instead of asking further he gently pulls Matt in for a hug, he doesn’t get any fight from Matt and the boy falls onto his chest. With Matt on his chest he can feel him shaking and his breath hitching as he fights against tears. Iason starts to rub circles in Matt’s back and hold him tightly as he starts to sob into his chest. 

Looking forward to Jeremy who looks uncomfortable and awkward but is mostly concerned for Matt, Iason raises his eyebrow but Jeremy shrugs in response. So Jeremy isn’t going to be any help.

“Shh, it’s fine, everything is going to be fine, shh” Iason can feel his shirt becoming damp but he’s not that bothered as he never really spends a lot on clothes. Sometimes the cheaper clothes have more personality than the expensive clothes. 

“I– I know s-she’s go-going through something. But why?” Matt’s voice breaks at the question and Iason believes that they are currently talking about Caroline. Have they broken up? He knows that she declined going to the water hole but he didn’t know they broke up. “I-I tried to be what she wants but s-she never sees it! I thought that we — She’s even said that she doesn’t want a washed up jock who works as a server to be boyfriend material. So what does that make me?” 

“It makes you Matt Donovan a seventeen year old boy with a big heart that cares for the people around him” 

Iason just lets Matt sob into his shirt but he can tell that the crying has significantly decreased and Iason looks at Jeremy mouthing ‘water’ to him which he gets a nod in response and Jeremy moving towards the kitchen. When Jeremy gets back with a big glass of water Iason moves Matt around on his chest so he can see the offered water. Matt rubs his eyes a bit and sits up but stays leaning against Iason as he grabs the water and drinks from it.

“Thanks…”

“No problem”

Jeremy sits back down on the other couch opposite them and Iason continues rubbing circles on Matt’s back. He’s going over different things he can say to Matt but what he thinks is best might not be or it might be but Matt might not want to hear it. 

“Matt, if you're truly unhappy with your situation there’s nothing wrong with being a little selfish, sometimes being selfless causes a person the most harm. Time after time you’ve tried to be what the girl wants but this time just be you and if they can’t accept that then they don’t deserve you” 

Matt still doesn’t say anything back instead he stays on his chest a lot calmer than before but wanting to stay close to Iason. He’s honestly honoured that Matt is trusting him to be so vulnerable with him.

“Now how about we cook those steaks for lunch?” Jeremy jumps up from the couch and runs to the kitchen and Matt is slow with getting off of him but is smiling when they go to the kitchen. All around the kitchen are the ingredients for them to make their meals. Steaks, cabbage, cajun seasoning, potatoes, red onion, mayo, soured cream and chili paste. The entire meal should take around an hour to make and Iason goes to the radio and puts on some tunes to lighten the mood. 

When teaching the boys how to cook the steaks he found it a bit funny at how serious their expressions were as he told them about the amount of time it took for the steak to be all forms of cooked, rare, medium rare, medium, medium well and well done. He showed them through his own steak and kept showing them how it looked different for each stage, it did mean that in the end he had a well done steak which isn’t his preferred, his preferred being blue, but it was the best way to teach the boys. He stood back and watched as the boys each cooked their steaks to their preferred cooking stage and they were both able to get them near enough to how cooked they wanted it which they were extremely happy about. 

The mood lights up as they all eat their lunch and Iason checks his phone when he gets a message from Stefan that causes him to scowl a little bit, but of course the teens caught onto it.

“What’s wrong?” It’s Jeremy who’s the first to point out his distaste and Matt is quick to follow Jeremy in looking at him in concern.

“Nothing just Stefan telling me that he and Caroline are going to the water hole” 

“Would I be a dick if I broke up with Caroline over text?” Iason and Jeremy look at Matt who’s staring at his phone screen with a frown. “She didn’t even text me to tell me that she's changed her mind”.

Iason sighs, “Breaking up with someone over text is a bit … callous but sometimes it makes a person feel safer. More confident, feel like they can actually do it. There are many stories where people try to break up with their partner but when face to face they are unable to, leaving them in a one-sided relationship for months, sometimes years. If you feel that you can’t break up with her face to face then I say do it over text” Jeremy nods at Iason points and smiles at Matt who quickly writes out a message and then turns his phone off and lets out a breath.

“There done”

“Well done, get that fresh start. Oh and have you got that vervain?” Jeremy claps his hands a little to go with his statement.

Matt nods and Iason is grateful that the boys are looking out for each other. They continue to eat their lunch and afterwards clean up and then watch some tv and play games whilst Iason watches over them and reads a bit of his history books. The boys were enjoying being able to hang out without any drama and Iason is happy to be around people. A win-win for everyone. 

Although when it got late Iason had to leave the boys to start cooking dinner but the boys ended up helping him with cooking a nice roast. He didn’t mind the help and he’s happy to see people interested in cooking. Whilst cooking Iason got a message from Damon about werewolves.

Damon: Heads up the Lockwood's possible werewolves with a bite that can kill a vampire.

Iason: You do know who your messaging right?

Damon: You already knew

Iason: You never ask what I know.

Damon: Your irritating

Iason: I aim to please.

Over lunch the boys complain about having to go home which Iason feels warm about and he smiles at the boys. He knows that offering them to sleep the night would be fine but today is not a good day as Matt has to be at home so he can get to work and Jeremy is expected back and he’s not having Jeremy messaging Jenna last minute with changes.

The day went great for all of them and he did feel a bit sad when they left for the evening but he understood that they have lives to get back to and Iason also has his business to attend to. He can’t spend his entire time helping the youth, even though it’s definitely more fun then everything else he’s doing. 

When his brothers get back he gets nothing from them and he’s ignored in his own house again, it’s a good thing that his own house is soon nearly finished; the small greenhouse room is taking the longest to get finished and Iason wants it to be perfect so he can grow his own vervain. Protecting the people he cares about is going to need some vervain and he still doesn’t trust his brothers fully, not when it comes to stuff that can harm them. They both tend to overreact and cause things to get worse for everyone.

Here’s to hoping nothing too extreme will happen where they overreact … that’s likely never going to happen but a guy can dream.

Chapter Text

Iason Salvatore, 

Age: 165 Years Old, ‘Turned’ at 20, forced himself to continue aging until he looks 27.

Hair: Wavy mod cut

Eyes: Amber eyes

Dressing style: softboy aesthetic

Likes: 

To cook for people he cares for, 

To gift crochet stuff for people he cares for, 

Does crochet to pass time, 

Watches movies, 

To play violin,

To be productive, 

Cuddles and physical touch. 

Dried Cranberries

Dislikes:

Waste of food

Katherine

Arrogant Witches

Supernaturals breaking the laws

Vampires compelling people for the dumbest things

Vampires not paying

His brothers in pain, constantly fighting, disrespecting the house, disrespecting his belongings.

Job:

Funeral Service Owner - Flowering Death

Future Publisher 

Guardian 

Strengths:

Cannot be compelled

Has increased strength and speed

Precognition

Superhuman Durability

‘Immortal’

Weaknesses: 

Still have to heal if physically injured

Emotions

Preferred Method of Killing:

Quick, shot in the heart or head - as no patience for the killing to be interrupted.

Calm and relaxed

Is a licensed therapist to help with understanding the crazy life of vampires and to help his customers.

Is Damon's favourite brother

Was turned by Stefan unwillingly but it didn’t have much effect on him but it was still hurtful

Brothers know what he is but keeps it a secret

Found out through research what he is

Witches often try to control him or worship him

Not a fan of doppelgangers

Doesn't smoke, drink or do drugs

Virgin because he isn’t attracted to the people he sees and was afraid during the times because of prejudice

When killing those who have upset nature he burns a black ring into their necks so others know the shame they have brought.

Has a daylight ring to throw people off and make them think he is a vampire.

Dáinn:

Age: 165 Years Old

Hair: Wavy mod cut

Eyes: Fiery orange

Dressing Style: Whatever is on

Likes: 

Hunting down those who break the rules

Peace

Cemeteries

Dislikes:

Rule breakers

People ruining cemeteries

Arrogant Witches

Job:

Guardian

Strengths:

Cannot be compelled

Has increased strength and speed

Precognition

Superhuman Durability

‘Immortal’

Wolf Transformation - particle transformation

Hellfire Breathing

Probability Manipulation

Fear Inducement

Afflicton

Teleportation

Weaknesses:

Still have to heal if physically injured

Human Side

Teleportation can take a lot of energy

Preferred Method of Killing:

Making the victim's soul burn slowly as the sins of their past burn them alive - Ghost Rider inspired. 

Tearing them apart.

Hellhound Abilities:

Can turn into a big black dog/wolf with glowing red eyes or partial transformation - similar to teen wolf hellhound but no flames; has glowing eyes, fangs and claws and a bit of shadows clinging to his skin.

Wolf form has the highest amount of strength and speed, it decreases with the other forms with the Iason being the weakest. 

Once a hound has the scent of its target, it has it for life

They can be clever, almost impossible to trick or distract, and are willing to improvise in order to get to their prey. 

Their mere presence is enough to literally scare people to death. Other times, the victims will be driven to commit suicide.

They vary in size, ranging from standard large-sized dogs to that of a small horse. 

They generate some kind of black aura around themselves, making them appear made of shadows.

• Superhuman Strength - Hellhounds are stronger than humans. They can easily knock down and overpower humans with little difficulty.
• Superhuman Durability - The Hellhound is incapable of being harmed or slain by most forms of conventional injury, including firearms or blades. Furthermore, the beast cannot feel the pain that would result from such attacks.
• Hellfire Breathing - He is able to breathe hellfire in either form, burning his victims' souls.
• Fangs and Claws - The Hellhound is able to deliver a powerful bite and inflict scorching gashes with his black claws.
• Probability Manipulation - The Hellhound is a harbinger of death, and those who are unfortunate enough to encounter the spirit are fated to die or meet with great misfortune within a year's time. Looking into the Black Dog's fiery eyes means certain death within a year, and attacking the Hellhound will bring about fatal consequences.
• Fear Inducement - The spirit is able to induce feelings of overwhelming terror in a victim through his malicious glare alone, oftentimes causing total bodily paralysis (although this effect is only temporary).
• Affliction - If attacked, the Hellhound is able to inflict savage, excruciatingly painful wounds, which are slow to heal (if the wounds heal at all).
• Precognition - He seems able to predict the deaths of people, often appearing before someone dies and howling when someone is knocking at death's door.
• Intangibility - The Hellhound is seemingly impervious to physical attacks. Bullets, blades, and fists pass through the spirit's ethereal body completely.
• Teleportation - He is able to dematerialize and disappear at will, as well as render himself completely invisible. Travelers can still feel the Hellhound's sinister presence, even if he has disappeared.
• Can sense when someone is about to become a vampire and can sense if a person is supernatural if they are on their territory. If someone is killed on its territory the hellhound will know the cause of death and who killed them.  

Hellhound:

First supernatural beings made

Voices of nature, not a servant like witches

Evolve to be able to neutralise any supernatural being

Abilities start young

Hellhounds can only die by choosing to pass on

Anyone can become a hellhound but if a hellhound does have a child the chances increase for that child

Very fertile

Mate for life through soul binding - can still be in relationships and have sex with others before they mate with a single person

Cannot be compelled

Hellhounds uphold the laws of the supernatural and make the laws, the supernatural beings have to figure out the laws through trial and error. 

Hellhounds will get a sense of when the laws that they have set are being broken and are guided there. They can choose how they want to punish the individual.

They can age normally and choose when they want to stop ageing, if they change their mind they can continue ageing but they cannot go backwards - they are unable to die of old age. Most hellhounds appear around 24 - 40.

Hellhounds are not known but there are rumours of the ‘upholders of nature’ or ‘bearer of death’, who kill supernatural beings with the circle of black burnt in the neck. People have tried to replicate the circle but have failed so the supernatural know that it is impossible to fake.

Some speculate that there are hellhounds: Kol Mikaelson, Ester Mikaelson, some Bennett witches, travellers.

Name: Vera no last name, she doesn’t want it.

Born: 1924

Canadian

How they met: Iason met her when he was looking for business and she tried to eat him but he scared her, she was a new vampire. She then begged him to mentor her and he did - struggled with teaching her how to feed but managed it but then swore off doing it again.

Likes: Puzzles and organising

Record Keeper for the Flowering Death

Damon tried to sleep with her but she is asexual and punched him.

Relationship between characters:

Iason and Jeremy - very sibling vibes, Iason is helping Jeremy mature and be safe. Very trusting and safe. Sort of a fatherly figure.

Iason and Matt - Very sibling vibes with a small amount of fatherly figures. Helping Matt become independent. 

Iason and Elena - doesn’t like her, nothing personal but he hates what she represents and fears history repeating.

Iason and Stefan - constantly annoyed with him and wants him to grow up, wants him to give him more attention.

Iason and Damon - wants Damon to pay more attention to him, Iason acts more like the older brother. Wants to help Damon overcome his thing with the doppelgängers.  

Iason and Enzo - Sad friends that feel pushed away from others, complain and rant to each other. 

Iason and Vera - good friends, high amount of trust between them. Vera is often used as the face for Flowering Death. 

Chapter Text

Iason is really wanting to kill Katherine and he’s not even made breakfast yet. Why does he want to kill her? Simple, he's just getting up from his sleep and was getting dressed when he hears this irritating voice and senses another vampire in his house coming from Stefan’s room. He closes his eyes for one second and Katherine comes in and tries to take his brother away, the woman has no shame. 

He overhears her talking about getting into Stefan’s head and Iason is slowly approaching Stefan’s bedroom, making sure to practically mask his presence. Katherine always hates that he can sneak up on her and he enjoys doing it.

“It was easy to get inside of your head. Have you completely forsaken your nature?” There’s a sound of rushing and Iason has to assume that Stefan is on the losing end, as he is a lot weaker than Katherine. He’s also by the door and is ready to attack Katherine and stop her from doing anything further. “Are we really gonna do this again? You both know I could rip you to shreds and do my nails at the same time”.

Iason is ready to follow through with her threat but make it a lot more painful for her.

“What do you want?”

“I wanted to see you. I missed you, Stefan. Indulge me for a little while, please?”

“Why are you back in town?”

“Three reasons: you, you and you”

It’s kind of annoying how his brother still tries to get a clear answer from Katherine when, unless cornered, she won’t be honest. She currently feels in power which isn’t good as it means she’s planning something and she feels a bit too invincible at the moment.

“You see, I can't quite get that down. Just kind of...gets stuck in my throat”

“Well, you know, it's the truth. Deep down inside that gorgeous body of yours there's the Stefan that fell in love with me too”

Going through the door would give her too much time so Iason blends into the shadows and uses a lot of energy to get on the other side and sees that Katherine is practically straddling Stefan.

So he grabs her by the back of the neck and lifts her off of him.

“Hey! Get off!”

Katherine is quick to try and use her strength to push him away from her but it doesn’t really affect him and he doesn’t bother pretending that she’s affecting him. Ignoring her movements and her trying to pry his fingers off of her, he starts to drag her out of the room and into the hallways. Her heels start to kick at his legs but luckily his thick skin prevents any real damage and she instead loses a shoe which gets her even more enraged. She even tries to grab at his chest but he uses his other hand to stop her. Without his hands free he’s going to have to use his body to open the front door which is going to be a bit challenging but still worth it.

He couldn’t do it with Elena but he’s doing it with Katherine, don’t knock, you get dragged out.

“Honestly, can you stop fighting? You look more and more like a feral cat” Katherine turns to him with a pouty expression and sad eyes which makes him want to vomit.

“Oh come on Iason, why don’t you be a sweet darling and let me go? We can spend some quality time together” Her one spare hand starts to trace a finger down his chest and Iason wants to break that hand and finger. So he lets go of the hand he was stopping from entering his chest and grabs the finger and breaks it which causes her to let out a little scream. 

Seeing the front door Iason is about to struggle with opening it but Stefan appears and opens it so Iason gives him a small nod before throwing Katherine out. She lands in a heap before quickly pulling herself up and stroking her clothes free from dust.

“You didn’t have to throw me out” She’s glaring at him but he just smiles.

“I don’t like it when people don’t knock, and you’re not invited in”

She gives a little chuckle before making her expression change to that similar to a gentle parent which she definitely isn’t. “Oh don’t you know Iason, without a human owning the house any vampire can get inside”

He doesn’t even react to her teasing, “I was talking about common decency to knock on a door before entering. Even humans who’ve known each other for years knock on each other's door, they don’t waltz in”. Closing the door he sees that Stefan is looking highly worried but hearing the vamping of Katherine disappearing does make him relax a little. Hearing a message coming through his phone Iason grabs it and sees a message from Jenna asking for help with a barbeque she’s hosting. “It seems that I’m going to the Gilbert’s to help with a barbeque. You, don’t be dumb with Katherine around” He can see Stefan look a bit insulted by that but he knows his brothers a little too well. 

“I’m not going to do anything” Looking at the faraway expression doesn’t fill Iason with confidence so he lightly whacks Stefan on top of the head. “Ow! What was that for?” 

“That expression tells me that your planning something incredibly dumb and reckless so no, you’re not doing it”

Stefan scowls at him and fixes his hair from the smack, “You don’t even know what I was thinking of doing” 

“No but I can guess it has to do with Katherine and that’s bad enough. You've learnt about werewolves so it could be about that or more on why she’s in town, or more on what she did in the past. And it’s a no to all of them or any other plan you're thinking of. Katherine is a no, understood?” Stefan just nods and Iason doesn’t fully trust him to not go after Katherine for something but at the same time he can’t watch him all hours of the day because he does have sort of a life.

Going towards his car Iason sends a message to Jenna asking if she has everything for the barbeque which she doesn’t so Iason starts the journey to the shop. He also gets an idea on how many people are showing up and tries to think about how much he’s going to need to buy. It’s a bit weird to be thinking of barbeque so early in the morning but it is going to be for lunch and is a last minute plan; it’s also highly annoying that he’s not having breakfast but he might just buy a pastry from the store. When shopping he gets some vegetables and salad, fries, burgers, sausages, bread rolls and buns, chicken wings, drumsticks, ribs and some pulled pork. Before going to the check out Iason asks if the barbeque is coal powered and if they need any which they did so Iason also got some coal. During the shopping trip Iason also gets himself some dried cranberries because going through the shadows was a bit tiring and he wants to treat himself. 

Whilst he was getting the items checked out he asked if Jeremy could clean the barbeque so that when he arrives it’s partly dry and he can start straight away. He gets confirmation and he starts to help with packing the items in a shopping bag before paying and going back to his car and driving to the Gilbert house. Whilst driving he goes through another mental list of the things he’s going to be cooking and when he should cook them, he’s happy that he won’t have to do dessert because other people will be bringing it. 

Parking his car near the Gilbert house Iason is happy that Jeremy basically ran out and gave him a hug which he gladly returned and the teen even helped with bringing in the shopping. Inside the house Elena and Jenna were sorting out the living room, bowls of crisps and the drinks whilst he placed the bags onto the kitchen sides. Whilst getting everything out he explained to Jeremy about what he’s going to be cooking and told him to start the fire. With the fire starting and all the bread out Iason grabs the meat and goes outside to start cooking. He wished he had time to defrost the meat and cook it slightly in the oven but it’s defrosted from the store freezers which will help reduce the cooking time. Waiting for the oven to heat up will take more time than cooking slightly frozen meat on the barbeque, maybe, depends on the Gilbert's oven but he’s going with the barbeque option. 

Jeremy is standing next to the barbeque and is wielding the tongues, “Let’s get cooking” and he snaps the tongues in his direction.

“Here” He hands Jeremy a stack of patties, “You keep an eye on those” Jeremy nods and puts them onto the barbeque near him whilst Iason puts some of the steaks and chicken on his side. The sausages are placed at the top of the barbeque as they need the least amount of space. With everything ready to cook Iason puts down the top of the barbeque to keep the heat inside and accepts a drink from Jenna who smiles and is quick to walk back inside.

“So, how’s everything?” Jeremy starts the small talk and Iason feels tempted to laugh at the little shuffle he’s doing.

“Alright, I got to throw Katherine out of the house which was quite fun” Jeremy’s eyes widened and Iason grins at the boy.

“Katherine? As in evil doppelgänger Katherine?” 

“The one and only” 

“But why was she in your house?” 

“Simple, the house isn’t owned by anyone so vampires can easily walk inside and vampires have no manners so they just walk inside like the own the place”

“I mean, did she have a reason to be inside the house?” 

“I don’t think so but if she did I never found out because I heard her in Stefan’s room and she was clearly trying to anger him and the flirting was annoying so I kicked her out”

“Isn’t she older than you?” Iason nods at Jeremy’s question and already knows where the teen is going but he’s not going to answer simply, nope, he likes the mystery his presence has. It also annoys a lot of people which is quite enjoyable. “So shouldn’t she be stronger? I doubt she let you kick her out”

“Oh no she was a fighter, tried to pull my heart out and everything but she may be older, but I’m stronger” Iason lifts the barbeque lid up and turns all the meat around so it can be cooked on both sides a bit before closing it back up.

“But how? She’s older so she should be stronger, yet you're stronger?” The poor boy is so confused.

“Correct”

“And you're not going to tell me why?”

“Nope”

“Why?”

“I don’t tell anyone. My brothers know and so does Vera, my best friend, Enzo, Damon’s best friend and that’s it” 

“Did Stefan’s best friend know?”

“Who, Lexi?” Jeremy nods, “No she didn’t, I didn’t really trust her. She’s a disbeliever in some stuff and she liked to drink. I tell her, she gets drunk and then is telling everyone which causes them to attack me”

“The reason you're stronger would cause people to attack you?!” The worry in Jeremy’s voice is quite sweet and Iason gives him a small smile.

“Yeah, so don’t feel disheartened that I’m not telling you but the truth is too dangerous” Jeremy nods but Iason can tell he still wants to learn the truth. “Jeremy” He gets the teens attention from where his eyes were previously on the floor, “Someone once figured out why I was so strong and they tried to steal that power for themself, a witch, well more like a coven of witches, tried to steal my power and make it their own but when they noticed it fail they tried to enslave me to their whim. When I say I don’t want to tell you it’s because sometimes speaking the truth allows others to say it. They can see the truth but are unable to speak it but once I speak it then it gives permission to other ghosts to converse with their living relatives” 

Jeremy’s eyes are widened with fear and he’s clearly scared and Iason feels bad but he wants the boy to know the reason for keeping the secret. 

“That all happened because of your strength?” His voice is quiet and low, filled with sadness that Iason doesn’t enjoy as a teen.

“Something like that. Now shall we focus on the food?” He gets a nod from the teen and they focus on the barbeque and Iason wonders why stuff always happens around meals. Is there something cursed about meals? Someone has to expose a deep truth, speak personal feelings or die. Whilst cooking Iason hears and smells the arrival of the werewolf and soon Alaric. Cooking and conversing with Jeremy about boring mundane things is a nice change to his everyday norm, they’re talking about Jeremy starting driving lessons and Iason offering to help with paying. Jeremy didn’t want to seem like a leech but Iason didn’t mind and even told Jeremy that if he wanted to earn the money he could help with cleaning the boarding house. So an agreement was made that Jeremy will help clean the house and Iason will pay for his driving lesson. 

Eventually Damon arrives and introduces himself to Mason and Iason chuckles a bit at their interaction which causes Jeremy to look at him a bit strange. Looking at the food and seeing that everything is ready Iason walks in and tells everyone which causes them to grab a lot of food from the barbeque and go back inside. What was the point of cooking on the barbeque if they were staying inside? Iason makes himself a plate of food before making sure that the barbeque is safe and turns it off before going inside where there’s alcohol and people enjoying the food. 

He and Jeremy, basically the only non drinkers, were enjoying some cherry coke between them and made sure no one else used it as a mixer. The chat around the place is light-hearted with Damon talking about the woods and how nice it is to walk around under the moonlight.

“All the animals just bring in the vibe, right guys?” Some people agree to be polite.

“You say that because you're not the one counting” Is his tone bitter? A little bit but after counting animals in a forest multiple times, a person is bound to be bitter.

“I’m sorry, counting the animals in the woods?” Mason asks, highly confused, which is reflected in a lot of people’s faces, excluding Damon’s.

“Stefan enjoys hunting a little too much, and does it when stressed so I keep a count of animals in the forest and tell him what to hunt and what not to hunt. It’s to keep a moderate population of animals” The guys seemed relaxed by the explanation, all of them know about vampires so it makes sense but Jenna still looks horrified.

“Stefan hunts animals?” She sounds heartbroken and Damon grins, the moment of weakness too good of an opportunity to pass up.

“Oh yeah, he just loves to gobble them all up” He gets a glare from Jenna and some weak chuckles from Alaric and Mason. 

“Oh, Aunt Jenna, Iason is going to be paying for me to get driving lessons” Jeremy announces which brings the attention to them. Mason, Damon, Elena and Jenna are all frowning in their direction and Iason can only understand at least two of them. Damon is likely jealous he’s spending time with people that aren’t him, even though he doesn’t spend time with him ever, and Jenna because this was discussed without her.

“Before you say anything Jenna, we only just spoke about this whilst cooking earlier. Jeremy wants to get lessons but doesn’t know how to pay for them and so I offered but he doesn’t like the idea of just taking money so once a week Jeremy is coming to my house and is going to help with cleaning around. Unless you don’t agree?” Jenna is quiet and Elena looks highly annoyed.

“Why are you paying for it? Can’t you leave Jeremy alone?” People are looking at Elena and she’s clearly embarrassed with her cheeks red and looking at the floor.

“I’m paying because I have money and I don’t spend it on a lot of things so if I can use it to help people that I care about then I will. And if Jeremy wants to be left alone I will respect that if he gives a reason and tells me himself” 

Jeremy is now looking confused whilst Jenna is looking slightly relieved. “What do you mean ‘a reason’?”.

“If you want me gone for a day or something then I will respect that but if it’s longer then that I would like some sort of reason. Children asked to be left alone and then they are running away or ending up in bad situations, I would rather that didn’t happen to you. So I would want to know where you're going so I can worry less about you being in danger. Also if I’m to leave your life I want a reason why, some sort of closure for me, I guess” He gets a nod from Jeremy who is frowning.

“I wouldn’t want you out of my life” Iason smiles at Jeremy and ignores everyone else and just messes up the teens hair.

“I’ll stay in it as long as I can then” 

The werewolf is giving them odd looks but Iason doesn’t really care but he brings his attention to everyone when they start to collect the plates and Iason enjoys the fact that as he cooked, he doesn’t have to clean; something Jeremy was also taking advantage of. The people who are cleaning are Jenna and Elena in the kitchen with Caroline talking with them. Great, Iason has to babysit his easy murder trigger brother and an untrusting werewolf. Why is it that the literal child is easier than the adults?

In between Iason and Jeremy is a little bowl of dried cranberries that they were both snacking on, and what a surprise that turned out to be! Someone else loving the fruit like him, a dream come true! People normally judge him and turn their nose up at the fruit but for someone else to like it? It’s great.

“A little bit much for a pet, isn’t it?” There’s the jealousy of Damon and Iason has to control everything in his to not roll his eyes or sigh. The werewolf is looking too intrigued by what’s happening for his liking and Jeremy obviously took offence.

“Damon, Jeremy isn’t a pet, he’s a friend. If you want we can spend some time together sometime and bake something? Maybe a nice cake of your picking?” He can tell that Damon is wanting the cake but is dedicated to his tough guy act in front of Mason.

“Yeah, friends aren’t food” Jeremy pipes up and Damon glares at the teen which he just grins at, which causes Damon to roll his eyes.

“Whatever, you're not my friend. And I want an ice-cream cake” Iason nods at Damon’s request and Mason leans forward a little.

“So what, is he supposed to be your replacement father?” Jeremy freezes up and both Damon and Iason glare at Mason. He leans back at their looks, all smug but a sniffle from Jeremy makes him frown.

“Well done, ya dick” Damon growls out, tense and ready for a fight. Iason brings Jeremy in for a hug and starts to play with his hair and tries to calm the boy down.

“Mason, no one is replacing anyone, I care for Jeremy as I want to and I do so because I care, not to replace someone that is irreplaceable in Jeremy’s heart” Iason stands up with his bowl and dried cranberries and leads Jeremy upstairs and into his bedroom. Does he feel satisfied seeing that Elena still has no door? Yes, yes he does. 

Going to Jeremy’s bed Iason puts him on it and just lies next to the teen and keeps him calm. They don’t talk and just eat from the bowl between them, downstairs they can hear people re-joining the others in the living room and even starting a game of Pictionary which is quick to get loud and passionate. But they just stay in silence together inside Jeremy’s room with a few sniffles in the silence. Iason has his head facing a wall so he can’t see much of Jeremy’s face as he wants to give as much privacy as he can but he does find it a bit funny whenever he sees a hand come out and grab a dried cranberry before disappearing when it goes towards his face. 

Sitting in the quiet, with downstairs as the only sound, Iason eventually hears the sound of a ticking clock filling in the silence and he immediately wants to burn the house down. However, he resins in his urges and is just highly irritated by the ticking nose. How on earth is someone able to sleep with the sound of a ticking clock, Iason will never know. 

“Do you think I’m replacing my dad?” Jeremy’s quiet voice speaks from his side and Iason has to be quick in his thinking because a silence for too long will cause the teen to reach the wrong conclusions.

“No, I don’t think you are” 

“Then what’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing is wrong with you Jeremy, your healing. You found someone that is making it easier day by day, someone who cares for you and about you; nothing is wrong about that” 

A sniffle and then a throat clearing and a cough until Jeremy speaks again, “Your not my dad”

Iason just smiles at the room around him, “I’m not trying to be”.

There’s silence again but it seemed more peaceful then before. Jeremy soon gets out from his side and stretches which causes some cracks in his back to be heard which he finds a bit funny and concerning.

“You know your back shouldn’t sound like that at your young age” Jeremy groans and flops back down onto the bed.

“I take it back, you're just like a dad” Iason eyebrows raise because wasn’t that a problem before?

“Oh? Am I?” Jeremy sits up and points at him.

“Yep, we cleared up that you're not replacing my dad but that doesn’t mean you don’t act like one” Iason raises his hands in mock surrender.

“I apologise, I shall stop trying to ‘dad’ you then” 

Jeremy frowns at him and Iason is now curious at the sort of sad and apprehensive look on his face. “What if I want you to still be a sort of dad?”. 

Okay, Iason be cool, be ‘chill’ about it. He just means that he wants you to be the same as you were before with him, it’s not much.

“I’m not paying child support” Iason is very serious in his expression and tone and it has the effect of making Jeremy laugh a lot with a few snorts in there. It takes a while for him to calm down.

“Too late, you're already paying for driving lessons, that’s your child support” The grin on Jeremy is too cheeky and Iason has a temptation to show him the full force of parenting, but he won’t because that’s only needed with Stefan and Damon. 

“Sure, well if you ever need anything you call me okay? If you ever need some space away from your sister or aunt I have a space for you” Iason isn’t teasing Jeremy and the teen could tell as he was looking at him in shock.

“Wait, really?” 

“Of course, I have a few new houses that I own. One all to myself, a four bedroomed house with a spare room. It was originally going to be used for whenever vampires come round but I wouldn’t mind you having it” 

The poor boy looked ready to cry but he didn’t and instead smiled at him, “I think I’ll like that”. He gives Jeremy another hug because clearly he needed it before getting off the bed and pulling him up with him, ignoring the large amount of groaning and protesting.

“Come on, we should re-join, they’re getting out the peach cobbler” 

“Fine, old man” 

“Who are you calling old?” He gives Jeremy a stern look which he gets rolled eyes at in response.

“Chill, if your going to act like a second dad or whatever, you need a title so I’m testing them all out” 

Blink, blink.

Iason is just blinking as he watches Jeremy turn around and walk out the room and follows slowly behind him. What’s going on? How on earth is this happening? He knows everything is light-hearted between them but he can also detect a tone of seriousness in Jeremy’s voice. 

When downstairs they see that Jenna is highly tipsy and Caroline and Elena have disappeared. Mason and Damon are in the kitchen winding each other up a little so Iason decides to stop them from going too far, Jeremy also decides to follow him.

“You expect me to believe that you are in Mystic Falls planting peach trees?”

“I lost my brother, my nephew lost his father. I'm here for my family. Let's be above this”

Stepping inside the kitchen Iason watches as the pair shake hands before clapping slowly which causes the pair to jump in surprise and quickly pull away from each other. Damon is quick to give him a glare whilst Mason is back to looking lost at him.

“It’s good to see you two being friends, Damon try not to antagonise him” A sarcastic smile is thrown at him, “Now is the peach cobbler ready?” At the sound of the cobble Jenna walks in.

“Cobbler? Is it ready?” Mason hands the very tipsy Jenna a plate before giving Iason a plate  which he accepts with a smile before handing it off to Jeremy who beams in happiness and is also quick to accept the plate.

“Thanks pops” Jenna nearly spits out her food whilst Damon looks shocked, Mason was wide eyed. Iason? He was sort of living for the drama, it’s nothing serious or life threatening which is a change. Who knew normal mortal kind of drama can be fun?

…

He’s too used to vampire drama.

“Uhh, Jeremy, is this about earlier? You know nothing is wrong if – uh – if you were feeling like that but you –” 

Thankfully Jeremy cuts Jenna off, “It’s nothing like that” Most of the supernatural in the room can detect that it was a lie, but they didn’t comment on it. Clearly Jeremy was coming into these feelings or didn’t want to talk about them. Maybe that’s why he was so upset earlier? He felt called out and felt guilty about how he felt, does this mean Iason accidentally became a father? Also Jenna must have been told why Jeremy ran off upstairs to know the content of what happened before.

…

What is his life?

“Anyways it’s just a joke - a joke Jenna, I was telling Iason how much he acts like a dad upstairs and he joked back about child support and I brought up the driving lessons and then Iason said something so … so dad that I found it funny to call him a different version of dad. Nothing more” Jeremy shrugs like it’s no big deal but everyone can tell that it is. Poor Damon and Mason looked really uncomfortable with being in the room. Iason wants to know how much Damon was concentrating on Pictionary to miss the whole conversation he had with Jeremy upstairs. 

Jenna is looking at Jeremy, “Jeremy please just tell me the truth. No one will be mad”. Jeremy starts to mess with his arms before he just –

Leaves.

He puts the plate down onto the counter and leaves the kitchen and then the house. Everything is silent and Jenna just sighs loudly before looking at Iason.

“Can you find him? You know him better than me and … I feel like you’ll handle the situation better than me”

“Of course Jenna, I would have done so anyways” Iason is about to leave but Damon grabs onto his arm.

“What’s really going on?” 

“I don’t know but I’m taking it as it goes” He gets a small nod and Damon lets him go and Iason goes towards his car and gets inside. Iason locked his car before going into the Gilbert house yet he didn't have his keys to open the car and it was already unlocked. He brings his hand over the head rest and feels his car keys being placed into his hands which he then uses to turn the car on.

“Anywhere you want to go?”

“Matt’s”

Iason nods and starts the car journey to Matt’s, he’s unsure on why Jeremy wants to go there but those two are quite close so he might just want the comfort of his friend. The journey isn’t long and it’s done in silence and Iason did have to check to make sure that Jeremy had his seatbelt on which did get him a smile. Car safety is important, just because he’s immortal doesn’t mean he wants to be pulled over or have his car ruined or have someone he cares about die in his car.

Pulling up to Matt’s house Jeremy is quick to jump out of the car and knock on the door, which was quick to open to Matt. The two stand at the door, using their phones to communicate so Iason couldn’t overhear and Iason feels quite proud that they're learning how to overcome the annoyances of supernatural elements like super-hearing. It seems the pair came to an agreement because they both face him.

“We need to talk” It was Matt who made the declaration so Iason turns his car off and goes to Matt’s house and stands at the threshold with the teens inside the house. “Come on in, we should talk in the living room”.

Iason follows the two, after closing the front door and locking his car, and into the living room where he sits down on the sofa whilst the boys stand in front of him. Is this an intervention? Sort of looks like one.  

“So for the past seven-ish months you Iason Salvatore have been looking after me and Jeremy, making sure that we’re happy, teaching us how to cook and just being around” Sounded like the bare minimum but okay. “You've given us advice and been upfront with us, taught us about life and” Matt clears his throat a little and Jeremy gives him a look of reassurance, “And helped us emotionally. Me and Jeremy have been talking for a little while about stuff and Jeremy as the youngest was supposed to test the boundaries but that Mason ruined it and rushed things so now we are here” 

Yep, Iason doesn’t like to jump to conclusions, in fact he likes to be told straight up otherwise too much could be misinterpreted. With how Matt is talking he doesn’t want to misinterpret anything. 

“And where is here?” He asks a bit hesitantly and it seems the boys are a bit uncomfortable and have lost a bit of their confidence. “Okay, what were the boundaries that Jeremy was supposed to test?” 

“I… I was suppose to test your reaction on”

“On?”

“On me calling you are fatherly name”

…

Oh

So a very important conversation happening with two teens, one who has no dad and one who lost their dad recently. Tread carefully here Iason, stuff can go very bad too quickly.

“Okay, what would have been the result of my reaction caused?” Again the children looked uncomfortable but Iason waited for them. 

“We wanted to know if you would have rejected or accepted it” Iason hums a little at that. “And if you just didn’t acknowledge it then we would have continued”.

“Was my reaction what you wanted?” The boys look at each other before going back to looking at him.

“Sort of but not really” Matt spoke again but then Jeremy spoke over Matt starting the next sentence.

“It was too friendly and joking, I – We can’t tell if you're being serious or not” Iason stands up from the couch but doesn’t approach the teens as that might be too much at the moment.

“I reacted like that because I didn’t want it to feel like I was pushing anything onto you two. If you want something specific out of our relationship then I would prefer for you two to be upfront about it, it helps cause less misunderstandings and we can all be on the same page about the nature of our relationship”

It’s quiet again with the boys looking now hesitant, Matt more so then Jeremy which is sort of curious. Iason stays patient though because this isn’t about him and instead the boys and it’s something highly important to them and their lives. He’s not going to rush something important to them. It seems that Matt is also looking to wait it out for as long as possible but Jeremy cracks under the pressure and points at Matt.

“Matt wants you as his dad” 

…

“DUDE!” Matt yells at Jeremy.

“What it’s true! You said that Iason has been the most fatherly figure in your life and you like it! So we got this plan to see if Iason can be a dad, he can be and now here he is. One Dad for you”

…

Blink, blink.

Iason is watching and taking in the words of the teens but doesn’t say anything. Why is it that he can get the most honest truth out of someone when listening to them yell at someone else?

“What about you? You said that you like how Iason is a Dad to you as well!”

“I already have a dad!”

“You’ve literally said before how annoyed you were that he was more focused on Elena then you and how he kept working in his clinic!” 

Ew, the Gilbert family clinic. That place is very gross.

“It doesn't matter, I have a dad”

“You can have more than one dad. We both know that you also want Iason as a parent in your life. Jenna isn’t there for you but Iason is, for the both of us”

“But… I already have a dad” 

“He’ll always be your dad but Iason can still be our dad, we just need to find the right name that fits him”

Jeremy nods and does Iason even get a say in this? Doesn’t the parent normally adopt the kids? It seems Jeremy wants, whatever this is, but also sort of wants to fight against it for the sake of his did but that fight drive is quite small. 

“You two know I am still here?” Iason speaks up which brings the boys attention to him.

“Oh, hi” Matt waves a little before putting his hand down embarrassed.

“So I’m your dad now?” 

“Yep, we claimed you, now you're ours” Jeremy points at him with a smug look and Iason just shrugs a little.

“Okay” He really doesn’t mind and his short answer doesn’t seem to bother the teens as they go back to their own discussion. He’s sort of in a slight daze because he’s just been claimed as a new dad to two teens. How does his responsibilities keep piling up? Iason sits back down on the couch. Have there been other children that saw him as a father figure? Trying to look through his memories Iason cannot find one about a child, he doesn’t really have strong interaction with children or teenagers as he kept moving around to keep up with his brothers who loved to party in different places. 

“I tried pops and old man, pops felt wrong and old man felt better but it’s too insulting”

“Yeah, I’m not a fan of old man”

“Pa?”

“Eh, not too bad. There’s also papa”

“I don’t know it doesn’t seem right”

“This sucks” Matt covers his face with his hands in frustration. They do know they don’t have to do this right now?

“You two can go to bed and sleep on this for a bit? There’s no rush” He gets looks from the two boys.

“Stop being a dad”

“Yeah, you can be a dad when we get a name for you” 

Iason raises his hands in surrender, okay the name is really important to them and is a must right now. However, he is a bit worried that it’s getting late now and Matt might not have eaten yet so Iason gets out his phone and orders some food whilst the two talk about different languages and what they call their fathers.

“Greek?”

“Do I look like I know Greek?”

“French? Spanish?”

“I hate languages, wait, aren't the Salvatore's supposed to be foreign or something?”

“Ehh, yeah? The founding Salvatore's came over from Italy and settled down here”

“Founding? As in that founding Iason Salvatore?” With the food ordered Iason sees that he’s getting pointed at by Jeremy and wonders what happened, he was sort of focused on getting food for the children… Okay, he’s starting to see it now. How hasn’t he accidentally adopted kids before this?

Right, his brothers were his kids and were too jealous to let anyone else near.

…

He’s going to have to stop them from killing Matt and Jeremy.

“Iason, where were you born?” The question is from Jeremy who is quickly typing on his phone.

“Florence, Italy” 

Some more typing and Jeremy likes out a victory cry, “I got it! Babbo!” 

Iason can sort of feel his heart clench at the Italian because he honestly never thought he would hear that directed at him. 

“Babbo? What’s that?”

“It’s the informal word for dad in Italian, it would have been Papà but we sort of agreed no for the english sounding one so I went with Babbo”

“It’s unique and different, I like it” 

The boys turn back to him, looking victorious.

“There, now your our dad”

“Well Babbo, but you get it”

Blink

“I ordered food because it’s getting late and I thought you might be hungry”

He gets groans as a response, “He’s too good at it, by the time we found the perfect name he’s helped us emotionally talk to him about our problems and get us food”

“He’s too powerful”

“So does this change your relationship with each other?” The boys look at each other and their faces scrunch up.

“Nah” That was from Matt, but Jeremy can never leave it to be simple.

“Yeah, nah. We’re your two sons from different relationships that are forced to get along”

“I’ll show you forced” Matt is quick to grab Jeremy in a headlock and rub his fist against his hair which causes him to laugh. Iason watches entertained as the two mess around.

This town is shaping to be more than he expected, he thought it would just be a supernatural problem and boredom but instead he gets adopted as a father to two different teens. What has his life become?

…

How is he supposed to tell Jenna?

Chapter Text

So the first day as a sort of parent figure to two teenagers is to let them take their own bedroom and Matt’s parents bedroom whilst he takes the couch. After finishing dinner it was very late and there wasn’t much time to get back and as it was late, everyone was tired so Iason and Jeremy stayed at Matt’s. They did offer the other bedroom to Iason but he told them it was fine for him to sleep on the couch.

When morning came he cooked breakfast for the two boys as they both sort of slept in. They didn’t need to rush as there isn’t any school as there is a historical picnic, he enjoys history but he doesn’t understand the need for a picnic for it. Seems pointless to him. Matt has work but more at mid day so he’s free for a while and he decides to go on a jog whilst Jeremy and Iason go to the Gilbert family estate. They both need to talk to Jenna about what’s been happening. 

So Matt mostly just bailed because he didn’t want to get involved in the conversation, then laughed at them before going for a jog to increase his strength so he can learn self defence against vampires. 

Whilst driving Jeremy to his house he decided to help with his driving theory by talking about his actions and road signs and road marking and telling him what they mean. It’s not much but clearly Jeremy enjoyed it from the relaxed smile on his face. But that soon vanishes as he pulls up to the Gilbert resistance, he doesn’t like the fact that seeing his home is making him upset.

“You know if you don’t want to I can do it alone” 

“No, I should be there, I’ll probably make it easier for everyone” Iason nods at that because it is true but he still wanted to give Jeremy the option of leaving. Sometimes people forget that they have choices unless they are told about them and Iason would prefer to give people all the chances they can to make their own decisions. 

Taking a nice deep breath Iason prepares himself mentally to face the music and his ‘death’, oh well it could be fun to find out what method Jenna would use. Opening the door and locking the car Iason and Jeremy walk up to the front door where Iason is about to knock but Jeremy walks right on in. Watching the teenager walk inside Iason just continues to stand outside and hears Jenna approaching and decides to still knock on the door.

“Really? The door is wide open and you still knock?” Jeremy is looking at him like he’s crazy but he is serious about knocking and if he’s caught not knocking then people will hold it over him. 

“There’s a door and I’ve not been invited so I’ll knock” He gets an eye roll as a response before Jeremy faces in front of him where Jenna appears.

“Jeremy there you are, I got a message that you were staying at Matt’s but I wasn’t sure when you would be returning”

“Ah, that would be my fault. I apologise it must have slipped my mind” His words brings Jenna attention to him and he gets a small smile towards him. That smile is probably going to become furious soon.

“Oh it’s alright, I didn’t think that he would be gone too long. You can come in, you know?” Iason nods and walks into the house whilst closing the door behind him.

“Hey, Jenna, can we talk?” The hesitant way that Jeremy says it gets Jenna’s attention quickly and she’s looking between them with worry.

“Of course is everything okay?”

“We might want to go to the living room for this” Jenna nods and they all make their way to the living room where Jenna sits in a corner chair whilst Jeremy and Iason share the couch. 

“So what’s going on?”

There is an awkward silence before Jeremy turns to Iason, “Can you tell her? Please…” The last word is very quiet and Iason is sad for Jeremy that he’s scared to talk with his own family about his feelings and things happening in his life.

Iason clears his throat a little and decides to look the beast in the eyes. “As you know me and Jeremy have gotten closer these past months and recently I have become aware of how Jeremy has started to view our relationship. Last night Jeremy, Matt and I had a conversation to clear the air and get a clear understanding on how to proceed with these feelings in the air” 

Jenna nods slowly at Iason who is a bit hesitant to continue, “Okay, and what changed? OH MY GOD?!” Her eyes widen and look at Jeremy in shock whilst Jeremy and Iason nearly jump out of their skin at the sudden loud yell, “Jeremy you have a crush on Iason!!”

“WHAT?!” Jeremy yells back and Iason is sort of amused that was what Jenna thought he’s on about. Although Jeremy doesn’t seem to be happy about it, he even had a face of disgust… Rude but also understandable considering how Jeremy views him. 

“Then what? I totally thought that would be it, you’re always sort of talking about him. Needing his permission to do something, wanting his opinion on this and that” Jenna waves her hands a little and Jeremy has a blush to his face which Iason lightly chuckles at and messes up his hair a little, that gets him a little scowl.

“As amusing as the thought is, no Jeremy did not confess his undying love to me” He ignores the slightly rude comment made under Jeremy’s breath. “Instead the boys spoke to me about how comforted they felt with having me in their lives and how I was supporting them and wished for me to continue doing it more often. They enjoy what I’m doing but want my support more twenty-four/seven”

Jenna looks disappointed and a bit upset, “Oh … I guess that makes sense, you have been able to connect and understand Jeremy much better than I can. Hell, you’ve practically taken raising him off my hands” She grins a little but then Jeremy must have been pulling a face, maybe guilty, or a slight nod. But whatever it is causes Jenna’s cheerful smile to drop and a sad expression to appear. “Oh..”

“Look Jenna I love you and you’re a great aunt but that’s the thing, you're now our guardian not just our aunt but you haven’t really changed. We all know that you never wanted to be our guardian, you struggle with it constantly and Iason … he makes everything better and just feels easier, I enjoy spending time with him. I’m not leaving but I’ve asked Iason to take more of an active part in looking after me” 

Silence

Pure silence and Jeremy is looking at Jenna with desperation but Iason can smell the salt of tears in the air as Jenna keeps her head bowed. 

“Jenna? Please just say something?” 

“I’ve tried, I really have tried” Her words are quiet but still loud enough for them to hear.

“I know you have and I appreciate it Jenna but I think we both know that you never wanted this life. I – I just feel that Iason can give me the attention that I want and … need” Jenna lifts her head and looks at Jeremy who seems uncomfortable with the crying girl’s attention on her.

“I know but it doesn’t make it easier to hear” She gives a big smile that Iason worries is fake and is just trying to show Jeremy reassurance. “To be honest I sort of suspected yesterday that something was up, ever since you called Iason pops. I just felt that I was losing you and I don’t want to lose you Jeremy” She lets out a sob and Jeremy is quick on his feet to bring Jenna into a side hug.

“You’re not losing me, you’re never going to lose me” 

Iason is just sitting there watching as Jeremy comforts Jenna before he decides to stand up and go into the kitchen to grab a glass of cold water. Hydration is very important for normal mortals. Going back into the living he sees that the tears have slowed down and Jeremy is back on the couch, walking over to Jenna he gives her the glass before sitting on the couch again.

“Thanks” Jenna takes a decent sip of the water before putting it down on the table in the middle of the room. “So what’s going to happen now?” He can tell that she wants to break down again but is trying to hold strong.

“Basically nothing, Jeremy will still continue living with you but he’s always welcomed to stay at my house. I even have a room being set up as we speak” Last night whilst the teens were going to bed he wrote an email to his personal interior designer to change the spare bedroom into a split room fit for two different teenaged boys, he gave them an additional thousand for their troubles. “He’ll continue following your rules whilst he’s here but he’s also likely to want to spend more time with me where I will be how I normally am with him” Jenna nods, it seems that with it more clear how little it’s changing that she feels a bit relieved but there is also some sort of acceptance in her eyes.

“But this is just the beginning isn’t it?” Both of the males on the couch are slightly confused.

“What do you mean?” Jeremy questions.

“Jeremy you called him pops, I know you wouldn’t have said that if you didn’t mean it. Over time you’ll get closer and soon you’ll be living together and Iason will be your new dad” Jeremy’s face pinches.

“Babbo” 

“What?” Jenna stops, confused at the interruption of Jeremy.

“My dad is dead and there is no replacing him, Iason is Babbo not my dad” Iason nods along to Jeremy because it’s an important difference that needs to be respected.

“Okay?” 

Jeremy sighs annoyed and even rolls his eyes, Iason is really going to have to get this kid out of that habit, “It means dad or father in Italian”

“You’re moving on in your life” 

“Yeah…” Jeremy looks down at the floor and so misses the smile Jenna gives him.

“It’s good, healthy even to move on. Don’t be demotivated just because I’m upset with stuff right now. It’s just upsetting to hear that you don’t feel that you’re getting enough attention here but I also understand that I’m not the best guardian. In fact, to show support I can even sign over guardian rights to Iason, how does that sound?” 

Iason and Jeremy look at Jenna with wide eyes because, what?! He’s not ready to be an actual legal guardian, a dad in emotion and spirit? Sure, that’s fine but by law? That’s a lot and this has only happened in the span of two days? Going with the flow is not easy, not easy at all.

“I appreciate the thought Jenna but this sort of decision is something that should be thought of, I do not mind personally but it shouldn’t be sprung on Jeremy so suddenly” Jenna becomes sheepish and sits back down in her seat from where she stood up to leave and sign over her rights to him. 

“Oh right, sorry. See, I guess another example of how I’m unfit as a guardian” 

Iason lets out a little chuckle at the dramatic groan from Jenna, “Yes, well we have been here for a while, are you not usually busy at this time?” At his question Jenna looks at the time and quickly runs about to get ready.

“Shoot, I’m going to be late” At the door she turns around and points at Jeremy, “You, if you’re staying at Iason tell me, other than that, I guess he’s your responsibility now. Bye” She runs out and he can hear her car leaving and driving off, leaving the pair in silence.

“Well I think she it took it pretty well” 

Iason just gives Jeremy a look who smiles back before his face turns serious, “Did you mean it?” 

“Mean what?”

“That you would become my guardian if I asked for it?” Iason sighs a little and grabs Jeremy’s hand to hold and squeeze. 

“I don’t mind but it’s something I want you to think more about, okay? You wanting me to be more of a father figure is one thing but becoming your legal guardian is very different. You’ll have to stay with me and I would be the one put down as your emergency contact and much more”

“That doesn’t sound too bad”

“Jeremy. I want you to think about it before making the decision. You took a while to approach me on how you see me, now you need to do the same for this. Think it over, the pros and cons and then make a decision. Talk to people you trust, the school counsellor, your friends, Matt, my brothers even might be able to help” Jeremy nods at him, “Just not your sister” Iason says jokily which causes a smile and laugh from Jeremy.

“Now unfortunately there is the historic picnic that I need to be getting to, you coming or are you doing something else?” 

“I think I might stay and do a bit of research” Iason looks at Jeremy for a second before nodding.

“Okay, but if you go somewhere, message me and currently try to stay away from the Lockwood’s, we’re unsure of what's going on with them at the moment. Not to say that you can’t talk to them but just don’t go anywhere alone with them. Werewolves, specially untriggered werewolves have this odd knack ability that draws reckless people in or things to go strange just to trigger the curse and I would rather that wasn’t you” Jeremy nods before leading Iason out of the door.

“Got it, can talk to the Lockwood’s but can’t be with them alone because the world might cause my death just to trigger Tyler. Got it”

“I’m serious Jeremy, be careful” Iason looks Jeremy in the eye, whose tense posture relaxes from the concern in Iason eyes.

“I will be, now go or you’ll be late” Iason goes inside and drives off after waving bye to Jeremy. His destination is the park of Mystic Falls where people are setting up. He was asked to provide some desserts but he refused because he does enjoy some history and is quite interested in how Mystic Falls has changed from when he was last here. 

Parking his car a bit away from the park Iason then walks the rest of the journey where his beloved brothers are, Stefan looks about ready to leave Damon to go and annoy someone but he arrives before he can.

“Hello” 

He gets two flat looks from his brothers, “Hi Iason, my little brother who decided to wonder off with little Gilbert. Now you said that you’ll tell me what’s going on so what’s going on” Damon looks ready to explode in frustration and Stefan is now curious as well. Iason has a look around and sees that not many people are currently around them so it should be safe to tell them but before he does he sends a quick message to Jeremy asking if he can, to which he gets a quick affirmative back.

“So Jeremy got a bit upset from being confronted so went into my car, we then went to Matt at his request where the two started to talk to me about how they feel –”

“So a therapy session? Did you get a good pay?” Iason glares a little at Damon’s cheeky grin.

“No, they told me about how they see me as a sort of father figure”

…

He’s quite proud of the shocked expressions on their faces, even though vampires can ‘turn it off’ even when it is ‘on’ they sometimes like to act like emotions are beneath them. 

“You? A father figure?” Damon scoffs and Iason is a bit insulted but he’s pretty sure this is Damon’s jealously talking at the moment.

“So what now?” And there’s Stefan always talking about stuff like there’s a definite solution.

“For now not much has changed, the kids at the moment want me to continue helping them as I have” His brother just nodded slowly.

“What do they call you then? Dad? Ohh, how about daddy?” Stefan smacks Damon for his teasing.

“Actually they started to call me Babbo” Damon's eyes widened and his face softened a little. 

“Never thought I would see a day to hear one of us called that. Whatever, I guess I can tolerate the brats” Iason walks up to Damon and gives him a side hug.

“Thanks, I have no idea what I’m doing though” 

“Don’t worry, you’ve had plenty of practice with me and Stefan, those two will be a piece of cake” 

Basically getting Damon support is very nice so Iason turns and finds that Stefan has left them and wandered off to the werewolf.

“Stefan is gone” 

“Of course he is, something happens in the family and he just runs away like he doesn’t care” He can feel Damon tense up and decides to do a little teasing to get him a little more relaxed.

“So have you talked to Enzo recently?” He gets a whack to the head for the question and Damon walks off. He chuckles a little at the reaction but then realises that he’s all alone. 

He decides to have a look at the history but then sees that it’s just a lot of people hanging out together and nothing is teaching about history. What a disappointment. So he instead goes to a little lemonade stand and sits on some free chairs and decides to read some of his history books. It’s supposed to be both a picnic and about history, so he’s going to be doing both. A little sad that he doesn’t have any food because he didn’t have time to make any but he can survive, not happily of course and very uncomfortable but he can survive. Where did the books come from? His car, he knows that sometimes he might need to drive someone somewhere and then wait so he puts books in his car as an emergency entertainment. 

Whilst reading Mason at some points gets a drink of lemonade and then Damon arrives and does his classic threats, Mason leaves and then Stefan arrives to question Damon. It’s all so repetitive of them. Damon doing something, that something disappears then Stefan swoops in and lectures Damon. The same story between those two, there’s probably someone out there that is keeping track of what they’re doing. Oh wait, there is, him! And a few of his employees.

“Please tell me that you were just bonding”

“So what's up with this faux drama in your relationship?”

“What are you talking about?” Iason would also like to know because he hasn’t really been focusing on Stefan’s relationship as he’s been a bit busy with two teen boys.

“Oh come on, Stefan. You and Elena don't fight, especially not over me” Them fighting in public? Doesn’t sound like them, Stefan prefers it quiet so if he loses it and kills someone he can then hide it better. Those two fighting over Damon, not that surprising actually, Stefan knows Damon likes Elena a bit, Elena is a girl who has been eyeing Damon up so it’s not that odd to see Stefan being a bit insecure then Elena thinking that insecurity is suspicion. 

“Drop it, Damon”

“With pleasure”

A random girl walks up to Damon, “Would you like some lemonade?”. She offers the lemonade and Damon takes it and she skips off. 

“Thank you, sweetie” 

Iason is currently watching his two brothers as their drama is a good break from his book and so watching Damon take a drink only to spit it back out again is enjoyable to watch. His coughing is a bit concerning.

“What’s wrong?” 

Whilst gasping Damon makes out two words, “Vervain! Vervain!”. Shrugging, Iason takes the lemonade and decides to drink it which causes his brothers to give him a look.

“What? Damon already drank out of it so others wouldn’t. I’m not wasting a whole glass of lemonade” Iason goes back to his book and ignores his brothers who are quick to walk away. 

Well, it seems someone is likely going to die today, but he’s not too bothered by it, actually he’s impressed that no one has died for a few days … There’s going to be a lot of death to make up for those days. Oh his life can never be simple. 

He’s unable to get far into his book before someone stinking of death comes up to him, “Sir, can you please come with me?” The guy is a police officer so Iason packs up his bag and goes with the officer. How is he going to die? The smell is very strong so it’s going to be very soon.

They’re not that far away from the picnic when the officer turns and tries to stab him with a needle. However Iason is quick to stop the arm and watch as the officer struggles with pushing his arm further. Now he understands why he stinks of death, he’s going to kill this guy.

“You know stabbing someone with a needle without consent is very wrong and illegal. Also” Iason grabs the needle and breaks the top and then drinks the vervain, “Not a vampire”. He grins and the officer is sweating with his eyes wide and looking scared. 

Staring at the guy, Iason allows his true eyes to show and he can hear the guy's heart give out on him. Feeling the body go limp, Iason makes sure to bend as the guy goes. Not his best method but it gets the job done, now it’s time to do another job well.

“Help! I think he’s had a heart attack!” His yelling causes people to run at him and people start to gasp at the body before someone pushes through and checks for a pulse.

“He’s gone” The random person whispers but people start to gasp and walk away when other officers walk up and make some room for the body.

Iason also stands up and goes to an officer but not before burning a little black dot in the fallen officer's neck. That dot will spread until it forms the classic black circle. With the police Iason tells them that the guy told him to walk with him and tried to stab him with a needle so he defended himself and broke the needle but then the guy started to sweat and fell limp. With his story done Iason lets himself leave the picnic. The reason he told most of the truth is that it’s harder to disprove. 

Going to his car Iason has a little look around for his brothers but doesn’t see if they’re anywhere so he drives home. Once back home he’s quick to make himself a sandwich because he’s hungry and he wants food. Although looking at the fridge he’s going to need to spend some time buying groceries which isn’t going to be all that fun. Then there’s some work he needs to catch up on today, he needs to check the progress on his new publishing company and the Korea branch. 

Hearing people walk into the house but more than normal Iason goes to the front and finds his brothers with a sad looking sheriff. He could have smelt who was coming in but he sometimes enjoys being more human like. 

“So what did she do?” 

“This one found out about us, tried to kill us so we’re waiting for the vervain to run out then erase her memories” Iason nods at Damon’s explanation. He never did like hurting people who he believes are his true friends and it seems the sheriff is one of those.

“Yeah okay, by the way an officer tried to stab me with vervain but he had a heart attack” The sheriff, Elizabeth, he reads from her tag, is looking at him in disgust.

“You can say you drank his blood” 

Damon laughs at that, “Oh Liz, my brother there is very special. Can drink and even eat vervain and never be affected, doesn't really need blood that much” Damon ignores Liz’s confusion and takes her down to the basement where there are cells. He should probably clean those but it’s not very needed as there is a whole house to focus the attention more on. 

Seeing that everything is being dealt with, Iason goes up to his office to start doing some work. He’s not really focusing on that much but then he hears something that causes him to speed down in front of Caroline and Elena.

“What did you say?” The pair jump at his sudden presence or it could be because he’s currently mad.

“I - I uh, Katherine is threatening Matt?” 

Oh he’s going to kill her.

Iason wipes out his phone and messages Matt who is quick to respond that he’s on the way. There now Iason can keep him safe, being near him and his brothers could be an increase of survival … Okay being near him is but his brothers are more dangerous and more likely to attract Katherine. But he can stop her from going near Matt. 

He leaves the girls and goes back upstairs to prepare a room for Matt which is easy work and quick to do. When he hears a knock he goes to the front door and opens it to Matt.

“Hey, Caroline is sleeping on the couch, Elena is upstairs” Matt nods and just walks in with a small bag.

“Going to be weird sleeping here” 

“I only asked because I don’t want you getting hurt”

“Hey, I get it. Katherine is someone who will hurt anyone to get what she wants and that includes me. Being with you is probably safer”

Iason smiles at Matt and is about to start taking him to his room when he’s interrupted.

“Awww, isn’t this sweet?” Turning Iason sees Damon leaning on the wall and can feel Matt tense up a little. “Nothing is going to change, huh?” He gets a little glare but Iason is unbothered.

“Katherine is threatening him”  Damon just nods at that.

“Makes sense, you made a room for him?” Iason nods at him and Damon walks off to wherever.

“Huh”

Matt is quiet and is watching Damon leave, “That’s probably the most acceptance you’re going to see from him”. Iason then guides Matt to his room which isn’t that far from his own which Matt is grateful for. Actually Matt seems to be grateful for the bed because he falls face first into and groans.

“To your liking then?” 

Matt turns his head so he can be heard, “It’s so soft and big” Iason chuckles and grabs the door.

“I’ll leave you to get comfortable then”

He gets a groan as a response as Matt gets even more comfortable on the bed and he closes the door and goes back to his office to continue with his work. He’ll cook dinner a little later but at the moment he’s focusing on his work.

Chapter Text

He has one child under his roof and the other shall appear. 

He’s just making up some breakfast with Matt who is still a bit sleepy when a knock is heard on the front door which Damon answers and Jeremy comes in. Damon is annoyed at Jeremy but is ignored whilst they both walk into the kitchen and Iason gets a hug from Jeremy.

“Morning” Jeremy mumbles into his chest.

“Morning Jeremy, any reason for this visit?” The response he gets is a bunch of mumbles and Damon looking at them annoyed. “Go and sit down, I'm making some breakfast”

“Fine” 

“Yes, little one sit down and let us feed you whilst you tell me what you’re doing here” He doesn’t see it but he just knows that those two are glaring at each other and Matt is probably ignoring everything and everyone.

“Why are you such a dick to me but fine with Matt?” 

“You're kidding right? Matt there looks like he’s just gotten the best sleep of his life and I can respect that, he also looked after his sister and his mother when she was around; works hard to continue going school and pays his bills. You? You’re a moocher” 

“I’m not a moocher!”

“Yeah you are, taking all of Iason’s money and just getting to do whatever you want” With the breakfast done Iason turns with two plates for people and one vampire plate and puts them in front of the correct species. 

“Okay, enough you two. Damon, Jeremy isn’t a moocher, he does stuff to help pay for it. Jeremy, it’s time to clean the house this week, which is why, Damon, he is here” Damon grumbles a little but sits down next to Matt and eats his breakfast.

“Oh, I spoke to Tyler last night” Iason gives Jeremy a look who quickly puts his hands up, “We weren’t alone, there were these two girls, highly annoying by the way and constantly hitting on us, very much unwanted” He can see Matt and even Damon rolling they’re eyes which after causes Damon to just stare at Matt before continuing with eating. “And we got talking about werewolves and stuff, and told I knew what he was. Hey, I know I shouldn’t have but he doesn’t trust his uncle, anyways he told me that to become a werewolf they have to kill someone” 

“Not good enough” Damon says and gives a pointed look to Jeremy who ignores it and takes a very slow bite of food.

“As I was saying, I also found out that Mason is here for something called a moonstone which is connected to a werewolf legend” Iason can feel himself tense up at the mention of both the moonstone and the werewolf legend, both things that have caused great death and with the doppelgänger in the town. It does not bode well for the future. “And I know where to find it”

“And you’re bringing this to me, why?” Jeremy looks at Damon as if the guy was stupid which Iason found funny and Damon a bit insulting.

“Because your important to Iason” 

“What’d your sister say about this little discovery?” Jeremy looked confused.

“Why would I tell her? I just told you guys and I suspect that I’m about to get a scolding from Iason anyways and he’s the one who needs to know anyways” Damon nods a little and concludes that Jeremy must have a point because they finish their breakfast in relative peace. 

After finishing a more awake Matt helps Iason with washing up whilst Jeremy helps with putting the dishes away with Damon just watching with a small smile that he always hides when one of the two teens look at him. He might try and hide it but he knows that Damon loves a domestic environment, no matter how much he hides it. It’s just a shame that Damon is constantly trying to be the villain in the scenario that he can’t just let himself have a second of peace. 

With the washing all finished Iason dries his hands and looks over at Matt with a sceptical eye, “You’re helping with the set up for the masquerade ball?” 

“Yeah, why you don’t think I should go?” The question is genuine and not filled with annoyance or anything. Matt is wanting to know if he would be better off at the house for his own safety and he feels guilty that Matt is in this sort of life. The kid doesn’t deserve it, he should be able to live his life and not worry about doing stuff and being scared of being attacked or killed.

His silence must have spoken a bit too much because Matt just shrugs and says that he’ll enjoy getting a day to just relax and catch up with homework. He lets out a sigh of relief and he hears Matt calling and cancelling on helping with the set up whilst he walks away to the living room. 

“Protective mama on the case” He just looks at Damon who is grinning at him before also looking at the direction Matt walked off towards. “It’s a good look on you”. Damon then shrugs before throwing an arm around Jeremy’s shoulder. “Now why don’t you tell me a bit more about this stone whilst your old man does some of his boring work” Jeremy grins at Damon before telling him about what he’s learnt and Iason lets them be. After all they are bonding and he does have some work to do but he’s going to help Matt with his homework first. The boy wants to relax so he should.

Going into the living room where Matt is sitting with a bunch of paper he offers some support but Matt declines saying how it’s not too difficult but getting the time to do it is. So he leaves the guy alone and goes up to his office and checks his emails. He sees that there’s been a recent string of humans drained of blood and the pathway they are going is towards Mystic Falls which isn’t good. The publishing company is going well, his house is all done and two of the other houses are now ready to be rented out. His employees have found a place for the Korean branch and even the supernatural world in Korea as well as people who would be interested in working so he gives the green light to start construction. 

Done

Nothing too hard but it still takes an hour, nearly two, most of it was sorting out the houses to be put up for renting, he has a license, and giving the green light for construction. 

Once finished with the work he goes back downstairs and sees that Matt has finished with his homework and is just sitting there watching tv whilst Damon and Jeremy talk.

“So what’s going on?” Jeremy beams at him and Matt lifts a hand up as a wave, the movement is very slow so it seems he’s being highly serious about having a lazy day but the kid deserves it.

“Oh, we’re waiting for Ric to come by with some stuff” Damon is leaning against a wall and just watching, again. Iason walks around and sits next to Matt who just flops into his side and Iason puts an arm around the guy's shoulders.

“Nothing too dangerous, right?” He’s looking at both of them and Damon scoffs a little.

“Don’t worry I won’t lead your little munchkins into danger”

“I’m also worried for you Damon, you know I hate when you and Stefan also get into dangerous trouble” Damon is quiet and Iason watches as he just stares off into the distance whilst Jeremy just stands there, also staring at the tv. 

A door opening brings his attention to Alaric who has just walked into his house, uninvited. He glares at Alaric but he’s just ignored as the guy walks into the living room and dumps a box on his coffee table and nearly spills his bowl of dried cranberries that he has. The dried cranberries are in a little glass dish that normally has a lid on it but he’s put it off so he can snack on them and this Alaric nearly made some fall on the floor. 

“Ric!” Damon moves off the wall and grins at Alaric who just looks tired and Iason is still highly unhappy. Alaric has a look around, he’s quick to glance over at him and stops at Jeremy.

“Does Elena know you’re here?” Jeremy pulls a look.

“No? Why would she? Jenna knows if that helps” 

“What you got?” Damon starts looking through the box and blocks the TV from Matt who pauses what he’s watching and just pays attention to what’s going on in front of him.

“This is Isobel research from Duke. Her assistant sent it to me”

“Hmmm, Vanessa. The hottie” Matt sighs in boredom and Jeremy also looks fed up of just watching the two talk, the youth has no patience.

“Vanessa, yes. Now, do you remember the old Aztec curse she told us about?” Again at the mention of the curse Iason tensed and Matt looks at him in confusion whilst Jeremy looks intrigued. 

“Sun and the moon, blah blah blah blah blah”

“An Aztec curse? Cool”

“Yeah, supposedly vampires and werewolves used to roam freely until a shaman put a curse on them to limit their power. Since then, werewolves can only turn on a full moon and vampires are weakened by the sun”

Iason doesn’t really care about the curse, but he does care about how much death has been caused in centuries due to the curse and now his family is in danger because of it. 

Damon wiggles his finger in the direction of Jeremy who looks a bit amused, “Most of them, anyway”

“According to the legend, the werewolf part of the curse is sealed with the moonstone” Alaric brings up a map which Jeremy starts to look at. 

“What do you mean sealed?” Jeremy asks and Matt just groans which brings attention to them.

“Are you going to keep this up in here? I’m trying to relax” 

“Oh I’m sorry, are we being too loud?” Damon speaks like a pouty child which Matt rolls his eyes at and slouches back into the couch.

Damon turns back to Jeremy who’s still looking at the map and pictures on it, “It's a witch thing, whatever seals the curse is usually the key to unsealing the curse”

“Maybe Mason Lockwood believes he can use the moonstone to break the curse” Alaric theories and Iason just wants all talk about the curse to stop.

“If we start believing in some supernatural witchy-woo legend from a picture book, we're idiots. Who has the stone now?”

“Tyler” Jeremy answers and Iason is watching Damon with an attentive eye.

“Can you get it?” 

“Yeah”

“See, now you life has purpose” 

“Wait a minute” Iason interrupts and Damon groans, “First of Damon, would this be safe for Jeremy” 

“Of course it will! Tyler’s not a danger right now” 

“No but people who are know that the stone is with the Lockwood’s so will go after Tyler which could get Jeremy in danger”

“I can be careful” Jeremy pipes in and Iason just looks him over, he doesn’t want him to do it but he also can tell that the teenager is going to do it whether he likes it or not and he hates that.

“Maybe, but do you want to do this? Do not feel forced to help, there is always another way. It can turn dangerous and you have not gone far into training to defend yourself and I do not want you in danger” Jeremy starts to bite at his lips and is quiet in his thinking. 

“Not really, I didn’t mind getting the information but getting closer to the action, I - I don’t want to die” The admittance is quiet and Iason nods before grounding himself and facing Damon from his seat on the couch.

“There you go, someone else will have to get the stone” Damon just sighs but nods.

“Seems mama has spoken” He’s sort of surprised that Damon isn’t fighting him on this but he also appreciates it. Damon is about to leave but Jeremy holds up a book.

“So, do you believe it?” 

Damon scoffs, “It's the same book that says a werewolf bite kills a vampire. Ignoring it would make me an even bigger idiot. Let's go” He gestures to Alaric who just sighs but follows along, leaving the box behind.

Matt is just happy that he gets to watch the Tv again but Jeremy is quiet so he stands up and goes towards him and takes him to the side so they're not blocking Matt’s view.

“What’s wrong?” 

“I - Just, this life is dangerous but I want to get involved and help but I don’t want to get hurt” Iason brings Jeremy into a hug.

“It’s fine to be conflicted, this life … It's hard. Even for those who have lived in it for decades it still remains hard. If you want to help then there is a way with minimal risk but there’s always a risk. That danger is always there but now you are more aware of it, it makes life feel more dangerous but getting involved will always put you in the line of fire … unless” Iason trails off and Jeremy gently leaves his arms to look at him. 

“Unless?” Iason moves his attention away from the wall and back on to Jeremy.

“In what way do you want to help? Information? Dirty work?” 

“I– I don’t know, but I’ll do anything that’ll help my family” Iason's face softens and he smooths some of Jeremy’s hair.

“Okay, I have a way that you can help and not many people would attack you, in fact you will be sort of protected” Jeremy looks confused but hopeful.

“Really? How?” 

“You’ll work for me” 

“Work for you? How would that help?” 

“I have a company that provides funeral services to all the supernatural, it’s the only funeral service for the supernatural so the workers gain a lot of respect. I have different workers, I can get you a job and you can help”

“Help, how? What sort of dirty work?” Jeremy looked highly sceptical which Iason found reassuring and amusing. At least the kid can still understand when something sounds sketchy.

“Well you can help with record keeping, or taking calls, helping with the extraction of supernatural bodies, helping with organising funerals; take your pick. But these jobs are safe and will help with the supernatural world. But Jeremy, you don’t need to help, you can just try to live your life with a little danger”

“But I want to help” He’s pleading and Iason doesn’t like that of all the types of children he attracts, it’s one that likes to help people no matter what. Maybe it’s genetic, after all Elena is also the same and they share some blood as they are cousins. 

“Then help me help you, how do you want to help?” Jeremy is quiet as he thinks, “You don’t have to know now but whilst you think on it we do need to clean the house” Jeremy groans but follows along as Iason brings him to the kitchen and gets a big bucket to fill with water. “You know another way to help is with blood donations” 

“Fuck no” 

Iason laughs at the quick denial, he can’t help it, the disgusted look on Jeremy’s face was a little too much for him. Together they both start to clean around the house whilst Matt is sitting in the living room, relaxing for the first time in months. Again the guy needs it and deserves it. 

Cleaning around the whole house is boring but Jeremy brings the mood up by playing some music on his phone but he had to turn it off when they met Lamia whose cage isn’t highly used so he rarely cleans it. When they went in she started to screech and flap at the music and Jeremy was quick to turn it off and tried to pet her but she quickly bit his finger which Iason laughed at.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t do that, she’s feisty and doesn’t like people touching her” 

“Ow, why the hell is there a bird here?” Jeremy grumbles and cradles his finger.

“Well that’s because Damon turned her years ago to be dramatic and she stayed around” 

“Turned? As in vampire turn? You can turn animals?” 

“Of course, they are living creatures but there is some differences in how they turn” 

“Difference? What difference?” 

“They need different blood and when Damon started talking about turning Lamia I got him the right things” 

“Are there a lot of vampire animals?” Jeremy gets closer to Lamia but keeps a bit of a distance.

“There are a few but not many people do it because the ingredients are hard to find” 

“Why? Why is it different?” 

“The spell that made vampires was intended for people not animals but people started to experiment and found a way” Jeremy pouts up at him and Iason nearly rolls his eyes.

“Honestly if you must know, a person will need the blood of the original spell and use a sigil to change the intention of the spell so a witch will also be needed, then the changed blood will be fed to the animal, killed and then fed human blood” 

Jeremy looks horrified at the mention of killing animals, poor sweet child, and looks at Lamia in sympathy which causes her to start pecking in his direction. At the pecking Jeremy quickly moves back. 

“That’s horrible” 

“Yes it is, but that is life. Now shall we continue with cleaning?” 

They are halfway through cleaning the house when Iason hears Damon enter and he calls for a break which causes Jeremy to celebrate and run downstairs. Huffing Iason speeds up to Jeremy, gathers him up in his arms and then speeds downstairs into the living room where he dumps Jeremy next to Matt who doesn’t react. 

“Hey!” Iason ignores Jeremy and goes to where Damon is and just stares. 

“No” 

“Oh come one, it’s not that bad” Damon grins at him whilst holding the unconscious body of that Mason werewolf on his shoulders. Iason puts his hands on his hips and stares him down.

“No, you stained the carpet last time and it will be too loud. And I don’t want it in the house” Bonnie walks out from behind Damon and looks at him, he gives her a nod and looks back at Damon who is tense.

“I need information”

“Do it in the forest or the basement, but keep it away from the kids” Damon groans but walks back out of the house and goes in the direction of the forest with Bonnie following along. At least the kids won’t have to see a murder.

Going back into the living room Iason sits down in a chair and lets out a sigh of relief as tension leaves his body. Cleaning the house sucks. 

“I’m thinking that I’ll like to help keep the supernatural a secret” Jeremy speaks after a few minutes of silence and Iason hums in acknowledgment. “But I think I’ll need training” 

Iason nods but doesn’t bother opening his eyes to see if Jeremy saw, “You’ll need it, there is always the risk of being attacked whilst helping, you might work with some vampires or werewolves who are also working for the same aim. They’ll be safe because they work for me” 

After that it’s quiet and they enjoy the peace so they can just relax. That is then ruined as the front door opens and the witch Bonnie walks through. Groaning, Iason stands up and walks to the door where Bonnie is searching the ground.

“You know, I will drag you out if you don’t knock next time” Jumping Bonnie spins around and looks at Iason in shock.

“W-what?” 

“You heard me, if you don’t knock I will drag you out. Got it?” Bonnie nods quickly and he smiles all cheerful at the girl. 

“Good, now what’s wrong?” 

“I-I uh, dropped something whilst helping Damon and I’m trying to find it” As she speaks Bonnie continues looking around before she drops down and looks under some of the furniture but hits the floor in frustration.

“Hey!” Caroline walks up to Bonnie who quickly gets off the floor and Iason decides that he’s not going to bother and goes to the kitchen to make some food for the teens. 

The food doesn’t take too long as it is just some sandwiches but the boys eat the food up quickly and Iason takes his seat back to watch whatever is on. However, he quickly loses interest as it’s something not his style so he grabs his crochet stuff and starts to make some plushies. 

Every so often Matt and Jeremy would talk about the show and what’s going on before going quiet again. It must be something they take great interest in seeing as Matt has been watching the same show for hours, he’s thinking that Matt is catching up on missed episodes and Jeremey is happy to rewatch. 

The ringing of his phone brings his attention and Iason turns it on and sees that he has been crocheting for nearly an hour which is impressive but once he’s concentrating not much can bring him out. Answering the phone to Damon, Iason learns that Jenna is in the hospital because she’s been compelled by Katherine but that she’s going to be fine. When pushed he learns that Damon accidentally antagonised Katherine but that Jenna has been a spy. Hanging up Iason looks at Jeremy who is all happy and finds it unfair that so much negativity is in his life.

“Jeremy” The teen looks at him immediately, “It’s Jenna”

Chapter Text

Both Iason, Jeremy and Matt visit the hospital to see Jenna when they get the news and Iason is quick to check her injuries and tells the teens that she will be fine. They both sigh in relief and Jeremy asks why it’s happened.

“Because Damon annoyed her by killing Mason and because she knows Elena and Stefan are still dating” 

“This is over them dating?” Jeremy seemed irritated and Iason is worried.

“Yes, Katherine has always been possessive over Stefan, to an unhealthy degree. She warned them about staying together but they thought they could trick her. I’m unsure if this is over them still being together or Mason being killed” 

“Did she like Mason?” Matt asks, Iason can hear him trying to push down his emotions but Iason knows that he will help them both later process everything.

“She was most likely only using Mason for her own gain” 

“Then all this is because she wanted to prove she’s in control and over Elena dating Stefan” Jeremy’s jaw hardens and Iason gathers the boys in his arms before taking them into the car. 

Due to what’s happened Iason decides to treat the boys to a nice meal in a nicer part of town. It does help make them a bit happier but there is a cloud of misery surrounding them. At the boarding house they both go straight to bed, Iason also made up a room for Jeremy as he doesn’t want to stay at his place. Sighing, Iason goes to bed as well as he gets the feeling stuff is going to get very chaotic and he’s going to need the sleep.

When morning comes Iason feels tempted to stay in bed because everything is happening and he just wants some peace but life always finds a way to muck it up. Or he should think that his brothers always find a way to muck it up. Getting up from bed Iason checks up on the boys and finds that they are both still asleep in their rooms so he takes this opportunity to go and give Lamia some of his blood. She seems a bit bored so Iason gives her a request so that she can go and find something - a green piece of sea glass. When he gave her his request she seemed to perk up and happily flew out the window. One thing done, Iason goes downstairs and decides to start cooking some breakfast. 

Looking at his ingredients Iason sees that shopping will be on the agenda next week but he has enough stuff for breakfast. Having an idea Iason checks the amount of eggs he’s got and sees that he has a lot. The one thing he always makes sure he has is a lot of eggs because so many recipes and breakfast items require eggs. 

With the amount of eggs he has Iason decides on making some crepes for breakfast. Grabbing the eggs and some flour as well as a pan Iason gets to work on making some crepes, he also makes sure to get the jars of blood so his lovely brothers can have some. Those will be cooked last though. 

By the time Iason has finished his breakfast and moved onto the boys crepes Damon has come down the stairs with Stefan in tow. They are as normal, whining and Iason decides to ignore them. He’s cracked the egg for another crepe when Matt stumbles into the kitchen rubbing his eyes.

“Morning” He grumbles whilst going to a seat at the kitchen island, Damon and Stefan stop talking to just look at Matt.

Damon grins at Matt and leans against the door frame, “Did you ever sleep when you were on your own?” Matt nods his head.

“Yeah, for a couple of hours” This causes Damon to frown but Stefan loses interest and goes off to somewhere else. This annoys Iason because it’s been awhile since they’ve had a meal together and it seems like Stefan is ignoring him since he’s accepted the boys into the family. 

“Well, a growing boy needs plenty of sleep to be big and strong” 

“Yeah well some people don’t have time for sleep, I have to do homework, go to school, go to work and feed myself whilst also trying to keep a relationship alive. Although now I guess I no longer have that err obligation” The last word is spoken with a bit of hesitation as Matt couldn’t find the right word.

“Right blonde broke up with you” Turning around with the finished crepe Iason hands it to Matt who smiles at him and Iason returns it but turns back to the stove as he has more crepes to cook.

“Actually I broke up with her” Damon hums and then stands behind Iason but he just ignores the presence because it’s not distracting. 

“What she too much?” 

“Something like that” Matt goes quiet and Iason can hear the sounds of a fork scrapping on a plate. 

“Hey Damon, can you wake Jeremy up for me?” Damon groans and throws his arm on his shoulder and puts a high amount of weight on him. 

“Ugh, why should I? Kid can wake himself up” Iason sees that the crepe is cooking well so looks over at Damon. 

“Well if you don’t then I might not cook you any breakfast” Damon lets out a sigh and then groans as he starts to slowly walk towards the door to get upstairs.

“Fine, but only for the sake of food” Iason hides a smile and finishes off Jeremy’s crepe and dishes it up onto a plate. Turning round he puts the plate next to where Matt is sitting.

“Is it alright?” Matt nods quickly.

“Yeah, it’s good” 

“Do you have any plans for today?” 

“I’ve got work at the grill today” Iason nods and goes back to the stove to start a blood crepe for Damon, starting with making a new mix.

“Have you been taking vervain?” 

Matt groans a little and speaks in a bored drawn out tone, “Yes, I’ve been drinking it in my drinks” His tone then goes back to normal, “Thanks for the vervain by the way”. Iason hums because the vervain was something that Matt needed and there’s no way he’s letting him go around with a glaring weakness, too many vampires have been around recently. Even though Jeremy is giving Matt the vervain, Jeremy gets it from him; it’s just easier for Jeremy to pass it over to Matt so the thank you can be also extended to Jeremy but knowing Matt he likely thanks Jeremy every time he gets a new batch. Oh! Iason should check up on the process for his house. After all he needs to get his own supply of vervain.

Iason hears some stumbling down the stairs and a bit of swearing as Jeremy makes his way down. He can also hear the light chuckling of Damon who is likely not helping Jeremy and instead making it slightly worse. Iason is about to put the blood crepe into the pan but decides to check the temperature of Jeremy’s crepe. He finds that it has gotten a bit cool so he quickly puts it back into the pan so that it can be warm. He has to keep a close eye on the crepe because he doesn’t want it to go bad but he also doesn’t want Jeremy to have a cold breakfast.

Luckily Jeremy walks into the kitchen soon after and Iason is able to give him the crepe without it burning. He then starts with the cooking of Damon’s blood crepe and when it’s finished he puts it in front of Damon. Sighing a little in relief that everyone is eating, Iason turns to clean up and thinks about what he should do for the day. Maybe go over some commissions and paperwork and then sort out the vervain. The greenhouse has been finished up in his house but he now needs to go over and plant some, he should also check on the supply in the basement as he wouldn’t want it dying. With a plan sorted Iason continues with washing up.

“Oh Jeremy, what’s your plan for the day?”

“Uhh” Iason turns and sees that Jeremy is just frozen and looking at him so he raises an eyebrow a little and he just gets a sheepish grin in return. “Might go for a jog?” 

“Sounds good” Iason turns back to continue washing up and ignores the teasing between Jeremy and Matt. 

It doesn’t take long for the boys to finish up their breakfast and add their plates to his washing up and they go back up stairs to get dressed. By the time they have finished getting dressed Iason has finished with the washing up and he watches them leave to go on about their day. 

With the boys gone and Damon walking about Iason goes down to the basement with a watering can filled with water - the watering can was inside a cabinet. Down in the basement Iason waters all the vervain plants and checks on their leaves and the flower buds. They all seemed to be healthy but a little dehydrated in the soil. The soil takes in the water and goes darker so he hopes that it’s enough because he doesn’t want to overwater or underwater. With the watering done Iason grabs the scissors that are located in a little section that has gardening tools near the vervain. With one hand holding the scissors Iason looks around at the plants and finds some shoots that have no flowers and with the scissors cut the shoot to four to six inches. 

He gets a couple of cuttings and with the cutting he then cuts off the shoot below the leaves so that moisture loss is lessened. With the cuttings sorted Iason grabs some plastic pots and some compost. Opening the compost Iason checks it over to see if it’s still usable, which it is. He quickly fills up a pot with compost and then uses some of the leftover water to water the compost. Using his finger Iason then makes a couple of holes in the compost that is decently deep and then puts in the cuttings, he’s able to fit in four cuttings because he wants them to have room to grow. 

However, Iason has more cuttings so he gets another pot and quickly fills it with compost, but he doesn’t have water for the compost. So he grabs the watering can and goes back upstairs to the kitchen and fills it with water. Whilst in the kitchen Iason also grabs some plastic bags which he’s also going to need. 

Going through the parlour as he hears some noise and he wants to know what’s going on in his house he sees that Caroline is sitting down and talking with Stefan and Damon. From what he hears she’s talking about a situation with Katherine which isn’t good, not one bit. 

“Can we just give her the moonstone so she'll leave?” Iason scoffs a little and it seems Damon is of the same sentiment, he hasn’t even heard what has been happening and he already can tell that the answer is no. Wait, giving Katherine the moonstone? He can understand why she would want to do that but also it wouldn’t go well in the end. In fact, no matter what happens it won’t end well. It would be better if the moonstone was never found.

“No, Katherine's not getting dick. I've had it. I'm gonna go to the masquerade ball and I'm gonna kill her, tonight”

“You're not gonna kill her” Iason is just standing there and watching as his brothers stand up to each other and he’s wondering how on earth vampires are dangerous because they never seem to know that someone is behind them. But that could be because his brothers aren’t that smart sometimes. 

“Don't give me that goody-goody crap”

“You're not gonna kill her” 

“Really?”

“Because I am” 

This is going to be fun … Not really because those two with Katherine is not going to go well. Not one bit. So now he has to think on if he should help … If they ask for his help then he might but at the same time he’s not very interested in getting involved. All this drama with some girls. 

“Well, just be safe” Seeing his brothers jump is quite funny but Caroline letting out a shrill noise was a bit irritating on his ears. Iason gives them all a flat look and continues on his way to the basement. 

Back inside the basement Iason walks to the compost and quickly waters it. With it watered he then uses his finger again to plant the cuttings and then make sure that they are safe and secure in the compost. As all the cuttings are secured in the pots Iason then puts a plastic bag on the pots and then grabs some twine that he then cuts off. Using the twine he ties it to the pot and makes sure that the plastic bag is attached to the pots. Then he lifts the top of the bag up a little so it’s got a good amount of height. 

And the cuttings are all done. In a couple of weeks he will need to check on them but for now he will have them secure in his bedroom. There’s no point keeping them in the basement when the point of the cuttings is to have them for back up. He also wants to get a bit into planting. It’s never been something he’s been all that into as it can be very difficult to get right but he does love a challenge. It has been a decade since his last failure on planting. 

Iason’s phone pings and he checks it and sees that Jeremy is taking Jenna home and that he wants him to join. He agrees and quickly goes to his bedroom to get some clean clothes as he got a bit of wet soil on his clothes and he doesn’t want to go out looking like a mess. Then he puts the cuttings in a place that doesn’t get a lot of sun because he doesn’t want the cuttings to burn. It doesn’t take long to get ready and Iason goes off towards his car.

“I’m going to help with Jenna, be back in a bit” He hears an affirmative from Damon but nothing from Stefan which is getting really annoying. Also what do they do in their free time? He’s been with them for years and he still doesn’t see them do anything, Damon drinks and reads a little whilst Stefan writes in his journal but other than that? Nothing. Seems like a boring afterlife.

The drive to the hospital wasn’t eventful and when he got there he saw that Matt, Jeremy and Jenna were all standing outside with Elena pouting beside them. He was going to find a parking spot but decides to stop near them and let them quickly get inside the car. It’s not like it will take them too long and he hopefully won’t get a ticket for stopping in front of a hospital. Seeing some people staring at his car Iason hopes for them to hurry up, although Jenna is injured so she has an excuse but Elena is being too slow.

Finally with everyone inside Iason starts the journey back and Jenna, who got the passenger seat, turns on some music. With the use of the mirror Iason can see that Elena is staring out of the window with her arms crossed and she seems upset whilst Matt and Jeremy were happily on their phones and talking to each other in low tones. 

“Is everything alright Elena?” He might not like her but it is decent courtesy but what does he get in response? A scowl. Jeremy huffs out a laugh and he can see that Matt is also entertained.

“She’s huffy because we said no to her offer on driving Jenna home” 

Ah, that would do it. 

“Well I don’t mind driving for you all but how come you said no to Elena driving?” Elena scowls more and Jeremy huffs out another little laugh.

“You kidding right? Elena's driving is often unsteady and she’s easily distracted with talking and singing. Jenna needs a calm and steady drive and you’re just a better driver” Iason nods, he is a good driver but that might be because of the many years of practice or because he likes to be cautious of anything dangerous. Just because they cannot die doesn't mean they can’t feel pain and Iason would rather spare the people he cares about being hurt. 

The journey is mostly calm with Jenna mumbling along to some of the songs and Jeremy talking about the fighting club he’s joined. It doesn’t take all that long to get back, which is lucky as they have just missed a big bit of traffic as people are driving to get ready for the masquerade ball. 

Once at the Gilbert residence Matt and Elena help Jenna walk towards the door whilst Jeremy unlocks the house and Iason follows slowly behind. Jenna is quite steady on her feet but is a little off balance but she doesn’t trip or stumble which is good. She also doesn’t seem to be in a high amount of pain but that could be because of the medication.

On the steps seem to cause the most issues for Jenna but Matt takes more of Jenna’s weight. “Easy. Grab the door Jer”. Jeremy nods and opens the door for them and then goes inside the house to keep a hold of it so it doesn’t close on them.

“Hey, stop fussing, I'm fine” Jenna protests but everyone ignores her and keeps helping her inside. 

“The doctors said that you have to take it easy”

“Yeah, you don't want to rip your stitches, hemorrhage and die, alright?” Jeremy jokes and Iason can tell that Jenna is both annoyed but entertained.

“Yeah, the only thing I'm gonna die from is embarrassment”

“No” Matt’s tone is very serious and Iason feels bad that teenagers have suffered through grief, some due to his brothers getting involved.

“I walked into a knife. How does somebody do that?” 

“It was a freak accident” Elena rushes to pacify and the boys are also quick to hop on the train. They are all now inside the house and Jeremy has shut the door and they are leading Jenna towards the living room.

“It happens”

“Yeah, I mean I’ve done it like twenty times at the Grill” Matt teases and Iason goes towards the couch and removes anything white, like the cushions which he replaces with the blue ones on the other chairs. Jenna probably wouldn’t like her white cushions to be stained with blood, even though women are quite skilled at getting blood out of stuff it still takes effort that she might not want to put in them. 

At the joke Jenna laughs a little but she quickly winces in pain and Iason can see the guilt on Matt’s face for causing her pain. However, he quickly masks his guilt and continues on to make Jenna feel more at ease and that stuff is normal, “Okay, I'm being nice”.

Jeremy takes over from Elena so that he can help Matt with getting Jenna onto the couch, “Careful”. They are slow with Jenna as they don’t want to cause her pain. 

“Easy, Easy” 

And they’ve done it. Jenna is safe on the couch and she looks to be comfortable. Matt turns to Elena and holds out a bag that Jeremy brought in with him and placed on the floor. “What should I do with this?” Elena walks over and takes the bag of food that they must have gotten before Iason picked them up.

“I got it”

With the bag Elena and Jeremy both go off into the kitchen whilst Matt stays with Jenna to make her more comfortable. She protests at first but gives up quickly, Iason stays and watches them.

“You don’t have to stare you know” 

“Sorry, just a bit worried for you that’s all” Jenna waves her hand loosely in the air.

“No need, I’m all good. The pains not too bad and the stitches are only going to be in for a bit” 

“Yes, but that’s only physical, what about your mental well being? There’s also the issue of finances that concerns me” Jenna groans and Matt throws him a small smile before taking a seat in a spare chair. 

“You speak too much like a doctor,” Iason smiles a little.

“Well thank you, I did go through the training”

“Mentally, only embarrassment. Finances, I’ll think something up” Now even more concerned Iason looks over at Matt who shrugs so Iason looks over at Jenna who’s staring at the ceiling as she’s laying down with a bowl resting against her side. 

“What do you mean? I thought you were all fine?” 

“We are, but the funerals took quite a bit of money and then the cars were also expensive. There’s plenty of money for bills and food but a medical bill? That’s going to cause some issues. I can see if there’s some part time jobs, maybe Elena could get one. No I can’t do that”

“Jenna if you’re struggling I can help” Jenna turns her head and glares at him.

“No. You’re already helped enough, you’re taking care of Jeremy and that makes it easier with money already but to pay for this? No” Iason finds it funny but understandable that Jenna thinks he was offering to pay for her medical bill without him actually offering to help with that. He was, but she just assumed; very dangerous.

“Looking after Jeremy isn’t too bad and I don’t do that much. He still lives with you most of the time, you still feed him breakfast. You’re still doing a lot for him. But Jenna if this is a concern for you then let me help you. And anyways I have plenty of money. Think of it as a rich person paying more in taxes” Iason grins at Jenna as she looks at him, highly considering his offer.

She points at him, “Fine, but you can’t take it back now. Eat the rich and whatever” With defeat she starts to feel for the remote and Iason looks over at Matt and grins whilst he just shakes his head. 

Soon a door being closed brings his attention to Jeremy who is storming out of the house, Jenna gives him a look and he just nods before following after Jeremy. Outside the house Jeremy is pacing a little and mumbling under his breath. Iason watches him pace and doesn’t disturb him, it’s clear he’s thinking about something and trying to come to a conclusion on an action he wants to take or a conclusion on what his thoughts mean. 

Jeremy stops pacing and is about to go off but Iason decides to talk now, “So what are you planning?”. Jeremy quickly turns and looks at him in surprise. Iason is also surprised because he wasn’t really that quiet, is no one keeping an eye on their surroundings? This is how people in the supernatural die. They sometimes forget to be paranoid. He wouldn’t want Jeremy to be overly paranoid but when someone is attacking his family, he should be a little paranoid. Although he is at his house where he should be able to relax, never mind, Iason might need to work more on announcing his presence.

"I’ll ask again Jeremy what are you planning? I can tell that you’ve reached a conclusion so what is your plan?” Jeremy bites his lip a bit and looks away into the distance before looking down at the ground and kicks his foot a little. 

After a few painfully boring seconds of Iason waiting Jeremy looks back up at him. “I want Katherine to pay, she’s gotten away with too much already a-and I want her dead”. Looking at the teenager he can see that pain in his eyes, the sorrow of everything that’s happened. 

Walking over to him Iason quickly brings him into a hug, one arm around his waist and the other resting against the back of his head. Jeremy is quick to hug him back. 

“I know you want her to pay but I would rather you stay away from her. She’s dangerous and wouldn’t hesitate to hurt you” Jeremy goes to speak but Iason shushes him. “No, let me finish first, please. Knowing my brothers they will probably also want her dead so you help them but I want you away from the action. Alright?” Jeremy goes slack against him and sighs a bit before nodding. 

“Yeah…” 

“Alright, let’s go over to them and you can talk about making a plan” 

“Thanks for letting me” Jeremy speaks quietly and Iason sorts out Jeremy’s hair at the front as it’s a bit messy.

“Of course, I know that you would do it anyways and I would rather you be safe whilst doing it” Iason guides Jeremy to the passenger seat and then walks over to the driver seat and starts to drive whilst Jeremy listens to his choice of music.

Iason doesn’t want Jeremy anywhere near Katherine however he and Elena often get themselves heavily involved, no matter how much they know they shouldn’t or people tell them they shouldn’t. Look at the situation with Tyler, Iason told Jeremy to stay away from him but he wanted to get involved and went after Tyler. Now he tells him that he wants to go after Katherine, yeah he’s learnt that Jeremy is too stubborn to not get involved. So if letting him get involved will help with keeping him safe then he’ll let him. However! He’s going to try and get Jeremy out of the need to help more. Maybe a punishment? But that might not help. Help with understanding how dangerous it could be? Maybe if he got Jeremy working with his company then he might not feel the need to get in these dangerous situations. 

The journey to the boarding house shouldn’t take long on a normal day however there is a high amount of traffic so now he’s stuck. But he takes this time to talk with Jeremy again.

“Jeremy” The teen turns and faces him, “This and I mean it, shouldn’t happen again. These situations are getting more and more dangerous and I don’t want you being in danger. There are people out there who are more dangerous than Katherine who might have their eyes on this town. So, as we spoke about it before I’m offering you a job to help with organising the supernatural funeral calls” Jeremy beams at him and Iason finds it a bit strange, he knows that he’s doing something that Jeremy has been asking for but a smile for being asked to help with funerals is a bit strange. He has seen it before as supernatural beings find it a great honour but a human? They don’t often smile when offered a job in the funeral department - unless they are seeking the job first.

“Really? I get to help more?” Iason nods

“Yes, you will be able to help and you will be more safe” 

“Thanks! When can I start?” 

“I will get my friend to call you and she will teach you how to take calls and basic procedures. Then I will get a worker to visit and they will help with teaching more of the company secrets. Oh! Also as a worker you will be warned there may be a chance that you will be asked to help with hiding the bodies of the supernatural if there are no body removers in the local vicinity” 

“Ugh, that was too official sounding” Jeremy gives him a disgusted look before changing the song and bopping his head. Iason looks back at the still traffic and frowns, this is a bit too much traffic for a small town. How many people are going to the masquerade? 

After a way too long journey, mostly being spent in traffic, Iason and Jeremy finally arrive back at the boarding house. Once there Jeremy talks to Damon about killing Katherine who is in agreement and Iason leaves them to quickly call Vera about Jeremy then do some emails. With that all done he goes downstairs where Damon and Jeremy are quite excited and Iason goes over to his crochet basket and sits down.

Caroline is walking about and touching a lot of stuff which keeps distracting Iason because he doesn’t like that she’s putting it back in the wrong place. 

“Oi! Stop moving those” Damon gets up and grabs a little statue out of Caroline’s hand and puts it back where it belongs. 

Caroline turns to give Damon a flat look, “I was not moving it but repositioning it to a better location” She gives him a cheery smile and Damon scowls at her.

“Well Missy, they’re fine where they are and don’t need moving and if you do move it, Iason will have a few words to speak with you” Damon points towards him and Caroline looks at him and gives him an easy smile. 

“Iason doesn’t mind, don’t you?” 

“Caroline all those objects are placed where the sun won’t damage them but still have decent lighting so the details are viewable. Moving them increases the risk of permanently damaging them so yes, I do mind that they’re being moved” Caroline’s smile fades and she looks at the floor repeatedly. 

“Sorry” Iason turns back to his crochet and Damon goes towards the door when there’s a knock and lets in Alaric. Again, somehow Iason and Alaric have not interacted all that much but thinking about it he doesn’t really want to. That’s Damon's friend and involving himself can be overstepping.

The clanking of his needles doesn’t drown out the sound of Alaric going through a box and putting the weapons on the table. Iason pauses his needles and looks at the weapons, those better not scruff the wood. And he goes back to his work. As he’s not always doing the crochet he’s gotten a few orders that he needs to work on. 

When Alaric stops putting weapons on the table Damon talks to his friend whilst Jeremy studies the weapons. Maybe Iason can get him some weapon training? Another knock is heard and this time Caroline goes to the door and greets Bonnie. Iason isn’t surprised by the presence of Bonnie because when there’s a witch who’s helped before the vampires will exploit. Bonnie and Caroline walk into the living room and Stefan, who’s been brooding against the wall approaches the pair. 

“Hey, you brought the grimoire, thank you” 

Iason looks over at Bonnie who is looking over at everyone and after nodding in greeting towards her Iason goes back to his needles. 

“What's going on?” 

Jeremy walks from wherever he wandered to and Bonnie seems to be a bit surprised to see him. “We're gonna kill Katherine”. Iason looks back at Bonnie and sees her looking at everyone with disbelief and Stefan walks a bit closer to everyone, finally joining in the circle. 

“I can explain”

“Please” Bonnie looks at Stefan expectantly.

“We're gonna kill Katherine” 

Iason lets out a small chuckle which Stefan smiles at. It’s always fun when Stefan is a bit more sassy or in general shows more of his personality and sense of humour. Alaric then gains the attention of the room as he lifts a weapon to show everyone but Iason loses interest quickly and goes back to his commission. Thinking on the idea of them killing Katherine makes Iason realise that he doesn’t feel much, no sense of close death or something big happening. The death of a vampire doppelgänger should trigger his senses but it’s not which makes Iason believe something is going to go wrong. Looking over the people in the living room, Iason relaxes when he doesn’t feel death looming over them. So they will be safe. 

“This works with compressed air. The trigger mechanism is up here. I have two of these in a different size. For you I recommend this. It fits nicely under the jacket sleeve. You use the trigger when you're ready” Alaric then demonstrates how the weapon works and Iason doesn’t need to lift his head up to know that Damon and Stefan are giving Alaric a look. “You wanted me to show you how to kill a vampire”

Bonnie still looks at people a bit sceptical and Stefan leads her away from the group to have a ‘private’ conversation with people able to listen in because of super hearing. People start getting ready to go to the masquerade ball and Iason gets a text from Matt talking about maybe going and if he can. Iason quickly informs Matt on what the group is planning and he quickly backs out of going as he doesn’t want to get caught in the cross fire as a human. So the pair makes a plan to have a nice day with some takeout pizza and watching some movies. Somehow no one has asked him to join in which is funny and so he won’t join in but he’s looking at Jeremy in worry. Jeremy is getting too involved and too close to the action. Although he is supposed to just be helping Bonnie with the magic, Iason doesn’t want him to get hurt as people often target the witches and those close to a witch. That could be Jeremy. 

Unfortunately Jeremy is too stubborn and won’t listen to his explanations, so Iason got a promise from Damon to try and keep Jeremy away from harm. Thankfully Damon agreed to that promise and Iason tries to force himself to relax whilst he waits for Matt to arrive. At least one of the boys is able to see how the world is dangerous and being away from it is more beneficial. Taking time to protect the humans causes distraction and that distraction can cause loss of lives or lose chances on removing threats. 

Soon Matt knocks on the door and Iason opens it up for him and the others take the arrival of Matt to leave and go off to the ball. Iason leads Matt over to the living room where Matt goes straight to a couch and groans.

“I’ve missed these beauties” Iason chuckles a little

“You missed the couch?” 

“Yeah, they’re good” Looking at the teen Iason goes over to the table which has been cleared of weapons and grabs the TV remote and puts it near Matt who turns the TV on. Iason doesn’t really care that much about what to watch. He goes over to a small plastic wallet that is hidden inside a cabinet and inside is a massive assortment of takeout locations in the town. Although some of them could be old and need to be binned. Whilst there he also looks over all the belongings on the shelf and makes sure they are all in their correct positions. 

With the plastic wallet Iason goes over to sit next to the now sitting straight Matt to go through the papers. Matt is looking over the movies on the channels but decides to look over physical dvd’s. Those were located in a small room that isn’t used much but the DVD’s are in a filled cabinet and used as sort of decoration. Thanks to Zach for the collection which he made for guests to have some entertainment. 

Whilst Matt is looking for a film Iason is going through the papers and putting the ones he knows has closed down. It’s only one that has closed down because the papers are quite in date, again thanks to Zach, so it makes Iason's life a bit easier. Matt comes back holding two dvd’s and puts one inside the DVD player and sits next to Iason who hands over the take out options. 

Matt is quick to go through them and picks out a pizza place that is a bit more expensive than the others. When Matt presents his chosen place he looks a bit uneasy but Iason guesses that must be because of the price. Matt likely doesn’t go to the place due to the price but has had it from his friends. Iason doesn’t make a big deal on the decision and quickly orders them a pizza each and fries to share and two sodas. Iason is having cheese and sweetcorn whilst Matt is having a meat feast. 

The movies that Matt has picked are Batman Begins and Batman The Dark Night Rises. Two movies that Iason hasn’t watched yet as he doesn’t watch a high amount of action as he quite enjoys musicals and documentaries. He doesn’t mind action movies but there’s so many of them that Iason cannot take the time to watch all of them. He enjoys the reading of the source material but at the same time he cannot look at comics because his brothers would be relentless which is a shame because he’s heard a lot of good stuff about the comics. 

…

He has also collected a lot of the first editions when they came out. He can’t help it! When a new source of media came about Iason wanted to get involved and then he convinced himself that it’s an investment. The truth is he has them so that one day when he no longer has to look after his brothers and prevent their death, he can have a chance at reading more … ‘childish’ literature as his brothers call it. 

So to watch the films Iason is sort of excited to get his first taste at the so-called childish literature his brothers scorned. 

Eating pizza and watching movies to relax is a bit weird to Iason so he does also do some of his crochet work but makes sure that he doesn’t bother Matt and he does keep a good eye on the screen. What is good is that he knows the patterns and he can do it without mostly looking, he does go over and count to make sure it’s right but he can watch the movie. 

Through the second film Iason gets a message from Jeremy that explains how killing Katherine didn’t go too well due to a spell linking her to Elena but it’s all sorted. They are trapping Katherine and Jeremy is driving Bonnie home. Iason is quick to say that he needs to be back after dropping Bonnie off. 

Turning his phone off Iason looks back towards the TV and enjoys the rest of the movie.