I don't need forced hand-me-downs from kinky strangers, no. ( And Peter was very liberal with Damon's use of his credit card. ) Compulsion here isn't what it used to be. So, ts'a moot point.
( He sets his jaw, looking back the way they came. )
You and Hope can relax. I won't make everyone my blood slave.
( His eyes do his 'eye-thing,' how Elena once described it as he makes his way back up the path toward the beach. )
( That's it. You're her best bartender and you can't handle being in the same room with him, or you can and Hope's underestimating that. Either way, it's not Damon's place to rat her out. He's banned. It's fine. )
Well, okay. It's obvious where this is going. With a wry smile, Michael stops, and looks at Damon. ]
This isn't about the house. It never was, this is about Subversion.
[ He should've known. God, he absolutely should have. Hope never told him how that turned out, though. She'd just said, give her a week. And he had. And it had been fine. ]
This is about the house. And, what I was promised to be, acceptable, affordable threads. ( Affordable being free. ) This is about compulsion and you and Hope knowing my secret. I thought it would be good for you to know that compulsion's off the table.
( He is not ratting out an 18 year old. Michael will probably try to keep prying and prodding. )
[ That's a spiel he's not buying. Something clearly went down, something that had rattled Damon. He wouldn't have thrown in that bartender comment, otherwise.
This is deflection, and Michael knows it. It's not deflection without base, though, so he'll go with it. At least for now. ]
I didn't think you'd compel them. [ He moves up to stand beside him, close to him, meeting his eyes. ] That'd be stupid, our powers aren't what they should be here. And you're not stupid.
And yeah, I know your secret. I know a lot of your secrets, we were close. And you trusted me, but you don't know that anymore.
[ He's a different person, Dick had said. Well, Dick was right. Dick's usually right, that's a thing. ]
So I'll tell you why you trusted me in the first place. A secret for a secret.
[ At which point, the network device flies from wherever Damon's keeping it, and lands neatly in Michael's waiting right hand. He holds it up between them, offering it back to its owner. ]
( He called him stupid, so, great. Damon used it twice and apparently that makes him stupid. He loves that. Thanks, Michael. He comes in close and Damon squares off, but doesn't move any closer.
Hm. He didn't earn this. But, apparently, Michael wants to take the lead. It's nice when Damon's just led to new information he didn't ask for. Information that - well, it doesn't impress him, because he's seen that before.
He feels the device slip out of his front pocket and watches it fly into Michael's awaiting hand. He thinks Damon invited him with an ulterior motive in mind. He really hadn't. Earning his way back into Subversion, what does that get him? Getting to know what he was like, like Klaus had told him to? )
[ Michael smiles, more at himself than anything else, because he should've expected that. Witches, magic. That's a thing Michael's just getting used to himself, but Damon's familiar. He tilts his head. ]
No. I'm an alien, Damon. New for you, I know. Short version: we crashed into Roswell in the fifties. We weren't a weather balloon, or a gas leak, or whatever the hell they said.
Most of us are dead now. Me and two others, we were in stasis pods, and woke up twenty years ago in the desert, alone. We've been hiding ever since. It's less of a secret here than it was there. But for what it's worth, the first person I told here was you.
[ He points at him with the device, and his lips tick upwards. ]
You kept mine, I kept yours. Trust's easier when it goes both ways.
And I'm supposed to trust you because I trusted you before. And you trust me.
( They don't owe each other anything. )
Hope banned me. From Subversion. On your behalf. This wasn't about that. I wasn't even going to say anything. I'm working at The Magic Bell, so don't turn around and tell her you're fine with me. She'll think I bullied or compelled you. We don't have to be -- who we were to each other.
( They also don't have to be weird with each other, either. )
For the record, I think Hope should give you more credit.
Michael had said he couldn't do it. He couldn't go into Subversion every day, couldn't see Damon, didn't want to deal with that every time he was working. Because it would always remind him of what he lost.
Because he always loses everything. Love is always temporary. Kindness is always currency, connection is conditional, and everyone, everyone leaves.
We don't have to be who we were to each other, Damon says. Except that neither of them had wanted to end it, and it was taken from them anyway. That's just how it goes for Michael. That's how it'll always be.
But Hope hadn't had conditions. Her kindness hadn't been currency, she'd just been loyal. When you're the kid who no one loves, that kind of loyalty? That's the hero move. He couldn't owe Hope Mikaelson more. ]
I didn't ask her to. [ And he hadn't known, but that doesn't matter. ] I told her I'd leave. Twice. Once when you were gone, once when you came back. She wouldn't let me.
Look, I don't want you to lose Subversion. Or Hope. Or-- anyone, or anything. You meant something, Damon. You were the exception to all my rules, until you weren't. You don't know how hard it is to look at you and not...be everything that we were.
[ Except that maybe he does know. Damon isn't a stranger to heartbreak, or to being left behind. Michael knows that.
He's not going to hit him with it, though. He also knows what it's like to have a stranger know all your secrets, when you didn't choose to trust them with it. He wants to be that guy as little as possible, while still being honest. ]
That girl, Hope...she's trying to protect me, and people don't do that. So she's okay. You want to come back, I'll deal with it. I'm not fine with all of this, but I want to be. I will be.
( He doesn't know what he'd want Michael to say, so he doesn't say anything. He just says what he needs to say. Whether he feels like Michael deserves that, or whether he's putting Michael on, he doesn't know. Or, maybe Michael is putting him on, standing this close. )
I told you not to. Don't make me make you. The last thing I need is for her to think the first thing I did is find you.
( Hope needs to believe he's over it. He is, anyway. But, it doesn't do him any good if he and Michael are really on the outs. )
You know that sounds like me. All the pushing. I'm just the one doing the pushing. Why do I feel like even though this is a severed connection you'll never give up on me.
( On his soul. Until he does something horrible to someone he loves. )
Because you could never push me away, either. You still matter to me, I
still love you. Maybe I always will.
[ Nothing's ever diminished that feeling in him before. If it hadn't
gone away for Alex after Alex left him deliberately for ten years, it
wouldn't go away for Damon, who'd never meant to leave at all. ]
(It always has been for him, thanks to Katherine. And thanks to feelings he developed for Elena. And here, he found happiness with friends and Michael. It's hard to believe, not that he couldn't ensnare anyone, but that Michael would really love him back and choose him. He'd found his infatuations. And he'd had his fair share of hookups. But, he never found someone who found and wanted him. Not really.)
[ His situation with Alex is incredibly complicated and painful. It's a sad story. It always has been, and Michael just wanted something that wasn't. Something that didn't hurt like that did, something that didn't feel like a crash landing.
( He thinks about telling him. Peter Osborne. Jeff's Dominant. His couch. And, soon enough, someone's place. (Not his. He's a submissive.) But, he holds his hand out to get his phone back. )
You do. You've got my number.
( Whether he'll get over it. Is he over Katherine? Pissed, yes. But not over her. Rockets red glare, bombs bursting, he was - there, right there, and then, 'It was always Stefan.' Michael should get over it. Him. It wouldn't do them good to try this again. Even if Damon wanted to. He misses being the walking upperhand.
[ Michael opens his hand and the phone flies back to him, landing without error.
Will he call? He doesn't know. He's not traditionally very good at that, even when it's not someone it doesn't hurt to talk to. He doesn't promise anything, because there's no point in making a promise he thinks he'll break. ]
See you around, slick.
[ He turns to head back along the beach, back towards Kyle's house. ]
( There it is again. Was he Michael's city boy? Is this a City Slickers' reference? He watches him go - just for second - before speeding away. If Michael does look back, he'd see the space Damon once was in. )
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2021-03-07 07:16 pm (UTC)( But, you are the expert here. )
I don't need forced hand-me-downs from kinky strangers, no. ( And Peter was very liberal with Damon's use of his credit card. ) Compulsion here isn't what it used to be. So, ts'a moot point.
( He sets his jaw, looking back the way they came. )
You and Hope can relax. I won't make everyone my blood slave.
( His eyes do his 'eye-thing,' how Elena once described it as he makes his way back up the path toward the beach. )
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 12:07 am (UTC)[ Michael lifts his eyebrows as Damon turns away. ]
Me and Hope?
[ What's that story? Clearly it's something. He moves after Damon, feeling like he's missed some crucial beat to this. ]
I never thought you would. What's going on?
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 12:10 am (UTC)( That's it. You're her best bartender and you can't handle being in the same room with him, or you can and Hope's underestimating that. Either way, it's not Damon's place to rat her out. He's banned. It's fine. )
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 12:31 am (UTC)Well, okay. It's obvious where this is going. With a wry smile, Michael stops, and looks at Damon. ]
This isn't about the house. It never was, this is about Subversion.
[ He should've known. God, he absolutely should have. Hope never told him how that turned out, though. She'd just said, give her a week. And he had. And it had been fine. ]
What happened?
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 12:34 am (UTC)( He is not ratting out an 18 year old. Michael will probably try to keep prying and prodding. )
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 12:42 am (UTC)This is deflection, and Michael knows it. It's not deflection without base, though, so he'll go with it. At least for now. ]
I didn't think you'd compel them. [ He moves up to stand beside him, close to him, meeting his eyes. ] That'd be stupid, our powers aren't what they should be here. And you're not stupid.
And yeah, I know your secret. I know a lot of your secrets, we were close. And you trusted me, but you don't know that anymore.
[ He's a different person, Dick had said. Well, Dick was right. Dick's usually right, that's a thing. ]
So I'll tell you why you trusted me in the first place. A secret for a secret.
[ At which point, the network device flies from wherever Damon's keeping it, and lands neatly in Michael's waiting right hand. He holds it up between them, offering it back to its owner. ]
Will that work for you?
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 12:47 am (UTC)Hm. He didn't earn this. But, apparently, Michael wants to take the lead. It's nice when Damon's just led to new information he didn't ask for. Information that - well, it doesn't impress him, because he's seen that before.
He feels the device slip out of his front pocket and watches it fly into Michael's awaiting hand. He thinks Damon invited him with an ulterior motive in mind. He really hadn't. Earning his way back into Subversion, what does that get him? Getting to know what he was like, like Klaus had told him to? )
So you're a witch.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 12:58 am (UTC)No. I'm an alien, Damon. New for you, I know. Short version: we crashed into Roswell in the fifties. We weren't a weather balloon, or a gas leak, or whatever the hell they said.
Most of us are dead now. Me and two others, we were in stasis pods, and woke up twenty years ago in the desert, alone. We've been hiding ever since. It's less of a secret here than it was there. But for what it's worth, the first person I told here was you.
[ He points at him with the device, and his lips tick upwards. ]
You kept mine, I kept yours. Trust's easier when it goes both ways.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 02:39 am (UTC)New Mexico. )
And I'm supposed to trust you because I trusted you before. And you trust me.
( They don't owe each other anything. )
Hope banned me. From Subversion. On your behalf. This wasn't about that. I wasn't even going to say anything. I'm working at The Magic Bell, so don't turn around and tell her you're fine with me. She'll think I bullied or compelled you. We don't have to be -- who we were to each other.
( They also don't have to be weird with each other, either. )
For the record, I think Hope should give you more credit.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 02:59 am (UTC)Michael had said he couldn't do it. He couldn't go into Subversion every day, couldn't see Damon, didn't want to deal with that every time he was working. Because it would always remind him of what he lost.
Because he always loses everything. Love is always temporary. Kindness is always currency, connection is conditional, and everyone, everyone leaves.
We don't have to be who we were to each other, Damon says. Except that neither of them had wanted to end it, and it was taken from them anyway. That's just how it goes for Michael. That's how it'll always be.
But Hope hadn't had conditions. Her kindness hadn't been currency, she'd just been loyal. When you're the kid who no one loves, that kind of loyalty? That's the hero move. He couldn't owe Hope Mikaelson more. ]
I didn't ask her to. [ And he hadn't known, but that doesn't matter. ] I told her I'd leave. Twice. Once when you were gone, once when you came back. She wouldn't let me.
Look, I don't want you to lose Subversion. Or Hope. Or-- anyone, or anything. You meant something, Damon. You were the exception to all my rules, until you weren't. You don't know how hard it is to look at you and not...be everything that we were.
[ Except that maybe he does know. Damon isn't a stranger to heartbreak, or to being left behind. Michael knows that.
He's not going to hit him with it, though. He also knows what it's like to have a stranger know all your secrets, when you didn't choose to trust them with it. He wants to be that guy as little as possible, while still being honest. ]
That girl, Hope...she's trying to protect me, and people don't do that. So she's okay. You want to come back, I'll deal with it. I'm not fine with all of this, but I want to be. I will be.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 03:04 am (UTC)It hurts you, seeing me. Really hurts you.
( He kicks the gravel underneath his shoe. )
Subversion isn't mine anymore, so it wouldn't be coming back and it wasn't offered to me.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 03:24 am (UTC)He comes up to him, comes close, meeting his eyes without fear.
Softly, now. ]
What do you want me to say, Damon?
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 03:29 am (UTC)( He doesn't know what he'd want Michael to say, so he doesn't say anything. He just says what he needs to say. Whether he feels like Michael deserves that, or whether he's putting Michael on, he doesn't know. Or, maybe Michael is putting him on, standing this close. )
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 03:33 am (UTC)It's not your fault.
[ He hesitates, then adds: ]
You told me, no matter what I did, I couldn't push you away. Because that's what you did to people, so you wouldn't leave.
And then they took you, anyway, and they took it all. My beef is with them, not you.
[ Maybe some day he'll have the chance to express that to them. Probably not any time soon.
He takes a step back. ]
You want me to talk to Hope?
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 03:41 am (UTC)( Hope needs to believe he's over it. He is, anyway. But, it doesn't do him any good if he and Michael are really on the outs. )
You know that sounds like me. All the pushing. I'm just the one doing the pushing. Why do I feel like even though this is a severed connection you'll never give up on me.
( On his soul. Until he does something horrible to someone he loves. )
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 06:06 am (UTC)[ Michael lifts his eyebrows. ]
Because you could never push me away, either. You still matter to me, I still love you. Maybe I always will.
[ Nothing's ever diminished that feeling in him before. If it hadn't gone away for Alex after Alex left him deliberately for ten years, it wouldn't go away for Damon, who'd never meant to leave at all. ]
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 07:20 am (UTC)(It always has been for him, thanks to Katherine. And thanks to feelings he developed for Elena. And here, he found happiness with friends and Michael. It's hard to believe, not that he couldn't ensnare anyone, but that Michael would really love him back and choose him. He'd found his infatuations. And he'd had his fair share of hookups. But, he never found someone who found and wanted him. Not really. )
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 11:12 am (UTC)Always.
[ His situation with Alex is incredibly complicated and painful. It's a sad story. It always has been, and Michael just wanted something that wasn't. Something that didn't hurt like that did, something that didn't feel like a crash landing.
Now there's this. ]
We were happy. For what it's worth, we were.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 05:38 pm (UTC)( He doesn't know if it's worth it - or what it's worth. He doesn't have that. It wasn't his. It doesn't feel like his. )
I believe you. We were happy.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 05:45 pm (UTC)I should go. I'm sorry about the clothes.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 05:55 pm (UTC)( as he backs away. )
I get it. Why it hurts. Hurting you. Doesn't hurt less. And I'll stay way. Don't go back to Hope. You want anything, you know where to find me.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 06:00 pm (UTC)I don't, actually. Know where to find you. Dick said you split.
[ Something about a Dominant's couch. ]
I won't go to Hope. I'm not saying--
[ He rolls his eyes. ]
You don't have to stay away forever. I thought I'd never see you again, and I'm glad...that's not true. I'll get over it, Damon.
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 06:09 pm (UTC)You do. You've got my number.
( Whether he'll get over it. Is he over Katherine? Pissed, yes. But not over her. Rockets red glare, bombs bursting, he was - there, right there, and then, 'It was always Stefan.' Michael should get over it. Him. It wouldn't do them good to try this again. Even if Damon wanted to. He misses being the walking upperhand.
He needs his. )
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 06:12 pm (UTC)Will he call? He doesn't know. He's not traditionally very good at that, even when it's not someone it doesn't hurt to talk to. He doesn't promise anything, because there's no point in making a promise he thinks he'll break. ]
See you around, slick.
[ He turns to head back along the beach, back towards Kyle's house. ]
no subject
Date: 2021-03-08 06:13 pm (UTC)