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This had been a bad idea. A very, very bad idea
Jeremy just wished he hadn't realized it so late.
A party was held at Mystic Falls Lake every first day of summer by the high school seniors, so when Matt asked him and Tyler if they would be going, what else could Jeremy say but 'yes.' This was finally the first summer he was both old enough to attend without looking like a dweeb and also not in the midst of a life or death fight against the supernatural, so of course he had agreed to go and party with his friends like a normal teenager.
Except... well, he wasn't a normal teenager.
Not only was he a Hunter who had a vampire for a sister and a ghost for a girlfriend, but Jeremy was also an age regressor.
Jeremy had been regressing ever since the death of their aunt. Nobody except Elena, Matt, Bonnie and Alaric had known. But after the vampire hunter's death, two others in their supernatural mash up group became aware of his regression: Damon and Stefan Salvatore. While it had seemed like his worst nightmare at the time, it would instead turn out to be for the better.
While both Salvatore brothers had taken the discovery well and treated his younger self with a gentle kindness and his older self with the same amount of respect as before, it was surprisingly Damon who had ended up becoming an even bigger part of Jeremy's life. The two of them grew closer to each other over the course of Damon finding out about Jeremy's regression, in and out of the boy's little headspace, and it wasn't long after that that Damon became his primary caregiver and earned the title of 'daddy.'
It had been hard to convince Damon into letting him go to the party tonight, but in the end allowed it, so long as Jeremy promised that if he drank not to overdo it and to be home by eleven at the latest. Those were easy promises to make at the time, so Jeremy agreed to the vampire's terms and left with his friends late that afternoon.
The first four hours of the party had been amazing, probably the most fun Jeremy's had in a really long time. It wasn't until some of the guys began to do keg stands and goad him into doing it too, that things quickly spiraled out of control. Matt told him to just ignore them, and even Tyler said it wasn't worth listening to them, but one particularly nasty comment later and Jeremy was in front of the keg ready to be lifted despite his friends' protests. He drank maybe less than a quarter of what the last guy drank before he was wrenching the black tube out of his mouth and struggling to be put down.
The second his feet were back on the ground, Jeremy had run as fast and as far away from the group as possible before promptly spewing his guts out behind a tree. It didn't take long after that for his headspace to immediately come crashing down on him like a sack of bricks, which then instantly sent him into a fit of tears.
Now, he sat on the floor of the dark woods next to his sick, desperately longing for the strong but loving arms of his daddy. After what felt like an eternity of sitting alone in the darkness crying, however, he heard the voice of his best friend calling for him from somewhere in the trees.
"Jeremy! Jeremy, where'd you go, man?"
Choking back his sobs, Jeremy called back as loud as he could.
"M-Matt! Matty!"
His voice was raw from vomiting, making him wince every time he called Matt's name, but he didn't stop until he could see the bright light of a flashlight shining in his direction.
"Jer, hey!" Matt came to a skidding halt in front of him, peering down at him with a mixed expression of relief and worry. "Are you okay?"
Jeremy shook his head, emitting a low keen from the back of his throat. "I want my daddy...!" He managed to choke out before bursting back into heavy, gut-wrenching sobs.
A brief flash of panic crossed Matt's face, but he was quick to smooth out his expression so as not to freak out his friend more than he already was.
"Woah, okay, okay–" Matt threw the flashlight on the ground before sitting down beside Jeremy and pulling him into his arms–"I'll call him right now, buddy, okay? It's okay, you're okay."
Matt pulled out his cellphone and quickly punched in Damon's contact as soon as he found it. He only had to wait a total of three seconds before Damon's sharp, worried voice came through the phone's speakers.
"Why is my kid crying, Donovan?"
Matt flinched. Goddamn vampire hearing.
"Uh, well, you see..."
Matt explained the whole situation to Damon. The group of boys. The keg stand. Jeremy running off into the woods to be sick and regressing. And by the end of his explanation, Matt could practically feel the older Salvatore's seething rage and concern through the phone.
"I'll be there in ten minutes. Do not move."
With those final words, the line went dead.
Just like Matt was probably going to be when Damon got there.
"D-daddy coming?"
Matt was snapped out of the horrifying scenarios in his head by his friend's small, choked up voice. He peered down at him and offered what he hoped was a comforting smile.
"Yeah, kiddo. He'll be here real soon."
With the reassurance that Damon was on the way, Jeremy's tears began to gradually diminish. He still clung to Matt like a baby koala, but he at least wasn't crying like before.
"Where Ty-Ty go?"
"He's, uh, making sure those bullies don't ever mess with you again."
"Is he gonna beat 'em up?"
Matt huffed a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, he probably is." He hoped that was all Tyler would do. The last thing he wanted to do tonight was help bury any bodies. "But that's nothing for you worry about, okay?"
"M'kay, Matty."
The boys spent the next ten minutes huddled together on the ground in relative silence, the only sounds being the trees rustling in the light breeze and Jeremy's occasional sniffling. Before long, though, the sound of footsteps making their way towards them garnered their attention. Jeremy stiffened against Matt's side, whimpering as he buried his face into the other boy's shoulder and tightened the grip he had on his shirt. Matt gently shushed him and picked his flashlight back up, aiming it in the direction of where the footsteps were coming from.
"Argh! Watch where you point that thing, Donovan."
The sound of Damon's voice had Jeremy's head snapping up in his direction.
"Daddy!"
Jeremy scrambled to his feet and ran towards Damon, practically launching himself into the vampire's arms. Damon caught him easily, one arm going across the regressed teen's back and the other underneath his bottom for support. Damon just held onto the boy for a moment, a mix of worry and relief on his face.
"Are you okay?" Damon eventually asked, checking Jeremy over for any sign of injury. "You didn't hurt yourself running out here?"
Jeremy shook his head.
"Didn't hurt self, but tummy doesn't feel good an' ev'thing feels all wobbly an' weird."
"Well, doing a keg stand will definitely do that."
Jeremy ducked his head in shame, toying with a corner of the vampire's short-sleeved button up.
"M'sorry, daddy."
"Oh, just you wait, young man. You and me are going to have a very thorough talk when we get home. Then you'll really be sorry."
Jeremy just whined and hid his face in the man's neck.
Damon then turned his sharp gaze to Matt, silently relishing in the way the teen failed to hide a flinch.
"Where's wolf-boy at? He take off for the hills already?"
"Oh, uh, n-no. He actually, um, went after the guys who were being dicks to Jer."
"First good piece of news I heard all night."
Damon took a few steps closer towards the other boy, watching in amusement as his body tensed up and his eyes bulged out slightly.
"I need to get this kid home now, but just so you're aware, you and me will be having a discussion of our own at a later date. Am I clear?"
Matt instantly nodded, swallowing thickly.
"Y-yeah–yes, completely."
Damon peered down at the guilty boy in his arms, giving him a little nudge to gain his attention.
"Say goodbye to your friend. You're going to be grounded for the next two weeks, so you won't be seeing him for a while."
A muffled sob escaped the little boy, but he obeyed and turned his head to look at Matt.
"Bye-bye, Matty. M'sorry I gots you in tr-trouble, too."
Matt just shook his head dismissively and reached out and lightly ruffled his messy hair.
"Don't sweat it, Jer. I'll be alright." Matt shot him a reassuring a smile. "Listen to your dad, okay? I promise I'll come see you as soon as your grounding is over."
Jeremy's face crumpled as a fresh wave of tears spilled down his cheeks, but he still managed to give a jerky nod of his head, before promptly returning his face to his hiding spot in the crook of Damon's neck.
Damon sighed, rubbing a hand up and down the regressed teen's back and pressing a kiss to the top of his head.
"Do me a favor, Donovan."
Matt reluctantly met Damon's gaze again.
"Yeah?"
"Find wolf-boy and get your asses home before you get yourselves into even more trouble."
Matt nodded. "Yeah, will do."
"Good."
With that, Damon turned on his heel and vamped out of the forest in direction of the road.
When he reached his car, he put Jeremy in the backseat and buckled him in, handing him a plastic bag from the trunk in case he got sick again before climbing into the driver's seat. Damon started the car and pulled out into the road, heading for the boarding house. He drove at a much more subdued speed than how he normally did, not wanting to upset Jeremy's stomach any further and force him to use the bag. Plus, it would also give Jeremy time to think about his actions tonight.
By the time they got home, Jeremy was a squirming bundle of nerves. Which incidentally resulted in his belly rebelling again and had him burying his face in the plastic bag. He must have gotten most of it out in the forest, though, because his puking quickly turned into dry heaving.
Damon was quick to get out of the car and make his way around to the backseat, opening the door and crouching down in front of the heaving boy. He set a hand on his back and began to rub soothing circles over the damp fabric of his shirt.
"Easy, easy. Just get it all out, Jer."
The thought of waiting until morning to give Jeremy his punishment very briefly crossed Damon's mind, but he just as quickly thought better of it. Spanking a hungover kid sounded far more disastrous than a drunk one.
Jeremy dry heaved for another minute or two, before his stomach finally settled back down. Damon took the bag from him and unbuckled his seatbelt for him, then helped him out of the car and into the house.
Damon very briefly left Jeremy at the bottom of the staircase while he went to toss the bag of sick out. Once that was taken care of, Damon picked the boy back up and carried him upstairs to the vampire's bedroom. He immediately took a seat on the edge of his bed and gently laid Jeremy over his lap, wanting to get right to it so he could put his kid to bed.
In one swift motion, Damon pulled off both Jeremy's shorts and underwear and threw them unceremoniously to the floor. Now with the boy's backside bared, he raised his hand and laid down the first smack right across both cheeks.
"Why are you being punished, Jeremy?"
Jeremy yelped when he felt the vampire's hand make contact with his bare skin, and would have fallen forward if not for Damon's other arm secured around his waist. His daddy never used all of his strength when he spanked him, but he definitely never went easy on him, either.
"B-b'cause I br-broke one'a da–ah–addy's rules!"
"Yup, that's right. I gave you two rules to follow tonight. Just two. Yet you still managed to break one." Damon moved his hand further down and began to swat Jeremy's sit spots, putting just a little more force into those to really drive home the message. "And exactly which rule was it that you broke again?"
Jeremy choked back a sob, tears freely falling down his face. "D-drank too m-m-much gro–owwww–grown-up j-juice! Wasn' 'posed to h'abe l-l-lots!"
"Exactly that. I told you that you were allowed to have a couple of drinks, but under no circumstances were you to get wasted. And definitely not do keg stands, either."
Damon alternated between smacking both of Jeremy's cheeks at once and his sit spots, keeping a firm, steady pace as he neared the end of the spanking.
"I give you these kinds of rules for a reason, Jeremy. You may be a Hunter and a Gilbert, but you're also still just a kid in high school–my kid, my little boy. I need you to be safe, and what you did tonight, was the farthest thing from safe. You could have ended up in the hospital for more than one reason, Jeremy. Do you understand that?"
"Ye-yes! U-u-uner'sand, daddy! I uner'sand!" Jeremy sobbed, hands twisted in Damon's pant leg. "P-p'ease n'more! M'sorry! M'sorry, d-daddy!"
Damon steeled himself against his little boy's heartbreaking cries and pleas and delivered the final swats to the kid's red backside.
"You. Do. Not. Disobey. Daddy's. Rules!" Damon enunciated every word with a strike to Jeremy's backside. "Your. Safety. Is. Important. And. Matters! Do. I. Make. Myself. Perfectly. Clear?"
With two final smacks to the boy's sit spots, the spanking finally came to an end.
"Y–huh–essssssss!" Jeremy wailed, back arching in pain before slumping back down over Damon's lap. "Clear, da-da-daddy! B'ery cl-clear!"
Damon lifted the boy upright and pulled him into a tight hug, while making sure to keep his freshly spanked bottom from making contact with his lap. Jeremy immediately latched onto him and pressed the side of his face against Damon's shoulder, tears soaking into the dark fabric of the man's shirt as his body shook and heaved with guttural sobs.
"M'sorry, d-d–huh–daddy! M'sorryyyyyyyy!"
"It's all over now, pumpkin. Daddy forgives." Damon began to gently rock the crying boy back and forth, letting him cry it all out. "You took your spanking so well, babyface. Just try to breath now, okay? Daddy doesn't want you to get sick again."
Jeremy managed to do as Damon said, taking deep, shuddering breaths in-between his sobs.
"There you go, Jer Bear. Good boy."
Damon rubbed and pat Jeremy's back as he continued to rock him, periodically pressing kisses into his tousled, slightly damp hair.
After an indiscernible amount of time had passed, Jeremy's tears gradually began to slow and his sobbing turned into hiccups. Even once Jeremy had stopped crying entirely, though, Damon still kept ahold of him for a little while longer. It wasn't until Damon felt the boy yawn that he finally conceded and moved to stand up. Jeremy whimpered when Damon's arm went under his bottom as the man got to his feet.
"Shh-shh, I know, Jer Bear. I'm sorry."
Damon carried Jeremy into the bathroom adjoined to his room, setting him down in front of the toilet.
"Go potty and brush your teeth. Daddy's gonna go grab you some jammies and Penny, okay? Oh, and remember, the extra toothbrush is in the top left drawer."
"Sleep in daddy's bed t'night?" Jeremy asked, knuckling his right eye.
"Yup, you'll be sleeping in daddy's bed tonight and for the next two weeks."
Jeremy nodded, another yawn escaping him. "M'kay. Like sleepin' in daddy's bed."
Damon almost wished he could have gotten those words on video, because while little boy Jeremy may have liked sleeping in his daddy's bed, angsty teen Jeremy was going to put up a fight when he was told. Damon swallowed the amused laugh that bubbled in his chest.
"Don't want jammies, though," Jeremy added, grimacing and yelping slightly as he sat down on the toilet. "Want one'a daddy's shirts. P'ease?"
Damon couldn't help the sappy smile that spread across his face. "You got it, baby boy. I'll be right back."
The vampire made his way to Jeremy's room first, grabbing a Mickey Mouse pull-up from the case inside the closet, Penny the stuffed yellow duck from her place on the boy's bed, and a blue pacifier from the little box on top of his dresser. Lastly, Damon returned to his bedroom and dug through his own dresser for a minute for a shirt his kid would sleep comfortable in. He ended up choosing an old, soft cotton Tee the members of Kiss on the front.
After setting the pacifier on his nightstand and stuffed duck on his bed, Damon made his return to the bathroom with the shirt slung over his arm and the pull-up in hand. Jeremy was just rinsing the toothpaste out of his mouth when Damon walked back in.
"Let's get you ready for bed, Jer Bear," Damon said once the boy stepped away from the sink.
After Damon got Jeremy into his pull-up and helped him into the Kiss T-shirt (both of which made him look even more like a little boy), the man led him by the hand back into the bedroom over to the bed. Jeremy's sleepy eyes lit up when his gaze landed on the yellow duck atop the vampire's bed.
"Penny!" Jeremy exclaimed before letting go of Damon's hand and running up to the bed, picking the duck up and hugging her to his chest.
Damon pulled the blankets back and beckoned the boy to climb in. Careful of his still smarting bottom, Jeremy crawled in and lowered himself down onto his belly, cuddling Penny in the crook of his arm. He yawned again, fingers inching toward his mouth.
Damon was quick to grab his wrist and pull them away, though.
"No fingers, baby boy." Damon held the blue pacifier to the little boy's lips before he even had the chance to protest. "That's what your paci's for."
Jeremy easily accepted the soother, sighing contently through his nose as it began to bob between his lips.
Damon pulled the blankets over Jeremy and brushed the boy's bangs back, planting a kiss on his forehead. Jeremy's eyes were practically shut, but Damon could tell he was still fighting sleep.
"It's okay, you can go to sleep, bud. Daddy will be here when you wake up. I promise."
Damon started to run his fingers through Jeremy's hair, until the little boy's breathing slowed and evened out in sleep. Damon couldn't resist giving him one more kiss on the forehead.
"Sweet dreams, Jer Bear."