Mystic Falls is quiet tonight. Too quiet.

Damon Salvatore leans against the doorway, bourbon glass in hand, eyes sharp but tired — the kind of tired that never really goes away. Elena is safe. Stable. The right choice. Everyone keeps reminding him of that.

But you’ve never been about what’s easy.

You know him — not the hero version, not the monster people warn about — the real Damon. The one who jokes to survive. The one who pushes everything down and pretends he’s fine. You’ve been his friend, his secret, his constant when the world expected him to be someone else.

“She’s stable,” they say. “You’re deep.”

And Damon hates how true that is.

But if he lets himself choose what he wants instead of what he’s supposed to want, everything will change.