open | super super super rusty brief surprise revival...

[otherwise]

Quick and painless — that was a lie. There was nothing quick or painless about having your neck broken. Maybe it seemed quick and relatively painless to the inflicter and the observer, but to the one experiencing that 'quick and painless' death, the brief moments that seemed to go on for hours and sharp spikes of pain unlike anything you've ever felt before said otherwise.

It hurt. It hurt a lot, and the darkness that enveloped him while he waited out his return wasn't exactly what you'd call comforting. Unsettling was more like it. There was nothing. Nothing but a dark veil cast over you, like you were underwater and unable to surface.

But eventually that ice cracked and Matt surged past it, taking a great big gulp of air that went rushing into his lungs so powerfully it startled him. He bolted upright, bumping against the cool metal of the railing that gnashed against the line of his spine. Vision still blurry, a rush of sounds assaulted him: birds, footsteps, voices, and the distinct sound of waves slapping against the side of a boat.

He'd only been on a boat once, with Elena's family out at the lake before her parents passed away, but the sound of water rushing against the side of a boat stuck with him as one of the most soothing sounds he's ever heard.

It had him twisting around and grasping the railing to peer down over it, to try and get an idea of where the hell he was. Had Damon gone back on his word and done away with his body? Had Elena? Had their attempt to get her to turn it back on gone awry?

Matt couldn't say. All he knew was that he wasn't where he should be, this wasn't exactly a boat, and there was a strong possibility that the ring hadn't worked like Damon said he would and death was having a good laugh at his expense over daring to trust the word of a Salvatore.

Comments

[otherwise]

He's pretty sure neither of them can remember the first time they shared a sundae, as it was likely done with the two of them were still in diapers and sticking their hands in the bowl, getting the ice cream all over themselves and everything else.

Matt launches back, bumping into the counter. "Don't you even."

He means the whipped cream. As for the sundae...

"You're on."

[resuming]

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

For all intents and purposes, it looks as though Elena doesn't. She innocently meanders over to him with the bowl in one hand and the whipped cream in the other. When he is least expecting it - this is Matt, however, no one knows Elena Gilbert like Matt Donovan does - she will attempt to dab a dime-sized portion of whipped cream right onto his nose.

Whoops. :)

[otherwise]

She manages because he allows her to manage, allowing her to see the parts of him that are still childishly playful and still very much alive beneath all those hardened layers of a boy who was forced to grow up faster than most should. He played parent and guardian to his out of control older sister, worked and took care of the bills that his mother neglected to pay. Matt behaved like an adult, but he was still an eighteen-year-old not yet out of high school beneath it.

"You're a sneak, Elena Gilbert. A cheat and a sneak."

He grabs a handful of sprinkles and holds it threateningly over her head.

[resuming]

Elena once thought those parts of her were long gone. She liked to ascertain there was more to her than a gloomy graveyard girl, but she'd had her doubts. After the accident, after so many things that followed, she'd forgotten how to live. Maybe a part of her hadn't always wanted to. She's older and wiser now, and she isn't the sad girl lingering in the cemetery anymore. She knows life is hard, and sometimes it will break your heart, but she also knows there's this.

She shrieks and steps back to avoid the sprinkles - but not before dabbing some caramel onto his nose.

"You say that like you've ever minded before!"

Better act fast, Matt. Elena's darting off on a run with a batch of whipped cream in hand.