Damon/Alaric

Damon/Alaric is a popular slash pairing in The Vampire Diaries fandom.
==Canon Relationship==
Alaric Saltzman meets Damon Salvatore for the first time back in his own home in Duke where he has to witness how Damon feeds from his wife Isobel. Isobel Saltzman disappears and Alaric starts to search for the monster which presumably killed her.
His search leads him to Mystic Falls where - after the death of the high school history teacher/football coach - he finds a job as a history teacher. 
At the end of episode 1x11 "Bloodlines" they meet for the first time in the bar of Mystic Falls - the GRILL - and Alaric has a hard time trying to calm down when he realizes who is sitting almost right next to him. They meet properly an episode later, when Alaric is one of the overseers at the high school dance and he introduces himself to Damon. Later he sees Damon, Stefan and Elena kill a vampire and is discovered by Damon who tries to compel him. Alaric, who knows about the supernatural, is prepared for a situation like this and has vervain ready.
The tension between the two of them increases even more when Damon finally realizes who Alaric is and in 1x15 "A Few Good Men" teases him about feeding from his wife in front of the whole audience at the bachelor auction.
Alaric decides that the time to act is there and follows Damon back home with a stake. They fight and Damon punctures Alarics lung with the stake. Coughing blood, Alaric dies - only to wake up again after a few hours. A gift from Isobel - a ring - protects him from staying dead if the reason of his death has to do with something supernatural.
In 1x17 "Let The Right One In" Elena and Damon ask Alaric for help because Stefan is abducted by a group of rogue tomb vampires. While watching the interaction between Damon and Elena, Alaric discoveres that just maybe Damon might be more than just a killer. In the fight with the rogue tomb vampires Alaric even saves Damons life. Team badass is born - although Alaric still doesn't like Damon much.
 
In this scene, and many others just like it, Damon is shown to enjoy provoking Alaric just for the feel of the hunter’s hands on him. He enjoys taunting Ric to an unnatural, and lets the hunter rough him up and punch him, taking the hits with a dopey smile on his face.
After that they start developing first their working relationship (as they work together to solve their supernatural problems) and later actual friendship. By season 3 they consider themselves best friends and drinking buddies, but there is tension when Alaric and the other members of the gang are constantly on Damon’s case for his problem-solving methods (when they were the ones demanding his help in the first place). Damon, overwhelmed by all of the pressure and expectations of him, snaps Alaric’s neck in an argument (after checking if Ric is wearing his ring), but instantly takes his friend’s body back to the Salvatore Boarding House and waits for Alaric’s revival. Alaric, naturally feeling betrayed and angry, stops being Damon’s friend for a few weeks, but they still work together. They manage to renew their friendship after Damon apologizes and Ric starts losing time. The pair share a beautiful goodbye, and Damon is by Ric’s side as his best friend is on the verge of death, but is ultimately forced into transition thanks to Esther’s manipulation. When Alaric turns into the enhanced original, his soul is seemingly gone, but Damon doesn’t give up on his friend, and is holding Ric in his arms when Ric dies due to his link to Elena.
Damon and Jeremy Gilbert take Ric's death especially hard. In fact, everybody else seems to have moved on within days, while Damon’s still saving Ric’s seat at the grill for weeks afterwards. After Alaric came back to life, the two seemingly effortlessly went back to the way their relationship operated before Alaric's death. 
Fanon notes:
- drunk makeout sessions / drunk, naked sleepovers.
- hunter/vampire trope.
- CANON: Damon knows his way around Alaric’s apartment, from where the vervain darts are hidden to the maps slipped behind cabinets.
- CANON: Alaric automatically assumes that any visitor at his apartment is Damon, and often opens the door in just his underwear and undone pants to find that Damon is not, in fact, at his door.
- CANON: Damon, standing in front of Alaric in just a towel, does a little shimmy before throwing the towel at Alaric.
- CANON: Their first few meetings are in the exact same places that (canon couple) Jenna and Alaric hit it off. 
- CANON: Damon likes to make Alaric’s personal space his own, and Alaric stops questioning it long before their friendship is solidified.
— Alaric, the hunter who specifically designed weapons to kill Damon, shows Damon his stash. But Damon isn’t looking at the weapons (well, he is, but he’s more focused on Alaric’s lips and eyes.)
==Fandom==
::For fandom's take on the platonic side of Damon and Alaric's relationship go to Alaric & Damon
Damon/Alaric has been one of the first slash pairings in the fandom (along with Damon/Stefan and Jeremy/Tyler) and it managed to keep its popularity over the years (most likely due to the ever growing canon material). In the spirit of Buddy cop movies, once Damon and Alaric started to work together on the show and started developing friendship, a lot of fans saw the slash potential.
They are often referred to as Team Badass. It stems from Damon calling them "badass" in season 1.
Their friendship always plays a crucial role in the way fans portray them in fanworks.
Damon/Alaric are sometimes accompanied by a third character. Most common Dalaric threesomes are: Damon/Alaric/Elijah, Damon/Alaric/Elena, and Jenna/Damon/Alaric . Damon/Alaric/Enzo gained some following after both Enzo and Alaric returned from the dead.
===Dalaric Fan events===
* Februaty 23-February 24, 2014 Damon Stan Club hosted a mini-event on Tumblr that concentrated on Dalaric underrated moments. 
Entries were tagged with dsc dalaric.
===Common Tropes and Relationship Fanon===
* Vampire!Ric - in the majority of fanfics, Damon is the one to turn Alaric into a vampire, either to save his life or as a next (final) step in their relationship
* Drinking buddies - Damon and Alaric are often referred to by other characters (both in fanworks and on the show) as each other's drinking buddies, though it's often followed by some sort of acknowledgement that they were much more than that
* Alaric looking after Damon from The Other Side - this was a trope that started appearing in fanworks after season 3 finale.
* Secret Relationship - in some fanworks Alaric's relationship with Damon remains secret (or a non-secret where they hide, but other characters are aware of the relationship), often due to the fact that one of them is still in a het relationship
* Elijah - some writers introduce Elijah to the Damon/Alaric dynamic, in a side pairing, or in a threesome moment, though very often Dalaric remains the primary relationship and is the dymanic with most emotional content.
==Archives & Communities==
*Stories with Damon and Alaric on Fanfiction.net
*Fanworks with Damon/Alaric on ao3
*damon_alaric LiveJournal community
*Dalaric - Team Bad-Ass Buddys Facebook page
==Example Fanworks==
===Fanfics===
* Alaric Saltzman and the Vampiric Potions Partner by pleasebekidding, a Hogwarts AU, When Damon Salvatore came back to Hogwarts in seventh year, there was something different about him
* Watching You Like This by kwritten, Alaric watches Damon live his life after he is gone.
* Preliminaries by scy, Alaric didn't mean to hang out with Damon
* The History of Seduction by scy, Alaric is a scholar
* Much More Complicated by iphignia939, “Damon snapped your neck and you got up to kill vampires with him and punch him in the face. For him, that’s like a valentine.”
* The compromise by pleasebekidding, based on needs must, Hookerfic, Alaric has needs, Damon has needs. Alaric can afford to pay to have his needs met; Damon's life is a little more complicated.
===Fanart===
* I miss you too, buddy by ShadowDark1
* Thanks for the memories, Alaric by ShadowDark1
* The Seat's Taken by Syllirium
* Freaking lanterns by Syllirium
===Vids===
* Something There (Beauty & The Beast) by slashettes
*Dropped by natitasha
* This seat is taken by Juste Gaga
* Thanks, Friend by Victoria666100
===Other===
* 'The Vampire Diaries' Pimping, version Damon/Alaric by silviakundera, a ship manifesto written during season 1
* Dalaric fan fiction recommendations, accessed December 26, 2014
==Resources==
* Damon and Alaric page at The Vampire Diaries Wiki
==References==
Category:Slash Pairings
Category:Vampire Diaries Relationships