Chapter 1, Age Of Desire.
Damon Salvatore is stunned. Well, maybe the right word to use isn't stunned, but since he can't find a word perfect and equivalent to describe how he feels this moment, he'll go with stunned. He's stunned, because he can't believe that he's had that in front of him for two years after Elena went to sleep and he didn't see it.
He leisurely runs his eyes up and down the length of his best friend's body –from heel, to smooth bare leg, to bare thigh back, to short-covered butt, to top-covered back, to neck- wondering how in the world he didn't recognise Bonnie Bennett as Freaking-Hot-Bonnie-Bennett, during all the time that he spent at her side. Seriously, where was the testosterone part of his vision all these years when he looked at her?
'Bonnie?' his subconscious calls out for her.
He can't believe it's taken a simple takeout dinner in her kitchen, and then her washing up their plates in her usual sleeping attire (and him observing through all this), for him to notice her as more than just friend material. Something must've been wrong with him before now.
'What?' she responds without looking back at him.
He didn't expect her to look at him, to be honest, because this is them being themselves and casual. If he'd used a more serious tone, she would've stopped what she's doing to give him all of her attention, but he didn't and so she didn't react as such. Because she doesn't face him, he goes to her and places himself between her and the sink.
Although she looks at him as though she's wondering if he's lost a little bit of his mind, she doesn't say anything about it, she only takes a small step backwards, to make more room for him to stand on. What he wants, however, is not to keep standing in front of her, but to orbit her for further inspection, which is what he starts to do. He takes step after step around her, making sure to keep his eyes on her body parts, and once or twice on her face as he does so.
'Isn't it weird how we've both been single all this time?' he asks her thoughtfully.
He needs to inspect her from face to feet, to try and figure out how he missed her girlfriend-material beauty and body, because he can't understand how his head missed it all this time.
'What's weird,' she says, holding his arm so that he can stop going around her, 'is you circling me like you're doing some freaky spell.'
'You're the witch in this equation, remember?' he replies, moving away from her side to stand in front of her. 'And stop changing the subject.'
It's a fact that Bonnie doesn't like to talk about her relationship status with him. She's told him that on several occasions and she's specifically told him that her love life is hers alone, and he should butt out of it, if he knows what's good for him.
'You stop circling me,' she counters with a pout, adding, 'And no, it's not weird, it's normal.'
Pfft, Damon thinks, mentally eye rolling, normal his foot! It's no coincidence that they've been actively single for two years and that invested in spending time with each other instead. Until the realisation he came to him a second ago, he couldn't see that there must be some kind of kismet conspiracy at play in their lives here.
'Come on, Bon,' he tries to explain it to her, 'you're too hot for words, and I'm just a tad over that, so don't you find it weird that we've been single?'
In the past two years, he's never had to battle to find girls. In fact, for his sexual fix, he gets around, but he never sees any of the girls as ones that he can expand into his life for more than just sex. Hell, all the girls he's slept with this far, he hasn't even compelled a drink for beforehand. It takes one heck of a girl to compel a drink for, and only Bonnie knows how many drinks he's compelled for her just for the fun of it.
'No,' she answers straightly.
'Well, I do,' he tells her sincerely, 'and I just figured out why.'
'I'm not going to ask,' comes out of her mouth, sounding like she's going to disregard whatever he says anyway.
'You and me,' he announces like a genius light bulb idea just struck him, 'we're supposed to be together!'
Pulling her face back, Bonnie asks a very appalled, 'Excuse me?'
He easily expected that she wouldn't take his conclusion like that right away, and for that, he's already prepared a logical explanation for her benefit.
'Think about it,' he carefully starts to present.
In this moment, he believes that he's got one chance to deliver his evidence to will influence her. That's why, at least for now, he's got ten separate pieces of evidence that he's going to tell her, to help her realise that he's right.
'Think about what?' she questions, her face not changing.
'I know all there is to know about you,' he resumes. 'I know about the freckles under your makeup. I know about the hair under your weave. I know how you look in a bikini. I know how your cooking tastes like. I know you talk in your sleep. I know what's like to live with you. I know how needy you get during your period. I know your favourite things back to back. I know about the scar under your left boob. I know all your dirty little secrets, Bon,' he finishes his listing.
Apparently unimpressed, she asks him, 'And?'
And, he thinks, he's not bothered by them. And he's still here with her, day in and day out. And he wouldn't trade any of those things for others. And well... and that's just proof!
'All that's missing,' he chooses to tell her instead of what he was thinking, 'is knowing how you kiss, how loudly you scream during sex, how it's like to shower with you, and then we're set.'
It's that simple, he thinks in the brief silence that follows his words. If she didn't get it before, she's sure to get it now.
'Like boyfriend and girlfriend?' Bonnie asks after two short blinks.
'Yep,' he moves his head up and down, proud of himself for getting her to understand what he means. 'And oh, I just remembered, I've had your blood plenty of times. By choice.'
That's a definite plus, as opposed to having her blood by necessity. All the signs are pointing to them being together, she just needs to swallow them and then digest them.
He waits for her to respond to that, actually, he waits for her to agree with him, but she only draws her eyes together. After a few seconds of looking at him with a frown, she thins her lips too.
'Damon,' finally comes out of her mouth, 'there's no universe where you and me could cuddle and bath together.'
Okay, that's not what he expected to hear from her. He thought he'd hear something along the lines of, 'You know what, Damon, I think you're on to something.' Clearly she has her definitions of a relationship too, but she's apparently not willing to see him with her in it. Because of that, he frowns this time around.
'Because?' he curiously wants to know, a little thrown off that she didn't even consider it.
'I'm not a placeholder for one Elena Gilbert, that's why,' she answers right away like it's been at the tip of her tongue all along.
Ah, Elena. Elena Gilbert is Bonnie's problem? Well, Elena isn't here right now, is she? Instead of telling her that, though, he tries another argument, another approach.
'Come on, Bon, think about it,' he says. 'Would you rather have some loser stroke you or me, who you've known for most of your life, treat you with respect, because you mean the world to me?'
Instead of being some loser's girlfriend, she can be his. It's not so much that he doesn't want to see her with another guy, but clearly, if she didn't manage to meet someone all these years, then she should at least try a thing with him and see if it works. It wouldn't do any of them damage to try being together. Like he said, they know all there is to know about each other, except the sex part. It wouldn't be hard for them to be in a relationship, not when they already care about each other.
As though hearing his thoughts, she shakes her head to disagree with him. 'It just wouldn't work, Damon.'
Although he notes the tinge of defeat in her voice in what she says, he ignores it, choosing not to dwell on it, but rather to focus on convincing her to be in a relationship with him.
'It will,' he insists animatedly. 'You trust me, I trust you. We know each other's limits and we're best friends. It's the perfect recipe for success.'
Like she's actually considering his words, she eyes him quietly. She studies him for such a long time without saying anything, that he partly forgets that she's supposed to answer her agreement to him. It's when she lets out a soft breath through her mouth, that he's reminded to try and persuade her again.
'You know you want to,' he says, wiggling his eyebrows.
Still, she only keeps considering him in silence, making him think that he has to try harder.
'Okay, let's do a test drive,' he suggests, starting to feel a little desperate, 'if you don't like it, then that's that.'
He's not particularly desperate to be in a relationship or have a girlfriend, but observing Bonnie while she did the dishes, opened a part of his mind that was closed before and now he can't shake the idea out of his mind.
'No,' she finally delivers with a set finality.
'No to the test drive, or no to you being my girl?'
'Both,' she sternly answers and then turns her back on him. 'I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Damon.'
With her back to him and her walking out of the kitchen, he picks up that she won't talk about this anymore.
'Fine,' he accepts. 'I'll let go of it for now, but you know I'll try again, right? You know that about me.'
'Lock my door after you leave,' she tells him over her shoulder, leaving him with the feeling that she just set a challenge for him.
With a satisfied smile, he watches as she disappears from his sight altogether. Whether or not she challenged him to try for success again, he'll definitely try again. Now that he realises that she's been under his nose, he won't let his 'what if' discovery chance pass him by.
Chapter 2, Break Your Plans.