A/N: Hi, I'm sure you're raging, why is she starting yet another story when she has so many unfinished ones. Let me explain. I have a lot of stories in my head that can be multi-chapter fics, but I sort of lack the motivation to carry them out from start to finish. So I've decided to just write a series of one-shots featuring all my favorite Bonnie pairings as they come to me. Some may follow canon, others will be AU, some AU/AH, and I might even do some crossovers. I'll let you know beforehand.
The first one is Stefonnie and its way AU/AH. I had written it for Stefonnie Appreciation Week but didn't like it. So I'm brushing it off and putting it out there. This might be the only one-shot I'm breaking up into two parts because I do have more written but these are just the first 9 pages. I need to finish the conclusion.
To give a brief summary: Bonnie and Stefan are actors on a show called The Doppelganger Diaries, and they're running lines...and running lines. Just read to see what happens. No kink. Not yet.
Disclaimer: These characters are the creative property of LJ Smith and The CW. No copyright infringement is intended.
He had to read it again. And the second time he did made no more sense than the first time his eyes scanned the words. Perhaps if he squinted that might improve the writing on the page, or maybe if he held the script further away, or perchance he could translate it into another language? No. It was no use. It was official now. He was on the crappiest show in the history of American television! This being only the third season out of six he was condemned to this hell for another three years.
Slapping the script on his crossed legs, Stefan Salvatore ran a hand over his face before pinching the bridge of his nose. Using the breathing exercises his expensive ass therapist taught him, he inhaled deeply through his nostrils before pushing the air between his lips, lips that were seconds away from curling in a grimace before revealing his naturally long incisor teeth. He had been teased about his "fangs" back in elementary and junior high school. Had been the butt of countless Count Dracula jokes, and people wondering if Nosfertau was a distant relative. As soon as he entered high school, though, his luck with the ladies changed and there was never any shortage of women who found his canines, hot. Plenty of girls, especially around Halloween literally wanted him to take a bite and eat them. Stefan being a slave to obligation felt it had been his civic duty to carry out such orders.
But alas, high school was over, college was a wrap, and he was an actor now struggling in the sense to make the most out of an unforeseen situation. Stefan would never look at his blessing like a curse though it was slowly turning into one. Being on a show that catered to one of the most popular genres and lore that had been revived in the last couple of years meant he'd have to deal with the endless comparisons to sugary sweet, family friendly movies that humanized the undead and made mortality seem like a death sentence rather than a gift. Cursed was he to play the anti-hero in love with a special snowflake danger magnet competing with his brother for her affection and the ownership of her panties.
He sighed again and thought not for the first time if he should have declined this role and gone with the other where he could have portrayed a rookie cop toeing the line of enforcing the law or cheating the system.
The other show had since been canceled due to poor ratings. So Stefan used that as motivation every single morning he dragged himself out of bed in his rented high rise apartment in the suburbs of Virginia where his show based off a 5-part book series aptly titled The Doppelganger Diaries was being filmed. He was twenty-eight fucking years old playing Jason Stark, a nineteen year old clone of his super genius great-grandfather whom his character just discovered was a doppelganger that was in love with his girlfriend's doppelganger; so in some weird way he and his girlfriend may be related. Complete and total bullshit, Stefan thought.
Yes, he could bemoan the terrible plot and the melodrama of the show but it afforded him a comfortable lifestyle, stylish perks in the form of an overflowing bank account, free admission into concerts and the hottest nightclubs around the globe, dates with some of the most beautiful women in the entertainment business, and having his entire wardrobe provided by the fashion designer he was now the face of.
Stefan wasn't exactly immune to the rush he got at attending conventions and seeing fans wearing shirts with his face, screaming his name and vying for his attention. Hands reaching out to make some kind of contact with him, girls in hysterics willing to sell their mothers for just five minutes of his time. That small bit made the job bearable yet at the end of the day Stefan wanted what every actor wanted. Critical acclaim and to be seen as a serious actor in the eyes of his peers. Stefan was apt enough to realize that would never happen so long as he remained on a show that lacked originality and merely borrowed the story lines of other cult shows without even attempting to add a more creative spin to what had been done before.
His job was simple: act. That's all he was being paid for, unfortunately. Not to think. Not to worry about fan reaction to upcoming story lines that he knew they were going to despise. Stefan was to say his lines with as much or as little emotion as the scene called for, say "thank you" and "please" and to clear the set as soon as he wrapped.
Rising from his chair located in his trailer, Stefan placed the script on the make up counter and then looked at his reflection.
Many had described him as having Roman-Greco features and he did posses those: deep set leaf green eyes that sometimes appeared gray in direct sunlight under thick dark brown eyebrows, aquiline nose, proud jaw line which was probably his best feature, under a crown of bronze and auburn hair. Sure enough it was his near perfect symmetrical face that landed him the role. That and his six-pack he was basically asked to show before he even uttered a single line in the monologue he had studied and memorized.
Stefan remembered feeling the breakfast he consumed that morning was about to make a flamboyant appearance as soon as he walked into the room filled with executive producers and writers. But he tramped down his mounting anxiety and got through the audition without humiliating himself. Leaving with sweaty palms, the next forty-eight hours of his life had been exhausting and ulcer inducing as he waited to hear from his agent if he had gotten the part or not. For months he had been slumming on his best friend Lexi Branson's couch and he could hear the exasperation in her voice every time she returned home from work to see he hadn't moved from the position she had left him in eight hours before.
ATM's laughed whenever he strolled by one, and his father didn't offer any help or support with his finances. Stefan was a literal starving artist so this job couldn't have come at a more desperate time in his life.
Once he received the call, signed his contract, Stefan should have known that he had also sold a small piece of his soul away. He couldn't recognize it before because the euphoria of being selected to play such a beloved character in the young adult supernatural genre blinded him, but he had set himself up to talk about this disgrace of a show for the next ten plus years of his life. Prayerfully when it was all said and done he'd have some street cred left.
There was a knock on his trailer door breaking him from his thoughts. Clearing his throat and running his tongue over his bottom lip, Stefan bellowed:
"Come in."
The door opened and his entire face instantly lit up as his eyes took in the elfin female who walked up the short flight of steps into his trailer closing the door behind her entry. Vanilla assaulted his nostrils and Stefan took in as much of her clean scent as possible. She was already dressed in her wardrobe for the scene they were about to shoot, and Stefan noticed she held her script, Samsung Galaxy, and an herbal tea bottle in her hands. She came to rehearse and run lines.
"Hey, you busy?" she asked in a cheery voice with a beguiling smile.
Stefan shook his head and then motioned toward the leather couch that was propped up against a wall. "No, unfortunately I'm the opposite of busy. I'm guessing you're here not to gossip but to deal with the latest script change?"
Viridian eyes rolled and dainty shoulders shrugged. "This show never lacks surprises, I'll give it that much. What do you think about the latest development? It's the best, amirite?" the sarcasm was heavy in the air.
Stefan snorted, picked up his script and then he and his co-star had a seat on the leather couch, facing one another.
He didn't pay any mind to the fact his heart was beginning to race just a little behind his sternum at the sight of Bonnie Bennett probably the hottest and one of the sweetest actresses he ever had the fortune of working with. Growing up Stefan prided himself on having a type: olive-skinned, tall, with dark eyes. Bonnie didn't meet that exact mold but she was beautiful with sienna brown skin, a heart shaped face with bright and curious malachite eyes, and a crooked mouth in the shape of Cupid's bow. A mouth he went to bed every single night dreaming about the day he would finally get to taste with his own.
He cleared his throat and shifted against the couch when he noticed that his dark jeans were getting a little tight and uncomfortable around the crotch area. It didn't help matters that Bonnie was dressed in an itty bitty skirt that left those toned legs of her exposed, manicured toes painted a metallic green winking at him in a pair of strappy sandals. Thankfully the camisole top she was wearing came with a knit cardigan offering a modicum of modesty.
Bonnie was one of the first people Stefan instantly connected with. She too had been another starving actress and had done some bit parts in B movies that went straight to DVD release. But where he had to rely on the charity of his close friend, Bonnie had her mother and father that supported her and her dream though she often complained they weren't as tight knit as her folks would like to appear. They thought she was wasting her time with acting, never thought she'd make a lucrative enough living to survive for more than a couple of months at a time. So landing the role of psychic Cataleya Reinfeld had been a big middle finger to her disbelieving parentals.
Though their characters were close in the books it was not translating on film. In fact Jason was a downright asshole toward Cataleya which sometimes made going into work painful for Stefan because, and he tried to fight it as best he could, but unable to help or stop himself at this point, he was falling in love with Bonnie.
He couldn't even pinpoint when it started to happen, when things started to unravel. He just remembered walking into the room for their first read through and their eyes locking. Bonnie had been one the first cast members to arrive that day and he remembered every small detail about her, down to the jewelry she had worn. Within minutes a kinship and intimacy had been born between them as they found out they shared similar backgrounds and experiences, though there was plenty of things they didn't have in common. If he had to name someone as his best friend on set, Bonnie was in the top spot.
Stefan tried as best he could to keep his feelings under wraps. Especially when it became obvious that Bonnie and their other co-star Kol Mikaelson were getting closer. The day he found out about their relationship was the morning he was eating Fruity Pebbles and was perusing one of Lexi's tabloid magazines and came across a puff piece on Bonnie being seen leaving a restaurant with Kol in tow. That wouldn't have been cause for his blood pressure to skyrocket the way it did until he saw the other photos of them one) holding hands and then two) sharing a quick kiss before the paparazzi decided to stop following them. The show had yet to take off then and since they played supporting characters they weren't important enough to stalk—yet.
With prickly clarity Stefan remembered going into work the following day and the rest of that week feeling sick to the stomach. Bonnie with her mother hen-ish ways tried to get him to talk, and open up about what was going on with him since he had taken to snapping at any and everyone who so much as dared to breathe the same air as him. Stefan had shut her down and shut her out. He needed time to figure out why he wanted to strangle Kol every time he saw him.
To his utter joy, months later, Bonnie and Kol amicably ended their relationship. Down side, Bonnie confessed to him she had no interest in dating anyone else for a while, and viewed the rest of the guys on set as her brothers. Stefan felt that fate was worse than being friendzoned.
When he looked at her, brotherly thoughts were the last thing traipsing through his mind. She was poetry in motion, enticing to the senses and what made everything equally frustrating and astounding was the fact Bonnie was completely ignorant of the pull she had over the male species. Bonnie was quiet and determined but when she spoke people listened, and when she laughed it made you smile. But lately she had been going through the ringer as her father was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, and Stefan did everything in his power to be there for her.
So it was both heaven and hell sitting this close to Bonnie and knowing he had to keep his hands to himself. She viewed him as a brother and he knew if he wanted anything more with Bonnie, he'd have to bide his time and wait for her to make the first move. He just didn't have confidence enough that time would ever come.
Interrupting his own reverie, Stefan flipped through the pages of the script until he arrived at their scene. They had five pages of dialogue to cover and most of it was Jason being a stereotypical, entitled and privileged dick—his alter ego since his brain had been tampered with by his great-grandfather's rival Maximilian von Rasputin, which was a ridiculous name in Stefan's opinion but played by Kol's older, real life brother Klaus Mikaelson. This was also a show that had no such qualms about hiring family members. Stefan's own brother Damon sometimes had a guest spot on the show playing an alcoholic, womanizing ghost hunter who could never seem to stay out of trouble.
Finding his spot in the script, Stefan pressed his lips together and then had a thought. He turned to face Bonnie who had been busy texting while he mentally prepared himself. Boldly, Stefan reached over and plucked her electronic gateway out of her hands and stuffed it between the cushions of the couch.
"Seriously, Stefan," Bonnie deadpanned crooking her finger. "Give me back my phone."
"You'll get it back when we're done. We need to get in character, Bonnie and that phone was keeping you preoccupied." Pause. "I want to try something."
Sighing heavily, Bonnie said, "What?"
"We pretty much know how to play off one another and this scene between Jason and Cataleya is no different than the hundred other scenes we've filmed. Your character is being unnecessarily, but rightfully judgmental and Jason is tired of hearing her mouth so he's inexcusably rude to her. Cataleya tries to get through to him, and Jason rewards her efforts by threatening her life. End Scene. I want to skip to the end where Jason and Demi are having their moment."
Bonnie gulped. She knew which scene Stefan was talking about since she read it this morning, and felt it was the only decent part of the script. Demi was Jason's girlfriend though the couple was going through a rough patch at the moment. But in the scene Jason finally sees through the lies that had been implanted in his head that Demi never betrayed him with his brother. At least not yet, but everyone knew it was coming since Demi and Jason's brother Owen were getting far too close for comfort.
Uncertainly reign supreme on Bonnie's face from what Stefan could tell. "Shouldn't you rehearse that with Elena?" she questioned and nibbled a corner of her lip.
Stefan knew that's what he should be doing since Elena Gilbert played the girl his character loved. But again, they had an established chemistry where it would take next to nothing to convey the tone of the scene and execute it flawlessly.
He slid a little closer to Bonnie who thankfully didn't shift on the couch to place more space between them. Stefan could see her pupils dilate and he wondered what she might be thinking; that maybe he was trying to reenact the horror stories of the casting couch where directors sometimes overstepped boundaries and made moves on gullible actors and actresses that were willing to do whatever to took to make it in Hollywood.
That thought made him cease all movement and add a smile to his face to erase any mounting suspicion Bonnie might be having.
They were close and knew a great deal about one another; however, they didn't know everything about each other and Stefan had to constantly remind himself not to give too much away. If he couldn't be anything more than friends with Bonnie he knew he'd have to teach himself to accept it. But there were some days where she gave off mixed signals or the impression that she might be tempted to the dark side. It was never anything explicit or overt, but just that she'd sometimes linger by his side while they waited for the crew to set up the next shot, constantly coming to him for advice, or insisting they sit next to each other at craft services—her thigh sometimes touching his, or she'd deliver that shy half smile when nothing was being said between them.
In the grand scheme of things, Stefan knew those actions mounted to nothing more than friendship to Bonnie. Nevertheless, a man could dream.
"I could rehearse that with Elena but she's being dolled up to play her doppelganger Katherine. I just wanted to attack the scene from another angle," Stefan said. "Please?" he tacked on making sure to deliver his best heart melting puppy dog eyes.
The second he saw Bonnie's shoulders slump he knew he had gotten his way. Bonnie very rarely told him no.
"All right," she said trying her best to sound put off. "We'll run through the scene but only once and then we need to go over our lines. Agreed?"
Stefan tossed his head back like a servant at an imperial court. "You know I'm at your service, ma'am," he rose from the couch and then offered his hand toward Bonnie. The minute their skin connected that uncanny rush and spark careened through him to which he expertly ignored, and pulled Bonnie to her feet.
Each of them began to pace, eyes flying over the lines, and when they were ready they faced each other.
Bonnie opened up the dialogue. "I knew I'd find you here."
Stefan presented his most brooding face, "I want to be alone."
"Typically when people say that they mean the opposite. Jason…I don't want to keep pushing you, but…"
"Why are you here, Demi?" he cut her off. "Why is it so hard for you to get it through your thick skull that whatever you and I had I don't remember and I don't want to remember because if what Celeste said is true, my past is filled with nothing but pain…" Stefan stopped. "This is what I'm having trouble with."
Bonnie blinked, officially out of the moment. "Having trouble with what?"
Stefan braced his hands on his hips and cleared the space between him and Bonnie. He reached up and cupped her cheek, trailed his thumb along her jaw line, and stared unblinkingly into her eyes. A divot formed between her brows but then melted and reappeared within seconds.
"Why Jason is so quick to believe everything Celeste tells him but not the woman he loves? Though he can't remember everything, feelings leave impressions and he has to feel something when he's alone with Demi, but it's like she's acid to him. Things were good between Jason and Demi and in my opinion I feel the writers are trying to beef up the angst in the wrong way."
"So," Bonnie coughed to remove the dry lump in her throat. "What would you do to change it?"
Tilting his head a little to the side, Stefan looked away for a moment but hadn't removed his hand from Bonnie's face. After a considerable pause he refocused his attention on her once more. The color of his eyes deepening to emerald.
"I'd look at the woman I love and I'd tell her, 'There's something about you that I just can't shake even if everything in me and around me is telling me we don't belong together. But I feel it here," he picked up Bonnie's hand and placed it directly over his heart, and lowered his voice. "Something is in there that won't budge and I don't think it ever will, and if I'm being honest, I don't want it to. It makes me feel alive, attached to the earth, weightless. And I know you feel it, too. I want to find out what it is. Will you help me…Bon…Demi?"
Bonnie stared at Stefan stupidly. Being a method actor she knew he was merely improvising, but something about this felt like more than just taking liberties with his own character.
She attempted to say something, anything but it was like her brain at that moment decided to take a hike. Unexpectedly, Bonnie's skin began to tingle and she literally could hear her heart beating. She never had this kind of reaction toward Stefan before, not even while they filmed a scene and he was half naked for a majority of it. Though it was oftentimes difficult getting there mentally in a room full of people, now they were alone and she was on the receiving end of something she couldn't name or put a finger on, but it was powerful and pleasantly shocking. Her cheeks burned and she was tempted to rupture the spell by looking away from the net cast within Stefan's gaze, but she was immobilized.
Knowing that she should just go with the flow, Bonnie nodded as she imagined Demi Lambert—the girl in love with brothers—would.
"That's all I've ever wanted to do, Jace was help you."
"I know the best place to start."
"Where?"
"Here," Stefan lowered his head while tilting Bonnie's chin up and slanting his mouth over hers.
The first contact was like seeing a shooting star or a meteor shower—a one of the kind event that you'd remember well into your golden years. She tasted sweet like the lemon flavored tea she had been drinking, and her lips were decadently pliant and supple as they molded against his. Stefan wanted to take his time though the base part of himself wanted to ravish her. The kiss, like the words he just spoke was spur of the moment, unscripted much like his personal life, and with what control he possessed he tasted Bonnie's mouth as if he had just bitten into a juicy, ripe melon.
Bonnie had no idea what to do with her hands and was vaguely aware that they had balled Stefan's flannel shirt into a fist. Being that he was significantly taller than her, she stood on her toes to deepen the kiss that was slowly sparking her arousal, cooking up her insides. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Bonnie should have yelled "cut" after the immediate press of his lips on hers, but she went with it and now she was drowning. Rescue came in the form of an artful tongue that gently prodded the opening of her mouth to which Bonnie eagerly welcomed inside. Inadvertently she groaned as her tongue teasingly slid over Stefan's and what started off innocent was quickly delving into the explicit. Releasing his shirt, Bonnie's hands slid up the muscular expanse of Stefan's chest, circled his neck, before burrowing into the blunt hairs at the nape.
Why was she still kissing him? Bonnie didn't know. She only knew it had been eight months since her last kiss that didn't happen on camera, and she missed feeling the warm, hard press of a male body against her much softer and curvier one. Plus, at the end of the day she trusted Stefan.
Things turned aggressive the second teeth sank into her upper lip before a swipe of a cool tongue extinguished the painful pinch. Stefan's hands which had been holding her around the waist slid up her she sides before journeying back down her spine, slowly, unhurriedly, and contoured to the moons of her well-endowed backside.
A rush went through Bonnie as she clutched Stefan tighter, lungs burning and in desperate need of air, but for whatever reason she couldn't end the kiss though reasons began to ping pong around in her head that they were friends, professional colleagues, and shouldn't be kissing like they were seconds away from having some of the most explosive and awesome sex of their lives.
Where was this side to her coming from to begin with? Bonnie idly wondered but the thought was canceled out before she could find a sufficient answer. Her feet were no longer on the ground; she was being lifted below the knees and hoisted up.
For just a second her lips disconnected with Stefan's and they stared at one another with half-lidded orbs, noses touching. Their heavy breathing matched, contractions took place deep within her womb, and it hadn't escaped Bonnie that something like steel had been pressed against her stomach only seconds ago.
Stefan was hard for her and…yep she was definitely wet for him. So fast? Normally it took more than kissing for her juices to get going but that's all it took with Stefan?
Holy fuck he was harder than bricks encased in concrete. The couch was less than two feet away and all he'd need was a head nod of consent for him to lower Bonnie to the sofa, peel her out of her clothes, slide into her warmth and…
"Stefan, I…we…I should go."
No! His mind raged, but forlornly nodded his head and placed Bonnie on her feet. She didn't waste a second putting the entire trailer between them, avoided his eyes and digging her phone out of the couch with shaky hands.
He opened his mouth to apologize but Stefan wasn't sorry he kissed her. He did slightly panic wondering if Bonnie thought he took advantage of her, and maybe deep down he did. For years Stefan wanted to do nothing more than to have the freedom to kiss Bonnie when the mood struck, but he never crossed any boundaries. He wouldn't and didn't dare. He had too much respect for her and now he wondered if he had blown Bonnie's respect for him to smithereens.
"Bonnie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for things to go that far."
With her back still to him, Bonnie stiffened. Too many emotions were running a train on her at the moment and all she could really focus on was escaping. When they first met she might have been curious if Stefan was a good kisser as she often found Elena blushing for hours after one of her heavy make out sessions on film. But he had solidified himself as one of her best friends and a surrogate brother. Being anything more was forbidden.
Briefly Bonnie looked at Stefan and saw that he had paled some. Though his face looked apologetic the noticeable tent in his jeans looked defiant. Flushing to her roots when she caught herself staring unabashed at his erection, Bonnie stared at a point over his shoulder.
"I'll see you on set," Bonnie tossed out hastily, gathered the rest of her things and scampered to freedom.
Alone, Stefan ran his fingers though his hair and cursed.
TBC
A/N: Okay, if I can finish the rest of this I may post it directly following this or wait a few other one shots before doing so. I've always wanted to write a story that pokes at the show and the actors, so if this came off as more Paulerina than Stefonnie, couldn't really be avoided. Nevertheless, thank you dolls for reading. Let me know what you think. Until next time, love you.
