Loving Elena was always so easy. It came natural to Bonnie, like slipping on a pair of old gloves, or breathing.
She had no memory of the first time they'd met, but it was a story that Mrs. Gilbert told often. The way a tiny baby Bonnie had crawled over to comfort a fussy baby Elena, who had immediately grown quiet and stared at the newcomer in a way that Mrs. Gilbert described every time as "enraptured."
Bonnie secretly hated this story, not because of anything to do with Elena, but because Mrs. Gilbert would then go on to describe the way Abby Bennett had laughed to see the scene. A rich, elysian sound, she'd say.
After some years, Bonnie finally asked her what "elysian" meant, the vocabulary a bit much for the young girl. Elena's mother had thoughtfully said that it was the kind of laugh that made the whole world brighter, the kind of laugh that made your chest feel tight and ache with joy when you heard it.
Bonnie couldn't remember the way her mother's laugh sounded. She wouldn't have even known what she looked like if it weren't for pictures.
But Mrs. Gilbert was always so kind to her, inviting her over for dinner on the nights when Grams had to teach late classes. She went out of her way to make sure Bonnie felt as little as possible of the sting of Abby's absence and Rudy's neglect. Bonnie knew that Elena's mother didn't have to ask her how her day went every afternoon when she'd come home with Elena, and she certainly had no obligation to include Bonnie as a second daughter on career day.
One time when they were just becoming teenagers, she even dressed Elena and Bonnie in fancy party dresses and sat between them at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant. When the woman leaned over to Elena and told her in hushed tones how beautiful she would be dancing with her escort when she was old enough to enter, Bonnie murmured her agreement, imagining her best friend in a big poofy gown, twirling around the courtyard like a princess.
Mrs. Gilbert had turned to Bonnie and the smile on her face had been so bright that Bonnie thought she felt that mythical ache in her chest, that maybe she too could understand what "elysian" meant.
And so, she never asked Mrs. Gilbert to stop telling the story of how Bonnie met Elena.
They were fourteen when one of their slumber party bedtime snuggles somehow ended with Bonnie's lips pressed soft and tentative against Elena's. She held her breath and leaned back, afraid to open her eyes and see the look on her best friend's face.
She felt Elena's fingertips brush her cheek, and she blinked in surprise. Before her in the darkness, lit by the cool flickering of the muted television, Elena gave her a small, cautious smile.
They leaned into one another again, lips meeting with a little too much force. Bonnie clutched Elena's arm nervously.
Elena had kissed boys before, Bonnie knew of course. Boys always noticed the vibrant brunette, and it had taken some time for Bonnie to realize that she wasn't jealous of Elena, she was jealous of her suitors. She was stingy with her best friend, for reasons that grew clearer and clearer as their lips grazed and brushed together.
Later when Elena was fast asleep, Bonnie lay awake with an arm slung across her friend's waist. She marveled, reliving the moment on an endless loop, the memory of it playing across her skin like electricity. She had kissed Elena.
And Elena had kissed her back.
A/N: This story has been in my head for a while, and it spawned from an epiphany I had about Bonnie's interactions with/martyrdom for Elena: her actions make a lot more sense in the context of a desperate, possibly unrequited, love affair than as platonic best friends. So from that seed grew this concept of what Bonnie Bennett's life would have been like if she had been in love with Elena all along. Of what the consequences would have been for the Mystic Falls universe at large.
This is AU, and though I'll be dipping in and out of canon elements from seasons 1 and a little of 2, the story won't be limited by it either.
Later chapters will earn the M rating, and I'll change the rating at that time.
I meant to get this ball rolling during Rainbow Bonnie Week on tumblr, but I am sloooow, lol. Anyway, really hope you guys like this! Love you, please R&R!