Damon couldn't pinpoint when he began this analogy in his mind, but he realized that for a while he had been likening Bonnie to a bird.
Bonnie Bennett was certainly nothing at all like a fragile little bird. She was the opposite: hard and strong and determined. No, there was nothing docile and weak in her nature. But sometimes Damon wondered about a hint of vulnerability that must surely exist underneath all that crushing power. He forgot, sometimes, that she was just a young girl, barely eighteen, who could be living a very normal life with a boyfriend and a part-time job and a college brochure sitting on her family room table waiting for her to plan her average human future.
Except that Bonnie was not a normal girl and she couldn't be living a normal life, even if there were no vampires in Mystical Falls. She was a witch, and the supernatural was bound to be drawn to her eventually. Even so, she was capable of having a youthful lightness about her. Sometimes a spark of that lingered in the way that Bonnie smiled or laughed or brightened the room. But most of that was gone, now. She'd been through too much and her spirit was hardened. It was rather as if she could be a powerful bird of prey and a vulnerable sparrow all at once.
Maybe it was that Damon wanted to see this exposed side of her. A side where she was simply Bonnie Bennett, teenage girl, and not Bonnie Bennett, power-wielding witch. The latter he respected enormously (which of course he would never say out loud- he had a reputation to upkeep, after all) but the former he was incredibly curious of.
At any rate, there was a moment where the metaphor slipped. He certainly hadn't meant to; though he called Bonnie names all the time and there was probably always an undercurrent of a reluctant affection attached to them, he never wanted to be blatant about it. It was hard to admit to himself as it was. The first time it happened, he wasn't even sure if Bonnie had heard him. The second time it happened so quickly Damon hadn't even time to think before the words left his mouth. He may have been recklessly impulsive but he was also the master at deflecting. Talking about his feelings was just something he didn't do. At least not with Bonnie Bennett. So when the nickname jumped out of his throat, he balked. But he wasn't smooth about it. Definitely not a regular Damon move.
The first time happened not long after Damon had fed Bonnie his blood to save her when she'd been controlled to complete Alaric's transformation into a monster by feeding him her blood. She looked so fragile then, twisted and lying on the ground, the blood from her neck flowing alarmingly like a river, staining her 1920s dance dress. He hadn't even hesitated to kneel by her side, but there was a second of disbelief as he looked over her small frame. She looked delicate and weak, and Bonnie Bennett was normally anything but. It disturbed him. But the second passed and he bit into his wrist and pressed it to her mouth, forcing the iron liquid down her throat until she started to drink it voluntarily after a scary few moments when it looked like she wasn't going to respond.
Bonnie looked so frail, so unlike herself; as she twitched and sucked his blood against the ground, half propped on his lap, his hand holding up her head, he was reminded again of a small bird, young and weak and in need of saving. How rare was it that Bonnie Bennett needed saving, Damon thought. She was always saving him.
Her feeding was beginning to slow, and Damon lifted her up higher, holding up her head. "Come on, little bird," he whispered with a tenderness in his voice that surprised him, pressing his wrist further against his mouth, and her small hands gripped his arm and her nails dug into his skin as she drew in his blood. Her eyes blinked rapidly as she began to realize what was going on and who she was feeding from. The confused sleepiness left her face and a scared reluctance took its place. But thankfully Bonnie still fed and was healed as much as she could be.
It happened a second time later in the day, when they were waiting for Abby. Bonnie must have been feeling lightheaded after nearly being drained despite the fact Damon's vampire blood certainly sped up the healing and saving her life in the process, because she tripped against the sofa. Perhaps it was because Damon felt he had seen too much of a frail Bonnie in one day, he wasn't sure, but he was by her side in a flash, gripping her shoulder.
"Easy, little bird," he said, without thinking, and his eyes widened a split second after the words left his mouth. Bonnie, who had initially looked mistrusting and annoyed at Damon's contact, now just looked shocked and bewildered.
Damon felt he needed to backtrack somehow, because the way he said little bird was different from how he normally said witchy and judgey. It was softer and more… revealing. Revealing in a way that Damon was definitely not okay with, especially concerning Bonnie Bennett, of all people.
Bonnie opened her mouth to speak and closed it; it was if a few seconds had turned into a few hours, or perhaps it was Damon's vampire senses in overdrive, but he could hear Bonnie's spike in heartbeat and smell the rush of her blood and he could feel himself tense in a freakishly nervous way (Damon Salvatore simply didn't do nervous), his hand still holding her shoulder tight. Her heartbeat had quickened but her breathing stilled- Bonnie's brow was furrowed slightly like she was trying to figure something out and was unable to do so.
Still, this all transpired in a mere second or two, and Damon, being Damon, quickly pretended nothing happened, letting go of Bonnie's shoulder. "Being a bloodbank puppet to feed Alaric's Psycho alter-ego certainly took a lot out of you, eh, Witchy?" The familiar nickname was almost an unconscious plea from Damon for Bonnie to forget the not-so-familiar nickname he had just used.
Glaring at him, Bonnie shouldered him out of her way more forcefully than she actually needed to, making him smirk. She bounced back fast. "You know that wasn't my fault," Bonnie countered, moving to sit down on the sofa. "Not to mention I can still give you an aneurysm at will." A ghost of a grin pulled at her lips, as if challenging him to push her.
Damon raised his hands in mock defeat, sitting down on the couch opposite her. "No need to get your drawers in a twist." Crossing one leg over the other, he added, "You know, you really should be thanking me. I did save your life, after all. "
Bonnie stared at him stonily. "Thank you, Damon. Thank you for once not acting like a completely horrible, disgusting person so you can keep around the witch that constantly saves your ass and everyone else's."
Damon sat up defensively. "That's not the only reason why I-" he started, but faltered- because isn't that why he saved her? He didn't actually care about Bonnie Bennett the human being, only Bonnie Bennett the witch. Or that was how it was supposed to be. That's how it was before.
He wasn't sure when she had become less and less of a judgmental hindrance to his existence and more of a welcomed companion. Well, perhaps "companion" wasn't the right word because the most she did was tolerate him, but Damon had to grudgingly admit there was not all bad feelings between Bonnie and him like there used to be. Somewhere along the line, they developed an unspoken respect and near-affection, even with the controversial choices he had made (which, incidentally, he couldn't bring himself to apologize properly for even though he was hoping Bonnie would one day forgive him and understand).
So affection just seemed too premature.
Bonnie sat on the sofa, silent and waiting, her face unreadable. There was a hesitant softness in her face for a moment before she blinked and resumed her normal resentment that Damon was used to and almost grateful to see just so he could stop accidentally… well, revealing things.
The normal banter resumed after that like it always did, even though Damon was sure she was still thinking about earlier like he was when his hand was gripping her tiny shoulder tight and the words little bird were still hanging in the air.
A/N: Bonnie and Damon have taken over my life recently. I'm still not over the fact that they hugged. (Technically I'm not even there in the show yet lkdsjg).
The phrase "little bird" gives me a lot of feelings. It's a Book!Bamon thing, which is a completely different ship, so I wanted to see how I could incorporate it with TV!Bamon. Idk how plausible it is that Bonnie would be feeling lightheaded when she had vampire blood to help heal her but she wasn't completely healed in the show so shh just go with it. Also, I've seen Bamon writer use "little bird" before but never in the context that Damon might use it differently, since his other nicknames are more playful and this one I could see being more tender.
This was my first time writing these two and I'm never really sure about how I do, so let me know what you think! :D