a/n: xmas gift for the lovely jads1000 on tumblr, i hope you like it!

Stefan smiled as he put the finishing touches on his plan.

The boarding house had been transformed until it was almost unrecognizable and he'd done a pretty great job of ushering in a festive atmosphere. He hoped it would set the mood and finally bring Damon and Bonnie together.

Stefan had taken a while to notice the way those two acted around each other. In fact, it was Caroline who had first pointed it out and Stefan couldn't stop seeing it now.

The only solution was to speed up the process and get them to stop dancing around each other before Stefan's head exploded due to the tension between them.

He stepped out of the living room and twisted the device in his hand until he heard a satisfying click.

Stefan once again congratulated himself on the ambiance of the room and his genius in tricking Bonnie into helping him with this plan.

He'd gone to her a week earlier in order to create something that would trap a person in a room. He'd claimed it was in case they encountered a rogue vampire, which was highly likely considering how jeopardy friendly they all were. It was almost too easy to get her to agree.

He tensed when he heard the front door open then relaxed as familiar footfalls sounded behind him.

"Whatever you do don't walk into the living room."

"Why?" Caroline asked.

"Because whoever walks in there won't be leaving for the next few hours," Stefan turned to her and chuckled.

"What did you do?"

"I helped."

"Meddled more like."

"It's purely for the greater good." Stefan defended.

"They're not going to thank you for this," Caroline shook her head but started to smile too.

"I'm hoping they'll be too busy with each other to thank me."

Caroline scrunched up her nose and shook her head, "Okay, please let's change the subject. I really don't want to think about my best friend and your brother doing...things...", she mock shuddered.

Stefan stepped closer, slipping the now active device on to the table next to them before wrapping his arms around Caroline's waist and pulling her towards him.

"Why don't we get out of here, go back to yours and see what...things," he emphasized, smirking, "we can get up to instead."

Caroline laughed and dragged him in for a kiss, "Race you!"

Stefan shook his head, amusement lighting up his face as Caroline's laughter echoed in the breeze. He gave her a few seconds head start before speeding after her.

"I'm going to kill your brother."

"I'll help."

"What was he thinking!?" Bonnie threw her hands up in frustration. None of the spells she'd tried had worked. She wasn't really surprised as she'd already known they wouldn't work having purposefully created the spell without any loopholes, but really, the magic should know those loopholes didn't include Bonnie herself dammit.

"We should probably ask him that before we kill him." Damon took another sip of his bourbon, content to relax. If anyone was going to get them out of this it was Bonnie.

Bonnie glared at Damon then crossed to the opposite side of the coffee table and sat down too.

"You said it would only last for 12 hours," Damon attempted to reassure her, "what's the worse that could happen?"

"With you?" Bonnie raised her eyebrows, "Where do you want me to start?"

"Ha ha ha."

She smiled mockingly and slouched back into the couch.

She managed to stay there for all of five minutes before she shot off the couch and started pacing again.

Damon rolled his eyes and tried to hold back a smile.

"Pacing won't help. You're just going to ruin my carpet." Damon sassed.

"It's helping me decide how I want to kill your brother." Bonnie threw back.

Damon stood up, laughing as he walked over to his decanters ready to fill his glass again. He paused, deciding to make this night a little more interesting. Winding Bonnie up had become a favourite activity of his recently.

There was something about an angry Bonnie that was intriguing to him.

"I think sometimes you can't decide whether you want to kill me or kiss me," Damon smirked, a challenging glint in his eye

"You're the last person on Earth I'd want to kiss." Bonnie scoffed. Her heart had jumped at the mention of kissing and she fought with her traitorous body, attempting to get it to realize that the words 'Damon' and 'kissing' should absolutely never be a cause for excitement. Disgust was much more appropriate.

"There was a time when I would have believed that." Damon abandoned his drink and started walking slowly towards her.

"And why don't you now?" Bonnie said, tilting her head back so she could maintain eye contact. She refused to back down no matter how much he tried to rattle her.

"I've learned how to read your heart when it's lying."

"You don't know anything about my heart," Bonnie's voice shook slightly but she still held her ground. How had this conversation spiralled out of her control so quickly? It was ridiculous how wrongfooted he could make her.

"I'd like to." The words slipped out of his mouth before he had a chance to second-guess himself. There had been a lot of moments between them lately where Damon thought she might be thinking about him the same way he'd been thinking about her for months.

It had taken him by surprise at first. She was a good ally to have in battle and she was very rapidly becoming his best friend but there was also something more to their interactions. Maybe tonight was the perfect opportunity to find out just what that 'more' was.

Bonnie swallowed and stepped back, dropping her gaze and cursing herself as she gave up ground but needing the space so she could catch her breath and think. "Stop messing around, Damon."

"I'm being completely serious," Damon attempted to get her to see how sincere he was and tried to catch her eyes but she seemed to be determined to keep them on the floor.

"Tell me you're not even a little bit interested and I'll let this go and we'll never mention it again." Damon probed, dropping his guard even more as he raised one of his hands to gently cup her cheek and bring her head up.

Bonnie let out a quiet gasp as she felt his hand on her face, flicking her eyes up to meet his in shock and trying desperately to understand what this was as she searched his eyes for answers.

"Bonnie."

Her heart sped up as the utterance of her name from his lips tugged at the emotions she'd fought so hard to ignore.

Damon moved his face a few inches closer until their foreheads were brushing slightly.

"Please."

She didn't know what the question was but suddenly the only answer she'd ever had for him was 'Yes'.

Bonnie closed the remaining distance between their lips and hesitantly pressed hers against his.

Damon was much less hesitant but surprised Bonnie when he kissed her back softly, almost as though he was worried he'd scare her off.

He dropped his hand from her cheek and wrapped both arms around her waist, tugging her closer and deepening the kiss until Bonnie's head was spinning.

The elation Damon felt in his chest at that moment almost brought him to his knees as he realized that this, this feeling, this moment, this incredible woman, was exactly what he'd been searching for since before he'd turned.

He'd thought he'd found love with Katherine but that had been youthful ignorance. With Elena, it had been an obsession and a longing to prove his continued existence meant something.

With Bonnie, it was simply peace. A belonging as his lips moved effortlessly with hers.

As they both separated slightly, panting and almost giddy with the realization of new possibilities, Bonnie revised her plans for Stefan.

It was the season of giving after all and this gift had been pretty great so far.

The phone buzzed on the bedside table and Stefan opened his tired eyes.

He glanced down and the sleeping beauty currently draped warmly across his chest and smiled happily.

The phone buzzed again, indicating a new text message and reminding him of what had woken him up.

He picked it up and opened the message.

Thank you.

Stefan grinned, sent back a quick 'You're welcome' and placed his phone back on the table.

His work was done.

a/n: big thanks to lightninginmyeyes on tumblr for putting this fest together and being so brilliant in helping me decide where I wanted this story to go 33

thank you for reading, reviews as always are much appreciated, i hope everyone has a great xmas and a happy new year!