A/N: This is the product of a weird day and essay stress. I also received some feedback on a creative writing piece (helpful but a tad disillusioning) and am turning to fanfic to write my worries away.
This is a story I am very excited about eek. Sequel to Something There will be coming, don't ya worry, I just wanted to write a chapter of this one first.
** HUGELY inspired by Right There All the Time by devje (a very cool swan queen fanfic on A03) and good ol' Stefan the Bamon Shipper from my first Bamon story **
Important things: Set after TVD except Stefan is alive, obviously, and Damon and Elena aren't together anymore (in fact, the latter's off travelling the world or whatever). Oh, and Damon's still a vampire. I just love that whole vamp-witch dynamic.
/
He noticed it first at the dinner table. Caroline had made a perfectly golden lasagne ("that's when you know it's done, Stefan") and the four of them were hungrily tucking into it, reminiscing over past adversaries and how, quite honestly, fucked up their lives used to be.
"I definitely think the worst was Kai." Bonnie stabbed her fork a little too aggressively as she said his name.
"Or Silus," he supplied, then frowned, "Or our mother."
"Helloooo, we're forgetting the worst of them all?" Damon waved his fork in the air above his head, "Miss Katherine Pierce."
That earned a collective groan around the table.
"Well, we have you to thank for that, Damon," Caroline said sweetly then laughed, "Remember when Mystic Falls' worst villain was Damon Salvatore."
And that's when Stefan noticed it. The way his brother's gaze shifted to Bonnie, as if checking her reaction before he matched it. She chuckled and Damon relaxed, just like that, back to Damon.
From then on, he couldn't stop noticing It. It being unidentified, or rather, undetermined. Both subjects were simultaneously the easiest and hardest of his friends/family to read. Damon's look had unlocked something and suddenly, everything they did was worth noting.
Bonnie's eye rolls; Damon's barely concealed smile at said eye rolls; the touching, usually in the form of flicking, or shoving, but touching all the same, like the kids at school that flirt by stealing the other person's pencil. They irritated each other and they loved it.
Dear Diary,
These past few years I've been committed to ensuring my brother's happiness and recently, I noticed something. I noticed them.
Before Stefan knew it, he had started a written record of 'It' – the Bonnie and Damon something or, as he secretly referred to, the Bamon chronicles. Hell, he needed to occupy his time somehow.
"Stefan, all we did today is go to the department store. Does that really merit an essay's worth of diary entry?" His wife un-flaps the duvet to climb into the bed beside him. He tilts the diary closer to his face.
"I like details."
For Caroline, it was just a trip to the department store - the simple mundanity of married life - but for Stefan, it had been a theatre of Bamon-ness. He takes his pen off the page momentarily, just to turn the paper, and Caroline rolls her eyes.
Noteworthy moment Number One was that Damon technically wasn't even invited on their shopping trip. Bonnie was looking for a new mattress and Caroline told him their living room was looking outdated, the couch "saggy." His brother had called to steal him away on a road trip ("think Bourbon and brotherly bonding, Stefan") to which he explained he was out furniture shopping with the women.
"You know you were once 'Ripper Stefan', right?"
"It's what happens when you're married, Damon."
"Sounds awful. Have fun with Blondie and… wait? Did you say Bonnie?"
Stefan made sure to hide the smile from his words, "I did."
"You know, I was thinking of getting a new… uh, couch too, actually."
"Damon, you love that couch."
"A little window shopping never hurt anyone, brother. Just assessing all the options."
"Right. Well, we're meeting at the Mystic Mall at two."
"Great. See you there."
He hung up and Stefan almost grabbed his diary right then and there.
…
Bonnie raised her eyebrows in surprise at the vampire, sauntering his way over them. Stefan really had to suppress a laugh at the paper tape measure Damon was twirling in his hand.
"I never thought I'd see Damon voluntarily coming furniture shopping," Caroline muttered.
"It surprised me too," he lied.
His brother grinned and bumped Bonnie's shoulder. "Miss me, Bon-bon."
The eye roll was expected: "You wish."
As was Damon's bitten smile.
"Okay, so I vote we go into the bed shop first and make our way round to finish at the homeware section. Agreed?"
Stefan placed a kiss on his adorably bossy wife's head. "Agreed."
Caroline grabbed his hand, marching into Beds 'n Beds. Damon, hung back, slotting in behind Bonnie to whisper loudly enough that Stefan heard, "It's like we're the other married couple. Furniture shopping etc."
"Hmm. I think we should stick to best-friends," Bonnie replied (undoubtedly with an eye-roll).
"You're probably right although," his brother waltzed past him to rest on the nearest bed frame, smirk in place, "You know what they say about best friends? They have the best sex."
At this Caroline, pivoted. "Damon! This is a family-friendly department store," he wife paused, "It's enemies anyway."
Damon tapped his hand on the post. "Well there you have it, Bon-bon, we've been both."
Flirting had always come naturally to his older brother. He wasn't afraid and certainly wasn't subtle; Stefan, on the other hand, took a more reserved approach to wooing the ladies. Was Damon trying to woo, Bonnie? He glanced at the latter, her expression a hybrid of scolding and amusement. He'd need a damn psychology degree trying to figure out these two.
At least, that's what he thought until, Noteworthy Moment Number Two (if has was being picky, if not, probably Number Five). It involved three people: Bonnie and Damon, of course, and the store assistant. Caroline had disappeared over to the other side of the room and he'd probably have trailed after her if he hadn't had seen his brother's face. It was… pained.
"No, that size will be fine, thank you."
"Are you sure? I'd always recommend the King size for a couple."
Bonnie paled, shaking her head fervently. "Oh – he's not – I'm… It's just me."
His brother's jaw had clenched, almost in anger, and Stefan felt suddenly nauseous. Enzo's death would forever scratch away at his conscience.
"She said she just wants a Queen," Damon snapped and Bonnie's mouth tilted upwards in a private smile. One that Stefan felt out of place witnessing.
The shop assistant stumbled over his words, unnerved by Damon's interjection.
"Asshole," the vampire growled to the man's retreating back.
"I wouldn't go that far," Bonnie replied but she was looking at him all softly, and how the hell didn't he see this before?
The following Noteworthy Moments took the form of touches. When his brother opened the door for her, he placed a hand on her back to usher her through. When Damon rolled up his sleeves, Bonnie pulled his arm towards her to read the time on his wristwatch.
"Okay, grumpy, what do you suggest?"
"I just think you should pay for the food rather than use compulsion. You have enough," Bonnie swung her head to glare at him, "And I'm not grumpy."
And Damon had poked her cheek, "This to me feels like grumpy." Bonnie's lips twitched into a smile as she called him a child and Stefan glanced at his wife as if to say, are you seeing what I'm seeing?
By the time they reached the home décor section, Stefan was convinced that not only his brother was in love with Bonnie Bennett, but that Bonnie Bennett was in love with his brother. Only they were completely oblivious.
…
"Bonnie and Damon are cute," Caroline muses and Stefan almost chokes.
He glances up from his diary, "What?"
"You know, as best friends," she shakes her head, wistful, "I couldn't see it at first but now… they just work together. It's really cute."
"Uh huh."
Caroline places her book on the bed. "Do you not think?"
"No, no, I do. They are," he smiles at her and she smiles back. Phew.
If Bonnie really is what he thinks she is – Damon's happiness – and vice versa, of course, he needs to tread carefully, aggregate evidence, work behind the scenes like a… fairy or something. Wow, Ripper Stefan really does feel like a life-time ago.
"I wonder if they've ever thought about it. Like in the prison world."
Stefan folds the diary around his pen, his wife in chat-mode. "Thought about what?"
"Being together!"
"Oh, um," he frowns, unsure how to safely answer, "Maybe." Well that was pathetic.
Caroline hums. "Sometimes I still can't believe they broke up."
She means Elena and Damon, the power pairing, soul-mates, true loves and, until their conclusion, his wife's ultimate OTP. It had always seemed a bit unfair to himself to say the same about the couple, considering he once believed Elena to be his soul-mate.
It seemed once the villains were defeated and peace had finally settled over Mystic Falls, the intensity of Damon and Elena's love dimmed. Arguments were frequent, Elena spending many nights sleeping in their spare room, whilst Damon brooded over at the Boarding House. Bonnie was off travelling and, upon her return, found the pair dismantled, her vampire best-friend thoroughly dejected. He wonders if Bonnie and Damon were in-love even then.
"It was the right thing."
"Yeah, he seems so much…."
"Happier?"
"Definitely." She glances up at him, "You can finish your scribbling now."
And Stefan laughs, closing the distance to kiss her.
A/N: I know this is incredibly short but a) time and b) I want to trial this idea and see what you all think. Should I continue? Do you like the title? This is primarily a Bamon story but will obviously have some Steroline. Please do review and let me know what you liked, would like to see more of etc.
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