A/N: Tentatively re-entering the fanfic world. Haven't written in a long while so be gentle. Started this story on tumblr and you guys asked for more so here we are. Sending love and peace in this crazy time.

viii. Didn't See it Coming.

She'd made him feel again. No, differently. Or, maybe just how feeling is... supposed to feel. She'd woken him up; he wanted to run. Avoiding Bonnie Bennett would be easy, if she weren't always in his house, if she didn't laugh like that, if her magic didn't leave such a disorientating mist (power and intrigue and a little danger?). And even then, emptying Bonnie Bennett from his brain would probably involve some minor - major - brain surgery. Or magic... which, fuck, she did so brilliantly.

Damon threw the Bourbon down his throat. Defeated.

"I'm in love, brother."

"Again?" Stefan looked mildly amused, yet not surprised.

The vampire exhaled. "Apparently not."

/

The night is quiet. Not silent. There's a humming to it – in her hands, her soul, the moon. She inhales, magic like salt on her lips… In the exhale, the vampire is there.

"What are you doing, Damon?"

"How did you know it was me?"

She opens her eyes, blinks at the dark-haired figure towering against the sky. "You're the only one that would disturb me whilst I'm trying to do magic."

He swings his foot across the gravel, feigning nonchalance, or whatever it is that Damon does when he's busted. "I didn't know you were doing magic."

"Damon," she pushes up from the ground to stare at him face on, "I literally said, 'Okay, I'm going to practise a spell.'"

"Didn't hear you."

Bonnie waits, brow raised, unimpressed. Something has definitely shifted around him recently. Like he's… awkward almost. And Damon Salvatore has never been awkward, not once. Arrogant, brash, abrasive, impulsive, sometimes just a straight up homicidal dickhead, but awkward? It looks funny on him. Almost cute. Her frown deepens.

"What do you want?"

His eyes enlarge momentarily, as if opening to catch something invisible to her, and then the corner of his mouth tilts. A smirk.

"I was wondering if you wanted a… chat?"

And that's when she realises, his eyes have her held too softly, that his hands are pushed into his pant pockets, and the Damon Salvatore smirk is, under moonlight, actually a smile. A shy one.

So, naturally, she bursts out laughing.

"That has got to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard you say to me."

He tilts onto the balls of his feet, affronted. "What? Why?"

"A chat? Are you hearing yourself?"

"We chat, don't we? It's not weird."

He actually looks hurt. Bonnie closes her eyes, pushes down the laughter, tries to be rational. "Okay, fine, we can chat."

Damon remains frowning.

"What?" she probes. He looks like a petulant child, all bunched up, fighting a cry. "You can't blame me for being surprised."

"I thought… We're… you know…"

"We're what?"

His fingers find their way into his hair, like this is painful for him. "We're… cool."

"Me and you?"

"Yeah."

"Of course, we're cool, idiot. I've been living in your house for the last couple of weeks."

She thinks that will ease him, but it doesn't. He looks at her like she's unfinished – like she, or him, or anyone needs to speak and smooth it all out. What little of the spell remains bubbling on her tongue dissolves. "Are you… okay?"

He brightens, falsely. "Yeah! Good. Excellent. Fabulous."

"Fabulous?"

Damon clears his throat. Takes a step back. "You know what, maybe you should finish your spell. I… shouldn't have disturbed you. Sorry."

"It's okay. We can… chat if you need to-"

"No, that's fine." He smiles again, a borrowed smile. Something he's taken off a lesser man and tried to fit onto his usually smirking, and yes, charming, face. "Have a good night."

He turns, heading back towards the yellow lit Boarding House, and Bonnie flings her gaze up at the moon, mouthing what the hell.

/

What the hell?

Never, in all his years of interacting with Bonnie Bennett, hell, women, has he ever been so socially inept. From the instant she sensed him watching her, he crumbled, caught in the momentum of her building power. It's a real curse – his realisation – because now she's not just Bonnie, but Bonnie, and being around her is like having a tiny, persistent exclamation point going ping, ping, ping in his chest.

She'd laughed in his face. Sure, it was brilliant, like always, but he'd rather not hear it directed at him… or his poor attempt at whatever the fuck he was attempting. He's like a school boy with a crush.

Get it together, vampire. How many years have you been doing this woman thing? A lot.

But she's different.

Enough with the she's different! I know she is!

"Damon?"

His brother grins in the doorway, arms folded, a little amused.

"You look perturbed," he comments, entering the room with an air of superiority Damon usually has the pleasure of wearing.

Damon glares at him. "You're enjoying this too much."

Stefan shrugs. "It's just nice to see you go after someone I haven't had relations with."

"Ha. Ha."

"And… I don't think Bonnie is going to be an easy win. Which will also be nice to watch."

Damon flops onto his bed in a groan, dramatic as always, and rightfully so because Stefan is right, Bonnie is going to be a damned uphill battle with no guarantee of a prize.

Not that she's an object.

Shit, she's changed him.

"What's your plan then, Mr Romance?"

"Stay in bed forever and accept defeat."

Stefan laughs. Then lobs a pillow at his head. "Damon. When have you ever accepted defeat?"

He's right again. Never.

"But this is Bonnie. I don't know what's happening to me, I can't even talk to her properly, I'm like…" he flails his arms about, "awkward."

His brother rolls his eyes. "As much as I'd like to see that, you just need to get out your head. You're right, this is Bonnie. Your best friend – don't protest, you guys are – and yes, you've realised you're in love with her and that's amazing, so stop stressing and just be yourself."

"Never thought I'd hear you tell me to be myself," he mumbles (words now muffled because his face has found itself in his pillow).

"Never thought the situation would call for it."

"But… I don't know who I am anymore. She's made me question it all."

And Damon feels the exasperated exhale. "Just hang out with her. You'll figure it out - and hopefully she will too."

Just hang out with her.A simple enough instruction only… hanging out with her is loving her and loving her is proving to be a very stressful experience. Unfortunately, there is no alternative. She exits and he loves her.

Here we go.

A/N: Please review (and let me know if you'd like more). It's nice to write something cute and fluffy for once lol - and explore a different kind of Damon.

P.S: Title taken from the song Didn't See it Coming by My Brothers and I.