So, this is publish number three for me and came out of no where. Actually, that's not true. I was scrolling Tumblr and came across a Delena gif set (sourced to damonsalvaetore) of the scene from the beginning of season 3/end of season 2 (I can't quite remember) after Elena kissed Damon on his deathbed. A short one shot of Damon's point of view slipped into my head and I typed this out on my notes pages while the inspiration was fresh. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy it.


Hope

As soon as he sees her, he can't help it. He has to look into her eyes – her stupid, lovely, never ending, doe brown eyes – and try to figure out what she's thinking. Her gaze immediately matches his, as it always does.

She tries to hide everything he knows (hopes) she is thinking.

Damon steps closer and the silent, tiny exchange intensifies. It makes him wonder what kind of… exchanges they could have if only she would have him. This feeling times a million, he's sure.

Katherine never even came close.

Before Elena, before falling for the love of his life, Damon had had no idea what real emotion was. Then she broke open his heart when she kissed him, deathbed or not. At the memory his eyelashes dipped, he allowed himself to look at her lips. As if he didn't spend half his time around her tracing their shape and shade. Though she held his stare, Elena stepped back the tiniest fraction, shattering his heart in a different way.

Always running.

So, Damon gave her a break. He mocked her. His eyes became playful instead of intense, the shape of his mouth formed a pout as he looked at her like an overly dramatic kicked puppy. Then, because he couldn't help himself, that smug smirk took over and he let his expression openly laugh at her.

Elena's frown deepened but she no longer looked terrified of him reading her soul to the room, the room being Bonnie Bennett and her judgy little opinions.

And right on queue: "What's going on with you two?"

Damon metaphorically released Elena and turned to the witch. "We kissed. Now it's weird." Like it was nothing. Right.

Though Elena very much disapproved of Damon revealing the secret, he knew the keeping of it would tear her apart from the inside. So he told, like ripping of a band aid and in the most casual way he could muster.

Like it wasn't the most meaningful moment of his ridiculously long life.