#I love you Damon Salvatore

[jessmalia]

Dear Bonnie, I’m a coward. I should be saying this to your face, not writing this letter, but I know if I do you’ll talk me out of running away from all my problems. You’re gonna make me face a future without Elena and you’re gonna help make me the best man I could possibly be, the same way she did. And I’m absolutely terrified of failing you both. So, I’m leaving. Because I’d rather let you down once, than let you down for the rest of your life. And I hope it’s the happiest life. Because you, Bonnie Bennett, are an amazing woman, a mediocre crossword puzzle player and my best friend. 

With great love and respect, Damon.

[slutisnotabadword]

“You—Bonnie Bennett—are an amazing woman…”

BAMON.

[laylakeating]

ELSBETH'S 2K CELEBRATION ↳ 💚 for @addys-beth

[lady-corrine]

[hacked-wtsdz]

“Some vampires are actually better than others because some of them feel bad about killing others and some don’t” is suuuch a crazy take on a show about vampires being a murderous species.

Like.

Stefan is better than Damon because Stefan is haunted by his deeds as a ripper when he isn’t a ripper.

And it doesn’t even matter whether or not Damon cares about killing or not, it’s that the entire concept of regret makes no difference (and, ironically, often makes matters worse).

Even if you’re sorry about killing people, they’re all still dead. In fiction likability is more important than morality, I know, I know, but if you are taking a moral stance, why not look at it from a moral perspective?

The interesting thing about Stefan is that I think his ripper-ism stems from his guilt. I think he was a deeply sensitive and guilt-piled person as a human, and as a vampire, it intensified. Additionally, now there is this disgust towards himself, and the guilt for killing his father, and the trauma from Katherine, and the guilt for turning Damon, and it fuels the ripper-ism so so so much. He suppresses these emotions i.e. turns them off, but there is more. The entire addiction, the hunger, I think it comes from the guilt and the shame and the horror.

So the fact that Stefan cares so deeply leads to the fact that he is a serial killer with vampire instincts. He actually killed more people than Damon, and their difference is precisely that Damon cares less.

He is obviously haunted by Katherine and her rejection, by guilt and shame, but significantly less than Stefan, and it manifests differently (I think through sex, in a way, but that is completely unexplored, and I’d be spinning my own stories out of this). There is less guilt to haunt Damon, Damon being a victim, and simultaneously Damon becomes the aggressor in the way Stefan doesn’t — Stefan is a victim of his addiction much more than he’s the perpetrator. So Damon feeds consciously and often without remorse, but there is no guilt to associate with the hunger, so it’s just that — hunger. He eats, he wipes their memory, he forgets. Sometimes, he kills. But it’s always conscious.

That’s repulsive on an idealistic level, of course, and doesn’t add to his general likability, but in the end this quality is what makes him actually, you know, kill less people.

The point is that Stefan isn’t better than Damon, even if Stefan feels bad about being a murderer, he kills more people, and Damon’s carelessness allows him to kill less. Stefan is more of a victim than Damon, but again, irrelevant in the material world.

And that, I think, is the whole tragedy of vampirism and ripper-ism specifically. You can be a victim of it (and all vampires are, one way or another) and it will not save you from being a horrible murderous monster, and the only way out is through suicide.

This duality is what I find thrilling about the Salvatores.

The relation between Stefan eating his dad as the vampire-turning ritual and him being a ripper is a theme for a different discussion but it is soooooo. Idk… brothers karamazov anyone?

[taus-inc]

when it comes to who ppl date in the vampire diaries the bar is in hell. elena w damon after he killed jeremy and did not know he would survive + admitted to it. caroline and klaus after he killed jenna, carol and STABBED HER IN THE STOMACH AND BIT HER???? tyler being with anyone in general after what happened w vicky 😐. i choose to believe bonnie just has standards and good morals for herself and that's why her relationships are few and far between.

[so-long-soldier-writes]

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLo43mYH/ this scene is perfect evidence that Kai and Damon could’ve been besties if given the chance. They’d be such good frenemies

Hahaha, I just watched that episode last night!! But I always think that, too! They would've been such good besties / frenemies, and we were honestly robbed of that. Especially with Kai as a heretic, where they're bad influences on each other. 😂

Like Damon doesn't seem to be too pissed off at Kai, in season 8, for putting Elena in a coma, and Kai doesn't seem too stale about Damon killing him in season 6, that they can't immediately start teaming up again. Because when Ric wants to kill Kai when he shows up at the Armory, Damon prevents that, and then immediately go fuck around at a diner.

It'd be so funny to see everyone's reactions to them slowly becoming besties. Damon's ofc denying it the whole time, but the girls are like, no, you're totally becoming more lenient with him and engaging in his tomfoolery. And Kai never really expected to become buddies with Damon, of all people, but he's glad to have a buddy nonetheless and is happy he's found such a reckless and crazy one.

Maybe the more Ric starts to spend every night with Jo, Damon ends up at the bar with Kai as company. Or, if Kai's a heretic, Ric is distant from everyone following his fiancé's death, and is rather perturbed by Damon's budding frenemy-ship with the mass murderer.

But regardless of the situation, for the longest time, they only see each other as a way to get information, and then after one particular night of drinking, both get the nose-wrinkling realization that they're kinda friends.

I can see so many text conversations complaining about the people around them. Kai bitching about the guy next to him at the bar. Damon mad about lurking Liam, or Ric not answering his texts. I can see Kai inviting himself over to the Salvatore house, or Damon inviting himself in the stool beside Kai's, and in either situation, them drinking and cracking jokes and pissing each other off, but then making up by the end of the night.

The first time they went on a blood binge together, it was a mess. Kai's not exactly clean, and while Damon's had a hundred years to learn, he loses his manners around the younger vamp. The alleyway beside the grill became stained with blood, but as soon as Damon sensed the approach of recently-titled Sargent Donovan, he ushered Kai back to the Salvatore house to finish their feast on stored bags. They laughed about it the whole way back, and the only thing to sober them up was the cold hard stare of one judgmental Stefan.

Despite all the fun times they have together, they've definitely had times where they've gotten too drunk or too in their feels and shared horror stories from their similar, terrible childhoods. Kai started it because he's not used to having people to talk to, nor is he used to having the heightened senses of a vampire. Something small reminded him of his childhood, maybe a dad clearly burdened with his son, or a nasty comment made at a dinner party going south. Kai sharing a memory about his father's treatment sparked Damon to share something about his own. They learn both their fathers were cruel, while both their mothers stood by and let it happen. After that, they were closer and more trusting of each other, yet never told anyone else what they had shared, and therefore, no one understood, but that was fine.

But yes, I totally see them as slow-burn besties, where a mutual distaste brought them together as actual friends. This is an itty-bitty portion of my thoughts on how fun they'd be together; they'd be such menaces together, full of jokes and bad ideas, but also could be such support systems for each other, given the time (and enough booze). There's a lot of similarities in their childhoods and I think they could find common ground in that. Again, I think we were robbed of a bestie-ship, and I was so hoping Kai would be around longer in season 8, because he and Damon were so funny together in those episodes!

[lovelystargirll]

Vampire diaries fans stop scrolling.

If you like to read fanfiction boy do I have a story for you! It is posted on Ao3 and the first part of the series is titled Are We Friends? It is a "elena has a twin fic" but unlike any other I have read. It is VERY well written and uses intelligent language to create a fantastic story. The twin is named eve, her love interest is damon, she was raised by Isobel and John as a vampire hunter. Some highlights:

When eve gets fed up with Elena's bullshit she tears apart her house while whistling the kill bill song

Eve singlehandedly murders jules's whole werewolf pack after they torture caroline

Eve is practically besties with Klaus and takes art lessons with him

There is an excellent oc who is a witch with agoraphobia who is a sort of mentor to eve and bonnie

Many other ocs with amazingly detailed backstorys

Eve starts a band with Tyler and caroline

Damon is Eve's morality police

[damonsbitch]

I want you, nothing else, just ✨you✨

[zukoisneverhappy]

New bamon fanfic just dropped!! I’ve been sitting on this for a few months lol it’s now yours I hope you enjoy it!

Don’t Say Yes [1k words, Rating: K/ GA]

I was inspired by a specific song and I tried not to make it obvious so let me know when you figure out what it is🤭

Short preview below the cut:

Damon was sitting in Hell, and he would know since he’s lived through multiple versions of it. The day was sweltering making the church hot and stuffy. For any sense of relief Damon tugs at his collar, his tie was choking him.

That’s when the doors at the back of the room swing gracefully open, golden light spilling into the room. There she is, the reason for all of Damon’s discomfort. Looking divine, her white dress contrasting gorgeously with her dark skin: Bonnie.

[sheathnknife]

the vampire diaries 8.16 // louise gluck, crossroads

“and damon, like the voiceover tell us, he was worried he would never see stefan again. it was just elena assuring him that there would be peace. that we’ve dealt with this other side of darkness for several seasons, but there’s also light out there and there’s peace, and damon will find it. if you search for it, you will find it. and we wanted to get that last moment to see that [...] damon found it too, and it looked just like his brother.” — kevin williamson

[lady-corrine]

[violetharmonsblade]

Evil? No just a very hurt and misunderstood teenage boy.

[moonlightdancer26]

Do you think it's gross that Damon stole his brother's gf and fucked her?

Ofc I do. Damon didn’t necessarily “steal” Elena from Stefan since it was technically Elena’s choice, but 1. he literally never respected their relationship, even from the start of the show 2. holy crap man that’s your BROTHER, he literally just got dumped by the love of his life and you sleep with her two seconds later?? Smhhhhh

And the worst part is Stefan respected their relationship after they got together, it took him a while to move past it (bc ofc it would, that shit is painful) but he eventually did, Damon wouldn’t do that for Stefan. (We also never see Stefan forcing himself on Elena and then trying to actually murder Jeremy after she rightfully rejects him 🤨)

[nerdie-faerie]

Oh god it's kinda fucked that Damon was the one that was happy and willing the whole way through his time with Katherine then spent a century and half waiting for her. While Stefan had to be compelled every step of the way to go along with Katherine's plan and yet he's the one she chose