#enzo is fiercely protective of damon

[aka-efirg]

sooo i wrote the thing i was talking about in this post and wow did it take more time to write than i planned. honestly i blame enzo, he talks too much and has too many opinions

so context for the fic, damon has been having lots of flashbacks from the previous timeline and nightmares these days so he has more and more trouble to appear fine and sometimes everything is too much for him

it's also happening after season 3 with main differences:

-alaric didn't die and get turn into an enhanced original vampire because damon kept an eye on him and made sure he didn't die more than he already did before coming back so ester couldn't corrupt his mind

-elena still gets turned into a vampire but still no idea how it happened since there was no super evil alaric to kill

-mason didn't die as well (or maybe he did, haven't decided yet) (but if he doesn't die, he will totally bitch with damon about katherine and how she manipulated them and made them fall in love with her. it's how they bonded)

-no idea what happened with ester and how they got rid of her

and during season 4 where they are trying to find the cure (jeremy is one of the five)

also damon has marks that look like burn scars on his arms and his back (hellfire) and a symbol on his chest (emily's mark to send him to the past and to protect him because him being in the past could count as being a disruption to natural balance)

Seeing Damon, seated cross-legged on his bed with fingers tightly pressed against his temples, is sadly unsurprising but nonetheless worrying. He knew it was bound to happen with how Damon spent the whole day zoning out, eyes looking at things that weren’t there, brows slightly burrowed as if he was fighting a headache. Enzo knows he is the only one who noticed—or maybe not, if the occasional glances the witch kept sending the older vampire’s way were any indication, and Enzo absently wonders what she sees, because he knows she can’t perceive what he does—

(the hurt, the despair and the guilt, the blood, the death and the fire)

so he wasn’t surprised when he witnessed Damon leaving the living room, so silently the only reason he noticed was because he didn't take his eyes off the older vampire. It took almost twenty minutes for the others to notice the oldest Salvatore was no longer with them and for Stefan to worry about where he was. At their questioning glances, Enzo simply stated that Damon was in his room before leaving as well.

(Sometimes Enzo wants to shake the younger Salvatore so hard, wants to crack his head open while screaming at him to just look at his brother, to see how much he’s hurting, all the things he hides behind sarcasm and apathy and monstrosity. He wants to gouge his eyes out just so he would have a reason to not see. And other times he wants to tear him apart because he can’t help but reminisce about hope and faith slowly shriveling as days and months and years accumulated, as blood kept pouring and screams became better than silence—because if he screams it means he is still alive it means you haven’t lost the most important thing you have left in this instant)

After closing the door as silently as possible, Enzo takes in the heavy air in the room, feeling like ozone and something electric, magic but not before focusing on his friend, his tense form on the bed, his breathing deliberately slow, sharp contrast to his heartbeat, too fast for a vampire. Slowly, Enzo walks closer to the bed, making sure to make some noise. Even if he’s sure the other vampire heard him, he doesn’t want to risk having a cornered, distressed Damon near his throat. When he notices Damon isn’t reacting save from a little tightening of his shoulders, he sits down on the mattress and waits.

“I’m fine.”

Enzo takes the time to look at his friend’s face, thin lips, burrowed brows and tightly closed eyes. In sum, in pain.

In sum, perfectly, absolutely fine.

Not even bothering to answer—did Damon really think he would believe him—, he edges closer and only then is he able to see the light, barely perceptible tremors that run through Damon’s arms, more noticeable around his hands where they’re pressed hard against the skin.

“Damon.”

The other vampire doesn’t answer, just curls a bit on himself, bringing his knees higher and his elbows closer to his body. Removing his shoes (because Damon will absolutely chew him out if his mud-covered boots so much as touch the silk covers, well… he will when he doesn’t look like a particularly sad puppy, as blood-sucking as he is, one scream away from collapsing into itself and—great now he just wants to hug this metaphorical puppy), he makes himself comfortable on the bed face to face with the older vampire waiting for him to acknowledge him.

When Damon realizes that he is not leaving and that he will not win at the waiting game (Enzo has plenty of experience in waiting and Damon is not particularly known for his patience, quite the contrary), he finally opens his eyes to glance at the younger and Enzo nearly wishes the other stayed how he was. He knows the look Damon is sending him is supposed to be a glare, to convey his annoyance at his presence but all Enzo can see is the shine. Gleaming blue eyes looking at him and… fuck he didn’t think it was that bad.

Damon must read something on his face because his eyes harden, a sneer appearing on his lips.

“I’m fine. Go away.”

Enzo has to act quick if he doesn’t want Damon to completely close himself off.

Suddenly Enzo wants nothing more than take every single person who made Damon so cautious and insecure about his hurts and vulnerabilities the simple thought of having them feels like a weakness, of showing them a burden, and tear them to shreds, piece by piece so they can feel every hurt, every tear they forced Damon to keep for himself. He wants to watch them burn, helpless and begging for mercy. And okay, maybe this is a bit extreme, but he spent seventy years being tortured, cut open, reduced to nothing but a mass of bones and blood. He long lost faith in mercy, leaving him only with a rage so intense and unending he wants to put the world on fire, scorching it into nothingness, just to sit on its ashes (or maybe dance, Damon has always loved dancing) and revel in the resulting absolute and beautiful desolation.

(When Enzo is left with nothing but fierce everlasting rage, he needs to unleash it because he knows, otherwise, it will simply consume him and everything around him. But—

—his torturers are all dead. Enzo remembers the ravages Damon left when he came back and rescued him, the complete destruction of everything Augustine represents, in pieces, covered in red and burning so hot he could almost feel the flames licking at his body, but this time, a promise of freedom instead of a promise of pain and blood.

—no matter how much he cursed the man, hated him with a searing, blinding passion, Enzo has long accepted he could never harm Damon. No matter how much he tried—and tried he did—. So many times (too many times part of him cries) he found himself looking down at the other vampire, straddling him, a stake pressed on his chest, tip piercing the skin just above the heart. Just one pressure and the wood would slide right through the bone. Blue eyes looking up at him, blankly, calmly, just waiting to see what he would do. So accepting Enzo wanted to scream at him to defend himself, to stop making himself so vulnerable. To do something because he left him to die, he killed one of the most important people he had and he shouldn’t accept to die. He doesn’t have any right to let Enzo kill the last person he has left. He did scream a few times, eyes burning with tears, until his throat was so sore the only sounds that left his mouth were rasps of rage and despair, and all he could do was throw the stake so hard against the wall it exploded in thousand fragments before collapsing, curses on his lips and apologies and regrets on Damon’s.

So while he doesn’t care whether the world burns and crashes, he will be damned before he lets anything happen to Damon. If he can’t direct his rage to the ones who wronged him—all dead and ashes and unable to harm them anymore—, he has no issue focusing it on the people who hurt his person.)

Distractedly wondering if it would be possible to resurrect one Guiseppe Salvatore, just to have the pleasure of killing him atrociously, Enzo practically jumps on the other vampire, taking his wrists into his hands. The glare Damon sends him is ferocious, and Enzo is sure if he were anyone else, he would have lost a few fingers for his trouble. When he’s certain he actually won’t lose any part of his body, he slowly lets go of the other’s hands and moves until he finds himself behind Damon, against the head of the bed. Even though the older vampire is watching him, he still lets a soft noise of surprise when arms grip his waist to pull him against the other’s body. He fights the hold for a moment until the younger vampire tightens his arms and drops his head against shoulder.

For a moment, everything is still and silent except for their breathings, one calm and deliberate, the other rapid and jerky until it progressively slows down. The shaking doesn’t stop though and when Enzo notices the tight grip Damon has on his own arm, hard and grinding—he is surprised the bone hasn’t given way yet—, he places his own hand on the other’s to make him relax his grip.

He turns his head, his lips barely touching the other vampire’s skin, but he still feels Damon react, how he inhales abruptly and presses himself more against him.

“It’s okay.” And he drops a faint kiss where the shoulder and the neck meet and Damon simply… stops. Falls further into Enzo like a puppet with its strings suddenly cut. A whimper escapes his mouth, something like a sob. Enzo kisses him a second time, this time on the neck, right on the pulse point. “I’ve got you.”

The next kiss lasts longer and, after removing Damon’s hand from his arm, he starts rubbing his thumb on the already healing bruises, feeling the sharp and still-getting-used-to contrast between cold and warm.

(This is something new. Where now sit marks—burn scar-like—, Damon’s skin is an interesting and unnatural mix of cold and warm skin. Vampires and undead cold. Humans and living warm. The first time he noticed it, he wasn’t able to contain his curiosity. But, when he questioned it, Damon shut down. Frozen and staring into space, watching things only he could see. He stayed like that for almost one hour, not even realizing how long he was in this state nor remembering what the question was. It was enough for Enzo to know not to ask about it again.)

His arm still around Damon’s waist now sits under his T-shirt, gently stroking his ribs, enjoying the light shiver that follows his hand. His lips stretched slightly, and he knows Damon felt it because he hears the beginning of a growl that ends up in a strange and entertaining mix between a groan and a moan when he starts dragging his nails instead. Enzo lifts his head, laying his cheek on the other’s shoulder, when he feels Damon turning his head. Placed like this, their noses bump before they can look at each other. When their eyes meet, Enzo smiles at the glint of amusement in Damon’s eyes. Because he much prefers this to the empty stare the blue-eyed vampire has been displaying all day, he slightly moves his head, rubbing their noses together once again. He is rewarded with a small chuckle, barely a sound but here in the way Damon’s lips stretched up a little and his eyes lighted up for a second. Feeling a bit lighter than when he entered the room, he can’t resist pressing his lips against the other’s and revels in the soft moan of surprise he gets in response. Damon doesn’t reciprocate, but he feels him relaxing, heartbeat finally calming down to a vampire-normal one.

When they separate, and since they’re already all feeling and soft, he murmurs a faint “I love you” and—wow the look he gets is so precious, so fragile it is heartbreaking.

(Seriously, tomorrow the second-class scooby gang (Yes, Enzo thinks pettily, they don’t deserve Capital Letters.) better be on their best behavior, or heads will be rolling.)

“I love you.” He repeats, making sure to look the other in the eyes, and kisses him one last time before repositioning himself behind Damon, bringing him closer. The other vampire leans against him, grabbing the hand next to his arm and starts playing with it. With the way he seems too focused on their linked hands, Damon must be thinking about something. Used to him sometimes needing time to organize his thoughts before speaking, Enzo simply waits for him to be ready to speak. Absently he goes back to stroking the other’s ribs, head resting against the headboard and his eyes closed.

Somewhere between his thoughts about the probability of making Stefan disappear without Damon noticing (zero percent) and if cheese chips and chocolate ice cream would make a good combination (the idea has some merit), Damon stopped fiddling with his hand, dragging his forefinger the long of his fingers instead. Enzo gets distracted by the change and almost misses Damon speaking.

“I love you too.”

Well, speaking might be the wrong word. The words are said, barely a whisper. And without his super-hearing, he would have missed them. Before he can respond, he feels Damon tensing a bit before he moves, so that they are facing each other, more or less with Damon still seated between his legs and his own arm around the other’s chest.

His eyes meet blue eyes, intense, filled with determination.

(God, Enzo loves these eyes. Haunting unforgettable breathtaking eyes.)

“I love you too. I know I don’t say it often. But I do.”

(Be still, vampire-heart. No need to beat like a normal human one.)

“I know you do. You made it pretty clear from the moment you came back to rescue me.”

That seems to take Damon by surprise who can’t help but blurt a stunned “What?”, eyes wide open.

“I mean I didn’t let myself believe at the beginning because… well obvious reasons,” and Enzo is pleased to see the other is not looking away for once, despite the flicker of shame and guilt that still flashes in the blue eyes. “But trust me, thinking back about it now, it’s really evident. You came back. For me.” Enzo takes the way Damon opens his mouth, probably ready to refute what he is saying, and glares at him. What he wants to say is hard enough. After a few seconds of hesitation, he takes a breath. “We talked about it. Several times. You know what I think and you know I forgave you. The thing, Damon, is yes I was angry and hurt and I felt betrayed. But there were days I was… not happy but relieved you could say. Because you got out. Because, deep down, I knew if you hadn’t left me, you would have got captured again and it would have meant the year prior would have been for nothing. That whole year, starving like I never did, always feeling on the verge of desiccation, would have been in vain. Plus, who knows what they would have done to you after you killed every attendee at the party. They were vicious afterwards.”

(And they were. The year that followed the massacre at the New Year party was atrocious. The scientists who survived or who weren’t there felt vindictive—like they had any right—and they took it out on him. He was an easy target for their revenge. The experiments became harsher, unforgiving and downward crueler—something he didn’t think was possible after fifteen years in their clutches. And if the physical torture wasn’t enough, he was feeling hurt and betrayed in the worst way possible. And so angry. There were days he was so furious the pain of the experiments barely registered. He would spend these days on the operating table planning how to take revenge on Damon in the most brutal and devastating way possible.

He knew everything about him, it would have been so easy to ruin him irreparably. Because Damon, for all he appears callous and impervious, cares. So much it is ludicrously frighteningly simple to hurt him.)

“But this is not what I was getting at. I mean, we can talk about it again. If you want. But another day. When at least one of us is emotionally able to lead this kind of conversation. What I wanted to say originally is… you came back. And no matter how angry, hurt or relieved I was that you weren’t there with me anymore, I still hold that hope that you would. Come back I mean.” For some reason, Damon looks particularly stricken at that, something heavier than guilt shining brightly in his eyes and Enzo almost wants to ask about it. Doesn’t because he knows Damon will not answer. “Of course, the hope I had that you would rescue me flickered a lot. Some days I felt ridiculous thinking you’d save me because I saw you turn your humanity off and you probably thought I was dead. But some days I was thinking to myself that maybe today would be the day you wake up and realize I didn’t die that day and that you’d come.” Unable to look at Damon for his next words, Enzo lowers his head, staring at their linked hands instead. “These days were the worst.” At the sharp inhale from his ex-cellmate, he stares down more intensely. “Because at the end of the day, I was still in this cell and I felt so stupid. But as stupid as hoping was, it… helped me. In some kind of cruel way. Because, if I had hope, I had something to hold onto. I couldn’t keep relying on anger to survive. I would have gone crazy. Lost myself in ways everything they did to me would never have. But, these last years, it was getting harder and harder to hold on to something positive. The fatigue, the pain, it made it easy for all the negative emotions to break through. Even then, I was losing my grip on them. And all of a sudden, after fifty years, you are here. You are standing in front of my cell, covered in blood. Then, you open the door and I’m out of the cell. I’m walking through the lab and there is blood and bodies everywhere. Until you shoved that guard at me so that I could drink, I was still persuaded it was a hallucination. A very elaborated one my brain conjured to… torture me more I guess. Damn, I don’t even remember where I was getting, but the bottom line is you came back when I thought you wouldn’t.”

When he finally looks up, he swallows. Damon looks devastating, he can practically see his heart breaking in his eyes. Enzo hesitates. He didn’t mean to make Damon feel worse. Maybe he should have waited for him to be emotionally more stable. Releasing the other’s hand—and pretending not to hear the wounded sound at the action—, he puts his two hands on Damon’s cheeks, making sure he is looking at him.

“You came back and got me out when you could have left me there,” Enzo can’t help but feel a bit relieved when he sees the other frown, protective anger in the lines of his face. “And then you didn’t leave me alone, you stayed, and you took care of me.” Dark eyes stare straight into wide blue ones. “At first, I thought it was out of guilt, and maybe it was, partially. But I know you. Guilt alone wouldn’t make you stay or help. Or keep still while someone is pointing a stake at your heart.” The last part is said with a bit of reproach despite Enzo knowing it is useless. Damon has something akin to a martyr complex but instead of the whole thing about sacrificing himself for people’s sake, he is willing to die if he feels he deserves it. In a fucked-up way, despite how it angered him at the time—still does to be honest—, Damon not trying to defend himself and looking ready to accept whatever punishment Enzo had for him, even death, was what convinced him Damon was earnest, made him realize how important he was to him.

(He swears, people who say Damon is unable to feel any sort of remorse have never seen him actually deal with guilt. Probably because it presents itself as recklessness and stupid impulsive decisions. Ordinary Damon things. But the thing with guilt is that Damon takes all of his worst traits and makes them worse.)

Because Damon has a thing about deals and debts. He particularly noticed it these last months, seeing him interact with people who are not himself nor doctors and their assistants. How he would carefully formulate his sentences, always letting himself some ground to defend himself if something goes wrong. How he would retaliate if he thought someone wronged him, or someone he cares about, one way or another. And okay maybe what he considers as wrongdoings is very subjective, but meet them and you find yourself confronted with a particularly violent and vindictive vampire. Enzo would have thought the others would have noticed it at this point, particularly the wording thing. But since he has arrived, they were still as careless as ever with their words and as clueless about Damon’s.

He is pretty sure the only person who caught on is Elijah, but it is probably because the Original vampire is as careful as Damon with his phrasing. Hell, the two practically made a game out of it, see who will be able to outword the other first without anyone noticing it—except Enzo who usually watches the two going at it with amusement. And keeps score. At the moment, they’re tied. Damon won the last point after the questioning and suspicious look Klaus sent his brother. (The victorious subtle but not really smirk Damon sent to Elijah made Klaus glance pointedly at the younger vampire. All it did was make Damon smirk more obnoxiously, this time mockingly at the hybrid. Enzo was already planning how to steal Klaus’s blood to cure the idiot from werewolf venom.)

“You don’t make a habit of showing your caring unless you actually do care, and even then you have to know what to look for. And you haven’t stopped since then. You think I haven’t noticed how you always seem to have blood bags close at hand. How you always make sure to be between me and the biggest threat in the room—which, I see how you keep flicking your eyes between me and Stefan, as if you don’t know whom to stay close to. Sometimes you look like you’re one blink away from kidnapping us out of the situation. Or one of us so that you can completely focus on the other. It’s cute in a way. Pretty sure Stefan thinks it’s unsettling the way you stare at him, but at least I get to laugh at his growing paranoia.”

A small laugh escapes Damon’s mouth. This little feud between Enzo and Stefan never stops amusing him.

“I love you. And I know you do too.” Right, this is what it was about originally. “You show it to me every day. I don’t need you to say it all the time.”

Damon simply stares at him in response, a small frown appearing between his brows. “It doesn’t mean I couldn’t say it more often.”

“And it is nice hearing it. But it doesn't mean I need to hear it, you already show it to me every time, every day.” When he sees Damon's brows furrow deeper, lips thinning in displeasure, he adds. “Stop being a stubborn dolt and just accept it.”

Now at the risk of incurring Damon’s wrath, Enzo's lips turn up in a small smile at the face the other vampire is making—which is not a pout because big bad vampires do not pout. (And it's not big bad wolfy who will disagree. His expression when he was told by his brother that his idea of turning Mystic Falls inhabitants into vampires so the littlest Gilbert could complete the map better stayed an idea was not a pout. Enzo sometimes looks at Damon and Klaus and can't help but laugh because no wonder these two can't get along, they're just too similar in the worst possible way.)

“I’m not saying all this to make you feel better. I am telling you. I have never doubted it. Believe me, when you’re being all you,” at the confused tilt of head he gets, he simply smiles, “it’s not hard to tell. I mean, even your brother knows you love him and you are a lot meaner with him. And… and I have no idea what we were talking about but I love you, you love me, we love each other, it’s nice.”

Damon raises an eyebrow, all judgment and wow, Enzo can see the resemblance between both Salvatore with this expression. “It’s nice? Really?”

“Shut it! I didn’t really plan on being all emotional today.”

The light amusement on Damon’s face straight away dies out and Enzo kind of wants to hit himself for it.

“Sorry. Today just felt… too much.”

Enzo smiles sadly and cups Damon’s face with his left hand, making sure to look him in the eyes. “Want to talk about it?”

The answer is obvious on Damon’s face, but after sighing, he still answers. “I thought I was doing okay, but they started talking about the most efficient way to kill as many supernatural creatures as possible. And it was too much because they are basically talking about mass murder and, I mean, I don't particularly care but… I don’t know, today I didn’t feel like listening anymore.”

“Well, if it makes you feel better, there was no progress on this front after you left. Doubt there has been any since I left.”

“Give them a few hours, they’ll come up with something. They can be particularly ruthless when it comes to their interests.” With a slight frown, he adds. “I better find a good place to hide the stake.” At Enzo’s questioning glance, he says. “I don’t trust them with something like that.”

Something in the way Damon said this sounds strange to Enzo. But aware the raven-haired vampire will not answer him, he doesn’t push. “What about your human buddy? Can’t he dissuade them from doing anything stupid?”

“You really think they’ll listen to Ric? I mean, Jeremy might but that’s all. And even then, the others can easily talk him into whatever shitty plan they think up. Believe me, it’s easier than it seems to convince little siblings to do what you want.”

Seeing how just thinking about what the Scooby Gang could come up with seems to suck out all of Damon’s energy, Enzo brings his other hand to the other’s face before kissing him. Damon instantly relaxes at the contact and leans forward to deepen the kiss. Thanks to their dampened need to breathe, the kiss lasts a few minutes during which Enzo lets himself think of nothing. Simply Damon seated between his legs, solid and real. His hands holding the dead-cold skin. One of Damon’s hands resting on his hip and the other gripping his knee. Enzo lets a moan escape when he feels Damon’s hand slides under his T-shirt, rubbing slow circles with his thumb. Feeling the other’s lips stretching into a smile, Enzo retaliates by biting them, fangs out, savoring the taste of blood on his tongue and the grunt accompanying it.

Finally breaking the kiss, Enzo’s attention zeroes in on the already healing bite and resists the urge to reopen it. A temptation starting to be too strong when Damon almost makes a show of licking his lips to get rid of the blood. So instead, Enzo focuses on the blue eyes already looking right at him. He lets himself a few seconds to lose himself in being Damon’s sole focus, gently stroking his cheeks, watching how the raven is leaning in at the movement, not breaking eye contact. He smiles, a tiny little thing, when Damon turns his head, taking his thumb in his mouth to nibble at it, not even piercing the skin. Sometimes Damon has the cutest little habits.

“Feel like doing anything?”

Damon lets his thumb go and stops to think, observing the younger vampire closely—probably (certainly) to determine what Enzo wants—so Enzo makes sure to keep his expression open, letting him know that the choice is entirely his, that he is okay with whatever he decides. After several seconds of scrutinizing, Damon seems to come to a decision. Still fixated on the other vampire, he slowly shakes his head.

“Not really. Not today. Can we just…” He seems to hesitate—shy as Damon Salvatore should never be—before gesticulating his hand between them and the bed.

Enzo doesn’t wait to agree, having immediately understood what Damon meant.

(Someone needs to remind Damon that it is alright to simply want to cuddle without sex involved. That if he wants someone to hold him, he just has to ask.)

(Realizing that the love of your life you spent a century and half trying to save from a fate worse than death lied to you and only used you for sex had certainly led to some serious self-love issues. Enzo would really like to have more words with Katherine Pierce. In retrospect, maybe he should have burned her the first time he met her. Because she damaged Damon so deeply Enzo has a visceral need to hurt her. And Enzo could appreciate the irony)

“Yeah, we can.” Letting the other go, Enzo takes his place back against the headboard and puts his arms around Damon’s waist when the older vampire pushes himself against him. Damon immediately grabs one of his hands in his before he starts playing with it. When Enzo doesn’t feel the other vampire relax after a few minutes, he puts his free hand on Damon’s tight, stroking the covered skin. At the light tensing of the man in his arms, Enzo begins to delicately put kisses on the exposed skin in front of him. He keeps doing so, butterfly kisses on the neck, nothing more, and his hand rubbing lazy circles on the other’s tight, not moving higher or lower, until he feels Damon slowly relaxing in his embrace once he is certain Enzo has no intention of going further.

The air around them feels lighter and lighter every second Damon unwinds a bit more until Enzo doesn’t feel like he’s about to be struck by lightning anymore. Instead, all he feels is warm contentment, and he lets himself be lulled into a soft feeling of security he doesn’t think he has ever been able to feel until Damon. Because there is something about the older vampire that makes him feel safe, that tells him he can let his guard down because he knows the other won’t let anything happen to him.

“How about we stop existing for a few hours?” Damon simply hums in response. “No original vampires, no magical map, no cure, and more importantly, no teenager drama. Just you and I between four walls, against the outside world.”

“At least there is no cement wall between us.”

“At least there is nothing to prevent us from cuddling.” He lets a short laugh escape at Damon’s groan.

“Please don’t call it that.”

“I’m calling it how I see it.” To emphasize his point, he tightens his hold and shoves his face in the junction between Damon’s neck and his shoulder. “I’m cuddling you.”

“You’re strangling me. You planning on letting me breathe at some point?” His only answer is the tightening of the grip around him, efficiently constricting his lungs. “Very funny.”

The dry tone only causes Enzo to drop a kiss on his neck followed by a nip right on his pulse point. “You don’t need to breathe.”

Damon huffs before slapping one of Enzo’s legs. “I do. And I’ll need to, eventually.”

“Admit we’re cuddling and maybe I’ll let you.”

“Maybe?” The clutch Damon’s in tightens a bit more.

“I’m very comfortable in this position.”

“You’re trying to crush my rib cage.”

“Cuddling.”

“Cuddling does not involve broken bones. Nor asphyxia.”

“That’s what you think. You just haven’t cuddled anyone in a long time.”

“We— You’re the one who spent decades as a rat lab, what do you know?” He simply gets a hum in response. “Plus, I’m the one who was stuck with a clingy angel-faced little sibling.”

“It was like two centuries ago. Doesn’t count.”

“It was never-happened ago for you. I win.”

“Okay little spoon, whatever you say.”

“How do you even know about that?”

“I’m catching up on modern slang.”

“Please, never say that word again. It sounds wrong coming from you.” Enzo decides to not answer and instead bites the skin on Damon’s neck before sucking. The other vampire inhales sharply. “If you’re hungry, there is blood downstairs.”

Enzo lifts his head to place it on Damon’s shoulder. “And risk bumping into the gaggle of murderous babies. No, thank you.” He sweeps the room with his eyes. “You should have blood in your room. Why don’t you have blood in your room?”

Damon doesn’t answer, preferring instead to settle more cozily against the younger vampire with a faint sigh of content. Enzo adjusts his grip until they’re both comfortable. Damon takes his hand once again, fiddling with his fingers and his ring. With Damon’s fixation with his hands, Enzo is half worried Damon is going to steal them. Or his ring. Damon looks like the kind of person to steal jewelry because he likes it.

After a few minutes of silence, Enzo leans his head toward Damon, chin hooked on the other's shoulder, a small smirk on his lips. He can feel Damon shift at his movement. “So,” from the way Damon freezes, he probably already knows he won't like what he'll hear. It simply makes his smile widen. “What about snuggling?”

Without missing a beat, Damon answers. “I'm disowning you. Starting now and ending never.” But, despite his words, he doesn't move. On the contrary, he leans further backwards and Enzo can't resist. 

“Looks like to me you do want more snuggles.”

With a grunt of disgust, Damon makes a move to extract himself from the other's embrace cuddle but Enzo tightens his grip. “Okay, okay, no cuddling and no snuggling. Just you and I against the outside world.” Despite his words, he makes sure to snuggle the other vampire as close as he can. “So, what do you say? We pretend the outside world doesn’t exist and we stay here where nothing can reach us?”

“I like the idea.”

Enzo smiles and starts stroking Damon’s arms with the tips of his fingers until the other is completely relaxed and nearly asleep. He drops a small kiss on Damon’s lower jaw and shifts a bit so they are both comfortably settled. He waits until he’s sure Damon is asleep before picking his phone to write a quick message to Alaric to tell him to not bother them until at least midday the day after. Message sent and not waiting for the confirmation the hunter saw it, he puts the phone down, adjusts his grip and lets his head fall against the headboard, listening to Damon’s breathing gradually lull him into sleep.

They have tons of problems to deal with, but for now, he’s content enough to ignore them. They’ll have all the time to worry about them tomorrow. And the day after. And every day that follows. His last thought before succumbing to sleep is wondering if he'd be able to convince Damon to ditch Mystic Falls and its seemingly never-ending troubles.

END

so this ends up being longer than i planned, sorry for that but i hope you liked it i had fun writing it

i'll probably edit and post it on ao3 at some point, there are stuff i haven't been able to fit here so we'll see

also damon might seem a bit out of character but you should remember that the guy came back from a future where he saw everyone he loved die and he was having a bad week

[livlepretre]

What are your thoughts on Klaus/bonnie? or more specifically bonnie who is a normal bennet witch and not as self sacrificing as in the show

well, I'm not really sure what you mean? the fact that Bonnie is so self-sacrificing is a major part of her character-- it's the expression of her love, which is fiercely protective. (also, she's totally the mom friend, and I think this ties in-- she's the one with the most common sense and the strongest moral compass by far-- of course she's protective! but it's not like it's unreciprocated-- Elena demonstrates plenty that she is ready to die for her-- Bonnie is just the stronger of the two and can easily push Elena back.)

So I'm not sure who Bonnie would be if she wasn't self-sacrificing.

So I'll answer based on who she is--

I think Klaus x Bonnie is such an obvious ship! Like, I don't understand at all why this wasn't the canon decision?

We know 1) Klaus is into witches-- he likes beautiful and powerful women, so the fact alone that Bonnie is a powerful, intelligent, beautiful witch is enough to capture his attention-- great, this is actually the first hurdle overcome, which is always going to be the question of, why is this ancient creature paying attention to some high school girl? 2) okay she almost killed him in season 2 and that's some Grade A material to start a ship on 3) one of my theories with tvd and the narrative function of the characters is that Bonnie stands for the moral True North in the show-- if one of the major arcs of the show is Elena being seduced away from human morality and into the vampiric darkness embodied by the Salvatores, Bonnie exists as her best friend and her moral clarity to pull her back. That's why, narratively, it's critical that Bonnie hates vampires so much-- because she sees them for the danger they are. She needs to be able to warn Elena with her eyes wide open. Also convenient that she can't be compelled, because her mind is therefore entirely her own. With this in mind, YES, this makes a potential spark with Klaus EXTREMELY INTRIGUING.

I actually have no idea what the angle would have to be to get Bonnie to give Klaus a second look. Honestly I see it going forward as Klaus being obsessed with her and maaaybbeeee she is interested enough to look his way twice. Or she just detests him and it feeds the glorious fire of the ship.

I think for it to happen there would have to be some sort of Incident that would trigger things. That sort of thing is always really helpful for ships where one of them is just. Morally Opposed (and also Generally Appalled).

(Like, if anyone wants to come at me about Bonnie x Enzo or Bonnie x Damon for Bonnie being okay with vampires-- like, yes, I know it's canon, or that bamon has great chemistry-- I honestly didn't watch the seasons with bonenzo so I have nothing to contribute and I would assert the scenario with 1994 Pocket After Life or whatever that was with Damon is a great example of an Incident leading her to put aside her natural feelings toward vampires in favor of one specific vampire she can allow that she actually does like.)

(But this is just further evidence that Klaus x Bonnie would need to a great Incident of some sort in order to make the ship go because I think otherwise Bonnie says Hard Pass.)

[kiss-my-freckle]

Huge Delena fan mainly bc I love Elena and Damon as separate characters. However, I'm not sure how you can't/don't ship Bamon.

I agree that neither party of Bamon would want to betray Elena this way in her sleep so it's messy. Damon would not want to be disloyal to Elena after all they had been through. He would not easily turn his back on someone who was so in love with him. I think this would be ooc as he waited to be with her.

But, Bamon would have been SPECTACULAR. There is zero denying that the love they had could turn sexual at any moment. Like a grab and kiss her moment. He was cautious with Elena but he was wary of (with) Bonnie. He respected her in a way that was legendary. She loved him fiercely. Hence Benzo which was imo, ridic, random, and a Damon substitute. She deserved Damon's love, loyalty, protection, and passion. And although their friendship was beautiful, I think Bonnie deserved his love in a larger sense.

Some friendshps are fine going to the next level as Delena and Steroline do. Some friendships aren't meant to cross that line... like Matt and Elena. That's where I'd place Bamon. While I do consider Enzo a Damon substitute, he's not an exact substitute. I don't ship Bamon because Damon isn't Enzo and Elena isn't Bonnie. Their differences matter. I'd ship Benzo every day of the week but never ship Bamon.

[unhealthyfanobsession]

How would you compare the ACOTAR ships to TVD ships? Some people say Feysand is like Delena.

This is SUCH A FUN ASK!! Don’t mind if I do! I’m going to compare the general dynamic of the characters as well as archetype/ story parallels.

This is a crossover post so SPOILERS FOR BOTH ACOTAR AND TVD BELOW.

Stefan-Elena-Damon = Tamlin-Feyre-Rhysand

I don’t mean to do Stefan dirty like this, but the parallels are really undeniable. Stefan and Tamlin both were the kind, caring, magical first introduction to this whole new world for Feyre/Elena. They fell in love with them easily and it was a pure, beautiful love but while they were in it there were darker (Damon and Rhys) forces pulling them in another direction. Both women loved these men SO fiercely and sacrificed for that love. Feyre fought the 3 trials with Amarantha where she ended up being helped by Rhys. Elena went looking for Stefan in his ripper days even though Klaus would kill her if he found her and she was helped by Damon. Both of them fought for this love but then once they had it back... either they or the man or both had changed too much from the trauma and their relationship simply couldn’t work anymore.

I totally agree with the Feysand= Delena point because I think they are both relationships that are very “this person over everyone else no matter what” and that is romantic, but at we see, can also be overbearing/toxic at times. They both do awful things that the heroine has to later learn their motives for and forgive them for. Damon “kills” Jeremy and tries to compel Elena to kiss him early on. He feeds Elena his blood against her will when Klaus might kill her but then he ultimately makes it right through self sacrificing hero acts. Rhys does... everything he did under the mountain and he doesn’t tell Feyre she’s his mate, but then he helps her heal after Tamlin and ultimately saves Prythian. Both characters are also haunted by an abusive relationship- Rhysand a sexually abusive relationship with Amarantha that he endured for 49 years and Damon and emotionally abusive/manipulative relationship with Katherine that defined his life for 150 years.

Damon has a quote in season 4 that I think really describes both couples. He says: “if you’re going to be bad, be bad with a purpose. Otherwise you just aren’t worth forgiving.”

Klaroline = Nessian

This one is more based on character interactions and a bit of my own bias. I struggled to find a TRUE nessian parallel couple but I think Klaroline is the closest for a number of reasons. Largely because Caroline and Nesta are very similar characters. Both start off as shallow, superficial mean girls who we get an early glimpse of their heart (Caroline crying and her I’m never the one monologue and Nesta being on Feyre’s side when she returns in ACOTAR) who then get changed into something they never wanted to be and it helps them grow and OWN THEIR P O W E R. Even Caroline’s stint as emotionless mess after her mom’s death parallels Nesta’s destructive actions after losing her father.

Cassian and Klaus both have the whole “I’m a worthless bastard that no one wants and I killed my father but I am STRONGER THAN EVERYONE so you can’t hurt me even though I’m really just a soft boi who needs love” vibe going on.

And the CHASE. That’s the biggest parallel here. These are both couples where this powerful man walked in and said “that one” re the beautiful woman who hated them and then did not give up. But with both of them it’s a gentle chase. Klaus knows that Caroline is constantly trying to trick him but he doesn’t care because he just wants to spend time with her and whenever she is in danger he is there on the DOUBLE and does things he doesn’t want to do for her (ex- graduation, hiding/ protecting Stefan in season 6). Cassian knows that Nesta is going through a hard time after ACOMAF and he flies up to the House of Wind every damn day to see her even when she pushes him away and he instantly goes into fierce general I will kill mode if anyone threatens Nesta. Also both couples are prone to lashing out at each other (Caroline “terrible people” line; Klaus with his biting. Cassian “everyone hates you”; Nesta with her well... being Nesta LOL)

Bonus points for pet names and relentless teasing when they aren’t trying to kill each other.

Quote for them is when Caroline tells Klaus “anyone capable of love, is capable of being saved” I think that also has big Cassian @ Nesta in ACOSF energy.

(PS I did consider Nessian being Steroline but 1. I fucking hate that ship and 2. Stefan was never there for Caroline during the hard times which is the anti Cassian AND I think the for me it’s always you vibe just fits the intensity of Nessian better)

Kennett = Elriel

I’m not tagging this Elriel so don’t COME FOR ME. In my opinion, these are both ships that had some fun ~tension~ and are kinda sexy/enticing. Kol with his love of witches and their little graduation ghost adventure and Azriel with his attraction to Elain and saving her from Hybern. BUT ultimately I think the most interesting thing about these ships was their convenience. I think fans liked to put Bonnie with Kol in fanfics because it was an easy way to make Bonnie understand Elena and Caroline’s choice for a dark boi and it was just convenient. Likewise I think that Elriel is convenient in writing to simply throw Elain with the other bat brother and tie everything up in a neat little ribbon.

Mabekah= Elucien

In this comparison Rebekah is Lucien and Matt is Elain. This was a couple where one person started off with bad motives (Rebekah wanting to kill Matt at the ball; Lucien plotting with Hybern) but they have genuine feelings for the person once they get to know/are mated to them and you see that person is a much more complicated character than we previously saw. Rebekah and Lucien are both lost, lonely, and struggling to find where they fit in while Matt and Elain are both struggling but ultimately the much beloved “sweet” character who everyone is willing to die to protect. At first the sweet character avoids the villain character like the plague, but eventually things turn around and they see past their previous bad actions.

BonEnzo= Gwynriel

Talk about characters who have some trauma to heal together. Enzo was literally kept in a cage by the Whitmore’s for 50 years and abused much like Azriel in his dungeon. Gwyn has had to make unspeakable decisions in order to protect the greater good and suffer the horrible consequences for it- losing her twin to protect those children much like how Bonnie lost her grams to protect Stefan and Elena. Enzo started off interested in Caroline (like Azriel and Elain) and getting over an obsession with Lilly (Azriel and Mor) but was ultimately drawn to Bonnie for her strength, determination, and good heart despite everything she had been through. These are really all just characters that have been through the RINGER and need to find healing in each other’s arms but would never admit that’s what they are doing so it just happens slowly and one day they realize things don’t hurt as much anymore.

AND FINALLY:

Damon and Caroline= Nesta and Tomas

You know why. Damon doesn’t get off that easy just because he “changed”. He abused Caroline and I won’t be pretending in 2021 that he didn’t.

[leianaberrie]

Kai did in 5 minutes what Damon couldn’t help Bonnie do in 4 months. And that’s trigger her magic. Kai knew Bonnie was a fiercely loyal person who’d do anything to protect her friends (even friends who don’t warrant saving like Damon). It’s actually crazy how in the 4 months they were alone together not once did Damon believe in Bonnie and encourage her. He incessantly called her useless. Not once, not twice, not thrice, but multiple times and every chance he got. It’s disturbing actually how incessant he was about it. And Kai comes and tortures Damon and gets under Bonnie’s skin by echoing Damon’s “useless” comments and Bonnie gets her magic back. And in the next episode this fool is still calling Bonnie useless to the point Kai tells Bonnie to ignore him. I’m sure Kai got called useless all his life too for not being able to do magic. Sigh…..if only we saw Bonnie and Kai have a conversation about a lot of the things they had in common.

I’m sure Kai got called useless all his life too for not being able to do magic.

This though. Bonkai is the kind of ship where you'd probably spent forever analyzing and still finding new insights, new ways in which they were connected and paralleled each other's stories.

And of course, Damon 'affectionately' calling Bonnie useless and contributing absolutely nothing towards her growth but discouragement and negativity isn't unpacked enough. People rightfully analyze how Bonenzo was based on Stockholm Syndrome, and the forced isolation made Bonnie develop feelings for him that won't have happened under other conditions... but we don't talk enough about how Bamon friendship is also based on Stockholm Syndrome. At least Enzo was actually trying to keep Bonnie safe. Damon did nothing to earn Bonnie's friendship except exist. They were so miserable together they made an actual suicide pact. They have no fun experiences, really. Did they travel? Explore the world? Go and have fun in some empty carnival? No. They just stayed put in Mystic Falls and kept each other's miserable company.

[too-many-kpop-hubands]

30 Day Fandom Challenge

Welcome to day three! I will continue to tag you @domsberto because you asked me to. I also nominated @jimonsprettyface last go around so I'm doing it again.

This next fandom is also close to my heart and has been one of my biggest fandoms so far (besides Teen Wolf and Shadowhunters/TMI)

So without further adieu....

Day Three- The Vampire Diaries

[NEXT UP: THE ORIGINALS since I love different things about both series.]

1) Favorite Character: Tied Alaric Saltzman & Jeremy Gilbert

Reason: Alaric is an all around good person for someone who is so broken and flawed. He is a badass and does everything he can for the people he cares about. He has gone through so much in his life but always manages to persevere no matter how many times life tries to take him out (literally on several counts). He can be selfless and brave even in the face of great evil. He has his flaws. He drinks too much, he encourages bad behavior, he considers himself a lost cause but all that makes him that much more interesting.

As for Jeremy, I will always have a soft spot for Jeremy Gilbert. He lost so much at such a young age, bringing him into the world of the supernatural. He was a badass who not only had the ability to communicate with the dead, a consequence of being resurrected by Bonnie after he was shot and killed by Liz Forbes, but he became a badass hunter who took out one of the most unpredictable Originals (Kol). He was funny, talented, romantic, loving, loyal to a fault, protective of those he cared about and an adorable dork. I adore Jeremy Gilbert.

2) Most Relatable Character: Matt Donovan

Reason: Out of all the characters Matt is the most "normal". He is keen on staying human despite having his run ins with the supernatural world. He is cool with just blending in and not standing out. He is fiercely loyal to those he cares about, he's headstrong, protective and down to earth. Your typical boy next door. These qualities make it very hard for other characters not to like him, and he has captured the hearts of several females throughout the series. However, as the years have passed and he's lost more friends, Matt has become colder and even ruthless to a degree. I can understand all of this. Not wanting to stand out, doing everything you can to protect the people you care about, losing friends and turning cold and ruthless because of a need to not lose more. Of all the characters he is the most relatable.

3) Most Underrated Character: Bonnie Bennett

Reason: Yes, I know there are quite a few Bonnie stans in the fandom but I still feel like this beautiful and powerful witch is underrated in terms of the show as a whole. She does so much for everyone, even to the point of exerting her powers until she is almost dead (or until she does die in one case), and gets very little recognition for it from the people she almost died/did die saving. She is selfless in putting herself in these positions and not expecting a thank you but damn it she deserves all the thank yous for saving everyone's ass time and time again. She doesn't have to do the things she does but she does them anyway because she is fiercely loyal and cares deeply for the people she saves. She is beautiful, powerful, loving, caring, snarky and an all around badass. I stan Bonnie so much.

4 & 5) Most Overrated Character & Least Favorite Character: Elena Gilbert

Reason: I chose Elena for both because let's face it, she is probably one of the worst characters in the series. Elena claims to be so compassionate and caring but she can be an annoying dimwit most of the time. She puts herself in situations that make everyone else in the series risk their lives to save her. Her martyr complex is both stupid and annoying. She acts as if she can take the entire world down by herself when most of the time she only makes things worse for everyone else. She has hurt almost everyone in the series at least once either physically or emotionally and for someone people claim is so "compassionate" she acts as if she could care less about the people she hurts unless there's something in it for her. She claims she is nothing like her ancestor Katherine Pierce but she is almost identical at times only slightly nicer. She toys with people just like she does and claims she "doesn't mean to", like Stefan, Damon, Matt and they doctor she dated and threw away whose name escapes me now. Plus she is just boring when she isn't getting herself or others in trouble. Some main character, Katherine is more interesting. Don't come at me Elena stans, this is my opinion.

6) Favorite Canon Pairing: Bonnie Bennett & Jeremy Gilbert [Close Call Honorable Mention- Bonnie Bennett & Enzo St John]

Reason: This was a close one to call because I adore both ships so much but I have a soft spot for Jeremy and his relationship with Bonnie. They had an adorable relationship, always bringing out the best in each other (after the whole kissing Anna's ghost fiasco early on) They loved each other fiercely and did everything they could to look after each other, especially when Bonnie brought him back to life the first time and sacrificed herself to bring him back from the Other Side. I was upset when they ended their relationship for good though I was happy for a while to see Bonnie and Enzo until they sadly ended as well. I swear my girl couldn't catch a break when it came to love.

7) Favorite Non-Canon Pairing: Klaroline (Klaus Mikaelson & Caroline Forbes) [Close Call Honorable Mention: Dalaric (Damon Salvatore & Alaric Saltzman)]

Reason: Ok I adore Dalaric, I am a Dalaric shipper to my very core because I have a soft spot for two hot men together. But in terms of my favorite pairing, relationship wise, I would probably have to say Klaroline.

I say Non-Canon for Klaroline because they never officially got together.

When we first see Klaus is a ruthless asshole with no regard for humanity or other people if they interfered with his agenda. Enter Caroline, who was usually used as bait, and she flipped his world upside down. The big bad hybrid went love sick for a pretty blonde. She brought out the side of him he had buried over the years under all the hurt, anger and loneliness. She played hard to get and they never officially got together other than an impromptu hook up in the woods but you could tell they really loved each other. That's why I consider this a non-canon pairing because they were never officially together.

8) Least Favorite Pairing: Elena and Anyone

Reason: I can't stand Elena, enough said.

9) Favorite Part/Moment: Bonnie lifts the Veil

Reason: Bonnie lifting the veil not only brought back Jeremy for good but also brought upon some touching scenes with a few of my favorite characters who had passed on, including Alaric and Lexi. Though she sacrificed herself to being Jeremy back and close the veil to the other side it was a beautiful moment.

10) Least Favorite Part/Moment: Tied- Alaric's final death & Elena turning her humanity off

Reason: Alaric died many times throughout the series and was brought back with the help of a magic ring but when Esther Mikaelson turned him into an Original Vampire and he became linked to Elena, her death lead to his death and it was a very emotional scene that made me sob my eyeballs out. The scene that followed later with Damon at his grave also made me sob.

Elena turning her Humanity off was one of the worst moments for me for several reasons. While I hate Elena, I felt for her in that moment. Jeremy had just been killed by Katherine, she had already lost her entire family including Alaric and it lead to one of the most dramatic and emotional scenes of the series before Damon forced her to turn off her emotions. I cried.

And there you have it folks! My take on The Vampire Diaries

[elejah-wonderland]

For Your Love

Fanfiction

Elena x Elijah 

TVD/TO Christmas one shot

a/n: I hope you like it. it was inspired by a video from MindOfHeart, You are the Reason. 

Thanks so much for reading. xoxo

🎄

For years, Elijah is working undercover to keep Elena, as well as his family safe. Elejah fall in love, but the vampire had to leave because of the deal he had made with the Armory. His brothers and sisters manage to get him away for a day, so he can spend Christmas with them.

🎄

Present day, New Orleans

“She doesn’t know that you are here! We thought we would surprise her.”  Rebekah said to Elijah as they got out of the car, helping his sister with all the presents. 

“Ok. I will be quiet. And- thank you for bringing her to New Orleans.” Elijah now said, swaying his look to Klaus and Kol.

“Hey, it’s about always and forever!” Klaus said.

They got in the house and Elijah help put all the presents down under the tree.

“Ok.” Rebekah said as she heard Elena, “she is coming down!”

Elena walked down the stairs - and stopped at the last step.

“Elijah!? ” the doppelganger smiled as she saw the Original standing in front of the Christmas tree. 

“Elena!” Elijah said happily,  smiling back at her.

The doppelganger walked to the Original and not minding anyone present they hug warmly, “Merry Christmas!” Elijah whispered to the doppelganger sweetly in the ear. 

Moving out of the hug, Elena looked at the Original tearing up a bit -“I  -  didn’t think I would see you - so soon”

“Neither did I “Elijah said.

"Luckily we have a sister that is as good as an Original witch and she could make Armory look for Elijah for once.” - Rebekah said.

“Thank you.” Elijah now turned to Freya, who came in from the kitchen giving her brother a warm hug.

“Please, don’t mention it.” Freya said spreading a caring smile.

“It is too dangerous for you to use the magic. They could have found out and - I don’t even want to know what they could have done.” Elijah said.

“I had extra big help from Mystic Falls. ” Freya then said and glanced at Elena, who now looked at the witch surprised.

“Bonnie Bennett helped us.” Freya added.

“Really?”, Elena couldn’t believe it, as the Mystic Falls Scoobies parted their ways with Elena as she helped save the Originals after the Mikaelson Ball- “How- I mean- I don’t get it?! She - hates you guys, because of- her mom!”

“She had a change of heart.”- Freya said and added-“the Bennett  witch knows what Elijah has done for the whole Bennett coven, since he’s been in the Armory.”

Elena looked now even more astonished.

“How did she find out?” Elijah was surprised to hear it.

“Apparently Enzo has told her before he died.” Freya said.

“You sacrifice yourself over and over again for all of us and- get nothing in return.”- Freya continued -“and when I approached her, she agreed to help us.”

Elena now excused herself for a second and went up to her room. She took her phone and dialled Bonnie’s number. As the witch answered the doppelganger said straight out, “Thank you for doing what you did.”

“Oh, Lena - it’s ok.” Bonnie said, “are you ok? Did Elijah make it?”

“Yes, he did. Thank you - oh, God - I just - I hate that we are not talking and that everything - just - got so stupid. I miss my best friend - can we - be friends again?”

“I miss you, too. Of course. You are my friend forever, and all this crazy thing that happened is - well- we’re good. You were right to save them. If it wasn’t for Elijah, our coven would be dead  now and me, too, as well as little Lily.” Bonnie said.

“Little Lily?” Elena said, not understanding what the  witch meant.

“I am pregnant. Five months.” the witch replied.

“OMG! Really? And you already got a name?”

“Well- Damon wanted to call her Lily Rose, and - so- yeah-”

“You and - Damon? But - I don’t get it - how could he -?” Elena inquired.

“Damon was human - for about five minutes- Kai fed him the Cure- it’s a long story. I’ll tell you when I see you.”

“I see I missed so much. Who is Kai?” Elena asked.

“I will tell you everything when I see you. Have a good time - with you know who. Freya told me that you and Elijah are together.”

“Well, we are not really together. I mean we hooked up once, and then it was like - we didn’t really define what it is- he had to leave - it’s really complicated.” Elena explained.

“I hope you get a chance to uncomplicate it.” Bonnie said.

“I really hope so. How is Caroline? Stefan?” the doppelganger inquired.

“They - were together. But they are not anymore. Caroline is dating, if you can call it that - Damon’s friend Enzo, and Stefan is with his first love - Valerie.”- Bonnie said.

“First love?”

“Yeah, Valerie is a vampire- witch that was locked away in a Fake World with Kai, also a vampire-witch.  When they escaped, they got to Mystic Falls - and - well, the rest is history.”

“We really got to meet. I can’t believe all that happened since I left for New Orleans.” Elena said.

“It’s been crazy.” Bonnie said.

“I see.”

“Ok. I got to go. Damon and mu mom are here - and- well, Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas to all of you.” Elena said and a tear escaped her eyes as both of them hung up.

There was a knock at the door and Rebekah got in saying, “everything ok? The food is ready”

“Yeah, everything is fine. For the first time in a long while- everything is really good.” Elena said.

“Yeah, I feel it, too. Come on, Elijah is waiting  - so, you two are making up? I mean it was too obvious from the hug.” Rebekah cocked an eyebrow at the doppelganger.

“I don’t know how he really feels?”

“Are you kidding me, Elena. He is mad about you.” Rebekah said, “all he did - all he is doing is for you.”

“Not just me- for his family, too.”

“You are family, too, so- that’s it.” Rebekah pointed out.

Elena now smiled.

Rebekah urged the brunette to come along with her and join them for dinner.

Elena walked down with the Original and they joined the rest of the Mikaelson family gathered around the Christmas tree for a little toast.

Freya passed a glass of champagne to Elena and Rebekah.

As the eldest Mikaelson, Freya was the one that said a few words, “When I was alone with aunt  Dahlia, I dreamt of having Christmas with a family. And then when I found you- you were about to perish, if it wasn’t for Elena, who stopped mother and the coven, none of us would be here today, and for that I want to say a special thank you, from all of us, because you stood up for us, against all your friends. Thank you. Well, to family!”

“Here, here.” Klaus said.

“Please guys, don’t” Elena said, swaying her look at Elijah, who looked at her directly in the eyes, “it was the right thing to do. That’s all.”

Klaus now continued, “To family and friends.”

Rebekah added, “To love.”

They all repeated, “To family, friends and love!”

With that they went into the dining room, and the feast started, Kol entertaining everyone with the stories of their past and childhood memories of Yule festivities, embarrasing Klaus and Elijah in the process. But they gave good as they got. It was a Christmas they would remember for a very long time.

As they finished with the feasting and opening the presents, they dispersed one by one to visit their significant others that spent time with their families.

As Klaus was out of the door he jokingly said to Elijah-

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

“Shut up.” Elijah said nearly shoving the wolf out of the door.

Elena, who was now on the phone to Caroline, remained in the family room, holding the diary book Elijah had given her as a present.

As Elijah entered the room, Elena said bye to Caroline, hanging up.

“So, everyone in Mystic Falls is ok, I guess?”

“They are.” Elena said,“and - we- are all good again. Thanks.”

“Like you said- I just did what was right.” Elijah said, “all was due to the evil Siren-witches. But, with the covens slowly gaining power again, soon all this will be history and - I will home again.”

“You will? Really?”

“Yes. I am slowly getting to the heart of the Big Evil as you call it. And when I kill it, you will finally be free, and I can lift the curse off my family.”

“So, how long have you got, before you got to go- before this masking magic wears off?”

“Dawn.” Elijah said, “I got till  til sunrise.”

Elena nodded a little, gulping. She took a deep mental breath  and then said-

“I am sorry about - last time. I was- angry. But not at you- at everything- at being the doppelganger- at life, and that somehow it always gets screwed up-”

Elijah neared at her and now inches away from her - he said in a low faint voice looking at her, “I know all you’ve been through and what you still are going through and - I was also - angry at- all you’ve just said- mostly because- all this  inadvertently  was our doing. And I will make this better. For you. For your love. And because I love you. And I want to be with you, if you still want me.”

These were the words she so longed to hear, and her heart burst open-

“Yees. I want you. Of course I do. I so do. Oh, all these months- it was so awful. The way you left and-”

“Shhh- that’s all gone now-” Elijah said looking at her dearly, “I love you” and he pulled her into a long overdue kiss.

❤️️Your heart got a story with mine

Your heart got me hurting at times

Your heart gave me new kind of highs

Your heart got me feeling so fine

So what to do

Still falling for you

❤️️It took us a while

With every breath a new day

With love on the line

We’ve had our share of mistakes

She loved him. Her heart knew that from the first time she had met him. She dreamed of him so often, even when she had convinced herself that this love will only bring her heartache and she should drive him out of it. And her heart was not letting her, on the contrary, it held strong on that love. He was all, gentle, loving, fierce, protective, noble. All she loved in a man.

❤️️And just like that

All I breathe

All I feel

You are all for me

I’m in

And just like that

All I breathe

All I feel

You are all for me

No one can lift me, catch me the way that you do

I’m still falling for you 

❤️️Wrapping her arms around his neck, her fingers entwined through his hair trying to get as near as possible to adjust the kiss that was now deepening. It was heavenly.  Easing out of the kiss, their eyes met in a splash of happy grin.

“I want this” Elena said drawing her hands down his neck, her eyes sparkling with a mixture of love and desire. 

“You’re sure?” Elijah brushed his thumb over her cheek, biting a groan back in his throat. 

“Very” Elena replied, undoing his tie now skilfully, sliding it off him, tossing it away. Elijah smiled and picking her up swishing them both up to her room. And falling slowly on the bed, the kissing is soft, sweet again, him tugging at her lips with his. Small moans escaped Elena’s mouth as his lips move away, now feathering kisses down her neck to her collarbone, making her tremble and  with a pounding heart she pushed his jacket from his shoulders, hands struggling to remove his shirt, as lips collide again into small kisses, flaring the tingling fire inside. The Original wanted to take this slow, wanting to remember every touch, every tiny kiss, every facet of loving emotion that flew up inside of him.  

 As the shirt now flew away to the floor, Elena brushed her fingertips lightly over his chest, lower onto his stomach, making him groan. Letting her play he watched the hazy desire flash out of her eyes. He sat up and drew her back to him, pushing down her dress, as she leaned onto his shoulder and kissed him, and he kissed her, hands, lips played the loving song letting out the rush of two hearts wanting to be melted into one. Bodies fluttered as unreserved fire and passion washed all over them

[ao3feed-bamon]

Fierce As Hell {Elijah Mikaelson}

by izzylightwood4life

Aria Ravenna Reyes-Alvarez, one of the world's first Vampire-Witch Hybrid's, a Heretic.

She is the closest friend to the Salvatore Brothers and will help them with anything they need. Damon says she resembles a Lioness, fierce. Stefan says she is a compassionate soul, and a little broken on the inside. One man believes she is special, and she is. She is the most special of them all, the one woman who is able to make him feel the best of emotions to their highest extent, she makes him feel alive again, even in death.

Others think she is weird, a freak of nature, an abomination. Her family is basically the definition of Cursed. She's a true spirit with a fiery temper and a bark that is definitely as lethal as her bite. Literally. She can be dangerous, at times, devious. If you just say one wrong thing she'll become a ticking time bomb: one wrong move and you're dead.

How is it that this one woman is able to cause so much chaos, yet be so empathetic? Maybe that is how she caught the curious eyes of the noblest of man on the face of the Earth.....

Words: 1155, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: The Vampire Diaries (TV), The Originals (TV)

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con

Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi

Characters: Elena Gilbert, Damon Salvatore, Stefan Salvatore, Jeremy Gilbert, Bonnie Bennett, Matt Donovan, Lorenzo "Enzo" St. John, Alexandria St. John, Nora Hildegard, Mary Louise (Vampire Diaries), Beau (Vampire Diaries), Valerie Tulle, Caroline Forbes, Tyler Lockwood, Lexi Branson, Rayna Cruz, Katherine Pierce, Nadia Petrova, Elijah Mikaelson, Klaus Mikaelson, Finn Mikaelson, Rebekah Mikaelson, Kol Mikaelson, Vincent Griffith, Freya Mikaelson, Esther Mikaelson, Mikael (Vampire Diaries), Keelin Malraux, Sophie Deveraux (The Originals), Monique Deveraux, Jane-Anne Deveraux, Dahlia (The Originals), Inadu | The Hollow (The Originals)

Relationships: Elijah Mikaelson/Original Female Character(s), Elena Gilbert/Damon Salvatore, Bonnie Bennett/Damon Salvatore, Bonnie Bennett/Jeremy Gilbert, Elena Gilbert/Stefan Salvatore, Bonnie Bennett/Lorenzo "Enzo" St. John

Additional Tags: Inspired by The Vampire Diaries, Inspired by The Originals (TV), Protective Elijah Mikaelson, Protective Rebekah Mikaelson, Protective Klaus Mikaelson, Protective Kol Mikaelson, Blood Magic, Blood, Blood Sharing, Hybrids, Heretics, Original Heretics, Blood and Violence, Family Drama, Family Issues, Family Bonding, Family History, Dysfunctional Family, always and forever

read it on the AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/24825523 via AO3 works tagged 'Bonnie Bennett/Damon Salvatore' https://archiveofourown.org/works/24825523

[vampiricallyinclined]

Prompts: “You can’t keep pretending it didn’t happen, cause guess what? It did!” & “I think I’m in love with you, and that scares the crap out of me” - Prompt Lists  

It was odd having him back, no matter how much you may pretend it wasn’t. For decades you had been struggling being parted from him, always wanting to show him something or discuss what was on your mind. But now that he was finally back, things did not seem to be going as you had imagined they would. There was no blissful ease in which you would both return to your old ways, there were far fewer cheeky words and flirtatious gazes. Now the silence between you seemed to cut away at you, memories playing in your mind like some old faded film, as opposed to the bright colourful state they had been in only weeks prior to his return.

But that didn’t stop you from trying to make things go back to normal. Oh no, you were determined to have things as they once were, to be thick as thieves again. You had taken Enzo in without question, delighted to have him sharing your apartment, and quickly taken to educating him about the technology he had missed learning about.

“Just stop,” Enzo cut in, his agitation clear as he stood up suddenly, running a hand through his hair in an attempt to grasp onto something that might help him find his words. “You can’t keep doing this,” he spoke almost pleadingly as his eyes met yours, desperation and sadness mixed within their golden brown.

“Doing what?” you questioned, your brow furrowed in confusion at his sudden outburst. Sitting back in your chair, you couldn’t help but frown at your oldest of friends. Sure, you’d seen him act out before, there was no way you could be friends with him for so long without knowing about his rather chaotic side, but never had it been directed at you, never had he shown you anything but kind restraint and friendship.

“You can’t keep pretending it didn’t happen, because guess what? It did,” he almost spat out, as if the words were a vile elixir he wished to be free of. “Things can’t just go back to how they were in the 40s.”

“Why not?” you couldn’t help the question from crossing your lips, and before you knew it you were standing to, halting his path as you stood firm and determined in front of him. “Why can’t things go back to how they were? You’re still you, I’m still me! So, what, the world has cellular phones and Netflix now, that doesn’t change us!”

“We have changed,” Enzo stated throwing you a pointed look as he stopped in front of you, barely leaving an inch between you. “You’re no longer the timid shy girl I had to tempt out of her comfort zone, look at you! You’re strong and fierce, you don’t need me like you used to,” he trailed off, and that was when the sadness shone through. Your friendship had once relied on his keeping you safe, on him protecting you from anyone who might think to harm or take advantage of you, but now, after decades on your own, you had learnt to fight back, and Enzo didn’t know where he stood anymore.

“But I still need you,” you spoke in a quiet voice, sorrow filling you at his words. “Ok, I don’t need you to fight my battles, I don’t need you to tell guys to go to hell, I can do that myself. But I still need you. Do you have any idea how terrified I was all that time alone? Do you know how desperately I wished you were there? I may not need you to fight my battles, but I need you to be by my side, Enzo, I always have.”

Clenching his fist slightly, Enzo struggled with your words. Yes, of course he was glad you still needed him, but the question still remained; how? He wanted to be there, he wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his days by your side, but how could he do that without knowing what his role would be, without knowing what he meant to you, without truly knowing what you meant to him?

You caught the fear in his eyes instantly, and it had you filled with sympathy as your hands reached out to talk his arms in a gentle comforting hold. “What are you so scared of?” you asked in a hushed whisper. “You know I’m not going to be letting you out of my sight again, Enzo.”

Guilt played on his mind as he silently questioned whether or not he should tell you the truth, whether he should admit the thoughts that had been plaguing him ever since he came back. It was as if a fire had been struck within him when he took in the sight of you standing beside his former cellmate. Every moment of torture where only the thought of you could keep him going, every memory of your shared past that had helped him survive the endless tests the Augustine’s had performed on you; they all suddenly made sense.

That sight had been burned into his brain, and if he were honest he wasn’t entirely sure whether that was a good thing or not. You had been so different from what he remembered, from the tight jeans to the way you held yourself, not putting up with any of Damon’s crap, it was clear you had changed. But what hadn’t changed was the way you looked at him, with awe, wonderment and, best of all, unconditional love.

That was the moment where everything changed for him, where he no longer saw you as the young woman he had helped with her transition, as the friend who had helped him, albeit somewhat hesitantly, to draw out the vilest of people to feed on. Now you were strong and powerful, and he desired nothing but to be at your side from then until eternity.

“I think I’m in love with you,” he admitted meekly, his voice a mere whisper of its usual strength as he shied away from your gaze, “and that scares the crap out of me.”

The shock that took over you was instantaneous, and you could not help the small gasp that rushed from your lips, quickly followed by your hands in an effort to hide your gaping mouth. For decades now, you had dreamt of hearing those words, hoped above all things that you might get to see him again and this time he would feel for you as you did for him. But over time those dreams faded, and after a decade you resigned yourself to a new hope, less ambitious, but just as strong; you wanted him back, no matter how he felt for you.

“I know, I’m bloody stupid for thinking there’s even a chance in hell that you’d fe-”, his words were cut of instantly as you threw yourself at him, barely containing your smile long enough to purse your lips into a kiss. He kissed you back without reserve, delighting in the feel of your lips against his, his hands pulling your hips to him with gusto.

“I suppose I can cope with us changing, if this is what I get for it,” you considered, pulling away from him just an inch, your smile beaming as you saw his lips matching your own.

[incursionofthedamnedrpg]

Name: Lillian Salvatore Birthday: February 27th (37/198) Species: Vampire (Heretic) Lookalike: Annie Wersching Availability: Taken 

Personality

As a human Lily was kind, gentle and compassionate despite living under the authoritative hand of Giuseppe. Everything she did was in the name of protecting her sons, eldest Damon and Stefan. She was fiercely loyal to her family and endured a lot in order to be near them. Once Lily turned her personality changed drastically. She was violent, ruthless, aggressive and unpredictable. Ripper traits she then passed on to her youngest son Stefan. She was unable to return to find her sons once she turned in fear of hurting them and taking their fragile human lives. However, once she found her second family among the Heretics, she was reunited with her maternal instincts and keeps her ripper qualities at bay. She is still fiercely loyal to her new “family” and feels she owes them.

Past

Lillian was married to Giuseppe Salvatore and bore two children, Damon and Stefan. In her troubled and often abusive marriage she tried her hardest to protect her children despite often being unable to. She wanted to leave her husband and take the children away someone safer but her husband soon realized she had taken money in order to do so. Outraged he threatened to take her sons from her, she feared losing them and having them left alone with her husband so she stayed around. At least if she was in the home should could try and protect them from their father’s rage.

However, Lillian became very sick with consumption early on in the boy’s lives. Her husband sent her away in her final days so as to not spread the disease to the rest of the family. She left before Damon or Stefan had the chance to stay goodbye. In the infirmary she was sent to recover a vampire gave her their blood, despite the healing qualities of vampire blood she soon died of consumption. While her death was mourned by her family she awoke as a vampire soon after. Overcome with an insatiable bloodlust she faked her death in fear of hurting either of her sons. She went to visit Stefan the night before the funeral but turned away when hit with the desire to feed from him. Feeling she posed a significant threat to her sons, she abandoned her family and fled to Europe.

There she became a Ripper and tore through cities, leaving trails of corpses across countries. Lily met each of her Heretics and concurrently turned them. Once she discovered that Valerie maintained her powers after turning she sought out other troubled siphoners and turned them into something more powerful. Her new “family” became her companions in her traverses through countless cities. Lily and the Heretics’ reign ended in Manhattan, New York when the Gemini Coven caught up to them and banished them to a prison world, forcing them to live the day October 31st, 1903 over and over again. They have been trapped there for over a century.

Past

After being pulled from her prison, Lily was insistent on bringing the Heretics with her but was forcibly pulled in order to help her biological son’s Stefan and Damon. She struggles to connect herself back to a time where she was their mother but will try her hardest to find harmony between them and her new family. She hopes that once she helps them that they will help her attain the rest of the Heretics now trapped with Kai.

Connections

Damon and Stefan Salvatore

Her biological sons that she struggles to feel connected to. She wants to be who they need her to be but does not want to go back to the fragile and scared women she was when she was their mother.

The Heretics

Her family, she is fiercely loyal and protection of her group of Heretics. She nurtured and turned each of them to join her and loves them as she would her own children.

Enzo St John

Lily took pity on Enzo when he was sick with consumption. She fed him his blood so he could be reborn but was banished to the prison world before she could invite her into her life and family.

[urwarriorangel]

TVD SHIPS (i think the right word is OTPs but oh well)

I know I’m extra and unnecessary af for this but pls bare with me. I was up until four am last night and thought this would be a good idea so here we are!

Also please keep in mind that these are just my opinions. Some of these are potential situations, not the way things ended up in the show. I don’t mean to sound rude in some of the comments even though it may seem that way. I know that I might be the queen of unpopular otp/ship opinions but pls hear me out. If you like the ships that I don’t, it’s alright. If you hate the ones that I like, that’s also fine. It happens. Love y’all!! XOXO

ps- this is gonna be very very VERY fucking long, so there’s gonna be a little ‘keep reading’ tab after the first category. i’m so sorry

TVD SHIPS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN

Klaus x Bonnie

I know that Klaus doesn’t play nice and I know that Bonnie hates him but come on, you can’t tell me they wouldn’t have been a scorching hot pair. you’ve got the wolf, the vampire, the witch (aka the holy trinity of the supernatural world) split between a petite woman of color and a lanky northern european man. please keep in mind that Bonnie could destroy Klaus in a millisecond.

Kol x Bonnie

Y’ALL I WOULD KILL FOR THIS SHIP. Kol is a psychopath and I feel like in a way, that’s Bonnie’s specialty. she’d hate him first, sure. but then they’d have to work together to save her stupid friends and the only reason he’d agree to accompany her was because “you’re going to get yourself killed, love. we should just let them figure things out” “I’m not asking you to come, Kol”. she’d have him wrapped around her finger in no time. imagine the mind blowing make out scenes. also the sex scenes.THE SEX SCENES!

Kol x Elena

okay so I’m not the biggest fan of Elena because she’s so damn whiny but she’s also vulnerable and has this crazy knack of making people like her. Kol’s intentions were never to hurt Elena to be honest. he was angry with his brother and terrified of Silas, rightfully so. I think they would have worked.

Lorenzo x Caroline

tbh Enzo is the only guy I would like to see Caroline with. Caroline keeps floating between the self-righteous guy with the good hair and the raging psychopath with the perfect accent. settle for the perfect accent, nice hair, a tortured soul, and mostly good intentions.

Malachai x Bonnie

a concept: Kai buying Bonnie a Costco bear to apologize for Mrs. Cuddles. Kai getting turned on every time Bonnie practices magic that is above even him. Kai smiling every time Bonnie texts him and being confused as to why. Kai being the first one to say I love you.

Damon x Bonnie

I want them to hook up SO BAD. you know those college roommates AUs or the best friends spending a drunken night together AUs or the childhood friends who develop feelings AUs or partners in crime having sex for the sake of the mission AUs? I would like that to happen with these two losers.

Elijah x Bonnie

okay so I ship Bonnie with just abt everyone. so sue me. she would dig through Elijah’s mind and force him to face his past. once his episodes started, she’d feel guilty and she’d make excuses to hang around him. eventually, the monsters in his past were nothing compared to how scared he’d get every time he thought about losing Bonnie.

Bonnie x Elena

Bonnie would be the more rational, no bullshit girlfriend. Elena would be the damsel in distress with a party mindset. They’d keep each other grounded and watch the sunrise together even though Bonnie just wanted to make out.

Bonnie x Caroline

the motherfking power couple y’all. childhood friends who fall in love with each other after they both date boring guys. the almighty witch and the vampire with good communication skills. wow think of how good they’d look at Elena’s wedding: Bonnie in her maid-of-honor dress, Caroline in a similarly colored bridesmaid dresses; Caroline catches the bouquet and proceeds to kiss Bonnie in front of all the groomsmen who’re hitting on her.

Caroline x Rebekah

Barbie queens with more to offer than their looks. they’re smart, ambitious, competitive, dire romantics, control freaks, short tempered, gentle-spirited, and so damn sexy. i would pay good money for a hot tub scene between these two.

Malachai x Elena

humanity-less Elena and regular, sociopathic Kai. they’d be a dynamic duo tbh. Elena and Damon would have just broken up and Kai actually liked this side of Elena, the wild party girl with complete disregard for human life.

Jeremy x Liv

these two wouldn’t date, not at all. they’d just have lots of angry sex and tbh I’m content with their relationship being just that.

Elijah x Damon

at first, it was annoying: Elijah had to keep an eye on another reckless vampire. he’d lose sight of Damon for a couple hours and he’d turn the entire city upside down bc he was scared that Damon was wreaking havoc. only Elijah would come home at the end of the day and find Damon dancing around the house-- topless with a bottle of bourbon in hand--and no matter how bad he knew he should yell at Damon and put him in place, he couldn’t bring himself to do so.

TVD SHIPS THAT NEEDED  MORE SCREEN TIME

Matt x Rebekah

my favorite Matt pairing and my favorite Rebekah pairing. Rebekah is a hopeless romantic and nothing will ever change that. Matt is a puppy dog who’s the same way and I love how happy they were together, I love how good they looked together, all that jazz. their fling is very underrated.

Bonnie x Nora

YES YES YESSSSSSSSS. I would also kill for this ship, relation- or friend-. this was such a pure friendship. it wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine by any means, but it was the most real friendship on the show. it could have been even greater.

Elijah x Katerina

I wanted to see them together so much more!!! I love Katherine and I feel like Elijah was a soulmate of hers. Elijah clearly loved her, but things just never worked out in their favor. They could have had a great love story, or at least a top-notch friendship.

Stefan x Katherine

Stefan is another one of Katherine’s soul mates. Definitely. They’re both manipulative, one more than the other. They both cared about one another at one point. They’re both empty and alone at times despite the people around them. Another great love story.

Klaus x Stefan

I’m a little iffy about this because I think that Klaus is fine without Stefan, but I also really like the friendship they built back in the 20s. I love the acceptance and the love and the connection Klaus and Stefan had at first. It was great.

Elijah x Stefan

Everyone compares Stefan and Klaus to one another and claim that they are so similar, but I vehemently disagree. I think that Elijah and Stefan are very similar. Both very self-righteous. Both have a distinct set of beliefs. Both are very loyal and are known as “the good brother”. I don’t know. I would’ve liked to see a relationship develop between these two.

Caroline x Katherine

ugh yet another potential great couple!! they are both very fashion-oriented, both very controlling and organized, both hella smart. if Katherine hadn’t screwed around with Caroline when she’d just been turned, I think they could’ve been great friends. they’re very similar, very self-aware. they care about themselves.

Klaus x Damon

I really want to watch Damon and Klaus’s relationship progress. I want them to become friends who pretend they hate each other but are always so protective of one another and are always ready to defend the other person. They’re the self-hatred ridden brothers and I think it would be nice if they loved each other.

Damon x Enzo

LONG LIVE DENZO. Denzo is my number one ship for both Damon and Enzo. like :( I’m so hurt that Damon left Enzo but imagine: Damon spending every day for the rest of eternity apologizing for leaving, knowing that it would never be enough but not stopping. Damon would always put Enzo first, always. He would put Enzo’s life and happiness over his own every time. Enzo would try to fight it to no avail. Enzo taking one look at Damon’s battered body after a fight and immediately cleaning him up and bandaging him. Enzo spending the night in Damon’s bed with Damon in his arms as he kissed his forehead.

Alaric x Jo

I don’t like Jo, but I would like to think that she and Kai could have patched things up and she would be less bitter and annoying and she and Alaric could have a happy life. With cute little babies.

Damon x Elizabeth Forbes

I think that Sheriff Forbes is the one person that Damon would never be able to leave. He left his romantic interest time and time again. He left his brother. He left his best friend. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love them, that just means that Forbes was the only person who would push him hard enough to stay that he wouldn’t have any other choice. Damon’s the only vampire (asides from Caroline) that Sheriff Forbes actually loves.

Elijah x Elena

Elijah was protective of Elena from the start. he recognized the vulnerable parts of Katherine in her and saw the fierce loyalty and honesty that Katherine at times lacked. she was like a breath of fresh air to him and he wanted to help, constantly to popular belief.

Damon x Rose

I hated Rose at first because I was all about Delena but the more I thought about it and the more I rewatched it, Rose was YET ANOTHER CHARACTER THAT DESERVED BETTER. She was on the run her entire life because she was loyal to Trevor. She died because she was protecting Damon. Her entire life revolved around her great attributes wasted on men. I think Damon would have helped her move on and escape when needed. She would’ve helped him see the truth, kind of a balance to him.

Kol x Jeremy

BASEBALL BUDDIES. one of the few times that Jeremy wasn’t really annoying was when he was friends with Kol, the times we never heard from him except to check up and see he was happy. I think that Kol saw a potential friend in him, despite his “dark” intentions. they could have been great fucking friends.

Tyler x Jeremy

another time that Jeremy wasn’t too annoying was when he was friends with this idiot: Tyler. granted, Tyler was sired to Klaus, but still. they got through it and were pretty decent friends. I was happy with their small friendship and it would have been nice to see peaceful guy friends.

Matt x Tyler

MY FAVORITE FRIENDSHIP back in the day oh my god :( it makes me sad thinking of how much we used to see of Tyler and Matt, of how great friends they were and how they got through everything together. it was so nice to see them happy or sad but together ugh. I WANT MORE.

Stefan x Lexi

I loved Lexi. she was so badass and so cool and so independent all while keeping an eye out for her best friend. this here is another case of my obsession with best friends blooming into other things and childhood best friends becoming lovers. Stefan wasn’t too annoying when Lexi was around, he was kind of fun. GASP

Damon x Lexi

okay hear me out. this a case of “you’re my best friend’s brother and we shouldn’t be doing this but he doesn’t have to know” ugh :( I like the idea of badass Lexi taming the wild fuckboy that is Damon.

TVD SHIPS THAT SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN BUT WERE (EVEN A LITTLE)

Klaus x Caroline

everyone loves them together but me. sure, i appreciate how great they look and how Klaus cares about Caroline, but I don’t think Caroline would or should ever actually date him. Klaus has hurt too many of her loved ones for her to look at him as more than an occasional fuck, at least for now. he’ll always be the one that got away. I’m okay with that, idk.

Alaric x Caroline

this entire thing was so fucked up. like Alaric’s wife is dead so Caroline has to get pregnant and have the babies and then give everything up, happily or otherwise. as wierd as it sounds, it would have been more interesting if Elena was pregnant with the twins. maybe. probably not. okay that’s too wierd.

Stefan x Caroline

sometimes I really don’t like this duo and other times I couldn’t care less. the reason that I couldn’t care less is because of the obvious love and affection between the characters. that being said, those feelings aren’t portrayed romantically. at least not for me. it’s just a little too wierd for me.

Jeremy x Bonnie

Jeremy is such an annoying character ughhhh oh my god. Bonnie deserved a lot better than this dorky kid who would always act out. it was wierd to begin with because when they first started dating, Jeremy was really immature and Bonnie was the exact opposite. Jeremy wasn’t an endearing immature, he was the stupid immature.

Stefan x Valerie

this was literally just a filler. Valerie deserved better than what Stefan had to offer. I mean it could have been great had Stefan not been using Valerie, had he actually cared for her.

Stefan x Elena

YET ANOTHER SHIP THAT EVERYONE LOVES AND I HATE. Stefan and Elena, in my opinion, were too alike to ever date. they were both very self-righteous and nosey and everything had to be done their way. they tried to control the people around them and I think the times that I liked Stefan the least (border-line hated him) were the times that he was dating Elena.

Julian x Lily

it was just a very abusive relationship. I hated Julian and every second that he was on screen. I hated how Lily felt and acted when he was around. it was all around horrible.

Lorenzo x Lily

just super wierd. Enzo deserves better. I have said this before and I will say it again. Enzo deserves better. He stuck around the Heretics for Lily and she only lead him on so that he wouldn’t side with Damon and crew. very unhealthy.

TVD SHIPS THAT SAILED

Damon x Elena

I really fucking like Delena. I do. I’ll admit it’s not the greatest relationship on the show, but I think that is is the most passionate one. there’s so many unanswered questions and so many flaws and things to figure out, but in a way that’s the beauty of it. they are crazy about one another. Damon would have turned back into a human for her wtf.

Lorenzo x Bonnie

I LOVE THEM SO MUCH IDCIDCIDC!!!!! there’s finally someone who would put Bonnie above everyone and everything else, themselves included. there’s finally someone who would pick Enzo, who wouldn’t leave him behind and GOD i love these characters and this relationship so much. I think it’s healthy and cute and loving and just. I mean they learn from one another, they grow together. it’s just amazing. I’m not sorry for loving them.

Nora x Mary Louise

I love Nora. Mary Louise not so much tbh. that being said, I think they work. the ships in this category aren’t just the ones that I love. they’re ships that worked and consist of two people who would do anything for one another. Nora and Mary Louise were brave and romantic and absolutely crazy but that’s what made it work. if these two weren’t exactly this way, they wouldn’t have worked. their deaths hurt.

Damon x Alaric

this partly belongs on the ships that should have been, but I think that for a time this really worked. this brotp really thrived at one point in the show and I loved it. there were times that I wanted Alaric to smack Damon upside the head, but still. I think that they worked and that they will only get better once they acknowledge how they’ve both fucked up.

Tyler x Liv

Tyler finally met his match!!!! I know that Liv was hard to deal with, trust me. I also know that Tyler is hard to deal with. I don’t think he’d actually ever loved anyone and trusted anyone nearly as much as he did Liv. I think that Tyler was one of only two humans that Liv actually cared about. Wierd and not my favorite, but they worked.

TVD SHIPS THAT EH

Stefan x Caroline

we meet again. I put them in the eh segment because I don’t entirely hate them. I am a sucker for best friends that bloom into something else, and that’s what they wanted to make this. but I don’t think it worked. I will admit that I love their friendship, though. I love that Stefan helped Caroline with her vampiric abilities, I love that Caroline always had Stefan’s back even when no one else did.

Stefan x Rebekah

yet another girl that Stefan used who deserved better. Rebekah is one of my favorite characters and the fact that Stefan didn’t give her the time of day because of his breakup with Elena and then proceeded to have sex with her for that same reason like????? y r u a prick steffy boy?

Damon x Katherine

I mean it was a hoax but still. Damon didn’t know that. he thought that she loved him, and that she’d be waiting for him in the hole in the ground (sorry my mind is blanking rn) and then they’d confess their love for eachother and BAM. only no BAM, no love, no Katherine. he was only ever a pawn to her.

Matt x Caroline

Matt also deserved better. at this point (when they first started dating), Caroline only cared about herself and Matt didn’t care about himself at all. there was no middle ground for these two, to be hones. I thought they looked nice together, but that’s about it. I think they could maybe have been better down the road but then Matt was all “fuck you, vampires” and Caroline became all “I am the vampires lol bitch”

Tyler x Caroline

to be honest, I was tempted to move this to the ships that sailed but I didn’t only because I never thought that they were endgame. I enjoyed watching the chemistry and the puppy eyes and how Caroline was growing up. I liked that Tyler was more than the temperamental werewolf and Caroline was more than a Barbie bitch. but it didn’t do enough for me. it was a great in between relationship, but it wasn’t a final destination.

Damon x Caroline

I don’t quite get why them hooking up was crucial to the storyline. I mean it was just a display of Damon and Caroline’s characters, but that’s it. that and Damon wanted to annoy his brother.

Jeremy x Anna

pointless. she was cute, he was cute, they were both kids with pent-up anger towards authority, but that was it. Anna was much more intelligent and mature and worldly than he was. I mean sure, she was technically a lot older but still. I don’t know, it was wierd.

Jeremy x Vicki

to be honest, I think all of Jeremy’s were pointless. the only difference with this ones it that he loved Vicki. she was his first love. after her, he became obsessed with his dead girlfriends and forgot about the ones that were real. he was an immature brat for most of the show and then became a notorious fuckboy, so.

[nellie-elizabeth]

The Vampire Diaries: The Simple Intimacy of the Near Touch (8x09)

Rapid-fire review time.

Cons:

This show has a mythology and McGuffin problem, both of which I've talked about before. Sybil needs a striker that goes with the bell parts for... reasons, and Seline meanwhile wants to help Matt and that other guy from the Armory get the bell instead, ostensibly to stop Sybil. Turns out only Matt's family is able to wield the power of the bell. I remember reading something interesting in a review of the first episode of this season: The Vampire Diaries has sort of a unique problem, in that it doesn't have a lot of overarching myth arc stuff to tie together at the end of the show. It just keeps making up new bad guys. Unfortunately, this is sort of the problem. Sybil is beyond annoying, and she stopped being threatening ages ago. I don't care if she has the bell. I don't care if she lives or dies. Matt getting a part in the main plot is nice, but he's still an underutilized character, and I still wish there was a better way to integrate him into things.

Miss Mystic Falls... oh boy. The cheese is strong with this one. I don't mind that so much with this show, but Mystic Falls feels like a town that should be razed to the ground and abandoned post-haste at this point. Is there anybody who hasn't been turned into a vampire or controlled by a vampire at some point? It's ridiculous!

Pros:

The main plot centers around Stefan and Damon coming back to Mystic Falls, all tied together with the pointless bell stuff that I don't really want to get into. Stefan thinks Damon coming back home is a good idea, because he needs to get Elena out of his head. The Miss Mystic Falls dance brings back all of these memories of Elena, but Damon can't feel the connection of love for her that he once had. Caroline tries to help Damon connect to the good part of himself, all while trying to keep Stefan and Sybil from wreaking too much havoc. In the end, Damon knocks Sybil out and ties her up, intent on torturing her as payback for all the crap she's done to him. Stefan, meanwhile, turns one of the high school contestants in the Miss Mystic Falls competition into a vampire, and Caroline gives Stefan's ring back to him after Stefan declares that he'll continue serving Cade as long as he feels like it, breaking his one year promise to her.

Lots to unpack here. I must say, I get a real kick out of sans-humanity Stefan, and I think it's because Paul Wesley is having such a good time with it. You can tell that he basically checked out of this show years ago, but when he gets to play a dick, he gets into it again. The best moment is when he's talking to Sybil about Damon and Elena's "vomit-inducing love story." He just says it with such venom in his voice. That was great! I love the idea that he's trying to pull Damon further into darkness. Damon is actually the one resisting, because his subconscious mind knows that Elena is never really going away, and he has to do right by her, even if he can't feel his love for her at the moment. It's a complicated situation, but I actually quite like it. Also, how satisfying was it to see Damon hit Sybil over the head with that striker? Damn. I needed that.

Caroline gets MVP for the week, which is such a relief to be able to say. I hadn't realized how much of a beating Caroline's characterization has been getting recently, until suddenly I saw fierce, brave, passionate and loving Caroline back at the forefront. I love that she and Damon danced together, as Caroline tries to convince him to remember Elena. I love that Caroline didn't let her love for Stefan blind her to the fact that he'd gone off the rails. And I really, really loved the part at the end, where Caroline talked to the young woman that Stefan had killed, explaining to her the process of becoming a vampire, and promising to help her through it. Caroline in full-mother mode is a wonderful thing to see.

Bonnie and Enzo had a subplot that was just the right amount of cheesy for this show. They're back from their trip, and Bonnie is wearing a necklace with Enzo's blood, a gift he gave her on their last day in Paris. Bonnie worries that it's perhaps a hint that Enzo wants to turn her into a vampire, and so the two of them discuss it. Bonnie says that because of Elena, she can't ever turn, even if she wanted to. Turns out, there's a big part of her that does want to, if only so she'll be with Enzo forever. Enzo basically reveals that the necklace is meant to be there to protect Bonnie if she gets hurt - she could drink the blood and stop herself from dying. Bonnie then has an idea - what if Enzo could take the cure, become human, and then the two of them could live out the rest of their lives together?

I liked this plot thread, because, as I mentioned, it was quite cheesy and shmoopy. Sometimes you need that with this show, and what with Elena being in a coffin, and Stefan being a murderous jerk, the whole Bonnie/Enzo thing is our only avenue into the cheesy romance that has characterized so much of this show. We also got to explore some more of that fascinating mortal/immortal dating dynamic. I always loved the times in the earlier seasons when Elena would affirm her love of her humanity. Her love for Stefan didn't overpower her desire to remain human. The situation is slightly different with Bonnie, but she would never condemn Elena to never waking up, so being a vampire is out of the question for her.

I'm intrigued at the thought of bringing the cure back into things, even though it is another mythology plot device that pops up only when convenient. It would be interesting if Enzo took it. I've seen a lot of theories regarding the Salvatores and that cure, and I'm starting to think I see where this is headed: Damon takes the cure to be with Elena as a human. Enzo takes the cure to be with Bonnie. The only question is: do Stefan and Caroline take it, too? I want to say yes. God, I want to say yes. I can't handle the thought of one Salvatore taking it and the other not. But... maybe that's where this all ends?

I guess we'll find out soon enough!

7.5/10