The Inconvenience of Feelings

Chapter 1

Damon sat on one of the many couches in the living room of the boarding house, nursing his second glass of bourbon. He was waiting for the rest of the scooby gang to arrive so they could discuss the most recent mess that Katherine was making in town. He had resigned himself quite some time ago to being the makeshift leader of the little ragtag group of teenagers. Elena and Stefan probably thought they were the ones that made all the decisions, but Damon is the one that gets shit done. They like to hide behind morality and humanity and all that crap. Whereas Damon had no such qualms with getting his hands dirty and doing what needs to be done. If that made him the bad guy in their little incestuous group then so be it. He would do whatever it takes to protect Elena, no matter what the consequences are.

In the midst of downing the rest of his bourbon, Damon heard the door open and watched as one by one his house was flooded by teenagers. Elena entered first, looking as beautiful as ever. Stefan was right on her heels and he was followed by the most annoying one out of the bunch, vampire barbie. There was noticeable absence however, in the form of one judgy little witch. Loathe as he was to admit it and he would never do it out loud, they couldn’t get anything done without Bonnie. With an eye roll and a groan he prepared himself for the headache that was no doubt to follow in the coming moments.

“Where’s Bonnie?” he asked standing up off the couch. “She knows she has to be here. She is the witch is this equation after all.”

Elena slid her back pack off her shoulders and placed it on the floor. “She’ll be here Damon. She had to wait for Jeremy.” Elena replied, a sly smirk plastered on her face.

Damon scowled, “And why did she have to wait for Jeremy? We don’t need him. It’s not like he is actually useful.”

Elena rolled her eyes. “Damon you may not want him here, but Bonnie does. They like each other.”

“God don’t make me puke. I’d like to keep my bourbon down, thank you very much.” Damon wasn’t sure why the thought of Bonnie and little Gilbert together made the bile rise in the back of his throat, but something about it just didn’t sit right with him. He couldn’t stand the girl on his best day, but she was a powerful Bennett witch and she could definitely do better than Elena’s little brother. That’s another thought he would keep to himself though. He couldn’t have anyone getting any ideas about him feeling any type of way about her besides revulsion.

Stefan walked over to the bar and poured himself a glass of bourbon. He wasn’t a heavy drinker, but somehow he knew he would need a drink if he was going to make it through this meeting. “Damon, could you at least try to be nice when they get here?”

Damon scowled. “Careful brother, the lines on your forehead are protruding.”
Caroline, never wanting to be left out, finally made her presence known. “Or how about you just don’t say anything at all and the rest of us will pretend you're not here.”

His eyes narrowed. He was already in a foul mood and there was something about the sickeningly sweet smile on her face when she said it that set him off. Damon was in front of Caroline in the blink of any eye and had his hand wrapped around her neck.  “Or how about I snap your little blonde neck and call it a day.”

“Damon!”

“Damon let her go!”

Damon didn’t pay any attention to Elena or Stefan yelling in the background. He was tired of Caroline and her smart mouth. He wouldn’t mind the peace and quiet that would come along with her having a broken neck, even if it was short lived.

He smiled as he watched Caroline claw at his hands trying as hard as she could to release herself from his grip. She may be a vampire now, but he was a hundred times stronger than she was, not only because he was significantly older than she was, but also because she was on Stefan’s little animal blood diet. She would never be able to over power him.

“DAMON!”

He never even had time to register who that voice belonged to before he was thrown across the room, hitting the wall with enough force that would knock a lesser vampire like Stefan unconscious, luckily he was nothing like Stefan. He was on his feet in an instant ready to attack. The witch was going to pay for that. Stefan stood in front of him with his arms up blocking his assault on the annoying little do-gooder.

“Damon, you need to calm down.”

“Get out of my way little brother.” Damon snarled. “Me and the witch need to have this out. ”

Bonnie scoffed. “Don’t kid yourself Damon. I’ll put you back on your ass before you could even think to touch me.” She was so over his sadistic bullshit. When she walked in and seen his hand around her best friends throat she saw red. She would love to just put a stake through his heart and be done with it, but she would never hurt Elena like that. As much as she hated it, she knew Elena cared for Damon on some level. Try as she might she would never understand why though. All she seen when she looked at Damon was a monster with a chiseled jaw and piercing blue eyes.  Neither of which were enough to sway her opinion of him. He was the devil and that was that. “I have told you time and time again to keep your hands off of the people I care about or I would put you down.”

Damon narrowed his eyes with malice. “You think your little parlor tricks are enough to put me down witch. You’re mediocre at best.” He scowled as he side stepped Stefan and stalked towards Bonnie. “I’ve went up against way more powerful witches than you and came out on top..every..single..time. So don’t test me little witch. I don’t care if I made a promise to Emily or not, I’ll rip your pretty little heart right out of your chest.”

Bonnie jutted her chin out defiantly and stared at Damon directly in his eyes. Her days of being afraid of Damon were long gone. “I’d like to see you try. You don’t scare me Damon. You’re the equivalent of a child throwing a tantrum because he doesn’t get his way.” Her emerald green eyes darkened. “Don’t make me put you in time out.”

Damon made to move into her personal space, but Jeremy intercepted him. “Back off Damon.”

“Jeremy don’t. “ Bonnie said gently while grabbing his arm to pull him back.

Jeremy let her hold his arm, but made to attempt to move back.” I’m sick of his crap Bonnie and so is everybody else.”

Damon chuckled. “Aww aren’t you adorable. Baby Gilbert has got himself a crush and now he’s being protective of the little witch.” For reasons he couldn’t quite put his finger on, Jeremy stepping in front of Bonnie rubbed him the wrong way. This was between him and judgy. He didn’t want or need Jeremy’s interference.

Damon closed the minuscule gap between him and Jeremy with a snarl. “What exactly do you think you can do to protect her? You’re about as useful as a newborn baby and if it wasn’t for that damn ring on your finger you would have been dead a long time ago. If anybody in this room needs protecting… its you.”

“Damon please…just stop. This isn’t getting us anywhere.” Elena, ever the diplomat had to calm the situation down before it got really ugly. She was use to Damon’s antics by now, but she wouldn’t put up with him threatening her friends or family.

Damon rolled his eyes, but eventually backed off. Grabbing his leather jacket off a chair he slid it on and started walking to the door. “I’m going to sit this meeting out. I’ve had enough of you people today.”

“Damon…”

“No Stefan, let him go. If he wants to storm out like a child,” Bonnie cocked an eyebrow and smirked. “Let him.”

He really hated that witch. “Good luck coming up with a plan to stop Katherine without me.”

“I think you’re overestimating your influence here Damon.” Bonnie knew she was lying. As much as she hated to admit it, Damon was always the one that came up with the plans and she’d take it to her grave before saying it out loud, but his plans usually worked. The problem was, he didn’t care how it was executed as long as it was.

Bonnie and Damon stared at each other for a few long seconds with what could only be described as pure hatred. Everyone else in the room was on high alert waiting for one or the other to attack, but eventually Damon just took in a heavy breath, shook his head and walked out of the boarding house.

While he was getting into his car his vampire hearing zoned in on a conversation between two certain individuals. He shouldn’t have cared less about what they were talking about, but he just couldn’t stop himself from listening.

“Bonnie are you ok?”

“Yeah Jer, I’m fine. You didn’t have to stand up to Damon like that though. I can take care of myself.”

“I know you can Bonnie, but I really like you and you mean a lot to me. I’m not going to let Damon get away with talking to you like that.”

“Damon’s an asshole, but I can handle him. Thank you though, it's been a long time since I had someone stand up for me like that, especially to someone like Damon.”

“I’d do anything for you Bonnie.”

Damon gripped the steering wheel so tight, he thought he might break it. He couldn’t see Bonnie’s face, but he just knew her pretty green eyes were sparkling and she was beaming up at little Gilbert right now. He still couldn’t figure out what it was about Jeremy and Bonnie that got under his skin, but he was going to go find a pretty blonde or brunette with long legs and some nice cleavage to have for dinner and forget all about them.

                                                              BDBDBDBDBD

It was late when Damon finally sauntered into the boarding house feeling considerably better. His belly was full of booze and blood and there wasn’t a single soul on earth that could bring his mood down. Or so he thought. It never crossed his mind that there might be a whole mess of sleeping teenagers in his living room. Damon’s mood instantly soured as he looked at all the sleeping bodies scattered around the room.

Stefan and Elena were, of course, cuddled up together on one couch, while Caroline was curled up in a chair. As much as he thought Stefan and Elena would be the ones that bothered him the most, it was the other couple in the room that really had his fangs itching to be released.

Bonnie and Jeremy were on the other couch looking like quite the intimate pair. Jeremy was half sitting, half laying on the couch with his arm draped around Bonnie’s shoulder. She was laying in what looked like a very comfortable position with her upper half laying on Jeremy’s torso and her legs tucked in tightly under a blanket. Her hair was tucked behind her ear giving Damon a perfect view of her heart-shaped face. She looked so peaceful. He realized in that moment that he had never noticed how beautiful she was.

Sure he always knew she was hot; he had eyeballs and perfect vampire sight, but he’d never paid that close of attention before. As far as Damon was concerned she was the judgy little witch who performed whatever spell he needed her to, so they could protect Elena and then they went their separate ways until the next time Elena needed saving. It was a vicious circle, but either way he never really thought about the witch aside from when he needed her. So he couldn’t for the very life of him figure out why he couldn’t stop thinking about her now.

She had hit a nerve earlier with some of the things she had said, but that was par for the course with them. They hardly said a word to one another outside of their missions and when they did it wasn’t ever anything pleasant. So even though she worked his nerves earlier, he still didn’t think to much of it. Little Gilbert however, when he stepped in front of Bonnie to protect her, which was laughable all by itself, he had wanted to rip Jeremy’s head clean off his shoulders.

There was something deep, deep…deep down that was trying to tell him something about why this whole situation was affecting him this way, but he wouldn’t allow himself to dwell on whatever it is.

Bonnie shifted in her sleep and her hair fell on her face. Damon didn’t know what possessed him to kneel down in front of her and very softly and slowly tuck her incredibly soft hair back behind her ear, but If you asked him he would claim temporary insanity. He held a breath he didn’t need and froze as she stirred a little bit from his touch, but made no other movements other than snuggling even closer into Jeremy’s chest and let out a contented sigh.
Jeremy’s arm wrapped around her even tighter and it took every ounce of will power he had not to rip it clean off.