I've never written for TVD before so I'm not exactly sure what to say. No established TL just yet but it will be a multi-chapter story.

There are few sadder sights than a bar at 10pm on a Tuesday night. The remaining patrons scattered sparsely across the open space, sharing a silent solidarity in their self-imposed isolation. It's is no place for someone with a family eagerly awaiting them at home, or an early morning commute. Any sort of stability. No, this wasteland of dark-stained wood and soiled carpet was for the wanders; drifters who had no anchor to tie them to something more in life. It was where they sat, the translucent amber liquid in their glasses as their only company, trapped in an endless loop of nothing but their own thoughts. The liquor adding a hue of grey to the darkest of them.

Enzo knew this darkness all too well, having lived multiple lifetimes within it. He had to be cautious not to dwell too much or it became an ocean that he struggled to keep his head above. His preference was to wade somewhere around the present. It was almost a relief to have his most recent failure in love to contemplate. It was a paper cut in a body full of bullet holes. Lily had been a temporary light in the inky black depths, but he was coming around to the idea that he fell for that light rather than the actual person. The convincing opinion of a friend he'd been listening to for the last few evenings.

"Repetition is key," she said in her most patronising tone. "Also, it's borderline Oedipal... I mean, come on."

He smiled at the memory, finishing the last warm mouthful of his drink and looking at the clock on the wall. It was now 10:17pm and he had been there since 7pm, but he would stay. It wasn't like he had anything waiting for him other than an empty bed and more of his own miserable company.

Their unspoken arrangement had somehow transitioned from one night of wallowing to a regular support group, party of 2. They had never actually agreed to meet one another and yet for the last 4 nights they had both turned up, drawn to this bleak venue, seeking solace at the bottom of a bottle and a familiar face.

He tried to shake off the voice in his head that told him she had had enough of him these last few nights and decided he wasn't worth another. He wasn't doing very well. If idle hands were the devils plaything, then an idle mind was far worse. Another half hour and three empty glasses had pulled him back into those hopeless thoughts and he was replaying all the reasons a girl like her had to stay away from someone like him. Lily had seen it; maybe Bonnie was just a little slower? She did have that annoying way about her of looking for the good in people. Maybe she had finally cottoned on that he was a fraud.

Pulling himself out of his pity-party momentarily he noticed a familiar scent had entered the bar and his mood lifted along with it. The darkness that had crept up on him slunk back to wherever it came from. The alcohol no longer felt repetitive; rather it warmed him from within. His patience had been rewarded and he scolded himself for his typical decent into despondency. Ordering another round from his compliant and compelled bartender friend, he walked with two glasses in hand to the table he knew she'd be sitting at.

Sitting beside her - a chair between them - he slid over her drink. They said hello in silence with a sip taken in unison. Enzo set his glass down as Bonnie continued, taking half of hers in one go. He could see the defeat in her posture and he knew this day had not been a good one. Feeling the need to lift her spirits he did so in the only way he knew how.

"Like a moth to the flame," he smirked, "you just couldn't stay away."

She glared at him and he smiled innocently at her before ordering another round. The sadness in her face lifted, and a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

"That smirk of yours, I swear…" She trailed off, shaking her head. He winked at her and she rolled her eyes, smiling larger than she intended.

The bartender interrupted them with two half-filled glasses, setting them down in front of Enzo and she swiftly dragged them across to her side of the table.

"Uh uh - these are both mine. You've had a head start."

His hands in the air in fake surrender, he settled back and watched her drink the second double almost as quickly as the first. Their recent conversations had revealed her to be a girl young of age but with lifetimes worth of sorrow that she carried with her. Every attempt to live the normal life of a college student thwarted by some supernatural cause or need to save the world. Not that the world deserved her many sacrifices, or even knew about them.

He was hesitant to give her any insight into his own tragic backstory, treading carefully as if he was in the presence of a startled deer, only to find Damon had filled in most of the gaps during their recent stint in dimensional purgatory. Still, it surprised him the way she seemed genuinely interested, often asking multiple follow up questions and not baulking at some of his more brazen indiscretions.

He asked her about it once and she had answered that there was a time Damon Salvatore disgusted her more than any other person on this earth, but her best friend had fallen in love with him and she knew that meant there had to be some good in there. She was right, he had saved her life in the former prison they shared and it taught her that good and bad was not the 2-dimensional construct she once thought it was.

The conversation had been casual and spoken after more than a few drinks, but he had held on to the sentiment, almost clinging to it, for the last few days. There was something in the idea that if one of the most inherently, almost sickeningly good, people he knew saw past some regrettable actions made in moments of passion by those thought previously irredeemable, then there was hope for a monster such as himself. And he never forgot to remember that she had to see him as a monster.

As she took a sip from her third glass he decided to step in. A drunk Bonnie, as entertaining as she could be, also meant that their night would be cut short and he didn't want that to happen.

"Alright, love. This isn't a competition. How about we get some food into you?"

She glared at him again, then, as if the gesture itself had made the alcohol go to her head, she slouched back in her seat in defeat.

"The chaperone thing doesn't go with your 'bad boy' aesthetic," she replied, "...but I am a little hungry. Do you want to go to that place near my...place?"

Her brow furrowed. She looked as if she was trying to re-word that sentence over in her head, and had failed. Already a little embarrassed, he couldn't resist as he leaned into her, lowering his face inches from her own and whispered,

"Are you asking me out?"

She groaned and rolled her eyes again, pushing him away with her hand on his chest. He had felt the heat coming off of her face and he revelled in it. Making Bonnie Bennett blush was one of his current favourite activities.

"I mean, I'm flattered..." he continued.

"Shut up," she replied, passing him the remainder of her drink, "and finish this."

He did as instructed, before she had a chance to change her mind. She put her hand to her head and said, "I need to remember I don't have the same vamp tolerance that you and Damon do for this stuff."

He called out to the bartender, "A water please, mate. For the lightweight here."

He turned back to see her unimpressed expression then placed his hand to his heart and with nothing but feigned concern in his voice he added, "We wouldn't want a repeat of the other night now, would we?"

Now he could really feel the heat coming off of her. On the very first of these drinking sessions Bonnie had lectured him repeatedly over his poor choice of recent infatuation to which he responded by buying her drinks for a brief reprieve. It resulted in a somewhat barbaric exit, Bonnie slung over his shoulder, wearing his jacket around her waist in an act of modesty as to not reveal anything under her barely there skirt.

He carried her a block away before she kindly signalled to him that she was awake by throwing up down his back. She was mortified whenever he brought it up, which only prompted him to do it frequently.

The hazy memory alone was enough to have her finish her glass of water, then stand up promptly to leave. He followed closely behind, smile firmly in place.

"Food, yeah?" she said, not making eye contact with him.

As they walked, she looked as if she was going to say something several times before pulling back.

"Spit it out," he finally said.

"How are you doing?" she asked with a genuine concern that made him feel bad about embarrassing her before.

He paused for a moment. They were both still holding back from one another. Hiding behind feigned distain and empty flirtation. The protective habit of people who have lost too much. He decided to answer honestly for once.

"Things are a little dark, love. But they'll be alright. I've been through worse, but it has been a good lesson."

"Lesson?" she repeated, slowing her pace and moving closer to him.

"Yes, a good lesson. You should always keep your heart closed. It's much easier to protect that way."

He smiled at her and noticed she looked upset, so he stopped and put both hands on her shoulders turning her to face him.

"I didn't mean you. You're young, you're powerful and you're beautiful. The world is yours! You should be out there making mistakes and not giving a damn."

She pulled away from him and stared walking faster. He recalled a conversation recently in which she had confided that she didn't think she could have a relationship with a normal boy her age. She couldn't ever see herself attached to someone mortal again, someone she would have to worry about every second of the day or lie to regularly. Like her father.

He felt the shame of his realisation on his skin. Of course he had managed to say the wrong thing to the one person that had the potential to be a real friend.

He picked up his pace and returned to her side but said she no longer wanted to eat. She added that she also wanted to walk the rest of the way alone. He didn't leave her, however. He fell back, giving her some space, but as someone who had seen too many beautiful girls fates walking home alone in the darkest hours of the night, there was no way he was going to leave. They walked the remainder of the way in silence as they pulled up outside of her place. She barely looked at him for a second before turning to walk away.

"Good night," he shouted, his voice giving away his annoyance. He had upset her, yes, he understood that, but not to this degree, surely? She walked up the steps before turning and storming back in his direction.

"Are you serious?!" she scolded him. "Are you actually serious that that is the 'lesson' you've taken away from all of this? What is the point of us even speaking if you haven't listened to a single word I've said to you over the last few nights?!"

He was taken aback, "Now, hang on here..."

"No," she cut him off, "you are an amazing person, Enzo. You have all this love inside of you, lifetimes of it, just waiting to share it with the right person. Yeah, this time you looked in the wrong place, but you can't just shut that off! There is someone out there who deserves that amount of love and you keeping it to yourself is completely selfish."

"I see the short walk hasn't done much to sober you u..."

"I'm done," she threw he hands in the air, "I'm done!" And with that she headed into her room.

Enzo stood outside unsure of exactly what had happened. It would take a while to process it. All he knew for now was the one thing that had given him a reason to leave his bed these last few days had just turned her back on him and it had actually hurt him. Confused and desperate, he pulled out his phone and started typing:

To: Little Witch

Msg: Don't give up on me just yet.

Msg: Please.

Msg: See you tomorrow night?

Sent.

No reply. He stood there, looking up at her window and willing her to reply. 15 minutes passed before his phone vibrated in his hand.

From: Little Witch

Msg: You're infuriating.

Msg: Of course. See you then.