I kinda like the idea of Edward falling in love with Bella real fast, but Bella taking a couple months to develop feelings for him, they fell in love so fast, I wanted to see more of him yearning and pining and trying to make her like him too
Don’t get me wrong there’s a je ne sais quoi to the canon pacing but think of all the additional angsting Edward would’ve had time for if Bella wasn’t constantly blindsiding him with “it’s mutual, idiot”
I also have a hard time seeing Bella not being at least a little crazy about him, ngl. S o this is an au where Edward and Bella are slightly better at reeling in their inner freaks (sad). They are both so insecure that it really isn’t that hard to imagine.
As far as Edward can tell, he seems to be growing on her slowly, he’s all too aware of how little time he has with her because of her short human lifespan, so it feels even slower to him, but he’s determined to savor every scrap of her attention he can get, and NEVER pressure her.
Edward is determined to not make the first ~move~ because he refuses to drag her down. She sets every boundary, from discussion topics to physical contact. He follows her lead.
Bella ofc misinterprets this as him not being interested Like That, and does a lot of mental gymnastics to convince herself that she just has a crush on the most beautiful boy at her new school. Just because he’s paying attention to me doesn’t mean he likes me, and that’s fine., she thinks, convincing no one. She’s friendzoning herself, insisting they’re friends and she happens to be attracted to him.
It’s ofc brought to her attention that she’s the first person to get his attention but she chocks it up to her being the first person to not be weird about his family’s own weirdness. She’s no small-town girl; she’s seen weirder drama in Phoenix than foster siblings dating.
So she flexes the ole “I’ve always been good at suppressing unpleasant things” such as apparently unrequited attraction, and they’re fast friends. She invites him to sit at her lunch table with Angela, Ben, Mike, etc.
For a while, their relationship not unlike canon Twilight in a lot of ways. That’s what I like about this pairing (at least in the books)— they’re best friends that are also in love. They talk about their favorite things, bemoan the male population of Forks High’s forwardness in asking her out (Edward nearly cracks his own teeth, he clenches them so hard to keep from fishing for any indication if she’d be open to him asking her out), Bella finds out her BFF is a vampire.
Yeah. I think she’d find out anyway. Bella’s still a danger magnet, Edward’s still going to protect her, she’s still going to notice the ~clues~. That doesn’t change just because they ain’t lockin’ lips. When she finds out about the barely-controllable bloodlust it further cements that Edward wouldn’t want her like that; surely he could never be with a human like that. She even cracks a strained joke about how that must put a damper on his love life. “It does make things… complicated.” he says, and she could swear he’s looking at her lips, but no— he’s definitely looking at her neck. Duh. Blood. Vampire.
She cuts the tension by putting a tentative hand on his shoulder— their first physical contact— and saying “well, this puts ‘best friends forever’ into perspective, huh?” and immediately kicks herself for how dorky it was. She thinks Edward’s chagrin is at the cheesy line, but it’s at the reminder that only he is forever. They’re just friends; they’ll graduate high school, maybe they’ll keep in contact after she goes off to college for a little before texts become few and far between, then stop altogether.
Bella’s still invited to baseball. She’s in the know, so why not? The nomads still show, Edward’s reaction triggers James’s tracking shtick, they run, they plan. Instead of ‘breaking up with Edward’ being the excuse for Charlie, Bella panics and says “I told Edward I like him, and he doesn’t feel the same. I need to get away, just for a few days.” This nearly kills him as he eavesdrops. Bella gets to her room and sees him frozen where he was pulling her duffel bag out from under her bed— which, how did he know that was there? (He’d never confessed to all the breaking-and-entering in this au). Bella says “c’mon, we have to go!”, snaps him out of it. They pack and drive to the Cullens.
Internally Edward is in hysterics. Bella even bringing up the possibility of being interested in him like that has broken him. Was that just a cover story? Was it based on a kernel of truth?
He’s staring at her as they drive, and she squirms. Is he mad? Is even the imaginary scenario of her liking him so repulsive that the cover story ruined their friendship? Great. She’s still convinced that she just has a crush on him, but that’s still a blow to the ego.
Car ride, airport, it's all mostly the same. Bella gets knocked around, bitten, the Cullens show up just in time. Edward sucks James's venom out; she won't become a vampire, but she's lost a lot of blood. Carlisle looks grim. She could still be dying.
His mouth still covered in her blood, he kisses her.
Deep and desperate, it's not really that pleasant, honestly. But it's Edward and even without all the trauma, drugs, and blood loss, Bella's sure she would've passed out from that kiss alone. She barely has the wherewithal and energy to reciprocate before it's over. But she tries, dammit.
She wakes up in the hospital.
She asks him how much of that was real. “You were really bitten by a— by two vampires, including myself. You almost died. James died instead.” He says.
“That’s not what I meant.” She crosses her arms— awkwardly, with the tubes attached to her wrists, but she manages.
Edward’s stupid when it comes to Bella, but he’s not that stupid, and he won’t play stupid. “I’m sorry. That was wrong of me to do. I just couldn’t— I wasn’t thinking, and I didn’t know if you’d even live, and it was my last chance. You don’t need to worry, it will never happen again, and you can forget it ever happened. In fact, if you never want to see me again, just say the word, and— what are you doing?”
“I’m trying to untangle myself from these sheets so I can shut you up. With my lips.”
He goes to her. They kiss. It’s awkward, clunky, the air is stale in the hospital room and there’s this annoying beeping that picks up as her heart rate spikes. It’s over quickly. They’re both breathless anyway. They’re smiling like idiots when Renée walks in.
The cover story for Edward and Carlisle being in Phoenix is that Edward was down there to tell Bella it was a misunderstanding; he doesn't "like her back", he has actually been desperately in love with her for months.
Any good lie has to be based on the truth, after all.
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