#haycel

-

He remembers the day after Davina had stolen his heart much better than the day of, if he’s quite honest.

Finn congratulated him, Klaus teased him.

Rebekah envied him. Elijah supported him.

By the time their second encounter comes around, it’s already summer. She’s at the local occult club meeting, sitting there, looking like something the wind blew in.

“Hello again,” he had said, “is this seat taken?”

She recognizes him, almost immediately. “Nope,” Davina chirps, eventually meeting his longing gaze. “Fancy seeing you here,” she finally addresses.

There is nothing else there, just a boy catching the eye of a girl.

“I’m surprised you remembered me,” Kol adds.

She offers him a kind smile. “A handsome man with impeccable taste in music,” she says. “How could I forget someone like that?”

He’s surprised.

Flirting.

He didn’t think she’d be so bold.

“I could say the same about you - pretty girl and all,” Kol tells, offering the same type of smile back.

Minutes pass, their instructor is still late.

“Why are you interested in witchcraft?” She suddenly asks.

“All things dark and mysterious, they’ve always piqued my curiosity,” he sings, and that’s how they begin.

-

So, where did we leave off?

Will you marry me?

Oh - right.

And then she said:

“No.”

Kol inhales a sharp breath.

No.

No?

No!

Davina furrows her brows, she approaches the man with the box. Softly, she places her fingers around it and slowly closes it shut.

“I’m sorry Kol,” she sobs. “It’s just too soon for me, I love you…so much. But I just need more time,” she watches him as he hangs on her every word.

Jaw dropping at her tone.

“Davina,” he sighs. “I don’t understand, if you know you love me…and I love you…then, why is there a need for more time?”

Eventually, she just gives up.

The man before her is such a romantic, how could he understand the simplicity as well as the complexities of a woman who just wanted to find herself?

“I just can’t do this,” Davina uncomfortably releases. “I have to go.”

-

It’s always odd, the way things go.

Almost as if the fates had something else in store for him.

Marcel has to choose.

Confess to Hayley or comfort Davina.

“Marcel.”

Humbly, he chooses the latter.

“Please don’t scold me right now, this is already hard enough,” the young girl sobs (woman but child in his eyes - as he leans outside the car with her, hand on her shoulder).

“I wasn’t going to,” Marcel whispers. “I came to see if you’re okay.”

“Of course I’m okay!” she shouts, and immediate regret surrounds her when she realizes that she was taking her anger out on him. “Kol is the one who’s heartbroken…I hurt him, I even ran away! God, he’s all alone, he must be feeling so awful-”

“Davina,” he cuts in, locking eyes with her. “He has his family, he’ll be okay,” Marcel assures her.

She finally leans into him, collapsing against his chest.

“I guess,” she cries, feeling his warm hand on her back this time. “I do love him, you know that right?” she reminds him (reminds herself).

He nods, thinking of Hayley. “I know,” he acknowledges. “To be honest, I’m probably the only one…but I’m glad you said no.”

She actually releases a laugh.

“Not ready to lose me yet?”

“Never.”

It’s a touching moment, found family meant more to them that they could say in so many words.

“Don’t worry,” for once, he allows her to comfort him too. “I’ll always be there for you, Marcel.”

He misses his chance to say it back - but she knows he has and he always will give up the world for her.

-

Backstage, Kol is inconsolable.

He goes off on Finn for the flowers again and this time, the older brother just takes it, knowing that maybe this will offer the little one some semblance of relief.

“This is just like that time he wanted to buy that yacht,” Elijah sighs

“Or when he lost those golden golf clubs at that auction we went to in Berlin,” Rebekah comments, as they are both out of reach of Kol’s hearing.

“He’ll get over it,” Freya whispers “He’s a Mikaelson, Mikael made sure we were all put through much worse.”

One by one, they all try their best

Hayley watches as Klaus returns Hope to her and makes his way to his brother’s side.

“Kol.”

“Nik, not now.”

He observes as the other continues to fiddle with the plants - pricking off the dried ends, trimming the sides, placing them in all different kinds of arrangements -

“The flowers look fine,” Klaus breaks the silence.

He feels something warm at the center of his back - his brother’s touch, radiating through his jacket. Unexpectedly, it’s enough to offer him a small sense of relief.

“She said no,” Kol sighs. “I threw this dumb party, and she said no,” he whines, arms crossing and huffing loudly, just like when they were children.

Klaus laughs, he could be such a brat sometimes.

“So what?”

The other drops his jaw. “So what?” He repeats, immediately shoving his brother off of him. “Do you know how much money I spent on these glass swans?”

Klaus tilts his head - thinking of what Elijah would say to him, if he were in this exact predicament.

“You are a Mikaelson,” he reminds Kol. “And we are known for one thing,” he pursues. “Never giving up.”

It takes Kol exactly two seconds before his entire face breaks into laughter.

His other siblings stare in awe - who knew that all it took was some crazy words from their most unexpected brother to do the trick.

“Did you think that would actually work on me?” Kol asks, seriously.

Klaus shakes his head. “You’re smiling, aren’t you?”

His younger sibling exhales in disbelief - was this actually happening right now?

“Well, I can’t help it,” Kol offers. “Seeing you with that weird glimmer in your eyes, dancing around with a toddler,” he loses himself in those images. “It’s so unlike the brother I’ve known, all these years.”

“And,” Klaus says. “The little brother I knew used to have a different girl in his bed every other week,” he recalls. “Now, you want to get married?”

Both brothers smile at each other, in awe.

“Love. It’s a strange thing, isn’t it?”

“And so it is, Nik.”

-

After the party, the Mikaelson siblings squeeze into a limo.

Hayley carries a sleeping Hope as they make their way outside only to find Klaus waving them off.

She silently observes him as he’s making his way back to her. This whole event, that’s all she’s been, quiet and calculating.

Waiting for the right moment.

“You’re not going with them?” she questions him.

He notices her hip swung to one side in order to support their daughter’s sleeping body - her soft hand on her back, carefully lulling Hope to stay dormant.

He bites - she’s a good mother, he thinks.

“They’ll be alright,” Klaus tells her. “You know my siblings, such a handful, but in the end, they have each other,” he reminds her.

“I’ve always been jealous of that,” Hayley quips. “Big happy family,” she cheers.

“Big, sure…happy? Eh,” he chuckles.

She giggles.

Hayley Marshall? Giggle?

What was happening here?

“I was really impressed with the way you cheered Kol up,” she surprises herself with her next words. She wonders why it took her so long to see that he has indeed actually become a family man. “I didn’t think anyone could get him out of that slump,” Hayley says.

“Well, I did what I could,” he shrugs. “The rest is up to him.”

She’s lost in her thoughts again - she looks beyond who he is, who she knew him as. All she sees is a chance, an opportunity before her.

“I never noticed,” she whispers quietly. “The hint of yellow in your eyes.”

He takes a step back as she lunges forward.

“Sweetheart,” Klaus raises a brow. “What is all this about?”

And maybe, it happens because she’s inspired by Kol’s brave confession.

Maybe, those impulsive romantic actions that are just so Mikaelson in nature are rubbing off on her.

Either way, she takes this chance to kiss him.

It’s no surprise that he gladly kisses her back.