#minidrabble

CW: Lost friendship? Nothing intense really

“I thought you, of all people, would understand why I did what I did.”

And the thing was, Hero did understand. They could see their former friend’s thinking perfectly. But being understandable didn’t make it okay. Not trusting themself to say what they should, they just shook their head.

Villain’s eyes become colder, as quickly as a shutter slamming down. “I cannot believe you are like the others.” The statement was more disbelief than disgust. It was hard to fool a friend.

“Please, Villain…” Hero’s voice was quiet, barely theirs to use.

“I have to go through with this.”

Thought I’d do another quick drabble while I had a moment. Might just do this as a tiny, dating drabble series. We shall see. (Best part is I don’t have to rename them this way!)

-

They tripped on a rug.

Caroline snorted out a laugh as Klaus staggered forward, her hand fisted in his shirt, the other locked around the arm over her shoulder. For a moment it looked like his hybrid balance would kickin and they’d recover, and then his foot caught the edge of the couch. They went down in a tangle of limbs, and while Klaus managed to twist around so that he landed first, they hit the floor with a thud. Her chin bounced off his shoulder with an oomph and they both laid there stunned for long moments.

“Fuck.”

Caroline dissolved into laughter at the disgruntled utterance, her fingers loosening their death grip on his shirt as she snorted. Slapping at the floor to find it, she careened into something of a sitting position and peered down at Klaus with a bright smile.

“You’re drunk.”

Not that she was in much better shape or his state was a brand new one. The witch bar Klaus had taken her too had been fun and the drinks potent. She’d fully expected to get plastered as soon as she’d tried the first one. She had no idea what Klaus had been drinking, but she’d smartly kept to much lighter fair.

One eye cracked open. “Observant, love.”

Snorting, she tested her balance by leaning forward. She wavered and his hand landed heavily on her waist, steadying her. “What did you even drink?”

Klaus blinked opened both eyes and she was delighted as it clearly took him a moment to focus. “Several somethings, I’m sure.”

Sniggering, Caroline gave up trying to balance and flopped back across his chest. His hand shifted with her movements and ended up beneath her shirt, pressing heavily against her sline. “I didn’t even think you could get drunk.”

His response was carefully precise, his words slow. “It isn’t... easy. But this isn’t my first visit to that bar.”

She considered that as she wiggled around until her legs weren’t in such an uncomfortable position. “That’s surprising.”

Klaus’ laugh was soft and she pressed her ear harder against his chest to absorb the sound of it. “Is it? There are many things you haven’t tried yet.”

Caroline slapped his arm. “Not that. That you’d get drunk in public.”

“Ah, that.” His fingers tangled in her hair and her body lifted with his as he shrugged. “It’s nothing that a bit of blood won’t immediately cure.”

Her lips pursed as she considered that and the implication of bloodshed should it be necessary. Deciding those thoughts were way too heavy for just then, her head came up and she squinted. “Do you think we can make it to the kitchen?”

“Probably. Why?”

“I bought Cheetos. And I hid them in your pantry. And I want them.”

Klaus snorted and then blinked. “You’re serious.”

Caroline patted his chest. “Yes.”

His brows came down and watched as she pushed herself into a wobbly sitting position. “You can have anything in my kitchen and you chose to bring in… Cheetos.”

She smiled brightly and used the couch to lever herself up. “Yup.”

“Caroline.”

Fairly certain that enough of her vampirism had kicked that she wasn’t in complete danger of tumbling, she chanced a look down. She bit her lip hard to hold in another laugh as she took in his ruffled hair and faint scowl. “If you come eat them with me, I’ll let you pick the next snack.”

Klaus muttered something under his breath and levered himself to his feet. “Sweetheart…”

She slid her arm through his as they carefully stayed upright. “Nope. You can make the next post-drinking snack whatever ridiculously fancy thing you were planning next time. I want cheesy carbs. Then we will probably be sober enough for sex.”

His arm slid around her waist, holding her against his side. “And I assume you have a plan for that as well.”

Caroline hummed an agreement as she took her first unsteady step forward. “I’ll even share. Later.”

Sighing heavily, Klaus staggered with her across the breadth of the downstairs and then obligingly fished out her contraband as she precariously balanced on a bar stool. He even tried one.

Prompt for “last hurrah (for now) minidrabble night” here. Usual terms and conditions apply.

“Hello, sweetheart.”

Caroline turned around and gave Klaus a blinding smile, hugging him quickly. “It’s so good to see you!”

They’d kept in touch over text since the press tour for their movie but hadn’t seen each other in six months. Caroline had been busy with her new TV show in Canada and Klaus had decided to focus on his music more, which meant he was stuck in Los Angeles. She’d missed him more than she thought she would. 

“And you as well, love,” Klaus said, and her eyes widened as his hand pressed against her lower back after she let go, just shy of less appropriate territory. She flushed.

Okay, so maybe she’d had a teeny crush on him, but there was no way he reciprocated. She was just an up-and-coming barely-A-lister at best, and he’d been in the business for over ten years.

She couldn’t help but lean into his touch anyway, shivering when his thumb stroked her spine (she wasn’t sure whether to curse herself for wearing a backless dress or self-five), and she tried not to look too off-kilter when they were announced.

They did their teleprompted banter, and Caroline looked away after her part to scan the crowd for her mom before having to fight down a blush at Klaus’s flirtatious smile when he said she was as talented as she was beautiful and that he wished she’d give him the time of day after her Oscar-winning performance. It was silly that she had a pang of regret that he hadn’t written it and therefore probably didn’t mean it, cursing the scriptwriters for putting it in (especially when Klaus said it so genuinely).

Once she’d opened the envelope and awarded the Best Supporting Actress Oscar to Katherine Pierce for her stunning performance in Graduation (it involved a very dramatic death scene, something Caroline could respect), Klaus led her offstage with his hand pressed to her lower back.

“What the hell, Klaus?” Bonnie, one of the people in charge of wrangling the presenters, hissed.

“What?” he asked innocently.

“You’re not supposed to go off-script!”

“You went off-script?” Caroline asked, turning to frown at Klaus.

He looked a little sheepish, though he straightened his shoulders and looked at her. “You are, in fact, as stunningly beautiful as you are talented, and I did hope that I might get the nerve to ask you to accompany me to an after-party? Perhaps dinner some other time if it goes well?”

Her mouth moved soundlessly for a second before she frowned. “Did you just ask me out?”

“Yes.”

She bit her lip before nodding, suddenly feeling self-conscious under his warm look.

“If you’re done I need to get Alaric and Jo out to do Best Original Song,” Bonnie said impatiently, and Klaus reached to grab her hand. 

“May I escort you back to your seat, love?”

Wanted something fluffy this morning. Might try to do a few more dating drabbles today, but it’ll depend on if I have time. Anyway. Here is some monster fluff for you.

-

Caroline yanked open the door and glowered. Klaus stood on the other side, lips curled in an unrepentant smile. His gaze heated as his eyes lowered to take in her appearance, lingering where the hem of her rob stopped mid thigh.

“You’re early.”

“You look delightful.”

She huffed, refusing to be charmed. The robe had been a gift from him, when he’d torn her previous one. She hadn’t worn it for him yet, because she’d loved it and Klaus would probably rip it too. The glint in his eye told her that he was seriously considering cancelling their plans for the evening.

“You said you were picking me up at seven. It’s just now six.”

His gaze returned to hers, and he gave a slight shrug. “So I did.”

She didn’t budge. “Klaus.”

His smile melted into something far too charming, dimples creasing both cheeks. “I found myself too impatient to wait.”

Caroline bit the side of her tongue to keep from returning his smile with a cheesy one of her own. For the past six months, they’d been easing into a relationship. Klaus had been living in Chicago of all places, and Caroline had been in New York when she’d sent him a text asking if he’d be interested in going with her to a galleria she was interested in.

He’d texted an affirmative almost immediately.

After that night, he’d started popping up with an invitation to dinner here, an event there on a regular basis. She’d never seen the man smile the way he had when she’d casually referred to a dinner as a date. Two weeks later, and he’d mysteriously relocated to a swanky high rise apartment just far enough from her apartment that it didn’t feel like he was looming, but close enough that spending a few nights at his place didn’t seem that far fetched.

Klaus was completely unsubtle in his hints that he had plenty of closet space if she wanted to bring things over. So far she’d refused. Dating Klaus was turning out to be so much more fun than she'd imagined, and while she knew asking for more was definitely on the horizon, learning about him this way was good too.

Not that it had always been sunshine and roses. They were both truly terrible at compromise, and when they fought it could get heated. It was how she’d lost her last robe. Angry sex followed by makeup sex wasn’t the worst way to work out their frustrations so they could try to discuss something reasonably.

Not that they always managed it.

“Whatever you are thinking, stop it.” She said firmly once she’d gotten a grip on her smile. “You owe me dinner after our last one was crashed by the werewolves. I bought a dress. I’m wearing it somewhere that isn’t this apartment.”

His gaze narrowed briefly with anger at the reminder of the interruption four days prior. After cleaning up the idiots who had attacked them she’d thrown a plate at his head and then snapped that he could make it up to her after he’d fixed the mess so they wouldn’t be interrupted. The evening had been going very well and she’d been really pissed that some morons had interrupted.

“We won’t be interrupted tonight.” His words were firm, a hint of gold bleeding into the blue of his eyes. “I’ve made sure of it.”

“You better be right,” she tossed back. “I bought super cute underwear for tonight and you won’t be seeing any of it if I ruin another dress with bloodstains.” His expression immediately shifted from murderous into calculating, and she held up a finger. “No.”

“You don’t mind all the bloodstains,” he pointed out reasonably, lips curving. “I can think of two or three situations where I imagine you wouldn’t even notice.”

Her skin heated and she narrowed her eyes. “I am going to go and finish getting ready. If I let you in, are you going to behave?”

“If I must,” he finally agreed, tongue sliding across his lips.

“You must,” she repeated firmly. “And you’re going to stay out of the bathroom while I change.”

A hint of a challenge. “What if you need me to zip your dress?”

Caroline gave him an arch look. “The zipper is on the side. There isn’t much of a back to it. Or at all, really.”

Spinning on her heel to leave him with that mental image, she ignored his audible inhale and headed back to her room to finish getting ready. She had maybe thirty minutes before he started testing the boundaries of their agreement, and she was determined he not see her until she was finished.

Caroline curled her toes against the cool tile of the bathroom as she carefully and drowsily stepped out of the shower. Last night had been a very late night and her wake up that morning unexpected and far too early. Shivering a little as she glanced out the window at the softly falling snow, she bypassed her usual robe and grabbed the bigger, softer one that Klaus kept around solely because she liked to steal it. She stole his shirts too, when given the chance, and had kept a secret stash she still refused to admit too when he teased her about it, even after having spent the last year mostly living with him.

Rising up on her toes, she stared out into the city, smile curling her lips. When she’d been a child, place like New York City had always seemed so big and far away. Tiny Caroline could only have dreamed of living somewhere other than Mystic Falls. She’d never have imagined living in Paris in a beautiful, cozy apartment. It was one of Klaus’ smaller properties, and she was pretty certain he had another tucked away somewhere, but this wasn’t the kind of place his siblings would be interested in invading. Pretty, brightly colored and in the perfect location, Caroline adored the intimacy of it. No space for his siblings, no room for the endless minion brigade. It was a place for just the two of them. Her, and the man who had woken her that morning with the clever, clever use of his mouth.

A century ago, Caroline would never have imagined just how hard she could come with Klaus’ teeth in her thigh and his fingers just as wicked as his tongue.

Just a bite, he’d murmured as he worked his way up the trembling muscles of her abdomen, lingering on the peaks of her nipples before finding her mouth. To hold me over.

He’d definitely taken his fill of her, and even the blood she’d greedily taken to counteract his venom hadn’t really been enough to keep her from snuggling back into the bedding to watch him dress with heavy lashes. Before she’d moved into his home, she’d never really watched him dress. The almost careless way he pulled on his clothes was in direct contrast to the careful way he fastened his necklaces. The brush of his stubble across her cheek as he promised to bring back breakfast, eyes dark in the low light and glittering with a sort of adoration she hadn’t grown tired of seeing.

Snuggling a little further into the robe, she padded out of the bedroom and headed into the kitchen to start the coffee. If Klaus had expected to pick up breakfast then she doubted he’d be much longer, the sun having risen a few hours before. Even with the softly falling snow, he’d be home soon. Depending on how the meeting that had pulled him out of bed had gone, she was probably going to need the caffeine.

Petition for anyone who wants to participate: Write a minidrabble that’s au from the “silly kiss” that could have been and then tag some writers to peer pressure them! Edit: as per @goldcaught‘s suggestion, this can be canon compliant or any au!! Even a silly kiss in another AU like fake dating or something. RUN WITH IT MY FRIENDS!!! 

I’ll start.

“What the hell are you doing?” Caroline spluttered, backing up from where Klaus had just touched his lips to hers. “Oh my god... I...what the hell?”

He looked just as surprised by his own actions as she was, the only time she’d ever seen his outfacing facade even slightly shaken other than at the ball when she’d thrown the bracelet at him. “You kissed me!” she said, her heart pounding. “Like, on the lips. On purpose.”

“I did.”

“Why would you do that? Like, sure, you like me or whatever but you don’t really, okay? You don’t really like me. This weirdo stalker thing you do needs to stop. Like, now.”

“Caroline--”

“Don’t,” she interrupted, holding up her hand, her mind still spinning.  She was so confused and conflicted, two things that she absolutely should not be. Klaus was terrible and evil and there were so many things wrong with him. God, she was still with Tyler even if they were pretending to be broken up, and she couldn’t like Klaus and his stupid dimples and stupid accent and the way he could read her and still couldn’t quite grasp the basics of common human decency. She hated him. Hated him.

He was standing across from her, the Miss Mystic Falls application held tightly in his hand as he watched her warily, and she didn’t know what to say, how to act, what to feel.

“This...I can’t do this,” she said shakily.

His eyes hardened, jaw setting in what she recognized as defensiveness slowly overtaking him, and how could he be defensive? He wasn’t the one who just got...got unwelcome advances thrust upon him. “Can’t do what?”

“This date,” she spat. “This...not-date. This thing that we’re doing.”

“We had a bargain,” he said, his face darkening.

“Kissing wasn’t part of the bargain,” she snapped. “You’re terrible and do awful things and you’re terrible to my friends, and sure you have a few semi-redeeming qualities but you’re basically just the actual worst. Like, I’m still in love with Tyler, okay? I’m not ready for....for whatever you’re doing.”

He was silent when she’d finished, watching her carefully before he spoke. “Not...ready?”

She opened her mouth and closed it again, not quite sure how to react before her fists clenched and unclenched, her mind racing, her heart pounding in her chest--

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, a smile slowly spreading across his face.

She swallowed hard, not knowing a way to tell him that it wasn’t what she’d meant at all and she hated him and she’d never be ready. Being ready wasn’t even an option. She didn’t know how to say it, though. Everything was too much, too fast, and before she had made a conscious decision, she’d sped back off towards her house.

He didn’t follow her.

He tried to fight down a smile as he took a sip of his tea and watched his girlfriend aggressively slash a red line through another sentence of the article she was editing for the news blog she’d just been hired at (and already loathed). She was sitting on the other side of the kitchen table wrapped in his old school sweatshirt that she’d decided now belonged to her, her blonde hair in a ponytail that had been mussed by her 20 minute power nap just hours before. He resisted the urge to close the scientific journal he was making notes on for his thesis to sketch her instead. He loved watching her in private everyday moments like this.

She kept emitting soft long-suffering sighs every time she scrawled something in the margins, and when she turned the page her left hand moved out of habit to pick up the coffee mug that wasn’t there, swiping at air with her fingers before she realized she didn’t have one and huffing irritably. Their coffee machine had broken the day before, and that combined with the stress from late nights and her awful new boss had made her unusually irritable.

It was two in the morning, the busy New York streets still full of sound below them, and they were still in for a long night.

Realizing that he wasn’t going to be able to focus, he stood and walked around the table, pressing a kiss to her temple and letting his hand skim her upper arm. “Do you want me to go to Starbucks for you, sweetheart?”

“You saying I look tired?” she teased, tipping her head to the side as a clear invitation for him to touch, and he couldn’t resist pressing a soft kiss to her neck.

“Pumpkin spice? Two extra shots? ‘Tis the season and all that.”

She hummed, her eyes closing. “Thanks. You’re the best.”

“I know,” he said, giving her a last brush of his lips against her cheekbone before going to the door and pulling on his jacket, his hands in his pockets as he walked down the windy street to the 24-hour Starbucks on the corner. They’d both been unusually busy, Caroline with her new job and him with the extra work he was putting into his thesis for his Master’s degree. He was practically counting down the days until he was done, and he knew that Caroline was too. They’d made time for the occasional date, and she still reached for him when he came back to the apartment late and fell into bed, automatically snuggling against him even when she was asleep. He still missed her, though.

He ordered Caroline’s disgusting excuse for coffee as well as a latte for himself, giving the barista his name for the order when she asked despite the entire place being empty. The way the barista’s eyes dragged up and down his body with clear interest irritated him, and he knew that if Caroline were there her hand would be on his shoulder possessively with a heat in her eyes that always made him hard for her. Caroline had been eyeing him hungrily like that for the entire week, and he knew that he’d probably done the same, but every time one of them tried to initiate, something would interrupt.

It had been so long since either of them had let their hands wander over the other’s skin, and he missed the taste of her and the soft sounds she made when he touched her, the way she shivered against him when he let his thumbs brush across her nipples. His cock twitched at the thought, and he tried desperately to force the image of her wicked smirk when she straddled him out of his mind.

The barista called his name in a seductive purr and he took the coffee, striding out with only a clipped ‘thank you’ tossed over his shoulder. He’d almost finished his own latte by the time he reached their apartment door, and he balanced them in one hand to unlock it.

What he saw almost made him drop the coffees on their cream carpet.

“Caroline,” he said hoarsely, and she laughed.

“What?” she asked, walking up to him and plucking her coffee out of his hands, pressing a kiss to his cheek. She was only in his shirt, a peek of lace under the hem the only other thing he could see that was covering her. She sat back down, taking a sip of the “coffee” he’d brought and letting her tongue dart out to catch a drop clinging to her lower lip. He knew that she wasn’t putting on a show for him and honestly probably just didn’t feel like wearing pants, but it didn’t make him want her any less.

“Thank you for the coffee.”

“You’re welcome,” he said, drinking her in as she fiddled with her pencil, shifting to reveal every inch of her creamy thigh. “Do you want to take a break?”

“From work?” she asked, her lips twitching as she watched him stare. “I could be convinced.”

He shrugged off his jacket and stripped his shirt off right after, ignoring that she was clearly barely holding in giggles. “Rude to laugh at a desperate man, love.”

“But I need to finish my lat—”

I’m still taking minidrabble requests and will try to do some during work today. Mini-sequel/outtake requests also welcome! I think I gave myself cavities with this one lol

Caroline woke to Klaus’s fingers stroking her hair, her legs tangled with his, her face burrowed into his shoulder to avoid the morning light shining through the pale curtains of their condo. “Good morning, sweetheart,” he said, his voice low, and she made a soft sound of protest as he stopped the movements of his fingers, instead moving to stroke her spine, the light touch making her shiver.

“Morning,” she whispered, her voice low and rough. “What time is it?”

“Ten. I thought I’d let you sleep in a bit.”

“Let?” she grumbled. “What important things do we have to do this early? One of the perks of living forever is all the time I can spend sleeping.”

He chuckled, pressing a soft kiss to her temple. “You’d think you’d be more excited for your hundredth birthday party. It’s your first century.”

“I am excited, but my party isn’t until five. I have time.”

“You do,” he agreed. “But I have a present for you.”

She snuggled as close to him as possible, her voice muffled when she spoke against his shoulder. “Birthday sex is nice and all, but it’s not like it’s extra special sex that’s accompanied by fireworks and choirs of singing angels.”

He laughed loudly this time, a sound she didn’t hear often enough for her tastes, and she smiled in spite of herself.

“It’s not birthday sex,” he said, and she could still hear the smile in his voice. “It’s better. Well, actually I don’t think it is at all, but I know you’ll be thrilled.”

She hummed, shifting against him. He was warm and smelled really good, and she didn’t particularly want to leave, no matter how good he thought the present was. There wasn’t much that she couldn’t get herself with a little compulsion, and even if she couldn’t Klaus usually found a way to make it happen. So the gift had to either be sentimental or not easily attainable.

She couldn’t deny that she was curious, and the irritating thought that she could know what her present was but didn’t warred with her desire to sleep for another few hours tangled with her Klaus pillow for a few seconds before she sighed.

“Okay,” she said, reluctantly disentangling herself. “Bring it on.”

“How long do you need to get ready?”

“I don’t know. Where are we going?”

“Meeting someone,” he said, shaking his head when she began to ask for more clarification. “No more hints, sweetheart. If your concern is about what you’ll wear, I suggest casual.”

“Mmkay,” she said, kissing him lightly on the lips before rolling out of bed. “I’ll be ready in a few.”

After a quick shower she was feeling significantly more awake, and when she emerged from the bathroom she noticed that Klaus seemed a bit more tense than usual, and she slung her arms around his shoulders, nosing his jaw. “You okay?”

“I hope you like it,” he said quietly, and she bit her lip, pulling back to search his face.

“I’m sure I will. Ready to go?”

It was a short ride to wherever they were going, and she took Klaus’s hand when he opened the door to the hovercraft (cars were so 2048), she frowned when she saw a woman she didn’t know standing by the launchpad. She moved forward, sticking her hand out. “Hello.”

“Hi,” Caroline said hesitantly, glancing at Klaus before shaking the woman’s hand. The electric shock of magic flowed through her, and she frowned. What could Klaus need a witch for?

“This is Caroline,” Klaus said, sliding an arm around her waist possessively. “Do you have the amulet?”

“Yes,” the witch said, pulling a beautiful ruby pendant on a long chain from her purse and handing it to Klaus, who took it.

“What is it?” Caroline asked, and Klaus gave her a smile that was almost nervous.

“Do you remember a few years ago when you told me you wished you could have lived through all the history I did?”

“Yeah,” she said slowly, her mind racing with hundreds of guesses of what it could be. “Why?”

“This amulet will take you back in time,” he said, and her eyes widened, her gaze snapping up from the ruby pendant to meet his eyes.

“What? Isn’t that like, dangerous? Couldn’t I change things by accident? Like, the butterfly effect thing?”

He shook his head. “You won’t be visible or able to interact with anything or anyone. It will take you anywhere you like as though you were in a dream.”

“Won’t time pass here while I’m dreaming or whatever?”

“Yes,” the witch said. “But it’ll only be about two hours, give or take, no matter how long you spend in the dream state.”

“That’s….really cool,” Caroline said, not quite able to process the enormity of the gift he’d given her, how much he’d clearly thought about it. “Where will it take me?”

“Wherever you want.”

“Rome? Paris? Tokyo?” she teased, and he smiled slightly, bending to press his forehead against hers.

“And more.”

She bit her lip, putting the amulet over her head with shaky fingers.

“Can you stay with me? While I do it, I mean?”

He pulled the chain, and it seemed to lengthen magically, putting it around his neck so that it encircled both of them.