She arrives home with a shin of sweat on her skin, the taste of gin still lingering in her mouth and a feeling of lightness that she hasn’t experienced in months. Ruthie had been right ---- she had needed to let loose, forget the weight of her problems and just remember what is like to have fun.
(she can go back to reality in the morning; the alcohol fueled headache will help ground her)
Bonnie shuts the door behind her, leaning against it with a sigh. As she breathes in deeply the first hint of cigarette smoke tickles her senses. She wrinkles her nose, the scent intrusive to her current mood. But like a moth to a flame, she is drawn towards it, her steps shaky at first and then measured.
Something is not right.
Klaus Mikaelson stands in what passes for her home, looking out of place among the clutter in a suit made entirely of straight lines. A cloud of smoke hangs close to him, shrouding his face until he steps forward.
His eyes. She has heard the rumors --- there is something about his eyes that pull you in and hold you there. She takes a deep breath, standing her ground as best he can. He looks her over, a leisurely perusal that sets every part of her on edge.
Then he is stubbing his cigarette out on her mantle. “Miss Bennett,” he begins, a smile sliding across his face. “I heard you were the woman to come to if one is in the need of the kind of assistance you can’t find anywhere else.” He traces a finger across one of the many glass bottles she has personally filled.
Forget the morning, reality hits now. And hits hard.
It takes her a moment to realize it and when she does her stomach turns on itself. She takes a deep breath to combat the sudden wave of nausea and then tilts her head just so. She can’t show him weakness --- he will pounce on it like the predator he is.
Bonnie wishes she could have turned down the invitation but the note hastily scribbled on paper and delivered to her door felt more like a summons anyway. She has to play this carefully; she has heard (and seen) the consequences of going against Klaus Mikaelson and his family.
“As I said the other night...”
The other night. When she had found him in her home unannounced and uninvited. The moment he had left she scrambled to cleanse the air and ensure that she is never against caught off guard like that.
“...I believe our relationship can mutually beneficial,” Klaus tells her, abandoning his drink to bring a cigarette to this lips. She is coming to realize that he always smells like smoke (she wonders if it clings to him to cover the scent of death).
She keeps her face passive, as if she is truly considering what he is saying. “I have to say, I am not sure how, Mr. Mikaelson,” she tells him, keeping her distance as she tries to subtly turn him down. “I think you’ll get the benefit of my gifts and I...?” She shrugs her shoulders.
“And you,” Klaus tells her, tipping the ash from his cigarette into a crystal tray. “You will finally get the respect you deserve. I have seen how you live --- in that hovel, plying charms for a few coin. It doesn’t have to be that way.”
Her features fall. Because, for the briefest moment, she actually wants to believe him. But she knows better. He has the face of an angel --- but the soul of the devil.
Peaky Blinders Klonnie AU: Part 3 (previous parts here)
He gives her money and tells her to buy a dress --- nothing too flashy but something that will make her stand out.
(she wants to tell him that by virtue of who she is, she will stand out in any crowd that requires her to wear fancy clothes)
In the end, Bonnie finds a dress that she thinks will meet his requirements. He asks her to model it for him and those two minutes in which she stands before him for inspection seem to stretch into eternity.
Finally, Klaus gives his nod of approval.
He is secretive, not revealing why he has sent her on that particular errand in the first place. It is only when he shows up at her door, dressed impeccably, does she realize that she is really doing this. She is throwing in with a monster. She tries to tell herself that she has no choice --- that a man like Klaus Mikaelson cannot be deterred but she knows that is not quite true. If she truly wants, she can rebuff him.
Instead she enters the manor on his arm. As predicted, people look at her as she passes and she doubts it has anything to do with the dress. She shifts uncomfortably, causing him to tighten his grip on her arm.
“Relax,” he tells her.
Easier said than done.
They share a dance before he finally tells her what it is he wants from her. There is a man here. A powerful one (but not as powerful as Klaus of course; he has to make that clear to her). He wants the man brought to his knees, lost in his own mind and he knows that Bonnie has the words to do just that.
He is not wrong. She knows how to drive a man insane. It is a trick that has learned to survive. However, when she glances over her shoulder she sees that her target is surrounded, pinned in by admirers and those who hope to profit from just being at the edges of his influence. She furrows her brows.
“Just how am I supposed to get close enough to do that?” she asks, her voice more tart than she means it to be.
Klaus sighs, before giving her a meaningful look.
Bonnie freezes, her eyes widening slightly. “I am not like that.”
He laughs now as he spins her around the floor, inching them closer to her goal. “Everyone is. In their own way.”
