Written for @itsnotacrimetoloveyou and @arrenemris , inspired by this incorrect klaroline quote. I hope you enjoy!
Klaus watched Caroline out of the corner of his eye as she talked animatedly with the Bennett witch (now vampire) about a television show that they were both watching. They were having brunch at an exclusive New York restaurant that Caroline liked, and Klaus was content to people watch and pretend not to notice Caroline sneaking bites of his omelette as he drank his coffee.
It was their first time in the United States as a couple, though they’d visited various cities during the short time that Caroline had spent with him every decade or so testing the waters. He had been content to wait for her to make up her mind, knowing it was only a matter of time, and when she finally showed up at his door tentatively suggesting they ‘try’ with a sunny smile that would have hid her insecurities if he hadn’t known her so well, he’d done his best to make her want to stay.
They were six months in and it was working out well so far. He didn’t think he’d been happier for as long as he could remember.
He watched her tongue dart over her lips before she took another sip of her mimosa, giving him a bright smile when she saw him looking and grabbing his hand under the table, squeezing it gently. “Sorry, I know we’re kind of going on about this.”
“Caroline, you could read the phone book and it would entrance me,” Bonnie drawled in an admittedly impressive imitation of his accent, and Caroline laughed, taking another sip of her mimosa.
“It’s okay. It goes both ways.”
“You do like the accent,” Klaus drawled, and Caroline nodded solemnly.
“I do.”
“I’m going to run to the restroom before this gets mushy,” Bonnie announced, setting down her napkin. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay, Bon! Anyway, we should talk about what we’re going to--”
“Caroline!” a smooth voice interrupted from behind them, and he felt Caroline stiffen beside him, turning around to face the stranger. Klaus followed her line of vision to see a man just a bit taller than him but with a stockier build looking at Caroline with a warmth that Klaus didn’t like being directed at her by anyone but him.
“Hi Brian,” Caroline said, her voice a bit higher than usual, and she glanced at Klaus almost nervously, moving a bit closer to him. Was she scared? Did she feel threatened?
“How are you?”
“I’m good. You?”
There was something awkward in the way she was sitting, the way she was holding herself, and she nodded along with whatever Brian was saying before tangling her fingers with Klaus’s more firmly and nodding to him.
“This is Klaus. My... Klaus.”
Brian’s eyebrows flew up. “Your Klaus?”
Caroline’s eyes widened. “Not like that! I mean...” she glanced at him as he tried to mask the hurt from her words, and she looked a bit flustered. “I mean, yes like that, but not like that. He’s my boyfriend.”
He would have grimaced at the word if Caroline didn’t look so shaken and nervous. “Are you all right, sweetheart?”
“Yeah,” she said, giving him an affectionate look that he’d come to treasure as his. “I’m good. Brian and I were--”
“We were together at one point,” Brian interrupted, sending Caroline an understanding look. “I didn’t expect to run into you so I thought I’d say hello. I’m happy you’re doing well.”
Caroline gave him a smile that seemed nostalgic more than anything else, and Klaus felt his heart lighten when he realized that she didn’t have feelings for whoever this man was. She’d most likely just been nervous about his reaction.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by Caroline turning to look at him and starting to talk. “That wasn’t what it looked like, I promise. I have like, zero feelings for him, okay? I was just surprised.”
He brushed off her reassurances, more concerned about how spooked she seemed to be. “Are you all right?” he asked hesitantly, searching her face for any kind of discomfort. “Did he hurt you?”
“No!” she said quickly, taking a breath as though she were about to say something else but seemed to think better of it. “It’s nothing like that.”
He studied her expression, trying to detect any hint of discomfort, but she didn’t elaborate, just spearing one of his breakfast potatoes on her fork and sticking it in her mouth, laying her head on his shoulder briefly as though trying to reassure him.
“We should pay and leave when Bon gets back. We want to go shopping.”
He hummed in acknowledgement, absently waving the waiter over to ask for the check, still mulling over Caroline’s reaction to this Brian fellow. Bonnie returned just moments later, and they were soon off to wander around downtown.
Caroline had been armed with a credit card linked to his accounts the moment she’d pursed her lips at the price tag of a dress in Milan, clearly doing some sort of mental calculation, and had proceeded to spend what an average person would have considered to be an obscene amount of money on clothes.
He didn’t mind, pleased that she was taking the opportunity to stock the closets at all of his properties with weather-appropriate attire, even the ones she had yet to set foot in. She was pointedly marking her place in his life and home, and he enjoyed her going out of her way to stake her claim. They walked out of a high end department store a few hours later, both women laden with shopping bags.
“I have to head back to my place,” Bonnie said apologetically as they approached where their SUV was parked, officers compelled to leave them alone if they ever approached to give tickets. “Enzo’s flight will comr in an hour, so I need to get this stuff put away before I pick him up. We’re still on for tonight though, right?”
“Of course!” Caroline said, pulling her friend into a hug that was slightly awkward due to the abundance of shopping bags. “I’m sure Klaus can entertain himself for a few hours.”
“What’s that, love?”
“Enzo, Bon and I go out to this bar whenever I’m in town,” Caroline said, squeezing his hand. “You can come if you want, but I don’t think it’s your thing.”
Klaus raised an eyebrow and she grinned. “Karaoke.”
He tried his best not to show his distaste and realized that he probably failed when she couldn’t restrain a snort of laughter. “I’m sure I have work to catch up on,” he said, knowing disdain was creeping into his tone but not trying to push it down.
“I’m sure,” she said, exchanging an amused look with Bonnie.
“I should flag down a cab—“
“Josh will see you home, Bonnie,” Klaus interrupted, the witch’s first name still feeling a bit odd falling off of his tongue. “Caroline, let’s give your bags to him as well. He can put them away at the penthouse while I steal you away for an early dinner.”
He realized that his words might have come off as a bit more commanding than he’d meant when Bonnie’s spine straightened, her lips pursed. “Do you usually order her around like that?”
“Only when I’m naked,” Caroline said without missing a beat. Bonnie’s groan was luckily louder than Klaus’s embarrassingly audible swallow, his head turning to look at Caroline, who seemed a bit sadistically pleased with her friend’s reaction, though a light flush creeped up her cheeks when she turned and caught his eye.
He didn’t quite dare to hope that she was serious, but he couldn’t help but let his tongue dart over his lips at the image her words had pulled up.
He’d been doing his best to give Caroline time to adjust to their new relationship. Though a century wasn’t exactly young, she’d seemed a bit hesitant to be upfront about what she might want to experiment with, and he suspected that she was intimidated by his age and her perception of his experience.
He’d kept an eye out for little tells as he became reacquainted with the pretty sounds she made when he touched her and the flush of her cheeks when he spoke, looking for hints as to what he might be able to coax her into trying first. She’d said once off-handedly that his possessiveness was hot in bed and she liked dirty talk but she’d really prefer that no one died because they looked in her direction. He’d remembered that, stored it away for future use, and it had only fueled his desire to tempt her into fulfilling some of his more salacious desires.
He’d had so many fantasies of things they could try over the years. He longed to tie her up and tease her until she begged, had more than a few elaborate fantasies involving her mercilessly baiting him followed by him bending her over the desk in his study and spanking her until she was dripping wet and gasping.
He kept his eyes on her as they walked downtown to one of her favorite restaurants, and though their conversation bounced around different topics easily, he could tell that she was trying to talk herself into saying something specific.
“All right, sweetheart?” he asked during a lull in their conversation as they waited for a stoplight to cross the street.
She bit her lip, glancing at him through her eyelashes before looking away and taking a deep breath. “Can we maybe go back to the penthouse? Order in?”
“Of course,” he found himself saying without a thought, pressing his palm to the small of her back and steering her down the street, watching her carefully for any sign of discomfort.
She was quiet for the rest of the walk, and he let her gather her thoughts. The second the door to the penthouse shut behind them, Caroline took a deep breath and let it out, looking him squarely in the eye. “Brian was my Dom. We were play-partners for four years.”
Klaus raised his eyebrows, breathing in sharply. He was admittedly a little jealous that she’d explored that sort of thing with another man before him, and for so long, but it had been a century, and he couldn’t deny that he was pleased she wouldn’t have to be eased into it as he’d previously thought. She seemed to only be able to read the first half of that on his face though, and she took a deep breath before more words spilled out in a rush. “It was just physical. It didn’t mean any—Well, it did mean something then, but it doesn’t now. He lives in New York and usually I text to have coffee or whatever when I pass through, so I think he was just curious about why I—non-sexual coffee, obviously—anyway I think he just thought I was mad or something. I just didn’t want...I was worried you’d...” she trailed off.
“Be jealous?”
She snorted. “No, I knew you’d be jealous. I guess it’s kind of stupid, but I was scared you’d judge me?”
“Judge you?” he asked softly, noting the way her spine straightened slightly at the tone. “Quite the contrary, sweetheart.”
She frowned. “Then why wouldn’t you say—“
“I didn’t want to scare you off,” Klaus admitted, a thousand plans and scenarios hatching in his mind about what he could do with the information he’d just gotten.
“Scare me off?” Caroline asked, raising her eyebrows. “Klaus, I’m a hundred and twenty-three. Even if I wasn’t into it I’d just talk to you like an adult. Do you really think I’d bail on you because you had a kink?”
“Do you think I’d ‘bail on’ you?” he shot back, and she pressed her lips together, clearly uncomfortable.
“It’s different,” she said finally. “With me, I mean.”
He raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to elaborate, and she sighed, looking out the window, unable to meet his eyes. “You’re just like...Everything we do is super hot, obviously. Like, you’re so good at dirty talk and you make me feel sexy, you know? But you’re so old and experienced and I figured that if it was something you wanted you would have told me.”
“Caroline,” he began, trying to gather his thoughts. “There’s truly nothing you could tell me that would make me want you less. No fantasy or wish that’s too sinful or salacious. I never want you to worry that you’re not enough or not who I want, because I’ve truly never wanted anyone the way I do you.”
“But you might get tired of me or change your--”
“You’re mine, sweetheart,” he said firmly, fighting down the small smile at the way her eyes snapped up to meet his at the tone, the way her breath caught. “I’ve waited a century for you, and I think we both know that I’d have waited longer.”
“Waiting for the idea of being with me is different than the real thing,” she insisted.
“Caroline, I want you,” he said simply, searching her face, trying to find the words that would convince her of what seemed so obvious to him. “I always will. I’m quite honestly more nervous that I’ll do something terrible and drive you away than at the slim possibility of falling out of love with you. If anyone should be terrified of being left behind, it’s me.”
She gave him a look that said clearly that she didn’t agree but seemed to decide to save the argument for another day, giving him a small smile and kissing him softly before resting her head on his shoulder, her face buried in his neck as they laced their fingers together. “I love you,” she said quietly. “I love you and I want you.”
“And I, you my love.”
He felt her lips move as she smiled against his skin, her lips brushing over his jugular before she pulled back to look at him, her eyes darkened with want. “So, just to be clear, you’re into it? The BDSM thing?”
“More than,” he murmured, cupping her cheek and smiling when she leaned into his touch. “There’s nothing I’d like more than for you to trust me enough to give yourself to me. To let me control your pleasure and your time. I want your loyalty and your love, and you putting your faith in me to take control is one of the best gifts you could bestow upon me.”
She laughed quietly, her hands sliding up his chest to fiddle with the buttons on the collar of his henley. “I trust you,” she whispered, her eyes never leaving his. “What do you want me to call you? In play, I mean?”
He mulled it over for a moment, fiddling with the ends of her hair with the hand that wasn’t occupied with stroking the soft skin of her cheek. He liked ‘Master’, wanted nothing more than to hear it fall from her lips with a soft sigh as he brought her to the edge and let her pleasure linger there, his to bestow. Then again, he would also enjoy hearing the reverence in her voice when she said his name, the syllables hard and desperate and gritted between her teeth, the ‘s’ a soft hiss between her ‘please’s as she squirmed against his body, begging for release.
“Master,” he settled on after a moment. “Though I might change my mind. Safeword?”
“Hummingbird,” she said immediately, grinning at his raised eyebrow. “You have no idea how many dirty dreams I’ve had about this. I have spent a crazy long time planning super elaborate fantasies about all the things I want.”
“You’ll have to tell me about them,” he said quietly, leaning forward to catch her lips with his, savoring the taste of her, the soft sigh she gave him when he pulled away. “All of them. Perhaps if you’re a good girl for me I’ll indulge you.”
He saw her pupils dilate slightly, a shiver running down her spine as her tongue darted over her lips to wet them.
