#lockwood would have been an okay enough student but i would be suspicious of him yet like him anyway against my better judgement

[berenshand]

im only halfway through book 2 but im really enjoying lockwood and co so far. these kids are such assholes and i love that for them. they feel like real teenagers. ive taught them in my english classes and they made me hate my job.

[honestgrins]

Smell My Feet || Klaroween

Kol is the worst, especially when Klaus realizes his mildly embarrassing dare sends him to Caroline's door on Halloween. (For Klaroween Bingo: Pretending to be a Socially Acceptable Age to Trick or Treat)

"Trick or treat, smell my—Oh." Klaus's bored voice quickly turned into an embarrassed groan as Caroline pressed her lips together, holding back a smile. He checked the number on the house once more, and his cheeks flushed red. "Of course, Kol sent me here."

Caroline looked down to his empty hands, which he quickly stuffed into his pockets. "I don't see your bag, little boy. Don't you want some Halloween candy?"

Rolling his eyes, Klaus resigned himself to bearing the humiliation as she held out a bowl full of Skittles and Starbursts. "No, thank you. I lost a bet," he said in meager explanation. "Four houses in, and you're the first one not to yell at me for being too old to trick or treat. Or for being rude, as the rhyme is part of the punishment."

"That's what you get for betting against Kol," Caroline shrugged. "He plays dirty. Just this week during P.E., he pulled my hair to keep me from stealing second base in kickball."

"Wanker," Klaus muttered.

Caroline snorted a laugh before opening the door just a bit wider. "Do you want to come in? Mom's busy working to prevent mischief, so I'm left watching scary movies and handing out candy to actual children. I could use the company."

His mouth felt dry with both surprise and nerves, but Klaus wasn't about to let the opportunity pass.

Freshly widowed with money to burn, his mother had picked up house and bought the mansion just outside of Mystic Falls. In his junior year and suddenly free from Mikael's paternal control, Klaus hadn't looked forward to the diminished opportunities of Small Town, Nowhere, USA. Three months of his new home — between the tight-knit community niceties and catty gossip about "those Brits" — was enough to start planning for college in earnest.

Then, he met Caroline Forbes.

It had happened on a visit to Whitmore, the nearby university Klaus had no intention of attending, but their art program was passable and offered classes that would help build his portfolio for a better school. He bumped into Caroline outside the Fine Arts building, quite literally as her coffee exploded on the sidewalk below.

He'd met her before, sure, in her role as self-appointed Welcome Wagon for new students who had the potential to be somewhat cool or dangerous to her reign — her own words, proudly stated. In that first, overarticulated speech about the social hierarchy of Mystic Falls High, Klaus had written her off as pretty and vapid. Shallow was fun for a fling, but she was fawning over some football player boyfriend at the time and didn't much care for his opinion.

At Whitmore, though, Klaus got to see a Caroline without the same 'ice queen' veneer. He offered to buy her a replacement coffee, and they ended up whiling away an hour at a campus cafe. She had explained she was taking a dual-credit math course to get a jump on pre-requisites for whatever college she chose. "Math is not my friend, and it would totally wreck my GPA my freshman year," she said, an odd self-deprecation in her voice he didn't expect to hear. "So, I'm getting it out of the way."

Since then, he couldn't help but smile when he saw her — around school, around town, at the football games he ostensibly attends as Rebekah's chauffeur and nothing more. And, apparently, on Halloween. "Sure," he answered, a beat too late if her amused grin is any sign.

"Make yourself comfortable," she said, gesturing to the couch. "I just started The Shining."

His eyebrows raised, impressed. "Good movie."

Caroline scoffed as she settled in next to him, reaching for the popcorn set on the coffee table. "Okay, snob, it's just because it popped up on Netflix. And here I thought it was just the accent that makes you seem snooty."

Shaking his head, he did accept the offer of popcorn as he took a handful. "You've met Bekah, she's the real princess of the family. The accent is just incidental for the rest of us."

"That makes sense. So," she said, eyeing him from the side, "what bet did you lose?"

"Uh…" Klaus stalled, not really wanting to answer considering she had been the subject of said bet. Kol was the one to break the news over dinner: Jeremy Gilbert had been seen at the Falls kissing Tyler Lockwood, that football player Caroline was once so crazy about.

"You like her. Now is your chance while she's on the rebound," Kol had baldly stated, in front of their mother and their younger siblings. "I heard her costume for Lockwood's party is on the scandalous side, and I'll bet you anything she's raring for a hot date."

Klaus didn't need the incentive to ask her out, his growing crush painfully obvious, but he didn't want to be a rebound. Not for her. When he shut Kol down, though, the reprieve didn't last for long. All week, Kol pestered him to make a move, finally sweetening the deal to take over driving duties for Bekah and Henrik.

At worst, he'd make a half-hearted ask to Caroline and go about his day when she was obviously not in the market for a new boy to break her heart. Not much harm, very little foul - until Kol clucked his tongue. "And if you chicken out," he taunted with steepled fingers, "then you have to go trick-or-treating."

"Okay," Klaus had shrugged, knowing he would get roped into walking with Henrik anyway.

"On a street of my choosing."

That was when he grew suspicious.

"And only use naughty children's rhymes."

"Kol!"

Klaus pinched his nose, graciously ignoring Caroline's shaking laughter next to him. "And now I'm here," he said, his hand lifting in a helpless gesture.

When her giggles subsided, she stared at him for a long moment with a heavy thoughtfulness. "Why didn't you just ask me out, then? Save yourself the trouble, maybe give me an ego boost I could have used the last few weeks," she trailed off. Her face seemed closed off to him, and Klaus didn't know what to make of it.

Looking down to his knees, Klaus searched for the words. "It didn't feel right, inviting you to your ex's party. A part of you must believe that if you're sticking around here tonight," he pointed out, glancing up from under his eyelashes.

"Like, I kind of get where Tyler's coming from, with my dad and everything..." She stuck out her neck, attempting a tone of polite understanding. Klaus's eyes snagged on a photo of her on the mantel, an older man holding an arm around her shoulders. The story was old news by the time his family moved to town, but whispers still circulated on occasion. A man leaving his family for another man had apparently rocked Mystic Falls once upon a time - only for his daughter to be abandoned again. "But he could have talked to me first instead of cheating on me. It just sucked, and I really didn't want to go to the party I planned for him to host it with someone else. You know?"

Klaus nodded as he reached for more popcorn. "For what it's worth, I happen to like the movie better than a party."

Her mood lifted immediately, and she tossed a few kernels in his face. "Okay, weirdo." Caroline turned back to the face the TV, her arm distractingly warm against his. "But for what it's worth," she said, his words sounding so much better in her voice, "I happen to like that you're here with me."

A grin spread on his face as he tried and failed to focus on the film. Kol might have won the bet, but he was feeling pretty triumphant himself.

"You are going to ask me out eventually, though, right?"

His mouth fell slack as his head whipped to face her and her own winning smile. She seemed to expect an answer, to which Klaus could only nod. Pressing a quick kiss to his cheek before he managed to find his words, Caroline leaned back into him to watch the movie. Tentatively, his arm settled around her as they turned quiet.

Maybe he owed Kol an even greater debt than a silly rhyme, after all.

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