Title: The Definition of Beautiful
Author: fadingtales
Fandom: Vampire Diaries
Ship: Klaus/Caroline Forbes
Summary: Caroline had ventured out into the woods to reveal Klaus's true nature, only to discover something about herself instead.
A/N: Based on my own tags/personal headcanon for the season 4 stills of Tyler and Caroline in the woods. You can find the tag on my tumblr (/post/31821864235). Also this is un-beta'd since it's just a short oneshot, so please forgive any mistakes you see. Hope you guys like it! =)
She doesn't know what possessed her to think it was wise to try and seduce him. Why she thought it a clever idea to expose Klaus in this way. But when Bonnie had confessed to her what she had done to save Damon and Stefan, what she had done to save her, she needed to do something. Anything to reestablish control.
It's almost comical how quickly that control had slipped away from her.
It began with flirty touches and lingering gazes. But those soon quickly escalated into a kiss. And then another followed. And then another, and another, and another. And soon she was lost in a sea of kisses.
So heady they were that it was hard for her to remember at times that this was not Tyler. Not Tyler at all. And soon clothes were coming off.
Her mind was reeling, screaming at her to stop. No matter how good it felt, how easy it would be to delude herself that it was Tyler and ignore the truth.
Does she even want it to be Tyler,a tiny voice inside her head whispered. It was a taunting, dark little voice, but it was persistent.
And she wondered if she just concocting pretenses to indulge to some hidden dark desire. She would be pained to admit that all those lovely, gilded promises Klaus had made, all the grand gestures, and the even more compelling smaller ones, had gotten under her skin. But they did. Teasing her so with the myriad of possibilities.
Would it be so bad to just give in, just a little? Yes. Yes it would. It would be wrong. It would be so, so wrong. But boy, it could feel so, so good.
Her mind ravaged war with itself, pushing and pulling her in all directions. Before she can make up her own decision she felt hands on her shoulder pushing her away.
"Wait, stop."
She looked up at him dazedly; her eyes still half-lidded with lust and desire. And for a moment, she saw him for who he truly was. Klaus.
"Not like this," he whispered. "Not... here."
The pause was time enough for her to come to her senses and she roughly pushed him further away. She was filled with self-loathing for letting it get so far out of hand.
"Oh, yeah? Where would you have preferred it, Klaus? In Tyler's bed? Or did you have something more deprived in mind?"
Her words are spitted out, angry and harsh, and the shock of it is clearly written across his face.
"You know," he said solemnly.
"Yes, I do," she replied.
Her blood was boiling now, hot and full of rage. But it was at herself. Why did it take her so long to come to her senses? If he had not been the one to stop, what would she have done? She shivered at the thought. But rather than accept the terrible reality, she'd much rather put the blame on him. As unfair as it was.
"Forget whatever it is you are plotting, Klaus. I know it's you in there. And no matter what you say or do, no matter how much you look and talk and sound like Tyler, you are not him. And I love Tyler, not you."
A shadow fell over his face and she realized that she's said the wrong thing. She has incurred his wrath and she'd be damned if it's Tyler who paid the price for her foolhardiness.
She could see it clearly now. Despite whatever exterior illusion he held, his every movement was pure Klaus. Predatorial. Alpha. And he was angry.
With that anger the veneer he kept of Tyler had fallen away. It was unnerving to see him drop the facade.
He stepped forward, a little too close. She tried to slow her breathing, fearing that he will sense her terror skittering along underneath all of her brash words. She feared that he could hear her pounding pulse indicating all of her cowardice. And if not her pulse, then the echoing crunch of the tree branches breaking underfoot when she took an involuntary step backwards would be a clear indication of her distress.
He stopped only an inch away from her, cornering her against a large tree trunk. The rough bark bit into her back, but she doesn't dare move.
"Do not misunderstand," he said, his voice icy cold. "It was never my intention to seduce you in this... body."
He had gestured to himself, to Tyler's body, with a look of repulsion.
"I did what I had to, to assume Tyler's life. But I never meant to pick up his boyfriend duties as well...Youwere the one that approached me."
She swallowed at that. It was true. She was the one who went to him, thinking she could lure out his true nature. Prove how utterly reprehensible he was, how he was truly a monster and no one she could ever even contemplate being with despite all of his flowery promises. But he had surprised her. He had stopped her from doing the unthinkable. And for that, she felt even more confused than ever. She felt humbled. Ashamed even.
Doubts filled her thoughts, like a fog blurring all of her previous assumptions and prejudices against him.
"I fancy you, Caroline."
Another swallow. It was like a lump had taken up residence in her throat.
She really wished he didn't. Fancy her, that is. And say it the way he does, with all that old school charm and worldly elegance. I fancy you. Who even speaks like that anymore?
Her eyebrows knitted together in an expression of perplexity. He sighed, and she saw the ice melt in his eyes.
"I don't want you to fall in love with me in this body. And I believe I would not feel for you as much as I do if you did."
There was something utterly sincere in his statement that struck a chord with her.
He leaned in closer, as if she didn't have trouble breathing enough, and said in a low voice, "If I am to seduce you I will do it in my own body and no one else's."
He raised his hand to her face, brushed the back of his fingers - Tyler's fingers - against her cheek. She doesn't flinch, but the touch is pure electricity, running tremors through her spine.
"I want it to be my hands that touch you, my lips to kiss your lips, my skin against yours."
He tipped her chin up so he could look her squarely in the eyes. She saw him in there, underneath Tyler's brown eyes. And again she was struck by her earlier blindness to all the clues that had hinted towards his duplicity.
"Because when you do succumb to me, and you may shake your head now, but you will," he said with a small, conspiratorial smile. "I will offer you everything, the world and more. You will see, love. When this is all over, I will show you something you will never forget."
He leaned in, pressing his lips against her ear, and even if her eyes saw Tyler's form and her ears heard Tyler's voice, the words are distinctly Klaus's.
"I will show you in all ways," there is a salacious smirk she can sense in his tone, "just how beautiful I think you are."
Beautiful. He had drawn the word out, weighing it with the depth of so much more. The way he said it was beyond the pedestrian definition. Beautiful not like a sunrise or sunset, beautiful not like a flower, not even a rose. But beautiful like the expanse of the universe, like the moon and stars, and the collective human souls that populated the earth. Beautiful as in desirable, creative, inspirational, and infinite.
Beautiful, she thought. That's what he's all about in the end though isn't it? Genuine beauty. She's both elated and burdened that he thinks he could find such a definition in her of all people.
He took a careful step back, no longer invading her personal space. The place where he had vacated now felt cold and hollow and she felt herself almost recoil at the loss.
"Now then," he said, his tone light hearted once more. "What are we going to do about my shirt?"
Caroline has no idea.