A/N: This is based on a prompt by the irresistible-revolution. It is a Klonnie all human AU.
Summary: Klaus Mikaelson, Hollywood's Native Son has fallen from grace once too often. Bonnie Bennett has yet to taste the terrible addictiveness of being tabloid fodder. Perhaps, together they can lift the curse of celebrity or at least profit from it. Extra, extra, read all about it…here.
Public/Relations.
One
"Why my eyes must be deceiving me brother! It looks like my little get together has drawn the attention of supernatural forces!" Klaus Mikaelson cut his brother off mid-sentence, in a spectacularly theatrical fashion the elder Mikaelson somehow was used to yet could never fully anticipate. Elijah Mikaelson rolled his eyes swiftly and Klaus watched as the dissatisfied expression his brother wore on his face all evening intensified. The grinning blond, on the other hand, couldn't help but wonder if Elijah knew exactly how predictable he appeared to everyone who knew him.
"How spooky." His brother sighed before taking a lazy swig from his champagne glass. Elijah's deep brown eyes appeared as disinterested as ever in his younger sibling's obsessions. Unfortunately, the muscles in his jaws clenching so passive aggressively, betrayed his thoughts. They telegraphed a warning Klaus knew well; regardless of how long the detour, the conversation was far from over.
Klaus pretended not to notice, fixating deeply on this latest subject. Starting purely as a way to silence Elijah it was slowly transforming into something more capable of holding his prone-to-fleeting interest. A surprisingly delightful picture momentarily drawing even the attention of his reluctant brother.
Bonnie Bennett: As seen on...
She tried to slip into the venue wearing a dress darker than the depths of space. But the long sleeved brazen number with the deep décolleté demanded Klaus's devotion, as did the seductive split down the middle of her legs revealing the silky-smooth brown of her skin. She wore bold silver earrings, glistening glamorously like the very chandeliers decorating the room she'd entered and hanging low enough to almost touch the padded angular shoulders of her dress but never quite daring to. Her long brown hair was slicked back, revealing all her perfect face as hazel eyes made contact with his blue green ones.
She bestowed him with the polite smile of a partial stranger. In exchange he raised the fingers on his right hand and returned a little wave.
Klaus continued to tease his brother, his voice unnaturally light and breezy. "Oh don't pretend you aren't aware of who that is." He said the words knowing very well the answer was no.
Elijah responded with a false smile of his own and a less than subtle dig. "You've made it clear on ample occasion Klaus. Babylon is your town."
Klaus felt his notorious impatience rear its ugly head. He had been nothing but a gracious host this evening but half a bottle in and his brother's unwillingness to let bygones be bygones meant Klaus couldn't let this slight go unanswered.
Typical Elijah, he thought angrily, crass enough to bring his pulpit to a party. Why must he insist on fuelling the flames of familial strife with this ceaseless meddling?
For a moment, the actor was beginning to regret extending an invitation to his older brother but then he reminded himself of the real purpose of this long overdue get together. After all, what is success without the glorious opportunity to gloat? And as always, Klaus Mikaelson was certain the annual Summer Ball he hosted at NeueHouse Hollywood would be a perfect triumph, up to the task of silencing his many critics at this trying time in his career.
Even the ones I call blood.
Still, Klaus found himself snapping back. "Of course, it is far too sordid here for your sensibilities. Our noble Elijah! The City of London banker who is above sin. Do tell me again how you many guilt-ridden saps you prevented from leaping out of windows in '08?"
Elijah hardly blinked. His face a portrait of calm unnerving Klaus.
"Probably fewer than the number who have succumbed to their demons at one of your parties."
And in a sentence, Klaus was wrong about Elijah and his safe predictability.
It was a calculated strike from the square jawed man before him, meant to provoke and render him speechless. It worked. Klaus's pale face turned a shade of petty pink. For the first time all evening, his hair appeared anything less than perfect as he ran his finger through the dirty blond curls in frustration.
There was a cold silence between two brothers. Klaus was barely able to contain his indignation but for the moment was still lost for words.
Elijah, hardly looking at him now, busied himself with the casual activity of people watching. Pleasant pop sounds played in the background and guests continued to dance and conversate.
This wasn't the deal. His brother was supposed to be above dragging up such topics. Their joust with words would wound often but hardly with so much intent to injure.
"Spoken like a true Mikaelson." Klaus responded finally. He spoke in a low whisper so as to not draw any attention from the other attendees, but it was no use. Eyes were already on the two brothers. They had been all evening.
"You are a party guest, not a prisoner Elijah. Go if you must." He hissed, meaning every word, wishing to banish his loathsome brother from his sight instantly.
The elder Mikaelson hesitated. A curious look appeared on his face as he tried to gauge the extent to which Klaus was serious. Getting his answer in the form of his brother's unyielding eyes glaring back at him, Elijah simply sighed before grabbing another glass of champagne from the tray of a member of the waiting staff in the midst of making their rounds.
He thanked the young man then turned to Klaus once more.
Regretful or simply defeated, it was Elijah's turn to change the subject.
"Who is the girl?" He asked, finally succumbing to taking the easy road and playing Klaus's game.
Regardless of the questionable sincerity behind it, the gesture pleased Klaus and a grin appeared on his handsome face once more.
The greedy eyes on them anticipating drama were denied.
Klaus threw a loving arm around his brother's shoulders.
"A powerful wiccan." He whispered, ending the sentence with a small gasp for dramatic effect. By now, the captivating young woman had gotten in the swing of the party and was dancing in the arms of dashing dark-haired anonymous gentleman Klaus somehow couldn't recall even inviting.
Then again, he could hardly take credit for her arrival either.
"Oh God Niklaus." Elijah bemoaned. "Did it slip your mind how tedious it was to engage in small-talk with that heinous co-star of yours last year? I could barely maintain a polite tone a she quacked on and on and on about her active engagement in pseudoscientific projects no doubt meant to enrich her pockets rather than any human lives."
Klaus laughed at the memory of his sagacious sibling finally finding something he wasn't immediately great at; keeping up with the latest Hollywood fads.
"Ah but brother, Gwyneth is a wise woman and a trailblazer."
Elijah looked less amused.
"I draw the line Klaus. Do not call over this witch. I insist."
The pleas fell on deaf ears, the bewitching young woman was in hailing distance and Klaus was already on the job of making his own evening more entertaining at the expense of his brother's.
"Ah Ms. Bennett!" He sang, greeting the stranger with a kiss on each cheek like they were in fact old dear friends. "How wonderful of you to join us this evening."
"It's a great party!" Bonnie smiled. She looked somewhat perplexed at the unearned warm welcome but eagerly played along. She nervously clutched at her drink, taking sips and awkward glances at intervals. It excited Klaus. The power he held in this town.
Klaus smiled fondly. "This? It's dull that's what it is. Deadest company I've had for months!"
His words caused the young woman to inhale the bubbly gold liquid in her glass and choke slightly.
Fury flooded Elijah's face and it took Klaus a second to realise why.
Deadest company.
Klaus's heart sank a little. Those unfortunate choice of words were like a spell summoning the biting disappointment his brother bore for him. It was finally becoming clear to Klaus that despite all he did to distract from the tension, there would be no appreciable difference in how Elijah would view him.
Then there was that sound. Bonnie Bennett's light laughter going off in his ears like church bells. The intrusion unknowingly bringing to a standstill the silent standoff.
Klaus turned to her. She surprised him a little, her lips, still wet from the mishap.
She covered her dark painted mouth with her hand.
"Is it too late to ask for a sippy cup?" She joked, making light of her reaction, and looking less flustered.
Klaus watched as Elijah, ever mindful of manners, pulled a powder blue handkerchief from the blazer pocket of his three-piece navy suit. Klaus patted at his own breast briefly before realizing he wore no jacket. Just a black Alexander McQueen shirt with the top button opened.
"Would you like me to get you another drink?" Elijah asked Bonnie, intervening with that overbearing helpfulness Klaus loathed. Klaus's eyes widened, disappointed at the notion of Bonnie playing the damsel to please his brother. Many women often did.
This evening was beginning to feel like a competition he was destined to keep losing.
The grateful, yet slightly embarrassed look painted on Bonnie's face caused his stomach to twist. However inconsequential she was, she was still here at his behest and Klaus didn't appreciate seeing her look into his brother's gentle eyes and forget this.
Instead Bonnie shook her head and politely declined.
Again it surprising Klaus.
"Thanks but I'm fine."
Going from side-lined to smug, Klaus discreetly shoved his brother (for good measure) out of the way. "There is plenty of champagne in her flute still brother." He said with a disarmingly disingenuous smile.
"Sorry did you say brother?"
Klaus answered Bonnie with a nod, deciding to formally make the introduction before his brother could once again step forward on his own. "Ms. Bennett. This is Elijah, one of eldest of our clan."
There it was again. That laugh. "Hi. Bonnie Bennett, only child."
"How fortunate you are." Elijah replied in what appeared to the untrained eye as equally light hearted humor.
Klaus allowed himself to chuckle too. "My brother and I were just in deep conversation about your work," he said, immediately winning back Bonnie's attention. "And we simply had to properly meet you."
She looked back at him with suspicious eyes. "Really?"
"Of course." Klaus promised her.
Bonnie turned to Elijah once more. "You got kids?"
Klaus watched his brother carefully as he appeared thrown by the seemingly random question. "No, not at the moment." Elijah answered.
There was an awkward pause between the two which Klaus relished every moment of.
"Do you work with children?" Elijah finally wagered.
Bonnie frowned. "Yeah I do." She said, sounding slightly unimpressed by the pointless question. But then Klaus saw her shrug it off and it made him smile.
"They're really great. Extremely talented." Bonnie said proudly. "Some of them even started in the biz earlier than I did."
Elijah swallowed hard and exaggerated his nods. With an overcompensating smile slapped on his face he made an effort to follow her words. "I wasn't aware that there is such increasing popularity in the practice of alternative religious movements. With children I mean."
"Excuse me?" Bonnie said baffled by his brother.
"Pardon?" Elijah responded, feeling equally puzzled but trying to remain polite.
Klaus bit back the urge to snicker, knowing it would reveal all and end his fun prematurely.
"What my brother means to say is," He chimed in eagerly, "that you are a trailblazer Ms. Bennett."
"Yes, Niklaus is absolutely correct." Elijah exclaimed, unknowingly taking his brother's bait, "I mean I find it all ever so interesting. Like Ms. Paltrow and her work. Truly fascinating."
Bonnie laughed uncomfortably not fully understanding what brought on Elijah's words or the comparison. But then something changed in her expression. "I don't have any of the same laurels as her or your brother but I'm going to. Try something different and see where it takes me, I guess."
Klaus found Bonnie looking directly at him. The confession of her ambition didn't seem to embarrass her. There was a familiar hunger in those eyes refusing to lower before him and it caught him off-guard. Klaus was used to flocks of admirers wanting piece of the legacy he built for himself here in Hollywood, but Bonnie Bennett was apparently not one of them.
A piece wasn't what she was after.
He didn't need to read between the lines to hear it loud and clear.
She was making a declaration. Here. In his throne room and it said – See you at the top.
With a wink.
Elijah, not privy to what just passed between Klaus and Bonnie, was still trying to decode the statement the young woman voiced. "My brother? What do you mean like my brother?"
Bonnie's eyes were still locked onto Klaus's. "This is the first time we're meeting but I've followed your career. Well the stuff on the silver screen anyway."
For the second time tonight, Klaus's eyes widened at the possibility of there being subtext to her words. The hairs on Klaus's neck prickled.
"You may call me Klaus witch." The words escaped his lips before he could stop himself. It was supposed to, in a less than gentle manner, remind her of her status yet somehow Klaus felt it achieved the opposite. It elevated her to his. Equals.
She scrunched up her face and shook her head.
"And you may call me Bonnie." She insisted with a sweet smile before leaning in and whispering. "And uhm, not so little anymore."
Klaus could not seem to relax. "Of course not." He said with a deceptively sweet smile of his own "You have traded in the pointy, size S hat for big girl executive producer credits. How could that have elapsed me. Very impressive."
Bonnie pursed her lips, turning to Elijah for the first time in a while. "So," she said in a slightly cynical tone. "You two are just casual fans of the Disney channel huh? Who would've thunk it."
"The Disney Channel?" Elijah asked, the frown on his face deepening.
"What a Wiccan Thing to Do. Thursdays, Eight o'clock, Eastern Standard Time on Disney? The fascinating work you were so deeply delving into."
Klaus watched as the wheels in his brother's head stopped turning and everything became clear. "Oh, you're a witch."
"No." Bonnie replied firmly. "I used to play one on TV, a long time ago. And now, to be perfectly honest, I'm kinda done playing here."
At last! Klaus thought gleefully, clapping together his hands as his older brother turned red in the face. It was time claim his prize. Free to finally laugh, Klaus did so – loudly.
"Tick tock!" He sneered at both Elijah and Bonnie. "The witching hour approaches and you successfully lifted the dour curse on my family."
A dark, exasperated look casted over her immaculately made up face. Tired, Bonnie Bennett simply sighed. "Yeah…we're definitely done here." She said before abruptly exiting the conversation on her own terms.
Not used to being dismissed like that Klaus called out after the young woman.
"Oh come now! Don't be like that!" He shouted, still cracking up and hoping she would come to her senses and see the sense of fun he orchestrated for them all to enjoy.
Nonetheless she never turned around for him only faintly replying "Great party." and "Bye." Klaus was left staring at her long hair just as immovable on her shoulders as she was to his pleas.
Then he got over it. Fast.
"Oh well." Klaus shrugged, still wearing that wide satisfied smile, and wiping away at the corner of his eye any hint of wetness his laughs produced.
Elijah was infinitely less amused by the whole ordeal and wore an exhausted expression similar to Bonnie's. The look, once more set off the fits of laughter.
"Your face brother." Klaus said laughing and pointing.
"We upset her Klaus." Elijah said swatting the finger in his face away.
"She didn't look very wounded to me."
Klaus's blatant dismissal stunned Elijah. "Those daggers in her eyes were clearly meant for you!"
Klaus rubbed his neck. He was growing impatient with Elijah's insistence on painting an uglier narrative than he personally witnessed. Where was the harm his brother was harping on about? What deeply evil humiliation had just occurred?
It was a joke.
"Relax Elijah." Klaus said in a tone hardly capable of being called soothing. There was no doubt about it, Klaus was demanding his brother drop the subject immediately. "Thin skinned starlets are not very high on my list of concerns. There are plenty more delicious dishes for you to take a bite out of."
"Pick one." Klaus insisted. "My treat." He shot his brother a deadly look.
Elijah looked hardly impacted by the threat. "And that is where you expose your greatest flaw little brother." He said in a low, controlled voice enunciating every word. "Your impulsiveness is what makes you so short sighted."
"You are in an industry built on whom you know and what they in turn know of you. Yet, you do nothing to endear yourself to any of your peers, even when well aware of how exposed you are at this very moment."
Elijah was breathing heavily at the end of the speech. It was as if the words had been weighing down on his chest for years and today, he was finally free of them as they crushed Klaus instead.
"That's where you reveal your flaw brother." Klaus spat back, almost snarling. "Self-righteousness and a quickness to speak on matters you know so very little of!"
People were beginning stare again, curious whispers relishing in the reward they'd been awaiting, and Klaus so thoughtlessly gave them. He could feel it all slip away. The dream of the perfect night he worked so hard to execute escaping his grasp once again. He was growing weary of this constant struggle.
This was supposed to be his night.
His comeback.
"I have no peers in this town or any other Elijah."
Elijah scoffed at the statement harshly. "You think our name has made you a king."
Klaus was almost screaming in his brothers face by now. "Our name has held me back! I took the throne by myself!"
More aware of the eyes on them than Klaus himself was, Elijah grabbed him by the arm and forcibly pulled him towards the fire exit. Even so, he continued to scold him still.
"A couple gold statues and you think you're untouchable." The elder Mikaelson muttered angrily as they walked together.
Once outside and out of the reach of eavesdroppers, Klaus freed himself from Elijah's grip with one aggressive jolt. "What right do you have to drag me away from my guests?" Klaus hissed spitting pure venom at his brother who remained unscathed.
Elijah shook his head simply. "You were drawing attention, but I expect you know that already since you live for it little brother."
Klaus laughed ironically at those words. "And you think that the gray of a respectable, business suit can dull the primal ambitions of a Mikaelson."
"You're not off in some tiny town living a quiet life Elijah like our Finn or dear, sweet, Freya. You're as much as a thrill-seeker as I am." Klaus
Elijah remained unmoved as he uttered his following lines.
"My thrills have yet to kill anyone Niklaus."
Klaus's heart hammered in his chest. White hot rage pulsated throughout his body to complement the dizzyingly warm, sticky air of the summer's evening.
"Ah." He said, coldly and quietly. "There it finally is."
Elijah took a step back and Klaus knew his brother knew he played his final card too early. It was out there now. The unsaid said.
"Speak!" Klaus barked his face red, spit wetting Elijah's face as he spoke. "You have the pulpit and I'm oh so eager to hear your sermon!"
Committed now, Elijah launched into his attack.
"Your actions, untamed, have led to the death of another. Just two months ago your home was crawling with police and your face was plastered all over the newspapers."
Not missing a beat, Elijah continued. "So naturally, what do you decide to do? Have another ridiculous fete."
"You think it's in poor taste." Klaus said hurrying Elijah along to his point.
"Oh no we are beyond poor taste. This is sheer stupidity." His brother held his hands up angrily in a fashion Klaus rarely saw him.
Face still red, Klaus forced a laugh. "A little death is nothing here in Hollywood." He insisted, trying to empty Elijah's artillery by beating him to the punchline. "Two months is the equivalent of two years in the news cycle. They have moved on and so have I."
Elijah looked taken aback by the blasé way Klaus took control of the narrative and so Klaus pushed forward.
"Unless you have unearthed some other tantalizing tales to interest them, the vultures have had their pound of flesh."
"How can you speak like this." Elijah whispered looking as though once again Klaus had taken a sledgehammer to the bare minimum he expected of him.
"What?" Klaus cried, his heart continuing to thunder in his chest and his breathing becoming more and more uneven. "Speak like what Elijah! I have done nothing wrong and yet you look at me as if I am the one who held Carol Lockwood's head underwater, drowning with my own bare hands!"
Frustrated Klaus's eyes began to sting, he cursed himself for the amount he drank throughout the evening. When he gave his assistant the go ahead for this year's Summer Ball, he hadn't anticipated on how difficult it was going to be. To face the people on the guest list. However, when his assistant Josh, with his impressively irritating ability to speak without the aid of his frontal lobe, had straightforwardly asked Klaus if he worried about the attendance numbers being somewhat thin, Klaus simply laughed. No, they would come, he boasted. In their droves to witness the man who threw killer parties.
Literally.
"Why must I act contrite for having the audacity to continue my life. I barely knew that dreadful woman!" Klaus said, determined to defend himself if no one else would.
Carol Lockwood was a publicist and a pain in the ass. She was also a piss poor judge of character and a lightweight. None of these things were in anyway linked to Klaus. If it hadn't been his fountain, it would've been her own bathtub.
But the press placed his picture next to hers ever since. Omitting the very significant details that Klaus hadn't been anywhere near the garden and death was quickly ruled an accident.
Except it did not seem to matter. He could go shopping and the headline would cleverly read: "Klaus Mikaelson In Retail Therapy to Deal with Drowning Trauma."
"She is dead. Let me live brother."
Elijah groaned. "This is what I mean. You cannot go around calling the deceased dreadful. You are playing into their hands!"
Klaus rubbed at his eyes, frustrated by the circular nature of their argument. "Again, the hounds are gone, they've feasted and there is nothing left here for them."
Relieved to see that Elijah had no more words for him, Klaus let himself calm down.
Except, there was one more thing he needed to make sure of. "I think I should trust my own brother not to sell my words to the gossip column. If not for me, then for the sake of our dreadful deceased parents."
The words did not come to Elijah's surprise. He sighed and merely shook his head, indulging what he saw as ravings of a paranoid man. Klaus was careful enough not to be fooled by any of it.
"All I have ever wanted for you Niklaus is peace of mind. You know you never need ask for my word."
Klaus swallowed hard, turning away from his brother, and feeling the heat of shame on the back of neck.
"But I see now," Elijah added on a more sorrowful note. "there is nothing that will satisfy you more than living under constant threats of your own creation."
For all his faults, his brother knew him. How to reach him.
"Father is gone. Yet you keep trying to find a way to let his ugliness live on."
And how to devastate him.
Klaus had fallen silent a while back and Elijah appeared to have gotten enough courage to approach him. When he spoke again, it was without any of the anger or disappointment of before.
"That young woman tonight did not deserve such open derision." He said placing a careful hand on his shoulder. "You fully well know that. If I cannot appeal to your instinct for self-preservation, then let me try speak to your long grudge-filled memory of our upbringing instead."
Klaus swallowed hard rubbing his face once more. He let out a long sigh. Elijah did not need to stir up any further memories of all the ways their father had tormented him, least of all with the aid of cruel words.
He thought back to Bonnie, so proud and pathetic all at once and he wondered if the thought of defiantly spitting in his face had crossed her mind. If she had, would she instinctively have apologized as his father had taught him to for his insolence so long ago; expose the skin on her back, present it as a canvas for him to inflict his revenge upon.
Would he paint it a bloody red.
Reluctantly and with nowhere to hide, Klaus decided to hear the words of his brother. "Fine. I will go flatter the former child star's ego in the hope of making some sort of amends."
"Good." Elijah said with a slight smile of relief on his face. One less enemy his idiot little brother would make, Klaus guessed.
Klaus said nothing in return. Elijah had extracted all he would tonight.
"I should take my leave now." The older man declared after glancing at his watch.
Klaus frowned a little.
"What time do you fly out?"
Elijah answered. "Tomorrow evening."
Klaus closed his eyes for a moment. His hands curled up into tight balls.
"I have no problem with you staying the night Elijah." He uttered the words not looking at his brother's face. He could hear Elijah exhale deeply.
Deciding not to wait for a response he knew would not come, Klaus turned around and made to return to his party via fire exit Elijah pulled him through. Behind him he could hear his brother's deep voice clearly.
"I will see you, as planned, for lunch at the Wiltshire."
"Goodnight brother."
