Alaric awoke to a familiar rushing whir and a shadow darting past the window. He squeezed his eyes more tightly shut as the morning sun penetrated through the slits in his lids, stabbing directly into the part of his brain where his hangover headache was located.
"Thought I told you I wanted to be alone," he growled.
He turned away from the window, pulling the other pillow over his head. After an argument with Damon at the Grill the night before, he'd come back to his old place for the first time in weeks, unable to deal with Damon at the boardinghouse or Elena at the Gilberts'. In retrospect, he probably shouldn't have told Damon he had to choose between Alaric and Elena. He had no idea what the fuck he'd been thinking, why it suddenly mattered. He'd known Elena was number one with Damon when he'd gotten involved with the other man, and Alaric himself was still too hung up on Jenna to have more with anyone at this point, let alone a commitment-phobic vampire who was in love with his missing brother's girlfriend.
"Bad choice of places to be alone."
Alaric froze as an all-too-familiar, cultured British accent reached his ears under the deficient soundproofing of the pillow. He held his breath, hoping against hope that it was all just a bad dream, but the voice continued. "You know you aren't safe here; what on earth were you thinking? But making dodgy choices is your special talent, isn't it, Rick? Isobel told me that." The bed dipped and Alaric rolled over then, pulling the pillow off his head to find Klaus watching him with a smug smile. "You really shouldn't've come back here. But no matter. I have a proposition for you."
Alaric's eyes narrowed.
"Get out," he snarled.
Klaus's expression didn't change-luckily, Alaric realized in retrospect.
"Don't be like that, Rick," he said, raising a brow. He slid a hand under the covers and Alaric jumped when he felt it on his knee. "After all we've meant to each other? Don't forget, I've been inside you-well, your body. I know what you like, Rick, and I can make it worth your while. At least hear me out."
"No," Alaric rasped, but he made no move to escape Klaus's hand creeping up his thigh. Klaus's smile deepened then.
"Come with me." Klaus was gazing at him so intently, Alaric felt like he could see right into Alaric's mind. Then again, maybe he could. "You know you want to." Klaus bit into his wrist and held it out to Alaric. "This is your chance to make the right decision for once. Maybe your only one."
Alaric stared at the blood oozing from the bite marks on Klaus's wrist, his adam's apple bobbing as words of rejection rose in his throat, but then stuck there.
"Tick tock, tick tock," Klaus said. Alaric could see the skin starting to knit itself, his window of opportunity growing smaller and smaller. "Going... going..."
Just before the wound closed, Alaric grabbed Klaus's wrist and sucked, letting out an involuntary moan as Klaus's rich, thick blood flowed down his throat. He swallowed a surprising amount before the well ran dry and Klaus was pushing Alaric away. Klaus's hand slid down to tighten around Alaric's throat, squeezing, while the other curled around Alaric's cock and stroked.
As he slipped into blissful oblivion, Alaric reckoned this might be the worst choice he'd ever made, but at least it wouldn't be his last.
A/N: Just a oneshot at the moment, but I might expand it as time allows with my other fic projects.