A/N: I hope you enjoy this fic as much as I'm sure I'll enjoy writing it ;) For those that have been waiting after I posted the preview on tumblr, go thank my Wifey (ckhybrid) for being born, because putting this chapter out earlier than planned is one of the things I'm doing for her birthday. :P
Thank you to her for beta work, as well as Sophie and D. You guys are the actual best.
Enjoy!
-Angie
I'm gonna make it to heaven
light up the sky like a flame
I'm gonna live forever
Baby, remember my name
- "Fame"
"I just don't get it, man. How can you not like them?"
Klaus shrugged, having been resigned to this conversation since Rebekah had told him the week before that they were announcing the group's album release date.
"It's just not my cup of tea, mate."
He had worked very hard over the last few years to make sure that no one at uni knew that he was related to Rebekah Mikaelson of the multi-platinum girl group The Blood Barbies, and he intended to keep it that way. It wasn't that he wasn't proud of her, because he was (when she wasn't flashing her bits at everyone in one of her sequined dance costumes, at least), he just didn't want to be treated differently.
Of course, not acknowledging that he was related to her also resulted in him having to wake up to a poster of her scantily clad form (and that of her groupmates) every damn morning because his roommate was obsessed.
Another reason why he could never admit his connection.
"Fine, fine. You have to admit though, they're hot."
He nodded, because he could be objective about this, okay?
"Especially the blonde one."
"Which blonde one?"
"Caroline, obviously."
He had the absurd urge to defend his sister out of loyalty, but when pitted against Caroline, well...he'd have to agree. She was hot (and basically the epitome of perfection, in his humble opinion).
She came over for Christmas every year like the rest of her groupmates, and unlike the Petrova twins, who were the joint-mayors of Brat Town, and Bonnie, who was absurdly quiet until you got her on stage (where she turned into one of the best dancers he'd ever seen with an attitude to rival that of Rebekah), Caroline was pretty normal.
He was sure that he'd liked her from the moment he'd met her, and that had been six years ago (he and Caroline were the same age; the other girls were all a year or two younger).
His phone rang and he picked up, excusing himself after seeing it was Rebekah.
"Sister," he greeted.
"Hey, Nik! I'm just calling to say that we're coming."
"Coming where?"
"To your graduation, of course."
"Oh no, you're not," he said immediately.
"Yes, we are. I'm not going to miss it because of your ridiculous wish to pretend we're not related. Now that you're going to be out of uni, and we still have a month before we go on tour, you have no excuse. I'll fly in next week."
"No."
"I'm bringing Caroline," she sing-songed, dangling his one weakness in front of him (like the goddamn manipulative bitch she was).
"Fine."
Rebekah squealed and he resisted the urge to cover his ears.
XXX
"Nik!" Rebekah screamed through the door, banging on it.
Klaus groaned, checking the clock. It was eight in the fucking morning, and that was like dawn for a college student (and he had another week of that before having to join the real world where nine was late morning, thanks very much). "Who's that?" Tyler asked sleepily, his hair sticking up in all directions.
"That's my sister," Klaus grumbled, getting up to open the door.
"Oh, good lord, Nik. Put a shirt on," Rebekah said irritably, pushing past him. "This room is terrible. Who decorated it, Elijah? Oh my lord, I hate that poster. They photoshopped me to look like I have man shoulders."
Tyler was halfway out of bed, only in boxers, looking like he'd been tazed. "You're Rebekah Mikaelson," he said slowly.
"And you're perceptive," Caroline's cheerful voice floated through the door, and Klaus heard the wheels of a suitcase dragging along the floor behind her. Sure enough, when she entered, smiling brightly with her blonde curls bouncing behind her as always, she clicked the handle back into place and leaned it against the wall.
"Hey, Klaus," she greeted, pulling him into a hug and kissing his cheek (he didn't blush, really, he didn't). "And I don't think it would be possible to give you man shoulders, Bekah."
"Says you. You look like a supermodel," Rebekah mumbled, still inspecting the poster.
Caroline rolled her eyes before turning to face Klaus's roommate. "Hey, you must be Tyler."
"You know my name?" he stuttered.
"Of course I do. You're Klaus's roommate, right?"
He nodded, still shell-shocked, making Caroline grin sympathetically. "Sorry, this must be a bit of a surprise."
Tyler breathed out a faint agreement before excusing himself, tossing a glare at Klaus on his way out.
"Nik. Shirt," Rebekah ordered, gesturing at the dresser.
"Which hotel are you staying at?" he asked as he pulled on one of his Henleys.
"Marriott," Rebekah said cheerfully. "We're actually here to move you out. No need to stay here when you can be in a hotel room."
"I don't think that's a good idea, Bekah."
"Of course it is," Caroline said, already flitting around, apparently taking inventory of his possessions. "You'd be hopeless at organizing everything without me."
It was true, but at the same time he wasn't keen on Caroline going through all of his things. "Why don't you just label the boxes and I'll pack everything in, love."
She shrugged. "Suit yourself. Do you have Sharpies?"
"What kind of art major would I be if I didn't?" he mumbled, digging through his desk and giving her a pack that had at least seven different colors, resisting the urge to smile as her eyes lit up at the color-coding potential.
He almost changed his mind when Caroline bent over to start labeling the boxes, her tongue poking out between her teeth. The way her shorts were practically painted over her arse should be illegal. Rebekah cleared her throat, her eyes darting from Klaus to Caroline rather pointedly, the message clear, and he reluctantly averted his eyes.
"Where's the restroom, Nik?"
"Down the hall to your left," he said almost automatically, staring anywhere but Caroline's legs.
Rebekah left, closing the door softly behind her.
"Do you have any plans after graduation?" Caroline asked as she stood up, capping the red Sharpie and pushing the box labeled Textbooks towards the bookshelf.
He was immediately suspicious. They were going on their world tour from early June until mid-January of the next year, and the fact that Rebekah had left combined with Caroline's casual tone practically screamed 'it's a trap!'
"Nothing specific."
"Great. I need a favor."
He nearly groaned. The girls had all figured out that he had a soft spot for her, and from the pleading expression on her face, he knew the favor must be big.
"Depends what it is, love."
She gave him a flutter of her eyelashes and sauntered towards him, her lips pulled into a pout. "Well, you know we're going on tour, and we're kind of short a set designer, because Jeremy's wife Anna is having a baby, and we were wondering, you know, since you've basically done the set stuff for every theatre production you could get near since high school–"
"No. Absolutely not."
"Klaus," she whined, giving him a cajoling smile. "I-We would really appreciate it."
"Of course you would," he mumbled, rolling his eyes. "Look, I understand that the situation must be desperate if they've sent you to sweet-talk me into it. Good form, but I'm afraid that in this instance it won't work."
"Please?" she asked. "What else would you be doing?"
"Looking for a job."
"We're offering you a job."
He huffed. While the idea of being in close quarters with Caroline for over six months was tempting, he wasn't sure it was worth also being in close quarters with his bratty sister and the Petrova twins. She widened her eyes even more, and he realized how truly fucked he was.
"Would I have to actually go on the tour?"
She nodded. "Yeah. The set has to be kept in good condition, and we need someone to make sure everything runs smoothly in general. You'd be good at that."
He shrugged. It was true. He still wasn't sure he wanted to–-Damnit. She brought out the big-eyes-of-favor-requesting-doom.
"I'll think about it," he allowed.
She gave him the brightest smile he'd ever seen and pulled him into a hug, brushing her lips over his stubbled cheek. "Thank you, Klaus. Now, help me pack you up. We're due back at the hotel in an hour or Matt will come looking for us."
"The bodyguard that Rebekah was involved with?"
Caroline shot him a chastising look. "Rebekah is involved with him. I suggest you behave."
"I think you're forgetting who has the power in this situation, love. I might decide not to come on your tour."
She rolled her eyes. "Hmm. If you say so. C'mon, let's get you packed."
XXX
"So?"
Klaus grimaced as he took a bite of the muffin he'd taken from the complimentary buffet table in the corner of the hotel dining room, swallowing before he answered. "I'll do it."
Caroline and Rebekah high-fived, and he shook his head. "Wait. I have conditions."
"What conditions?" Rebekah asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I do not have to have any more interaction with the Petrova twins than is strictly necessary."
"Done," Caroline said immediately.
"I will not be required to go on shopping trips of any kind, nor will I be required to manage autograph signings or publicity events in any way, shape, or form."
"Fine," Rebekah agreed, nodding. When she figured out that he wasn't going to say anything else, she smirked. "We leave the day after tomorrow. We have two more weeks of rehearsal before we leave for our first show, and you need to get started on the sets."
Klaus nodded, returning to his breakfast.
Rebekah gathered up her things, saying she'd stop at the drugstore quickly for an energy drink before the graduation ceremony, shoving on a pair of sunglasses, a light, fitted hoodie, and a floppy hat to fend off the paparazzi, and slinging her purse over her shoulder. "You coming with, Caroline?"
"Sure. Give me five to finish my breakfast."
"Yep. See you out front. I'll have Matt pull the car around."
Once Rebekah was out of earshot, Caroline turned to him, biting her lip lightly and looking at him with huge, green eyes.
His cock twitched, and he fought down a grimace.
"Thanks for this," Caroline said quietly. "I really appreciate it, and so does everyone else."
"You're welcome, love," he said, managing to keep his voice smooth.
She took a few gulps of orange juice and grabbed her purse before a little girl ran up to them in a pair of overalls, one of her front teeth missing. "You're Caroline!"
"That's right," Caroline said kindly, smiling.
"Will you sign something for me?" the girl asked, her eyes wide.
"Sure. Do you have something for me to sign and a pen?"
The girl nodded frantically, producing a receipt and a pen from a tiny plastic backpack.
Caroline smiled. "What's your name?"
"Jenny."
"All right, Jenny. It was nice to meet you," Caroline said, signing her name with a practiced cursive script, adding a dedication above it.
"You too," the girl said, blushing brightly before scampering off back to who Klaus assumed were Jenny's parents.
"Shall I walk you out?" he asked quietly, patting himself down to make sure he had his keys and wallet.
"No, it's fine. You should probably go back to the hotel room to get ready."
He nodded. "I suppose so."
He resisted the urge to look back as he walked towards the elevators. He was graduating from university that day, and he couldn't help but dread it. He hoped that Rebekah had the good sense to keep a low profile, but also knew that he shouldn't fool himself. It would be far more likely for Rebekah to push the commencement speaker away from the podium and lead the crowd in a congratulatory sing-along than for her to stay inconspicuous.
He swiped the keycard and grabbed his cap and gown from the hook by the closet door, putting it carefully into a small suitcase. He had an hour and a half until the ceremony, and he intended to make the most of every single one of the ninety minutes before everyone knew that he was related to Rebekah Mikaelson.
XXX
"I told you he likes you."
Caroline sighed, shutting the van door behind her and buckling her seatbelt. "But what if he doesn't? What if we're both making something out of nothing?"
"You've got to be joking."
"What's your proof besides the fact that he stares at my ass every time he sees me? Everyone stares at my ass. I got rated number two in the annual 'Top Ten Best Celebrity Derrieres' article in GQ for the last two years. It proves nothing."
"And they were totally wrong. Kim and Heidi got robbed. You should have been number four at best."
"Wow. Thanks."
Rebekah gave an elegant shrug of her shoulders before smirking. "And anyway, trust me, my brother is head over heels for you."
"Okay, fine. Let's say he is. What am I supposed to do about it? I'm pretty sure Klaus would rather catch Ebola than go to red carpet events with me."
"Are you joking? He loves attention."
"Which is why he's tried to stay as far away from you as possible for the last four years…?"
"That's different."
"How?"
"He doesn't want to live in my shadow."
"Right, because living in mine is so much different."
"Of course it is. He doesn't want to have sex with me."
"I should hope not."
"Look, trust me, I know my brother. He likes you."
Caroline shrugged. "If you say so."
"I do, and I'm right."
"Bex, Care, we're here," Matt said quietly, parking outside the drugstore.
Rebekah stepped out of the car when he opened the door for her, thanking him, and the two girls walked into the store, Matt trailing behind them. Caroline followed Rebekah towards the food and drinks in the back, and grimaced as Rebekah grabbed a few cans of energy drinks, carrying them to the front.
The person at the cash register raised their eyebrows when they saw who they were ringing up, but didn't comment, making Caroline breathe an inward sigh of relief.
Things were different, however, when the girls got to the site of the ceremony. A petite brunette noticed them and her eyes lit up.
"Oh my god! You're Caroline Forbes, and you're Rebekah Mikaels-"
"And you're making me unable to hear my brother graduate," Rebekah interrupted the enthusiastic fan, who looked rather chastened.
"Sorry," she apologized.
"It's fine. Here," Caroline said, pulling out a pen and a notepad she kept for these kinds of situations, asking the student for her name before scribbling it on the pad with her signature.
The fan beamed and thanked her, walking away.
"You're just enabling them," Rebekah muttered out of the corner of her mouth.
Caroline rolled her eyes. "It's fine, Bex. Just watch Klaus graduate so that we can get out of here."
XXX
Lexi clapped her hands on beat, counting out loud as she walked the girls through the newest bit of choreography for one of their newer singles, which would be the closer before the encore.
"And pause...two...three...four...slowly turn, stomp right, look at the floor. Elena, you're just a bit off position. Just a bit stage left...good. You're supposed to end up right there. Okay, I want to see it again from the top, this time with the track."
Caroline nodded, chugging a quarter bottle of water before moving back to where she ended up from the song before, a bit short of breath. Lexi gave them all a moment to catch their breaths before counting down and starting the instrumental track.
Caroline fell into the familiar choreography easily, having gone over it multiple times with Bonnie the night before (who was quite easily the best dancer in the group), and felt proud of herself after the next half hour of practice. Lexi hadn't spoken to her once, which meant that she was spot on.
Unlike Elena, who seemed to not get any better at picking up choreography no matter how many years passed.
By the time practice was over, she felt achy and tired, and her hair was stuck to her face from sweat, her dance shorts and sports bra uncomfortably tight against her slick skin. She looked up from her cell phone when the door to the studio opened to find that everyone else had left, and Klaus was standing in the doorway. She hadn't bothered with a top, knowing that it would be a dance-heavy rehearsal and figuring that no one would bother them, and the forethought (or lack thereof) had certainly paid off.
Klaus's eyes were wide as he drank in her form, and she couldn't help but smile slightly as she turned to set her water bottle back down on the ground, bending over just a bit more than was strictly necessary.
When she stood up, she found that Klaus had moved a few yards towards her, his eyes hungry and dark. She blushed, immediately inwardly kicking herself for it.
She was completely used to people staring at her. Her job was to make people stare at her. She and the other Barbies (as they were so affectionately dubbed by their marketing team) were international sex symbols, and she was mostly okay with it.
There was something about Klaus, though, that made her heart beat just a bit faster in her chest. His family was blessed with stupidly good genetics (she had never seen a more consistently gorgeous family in her life), but it wasn't that (she'd turned down objectively more attractive men). It was the way he looked at her.
They had known each other for years, and she had liked him for almost the entire time (and she wasn't oblivious, no matter how much she denied it, she knew that he liked her too). He could be unpleasant and sarcastic, but he was, at heart, a good person, and he was interesting, which was more than she could say for some guys she'd had relationships with.
He coughed lightly, and she realized she'd been staring.
"Hello, love."
"Hi."
"Rebekah was supposed to meet me here to walk me through the different parts of the show so I'd have a better idea of what to construct."
"Oh, she left a few minutes ago."
"So I gathered."
Caroline glared at him, and he gave her a sheepish smile. "Sorry. Would you be willing to help me, love?"
Caroline bit her lip, but nodded. "Sure."
A/N: So, what do we think of the premise? Would you want to see more of the time pre-tour? Or do you want to skip to their time on the road?
I have not decided on side pairings yet, but I am open to suggestions (though I can't guarantee that I'll go with the majority vote).
Let me know your thoughts! :D
Hugs!
-Angie
Copyright 2015, Angelikah