He claimed he had nowhere better to be, even though the whole world was there to be discovered, and Caroline thought that maybe he was just afraid to go on his own. He followed her around town with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his lips like he knew something she didn't.
"Why are you still here?" She asked, and he feigned puzzlement at the question.
"I just thought I'd like to see some more of your charming little town," he said, and she folded her arms and tossed her hair, giving him a look she had perfected, the one that made high school girls wilt like flowers in the summer sun.
"And what if I went to Finland, huh?"
He didn't wilt. His lips curled up at the corners and he inclined his head.
"Mm… never been. Could be fun."
Her expression shifted to disdain, and his smug smile bloomed into a wicked grin.
"Why me?" She groaned as they walked along the high street.
"Well, because I like you," he said.
"I don't like you."
"Whatever you say, darling."
His eyes sparkled when he smiled and he drawled when he spoke and sometimes he ran his tongue along his teeth and for a second she would forget how incredibly unattractive he was to her.
Just for a second.
They headed to the city over the break and of course Enzo came too. There was some sort of festival on, and the street was filled with music and dancing, and people stopped to watch or join in.
"Let's dance," he said suddenly, turning to her, and his face was lit up with childlike excitement.
"Enzo, c'mon..."
"Caroline, I've not danced in over 70 years; are you really going to deny me just a few brief moments of your time to make amends?" He asked, eyebrows raised.
He extended his hand to her, watching her expectantly.
Caroline bit her cheek and sighed, unfolding her arms and allowing him to pull her into the street.
She didn't mean to, but before long she was laughing, her hand on his shoulder and his in the small of her back, their others entwined, moving and swaying to the cheery tempo of the music.
He spun her twice, and Caroline giggled as she came back to meet him a little too quickly, bumping into his chest.
"You're not half bad, Blondie." He drawled, and she shrugged.
"I know."
Stefan caught her eye curiously over Enzo's shoulder as they twirled past, and she looked away. Enzo was not so easy to avoid.
"Your mate Stefan's eyeing us up over there," he remarked. "Not getting jealous, I hope."
She snorted.
"There's nothing to be jealous of."
Enzo grinned at her tone, and his dark eyes searched her face.
"Ah, come now, Blondie – don't sound so sure."
"You and I are never going to happen," she told him.
"Whatever you say, darling."
A man pestered her for a dance at a darkly lit club, and when he tried to reach for her arm, his hand was broken with a crunch.
"Leave the pretty lady alone, now." Enzo purred, "There's a good boy."
"You dumbass!" She hissed as the guy headed for the door, swearing loudly. "I could have done that too if I wanted to get half the club's attention!"
"Call me old-fashioned, but last time I was out and about it was considered rude to pester women who didn't want you around, and I think that's a pretty fair rule."
She stared at him until he glanced over, brow furrowing.
"What?"
"Do you have any idea what you just said? Maybe you should take your own advice."
He was grinning again at that. "I'd do just that, but we both know you don't really mind me that much."
She didn't know how, but she ended up in his bed, kissing him every bit as passionately as he kissed her, and she just really hoped that he locked the door.
He whispered her name against the curve of her neck, and she pretended not to hear it, because she was afraid of the way her name sounds on his lips.
She refused to say his.
She dressed quickly, and he watched her progress in idle silence, that slow smile on his face again that says I know something you don't know.
"This is never going to happen again, alright?"
After the third time, she gave up on telling him, and settled for setting ground rules as he saw her to the door.
"This is purely physical attraction, what we have. We are not in a relationship, nor will we ever be, and we do not speak of this to another soul, living or dead. Okay?"
He shrugged as he ran a hand through his rumpled hair like he hadn't a care in the world, and repeated what he said to her the first night.
"Whatever you say, darling."
It slipped between her lips when they were lost in a sea of bed sheets, as he was kissing patterns across her hipbone and her fingers knotted in his hair.
"Enzo," she breathed, and he stilled for a moment, breath ghosting across her skin, and she swore she could feel his lips curve into a smile.
He was a light sleeper, skittish, and he had nightmares more often than not. He rarely let her see him sleep, and on the occasions that he did, she felt as though she should watch over him.
She sat by his side with her legs pulled up to her chest, and watched him dream.
He woke screaming for Damon, for Maggie, for people to run, to come back, to get away from him, to please, please stop.
She tried to comfort him once, and he shook her off roughly, running a shaking hand through his hair and turning away, crossing his arms tightly to disguise the trembling.
They both pretended as though the dreams did not happen after that.
He left for four weeks and six days, not that she had been counting, and it felt odd to have nobody to be causelessly rude to.
A girl down the hall knocked on her door to let her know that there was a guy in the common room telling everyone who'd listen that he was Caroline Forbes's boyfriend come to visit her, and would they please send her down to see him, because he didn't know where her room was.
She hit him on the arm as hard as she dared in front of the busy common room, but all he did was grin.
She snuck him into the dorm later that night and told him how unbelievably lucky he was that Elena was spending the weekend with Jeremy, because if he'd blown their cover she would have had to stake him. It occurred to her as he took her face in his hands and kissed her that he already knew exactly where her room was, and she wants to hit him again.
She stretched out on her back, staring at the ceiling and imagining that she could see constellations. He lay on his side, pressed up against her in her somewhat squishy single bed, playing with her hair as his dark eyes travelled over her face, unreadable.
"What?" She asked sleepily, and he shrugged a little as he wound a strand of her hair around his finger.
"I've missed you, goldilocks," he murmured.
"I didn't miss you at all," she told him, rolling away from him and onto her side.
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and draped his arm across her waist.
"Liar."
Safe where he couldn't see, Caroline couldn't help but smile.
He'd been back just a few days before he managed to get himself caught up in some ridiculous witch-fighting mission, and she suspected that he only wanted to tag along because he enjoyed the violence. He left with a wink and a cheery wave, but when they returned, Stefan was hauling him through the door, riddled with vervain-soaked shrapnel.
"Oh my god."
"There was a trap." Stefan said through gritted teeth, "I didn't see it, but Enzo got me out of the way in time."
"Is he...?" The words caught in her throat before she could finish the question, but he was stirring from where he slumped against Stefan's side.
Enzo lifted his head just long enough to smile at her.
"Hello, gorgeous."
She pulled splinters from the whole right side of his body, even across his shoulder blades. He didn't seem to feel most of it, only occasionally gritting his teeth or wrinkling his nose at a particularly well-anchored shard of wood.
"You could have died. If you'd been facing just a little more to the right, this could have hit your heart."
He made a soft, noncommittal sound as she wiped away blood from a gash over his eye with a clean cloth.
"I've had worse."
She slapped him upside the head with her free hand, and he caught her wrist before she could deliver a smack to his shoulder.
"Bloody hell, are you trying to finish the job?"
"You're an idiot," she snapped. "Do you want to die?"
She shook free of his grip and glared at him.
"I was trying to help your friends get their bloody magic crystals back!" he protested.
"Did you miss the bit where it wasn't a suicide mission?"
"Oh, for the love of – what would you have me do then? Become a team mascot? I ca-"
She kissed him, one hand cupping his jaw while the other still clenched tight around the cloth.
"Don't you dare do that to me ever again." She said when she drew back, and the corner of his mouth twitched upwards as he looked at her.
She knew what he was going to say before he said it, but it wasn't a dismissal this time.
"Whatever you say, darling."
Whitmore College threw a fundraiser ball, and Caroline Forbes did not have a partner. She'd been counting on Stefan, but he had taken off to Atlanta in pursuit of a lead, leaving behind heartfelt apologies repeated a dozen times over and assurances that she'd easily be able to get a partner.
She fretted about it while Enzo propped his feet up on the table, steepling his fingers as he reclined in the chair to watch her pace about the room.
"I'll go with you," he offered, and she paused in her pacing to stare at him. "Well why not? I'm free, I know the venue - I'm an excellent dancer. Classically trained." He added, and Caroline weighed the offer, pursing her lips.
"Fine! But if you eat any of the guests – or the hosts – I'll make sure you're never able to dance again. Clear?"
He chuckled at her threat, and nodded once.
"I accept your terms, Ms. Forbes – as boring as they may be."
"Then I'll see you at the ball - 7pm. Sharp. I'm not going to be late."
He gave her a mocking salute. "Yes ma'am."
He was perfectly on time, immaculately dressed, and waiting at the bottom of the stairs to escort her to the building. He was talking to someone else's date, and when he saw her, he trailed off in the middle of his sentence.
"You look magnificent," he told her, and she didn't try to disguise her smile as she took his extended hand.
"You clean up alright yourself," she allowed as she reached the bottom of the stairs, slipping her arm through his.
"I mean it, Caroline," he said as they began their walk to the open doorways. "You're beautiful."
They danced, they drank champagne, they made polite conversation with the generous donors, and Enzo didn't make reference to the macabre even once.
Caroline was extremely relieved.
When he let go of her waist at the end of the night's last dance, she tightened her grip on his other hand before he could move away. Enzo looks at their joined hands curiously, watching as she wound her fingers between his.
"Don't let go of my hand," she said when his gaze flickered up to her, and it sort of sounded like a question.
His fingers tightened around hers as he began to lead her off the dance floor.
"Whatever you say, darling."
A/N: This is lame and lighthearted, but we're seriously lacking in Carenzo fics and they're cuties, so I thought I should throw another one into the mix. I'm thinking of expanding the basis of this into a chaptered story, so let me know what you think of this fic and if you'd be interested in reading a longer story. I hope you liked it!