Title from Britney Spears' Three. I don't own anything you see below. Also, this is my first drabbles series, so bare with me, please! I'm also writing a multi-chapter fic right now, so I don't know how often I'll be able to update this.

Prompt: A has a history of severe nightmares, B knows how to calm A down but is out of town, C has to try for the first time alone

Pertinent Info: Established Klefaroline, hinted mutual pining, Klaroline turned into Klefaroline. AU/AH. This chapter is mainly Klefan, though. The dog I'm talking about in this is real, you can find the cute pupper at r/aww/comments/5imzoz/my_classmate_brought_his_pupper_to_class_reddit/ on reddit.

Warnings: Rated T for suggestive language, nightmares, referenced/non-graphic child abuse supplemented with fluff.


Stefan's dreaming of Caroline clones wearing superhero outfits, and he's loving it. She's kicking ass, taking names, and then scolding him for trying to help since she's clearly the more experienced here.

He knows it's his way of including her while she's out of state for a family issue - more like, a dad issue, one of several that she's made them miss in order to keep everyone sane. It's just, their bed in New Orleans feels empty without her, and if he can't have her in real life, he'll have her in his dreams.

And they're just turning good, she's dragging her fingers down his chest, when Klaus kicks him so hard, he falls out of bed and into the land of the awake.

The quilt Caroline's step-grandma made for them comes with him, while the sheets stay with Klaus. He sits up, blinking crusty eyes hard, and looks over to Klaus. He's writhing, and not in the good way. His eyes move around behind his eyelids frantically, and he's panting.

Stefan thinks, oh shit.

He thinks that because it's always been Caroline who's done this. She's always been the one who comforts their boyfriend. They'd been together since high school, and Stefan's only a new addition, really. A month has gone by - well, twenty years of being friends, being pathetically in love with his two best friends, and a month of sex has gone by - and in that month, Klaus hasn't had any nightmares.

God, the last time he dealt with one was...their sleepover, the summer after second grade, and Stefan had just gone and gotten Caroline's mom, and she dealt with it.

But it's just Stefan this time, with Caroline back home, and no parents to hide behind.

He pulls himself back on the bed, and almost catches one of Klaus' knees in the junk. With a wince, he eases himself next to Klaus. Usually, his boyfriend being shirtless and slightly sweaty would be a turn on, but the look on Klaus' face is definitely not making him hot.

Caroline had told him that she'd just hug him, pet him, and soothe him. With no better ideas, and the knowledge that her way works, he does just that.

He eases an arm under Klaus' chest, and wraps the other around his back. The hand on his back moves up to his head, while his elbow stays where it was. Klaus tensed when his arms came around him, but he relaxes the second Stefan's hand touches his scalp. His eyes stop moving so frantically, which is good but not ideal, since Caroline says it's best to wake him up full-stop.

So, with a goal in mind, he continues.

Klaus' hair is softer than anyone imagines. Stefan loves clutching it in his fingers, and he completely understands why Caroline likes to pet it.

As for the soothing...he has no idea how to do that beyond shushing Klaus. So, he just starts talking.

"I know you said we couldn't get a dog, but we really want one. Me and Care would take care of it so good you wouldn't have to acknowledge it, really. We would train it, and it would be really, really good, and we could take it with us whenever we visit family…. It would be really adorable all around, and we'd be like a little family…." He isn't sure what else to say, since Klaus has been adamant about no dogs since one bit him when he was three. "We could give it a really cute name. Oh, I could take it with me to school, and he'd make me lots of friends, you know, friends I don't sleep with…."

He looks at Klaus' face, and is surprised to see he's awake. Instead of scowling, glaring, or ignoring, as is his usual reaction, he's just looking at Stefan. Not even at his lips, just...all over.

Stefan shuts his mouth, staring back. This isn't like their juvenile staring contests back in the day - this is something that Klaus has done with Caroline for years.

After a long moment of noticing all of the intricacies of Klaus' face, his boyfriend rasps, "why do you and Caroline keep harping on an on about getting a dog?"

Stefan snuggles closer, and answers cheekily, "because one of these days, you'll get tired of hearing us 'harping on about' it and let us get one."

"I don't want a dog."

"But it could cuddle with us," he tries, going along with the deflection.

"And when we want to do more than cuddle, and it's still there?"

"Take it outside? I don't know." At Klaus' look, he says, a touch defensively, "I just want a dog, and Caroline does, too, okay? We haven't worked out the kinks yet."

He smiles, and dips his head into Stefan's neck. "Maybe someday, love."

Stefan grins triumphantly and reminds himself to tell Caroline so they can make sure he keeps his word.

Time goes by slowly, Klaus pressing kisses on his neck but not going any farther.

Eventually, Stefan asks, "do you wanna talk about it?"

Klaus sighs. "Just my father again. Not the one you've met, the one who's in jail. I don't want to talk about it."

He drags a hand up and down Klaus' toned back. "Don't wanna talk about it like you don't wanna talk to Kol or don't wanna talk about it like you don't wanna talk about getting a dog?"

He chuckles. "Like getting a dog. I don't hate Kol that much."

"Yeah, well, I do. I'm not over the time he dyed my hair pink."

"That was one of his shining moments," Klaus counters with a laugh.

"You say that now, but if Caroline hears that, she'll remind you of the time he told her mom that you guys were together and it won't be so funny anymore, will it?"

Klaus doesn't answer, just presses kisses up his jaw and shifts them so that Stefan is back-to-the-bed, under Klaus. He rests in between Stefan's legs, and kisses down his chest.

Stefan grins, "you've been deflecting a lot tonight."

"Is it working?"

"Honestly? Yes."

…:::...

Caroline comes back soon after and hounds Klaus about the dog. She also hears about their hot sex and has them reenact it for her, several times.

They do get the a dog, a cute lab puppy they name Bender after the character on The Breakfast Club - the first R rated movie they ever watched together.

And, even though Klaus insists he won't warm to the dog, he's the first of them to take a nap with Bender on him.

Stefan and Caroline vow to never let him live it down.