Title: Four.
Pairings + characters: Kat and her flash cards, Care and her missing panties. Mentions of Hales, Ty and Kai, as well as the Salvatores and the Mikaelsons.
Genre: Friendship
Summary: You're too good to be repeating my mistakes. / set the night they decide to stay in
Dear Guest, I love you for getting invested.
She eyes her best friend with barely concealed amusement as she trudges around their dorm with a towel-turban covering up her blonde curls in just heels with her arms flailing wildly as she searches for her nude panties – safe to say she's seriously losing her grip on her title as the sane one. Deep down in her dark mind, or maybe by her icy heart, Kat wishes she too was trading PJ's with tight dresses and flash cards with gin and tonics. Thing is, anatomy doesn't like her half as much as criminal law loves Caroline thus she's missing out on another girl's night by the bar of some ridiculously expensive restaurant. The blonde slips on her panties – why they were atop the fridge neither girl knows – and fiddles with the zipper of the little black and backless number that forces her to go braless.
"You alright over there?" Kat inquires from where she's set up camp on her roommate's bed.
Caroline rolls her eyes, expertly pulling the dress on over her head, "I'm perfect. Why?"
"Just take a moment and asses this particular setting, Mrs. Perfect," Katherine raises an eyebrow. "I'm dating the RA and staying in studying. You're going out drinking and-"
"And what, Kat?" Caroline whirls around from their mirror to face her, her chipped nails fiddling with Hayley's hoop earrings.
For as long as she can remember, Kat's had Caroline by her side. The blonde shone her light onto Katherine even when she didn't deserve it (which was most of the time), always more supportive than her sister and more accepting than her parents. Their friendship never should've made as much sense at it did; Katherine kept Care grounded, but still let Caroline show her the endless possibilities up in the clouds. Katherine got herself wedged between two boys, Caroline fell for only one and never struggled with keeping him around. Katherine attended summer school while Caroline dreamed of Ivy League, the blonde was definitely going home for thanksgiving while her best friend was more than happy to finally be away. Caroline may be a kiddie pool, but she'd never been a survivor – Kat was doing her best to maintain that exactly.
"You know what, Care," Katherine sighs, letting her thumbnail rest on her unfinished sentence as she sits up. "I wish you'd just talk to me about Kol's brother. You're too good to be repeating my mistakes."
"I know, okay?" Caroline finally finishes with the earring and proceeds to throw her arms in the air. "I know, I've got it handled."
Katherine refrains from rolling her eyes, instead cocking her head, "Do you really, though? Care, don't pretend with me, I know all about the allure to darkness; I chose it, remember?"
Caroline's fooling nobody as she protests – there's no allure to darkness – because she's dating (playing, screwing, whatever) the guy who wears leather jackets and shamelessly flirts while failing to stop his bigger, badder brother from wooing her because the way he looks at her makes up for all the horrible things he's done (that even includes the only-official-in-Vegas marriage he has with his brother's ex-fiancé). She's also talking to the girl who found good but chose bad because she didn't think she deserved someone like Stefan Salvatore; because sneaking alcohol into her school bag and emptying it on a rooftop naked and underneath a blanket would always be so much easier for her than doing physics at the kitchen table.
Despite all the times that people have commented on the differences between her and Care, Katherine's always known they were the very same, you see; the sweeter the apple, the blacker the core. She's always accepted herself as the mess she truly is, but Caroline's worked so hard at being the damn apple it's nearly shocking to even Kat how she's suddenly, and rapidly, coming apart at her perfect seams. She hasn't been worried about mascara smudges and flat hair in forever (how did she ever put up with Care back in high school?), but Kat's pretty sure she'd take a thousand unnecessary trips to the bathroom if it meant spending their nights on the floor with Chinese and not in different places (that's both physically and mentally, which scares her) and their mornings trading make-up rather than hungover and in love (respectively, which really should be the other way around).
Caroline's both smarter and stronger than Kat ever could be – Care would never bail on her problems like Kat does with all of hers – but in turn she's less secure and more restrained. If Katherine Gilbert of seventh grade knew that Care showcased her wild side by forgetting to call her mother on Saturday mornings and playing around with two kinds of trouble from the same family, she never would've promised herself to make it happen. Their differences began and ended with Caroline's blonde curls and Katherine's dark eyes.
Their family troubles were far from the same, but left them both with walls as high as their hearts were broken. No one was shocked when the same, stupid boy healed both hearts because their hearts were the same; kind and brave and wild and shattered. They enjoyed the same music and wore the same clothes, loved the same food and dated the same type of boys. Katherine Pierce of freshman year at Whitmore college who couldn't quite escape her childhood like she'd imagined back in seventh grade wasn't okay with dragging Caroline down into the rabbit hole with her.
"What?" Care demands because Kat's sure she's been eyeing her best friend with a raised brow and smirk and tired eyes for minutes now as she's struggled with getting her curls to cooperate.
Katherine sighs, subconsciously running a hand through her own locks, "Look, I know you thought Tyler was it for you; white picket fence and all. And I know sometimes you hate Hayley for ruining that. Just like you sometimes hate me for not picking your best friend. But our friendship is still okay; we're still okay. Nothing can ruin this, do you get that?"
Caroline sighs, eyes away from the mirror and focused on hers, "Yeah."
"Then talk to me," Kat pleads.
"You hate him," Caroline sighs, making a (tough which shouldn't be tough) decision as she ungracefully kicks off her heels.
"What, like you hate Damon?" Kat counters easily, her eyes following the flying heels. "Klaus was my rebound, of course I hate him."
But she'll always love Caroline, even if she decides that what she wants is the guy Kat hates – because that's what Care did for her, back when Kat was screwing up her life and Care's was in perfect order. Caroline doesn't go out that night after all. Instead she puts on the kind of classic rock that doesn't do Kat's focus any favors, and drowns her sorrows in the rest of her hidden tequila while dancing around barefooted.
They end up on the floor with Chinese, and even though Care's mascara is smudged and Kat didn't finish her practice test they're doing alright. Caroline opens up and Katherine does her best to help her, even if they both know she'll cling onto the younger brother despite the fact that the oldest drives her crazy (the good, rare kind of crazy that's hard to shrug off that is). In the morning Care experiments with Kat's favorite eyeshadow-palette while Katherine paints her nails in the pretty blue that's chipping at the blonde's own nails.
They both rock their own set of ripped jeans and plain t-shirts – Caroline's combo is lighter, just as she is in every aspect of their lives and personalities. Katherine steals the heels Caroline kicked off the night before, and Care once again borrows the black combats Kat hasn't had the chance to wear herself yet. Katherine has lunch with her boyfriend and dreams about her own white picket fence, figuring that if the roles are really as reversed as they seem that her best friend's having sex in the janitor's closet in hopes of making the safe one interesting enough for her not to need the other one; and she genuinely hopes Caroline succeeds (not because she hates herself for ever sleeping with Klaus Mikaelson, but because she loves her best friend dearly).