The last drabble I posted here was for Valentine's Day 2017, so here is one for VDay 2020. I didn't edit much, so sorry for any mistakes or weird word choices. Not really safe for work. A starcrossed Caroline and Klaus unexpectedly meet a again in a club, after some years of no contact.

xxx

The night wasn't young, but by no means was it over. Liquor was pouring, and music was pumping loudly through every vein in the building.

This was her fifth gig in the past fortnight. She went to mingle, hype the crowd, network with potential collaborations. She went to be in a scene so different from her real life of classes, and practical assessments. She went because that's what you did when you were semi-dating the band's lead singer - even if she knew the relationship was nothing more than an itch scratching.

The partying, the attention, the glamorous parts of the music scene of the city. It was a life entirely different from her life back home, and even though she didn't want it to last forever, it was exactly what she needed for now.

In fact, what she needed right now was to sit for a moment of calm. And seemed as good a time as any.

The band was halfway through the third track in the set, when she felt someone slide down next to her, the formerly empty seat suddenly occupied.

She turned to throw a tight lipped smile to whatever had taken up residence in her bubble, but her eyes widened before her mouth could manage its intended move.

"Hello, Caroline," a British lilt said, smirking that smirk the only way he could.

"Klaus," she said, a genuine smile splitting her face.

In a move uncharacteristic to the new Caroline, she threw her arms happily around her old friend.

"I'm really glad to see you," she beamed.

"And I you, love," he replied, savouring the sweet tightness of her embrace. "It's been quite some time."

"Yeah, I know," she said, a little sheepishly, grabbing at her wine for something to do with her hands. "I sort of just ran off when I finally decided what I was going to do in college. I haven't been great at keeping up with anyone."

"It takes two to phone call, love," Klaus said in response. "I also haven't been one for communication."

"Yeah, you know," Caroline said, beginning to ramble. "After the breakup, I guess I felt like all of you would be on Stefan's side. You were all his friends first; I didn't really have a claim to you. And seeing as no one really reached out to me..."

She trailed off, and looked away. It was an old hurt, but it was still sort of there.

She dated Stefan for over two years. She met him while he was at college, and she was managing a Cafe near his house. Caroline was a couple of years his junior, and hadn't figured out which path to follow, study wise, and couldn't really afford it anyhow, without some savings to her name.

The two had hit it off right away, and pretty soon Caroline was an important fixture in his circle of friends.

Caroline loved all of them, and she was pretty sure, after about a year, at least some of the friends who had started out Stefan's, we're now just as much hers, if not more in some cases.

One of these cases was none other than the Klaus now sitting across from her.

Klaus had been a quiet edition to the group, when Caroline first started dating Stefan. He was one of Stefan's best friends from high school, and, at the beginning, as far as Caroline could tell, he was there out of familiar, rather than a deep connection to the group. Especially given the uncomfortable history between an ex if Klaus' and his brother, both of whom were still in the group, and were still together.

After about eight months with Stefan, Caroline, who had become de facto event planner, had organised a boozy board game night for them all, and had randomly drawn pairs. She had been paired with Klaus.

That was the night Caroline finally cracked Klaus.

After a few beers and a lot of yammering on Caroline's part, Klaus had given her an inch. He said "in theory, I don't enjoy being in the room with the couple that are my brother and my ex. But in practice, it's fine. She obviously a bit too much of a snake for me anyway."

It was also the night their intense chemistry sparked, when Caroline replied, "Well, I am a big fan of certain snakes."

Caroline would remember that moment like it were yesterday. The rest of the room fell away, and their electricity crackled as both processed the innuendo in what she meant.

Klaus had thrown her that smirk, a smirk that would comfort Caroline many a lonely night, as her relationship with Stefan broke down. And many more since.

From there, the friendship began.

Soon, Caroline was Stefan's bf and Klaus' bff. Which was convenient, because Stefan was Klaus' other bff. It made for an extremely easy smaller social group for things like movie night, and shopping trips Caroline would want Stefan to come to.

"Just bring Klaus!" Caroline would say brightly. "Then you two can have fun together while I'm having fun on my own!"

Their trio was to be doomed though.

Somewhere around the 18-month mark Stefan began to pull away from Caroline, spending more and more time with his study group. And somewhere along the line, Caroline stopped minding so much.

The simple, yet terrifying truth was Stefan wasn't right for her. They were friends. Best friends, even, but there wasn't a spark there any more. And she couldn't remember if there ever had been.

She still spent quite a bit of time with Klaus though. And even more terrifying than knowing Stefan wasn't right for her, was the niggling feeling that maybe Klaus was, and she just met them in the wrong order.

Klaus could never date Caroline. Not his best friend's girlfriend.

Not that any of this quite occurred to Klaus or Caroline at the time. Both clung to the Caroline/Stefan relationship as riot shield between them having to ever consider their feelings for each other.

They edged across the more-than-friend-line just once. The incident had been so insignificant that there was definitely the scope for plausible deniability.

On another board game night, a night Stefan invited a pretty brunette from his study group along to 'meet the gang'.

There were multiple games set up that night. Different stations in which people could play when they wanted.

Caroline had driven that night. And, inexplicably, so had Klaus. As the night crept into the morning, as the only two sober enough to be awake, they were playing twister.

Their limbs had tangled together, and they had fallen. Neither were hurt, but Klaus had, for the first, and only time, felt how Caroline's waist felt beneath his hands.

They had stayed frozen, eyes intoxicatingly locked, for the longest of moments. A moment that intensified thousandfold when Caroline pushed ever so the slightly with her pelvis, creating the kind of friction that strangled a tiny gargle from deep in Klaus throat.

It was the noise that broke their trance, and both sprang away from the moment. And never ever mentioned it again.

Though, after four more months of tension, that moment on the twister mat didn't mean anything.

Caroline left Stefan.

And two months after that, the gang had their last party with Caroline, who announced she was leaving her comfortable life to start college in New Orleans, Louisiana.

That party had been over two years ago now, and Caroline could count on one hand the amount of times she'd been home in that time. And on about one finger the amount of times she and Klaus had caught up.

"I'm sorry I didn't reach out," he said, quietly.

Their friendship may have symbolically ended years previously, but Caroline knew was a big thing it was for Klaus to apologise.

Caroline smile fondly in response.

"What are you doing out and about in old New Orleans?" Caroline asked.

"I was sent on a work trip, and thought a few days in a playground such as this would be a welcome change from my square lawyer life. And if you'll forgive my crassness, it is Valentine's evening. Not many days of the year better suited to finding an interested party. "

"Oh gross, Klaus," Carline said, in mock disgust, before giggling at the joke. "I can't believe you're done with law school, and I haven't even finished my undergrad!"

"We all take our own paths, Love," Klaus replied. "And what about you? What brings you to this gig on a night like this?"

The question had the effect of pulling them both into a present where they were together, from a past where they were not.

"Oh, I'm kind of a groupie," Caroline laughed. "I come to their gigs and talk to industry people, gauge the crowd, that sort of thing. I even sing sometimes."

Klaus smiled, remembering Caroline love of performing.

"Oh and I sort of date Jesse, the singer," Caroline said, sheepishly.

"Sort of?" Klaus replied, an unfamiliar sinking feeling in his chest.

"Yeah, sort of. We have an arrangement. We sleep together, and go to things together sometimes, but we also both see other people as well. I'm not really into the idea of being tied down any more, you know."

Hearing about this new, older, more in control Caroline, intrigued Klaus. And he would be lying if he didn't note the lightness hearing there was a potential chance something could happen between them, on a chance meeting, such as this.

"That's quite the arrangement," he replied, slipping the hint of a flirt into his voice, daring to dip his toe into the pool of possibility.

Caroline stared at him for a moment, that electricity that always crackled between them unmistakably there.

Then suddenly the crowd cheered, and the band because to play Caroline's absolute favourite.

"Come on!" She shouted, over top of the music, grabbing his hand, and twining her fingers with his. "Let's dance!"

Never usually the one to dance, Klaus let Caroline pull him into the very centre of the dark mosh pit, pulling her hair from its high bun as she went.

Once in the centre, Caroline slung her arms around his neck, and began moving her body to the song, singing loudly as she did so.

Klaus let his hands fall, to clasp her waist again, digging his fingers into her skin, willing himself to commit every vivid detail to his memory.

Their bodies may have been moving, but their eyes stayed locked into each other. He pulled her closer til their dancing bodies were flush with each other. His slid his hand beneath her shirt, caressing her impossibly soft skin with his rough hands.

As with their first stolen moment, it was Caroline's deliberate pelvic thrust against his that broke their enchantment.

"Let me take you, Caroline," he whispered in her ear, just loud enough to be heard over the still thumping music. "Let me do me do this, for real."

Caroline shuddered at the feeling of his lips against the shell of her ear, unable to stop the images of his lips on her body from penetrating her mind.

She was about to answer, when the song came to sudden end, and Caroline came to her senses.

Some exasperating, misguided loyalty to both Stefan and Jesse washed over her. Klaus and Stefan went back longer than Caroline had been alive, how was she supposed to get in the middle of that?

And she promised Harry that she would go with him to this party someone was throwing after the gig. And she was a lot of things, but she wasn't a flake.

But she knew she couldn't go to bed with Jesse tonight, not now knowing what Klaus' hands had felt like. Not now finally having a sliver of evidence that Klaus lips were as soft as they looked.

"I can't go home with you, Klaus," Caroline said, softly, her turn to her lips brush his ear. "I just can't. Stefan's your best friend. And Jesse... We agreed no standing each other up for other people. It's part of what makes our open relationship work."

A barrage of disappointment flooded Klaus' body. He closed his eyes and began to pull away, but he was stopped by her hand on his arm.

"But I have a proposition."

He slowly opened his eyes, to level his gaze at her.

"Don't toy with me, Caroline," he said, in a vain attempt to sound cool.

"I want you, Klaus. I want you badly," Caroline said, a strangled note to her voice. "And I want to tell you exactly what I want. What I've always wanted. And I want you to tell me, right here on this dance floor."

Klaus watched her closely, his mind careening down the path of learning of Caroline's desires for him.

"On one condition."

Klaus should have known; Caroline was the only person he knew who had contingencies for everything. Of course this would be no different.

"What condition?"

"I will tell you what I want from you, but you go home alone tonight. I don't want you fucking some random woman into bliss, when it should be me."

Klaus felt himself harden considerably at this. And Caroline smirked as she felt it.

This Caroline next to him was a far cry from the wide-eyed, innocent girl he'd known. This was a woman who knew what she wanted, and how to get it. It was perhaps the sexiest she'd ever been, and it was certainly the sexiest he'd felt in a long time.

"So, do you agree?" She asked, almost impatiently, rubbing her hips once more against his.

"Only if the same rule applies to you," he said. "No fucking that singer of yours, when it is my cock you should be riding."

Caroline felt her mouth go dry, listening to Klaus' words, knowing she would commit anything to him in that moment, so long as he kept speaking that way into her ear.

"Agreed."

With that, Caroline snaked her arms back around him and pulled him close once more.

While it was by by no means silent in the dark club that night, the heavy anticipation between them seemed to damped what was happening around them. Their bodies pulsed in rhythm with the music and to hold each other close was intoxicating.

"I always wanted you," Caroline began, her voice low and dripping with innuendo. "From the moment I first met you, I knew it would be hard to keep you from my thoughts when pleasuring myself."

Klaus arms tightened further around her body, anticipation running down his skin, mixing his sweat.

"Do you remember the time we played twister?" Caroline murmured.

He nodded into her neck, loving the feel of her skin against his face.

"That was the first night I went home with the intention of imagining you pleasuring me. Before then, it was accidental. From then it was routine."

Klaus reeled internally at this revelation, that feeling mixing potently with other desires tearing through his body.

"That first night, I imagined you how all you had to do was move your hands from my waist to my ass, and you would have noticed I wasn't covered under my tiny shorts."

The was challenge in her voice was clear, and never one to back away from a challenge, Klaus slid his rough palms down from her waist, to cup her ass. An ass that was blessedly bare, cover only be some high waisted cotton shorts.

He squeezed her cheeks, and she gasped in his ear.

"Is this what you imagined, Caroline," Klaus muttered, not wanting her to have all the fun.

"Yes, Klaus, yes," she panted into his ear.

They were three syllables Klaus just knew would ring through his ears in days and night to come.

"If I had you tonight," Caroline said, managing to regain control of her voice. "You would start by grabbing my chest. I know it's something I've so badly wanted to you do in the past."

Klaus moved one hand from her ass to clutch at her beast, and he was delighted to feel a second place on her body not covered by the usual protections.

He curled his fingers around her beast, and she whimpered.

"Then you can immediately follow it up by sliding your hands under my skin, to cup the real thing."

Caroline choked these words out as both imagined this next step occurring.

Klaus couldn't fathom how badly he needed this step to happen, Caroline couldn't barely think. If this was what his hands on her body felt like over clothes. What in the power of God would it feel like on her skin?

"You will take off my shirt," she whispered. "But I'll push you backward on the bed before anything else can happen."

Klaus let the images flood his minds eye, committing every single imagined detail to his memory.

Before saying another word, Caroline unslung her arms from around his neck and deftly undid the three top buttons of his shirt, just enough to reveal the birds tattooed on his chest.

It was too vulnerable a thought to share now, but Caroline often imagined stroking the birds, caressing and kissing them.

She lightly fingered the visible birds, as much as she could before pulling her mind back to the task at hand.

"Then I will show you how well I can undo jeans buttons with my teeth."

Klaus growled low, imagine Caroline's gorgeous mouth at his fly, only a thin strip of denim away from where he needed her.

He ground his hips against her body, and both gasped at the unexpected friction. It was a delicious feeling and Caroline wondered momentarily if her plans with Jesse were worth not feeling Klaus' body for real.

For the next couple of moments, the two of them became lost in the physicality of it all. The music was still pumping around them, and there were other people still around them.

Now dancing, they were frantically trying to find a way of touching each other more, while still not crossing the line Caroline had so naively drawn.

"I want you, Caroline," Klaus said in her ear, as the previous song rolled seamlessly into the next one. "I don't want to go home alone. I want to go home with you."

Caroline heard these words, and her body ticked into overdrive. She was so wet and sweaty, all she wanted to do was succumb to her most base of instincts.

"I want feel your pretty lips wrap around my cock, and suck. I want to then feel just how dripping wet you are for me."

Klaus' voice was barely above a growl, but it was so authoritative that Caroline to hear him clearly.

"I want to slide one finger into you," he coupled these words by tracing frenetic circles on the skin of her leg with one finger. "Then two."

He added a second finger to his circle pattern, and then a third without saying a word, leaving Caroline's imagination to do the rest.

"What do you want, Caroline?"

Her mind raced, and reeled, dreaming up every unholy scenario, where their lives weren't complicated, and the night was theirs.

In her haze, Caroline an all too familiar set of chords struck through to her brain. A set of chords that signalled the final chorus, of the final tune of the night.

"Klaus," she breathed, pulling away from him, for the first time since they joined the dance floor. "It's time."

"Caroline, love," he said, his body still thrumming with energy and tension. "Not now."

The song ended, and an ecstatic audience erupted around them.

"It has to be now."

Her eyes were shining, and Klaus could have sworn they were shining with more than just lust.

They remain quite still, their eyes locked, their only movement coming from the jostling of the crowd, until –

"There you are, Care!" a new voice joined their world, and for the first time, Caroline was loathed to hear it. "Oh, who's your friend."

The newcomer, who Klaus could only assume was Jesse, sized Klaus up, placing a protective hand around Caroline's waist.

The possessive move cause Klaus' fists, which were awfully free come Caroline's perfect body, to clench. Though he was somewhat calmed when Caroline pointedly removed his hand from her.

"This is Klaus," Caroline said. "He's my old friend from home."

"Looks like more than a friend to me," the singer said, coolly raising his eyebrows as he astutely surveyed their similarly dishevelled and sweaty persons.

"Well, that's what he is," Caroline said, irritated.

The irritation clawed through her body. She was irritated she'd placed such an arbitrary rule upon her and Klaus, she was irritated she would be leaving that club with the wrong man, and boy was she irritated at the desperate heat and wet in between her legs that, for that night at least, would go unsated.

"I'll meet you back stage," Caroline said with a note of finality neither man missed.

With that, Harry nodded, gave a tight lipped, calculating smile to Klaus, and left.

"Are you sure he understands your arrangement?" Klaus asked Caroline, reverting to the cool, flippant Klaus, in some skewed attempt to seem unfazed by the whole messy situation they had got themselves into.

"He understands, but doesn't stop him being a possessive jerk whenever he thinks I will go with someone else. Nor does it stop him doing the same thing to me."

Caroline sighed, and for the first time since reuniting earlier that evening, Klaus saw the vulnerable, naive Caroline who he had known, and grown very fond of.

She had a distant look in her eye, it was the same look Klaus remembered from back in the day, when she would watch Stefan fall in love with Elena.

"What are you doing here, Caroline?" he asked, gently. "This doesn't seem like you."

"Maybe it's not," Caroline said. "But it's what I need now."

Without waiting for a response, Caroline turned to leave, but Klaus grabbed her arm, and pulled her back, in perfect symmetry to how Caroline had pulled him back earlier, beginning their almost tryst.

"This may be what you need, but you never answered my question."

Caroline looked at him, and knew, no matter what, she would forever be somewhat enthralled by him.

"What do you want?"

Caroline smiled, a sensual flirty smile that reminded them both that out of the strange, tough emotions their shenanigans had created, they still had an incredible, incredible night.

She leaned back in close, and placed the softest kiss on his lips. It was a kiss to mark her territory, and both of them knew there would be no one else for either of them that night.

"I want you."

xxx

I wrote this to get a bit of a starcrossed lover of my own out of my system. Feel a little vulnerable sharing. Hope you enjoyed. Let me know.