AN: Day 14 drabble of 25 days of Klaroline, college au. Prompted by wonderful Tay aka candicemorgan on tumblr. Hope you like ;)

kc + "our figure drawing teacher is an asshole, you stuck up for me when he started railing on my portraits" au


Caroline laid out her drawing set next to the easel before her and, having glanced carefully to the right, noted with relief her annoying classroom neighbour wasn't there yet.

Klaus Mikaelson. Aka the bane of her existence.

He had been Enzo's roommate since sophomore year and Caroline, being the Brit's best mate as he loved to put it, was kind of stuck with him, despite their hate-hate relationship. To be honest, Klaus repeatedly expressed his desire to move it into more of a "love-hate" territory, sometimes in the most explicit words, only to later relish in Caroline's angry and heated retorts.

That was a thing about first impressions. No matter what you did, they tended to last. And Caroline's first impression of Klaus Mikaelson? He was an utter and utmost jerk.

She met him after having stayed overnight at Enzo's dorm, when she walked right into his naked chest in the morning. Of course, he mistook her for Enzo's girlfriend and, being the arrogant douche that he was, proceeded to hit on her.

Caroline was not amused.

Even though she knew Klaus and Enzo had become friends and he wouldn't do that now, Caroline still refused to be another notch on the bed of Mr. I'm-Too-Cool-To-Call-Them-Back.

Except she totally was.

Yeah. The last time Caroline had seen Klaus, they had run into each other at the local bar on a Friday night. As their banter grew more heated and the more alcohol they consumed, the closer they would shift towards each other.

So close, in fact, the night ended with Caroline, sprawled on the bathroom's sink, with Klaus' stubble scratching the inside of her thighs.

And then she knew, no longer suspected, his lips were capable of the most sinful things.

So she was more along the lines of another notch on the sink, then.

Caroline brushed it off as a random hook-up, a case of impaired judgement and a treat she deserved after the break-up with her longtime boyfriend, Stefan Salvatore.

With whom she had been for almost 3 years and at first, it had been perfect. Actually, it might have been just a little too perfect, to the point of becoming boring.

Probably exactly this, as once she had fallen asleep during sex and it was not due to exhaustion, unfortunately. It was the wake-up call she needed to break things off.

Which brought her to the second worst part of her morning.

Giuseppe Salvatore, her figure drawing teacher.

Really, what had possessed her to sign up for classes taught by her boyfriend's father?

And then abruptly break up with the said boyfriend while at his house? As her professor, though, Stefan's father should really be professional enough to not hold it against her.

But he did. And his constant stream of subtle and not-so-subtle insults during class, whether they were directed at her or questioned her skills, was the main reason Caroline dreaded Monday mornings.

Another reason had just strolled through the door as Klaus made an appearance, taking a sit next to Caroline, a wide grin on his face upon seeing her.

"Good morning, love," he greeted her chirpily, a devilish glint in his eyes. "How radiant you look today."

"Save it, Klaus," Caroline bit out, not finding energy to deal with him right now as she was bracing herself to endure 90 minutes of teacher scolding.

"Come now, Caroline, surely you won't insist on pretending there's nothing between us anymore. Not after that delicious encounter of ours."

"Would you keep it down, please," she hissed angrily.

"That's not what you told me on Friday, love. The exact opposite, to be precise," Klaus kept taunting her, leaning towards her so close that his breath tickled against her ear, sending a shiver down her spine.

As she turned to face him, ready to shoot out a biting retort, Caroline was met with his burning blue eyes. For one heavy moment, she got so lost in his gaze, in how he was focused solely on her and the rest of the classed dimmed, as if an unnecessary background noise.

"Caroline, have it ever crossed your mind that I…"

"If you're quite finished with your quota of flirting for today, Ms. Forbes, I'd like to begin with today's lesson," the teacher's harsh voice reverberated across the classroom. "I know it might be hard for you but do try."

Oh, how she hated that bitter old man. It sounded as if Klaus was about to reveal something important and now she might never know. If Caroline was honest with herself, she was filled both with disappointment and relief at that thought.

Professor Salvatore went on to give out that day's assignment and oh, was it a dreadful one.

"During today's lesson, each of you will take a shot at drawing portraits. As we don't have a model available this time, I want you to take a look at the person next to you. This is the face you're going to draw."

Ok, so maybe it wasn't that dreadful, she got to stare at Klaus' ridiculously handsome face without kicking herself internally for it. Though, the problem was, he'd get to study her features just as thoroughly and she was already feeling his intense stare fixed on her.

They proceeded with their task, Caroline already focusing on the blank paper in front of her. She could see Klaus' face in her mind, the sinful edges of his crimson lips, this joyous glimmer in his eyes whenever she would talk to him, however rude she would be. The way he devoured her with each open glance, never ashamed to let her know how attractive he found her. Her hand seemed to move on its own as she tried to transfer all those thoughts onto the paper and into his features.

They would steal quick glances at each other while they were drawing, scratches of graphite against the paper the only sounds filling the room.

Caroline got engrossed in her work, not paying attention to the outside world, in their little bubble of two easels. She certainly hadn't heard the footsteps of Professor Salvatore but soon enough he made his presence known with another sting at her skills.

"Honestly, Ms. Forbes, I cannot comprehend what had driven you to enroll in this class. You have no visible skills whatsoever. This one really looks as if painted by a 5-year old," Giuseppe's harsh words cut through the silence in the class, all head now pointed at Caroline.

She tried very hard not to blush or talk back, and give him the satisfaction that he'd provoked her and she took the bait. It was so humiliating though, and with Klaus right next to her, his gaze travelling back and forth between her and the sketch she had made of his face so far, his expression unreadable. Caroline was feeling so exposed right now and her teacher wasn't even close to be done with her.

"Just look at those disastrous lines. And the shadowing, it's just misplaced. Do you even know how to make a half-decent sketch? Honey…"

"That's enough," Klaus interrupted this tirade, his voice vibrating with contained anger.

"Excuse me?! Who do you think you are, speaking to me like that?" Professor Salvatore roared, clearly perplexed someone would dare to talk back to him.

"I think I'm a student whose parent donate a serious amount of money to this institution and what I'm seeing here is a teacher bullying young girl. Art is not something you can contain in a box of rules and it's not Caroline's fault you're too damn narrow-minded to see the beauty behind her works. It seems you should not be teaching at all if you have that much problems connecting to art."

"Are you threatening me?!"

"I don't know, am I?" Klaus smirked with that extremely annoying shade of self-satisfaction to it. Although this time, Caroline was too floored to be bothered by it.

He was defending her. He was getting into what could only be major trouble.

For her.

"That's it! Lesson's over, everyone pack your things. I'll see you in my office now, Mikaelson," the teacher's words broke Carline out of her thoughts.

The class emptied, people whispering lively as they walked out, Professor Salvatore and Klaus following after them. She glued her eyes to Klaus' figure, hundred thoughts going through her mind and then, he turned his head and looked right at her, winking playfully as he left the room.

As she was left alone, a sketch Klaus made of her caught Caroline's attention. Her breath hitched when she saw how he captured her. Was that how he saw her?

Something snapping inside of her, Caroline fell out of classroom and rushed towards Salvatore's office.


"Worried about me, sweetheart?" Caroline heard Klaus' cheerful voice as if he hadn't been just berated by the most malicious teacher on campus.

"I…I've seen your sketch of me. It was beautiful," she whispered.

"Oh," he looked a little embarrassed and it might have been actually a first time she found Klaus at a loss of words.

"What did you mean to ask me earlier? What should have crossed my mind?"

"That.."

"Klaus?" she probed, stepping towards him so that their faces were inches away.

"That I might just like you, sweetheart," he finally let out, looking at her uncertainly and the vulnerability in his gaze hit her with all force.

"Good," Caroline simply said and placed a quick peck in the corner of his mouth.

"Tomorrow, pick me up at 8. Don't be late," turning back and heading towards her next class, she quickly glanced back at him and winked, leaving dumbfounded Klaus behind.

She would give him a chance. He'd better make the most of it.