AN: Based on prompt, though it went in a unexpected direction.
"We're totally just best friends but I caught you staring at my lips when I was talking and now I'm weirdly turned on by it and woooow this is NOT WHAT BEST FRIENDS DO BUD" KLAROLINE AU
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It started with his lips.
Admittedly, it didn't really start with his lips, given she had been friends with Klaus since she'd been four years old.
But his perfectly-shaped raspberry lips were the main reason Caroline was now pressed back flat to the tree, with Klaus' mouth hot on hers. Kissing frantically, the wolf under her skin purring in need as they remained somewhat hidden within depths of the woods.
And despite her mind telling her repeatedly this was not an activity best friends were supposed to engage in, the animal in Caroline had other ideas.
Especially when it felt so damn good.
Caroline had known Klaus Mikaelson her entire life. They were one pack, after all.
And Mystic Falls pack was not an ordinary one. Descendants to the first wolves inhabiting this land thousand years ago, they were blessed with the most precious gift - freedom from the moon.
Werewolf gene was no curse - there was no need to trigger it, no need to suscept oneself to the moon cycle. Their connection to the nature was coming from within, their strength building through connection to the pack. The ones in whom the ancestral gene was the strongest, could shift from the youngest age, the rest usually went through the first shift around adolescence.
The first conscious memories Caroline could remember are of her and Klaus, running carefree the young pups they'd been, chasing one another in the back garden of Mikaelson mansion.
Rebekah's human face, sprinkled with tears of childish fit as she couldn't join them.
Klaus' pup taunting her, even as a five-year-old that he was, to go further, to run faster, to bark louder.
There were rumours, of course. Tales of a lonely wife, vicious husband and a father, stranger wolf passing through.
She had never dared to ask Klaus about them, even if deep down she must have realized, with the way he would flinch on mention of Mikael's name, how his eyes would glint with steel and the wolf snarled, when hearing younglings and old gossips call his mother names.
The first time it'd happened, Caroline had been ten years old. She was tossing and turning in bed, feeling restless for no apparent reason, her skin cold and distress crawling up her spine.
She was about to get up and check on Klaus when she felt another wolf's presence behind the door - he had shifted and sneaked into the house. Caroline let him in, cold fury a child should not be capable of filling her as she noticed the cuts and the cripple of his back leg. He changed, falling naked onto the floor, bruised and battered, and she rushed to cover him with her body, lending warmth to his shaking one.
They had never talked about it but since that night, Klaus would seek solace in her presence. She kept a secret stash of clothes for him in her room and when he would come, they would lie in the tight embrace on the bed, Caroline's wolf crawling out of its skin to soothe his. He would never cry but she could feel the anguish beneath, just as well as she could hear the rambles of laughter fighting to break free whenever they would run in the woods, grass and leaves compliant under their paws.
He had stopped coming when he'd turned seventeen. Even if he would still drive her to school, sit with her and their friends at lunch or let her order him around when she was in the midst of planning a dance, Caroline felt like she had lost something.
They had been best friends but she could feel his wolf slipping away, cringing from her touch and it hurt. She wanted to nuzzle into his neck and play - it was only natural, the animal underneath craved for touch and Caroline had never questioned it. Sure, she might have felt it more intensely with Klaus than the others but wasn't it normal? They had known each other forever, it was only natural she felt most comfortable with him.
"What is it?" she asked once, throwing her pride out of the window. She needed to know.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, little wolf," Klaus seethed, pulling his hand away from hers.
He had never called her that, not since she'd told him she found it demeaning, not endearing and hearing it now made her wolf snap and bare its teeth.
"Fine. Find me when your asshole phase is over," her claws coming out, she wrenched the sketchbook he had been drawing in out of his hands, in spite, her sight fixed forward.
She didn't know then it would be pages of her face looking back.
Being with Tyler didn't really feel right.
But it didn't feel wrong.
And it was good, belonging to someone, her young seventeen wolf hungry for touch.
Tyler's caresses had never sated it completely but she would survive.
So when they broke up, it wasn't supposed to hurt that much. But while deep down she knew it wasn't forever, Tyler seemed to have a different idea. Words were exchanged and they cut deep, as harsh truths only could.
Caroline had been lying awake, looking at the moon with tears streaming down her, when she felt the mattress behind her shift and then his earthy scent enveloped her, just as his arms did. She wanted to fight it but her wolf calmed down, revelling in the familiar presence.
"What are you doing here?" Caroline barely let out, her voice raspy from overflowing emotion.
"You needed me," Klaus simply whispered, his nose nuzzling into her neck.
"So you'll stop being a dick?" she could feel his lips curve in a smile at that.
"Can't promise you that, love," he quipped, only for his hands to attack her waist and belly, tickling and playing.
Caroline laughed, pushing him back, ready to get even. They pounced on each other playfully and she flipped him on his back, their faces inches away. Only after few seconds she caught herself staring at his lips, their luscious curves calling to the animal under her skin. Then Klaus smiled at her, the way he used to and it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She buried her head in the crook of his neck, his musky scent stirring something within but also calming her down.
They fell asleep like that, nestled in each other's embrace and slowly, Caroline healed.
They healed.
It happened again at her prom.
Klaus was her date and she couldn't be more happy, having missed him badly while he was away at college. They caught up and drank and had fun, and Caroline felt...sated. For the first time in a while, she was at peace, her wolf purring against her skin in contentment as she danced with her friend.
His hands were placed firmly on her waist, her arms around his neck as they moved in unison. She could feel Klaus's taut muscles against her body, his lips against her cheek and then her claws were itching to emerge, to scrape his skin, to…
Mark him.
Her breath hitched and he leaned back, looking at her with mirth in his eyes. She swallowed hard, her eyes drawn to his mouth as if by magnetic force. He smiled, tongue curling along his lower lip and Caroline could feel arousal pooling in her belly.
Those damn lips.
"What are you smirking at?" she attacked, trying to snap out of it.
"Nothing," he said annoyingly calm, sounding victorious.
It was her 18th birthday and her father had organized a celebratory hunt with the pack, starting with the bonfire.
Klaus wasn't here.
And Caroline could understand that, he had a lot on his shoulders with the finals and so but it just…
Sucked.
She hadn't seen him since prom and although they had been talking on the phone, it wasn't enough. Caroline missed his voice, his laugh, his...touch. Her wolf was yearning to run with his, to be petted and because of that, she decided to stop kidding herself.
If only Klaus had been there.
Having survived the bonfire, she was trying to appreciate the hunt with her pack but in the end, Caroline knew there was only one wolf her wolf wanted to run with tonight.
They shifted and spread out, and after their first kill, she was slowly starting to get into it when her sense caught on to familiar scent. She followed, leaving her pack behind and just as she passed the big oak tree, another wolf pounced onto her.
She knew it was him, his scent felt like home, his familiar dirty golden fur gleaming under the moon. Despite the elation and the crawling under her skin, Caroline decided to punish him for making her wait, her wolf suddenly feeling playful. Smacking him with her paw, she ran away, knowing very well he would follow. Soon, they were a blur of teeth and fur, nudging, scraping, biting.
And then, she felt his hot human lips on hers, enticing her into the steamy kiss as his naked body pushed her against the tree.
Nudity was nothing abnormal among the pack, with the wolves shifting together a usual occurrence. She had seen Klaus' naked body more than once.
Now it was different.
Because her body was on fire and then his tongue sneaked its way into her mouth and all she could think of was biting him, drowning him in her scent.
She wanted it all, Caroline thought as she moaned, Klaus' mouth tracing the lines of her neck and sucking on her pulse point.
"What took you so long?" she sighed, determined not to give in that easily.
"What took me so long? Sweetheart, I've been waiting for you to catch up since we've been pups," he pushed his thigh between her legs, making her groan.
She had a perfect answer to that.
"Well, I'm all caught up. But now I think you'll have to catch me first," Caroline smirked playfully, her wolf fully aware they would both enjoy the chase. She pushed him back and ran away, shifting, the animal in her growling in satisfaction when it felt Klaus rushing after.
And thus the courtship began.
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