Notes: Work has been kind of a nightmare lately so I haven't had much writing inspiration. I managed some smut fluff the other day. Enjoy!
Still Into You
(Prompt: i was so sleep-deprived after the night shift that i climbed into bed with you (and you just rolled with it). Title from the Paramore song. SMUT).
The first time it happens Caroline is positive she's dreaming. She wakes unwillingly, with a groan and gropes for a blanket, intending to hide under it. Sleep is precious these days, rarely uninterrupted. She'd slept great, feels more rested than she has since she'd moved back to Chicago and she intends to get a few more hours. Unfortunately, when she catches sight of the room, Caroline realizes something is off.
She's barely unpacked her own apartment, and her walls are the nondescript off white all rentals are. This room is painted a familiar rich blue-green, a color that doesn't technically have a name since Klaus hadn't been impressed with the selection offered by the store and they'd ended up mixing up custom pails for him.
She's pretty sure the sales staff had given him a very unflattering nickname.
Caroline hasn't seen or spoken to Klaus in years, not since she'd moved across the country for med school. She might have been thinking about him lately, might have even done a deep Google dive though his social media accounts (and those of all of his siblings and their known associates since Klaus' doesn't bother to update his frequently) when she'd learned she'd been accepted into a residency program at a hospital located just a few blocks from the house Klaus had bought when he'd graduated.
The house Caroline had helped him select. She'd thrown herself into improvement projects in her free time, had painstakingly sanded and stained the kitchen cabinets, spent hours on the intricate tile backsplash. She'd tested and approved furniture, had claimed drawers and closet space and shelves in the bathroom.
In retrospect, paying for a dorm room her last year of college had been a waste.
Choosing paint colors had been an ordeal. It had taken months, the walls covered in swatches while he hemmed and hawed and narrowed down his options. The various shades are lodged in Caroline's brain and being back in Chicago, eating at her old favorite restaurants and rediscovering the city, must be messing with her, causing weirdly vivid dreams.
There's no other logical explanation for why she'd be in Klaus' bedroom. She's waiting until things settle down before she contacts him.
When she hears a door open she's not particularly alarmed, figures her dream is about to get really good. Caroline stretches, rolls to see Klaus walking into the room, mugs of coffee cradled in his hands. Since it's her dream she doesn't bother not ogling him, letting her eyes drift from the stubble shadowing his jaw, over the thin grey t-shirt that clings to his torso, to the black sweats that sit low on his hips.
She shoves the covers down, wonders why she's got a wrinkly scrub shirt on. Usually, when she dreams of Klaus and a bed she's wearing really good lingerie or nothing at all.
Or handcuffs and nothing at all.
He doesn't return her smile, if anything he looks a little perplexed and he stays standing once he sets her mug on the side table.
Wait a minute, that's not her mug.
Her mug had been a gag gift from Kat, pink with swirly text saying, "Let's Play Doctor!" written on it. She'd managed to forget it when she'd packed up her stuff four years ago. The ones Klaus has brought in are plain black, boring and grown up, and not something she remembers him owning.
Caroline sits up slowly, a hand reaching up to smooth out her hair, "Please be a dream," she mutters.
If this is reality, if she'd somehow broken into Klaus' house and climbed into his bed, she's going to die of humiliation. Her name will be in medical journals all over the world. Just not in the way that she's always hoped.
Finally, Klaus cracks a smile. "Afraid not. You made quite an entrance last night."
"Oh noooo," she moans. She knows her face is turning bright red, wants nothing more than to yank the blankets over her head but when she tugs on them she's suddenly very aware of just how bare her legs are.
Klaus sits on the edge of his bed, watching her with amusement he doesn't bother to hide. "There I was, in my living room, idly watching the end of a movie…"
"Alone?" It's probably rude to interrupt but if he'd been with a date or a freaking girlfriend she's going to spontaneously combust.
Klaus lifts his mug to his lips, takes his sweet time swallowing a sip of coffee, "…all by my lonesome, when you wander through my front door. You were a bit frazzled, kicked off your shoes and left your leggings in the middle of my floor. I'll admit I quite enjoyed the view of you climbing the stairs."
Caroline buries her face in her hands, "This is definitely a nightmare. It has to be." Klaus is too warm, too solid, his thigh resting against her calf through the blankets for her desperate wish to be true. Still, Caroline figures there's no harm in a few more seconds of denial.
Klaus' soft laugh has her head whipping up, her eyes narrowing accusingly. Growing up with a sheriff for a mother means she's dying give him a safety lecture. "Why in the world wouldn't you lock your doors? Are you trying to get burgled? Or murdered?"
"The door was locked. It seems you still remember your code. Astonishing, really, given how exhausted you looked."
She wants to ask why in the world her code for the electronic lock would still be valid but that's a topic that'll have to wait for a time when she's better rested.
"Rude," Caroline admonishes. "I just got off a double shift. I was stuck in the emergency room and there was a six car pileup and a serious fire on top of the usual stupid household accidents and feverish children. Excuse me if I didn't take the time to slap on some under eye concealer after I showered off the blood and puke and other assorted fluids and grime."
Had she known she'd be running into an ex she'd obviously have made the effort to look hot.
He's annoyingly unfazed by her rant. He squeezes her knee, "I didn't mean any offense, love. You're beautiful, rested or tired, and it's very good to see you."
Her annoyance dissipates, confusion quick to replace it. "What? What are you… Klaus, come on."
He glances behind him, his brows creeping up. "I'm not sure what you're taking offense with."
"I'm taking offense with you! You can't just… be all charming and flirty and dimpled when I haven't seen you in years and I'm not wearing pants."
His lips press together, he glances down, and she knows he's trying not to laugh at her again. Probably because he knows it would get him smacked in the face with a pillow. "Funny, I seem to remember you rather liked it when I was charming and flirty while you weren't properly dressed."
This conversation is ludicrous and yet, she can't exactly leave. Not with the lack of pants issue that they seem to be stuck on. "That was different. You were my boyfriend."
When he laughs it's knowing, a bit rough, and he holds her eyes steadily as he shifts a little closer. "As I recall it took me a few months to earn the title, hmm?"
Ugh, she hates that he has a point. They'd spent plenty of casual pants-less time together before things had become official. "Not the same thing," Caroline insists despite the fact that she's sure she's losing this argument. "We don't know each other anymore."
"Perhaps. But that's easily remedied. Let me buy you dinner. The next night you have free."
That has her sputtering again, "You want to date me? Again? Just like that?" Of course he's going to mess up her carefully curated 'Get Klaus Back' plan. She has grand gestures planned, damn it.
His shoulder lifts, his shrug casual, "If you'll recall, I wasn't entirely onboard with breaking up."
"You had a job, owned a house. It wasn't fair to ask you to move thousands of miles when I was going to have to put all my time and energy into kicking ass in my classes." It's a rote response, a fight they'd beaten to death years ago.
Klaus argument hasn't changed either, "You weren't asking, I offered. I wanted…" he stops himself, teeth clenching together for a long moment. He takes a deep breath and stands and Caroline might not know what his day-to-day life is like anymore but she remembers the tense set of his shoulders well. His temper's flaring and he's trying to control it. When he speaks again there's something false about the careful evenness of his tone. She's tempted to let a pillow fly just to make him be real again. "There's no real point in rehashing all that, is there? It's the past." He nods to a chair on the corner and Caroline sees a square of black fabric folder on the grey upholstery. "I'll let you get dressed. There's more coffee downstairs, if you'd like."
He leaves the room before she can find the words to stop him.
The second time, she tries to sneak out.
And fails, because Klaus is a freakishly light sleeper.
When the floor creaks she freezes. Klaus finds her poised on her tiptoes outside the guest room door, mentally cursing both her terrible luck and his original hardwood floors. He pops out into the hallway, shirtless and sleepy and so freaking appealing. He takes in her sloppy ponytail, the sweater and the sweats of his she'd filched, and leans against the doorframe. "Fancy meeting you here," he drawls.
"You knew I was here."
"Yes, I certainly had a delightful time explaining the trail of clothing you left in the living room to my brother."
Please let him be talking about Elijah. "Which brother?"
"Kol."
Well, crap.
"Does he know…?"
Klaus doesn't need the rest of her question. "I'm afraid Kol's always been smarter than he looks. The scrubs were a rather obvious tell."
"Maybe you'd developed a very specific type over the last few years," Caroline jokes. "It's totally a thing. Lord knows I get plenty of profession based pick-up lines."
"I'm not surprised. You have a delightful bedside manner."
"Sure do!" she chirps, ignoring the fact that he's clearly not talking about her patient care skills. They're excellent, of course, but he's looking at her like he's considering what she might or might not be wearing underneath her stolen clothes and she needs to get out of here before he makes a move.
Her shift starts in an hour and she's starving, they don't have nearly enough time to properly reacquaint themselves.
"I have to go. Thanks for letting me crash."
He doesn't call her on her word choice – he hadn't let her do anything since apparently he hadn't even been home when she'd helped herself to his bed – and he follows her towards the stairs. "Kol's rather piqued you've been back for a nearly two months and haven't let him know."
Unsurprising since Kol is convinced he exists at the center of the universe. "Is his number still the same?" she asks, once they're downstairs. Klaus nods and Caroline makes a mental note to shoot off a text on her first break. At the end of it, so she'd have an excuse for ignoring whatever pointed and lascivious comments Kol has been storing up about her and Klaus and her presence in Klaus' bed.
It totally isn't what it looks like but Kol will never buy that.
She scoops up her clothes that Klaus had left folded on the coffee table, spots her bag by the door and stuffs them in. "If you really want to sleep in your own bed, you could just delete my access code, you know." Though she's totally taking it as a positive sign that he hasn't. Caroline spins, letting her eyes scan the room, checking that she's collected all her things.
Klaus doesn't seem concerned with her breaking and entering. "I know. Would you like to get dinner again?"
Caroline whirls to face him, "Really? You're not pissed that I got paged back to the hospital and ditched you before dessert?"
He exhales before he answers and she spots a hint of irritation. "I've known what you wanted since we first met, Caroline. I've always known that your chosen profession is demanding. I understand that you're incapable of not doing your very best. None of that has ever bothered me."
"Oh," is all she manages. She studies his expression, measures his sincerity. She hadn't expected a big answer to such a flippant question.
She suspects she'll be thinking about it a lot over the next few days when she's trying to nap in the on call room.
She makes an impulsive offer, "Did you maybe want to grab breakfast? I was going to treat myself to something greasy and potato heavy before my shift starts."
Klaus face softens and he appears pleased. "Let me just go grab a shirt."
She hadn't meant to go back to Klaus'. Certainly hadn't intended to ask him out. At this point she's just screwing up her own plans but, if she's being honest, Caroline can't say she's mad about any of it.
The third time Caroline wakes up in Klaus' bed she knows she's not dreaming. She's also not alone.
She's on her side, has a leg thrown over Klaus, her foot nestled between his knees. His arm is lax between their bodies, her hand is wrapped loosely around his bicep. He stirs when she makes to extricate herself, his hand grabbing for her thigh and keeping her in place.
"I was already sleeping when you came in this time," Klaus murmurs. "Once you were pressed against me the guest bed held little appeal."
She tips her head down, resting her forehead against his shoulder and hiding a smile. Klaus has always been stupid good at compliments and she can't help but be flattered. "What did I say about being charming while I'm not wearing pants?"
His hand drifts a bit higher, his thumb beginning to trace slow circles on her inner thigh. His feigned innocence is not even slightly believable. "You know, I find I can't recall."
She pinches him, gently because she's not actually irritated, and he jerks. She's sure the extra few inches his hand moves upward are purposeful. Caroline's curls her toes, her stomach tightening, as she resists the urge to close the gap between his fingers and the lace of her panties.
Four dinner dates (two of which hadn't even been cut short), a breakfast, a handful of quick lunches at the hospital cafeteria, and a group catch up over drinks, as good as it's all been, does not mean they're officially a thing again.
She's had to toss all her grand plans aside. Avoiding him is impossible when her stupid feet take her to his house when she gets off shift and she's too tired to realize she needs to go in the opposite direction. She doesn't want him to misunderstand what she wants.
Does she want to see him naked again? Yes, of course, as soon as possible. But she wants so much more.
Klaus rolls to face her, his hand settling on her hip. "You're off for the next, what? Four days?"
"Roughly. My next rotation starts at 6 AM on Sunday." It's the first decent stretch off downtime she's gotten since she'd started her program. Caroline's got a giant mental to do list but she suspects many of the tasks will go unchecked off. That she'll devote time to naps and the shows she's got stored on her DVR instead of running boring practical errands.
She'll survive a little longer without coasters or proper wineglasses. It's not like she'll have time for much entertaining in the near future.
"Can I convince you to spend at least one of those days with me?" His fingertips tense, digging into her skin for a moment before he relaxes, a sign that the question costs him something. Caroline can't think of a better use of her time off and she flops onto her back, stretching her arms out as she teases him, "That depends."
"On?" Klaus prompts, and she's not the least bit surprised that he's followed her, remains close underneath the mounds of blankets. He bends his arm, props his head on his hand so he can look down on her, giving her all of his attention.
God, that's always made her want to kiss him.
If morning breath wasn't a thing she totally would.
His grasps the bottom of her shirt, tugging to get her to look at him and Caroline remembers she's got conditions to lay out. "Are you going to eye the frozen meals I'm going to buy at the grocery store disdainfully and complain that the weird teas I like aren't fit to bear the name?" He gets extra huffy when she adds flavored creamers. Caroline's endured some fairly gross beverages all in the name of experimentation and annoying Klaus.
"Probably."
At least he's being honest.
"Will you endure my terrible couch and the HGTV shows I've got taped with only minimal complaints?"
"Can we debate the definition of minimal?"
"Obviously. I like debating."
"Something we have in common. Though perhaps you should consider taping your shows here? My couch isn't terrible."
She turns her head so she can glare playfully, "Don't brag. I ordered mine online. Comfiness is hard to judge through a screen. We tested like forty different options when you bought yours." Scandalizing the salespeople in a store or two in the process.
"I remember those shopping trips fondly."
His hand is still under her shirt, splayed across her abdomen, and the warmth of it, the familiar weight, is a distraction. She forgets to mind her words, "We're a good team."
Klaus goes still and when his lips part, his hand curls over her hip. Caroline knows she's about to find herself under him and, while she wants that, she hadn't planned for it. "Wait!" she squeaks, pressing her fingers to his lips. "We can't."
Klaus looks like he's dying to argue, his head tipping to the side quizzically, "Can't?" he repeats.
"At the moment," Caroline amends. "We need to brush our teeth. I need to shower."
His head dips and his teeth nip at the pad of her index finger. "Your hair was damp when you crawled into bed last night. You must have showered at the hospital."
"I did but I didn't…"
This time, Klaus needs things spelled out for him and Caroline sighs, closes her eyes as a twinge of embarrassment fills her. "I've been busy. And I haven't had any… company in months."
"The first I knew. The second I've suspected and I'm rather pleased to have confirmed. I'm still confused as to why we can't enjoy each other's company right now."
She's just going to skip over the chest beating alpha male nonsense there. "Because morning breath. And I need to do a little maintenance."
"In the shower," Klaus says, slow, like he's still not getting it.
Men. So dense.
Caroline figures she might as well spell things out if she wants to actually have sex today. And she really does. "I need to shave, Klaus."
His eyes widen in understanding though he quickly grows incredulous. She sucks in a shocked breath as his hand slips down, between her thighs, stroking over her panties. Her legs slam shut but she's too late and she only presses his hand tighter against her. Klaus drops down, kisses her shoulder and Caroline bites back a moan as his fingers shift against her folds, trying to get free. His other arm slips under her, hauling her into the line of his body and she can feel his words against her throat. "I don't care, Caroline. At all. Can I touch you?" His mouth brushes her skin, his tongue darting out to taste and Caroline shudders, her tense muscles relaxing around his questing hand.
"It'll take like fifteen minutes, tops," she protests.
"Too long," Klaus rasps. He presses, finds her clit through the fabric and rubs his fingers over it. Caroline moans, her thighs spreading. "It's already been four years. Let me touch you."
He raises some excellent points.
She lifts her hips when he makes to tug her panties down, kicks them off the rest of the way. He strokes over her gently, past the wiry curls that she'd wanted to remove. There's no hesitation, no hint that he's turned off, and Klaus groans when he spreads her folds, finding her slick. He drags the wetness to her clit, painting slow circles. "Look at me," he urges, and Caroline twists her head until they're nose to nose. There's not a lot of light in the room but he's close enough that it doesn't matter. His eyes are dark, wanting, drinking in her reactions. "Haven't you missed this? Too much to wait?"
He slides two fingers into her as he asks and Caroline's breath leaves her in a gasp. She bends a knee, plants her foot flat on the bed so she can grind up into his hand. He stills, leaves his fingers buried deep inside of her, but doesn't try to stop her writhing and it takes Caroline a second to remember his question. "I've missed this," she finally manages. "I've missed…"
Klaus moves, throwing the blankets aside, shifting until he kneels between her legs. He pulls his hand from her pussy and Caroline whines at the loss, hips twitching up. He grabs her waist, his forearms holding her legs open. He looks down and she squeezes her eyes shut, another small flash of awkwardness nagging at her. "Eyes open," he snaps and Caroline blinks up at him. "Tell me what you've missed, sweetheart."
She squirms, swallows hard, "God, I've missed so much."
"Me?" he asks. "Or have you just missed the way I touch you? How wet you get for me?" His hands slide down, his thumbs coming to rest at the crease of her thighs. He keeps his caresses idle, toying with her. She moans because she just needs them to move a bit more.
"Klaus," she pleads, rocking as much as she can in his hold.
He shakes his head in feigned disappointment and then he moves, his lips coming to land on her throat. She arches up when his mouth slides along the neckline of her tank top. He manages to tug it down enough to free one of her breasts and her hand finds his hair when he sucks her nipple into his mouth. He uses his teeth until it's a stiff point and Caroline shudders when he pulls back and blows a stream of air across her wet flesh. He closes his mouth over the fabric that covers her other breast and the sensation, dulled through the thin fabric, is such a tease.
"I've missed this," he says, hoarser than before, his head resting on her stomach. "Your skin under my hands, the way your muscles tense and twitch with need. Leaving you alone, sleeping in my bed, smelling you on my sheets after, has been torturous."
"I'm sorry," she gasps. "I didn't mean…"
Klaus shakes his head, impatient, a little angry. He moves rapidly, laying on his stomach between her thighs. He uses his thumbs to part her folds and Caroline shouts when he licks her, forgets to her self-consciousness when his lips close over her clit. He sucks harshly, tongue flicking. She makes a desperate noise, her head digging into the pillow as the first tremors of an orgasm shake through her. He pulls back too soon for her to come, leaving her panting.
"Don't be sorry," Klaus mutters, his cheek dragging over her thigh. The words are so quiet Caroline's not sure if she's meant to hear them. "Mean it."
As far gone as she is, as loud as her body screams for more, Caroline makes herself push him away. Klaus stiffens, tries to roll from the bed, but Caroline throws herself after him. She knows if he goes he won't come back. She's too shaky to be graceful, ends up flopped half on top of him. She grabs his shoulders, presses them down.
For all his overtures, his careful attempts to invite her back into his life, he's never been so open, honest. Has never let her know how easily she can hurt him.
How much she had hurt him.
"I didn't call you," she gasps.
Klaus flinches, she feels it where they're pressed together and she scrambles to continue. "Wait, just let me…" Caroline heaves herself up, anxious until he turns wary eyes back to her. "I didn't call you because I thought that would be weird. To be like, 'Hey, I know I'm the one that left but I haven't felt anything even close to what I felt for you in all the years I was gone and maybe we could see if we still fit.' And because I was scared that you had fallen hard for someone else and I'd lost any chance with you. But I had a plan. It might have involved some low key stalking but I figured, given your slight creeper tendencies, that you wouldn't mind."
A faint smile curls his lips and Caroline's relieved he's no longer trying to get away from her. "I maintain that the sketches I have of you sleeping are not creepy."
Caroline grins, dips her head to drop a kiss on his throat. "We can argue about that later."
His hands lift, spread over her back. Caroline wills herself not to wander off topic even though his cock, distractingly firm, is pressing against her stomach. "Explain your plan, love."
"I planned to see if you still hung out at the same bars, or find the ones you hang out at now, and engineer a casual meeting. I'd be wearing something that makes my boobs look great, my hair would actually be brushed, and I'd be able to figure out if you were still into me. I just wanted to get my work life settled a little bit first because I didn't want to have to be flakey, for you to think you weren't important. But then Tired Me just wandered in and stripped."
"I quite like Tired Caroline. She's very direct."
His hand is now brushing the curve of her ass and she knows the gleam in his eye well. He's about to flip her, will have his mouth between her thighs in under thirty seconds but another plan occurs to Caroline.
This one she can make work.
She pushes herself up, straddles Klaus' hips, and strips off her shirt.
Step one, be the distraction, complete.
Caroline catches his hands before he can touch her, "For the record, I missed you. Sleeping next to you, arguing over dumb things, cooking together, putting together furniture, the sex stuff, all of it. I missed the life I had with you. I want it back."
He sits up, bands his arm around her back until they're pressed skin to skin and sinks his hand into her hair. He kisses her deeply, frantically, until they're struggling for breath but still reluctant to pull away. His lips are redder, swollen, when she leans back enough to look at him. A single word rumbles out of him, a wealth of satisfaction in it, "Good."
She grins, giddy with pleasure and anticipation, her hands fumbling for his waistband. She gets it down and wraps her hand around his cock, relishes the hiss rushed out from between his clenched teeth when she strokes him. She bites at his shoulder, "Does that mean I can have it back?" Caroline lifts up on her knees, she fits the head of him to where she's dripping. "You. The closet space, half the medicine cabinet, my favorite mug?" Klaus groans when she sinks down, his hands gripping her tightly when their hips press together.
When Caroline starts to move, lifting up achingly slowly despite his hands urging her to move, Klaus is quick to tell her she can have whatever she wants.