Notes: Thanks so much for the reviews! This one was from last weekend too but I was too busy this week to clean it up and post. Enjoy!
Pour Us Together
(Writer's Month Day Three. Setting Prompt – Coffee Shop AU. Based on a vague TATBILB idea I had awhile back. Rated K+)
Three weeks into the fall semester and Klaus' Saturday routine, the one he'd started over the summer holidays, remains mostly unchanged. He's brought his textbooks to the cafe instead of his sketchbook but he's in his usual seat, paying more attention to Caroline Forbes than to his notes on the transition from Renaissance Classicism to Mannerism and the Baroque.
He'd stumbled into this place early in the summer. Going home after his first year at Whitmore hadn't been an option. Klaus had neither the funds nor the desire to see his parents and he'd been certain his father felt much the same. He'd found work instead, a patchwork collection of part time jobs that would cover his bills and allow him to save up some extra spending money. Elijah had been generous but Klaus loathed having to call his brother and ask for money.
The room he he'd been renting had been cheap and convenient but the house often noisy. He'd spotted the coffee shop while driving to work early one morning, had stopped by a few evenings later and found that it was the kind of place where one could linger.
Something Klaus had done an awful lot of, particularly when a certain blonde barista was manning the counter.
This morning, there aren't a lot of customers and no one's particularly high maintenance. Caroline's not really the sort to lean and relax, however so she's by the window, scrubbing away some grime that Klaus suspects had been left behind by small, sticky fingertips.
Caroline's coworker does not share her work ethic and is currently bent over the counter, her attention focused on her phone.
Klaus notices when the cloth drops from Caroline's hands, grows concerned when she straightens abruptly, her attention caught by something outside as her expression clouds over with dread. He's fairly certain that her lips form an impolite word but a quick glance over her shoulder has Caroline swallowing it.
He doesn't have time to look away and feign interest in something else before she's catching his eye.
Luckily, Caroline doesn't seem at all displeased to find Klaus observing her. In fact she smiles, an edge of something Klaus would name as calculation to the curve of her lips. "April?" she calls. "I'm taking a ten minute break."
Klaus finds he's very intrigued.
She weaves her way around the tables, heading in his direction, her hands absently smoothing her skirt and straightening her lemon yellow cardigan. She's still smiling when she sits across from him and she doesn't bother with pleasantries. "I need a favor. And I know that's weird because the barista/customer relationship isn't really one where favors are a thing."
"What sort of favor?" Klaus asks. He's willing, obviously, since Caroline's the main reason he frequents this café. But he's also not one to ignore a situation that can be used to his advantage. He needs a portrait model for a midterm project and he's already sketched Caroline dozens of times.
He's certain they can come to a mutually beneficial arrangement. One that has the added benefit of allowing him to spend time with her outside of her working hours.
"Cliff notes version: they guy who broke up with me at the end of junior year and then had the nerve to try and get back with me at the beginning of this year, after I saw him on Instagram all over like twenty different girls while he was in Europe with his dad over the summer, is about to come in."
"That's… a great deal of information." All delivered at a rapid clip. It does clear something up for him, however. Early on, when he'd first started visiting the café, he'd seen Caroline fend off plenty of flirtations, with increasing levels of irritation. It's why he's been careful not to cross any lines or make his interest in her known. He'd guessed that she just didn't want to be bothered while she was working but it seems there'd been another more complicated factor.
"I turned him down, obviously. And now he's determined to shove his tongue down the throat of all the worst girls on my squad directly in front of me. He doesn't even like coffee."
If they had more time Klaus would make his opinions known. "And you'd like me too…"
"Pretend to be my boyfriend. And like you're super-hot for me."
Hardly a chore. Klaus shifts, sliding from his chair to the one next to Caroline. He's got his back to the door now and he leans in, tugging gently on a curl that's escaped her neat ponytail. She doesn't shy away from him at all and Klaus takes that as a good sign. "I can do that," he tells her. Then, he rests his hand on her knee, watching her face carefully. "Is this okay?"
She nods immediately and he scoots closer, encouraging her to lift her leg so it's resting over his knee, tangling their legs together. Caroline's brows rise and she's grinning, sly like they share a secret. "Ooooh, you're good."
He traces a circle over her skin, careful not to going higher than her kneecap, "Thank you, love," Klaus murmurs. "May I ask you a question?"
"It'd be kind of rude if I said no, wouldn't it?"
The bells over the café's door jingle. Neither Klaus nor Caroline look to see who's entered. She steals the fork he'd put down when she'd come over, helping herself to a bite of his pie, watching him expectantly. "Are you heartbroken?" Klaus asks. "Still pining?"
She snorts, genuinely offended. "Ew, no. I was over him by the 4th of July."
"So you're not trying to make him jealous?"
"Nope, I'm trying to make him leave me alone. He won't listen to me when I tell him I'm not interested. I figure a blow to his ego might do the trick. Hence why we're ignoring his existence right now."
Again, not a difficult task.
"Well, now that we've broken the rule about favors between baristas and customers perhaps you'd be willing to do one for me."
A hint of suspicion narrows Caroline's blue eyes but she doesn't move away. "Maybe. What kind of favor?"
"I'm an Art major…"
"At Whitmore, I know." They'd had a few casual conversations over the summer, Klaus is encouraged that she recalls some of the details he'd shared.
"I have to paint a portrait for a class this semester. Would you be willing to sit for me?"
She considers him, his offer, silent for a long moment. "What kind of portrait? I'll be eighteen in October but my mother's the sheriff of Mystic Falls and she would definitely call in favors with her law enforcement buddies in Whitmore and the highway patrol if she found out I was letting some guy paint me naked."
"A fully clothed portrait," Klaus clarifies.
A not so helpful part of his brain catalogues the fact that Caroline doesn't seem unwilling to be painted nude. He's certain he'll think about it extensively. Later. His dorm room is tiny but blissfully private.
"Shoulders up, really. You can wear anything you'd like."
Caroline's quick to agree, "I can do that. I'd give you my number but I am pretty sure I feel beady little eyes watching us and I don't want to shatter the illusion that we're already a thing."
"I don't have any pressing plans. I'm sure we can wait him out."
The bells signaling incoming customers trill out and Caroline glances over, sees rather large family stream in. She sighs and sits up, getting to her feet. "I'll bring you another coffee in a bit. My treat."
Klaus doesn't usually allow himself to linger much beyond midday on a Saturday but today he makes an exception. Caroline doesn't seem to mind, stopping by to chat during lulls, sitting across from him during her lunch break and paging through his textbook.
He asks her if she'd like to get dinner once her shift is over. She says she's tired but before he can offer an alternate date she asks how he feels about pizza.
"Doesn't everyone like pizza?" Klaus asks.
He spends the evening on her couch, gets to know more about her, her family, what she's planning to do when she graduates next June.
Caroline steps into him when they're finished loading the dishwasher, eyes excited and lips dampened. Klaus is excellent at taking a hint.
The good sheriff arrives home earlier than expected and he and Caroline have to scramble to make themselves presentable when they hear the rattle of a heavy ring of keys hit the hallway table.
It's only later, when he's driving home, that Klaus realizes his shirt's on inside out.