"Hmm, you and I clearly remember those events very differently, Niklaus. It was obviously I who solved that ordeal, as per usual." Elijah grumbles, shooting Niklaus an exasperated look.
Elijah, Niklaus, and Amara had found their way to the couch, none of them ready for bed. The two sleeping Originals in her bedroom had claimed her bed, sprawling themselves onto it, forcing Amara to join the remaining two brothers, which they of course didn't mind.
Within no time, Niklaus had pressed a cup of coffee in her hand and Elijah had herded her to the couch. Both were eager to get some alone time with their mate. Elijah and Niklaus had both grown exasperated over Amara's denial and efforts to act normal in this very abnormal situation. They simply wanted to prove to the human that being with them, in their presence and in a relationship, wasn't as awful as she originally believed.
"On the contrary, Elijah. I believe it was me who saved the day and you who had been sulking in your study." Niklaus replies.
"You keep telling yourself that, brother. I am more than willing to travel to France to prove myself right." Elijah takes on a self-righteous expression. He and Niklaus often held discussions regarding their past triumphs, and it was not the first time they had traveled across the globe just to settle an argument. Of course, they would first need to get back to their universe, but once they were, he would once again prove Niklaus wrong.
"You guys are insane. Am I seriously witnessing an Original pissing contest?" Amara lets out a hearty laugh, not believing she had to deal with thousand-year-olds, who all seemed to have a very easily bruised ego.
"Yes, you are, love. The first of many." Niklaus supplies.
"Thanks for the heads-up." Amara laughs, slapping her hand on Niklaus's chest before realizing what she was doing. Her laughter dies down, and she stares at her hand for a moment, which was still placed on the hybrid's chest. She was frozen, feeling the warmth radiating through his shirt. "Oh fuck."
"What is wrong, Amara?" Elijah shares a look with Niklaus before dropping his gaze back to his mate, worried. Amara's expression now seemed close to upset.
"You sneaky bastards." Amara mutters while pulling her hand back, frowning at the floor. She hadn't even noticed how comfortable she had become with the Mikaelsons, and how she had secretly appreciated their presence and attentiveness.
"I assume you're talking about us and let me just say that's not very nice." Elijah remarks while folding his arms in front of his chest, clearly offended. The only bastard here is Niklaus.
"You tricked me." Amara groans, letting her head flop back into the couch cushions. "You tricked me into liking you." She lets out a disbelieving scoff, oh how the mighty have fallen. Amara hadn't wanted to curse out loud or explain herself, but wine tended to make her loose-lipped.
"That's a good thing, right?" Niklaus asks tentatively. His mate confused him, her tone was accusing, but she had a somewhat pleased little smile on her face, which made her even more pretty in Niklaus's opinion.
"I don't know." Amara replies earnestly, lifting her gaze to the ceiling and decidedly ignoring the arm Elijah wraps around her. She might have leaned a little into Elijah's warmth, but that was not something she would ever admit.
Amara lets out a sigh and shakes her head in disbelief before speaking the words she had dreaded. "Fine. You said something on the night we met about… you-know-what. Will you explain it to me? Please?"
Elijah refrains himself from smirking upon seeing Amara's tortured expression, especially the 'please' that seemed to hurt her. He contemplates briefly if he should make her work for it a little, to make up for their unpleasant first meeting, but he quickly rejects the idea.
Although his mate had been quite rude, stubborn, and blunt, he appreciated those qualities in her. She was a little rough around the edges. No, his mate would never have to beg for anything or ever be dissatisfied, he would make sure of that. "We would like nothing more, dearest."
"In our universe, the one you know from the television show you're so fond of." Niklaus teases, chuckling when he sees Amara's unamused expression. He knew he was in unfamiliar territory with his mate and decided to test the unspoken limits a little and grabs hold of Amara's hand. To his surprise, she doesn't pull back. "We are all assigned soulmates, people who complete us. Our other half."
"Do you mean like significant others?" Amara mumbles, not wanting to sound ignorant. Jane had told her before about how she had sometimes felt an instant click with someone.
"Soulmates are more… intense." Elijah replies. "Let me put it differently. We are intent on doing all we can to ensure your safety and your happiness. You are our main priority, and we would sacrifice everything, including our lives, for you."
"That's a lot of commitment towards someone you just met." Amara remarks dryly, uncertain what else would be appropriate to reply when someone declares they would sacrifice their lives for you.
"It is. But you are the one for us, forever." Niklaus declares, softly squeezing Amara's hand. He needed his mate to understand their sincerity.
"This starts to sound a little too much like wedding vows." Amara blurts out. She had swallowed upon meeting the hybrid's eye and had quickly looked away, unable to look him in the eye. All this was intimidating for her. The idea of being appreciated and being enough for someone was unfamiliar to Amara, and she was rightfully a little skeptical.
"Soulmates are more permanent than spouses. You cannot divorce your way out of a soulmate bond." Elijah hums. He hoped this didn't sound like a threat to his mate. If his mate was truly unhappy with them, he would respect her decision. Elijah couldn't speak for his brothers, but he would keep to his promise of ensuring his mate's happiness, even if that wasn't with them.
"So, you have absolutely no say in if you want to spend the rest of your life with one person." Amara can't help but sound a little crestfallen. In her opinion, she wasn't exactly a top prize, and she would understand if the Mikaelsons had hoped for someone else, a better and more powerful person.
"It has happened that soulmates rejected one another, but it is very rare. We, the supernatural community, hold soulmates in very high esteem. Most of us are beyond ecstatic to have found our mate." Elijah replies.
Niklaus looks at Amara, who was being uncharacteristically meek. He could reason she was fatigued, but he believed there was something else behind it. He recognized that look, it was uncertainty. The hybrid frowns, his mate was insecure, perhaps she was worried she could not live up to their expectations. He recognized the fear of not fitting in or being accepted. "We want you, Amara. No one else." Niklaus promises.
Amara swallows. Her gaze was now fixed on a magazine that was placed on the table in front of her. She didn't recognize the people on the cover, Rebekah must have bought it. She wonders briefly if Jane was having a good time with the blonde Original. Communication and commitment seemed to come easy to those two, and Amara did her best to suppress the feeling of jealousy that bubbled up. "What exactly does this entail for me? For Jane. What do we- what do I need to do?"
"You don't need to do anything you do not wish to." Niklaus says firmly, wanting his mate to know they wouldn't force anything she wasn't ready for. "For now, we just want to get to know you. As a human, you do not experience the heightened emotions we do. We feel the bond strongly, and you will too once we… complete our bond. After that, it is a matter of following instinct, our happily ever after." Niklaus explains while waving his free hand around, making airily gestures.
"And how is that going to happen? Are we to dance around in a meadow under a full moon?" Amara raises a skeptical brow, but she couldn't keep a straight face at the mental image of the big and strong Mikaelson men skipping around in long white dresses while wearing flower crowns on their heads.
"No. We copulate and-"
"You mean fuck?" Amara raises an eyebrow, not at all impressed with Elijah's fancy words. Perhaps the man and Jane could hold a competition. Elijah would of course win, but she was curious about what Jane would come up with.
"Yes." Niklaus nods. There was no use in beating around the bush with this one.
Amara flushes at the idea of having sex with the four Mikaelson men. They were gorgeous and probably had centuries of experience. It was silly, but she had her doubts about being able to foresee in their needs.
"What will I feel when the bond is completed?" Amara was never very comfortable asking questions, not wanting to bother others with her lack of knowledge, but seeing as she couldn't exactly google this stuff, and it was about her future, she felt less bad for firing question after question.
"That's hard to say, we cannot answer that exactly." Niklaus bites back a huff. He was a little annoyed with himself for not being able to provide Amara with the desired information. His mate deserved all the reassurance she needed.
Amara feels a little bad for Niklaus and tries a different approach. "What do you feel right now?" She hoped to form some idea of what her future might look like. She'd rather not become a love-sick woman who can only think and talk about her soulmates, seeing as that sounded awfully tiring. Amara blinks, she had just unconsciously referred to the Mikaelson men as her soulmates in her head. This alarmed her a little.
"Pleased." Elijah replies honestly after a moment's thought. "I feel incredibly pleased and content to be near you like this. To talk of the soulmate bond with you." He hesitates before continuing. He didn't want to scare his mate with the severity of his desire for her, but downplaying it also didn't seem fair. "Besides that, there is an underlying desire to protect you and an urge to… possess you. I'm aware we can't actually possess you, but that's simply our supernatural nature."
Amara nods a little, not as repulsed by the idea as she initially thought. She wanted to belong with someone and trusted the Mikaelson men enough not to treat her like an object. If they wanted, they would have done so already.
Elijah manages a small smile upon seeing Amara's thoughtful expression. He had decided to leave out the fact that he right now was mostly craving to touch her further. To claim his mate right then and there, the urge to complete their bond stronger than all else. This strong impulse was often the reason soulmates bonded close upon meeting. He was surprised his sister hadn't already bonded with Jane; Rebekah was not usually known for her restraint. But perhaps it was the same for her as it were for him, their mate's safety and wishes were more important than their baser desires.
This restraint was a good thing, seeing as Amara would have probably kicked them out if any of them had attempted to bed her the second they met her.
"Wait, the whole feeling thing, is that why Kol was all weepy and touchy?" Amara asks, feeling a little bad for the vampire she had rejected so easily. Of course, she had the right to refuse someone, especially if that someone she had just met had the nerve to make some weird claim on her, but now that she started to get to know them better, she was able to sympathize with them. She hadn't been easy on them.
"Yes." Niklaus grins, making a mental note to pester Kol with this description later on.