"Do you like it, love?" Niklaus asks. He steps closer to Luna, who had been standing motionless in front of one of the paintings for fifteen minutes.
Luna turns slowly towards Niklaus. Niklaus swallows when he sees tears in Luna's eyes.
"I love it." Luna replies, blinking away the tears that threatened to spill out of her eyes. It was surreal for her to stand in front of the famous painting, without being in a museum.
Niklaus remembers how offended Luna had been when Rebekah threw a vase at this painting in the show. "We can hang it in your bedroom if you want." Niklaus offers shyly, not liking to see his mate cry, even if they were happy tears. He grasps Luna's hand, hoping to offer some form of comfort.
Luna looks at their entwined fingers and shakes her head. "No thank you, this painting looks beautiful here." Luna leans against Niklaus while she continues to admire the painting. She wonders if she could ever be this casual towards things like world-famous paintings. 'Living as long as Niklaus had, your perception of value would surely change' she reasons.
Niklaus simply nods and wraps his arm around Luna, pulling her closer. He pushes his face in the crook of her neck, nose nudging against her throat. He rumbles contentedly, enjoying his mate's scent.
Luna tilts her head automatically, appreciating his gentle nosing.
"Nik, stop inhaling your mate!" Rebekah snaps.
She had watched the gooey spectacle, seen the loving glances and gentle touches. She kind of thought it was cute, not that she would ever admit that.
Luna turns around in Niklaus's hold to gaze over his shoulder at the blonde. "What's wrong Bekah? Can't handle seeing me with another man?" Luna teases, untangling herself from Niklaus's hold, ignoring his protest.
"Yes, the sight of you with another person pains me deeply." Rebekah deadpans. "Now give me your phone number."
"You plan on sending me dirty pictures?" Luna asks, smirking at the blonde, wagging her eyebrows suggestively.
"Of course, we can make a scrapbook of our favorites and give it to our grandchildren, to scar them for life." Rebekah jokes, grinning at her friend.
"Bekah! Did you just..flirt back?" Luna asks, dramatically placing a hand on her chest. "You naughty girl, I'm taken." Luna winks at the blonde to let her know she would happily date the blonde if the Mikaelson men were to suddenly disappear one day.
"I'm right here!" Niklaus growls, looking incredulous at his mate and his sister.
"Hush Nik, I've been waiting on this for days." Luna slaps her hand in front of Niklaus' mouth to stop further protests.
Niklaus turns his gaze to Elijah while making big hand gestures, non-verbally communicating his indignation towards the situation.
Elijah simply shrugs, already used to Luna's flirtatious behavior towards his sister.
Luna suddenly frowns, remembering that her smartphone didn't work in this universe. "I don't have a phone anymore."
As soon as Luna said that, Elijah reaches inside his pocket, retrieving a brand new phone. He hands it to his sister, who immediately starts to push various buttons.
Luna walks over to the couch opposite the blonde, taking a seat beside Elijah. "Are you like...maffia?" Luna asks carefully while eyeing Elijah's suit as if expecting ten more phones to appear along with a few guns.
"No, I picked it up for you this afternoon." Elijah explains, grinning delightedly at Luna's intrigued expression.
"Here you go. All of our numbers are in there." Rebekah hands the phone Luna.
"Thanks"
"This way you can call me when you are left, alone, in an alley, by my moronic brothers." Rebekah snarks, glaring at Kol and Elijah. As soon as Luna had gone to bed she would give her brothers the sermon of her life. What did they think, putting Luna in such danger? Luna could have easily been abducted from the alley and none of her brothers would have even noticed. For men who claimed to always protect their mate, they were pretty inadequate at it.
Elijah scowls at his sister's snark. He was also not happy with how the evening had turned out. If they weren't in such a hurry, he would have dropped Luna off at home first.
Kol pouts and fidgets with the bloodstain on his sweater, he did not want to admit that he might have indeed endangered his mate.
"I forgot how much phones suck in 2010." Luna complains, cringing at the outdated model. She didn't pay any attention to the men who just had their egos bruised, too enraptured in the poor technology their current universe offered.
While Luna is tapping away, trying to make sense of the device, Niklaus walks in, laying his collection of silver daggers on the table, lastly placing the little jar of white oak ash beside them.
A tense silence falls over them.
Finn looks at the daggers with a distressed look. These weapons, in combination with his brother, were the reason for his long imprisonment. He winces slightly at the thought of his casket, which was still residing in his house. The fear that Niklaus might change his mind and dagger him again looms over Finn.
Rebekah also pales slightly at the sight of the daggers. Although Niklaus would never put her away as long as Finn or Kol, it remained an unpleasant experience.
Kol looks suspiciously at Niklaus, afraid that Niklaus would suddenly jump up to stab them all. He wouldn't put it above his brother to do such a thing, 'That way he could have Luna to himself' Kol thought bitterly.
Elijah coughs uncomfortably as he takes off his tie. Guilt washes over him, he had contributed often enough to the suffering of his siblings. Like his brother, he had used the daggers as an easy way to restrain them.
"Nik, this is the last white oak you have, right?" Luna asks, breaking the silence. Luna grabs the little jar and looks interestedly at the contents. The ash inside it held enough power to make four grown-ups wince.
"Yes, love." Niklaus replies, voice hoarse. He hated the sight of the daggers, the weapons he had used against his siblings. He resented the fact that he had depended on these weapons just because he didn't want to trust his siblings.
"So besides the ashes Damon has, these are the last ashes in the world that can be used to put an Original to sleep?" Luna asks.
"Yes."
Luna nods in understanding before standing up, making her way towards the kitchen, still holding the jar.
"Where are you going, my love?" Finna asks, eyeing his mate apprehensively.
"Just getting some water." Luna turns around to give the Mikaelsons an innocent smile.
Kol stares at Luna for a moment before also standing up, curiously following his mate. He is swiftly followed by his other siblings, all of them huddled around the kitchen island, looking interestedly at Luna.
Luna grabs a glass from one of the cupboards, the little jar placed close to the sink. "Oh, whoops." Luna deadpans as she drops the opened jar in the sink.
"Elskan?" Elijah asks, not sure what Luna was playing at. He glances briefly at Niklaus, wanting to gauge his reaction to the potential loss of the ashes.
Niklaus only stares, one eyebrow lifted. Waiting with bated breath to see what his mate would do next.
Luna proceeds to turn the tap on, not even bothering to hold her glass under it.
"Jeez-Dang it. My hand shot out." Luna clears her throat as she sees the ashes disappearing in the drain, hand still resting on the faucet.
Luna makes a disapproving noise, shaking her head. "I'm just so clumsy." She admits, smirking at the Mikaelsons who were staring dumbfounded at her.
Rebekah chuckles and shakes her head, this was also a way to get rid of the troublesome ash.
Finn grins amusedly, relief flooding through him.
"What do we do now?" Kol asks, watching his mate rummaging through the cupboards.
"I propose we hold a little bonfire, do some therapeutic casket burning, and move on." Luna suggests, turning around, holding a bottle of bourbon and a bag of marshmallows.
• • •
"So long! Bitch-ass coffin!" Kol shouts, followed by a sound that was supposed to resemble a primal cry.
"Two fires in one day!" Rebekah cheers, throwing random pieces of her wrecked casket in the fire
Finn and Elijah don't scream as much as their younger siblings but seem overjoyed anyway.
The burning of their caskets was liberating, the beginning of a new chapter.
Niklaus had simply watched his siblings go about their work with the caskets in an exuberant and cheerful manner. He had rolled his eyes good-naturedly at Kol's eccentric use of the English language.
"Yeah, you're stuck with them now." Luna teases, hugging Niklaus from behind. She knew this wasn't easy for him.
"The Salvatores still have some white oak, there's still hope." Niklaus jokes, reaching behind him to tickle his mate.
"Don't worry, we'll get it soon enough." Luna promises, gazing lovingly at the elated Mikaelson siblings.
• • •
"You look grumpy, you should get laid," Luna offers after watching Rebekah pace like a caged animal for the past ten minutes. "That's what usually helps in the show." She shrugs, lobbing one of the pillows at her friend, trying to gain her attention.
"No, I do not need to 'get laid'. I need to have some fun." Rebekah hisses annoyed.
"I am fun!" Luna defends, narrowing her eyes at the blonde. "And you just burned your casket, that was fun! Right?"
"You're not fun, you're reading. We should go out! Celebrating the fact Nik can never put me in a timeout again!" Rebekah cheers, already disappearing into Luna's closet.
"I'm not sure if your brothers will agree with us going out." Luna comments, wincing as she sees Rebekah tossing the contents of her closet on the floor with newfound purpose.
"Who says they need to know?" Rebekah pops her head out of the closet, grinning mischievously at her friend.
• • •
"Where are you girls going?" Niklaus asks, seeing his sister and his mate walking towards the front door. He takes in their appearances with narrowed eyes. They were both in relatively short dresses, glitter clearly visible on their faces.
Luna freezes in her movements and turns slowly towards Niklaus, an innocent smile on her bright red lips. "Beks and I are going to... get some milk." Luna replies, trying to control her voice so it wouldn't go into a weird pitch like it normally did when she lied.
"Milk?" Niklaus looks at his mate in disbelief and folds his arms over his chest.
At the sound of the conversation, the other three brothers also join the hallway.
"Yes, I was going to make cookies and there's absolutely no milk."
At this Finn speeds away, reappearing a second later. "Are you sure about that, my love?" Finn asks, looking quite unimpressed while holding up two cartons of milk.
Luna hears Rebekah snicker from beside her. "Did I say milk? I meant-flour?" Luna tries, looking at her friend for help.
"You were trying to sneak out!" Kol accuses, narrowing his eyes at the girls.
"Yes, we're going out." Rebekah admits, tired of Luna's terrible performance.
"Dressed like that? Absolutely not! Go change Luna." Niklaus orders, pointing at the staircase.
"This again?! But...Bekah wears the same!" Luna pouts.
"Rebekah is a thousand-year-old vampire who can protect herself." Elijah comments.
Rebekah smiles smugly at Luna, happy that her brothers were less controlling over her now that they had a mate to fuss over.
"So can I..." Luna mumbles, glancing briefly at the baseball bat which was still on the carpet where she had dropped it earlier.
Niklaus follows Luna's gaze. "You will not bring a bat!"
"Tsk, I wasn't even going to suggest that." Luna grumbles. She scoffs in a dramatic manner to let them know that was definitely not her plan. "Judgy" She mutters.
• • •
"Lighten up Nik, you're the one who wanted to chaperone us!" Rebekah shouts over the blaring music. "Even Finn is enjoying himself!"
Luna turns around to see Kol doing some ridiculous dance move in the middle of the room, waving his arms around like a windmill. Luna is relieved that he hadn't jumped on top of the bar.
Beside him is Finn, who is awkwardly shuffling his feet to the beat while fumbling with the pink parasol in his cocktail.
Elijah is seated at one of the bar stools, looking disturbed at the colorful contents of his glass. Luna had advised him not to wear a ten thousand dollar suit in a nightclub, but he had dismissed that advice. He was dangerously confident in the hygiene of said nightclub.
Niklaus had been grumpily hovering around Luna, glowering menacingly at any man who would even dare to look his mate.
"Try this!" Luna shouts, handing Niklaus a shot glass filled with a colorful liquid. She had no idea what was in it, but it was pink and tasted like peaches. She was sure the hybrid would have more fun in the club if he got a little tipsy.
Niklaus reluctantly grabs the glass from her hold and tips it back, grimacing at the sourness of it.
Luna walks over to Elijah, tugging him at his tie to get him on the dancefloor.
He reluctantly obliges, grabbing hold of Luna's waist, while moving from one foot to the other.
"Are you seriously trying to slow dance with me?" Luna deadpans, giggling at his stiff attitude.
"I do not 'twerk', Elskan." Elijah rumbles in her ear. He nips teasingly at her jaw. Luna chuckles at the mere thought of Elijah going crazy on the dancefloor.
"I do!" Rebekah shouts. She then proceeds to make multiple awkward movements with her body, which didn't even come close to the dance move she had in mind.
In Luna's universe, Luna had shown the dance move to Rebekah after Rebekah saw it on TV. Unfortunately, they were caught in the middle of a tutorial video by the Mikaelson men, who then made fun of them for their terrible dancing skills.
Luna is about to grab her phone to capture this moment for future progeny when she sees a random guy approaching Rebekah.
Rebekah doesn't care about the man until he suddenly touches her. Rebekah whirls around and punches him in the face. This act of violence is then followed by a whole string of curse words Luna had never even heard of.
"Please, marry me!" Luna laughs loudly, watching the man retreat looking thoroughly embarrassed.
Niklaus scoffs, his mate called his timing bad when he proposed to her, but she thinks proposing in a nightclub is appropriate? Okay, he hadn't asked her, it was more of a statement, but still.
"No?" Rebekah asks, making her way towards the bar with Luna and Elijah.
"Why not?" Luna asks, sincerely curious for Rebekah's answer.
"You're already dating my brothers." Rebekah points out, rolling her eyes at Elijah's scowl.
"Is that your only objection?" Luna asks. "Because, they're just my soulmates, no biggie. They will understand" She teases, followed by a groan as Niklaus pinches her waist in a warning manner.
"You're such a disaster." Rebekah deadpans, handing Luna another shot.
"And you like it." Luna giggles before downing the drink.
• • •
"Guys, let's go home." Rebekah calls after three more hours of dancing and drinking. Her feet were killing her and she was getting tired of insulting random guys who couldn't keep their hands to themselves.
"Kol sweetie... are you coming-" Luna starts, approaching the two youngest brothers who were seated at the bar. She gently places her hand on Kol's shoulder trying to gain his attention.
"Hey hey! No-lady! I am taken! Shoo. Back off!" Kol shouts, slapping Luna's hand away.
Luna blinks dumbfounded at her mate, not sure how to react to this, Kol clearly didn't recognize her in his drunken state.
"What the...Nik what did you guys drink?" Luna asks, tapping Niklaus' shoulder while looking worriedly at Kol, who was busy playing with a box of matches, already distracted.
"No-no! Hands off! You shan't seduce me, you evil temptress..." Niklaus lisps, pushing Luna's hand away.
'Shan't... really?' Luna thinks, rolling her eyes "Nik, honey..." Luna cups his cheek, hoping that Niklaus would recognize her eventually
"No! I am loyal to my mate, shoo!" Niklaus exclaims, turning away from Luna.
Luna narrows her eyes at the hybrid, feeling somewhat insulted to have been rejected twice this evening by her own soulmates. She thought vampires couldn't get drunk as easily, but then again, she hadn't exactly kept an eye on their alcohol intake.
"Mm-would never betray Loenaa!" Niklaus mumbles, downing the last of his drink.
"Pathetic." Rebekah mutters while facepalming for the umpteenth time that evening.
"Alright... Thank you for letting me know." Luna offers, looking around for Elijah. If they weren't going to listen to her, perhaps a nice little scolding from Elijah would sober the men up.
"You're welcome." Kol mutters, having listened in on Niklaus's conversation with the lady while nodding approvingly at his brother's words.
"Luna! Where are you? Someone is trying to seduce us!" Kol shouts, not bothering to look around the club for his mate, assuming she could hear him perfectly and would come to him.
"Kol, I'm right here..." Luna deadpans. She was losing her patience and was close to strangling her mate. Rebekah had made fun of Luna for being a chaotic drunk, but her brothers could be just as bad, if not worse.
"Angel! Oh, thank god!" Kol exclaims happily, turning around and throwing his arms around Luna's neck.
Luna curses as she almost collapses under Kol's weight. Luna swore she could hear Kol mutter "Stupid temptress.".
Kol, still hanging on his mate, was sniffing Luna's neck extensively. Luna's eyes shot open as she felt his fangs grazing her throat. She hoped Kol could control himself in his drunken state.
"You smell nice." Kol mumbles, taking another whiff.
"Finn, 'Lijah?" Luna calls, hoping someone would intervene soon seeing as her knees were getting wobbly under Kol's weight. She glares at Rebekah over Kol's shoulder, who was too busy filming the spectacle while clutching her stomach in laughter.
Luna sighs in relief as she feels Kol's weight being lifted off of her.
"Hmm-no! Luna has to-" Kol whines, trying to slap Finn's arms away.
"Luna is busy." Finn snaps. He curses as Kol kicks his shin.
"Hmm okay-alright, fine you get to carry me." Kol agrees reluctantly, going entirely limp in Finn's arms.
"I'm honored." Finn deadpans, rolling his eyes at his brother's juvenile ways. Finn huffs, he had to deal with Kol's unconscious body earlier this evening, and let's just say he didn't exactly get lighter in the past few hours.
• • •
"Let's get you into bed hmm?" Luna coaxes, walking up the stairs behind Finn and Kol.
Finn and Luna were the only ones sober and awake enough to get the others home safe. Elijah had dumped Niklaus' body on the couch, before collapsing himself, both were exhausted.
Rebekah had claimed the most comfortable chair in the living room as her new bed, too tired to walk the stairs.
Kol nods, drooling a little on Finn's shoulder. He had taken a hold of Luna's hand, reluctant to let go, which meant Luna was joining the duo up the stairs.
"M-night Loen, love you." Kol mumbles as Luna tucks him into bed.
Luna blinks, stunned by his comment. She quickly kisses his cheek before leaving his room.
In the hall, she almost bumps into Finn, who was waiting for her.
"Are you alright, my dear?" He asks, seeing her affected expression.
"Yes, I'm fine. They're even bigger idiots when they're drunk." Luna jokes, grabbing Finn's hand.
"Are you really surprised?" Finn asks, smirking at his mate. He squeezes her hand affectionately before leading her to his room.
"No, not really. At least we know now that they won't cheat on me when drunk." Luna laughs, kicking her shoes off as soon as she enters Finn's room.
The room was bright in color. Two of the walls were covered with bookcases and plants were placed here and there. Although Finn was indeed a reader, she suspected that this was the work of Rebekah or Niklaus. On the wall hung a work that looked suspiciously like a Monet painting. In the center of the room was a large bed, made in the same colors as the walls, a soft beige.
Luna dives into Finn's closet to steal a shirt. Once she had changed into something more comfortable she slips under the covers, snuggling herself into Finn's side. Finn puts his arm around her and pulls her closer to his chest.
Luna closes her eyes, hearing Kol's drunk confession repeat itself in her head.
• • •
"Kol?" Luna asks quietly as she suddenly feels someone hug her from behind.
"Mmm?" Kol hums, burying his face in the crook of Luna's neck.
"What are you doing here?" Luna whispers, trying not to wake Finn.
"Sleeping."
"Yeah I got that but-" Luna turns around to face the intruder.
"I was lonely! I've been in a box for a very long time and it was very dark and very lonely in my room." Kol defends, tightening his arms around Luna, pushing Finn's limbs away in the process.
"Fine." Luna gives in, too tired to oppose the vampire further.
• • •
"You've got to be kidding me..." Luna groans as she hears the bedroom door open.
Luna looks up as she feels the bed dip, seeing Elijah. "It's not a slumber party!" Luna complains, sitting up, wriggling herself free from Kol and Finn's arms.
Elijah only grins apologetically, before eyeing the door for a moment.
The door was still opened and Luna swore she could hear some sort of grumbling coming from the hallway.
"Nik! I know your lurking in the hallway! Just get in loser." Luna snaps tiredly. She now understood Rebekah's rude behavior whenever she visited her at night. "And close the damn door behind you."
"I'm not sleeping at the foot of the bed!" Niklaus grumbles, glaring at Elijah who was grinning triumphantly as he was hugging Luna to his chest.
"You could also, you know, go to your own room." Luna deadpans, closing her eyes again.
"Fine." Niklaus mutters after a moment of silence.
Niklaus is finally settled on the bed when another pair of footsteps can be heard from outside the door.
"I swear to god. If that's you Rebekah I will drive over to the Salvatore house right now to get those ashes." Luna grumbles annoyed.
Luna hears the footsteps retreating after a moment's hesitation, accompanied by some grumbling from the blonde.