AU. Klaus is a brooding Cupid and gets assigned to help a certain Caroline Forbes finally find the love of her life.

"No. No way," Klaus protests, vehemently shaking his head left and right, "not in a hundred years."

"That's what you said last time, Son, and it has already been a few decades, so, maybe—"

"No."

Esther exhales an exasperated sigh, briefly closing her eyes. "Why?"

"I have my reasons. American girls are frivolous, especially when it comes to Love, and I will not let you force my hand again."

"All young girls are somewhat silly, Niklaus. It does not mean that they don't deserve Love."

Klaus snorts, as if negating her statement, bringing his arms up to cross them haughtily over his chest.

"Then send Rebekah! I am more than satisfied running our business in Asia and Oceania with Finn."

"Are you?" his mother—the Cupids' Queen—shoots him a knowing look, one eyebrow arched up in a perfect curve and mirth coloring her adult but still beautiful features.

"Finn might be a bit of a dullard, but he does know how to keep his people in line. You, too, know what happened the last time that you persuaded me to take a job here."

Esther tries to rein in her amusement at the reminder, aware that laughing at her son's expense would not help her current predicament.

"You are not the only who has been..." she trails off, racking her mind for the right word, "courted—"

"You mean harassed—"

The Queen's eyes narrow in a sharp, authoritative manner, "—by an assigned human. Be more like Kol. Enjoy it!"

Klaus' orbs widen almost comically then, and his features morph into an appalled scowl in under a second.

"You did not just suggest anyone become more like Kol, Mother."

But Esther simply dismissively waves a hand around in the air, tired, and the Cupid in front of her immediately gathers that the argument has been lost, his teeth gritting together in heavy annoyance.

"You will do as told, Niklaus. If it does not work out again, I promise that I will see to assign you to the penguins at the Poles." Her defeated son does not look impressed, nor amused. "Now, please, get your files and go."

Grumbling under his breath, Klaus begrudgingly reaches for the documents in his mother's hands, giving them a quick once-over and sighing as he turns to leave.

Exiting the Golden Room, he's already silently cursing his newest human in his mind.

Caroline Forbes.

:

:

Cupids' rules state that a Cupid is to always show him-or-her-self to their assigned human, convincing them of their existence and duty and having them sign a magical Contract. Such document would, first, render the human unable to tell anybody else about the Cupid's presence and, then, wipe away all memories of the friendly—although not in Klaus' case—supernatural being at the end of their spell together on Earth, after he or she had helped the human find Love.

Therefore, it went without saying that the first approach was always the most difficult one, having to make the human open their eyes and believe. And, as a consequence, it also was Klaus' least favorite part—not that he really liked any part of his job, to be fair.

So, when he suddenly materializes himself right in the middle of this Caroline girl's almost-too-neatly organized dorm room—she's a Drama major, apparently, because that's so useful (let it be known that Klaus is snorting)—the Cupid is already beyond annoyed and more brooding than usual, which is quite an arduous feat in itself.

It definitely doesn't help that the nineteen-year-old's very first action is to scream at the top of her lungs as soon as she sees him.

"Oh my God!" she impulsively throws the nearest object that she can find—a hair curler, which he dodges easily and breaks in two once it hits the floor—at him. "You perv! How did you get in? I'm calling Security."

However, Klaus flashes right in front of her before she can even start searching for her phone, making her gasp in a mixture of fear and, mostly, surprise (odd). She narrows her light blue eyes at him, clutching the fluffy, purple towel, the only garment currently covering her body, to her chest more tightly.

She almost appears more annoyed than concerned, somewhat offended that he's disturbing her personal time, and he cannot help but smirk in reaction.

"Do you mind?" she gives him a pointed look. "I was kind of taking a shower, here."

Klaus rolls his eyes, uncaring.

"And is that shower more important than—" he actually raises his hands and crooks his fingers to mimic air-quotes, "—'True Love'?"

"What?"

"I'm your assigned Cupid," he explains evenly, looking bored. He snaps his fingers together once and makes a relatively short, glowing papyrus appear between them out of thin air.

His grin widens almost unconsciously at the pure shock displayed on the girl's features as he casually hands her a pen.

"Here, sign this."

Caroline finally seems to break out of her stupor then, shaking her head to herself and forcefully pushing the pen back into Klaus' grasp, swiftly side-stepping him to walk away. She turns around to face him, a frown marring her features.

"Like Hell, I am! I've seen 'The Devil's Advocate' and I'm pretty attached to my soul, thank you very much."

Klaus observes her in amusement for a few seconds, taking in how heated she looks even if in just a towel and with her hair still partly wet, just like an adorable (he totally did not just think that), angry kitten.

He chuckles.

"I am not Satan, Sweetheart."

But she simply rolls her eyes at him, folding her arms across her chest.

"Yeah. That sounds like something Satan would say, too."

Tightly pressing his lips together in growing frustration, Klaus sighs heavily through his nose. He's finding himself at a loss of what to do, and he doesn't like it. Most people jump at the opportunity, whenever they are gifted with such a shortcut to Love: they squeal and cry, and, perhaps, are a bit frightened at first but never for long, never hesitating before signing the Contract and accepting its terms without even caring to find out what they actually consist of.

But not this girl.

She seems to value herself and her safety more than the chance of finding a Soulmate, and it has him confused, throwing him for a loop. It's something that, despite himself and no matter how unexpected and inconvenient, he cannot help but admire.

In order to try and regain some control over the situation, Klaus decides to go down the charming route—that never fails to work, after all.

"Would Satan look this good?" he smirks, gesturing to himself, to his tall, statuesque physique clothed in a pristine, white suit. For good measure, he even dimples at her.

However, Caroline just scoffs, looking at him with her eyebrows quirked in clear disdain.

"Wow. If you really are my Cupid, somebody must seriously hate me up there. Like, arrogant, much?"

"As long as you believe me, Sweetheart," he strains a smile, pretending not to be annoyed by the fact that she appears utterly immune to his usual tricks. "Now," he nods towards the papyrus still floating between them, "the Contract, if you will."

Although begrudgingly, Caroline finally accepts his pen, quickly reading over the document and exhaling a heavy sigh as she scribbles her roundish, girly signature on the dotted line at its bottom.

The piece of paper disappears right after.

She gives her Cupid the fakest of her perfectly practiced fake smiles, to which he answers with a sort of scowl.

"Happy?"

"Very."

"Good," she quips, cheerfully skipping back towards the bathroom. "Because you need to go and buy me a new hair curler while I finish getting dressed."