Author's note: Short and sweet, more coming up, but just wanted to upload this small teaser. Haha. Hope you enjoy it. Thank you for all of your kind words of encouragement.

They say you don't really know someone till it's summer break. Well, no one said that, but someone really should, Caroline thought. During the semester she would be so busy that she could only see Klaus twice or thrice a week, and only for a couple of hours. She didn't mind it, and neither did he. They both had stuff they wanted to get done, and Caroline was thankful for it. There more important things in life than just dating.

But now that she had all of this free time on her hands because of the summer break, she spent a lot of time with Klaus and noticed things she hadn't before. For one: he smoked a lot. Like, dude needed a cigarette after every meal, after every hour, after anything stressful or happy event, after sex (and therefore a lot) and sometimes, just for funsies. Caroline couldn't find a polite decibel or vocabulary to tell him to stop smoking, at least around her, because she felt herself being choked out of the kindness and politeness.

"Your hands smell like cigarettes, and your mouth tastes like cigarettes, your body smells like cigarettes. And oh my god, I'm just one more cigarette simile away from writing an emo Tumblr poem. So, can you please stop smoking so much, at least around me? Or can't you just go outside to smoke?"

"I have to go smoke outside of my own house, now?"

"Everybody goes outside to smoke, Klaus. That's how you don't choke on your own breath."

"If you have a problem, love, I suggest you leave. Nobody has asked you to move in with me."

Caroline narrowed her eyes at Klaus's comment. She hadn't "moved in"—as he so conveniently put it—with him. She had deigned to spend a night at his place after him begging and writhing in front of her for not doing so all these months. She had finally allowed herself enough leeway to stay the night for the last couple of days, and lo, behold, he throws it in her face during an argument. How had she not seen this coming?

"Of course," Caroline muttered. "I forgot whom I was speaking to."

"Yes, well, I suggest you don't." Klaus took another drag of his cigarette and leaned forward to blow it in her face. Caroline's eyes widened in shock and anger. She immediately slapped his hand, slapping the cigarette too, causing it to land on the floor. She got up to crush it underneath her foot. All the while, Klaus remained watching her, motionless, an amused smile working its way to his mouth.

"You do know I'm rich and can afford a lot of these?" he pointed out; an eyebrow raised elegantly.

"You're such a fucking asshole, Klaus," she said tersely as she really tried not to burst into tears and slam his face into the ground—that was Klaus's power move, wasn't it, when he was beating people up? Slam their face to the ground or any surface available?

Caroline did not wait for Klaus to say anything. She got up and started gathering her books and laptop, wanting to leave immediately. When she turned to collect her bag from the sofa where it lay only a moment ago, she saw that it was in Klaus's lap now. He raised an eyebrow in challenge. Caroline shot him a hateful look before reaching for the bag in his lap, but Klaus immediately took the bag and placed it out of her reach, dangling it off of the sofa in mid-air.

"Give me my bag, Klaus."

"No," he said coolly, stuffing her bag behind his back.

"I want to leave," she said, angrily. She could feel her face and neck heat up with the anger.

"I don't want you to leave." He had the audacity to shrug. That piece of—

Caroline gave him a look of incredulity. "Are you for real—if you didn't want me to leave, then why were you—are you—being such an asshole?"

"I was merely pointing out the ridiculous logic in asking me to leave my own home to do something I want to do and like to do in the comfort of my own home."

"Then I shall make myself sparse," Caroline said in a British accent, mocking him. The corner of his mouth twitched, further riling up Caroline.

"You know, your accent has gotten better."

Caroline gave him a dirty look. This was not going to distract her. They were not going to start making out and forget this argument ever happened.

"Well, then enjoy as I say goodbye in your stupid accent." Caroline reached for her back only to have it be placed far from her reach.

"I don't like the fact that you walk out every time we argue," Klaus said evenly, his eyes narrowing.

"Well, I'm sorry," Caroline said in a mocking tone, not at all sorry, "but I cannot stand the sight of you, or the thought of being in the same room when you are being insufferable!"

Klaus pulled her onto his lap, forcing a gasp of shock of out her. "Have you lost your fucking mind?" she cried, struggling to get up from his lap, but he held her there, wounding both of his arms around her. "Let me up," she said, stilling his grip, realizing her efforts were in vain. She felt him press his face against her back, his nose nuzzling her arm at the elbow, right above his own hands which held her prisoner.

"I'd rather not, I am enjoying this. We should do this often."

"What? Us fighting and you manhandling me?"

"No, just holding each other," Klaus said, and Caroline could feel him freeze underneath her as soon as the words were said. She could feel him become rigid and felt it reflect in her own body which had gone stiff. They didn't talk about touchy-feely stuff. Ever. They were too cool for such things. Rebekah and Tanya would call them a 'pair of fuckboys with feelings' to describe their 'relationship'.

When Caroline made an effort to get up, she felt Klaus make no effort to stop her. She felt disappointment wash over her, and then surprise. Had she wanted Klaus to stop her? Standing up she looked at Klaus's face which was withdrawn and shut, his hands already reaching for the book he had abandoned some time ago.

Caroline bit her lip. She didn't like this awkwardness. And truth be told she didn't mind...the closeness either. It was warm and tender. And they were always close and tender. And she did like it. So, despite and against better judgement, she said, "I—," she began but abruptly stopped. Klaus's eyes fluttered to hers', eyebrows drawn together, and forehead wrinkled. She swallowed before continuing, "I quite... like the closeness too." When she finished, she felt as if she were out of breath.

Klaus didn't say anything, but she saw his face soften. Feeling encouraged by his reaction, Caroline confidently plucked the book from his hands and settled back into his lap. She felt Klaus's hands slowly, carefully, come up to her, as she felt his face press into her side. Caroline lifted the arm where he had pressed his face into, to pull him closer. She felt him eagerly press his face into her chest. "You're so soft—," Klaus began before his mouth pressed open-mouth kisses against her clothed breast, and before she knew it, she was tugging his face closer to hers', he was pushing her against the sofa, and she was now tugging his shirt over his head and damn, ah, fuck, they were having sex again. Caroline groaned at the back of her head. She really had not seen this fight go down like this. She felt herself eating her words when Klaus did indeed proceed to go down on her, and she felt, well, if this was the going down that had been awaiting her, she could not find reason to be morose.

After they had had an entire afternoon fucking—Caroline hated the words 'making love', what were they in, a lame Nicholas Cage movie? (She had once said the same thing to Tanya when she had proposed one evening that the words 'making love' should be banned. Tanya had looked confused for a moment before she asked if Caroline meant Nicholas Sparks. But Tanya wasn't here to correct her so her internal rant of course referred to Nicholas Cage.)—they decided to get dinner outside for once. Caroline felt she was going to lose her mind staying inside any longer.

During dinner, she decided to tell Klaus she had recently decided on changing her major from Event Management to Gender Studies. Klaus' reaction wasn't what she had expected.

"You're changing your Major? Really?" Klaus asked, taking a sip of his drink. Caroline narrowed her eyes at his tone.

"What does that mean?"

"I just mean it's weird that I have never heard you speak about gender."

"I—I what? What does that have to do with anything?"

"I thought that's what you're going to study."

Caroline gave him an unamused look. "You know what I mean. I mean, what does me not talking about something to you have anything to do with what I like and what I don't like. So, if I don't talk to you every second about how I love oxygen, does it mean that I don't like breathing?"

Klaus's jaw tightened. "You know that's not what I mean. Why do you have to twist everything I say?"

"Why do you need to always be condescending and patronizing?"

Klaus scoffed at her words. They should really not be dining outside anymore if they were going to fight every time, he mused idly before saying, "I am not being patronizing. I am merely suggesting that I had never heard you mention your interest in gender studies."

"Okay, fine. And?" Caroline asked, impatiently.

"And it seems this idea has sprung from the decision two of your other friends have been making about their major."

Realization dawned on Caroline and her face set in stone. "So, you didn't mean to be patronizing but you merely only just meant to suggest that I cannot think for myself?"

"It wouldn't be the first time I've seen you be swayed by the opinion of others." He was talking about the time when Caroline had left the judgment of the mystic falls gang overcloud her own judgement of Klaus. She knew he was talking about that. "I just think you should think about what you want before making any hasty decisions."

A look of disbelief and annoyance overcame her as she said, "are you going to mansplain my plans for myself to me?" Caroline put her knife and fork down as calmly as she could, which was not very calmly, and very loudly indeed. She could feel the started looks she drew when the cutlery clanked loudly against her plate. But she did not care enough to apologize to strangers at the moment. Her boyfriend had accused her of a very serious crime: of not having a personality of her own. "You know what, I don't want to deal with you right now."

"Of course, walk away, love, like you always do, when things get tough." Klaus immediately regretted his words. He didn't mean to say that. He really didn't. But there was this surge of bitterness in him and he couldn't stop himself. He regretted it because that's what Caroline always said to him and he had told himself that when things got heated between them, he would try and be calmer, instead of stoking the fires. But now he had given her more than enough arsenal for the entire evening to be spent fighting.

Caroline's eyes widened and she slumped back into her chair from where she had half-stood up to leave, aggressively as she prepared to whisper-shout at him for accusing her of the very thing he was always guilty about.

"That's rich coming from you. You're the one who always leaves and runs away—,"

"—well, I'm here now, so—"

"—and I get up once and you throw it in my face like this—"

"—I think we should just discuss things like adults. And I am not throwing it in your face,"

"—do you even know the number of times you have gotten up?"

"I am merely pointing it out so that the next time you don't forget it that you also did the same—"

"—I mean I have the exact number! Do you want me to tell—"

"So next time you can't feign amnesia and realize we both are the same. No, I don't want the number. Very kind of you. I do hope you're making a note of your almost running away and filing it away in your precious cabinet too."

"Well, I would if I had run away but I didn't so."

"So, I'm sure you remain flawless and perfect as always," Klaus scoffed, taking a long sip of his drink.

"Precisely."

"Well, that's a relief. Perfect Little Caroline Forbes."

"I'm not little. You must have confused me with your—,"

"I have a perfectly big—,"

"—EGO."

"—PENIS!" Klaus roared.

Silence.

The whole restaurant had gone silence as their argument had reached an incredible crescendo and Klaus had screamed out what he had.

Caroline's eyes widened at what Klaus had said and the latter's face, red and blue with anger suddenly overcame with shock and realization that Caroline had indeed been talking about anything but his dick. They both could feel disapproving stares from people, but both remain frozen, unable to look away from each other, because that would mean actually dealing with the problem. And Caroline tried to bite her lip to stop herself, but she couldn't help it when a snort of laughter escaped her. She wondered how long they were going to pretend nothing happened. Lucky for them, they didn't have to deal with it without assistance for long. The manager came in right away and kicked them out promptly.

Caroline couldn't wait till they were out as she clutched her stomach laughing as they made their way to the car. Klaus looked amused but he didn't join her in. He seemed rather embarrassed.

"Will we ever have a conversation where we don't end up arguing?" Klaus asked as Caroline was just wiping tears as she got into the car. The tone of Klaus' voice made something clench in her stomach with trepidation. There was a seriousness in his question she had not anticipated.

"Why does it matter?" She asked, frowning.

"Are you saying it doesn't?" Klaus asked, his hands on the wheel as they both sat in the car the silence filling the space between them. Caroline wondered if Klaus wouldn't need to drive. If the silence that sat so heavy and buoyant between them could perhaps float them to somewhere.

"I don't know," she finally admitted after a long stretch of quiet. The car had not moved an inch. They were staying on the ground, she realized, forever. She had to swallow really hard before she said, "I know." Pause. "You're right."

She cleared her throat grateful that Klaus didn't say anything or interrupt her or touch her. He let her get it out. "I do...do that. I don't know how or why. I didn't even realize it...or maybe I did, and I just didn't want to accept it. But is it so wrong? I am still discovering what I like and what I don't. I want to study this now, and I still have time till I need to really declare my major, so why can't I just try this?"

"Maybe, I just want to borrow stuff from other people...to try and understand what is for me, and what is not me. Is that so bad?"

Klaus shook his head; he gave her a half smile. "I just don't want you to lose yourself."

Caroline gave him an unfathomable look. She didn't want to tell him that she didn't even know herself. So, what was there to lose? And why did he think that he knew her better than herself? That something was going to be lost at all, when he didn't even realize there was nothing to be gained?

"Can we go home?" Caroline asked, looking out the window. She felt Klaus' heart clench. Knowing he hadn't said the right thing, he was probably torturing himself. Caroline turned her head to give him a half-smile, before reaching out to squeeze his hand. Klaus returned the smile and pressed her hand to his mouth.

He started the car.