Klaus listened as Suzanne let out a somewhat annoyed-sounding breath. He didn't exactly know why she would be upset, thus far their conversation had been pleasant, even enjoyable and entertaining.
Klaus had managed to smooth over his faux pas after reacting to the name Salvatore. After asking one of his connections to look into it, he had discovered that Damon was in fact more than likely Stefan's brother. It had been worrying at first, what with the brother of a ripper being Suzanne's closest friend and even living with her, but he'd put his concerns to rest the more he'd thought on it. Though it did make him a bit curious now that he reconsidered Suzanne's nonchalant comments about Damon's 'annoying douche of a little brother'.
It would be fascinating to learn more about Stefan Salvatore. But Suzanne had explained in depth that Damon was trying to separate himself from his brother's life and avoid the 'teen drama' so he would have to be subtle in his approach.
It was a strange coincidence, but to his somewhat-embarrassment and wariness, Klaus found himself trusting her completely. Getting back to their conversation, he couldn't help but let out a snort when his girlfriend – and bloody hell, what a concept that was – revealed the reasoning behind her sudden shift in mood.
"God, you're a hipster. I should have known with all the necklaces and pretty tattoos."
Klaus replied instantly, "You can't talk on that front, sweetheart. You have your own ink. And my music taste isn't hipster."
Suzanne let out a triumphant laugh, as if he had somehow proved her point – and shit, he did remember her mentioning that hipsters always denied their label – before moving on to her next question. Evidently Suzanne had been bored and come across a list of questions on 'tumbler'. He'd gone along with it and actually found out much more about her than he had previously known.
"Alright. If you could travel back in time, what year would you visit?"
Klaus had to very carefully suppress a snort. He had lived through the last thousand years, and deciding which century he liked best would be difficult in and of itself. Trying to delay so he could come up with an answer he said, "Let me guess, darling, Ancient Rome during the rule of Augustus?"
Suzanne laughed loudly and without reservation. It was fairly ugly, but Klaus found himself appreciating it nonetheless. Based on every interaction and conversation he'd had with both Suzanne and Damon it had been clear that she didn't usually trust others or become attached very easily.
That had been another thing that had made Klaus trust Damon. If he was her closest friend, he must have passed a few hurdles she'd thrown his way.
"Of course. I'm unashamed of being a nerd. Four years of Latin courses will do that to a person. Augustus seems like a heartthrob."
Klaus huffed out a breath, entirely amused. He could admit to himself that he had gotten in too deep. He truly liked Suzanne, and his sentimentality from his years as a human was seemingly rearing its head after she had entered his life. Klaus wanted her. He was coveting her. And though it was still a foreign concept, he found himself incredibly attached, to the degree that Elijah had noticed.
His brother had questioned him a bit after seeing his out-of-character behavior, and his excuses had grown flimsy enough that Elijah had finally guessed that Klaus had been genuine with his offhand remark about spending time with a girl he fancied.
Klaus hadn't given him any further details – his trust in Elijah had been growing slimmer in the past few years. All he had revealed was that indeed was enjoying his time with a human woman.
"I couldn't say for sure. Perhaps Venice in the midst of the Renaissance."
Suzanne hummed at his answer and quickly moved on to the next one.
"If you could another language for a day what – nah, I already know you're a language genius. Let me find a better one. Oh! Oh my god I can't believe I forget to tell you, for the next week we're calling Damon 'Day-mom'. He told me to eat my fucking vegetables. It's driving him insane."
Klaus laughed and decided to harass Damon over text as soon as he was off the phone with Suzanne. He and Damon spoke over text quite frequently, usually sending each other random pictures that often made fun of one another somehow.
"What was the last thing you searched for on Google?"
Klaus flicked open another tab on the internet browser, having previously been scrolling through some Gaelic vocabulary he had begun forgetting. When he began typing and the last search came up, he let out a resigned sigh. Bloody hell.
"I searched for the plot summary of Season One of Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
There was a beat of silence on the other end of the line.
"I was under the impression we had a very specific agreement to watch the first season of a television show of each other's choosing. Am I mistaken?"
Klaus began to come up with an answer, but he suddenly heard a thumping sound through the phone and a high pitched shriek.
When Damon began speaking, it wasn't much of a surprise. The muffled background sounds let him know that Suzanne likely had a pillow or palm shoved over her mouth.
"She's completely playing you. Last week she asked me to summarize Season One of the Sopranos. I didn't know why until now."
Damon wanted to kill someone. Not anyone in particular, but the level of rage and conflicting emotion practically begged for a show of excessive violence. Suze was in the next room over, and with a resigned sigh he decided to talk to her.
God, he was changing. It fucking sucked. Turning on his switch was one thing, yeah, but he had still been bloodthirsty and immoral. Leaning on a human this much? Going to her for comfort instead of murdering an innocent? It –
"You look freaked out. What's wrong?"
… But Suze wasn't just some human. So Damon didn't snap or chomp on her like he would have any other person who had interrupted him when there was so many tumultuous thoughts raging in his head. Instead he held up his phone and waved it in the air, gesturing at it and projecting his annoyance.
"Stefan needs my help. I have no idea how Katherine's doppelganger got my phone number, but apparently the vampires I let out of the tomb captured him."
Not speaking immediately, Damon watched as Suze thought it over. Sometimes she practically announced her emotions with her expressions, and right now was one of those times. She seemed angry, concerned, and pissed off. A very typical cycle for her.
"You don't owe him anything. He's your brother, yeah. So you might want to go and help. But… don't feel like it's an obligation. He tried to fucking torture you and lock you up for decades."
Yeah, that was never going to be a thing Suze would let go. Damon was mad. So, so angry at Stefan for getting himself captured and forcing Damon to make this decision. He didn't want Stefan to die, but Christ, how was he supposed to be eager about risking his own life to help out the brother who would gladly see him desiccated. And to make matters even more irritating, Elena had seemed scandalized and judgy when he hadn't immediately joined up with the 'save Stefan' squad.
"I think. Shit. I think I'm going to help."
Suze looked concerned immediately and frowned before saying in a tight voice, "How many vampires are we talking about? Are you going to be okay?"
Damon, of course, decided to lie to her.
"It's only a few. I'll be fine."