A/N- Who wants Caroline and Elijah friendship?
Being murdered and becoming a vampire sucked.
There was no way around that.
Okay, yes, being murdered and staying permanently dead- like, in a coffin for all eternity dead- was worse but either way dying had its downsides.
So, admittedly, between the dying and the 'vampires are real!' and all the drama that had come with that, it had been awhile before Caroline had started to see the upsides to what was essentially immortality and eternal youth.
Like, how she could eat basically any new food she wanted, including some of the most dangerous in the world and she'd be fine.
Like, how she could take all the time she wanted to learn new languages, or study whatever she wanted or do volunteer work and not have to worry about starving to death or keeping the lights on.
Like, the new hobbies she could try.
Her latest one was horror movies.
She'd never liked horror movies as a human- unless she was using them as a ploy to make the boy she was on a date with feel more manly- because they scared her.
But now, she knew that most of the evil creatures in the horror movies either weren't real, didn't act in that way or weren't getting past the warding of her house.
And if they did, chances were, they'd trip the magic alarm and encounter something even scarier.
A Mikaelson.
So, she gave horror movies a try.
Because she is Caroline Forbes, she does her research, she browses sites for the recommended films, the cult classics, the award-winning movies and then the trendy ones at the forefront of the genre.
She wasn't looking for ones that would terrify her or get her heart racing- again, difficult to do- she wanted ones that made her think, or at the very least had her asking her boyfriend about whether the antagonist could possibly exist, or whether they'd actually been like that, or in one weird Saturday afternoon, whether he had inspired the legend being played out on screen.
Which is why she now knows that mermaids were real, Klaus wasn't Jack the Ripper or responsible for the Salem Witch Hunts and to never, never watch any really horrific films with him in case it gave him ideas.
And that was where her little problem arose.
Her new hobby was fun and all, but when the movie was done, she wanted to discuss it with someone and there was really nobody to do that with.
Klaus had been her first and most obvious choice, but his moral compass was so damaged it might as well have been fished from the ruins of the Titanic along with the dinner set he still mourned the loss of. And while he could happily sit through conversations about fashion, tv shows, her philanthropic interests, anything else really, when it came to horror movies, he kept interjecting that she had no reason to worry because he would never let a resurrected homicidal hook-wielding maniac kill her.
As she lived in New Orleans, in a house of four adults, her next choice had been to try Katherine Pierce. Unfortunately, she was of the belief that as five hundred years of her life had been a horror with frequent pauses for the full spectrum of eroticism available to her, why would she bother watching horror films?
So, she had just finished watching Replace, and was now sitting at the kitchen island, browsing online trying to find a site to start a chat about it- and admittedly, stocking up on some of her favourite skincare products- when Elijah wanders in to make himself a pot of tea.
"Did you enjoy your film?" he asks politely, and she nods.
A downside to living with the Mikaelson family is that when they heard screaming in their home, they never assumed it was a film, so she'd created a group chat to warn them when she was about to watch something.
"It has me wondering whether, if I started rapidly aging tomorrow, I could bring myself to kill innocent people for their healthy skin."
"Oh, I could do that easily," Elijah offers, with slightly alarming casualness, and when he glances up to see the alarm in her eyes he elaborates,
"Granted, I would rather not sacrifice innocent people," he allows, "But provided I could source myself healthy-skinned criminals or degenerates, I would not have to."
"The other option was to die," Caroline muses, "So, I guess if that was the case, I would too."
"Even if it were not," he continues, "I assume the rapid aging left the person grotesque?" he waits for her nod of confirmation,
"Well, not to be vain, but as a man who throughout history regularly met the criteria to be considered handsome, I would not wish to lose my looks or the privileges they grant me in society-whether human or supernatural."
"I noticed that ugly vampires weren't really a thing," Caroline says, and he nodded, "Not unless their makers are going for quantity over quality."
"I would definitely try and find a witch to restore my beauty first," she admits, "But…I think, I'd do the same thing you would, maybe I'd just find some really bad people, like Klan members or a hate group and just steal all their skin."
He hums in agreement, "Here's hoping we never have to find out."
He pulls his phone from his jacket pocket, "This has me feeling that a trip to a day spa is in order."
She giggles and leaves him to his booking.
Caroline compels her way into a film study course at Tulane university, choosing one that specifically focused on horror films and on the required watch list was the Saw Franchise.
It didn't particularly interest her, but she was going to pass this seminar with flying colours as she had done every last high-school and university class she had ever taken, so she flips through her diary, finds a free day and pencils it in.
She rises early, has her breakfast, shower and is settling into the home theater with her morning coffee when Elijah sweeps past the door and backtracks, leaning against it as he takes in her presence,
"You usually don't watch films until afternoon." he remarks,
"I thought you and Katherine were working with the heritage society today," she replies, and he shrugs.
"Katerina has taken an impromptu trip to New York," he explains, pushing off the doorjamb, and coming further into the room.
"She got a lead on a new shoe designer whom could possibly be the next big name."
"What are you watching?" he asks, and she shows him the queue she's lined up on the streaming service,
"An entire franchise in one day." She answers, holding the remote in hand, not wanting to start it until the conversation was clearly over,
"It must be good then."
"No, but I have to watch it," she sighs, before the idea strikes her, "You want to join me?"
He clearly hesitates but Caroline is pretty certain that he doesn't have anything else planned for the day, "It's psychological horror." she bids, and he takes the armchair next to hers,
"Perhaps one film."
As he was a Mikaelson and had witnessed a lot of bloodshed over the centuries, Caroline had prepared herself for Elijah to critique the torture scenes, his own expertise miles ahead of anything the producers of the franchise could have reasonably known while still being allowed to live outside a maximum-security prison or mental institution.
What she hadn't expected was his picking apart of the story.
"I understand the man feels that his life is wasted," he comments after the fourth film, while they were waiting on their food delivery,
"However, all this time, effort and money spent on creating these elaborate puzzles, sourcing these victims, could have been better spent travelling the world or at the very least, living his life as enjoyably as possible."
"He wants people to appreciate their lives." She argues, half-heartedly because, seriously, he makes a good point.
"A somewhat difficult task to undertake after their presumed nervous breakdowns, post-traumatic stress disorder or, at the very least the rather steep medical bills they'd be left with after their physical recovery," He counters,
"I can't believe there are eight films based on this idea."
"Oh, this is only going to get worse from here on out," She laughs, "Not many franchises can be good after six films."
"Well, I'm committed now," Elijah sighs, "Let's see this through."
And just like that, her hobby became shared with Elijah, she was no longer watching large quantities of horror films alone in the dark like an antisocial, potentially crazy person. Instead, the two of them found times in their schedules that suited the both of them and made an evening of it, complete with take-out, large bowls of popcorn and in-depth discussions after, or during if the film was really bad.
With Elijah, she could also explore more aspects of the horror genre because he was searching for movies for them to watch as well, and on the rare occasion something was actually terrifying, it helped to have the second strongest creature in the world sitting beside her, emotionally invested in keeping his viewing buddy alive.
She mentions this to him one night and he smirks into the wine he had taken to trying to pair with their films.
"I would like to think our friendship extends beyond horror films," he quips, "And that you would trust me to keep you alive regardless…" he trails off as a particularly gruesome scene starts,
"But, yes," he admits, when the body parts have finished hitting the floor,
"Your death would rather inconvenience me, although, at the very least, you could be sure that my vengeance would be truly creative, thanks in part to these films."
She laughs and leans her head on his shoulder, "Thanks, right back at you."
A/N- Thanks for reading