***So, this isn't exactly new. I wrote this for tvd_las awhile back and remembered it now, so I'm posting it along with my other Forwood stuff. Enjoy****
Title: Closets and Capes
Author: Eena
Rating: 13
Characters: Caroline/Tyler
Disclaimer: Don't own TVD
Summary: Missing scene from 1.07 "Haunted"-where had Caroline gotten off to?
Halloween's supposed to be fun, but no one's in the mood for it this year. She's so drained from trying to force a little joviality into her friends and school that she's turned to beer to get her through the night. Of course, one beer turns very quickly into one-beer-too-many. And one-beer-too-many turns into shit-faced even faster.
Tyler's been supplying her this evening, and somewhere in between refilling her cup and ogling her cleavage, he manages to make an indecent proposal. Had she been sober, she would have laughed at him. But she's not, so she grabs him by the cape and drags him into the nearest unoccupied janitor's closet.
Tyler's a mouth breather, and it gets worse when he's in the throes of . . . lust, let's say. She remembers this from that disastrous summer party Tiki threw two years back, where she somehow ended up with Tyler for Seven Minutes in Heaven. It doesn't bother her now, and not because she's more wasted than last time. His breath reeks like beer, but it's hot as it brushes against her collarbone. That heat, that breath-it's infinitely better than the memory of ice gliding across her skin.
The hands fumbling around under her shirt are kind of sweaty, but when the fingers skim the underside of her left breast, she shudders in approval. The hands are rough and unskilled, barely able to unsnap her bra because their owner is also way past one-beer-too-many. But the inexpert hands add to the warmth building in her blood instead of absorbing her heat and leaving ice water in her veins.
She runs manicured nails over a toned chest that is more tan than pale, and though Tyler's a jerk, he's not a monster. So she overlooks the way he stumbles, forgives his lack of finesse, and forces herself to enjoy his touch because it is better to lose some dignity to Tyler Lockwood than to lose her life to Damon Salvatore.
Tyler doesn't whisper sweet little things into her ear, doesn't pretend to be charming in the least. He is what he is, and he's interested in only one thing. She gives it to him because his honesty is refreshing compared to Damon's manipulations and it soothes her ego to know she is desirable to someone, even if only in terms of a drunken tryst in a dirty janitor's closet.
This will soon either be all over the school or something private tucked away between the two of them. She doesn't care for tomorrow at that moment, because the repercussions of fooling around with Tyler are nothing compared to the price she has paid just a week past. And though he's grunting and sweating and slobbering, the noise chases away the haunting sounds of bones cracking and his rough touch replaces the memory of cold fingers digging into her ankle and pulling her down. She closes her eyes and tries to focus on the feel of it, the sounds of it, and that frenzied feeling growing in her belly.
Later, when she stumbles into her bed for the night, she will regret it. Not because of her reputation or her pride, but because it's still not enough to chase away nightmares of red eyes, sharp teeth, and inhuman growls.