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“Damon, you cannot be serious.”
Your best friend just gives you puppy dog eyes. Bright blue and sad as can be. It’s kinda pathetic.
“Pretty please.”
You huff, knowing you won’t win this argument. You’ve known him since you were both children, through him being turned by Katherine and later Stefan turning you (long story), and then on and off in the intervening century and a half. You even had a casual friends with benefits arrangement when you were both lonely/bored. Knowing him so well, you decide to save everyone the time and give in.
“You’re paying for my outfit Damon! I can not believe you’re making me go…”
He scoops you up and spins you, making you squeal as he thanks you. Stefan, who has been observing from the couch being absolutely no help, just laughs.
“You won’t regret it. It’ll be fun and we can learn some things at the same time. We’ll be the most attractive spy duo in history.”
You just roll your eyes and go to grab your keys before stealing Damon’s wallet. If you’re going to have to face the Mikaelsons again, you weren’t doing it in something you’d worn before. And you were going to buy something expensive out of spite.
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The entrance to the Mikaelson’s house was the same as any other house in Mystic Falls: opulent, excessive and with far too much marble. You’d take a cosy cabin over this nonsense any day.
Clinging to Damon's arm, you enter the space and, thankfully, Klaus is the only one of the family greeting guests.
“Darling, it’s been a while.” You can’t help the reactionary smile as you embrace him. He could be bat shit crazy at times, but he’d always been kind to you.
“Klaus! I’ve missed you.” Out of your eye corner, you can see Damon giving you both evil eyes. Had you accidentally on purpose forgotten to mention you knew the original family? Oops, your bad.
Klaus doesn’t let you go far, holding you at arms length to admire your new outfit. You do look stunning in it, if you do say yourself.
“Beautiful.” He leans in to whisper in your ear “My brother really doesn’t realise what he’s missing.”
You laugh him off, ignoring the implication. You knew better.
“Now boys,” you say, glancing between them, “I’ll have no part in whatever this little competition or measuring contest is, and I expect you all to leave me out of it.” They both look a little guilty as they nod. “Marvellous. If you need me, I’ll be somewhere out of the way with a glass of champagne.”
And with that you head further into the party, leaving them to bicker.
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"Urgh, I've missed you so much! I can't believe you left us."
You and Rebekah are both waaaay too many glasses of champagne deep at this point. You’d been there a couple of hours by now and it had only taken Rebekah 30mins to realise you were there and take you hostage. You're currently sequestered on a sofa in a corner and are both a bit sloppy.
"What do you want me to say Bekah? It's your arsehole brother's fault."
"Wait, what? What did Klaus do?"
You laugh, just a tad hysterically and fortify yourself with another sip out of your glass.
"Wrong one. Go older"
A look of understanding comes across her face and she wraps an arm around you. You, sadly, don't have enough of your wits about you to realise that this isn't the best place for a drunken heart to heart.
Everything starts to spill out of you. How you and Elijah had spent so much time together. How you thought he liked you back, only for him to turn up with what's her name wrapped around him. How he'd laughed when you'd expressed your surprise that he was dating, and how it made you feel like nothing. It was too much for your heart to handle. So you’d left, had a fun rebound weekend with Damon and tried to move on.
Rebekah pulls back slightly, wiping a tear that had escaped without your permission.
"You're too good for him anyway," she says and you laugh.
"I wish that were true.” You pull yourself together a little and put on your best fake smile. “For now, I'm just going to don an air of indifference and pretend I'm not in love with your oldest brother."
Your mirth leaves you instantly as you hear a refined voice behind you ask, "now why on Earth would you do that?"
It’s amazing how panic can sober you up.
You turn slowly and meet the eyes of the oldest Original. He’s in a suit, as always, and has a confident smirk plastered across his face. That pisses you off.
“Cos he’s an asshole” you coolly reply before turning to Rebekah, pressing a kiss to her cheek and walking swiftly out of the room to find Damon to take you home. You’d embarrassed yourself quite enough for one night.
You’d never admit that you were disappointed that Elijah didn’t try to stop you.
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One of the advantages to being a vampire was that you very rarely got a hangover. Instead, you just slept in a little, made a cup of coffee and did some yoga before heading out to treat yourself to lunch. You didn’t need to eat but you enjoyed the taste, there was much more variety in food than blood.
You'd only arrived in Mystic Falls a couple of days ago for your visit to see the Salvatore brothers and as such hadn't had a chance to try out the Mystic Grill. This seemed like a perfect fit opportunity. Something greasy would be perfect right about now.
The grill was a bit dingy but it worked for the place and you were happy to learn that they have a pretty good menu selection. Your excitement was soured though when Elijah decided to join you for lunch.
Dressed in yet another suit, no tie and the top buttons of his shirt undone, he oozes charm and money. Add in the handsome features and knockout smile and you were lost. You're sure back in the day the ladies with delicate constitutions had to keep their smelling salts close. You could easily have fainted over him.
But he wasn't interested in you, as he had made very clear, so you were just annoyed that he was existing in your space.
Elijah watched you eat for a few moments, clearly taking note of your reluctance to acknowledge him.
"For someone who's in love with me, you don't seem particularly happy to see me darling."
You groan quietly and lower your utensils. Wishing him away wasn't working.
"What do you want Elijah?" You sound bitter, even to your own ears. So much for attempting to sound neutral.
"One of my favourite people, who I haven't seen for a long time, has reappeared and I want to spend time with them. Is that too much to ask?"
You start eating again, using it to buy time. You had honestly missed his company. You just weren’t sure if you could bear him breaking your heart again, even accidentally and unintentionally. Luckily, he had more to say.
“Klaus told me off after you left, you know?”
You look at him in surprise.
“Told me that I’d wasted my best opportunity at happiness. Which is especially concerning considering who it was coming from.”
You nod your agreement. Klaus wasn’t exactly known for his sentimentality.
He continues, “would you believe that I really thought you were too good for me? That I really thought you weren’t interested?”
“Elijah, you can not be serious.” You pull a face at him. “I literally spent all of my time with you, hanging on your every word. I would have followed you to the ends of the Earth. How could you not have known?”
“I just thought you were being your usual effervescent self. I started dating again to try and let you go.”
Miscommunication. You shake your head. 30 years of heartbreak all because of miscommunication. God, you could bang the pair of your heads together. It’s basically a crappy romance novel. Ok, this is ok. You can fix this. You have pretty much forever left, after all.
Taking the initiative, you lean forward and grasp Elijah’s hand. His eyes fall to where you wrap your fingers around his. A hopeful look takes over his face as he returns to your eyes.
“Elijah?” You smile. “Would you like to go on a date with me?”
He laughs. It’s a beautiful sound. You’re going to make it your personal mission to make him do it more often.
Lifting your knuckles to his lips, he places a gentle kiss on them.
“I can think of nothing else I’d rather do.”