Chapter Text
Hayley’s POV.
I remember the first time I saw him, and honestly, I should’ve known right then that my life was about to get complicated in the worst possible way. At the time, though, I was just eighteen, stuck behind a bar in the middle of nowhere in the Appalachians, wiping down sticky counters and pretending I didn’t care that I had no idea where I came from or where I was supposed to go next. Abandoned by a birth pack I never even got the chance to know, no parents, no roots, no real reason to stay anywhere. I was just existing, Floating. And that bar? It was just another stop, another place to pass time until I figured out what the hell I was supposed to do with myself.
“Hey, Hayley, table six needs another round,” Hollister whose my boss called out from the other end of the bar, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Got it,” I shot back automatically, grabbing a rag and finishing up the glass I was cleaning before moving down the counter. My movements were easy, practiced. Bartending wasn’t hard. People were predictable. Drinks were simple. It was one of the few things in my life that made sense.
Until he walked in.
I didn’t notice him right away—not visually, at least. It was his voice that caught my attention first. Smooth. Controlled. The kind of voice that didn’t belong in a place like this. My head tilted slightly as I focused, my werewolf hearing picking up on the low murmur of conversation from across the room.
“…Klaus,” someone said.
Klaus. The name stuck instantly. I glanced up, finally spotting him among the crowd, and for a second, I just… stared. “Oh,” I muttered under my breath, blinking once. “Okay. That’s…” I trailed off, shaking my head slightly. “That’s unfair.”
Because he was - there was no other word for it - hot. Not just attractive. Not just good-looking. He was hot. A walking daydream like hot. There was something about him, something sharp and dangerous wrapped up in confidence that made it hard to look away. He didn’t belong here. Not in this bar, not in this town, not anywhere remotely close to my world.
“Earth to Hayley,” Hollister nudged me as he passed. “You good?”
“Yeah,” I said quickly, tearing my gaze away. “Yeah, I’m good.”
But I wasn’t. Not really. Because now I was listening.
“…passing through,” he was saying to someone at the bar, his tone casual but deliberate. “I don’t tend to linger.”
Figures, I thought, wiping down the counter a little harder than necessary. Guys like him didn’t linger. They moved on, always.
“Break,” Hollister called out suddenly. “Marshall, you’re up.” I blinked, “Now?”
“Now,” he repeated, already turning away.
I hesitated for half a second, glancing back toward Klaus. Of course. Of course my break had to start right when the most interesting person to ever walk into this place showed up. “Great timing,” I muttered under my breath, tossing the rag aside.
I stepped outside, leaning against the wall as I pulled in a slow breath, trying to ignore the pull to go back in there. “Don’t be stupid,” I told myself quietly. “You’re not walking up to him.”
Because I knew who he was.
Klaus Mikaelson. The Original Hybrid. The one who still had his wolf side bound. I’d heard enough whispers, enough rumors, enough stories to know better than to get involved. He wasn’t just dangerous. He was legendary, an immortal.
And me? I was just little old mortal me. “Yeah, that’ll go great,” I muttered sarcastically. “‘Hi, I overheard your name and also you’re insanely attractive and also I know what you are.’ Not weird at all.” I huffed a quiet laugh, shaking my head. “He’d think I’m mental. Or worse, a fangirl.”
So I didn’t go back in. I stayed right where I was, finishing my break, staring out at the empty road and pretending I wasn’t thinking about him.
And when I finally did go back inside?
He was gone.
“Of course he is,” I muttered, scanning the bar anyway like he might magically reappear.
“You missed your mystery guy, for what do you think I gave you a break? Sulk?,” Hollister teased lightly.
“I wasn’t—” I stopped, then sighed. “Whatever. Doesn’t matter.”
And I told myself that it didn’t. That it was just a moment. Just a stranger passing through and Hollister being noisy, seeing things when there is nothing.
~◇~
A year and a half later, I found myself in Mystic Falls, unpacking boxes in a small apartment and trying to convince myself that this quiet little town was exactly what I needed. No drama and no chaos. Just a place to stay for a while. Maybe longer.
“I could get used to this,” I muttered, glancing around the room with a small, satisfied nod. “Yeah, this works.”
It was supposed to be simple.
Then I heard his name again, when I walked through the town.
“Klaus Mikaelson.”
I froze.
“Wait,” I said slowly, turning toward the person who’d just mentioned it. “Did you just say Klaus Mikaelson?”
“Yeah,” they replied casually. “Why?”
I stared at them. “No reason,” I said quickly, shaking my head. “Just thought I heard wrong.”
But I hadn’t.
And when I saw him really saw him, standing in this town like he belonged here, like he wasn’t some passing storm but something permanent.
I nearly dropped my bag in disbelief. Klaus Mikaelson, not bound, not hidden behind centuries of power cloaked in secrecy, but walking the streets like he belonged to the world of mortals. I stopped walking, my heart pounding and my mind screaming for rationality. “No. No way,” I muttered, blinking and hoping my eyes were playing tricks. It had to be a joke, some cruel cosmic trick that placed the most dangerous, most alluring man I had ever encountered. I actually laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered under my breath. “This is a joke, right?”
It had to be. What were the odds?
I shook my head, forcing myself to look away. “Nope. Not doing this,” I told myself firmly. “You are not getting involved. You are not approaching him. You are not repeating whatever that was back then.”
So I made a decision. I’d ignore him. Completely. Live my life, work, sleep, repeat. Stay out of his way, and he’d stay out of mine. Simple. Except…
Apparently, Klaus Mikaelson doesn’t like being ignored.
I didn’t know it at the time, but from the moment I didn’t approach him, didn’t acknowledge him, didn’t react the way everyone else apparently did. Something had shifted. Something caught his attention.
And while I was busy trying to pretend he didn’t exist. He was watching me. Not as someone insignificant. Not as someone beneath his notice.
But as a question, a problem, a potential threat.
Which, honestly? Would be hilarious, really.
If I didn’t have a massive, completely inconvenient crush on him.
But there is one thing I knew for certain...
Fate hates me and is probably laughing at me now.