Hollow ” Klaus Mikaelson × Male!Oc! 16.

ladies and gents and all non-binary pals, this is the last chapter 😭 it’s been a fun ride with everyone. thanks you for all the comments and votes. thank you for all the support!

Chapter Sixteen: 

Zero wakes to the feeling of being cocooned in a cosy warmth. He blinks his eyes a few times to adjust his gaze and then freezes. “Oh shit,” he whispers, staring at Klaus’s sleeping face with wide eyes. “Oh shit,” he repeats again because oh shit. 

It’s hard to remember the events of earlier today when he’s warm and floaty and just so content. 

Zero carefully peeks underneath the covers and oh yeah, they’re both definitely still clothed there. “Thank you, God,” Zero could not be more relieved right now. “Thank you.”

He flickers his gaze to Klaus’s bare chest and flushes. There is an intricate tattoo of a black feather on his shoulder blade dispersing into crows across his collarbones. It’s pretty and very…distracting. 

“Are you enjoying the view?” Klaus asks, voice low and gravely. His green-blue eyes are filled with amusement when they flutter open.

Mortified, Zero pulls the covers over his head and engulfs himself into darkness. He lets out a weak sound when he hears Klaus laugh. “Let’s ignore the fact that I just did that,” Zero pleads. 

“Mhhm,” Klaus hums. He tightens his grip around Zero’s waist and pulls him flush against his chest. “I’ll think about it,” he murmurs into the covers, leaning his head against Zero’s. 

Mustering up his courage, Zero eventually asks, “what time is it?” 

“It’ll be five soon,” Klaus answers, voice slightly muffled. “Why?” 

“No reason,” Zero says quietly and maybe a little too quickly. He slowly uncovers his head and sees Klaus slightly move away to give him some space. “I just have to pick up a few things later.”

Klaus gives him an odd look, obviously hearing the tell-tale sign of his heart skipping in a lie. He doesn’t call him out, just leans back in and places his chin atop Zero’s mop of black hair. “Alright,” he murmurs. “When?” 

Zero hides his face into Klaus’s neck and breathes in the direct scent of woods after rainfall. It’s fresh and calming. Zero could stay like this forever. “Later,” he says, pressing his lips against the pan of tanned skin he finds there. 

Underneath the covers, Klaus slips his hand underneath Zero’s hoodie and settles it across the small of his back. He rubs his hand up and down, slow and soft and so, so, warm. The whine that Zero breathes into Klaus’s neck is quiet and breathless. 

“I’ll come with you,” Klaus decides, because it wouldn’t be him if he wasn’t putting his nose into other people’s business. Well, Zero’s mostly. 

“Klaus, don’t be the crevice in my arm,” Zero scrunches up his nose, because if all fails, he still has his sarcasm to fall back on. “Or the crumbs at the bottom of a potato chip bag.” 

“I’m not even going to ask what that means,” Klaus says. There’s a hint of exasperation and utter fondness in his tone that has no right to be there. Because they’re known each other for roughly a year now and yet here they are, cuddling like some couple on a popular TV show. They don’t even know each other that well, sure, they have a weird connection and Klaus likes to buy him flowers and gift him chocolates and sometimes he gives him forehead kisses…

Shit. Were they dating this whole time? Zero might just be a bit more oblivious than he thought he was. He thinks about it a bit more but then his head starts hurting so he just stops. “We’re we dating this whole time?” He asks because what the fuck, Zero, you are dumb as fuck. 

Klaus pulls back once more to give him another odd look. There’s a significant pause before he speaks, “What do you think we were doing this whole time?”

Zero rolls over and shuffles out of the bed. “I’m not answering that.” He finds his vans, puts them over his socks and swiftly ties his shoelaces. When he makes his way towards the door, Klaus is suddenly in front of him, holding him by the wrist.

“Stop laughing,” Zero snaps. He moves his gaze to the side before he can get distracted  by Klaus’s chest and his dumb tattoo. “And put on a shirt. Please.” 

“I’m not laughing,” Klaus says, clearly trying his best to hold back a laugh. There are crinkles beside his eyes and he looks really good like this.

Zero shakes the offending hand around his wrist and walks past Klaus with a mutter off, “we haven’t even kissed yet.” 

He’s going down the stairs when Klaus flashes in front of him, two steps below him. He’s still taller than Zero, go figure, and he’s  got a shirt on now. Which is totally great for Zero’s heart. 

“We haven’t kissed yet,” Klaus says, amused, “because whenever I try, you turn your head away.”

“I do not,” Zero seethes, scowling.

Klaus smirks before he takes a step closer to Zero. He lowers his head and when his lips are millimetres away from Zero’s own, breaths mingling and heat radiating, the shorter of the two swiftly turns his head away.

“What?” Zero licks over his lips, completely ignoring Klaus’s gaze. “You’ve never heard of gay panic before?” 

“I’ll wait,” Klaus says, lowering his voice into a soft murmur, he waits for Zero to look back at him and only then does he continue, “for as long as you need me to.” 

Zero clears his throat, suddenly very enamoured and very shy.  “Okay,” he manages to squeak out. His cheeks feel warm and his stomach is fluttering with thousands of butterflies. He feels hot all over, especially with the way Klaus is eyeing him up and down with an appreciative gaze. 

When Klaus holds his hand out, Zero takes it without a second thought and feels immediately bad about it afterwards.

—–

Klaus rolls the car to a stop. They’re on the outskirts of town. There’s nothing out here except for abandoned buildings being overgrown by nature and a few stray birds. “And what exactly is your business here?” He asks. 

Zero unbuckles his belt. “My package is being delivered here,” he says, stepping out of the car. He closes the door behind him and fishes out his phone from the back pocket of his jeans. It’s a few minutes before seven which means he has enough time to find a portal around the buildings. He observes the buildings, looking for a soul reaper’s mark.

“Let’s go,” Zero says, moving forward. Klaus falls into step with him, looking around with furrowed brows. He grabs a hold of Zero’s hand and intertwines their fingers. 

Eventually they find a soul reaper’s mark, large and light blue, painted over the side of a crumbling building in the far back. It’s a simple compass with a skull in the middle. “This is it,” Zero explains. He looks at his phone once more. There’s a minute left till seven. 

“I’m sorry,” Zero apologises, pocketing his phone. He turns to look at Klaus with a small smile. “I really am.” There’s a flash of blue light behind him. Zero hears the sound of wooden doors sliding open and then the soft footsteps of Momo as she walks out. 

“Lieutenant,” Momo greets, bowing her head slightly. 

Klaus’s eyes widen as he stares at Momo who’s dressed in black robes and has a sword attached to her hip. He turns his line of sight back to Zero, tightening the grip he has on his hand. 

“I like you,” Zero confesses. His grey eyes are starting to sting and his voice wavers as he speaks. He pauses to clear his throat, but the lump at the back of his threat appears once more. “I’m so sorry,” he whispers. 

Klaus opens his mouth to say something but Zero steps forward and pulls Klaus into a kiss. It’s just the gentle press of their lips, warm and tingly, and then the slow movement of their mouths moving against each other in pure bliss. Zero sighs in content and Klaus mirrors the sound with his own. 

When Zero pulls away, his eyes are wet with tears. “It’s okay,” he says softly, watching the way Klaus’s face morphs into worry. “You’ll forget about me,” Zero murmurs, lifting his hand to press his index and middle finger against Klaus’s forehead. “Everyone in this town will.”

A ring of red light flashes around Klaus’s head like a halo. The tears that Zero had been trying so hard to keep in start trailing down his cheeks. He steps away when Klaus flutters his eyes closed, standing still.

Zero thinks of Sai and Sherry and wishes them a good life in the human world. “Goodbye,” Zero turns and walks into the darkness that awaits him behind the double doors. Momo follows behind him quietly. 

The next time that Klaus opens his eyes, he’s standing alone in the outskirts of town. There’s no-one in sight. There’s just the sound of birds fluttering their wings and cars going a little too quickly down the main road. He looks this way and that way, wondering what he’s doing here. He rubs his hand against the back of his neck and then turns to go looking for his car. 

Overheard, clouds form together and turn the sky dark. Klaus makes it to his car just as it starts raining. 

the end. 

//unedited.

haha…. me? apologising? for this??? absolutely.

[ edit: feel free to check out my other books. especially my rick grimes book! ♥︎]