i finally updated 😤
Chapter Eleven:
Hunger.
Klaus has felt hunger many a times in his long life. First when he was a child, eyeing the many apples a lone merchant was selling. His stomach had been pitifully crying at him, begging for the pain of hunger to disappear. Second, when he was turned by his mother — the hunger for blood was different than the hunger for food, it was dizzying and it changed you. It was consuming, like the only thing you could think about was the burning, coppery taste of blood. And without it, you were nothing.
The hunger he feels now… it’s not like either of those. This hunger gnaws at his chest, makes it burn, burn, burn. It simers beneath his skin, bubbling like hot water boiling over a stove. It’s angry, ready for some sort of attack.
Klaus slams his hand against the door, it makes a dent just to the side of Zero’s head. He growls lowly, chest rumbling with the sound because Zero had just tried to reach for the door handle so he could escape. Klaus wasn’t going to let him leave, no, not until he had answers. Because here he was, feeling and he would very much like to know why. Zero trembles underneath him, scrambling to push himself closer to the door to make as much space between them as he can. He ducks his head, the cap he’s wearing along with his hood constricting Klaus’s view of his face.
Klaus leans closer, to murmur against the hood over his ear, “I’m going to take you away,” he says, “so we can have a nice little chat.” Other than a sharp intake of breath and a small nod, he doesn’t get any other reaction from Zero. Scowling, Klaus leans away. He still can’t see the younger’s face. Feeling irritation spark through his being, Klaus swiftly pulls Zero’s hood down. He pauses, one hand hovering over his black cap — there are locks of white hair sticking out from underneath the edges. Zero places a shaky hand over Klaus’s own, jerking his head from side to side to indicate a no.
With a click of his tongue, Klaus pulls Zero’s cap off anyway. It falls to the ground with barely a sound.
Oh.
Oh.
Zero’s hair is white.
Okay. Klaus is officially confused. More confused than he usually is with Zero, but whatever. He’s somewhat used to it by now.
Sherry is half Ghoul and half Zombie? Okay. Sai is a Witch with raging hormones who is also part Ghoul? Klaus understands. Zero purrs and constantly avoids answering questions about whether or not he’s fully human? Fan-fucking-tastic.
It’s a known fact. The sky is blue. Kol is a whore. Zero makes you confused. Simple.
Carefully, Klaus holds Zero’s chin between his thumb and index finger, lifting his head slowly higher. “Pretty,” he breathes out, completely enthralled by what he then sees. One of Zero’s eyes is completely black, the ring around his pupil shining in gold. The skin around it is pale, startlingly white. The same exact shade of his hair. Zero flushes, his cheeks turning red. Klaus slips his hand lower, around the side of his neck so that his fingers thread through white hair and his thumb rubs gently against a soft cheek.
Zero makes a high, needy sound, almost like a keen. His scent suddenly sky rockets into the air and Klaus feels his senses run into overdrive. He can now taste syrupy fruit on his tongue, heavy and sweet and tantalising. Zero’s heartbeat rings in his ears, thumping quickly and loudly. Klaus feels his fangs ache with the need to bite, not for blood, just for the simple act of marking up Zero’s neck. So that everyone knows who he belongs to.
“You…. you need to stop that.” Zero’s voice is high, a little breathy actually. He weakly pushes away at Klaus’s chest.
“Me?” Klaus asks, offended. “You’re the one who’s… who’s doing this to me.”
“Oh, yeah because I’m the one who’s filling up the room with pheromones,” Zero has the nerve to sound snarky.
Scoffing, Klaus pulls away and takes a few steps back. Opposite him, Zero sags onto the door, holding one hand over his erratically beating heart. The other one is fisted in his jeans, knuckles pale and shaking. He tilts his head back, inhaling deeply as he exposes the pale length of his neck. Klaus has to force his gaze away, every nerve is his body screaming at him to just grab Zero and sink his teeth into—
“Stop it.” Zero scowls, matching his gaze with Klaus’s own.
“Stop what?”
“That.”
“I’m not doing anything—”
“Oh really? Cause to me it seems like you’re—”
Klaus cuts off Zero with a threatening growl, bluey green eyes narrowing.
Zero closes his mouth shut with an audible click and crosses his arms across his chest. He moves his gaze to the side to glare at one of the counters, his lips jutting out in an angry pout.
“Hand.” Klaus orders, holding out his own for the youngers.
“No.” Zero doesn’t even look at him.
“Hand.” He repeats, clenching his jaw.
Sniffing, Zero turns his nose up into the air stubbornly. “No.”
“Either you give me your hand or I’m going to pull you over my shoulder and take you out the front door that way.”
Slowly, Zero shifts his line of sight back to Klaus. “You wouldn’t,” he mutters, narrowing his heterochromatic eyes.
Klaus raises a single brow. “Wouldn’t I, love?”
The pet name seems to work because Zero sucks in his bottom lip, nibbling into the pink flesh there. He eyes Klaus’s hand warily and takes a tentative step forward. “Just to talk?” He asks, voice small and quiet.
“Yes,” Klaus swipes a tongue over his lips, “just to talk.” He almost sighs in relief when Zero finally curls his smaller hand around his own much larger one.
——
Zero face plants onto Klaus’s bed. The Mikaelsons boarding house is nice. Really nice. There are old paintings and delicate vases, long staircases and large rooms — everything smells of blueberries and sandalwood, of woods after a rainy day, there’s even a hint of spices here and there. Fresh yet homey.
“What are you doing?” Klaus asks, the tone of his voice exasperated.
“Taking a nap,” Zero answers, snuggling into one of Klaus’s pillows and making himself comfortable on top of the bed sheets. He sighs contentedly, fluttering his eyes closed.
Klaus makes a noise akin to a snort. “I believe that’s a form of avoidance.”
“Is it?” Zero asks innocently. “I wouldn’t know.”
The bed dips just to the side of him and a hand makes its way into his hair. Klaus pets him like one would pet a dog’s fur. Zero starts making quiet, little purring noises. He’s so calm now. There’s no fear, no anger, no voice in the back of his mind telling him what a monster he is. There’s just Klaus, the scent of woods after rainfall and quietness.Â
Klaus’s hand pauses in his hair. “Your hair is turning black,” he mutters, tone bordering on disbelief.
Zero makes a sound of protest and Klaus goes back to petting him. “It’s changing back,” he muffles into the pillow after a moment of silence, “because I’m coming to terms with something.”
“With what?” Klaus asks.
“Sometimes,” Zero shifts to snuggle more into the pillow, “whenever I get sad or something happens that I don’t particularly like, a part of me, well, the primal part of me, decides it wants to take over. Once I have my emotions under control, it sort of goes back into the background.”
“What made you upset?”
“I met someone.”
“Oh?”
Zero opens his eyes to stare at the wall opposite him. There’s an odd painting hung on the wall, the flowers are bleeding and the sun looks like it’s crying. He’s glad he isn’t facing Klaus when he opens his mouth to murmur, “I think her name is Caroline.”
The hand in his hair stills once again.
“She’s pretty,” Zero continues on. “I got upset because she said you’d make me miserable and I didn’t believe her. I’ve come to terms with her existence and the fact that at one point you must have had feelings for her. It’s hard. Especially when all I want to do is throttle her and feed her to Sherry.”
Klaus laughs, low and throaty. “Is that what happened to the others before me?”
“Maybe,” Zero answers with half a smile. In reality, there hasn’t been anyone before Klaus. For a few minutes, it’s quiet again. When Zero tethers over the edge of awareness, succumbing to sleep, Klaus asks, “this primal part of you… what is it?”
“I’m a Hollow,” Zero whispers it like it’s a deep, dark secret never to be told to just anyone. “Hollows are former deceased human souls. We’re beings that have lost our hearts. That’s where all our pain and other negative emotions come from.”
“But you have a heart,” Klaus’s voice is filled with confusion.
“Yeah,” Zero mumbles, closing his eyes and stifling a yawn, “that’s where the system sort of fucks up.”
1532 words//unedited.
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