Chapter Three:
It’s around five in the morning, the sun is steadily rising over Mystic Falls and the streets are empty save for the odd early risers. The Mystic Grill isn’t yet open and neither are any of the other places, but Klaus isn’t here for any of those.
The bell above the glass door chimes as soon as Klaus steps inside the diner. He’s greeted with the sweet smell of something fruity and the sight of Zero covered in pink icing behind the counter. It’s smudged across his cheeks, over the bridge of his nose and even on his left eyebrow. There’s a three story cake sat atop the counter to the side of him. Klaus feels the corners of his lips curl into a barely there smile, even when his chest starts burning with a yearning that he can’t quite quench yet.
His fingers twitch beside his thighs and Klaus does quick work of shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his jacket as he walks towards the counter. He stops right in front of it and watches the way Zero scrunches up his nose cutely, the tip of his tongue peeking out from the corner of his pink lips as he works on making tiny, intricate flowers around the edges of the three story cake with a piping bag. A confused expression flickers across his face, nose twitching and mouth turning into a pout.
Klaus drinks the expression up like a recovering alcoholic working in a brewery. The words, “hello, love,” tumble out of his mouth smoothly, voice gravelly and low sounding even to his own ears.
Zero stills under his gaze. His grey eyes widen, mouth parting ever so slightly and heart stuttering behind his ribcage. He slowly turns to face Klaus, fingers curling tightly around the piping bag in his hands. The pink icing squeezes out from the other end and falls onto the counter with a wet ‘squelch.’
Klaus stares at it with a raised brow.
Ok.
Good.
Great.
Fantastic.
Klaus totally knows how to deal with this.
He raises his gaze back up to Zero. The black haired male looks like a deer caught in the headlights. And because this interaction wasn’t weird already, Zero places the piping bag down onto the counter and slowly and awkwardly lowers himself until he’s hidden behind said counter.
Klaus successfully refrains from hitting his head against the nearest flat surface.
This was supposed to be easy.
Rebekah has said so.
‘Go to the diner by yourself,’ she had said. ‘What could possibly go wrong?’ she had said.
Well, she clearly hadn’t thought it through fully.
“Ok,” Klaus says quietly, nodding his head. Because what else can he say? Should he turn and leave? Should he change his name? Move to Russia? Hide in the forest and live in a cottage? He has a lot of options currently at hand.
And he’s confused.
Luckily enough, the door to the kitchen swings open and a female walks out to stand behind the counter. Her dark brown eyes take one look at Klaus and then lower themselves to the floor to where no doubt Zero is sat. Her lips then twist into a playful grin, quiet snickers escaping her mouth.
Klaus quickly eyes her over. She has long plum coloured hair, her skin is awfully pale and oddly enough, she doesn’t have a heartbeat. She shuffles towards the counter, brown eyes shining with mirth. “Hey,” she greets him, “don’t mind the kid. He has low self-esteem.”
“Wrong,” Klaus hears Zero sniffle quietly, “I have no self esteem.”
“Anyways,” the female smiles, “I’m Sherry and I own this place. What can I help you with?”
Klaus blinks, slowly and deliberately. He supposes she could help him with one thing…
“Actually,” he says, leaning against the counter and placing his palms flat against it. He matches his cyan coloured gaze with her dark brown one, “I have an issue with one of your employees.”
“Oh?” Sherry muses, smile turning into a large grin. “Which one?” She humours him.
Klaus makes a low humming sound and ducks his head. “He’s cute,” he says, voice something between a whisper and a murmur, “he’s a bit of a brat though, has a sharp tongue.”
“And?” Sherry asks, tone similar to his own as she tucks a strand of her plum coloured hair behind a pierced ear.
Klaus raises his head only too see Sherry’s grin turn into something much more softer, more… understanding.
He opens his mouth and feels his words lodge themselves somewhere in the back of his throat. “He… has pretty grey eyes and-“
Klaus cuts himself off when his chest starts burning again.
He hears a quiet, barely there whimper and his senses go into overdrive. Zero. The world around him blurs, twists into colours he can’t quite decipher, his chest aches and his nose fills with the scent of apples and cherries, honey and chocolate.
Klaus wants to reach out and take Zero and just steal him away.
But he can’t.
Because that’s, well, he can, but he can’t.
Klaus needs to leave.
He mutters something about coming back later and then hightails it out of there.
He needs to talk to Rebekah.
875 words//unedited
Comment