Title: at the same time it excites me.
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries.
Characters: Katherine/Stefan.
Prompt: Button.
Rating: PG.
Length: 1088.
Content warnings: Set after 2x11 with a murky AU.
Author’s notes: Title is from "Boom" by Anjulie.
Summary: Katherine and Stefan stop playing pretend. This isn’t a business relationship anymore.


Pausing at the entrance of the bar, Stefan sighs when he spots her. She doesn’t turn around to face him, but he knows she can sense him. Katherine’s in tune with the world around her to a scary extent. Sometimes, he thinks he’s that boy who had been so enamoured by her, believing she’d sculpted the world just for him.

Taking a seat beside her at the bar, he looks at her while she keeps her gaze focused on her glass. Tracing the rim with a finger, he notes she’s changed the colour of her nails. From a black he felt he was sinking into to a bright pink that makes him smile. Tempted to reach out and touch her hand, he traps his within the cage of his inner thighs.

He smiles. "I really got under your skin, huh?"

She scoffs. "Hardly," she says, rolling her eyes. The way her face twists and she refuses to look at him suggests otherwise. Clenching her fingers into her fist, she tries to hide the bright pink from his sight. Her thumb sticks out.

"Pink’s a good colour on you."

Twisting to face him, she narrows her eyes and jabs a bright pink finger into his chest. "If you’re going to say I’m pretty in pink, I’m going to shove your button and this glass so far down your throat your skin will split."

Stefan only smiles, gaze dropping to her lips to note that she’s wearing a light pink lipstick this time.

Katherine lords his button over his head like she’s incapable of spinning him tightly within her web. It’s something that Stefan had expected the moment he’d realised a button from his shirt had gone missing in the tomb after her manhandling. Either her fingers had tugged it free in a moment of pure hunger or his shirt had begun to desiccate along with them.

Watching her shake her head and pull her glass to her lips, he realises that she hasn’t realised it yet. She can see in the dark, see moments and hours into the future to plot her next move, but she can’t see how he’s willingly tangled himself within the sticky silk of her web. Stefan doesn’t try and struggle free, not anymore.

"You don’t scare me," he says with a smile. She only scoffs.

Waving at the bartender, he presses his palms flat against the cool surface and drums his fingers against the wood. Noticing her looking at him from the corner of her eye, he smiles and twists to face her. Knees bump into hers. "You look nice."

She narrows her eyes.

Boldly, he appraises her with a smirk. She’s wearing a nice black dress, strapless. His gaze lingers on her bare, sharp shoulders. Tempted to reach out and touch her, he keeps his hands to himself, fingers itching to mould to her skin again.

Lifting his gaze to hers, he asks easily, "Got a date?"

She sits up taller on her stool, back impossibly straight. His gaze lingers on the line of her neck and her collarbones. "As a matter of fact, yes. I do. He’s very hot."

Stefan only smiles. Her heart’s racing in her chest, blood rushing to her skin. It’s a sound he’s become in tune with, desperate to hear how he’s burrowing beneath her impenetrable skin deeper each time he’s with her.

Reaching out to brush his fingers against her bicep, she frowns. She stills beneath him. "What are you doing?"

He lets his hand linger before he pulls it away, placing it back onto the bar as he watches the bartender pour his drink. This is their little hole in the wall, a little place outside of Mystic Falls where Katherine and Stefan can be seen together without raising any eyebrows. He finds he likes the secrecy of it all.

Her gaze remains on him. Stefan wants to fidget, but he remains still, face turned away from her.

"What are you doing, Stefan?"

Her knees press against the side of his leg in a bid to make him turn around. Resting her elbow against the bar, she leans her cheek against her curled fist and openly stares at him.

She says casually, "I thought this little act of rebellion would have lasted at least a week." The bartender slides his glass in front of him, giving Katherine a little wave and a lingering look. Stefan doesn’t like it. He still doesn’t turn to look at her. "Not several months."

He shrugs, looking down at his glass. The bourbon’s the most attractive thing in this bar right now. "Maybe I just needed a change."

"Bullshit."

He looks at her and shrugs once more, tracing his finger against the lip of the glass. "It’s true. You and I both want the same thing, Katherine. I know you’re my best bet at getting that."

Her eyes narrow as his heart hammers in his chest. Breathing in deeply, he tries to calm it, make it run faster and smoother. She can hear it. Katherine could hear a pin drop from across town.

Then she smiles, shaking her head. Turning away from him, she’s back to tracing the rim of her glass round and round.

"You and I both know it’s not because we want the same thing when it comes to Klaus," she says quietly. Stefan can’t help but watch her as she keeps her head bowed, lips pursing unhappily. "I know it, you know it, yet we continue to pretend." She looks at him, eyes narrowed slightly. "Aren’t you tired of pretending this isn’t happening?"

Stefan looks away. Katherine’s eyes bore into his profile, the warmth of her gaze causing his skin to prickle and burn.

Clearing his throat, he admits quietly, "I am."

"Then stay the night," she says, leaning closer. Placing her hand on his thigh, she spreads her fingers out possessively.

She begins to pull her hand away. Stefan’s quick to curl his hand around hers, keeping it on his leg. He pulls it towards his inner thigh. Despite wanting to trap her hand between his thighs, he keeps his legs spread, trusting she’ll keep her hand where it is.

Giving his thigh a squeeze, Katherine smiles. Ducking her head, she looks away. He thinks he can spy pink tinging her skin.

Clearing her throat, she picks up her glass with her other hand, pressing the rim against her lips. "For the record, the pink manicure had nothing to do with you."