I Lied, I Said It's Easy, I've Tried But There's These Fears I Can't Quell
Title: I Lied, I Said It’s Easy, I’ve Tried But There’s These Fears I Can’t Quell
Recipient: dametokillfor
Author: tellshannon815
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Matt, Rebekah, Alaric, Damon, Klaus, Caroline, Elena,Stefan. (Matt/Rebekah, Alaric/Damon, Klaus/Caroline)
Word Count: 2348
Warnings: AU in that Elena and Caroline were never turned, Isobel left Alaric to return to John, Alaric and Damon bought the Grill, Rebekah still has the chance at the cure and the intention to take it. Perhaps not quite as AU as you hoped for in the original prompt though.
Summary: Klaus’s arrival for a visit causes Matt and Rebekah to have doubts about their relationship which they are afraid to discuss. When Alaric and Damon force them to talk it out, it makes them realise they need to confront their own feelings for each other too.
Author's Notes: This was sort of inspired by Xander and Anya’s song I’ll Never Tell from the Buffy musical episode, hence the title.
“So which of your brothers is it that’s coming to visit you again?” Matt asked Rebekah as he brought up a crate of beer from the cellar.
“Klaus,” Rebekah replied as she wiped down one of the tables.
“The brother who’s always hated everyone you’ve ever dated. That’s what I thought.”
“He’s not going to hate you,” Rebekah shrugged this off. “He’s going to be too busy flirting with Caroline to even care what I do.” Caroline, the student from Whitmore College who supplemented her scholarship with some shifts at Ric’s Cafe Americain, glanced over at the sound of her name, then shrugged and went back to her work, or flirting with Jesse, one of the regulars.
“Didn’t you tell me that he once beat up some guy named Alexander that you had a holiday romance with in Italy?” Matt asked.
“Alexander deserved that,” Rebekah retorted. Matt had never known the full story on what this Alexander had done, (it had happened long before they had got together in their senior year of high school) but he did know that Rebekah’s brother Klaus had a rather short fuse (although not as short as that of their other brother, from what he had heard) so he did wonder whether it had been that much. “It really wasn’t a big deal.”
“Hey, guys, there’s people over there who want serving,” Ric, one of the co-owners of the bar, came up behind them. After he’d got divorced from his wife, he’d used the money from the settlement to go into business with his best friend, Damon, and buy the former owners out of the Mystic Grill, turning it into a themed bar. It was common gossip among their staff that they each had a thing for each other, in fact some of their staff had started a book on how long it would take before they realised this and got together.
“I’m on it,” Rebekah said as she made her way over to the couple by the window.
“You okay, Matt? You seemed a little down earlier.” Ric asked when she had gone. “I know you’re not looking forward to Klaus’s visit, but Rebekah’s right. When he last came here to visit Rebekah, we were finding doodles of Caroline on napkins lying around the bar for ages afterwards. I doubt he’s going to bother giving you a hard time.”
“It’s not just Klaus,” Matt admitted.
“Things not going well between you and Rebekah?” Ric guessed.
Matt debated with himself for a few seconds before finally blurting out “Is it really never a problem for you with Damon?”
“What do you mean?” Ric asked.
“You know what he is, what he’s done. And yet you’re still best friends with him, you can get past everything that he did and spend your life with him.”
“And you’re finding that hard with Rebekah?”
“The relationship was never meant to be serious.” Matt began. “I’d always felt more comfortable with my love life being a vampire-lite zone. But after the whole screwed-up thing with Elena, I just wanted some fun, and thought Rebekah was the right person for that. I just never thought I’d actually end up falling for her.”
“But you did. And I knew she liked you long before you ever did anything about it. So what are you worrying about?”
“What if having her brother around reminds her about her past, and she decides I’m boring and ordinary?” Matt had never admitted to anyone before that he had these doubts, but knew that if anyone was going to understand, then Ric was the person. “She talks about how she doesn’t want to be a vampire any more, but what if all this getting drunk and talking about the old days with Klaus makes her start to miss that life, and she decides I’m not interesting enough for her? You know, before we went travelling, I told her she’d better not try and turn me. Even though she promised, I still spent that trip sleeping with one eye open in case she tried anything.”
“But she didn’t,” Ric pointed out. “Even though she could have. And I never thought I’d say this about a vampire, but I think she is genuine about wanting to leave that life behind.”
“If Klaus wasn’t in town, I’d agree with you,” Matt replied. “But being with him, it might make her start looking back at some of those old memories, realise they weren’t as bad as she thinks they are now, and decide she wants to go back to that life again. What if she doesn’t really want to take the cure, if she decides she wants to stay a vampire? How do you deal with that with Damon, knowing that you’re going to get older and he’s just going to stay the same?”
As soon as he saw the surprised look on Ric’s face, Matt realised what he had said.
“Well, it isn’t an issue in the same way for me and Damon, but sure, I’ve thought about it,” Ric admitted. “But I’m not going to worry about it for now, and I don’t think he is either.”
“I’m sorry,” Matt blushed. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
Ric laughed. “Look, I know about the pool. And we already lost Caroline $50, since she called it that we’d be together by this summer.”
Matt decided not to admit that he and Rebekah had called Christmas.
“Look, you have all these reasons why you’re not sure about being with Rebekah,” Alaric began. “But what about the one reason why you are with her? I know you had your doubts at the beginning, but she’s proved to you that she can be a good person. And you love her, I can tell you do. You need to have a long honest conversation with each other, to be telling her all this, not me.”
“You’re right, I do.” Matt replied. “I guess I’m just worried about what she’ll say if I do.”
“You’ve gone from one extreme to the other, sister,” Klaus hissed when Matt turned away to serve his friends Elena and Stefan. “He’s the most boring bastard you could ever hope to meet. What happened to the rippers you used to date?”
“I’ve changed, Nik,” Rebekah replied. “I’ve turned my back on that life. This is who I am now.”
“You were actually serious.” Klaus shook his head incredulously. “I never thought you would take this so far. But you really are intending to live your life as a human, to work in this dead end job and settle down with the quarterback. A year ago you would have had him for breakfast, with Safari Sam over there for dessert.”
“I’ve stuck with you for hundreds of years when no one else would,” Rebekah reminded him. “I haven’t always liked the things you’ve done, but I tolerated them because you are my brother, and I love you. I respected your right to live your life as you chose, and now I am asking you to respect mine.”
“You would give up the only life that we have ever known?” Klaus asked.
“I already have.” Rebekah replied. “I no longer use my vampire abilities, I live as the human I intend to be. And I am going to be happy with Matt.”
Klaus laughed. “If you say so. But I give it five minutes before you get bored with him and realise he isn’t what you want. Or he decides that he wants someone as vanilla as him, like that ex-girlfriend of his that he’s just spent the last half hour talking to. Who are you trying to convince, sister dear?” Klaus spat. “Me, or yourself?”
Klaus turned his back on her in disgust and walked away. Rebekah watched him for a long time, but did not follow him. She had made her choice; she was done with her old life as a vampire and ready to embrace her new one as a human. Her time as a vampire with Nik had brought her nothing but pain (or at least it would have, had she not spent a large amount of this time with her humanity turned off) and now she was ready to close the door on it and start her new life with Matt.
Yet Klaus’s last words to her had struck more of a chord than Rebekah cared to admit. It was true, whenever they hit a rough patch Matt had a tendency to go straight to the lovely Elena, and she knew that he shared everything with her. It was also true that she had sometimes wondered whether Matt would be happier with someone like Elena than with Rebekah. Elena was human, after all, and with her, Matt would have the chance to have a family, to grow old together.
But he’ll have that chance with me too when I take the cure, Rebekah told herself. So he won’t have any reason to hide behind Elena, and he shouldn’t now, but he keeps doing it anyway.
“Something wrong, Rebekah?” Ric came up behind her. “I just saw Klaus on his way out of the bar.” He briefly stepped over to Damon, whispered something in his ear before turning back to Rebekah.
“We just had an argument,” Rebekah explained. “Nik thinks I’m going to get bored with my relationship with Matt and the whole thing’s just going to be temporary.”
“Well, it’s not what your brother thinks that matters, right?” Alaric asked.
Rebekah glanced over towards Matt, who had broken off his conversation with Elena and Stefan. As she watched, Damon said something to him, and Matt headed off in the direction of the cellar.
“It doesn’t,” Rebekah admitted. “But what if he’s right? What if I can never be good enough? What if Matt decides he wants someone more like Elena? Or what if he starts asking the same questions as Klaus, about whether I can ever really turn my back on that life?”
“Have you tried talking to Matt about this?” Alaric asked.
Rebekah shook her head. “I’ve never been afraid of anything in my life, and yet I’m afraid of what he might say. It was just easier not to tell.”
“Easier to just go on wondering?” Alaric asked. “I don’t think so. Come on, I need a hand down in the cellar.”
“What with?” Rebekah asked.
“With talking to each other for once.” At a signal from Damon, Alaric locked the door. “We’ll let you out when you’ve talked properly.”
Alaric thought about his conversation with Matt for a long time after they’d closed up. He stood by the advice he’d given Matt, to talk about how he really felt with Rebekah. But he realised that actually, he hadn’t been following it himself, but had been doing pretty much the same things as Matt.
“You know how we’ve just locked Matt and Rebekah in there?” Alaric said to Damon. “Maybe I should have locked us in there as well.”
Damon stared at him. “What are you talking about?”
“So the whole thing with Matt and Rebekah earlier got me thinking,” Alaric began. “I told them both they needed to talk to each other about how they really felt. And it made me realise that you and I need to do the same thing.”
Damon reached underneath the cash register and pulled out the bottle of whiskey that he’d hidden under there. “They haven’t found this hiding place yet,” he muttered. “So what do you mean?”
“Matt was talking to me about all the reasons why he shouldn’t be with Rebekah, and he was losing sight of the one reason why he should, that he loves her. See, I had a long list of reasons why I shouldn’t be with you, too. You’re a vampire, I’m human, I’m going to grow old and leave you while you’ll stay the same. And don’t even get any ideas about turning me,” Alaric began. “That’s a decision I need to make for myself, and right now I don’t want that. There was the fact that you can be a dick and that you’ve killed people. Hell, you killed me once, and it took me a while to get past that. But you’re the guy who made me realise it was time to start living my own life again after Isobel went back to John, you’re the guy who makes me laugh every time I’m feeling down, you’re the guy who’s always been there for me when no one else has. And those are the reasons that matter. So I realised I needed to take the advice I just gave Matt and Rebekah, and tell you how I really feel about you.”
“So you finally realised you couldn’t resist the charms of the eternal stud.” Damon grinned. “You know what? I had all my reasons not to be with you too. I thought I was through with all that after Katherine, and yeah, there was the fact that I know how you always used to feel about vampires, and everything I’d done. But screw all those reasons, you’re right. I may be technically dead, but it’s time for us both to start living again.”
After a few hours, Alaric and Damon tiptoed down towards the cellar, not knowing quite what they would find.
“Guess they took your advice,” Damon smirked as he pointed to where Matt had his tongue half way down Rebekah’s throat. “You know what I just realised?”
“We finally get a break from seeing their long faces around the bar?” Alaric grinned.
Damon laughed. “Well, that too, but I meant about us. We’re gonna have to cough up in the betting pool. Who was it that guessed Christmas again?”
Alaric joined in with the laughter, gestured in the direction of Matt and Rebekah.
“You’re kidding me.” Damon grinned. “You know what? We’ll leave it to the morning to tell them. In the meantime, I think they had the right idea. Come on.” He took Alaric by the hand and led him up the stairs.
Recipient: dametokillfor
Author: tellshannon815
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Matt, Rebekah, Alaric, Damon, Klaus, Caroline, Elena,Stefan. (Matt/Rebekah, Alaric/Damon, Klaus/Caroline)
Word Count: 2348
Warnings: AU in that Elena and Caroline were never turned, Isobel left Alaric to return to John, Alaric and Damon bought the Grill, Rebekah still has the chance at the cure and the intention to take it. Perhaps not quite as AU as you hoped for in the original prompt though.
Summary: Klaus’s arrival for a visit causes Matt and Rebekah to have doubts about their relationship which they are afraid to discuss. When Alaric and Damon force them to talk it out, it makes them realise they need to confront their own feelings for each other too.
Author's Notes: This was sort of inspired by Xander and Anya’s song I’ll Never Tell from the Buffy musical episode, hence the title.
“So which of your brothers is it that’s coming to visit you again?” Matt asked Rebekah as he brought up a crate of beer from the cellar.
“Klaus,” Rebekah replied as she wiped down one of the tables.
“The brother who’s always hated everyone you’ve ever dated. That’s what I thought.”
“He’s not going to hate you,” Rebekah shrugged this off. “He’s going to be too busy flirting with Caroline to even care what I do.” Caroline, the student from Whitmore College who supplemented her scholarship with some shifts at Ric’s Cafe Americain, glanced over at the sound of her name, then shrugged and went back to her work, or flirting with Jesse, one of the regulars.
“Didn’t you tell me that he once beat up some guy named Alexander that you had a holiday romance with in Italy?” Matt asked.
“Alexander deserved that,” Rebekah retorted. Matt had never known the full story on what this Alexander had done, (it had happened long before they had got together in their senior year of high school) but he did know that Rebekah’s brother Klaus had a rather short fuse (although not as short as that of their other brother, from what he had heard) so he did wonder whether it had been that much. “It really wasn’t a big deal.”
“Hey, guys, there’s people over there who want serving,” Ric, one of the co-owners of the bar, came up behind them. After he’d got divorced from his wife, he’d used the money from the settlement to go into business with his best friend, Damon, and buy the former owners out of the Mystic Grill, turning it into a themed bar. It was common gossip among their staff that they each had a thing for each other, in fact some of their staff had started a book on how long it would take before they realised this and got together.
“I’m on it,” Rebekah said as she made her way over to the couple by the window.
“You okay, Matt? You seemed a little down earlier.” Ric asked when she had gone. “I know you’re not looking forward to Klaus’s visit, but Rebekah’s right. When he last came here to visit Rebekah, we were finding doodles of Caroline on napkins lying around the bar for ages afterwards. I doubt he’s going to bother giving you a hard time.”
“It’s not just Klaus,” Matt admitted.
“Things not going well between you and Rebekah?” Ric guessed.
Matt debated with himself for a few seconds before finally blurting out “Is it really never a problem for you with Damon?”
“What do you mean?” Ric asked.
“You know what he is, what he’s done. And yet you’re still best friends with him, you can get past everything that he did and spend your life with him.”
“And you’re finding that hard with Rebekah?”
“The relationship was never meant to be serious.” Matt began. “I’d always felt more comfortable with my love life being a vampire-lite zone. But after the whole screwed-up thing with Elena, I just wanted some fun, and thought Rebekah was the right person for that. I just never thought I’d actually end up falling for her.”
“But you did. And I knew she liked you long before you ever did anything about it. So what are you worrying about?”
“What if having her brother around reminds her about her past, and she decides I’m boring and ordinary?” Matt had never admitted to anyone before that he had these doubts, but knew that if anyone was going to understand, then Ric was the person. “She talks about how she doesn’t want to be a vampire any more, but what if all this getting drunk and talking about the old days with Klaus makes her start to miss that life, and she decides I’m not interesting enough for her? You know, before we went travelling, I told her she’d better not try and turn me. Even though she promised, I still spent that trip sleeping with one eye open in case she tried anything.”
“But she didn’t,” Ric pointed out. “Even though she could have. And I never thought I’d say this about a vampire, but I think she is genuine about wanting to leave that life behind.”
“If Klaus wasn’t in town, I’d agree with you,” Matt replied. “But being with him, it might make her start looking back at some of those old memories, realise they weren’t as bad as she thinks they are now, and decide she wants to go back to that life again. What if she doesn’t really want to take the cure, if she decides she wants to stay a vampire? How do you deal with that with Damon, knowing that you’re going to get older and he’s just going to stay the same?”
As soon as he saw the surprised look on Ric’s face, Matt realised what he had said.
“Well, it isn’t an issue in the same way for me and Damon, but sure, I’ve thought about it,” Ric admitted. “But I’m not going to worry about it for now, and I don’t think he is either.”
“I’m sorry,” Matt blushed. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
Ric laughed. “Look, I know about the pool. And we already lost Caroline $50, since she called it that we’d be together by this summer.”
Matt decided not to admit that he and Rebekah had called Christmas.
“Look, you have all these reasons why you’re not sure about being with Rebekah,” Alaric began. “But what about the one reason why you are with her? I know you had your doubts at the beginning, but she’s proved to you that she can be a good person. And you love her, I can tell you do. You need to have a long honest conversation with each other, to be telling her all this, not me.”
“You’re right, I do.” Matt replied. “I guess I’m just worried about what she’ll say if I do.”
“You’ve gone from one extreme to the other, sister,” Klaus hissed when Matt turned away to serve his friends Elena and Stefan. “He’s the most boring bastard you could ever hope to meet. What happened to the rippers you used to date?”
“I’ve changed, Nik,” Rebekah replied. “I’ve turned my back on that life. This is who I am now.”
“You were actually serious.” Klaus shook his head incredulously. “I never thought you would take this so far. But you really are intending to live your life as a human, to work in this dead end job and settle down with the quarterback. A year ago you would have had him for breakfast, with Safari Sam over there for dessert.”
“I’ve stuck with you for hundreds of years when no one else would,” Rebekah reminded him. “I haven’t always liked the things you’ve done, but I tolerated them because you are my brother, and I love you. I respected your right to live your life as you chose, and now I am asking you to respect mine.”
“You would give up the only life that we have ever known?” Klaus asked.
“I already have.” Rebekah replied. “I no longer use my vampire abilities, I live as the human I intend to be. And I am going to be happy with Matt.”
Klaus laughed. “If you say so. But I give it five minutes before you get bored with him and realise he isn’t what you want. Or he decides that he wants someone as vanilla as him, like that ex-girlfriend of his that he’s just spent the last half hour talking to. Who are you trying to convince, sister dear?” Klaus spat. “Me, or yourself?”
Klaus turned his back on her in disgust and walked away. Rebekah watched him for a long time, but did not follow him. She had made her choice; she was done with her old life as a vampire and ready to embrace her new one as a human. Her time as a vampire with Nik had brought her nothing but pain (or at least it would have, had she not spent a large amount of this time with her humanity turned off) and now she was ready to close the door on it and start her new life with Matt.
Yet Klaus’s last words to her had struck more of a chord than Rebekah cared to admit. It was true, whenever they hit a rough patch Matt had a tendency to go straight to the lovely Elena, and she knew that he shared everything with her. It was also true that she had sometimes wondered whether Matt would be happier with someone like Elena than with Rebekah. Elena was human, after all, and with her, Matt would have the chance to have a family, to grow old together.
But he’ll have that chance with me too when I take the cure, Rebekah told herself. So he won’t have any reason to hide behind Elena, and he shouldn’t now, but he keeps doing it anyway.
“Something wrong, Rebekah?” Ric came up behind her. “I just saw Klaus on his way out of the bar.” He briefly stepped over to Damon, whispered something in his ear before turning back to Rebekah.
“We just had an argument,” Rebekah explained. “Nik thinks I’m going to get bored with my relationship with Matt and the whole thing’s just going to be temporary.”
“Well, it’s not what your brother thinks that matters, right?” Alaric asked.
Rebekah glanced over towards Matt, who had broken off his conversation with Elena and Stefan. As she watched, Damon said something to him, and Matt headed off in the direction of the cellar.
“It doesn’t,” Rebekah admitted. “But what if he’s right? What if I can never be good enough? What if Matt decides he wants someone more like Elena? Or what if he starts asking the same questions as Klaus, about whether I can ever really turn my back on that life?”
“Have you tried talking to Matt about this?” Alaric asked.
Rebekah shook her head. “I’ve never been afraid of anything in my life, and yet I’m afraid of what he might say. It was just easier not to tell.”
“Easier to just go on wondering?” Alaric asked. “I don’t think so. Come on, I need a hand down in the cellar.”
“What with?” Rebekah asked.
“With talking to each other for once.” At a signal from Damon, Alaric locked the door. “We’ll let you out when you’ve talked properly.”
Alaric thought about his conversation with Matt for a long time after they’d closed up. He stood by the advice he’d given Matt, to talk about how he really felt with Rebekah. But he realised that actually, he hadn’t been following it himself, but had been doing pretty much the same things as Matt.
“You know how we’ve just locked Matt and Rebekah in there?” Alaric said to Damon. “Maybe I should have locked us in there as well.”
Damon stared at him. “What are you talking about?”
“So the whole thing with Matt and Rebekah earlier got me thinking,” Alaric began. “I told them both they needed to talk to each other about how they really felt. And it made me realise that you and I need to do the same thing.”
Damon reached underneath the cash register and pulled out the bottle of whiskey that he’d hidden under there. “They haven’t found this hiding place yet,” he muttered. “So what do you mean?”
“Matt was talking to me about all the reasons why he shouldn’t be with Rebekah, and he was losing sight of the one reason why he should, that he loves her. See, I had a long list of reasons why I shouldn’t be with you, too. You’re a vampire, I’m human, I’m going to grow old and leave you while you’ll stay the same. And don’t even get any ideas about turning me,” Alaric began. “That’s a decision I need to make for myself, and right now I don’t want that. There was the fact that you can be a dick and that you’ve killed people. Hell, you killed me once, and it took me a while to get past that. But you’re the guy who made me realise it was time to start living my own life again after Isobel went back to John, you’re the guy who makes me laugh every time I’m feeling down, you’re the guy who’s always been there for me when no one else has. And those are the reasons that matter. So I realised I needed to take the advice I just gave Matt and Rebekah, and tell you how I really feel about you.”
“So you finally realised you couldn’t resist the charms of the eternal stud.” Damon grinned. “You know what? I had all my reasons not to be with you too. I thought I was through with all that after Katherine, and yeah, there was the fact that I know how you always used to feel about vampires, and everything I’d done. But screw all those reasons, you’re right. I may be technically dead, but it’s time for us both to start living again.”
After a few hours, Alaric and Damon tiptoed down towards the cellar, not knowing quite what they would find.
“Guess they took your advice,” Damon smirked as he pointed to where Matt had his tongue half way down Rebekah’s throat. “You know what I just realised?”
“We finally get a break from seeing their long faces around the bar?” Alaric grinned.
Damon laughed. “Well, that too, but I meant about us. We’re gonna have to cough up in the betting pool. Who was it that guessed Christmas again?”
Alaric joined in with the laughter, gestured in the direction of Matt and Rebekah.
“You’re kidding me.” Damon grinned. “You know what? We’ll leave it to the morning to tell them. In the meantime, I think they had the right idea. Come on.” He took Alaric by the hand and led him up the stairs.