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Chapter Text

Irritated, Amara opens her front door. Her head was tilted to keep the telephone clamped between her ear and shoulder. In her free hand, she held a bottle of vodka, a drink she was always in need of when talking with her delightful ex.

"Brad, if you ever show up at my work again, I'm going to rearrange your organs and not in a fun way." Amara threatens. She rolls her eyes upon hearing his stammered reply, he was once more trying to make up excuses to come near her.

This had been the third time he had sneaked into the club. She had warned the bouncers to keep him out, but he somehow kept finding his way in.

Finally taking notice of the group of people, Amara lets her eyes go over them. They looked like an odd bunch, and she wonders briefly if these were 'customers' of one of her neighbors. Such people often found themselves lost.

"Just stay away, or better yet, go find yourself another college student to bury your sorrows in." Amara replies, her tone less bitter than she would have hoped. After receiving no response, she ends the call, tossing the phone into her living room, not caring where it landed. The prepaid phone was nearly indestructible anyway.

Amara turns her attention back to the group of strangers at the door. They were staring at her as if she had grown an extra head. Amara assumed they had come with a purpose, and she would really appreciate it if they got down to business, seeing as they were currently wasting precious minutes of her free time.

"Yes?" Amara makes an impatient gesture with her hand.

"Good evening, my name is Elijah, and I was wonder-" One of the men steps forwards, halting just in front of the doorstep.

"Great, let me stop you there. Did you see the sticker? " Amara cuts the man off whilst unscrewing the lid of the bottle she was still holding.

"Pardon?" Elijah gives Amara a confused look.

"No sale at my door." Amara points at the bright orange sticker that she had stuck to her door a few days ago. "I've already dismissed four Jehovah's witnesses this week alone. Just read the stickers, man. Have a nice evening." Amara snaps, losing her patience. This man had some nerve trying to hold a sales pitch at this ungodly hour. She takes a step back to close the door in the man's face.

"No, wait! We're not selling anything!" Another man spoke up.

Amara halts in her movement and eyes the young man suspiciously. "If you're not selling, then what do you want?"

"We would like to use your phone if that's alright." A third man spoke up, gazing intently into Amara's eyes.

"Yeah you know, it's late, I'm tired, and I've got some more yelling to do, so I can't help you." Amara was close to slapping these intrusive strangers. They could have gone for any door in the street, but it had to be hers, of course.

"But-umm, feel free to try it with my neighbors, they have dogs, I'm sure they can help you. Good luck, buddy." Amara waves her hand dismissively in the direction of the house on her right. She shoots them a fake smile before slamming the door shut.

• • •

"Did she just call me buddy?" Niklaus asks, looking incredibly offended. "Did she just-I'm not a buddy, I'm the Original hybrid!"

"I think we have bigger problems at our hands than your bruised ego, Nik. For example, that we all landed in the middle of nowhere after Finn here tried to get us all killed!" Rebekah shouts. She was ready to slam Niklaus' head against the nearest wall, prioritizing had always been a bit of an issue for the hybrid.

"People fear me, cower at my name! No one cowers at the name 'buddy'!" Niklaus rants, uttering the name as if it was something rather unpleasant.

"What about the fact that the rude woman who just slammed the door in our faces is apparently my soulmate." Elijah deadpans. He had imagined several times what it would be like to find his soul mate. In these dream scenarios, his mate was often already waiting for him and overjoyed to see him. He had never pictured his mate to be a woman in her early twenties, grumpy and most likely tipsy.

"See, that's where you're wrong, Eli. She's my mate." Niklaus points out, looking ready to tackle the older Mikaelson for even suggesting such a preposterous concept. He was already experiencing enough stress about the transportation situation and the rather rude treatment of the woman behind the door, he would not add Elijah's delusional depictions to his list of grievances.

"You're both wrong." Kol interjects. "She's obviously my mine, I felt that connection the moment she cut Elijah off." Kol boasts, already looking forwards to the prospect of both him and his mate pestering Elijah.

Elijah rolls his eyes at Kol's remark and turns to face Finn, who hadn't said a word upon laying his eyes on the woman.

"This might become a problem." Finn mumbles, grimacing at the thought of sharing his mate with his little brothers.

• • •

Amara is almost in the kitchen when the doorbell rings again. She groans in annoyance and decidedly ignores the bell. Surely the strangers would take the hint and eventually give up.

She searches her fridge, eyes squeezed close as the ringing noise is now non-stop. Remarkably enough, she could hear the bickering of the people outside through the ringing noise.

"Kol! Knock it off!"

"I just want to see her again!"

"She's not going to like you any better if you abuse her doorbell!"

"She might-"

"Ow!"

"Morons!"

The bell has finally stopped ringing, and Amara flops herself onto the couch with a content sigh, a late-night snack in her hands. This moment of peace is short-lived as she is now being disturbed by a thumping noise. "Have those idiots gone completely mad?" She mutters as she reluctantly abandons her couch.

"Why are you still here?" Amara shouts as she tears the door open. She grimaces as she sees one of the men lying slumped on the ground. She suspected him to have been leaning against the door and hadn't expected it to be opened. This must be Kol.

"Please let us in. We need to use the phone." Kol begs, still lying on the ground and looking up at Amara with what must have been his puppy eyes. "And I really need to use the loo, please!" He adds as an afterthought, believing that the human would take pity on him.

"No, you could be serial killers." Amara deadpans. Although the chances were slim, it was still a possibility and her life was already shitty enough without taking the unnecessary risk of letting these psychos into her home.

"If we were, we would have already killed you. " Niklaus points out, smirking at Amara.

Amara shrugs. "Fair point." She walks back to her couch, leaving the door open for the group to enter her home.

The Mikaelsons stare at the girl, awkwardly waiting for a bit of a warmer welcome, or better yet, an invitation.

"I thought you needed to pee?" Amara asks as she sees the group still standing outside, huddled near her door.

"I do..." Kol nods, blushing a little.

"I'm not moving the toilet to you." Amara snickers, now flicking through the magazine she had bought herself earlier, a little treat for putting up with another week at her job.

"Perhaps you could invite us in? We are very keen on manners." Elijah suggests, awkwardly tapping the door frame. So far, he wasn't very successful in charming his mate, and he hoped matters would improve over time.

Amara blinks, dumbfounded at this obviously false statement. "Keen on manners?! Keen on- That one," She points at Kol. "Almost broke my door. How is that for being keen on manners?!"

"Yes, and he is very sorry." Elijah adds, bowing his head to display his regret, whilst elbowing Kol in the ribs.

Kol takes on a remorseful expression, copying his brother.

"Alright, come in."

"Elijah."

"You seriously want me to invite you in one by one?" Amara deadpans. Who the heck did this guy think he was, the queen of England? "Fine, please come in, Elijah."

"Well, no need to beg, dear." Elijah replies smoothly. He shot the rest of his siblings a smug little smile before stepping over the threshold.

Amara looks thoroughly underwhelmed at Elijah's remark and is close to pushing him right back out again.

"I'm Kol, and I want to use your bathroom." Kol blurts out, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. He hoped his mate would still let him in after his little incident with the door. "Please."

"Come in, Kol." Amara sighs, rolling her eyes at the fact that she had actually given in to their ridiculous demand.

Kol steps inside and immediately walks into the hall, as if he already knows the layout of the house. He starts to open random doors.

"Rebekah." The blonde woman offers, looking expectantly at the human.

"I'm Finn." Another man adds at the same time.

"Come in, Rebekah, Finn." Amara was already regretting her newfound sense of hospitality.

The two walk inside and Rebekah instantly collapses on the couch, kicking her heels off in the process.

Rebekah had had a horrible night, she was almost killed by her own mother and had to spend an evening with the doppelgänger of all people. She thought with delight of the fit of anger Elena would have when they were to return, alive and well. How wonderful it would be to rub their triumph in the face of the doppelgänger before finally ending the girl's miserable little life.

Finn also takes a seat, far more controlled than his sister, and lets his gaze roam the room.

"Niklaus." The last man mutters, annoyed with being the last man standing outside.

Amara frowns. "Niklaus." She lets the name roll over her tongue. "I have heard that name before." She wonders if she had seen him in the club before. "What's your last name?"

"Mikaelson." Elijah replies, whilst curiously gazing around the living room. This woman was quite cluttered.

Amara blinks for a moment, racking her brain trying to remember where she had heard the name before, when it clicks and a look of contempt crosses her face. "Oh god. You're those assholes from that TV show."

"Assholes?!" Niklaus shouts, looking deeply insulted.

"Sorry, I mean the villains." Amara quickly corrects herself upon seeing the unamused expressions of her 'guests'. Her apology was far from sincere, but there was an attempt.

"Don't take it to heart, the whole show kind of sucked. I only watched it because there was a character with my name in it." Amara admits, smiling sheepishly.

"We are in a TV show?" Rebekah asks carefully, hoping she had misheard or that this human was delusional. There was no way they were in their own world. Rebekah would have certainly known if her life had been some sort of reality show. She would have bloody directed the show if that were the case.

"Yeah? You should know this, seeing as you acted in it? I'm just wondering why you guys are in character? And why you can't afford your own phone? Did your careers go downhill this quickly?" Amara asks, eyeing the people suspiciously.

"Why didn't you enjoy this TV show?" Finn asks, trying to distract his mate from asking difficult questions. Whatever was going on, he secretly hoped she had liked his character.

"It just wasn't my thing. With the whole 'I'm Elena and I can't choose between Stefan and Damon' storyline." Amara replies, using a whiny voice.

Rebekah laughs. "That does sound like her." She decides on the spot that she quite liked this coarse human.

"Could you, maybe. I don't know, invite me in as well?" Niklaus asks, looking close to snapping someone's neck.

All of his brothers, even Finn, got to enjoy being in close proximity to his mate. Niklaus was almost certain that his brothers were mistaken in thinking they shared a mate. Niklaus didn't share, and he would make sure they would also know this.

"Ah, yes. You were the one with the daddy issues." Amara comments, looking quite pleased with herself for remembering. It had been over five years since she had last seen the show and didn't remember much, which she was thankful for.

"Excuse me-" Niklaus asks, indignation clear in his tone.

"Hey, no need to be ashamed. We can exchange stories about our horrible fathers." Amara deadpans, grinning at the supposed hybrid. She gets up from the couch to grab her laptop from her room.

"Hello? Invite? Please?!" Niklaus calls, growing a little desperate. Surely, she wouldn't leave him out here, right?

"Invite yourself in, this isn't the TV show." Amara calls over her shoulder. She's been playing their game long enough, the fact that there were a bunch of actors in her living room didn't mean much to Amara.

"I. Literally. Can't." Niklaus grits out.

"We're not actors." Elijah says, clearing his throat awkwardly. He was starting to take pity on his brother. The Original had hoped to postpone this conversation until their mate was a little more accustomed to their presence, but desperate times...

"If you seriously claim to be vampires, then I'm a unicorn." Amara says, shooting Elijah an epic bitch face.

"I've never met a unicorn before." Kol replies, grinning at his mate.

"Prove it." Amara demands, not in the mood for jokes. She wasn't sure why she was even indulging in this nonsense.

"No, I'm not showing you my fangs." Kol protests immediately, covering his mouth with his hand. He didn't want to scare his mate in their first moments together. This was supposed to be romantic and memorable.

"Worried about the size of them?" Amara asks in mock concern, giving Kol an extra friendly smile whilst pinching her index finger and thumb together.

Kol is about to shout that his fangs are a perfectly normal length, maybe even above average, when he is being pushed aside by Rebekah.

"Let me." Rebekah offers before elongating her fangs, dark veins webbing under her eyes.

"This is insane." Amara mutters, taking a step toward the blonde.

Without further thought, Amara leans forward and pokes one of the fangs with her index finger. "Ow." She retracts her finger, looking sadly at her pierced finger. She hoped the vampire didn't happen to have any STDs.

"What did you expect to happen?" Rebekah deadpans after her face returned to normal, decidedly ignoring the scent of Amara's blood.

"I don't know." Amara mutters. "They looked a lot less sharp on the show. Do you guys ever bite your own tongue?" She now looked a little more excited with the company of the Mikaelsons.

"I'm still outside!" Niklaus snaps, waving his arms up and down to gain their attention.

Chapter Text

"Don't you have any food?" Kol asks, rummaging through Amara's cupboards.

Amara is about to answer when she sees Niklaus walking into her bedroom.

"Hey! No! I don't want you anywhere near my delicates!" She shouts, not trusting the thousand-year-old to not go snooping around in her drawers.

The 'visit' of the Mikaelsons came completely unexpected, and she hadn't gotten the time to clean up, so the chances were that Niklaus might find something very uncomfortable in her drawers.

"I only wanted to look around." Niklaus replies as he turns back, holding his hands up in defense.

"That's what panty sniffers say!" Amara retorts, glaring at the hybrid, who was now turning bright red.

"But, I never-I wouldn't." Niklaus stammers, trying to come up with a reply that would justify his actions. He was somewhat insulted that his mate thought he would be a pervert.

"Do you only have crackers?" Kol interjects, looking unimpressed at the carton box, shaking it a little to let the other inhabitants know that the content of the box was going to be disappointing.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know I was going to play host to a bunch of vampires." Amara scowls. "Next time I will make sure to stack up on O negative."

"Thank you, darling." Kol replies before continuing his rummaging, completely disregarding his mate's sarcastic tone.

Amara bit her tongue, the company of the Mikaelsons demanded the utmost of her patience. If they weren't vampires, she would have shown them the door long ago, but since they were invited in, they'd probably be back in no time.

"No, don't touch that. Inviting you in isn't a free pass to get your paws on all of my belongings!" Amara says as she sees Elijah opening her jewelry box.

"Niklaus is the one with paws, dear." Elijah replies with a straight face, carefully placing the necklace he had been admiring back down.

"I'm this close to calling the cops." Amara grumbles. She suddenly gained a whole new appreciation for kindergarten teachers. Would it be possible to just chain her guests up?

• • •

"Alright, you've been here for two hours now, and you've eaten my last crackers. You're drinking your way through my alcohol supply, and haven't called anyone. Why?" Amara accuses, sending the Mikaelsons who have sprawled on her couch an annoyed look.

Kol reaches out, grabbing onto Amara's waist to urge her to take a seat. His mate looked a little stressed, so some sitting might help, he thought.

"Don't touch me." Amara warns, slapping Kol's hand away whilst narrowing her eyes at him.

"Ow, you're not supposed to harm your mate intentionally." Kol whines, rubbing his hand to gain some pity from the human. The slap hadn't hurt, but the idea of his mate wanting to physically injure him hurt enough.

"My what?!" Amara asks, narrowing her eyes even further at the man.

"Nice going, Kol." Niklaus scoffs, rolling his eyes at his little brother's dramatics.

"Can someone please elaborate?" Amara asks, losing her patience.

"We shouldn't tell her right now," Elijah interjects. "I don't think she would take the news-"

"She is standing right here." Amara snaps, shooting Elijah an unimpressed look.

"You're my mate." Kol announced happily, grabbing hold of Amara's hand and ignoring the glare his mate shot him at the action.

Finn clears his throat.

"Our mate." Kol corrects. "Nik, Elijah, Finn, and I, we're your mates." He rubs small circles on Amara's hand, looking as blissful as if she had just said yes to a marriage proposal.

"What is he doing with his face?" Amara asks, looking alarmed at Rebekah. Since Rebekah is apparently not part of this craziness, Amara thought it'd be safest to ask the blonde instead of the other brothers.

"I believe it's what the poets call; a longing gaze." Finn answers instead, carefully gauging Amara's reaction. So far, his human didn't seem very pleased or impressed with their presence, which would probably only worsen with this news.

"I don't care what the poets call it. Make him stop, it's nauseating." Amara says, awkwardly patting Kol's hand with her free one, before pulling both hands free. She shuffles a little to the left, away from the saddened vampire.

Kol lets out a wounded noise, pouting at his mate's rejection.

"This isn't going well." Rebekah murmurs.

"I still don't know what 'mate' means." Amara comments, making air quotation marks with her fingers. "No-wait. I changed my mind. I don't need to know."

"Why not, love?" Niklaus asks, tilting his head slightly, looking curiously at his mate.

"I just got out of a really shitty relationship and this 'mate' thing sounds like something unpleasant and permanent, I mean, just look at him," Amara nods at Kol. "So I choose blissful ignorance."

"But, it's marvelous, it's love-" Rebekah starts.

"I'm sorry, I just don't want to know." Amara replies, clearing her throat awkwardly at the tense atmosphere. "If that's all, I'm going to bed."

"Where can we sleep?" Niklaus asks, looking around the room as if he were looking for hidden beds.

"Oh, you want a nice, comfortable bed? Maybe breakfast tomorrow as well?" Amara aks in a sweet voice.

"That would be excellent." Elijah replies, looking happily surprised at Amara's sudden change in mood. Surely, they could try again tomorrow, maybe the stubborn human would be more open to the concept of soulmates after some rest.

"Go to a hotel." Amara deadpans, turning around, heading towards her bedroom. If a bunch of immortals could survive epic battles, they would also survive a night on the couch.

• • •

"What do you think you're doing?" Amara hisses as she feels someone sliding under the covers beside her.

"There are no beds." Finn points out matter-of-factly, wrapping his arms around his mate. He represses the desire to let out a content sigh. She was warm and smelled lovely.

"So?!" Amara wriggles herself free from his grasp. Amara secretly missed having someone else in her bed, but not so much that she would take one of the vampires as a cuddle buddy.

"I thought we could-" Finn starts, trying not to look too hurt at Amara, who seemed intent on putting as much distance between herself and him, which wasn't much seeing as the bed wasn't exactly large.

"Yeah, that's where you're wrong. You're not thinking." Amara whispers harshly, hoping none of the other Mikaelsons would wake and join their squabble. "Who the hell crawls into a stranger's bed without permission?!"

"But I do not want to sleep on the floor." Finn murmurs.

"That sounds like a you problem." Amara whispers, demonstratively turning around.

"But they're mad at me, and we're soulma-" Finn tries, not sure what could convince his mate to let him stay. His siblings weren't exactly happy with him, which he understood, and he longed to be close to his mate. He carefully scoots closer to her again.

"Don't even." Amara lets out a long-suffering sigh before slumping into the mattress. "Fine, but no funny business." She gives in, starting to feel a little sorry for the friendly giant. "And no cuddling!"

• • •

"Do you think she likes us?" Kol asks, staring up at the ceiling of the living room.

"She called us 'those assholes' from a TV show..." Elijah replies mildly, grimacing at the memory of being insulted by his own soulmate.

From what Elijah read, supernatural soulmates were supposedly instantly enraptured upon first meeting. They would do anything for each other and love each other unconditionally. However, he had never delved into humans and vampire soul mates, something he now regretted.

He did feel a strong attraction toward Amara, but she clearly didn't reciprocate.

"She did look very pretty while insulting us." Kol offers, smiling fondly at no one in particular.

"Now that you mention it. I would appreciate it if you would stop sending those loving glances at my mate." Elijah warns, glaring at Kol from the other side of the couch.

Elijah had been irritated with Kol for blurting out that they were all soulmates to Amara, when this has not yet been confirmed. Elijah was almost certain that the existence of multiple soulmates was not plausible, and he suspected that his brothers were lying in order to annoy him.

"We've been over this, Elijah." Niklaus sighs in an exasperated manner. "She is my mate."

"You're delusional. You must have been inhaling that oil paint a little too much, Nik. She's obviously mine!" Kol retaliates, throwing one of the decorative pillows at his brother's face.

"Will you shut up?! You're all acting like little children who do not know how to share a toy." Rebekah groans, covering a nearby cushion on her face, trying to drown the bickering of her brothers out.

"Share? No, I will not be sharing my mate with these infantile-" Elijah scoffs. Amara might be a bit rude and ill-mannered, but she was his.

"Who are you calling infantile?!" Kol protests, throwing another pillow, this one hits Elijah square in his face.

"It's impossible." Niklaus hisses, hoping he was right.

"But what if it isn't?" Rebekah asks softly, wondering how long her brothers were going to deny this possibility. It was annoying enough that Amara turned down the possibility of true love, let alone her brothers, who couldn't get their heads out of their asses.

"Then that's another great joke from the universe." Niklaus scoffs.

• • •

"Oh, you're still here… great." Amara enters her living room, grimacing at the mess the Mikaelsons had made.

"Don't sound so disappointed, love. We might start to think you don't like us." Niklaus hums, browsing through the bookcase next to the couch.

"What's up with that one?" Amara asks, ignoring Niklaus's comment and looking apprehensively at Kol.

"He is a bit discouraged." Rebekah replies, offering Amara an awkward half-smile before going back to flipping through the channels.

"Okay, umm how can we make him stop doing...that?" Amara looks pointedly at Kol, who was leaning with his head against the wall, pouting while petting one of her pillows.

"I could use a hug?" Kol suggests, hopefully looking up. Kol was reliving the events of the previous day, thinking back in disappointment to how his mate had rejected his touches.

"A what?" Amara gives Kol a disbelieving look, hoping he was joking. She'd accepted Finn's hugging reluctantly, only because she was tired, but that didn't mean that she would make a habit of hugging vampires.

"A hug." Elijah repeats, looking up from the weeks-old newspaper he had found. He wonders briefly if humans still actively participated in that form of affection, or if that trend has passed and the appropriate way of displaying your affection was now the 'high-five'.

"Yeah-no I know. You hug him." Amara narrows her eyes at Elijah, if he was so sympathetic towards his little brother, he could surely hug him.

"No."

Amara rolls her eyes, wondering if all siblings act like this. But then she realizes that Elijah had probably also daggered some of his siblings, and that affection in their family was probably something fragile or awkward.

"Why won't you hug me?" Kol whines, looking thoroughly saddened.

"I'm not hugging strangers." Amara points out, matter-of-factly, before walking into her kitchen to fix herself a cup of tea.

"We're not strangers, we're your soulmates!" Niklaus retorts, grimacing at the reluctance of this girl. He had finally found his mate, but of course, she had to be difficult about the ordeal. He just wanted to love her and for her to love him. Niklaus had even accepted the possibility that she might also be the soulmate to his brothers.

Kol pouts when he hears the term, a painful reminder of his mate's previous rejections.

"Yeah, you keep yelling that word at me, like I'm supposed to care... It does not contribute to this conversation." Amara snaps.

"Someone woke up grumpy." Rebekah mutters.

"Oh, really? I wonder why?!" Amara shouts, returning to the living room to fix the Mikaelsons with a furious glare.

"You guys barge into my house, claiming to be something to me, which I'm not going to vocalize because I think Pouty over there might start crying!" Amara snaps her fingers in Kol's direction.

Kol stammers, about to protest the nickname, when he is already cut off by Amara's further rambling.

"Besides Pouty, we have Daddy issues over there, who is clearly in need of family therapy. And Suit guy who thinks he can touch my stuff and be clever when I scold him for it!" Amara breathes heavily, ready to kick any one of these vampires if they dare to deny her accusations.

Finn suppresses a smile, happy to not have been called out by his mate.

"You're not going to chastise me?" Rebekah comments mildly, looking slightly impressed with the girl. It had been a while since anyone had dared to speak to them like that, especially Niklaus, who would have most likely slaughtered four villages while sulking for being scolded.

"No, seeing as you're the only one who doesn't try to get inside my pants..." Amara replies, dropping herself tiredly onto the couch, next to Rebekah.

"We're not trying to get-" Finn starts.

"I am, eventually... I mean. In the long term." Niklaus stammers, already regretting his poorly worded comment. "Never mind." He mumbles as he sees Amara's dark look.

• • •

"Alright, I'm leaving." Amara announces, grabbing her bag.

"Where are you going, dear?" Elijah asks.

"I have a coffee appointment, I will be back in a few hours. You guys stay here or go. I don't care. Bye." Amara replies irritatedly, she owed none of them an explanation.

Amara opens the door, not in the mood for possible further protests, when she slams into someone. "Jane! You're here?!" Amara shouts in surprise as she sees her friend waiting in front of her door.

They had arranged to meet at their regular cafe, but apparently, she had a different idea. Judging by her friend's angry expression, this was not going to be a pleasant walk to the café together.

"Amara, you bitch! Where the fuck were you?" Jane shouts, narrowing her eyes at Amara.

"I'm sorry, Brad called and something else came up and-" Amara stammers, remembering she was supposed to meet with her friends last night. Those stupid Mikaelsons took up all her energy and time last night.

"Amara, darling? Do you happen to have a spare toothbrush- Oh, good morning?" Elijah walks up to the door, pausing mid-sentence as he sees another woman at the door. The woman was merely staring at Elijah. and he gives her a small wave.

"Is that what came up?" Jane asks, looking the handsome man up and down. She had to admit it, he was quite an upgrade compared to Amara's previous boyfriend. She would later ask Amara if the man happened to have a single sister, niece, or even an aunt.

"Yes-no! No, that's not- I didn't. It's not like you think." Amara sputters, knowing full well that Jane would chastise her later for not telling her about her… company.

"Elijah! Put on a shirt!" Amara snaps, finally taking in Elijah's current state of undress. She curses both herself and Elijah for the blush that crept up her cheeks.

Okay, so she didn't want to know anything about this 'mate' thing, but she too could see that they were incredibly handsome and well-built. She wasn't blind, and in her opinion, there was nothing wrong with admiring from a safe distance.

Elijah smirks upon seeing his mate's blush and is about to comment on it when Niklaus walks up to them, looking disturbed at the saucepan he was holding. "Love? Is oatmeal supposed to smoke like this?"

"Oh Jesus. Where did you even find that? I haven't eaten oatmeal in over a year!" Amara asks, apprehensively looking in the pan, only to gag and turn her head away in disgust.

"Two?" Jane mumbles, impressed with her friend. Her eyes shift from Elijah to Niklaus, appreciating what she was seeing. She knew Amara was not averse to masculine beauty, but she had never sought this after her friend.

"No, absolutely-"

"Angel, how fond are you of your-" Kol asks, also stopping mid-sentence as he notices Jane. He also gives a small wave before turning his attention back to his mate. He tugs at her sleeve, wanting her to look at him.

Amara shakes her head, knowing full well she should be planning her funeral right about now.

"Three?! You slept with three of them?!" Jane looks ready to slap her friend, hard. What were friends for if not to brag about their sexual endeavors?

"No! I didn't sleep with any of them! They tried, but I didn't yield." Amara shouts exasperated whilst trying to push the men back inside so she could close the door. This proves to be futile, seeing as it was like trying to move a mountain. Better said, three very annoying mountains.

"That's not how I remember it, dear." Finn interjects, joining his brothers at the door, looking quite smug.

"Shut up, Finn!" Amara snaps while continuing to push at the men, involuntarily landing her hands-on Elijah's bare abdominal region. Looking up in horror at Elijah's pleased expression, she retracts her hands quickly, lightly wincing.

"Four? You dirty slut, nice going!" Jane shouts exuberantly, happy to see her friend getting some action. Despite her original anger, she was eager to encourage her friend's outrageous and scandalous behavior.

"That's where you disappeared off to last night? You were snuggling up with Amara?!" Niklaus growls, turning around to glare at his eldest brother.

"I'm not even mad you skipped out last night. I too, would have chosen this path." Jane continues, ignoring the dark looks Finn was getting from the three other men and her friend.

"She slapped my hand away, and you got to cuddle with her?!" Kol shouts, insulted at his mate's unfair bias.

"No. I haven't slept with any of them!" Amara shouts at Jane, trying to make herself audible over the yelling and growling coming from the men.

"I'm going to stab you!" Niklaus growls.

"No one is stabbing anyone! No killing in my house!" Amara shouts over her shoulder, knowing they would probably do it anyway.

"So if you're not sleeping with them…" Jane quirks an eyebrow, ignoring the various death threats that were being exchanged by the men.

"No, you can't either." Amara grumbles, not in the mood to bury her friend only because she wanted a vampire orgy.

"You have got some nerve, hogging Amara like that!" Elijah rumbles.

"Wow, wasn't even going to ask that, but good to know." Jane replies, wagging her brows at Amara's sudden defensiveness. If Amara hadn't slept with them yet, which Jane didn't believe, her friend certainly would in the foreseeable future. Jane was all too familiar with her friend's lack of restraint.

"Let's just go." Amara suggests, hoping she wouldn't receive too many noise complaints from her neighbors.

"You're staying inside, pretty boy." Amara says as she sees Kol approaching her, looking ready to follow her.

Amara gently pushes at Kol's shoulder, coaxing him into moving back inside. She was making sure she wouldn't hit him with the door. The man had already done enough pouting, no need to add to that because she had injured him.

• • •

"What are you smirking about?" Niklaus asks, rubbing his sore temples.

Rebekah had shouted quite a bit at Niklaus and Elijah for their 'moronic' behavior. She wasn't too happy with Finn at the moment, but she wasn't in the mood for any more fratricide.

"She gave me a compliment." Kol replies, walking away from the door where he had been standing for a good ten minutes. He dreamily rubs the shoulder where Amara had patted him. "The first step to our pending marriage."

"I don't think 'pretty boy' was meant as a-" Rebekah snorts, having caught Amara's last words before her departure.

"It was a compliment!" Kol snaps defensively whilst resolving to never wash his shirt again.

• • •

"So, if you're not fucking them, what are those four handsome men doing in your house?" Jane asks, shooting her friend a skeptical look.

"Four men and a woman." Amara corrects. "And no, I didn't have sex with her either." She snaps upon seeing Jane's raised eyebrows.

Amara smiles apologetically at an elderly couple they passed by, who gave her weird looks for her sudden outburst.

Jane, however, gave them a middle finger.

Amara slaps Jane's hand away. "They were lost…" She replies, not completely lying.

She knew she couldn't tell Jane the whole truth. Jane would laugh at her, or would get even angrier at her for turning down the chance at vampire sex.

"So you took them in? Like abandoned puppies?" Jane takes on a disbelieving look. "I didn't know you could be so charitable."

"It was late, I was tired, and they made a compelling case." Amara chuckles at her inside joke.

Amara and Jane step into the café and were greeted by the pleasant buzz of chatting customers and the smell of freshly baked apple pie.

"Charlie!" Amara shouts happily, walking towards the cash register.

Charlie grins upon seeing the girls and quickly pulls his cocoa powder-covered apron off. He walks around the counter to pull Amara into a big hug.

Charlie was one of the few people Amara would willingly hug in public. She pulls away from him a little to look at him and gently runs a hand through his curls.

"How are you, my dear?" Charlie asks, grasping Amara's hand and pressing a swift kiss to her wrist before dropping it and taking a step back.

"She's great!" Jane replies, also hugging Charlie.

Amara gives Jane a warning look, but Jane only smirks back.

"She slept with four men! She's doing magnificent, can't you see that post-sex glow?" Jane blurts out, grinning at Amara's annoyed expression.

"You did? Good for you, honey. I'm happy you got some." Charlie encourages, rubbing Amara's shoulder to show his support.

Amara grimaces when she sees multiple customers looking in their direction. Some were grinning amused and others were looking a bit disturbed or disgusted, Amara couldn't blame them.

"I didn't sleep with anyone. Jane is just tormenting me for her own entertainment." Amara accuses, shooting Jane a pointed look.

"Don't believe a word she says, Charlie. You should have seen her groping the one with the chiseled jaw." Jane teases, taking a seat in their usual booth.

"Chiseled jaw? Are they hot?" Charlie asks in a conspiring sort of voice.

"Incredibly hot, if Amara wasn't bedding them, I surely would!"

"No, you wouldn't. You're still a lesbian." Amara retorts, rolling her eyes. "And they are brothers, that would be weird."

"They don't have to fuck each other…" Charlie defends, smirking suggestively at Amara, who had taken on a tortured expression.

Amara was very happy Charlie didn't finish that sentence.

"Brothers? Good genes." Jane remarks, playing with the stack of napkins on their table.

"Alright, that's enough." Amara says, having been embarrassed enough for one week. "I will have-"

"I know, dear, It's always the same." Charlie grins.

• • •

"I still think it's funny that Finn tried to get us killed, yet he's the one who got to sleep in Amara's bed!" Niklaus comments, his expression anything but amused.

"Yeah, what the hell. You played sacrificial lamb to our mother's plans. You don't deserve snuggle time with Amara!" Kol shouts, nodding his head furiously.

"Enough with the shouting. Let's hear Finn's motive before making any more threats." Rebekah interjects, placing a calming hand on Niklaus's shoulder.

She wasn't happy with the actions of her eldest brother either, but also understood that they hadn't been good siblings to him in the past.

When both Kol and Niklaus continue their grumbling, she slaps them on the back of their heads. She didn't have to worry about being daggered right now, and she would make good use of it.

Chapter Text

"Will you stop staring?" Amara asks, turning her head to face Kol, who had been staring at the side of her head for the past five minutes. She had hoped he would give up eventually if she kept ignoring him, but admittedly, he frustrated her to no end.

Amara had returned from her coffee appointment an hour ago. She had come up with a whole background story for the Mikaelsons on the spot and had narrated it to Jane. She was thankful that her friend barely watched any TV, otherwise she would have a lot more explaining to do. Likewise, she herself could barely believe that there were currently vampires in her home.

Once back home, Amara noticed the remarkably relaxed atmosphere. She had eyed the Mikaelsons suspiciously, but they simply replied they had done some bonding. Amara hoped this wasn't some vampiric slang for killing people on her street.

"You're just so pretty." Kol replies, still gazing lovingly at his mate's face. He liked the little freckles that adorned her cheeks. He wished that he could kiss them, perhaps one day she would let him.

"Okay, that's enough. If you want to stay here, you will have to earn your living." Amara prompts, rising from the couch to grab her bag.

"Anything, love." Niklaus offers easily, hoping to get in his mate's good graces after his stupid comment from before. 

"What do you want us to do?" Rebekah asks carefully, looking up from the monopoly board. She didn't feel like doing chores much. 

"Groceries." Amara says, rummaging through her bag to find her wallet

• • • 

"I was pushing the cart! Give it back." Kol grumbles, glaring up at Elijah while tapping his foot, impatiently waiting for his brother to cave to his demand.

Amara has made quite a few faulty decisions in her life, but shopping with the Mikaelsons was by far the worst of all. They had only been in the store for ten minutes, and Amara already felt like she could jump off a bridge in annoyance. She thought that thousand-year-old vampires knew of control and the general code of conduct, but evidently, these psychopaths were unfamiliar with the phenomenon of normal behavior.

The human had already looked longingly at the wooden kitchen utensils she had passed by, if she was quick, she could fashion one of the wooden soup spoons in a stake.

Amara had her doubts about going shopping with people who resembled celebrities, but she couldn't find it in her to really care. If they were recognized, they could probably do their compelling trick

During the trip, Kol had repeatedly taken hold of her hand, whereupon she had repeatedly ripped herself free while providing him with an angry look. 

After seven tries, she threatened to throw him out of her house, which helped until he saw a man looking at Amara. Kol had put his arms around her tightly and bared his teeth to the man, the man looked at Kol, rightfully disturbed, and walked away carefully, afraid of being attacked just like that.

When Kol wasn't busy fretting over Amara, he was busy throwing unnecessary products into the shopping cart, an activity the other Mikaelsons soon took over from him.

Rebekah had immediately moved to the magazine rack, eagerly searching for the latest fashion trends. 

Amara thought vampires didn't eat, but Rebekah threw a worrying amount of frozen waffles into the cart. Amara was almost certain they had enough waffles to invite the entire neighborhood to breakfast for the next two weeks. She wanted to make a comment that it wouldn't fit in her freezer, but apparently, the Mikaelsons all suffer from a selective hearing.

Finn had looked at all the ready meals in admiration, not used to food being so accessible in the 21st century. 

Amara wondered if the suckers had given Finn any explanation of this century at all. She thought it was a bit of a jerk move from his siblings to throw Finn in the deep end just like that.

Niklaus and Elijah were the most familiar with this century, but it was clear that they did not do groceries themselves, as the concept of 'supermarket' was heavily criticized by both. They found the carts impractical, the paths too narrow and the music disturbing. In addition, Elijah started to whine about hygiene and Amara was close to whacking a bunch of vampires over the head.

"Kol, no. You've only been ramming the cart in people's ankles." Elijah replies, glaring at Kol's childish behavior. 

Kol had been getting antsy the past few hours, which usually meant he would go on a murdering spree. Amara however had warned them that if they did such a thing they could 'Fuck off out of her life', so Kol was looking for other ways to release his energy, irritating his siblings was apparently one of his newfound methods.

"Niklaus, stop spanking that watermelon!" Amara hisses. Did they really have no idea how to behave like humans? She tries to smile kindly at an old couple who watched Niklaus's actions with interest.

"But don't you humans test the fruit?" Niklaus asks, looking a little puzzled. He had seen humans do this plenty of times in movies and the time she had visited markets during his travels. He wasn't sure how often to hit and what sound to look for, but the experience itself was innovative and amusing.

"Sure, but you've been patting that watermelon for about three minutes, and I am starting to suspect you're enjoying it a little too much." Amara narrows her eyes suspiciously at Niklaus. With all the squinting and glaring she had done in the past twenty hours; she shouldn't be surprised if she developed wrinkles prematurely. "And stop saying 'you humans', you're supposed to be one too, remember?" Amara hisses.

Slightly ashamed, Niklaus puts the fruit back, a second later curiously eyeing a nearby pineapple.

"Can I have these?" Rebekah asks, waving several big boxes of sugary cornflakes in the air.

"No, I've already let you into my home, that's enough charity from me." Amara deadpans. There was a good chance that the Mikaelsons would leave soon, and she didn't want to be stuck with food she wasn't going to eat. Which meant that she was going to force the Mikaelsons to eat all the frozen waffles before their departure.

"Amara."

"Brad." Amara says in a cold voice, not bothering to look up as she puts some pears in a bag. She had suppressed a grimace when her name came from his lips. Once she had loved it when he said, groaned, or sighed her name, but now it felt slightly sickening.

"It's good to see you."

"I thought you didn't shop here anymore." Amara remarks softly, ignoring his remark whilst walking into a random aisle, dodging the questioning look from Rebekah.

"But you do." Brad grins, as if proud of remembering something as mundane as Amara's regular grocery store.

"Jesus, do you know how creepy that sounds." Amara scoffs, still walking, hoping to maintain a significant distance from Brad.

"Right, yes. You always had a way of formulating things." Brad humors before continuing in a condescending tone. "You weren't at your work last night." It sounded accusing, as if she should have messaged him about her absence.

"I have told you many times, Brad. You need to stop visiting the club." Amara snaps, glaring furiously at the jars of peanut butter in front of her, not wanting to give Brad the satisfaction of seeing the frustration on her face.

"No need to snap at me, babe." Brad looks up and sees two men approaching Amara's cart, arms full of various fruits. "Who are they?" His tone is suddenly a lot less friendly.

"None of your business."

"New boyfriends already?" Brad feigns a teasing tone, which was in stark contrast to his infuriated expression.

"No."

"No need to lie to me, Amara. We all know you have difficulties choosing." Brad snarks.

Unbeknownst to Amara, Niklaus and Elijah freeze behind her and share a dark look with each other. Silently communicating their indignation.

"Stop being a condescending ass. Last time I checked, it was you who had trouble choosing between your partner and a sorority girl who once batted her lashes at you." Amara hisses, finally turning around to glare at the man.

"I think it's best if you leave… Brad." Niklaus walks up to Amara, followed by Finn and Elijah, all three of them wearing dark expressions.

"You don't get to order me around, I'm a paying customer." Brad replies, looking in disgust at the three towering men before letting his eyes flicker to Amara, who was still glaring at him,

"I shouldn't have put it above you, sleeping with three men." Brad scoff. He grins in triumph when he sees Amara's hard expression falter for a moment, sadness and embarrassment shining through.  

He shifts his gaze back to the men, who have now been joined by another man and a woman. "A little tip for when she becomes antsy. She had this delightful little sweet spot, right about here." He raises his hand, pointing at Amara's neck. "It always makes her whimper like a desperate-"

Amara pales visibly.

Niklaus slaps Brad's hand away and steps forward, glaring menacingly at the man. "Humiliate her like that again, and I will demonstrate to you that having kneecaps is a privilege, not a right." He growls.

"Are you threatening me? I'm a lawyer." Brad spits out indignantly, whilst taking in Niklaus's appearance, sizing him up.

"So am I." Elijah replies instead, glaring down at the man, looking ready to maul him on the spot.

Brad looks a little taken aback by this reply. Judging by the man's expensive suit, he could indeed be a lawyer or a very important businessman.

Finn looks darkly at the man whilst striding toward him, looming over him. He looks Brad in the eye, pleased to see a hint of fear on the man's face. He seemed to be at least a little aware of the danger he was currently in. "You will leave Amara alone from now on, no more calling or bothering her." Finn compels. He knew his mate probably wouldn't appreciate it if Finn were to maim the man on the spot.

"And pay me back for the student loans I helped you with." Amara chimes in, knowing what Finn was doing. Brad might be a good lawyer, but he was terrible at managing his money, which meant paying back loans was his last priority, especially when it came to what he owed her.

"And you will pay Amara back, today." Finn glares one last time at the man before turning back to Amara. He takes her hand and guides her out of the store, blocking her view from Brad. He was certain Elijah could take care of the groceries.

• • •

"What a dick." Rebekah mutters bitterly while loading the groceries into Amara's car.

After Finn and Amara left, the rest of the Mikaelsons had quickly finished shopping, after threatening Brad once more. None of them felt like snooping around for longer than necessary. Primarily, the men wanted to check up on Amara, all remembering her mortified expression when Brad had insulted her.

"You should get a restraining order, love." Niklaus advises, closing the trunk and sending Kol away to return the cart.

"Well, seeing as he is a 'well-respected' lawyer, that can become quite difficult." Amara mutters. She had been leaning against the car with Finn, waiting for the others, allowing herself to calm down. 

They hadn't talked much, seeing as Finn didn't know what would be appropriate to comfort her. Finn didn't believe Amara would cheer up if he started throwing around threats like Niklaus might have done or if he were to hug her as Kol would have surely attempted, so instead, he had silently held her hand. Amara didn't mind, and had found comfort enough in his silence.

"I am going to crush him and his entire law firm." Elijah grumbles to no one in particular, snarling slightly.

"Thank you, for… defending my honor or something." Amara says softly while looking up at the sky. She didn't want this to be a big thing, but she was grateful for their protectiveness.

"You are super welcome, darling." Kol shouts as he runs up to his mate and happily embraces her again. He might not have threatened the man as much as his brothers, but he had made Brad trip on his way out, which counted for something.

Amara allows Kol to hug her for a good five seconds, thinking he deserves some sort of reward, before pushing him off. "Alright, let's not turn this into something that it's not."

Kol pouts a little before remembering that he, unlike his brothers, got to hug his mate. He smirks smugly at Niklaus, rubbing in the fact that all his hard efforts were starting to pay off.

Chapter Text

Amara looks thoughtfully at her cellphone. She was alone, she could do it. A week ago, Jane had handed her the phone number of a random guy who according to her was in for some fun with no strings attached. Jane thought Amara was in dire need to get laid. Charlie had silently agreed with Jane, as always.

Jane was correct, she was in need of a good one-night stand. She could of course have sex with one of her good-looking roommates, but they would probably think that she would want to start a relationship or an eternal commitment, which was the last thing she wanted right now.

Amara had sent the Mikaelsons to the movie theater under the guise of desperately needing to clean the house with chemicals, which 'Yes, every human did this occasionally'.

This was her chance, probably her only chance in god knows how long. Amara felt the slightest bit of guilt gnawing at her, Kol and Niklaus had been quite gloomy this morning, this would only worsen if they would find out- no, she wasn't allowed to think that wa. She owed the Mikaelsons nothing, no relationship, no sex, and no justification of who she was sleeping with. With new-found confidence, she hits the call button.

• • •

"Jane was right."

"About?" Amara asks between gasps. The guy, she thinks his name was Toby, had spent the last three minutes fumbling with the button of her jeans and it was getting difficult to pretend to be turned on by his clumsiness. She had learned that just gasping and moaning was easier than complaining about someone's incompetence.

Amara had met the man on the corner of a bar. The number Jane had given her had no name on it, so it had been a bit of an awkward phone call. The man looked rather good, around the same age as Niklaus and not half as handsome, but that didn't matter. Although Amara had no plans to do anything with the Mikaelson men, she could certainly fantasize about them, especially if her lover for tonight was to lack in certain areas.

"You are certainly fun."

Amara grins before reconnecting her lips with his. There weren't any sparks or any of that nonsense, but it was a more pleasant distraction from the other things that were going on in her life. Besides that, this was a nice opportunity to try a new position she had been dying to give a go. Brad had never been adventurous in bed.

Amara fumbles with her keys and the lock, not wanting to break their kiss. Toby was better with his tongue than his words. He had tried several pathetic pick-up lines on the way home, but he was quite skilled with his mouth, something she was eager to investigate further.

Finally inside, Toby pushes her against the nearest wall, pressing kisses on her jaw and throat. Before Amara can really start to enjoy the experience, Toby was suddenly pulled away from her.

"I see cleaning went well?" Elijah deadpans, holding Toby up by his collar.

"Fuck." Amara curses, glaring at Elijah.

"You've brought dinner, how kind of you, Amara." Nikaus pesters, narrowing his eyes at his mate, who was tugging at her clothes to get them back to their respective places.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be watching a movie." Amara accuses, tugging at her shirt to cover her throat a little more.

"The movie got canceled, a power issue." Rebekah shrugs. She had wondered how long it would have taken Amara to notice them, but of course, her fun was spoilt by Elijah.

"Now, if you were feeling lascivious, love, you could have just told us. We, soulmates, are more than happy to satisfy you in that department." Niklaus offers, walking up to his mate. He tugs at the collar of her shirt, revealing several purple hickeys, clearly a little present from the scoundrel who was still struggling in Elijah's hold.

Niklaus rumbles a little whilst scrutinizing the marks, his inner animal was urging him to heal her up before leaving his own mark on her. He wanted to claim her and make her forget all about the other man. He heard her feigned arousal and was certain he could do better.

Amara scoffs, of course he had to bring up the soulmate thing again. She tugs herself free from Niklaus, who was still holding onto the front of her shirt. He was close enough for her to see the gold specks in his irises.

"Ugh, Nik! You are disgusting." Rebekah groans, lobbing a pillow at the back of Niklaus's head.

"You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend, or four." Toby comments dryly, tugging at the front of his shirt in the hopes of gaining a bit more breathing room. He carefully eyes Kol and Finn, both men were glowering at him in a way that made Toby want to pee his pants.

"I don't! These are my house guests, who were apparently raised in a barn."

"A longhouse, actually." Finn corrects, still scowling.

Amara disregards this comment, not in the mood for a Viking history lesson. Instead, she blinks angrily up at Elijah. "Elijah, put him down."

Elijah looks at his mate for second before reluctantly letting go of the boy.

Kol steps forward and starts to push Toby towards the door.

"Chill, dude." Toby groans, opening the door whilst rubbing his throat with a pained expression. This was not how he had imagined his evening going.

"I'm not a dude. Now fuck off, before I tear your arms off." Kol growls, slamming the door shut behind Toby.

The room is dead quite now, Toby's retreating footsteps audible through the door.

"Was that necessary?" Amara break the silence. She crosses her arms, glaring at the Mikaelson men who seemed to have formed a front, all lined up and looking at her.

"You were about to cheat on me." Niklaus grumbles. "Us." He corrects after reciving another pillow in his face, this time from Finn.

"Excuse me?" Amara glares up at the hybrid, lip curled up in disdain. "There is no us! You're only here because I was stupid enough to let you in. Just because I let you crash on my couch doesn't mean we're together, therefore I am free to fuck whoever I want!"

"I think you missed the part where we're soulmates? The sacred bond of love? Meant to be?!" Niklaus rambles, throwing his hands up in frustration.

Niklaus had never been really good with people, something Elijah ocassionaly liked to remind him of, but he couldn't recall the last time he had the displeasure of facing a human as stubborn and irritating as his mate. Couldn't Amara just accept them? They could all move forward and be happy together.

"I highly suggest you shut the fuck up about that nonsense before-"Amara shouts, jutting her chin out and looking anything but friendly at the hybrid.

"Before what?! You send us back to our own universe? Good luck with that, love!" Niklaus lets out a humorless laugh, arms waving around like a windmill.

"Get out!" Amara shouts, aggressively pointing at the front door.

Niklaus blinks dumbfounded, not sure if he was actually being thrown out by his mate. If so, the woman had some nerve.

"Get the fuck out, all of you! You can come back when you're done being controlling, self-righteous, territorial assholes!" Amara shouts when none of the Mikaelsons move.

"You all need a lesson in women." Rebekah comments dryly when the door is slammed in their faces, just like the previous evening.

• • •

"Where are you going?" Kol asks, eyeing Niklaus suspiciously.

"Hotel, it's clear we're not welcome here!" Niklaus growls, already stepping away from the door.

"Do you have money?" Rebekah asks while raising a skeptical brow. Amara hadn't exactly given them the time to gather their belongings, seeing as they were allowed to come back at some point.

Niklaus pats his pants frantically and his face falls. "No, I left my wallet inside." Niklaus scowls, rubbing his face annoyedly. Courting Amara was not as easy as he had hoped. Maybe he shouldn't have threatened her date, but at least he hadn't killed the boy. Niklaus had killed men for far less, so he saw this as a breakthrough.

"Ha!" Amara's cheer can be heard from inside the house, laughing loudly at Niklaus' misfortune. She wasn't listening at the door, absolutely not, but it was nice to know that the hybrid's evening was becoming more unpleasant by the minute.

"Elijah?" Niklaus grumbles, glaring at the door.

"No." Elijah frowns, he was usually so well prepared, but the events of the evening left him a little dazed.

"Oh wait!" Kol shouts, frantically searching his pockets. "I have... ten dollars, fifty cents, and a button I found earlier." Kol opens his palm, showing his treasures to his siblings.

"Great we can buy... beer." Niklaus deadpans, flopping himself down on the ground, still glaring at the door.

• • •

"Well, hello there, if it isn't Amara's collection of pretty boys." Jane exclaims elatedly upon seeing the Mikaelson men gathered in front of Amara's house. The four men were sat on the sidewalk, scowling and seeming to be in a bad mood.

They all look up and Kol waves enthusiastically at the newcomers. He remembers fondly how Amara had called him Pretty boy in front of Jane, and he would cherish that title forever.

"These are the men that had kept Amara company?" Charlie asks, eyes widening comically upon inspecting the four men closer.

"You did not lie, very handsome indeed. I can see why you would abandon your lesbian nature for them." Charlie whispers in a conspiring tone.

Jane nods while smirking at her friend.

"Impressive." Charlie agrees, nodding approvingly at the men. His eyes linger on Elijah. "You must be Chiseled jaw."

Elijah looks a little taken aback by this new title and nods hesitantly, believing it better to get along with his mate's friends.

"Hey guys, they didn't have any beer so I got-" Rebekah walks up to the house, waving a bottle of alcohol in one hand. She stops shouting as soon as her eyes land on the two humans in Amara's front yard. "Oh, fuck."

• • •

"Amara, open the fuck up." Rebekah whispers harshly at the door while knocking on it and throwing furtive glances over her shoulder at the humans every now and then.

"No!"

"This is an emergency!" Rebekah tries.

"Are you bleeding from any orifices?" Amara's voice can be heard close by, she was most likely standing on the other side of the door, which was the only reason that Rebekah wasn't kicking the door in.

"No?" Rebekah blinks confused.

"Then it is not an emergency." Amara retorts and her footsteps can be heard.

"Fuck!" Rebekah turns around to face the group who were all staring interestedly at her.

"Alright, listen up, wankers. You will start apologizing for your ridiculous behavior right this second. And you better make it sound convincing, got it?!" Rebekah snaps, fixing her brothers with a menacing glare.

"Are you this bossy in the bedroom as well?" Jane asks interestedly, smirking at the blonde. "I mean, I wouldn't mind finding out."

Rebekah feels a flush creep on her cheeks at Jane's words, turns around and starts knocking more frantically on the door.

"What's going on?" Kol whispers to Finn, staring confused at the interaction between the two women.

"I have no idea." Finn whispers back, he too wanted to know what was going on but was a little too scared of his sister to ask her.

Chapter Text

“Soulmate?” Jane asks, blinking at the blonde in disbelief. “Honey, you could have just told me you liked my ass, that also works.”

Finn chokes on his water and proceeds to look scandalized at the continuous filth that was coming from Jane.

“For god’s sake.” Niklaus groans, wondering how the Mikaelsons had landed themselves with not one, but two inappropriate and rude humans for mates.

Charlie had been merely staring at the wall, trying to comprehend the fact that he was surrounded by very attractive, but very lethal vampires.

“It’s real, Jane. These four idiots are… mine.” Amara remarks reluctantly. She had taken pity on Rebekah, who had been trying her best at explaining the situation to Jane. The normally articulate blonde had been so awkward it almost became too painful to watch.

“Yes, we are.” Kol confirms proudly, beaming at his mate.

Amara rolls her eyes.

“I also want a soulmate; this is so cute.” Charlie finally speaks up, looking longingly at the Mikaelsons. He sure hoped there was a handsome vampire somewhere to sweep him off his feet as well.

“Cute? They barged in here like they owned the place and cock blocked me. That’s not cute.” Amara protests.

“We did no such thing.” Elijah grumbles. “We merely suggested that you find other means to pass the time with.”

This comment is answered with an icy glare from Amara.

“Darling, you have four. Can’t you lend me one?” Charlie asks, making googly eyes at both Elijah and Finn. “Just for the time being?”

“You can have Mr. Sassy pants.” Amara replies, smiling sarcastically at Elijah.

Kol hums happily in agreement, glad that his mate hadn’t offered him to the human.

“No, he can’t.” Elijah huffs while wrapping a possessive arm around Amara.

“Do you see what I was talking about?” Amara sighs, not bothering to shake Elijah off. “All the touching.”

“You can touch me.” Jane offers, wagging her eyebrows at Rebekah, who turns bright red but gently takes Jane’s hand in hers.

“That could be us.” Kol mutters whilst folding his arms in front of his chest.

“You could still be on my porch, seeing as your weak-ass apology did nothing for me.” Amara retorts. The only reason she had let the Mikaelsons back in was that Jane threatened to tell them all of Amara’s embarrassing stories.

• • •

“How are you so calm with all of this?” Amara asks as she and Jane prepare some snacks in the kitchen. Her friend had been remarkably accepting of the whole ordeal.

Charlie was busy entertaining the Mikaelsons with some jokes from his stand-up routine. They were a tough crowd, seeing as most jokes went over their heads. Being locked in a box for most of this century did that to a person.

“I’m not sure, must be the alcohol.” Jane shrugs. “It’s kind of cute, I guess. Rebekah is sweet, and to have a soulmate is the ultimate brag.”

“Yes, I think you’re lucky to have her. And she’s lucky to have you.” Amara smiles softly at her friend. She wished her friend all the happiness in the world and knew that Rebekah would go above and beyond to give Jane just that.

“Now, don’t be jealous of my smoking hot mate.” Jane teases. “You’re not doing so bad yourself, getting to bang four male models.”

A choking noise can be heard from the other side of the house, which soon turns into a noisy coughing fit. Amara suspected this to be either Finn or Niklaus.

“You’ve got to love that vampire hearing.” Amara mutters.

“Is it really that bad? For them to love you? To take care of you?” Jane asks, suddenly serious.

“I don’t want to be a charity case.” Amara whispers, remembering all too well how Brad had called her that, amongst other things.

“You’re not, Amara. Do you hear me? You’re not.” Jane promises, pulling Amara in for a quick hug. “God, remind me to castrate that bastard.” She mutters vindictively, remembering all too well how Brad had the nerve to humiliate Amara at her place of work after they had split up.

“We’ll help!” Niklaus shouts from the living room, once more confirming that he and the others were shamelessly listening in on the two women.

“You see what I’m dealing with?” Amara remarks, not able to hold back a smile.

“Maybe you should just… bang it out?” Jane whispers whilst shooting her friend a suggestive grin.

“Will you stop trying to encourage me to get laid?” Amara asks in an exasperated tone. Jane was all too keen on taking on the role of wing woman, even at the most inappropriate of times.

One time Jane had broken her leg, and they had found themselves in the emergency room. Jane had flirted with all the male doctors on Amara’s behalf. It had worked seeing as Amara ended up with four phone numbers, but it was indecent, nonetheless.

“Of course not, if I don’t encourage you, it will never happen.” Jane snaps, she was disturbingly involved in her friend’s sex life. She had taken that task upon herself.

“It was happening before those… Originals almost tore his arms off.” Amara whispers harshly, still not happy with the whole cock blocking experience. She had however managed to refrain from name-calling them again.

“They did what?!” Jane’s eyes widen momentarily. She was fine with the Mikaelsons being vampires and one of them being her soulmate, but limb extraction was next level.

“Their first response is usually violence.” Amara warns. “And they tend to be dramatic about it as well.”

“No, we’re not!” Niklaus shouts. Amara can practically hear his scowl.

“Who was the guy?” Jane asks. If Amara slept with someone other than the four Mikaelson men in her living room, he had to be very good-looking, or rich, or both.

“Toby?”

“Toby? Toby?!” Jane looks thoroughly unimpressed at her friend, uttering the name as if it were something very unpleasant. “Why the hell would you want to fuck Toby when you can sit on Chiseled Jaw’s face?!”

“Jane!” Amara shouts, hand flying up to clamp over her friend’s mouth whilst trying to rid herself of the mental image of actually sitting on Elijah’s face. It wouldn’t be the most horrific thing to come out of this soulmate-situation.

Jane pulls Amara’s hand away from her mouth. “Seriously! Toby is like a six at best, those guys are solid elevens!” She throws her hands up in an exasperated manner, nearly throwing over the bowl of chips.

“Thanks, their egos will never deflate now.” Amara deadpans, glaring at her friend. She was pretty sure Jane was doing this on purpose.

“No, they won’t! Thank you, Jane!” Kol shouts.

“At least he was better looking than Brad.” Amara mutters, pouting a little at her friend upon the realization there would have been better options available.

• • •

“Do we also look this dumb?” Kol asks, looking annoyed at Rebekah.

The blonde was trying her best to flirt with Jane. Jane was quite enjoying the attention from the blushing blonde, and played along, pretending to swoon because of Rebekah’s efforts.

“Honestly? Yes.” Amara shrugs. “Even dumber.”

“I don’t believe that. We are far more subtle in our affections towards you.” Elijah rumbles. “Especially seeing as you keep rejecting them.”

“Whatever floats your boat, buddy.” Amara replies, rolling her eyes.

Niklaus lets out an annoyed grunt at the nickname.

“So, you’re the quiet one?” Charlie asks, wagging his eyebrows at Finn. He wasn’t exactly planning on stealing Amara’s mates, but if he got to annoy Amara into admitting she felt something for the man, that would only add to his fun. “You know what they say about the quiet ones?”

“No?” Finn replies apprehensively, leaning more towards Amara for safety. Amara’s friends were nice, but very peculiar to him, he was certain that most of their comments and remarks had a double meaning.

“Charlie! Stop harassing Finn!” Amara snaps. Narrowing her eyes at her friend. She didn’t care for the Mikaelsons, absolutely not, but seeing Finn’s uncomfortable expression stirred something in her, something she’s rather suppress and never feel again.

“I’m not harassing him, dear. Just… curious.” Charlie winks at Finn. More than pleased that he was able to rile his friend up.

• • •

“Go home, now.” Amara sighs.

“But, I’m sure I can share the couch with Mr. Chiseled Jaw.” Charlie tries while being pushed out of the door by Amara. “You get to be the little spoon.” Charlie offers, winking at Elijah.

“Thank you, I will keep it in mind.” Elijah replies dryly. The only one he was going to cuddle with was Amara, and he was the big spoon, thank you very much.

“Great, we’re all rooting for you two, now move!” Amara shouts.

“See you soon, pretty lady.” Jane dramatically presses a kiss to Rebekah’s hand before dragging Charlie away.

“Bye, dea-Jane.” Rebekah stammers before quickly retreating to the bathroom.

• • •

“Fuck!” Amara shouts as she trips over Kol’s sleeping body.

“Angel?” Kol blinks his eyes open, pleasantly surprised to see his mate on top of him. He holds back a grin, trying to contain his excitement at his mate’s visit. This was very straight forward, and he wasn’t sure if this was a dream, but he was more than willing to go along with whatever she had planned.

“Why the fuck are you sleeping in my bathroom?” Amara asks, pushing herself up, so she was straddling the vampire.

“The living room floor was cold, and you have a heater in here.” Kol replies matter-of-factly.

“Wow, what’s wrong with me? I actually start to feel bad for you.” Amara mutters incredulously, shaking her head. It must be because of her drowsy state.

“I can sleep in your bed?” Kol asks hopefully, carefully resting his hands on Amara’s legs.

“Uh-no. I’m not feeling that bad.” Amara protests at once, quickly standing up. The last thing she wanted was to give Kol wrong ideas.

“Please? I promise I won’t be weird about it.” Kol props himself up on his elbows and pulls the best puppy face he could muster.

“Weird about it? Why would you be- No, absolutely not.”

• • •

“Stop hugging me.” Amara grumbles, pushing Kol’s arm away from her waist. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t kicked Kol out the second he climbed in, but she regretted it immensely. Sure, it had been nice to have two personal space heaters instead of one, but at what cost?

“I’m almost falling out of bed, and Finn gets to-“ Kol whines, glaring at Finn over Amara’s head.

“Finn isn’t kicking me.” Amara replies, narrowing her eyes at the youngest Mikaelson brother.

Finn smiles smugly at Kol, tightening his grip on their mate a little, just because he can.

Kol responds to this with a middle finger. “That was an accident!” He grumbles, pouting at his mate in the dark. He might have kicked Amara’s shin in his enthusiasm while climbing into her bed, something he repented deeply.

“One more word and you’re going back to the bathroom.” Amara snaps, demonstratively turning around, snuggling closer to Finn.

“Fine, I’m sorry.” Kol whispers, already happy he wasn’t kicked out as he had feared. Apprehensively, he places a kiss on the back of her head.

“Go to sleep, Kol.” Amara mumbles before drifting off, a content smile playing at her lips.

Chapter Text

A blushing Amara clears her throat while trying her best to fix Finn with a stern expression. "Finn, stop doing that." She whispers harshly.

Amara had slept surprisingly well while crammed in between the two Originals. She enjoyed their warmth and was somewhat alright with all the cuddling, she was however less happy with what was happening right now.

"But we cuddled before?" Finn furrows his brow a little, not sure what made Amara change her mind, perhaps it was Kol's presence. If that was the case, he would kindly kick his little brother out of the bed.

"We did, but I did not give you permission to grope me like that." Amara pokes the offending arm, to which Finn promptly moves his hand to a more appropriate location, pushing Kol's arm away in the process. Kol had wrapped himself like a koala around Amara and the younger vampire lets out a whine in his sleep.

"I did not grope-" Finn objects, putting on an innocent expression for his mate, he truly had not intended to grab Amara inappropriately, it had just happened. Not that he minded it.

"Then what do you call grabbing my ass?" Amara interjects bluntly.

"Cuddling? I didn't know it was-" Finn stammers a little, not sure how to save himself out of this situation.

Amara snickers before shaking her head. She was starting to feel a little bad for the flustered vampire, which was ridiculous seeing as she normally had no problem with telling people off for touching her like that without consent.

"Never mind, don't answer that. I'm getting up." And with that, she wriggles herself free from Kol's koala-like hold, climbs over Finn, and stumbles gracefully out of bed.

Before exiting, she looks over her shoulder to see Kol trying to hug Finn instead, which inspires Finn to also get up. With a roll of her eyes, she locks herself in her bathroom, letting out a soft sigh and cursing herself for starting to like the antics of the Mikaelsons.

• • •

"Hey guys, is the fridge door supposed to come off its hinges?" Kol's uncertain voice can be heard from the kitchen.

"No, I don't think so." Elijah remarks dryly before taking a sip from his coffee. He was quite glad that he would not be the reason for his mate's headache this morning.

Elijah had successfully prepared Amara's breakfast. She had been happily surprised by this, seeing as it was in stark contrast with the burnt oatmeal Niklaus had made the previous morning. Amara had even complimented Elijah's cooking by calling it 'pretty decent', which made Elijah puff up in pride. He had been sure to send his brothers a smug grin.

"You-you broke my fridge?! How?" Amara gets up from her dining table to inspect the hinges of the fridge, sighing in resignation when she sees that said hinges were ripped off along with the door.

"Vampire strength?" Kol tries, quickly setting the door down, making the carton of milk fall out of the door. Kol ignores the growing puddle of milk, and takes on a repentant expression, hands folded in front of him.

"That's not an excuse, I know you've walked this earth long enough to know how to appropriately open a door, and that isn't it." Amara replies, not impressed by Kol's attempt to look sorrowful. She pouts a little at the contents of her fridge, she was sure most of the products would go bad before she was able to get a new refrigerator.

"We'll buy you a new one." Niklaus offers at once, smiling at Amara when she looked his way. He wasn't too mournful about Amara's broken refrigerator, seeing as the machine was already in a poor state. He was certain his mate would be much happier with a luxury model, one that could maybe make ice cubes as well.

"And a new car." Kol adds hastily, hoping to get into good graces with his mate again. He was sure that once they have found their way back home, Niklaus could buy Amara a few cars to her liking.

"Oh, don't forget a new toaster as well." Rebekah calls, waving her spoon around to point in the direction of the countertop, which made the yogurt that had been on her utensil fly around.

"What did you do to my toaster?" Amara asks apprehensively, not sure if she really wanted to know the answer.

"Kol and I might have seen a picture on the internet about toasters and bathtubs, and we wanted to try it out." Rebekah admits grudgingly, scratching the back of her head a little.

"I don't have a bathtub." Amara points out. She wondered if the vampires had really tried to kill themselves because of an internet phenomenon. Being vampires meant that a toaster in a bathtub probably wouldn't do much to them, but the thought itself was disturbing enough for her.

"Yeah, that's why we tried it in the sink... it's broken now." Kol replies softly.

"I told you she wouldn't appreciate it." Niklaus groans, shaking his head in disbelief at his younger siblings. He had of course witnessed the whole spectacle, rolling his eyes when it went as well as one might think.

"Shut up, Nik." Kol snaps, glaring shortly at his brother before looking back at Amara with the same remorseful expression from earlier.

Amara shakes her head, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation. She understood that the Mikaelsons don't value replaceable equipment such as toasters, but she did. Amara had worked hard to get where she was now in life, which wasn't exactly great either, but to have everything she needed suddenly thrown at her by the Mikaelsons felt like cheating.

Amara freezes when she is suddenly embraced by someone. She's surprised to see that it isn't Kol, but Elijah. He had secured one arm around her waist, firmly pressing her into his chest. He was petting her hair while making pacifying noises, as one might do with an upset child. The whole action was sweet but seeing as she wasn't exactly panicking or crying it felt a bit odd to Amara.

"What are you doing? I am not a petting zoo." Amara remarks dryly, not willing to admit that she was trying her hardest to not sound like a content cat by purring. She was certain that would send the wrong kind of message to the Original.

"I am offering you comfort in these trying times." Elijah rumbles, still petting her head gently while contently taking in Amara's scent.

Elijah fully understood why Kol kept hugging her, she smelled intoxicating. She didn't really seem in need of comfort, but he was willing to seize any opportunity to get closer to her. Seeing Rebekah and Jane being friendly with each other last night made him anxious to also reach that level of closeness with her, besides that, he was certain that both Kol and Finn got to hug her last night, so it was only fair he also got his turn.

"Are you... sniffing me?" Amara asks, eyes widening a little when she feels him press his nose against her hair. She wasn't sure if this was normal vampire behavior or if this was an Original character trait.

"No." Elijah replies at once, sneakily taking another whiff and ignoring the irritated looks from his brothers.

• • •

"Wait, where are you going?" Niklaus asks as he sees Amara putting her shoes on. He and his siblings have been entertaining themselves with the TV show they were on, heavily critiquing the way they were portrayed by their actors. They also didn't like that Elena and the bothersome Salvatores were portrayed as the heroes of the story.

Especially Rebekah had a lot to comment on the miserable character that was Elena Gilbert. She might have thrown several items at Amara's television in protest, which explained the small scratches that now embellished the device.

"Work." Amara replies shortly while jumping around on one leg. She had tried to force the heel of her foot in the shoe, too lazy to untie the thing. Giving up, she flops herself down on the floor, grumbling a little as she pulls at the laces.

"Will... Jane be there?" Rebekah sits up straight, looking expectantly at Amara, who had been doing a worrying amount of cursing towards the inanimate object, but then again Rebekah had yelled at the television, so the blonde couldn't really judge the human.

"Yes."

"Great, give me ten minutes." Rebekah jumps up from the couch, heading for the bathroom. Amara didn't own many beauty products, but Rebekah had spotted a decent-looking eyeshadow palette yesterday, and was certain she could create some sort of smokey eye.

"What?" Amara looks up from her shoe, the laces entirely knotted together because of her impatient tugging.

"Fine, five." Rebekah shouts before slamming the bathroom door shut.

"Fine, no wait- why are you-" Amara looks alarmed as the Mikaelson men also rise from the couch. She shakes her head frantically. She was alright with Rebekah joining her, seeing as Rebekah would mostly be gaping at Jane, but she didn't need the Mikaelsons men to watch her while she worked, the idea alone made her feel uneasy.

"If Rebekah can join you, so can we." Niklaus speaks up, grinning broadly at Amara while crouching down beside her, taking her shoe from her and with a few tugs undoing the entangled laces.

Amara looks at the shoe, before looking back up at Niklaus, frowning a little. She snatches the shoe from his hand and quickly puts it on. "What kind of logic is that?"

"The only logic that matters, love. Mine." Niklaus shrugs, patting Amara's head before getting back on his feet, holding his hand out for Amara with the intention to pull her to her feet. He smirks when she grabs onto his hand.

"We can protect you." Kol offers, smiling. He was more than willing to show his mate how capable he was of protecting her. "I will gladly kill mean people on your behalf, Angel."

"Thanks?" Amara says, not sure what else to reply to Kol's casual offer of homicide.

Chapter Text

"Really, you guys can go home if you want, it's not going to get more exciting than this." Amara walks over to the Mikaelsons ten minutes into her shift.

She had occasionally glanced at them from the bar, checking if they weren't attacking customers. She felt a bit like a babysitter, but instead of cute four-year-olds, she got to deal with five thousand-year-olds. The Mikaelsons had taken it upon them to wave as exuberantly as possible whenever she looked their way, especially Kol who had almost jumped on top of his seat. This had earned both them and Amara some strange looks from regular customers.

"We are fine, thank you, my love." Finn replies. There was no way he would let his mate out of his sight after seeing how some customers had been gawking at her.

"Then… I will get you some drinks." Amara offers, quickly walking back to the bar where Jane was standing. Her friend had been shooting Rebekah winks and suggestive looks ever since starting her shift.

"So, you still haven't had... sexual relations?" Jane asks while making a suggestive movement with her hands, eyebrows wagging.

"Since when do you call it that?" Amara asks after slapping Jane's hands away, she knew the Mikaelsons were watching them and the last thing she needed was for Jane to give the men the impression that she was planning to have... sexual relations with them anytime soon.

"Since now." Jane shrugs.

"Why?"

"I'm trying to be more sophisticated for my lady. She's been around poets and stuff, I'm trying to catch up. Not sure how to dirty talk like a 1600's merchant, though..." Jane hums, grabbing some new glasses for the Mikaelsons, and placing a bright pink parasol in one of them, undoubtedly for Rebekah.

"I think she likes you just as you are." Amara chuckles, imagining some sort of Shakespeare talk coming from Jane. Jane was known for putting in the effort to charm girls off their socks. Jane had a lot in common with Brad in that department, he too had done all he could to impress Amara, which had unfortunately worked.

"Hmm, might be. Still, can't hurt to woo her with some pretty words."

"Amara! Jane! Darlings!" Charlie strides up to the bar, flashing the girls a grin whilst pushing a gruff-looking man out of the way as if it were nothing.

"Charlie." Jane and Amara greet their friend simultaneously.

"So, how are the soulmates? Any scandalous sex?" Charlie asks, not bothering to lower his volume. A lady close to them shoots Charlie a dirty look, which he replies to with a middle finger, not caring one bit seeing as he didn't work here.

"Ask for yourself. They are over there!" Amara puts on a bright smile while pointing at the booth where the Mikaelsons were seated. "Chiseled Jaw looks like he requires your company." Amara's smile turns into a smug grin when she sees Elijah's unamused expression.

"I can certainly help out on that front." Charlie winks before turning on his heel. Perhaps the Mikaelsons had some juicy gossips on his friends.

"Satisdiction." Jane mumbles, looking absentmindedly at the bottle of liquor in her hands.

"What's that?" Amara asks as she takes the bottle from Jane's hands and starts pouring the drinks.

"Another word I learned."

"In what context can you use it?" Amara asks interestedly.

"I have no idea, but I'm sure Rebekah will be impressed." Jane shrugs, placing the filled glasses on the tray.

"You're really going for it." Amara comments, grinning broadly at her friend while walking around the bar. She picks up the tray and makes her way over to the Mikaelsons and Charlie.

"How many lady vampires could a girl want? I mean, it doesn't hurt she's a pretty blonde either." Jane follows Amara, even though it was not necessary for two people to deliver one tray of drinks.

"The pretty blonde can hear you. And thank you, I am indeed impressed, Jane." Rebekah calls, a slight blush covering her cheeks as she grins at Jane and Amara. She was kind of relieved her mate was a girl. So far Niklaus had not dared to threaten Jane, maybe because she is a female or maybe because Jane was a close friend to Amara, but it worked out either way.

"See, I know what the ladies like." Jane wags her brows again before heading to the table to finally greet Rebekah and the other Mikaelsons.

"You just worry about what your lady likes." Amara chuckles, collecting the tray of drinks before joining the Mikaelsons.

Amara hands everyone their drinks, raising a challenging brow at the hybrid as he takes hold of her hand, stroking the back of it with his thumb.

"Would you also like to impress us with your vocabulary, love?" Niklaus asks, looking at his mate with a teasing smile. He would be more than willing to give his mate a private tutoring session.

"You're the one who is supposed to impress me, remember?" Amara hums in reply, playfully rolling her eyes.

"Amara, Jane. Get back to work!" Josh calls from behind them, making Amara jump a little. "We sell drinks here, not sex."

Josh is the owner's son and that was noticeable in the way he behaved. He seemed to enjoy bossing around his colleagues and harassing the female colleagues with inappropriate comments or behavior.

Amara scowls and is about to make a rude remark when Niklaus speaks up.

"Don't reprimand them. I was simply asking my girlfriend about the best bottle of bourbon you have in this fine establishment." Niklaus's tone was polite, which was in stark contrast to his icy glare.

This soon was mirrored by the other Mikaelsons, which made even Amara feel slightly intimidated. Poor Josh had no idea who he was dealing with. She couldn't help a small, satisfied grin from forming upon seeing Josh shrink.

Jane's eyes shift between Josh and the Mikaelsons, ignoring the excited look on Charlie's face, who was undoubtedly waiting to see some action. She smirks upon seeing Rebekah already looking at her.

Josh takes in the several glares and finally realizes he made a mistake by talking his colleagues down like that. He nods, taking on a somewhat kind expression. "Of course, my apologies for the misunderstanding. Our Amara likes to talk quite a lot." Josh laughs nervously and stops abruptly when he notices no one else is laughing.

"I think my Amara was doing a good job without your… supervision." Niklaus grinds out, eyes darkening slightly. He didn't like the implication that Josh had any sort of claim on his mate.

Elijah rolls his eyes, but doesn't undermine Niklaus's little act. Instead, he continues glaring at the intruder. Between the activities this morning and now, he had already ruined one man's life, and he wouldn't mind adding to the tally. He wasn't certain how appreciative Amara would be upon hearing he had pretty much crushed her ex's professional career, but that would be a worry for later.

"Of course. I will leave you in her capable hands." Josh mutters before turning around, abruptly taking his leave.

"Did you just call me your girlfriend?" Amara asks, eyes narrowed once more when Josh was out of earshot.

"I believed the term 'wife' might have been a bit inappropriate, seeing the status of our… relationship. Besides that, you're not wearing any rings, so that would not have been convincing." Niklaus nods, disregarding Amara's incredulous expression.

"Yes, you're right. It is inappropriate, seeing as we are not dating." Amara hisses.

"Not yet." Kol interjects, grinning lazily at his mate. He couldn't help but stare at her. He had very much enjoyed it when she had directed her annoyance at someone else for once.

Amara shoots Kol an exasperated look before walking off.

• • •

"Josh, I swear to god, touch me again, and I will make you kiss the pavement." Amara snaps impatiently whilst swatting Josh's hand away.

"That's a rather rude thing to say, dear." Josh mocks, stealthily placing his hand on Amara's hip as she bends over the bar to clean a spilled drink.

"And I'd rather not work with your misogynistic ass, can't all be winners." Amara mutters bitterly, wriggling away from Josh.

She was usually more tolerable with her colleague, but the presence of the Mikaelsons made her a little more nervous. She'd rather not have a repeat of the Toby fiasco. Josh could be an ass, but he didn't deserve to die either.

"Careful Amara. Remember, one word about your attitude to my father and-" Josh hisses, not enjoying the name-calling.

"My lady said hands off, pal. So, you better keep them to yourself, before I cut them off." Niklaus interjects, walking up to the bar, followed by Finn.

"Nothing happened, people. Don't worry." Josh immediately replies, holding his hands up in surrender. He shoots Amara a smile, which made goosebumps appear on her arms.

"It didn't look like nothing." Niklaus remarks, raising a brow. He had no trouble dragging Josh over the bar and teaching the insolent scoundrel some manners.

"You must ask permission before touching a person inappropriately." Finn adds, looking serious at the man that was still standing too close to Amara for his liking.

Amara pinches the bridge of her nose in a perfect imitation of Elijah. Finn was very tolerable, but the man had made some very strange remarks upon stumbling into her life. She blamed it on the 900-year-imprisonment thing.

"What?" Niklaus drops his intimidating gaze to look quizzically up at Finn.

"Amara taught me that this morning." Finn nods, looking back at Niklaus with a pointed look, expecting his brother to already be aware of the matter of consent.

Amara huffs out a small laugh, appreciating the fact that Finn took her words to heart. Her smile gets bigger when Josh walks off, he had apparently gained some self-awareness and realized he couldn't win this fight, not tonight.

"Excuse you? Why did she teach you that?" Kol huffs indignantly, walking up to his older brothers, narrowing his eyes at Finn. Kol was very disappointed in the idea of Amara and Finn getting closer without bothering to wake him, even if it was for a lesson on manners.

"I touched her, but she did not give me permission to touch her... there. So, I was in the wrong." Finn replies, blushing slightly while being awfully cryptic about the details of his transgression.

"So you did get some?!" Jane gasps, also joining the group while holding her hand up, waiting for someone to high-five her, which Kol eventually does, not sure why he was slapping the hand, but appreciating the sentiment anyway. Kol had seen this move on TV shows, and it seemed mandatory that one would not let the initiator 'hanging'.

"I'm sorry, where exactly did you touch her?" Niklaus asks, eager to learn more about the privileges his older brother had miraculously gained overnight. Perhaps he should also spend a night in his mate's bathroom, this way he too could be invited to her bed.

"That is none of your business. What happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom." Amara interjects, cutting the conversation short, seeing as they were getting looks from other customers.

"I don't think so, you better fess up." Jane demands, narrowing her eyes at her friend who had started to wash some glasses, purposefully looking down. If Amara got down and dirty with one of the Mikaelsons, it was her duty as best friend to know all the details.

"Umm, I should go on with my rounds." Amara prompts, picking up an empty tray, ignoring Jane's glare. "Thank you... for telling Josh off." She adds hesitantly.

"Of course, we will always protect you." Elijah smiles kindly at his mate, sincerity in each word.

Amara shoots him a small smile before briskly walking away, a disturbing warm feeling settling itself in her stomach.

• • •

"You guys need anything else?" Amara asks as she passes by the bar Finn and Kol had taken a place at an hour ago. They wanted to keep their mate company whilst Elijah and Niklaus were off doing god knows what.

Amara and Jane had been closing off and the Mikaelsons of course stuck around, Charlie couldn't be bothered and had stalked off while muttering something about an early shift.

Elijah and Niklaus had been so kind to help Amara with her chores, whilst the eldest and youngest Mikaelson males were too inebriated to help, so they remained seated at the bar.

"No, but you are the very best, Amara. We should elope... but let's not invite my brothers." Kol whispers the last part of his sentence.

"You want to do what?" Amara blinks. She couldn't fully understand why everyone in the TV show had feared these guys. They seemed pretty tame so far, but perhaps they would act differently when faced with terrible danger.

Not receiving an answer, Amara shakes her head and starts to clean up the last of the dishes, quietly listening in on Kol and Finn's drunk chatter.

"It's going to be the bestest wedding ever, Finny. Too bad you won't get to witness it." Kol boasts. "Amara will be the prettiest bride and I will be the hottest groom this dismal town has ever seen."

"But I want to come to the wedding." Finn sputters, looking indignant at Kol for suggesting he would be left out of the event. The very least Kol could do whilst marrying his mate was to invite him to the wedding.

"Alright, you can come, but don't tell Eli, he will get terribly annoying about paperwork." Kol mutters while poking interestedly at a stray olive that he had placed on the bar earlier.

"Fine." Finn nods his head, somewhat content with the compromise they had just made. Maybe when Kol was done marrying Amara, he could marry her next.

Amara is just about done with her chores when her name is called by Kol.

"Amara, do you want a diamond or... or a diamond?" Kol stumbles away from his barstool while grabbing onto Amara's arm.

Amara's eyebrows shoot up at Kol's question. She looks over at Finn for assistance, but he too seemed interested in her reply. "Kol, Finn. I think that's enough adult juice for you both." She deadpans before letting her gaze roam the club, searching for the other Mikaelsons.

"But-no." Kol whines, clutching onto his glass, which was already empty.

"Come, time to go home." Amara hums with something that resembled fondness while tugging her arm free of Kol's grip. She had often enough dealt with Jane and Charlie's drunken state to know how to handle the childish protests and whining.

She walks around the bar, waves to another one of her colleagues to indicate her departure, and grabs onto Kol and Finn's arms, pulling them towards the exit where the others were already gathered. She allows Kol to keep the glass he was still clutching; it would be an unnecessary hassle to try and take it from him.

"Can I sleep with you again?" Finn asks meekly, looking hopefully at his mate. "I promise not to touch your behind unless you ask me to."

• • •

"Where's Rebekah?" Amara asks as she opens the door. She looks around, afraid they had lost the blonde on the way here.

On the way home, she had been busy entertaining Kol, who had been rambling on about their wedding. Amara had come to the conclusion it was easiest to just nod and agree to whatever Kol was saying. Elijah had looked less pleased with Kol's enthusiastic blabbering about his plan to elope, whispering harshly to Niklaus about not telling Elijah.

"She went with Jane. Something about watching a bee-related movie." Niklaus sighs.

"Oh." Amara nods shortly before entering her home. She realized that this was the first time she would be all alone with the Mikaelson men. Amara wasn't necessarily worried that the men would jump her out of nowhere, but it did make her a little nervous.

"Where can we put them, love?" Niklaus asks while hurling a now unconscious Kol inside, Elijah following swiftly with a half-awake Finn resting heavily on him.

Chapter Text

"Hmm, you and I clearly remember those events very differently, Niklaus. It was obviously I who solved that ordeal, as per usual." Elijah grumbles, shooting Niklaus an exasperated look.

Elijah, Niklaus, and Amara had found their way to the couch, none of them ready for bed. The two sleeping Originals in her bedroom had claimed her bed, sprawling themselves onto it, forcing Amara to join the remaining two brothers, which they of course didn't mind.

Within no time, Niklaus had pressed a cup of coffee in her hand and Elijah had herded her to the couch. Both were eager to get some alone time with their mate. Elijah and Niklaus had both grown exasperated over Amara's denial and efforts to act normal in this very abnormal situation. They simply wanted to prove to the human that being with them, in their presence and in a relationship, wasn't as awful as she originally believed.

"On the contrary, Elijah. I believe it was me who saved the day and you who had been sulking in your study." Niklaus replies.

"You keep telling yourself that, brother. I am more than willing to travel to France to prove myself right." Elijah takes on a self-righteous expression. He and Niklaus often held discussions regarding their past triumphs, and it was not the first time they had traveled across the globe just to settle an argument. Of course, they would first need to get back to their universe, but once they were, he would once again prove Niklaus wrong.

"You guys are insane. Am I seriously witnessing an Original pissing contest?" Amara lets out a hearty laugh, not believing she had to deal with thousand-year-olds, who all seemed to have a very easily bruised ego.

"Yes, you are, love. The first of many." Niklaus supplies.

"Thanks for the heads-up." Amara laughs, slapping her hand on Niklaus's chest before realizing what she was doing. Her laughter dies down, and she stares at her hand for a moment, which was still placed on the hybrid's chest. She was frozen, feeling the warmth radiating through his shirt. "Oh fuck."

"What is wrong, Amara?" Elijah shares a look with Niklaus before dropping his gaze back to his mate, worried. Amara's expression now seemed close to upset.

"You sneaky bastards." Amara mutters while pulling her hand back, frowning at the floor. She hadn't even noticed how comfortable she had become with the Mikaelsons, and how she had secretly appreciated their presence and attentiveness.

"I assume you're talking about us and let me just say that's not very nice." Elijah remarks while folding his arms in front of his chest, clearly offended. The only bastard here is Niklaus.

"You tricked me." Amara groans, letting her head flop back into the couch cushions. "You tricked me into liking you." She lets out a disbelieving scoff, oh how the mighty have fallen. Amara hadn't wanted to curse out loud or explain herself, but wine tended to make her loose-lipped.

"That's a good thing, right?" Niklaus asks tentatively. His mate confused him, her tone was accusing, but she had a somewhat pleased little smile on her face, which made her even more pretty in Niklaus's opinion.

"I don't know." Amara replies earnestly, lifting her gaze to the ceiling and decidedly ignoring the arm Elijah wraps around her. She might have leaned a little into Elijah's warmth, but that was not something she would ever admit.

Amara lets out a sigh and shakes her head in disbelief before speaking the words she had dreaded. "Fine. You said something on the night we met about… you-know-what. Will you explain it to me? Please?"

Elijah refrains himself from smirking upon seeing Amara's tortured expression, especially the 'please' that seemed to hurt her. He contemplates briefly if he should make her work for it a little, to make up for their unpleasant first meeting, but he quickly rejects the idea.

Although his mate had been quite rude, stubborn, and blunt, he appreciated those qualities in her. She was a little rough around the edges. No, his mate would never have to beg for anything or ever be dissatisfied, he would make sure of that. "We would like nothing more, dearest."

"In our universe, the one you know from the television show you're so fond of." Niklaus teases, chuckling when he sees Amara's unamused expression. He knew he was in unfamiliar territory with his mate and decided to test the unspoken limits a little and grabs hold of Amara's hand. To his surprise, she doesn't pull back. "We are all assigned soulmates, people who complete us. Our other half."

"Do you mean like significant others?" Amara mumbles, not wanting to sound ignorant. Jane had told her before about how she had sometimes felt an instant click with someone.

"Soulmates are more… intense." Elijah replies. "Let me put it differently. We are intent on doing all we can to ensure your safety and your happiness. You are our main priority, and we would sacrifice everything, including our lives, for you."

"That's a lot of commitment towards someone you just met." Amara remarks dryly, uncertain what else would be appropriate to reply when someone declares they would sacrifice their lives for you.

"It is. But you are the one for us, forever." Niklaus declares, softly squeezing Amara's hand. He needed his mate to understand their sincerity.

"This starts to sound a little too much like wedding vows." Amara blurts out. She had swallowed upon meeting the hybrid's eye and had quickly looked away, unable to look him in the eye. All this was intimidating for her. The idea of being appreciated and being enough for someone was unfamiliar to Amara, and she was rightfully a little skeptical.

"Soulmates are more permanent than spouses. You cannot divorce your way out of a soulmate bond." Elijah hums. He hoped this didn't sound like a threat to his mate. If his mate was truly unhappy with them, he would respect her decision. Elijah couldn't speak for his brothers, but he would keep to his promise of ensuring his mate's happiness, even if that wasn't with them.

"So, you have absolutely no say in if you want to spend the rest of your life with one person." Amara can't help but sound a little crestfallen. In her opinion, she wasn't exactly a top prize, and she would understand if the Mikaelsons had hoped for someone else, a better and more powerful person.

"It has happened that soulmates rejected one another, but it is very rare. We, the supernatural community, hold soulmates in very high esteem. Most of us are beyond ecstatic to have found our mate." Elijah replies.

Niklaus looks at Amara, who was being uncharacteristically meek. He could reason she was fatigued, but he believed there was something else behind it. He recognized that look, it was uncertainty. The hybrid frowns, his mate was insecure, perhaps she was worried she could not live up to their expectations. He recognized the fear of not fitting in or being accepted. "We want you, Amara. No one else." Niklaus promises.

Amara swallows. Her gaze was now fixed on a magazine that was placed on the table in front of her. She didn't recognize the people on the cover, Rebekah must have bought it. She wonders briefly if Jane was having a good time with the blonde Original. Communication and commitment seemed to come easy to those two, and Amara did her best to suppress the feeling of jealousy that bubbled up. "What exactly does this entail for me? For Jane. What do we- what do I need to do?"

"You don't need to do anything you do not wish to." Niklaus says firmly, wanting his mate to know they wouldn't force anything she wasn't ready for. "For now, we just want to get to know you. As a human, you do not experience the heightened emotions we do. We feel the bond strongly, and you will too once we… complete our bond. After that, it is a matter of following instinct, our happily ever after." Niklaus explains while waving his free hand around, making airily gestures.

"And how is that going to happen? Are we to dance around in a meadow under a full moon?" Amara raises a skeptical brow, but she couldn't keep a straight face at the mental image of the big and strong Mikaelson men skipping around in long white dresses while wearing flower crowns on their heads.

"No. We copulate and-"

"You mean fuck?" Amara raises an eyebrow, not at all impressed with Elijah's fancy words. Perhaps the man and Jane could hold a competition. Elijah would of course win, but she was curious about what Jane would come up with.

"Yes." Niklaus nods. There was no use in beating around the bush with this one.

Amara flushes at the idea of having sex with the four Mikaelson men. They were gorgeous and probably had centuries of experience. It was silly, but she had her doubts about being able to foresee in their needs.

"What will I feel when the bond is completed?" Amara was never very comfortable asking questions, not wanting to bother others with her lack of knowledge, but seeing as she couldn't exactly google this stuff, and it was about her future, she felt less bad for firing question after question.

"That's hard to say, we cannot answer that exactly." Niklaus bites back a huff. He was a little annoyed with himself for not being able to provide Amara with the desired information. His mate deserved all the reassurance she needed.

Amara feels a little bad for Niklaus and tries a different approach. "What do you feel right now?" She hoped to form some idea of what her future might look like. She'd rather not become a love-sick woman who can only think and talk about her soulmates, seeing as that sounded awfully tiring. Amara blinks, she had just unconsciously referred to the Mikaelson men as her soulmates in her head. This alarmed her a little.

"Pleased." Elijah replies honestly after a moment's thought. "I feel incredibly pleased and content to be near you like this. To talk of the soulmate bond with you." He hesitates before continuing. He didn't want to scare his mate with the severity of his desire for her, but downplaying it also didn't seem fair. "Besides that, there is an underlying desire to protect you and an urge to… possess you. I'm aware we can't actually possess you, but that's simply our supernatural nature."

Amara nods a little, not as repulsed by the idea as she initially thought. She wanted to belong with someone and trusted the Mikaelson men enough not to treat her like an object. If they wanted, they would have done so already.

Elijah manages a small smile upon seeing Amara's thoughtful expression. He had decided to leave out the fact that he right now was mostly craving to touch her further. To claim his mate right then and there, the urge to complete their bond stronger than all else. This strong impulse was often the reason soulmates bonded close upon meeting. He was surprised his sister hadn't already bonded with Jane; Rebekah was not usually known for her restraint. But perhaps it was the same for her as it were for him, their mate's safety and wishes were more important than their baser desires.

This restraint was a good thing, seeing as Amara would have probably kicked them out if any of them had attempted to bed her the second they met her.

"Wait, the whole feeling thing, is that why Kol was all weepy and touchy?" Amara asks, feeling a little bad for the vampire she had rejected so easily. Of course, she had the right to refuse someone, especially if that someone she had just met had the nerve to make some weird claim on her, but now that she started to get to know them better, she was able to sympathize with them. She hadn't been easy on them.

"Yes." Niklaus grins, making a mental note to pester Kol with this description later on.