#that is fostering the exact opposite attitude of how you need to approach actually practicing a language to learn

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duolingo just updated the browser version to also make you lose hearts for making mistakes 😒

[honestgrins]

klaroline prompt from tumblr - "The girl playing your wife went home early today and I’m her understudy so I guess I’m your wife now haha why are you looking at me like that au"

I don’t know how I feel about this one, and I hope I did the prompt justice. Thanks for the prompt, Anon!

Drama Queen || Klaroline

“Forbes!”

Caroline perked up from her stretches to find the student director waiting impatiently. If there was one thing every freshman knew in Whitmore’s Drama Department, it was that Katherine Pierce hated to be kept waiting. Gunning to be a star one day, Caroline wasn’t about to disappoint her program’s dictator. She scrambled to stand, anxiously picking at her dance leggings as discreetly as she could. “Yes?”

“Lucy needs a rest day and Nora has a test tonight so she can’t understudy,” Katherine explained in a bored voice. “You’re on for Belle if you can fit the costume.”

“I can!” Caroline’s neck hurt from the force of her enthusiastic nod, but she thought it was a bit more dignified than clapping in her joy. Most underclassmen competed for the chorus spots, and she had been lucky enough to understudy for actual bit parts in that semester’s production of ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ To take the lead, even only for a night, would be a major opportunity. “Absolutely, I’m ready.”

Pinning her with an unimpressed stare, Katherine tilted her head. “We’ll find out in rehearsal,” she warned. “Klaus has already scared off the first two girls I asked this morning. Because of that, I need you to get to wardrobe ASAP then to choreography. I’ll be expecting you to have the routines down before vocal warm-up at four o'clock.”

As the director turned on her heel to check the other rehearsal rooms, Caroline wilted. Klaus Mikaelson was a legend in the department, more for his grumpy commitment to method acting than his onstage presence, which was plenty legendary on its own. Most people expected him to pull a Brad Pitt and head off to Hollywood one semester short of graduation - but no, he was finishing off his senior year as the Beast.

Boy, was that an apt casting.

Being in the chorus, the only time Caroline really saw Klaus was onstage or during full rehearsals. Apparently, his need to foster and channel the Beast even out of performance had him shut away from everyone in the cast. What she did see, however, was always intense and a little self-important. From what some of the older girls said, Gaston would have been a more natural fit for the dramatic ladies man he usually was. To be playing opposite as his love interest? Caroline was more than a little intimidated.

“What’s wrong?” Bonnie asked when Caroline returned to the chorus warm-up to grab her things. “You’re white as a sheet.”

“I’ve got to do a wardrobe check for Belle, I’m filling in tonight,” she said, her voice weak with trepidation.

Bonnie refused the blonde’s earlier restraint and bounced happily on her toes. “Care, that’s amazing!”

“Klaus Mikaelson is going to eat me alive.”

Snorting, Bonnie covered her mouth at Caroline’s pout. “From what Greta had to say about their fling last semester, you’ll probably enjoy it. Twice.”

Caroline fought a laugh, though her expression did pinch in discomfort. “TMI, Bon, and that’s not going to happen.” It wasn’t for a lack of appreciation, the man was hot. But her last boyfriend had been hot, too - until she found him sexting an ex-girlfriend on a date with her. “I’ve had my fill of fuckboys this year. I really don’t need to be the latest notch on the jerk’s belt.”

“So you say,” Bonnie teased. “The Caroline I know would have that bad boy wrapped around her finger before the show is even over tonight.”

Shaking her head, Caroline smiled indulgently. “Yeah, yeah,” she sighed. “I’ve got to get going before Kat notices-”

“Forbes!”

Caroline rolled her eyes, quickening her pace to the wardrobe department. Anxiety aside, she couldn’t let this chance pass her by.

After a hard hour of choreography practice and vocal runs, Caroline was jittery with nerves as she was laced into Belle’s petticoats for a mini dress rehearsal with the Beast himself. Katherine had very unhelpfully described the exact conditions that caused the first two girls she approached to run screaming from the opportunity, and all the ways her big break could go wrong constantly ran through her mind.

“Relax,” the director ordered, picking up the iconic blue dress Caroline would be wearing for most of the night. “Klaus is just a drama queen, no different than yourself when the costume almost didn’t fit.”

Caroline cringed as her minor fit came back to mind; if that was what she had to expect, then maybe she should be scared. “My ego can handle the needling and temper, but will he really drop me during dances if I don’t meet his standards?”

“Only during rehearsal.”

“Helpful,” Caroline muttered, smoothing the skirts along her legs. Her chest raised with a deep breath. “Okay, let’s get this over with.”

Katherine smirked. “I knew I liked you.”

Giving her best pageant queen smile in return, Caroline’s eyes were decidedly cool. “Glad it only took you three tries to find the right understudy, then.”

“Don’t push it, Forbes,” the director warned, though her smile didn’t falter. “I just can’t wait to see how you handle Klaus.”

Caroline swallowed at the implicit threat. Back straight and chin high, however, she strode out of the room to finally face the Beast; weakness would not be tolerated.

Irritation buzzed around him like a mosquito, and Klaus knew he was testing the limits of his commitment to the character. When Katherine explained about the casting change for that night, it took everything in him not to lash out. Still, he realized his bad reaction might have been harsh to the poor girls meant to be filling in. Sent to his reserved dressing room for most of the afternoon, Katherine warned him to work out his anger before she brings the next Belle to work with him.

Lucy might have hated him, but at least she was used to his mood swings; Klaus pitied the understudy paired with his Beast.

“Oh, stop pouting,” Bekah snapped, working on the seams of his costume. His baby sister had happily played the nepotism card for internship credit in the wardrobe department, and she was probably the only person left in the building that wouldn’t completely avoid his act. “The self-loathing thing is your character’s worst trait, and it’s even worse compounded with your surly attitude. Get over yourself and try on this coat.”

Rolling his eyes, Klaus shrugged into the costume. He obediently stood still as Rebekah pulled at the lapels to straighten the lines, until a knock at the door distracted them both. “I want you onstage in one minute to run through the dance with tonight’s Belle,” Katherine called from the hallway. “You’ve burned through two already, and I’m out of time to prepare another. Make it work, Mikaelson.”

“Ugh,” Rebekah groaned. “What does Elijah see in her?”

Klaus just grunted in disapproval, sweeping out of the room to leave Rebekah pondering their brother’s love life. A part of him wanted to refuse the new girl just to spite Katherine, but their rivalry wasn’t worth ruining the entire night’s performance. He never knew who might be in the audience, especially as agents had been reaching out over the course of his final semester, hungry for an awarded up-and-comer. As he approached the stage, Klaus could only hope he actually had chemistry with the last-minute understudy.

The performance hall was almost deserted; the crew was probably grabbing a quick dinner before making final adjustments. A blonde woman practicing her choreographed steps was the only other soul around, and Klaus watched as the skirts swirled around her ankles. She was a bit robotic in her movements, clearly focused on landing them precisely. Her exacting frown endeared Klaus to the girl he thought he recognized from the chorus, and he felt drawn to join her.

Moving quietly, Klaus stalked toward her from behind and carefully watched each step she made. Just as she was about to turn, he grabbed her hand and twirled her into his arms. Her eyes widened as he continued their dance, and he rather got the impression she wanted to stomp on his toes for surprising her. Still, she fell into step with him, running her hand along his shoulder to settle against his neck.

Had he been wearing his Beast head, her hand would have appeared to intimately twine into his fur. Without the barrier, he could easily feel the stroke of her finger on his bare skin. It was a natural connection between their characters, and Klaus sensed the chemistry he had been hoping for.

Pulling her into the sweeping waltz, he couldn’t take his eyes off hers. With each turn he lead her into, a new spark would appear in her green eyes: confusion, an urge for control, or - his favorite - pure delight as he twirled her once more. She felt right against him, her hand fitting perfectly inside his. Blonde curls whipped around her shoulders and hit his neck.

Klaus itched to draw the breathless smile she gives on the final dip, her chest heaving that he could feel each gasp from the hand that held her up. He towered over her a moment too long, which she likely noticed when her eyebrows furrowed with tension. Coughing, Klaus raised her back to a standing position, his hand still lingering on her waist for no other reason than he didn’t want to stop touching her. He pulled back as though burned by the realization.

“Well, hi,” the blonde laughed, brushing her hair out of her face. “I’m Caroline, the understudy. Guess I’m your Beauty for tonight. Ugh, that sounded gross, but you know what I mean,” she babbled. When he didn’t say, she looked up in question. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Letting his face go slack, Klaus just nodded as he turned on his heel to stride away.

Caroline watched him go, a frustrated confusion overwhelming her.

Slow claps from backstage distracted her, however, from the infuriating man who just left their surprisingly charged rehearsal. Turning, she found Katherine smirking at her again. “What?”

“I’m congratulating myself for choosing well,” she gloated. “You really got under his skin.”

“Oh,” Caroline huffed without humor. “So that was the Beast I’ve been hearing so much about?”

Katherine shook her head. “Honey, that wasn’t the Beast. That was all Klaus. It’s about time someone broke his method ass, I was about to kill him. He’s inhuman enough as it is.”

With her skin still humming from their dance, Caroline wasn’t so sure.

Klaus stormed into his dressing room. The blood buzzed in his veins, and he needed to do…something. His thoughts were too frazzled for him to settle on a course of action.

Of course, he had forgotten his dressing room wasn’t empty for a bit of self-evaluation. Without looking up from her stitches, Rebekah sneered, “Are you going to scare this one off, too?”

“Leave me be,” he ordered.

Despite the grumbling fuss his sister put up, Klaus was pleased when she went without throwing so much as a shoe. She still had a parting barb as she dropped the costume she had been working on, though. “A little appreciation would be nice, Nik.”

The sentiment clicked for him, even if it would be directed in a different direction than Rebekah had hoped.

He pulled out his phone to look up the number for a florist. “Yes, hello,” he said when the call connected. “I’d like a bouquet for delivery, Whitmore Drama Department after seven p.m. Red roses in full bloom.”

He hears the florist typing, his heart beating oddly in his chest. “Anything for the card, sir?”

Thinking for a moment, Klaus licked his lips before answering. “'Thank you for the dance, Caroline.’”