Pray For The Wicked : Kol Mikaelson [2]

187: The Timing At Its Most Inconvenient

Rousseau's was closed for the night, lights off, and MJ couldn't help but think it felt incredibly aesthetic, the cold colour scheme suiting the evening, the locked till and off-fairy lights in the windows turning it into almost a ghost shop, the pair of them free to haunt it like the morning would never come.

"You continue to amaze me," Kol mused.

MJ felt her face flush.

"Now," He hopped over the bar, "Shall we continue your drinking education?"

"Is that the best idea?" She lent on the other side of the bar, "Grief and alcohol?"

Kol clicked his teeth.

"Do you have a mourning process?"

"In a way," He pulled up two empty glasses, "Death's never been something to weigh on my heart, so the times it has are quite memorable."

"And?"

"Well, you saw the reaction to Finn – which I now take back."

Fair enough.

"He doesn't deserve my rage," Kol turned his nose up, "And you saw Klaus's fake departure from the realm of the living."

"Violence."

"Apparently," His tone was joking, "That's a toxic characteristic."

"You don't say!"

"It's easier," He pulled up two bottles from under the bar, "I also murdered quite a few people in the 14th Century when I learnt about the passing of a few favoured witches."

MJ decided to sit on the bar, "The Floare you met?"

"Larissa and Dinah."

"You only really told me about Dinah."

"Lara was like you," He began to pour the alcohol into a mixer, "I didn't know at the time, but when I found out..."

"Why you were never going to kill me after that first night?"

Reluctantly, he nodded.

"Don't look guilty!" MJ beamed, "Not jealous – happy."

He paused.

"I like hearing about the good things in your past."

He rested on his side, hands in front of her crossed knees.

"Would talking about that stuff help or hinder?"

He started to mix again, "Hinder."

"You're sure?"

He nodded.

"What would help? Since you can't just commit a crime?"

"This is technically a crime."

"A murderous crime."

"I mean," He smiled cheekily, "We're murdering our livers."

"Kol," She scooted closer, "If you want me to stop, just say, but if you don't, don't dodge."

He looked up at her, pouring the mixture into the glasses.

They just held each other's gaze.

"Can't I just be with you for a little while?"

His question was quiet, and, after a beat, MJ nodded, sliding forward so she could plop back to the floor on his side.

"I'm not asking for you to kiss me," He was trying so hard, "I just need to be with you right now – to pretend the rest of the world, and my horrid family, don't exist."