lifeline ⇾ kai parker

12┃back to you

"She'll be fine, blondie. Kai will do something to personally piss her off and whatever truce she has with him will be over. Trust me, no one can stand being around him, and I'm speaking from personal experience."

"I don't know, Damon. It's not just her. It's him. He's... less hostile with her. It's obvious he has a crush on her. And maybe she has one on him..."

"First of all, ew." Damon says, scrunching up his face in disgust, finally setting his now-empty glass back on the counter. "Second, even though he clearly does, Kai doesn't know the first thing about being into someone. Or being a decent a person. Or really anything except being a constant pain in my ass. Nothing will come of it. He'll mess it up before anything will begin."

"I'll remember you said that when we catch them with their tongues down each other's throats in the living room."

"The only two people allowed to do that in this household is me and Elena. And maybe you and Stefan... I don't know what's going on with you and my baby bro, and I want to keep it that way."

Caroline throws a nearby dish towel at him, which he easily catches, unfazed by how bothered she was by his remark. Damon simply throws the towel behind him, not caring where it landed, picked up his glass, and headed out to refill it once more in the other room. Caroline goes the other way, scoffing, to predictably go find Stefan.

━━━━━

MILA CURLS FURTHER INTO herself underneath what seems like very thin sheets and blankets. Her whole body is shaking, teeth chattering loudly, and it's all because of the snow storm that's still thrashing about outside. She can see the swift flurries of snow twirl and zip violently around from her window, only adding to the thick blanket already covering the neighborhood.

The spontaneous blizzard that seemed to start right after their argument caused the temperature to drop significantly; Mila was sure it was below zero. Even with a heavy sweatshirt and a whole duvet, it still wasn't enough to keep her warm. She had been huddled underneath the sheets for hours, shivering and listening to the howling wind.

The cold air bit at her exposed face. Her toes started to feel numb. She swears she can even see her breath cloud through the darkness. It was well into the middle of the night, with at least a few more hours until sunrise — of course she doubted that it would make the temperature rise that much. She couldn't take another minute of the harsh cold.

Sitting up in bed, Mila gathered all the blankets and wrapped them around herself before she let her feet touch the carpeted floor. She held them to her tightly while she left her room and tiptoed down the hall. She stopped at his door, hesitating. She didn't know what was worse: potentially freezing to death or facing Kai.

Before she could chicken out and waddle back to her bedroom, the door opened in front of her, revealing Kai cradling himself. His bottom lip quivered and she could see goosebumps all over his skin. It made her feel a bit better knowing she wasn't the only one suffering.

"I'm still mad at you, but I'm cold." Mila told him shortly, ducking past him before he could even process her words.

She spread her own duvet over his and hurriedly crawled under, hoping the extra layers will help warm her body faster. Kai, staying quiet for once, merely shuts his door back closed and makes his way over to his side of the bed. He's surprised that she came to his room, but he's even more shocked when she pulls him closer the second he's under the covers.