Hi, my dear readers,
Usually I wanted to publish the new chapter yesterday after I got it back from my beta-reader, but the horrible reports on TV concerning the devasting fire in Notre Dame, Paris, kept our whole family paralyzed the whole evening until the early night. We were really shocked and sad, because this cathedral is not only one of the oldest gothic churches, it's also a kind of mythos. I was in this cathedral about 20 years ago during a five-days-trip to Paris, and it really hurt to see this monument in flames.
For all outside there, who knows the cathedral in person or is maybe French or lives in France: My deepest sympathy. I mourn with you and hope that Notre-Dame, 'Our Dame', will be re-risen in all its breathtaking and beautiful glory like it was before.
Even if it maybe strikes as odd to pass back into a fanfiction given the whole situation, I do know that stories sometimes can offer strength and hope – or at least a distraction. Maybe the new chapter is a diversion for the one or other affected reader. And that the new chapter is a fluffy and sweet one, is maybe a little 'balm'.
Thank you so much for the large feedback concerning the last chapter. I somehow knew that you would love it.
Enjoy,
Love
Yours Starflight
Chapter 34 – Sweet afterglow
Both didn't know how long they simply lay there – boneless and floating in the glow of the aftermath. Soft tremors vibrated through their bodies, pulse and heartbeat only slowly calming down, and both were bathed in sweat. But nothing of this reached their minds. There was nothing in the world but holding each other and feeling the other one's proximity.
Robert had closed his eyes, listening to both their pants, which were turning more and more into normal breaths again, and relishing in the sensation of Will's warm skin and lean body. Somehow, the older man had found the strength to roll beside his lover to take any pressure off him, and Rob had followed him without being conscious of his own doing; snuggling against Wilhelm. Will held him close – one arm encircled Robert from beneath, the other hand was buried in his tousled hair, one long leg was wrapped around his calves. Hogan was utterly enveloped by his German counterpart and it gave him a sense of complete security.
Robert soared through a sheltering darkness holding him in its gentle embrace, just like Klink did for real. Being a passionate man by nature, he'd had his shares of love-nights and had enjoyed the storms he had experienced within them, but this here, was something completely different and new. Usually, a part of him held back – careful not to hurt the women he was with because of his greater strength and his larger weight. But this time, with Will, there was no need to hold his fire. Sweet Lord, he wouldn't have even been able to, because never before had he been filled with so much greedy desire that had continued to grow the more their love-game proceeded. He had lost himself in the scorching hunger the older man had awoken in him, and he knew that this was only the beginning.
There was more to explorer, more to experience and even though he felt tired out, he yearned to have this 'more' soon. Technically he knew how two men came together, and until a few days ago he had rejected the mere thought of it. Hell, it had made him uneasy – but not anymore. If there was one man on Earth he would give himself to and would allow to have his way with him like this, then it was Wilhelm Klink. And somehow, deep in him, this new craving settled roots.
But for now he was satisfied with enjoying the last remains of the afterglow and his lover's closeness. He felt Will move beside him just before lips brushed first over his forehead and then over his mouth. For a long moment he simply returned the kiss and felt a short stinging on his bottom lip he didn't mind, because a second later Will's tongue glided gently over it and he sighed in content. Opening his lids he saw that the older man had lifted his head and looked with utmost tenderness and happiness down on him; the gentle, long fingers in his hair massaged him lovingly.
Wilhelm was inwardly trembling. Watching how his beloved was losing himself in pleasure, seeing the sheer bliss on his face and hearing the moans, before they were both overwhelmed with ecstasy, was a satisfaction on its own. Watching how Robert Hogan, genius mastermind of one of the most unruly Underground-organizations, lost all control in the swirl of passion, recompensed the older man for all the countless months he had dreamed of being together with him in the most intimate way. This here, was beyond any fantasy he had dared to dream of in the long, lonely hours in his empty bed. This here was a taste of heaven he wanted to have forever.
He held the younger man close to him; relished in their proximity – both physical and emotional. He felt tremors run beneath Rob's hot and silken skin, heard how his beloved's breath finally calmed down and smiled as the American snuggled closer to him; melting against him like an oversized cat. Unable to suppress the rush of tenderness, he lifted his head and kissed Rob's damp forehead, before he searched for his mouth. He tasted Rob's almost familiar scent, but also something metallic and knew that one of the healing scabs on Hogan's still sore lips had given away.
Acting on pure instinct he gently licked the blood drop away and drank in the soft moan he got in return. Then one of Robert's hands caressed his shoulder and lifting his head, Klink looked down at his utterly relaxed and tired counterpart.
Their gazes met and Wilhelm wasn't aware that everything he felt for the younger man was reflected in his eyes. He saw Rob looking at him with wonder and sighed, as Hogan moved his hand upwards and cupped his cheek. The gesture was full of such natural tenderness, it stole Will's breath.
"I… I never thought it could be like this," Robert whispered; utterly at peace but also filled with awe.
Will smiled down at him; realizing something that hadn't come to his mind until now. "You had never been with a man before, have you?" he murmured; his voice still hoarse with emotions.
Hogan slowly shook his head. "No, never." He pulled Wilhelm's head down to him and took a deep, happy breath as the older man buried his face into the crook of his neck. It felt so inexorably good. "When I was sixteen I had a friend and we… were curious, but we didn't get far. It felt… awkward."
"And now?" Klink murmured; already knowing the answer. There was absolutely no denial possible about how much Rob had enjoyed their encounter.
"It… it feels right – with you," Robert breathed, while tightening his arms around the older man. "I… I'm not gay – at least I don't think that I am, but with you… I don't know what it will lead to, but what I know is that I don't want it to end. I… I want to explore more – with you. Only you," he added softly, turned his head and pressed a kiss against Will's balding head.
He heard Wilhelm sigh in relief and happiness, and, smiling, he held his lover close; enjoying the heaviness and lethargy the afterglow that was still sweeping through his mind and body.
For many minutes they simply lay there – relishing in what they shared. Then Klink took a deep breath and began to move away. A sound of protest rose from Hogan's throat while he tightened his arms around the other man again. "Stay!" he mumbled.
To his bafflement he heard Will chuckle. "Hon, if we don't move now and get clean, any attempt at separating our bodies will soon be very unpleasant." Wilhelm lifted his head and met Rob's confused glance. "How sticky, do you think, will the essences of our bodies become when they're drying – and they are almost dry, believe me. I'd love to be glued to you, but not this way." To his amusement but also absolute ardor he saw Robert blush, and he carefully separated from him. It already stung a little bit, and Hogan made a face as he looked at the mess on Will's and then his own chest.
"Don't tell me we've to rise and wash now," he complained.
"I don't see another way," Klink snickered and began to rise.
"I don't want to. I'm tired, it's cold without you and I want my personal blanket back – meaning you," Rob was all but pouting like a little boy. It earned him hearty laughter from his lover, who left the bed on uneasy legs.
"Demanding little fox!" Will said fondly, while offering Hogan a hand. "Come on, my gadfly. Let us take a shower, then we'll change the sheets and then…"
"And then we start anew," Rob grinned; taking the offered hand and sitting up; groaning in the process. Hell, his body ached, which showed him there was still a long way of healing lying ahead of him.
Again Klink laughed. "I bet that you'll fall asleep the moment you hit the pillows, seeing how exhaust you are."
"I'm not that tired," Hogan protested – and yawned a moment later, while he rose.
Will's eyes shimmered with deep, tender love as he wrapped one arm around the younger man's waist and steered him towards the bathroom. "Yes, obviously," he teased.
Grumbling something under his breath, Robert walked beside him on wobbling legs; feeling, to his dismay, that 'Willie' may indeed be right.
A minute later both men stood under the shower and relished in washing each other, which gave them the chance to explore each other's body some more. Klink was careful not to inflict any pain on the younger man as he cleaned his upper body, while Hogan enjoyed wiping away the last remains of their forbidden game of passion from Will's chest and massaging some knots out of his counterpart's uptight shoulder- and neck-muscles.
He bent forwards to get the soap and the water fully splashed down on him – awakening an uneasy feeling in him.
For a moment he was back in those cellars again, forced under water – and then the memory changed. He was under the shower – in this shower cabin – and strong arms held him. He was cold, hurt and filled with dread, but there were those arms around him and a gentle, familiar voice was whispering soothing words.
Robert's hesitation didn't slip Wilhelm's attention, and as Hogan slowly turned around, Klink saw a short haunted expression in his beloved's eyes. "You remember, don't you?" he murmured.
Hogan didn't need to ask what the older man was referring to. "Yes," he said quietly. "I remember that I was here, in this bathroom, and that you held me beneath the shower to get me clean." He looked straight into his counterpart's eyes. "And I remember you kissing me earlier."
Klink sighed. "It was… an impulse," he whispered. "You were so badly hurt and alternated between apathy and panic attacks. Yet, when I held you, you calmed down. You… showed a trust in me I'd never thought possible. And as you were so numb with shock during our ride back to the camp and, afterwards, here while I stripped you, I acted on impulse." He stroked one unruly lock away from Rob's forehead. "I didn't want to take advantage of you and your condition. It was instinctive, aiming to comfort and to soothe you."
A smile curled Rob's mouth. "And it soothed you, too."
His German counterpart sighed again. "Ja, it did – because I was deadly afraid for your life and, later, for your sanity." He lowered his gaze. "As LeBeau appeared in the hospital to alert me, I thought my whole world was falling apart. I was terrified that I would come too late to get you out. Thank the Lord I came in time, but you were so full of wounds and the tracks Hochstetter's hate had left on you, I feared he had broken you." He cupped Rob's left cheek with one hand; his eyes roamed fondly over the other man's face. "I thought I was still about to lose you – one way or the other – and holding you close and kissing you was the only way I could think of to tell you that everything was over; that you were safe again and that I would protect you."
Robert had listened closely. Those admissions told him once again how deep Will's feelings for him ran; how much it must have pained the older man to see him like this. And it shook him inwardly.
"You saved me – not only from Hochstetter, but also from falling apart," he whispered. "Like I told you a few days ago, before we revealed our secrets to each other, I had really thought that he had taken a part of me away."
"That was what I feared, too, but after the first days and nights, as I saw how you handled everything, I knew that this God-damned poison-dwarf hadn't won." He used the back of his fingers to caress the younger man's cheek. "You're still the Robert Hogan I know. The witty fox that drives me crazy on a regular basis but without whom my life would be nothing but a flat existence. And I'm utterly glad that this paranoid madman has been arrested and will not come back to threaten you."
The love that was hidden between the lines struck a cord deep in Hogan's being and echoed in gentle tones through his mind and soul. It warmed him in a way he had never experienced before. "At least this kind of danger is over," he murmured; brushing his lips over Will's. He felt his lover smile beneath his mouth, before he opened it and the erotic duel began anew.
Finally Klink lifted his head; face flushed, lips swollen, eyes shining. "I just remembered that there is another 'danger' we're going to face if we remain in this shower any longer."
Robert, feeling dizzy due to the deep, satisfying pleasure the kissing had woken in him again, blinked confusedly. "What do you mean?"
"That we're using the whole water-ration of one week, not to speak of the fact that we'll be running out of warm water within the next minute or so. And I really don't want to get hit with a sort of ice-rain."
The wry explanation elicited a clear, rich laugh from Hogan, who shut off the water. He would have loved to remain under the warm stream for longer, but Wilhelm was right when he pointed out that water was indeed rationed. So both men had no other chance than to put an end to their pleasurable enjoyment, dry themselves and return to the sleeping room, where an uncommon disarray had taken place. Pajama trousers and top, German uniform trousers, shirt and pants lay widespread around the bed; joined by some pillows and boots. And on the bed the sheets and blankets were a mess. The air was thick with the smell of their love-game, and allowing himself a deep sigh, Klink went to the dresser, took his housecoat, slipped into it, threw Hogan his own and went to the window to open it.
Robert grimaced as the first gale of cold air touched his uncovered body and quickly put on the housecoat LeBeau had made for him.
Folding their clothes they laid them on the chair, before they stripped the mattress off the sheets and did the same with the bedclothes. Klink threw it all on a heap, went into the bathroom, filled the shower tub with water and put the bed-linens in it. "We'll say that you got sick, didn't reach the bathroom in time and we had to change the bedclothes because of it," he said.
"And why is it me who got sick?" Robert sulked, anything but serious.
"Because we'd better have a good explanation why your bed-linens of my bed were changed all of a sudden." He went to the commode, got out new bedclothes and offered some of them to Hogan. "Here. If we both work on it, we'll be back in bed in no time."
Grinning, the American accepted the little job, and a few minutes later they were done. Switching off the lights in the living room and closing the window, Will insisted on rubbing some ointment on Rob's back, who protested that there was no need for it.
"Everything was washed away and we don't want to risk inflammation, Robert, so stop being a child, turn around and let me treat you," Klink said, half frustrated, half amused.
"If you want a repeat of earlier, all you have to do is ask nicely," Hogan teased; wriggling his eye brows.
For a moment Wilhelm blushed, then he gave the younger man a stern glance. "And if you want a repeat within the near future, you should skip this nonsense, strip off the housecoat, turn around and allow me to help you with this medicine. Because if one of your wounds gets inflamed, we'll have to wait days, if not even a week or two, before I can show you the next step of pleasure that can be taken between two men."
Giving Will his best pouting puppy-glance, Hogan batted his eyelashes. "Aw, Willie, you're my friend and now we're even lovers. You will not blackmail me, will you?"
"This, my dear troublemaker, is exactly what I am going to do if you don't turn around immediately. It's only for your own good, you know," Klink replied with humor dancing in his eyes, yet he was also serious. This much Hogan could tell.
Sighing dramatically, he finally obeyed and let the older man take care of him. And, as he had to admit, he loved feeling those long hands on his back again. The memory of what they could do – what they had done to him – brimmed in him and he was unaware of the tiny moans coming over his lips. If only he weren't so tired, he would not have minded a real repeat of what they had shared half an hour ago.
"So, all done," Wilhelm finally said with a hoarse undertone in his voice, and placed the can with the ointment back on the nightstand. "Let's go to bed, or we will both oversleep tomorrow."
Robert, who had stripped off the housecoat, looked at his German counterpart. "With or without pajamas?"
Klink licked his lips. "Well… that's up to you," he finally murmured; treating his calf with some of the ointment, too.
"Good!" Hogan nodded, took his housecoat, laid it over the nearby chair and climbed into bed as naked as the day of his birth – holding the blankets open for Will to join him. "Are you coming?"
Chuckling, Wilhelm stripped off his own housecoat and slipped onto the mattress beside his beloved; sighing in contentment when he felt the soft material around his naked skin and Robert's warmth against his body, as the younger man instantly snuggled closer to him. Only the little lamp on the nightstand was still switched on, and, in its light, both men looked at each other – still in wonder over what had happened between them.
"I never thought that you would be drawn to me one day," Will whispered. "I didn't dare hope that there was the tiniest chance you could return my feelings."
"For how long have you harbored feelings for me?" Robert asked softly, and the older man took a deep breath; again caressing his beloved's cheek with one hand.
"The moment my eyes fell on you for the very first time, I knew that fate had walked through my office door."
Eyes widening, Rob could only stare at the older man in mild disbelief. "You… you felt attracted to me from the beginning?"
Klink nodded. "Yes. You were brought into my Kommandantur by two SS-guards and a SS-major, and all I saw for the first few seconds was an opponent officer of my rank, belonging to the enemy air-force. Then you looked at me with those brown eyes – sizing, appraising, curious, but not hostile. And then you smirked this infuriating, lopsided grin – and something clicked into place within me. I knew that you would mean trouble. A lot of trouble. Trouble beyond the usual mess of POWs trying to play up. And it turned out that I was right. You stood there, in handcuffs, dirty and obviously still in pain from the Gestapo's questioning, but you behaved as casually as if you had just entered a neighbor's house and were waiting for the afternoon coffee. As the guards unlocked your handcuffs, your very first words were a wry 'Thank you for the nice hospitality. You Germans really know how to treat your guests.' Then you rubbed your wrists and grinned again."
"Well, never give the bad guys the satisfaction of showing that they had bothered you," Robert smiled; remembering his arrival at Stalag 13 as if it had been only yesterday.
Will chuckled. "Ja, you're right. I was absolutely baffled about your nonchalant acting. Most of the prisoners need days to come around after a questioning by the Gestapo, but not you. After the formalities were over and you were officially handed over to my camp, you sat down in one of the visitor chairs I'd offered to you out of common politeness – and then you looked at me again. There was no hate in your eyes, no loathing, no resentment – only curiosity and some careful mirth. Then I held my usual speech every newcomer gets and you only smiled cheerfully at me, commenting with 'Colonel Klink, there is no need to shovel tunnels to make an attempt of running away. I'll leave this camp through the main gate, mark my words. So don't fear for your zero-escape-rate.'"
"Well, I did leave the camp through the main gate a lot of times – when you sent me away to test your car, when you allowed me to catch someone, when we were outside to do jobs we agreed on, when…"
"And still you shoveled your tunnels and sneaked out whenever you wanted," Klink interrupted him; laughing quietly. "At the time of your arrival I could only assume what a clever fox had been put into my camp." He chuckled. "I was enraged about the insolence you'd displayed at our first meeting, but deep down I was also amused, which showed me that I was about to get into a kind of trouble I hadn't experienced within a lot of years. I felt it in my bones that you were a challenge that had nothing to do with being a witty opponent officer, but everything to do with being a highly attractive man with the charms of a boy. I knew that I would have to be very careful, or I would be lost."
"You really felt drawn to me from the first minute?" Robert slowly shook his head. "You never intimated anything," he murmured in awe. "Hell, if it hadn't been for the gentle way you nursed me back to relative health, those tender gazes you gave me within the last days, and those soothing kisses I've begun to remember, I would have never guessed that you've feelings for me. I never took you for a man who's into the same gender after all your flirting with any skirt that comes along the way."
"In earlier times I tried to overcome my 'weakness' by flirting around with females, now me hitting on women is a cover," Klink admitted. "In your country, relationships of the same gender are forbidden, too, but in the US you are only thrown into jail. In Germany you're castrated while fully conscious, which mostly leads to death – or you've the choice to become a slave-worker for ten years or more, which also mostly means death – last but not least because of the very special treatment from the guards, who regard these men as subhumans."
Shocked, Robert stared at him. "This is… bestial," he said quietly.
"Which is normal if something or someone doesn't go hand in hand with the Nazis' point of view, or Hitler's insane desire to repopulate the world with perfect super-humans. In his eyes, ill people, people with different skin-colors or people with uncommon streaks are only subhuman beings that, preferably, should be eliminated. He regards mildness as weakness and knows no mercy, as much as I've heard."
Hogan watched him with warm sympathy. "And therefore you pretended to be a man in search of marriage, who only has an unlucky hand wooing a woman for himself. And you increase this image by playing the fool."
"Ja," Wilhelm nodded. "When I was younger, I flirted a lot and one time I was just a step away from getting married, but something was missing. I only realized my nature later and the first months I tried to ignore it. Then I met a comrade who had the same streak as I and… Well, you can imagine the rest."
"It was your first time," Rob pondered, and Klink smiled shortly.
"Yes – and my last for many months. Then the first war broke loose and in the darkness of the nights, far away from home, there were suddenly chances to find some solace and comfort with others. But those who feel like I do had to be very, very careful. I don't think that there would have been any superior who wouldn't have regarded us as a shame for the army, if he would have caught us." He took a deep breath. "Then the war ended and we returned to the so-called civilization in which there is no place for otherness. During the following years I learned to live with my longings buried deep away in the edges of my consciousness – a control I was even able to cling to during my active time concerning the Spanish Civil War and now in the current war. It was a question of survival. And then you came."
Robert moistened his lips. "I turned everything you'd worked for so long and hard upside-down," he mused.
"You can say that," Klink chuckled; stealing another soft kiss from his American counterpart. "You haunted me in a way no other man had done before. The first months I tried to ignore my growing desire for you, but for naught. You were always around me, in my personal space, clapped me on the shoulders, touched me in sometimes impossible manners and wove your web around me without knowing what you really did to me. And then came the months in which I lie awake long during the nights, captured in throbbing need for you, but I couldn't give into it."
"Why?" Hogan asked; already anticipating several reasons.
"For one you've been my prisoner – my senior POW officer above all. I harbor great respect for you. And I'm also responsible for you in many ways, not only for your and your men's health, but also for keeping any risk of disarray and chaos that could endanger us all as low it possible. To imply my desire for you would have lead us into dependence – another dependence than the one we developed because of my later becoming awareness of your mission. As much as I enjoyed your constant attempts at manipulating me – and a lot of the times you really succeeded, because I couldn't resist you and your damn games – I also had to make certain that this whole play wouldn't get out of hands. We could both have taken advantage of each other, and this is something I would never do. Not with my men, not with my prisoners, and certainly not with the man who had wriggled himself beneath my skin and check-mated me in a way he wasn't aware of."
"I'm still your prisoner and your senior POW, Will," Hogan reminded him gently.
"Officially, ja. Unofficially, it's partly you who leads this camp – don't interrupt me, Hon, you know I'm right," he softly rebuked Robert, who was about to protest. "And, besides the fact that you're pulling so many strings inside and outside of these wires that I could sometimes lean back comfortably and let you do my job, we're partners now," Klink continued. "Partners in crime, so to say, but partners nonetheless. You're equal to me, so the whole taking advantage of each other thing doesn't exist anymore. Yet I would have never revealed my feelings for you, if I hadn't realized this evening that you return them."
"Why?" Robert asked softly again.
"Rob, I've watched you whenever females are in camp and I know that you're flirting intensely with my secretary. There was no hope for me that you would regard another male in a romantic way. But I had gained your friendship and it made me happy. I know that you laughed at me in the beginning, just like so many others did and still do. Then I sensed that you began to regard me a little bit in a different light – that you no longer saw only the uniform, but the human being beneath it. Your friendship was more than I could ever hope for, and it was enough. It had to be enough, because I never hoped to get more from you. I feared your loathing or, even worse, your pity if you ever got wind of my feelings for you." He wrapped his free arm around the younger man. "And then this miracle happened. The moment you turned around this evening and I saw the firestorm in your eyes – the hunger in them – I knew that my prayers had been heard." He lowered his gaze. "Even if I don't understand why you developed such desire for me. I know that you're straight, yet here we are – lying side by side after the first step of giving each other carnal pleasure."
Lifting one hand, Hogan touched his German counterpart's temple with soft fingertips and combed them through his ring of hair. "I don't understand it myself," he said under his breath. "I've never really thought of another guy this way. Yes, I love my friends, but not in this manner. I didn't even think of you like this until a few days ago, but… there was the loving care you showed me. You held me when I was about to get lost in the emotional storms after my captivity, and being in your arms felt so good. I saw your gentle glances and then there were those moments in which I woke up from sleep only to find you wrapped around me. And it felt right, too. The latter shocked me and I tried to ignore it, but… being close to you like this seems somehow so natural. Then, the day after our big talk, I began to realize the one motive for your support you didn't speak of. I recognized that you see more than a friend in me – and it didn't repulse me, but… did these funny things to me I'd already experienced in the days before whenever you smiled at me."
"Funny things?" Will wanted to know; happy that Robert opened up to him like this.
"You know, quick heart-beat, warmth in the cheeks, rising pulse…" Hogan rolled his eyes. "I thought I had gone nuts – that I interpreted something in the care you gave me, but after I knew what to look for, I got more and more confirmations of my assumptions. I began to see you in another way – your long, elegant fingers, the way you move, your body…" He sighed and blushed a little bit, as he caught Wilhelm's shining glance. "Well, and then they started – those dreams."
"Dreams?" Klink asked curiously.
"Yeah, dreams." Hogan gulped. "I have to make a confession. A few nights ago, I didn't have the runs."
The older man frowned. "No? But why did you race to the bathroom like this and…" In the dim light of the little lamp he saw how Robert flushed even more – and the famous scales slipped from his eyes. "No," he snickered.
"Yes," his American counterpart groaned. "I woke from a dream that was more than… stimulating to put it mildly, and even I have my limits."
Klink's eyes were wide like saucers. "No, you didn't…" he began, and Hogan nodded.
"Yes, I did – like a teenager," he admitted.
For the second time this evening Wilhelm had to laugh heartily. Pulling his beloved even closer to him and tightening his arms around him, he gave into his fond exhilaration, while he simply knew that Rob was pouting again. "Sweet Lord, my usually so witty fox, why didn't you do the most logical thing and turn to me?"
"I… I wasn't ready for it and so I ran," Robert murmured; forehead buried against Will's throat. "I knew that I would lose control otherwise and… it scared me."
Still chuckling, Wilhelm pressed a kiss on the tousled, dark hair, while his hand caressed the other man's back and shoulders; not caring for the healing scars he could feel under his fingertips. Another wave of sheer tenderness swept through him. "This is the whole point of giving into passion, Rob: loss of control," he said gently; amusement but also understanding echoing in his voice. "But this evening, you were ready?"
"No, but then I saw the recognition in your eyes – that you knew what had awoken in me. And the open hunger that was mirrored in your gaze fed my want even more." Hogan looked up again. "I couldn't suppress it anymore and… Well, then it happened."
Klink bent forwards and kissed his forehead again. "You made me the happiest man on Earth this evening, Robert Edward Hogan," he said with returning seriousness; realizing how much it had cost the younger man to admit all this. It was one thing to think about something, quite another to say it aloud. "Not only because I found fulfillment in your arms and was able to give you a taste of what I feel for you, but also because of the ultimate trust you placed in me. When we're on the brink of ecstasy we're at our most vulnerable – and you trusted me enough to give yourself to me; knowing that you would be delivered to your desire and my care. This is a gift I will cherish forever."
To his shock, Robert felt a soft stinging in his eyes. He had heard compliments and declarations of love before, but they had all sounded hollow and empty compared to this simple statement that spoke of devotion and true feelings. There was no doubt left that Wilhelm Klink really loved him. And it filled him with uncertainty but also with joyful warmth.
For once not knowing what to say, Rob closed the small distance to the older man and captured his mouth in a deep, tender kiss. And again he was hit with wonder that this here wasn't awkward but felt so incredibly right.
The fire of passion had calmed down for now – both men were tired after the emotional and carnal storm they had experienced with each other after days, and in Wilhelm's case even many months, of suppressed and finally released craving. What remained was a growing tenderness that enfolded them in a cocoon of security and peace.
Both men didn't even realize that they slowly slipped away into sleep – wrapped around each other, skin to skin, heart to heart and drinking each other's scent. For the first time in years, loneliness had no access to their souls…
*** HH ***
Slowly Klink woke up, and for a moment he only blinked, disoriented, in the semi-darkness of his sleeping chambers. It was warm and comfortable, and Robert was snuggled against him; his soft skin felt like silk against Will's and…
One moment!
He could feel Rob's skin?
Lifting his head he looked down on the younger man, who had wrapped himself around him, and given his own position he had snaked his arms and one leg in return around his beloved fox. They were entangled like the ropes of the famous Gordian Knot and…
And they were both obviously, utterly naked!
He could feel Rob's shaft, hard with his morning erection, pressed against his thigh, while he became aware of the American's hot breath dancing over his own exposed chest.
Then the memories returned. They had made love to each other…
All right, not to the full extent that was possible, but this first exchange of caresses, the kisses, the devotion, the upwards spiraling into higher spheres where they had soared through bliss, was more than he had ever dreamed of to experience with Robert one day.
But it had happened! They had been together, had cherished each other, had revealed their feelings…
Will thought he was flying on clouds; happiness squeezed his heart until he thought he couldn't breathe anymore. Gently tightening his arms around his beloved, he closed his eyes again and relished in those quiet, sweet minutes. It was pure heaven!
The shrill ringing of the telephone in the living room was like a cold shower.
No!
Not now!
There was no chance that something important enough had happened to disturb him now, in his quarters in the middle of the night, while he held his beloved naked fox in his arms!
Again the unpleasant sound echoed through the air – and it made Robert stir.
"Shomeone-shall-pick-up-tshe-phone, pleashe," he mumbled; mostly still asleep.
The next ring pierced the air – and cursing, Klink untangled himself from the younger man (who grumbled a protest beneath his breath), threw the covers away and rose. Spying his housecoat laying on the chair he put it on and stumbled on wobbly legs and bare feet into the living room, where the phone rang for the fourth time.
"Ja, ja, verdammt noch mal, ich komme, ja!" (Yes, yes, dammit! I'm coming.) Lifting the receiver he barked, "Yes?"
"Herr Kommandant, are you all right?" Schultz's voice sounded concerned through the line.
Klink's face turned an interesting shade of red while his eyes became small. "You wake me in the middle of the night only to ask if I'm okay? Did you have a glass too much, or what's the matter with you, Dummkopf?"
In the sleeping room, Hogan had pulled the covers back over himself and listened to the conversation in the living room only with one ear. He was tired in a very pleasant way, felt safe like a child in its parents' house and he knew that something very good had happened to him, if he could only remember…
A high pitched squeak from the other room tore him fully awake.
"HOW late is it?"
Klink…
Will!
This Saxonian accent belonged unmistakably to his German counterpart, who…
Who'd just shouted an "I'M ON MY WAY. Just begin with the roll call… Oh, you already made it. Good. Very good. I'm… I'm on my way. And tell Fräulein Hilda she shall stop this stupid giggling in the background! Anybody can forget to wind up an alarm clock!"
The receiver landed on the phone and a few seconds later Klink came running into the bedroom. Stopping with waving arms in front of the nightstand, he looked down on his alarm clock and cursed violently.
Already assuming what happened, Robert lifted his head and looked up at the older man; his memories of what they had done the evening prior echoed softly through his mind now. "We overslept?" he asked innocently.
"That's not funny, Hogan!" Klink gasped. "It's… It's half past nine! I've never overslept before."
Robert smirked and snuggled back into the pillows. "You shouldn't start the day with a lie," he pulled the other man's leg.
"And you'd better not deny the reason for it," Wilhelm growled.
Peering from the pillows up to the older man, Rob used his famous puppy-dog-look, "These are the first words you say to me after last night? And there I took you for the more romantic type."
Will let his head sink into his neck – this damn Ami would be his death one day! Then he looked down, caught the laughter in his beloved's eyes, sat down on the bed's edge, bent down and captured the younger man's lips in a fierce kiss that was instantly returned. Before he could even try to rise again, Robert's arms snaked out and held him close; the strong fingers combed through his ring of hair and clung to the material of his housecoat.
For timeless moments they forgot the world around them, then – with a wave of regret – Klink lifted his head, stroked tenderly over Rob's shoulder up to his face, which he cupped lovingly, and whispered,
"I want nothing more than to lay down again, take you in my arms, show you a little bit more of how two men can lose themselves in passion, and have a nice long breakfast with you afterwards – preferably in bed, too. And hopefully we can make up for this lost chance within the next days, but just right now I've to go to my office. I'm almost two hours overdue, and…"
Hogan mirrored the gentle gesture of his lover by cupping his cheek and letting his thumb stroke softly over the older man's lips. "Sh-sh, Will, I know. Even if the world ceased to exist for us yesterday evening, it is still very much present. The light of day doesn't allow the secrets of the night to continue, but the next evening already waits for us. Go to your office, try to play it down, say that you overslept – the excuse that you forgot to wind up the alarm-clock sounds plausible – and we'll see each other at lunch, okay?"
Wilhelm couldn't help it. He was smiling like an idiot by now. Not only had Rob stood true to the next step of the forbidden relationship they had entered, he'd also deepened it by beginning to initiate a kind of 'living together' for them.
Again Will wasn't aware of the love that shone in his eyes, as he bent down a last time, gave his 'fox' a gentle, warm kiss and finally rose.
A look at the alarm-clock told him that almost five minutes had gone by already, and, sighing, he went to the bathroom, only to see the heap of bed-clothes in the shower tub that prevented him from getting clean the quickest way possible.
Cursing again, he shut the door behind him, while Hogan closed his eyes with a wide smile on his face. He knew that he had lost a battle – the battle against himself and the rising feelings for a man who was officially his enemy, but in truth had become a lot of more than 'only' his savior and ally. And, as he couldn't deny it any longer, this was the first battle he gladly lost…
TBC…
Yeah, I told you it would be sweet and fluffy, and I hope it was how you wanted it to be. And, hopefully, it also soothed the one or other reader, who suffers a shock from the terrible stroke of fate that happened yesterday on the Île de la Cité.
The next chapter, the two colonels are getting even more comfortable with each other. After entering another level of their sometimes crazy relationship, they know that they have to be very carefully and certainly are going to face some complications. And while Klink 'fights' with the desk-work, Hogan had a lot of time to re-think everything. In the meantime, the Heroes began to realize that something had changed between their superior and the camp-Kommandant.
All in all, it is going to be a funny but also emotional chapter, before some more little actions begin.
I don't know if I can publish the next chapter during Eastern. If not, I want to wish you all already BLESSED EASTERN. Should I get the next chapter back in time, I'll publish it immediately.
Love
Yours Starflight
