Snippet: When did we get old? (Eroica, Klaus/Dorian)
This is the last one for today, and for this year! I hope you've enjoyed something out of this set of unfinished fic, or at least not minded it cluttering up your friends list too much.
It had been a trying day. Then again, every day seemed to be a trying day, these days. But on this particular trying day, Klaus had signed the papers that would promote Z, to a level that he'd be moved off Klaus's team and, most likely, given one of his own. Truth be told, he'd had the papers filled out and sitting in his desk for months, and he'd been thinking about it for years. He should have done it sooner, but Z was the last of his original Alphabets still with him.
So when he came home and found Eroica in his house, drinking the beer he'd been planning on having, his first and only thought was to yell.
"Please don't yell," Eroica said. If he'd pleaded or said it in that way he had of making even the most innocuous statement into an innuendo, Klaus would have yelled anyway. But he'd said it quietly, calmly, and he was dressed in a plain, if well-made, black suit without even a hint of jewelry. His hair was down, but it had obviously been up at some point.
Klaus hung his jacket in the closet, loosened his tie and collar, and got himself a beer out of the fridge.
"I was in Paris this morning," Eroica told him when he came back to the living room, "for my mother's funeral." He took a long drink of his beer. "My sisters have children. I tried to talk to them, but they said that grandma warned them about me. I would never do anything to hurt them."
"I know," Klaus said without thinking, and Eroica seemed to focus on him.
"Yes," he finally said with a little laugh. "You know more about me than my own mother."
"I know almost everything about you," Klaus said, and he had an almost physical recollection of the feeling of Eroica's hair brushing against his skin the few times they'd been that close to each other.
"Yes," Eroica said wonderingly. "I suppose you do."
They drank in silence for a while, until Klaus's stomach reminded him that his barely adequate lunch was several hours long gone. He went to the kitchen, and found potatoes to peel and fry. When they were done, he dished them out onto two plates and grabbed two more beers from the fridge. He took the whole of them out into the living room and gave one of each to Eroica.
"This is very good," Eroica said after a while of silent eating and drinking.
"I learned to make them when I was very young," Klaus explained, "from Sister Teresa."
Eroica actually smiled at that. "You and your nuns," he said fondly.
"Hmph."
Eroica seemed content to let it rest.
When they were done, Klaus took their empty plates and bottles to the kitchen. When he'd finished washing the dishes and turned back to the room, he found Eroica leaning in the doorway, watching him.
He took the empty beer bottle from Eroica's hand. He turned to put it with the others in the recycling bin, and then turned back and snapped off the light. They looked at each other in just the light coming in from the outside.
Klaus held out a hand. "Come to bed."
The faint light caught and shook in Eroica's - Dorian's - hair as he trembled. "Klaus," he said in barely a whisper, "why?"
Klaus considered several answers, and settled on, "Because I know almost everything about you." It seemed to be good enough; Dorian took his hand and let himself be pulled close, and kissed.
Klaus knew he kissed well; he knew how to do everything he knew how to do well. Dorian kissed as exquisitely and extravagantly as he did everything else he did.
Klaus led him to the bedroom, where they undressed each other, and then lay across the bed and kissed and touched each other with surprising ease. If Klaus had put it into words, he might have said it was almost familiar.
"I want you in me," Dorian finally said. "Do you have something?"
Klaus found the small tube of lubricant in his nightstand by feel, and pressed it into Dorian's hand in answer.
Dorian sat up, straddling him, and looked down at Klaus like an angel of lust. "Now," he murmured, "every time I think of you, I'll think about you lying here in your bed pleasuring yourself."
Klaus emphatically did not blush. He put his hand on Dorian's hip, and said, "You can make your own memories in this bed."
Dorian gifted him with that brilliant smile again, and then he did such lewd things with slick fingers that Klaus was hard-pressed not to come the moment Dorian slid down on him.
This, too, was easy and gentle and surprisingly simple. Klaus came with a soft moan, and Dorian's own softly gasped, "Klaus" followed him not long after.
***
Klaus woke up before the alarm went off, and went about his regular morning routine quietly, so he wouldn't wake Dorian. He was at the table, with his newspaper and Nescafe, when Dorian, wearing his dressing gown, found him.
"I thought you'd left."
"I don't make a habit of leaving my lovers."
Dorian frowned. "You've had other lovers?"
"A few." When Dorian's frown didn't change, he added, "When I was younger." And when that still didn't wipe away the frown, he finished off the truth: "Before I met you."
Dorian smiled at him then, and said, "I never knew you were such a romantic."
Klaus didn't have the heart to tell him he'd stopped taking lovers long before he ever met Dorian.
Dorian came over and sat on his lap, which gave him cause to change the subject.
"You'll wrinkle my suit," Klaus protested, but he put down his coffee and put his arms around Dorian instead.
Dorian's hair made a golden curtain around them when he leaned down for a good-morning kiss.
"Why now?" he asked afterwards.
"I signed orders yesterday," Klaus told him, "to promote Z."
"Oh, Klaus," Dorian said, and Klaus knew he was looking down at the gray striping the black of his hair. "When did we get old?"
Klaus growled. "I am not old." He proved it by standing, turning, and setting Dorian gently down in the chair he'd been sitting in.
Dorian looked suitably impressed. "Of course not, Major."
"Hmph." Klaus looked down at him for a long moment. "I must go to work."
Dorian looked away. "I have to go back to England, and probably to Paris, too. I have things I need to take care of."
Klaus nodded, even though Dorian wasn't looking at him.
Dorian seemed to gather up his courage, and he looked at Klaus again. "Will I be welcome if I come back?"
In answer, Klaus bent down and kissed him. "You will be welcome." He didn't tell Dorian that he would be in England himself next week. He'd count on Dorian to figure that out himself.
***
"Hello, darling!"
Klaus was caught between disbelief and annoyance. "What are you wearing?"
Dorian twirled, which didn't make any more sense out of the clothing, which seemed to be just yards of gauze. "Do you like it? I know how much you like red."
Klaus pretended not to notice the alarmed looks his Alphabets were exchanging. Z was the only one who knew the whole history of Eroica's interference, but the others knew enough to be wary.
When Klaus failed to react, Dorian turned his attentions to Z. "Z! I heard about your promotion. Congratulations!"
Z threw a cautious glance at Klaus before answering. "Thank you, Lord Gloria."
Dorian draped a familiar arm around Z's shoulders. "You must let me buy you a drink while you're here."
"Leave him alone," Klaus said without rancor. "He's a married man."
"I was at the wedding," Dorian reminded him. Not that he'd forgotten. They'd had to behave civilly for Z's sake. Klaus had left early.
"Uninvited," Klaus pointed out.
"Z didn't mind, did you, dear?"
"Hmph." Klaus scooped up a stack of files and handed them to Dorian. "If you're staying, make yourself useful."
He'd actually managed to surprise Dorian. "You're not going to tell me to go away?"
"Would you?"
"No."
Klaus nodded, his point made. "Then you can make yourself useful instead of getting in the way." He wasn't sure that Dorian would really do it, and the Alphabets all held their breath, but Dorian took the files to an empty chair and started reading through them.
"And Eroica," Klaus said, and waited until Dorian's head came up to look at him, "I want my shirt back. And my cufflinks."
"But, darling," Dorian protested, "I so enjoy wearing your clothes. It's just like you're there with me."
Klaus looked at Dorian, and then around at his Alphabets, who'd all stopped what they were doing to stare at the two of them and prepare to get out of the line of fire. "Idiots!" he yelled. "Get back to work!" He kept a close eye on them to make sure they promptly did as he said. Even Dorian returned to his files, albeit with a soft smile on his lips.
It had been a trying day. Then again, every day seemed to be a trying day, these days. But on this particular trying day, Klaus had signed the papers that would promote Z, to a level that he'd be moved off Klaus's team and, most likely, given one of his own. Truth be told, he'd had the papers filled out and sitting in his desk for months, and he'd been thinking about it for years. He should have done it sooner, but Z was the last of his original Alphabets still with him.
So when he came home and found Eroica in his house, drinking the beer he'd been planning on having, his first and only thought was to yell.
"Please don't yell," Eroica said. If he'd pleaded or said it in that way he had of making even the most innocuous statement into an innuendo, Klaus would have yelled anyway. But he'd said it quietly, calmly, and he was dressed in a plain, if well-made, black suit without even a hint of jewelry. His hair was down, but it had obviously been up at some point.
Klaus hung his jacket in the closet, loosened his tie and collar, and got himself a beer out of the fridge.
"I was in Paris this morning," Eroica told him when he came back to the living room, "for my mother's funeral." He took a long drink of his beer. "My sisters have children. I tried to talk to them, but they said that grandma warned them about me. I would never do anything to hurt them."
"I know," Klaus said without thinking, and Eroica seemed to focus on him.
"Yes," he finally said with a little laugh. "You know more about me than my own mother."
"I know almost everything about you," Klaus said, and he had an almost physical recollection of the feeling of Eroica's hair brushing against his skin the few times they'd been that close to each other.
"Yes," Eroica said wonderingly. "I suppose you do."
They drank in silence for a while, until Klaus's stomach reminded him that his barely adequate lunch was several hours long gone. He went to the kitchen, and found potatoes to peel and fry. When they were done, he dished them out onto two plates and grabbed two more beers from the fridge. He took the whole of them out into the living room and gave one of each to Eroica.
"This is very good," Eroica said after a while of silent eating and drinking.
"I learned to make them when I was very young," Klaus explained, "from Sister Teresa."
Eroica actually smiled at that. "You and your nuns," he said fondly.
"Hmph."
Eroica seemed content to let it rest.
When they were done, Klaus took their empty plates and bottles to the kitchen. When he'd finished washing the dishes and turned back to the room, he found Eroica leaning in the doorway, watching him.
He took the empty beer bottle from Eroica's hand. He turned to put it with the others in the recycling bin, and then turned back and snapped off the light. They looked at each other in just the light coming in from the outside.
Klaus held out a hand. "Come to bed."
The faint light caught and shook in Eroica's - Dorian's - hair as he trembled. "Klaus," he said in barely a whisper, "why?"
Klaus considered several answers, and settled on, "Because I know almost everything about you." It seemed to be good enough; Dorian took his hand and let himself be pulled close, and kissed.
Klaus knew he kissed well; he knew how to do everything he knew how to do well. Dorian kissed as exquisitely and extravagantly as he did everything else he did.
Klaus led him to the bedroom, where they undressed each other, and then lay across the bed and kissed and touched each other with surprising ease. If Klaus had put it into words, he might have said it was almost familiar.
"I want you in me," Dorian finally said. "Do you have something?"
Klaus found the small tube of lubricant in his nightstand by feel, and pressed it into Dorian's hand in answer.
Dorian sat up, straddling him, and looked down at Klaus like an angel of lust. "Now," he murmured, "every time I think of you, I'll think about you lying here in your bed pleasuring yourself."
Klaus emphatically did not blush. He put his hand on Dorian's hip, and said, "You can make your own memories in this bed."
Dorian gifted him with that brilliant smile again, and then he did such lewd things with slick fingers that Klaus was hard-pressed not to come the moment Dorian slid down on him.
This, too, was easy and gentle and surprisingly simple. Klaus came with a soft moan, and Dorian's own softly gasped, "Klaus" followed him not long after.
***
Klaus woke up before the alarm went off, and went about his regular morning routine quietly, so he wouldn't wake Dorian. He was at the table, with his newspaper and Nescafe, when Dorian, wearing his dressing gown, found him.
"I thought you'd left."
"I don't make a habit of leaving my lovers."
Dorian frowned. "You've had other lovers?"
"A few." When Dorian's frown didn't change, he added, "When I was younger." And when that still didn't wipe away the frown, he finished off the truth: "Before I met you."
Dorian smiled at him then, and said, "I never knew you were such a romantic."
Klaus didn't have the heart to tell him he'd stopped taking lovers long before he ever met Dorian.
Dorian came over and sat on his lap, which gave him cause to change the subject.
"You'll wrinkle my suit," Klaus protested, but he put down his coffee and put his arms around Dorian instead.
Dorian's hair made a golden curtain around them when he leaned down for a good-morning kiss.
"Why now?" he asked afterwards.
"I signed orders yesterday," Klaus told him, "to promote Z."
"Oh, Klaus," Dorian said, and Klaus knew he was looking down at the gray striping the black of his hair. "When did we get old?"
Klaus growled. "I am not old." He proved it by standing, turning, and setting Dorian gently down in the chair he'd been sitting in.
Dorian looked suitably impressed. "Of course not, Major."
"Hmph." Klaus looked down at him for a long moment. "I must go to work."
Dorian looked away. "I have to go back to England, and probably to Paris, too. I have things I need to take care of."
Klaus nodded, even though Dorian wasn't looking at him.
Dorian seemed to gather up his courage, and he looked at Klaus again. "Will I be welcome if I come back?"
In answer, Klaus bent down and kissed him. "You will be welcome." He didn't tell Dorian that he would be in England himself next week. He'd count on Dorian to figure that out himself.
***
"Hello, darling!"
Klaus was caught between disbelief and annoyance. "What are you wearing?"
Dorian twirled, which didn't make any more sense out of the clothing, which seemed to be just yards of gauze. "Do you like it? I know how much you like red."
Klaus pretended not to notice the alarmed looks his Alphabets were exchanging. Z was the only one who knew the whole history of Eroica's interference, but the others knew enough to be wary.
When Klaus failed to react, Dorian turned his attentions to Z. "Z! I heard about your promotion. Congratulations!"
Z threw a cautious glance at Klaus before answering. "Thank you, Lord Gloria."
Dorian draped a familiar arm around Z's shoulders. "You must let me buy you a drink while you're here."
"Leave him alone," Klaus said without rancor. "He's a married man."
"I was at the wedding," Dorian reminded him. Not that he'd forgotten. They'd had to behave civilly for Z's sake. Klaus had left early.
"Uninvited," Klaus pointed out.
"Z didn't mind, did you, dear?"
"Hmph." Klaus scooped up a stack of files and handed them to Dorian. "If you're staying, make yourself useful."
He'd actually managed to surprise Dorian. "You're not going to tell me to go away?"
"Would you?"
"No."
Klaus nodded, his point made. "Then you can make yourself useful instead of getting in the way." He wasn't sure that Dorian would really do it, and the Alphabets all held their breath, but Dorian took the files to an empty chair and started reading through them.
"And Eroica," Klaus said, and waited until Dorian's head came up to look at him, "I want my shirt back. And my cufflinks."
"But, darling," Dorian protested, "I so enjoy wearing your clothes. It's just like you're there with me."
Klaus looked at Dorian, and then around at his Alphabets, who'd all stopped what they were doing to stare at the two of them and prepare to get out of the line of fire. "Idiots!" he yelled. "Get back to work!" He kept a close eye on them to make sure they promptly did as he said. Even Dorian returned to his files, albeit with a soft smile on his lips.