Kneeling down in front of the large, metal door to their cell, Dorian felt that he was just about ready to admit defeat. Without so much as a paperclip to work with, the complex lock would have been impossible to crack, even if it hadn't been bolted from the outside as well. Very quickly, he came to the conclusion that the ground was no place to be. The metal panels were sucking out what little warmth he had left.

"Why does it have to be so damned, bloody cold in here?" he asked, rubbing his hands together briskly as he rose to his feet. "It's not very considerate of them."

"I don't believe that this was built with our comfort in mind."

Dorian turned to watch Klaus as he worked on another possible escape route. For the first time, a hint of a smile played across the blond's features. The major was standing on the small cot that was to hypothetically serve as a bed for the both of them. He was reaching above his head to try to loosen one of the ceiling fixtures. As he did so, the German's sweater rode up to expose a nicely toned stomach. If it weren't so damned cold, he might have been tempted to try his luck and brush his fingers across Klaus' abdomen. As it was, he simply took pleasure from watching and kept his hands warm by tucking them under his armpits.

"Ah, fucking hell." With a resigned sigh, Klaus jumped down to sit where he had been standing only moments before. "No luck with the door?"

"Darling, you'd have better luck with a spoon and tunneling to freedom." Giving his own sigh of exasperation, Dorian seated himself and drew his legs up to hug them against his chest. "Not unless you have something for me to work with."

"There's a way out of here - it's just a matter of finding it." Briefly, Klaus wished that he had his cigarettes so that, if nothing else, he would have something to do with his hands. "Let's take a break and try again."

"It won't make any difference." Dorian held up his fingers in front of him and wiggled them. "If I can't feel my fingertips, there's not much that I'll be able to do against that lock."

Snagging the nearer of Dorian's hands, Klaus began to rub it between his own. "Big baby. You were the one who wanted to come along, so no bitching now that you're here."

Klaus' warmth was beyond tempting. Dorian didn't even realize that he was moving until he had pressed himself bodily against the major's side. "Sorry. I'll try the door again in a couple of minutes. Just wanna get warm again first."

A loud protest died on Klaus' lips. As much as he wanted the blond off of him, he could actually feel the shivers running through the slender man's body. "It's no wonder you're cold considering what you're wearing." In a concession to necessity, he put an arm around Dorian and held him close. It had been years since the first time he had held the earl while stuck in a small, metal cage. Vaguely, he wondered what had ever become of Caesar Gabriel.

"Mmm, you feel wonderful." Dorian was all but purring as he rested his head against the major's shoulder. Switching his hands out so that Klaus could rub the other one too, he very unsubtly wrapped his arm around the German's waist. "How is it that you're not freezing?"

"Because I'm wearing more than a scrap of cloth for a shirt." Despite his words, Klaus couldn't help but agree that the extra body heat felt good regardless of its source. He may even have leaned back ever so slightly against the earl. Not that he ever would have admitted to either thing.

Of all the horridly inconvenient, irritating, unsexy places for Klaus to finally give an inch and loosen up, why this?! Dorian wanted to scream from the unfairness of it all. Instead, he made do with sneaking his hand under the black wool of Klaus' sweater. Smooth muscles tensed at his touch, but Dorian was not about to be dissuaded. If they were to be tortured and possibly killed by furry-hat-wearing idiots, then he was going to make at least one more attempt on the main desire of his adult life.

To distract the good major from what he was doing, Dorian asked, "What do you think they'll do with us?"

Swallowing hard, Klaus did his best to ignore the fingers tickling his side. "Would you like me to say that as a civilian, there are international laws against torturing you for information?"

"Darling, I believe that the Geneva Convention applies to you as well." Tilting his head up, he placed a soft kiss on the German's jaw.

"You want me to drop you?"

"No, please." Dorian clutched at his waist even tighter. "I'll be good."

In a resigned tone, Klaus replied, "No, you won't. You never are. I guess I've just... gotten used to it."

Risking injury to life, limb, and bum, Dorian turned his face up once more to nuzzle the major's cheek. The light stubble there sent a pleasant tingle down his spine. Definitely worth any beatings he might receive. "There's a lot more I'd be willing to show you if you're willing to 'get used to it'."

Klaus' posture became even more rigid as Dorian pressed another kiss to his throat. "I really don't think that this is a good idea."

"I think it's brilliant." When Klaus opened his mouth to reply, he decided that he didn't care to hear what the German had to say. Instead, he reached up, took Klaus' head between his hands and put the major's mouth to a better use.

To say that he was shocked would have been an understatement. Klaus was so utterly taken aback by what was happening that he couldn't even think to shove the blond off of him. Naturally, Dorian too full advantage of this. While one hand remained up to hold Klaus' head firmly in place, the other snaked under his sweater again, pushing it all of the way up until he was able to rub at one nipple. Klaus gave a muffled moan, but it was difficult to tell if it was a positive sound or one of complaint. As he hadn't been hit yet, he took that as a very good sign to proceed.

The impulse to dump the earl on his skinny ass was strong, but the way the cool fingers playing across his chest mixed with the hot mouth searching his out was making him light headed. In an unconscious gesture, his hand reached out to grab Dorian by the shoulder. Instead of pushing him away, however, he only held the blond tightly.

Hoping for the best, Dorian leaned back and pulled Klaus down on top of him as he sprawled out on the narrow cot. Very awkwardly, the German tried to situate himself comfortably, but the damned earl kept squirming underneath him. It was all incredibly distracting. Too distracting - Klaus had absolutely no idea how the thief had gotten him out of his sweater without his noticing until it was being dropped to the floor.

"Do you..." Klaus' voice was thick and distant as he looked up.

"Anything you want," Dorian offered, pulling the German in for another kiss. "Anything. Everything."

A strangled moan was pulled from the blond as Klaus attacked his throat with a series of sharp nips and the scrape of teeth over sensitive skin. "You- You're-" Klaus looked up again with a dazed expression. "Do you hear that?"

"What? No I don't hear anything."

"Shit!" With a string of expletives, Klaus jumped off of Dorian and dashed across the cramped room. "That's my mobile ringing."

"You didn't turn your phone off?" Dorian sat up and stared incredulously as the major slipped out the constructed stage and into the basement of the Schloss Eberbach. "I can't believe you! You said that we were going to have the entire weekend to ourselves."

Klaus shushed him as he checked his messages. "It's the office; they want me to come in for a few hours."

"Sure, I see how it is. It's my turn to pick what we do, so you have to go to work." Pouting, Dorian did his best to look irresistible as he lay back down on the small cot.

Moving to retrieve his sweater, Klaus could only apologize. "I'll be back shortly. It's not something that will take all day."

"Would it hurt anything if you were another fifteen minutes late? We were just getting to the good part: The dashing young earl shows the sexually repressed major a good time."

"I am not sexually repressed." He pulled the black sweater back on over his head. "And what I have in mind for you will take a lot longer then fifteen minutes. If you're going to do something, do it right."

"'Someone' is more appropriate, I should think."

Klaus almost gave in at Dorian's words, but he held firm. "Give me a couple of hours to get this straightened out. When I'm close, I'll ring you from the car. Then we can do whatever you want for the rest of the evening."

"All right." A lazy smile crossed Dorian's face. "Just fair warning then - if you leave now, you won't be sitting down tomorrow, so you had better keep your schedule clear."

~fin~