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winedad16 · 2 months

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13. Man's Best Friend

Masterlist

Warning(s): N/A

March 28th, 1945

36:00:00:00

When Freddy said that he had something to show him when he exited his office, Klaus had not expected to see the most literal, straight-on take of something he had offhandedly suggested one night about a week prior.

***

“We should look into getting dogs for the office.” Klaus had said after Martin pooled around his feet.

“Hm?” Freddy looked up from his newspaper.

“Shepards, specifically,” Klaus added as he scratched behind the dog’s ears. “They would be a fantastic addition to the office. The kids would love them.”

“Shepherds?” Freddy echoed, believing that his deaf ear was deceiving him.

Klaus nodded as Martin stared up at him with loving eyes.

***

“Finkel,” He sighed. “I meant we’d need dogs for when the city is attacked. Not actual German shepherds.”

The sub-officer's ears went pink.

“Get them out of here, please.”

A child shrieked behind him.

“Get them out!”

Embarrassed, Freddy escorted the shepherds, who had so kindly agreed to volunteer— Whether it was out of fear or not- Out of the office. He ushered out soft apologies to the men before turning back to Klaus, whose expression has softened a great deal in seconds.

“I’m sorry for yelling at you,” The captain said with a tinge of embarrassment.

“I feel so stupid, I—“

“No, no. It’s a silly name for a dog. I should have been clearer—“ He paused. “You’re doing a great job.”

With a straight back, Freddy thanked him. Unaware of Jojo’s presence in front of them, their eyes wandered to the other’s lips before meeting each other’s gaze. In a moment of stupidity, Klaus subconsciously leaned in before spotting the young boy.

“Hiya, kid!”

The captain didn’t miss how quickly Freddy dismissed himself to the other room but reoriented his focus back to Jojo. He showed the young boy some silly drawing he and Freddy had jokingly made before introducing the day’s task to him. When Jojo asked Klaus about the silly costume he and Ida had sloppily made, Klaus’ heart began to ache. One question, one that was always consistent in his mind- How could he have been so irresponsible? Before and after the incident. It was his job to make sure Jojo was safe from there on out, but how could he start? He watched as the young boy hobbled out of the office, making sure he made it down the front steps without tripping over his feet, before returning to his office, where he found Freddy. The sub-officer was running a hand over his face as he paced back and forth over the same six-foot perimeter in Klaus’ office.

“Klaus, I'm so sorry,” Freddy laughed. “I must have misheard you. You know how my hearing is.”

Klaus gently took one of Freddy’s hands in his, an action obscured by the office’s window sills.

“I shouldn’t have yelled. It wasn’t your fault. I'm sorry.”

Freddy squeezed Klaus’ hand with a nod.

“How is Jojo? Is he feeling well?”

“I believe so. He looks better.” He paused. “He could use more color in his face, though.”

“We’ll have to bring something over to Rosie. I’ve been due for a visit, anyways.”

“Ja. It wouldn’t hurt to.”

The sub-officer rubbed a small circle into Klaus’ hand, doing his best to silently comfort his partner as the telegraph machine next to them buzzed alive. Klaus quickly scooped the message that was printed underneath the machine, carefully reading over the morse code. Freddy felt a chill go up his spine when Klaus’ expression darkened.

“What–”

There was a loud, sporadic knock on the door, forcing the two men apart. It was clear that it was Fräulein Rahm before the two men heard her.

“Hauptmann! Hauptmann Klenzendorf! There’s a woman here wishing to speak with you!”

There was no time for Klaus to respond before she knocked again.

“Hauptmann!”

“Coming!”

Klaus shot Freddy an apologetic look before shuffling out of the office.

“Hauptmann, a woman is here to speak with you. She—“

“Yes, I know, Ida.”

A woman and one of the young girls from the Jugend stood together in the center of the hall, hand-in-hand. Klaus smiled at them and nodded to the girl.

“Hello, Hilde,” He turned to the older woman. “How may I help you today?”

“Good afternoon, Hauptmann Klenzendorf,” She extended her hand with a smile. “I’m Hilde’s mother, Frau Müller. She’s told me so many lovely things about you. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

With a handshake, “The pleasure is all mine.” He grinned. “What brings you here today?”

“Well, Hilde has been talking about the dog that you have at the office and said that the dog has been up for adoption for some time. We live on a small farm outside of town and could use a young dog’s help, so I was wondering if we’d be able to take him off of your hands. I don’t have much to offer you for him, but I can guarantee he'll go to a good home.”

This gave Klaus pause. He had entirely forgotten that he and Freddy had put up flyers the previous month, advertising Martin’s adoption to everyone in town.

“Am I mistaken?” Frau Müller asked.

“No,” Klaus shook his head. “You’re not. Let me go collect my sub-officer and I’ll be back.”

Turning on his heel, the captain returned to his office. His sudden presence made Freddy jump.

“Is everything alright?”

“Someone is here to adopt Martin.”

“ …Martin? ”

“Yes.”

Freddy slowly stood from his desk and put down his pen.

“Did you say yes?”

“I didn’t say yes exactly, but–” He sighed. “It’s Hilde’s mother.”

Freddy cocked a brow.

“And? Martin’s our dog.”

Klaus closed the office door, leaving it the slightest bit ajar.

“Hilde is a good girl, Freddy,” He replied. “I don’t want him to go, but…”

The captain trailed off as he contemplated the situation.

“I think that, in the long run, he may be better off with Hilde and her mother.”

Freddy wrung his hands together, trying his best to not directly acknowledge what Klaus was implying.

“Alright,” He straightened his back. “When do they want him?”

***

Only a few hours had passed since Frau Müller had inquired about adopting Martin when Freddy and Klaus found themselves back at home and on the floor, playing tug-of-war with the pup.

“Are you sure about this, Klaus?” Freddy softly asked. “I know how much he means to you.”

The captain shook his head as he let Martin win.

“I am. He’ll be taken care of there. A farm would be good for him. Big open fields, livestock to chase.” He scratched behind the dog’s ears. “He shouldn’t be confined to an apartment. We can’t guarantee him stability, anyways.” He sniffed. “It was a silly idea to keep him here in the first place.”

Freddy shook his head.

“It wasn’t. It was good to get him out of the cold.” He leaned over his legs to pet Martin, too. “We were lucky to have one another, us three.”

They sat in silence for some time, taking their time, and enjoying their last night with Martin. When the dog had found its way into their bedroom and onto Klaus’ bed to sleep, Freddy grabbed his partner’s hand.

“What did that telegraph say? The one from earlier.”

Klaus tensely laughed.

“It’s not necessarily good news, I suppose.” He sighed. “The Americans captured Wiesbaden this morning. I imagine that we don’t have long, ourselves.”

The sub-officer’s heart dropped.

“Well… I—“ He paused. “When do you think we’ll surrender?”

“Falkenheim or Germany?”

“Germany. The Führer can only hold onto the little power he has left for so long.”

“Possibly in a couple of months. At most, it would be October.” Klaus squeezed Freddy’s hand. “Wouldn’t that be a great birthday gift?”

“Ha.” Freddy stiffly laughed. “I hope it’s done before then.”

The captain kissed his partner’s cheek and whispered, “I pray for the day this is over.”

Next Part

#freddy finkel #captain klenzendorf #captain k #jojo rabbit #finkeldorf #samrockwell #alfie allen #ao3 #fan fiction #klenzendorf x finkel

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winedad16 · 2 months

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12. Consider This

Masterlist

Warning(s):

N/A

Translation(s):

Volksempfänger (noun): "People's Receiver" "A range of German radio receivers developed … at the request of Joseph Goebbels, the Reich Minister of Propaganda of the Nazi regime. The purpose of the Volksempfänger program was to make radio reception technology affordable to the general public." -Volksempfänger Wikipedia Page

March 2nd, 1945

62:00:00:00

Klaus laughed when he saw Freddy. Exiting his office, he found the sub-officer subtly bopping to a record that he had put on earlier that morning while taking small mouthfuls of a dessert.

“Enjoying yourself, unteroffizier?”

Freddy whipped around, his face flushed as he wiped his mouth.

“Ida brought in some strudel.”

Klaus’ brows raised.

“Strudel?”

“Ja!” Fraulein Rahm excitedly said from across the room.

Freddy hummed and nodded.

“I got the last piece.”

Klaus watched as his partner scraped another chunk up off the plate with his fork before his eyes trailed up to watch Freddy’s relaxed expression. He felt a warm feeling fill his heart as he observed the tiniest details. Freddy’s focused gaze, his loose posture, the new wrinkles by his eyes. He did his best to hide his fond smile.

While being so wrapped up in his observations, Klaus didn’t notice Freddy holding the fork up to his mouth, offering him a piece.

“Want some?” Freddy quietly asked.

“Ah-” The captain glanced around the room, more specifically to Fraulein Rahm, who was failing at trying to look inconspicuous from behind her book- Obviously looking at the captain and waiting for his review. “Yes please.”

A bit bashfully, he took the strudel in his mouth while Freddy pulled the fork back and finished what was on the fork. The pastry was delicious- And if Klaus were to be honest, it could have been incredibly subpar and he would have loved it. He couldn’t remember the last time he had such a treat as this, so he closed his eyes and let the flavors settle in his mouth. He hummed in satisfaction as he chewed, enjoying the pastry for as long as he could.

“It’s lovely, Ida,” He complimented with a smile. “Best damn thing I’ve eaten in a while.”

Ida widely smiled back, almost goofily, but the captain could see that it was genuine. One of the most genuine ones he had seen from his colleague in a while. In a lack of professionalism, Klaus stuck a finger into the strudel and licked it off with a cheeky smile, meeting Freddy’s gaze for only a second before turning his attention to the rest of the room. He surveyed it for a moment, taking in the sight of the kids fumbling over meaningless tasks by the open windows, the ones that were letting in a cool but warming breeze that he just barely felt on his skin. He took it all in as he contemplated some ideas, passing them around in his mind as he chewed the inside of his mouth, blinking through the blurriness in his right eye.

“Alright!” He clapped his hands together and pivoted on his heel, startling some others in the near vicinity. “How about some music, hm?”

Freddy eyed him with a raised brow and a smile.

“Are we celebrating the end of the week, Hauptmann?”

Klaus shrugged with a nonchalant smile as he thumbed through the few records available on the shelf.

“I feel like we can afford it.”

He slipped a record out of its dusty sleeve, not caring to wipe the thick layer of dust off of his fingers until needed, and rested it into the player before placing down the needle. Freddy smiled when he heard the tune that began to play. With a small bite of strudel, he began to bop around.

“Hauptmann, would you care to join me?”

Klaus cocked a brow and crossed his arms with a teasing smile.

“I believe that we have children to watch over, Finkel.”

Freddy surveyed the room, his fork being pulled from his lips as he did so.

“There are less than twelve kids,” He dipped the fork back into the dessert. “The rest won’t be back for some time.”

“Well, they-”

“I can’t hear you,” Freddy goaded as he adjusted the volume of the gramophone. “Dance with me, Klaus.”

Freddy did his best to entice the captain with a playful smile without giving too much about their nature away. The captain couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at his partner’s movements. They were silly and loose– Something reminiscent of the earliest stages of their relationship. It made his heart feel warm.

“Give me the plate.”

***

In the next couple of minutes, the captain and sub-officer found themselves dancing around while swapping bites of strudel, becoming more comfortable with the eccentricity when they realized that the children and Ida didn’t seem to care. Of course, this moment could only be a happy one for so long. Especially when the consequences of Klaus’ actions strutted through the office door.

Freddy couldn’t help but avert his eyes when Rosie kneed Klaus in the balls. As discreetly as he could, he pulled the pair of headphones that Klaus had gifted him on and let himself drown in the music. He did his best to not stare at Jojo but he was eager to see the boy back in action. Klaus was doing his best to look at the young boy, too. As Rosie spoke, Klaus kept glancing down at Jojo, taking in the scars on his face and his hunched shoulders. A sickly feeling filled his gut the more he looked. After uttering a small promise to Rosie that they’d find Jojo a job, Klaus, Freddy, and Ida bid the two Betzlers goodbye. Once they were out of his line of sight, Klaus retreated into his office. Freddy let himself in a minute later after lightly knocking.

“Are you alright?” Freddy closed the door behind him.

An incredulous look was shot across the office at Freddy.

“Oh,” Freddy pouted and leaned onto the desk. “Do you want me to kiss it better?”

Klaus remained silent.

“As much as I feel for your pain,” Freddy propped himself up onto the edge of the desk. “Something was bound to happen. You couldn’t avoid them, especially Rosie, forever.”

The captain clenched his jaw as he fiddled with a pen. A few moments of silence passed before he relinquished his hold on the pen and surrendered it to his desk. With a sigh, he placed his head in his hands and quietly cursed into his palms.

“I’ve got to do something about this.”

Freddy cocked his head.

“I agree.”

Klaus looked to a window with a forlorn sigh hanging at the back of his throat. The soft hum of the volksempfänger fizzled into the room next to the other radio, the sound of propaganda battling the sound of battlefront updates. The sub-officer sighed and turned the volksempfänger off, listening to the other radio for just a second more, before turning the volume down.

“Why don’t we think about Venice, hmm?” Finkel placed a gentle hand on the captain’s shoulder. “It’s a few months away from now.”

Klaus ran his bottom lip between his teeth before putting down his pen. He leaned back in his chair with a soft sigh.

“Tell me about Italy.”

***

After work, the two men took a quick trip to the market in the hopes of finding a loaf, or, half a loaf, of bread in an attempt of making dinner a little less miserable. Of course, at this time of the year, especially in the specific economic conditions that they were in, they didn’t get their hopes up.

“I was thinking for the next few days we could be a bit more aware of what we have to eat for dinner?” Freddy began as he fiddled with the ration booklet in his pocket. “We could easily save enough for dinner with the Betzlers and-”

Freddy paused when he realized Klaus wasn’t listening to him. Instead of listening, Klaus was looking off with a glint of something in his eyes. Freddy followed the captain’s gaze to a man in a sling and a young child in his good arm. He watched as the man placed a gentle kiss on the child’s head as the boy giggled. Freddy glanced at Klaus, then at the man and boy, and then back to Klaus. Not being able to make a connection between them, he shrugged it off.

“Klaus? Are you still there?”

The captain stirred from his thoughts.

“Of course.” He sniffled. “You were saying?”

Freddy looked over Klaus’ shoulder before starting over.

March 5th, 1945

59:00:00:00

Klaus forgot how much he had despised the smell of chlorine. When he opened the door to the recreation pool, he gagged at the waft of chemicals that hit his nose. He had easily smelt worse smells in the past few years, but chlorine had a different effect on him.

“Ah, hell,” He muttered under his breath.

Closing the pool door behind him, he took a swig from his flask. Why did he think going into the pool early was a wise decision again? With a sigh, he took in his surroundings. The pool was currently in its physical therapy time block which was evidently clear by the sight of many males ranging from their teens into their golden years that were at different levels of physical disability. It made Klaus’ throat feel tight and dry. The older men reminded him of himself, while the young men reminded him of his nephews, Toni in particular. Klaus knew that the war had taken so much for too many. So many of them were young kids. Young kids like his nephews. Like Freddy’s nieces and nephews. Like Jojo. He knew that the young boy had a scheduled appointment, he had seen his name on the list outside the pool. It was relieving to know that he was getting help. It was important that he did and Klaus knew that. He just wondered how he could do more. Just how much in the grand scheme of things could he have done? He knew he could and could have done more, but what– The pool door swung open and the captain looked over his shoulder.

It was Freddy who entered the pool. Freddy, who was donning a swimsuit identical to Klaus’. A swimsuit that the sub-officer looked incredibly handsome in. His curls were peeking out from beneath what Klaus thought was a ridiculous-looking swim cap, but the sub-officer made it look like one of the cutest things in the world.

“Freddy,” He exhaled in an attempt to compose himself.

A small smirk formed on Freddy’s face. Klaus knew that Freddy knew that he looked good.

“Hauptmann Klenzendorf.”

Klaus cleared his throat and ran a hand over his front, straightening his posture.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Klaus could tell that the sub-officer was playfully rolling his eyes on the inside just by the look on his face.

“You forgot this,” Freddy lifted a swim cap and then a pair of sunglasses. “And these.”

The captain begrudgingly accepted the cap.

“These look ridiculous,” Klaus began as he pulled it onto his head.

Freddy held back a chuckle.

“They are a staple of the look. Sir.”

Klaus skeptically looked at the sub-officer.

“These, on the other hand,” The glasses were plucked out of Freddy’s hands, bent on one side, and then placed on the captain’s face. “Suit me perfectly.”

The sub-officer couldn’t help but smile.

“They do.”

Klaus and Freddy shared an endearing look before the sub-officer crinkled his nose.

“It smells odd in here, doesn’t it?”

Klaus nodded and took a sip from his flask.

“It’s chlorine.”

Freddy cocked a brow.

“Chlorine?”

“Ja,” He sighed and handed Freddy his flask.

The sub-officer took a small sip as the captain stood up from his seat.

“It’s a chemical that they put into pools to keep the water clean,” Klaus knelt at the edge of the pool and put his hand in. “I hate the smell.”

“It isn’t entirely pleasant.”

Klaus chuckled and shook his hand dry.

“It reminds me of Berlin, though. My friends and I would frequent a pool when it got too hot. Of course, the pool was always packed, but we didn’t mind.”

“Well,” Freddy checked the clock on the wall. “It’s about to be packed full of eleven-year-olds in an hour, so why don’t we sit and relax for a bit?”

Klaus surveyed the room around him, observing the men in the pool once more.

“Alright.”

***

“Don’t you think that conversation at the pool was odd?” Freddy asked from behind the shower curtain.

“Every conversation with Ida is odd, Freddy,” Klaus laughed from behind his toothbrush.

“No, I meant— Hang on.”

The chatter of shower water came to a stop and the curtain was pulled open.

“The one with Jojo, specifically,” The sub-officer clarified while he wrapped a towel around himself.

Klaus hummed and nodded.

“I’m not surprised. He’s bound to be curious about these things,” The captain sighed. “Between school, the office, and everything else, things are eventually going to contradict one another and he’ll want explanations and answers.”

“I know. It just seems so,” Freddy quickly ran the towel over his hair. “It seems too random of a moment for it to come up. What has occurred outside of the office that has made him ponder something?”

The captain spat into the sink.

“Do you think Rosie could have said something?”

Freddy bit his cheek and shook his head.

“No.” He paused. “No, I don’t think so.”

Klaus made a noncommittal noise before shelving his toothbrush. Freddy sighed.

“Well, if anything–” The sound of something falling in another room interrupted the sub-officer, which was followed by the sound of Martin barking.

Without a word, Klaus leaned over and kissed Freddy on the forehead before proceeding to walk out of the bathroom with a hurried gait.

“Where’s my boy?”

The sub-officer sighed again before stepping out of the shower. He ran the towel over his head an additional time before continuing to pat himself dry. After he wrapped the towel around his waist, he leaned onto the sink and began to ponder in the mirror.

Next Part

#freddy finkel #captain klenzendorf #captain k #jojo rabbit #finkeldorf #samrockwell #alfie allen #ao3 #fan fiction #klenzendorf x finkel

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