Work Text:
"Colonel?" Kinch asks the moment they’re left alone in the tunnel.
Hogan turns, pausing for a moment before he sees the question in Kinch's eyes, returning to the radio table in a single stride.
Kinch twirls the pencil in his hand, hesitating.
“Is everything all right, Kinch?”
"I'm not quite sure if I'd be out of line to ask what I'd like to."
Hogan scrunches his eyebrows together; he lets out a slight laugh. "Kinch, you can ask me anything, you know that."
Kinch considers this for a beat. "I just wanted to say," he pauses, weighing the words, "to ask—if there's any time you don't want me to listen in on the bugs, let me know."
Hogan tilts his head to the other side. His eyes widen slightly. "Anything in particular that prompted that request?"
Kinch shifts the pencil from hand to hand, a nervous twitch. Hogan realizes he's never seen Kinch seem quite so unsure. "Nothing, Colonel. I just figured maybe there's some," he weighs his words again, "conversations that maybe you want to keep...private."
"Conversations between me and who, exactly?"
Kinch locks eyes with Hogan. "Kommandant Klink."
Hogan tenses; he's on the defensive. Then, he realizes he's talking to Kinch, and while he doesn't exactly want to be having this discussion with anyone, if he has a choice, it would be with Kinch. He consciously loosens his jaw and relaxes his shoulders. He leans against the table. "I'll," he begins, and his voice comes out more unsteady than he intends, "let you know."
Kinch nods.
Hogan clears his throat, and despite the fact he wants to bolt, asks, "What exactly did you hear?"
Kinch shrugs. "Not much. Enough. You two kissing."
Hogan shuts his eyes and lets out a long sigh. "When?"
"A few weeks ago. I wasn't exactly sure what I was hearing. Then, the other day, I heard it again, and I was sure. Fairly. Unless—" Kinch looks up, his eyes asking if he's on the right track.
Hogan nods, slowly. "Yeah. You're right, as usual. Did any of the other guys—" Hogan begins, and Kinch breaks in.
"No. I was the only one who heard." He doesn't have to say he didn't tell anyone. If anyone can be counted on to keep a secret, it's him.
Hogan, for once, is unsure of what to say.
"Colonel? I'll drop it, but I have to ask just one more question." Hogan nods slightly at the pause, and Kinch continues. "He isn't—Klink didn't," Kinch begins, his tongue tripping on the words. "You're okay with it? It sounded like you were, I mean—" Kinch shakes his head and starts again, but Hogan cuts in.
"I'm more than okay with it. Don't let anyone else in on that, but I am. I," he pauses, debating if he should really confess to the truth. He takes one look at Kinch and wonders why he didn't tell him sooner. He shrugs. "I kissed him first. He didn't exactly put up a fight, and one thing led to another—well, let's just say it's a bit easier persuading Klink now."
"So you're alright? Not that I'm saying you can't take care of yourself—I just—"
Hogan nods, a slight smile on his face. "I'm more than alright. Want to hear the funny part?" Kinch tilts his head, and Hogan continues. "He knows about everything—the tunnels, our operation. Turns out, the guy keeps secrets and has a few of his own."
"He knows?"
"Yeah. He told me a few months ago.” Hogan lets out another sigh, rolling his shoulders. “Funny war, ain’t it?” He looks up at Kinch and debates asking, but asks anyway. “You okay with it?”
“Klink knowing about us? I mean, it’s a bit surreal, but it does explain how we get away with—”
“I mean about my love life.” Not that Hogan has ever cared what anyone has ever thought about it before. But he has to ask, curious if he’s lost respect in the eyes of one of his most trusted men.
Kinch looks almost shocked at the implications. “Colonel, who you kiss makes no difference to me.”
“You’re not…freaked out about me kissing a guy?”
“Klink, maybe. But not because he’s a guy. Mostly because he’s Klink.”
“I’ll give you that one. Shocked me a bit myself.” Hogan lets out another laugh. He bites at his lip, a question gnawing at him that he should let go. But he knows if he doesn’t ask now, he never will, and he’ll be turning it over in his mind. “How did you know? That we were kissing? We don’t have a camera in the bug yet, do we?”
Kinch shifts, rubbing the back of his neck. Hogan notices that Kinch is…remarkably cute when embarrassed, but he keeps that comment to himself. “At first, I wasn’t exactly sure it was kissing. Remember when Klink was feeding Carter, and Carter kept making what we thought were groans from being tortured, but turns out it was him getting really into the food?” Hogan nods, feeling his face growing hot and he hopes the flush isn’t evident in the dim light of the tunnel. “I heard both of you making that sound. And Klink murmuring. Curses in both German and English…” Kinch holds his hands palm up in conclusion.
Hogan shuts his eyes for half a second as he feels the color draining from his face. At least he won’t have to worry about looking like a strawberry. On the other hand, now he greatly resembles a ghost. “Ah,” he states. Knowing damn well if they were cursing, Kinch heard a bit more than kissing. He wonders just how much he picked up on.
“I stopped listening as soon as I figured out,” Kinch hurriedly adds. “I wasn’t exactly trying to eavesdrop on a private...” Hogan decides if Kinch uses the word conversation again, he just might scream. “...conversation.” And there it is: Hogan turns back a lovely shade of red. “Sir?” Kinch asks as Hogan actively looks like the cogs in his head are whirling and grabbing for some sort of joke or explanation to latch onto, but the only thing coming up is dust.
For once in his life, Hogan doesn’t have a snappy comeback. It’s all Kinch’s fault really. Around him, Hogan lets his guard down more than he should.
“So Klink ended up a Turncoat?” Kinch asks, and Hogan is grateful for the change in topic.
“Yeah. Shoulda guessed sooner really, I always thought he was just an idiot, letting us get away with what we do right under his nose. Guess he notices more than anybody gives him credit for.” Hogan pauses and studies Kinch’s face, wondering how much of Kinch’s unphased reaction is loyalty due to ranks, and how much is respect for a friend. He hopes the latter is the explanation. “Thanks…for keeping what you heard under your hat.”
Kinch nods, a small salute. “Anytime, Colonel.”
And Hogan just can’t take it anymore. He knows he should let it drop. Take the acceptance at face value. Trust that Kinch will keep his word—and Hogan believes that he will. But someone, anyone, simply shrugging their shoulders at the news break of ‘your commanding officer is making out with the camp Kommandant’ is a bit much to take. “You’re not at all concerned about the fact I’m fucking Klink?” and it comes out just a bit more vehemently than he intends.
Kinch’s eyes widen and he opens his mouth to say something, but the directness of that last question throws him for a loop.
Hogan lets the question hit and hammers on. “The fact your CO is making out with another guy? Most guys would either run out of the room or take a shot at me if they found that out.”
Kinch stiffens, a slight edge to his voice. “Maybe I’m not like most guys,” he throws back. “Do you think it bothers me to know there are guys like that? I thought we were fighting against people who believe everyone should be one way and fit into their nice little mold. God knows, I don’t fit into that mold. Far be it from me to think anyone else should.”
“And you don’t care that I’m one of those guys? ” Hogan asks, and as much as he tries to sound angry, it comes out as a strangled question.
Kinch shakes his head. “No, I don’t.”
Hogan blinks. Kinch has never backed down from what he believes. And much to Hogan’s surprise, this is something he apparently believes in; very strongly at that.
“Colonel, I don’t care if you’re into women, or men, or both. I wouldn’t think less of you if you told me all the times you kissed a girl were just to put up a front. Hell, Colonel, I really don’t. My opinion of you hasn’t changed.”
“What exactly is your opinion of me?” Hogan ventures.
“That you’re one hell of an officer. That you put your men before yourself. That there’s no one I’d rather be serving with—in any war—if given a choice.”
Hogan takes this in. “And if we strip the ranks? If we’re just two guys?”
“Then, I’d say you’re one hell of a man. And there’s no one I’d rather be friends with.”
Hogan feels like a weight he didn’t know was on his shoulders lifts, and at the same time, his legs grow shaky. Acceptance is a funny thing, he realizes. It can knock you off your feet when you least expect it.
Hogan sticks his hand out. “I feel the same way.”
Kinch shakes the offered hand. “Let me know,” he says, “whenever I should listen to the BBC instead of more local programming.”
“And make sure the guys don’t get any notions to listen to any of the…shall we say, verboten radio stations?”
“You got it, Colonel. Oh, and Colonel?”
“Yeah.”
“Is Klink a good kisser?”
Hogan replies with his trademark smirk right on cue, “Not as good as I am.”
“Maybe one day, you can teach me a few things?” Kinch states, a tilt to his head and a certain look in his eye that makes Hogan’s heart skip. Damn it, just when he thought he was back to his calm, cool, collected self.
“I might have a few tips up my sleeve,” Hogan finally manages.
“I’d like that.”
And Hogan realizes once more just how damn lucky he’s been in this godforsaken war.