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“I’m telling you Phasma, he’s awful. Absolutely unbearable.” Hux groaned, wine glass clasped loosely in one hand as he leant over the balcony. “He’s in the way wherever I turn, he takes up more space than the rest of my coworkers combined and he always manages to be exactly between me and where I need to be. He does it on purpose, no single person can be this annoying accidentally. It’s impossible.”
He could hear Phasma laughing on the other end of the line, as unsympathetic as ever. “I swear to you Phasma, he’s out to drive me insane!”
“Like Mitaka was stuttering just to annoy you? And Peavy was being confrontational just to make you look bad?”
“He was trying to undermine my authority!”
“You and every supervisor before you.”
Hux huffed, taking an ungentlemanly swig of his wine and wishing it were something significantly stronger. “Yes, well. I may have been wrong about Mitaka,” He maintained his position on Peavy, “But Solo is definitely doing it on purpose. I-”
“...Hux?”
He shook his head, squinting at the shadowy edge of the roof above him. “Sorry, I thought I heard something.” He sighed, turning inside to refill his glass. “Nevermind. Tell me how Unamo is adapting to your department.”
-
Solo was up to something.
Hux didn’t know what, but something shifty was going on. Any time he so much as glanced at the lumbering brute he seemed beside himself with the urge to bodily throw himself out of Hux’s path. His staff had ended up spending half an hour reconstructing an armload of carefully organised files after Solo had slammed into Thannison while all but diving away from the coffee machine as Hux approached.
To make matters worse a further half hour had to be spent reprimanding both of them on their carelessness. In total the time lost to Solo’s inexplicable jittery mood was enough to have them all scrambling to catch up for the rest of the day, and it wasn’t even lunch yet. Enough was enough, he would have to get to the bottom of this. Ben had probably managed to fuck something up and then decided to deal with it by trying to avoid his notice. Poorly.
“Solo.”
Hux watched, bemused, as the oaf sprang back from his desk as if burnt, scattering the already messy papers further.
“Mr Hux, I’m sorry. Did you need to get to-” He stopped, looking over his shoulder as if he’d forgotten what was in the area, “- something?” He bit his lip, looking somewhere around Hux’s feet. Like a child caught doing something wrong.
Hux raised an eyebrow, gesturing to the older files stored further back. “Do I often call on you when I need old closed files? No. Whatever is going on with you today -” He held up a hand to forstall whatever excuse the man was about to spout, “whatever it is, I won’t have it interfering with any more of our work. You will control yourself within this space, do I make myself clear?”
Something dark crossed Solo’s face at that moment, but Hux was too distracted to give it more than a passing thought as a loud crash emanated from one of the filing rooms. He whipped around to check that nothing would become immediately threatening and sighed at the yelling he could hear. Thankfully none of his people seemed to have been involved. They couldn’t stand to fall further behind today.
He turned back to Solo, who looked sullen and moody and was clearly half way through muttering something.
“That will be all. Back to work.”
He just wanted to keep things short, he told himself. He was on a schedule after all. It had nothing to do with sad brown eyes and a broken voice muttering that he couldn’t do anything right.
-
“Armitage, I found Millie stuck in a tree. Thought I’d bring her back.”
Hux sighed, pressing his fingers against his forehead and sending up a prayer for patience. Or the strength to throttle a man. After dealing with Solo’s antics all day the last thing he needed was the other thorn in his side showing up to make his life difficult.
Divine intervention proved no more forthcoming than the blessed numbness he’d been chasing in his whiskey.
“For God’s sake Ren,” He snapped, “She’s a fucking cat. She can climb down a tree without you barging into my life looking for a pat on the back.”
He looked over to the balcony where Kylo Ren - illegally operating Super, vigilante, and pain in Hux’s ass - was standing with Millicent curled in his arms. Nuzzling into him and purring no less, the traitor.
“Don’t you have anything better to do than drag my cat back to the flat every time she stops moving for five goddamn seconds?” He threw back the rest of his glass, already wishing for another.
“She was stuck!” He sounded petulant. It did nothing to improve Hux’s mood.
“She was in a tree, like plenty of cats around the city at any given hour of the day, and you’re never seen pestering them. She’s an excuse, and I don’t appreciate you bringing her into whatever game you’re playing.”
Ren bent to put Millicent down, letting her bump him affectionately before wandering over to curl herself around Hux’s legs.
“Leave her alone Ren, I mean it.”
Kylo glared. “A man can’t do anything nice for you, you know that? You’re impossible. There are people who would kill to have me pay attention to them.”
“Then go do it.” He snapped, patience thin as he stormed over to the balcony doors to jab a finger at Ren’s chest. “Or better yet, get a real job and stop prancing around like a child in fancy dress!”
“Is it so bad to accept my help?” There was a faint growl to his voice, resonating with the air humming around them. A warning Hux was too wound up to pay mind to. “You act like you’re so much better than everyone but you’re here in your apartment getting wasted on a weeknight. I don’t think you get to lecture me about life choices.” He shoved Hux away from him roughly.
“Help?” Hux sounded incredulous as he righted himself, “Where’s Super ‘help’ when it’s needed? You all play at being heros and then disappear when shit hits the fan. I’m not here to give you a feel-good buzz for helping someone so you can pat yourself on the back and talk about how noble you are.”
Ren opened his mouth, probably to rebuke him, but Hux was on a roll and it was all coming out. Weeks - months - of building frustration on top of a bad day’s work and he finally snapped. “You show up in a perfectly normal neighborhood, then some upstart with something to prove turns up to fight you and everyone else gets caught in the crossfire. You’re a pathetic child mewling for attention without a single care for those of us who’ll have to pick up the pieces. Well I won’t indulge it, get your kicks somewhere else!” He slammed the doors, marching out of the room, and ignored the angry yelling for him to come back.
-
Hux’s street was in the news the next day, every tree pulled up and thrown down the road by an unknown force. Luckily no one was hurt.
Ben Solo called in sick.
-
It was hearing his own name that made him stop. Specifically ‘don’t let Hux hear you say that.’
Eavesdropping was below him, of course, but he was perfectly within his rights to drink his coffee wherever he pleased. If he happened to overhear a conversation while doing so, well it was no fault of his if his coworkers were talking in a public place.
“What’s his problem with Supers anyway?”
That would be Solo, back at work. He certainly didn’t sound like he’d been sick. He’d probably been avoiding Hux hoping he’d forget about his strange behaviour the day before. Coward.
“You don’t know?”
Thannison had always been a gossip. Hux grimaced at the thought of his personal life being bandied about but… Well it wasn’t a secret, and certainly not one worth admitting he was listening in over.
“He got really hurt as a kid. Some Supers got in a fight, he and his mom got caught in the crossfire. They were lucky to survive from what I hear.”
There’s a pause.
“What?” Still Thannison, sounding defensive now “Hux is a chatty drunk.”
Hux pinched the bridge of his nose at the memory. As far as stories went there were far more embarrassing ones he could have spillt, but he’d certainly never got that drunk at a work party again.
He heard Solo laugh, though it sounded slightly forced. “Good thing I didn’t say anything in front of him then.”
A Super fan, fantastic. Just when he thought the man couldn’t get any more annoying. He amused himself with the thought of introducing the man to Kylo; maybe they could annoy each other and leave him in peace.
“Would certainly put a damper on that crush of yours. God knows how you’re still carrying that torch.”
Hux moved on quickly
-
When government types turned up to ask locals about illegal super activity in the area Hux welcomed them in with tea and biscuits, listened politely while they spoke, and sent them away with no new information.
His new plant sat innocently on the windowsill, turned to hide the ‘Sorry’ scrawled across the pot.
-
Hux didn’t know how he hadn’t noticed it before. Solo was good at his job - as long as he didn’t know Hux was around. The awkward shuffling, distraction, and general ineptitude only appeared once Hux entered his line of sight.
A crush. How childish.
Still, a lot of things made sense now. The awkward conversations when they had first met had been full of what, in retrospect, had clearly been inept attempts to flirt. The desperation for his approval made more sense too - though Hux still believed there were some other issues to unpack there.
What he couldn’t work out was how he felt about it. Teetering between flattered at the attention and horrified by the inappropriate nature of an office romance. Not to mention the lack of decorum Ben displayed. Honestly the whole thing was foolish but… He wasn’t unattractive. Truthfully if they’d met in other circumstanced Hux would probably have been attracted to him. Well ‘willing to admit his attraction’ may be more accurate, and he did try his best to be honest. With himself at least.
Besides. It’s not like he could take a man home when an illegal Super kept turning up on his balcony. Not that he cared what Ren thought - and he certainly didn’t feel guilty about yelling at him; Not one bit - but it would be more effort to explain to any potential partner than it was worth. And Ren would sulk around moodily causing problems that Hux cared about far more than the Super’s feelings.
He shook his head. It was pointless, he was going around in circles. There was only one thing to do in this situation, and waiting wouldn’t make it any easier. He pulled out his phone.
“Hey Phasma… I need your advice.”
-
Phasma’s advice, apparently, could only be obtained by taking her to a bar and plying her with enough alcohol to flood a small nation.
With her laughter ringing in his ears he wasn’t sure it was worth it.
A few drinks in he had been able to admit, amidst overdramatic gasps of fake shock, that he might find Solo interesting enough to warrant a date. He was also able to confess, to more genuine surprise, that it was interest in someone else holding him back more than protocol.
He wasn’t quite drunk enough to confess the identity of his mystery man, despite Phasma’s needling, but by the end of the night he had made the mistake of mentioning how nice his ass looked in skintight leather.
He honestly wasn’t sure what Phasma thought of that. The whole evening had become rather blurry about half way through. If he was lucky she wouldn’t even remember it, but he doubted it; That woman’s alcohol tolerance was legendary and her mind had always been a steel trap for embarrassing tidbits.
He was just debating the likelihood of being able to convince Phasma he’d been joking (poor) when a thin hand clamped over his arm, digging in with a sharp pinch and dragging him into an alley.
“Gimmie your money!”
Too drunk for common sense Hux puffed up angrily. “Excuse me?!”
Before he could think there was a knife at his throat, sharp edge digging into the soft skin of his throat. The sudden rush of adrenaline left him nauseous and woozy, alcohol threatening to come back up.
“I said gimmie your money! Unless you want to end up bleeding out on the floor li-” He cut off with a grunt, toppling sideways with significant speed.
Hux doubled over, too focused on not heaving to immediately wonder where his attacker had gone, or who had moved him so suddenly. He tensed when he felt a hand on his shoulder, coiled to lash out, but a familiar voice calmed him.
“Hey Hux, it’s ok. He’s gone. Deep breaths.”
“Solo?”
“What? How did you-”
Hux managed to look up into the masked face of the man besides him. “Oh Ren I- wait… Oh God. I’m an idiot.” He leant heavily on Ren’s arm, finding his feet as the bout of nausea passed. “It should have been obvious.”
“Too late to deny it?”
“Significantly.”
“You’re a very well spoken drunk,” Ren sounded heavily amused as he helped Hux stand “If not a very stable one.”
“Speaking’s never been hard for me. Quite the opposite, I say far too much. But Thannison already told you that.”
Hux wanted to kick himself the moment it left his mouth, and not just because his Irish accent came through when he was drunk. Admitting to eavesdropping was never smart; especially considering the conversation that had followed this instance.
From the sudden and embarrassed silence it was obvious that the implications were clear to both parties.
Ren was the first to speak, once it became clear that Hux was keeping his lips shut tight to prevent any more impromptu confessions.
“So you… Heard that all huh?”
Hux laughed. He couldn’t help himself. “Well I’m sure glad this isn’t awkward!” He felt nearly hysterical, “Yes I heard about your little crush. It’s so stupid.”
Ren tensed next to him, and Hux could feel the air pressing heavy against his skin.
“That’s cruel.” It sounded like he was speaking through gritted teeth, almost snarling.
Hux looked at him confused for a moment, trying to work out the issue while his brain seemed determined to distract him with how good the deep rumble of his voice sounded.
“What?” He blinked, nonplussed.
“You could just say you weren’t interested. There’s no need to be such an uptigh-”
“Nooo! No no no. You misunderstood.” Hux tightened his grip as he felt Ren try to pull away. “No. I mean it’s stupid that I was worried. I was-” He frowned, trying to word it. “I didn’t want to upset you, Ren-you, by dating you, Ben-you, because I like you Ren. But I also like you Ben.” He stopped. “Oh God. Ben Ren.”
It was the funniest thing he’d ever heard.
He wasn’t sure why though.
-
Hux woke up, headache pounding and mouth like cotton, to the sound of someone moving around in his kitchen and no memory of who it could be. It wasn’t the first time he’d been in such a situation but it had certainly been a while, and he was remembering why he disliked it.
By the time Ren came into his bedroom with two plates of toast and some tea he’d remembered enough of it to be embarrassed.
“God,” He muttered, burying his face in his hands, “How did we get back here?”
Ren’s laughter was musical - Hux hated himself for noticing - as he handed over a mug. “You passed out and I carried you back.” He laughed harder at the incredulous look Hux shot him. “What? I could hardly get into a cab in full getup now, could I?”
“Can this get any more embarrassing?”
“I could remind you that you called me ‘Rennyben’ when I tucked you in.”
Hux choked on his tea, barely avoiding spitting it everywhere, while Ren grinned wolfishly. Asshole.
He sniffed disdainfully, trying to recover his pride. “Well you must admit, it’s a silly name.” He made a valiant attempt at a sneer, “But I suppose we can’t expect you to be any more imaginative.”
Ren, to Hux’s frustration, didn’t seem offended in the slightest. He even smiled, amused, as he placed the plates on the bed. “Now now. Play nice or I won’t hand you any of these.” He pulled a pack of headache tablets from the pocket of his robe. Hux’s robe damnit, Ren had been rummaging in his wardrobe.
“I hate you.” Hux groaned, reaching for the packet.
“Not what you said last night.” Ren quipped, dropping it into his outstretched hand and dropping to sit on the bed. He managed to get almost half a slice of toast in his mouth before continuing. “In fact, if I recall right you had two crushes on me.”
“I- That’s not- Ugh, you’re unbearable.”
Ren only grinned.
-
By lunchtime Hux was feeling closer to human. He even felt charitable enough to offer to cook for Ren and thank him for his assistance. A bitter pill to swallow considering their last row, but something that needed to be done.
“Ren I-” He sighed, handing over his food and sitting on the other side of the sofa. Ren was barely paying him any mind, laser focused on petting Millicent as much as humanly possible, but he looked up when Hux’s broken-off pause stretched. “I just want to say thank you… And sorry. I said some unfair things and you... Well, I’d have been really stuck without you last night.”
He braced himself for Ren to rub it in, if his father had taught him one thing it was that vulnerability would always be exploited, so he was surprised when Ren only reached over to grasp his hand.
“It’s ok, I understand. I know why you feel that way; and I’m sorry you had to go through everything with your mother. I, well I looked into it after what Thannison said. I’d be angry too.”
Hux remained tense, waiting for the ‘but’. It never came. Ren squeezed his hand affectionately and let the matter lie while they ate.
He slowly allowed himself to relax, quietly watching tv while Ren fussed over the cat. He felt warm, content. Like something missing had slotted into place.
He didn’t even realise he was drifting off until he was brought back to full consciousness by Ren’s hand on his face. He realised, blushing furiously, that he had been leaning on him.
“I’m sorry, I-” He cut off, Ren’s hand firmly stopping him from pulling away, and looked up at his face. Ren was smiling at him, so softly his chest ached.
“Armitage. I’m going to kiss you now.”
Ren leaned forwards slowly, giving Hux ample time to pull away or change his mind. Foolish, as if Hux wanted to be anywhere but here. His chest was full of butterflies, like a teenager with a crush, and his skin was itching with impatience.
At the last moment, before their lips touched, Ren stopped. He looked into Hux’s eyes, as if asking permission, and brushed his fingers down his cheek before lightly pressing their lips together. Sweet, gentle, and almost inquisitive. The fairytale first kiss.
Something in Hux snapped. Both hands came up to grab Ren’s hair tightly, pulling him harshly forward to mash their mouths together as Hux shifted into his lap.
“Kiss me like you mean it,” Hux hissed against Ren’s lips, “I’m not going to break.”It barely took Ren a moment to respond, as if he’d been holding back with the last dregs of willpower.
Kissing Ren, really kissing him, was like pressing against a live wire. Sparks tingled under Hux’s skin, burning as he pressed harder against the body below him. He dug his fingers into Ren’s arms to feel the muscles, reveling at the groan it pulled out of the man.
His tongue flicked against the crease of Ren’s lips for hardly a moment before the man welcomed him in, hands moving to press against Hux’s back desperately. With Kylo helpless beneath him Hux was free to kiss exactly as he liked it; Wet and filthy.
When he finally pulled back for air Kylo grinned at him, unfocused and blissed out.
“Gods Hux, I’m never letting you go.”
Hux leant forwards to nip at Ren’s neck, working upwards to whisper against his ear.
“You’re a fool, Mr Solo, if you thought is was ever your call.”