im sorry this took a while. i hope you feel better ❤
25. In a blissful sigh as you fall asleep
The battle had been a victory but it has cost them. Kylo had
refused to stay in the Medical bay,
although Hux thinks wryly maybe refused is too polite of a word. He’d screamed
and shouted, destroying any medical droid that had tried to approach him until
they had contacted Hux. Hux is used to this by now, to being summoned to
control Ren’s tantrums, so he’d dutifully sat at his side and held his hand as
the droids were finally able to clean Ren’s wounds and apply bacta bandages.‘He’s like a dog on a leash,’ Hux had thought smirking to himself as his thumb brushed the
back of Ren’s hand, ‘ready to attack until his master calls him off.’ He’d carefully
refused to examine the other thought that it was much more likely that he was,
in fact, Kylo’s faithful wife summoned to sit by his side.When the droids have finished he helps Kylo limp back to their quarters, his arm
curled possessively around Kylo’s waist.
It’s well in to the night cycle so the
Finalizer is quiet, most of the Stormtroopers and junior officers that pass
them in the corridors don’t dare to look at them anyway. Hux has an icy glare
ready for any that do.Kylo has been strangely silent and it makes Hux’s chest
tighten with worry. He hates it, that anyone has managed to worm their way into
his heart and given him this softness.
But out of everyone, it would be Kylo Ren
who argues with him at every turn, who believes in the same mystical power that
made the Empire weak, who has Rebel blood running in his veins. Kylo Ren who,
despite their differences, understands Hux better than anyone in the galaxy.Despite his silence, Kylo presses a little closer into Hux’s
side, before limping across the room and carefully easing himself down onto
their bed with a grunt. Hux takes in the feeling of the last of Kylo’s warmth
along his side for a moment. He’s sure he’ll never be used to the way Kylo can be so casually intimate with him, that
Kylo can touch him and Hux’s body
doesn’t flinch away. That he can touch Kylo whenever he wants and Kylo won’t be angry with him, will welcome his touch.‘Hux,’ Kylo’s voice is hoarse and quiet as if he’s afraid to break the silence. ‘Could you help me
with…’ Kylo motions down at himself, the thin tunic the medical droids had
dressed him in and his usual boots. The slightest hint of the bacta bandage from underneath the arm of Kylo’s
tunic has Hux rushing to his side before he can think. He sinks to his knees on
the plush carpet and begins to methodically unlace Kylo’s boot. He places the
first one at the end of the bed and feels one of Kylo’s big hands settle on his
head, fingers lacing through his hair and disturbing the neatly styled strands.
Hux feels something bubbling in his ribcage. He is happy here, he realises, in
these quiet moments with Kylo. As happy as he was when Starkiller was
completed, maybe even happier.He helps Kylo lay
down, fluffing his pillows a little before stripping off his own tunic, jodhpurs
and boots and easing himself down beside him. Hux wants to be close to him, to
hold on and never let go. It’s warm under the covers and Hux feels his eyelids
begin to droop as soon as his head hits the pillow.‘I love you,’ Kylo sighs, so quietly Hux isn’t sure that he’s
heard him correctly. Still, it startles him back to alertness and he sits up in
bed without thinking. Kylo is unmoving next to him, his chest rising and
falling evenly while Hux stares down at him. Kylo’s face is completely relaxed,
the furrows of pain on his forehead are gone and he looks completely at peace.
Hux, on the other hand, feels like a rabbit in front of the barrel of a pistol, unable to move while his
heart pounds. He waits for Kylo to laugh
it off or to aim his finishing blow, which will surely shatter Hux into pieces.But neither comes, instead,
Kylo begins to snore. A warmth starts in
Hux’s heart that spreads through his veins, colours his cheeks and sends his
pulse racing for another reason. He feels his lips pull up into a soft smile
and settles back under the covers, at Kylo’s
side. Kylo loves him, Kylo thinks he is
home.‘I,’ the words don’t come easily and he finds himself
winding an arm around Kylo’s waist to
steady himself, ‘love you too.’