Chapter Text
November began to give way into winter very quickly. Ren had already begun trying to figure out how to ask if Phasma and her grandparents could come with them back to Connecticut for Christmas. Mostly he wasn’t certain there was a way to do it and not also bring Phasma’s mother with them. Also, Thanksgiving was fast approaching and Ren found himself being a bit gleeful at the concept off dragging Hux to the Turkey pardoning ceremony.
Fanciful holiday plans had to be put aside when Phasma showed up somewhat unannounced Tuesday afternoon before Thanksgiving.
“Hey,” Ren said, looking up from the stack of fashion magazines that Phasma had left with him on her last visit. She’d texted him saying she was coming over and he’d alerted the Secret Service. It was odd, but kind of nice to have friends who came over so often that the Secret Service sort of trusted them. “What’s up?”
“Oh, only that I’ve royally pissed off your boyfriend and I figure that if he’s going to kill me I want a witness, and if he’s going to kill us both, then we’ll probably be able to fight him off together,” she said. She dropped her bag and stripped out of her coat, throwing it over the sofa.
“What do you mean?” Ren said, standing up. He smoothed out his flowy blue skirt. He was wearing leggings underneath, but Phasma had gotten him in the habit of making certain his skirt was straight when he stood so he wouldn’t accidentally flash someone someday.
“I got a call from one of the women at Hux’s old church. Turns out she contacted him and he’s basically furious,” Phasma said.
“Oh… I uh, haven’t seen any signs of it,” Ren said.
“Have you been around him any since you got home?” Phasma asked.
“No, I mean we finished up most of the homework during that free period we got today. And you know Hux likes his privacy. I figured he’d come find me when he wanted attention.”
“Yeah, well, I suppose it might be good to face the beast, then,” Phasma said. She held out her hand to Ren. He accepted it and allowed her to drag him down toward Hux’s room.
As uncomfortable as it was thinking about Hux being pissed at them, Ren felt oddly cheered to realize that Phasma had been around enough that she actually knew where she was going. Every so often Ren found himself remembering that it really was nice to have friends.
Hux’s door was open, as it almost always was unless Hux was changing. He was sitting, slumped in his computer chair, glaring at them both. Ren felt a jolt of actual fear shoot straight up his spin, and he found himself stiffening. He’d never seen Hux slump like that before. Seeing that was far more terrifying than seeing that man eating glare of his.
“Come in. Shut the door,” Hux said calmly.
Ren heard Phasma gulp. Good, at least he wasn’t alone in his terror. Ren ushered Phasma in and shut the door behind them.
“Good, now we can talk in private,” Hux said. Ren had one moment where he wondered if this was Hux being like his father. A second later, Ren was pretty certain this particular type of terror-inspiring was one all of Hux’s own.
“You know-” Ren started.
“No, me first,” Hux said, turning his stare onto Ren completely. Ren shut up fast. “Good. Now I seem to remember that I told you both that I didn’t want you contacting my old home, didn’t I?”
“Yes,” Phasma said. Ren suddenly considered her braver than he was.
“And you did it anyway, didn’t you?” Hux asked.
“Did your phone call go badly?” Phasma asked.
“It went fine,” Hux said, gritting his teeth. “They invited me to the Winter Fair.”
“Well, that’s good,” Ren said.
“I don’t want to go to the Winter Fair,” Hux said. “I’m not ready to face them.”
“Well, you don’t have to go,” Phasma said, sounding frustrated. “But now you know at least someone wants you.”
“Dee Dee would want me there even if everyone else hated me,” Hux said. “She practically raised me.”
“Really?” Ren asked. He hadn’t heard about this woman before. But then, Hux didn’t talk about himself that much, and definitely not about his past.
“As she worked in the nursery, and my mother left me there for most of my childhood, yes, I’d say she raised me,” Hux said, sounding annoyed. “But that doesn’t matter because now she expects me to be there!”
“You don’t have to go,” Ren said, even surprised by the gentleness in his own voice. Hux just sunk deeper back in the chair.
“Yes, I do,” Hux said. “I have to or else they’ll ask me why I didn’t come, and I don’t have a good excuse.”
“That’s what lies are for,” Phasma said.
“But I don’t want to lie to them,” Hux mumbled.
“We’ll go with you, if you want,” Ren said.
“You’re damn right you will,” Hux said, suddenly sitting up perfectly straight. “I already told Dee Dee that you two would be with me.”
Phasma groaned. “You know, that doesn’t sound interesting.”
“Tough shit. You two dragged me into this, so you two are going to suffer through this with me. And when everything blows up you’ll have a front row seat to my total humiliation and rejection. It’s what you wanted, isn’t it? That’s why you made me do this. Well, congratulations!”
There followed a moment of thick silence. Then Ren turned and looked at Phasma. “How about you go visit Rey.”
“Will do,” Phasma said. She slipped out, closing the door behind her.
Ren looked at it for a moment and considered opening it. Instead he walked over to Hux. He slowly lowered himself so he was kneeling at Hux’s feet. Hux looked confused, but also more broken that Ren had seen him since he’d first moved in.
“They’re going to hate me,” Hux said.
“No they aren’t,” Ren said. He laid his hands on Hux’s knees. “They’re going to love you.”
Hux snorted. He buried his face in one of his hands, as if that could let him escape how he was feeling. “Yeah, right. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but I’m not a very lovable guy.”
“Don’t say that,” Ren said softly.
“Why not?” Hux demanded.
“Because I love you,” Ren said. “And I know they’ll love you because I love you.”
Hux pulled his face from his hand to look at Ren. Hux stared at him for a moment before smiling so sadly. “You only love me because you’re an absolute Weirdo.”
“Well so are you,” Ren said, feeling himself puff up a bit like an angry bird. “But that’s what makes you loveable.”
Hux let out a weak laugh. Then he folded and wrapped his arms around Ren. Hux rested his cheek on the top of Ren’s hair, but that meant that Ren got to press his face into Hux’s shirt and breathe in the smell of Hux and detergent. It was a nice smell.
“I’m never going to understand how you can be so open like that,” Hux murmured into his head.
“No idea,” Ren said, smiling a little bit. “But you like it.”
“I don’t generally have to guess what you want,” Hux said. “So I suppose that’s nice.”
Ren laughed a little a pressed his face further into Hux’s stomach. “This is going to be okay, okay?”
Hux took a shaky breath. “Yeah, okay.”
“I told you this was better than watching my mom cook Thanksgiving dinner,” Treena said. “With camera-men around.”
Phasma laughed and snuggled into her girlfriend. They’d escaped the family insanity downstairs to the quiet of Treena’s room. Phasma thought it was a little odd that Treena’s very conservative congressman father would allow Phasma and all her scandal over for Thanksgiving. Then she realized it was about the photo-op. Phasma’s place there was to show Treena’s father’s, George’s, constituents that he wasn’t like Senator Hux, but also show the wild child Phasma being a good girl after having made friends with his daughter.
Different man, same games. But Phasma didn’t mind. Treena’s mother Alejandra and Phasma’s grandmother turned out to get along very well. Part of the photo-op ended up being the two women chatting while Phasma’s grandfather chopped things in the background. Turned out, her grandfather was a good enough cook that Alejandra let him assist in her kitchen.
“Is your dad going to flip his lid when he finds out we’re dating?” Phasma asked.
“Maybe, but I already told mama, and my aunt Sophia,” Treena said, snuggling closer into Phasma. Phasma put her arm around her girlfriend and hugged her close. Both of them were in in nice dresses for the day. Phasma’s had a loud print, and she wore high stilettos with them, and her make-up was still rock star chic. But she looked conservative for her. Treena was in a simple blue dress which looked lovely on her.
“Good,” Phasma said. She pulled the laptop up more and hit play on the video again. It was the turkey pardoning. They’d already watched it three times, but it was funny.
Hux had come out with Ren for the Turkey pardoning. They turkey was on the ground instead of on a pedestal like normal turkey pardonings, being petted and cooed over by Rey, who looked like she wanted the Turkey to come live with them. The President was cracking jokes, because the entire event was silly. Meanwhile, Ren was whispering something in Hux’s ear and Hux was laughing softly, his eyes on the ground.
Then the President officially pardoned the turkey. At which point Ren smacked Hux’s ass. It was loud and had been picked up by the cameras.
“You’re dead,” Hux said and then picked Ren right up off the ground and started to carry him off while Ren squawked like the turkey. He apparently hadn’t realized that even without the JROTC at their school having a solid physical training program, that Hux also had a father who insisted on physical fitness. Meaning Hux had no problem carrying Ren off while Ren clung to Hux for dear life.
The video also included the President laughing completely unguarded in a way she basically never did in front of cameras, watching the ridiculous and undignified display. All the while Rey ignored the entire scene in favor of the turkey, like that type of idiocy was normal now.
Sure, people might get mad about it later. But Phasma thought it was adorable and stupid, just like the boys themselves.
“Thank you for bringing this to my attention,” Phasma said. She’d never watched a Turkey pardoning before.
“You’re welcome, again,” Treena said. She leaned in and kissed Phasma’s cheek, which made Phasma blush a bit.
“God, you’re cute,” Phasma said. She rubbed her cheek and grinned. She felt so pleased being there with Treena, especially when Treena was smiling so brightly. The girl just shone like a super nova. Phasma didn’t know how she was ever going to be over that smile.
“So are you, Babs,” Treena said. Phasma had no idea where that nickname had come from, but if that’s what Treena wanted to call her then she loved it.
“You’re way cuter,” Phasma insisted.
Treena laughed, but didn’t argue. “So did you children work out your differences,” she asked, motioning to the screen. She’d heard about Hux being pissed, but not the resolution.
“Oh, yeah, about that,” Phasma started. “So, Hux told us that in order to make it up to him he wants us to go with him to the Winter Fair thing.”
“The thing that’s next weekend?” Treena asked.
“Yeah, and it’s in Alexanderia… Yeah, I know,” Phasma said, seeing Treena wrinkle her nose.
“Ugh, Virginia,” Treena groaned.
“I know,” Phasma said. “But I was wondering if you’d come with us?”
“Why?” Treena whined.
“Because they’re going to be gooey idiots the entire time and I don’t think I can bare it without you,” Phasma said.
Treena groaned. “Why do you have to pull out the sap before I can make a good argument about why I shouldn’t go?”
“Because I know it works?” Phasma asked too sweetly.
“I hate you,” Treena said.
“No you don’t,” Phasma teased.
“I don’t and that’s my problem,” Treena grumbled. Phasma kissed her cheek and Treena smiled. “Okay, you won me over.”
“Thanks, Darling,” Phasma cooed. For that Treena slapped her over the head with a pillow.
Worth it. Especially because Phasma got to hear Treena laugh, and Treena had a glorious laugh.
Hux was expecting a lot of things when the first true weekend in December rolled around. He didn’t expect the President waking them early and helping them actually pack four sack lunches. Apparently the President knew something that Hux didn’t. Hux became aware of what that something was when they arrived at the motorcade to see that Phasma had arrived with her tiny friend Treena in tow.
“Good morning,” Treena chirped.
Kylo grumbled and got in the car without so much as a hello.
“It’s your fault for being up so late playing Call of Duty,” Hux said.
“Screw you,” Kylo said from within the car. Both of the girls laughed.
Hux sighed and carefully climbed in. He moved to sit next to Kylo. The girls climbed in and shut the door behind them. They were all bundled up for the cold weather, but once they were all inside the properly heated car, they shed layers.
Once they were all settled Kylo tipped over so he was laying on Hux’s shoulder. “How far away is this place?”
“Sixteen minutes, if traffic isn’t awful,” Hux said.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Kylo demanded. “The new church is just as far away.”
“Yeah, it’s slightly closer to where I was living,” Hux said.
“Why in the world did you have to move churches when you were so close?” Kylo demanded.
“Because my father decided that we would,” Hux said. He ran his fingers through Ren’s hair. “Just take a nap. I’ll wake you when we get here.”
Kylo took Hux under advisement and settled in against him. He slept with his face on Hux’s shoulder. It was slightly awkward and uncomfortable. But it made Hux’s chest feel warm too. Phasma and Treena mostly kept to themselves during the trip, so Hux could just focus on how good it felt to have Kylo.
Maybe Kylo was only using him a pillow because he was so tired. But it felt not just like trust, but also like Kylo liked him as more than just a friend.
The trip was uneventful. Hux shook Kylo awake when they were about to pass his Church. “Are we there?” Kylo mumbled.
“Look,” Hux said, pointing at the big, beautiful, cathedral like building. It was squashed between a bunch of other buildings with no space in between, like a lot of other places in the city. There was only so much space.
Kylo yawned and sat up so he could look out the window. “It’s nice,” he said. Hux shook his head. Kylo didn’t get it, but that was fine. He didn’t have to.
“We have about five minutes before we arrive,” Hux said.
Kylo blinked in confusion. “I thought you said we were here.”
“This is the church, but we don’t have our own parking, so when we do an event we normally have to get space in the park,” Hux explained.
“Oh,” Kylo said. “That’s weird.”
“That’s what happens when you have a really old church on a really old street,” Hux said. He grabbed Kylo’s hand and gave it a squeeze.
They watched as the world passed by for those extra five minutes. The only time that Hux had been allowed in Windmill Hill Park had been because of church event. Even now, he only had memories tied to the place for the Winter Fair.
Hux thought about the past fairs he’d been to. People in the church would set up booths. His mother normally made knit and crocheted things for the United Methodist Women’s group to sell to help their missions effort. There would be preserves and crafts and other foods. He thought he could buy a couple of jars of preserves with the allowance the Organa-Solo family gave him. He didn’t want to spend too much, certain he’d be paying for his own schooling eventually. But he thought he could buy a few things, and maybe send some to his mother.
As long as no one got angry and threw him out.
They were allowed out of the car and guided by the Secret Service over to where the fair was set up. The church was allowed a spot on the green, but not on particularly close to the jungle gym. Hux recognized the Secret Service around because it caused a bigger crowd than normally came. It was cold, but people were still out, and the park was already decorated for the winter months.
“Bren! You made it!” a warm familiar voice called. Hux looked this way and that until he finally saw Dhara.
It hadn’t even been a year since he’d seen her. She’d been one his mother’s friends, even though she was a few years younger. She’d changed her hairstyle, but he thought the box braids looked nice on her. Also, the warm orange lipstick she wore just made him feel like he was home. He broke away from Kylo and the girls and went and wrapped his arms around Dhara, who already had her arms open for him.
“Ms Dhara, It’s good to see you,” Hux said when he stepped back.
Dhara grinned bright and wide. “It’s good to see you too, kid. The kids have been going nuts waiting to see you.”
“Really?” Hux asked, more than a little surprised.
“Of course. They missed you,” Dhara said, nearly rolling her eyes. She dragged him into another hug. “I missed you too. We heard about what happened with your dad.”
Hux deflated a bit. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
“Don’t be,” Dhara said in a soft but firm voice. “I know you,” she said. “You did it the way you did to protect yourself. I don’t blame you.”
Hux blushed, a little pleased that someone actually knew him. “Um… I brought my boyfriend with me. Will that be a problem?”
“If someone tries to make it a problem, I’ll make myself a problem for them,” she said, cracking her knuckles. Hux let out a surprised laugh. He knew he shouldn’t be surprised. The Leonis-Olett clan had always been protective of the kids at their church. But he’d just been gone from them so long that he’d begun to believe his father’s words about no good person being willing to accept a queer.
“Thank you,” he breathed out.
“Introduce me,” she said, nodding toward the little group he’d brought with him.
Hux walked back over to them, expecting Dhara to follow him, and she did. “Ms Dhara, this is Kylo, my boyfriend. And my friends Phasma and Treena,” he introduced. “Everyone, this is Ms Dhara.”
“It’s nice to meet you all,” Dhara said. “You’re all welcome. Please well free to look around. Albert made his famous meat pies. You should try and grab a few before they’ve all been eaten. Dee Dee is out getting extra ice, so make certain you stay long enough to see her.”
“Yes Miss Dhara. Um, which one is his booth?” Hux asked.
Dhara laughed so warmly, the same way Hux remembered. He felt embarrassed that he’d allowed his father’s words to poison the way he felt about Dhara, especially when she’d always been so sweet and kind to him, even when he’d acted like such a brat that he was certain he couldn’t deserve it.
“Right over there, near the left end,” she said, pointing to a table. “ALBERT!” She shouted.
“DHARA!” he shouted back, sounding amused.
“There,” she said.
“Thanks,” Hux said and grabbed Kylo’s hand. “Come on,” he said.
He headed over to the table which did have a pretty big crowd around. That was fine. Hux was willing to wait, but he just hoped the food didn’t actually go away. He gave Kylo’s hand a squeeze when the crowd separated enough that they could get through.
“It’s Baby Hux!” Albert said.
“Four pies,” Hux said, feeling his face heat up. He could practically feel Kylo smirking next to him.
“It’s good to see you doing alright there,” Albert said. He got four pies out. Hux paid for them and handed one to Kylo. “Who’s your friend?”
“This is Kylo, my boyfriend,” Hux said. He felt his face get more red. Albert was a nice guy, a good baker, but really conservative. White, old, gun toting conservative Republican.
“The President’s boy,” Albert said, eyeing Kylo.
“Yeah,” Kylo said, sounding defensive.
“Eh,” Albert said and shrugged. “We’d heard you were living at the White House. Are you safe there?”
“It’s the White House,” Hux said, somewhat sarcastically.
Albert laughed. “Okay, you have a point. You boys have fun.”
“Thank you,” Hux said. Well, it wasn’t tacit approval or anything, but it seemed like Albert was going to keep his opinions to himself anyway.
Hux tugged Kylo away. He broke into his own pie, leaving the other two in the bag for Phasma and Treena. He took one bite of the warm, savory pie and let out a happy sound.
“So,” Kylo said. Hux looked back at him to see that Kylo hadn’t even opened the box yet.
“You should try that while it’s still warm,” Hux said and then took another bite. They could talk when the food was gone.
“Okay, okay,” Kylo grumbled. Hux watched him get the pie out and take a bite. Kylo’s eyes suddenly got huge and he let out a groan. Hux smirked and then looked back out at the Fair. He could see people milling around.
Treena and Phasma were at one of the craft stands. Both of them were trying on knit caps and looking at themselves in the mirror. Phasma started to laugh warmly. Treena was smiling. Hux began to feel warm in a way that had nothing to do with the warm pie filling his stomach.
“I see what you meant about the other place being really white,” Kylo said. Hux sort of snapped back into realization of his area. He always felt uncomfortable in the other church because it was so white. His home church had so many people who were black and Hispanic and there were three Korean families. This felt right to him. He’d forgotten what it felt like to be home when he was in church. He’d forgotten what it was like to not feel uncomfortable.
“Are you glad we came?” Kylo asked. Hux looked back at him. Kylo’s pie was gone, but then so was Hux’s. There was a press of people, but there were also Secret Service on either side of them. Hux could see so many people he recognized, adults and children and youth. A couple of the youth waved at him from a booth they were manning. Hux waved back.
“Yes,”Hux said. “Thank you for trying to take care of me.”
“We’re friends,” Kylo reminded him.
“I’m not certain I’d ever think to do the same for you,” Hux said quietly. He felt a little ashamed of that. He’d been fairly well wrapped up in himself for the past few weeks and he knew it.
“Yeah you would,” Kylo said. He leaned against Hux a little bit and smiled at him.
“I know I’ve been very focused on me recently,” Hux said. Kylo had worn only boy clothes to try and make Hux feel more comfortable about bringing his ‘boyfriend’ to a church event. “I know you’re still having problems with your family and your clothes-”
“Hux,” Kylo said, he sounded amused. He was smiling. He laid his head on Hux’s shoulder. “It’s fine, okay? A lot has happened to you. I don’t need you to do more than you have been doing. It’s fine. Maybe one day I’ll need you more. But I like being needed. I like helping you. I want to.”
Hux relaxed little bit. “Alright,” he murmured. “Thank you… for real. I mean it. I think I did need this.”
“Yeah, me too,” Kylo said. “Look, if you want to keep going here, or back to the other church… I’ll go with you. I mean I’m not going to start believing, but I know this is really important to you.”
“That’s kind of a shame,” Hux said. It sort of occurred to him for the first time what could happen to Ren’s soul if he died. He didn’t actually want to think about it. “Promise me you won’t die any time soon.”
Kylo smiled. “Yeah, totes, I promise.”
Hux snorted, actually relieved to focus on something else. “Totes? You’re such a loser.”
“Yeah, but I am your loser,” Kylo said. He shifted his head a bit so he could smile at Hux. Hux met him the rest of the way and kissed him.
Kylo pulled away, blushing bright red. Hux chuckled. “You got some red on your face,” he said.
“You kissed me,” Kylo hissed. “At a church event.”
“Yeah, well, you deserved it,” Hux said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “Thank you… for saying you’d come with me. I really do want to come back here, but I don’t want to be alone when I do it.”
“Well, I don’t think you can get Phasma to come with us, but I’ll definitely go. I mean, they like you here. They’re important to you,” Kylo said.
Hux’s chest felt very warm. Even as a fake boyfriend, Kylo was the best boyfriend. “Thank you,” he said again. Then he shook off the moment. “Okay, let’s buy some preserves before it all sells out. And then I want to introduce you to my friends from Youth.” Hopefully they would like Kylo. He couldn’t see why they wouldn’t like Kylo. Kylo was wonderful.
“Country bumpkin,” Kylo teased. He clasped Hux’s hand, lacing their fingers together. Hux gently squeezed Kylo’s hand.
“Yeah, when you’re groaning about how good it is, you’re going to be singing a different tune,” Hux threatened. He gave Kylo’s hand another squeeze and then dragged him back toward the tables with the preserves. They had the entire day for Hux to show Kylo around to the people he’d grown up with. He was suddenly really looking forward to it.