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He had two greatcoats for a reason, for kriff’s sake. It had been an extra expenditure but he’d believed it to be worth it: should something happen to one, he had a backup. He could never be caught looking anything less than professional and commanding.
And now both were missing.
One, the slightly older one which served as the backup, should have been in his closet. The other should have been on him.
He searched all over his quarters, with no luck. For once in his life he was at a loss for what to do. He couldn’t put a lost and found report out; that would be admitting to the whole crew that he couldn’t even keep track of his own kriffing clothes. He couldn’t ask around for the same reasons. He supposed it was possible that a laundry droid had taken then for cleaning somehow, but how would that have happened without him knowing about it? He knew about everything. No, that couldn’t be it.
There was one other way he could find out, but he didn’t know if he was desperate enough. Ren. Ren could read minds, he could see in Hux’s mind where he’d last had them, or perhaps check the minds of the crew and find the culprit among them.
But that meant asking Ren for help. Sure, yes, they were fucking. And okay, sometimes they spent the night in the same bed. That didn’t mean they were friends. It didn’t mean they did each other favors.
After a mere 24 hours coatless on the much-too-frigid ship, Hux gave in. Cursing under his breath, he stormed to Ren’s quarters, where his tracker indicated he was. He’s returned from a mission a couple of days ago and had been unusually inconspicuous. Hux almost hated to disturb the peace, but if he didn’t get to the bottom of this he thought he might go mad.
He briefly considered pressing the buzzer to request entrance, then thought better of it. Ren would sense his presence anyway, and Hux rarely got to use his override code.
When he swept inside, Ren was nowhere to be seen in the eerie main room of his quarters. Hux pointedly ignored the mangled mask peering at him from one end of the room and made his way to the smaller, only slightly more inviting adjacent room. Ren’s bedroom.
His mouth was already half-open as he entered, ready to explain his intrusion, but he snapped it shut immediately at the sight that greeted him. He stopped just a few steps through the doorway and just stared.
Lying on the bed fast asleep was Ren.
And draped over him like a blanket was one of Hux’s coats.
One sleeve of it was flopped in front of Ren, where his hand gripped at it loosely in his sleep. His face was calm, his breathing even.
Hux scowled.
So it had been here all along? How did Ren even get it? And when? And most importantly…why?
Hux stormed over and gave the sleeping Force user an appraising look. It reminded him of early in his academy days, when some of the other students - never him - would draw obscene things on their sleeping classmates’ faces. He almost smiled at the idea of doing so to Ren, then shook his head. Childish.
Reaching for the coat he considered, for a moment, that Ren could wake suddenly and attack him. But he decided it was a risk he was willing to take. And besides, if Ren wanted to continue their arrangement, he wouldn’t dare.
He lifted the coat carefully, stopping at the little pull when Ren’s fist instinctively closed around the sleeve. A couple light tugs and it slipped free. Hux lifted the coat to examine it; it was his newer one, the one he wore most often. Of course that’s the one Ren would take. He folded it over one arm.
As he turned his head to sneer down at his thieving co-commander, he found himself, for the second time that day, caught off guard. He hoped this wouldn’t become a habit.
Ren was shirtless, in just a loose pair of black pants. His arms and torso were littered with cuts and bruises, like paint splattered onto the canvas of his pale skin, joining the existing faded scars. None of it looked treated; Ren never went to the medbay after missions.
A groan startled Hux and he looked up quickly, worried Ren was waking, but he was only rolling over. He shivered and turned onto his side, frowning, brow pinched, hands clutching at the air for something that wasn’t there, and Hux glanced almost guiltily down at the coat then back up again.
Just then he realized he and Ren hadn’t seen each other in nearly two weeks. Ren had been away training for a week, when he returned Hux had been planetside for meetings, and when Hux returned, Ren was leaving on his mission.
Had Ren…missed him?
He looked down at the man who he’d known nearly five years now, been sleeping with for seven months, argued with constantly, and okay, yes, laughed with occasionally. Even he wasn’t stubborn enough to deny that things had felt a little…emptier, those past couple weeks.
It was possible he’d missed Ren, too. Just a bit.
With a heavy sigh, he opened up the coat and draped it carefully over Ren. The tension eased from him immediately and his shivers ceased. Hux watched him for a moment, studied the familiar face. He’d looked at it what felt like a thousand times, yet in that moment it was new. Special. His.
He stroked a piece of hair from Ren’s face with more care than he would ever admit. Then he left.
Tomorrow he would see Ren. Tomorrow he’d patch him up and they’d argue and laugh and fuck and sleep. Tomorrow he’d get his kriffing coat back.
Tonight, he could go without it. He could wait.
Walking down the corridor he felt calm, content even. Then his sure steps halted as it hit him…
If Ren only had that one…where in the hells was his other coat?!