Chapter Text
Armitage Hux was never late.
Never in his years of working for the First Order was he late. And he was going to start today. As Chief Administrative Officer of the First Order, he could honestly start his day whenever, like Ren, but then he wouldn’t be CAO if that was the case. Hux stepped out of the elevator of his Upper West Side apartment in his signature black Bally Derby dress shoe and tailored Ermenegildo Zegna suit. In long stiff strides, he made his way over to the concierge, whose balding head was the only thing that could be seen behind the large desk. Clearing his throat, the man jumped.
“Go-good Morning, mister…Hux!”
Hux didn’t interact with any of the workers in his building, only a curt nod. If it wasn’t for his striking red hair and polished look, no one would even remember his name. “My tire has a flat.” He spoke as flat as the tire. The statement had the worker staring up at him with bugged hazel eyes. What was he to do with this information? Hux gritted his teeth.
“Isn’t there a car service you can call?”
“OH! Why didn’t you say so!” The worker goofily laughed before he picked up the phone. Hux rolled his eyes at how much energy one can have in the morning. Looking down at his Bremont Wright Flyer watch, he blinked returning his vision to the man at the desk who had a stern look on his face. He hung up the phone and shook his head. “They must be busy down there, let’s see if we can get you a taxi.”
The man stood up, a foot shorter than him, and made his way out the door along the sidewalk. Hux stood back, under the awning observing the man flailing his arms out at taxis.
“Don’t you have Uber or Lyft?”
The man asked and it took everything in him to not scoff in disgust. Hux vowed to never use anything Kylo Ren has shares in. He would not contribute to making the annoying manchild richer than he already is. But every taxi that drove by was full, he was starting to get annoyed as he now had less than an hour to get there.
“Is there any other way to get there?”
Hux did his best not to sound short with the man, but it really wasn’t his strong suit.
“You can always take the bus. It’s much quicker than the subway and cheaper than a cab.”
He suggested while he watched Hux’s face twist up. The bus? He hasn’t ridden the bus in years. Five to be exact. The guy laughed. “You probably don’t, here you can have my metro card.” The man shuffled in his vest to pull out the flimsy little thing. “It only has one ride left so you either need to refill it or find another way home.” The man explained to a still confused Hux. “And, you might want to hurry up the bus is coming.” The man pointed to the behemoth smoke machine that was making its way down Broadway. Ice blue eyes flicked from it to the light that signaling for him to walk. With a disgusted look on his face, he thanked the guy and moved along to the slightly crowded bus stop.
He towered over two schoolgirls in matching plaid skirts and plastic bracelets as they whispered about whatever children do nowadays. The line moved quickly and soon found himself face to face with an indifferent bus driver. Pulling out the card, he held it up and stuck it in the slot like the people before him. A loud beeping noise emitted from the machine as he continuously tried it again. The bus driver sighed, taking the card and turned it around. The card went in seamlessly and shot back out. With a tug and nod, Hux made his way to a second single seat near the window where he would begin his journey.
He cringed at the world as the bus jerked forward. This wouldn’t be a journey, this would be hell filled with old people coughing, teens with loud music, children crying, but luckily for him, it wasn’t like that far from it.
Hux found solemn staring at the city on the brink of Summer’s end, especially when entering Chelsea. Most of the bus passengers had gotten off in midtown leaving a few here and there to be picked up afterward. One of them just so happened to be a former acquaintance of his.
“Armitage, is that you?”
An older lady with salt and pepper waves and pruned lips stopped before him. With furrowed brows, he looked her over before connecting the face to the name.
“Sylvia?” He did his best to sound enthused, but for Christ Sakes, it wasn’t even 8 am yet!
“Armitage, I never thought I see you, especially on a bus!” She exclaimed. He got up to hug her and offer her his seat but declined. “Oh, I can’t believe it. What has it been five years? Five years yes, the last time I saw you were at, God rest her soul, Angelique’s funeral.” Sylvia rambled. Hux took a deep breath knowing where this was going to go. “How are you?” She asked with a concerned hand on his shoulder.
“Fine,”
He raised his brows, but she shook her head. “It must’ve been very hard for you. You two were so close, such a lovely couple.” She cooed. “I remember all the times the two of you would take the bus on weekends for little trips and Harry and I would occasionally bump into you two. Is it strange now?” She asked, catching him off guard. His brows furrowed, how was it not already strange to be talking about his dead ex-fiance. Bumping into people was one of the reasons he hated public transportation. “Well, if y-” Sylvia began to speak as the bus hit a bump. Hux tensed up, not wanting to catch anyone in any way. “Maybe I should sit.”
She giggled and went to sit behind him, only to have someone else slide through.
Sylvia scoffed at the young woman, who clearly paid no attention to her as she rummaged through her backpack.
“Excuse me, that was MY seat.” She emphasized.
The young lady looked up with wide eyes they didn’t falter as she narrowed them. “You weren’t sitting here, it’s been empty since I got on.” She said. Sylvia tsked “That’s because I’m engaging in a conversation an-” “I’m sorry but I literally don’t know how that has anything to do with sitting. It’s physically possible to do both, I’m doing it right now.” The young woman retorted and Hux lips tugged up in a smirk at her quickness.
“And he’s doing it too, so what’s your excuse?”
She gestured to him and he began to blink as if something was in his eye. Sylvia scoffed clearly displeased at how the conversation was going. “How dare you?” Sylvia asked and she rolled her eyes. Hux watched as she made the movement so graceful with her parted lips and long-coated lashes hitting her eyelid. “I’d rather not endure this conversation with you because I’ve witnessed that you don’t understand social cues, so I’ll tell you flat out. I don’t want to continue talking to you and neither does he, he’s been staring pass you the whole conversation.”
Hux’s eyes widened as he had been caught and called out; Sylvia gasped and looked at Hux before tugging on the yellow wire. Sylvia stomped her way to the bus driver quickly telling him how disrespectful his passengers were before leaving. As soon as the door closed, the driver chuckled: “I hope she never comes back again.”
This gained a few last from the regulars knowing who the real disrespectful passenger truly is. He turned around to see her eyes already on him, looking for a brief second before shifting to look outside.
Hux sat forward trying to wrap his brain around what happened, honestly this was all too much for the morning. How could people handle this, especially before work or school? He groaned thinking about doing this every day because he didn’t have a choice. No wonder some of his employees had sour moods. They probably had to deal with their own Sylvia’s. Hux wondered which one of his employees would be like you, definitely not Mitaka. He chuckled, before realizing he never thanked you. He turned around to just deliver brief words, but you were gone. He looked out the window only to see the bus turning the corner approaching his stop. Maybe he’d have a chance to thank you tomorrow.