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When Kylo finally enters Hux’s quarters near the end of the cycle, the tension he holds in his shoulders and neck washes out in a comforted exhale, replaced by a pleasant warmth in his chest.
It’s a welcome change. Part of him still misses his old room, but there’s something about coming home to the sweet smell of a nesting omega that makes the change more than palatable. He looks forward to it, now, because a calming scent means Hux is still safe.
The general has been on leave for two weeks now—at the medic’s recommendation and Kylo’s insistence. Normally he wouldn’t impede Hux’s duties on the ship, and if he hadn’t gone and pushed himself far beyond what was necessary, Kylo would have let him continue on until the birth. He had trusted that Hux understood his own limitations, that the general would care for himself and their pups while Kylo was away on missions for the Order.
But no. Instead of listening to his changing body as he’d sworn when they’d first learned of the pregnancy, Hux had ignored the first warning signs of illness and continued depriving himself of rest and proper nutrients until he’d reached the breaking point. Hux had nearly cracked his head against the floor of the hangar bay when he’d dropped like a dead weight, bloodless and feverish and suffering from untreated infection right in front of his newly arrived mate. Kylo had nearly gone mad with anxiety at the sight, taking his emotions out on more then one hapless medical droid before Hux and the twins had been properly stabilized.
He’d certainly had better homecomings.
Kylo had moved himself into Hux’s quarters before the general was even discharged, far too shaken now to leave him alone. Hux has called him a nuisance more then once since then but otherwise grudgingly accepts his help—humbled a bit, Kylo thinks, by his own errors and the lives he’d put in jeopardy.
Hux’s scent grows stronger the closer the alpha gets to the bedroom. Eagerness drives Kylo’s pace, unable to resist the draw of his mate any longer. He opens the door and slides inside, suddenly bathed in the heart of that soothing aroma he’s been missing all cycle.
Hux is looking better, if still obviously annoyed at his predicament. A little color touches his cheeks and lips, balancing out the blueish circles that cling underneath his eyes, and his loose hair’s been brushed off to the side. He has extra pillows from the couch propping up his back and one of Kylo’s cowls wrapped around his shoulders and draped over his chest. He’s pulled the bedcovers up over his belly, but even through the thick fabric Kylo can see the round shape of his belly. This late in the pregnancy, even Hux’s greatcoat couldn’t hide it.
No that he’s donned the thing in weeks—it sits hung up alongside his now too-small uniform, awaiting the general’s proper return.
Nowadays Hux wears only his briefs and an extra large undershirt, occasionally slipping on his robe when he truly needs to get up on his feet and maneuver about the chilly quarters. Honestly, Kylo prefers him naked, leaving his bare skin and changed physique on display for the alpha. Unfortunately those moments are few and far between, Hux’s modesty still intact. Sometimes Kylo wonders how he ever bedded an omega as prim and standoffish as Hux—not to mention got him pregnant.
Hux glances up from his data pad once Kylo enters, and though he tries to keep his expression impassive the alpha can sense Hux’s relief in the presence of his mate.
“Ah. There you are.” He looks back to the glowing screen with a tight sniff. “I was thinking you might be late.”
“No. I came right here when I finished.” Kylo shrugs his robes off, leaving them to pool on the floor. Hux tuts at him, and the alpha scoops up his clothes and drapes them instead on the bedside table. “I see you’re still working…”
“Yes yes,” Hux dismisses hastily, as if expecting his mate to fight him on it. Honestly, Kylo is just pleased to have him off his feet, even if he can sense the general’s annoyance just simmering under the surface.
Pregnancy has softened Hux, yes, but Kylo is pretty sure there isn’t a thing in the galaxy that could completely sand down the prickly general’s edges. Largely Kylo considered that a good thing—a pliant, tame Hux would be just too surreal to bear.
What’s more, he’d put up with a thousand fits from Hux if that’s what it would take to keep him healthy and free from harm. The image of his omega—his mate, the man carrying his pups—unresponsive and pale, burning up in his arms on the chrome floor of the hangar bay, is not something Kylo ever wants to see again. Hux’s work ethic be damned.
“How are you feeling?”
“Fine. Mostly,” Hux adds after a moment. Kylo raises an eyebrow.
“Mostly?”
Hux shrugs his shoulders.
“Just the usual.” One hand leaves the data pad to emphatically stroke his belly.
“They giving you trouble?”
“I wouldn’t go that far, but they’re incessant sometimes. Jabbing and kicking me.”
Kylo nods. “Pups tend to do that, especially at this stage.”
“I know, but I don’t have to be pleased with it,” Hux huffs, trying to work himself up in a better sitting position. “This is all your fault, you animal. I wouldn’t be like this if it weren’t for you.”
“Mm.” Kylo sits at the edge of the bed, hand immediately going to rest atop Hux’s stomach. He sends the alpha a glare but doesn’t move to push his away, still jabbing at his data pad.
“You’re barely listening, as usual.” Hux shakes his head. “See, this is why I end up in these kind of…situations…you don’t listen to a word I say.”
“Really?” Kylo drawls, tracing his finger along the pliant curve of Hux’s belly. “That’s interesting, because I remember a certain omega begging me to breed him…I think I was listening fairly well then.”
“Obviously I wasn’t in my right mind,” Hux snorts, “if I would have known I’d be stuck here, trapped in my own bed, I would’ve tied your knot off on the spot.”
Kylo winces at the thought.
“You wouldn’t have. You like it too much to do that. You wouldn’t be able to find another alpha to satisfy you if you lived to be centuries old.”
“So confident.” Hux’s lips curl as he sets the data pad aside. “What makes you think I’m unable to acquire an alpha who can do just as much as you can, if not more?”
“Because,” Kylo flexes his fingers against his mate’s belly, “you’re practically immobile with my pups.”
Hux’s smirk drops to an annoyed frown, and he pushes weakly at Kylo’s hand.
“Braggart. You’re much too large for your own good, and your children have certainly inherited it.” he gives up on prising Kylo’s fingers off, instead lacing through them from behind. “Let’s hope they don’t assume your more undesirable traits.”
“Nor yours,” Kylo smirks, giving it right back to his mate. It earns him a light cuff to the ear, but Hux apparently doesn’t have the energy to admonish him further, because he falls quiet, filling his alpha’s ears with only the sound of his breathing.
Kylo leans to the side until his head rests against Hux’s chest, limbs curled up around his mate’s lower body. Here his omega’s scent is even stronger, layered into the softness of his skin and even his clothing. Kylo turns to nuzzle into the soft fabric of Hux’s undershirt, feeling how warm and full his chest has grown. Hux shivers under his touch.
“Don’t you feel better now?” Kylo rubs the full curve of his mate’s belly, kissing where the neck of his shirt meets his skin. “Now that your alpha’s returned to you?”
“I’ll feel better once I know said alpha completed all the tasks I set him out to do today.” Despite his disapproving tone, Hux begins to stroke through Kylo’s hair, responding to his tenderness. “Well?”
Though Hux spends many of his waking hours in bed, he’s still able to manage a lot of the ship’s functions remotely—much to Kylo’s disapproval, though it’s the best compromise he can drag out of the fussy general—save for a few that explicitly require a physical presence. Those Kylo has taken upon himself to oversee, albeit with Hux’s instructions.
He keeps his head against his mate’s chest, listening to the soft thump of his heart as he starts to murmur.
“Troop inspections went well. Nothing unusual to report there, Phasma’s been keeping them on their toes. And your bridge officers remain in line and adequately intimidated by you, even though they haven’t seen you in weeks.”
“You play no small part in that,” Hux says, gesturing at him, “you make quite the fearsome messenger.”
Kylo kisses his chest again, lips parting slightly to leave a wet mark on the general’s tender skin. He looks up, catching the glint of blush on Hux’s cheeks from beneath his heavy eyelids.
“With pups on the way and a mate like yourself to protect, any alpha worth their mettle would be.”
“I…yes, well.” Hux shifts against the pillows, now slightly reclined. He’s still awkward about Kylo’s expressive declarations, like he’s unsure how to adequately respond to them, even after so long. Even with his abdomen stretched and round with the alpha’s young, in the bed they now shared.
Kylo stays in place, feeling the rise and fall of Hux’s chest long after it’s evened out, the general’s head to the side as he nods off, mind growing softer in sleep. Only then does Kylo lift his head—just slightly, just so he can shift to peel the bedcovers off of Hux’s middle. He slides his hand down to its rounded underside, lifting away the undershirt and feeling just how heavy his mate has grown.
Hux remains shy about his bare belly, even this far into pregnancy, as if looking at himself unexposed somehow makes it more a reality than when he hides himself beneath clothes and blankets. Kylo understands—after all, when he looks at the round swell of Hux’s stomach, stretching his fragile skin and dwarfing his slim frame, it anchors him to what they’ve done. But instead of Hux’s trepidation he feels excitement, impatience to meet his children as they push out against his hand, sensing him.
Soon. Warm, indistinct sensation floods to the forefront of his mind as he caresses Hux’s belly, little flickers of life kissing his fingers. Young and delicate, but growing stronger with passing each day.
To think he could have lost both the pups and Hux, entire family taken from him in one fell swoop, Kylo thinks as he leans down to press a kiss against the top of his mate’s stomach. He pets at the taut ivory skin and feels the tremblings of life at each point of contact, eyes darkening in a silent vow to himself and the power he commands.
He will never allow harm to befall any of them ever again.