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It was almost night time and normally, Kylo Ren would not be up at such a late hour of the day. His training to become a Sith needed him to be well-rested, concentrated and undistracted from his duties as a Knight of Ren. But this night, he threw all reason overboard and went to see General Hux with whom he had an urgent matter to discuss, a matter that could certainly not wait until the next day. At least according to Kylo. Hux was already in his chambers, that much he knew, but whether he was awake or asleep, he could not tell. Hux was a workaholic and it would not surprise Kylo if he found him still working over some leftover reports or something else that was completely uninteresting and not worth mentioning. Unintersting and boring like his whole existence, basically. And even if the General happened to be already asleep, Kylo would not care. Quite the contrary in fact, it would make his visit even more worthwile if he found a way to annoy Hux, even if it was just by awaking him from his slumber.
It was an open secret on Starkiller Base that the General and Kylo-Ren were not the best of friends. Some would even say that they hated each other, but that primitive term would not quite suffice to explain the difficult situation between the two men. Rivalry was definitely an important aspect of their relationship as it needed no similiarities between them except the same goal, the same longing for power, respect and more power. But hate was a completely different matter, because hating someone usually means that you know how the other person is like. And Kylo knew basically nothing about Hux. Except that he was boring an annoying, of course.
That's why he prepared himself to expect everything he might encounter when entering the General's private realm, a place he would normally steer clear of. But this time, it was necessary.
When Kylo arrived at the doorstep, he lost no time calling attention to the fact that he needed to speak with Hux. Immediatly. So he pushed every button in sight, knocked at the door, pushed every button again, waited ... and nothing happened. Kylo was already annoyed, knowing for sure that the General must have heard him and had decided to keep him waiting. Well, let's see how long that will work out for him. Kylo knocked again, this time with all the force he could channel into his fists. He even managed to leave marks on the massive door that was constructed to hold off an army if necessary. Maybe a little bit too much for a normal door, but still not enough to hold of an angry Sith apprentice. But despite his efforts, nothing happened. Kylo was already preparing to draw his lightsaber. If he needed to force himself into the room, destroy it and maybe even the person standing behind it, he would certainly do that. But luckily for the door - and the poor people that always needed to clean up Kylo's messes - the door lifted up, allowing him to enter before he could break anything important.
Ren stepped into the room without awaiting another invitation and was startled by the lack of light in the room. It wasn't completely dark, but the lights were dimmed down to an extent where even he struggled to see something.
"Hux?", Kylo asked into the silent darkness.
"Hux, are you there? Put the lights on, now!", he demanded harshly.
"What is it you want, Kylo ...", he heard a voice, the General's voice, coming from a shadowy corner right in front of Kylo's position. It sounded low and muffled, maybe even tired.
"I need to speak to you about -", Kylo wanted to say, but the moment the lights were turned back on, he stopped because of the unusual sight that unfolded in front of him.
Hux was sitting in his chair ... well, sitting was maybe a little bit too much. He was rather leaning in it, almost slouching himself into the comfortable leather. There was nothing left of his usual straight and daunting posture, he looked more like a teenager who spent too much time in front of the TV. And his looks clearly fit that image, he was shoeless and barefooted and wore only a black t-shirt and grey sweatpants. Not even in his wildest dreams Kylo would have guessed that the General owned a pair of sweatpants. To conclude his worn out look, his red hair was messy and tousled, one streak of hair carelessly falling over his face.
But the most worrying thing were his eyes. They were bright red, slitted in an attempt to handle the sudden intrusion of light and almost watery. No, not almost, they were watery!
"Oh fuck", Kylo thought to himself. "He must have been crying."
Of all the different scenarios that Kylo had played out in his head, this was not one he could have imagined. Seeing Hux like this, all messed up and vulnerable made Kylo regret his aversion against his favorite rival. What the hell could have happened that made a man like Hux lose his temper and cry like a baby, alone in his shaded room?
"Someone broke up with him", that was Kylo's first and only explanation. What else could make every turn into a giant crybaby?
"That must be the answer. And now I have to solve this mess", Kylo made up his mind. Even if he didn't like Hux, this was not something he could turn his back on.
"Kylo, why are you here?", Hux suddenly asked, openly showing his annoyance. "Just tell me and then leave, for fuck's sake."
Swearing was no bad habit of Hux, he always kept his eloquent tone and a neutral choice of words. Now Kylo was sure that someone must have broken up with him, otherwise he would not let himself go like that.
"Look ...", Kylo started, striking a more insightful tone and alighting himself on a nearby chair.
"Whoever it was, she is not worth it."
Not the latest piece of wisdom, but at least it was something. He wanted to help, even if that was not what he came for. But his request could wait, this was more important now.
"What?", Hux responded, looking very much surprised by Ren's words.
"It's okay", Kylo continued, not at all unsettled by neither the piercing look the General sent out nor Hux' eyebrow that went straight up in wondering confusion.
"People come and go, you know. Sometimes it works out and sometimes ... it just doesn't. And that's alright. Sometimes we have to let them go, you know."
"Aha", that was all Hux had to say to Kylo's weird babbling. This man always found a way to confuse him, showing up at that time of night, almost breaking into his room and now ... whatever that was supposed to be. Hux was confused, but also interested in what Kylo would have to tell him next about loss, letting go and the inevitable heat death of the universe or whatever that guy was talking about, so he kept still apart from that.
Kylo looked at Hux, interpreting the General's gaze as as confirmation of his suspicion. He responded by giving him the most understanding look he had to offer. To Hux, he looked more like a wounded sheep, but he didn't make any objections. Meanwhile, Kylo was panicly trying to think of something else to say, something that might make a difference in Hux' suffering. That man deserved more than some half-baked buzzwords.
"Okay ... look. I know ... we don't usually get along that well. We have our differences and you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to. But I want you to know that it's okay. It's okay if you want to tell me and it's okay to cry. We all cry sometimes, even me, believe it or not! But most importantly ..." Kylo put his hand on Hux shoulder in attempt to appear comforting.
"Most importantly, I want you to know that I'm there for you"
That was it. Hux had tried so hard to hold it to himself, to not show his true feelings about this situation, but that was too much. His mouth shifted from strained-neutral to a wide grin. He looked at Kylo's hand on his shoulder and the grin became even wider. Hux had to channel all his inner strenght not to burst out in laughter right there.
Kylo had no idea what was going on. In what way were his words capable of provoking such a reaction from Hux who was smiling like a kid on the first day of summer vacation?
Before Kylo could realize himself what all this nonsense could mean, Hux reached towards his desk, pulling out a small box out of it.
He opened it in front of Kylo and in there was ... a blunt.
A fucking blunt.
In fact, there were several blunts in there, but one of them stood out because it was still burning from the last time it had been lit. Which must have been recently.
And suddenly, Kylo understood. He understood and he felt like an utter moron.
When Kylo's und Hux' eyes met, they immediately burst out into laughter. This was all too ridiculous.
The fact that Hux was secretly smoking weed in his room, that Kylo tried to comfort him over a non-existing girlfriend ... the whole situation was so awkward that they continued laughing for several minutes.
Hux was the first to calm himself, holding his stomach and trying to catch his breath again.
"You want some?", he asked boldly, offering Kylo the blunt that had already bin lit earlier.
It might have surprised Hux to know that Kylo had in fact never smoked weed before. There were ways and means to get a hold of drugs and alcohol on Starkiller Base, if one knew how, but it was more of a thing between young stormtroopers, officers and mechanics. Nobody would dare to even think of sharing a blunt with a frightening Knight of Ren, Kylo realized and for a brief moment, he felt sad and lonely.
But Hux was different, he had never been afraid of Kylo and always saw him as an equal. An equal that he wanted to outplay, yes, but still an equal. It was an offer among equals, an honest offer and a friendly one, so Kylo gladly accepted.
Several hours later, Kylo found himself on the General's bed, lying next to Hux. No, not what you might think now. There were indeed some memory gaps concerning how he had gotten onto the bed and also how Hux had lost his shirt somewhere along the way ... but they were just lying next to each other, contemplating life and sharing their thoughts on everything that crossed their minds. As Hux was wildly describing and gesturing about Surpreme Leader Snoke's odd similiarity to a goblin-like creature from under a cave that was for some reason chasing after a golden ring.
Kylo looked at the General's face that somehow looked so different than usual.
"Emotions really suit him", he thought to himself, realizing that it might be very difficult to go back to their usual every day life of competition and training and more competition. Even though he felt a little dizzy and some memories of the past hours seemed blurry and incomplete ... he remembered climbing on Hux' desk and dancing on top of it while Hux was cheering at him? ... huh, strange. But still, Kylo had in fact never felt as good as he did now, he felt at ease with himself and this world, free of his worries and his anger.
In the meantime, Hux had completed his rant about Snoke's odd appearance and behaviour and he also attended some of his time to address the problem of that huge projection of his that forced Kylo and Hux to look up to him until their necks started to hurt. Clearly a god complex, he concluded.
Then he realized that Kylo wasn't even listening anymore. But Hux didn't mind that at all, he simply had to get this thing off his chest before it could slip out of him in a meeting with Snoke - that would surely be his last meeting for a long time, if not in forever. But it was odd that Kylo was staring at him like that, almost staring through him without noticing that Hux was now staring, too.
"What is it?", Hux asked, smiling at Kylo's reaction who acted like someone had just emptied a bucket of ice over him.
"Wha- ... oh. Nothing.", he mumbled, facing the ceiling again. "I was just ... thinking", he added.
"Thinking, aha ..."
"Yes, that's what people do with their heads. Might be a new concept for you, but you'll get used to it, eventually"
It was an insult, yes, but Kylo said it with a smile on his face and he didn't really mean it. Hux understood instantly and laughed.
"Good one, Ren. Very good one ..."
Hux' thoughts wandered off to the several times they both had spoken nothing but words of anger and disgust to each other. Now they were lying in the same bed like the best of friends, like brothers almost. It was odd, but also ... oddly perfect. He looked back to Kylo who had started to levitate small objects from Hux' desk into the air above them. It was a beautiful sight, the objects aligned themself in small orbits by what seemed like free will, forming small galaxies with little stars and planets ... as if they were meant to be floating in mid air above the heads of two utterly stoned members of the First Order. It was fascinating what Kylo was capable of, he handled the objects with such care and accuracy ... if someone had asked Hux earlier that day what the Force was good for, he could have only thought of pain and destruction. And he would have said the same thing about Kylo-Ren. But now, things were different. And he wished they would always be like that from that moment on, but he could not be sure about that. What if tomorrow, all that antipathy and malevolence suddenly came back and they were nothing more than rivals again? But if that's what Kylo wanted, Hux couldn't change a thing about that, he sadly realized.
"Kylo?", Hux broke the silence between them.
"Hmm?" Kylo didn't even look away from his self-made galaxy, too much fascinated by the orbits and rotations.
"That thing earlier, when you talked about breakups and such ..."
"Ugh, don't mention it, please. I made a total fool out of myself there!"
Hux laughed. Kylo's stuttering about relationships was the most hilarious thing that had happened to him since ... forever, basically.
But it had also shown him another side of Kylo-Ren. He was the kind of person he would love to call a true friend. Or maybe ...
"Yes, you totally did. But just one question ..."
Kylo shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, go ahead."
Hux hesitated. Should he really tell Kylo and trust him that much? It was a risk, but for once in his life, he wanted to risk something.
"Well, the thing is ... you said she was not worth it. Did you have somebody in particular in mind when saying that? Or was it just a guess?"
Kylo looked at Hux, a little confused.
"No, I didn't think of someone special. Why are you asking? Did you think I was talking about Phasma or what?"
Hux couldn't help but grin over this ridiculous thought. If Phasma was there, she would have killed them both within the blink of an eye. He knew what she was capable of.
"Oh God, no!", Hux stammered. Kylo smiled, still engrossed in his little Force experiment.
"The thing is ... if I were with someone, which I'm not, clearly ..."
This was a lot harder than Hux would have expected. But no way back now, just tell him.
He cleared his throat, throwing all doubts overboard.
"If I were with somebody ... it would rather be a he than a she ..."