Chapter Text
The Skywalkers were good at many things. Being really talented, of course; making a splash in history books, sure thing; striving for the greater good of the world, no doubt; being given terrible emotional trauma, definitely; overthrowing corrupt governments, yes sir. But when it came to love, well love was not a thing Skywalkers did well. Once upon a time, Kylo’s father had told him that a Skywalker love was as graceful as a drunk circus bear. The mental image had been rather disturbing for a ten year old boy, but the message had been broadcasted loud and clear. The Skywalkers were desperately horrible at romantic affairs.
While Ben Solo – or Kylo Ren as he preferred – had managed to not inherit any skills the Skywalker family was known for, he did manage to gain their abysmal romantic abilities (and the immense amount of emotional trauma – he had a lot of that to spare). Kylo had experienced his fair share of romantic affairs – if they even were qualified to be called that. He had experienced his first kiss in junior high with a girl whose name escaped him. She had been older that was for sure and she also had been in possession of a myriad of piercings that Kylo had thought made her look edgy. He had been jealous of the piercings, he remembered that much.
His first official romance had been with a clingy girl named Sava or something like that. She had been nice at first; always smiling at him with her bright blue eyes and luxurious blonde hair that Kylo had secretly admired. Plus she had been one hundred percent okay with calling him by his preferred name, that name being Kylo Ren. Ben Solo had disliked his given name to such an extent he had felt the need to concoct a new name that properly fit his rebel (dare he called it that) image. His peers and parents had been reluctant to use his alias and it wasn’t until he was in sophomore year that people finally accepted his preferred name choice. He smirked to himself, satisfied, upon remembering how people had finally bent to his will. It only took one summer of rigorous training and a perfectly timed growth spurt to gain the respect he desired from his peers. And he only had to beat up one person to obtain such respect! He wished everything could have been that easy.
Back to the point, Sava – or Sara or whatever her name was – had been totally okay with calling a freshman Ben by the name Kylo and that had been one of the main driving factors behind their relationship. Yeah, a sad reason to date a girl, but she had been more than willing so Kylo assumed the relationship would be just fine. And for a while it was. It had been a surprisingly long relationship that lasted until senior year before they flamed out two weeks before the prom dance. Kylo had been the one to break it off because he had become bored with the whole relationship thing.
It had reached a whole new level of tedious and he felt no need to keep the whole thing going anymore. People were already calling him by his preferred name and he no longer could find a reason to date the alarmingly clingy blonde (seriously, who steals your phone goes through your texts like that – that’s just plain weird). She seemed to be hanging around him because he had received a surge of popularity after his climb to power in his sophomore year. Well, if you could count gaining friends because people were scared of you popularity then sure Kylo had been the most popular guy around. Kylo had long since figured the girl had been clinging to him because he had raised her status on the social ladder and he had tolerated it, but two weeks before the prom dance he found himself reaching his limit. So he had told her they were breaking up.
The girl had shouted and screamed and tried to slap Kylo (she had been much too short to properly reach him so no damage was done) and Kylo remembered walking away thinking women were not worth the struggle. He spent the rest of his senior year decidedly single and that did not bother him one bit. He had been too busy partying until he could no longer think and trying to pass all of his classes for romance anyways. It was obvious Kylo was no keener, he wasn’t shooting for the stars and he wasn’t planning for some long winded run in the post-secondary school system – despite his parent’s protests.
In his senior year, Kylo had formed a band with some friends (if he could call them that) and by the time he had graduated they were riding a mild wave of fame. Their success allowed Kylo to move out of his home and escape his parent’s ever watching and judging gaze. He spent most of his nineteenth year on the road and it was three piercings and one tattoo later that Kylo found his second love. This time it had been a man who became the object of his affection.
He remembered his name. Devan had been a gentle soul whose nose had always been buried in the bookstore’s books and he had always smelled faintly of coffee. Probably to be expected from the literary type. Kylo had met the boy when he took up a job at the local bookstore cafe in Seattle. Kylo and his band – the Knights of Ren – had settled in that town when they found a permanent gig in some hipster grunge bar. He disliked the scene, but their mild wave of fame had diminished as quickly as it had grown and it was the only solid gig they had. Despite being a solid gig, it did not pay near enough so Kylo had decided to apply for a secondary job at the kitschy bookstore cafe a block away from his equally kitschy apartment. One month in Seattle and Kylo had determined everything there was to be branded kitschy.
It was while working in that bookstore cafe that he had met Devan. A local boy who had been in his second year of a nearby college and had been majoring in classic literature. The two had inevitably bonded over their like for obscure bands and love of equally obscure books. A romance bloomed between the two eventually and Kylo had, according to Devan himself, swept Devan off of his feet during their brief stint of a romance. But like a classic Skywalker, Kylo ended up botching up the whole relationship and this time it was due to his excessive emotional trauma (that other Skywalker skill he had managed to obtain).
Apparently, Devan had found Kylo’s emotional instability, quote: “made him look like a fucking psycho” and the man had told Kylo to seek counselling before slamming the door in his face and moving cities (if his Facebook information was true). At first, Kylo had been bitter, but soon the rage ebbed away and was replaced by some sort of numbness. When Kylo was twenty years old he decided romance was not his thing and he figured following in his Uncle Luke’s footsteps in strict celibacy was not a bad idea. It was better than his father’s way of dealing with his failed romance with Kylo’s mother. Although sometimes Kylo thought getting piss drunk like his dad used to would not be a bad idea.
It also happened that the Knights of Ren lost their gig within two months of Kylo’s break up and that certainly had not helped his mood. The incident during their final performance had gained Kylo his third stint in a holding cell (don’t ask about the first two). After that the band broke up, to say the least, and everyone went off in their different ways. All of the band members ended up leaving the state except Kylo who found he could still pay his rent via his job at the bookstore. In the end, the steady band gig that he had been so proud of had paid less than he remembered if his bookstore job’s salary could pay his rent and his band gig couldn’t.
It was one year later that Kylo found himself where he is now: in the crowded hallways of the Business Education building. After some prompting by the manager of the bookstore, Kylo had enrolled in University because apparently if he wanted any sort of future career post-secondary education was the way to go. As it seemed, his parents had been right all along, but he was not going to give them the satisfaction of letting them know that. Currently, Kylo was pursuing a marketing major as it melded well with his artistic talents and he had to grudgingly admit it was rather enjoyable. The only thing that was not enjoyable was his lack of spare income.
University tuition was bleeding him dry and he was in desperate need of a roommate or else he was sure he would not be able to make next month’s rent. Thankfully, his landlord, a gentle old woman by the name of Maz, had been kind enough to allow Kylo to find a roommate. It was this fact that had Kylo standing in front of the announcements bulletin board and trying to burn a hole in the dingy white walls with his scowl – or so it seemed. He was set to meet a student pursuing an accounting major by the name of Brendol Hux II who was supposed to be a potential roommate. Kylo would have snickered at the man’s name, but frankly he himself could not be one to judge since he was called Kylo Ren of all things.
While Kylo knew he needed a roommate, he was not all over the idea of having someone invading his personal space. All of the roommate candidates he had met so far were anything but appealing to him; they were all either too eccentric or too sketchy and, while he would not admit it, this Brendol Hux II fellow was his only hope. The accounting major student had been the last person on his list of options – who really wants to share a room with a stuffy accounting student – but after all of his preferred choices had turned out to be duds Kylo found himself having no other choice.
“Are you Kylo Ren?”
Kylo snapped out of his thoughts instantly and shifted the target of his scowl. The man who peered up at him was slightly shorter than him and had the most blindingly red hair that Kylo had ever seen. Currently, that hair was slicked back in the most severe hairstyle Kylo had ever laid eyes on and he frankly could not help but wonder if it was painful. He examined the man from head to toe before responding. As it seemed, Brendol Hux II was all clean lines and perfectly pressed slacks.
“Yes, I am him.” Kylo responded in the most bored tone he could muster. Brendol narrowed his eyes at him before nodding with an almost military sharpness.
“Good, I am Brendol Hux the second, but simply Hux will do.” The smaller man stuck out a hand in offering to Kylo and Kylo stared at it for a good few seconds before crushing the petit hand in his strong grip.
“Nice to meet you simply Hux.” Kylo stated, the slightest of smirks tickling the edges of his lips. This earned a scowl and a snort from the smaller man. While pissing off this red haired man would probably be a bad idea, Kylo could not help but attempt to push his buttons as he looked like such a stickler. He would’ve been the person Kylo would have teased in high school for his immaculate disposition and never ending love for the rules.
“Ha, ha, ha, very funny. Now may I see this apartment you have for rent?” Hux met Kylo’s mirth filled gaze with a flinty one and Kylo amended his previous thoughts. Hux probably would not have just been the type Kylo would have teased in high school, he would have been his rival. More like probably will be his rival.
“Sure,” Kylo stated, peeling himself off of the wall and slipping into business mode. “It’s rather close to the campus which you probably will like.”
Hux said nothing but nodded absentmindedly and fell into step with Kylo as they walked towards Kylo’s apartment. The walk was entirely uneventful. Usually Kylo grilled his potential roommates with the cold dispassion of an interrogator (he figured if he could make a career of interrogation he’d be a damn good interrogator), but he felt the appearance and aura Hux seemed to be giving off was enough to seal Kylo’s opinion of him. He did not seem to be a drug dealer in secret nor did he seem to be some sort of person who would try to rearrange Kylo’s furniture because his current layout did not go with his flow of chi or whatever. No, Brendol Hux II looked as average as they came and Kylo never figured he would be actually happy because of this, but he was.
The walk to his apartment was a short one and Kylo quickly climbed the flight of stairs to the second floor to unlock his apartment: room 2D. Hux trailed behind, taking the stairs with delicate grace that almost made Kylo want to roll his eyes. He hoped this man did not do everything with that same slowness and patient perfectionism. Hux stepped inside the apartment and he glanced around at the bohemian flat Kylo called his home.
Books were piled on a tall oak bookshelf that was tucked into the far wall and they spilled onto the small side table that was tucked neatly beside the faded yellow couch. There was a Turkish rug his Uncle had bought for him years back under a scuffed coffee table that was also currently littered with books and an abandoned coffee mug (ah so that’s where his Darth Vader mug had gone). An aquarium sat beside the rather dated TV and an expansive window was nestled into the wall to their left – the wall that faced the street below. The living room had been set up around this window and Hux’s eyes travelled from the left of the long room to the right.
The right side of the room was where the kitchen was. Kylo enjoyed that the flat was an open floor concept because it made it easy for him to entertain guests. Well, not that he had entertained guests in a while, since his fellow bandmates had all moved away he found himself with a lack of friends and it was rather hard to throw a party when your only contacts were work colleagues. Hux’s eyes raked over the rather dated kitchenette and rested on the few dishes littering the sink. The oak floorboards creaked as Kylo led him deeper into the apartment – to where the rooms were.
A small and rather narrow hallway off the kitchen/living area led to the two bedrooms and the one bathroom that the house had. Kylo did not speak as he opened the door of the currently empty room Hux would be taking if he chose to accept Kylo’s rental offer. The room was rather spacious and had a window overlooking the park the apartment complex backed on to; Hux had stopped for the briefest of seconds to examine the view. The tour continued in silence as Kylo led Hux into the bathroom they would have to share. It was old, but Maz had put some work in sprucing it up so it had a sort of eclectic feel that Kylo had grown accustomed to. It was not until Kylo had led Hux back into the living room did he finally speak.
“So, is it to your standards?” he asked, he was expecting some sort of indignation at the state of the flat since Hux seemed like the sort of guy who would have some arbitrary standards everything in life had to meet. The fact that not even one hair was out of place on Hux’s ginger head was where this particular assumption was stemming from – the immaculate clothing is what sealed the deal. The ginger man just pursed his lips in thought before nodding sharply.
“It will do yes.” He responded tightly before his eyes roved around the room and landed on the discarded coffee mug on the coffee table. Kylo smirked to himself as he watched the man fidget, obviously trying to repress the urge to clean the mess he was currently viewing.
“I am glad to hear that simply Hux.” Kylo stated, his smirk widening as Hux sent him an unmasked glare. There was something amusing about getting under this man’s skin. Despite his obvious annoyance, Hux said nothing against Kylo’s rather hilarious joke – or at least he thought it was hilarious. Returning to his serious nature, Kylo turned to grab a copy of the rental agreement Maz had given to him earlier this week.
She had given him numerous copies as Kylo had been expecting to give out quite a few, but the pile was untouched since he had deemed none of the previous renters he interviewed anywhere near his standards. Heck, there was one guy he never brought one block near the flat because he had been so darn creepy. Kylo gingerly picked up one copy of the rental agreement and thrust it into Hux’s hands.
“A copy of the rental agreement. You can look it over and get back to me if you are interested in renting here.” Kylo stated in a bored tone. Hux just raised on well-groomed eyebrow, but said nothing more. They exchanged conversational pleasantries before Hux slipped away and Kylo was left wondering if the red haired man would ever return. Something about him interested Kylo. While he could not really place what in particular about the relatively short, red haired man had caused his interested to be piqued, but he found himself following the ginger’s form as he made his way out onto the busy streets then vanished from view.
In his absence, Kylo found his eyes turning to the abandoned mug and clutter caused by his myriad of books. It was then, after Hux’s departure that Kylo tided up his living room. As he did so, he tried to convince himself it was not because of the ginger man he was doing this. No, he was not trying to please this man in any way and, no, Hux’s obvious hatred for his clutter did not prompt him into action. Yes, the living room may have been like this last week and the week before that, but it had not been Brendol Hux’s appearance that made him wish to clean. Brendol Hux II was just a fellow business student and a possible roommate, nothing more and nothing less. Kylo definitely did not think of the effect the man had on him and he definitely did not think about Hux’s fiery and attractive hair and slim waist.
No, he definitely did not think about that at all.