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It was cold and the snow was deep. The icy white powder came up to the middle of Hux’s shins where is was deepest, and as he trudged through the snow plagued school grounds it fell into his shoes, melting and seeping into his socks annoyingly. If he had known that his afternoon would be spent outside in the cold, he would have dressed much more accordingly to the occasion. Unfortunately for the senior, this whole hindrance was a surprise, and thus he was underprepared.
Kylo Ren, his infuriating and unbelievably irritating classmate, had decided that today would be a good day to begin stepping on Hux’s nerves. The redhead was fairly used to the other boy’s annoyances, as they were a constant in his daily life. The two shared a number of their classes, and had been aware of each other since freshman year, but they had only been properly acquainted since junior year, when they shared half of their classes. Hux wouldn’t describe their relationship as anything but classmates, but others would say they were probably closer to best friends. They would eat lunch together, sit next to each other, and even go to one another’s houses after school. They were close, but Hux didn’t want to push anything too far out of proportions.
Regardless of their more friendly moments of interaction, the two boys had plenty of fights. Things never really got out of the verbal range of disagreement, usually just ever increasing levels of bickering and picking on one another, or making fun of each other for entertainment. Arguments were a familiar thing between them, and once one was started, it could last for days. Today, however, their banter had increased to the point of one of Kylo’s infamous “tantrums”.
They had been fine, sitting next to one another in silence as both worked on their class work, when their teacher had perturbed Kylo with some criticism. Kylo was immediately angered by this, and he began to talk back to their teacher. This was fine with Hux, until Kylo proceeded to push his stuff off of their shared table, resulting in a majority of Hux’s notebooks, textbooks, and writing utensils to go toppling across the floor. In retaliation, Hux had shoved all of Kylo’s things onto the ground as well. Things escalated, and both of them ended up with detention, which turned into clearing the sidewalks of snow.
Unfortunately for the two of them, it had been snowing everyday for the last couple of days. From what Hux could tell just from walking through it, it was at least a foot and a half deep, though it was definitely deeper in other parts of the campus. With his hands tucked as far into the pockets of his long black coat, and his chin angled as close to his chest as it would go, he stomped through the snow, muttering angry curses and picking up his legs awkwardly to try and move more quickly.
As he walked, his green eyes locked onto the school’s tool shed. It was large, but not in the best of shape, and was currently caked with snow. He made his way over as quickly as he could manage, almost slipping once, but he soon stood just a foot away from the doors. Kylo was nowhere in his direct sight, but upon further inspection, the redhead noticed that a set of footprints came from the other direction and led directly into the shed. His eyes also caught the glint of the shed’s padlock, discarded carelessly into a snow drift just a few feet away.
He grabbed the handle of one of the shed doors and pulled it open just enough so that he could slip in through the gap, before quickly returning his hand to it’s place in his pocket, his fingertips tingling at the cold metallic surface. Once inside, his eyes were immediately drawn to where Kylo was sitting, huddled on top of a large cart. He’d turned on the dim, low watt bulb that hung from the ceiling, and evidently, had decided to wait for Hux to arrive, rather than begin their punishment.
“What took you so long?” The raven haired senior demanded as soon as he made eye contact, brows furrowed in a glare. “I’ve been waiting forever.” He added with a large frown. Hux thought that he was trying to seem threatening, though it did very little to change his attitude.
“My class in across campus,” Hux huffed his response as he pulled the door shut behind him, “you knew that.” He commented with a sneer. He took a few steps closer to the other, until he stopped just a few feet short of the crate he was on. From where he stood, the light bulb above him cast his shadow over Kylo, who was still irritated. “Why haven’t you started shoveling the sidewalk yet? You could have probably gotten a lot done already.”
“Why would I do that? We’re both supposed to be doing it, I’m not going to do the work for you.” The other responded quickly, his brows knitting even closer together, his anger obviously beginning to increase to some degree.
Hux knew that it wasn’t smart to add any fuel to the flame that was Kylo’s rage, as it usually ended up poorly for anyone involved, but he also knew that he could get away with a little bit of edge. He rather enjoyed getting under the other boy’s skin on occasion, this being one, so he continued.
“I wasn’t insinuating that you should do all of it, I was just saying that we could have been closer to being done if you had started when you arrived.” He began with a monotonous volume, before adding, with an amused glance and a smirk pulling at his lips, “Besides, you were the one who got us into this.”
In response, Kylo snarled at him and swung his long legs, which were clad in dark jeans, over the side of the crate and onto the bare floor of the shed. He easily pushed himself up and onto his feet, shoes thumping against the hard, concrete ground, and shortened the distance between them in seconds.
“I was the one who got us into this?” He retorted incredulously, squaring his shoulders slightly. “I didn’t do shit; you pushed my things on the floor, you shouldn’t have even been involved! It was between me and the teacher!” He insisted, the irritation clear in his tone.
Hux was by no means a short man, but Kylo was easily a few inches taller than him, forcing the redhead to tilt his head slightly upwards in order to look him properly in the eyes. The slightly taller of the two was still sneering down at him, with his back as straight as it could be and eyebrows lowered in a threatening gaze. Hux just returned it with an even look, not affected by his stance.
“Of course you didn’t do anything.” Hux scoffed, his hands curling slightly into loose fists. “Just pick up a snow shovel and start shoveling.” His tone was slightly irritated, though his facial expression was still rather even, and he knew right away that his lack of any clear change in mood, as well as ordering him to do things, would make Kylo even angrier. At this point in time, he couldn’t think of much else more enjoyable than stepping on the other’s nerves.
At this point, Hux should have realized that he was pushing his limits, but he hadn’t until Kylo reached out and pushed him backwards by his shoulders. The slightly taller was snarling at him as they both moved back, Hux’s back colliding with the shed doors briefly. He didn’t really have any time to think as he felt the doors sliding open and himself falling, but he grabbed frantically, hands gripping Kylo’s jacket. He stumbled back a few steps, before slipping completely and falling onto his back, bringing Kylo with him.
He let out a yelp of surprise when his back connected with the snowy pavement below, legs sprawled ungracefully. The snow was deep enough here that it touched his ears and fell into his collar, making him shiver uncomfortably as he clenched his teeth. His hands had still been balled into the fabric of Kylo’s hoodie, pulling him down so that he landed directly on top of him.
Kylo pushed himself up so that he was straddling the redhead instead of laying on him, a frown still on his face, though he looked fairly smug. Before either could say anything, the slightly taller reached down and picked up a handful of snow, before shoving it rudely down the front of Hux’s shirt, not being able to stop himself from laughing while the assaulted senior squirmed and shrieked underneath him.
“Ren, get off of me!” Hux yelled loudly, voice slightly higher than normal, due to the cold snow that was now quickly melting on his chest. He moved his hands so he could try to push him away, only to be countered by Kylo. One hand was caught by Kylo’s, fingers intertwined as they pushed each other aggressively, while his other hand had connected with his chin. It wasn’t much help, but Kylo’s weight was shifted slightly, enough for Hux to attempt escape again.
“No, fuck off.” Kylo taunted as he laughed, a smirk on his face as he was pushed slightly away. Despite their similar heights, there was no questioning that Kylo was stronger than Hux. Both of them knew that most of Hux’s attempts to overpower him were useless, as Kylo’s legs were both planted firmly on either side of the redhead. “Now who’s fault was this?”
Another handful of snow was scooped from the ground beside Hux’s head, and aimed right for his face. Hux quickly jerked his hand away from Kylo’s chin, so that he could smack the snow away from him, resulting in only a partial victory as they cold substance exploded into a shower of snow that sprinkled lightly over them both.
Hux took this moment to grasp blindly at the snow around him, before he could pull a large ball of snow up and shove it anywhere and as quickly as he could, before the other could realize what was going on. Kylo realized just a moment too late what Hux was doing as the snow was pushed right into his neck, making him sit up straighter and shoot out his free hand to grab the other’s arm.
“Fuck!” Kylo shivered as he squeezed Hux’s hands in his own, making sure that he couldn’t escape his grip. It took him a moment before he could shake the snow off of himself, before he pushed both of Hux’s hands away from him, down to the ground, where he moved repositioned himself so that he could successfully pin both of his hands down at his sides, underneath his knees. “That was rude.”
Hux frowned up at him brows furrowed with frustration as he struggled briefly, trying to get loose again, only to give up and lie still underneath the weight of the other senior after a minute. Kylo, all the while, just sat on top of his lap, hands loosely resting on Hux’s chest and an amused look on his features and a relaxed posture.
Once Hux had stopped thrashing around, they took a moment to silently look at one another, Hux considerably more irritated than Kylo. Hux quickly grew tired of this, because Kylo was heavy and because the snow was still soaking into his clothes, making him shiver occasionally, so he spoke up. “Are you going to get off of me yet?”
Kylo seemed to consider this for a moment, before he leaned forwards, shifting so that Hux could slip his hands out from under his knees, so that his face hovered just inches away from the redhead’s. Hux didn’t try to push him away, and so Kylo continued, until their lips were pressed gently together. It was ironically contradictory to how Hux had ever imagined a kiss with Kylo to be, soft and delicate, free of any anger. Only a brief and nice tenderness.
They only pull away because Hux used his newly free hands to grab onto the front of Kylo’s jacket again, pushing him away slowly. Once apart, his eyes opened after a moment of brief hesitation, and he stared up at Kylo, green eyes searching the other’s face seriously. Kylo didn’t look like this was some sort of a joke, or something regretful, and it almost made Hux smile because of how unexpected it was, but instead he just pulled him close again and reconnected their lips.
Now, he couldn’t care less about the cold snow that was chilling his whole back. He was just excited to be doing this. This wasn’t the first time he’d wanted to kiss Kylo, and it most certainly wouldn’t be the last. The redheaded senior thought that Kylo was attractive, and sometimes, he felt as though he wanted to more with Kylo than just be “friends”. Hux wasn’t very good with relationships, however, so he had never acted on anything, and instead just kept everything to strictly thoughts. So, as Kylo moved his hands to slide up his chest and to his face, one on his chin and the other just under his ear, thumb brushing his cheekbone, Hux’s own fingers curled tighter into the ravenette’s jacket.
This would have definitely continued, both seniors kissing passionately, sitting in the snow, if not for the quite purposefully sarcastic throat clearing that came from a few feet away from them. In an instant, the two boys broke away from one another, Kylo dropping his hands and sitting up as quickly as he could, Hux still flat on his back, but hands no where near Kylo, as they both turned their heads to look at who ever made the noise.
“I didn’t know this was how you guys shoveled snow.” A few feet away, Phasma stood with a smirk clear on her face as she watched them. She was wearing primarily black, other than her large and bright grey letterman jacket, hands shoved into the pockets, and despite the lack of heavy clothes, she looked no colder than either of them.
Hux felt his face redden immediately as he pushed Kylo, who wasn’t expecting it, off of him. The two them stumbled and struggled to stand up right, both glaring as Phasma laughed and walked closer.They expected something embarrassing to come out of her mouth, but she just walked past them and into the shed, before coming back with three snow shovels.
As she shoved one into the arms of each boy, Hux spoke up, “What are you doing, Phasma?” Hux was vaguely scared she was going to tell someone or something, but that subsided quickly as she began to shovel the sidewalk. Phasma was trustworthy, and they were nearly best friends.
“Practice ended about ten minutes ago, and I noticed none of the sidewalks were clear yet, so I wanted to see if you two froze to death,” she began, looking back at the two of them, before smiling smugly, “but I see now that you two were warming each other up.”Kylo and Hux both glared, but they began helping her.
“I should’ve told the teacher you two were to noodly to get this done.” She teased again, laughing as Kylo threw some snow at her.