Work Text:
Hux was pacing, jaw clenched so tightly that his teeth ached, shooting pain up along his neck, adding to the already pounding migraine he’d been barely keeping at bay with caf and cigs.
“What do you mean you can’t find them?” He demanded, snarling through clenched teeth, gaze harsh as he rounded on a Lieutenant who was certainly wishing she was any where but here right now.
“I’m sorry, General- I-”
“Enough excuses! Find Ren!” he snapped.
She recoiled, nodding frantically, before going back to working on her station, hands flying across the holo display, trying to locate the shuttle in the midst of the battle.
Damn him.
He had told Kylo that they didn’t need to do this right now- it could have waited. There was nothing so important that he couldn’t have waited another day.
Surely the Resistance couldn’t keep pace with them forever.
“Ren please, think on this logically,” Hux started, crossing his arms over his chest, ignoring Millicent as she butted at his ankles, winding between his legs and leaving streaks of orange fur over his boots. “We have a dog fight right outside the hanger bay- there’s not a way your ship will manage this unchallenged.”
Kylo blew air through his nose, raising a brow, before tilting his head, clearly considering Hux’s words. “Supreme Leader Snoke has given me clear instructions-”
“Damn the Supreme Leader! He’s setting you up to fail!” Hux snapped, voice raising. The Knight looked up at him, a frown evident on his face, standing and crossing the distance between them.
It took everything he had not to let go of his anger when Kylo’s fingers caressed his jawline, leading up into his hair, holding him gently as Ren rested their foreheads together.
“Armitage-” he murmured, nudging the tips of their noses against one another. “I’ll come back to you. I promise. We both know where my loyalties lie.”
“You’re a fool-”
“I know.”
Kriffing hell, if that was the last thing he had said to Ren…
No. He couldn’t afford to think like this.
He had a job to do. He would be able to handle this. He could break down later, in the safety of Kylo’s arms.
“Sir!” The Lieutenant called from her station. “Sir, I’ve found his signature but- Sir, it looks like his shuttle was hit. It’s engines are dead.”
Hux felt himself pale, lips pressing together tightly, hands flexing at his sides. “Get men out there, now!” he barked, turning and pacing over to the large view port, eyes scanning for his shuttle, desperately needing to see what was happening through the haze of various broken X-Wings and TIE fighters, a piece of A-Wing listing into his periphery.
There-
So far out, he could barely see the ridiculous wing structure that stood like spikes, cutting out the view of the stars behind them in long sweeps as the shuttle spun slowly, debris trailing behind it.
He was alive.
He had to be alive.
He had promised.
Hux didn’t have time to stop though, taking a deep breath, feeling eyes on him as he turned, looking to Mitaka, then back to the other Lieutenant and giving a sharp nod. “Bring him back-” he repeated, before launching into the battle again, doing everything he could to keep his men safe.
This would not be a battle they were losing.
-----
When things had finally died down, Hux allowed himself to breathe, pausing in the hall outside the med bay, pressing his hands and forehead to the cold durasteel wall.
He was dizzy.
That was expected.
Limbs like lead, dizziness, tingling in his fingertips, burning eyes and throat. Everything aching as the adrenaline left his system.
They had survived.
Barely.
His men were showing the raggedness that Hux felt in his bones. Their finances could barely sustain them with all non-essential personnel on nutrient paste, and double duties.
He wasn’t sure he could keep this current pace up.
Shaking his head, trying to force his doubts and fears away, he finally straightened, walking into the med bay and giving a curt nod to the medical droid as it pulled back.
Past rows of stormtroopers, a man who was bent over the side of his cot, vomiting into a bucket, past someone so badly space burned, he looked like a mummy of guaze...
To Ren.
Curtained off from the rest, Hux had to duck past the heavy white fabric, steps stuttering when he saw the man laying there, eyes closed and bandages wrapped across the side of his neck, and over his chest.
He was shirtless.
It was a distracting view, though not for the reasons he would prefer.
Ren’s ship had leaked atmosphere, his entire body was tinged a light blue by sickly, oxygen starved skin.
He had been the only one to survive the shuttle. Everyone else had asphyxiated before they’d reached him. Thankfully the rest of the Knights weren’t here to fuss over him. As it was, Pope was curled up under his bed, nothing to be seen of the man but his reflected eyes.
Hux ignored the man, sitting on the edge of Kylo’s bed, finding his hand easily and giving it a firm squeeze, his breath leaving him when Ren returned the motion, cracking a tired eye to watch him.
“Told you so.”
Hux could see the moment his mask fell, the facade shattered, Ren’s eyes widening with worry as Hux openly sobbed, leaning forward and pressing his face into the crook of his shoulder. His shoulders shook, and Kylo swallowed hard, feeling tears against his neck, wrapping his arm around the man.
“I love you, Kylo.” The words were soft, barely there, lips brushing Ren’s pulse.
Kylo swallowed hard, before pulling him closer, farther onto the bed, and into his arms fully, ignoring the pain in his wounds.
“I love you too, Hux- I promise... I won’t leave you.”
“You’d better not.”