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"Get him out of my sight."
"Yes, sir," Kylo Ren replied, bowing.
He turned on his heel and pulled General Hux up by his elbow. The other man struggled to get his legs to cooperate as he was dragged out of the room and down the hallway. The uncharacteristic unsteadiness wasn't going away fast enough for Kylo, and he gripped Hux tighter to make the man keep up with his pace. He didn't use the Force because the thought of carrying the man was so abhorrent he could taste its bitterness on his tongue.
Turning a corner, Kylo swung Hux in front of him and pushed him into an open doorway. The general stumbled shoulder-first into a wall, but he was still on his feet. He turned to face Kylo as he sagged against its cool sleek metal. He saw the door whoosh closed and heard it lock, and then Kylo was removing his helmet and slamming it down onto the nearest surface with a heavy thunk.
"What the hell was that?"
The face that met Hux's was enough to make him laugh, mirthlessly and possibly a little manically, which abruptly ended in a few short coughs.
The involuntary movement made the pain in his abdomen sharpen unbearably, and he broke eye contact as he doubled over. His normally well-groomed hair was a fiery mess. The crisp neatness of the uniform that he wore with so much pride was nowhere to be seen. He kept an arm around his middle and a hand on his knee as he exhaled, long and slow.
"You're welcome, by the way," he rasped.
His voice was louder and clearer than a whisper, but it sounded so wrong that Kylo's eyes narrowed to slits. He didn't move away from the door, his hands fisted at his sides.
"You're such a..."
"What? Say it."
"Why did you lie?" Kylo snapped instead in a low growl.
Hux slid down the wall, not because he had given up on standing but because he got the feeling he needed to sit down for this. He tilted his head back to look up at Kylo again.
"Really?" he asked, some of his usual condescension returning to his voice. He almost arched a brow, just to see if it would push the knight's buttons. Even when in blinding dizzying pain, Hux would choose to push Kylo's buttons if given the option. Usually. Now, though, he merely stared at Kylo, waiting for any sort of reaction. Preferably before he passed out. That would be nice, but when was Kylo ever willing to oblige?
Kylo stalked two steps closer. He paused before crouching down in front of Hux. His dark hair shifted as his head tilted to the side.
"Are you truly that simple?" he asked in that soft tone of his that was full of wonder and just an edge of mockery. Considering the way that it always made the general want to punch Kylo in the face whenever he heard it, regardless of whether it was directed at him, it was safe to say that Kylo took any opportunity to push Hux's buttons as well. No matter the circumstances that presented him with them.
"Apparently," Hux said with a dangerous smile. He held onto the viciousness in his expression, even as another intense stab of pain ran through every nerve like lightning and made his jaw clench.
A gloved hand straightened toward Hux's abdomen and hovered just out of reach in the empty space between them. As if Hux would be so inclined as to reach out for it now.
"Tell me," Kylo said as he stared at Hux, who blinked and tensed a little.
He could count on one hand how many times he'd heard Kylo speak like that, in that particular tone. It never failed to seize Hux's attention immediately.
Mentally shaking himself and latching on to whatever irritation he could muster, Hux kept his gaze trained on Kylo's and shifted so that he was glaring at the other man from under his brows.
Smirking, he admitted quietly and evenly, "You're important to me, you piece of shit."
Hux could have sworn that Kylo began to smile at his expense, or possibly even laugh, but at that precise instant the pain muted and everything faded to a hazy grey and then black nothingness.
Kylo's arm dropped back to his side and he slowly stood. A small impossible breeze moved lightly through Hux's hair, pushing a few loose locks back into place.
"Good to know, you foolish prick."