Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars. Everything belongs to whoever owns them, my wishful thinking aside.
Authors Note #1: Set post SW: TFA. But honestly could be anywhere in the timeline so all that is up to you.
Warnings: sex pollen but without the sex part, animal behaviors, canon appropriate violence, injury, drama, Kylo likes to play right up until the tables turn and wooo-
Heat (wave) from Planet 340B-22K
He was in the middle of training when a sudden tidal-burst of emotion exploded into being. Blossoming like a flower going straight to it's fullest bloom as the Force sparked with a thrum of alien energy. It was a new presence. Wild, feral and dark - but with a common denominator that made it all the more appealing. Something that was on the very cusp of being named. A familiar mind. A familiar voice. A familiar spatial echo. He recognized its shape, but for the moment it was so altered he couldn't be sure unless he-
Something had happened.
Something wasn't right.
It felt almost like-
The trailing wisps of his rope whipped around the corner of his quarters as he strode out into the hall. Controlling his breathing as he welcomed the darkened obscurity of his helmet. Hiding his expression – both the excitement and the uncertainty – from view as he parted the crowds like water raging over rock. Letting his senses guide him. Following the growingly unstable thrum of angry color and heated lust all the way to-
He came around the corner sharply. Only realizing that somewhere along the line his pace must have increased. Enough that when he stopped abruptly, nearly bowling over a cluster of milling storm troopers, his cloak hissed through a half-hearted crack! that had the cluster falling into formation with an audible snap.
"Sir, there has been a complication on the planet!" Captain Phasma barked, as if by way of introduction. Standing her ground in front of the door leading into the infirmary. Not quite blocking his path, but intrusive enough that he slowed his stride. Forgoing her usual formalities in favor of marching over to meet him. Blaster-rifle firmly in hand and notably switched to stun.
Odd.
He sensed an unfamiliar surge of emotion from the Captain as she shifted in place. Clearly wishing to be back inside the infirmary and presumably tending to whomever was inside. "We were able to get him quarantined before it spread, but General Hux is-"
Hux.
Yes, of course.
It made sense now.
The cord of familiarity he'd felt.
The rushing surge of discontent.
Knowing intimately that something - someone - wasn't as they should be.
He didn't have to go far into medical to see what she meant. Brought up short by the sight of the General throwing himself wildly against the quarantine-barrier. Red hair wild and slicked with sweat. There was blood trickling down from the corner of Hux's mouth as he took the hit from the quarantine shield and rolled. Stripped to the waist in the harsh light of the med-bay as his pale, freckled skin grew ruddy with exertion. Shoulders hunched up like a threat display as he rose to his full height. Oblivious to the medical droids that were passing in and out of the shield, taking readings from a safe distance.
It was fascinating.
Forbidden.
Seeing the man like this was almost-
"What sort of complication?" he rasped, throat suddenly painfully dry as Hux wiped his mouth coarsely with the back of his hand. Eyes fastening on him like barbed anchors the moment he came into view. Not once looking away as Hux flashed his teeth in a silent growl. "Report, Captain."
"The General was infected by an unknown spore when he was on the planet, my lord," Phasma answered, each syllable crisp and collected as if she took strength from the familiarity of the task. "He showed signs of infection when they were exiting the planet's atmosphere. I noted an increase in breathing and heart rate. Soon after he complained of a sudden influx of heat, initially believing the interior controls to be malfunctioning. They were not. He excused himself to the rear compartment shortly afterwards and it was only when we docked that he was discovered in this state. He attacked the first trooper that entered the compartment quite soundly before we were able to stun him. Precursory readings indicate that the infection has targeted key areas concerning control and awareness. His testosterone levels are dangerously high- as is almost everything else in his system. Aggression included, as you can see."
Oh, yes.
Something inside him glinted darkly. Trying to imagine that slow loss of control. Had the man been aware of it? Of course he must have. Why else would he have barricade himself away from all those watching eyes? Trembling through each and every second, determined to hold on until they reached the Finalizer, only to unravel privately in a suffocating metal box. Desperately clinging to the last shreds of his precious control before-
Hux panted through the shield, eyes dark and pupil-large. Slanted sharply as every line, every pull of muscle on display screamed aggressive. Chin jutted and fists clenched tight at his sides as a small medical droid scooted up behind him. Injecting him with something vibrantly purple through the scuff of normally pristine, freshly pressed dress pants and solidly into the meat of his lower calf. Which predictably made the man yell, thrashing out with a wounded, angry sound as the droid squealed in alarm and zoomed off in retreat.
But whatever it was they'd injected him with didn't seem to work.
In fact, the General only seemed to get worse.
Hux was undeniably impressive like this. Animal and unearthly. The sharp opposite to everything he'd come to expect from him that what he was seeing now – this - translated almost like pleasure as it interred itself in his memory. Even more interesting, was that he could feel it. Whatever it was that'd leeched through him like an invading force - microscopic and unstoppable. He could sense the more even tones of Hux underneath it's thrall. And yet- at the same time they were melding. Finding a balance between man and organism until the difference between them was almost too thin to detect.
"Leave us," he ordered, barely aware of the semi-crowded room as the General's eyes held him captive. Daring him to look away, just for a second. Daring him to give him a reason to sink his teeth into the back of his nape and claim him like some primitive beast in rut.
One of the medical droids trilled in alarm.
Captain Phasma mirrored it.
"Lord Ren, this organism is highly contagious. There is no way of knowing how long it will take to work out of the General's system. The medical staff-"
"I said- leave us," he commanded, injecting just enough power into the words that everyone save for the Captain did a quick about face and started towards the doors.
It was an unexpected standoff by every measure.
And certainly not one he'd anticipated.
"He will remain behind the quarantine field until the infection has run its course. I will ensure he comes to no harm in the meantime, Captain," he added, quieter for the Phasma's benefit. Knowing her loyalty to Hux was the only thing that could made her pause to carry out an order from a superior. "You may go."
Her nod and brief "sir," was stiff, but she obeyed regardless. Engaging the privacy lock as she left. Hux's dark eyes followed her. Considering. The General would be interested to how deep her loyalty ran, indeed.
It felt much like watching a captive animal, he decided. Inspecting the man from all the angles the field afforded before approaching the very edge of the blue-tinted quarantine. Imagining what might happen if he used the force to momentarily interrupt the flow of protective energy.
"Look at you..." he murmured as Hux snarled through the field. Baring blunt human teeth as if they were a mouth full of canines as the words came out almost like a coo. "Look at what you've been brought too. Disorder. Choas. I thought you were better than this, General. Stronger."
Hux hissed, the cords in his neck straining. Yowling angrily when the field spat and pulsed. Repelling him every time he tried to inch forward. Desperate to reach him by any means despite having tried at least a half dozen times. But for what end? What did the organism want? Did it have an appetite to satisfy or just a particular proclivity towards violence? Did it crave connection? A mate? Or did it merely wish to multiply? To spread itself across the ship like angry, coiling tendrils of disease?
Perhaps it even wished for all of it at once.
Greedy.
Lecherous.
Hungry.
His grin was slow to spread but unquestionably pleased at the thought.
Yes, that suited Hux very well.
The man's mind was another matter entirely. Hazing red and yawning dark intermittently. Curious, he reached into it. Skimming across the surface uninvited. Trying to find him underneath the rage and need.
"No, this isn't just the compound," he mused suddenly, buoyed as the idea took shape while Hux's molars ground together. Letting go of a rattling sound that emanated from somewhere deep in his throat – half a warning, half a plead. "It isn't that simple. Though that's what you'll tell them, won't you? Clever, man that you are. Always scheming. Always planning. You've spent all your life reigning everything in, haven't you? Is this the first time you let the animal out to play, Hux? Oh yes…I can tell."
His own reaction to what was unfolding was privately fascinating, if not easily hidden under his mask and the thick of his robes. Feeling his cock twitch further and further into hardness until it was straining again his trousers. Mirroring Hux, who seemed to be in a similar predicament. With the man's length noticeably fattening across the front of his tailored slacks. Mirror images of the same destructive want.
"Part of this is you, isn't it?" he crooned, fascinated and allured in turn. Finding Hux's pretentious disarray almost as intoxicating as the man pacing back and forth on the other side of the quarantine. "You surprise me General, I didn't think you had it in you. Always so pressed – so precise and righteous. Who would have thought you've been hiding this animal under your skin all along?"
'An animal like mine,' a voice inside his head added.
It was an intrusive thought.
Something quickly snuffed but ultimately impossible to forget.
Yet another transgression Hux would pay for in due time.
"Could you feel it?" he hummed, feeling the Force crackle electric and excited around him. Finding something appealing in the way Hux's head snapped up. Cocking slightly like he was trying to make sense of he words. "Could you feeling it slipping away? What did it taste like, I wonder? Catharsis? Relief? Horror? Or worse…I suppose- for someone like you…freedom?"
Somewhere deep in his mind's eye he pictured the red-head pacing back and forth in the suffocating rear-compartment. Tugging at his collar. Sweating. Struggling to maintain the allusion that he wasn't falling apart at the seams as his hands trembled. Fingers curling into the facsimile of claws as his usual authorative sneer slipped off his expression in fractions.
When he looked up again he was surprised to see that Hux's eyes were clear and replaced with a razor sharp focus. Blinking animal-like and quiet, but almost recognizable for the first time. Taking him off guard – ticking weary – as he rocked back on his heels. Suddenly uncomfortably aware that the man wasn't looking at anything else but him.
"Mine," Hux snarled. Leaning into the barrier with his entire body as his relationship with the Force actually shuddered. Hiccupping off into a startled stillness the same moment the bitten-red of Hux's lips parted to reveal a panting mouth and a peeking tongue. Almost rubbing himself against the quarantine-shield now as the mechanism groaned. Beeping a muted warning as the part of him that was still tangled in the man's thoughts burned a searing, lust-fired red. "Mine."
For a long, stuttered second, he actually forgot how to breathe.
A/N: Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think. – This story is now complete.