Lights filled the air outside of the windows of General Hux's office windows as the fireworks went off for the annual First Order New Year Celebration. The booms were echoing all around the city, and this was the one day in the year where the entire First Order had the day off. Basically, they were allowed to bring in fireworks and drinks (more than likely alcoholic), and, under the proper supervision, they were allowed to set off fireworks. The fireworks ranged from various poppers to the big fireworks that some of the Stormtroopers saved their money up for certain parties of the year, and this was one of them.
Hux was leaned over the paperwork he had because Kylo Ren had destroyed another elevator in the past week. But besides that, he had lots of paperwork that he had to finish because if he didn't do it, then it wouldn't get done. It was the New Year, and Hux wanted to get off on the right foot this year, hopefully enabling him to not be just a punching bag this year.
He paused in his hurried scribbling, his wrist aching, and stretched, absentmindedly scratching Millicent's ears while looking out the window at the beautiful lights outside. Someone had strung up paper lanterns along some of the walls in the spirit of the new year, and some of the Stormtroopers had taken over the kitchens by, ironically enough, storm, and had created a massive new year's feast for everyone that had attended the party. Hux stood up, Millicent curling around his shoulders, as he walked over to the window, looking out at his soldiers and staff scurrying around on the ground below, their shouts of ooh's and aah's as the fireworks lit up the night sky. The general public even came and watched some of the shows.
A giant firework of a dragon pulled him out of his thoughts, the boom sounding like a cannon going off. The light reflected off of him, sending beams at the paperwork on his desk, but Hux was distracted by the fireworks in the sky. Some of the pyro-technicians had come to Hux earlier in the week and had asked for his permission to create special fireworks for this year's party. He had agreed reluctantly, under the condition that they finished this week's work and got at least a third of the way done with next week's. They had readily agreed, and the results of the fireworks were beautiful. There were flowers, dragons, the year number had showed up once.
He gazed at the fireworks, and they set off another big one, the big one exploding into little fireworks, and the chain reaction brought smaller and smaller explosions. Hux's lips twitched, forming an almost upward angle.
"I thought you were getting started on this year's work?" A snarky voice came from behind him, yanking him from the trance that the fireworks had put him in. Hux whirled around, and it was none other than the one and only Captain Phasma, her blonde hair illuminated by the fireworks still going off outside.
"I was, I merely became distracted by the fireworks that are right outside my window. Why do they set them off right there every year?" Hux huffed in reply, faking displeasure about the fireworks.
Phasma arched an eyebrow. "Hux, I know that you like them, because you have to approve where they set the fireworks off at, and if you didn't like them, you wouldn't let them pick that spot every year."
Hux didn't have a comeback for that, because she wasn't wrong in any way. He did enjoy watching the fireworks, seeing what his pyro technicians would come up with. They became more and more creative every single year, and it was so entertaining to see how much bigger and brighter the fireworks would get after every year that went by.
"Why are you up here in my office, Phasma?" Hux inquired, turning away from the window, and setting Millicent down on his desk, where she curled up on a stack of finished paperwork.
Phasma laughed. "One of my guys had a little too much to drink, so he wound up on this floor, and he's stumbling around. They sent me to fetch him before he became too big of a problem, and the cleaning staff has to come back in."
Hux shook his head. "Do they ever learn when their tipping point is? This happens every year. Which Stormtrooper is it?"
"TF-4291. He forgets how potent some of the stuff that they bring in is, but he's also quite the lightweight when it comes to alcohol."
Hux made a mental note that they needed to get a protocol in the medical book to make sure that TF-4921 would stop getting so much alcohol. It seemed that every year Hux and Phasma had the exact same conversation.
A boom came from behind them, illuminating the room, and showing the bags under Hux's eyes, which Phasma had originally thought were just the shadows, since the only real light in the room came from the sun during the day, and a lamp on Hux's desk during the night.
"Why aren't you celebrating, besides your pathetic 'I'm going to get started on next year's paperwork' excuse?" Phasma included air quotes with her fingers to emphasize her point, since he loved the fireworks so much, it was strange that he wasn't down there celebrating with the other officers and staff on the practically only off day that they got a year.
"Phasma, I did not get to the rank of General by sitting on my tailbone for an entire day. I used my days off to get extra work done, until I was promoted to General. I will not stop that now." Hux snippily replied, sitting back down at his desk, and picking up his pen, ready to get started on the paperwork again.
Phasma's eyes narrowed. The sudden drop in the atmosphere was suspicious. Hux had become withdrawn within an instant, turning a cold shoulder at her the second she had brought up why he wasn't outside at the party. There had to be a reason, and now she was absolutely going to find out what it was. "Why don't you take a break? The officers are having a fascinating conversation about which version of Jack Daniel's is the best."
Hux snorted. "Of course they are. No thank you, I am quite happy here, alone, with the paperwork."
"And that's why you have the cat in here too?"
"The cat is to be addressed as Millicent, Phasma, and she's only here because she was cold and I didn't want her to freeze in the bedroom while the heating system was out in there."
Phasma thought for a moment. "Are you positive that it isn't just because you're lonely?"
Hux's Adam's apple bobbed as he angrily stood up and coldly stated, "Captain Phasma, I order you to leave my office at once and to not return for the rest of the evening."
Phasma chuckled, and held up her hands, calmly leaving. Hux sank down in his chair, the fireworks illuminating the slumped form of the General of the First Order. He approved these parties, but he never did go to them, which surprised a lot of the staff at the base. But hey, they got a day off, and it was perfectly alright for them to drink at the party, so they were alright with that, because the medical staff was still around to help out if someone got drunk enough to accidentally hurt themselves by jumping off the third story balcony again. They learned that lesson after the first incident.
It was mostly because he and his father had never really celebrated the New Year, it just wasn't what they did. Most of what he and his father did involve Hux being yelled at for something that he had done "wrong", and a lot of misery for both sides of the equation. Quite frankly, Hux couldn't care less about what his staff did while celebrating on their day off. If they wanted to get drunk, that was alright with him, at least they wouldn't bother him in his office.
Which was more than he could say about Kylo Ren.
Who just happened to show up right as the thought popped into Hux's head.
"Hux. Why did you chase Phasma out of your office? She was merely inquiring about your activities." Kylo inquired.
"She was stepping over a line that I did not wish to discuss. I asked her to leave. She left. It was a very simple process Kylo." Hux icily responded.
Kylo shrugged. "As simple as the fact that you never attend any forms of social gatherings unless you are required to give a speech, or you are getting an award?"
Hux rolled his eyes. Of course Kylo couldn't just leave after his first question had been answered. "Is there a reason that you're here?"
"TF-4921 has been wandering around the hallways, and Phasma found a few more drunk Stormtroopers, and they were getting a bit rowdy, so she called me up."
"And that ends up in my office because?"
Kylo's jaw muscles twitched, almost knowing that Hux might get angry. "One of the Stormtroopers has your hat."
Hux's eyebrows furrowed. "What?"
"The hat. You know, the one that you wear during your speeches and to important meeting."
"…how did he get it?"
"He got into your room and took it."
"How-how did he get into my room?"
Kylo was sweating. He didn't want to tell the frowning Hux that one of the officers had asked the very drunk Stormtrooper to steal Hux's hat, and gave him the authority card to get into the room. "I am…not sure."
Hux's left eyebrow raised, but he didn't push it. "And you two can't get it back why? It's one Stormtrooper."
"He kind of escaped us."
"The highest Stormtrooper captain, and the only force wielder on base can't catch a single Stormtrooper?"
Kylo pursed his lips. "That sounds about right."
Hux massaged his temples. "And where is the Stormtrooper now?"
"We need your code so that we can access the GPS chip that's on him."
Hux rolled his eyes as he turned around, pulling up the holo screen that was at his desk, and, covering the keyboard so that Kylo couldn't see it, he typed his code in, and pulled up the location of TF-4921.
"He's at the party, near the uniform cleaning area."
Kylo nodded. "Thank you. We will fetch him immediately."
Hux's eyes followed Kylo as he briskly walked out. Why hadn't Kylo just used his own code? Kylo had a code to get in, they didn't have to bother Hux about it. He sighed, and stood up. Somebody had to go and make sure that they actually caught the Stormtrooper this time. Hux had already figured out that something was up, because Kylo and Phasma working together could have easily caught one single Stormtrooper, especially since he was drunk.
Hux took a datapad with the location on it, and shrugged on his greatcoat as he walked out of his door. His footsteps echoing along the hallways. He passed a few cleaning droids that were trying valiantly to get the scuffs out of the floors while the Stormtroopers and everyone else were off for the night. It was nice that someone was trying to keep his base clean for once.
"Unlike Kyle Rent." He muttered bitterly under his breath.
He rounded the corner, and went into the main party, passing officers and Stormtroopers alike who had all kinds of cups in their hands. The lanterns above were lit nicely in reds and dark blues, casting beautiful swirls of color onto the ground. He blinked, his eyes adjusting to the darkness, glancing at the datapad, his face slipping into a neutral expression as he saw TF-4921 standing with a small crowd, imitating Hux.
"The First Order—will rule the galaxy!" TF-4921 yelled overdramatically, at this point mocking General Hux.
"Indeed we will." Hux smoothly interjected into the speech. TF-4921's eyes grew as big as saucers when Hux finally spoke up.
"General Hux, sir, I hope you understand that this is, just simply all in good fun." TF-4921 gulped.
Hux briefly considered firing the Stormtrooper, but against his better judgment, and not wanting to do more paperwork than needed, decided to let it go. "I understand, I am merely here to retrieve me hat."
The Stormtrooper scrambled to get the hat off of his head, crumpling it up accidentally. Hux winced inwardly as he watched the Stormtrooper attempt to wrangle the hat off of his head.
"Here, General. I apologize General Hux." TF-4921 apologized profusely.
Hux waved him off. "Go back to the party. You'll see some demerits, but nothing too severe. But if I catch you or anyone else mocking me again, there will be severe consequences."
The Stormtrooper nodded over-eagerly, mimicking a bobble-head. He practically staggered away from Hux, onto the main foyer. Hux tucked the hat into a pocket on the inside of his coat, running his hand through his neatly coiffed hair, sighing. He stepped off of the platform, walked around the corner, and was immediately greeted by the sight of Phasma and Kylo in…were those ugly sweaters with stupid First Order quotes that they had received from Stormtroopers over the year? Hux stopped in front of them, genuinely confused and concerned.
"W-what's going on right now?" Hux's eyes darted from Kylo to Phasma, concerned by their ugly sweaters.
"We're wearing ugly sweaters and drinking, like normal people. What are you doing? Leaving?" Kylo Ren snickered at the end, thinking that he was so brilliant.
Hux couldn't think of something to fire back with, because Kylo wasn't wrong. Hux had been planning on leaving, but in an effort to prove Kylo incorrect, he forced out. "No, actually I was planning on joining the party. That's why I came over here." What was he doing the plan had been to leave the party as soon as possible. Hux told himself to stop talking, to just back away and go back to his nice, warm office, but his mouth just kept going. "Hah! And if you had one of those sweaters for me, why, I'd even wear it!" What was he saying?!
A dangerous gleam came upon the eyes of Kylo and Phasma, and Phasma pulled out a sweater that had little pieces of paper stuck onto it, and handed it to Hux. "Be my guest." She laughed.
Hux gulped, and then noticed something very specific in the design of the sweater. These weren't stupid Stormtrooper quotes. These were stupid Kylo quotes. Which meant that Kylo had helped in remembrance of the quotes while designing the sweater. Which lead to the fact that he knew what he said was stupid but he still said it anyways.
"Yeah that sounds about right." Said Kylo, examining his nails.
Hux gave him a deadpan expression. "Was I talking to you?"
"No but you were saying all of that out loud and I figured that I might as well interject into your private one on one chat with yourself in this crowded area."
Hux sighed, and, handing the greatcoat to a nearby droid, reluctantly slipped on the sweater. It was surprisingly warm. No itching powder, no tricks. It was soft to the touch as well. It was quite surprising.
"So…what do we do now?" Hux asked.
"Drink like there's no tomorrow." Phasma said, in all seriousness.
"That doesn't sound like something that the commanding officers should be doing." Hux replied.
"I can probably drink more than you anyways." Phasma hummed. "Heck, Kylo probably can."
Hux's eye twitched. "Bring it on."
And so, as this story draws to a close, the trio got completely smashed as Hux attempted to out drink Kylo and Phasma. It didn't end well. They wound up staggering into the staff room and passing out from drinking a bit too much. Hux and Kylo even did some drunken soul searching. Phasma just laughed amusedly along. Luckily, Hux didn't embarrass himself like he was worried that he would, and he learned that on certain occasions, the other two had his back.
Then the next day it was back to the daily races.
Author's note:
This is my very first Star Wars fanfiction so I'm really sorry if the characters are completely out of character. I just really wanted to write some kind of fluffy narrative between some of these characters because I felt like they deserved it.
Feel free to tell me if it's horrible or something down in the review section. Was it good? Was it bad? What can I improve on? What do you like to see in fanfics? Thank you for reading, and have a nice day/night!
I don't own Star Wars or any of these characters.
-loverofbumblebees