Notes: Hello again! I can't even believe I wrote something. Last time I posted a story was months ago!
Notes: This story could be read as Kylux pre-slash.
General Hux was standing motionless on the bridge. He seemed to be observing the work of his subordinates, but in his mind he was going through all the necessary paperwork he had to fill out about the last mission of Finalizer. All the requests for various supplies had to be sent as soon as possible. And the ship needed some repairs as well, even though most of the damage was caused by Kylo Ren and his inability to keep his anger in control.
Speaking of which…
Kylo Ren appeared in the door leading to the bridge. At first, Hux noticed him in a reflection of a transpariotic glass. These reflections had proved many times before thanks to a complete darkness of the space – Hux would pretend he was looking outside at the stars or something, but in reality he controlled if his officers were working as efficiently as they would if he was watching them.
Hux turned around and went to meet Ren halfway. He noticed almost immediately that Ren was walking slower than usual. Either there is something serious on his mind or he is angry again.
"Lord Ren." Hux greeted him with a slight bow of his head.
"General." Ren acknowledged him. His voice sounded distant, but it was difficult to tell with the voice modulator of his mask.
"The Supreme Leader didn't give us any further orders now, so we shall use this time to make repairs of the Finalizer and restock." Hux informed Ren, who just nodded.
When they stopped at the exact spot where Hux was standing before, Ren looked around, obviously not interested in conversation. Hux resisted the temptation to roll his eyes in annoyance. Why did Ren even bothered to go here? Instead of another attempt for conversation, Hux pulled out a datapad and started with the paperwork.
After not even ten standard minutes, the knight took a deeper breath, which made Hux look up in expectation. But Ren quickly put a hand in front of his mouth and sneezed. Well, not exactly in front of his mouth – in front of his mask. He froze for a millisecond in confusion and then put his arm down. Hux could read from his body language that he was struggling between keeping his arm along his body and covering his mouth (breathing filter).
His conditional reflex won and he covered his mouth and sneezed for the second time. Hux took out a pack of tissues and offered it to Ren wordlessly. The knight stared at it, then looked at Hux and back to the tissues. Hux realized that Ren wasn't going to take off his mask in front of everyone, so he put the tissues back to his pocket awkwardly.
Ren just turned around and walked away. Hux allowed himself a small amused smile, because how often do you see an all-powerful Knight of Ren sneezing into his mask?
…
Hux didn't meet Ren for the rest of the day. That wasn't really surprising, because the Knight tended to avoid necessary interaction unless he wanted to break something or ask for various equipment or help for his training. Hux rolled his eyes when he remembered a time, when Ren practised stopping a blaster projectile – the general actually volunteered to be the one to shoot at Ren – and Ren insisted that the general would aim directly at him. The Knight mostly froze the projectiles, but once because of an insufficient focus he got hit to his shoulder, which Hux considered as nice revenge for his ship.
…
The next day, when Kylo Ren didn't show even for a meeting, the general was annoyed. Hux would understand if Ren skipped a presentation about new regulations in cantina or something like this, but this meeting was mostly a discussion about regrouping the fleet and new tactics in fight against the Resistance.
Hux discreetly checked the Knight's location on his datapad, when the meeting was over and the officers were going back to work. It seemed that Ren was in his quarters. Weird, he usually trains in the morning. If there are no meetings… Hux decided he would go and talk to Ren. First, he wanted to remind him, that it was his duty to attend to these meetings and second, to briefly summarize the results.
When Hux knocked on Ren's door, there was no answer. Hux checked his datapad again to make sure that the Knight is still there. He was. Hux sighed and used his personal code to open the door.
"Lord Ren?" Hux carefully stepped into the room with dimmed lights. "You missed quite an important meeting…"
The general was surprised when he located the knight in a bed. "Are you sleeping?" The disbelief turned into anger and the next sentence Hux basically growled through clenched teeth. "Ren, your lack of discipline is unbelievable."
The Knight sat on the bed, revealing dishevelled black hair. He coughed few times. "What?"
"You missed the meeting." Hux stopped at a safe distance from Ren and crossed his arms. Only then he noticed Ren's apathy and distant look. Shouldn't he be angry that I walked into his quarters without invitation?
"Are you ill?" Hux asked.
"It would seem so." Ren retorted.
"Oh, you actually are." Hux commented silently for himself. "At least you won't cause any damage to my ship for a while."
This statement woke Ren out of his half-asleep state. He stretched out his hand towards the general and grabbed him with the Force. Hux gasped in surprise as he was pushed to the Knight with his windpipe being effectively pressed closed by the Force.
"I would recommend you not to mock…" Before Ren could finish his threat, he sneezed. The pressure created by the Force disappeared and Hux stumbled forward, losing his balance and ending on his knees. Instinctively he wanted to get up, but then he changed his mind and stayed on floor, unable to wipe a wide grin off his face, because it all felt so absurd and the accumulated stress from past few days only made it worse, so Hux kept his head bowed in attempt to hide it from Ren. The Knight sat on the bed and looked at the general in concern, as he expected him to jump to his feet immediately.
"General?"
Hux slowly raised his head and look at Ren. "I am…" Hux stammered as he tried to stop grinning but failed. "…sorry, Lord Ren…"
Hux slowly stood up and brushed his uniform. "I will leave… and come here later."
"It's not funny, general." Ren complained. Then he rolled his eyes and lied on his side, turning away from the general. "Oh, get out."
…
Few hours later, Ren heard a knock on the door. He was a bit surprised; basically nobody ever would even consider approaching his quarters. The Knight reached out with the Force only to discover his visitor was general Hux.
"Come in?" Thanks to Ren's confusion the invitation sounded more like a question and Ren questioningly looked the general as he walked in.
Hux showed him a large cup he was holding. "I wanted to apologise for my unprofessional behaviour earlier." Hux spoke with a solemn face.
"I brought you some tea. It could help."
Ren raised his eyebrow but a sarcastic reply stuck in his throat as he realised he would like to have that tea. "I appreciate your concern, general." He sat on the bed and held out his arm to accept the tea.
Hux handed it to him wordlessly and then stepped back. Ren took a tentative sip.
"It's not poisoned, if you're wondering." Hux commented ironically. "We were given orders not to kill each other, remember?"
"I wasn't." Ren put the cup on a nightstand and lied back down.
Hux observed him for a moment. "You should go to medbay."
"That's not going to happen."
"They could give you some medicine."
"I am not going." Ren hid his face under the blanket and only some of his black hair was sticking out.
"Ren," Hux sighed. "You are such a child."
Ren peeked at him, grinning. "If I am a child, will you read me a story?"
Hux stared at him in disbelieve, trying to process that the Knight went finally mad. "I have work to do," He started slowly but added sarcastically: "So unless you want me to read reports to you…"
"Reports sound great." Ren interrupted him.
"Are you serious?"
"Of course."
"Very well then." Hux sat to Ren's table and took a datapad out of one of the huge pockets in his coat while thinking he probably got mad too.
At first the general briefly recapitulated the morning meeting and continued with reports he received from officers about condition of TIE fighters and other crafts. When he moved on to an elevator malfunction, Ren immediately assured him, that he had nothing to do with it.
"Sure. Fortunately problems with power circuit on this ship will never be match to your destruction abilities." Hux murmured. Ren ignored him and finished his tea instead.
Hux read aloud the whole report and then his response while writing it. When he finished he looked up from the datapad to check on Ren. The Knight seemed to be sleeping, so Hux dimmed the lights even more than the previous setting and decided to reply to few messages from other officers before leaving.
…
General's comlink beeped. Hux's tired mind couldn't process what it means at first, but when he realized he was still sitting in Ren's chair and he spent the whole night sleeping in it, he jumped up and cleared his throat before accepting the call.
"General Hux." He barked to hide the roughness of his voice. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ren looking as disoriented as he was.
"Sir, I am sorry to bother, but the holocall with the Admiral is arranged for right now."
Hux forced his voice to sound calm, but failed miserably when he stuttered in midsentence. "Yes, I-I know that. I will … be there in no time." Hux ended the call and hoped that his panic wasn't much hearable on the other side.
Hux looked down on his uniform and tried to smooth it.
"Have you ever overslept, general, or is this the first time?" Had it not been for the Ren's stupid amused smile, his question would sound as a sincere curiosity.
"Ren," Hux started angrily, but then shook his head. "I don't have time for this."
Hux quickly put his datapad back to the coat, which he then placed on his shoulders.
"Do I look presentable?" The general turned to face Ren.
Ren looked him up and down. "Well, the uniform looks fine, but your hair is a bit different than usual."
Hux made some unidentified high-pitched noise which sounded as sob, shriek and s-word all at once; and basically ran to bathroom to look into a mirror and do something with his hair quickly.
"Did you see my cap?" Hux asked when he returned.
Ren laughed shortly. "Your hair looks even worse. What did you do to it?"
Hux looked daggers at him, then quickly scanned the room for his missing piece of uniform, which was nowhere to be seen. "Damn." Hux muttered and ran his hand through his hair few times.
"I have to go." He said instead of saying good bye and left.
Ren didn't see him for another two days.
…
"Feeling better, Lord Ren?" Hux asked, when they met in a corridor.
"Yes, general." Ren replied as he was passing the general.
When they were few meters away, Ren heard a sneeze. He stopped and turned around. "And how are you feeling?"
"Perfectly."
…
A day later it was Ren's turn to knock on Hux's door with a cup of tea.