"Commander," comes the voice of Lt. Savoy. Hux tries not to squint his eyes under the strain of the headache he's carried for days. He'd spent far too many hours on the bridge avoiding sleep, because sleep brought dreams. His eyes fly back towards the expanse of space.
"Commander," Lt. Savoy's demand for his attention floats up to his ears again.
"What?" He snaps, harder than necessary, then takes in a deep breath. He needed to stop doing that.
"There's an unidentified ship requesting for the shields to be lowered," the Lieutenant speaks, finally, double checking a screen. Hux stops breathing. He clips towards her at a hard pace and stares at the holoscreen. Sure enough, a ship is sending a request to access his hangars. Hux clenches and unclenches his jaw.
"Put me through to the ship," he orders, and Lt. Savoy is quick to comply, having already tasted his temper one too many times over the last three weeks. Those had been torturous weeks.
He waits until the line beeps, hands clenched together tightly behind his back as his heart hammers up to his throat.
"State your purpose," he calls with all the air of command he can infuse his voice with, not daring to hope. He'd already had so many false alarms only to find out the ships were supply runs, or officers on some nonsense or another. Every time he'd dared to hope Hux had been left sorely disappointed.
There's static from the line, and he only can pick up a raggedy breath. He frowns. He motions to Lt. Savoy to begin preparations for weapons should this ship turn out to be unfriendly. The Lieutenant nods and walks away quickly. When Hux's voice comes, it's hard as granite.
"This is General Brendol Hux. State your purpose or we will fire immediately."
Another breathy sigh. Another shock of static. Then—
"General…?"
The sound is so breathy he almost misses the acknowledgement, quiet and shy and bell-like, and his knees nearly buckle under his weight.
He bolts for the hangars, giving Phasma a silent look to take over, leaving her to take care of issuing permission as he flies down hallways and stairs, avoiding the lifts entirely because they take too much time.
It takes too long. It all takes too long.
Every long step he takes, almost at a run, takes too kriffing long. He curses his ship being so big, curses the fact that he can't just fly there.
A handful of stormtroopers backtrack from their usual patrols, stopping mid-march and staring from behind visors. He doesn't notice them. He just keeps pushing past doors, impatiently thumbing and overriding security locks in order to access shortcuts. What should take him twenty minutes at a normal clip takes him eight. He's arriving at the hangar just as Kylo Ren is storming through as well, about thirty feet away.
The man's helmet turns to look at him and they stare at each other for a second longer before turning their attention to the ship landing in the middle of the hangar bay. Hux uses that delay to take in a deep breath or ten, slowly relaxing each muscle and straightening himself, righting his overcoat on his shoulders. It had almost slipped off in his haste.
From the corner of his eye he can see Kylo Ren doing the same thing.
Three weeks.
After the two week trip back from Kuat, they had spent three weeks waiting for this. Hoping for this. Wishing with all their might for this. Delaying Kylo Ren's search in hopes that she would show up.
He takes a shallow breath through clenched teeth, reminding himself to blink as the ship's massive metal ramp lowers painfully slow. Everything is so painfully slow.
Then there's a slender leg and a small foot taking a step forward, and he hears the 'thump' when it connects with the ramp, and then it's being followed by the rest of a girl whose face had been plaguing his every waking thought. She stops at the bottom, just one step off from stepping onto the Finalizer, hesitating, perhaps wondering if she should turn around again, and he feels suspended in time.
Her choice. It has to be her choice.
And so he looks to where Kylo Ren is standing and narrows his eyes. The Knight looks back at him in agreement, or at least, he hopes it's in agreement. He can't see his expression through that blasted helmet of his. They would not move until she did.
She doesn't notice them standing in the almost-shadows, and that allows him to wait with bated breath for her to make her decision to step down. To stay with them. Hux was a man of patience, he'd always been. He could wait until stars burned out for what he wanted, yet in this moment there's nothing patient in the way he forces himself to not fist his hands, in the way his eye twitches with desperation. So many of his plans, of his hopes, depended on her taking that one voluntary step.
She finally does, with a deep breath as she throws her shoulders back, and he releases the same breath he'd been holding. Both he and Ren step forward at the same time, and her head whips up. Her eyes land first on Ren, and Hux imagines the bond they share has something to do with the magnetism with which her eyes zero in on Ren's helmet. Then she sees him, and she half turns her body as Hux approaches along with Ren, closing the space until all three of them are standing in the semblance of a triangle, a handful of feet separating them.
It's quiet. It's so quiet.
Rey's head tilts to the side as she regards him, and a small, shy smile curls up at the corners of her mouth.
"Were you really going to blow my ship up, General?" She asks, and Hux breathes in deep at the sound of her voice. He can't stop the smile that creeps up his face, does not care that Ren can see it.
"You should have stated your presence sooner," he chides. Rey grins.
Ren stands the whole time like a statue. His hands are placidly held at his side, and the only sign of life is the soft hiss of breath being taken in and expelled over and over. Rey looks at him and worries at her lip, the silence stretching while the two Force users before him tread lightly, gauging the other's mood, leaving Hux to watch them. Kylo breaks the silence.
"Lady Rey," comes the Knight's voice through the modulator. Soft, even then.
Rey reacts as if pinched, straightening immediately to full height, and Hux gives Ren a hard, swift glare that the man doesn't notice before he focuses back on Rey.
Silence descends on them again and Hux tries not to blink, or breathe, and nothing in his life has felt as important as watching what happens next when Rey bites her lower lip again, then makes up her mind and inclines her head in a low, deferential bow.
"Master."
For the second time since she'd announced herself he feels his knees go weak.
She'd stay.
Her greeting for the First Knight of Ren seems to finally unfreeze him from where he'd rooted himself to the steely hangar floor as Kylo takes two long steps, closing the space between them, and tilts Rey's face up by the chin. She looks at him defiantly, never flinching as she had done so many times before. They stay that way for a long time, then Rey gives the man the same shy smile she had offered Hux, some silent conversation taking place somewhere Hux can't hear it. It no longer bothers him.
Hux steps forward.
"Well then," Hux greets, the corners of his lips turning up a hair. "Come, you must be tired."
Rey looks between Kylo, whose fingers are still gently cupping her chin, and him, who's only standing a few steps away now, like children huddled together while whispering secrets. He doesn't particularly mind that either.
Rey nods and Kylo drops his hand when her shoulders sag. Hux frowns. Her small show of bravado melts away and he finally notices the small circles under her eyes, the red rims that he's too familiar with from endless nights without sleep. His ears pick up on the soft rattly breath that escapes her. This had not been easy for her.
When he turns his attention on Kylo the man gives a very small nod and immediately grabs her bag from her. Rey freezes.
"I can do that just fine on my own," she balks, and Kylo's helmet turns fractionally to stare her down. Hux knows how much she hates the helmet, and he nearly smirks when she shows her displeasure by fisting her hands and trying to grab the bag from the giant man in front of her. Kylo holds it high above her head.
"Rule number one," Ren hisses for Rey's ears only, though Hux manages to snatch it nonetheless, "You don't question me in public. Is that clear?"
In public. Interesting, that.
Rey huffs but finally controls herself and nods.
"Yes," comes the affirmative.
Kylo leans in closer, visor an inch from her nose.
"Yes what?" He asks perfunctorily. Rey's lips pull back in the beginnings of a snarl before she bites down hard on her lip. Well, at least that hadn't changed one bit.
"Yes, Master."
Then Ren is straightening with a satisfied nod and turns to Hux. Children.
Hux gives Rey an indulgent smile before nodding to Ren and they start walking away, Hux and Kylo flanking her. She's staring between the two of them and it's such a surprising thing, to almost enjoy the way he feels a brush against his mind. He turns his head lightly and shoots her a glance. He'd been clear with her once. If she wanted something, she should ask. But he doesn't shield himself, just lets his mind go blank.
-RLX-
"Where are we going?" Rey asks when she realizes she's not getting any answers from him that way.
Hux's lips twitch upward but, in true Hux fashion, he says nothing. So she's left to walk between the two men as they go up and up through halls and lifts, quietly standing in formation as the lifts pull them higher, as their shoes click with familiarity on the metal floors of the Finalizer. For the first time in weeks something finally feels right again. By the time they finally come to a stop they're in a hall she recognizes, but not far enough ahead to arrive to the place she'd spent so many weeks of her life in. She turns to Hux, eyes narrowing.
"What're we doing?"
Hux resists the urge to smirk at her child-like, insistent curiosity as he places his hand on the small of her back and leads her gently to the access pad. He punches in a code and the data pad beeps, ready to accept…
Her eyes narrow further. She gives him a skeptical look but he simply stands there, one hand on her elbow, the other casually at his side. She turns her head towards Kylo Ren, but all she gets from the helmeted man — her new Master — is a small wave of silent amusement.
"Go on," Hux prompts. Rey purses her lips, and somewhere in her the instinct to run spikes. No, she has made this decision for herself. There's no need to run this time. Rey pushes her hand to the access pad.
It envelops her in red, then green, and the doors hiss open. When she steps inside Hux gives the command for the lights to brighten to eighty percent, and Rey's breath is taken away.
It's a room.
It's bare except for the large bed raised on a platform, in standard First Order shades of grey. A small table with two chairs, a vase of white lilies sitting atop it; a small kitchenette with a raised stool, and a couple of bookshelves. Her eyes travel to the bookshelves and she finds Hux's books neatly stacked there. The books he'd given her to read. The glint of metal catches her eye one shelf down. She takes a tentative step forward and has to swallow back the throaty gurgle that tries to sneak up her throat to produce a croaked gasp. A lightsaber.
The men come up behind her and she hears a small throat-clearing sound from behind. She turns her head over her shoulder. Hux is carefully studying her, face clear of any emotion of his own.
"Something to get you started. You may add your own belongings as you acquire them."
Kylo is standing next to Hux, her bag still held tightly in his hand, and when she brushes his mind she finds a warm glow flowing in sheets, satiny and soft, radiating in her direction. He walks carefully to the small table and places her duffel bag on it, turning around and undoing his helmet. It hisses with the hydraulic shhhhh she's so accustomed to, and a face she hadn't believed she'd ever see again regards her, framed by a beautiful crown of jet black hair.
Her eyes turn around to survey the room again, and Rey has to bite hard on her lip to keep from making any undignified sound.
Her room.
Her room.
Instead she takes a deep breath and turns around, regarding the General.
"You're prepared," she murmurs, regarding him from under misty lashes. His lips twitch up just barely, another thing that feels so familiar.
"When am I not?" He repeats the same words he had when she'd left them in Kuat. The men haven't moved. They just stand there and regard her, treading carefully, waiting for her to do something, anything , and finally Rey allows herself a smile. A bright smile. She wouldn't be treated like a spy here, like a prisoner. Kylo and Hux had been right. She could build a home here.
She lets out a shuddery breath.
"So… now what?" She asks, realizing that she hadn't formulated a plan.
Her only plan had been to just get here, to try and do something better with what she had. Beyond stepping out of her ship and onto the Finalizer she had zero notions as to what happened next. Rey look at the lilies on the table. Where had he gotten those? And had he just kept changing them out as they withered, waiting for the day she would show up, if she showed up? That makes her chest contract. Such a simple thing. But it was a small promise. A small promise that they hadn't given up on her, and that, perhaps, they never would.
She keeps her eyes on General Hux. She couldn't look at Kylo Ren just yet. Her new Master. She knows if she were to look she'd find something there in his expression as he read her as easily as he could the pages of the books on the shelf. Hux is safer. Hux, at least, she'd developed a tenuous friendship with. She still has too much she wants to ask from her new Master, too much, and it would lead to confrontation. So her eyes remain on the redhead standing like a God in his impeccable uniform, his great coat hanging from his shoulders in its rightful place.
"I—uh…" she starts but Hux holds up a hand to stall her.
He's back in his domain. This is his ship, where he's the crowned king, and somehow that realization is somehow reassuring even as she clamps her mouth shut and waits for him to speak.
"We will need to register you as an official, ah—… resident of the First Order," he explains, and Rey doesn't miss the hesitation. She was not an officer, and the Knights of Ren stood apart from the Order, which meant she was… a resident. She would have laughed if she wasn't so startled. Still, she nods, keeping her silence out of respect for the man who had respected her enough to let her make the decision to return on her own terms.
Hux looks at her Master and his eyes narrow fractionally, then his gaze returns to her, as if having made up his mind. "But that can wait. I assume you two have plenty to catch up on?"
Hux arches an eyebrow as he asks this and Rey tries her hardest not to grind her teeth. Of course. The last time she'd seen Kylo she'd shouted at him until his face had gone pale, then stormed out on him without saying another word. She knew this moment was coming, the moment when Hux would leave them alone and she'd finally have to truly face her decision. She thinks back to the moment in the hangar right as she'd called him Master. After he'd held her by the chin. He had looked so terrifying then, helmet and cowl and a shroud of death worn over his shoulders as was usual… but she'd then felt him through their bond, how relieved he'd been, elation underneath it all as he'd opened his side of the bond and coaxed her into opening hers. So kriffing happy that she'd returned. It had been a boyish elation, and she'd allowed herself to smile. But feeling emotions through their Force bond was not quite like having a hard conversation face to face. She swallows.
Rey nods, and Kylo hasn't moved. Hux gives her a small smile that's supposed to be encouraging and reassuring, but it does none of those things as he turns to Kylo.
"Do not destroy anything, or I will personally see you pushed out of an airlock."
The words don't hold any heat however, and Rey tilts her head. Had he just… made a joke? Kylo smirks but says nothing. That makes her eyebrows rise. They were being… friendly? That's a new development. Hux looks at her once again, then at the books on the bookshelf, and nods, satisfied at something she doesn't quite catch.
"Dinner will be served at seven," comes the usual command. It makes her chest constrict, but it's a pleasant feeling. Something that's so very normal, something she's familiar with, the comfort of routine. All the small little things she's come to associate with this place, with these men. "Ren, please escort her to my rooms and make sure not to walk in with that awful helmet of yours."
So, they were both being invited to dinner in Hux's quarters. Her eyebrows keep traveling up.
"Please comm me once you're done," Hux tells Ren, then walks out with shoulders straight and head held high. The door hisses behind him and then there's just Kylo and Rey, and an awkward three feet of space between them.
She wants to look strong, she wants to ball her fists at her sides and look up at him with defiance, to show that she won't be cowed or coerced into anything. Instead she shuffles her weight and fidgets with her tunic, because Rey very specifically remembers yelling at this man that she would never allow him to teach her, that she'd never come to him willingly, yet here she is. She eyes the bag he'd dropped on the table by the lilies. Inside is the only bit of knowledge about the Force that she hasn't learned from the man standing before her. She swallows.
"So, uh…" she starts, and he takes a step closer. Rey roots herself to her spot and forces her eyes up, to look into his golden brown ones, the ones she'd found herself daydreaming of in flashes that switched between golden brown and icy blue. She waits for him to berate her. To smirk and gloat about the fact that she's finally here, finally wanting something from him. To say I told you so like he so rightfully deserved to.
Instead he tilts his head lightly as he takes another step forward until the three feet of space almost disappear.
"Welcome home."
And that's all it takes for Rey to crumble. Her eyes take his in for just a second longer before they threaten to get misty again, so she takes a deep breath and steadies herself.
This is home now.
It's a ship floating in the darkness of space, and everything is clean to the point of being clinical, and there are probably going to be a million rules and regulations she would have to observe, and she's suddenly on the side of the war she would have never in a billion years thought of as a place for her to belong, but it is home now. No, she wouldn't cry. She blinks her eyes rapidly once, twice, three times, before setting them on his face. He's studying her intently, soulful gaze taking in her every feature, brows furrowed, lower lip caught at the corner where he's chewing it.
She reaches through the bond and finds his mind, and he's worried that perhaps he said the wrong thing, so she smiles.
"Thank you," she finally musters, and Kylo nods. He doesn't move back, though. He just stands there with all the intensity only the First Knight of Ren can muster, waiting for her to make the first move. Rey takes a deep breath and repeats herself.
"So what happens now?" She asks, looking around the room. Her eyes fall on the lightsaber. Her mind travels back to weeks ago, when he'd told her she would get a lightsaber only when she earns it. So he, too, had prepared for this. Both General Hux and Kylo Ren had prepared for her return… had hoped for it, if the fresh lilies, the books and the lightsaber are anything to go by. She allows herself a small smile. The room was starkly bare, but it was hers. When she returns her eyes to him, Kylo's worrying at his lip even harder. It's such a boyish thing to do she finds herself staring. Then he stops and looks over her head for a long moment, out the open maw of the floor-to-ceiling duraglass windows yawning open to space. He hesitates and Rey frowns, but when she throws out her senses, she feels nothing but determination. This is important, so she pays close attention.
"Are you sure you want to be my apprentice?" He asks, eyes not quite meeting hers. Rey breathes in sharply.
Did she?
She thinks back to all of his offers to teach her, to the sudden revelation of her block, to Luke's confirmation that he could not help her. What else could she do but learn? Rey doesn't necessarily have to like her options, but these are the cards she'd been dealt, and Ren… well… he'd given her an option, something Luke never had. She'd take what she could get.
"I do, Master," she replies, tasting the name on her tongue for the third time. Kylo's throat bobs as he swallows.
"Kylo," he prompts, and Rey frowns. Why is he speaking his own name? Then he looks down at her.
"My name is Kylo. In public, you may call me Master, and only Master, but here, in your own rooms… my name is Kylo."
"Kylo," she murmurs, his name a slip of silk on her tongue. She tastes it between her teeth as it rolls out, then murmurs it again. The man before her is looking at her closely, and she can feel him carefully guarding his end of the bond, but he makes no move to inch closer or step back, or even breathe. He's allowing her to taste the name, so she does.
Satisfied, she gives a small nod.
"Kylo," she says this time with a bit more conviction. "Alright."
He seems satisfied by that, giving her a small upward twitch of the lips, his eyes boring into her. Would he always stare so intensely? Rey doesn't know how long she can match him hard gaze for hard gaze when he looks at her that way, not after having seen the softer sides of him during a dance that now feels like a slice of a dream from a life lived a long time ago.
"Kylo," she tries the name for size again, and if he had already been intense before, it doubles, "Do you… do you want to talk about—"
He knows what she's going to say, of course. She's sure she projected it right into his frontal lobes. She nearly shakes her head but he beats her to the punch, shaking his sharply once, twice.
"No," he states, almost an order. "You are here now."
That's all that matters.
They slip back into old habits. Just like that. A handful of minutes aboard the Finalizer and it's as though she'd never left. Except for the fact that this time she's here of her own volition, and that makes all the difference. Kylo is holding himself still, swallowing every once in a while, but that wave of elated joy — small but persistent — keeps rolling off of him. She had never felt so wanted in her life.
She nods, then walks to her bed and motions him to follow. She could make him sit on one of the chairs at the table, but the table's small and he looks way too big for it. So she waves her hand at the edge of the large bed and prompts him to sit. Surprisingly, he drops silently and watches her carefully, and she realizes with no small satisfaction that he's treating this room as her turf. Her turf, her rules. It sends a thrill up her spine that she didn't know she could ever feel at such a gesture. She nods emphatically to herself.
"Okay, then we won't talk about it," she asserts, "But we still must talk. Me being here comes with rules."
Kylo arches an eyebrow. He'd been obviously expecting this. She senses amusement through the bond.
I thought you'd agreed to be my apprentice? He shoots through that glowing link, but she narrows her eyes. She wanted this spoken aloud. He senses as much and gives a small nod. Her turf. Her rules.
"I will never be part of the Dark Side." There. The hardest one out. She would not sugarcoat this. On this, she would not budge.
"Rey—" Kylo warns, his voice suddenly dropping, but she holds up a hand to stay his words.
Rey knows he'll try. It's in a dark sider's nature to try and turn their apprentices. She had learned that much from Luke on Ahch-to. She had been touched by the Darkness and it had been Luke's ultimate reason to turn her down, and so she would stall Kylo Ren for as long as she possibly could, or she would die trying, but she would not be of the Dark. She had sensed where that path could lead as she'd heard voices whispering in her mind to kill the very same man who now sits before her, and it terrified her to think she almost had. No. On this she would not budge.
He studies her for a very long time, somehow reading everything she thinks. His eyes turn stony and as their silence stretches she wonders if perhaps this had been the worst of her decisions, to demand that he listen right after she'd all but sworn herself to him. She almost feels him wanting to promise her that he'd fight her on it, to issue the same challenge of 'we'll see' that he'd given her so many months ago. Instead, when he speaks his voice is unaffected, demanding of attention.
"You will never speak those words outside of this room, outside of this moment, ever again. Not in front of anyone. You will guard that thought with your life in front of any Knight of Ren, or in front of our Master. Do you understand?"
Rey swallows.
She hadn't thought past Kylo himself. That's right, there were others. Her mind travels back to a ballroom dance, to a hesitant Kylo Ren shutting down conversation about his master. A curl of dread forms in her stomach, but she stomps on it and nods. She'd keep this to herself.
"I need to hear you say it," he persists.
"Yes," she croaks, then clears her throat.
"Anything else?" He prompts, hands on knees, face carefully guarded.
"I will not kill just to kill," she states, a bit more ferociously than intended. Kylo arches an eyebrow.
"Isn't that a little too—"
"No," she cuts him off, knowing he was about to say that she was being a little too demanding, or naive, or a myriad of things. Still, he simply stares her down.
"I cannot make you a promise I cannot keep, Rey," he finally offers. Rey glares, shoving frustration at him through the bond, and she almost wonders why he's so pliable all of a sudden when he finally sighs, amending, "But the order will not come from me. If you must kill, it will be your choice."
Rey's stomach twists painfully at the idea of her having to make a choice to kill, but she's killed before for survival, and that would not change now. She nods.
"Anything else?" He asks again, and suddenly Rey finds herself forgetting all the rules she'd thought of while on her way to the Finalizer. She frowns. She'd tell him when she remembered. He arches an eyebrow again, having snatched that thought, and she glowers. So instead of dropping it, she offers a third rule pathetically.
"I get to choose my own clothes."
Kylo bites his lip to keep from smiling, and Rey nearly shrinks at the amusement rolling off him but instead she squares her shoulders. He gives her a once over that makes her shiver before his eyes settle up back on her face.
"Okay," he agrees.
"Okay," she repeats. On this, at least, they could agree easily.
She stands there awkwardly, having finished with the last of her bravado, awfully aware of their business conversation coming to an end. The silence stretches in the air between them like static until Kylo moves. She nearly flinches, but all he does is carefully set to removing his gloves, leaving her to frown at the rather weird gesture. He sets them carefully next to him on the bed, taking far too long to just put a pair of gloves down, before looking back at her again. This time his eyes travel to her hand. The same one Hux had kissed once. Her eyes track him intently as he slowly, gingerly, makes a grab for it.
The shock that runs through her at the touch is jolting. Theoretically, she knew his hands would be warm from his gloves. She just hadn't realized how warm. Rey takes a step forward when he brings it close to him and inspects her fingers carefully, gently engulfing her hand in his, even more gently running a thumb over her knuckles, her nail beds, her fingertips. She inhales sharply but he barely notices, too busy studying every scrape and every old silver scar, his other hand holding onto its palm as he memorizes every dip, every tiny crease of her palm. And she realizes, through that beautiful golden glow in their souls, that he just wants to touch her, to believe she's real, that she's there, and so she lets him.
He keeps up his administrations while Rey stands between his knees and it feels like forever and not long enough, and she's almost forgotten how to breathe, the only breath small hitches coming in through her nose at irregular intervals, but she doesn't remove her hand. As he memorizes hers, she's allowed to memorize the feel of his, and that feels important in this moment.
Then his comm beeps and the spell is broken, and Kylo reluctantly lets go of her hand. He grabs the comm and looks at it and she just catches a glance of the name Hux. Kylo looks up at her with a sardonic smirk.
"I guess it's time for dinner."
Had they been there that long? Rey swallows, eyes flying around the room until they land on a clock blinking the time at her. It had. The clock reads ten minutes to seven. She distinctly remembers arriving in the early afternoon. Rey turns and gives Kylo a small frown, but if he's noticed the hours suddenly gone while they held hands, he doesn't say anything. Instead he lifts himself from the bed, suddenly so much taller than she is, and steps off the platform, making for the front door. She can do nothing but follow. They pass his helmet and she shoots it a wary glance.
"You're not taking that?" She asks, trying to keep her tone light.
Kylo looks over his shoulder at her and smirks.
"And have Hux decapitate me for wearing something so offensive to his rooms? No, thank you."
So he palms the access door, and she realizes that he has access to it and frowns, watching the man step outside. She follows quickly before the door can close on her.
"Why do you have access to my room?" Her tone's defensive, and she swallows.
"You're my apprentice. Of course I have access. The General does, too. We will not enter unless invited."
The reassurance felt short, and she glares at him.
"I promise. It is only a precaution in case of emergency."
Rey huffs. Perhaps it made sense, but she doesn't have to like it. "Do I get access to your room?"
The question is so petulant that Kylo almost laughs, and Rey only glares harder, but then he clears his throat and his voice takes on a husky tone she doesn't recognize.
"If you'd like it."
She bites her lip. Did she? A thought for some other time. Instead she focuses on the idea of dinner, and as if on cue, her stomach rumbles loudly.
"Hungry?" Kylo asks casually at her side, having decided to also drop the room access subject. Rey sighs.
"Starving."
They pass a pair of doors and Rey stares. "What's in there?"
Kylo gives her a side glance, amusement coming back to him. "My quarters."
Of course. Rey bites her lip hard. They had just gotten past the talk of rooms, and here she was instigating it again. But he says nothing else and they keep walking, and Rey realizes that Kylo's quarters are between hers and Hux's. She sets to memorizing this fact, then chews on her lips.
"Did my room belong to anyone else?" She asks, mortified at the concept of someone else being moved to make room for her.
Kylo shakes his head.
"It's just us."
Rey nods and stares ahead, and soon enough they're in front of the set of doors, an exact replica of every other set of doors, but the one that she recognizes in the end corner of the hall as being specifically Hux's. Kylo has the decency to press the comm button on the wall to alert Hux they had arrived, rather than opening up the door with the Force. So, the man was… learning. Rey smiles lightly despite herself as they wait.
-RLX-
Hux presses the access button on his kitchenette, watching as Rey and Kylo come into view, the door hissing aside. He nudges a fork on the table until it sits perfectly straight, leaving the Force Users to walk in.
Kylo had listened. His hands are bare and his head uncovered. Even as he enters he removes his cowl from his shoulders and sets it on the couch. Rey watches between Kylo and Hux, wondering about this new development in her absence and Hux's lips twitch upward. It had been her absence that had forced the men closer, after all.
Rey is the first to walk to the table, and somehow it's as though the five weeks of her absence shed away when she sits herself at a chair — her chair — to the left of his own, leaving Kylo to take the one to the right. She looks up at him expectantly, eyes having surveyed the food. Little one never changed.
It wasn't much. Their usual dinner, really, but her face lights up in a smile and Hux can't help but return it with a very small one. They all take their places, finally and—
Rey looks at Hux, waiting for him to begin as she had in the past, and Hux and Kylo look at her hoping she'll eat first, and somehow they all hold each other's eyes awkwardly for a handful of minutes before Rey huffs.
"What are you doing?" She asks, ever frank.
Kylo looks at Hux and arches an eyebrow, and Hux looks between them both before quietly picking up his fork with mild annoyance. This would take some getting used to. But the second he cuts into his food he hears the clatter of forks and knives being picked up, and soon enough they fall into a comfortable silence. It's not that far removed from their nights aboard the corvette, except now there is no hyperspace bubble to encase them, and Rey's here of her own volition. Just as Hux thinks her name she lets out a soft groan that makes both men stop.
Their eyes fly to her face and Rey, realizing that there is no more sound of silverware reaching her ears, looks up with a mouthful. Rey swallows hurriedly, clearing her throat as she almost chokes in her attempt to get it down fast enough, grabbing her glass of water and sipping it with a bashful look on her face. The room suddenly feels just a little bit warmer. Still, with her Master sitting right next to him, Hux averts his eyes first for the sake of propriety. The sudden hike of heat is too uncomfortable to ignore. Instead of letting it continue he tries to diffuse it.
"Do you like your new quarters?" He asks, focused on his steak as he cuts it into meticulous cubes. He glances out of the corner of his eye to see Kylo's eyes fixed on his food as well, so he allows himself a glance at Rey. She stops and gives him a bright smile.
"Uhm, yes. Thank you. I honestly didn't expect—" she begins, looking at her hands, then at the couch where she used to sleep. "I thought…"
Hux swallows a lump of spit in the back of his throat. Kylo's glancing up at Rey a second at a time from under long, thick black lashes, but carefully keeping himself from inserting into the conversation.
She'd thought she'd be forced to sleep on the couch again. He's not sure whether to feel dismayed or a little exhilarated that she had thought she'd be returning to his quarters. But then he sees Kylo's hurt expression out of the corner of his eye and it quickly turns to dismay. He doesn't push her to continue her sentence, though.
"I'm glad they're to your taste," he murmurs, and they return back to their dinners, and Maker how could a meal be so awkward? Hux isn't used to awkward. He's used to feisty Rey and angsty Kylo, and even, to a much smaller extent, friendly Rey and a less-angsty Kylo. But awkward? Awkward would have never been on his list of uncomfortable encounters with these two in a billion years. He makes it a point to carefully guard his mind as he had done the second the door had opened. These two could snatch thoughts from him so very easily, and he would not abide for them to see him feeling twitchy .
The silence stretches on, however, and Rey finally chances small conversation.
"So… what's happened while I was gone?" She asks, looking between Kylo and Hux.
The men's hands freeze mid-actions, Kylo's fork about to stab a piece of blue potato, Hux's hovering where he'd almost brought vegetables into his mouth. His hand lowers very, very slowly. They look at each other in silence, and it's rude to not answer her, but Hux doesn't believe she would like to hear the answer. By the warning look Kylo is shooting him, it is obvious the Knight doesn't think so either. Hux sneers slightly at the man. As if he'd say anything. Then he schools his expression to calmness and looks at her, but Rey's been around him too long. She picked up on it.
"Something bad?" She asks, brows furrowing as she lowers her own silverware.
Hux stares at her and his lips purse tightly. Then he very quickly slips into the role that he knows calms her the fastest. He breathes in lightly through his nose and relaxes his features, and gives her a smile. Rey eyes him warily.
"Nothing bad. Just work, as always."
She arches an eyebrow and stares him down for an eternity, but she doesn't push into his mind. Then she mumbles something about workaholics, and returns to her food. Hux smirks, and lowers his eyes back to his plate, and the meal continues quietly. Quietly and ill at ease. And perhaps it's the fact that both men had been hoping for her to be here, sitting with them, eating a meal, that has suddenly turned what was supposed to be a simple meal together into the most uncomfortable dinner he'd ever found himself in with either of these two. He refrains from letting the sigh forming in the back of his throat slip, and simply sets his fork and knife down. Kylo's still quietly eating, avoiding them both, but Rey's eyes are pinned on him. She'd felt the tension in the air as well.
"You don't have to do this, you know," she speaks, waving her hand over the table.
Hux arches an eyebrow, "Dinner?"
He's being facetious, of course, but it's the easiest answer to give. Rey huffs.
"No," she states, brows furrowing, "I mean all of this. The routine, the…" she waves her hand again and Hux just sits back and watches her. She flushes. So that's why she's uncomfortable. In truth, perhaps he'd been a little too eager.
"I see," he finally provides. Rey looks at him and purses her lips. "If you'd rather dine alone…"
"What— no. I—" she sputters immediately, looking down at her plate, and even Kylo glances up at her. Hux has to purposely relax his muscles to keep from frowning. Finally she murmurs.
"I didn't mean to say I don't appreciate it," she fumbles for the words. "It's just… You don't have to go out of your way. You don't have to do any of this…I'm not going anywhere."
Hux has never heard sweeter words. He takes in a deep breath.
"Would you like to join us for dinner every night, Rey?" He asks formally, and she finally looks up at him. Good. He hated when she looked away. She bites her lip and then gives him a small nod, so he smiles.
"Good." He replies. The tension in the air clears.
For the second time, she asks him what happens next.
No one talks about what happened between her leaving Kuat and her returning to the Finalizer, other than to ask if she'd found her way back easily, to which she gives him a wicked little glance and nods, and the subject of where she'd gone is never approached. When they get to the subject of what her return entails in terms of vaccination (again) and making sure her health is up to par, she does ruefully mention having taken out her tracker chip and Hux smirks when Kylo lets out a breathy grunt. The man had chased her through systems for days, trying to follow that chip.
"You won't get another chip if you don't want one," he reassures her, and Kylo gives him a glance.
"Yes she will," the Knight pipes in for the first time in the hour they've sat at the table. Rey looks at him and her eyebrows rise up fractionally.
"Why?"
There's a small amount of reproach in her voice, but she does a fairly good job at trying to stay neutral. Hux leans back and lets the Knight deal with this.
"Because you need one," is all Kylo gives, to which Hux nearly sighs. He intervenes, as always.
"What your Master means to explain is…we all have one. In case we go missing," He doesn't mention that it was this chip that allowed him to find Kylo in the snow, half bleeding to death, but her eyes swing to his as recognition dawns on her anyway. Smart girl. Rey gives a reluctant nod.
"And what else?" She asks.
"Tomorrow you'll be taken to be registered. It's not hard. Just your name, birthday and biometrics then some medical tests." He states, holding onto his glass of wine and staring at it. He doesn't drink, though. It brings back memories. Rey shifts her weight in her seat awkwardly. He frowns.
And—
Kriff it. Of course. He hadn't even thought about it as he'd said it. She had no last name. She probably didn't know her birthday either. He takes a deep breath. Ever since she'd landed he'd been acting like a fool.
"Will you allow me to accompany you to do it?" He asks carefully, giving Ren a glance just to ensure this is okay with the man. It felt weird, thinking of her now as Kylo's underling, and having to ask for permission from the Knight. Kylo nods, and Rey nods.
There. That's settled. Then it's Kylo's time to speak.
"We also need to talk about your naming ceremony," he provides, the second time he's tried to converse. He'd have to corner the man about being a little less intense and a little more amiable during these dinners if they were to be a regular occurrence. He hadn't minded their usual quiet dinners, interrupted only by talk of Snoke or plans, or to ask for the salt, but dinner with Rey was an entirely different beast. Rey's eyes snap up to Kylo.
"Naming ceremony?" She asks, voice slightly quivering and eyes confused. Kylo seems to forget Hux is sitting there, as he often does when he's around the woman. It no longer bothers Hux. He sets himself to studying his glass of wine.
"You are an Apprentice to a Knight of Ren. You rightfully deserve to pick your own name from now on."
"Rey," she immediately spits out. "Rey."
She wouldn't change her name. Kylo gives her a small smile, and it's sweet and understanding, and oh how Hux wished he could read minds like they did. What was going through their heads? Rey seems to relax a little.
"Then you'll be given the honorific Ren," Kylo continues, before taking his own glass of wine and looking at it. "You may register with it tomorrow."
Rey looks a little like she's ready to cry, and it's not lost on Hux. Kylo had given her his name. Sure, it was an honorific, but Rey would no longer be Rey of Jakku, a girl with no name. And tomorrow she'd have a home, documented for everyone to see that she belonged here, by their side. Kylo continues.
"You will still need to be formally named. We can discuss it tomorrow."
Rey manages to bob her head once before she trains her eyes on her nearly empty plate, her hands under the table, undoubtedly clutching at her tunic. Hux averts his eyes, and Kylo does not look at his apprentice, so that she has the time she needs to collect herself. There are a couple of sniffs that tug at his heart strings, but he studiously drinks his wine and looks at everything but her. Then finally she speaks again.
"Alright." It's a whisper more than anything, but it's loud of enough for them to hear.
Kylo nods, and Hux simply watches them. This is one of those quiet moments, slowly recording in the back of his mind for some day in the far future. The day when the scavenger girl, no longer a nobody without a home, returned to them and planted herself firmly in their lives. And her name is Rey Ren. And she belongs with them both.
A/N: Thank you so much for the love you guys have been giving this story! I appreciate it so much. In case you haven't noticed, this fic has been updated to an M Rating (exciting, I know!). So keep that in mind for when chapters become more explicit. I'll let you all know ahead of time on those, though, in case there are innocent eyes about.