Hux dried his hair with a towel and stepped back into the bedroom. He noticed right away that Ren had taken care of the bedsheets and called for the droid. Ren himself was standing in front of his drawer with the toys, apparently taking inventory for future plays.

"You surprise me, Hux. Didn't think that you had such a collection."

He shrugged. "I had to find out what suits me."

Ren chuckled and gave him a peck before he vanished in the refresher. Hux stood there and touched his lips where Ren had kissed him. Ren and his odd outbursts of affection… Hux had to admit that he liked it.

-o-

He was in the kitchenette when a half-dressed Ren finally appeared - he had taken his time in the shower. Hux opened the conservator and took a plate with sandwiches out. Hux had ordered them when he had called the cleaning droid.

"Since you're always hungry like a starved kath hound I thought that you might be interested in some leftovers from my dinner," Hux said, trying his best to sound neutral.

Ren perked up, a broad grin on his face. "Sure! Thanks!" He took the plate from Hux and started to devour a sandwich.

Hux frowned. "You know that you can actually sit down, right? Nobody is going to steal your food."

Ren looked up, his cheeks stuffed with food. "Huh?"

Hux sighed and turned to make himself a cup of tea. "Forget it."

When he turned around he saw that Ren was sitting on the couch with the plate of sandwiches was on the low table in front of him. Hux joined him and stirred in his tea. "So you actually have manners."

Ren chewed slowly. "Having manners is not the issue. I just don't care about them."

"Why in the galaxy not? It's what separates people from beasts."

"They are lies. People who wear white robes and use six different sets of cutlery aren't refined, they smile as they lie in your face."

Hux blew on his tea. So Ren wasn't as blunt as he appeared to be - somehow it didn't surprise him. Back on the ice planet he had appeared to be thoughtful but seemed to struggle with something he couldn't name yet.

"Perhaps," Hux admitted. "Lies can be useful."

Ren took the next sandwich. "Are you a liar?"

Hux smirked. "Of course, anybody who tells you otherwise is a liar too." He took a sip.

"It doesn't feel like you're lying to me. I think I can trust you."

Hux almost spit his tea out. He coughed. "You can't be serious!" He wiped his mouth, staring at Ren. Was this one of his games again? Why would he say something so outrageous?

Ren shoved the rest of the sandwich in his mouth. "Why are you getting upset? It's not like I insulted you."

"Have you any idea what I've done to get where I am? The people I stepped on? The lives I ru-" he broke off. Ren had a way to get under his skin. He shouldn't talk like that.

Ren gulped the rest of the food down. "It's the way you look at me. You don't see a scrawny boy, a slow student or a torn man. You look at me."

That gave Hux pause. Was this the reason why Ren came to him, why he craved his touch? Not because he wanted a favor? He felt a lump in his throat. That wasn't possible. He couldn't actually trust him.

Hux put the mug on the table and watched Ren eat the last sandwich. Then they went back in the bedroom and spooned like the last couple of times. Hux could feel Ren's warmth, he had his arm thrown around Hux's chest, holding quietly while breathing on his neck. Was this how affection felt? The lump was still in his throat. He waited for a kiss on the back of his head, he realised. When it came, tender and soft he gulped. It was silly, Ren didn't really like him. How could he? Hux was only one failure away from being expelled from High Command. Then he would be a weak nothing while Ren would always have the Force.

-o-

The next day he was busy finishing his report on the progress for Starkiller base. He noted with satisfaction that the chief engineer stated that they had only reached a 90.3% success rate with the test.

He sent his conclusions to the war council and attended to his other duties, signing off budgets for weapons projects and attending combat drill with Captain Phasma. In the late afternoon he was surprised by an incoming call from Supreme Leader Snoke.

He bowed his head as soon as the image materialised. "Supreme Leader."

"General," hissed Snoke. "General Pryde was kind enough to summarize your report to me. Care to explain the delay?"

Hux had no idea what Pryde had told him, knowing the old sourpuss he had probably told Snoke that Hux was being tardy. Well, two could play that game. There was a reason why he was responsible for that programme - he was one of its designers. Pryde was an idiot to challenge him in a field where he was an expert.

"Of course, Supreme Leader," said Hux smoothly. "We are making good progress with the structures itself so we're in the timetable - as General Pryde has certainly told you. The only delay in the project is something concerning the kyber crystals. For the weapon to unleash its full power we need to artificially create an equilibrium in the crystals. So far we have reached a 90% success rate in simulations."

Snoke remained silent, which was atypical. Hux guessed that Pryde had told him some kind of abbreviated version, thus making it impossible for him to question Hux without revealing that he didn't know the details.

"I recommend a success rate of at least 98%, otherwise there is a possibility that we can't fire the weapons when planned - we have back-up generators in place but there is a 0.0013 chance that they fail." He knew that he should stop talking, Snoke usually didn't like when people talked, he was the one supposed to do the talking. But there was a good chance that Pryde would suffer for that indignity and not him.

"That is the reason why we started with the tests so early, even if it takes another three months to reach the desired success rate, we're still within the overall timetable - which I submitted last year - because the structure itself won't be ready until then. We can only install the software once all of the hardware is in place." He bowed slightly.

"Despite all of your explanations you are still late." Snoke leaned back in his chair and grabbed the armrest of his throne.

Of course he had to say something like that. Hux knew that he had won and bowed again. "I take full responsibility, Supreme Leader."

Snoke's holo disappeared. Hux straightened himself and smiled thinly. One of these days he would take care of Pryde, but he was in no hurry. He was a very, very patient man. And of course he knew Pryde's playbook - it was the same as his father's. Brendol Hux had taught him all his tricks, be it with his words, his fists or his belt.

And Pryde had watched it all in silent compliance with cold grey eyes. His time would come and he knew it, that's why he tried half-heartedly to sabotage Hux. If he had any backbone he would plan an actual assassination but he was too much of a crusted relic to come up with a messy plan like this.

Too bad that he couldn't tell anybody of this, he was rather proud of how he had managed to use Snoke to get back at him. He briefly thought about Ren… it was tempting to tell him. But then again he didn't seem to like manipulations.

A pity, there was much beauty in a well executed intrigue.