Author's Note: Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this! Work has been crazy.
Things with Hux had been awkward since that day. Poe genuinely felt bad for upsetting Hux, though he failed to understand exactly why the other man had reacted as strongly as he did to Poe's words. He just wanted to...what? Get to know him? Help him?
There was no denying Poe was attracted to his neighbor, and the attraction just kept getting stronger with each passing day. At first he thought it was simply a desire to get under his skin, ruffle his feathers a bit. Lord knew Hux could stand to loosen up a bit. But with every encounter they had, the more Poe found himself fascinated by him. Under Hux's facade of control, he had glimpsed vulnerability.
Ever since that day, though, Hux had reinforced the walls he'd built around himself. When Poe greeted him in the hallway, at most he got a curt nod in return. Millicent had made her way over to Poe's a few more times since then. Hux brushed off Poe's attempts at joviality as they'd search for her, but once he had the ginger cat back in his arms he'd coolly thank his neighbor before rushing back to his own apartment and slamming the door.
When all was said and done, Poe was feeling pretty glum, and his friends were taking notice. They'd gathered at his apartment again to prep for that weekend's protest. He was half-heartedly sorting the leaflets they'd be passing out while his friends Finn and Rey worked on the posters.
"Poe!" Rey practically screamed at him.
Poe started, "What?"
"Have you been listening to anything we've been saying?" the British girl was clearly exasperated.
"Yeah. Sure."
"So what do you think?"
"Um…"
"What is up with you?!"
"Seriously, dude," Finn chimed in. "You're normally the one most amped up about these protests. What gives?"
Poe sighed, "It's nothing."
Rey's eyes narrowed. "That's not nothing. You're acting like… you're acting almost like you did after you and Zorii broke up."
Finn cocked his head. "She's right. But you haven't been seeing anyone, have you? You'd have told us."
Poe rolled his eyes. "I'm not seeing anyone."
"But you want to be," Rey observed, "and they're not interested."
"I don't know if he's interested or not. He's not exactly easy to read," Poe shifted uncomfortably.
"Ah ha so it's a he," Rey smiled slyly. "Now who could he possibly be?"
The door opened. "Hey guys," Rose greeted as she shed her coat. "Sorry I'm late, but I brought cookies."
"Yes!" Finn shot up, wasting no time in grabbing the cookie tin from Rose. "Rose, you're the best," he praised as he half-hugged her with one arm before digging into the cookies.
Rose blushed. "So what'd I miss?"
"We've just been trying to guess who it is Poe's set his sights on lately. Seems he fancies a bloke, but hasn't said a thing to us about it," Rey informed the newest addition to their group.
"And to think, we thought we were his friends," Finn mocked through a mouthful of cookies. "Friends tell each other these things."
Poe rubbed his temples. "Look, guys, there's nothing to tell."
There was a knock at the door. The group of friends looked around at each other.
"Are we expecting anyone else?" Finn asked.
Poe went to answer the door. It was Hux. He sighed and braced himself before opening the door.
"Hey Hux," he smiled weakly.
"I'm afraid she's at it again," the red-haired man clipped.
Poe's brow furrowed. "Really? I can usually tell when she's wandered over now and I haven't seen her."
Worry flickered in Hux's eyes. "I… well can we check? Just in case. She's not anywhere in my apartment that I can tell."
"Yeah, of course," Poe stepped back so the other man could enter his apartment.
"Oh," Hux stiffened. "You have company. I can come back later."
"No, no it's fine. Guys, this is my neighbor, Hux. His cat sometimes wanders over here so we're just going to look for her real quick." He pointed out his friends. "Hux, this is Finn, Rey and Rose."
Hux felt extremely uncomfortable. "I'm sorry to have disturbed your evening."
"Don't worry about it," Finn waved it off.
"Come on, let's go find Millicent," Poe clapped Hux on the shoulder. "We'll be right back," he said to his guests before he and Hux wandered down the hall to Millicent's favorite hiding spots.
Poe's three friends craned their necks to watch the two men walk down the hall until they were out of view.
"Oh my god," Rey whispered loudly. "That's him!"
Well that had been embarrassing. Sure enough, they'd found Millicent in Poe's closet again, curled up in his motorcycle helmet of all things, but Armitage hadn't expected his neighbors friends to descend upon him. When he and Poe returned with Millicent in his arms, the women had cooed over his girl, asking all sorts of inane questions. How old was she? Eight. Where did he get her? He'd adopted her from the humane society six years ago. Does she like tuna? Of course she bloody likes tuna, she's a cat.
Millicent, the traitor, had purred through it all, soaking in the attention from her adoring fans, while Poe poorly hid a smirk at his discomfort. The other man, Finn, he seemed to recall, invited him to stay. He politely declined, his eyes darting quickly to Poe to gauge his reaction to this invite. For once the other man was unreadable.
Armitage eventually made his way out, after having had a home-baked cookie foisted on him by the small Asian girl and offering the group a reluctant promise to hang out sometime. Once the door closed behind him, he stood in the hallway for a second, a bit shell-shocked.
"What the hell was that?" he muttered.
Just as he reached his own door, his neighbor's door opened again.
"Hey," Poe called quietly, shutting the door behind him. "Sorry about that. They mean well, they just… get overly excited about new people I guess."
Armitage quirked an eyebrow. "Imagine that. You. Friends with overly excited people. I'm shocked." The sarcasm practically dripped from his tongue to the floor.
Poe rolled his eyes before focusing his gaze on Hux again. For a moment, he seemed nervous. He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Look, I really am sorry about the other day. I was out of line, I shouldn't have made assumptions about your life or your career."
"It's forgotten," Hux stated quickly. Too quickly.
"Really? 'Cause you've been avoiding me for days, except where Millie's concerned."
"Millicent," Hux corrected.
"Millicent then." Poe rolled his eyes again. "You know what I mean. I thought… I thought we were maybe becoming friends."
A lump formed in Armitage's throat. Friends. He didn't have many friends. He could count on one hand the number of people throughout his life that he'd trusted enough to call friends.
When Poe received no answer, he sighed. "Right, well, good night," he walked back to his apartment. Just as he was about to close the door, Armitage spoke.
"Armitage."
Poe froze and turned slightly in his doorway.
"My friends call me Armitage."
Poe just gave him that dazzling smile of his, "Alrighty then. Armitage."
