[Poe]

Poe brought his plate of crab over to where Hux was eating a meal bar next to the severed wing. "You don't like crab?"

Hux turned from where he'd been gazing at the wing. "With rank comes privileges and in this case, I'm going to eat something else."

"Is it the smell?"

"No. It … it has a shell."

"Uh … huh." Poe moved a bit of stringy meat around on his plate. "This is just meat. They did okay on cleaning it up last night. No shell pieces."

"It had a shell."

Poe grinned. "Is this one of those things that doesn't have anything to do with practicality or logic?"

"What do you mean?"

"Hux, it's food. It's the food we have. The scanners said it was fine for us and no one got sick from eating it last night."

"Yes, I know that," Hux said with irritation. "I am fully aware. Should I be required to eat that for the survival of the Order or if I were ordered to by a legitimate authority, then I would. But I am not. We still have meal bars. I am eating one of them."

"I see that. No one else is eating them."

"Because I ordered everyone else to eat the perishable meat that will extend our food stores by several days."

"While you eat the meal bars."

"Yes, while I eat the meal bars." Hux finished the one he had in one large, defiant bite.

Poe looked around at the others. Chewbacca preferred the stuff raw. The rest of the Resistance was eating it with only mild complaints about the lack of seasoning. H-482 was thrilled with the stuff and wouldn't shut up about it, despite the borderline surly looks and snide comments he got from the others. Speaking of which, now that Poe paid attention, every one of the stormtroopers looked like someone had pissed in their helmets this morning, except H-482. Who hadn't been raised as a stormtrooper.

Poe asked, "Does the whole First Order not eat sea food?"

"We do not eat anything that has an exoskeleton, no. But this is a desperate situation and I have ordered them to eat it. So they are eating it."

"But you're not eating it."

"No."

"Huh. Is that because your guys all wear armor?"

"What?"

"An exoskeleton. Is it, like, you don't eat other things that are armored? Solidarity or something?"

"No. It's because they're scum-suckers and bottom-feeders. They're filthy. They're unclean."

"But … they're not." Poe pointed his fork at the stuff on his plate. "These were, like, apex predators, as far as I can tell."

Hux sighed and rolled his eyes, defeated. "You're right. It has nothing to do with logic or practicality. Does that make you happy for me to admit it?"

"Yeah." He nodded, then reached out his free hand and slipped it around Hux's waist, hugging him. He'd stowed his fork on the plate. "Sorry I got you worked up. I can imagine you have other things on your mind this morning."

"I do." Hux looked over at Finn. Hux brought up a hand along Poe's back, stroking it affectionately a couple times. Poe still had some very sore muscles back there. Even the light touch was appreciated. It made the hair stand up on the back of his neck. He had to keep himself still from the frisson, but he still made a soft, appreciative noise.

Poe dropped his voice lower. "Can I ask a question that might be a little more sensitive?"

"Yes." Hux didn't stop moving his hand or watching where Finn and Rose were talking.

"What did Sidious offer you?"

Hux snorted. "Force powers. To rule the galaxy. Possibly immortality. Collaboration. He doesn't know what I want, so he's offering anything and everything in a random fashion. It's a very good sign for us. He still thinks Kylo Ren is my enemy."

"Yeah, that doesn't seem to be true."

Hux sighed. "If we wanted each other dead, it would have happened years ago. Though I'll admit it's been a near thing many times. This was not even the first time he's saved my life."

"Oh? Really?"

Hux patted him on the shoulder and looked at his temple. His lips twitched, then he thought better of it and started to pull away. Poe hooked his hand against Hux's back as he started to slip away. "No. Hey. Go ahead."

Hux glanced over at the various troopers with an anxious expression.

"They know," Poe said, addressing Hux's evident fear of being caught or seen. They weren't blind. Everyone knew.

"But do they know it's reciprocal?"

After how Hux had looked at him that morning? "Is it?" Poe tried to play that off as an innocent question, like it didn't matter either way to him, but he knew it didn't come out sounding that way.

Hux must have heard the tone and understood it. He kissed Poe on the temple and let it linger for several seconds before pulling away. "When Finn's done eating, have him find me in the forward compartment. I put together some schematics yesterday for Commander Tico to review before she starts the repairs. I need to make sure they're still applicable now that I've seen the wing." Hux patted him on the shoulder again and headed over to the ramp.

Poe watched him go, his heart melting a little more than he thought it should. If they did manage to get off this rock and survive whatever Sidious had in mind, Poe wondered what the two of them would do about this relationship. Would they close the door on it and pretend it never happened? Would one of them have to sacrifice their politics for the other? Was there some way to meet in the middle?

Once Sidious was dealt with, there was nothing practical or logical in the two of them being together. He supposed it was a good sign that Hux wasn't entirely by-the-book when his personal preference was involved. A little corrupt, sure, but no one was being hurt by it. Poe could deal with that.