In the end Hux can deny his husband nothing and they proceed to create a child with Supreme Leader Snoke's blessing. He recalls it had been awkward, standing in the black empty room talking to the strange abnormally large hologram of the Supreme Leader, requesting permission to start a family with his husband. Kylo had insisted on it though, concerned that Snoke might object to creating what might potentially be another force user.
Hux sat at the small kitchen table basking in the dim starlight staring at his data pad monitoring the small blob that was their child, and tried to feel a connection. It grew a little bigger every day, and he supposed that once it began to look more like a child it would feel more real to him. Hux assured himself that there was reason for the emptiness he felt inside. Perhaps it was that their child growing in a glass tube a terrible distance away on a hidden planet, made it harder to bond and feel like a parent.
Hux himself had come from one of these so called nurseries, only back then their techniques were not so advanced, with the Empire loath to spend on something they deemed so unnecessary. Why create what could be stolen or cloned? That was the Empire's belief. Hux had few memories of the woman who had birthed him, he had only met her a handful of times, she had been sweet and lovely but even so Hux was pleased that he and Kylo needed no such women to carry their child. Kylo was secretive and distrustful of outsiders and would not have trusted another to carry their precious future.
Hux sipped at his caff and thought about his future child, wondering if its hair would be dark or red, wondering which traits would win out. He thought of his own mother, the woman who had raised him as best she could on that rainy miserable planet. He liked to think she would be pleased with the life he had lead and that she would be pleased to hear of his marriage and excited to meet her grandchild if she was still around. He regretted that he had not been there for her death but knew she had loved him. More than his own father had.
Hux hummed to himself and wondered if Kylo might permit him to name the child after his mother. If their child was a girl. If not well. With another promotion and they would be permitted to try for a second child.
In his head, just for fun, Hux calculated how many ranks he would need to climb in order to have a dozen children, the number of children his uncle had fathered. He recalled his father's simmering jealousy. Remembered being called a defective son, when his father was the defective one. Married twice and only begetting one son and even then through artificial attempts. Hux meanwhile was perfectly healthy in this regard at least.
As he thinks of his father, more memories surface. He remembers the cold, the hunger and the beatings. He remembers his father's cruel words. He remembers their haste to get off Arkanis, his father closing the shuttle door behind them and abandoning so many, his cousins' tearful faces in the crowds their red hair standing out against the muddy rain. Hux's finger nails dig into his skin as his fingers curl into tight fists and he feels blood in his mouth. He shouldn't recall these memories. Reconditioning had wiped these nightmares away long ago.
When Kylo finds him in their quarters he is shaking, his cheeks streaked with silent tears and his caff cold. He does not expect Kylo to come to him and wipe his cheeks dry but his husband does unconcerned for his gloves. Kylo is surprisingly gentle even with his helmet and outerwear still on. It may be for the best. Hux despises being weak, and those doleful brown eyes would only ruin him further.
Kylo does not need to say a word but lifts Hux up in his strong arms, supporting him carefully under the hough of his legs and his back. Kylo's touch burns his cold body, rousing Hux's mind back from dark depths. Kylo carries him into their bedroom and lays him on their bed. Kylo adjusts the lights and crawls into bed behind him, spooning him in his arms. Kylo has been away on another of his missions and smells of sweat and earth and rain. Hux knows that the sheets will get dirty and he should hate it, but Kylo's strong arms are comforting.
"I will protect you and our child. You needn't fear the past." Kylo promises, his voice solemn, his grip around Hux's middle tight. The mask must have come off while Hux was distracted because Kylo is kissing his neck, his lips soft and comforting. Here in his arms Hux can breathe again.