Hux slept poorly that night, despite being exhausted both by the day that had proceeded the evening, and the evening itself. The day was the kind of tormenting strain, an event in which everything went wrong, and the Lord had to work tirelessly to resolve just a fraction of the problems. While the evening was the more pleasurable type of exhausting, in which his bed partner was as attentive and enthusiastic as ever, and the both of them found release from the day, several times.
Hux slept poorly, because his mind was plagued.
He knew it should have been the war itself that was distracting him, keeping him from sleep, but it wasn't. The council meeting had been unbearable, and the Lord felt for the first time, although briefly, that perhaps there wasn't a victory waiting for him at the end of the campaign.
But that wasn't what kept him up.
It was Ben. The man who slept so soundly beside him, elegant and warm.
The conversation they had had before the night's calisthenics kept replaying in his mind, not the talk of his family, and the tragic tale of his past, but the conversation on Ben's reality now. How the man thought and felt about himself.
Hux sighed and gripped the pillow beneath his head a little tighter, his eyes still focused on Ben who was still asleep on the opposite pillow,
The morning light had been working its way into the room for the past few minutes, so gradually, that before he knew it, the Lord found himself and his concubine bathed in a sort of golden glow.
Ben's skin like rich cream, looked flawless in the light, save for the dark moles that were smattered across it,
They made more sense to Hux now. He had wondered why a man of Ben's complexion had so many of the dark marks, but now knowing that he was from across the narrow sea, where the sun shone brighter and hotter, it made sense.
He had pale skin because of the dim weather of the isle on which he found himself, but his skin yearned for sunlight,
Hux could imagine Ben as he should've been, golden skinned with a beautiful tan, his dark hair longer, falling to his collar, and his body draped in fine silks that would keep the sun on him but just about leave him decent at the same time.
He so much wanted to see that Ben for real. Regal and full of grace.
The Lord frowned,
He should have been that, and as such, it left him so disheartened to hear from Ben's own lips that he considered himself a 'whore'.
Hux wouldn't have it, it offended him deeply.
After a few more minutes, the man beside him finally stirred, and his eyes opened slowly, blinking against the light,
"Good morning" the redhead said softly,
Ben smiled, "Good morning", he then stretched like a cat bathing out in summer and yawned, "Did you sleep well?" he asked, rounding back to look at Hux once more.
"Horribly" he replied,
The other man didn't seem too surprised by the answer, he only nodded softly, his smile waning, "You're very stressed",
The Lord was happy to let him believe that that was the reason, "How about you?"
"I slept well" the ravenette answered, he then raised a hand to Hux's face and stroked a thumb over his cheekbone, "And woke well too"
He raised his eyebrow in response, "'Woke well'?" he asked,
Ben laughed gently, "Waking up beside a handsome lord is certainly what I'd call waking well" he then reached over to give him a very soft kiss.
Hux gladly accepted the kiss but had to stop himself from sighing his relief into the other man's mouth,
"I was wondering" he then stated, once they had pulled away from each other,
"Yes?"
"You haven't seen the castle yet have you? Not properly?" the redhead asked,
He looked surprised in response and blinked, "Err, no, no I haven't"
His lips upturned slightly at hearing his nervous tone, he'd never seen the man's confidence waver once- it was kind of sweet to see, "You can walk about as you please"
Ben now blushed, "I thought that maybe- I wasn't sure whether I needed permission" he admitted.
Hux shook his head, smiling what he hoped was a reassuring smile, "You can go where you please, I want you to. I want you to feel comfortable"
The ravenette smiled back, "That's kind of you"
"It's not kindness" the Lord said in return, "You're free to do as you want here, I want you to be happy, besides-" his smile then became a smirk, "While I very selfishly want to keep you to myself, it seems a crime to deprive other people from at least seeing you"
Ben chuckled and planted another kiss on his lips, "Thank you"
"Don't thank me" Hux replied, "Just enjoy yourself"
The two got up from the bed shortly after and set about dressing for the day.
Hux who was due for a sparring match with Phasma, dressed lightly; a pair of looser fitting brown leather trousers, and a thin white cotton shirt that light leather armour could be strapped over once he got to the practise ground.
Ben wore the black leather trousers that he wore regularly, as well as a shirt which he had also brought to the Lord's quarters (not that Hux had seen it before). The redhead insisted on embellishing on his attire however, suggesting that he wore a jacket from his own wardrobe,
The garment was made to go over several layers of shirt and underclothes and so it was a more fitting size for Ben who was both taller and more muscular than Hux. The jacket still didn't quite close across his chest, but it at least fit his arms and wide shoulders. It was made of a dark grey leather that resembled hammered steel as it moved in the light, and the inlay was a deep, dark red colour,
Finally, Ben pulled his hair up into a small ponytail, leaving just a few shorter strands whisping about his forehead.
"You would stand for a knight looking like that" Hux said with a laugh as they went to the chamber door together,
The ravenette chuckled and shook his head.
The Lord then opened the door to the cold stone corridor, and they stepped out together, looking both ways down the dark passage,
"Follow me down to the training grounds, and then you can goo off your own way" Hux said, starting off to the left,
Ben smiled and joined him, glancing about at the neat stonework in the walls about them.
He had of course seen parts of the castle before, although sparingly: twice a day he walked the route between the kitchen entrance and Hux's quarters, although that was mostly composed of a tall, narrow, back staircase with very few features.
To his dismay, the walk down to the training grounds was quite short anyway, so before they made their way outside, he didn't get to see much more of the castle anyway.
Phasma was waiting by a sword rack for them, inspecting the armour which had been lain out,
"Good morning Captain" Hux said with a nod to her as they reached the bottom of the tall staircase,
She raised her pale eyebrows at seeing that he wasn't alone, but smiled softly, shielding her eyes from the morning sun which was just cresting the walls of the castle, "Good morning my lord" she replied, "And good morning to you" she added.
Ben smiled in return and gazed around the training ground, impressed even by the grand size of the mostly empty field,
"Company for training my Lord?" Phasma asked as the ravenette began to wonder away from them,
"Hmm?" he asked, looking up to her, "Oh, no, he's going for a walk around the castle" he replied, lifting the leather armour from the narrow table top and lifting it over his head.
The woman then set about fastening the harder to reach ties on the sides of the breastplate while Hux saw to the ones on the front,
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" she asked softly, her eyes focused on the shoulder tie she was slowly knotting,
"What?" he asked, looking across to her.
Phasma sighed and glanced up to catch sight of his confused expression, she shook her head, "Is now a good time to have him wondering about the castle?"
"I don't see why not" the redhead shrugged, "He can look after himself, and no one's going to know who he is",
The Captain turned to watch the ravenette in question.
Ben was looking over a sword rack on the other side of lined off section that indicated the practise ring; he slowly reached out and took the hilt of a sword into his hand, lifting it from the bracket,
He weighed the blade in his hand for a moment, before twisting his hand on the pivot of his wrist, and letting it cut through the air gracefully; his actions held the air of someone who had once trained with a sword, but had since not picked one up for many years.
Again Hux couldn't help but think that the ravenette resembled a knight, only now the thought was more sincere, not merely based on aesthetics,
"I think he can look after himself on this occasion" the Lord said again, nodding to his captain.
0o0o0
Ben found very quickly that every single one of the corridors around the castle were fairly uniform, and that losing your way around the place was quite easy.
They were tall, made of grey stone and left you with a chilling feeling that oozed down to the bones as you walked through them.
For such a big place, he also found that there were very few people around, he'd hardly seen anyone while he walked around, and those he did, seemed to be serving staff who avoided looking at him, apparently taking him for someone of importance.
Ben had vague memories of running around a place like this, very, very early in his childhood.
He, his parents, his uncle and a close family friend had lived in an abandoned villa on the coast from the day he was born- they had tidied it up as best they could, but only a few of the many, many rooms were comfortable for use. They also had one servant who helped with the cooking and cleaning, but she was less of a presence as the years went by.
That life was decades behind him now though, and although the castle brought back memories and feelings from then, they were of course completely different worlds, the only crossover of which being Ben himself.
It was midday now, and he was sure that Hux would be busy with yet another council meeting, if not now, then certainly soon,
He sighed and turned into yet another empty corridor,
He was starting to despair at the amount of time the Lord had to spend surrounded by those useless men, men who just seemed to make him angrier and angrier with every meeting.
Ben reached another corridor and paused at it, placing his hands on his hips; to the left was another stretch of dark, cold corridor, but the right end was currently bathed in candle glow, the candles held by three men dressed in coarse brown robes.
Each was old, their sparse hair greying and thin, hanging from the scalps and faces, but their frames were healthily padded with extra weight. They were talking amongst themselves, although they seemed to be at a disagreement,
Two of them looked terribly concerned and were grimacing as the third spoke, saying something that was leaving them very unconvinced apparently- he on the other hand looked gravely sincere, not only certain of himself, but certain that the others were wrong in their opposition to his words.
Ben didn't want to approach them, mostly because he didn't want the chance of interacting with anyone to present itself, and yet he couldn't turn away. Something about the scene not only seemed familiar to him, which was odd in itself, but the conversation, the interaction in this setting appeared… off.
He carefully stepped towards the corner to the corridor and leant against the stone, allowing him an ever so slightly closer view of what was happening down the narrow pass.
The first two gentlemen looked determined to move away from the third, as though his words were making them physically uncomfortable, he persisted however, raising his voice not quite enough to be heard by the ravenette watching them, but at least enough to startle them.
The two men looked to one another with uncertainty, until one finally gave a curt nod and turned away, disappearing through the archway they had been stood by. The other man still looked downcast, but he begrudgingly nodded too, slowly following the first man out of sight.
The final man remained alone in the corridor for a moment longer, lingering, framed by the tall, rigid walls about him.
Ben raised an eyebrow, watching him closely,
He couldn't quite place the cool feeling that was settling in his stomach, but whatever it was, it was making him feel very uneasy.
Just when he was starting to think that he was being possessed by paranoia, the old man's expression changed, and all of his building anxiety felt justified,
The old man's lips twisted into a smile, a subtle, sickening look that suggested great intelligence, and great wickedness.