It's a Travesty💔

Phasma and Dolph walked ahead of Hux, cheerfully chatting. The sun set behind them as they walked back to their rental condo. The sleepy town had two bars and both were buzzing full on the main street. A small ice cream shop and movie theater stood tall among the slowly abandoned store fronts. 

“Oh, Hux, we have to check this place out!” Phasma excitedly called back to him, pointing at one of the store fronts. Hux stopped and looked at the sign in the window, Winner’s Arcade it read in faded white lettering bracketed by more recent decals of video game characters.

”Are you sure? This place looks like it’s seen better days.” The red head said.

”This whole town has seen better days, Hux. We don’t have anything else to do tonight and when was the last time any of us has been to an arcade?” The blonde argued, throwing her arm around Hux and Dolph’s shoulders. 

“It does look rather fun.” Dolpheld agreed. Hux heaved a small sigh and nodded in acceptance. Phasma gave a whoop and shoved them through the open door.

The arcade looked like it hadn’t been updated since the 80s, the sticky blue carpet and neon lighting had certainly seen better days. The stench of cigarettes and candy clung to the air. The arcade machines were a mix of newer and older. One looked like an original Donkey Kong game. There was a couple of kids, completely without their guardians, running around and booping each other with some blow up sword likely given from the lone employee standing behind the prize counter.

Phasma strutted over the coin machine and stuck a ten in, the machine groaned in protest as it tried to spit out the quarters. 

“Hey, wait, that machine is broken!” The employee warned as he came out from behind the counter. He had black hair and dark eyes and his t-shirt was tight around his muscled arms. He looked about their age. He was quite handsome. 

“Sorry!” Hux cringed slightly at the way his voice pitched up a bit.

”It’s okay. I had an out of order sign on it but those kids took it down.” He promptly unlocked the machine and pulled the ten dollar bill out of the mechanism and then filled a cup with coins. 

“Here ya go!” He handed the cup to Hux and he got a better look at his face. There was something familiar about his strong nose and deep brown eyes. 

“Thank you, sorry to be a bother.” Hux awkwardly smiled.

”It’s no bother. Certainly not as much as those kids.” Just as he finished saying that, one of the children threw a cup of soda on the ground with a loud crash. 

The worker gave a great sigh, clearly holding onto the last of his sanity. He then excused himself and slinked away.

His friends smiled at Hux.

“What?”

“You were having a moment with him.” Phasma snickered as she took the cup of coins from Hux’s hand. He hadn’t even noticed the tight grip he had on it. 

“I was not!” He exclaimed as they wandered over to one section with a couple of classic Super Mario games.

As they played, Hux couldn’t help but steal glances at the handsome arcade worker. He was fighting with his brain to find out why he was so familiar. He didn’t want to accept that maybe he’d just seen him around before when he visited. There was something intimate about the way they’d locked eyes earlier. It seemed too familiar.

By the time they were done, they had accumulated a small mountain of tickets. The handsome worker was vacuuming the carpet, as if that would help with the stickiness. As they approached the prize counter, the man looked up and smiled before halting his task to assist them.

“That is quite a few tickets. Sorry our ticket counter is out of commission too, so this might take awhile.”

“Wow, it is a miracle that this place is still open.” Phasma commented as the worker began to count the tickets.

“It’s a miracle anything in this town is open. When I was a kid, there were a lot more tourists and locals. But everything has gotten more expensive since then so… less people here in general.” He said, almost wistfully.

“Yeah, I guess being a local, you would have seen that decline first hand.” Phasma podded.

The man nodded, “Yep. Less and less people every year. But some still come, often the same groups of people with the occasional influencer or wannabe influencer. People who like this place keep coming back.”

He looked at Hux with his intense brown eyes and something sparked in his memory.

“Ben?” Hux asked. There was no way that this large man was the same scared little boy he would play with as a child.

“Glad to see you still remember me, Armitage.” Ben smiled at him.

And now they were having a moment. It was as if no one else was there. Ben had really grown into his face and now Hux couldn’t help but notice the muscles that strained against his shirt. He could feel the heat creeping up his body in embarrassment.

“Wow, I really didn’t think I’d see you again… It’s been what? eight years?” Hux was desperate to keep the conversation with his childhood crush alive. 

“More like ten… I’ve gotten a lot taller since the last time you saw me so I am not surprised that you didn’t recognize me.”

“Well, it is great to see you.” He awkwardly rubbed his hand on the back of his neck.

“It’s great to see you too.”

“So, you both must have a lot of catching up to do!” Phasma butted in, all to happy to meddle in Hux’s love life.

Before Hux could save face, Ben let out a long hum.

“Yeah, we do. What do you think about getting together for coffee tomorrow? I have the day off.”

As Ben climbed the stairs onto the porch of his childhood home, he was hit with a massive wave of anxiety all over again.

“What if they’re upset?” He started to spiral.

“The whole reason we did this is because we knew they’d be okay with it.” Armie answered, reaching up to ring the door bell.

“But, mom was so looking forward to it…”

“It’ll be fine. She might be a bit disappointed-”

“That’s worse!!”

“No it isn’t.”

Before Ben could retort, the door opened to his father, Han, dressed in a ridiculous apron that read “I cook as good as I look” and holding a beer.

“You finally made it. Your mother thought the buses were running late again.”

They both laughed a little and entered the house.

“Everyone is already in the background. Go put those sad brownies out on the table.”

“They are not sad!” Ben defended, “I have gotten so much better at making them.”

“Sure, kid.”

They entered the backyard to see everyone there, just as expected. Uncle Chewy was talking to Uncle Luke by the grill, Ben’s cousin Rey and her friends – Finn and Poe – were swimming in the pool. His mom was messing with a speaker. Armie’s friends, Phasma and Dopheld, were already standing by the cooler, drinking to their hearts content. 

The warm sun beat down as Ben made his rounds talking to everyone in the yard. Armie got roped into helping his mother with fixing the speaker. It was always sweet seeing just how much his family had accepted his husband. He knew it meant a lot to the red head too, as his own family was never much of a family.

Ben felt like he was going to explode. Every minute that passed, the anxiety of the announcement welled up inside of him. He and Armie agreed to make the announcement after dinner was served, when everyone was sitting together. But it proved to be too much. He just wanted them to know. They had kept the secret for three whole weeks, but it felt too suffocating to keep it any longer.

“We have an announcement everyone!” Ben said as loudly as possible over the music. The noise stopped and everyone turned towards them. “Armie and I got married.”

There was silence for a beat. Two. Three.

Then the family erupted. Rey yelled something to Poe and Finn about owning her money. Luke laughed a little before congratulating them. Uncle Chewy scooped them both up into a bear hug and his dad gave him a pat on the back before going inside, muttering something unintelligible under his breath. All in all, it went over rather well.

Except with Ben’s mother.

“You what?!?!?!?!” She shouted, “When did this happen!!?!??!”

“Three weeks ago.” Armie stepped up, taking Ben’s hand, “When we were on the cruise, they had an officiant and we decided to just do it.”

Leia’s face was agape. Then, it slowly morphed into pure fury.

“You got married!!! And I wasn’t there!!! You were okay with your family not being there!?!?!?” She yelled, absolutely irate. 

“Mom! It’s okay. We kinda just-”

“Don’t try to explain this away! If you think you can just elope, you have another thing coming. And poor Armie, he didn’t even get to use that suit he bought, did he?

“He was okay with it!”

“No! We are still going to have the wedding so your beautiful husband can wear that suit and your family can celebrate with you. Do you understand?” Leia gripped Ben’s ear, like he was in grade school again, to emphasize her point. 

“Okay! Okay!”

“Good!” She let go and stormed off, muttering indigently about the betrayal. 

“I think that went rather well.” Armie said, grinning wildly.

Hux sipped his cocktail, looking around for his next sexual conquest. There was only a couple of others at the bar, one couple happily canoodling in the corner, an older man with not much hair, and a tall woman. The sun was still high in the sky so there was no rush. The red headed general was picky about the men he chose to engage with. However, at this resort there were plenty of men that fit his requirements.

As Hux was adjusting his sun glasses, a muscular human man saddled up to the bar. He was shirtless, expansive chest and abs glistening with sweat. He brought his large hand up and pushed his shaggy black hair out of his face. The man leaned on the counter, right next to Hux. It gave the red head a fantastic view of his muscled back and ass. Damn that man was sculpted by the gods. Hux was almost jealous of it, maybe he would feel better under that body.

The man then turned his head towards the general, and Hux has never been happier for the sunglasses keeping his gaze slightly ambiguous. 

The smouldering brown eyes locked onto him, tracing the other man’s form. Hux took notice and leaned a little harder on the bartop, arching his back ever so slightly to create an appealing silhouette. 

Perhaps his next catch had swam directly into his net.

The dark haired stranger turned back to the twi’lek bartender and placed his order. Hux turned his head the other way, fake admiring the corny decor. 

“You want another drink, red?” A deep voice cut through the air. It sent a pleasant shiver down Hux’s spine. He turned his head back to the strangers, playing coy.

The stranger hummed and muttered something to the bartender, who then rolled their eyes. Hux removed his sunglasses and fluttered his eyelashes. The stranger raised his eyebrow in interest. The tension was growing.

The bartender then placed a drink in front of the stranger before moving down to Hux and placing one in front of him.

“If you two are going to fuck, please keep it out of the public eye…” The long suffering twi'lek interrupted.

“Don’t worry. I don’t cause trouble…” Hux stated, more to the man he was staring down than the twi’lek behind the bar.

“You seem like trouble.” The dark haired man replied, playfully. 

“Only for the right person.”

“Am I the right person then?” He asked.

“Perhaps. Hux.”

“I know, I know. The rain is scary, dear.” He cooed. 

Lothal was not known for its rain. The grasslands were dry most of the year, but the wet season was brutal. On the edges of the outer rim, a solid Republic holdout since the days of the Empire, Lothal was the perfect place for a First Order deserter to hide away for a while. Maybe it wasn’t the best to hide in plain sight, but most were expected to choose desolate, under populated worlds. Lothal also had the appropriate medical pre and post natal care.

He bounced his baby carefully against his chest as he continued to cook himself dinner. It was bare basic food, enough to fuel himself. He’d never learned to cook, it wasn’t needed as an officer in the First Order. But soon enough as his daughter grew, he would have to create more delicious foods, as he read in parenting holos that children would refuse to eat at all if they didn’t like it. He didn’t think his basic food would pass the kid pickiness test.

There was also the small lingering fear, the one pertaining to her other father. Kylo Ren was a very powerful force user. It was nothing short of a miracle that he hadn’t found them, or at least hadn’t approached them. There was the very real fear that his sweet girl would grow into a volatile force user. 

Everyday, when he was on break, Armitage would brave the heat a little longer to get a strawberry cone before retreating into the tiny, but air conditioned employee lounge. It was reasonably priced, perfectly fine ice cream. It had nothing to do with the tall, dark haired man that worked the stand. Nothing to do with the unfairly handsome Adonis that sweetly smiled at every child that he served. Nothing to do with the all too tight t-shirt that hugged his bulgingly fit biceps. Nothing at all.

Armie dragged himself to the stand on what surely had to be the hottest day of the year. It was damn near 100 degrees fahrenheit with not a cloud in sight. He felt jealous of the handsome man working the stand because he got to ride out the heat over ice cream coolers. As he approached,he noticed a gaggle of children happily wandering away from the stand, arms full of ice cream treats. The worker smiled at him brightly, his wonderful dark eyes filled with amusement. 

“Red! I didn’t think you’d make it today!” He excitedly exclaimed, leaning on the counter. 

“I think I need ice cream today more than any other day this summer. Maybe more than any day in my life!” Armie replied. He didn’t like when people gave him nicknames, but for a man so handsome he could overlook it. And besides, it’s not like he knew the other man’s name either.

“Of course! It's the busiest day of the year for me. All the parents are caving to their kids because a damn ice cream sounds so good in this heat!” The man chuckled. “Do you want your usual?”

“My usual?” Armie parroted. He flushed a little at the notion that the hot worker knew him so well and slightly embarrassed that he visited so much for him to have noticed.

“Yeah, two scoops of strawberry on a waffle cone.” The dark haired man smiled brightly.

“Oh… Can I actually get a hot fudge sundae, please?” He asked, pulling out his wallet.

“Ah, had to keep me on my toes, Red.” He said as he reached for the ice cream scoop and flicked open the cooler in front of him.

“Armie…” He blurted out before he could stop himself. The man froze and looked up at the redhead, puzzled. “My name is Armie.”

“My name’s Ben.” He offered in return as he went back to making Armie’s order. “I don’t really wear my name tag because I hate it when strangers know my name, but I think my favorite customer gets a pass.”

Armie smiled to himself as retrieved his wallet. He swore he saw a light blush on Ben’s face at the admission. 

Ben handed Armie the bowel, piled high with vanilla, hot fudge, and sprinkles. When the red head held out the cash for him to take, Ben shook his head. 

“It’s on the house.” He insisted. “For my favorite customer.”

Armie smiled, “Thank you, Ben.”

“Your welcome, Armie.”

This routine continued for about a month. He slowly opened up to Ben about himself and Ben would enthusiastically return with musings from his own life. His daily stop at the ice cream stand was the highlight of his days, however, with rent coming due he had to skip his treat for a couple of days. He felt guilty for it in a way, but he also felt like he was denying himself of one of the only truly positive moments in his hard life. Not just denying himself ice cream, but also the interactions with Ben. 

Maybe Ben missed it too, because after almost a week, the dark haired man showed up at the little games stall that Armie ran. 

“It’s weird seeing you without your apron on.” Armie mentioned, slightly shocked to see him at all. His hair was sweaty and his eyes were bright as he approached. One of his massive hands ran through his hair. It was unfairly sexy. 

“Well, you haven’t been to the stand in a few days and I got a little worried.” His bashfulness was completely magnetic. Armie wondered if he was doing it on purpose – being so cute and so hot at that same time.

“Thank you for checking up on me. I just needed to save a little extra for my rent. Once it’s paid, you’ll see me every day again.” The redhead stated. “Who’s covering for you? I have only ever seen you in the shop.”

Ben managed to look even more shy as he blushed. “My roommate works the evening shift. I might have bribed him to come in early so that I could come see you.”

“Alright. Maybe I should give you my phone number, so you can-“

”Yes!” Ben excitedly cut him off. “I mean, that would be great.”

They exchanged phones and Armie couldn’t help but grin as he put his contact in, Favorite Customer <3. Perhaps the heart was a little presumptive. However, when he got his phone back from Ben, he noticed the contact read “Ice Cream Guy <3.”

Later that day, Armie received a text from Ben.

Ice Cream Guy <3: soooooooo i knw this is a little wired but like do u wanna get dnnr sometime????

Armie happily typed back.

Favorite Customer <3: I was hoping you’d ask. Maybe hoping you would use proper grammar was too much of an ask.

Ice Cream Guy <3: was that a yes or an insult??

Favorite Customer <3: Both <3

After texting back and forth for a couple of hours, they settled on meeting at one of Armie’s favorite restaurants that weekend. Armie was absolutely giddy as he got dressed for the date, settling on his one nice shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. He did feel somewhat overdressed to see a man who knew how sunburnt and sweaty he was in the midday heat, but a first date was an important event nonetheless. 

Armie arrived to the Mexican restaurant early, his anxiety bubbling through him as he walked up to the door to get a table. The hostess smiled as she showed him to a small table near the back, a large mural of the Mexican countryside behind him. 

He sat down, breathing steady to calm himself, and pulled out his phone to text Ben where he was. It was only a couple of minutes later when Ben walked in, dressed in black jeans and a t-shirt for a band he’d never heard of. He thankfully looked equally as nervous as the redhead was. 

Ben gave an awkward wave as he approached the table, a goofy smile across his face. Armie returned the gesture with a quiet “hey” as the other man sat down across from him.

“Sooooooo, do you come here often?” The dark haired man asked, picking up a menu.

“Yeah, all the time. It’s one of my favorites.” Armie replied, glancing down at his own menu.

“What do you recommend?” 

“I always get the enchiladas. Or sometimes the taco salad.” 

Ben hummed in response. A waitress came and placed a basket of chips and salsa on the table before introducing herself as Phasma and asking for their drink orders. Ben ordered a soda and Armie got a beer.

“I really should’ve asked how old you were before I asked you on a date.” Ben quipped as Phasma walked away.

“How old did you think I was?”

“Honestly? You look a little younger than me so I assumed you were 19.”

“Well I’m 22. How old are you?”

“20. I’ll turn 21 in November.”

“Ah… My birthday was just last month.”

“Hopefully, my age isn’t a deal breaker.”

“You aren’t a teenager so I’m perfectly fine. I do think the muscles make you look older.”

“Yeah, a lot of people are surprised. I was really skinny in high school and only started working out after I joined my frat.”

“Ah, so where do you go to college?”

“UCLA. I’m a double major in English and Political Science." 

“Wow, you must be busy.”

“Well, I only did Poli Sci to appease my mother. She’s a state senator.

“Damn. I go to UCLA too. I study architecture.”

“Oh come on! You can’t be hotter than me and smarter than me. That’s just unfair.” Ben joked as the waitress came back with their drinks and took their food order.

“Now wait a second. You can’t be two hundred pounds of pure beefcake and claim I’m the pretty one.” Armie insisted.

“But your accent is so hot and your face is really pretty.” Ben argued, unseriously. “My nose and ears are too big for my face.”

That silly argument went back and forth and back and forth for the entire date. And their entire relationship. Down to their wedding vows.