Nice

Armitage Hux opened the door to his small flower shop slowly and did his typical walk-around, watering and checking each plant for signs of wilting before settling in the chair behind the counter with a book. He’d be slow that day, he knew. A flower shop in the outskirts of the city didn’t receive much business, but that was fine by him. The fewer people he spoke to the better. He was living off his inheritance, he certainly wasn’t strapped for cash and the shop was just a way to kill time in his day.

Thus, he was slightly annoyed when he heard the little bell above the door tinker as someone walked in. He looked up and spotted the invader, a tall man with black hair to his shoulders and a thick black jacket on. Hux raised his eyebrows. He was rather attractive, Hux thought. But he didn’t seem the type to walk into a florist shop.

“If you need any help finding anything, I can help,” Hux said, going back to his book.

The man mumbled something before moving to walk around. Hux glanced up at him occasionally, but ignored him for the most part. People came in and perused often, he assumed he was just some bored pedestrian out for a stroll that morning. Perhaps taking advantage of the nice weather. After a few days of snow there was many people out and about doing the same. The man was pale as a sheet and appeared to be more the type to hide away at the sight of sunlight, though.

When the man approached the counter Hux looked up at him, placing his bookmark in and doing his best to look like he had a vested interest in the customer’s queries. The man had his hands deep in his pockets.

“Yes? Can I help you?” Hux asked.

Quick as a whip, the man pulled his hands from his pocket and trained a gun at Hux’s forehead. Before the man could say something akin to “Give me all your money.” Hux barked out a laugh and stopped him.

“You’re robbing a bloody flower shop? Did you take a wrong turn to the bank?”

The man frowned in confusion, clearly caught off guard by Hux’s laughter. “W-what?”

“How much money do you think is in a flower shop? Ten minutes after we open no less?”

The man suddenly looked angry. “For a man with a gun pointed at him, you’re being pretty uncooperative.” His voice was deep and dangerous, and Hux briefly contemplated whether it was fear or his voice that sent the shiver down his spine.

“I mean, based on the evidence provided, you’re here to either take my money or kill me. There’s not a whole lot I can do about either so do what you must and kindly fuck off.” Hux opened the cash drawer and placed the money down. It was twenty dollars in small bills and change.

The man’s face went through a series of emotions before he dropped his hand to his side, shoving the gun back into his pocket with a huff. He didn’t touch the cash drawer, clearly seeing that it was not worth his time. “Fine then.”

He made to leave but Hux’s curiosity got the best of him. His father always did say that he was too nosy.

“Before you go, what was your thought process when you decided to rob a florist?”

The man crossed his arms like a child might. Hux was almost charmed by this would be burglar. “The risk was too large in robbing a bank.”

“So you chose a flower shop?” Hux waved his hand, not giving the man a chance to speak. “Why did you decide to rob a store in the first place? You don’t exactly look poor.”

Homely, yes, but his jacket was a brand name and looked new.

The man looked at a loss. “Why do you care?”

“Oh, I don’t. But I am curious. Humor me.”

“Um, I don’t know.”

“That’s hardly an answer.”

“I really don’t.”

“Oh, come off it. You know. So tell me, is it rebellion against strict parentage, a dare from your friends, unsolved daddy issues?”

The man’s eyes darted away at the last one. Hux grinned wolfishly. “Daddy issues, is it? Tell me about your father.”

The man shifted uncomfortably. “If I wanted to get psychoanalyzed I would go to a therapist, not hold up a flower shop.”

Hux rolled his eyes. “Luckily for you I took a semester of psychology in uni. Perhaps we’ll reach a breakthrough and you can leave today a proper, productive member of society.”

The man then rolled his eyes, which Hux found quite attractive. He needed to have a long rumination about his type in men, he realized, but he only felt a little shame at his attraction.

“Um, well my father was distant for most of my life. He was also…” the man paused for a moment, looking supremely uncomfortable. Hux might feel bad for him had he not tried to rob him. “He was never really accepting of my lifestyle, I guess. He wasn’t… homophobic but he always thought it was a phase I was going through. I guess that kinda messed me up as a kid.”

Hux could relate. Of course instead of pursuing a life a crime he just left Ireland and opened a flower shop with his dead father’s money rather than join the military as his father had wanted. But he definitely felt a thread of sympathy for the man. “What’s your name.”

It was the man’s turn to scoff, now. “I’m not so stupid that I would give you my name after I pointed a gun at you.”

“I won’t call the police,” Hux said, rolling his eyes.

The man looked dubious but relented. “My friends call me Kylo Ren.”

“Kylo Ren? I’ve never heard that name before, does it mean something?”

He shrugged. “Not really.”

“Either way, it suits you,” he said, offering a smile.

The man frowned, looking vaguely confused. “Are you flirting with me?”

Hux ignored the comment. “Perhaps we can make a deal, Kylo Ren. In return for the emotional distress you’ve put me under, you must join me for lunch tomorrow.”

“You’re asking your mugger on a date?”

Hux drummed his fingers on the counter. It sounded dumb when said aloud. “Yes.” he picked up a piece of paper and wrote down a time, date, location, and phone number. “You will be paying, of course.”

“And if I don’t show up?”

“I’ll be quite disappointed.”

Ren raised his eyebrows. “Well, I’ll be there then.”

Hux smiled. “I anxiously await it,” Hux said, and meant it.

General Armitage Hux rubbed the bruises on his throat absently. They were fading now, barely a ghost of the dark purple and black marks that were once there. Still, the emotional turmoil in his mind hadn’t lessened. Since Snoke’s death not a lot had changed, admittedly. Snoke actually did little for the Order besides send Ren after those who tried to kill him and shoulder all the desk work on top of Hux. He planned missions and sent them after some Force-related object occasionally, but the beast put most of his effort into directing Ren and his knights.

Hux had been teaching Ren his duties and he seemed to be a semi-decent leader at the very least. But Hux still felt a sense of anxiety whenever he thought about the future of the Order. He had dedicated his life to the Order, and if he defected he would be killed. The Order had changed drastically since he initially joined, though. He no longer wholeheartedly believed in the direction it was going. Under Snoke they had been so focussed on the Force, gathering Force artifacts, and eliminating any Force users who aspired to be Jedi that they hadn’t even taken over another planet in the last five years. It had been over a year since they’d even considered attacking a planet. They were in an unofficial cessation for subjugation for the time being. He wondered idly if Ren would approve them continuing this operation, or if he would continue in the path of Snoke and keep their Force-centric trajectory. Either was just as possible. Ren would love the slaughter and carnage created when beating an entire planet into submission, but he was Force-obsessed just as Snoke was.

Hux shivered. Stripped down to his underclothing, the chill of the ship sunk into his bones. He stripped naked and climbed into the shower. His position as general on the ship meant he had the ability to grant himself creature comforts in his quarters. He didn’t often. When he was living with his father in a run down little shack on Arkanis, before he created the Academy when they were still in a New Republic induced poverty, his father had told him that comfort was for the weak, and that suffering would make him powerful. However, Hux had given himself a water shower when he had built his ship. The searing hot water grounded him, helped him clear his mind after a chaotic day. He stood under the stream of water for awhile, trying his damndest to clear his mind of the things that troubled him. It worked for awhile, but as soon as he stepped out of the shower, out of the cocoon of warmth he’d created the thoughts came back. He sighed before leaving the bathroom to dress. His timekeeper on his desk warned him that he only had five hours before his next shift began. Four hours to actually sleep, provided he fell asleep right then. He sighed again and dressed with as much haste as he could muster. As soon as he was ready to finally lay down to attempt to fall asleep he received a request for entry at his door.

He cursed and granted it. Kylo Ren swept into his room like a shadow. The door closed behind him, sealing them both in the completely dark room.

“Can it wait?”

Ren, who’d opened his mouth to speak, closed it. He was quiet for a moment, his eyes searching Hux.

“You’re unwell,” Ren finally said.

“Only tired. If it can wait until morning I’d very much like to get at least a few hours of sleep.” He grabbed the bottle of sleeping pills off the nightstand and a glass of water he’d poured.

“You’ll be groggy in the morning if you take those.”

“Yes, I’m aware. I cannot sleep without them, though,” Hux said, growing more annoyed at Ren’s presence by the second.

“I can put you to sleep. And you’ll feel well rested when you wake as well.”

Hux eyed him dubiously. He trusted Ren to not kill him, but he didn’t trust him to not pick his mind while he was unconscious. However, he was desperate for some quality sleep. It’d been months since he woke feeling well. His sleep-frustrated mind had made its decision, whether he trusted Ren or not. He doubted he possessed any knowledge that Ren wanted anyways.

“Fine,” he said.

Ren kneeled before him on the floor and placed a hand on the back of Hux’s head, gentler than he knew Ren was capable of. His eyes met Hux’s, but darted down to glance at the bruise encircling his neck for just a moment. When he looked back up Hux could almost see guilt on his face. Perhaps Hux was just projecting what he wanted to see, Hux doubted Ren’s ability to feel remorse in any form.

“Close your eyes,” Ren said. Hux obeyed, and the last thing he felt before falling asleep was Ren lowering him onto the bed.

He woke the next morning covered with his blanket. His first thought was that he did truly feel well rested. His second thought was that Ren had placed him laying with his head on the pillow and the blanket pulled up to his chin. Which was a shockingly nice thing to do.

As he dressed distraitly he reflected on this. For some reason he couldn’t shake the feeling of having Ren’s hand pressed gently to his cheek. He reached up to smooth back his hair and placed his gloved hand over where Ren’s hand was.

He shook the thoughts from his mind. Ren had simply done him a favor. When he went to the bridge he would still be the same Kylo Ren that ran his saber through his communications console and strangled him over the corpse of their fallen leader. He told himself this but he couldn’t get the odd feeling out of his gut that Ren was changed now. The insect biting at his side was in torn in half and reduced to ashes in the ships incinerator. For a brief moment the thought crossed his mind that, perhaps the future wouldn’t be as disastrous as he thought it may be. He shook his head as he placed his cap over his carefully groomed hair. Nonsense, he though, but rather than a niggling of anxiety in his gut he felt a small, tiny feeling of excitement for what the future held.