#brooos

some things (and people) never change...

A little something for @artemisclydefrogge ‘s Techienician/Kylux coffee shop AU! Hux is the district manager and Techie (Bren) is going to start his new job tomorrow morning, but he’s starting to worry about how he’ll do. Just some super fluffy familial fluff. (And Ivy’s AU ideas are always incredibly cute and fleshed out and it is a joy to plot with her!)

Hux goes to lock up--making sure the front door and back door are locked, all the curtains are drawn, the unnecessary lights are turned off, that Millicent has food in her bowl. The TV is still on in the den, and as Hux goes to turn it off, he spots Bren huddled in on corner of the couch, pressed so small that he looks like he is crowded in by other invisible sitters, who are taking up all the room. A big flannel blanket is draped around him like a barber's cape. 

"Bren," Hux says, sitting down next to him. Bren looks a little distant, sleeping with his eyes open, sort of, only minimally focused on the TV--it's a show about how candy is made. Lollipops are cruising down a conveyor belt. "Bren, it's time to go to bed. You have to be up early tomorrow."

Bren blinks slow, then squishes his eyelids shut--sometime his contacts dry out when he's been staring at a screen for too long. "I know."

He doesn't move, though.

Hux squeezes his arm. "Come on."

Bren shifts like he's about to throw the blanket off, but then pulls it closer, retreating into its warmth. "I'll get up in a minute."

"Oh, no, I've heard that one about a million times before." Hux goes to yank the blanket playfully, but he draws his hand back when he sees the look on Bren's face, like he's genuinely about to be upset. "Bren?"

"I don't know about his, Tidge."

"About the job?"

"Mmhm." Hux can tell Bren is hugging his knees, holding himself together, physically, like if he lets go of his body he will flood with tears. "I--I mean, everyone will know I just got it because you got it for me, and not because I'm any good--there's so much to learn and so many drinks and people are so mean, Tidge, people will yell at me when I get everything screwed up and that will just make me screw up more--"

He stops short, his mouth open slightly, like he's realized he's said too much but knows he can't get it back. Hux went to all the trouble to get him this job, and now he's going to fail him before he's even begun, how ungrateful he must sound. 

"It's normal to be nervous, Bren," Hux says, in the gentle way he only has with his brother, putting his arm around him and squeezing his shoulder. He is known for putting the fear of God in people but Bren has never feared him, not once. Bren may be the only person who has ever seen him afraid, and even then only so rarely that he can count the occasions on one hand. 

"I'm not nervous, though. I'm just scared."

"That's understandable too."

"Plus what if I make you look bad? They'll say, Armitage can't even teach his brother the simplest things about working at the store...."

"Has anybody said that yet?" Hux asked. 

Bren shrugged. "No, but..."

"You know that no one is going to throw you right into the thick of it, right?" 

Bren nodded, laying his head on Hux's shoulder. "You have to walk before you can run, you know. You'll probably start just by brewing coffee or making whipped cream or washing dishes. And then the register, and then making lattes and things like that. Everyone knows you're new."

Bren said nothing, just shivered a little against him.

"Jyn's known you since you were in middle school, she'll tear the tongue out of any customer who wants to give you shit. And you know how nice everyone else is. I don't hire unfriendly, uncaring people. It's bad for business. People come to a coffee shop for a pleasant atmosphere. And everyone who works there will be good to you, all right?"

Bren nods, still feeling how tight and achey his stomach was but believing, really believing. 

"And anyone who's not," Hux says, and it comes out like a snarl but Bren loves it because it is somehow so warm and protective and exactly what Bren needs. "Will deal with me directly and immediately."

"You promise?" Bren breathes.

"Of course," Hux answers. The question is a formality; Bren knows his brother will take on any threat, no matter how minor, to Bren's well-being without hesitation. "So you have nothing to worry about."

Bren nods again, his hair mashed up against Hux's shoulder. Getting Bren to take the first step was always the hardest; he'd spent so long feeling afraid and discouraged about new things. But when he finally did them, it was like the fear had never been there at all. Hux knew it would be the same once he started working at the cafe, though a little encouragement would never go amiss.

"I'm really proud of you, Bren," he says, and squeezes his shoulder again. "Really, honestly."

Bren isn't sure what to say, he's choking on his gratitude. Tomorrow will be amn easy day, surely, just getting his bearings, right? It's not like his anxiety has vanished, but it has settled, curled up and fallen asleep like a big guard dog snoring in its doghouse. But he doesn't have to say anything, because Hux is hauling him up, businesslike but smiling. 

"Up you go. Go on."

"Night, Tidge," he says as Hux turns the TV off for him. 

"Good night, Bren."

No: 36 (Multiple People) Thema: Idol

Charakter: Arian + Buggs (KG)

Titel: Bro Duo!