#c2sw replies

Tagged by @ladyshivs thank you for thinking of me

Common Loot

1-5 ‘click clack’ hair clips

A pen (pink, purple or green)

Sunglasses

One black sock

Rare Loot

Blue nazar eye bead

Shrimp fidget

Tube of plastic glue

Legendary Loot

Tiny carved fluorite dinosaur

“…frankly the situation in Germany is none of our concern, if they can’t pay then…”

Declan could feel his cane creaking in his fist as his fingers involuntarily tightened. If he were a younger or fitter man… if he were anyone but a Hux with a reputation to maintain… he’d punch that idiot square in the teeth.

He had been trying to drowned the Colonel out all night, but the man had that awful kind of voice that crawled inside Declan’s skull. What a vile, disgusting, heartless little coward. Probably never even stepped foot on a real battlefield and certainly had never gone hungry once in his worthless life. Why Dopheld tolerated his presence…

Matt’s large warm hand settled around his for an instant under the cover of handing him a cup of mulled wine.

It was almost enough to calm him down.

Of course Dopheld had to tolerate these men- his place in the Army still depended on it, just as Armitage needed to court the government if he was to keep his supply chains open. Everything was politics in the end. At least if they maintained their connections they still had a chance to influence things for the better.

“…if a few thousand die here and there, well, that’s one way to reduce the burden on their economy and increase our income!”

No. Too far. Damn the politics and damn the reputation, Declan was going to punch him.

For the length of a breath Matt’s fingers tightened on his elbow. At first Declan thought he was being restrained, but then he recognised the guiding touch for what it was- a slight adjustment to his trajectory.

The Colonel screamed when Declan ‘accidentally’ brought his cane down with enough force to break two toes.

Naturally that noise startled the younger Hux brother, who was of course only a poor blind veteran of the trenches. Declan’s nerves had never been the same after the shelling and the gas that had taken most of his vision. Yes, the noise startled him in such a way that his cane came up reflexively to connect with the Colonel’s chin and nose.

A wet crunch of a breaking nose and Declan stumbled back, the fresh cup of steaming hot mulled wine sadly cascading over the hapless officer’s crotch.

The scream turned into a sobbing wail that was coming from somewhere near the floor.

“Oh dear.” Declan said as sincerely as he could. It wasn’t very convincing, he was still working on that.

“Are you okay, Quentin?” Dopheld asked just before there was another cry of pain. “Oh sorry, did I step on your hand?”

Last song: “Midnight Voyage” by The Mamas & The Papas (that’s according to Spotify, but in reality I’ve had “Ballad of Chasey Lain” stuck in my head for like two months now).

Fav colour: the weird visual effect you get when you put neon pink and aqua next to each other. Or purple, that’s also good.

Currently watching: just finished Ahsoka and Disenchantment. They were okay I guess. Will probably watch Loki next but I’ll need a run up. I miss enjoying things.

Last movie: Lost World: Jurassic Park 2. The kid wanted to watch the series for the first time. I’d forgotten how pretty Jeff Goldblum is, and how daft the movie got by the end.

Currently reading: I bought the Nimona comic book last month, I might actually read it.

Sweet/Savoury/Spicy: yes please. 🍫🥐🌶️

Relationship Status: married eleven years this Halloween 🎃 together over 23 years though.

Current Obsessions: *stares into the distance* I can’t even remember what obsessions feel like anymore.

Last Google: “how to remove rust from UPVC” because I’m old and house repairs never end.

Currently working on: some illustration projects for a local charity, also painting some very grumpy orange ladies—

“Do you believe in the afterlife?” Kylo asked quietly.

He was slumped against the bulkhead at the very edge of Hux’ field of vision. Hux couldn’t see any wounds but he looked very pale despite the rosy glow of the fires crackling between the wall panels around him.

Hux sighed.  “Is this really the time for that kind of discussion?”

The beam resting across his legs shifted as he spoke, but he hardly felt it. He’d lost most of the sensation there a while ago. Whether numbness was preferable to pain at this point probably didn’t matter. Well, not for long anyway.

“Do you really think there’ll be a better time?”

“If the choice is between now or never, I’ll choose the latter.” He said after a moment’s thought.

Kylo tipped his head to glare at Hux with his one good eye. “Why are you always like this?”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Hux sniffed. He knew he was being a prick but since they were about to die it hardly made a difference any more.

“Why do you never listen to me?”

“Ha!” Hux regretted the noise as soon as he made it. Pain shot through his broken ribs and lingered, making breathing that little bit harder than it had already been. When he next spoke it was more of a wheeze. “You don’t get to lecture me about listening.”

“Every time we die you act like an ass,” Kylo said. “Every damn time and it always makes it harder to find you again.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“It took me twenty four years to fuck up my life enough to find you this time because you threw a tantrum at the last minute, and even then you wouldn’t give me a chance. I refuse to go through that again.”

Clearly Kylo had finally snapped. Hux had suspected he was insane from the first moment he showed up in Snoke’s throne room, but clearly the stress of command had severed the last few threads of normalcy in that ridiculous head.

The ship groaned and wailed around them, the telltale sound of atmospheric seals finally giving out on the deck below.

“We’ve got about five minutes,” Kylo said. “If I don’t bleed out first. Please, listen to me this time. We can do this. We can get out. But I need you to listen.”

“In case you’ve gone blind- I’m pinned under-”

Kylo sounded anguished when he cut him off, like speaking was a huge effort.

“Not out of here. Out of the trap we’re in. We never remember what’s happening until we’re nearly dead. I usually go first. And you never fucking listen. So listen. Our souls are damned until we can redeem ourselves but it has to be both of us. We need to do things right this time.”

It was insane, but it was this or silence. “I’m listening.”

“When you’re four,” Kylo said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. “You’re going to hear your father come into the kitchens looking for you. He’s going to be angry. You need to hide and you need to stay hidden.”

“How do you know about that? I’ve never told anyone…”

“You’ve told me. Lots of times. Please, Armitage, just… stay hidden.”

That was the last thing to Supreme Leader of the First Order ever said. Thirty seconds later the hull collapsed.

-----------------------------------

“Where is he?!”

Brendol sounded angry, and his mother was sobbing too hard from fear to answer him. She was going to get hurt. Armitage had to do something.

“Get out here you little brat or you’ll both be dead when the Rebels get here!”

Armitage reached for the door of the cupboard he was hiding in, but as he touched the cold metal he heard another voice inside his head. “Stay hidden.”

He lowered his hand and held his breath.

In the kitchen outside he could hear Brendol throwing crockery around and tearing open doors, but he’d never think to look in here. People were always surprised that Armitage could fit into such a little space.

“Forget it then,” Brendol snapped with last frustrated kick at the cupboard. “I hope they kill you both slowly.”

Armitage had to cover his mouth to keep from crying out loud but he managed to stay quiet until the sound of starship engines overhead faded to nothingness.

His mother was okay, sitting in the ruins of the room that had been her home for so many years with a comforting hand on the bump that would soon be a brother or sister to him.

Three days later the Rebels came, but they didn’t bring death with them. They brought food, and medical supplies, and a woman with long dark braids and a bump just like his mothers. She said she needed a cook, and a friend, on her own planet and his mother happily volunteered.

Everyone said she was a princess, but to Armitage and his family she was just Leia.

The sodden earth shifted and squelched beneath his boots, the endless rain robbing this moment of any of the solemnity it should have had.

But wasn’t that typical of Arkanis?

Even the few happy memories of his childhood were painted grey by the persistent clouds, his mother’s hair the only point of colour in that miserable landscape.

He remembered so clearly her cold arms wrapped limply around him in the rain before an officer tore him away from her body and threw him into the evacuation ship. The academy was gone now, torn down years ago. He had no idea where she’d taken her last breath.

But at least Kylo had found him this, this strangest of apology gifts- the site of his mother’s tomb.

The Supreme Leader kept pace at his side, his cloak long since waterlogged and trailing in the mud behind him like the wings of a bedraggled crow. He said nothing as he walked, and Armitage was thankful for that. This was not the time for words.

Ahead of them a death trooper pointed silently toward a tombstone, her shiny black armour a horrible contrast with the lichen covered stone.

The surname was the only clear writing now, the rest hidden by plant life, but the three letters made him feel sick to his stomach.

HUX

Who the hell had chosen to bury his mother under Brendol’s name? She wasn’t his wife. She had had a name of her own, even if Armitage couldn’t remember it anymore.

He knelt awkwardly, ignoring the cold that instantly spread into his bones, and began to pull away the moss and lichen. At least if he could know her first name. At least if he could remember her as something more than mother.

“What?” Kylo muttered behind him.

At first he didn’t see it, rain and tears obscuring his vision but finally he managed to focus enough to read-

HUXARMITAGE0ABY-4ABYBeloved Son

“What the-” Armitage staggered back, colliding with Kylo as sudden wave of fear took all the coordination from his limbs.

Kylo caught him, huge hands running over his arms and the Force wrapping around his chest as the Supreme Leader sought to prove to them both that he was real. Not dead. Not a ghost, or a Force projection, or a delusion.

“Hey!” A voice shouted in the way of a man who was very angry but also not used to drawing attention. “You stay away from there! Stop touching Armie’s grave!!”

Armitage turned and found himself face to face with… himself?

The man in front of him had long hair, an ugly tattoo across his forehead, and brilliant blue mechanical eyes- but otherwise he looked exactly like Armitage himself.

He opened his mouth to speak when a grey shape stepped up beside the newcomer and said in a familiar voice, “Techie? Who are these people?”

The red was gone from her hair, but he knew that voice. It had sung him lullabies every night for the first four years of his life.

“Mother?”

“Armie?! You’re alive?!”

His knees almost gave out as he stepped forward and dragged his mother into their first hug in over thirty years.

Her arms were cold from the rain, but that’s just how things are on Arkanis.  

[NSFW- see tags for triggers]

“Do you want the remains of your helmet back?” Hux asked conversationally over breakfast.

Kylo raised an eyebrow at him, but it was accompanied by a fond smile.

The transition to living full-time in the Supreme Leader’s quarters, ostensibly under duress, had been surprisingly successful for them both.

Hux’ health was massively improved by being forced to take two meals a day in Kylo’s presence, and they’d both found the post-orgasmic morning haze to be the ideal time to discuss military matters. They’d be back at one another’s throats by evening, but a second round of good food and physical release mellowed their tempers quite effectively.

If only they’d realised that years ago, what a power couple they could have been. But Hux hadn’t had what he needed then.

“You still have that?” Kylo asked in reply. “Why?”

“You should be careful what you leave lying around, darling, especially something with so much blood, sweat, and hair caught up in it.” Hux chided gently. He was turning a piece of meat on his fork as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. “There’s a reason stormtroopers follow such strict rules about equipment care.”

“Is it because you’re obsessed with squeaky clean aesthetics?” Kylo grinned.

Hux shivered as the Force drift over his backside like fingers, Kylo clearly trying to remind him that last night had been anything but squeaky clean.

The day before they’d finally gotten the all clear on their sexual health checks - a long process because of the questionable medical care Kylo had received in his years with the Knights of Ren - and they’d celebrated throughout the night without any kind of barrier between them.

Kylo’s seed still lingered all over Hux’ skin. He’d leave it there as long as he could. A reminder of his victory.

“Safety is not a matter of aesthetics, Kylo. You of all people should know what a witch can do to you with just a few drops of bodily fluids.”

There was a moment of silence before Kylo howled with laughter.

“Witches?! Do you really believe in witches?!” He asked in clear tones of disbelief once he finally had his amusement under control. “The Force is a real, the Force is what makes the galaxy function, but it is not witchcraft! I never knew Imperials were so backwards! Where did you learn such nonsense?”

“There are many witches on Arkanis,” Hux replied flatly. He nibbled away a piece of the meat, rolling it across his tongue for a moment before he went on. “A witch could easily win your affections with a little old blood and a few hairs. With your sweat they can control your temper. Fresh semen and they can own your heart for as long as you live. Given willingly and you’d be their slave.”

Kylo snorted derisively. “What complete bullshit.”

They sat in silence while Hux finished his meal. Kylo had finished eating sometime ago, but he didn’t seem interested in leaving the table.

“You know, Kylo, I don’t think the title of Supreme Leader really suits you,” Hux said as he pushed away his plate and stepped around the table. He pressed Kylo casually back in his seat, making space to climb into his lap. “I think it would be better for the Order if I took that role, and you took one more suited to your skills. How does Concubine sound to you?”

Kylo smiled easily as he ran his hands over Hux’ sides. “As long as you stop this nonsense about witchcraft, it sounds entirely reasonable to me.”

“And the traditional Concubine’s mode of dress - nudity at all times - you’re happy with that too?”

“Of course. However I can best serve you.”

Hux kissed him. “Good boy.”

“Explain this to me again,” Matt said as he followed Techie further into the musty smelling ‘haunted’ house. “Because I really don’t understand it. We- meaning both of us- have to stay here for twelve hours…”

“And if we do we get $10,000,” Techie finished the sentence when Matt trailed off frowning again.

“I still don’t get it.”

“It’s hardly rocket science.”

“Rocket science I can do-”

Techie chuckled quietly. “I don’t think that’d be Armie’s assessment.”

“Well, he can kiss my ass,” Matt grumbled under his breath as he kicked at a pile of cobwebs and lace that had once been curtains. “Why would your brother and my brother want to give us $5,000 each?”

Techie poked the rotting sofa for a moment before deciding he’d rather stand than risk coming into contact with whatever the moist stickiness was on the cushions. Maybe there was a kitchen in here somewhere? Or a dining room? Somewhere with solid wood chairs that wouldn’t be squishy to the touch.

“As far as I can tell their plan is-” He raised his hand to count off on his fingers, then wiped it on his shorts in disgust. This house was foul. “Urgh. We’re supposed to get frightened in here and end up comforting each other. I think Kylo watched too many horror movies where scared cuddling leads to dating. And they really want us to get together.”

“But we’re alread- oh.” The light of understand finally dawned across Matt’s face. “Is this why you didn’t want me to tell Kylo we were dating?”

“Yeah, I overheard them planning all this back in, like, June and well, $10,000 is $10,000,” Techie smiled and pulled out the only chair left at the ruined dining table. “Oh no, there’s only one chair! Whatever will we do? I guess you’ll have to sit here and hold me so I don’t get scared.”

Matt grinned at him. “Do you think $10,000 is enough for a kickass wedding?”