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Hux swirled the violet liquid at the bottom of his glass, taking a noseful of the strong alcohol before rolling a sip over his tongue. It burned all the way down, but in a pleasant, distracting way. It took his mind off the First Order power structure, the amazingly annoying Kylo Ren and how odd it felt not to be in uniform.
He had picked this particular cantina because it was generic enough he could blend in, while not being seedy and loud.
He had just started in on his second when someone approached the bar next to him. "I'll have what he's having." Spoken by a voice that sounded amazingly like Kylo Ren's, without the mask.
Hux turned his head cautiously. Sure enough, Kylo Ren stood next to him, taking the drink the bartender slid over to him. "What do you think you're doing here?" Hux asked pointedly.
Having the gall to look mildly surprised, Ren stopped with his drink halfway to his lips. "What exactly does it look like I'm doing?"
Hux snarled, showing some teeth, "do it somewhere else."
"Like Hell's I will. You certainly aren't going to tell me what I can and can't do." He tossed back his drink.
Hux curled his lip. Ren wouldn't know good alcohol if it lit him on fire. And while that was a nice thought, it didn't actually happen; it was just a waste of a good drink. "I have to put up with you on the ship, Co-Commader," he put a nasty emphasis on it. "My shore leave is a vacation from You."
Ren slammed his empty glass down on the bar. "Fine." His eyes blazed angrily. "This place is a little too, You, anyway. I'm going somewhere better. Have fun old man." He threw the credits for his drink down and turned and stomped heavily out.
Hux wasn't sure what those remarks meant, he was only five years older than Ren. But he was certain he didn't care. The important thing was, Kylo Ren was out of his hair until he was back on board the Finalizer. Which really happened to be Hux's ship. Ren was just a destructive interloper; they just had to wait until he burned himself out. He drank to that.
The only problem with a mid-grade bar was, anyone drinking alone was assumed to be looking to purchase companionship. Four drinks later and Hux had fended off six prostitutes and two other 'interested parties'.
He paid his tab and went in search of his second cantina choice. He thought he might have enough alcohol on board that he wouldn't mind it too much.
The second cantina was much louder, more lively than the first. The chances of getting picked up were still there, but with so many people not as likely. There was a band on a high dais and half the floor was open for dancing. He headed for the seating area immediately, but stopped cold as he got to the booths.
"Dammit Ren," he slid into the seat across from him. Ren looked up, a little dazed and definitely surprised. "I knew you were following me!"
Ren sat up from where he had been slouching over his drink, something much lower class than they had been drinking at the other establishment. "What are you talking about. I was here first!"
Hux shook a finger at him, which turned into a wave at the bartender. "I've been planning on coming here all along."
"So? I came straight here after I wasn't good enough to drink with you at that other place."
"Exactly, you're the mind reader. You knew I would be coming here." A server passed by, stopping off with his drink. He had no idea what it was, he took an agitated swallow, coughed.
"Oh and what, I've just been waiting around for you to show up? Like I've got nothing better to do."
Hux waved a hand. "Clearly you don't."
Ren managed to look stung. "I'm no happier about running into you on shore leave than you are. If I had longer I would have left the system for somewhere else. But I didn't, so here we are."
Hux took another drink, made a face. "What the Hell's is this, anyway?"
Ren shrugged, leaning back over his drink. "Dunno. Just told them to bring me something strong." He eyed Hux. "Why would you want to come here, anyway? The other place was much nicer. Seemed a bit more your speed."
Glaring, Hux took another swig. It wasn't bad, exactly. But it was strong, just as advertised. "I'm not as stuffy as you think, Ren." Ren snorted. "There's nothing wrong with enjoying a nice drink in a quiet atmosphere. It helps me unwind."
"What, General Hux unwound? That would require pulling the dueling bars out of your ass first."
"I'll have you know that I am a professional. I know you don't understand exactly what that means, but I do. But that doesn't mean I don't know how to relax."
It was Ren's turn to glare. "It is my job to break things and intimidate people."
Ren must have been more drunk than Hux had originally thought. He wondered just how many he had before he arrived. Hux gave a heavy sigh. "Yes Ren. It is. But you're supposed to break Other people's things, and intimidate people that Aren't First Order." Maybe Hux had drunk more than he thought as well. He signaled for two more.
"Whatever. You said you knew how to relax. Why are we talking about work then?"
Hux countered, because he knew he had already reached the outer limits of his knowledge on relaxation. "Well, what are you doing that's so relaxing?"
Ren looked across the room at the dance floor. "When I'm drunk enough I'm going to find someone to dance with. Or," he glanced over at the bar. There were a few beings looking back. "Someone might find me first."
"You're not drunk enough." Hux would never be that drunk.
"No, I'm not drunk enough." Then he laughed.
The sound was unnerving to Hux. Had he really never heard Ren laugh before? "What's so funny?"
"Did we just agree on something?"
"Do you mean: did you just not contradict me on something? I believe so."
Ren's face clouded over. "Why do you have to do that? You're the one that's being contradictory." He gulped down half of his new drink. Hux followed suit.
"I'm not contradictory. I just know what I'm talking about."
"You mean that you think you're always right."
"Well, because I usually am."
"Screw you Hux. I'm right a lot too, you just don't want anyone else to look smarter than you."
Hux shrugged. "That's not really likely to happen."
Ren made a growling noise and drained his drink. He raised the empty glass for another. Then he slammed it on the table and stuck a thick finger in Hux's face. He went cross-eyed looking at it.
"You're ego couldn't take not being the smartest person in the room."
Sighing, Hux drained his drink as well, reaching for the new one as soon as it was set in front of him. "That's where you're wrong, Ren. My 'ego' is the only think that's kept me alive for the last 25 years of service."
Ren still looked angry, but he eyed Hux and took a smaller gulp. "What's that mean?"
"In the Republic, a mediocre life is the worst thing that can happen to you if you come in second. In the world I grew up in it could get you killed. Or worse."
They both contemplated that for a moment. Even Ren knew there were worse things than death.
It suddenly struck Hux that he and Ren were actually having a civil conversation. He hadn't even wanted to be in the same establishment as Ren: how had he forgotten that? "Anyway," he said, trying to salvage the situation, "the last thing I want to do is spend my shore leave drinking with you. One of us really should move on." He hoped it would be Ren; getting up and walking didn't feel like a good idea all of a sudden.
But Ren had decided to take offense.
"I'm not going anywhere." He growled. He took a good swallow and Hux felt a few drops hit his face when Ren slammed the glass down again. "Actually, just because you're being an asshole--I'm sticking to you."
Hux frowned as he tried to make sense of that. "What do you mean?"
"If you go somewhere else, I'm following you. Everywhere."
"Why in the Hell's would you do that? I thought you didn't want to be around me either?"
"Because it will be worth it, just to witness the aggravation it will cause you."
'Aggravation' was a rather big word after all the alcohol he'd had, but Hux got the meaning. "Fine." He signaled for two more drinks. "Than I shall simply get so drunk I won't care." He drained his last drink just as the new one arrived. "Also, I shall be sure to laugh at you when you are finally brave enough to get on the dancefloor." He waved in the general direction of the dancefloor, then shot Ren a 'so there' look.
Ren took another big drink. "Fine."
"Fine."
Ren looked lost for a moment, then managed "I'll just sit here and watch you drink then."
Hux tried to convince himself he would hate that, but his buzz was a little too pleasant to allow it. He hummed into his drink.
They sat drinking quietly for another whole drink before Ren opened his mouth again. "So what was the worst?"
"The worst what?"
"The worst that really could happen? Like, being demoted?"
Hux huffed and glared over his drink. "Don't be an asshole Ren. They beat us, for one thing."
Ren snorted. "Please, I get beaten all the time. Electrified, too."
"I was eight years old Ren."
"Oh. Yeah, I guess that's motivating."
Hux rolled his eyes and refused to answer that. Instead he looked at his drink. "These seemed a lot stronger when we first started drinking them."
Ren lifted his and squinted at the light through it, like he could tell the chemical makeup and alcohol content that way. Hux couldn't help but snicker. Ren frowned at him, then slammed it back on the table and yelled "bring us some Real drinks over here!"
While they waited Hux regarded Ren. His hair was messy on any given day, but it was currently positively wild. He shook his head. "You couldn't possibly understand what it's really like in the First Order ranks. You're Special."
Ren gaped for a moment, only looking away when the drinks came. Hux had no idea what it was, but it was black. Matte black. There might have been smoke coming off it, but everything was a little fuzzy, so it was hard to tell.
"I'm not."
Refocusing on Ren took a moment. "Not what?"
"Special."
"Please Ren. You're Supreme Leader Snoke's apprentice. You're untouchable, not only because of that, but because you're not in First Order ranks. Who would dare put you in your place." He glared over the drink, "even when you need it." He took a gulp and was pretty sure his eyeballs went numb.
"You do. Or try." Ren grumbled, but he was smirking. His face said the new drink was strong enough. "Besides, I'm a mind reader. I don't have to guess what everyone's thinking about me. And they know it so they assume I'm there to spy for Snoke."
"That's because everyone is spying for someone. That's how it works."
Ren shook his head like he was trying to shake something off. "That's stupid."
Hux sighed. "It's effective."
"Who's your spy, Hux? That little Mitaka you always send on errands?" He leaned forward and tried to whisper conspiratorially. It was almost impossible for Hux to make out "Phasma?"
"Please. Phasma knows everything, but you couldn't trust anything she saw fit to share."
Ren laughed, loudly. "That implies you trust anyone."
"Of course I don't!" Snapped Hux, affronted. "But I would trust her Less than others."
"Whatever." Ren said and drained his glass. "Get us another round."
*** **
Sunshine streamed through the windows, filling every corner of the room and welcoming another beautiful day.
Hux hated it. It felt like it was shining directly into his brain.
He smacked his dry lips a few times, trying to unglue his tongue from the roof of his mouth. It felt like he had been eating handfuls of sand, and tasted worse. Hux threw a hand over his face to try and keep his eyeballs from shifting and to block some of the direct sunlight.
He didn't want to get up but he was going to die of dehydration if he didn't. His head burned as he tried to remember. Was he on mission? Had he been forced to hike through a desert, or been kept under torture lights? He didn't remember being captured. All he remembered was . . . Kriff. Shore leave, drinking with Ren. Had he actually . . . Danced? He groaned. His only consolation was Ren had matched him drink for drink; he probably would remember even less.
Hux put a hand down to leverage himself up to go get a drink. Then he froze as he encountered a warm body underneath it. Horrified, Hux opened his eyes and turned his head, painfully and reluctantly, to see.
Sure enough, in the bed next to him was none other than Kylo Ren. He snatched his hand away but it was too late. Ren stirred.
He lifted his head from the pillow and Hux watched him go through the same array of painful questions and realizations he just had. In the end, Ren's eyes settled on Hux. They stared at each other in dawning horror for a long moment. Then they were both moving, scrambling to opposite sides of the bed.
As they stood in shocked silence Hux's brain started functioning again. He pointed to Ren. "You still have clothes on."
Ren clutched at his chest, feeling for his shirt, then finally daring to look down. He was wearing a full set of underclothes, socks included. He glanced over at Hux. "So do you." His voice was rough and low.
Hux looked down, he too was wearing all his underclothes. "Yes. Yes I am." Their eyes met across the bed. "That makes it statistically unlikely anything happened between us last night."
Ren swallowed hard. "I was so drunk . . . Yeah, there's no way I could have . . ." He ran both hands shakily through his hair. "Yeah, there's no way. We just passed out."
Hux would have nodded if it hadn't felt like his head was going to explode. "Yes, yes. We probably only both ended up here because we needed each other to stay upright. Nothing else possibly could have occurred."
Ren looked relieved and hurried to start picking up his clothes, shoving things on as he found them. Neither of them said another word and Ren only gave a brief look back at Hux, meeting his eye, before he disappeared out the door.
*** **
It was several cycles later; Hux was finally recovered from his ill-fated shore leave. Some vacation that had turned out to be. He had humiliated himself in front of Ren, and given himself more stress and aggravation instead of less. Thankfully, he hadn't seen the man in days, and the aftereffects of his hangover had finally abated.
Hux was on his way to a meeting for upper level staff, but his thoughts were far from Ren. He had no reason to be concerned Ren would show up, since he hadn't been to one in months.
So imagine his surprise when, as soon as he called the meeting to order, no other than Kylo Ren walked in and stood against the wall behind him.
Hux kept his calm demeanor, not fidgeting or looking over his shoulder nervously. The whole meeting Ren may as well have been a wall decoration. He never moved, didn't speak, was his usual useless self. Still, Hux wondered what he was up to.
When the meeting ended Hux collected his datapad and started to follow the other officers out, but an artificial voice arrested him. "General Hux. A moment of your time."
Hux reluctantly stopped and watched the last of the officers leaving. It wasn't his imagination that they jostled each other in their hurry to leave the room. Hux sighed. "Yes Ren, what can I do for you."
Ren was silent for a long moment. Then he raised his hands to his helmet and released it with a rush and a whir. Lifting it away he regarded Hux with his dark eyes for a moment. Hux blinked under the scrutiny.
"I simply wanted to tell you that I was glad to have been able to spend some time with you off-ship."
Hux was speechless. Ren continued.
"I hope," he broke eye contact then, "that perhaps next time you would do me the honor of joining me again."
Hux blinked, then snapped his jaw shut when he realized it had dropped. Had Ren truly enjoyed getting falling-down drunk with him, and waking up in such a compromising position?
Ren licked his lips. "I was hoping however, that we could perhaps be a bit more moderate in our alcohol consumption. I believe I enjoyed talking to you, but I do wish I remembered more of it."
Hux finally managed to stutter out, "if that's what you wish."
Ren's eyes lit up and he took an abortive step forward. "Yes. It is."
Straightening himself and reining his disbelief back in, Hux cleared his throat. "Well then. I see no harm in getting to know each other a little better. In somewhat more controlled circumstances." His eyes fell to his arm, then followed the hand that had landed on it back up to Ren's face. "Don't make me regret this. Again." He said, barely above a whisper.
Ren gave him a ghost of a smile. "I won't, Hux."
*** **