Chapter Text
It turns out that there's nothing quite like the complete annihilation of an entire star system to bring people together. As devastated as Hux is after the loss of Starkiller base, the massive weapon did serve its purpose.
There's a promise of war on the horizon again. Hux seems very pleased by the prospect even though he doesn’t possess the convenience of annihilating their enemies from the comfort of his own base anymore.
The remaining New Republic worlds have banded together like frightened little children, disorganized and confused with so many of their leaders and elected representatives obliterated along with the bulk of their fleet. Knowing Leia Organa and her like, it won't be long before the Resistance has whipped the rest of the soft-spined New Republic into fighting order, but while the Resistance is gearing up for war, what remains of the Galactic Senate is predictably dragging its feet.
There's a hard limit to how much Kylo is willing to listen to when it comes to politics and the petty squabbles of democracy. Very little of it would be of interest to him if he wasn't fucking Hux, which means he has to live with blow-by-blow reports of everything the Galactic Senate is and isn't doing even though he should technically be exempt from listening to Hux's otherwise obligatory speeches.
He can only pull a pillow over his head and say "that's nice, dear," so many times before something sticks despite his best efforts to the contrary.
So that's why he knows that the Senate has, in true New Republic fashion, decided to talk about the matter first and thus called for a galaxy-wide peace conference in a last ditch pipe-dream effort to secure peace and avoid another war -- and that they have invited Hux to attend as the representative for the First Order.
When Hux gleefully informs him of this Kylo's first guess is that Hux is happy to have the remaining leaders of the New Republic gathered in a single location so he can more easily obliterate them from space, but Kylo is in for a number of surprises: first that Hux wants to attend, and secondly that the Supreme Leader agrees to it.
"I'll be taking Ren with me," Hux says.
Kylo is careful not to turn his head to look at him and keeps staring ahead somewhere in the vicinity of Snoke's flickering right shoulder. They're both walking on thin ice around Snoke since the Starkiller incident, so he doesn't know why Hux thinks now is a good time to start antagonizing him, other than that he has possibly lost his mind from grief over the loss of his super weapon.
The statement hangs uneasily in the charged air for half a second before Hux amends, "He's only a couple of days out from a heat. We'll be able to take a few days off before the summit and deal with it. Provided you don't have any other orders that require his immediate attention."
"Very well," Snoke allows after an extended pause. Kylo very slowly lets go of the breath he was holding. "I have no current use for him."
Snoke dismisses them but what ought to be a relief settles deep and wounding in Kylo's chest. Dismissal.
"You could have asked me," he says to Hux when they're out in the hall and away from under Snoke's watchful eye.
Hux clasps his hands behind his back and stares ahead as they walk, clearly avoiding eye contact. "It's nearly on top of your heat, there wasn't much to consider." Kylo resists the urge to barge into Hux's mind to see what he's hiding. He finds that he doesn't really need to most of the time, anymore.
"Have you considered not going?"
"No." As far as Hux is concerned he has practically been invited on a victory tour. Whoever sent the invitation had the good sense to appeal to his vanity, and Kylo almost can't fault him for it.
They pass a technician who fails to salute because he's too busy staring at Kylo. They're still not used to seeing his face, and the way they're acting isn't making it any easier for Kylo to acclimatize. The technician trips over nothing, sending him sprawling over the floor along with the contents of his toolkit, and Hux finally spares Kylo a glance as they walk past. It's isn't entirely disapproving.
On the morning of their departure Kylo is slumbering peacefully between sleep and wakefulness until he feels something blunt that's definitively not a tongue pressed into his ear, followed by an obnoxious beep.
Kylo grabs for the offender but Hux has already retreated to the foot of the bed. He's already half-dressed for the day, in his trousers and undershirt with his with his feet bare on the floor. He hasn't plastered his hair down yet either which falls haphazardly over his brow as he examines the numbers on the thermometer he's holding. "Excellent," he says. "Even accounting for raised body temperature during sleep you're right on time."
"I'm not a fucking roast!" Kylo twists free of the tangle of sheets he has managed to ensnare himself in during the night and gets up, glowering at Hux.
"Mm-hmm," Hux says. He's even more dismissive than usual this close to Kylo's heat, and it's infuriating. "You'd be the oven that scenario. Remember to stop by medical for your pre-heat check-up, I don't know what sort of amenities will be available at the summit and I'd rather not find out."
Kylo stalks into the refresher and palms the door close behind him to lock it, just to make sure Hux can't get to his toothbrush if he still needs it. When he comes back out some time later, towelling his hair dry, Hux is already dressed and on his way out for his shift.
Kylo tosses the wet towel on the bed and starts looking around for his own clothes. They're still living between two quarters even though they spend most nights together because neither one of them can agree on who's going to move out, and they'll probably continue in the same vein for the foreseeable future. Kylo has his own space for clothes and anything else he might need in doubles now. Luckily neither one of them take up much closet space.
M-E who was helping Hux with his boots immediately abandons Hux to his own devices and comes whirring towards Kylo, helpfully powering up its blow-drying appendage as it approaches, it's polished black finish perfectly complimenting the rest of the room. The droid is very clear about its priorities, and Kylo still finds that both endlessly satisfying and amusing.
"Just get your own droid," he suggests, not for the first time.
"I don't need looking after," Hux says archly -- and predictably, which still hasn't stopped him from using Kylo's.
Kylo sits down so M-E can reach him. His hairbrush flies into his hand from the floor next to the bed where it ended up last night and he starts working it through his hair while M-E dries it. Hux is droning on in the background, something about packing and making sure Kylo remembers to get everything he needs from his own quarters. Kylo can barely hear him over the drone of hot air in his ears, but he's sure it's the same stuff he has heard several times over the last few days.
"I'm listening," he lies, and hopes it's enough to satisfy Hux so he doesn't keep sending him memos all throughout the day.
The conference is taking place on Maron which is a planet Kylo has never heard of before, but one the public database informs him is a popular vacation resort for wealthy nobles and politicians, which explains why it's was chosen as the destination.
If they can’t achieve galactic peace, at the very least the senators will be able to leave with a tan.
They're on the shuttle an hour out from Maron when it starts. Kylo feels hot and clammy under his clothes, an ache gathering at the base of his spine and a heat building up low in his belly that he knows will turn into cramps before long if left unattended. He rolls his neck in the vain hope that it would ease the itchy tension that's crawling along under his skin, and he must make some noise because Hux who's in the seat next to his touches his wrist where Kylo is gripping the arm of his chair.
"That's perfect," Hux says. He leans over and kisses him on the cheek, and even though Kylo knows it isn't technically something he has any control of, he's so, so glad that it's whatever pleases Hux the most.
By the time they land Hux's hormones have spiked. They haven't talked or so much as looked at each other because it's the best way to avoid fucking on the floor of the shuttle, and no matter how pleased Hux is, Kylo still thinks is it's awful timing on his part. He meditates, keeps his mind far away from what's going on in his body even though it feels like the air has been sucked out of the room and his collar is growing tighter by the minute.
Hux does whatever it is that he does that allows him to function. Kylo is afraid to focus on him too much in case he shatters his own tenuous control, or Hux's. The hand on Kylo's arm still hasn't moved, the only outward sign of their shared predicament is how much tighter the grip has grown.
The shuttle unloads them and their luggage and cuts a hasty escape back towards the Unknown Regions, leaving them stranded on the landing pad of a sprawling high-end resort.
The large complex sticks out of the scenery like a sore thumb, surrounded on all sides by nature that has been carefully manicured to maintain an air of moderate wilderness without overwhelming city-dwelling patrons. From above it looked like a white sandcastle built too far from the shore, pale and geometrical amongst the limestone mountains and the dark green vegetation.
It's dusk, the sky a muted peach with a scattering of early stars behind a few half-hearted clouds, and the brief moment of cool air on Kylo's face is a welcome relief before they're ushered indoors.
They're a few days early. Most of the dignitaries won't be arriving for a few days yet, which means they have a couple of days to themselves before the conference officially starts. All carefully calibrated around their heat to make sure Hux doesn't spend too much time away from his favourite pastime of controlling everything, everywhere.
There's a droid waiting for them to show them to their room and several more to deal with their luggage while they're taken on a long and confusing walk through the innards of the building complex. They don't come across anyone else on the way, and it occurs to Kylo that they're taking the backways to avoid people. But he's barely aware of their surroundings anyway, all of his attention is on the hand rests lightly on his back, barely felt through several layers of clothes, but somehow all the more distracting for it.
Kylo doesn't see much of their room from where he finds himself bent over the nearest flat surface as soon as the door closes behind the bellhop, Hux tugging at the tight fit of his trousers while Kylo kicks his boots off his feet. There's a sound of something falling over and rolling across the floor. Neither of them pay it any mind.
It's so much better like this, when they can start right at the beginning of the heat rather than halfway through. He doesn't have to wait for the cramps or the misery to set in; there's only the warm heaviness in his muscles, the pleasant ache between his legs, and Hux who seems to take up the entire world with his soft hands and the heat of his breath against Kylo's neck.
"Stay right there," he says, and instantly that seems like an excellent idea . All Kylo wants to do is whatever Hux says, whatever makes him happy.
He pushes back against the first touch of Hux's fingers around his entrance, fucking himself back against Hux's fingers. Hux's other hand rests lightly on the back of his neck, keeping his head down against the smooth surface of the table. Hux twists his hand, plunges in a little faster and a little harder and Kylo cries out while the vase of flowers next to his head falls of the table with a crash.
"Don't need the prep," he pants, one hand reaching behind himself to find Hux's.
"I know," Hux says. Kylo barely hears him over his own moans. "I want to."
He leans down over Kylo's back, traces the bumps in his spine with his tongue and teeth while he keeps fucking Kylo into a whimpering mess. The squelching sound and the wet slide of his slender fingers has Kylo's ears burning and he turns his face against the cool surface of the table while he gasps and groans, his own cock twitching and leaking freely but he's at the wrong angle to even rub off against the table.
Hux has four fingers inside him at the end, and Kylo waits with bated breath for the fifth, torn between wanting it and pushing Hux off him and asking for what he really needs.
He gets fucked there first, bent over the table a few feet from the door, first with fingers and then with Hux's cock, then again on the bed where Hux finally knots him and they settle in for the tie. His entire body feels like he's drifting on clouds, free of all tension when he doesn't have to hold himself up thanks to the pillows bunched under his hips, and he can feel the same bone-deep contentment in Hux when he leans in and kisses him, nuzzles against the side of his face while he fills Kylo up with warmth.
It's well into the night-cycle by the time they detach. Early afternoon according to the Finalizer, but there's no particular reason or desire to move from where they are. Unlike their other shared heats they're not on the Finalizer which means there isn't anything else that can require their attention, and that's an odd feeling in and of itself.
“I didn't really have to come,” Kylo says eventually, shattering the silence that has settled over the bed . "You could have been here in time anyway." Kylo has suffered though heats before. It's been a while and time may have clouded his memory, but he's pretty sure they weren't worse than attending peace conferences.
Hux is just drifting off, his mind skirting the edged of dreaming -- a jumble of images and impressions and soft confusion that scatters before Kylo can get a clear picture of it. Something to do with sex and Snoke's throne, which feels curiously like the mattress beneath them.
Hux doesn't open his eyes but he stretches out his legs and keeps himself awake. His tawny lashes cast deeper shadows over the dark circles under his eyes, and maybe getting him out into the sun for a few minutes wouldn't be the worst idea.
"Isn’t it nice to have a holiday for a change?"
"No," Kylo balks because 'holiday' is practically a dirty word in Hux’s vocabulary."I could get a shuttle back to the Finalizer," he suggests, and Hux finally stops pretending that he doesn’t have an ulterior motive.
"I need you here to help me with the other dignitaries. To read their intentions, who can be turned to our way of thinking, who might be planning on revenge, that sort of thing."
"They know I can read them. Did you forget that I've been specifically barred from attending the meetings?"
Hux scoffs. "Everything of consequence will happen outside of the conference room. Unfortunately this means we’ll have to do some socializing and you'll have to be on your best behaviour, somehow." He barrels over the drawn-out groan Kylo lets out. "It’s only for a few days."
That's small comfort. "It's not just a few days, it's over a week."
Hux moves closer and throws an arm over him in a move that clearly says 'stop talking' and 'I want to sleep'.
It’s tempting and Kylo can almost forget that there’s over a week’s worth of tedium and awkward socialization ahead of him with people he hates.
"What kind of socializing do you mean, exactly?"
Hux sighs, his breath stirring Kylo's hair. "Talking to people, I expect. I'll handle that part," he's quick to add. "There is a banquet planned, and we might be invited to a few private dinners."
"Dinners," Kylo repeats with disgust.
"That's why I had M-E pack for you."
"Pack what for me?" Kylo asks in bewilderment.
Hux points towards the stack of luggage in the corner of the bedroom that Kylo had assumed was all Hux's.
"You bastard," he says with feeling. Hux hums and kisses the nape of his neck, and it's infuriating how quickly he can derail Kylo's perfectly justified build-up of anger.
"You do realize I'm completely defenceless on a planet soon to be filled with people who want me dead. You're going to have to stay with me just to make sure no one kills me and this cock that you're so fond of."
And that's the terrible truth of it. He can't let Hux do this alone even if he wanted to. And he very, very much wants to. And beyond that there's still the niggling hormone-induced need to please that makes it very difficult to turn Hux down -- which is of course why Hux neglected to tell him the extent of his plans until now. It's supposed to run both ways but Hux is, unfortunately, much better at taking advantage of it. He's also better at saying no which makes it twice as unfair.
Hux is less than subtly kissing his way across Kylo's shoulder, a leg wedging itself up between his and the movement under the covers stirs up Hux's rut-scent which is still very strong. Not just of any alpha but his alpha who only does what's best for him, and of course Kylo should agree to anything he thinks is best.
"You owe me."
"I'll owe you." Hux strokes Kylo's hair away from his face and places another kiss next to his ear. "This will be good for us. You'll see."
He sounds excited, and Kylo has the uneasy feeling that he ought to be concerned. The last time Hux was excited he destroyed a star system.
The lack of work in a nice change of pace, but it doesn't take a force-sensitive to know that inactivity starts wearing on Hux quickly. As in, the very next morning when they're lying spooned together and Hux starts rearranging them this way and that so he can find a position where they're comfortable and he can see his datapad over Kylo's shoulder at the same time.
"Don't read that," Hux says as he plops the screen down on the pillow in front of Kylo's face. Kylo would, just to spite him, but he really doesn't want to. Hux is vastly overestimating his interest in stormtrooper programming and Hux's objectively awful speeches.
"This reminds me of our honeymoon," Kylo muses. Mostly it's just the scentless room and that they aren't on board the Finalizer, which is a little sad.
"We need to get out more," Hux says, his thoughts running in the same direction.
"Let's do something."
Hux lifts his head off Kylo's hair and when Kylo turns to look at him they're so close his eyes blur.
"You want to do something? I assume mean something other than what we're doing right now."
"There has to something to do on this planet if people come here."
"You want to go sight-seeing in the middle of your heat?"
"I feel fine," Kylo says, and it's true. He refrains from asking Hux how he's holding up because the only answer Kylo is likely to get is perfectly, at all times. But he feels clear-headed and the only ache in his body is from where he's currently stretched around Hux's knot. It's quite possibly the shortest heat he's ever had, and the thought cheers him up immensely, whereas Hux just frowns at him as if he is doing something wrong again.
"You feel fine," he repeats woodenly. "Three days is your bare minimum, and you're done in one?"
Kylo shrugs, a bit put out that Hux is so determined to find fault with everything he does. "Maybe we're getting better at this. You should be happy that you can get back to work sooner."
Hux huffs. He pushes Kylo's head forward to open up some space between them and moves the datapad over between them instead where it sits, shockingly cold and angular between Kylo's shoulders.
"Stop pushing me! I'm attached."
"Yes, but not at the neck," Hux says calmly. His free hand wanders over Kylo's chest, clearly in an attempt to distract him, which is underhanded but effective. Kylo has almost fallen back asleep several minutes later when Hux says. "Maybe tomorrow."
The next day they venture outside of their suite which has already started feeling claustrophobic. It isn't theirs and it's no substitute for a nest, and the sooner Kylo is away from it for good, the better.
Few of the guests have arrived which means they don't run into nearly anyone, and the few people they do see cut a wide berth around them, either because of Hux's rut-scent or because they've killed a lot of people. Probably both.
In either case it means they have the pool to themselves.
Maron is a temperate planet just approaching its summer season, and for the day it's pleasantly mild and sunny. A breeze blows through the trees that sway over the privacy fence that walls off the resort from the outside world and the sky is a clear azure blue that's reflected in the scented water of the hotel pool when Kylo plunges into it.
There's a fresh bite on his neck that stings in the chemically treated water along a dozen or a hundred little marks and bruises scattered across his body, which is probably the only reason Hux didn't object to him stripping down to his trunks to swim, even if there's practically no one else around to see them.
It's an odd thing to be aware of them but not to care beyond that whether people see them or not. Not too many years ago Kylo would have balked at the thought of walking around wearing someone else's marks, but he can't really remember what that felt like anymore.
He swims lap after lap while Hux reclines in the shade, doing a passable job of pretending to be reading and not watching Kylo like a hawk from behind his shaded glasses. Hux is wearing shorts and a short-sleeved shirt and if Kylo didn't have his head under water half the time he'd have a hard time keeping his eyes off him.
The water blocks Hux's scent but Kylo can feel his agitation like the heat off a furnace batting against him every time he draws closer to Hux's end of the pool. Eventually he pulls himself out of the water and walks over to Hux to drip scented water all over him and his data-pad. Hux looks up and slips his shades down his nose, sheltered in the shadow Kylo has cast over him. Rather than slowing down after the exercise Kylo's pulse speeds up. He grabs Hux's arm and pulls him up off the lounge chair before he can do anything irrational like lying down on top of him.
They go back upstairs and fuck in the shower and then in the bed again after they've order food in, and by nightfall Hux starts to resemble a normal person again. Or as close as he gets, anyhow.