solohux:

Only when Kylo slides his hand across
the silk sheets of his and Hux’s bed does he notice that he’s sleeping alone.

Sitting up slowly, Kylo glances around,
looking first to the ‘fresher door, expecting Hux to be in there, but the side
room remains unlit and vacant. Kylo slides out of the bed, ignoring the
coldness of the floor beneath his feet, and pads out into the main chamber,
panic settling when he catches Hux’s silhouette sitting on the cushioned ledge
of the floor-to-ceiling viewport, Millicent nestled in his lap.

“I didn’t think you’d be one for
stargazing,” Kylo says, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his grey
bottoms. “Considering how you’ve killed some of their kin.”

Hux visibly jumps at the sound of Kylo’s
voice, obviously startled by his sudden presence.

“Sorry,” Hux says, sniffling, trying too
hard to make his voice sound calm. “Did I wake you?”

“No, I—. What’s wrong?” Kylo asks, taking tentative steps
closer to his General, noting tears on his cheeks that are illuminated by the
light of the stars.

“Nothing,” Hux says, and Millicent meows
loudly as though trying to speak for her friend. Hux huffs in the style of a
laugh. “I’m being ridiculous. It’s nothing, Kylo. Go back to bed. I’ll be there
in a minute.”

But Kylo isn’t content with his partner’s
tone of voice, or his turbulent mind for that matter, either. Sitting down
opposite him, Kylo gives Hux a soft stare, trying to work out what’s bothering
him without invading his mind. Everything about his mind and body screams restlessness; his overactive
mind and the dark circles under his eyes.

“Armitage,”
Kylo says, reaching forward to cup Hux’s cheek, brushing away the tears. “Talk
to me.”

Hux closes his eyes for a long few
seconds, leaning into the warm touch of Kylo’s hand. He exhales.

“I can’t sleep,” Hux says. “Because if I
sleep, I’ll dream.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Kylo asks.

“It’s—It’s silly, Ren. Dreams aren’t
real, I know that,” Hux says, pushing Kylo’s hand off of him, and he shuffles
backwards, earning a disgruntled purr from Millie who leaps off him and into
the crook of Kylo’s arm, meowing softly.

“How long is it going to take for you to
trust me?” Kylo says, absently petting their
cat’s head. He stares at Hux, trying to catch his wandering gaze. “What do
I have to do?”

“I do
trust you, Ren. More than anyone else in my life,” Hux mutters, drawing his
knees up to his chest now that Millie has left him.

“Then talk to me.”

Hux looks out to the stars, eyes
flicking from one to another, and Kylo sees stars
on Hux’s cheeks; the tiny freckles that dot his pale skin.

“I dream about losing you,” Hux says,
his sadness clear in his pale eyes. “Every time I close my eyes to sleep, I’m
haunted by images of you being taken from me. Killed, kidnapped, turned back to the Light. It’s never-ending.
It’s been weeks. I’m…tired.”

Kylo almost feels guilty at Hux’s confession, as though it’s as though he is the real reason that his glorious
General has been neglected of a good sleep for weeks. Even just skimming the surface of Hux’s stormy mind, Kylo
gets glimpses of images of his own demise—killed at Snoke’s hand, taken
prisoner by bounty hunters and tortured, walking into a magnificent sunset
hand-in-hand with his mother & uncle whilst Hux kneels in the mud.

“I’d rather not sleep than see you leave
me,” Hux says. “Looking at the stars seems to lull me into a calmer state so I
can get a few hours sleep, though I think that’s only because I did the same as
a young boy.”

“You stargazed to help you sleep when
you were little?”

Hux’s lips curve into a sad smile. “I
had a phase like this when I was very young. My dreams were filled with images
of my mother—my real mother—being stolen
away from me. It destroyed me. I found comfort in the stars.”

Kylo gently lifts Millie out of his lap
and she hops onto the floor, sitting alert, watching her humans move closer to
each other.

“Let me help you,” Kylo whispers,
running his fingers through Hux’s tousled hair, relishing in it’s softness,
rather than being smothered in product like he is when he’s the General, rather than just Hux.

“You can’t,” Hux says, shaking his head.
“Even the stars aren’t working for me tonight.”

Kylo sighs, but presses a gentle kiss to
Hux’s cheek before sliding his hands around Hux’s knees and shoulders, tenderly
lifting him into his arms. To his dismay, Hux doesn’t protest. He wraps his
arms around Kylo’s neck, nestling his head against his strong shoulders.

“Let me comfort you,” Kylo says,
carrying Hux back into their bed and settling him down in their sheets, kissing
him all over. “Let me be your new starlight.”

Hux melts underneath Kylo’s kisses,
blinking slowly as the Force envelopes them both in a warm embrace, their own
safe little bubble underneath Kylo’s control, and no darkness is allowed near
the mind of the one who has conquered the stars for himself, the one who people
call Starkiller.