Off Record

Chapter 6

"Come in Ren." Hux instructs coolly as the doors to his chambers slide open with a soft hiss, and his co-commander lumbers forward, deepening his glower at being ordered to continue on with what he was already in the middle of doing. Hux is so infuriatingly formal. He doesn't so much as glance up from the displays at his desk. Kylo considers smashing one of the holoprojectors to get his attention, but he'd agreed to come here in the first place to get on with his day without worsening the ache in his head. Fighting wouldn't exactly ease the process; Hux would occasionally make efforts to avoid conflict, but not when it came to upholding bureaucracy.

"Sit down." Hux still hasn't graced him with eye contact, but he's begun to flick away a few of the windows of text between them. At first, Kylo thinks the man has worked up the audacity to ask him to sit across the desk like one of his underlings, but the general is currently occupying the only chair in his personal office.

"Quit looming in my peripherals, Ren, I'll be with you in a minute." Hux pulls away from the screens for just a moment to glance past him at the expansive sofa. "There's tea if you'd like it." He comments off handedly, turning his attention back to scroll through the last of the projections as he takes a sip from a mug Kylo's just noticed.

Indeed, a standard issue kettle, second cup, and plate of neatly arranged lemon slices sit on the dark glass of the coffee table, looking out of place against the tasteful design of the rest of the sitting area. Like Kylo's own chambers, Hux's living quarters are more spacious and tailored than the uniformly industrial scape of the rest of the ship, but nothing aside from the desk looks used, or even touched. The black suede sofa seems a price tag short of being brand new. A bit disoriented by the bizarreness of the situation on top of simple exhaustion, Kylo finds himself imagining Hux uncovering it from the squeaky plastics old women on backwater planets use before putting the kettle on to prepare for his visit. He sniffs and shakes his head a bit as if to clear it, crossing the room to sink into the surprisingly soft cushions. What's wrong with him?

"That's not necessary. I don't appreciate being smothered...or confined." He mutters.

"How presumptuous to think I ordered it for you. You're the one who insisted on interrupting my time off duty." Kylo raises an eyebrow, letting his gaze flit to the encrypted files hovering above the desk as Hux pauses to glare and take another sip of his own tea. "I didn't say off work. Not as if I ever am, especially now. I'm still nearly a cycle behind where I'd like to be thanks to the time I spent on your... situation, even if the ship is technically running back on schedule."

"I didn't 'insist' on anything other than being released." Ren grumbles darkly.

"Yes, well," Hux finally minimizes the last of the files, picks up a pad from the desk, and strides over to sit across from him, "You're lucky I got you to medical when I did. There was fluid building up in your lungs. I wouldn't have had to put you under if you'd have taken care of yourself. Dantari Flu has been classified as pandemic level threat on quite a few planets, even if they are underdeveloped ones. It doesn't just vanish if you ignore it."

"You have your work, I have mine. I'm never off duty." Hux closes his eyes to indulge in a quick roll before turning his attention to the pad.

"Your labs are passable, at least."

"Then why am I here?" Ren's temper is beginning to fray.

"Oh that's simple. I don't trust you." Hux stares intently into Kylo's eyes. "You could have rested in MedBay instead." He rises and closes the distance between them, placing a hand on Kylo's shoulder as he shuffles to stand as well. "Stay put. I want to get this over with as quickly and painlessly as possible, just like you do." With that, he rests the back of his fingers against Ren's temple. Mildly surprised when Ren doesn't flinch away, he turns his hand to cup Kylo's brow. The other man shudders almost imperceptibly. "Feeling chilled?"