Pothos and the Neikea

6. Move on, drink on

Kylo could barely keep his eyes open to work. That was, of course, because sleep was not something he did well that night. His mind kept him too occupied, mainly with his interaction with Rey from the previous day. They had disliked each other from the beginning of her relationship with Hux. But they never really fought like that. Mostly, they just avoided each other. But ever since the night of the concert, they were fighting like cats with dogs. And it was strange. How they started getting physical, right after they got physical. Their fight from yesterday made Kylo especially skeptical. For his body, at least, it had felt less like a battle and more like a sensual game. It was as if their subconscious wanted them to be close again, and shoving each other was the only way they knew how to do that.

He found himself constantly in need of a reminder that she didn't want anything to do with him, and neither did he with her. But he couldn't remember what exactly had happened the night they were together, and perhaps what had happened was really… good. And that's why his mind keeps thinking about her. That's why his body tenses and he gets hard when he remembers anything about her. It was a good explanation. One that took all the blame off of him and his conscious feelings.

But now Rey wasn't with Hux anymore. And she was right; eventually, they would get over that. They would forget and they wouldn't care about each other. Which raised the question: Did that mean there was a possibility of being with her again?

Hux appeared in the lab then but didn't look even half as sleep-deprived as Kylo was. He looked cheerful. And good.

Kylo knew immediately what that meant; Rey had listened to him, and they had gotten back together. So… he won that fight after all. Why didn't it feel like a victory? He spotted a purple spot at the side of his friend's neck, and his stomach clenched, shrank, crawled into a tight ball. How far off could he really be about Rey? He thought she hated him, but then she slept with him. Then he thought perhaps she felt the same pull he did, and she went and got back with that jerk.

Yet, he forced a smile on his face.

"Hey… you look good," he told Hux. "Did you and Rey work this out, then?"

The man stopped for a minute and looked at him with a funny face. "No," he chuckled.

He chuckled. What?

"Seriously? You were a complete mess just a day ago."

Hux just shrugged. "Yeah, I know. It just came as a shock to me, that's all."

The way he spoke got on Kylo's nerves. It sounded like he was trying to act cool, but wasn't really. But he looked like he was great. And, well, he didn't want to say anything about it, but there was this mark, too.

"Dude, if you didn't get back with Rey, what is that then?" he pointed at his neck.

Hux looked at him for a long time without saying anything. He probably hadn't seen the purple spot but deduced what Kylo was referring to. He looked somewhat anxious. Like a little boy caught stealing candy.

"Just… rebound sex, I guess."

Kylo felt the tips of his fingers becoming numb. He already found someone else? While he was withering just two nights ago?

But he didn't say anything. He clenched his jaw and nodded firmly. He wasn't supposed to be affected by this, because he wasn't supposed to even like Rey. But he was affected because it felt like Hux had just betrayed her. And someone betraying her left as real as someone betraying him.