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Varek Daro maintained his composure just long enough to climb out of bed and slip on some sleek trousers. On a closure inspection they were probably Hux’s given the charcoal colour and fine feel to them. If the general was offended by such blatant thievery he did not get the chance to say so aloud for Varek suddenly burst into a cackling laugh.
“What?” Hux snapped indignantly once Varek quietened into a snigger. “What?” He asked again when the man just responded with a grin that stretched his facial tattoos.
Hux shot up in bed, the ginger man flushing brightly as a soft snarl curled his mouth. It was a comical display, really. Well, Varek thought so. For all of General Hux’s intimidation when stood on the bridge of his Dreadnought barking at his men, right now, naked from the waist up and bedraggled and blushing furiously, he looked no more dangerous than the little burrowing lizards he used to catch in his youth.
With a bemused quirk of his brow, Varek finally replied. “You really know nothing of Mirialans, do you?”
Hux lifted his chin. A sign of hurt pride and challenge alike. “I know enough,” he retaliated. His frown softened a little as his attention flicked to a fascinating corner of the minimal room. “Your people have a great appreciation for the Force. Even amongst those of you who are not Force-sensitive.”
Varek rolled his eyes. “Of course you would know about that, specifically.” He strolled over to a cupboard and began rummaging through the bottles of hooch the general kept concealed from his underlings. “No Corellian Spike?”
Hux scoffed. “What do you take me for? A filthy smuggler?”
Varek shrugged. An aching coldness struck him for a moment until he shook it off and carried on searching for something that would get his head fuzzy within a couple of sips. He settled on a tall bottle half-filled with some honey-coloured liquid. As he poured it into two glasses he grimaced at it having a similar consistency to honey too. Finally turning to face the general who had fallen silent while Varek fixed their drinks, the bounty hunter grinned again at the seething glare targeting him.
“Why do you always insist on stealing my property?”
“You never stop me,” Varek countered. He offered Hux a glass before slipping beneath the covers and sniffing his own. “You know, for such a sour guy you really do have a thing for sweet things.”
“For an orphan raised on the streets you are overly fussy when it comes to beverages.”
Ah. So he had touched a nerve earlier. Varek fought the urge to smile. He did always enjoy their verbal sparring and especially when there was a little venom beneath it. First time it had occurred after a tumble beneath General Hux’s sheets, though. Usually the tightly-wound man would melt into brief contentment after such activities — rare as they were between them. Perhaps after the buzz of a drink or two another round was in order. If, of course, the angered general didn’t kick him out.
Varek shook his head and took a sip from his glass, forced himself to swallow the viscous drink, and then turned to see Hux was still glaring daggers into him — his own glass still untouched in his hand.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Hux spoke stiffly.
“And I don’t have to.”
Hux spluttered. “Excuse me?”
“I’m not one of your underlings. I don’t have to tell you anything.”
There was a beat of silence and in the corner of his eye Varek witnessed Hux’s momentary shock morph into disgust. He groaned internally and shot back a larger, harsher gulp in preparation for the coming tirade.
“You are contracted to work for the First Order,” Hux hissed, nostrils flared. “Hired by me. Directly.”
“And I do the work. Nowhere does it say I have to answer your invasive questions.”
Hux opened his mouth to retaliate only to close it again. He paused and pondered more deeply on the man’s meaning. The bounty hunter had never considered any of his questions ‘invasive’ before. He’d always been guarded, sure, and any mention of his traitorous sister resulted in a cold distance, but Hux finally noted a particular stiffness as he downed his glass in only two more gulps. It was painfully familiar.
“So people like you are uncommon in your culture...”
It was an obvious truth, in retrospect.
Varek huffed what sounded like a bitter chuckle. “Not exactly. Mirialans are a matriarchal species. Males becoming females more often than not is accepted. Praised, even.”
“But not the other way around, I gather?”
Varek shrugged dismissively. “Things change. Haven’t been back in a long time.” There was a hint of sadness in his dark eyes before he hardened, clicking his tongue. “Mandalorians don’t care about such things. That’s all that matters to me.”
“Life has been…difficult for you.”
The bounty hunter scoffed. “Of course it has. Same as it is for anyone not born with a silver spoon in their mouth. If I wasn’t bounty hunting I’d be in a pleasure tent on some desolate planet trying to earn credits by fucking those titillated by my ‘oddities’. Seen it happen to better men than me.” A guttural growl climbed up his throat. “I know what others think of those like me. I know it bothers your lot. And I know it bothers you too.”
Hux frowned though his heart skipped a beat at being caught out so easily. “Then, why—”
“—do we continue to fuck?” Varek interrupted, his tone sharp and yet oddly defeated. He shrugged. “You need the stress relief and I know you will keep this discreet.”
“And what exactly do you get out of this…arrangement?”
“Funny. You’ve never asked that before.”
“I assumed it was as you put it before: stress relief.”
Varek chuckled. “Maybe I just thought you were handsome in that uniform of yours. Maybe I wondered what you looked like out of it. Might have even wondered if you’d purr or howl if I managed to get you into bed. I don’t know. Don’t think it matters anymore. Although, definitely thought you needed someone to remove that stick up your arse.”
Instead of flaring and taking offense Hux actually chuckled nervously. The usually sharp-tongued man was quite unsure how to respond to such a string of filth, in truth. Bounty hunting was a barbaric profession and yet still the man surprised Hux every time he opened his mouth and growled something that sounded like a compliment beneath the layers of rudeness. Wordlessly, mainly because Hux couldn’t trust his voice not to waver if he spoke, he handed Varek his glass.
“It's cordial,” he explained flatly. Still, a slight tremor cracked his voice. “You’re meant to dilute it.”
Varek’s expression was neutral, static, but his eyes burned with murderous intent at the glass as he slammed it on the bedside counter as if it had wronged him. His eyes always were incredibly expressive, somehow. No doubt a flaw from wearing a helmet all the time, one Hux had noticed from the first time the Mandalorian had removed it. They’d been alight with desire, hunger, and come to think of it they always seemed to whenever the two met privately. It was unnerving at first. Same as his bluntness. It still made Hux uncomfortable now and yet an ache tugged at his heart whenever those dark eyes weren’t on him—
No. He’d grown too dependent. And that wouldn’t do.
Hux cleared his throat and yet a hard lump remained. “I need to work,” he said.
He turned away from Varek and was about to stand when a hand rested on his shoulder. He flinched. He didn’t mean to. In fact, he thought he’d trained the fearful reaction out of himself. There was just something to a warm, well-worn hand touching his bare skin that sent an unwelcome shiver up his spine…some things just never changed. Instinctively, he tried to slap the hand away but there it stayed digging slightly into his flesh.
“We’re not done yet.”
Again, Hux shivered.
“We are if you value the contract,” he sneered.
Varek remained silent behind him, assessing. Cool, calculating, calm. And then a bit of movement. The sound of sheets shifting pricked Hux’s ears. He gasped quietly when he felt hot flesh press against his back, shivered when lips brushed against his neck, fought the urge to relent when arms wrapped almost lovingly around his middle.
“You’re still pent up,” Varek declared. The pairing of the rumble of his voice and the puff of hot air against his neck was all it took for Hux to squirm. Varek smirked in triumph. “Come on, General,” he teased further. He paused to nibble gently at the spot that made the man let out the quietest of aroused rumbles. “Just a little longer. I’ll make it worth it.”
“Then answer my question.”
“Which one? You’ve asked me a lot this evening.”
Hux huffed, nostrils flared. He couldn’t stay annoyed though with the insistence of the man’s gentle nibbling, especially when hands began gliding up and down his torso. “W-what do you get out of this arrangement?”
Nipping suddenly turned into biting and Hux hissed, Varek’s teeth sinking into his skin. It was just deep enough to shock him, clearly intended given Varek retreated almost instantly to kiss the tender spot. Hux hated how much control he had with that one action. In a blur of motion suddenly the General had the grinning bounty hunter on his back with his wrists trapped beneath Hux’s surprisingly strong grip. And it was a grin of victory on the man’s olive-tinted face. For Hux’s was flushed with a deadly shade of scarlet. “Answer me.”
Varek’s head fell heavy against the pillow, pupil’s blown wide at the sight of the General naked and panting menacingly above him. His eyes flicked to his neck and silently apologised given the mark was rather noticeable. He’d have to wear one of his high-collared uniforms to hide it. Hux did not accept it, however, instead squeezing his wrists until Varek visibly winced.
“Isn’t it obvious?” He grunted, finally relenting. “I get you like this.”
Hux frowned. Then he shook his head and bared his teeth. “That can’t be it.”
“Why not?” Varek countered. “I doubt anyone else has seen General Hux of the First Order like this. All your officers go off to some nearby pleasure house and rough up the boys and girls there. But not you. You think you’re above that.”
“I am.”
Varek snorted. “Nah. You’re not a droid as much as you try to be. You need control, sure, but you’re just as hot-blooded, pent up, and desperate as any other man out there in the galaxy. I know those that don’t need a good fucking and you’re definitely not one of them.”
Hux lowered his head and dangled his mouth dangerously close to Varek’s. Just close enough for the man to feel his venom as well as hear it. “And what, pray tell, has led you to that conclusion?”
Varek answered by shifting his hips just enough to feel Hux’s hard erection brush against his clothed inner thigh and was delighted at yanking a choked moan out of him too. “Well that for one,” he purred.
With Hux momentarily unbalanced he seized the opportunity and closed the gap between them. It was a gamble that paid off as after a second of frozen surprise Hux kissed him back. It was always a messy thing, all teeth and tongues and grunting, and Varek loved it. I get you like this, he repeated in his head as one hand flew from his wrist so it could clumsily tug off the clothing separating them and guide Hux’s cock into his cunt. He whined uncharacteristically at the sudden harsh burn of being stretched too quick — Hux determined to sheath himself fully in one motion. His impatience resulted in a shuddering gasp from them both when he bottomed out.
And there he was. His General. Uncoiling with every thrust, with every nip, with every stinging drag of nails. Far flung was the rigid, cruel and brutal General Hux. No. This was the sensitive, touch-starved Armitage groaning into his neck every time Varek mewled and whimpered and squeezed him.
I get you like this, Varek thought as he tangled his fingers in Hux’s orange locks. And I’m not alone for a little while…