The next morning, Yideth and Baltek went over yesterday's positions. A full night's sleep seemed to have done you a world of good given the way they didn't do much correcting. Ren was an easy partner to mimic. Kin Al and Jeckhum occasionally watched from the side, but they were busy with some sort of sword-bat/axe training and flexibility. They left before 1200 for target practice followed by weight training.
You hadn't realized how much of the day the Knights dedicated to honing their skills and bodies. It wasn't as if you thought they lounged around all day, but they put a lot of time into being weapons. You considered yourself soft like wet clay compared to them.
When Baltek and Yideth thought they had shown you enough for the day, they left for other parts of the training center. You looked at Ren and said the same time as him, "Food."
Lunch was a hardy shaak stew with generous chunks of tender meat, red potatoes, purple carrots, and pearl onions. You sat against the wall once again to eat. Ren took a seat next to you.
When you finally came up for air, you asked how the food could be so good on a Star Destroyer.
Ren replied, "Perks of being a commander."
"So, what do stormtroopers eat?"
"A balanced diet of proteins, greens, and carbs."
"But not this."
"Not usually."
"That doesn't seem fair."
Ren put his empty bowl to the side. "Nothing ever is."
You hummed in thought and finished your stew. If it was a privilege to eat so well, you didn't want it to go to waste. You set your empty bowl on top of Ren's between you.
"I missed you last night," he stated.
"I was with you until 2200."
After practice, the two of you had dined together, taken a walk around the running track in the training center, gotten cleaned up, and Ren had taught you how to play a board game called Novacrown. You two would've played longer, but with a practice in the morning, you had to end early. You had left him in his quarters after long kisses and a teasing grab of his firm ass.
He shrugged. "Move into my quarters."
You got up, put the used bowls on the delivery tray, and poured yourself a glass of water. "Oh, so you can wake me up in the middle of the night with your hard-on?" You repeatedly poked your finger into the mat on the wall as you grinned down at him.
"You never seem to complain." He was trying to keep a straight face, but you could tell he was working for it.
"I'm not complaining about your sexual appetite, Kylo. I would like to get a full-night's sleep, is all."
"Then stop being so alluring."
You laughed at him trying to turn it all around on you and scoffed, "Alluring."
"Attractive," he countered as he straightened up.
Now he was just buttering you up, you thought. You hmphed and took a long drink of water.
"Tempting," Ren said, pressed against your side, and put his hands at your waist. "Beautiful." He kissed your shoulder.
"Fight me for it," you offered.
"Terms?"
"Dual-swords, get in five torso touches before me, and I'll move in. No Force cheating."
"What if you win?" he asked.
"I stay where I am, and you can't enter without my permission."
He didn't seem to like your stipulations if his pout was anything to go by. He plucked the glass from your hand and put it on the tray. "I accept on the condition that you kiss me now."
You turned to him and fiercely kissed him. You ran your hands through his dark hair and made him tilt his head. He let out a low moan and opened his mouth for you. Before it got to be too much, you yanked yourself away and walked over to where you'd left your set of practice swords.
Ren stood there for a few seconds before practically stomping over to his own swords. "I won't go easy on you," he warned.
"Noted," you said and held your swords at an angle from your body.
The clack of the swords was music to your ears as you fought him. There was a beauty, a rhythm, to the fight. You got the first hit to his side, and he growled at you. You skipped away on light feet, and he was upon you before you could even ready yourself for the next round.
You struggled to keep him out of striking distance because he was seeing that he couldn't play around with you. No longer were you a neophyte. He kept knocking your blades away until he was right up on you. You gasped as he poked you right in the belly.
"One to one," he called out.
This time it was you who growled in frustration. You twirled your secondary sword around to hold it in a backwards grip. You had only been shown the position that morning, but it felt natural to you. You waited until Ren faced you before coming for him.
He made the fatal mistake of striking down with both his swords. It left his flank open, and you slashed twice with your secondary sword across his side.
"That's two," you said.
"No, that counts as one."
"I got you twice."
"The one was lethal. The second was insurance."
You sighed and threw up your hands. "Fine! Two to one."
The third round was a blur of speed from him. He pulled out all the stops with the sword twirls and fake-outs. You would've love to use the Force to throw him off, but you had said no Force cheats. You made a mental note that the next time you dueled with him, you would leave them available--if only to knock him back on his gorgeous ass.
Ren finally got you across your back. When you turned around, he looked so kriffing smug. "Two to two." He got into position again and taunted, "I'm going to have you in my bed again, you mark my words."
"I can't wait until I start my bleeding, and you regret taking me up on this damn duel."
"I'll take care of you," he said and tried to poke you in the middle of your chest.
You pivoted to the side and almost got a solid hit across his shoulders. He ducked mid-strike, and it threw you off-balance. He caught you between his swords and tapped them both against you.
"Two to three," he said.
You sighed and shook yourself loose again. Once you two were facing off again, you spun to slash across his swords with your dominant sword and then struck down with your secondary. He tried to bend backwards out of the way, but you were quicker and got him right over his heart.
You laughed in delight because you hadn't expected such a fancy-looking move to work. "Three to three," you sing-songed as you jogged backwards.
Ren snarled at you, and it should've been intimidating, but you felt the arousal wafting off him. He came for you with an upward strike while holding the secondary sword behind him.
You hit the sword away and expected the secondary to come down at you. Instead it came from the side and caught you off-guard. You tried to block it, but he was just too strong. You ended up getting hit with your own sword and his.
"What's the score now, my sweet?"
You barked out, "Three to four."
"One more, and you're mine," he purred.
This time you held both swords aloft in front of you. When he came at you, you knocked his blades wide and body-checked him. He let out an oof and stumbled back. You tried to get a hit in, but he swirled his swords around yours to disarm you. It didn't work, you just got your knuckles battered. You hissed and twisted away from him.
"You're lucky I didn't go for the groin," you panted out.
"Would you really fight so dirty?"
You didn't bother to reply because the answer was obvious--of course you would.
As you circled each other, you thought of what to do. You liked the side-strike he had used on you to score his fourth touch and tried it. He blocked, but not without struggle. You crossed your primary sword in front of you, but he was already there and tapped the side of your ribs before you could get him.
"Three to five," he told you.
You stepped away with a murmured 'dammit.' You had been so close. You straightened up to your full height and were about to congratulate him when you heard gentle clapping. You both turned to the noise to see Hux up in the mezzanine. You glanced at Ren to give him a displeased look.
He had probably known Hux had been watching. You had been too busy thinking of your next move to be aware of your surroundings. You realized you wouldn't last two minutes on a battlefield. That was a bitter revelation.
"I had seen that the Knights had booked this gym for the second day in a row," Hux explained.
And he had been curious, you mentally supplied. Maybe he was hoping you were alone while the Knights trained together. You didn't think he had any unsavory plans for you, but he might want to get you away from Ren to persuade you to take the consort position.
Hux continued, "Much to my delight, I got to watch master and apprentice."
"Is that all you wanted? To have your presence acknowledged?" Ren asked.
Hux walked around the mezzanine to the steep set of one-foot stairs in the far corner and came down to the main floor.
"No, I wanted to see you both in action," Hux finally answered as he crossed the floor to you and Ren.
"And now you have," Ren stated, the dismissal clear in his voice.
Naturally, Hux ignored it and looked to you. His pale eyes traveled down to your hands. "You will be going to med bay for bacta, won't you?"
You followed his gaze down to your hands. You were bruising, and the knuckles were sore. You hadn't been planning on a special treatment--maybe a cooling pack, a good meal, and some sleep.
Before you could say anything, Hux looked over at Ren. His voice was accusatory. "You hurt her."
Ren took your swords from you, and you noted how stiff your hands were already. Hux caught one of your hands in his, his fine leather gloves were soft and buttery smooth against your skin.
"It's part of training," Ren replied as he leaned the practice swords against the wall.
"It's okay," you murmured to Hux. "I've had worse."
Hux hummed and brought your hand that was in his to his mouth. He stared up at you as he kissed your abused knuckles. His lips were soft, but his eyes were flinty. In a daring move, he dragged his tongue into the juncture of your pointer and middle fingers. Your breath caught in your throat. Hux was throwing down the gauntlet, as it were. You and Ren had challenged him the other night, and now he was answering.
Ren came up behind you and put a hand on the small of your back. Hux ignored him and asked:
"Have you given further consideration to being my consort?"
"I have and I'll do it, but there are conditions," you replied. You thought you knew enough about him now to work with him.
"Name them."
"I won't be your whore, and you can't command me like I'm an underling. I'll continue to be with Lord Ren for as long as I wish. And if you treat me poorly, I can leave your service at any time."
He nodded in acceptance, letting your hand go, and returned, "No divulging of any First Order secrets or details ever. You will attend any function I deem your presence necessary, and you will wear what is given to you."
"I get pre-approval of clothing." You didn't want to wear ugly clothes or ones in which you would be seen as Hux's whore in all ways but action.
"Done," Hux agreed.
"About physical..." You felt Ren tense up behind you, but you couldn't comfort him. You thought it would be a sign of weakness.
Hux looked over your shoulder at Ren and then back at you. "If you're both amenable, I am."
You stepped closer, reaching up with your bruised hands to touch Hux's smooth cheeks. He seemed to tense at your touch. The contact made you realize he was scrambling for power. He was desperate and heartbroken. He felt like a failure.
He thought that if he were what you and Ren were--Force-sensitive--he'd be ruling the galaxy like Emperor Palpatine never could. He wanted to transcend his father's name. He would be the Hux whom people would whisper about years after he was gone. His father would be a minor footnote to his own greatness.
It was the machinations of the detested, the ignored, the supposedly weak.
You ran your thumbs over his perfect cheekbones. His eyelids fluttered closed as you raised up to delicately press your lips to his. You thought at him he could have the best of all possible worlds if he didn't ruin it by being an asshole. You knew that would be a task for him.
He couldn't seem to direct his thoughts in a coherent sentence, but you got the gist of it. If you were by his side, he'd never hurt you like Ren did.
As if Kylo Ren had been abusing you.
"Yes, you would--it just wouldn't show," you replied to his thoughts as you let him go.
Hux opened his mouth to protest when the double-doors behind him banged opened and the four Knights walked in. They seemed celebratory as they joked amongst themselves and came over. Jeckhum shushed Kin Al and Yideth when he saw Hux. Baltek remained smiling and generally amused, unconcerned about a high-ranking Order officer in their gym.
Kin Al excused their noise and invited Ren, you, and even Hux to an evening game of sabacc. You confessed you'd never played the card-game, and Jeckhum told you they wouldn't play for anything for now. How generous they were with you, you wryly thought. You glanced at Ren and shrugged--you were in. Ren agreed, and all turned to the general.
Hux looked confused for a fleeting moment, but quickly recovered, and said that it was actually his night off.
Baltek said, "We'll have to use a double deck, then."
"Shouldn't be a problem," Kin Al retorted.
You could feel Ren smile behind you as he suggested Hux's quarters. He pointed out that Hux had access to a free-standing table that could easily accommodate seven.
Hux, knowing he'd been backed into a corner, agreed and told everyone to come to his quarters at 1900. With that he excused himself and left the gym.
Yideth watched Hux leave and drolly said, "He's going to be an easy mark."
"I wouldn't be so sure," you replied.