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Thinking about it in retrospect, kidnapping Hux had been one of the best decisions of Poe Dameron’s life.
After all, the General had only been slightly enraged about it at the time—despite Poe’s patient insistence that Hux was almost definitely going to die if he stayed—and he’d gotten over it fairly quickly when he saw the Steadfast plummeting to ground over Exegol. Now that Hux was fully engaged in helping the Resistance, Poe could look back fondly on the memory of hoisting the redhead over his shoulder and just booking it into the back of Ochi’s old ship before Hux had recovered his senses enough to call for help. Not least because Hux was actually kind of cute when he was angry.
Which was a little disturbing, because this was a guy who had once gleefully given the order to destroy six inhabited planets.
Still. The tide may have turned in the Resistance’s favour, but the war was not entirely over. There were still a few scattered remnants of the First Order determined to put up a fight, and so far Hux’s inside knowledge was proving invaluable in dismantling them. Watching Hux from across the war table, with his hair still sort-of slicked back and his borrowed pilot’s jacket not quite hiding how narrow his shoulders were without the uniform, was an interesting and slightly conflicting experience for Poe, because despite himself—despite everything—he actually kind of liked the guy now.
Hux was smart, meticulous, unsettlingly attractive, and weirdly passionate about whatever he happened to be doing at the time. Poe was now fairly confident that Hux wasn’t going to betray them, not because he necessarily trusted him, but because Hux was now invested. And it wasn’t just self-preservation. Helping the Resistance was strategically interesting to him, to the point where Hux would sometimes eschew food and sleep in its favour.
So when the former General Hux failed to turn up for their daily morning briefing?
Yeah, Poe was a little concerned.
Hux’s tent had been set up near an old corvette cruiser which had been under repair since the battle of Exegol. The wing provided ample cover from the sun, and the humid warmth of the Ajan Kloss jungle seemed to let up a degree or two under its shadow.
All things considered, it was kind of a cushy spot. The fact that Hux had to be under guard 24/5 in case someone decided to exact revenge for his war crimes detracted only marginally from its kerbside appeal. This morning, the task had fallen to a young beta woman who had been with them since before Crait; Poe gave her a wave as he approached.
“Kadey. Hi.” He cocked his head at the tent behind her, a few metres distant. “Has his Highness shown his face yet this morning?”
Kadey shook her head slowly. “Yeah, no, I think he’s sick,” she replied. “I did ask if he wanted me to get a doctor, but he said he was fine and told me to piss off.” She shrugged. “Maybe he’s hung over or something.”
“Not sure I’ve ever seen that guy drink,” Poe murmured, as he approached the closed tent-flap and brought his ear close to the vent.
He could hear a muffled groaning from within. Something about the air felt… odd.
“Hux? Buddy? You okay?”
Hux’s reply was not so much a snap as it was a squawk. “I’m fine!”
“Really? ‘Cause, uh, you’re half an hour late for—”
Quiet cursing from within. “I’ll need to reschedule that,” came the strained reply. “I must have—eaten something that disagreed with me.”
Poe frowned. Hux didn’t sound all there, and his concern was quickly morphing into confusion, because—
Oh. Oh.
So that’s what the smell was. He hadn’t pegged Hux for an omega, but apparently life was full of surprises today. Awkward, sexy surprises. Poe took a moment to process the fact that yeah, he was picturing General Hux naked now, and would almost certainly do so again.
He cleared his throat.
“You can just say you’re in heat, you know,” he called. “We’re all adults here. Nobody cares.”
“What?”
“Hux, really, it’s fine. Look, I’m gonna leave you to—”
“No. Wait.” Hux sounded genuinely panicked, and Poe stopped. “That’s impossible. I’m—ah!” There was a worrying pause. “I’m a—a beta.”
Poe looked back at Kadey, who had sidled a little further away and was pretending not to overhear them. Was this some elaborate joke? Contrary to what many thought, Hux did indeed have a sense of humour, but it was never quite so obvious as this. More likely he was just really committing to the lie—but that didn’t make much sense either.
“Okay,” Poe said slowly. “Alright. Uh. Quick question. Is there an omega in there with you?”
“...No?”
“Yeah, you’re in heat, bud. Trust me, I’m an alpha, I can tell.” He paused. This conversation was starting to feel a little intrusive, but Poe had to ask. “How can you not know this? You’re like, what, forty?”
“Thirty-six!” Hux snapped, his tone somewhere between pained and incredulous.
“And you’re telling me this has never happened before?”
Hux didn’t reply at first. Poe was strongly considering calling for a medic when the omega said, a little weakly, “I just assumed I’d… know.”
“What?”
“Back in the Order. They gave us all suppressants as a matter of course.” There was something defeated in Hux’s tone. “Ostensibly they were vitamin injections, but we all knew.”
Poe pinched the bridge of his nose. Constant exposure to Hux’s scent was starting to make the fit of his trousers uncomfortable; he did his best to ignore it. He was also starting to have thoughts along the lines of would it be weird if I offered to help him? Would I be taking advantage? Poe did his best to ignore those too.
“So you didn’t think to tell anyone about this when you came over to the Resistance.”
“I didn’t ‘come over’! You kidnapped me—”
“—which saved your life, you’re welcome, but we’re getting off-topic here.” He could hear Hux’s shivering breaths, which was concerning, and also the sound of a blaster battery warming up, which was concerning for an entirely different reason. “Hux, you could be seriously ill. Did nobody ever teach you about withdrawal heats?”
“I thought I’d be able to tell,” Hux replied, brokenly. “If I was a…” Apparently he couldn’t bring himself to say the word. “If I wasn’t a beta.”
Poe let out a long breath, trying not to make it sound like a sigh. Obviously, the thought of assisting Hux with his predicament was getting more appealing by the moment, but now was definitely not the time for Poe to be taking advice from his shorter co-pilot. As it were.
“Okay,” he said. “Just sit tight. I’m gonna get Dr Kalonia—”
“No! Absolutely not!” It sounded as if Hux was speaking through gritted teeth.
“Hux. You can either talk to a medic, or get an alpha to help you through it. Those are your options. I’m not leaving you here to die of dehydration or seizures—because that’s what might happen if you keep trying to ignore this.”
Silence.
Poe glanced up at the forest canopy, and bit his lower lip.
This was a dream, right? One of those weirdly-convoluted sex dreams where everything was going great until your Commanding Officer showed up right in the middle of it wearing a fur hat and shouting at you for missing your astronavigation exam? Because Poe was seriously considering offering Hux a metaphorical hand, and the prospect was both arousing and deeply bizarre.
He glanced over at Kadey, who pursed her lips and pretended to be inspecting something in the far distance. Poe cocked his head; she gave a small nod and slunk away a little further.
Was he really going to do this? It felt weird, but then again, this whole situation was weird. “I can help you,” he said, quietly. “If that’s what you want. Nobody else needs to know.”
Hux still hadn’t answered. “It’s your choice,” Poe said. “I mean if there’s someone else you want to ask I can—”
“Yes. Fine. Alright,” Hux’s voice clipped.
“Yes there’s someone else, or—”
“No. I meant—you.” He sounded a little breathless. Poe nodded slowly, processing it all.
“Alright. Great. Uh—can you hang on five more minutes?”
Hux sounded somewhere between spitting with fury and about to pass out from exhaustion. “General Dameron, if this is some plan to force me to see a doctor—”
“It’s not! Just hang tight, okay? I’ll be right back.”
One brief supply run, an even briefer sanisteam, and a few flimsy excuses for his upcoming absence later, Poe returned to Hux’s tent with a couple of large water canteens slung over his shoulder.
“Hux? You still with me?”
“So it would seem,” Hux gritted out.
“Alright. Just to check—you put the blaster down, right?”
There was a guilty silence.
“Yes.”
“Good. Because I’m coming in.”
The former General was curled up on his pallet bed, clad only in a pair of soaked underwear and a thin sheen of sweat. His arms, tense with pain, were clenched around his midriff; subtle shivers passed through his body with each breath. There was little else in the tent except an opened packet of medication and an empty water-bottle; Hux’s kit bag sat at the end of the bed, with a folded set of clothes atop it, but there were none of the personal touches that Poe might have expected.
Then again, Hux had left the Order with nothing but the clothes on his back. Poe couldn’t help but feel a tiny sting of sympathy for the guy. Especially now.
He reached down to touch Hux’s forehead with the back of his hand, found him feverish and clammy. Carefully, Poe located the loaded blaster on the ground and disarmed it. “Why’d you need this thing anyway?” he asked softly.
Hux let out a long, controlled hiss of breath, pain etched in the subtle lines of his face. “You said you were an alpha.”
“Okay?”
“I thought you’d start—tearing through the door to try and get to me.”
“What—no! What the hell? That only happens in pornos.” Poe unslung the water canteens and opened one. “Here. Try to drink something.”
Hux sat up with difficulty, limbs shaking. His head lolled with dizziness for a moment before Poe got an arm around his shoulders to support him. “Clearly I’ve been misinformed,” he muttered.
“No shit.” Poe helped him take a few swigs of water and then dabbed some over his face with a towel. Hux’s hair hung loose over his forehead in sweat-damp bangs, and, without thinking, Poe brushed a strand of it behind his ear. “You want me to rub your back?”
“Why?”
“Helps with the pain. Or we could just get straight down to it.” Poe quirked his eyebrows. “Your call.”
He watched Hux’s tongue dart out to wet his dry lips, watched the decision take shape in his eyes. “My back,” he managed, eventually. “If you would.”
Poe shrugged off his shirt and shucked his boots as Hux rolled carefully onto his front; the former General cast a nervous glance at him before pressing his face into his arms. “For future reference,” Poe commented, to fill the awkward silence, “Curling up can actually make it worse. You wanna be face up, legs apart, knees bent.” He pressed his palms into the small of Hux’s back.
“Noted. Thank you.”
Hux’s underwear was damp in places with sweat and, Poe noticed, his body’s natural lubrication. “I gotta ask. How did you never notice this before?”
“Hm?” Hux was relaxing subtly beneath Poe’s hands, though his breath still trembled with each exhale.
“I mean when you were… you know, with someone. You never noticed the way you, uh, reacted…?”
Silence. Hux had gone tense again. Poe connected the dots. “Right,” he said, suddenly feeling a little out of his depth. “So you haven’t.”
“How perceptive of you,” Hux murmured, into his arm.
“You know we can stop any time you want, right? I don’t want to push you—”
“Don’t make it weird, Dameron.” The tips of his ears were flushed red now. “Just—”
“Right, I got it. Is this helping?”
“Actually, yes.” Hux turned his face to cast one blue-green eye on Poe. “Surprisingly so. How do you do that?”
“I’d like to take credit for my awesome massage skills, but honestly, it’s probably the skin-to-skin contact and my pheromones doing most of the work. Full disclosure, that’s not gonna hold your symptoms off forever.”
“I assumed as much,” Hux exhaled. Experimentally, Poe ran his palm up the full length of Hux’s spine, and was rewarded by a sudden gasp.
“Feels good?”
“Yes.” The omega’s voice was low and breathy.
“Gotta love that increased sensitivity.” Poe drew his hand slowly down again. “Listen. I’m serious. If you start having second thoughts—”
“It’s fine. I—trust you,” Hux looked at him again, and Poe could not have said why those words made his heart clench in on itself, only that they did.
He sat up and stripped the rest of the way afterwards, biting back a smug smirk at the hungry gaze Hux cast over his body. When the omega reached out to touch him, Poe stayed very still, as if watching a nervous wild animal creep closer and closer; only when Hux’s fingers were teasing through the sparse hairs on his chest did Poe return the gesture by cupping his cheek. There were tiny constellations of freckles on the crest of Hux’s shoulders that Poe had never noticed before, and a subtle, barely-there network of scars on his back that made his throat close up a little. He decided to ask about those some other time.
“You’re gorgeous,” he said, instead, and watched Hux’s expression inexplicably shut down.
“There’s no need to lie to me.”
“I’m not lying. Can I kiss you?”
“Do you want to?”
Poe’s thumb brushed against Hux’s lower lip. “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”
The redhead’s brow furrowed. After a moment, he sat up and pressed their mouths together, graceless but gentle nonetheless, and Poe thought, Fuck. Is this his first kiss? But Hux’s lips were warm and soft, and his scent enticing, and Poe was responding long before his brain had caught up. When the two broke off, Hux was breathing hard.
“I. Um,” he panted.
“Pain coming back?”
“Yes. Can we—?”
“Move on? Sure. How—”
Poe had been about to say something inane like how do you want to do this, but Hux was already on his back again and lifting his hips to pull his own underwear off, and Poe helped him shimmy it down his legs. When he found himself at eye level with Hux’s cock, he shot a glance up at him.
“I want to try something.”
Hux propped himself up on his elbows. “Yes. Whatever it is, yes ,” he exhaled. His pupils were blown wide now, and Poe recognized that bright, urgent look from other omegas he’d been with, something half-way between desperate arousal and pain. Hux parted his thighs eagerly at Poe’s prompting, and—fuck, the sound he made when Poe’s lips closed around his shaft made the alpha glad he’d already taken off his pants, because they were tight enough already without a raging erection to complicate things.
Gently, Poe eased his thumb into Hux’s cleft, teasing his rim and finding it less slick than he’d expected. Probably wasn’t an arousal issue, judging by the way Hux’s fingers were abruptly grasping his hair, so Poe could only put it down to a lifetime of suppressant use. He worked his index finger in patiently, alert to the way Hux’s flesh tensed and relaxed around it as he teased the tip of Hux’s cock with his lips and tongue.
A bitten-off moan sounded from the region of Hux’s throat. Poe glanced up, noticed Hux had one hand clamped over his own mouth. Which was sexy, but also—
“Hux. I know this is all super distracting, but I’m gonna need you to use your words,” he said. “Is this hurting you right now?”
“No.” Hux’s voice was rough, and terse. “Just—”
“Uncomfortable?”
“Yes.”
Poe gave Hux’s thigh a gentle squeeze. “Alright. Change of plan. Can you get on your hands and knees? I want to use my tongue.”
“You were using your tongue.” This with a slightly irritated tone.
“On your asshole, Hux. Unless you don’t—”
Hux was on all fours in less than a blink. “Okay,” Poe ceded, lips twitching in amusement. His hands moved to Hux’s ass, massaging gently before spreading him, and he felt rather than heard the omega’s gasp at the cool kiss of Poe’s breath on his hole.
He speared in deep, reaching beneath Hux to stroke his cock at the same time; noted with satisfaction the omega’s full-body shudder as he teased him from root to tip. Poe was halfway tempted to try and make Hux come like this, but when the former General’s breathing began to ramp up into rapid, telltale gasps, Poe found him abruptly pulling away.
“You alright? Did I hurt you?”
“No—” Hux turned over and shuffled back into a sitting position, one hand stretched out as if to stop Poe from coming closer. “No. It’s fine. Just—”
“Overwhelming?” Poe wiped his mouth on the back of his wrist.
Hux’s cheeks flushed bright. “I was, er. Going to—I was getting close.”
“Okay? Did you… not want that, for some reason?”
“I just thought it—” Hux was faltering. Poe settled onto his front and put a hand on Hux’s ankle.
“Deep breaths,” he said. “You feeling okay?”
“Yes. I.” Hux shook his head. “I didn’t want to embarrass you.”
Poe squinted. He took a few seconds to try and work out the logic behind this. “You didn’t want to come while we were having sex because you thought it might embarrass me,” he repeated, slowly. “Sorry, I’m gonna need you to elaborate on that.”
“Well, this isn’t that sort of—” Hux was bright red by now. “I thought you were just… getting me ready.”
“And you didn’t want to come while that happened because… you thought I didn’t… expect you to have a good time? While my tongue was in your ass?”
“Well, when you say it like that —”
Poe squeezed Hux’s ankle lightly. “Okay. If you don’t want to come before I knot you, that’s fine. But you’re allowed to enjoy yourself. This isn’t—I’m not expecting you to just lie back and think of the Empire.” He paused. “Poor choice of words; never mind. What I’m trying to say is that this—” Poe made a vague gesture indicating the two of them, “—happens on your terms as well as mine.”
There was a strange look in Hux’s eyes, soft and almost sad. He seemed to consider his words carefully before replying. “This is all… very new to me,” he said, finally.
“I know. It’s alright.” Poe could see subtle twitches in Hux’s expression; probably the pain was coming back. “Just tell me what you need.”
They ended up face-to-face on the mattress, foreheads pressed together, Hux’s leg hooked around Poe’s thigh, Poe’s fingers buried deep inside Hux.
If, previous to this, Poe had been asked to imagine what the former General Hux was like in bed, he might have described something brisk, militant, and perfunctory, possibly involving riding crops and polishing boots with one’s tongue. He would not have expected that Hux might want to be held; that he would need gentle, reassuring touches as Poe prepped him, or that he would melt into a quivering mess when Poe’s lips grazed his throat.
“Kriff, you smell amazing,” Poe murmured, and made a mental note of the way Hux moaned and pressed against him in response. Apparently praise was a thing for Hux. It figured. “You okay, beautiful? You’re doing so well for me.”
“Mh. I think I’m ready.”
“Yeah?” Poe felt his cock twitch with anticipation. “You want me on top of you? Behind you?”
“Like this,” Hux breathed, and pulled the alpha over him, pupils blown, eyes trusting. Poe guided himself in by hand, sitting back on his haunches to allow Hux to stretch out, and fuck, he was going to pop a knot within two minutes if he wasn’t careful, because Hux felt incredible around him.
He coaxed the omega’s legs around his waist once he was fully sheathed inside him, and, on impulse, grabbed one of Hux’s wandering hands to press a kiss to his knuckles. “You good?” he asked.
“Ah. Yes.” Hux ground his hips experimentally in Poe’s lap, breath stuttering in his throat, and after a moment Poe began to move too—a careful back-and-forth, the burgeoning swell of his knot catching against Hux’s rim. A small drop of precome had emerged from the omega’s cock, and Poe took him in hand, using his thumb to spread the moisture over the hot, velvety tip and eliciting another of those intoxicating gasps.
He fucked him slowly, taking cues from the way Hux’s body moved at his touch to draw out his pleasure to the panting, shivering brink, and by the time Hux tensed around him and came into Poe’s hand, his eyelashes were damp with tears.
“That’s it,” Poe breathed. “Fuck. You feel so good.”
Hux reached for him and pulled him close; his thighs were clamped tight at either side of Poe’s waist, body bent almost double beneath him, and Poe’s jaw ached abruptly with the urge to mark him. He contented himself with nuzzling into Hux’s throat instead, grinding slowly down into him as Hux twitched and keened in his arms.
Poe did his best to hold himself back—knotting Hux right after an orgasm was a recipe for overstimulation—but then Hux whispered, “Oh fuck, yes, there, there—” and suddenly Poe’s hips were slamming hard against him and his knot was swelling tight, and Hux screamed, head thrown back, cock pulsing between them, a few sparse pulses of come landing hot and slick over Poe’s chest.
“You okay?” Poe managed, rubbing up and down Hux’s sides to try and soothe him. Hux responded by pulling Poe’s head down and claiming his lips in a deep, breathless kiss. There were tear-tracks drying over his cheeks. When they finally broke apart again, Poe brushed one away with his thumb.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
“Good," Hux replied, shakily. “Full."
“Yeah? It’s, uh, gonna—”
“Get even more full? I know, Dameron. I’m not entirely ignorant.”
“Okay. Great. Listen, can we… roll over? Otherwise this time tomorrow your lower back is gonna to be—”
“Noted. Give me a moment—”
“You know,” Poe said, later, when Hux was slumped atop him following his third orgasm of the day, “I’m kind of glad I decided to kidnap you.”
Hux nuzzled at his throat. “I’m sure I have no idea what you mean,” he murmured. “I came with you entirely of my own accord.”
“Excuse me? I had to hoist you over my shoulder.”
“Yes, and it was very romantic of you.”
Poe grinned. “Oh, so this was your game all along? Getting to my dick?”
Hux gave a brief, close-lipped laugh; his body clenched reflexively around Poe’s knot, making the alpha shiver. “If that’s what you choose to tell yourself, who am I to argue?”
Poe’s fingers drifted idly over the scars on Hux’s back. He felt the other man tense marginally, and let his hand come to rest over them, palm-down.
“You know, I wasn’t lying when I said you were gorgeous,” he murmured. Hux didn’t reply. “Shit," Poe said. "Did I just make it awkward?”
“No,” came the distant, contemplative response. “I’m just… surprised. Nobody’s ever said that to me.”
“Well, it’s true.” He tilted his head, brushed his lips against Hux’s temple. “I like you, Hux. Really.”
Hux looked up. “Given that your knot is inside me, we can probably afford to use each other’s first names.”
“Oh, is that how it is now, Armitage?”
“Well, unless you’d prefer me to call you General.”
Poe pretended to consider this. “Is that a thing for you? Military titles?”
Hux groaned. “Please, no.”
“We could make a thing of it. What do you want to be—Lieutenant? Sergeant? I’m guessing you’d want be a commissioned officer in this fantasy—”
“Be quiet,” murmured Hux. Then, so quiet the alpha could barely hear it, “I like you too, Poe Dameron.”
“Aww. You wanna tell me I’m gorgeous as well?”
“Don’t push it,” said Hux, and kissed him.