Deck the Hells with Bells and Whistles

[cronusian]

[Hux was never one to pay much heed to holidays, and with good reason. Something about Christmas did appeal to him, the greed and envy of the season off-setting the good will enough to balance the scales most years. But then, Hux had always weighed the devil in the details against the bigger picture.

But this year is different. This year, there's a thorn in his side, a shiny gift wrapped and waiting for him to open it. He slips into the cabin from the snow outside as easily as if he belongs there, leaving his white-dusted coat and boots by the door. He finds the man sleeping, out like a light in a pair of pants and nothing more despite the chill in the air, and watches him quietly for a few moments before putting some logs on the fire, the flames sparking up without a match and roaring to life without the slow wait for the flames to catch.

He pulls his gloves off slowly, one at a time, and trails an overly warm hand through the messy black hair, sharp eyes taking in the contours and lines of the sleeping tiger. Even in sleep, the power in him, and in his body, is impossible to ignore. No harmless sleeping kittens here.]

Wake up.

Comments

[warfares]

[ There is a low, rumbling response that could (rightly so) easily be taken for a threat even as he leans into the touch.

The journey up to the cabin had been a long, tedious one; keeping ahead of the Winter chill hadn't been as much a priority as it had been in the past. ] Knew I should've salted the door. [ it's offered by way of greeting, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. ]

[cronusian]

[Hux drapes his gloves over the back of a chair, a smirk playing at his lips. He tucks a bit of that wild black hair back and then turns away to slide his fingertips over a dusty windowsill.]

Careful, Ren. Some might imagine you're getting sloppy. [He glances over his shoulder, wondering what sort of food the man brought with him. He's feeling generous. Maybe he'll make Ren some breakfast.]

Or maybe you were hoping I would pay you a visit.

[warfares]

Depends. Did you bring pie? [ There is food, at least; nothing exciting, but more than enough to see him through the next week. Less with company. ]

Why are you here, Armitage? We didn't exactly part on the best of terms. [ To put it mildly. True to the spirit of their first meeting, the property damage had been high and Ben still walked with a limp. ]

[cronusian]

It's Christmas. [That's the extent of the answer he offers as to why. But he had learned to placate the violent man with baked goods through his endless procession of invading clergy members.

He pulls off his jacket, draping it over the chair as well.]

Of course I brought pie. I brought several. Homemade. [Not by him, of course.]

You did a good job covering your tracks until that last outpost.

[warfares]

So, what— [ he pushes himself up onto his elbows, tracking Hux's movements like a he's expecting the other man to do something obscene.

Dragging fingers through his hair, ] —you're branching out?

[ There's no real bite to it, of course. Curiosity, yes. He is always a little curious as to what's going through the demon's head; months of uneasy acquaintance have yielded little by way of insight. So he settles into what he does know, what works, and doesn't dwell any more than he must. ]

I had a run in with a friend of yours: short, weedy; could see my face in the shine of his boots. He was not a fan.

[cronusian]

[So, Mitaka had found him after all. Hux is impressed, mildly]

Did you kill him? [Curiosity, not concern. But rather than wait for the answer, he slips out of the room for the kitchen, cracking some eggs and bacon into a pan.]

[warfares]

Thought about it. [ Did more than thought about it, actually; had come pretty damn close to throttling the life out of him with his bare-hands. It had been...satisfying. ]

But you know how slippery some of you guys get. [ Mitaka'd left his mark on him, mind; though he was growing fond of the scar that now bisected his face. Finds that it lends him a certain credibility that his baby-face had always lacked. ]

Should I be worried?

[cronusian]

He has a jealous streak. [Hux would admire it more later. Would have loved to see that fight. For now his focus is on the sizzling meat in the pan in front of him. Mitaka lives, for now, and Ren at least also survived. Still. Mitaka had marked up what Hux considered his. The other demon would pay for that.

He licks his lips and slides the food off onto two plates.]

You? Doubtful. [Mitaka would be learning a very lasting lesson, loyal fan or otherwise.] Though he'll be looking to make that symmetrical.

[He half considers healing the scar just to erase Mitaka's mark, but he would just find a way to make it his instead.]

[warfares]

Didn't strike me as your type. [ Not that that means anything. Demons weren't all that different from people when you got right down to it.

Hux, though. Hux was an interesting case. ]

I know what you are, Armitage. [ he says after accepting the plate, upright and no longer heavy with sleep. Mitaka had been a talker. ]

[cronusian]

Do you? [Interesting and irritating, though Hux does a fair job masking the latter. Mitaka really would need to be taught a lesson in keeping his mouth shut. Still, Ben would have learned eventually. Especially given the plans Hux had for him.

He takes a seat casually on the bed with his own plate, enjoying the crunch of the bacon between his teeth.]

Let me know when you figure out what you are.

[warfares]

Hungry. [ One of those deceptively innocent statements that grows less innocent the deeper you dig. His grandfather had been the same, supposedly, before he'd slipped and his old teacher had had to intervene.

Tucking into the spread, you'd think it was the best meal he'd had in ages—you'd be right, too. Cheap coffee and rubbery scrambled eggs didn't scratch the itch for very long. ]

Gotta say, [ he waves his fork, as if to punctuate his point. ] I'm not sure what I expected.

[cronusian]

That you are. [Hux's smile broadens. No one, not even Mitaka, know the plans Hux has for Ben. If they did, Snoke would have killed one or both of them by now. He's no where close to finished with shaping Ben yet, his actions largely each done with technique. Teaching the tiger to associate him with sating those many hungers, one at a time, until Ben reacts to Hux's appearance by figuratively salivating for more.

He wasn't trying to end that hunger, he was feeding and growing it with careful cultivation. He takes his time, one forkful after the next, with his own breakfast, his eyes never leaving Ben and his plate.]

You must have had your own suspicions. [His inability to hold Hux down, the ease with which Hux matched him, the way Hux continued to toy with him, rather than go for the kill. Toe to toe time and again with both escaping to lick their wounds, and little worse than that.]

There's more where that came from.

[warfares]

You don't exactly fit the usual molds. [ His research hadn't turned up much, either. Strictly speaking did Hux even qualify as a demon?

Then, of course, there were the other more unsettling questions that had followed in the wake of this revelation. Whatever Hux was, he was a big deal. Not the kind to be trifle with.

Swallowing another forkful of egg, Ben drags a thumb across his lower lip, catching the remnants of the yoke smeared there then sucking on the pad. ] You're playing with your food.

[cronusian]

[And what appealing food Ben was. Hux shifted, straddling the man's legs on the bed, his own plate gone, well out of his way, though he doesn't get between Ben and his food. Not right now.]

Neither do you, but then, if you did we both know you wouldn't be here. [And neither would Hux. It took a certain type to draw his attention. His pride didn't settle for ordinary. They barely got the attention necessary to damn them.]

And you do make it very enticing.

[warfares]

[ This, at least, was somewhat familiar. A deflection, misdirection his attention by appealing to baser instincts.

An effective strategy, it turns out. Ben wavers between eating and switching his attention to were it's being directed. To the lean, wiry frame and wry twist of a smile that is equal parts unnerving and enticing. ] Figured I had to be doing something right if you're still here.

[ One hand works it's way under Hux's shirt, skimming along the lines of his ribs. ] Pride doesn't humble itself for anyone.

[cronusian]

[There it is. The little shiver that runs up his borrowed body's spine. A shiver of prideful delight in hearing Ben say his name. Or maybe it's just the priest responding to that familiar touch Hux has been helping him accept and anticipate. Either way, Hux's expression flickers smug and hungry for a moment before settling back into that almost predatory smile.

He slides his hands along bared, scarred abs, appreciating what's on display for him, and lifts a brow in something almost challenging.]

Why accept humble, when there is so much better to be had. [Redirection was a specialty of Hux's. He still had a particular fondness for the day he partially broke Ben by keeping to his word and sinking to his knees between the man's legs, while Ben watched in a mixture of arousal and that instinctive uncertainty of being faced with something that could kill him as easily as give him what he wanted.

It's possession, not humility, that encourages Hux's hand to slip between Ben's firm thighs and dangerously drag his cleanly trimmed nails against the thin fabric separating him from what he wanted in a slow drag. As always, equal parts promise and threat.]

Don't let it go to your head. [The smirk implies Hux is all too aware of the irony in his words.]

[warfares]

[ Exhaling slowly, Ben moves to set aside his plate—most of the food gone. The gnawing hunger had abated, somewhat. ]

Easier said than done. [ Fingers push up into Hux's hair, tipping his head back. Then Ben is dipping down, kissing him: slow and easy and impossible. ]

"I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me." [ The kiss turning sharp, violent; teeth and tongue and blood. The dark thing stirring, waking, wanting. ] And I know just how much you want.

[cronusian]

[There's a sound in Hux's throat, somewhere between a groan and a hum. He rises to Ben's escalations, one hand closing to grip Ben through his pants none to gently, while the other digs into the back of his neck. He leans forward into the kiss, drinking in the passion and the hunger that rises up out of him.

These are the moments Hux lives and thirsts for. Those brief sparks where Ben embraces what he is and tries to take and take and feed the hunger inside him. He's straddling Ben's hips fully now, and he licks at the blood between their mouths.

When he pulls away with bloodied lips, his hand has moved to just above Ben's collar, a dangerous pressure on the base of his neck, pinning him back against the headboard with a click of his tongue against his teeth.

His mouth quirks in a shining red smile, and his words are low and dangerously sharp.]

"How beautiful and how delightful you are, my love, with all your charms."

[How strange their dance, and how exhilarating. He presses just hard enough to take Ben's breath away as he says the words, and when they're gone, he drops both his hands to the bed, their mouths colliding again in a rough kiss, encouraging and tugging at Ben to let that dark thing rise to the offering availabe to it.]

[warfares]

"Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave." [ There was something thrilling in this, in speaking the words in such company. Out loud and entirely earnest.

Slowly, briefly, the tables turn; copper in his mouth, warm and vibrant. The heat of another body pressed this close and the scent of Hux in his nose. More. ]

"It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame." [ Mouth curving, and beneath those impossibly long lashes his eyes were black. Something, somewhere, cracks. ]

[cronusian]

[Hux thrills at the look in those dark eyes. There he was, the dark, beautiful thing hiding in his tiger's skin. He drinks in the scripture, but rather than responding in kind he leans in and bites those pretty lips, intent on splitting them.

He licks at the blood and takes those words like a prayer, to him rather than God. He unwraps Ben like a present and removes the rest of his clothes, leaning in to whisper low, his voice touched with power, his take on Ben's last verse just slightly altered.]

"The coals thereof are coals of fire, which has a most vehement flame." [A hungry flame that would never be sated, and coals as black as Ben's eyes.]

"If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it."

[He let the scripture die there, focusing instead on the cracks, the power and hunger threatening to flood out from the gates that used to hold it back.] How good of you to join us. [He doesn't wait for a reaction, or to see what the next move will be. He rewards Ben instead, his warm lips sliding down the length of Ben's dick in one smooth movement, his hands curled around Ben's hips.]

[warfares]

[ There was no attempts made to hold back now, no pretense. Instead he spread the fingers of his left hand over the back of Hux's head, pulling at the roots until he hears a whine. ]

You play a dangerous game. [ a noise like wood splitting in an open flame. The cabin was small but sturdily built; fully (if modestly) furnished and now down a coffee table.

Still, the pleased tremor that rolls through Ben's long frame belies the threat in his words. Hux's mouth a perfect, wet heat. ]

[cronusian]

[The power brimming from Ben should give Hux pause, but it only makes him more insistent, more determined. He's drawn to that raw, violent power, and he gives into the tug and push of his head, curling his tongue, rolling it along the warm, solid pressure rocking into his mouth. He doesn't bother trying to speak or respond. He knows the fire he's playing with, and he has no issue stoking it further.

His neatly trimmed nails dig into Ben's hips and he draws back tortuously slow, his tongue tracing along just the tip in a lazy exploration. When he stops it's to breathe out, letting the soft breeze brush coldly against his skin.]

I like my odds. [And again he covers Ben in wet heat, this time spreading his focus with the bob and slide of his head, his lips pulling at the sensitive skin with a slow drag.]

[warfares]

[ Pleasure flickers around him, phasing in and out of focus. Easy to lose himself in the threads of it, to bask and indulge in what Hux seemed determined to pull from him in every artful drag of tongueㅡand even teeth, though only when he seemed to sense Ben's attention drifting.

Then Hux does something particularly indecent and it's the sound of Ben's head thwacking against the headboard that fills the silence. ] Fuck.

[cronusian]

[There's something intoxicating about finally managing to make Ben break, that outer shell cracking away to reveal what's been hidden underneath all this time. He pulls his lips over his teeth and increases the pressure.

His hands pressed hard into Ben's hips and he shoved down, taking him all the way to the base in a rough and hungry pace. He was chasing Ben's reactions, and he dug his fingers roughly into his skin, his nails drawing blood.

His tongue flicked against the tip and then, certain Ben was reaching a peak of desire and pleasure, he pulled off and bit hard into his thigh, dark and hungry eyes glancing up at him from mussed red hair, more out of place than it ever had been. He was still toying with Ben, trying to draw out that hunger further, curious to see what would happen. He trailed his tongue over his swollen lips, and brushed those lips teasingly against over-heated skin in no hurry.]

[warfares]

[ A low, vicious noise that catches in the back of his throat. Startled by the sudden shift from languid indulgence to pain and then back again. Invigorated by it, too, if the proud jut of his erection is any indication; leaking, red and desperate for relief. ]

It would be easier if you told me what you wanted. [ Ben, leaking in at the edges as he drags a thumb across the sharp line of Hux's cheekbone when he swallows him back down again. He doesn't expect an answer, of course. It's more to have something fill the constricting spaces between each breath. Arousal winding tighter and tighter, demanding release. ]