onlyeverdoubted | TLV Inbox

Well. That's one question answered. He coud, he supposed, have actually asked it and saved the trouble of the extra bedroom. But he doesn't really care about the admiral's trouble, if any. And if Hux had said no he'd have had to live with that, while just quietly taking a separate bedroom would just be a choice, not a rejection.

Bodhi takes a moment to consider his response. Hux has certainly never expressed interest in his dubious expertise. "I haven't fallen asleep on you often enough to get some practice in?" he asks lightly, testing the tension of the trouble spot under his thumb before he goes too deep.

He smiles despite his nerves, and shakes his head.

"No, I mean. That hardly counts. That's either your couch or mine, not 'ours'."

"I know what you mean." Bodhi's glad to find one irrational thought reflected for once. He's not the only ridiculous one for once. He digs his fingers a bit deeper, leaning down a bit as he adds judicious pressure along just the shoulders. Not lower. "I... I'm looking forward to it."

He makes a hiss between his teeth, trying to free himself of his restricting jacket for Bodhi.

"Sleeping? There's a shock."

"Maybe." He is a bit nervous about bugging Hux with his weird nocturnal habits, but he's always better able to relax with the company. "It's more likely, anyway." He obliges, moving his hands out of the way and beginning again with less cloth in the way. He sticks to the shoulders but is otherwise a bit self indulgent, taking his time tracing over the muscle there, petting as much as massaging and drawing in close.

He's doing his best to relax, part of him feeling like he's taking too much in this relationship and part of him wondering if it doesn't, in fact, relax Bodhi to do this with him. Some kind of innate bonding activity that years of imperial academy, past and present, tried to suppress.

"This is going to be a good thing." Hux says, with conviction.

Bodhi certainly gets a kick out of any good reaction he can get out of Hux. This one emboldens him a little more when it seems to go well. There's one weakness he finds fascinating but rarely dares exploit. Maybe it's a special enough occasion. He leans in close and lowers his voice. He hasn't noticed that it matters much what he say says when he does this, just that the simple little intimacy seems to get to Hux. "I'm glad you asked. Who knows how long it would have taken me."

He leans in close to hear Bodhi better, curious, his head practically on the other's shoulder.

"I'm much more of a pushing instigator than you."

One hand sneaks itself free of shoulder rub duty to run his fingers through Hux's hair and down his jaw. The angle he's twisted into to wrap himself around a seated Huxlike a cuddly snake is very uncomfortable, but he wouldn't move for the world. "I'll give you that one," he agrees in the same low voice. "Stubbornness is kind of an art with you."

"This can't possibly be comfortable for you." He voices Bodhi's thoughts aloud, but gives a warm smile back, letting Bodhi's hands explore his face and hair.

"And of course it is. You don't get very far in life without being stubborn."

He knows he's just being tolerated, but it's hard to stop. Cuddlesnake. "Having tried both, I can attest to folding immediately and making yourself scarce being a decent method, too. For purposes of not dying. Superior, even, if just the life part is what you're after." He might be babbling a little.

"And yet what kind of life is that, to cower?" His stocky pride clearly wants to come out to play. "If all you're doing is folding, without plans to stab the one who made you fold in the back, then what has it all been for?"

Bodhi's nose wrinkles a little, but he knows Hux is... at least sort of playing. "Living to do other things."

He frowns, just a little.

"All right. Living to do what? What is the perfect life?"

Well, good job turning it back on him. "I suppose, well, opinions... would logically have to vary, wouldn't--definitely starts with being alive, though, right?"

"Yes, generally." He remarks, dry as ever. "What else?"

They've known each other too long for him to pretend he doesn't know what Hux means. So even though he'd much rather keep teasing, he takes a deep breath and answers as best he can. Thinking about good things, let alone perfect things, is hard. Talking about it is harder. "Perfect? A big, real window to watch the rain, good noodles nearby, more cats than I would have guessed, apparently." He keeps his tone light, coasting on the honest but frivolous. "Work to do that matters and couldn't be handled by an obsolete droid." He tries very hard not to sound any different and maybe he succeeds. "You."

He nods a little along with all of it, giving a grin at the mention of cats.

The smile fades into something more real when that last part is mentioned. Hux, carefully, shifts in his chair.

"...My home planet rains all the time. I haven't been back there since I was five, but if you ever wanted to visit it. Figure out if it's a planet you'd like to settle..?"

Like he hadn't been making serious plans on the side for an eventual future together.

The beginnings of tension fade away, though he's definitely flustered himself. Hux doing him the kindness of zeroing in on the rain part earns him some fresh gratitude. "It's funny, rain feels like... like a luxury? I can't take heat o-or bright sun, so it's not just, um, the opposite of what I'm used to." He reaches the end of his spine's tolerance for being coiled around Hux like a spring and reluctantly straightens up, hands settling on his shoulders. "But listening to a good storm, in... good company, that sounds like home."

He gives a warm look back.

"You're in luck, then. Most beings born on rainy planets can barely stand to be in the sun of deserts, because our complexions can't take it very long. On Arkanis you hardly ever see the sun for the rain. And it could be cozy."

It wasn't very, from what he remembered of his distant childhood. But with Bodhi and the cats, it might be.

He could make a few pointed remarks about Hux and sunburns, but the moment doesn't seem right. Later. He can almost believe there'll be plenty of laters to do it in. "Perfect. Now how're the cantinas, or is one of us going to have to learn to cook properly?" It takes a little effort to keep his hands still. It's hard not to be suffocating, especially right now.

"How are the cantinas? You did remember the part where I told you I was five the last time I set foot there, correct?"

A pause.

"There are a few pubs in the villages. Nothing extravagant, most of the trade and food come from the seas."

Well, he could have answered that question. Hmph. "I just thought we'd both had enough of military rations to last a dozen lifetimes, that's all." Having stretched out a bit, Bodhi can no longer resist hugging him again, resting his chin on Hux's shoulder. Even tumbling into endless cascades of conversational nonsense with him is so good. "Close to the ocean, then?"

He stretches out a long arm to curl around Bodhi's chest, bringing him in closer.

"Yes. Of course. Unless you fancy yourself herding nerfs across the plains."

"I can't even herd cats." Bodhi is once again very nearly in Hux's lap. Good. "That much surface water. It must be incredible to have it just... be there."

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