Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Rey! Rey, hang on a minute!”

“Thank you, Ben, you’re a life saver!”

“Rey, I didn’t agree to this!”

Kylo swore as the box tipped precariously in his arms, and he scrambled to right it before reaching back to grab his keys from the counter. As he stepped out into the corridor, door slamming behind him, his cousin was already down the hall, manically pressing the button to call the elevator.

“It’s just for a week or two,” she called over her shoulder, “everything you need is in the other box.”

Kylo stomped gently down the corridor after her, trying not to disturb the contents of the box he still held.

“Ok, one, don’t call me Ben. Two, what the hell am I supposed to do with these?”

Rey half turned to face him, her finger not letting up from pressing the call button.

“Please Be- Kylo, I don’t have anyone else to help me.”

The elevator dinged behind Rey, cutting Kylo off. Rey darted into the space and began mashing the button to close the doors.

“Don’t leave me here with these.”

“It’s just while I’m doing my finals,” Rey pleaded.

Kylo shoved his boot between the doors, blocking them as they attempted to close. Rey rolled her eyes and began kicking the sole of Kylo’s boot.

“Ask someone else.”

“Rose is visiting family; Poe is leading a field trip and Finn is doing the same exams that I am.” Rey blinked a few times and looked up at Kylo, brown eyes huge and watery. “You wouldn’t want anything to happen to them, would you?”

Kylo’s mouth twisted, and he looked down into the box. Sensing his moment of weakness, Rey gave Kylo’s boot one last kick, dislodging him and freeing the doors to close.

“I’ll be back in two wee-“

Kylo glowered at the door, then looked back down at the box as the contents began to rustle. Three sets of tiny eyes blinked up at him. One kitten, mostly ginger, sat up and fixed Kylo with a steely stare, and then meowed demandingly.

Back in his apartment, the kittens were trying valiantly to climb from their box as Kylo sorted through the other box that Rey had left him. Kitten kibble and wet food, litter, litter tray and disinfectant wipes in the inevitability of accidents.

“No toys,” Kylo muttered. “Your foster mother is a monster.”

Kylo looked back at the box. Two kittens were still attempting to scale the cardboard cliffs of their confinement. Kylo looked around the side of the box noticed the orange kitten about to disappear under the couch. He lunged and caught them just in time.

“No, no, no,” he told… he turned the kitten around in his hands briefly, lifting its tail. Her. Right. “No escaping missy. I don’t need any escape artists.”

He placed the escapee back into the box, before lifting it up and carrying all three into the bathroom. Though there were times his old-style bathroom frustrated him, with a tub that could never hope to accommodate his height, right now it was just what he needed.

He lay a blanket at one end, setting shallow bowls of water and kibble beside in, and leaving the litter tray down near the plug. He lifted each kitten carefully out of the box into their new holding area. The silver tabby made a beeline for the food, while the darker grey kitten simply sat on the blanket surveying it’s new surrounds. The ginger kitten once more fixed Kylo with her stare and declared her annoyance with this new confinement.

“Yeah, I know, but it’s just till I get back from the pet shop, ok? I gotta get you some toys, and maybe some kind of play pen so you don’t get stuck anywhere you shouldn’t. Okay? Right, I’ll be back soon.”

Kylo returned with a large paper bag balanced on his hip as he sorted through his keys with his other hand. Fumbling the key into the slot, he turned the key and cracked the door open; only to see a tiny orange blur shoot out.

“What the? Come back here you fuzzy little- “

Kylo dropped the bag as he dashed after the kitten, seeing her tail disappear around the corner.

“Oh! Hello beautiful.”

Kylo slowed as he heard someone address the kitten. He rounded the corner to see a man crouched down, gently petting the fugitive. Hearing Kylo approach, he looked up and smiled in a way that even lit up his eyes, causing Kylo’s heart to lurch in his chest.

Hello beautiful, Kylo echoed.

“Is this little one yours?” the man asked, scooping up the kitten easily and holding her as he stood.

“Uh, yeah, kind of. I mean, I’m looking after them for my cousin.”

The man’s attention switched back to the kitten, one hand holding her up close to his face while the other danced over her little body, finding all the best places to deliver scritches.

“Um, my name’s Kylo,” Kylo said, wanting to pull the man’s attention back to him.

“Hux,” the stranger replied. “I guess I should give your charge back to you.”

Kylo held out his hands and with visible reluctance, Hux deposited the purring kitten there. She chirped at Hux as he gave her a last scratch under the chin. He smiled broadly at her, before looking back at Kylo and nodding, stepping away towards his apartment door. Kylo held the kitten to his chest and returned to his own apartment, kicking the spilled toys and baby play pen in through the door. Once the door was securely closed behind him, he lifted the orange kitten up to his eye level.

“Alright, listen. Forget what I said before about escaping. I need you to escape again. Repeatedly. And go find that guy again so I can talk to him, ok?”

The kitten meowed.

Chapter Text

It didn’t take long for Kylo to work out his new neighbour’s comings and goings from his apartment. After all, there was no point letting the ginger kitten just wander the corridors when she had a mission to complete.

“Now remember,” Kylo addressed the kitten as he set her on the on the counter top, “you have to aim for the red head.”

The kitten sat watching as Kylo pulled on his jacket. He picked up his prop bag before bending down to meet the kitten at eye level.

“Are you ready for your mission?”

The kitten stood to attention, little bumper-car tail sticking right up behind her.

“Atta girl.”

Kylo picked up the kitten carefully, his hand almost entirely engulfing her little body.

He stepped up to the door, cracking it open carefully as he looked out at the elevator at the end of the corridor. For a long moment, nothing happened, then finally, the numbers on the overhead display began to tick up.

“Now remember,” Kylo whispered to the kitten. “You have to aim for the read head. The one with no soul; like you.”

The kitten mewed in protest.

“Alright, that wasn’t fair. I’m sure you’ve already stolen plenty of souls.”

Kylo crouched down, restraining the kitten as she tried to leap from his hand to the ever-closer carpeted floor.

“Ready?” Kylo said, watching the numbers get closer. Two floors to go. Just one. “Go, go, go!”

Kylo opened his hand on the ground and the kitten needed no further encouragement. She dashed forward, tearing down the corridor and taking the turn towards Hux’s apartment just as the elevator doors opened.

Kylo stepped back from the door to ensure he wouldn’t be seen, then carefully held up the bag and dropped it on the floor. He winched as the tins of cat food clattered, but the other two kittens, peacefully asleep in the play pen, didn’t even stir. Set-up complete, Kylo hurried out of his apartment, keys in hand.

Bingo! Kylo rounded the corner to once again find Hux bent down to talk to the kitten. Her little body was practically vibrating as she purred, looking almost smug as Hux scratched under her chin. She turned her head, meowing as she caught sight of Kylo. Hux followed her gaze.

“Oh, hello again,” he said.

Hux was in no hurry to give up the kitten this time, and sat down on the floor with her, tumbling her over to tickle her belly as she tried to grab his fingers. Kylo crossed the distance between them, sitting down against the opposite wall. Hux smiled as Kylo sat, deftly avoiding the kitten’s attempts to bite him.

“I think,” Kylo began, “that I’m either going to have to never leave my apartment again, or I’m going to have to get you to move in with me to keep this rogue in line.”

Hux laughed, making Kylo’s heart feel light in his chest.

“Seems a bit drastic,” Hux said. “Have you tried keeping her in a playpen?”

Kylo snorted. “Would you like to meet the other two kittens that haven’t tried to escape?”

“There’s more?” Hux said, his eyes lighting up.

“Would you like to meet them?” Kylo asked, kicking himself for not thinking to start with that.

“Oh, certainly yes,” Hux said, springing to his feet and carrying the ginger kitten with him. “I mean, if you have time now.”

“Of course,” Kylo said, clambering to his feet. “Though I’ll have to clean up some spilled cat food. Maybe you could help by keeping this one distracted, so she doesn’t escape again.”

“Gladly,” Hux replied, and followed Kylo back down the corridor.

Later, in Kylo’s apartment, with all three kittens tuckered out and snuggled up together in the playpen, Kylo sat as close as he dared to Hux on the couch that overlooked their sleeping forms.

“I miss having a cat so much,” Hux said. “It’s probably just as well they won’t be here long, or I’d be calling every day to see them.”

“I’m sure they wouldn’t mind,” Kylo said, daring to glance at the open joy on Hux’s face. “I wouldn’t mind either,” he muttered into his coffee mug.

Hux smiled as he took a drink from his own mug.

Now that Hux’s visits were secured, Kylo didn’t have any reason to arrange for the kitten’s “escape” any more. But he figured he could get away with it one more time, just so Hux didn’t suspect that it’d all been part of a plan.

He prepared in the usual way, keys and props at the ready, giving the kitten her pep talk before picking her up and waiting at the door for the elevator to arrive. The low chimes sounded as Kylo watched the floors before lowering his hand to the ground and letting the kitten venture forth. He stepped back from the door and listened for the sound of Hux’s laugh as she ran up to him.

Nothing.

Long seconds ticked past before he dared to lean out of his door. The corridor was empty.

“Kitten?” he called, stepping out.

He strode quickly to the corner, but there was no Hux to be seen. And no kitten.

“Kitten??” he called again, louder this time.

Kylo’s heart sank as the corridor remained kitten-less. Behind him the elevator dinged.

Kylo rushed to the doors as they opened, blocking Hux from stepping out.

“Kylo, hi-“

“Didyouseethekitten?”

“Kylo, what-, what’s wrong?”

“The kitten ran out again, I thought she was going to see you, but if you’ve only arrived…”

“Oh, oh no.”

“I’m going to go down to the lobby to check, in case she managed to up the ante on her escapes.”

“Ok,” Hux replied, stepping out of Kylo’s way. “I’ll be in my flat. Let me know when you find her, ok?”

“Will do,” Kylo said, as the elevator doors closed between them.

Chapter Text

Kylo had never felt this bad before. Not when he’d crashed his motorbike he’d spent the entire summer fixing up in his father’s garage. Not when he and Rey had the blazing row about favourites that resulted in him dropping out of Uncle Luke’s school and cutting contact with his parents for several years.

He had lost the kitten.

There’d been no sign of her in the complex lobby, no one there had even seen an orange blur, much less a whole kitten. He’d even harassed the security guard Dopheld into letting him into the office, where he combed the recordings that covered the elevator and lobby, hoping to catch sight of where the kitten had managed to get to. But there was nothing. Not even a single puff of fuzz to indicate where she’d been.

And now he was going to have to tell Hux he was the worse cat-sitter ever. He couldn’t blame him if he never spoke to him again. Kylo certainly wouldn’t.

Kylo froze, swallowing hard. He was going to have to tell Rey too.

Maybe it’d just be easier to move apartments, taking the remaining kittens with him as hostages for her good will, so Rey wouldn’t just straight up murder him in his sleep.

The elevator dinged for his floor, Kylo pushed himself up from where he’d been slumped against the elevator wall and exited.

“Kylo!”

Kylo looked up to see a beaming Hux standing at the door of his apartment, gesturing at him frantically. He dragged his feet towards him, dreading the next few minutes even as he was mentally sorting between what he could take and what he could leave behind in his apartment.

“Hux, I didn’t find her…”

To his surprise, Hux simply rolled his eyes, then took hold of his arm to drag him into the apartment. His confusion mounted as Hux closed the door behind them, before ushering Kylo further into the apartment.

“Hux, what?”

Hux just smiled at him and pointed to the couch in his living room. It was a small, two-seater, with a faux fur throw that looked like it was supposed to be draped artfully across the back. Only right now it had been pulled down in a messy tangle, and right in the middle of that tangle, taking up far more space than her little body could possibly need, was the ginger kitten.

“Kitten!” Kylo exclaimed, sinking to his knees, and gently stoking her body. The kitten yawned and stretched, sinking straight back into sleep.

“Where did you find her?” Kylo asked.

“She found me, as usual.”

“She found you?” Kylo asked, turning his attention back to Hux. “How?”

“One of your neighbours intercepted her,” Hux said, a sly smile on his lips. “She said something about suspecting that the kitten’s escapes were not entirely of her own volition, and that perhaps I should cut to the chase and take the kitten in.”

“She did,” Kylo said quietly, adding to his mental tally to strangle Phasma before he left.

“Mmm,” Hux agreed. “She also gave me your cousin’s number, so I’ve already talked to her about adopting Millicent.”

“Millicent?” Kylo said, nose scrunching. “Wait, you talked to Rey?” Strangling was too good for Phasma.

“Yes, lovely girl,” Hux said. “I hope I didn’t interrupt her studies too much. She said she’d speak to you soon.”

“Cool, cool,” Kylo said, standing up. “I was planning on leaving anyway.”

“You’re leaving?” Hux asked, and Kylo as expected, felt even worse at hearing the note of sadness in Hux’s voice.

“Well, I can leave now and get ahead of Rey, or there’s going to be one heck of a mess to clean up when she gets here, and I don’t mean the kittens.”

“I was going to make you dinner. I figured you could do with something nice after the panic earlier.”

Kylo nodded. “That would be nice.”

“And seeing as tomorrow is Saturday, I thought we could have a look at the market down the block.”

Kylo narrowed his eyes. “You mean, like, a date?”

“It’s only a date if you say yes.”

“Yeah, yes! I’d love to.”

“I think Millicent has done plenty of work in fostering introductions, I think it’s only fair that we take over and give her a break.”

Kylo wrinkled his nose again.

“Millicent, though.”

“What’s wrong with Millicent?”

“You want a list?”

“Oh! I need to show you the collar I ordered?”

Hux held out his phone, showing a pink velveteen collar, a heart shaped metal tag, also pink, hanging from it engraved with the kitten’s new name.

“That’s cute. It’ll suit her.”

“I though so.”

“It’d suit you too.”

“Careful Kylo,” Hux replied with a wicked smile. “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“I just meant the colour!” Kylo said, holding his hands up in surrender.

He followed Hux into the kitchen area, leaning against the counter as Hux tied an apron around his waist before selecting various ingredients from the fridge to start the prep for dinner.

From the couch, Millicent watched them go with lidded eyes. And when she was sure that they couldn’t mess up anymore, she gave a purr-sigh of contentment, and went back to sleep.