Chapter Text
(1)
“Is this new? Haven’t seen this one on you before.”
Ben hummed, Adam’s apple bobbing almost painfully as he fought to keep his chin up while his knees trembled in awkward half-crouch. Leia tugged on the deep red silk tie to bring him even lower, tutted and restarted her work on his knot.
“Yup. Something new.”
“Wish you’d finally learn how to fix it yourself,” Leia rolled her shoulders and shook out her wrists, tired from reaching so high up. “But then Han never learned it either. Must be genetics. Giraffes, both of you.”
“See, he’s got all the good things from you, Princess,” Han spoke up from polishing his shoes. “I’m to blame for the rest. Now, would you-” he grabbed his own tie and made the exact same puppy eyes as Ben did just five minutes ago.
(2)
In another changing suite at the other side of the wedding venue, Hux was letting his mother inspect the impeccable work on his knot.
“Quite the change from your usual shades of blue,” Genevieve remarked. “But it suits you.”
“The red was the Knights’ idea, Pete’s, I think,” Hux explained. “Like the red tee in their… uh, logo. It goes with the wedding colors, black, white, red accents. And since I’m something like a honorary Knight...”
Genevieve nodded, her fingertip tracing the faint pattern of embroidery in the red silk. From this close it looked like starbursts.
“Ben chose mine, and I did his.” Hux smiled as his memory took him back to the store. “Said mine reminded him of the sun…”
“What’s on Ben’s?” Genevieve asked with a fond smile.
“Lightning.”
(3)
“So, what’s your something old, then?”
Ben cringed a little at the questioning, even though he was grateful for it at the same time. It took his mind away from jittery thoughts.
“I was going with my old eye-liner but I seem to have misplaced it...”
“Dude,” Mike chimed in, “you’re not wearing an eye-liner at your wedding!”
“I wouldn’t,” Ben protested. “It was just to keep it in my pocket, you see, when Hux and I met, like the really first time I met him-”
“I think I have something for you,” Leia gently but firmly interrupted Ben’s increasingly panicked explanations. She reached into her purse and took out a square leather box, scuffed at the edges with age. Ben opened it. A pair of cufflinks gleamed in the faded red velvet lining.
“They belonged to my father.”
Ben looked up, surprised. “Bail Organa? I thought-”
It would be a miracle for Leia to have anything of Bail’s. Ben knew that practically everything Leia’s foster family owned was destroyed in the arson fire set on the Organa mansion. Political opponents, business rivals - the culprit was never found. Leia was away at college at the time. She’d lost a second family that night and she wasn’t even twenty yet.
“No. To… Anakin.” Leia parsed the name through her lips with visible difficulty. Ben knew she never made peace with her biological father, resented him for many things, and refused to see him while he still lived.
“Apparently, he wore them at his wedding to my mother. Gave them to Luke when they met… but Luke’s hardly going to have any kids of his own, the hermit he is.” Leia brushed off a tear from the corner of her eye and started fussing with Ben’s cuffs, taking out the original links and replacing them with the antique ones.
“I know, Ben, that we haven’t always seen eye to eye on your life choices… but even I can see that marrying Hux is the best you’ve ever made. And I very much wish that one day you’ll think of me better than I did of Anakin.”
Ben grabbed her and lifted her into a hug before she could raise a protest. “I already do, Mom.”
(4)
“General Sloane!”
The tall woman in sharp dress blues and with a single bold streak of gray in her otherwise rich black hair closed the suite door behind her and rolled her eyes at Hux.
“Just for today, it’s Rae.”
Rae Sloane, Hux’s mentor at the Academy and the parental figure he’d wished he had during growing up, wasn’t part of the wedding party - but instead of sharing a welcome drink with the other guests, she slipped “into the backstage” (how the Knights dubbed the respective grooms’ rooms) and was currently looking Hux over with a self-satisfied smirk on her face.
“I’ve got something for you. To go with the tradition...”
The small silk satchel in her hand contained a tie pin. Small and simple and obviously very antique, the Academy insignia still recognisable even though worn down by countless meticulous polishing.
“It belonged to my father. Passed down as family heirloom. I never made the time to find myself a husband or a wife-” she winked at Hux, “- but even if I had a son, I’d count myself damn lucky if he made me half as proud as you’ve always made me.”
The hug they exchanged was wordless, Brendol’s absence at the wedding unacknowledged between them but obvious. Fuck him , Hux thought. I have everyone I care about right here.
(5)
“Hey kid, put these in your pocket. Just for today. Something borrowed, hm? For luck.”
Ben huffed out a laugh at the dice in Han’s palm.
“Dad, they’re only lucky because they’re weighted.”
“And?” Han lifted an eyebrow, his grin incorrigible. “My point, kid: you make your own luck.”
The irony of the message, considering all the trouble those dice got Han into over the years, was not lost on either of them but Ben accepted them anyway. Han was right, after all. He and Hux never waited for some lucky roll, they had to fight to win each other against all odds.
(6)
“It may be superstitious, I know, but I’m not gonna jinx my brother’s wedding day, so you better borrow this,” Techie came up and handed Hux a carefully folded… handkerchief.
“For when you’re bawling,” he added, the corners of his mouth twitching as if he fought a smile.
Hux’s offended face cleared with sudden realization.
“You stole that line from Rey,” he pointed a finger at his brother who already hurried back into the quietest corner amidst all the chaos of the preparations. If Hux wasn’t so preoccupied with keeping his own nerves in check, he’d have noticed the way Techie blushed at the mention of his soon-to-be sister-in-law. He would also have noticed his younger brother being uncharacteristically distracted and often staring into nothing, lips moving as if he was mouthing words, rehearsing some important speech in his head.
(Many years later, Techie will refuse to tell him who asked out who first.)
(7)
“Oh snap, something blue!” The pre-wedding atmosphere must have gotten to Rey at last because she sounded nervous, too. “Black, white, red, why the wedding colors had to be so darn dramatic - oh wait, that’s my brother in a nutshell, my bad-”
“Rey. You look awesome in red.” Ben put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her fluttering. “And don’t worry about the blue, Hux took care of that.”
His hand flitted towards his collar, fingers brushing lightly over the edge. The topmost bruise Hux sucked into his skin the night before was hidden just underneath it. More were scattered down Ben’s torso, purple and blue marks adorning his chest, sides, thighs. Ben revelled in each and every one of them, their dulled but still delicious ache, reminding him of Hux’s hungry gaze on him and thrilling him with the promise of many more nights like this.
Rey was staring at him with dawning comprehension - and then she cringed and covered her ears with both palms.
“Oh my god. I don’t want to know. Never mind I asked.”
“So you’re not going to snoop out what’s Hux’s something blue?” Ben teased her.
“For goodness’ sake, Ben, spare me, I’m a minor!” Rey whined and ran away to check her bouquet, shaking her head at Ben’s laughter accompanying her unceremonious exit.
Ben would never tell her, of course. That was between him and Hux. Even the delivery service had been discreet, the packaging innocuous. But Ben knew how good the dark blue lace would look on Hux’s pale skin after he finally got him out of that resplendent white suit, how beautifully alluring would be the trail of orange hair leading down from Hux’s belly button and disappearing into the contrasting blue satin.
Soon they’ll be married.
Ben couldn’t wait.
