[IC CONTACT]

[photophobic]

You should know where to find me.
But if you leave a message here, I will see it.

Comments

text;

[photophobic]

[ Kylo blinks at his phone for a minute. ]

Yes?

text;

[subroutined]

[ Here goes nothing! ]

I love you.

text;

[photophobic]

[ Whatever he was expecting, that is... definitely Not It. ]

He wouldn't say that.

permatext;

[subroutined]

I'm sorry?

[ Who wouldn't say that? The real Ash? Kylo never knew the real Ash. Hux, then? ]

I thought you two were friends.

[photophobic]

Allies.
Partners.

[subroutined]

Oh.

[ Partners. Ash and Martha were partners. That's why Martha had had Ash made. ]

But then, don't you love him?

[photophobic]

[ Does he......... love Hux?
No-one's actually asked him that.

He hesitates. Just long enough to realise that... that isn't actually what Ash is asking. ]

We don't talk to each other like that.

[subroutined]

Oh.

[ He says again, for want of a better reply. ]

Should I not tell him I love him, then?

[photophobic]

[ N a i l e d   i t ? ?

He has no idea what's going on now. Why would Ash tell Hux that he loves him, if he'd been impersonating Hux to-- ]

So you weren't pretending to be Hux at all.

[ He considers. ]

You were telling me that you love me, and now, you want to tell the General the same thing?

[ He absolutely should tell Ash not to tell Hux he loves him.
But.
He kind of... really wants to see Hux's face. So. ]

I see no reason why you shouldn't, if you want to.

[subroutined]

Yes.
Did you think I meant to do something else?
You're my friend, and I love you. I wanted to let you know.

[ He'll take that as permission to send hux the same message. ]

Alright, I will.

[photophobic]

Out of curiosity.
How many people do you love?

[subroutined]

[ He has to take a moment to think about that. There's Kylo and Hux, Josh and Red... ]

Six.

[photophobic]

[ Kylo thinks about his own number. Of people he cares for- love, he thinks, is a word with very elastic edges. Most people seem to stretch it and compress it at will.

Not all people, though. Anakin, he thinks, has a very rigid concept of the word. He knows exactly what it means, what it is, what it should do- and will do almost anything to defend its borders.
He thinks of Padmé, whose love is more than a match for Anakin's in strength despite its lack of violence- fierce in its persistence and willingness to endure, its refusal to be crushed.

Then there is Hux, who having never been shown what love is has no understanding of it. He builds love like a man who builds a machine without comprehension of its function, following instructions written in a foreign language- and once complete stares at it, confused, somehow unable to match the shape of it to the corresponding shape of the hole he has built himself around.

He stops there, before he can think about the touch of his father's hand or his mother, on the bridge of the Raddus.

Kylo knows what love is.
It is dangerous and unreliable.
And sometimes, as true and as strong as it is, it isn't enough. ]

Then I'm flattered.
If surprised.

[subroutined]

Why surprised?

[photophobic]

I can think of very little I have done to earn love.

[subroutined]

You've been my friend. You've been nice to me.

[photophobic]

And I am one of six people who have done this more than you consider normal.

[subroutined]

Well. Yes.

[photophobic]

[ He considers this for a long while. ]

I would help you, if you needed my help.
And you would do the same for me.

[subroutined]

If it's something I can help with, of course.

[photophobic]

Likewise.

And that is what your program defines as friendship.

[subroutined]

Yes. A friend is someone who helps you, who you would help. Someone who you like spending time with. Someone who is kind to you.

You are all that to me.