Strength (Book Two of the Into The Fray series)

Chapter Five

Armitage and Ben clinked their cups together, rose them up to each other, and then downed the putrid liquid. They both made terrible faces. Armitage covered his mouth with his sleeve, coughing.

"What is this crap?" Ben asked, not exactly soberly.

"I d'no," Armitage replied, picking up the glass bottle of green liquor and trying to focus his eyes on the label. "But it's getting the job done, eh?"

Ben took the bottle from him, poured them both two more drinks, and they downed it. Ben shook his head. "Are we sure it's edible?"

Hux laughed at him. "They wouldn't put--I don't know--propulsion fuel--in the kitchen."

"This tastes terrible."

"It's tastes like alcoho--" Armitage cut himself off. "Wait. Kylo. Have you never drank before!?"

Ben flushed, grabbed the bottle, and poured himself another drink. This time he sipped it. "Well, if you count the past twenty or so minutes, yes, I've drank before."

Armitage reached across the table, taking Ben's glass from him. He chuckled. "You are in for a world of hurt, my friend. I'm cutting you off." When Ben glared, he added, "For now, anyway."

"Call me Ben."

Armitage rubbed his face, hard, forgetting about his black eye. The pain was luckily muffled by the alcohol. "Ahhhhh! I can't! That's so foreign to me!"

"Seeing you drunk is foreign to me."

Armitage waved a dismissive hand. "Bah. This is nothing."

Ben leaned forward. "Tell me about your past."

Armitage looked at him evenly and then downed his drink. "What?"

"I want to know why you are how you are. In the months we were together, we never discussed anything except work or sex. I'm curious."

Armitage gave a rueful smile. "So that was your plan, Ben? Get me liquored up and have me spill my deep dark secrets to you?"

"No, not my plan, but here we are."

Armitage rubbed his chin. After a moment, he slid Ben's cup across the table. "Fine. But you have to do the same. I'm curious how Ben Solo became Kylo Ren and then back again."

Ben shrugged. "Fair is fair."

"Well? What do you want to know?"

"If you weren't a First Order officer, what would you do? What have you always wanted to do?"

After drumming his fingers on the table a moment, Armitage replied. "I always wanted to be in a band that traveled to various canteenas throughout the galaxy." Armitage pointed at him. "But not just any canteena--only the really seedy ones."

Ben was shocked. "Really? I never knew that."

A small smile spread across Armitage's lips. "And I never knew how gullible you were." Armitage burst out laughing.

Ben turned red, taking a long drink.

Armitage was in hysterics, nearly falling off his chair. "You should have seen the look on your face! You actually believed me!"

"Well how was I supposed to know!?"

"I just picked what was possibly the most opposite of anything I'd ever actually do, and said it."

Ben rolled his eyes and put down his cup. "Come on, I was being serious."

Armitage calmed himself. Wiping a tear from his eye, he leaned against the table, idly drawing a random pattern on the surface with his finger. "Seriously I've never thought about it."