27. Phasma

                                    

                                          
  I woke up thanks to the rays of a morning sun. I was lying underneath Matt's arms, with my head in his lap. I wished we could stay like this forever, peaceful and without duty. 
  Matt woke up a few seconds after me, sweetly stroking a lost strand of hair out of my face. "Good morning, sunshine." 
  I flinched at his throaty morning voice suddenly breaking the silence.
  He hastily cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, I hope I didn't startle you?"
  A smile crossed my lips. "You could never." He was such a goofball. 
  He stretched his arms as I sat up, casually draping one over my shoulder.
  I yawned, still sleepy. "Did we just fall asleep in Kylo Ren's quarters?"
  Matt tried to straighten the orange technician kit that seemed to have made an 180 degrees turn around his chest. "Not just, we've actually stayed here all night."
  The realisation hit me pretty late. "But- what if Ren comes back? He needs to sleep too right? In his own quarters?" I hurried to my feet and tried to tame my sleep-head hair.
  "Ehm, he's on a mission."
  I realised another thing when Matt said mission. I had to work.

  Mentoring Matt was almost like having a second shadow. Similar to when we first met, but less awkward. 
  We didn't exchange words unless entirely necessary. I claimed it to be an act out of professionalism.
  Two weeks had passed without any happenings, Matt and I were too busy with his training. 
  Well nothing... maybe one thing...

Flashback
  "Matt, could you please hold the ladder steady?" I stood on top of an unstable ladder. I didn't have to look down to know Matt was now holding it, the ladder seemed to be glued to the floor and didn't make a single movement. 
  The height was pretty high, not that I'm afraid of heights. It was just... high.  
  "Thanks Matt." I tried to distract myself from the height by fixing the problem, the lighting. I had to be very, very careful or I'd get electrified. 
  Lately I had let Matt do most of the work since he was getting better at it, but this was too advanced for him... and I also didn't want him to get electrified. 
  I was so focused that I didn't see Armitage enter the hallway, but Matt did.
  I don't know what's going on between them, but they certainly don't like each other. 
  I'm surprised that Matt didn't already make some kind of boobytrap for him, like closing off the water to his bathroom or something. That would be typical Matt.
  Instead of 'pranking' Hux in his own time, he got distracted during work. 
  Armitage hadn't seen that I was the one standing on the ladder Matt was holding, so he didn't see why he couldn't annoy the radar technician. 
  Why would a General annoy a radar technician in the first place, I wonder. 
  "Ah technician, doing the dirty work hm? Aren't you capable enough to manage it yourself? So now they just take advantage of your strength, by holding their equipment." Armitage smirked.
  And of course Matt got distracted, 'cus hey, it's Matt.
  Matt let go of the ladder and turned to face Hux. 
  At the exact same time, I got shocked by the broken lamp. Which made me jump slightly, but enough to make me fall since no one was holding the ladder. 
  Matt must have inhuman reflexes, because he caught me right on time. 
  Once again, I was surprised by his strength, in his arms it seemed like I weighted nothing. 
  For a split moment our eyes locked and Matt send me a kind smile, one he hadn't shown in a week. 
  "You can put me back down, I only have a few bruises."
  Okay, more than a few. 
  "Yes, put (Y/n) back down," Armitage ordered sternly. 
  "No, I need to bring her to her room,"Matt protested. 
  "You will do no such thing," Armitage's voice was still pitch high. 
  I don't know what glance Matt sent him, but it definitely worked. 
  "Well then, be quick." Armitage turned away, still agitated. 
  The distance Matt had been keeping the last week was obviously less as he carried me to my room, bridal style. 

  This time there was a chair in my room, an old one I found at the dump. 
  The second Matt placed me on the chair, one of the legs broke off. 
  I quickly stood up before it completely collapsed, I felt my injured ankle protest. 
  I tried to hide the pain, but Matt had some kind of super power to know how someone felt. 
  "You're in pain. It's my fault, I shouldn't have been distracted." Matt's eyes looked even more puppy-like whenever he was upset. Which made it hard to take him serious. 
  "Don't you worry about it, that's the job. Everyone gets hurt every once in a while."
  I looked at the hand-me-down chair. I really wanted to have a chair in my room, it'd make me feel less... poor. 
  "I'll fix it."
  Before I knew it, Matt had left the room to get his tool box. 
  In the meanwhile I applied some ointment to my bruises, it worked instantly. 
  When Matt came back with his tool box he seemed more ready than ever. 
  "You sure you'll be able to fix it?"
  Matt squatted down next to the broken chair. "I'm sure it can't get any worse," he mumbled. 
  It took Matt about fifteen minutes to fix the chair. 
  "Where did you learn how to repair hand-me-downs?"
  He stood up and tested the chair. "My father taught me how."

End of flashback
  Kylo had been trying to keep his distance from (Y/n), which was hard. 
  But he had to. She still didn't know his real identity. Which was good, because he didn't know how she'd respond if she accidentally found out herself. 
  A little voice in the back of his head told Kylo it'd break her heart.
  So far everything was going fine, except from that one moment she fell from the ladder. But that was his own fault, he couldn't bare to see her hurt. 

  I received a new mission; Joining the supplies vehicle, which contained the supplies I had once ordered for Armitage.
  Matt would be joining me on this mission, like he had done these last two weeks, but he was already inside the ship. 

  I was stopped by Armitage, who I hadn't seen since the ladder accident. 
  He tried to keep his distance, but I couldn't figure out why. He did appear more agitated as of late.
  "I want you to have this." Hux sneakily handed me a small, yet high quality, blaster. 
  "I can't accept this." But I did take the blaster. 
  "I need you to be safe. Try to hide it as much as possible, you're not allowed to have a blaster. But I can't bear to leave you on a mission unarmed. Again."
  I hid the blaster in the pocket of my uniform, before giving him a quick hug. Armitage always seemed to enjoy them, as if the weight of the Order was lifted from his shoulders. Even if it was only for a few seconds. 
  "We need to go, General Hugs." The officer made, accidentally, a huge mistake. Which he realised too, I saw him recoil. 
  Armitage had to let me go and made a sharp turn. "What did you just say?!"
  "N-nothing sir, just that you need to-to leave," it didn't matter what he said, his fate had already been sealed. 
  "Troopers, take this man away." Hux motioned the two stormtroopers that already took place at each side of the man. 
  I felt sorry for the officer. "What will happen to him?"
  Armitage realised my presence again. "The young man will be send to reconditioning, he's lucky that we're still short on officers."

  Armitage was interrupted by the arrival of a two-metres-tall stormtrooper in a silver, chrome uniform. 
  "Ah, Phasma, you finally arrived."
  Phasma had a robot-like voice, but that couldn't hide the fact that she was a woman. "I wouldn't want to miss my first mission on Starkiller base." She turned her helmeted head and examined me. "What are my orders?"
  Hux straightened his composure, knowing that I wouldn't like what he was about to say. "I need you to protect (Y/n) here."
  I made a sharp turn to Armitage. "I most certainly do not need a baby sitter. Do I make myself clear?" My voice sounded bitter. 
  I had been looking out for myself for as long as I could remember. And if it were up to me, that wouldn't change. 
  I heard Phasma snort, not happy with how I acted up to my superior. 
  Armitage took my hand and pulled me away from Phasma. "I have to keep you safe, please cooperate."
  This was the first time I had hear him... well, practically beg. Which made me calm down. Apparently Hux was very keen on this. 
  "Okay, just for this once." 
  A cute, little smirk spread on his satisfied face. 
  "Jerk," I mumbled. Yet I was grateful he cared about my well-being. 

  As I entered the ship I got pushed against the wall by a metal hand holding my collar. 
  "I do not want to be ordered around like some kind of guard dog or baby sitter. I don't know why you get to speak up like that or why you're so important, but I do not trust nor like it." Phasma let go of me.
  I straightened my clothes, not intimidated. "Don't worry about it Phas, I don't like this either. Let's just stay as far away from each other as possible."
  Before waiting for a respond, I headed off, to the control room of the ship, to Matt.
  I already do not trust that woman.