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Chapter Text

The base was quiet at night. That was the first thing Rey had noticed when they settled into it, and it had never been more obvious than in that moment when she was quietly tiptoeing down the halls after hours with one hand on her blaster, and the other held out cautiously in front of her. They'd set a curfew for everyone not on duty in the case that, if something happened, they'd know where everyone was. But nothing ever happened - they hadn't been found in six months, not by anyone they didn't want finding them.

Mercifully, the halls weren't exactly heavily guarded since despite the influx of members that had followed the First Order's biggest turncoat, they still didn't quite have the numbers to fully staff the base. They'd lost too many people to recover quickly.

This enabled Rey to wander through the halls, all the way from her bunk on one side of the base, to Poe and Finn's bunk on the other without being spotted. Hell, it let her do it without even spotting a guard herself. She didn't see anyone until she was knocking on their door, and she saw Poe's gleeful smile upon seeing her outside his room.

He opened the door, and quickly ushered her inside just in case that happened to be the one moment that a guard walked by. The moment the door was closed though, she was wrapped into a warm, infamous Poe Dameron hug. "Hey, glad you made it," he said quietly, then he let go of her, and patted her arm casually as he walked away, standing by the sides of the other two who were already in the room. "Now that's almost all of us."

"Yeah, there was no one out there. It was easy," she replied, leaning against one of the bunks in the room-Finn's if the familiar looking jacket flopped casually over the sheets was anything to go by.

Rose was grinning at her. "You totally could've come here with me then. She insisted we leave five minutes apart since she didn't want us both to get in trouble."

"Couldn't you have just used the Force, Rey?" Poe asked, crossing his arms as he stared at his friend in amusement. "Last time I got you drunk you told quite the story of how you escaped Kylo Ren."

Her palm met her forehead, then she cleared her throat, and changed the subject. "Anyway, you have the rum?"

"When don't I?" was Poe's response as he walked over to his side of the room, and bent down, reaching underneath his bed for a glass bottle full of a clear liquid, and brandishing it with a loud, "Ta-da!"

The rest of the room rolled their eyes in unison, then Finn cleared his throat. "So, should we get going then? We don't exactly have the biggest window of time."

Poe shook his head. "We've got to wait, there's still one more person missing."

Finn's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Who?"

Before any of them could say anything to warn him, another knock sounded on the door, and Rey took in a deep breath as she moved to open it, knowing exactly who was on the other side before she even saw his face.

She could still sense him with ease, long after Snoke's death, through the bond that only seemed to be strengthening. Not long after the ordeal on Crait, the bond had connected her to a remorseful Ben Solo, desperate to change the course of a war he'd found himself on the wrong side of.

Maybe she should have questioned his motives, but once he'd given the Resistance solid, verifiable information on the location of several ammunitions and supply caches that were hidden in the system they'd camped out in (and really, just the fact that he'd apparently known where they were and hadn't yet wiped them out told Rey all she needed to know about where his allegiances laid), Leia had agreed to work with him.

Over a few standard months, he'd managed to partially disassemble the First Order from the inside, slowly spreading seeds of doubt to most of the organization's main supporters. After helpful suggestions from Finn, he'd even been able to quietly start a bit of a rebellion within the ranks of the stormtroopers, many of whom had defected to their side.

Rey didn't know what his goal was, exactly. Maybe there was some sort of power trip to be had in helping build something only to demolish it. By the time Ben had escaped the First Order ship he'd been on, he'd only had the clothes on his back, his lightsaber, his own TIE Silencer, and the location of a considerable fleet of ships he'd promptly helped the Resistance steal.

Of course, he'd also succeeded in helping blow up a Mega-class Star Dreadnought just before flying off to the Resistance base. If his goal had been to turn the tides of war, he'd certainly succeeded - it had been just six months since Crait, and It was finally starting to look like the Resistance might have the upper hand.

But now matter how much Ben did to help, there were still some people who could only see Kylo Ren when they looked at him. She felt an awkward prickle of tension that had become just a bit too familiar as Poe opened the door to show Ben, waiting in the hall, glancing around skittishly as though he was nervous about being scolded by a wandering guard.

"You invited Kylo Ren?" Finn hissed quietly, shooting Poe a look of disbelief. "Is this such a great idea?"

She watched Ben stiffen uncomfortably in the doorway, making firm eye contact with the floor as he said quietly, "Maybe he's right-"

"Nope," Rose interrupted, turning to Finn, "This is the perfect opportunity for us to all chill out, don't you think?" She looked back in Ben's direction and said, "Do you drink?"

Ben's eyebrow quirked, and he said dryly, "More than half the people on this base are waiting for me to snap and murder them all. Of course I drink."

"Perfect," Poe said, a bit too cheerfully, reaching over to pat Finn's shoulder. "This'll be fun, won't it, buddy?"

There was an awkward pause before Rey noticed Finn sigh, and nod, "Alright, well, I guess getting drunk together can't hurt."

Poe grinned. "That's the spirit."

It took a full minute, and Finn smacking Poe for Rey to realize the pun that Poe had made, though she couldn't quite be sure whether it was intentional going by the look of shock on his face as the back of the former stormtrooper's hand came in contact with his gut. The impact made the other three all snicker, even Ben-though he was certainly trying to hide it- managed the smallest of giggles as he watched.

Poe quickly straightened, then he cleared his throat, and clapped his hands together. "Okay, here's the escape plan," he said, then he gathered them all into a circle, and explained just how they were getting out of the base.

BB-8 let out a low whistle and a few beeps just as they opened the door to leave, and Poe nodded to the little ball-droid, whispering "Sure buddy, you can come too. Just stay quiet until we're outside, okay?"

If she'd thought walking through the base alone had been suspenseful, this was easily a thousand times more intense. They were all in a single-file line, Poe at the front, and Ben at the back just behind Rey as they all but tiptoed through the entire base. BB-8 rolled silently alongside them, probably the quietest of them all. This time, they managed to encounter one guard as he walked across a hallway in front of them, but by some mixture of the Force and sheer luck, he didn't notice them as he continued whistling on down the halls.

They all let out a breath none of them knew they were holding, and moved on.

By the time they got outside, Rey shivered as the warm air immediately descended on her skin, washing away the traces of the cool interior of the base as it wrapped her in a more familiar temperature. She'd grown up in a desert after all, she was used to the heat.

The others had mixed reactions. Rose didn't seem bothered by it much either, and to her surprise, neither did Ben-though she suspected that had more to do with his continued penchant for wearing black than it did his history. Finn and Poe both made slight faces at the heat and the humidity, and at first Rey was tempted to laugh at them, but then she heard the ocean through the trees.

She hadn't seen the ocean in ages. She'd been too busy running various missions for the Resistance since she'd fully joined. And she'd certainly never seen a real beach before the base. Ahch-To had been all cliffs and rough waves crashing against the jagged edges, but here she remembered the waves to be gentle and the water warm, touched by the light of a brilliant sun. "Do you hear that?" she asked softly, her voice dropping to somewhere between a murmur and her normal volume.

"The ocean?" Rose asked, rubbing her hands together eagerly like Poe had moments earlier. "Oh yeah, I hear it. Let's go." She then grabbed Rey's hand, and the two of them took off through the trees, giggling the entire way as the men behind them shouted for them to wait up.

"Run faster!" Rey cried, throwing her head back in laughter as she pushed past a low lying branch, then a few seconds later she and Rose ran out onto the sand, followed immediately by BB-8, who let out a series of happy chirps, and suddenly the water appeared before them, glistening in the moonlight. She couldn't tell where it stopped. It just went on for miles until it disappeared around the horizon, meeting the stars as they twinkled in the night sky above them.

She and Rose came to a stop as they wandered about midway between the beach and the ocean, the waves crashing rather loudly on the shore nearby. "We made it!" the smaller woman shouted gleefully, and Rey grinned wildly as they heard the sound of their friends shouting as they too pushed through the trees.

After a moment, the other three arrived on the beach, Poe smiling broadly at the view, while Ben and Finn wore similarly annoyed expressions, apparently having had a bit of difficulty making it through the trees.

"How's a fire sound?" Poe asked.

It had taken Rey nineteen years to see an ocean, and before answering him, she took a deep breath of the salty ocean air that surrounded them all like a massive fog. "Sounds good," she called back, turning around to see that BB-8 had rolled over to greet the three slowpokes who were finally walking toward her and Rose.

It only took Poe a few minutes to get a fire started since Finn helped him collect the necessary kindling, and in mere minutes, they were all sitting around a slowly-growing fire, so caught up in the tranquility of the simple elements that surrounded them to remember the war, or the roles they'd all played in it.

Rey had never known peace like that, and there was something ironic about the fact that it had taken her getting caught up in an intergalactic war to feel at peace.

The bond hummed, and she glanced in Ben's direction from the corner of her eye, knowing that he was feeling similarly.

"Okay Poe, time to share the rum," Rose demanded playfully, holding her hands out. "Let's get this started."

He laughed and nodded, taking a swig from the bottle before passing it to her. Rey watched curiously as Rose took a long drink and winced as she swallowed the liquid. She passed it over to Rey, warning, "Careful, that stuff burns."

Rey hesitated, then shrugged before knocking back a long drink of it, almost enjoying the burn as it hit her. Burn or not, it would make her head fuzzy, and that was exactly what she needed. She continued to sip at it until Poe amusedly reminded her to share, at which point she went to pass the bottle to her right-

To Ben, who was already sipping at his own flask. She used that as an excuse to take another drink before passing the rum to Finn.

At some point, the whole world got a little fuzzy at the edges and when someone passed her the bottle, it was nearly empty, and Poe started making this odd giggle-snorting noise as he said excitedly and mostly into Finn's shoulder, "Guys! Guys! We need to play a game!"

Rose matched his giggles with her own, pointing out, "We don't have any games! We only brought the bottle of rum!"

Judging by the expression on Poe's face, she'd just solved the galaxy's problems, "Rosie, you're brilliant. We'll play spin the bottle!"

"You're both brilliant," Finn beamed, swaying where he sat. He ended up leaning against Poe as he laughed and said, "Just- you guys. I love you guys. I- So, I had friends with the troopers but they were never friends like you guys are and I'd kiss any of you." He pointed at each of them, "I'd kiss you, and you, and you, and-" he paused for a moment at Ben, who froze awkwardly, "Ehhh, yeah, I'd kiss you too. I guess you're alright."

Ben seemed torn between being amused and uncomfortable, but he reached under his cloak and something out - his lightsaber - and placed it in the middle of the little circle they'd made without a word.

Everyone went quiet, spare for a few quiet giggles still coming from Rose, and after a moment, Poe tilted his head, asking curiously, "Uh, what're you doing there, Ben? What's the lightsaber for?"

Rey watched as he shrugged, "For the game. You spin it."

"NO!"

The reactions were immediate end explosive as Rose, Finn, and Poe all realized his intentions, and Rey could only laugh and smack a hand to her face.

Poe groaned, "Ben, this is a game, we don't all have a deathwish!"

"Yeah man," Finn snorted, "We're using the rum bottle! Shit, put that thing away."

Before Ben could reach out to grab it again, Poe stopped him, "Wait, actually can I see it? That's a massive one." A hint of a smirk played at his lips, and he asked, "Uh, Rey, didn't you use this at some point?"

She nodded in confirmation, wondering what he was getting at.

"Man, this is massive," Poe repeated, sounding thoroughly amused, inspecting the saber he now held, "Rey, you much have had to uh...grip this thing with both hands."

Rey could see Ben frown as he said, "Well, that is proper form."

Poe let out a quiet laugh, but shut his mouth immediately, and said lowly, "So...Rey, when you grip the shaft-"

Realization dawned on her, and she felt a warm flush that likely wasn't from the alcohol creep up her neck, "Okay, stop, that's enough lightsaber talk," she interrupted quickly.

"Just, tell me, does the tip-"

"Poe!" she snapped, "I swear I will kill you!"

Ben glanced over at her, seeming completely confused by her reaction (poor, foolish boy) and said innocently, "I don't mind answering questions. I spent quite a bit of time studying lightsabers-"

"Oh, that's perfect," Poe laughed, "Yeah, tell me more about that, Ben. Please, tell me about how you've studied lightsabers. Did you use more of a hands-on study technique?"

Rey shook her head quickly, "Nope, don't answer any of his questions, Ben. Ignore him."

Ben looked confused, but before he could ask her why, she glared at him harder, and he let it go, instead choosing to change the subject. "So we're using the bottle, then?"

Poe groaned at having his lightsaber jokes ripped away from him, but then he nodded slowly, and put the cap on the bottle as he laid it down on its side between them all. "Yeah, we're using the bottle. I'm assuming we all know how this works?"

Rey nodded, even though she'd never played the game herself, she knew what was supposed to happen. She'd spin the bottle and kiss whoever it pointed at when it stopped moving. There was only one problem…

"I feel like I need to mention something," she said suddenly, interrupting Poe as he was about to explain some ground rules for the game. "I've, um…" she scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "I've never been kissed."

The jaws of Finn, Poe, and Rose all dropped in perfect sync, and BB-8 let out a shocked little series of beeps. "What?" Poe asked, as if she'd just said the most blasphemous thing he'd ever heard.

"It just never happened? I never…" She cleared her throat. "I've never had the opportunity, I suppose."

Rose shrugged. "It doesn't happen to all of us," she said casually, then a smirk grew on her face. "Wait a second, Rey, come here."

Not sure what to think, she leaned toward the other woman, and looked at her expectantly. "What's u—?" She never got to finish that two word question. At that moment, Rose took Rey's face in her hands, and pressed a brief, closed-mouthed kiss to her lips in a claimant of her first kiss.

As she pulled away, both women—with a mixture of adrenaline and alcohol coursing through their veins—giggled, both covering their mouths with their hands as they fell back into the sand. Rey only just managed to catch herself before she fell fully onto the ground, holding herself up with one hand while the other held her stomach as she lost herself to her laughter. She only laughed harder when she saw Finn and Poe's jaws had gone completely slack, and a red blush had crept up Ben's face in the firelight. "What?"

"Rose, is that how you kiss everyone?" Finn asked incredulously, then Rose gave him a nod and a light-hearted shove.

"You didn't seem to mind," she grumbled, then she sat up straight. "Anyway—now that everyone's been kissed, let's—"

"I haven't either," Ben said quietly. In fact, he was so quiet, Rey wasn't entirely sure she'd heard him until he spoke again. "It's no big deal, it just never happened."

The corners of Rey's mouth twitched upward in a hint of a smile as the others expressed their shock in a series of high pitched cries. "What the fuck?" Poe shouted drunkenly, prodding Ben with a single finger as he looked between him and Rey. "You're both good looking people, what happened?"

"For one thing, I was a Jedi," Ben explained, then he swallowed, and took a sip of his flask before setting it down in the sand beside him. "And Snoke…" He took another drink before he brought the subject back around, not looking like he wanted to discuss a split second of his time with the first order. "Anyway, it just never happened."

Rey glanced over at Rose to find her already smirking at Ben with the same look she'd had in her eye just before she'd kissed her. "Okay, we're fixing that, too," she said, crossing their little circle until she was face to face with Ben. She had to crane her neck a little to look up at him, and she frowned. "Can you come down here? You're like… a giant."

Ben's face somehow managed to turn even more crimson as he complied, leaning down a few inches to allow Rose to also take his face in her hands, and kiss him like she'd kissed Rey. It was brief and over within a split second, but it did the job. Now they were all on the same level. They'd all been kissed.

Poe was grinning wickedly as Rose pulled away, and crawled back over to her place beside Rey. "Wow, you just turned more red than your lightsaber," he observed, then he chuckled. "I think you need to get laid."

Ben looked at him in confusion. "Laid? I lay down every night. Don't you?"

Poe openly chortled as he collapsed into the sand, then Rey reached over, and smacked him on the arm. "Poe, shut up," she hissed, then he slowly came back to himself, wiping a tear from his eye as he calmed down.

"Let's do this," he said, then he reached for the bottle at the center of their circle, and spun it with a flick of his wrist.

The bottle spun, a bit poorly on the sand, but did almost three full circles before landing on the girl next to Rey. Rose started giggling as Poe said, "Wow, we just started and you're getting to kiss everyone." He waggled his eyebrows and leaned over, planting a kiss on a still-grinning Rose.

"Do I win an award for kissing everyone in the circle?" Rose asked, tossing her head back in laughter as Finn rolled his eyes at her.

Poe took a moment to consider her question and shook his head, "Nah, by the end of the night we'll all have kissed each other."

A hint of something spiked along the bond, and Rey thought, maybe it was her own nerves. The idea of kissing every person present was a bit unsettling. Appealing, but unsettling.

At the sound of laughter, she realized she'd zoned out just long enough to miss Rose's spin, which had landed on her, prompting Rose to lean over, "C'mon Rey, apparently I get to be your first and second kiss!"

She giggled along with Rose as their lips met in another brief, chaste kiss, and once it was done, Rey leaned forward to grip the bottle, spinning it while nudging it ever so slightly with the Force.

She wasn't exactly cheating. It was mostly that she was avoiding a particular kiss that made her a bit nervous to imagine. The bottle wobbled a little due to her efforts and landed somewhere between Finn and Poe...right where BB-8 sat.

The little ball-droid whistled happily and Rey snorted, "Does BB-8 count?"

Poe seemed mildly offended by her question, reaching over to pat the little guy, "Of course he does!"

She grinned, more at the way Poe was trying to reassure his droid than at the situation itself, and scooted over in BB-8's direction, leaving a light kiss to his top that resulted in a loud, undoubtedly happy chirp. Everyone laughed at that - she was pretty sure she even heard a soft chuckle from Ben's direction.

When Rey got back to her seat she said, "I can spin for BB-8!"

Curious to see who else would have to kiss the little guy, she spun the bottle, not bothering to use any influence over it, and clapped a hand to her face when it promptly landed back on her.

"You know the rules for when it happens twice!" Poe chortled.

Rey only shrugged, "I don't, actually."

"Two times in a row means you have to use tongue!"

Really? Really?

"You want me to use tongue on your droid?" Rey asked dryly. Then she laughed and shook her head, "I'm not doing that."

Poe wrapped an arm around the BB-8, who let out a sad, low whistle which almost made her feel bad, and he said dramatically, "Poor thing. Come here, I'll kiss you, buddy."

The man kissed his droid, then glared playfully back at Rey, teasing, "How cruel, I think you broke the little guy's heart."

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Finn chuckled, patting the ball droid. "Okay, technically Poe was the last one to kiss someone- or...thing? Anyway," he gestured to Poe, "I think you can go. Maybe spare Rey from kissing more droids."

Poe hummed in agreement and reached out, spinning the bottle. It got a little off course, but finally landed on Finn, whose lips curled a little at the corners. "Looks like it's your turn, Buddy," he said teasingly, then Finn was full on grinning.

"Lay one on me," he said, and Poe didn't hesitate another minute to crawl over the space between them, around BB-8, and take Finn's face gently in his hands. Unlike the last few kisses, where they'd been started and finished within the span of about three seconds, Poe took his time. He let his eyes linger on Finn's for a moment, his thumb brushing over his bottom lip briefly before he finally closed the gap between them, and kissed him.

Rey felt a blush rise to her cheeks, and a hint of awkwardness filled the bond she shared with Ben as their friends' kiss grew intense. Poe's tongue slipped casually into Finn's mouth, and she would swear that one of them moaned as the kiss grew deeper.

One of Finn's hands came up to grip Poe's hair, when at long last someone in the circle—Ben, upon looking in his direction—cleared his throat, and took a swig of his flask. "We don't all have to kiss like that, do we?" he asked, his deep voice tinged with incredulity as he stared at them.

Poe chuckled as he pulled away from Finn, and settled in again beside BB-8. "You do if you want it to be half-decent," he said with a shrug, his darkened eyes never leaving Finn.

Another spike of embarrassment filled the bond, and Rey looked over to see Ben awkwardly scratching the back of his head as he sighed. "I wish I couldn't read your mind. I didn't want to know what you were thinking."

Finn's face lit up in delight, and he drunkenly slammed his palm on the ground. "Wait!" He cried, then he wheezed his laughter. "Read my mind, what color am I thinking of?"

A look of concentration appeared on Ben's face for a moment, then he blinked a few times, and rubbed his temples. "I don't know, but could you stop thinking about fucking—"

"Ah, thanks Ben, very insightful. How about you read someone else's mind for a minute?" Finn asked nervously, the thought of having whatever Ben was going to say revealed to the entire group clearly unsettling him. "Uh… Rey! Read Rey's mind, I'd love to know what she's thinking!"

Ben shook his head intensely. "No, no thank you, that's… that's not an experience I'd like to repeat again."

She scoffed. "Why, afraid I'll reveal your deepest darkest secrets again?" she asked sarcastically.

"Well, that, and your mind is a frightening place."

"Wait," Poe's voice interrupted their conversation. "Can you read minds, Rey?"

This time, it was her turn to shake her head like her life depended on it. "No, and I'm definitely not going to read yours," she replied, then she looked over at Ben. "Not if what he's saying holds any truth to it."

"It does," Ben assured her, then he held out his flask to her, and she gave him a soft grin as she took it from his hands, maintaining eye contact with him as she took a sip.

They stared at one another for a moment too long as she finished swallowing the liquid—whiskey if the rather specific burn was anything to go by— and handed his flask back to him. Ben gave her a hint of a smile as he took it, and immediately repeated her action, his eyes never leaving hers even as he set it back down on the ground.

This apparently had their friends completely mesmerized.

"Are they mindfucking…?" Poe whispered to Finn, then both Ben and Rey immediately snapped out of the trance they'd been in.

"No!" she shouted.

"Definitely not!" Ben cried at the same time.

"That'd be weird!"

"Very weird, I would probably hate it."

"Me too."

"Glad were agreed on that."

"Same here, give me more of that whiskey," she ordered him, and he didn't hesitate to comply, but not before he took another sip himself.

The game began to move on after that, starting with Finn spinning the bottle once they'd all calmed down, its end landing on a very shocked Ben. "I did say I'd kiss you," he promised him, then Finn crawled over, and planted a short, passionless kiss on his lips, causing him to blush as he pulled away laughing.

"My turn, I guess," he announced, then he reached for the bottle, and Rey reached out with the force to prevent it from landing on her as she watched it spin round and round and round until it landed on Poe.

The commander let out a victorious cry, then he laughed, clapping his hands together as he leaned over to Ben. "Prepare yourself, Solo, I'm good at this," he slurred, then he reached around for the base of Ben's skull, and pulled him into another short—but likely open mouthed, knowing Poe—kiss before releasing him, and muttering, "Damn," under his breath.

Rey laughed as Poe sat back down, then he too spun the bottle, and she let it simply spin of its own accord until it landed on her, and her eyes went wide.

Poe grinned cheekily, and slid over in her direction, waggling his eyebrows playfully, "This game was such a good idea - I get to kiss both of the Jedi!"

Before she could respond, or even laugh at his ridiculousness, he'd grabbed her face and planted his lips on hers, the kiss wet and a bit longer than his with Ben had been. Something sharp - anger? annoyance? - flashed across the bond, a bit more than the awkwardness she'd felt across it earlier, but the kiss ended and it evaporated before she could explore it further.

Maybe Ben had just finally run out of whiskey.

Rey cleared her throat and wiped her mouth as Poe returned to his own seat looking awfully proud of himself. She huffed and reached down to spin the glass bottle, staring at it with glazed eyes as she considered the unfamiliar feeling she'd felt through the bond.

It took quiet snickers from three-fifths of the circle to snap her out of it, and that was when she realized she'd forgotten to manipulate the bottle. She gawked at it, seeing quickly that it had landed on the one person she hadn't wanted to kiss.

Or, more specifically, the one person she did want to kiss. Just, preferably without an audience.

The bond was eerily silent and void of emotion, and when she glanced over at Ben, she noticed he was mirroring her surprised expression. It seemed he hadn't expected the bottle to match them either. Had he also been-

"So, you guys going to kiss, or what?" Finn teased.

Ben turned a deep shade of red, making Rey wonder if she'd done the same, but she decided quickly that if she didn't get it over with, it would raise quite a few questions she didn't intend to answer.

She took a breath and met his eyes - those dark, chocolate eyes that haunted her - and leaned over, meeting him for what they'd apparently silently agreed would be a quick peck.

His lips were soft, and his kiss was gentle, though it lasted only a second.

When they split almost immediately, their three spectators booed disapprovingly, Finn piping in to say, "Oh come on, guys, that barely counts!"

"Shut up, Finn," Rey grumbled.

She saw Ben's arm reach to the bottle out of the corner of her eye, and she watched it spin, debating on whether or not to manipulate it. The odds of it landing on her again were slim, after all.

The bottle landed squarely on her again before she had a chance to make up her mind.

"Ha!" Poe exclaimed, "The bottle has spoken! Now you actually have to kiss her, Ben. You guys can do better, that last one was nothing."

It hadn't been nothing, though. Certainly not to her.

Something brushed against her upper arm, and she turned to see that Ben had moved closer to her and was gazing down at her with an expression she couldn't quite decipher. His hand reached up to cup the side of her face, his thumb sliding faintly over her cheek while his eyes settled on her lips.

Rey let her eyes flutter closed, and his lips met hers in something soft and gentle, and far too full of meaning to be called just a kiss. She may have already kissed everyone in the circle, but nothing had prepared her for the way Ben kissed her.

She felt herself tremble, despite the warmth from the fire, and suddenly both of his hands were cupping her face as he traced her bottom lip with his tongue, making her gasp softly. It was just enough for him to lick into her mouth, sliding his own tongue against hers. Rey smiled against his mouth and melted into the kiss, feeling the bond hum with something content and peaceful and right.

And for a moment everything else just disappeared as Ben kissed her, leaving the entire beach void except for them and the stars with the crackling of the fire and loud crashing of the waves in the background, like a sort of music that swelled and crested with each brush of her lips against his. In that moment, nothing else existed, not even time itself as they became utterly lost in each other, feelings of unexpected delight crashing into the bond as she tasted the whiskey on his tongue. She wondered if he could taste it on hers as well.

He pulled her a bit closer, his lips moving slowly, but firmly over hers, and Rey reached up to settle her hands on his chest, the softness of the cloth that was stretched over it surprising her. When he tilted his head and kissed her more fervently, she moaned quietly, earning an awkward cough from one of their friends, who she'd completely forgotten about.

Ben pulled just far enough away to end the kiss and caught his breath. He rested his forehead against hers, still holding her face in both hands. Her heart was racing in her chest as he continued to hold her like that for several more seconds, completely lost in the feeling of him to remember their surroundings. Their first kiss had been hardly anything, but in hindsight it had almost been like a greeting, then their second had felt like coming home after a long day. Rey was still figuring out what home meant to her, but she imagined it felt something like… that.

Another cough sounded nearby, and Rey finally pulled away from him, her cheeks flushing though her eyes never left his as she sat back down on the sand.

"Well, I don't know what that was about, but damn guys," Poe said, then he laughed at Rey. "Your turn to spin, Jedi."

Rey gave him a nervous chuckle, then she finally tore her eyes away from Ben's, and reached for the bottle, spinning it mindlessly and not caring who it landed on-though unfortunately it wasn't Ben- as she continued to think about that second kiss and why it was making her head spin. She could blame it on the alcohol, but something about that didn't feel right. Perhaps the force was to blame. That seemed a bit more likely. After all, if they could touch without being in the same room or even the same section of the galaxy, who knew what it would feel like if she kissed him.

Deciding to blame it on the force being its usual self, Rey reached over to kiss Finn, whom the bottle had landed on, ignoring the slight burning sensation that had developed on her left wrist. She'd probably just gotten sand in her arm wraps. She also ignored the feeling of Ben's eyes watching her, and the distinct bitter sense that washed over their bond. Thinking about what that meant was something she would much rather put aside for sober Rey.

Once she pulled away from Finn, she sat back, and caught Ben's eye again, seeing something completely unreadable in the darkness of his irises as the game passed them by, and she resumed spinning the bottle round and round away from both her and Ben. Finn, Rose, and Poe kissed one another and BB-8 to their hearts' content, but she and Ben just continued to stare at one another off and on, lost in their own little bubble of reality as a mixture of feelings came through the bond.

She wondered if he was feeling the same way; if that had been as amazing for him as it had for her. Sure, over the last several months-technically since the moment he'd sat with her by a fire then immediately turned around and saved her life- she'd looked at him and thought maybe, just maybe she might like him just a little. She certainly didn't hate looking at him, and on a number of occasions when they'd trained together, he'd managed to knock her on her ass because she was too busy ogling him. In hindsight of their kiss, though, she wondered if she'd managed to knock him down for the exact same reason.

There were a lot of things Rey didn't know, but what she did know was that it took more than alcohol to kiss someone like that, didn't it?

"Okayy, guys…" Poe slurred after a while, then he slowly stood up and brushed sand off his pants. "We need to… go back before… they know we're missing."

"I'm too drunk to mooove," Rose protested, collapsing backwards against the sand. "Can we stay here forever?"

"No, Rose, we can't. Come on, up and at 'em." He reached down, and slowly pulled her to her feet.

Rey groaned as she pushed herself up off the beach, then brushed sand out of her clothing, hopeful that she didn't get too much of it caught in her arm bands. She'd kill Poe for suggesting they come out here if she did.

Around her, the others slowly began to stand up, all of them groaning except for BB-8 who was chirping excitedly as he whirled around Poe's feet. "Let's go, we don't want to be caught sneaking around the base after hours sober. I don't even want to know how drunk we all are," he said, then he looked at the fire. "Let's put this out first."

They spent another five minutes trying not to hurt themselves as they kicked sand over their fire, which was already much smaller than it had been when they'd started it. Once they finished putting it out, they stumbled into the woods, though things immediately went south when Finn tripped on a tree root, causing the others to laugh obnoxiously as he went down.

After that, they all held hands to prevent any further accidents as they wandered through the forest, and Rey found herself sandwiched between Rose and Ben as they resumed their single file line from earlier- only this time it was through the woods rather than the base. Mercifully, they were able to make it through without anymore accidents, and they walked into the base without a scratch on them, which was amazing since the room was most definitely spinning.

"Everybody be quiet, it's late," Poe said, though his half hooded eyes and slurred voice made the statement far more comedic than he likely intended it to be.

"Should we tip toe?" Rose asked quietly, her voice nearly a whisper and completely serious as she looked between the other four- and BB-8.

Poe looked at her like she'd just suggested the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard. "No, we don't have to fucking tiptoe, we just need to be very, very quiet," he said, then he moved to go back down the hallway, when suddenly a voice interrupted them that certainly didn't belong to any of their group.

"You going somewhere, commander?" the general's voice asked, and Rey could see Ben go white as a sheet beside her. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," she added sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared them all down.

"General!" Poe slurred happily, clearly too drunk to care about just how much trouble he was in. "Good to see you! We are not going anywhere, we're going to bed."

Rey's palm slammed into her forehead as she silently vowed to herself to keep quiet during the already too long length of this awkward encounter. The fact that she could feel Ben's emotions during the whole thing was most definitely not helping.

"I'm sure," Leia replied, then she leaned over, and took a good look at the group, shaking her head when she saw Ben in the back. "Did you get my son drunk?"

Ben cleared his throat, and he must've been more intoxicated than Rey had thought, because he stepped forward, and pointed at her in that one specific way only drunk people could. "I swear to you, drunk, I'm not mother."

"Oh dear god," Rey breathed, breaking her vow of silence as she turned, and slammed the back of her hand into his chest. "I'll kill you. I'll really do it, Ben, I swear."

Leia's only's response was a snort at her son's own bewildered expression as he stared down at Rey. "You threaten that a lot. Is that your way of flirting?"

Rey groaned and was rescued from having to answer that when Leia smacked his shoulder and said dryly, "Oh, sure, not drunk at all. I'm sure you're all completely sober, aren't you?"

"At least we have good taste in alcohol," Ben muttered, "You drink boxed wine."

Poe started gasping for breath through his laughs, swaying as he buried his head in Finn's shoulder, "The General- drinks- boxed wine?"

"Alright that's enough out of you Commander Dameron," Leia scolded, though her tone was more amused than annoyed, "Get to bed, all of you. The six of us will have plenty to discuss tomorrow, I'm sure."

They passed her one by one with their heads down, scolded children that they were, and made their way through the base in the direction of the bunks, not bothering to stay quiet since they'd already been caught by the last person any of them had wanted to be discovered by.

Poe and Finn's room was the first one they passed, and the men whispered (or at least attempted to whisper) goodnight. The room she shared with Rose was a little further, with Ben's room down the hall and around a corner. He still hadn't completely adjusted to life on the base, and for half a dozen reasons her drunken mind didn't feel like processing, she supposed it made more sense for him to have his own room, a bit further from the others.

Rose shuffled into their room without turning on the light, and Rey giggled as she heard a quiet,"Ow!" from her roommate. Fingers laced through hers just before she could go into the room, and that was when she realized Ben hadn't kept walking. She turned back to him, feeling a nervous energy thrum between them as she stared down at where their hands met.

"Goodnight, Rey," he said softly. Without another word, he released her hand, and walked down the hall, leaving her head spinning more than the alcohol had.

When she walked in the room, Rose was already snoring. She shook her head, but stopped when that made the room spin even worse as she walked over to her bunk, and flopped down into it with a groan.

What a night.

Before she'd gone out onto the beach, she'd never been kissed. Now she'd kissed most of the Resistance's finest heroes, and the General's son. Rey sat up bolt right in bed as she realized, she'd kissed the General's son. Oh, Leia could never find out about this, ever. She'd probably die if Leia ever knew what she'd done.

Rey forced herself to calm down. It wasn't like she'd deflowered Ben, she'd only kissed him within an inch of his life and really, really enjoyed it. As she reached down to unwrap her arms for the night, she thought about how it felt to put her hands on his chest. How his lips felt as they met hers, his tongue slipping into her mouth-the stars above, the sounds of the ocean... the heat she felt, but couldn't tell whether it was from her or the fire they'd sat next to.

That kiss played on a loop in her brain as she finished unwrapping her arms, letting the gauze fall lazily to the floor as she moved on to untie her shoes, stopping briefly when she noticed a dark, calligraphic marking on her wrist. She squinted in the dark, trying to make sense of the odd brand with her alcohol addled brain, but failed. After a moment, she gave up, and resumed her work undoing the laces of her boots, and slid them off of her feet before she collapsed on top of the covers.

Her eyes slowly fluttered shut, and after a few more seconds, Rey fell quickly asleep to thoughts of Ben and their kiss. Soon enough, she began to dream about dark hair, full lips, and the sound of an ocean as she drifted off into the most peaceful sleep she'd had in ages, completely unaware of the utter shock she'd experience come morning.

Chapter Text

An explosion went off next to Rey's head - her alarm. Somehow its volume had been tampered with, or maybe it was just her, because everything hurt, not just the beeping noise the little device was making. Her hand reached out from under her blanket to slap around at it in the laziest way possible, finally silencing the thing with a whack.

She groaned, and cracked an eye open, only to shut it quickly. Sunlight was pouring into the room and had no sympathy for her, nor for her hangover.

A voice, pitiful and pained, asked, "Rey? Are you awake?"

"No," Rey whined, turning to bury her head in the pillow, "I'm dying. Stop yelling. Let me die in peace."

Rose snorted. "Is this your first hangover?"

"Shut up."

Her roommate laughed, and then moaned again, likely at the headache they shared. It was a pounding, merciless thing that echoed through her temples, and Rey was determined to just go back to sleep until the nightmare was over.

Then Rose ruined her plans, sitting on the edge of her bunk while she shook at Rey's shoulder. "C'mon, it's not going to get better anytime soon unless you get water. Food helps, too."

"I'm never having rum again," Rey muttered, deciding Rose probably knew best. She rolled over to face the girl and winced at the wave of nausea that accompanied the movement. "Seriously Rose, never again. Rum is off the table."

"Yeah," Rose sighed, "that's what everybody says after a hangover. Give it a week or two. You'll be fine." She patted Rey's arm gently and said in a wonderfully quiet voice, "I'm gonna get you some water, okay?"

Rey murmured something in response that was intelligible even to herself, and decided it was probably time to attempt sitting up. She did so slowly, and winced again as her stomach turned, then turned slowly on the bunk, dangling her feet off the edge.

The pounding in her head hadn't left, and Rey rested her elbows on her knees, burying her head in her hands as she focused on taking deep, calming breaths. Before her eyes closed, she caught a glimpse of something dark just at the edge of her field of vision, and frowned. She lifted her head to stare down at her wrist, murmuring a soft swear at the sight.

It was an unnaturally dark mark on her skin, just at her inner wrist. Her first reaction may have been that it was some sort of terrible bruise or grease mark, but it was in a beautiful calligraphic shape. Sort of like the tattoos she'd occasionally seen on others, but she'd certainly never gotten one herself. Sure, Rey might have been drunk but she hadn't been that drunk, and it wasn't as if there was any way to get one at the base.

She traced over it curiously with just the tip of her finger, feeling a soft, tingling feeling as she did so. It was beautiful, but its presence was almost foreboding, and that made her uneasy.

Rose picked that moment to walk back over to her with a large glass of water. "Drink up," she said quietly, sitting back down next to Rey. She went quiet for a moment while Rey drank it before she noticed Rey's wrist. "Oh, I didn't know you had any tattoos. Is that why you wear arm wraps?"

She froze, then she looked up at her roommate, and shook her head. "I don't have any tattoos," she almost whispered, continuing to run her fingers over the odd mark. Where in the force had the damned thing come from? A vague memory came to the surface of her mind of the night before, of a burning sensation and the last thing she saw before she closed her eyes. The mark was still a little bit itchy where her fingertips ran over it, and she swallowed nervously. "It appeared last night, I think."

At this, Rose seemed to think for a moment, taking a sip of her water, then nearly spitting it out as she suddenly sat down beside Rey, set her water on the floor, and began hurriedly tugging at her jacket sleeve. Rey's eyes widened in alarm. "What are you doing?"

Rose said nothing, she only continued to roll up the sleeve on her left arm until she exposed nearly all of her forearm, looking deeply into the skin to see if there was anything there. At least, that was what Rey thought she was doing. She couldn't quite be sure. After a moment, the other woman shook her head, and announced, "Nope, it's not me."

"What do you mean, it's not you?"

"Rey, did you ever hear stories when you were growing up?" Rose asked, then she backtracked. "Not just any stories, but… Stories of people who were fated lovers?"

"Sure, I heard plenty… why?"

"Because that looks like…" Rose took Rey's wrist in her hand, and this time her fingertips traced over the mark. "Rey, this looks like the mark that soulmates used to have. The ones in the stories? I always thought they were just myths… But…"

Rey openly laughed. "You don't actually believe this is a soulmate mark, do you?" she asked incredulously, not believing it herself.

"What else could it be?" Rose replied, tracing the mark with her finger. "You don't have a tattoo when you go to bed last night-"

"It appeared before bed last night, I'm fairly certain."

"Whatever, you didn't have one when you woke up yesterday morning, but you have one now? Rey, unless you secretly became a talented artist in your sleep, that's a soul mark."

She leaned back against the wall of her bunk, shaking her head in disbelief. How in the hell would she have gotten a soul mark after all? She wasn't exactly sure how they worked, and in each time she heard stories- whispers of them- they were always extraordinarily rare. And each time, the method of receiving the mark changed. Sometimes, all one had to do was meet their soulmate and it would appear. Other times it would be wherever they first touched their soulmates. And in some stories, though perhaps these were the rarest of all, she heard that one could receive their mark immediately after-a kiss.

Oh, fuck.

"Rose, I think you may be right," she said after a moment, bringing her other hand up to brush against her lips, remembering all of the kisses she'd shared the night before. Rose, Finn, Poe, BB-8, and Ben. She had every reason to doubt her soulmate was the commander's droid, but the other four-except for maybe Rose, who had already revealed herself to not have a mark by rolling up her sleeve. "We were all kissing last night and it only appeared after that."

"Are you sure?" Rose asked, then she shrugged. "I mean, I figure it might be that, but… wow, Rey… one of us is your soulmate. Not me, I don't think, cause I don't have a mark, but…"

"Could you slow down? My head still hurts too much to process all of this," Rey said as she raised her water glass to her lips, and took another long gulp as if it would wash down all of the problems that had suddenly cropped up with this new… mark.

Rose nodded. "Yeah, sure, but don't you want to know who it is?"

She hadn't thought about that yet. It was already too intense to know that she had a soulmate in the first place. Encountering them would be something else entirely, and she most certainly wasn't ready for that yet. Rey swallowed nervously. "I don't know," she replied, rubbing at her temples before taking another gulp of water. "What if they…?"

"What if they what, Rey?" Rose asked, placing a hand on her arm.

"This is too much, I feel like the room is spinning."

"That's probably your hangover."

"No, different kind of spinning, for sure," she said, then she stared at the mark on her wrist some more, her eyes drinking in its shape as she set down her water glass. She began to trace the outline with her hand, wondering why it was shaped like this, or who her soulmate was if their shared mark took such a form. If she were being honest, underneath the initial terror she'd felt, she was able to admit that the mark was absolutely beautiful. The vaguely calligraphy-esque shape wove itself so smoothly into her tanned skin, it was as if it had always been there—was always meant to be there.

She supposed that was the point of soulmarks, though.

A part of her was also a bit excited and eager to find whoever it was out of Ben, Finn, and Poe who was her soulmate. But even despite that she was overwhelmingly nervous, after all, what if the mark belonged to someone she didn't want it to belong to?

What if it didn't belong to-

As if able to (partly) read her mind, Rose piped up and said, "So, we've got to figure out who your soulmate is. Think about it. There are only three possibilities." Then she paused, and snorted, "Unless you think it might be BB-8. But think about it - really, you're sort of lucky it happened the way it did. It narrowed down the…pool of suspects?"

In a way, that just made it more terrifying. Rey took a deep breath, staring at the mark, and nodded. "Okay. Yeah, let's figure it out."

"We can knock one off the list at breakfast," Rose suggested. "Finn is meeting us."

Finn.

Yeah, she was sort of hoping not to see a matching mark on him. No offense to Finn, of course. He was a great friend, as was Poe, but neither of them…

Neither of them were Ben. Neither of them had kissed her like- like kissing her meant everything to them. Just the way he'd said goodnight, not even with a kiss, had made her head spin. Maybe it was the bond intensifying things, or maybe it was a different sort of bond. A soulmate bond.

Rose cleared her throat. "Uh, everything okay, Rey?"

No.

"Of course," she said quickly, "Yeah, breakfast. Let's go see if it's Finn."

The trip to the base commissary was probably quick, but for some reason it seemed to stretch on for ages. Either due to her constant-headache or just her anxious nerves, Rey was practically vibrating, almost as if she'd already drank half the caf at the base.

She stopped short as soon as they entered the room, when she noticed Finn waving them over to sit down at a table he'd saved. He already had a small plate of eggs and some sort of pastry, along with native fruit she didn't know the name of and hadn't tried yet. It was violently purple and smelled sickly sweet enough to make her stomach turn, so-

Yeah, maybe just the caf would do.

Rey waved at him and gave a quick smile before taking a sharp turn toward one of the massive urns of hot caf that awaited her. She downed one mug-full while standing right in front of the shiny container, then poured another to take back to the table, sweetening it slightly before working up the courage to return to her friends.

Rose and Finn were chatting amicably when she returned to the table. Rose was picking at a muffin she must have grabbed and glanced up at Rey, giving her a single reassuring nod before subtly changing the subject her and Finn had been on. "So, uh, you sleep okay last night, Finn?"

He shrugged, munching on the purple fruit, "Guess so. I passed out as soon as we got back."

"Uh huh," Rose nodded. "And uhm, nothing...weird has happened since last night?"

Finn frowned, quirking an eyebrow as he looked over at her. "Rose, what are you getting at? I mean, it was a little weird to see you and Poe kissing a droid, and don't even get me started on how weird it was to see-" he smirked, and gestured toward Rey, "the Jedi practically make out."

Rey rolled her eyes, though her heart leapt a little.

"Other than that, though?" he shrugged again. "Nah, nothing weird. Why?"

Both women hesitated, before Rose blurted out, "Rey has a soulmate mark."

Rey's eyes shot wide, just as Finn's did. "Rose!" she hissed, "Could you have said that any louder?"

"Probably."

"Wait, wait-" Finn hushed her, looking more surprised than he'd been the night before, when he found out Poe had invited Ben along for their drunken night of shenanigans, "A soulmate mark? Are those actually real?"

Rey kept her head down like they were discussing some forbidden secret—which wasn't so far from the truth—while Rose nodded eagerly and gestured to her arm wraps. "Yeah, she's hiding it under there. Show him, Rey."

The Jedi put her head in her hands, shaking it. "Ugh, do I have to?"

Frowning, Rose turned to Finn instead. "Okay, how about you roll up your sleeve instead so we can see if you have one."

Finn hesitated a moment, looking at Rey for approval, and waiting until he got it before he slowly rolled up the sleeve on his left wrist. There was nothing there but smooth, dark skin that was untouched by anything, most notably a soul mark. A mixture of both relief and disappointment flooded Rey's veins, though the former of the two was much more abundant than the latter. After all, she hadn't wanted it to be Finn in the first place, not after… she needed to stop thinking about that damned kiss.

On the one hand, she definitely wanted it to be Ben. She'd been steadily developing feelings for him since they'd sat together by the fire and he'd listened to her talk about her pain, and while she'd never admit it to him out loud, it certainly made her day a little better when he was around. If he was her soulmate and he felt the same way, that would be… she wasn't sure what it would be, but she knew it was good at the very least.

On the other hand, the prospect of Ben being her soulmate was fucking terrifying. She'd never been in love with anyone before, much less had someone love her back. It was such a new feeling to her to even think she might love someone or have a soulmate, that it may as well have been an alien language to her. How did one go about being in love with another person? How did soulmates decide they actually wanted to be together?

She was snapped out of her thoughts by Finn clearing his throat. "Looks like it's not me, sorry," he said, covering his arm back up with his sleeve.

Rey shrugged. "That's fine, we make better friends anyway, and I think you," she said, prodding him in the chest with her finger before speaking again, "Are in love with someone else."

Finn nearly choked on his food, coughing up his lungs as he reached for his drink in a desperate attempt to regain control of his own body. "What?"

Rose was laughing her ass off at this point, clapping her hands together in delight as she looked over at Finn. "It's true! You and Poe were all over each other. We all thought that was going to be the big scandal of the night until…" she looked over at Rey, who promptly blushed before she began to pick at her own food again.

At last, Finn recovered himself, then he nodded as he placed his palms flat on the table. "Yeah, speaking of you, Rey, this means you've only got two more suspects. It can either be Poe or…"

"Ben," Rey finished for him. "Poe or Ben." Suddenly she found herself wishing she had that bottle of rum again, or perhaps Ben's flask of whiskey, the one they'd passed between themselves with heated looks in their eyes. She'd never felt so much tension sharing a drink with someone in her life.

"Okay, well, we just need to find them and figure out which one of them has a mark then, right?" Rose asked, gesturing to Rey's wrist again. "Sounds simple enough."

Rey's appetite suddenly left her. She knew this was coming, and she knew that she couldn't avoid Ben and Poe forever—couldn't prevent them from learning she had a mark—but she was certainly hoping she would have more time to prepare herself for a confrontation with either of those men instead of being thrust into it unprepared. Her nerves ran wild with the possibilities of what would happen. "I don't know," she murmured softly after a few seconds.

Rose blinked at her. "What do you mean you don't know?"

"I just mean… I don't know if I'm ready to talk to them yet. I was barely ready to talk to Finn…" She took in a deep breath. "One of them is my soulmate, we're destined to be together, whether romantically or not, our lives are entwined, and honestly? I'm terrified."

"Oh." Rose's expression softened, and she nodded slightly. "I guess that makes sense, but Rey, consider it from your soulmate's perspective - they probably woke up this morning and noticed the same mark. Don't you think they might be a bit scared, too?"

She hadn't really considered that. Poe would probably be Poe about it. Charming and accepting, though his obvious feelings for Finn would throw a monkey wrench into things.

Rey really hoped it wasn't Poe.

And if it wasn't Poe... well, Ben would probably be just as panicked as she was now. Or...maybe he'd be unsurprised? After all, in the throne room he'd arguably offered her his hand, so- so maybe-

It might break her heart if it wasn't him.

She shook the thought from her mind and said firmly, figuring she may as well try to act as though she wasn't terrified, "You're right. I need to check with Poe."

"Can't," Finn frowned, cocking his head, "didn't you hear? The General sent him off-world. We got some new intel. Something about a weapons cache in the next system over. She sent Poe and a few of the newbies to check it out, but they shouldn't be gone long. A couple days, I think?" He gave her a sympathetic smile, "Sorry, he left a few hours ago. He didn't mention anything about a new mark, but I was half-asleep when he left, so I can't be sure."

Somehow that was a relief. A couple of days. Good, that was good. A couple of days gave her plenty of time to relax and figure out what to do about this crazy, terrifying new situation.

"Okay," Rey breathed, working to calm herself down a bit. No sense in getting worked up about something she had no control over and couldn't do anything about right away. "Okay," she repeated, glancing up at Rose, "Maybe we can look into this more. The most any of us have heard about these things is from stories, right? So, are we sure about any of this?"

Rose chewed on her lip and said hesitantly, "Well, sure, we've only heard stories, but what else could that be? It's not as if it could just be a rash or something. It's obviously a mark, and it's the only thing that makes sense."

"We can still look into it though," Finn offered, seeming to sense her nerves. He reached over and squeezed her hand comfortingly, "Don't worry, Rey. We'll help you figure this out."

She forced a bit of a smile back to him. "Thanks, guys. That'd be great. I'd like to know a bit more about this before Poe gets back. Just so I really know what I'm dealing with."

Rose paused for a minute, and said quietly, "Is there a reason you aren't just checking with Ben? He's still on the base, and if he-"

Nope. Nope nope nope.

She stood up quickly her chair nearly falling backwards, and she huffed as she made a point of checking a chrono that absolutely wasn't on her wrist. "Oh gosh, I'm sorry, I've got to get to training." She smiled quickly at both Rose and Finn, "I'm working on lightsaber forms. Can we meet later to look into things?"

Finn narrowed his eyes a little at her reaction, but shrugged, and nodded. Rose had a similar reaction, and as soon as it felt like she wasn't being rude, Rey nearly fled the commissary, speed-walking down halls in the direction of her bunk. Of course, she had little intention of actually going to training, because that would mean seeing Ben, and she simply wasn't ready to do that.

The mark on her wrist itched a little as she half-walked, half-jogged to her room, and out of frustration with it and the entire situation, she yanked at her arm wraps, glaring at the beautiful mark.

"Rey, good, there you are!"

She froze mid-step, and spun toward the direction of the voice, seeing none other than the mother of the man she-

"G- General Organa," Rey stammered, not taking much notice of how her arm wrap was dangling free of her wrist. "You were looking for me?"

Even with a kind, warm smile and an impressive braid Rey had little hope of ever reproducing herself, Leia was fairly intimidating, especially now that she had kissed the woman's son. Nevermind the fact that she could be Leia's son's soul-

Wow, no, she was not ready to face that possible reality.

"Just hoping you're doing okay after last night," the woman chuckled. "I got the impression you five had a rough night. You should have seen Ben at our meeting this morning. He was quite a…"

Her words trailed off as she caught sight of Rey's arm, and before Rey could even think about covering the mark, Leia had taken her hand, carefully turning it over so the calligraphic symbol was was visible.

Leia studied it carefully and cleared her throat. "Oh. This is-" she hesitated, then asked curiously, "Rey, how long have you had this?"

"It, uhm...it appeared last night."

The woman hummed as she released her hand, and Rey wrapped her wrist back up quickly, securing the wraps so the mark was completely covered. "And do you know what it is?" Leia asked quietly, glancing up to study Rey's expression.

Rey nodded slowly. "I'm starting to," she said, then she cleared her throat. "Um, Rose said it was a soulmate mark. And I… given what happened last night it makes sense."

The general's eyes continued to drift down to Rey's wrist, appearing deep in thought as a mix of conflicting emotions drifted across her face. "I never thought…"

"What?"

"Nothing, Rey, just… remind me what was it again that happened last night? On the beach?"

Rey was fairly certain—no, she was absolutely certain that she had never said anything about the beach to Leia. Not even last night when she was drunk. A part of her wondered where she'd gotten that information while another part already knew. She ignored that second part with a passion she didn't know she had, and began to explain to the General her situation.

"... so it's either Poe or… or your son…" she finished five minutes later, then she shook her head. "I'm so sorry, I know this is awkward."

Leia shook her head, gently taking one of Rey's hands in both of hers. "No, no, it's alright, I'm glad you've told me. But I'm afraid I can't help you with asking Ben either. He's up to his ears in… in…"

"In what, General?"

"Ben's sick, he's very sick. He fell ill after our meeting," the general said in a way that made Rey think Ben was just fine and she was covering for him.

Still, Rey wasn't going to press the issue. "Oh, that's… that's awful I'm sorry."

"I know, it's unfortunate, so I wouldn't count on seeing him in training if I were you."

"I wouldn't want him training in his state—but what's wrong with him exactly?"

"He can't hold food, he's feverish, could barely stand when I left him. He's sleeping off whatever it is in his room, but I wouldn't go in there."

I don't plan to.

Rey gave the general a nod, then she cleared her throat of mucous that wasn't there. "I think I'll go train, then," she said. "It'll give me time to think."

Leia's warm smile made her feel a little bit less stressed about her situation. "Well, I'll be seeing you, then."

"And I'll be seeing you," Rey assured her, then she began to walk down the hall toward the training room to train alone for the first time in months.

The training room was void of life when she got there. Well, it usually was when it wasn't occupied by her and Ben. They were usually the only people to use it, since most people on the base held reservations about touching their things, and most of the equipment inside belonged to them. It was really entirely composed of sparring droids that both Ben and Rey consistently destroyed—at one point they'd been keeping score until they lost count and agreed to call a truce—and it was where they usually kept their lightsabers with the exception of the night before. They'd only taken them out then in case they'd run into trouble, but the weapons hadn't exactly been much help, had they?

Rey took out her lightsaber from her belt, the one she'd repaired with Ben's assistance two weeks after he'd deflected. They'd used the task as a bonding activity of sorts, since despite the force bond they hardly knew one another and since they'd be working together from there on in, they needed to always be on the same page. It had taken them an additional four weeks to master the repair, but by the end of it the weapon looked the same as it always had—with the addition of a few cracks.

She pressed the button that ignited the saber, and since she was feeling lazy and still a bit hungover that day, she simply used the force to turn on the droids. Rey fought like hell, giving the little bastards her all as sparks flew about the room. She slashed and stabbed, ducked and blocked, and fought like hell as she thought through the reality of her situation.

Rey of Jakku, a nobody from nowhere, had a soulmate, and he was either a dashing pilot with an inappropriate sense of humor or a force using idiot who made her see stars when he kissed her. The fact that Ben's kiss had made her feel that way probably should've been a sign to her, but she was bound and determined to not acknowledge whether or not either one of them was her soulmate, and stubbornness was a powerful thing.

Slashing through one droid after another, she remembered another fight with similarly colored things. The droids, like Snoke's praetorian Guard, were red, and they fought like hell. As she cut through them, she remembered the way their red uniforms had danced in and out of her vision as she whirled about the throne room floor, the black of Ben's clothing always somewhere in the corner of her eye. She remembered it so vividly, in fact, it was like she could see it, his red saber igniting in her field of vision, its vibrations filling the air around them and drowning out the sounds around them.

Rey was so lost in her own memory, she barely noticed the familiar whooshing sound of the force connecting the two of them. It wasn't until she heard footsteps behind her that she whirled around, bringing her saber down in a strike that he blocked with his own a split second before it hit his head.

The blades sparked and cracked for a second above them as the snarls on their faces slowly disappeared upon realizing what was happening, then they stepped back, panting hard as they deactivated their weapons. Rey's chest was heaving as she took him in, and she couldn't help but notice he didn't look feverish at all. He was still dressed for his daily goings about the base, and he looked at most mildly exhausted, though that was more likely than not due to the previous night's hangover.

"Ben, what are you doing?" she breathed, then she took a step forward, and pushed his shoulder. "You scared the shit out of me."

"Sweetheart, you know as well as I do that we both have no control over when this thing connects us," Ben said, sounding resigned and perhaps a touch nervous as he spoke, crossing his arms over his chest with his saber notably still in hand.

She glared at him for a moment, then she sighed as she twirled her lightsaber in her hand. "I heard you were sick."

"I am."

"With what exactly?"

Ben froze, then he sighed after a few seconds. "I just… I didn't feel up to leaving my room today."

"Well, neither did I, but I'm still here."

"I just…"

"Just what, Ben?"

"Nothing," he said after a moment, then he turned away from her, and ran a hand through his dark hair. "Absolutely nothing."

"Great, well if it's nothing then you might as well train with me while you're here."

Ben turned around with a look of confusion on his face, gesturing to their surroundings. "Rey, I can't see the training room. I'm not there."

A sly grin appeared on her face, and she wasn't sure what compelled her to do it, but she stepped forward until she was thoroughly invading his space. Her breath hitched at the sudden proximity, then she swallowed her nerves as she leaned forward, and whispered, "You can see me."

That same look of mischief slowly appeared in his eyes, then without saying another word, he nodded, and suddenly the room was awash in the red glow of his saber. Rey laughed slightly, then the blue light of hers joined him, but they didn't fight just yet. No, they stood there staring at one another, holding a conversation with their eyes for a good few seconds before the room became a violent tornado of red and blue light.

Chapter Text

That very same morning, in a room just down the hall from Rey's, Ben also woke with the worst hangover he'd ever had in his life. That wasn't to say he'd had many. He'd only been drunk one other time nearly ten years ago when he'd been training with Luke and one of the other young Jedi idiots had snuck in a bottle of whiskey into the camp. They'd all been caught midway through the night, but Luke hadn't caught them in time to stop Ben from drinking above his limit. He'd immediately gotten up and emptied the contents of his stomach then, and he could already tell he was going to do the exact same thing now.

Before he was even fully aware of what was happening to him, Ben was kneeling over a toilet not even bothering to hold his own hair back as he threw up what must've been almost pure bile. His head was pounding more intensely than anything he'd ever felt in his life, save for Snoke's-oh the last thing he wanted to think about right then was Snoke.

Forcing his former master from his mind, he slowly collapsed against his floor, turning his head away from the blinding white light that streamed down from his ceiling. On an average day, that light would be nothing to him, in fact, he'd even call it dim, but this was no average day. No this was going to go down in his personal history books as the day he saw death. Whether or not he lived to tell the tale was still up in the air.

A vague feeling of what the fuck happened last night settled over him for a few seconds, then his memories slowly began to trickle back in. The night before had easily been one of the better ones so far in his miserable existence. He was fairly certain he couldn't remember another time when he'd had that much fun with a group of people, though perhaps the alcohol that he would never be drinking again had something to do with that. Still, the poison coursing through his veins couldn't taint the memory of all that kissing, in particular, there was one kiss he was struggling not to think about, and it certainly had nothing to do with his developing feelings for the person he'd shared it with. Nope, not at all. Rey, who?

Ben slowly rolled over on the floor as his eyes adjusted to the light, and he blinked as he stared up at the ceiling and sighed. Everything hurt, everything felt dizzy, uncomfortable, and on his wrist there was even this odd burning sensation. He began to scratch at it with his other hand, but all that did was make him realize he'd never taken off his gloves the night before. A groan left his lips as he slipped the gloves off one after the other, then he began to properly scratch at the burn.

The scratching felt good for all of two seconds before he decided to take a look at what had happened to his skin, then he dropped his wrist like he'd grabbed the wrong end of a lightsaber. There was a calligraphic, brown marking on his wrist that had most certainly not been there the last time he'd seen it. Ben stared down at his skin in disbelief, his fingers ghosting over it as he thought over what it could be.

There had been stories he'd heard growing up about marks like this, but in all those stories the only people who had them were… no. It was impossible. There had to be another explanation for this, but it was staring him right in the face, wasn't it? Ben had a soulmate. Somehow he was destined to be with someone out of all the people in all the universe, all the stars, and all the planets. But who was it?

He thought harder on the content of the stories he'd heard growing up. Some entailed the first words one spoke to their soulmate being written on their wrist, others the last words, and some even had no words at all, only… a kiss.

Oh. Oh shit.

The clues and facts were just piling up and Ben wasn't really sure he liked where they were going. A soulmate mark had appeared on his wrist at some point overnight - the very same night he'd kissed someone for the first time. Of fucking course it would be the exact night he'd managed to kiss four different people.

Poe, Finn, Rose, and…

His stomach turned, but it had nothing to do with any of the alcohol he'd ingested the night before.

Rey. What if it was Rey? Or, worse - much, much worse - what if it wasn't Rey? What the hell would that mean? They already shared a force bond, and hopefully what were mutual feel-

Fuck. He wasn't thinking about that. Nope. Feelings? What feelings? There were no feelings. Besides, she obviously wouldn't be interested in…

Once again, his stomach lurched, and Ben was almost grateful for the interruption. After a moment he grabbed a cloth that rested on the edge of his sink, wiped his mouth, and stood up to splash cold water on his face. When thoughts of a specific pair of lips on his still swirled around in his mind, he turned the faucet so it'd be colder and nearly jammed his whole head under it.

His head still throbbed, and Ben decided that was good enough of a reason to skip training. Of course, that was the only reason he'd be skipping training. He certainly didn't feel any sort of relief knowing he wouldn't spend hours watching her with a lightsaber, wondering what marks were or weren't hidden under the arm wraps she always seemed to wear.

Just as he was reaching for the gloves he'd slipped off, someone knocked at his door, and his nerves spiked. It wasn't her, though. He would have known almost immediately if she was that close. Maybe that was the bond, or maybe…

No, he wasn't thinking about it.

Ben reached out with the force and sensed it was his mother, then called out, "Come in," while he wiped his hands dry.

The door slid open, and then shut behind her after she stepped in, a light smirk on her lips.

"Have fun last night?"

He glanced up at her, hoping his cheeks hadn't been tinged red, and muttered, "It was Dameron's idea."

Leia snorted, nodding, "I could have guessed. He's a troublemaker, but I'm not here to scold you, or anyone else. We do need to be careful about sneaking around, especially at night when we're trying not to draw attention to our location, but…" her expression softened, and she may have even smiled a little, "I'm relieved that you're getting along with them. They're good people, even if they do steal alcohol and sneak off-base occasionally."

"They are," he agreed quietly, staring down at the floor. As he tended to do when he felt a little awkward (which, if Ben was being honest, was a somewhat constant feeling, especially at the base), he reached up and ran a hand through his hair, realizing immediately that it was a mistake. Leia's eyes flicked up and went wide.

She took a few quick steps toward him to close the distance between them and gently grabbed at his arm, ignoring the annoyed and indignant squawking noise he made when she did so. His mother turned his hand over, apparently not at all intimidated by the way he frowned and muttered, and inspected the mark closely.

"Ben," she breathed, "You know what this is, don't you?"

The way she looked at it was almost reverent as she traced over it lightly. "It's a soulmate mark, isn't it?" he asked. Ben wasn't sure if he was hoping more for her to confirm his theory, or to deny it. Before he could decide, she nodded.

"I think it is, but I've never seen one in person," she admitted, letting go of his hand, "When did it show up?"

"Sometime last night, I think… I don't know… I was so drunk." Ben walked over to the other side of the room, and sat down on his bed.

Leia's brows furrowed together, then she cleared her throat. "So what was it you were doing last night, exactly?"

"Well, we were drinking by the fire," he began, recalling the night before as best he could. His memory, though intact, was hazy at best. He remembered that it was Poe who had suggested spin the bottle- or was it? He couldn't be sure- and he'd tried to suggest they use his lightsaber to play the game, which had been universally given a massive no. Then he remembered Rey saying she'd never been kissed, and Rose had wound up kissing them both.

Rose had been a decent kisser, though it was short and sweet, and honestly the most platonic experience he'd ever had. She'd only done it so he wouldn't be the sole person there who hadn't been kissed, and it wasn't like it had any sort of passion attached to it or anything.

He then remembered Poe's kiss, Finn's… the lack of passion held within them as he desperately worked to keep the bottle from spinning anywhere but the direction he wanted it to go the most, but also feared. He remembered the moment he lost his focus on the bottle, and it finally landed on her anyway, as if the force had a mind of its own-and he was fully aware that it did- and was done with his meddling.

"And then what happened?" Leia asked, making him realize he was saying all of that out loud as he continued sitting there staring at the wall on the opposite side of the room.

"Well, we kissed, mother, those are the rules."

"But you'd been avoiding it, Ben. Was it different? Good? Bad?"

Oh, it had been wonderful. Not the first one. The first one had been hardly anything. Sure, it had sent his heart racing, but just being in close proximity to her had the tendency to do that. "It was… incredible." He could still hear the ocean's waves crashing against the shore when he closed his eyes, feel the warmth of the fire on his face, and the warmth that radiated off of Rey herself in their close proximity as they'd kissed like no one was watching-even though they'd both known damn well they had an audience. "It was like… Nothing I've ever felt before."

"Hmm," Leia hummed, then she shifted on her feet in front of him, and walked forward until she sat down beside him on his bed.

"What does that mean?"

"What does what mean?"

"That sound," he replied, then he mimicked her initial response to his story about kissing Rey. "You're thinking something. What is it?"

Leia sighed, then she smoothed out wrinkles on her pants that weren't there, and looked up at her son. "I'm thinking that… you seemed very passionate about that kiss with Rey."

"Yeah, and your point?"

"And now you've got that mark on your wrist, and I can't help but notice you've skipped training," his mother observed. "I thought at first it was because you were hungover, but the more I listen to you talk… The more convinced I become that you know who gave you that mark, and you're avoiding her."

"Her? Who says my soulmate's a her? I kissed Finn and Poe last night," he protested. "Who's to say it's not one of them?"

Leia quirked an eyebrow at him, then she reached out for one of Ben's hands, and he let her take it. "Ben, if it was one of them, don't you think kissing Finn or Poe would've made you feel the way kissing Rey felt?"

Fuck. She was right. She was entirely too right. If it were truly Finn or Poe, the kisses from them should've drowned out everything. He should've been focused on the way their lips felt against his instead of just getting it over with. His heart should've been sent racing in his chest. All at once, realization dawned on his face as he looked down at the mark on his wrist. "Oh."

When he looked up, his mother was smiling a bit. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"But, what if it's not her?" he breathed, finally admitting the thing he feared most about the entire situation. "Or...or worse, what if it is her and she's upset about it?

She pursed her lips, considering his questions, and countered, "What if she's not? What if she woke up this morning with the same mark, wondering who her soulmate is? Don't you think you at least owe it to yourself - and Rey - to find out?"

Probably. Well, no. He definitely needed to find out, but that didn't make it any less nerve-wracking. His heart was fluttering in the same timid, scared way it had when he'd sat by the light of a fire and reached out his hand toward her. If he reached out this time, would she, too?

"Yes," Ben finally admitted. "I need to find out. Just…" he gripped his knee anxiously, and probably a bit too tightly, "Just not right away. I need to...process."

Leia snorted, asking wryly, "By process, do you mean let Rey narrow down the suspects until she asks you about it?"

Maybe.

"No, of course not," he said quickly, glancing over at his mother, who could apparently read him much better than he'd realized, "Mom, I just found out I have a soulmate, don't you think it's okay to take a little time to adjust to the idea?"

Her eyes narrowed a little, but she gave him a single perfunctory nod. "I suppose," she sighed. "Just...don't take too long. I'd prefer to still be around when I have grandchildren."

Ben almost choked. "I think it's a bit early to worry about that."

"Just don't wait too long," she grinned cheekily. "And get over here," she said, gesturing for him to scoot closer on the bed. "I went too long without hugs from my son. I need to make up for lost time."

Something sharp shot through his heart at her words. Despite all he'd done for the Resistance, he'd taken so much from his own mother and a good portion of it could never be taken back. Really, a hug was the smallest, most miniscule thing he could offer, and he'd give no complaints.

Ben took in a deep breath, moved a bit closer, and reached over to wrap the tiny woman - a woman who seemed so large and commanding as a General - in a tight hug. He'd gone so long without real physical affection, and a pressure he hadn't realized existed around his chest loosened just a little as she hugged him back - soft, and warm, just like a mom should be.

When they separated a moment later, he felt a bit lighter. Like a little bit of all the darkness he'd shrouded himself in had lifted. Not all of it - certainly not all of it. But, some.

Leia was watching him with a smile, and patted his knee knowingly. "It'll get easier. Now, go talk to that girl."

"I will," he promised. "Soon."

Maybe.

She almost definitely knew he was still a little unsure about it, but she nodded and stood up, headed for the door. "I've got to get to a meeting. We just sent Dameron off this morning with a few of the new recruits for a low-risk mission, and now we need to figure out how we're going to handle all the ex-Stormtroopers we've got on-base." She glanced back and gave him a half-smile, "I might need your help with ideas."

"Anything I can do to help," he offered, genuinely meaning it.

His mother gave him one more smile before she turned, and walked out of his room.

For the next thirty or so odd seconds, Ben just sat there, waiting in anticipation- though what for he had no clue- until he heard the tell-tale sign from his stomach that he was hungry. After having just emptied its contents minutes earlier, he figured he was probably better off eating. But was it worth the risk of running into Rey? What if she had a mark? What if she tried to confront him about it? No, he wasn't ready to risk seeing her yet.

Ben looked outside his window; it was still early enough that he figured there wouldn't be that many people in the commissary, and if he did run into Rey, she might still be too exhausted to notice him. With that in mind, he ducked out of his room, making sure she wasn't already in the hallway before he made his way down it. The day was going to be long enough, he certainly didn't need to do it on an empty stomach.

He was so trapped in his own mind, he barely remembered eating. A vague part of him was aware that in the early hours of the dawn, there had only been about ten other people there anyway, and none of them were Rey, but other than that, he was absolutely clueless. All he knew was he was back in his room twenty minutes later making space in his bedroom so he could train. He pushed his bed up against the farthest wall, blocking the door just a little bit, but it wasn't like he wanted to let people in there anyway. Once he was done pushing aside his furniture, Ben grabbed the hilt of his saber, and twirled it in his hands.

Ben looked around the room, though he wasn't sure why, then he powered on the saber, and began practicing various forms he'd learned both from Snoke and from Luke. The light and the dark swirled within him as the room became a blur of red, losing himself to the feeling of the force inside of him-around him- as he fought the air, moving with more grace than a man his size had any right to.

The forms were ones he'd done so many times over the years, but even their familiarity couldn't help him shake the fear that was vibrating just beneath his skin as he moved with ease. All Ben could think about was the mark on his wrist-which he'd since covered up with his gloves again- and Rey's soft lips against his. He tried to shake her from his thoughts, truly he did, but every time she left his head, he'd catch the flash of the red saber in front of him and remember the glow of the fire on her face.

Ben's breathing quickened as he remembered the way everything else had faded around them. Finn, Poe, Rose, and BB-8 all rendered invisible by the passion in their kiss. The slashing of his saber through the air quickly became the crashing of the waves against the shore, the crackling fire as it burned through the wood they'd gathered. It felt like he was actually there on that damn beach again, kissing her the way she was meant to be kissed.

Where had that thought come from?

He needed to get her out of his head, and he needed to do it immediately. With a shout, Ben turned, barely noticing a streak of blue light in his field of vision as he swung his lightsaber over his head, expecting it to slash through the empty air in front of him. He got quite the surprise when his red blade met a blue one mid-air, the wielder's face twisted in an intense snarl as she glared up at him from behind the lavender light of their locked sabers.

It took him a good three seconds to register that it was Rey wielding the blade. Once he realized it was her though, he stepped back, and deactivated his weapon, watching as she did the same.

"Ben, what are you doing?" she asked, her chest still heaving as she moved forward, and shoved him at the shoulder. "You scared the shit out of me."

Oh, I scared the shit out of you, Rey?

Luckily he came up with a sarcastic retort in a matter of seconds, and immediately fed it to her with a stupid smirk on his face while she simply glared at him, and twirled the lightsaber in her hand.

"I heard you were sick."

Ben swallowed nervously. Sick people certainly weren't supposed to be training as intensely as he was. "I am," he lied, hoping the deceit wasn't too clear in his voice.

Already, he knew she didn't believe him. "With what, exactly?"

The excuse he made up in response was pathetic, earning him an equally sarcastic reply from the one he'd given to her, and he watched her for a moment as she spoke. His eyes constantly drifted down to her wrapped arms, wondering what she was hiding on the skin underneath. For all he knew, he could be wrong, and there could be absolutely nothing under there, but another part of him wondered if her skin looked like he'd drawn on it with his long lost calligraphy set.

"... If it's nothing, then you might as well train while you're here," she was saying, then his head perked up, and he looked at her stupidly for a moment before he gestured to their surroundings, reminding her that he couldn't see the training room since he wasn't actually there. All Rey did in response was grin, then she stepped forward, sending his heart racing as she invaded his space, standing mere inches in front of him.

His asshole brain immediately thought about kissing her again, conjuring an image of Rey standing on the tips of her toes, or of wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to him as he brought his lips to hers… And if those thoughts weren't bad enough already, she opened her mouth, and spoke, "You can see me."

Yes, he could. He really, really could.

Ben couldn't help but let his lips curl into a hint of a smirk, and he gave her a single nod, igniting his saber. She laughed a little at his reaction, but ignited hers as well, and they spent a moment standing there, staring at each other before they made the silent, and simultaneous decision to snap into action, filling the room with a wash of red and blue light.

As the sabers glowed and struck against each other - his strike met by her parry, Rey grinned and said wryly, "I doubt the ground will split between us this time. Do you think you can win at a fair fight?"

Somehow, Ben suspected he'd never truly have a fair fight with Rey. He'd always be a bit too focused on her eyes, or her lips or-

"Well?" she asked, amused, as she lunged at him with a bold overhand strike that he spun away from. Rey had seemed like a natural since their first fight back in the forest on Starkiller Base, and she'd only gotten better, proving to be quite a challenge.

Maybe it was genetics then, that made him snort and say, "I don't think we'll need to split the earth this time, sweetheart." Their sabers met again, and he leaned into them, getting close while he towered over her and added with a bit of a smile, "We're very...evenly matched, don't you think?"

He certainly wasn't going to saw it outright, but that didn't mean he couldn't hint at it, right? At least he might get a bit of a read on her take one the whole soulmate situation. As it was, she seemed a little on-edge, and her footing was a bit more unsteady than usual.

Her breathing was shaky as she answered him, "Oh, I don't know. I think you'd have to be a few inches shorter for that to be true," she said as she whipped around, slashing at him in the same way she'd done when she'd given him his scar.

Ben was prepared for it this time, and he blocked the attack with a renewed vigor, then he pushed her blade away, and she stumbled backward, falling against the nearby wall. She seemed quite stunned by this new development, which allowed him the time to close the space between them, but he wasn't quick enough. They both raised their weapons at the same time, and Ben only just managed to reach out and stop himself against the wall with one hand as their sabers hovered inches from one another's throats.

"You know I wasn't talking about our height, Rey," he panted, forcing himself not to think about the bead of sweat that was making its way down her cheek. "So surrender now, and answer the question."

Rey's eyes had a fire in them at that, though he suspected that it wasn't from anger. Whatever it was, he couldn't quite be sure, only that it certainly wasn't doing him any favors between his legs. Or, was it?

The situation certainly wasn't helped when Rey leaned forward a bit, the blade of his saber no more than an inch from her neck. "Looks like I'm not surrendering, then," she replied, then she leaned back, and dropped low, her saber slashing at his legs in a strike he only just managed to avoid.

The look in her eyes intensified as they engaged in another blade lock, this one right at chest level, pressing them up against one another just like they'd been in the forest. "What are you afraid of?" he asked, and she didn't answer, she just kept on pressing against his hold until she freed herself, and the battle continued anew.

At some point while spinning away from a strike of his that he'd never have let land, she'd almost lost her footing, managing to recover at the last second so she could start openly swinging her saber, all aggressive, uncontrolled, and dangerous.

Just the way he liked her.

Ben ducked backward, letting the saber swing over him as he stumbled back and away from the deadly blue light, and he had half a mind to wonder whether she trusted her skills, or if she truly didn't mind killing him, because fuck she really might actually do that if he wasn't careful.

Thankfully, he thrust out a hand to balance himself against a wall behind him and lunged at her, swinging and spinning his saber as she blocked each move with the grace and dexterity he'd gotten used to seeing from her. It had been a joy to see her blossom under his training, and the fact that she could confidently fight him and more often than not, win, was somehow considerably better than if he was the one consistently winning.

At the same time, they both swung, sabers with similar trajectories, and Ben gritted his teeth as the lights each met resistance, lighting up the faces of their owners with shades of blue and red, and the shades of purple in between.

Her eyes shone in the light, and it took his breath away. He made the mistake of letting his eyes slide down to her arm, just to see if he could get a glimpse, but felt utter disappointment when he saw her wraps covering the area he'd been hoping to get a good look at.

Ben's hesitation and change in focus gave her the opportunity she'd been looking for, and Rey, still using her saber with one hand to block his, kicked out and swung back around the back of one of his feet as she reached out with her free hand to push against his chest. In an instant, he was stumbling back, falling on his ass as they both deactivated their lightsabers, likely to prevent him from getting accidentally cut in two.

He was on the ground, propped up on his elbows, staring up at her in shock because he genuinely hadn't expected her to best him. At least, not in the way she had. In an oddly familiar move, she held the deactivated saber out, pointing it at him in a way that could be mildly threatening if he didn't trust her.

Rey, of course, was grinning broadly, but after a moment her smile fell a little and she tilted her head curiously as she gazed down at him. "You didn't just let me win, did you Ben?"

Ben fully intended to answer her, but before he could get out anything beyond, "I…" she suddenly disappeared from the room, leaving him panting and speechless on the floor.

With a groan, Ben slowly tilted his head back, and collapsed completely onto it, filled with regret that he hadn't just asked her about that mark outright. Every swear word he knew ran through his head on repeat as he thought through that fight, how warm her body had felt when it was pressed up against his, how much he got an unexpected thrill from having her blade pressed against his throat… It had to be her. Not just because they had a connection like he'd never experienced in his life, but because he couldn't even try to deny the effect she had on him. He wasn't quite sure what love was like, but if he wasn't in love with her already, he thought maybe, just maybe he might feel that way about her.

That was absolutely terrifying.

Ben laid his saber on the ground, and placed his gloved hands over his face as he groaned his frustrations to the empty air, almost praying that when he finally caught Rey without arm wraps on, she would have a mark like his. He wasn't quite sure what he'd do if it was anyone else. No, somehow he suspected that even with a soulmate, he wouldn't be as happy as he would be with her.

But he had to know for sure first. With that thought in mind, Ben slowly sat up, and put his saber back in its place on his belt before he pushed himself back on his feet. Since he was clearly far too much of a coward to say anything to Rey about the matter, he would just have to talk to someone much less intimidating first. Lucky for him, he already knew Rey wasn't in the room she shared with Rose.

Chapter Text

Ben stayed awkwardly outside of Rey and Rose’s room for several minutes on end, debating whether or not he should knock on the door. A part of him was worried that the one person he was desperately trying to avoid was behind that door, but another part told that part to stop being a fucking coward and just knock already. That part, in the end was the one that wound up winning his internal battle.

With a shaky breath, Ben tapped his knuckles against the door three times, then he ran his hands through his hair as he listened to footsteps approaching from the other side. A moment later, the door opened to reveal a very exhausted looking Rose Tico as she stared up at him from behind her eye bags. “What do you want?”

“Um… I’m not really sure, uh… can I come in?”

Rose blinked at him a few times, but stepped aside, allowing Ben to walk into Rey’s living quarters. His eyes raked over the room, quickly deducing which one was hers by the mess and which one was Rose’s by the lack of one. An earth-toned jacket was draped loosely over the edge of the bed, the very same one she’d been wearing the night before. A bunch of the gauze she used for her arm wraps was also draped throughout her side of the room, he couldn’t help but notice, and the sight of it sent a smile rising to his face.

“So what’s going on? You and I don’t really talk much aside from last night,” Rose said, then she moved to sit down on her bunk. Ben mimicked her action, though he instead sat down on Rey’s, feeling slightly awkward about it as it creaked under his weight.

Oh, where did he start? What wasn’t going on with him at the moment? He was hungover to all hell, and tired from his fight with Rey, and dealing with the possibility that she might be his soulmate on top of it all… “Um, this is going to sound strange, but I need to ask you to do this.”

“Do what, Ben?” Rose asked quietly.

Ben froze, then he swallowed nervously, and asked his question. “I need you to show me your wrist.”

Rose blinked at him, though he couldn’t quite read the emotional intent behind it. “What?”

“I… God, this is so awkward, I’m sorry, we really don’t know each other that well,” he breathed, placing his head into his hands, then he sighed. “Just… Roll up your sleeve, there’s a good reason, I promise.”

At this, her jaw actually dropped, and she seemed to freeze for a moment before she obediently rolled up her sleeve, and even without him having to specify the wrist, she rolled up the correct one. To both his relief and disappointment, there was nothing there. His shoulders relaxed slightly as he looked up at her, then he sighed. “Thanks, I… I guess I’ll go now, sorry to bother you,” he said, then he stood up, and made his way over to the door.

“Wait,” Rose replied, then she too was on her feet. “Can you… uh… never mind.”

“What?”

“Nothing, just, why did you want me to show you my wrist?” she asked curiously, then as he turned around, she crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s a weird request, you know.”

Ben froze again, his entire body growing tense as he looked around the room as if to make sure no one else was there—when he knew damn well there wasn’t anyone else—before he slowly reached for the fingertips of his leather glove, and pulled it off. As Rose watched attentively, he grasped it in his free hand as he began to roll up his sleeve to expose the mark he’d seen upon waking that morning.

Rose went completely bug-eyed. Her jaw dropped, and she suddenly seemed much more alert than she had a minute ago as she rushed forward, and took his hand in one of hers while the other skimmed over the skin of his wrist. “Oh wow… I…”

“My mother said it was a soulmate mark. Apparently you get them from kissing people, so I’m trying to figure out which one of you it is.”

All she seemed to be able to do in response was blink at him a few times as her fingers pressed into his skin as if she were trying to convince herself it was real. He’d only known Rose for a short time, but already she looked more stunned than he’d ever seen her at the sight of his mark. She slowly stepped back, and if he weren’t mistaken, he would swear he saw recognition in her eyes. “You know something, don’t you?” He asked tentatively. “What is it?”

“It’s not really my place to say,” she responded slowly, still staring at his wrist. He watched as she blinked and took another step back, turning toward her bed as she added, “I’m not your soulmate. You’ll have to ask around.”

His voice came out softer than he’d expected as he asked, “Rose, please, do you know who is?”

She glanced back at him with weary eyes and hesitated, and he gave her a desperate look. “I- I might have an idea of who it is, but it’s not my place to say.”

The reality of being so close to knowing was overwhelming, and he had to nearly restrain himself to avoid getting on his knees to beg for some sort of answer - some sort of confirmation to what he maybe already knew. Instead of begging, he took a deep breath, and reasoned calmly, “Poe left on a mission early this morning, and if you know who my soulmate is, that means you’ve seen them today, which means-”

Ben had to pause and collect himself before he whispered, “That means it’s either Finn, or- please tell me it’s her, Rose. Tell me it’s Rey.”

His own reaction surprised him a little, but only because he hadn’t expected to admit it out loud to someone he rarely talked to. It seemed to surprise Rose, too, because she turned back to him fully, her jaw hanging a bit. “You want it to be Rey?”

“Of course I do,” he admitted, suddenly feeling the need to make firm eye contact with the floor as he blushed, “I’m not sure what I’ll do if it isn’t her. You and Poe and Finn are all great, but Rey- ”

“You need to talk to her, then,” Rose interrupted. His eyes shot up to meet hers, and she explained quickly, “I’m not saying it’s her, I’m just saying it’s obvious you care about her, and you should talk to her about it. And as far as the soulmate thing...it’s just not my place.”

After a moment filled with disappointment, he nodded, instinctively knowing Rose had no intention of telling him. Maybe that was for the best. After all, it was a very personal thing - a life-changing thing - to have a soulmate, and whoever else had woken up with a mark that morning was probably just as freaked out and panicked as he was.

Maybe it was something better handled in-person, even if the idea terrified him.

Ben sighed, running a hand through his hair as he murmured a quiet thank you , then turned and left the room. He wandered the halls of the base for a bit, wondering about the situation, letting his mind consider all the possible outcomes.

It wasn’t Poe, unless Rose had managed to see him off before he left for the mission he was on, but Ben doubted she had. She’d almost certainly seen Rey that morning, and the same could be said for Finn...he often saw all of them having breakfast together, and there was no reason to believe this morning had been any different.

He could likely narrow it down, then, to Finn or Rey, and he didn’t really dare to keep assuming anything. Fate was a strange thing, and he couldn’t help but think that it really could be cruel enough to bond him with a woman he cared for, only to give him an entirely different soulmate.

Ben was entirely lost in his thoughts as he wandered aimlessly, only knocked from the buzzing in his mind as he ran directly into someone. He stopped immediately, looking up from the floor, and apologized quickly, realizing last minute who he’d walked into. The woman in front of him seem more confused than anything and took a step back.

“Rey? ”

She bit her lip and glanced up at him, seeming a bit jittery. “Sorry, I- ah, I’m actually in the training room,” she explained. “Still getting some practice in.”

Apparently Ben had been too distracted to feel the hum of the force bond connecting them. He wasn’t really sure what to say to her, but he couldn’t help but stare at her arm wraps and wonder if there was a new mark hidden under them.

“Right, um, sorry, I’ll just…” Say something, coward. “I’ll just leave you to it,then,” he said, then he moved past her, and continued his walk down the hall.

But she wasn’t finished with him yet. “Ben?” she asked softly, then he slowly turned around, watching as she walked up to him until again she invaded his personal space, causing his breath to hitch as she stood with her chest mere inches from his. That was where her forwardness ended, though. After that she suddenly looked frightened, but she was also bursting at the seams with tension. Ben’s suspicions that it was her he was connected to only grew as she reached up a hand, and placed it gently on his arm. “I… Uh… I hope you’re feeling better.”

“I am, thanks.”

Again it looked like she wanted to say something else, but all she did was nod, then the force disconnected them, and she faded away completely. Ben’s breath slowly steadied itself in his chest, and again he found himself stumbling against the wall as he thought through what he wanted to do now. He knew he needed to talk to her eventually, after all, Rose had told him as much and so had his mother, but he froze up every time he thought about it.

Ben was slowly learning that having feelings for someone actually sucked, much less having that person possibly but also possibly not be his actual soulmate. What if she wasn’t his soulmate after all? What if it was indeed Finn or Poe? And maybe a mark on his wrist didn’t necessarily mean he had to be with that person, but it would certainly drive a wedge in any other relationship he had, wouldn’t it?

Newly stressed, Ben set off to find Finn, wandering down the halls of the base until he reached the room he’d met them all at the night before, the place where it all started. He thought through his conversation with Rose, the way she’d recognized his mark, the way she’d been so hesitant to tell him who else might have that imprinted upon their skin. It was almost certainly Rey who bore his mark, but he had to be sure. He needed to be absolutely sure before he asked her to unwrap her arms for him.

Before he had the chance to change his mind, Ben knocked on the door and waited nervously until Finn swung the door open, seeming confused by his new guest. “Hi, Ben,” he said, a bit stiffly. “What’s up?”

Despite drinking together, it was clear the man was still a tad uncomfortable around him. Still, this was a dramatic improvement, and Ben was thankful for it.

His eyes darted around, ensuring the hallway was empty, before he said quietly, “Can we talk? It’s about last night...sort of.” Finn seemed a bit hesitant to let him in, and Ben huffed impatiently, deciding to hell with it , and yanked off his glove, revealing the soulmate mark he wore on his wrist.

“Holy fu -”

Finn slammed his own mouth shut before finishing the swear, and grabbed Ben by the arm, yanking him into the room. He shut the door behind him and asked, “When did that show up?”

“Last night, I assume,” Ben explained, “I didn’t notice it until this morning though.” He hesitated, and narrowed his eyes curiously, “Hold on. You recognized this. You know what this is, too, don’t you. So did Rose….so that means-”

Finn turned his arms over, answering Ben’s unasked question.

No mark.

“That means- If it’s not you, I’ve narrowed it down to Rey and maybe Poe.” Ben closed his eyes, barely daring to ask, “Finn, did you see him this morning? Or did you just see Rey? Can you just tell me which of them it is?”

When he opened his eyes again, Finn was glancing at him with an apologetic expression. “Sorry man, I saw Poe before I left, and I met Rey at breakfast. I know who has it, but-”

“I’m guessing you aren’t willing to tell me who?”

The guilt on Finn’s face was evident, but he still shook his head slightly. “It’s nothing personal. If Poe was in your shoes I’d be saying the same thing, I swear. Don’t you think you’d rather hear it from them, then from me?”

Finn had a point. He was desperate to know who bore the mark, and at this point it was almost definitely Rey, but there was still a chance it was Poe...and if it was Rey- maybe it would mean more, hearing it directly from her and seeing it for himself. But that meant he’d actually have to work up the nerve to actually talk to Rey in a way that wasn’t just awkward small talk in the hallway.

Ben slowly sulked over to the commissary, trying to stall the inevitable for as long as he possibly could. Again there were scarce few people there, though he theorized now that it had more to do with various missions than it did the hour of the day. Either way, he was far too lost in his own head to notice. He picked at his food mindlessly, his thoughts always dragging back to the way it felt to kiss Rey. He wound up comparing it to how he’d kissed Poe.

He didn’t hate kissing Poe or any of the others, but it was far from his favorite thing. It had been nice to have the experience, but Ben was certainly not eager to do it again with any of them except for Rey.

Swallowing a sip of water, Ben reached  for the edge of his sleeve, and tugged it down his arm, staring hypnotized at the mark there. As he looked at it more, the little loops and swirls fascinated him, and as Rose and everyone else who’d seen his mark had, he let his fingers ghost over it. He could still feel the barest hint of a burn over the mark; it was still so fresh, he wondered if she also felt that little twinge of pain over her wrist, or if for some reason Poe felt it.

If it did turn out to be Poe, he wasn’t sure he could love him like he thought he could love Rey. No, Poe was not Rey and as much as they might’ve bonded as of late, nothing would change that.

Ben left the commissary ten minutes later with a grunt as he pushed himself up off the table, to distracted to even dispose of his trash. He could vaguely hear a droid yelling at him in its little mechanical language, but he didn’t pay it any attention as he stalked back to his room, and his mind continued to fill itself with the beach.

But then it wasn’t just the beach that filled his mind, it was the sparring earlier, too. It was the heat he’d felt building between them when he pinned her to the wall, the unfortunate erection between his legs he definitely didn’t want to be thinking about, and the way she’d been so close to him the entire time. He was slowly stopping his denial that he liked being close to her, that he liked kissing her, that maybe after all they’d been through together—the force bond, the war, their various battles no matter what side they were on—he might actually love her as one was supposed to love their soulmate. It terrified him, but it was the truth.

As Ben approached the door to his single bedroom, he realized he was ready to talk to her, he just wasn’t sure how to start. An odd sense of anticipation suddenly hung in the air as he reached out his hand for the door handle, and he took in a deep, shaky breath as he grasped it in his hands. The familiar whooshing sound of the force bond opening filled his ears as he pushed it open, and his heart skipped a beat in his chest when he saw her sitting there on his bed with a cloth in her hand, wiping sweat off of the back of her neck, and sighing as she leaned back against his wall with her eyes closed.

He stood there for a moment, staring at her, then the corners of her mouth turned up into a grin. “I know you’re there,” she said, then she opened her eyes, and looked into his. “I always know.”

“You sound like my mother,” he replied, then he walked over to the bed, and sat down on the opposite end of it, giving her plenty of distance just in case the conversation didn’t go the way they wanted it to.

She giggled, her hazel eyes soft as she looked down at her hands, and her expression grew shockingly serious. “I… I need to talk to you,” she said, then she took in a deep, shaky breath. “I’ve been avoiding you all day.”

Ben was so tempted to reach out and hold her hand then, but he refrained from doing so as he wanted to hear what she had to say. Was she going to tell him the exact same thing he was about to tell her?

“This is going to sound so odd, but… I need to show you something,” she said quietly, then she took in a deep breath. “I need…”

“I need to show you something, too,” he replied, then she looked up at him expectantly, and if he wasn’t mistaken, there was almost a look of fear in her eyes. “Don’t be afraid.”

Rey scoffed. “I could say the same about you.”

“That’s fair,” he replied, then he shifted, his hand reaching for the end of his sleeve. “What do you say we go at the same time?”

“Together?” she asked hesitantly, though he could sense she was comforted by the notion through the bond.

He nodded. “Together,” he replied as he began to take off his glove, and she began to remove her arm wraps. His heart was running at hyperspeed in his chest as he slowly pulled the glove off, though he kept his wrist concealed from view as she continued to unwrap her wrist from its bindings.

Ben waited patiently until she was done unwrapping her wrist, then he looked down at his shaking hand, noticing his entire body was trembling as he paused. “On the count of three,” he said, then he began to roll back his sleeve. “Ready?”

“Ready,” she replied, also keeping her wrist from his prying eyes as she let her wrappings fall onto the ground. Then she looked at him again, and Ben was certain now that it was her, but there was still a part of him that was so afraid it wouldn’t be, and he would always have that fear until he saw her wrist with his own two eyes.

They stared at one another as they prepared to reveal their wrists, and Ben could see the mark out of the corner of his eye as his dark eyes bore into hers. “It’ll be okay,” he said, though he wasn’t sure if he was comforting himself more or her.

She nodded. “I know,” she replied. “Here goes.”

“Count of three?”

“Sure.”

“One…”

“Two…”

“Three…”

Then they turned their wrists around, and Ben’s mind went into a frenzy as he saw the mark on his wrist mirrored exactly on hers.

Chapter Text

Rey couldn't believe her eyes, but at the same time, the revelation wasn't at all surprising. Ben's mark was the perfect image of her own, just as she'd heard it would be in all the legends when she was growing up. Her breath caught in her chest, then she looked up at him with wide eyes to find him staring back at her with the same bewildered expression Almost involuntarily, she started shaking as his hand reached out, and his fingers hovered over her mark.

Her soulmate's fingers, hovered over her mark, to be precise.

Tension hung tightly in the air between them as the tips of Ben's fingers brushed over her mark, and suddenly she felt as if the skin were on fire there all over again. She could see their first kiss clear as day, could see the mark burning itself into her skin beneath the wrappings on her arm as she kissed him like they were the only two people sitting on that beach. She could see the first time they'd ever touched-amicably at least- when he'd gently pressed his fingers to hers in the hut, and she'd seen the potential future for him to turn back to the light.

"Ben," she breathed, then she looked up into his eyes to find she couldn't quite read what he was thinking. He didn't look disappointed though, which told her worlds of what he wasn't saying. "It's you."

Without hesitating, Rey reached out with her own free hand, and she let her own fingers trail over his mark, causing his entire body to shiver as he saw… whatever he saw. She couldn't quite be sure as she just barely held his gaze.

A plethora of emotions began to overwhelm her as she realized that they'd found one another, that after years of being alone-even after these months surrounded by people- they had been written by destiny itself to be together. The two loneliest people in the galaxy were soulmates, and wasn't that something?

The first emotion she could decipher from the bunch was pure joy as smiles grew on both of their faces, and Rey felt like suddenly everything was coming together even though she hadn't been aware it had fallen apart. Through the force bond she could feel his mutual elation at learning that she was his soulmate. She felt her own body awash in relief that it was him and not Poe, Finn, or Rose. They were great, but she didn't feel for them what she'd started to feel for Ben.

"It's you," Ben repeated, then she felt peace washing over her at the confirmation of what she already knew to be true. "Rey, I… wow…"

"I know," she said with a nod. "This is, this is… I don't know what to say."

Ben laughed awkwardly. "I don't either. But… Rey?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad it's you," he replied, then his hand settled over her mark fully, though this time the burn was actually rather pleasant as his fingers wrapped around her wrist, holding it gently. "I am so, so glad it's you."

Rey's heart was going at light speed in her chest as she listened to his words, then she closed her eyes, resting her hand firmly over his mark before she answered him. "I'm glad it's you, too," she confessed, then she met his eyes. "Ben, that night on the beach…"

He nodded, then he reached forward with his other, still gloved hand to caress her cheek. "I know, I felt it too. I… Rey I should've found you and told you about this the minute I saw you."

"I could've told you, too, Ben. We weren't ready, and that's okay," she told him, shifting so that she was a little closer to him. Her heart skipped a beat in her chest as she realized the last time they'd been this close they'd kissed for the first time. Involuntarily, her eyes drifted down to his lips, his cursed, soft lips that fit perfectly with hers.

Swallowing nervously, she leaned into his touch as he drifted closer to her as well, as if she were a magnet pulling him in. "But I think we're ready now," she said, her voice dropping to the barest hint of a whisper.

Ben's eyes slowly began to drift shut as she drew closer to him. "I think you're right."

Rey's whole body was trembling now, and her mind was firing off thoughts at a million miles a minute as the space between them grew smaller and smaller until their lips were only a hair's breadth apart. "So what do we do now?" she asked, her voice so faint even she could barely hear it as they stood at the edge of a great precipice.

His chest heaved with his next two breaths before he finally whispered a response. "I don't know," he replied, then the hand on her cheek shifted back into her hair, his leather clad fingers running through it as her breath caught in her throat. "Just kiss me."

Oh, she had every intention of obliging that request, but just as Rey leaned in to press her lips to his, the force cut them off, and suddenly his fingers disappeared from her hair, and his warmth faded ahead of her.

Feeling thoroughly disappointed and blocked by the force, Rey leaned back against the wall, letting herself recover for a few stubborn seconds before she was suddenly on her feet. Ben was on the base somewhere, and if she wanted to kiss him, she could do it for real, when the force wouldn't get the chance to hold them back. With that in mind, Rey ran out of her room, and sprinted to find him.

Annoyingly, she hadn't seen where exactly he was, but he'd skipped out on training so maybe he'd spent the morning closed up in his room? She considered it for a brief second before changing her course, nearly running right into an ex-Stormtrooper whose name she probably should have known. She darted down a hallway, cursing her luck. Of course the stupid training room was on the opposite side of the base, a good long walk from Ben's room.

A few others cursed as they had to take steps out of her way. She was on a mission, and that mission involved her third and far from last kiss with Ben Solo.

Her soulmate.

Soulmate.

Rey's heart was pounding, and that likely had nothing to do with the fact that she was running through the base. Knowing it was only a matter of time before his lips were on hers again just made her feel alive - the same sort of alive she'd felt during their last kiss, or when he took her hand and said goodnight, or...or, even when they'd fought back to back, or reached out across a galaxy to touch hands.

Of course it was Ben. It had always been him.

Another two sharp turns, and she stopped short in front of a door, hands on her knees as she caught her breath. She looked up at it and couldn't help but let her face split in a massive grin.

Without bothering to knock (really, he was probably waiting for her anyway), she burst in, only to find his room empty. Shit.

Trying to ignore the bit of frustration she felt at not already being in his arms, she huffed and looked around one more time before stepping back out into the hall, deciding to reevaluate things. He'd been sitting down, but that didn't give her a lot to go on. There was no point in searching the entire base for him, was there? Eventually he'd come back to his room, right?

It took Rey approximately three seconds to toss logic out the window and decide that yes, there was absolutely a point to searching the base for him because it could be hours before he returned and there was no way she'd wait that long. She'd waited all day, wasted time crossing other people off the list when she should have gone straight to talk to him, and she had no interest in wasting more time.

With a quick nod of confirmation, she decided to check the commissary. Maybe he'd been there for lunch? After all, if he'd been there when they connected, he'd likely have been sitting on a bench by himself, so...yes, that was a definite possibility. Unfortunately, the commissary wasn't far from where she'd been training, and Rey groaned as she admitted to herself that her impatience was going to result in quite the workout.

Taking a deep breath, she rolled her shoulders, then shot off again, this time headed for the commissary. She ran down an empty hallway and took a quick turn, skidding before she almost collided with Leia, who seemed somewhat unsurprised to see Rey in such a panic.

"Oh my-" Rey breathed, almost falling forward for how quickly she'd stopped. "Sorry Leia, I just-"

The woman quirked her eyebrow and interrupted, "Let me guess. You're looking for my son?"

"I might be," Rey admitted sheepishly. Then something clicked in her mind, and her gaze shot directly to the woman's dark brown eyes, "Wait. Why- what do you know? Have you seen him?"

Leia laughed, "He's running around looking for...well, you, I assume. I tried to get him to stop and talk to me but he ran right past me. I'm guessing you two finally talked?"

Unable to help her blush, Rey smiled broadly and nodded. "He's my soulma- or, well, I'm his-" She stopped, and laughed at Leia's amused, knowing expression, then took a moment to calm herself and finally said, "We're soulmates. The bond connected us but then it disconnected before I got to find out where he was and now I'm trying to find him. Do you know where he is?"

"I was wondering how long it'd take you two to figure things out," she grinned. "You just missed him, by a few minutes. Last I saw, he was headed toward your room. Though, you might want to do the both of you a favor and just go wait for him somewhere. This base is like a maze - you could spend the rest of the day running around trying to find each other."

Rey groaned dramatically, burying her head in her hands as she groused, "Leia, why couldn't he have just stayed in one place? I'm far too impatient to just go sit outside his room and wait for him to give up."

The woman snorted. "Oh, yes. You're definitely his soulmate." She let out another little laugh and patted Rey's shoulder, "You'll find each other. At least you're both in the same building."

She sighed and nodded, deciding to get back to her room before she missed him again. "Thanks, Leia. I'm going to go check my room."

With a quick wave goodbye, she turned back in the direction of the room she shared with Rose, and heard Leia mutter an amused, "May as well start calling me mom."

She nearly choked, but she kept running like hell to try and find him. Maybe sitting still was a good idea, but it wouldn't hurt to take the long way around the base to her room just in case. Unfortunately, she didn't see him anywhere, and frustration was now filling both sides of the bond. There were only so many places on the base he could be, weren't there? His path had to collide with hers eventually, didn't it?

By the time Rey got to her room, she was alarmingly disappointed to find that he wasn't there, and she leaned against her open door, placing her head in her hands as she sank to the floor. Where the hell was Ben? He wasn't exactly a small person either, he'd be very difficult to miss once she finally spotted him, and she couldn't wait until she did. All she wanted to do was run into his arms, wrap herself around him, and kiss him again like the world was theirs and then— her stomach growled.

Rey's eyes shot open, and her head came up from her hands as she listened to her body's announcement that she was hungry. A groan left her again as she stood up off the floor, brushed off dust that wasn't there. Then she closed her door, and made her way to the commissary with her head hung low.

Leia was right. The base was an absolute maze and finding him like this was hopeless. Maybe she would have better luck in the commissary. After all, Ben would have to eat eventually too, wouldn't he?

By the time she got there, it was completely packed full of people. Everywhere she looked the tables were full of seats were reserved if they looked open. Oh well, perhaps she'd just take her meal back to her bunk and wait until Rose got back so she could commiserate with her.

Her gaze remained downcast as she headed for the food line, and she was almost there, too, when she decided to look up. She couldn't quite say what compelled her to turn her gaze away from the food her stomach so desperately wanted, but maybe it was the force itself, because when she looked up there he was. His dark eyes were already locked onto hers, and his jaw was a little slack as his lips mouthed, "Rey," or maybe he said it out loud. From the distance she was at, she couldn't be sure. All she knew was she needed to close that gap immediately, and before she could even think her feet were moving, commissary line forgotten as she ran toward him.

He seemed to have the same idea as his own feet began to move, carrying him with a grace a man like him had no right to have as he slipped between throngs of people on his way to her. Rey shouted his name as the distance was finally short enough for her to leap into his arms, and that was exactly what she did.

Rey practically slammed into him, her arms wrapping around his neck as he caught her, and his hands supported her back firmly as she laughed in delight, relieved to have found him after all these hours of searching. Ben spun her around in the air, holding her close to him as he too let out a jubilant laughter at having found her.

Her fingers carded themselves through his hair as she pulled away from him a little once the room stopped spinning, then her lips crashed down onto his, and it felt exactly how it did the last time. No, this time was even better. This kiss set her veins on fire as his grip around her tightened, pulling her flush against his body as he deepened the kiss.

A soft moan left her as his tongue darted out to sweep along her bottom lip, and she couldn't help the smile she gave him against his lips as the rest of the world faded to a white noise around them. Nothing existed but Ben and Rey, and faintly, ever so faintly, she swore she could hear the sound of the ocean. The world was warm now, it was so warm, and she never wanted to let go of that warmth as she kissed her soulmate in front of the force and everyone.

He was her soulmate. Her soulmate. And oh, how she regretted the way she'd hidden from him that morning. Just those few precious hours were already a shameful too many to waste. She could've been spending those hours much more productively, they could've been doing this all morning and into the afternoon, skipping lunch to lose themselves in each other like they were now. They could've been doing this and—fuck—they could've done so much more by now if they'd only been less stubborn. They could've already been lying in her bed, or his if he wanted, and Rey could've—

Whoa. She was getting a bit ahead of herself? Wasn't she? Could she even be certain that was what he wanted? They'd only ever kissed.

Rey pushed the thought aside, though, ignoring it in favor of continuing to kiss him even as her lungs protested their need for oxygen. It wasn't until a throat cleared that she slowly pulled away, then she spent another few seconds staring into his eyes in a daze before she turned her head in the direction the sound had come from… only to realize the entire commissary had frozen, and was now staring wide-eyed at her and Ben. Fuck.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Ben set her back down on the ground, a blush on his cheeks as he looked over the crowd, then he turned back to her as quiet whispers began to pick up throughout the abnormally crowded commissary. "We should… we should talk," he said, panting hard as he came down from the high they'd both ridden then she gave him a nod.

"Couldn't agree more," she replied, finding she was a bit breathless herself as she unwrapped her arms from around his neck. "My room's free right now if you want to talk there."

He crossed his arms like they were casually discussing business despite the absolute hurricane that had just transpired between them. "Sounds perfect. Lead the way."

"I think I will," she replied, then the two of them walked out of the commissary with the eyes of nearly the entire resistance watching them go. It wasn't until the doors had closed behind them that she heard the conversations pick up again, and a laugh escaped her lips. "We're going to be the talk of the base for the next few days, aren't we?"

Ben chuckled lightly, then he sighed. "Yeah, I don't think either of us thought that one through."

"I don't know, I'd say it's worth it, that was a damn good kiss."

"You think so?"

"Truly one for the history books," she joked. "They'll write stories about that kiss."

"Will they now?"

"Yes, they will," she replied, then she slowly stopped walking. "Ben, are you absolutely sure you've never kissed anyone?"

He nodded as he too came to a halt. "No one before… Rose."

"Wow," she replied as she resumed their walk, and he quickly followed suit beside her. "So we haven't really had a chance to talk about this in person."

The corners of Ben's lips twitched into a smile. "No, we haven't. We've both been too afraid."

"I'm so sorry I didn't come to you immediately, I just… I was so worried it wouldn't be you, and then I was scared it was because I've never… I've never been with anyone like that before."

"Neither have I," he promised her, then his gloved hand appeared in her field of vision as they walked, and she looked down at it for a moment before she placed her hand in his, and laced their fingers together. "I was scared for the same reasons."

Rey took a deep breath and sighed, finally fearing all the fear and anxiety that had built up in her body dissipate as she said quietly, "Well, we don't have to be scared now."

"No, we don't," he smiled, hastening his speed toward her room.

Their little display in the commissary would probably be talked about for a while, but one benefit to their timing was that everyone - including her roommate - would be eating dinner, and she'd have Ben to herself for a while. To...talk.

Apparently that was what they were calling it now. She'd almost laughed when he'd suggested they talk, because really, she had a whole lot of plans for their mouths and none of those plans involved talking. If she was being honest with herself, ever since his lips had met hers the night before, she'd had an almost impossible time getting the desperate need for more out of her head.

They made it to her room in record time, and Rey stayed relatively calm until the door clicked behind them, at which point her heart started hammering at a pace that couldn't possibly have been healthy. She rested her back against the door, palms planted against the cool metal behind her, and she watched curiously as Ben sat down on her bed, seeming far too large in such a small room.

"I'm just so glad it's you," he breathed. Ben looked over at her, and the corners of his mouth turned up a bit into a faint smile. It seemed like he was still having a hard time believing it. After a moment he cleared his throat and said quietly, "So, what are you thinking about all of this? I know it's overwhelming, but it seems like we have feelings for each other, and-"

Rey couldn't help it. She really tried not to laugh, but a soft giggle slipped through her lips, and she clapped a hand over her mouth when Ben frowned. "Sorry, just-" she laughed again, and his face became awash with confusion, and a hint of concern, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh, but...when you said we should talk, did you actually mean you wanted to talk?"

He tilted his head and said slowly, "Uh...yes? Why, what did you think I meant?"

Rey paused, and made a decision. He was entirely right - they both had feelings for each other, and well...she wanted to do a lot more than talk. At the very least, she wanted to keep kissing him, and she was pretty sure he wouldn't complain about that, so she gave him a slight smirk and offered, "Well, I can show you, if you want."

Ben still seemed confused, which was completely adorable, and Rey had to stop herself from giggling again. She composed herself and took a few steps to stand in front of him. Before her nerves had the chance to get the better of her, she climbed into his lap, putting a knee on either side of him while she wrapped her arms around his neck. When she met his eyes it was clear she'd startled him a little, but he adapted quickly, wrapping his arms around her waist to pull her closer until their chests were pressed together, and on instinct, she caught his lips in another kiss.

It was the first kiss they'd shared in private, and it took her breath away almost as soon as it began. It started slow and tentative, like they were finally getting the chance to get to know each other, but the moment she started running her fingers through his hair, the kiss transformed into something else entirely. One of Ben's arms tightened around her, and the other slid up her body, cupping her face as he held her impossibly close.

Rey realized, with a bit of relief, that she wasn't nervous about being inexperienced, because when it came to Ben she sort of just knew. She knew she wanted to tilt her head and open her mouth, and she knew she wanted to feel his tongue running against hers, and she knew she wanted to feel how his chest rumbled when he groaned into her.

It was almost like they were communicating silently over the bond, and maybe they were - sensing what the other wanted, and liked, and before she knew it, Ben was kissing her just as deeply as she'd been craving, licking into her mouth as she sighed contentedly, sending her thanks to the force or whatever mystical power had decided to make Ben Solo her soulmate.

Without warning he stood up, not breaking the kiss, and Rey yelped a bit in surprise. She tightened her legs around his waist as he held her, and after a moment of confusion she realized he was kicking off his shoes. Deciding he likely wouldn't drop her, she relaxed in his grasp and kissed him ravenously, sucking at his bottom lip just before he turned and lowered her to the bed, pressing her back against the mattress as he braced himself over her.

Something fluttered in her chest as she felt him grind his hips into her, and she tugged him further down on top of her until he was settled over her, propped on his forearms. Their kisses became more fervent, and Rey was just about to ask him-

"So, am I interrupting?"

They hadn't even heard the door open, but maybe Rey should have connected the dots and realized she hadn't seen Rose in the commissary. Ben jerked up and turned his head back to the door, and Rey sat up on her elbows, blushing furiously as Rose covered her eyes and complained, "Oh come on guys, doesn't Ben have a private room? Why are you in here?"

Ben let out a funny little squawking noise and made an effort to climb off her, but their limbs were tangled enough to cause him trouble, and much to her and Rose's amusement, he lost his balance and veered sideways.

Failing to react quickly enough, Rey winced, and heard a thump and a low, pitiful, "Ow," come from the floor.

Rose just shook her head and laughed, "Okay. I'm going to get dinner and I'm giving you idiots exactly one hour, but from now on just go use Ben's room."

She waved off Rey's sheepish apologetic expression and left, making sure to close the door tightly behind her. Silence settled over the room for maybe ten seconds before Rey burst out laughing, mostly at the absurdity of the situation, but also at the ridiculousness that was Ben, sitting on her bedroom floor, blushing as red as his own lightsaber. She laughed so hard there were tears streaming down her face, and she only stopped when she was out of breath, gasping as she struggled to calm down.

But...then she caught a glimpse of dark eyes staring at her in awe, and suddenly, the situation didn't seem quite so funny. She wiped her eyes and cleared her throat, turning a little red at his gaze. Smiling softly at him, she narrowed her eyes and asked, "What? What's that look?"

Rey watched curiously as he opened his mouth and then shut it again, blinking in surprise. "Seriously, Ben, what is it?"

"I just," he hesitated, and let out a long breath, then said softly, "Rey, you have no idea how relieved I am to be your soulmate. I- I should have told you before now, but… I think I love you."

Her breath caught in her throat at those words. What did she say in response to that? Of course there was always the obvious choice of saying it back, but the connection between them was above words. It was more than just love, after all the force and destiny themselves seemed to agree that they were meant to be together in some capacity. Rey stared at him for a moment before offering her still bared arm to him, her mark visible even in the poor lighting of her room.

She took in a deep, shaky breath, then she nodded. "Come here," she told him, then he took her hand, and she pulled him up as she laid back on the bed, and he resumed his position between her legs, bracing himself over her anew as their eyes locked. A silent conversation was held there, in the energy they exchanged through the force, and Ben's fingers reached up to ghost over her mark as she rested her arm next to her head. The mark burned anew as he passed over it, then as he lowered himself down to her and kissed her again, his hand continued traveling up to hers, and he laced their fingers together.

Rey's fingers folded over his gloved knuckles, then her other hand resumed its work at his hair, crushing him against her as she deepened the kiss. Her tongue swept into his mouth as one of her legs wrapped its way around his hips, and she knew that he could sense what she wanted as much as he could sense her as he began to gently rock into her, and she felt his erection pressing up against the apex of her thighs, causing her to gasp into the kiss.

This momentary distraction gave Ben the perfect opportunity to begin planting kisses along the line of her jaw, and Rey found herself breathless beneath him as those kisses fell down onto her neck. His free hand slowly reached up, and as she began to shiver beneath him, his fingertips ghosted over the loose fabric of her shirt, brushing it aside in order for the kisses he was leaving on her neck to continue further south to her collar bone. There he hesitated, hovering above her for a moment as his hesitation washed over the bond.

"What?" she asked softly, stroking his hair as she let go of his hand. "What is it?"

Ben swallowed nervously, then his dark eyes met hers, and his warm breath ghosted over her skin. "I want to try something."

Rey gave him a firm nod. "Whatever it is, do it. I… I trust you," she said, then she watched as he lowered his lips to her neck again, and continued pressing open mouthed kisses there until suddenly she felt him suck her skin into his mouth. Her fingers tightened their grip in his hair as she let out an involuntary moan from the contact, and Ben snickered against her neck as he pulled away from her, then he brought his lips back to hers all over again.

Without hesitating another moment, Rey's hands drifted down from his hair, and she reached for the belt he had wrapped around his waist, unbuckling it with her nimble fingers as she kissed him. For once, there truly was nobody else in the room, and Rose had promised them an hour. She smiled into the kiss, taking her time with his belt before she let it fall beside them on her bedroom floor.

As her hands reached for the bottom of his tunic, Ben broke the kiss to help her out, standing up on his knees over her as he lifted the simple, black tunic over his head, and let that join the belt at the foot of her bed before he crawled over her again. He moved to resume their kiss, but Rey pressed a finger against his lips, then she let her hands slowly ghost down over his body, remembering the first time she'd seen him like this. They hadn't been amicable then, but even back on the island she hadn't quite been able to hold back the realization that she wanted to touch him, wanted to run her hands over his skin like she was now.

His skin was all smooth, hard planes of muscle beneath her touch, and as her fingertips drifted over his chest, she could suddenly see that he was trembling. Her hands slowly skimmed their way back up, and she reached up to cradle his face in her hands as they both panted-not from exhaustion, but from how wonderfully frightened they both were of jumping over the edge of the cliff together.

"Ben, are you sure?" she asked softly, then he rested his forehead against hers.

"I'm sure," he replied, his voice shaking slightly. "Rey, I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

She smiled broadly up at him, then she moved past him, placing her lips just by his ear before she whispered, "Then take of your clothes." then tremors ran down both of their spines as Ben pulled away from her, and they continued to disrobe.

Rey pulled off her shirt, tugging it forcefully over her head until she was left in only her breast band and trousers while Ben worked at the fastenings on his pants, grumbling something about how stubborn they were while she laughed nervously. She undid the button on her own trousers, sliding them off nervously so that they joined the rest of their clothes in a pile on the floor. Once they were both down to their underwear, they paused, taking each other in in their undressed state for a moment as the reality of what they were about to do settled in.

Taking in a deep breath, Rey reached for the wrappings of her breast band, then she slowly began to undo it, her heart pounding in her chest the entire time as his eyes watched her unbind her chest. After a few seconds more, she'd freed herself from its confines, and it too joined the pile on the floor. Before she could lose her courage, she avoided eye contact with him as she removed the pair of resistance issue underwear she'd been given, and let that join their clothes before she laid back on the bed again, naked as the day she was born.

She could feel his eyes raking over her, his stare intense, but not intrusive as he looked her up and down, seeing her for the first time, memorizing the way she looked. Heart still racing, Rey finally met his gaze just as he was removing the last of his clothing, and then she was exploring him as the pile on the floor grew, and he too was bare before her.

Propping her head up on her hands, she swallowed anxiously as her eyes took in his cock, and her breath caught in her throat. She could only hope her years of self exploration would help her here as he crawled back over to her, resuming his position on top of her, between her parted legs as she watched him. Ben's arms were trembling as he braced himself over her, and it took all her strength to disguise her own fear as they stayed there like that for a while, lingering in the state of before for a few seconds.

It took ages before either of them moved again, and Ben wound up being the first to do so. One of his hands slid down the expanse of her abdomen as he descended upon her. His mouth captured hers in a brief kiss before he began to travel further down, exploring her newly exposed skin as his hand ventured further and further until she felt his fingertips ghosting over her clit. For the first time, she realized she was already wet, though she wasn't exactly surprised—she'd felt unbearably aroused since their fight in the training room earlier.

As Ben's kisses trailed onto her left breast, Rey found herself gasping for breath, her hands threading themselves into his hair once again. Just when she thought he couldn't drive her crazy enough though, he gently pressed a finger to her clit, and began to circle it even though she hadn't told him to do so out loud. It was as if when it came to these sorts of things, Ben could read her mind, and she wasn't sure if it was the fact that he was her soulmate or if it was the force, but as he took her nipple into his mouth, and sucked, she found she didn't care.

"Fuck, Ben," she breathed, her eyes shutting as her back arched off of the bed from the sheer ecstasy he was bringing to her. In all the years she'd been alone, she'd never been able to make herself feel like this—she hadn't known it could feel like this.

There was a pressure that had begun to coil inside of her, one which only grew more intense as Ben's wandering fingers found her entrance, and he gently pushed one inside, causing her to shout his name loud enough for the entire base to hear them as he began to pump it in and out of her. She was only briefly disappointed when his mouth wandered from her nipple, but she laughed in delight as it moved over to her other one.

Slowly, gently, Ben added another finger, curling the two of them inside of her in a way that had her shouts echoing off of the walls, and made her regret that they hadn't kissed the moment they met as sheer pleasure coursed through her. Through the bond, she could feel his pride washing over him in waves at the thought that he'd done this to her, and she laughed again at the thought of the revenge she'd get on him later.

He unlatched his mouth from her breast, then he kissed her again on the lips before she could even think to complain, stealing the breath from her lungs as her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. She had to make sure he didn't go anywhere before she was finished with him, and she wasn't going to be anytime soon.

Ben brought her close with his fingers, and she could feel that pressure inside of her getting ready to snap, when suddenly he pulled them away from her, and she groaned into their kiss at the loss of contact. "Why'd you stop?"

He was almost smirking at her then, and instead of answering her outright, Ben planted soft little kisses along the line of her jaw again, then he started speaking, but only once he'd driven her absolutely mad. "I want to come with you," he said simply, then he kissed her lips again for too short a time, and he sighed. "Rey, I…"

She cut him off with another kiss, then without breaking it, she sat up, forcing him back on his ass as she crawled over him this time, settling herself into his lap as they kissed. Her legs rested on either side of his hips, her fingers continuing their work on his hair before one of her hands drifted down again until she found his cock. Her nerves nearly got the best of her as she took it in her hand, but she managed to persevere as she gave it a few experimental strokes.

Ben's soft little moans in response told her she was doing something right, so despite her inexperience, Rey pressed on, gliding her finger over the tip as she shifted even closer to him. Her chest pressed tightly against his as their kiss grew deeper, and the only thing keeping her from melting were his hands as they finally wrapped around her back, supporting her as his long fingers splayed out over her skin.

Her name tumbled from his lips again as she continued to stroke him, finding herself at ease in the task though she'd never done it before. As Ben's kisses grew increasingly messy, she slowed the motion of her hands, and broke their kiss as she positioned him just below her entrance, causing his breath to hitch as he looked up into her eyes one last time. "Are you sure?"

"Ben, I love you, too," she said, then she began to lower herself onto him. "Of course I'm sure."

Ben gasped as he first entered her, a sound which she reciprocated at the initial feeling of him inside of her. It was another feeling her own hands could never mimic, but as she sank lower onto him, taking him inch by inch until she couldn't take him anymore, she found she rather liked it. Once she'd taken him as far as she could go, Rey pulled back from him slightly, asking him with her eyes if this was okay, and waiting for his nod before she kissed him thoroughly, then she began to move on top of him.

They both moaned as she moved, adjusting to the feeling of being entwined together as they were, their initial pace slow as they learned one another's bodies. For the first few minutes at least, she moved at a snail's pace, taking her time simply to learn Ben and what he liked. It wasn't hard, their connection through the force made figuring him out easy, but still Rey wanted to remember this moment. They'd never get one like it again, after all. They had one shot at their first time, and then it was over, and she was fairly certain they both never wanted to forget it.

But after those first few minutes, though, Rey began to pick up her pace on top of him, pressing him back against the wall of her room as she kissed him like she had on the beach. This time, though, there was nobody around to interrupt them, and there wouldn't be until Rose returned later. Still, as Ben returned those kisses, she could see the stars from the night before, how they all sparkled above them as they shared their first kiss in the sand. Now here they were just a day later, giving everything they had to one another as sweat began to develop on their faces, their chests, their backs—everywhere as Rey thrust down onto his cock.

Swears left her mouth at a rapid-fire pace as rode him on her mattress, the bed creaking in protest with every single thrust. A part of her feared that the damn thing would break if they weren't careful, but she ignored that part, putting all of her attention into seeking her release, to finding that peak Ben had nearly brought her to a minute ago with his fingers.

Ben slowly broke away from her mouth, and she felt him kissing away the beads of sweat that had started to gather on her neck, causing her to cry out as his lips pressed firmly against the sensitive skin there. He then pulled away from her neck, his hands gripping her back a little more tightly as he met her in a particularly deep thrust, one that had them both moaning at a volume she could guarantee half the base could hear as they kept going.

At least, they tried to. They both had to stop for a minute after that because Rey started to giggle, which caused Ben to giggle in turn. For a beautiful, glorious moment that seemed to be frozen in time, she collapsed against his chest, letting him hold her as they both laughed obnoxiously from the sounds they'd just made.

It felt like ages before she pulled away, and looked into his eyes again, brushing a piece of his hair back from his sweat covered forehead. "Are you okay?" she asked with another giggle.

Ben nodded, then he stifled another laugh as he replied, "Never better, now can we get back to business?"

"If this is what you call business I'd be delighted to know what you think of as pleasure," Rey muttered, then they both burst into another round of laughter that took them several minutes to calm down from. It wasn't until she slowly began to grind down onto him again that they stopped laughing—at least enough to keep going—and once again resumed their previous, wonderful task.

His lips reunited with hers after that, sending her reeling and nearly rendering her putty in his hands as he continued to steal her oxygen away from her. For someone so inexperienced, Ben Solo certainly made love to her like he'd been doing it for years, as if he were a well-versed expert in the things she liked. She could only wonder if she was having the same effect on him.

They were moving much more quickly now than they had been at the start, their movements becoming more erratic, much less put together as time went on, and Rey found herself struggling to maintain a steady rhythm with him. It was taking far too much brain work to keep up, so she let herself go, grinding down on top of him without any particular sort of grace as she brought them both closer and closer to their climaxes.

It was then that Ben broke their kiss to whisper into her ear, "Rey, I think I'm close," he warned her, gasping as she moved down on him again. "I'm really close."

"Me too," she said breathlessly, then she kissed him again, ending any chance at conversation as she continued to ride him until she felt that pressure building inside of her burst. Not even ten seconds later she came on his cock with a shout—almost causing her to miss when he tumbled over the edge with her, his fingers gripping her back almost bruisingly as he came.

She shuddered and gasped his name the entire time as she rode out her orgasm on top of him, and after a few seconds she could feel Ben's breath ghost against the skin of her chest as he leaned his forehead against her once he was completely spent. It was then that Rey came to a stop above him, and she took his face in her hands again as she kissed him intensely, tasting a mixture of their sweat on his lips as she pulled his head back a little, allowing her tongue better access as it swept into his mouth. Ben groaned against her as he returned the kiss, then he adjusted his grip on her as he lowered her to the mattress so that he was on top of her once more.

He broke the kiss as he pulled out of her, and she nearly whimpered at the loss of contact before he moved back over her, leaning down to press a gentle, soft kiss to her forehead. Rey was already breathing hard, but her lungs picked up their demanding pace as he pulled away again, and simply stared at her for a moment, a look of fear growing in his eyes all of a sudden. "Are you okay?" she asked, looking up at him in concern.

"This… this couldn't have started anything, could it?" he asked, his voice more quiet than she'd ever heard it.

Rey quickly caught onto his meaning, and she shook her head. "No, no, I have an implant. We're safe, I promise," she whispered, then he relaxed, his weight pressing into her in a way that warmed comforted her in the afterglow.

"Good, I realized I forgot to ask before," he said with a nervous laugh. "Sorry."

She smiled at him as her fingers gently stroked his hair. "Don't be. I… Ben that was absolutely perfect."

"Yeah?"

"Definitely," she said with a giggle. "But, Ben?"

"Hmm?"

"Next time I think we need to take Rose's advice. We're using your room from now on."

"From now on?" he repeated, a hopeful tone in his voice as he stared down at her.

"Of course from now on," she replied, grinning at him as she began to pull him down to her again. "Ben, we spent enough time avoiding this already. We have an awful lot of catching up to do."

Ben looked like he was going to burst into tears at that, but he smiled brightly at her instead, and leaned his forehead against hers. "I love you."

She returned the smile as her hand drifted down to his cheek. "I love you, too," she said, then she leaned up, and kissed her soulmate again. He'd once told her she wasn't alone, and as she and Ben lay naked in her bed, kissing slowly like they had all the time in the world—and not just the hour Rose Tico had given them—she was finally realizing he was right. She would never be alone again.