Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Rey has been waiting in line for what feels like forever.

For some reason, there’s only a single stall that inhabits the girl’s locker room.

Despite the inconvenience, she’s grateful for it’s existence.

She’d rather die than change in front of all these people.

She’s not a prude or anything but she has absolutely no desire to know what Misty Reed’s areolas look like.
She doesn’t want to know what color Keisha’s thong is, and she definitely doesn’t want to know if Genevieve Kimber trims her fucking pubes or not.

No thank you.

She keeps her eyes glued to the stall door to avoid seeing any of her peer’s genitalia.
Said door has been thoroughly vandalized, barely any unmarked space on it.

Everyday after third period while she waits to change in private, she plays the same game.

She locates as many additions to the door as she can until it’s her turn.

Today’s pickings are slim, but she manages to find a quote that wasn’t there yesterday, and a few crude penis drawings.

She scoffs, how original.

The quote however, makes her stop and think.

“Everything is a lie. Nothing is permanent.”

Seems dumb and kinda revolutionary at the same time, If that’s even possible.
Like one of those try hard poems that you wanna make fun of so bad, but you never stop thinking about it once you’ve read it a couple times.

She ponders at it’s significance while pulling at the hem of her school issued gym shorts.

That’s when she hears the faint voices.

They’re coming from deep within the hall of unused showers, followed by the telltale aroma of menthol cigarettes.

Rey strains to hear what they’re saying.
Something about Principal Organa-Solo, affectionately dubbed Mrs. O by the majority of the student body.

She wants the tea, so she decides to investigate.

Reluctantly, Rey steps out of line, forfeiting her spot to eavesdrop.

She’s not the slightest bit guilty.

Nothing else happens in this fucking town, the least she deserves is some decent goss.

She darts into a shower close to the voices, careful not to make too much noise.

The bittersweet aroma of cigarettes invades her nostrils and she feels her fingers itching for one.

Fuck, would now be a bad time to bum a cig?

Probably.

“Yeah, apparently they sent him away a couple years ago. Couldn’t handle him.”

“Mrs. O? No fucking way.”

“Right!? That’s what I said.”
The girl pauses, assumingely to take a drag, then continues.

“Least that’s what my dad told me.
Said her son has always been a problem child. Apparently he got really rebellious during middle school, beat some kid up so bad he almost died.”

There’s several soft gasps after this statement, Rey barely contains her own.

“I fucking know right.”
“And he’s coming here!?”
Someone asks meekly. Rey gapes behind the shower curtain.

“Yeah, I dunno when he’s starting but hes definitely coming here.”
There’s a pregnant pause.

“Bet he’s fucking hot.” A girl quips.

“I call dibs.” Another pipes in.

“No fair, you know I can’t resist a bad boy!”

The girls shriek with muffled laughter.
Rey imagines them haphazardly waving their cigarettes around as their shoulders shake.

She flattens against the wall when she hears them gathering their belongs, their sneakers squeaking on the pink tiles as they pass her.

“You’re all a bunch of fucking sluts.
I love you bitches.”

Rey smiles at the vulgar exchange.
Such a beautiful friendship.
It reminds her that her friends are probably wondering where she is.

Rey is never late for lunch.

One of the girls tosses her cigarette butt and it lands by Rey’s feet.

Maybe there is a god.

She takes advantage of the private shower and changes back into her clothes.

A pair of jeans, a black crop top, and an oversized flannel that she’s paired with her worn brown boots.

She takes a few drags of the cigarette, basking in the haziness it induces, before snuffing it out on the tile wall and dropping it into her breast pocket for later.

The locker room is deserted when she emerges.

She shoves her clothes into her gym locker, slams it shut with all her might.

The damn thing never wants to fucking close.

Then she sprints out of the locker room, still reeling from her recent discoveries.

“Miss Niima, no running in the halls!”
She doesn’t even look to see who it is.

Rey just keeps on runnin.

Chapter Text

Rey manages to snag the last slice of sausage pizza, thank you very much.

She smiles smugly at the girl who wasn’t fast enough to get it before piling her tray with as many sides as she’s allowed.

After she’s satisfied, she scans the crowded cafeteria, looking for the familiar faces of her friends.

No such luck inside, she pushes open the doors to the courtyard and spots them instantly.
They got a good table today, outside away from the majority of the chaos.
Rey walks towards them with purpose.

“Hey.” She greets, sliding into the seat beside Rose.

“Look who decided to show up. You smell like cigarettes.” Rose grunts disapprovingly, scooting away a few inches.

“All poets do.” Rey grins, throwing her arms around her best friend.

“Eh, if you say so.”

Finn and Poe barely acknowledge her presence.
Poe has the nerve to gives her a small nod and Finn waves before turning back to Poe and picking up their conversation.

Rude.

They’re talking about football tryouts, which are apparently this Friday.
Rey clears her throat before speaking loudly enough to grab their attention.

“Wait, if you guys make the team, does that mean I have to go to your games?”

Rose snorts at their appalled expressions, shoving Rey with her elbow.

“Obviously.” Poe states as Finn gives her an intentional blank stare.
He’s so over her shit, Rey smiles, satisfied with herself.

“Well then, I hope you both fuck up.”
She’s only slightly joking and they know it.
There’s a quiet pause before they all burst into laughter, Rey snorting uncontrollably.
From there they fall into their usual lunchtime banter.

Catching up, gossiping, and cracking jokes.
Rey saves the best of the gossip for last.

She tells them all about what she heard in the girls locker room today in great detail.

“Yeah I didn’t even know she had a son!” Rey finishes up her bit then promptly shovels food into her mouth.

“Now that you mentioned it, I do slightly remember a Ben Solo when I was growing up.”

Rose tells us about Ben, how he seemed like a normal quiet kid until middle school.
Rose’s memories are vague but they seem to match up with what the girls in the locker room were saying.

“I can’t believe they’re letting him come to school here.”

Finn seems uneasy about the whole thing.
“Well his mom is the principal.” Poe offers.

“I can’t believe Principle O would send her kid away like that.”

Rey pushes away her tray, her appetite suddenly gone.

Everyone picks up on her train of though in an instant. The mood darkening as she’s plunged back into her childhood, if you can even call it that.

Rain, lots and lots of rain.
So cold in a coat that was far too thin for the weather.
Too young to remember everything but quite too old not to remember.
A father that abandoned her before she was even born, a mother who did so not too much later.
No she can’t do this, not here and not now.

“Just makes me look at her a little differently, yaknow?”
She toys with the plastic ring on her finger. They’d all gotten one from the little quarter machine at the mall and it’s quickly become one of her most prized possession.

“Reybie.” Rose murmurs softly.

Rose gives her that look.
The one where she looks as if she’s feeling every single emotion that you are, the one where she looks as if she might burst into tears just because you’re feeling blue.

Fucking empath.

“Hey don’t think like that. This situation is completely different than yours.” Finn offers.

“You know Mrs. O would have tried her damn hardest before doing something like that. The kid is probably like super fucked up if that was even an option.”

Poe shrugs after contributing his bit.

“Yeah you’re right.” Rey admits.

Poe and Finn start competitively chugging down their cartons of milk, Rey gags as it dribbles down their chins.

Finn finishes half a second before Poe and throws his arms up in victory, smirking at Rey.

“What Niima? Gotta keep our bones strong for football.”

Rose snorts, rolling her eyes before schooling them.

“You do realize that milk actually has nothing to do with the development of your bones, right?”

They both ignore her, gathering all the empty milk cartons at the table and folding the sides in before setting them on the ground.

“Oh god. Not the milk bombs.”
Rose covers her ears.

They both stand up eagerly and jump down onto the cartons, the little explosions the milk cartons make are really loud, Rey is always oddly surprised by it.

Their milk bombs trigger the other students around them and before they know it there’s several people setting them off at once.

Rey’s ears are ringing as she takes in the spectacle before her.

Her peers jumping on milk cartons, grinning like crazy people.

Moments like these are oddly what make her appreciate this place.

Several teachers rush into the courtyard to put a stop to the behavior, everyone scrambles, trays forgotten as they rush into the building through various doors.

They can’t catch them all.

Rose grabs Rey’s hand, Finn and Poe follow close behind as they escape the clutches of the security guards and scandalized teachers.

They laugh so hard it hurts, clutching at their stomachs as they slip out of the side door in the gymnasium.

They file into Finn’s beat up station wagon and listen to music for the remainder of lunch.

Rose reads her serial killer book, Finn and Poe won’t shut up about football.

With permission, Rey lights the rest of her cigarette. Rose scrunches her nose and rolls her window all the way down but she doesn’t complain, surprisingly.

The sunlight filters in through the windows, the air smells like freshly cut grass and she can just barely make out the sound of the track team’s footsteps as they run laps around the football field.

“Hey guys?”
They all stop what they’re doing to look at her.
Finn and Poe craning their necks from the front of the car.
Rose titling hers slightly, her black hair like a sheet over her shoulder.

“You’re all a bunch of fucking sluts.
I love you bitches.”

Rose looks appalled, her little mouth hanging open. Finn doesn’t seem sure how to respond.

“Love you too whore.”
Poe, however, is eager to respond.

“Yeah, love you, you little cum slut.”

Rose’s cheeks are tinted pink as she speaks the vulgar words.
Such a weirdo, she’s obsessed with serial killers but blushes when she cusses.

“Yeah love you too anal princess.”
Finn screams a little too loudly.

“Hey, that’s anal queen to you!”
Rey retorts, the remainder of their lunch is spend throwing vulgar insults at each other and her heart is warm in her chest.

Maybe these are the best years of her life after all.

Chapter Text

The rest of Rey’s school day is pretty uneventful. She starts a new poem in fourth hour that she’s really proud of, her teacher even uses it as an example for the class.

Rey truly believes that Mrs. Whitman
wouldn’t know real poetry if it slapped her in the face, but maybe she’s finally figuring it out.

She laughs to herself, then continues drawing little people on the margins in her college ruled notebook till the bell rings.

The rest of her classes go by in a blur, a few homework assignments here, a couple reading assignments there.
She uses her free period to finish most of it since she has a shift at Maz’s Diner tonight.

It’s a rundown, seedy little burger joint right off the highway, but it’s one of the only stable things in her life.

At this point she could run the place if she wanted to.
She doesn’t dare let Maz hear her say that though.

The final bell rings and she shoves her way to her locker, well Rose’s locker.
Rey hasn’t used hers since the first week of the school year due to its undesirable location.

Rose’s locker is clean as a whistle and Rey does her best to keep it that way so she doesn’t get kicked out.
She uses the designated book rack, Rose has so kindly provided for her, at the bottom of the locker.

She grabs her worn Jan-sport backpack just as her friends round the corner, bouncing on her heels as they gather their belongs.

“Hey Finn, can you drop me off at Maz’s?”

Finn nods, “Yeah of course.”
Rey always feels guilty about asking him for rides but he doesn’t seem to mind all that much.

“Thank you, I swear I’m gonna have enough for a car soon. I’m soooo close.”

Rey has been saving the majority of her checks since she started working for Maz at fifteen, under the table of course.
As soon as she turned sixteen she was hired officially and put on the payroll, it was a pretty pivotal day in her life.

Four years later and she’s still there, flinging patties, waiting tables, ringing out customers.

She does it all, and she makes pretty decent money for a high schooler with no bills.

Her most recent placement makes it harder to get to work, but Rey deals with it. She takes the bus and a train there and back if Finn can’t give her a ride because it’s what she has to do.

Finn drops everyone off and they say their goodbyes before heading to Maz’s.

On the ride there, they listen to the radio while Rey all but sticks her head out the window, the breeze rushing past her.

Finn double parks and Rey rolls her eyes as she gets out of the car, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

“See yah Finn, thank you!”
“No prob.”

There’s surprisingly a handful of cars in the parking lot.
Finn stays till she gets her foot in the door like real friends do.

Maz’s is long, wide, and the front of the diner is composed of mostly floor to ceiling windows. Most of the booths are pressed against them and she can see a couple of customer seated there.

The bell above the door jingles when she opens it and Maz beams at her from behind the counter.

The floors are obnoxiously checkered and Rey always feels a little dizzy when she walks in.
It smells like bacon, coffee, and cigarettes, Rey breaths it in greedily. Smells like home.

Most of the walls are full of trash, precious trash.
Fallen street signs, hubcaps, and old records that Rey had a knack for finding when she was younger.

They suit the place, she always feels proud when she looks at them.

She imagine it’s what it feels like when a parent hangs your drawing or a test you aced on the fridge.

None of her foster parents have done that for her before, feels good.

Rey is a little early so she plops down on one of the stools at the counter, she wishes she had a cellphone so bad.

She stares longingly at the teen eating with her parents, the girl’s fingers glide across her cellphone screen as she laughs at something unknown to the occupants of the diner.

Must be nice.

Rey wonders what it would be like to be able to text her friends when they’re not around, maybe she’d even make a Facebook or something.

She makes a mental note to save for a cellphone after her car. House phones are only good for so much.

Maz finishes up with her customer and stands in front of Rey.

“Coffee? We gotta long night ahead of us.”

The diner is open 24 hours, they tend to get most of their business overnight due to their location by the highway.

Lots of people just passing by, some more questionable than others, but hey as long as they’re paying Rey doesn’t necessarily care what they’ve been up.

It’s Friday and she can only work this late on the weekends because of school.
After a full day of school she’s already missing her bed, so she happily accepts the mug.

She dumps an ungodly amount of sugar into it and at least five of those little cream containers before gulping it down.

After her first cup of many, Rey heads to the back and hangs her backpack on the hooks off to the side of the kitchen.

She ties her apron around her waist and joins Maz behind the counter.

They seem adequately staffed so it doesn’t look like she’ll be needed in the kitchen tonight, good.

She’s a front of house kinda girl anyway.

“There she is, look at you. I still can’t believe you graduate this year.” Maz rasps.

Rey always jokes that Maz has been smoking since she was three years old, and you can definitely hear it in the older woman’s voice.

“I can definitely believe it, it’s been a long three years. Been to every high school in this city, but I’m almost there.”

Rey scrubs at a stain on the counter as Maz smiles ruefully.
She knows all about Reys bumpy journey through the state’s foster care system.

Rey was just a twiggy little thing when she started hanging around.

Her foster home at the time was in the trailer park behind the diner and she spent as much time away from it as she could.
Most of her time was spent in the booth at the back of Maz’s Diner.

Maz didn’t know her story then but she could tell something was up.

So Maz did what she does best, she intervened.

Slowly gaining the girls trust with kind words and milkshakes was a lot easier than she had originally thought.

The girl sought out praise like her life depended on it, like she’d never gotten it in her life.

It made Maz sick.

She watched as she was passed from family to family, and because of it forced to switch schools so much it made her own head spin.

She can’t even imagine what Rey must’ve felt like, so Maz does her best to stay present and stable for her.

This place probably would have been shut down a long time ago if it wasn’t for Rey.

When Maz noticed how beneficial the diner was to Rey, she did everything she could to get the place up to code.

They extended their hours, remodeled what they could, updated the menu and the customers came flooding in.

She doesn’t regret it one bit, watching her grow up into the unique, strong willed young woman that she is today was all worth it, even if she is a brat at times.

“M’so proud of yah. Am I invited to the graduation?” Maz asks cheekily.

Rey rolls her eyes, then promptly glares, her eyes little slits in her face.

“Are you invited? Of course you are Maz, what kinda questi-“

The younger girl mumbles angrily to herself as she walks off balancing a stack of plates in her left hand, an empty coffee pot in her right.

Maz just smiles.

So much sass, so little time.

She tries not to think about what this place will be like without the little spitfire.

The train ride goes by surprisingly fast.
It’s nearly midnight, so Rey manages to snag an empty train car all to herself.
She sprawls across a bench meant for four.

Rey marvels at the landscapes flying by through the glass windows.

They go by so fast that she can barely take them in, but oh how she tries.

She gets off at her stop, keys lodged between her fingers, while she makes the short walk.

She refuses to call it home cause it’s not.

The door is unlocked when she gets there and she pushes it open and lets it slam behind her.

No need to be quiet, nobody cares anyway.

He’s passed out drunk in his chair, the TV blaring loudly with mock gunfire.

Anai, the young girl that she’s placed in this foster home with, is coloring on the ground in front of the TV.

Her big innocent eyes glued to the violence playing out before her.

Rey shudders as those eyes look up at her.
The girls cheeks are dirty and she smells like she needed to be changed hours ago.

Poor baby.

Anai’s hair is still in the haphazard buns that Rey did before leaving for school this morning. It’s unsettling how much the girl reminds her of herself at that age.

She shakes the thought from her mind.

“Wey.” The girl reaches for her, her bottom lip trembling.

Rey rushes to pick her up, purposely bumping into his chair.
She revels in the way that his body jerks as a result.

God what is wrong with her?
No, what’s wrong with him.

He usually has the decency to put the baby in her crib before he blacks out.

It’s definitely more than a little concerning for Rey to come home to the little girl in this state.

She knows it probably won’t end well, but she needs to talk to him about it.

“Shh it’s okay, I’m here now. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

Rey changes Anai’s diaper and gives her a
quick bath before scrounging up a decent meal to cook for them.

Anai hums happily in her high chair as she smashes the remainder of her late dinner with her little deathly fists.

Rey wanders into the living room, picking up the girls mess of crayons and construction paper.

She spots a drawing that the girl had been working on, it’s a crude drawing of two stick figures.

A tiny one and one that’s slightly larger in scale. They both have buns (brown scribbles on either side of their heads) and they’re holding hands.

Tears well up in Rey’s eyes, the drawing is of her and Anai.

Rey marches right over to the fridge and sticks it there.

She may have lost her chance at a normal childhood, but it’s not too late for Anai.

Chapter Text

“Did you know that Ed Gein made a pair of leggings out of human leg skin?”

Rey gives her bestfriend a tight lipped smile, then replies.

“Um?” She then drops her plastic spoon into her bowl of soggy cereal.

“No I didn’t, but thank you for that beautiful bit of information.”

Rose goes back to reading her weird book of the week.

It’s a little bit before classes start and they’re at breakfast.

The cafeteria is oddly subdued this time of day.

It’s like a parallel universe compared to the very same room at lunchtime.

Rose has been really fucking weird all morning, Rey thinks it’s because she misses Finn and Poe.

The boys have been spending their mornings and free periods practicing.
They actually have a pretty good chance of making the team.

They would never admit it, but they’re both having FinnPoe withdrawals.

Rose puts her book down and stares longingly at the milk cartons on the table, dreaming of milk bombs, the poor thing.

“Hey, what if we joined a club!?” Rose offers earnestly.

Rey grimaces,
“I don’t know Rose, I’m not really a ‘clubs’ kinda girl. Plus I have a job.”

Rose huffs, “Please Rey, most of the clubs only meet once a week and I’m sure Maz will understand. It’s senior year!”

Rey crosses her arms and rolls her eyes, but one look at Rose’s quivering lip and she knows she can’t possibly say no.

“Fine but nothing even remotely close to being a sport, and no fucking anime club.” Rose grins.

“Deal.”

They shake pinkies then Rose is off in pursuit of the perfect club for the two.

Rey sinks into her chair, pulling her canvas bag up to use as a makeshift pillow.

Hmmm, soft.

Maybe she’ll just stay here instead of going to class today.

She gets an odd feeling and tries her best to ignore it. It’s like a weird tingling, an itch she can’t quite locate.

Some weird ass sixth sense shit.

Her head perks up just as he walks into the room.

Fuck

She’s never seen him before but she just fucking knows it’s him.

She feigns nonchalant as she discreetly gawks at him.

He’s beautiful.

Rugged, teeming with danger, and way out of her league, but oh so beautiful.

His luscious black hair reaches his shoulders and it’s all mussed and god she wants to run her fingers through it.

He’s got such a good face too, all soft and sharp at the same time.
An elegant nose that she wants to nuzzle her and don’t even get her started on those plush lips.

And right in the middle of it all is a gnarly scar, like someone tried their best to slice his head in half.

She frowns, deeply upset by the fact that someone somewhere had willingly cut this perfect person.

That had to hurt, bad

She wants to know what happened, wants to know everything about him.

The cut crosses his right eye and goes down past the collar of his black sweater.

She wonders just how far it goes, shaking the though from her mind she continues taking him in.

She could get lost in those deep set amber eyes, wants them to be the last thing she sees before she dies.

Fuck, this is bad.

Suddenly very overwhelmed, she jerks up. She’s gotta get out of here.

Bad idea, the sudden movement catches his attention. His eyes land on her and she freezes like he’s a wild animal she’s encountering in the wilderness.

He seems smug as he takes her in, like he knows something she doesn’t.

Rey sure as hell doesn’t stick around to figure out what it is, leaving the cafeteria in a haste.

She considers going to first hour for all of thirty seconds.

Instead, she heads to the gymnasium where she slips out of the gym doors with ease. There’s no way she would be able to focus on anything but him at the moment anyway, let alone America government.

Barf.

She runs over to the cluster of mobiles and plops down on the black concrete. She’s tucked between two of the mobiles near the dumpsters and she’s fucking shaking.

He hasn’t even said one word to her and he’s already thrown her world off it’s axis.

It’s those fucking eyes, no it’s everything all at once.

With shaking hands, Rey reaches into her purse to grab the cig she’d ‘borrowed’ from Maz the other day.

What the old woman doesn’t know, can’t hurt her.

She fumbles around for her lighter, head basically tucked inside of her tote.

“Need a light?”

Her eyes are wide and frantic as she looks up.

It’s him, Ben.

Not to be dramatic but she’s pretty sure she loves his voice more than she loves her favorite song.

His voice shoots right from her ears to her cunt and she discreetly clenches her legs together.

Fuck. Holy shit, it’s him.

He’s looking down at her so intensely that she forgets that she needs to actually breathe and takes a shuddering breath.

He’s sooooo tall.
His legs are thick, and his shoulders are broad as fuck.

How is this guy still in high school?

Her gaze unknowingly lingers on his crotch as she nibbles on her lip nervously.

“Yes. Please.” She manages after an embarrassingly long pause.

Ben sits down right beside her, his thigh pressing against hers. He’s so much bigger than her, like twice her size, it shouldn’t turn her on as much as it does.

She blushes ferociously as his eyes bore into her.

The flick of his lighter clears the fog from her head.

He has a dangerous gleam in his eyes, Rey places her cigarette between her lips and leans forward, letting him light it for her.

No one has ever lit her cigarette for her before and she feels like a princess or something.

“Good girl. Smoke up.”

Nicotine be dammed, Rey feels pure bliss following his praise.

She wants to show him just how good she can be for him.
She takes a long drag and blows the smoke up into the air, watching it drift away.

When she looks back over at Ben, he gives her a boyish grin.

She’s so enamored by his smile (especially that cute little chipped tooth) that she fails to notice how close the cherry is to her finger.

She feels the dull throb of the burn and drops the cigarette completely, just barely missing her leg.

“Fuck, ouch, ah.” She hisses.

She’s already pouting, her eyes glistening as she brings her finger to her mouth to
lick her wound.

Rey dips it into her mouth reveling in the instantaneous relief that it gives her.

“Such a clumsy girl, huh?” He looks at her expectantly, she nods slowly.

His hand comes to rest on her thigh, it covers the entirely of it. His arm is strong and thick, his fingers are long and wide.

He’s so much bigger than her, like twice her size, it shouldn’t turn her on as much as it does.

Rey sits obediently as he takes her wet finger from her mouth and puts it in his.

Oh my god, I’m gonna die

His warm tongue twirls around the tip of her finger and she can’t help the moan that falls from her lips.

“I, uh , mmm, thank you.”
She has no idea why she’s allowing this. A little of his spit drips down her finger, it’s obscene how badly she wants to taste it.

Is that weird?

He seems content to suck away at her
finger for the rest of the day but after a few minutes she pulls away.

She can’t even feel the burn anymore, her mind elsewhere.

“All better?” He asks casually, as if he didn’t just have her finger in his mouth.

She gives an affirmative grunt, she honestly can’t even remember how to talk at this moment.

Ben picks up her fallen cigarette, he lights it again and Rey reaches for it, her hand trembling.

“Ah ah, can’t have you getting hurt again little doe.” He holds the cigarette just out of her reach.

She shudders at the pet name, makes her feel tiny and innocent.

He turns the cigarette for her, offering her the end that’s not lit.

“I’ll hold it for you sweetheart, here.”

Rey is utterly captivated, she leans forward without hesitation.

It’s a lot more sensual than she expects, him holding the cigarette as she smokes it.

Her panties are fucking soaked after just a few puffs. He’s looking at her like he wants to eat her up, like she’s something precious and priceless.

“There you go, such a good girl. What’s your name baby?”

“R-rey.”

“That’s a pretty name, it suits you.”

“Thank you.” She tucks a wayward curl behind her ear.

“You’re Ben, right?” She speaks his name like a prayer.

He stiffens just slightly, if she wasn’t completely fixated on him she would have missed it.

He coaxes her into taking another drag before replying.

“I go by Kylo now.”

She huffs, “I like Ben.” She admits softly, she’s fucking pouting.

He quirks a brow at her little tantrum, very amused.

He brings her cigarette to his lips and takes a slow drag, savoring the flavor.

“You can call me Ben. But only you, Kay?”

Only me

“Kay.” She perks up, having gotten her way, then leans forward waiting for him to place the cigarette to her waiting lips.

His eyes never leave her mouth as she takes her final drag.

After they’re done with the cigarette, Ben just gets up, “Nice to meet you, little doe.” and leaves.

What the fuck just happened

Chapter Text

First time seeing his parents in three years and they won’t even look at him.

He’s standing In front of the very last door separating him from the world and It’s in this exact moment that it really sinks in, that he’s leaving.

That he’s going home.

He can see them now, through the small window in the top right corner of the door.

Leia and Han, he hasn’t called them mom and dad since elementary school.

He doesn’t know if he can stomach starting now, pride and such.

He gulps, his adam’s apple bobbing in his throat.

All the emotions he’s been repressing all these years threaten to rip their away out of him unbidden.

Officer Snoke roughly pushes him through the door, he’s grateful for the distraction. Brings him out of his turbulent thoughts.

Ben rights himself just in time to avoid falling on his face, with his hands cuffed behind his back, it wouldn’t have been pretty.

His face is already a lost cause as it is, with his scar, he surmises.

When he looks up, they’re right in front of him.

No one says a word.

They look good, Leia’s wearing a proper pantsuit, with her hair piled in elegant braids atop her head.

Han’s wearing a crisp button up with his khakis.

Not a wrinkle in sight, since when did he start ironing his clothes?

They’re standing close together, and they don’t look disgusted with each other.
Ben notices that they’re holding hands, his mother clinging to her husband for dear life.

They haven’t held hands since he was a boy, hated each other for most of his childhood.

They almost got divorced, twice.

Sending him away did wonders for their relationship, it seems.

“Ben. Hi son.” His father is the first to speak, he croaks it out.

Hearing his old name hurts him physically.
Like a punch to the gut. It’s surprising that he doesn’t double over.

Ben is dead, he’d killed him himself.

Buried that part of him and Kylo had risen from the ashes.

He doesn’t mean to sound as harsh as he does but he can’t help it. His walls are higher than ever, he’s never been this close to breaking and he has to do something about it.

Has to turn it all off, somehow.

“It’s Kylo.”
He’s defensive from the start and he regrets it instantly.

His mother flinches.

His father just stands there, an accepting look on his face as he nods at his only child in understanding.

“Kylo, got it.”

Snoke unlocks the chain on his wrists and the ones holding his pale ankles together.

The loud clank of the metal hitting the floor seems to echo for far too long in the otherwise silent room.

Ben rubs at the newly exposed skin, red and indented due to being cuffed too tightly, compliments of officer Snoke.

Leia doesn’t know how to handle the situation, truthfully.

She doesn’t even know what to say, she can handle a school of 400 teenagers but doesn’t even know where to start with her own son.

She wishes she could go back in time, maybe things wouldn’t be like this if she’d been a better mother.

Maybe if she wasn’t so focused on trying to save her loveless (at the time) marriage things would be different.
Maybe if she let him get that puppy he’d always wanted, maybe if she sent him to the other middle school in town.

The list of scenarios is never ending, she spends countless hours thinking them up.

She offers him a weak smile, he turns away, his mouth set in a deep scowl.

It stings, but she deserves it, she tells herself.

She deserves all of it.

They finish up Ben’s paper work and they’re out the door.

The car ride is as awkward as he expects, all things considered.

He folds himself into the backseat of his mom’s car.

It’s a tight squeeze, he’s grown a lot in the last couple of years, getting too big for the backseat of her Prius.

It’s still got that stain from where he spilled his red slushy all those years ago.
He blinks back tears.

It’s all too much, the nostalgia of being in the backseat of this car again, being outside of that building for the first time in years, seeing his parents.

However, he doesn’t know if he’s completely stable if a stain is what finally brings tears to his eyes.

Some pop song plays quietly in the background but still the silence is overwhelming.

Leia’s hand trembles as she turns the knob, increasing the volume.
The silence is still louder.

Not even Han has anything to say.
He always has something witty or borderline offensive to say.

She looks back at him in the rear view mirror, their eyes meet.

Neither of them except it, both of their guards are down.

They don’t look away.

He doesn’t want to acknowledge what he sees there.

Wants to shove it out of his head, it doesn’t matter, but doesn’t it?

Regret, so much regret it’s seeping out of her.

Shame, unbearable shame.

Not a glimmer of hope.

She knows her son, Ben, is gone.

She clutches the steering wheel, her knuckles white, eyes straight ahead.

Tears trail down her cheeks the whole way home, she doesn’t wipe them away.

No one says a word.

The house looks exactly how it did his last day here.

It’s kinda creepy, like everything’s been frozen all this time.

Same beige couch, same throw pillows, same rug.

Their family portrait from when he was a kid is hung over the mantle, he’d thought they’d have taken it down after the incident.

The house smells how it always does, like cinnamon brooms and that spearmint cleaner Leia likes.

“You do remember where your room is right, kid?” Han jokes softly.

Ben just nods and starts towards the stairs, his feet moving on their own accord.

Two steps at a time, skip the second to last stair, it creaks.

“Good night.”
He stops at the top of the stairs.

It’s the first thing Leia’s said to him.
She sounds like she wants to say so much more.

He looks down at them from his perch, he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do.

Needs time alone to figure out this new dynamic.

His old room is even worse, it’s like a time capsule.
He closes the door soon after opening it, doesn’t even go in.
He can’t sleep in there, too many memories he’s not ready to face.

He heads down the hall to the guest room. He throws his bag on the desk, kicks off his shoes, crawls into bed.

Finally, he’s alone.

No cameras, no cell mate, no officers lurking nearby.

No parents with eyes full of regret and tears.

Just him and all of his baggage.

And for the first time in three years, he cries.

Chapter Text

It’s 5am or something like that. Ben is on the top of some hill in some park that’s definitely not open right now.

The sky is fucking beautiful, all dusky and pinkish orange ombré. The wind is howling, whipping past his face painting his cheeks and the tips of his ears red.

The hill overlooks a body of water that’s too small to be a lake but too big to be a pond. The breeze ripples across the surface and Ben shudders in reverence.

It’s fucking beautiful, feels like he’s in a dream or something.

Everything’s so clear and vibrant.

The sun is just starting to rise. The warm glow feels like a caress on his pale skin.

It’s almost as beautiful as how fucking free he feels right now.

Up here on this hill at the crack of dawn, just cause he wanted to, just cause he can.

That’s truly the thing that he’s still marveling over, that he’s free and he can do what he pleases.

Freedom is fucking intoxicating.

He’s been out for a couple of days now, the first being the absolute hardest.

It took him some time but he’s finally figuring out who he is again, and remembering how to be free.

He never realized just how much he took it all for granted. Especially the small stuff, like eating when you want and showering alone.

He’d gone through his bag of reclaimed possessions and found his old wallet filled with a couple of bills and not much else.

He’d promptly went to the sketchiest corner store he could find and bought a pack of Newport 100s.

That first cigarette had been like a breath of fresh air, ironically enough.

He found his old iPhone too, cracked but still in working order and Leia got it turned back on.

He’d almost forgotten about his sketch book, the pages still crisp and sticking to each other. He never did get a chance to use it before he got locked up.

Good thing brought it with him today. He flips open to the first page, blank and yearning to be filled, and attempts to capture the scene before him.

For some reason, he doesn’t think he’ll be able to capture just how perfect it is, but he’ll damn well try.

Leia’s a principal now, they want him to go to her school and he’s not really in a position to say no.
It’s just one year anyway.

They want him to join a club too, to keep him off the streets, keep him productive.

He’s actually excited about this aspect. He hadn’t even rolled his eyes when they mentioned it.

He already has a few ideas.

School in Juvie involved being cuffed up and escorted to a classroom just a few doors away.

So yeah, he’s kinda excited to go back to real school, but mostly fucking nervous.

Will it be like the movies? Will he actually be able to make friends? Will he fit in?

He already knows the answer to the last one. He’s gonna stick out like a sore thumb.

Being the principal’s son, being as tall and broad as he is, not to mention the scar and his rocky history.

He’ll be lucky if he can get anyone to look at him, let alone befriend him.

The sun finishes it’s ascension into the sky and Ben closes his sketch book, pleasantly surprised with how well the sketch turned out.

Ben takes the long way home, exploring every trail he comes by. He breathes in the fresh air and by the time he reaches his front door he feels light as air.

“Where have you been?”
Leia questions as soon as he closes the door behind him.

Her forehead is wrinkled and she’s on the couch, pretending to read the newspaper. She hates the newspaper, she’d rather watch it.

“Out.” Ben shucks off his shoes.

“Out where? I didn’t see you leave.”

Course not, he’d climbed right out of the window.

Just because he can, and plus it’s been far too long since he’s done it.

“Weird.” Ben shrugs.

Han enters the room, he’s still in his pajamas, his salt and pepper hair all over the place.

“Leave the boy alone, he came back didn’t he?”

Leia huffs, “I was just worried, that’s all.”

“I’m okay, just enjoying my freedom.”

Leia’s eyes are still fixed on him, she wants to trust him so badly.
She wants the best for him, even if he thinks she’s being overbearing.

“I swear I didn’t do anything.” Ben throws his hands up.

“I believe you, son.” Han announces, striding over to the sofa and sliding next to Leia.

He throws his arm over her shoulder.
Her features soften as she melts into his embrace.

“I do too. Just try to let us know when you’re leaving?”

It’s fair enough, Ben nods.

“Promise I’ll try.”

She seems satisfied with his answer.
His parents snuggle up on the couch, exchanging kisses and caresses.

He scrunches up his face, he doesn’t think he’s ever seen them cuddle up like that.

He’s happy for them, truly.
This is all he wanted growing up, for his parents to truly be together.

It’s awe-inspiring, but it also makes him wish he could take his eyeballs out and wash them.

“Ew, can you wait till I leave the room?”

Han gives a deep chuckle, his mother’s cheeks are tinged pink and she hides in Han’s arms.

Gross.

“Well hurry up and leave kid!”
Han cackles, flinging a throw pillow in Ben’s direction.

He doesn’t even try to hold back the mixture between a scream and laugh that tumbles out of him as the pillow smacks him in the head.

“What the heck, dad!”

Ben sprints up the stairs, smile on his face. He almost feels like a normal teenager in this moment, chastising his parents for excessive PDA.

“Don’t forget, school starts at 8:30 tomorrow!” Leia bellows.

Smooching sounds echo up the stairwell, he gags.

“Yeah, yeah mom! I’ll be there.”

He doesn’t even realize he’d called them ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ until a couple of hours later.

Han and Leia, however, notice immediately.

The next morning Ben is awake before his alarm, he’s pretty sure Leia is still asleep when he heads out.

He’s shaking by the time he gets there. L No matter how many times he imaged what it’ll be like, he truly doesn’t know what to expect and it’s terrifying.

He still keeps his head held high as he walks past the threshold.
He’s so early that the halls are empty save for a couple teachers here and there.

None of them say anything to him but he can tell by the look in their eyes that they already know who he is.

He picks his schedule up from the office and has a look around the building. He’s scoping out the gym when he gets a text from an unknown number.

-Did you make it to school?-

It’s definitely Leia.

He shoots her a quick text letting her know that he is indeed at school. That he’s not selling drugs, stealing candy from little kid, or whatever it is that she thinks he does.

-have a gud 1st day. stay outta trouble kid-

Another text, this one from Han.

The halls are gradually starting to fill up as it nears time for first period. Ben honestly doesn’t know what to do with himself.

Everyone’s off in little groups and he just feels awkward walking around by himself.

He comes across the cafeteria and decides breakfast would be a great way to kill some time.

That’s when he sees her out of the corner of his eyes, she’s checking him out.

She’s got freckles he can see them from all the way across the cafeteria.
Lots of them too, and a cute little button nose with a round face and a perfect pair of pouty lips. Her hair is shoulder length and frames her face in little chocolate curls.

She’s wearing an oversized Ramones T-shirt that comes just above her knees.
She’s got on a pair of tights with far too many runs in them for it to be accidental.

When her eyes meet his she all but jumps up from her seat.

‘What are you running from little doe, have I scared you already?’
He muses to himself.

It’s probably the scar, he shifts his waves to cover it.

Back in Juvie the scar made him look and feel tough, like he could take on anyone or anything.
But out here in the real world it just makes him feel hideous and damaged.

Like he’s so broken inside that it’s manifested as a jagged scar across his face.

If he was in her shoes, he’d probably want to run away too.

His eyes leisurely trail up and down her body as she all but sprints out of the cafeteria.

He’s never felt more like a predator, he’s gotta find her, has to have her.

He doesn’t question it, it’s too primal for that.

He leaves out of the same door that she does, breakfast forgotten.

She paces in front of what he assumes is her first hour, before turning right around and heading towards the gym and right out of the doors.

She doesn’t even notice that he’s following her, she’s so flustered.

‘Am I making her feel like this?’

He’s honestly fucking confused, but flattered.

He ducks out of the gym doors and when he turns the corner between the mobiles her cute little head is buried inside of her suspiciously large bag. She’s got a cig in her left hand and she’s mumbling something to herself.

His heart is pounding in his chest. He doesn’t have a game plan, just knows he has to talk to her. Needs to know her name and everything else about her, preferably.

He slips into the persona of Kylo far too easily.

Mysterious, dark, and commanding.

When he pull out his lighter and offers it, her little pink mouth is parted just slightly and she doesn’t answer him for at least a minute as she just stares up at him.

When she finally does, he presses his leg right up against hers and she doesn’t move away. He’s testing the waters, seeing just how far she’ll let him go.

She’s trembling as he lights the cigarette between her dainty little fingers.

They’re painted robin egg blue and chipped to hell, the color really nice against her bronze skin.

She blinks at him innocently when he lights the cigarette. Thick long lashes just fluttering at him, she’s eating it up.

He wants to eat her up too.

The way she puffs away at her cig is making him delirious. Her plush pink lips are milky with smoke, sending his mind places it’s never been before.

Those hazel puppy dog eyes are gonna be the death of him.

Her eyes linger on his obvious bulge. He shifts slightly, so that it’s more noticeable through his jeans. She’s rubbing her little thighs together and he can’t help but wonder if she’s wearing anything else under that t-shirt.

If she’s soaking her tights or her panties for him.

Good as she is, she’d probably tell him if he asked. So compliant and innocent but he can tell she’s a naughty girl at heart.
Makes him want to take her and make her his. His good girl, kick the shit out of anyone who comes near her.

His heart rate spikes when she burns herself, dropping the cigarette and nearly burning her leg as well in the process.

He tsk’s, his clumsy, careless girl. She shouldn’t look so good on the verge of tears, but she does. She’s all pouts and damp eyes and Ben does his best to ignore his ever growing stiffy.

She dips the tip of her finger into her glistening mouth, pouting all the while. His little baby girl, fuck. He pulls her hand away without even registering it, placing the tip of her finger in his mouth instead.

She tastes like lucky charms and nicotine and he can’t get enough of her. He wants to know what the rest of her tastes like. Wants to drown in her little pink pussy.

He laps and sucks at the digit, swirling his tongue around and around. A little bit of drool slips down his finger and she looks as if she may pass out soon, so he allows her to pull away.

When she catches her breath again, he’s got her cigarette all ready for her. She tries to take it but he pulls it away.

She doesn’t even fuss when he holds the cigarette till she finishes, can’t have his little doll getting hurt again.

Such a good girl, the best girl.

She’s so obedient, her hazel eyes are all glossy and wide, like she’s in a trance.

She leans all the way into him, when she takes a drag. She’s so close she may as well be up on his lap. They alternate, he takes a hit then holds it up to her lips as she takes one and so on and so forth.

It’s the most erotic thing he’s ever experienced, hands down.

Rey, such a pretty name for such a pretty girl. She already knows his name, his old name. She says it like it’s covered in honey, and it’s all sweet and sticky and she can’t get enough of it.

He loves the way her lips curve around his name, makes the three letters sound like music.

She throws a fit when he tells her he goes by ‘Kylo’ now. Such a little brat, his little brat. He’ll let her have her way this time.

He tells her she’s the only one who can call him ‘Ben’, and the look on her face is worth it.

When the cigarette nears it’s end, Ben snuffs it out on the concrete.

Shit, he’s late as fuck for first hour.
His mom is going to kill him.

He jumps up suddenly, says goodbye, and heads back into the building.

Rey is worrying at her bottom lip as she watches him leave, she’s fucking confused and it looks adorable on her.
Looks like she wants to get up and chase after him.

‘Don’t worry little baby, this is only the beginning.’

Ben smirks, knowing that he’s just made quite the first impression.

Chapter Text

Rey is completely drenched.

Her hair is plastered to the sides of her head.

Her toes are cold and surely wrinkled in her sneakers.
She wiggles them to get the blood circulating again.

Her arms are pimpled with goosebumps, and her teeth won’t stop clinking together.

As soon as she stepped off the train, it started raining, pouring really.

She only has herself to blame for not wearing a jacket today.

When she felt the first rain drop, she made a mad dash to the diner but she couldn’t outrun the pelts.

Upon entering the building, Rey wipes her shoes on the doormat, violently.

Somehow, they still manage to squeak the entire way to the counter.

Maz chuckles when she sees the younger girl, soaked and glaring, like it‘s the funniest thing she’s seen in all her years.

“Lookin like a wet dog, drippin’ all over tha place. Get dried up and get ta work, we sure as hell need yah.”

Maz shoos her away and turns back to aid a customer.

Rey hasn’t seen the diner this busy in ages, nearly every booth is full with only a couple of stools open at the counter.

She has absolutely no time for her pre-work coffee. She’s devastated, but the show must go on.

Rey dries up as best as she can. She throws half of her hair up into a bun in hopes that it’ll dry faster, puts her apron on and is clocked in all within record time.

Her mind has been all over the place today, bouncing between worries and topics so fast she can barely focus on reality.

Finances, her home life, her future, and now she’s added Ben to the ever-growing list.

Her head is still spinning from her interaction with him.
She’s not exactly sure what she’s supposed to do about it.

She hasn’t stopped thinking about Ben since he walked away this morning, his saliva still cooling on her finger as it dried.

She had to physically stop herself from sticking that very same finger into her own mouth and licking what was left of him off.

It was a low point for her, borderline depraved and she can’t bring herself to care, or be embarrassed about it for that matter.

She’s never been one for crushes, but at this rate she’s pretty sure she’s obsessed, and yeah, she’s kinda miffed about it.

He’d lit a flame in her heart when he lit that cigarette for her.

No, the flame had already been lit when she saw him in the cafeteria, he’d only added fuel to the fire when he found her by the mobiles.

She shakes her head, an attempt to get him out of it.

It doesn’t fucking work.

Rey waits table after table, barely registering her movements, her body on auto pilot as she toys with the idea of her and Ben, being together?

She doesn’t know but there has to be more.

Just feels right, she can’t be the only one of them who feels this magnetic attraction, right?

Before she knows it, she’s only got an hour and a half left of her shift, time flies when you’re lost in your own thoughts.

The bell hanging over the door chimes while Rey is behind the counter grabbing another coffee pot.

A pretty large group enters, she hopes they’re in her section, a big group usually means a decent tip and she could use the money.

She’s so close to being able to afford a car.

Rey goes about her usual tasks, she’s mid coffee pour when Maz shrieks so loudly that she almost drops the pot of boiling hot liquid on her vans.

She doesn’t even look up, grumbling to herself, as Maz keeps yapping.

Minutes pass and the old woman is still going on, Rey cranes her neck in that direction to see what’s up.

She can’t really make them out from where she is, but it’s a full booth.

At least six people in it. They must be friends of Maz’s.

Rey sees the old woman looking around, she attempts to duck out of her line of vision but Maz sees her anyway.

‘Dammit, so close.’ She mutters to herself.

Maz waves her over with one wrinkled hand and Rey puts on her biggest faux smile.

Upon approaching the table and seeing who's at it, said smile promptly wavers.

It’s fucking Ben, he’s here at the table, gloomy as the weather.

Soon as he sees Rey he brightens up though, sitting straight up in his seat.

“Rey.”

It seems to slip out of his lips without permission.
Sounds rough and needy.

“Ben. Hi!”

She says dreamily.
Her hand shoots up to her head, unconsciously attempting to smooth down her messy damp hair.

She‘s oblivious to the other patrons at the table.

She’s too busy drooling over Ben’s perfect face and she has no intention of stopping anytime soon.

Fuck, out of all days, he comes in when she looks a mess.

After a few seconds of gawking, she takes in the other occupants, who are all looking at the two teens expectantly.

She’s so frazzled she doesn’t even skip a beat upon seeing her Principal gazing back at her.

Mrs. O looks as regal as always, even in the dingy little diner. She’s got a fancy braided updo and a nice blouse on with her jeans.

The man beside her looks a little rough around the edges, he’s got a glint in his eyes and salt and pepper hair.

He’s got the same nose as Ben, rather Ben’s got the older man's nose.
It has to be his dads.

He’s very handsome, if this is what Ben is gonna look like when he’s older....

He doesn’t seem like Mrs. O’s type but judging by the way they’re looking at each other, that doesn’t matter in the slightest.

There’s also two other Men at the booth, one tall and slim his skin the color of coffee with just enough cream.

The other big, broad, and hairy, with skin the same color as his dark chocolate eyes.

The last man is Mrs.O’s brother, Luke.
She’s seen him around school only a handful of times, dropping off coffee for his sister or forgotten paperwork.

She gives her principal a nervous nod, it’s weird seeing her outside of school.

She feels a set of dark eyes burning into her, and turns to look at Ben again.

He’s fucking staring like he’d prefer her over anything on the menu he’s holding in those huge hands of his.

She flushes.

Fuck, his parents are literally right there.
Would it be completely inappropriate to crawl into his lap?

She’s hit with a vivid memory of him sucking and licking her finger.

Him smoking the same cigarette as her. She shudders, she can’t handle it.

“Oh Rey, I didn’t know you worked here!” Leia is the first to speak up, snapping Rey out of her impure thoughts.

“Yup been here a while now, could run the place if I let her, believe me she tries.” Maz offers.

Han chuckles as Rey rolls her eyes up to the ceiling.

“We can leave if you’re uncomfortable.” Leia offers.

“No way, Mrs. O! Principals gotta eat too.”

“Thank fuck, really could use a cuppa joe right now.” Ben's father says on an exhale.

“Language!” Leia elbows him,

“This is Han, my husband.” He salutes Rey, throwing a goofy face in her direction.

“They call me Han Solo Needs Coffee.” Terrible dad joke, if that even counts as a joke, Rey laughs anyway.

Leia rolls her eyes. He gives his wife a satisfied grin and a sloppy kiss on her cheek.

They’re adorable.

“I’m on it.” Rey smiles, slipping into her customer service role easily.

“Anything for you Mrs. O?”

“I’ll have some hot tea, and please call me Leia we’re not at school right now.”

Absolutely not, Rey can’t even imagine calling the woman by her first name.

She gets the other drink orders at the table, before it’s Ben’s turn.

“Sounds good. Can I get anything for you, Ben?” She’s biting her lip innocently, when her thoughts are far from pure.

“Yeah.” He looks her up and down, fuck she wants to run, right into his fucking arms.

Her feelings towards the tall brooding boy have changed significantly since she first laid eyes on him in the cafeteria.

Then she was unprepared, terrified by the idea of him, letting rumors and hearsay shape her perception of him.

That image of him has changed so fast it makes her head spin.

The way he sat down so close to her, held her cigarette so she wouldn’t get hurt again.

He was genuinely worried about her wellbeing. He called her sweet names and made her feel like she mattered and she could cry just thinking about it.

No monster has this much emotion in their eyes, no monster would look at her like this.

“A chocolate milkshake, extra whipped cream, please?” He gazes up through his dark lashes.

It’s her favorite too.

A monster definitely wouldn’t get a chocolate milkshake with extra whipped cream.

“Of course.” She giggles, the two can’t take their eyes off each other.

Rey has taken their drink orders and she’s still standing there, just staring.

“Uh yeah, so, I’ll go get those drinks now!” She all but sprints away from the booth.

Ben is starting to think that maybe, just maybe, there is someone somewhere that truly wants the best for him.

Some angel or god that keeps putting him in these situations where he has the opportunity to make Rey fall for him.

So after his first day of school, when he walks into the rundown diner that his family and himself use to frequent when he was younger and he sees her behind the counter, a little white apron tied around her slim waist, smile on her face as she fills a pot with bitch black coffee.

He shoots a prayer up to whatever deity is listening, and follows his parents over to their favorite booth.

It’s smack dab in the middle of the restaurant, pressed against one of the many floor to ceiling windows.

The view is pretty somber, the highway is cloaked in darkness, the only light being the blurry headlights shining through the rainfall.

He’d left his mark on this booth.

Sharpie doodles, a chewed up piece of gum stuck under the table (that’s he’s both satisfied and disgusted to find still there).

There’s a hole in the vinyl booth from where he’d stabbed it with his mechanical pencil once upon a time ago.

All of these little details, paired with both of his parents sitting right across from him, cause him to freeze as he’s hit with an intense wave of nostalgic deja vu.

That sensation coupled with the perfect view of Rey working away dutifully, it’s like past meeting future.

Cause she is his future, he’s already made up his mind.

“Huh, son?” Both of his parents are gazing at him expectantly.

“Sorry, what?”

“How was your first day!?”

Leia has a knowing glint in her eye, she definitely knows he was late for class today. But, she’s gonna give him the benefit of the doubt.

“It was pretty good. I was late to first hour, got lost.” Leia seems pleased with this response. Two birds, one stone and all.

“Yes, it is a very big school! I’m glad you had a good day sweetheart.”

He cringes at the term of endearment. Since they can’t call him Ben, they’ve settled for calling him everything else.

Pumpkin, kiddo, son, sweetheart, baby, pal.

Anything but Kylo.

“Proud of you, kiddo. Have you put any thought into what club you wanna join?”

He hasn’t. Hasn’t had time to think about anything but Rey.

“Not yet, I wanna feel it out first. That cool?” Han shrugs.

“Sounds good to me, right, Leia?” Han nudges her imploringly.

“Yeah, that’s okay. Just don’t wait too long, okay?” Ben nods in agreement.

“Great! Your uncles should be here soon! Been far too long since we were all together!”

Han whips out his phone and checks his messages, his eyes tiny slits and he looks down at the bright screen full of words that are far too small for his aging eyes.

He’s got a lot of uncles, one blood, two chosen.

They stride into the dining room and right over to their booth.

“Ben! Get over here boy!” Chewie shouts. He doesn’t speak much but when he does, you feel it in your bones.

Ben’s cheesing as he soaks up the attention from his favorite uncles.

He’s missed them more than he lets on.

Luke trails behind the pair, uncomfortably.

Must be tough for him to carry that god damn rain cloud with him everywhere he goes.

Ben and Luke share a curt nod, acknowledging each other’s existence, but just barely.

It’s always been this way between them, but things got even worse when his parents tried sending Ben to stay with his Uncle Luke as a last ditch effort before the whole Juvie situation.

It didn’t last a week, and things have been tense ever since, obviously.

Everyone crams into the tight booth and Maz finally makes an appearance.

He’s not quite sure how or when they met, but apparently Maz and his father have an extensive history that’s resulted in their lifelong friendship.

She’s a tornado of a woman, short and stout, a pair of bifocals perched on the end of her nose. The only difference between her and a tornado is that she’d put everything right back where it was, afterwards.

She screams so loudly at the sight of the group, he’s surprised his ears don’t start bleeding.

Ben keeps sneaking glances at Rey, she shouldn’t look so good in her uniform.

It’s ridiculous.

He’s actually mad about it.
He’s also mad she hasn’t noticed him yet. He sits a little taller in his chair, still nothing.

“So good to see yah, boy. Ain’t been the same without cha. You know that right?”

Maz is going on and on, reminiscing and pinching his cheeks, which he begrudgingly allows.

“Yah momma and daddy been missin you!”

Ben groans.

“Okay, okay, Ima stop ramblin, lemme get ya’ll ma best girl.”

His eyes dart around the room.

‘Please be Rey, please be Rey. It’s gotta be Rey, she’s the absolute best girl.’ He’s never been one to pray, but now seems like a good time to start.

“There she is.” Everyone watches as Rey attempts to duck out of Maz’s line of vision, only to be hailed over like a off duty taxi.

His heart is roaring in his ears and he watches her get closer and closer from his seat.

She’s so beautiful.

All wet with wayward curls. Looks like someone got caught in the rain.

She’s got her hair up in a messy bun, the back of her hair free, curling around her neck and the bottom of her ears.

“She’s a good one, really. Deserves the best, world ain’t been the kindest to her but she turned out alright.”

Ben furrows his brow, what’s that mean? He wants to question her, ask her for details but it’s too late and Rey has just arrived at their booth.

She’s all bright eyes and chestnut waves, her left hand is tucked away in the pocket on the front of her apron, a note pad and pen clenched in the other.

He sees the exact moment she registers that it’s him and not just some random customer.

He loves that he can elicit such a reaction from her without even doing anything, just his presence is enough to frazzle her.

He’s positive that they’re the only two
people in the room, despite contradicting evidence, cause she’s all he can focus on.

All the noise falls into the background, it’s like he’s got tunnel vision and she’s at the other end.

Her eyes get real wide as they zone in on him, her cheeks real red.

Red looks good on her.

“Rey.” He doesn’t even register murmuring her name, but it slips out, revealing more of his emotions than he’d like his family to witness.

“Ben!” She breathes, her mouth in a surprised little ‘o’.

Her hand shoots up to her hair, smoothing it down then her apron.

She’s perfect the way she is, he wants to tell her that she never has to worry about appearances in front of him, but he manages to hold his tongue this time.

The two teens are lost in each other for an inappropriately long time, It’s like no one else exists, like they’ve forgotten they’re in a very public area surrounded by Ben’s entire family.

The way that they’re looking at each other is scandalous.

The adults at the table all have varying expressions in regards to the exchange.

Han’s is the worst, all smug and knowing.

Leia looks away bashfully, as if she’s seen something she has no business seeing.

Her eyes jump between the two teenagers.

She absolutely hates knowing which of her students are involved, and it’s even worse that one of them is her son.

All things considered, they’re pretty adorable.

Rey is a sweet girl and within a matter of seconds she’s managed to put a smile on her sons face.

Leia isn’t even capable of such a feat.

The older woman tries her best not to let this intrusive thought ruin her appetite.

Luke truly doesn’t care enough to have an option about the situation, he’s unbothered as he chugs his coffee down.

Lando and Chewie attempt to appear nonchalant while watching the scene unfold before them.

They agreed to getting dinner, so far it’s already more than they bargained for.

The two kids eventually get pulled out of whatever trance they’re in.

Rey darts away, putting the order in and then stopping at the little mirror above the hand washing skin, rubbing off the smeared mascara from under her eye.

Ugh she’s a mess, her hair all tangled, in her half up half down bun.

Is he seriously into her, or is she making this all up?

Back at the booth, Ben keeps his eyes glued to the table whilst everyone else’s are on him.

“Rey, Huh? Seems like a nice girl.” His dad baits.

“Really nice.” Lando supplies.

The two older men smile into their coffee mugs as they watch Ben fumble for a response.

“Yeah, well she is.” Ben huffs, defensively.

He tried his best to find a snarky remark, something cutting and conclusive, something to end the conversation permanently but he doesn’t even have the energy.

His guard is way down, Rey softens the brute that he tries so hard to project out into the world.

Just being near her has him feeling as fuzzy as six cigarettes.

Luckily Rey is back before the conversation can progress.

She hands out the drinks with a smile spread across her face, her hands slightly shaking as she places the massive milkshake in front of Ben.

He makes the most delicious sound when she sets the milkshake in front of him. Somewhere between a moan and a grunt and it makes her knees all wobbly.

She’d made it extra special just for him. Discreetly ducking behind the counter, ignoring her annoyed coworkers as she carefully crafted the concoction.

She wishes she were that milkshake, spread out before him on the table, covered in cool whip.

She flushes from the top of her ears to the tip of her toes. She wants him, bad. She shouldn’t be this horny from watching him absolutely demolish the Icy beverage.

Ben on the other hand is absolutely mortified. He’s doing his best to pace himself with his milkshake and not make a complete fool of himself in-front of Rey, but he hasn’t had a milkshake in years and this is the best thing he’s ever tasted.

He dunks his straw into the slushy drink and stifles a moan every time he takes a gulp. He slurps the beverage down with ferocity, lifting the straw out every so often to lick the fluffy cream off of it.

He’s got whipped cream all over his chin and his cushiony lips and she wishes everyone would leave so she could march right over there and lick it off for him.

Once the milkshake is finished, Rey heads back over to the table.

“How was the milkshake? I made it myself!” She beams at Ben, even while sitting he’s nearly her height.

Down the table, Luke scoffs.
He definitely didn’t sign up for this shit.

“It was perfect. Thank you, Rey.”
She ducks her head, grinning as she hides her face.

Ben feels truly taken care of.

It’s been a very long time since he’s felt this important to anyone.
He can barely focus on anything being said at the table.

The conversation still flows, he gives input when necessary, but other than that he’s too busy swooning over his girl.

Rey is paying extra attention to him, and his needs. His glass is never empty, his plate always seems just a little fuller than everyone else’s.

He likes it, like really likes it.

She’s such a good little baby, making sure he’s okay. It makes his stomach feel all weird and fluttery.

Rey manages to get through everyone’s appetizer and entree orders, without embarrassing herself.

She even nails small talk and banter with his witty father. She really wants to make a good impression.

Rey is downright disappointed when her shift is over. Not only does she have to go back out into the rain, but she has to leave Ben.

Even though they haven’t gotten much time to talk, she’s enjoyed his company.

Just having him in the same room has her more at ease than she’s been in all of her years.

She tries her best to hide it when she comes back to close out their tab.

She thanks them for coming in, wishes them a good night, all the while her heart is sinking in her chest.

Rey waves goodbye to Ben, doesn’t trust herself to say it.

She’s afraid he’ll be able to hear the disappointment in her voice.

So she doesn’t say a word, but her eyes speak volumes.

Chapter Text

“Well kid, I must say I’m impressed. First
day and you’ve already got yourself a little girlfriend.” Han’s got his arm around Leia, his gut sticking out more than usual thanks to his triple cheeseburger with not one, but two servings of French fries.

Ben would very much like to cease to exist at this moment.

“Well, you’ve got my approval.” Han finishes up, “Mine too.” Lando adds passionately. Chewie gives an affirmative grunt.

“When’s the wedding?” Lando snickers. Ben groans, hiding behind his raven waves.

Leia is oddly silent while his uncle and dad rail him. She’s still trying to figure out this young man who has replaced the son she remembers so well.

This new boy doesn’t smile like Ben used to, doesn’t talk or act like him either. And the scar that mares his face, it keeps her up all night, just wondering what happened.

Who hurt her boy? Besides her, of course. Who damaged him in a place where she was always told healing took place?

She didn’t want to believe Luke when he called her that mid summer night, but the proof was all there. The evidence spoke louder than she ever could. She couldn’t save him no matter how hard she tried, not even with all of her connections.

“The barn is on fire.” Luke had said, “All the kids are sayin’, it was him.”

“My truck is gone.” He’d said.
“They found it, Ben was in it.”

And just like that her son had been taken from her, snatched up and thrown into the back of a patrol car.

She can still see the defeated, dejected look on his face as they closed the door on him. The way his head fell forward to rest on the gate caging him in like an animal. The image is burned into her retinas.

Right along with the look that Luke wore on his face when he’d said, “It’ll be okay, it’s for the best. It’s not your fault. He always was a problem child.”

“Did you even go to class today-“ This snaps Leia out of her reverie. She gapes at Han and then Ben, whose arms are already up in surrender as he shoots daggers at his father.

-“or were you too busy being a Mack daddy.” Lando snorts whilst Han is barely able to finish his sentence with a straight face.

“Very funny dear.” Leia grumbles. “Please, never say that word again.” Ben all but begs his father.

“What word?” Han dimples, “Mack daddy?” His voice projects across the modest sized diner, several heads turn their way, Ben ducks down much to Han’s delight.

“Well she seems like a nice girl,” Luke finishes up his dinner, placing his fork on the plate before gathering his belongings.

“All those freckles too..” Lando nudges Ben with his elbow, “Okay, enough.” He says, toying with the renaming dinner on his porcelain plate. His cheeks are flaming as he feigns annoyance.

Oddly enough this is one of those moments. One of the ones where he actually feels like a normal kid getting teased about a crush by his dad and overzealous uncle.

It’s so minuscule and mundane and he loves it, he holds onto the fleeting situation and the influx of endorphins that it causes for as long as possible. He stores the moment away for himself when he questions his place in this world, when he feels like the furthest thing from the teenage boy that he is.

“Hope she comes to her senses soon.” Luke says it so conversationally that the implication almost doesn’t register. Ben leans back in his seat, his eyes searing into Luke’s.

“I don’t know, maybe she prefers criminals.” He goes on.

It’s the first time anyone has spoken of his incarceration, and his uncle's tone doesn’t sit well with him.

Ben sees red, he’s gone from resignedly accepting gentle teasing, to Luke pulling up the most traumatic part of his life like it’s nothing.

Like he’s discussing the weather, or his plans for the night. As if that incident hadn’t taken away years of his life that he’s never getting back. Like he hadn’t erased his entire being and replaced it with his alter ego, Kylo, just to cope with the trauma. His uncle hadn’t even listened to him when he tried to explain that it wasn’t him. That it was all one massive misunderstanding. Like really massive.

“Luke.” Leia warns, her son is one second from snapping and she’s terrified to be witness to it, but it’s too late. Ben catches a glimpse of Luke’s grin and there's no turning back.

“What the fuck did you just say, old man?” Ben doesn’t even sound like himself. Volatile rage pushing off of him like waves before dipping back towards him and pulling him down like an under current.

The entire diner goes silent, he’s grateful that Rey isn’t here to see him like this. She’d never want him if she knew how unstable he truly is. A beast has taken his place and he’s not quite sure how to get back to himself, not sure if that’s something he wants right now. His anger has always been like this, an overwhelming surge of pure unadulterated hatred. It scares him more than anything.

“I think you heard me, Ben. Move so I can leave.”

Ben stands, blocking Luke from exiting the booth.

“Oh, so now you wanna run?” Ben snarls it out, spit flying as his forehead wrinkles with rage.

“C’mon, Ben it was just a joke.” Luke prompts, barely suppressing his smirk, it’s eating Ben up inside. Oh how he wants to rip that look right off of his face.

“Joke huh, I’ll show you just how fucking funny I found it.”

“Kid!” Han’s on his feet now, taking on a defensive stance between the two.

They’re all looking at him like he’s some monster, like this is all his fault. Like he started it.

But then again everything is always his fault, right.

Ben laughs humorlessly, stepping away.

He’ll never win, no one will ever see him as anything other than a villain.

Look at him, he’s proving them right anyway.

Never could manage his anger, why try.

“Sure, go ahead Luke. Leave without even hearing my side of the story. Gonna call the cops on me again? I’m not fifteen anymore, they’ll send me straight to jail.
Is that what you want, to see me rot behind bars, to ruin my life even more?
Not satisfied with just ruining yours huh, you lonely pathetic fuck!”

The dishes are shattered on the floor before he even registers doing it.
Each plate, each mug and glass, broken. Just like him.

It’s all been bubbling underneath the surface. Just building up since that summer when he was fifteen, the summer before he would have started high school. The summer before things went horribly wrong.

He’s played nice all dinner, hasn’t said one word to the man, barely acknowledged his existence but Luke just has to have the last laugh.

“What have you done?”

Leia’s standing among the wreckage.
She sinks to her knees, picking up as much glass as she can.

He wants to tell her to stop, to tell her she could get hurt but she’s already speaking.

“Why, Ben?” She questions, her cheeks streaked with tears, her braids wayward and uncoiling before his eyes.

The guilt strikes him like lightning, he only ever registers what he’s truly done when he’s gone too far, when it’s too late.

Maz appears, commanding authority even with her short stature.

“What’s goin’ on over here?”

Her eyes are curious and calculating as she takes in the scene.

The shattered glass on the floor, Han standing between Luke and Ben.

Lando and Chewie looking on from their seats at the booth, eyes wide.

Leia crying on the floor, arms deep in the pile of rubbish.

“Maz, just a little misunderstanding. I’m so sorry, I’ll pay you for the dishes and the trouble.” Leia’s trembling, as she pleads with Maz.

“No, It’s my fault. I- I don’t know. I’m sorry. I- I can help.”

Ben takes a step towards Leia, he wants to fix the mess that he’s made. Wants to make everything right again. He wishes he good go back in time, he’d gladly take sitting at this very table getting teased by his dad and Lando again. Anything but this mess.

He didn’t mean it, didn’t mean for any of this to happen.

Leia flinches, and Han steps in front of her kneeling form.

He’s protecting her, from him.

It chills him to the bone that not even his parents feel safe around him.

Ben takes a step back, cautiously, his hands in the air.

He would never hurt her, even with their rocky relationship he would never.

He’s never seen his dad look so disappointed in him, he’s looking at Ben like he doesn’t even recognize him.

“I-“ he doesn’t even know what to say, doesn’t think anything could even come close to fixing the mess that he’s just made.

He can’t take it, all the eyes on him, all the guilt and worthlessness he can never shake off.

“Ben, wait!” It’s Leia, somehow still so graceful as she rises from the mess on the floor.

Ben doesn’t wait, he just runs, fast.

He’s can’t see straight through the heavy rain, he’s not thinking straight enough either, he can’t comprehend where he’s at, or where he’s headed. All he can feel is rage, it’s the only thing that makes sense to him.

He’s doesn’t expect anyone to come after him. No, especially not after the spectacle he’s caused. Not after the tears he’s caused his own mother to shed. The fear that he’d put in her eyes.

All of the broken glass, all of his anger spilled across the linoleum floor like ink staining the cracks with no remorse. So when he feels a firm hand on his shoulder, he reluctantly allows himself to be turned around, just for the hell of it.

The sheets of rain are impenetrable by his gaze. The figure is dark, a black leather jacket hanging from its shoulders. Ben chuckles darkly as he muses to himself, something about the grim reaper wearing a leather jacket. He’s not present enough to expand on this thought.

“Didn’t think I was gonna let you get away that easy did you? No, not again.” Han’s voice is thick with tears, his salt and pepper hair plastered to his face as he holds on to Bens shoulder for dear life in the middle of the storm.

“C’mon son, lets go home.”

Leia’s already at the car when they arrive. She fusses over him, wiping rain droplets from his face with the sleeve of her expensive trench coat.

“You’re back, I was so worried about you.” She murmurs. “We can’t lose you again.” This part seems to slip out despite her best effort.

His parents herd him into the back of the car, his father goes back in to close out the tab and say his goodbyes. Leia watches him like a hawk from the drivers seat.

Ben slumps heavily against the upholstery in the back seat, his forehead resting on the cold glass of the window, his chin tucked into the collar of his abandoned coat that his mother had retreated from the diner.

His anger has dissipated, white burnt out coals taking the place of the raging fire he contained previously. He feels wrung out, all his energy gone with his ire.

The heat is on full blast, he’s grateful. He’d only been out in the rain for a minute tops, but within that time he’d gotten fairly soaked.

Leia won’t stop looking at him in the rear view mirror, it’s like that very first day when he got out. Her big brown eyes just boring into his soul. He sinks deeper into his coat.

They’ve been driving for quite a while when he makes out a figure trekking down the side of the road just a little bit in front of him. He sits up instantly, shooting up straight in his seat.

It’s only been a day, but he’d know that silhouette anywhere. The waifish frame, the little bun bouncing on the top of her head with every step she takes, her giant tote hanging off of her shoulder, and not a coat in sight.

“Stop. Pull over!” Leia jerks the car to the side of the road swiftly, her eyes frantic as she seeks out the cause of her sons sudden outburst. “What, what Is it Ben?” He probably could have gone about this better, his mother looks one minute from a heart attack.

Han squints at Rey’s outline, “Is that-“

He doesn’t wait for his father to finish speaking. He jumps out of the car, the rain has slowed but it’s even colder now that the sun has set. He sloshes through ice cold puddles as he makes his way towards her, barely registering the sharp cutting sensation they inflict on his ankles.

He’s a man on a mission. “Rey!” He belts out, projecting to speak over the howling wind and the cars speeding past. He’s on the brink of panic when she doesn’t appear to have any plans of stopping.

He jogs behind her, calling her name repeatedly until finally, she stops.

When Rey finally does turn around, her arms are wrapped around her torso for dear life, her little lips are pale and peeling from the conditions outside. Ben’s heart of steel starts to melt in his chest, fuck, he’ll never get over what she does to him. Just seeing her, it’s something that he can’t quite put into words. A feeling he never thought he would be lucky enough to experience.

“B-B-Ben.” Even pinched out between frosty lips, his name sounds ethereal coming from her.

Rey is positive that whoever just pulled over behind her is going to fucking murder her. Probably some serial killer truck driver, or better yet a seemingly normal family that goes around picking up hitchhikers just to take turns bludgeoning them to death.

She’s cold, like really fucking cold. She brings her cupped hands up to her lips and huffs on them with her warm breath. She can’t feel her nose and her fingers have been tingling nonstop for the last couple of minutes. Yup, tonight is the night that she dies, She decides. Sad thing is that she only has herself to blame. She’s a mess, she forgot her coat today, missed her bus. Ran into Ben not once but twice, each time even more tantalizing than the last.

Today Rey didn’t want to clock out. That’s a first. She even stayed a couple of minutes past her shift to ensure that his booth was well taken care of before she left, and boy is she paying the price for her kindness.

She’d made it to the bus stop just as the bus was closing it’s doors, the driver pulled away without even giving her a second glance.

She’s contemplating just how long she has until she’s seriously at risk of catching hypothermia when she hears the car pull up behind her.

All jokes aside, she ups her pace, nearly falling on her face in the muck beneath her.

No no no no, not like this.

When she hears his voice in the darkness and turns around so fast, she nearly falls again. And then there he is, striding towards her with that determined gaunt of his.

How does he do it, how is he just always fucking there? She lets her feet carry her until she‘s right there in front of him, gazing up at him in all his glory.

His name stumbles from between her frost bitten lips. “B-B-Ben”, her fucking guardian angel, apparently.

She takes a handful of little steps and then she’s right in front of him. He’s ultra focused as his eyes skim her over, checking for injuries. His arms run up and down her arms, warming her frigid flesh all the while she simply admires him. He’s upset, something happened. She deduces these facts simply by the look on his face.

“What are you doing? It’s too cold for you to be walking.” He’s upset, but not at Rey, no never at her. “Look at you, little doe, you’re freezing. Where’s your coat?” He keeps rubbing until the goose flesh recedes on her arms.

“I forgot it at home.” She admits quietly.

He bites his tongue, helping Rey into his jacket instead of scolding her about not wearing one.

He’s still very attentive and gentle as he bundles her up in his massive jacket. Rey notes the crease between his thick brows as he buttons every single button with precision before pulling the hood over her bun. The coat dwarfs her and she snuggles into the wool lining, the sight soothes his frazzled nerves.

It smells like him. Like cigarettes and rain, she breathes it in deeply.

“And then I missed the fucking bus.” She offers. “It’s been one hell of a day.” Ben agrees wholeheartedly.

“Come on.” He doesn’t wait for her to respond, he simply places his hand delicately on the small of her back and escorts her back to the car.

Chapter Text

Leia is especially worried when Rey crawls into the backseat of her car shivering so hard her teeth are clanking together, Ben following close behind with his brows furrowed in concern. 

After exchanging pleasantries with the younger girl, Han and Leia try their damn hardest to pretend that the backseat of their car is miles away as opposed to directly behind them. 

Leia racks her brain for the name of the guardian/s that Rey is currently placed with, no kid should ever have to walk home in these conditions and the fact that the girl seems somewhat used to this routine is a huge red flag. Rey is one of the few foster kids currently enrolled at her high school and Leia realizes she should’ve done her due diligence before said ward of the states was snuggled up with her son in the backseat. 

She makes a mental note to be more observant of situations like these and to follow up her concerns tomorrow. Leia knows it’s probably a sensitive topic for the girl and the last thing she wants to do is make Rey uncomfortable by bringing it up. Tonight has already been stressful enough for everyone. 

She’d almost lost him again, Ben. He was already halfway across the parking lot when Han had found him. The entire situation escalated so quickly that she barely had time to register it. Before she knew it the ground was littered with glass and her little boy, oh her poor little boy. 

Her eyes had locked with her husband’s as soon as the door slammed shut. 

“Han!” She’d croaked, “Please find him.” 

She’ll never forget what she just saw. She’ll never forget the side of Ben that was ripped out of him thanks to her ignorant brother and his unnecessary comments. She’s already formatting a strongly worded response to send off to him as soon as she gets home. 

There is one thing that she can’t quite shake though, the odd look on Luke’s face when Ben mentioned that he was never given a chance to tell his side of the story. 

All these years, she’s never seen that expression on his face. It’s unsettling to say the least, they’d grown up together after all. Now that she thinks of it, she’s only ever heard Luke’s take on the day. Even at his court hearing Ben had taken a vow of silence, refusing to comment as his fate was decided for him. 

A pit opens deep within her stomach. It’s unnerving how she just knows that something isn’t right. Leia reaches for her husband’s hand.

Rey is in heaven. She’s buckled in, thanks to Ben, drowning in his coat, basking in being so close to him. At this point the temperature of the heat in the car must be uncomfortable for everyone else, but she’s still shivering so Leia keeps it on. 

Slowly and with Ben’s help, Rey begins to regain feeling in her limbs. His palms run up and down her clothed legs, rubbing the feeling back into them. An involuntary moan falls from her lips as he brings her hands up to his plush mouth. He blows gently, rubbing and fiddling with her little fingers. Her mind flashes back to the way he looked with her fingers in his mouth and her cheeks flush promptly as she admires him fully dedicating himself to the task of taking care of her, she can’t fucking believe how perfect he is.

Like a moth to a flame, or in her case, like a very cold girl to a very large warm boy, she's inconspicuously been inching closer and closer to him. Of course Ben notices, he notices everything that has to do with her. 

He’s only a couple of inches away but he gets it, he wants to feel her body against his and by the way she keeps leaning towards him.... He reaches over her smoothly, unbuckling her seat belt with ease. It’s the one time he’ll allow her to go without a seatbelt, he decides.

“Come closer little doe.”

 He murmurs it quietly enough just for the two of them to hear. Rey’s cheeks are on fire as she jumps into action, her freckles standing out again the subtle hue on her cheeks. Ben also decides that that particular color is his new favorite. 

The possessive beast in Ben preens as he watches her untangle herself from her seat and clamber right into his lap, all with his jacket still wrapped around her. 

“There you go, little doe.” He fixes the collar of his jacket, pulling it down so it rests below her face as opposed to covering it. 

Rey melts into his chest, sighing in pleasure as she snuggles under his chin. 

“Cold little baby.” Ben hums against her head as he inhales her aroma deeply, goosebumps rise on her arms. His voice is so rugged and comforting, she presses herself closer, much to Ben’s amusement. 

“I’m not goin’ anywhere doll.” She’s heard that before, far too many times. 

 “Okay.” She croaks, simply, pushing her insecurities to the side. It’s not the time nor the place for such thoughts. So instead she focuses on Ben. The rise and fall of his chest, the way he feels beneath her, so firm and accommodating. 

The way that his arms wrap around the entirety of her body with ease, she’s never felt this safe in her entire life and it scares her. The pain that could come from something like this, whatever this thing is between them. But still she sighs in contentment.

Rey has gone from being frozen to being too hot all in a matter of seconds. Sitting right on Ben’s lap, she does her very best to soak up as much of his body warmth as she can. 

She also does her best to stay still as she’s perched quite literally on his crotch. Fuck, how she’d love to tease him a little. Just a subtle wiggle of her hips, maybe she could brush his thigh with her hand and claim it was an accident, or she could snuggle up against his neck and let her lips just barely rest against his exposed neck. 

No offense to Ben, but he doesn’t look like the type of guy with a whole bunch of self control. The thought of making him lose it pleases her immensely. She’ll have to test her theory another time, maybe when his eyes aren’t so far away and that ever prevalent crease isn’t between his eyebrows. 

“You doing okay down there?” It’s like he can hear her brain moving at light speed. 

She actually jumps a little. “mmhmp.” Her response is muffled against his chest, “All warm now?“ Rey nods up at him, her eyes fluttering softly as Ben gently rubs her back. God she could actually purr right now. Who is the boy and where has he been all her life?

“Good, I think we’re almost there.” Rey looks up at the GPS mounted on the dashboard. 

At his admission, she stiffens in his arms. She looks out the window and a row of familiar homes greet her as they grow closer and closer to her very own. 

Fuck.

She meant to give Leia the address to the house at the end of the block, the nice one with the pretty fence and the neat lawn. Somewhere along the way, probably when Ben scooped her up like a baby bird, she’d lost her head. The last thing she wants is for him to see the raggedy house that she’s staying in.

“You can just let me out here, I can walk the rest of the way.” Ben actually fucking laughs, like she’s joking or something. 

“No really.” Rey scrambles out of Ben’s lap, her panic clear as day but it’s too late, they’re already here.

Ben doesn’t understand why Rey is so frantic all of a sudden. That is until they pull up in front of the house.

“You have arrived at your destination.” The GPS announces. 

It’s a rundown little house, the smallest one on the block. The porch is full of an assortment of junk that spills out onto the lawn and assumedly the modest backyard as well. The roof is caved in on one side, the panels on the house are stained and falling off in some places. 

The lights are on, he can just barely make out a silhouette in one of the windows, someone is home.

There’s a rusty green pickup truck in the driveway, so why was Rey walking home from work in the freezing rain? Ben’s jaw clenches as he feels his rage reignite. 

Rey fumbles with her tote, failing miserably at untangling it from the seatbelt that it’s stuck to. She’s moving too fast, trying to get out of here as soon as possible. Ben can she that she’s embarrassed, he wants to tell her that he would never judge her, but the timing just isn’t right and his parents are looking back at them. 

“Hey slow down, it’s okay.” Ben halts her movements with one of his hands as he uses the other to grab the bag for her.

“Thank you.” She mumbles refusing to 

 meet his eyes. 

“And thank you so much for the ride Mrs. O. It was nice meeting you as well Han.” 

Han and Leia tell her it’s not a problem, his mother goes as far as offering her rides if she ever needs it to which Rey vehemently refuses, in the nicest way possible. 

The last thing she needs is for her principal to start snooping around her home life. Sounds like a one way ticket to yet another foster home and a new high school to match and at this point of her senior year, she just can’t handle that. 

No, she can’t let that happen. 

She was careless today and she hopes that it won’t come back to bite her on the ass. 

Rey opens the car door, stopping suddenly as she remembers that she’s wearing Ben’s jacket, she starts to peel it off. “Keep it, please it’s still really cold out.” Ben isn’t comfortable with the idea of her walking the handful of steps to her door without it. He knows it’s excessive but he doesn’t care.

“I-I- okay.” She smiles softly at him as he readjusts the jacket on her shoulders. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a good night little doe.” 

Rey doesn’t even stop to question her decision, she dips forward and presses a chaste kiss to his cheek. He’s been so sweet to her all day even though it’s obvious that his mind is elsewhere. The tension in the car was thick enough to cut with a butter knife, she is extremely curious as to what went down before she joined the carpool. 

“Goodnight Ben.” 

She doesn’t stay to see his reaction, she’s terrified and overjoyed all at the same time. She sprints to the front door, unlocking it and slipping inside like she’s being chased down. 

He’s there and surprisingly awake. He doesn’t acknowledge her existence, she’s grown to love this aspect of their relationship. She scoops up Anai, an abundance of babbles falling from the little girl's lips as she clings to Rey for dear life while she heads back to the sunroom that serves as their shared bedroom.

“It’s okay, I’m back now.” They fall into the bed together, the younger girl drifting asleep soon after, sucking happily on her thumb. 

Rey’s lips are still tender from Ben’s slight stubble, a hysterical bubble of laughter escapes her. She reaches up and touches her curved lips with reverence. 

Take that Ben Solo.

Ben is still reeling during the entire drive home.

His cheek is still tingling and he’s not even exaggerating. It’s ridiculous. She caught him off guard, that’s for sure. Her lips had been so soft and wet like she’d just licked them, and he never in a million years would have expected her to kiss him like that in front of his parents. 

He had barely registered Han’s suggestive whistle and his stage whisper to Leia “Just wait till Lando hears about this.” 

He’s never going to live this down but he’s not that upset about it.

It took every fiber of his being not to pull her back into the car and kiss her senseless, he dreams of how sweet her little mouth must taste. He wants to hear all the little sounds he just knows he’ll pull out of her given the chance. She looks like a whiner, like she’d squirm on his dick and pout about how big it is, but still take it all. 

Fuck.

He pivots away from his parents as the thought causes his arousal to become visible. 

Ben heads towards the staircase without a glance in their direction. He’s just made it to the top when Han calls out to him. 

“Hang on kiddo.” Han says. 

“B-Kylo let us know if you need anything, okay?” Leia finishes up. They’re both looking at him with eyes heavy with parental concern. 

“Okay.” He starts to turn around but halts, “Thanks for giving Rey a ride home.” He adds thickly. He’s up the stairs and down the hallway before they can even respond. 

After today Ben needs like twelve fucking cigarettes, honestly. Coincidentally his lighter dies after the third one. He groans and heads down to the kitchen, maybe there’s a candle lighter or a box of matches he could use or some shit. Hell he’s desperate enough to give the electric stove a try.

He’s just about to round the corner that leads to the staircase when he hears his mother’s voice. “-completely unacceptable behavior! I’m appalled and quite frankly disappointed in you Luke. How could you say those things about him?” 

She doesn’t pause long enough to allow a response. “I think it would be best if you kept your distance for a while.“

She pauses briefly, “Stop talking, Luke listen to me and you listen to me right now, you will never speak to my son like that again. Do you understand?” 

“Good.” She slams the phone back down onto the receiver with so much force that he can hear it all the way upstairs. 

“Imbecile.” She huffs to herself, Ben peeks around the corner and watches as his mother gathers her tea and house coat before heading back towards the master bedroom. 

And just like that, he’s reminded of just how commanding his mom can be when she feels the need.  

Most importantly, he’s reminded that maybe, just maybe there are people in his corner after all. 

Chapter Text

Ben’s coat hanging from Rey’s delicate shoulders has the same affect as a hug. Last night she’d gotten the best sleep, not even the non stop pitter patter from the leak in her room could dampen her mood.

Rey wakes to an empty house and a toddler yanking at her hair. After whipping up a quick breakfast for Anai, she heads to the the landline to call Rose. She’s at school but she always has her phone on her.

God she really needs a cellphone, who the fuck still uses a the house phone? And as much as she tries not to admit it to herself, she kind of wants an Instagram too…...

He rarely leaves the house but when he does, she counts it as a blessing even when it’s an inconvenience to her. It’s a school day, he knows that and he knows that her attendance is already iffy even with it being just the start of the school year. This could effect her chances of graduating but he doesn’t care.

The phone rings twice before it’s picked up.

Her friends all know why she isn’t there. When she started hanging out with the group it took them all but three days to deduce that something wasn’t quite right at home.

“Not coming to school today, peanut? Do you need a ride?” Finn’s voice is thick with concern. He’s so compassionate, most days when she can’t make it it’s due to extreme weather and not having the means to get there. This time she can’t even use that as an excuse so she doesn’t bother attempting to come up with a lie.

“No, I can’t today.” The line goes silent. Poe hesitates briefly before speaking.
“Football tryouts are today after 7th hour. Will you be able to make it?”

“Yeah…of course I’ll be there.” She’s not so positive about that, but she sure sounds convincing. Poe hums as there’s a muffled commotion on the other side of the line.

“OMG! Rey, he’s here!” Rose‘s voice is muffled due to how close her mouth is to the speaker.

“Who?”

“Mrs.O’s son. Kylo is his name.” Rose gushes.

“He looks like a super villain or something.” Poe quips.

“Yeah he’s got a big ass scar right across his face!” Finn adds finally.

“I know, I saw him yesterday.” Rey tries her best to sound casual.

“Wait, you’ve already met him and you didn’t tell us!?”
She can see Rose squint in her mind's eyes as she processes the statement.

“It was just for a second while I was having my cig break.” Understatement of the century.

“Skipping first hour again?” Finn chuckles providing her with the perfect distraction.“You already know it. Fuck US gov, truly.” They all hum in agreement. “He’s already turning a lot of heads. These girls are themselves at him.”
“It’s pretty entertaining.” Poe pipes in.

Rey’s grip on the phone tightens. It’s expected, he’s new and he’s fucking hot, of course they want him. Rey can hear the rowdy kids along with the school bell trilling in the distance.

“Oh shit!” Finn definitely.

“Give me that. Gwen is making her move!” Poe now has possession of the phone apparently.

“We gotta go Reybie, see yah later!”

Rey can just barely make out Rose's voice and then the line goes dead.

Fuck, anyone but Gwen. She’s so fucking perfect. That blonde haired, green eyed, big tit bitch.

Rey slams the phone down onto the receiver and suddenly she’s fucking pissed. Pissed at Plutt, pissed at her friends for hanging up on her, pissed at Gwen for even daring to make a move on her Ben. Hell, she’s even pissed at Ben for being so fucking hot.

She has to be there for tryouts. From experience Rey knows that she has a better chance of getting her way if she gets to cleaning now. Rey cleans the house ferociously, going as far as whipping out the untouched vacuum cleaner and wiping down the windows with old newspapers.
She’s just started on her second load of laundry when she hears Anai scream in the next room over.

Dropping the laundry basket, Rey darts out of the room and through the threshold to check on Anai, her eyes shifting back and forth as she scans the room for the cause of the little girls discomfort. Rey cradles Anai in her arms whilst sighing in relief.

Anai is quite vocal for her age, polar opposite to Rey at the very same age. Due to her upbringing, Rey didn’t start speaking until she was four years old.

“o side! o side!” Anai points animatedly towards one of the drafty windows. “Wey, o side!”

Rey perks up and sneaks a glance out the window, she just barely spots a shadowy figure darting towards the house. Grabbing the broomstick she leans against the wall and steadies herself. She doesn’t know exactly what Plutt does in his free time or whose hit list he could be on, but she damn sure isn’t going down without a fight.

“Okay, okay I hear you. Shhhh, Let’s be quiet just for a little okay?” Rey makes a show of placing her own hand over her mouth, which Anai mimics soon after. With the toddler silenced, Rey sets her back in the high chair and slinks over towards the window.

The screen slides up and she yelps, standing at ready with her weapon raised high.
“Who’s there!? The police are on their way so you’d better leave.” She pulls the last part out of her ass, it seems like the right thing to say. It seems like what you’re supposed to say in situations like this. A dark figure falls through the window, effectively pulling the dusty curtains down along with them. The intruder is tangled in the mess of curtains and Rey takes the opportunity to attack.

Her broomstick is inches away from the covered form when they finally speak.
“Wait, stop, it’s me!” The figure struggles briefly to escape the clutches of the dingy fabric to reveal the boy of her dreams wide eyed, shaggy haired, and covered in dust bunnies.

“Ben!?” She let’s out a short lived sigh of relief before she comes to her senses. “What the fuck! You scared the shit out of me.”

“Hi, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He’s way too calm for someone who just climbed into a window and was nearly beaten with a broom.

“You didn’t come to school today, I was just worried.” It’s a sweet gesture, her heart jumps into her throat and suddenly it’s extremely hard to speak. “After what happened last night, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m-im fine. You can’t just show up unannounced. I could get into a lot of trouble…. Seriously Ben.”

A lot of trouble? His curious is piqued. What does she mean by that? Although he’s already got a pretty good ideas judging by what he’s seen and heard so far about her home life.

“I’m sorry little doe. I just needed to see you. I tried to stay away but I just couldn’t.” Now that she’s no longer in flight or fight mode, Rey can sense the anxiety coming off of him in waves.

“I’m worried about you.” Ben doesn’t realize just how true the words are until they’ve passed his pursed lips.

Ben eyes Anai with obvious curiosity. She mirrors his expression, curious as to who this new person is in her space.

“Im okay.” It comes out a tad more firm than she would have liked it to. “Thank you for everything last night. I- I- couldn’t make it today because- “ she gestures to the baby sitting near by. The words to explain the situation escape her. She’s not sure what to say or how much she should reveal so soon into their relationship.

Anai starts to fuss in her high chair, kicking her little feet and banging her fists. Rey brushes past Ben and scoops the little girl up, rocking her back and forth until she settles.

“Is she yours?” In a sense she is hers, her responsibility most days, her best friend on her darkest days, the only one who truly knows what goes on in their household. But Rey doesn’t say that, she doesn’t say anything at all. Ben isn’t phased at all by the prospect of Anai being her’s and that fact alone warms her heart. If he wouldn’t care about her being a mother at such a young age, maybe everything else won’t be enough to run him away either.

“Isn’t there someone who can watch her while you’re at school?” Ben’s voice wavers, he’s barely suppressing his rage. Rey heads towards the high chair and scoops the girl into her warm embrace. Rey takes her time rocking Anai, humming to soothe her, all the while concocting a believable excuse to tell Ben. It takes her all of ten seconds to decide that the truth is completely not an option.

No matter how enraptured she is by this boy, no matter how seen Ben makes her feel, how softly he holds her, his mother is the principal and her life as it is is at stake. Most importantly, Anai’s well being is on the line. They have to stay together, Rey knows she can take care of her. She doesn’t trust the system after everything she’s gone through, all the broken homes she’s been placed in.

Ben is still standing there in the same spot when Anai settles enough to be put back in her high chair.

The fact that he’s inside of this shit hole, seeing the way that she lives finally hits her now that she’s not afraid for her and Anai’s life.

Not even her best friends have set foot into this place, and for a good reason. It’s embarrassing, her cheeks flush as she scans Ben’s face for any indication that he’s disgusted by the way she lives,or rather the way that she’s forced to live.

Recently, much to Rey distain, Plutt has been bringing home more junk than they have space for. It’s reached a hoarder level and the only room that’s safe is her own and she has to fight for her clutter free space.

Ben doesn’t even acknowledge the trash heaps in his way as he strides over to Rey stopping just short of her. “Come here, can I?- Let me hug you.” He rephrases the request, he doesn’t even want to give her the option to say no at this moment. Her body in his arms is a requirement.

Rey nods and jerks forward, nearly falling into his waiting arms, her skin tingling where it meets him.
Ben is in awe over just how soft and delicate her skin is, he’s nervous he might somehow hurt his precious doe so he’s so very gentle, his touches feather light. He breathes her in deeply, Rey’s hair is damp from her shower and she shivers slightly even thought she’s still draped in his heavy coat.

Neither of them speak for a very long time, the silence is comfortable and they bask in it. Whatever this is between them is still so fresh and so delicate like a baby bunny, best not to startle it by moving too quickly.

“She’s not mine but sometimes it feels like she is. We’re not related by blood but she’s my baby sister regardless and I love her so much.”

Ben nods curtly, relieved slightly that the young child isn’t Rey’s daughter but extremely curious about how they both got in this situation.

“How are you feeling today?” Ben’s hand comes to rest over her forehead, checking for a fever after her trek in the freezing rain last night. “I-I’m not sick, thankfully. Thanks for letting me borrow your coat.”

“It’s not a problem, it looks better on you anyway.” That’s subjective, cause he looks absolutely amazing in said coat.

Ben is apprehensive and unsure of how to start the next conversation but it’s one that needs to be had.

“Rey, look at me.” Her body reacts instantly, her gaze fixed on his beautiful bisected face. “Last night when we dropped you off,” Ben speaks slowly and thoughtfully, the conversation he’s about to broach isn’t an easy one to be had.

Rey breathes deeply, she knows what’s coming and she isn’t the least bit prepared for it. Her mind is still racing with believable lies she could spew at Ben but those goddamn eyes make it difficult for her to focus on the task at hand.

“Last night when we dropped you off, there was a car in the driveway.” It’s not a question but Rey still nods along. “Okay, good, good girl.” Rey isn’t sure why she’s being praised but she subconsciously presses closer into his embrace, her cheek cradled against his shoulder. His words of affirmation are just what she needs to hear at the moment.

“You’re okay Rey, I promise. I’m just trying to wrap my head around something. When I was outside I saw someone in the living room. Who was that?” Rey turns her head, taking a vow of silence.

“Rey, who was that?” His voice is firm, too firm for his little doe and he stops himself before he’s taken away with his anger.

It doesn’t go without notice that she’s just Rey now, she pouts to herself and tries not to read too much into it. No cute pet name or sweet nothings as he all but grills her about her less than ideal home life.

Catching his bearing he plants a feather light kiss upon her head. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t talk to you that way. I’m just …. fucked up. I’m trying.” He breathed deeply. “You can tell me anything.” She mumbles her reply into the soft fabric of his Henley tee feeling reassured.

“What was that Rey? Can you tell me again, please?”

“My foster guardian.” She croaks, her sweet voice unsure and apprehensive. She’s nauseous at the taste of the words leaving her lips.

His suspicions have just been confirmed.

“Okay, good job. Good girl Rey.” Sensing her unease he does his best to shift this into a positive experience for the both of him. He needs her to feel comfortable opening up to him and this is a sure way to achieve his goal. From what he’s gathered, his little doe craves reassurance, security, and he’s just the guy who’ll give it all to her.

“Your guardian? Why didn’t he give you a ride home last night?” His eyes bore into her, imploring her to be honest with him and she wishes she could.

“H-he has to take m-medicine for his back and he can’t drive after he takes them. They’re like super strong or something.” She throws in a careless shrug and she’s pleased with her performance.

It’s believable, however Ben doesn’t believe her for one second. It’s the little stutter, the way she won’t meet his eyes.
He doesn’t want to push her, yesterday was hell for the both of them and they’re finally alone, he doesn’t want to ruin this precious time that they have together.

“Well, he should probably be more mindful of when he takes them then, hmm?” Rey nods gently, gazing up at him in understanding.

“Yeah, he’s super forgetful. I’ll um talk to him about it.”

“Yeah you should do that. Enough about that.” Ben’s hand comes up and rests over her forehead, checking her temperature. After a bit he pulls his hand away pleased with his findings.

“You don’t seem to have a fever. That’s really good Rey. It was so cold and I was worried about you.”

“I’m okay, you don’t have to worry about me.”

“I can do what I want.” Its true she can’t argue with that she does however scoffs a little.“Plus I don’t think I could stop worrying about you even if I tried, especially now. You’ve got your claws in me.” Rey flushes, melting further and further into Ben’s embrace by the second. She could get used to this, Rey can’t remember the last time she was hugged..

“I should be going now. Gotta at least try to make it to my next class.” Ben grins and leans in close, the tip of his nose resting against hers, their lips just a hair apart. “Just one more thing little doe. I didn’t forget about your little stunt last night.”

Oh, oh, Rey flushes ferociously, she had nearly forgotten about her risky move the other night with everything else going on..

Ben on the contrary has been fixated on the memory. His dick perpetually hard in his denim jeans over just how fucking supple her lips were, his mind racing with Images of that very same mouth wrapped around his cock, wrestling with his tongue, planting kisses on his scarred cheek. The possibilities are endless.

Ben cups her cheek before slowly brushing her hair over one shoulder, exposing her neck and the tops of her freckled shoulders. “Your skin is so soft, Rey. So pretty. How are you so perfect? What did I ever do to deserve this? You have no idea….all the things I’ve done.”
She almost laughs at him calling her perfect, but the look on his face is so serious, it would be like giggling at a funeral. Her, perfect? He really thinks this way about her?

Very gently, Ben holds her steady as he ducks down to plant a trail of wet kisses down her neck. “Mmm oh god Ben, please. That- it feels so good.” Ben hmmm his approval into the crook of her neck, he loves it when she’s vocal.

“Oh, Ben.” Rey’s legs are useless and without his strong arms anchoring her to this plane she would slip right out of his arms.

Rey pulls back and Ben jumps back, his fear that he’s made her uncomfortable. That she’s finally realized that there’s a monster breathing down her neck and not some teenage heart throb. “Are you okay Rey, did I hurt you? I’m so-“

“I don’t care about what you’ve done, Ben. I- I like you.” It feels like an understatement but for how long they’ve know each other it seems like the only way to describe her feelings for him. “I-I just wanted to look at you again. You’re so beautiful to me.” She wants to say more but the words she's seeking are hiding in her throat, too scared to come out

To Ben, her eyes are screaming the words for her. They say, “Save me.” “ Love me.” “Care for me.” “I’m good, see, I can be good.” And god does he plan on doing just that.

He should probably get his shit together too in the process..

Ben leans in real slow and Rey stands there still as a statue, her eyes closed tightly just waiting for him to put those those supple lips on her again, this time the real deal. Rey’s very first kiss.

After a minute she opens her eyes and he’s just there admiring her. “What? Aren’t you gonn- gonna kiss me?”

“Do you want me to kiss you?” Ben gives a devious little smile as he takes in her flushed appearance, her bottom lip is caught between her lips as she all but glares at him. It’s the most beautiful thing he’s seen, her eyebrows furrowed, lips slightly pouting. It takes all of him not to plant a kiss right on her baby pink lips.

“I- well, if you’re gonna do it just do it!” Rey huffs as she attempts to disguise her embarrassment with anger. “I don’t think you’re ready for me to kiss you just yet, little doe.”

“But-“ Ben shushes her, “I know, I know. I want our first kiss to be perfect. You can wait can’t you? You’re a good girl right?” Rey nods frantically.

“I am a good girl.” She confirms.

“I know you are, so just be patient.” Ben pulls out his phone and glances at the time. “I gotta go now, sweet girl.”

Rey lets out a pathetic whine as he reluctantly untangles himself from their embrace. Sweet girl…..
“O-okay.” She mumbles.

Ben can tell that Rey is unhappy. Her posture is tight,
She won’t meet his eyes, her precious bottom lip jutting out just slightly. “Bye bye, Little doe. I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t pout, please?”

Rey her head up and graces Ben with the brightest smile she can muster. He throws a sly smile over his shoulder before making his escape out of the window.

Just a tingling pink nip on her neck, by the looks of it, it won’t even last an hour. She mourns its premature death whilst watching the curtains billow after Ben’s picturesque escape.

Oh how she longs to be marked by him, permanently. In a way, she already has been.