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reyloday · 6 years

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Enchanted

Pairing: Rey/Kylo Ren Rating: T Word Count: 2,012 Additional Tags: Canonverse, Episode IX, Naboo, First Kiss, “Platonic” Getaways Summary: He was here with her, had joined her on Naboo after almost a year of physical separation. Rey knew she shouldn’t want him close, crave his affection like she does, but their connection was something beyond all logic. Beyond what either of them could understand. [Or, in which Rey and Ben have some alone time on Naboo]

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Naboo was unlike other place Rey had been to her entire life, though that list was entirely too short for her liking. She didn’t know much of the place, but by looks alone she fell completely and utterly in love with it. It wasn’t even just the greenery or the flowers or the air that led her to this conclusion—it was just the general aura of the place, how it felt compared to every other planet she’d been to in the entire galaxy.

Ben tried to act like he didn’t notice, but she knew him better than anyone else, perhaps himself sometimes. His indifference didn’t work on her, even if it seemed that he couldn’t think in anything but extremes. When broached about the topic, though, he just shrugged her off and any association with the place. Rey could sense something, though, some kind of connection that Ben hadn’t willingly given up yet. She’d get it out of him eventually, even if that would take a bit of prying..

Of all the things Rey liked about Naboo’s physical beauty, the stars were most definitely near the very top of the list. They shined in the sky, a contrast like no other in the galaxy, completely incomparable. That was the reason she spent most of her time out here now, on a balcony of some sort in different positions on the estate they were staying on.

This time Rey occupied one connected to a bedroom, perfectly overlooking the gardens. She sat on the edge of the balcony several meters up from the ground and just allowed herself to embrace the faintest chill in the air. One ill-timed fall and it could be over for the last Jedi in the galaxy. Not the exciting death anyone in the galaxy would have expected.

It had been a few days since Rey had left the Resistance, feigning urgent “Jedi missions” to keep everyone from asking questions, but Leia knew. She always knew, yet she never tried to stop her, probably knowing that nothing could stop Rey from seeing her son, not even the constraints of time and space.

“Rey?”

His voice should’ve startled her, but it didn’t. She could feel it now, felt his presence and mind like it was an extension of her own. It was one of the other reasons she loved it here more than anything: him.

“I made you tea.”

He was here with her, had joined her on Naboo after almost a year of physical separation. Rey knew she shouldn’t want him close, crave his affection like she does, but their connection was something beyond all logic. Beyond what either of them could understand.

Ben sat down a respectable distance from her on the edge of the balcony and put the steaming mug between them. There was another mug in his own hand, which he sipped gingerly as they stared out into the horizon.

She took the mug and pressed her hand into the heat as she sipped it. “It’s good. What is it?”

“Chandrilan. My mother made it for me when she could. It helped me sleep. Probably the reason she made it, honestly.”

Rey took another sip before setting it back down between them. “Were you a crazy kid?”

A shrug. “Not really. I was pretty quiet, honestly, but I guess I was just hard to deal with. You know, with the Force and all that.”

“I can’t imagine having to deal with the Force as a child. It must’ve been insane.”

“It was okay. Didn’t help that my dad didn’t really understand it, but there were worse things, I’m sure.” He took another sip of his tea, more like a swig actually, and Rey had a feeling he was wishing for something stronger. “But you know, it’s not like I’m totally messed up or anything now so surely I was fine.”

The statement made Rey laugh despite how she tried to stop herself. “We’re… both messed up in our own right. Don’t be so hard on yourself, Ben.”

He nodded, ducking his head, but Rey could see the slight smile on his lips. “Right.”

She hummed and took another sip of her tea, enjoying the comfortable silence surrounding them. It had been like this for the days they’d been on Naboo. They were at ease with each other, unlike the last time they saw each other in person. Sure, their bond had given them time together, but it was different. Rey didn’t like the abrupt entrances, and, even more, she didn’t like it when he left.

Together they’d explored most the estate, from the dining room to the furthest point in the garden, but Rey found herself enjoying the lounge more than anything. That was where they ended up most nights, his head on her lap in front of the fire as they just sat and existed in the blank canvas of the world. There they weren’t the last Jedi and the Supreme Leader. There they were just two people who realized that they never wanted to be apart again.

“The stars sure are beautiful tonight,” Ben said next to her, eyes on the sky and the expansive terrain of the galaxy just in front of them. It was there they both had to be somebody, thrust into duties of conflicting interests. “I can imagine that’s why my grandmother loved it here so much.”

Rey glanced over at him. “Grandmother?”

“She owned this estate many years ago, practically considered a deity on this planet, actually.”

“Padmé Amidala.” She’d seen the portraits of the woman in the hall but hadn’t made the connection to Ben at all. Of course…

He nodded. “My grandparents fell in love here. Nobody really knows that except for me and some of the older staff here. Her association with Anakin Skywalker was a fairly well-kept secret, and after a while it didn’t even matter.”

“How did she die?”

“My grandfather killed her.” It sounded almost nonchalant, but not quite. Rey fell completely silent at the words, not daring to look over at him. “It was after… he turned. It’s not a fun story, so I’ll spare you the details.”

So that was the story behind it all. That was why Ben walked around here like he was in a daze, why his eyes lingered on the simplest of things, why he seemed at peace even in the turmoil going on around them.

In an effort to break the silence stretching on, Rey spoke. “Sometimes on Jakku I’d sit out a night and stare at the sky and just wonder if there was any point in me existing if there was so many other people, so many other places. I didn’t understand then.”

He looked over at her, hand pressed into the stone of the balcony. It was during times like these that she noticed just how young he looked but how tired as well. The man had seen things no one his age should have, no one any age should have, but yet he was here, and he was beautiful and strong, and he was going to show anyone who ever doubted him.

“Do you now?”

She nodded once. “I think I do, better at least. I’ve never really had a purpose outside of scavenging. I’m not some Jedi hero or some Resistance princess. I’m not this ethereal being that everyone seems to have an image of, but at least I do have an image now. I have a purpose now.”

“You do. We all have purposes. It just takes some people longer to find theirs. Life isn’t clear cut and simple. It sometimes take some messing with to get right.”

Rey took her mug into her hand and lifted it to her lips to take a sip before setting it down. “Indeed, Ben, I think you’re right.”

“When am I not?”

She reached across and shoved him lightly, something he could’ve easily stopped if he wanted to. “Shut your damn mouth.”

Eyes narrowed, Ben leaned toward her, a smirk playing on his lips. Rey loved when he got like this, when he dropped his serious persona and just let himself fall victim to childish games. It was a refreshing glimpse of who he was before maybe after this war hardened him, after Snoke got to him. “Make me.”

“I would, but we both know that would never work, so I don’t see the point in trying. Do you?”

“You might want to rethink your technique.”

Gods, he was so close now. Rey couldn’t hide the heat rising to her cheeks at his face mere inches from hers. She couldn’t stop herself from looking him up and down and letting her eyes settle on his lips. Those lips. There weren’t many nights she didn’t think of them now, doing things that she could never voice aloud.

Rey opened her mouth to try and speak, but her voice caught in her throat. Ben fell silent as well, breathing even halting as his eyes bore into hers. Usually she was able to read them, tell what he was thinking and feeling immediately, but there was nothing but one strange look.

It was like they were stuck in time and space, the universe gluing them to their place. Rey couldn’t find it in herself to move away, naturally gravitating forward. Her lip quivered as fear pierced her heart, the thought of rejection once more as she finally allowed herself to grow close again.

Except that feeling never came, not even as their lips met for the very first time.

Rey couldn’t recall who initiated it, but in hindsight it didn’t really matter. The only thing that was important now was the way his lips felt against her, how soft and pliant they were. It was painstakingly slow but time seemed to speed up all the same. Somehow, somewhere, this would’ve been more simple, wouldn’t have had to have an entire galaxy tearing them apart.

“Ben,” she whispered after a moment, pulling away just barely to the point their noses brushed.

Even if Rey had just barely pulled away, Ben completely straightened up. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Ben—”

“No, don’t say anything. I know you don’t feel for me in that way. You don’t have to confirm what I already know to be true.”

This man. Without giving him a chance to say another word, Rey grabbed him by the jaw and pulled him down to kiss her this time. It was sloppy, rough, unpracticed, but it was worth it to feel him again, feel the perfection of his lips on hers.

It wasn’t long before he pulled away again, breathing heavily as he stared at her. Rey could feel the blush crawling to her cheeks, but the lighting was dim enough that she doubted he could see even if he tried. “Are you okay?”

“Honestly? No.” Ben let out a loose breath before turning to her. “Will you do that again?”

“So romantic,” she muttered under her breath right before their lips met again.

This time he didn’t pull away. It was an unfamiliar sensation, but his lips slotted so perfectly with hers somehow, and Rey found herself never ever wanting to let go of him again. “Gods help me,” she mumbled against him.

Ben choked sat his hand down to keep himself from falling—right on Rey’s tea. Even as the mug fell to the ground and shattered, Ben’s swearing breaking the silence between them, Rey could feel it:

Peace.

The feeling didn’t escape her as Ben wiped the hot tea off his hand or they found their way into the lounge they’d taken a particular liking to. It didn’t escape her as he pressed her into the chaise and felt the warmth of his body against hers. It didn’t escape her as Ben found his way into her side, allowing Rey to hold him until the sun rose again.

For now, it was just them and Naboo, the stars and the galaxy. A war—physical and mental—temporarily forgotten for the utter transcendence of peace.

#reylo #reylo fic

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