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With a fair bit of swearing--a combination of phrases learned both on Jakku and the Resistance base--Rey managed to get her arm shoulder-deep into the belly of the Falcon. There was something in there messing with the circuitry (truly, there were many things inhibiting the ship from flying perfectly, but one problem at a time) and Rey was determined to figure out what it was.
She felt more than heard a presence walk up behind her, tentative and nervous, and Rey gathered up her patience. It had been commonplace for Resistance members to seek her and the Falcon out, and it was even odds that they were just trying to get in Rey’s good graces as they were trying to get a hands-on look at the legendary craft. Either way, she’d grown tired of this particular song and dance. No one, absolutely no one , got to touch the Falcon besides her and Chewbacca.
Arm still buried in the ship, Rey grunted acknowledgement at whoever was behind her. They could blabber on about whatever they wanted, but Rey was going to finish her task come Sith or high water.
“Uh, hi! I don’t mean to intrude--but I was wondering if you needed any help?” The girl gasped sharply, “Not that you need any help! Gods know that you’re more than competent! But-but I guess I was wondering if you wanted any help? Or just a spare set of hands?”
Letting it all roll over her, Rey assessed. There was no ulterior motive simmering beneath the girl’s words, the Force in fact seemed pleased and happy with whoever was speaking.
Rey furrowed her brow. In her not-so-long-tutelage under Luke, she had hardly ever known the Force to be pleased with an individual. Loosening her grip on the wires in her hand, she turned to get a better look over her shoulder.
Rey liked to think she was prepared for most of whatever the universe decided to throw at her. Jakku taught her how to speak nearly a dozen languages and how to take apart any piece of machinery and put it back together better than before. Between growing up on Jakku and her recent Jedi training, she knew for a fact that she was one of the deadliest beings on this side of the galaxy--something that Kylo Ren was going to find out the hard way next time they crossed paths. So, yeah, Rey thought she was prepared for just about anything.
What she found she wasn’t prepared for was the very pretty girl standing in front of her.
Her face must have been a picture because the girl took a half-step back.
“Wait!” Rey took a step to match her, only to get caught by the ship. She swore and yanked her arm out. “You can stay! I mean, um, I’d appreciate the help,” Rey gestured vaguely at the Falcon , wondering why in the world she was extending this invitation when everyone else who’d asked before had been run off, “There’s a lot that needs fixing.”
The girl bounced a little on her toes in her excitement and squealed, “Thank you!”
She blushed, then shook herself and held out a hand with a wide smile. “I’m Rose Tico: Resistance mechanic and happy to be of service!”
Rey’s grin matched Rose’s, “It’s good to meet you, Rose.”
She wasn’t prepared for the zing that traveled up her arm when their hands met, nor was she prepared for the heat that blossomed in her heart and over her cheeks that immediately followed.
Oh, no, Rey thought, even as her smile grew even wider.
~
Hours later, Rey was stalking through the base’s halls with a purpose. It took the better part of half a standard hour for her to find her target because she was so distracted (something that had never been an issue before). Once she cleared her head and focused on the Force, it took only a minute to figure out where she needed to be.
“I’m taking Finn now,” Rey grunted at a very flummoxed Poe Dameron, who up until a minute ago had been enjoying a very lovely, a very close conversation with his friend outside the mess hall. Rey only slowed enough to let the pair give each other a brief hug (paired with a longing look that Rey didn’t fail to notice) before grabbing Finn by the arm and dragging him down the corridor.
“Hi, Rey, nice to see you, Rey,” Finn grumbled, “I’m having a good day, thanks for asking.”
A small pang of guilt wormed it’s way into Rey’s stomach. She brought them to a stop at their preferred hiding spot, a window that led to a small balcony that they used to get away from the hustle and bustle of the Resistance.
“I’m sorry. Hi, Finn,” she smiled, “How’s your day been?”
He beamed back at her before beginning to crawl out the window. “It’s been great! I got some more pilot training in, and then I worked with Leia on some new battle strategies.” Finn paused, and Rey could feel him blush through the Force. “And before you showed up,” he teased, “I think Poe and I were starting to...you know...starting to get somewhere.”
Any bit of guilt Rey had felt evaporated. She rolled her eyes, and used the Force to toss a pebble at her best friend as they took their usual seats. “Any ‘getting somewhere’ should’ve happened the moment you woke from your coma.”
He spluttered for a moment before conceding her point with a shrug. “Besides,” Rey cleared her throat, “That isn’t the reason why I dragged you out here. At least, not entirely.”
Finn’s curiosity was palpable, but Rey appreciated how he didn’t immediately jump in with a million questions like anyone else would. He always let her gather her words to her first, and she loved him for it. She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her cheek on them to look at Finn.
Rather than dive right into the heart of the matter, Rey decided to side track a bit. “What do you know about Rose Tico?”
His smile was immediate. “Oh, she’s great! She’s an amazing mechanic--not that I’d know much about that, but Poe says so and I’d take his word on it--and sharp as a tack. Hilarious, too, always smiling and there to help when you need a hand. She’s kind,” he finished with a nod, as if he’d completed whatever list of good attributes he had in his head.
Rey tucked her smile into her knees, hoping that Finn didn’t see how dopey it was.
No such luck.
“What’s that face for?” Finn poked and prodded at her until she couldn’t hold in her giggles anymore and began to swat back at him. “Come on, you have to tell me now. It’s how best friends work!”
Rey rolled her eyes but complied. “I let Rose help me work on the Falcon today, that’s all.”
Any attempt of nonchalance was blown out of the water when her dopey grin reemerged at Rose’s name. Judging by Finn’s wide-eyed expression, one would’ve thought Rey just said she’d gotten married.
“Oh, oh wow, Rey,” Finn’s laugh echoed off their little balcony and into the forest beyond.
“Shut up ,” she groaned, ducking her head once more.
“I mean, seriously, wow.”
“Please, shut up.”
Finn put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder, letting the silence build for a couple minutes between them. “You’re really, really, fucked,” he laughed.
Rey sighed in defeat. “I know.”
~
Knowing that she had a huge, massive crush on Rose Tico that she didn’t know how to handle did not actually stop Rey from seeking the mechanic out and asking for her help on the Falcon the next day. And the next.
And nearly every day after that for two weeks.
~
Once again Rey found herself stalking through the base’s halls in search of her best friend. Only this time, instead finding Finn in the Pilot’s lounge or in Intelligence (his two most frequented places), she stumbled upon him in the makeshift garden behind the mess hall.
Well, she stumbled upon Finn and Poe very much occupied with one another, so entwined Rey wasn’t entirely sure where one began and the other ended.
With a blush bright on her cheeks, Rey quietly retreated.
She had originally sought Finn out to vent about how Rose had gotten the Falcon’s comm device to stop glitching every ten seconds then blushed profusely at Rey’s praise (she was so smart and pretty Rey couldn’t handle it), but she could come back later.
She heard a moan and quickened her pace.
She’d come back a lot later.
~
“Blue milk?”
Rey scrunched up her nose. “Ugh, no thanks. Bizarre. Water or nothing.”
Rose chuckled, “Fair enough. How about grapes?”
“Eh, not bad. Not great, but not bad.”
“Hmmmm…...Naboo apples?”
Rey just rolled her eyes.
Rose threw her hands up in the air in mock exasperation. “Alright! Fine, I give up. What’s your favorite food?”
It’d been a game of sorts that Rose had been playing lately, trying to guess all the new foods Rey’s tried since her time at the Resistance and determining her favorite. Rey loved it if only for the fact that it got Rose to sit close and spend time together away from the Falcon.
She bent forward as if imparting some great secret, making sure all of Rose’s attention was on her before saying with as much seriousness she could muster, “Potatoes.”
Rose cocked an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Potatoes?”
Rey nodded. “Potatoes.”
Smiles were fighting their ways into the corners of their mouths, but neither wanted to be the one to break fist.
“Alright,” Rose drawled, “What’s so magical about potatoes then?”
“You can eat them so many different ways!” Rey ticked each off her fingers as she rambled, “Baked, fried, mashed, those little crispy chip things, in a stew!” She flailed a little, unable to hold back her laughter when Rose lost her own composure, “And they’re delicious every single time!”
She didn’t mention that anything with that type of versatility would’ve been a Force-damned miracle on Jakku, that it would’ve been almost as valuable as the rarest ship-parts, wanting to keep the moment filled with Rose’s light and laughter.
Rey felt that heat blossom across her heart again, but this time, she reveled in it.
~
“Rey.”
“Rey.”
“Rey.”
She sighed but didn’t open her eyes. “Finn. We’re supposed to be meditating. Which typically requires silence.”
Finn let out a huff. “I know, but we have a problem.” Before Rey could ask, Finn barreled on. “You know you’re my best friend, and I love you, and I love that we can almost-sort-of communicate telepathically. It’s great, but--”
“But what?”
“I, for some reason, can’t help but to constantly have a million little thoughts running around my head about an adorable mechanic. Any idea what that’s about?”
Rey opened her eyes to level a glare at Finn that has sent many people fleeing from its path. Unfortunately, Finn was immune.
“Hey, that’s kind of like how, for some reason, I’m getting way too many mental images of a hotshot pilot with fewer clothes on than I ever wanted to see. Isn’t that strange?! ”
Finn opened his mouth to protest, and Rey did much the same when Luke’s voice cut across them both.
“Isn’t bizarre how all three of us wouldn’t have to deal with these problems if two of us concentrated on meditating like they’re supposed to?”
~
“Hey,” Rose plopped down on the bench next to Poe, swiping an extra roll from his tray and stealing a bite. “Any idea why Rey and Finn have been MIA today?”
Poe shrugged and looked across the mess hall to see the two in question sitting with Luke, both blushing furiously while the older Jedi looked somewhere between embarrassed and amused.
“No idea, but I’m not sure if I actually want to know.”
~
It’d been four months since they worked on the Falcon together that everything changed.
“So, I know you probably get this a lot,” Rose was tentative like she hadn’t been since the day they met, for all that her voice was muffled by the bulk of the sandwich she was working on as they sat down for lunch . Rey had discovered early on that Rose was anything but shy. She went out of her way to get to know as many people as she could on base, learning their names and their stories. She was tenacious, standing up for others with every ounce of righteous fury she had.
She was amazing, and Rey hated to see her not acting like herself. She nudged Rose’s foot with her own, encouraging her to speak.
“I was wondering, if you’re okay with it--like only if you’re really okay with it, could I see you use the Force?”
Rey felt her emotions close off. She couldn’t help the knee-jerk reaction even if she wanted to, though she fought hard to push it down.
Too many people had asked her and Finn for demonstrations. They always wanted to see how she fought; how she used the Force to become faster, stronger, deadlier, her yellow double-bladed saber-staff clashing with Finn’s purple blade. They wanted to see how the Jakku scavenger and the ex-Stormtrooper were now the Resistance’s greatest weapons--even if they wouldn’t say the words aloud.
Rey cleared the bitterness from her throat and knotted her fingers into the loose fabric of her tunic.
“What would you want to see?”
Rose bumped her shoulder against Rey’s, “Anything you’d be comfortable showing. Just,” she sighed. “I know we’re in a war, and I know you’re tough as nails and all that, but I don’t really want to see how you fight.”
Rose reached over until her hand covered Rey’s, gently loosening her fingers from her tunic, sliding her own fingers into the empty spaces. “We get enough of that already, don’t you think?”
Rey nodded in agreement, unable to speak as she gripped Rose’s hand tighter.
Minutes later, Rey had never been so happy to have the Force.
She’d taken Rose to the edge of a nearby lake and directed her to stand on the pebbled shore.
“Trust me,” she’d said.
“I do,” Rose replied, easy as breathing.
Poleaxed but still determined, Rey took a deep breath and sought out the Force. She let the Light flood her as she guided it.
Thousands of tiny pebbles began to rise, floating through the air with gentle grace, beginning a slow orbit around Rose. Drops of water rose from the lake, joining the dance and shining bright as stars in D’Qar’s sunshine.
Rose’s eyes grew wide with wonder, and she reached out a hand to brush against the nebula Rey created for her. Rey could feel her joy radiate around them. It rushed through her and out again through the Force, sending the nebula of water and stone higher as it moved joyously around Rose.
“It’s so beautiful!” Rose twirled in a circle, spinning in time with the nebula, head thrown back and laughter pouring out of her.
Oh, no, Rey thought, eyes wet and smile wide, I am so very, very, screwed.
~
The problem about being a bit of a loner with only a few places of refuge was that everyone knew where to look for you, even if you didn’t want to be found.
Rey shouldn’t be bothered by it, being surrounded by people who cared for her, who supported her, and who she cared for in turn was a giant step up from her life on Jakku, but sometimes she missed the solitude.
Especially when she was trying to figure out what do with her ever-growing emotions.
Especially when the last person she wanted to talk about said emotions with was Luke.
The older Jedi climbed up the bulk of the Falcon nimbly, settling down next to Rey in near silence.
“Something’s been bothering you.” It wasn’t a question, just an observation that Rey could choose to acknowledge or not.
On one hand, it could be mortifying to talk about her... feelings with her teacher, but on the other, she knew that if anything he had far more world experience than herself. He could possibly know what to do next. She nodded as she tried to parse out what to say.
“I know that I’ve been pushing you and Finn hard, but I hope you know that if I push too much--”
“No, no, it’s not that,” she assured him, “Nothing like that.” He had been pushing them harder than usual, but neither Finn nor her blamed him. Tension in the war was growing, they could all feel it. They’d face the Darkness sooner rather than later.
This time Luke waited for her to get her thoughts together. After several minutes of struggling to find the words, Rey just let her thoughts tumble out.
“How do you know if you’re in love? What does that mean, especially since I’ve never felt anything like that for someone else? How can I know?”
Luke hummed, looking away as Rey wiped her eyes and blew her nose in her tunic, letting her pull herself back together from the surprising onslaught of emotion.
“I think,” he began, placing a comforting arm around Rey’s shoulders and pulling her close, “That you would trust your own knowledge on all of that more than you’d trust mine. I think that if you’re wondering these things, you may already have an answer. What does your mind tell you?”
“That I’m scared,” Rey whispered, relieved at the admission. “I’m scared that I’ll screw it up and lose her, or this war will tear us apart before we even get a chance to begin to be together.”
“And what does your heart tell you?”
Rey’s smile was shaky, but fierce. “That I love her, and I’ll be damned if I let any of that stop me.”
Luke chuckled softly, squeezing her once more before releasing her. “I guess you know what to do next, then?”
She sat up straight and looked down into the hangar, knowing Rose was working down there.
“I’m going to tell her.”
The alarms rang out.
~
It was time . Snoke and Kylo’s location had been discovered and the Resistance wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip through their fingers.
Rey was running through the Falcon doing last minute checks on the ship, happy to discover that it was the most flight-ready that it’d been in probably forty years. She spared a moment to smile. She was proud of the work she and Rose had accomplished.
Rose.
Rey’s heart twinged but she pushed it aside. There wasn’t time to say anything, to confess everything. Though Rey vowed to herself that there would be time when they made it back—victorious and safe.
She was ready. Finn was ready. Luke was ready. The whole damn Resistance base was ready for any possible outcome that the upcoming battle could spit out.
Rey was prepared, steady. Just where she liked to be.
“You weren’t going to leave without a goodbye, were you?”
And as always, it seemed Rose was right there with her, ready to knock her off course.
She was leaning back against the console in the cockpit, arms folded tight across her midsection. Her right foot bounced, something Rey knew she only did when she was nervous.
“Because I’d be really pissed if you were going to fly off into battle without at least a hug.”
Despite the time pressure, despite her own mounting nerves, Rey began to smile.
“ At least? ” Rey stepped forward, smile growing. “What do you mean, ‘at least?’”
Rose stood her ground, her eyes alight with challenge.
Rey moved closer. With barely a foot between them, she reached down and pulled Rose’s hands into her own.
“I didn’t want to say goodbye, because that seemed so final,” she confessed. “I would rather say, ‘I’ll come back to you soon.’”
Rose shakily inhaled. “I like that a lot better.”
“I thought you might,” Rey felt her smile grow soft and fond.
“But if you don’t kiss me right now I will totally kick your ass--Jedi or not!”
Rey was laughing as she pressed her lips to Rose’s, though she quickly sobered as she fell into the kiss. Rose had her hands buried in Rey’s hair, holding so tightly like she was afraid Rey’d disappear if she let go.
The Force sang ; a symphony of Light and joy soaring through their veins and out into the world around them. Rey felt Rose’s giddy, bone-deep, wonder mirror her own.
This. This is where Rey was meant to be.
“I love you,” she breathed as she pulled back, “I love you, and I’ll come back. I promise .”
Rose’s smile was blinding.
“I love you, and I believe you.”