Work Text:
Outline: While on a mission, Reader buys Rey a gift to cheer her up
The market is bustling, despite the near-unbearable heat and dry air. You can feel beads of sweat running down the back of your neck; only adding to your discomfort.
These are exactly the kind of missions you hate. Working undercover in dire holes of scum; with the barest of resources. Espionage, Vice Admiral Holdo called it. Granted, the resources of the Resistance are stretched thin but this? The only resources you have are a small pouch of money and the blaster at your side.
Oh, and the force user: Rey.
So in some kind of way, this mission is different. You get to spend a weekend with your favourite person in the Resistance. As well as kick some First Order butt.
Usually, these shared missions are a boatload of fun, for you and Rey get on so well. But this mission? Not so enjoyable. Every conversation has been stunted and the useful free flowing conversations have started to resemble shattered glass. Broken and painful.
You know why. This is the first sand-covered planet that she has visited since leaving Jakku; so you chalked her melancholy mood to homesicknes. Or maybe something else, a long covered insecurity.
Either could be true. Or both at once.
While trying to get to sleep last night, you could hear her through the wall: crying.
You left her to sort out her emotions, feeling bad all the while. You should be there for her, that you knew, but all the same you didn’t want to intrude.
It was almost a miracle that the individual you are tracking wandered into the scorching market for a tete-a-tete, giving you the chance to browse the stalls to fill in the time. A stand of fruit. A covered collection of mechanical parts. And then, a stall of varying metal jewellery.
Crystal brooches designed like butterflies sit next to silver bracelets and necklaces of something akin to gold. Whether they were real metals of value or not, you can’t tell but that hardly matters - they’re pleasing to the eye regardless.
As you wipe at your sweaty forehead, your eyes land on the perfect gift: a battered gold hair pin with a smiling sun. Your lips quirk in a smile as you think how much it would suit Rey.
Like Finn says, Rey is the light of the Resistance. The light that guides through the darkness of violence, war and undeniable trauma.
Within a few moments, you exchange a small amount of money for the beautiful pin with a smile and thank you to the stall’s vendor. Just in time too, for your target has started to make their way out of the market, making it all to easy for you to follow.
Your boots sink into sand as you walk through winding streets, trailing your target at a safe distance. But instead of turning right, you carry on straight. Out of town; out of this god-forsaken place.
Soon sand turns to metal as you enter the ship, air cooling around you. Nothing has changed since you’ve left, in fact everything seems stagnant. The only thing that has been altered seems to be the darkening sky outside.
“Rey!” You call, wandering through the ship’s hallways, more than mildly concerned.
There’s no sign of her. Not in her room. Not in the kitchen. Nowhere. Just as you are debating comming her, your wandering takes you into the cockpit and there she is: curled up in one of the chairs, snuggled in her poncho.
You meet her bloodshot eyes, and hastily make your way to her; seating yourself in the parralel chair. She offers you a small smile, which you easily return.
“How did the mission go?” She asks, with an audible croak in her voice.
“It’s still nowhere near completion, I haven’t managed to get the dirt that we need.” You sigh “But we’re almost there.”
Rey gives you a small nod.
“I’m sorry that I haven’t been more help, it’s just -” You watch Rey practically deflate as she curls further into her chair.
“It’s okay.” You say, placing your hand gently on her knee. “Things happen, and sometimes you just can’t help it.”
You shift in your chair, pulling out the small pin from your jacket’s pocket.
“Besides, I saw something that reminded me of you today. Something that will show you how your light up so many people’s lives.”
With the warmest smile you can muster, you slide the pin into her open palm. Her eyes soak in the sight of the pin and the smile you love so much works its way onto her face.
“A sun.” She breathes, looking up from the pin to you.
Tears, what you hope are happy tears, well in her eyes. And you both share a happy, appreciating, smile.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”