Archive of Our Own

Ben Solo was smitten. From the moment Rey Johnson had set foot in the office, Ben had fallen for her. Yet they had scarcely conversed properly since they’d met. Ben had been yearning to talk to her at length. They had had polite co-worker discussions, nothing particularly riveting. The moment the conversation strayed from office talk, that’s when things went downhill. Anyway, she had her friends, he had his. They didn’t run in the same circles.

Rey found it hard to drag her attention away from Ben. There was something about him that intrigued her. Over the past five months she’d woken up from some pretty eventful dreams featuring him yet the most exciting interaction she’d had with him was when she accidentally somehow spilt her bottle of water on his white shirt, giving her the tiniest glimpse of his well-built chest. He’d been very kind to her about it, brushing it off and making no fuss, but spilling nearly an entire bottle of water on her co-worker had left her red-faced.

It was the first time Rey had partaken in an office Secret Santa and she’d been looking forward to it from the moment the notion had been brought up. The problem was that she had drawn Ben’s name from the tacky Father Christmas hat and she had no clue as to what to get him. She had turned to her friends - who had known Ben for much longer - and they’d only given lewd suggestion as they took great pleasure in winding her up over her crush.

“Rey,” Poe whispered to her after he’d found out who she had to buy the gift for, “I’ve messaged you some ideas of what I think Ben’ll really like.”

Excited, Rey quickly opened to see a variety of links. Clicking on the first, she immediately shut it upon seeing a Kama Sutra scrapbook. She quickly and furiously messaged him back;

There was no reply until after she had thrown five screwed up balls of paper at his head. Watching the little dots on the screen intently, this was her friend’s reply;

I think it’s great.

You do the position

You take a photo and then stick it into the book

It’s important to keep those precious moments and memories

However, her friend ignored her insult and continued to pester her with other gift ideas and with both Rose and Finn keen to join in with the relentless goading, the trio created a group chat and added Rey, who now faced an unnecessary abundance of links to websites selling an assortment of sexual gifts daily.

Ben, on the other hand, had friends who couldn't care less about his infatuation with the newest employee. He had ended up randomly selecting Rey’s name and was now also faced with the challenge of trying to find something that a person you’re too shy to talk to would like. Mustering up as much courage as he could, he approached Rey’s desk. It’s now or never, he thought, ….come hold me tight, kiss me my dar-

“Fucking Elvis.” he muttered as the song remained firmly stuck in his head.

“What’s wrong with Elvis?” he heard Rey pipe up. He whirled around to see her standing behind him. He turned a beet red.

“Nothing’s wrong with Elvis,” he said quickly. He tried to stop talking, he really did, but before he managed to form the thought, he heard himself blurting out random facts regarding the long dead singer. He could see Rey had a funny look on her face and eventually managing to somehow stop himself from continuing his ramble, he shut his mouth, turned away and power-walked quickly back to his desk. He sat back down defeated with his head in his hands.

Hux gave a low whistle, “You really fucked that up didn’t you.”

Rey tried not to smile as Ben rambled on, she found his awkwardness rather endearing. However, before she could speak, he’d suddenly whisked himself away back to his desk with a pained look on his face. She turned back to see Poe looking at her with a smirk.

“What?”

“He likes you.”

“What? No. Don’t be stupid.”

“And you like him.”

“Shut up.”

And with that she began working again, focusing intently on trying to ignore her friend’s smug expression.

A week had passed and neither Ben nor Rey had managed to find something to give to each other. Rey had resorted to stalking - or ‘investigating’ as she put it - his social media to figure out what he liked and even then it was a struggle. It was only Friday before the last week of work that Rey finally came up with an idea of what to get him and even then she wasn’t entirely sure of how he’d react to it. She had noticed that he collected old books and so she spent her weekend trawling through second-hand bookshops looking for the perfect one but to no avail.

It wasn’t until she overheard Ben grumble, “Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near,” as he typed away furiously at his computer and Hux’s brusque reply of “Don’t be such a pretentious poetry wanker, Solo,” that she realised it.

So he likes poems then, Rey mused.

Ben was stuck. He couldn’t for the life of him think of a present to get Rey and time was running out. He began to resign himself to the fact that he would have to have a stab in the dark. However, he finally figured out that something to do with Doctor Who would hopefully be good enough when he caught sight of her watching a Tom Baker episode on her phone during her break.

The office Christmas party finally rolled around and seeing the joy on each other’s face finally gave them a sense of relief. Rey approached Ben, her gift in hand. After much indecisiveness, he’d settled on getting her a DVD of an episode from the Classic series. Apparently “Genesis of the Daleks” was voted as the greatest story of the series and hopefully she hadn’t seen it or she had seen it and liked it. Judging by her expression, thankfully it seemed to be one of the two. He felt his heartbeat quicken as she stopped in front of him with a beam.

“I just wanted to say thanks for the DVD,” she said, “I haven’t seen this one yet and I’ve been meaning to for ages.” Ben felt slightly more relaxed at her genuine happiness at his gift. He remembered the antique book in his hands and gave her a small, nervous smile. “Thank you for my present. Tennyson is my favourite.”

Rey looked slightly worried, “I know it’s not a first edition or anything but-”

“It’s perfect,” Ben said, stopping her in her tracks. “How did you know I liked poetry?”

“I overheard you quoting a poem.”

“Don’t lie, you were stalking him,” Rose snorted as she approached them.

Rey sent her daggers before turning her attention back to Ben who was smiling as he flicked through the pages.

“As I was saying before Rose rudely interrupted, I saw you collected old books and guessed you liked poetry,” she finished shyly. “I had a quick skim over them and I can see why you like the old ones. They really are beautiful.”

She felt her heart race at his expression as he clasped the book to his chest.

“Thank you.”

Poe, who was now slightly tipsy, approached the trio.

“I see you like her gift. Well come on then, recite us a poem.”

Ben's eyes widened as he felt a wave of anxiety. Sure, he loved poetry, but reciting it was an entirely different ball game.

Rey sensed his worry and shooed away her friends. Once they were just one on one again, Rey gave him a small smile. “Sorry about that. You don't have to say one if you don't want to, but I would love to hear you.”

“Did you really like the ballads?” Ben asked.

Rey nodded. “Yeah, I thought they were great.”

Ben bit his lip. If she really did like them, maybe he could say a little bit of one, just for her.

“I guess I could recite one, just a little bit though.”

Rey beamed and he felt butterflies in his tummy as he searched for his favourite. He finally found it and took a deep breath nervously. He felt Rey squeeze his arm comfortingly and his cheeks grew warm. Trying to ignore her gaze, he focused on the words on the page before him,

“There has fallen a splendid tear
From the passion-flower at the gate.
She is coming, my dove, my dear;
She is coming, my life, my fate;
The red rose cries, "She is near, she is near;"
And the white rose weeps, "She is late;"
The larkspur listens, "I hear, I hear;"
And the lily whispers, "I wait."

She is coming, my own, my sweet;
Were it ever so airy a tread,
My heart would hear her and beat,
Were it earth in an earthy bed;
My dust would hear her and beat,
Had I lain for a century dead,
Would start and tremble under her feet,
And blossom in purple and red.”

He finished and clutched the book back to his chest, nervously awaiting Rey’s reaction. As he kept his head bowed, he looked through his lashes to see her with a soft look on her face.

“That was lovely,” she said gently.

There was silence before they heard Poe pipe up

“Oh for crying out loud, I can't stand this anymore.” He leant against a nearby printer for support, “Rey, do you like Ben?”

“Um, well, I mean-”

“Yes or no?”

“Um, yes.”

“Ben, do you like Rey? Like, like like her.”

Ben remained silent but nodded.

“Great. Now, Rey were you planning to watch that Doctor Who episode later tonight?”

“Yeah…”

“Ben, are you free later tonight?”

“I am…”

Poe clapped his hands together, “Wonderful. Now since you’re both free, you are going to go home with each other and watch that Doctor Who episode and do whatever you want after that.” The other two blushed furiously at their colleague’s insinuation. Poe rolled his eyes, “You can thank me later,” he added as Finn dragged him away.

Ben looked at his feet as he asked, “So, do you want to, you know, watch-”

“I would love to.” Rey beamed.