Work Text:
Rey tossed her bag into the trunk with a huff.
“I still can’t believe you invited him,” she said incredulously.
At some point they were going to move on from this conversation, but apparently they weren’t there yet. Finn grimaced.
“Look I know he can be…a lot…” he shrugged.
“As in, a terrible grouch all the time,” Rey supplied.
“Ben just needs some friends…he needs camping!” Finn smiled.
Maybe he was trying to assure himself, as much as he was Rey, who was shaking her head in frustration.
"This was just supposed to be us, the inside group. Me, you, Rose, Poe…that girl Connix that he drags around everywhere…that’s it!” Rey closed the trunk with a loud thud.
Finn rubbed his face with his hands, “I wasn’t going to say anything but, Leia asked me to invite him.”
“She what?” Rey screeched. “This is a work thing now?”
“I hear you, I do. But this is going to be fine.” He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “You’ll see.”
Rey understood that Leia was worried about her son, and from what she knew about him, there was good reason to be. So Rey couldn’t be completely angry that Leia suggested it. She just really hadn’t been planning on him coming, and her whole weekend was about to change.
It wasn’t that he was hard on the eyes, in fact, she’d always found Ben attractive. But she never would have admitted it to anybody, not ever, even under duress.
Her mind flashed back to the incident that had happened in his office two months prior.
A loud clash reverberated through the room, Rey opened her office door to see Finn and Poe rolling their eyes. They were practically replacing supplies on a daily basis ever since Leia’s prodigal son had started working with them. Office furniture, tech equipment, pens, and that one cubicle wall...all victims to his fits of anger. Although he had improved a lot throughout the months, his temper still got the best of him from time to time.
Rey rolled her eyes at them and then headed towards Ben’s office to see if he needed help. Once she opened the door, she saw him crouched on the floor picking up the pieces of his desktop computer.
She should have walked away, she really should have just walked away. But Rey walked towards him instead.
She squatted beside him and silently started picking up the broken computer pieces.
“You don’t need to do this,” he said.
Ben didn’t look at her, he just focused on the broken metal pieces as his hair fell over his face.
“Well,” she pressed her lips into a thin line as she picked up a chunk of the desktop, turned around, reached over and placed it on his desk. Rey sighed as she looked back at the fragments still on the ground. “It’s what a decent person would do.”
Ben nodded but didn’t say anything. The man had become an expert at ignoring her daily jabs as a result of the months of animosity between the two. He mimicked her earlier action in silence and continued picking up the pieces.
Rey pursed her lips.
“What happened?” Rey found herself whispering. It had been a while since he had done something like this. And she wasn’t stupid, Ben’s temper was short, sure, but he never did anything without a reason.
He only shook his head in reply. His silence was definitely more worrying than any screaming match they’d ever had, and there had been many. Rey felt her chest grow tighter.
“Ben,” she insisted, her tone firm.
“It’s nothing.” he said, taking the last bit of the broken computer from her hands and dropping it on his desk. Ben stood up and silently stared at its wooden surface stewn with bits of hard drive and fractured computer casing.
Rey stood up but stayed beside him. Studying his face, waiting.
“I was typing a report for my lawyer, he asked me to describe in detail what it was like working for-”
“Snoke,” she completed and he turned to her, surprised she was paying attention.
Or maybe surprised that she cared. Everyone in the office had had a front row seat to the fallout from Ben quitting his old job. His old boss was the definition of a shark investor, taking his aggression to every single aspect of his life. After Ben left his office, Snoke sent his lawyers and their sharp fangs after him, claiming he had stolen intellectual property.
It was a completely unfounded accusation, of course. But the old investor would do anything to get his best employee and favorite pet back. Including, but not limited to, making his life a complete legal nightmare.
But Rey did care, more than she ever let on. She brushed at her pants, now wrinkled after crouching, and bit her bottom lip.
“Do you want me to help you?” she asked softly, glancing up at him.
His eyes widened slightly at her offer, but he took hold of his swirling emotions and shook his head resolutely.
“Why would you help me?” Ben asked quietly.
Rey blinked a few times, unsure. “I just, I kind of know what it’s like…”
“You can’t possibly-”
“I grew up in the system. In foster care,” she stopped him.
“Oh...I didn’t know,” he looked away embarrassed, “Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” she answered not quite knowing where to look.
“It’s just...you know, reliving it…” he shook his head. “I gave everything I had to him.”
For a moment, Rey and Ben only looked at each other, not because they were unsure of what to do next, but simply because they completely forgot they were supposed to go on with their lives.
There was a strand of dark hair over his face and, suddenly, Rey raised her hand and tucked it behind his ear as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Rey only noticed what she had done when his breath hitched. Somehow though, she kept her hand on the side of his face as they looked into each other’s eyes, letting her fingers trace lightly along his jawline. But then Ben’s eyes fell to her lips and she parted them out of instinct.
Before she could send the message to her brain to just abort mission, turn and walk away, her body was leaning in, and so was his.
“Ben, what is it this time? I heard a crash-” Leia opened the door of his office abruptly.
The man in question, and the woman he was inches away from kissing just then, jumped away from each other. Rey looked at her feet and muttered random excuses as she hurried out of the room.
Nevertheless, despite all her misgivings and everything that had happened between the two of them, Finn was probably right, it would all be fine.
It wasn’t.
Ben arrived at Finn’s house just as grumpy as ever. He slammed his door when he got in the car and popped his earbuds in as soon as he had his seatbelt buckled. Rey shot Finn a pointed look of “I-told-you-so.” He rolled his eyes in return. It was too late to change plans anyway, the man was in the car.
After half an hour of silence from his side of the back seat, Rey summoned the courage from somewhere within her to poke his enormous arm –why did she notice these things about him all the time- and get his attention.
He raised a single eyebrow at her.
“What are you listening to?” she asked.
“A podcast,” he answered flatly.
Rey nodded and tried to appear as if that was really interesting information that she could make a conversation out of, like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, “What podcast? What is it about?”
His face conveyed that he hadn’t expected a follow up question to that and wasn’t really pleased about it.
“It’s nothing, just…Star Wars,” the last two words were barely above a whisper.
Rey’s eyes widened. But before she could ask him which Star Wars podcast he was hearing and reveal the one interest they may actually have in common, Finn made a choking sound from the front seat.
“Nerd,” he said and then proceeded to cough again.
Ben glowered at him for a moment.
“So, I didn’t really see you as the camping type,” Rey ventured, attempting to change the subject. “You seem more like the cruise type...although sometimes you do grow that scruffy little beard, I guess it fits-” What on earth was she doing.
It felt like every time she tried to be friendly to Ben she ended up falling into her old teasing and bickering habits towards him. Like a pre-programmed software in her brain forcing her to be snarky except now that they were on better terms, it only sounded weird because there was no heat behind it. Even weirder considering how many details she remembered of his appearance, so many that she couldn’t stop them from tumbling out of her mouth. She hoped he didn’t think she was flirting. That was the last thing she needed.
“Scruffy?” His eyebrows were furrowed. “Who are you calling scruffy? You’re one to talk, going to the office with crazy hair.” He motioned his head towards her three buns.
Rey opened her mouth in protest and then blinked a few times. Before she could reply, he smirked before replacing the earbud and looking out the window.
She turned to her own window in response, the audacity. So they rode the rest if the way in silence.
The campsite was a little ways from the parking lot, she hadn’t realized that small detail when Finn first informed her about the trip. But she loaded on her pack and three tote bags onto her shoulders like a good little soldier anyway.
“What are you doing?” Ben’s voice came from just behind her.
“I’m-I’m just…about to follow Finn…you brought a tent right?” she eyed his trim backpack skeptically.
He sighed, pulling the tote bags back off one by one and loading them onto his own broad shoulder. “Yeah, I brought a tent.” He brushed past her to follow Finn down the path.
Rey narrowed her eyes as she watched him go. That man was a puzzle for sure.
The path was longer and bumpier than Rey had expected. She was glad for her hiking boots, but the rocks and fallen tree limbs still make the trek a challenge. Ben was ahead of her on the trail but more than once she saw him glance back at her to gauge her progress and even slow his pace to wait for her while Finn got farther and farther ahead.
Rey stopped finally to grab her water bottle from her pack after stumbling on a stray pebble that rolled under her shoe when she stepped on it. She took a long gulp and recapped the top. She noticed Ben had stopped as well and was munching on a granola bar. She walked over to him just as he was tucking the empty wrapper back into her tote bag and pulling the bags onto his shoulders.
“Did you just eat one of my snacks?” she asked suspiciously.
He raised his eyebrows, “I’m carrying the bags, Rey, you know I can take whatever I want.” He shrugged.
“No, that’s not how this works,” she replied feeling the irritation building inside her. “Do you want me to help carry some of that?” she offered, forcing herself to be polite in spite of everything, “I don’t mind carrying more than this backpack.”
“I know,” he said, but didn’t move to give her any of them.
“Ok,” she mumbled.
Ben grimaced, looking past her suddenly.
“What-what’s going on?” she asked seeing his change in expression.
“I just realized the path splits up there, and Finn, the map holder, is nowhere in sight.” He sighed in irritation.
“It’s the one on the right,” she said calmly.
“How do you know that?” he turned a speculative gaze on her.
“Because I’ve seen the map,” she brushed past him and started walking again.
“You’ve seen the map? You convinced him to show it to you?” he asked in disbelief.
“Yep,” she responded casually, not turning to see his annoyed expression.
It took a little while to set up camp, the others had already started when Ben and Rey arrived. Poe and Connix kidded good-naturedly while they worked. Finn, it seemed was focused entirely on flirting with Rose while they set up their tents.
Rey found a good place to set up her tent. It didn’t escape her notice that Ben’s tent had gravitated closer to hers as he pulled it out and set it up. She didn’t want to make too much out of it in her mind but still…it was interesting.
With that done, the six of them set off toward the creek, they could hear the rushing water from the campsite and it was practically calling to them. She inwardly cursed her clumsiness as she stumbled a few times on roots that cut across the narrow trail.
The last time, however, was prevented by a wall of muscles behind her. Ben instinctively placed his hands on her back as she fell towards him, which resulted in a few seconds of them staring awkwardly at each other before he helped right her, and looked away with the coloring rising on his cheeks.
Not that there was any reason for Rey to be flustered by Ben Solo touching her. She was simply embarrassed at her clumsiness, which was totally the reason why she paid so much attention to her next steps, to the point that her eyes stung.
The creek was worth the trip though. Rey sat down to soak up the cooler air that clung near the water and along the bank.
Rose and Finn followed Poe and Connix along the edge to explore.
“Join us!” they called.
Rey eyed the slippery rocks and shook her head warily. “I’m good here, have fun!” she called back.
Ben was wandering around the edge digging the toe of his shoe into the dirt, rather aimlessly. He found his way closer to her and plopped down on a large rock beside her.
“My mom made him invite me, didn’t she?” He didn’t take his eyes off the creek as he spoke.
“No, that’s…” Rey couldn’t think of a realistic sounding lie, “…pretty much what happened.”
A smiled quirked the sides of Ben’s lips.
“But you came,” Rey shifted to the side, curious if she could somehow make that smile fully break out on his face. “That has count for something right…maybe what good friends you two are? Or...we all are?”
It worked. She was even rewarded with a light chuckle.
They watched the water for a while in silence, occasionally throwing sticks in and watching them be whisked away in the stream.
“Most people just do their best to avoid me,” he said quietly.
“And you do your best to avoid most people,” she replied with a smirk.
He frowned. It was far from a lie, it was in fact the first assumption anyone would have made of him based on how he acted. Or used to act.
He pursed his lip and threw a rock in the creek. Ben knew who he had been in the past; short-tempered, unpredictable and ambitious. Back then, he didn’t believe he needed anyone, he didn’t want to need anyone. Success was all he depended on for personal gratification.
But things changed, as they tend to do in life. His former boss was far from the brilliant mentor Ben thought he was, and when his father got sick, Ben wasn’t there for him. Losing both his career and his father was perhaps one of the most heartrendingly enlightening moments of his life. Certain things, people, were worth fighting for; others, weren’t.
“Not all people,” he whispered.
Rey glanced at him quickly, but then looked down at her hands, not wanting to stare. He had that look on his face, that he furrowed his eyebrows ever so slightly and moved his jaw almost bringing his full lips into a pout.
Ever since he started working for his mother, which was honestly a surprise to everyone in the office, Ben had these moments of pure melancholy. And she hated them. She hated them for two simple reasons: his gloomy expressions had this nasty habit of categorizing themselves in her mind, and secondly, they made it really hard for her to dislike him.
She chewed on her lower lip. “You think maybe you might come off…ever so slightly…intimidating?”
“That’s ridiculous,” he said in a way that Rey wasn’t sure if he was joking or not.
“You can be a little gruff at the office.” She tossed out.
“I take my work seriously,” he nodded, with an air of defensiveness.
“You threw a printer out an open window when it jammed last week.”
He let his head sink into his hands, “…very seriously.”
It was Rey’s turn to laugh then, “Yeah, that’s one word for it.”
He met her eyes then, searching hers intently.
Poe and Connix returned first, Rey was slightly surprised to see them holding hands. They’d been flirting for what seemed like forever, and seemed nearly joined at the hips at times, but Poe had never gotten up the courage to make his move.
Rey thought there must have been something in the air that day, because somehow that sight prompted her to look at Ben. As he turned his head to check why she was staring at him, she stood up abruptly.
Coughing awkwardly, she muttered an excuse to go back to the campsite.
As the night fell, they gathered themselves around the fire to talk about inconsequential things and funny stories from years past and eat their dinner.
Rey took a sip of the hot chocolate in her metal camping mug. Connix was starting to yawn and mumbling something about heading to bed. Finn was trying to talk Rose into some sort of night time walk through the woods that seemed like a recipe for getting lost in the wilderness but Rey didn’t want to interfere.
Ben was sitting by the fire looking as grumpy as ever. Maybe, possibly, even more grumpy.
“What’s wrong?” Rey hazarded to ask.
He shook his head, never letting his eyes leave the fire, “My phone died.”
She nodded in understanding. But they had only been there a few hours, how had he used the battery life that quickly?
“Did you bring a battery back-up?” she asked, her memory flitting through his time in the car listening to the podcast.
“No,” he answered quietly. “No text messages, no Twitter, I can’t see anything from the outside world. I’ve never felt so alone.”
Rey tilted her head, thinking she had detected the slightest bit of sarcasm in his voice, this man who never seemed able to kid around with anybody. “You’re not alone,” she whispered and held her phone out toward him.
He looked at her in disbelief before slowly reaching for the phone in her outstretched hand, “You trust me with your phone?”
Rey shook her head, “No, but I know your mom!” she said and threw a mock, threatening look his way.
His warm hand brushed over hers as he accepted the phone, her breath caught in her throat and she thought she saw a blush creep onto his cheeks in the firelight.
Ben checked the news for a few minutes and set the phone down on the makeshift log bench next to her.
“Thanks,” he said quietly.
Rey nodded silently and tucked the phone back into one of the lower pockets in her cargo pants.
She heard Ben let out a low groan. He was rubbing his finger and scowling
“What’s the matter…now?” she asked hesitantly.
“I got a splinter,” he answered, his voice dark with anger. “I know what I have to do.” He started poking at the splinter and scratching at it with a fingernail.
Rey stifled a sigh, “That’s not a good idea.” Camping was clearly not in Ben’s comfort zone.
He groaned.
“Ok, hang on, I brought tweezers,” she stood to her feet and ducked into her tent. She rifled around her pack in the dark for a moment before locating what she needed.
With a flashlight in one hand and a pair of tweezers in the other, she shuffled back across the campsite and sat down beside Ben. She was closer this time. To take care of the splinter, Rey told herself, but the color in her cheeks told a different story.
“Let me see,” she thumbed on the flashlight.
Ben displayed his hand reluctantly. Rey aimed the flashlight. The tiniest piece of a sliver was lodged in his finger.
She pursed her lips, “Here, you hold the light.”
He took it from her and Rey used her free hand to hold his hand steady as she worked. A stray thought about how large his hand was inside her two smaller ones ran through her mind unbidden.
“Ok, got it,” she said cheerfully, a smile covering the embarrassment of her private thoughts.
“Thank you,” his said quietly, his voice low. He searched her eyes for just a moment.
Rey felt like she should look away, break the eye contact, lighten up the moment with another joke about cell phone signal or something but all she could do was look into his deep brown eyes. He looked down at her intently, a sadness clouding his expression that she couldn’t dismiss.
A piece of his dark brown hair fell into his eyes and before Rey could stop herself she was sweeping it back and smoothing it away with her hand. His hair really was so much softer than she would have ever guessed.
“Rey,” he said softly, shifting infinitesimally closer to her.
She couldn't remember anybody ever having said her name like that before. Her heart skipped a beat. She looked around quickly, gathered her little camping cup and the tweezers into her hands before reaching over to pluck the flashlight from his hand without a second look.
They were coworkers, he was her boss’s son, the last thing she needed was some awkward fireside conversation messing everything up. It didn’t matter how attractive he was, how sad he looked sometimes, how amazing he was with projects at work. It didn’t matter how chills ran down her spine every single time they accidentally touched, and how she daydreamed about coming up with silly ways she could make him smile. She needed to get away.
The last thing that would help anybody, was finding out that he had a thing for her too.Then where would they be?
“I should go to bed,” she said said with a quick nod, “good night!”
He stood quickly, as if to follow her but she didn’t pause or look back. Unfortunately, she wasn’t really looking in front of her either. Her foot caught on a stubborn root tracing across the ground and suddenly she was careening forward to the ground.
Just as quickly though, she felt his arms around her again, catching her around the waist before she fell. Her feet scrambled for purchase as he held her gently in his arms. She took a breath, steadying herself.
“Thank you,” she whispered, craning her neck to look up at him where he stood behind her, her mind unaware of much else other than the way his arms encircled her in front of him. His head lowered, bringing his forehead to rest gently on hers.
“Be careful,” his voice barely above a whisper as he reached for the flashlight in her hand and thumbed it on.
Slowly, almost reluctantly, he released her, letting his fingers trail along her waist a little longer than absolutely necessary.
“Right,” she nodded and walked gingerly into her tent.
Just as she was zipping up the door though, she heard the first raindrop hit.
She slid into her sleeping bag and fluffed her pillow a few times. Everything was going to be fine. The salesman at the outdoor store had assured her that all the tents were waterproof, even the cheap ones, it was part of the store guarantee. If anything leaked, it was fully refundable.
She had a hard time falling asleep at first, she kept thinking about how Ben’s eyes had looked when he’d held her close. Those sad, puppy dog eyes that plagued her memories had taken on an intensity she had never expected. After what could have been hours, she finally drifted to sleep.
That’s when she felt the rain.
“Oh no,” she groaned pushing herself up on her elbows.
“Hmm?” she heard Ben’s sleepy voice drifting in from the tent beside hers, “What’s wrong, Rey?”
“The rain,” she squeezed her soggy pillow and felt tears prickling at the back of her eyes, she was so tired.
“Is the water coming into your tent?” He sounded fractionally more awake now.
“I should just go home,” she whined in answer, rubbing her eyes.
“Rey, it’s three in the morning, you’re tired...it’s pouring rain, a mile long hike through the mud back to the car, you can’t go home right now.” he yawned as he spoke.
“I’m getting soaked,” she choked back a sob.
“Just come in here, it’s dry.”
Rey’s eyes widened. She looked around her tent again, she could see the water sliding down the insides of the fabric as the rain seeped into the seems. She let out an exasperated breath.
“Ok, I’m coming.” She gathered her sleeping bag into a roll and crawled to the door. The pillow was a lost cause so she left it behind.
Ben opened the door right when she got there and she ducked in without letting too much rain in with her.
“Here,” Ben slid over to one side making room for her to spread out her sleeping bag.
“Wow, this is a really nice tent,” she looked around with the flashlight, he was wearing a dark green long sleeved T-shirt, she noticed. But yeah, the tent was nice.
“Yeah, well, it doesn’t leak in the rain, so…that’s a plus.” he quipped laying back down on his pillow and closing his eyes.
She finished unrolling her sleeping bag and started to climb in. There was an undeniable squishing sound when she moved.
“It’s your sleeping bag soaked too?” Ben asked still with his eyes closed.
“Apparently,” she whispered.
He opened his eyes and looked at her. Rey stared at the sleeping bag in her hand, not knowing what to do next.
“Don’t tell me you’re thinking about still sleeping in it,” Ben’s voice rumbled beside her.
She clenched her jaw and stared at the wet fabric between her fingers, “Do you see any other options here?”
The sleepy man sat up and held out his hand. “Can I see it?”
She eyed him but complied. He took her sleeping bag and squeezed it with one of his hands only to confirm exactly how soaked it was as a trickle of water ran out.
Ben didn’t say a word, he only looked up at her with infuriating raised eyebrows.
The small woman rubbed her arm absently and averted her eyes. “I can wait for it to dry, probably won’t take-”
“Rey,” Ben interrupted.
She huffed. Snatching the sleeping bag from his hands, she smoothed the wet fabric carefully and stared at it as if it was her child.
“Look, this is the only sleeping bag I own, I had it for years, we have been through a lot together. It’s not like this is the first time-”
“Great, so you can leave it outside our nice, dry tent and retrieve it later,” Ben retorted.
“But-”
“Rey, you know if you sleep in that, you’ll be sick by morning,” he sighed, tired eyes boring into hers. It was too late at night to pretend they didn’t know the obvious outcome of this, the day had been so long and he would truly give just about anything to simply go back to sleep. “Let go.”
“I won’t,” she raised her chin.
And, great, she decided that now, at 2 am, in a storm, in the middle of nowhere, was a great time to keep her immaculate pride intact as she began unfolding her soggy sleeping bag again.
“Just get it out!” he cried incredulously, gathering the offensive thing into a ball, tossing it out of the tent and zipping the door closed again in one swift movement.
Rey covered her mouth with one hand and closed her eyes, tears threatening to spill once again.
He looked at her in the dim light of the battery powered lantern, wincing when he realized his temper got the best of him.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly.
She nodded silently, not even opening her eyes. Her face twisted and dissolved into a sob.
“No,” he reached for her then, “no, no, no, no, no, don’t cry.” He rubbed gentle, yet frantic circles into her arm with his hand.
“You’re freezing, Rey.” he said. He pulled himself out of the sleeping bag and shuffled over until he was kneeling right behind her, “Ok, you go in the sleeping bag now.”
“I can’t take your sleeping bag,” she said with a defiant shake of her head.
“Rey, don’t be ridiculous, I’m fine, you’re hair is wet and you’re cold.” He pulled a few wet strands of hair away from her face and combed through the back of her hair with his fingers a few times.
“What about you?” she asked.
“I brought an extra blanket anyway,” he pulled a blanket out of his pack as proof, “Just take it...please.” his voice broke into a whisper.
“Alright,” she nodded.
He helped her into the soft, yet narrow sleeping bag and zipped her in so she was nice and snug. Rey was surrounded by his left behind warmth and scent.
He loosed a sigh, “OK.” he spread the blanket over him and lowered himself onto the tent floor.
“Here,” Rey said tugging the pillow out from under her head a ways until she was just using one side. “We can share the pillow.”
He nodded, “Thanks.” He lowered his head onto the pillow beside hers. His wavy hair splayed out on the pillow around him
The next morning the air was humid and warm with evaporating rain from the night before. Rey woke up to find a heavy arm wrapped around her small, sleeping bag enveloped form.
“Where am I?” the words fell from her lips before she had even completely opened her eyes.
The arm tensed slightly and slowly lifted away, “You’re my guest.” A hint of sarcasm played in his whispered voice.
Rey smiled at that and whispered back, “Yes, very luxurious accommodations here, thank you.” She turned to look at him, realizing just now much she missed her soft bed at home.
“Hey,” his sleepy face looked sheepish. “Sorry about that,” he said quietly, looking down at the arm that had just been draped around her.
She just smiled softly, “Good morning. How’s your wound?” She tilted her eyes to his hand.
He inspected his finger, “It’s nothing.”
She heard Finn making some sort of commotion, complaining about how something got wet that he had left out the night before.
“Uh oh,” Ben whispered shifting his head to Rey.
She clapped a hand over her mouth and fought to suppress a giggle. Ben raised himself up on one elbow and looked around the tent.
“We’re never going to hear the end of this one,” he whispered. “You could wait in here, hide under a cover or something. I’ll go out and suggest we walk down to the creek or something..distract them...and then you can come out.”
Rey nodded, that was an option, that could work.
Suddenly, they heard a shriek.
“Rey’s tent! It’s collapsed!” Rose cried.
“Is that her sleeping bag?” Finn asked. Rey could hear his footsteps on the gravely surface as he walked across the campsite.
Rey glowered at Ben who gave a sheepish, crooked smile in response. That one was totally on him.
“Oh no, guys, check the food, do you see any evidence of a bear?” Finn ordered.
Rey pressed the heel of her hand into her forehead.
More footsteps around the tent.
“I don’t see any footprints,” he called to the others.
Ben dropped his face into the pillow beside Rey, attempting to smother a laugh. She reached over, entangling her fingers into his wavy hair, reminding him to be quiet, they had to stay completely silent or they would never, ever live this down.
He turned his face to look into her eyes and Rey realized she had once again touched his hair for no defensible reason. A blush crept onto her cheeks and her eyes dropped unwittingly to his lips.
Ben leaned in closer, slowly, haltingly, until she could feel his warm breaths on her cheek.
“Where is Ben? His tent is right by hers, maybe he heard something,” Poe shouted from distance away.
Rey’s eyes grew as wide as saucers and Ben froze in place for split second before suddenly pulling the extra blanket off him and slinging it over her head unceremoniously. Before she could react he was unzipping the tent door.
“Man, what are you guys jabbering about this early in the morning? Can’t you let a guy sleep on a day off?” he moaned grumpily as he climbed out of the tent and zipped the door securely back in place behind him.
Rey pulled the blanket away from her face as she listened.
“Rey is missing,” Finn declared, motioning to her empty tent.
Ben turned to regard the half collapsed, rain soaked dwelling, door still unzipped.
“Rey’s pretty hearty, I don’t think a little rain would have bothered her,” Ben’s voice was calm with an edge of irritation, basically his usual tone when speaking with his coworkers.
Rey stifled another laugh, unsure how Ben was able to maintain the act.
“Her sleeping bag,” Finn pointed at the lump of bedding on the ground.
“Looks like she laid it out to dry,” he sighed nonchalauntly.
“In the dirt?” Finn cried, “I don’t have time for this…”
Rey heard Ben’s footstep in the gravel, “Look, she probably took a walk down by the creek, or maybe she left something at the car. Why don’t you guys go and look if you’re that worried.”
There were murmurings while the group discussed it before Connix declared, “Alright, let’s go.”
Then Poe asked, “Wait, did anybody try calling her cell phone?”
Rey gasped, her cell phone was in her pocket, in her pants, in the narrow sleeping bag…in Ben’s tent.
Ben’s voice sounded, “It died, the battery died.” His words were coming faster now, the cool, grumpy facade slipping just a little.
Rey was sliding her hand down into the sleeping bag, but she couldn’t reach the phone. She was going to have to unzip the bag, but with so many people outside the tent...
“I’m just going to call her anyway,” Rose said.
Rey knew for a fact she had left the ringer set to full volume, just in case something happened at the office while the majority of the team was away. She was going to have to unzip the sleeping bag.
She grabbed the zipper pull and slid it down as fast as she could, hoping that like, ripping of a band aid, faster was better.
It wasn’t.
It was the loudest sound she could have ever imagined.
And it was followed by the sound of the Imperial March playing triumphantly from her cell phone’s speakers.
“What is that?” Poe asked.
“My phone,” Ben answered not missing a beat.
“No, that’s Rey’s ringtone.” Rose interjected.
Finn walked around, “It’s coming from Ben’s tent.”
“Because it’s my phone,” Ben growled, “Hey, what are you-”
The tent zipper opened and Finn poked his head in. His eyes zeroed in on a familiar figure sitting cross legged on top of a traitorously narrow sleeping bag.
“Rey!” he shouted.
“Hey, Finn,” Rey said with a casual wave of her hand.
“What are you…” he spat, but his voice trailed away as he backed out of the tent.
Rey scrambled out behind him, smoothing out her pillow hair.
Finn was angry, his anxious energy from thinking she was missing turning into exasperation upon seeing where his friend had been the entire time.
He glared at Ben across the campsite and then turned his fury back on Rey, “Him? You were with him? We all thought you were eaten by a bear...you don’t even like him! You literally complained for a full hour about how much you didn’t even want him coming on this trip!” Finn shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. “You know what, I don’t care.” He paced off into the woods.
Rose followed after him, squeezing Rey’s arm quickly as she passed, “Sorry, hon.”
Poe and Connix mumbled something about going somewhere and wandered away.
Rey covered her face with her hands and groaned. She plopped down on a log by the burned out, and now soaked fire pit.
“So, that didn’t go well,” she said.
Ben didn’t move, he just watched her silently, his face working through emotions and his jaw clenching and unclenching. Rey thought he was probably upset about their friends as well. Finn had completely overreacted, and she felt like she was on the spot even if where she had slept was none of his business.
“I guess it’s true,” Ben said. His voice was deep and coated with emotion. “What Finn just said.”
Rey looked at him, confused and quickly replaying her friend’s words in her mind.
“The...part about…” her lips parted slightly, realization setting in. “Oh, that.”
Ben ran a hand through his hair, “It’s fine, it’s nothing...I honestly don’t even blame you.” He let out a wry laugh.
“No, Ben,” she was on her feet and crossing the campsite, closing the distance between them. “It’s not like that.”
“It’s ok, Rey,” he said, turning toward her, “I know I push people away.”
Realization dawned on her, he was just as deeply into her as she was into him.
She shook her head just a little bit and resting a hand on either side of his waist, Rey raised herself onto her tiptoes and placed the tiniest of kisses on his lips.
He drew in a breath, paralysed, frozen in time and space for just a moment, searching her eyes.
Suddenly, he was reaching for her, gathering her into his arms and pulling her close. He wound his fingers into her hair and brushed his lips across hers as he pulled her into a kiss, coaxing, prompting, gently drawing her in, deepening the kiss until she felt the world around them slip away.
Rey splayed her hands on his back, bringing him closer and closer until she had no more air left in her lungs. The girl rested her forehead against his, and Ben’s uneven breath fanned against her cheek.
“Seriously?” Finn’s shrill voice interrupted them. Again.
Rey grimaced slightly, opening her eyes to see Ben just opening his. Tilting their heads back slightly, they stared at each other wearing matching disheveled hair and swollen lips.
“Honestly, what is going on here, Rey?” Finn asked somewhere behind her.
Ben glanced at him and then back at her, staring into her eyes as if asking her the same question but in an entirely different tone. And Rey, Rey never stopped looking at Ben and his earnest brown eyes.
“I like Ben,” she replied. At Ben’s widened eyes, and how right it felt to let these words out, a huge smile broke out on her face. “What is going on here, is that I like Ben.” Her voice growing more confident.
“What-” Finn began a probably long line of questions.
Rey wasn’t able to pay attention just then, as Ben was once again crushing his lips against hers.
When Connix, Poe and Rose came back to campside and found Rey making out with their most grumpy coworker while Finn just shook his head in disbelief, it was only natural they had more than a couple questions.
“You know what, I don’t know.” Finn raised his hands in the air as an answer to all of them, “All I know is that I’m getting breakfast. Does anyone, other than those two, wanna help?”
“So… Star Wars?”
Rey looked up from her plastic plate to find Ben gazing down at her with a smirk on his lips. A blush crept into her cheeks and she offered a small nod. After everything that had been revealed that day, she had forgotten her Imperial March ringtone had blasted out for everyone to hear.
Granted, it was a famous tune and she could have played it off, but since so many proverbial cats were out of the bag already…
“I’m...a fan,” she said cautiously.
Ben smiled, pleased. “Darth Vader is my favorite,” he declared.
“Listen, I can take the two of you being-” Finn motioned at the duo sitting close together, shoulder to shoulder and holding hands as they ate “- chummy...but if you guys start making plans to cosplay together at the next comic con right now, I swear I’m going to lose it.”
To his utmost surprise, Ben and Rey busted out laughing. And if that wasn’t mind boggling enough, the others joined them.
“What?” Finn asked around as they kept laughing. He looked at his traitorous girlfriend who now even had tears falling from her eyes. “Rose!”
“You need to relax, Finn,” she said, patting his shoulder as she wiped her eyes. “I can’t believe you are surprised by this...honestly, we even had a bet running in the office.”
“What?” Rey interjected.
Rose returned her attention to her plate and continued eating. Finn just stared at the top of her hair with his jaw dropped open while Rey spluttered protests about how ridiculous that was.
All of which were ignored by their friends.
“A bet that I won, for the record.” Poe pointed at Rose with the sandwich he had in hands.
“Yeah, yeah” Rose waved him off as Finn continued staring at her as if she had grown two heads.
“That’s impossible! We didn’t even know we liked each other!” Rey cried.
“I knew,” Ben said quietly.
Rey turned to him suddenly, “You what?”
“I’ve liked you for a long time,” Ben said, unabashed.
“You did?” she nearly squeaked. “When? When did that start?”
“I don’t know, some time when you were yelling at me,” he answered before taking a bite of his sandwich.
“Really?” Rey put down her plate in shock.
“Why do you think I agreed to come on this camping trip?” he asked, turning to her and raising an eyebrow.
Rey blinked, suddenly having to question basically everything she ever knew. “Umm-”
Noticing how flustered and confused she was, Ben simply leaned in and kissed her forehead. Then he continued eating with a small smile on his face.
Rey found herself smiling like and idiot as her cheeks got redder and redder. She then slid closer and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face on his shoulder.
He gathered her near to him and kissed the top of her head, “Yep, worked out pretty well.”
She looked up and smiled at him, “Yeah, it did.”
He kissed her again.