Work Text:
“Rey! Wake up!”
Flailing in her seat and nearly falling to the ground, Rey takes in her surroundings. She sees Finn’s amused grin from across the table in the break room and scowls, rubbing at her neck.
“Thanks for the whiplash,” she groans. “You’re welcome, peanut,” he grins, smile overflowing with false, customer service approved bubbliness, “can’t have you sleeping through your shift.”
“Thanks for waking me up, actually,” she finally concedes, rubbing a hand over her face and into her hair. Just as Rey stretches her stiff arms above her head, the break room door opens and the man she may or may not have been dreaming about walks in.
“Finn, Rey,” he greets, nodding at the both of them briefly as he bends to grab his lunch from the refrigerator.
Rey’s eyes follow him until Finn slaps her on the arm with a scandalized look. “Rey Jakku! Stop looking at Ben Solo’s ass!” he whisper-shouts. “I am not!” Rey hisses back, blushing. “Shut up or he might hear you!”
As Finn coughs into his hand, trying to mask his laughter, Rey quickly grabs his arm and pulls him out of the break room and down an abandoned aisle. Once they’re in the clear, they take one look at each other and start laughing. As Rey wipes tears from her eyes, she smacks him on the arm again. “You were so obvious, Finn. He could have heard you!” she groans, embarrassment returning.
“I hope he did!” Finn chokes out, overcome by laughter once more. “Seriously, though, you should just ask him out for drinks after work or something. It doesn’t have to be a huge deal!”
“Finn, I can’t. Whenever I’m around him I just clam up,” Rey sighs, looking at her sneakers and kicking the ground.
“Do you want me to be your wingman?” he asks, with an over-exaggerated wink.
“Absolutely not!” Rey cries. “Please just let me pine in silence,” she pleads, hands clasped “I don’t want work to be even more awkward than it already is.”
“Okay, fine, but I think he would say yes if you just asked him out,” Finn concedes, arms up in a sign of surrender.
***
“Rumor has it I make you nervous.”
Rey jolts, startled, and gasps out an “Ow, fuck!” as her head collides with the metal shelf above the one she’s restocking.
“Shit, sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you,” Ben apologizes and quickly kneels at her side. “Are you alright?” he asks, gaze darting from the hand she’s placed at the back of her head to the blush burning on her cheeks. “I’ll be fine,” she mumbles, trying to fight the discomfort of the situation with a joke; “My buns probably cushioned the blow, it doesn’t hurt too much anymore.”
As Ben chuckles, Rey runs a hand along her trademark three-bun hairstyle, and is reminded of the statement that made her head whip up in shock. And how unfortunately true it is.
But honestly, how was she supposed to act normally around Ben, the Hot Lumberjack of Home Depot? Okay, so maybe he didn’t actually chop down trees, but it was unfair how flattering his stupid orange apron looked on him, with his dumb strong arms that filled out his grey flannel obscenely, and the barely visible stubble along his jaw and upper lip. Speaking of his lips… shit she was staring.
“So do I?” he asks teasingly, probably noticing how her eyes had traveled his body. Great.
“Do you what?” she replies, feigning ignorance and turning away from him and his stupid brown eyes that glow even in the hardware store’s fluorescent lighting. She stands, trying to maintain her façade of nonchalance, and he follows, looking down at her and repeating, slowly, “Do I make you nervous?” in a slightly more nervous tone than before.
“Does it matter? Why do you even care anyway?” she deflects indignantly, embarrassed partly because he’d noticed, but mostly because she’d been pretty obvious about it.
“It does matter, Rey!” he replies with a somewhat forced laugh, “I’ve been wracking my brain trying to think if I said something creepy to you and I’m drawing a blank, so if we could just talk I’d really appreciate it, because you walking out of every room I’m in is a little bit obvious, don’t you think?” he asks, brow creasing as he looks at the floor with an expression of guilt.
“Shit. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to blow up at you, that was unprofessional,” he apologizes sincerely, shaking his head and raking a hand through his hair.
“No, I’m sorry,” she replies, touching his forearm thoughtlessly in a soothing gesture that would have been normal if he were Finn and not… him. “And… I just touched your arm I’m sorry you must think I’m the creepy one,” she chuckles, face-palming in embarrassment.
“I don’t… I mean… you can touch me, I mean… I didn’t think it was creepy,” he stammers, a blush creeping up his neck.
“Oh!” she squeaks in shock, trying to return her voice to normal.
That’s when Rey realizes that her hand is still gently resting on Ben’s forearm. She takes his hand in two of her own slowly, giving him time to pull away, gauging his reaction.
As their gazes meet and lock, Rey lets the rush of adrenaline she gets from holding his hand give her the strength she needs to be honest.
She smiles softly at the floor, then brings her eyes back to his. “You do make me nervous but not… um… not because I think you’re a creep or anything,” she admits quietly. “I just… oh god this sounds so stupid… I just find you really attractive and I don’t know how to act around you without being a weirdo and just staring,” she blurts. Rey bites her tongue, fearing she’s said too much, and can feel her cheeks turning red.
When she finishes speaking, Ben’s expression reveals such comically intense shock she’s almost worried he’s mocking her until she sees that his blush has spread to the tips of his ears.
“You think I’m attractive? And you don’t hate me?” he finally confirms quietly, trying to relax his expression.
“No, I promise I don’t hate you,” she replies with a smile, shifting from holding his hand with two of hers, to interlacing the fingers of her right hand with his, and taking a slight step forward. “And yes I do find you attractive,” she whispers as his eyes meet hers in a burning gaze that sends a jolt through her entire body.
“Rey, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” he whispers back. Rey widens her eyes and fights to close her mouth before her jaw can hit the floor. “I was just always too scared to say anything because I thought you were trying to send me signals that you weren’t interested without hurting my feelings or something.”
“You were?” Rey squeaks, turning her face into her remaining hand, half in embarrassment and half in an attempt to mask the surprised smile that had threatened to overtake her face since Ben called her beautiful. “I guess I was so focused on not looking like an idiot around you I forgot to pay attention to what you were saying,” she mumbles.
“And they say actions speak louder than words,” Ben jokes, and Rey snorts a laugh, shaking her head gently before meeting Ben’s gaze again. His eyes crinkle at the corners and mirror her own amusement, then drop slightly to study her lips.
Rey’s smile wavers slightly as she looks at Ben’s full lips, then his eyes, seeking confirmation that he feels the same pull that she does.
“Sometimes they do.”
Ben releases a small breath in surprise before slowly lowering his head. Rey presses onto her toes to meet him halfway, resting a hand on his chest then sliding it up to the nape of his neck as his free hand comes to rest gently on her hip.
She feels his breath on her lips and closes her eyes softly. She sighs, sensing the slight brush of his lips, and he pulls her against him. She presses her mouth more firmly against his and suddenly they’re making out in an aisle of Home Depot.
He groans in disappointment when she pulls away.
“As much as I would like for this to continue,” Rey begins, breathless, “we are at work right now and I’m supposed to finish restocking this entire aisle before I finish my shift.”
“You’re right,” Ben sighs, taking a step back and letting his hand fall from her hip. After a beat of hesitation he makes the decision to finally bite the bullet and asks, “When can I see you again? Outside of work, that is.”
“Want to grab a beer at Maz’s tonight? I get off at 6:00,” she suggests, remembering Finn’s advice.
“Works for me,” he nods, pressing a lingering kiss to her cheek. “See you tonight,” he smirks, turning and walking back towards the break room.
Rey cups her cheek with her palm and smiles to herself once his back is to her. 6:00 can’t come soon enough.