Chapter Text
Five days before Christmas:
It was five days before his least favorite day of the year, and Ben couldn’t be happier to get the hell away from campus. It had been a bitch of a semester, and he was more than ready to head to the cabin for a couple of days and drown his second to last semester of grad school in copious amounts of cheap beer.
Ben had made the mistake of being a TA for Snoke, who was a notoriously unpleasant political science professor. Between him and the other TA, Hux, he’d gone through hell and back, forcing Snoke’s ridiculous curriculum on poor unsuspecting undergrads, while taking all the heat for it. Not to mention having to put up with Hux’s snark every single day. It was enough to make him question his desire to get a doctorate.
Instead of partaking in his parent’s annual Christmas get together, Ben decided to get on Airbnb and find a secluded cabin, in the hopes of avoiding any kind of human interaction for several days. While he felt slightly guilty about rejecting the invite, he knew his politician mother would go over the top again this year, and he didn’t want to have to deal with that kind of interaction, no matter “how good the connections would be”.
After scrolling past several options, Ben finally found one that seemed perfect:
Small remote cabin, no direct neighbors, one bedroom, one bath.
Great. He could most definitely do that. It was last minute, and he was more than willing to take anything at that point.
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Three days before Christmas:
As Rey sat through her last final of the semester, all she could think about was the little cabin she’d reserved at the last minute on Airbnb. Growing up in the foster system, Rey always felt weird this time of year, up until college. She’d never felt belonging, was never part of a family, until she met Finn, Rose, and Poe. They were all fellow undergrads, all in the College of Fine Arts, and had all taken her in, along with each other. They were her family now.
Until Finn and Poe decided to become a thing. Which was completely fine, until that meant Finn and Poe weren’t always around like they used to be. But they were still her support and her family, and they were always there for her.
Until this Christmas.
Finn and Poe’s last finals were on Monday of finals week (the lucky bastards), and left the moment they handed their exams in and checked out of the dorm. Rey and Rose weren’t quite so lucky. Rose went until Tuesday evening, after which her older sister Paige picked her up for a family reunion.
“Rey, you’re family too. You know you’re more than welcome to come with us,” Rose had offered when she told Rey she’d be out of town for Christmas. Rey had smiled, thanked Rose for the offer, but declined. It was her family time. She could manage on her own.
So she’d decided on booking an Airbnb, preferably some place where she didn’t have to interact with people for a while, and honestly just mope in peace. With the help of some sangria and whatever other fruity drinks she could get her hands on.
When she saw the description for the cabin, she was ecstatic:
Small remote cabin, no direct neighbors, one bedroom, one bath.
Perfect.
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Two days before Christmas:
Ben couldn’t help but smile as he pulled up in front of the tiny cabin, which was sure enough in the middle of the woods. He’d luckily made it most of the way there before the snow started coming down too bad. ‘Good thing I didn’t wait around to leave,’ he thought.
He parked in the front circle drive, grabbing his phone to pull up the instructions from the owner as to how to get in.
‘There’s two keys under the front door mat.’
Ben snorted. Classic.
He got out of the car, grabbing just his bag and headed to the front door. Sure enough, there were two keys under the front door mat. Ben grabbed one, leaving the other one just in case.
As he unlocked the door and walked in, Ben was greeted by the sight of a small open concept cabin, essentially one room. Turns out one bed, one bath was even a stretch.
The main (and only actual room) consisted of a floor to ceiling window at the back, with a door to the back deck. To the left was a small kitchen, with the table to the right. In the center was the small couch with a matching arm chair, with the fireplace in front of them to the right of the room.
To his surprise, there wasn’t an actual bedroom, just the bed pushed to the far left of the main room.
‘At least it has a bathroom,’ he thought as he walked in and set his bag down on the couch. The lack of space won’t matter. It’s not like anyone else was going to be here anyways.
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Two days before Christmas:
As soon as Rey checked out of her dorm for the semester, all she could think about was getting away to the nice little cabin, where she didn’t have to put up with people running up and down the hallway all night, and the busy road her window faced, with construction going on ALL NIGHT across the street.
A little quiet alone time was exactly what she needed.
She also had to admit, she was more than excited to try out a certain new toy she’d finally decided to buy. A certain toy that she would like to play with very much away from people. After one too many drunken conversations about Rey’s lackluster sex life, Rose had finally managed to drag her to the nearest sex shop, where she “encouraged” Rey to “take matters into her own hands”. Or rather, a seemingly too-large pink vibrator. Rey was only slightly nervous about the thought of *that* thing going in *there*.
Being away from her peers also meant she could scream her ridiculously hot political science TA’s name as loud as she pleased and nobody would ever have to know.
She’d dreaded taking that class, considering she was a music performance major, and hated the thought of gen eds with a passion. But as it turned out, she didn’t really mind her 8 am Monday/Wednesday/Friday class taught by Ben Solo. Sure he could be harsh at times, and the course work was demanding, but if Rey were being completely honest, that only added to his appeal.
If only he actually noticed her. As if he would amidst a large lecture hall full of preppy sorority girls, most of which were quite obviously into him. And it wasn’t as if she was doing well enough in his class to catch his attention either. She was an average looking solid B student, so she wasn’t doing bad enough to catch his attention either.
It’s not like Rey had ever imagined that. Doing poorly on an assignment, going to his office, *encouraging* him to give her extra credit....
Nope. That most definitely hasn’t happened.
Yes, it was very much time for a private get away.
She was also slightly nervous about getting to the cabin before the weather turned bad, and before it got completely dark. She’d gotten out of the dorm a little later than she would have liked.
As Rey was headed up the circle drive, she noticed a sleek black Audi already parked in front. From what she could see, it already had a fine layer of snow covering it. She wasn’t expecting to meet the property owner or anything. At least the instructions on Airbnb didn’t mention it.
She parked behind the car, pulling her phone out to double check how to get in.
“There’s two keys under the front door mat.”
Rey made her way up the porch steps, lifting up the mat to find only one key.
‘That’s weird,” she thought absentmindedly. Maybe the owner already had one? After all, they were here.
She let herself in, calling out with a hesitant, “Hello?”
Then she looked up and spotted the last person on Earth she’d expect to see.
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Ben was halfway through unpacking his food supply when he thought he heard someone make their way up the porch. He stopped for a minute to listen. ‘Maybe being completely alone in the middle of butt fuck nowhere wasn’t the best idea,’ he thought right as the front door opened.
His head shot up, looking over to the front door to see an absolutely gorgeous young woman walk in. And a familiar one at that.
‘Fuck.’ He thought.
Ben Solo was completely, utterly fucked.