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“Come on Rey” Ben says standing behind Rey’s window.
“If you drop me Benjamin Organa Solo I swear to God” she says sitting on the windowsill.
“I won’t drop you, come on we don’t have much time”
She looks back to her room and again to the man looking at her, Ben rolls his eyes waiting for her to jump, Rey hears the chair holding her door shake.
“Miss Palpatine are you there?” the maid asks from the other side of the door “Miss Palpatine?”
She closes her eyes and holds her breath for a second before her jump, Rey feels the air leaving her lungs when she is in the air and then Ben’s hands are around her waist.
“Are you ready now little bird?” Ben whispers in her ear, Rey opens her eyes.
“Shut up, you said we needed to run”
When she closes her mouth the maid that was at her door gets to her window, Ben sees the maid and takes Rey’s hand starting to run away.
“Miss Palpatine” the maid screams “Not again” she says when she turns around leaving the room.
The maid walked through the halls to the dining room where the count is sitting with his companions, once again she will have to tell him his granddaughter run with the prince, the maid holds her breath waiting.
“Where is Rey?” he asks.
“She left sir” the maid answers looking down.
“I’m sorry what?”
“Miss Rey left with prince Benjamin”
The count closes his eyes, shaking his head “When will they finally take their responsibility seriously? Sometimes I rethink their union” the count sighs “Call the guards, send them after these two”
“Of course sir”
***
“What are we doing today?” Rey asks when they stop in front of the ballroom’s door of the castle.
“We’ll be painting”
Ben opens the doors and she sees the amount of paint in the middle of the room. Rey kicks her shoes off when she runs to the paint analysing the colours, Ben following close behind her.
“Where are the brushes?” she asks.
Ben bends over, running his fingers through the bottles, when he gets up he passes his finger on her nose.
“Here are our brushes”
Rey smiles bending over too, when she gets up Ben is already running around the room, away from her “Is the prince of Alderaan scared of me?” she teases.
“Of course not Rey, I’m just exercising” Ben says smiling.
She cuts through the middle of the ballroom while he is looking at the other side and stand in front of him, his body colliding with hers “Right” Rey runs her hand down his face leaving a blue line from his eyebrow to his neck, Ben closes his eyes “So will you be my canvas?”
Ben smiles now, his hands firm on her hips “Only if you are mine” he says bringing his face closer to hers, Rey closes her eyes when Ben paints a heart on her cheek with his finger and starts to laugh.
“I hate you Benjamin Organa Solo” she says smiling.
“I love you too sweetheart” he says when he finally kisses her.
Rey brings him closer leaving his shirt covered in painting, Ben couldn’t be happier to be with her, he never thought the beautiful Rey Palpatine would one day look at him the way he looks at her. She smiles in the kiss, as if she was reading his mind Rey holds him as close as possible. When she pulls away he can see the light on her eyes, all her emotions so clear and he can almost cry with the intensity of her feelings for him.
“So should I paint your gorgeous chest?” Rey asks smirking.
God how much he loves this woman. Ben takes of his shirt and notices how her eyes runs through his body, he raises an eyebrow “Don’t even start” she says and Ben laughs “Come here, I have a beautiful painting in mind”
He gets closer to her, obeying every order she gives him, letting Rey paint his body, looking at her while she scrunches her nose when she is thinking what to do next. Ben can’t believe how lucky he is to be able to look at her every day.
***
Rey and Ben are now running around the ballroom leaving handprints around the wall, paint around the floor. They are indeed each other’s canvas, Rey's dress is already covered in all colours, Ben’s torso and pants too. Suddenly Rey stops and stands in front of a painting, two bodies dancing through the room.
“I think they’re looking a little boring” she says putting her hands in her hips “What do you think?”
Ben walks closer to her, standing behind her, tilting his head to the side to analyse the painting.
“What do you have in mind?” he says, looking at her just in time to see her smile appearing on her pretty face.
“What about a little bit of red?” she asks and Ben loses himself on her eyes, the prettiest painting he ever saw.
“Whatever you like, Miss Palpatine” he says in a soft voice.
They are still working on their new painting, making now a version of their own bodies on the wall too, when the doors open, the both of them stop looking at the door seeing the count guards standing there.
“Please make it easy this time” one of the guards says.
“I’m sorry, but you can tell my grandfather we are doing fine”
“Miss please” the other guard says.
Rey is smiling at the guard when Ben takes her hand again and starts running to the other side of the room, to the doors leading to the outside of the castle. They’re running through the gardens with Palpatine’s guards behind them. People always say they should behave better, some say they would never understand why two Royals would like so much to cause trouble to the kingdom like that, but they don’t actually care, they’re just living their youth with everything Alderaan has to offer to them.
They get to the gates, but the guards are right behind them, so Rey turns to the other side, to the corner of the garden, the one she used to use when she came here to see Ben when they were children. She pulls Ben’s hand in the direction of the trees running around them.
“How can you find your way through these trees? It looks like a labyrinth” Ben says.
“I used to come to the palace through these trees when we were little” she whispers.
“But how –”
“Ben if you don’t stay quiet they will find us, so shut up”
Ben laughs “You love to tell me to shut up don’t you?”
“And you love to do the exact opposite”
Rey hears footsteps and pulls Ben’s hand again, putting them behind a tree, when the guards pass the spot they were standing seconds ago.
“They come this away” says one of the guards passing close to the tree they’re hiding.
Ben is smiling against Rey’s forehead, his heart beating fast on his chest. He loves these times with her, when they’re just playing around the kingdom, without the etiquette all the time and more than anything he loves being with Rey. She looks up to find Ben’s beautiful smile directed at her, he doesn’t smile that often, but when he does it’s like all the light is caught on his smile.
“If you wanted to be this close of me you should have said Rey”
“God you really never shut up” she says and sees his smile vanishing in its place a smirk appears.
“You should shut me up then” he says getting closer, she smirks at him too.
“You’re right, I can knock you out” Rey says, pulling away looking for the guards.
They’re no longer visible, so she pulls Ben’s hand again.
“That’s not what I was thinking about, but I’m sure you can do it too” he says following her.
“Now please shut up” she says, putting them through the vines on the wall.
Ben wants to ask her where she is leading them to, but he doesn’t, he just keeps walking behind her, thinking how much his moments with her make him feel alive. It’s when they’re together that he thinks that his soul is finally at peace.
“Here we are” Rey says letting go of his hand.
Ben looks around seeing the lake “We never come here before”
“It wasn’t on our schedule, we’re normally causing trouble around the kingdom”
“It’s beautiful” he says and then he looks at her “Just like you”
Rey feels her face becoming warmer, under all the painting she is blushing, she doesn’t know how to answer to that, even after all this time they’re together she doesn’t know what to say when he compliments her. When he looks at her like she means everything to him she never knows how to react. She turns around getting closer to the lake.
“Come on Ben, let’s swim” she says walking away from him.
“You’re the most unpredictable person I ever met Rey”
“That means you don’t want to swim?” she asks.
“No, that means I never know what is going through your head sweetheart” he says getting closer to the lake now.
Rey smiles when the two of them enter the water, she swims closer, standing in front of him, looking deeply into his eyes, the shades of gold and green she loves so much.
“You’re not going to knock me out now will you? Because I don’t think you can hold my unconscious body in this water stream”
“You’re an idiot sometimes”
“But you love me for that, don’t you?” she says nothing, just keeps looking at him “Don’t you?”
Ben stops talking when he feels her arms around his body hugging him.
“Thank you Ben, for making me feel like home here” she says holding his closer “Thank you for always make me laugh and for be my partner in crime”
Ben holds her closer, putting his nose on her neck breathing her in “Anything for you Rey”
Rey pulls away looking at his eyes again, she puts her hand on his cheek and Ben’s eyes go to Rey's lips and he finally ends the gap between them when he kisses her, telling her what she already knows ‘I love you, it will always be you and me’. They stay like that while the lake washes their bodies, all the painting going away, every worry, every duty, leaving only two passionate hearts of two young royals making their way through this world.