Chapter Text
Rey pulled the front door shut, its leafy Happy Fall Y'all wreath rattling. The morning was crisp, somewhat chilly and overcast, but absolutely perfect for sitting on the front porch's swing with a hot coffee and snuggled against your favorite person. Also in said favorite person's shirt. Rey hugged herself, rubbing her arms through the soft material of Ben's red flannel shirt when a large rock on the porch railing caught her eye. How did that get there? Stepping closer, she noticed it was holding down the stem of an orange maple leaf that had a cutout of a heart in the middle. Ben must have found this. Or... made it? Considering right then the wind picked up a bunch of leaves from under their maple tree all with holes in them and blew them right past her... and over a gap in their rock edging that was the size of the rock on the railing... Rey figured Ben tried to recreate their special leaf. She picked it up by the stem, smiling as she twirled it between her fingers.
Strong arms wrapped around Rey's middle, a kiss pressed to the side of her head. "You found it," Ben's sleepy voice mumbled into her cheek.
"How many tries did it take to get this right?" She teased him.
Her answer was a tickle to her side, but Ben's tight hold prevented her from dancing out of his grasp. Once their giggles died down, Ben held out one hand with a tiny cream colored velvet box resting in his palm. "Do you remember what today is?" He asked softly.
Of course Rey remembered, but she was too overcome with emotion to get the words out so she just nodded.
"One year ago, you challenged me to find a fall festival food that I would love by the season's last changing leaf," Ben started recapping the tale.
"God, you were so uptight..." Rey rolled her eyes playfully, the images of that day and the ones that followed forever embedded in her memory.
"And I did fall in love, but..." Ben flipped the box open revealing a ring with a teardrop diamond set in maple leaves, "with something else..."
"I bet," Rey poked an orange painted fingernail into the infuriating tall man's chest, "you are going to love fall festival foods by the season's last changing leaf." She had already won her last bet with infamous food critic Ben Solo to get him standing in front of the Chicken Invasion sign at the World Chicken Festival to begin with. And what a victorious vision for independent food blogger/college student Rey to see this man, the thorn in her side who somehow managed to follow her to every single restaurant she reviewed on her blog since the $70 foot long hot dog incident, in his expensive black suit at the beginning of this fall festival journey. The man wore a suit to a fried chicken festival. It was a stark contrast to her ensemble of jeans, long sleeve white shirt, and long brown crochet vest. Plus the nails. Bright orange nails to celebrate fall.
Rather than reply with his usual brand of snappy, Ben stared down his nose at her in a way that did something to her insides and cryptically replied, "We'll see."
"And you'll do it while wearing flannel!" She called out to him because he was already walking away from her, not even looking at the food and shop stands lining the street.
No matter. It was still only September and the leaves were plenty green. Only a hint of red kissing the edges. They had plenty of fall festivals to hit well into October. Rey had plenty of time to convince him.
"That's not part of the deal," Ben commented, coming to an abrupt halt and causing Rey to bump into his smooth jacket clad back.
"Oof." Rey rubbed her nose then held out her phone to talk to her viewers on her live video. "Sorry about that. My grumpy companion's massive back–"
"Are you recording this?" Ben snapped, because now snappy Ben was back, leaning over her shoulder to look at the phone screen.
"Yep!" Rey wiggled her fingers excitedly. "Wave to your fan club!"
"No." Ben started to walk away.
"Hey!" Rey yelled. "Get back here!" She turned a smile back to her phone. "Excuse us a moment, please." And she paused her video to run after tall, dark, and brooding. Luckily he was easy to find, towering over everyone. Plus the suit. "You said we do this my blog's way," Rey nudged him as they stood next to a giant pan full of oil. "That was part of the deal."
"I know," Ben replied with that deep contemplative and constantly eye rolling voice of his. "This pan is more interesting, though."
"300 gallons of cooking oil, miss!" A man in a red apron chimed in excitedly as he turned pieces of chicken in the pan with a pair of long tongs.
"Do you mind if I record you?" Rey asked, the prospect of an interesting giant pan overriding her annoyance at the giant human next to her. "For my food blog," Rey explained.
"She has thousands of followers," Ben added, and was that a hint of pride in his voice?
"How do you know that?" Rey whispered.
"Go right ahead!" Apron man interrupted to give his permission while someone scooped out the cooked chicken with what looked like a pool skimmer, giving Rey a moment to fumble with her phone.
Ben leaned down, his breath warm on her ear. "You told me."
Oh. Right.
"Now this here skillet is the world's largest skillet... over 10 feet in diameter... and holds 300 gallons of cooking oil." More chicken was added and the man got back to turning it. "Volunteers have been operating it for almost 30 years!"
"That's bigger than you!" Rey whispered to Ben. "Why do you need such a big skillet?" She asked, raising her voice this time.
"This skillet can cook 600 quarter pieces of chicken at a time. We got a lot of people to feed, miss!" Apron man answered.
"So this is what people come for," Ben clarified, "this particular chicken?"
"Yessir! You won't find anything fancy here, city boy," Apron man remarked, causing Ben to stiffen, "just some good ol' fashioned cooking."
Rey felt herself nodding in agreement. "Why change a classic?"
Apron man tipped his chicken visor to her in acknowledgement of true fried chicken appreciation.
"Well we're gonna go try it so thanks for your time!" Rey started walking towards the dining tent, motioning for Ben to follow.
"Enjoy, folks!"
"City boy," Ben grumbled once they were away from the world's largest skillet.
"Weeelllll," Rey drew out the word as she zoomed in on the small menu sign, "you're wearing a suit."
"Because I'm working."
"At a chicken festival!" Rey exclaimed, exasperated. "Surely that calls for a change in uniform?"
Ben looked away from the menu to Rey with a raised eyebrow. "Don't say flannel."
"I didn't say it!" Rey laughed, following him into the line when a donation ping on her live video caught her eye. "Beeeh-eennnnn," she sing-songed. "I just received a donation to buy you a festival t-shirt."
It earned both her and the livestream viewers a glare and crossed arms. "So what are we getting?"
"I think the t-shirts are–"
"The food, Rey!" Ben cut her off, gesturing to the volunteer waiting to take their order.
"Oh! Two snacks, please."
Ben paid and they moved down the line to wait for their food. "Not the dinner?"
Rey shook her head no. "That's too much food. We're here for the chicken."
"You!" Ben pointed a finger at her, "complained you were starving the entire car ride here!"
Rey nodded along because that was true, but she didn't want to ruin her appetite.
"How many KFC's did we pass up only to come to a place with Colonel Sanders walking around?!"
That's true, too. They walked by him when they got here.
Their food was ready, which cut into Ben's mini rant, so he took their tray of snack chicken and water with a tight lipped smile. They wound around the crowded tent until they found an empty table along the side. Ben set the tray down and split the items between their respective sides of the table.
Rey sat down too, focusing her video on Ben's plate.
"What happened to the woman who ate an entire foot long hot dog on the day I met her?" Ben complained, rant apparently not over, as he scooched in his chair. "Then tried to eat the rest of mine?"
"Will you try the chicken for our viewers, please?" Rey tried getting back on the Important Subject because Ben wasting the food he was sampling was not important at this particular time.
Ben merely raised his eyebrows at her. "But the dinner came with beans and potato salad."
"Ben–"
"How do you eat fried chicken without sides?"
"Ben–"
"You're going to be hungry after this and you know it."
"Ben!" When it was obvious he was finally done complaining, Rey continued. "Please taste the chicken."
"Fine." Ben cut off a large piece with a plastic fork and knife then put it in his mouth, cheek slightly bulging.
"Well?" Rey prodded after he swallowed and took a sip of water without saying a word.
Ben shrugged. "It tastes like fried chicken."
"Come onnnn," Rey groaned. "That is World Chicken Festival chicken fried in the world's largest skillet and that's all you've got?"
Another shrug.
Rey pointed at the roll on his plate. "Try putting it in that. Make a sandwich."
"This little thing?" Ben held up the small square bun, both eyebrows raised.
"Yes! Cut the chicken!" Rey's finger flailed impatiently at his plate, "and put it in the bun!" Just because she knew how to wait didn't mean she liked it.
"How can this be a sandwich with no sauce?" Ben asked as he slowly pulled the chicken apart with his fork and knife.
"Just do it," Rey told him, watching the livestream comments float by on the screen. Ben's grumpy demeanor was popular with the viewers, who were currently questioning whether Ben and Rey were secretly married. Once she saw someone bring up sexual tension, Rey's eyes flew back to Ben who was now ready to try his sandwich. Most definitely ignoring that particular comment.
The sandwich, looking practically bite size in his large hands, hovered near Ben's mouth. "Why is your face so red?" He opened his mouth to ask instead of taking a bite.
Rey cleared her throat. "Maybe I'm mad you're taking so long."
Ben snickered then stuck out a pinky, wiggling it to further hold up the video and drive her mad. But he eventually opened wide, taking a huge bite.
"Did you just put half of that in your mouth?"
Cheeks full, Ben answered her with a close lipped grin then took a sip of water.
"Well?" Rey prodded.
"It needs a sauce. And a bigger roll." Being such the good sport he is, Ben held up his plate to the camera to show that he still had quite a bit of chicken left.
"That's so you can enjoy it as a sandwich and plain," Rey explained.
"Plain," Ben repeated.
"Not everything is high end dining with truffles and foams and a single piece of grilled asparagus. Sometimes it's made with love," Rey defended this humble, local fall festival cuisine.
Ben's hands that were cutting his chicken stilled and he looked up at her, something unreadable in his expression. His lips were pursed, but his eyes lacked his usual disinterest or his next level up setting of reluctantly impressed that he usually showed when trying dishes. Those wide, dark amber eyes almost looked filled with wonder and awe. They shined. Even his lips twitched into a smile.
"Love," Ben said softly after too long of a pause, going back to cutting his food. "Of course."
Happening all too often on this little trip, Rey once again cleared her throat. After a moment and one calming breath, she tapped the button on her phone to flip the camera to her. Time to end this video before the viewers start planning a wedding. "That will be all from the World Chicken Festival," she beamed. "Thanks for joining today's stream and don't forget to check the blog tomorrow for my review. Be sure to hit the subscribe button so you don't miss a minute of fall festival action and say something sweet in the comments! See you at next week's festival! Bye!" She ended the stream, finally, because she was starving.
"What's next week?" Ben asked.
Rey finished taking a picture of her plate then set her phone aside. "It's a surprise."
"Can't wait."
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Rey asked through a mouthful. It was delicious. Crisp, seasoned perfectly...
Ben's eyes were doing that wide glassy thing again and his lips that twitching thing. "No reason. Can you pass me my notebook?"
According to her observations during their frequent accidental restaurant meet ups, Ben normally took his own bag or briefcase with him while on assignment, but he didn't want to lug it around, so Rey took the item in question along with his extra expensive pen from her own worn sandy colored satchel and passed it to him. Their fingers brushed over the middle of the table and their eyes met, the brief connection sending a shooting tingle up Rey's arm. Whatever they put in this chicken must be responsible for the topsy turvy feeling settling in her stomach where the tingles stopped. Was the secret ingredient that tasted so good a love potion? It had to be permeating the air, its toxic fumes rising from the world's largest skillet during the frying process and making her cough. Rey briefly wondered if her eyes were acting as strange as Ben's.
While Ben got to work writing his notes in neat loopy writing, Rey ate her food. She was licking off the last bit of grease from her finger, it making a popping sound as it left her mouth when Ben set his notebook aside and stood up. "Where are you going?"
"To get you more food," he answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh." Maybe Rey was still hungry. "Can you get the–"
"Drumstick plate because it comes with the beans and potato salad."
Rey nodded, smiling sweetly at him because he really did understand her... "Damnit," she cursed under her breath, twisting in her chair to watch him walk away. "I can't be in love with Ben Solo." She spun around, plopping her elbows on the table and groaning into her hands.