Chapter Text
Kylo Ren stared at his phone and debated, yet again, the pros and cons of further lying to his mother. The pro was that he wouldn’t have to answer awkward questions that went with the first lie. The cons were having to figure out how to explain everything to her and the look of disappointment on her face.
“Why did I say I had a girlfriend?” He asked his empty office as he ran his hands through his hair. His office and his phone did not answer. He could have easily said he had a girlfriend but she wanted to spend the holidays with her family. Simple excuse. But no, Kylo had to give in when his mother sounded so hopeful that his fake girlfriend could join them that he gave in.
Now he was stuck. He had no even potential relationships he could try to pass off as a girlfriend or beg to become one. The last relationship he had was about two weeks long. He had a better relationship with the pizza delivery guy than anyone else at the moment. That wasn’t going to help him.
Internally he admitted defeat. He would tell his mother he did not have a girlfriend before showing up without one. Maybe he could say they got into a fight...no best to go with the honest truth: he didn’t have one to begin with. He typed out a text to her and tried not to think that he was taking the easy way out rather than calling her.
Before hitting send his office door opened. “Sorry to bother you,” his assistant for the semester, Rey Niima said as she walked into his office like she owned the place. “But I left some of my notes on your desk for you to look over. I’m going to assume, since I don’t have an email detailing how every theory I present is wrong, that you haven’t looked at them. I’d like them back for break.”
“Uh, oh, sorry,” Kylo said as he dug through his inbox to find her notes. “I was busy grading but I can look at them-”
“No need. I’ll have someone else do it.” She snatched the collection of paper out of his hands. “You know you could have had me grade your finals, right?” With that she left.
Kylo bit his cheek to keep from yelling at her. He’d been given a stern talking to at the beginning of the semester about how he should treat his assistants (it wasn’t his fault they were idiots and couldn’t take his blunt observations). Rey, however, had held her own and he had to admit she was one of the best he had. With a little more refinement he could see her research revealing his. Not that he would tell her that.
He looked down at his phone about to press send again when an idea struck him. He jumped out of his chair and threw his door open with a bang. He could see Rey turning the corner at the end of the hallway. “Wait!” He shouted as he ran after her.
Rey stopped and waited for him. “So you did look at my notes?”
“No I really didn’t but, uh, this might sound silly but what are you doing for the holidays?”
Rey clutched her notes to her chest. “I don’t think that’s an appropriate-”
“You requested to be Dr. Phasma’s assistant instead and she accepted. Technically you no longer work for me and, as a fellow member of the physics department, I can ask that question.”
“You really thought this through.”
Kylo ran a hand through his hair. “Please answer the question.”
“If you must know I’ll be home alone,” Rey admitted. “I was planning on maybe working on an article-”
“No plans?”
“No.”
“Not even with friends?” Kylo pressed.
“Why are you asking?” Rey asked.
“This, well, this might sound a little off the wall but would you be willing to come with me to my mother’s for Christmas? She invited me and I kind of said I have a girlfriend-”
Rey snorted. “Of course you don’t.”
“How do you know that?”
Rey looked him up and down. “There are weeks where you wear the same shirt three days in a row and think no one notices. You also sleep in your office sometimes. I would hope a partner of some kind out try to dissuade you for doing those things.”
“You’re really observant.”
Rey smiled. “I try. Anyway why me?”
“You happened to be here,” Kylo admitted.
Rey nodded. “Right. So with that I’m going to say-”
“Please come, it’s only for a week. Look I’ll owe you if you do. Plus you get to go somewhere for Christmas and not be alone.”
Rey bit her lip. “You’ll really owe me a favor?”
“Anything,” Kylo promised.
Rey took a deep breath. “The notes you didn’t look over, like I said they’re for a paper I want a write. I could use a second author and I was going to see how you liked them before asking but I think you would agree with a lot of what I would be arguing. So I’ll go with you to your mother’s for Christmas, as your fake girlfriend, if you agree to be my second author.”
“That’s it?” Kylo asked.
“Potentially one more favor, to be determined when the time comes,” Rey added.
“Done. Bring your notes with you, we can plead needing to work if my mother starts getting on my nerves.”
“Our nerves.”
Kylo rolled his eyes. “My nerves. I’m leaving in about a week, it’s a four hour drive to her house. You can sleep the whole way.”
“Fine. Uh, do I need to get her anything?”
Kylo ran his hand through his hair again. “Fuck presents.”
“Use me as an excuse to get to know what your mother wants. Say I asked you to ask her what is the best gift to get her. She might give you a list,” Rey said.
“You make a really good fake girlfriend.”
“I try,” Rey said with a smile. “Text me what she says and what time you’re going to pick me up. Oh, should I bring something nice to wear?”
“Why?”
Rey rolled her eyes. “You know, Christmas Eve or Christmas dinner nice? Do you dress up?”
“Fuck I’ll ask that too.”
“You’re really not good at this, are you?”
“Look I’ll let you know. Usually they’d make me dress up as a kid but not sure if that’s going to be the case now.”
“Fine. Let me know and I’ll see you in a week?” Rey asked.
“Yeah.” Rey gave him a little wave and turned to leave. Kylo let out a long breath. He wasn’t going to have to break his mother’s heart just yet (well, break it again). Now he just needed to iron out the details and give them to Rey. And buy presents. And make sure he doesn’t slip up when he’s home.
Kylo ran his hand through his hair again. It was going to be a long winter break.