"I suppose it doesn't really matter," Rey whispered.

"What?" Ben said, loudly.

"I said 'it doesn't really matter'," she repeated without altering her volume.

"I can't hear you," he called out, smirking.

Rey rolled her eyes.

"Come closer, then."

"Just speak up."

"I can't. This may be shocking to hear, but some of us have some basic human courtesy for our roommates."

"You're right, I wouldn't know about that." He dialled it back, but kept his volume higher than necessary - just slightly enough that she couldn't legitimately complain - just to spite her. "Being Supreme Leader comes with several perks, one of which is having my own private suite and bedroom."

She rolled her eyes again, exaggerating the movement.

"I don't even have to worry about disturbing anyone in the next room, because it's empty. It's just as big as mine, you know. I had the ship specifically designed that way."

She crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest and stared up at the underside of Rose's mattress. "Well, that sounds very nice for you and whatever unlucky person you eventually rope into having to listen to your yelling all night long."

"You're listening to it right now," he pointed out.

"Ben, come here, you're stressing me out."

"They can't hear me."

"I know, but I can, and I would also like to get some sleep eventually!"

He moved toward her bunk and she sighed in relief, shuffling over to give him room even though his un-body didn't actually need it.

"Are you on your bed?" she asked when he had settled in beside her. It didn't strictly matter, but she liked having some sort of context of his surroundings.

"Yes," he replied, in the same slightly-loud tone, but now it was much closer to her ears.

She glared at him, and his smug expression faded.

He finally lowered his voice. "Alright, I'll stop. Good night."

She flicked him a small smile to let him know they were okay and turned her face towards the wall, closing her eyes to prepare for sleep. Her mind refused to settle. She had a sudden thought, and was surprised it hadn't ever occurred to her before. She turned back to him and found that his eyes were still open, watching her.

"There's no reason we need to talk out loud, is there? I mean, the Force doesn't actually need sound to work, right? Maybe we could learn to talk silently."

She was getting excited, but Ben's face revealed nothing. She continued in spite of his apparent disregard for her obviously fantastic idea.

"Just think how much easier it would be, if we could just think stuff at each other. I bet we could do it."

"Alright," Ben deadpanned. She couldn't figure out his lack of reaction. "What do you propose we try?"

"Just… try to read my mind." She didn't know how else to instruct him. "You've done it before," she noted, with just a touch of bitterness, "but this time I'm giving permission. Maybe the distance won't matter. And I'll… I'll think of something, something specific, that I want you to see. You tell me what it is. But don't cheat!"

His neutral expression finally broke, and he grinned. "How could I possibly cheat?"

"I don't know," she snapped, her voice raising slightly above her whisper, "just don't do it."

"Alright." He was still grinning. "I will try my very best to get some small glimpse of what you are seeing, Rey."

The first thing that came to her mind was the intense greenery of Takodana, the very first time she had seen it, and she supposed that was as good an image as any to try to project to him. Rey closed her eyes to bring the thought to the front of her mind. When she was satisfied that the picture was clear enough she opened them again and rolled onto her side to face him completely.

"Okay, try."

He mimicked her posture, and for a moment she was struck by the way that his head settled onto her pillow perfectly, as if the one he was laying on had the exact same contour. She chastised herself, re-focusing her thoughts.

They lay there for four long minutes, looking at each other. Rey tried to push every ounce of her concentration into the image she had created, but she kept getting distracted by Ben's face. He didn't seem to share her focus at all. He didn't even look like he was trying. He was just looking at her.

Suddenly his eyes widened and his lips parted.

"It's working," he said, sounding as though he were shaken to his very core.

"Really?"

He nodded slowly, inching closer to her. She leaned in too, drawn to him as if he were magnetic. Their noses almost touched, and she had the urge to try to rub hers against his, just to check if he were somehow as solid as he looked.

"I can see your thoughts, Rey..."

Her mild reeled with possibilities.

"...and you're right…"

Huh? Right about what?

"...I do have an eight-pack."

She blinked at him for a few seconds in confusion, only understanding when his awed expression melted into a cheeky smile.

"Ben!"

She sat up, grabbing her pillow and swatting it out at him. It flew right through him, of course, and he laughed.

It was a few moments later, after she had paused to listen for any signs of movement from her bunkmates and rearranged herself carefully back on the bed, that she realised she had never heard him laugh before. He still had the ghost of a smile on his face, and she drew in a long calming breath before speaking again.

"Do you ever think about how wrong this is? I mean with you being… you, and me… here?"

He didn't hesitate to answer. "Not for one second."

Rey swallowed. She wanted him to ask her again, even though she'd made him promise he wouldn't. She supposed that made her the selfish one.

His eyes roamed her face for a long moment.

"I'll keep my word, Rey, but you may ask any time you like. I wasn't joking about the twin suites."

Rey recoiled from him slightly, turning onto her back to get some semblance of space. Her heart was beating so powerfully she was surprised it wasn't bouncing her off the bed. He had heard her. And, worse, his nonchalant tone implied that it was far from the first time.

"Always? Everything?"

She saw his nod from the corner of her eye.

Rey felt her cheeks burn as her mind instantly ran through all the millions of things she had thought all of the times they were together. Things about her friends, and his mother, and this place. Things about rain and flowers and ice cream and the Force. Things about him, and the way she felt when she looked at him.

When she turned her head back to him his eyes were incredibly soft, and she felt her blush spread from her cheeks to cover her entire body as she realised that even though he heard all of her ridiculous little thoughts he still wanted her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, as if it would have made any difference.

He whispered, for the first time that night. "Because I didn't want you to try to hide from me."

"I won't," she said, and was surprised to find that she meant it, "So long as you won't hide from me, when I learn to see yours."

"I won't," he promised.