"C'mon. How do you do it?" Finn asked, resting his elbows on her desk.
Rey shook her head with a smile as she stapled the latest contract printout. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You've been here a week! That's longer than 90% of any of his other PAs. What is it? Did you hypnotize him? Do you have blackmail?" He leaned closer and whispered dramatically, "Tell me your secrets!"
Laughing, she shoved him away. "Maybe I'm just good at my job. Ever think of that?"
"They've straight up stolen executive assistants from millionaires that haven't been able to hack it this long. You've got to have some sort of trick."
She rolled her eyes fondly, then replied, "Tell you what, you get that Kashyyyk Oil Co meeting on Phasma's calendar, I'll let you in on some of my secrets."
"Oh come on, that's not-"
Rey held up a finger and swiveled towards the elevator a second before it dinged.
"He's coming. Now shoo."
"How the hell do you do that? It's like you can sense him coming!" Finn commented as Rey waved him away.
"Get me that meeting and I'll tell you." Rey called after him, gathering her things in preparation.
Long, grumpy strides brought Kylo down the hall within a few minutes.
"Good morning!" She chirruped, holding out his coffee mug by the handle.
He shot her the same look he did every time she did this, because it forced him to grab the body of the cup instead of the handle, and therefore scald his palm against the ceramic. All as a (not so) subtle reminder of the one time he had declared his coffee too cold and had dropped it in her trash.
Rey smiled all the wider at his glare as he grunted in response and took the cup anyway. She followed him into his office and ran through the day's schedule.
"Today's pretty packed. There's the final Corellian billboard design meeting at 10, then Dagobah Gas wants to take you out to that new sushi place on 15th street at noon. Kuat Citywear just sent over their second round of revisions to the contract, and are expecting a response on that before the day is out," a muffled chime sounded from her pocket, causing Rey check her phone, then smirk a little before adding, "and you and Phasma are meeting with Kashyyyk Oil Company Friday at 9 am."
Kylo stopped deleting emails and snapped his head up to look at her. "Phasma agreed to come to the meeting?"
"Mm-hmm. Also, Crait Salt wants to-"
"Stop." He narrowed his eyes. "Phasma's been avoiding me for weeks. How did you get her to agree to that?"
Shrugging nonchalantly, Rey replied, "I talked to one of her assistants. It's on her calendar and she marked it as going."
He scowled out the window. "Everytime I try to hunt one of them down, they always disappear."
"Maybe it's because you, quote, 'hunt them', unquote?" Rey suggested with a wry tilt of her head.
Kylo met her gaze with brows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Blinking, Rey replied slowly, "I mean that they're scared of you."
His frown deepened, and Rey was surprised to see that his expression was almost... offended.
"Oh come on. You can't tell me that you don't know the effect you have." Ignoring her internal voice warning that she was going to get herself fired, Rey pointed out, "You want them to be afraid, what with all of your stomping and scowling."
A long silence stretched between them, this new territory of harsh honesty threatening to tip the fragile balance of their fledgling work relationship.
Taking a breath, Rey offered, "...Or we could say it's because I'm very charming?"
He met her eyes, thought a moment, then gave her a small nod. "Let's go with that," he agreed, voice too neutral for Rey to discern if he was actually stung or simply wanted her to stop talking.
Making a mental note to tone down her habit of saying whatever she was thinking, Rey nodded, then asked, "Is there anything else?"
Kylo stood, shaking his head. "No. I'll go 'hunt down' Phasma to brief her on what our goals are for the meeting."
Rey canted her head, wondering if it was possible that her boss just made a joke. "Sounds good. I'll highlight the Kuat Citywear revisions for you when you get back."
She went to sit at her desk when he suddenly asked, "Are you?"
Blinking up at him as he shifted his weight awkwardly, Rey asked, "Am I what?"
He looked around, then mumbled, "You said everyone was afraid of me. Are you?"
Rey stared, unsure why she was very aware of how tall he was, how good his cologne smelled, how close they were even with her desk between them, finally answered with a soft, "No."
Letting out a short breath, despite her earlier self-admonishment, she added, "Should I be?"
Startled, he opened his mouth, then abruptly shut it and marched away, leaving Rey with an assortment of incredibly confusing emotions to sort through.
…
"As I've said before, Mr. Hux, Mr. Ren is unavailable at the moment." Rey repeated blandly, which only seemed to infuriate Hux further.
"It's your job to know where he is and what he is doing at all times," he hissed.
"But sir, I do know where he is."
Hux focused in on her with alarming intensity. "You do?"
"Yes." Rey widened her eyes innocently. "He's unavailable."
Hux looked practically apoplectic when an irritated sigh came from the hallway and Kylo shoved past him in order to reach his office.
"Ren!" Hux shouted, turning away and allowing Rey to finally giggle discreetly.
"Go away, Armitage." Kylo told him, as he settled at his computer.
"The Dagobah Gas Company should have sent their signed contract over three days ago. You're the one who brought them in, I would at least expect you to care somewhat about whether they agree to work with us." Hux informed him sharply, crossing his arms.
Kylo continued staring at his screen. "As the one who brought them in, I'd say that would be my business."
"It's all of our business if you allow a large account to slip through our fingers simply because you cannot be bothered to do your job. I'm sure Snoke would be very interested to know that you clearly don't-"
Rey opened the door with a stack of papers. "Sir, I have the Dagobah contract here for you."
Hux rolled his eyes. "Finally! Give them here," and reached out his hand.
To the surprise of both men in the room, Rey stared at Hux for a moment, then turned away to check with Kylo, who worked to bite back a smile and gave her a long, regal nod. Rey gave Hux the contract with a beaming smile, then left the room with a wave.
"Let me know if you need anything else!"
Hux glared at the door, then frowned at Kylo. "Your assistant is getting a little mouthy. Perhaps we can find someone more suited to-"
"You touch her and I will end you." Kylo told him, meeting his gaze with a look of menacing promise.
Sniffing, Hux decided to rifle through the papers instead of giving a reply.
…
When Kylo left that night, he was unsettled to see Phasma's traitor assistant talking to her. Not just talking, it was more… friendly than that. He only had time to scowl at the other man for a moment before Rey asked, "Going home?"
He grunted in response, then started to walk away before pausing.
"Good work today," He offered finally, pointedly ignoring how Traitor's mouth dropped open in favor of watching Rey's face light up.
"Thank you!" She responded, looking at him as if that meant something to her. As if what he thought of her mattered.
Shaking his head to clear it of such troubling ideas, he nodded gruffly, then fled to the elevator.
…
"The hell did you do to that man?!" Finn practically screeched at her once the elevator doors closed.
"Finn! Inside voice," Rey told him, rubbing her ear.
"You drugged him, didn't you? Snuck something into his coffee?"
"Again, has it occured to you that I'm just good at my job?"
"You're clearly more than that. He told you 'good work'! You're like freaking Wonder Woman!"
Rey laughed. "I think your standards are a little low."
"I don't think you understand. He has driven away everyone who has ever worked for him in less than a week, three quarters of them in tears. One week in and he's complimenting you? Has to be drugs."
Rolling her eyes, Rey gave in. "Okay, you want to know my secrets?"
"Yes! Also, totally not limited to work secrets either," Finn responded, as Rey pushed him away.
"First, I bribed Terry the security guard with donuts to text me when Kylo pulls into the parking lot. That gives me enough time to make his coffee and have it ready when he comes in."
"Yeah but he rejects anything that isn't hotter than the sun! How do you get around that?"
Rey grinned and pointed to a small circular device plugged in at her desk. "10 dollar hot plate from Amazon."
Finn gaped at her. "Those exist?"
"I use mine at home all the time to keep my tea from going cold," she shrugged.
"Okay, well, how do you know the perfect time to walk into his office?"
Rey pointed to her office phone. "I turned his speaker on."
Finn glanced around, then whispered, "You can do that?"
"They don't say you can't do it in the employee code of conduct. That way I can mark down meetings that he'll forget to tell me about, or listen for clues for when he's hungry or needs more coffee."
Shaking his head in admiration, Finn told her, "Girl, you are straight up devious."
"And the most important secret to working with Kylo Ren is…" she motioned Finn closer, then whispered, "annoy Hux whenever possible."
As their laughter pealed down the hallway, Rey couldn't help but smile. She had a great friend, work was going well, and her boss finally seemed to start to like her!
Everything was going according to plan.