A/N: Another installation. Enjoy!
The burnt, angry coffee sits dejectedly next to Rey's left hand as she types furiously, trying to finish the last of her essays due tomorrow. Faint snores resound from the bedroom where Bee and Phasma have already retired. They don't have any stupid essays to finish because they don't have a crazy professor by the name of Snoke piling on a crap ton of work in the last week of finals. She's so focused on the words in front of her, she doesn't hear the knocking. It's her phone buzzing next to her that breaks her out of the zone.
"Hello?" she cradles it between her shoulder and cheek, continuing with her report.
"Hey, sunshine. You wanna open the door?"
"Ben?" she hangs up the phone and practically stumbles to the door, swinging it open. "What are you doing? It's like midnight."
"Actually, it's quarter to one." He smirks.
She just scowls, "And what are you doing here? I've still got a ton of work to do."
He shrugs, "I'm here to help. I brought caffeine." He holds out a cup carrier with three paper coffee cups and a Monster energy drink.
She motions him in, "Fine. But no distractions."
"How could I possibly distract you?" he leans down and pecks her lips.
"Careful, Solo. I'll kick you out and keep the coffee." She slumps back in her chair, grabbing one of the coffees. "Mmm. How did you get this so late?"
He chuckles, easing down onto the floor next to her desk. "I may or may not have an espresso machine in my dorm."
"And you are just now deciding to tell me this?" she leans back, sipping the vanilla latte.
"How much more work do you have?" he gets up on his knees, peaking over her shoulder at her laptop screen.
"Just have to finish the last of the essays for Snoke. Shouldn't take me more than another hour."
He chokes on his coffee, "Essays? As in plural?"
"Oh, Ben." She tries to hold back a laugh. "We had three."
"You got an extra laptop?" he gulps.
Rey stands and grabs Bee's from the floor where it was charging, "Here, you can use this one but no cheating."
"Thanks." He takes the laptop gratefully. "But what am I supposed to write about?"
"Oh, please. You'll think of something. You are Snoke's favorite student." She takes a long drink of her coffee.
"Psshh. Not anymore. He offered me a job as his teaching assistant but I declined. I've got enough going on and he's kinda creepy, with that weird scar and everything. He wasn't too pleased." His eyes widen at the memory and Rey laughs.
"He can't be that bad, right? I mean he's a tough professor but he can't be a bad guy, right?" she abandons her computer, swiveling her chair around to face him, and crosses her arms.
"I don't know. I've heard some sketchy stories. But forget that. We got to get these essays finished."
Rey smiles and returns to her keyboard. "Yeah, unfortunately. It's so stupid. Bee and Phasma's professors didn't cram their week with unnecessary work."
"After this semester, I'm thinking about dropping his class. It honestly isn't that crucial to my degree." He shrugs. "Plus, my dad says this guy is bad news. Just more stories to add to the pile."
"Mmmm." She hums, concentrating on her work.
"Right. Essays." He hunkers down and begins typing.
After another hour, the two can hardly keep their eyes open. Rey just manages to finish her essay, Ben not so much, but at the moment he couldn't care less. He just stretches out, yawning, and closes the laptop, setting it off to the side.
"I'd better get going." His eyelids drop closed before he pops them back open.
"I don't trust you to get home safely, even if your dorm is only a block away." She stands and grabs a pillow off the couch. "You can sleep over if you want."
"Yeah?" his eyes widen.
She tosses the pillow at him roughly, "Yeah, but no funny business. Just sleeping."
He grins, "You got it, sunshine."
She crawls into her bed, eyes fluttering shut. They shoot open when she feels his body slide in next to her and his arm drabs across her protectively. "I sort of meant the couch, Ben."
"Oh…I'm sorry. I thought with-"
She squeezes his hand, "It's okay. This is nice." And her eyes close as sleep overpowers her.
Ben wakes first, Rey snuggled into his side. He smiles, relishing the moment. He leans down and kisses her forehead. "Rey Kenobi, I'm afraid I may be falling in love with you." He whispers into her sleeping ear.
Her nose crinkles and her eyes flutter softly as her arms stretch out. She does this quite quickly and effectively smacks Ben in the face which causes him to slip off the bed. At the thump and resounding laughter, Rey awakes fully and looks down at him wide eyed. "Oh my gosh, are you okay? Did I do that?" He just gets up on his knees as pulls her down for a kiss. "I guess you're alright."
"I might need a few more kisses to make it better." He smirks.
Rey pushes his chest away, "Yeah, you're just fine."