Beautiful.
Rey watched Ben sleep, still in awe that he was here in the Falcon, radiating body heat and occasionally sighing or mumbling something incoherent. It was as if he hadn't slept properly in years.
He slept shirtless, which appealed to Rey in a strange way. She ran her fingers along his side, down his back, over his arms, tracing the scars she inflicted upon him. The round burn at his shoulder from where the tip of her saber burned him. The gash down his face, running like a river to his shoulder. Other nicks and marks from who knows what battle or duel. Perhaps if Ben awoke, he would see the strange caresses as a sexual invitation, but that wasn't the case. Rey had simply never been this close to another human for this long. Not that she remembered, anyway. Surely at some point she was held as a child. This was hardly comparable.
Besides, they hadn't been intimate yet, save a chaste kiss she accomplished by reaching up on her tip toes and tugging him down by the front of his tunic. Yet her fingertips roamed his skin, hungrily seeking every inch. of him.
Bizarre.
She wondered what it was like to have Poe's life, surrounded by friends and constantly drawing people in with a charming charisma. Or to be Finn, growing up with company never far away. Was there anyone in the galaxy her age so fascinated by another living body in such close proximity?
All she knew was solitude, and now, Ben Solo. She trusted him with her life, even if she didn't deserve it. Her lip twitched at the thought of how many times she'd tried to kill him. The forest. The Force bond. Yet now they lived in the others' mind, reading thoughts, experiencing emotion, and feeling intent. She saw his soul, and that certainly wasn't the average human relationship.
Ben rolled over and for a moment Rey panicked. What if he awoke and in anger, struck out? She awoke herself more than once as she lashed out at something in a nightmare. She was trapped between him and the wall.
Oh, no.
Instead, Ben opened an eye, briefly assessed her expression, then grinned lazily into the pillow. "Come'ere." He hooked an arm around her waist and dragged her across the bed, nestling her under his chin.
She didn't resist. They settled together, his chest pressed to her back, knees at the same angle; his tucked into the crook behind hers. Rey let the weight of her hand settled atop Ben's as it rested heavily on the curve of her waist. His breath on her neck was slow and even. The warmth gave her the chills.
She giggled softly into her pillow. What would Snoke think now? The mighty Kylo Ren, curled against her as he slept.
Kriff, she loved him.
The words never passed their lips, but when you could enter someone's mind, what was the point in trite expressions? The same fiery love she felt for him burned in his heart as well and try as they might, even a war couldn't keep them apart.
The war.
Rey frowned and wondered what tomorrow would bring. Outside the Falcon, across the galaxy, the Resistance and First Order raged on against the other without them. But for now, Ben stirred again and pulled her closer, mumbling something in his sleep, his lips moving against her neck. Unrest poured from his unconscious mind. Rey focused her calm, feeling it spread from her mind into Ben's, seamlessly like flowing water.
"Sleep. I'm here. I won't leave you. Not again." She turned her head and pressed a kiss against his cheek.
What happened in the past and what would happen tomorrow were no concern to her. Only here. Only this moment with Ben Solo.
