It was night shift on Day 4 of a long, boring run from Malastare in the Mid Rim to Lah'mu in the Outer Rim, a trip made longer because they didn't want to cut through United New Republic territory.
Kylo wandered out from the crew quarters onto the main deck. "Couldn't sleep either, huh." he said to Rey, who was sitting on one of the benches next to the Dejarik table.
"No, the bunk mattresses are too damn lumpy and uncomfortable."
"Yeah." Kylo yawned and stretched. "We're almost to the point where we can head to Corellia and do some repairs and upgrades on the Falcon. A couple more good runs and we might be able to renovate the sleeping quarters instead of just replacing the mattresses." He sat down next to her on the bench and watched her fiddle with her datapad. "Whatcha doing?" he asked. "I'm looking for a holovid to watch." she replied as she scrolled through a menu of offerings.
Kylo looked at the list and pointed at a title. "This one's not bad. It's a 'historical drama', which is a fancy way of saying it's a space opera."
"I didn't think you watched holovids." said Rey.
"I was at a Jedi training academy, not in a cave in the wilderness. Holovid night was one way Uncle Luke could keep a bunch of teenagers on task during the week."
"Ok, queue it up and I'll get us some snacks." Rey went over to the galley and clattered around a few minutes, then came back to the Dejarik table and handed a bag of white puffy stuff to Kylo. "It's called banged maize. I found it at a market when we made that run to Yavin 4." Kylo looked at it dubiously as Rey plopped down next to him and grabbed a handful. "Start the holovid" she directed.
"Fair warning, I will probably snark a bit." he said with a smirk.
"Well, so far so good" thinks Rey about 30 minutes into the holovid. There are space battles, a damsel in distress, a heroic farm boy, a scoundrel who's also a smuggler, and a really scary villain.
"So this is a historical drama, huh? What part of history?" she asks.
"I think it's a period before the Old Republic." answers Kylo. They watch a bit more.
"I'm not sure about the hand wiggling that old Jedi is doing though." says Kylo. "A good master can do the Mind Trick by barely moving a pinky."
"Kylo, we've been through this before. He has to make a hand movement that the audience can see."
"Well they could at least get the lightsaber fights right. You don't flail around like you're waving clubs."
"Kylo, just watch the vid. Here, have some more banged maize." He takes a handful.
"Not a lot of taste but it's hard to stop eating them." he says, reaching for some more.
"Oh look, the planet killer ship is getting ready to take out the rebel base." notes Rey.
"Yeah, this is a really good space battle." answers Kylo. "Looks like the scoundrel is bugging out. Smart man. It's not his fight."
"Disappointing, though." says Rey. "I like him."
"Just watch. He gets a second chance at being a hero."
"That's right, you've seen this one before."
As the holovid nears it's climax, the farm boy flies his fighter down a trough along the outside of the planet killer and makes an impossible shot into a tiny target that results in the planet killer turning into a rather spectacular explosion.
"See what I meant about getting a second chance at being a hero?" asks Kylo. "The scoundrel came back and provided air cover for the farm boy so he wouldn't be blasted to bits before he could make the impossible shot and win."
"I'm a little happier with the scoundrel now." says Rey. "He's going to be in trouble with the crime boss he was smuggling for, isn't he?"
"I suppose." replies Kylo. "Uncle Luke never did get the sequel for Holovid Night, so we never saw the rest of the story."
"Well, I think he decided it was worth the cost for a second chance."
"A second chance to be a hero or a second chance to catch the damsel's interest?"
"Kylo, I don't like it when you're this snarky."
"Sorry." he said a bit contritely. He reached over and picked up the datapad. "Maybe we can look for the sequel and find out." said Kylo, picking up the datapad.
"Later." says Rey, yawning. "I think I can face the crew bunk mattress again."
Kyo nudged Rey with his shoulder. "So what did it cost to buy me a second chance?"
"Not as much as it would have cost not to try." Rey replied.
"Was it worth it?" he asked cautiously. "Yes," she answered thoughtfully. She looked over at him. "Yes it was Kylo."
Author's Note: Yes, I went there. It was fun.