Chapter summary:

Where Kylo has a pleasantly entertaining morning while his lady love longs to throttle him with her bare hands, jungle kitties are on the prowl, and certain preventative anti-theft protocols are enacted.

She had been a fool to ever think that Kylo would behave himself.

The touches had started off innocently enough. Or as innocently as the Master of the Knights of Ren was capable of behaving. A passing of an errant hand sliding over the curve of her hip, unexpected and out of place enough to gently part the veil of sleep.

Somehow in the passage of the night she had turned over and was now facing Kylo. Her face was buried against the endless black expanse of his chest and his arm had drifted, still pinning her down but now with his hand spanning her hip. No, not spanning, groping. Sliding carefully but purposefully behind her to the small of her back.

Rey swallows, blinking to be sure that this is real but he's so close and so big and the sky is still so dark. She can't see anything, not even when her eyes widen when the offending hand shifts lower again, this time settling on a greedy handful of her ass.

"Kylo!" she hisses, pushing at him.

She might as well be pushing a boulder. He's he doesn't budge an inch, but she can hear his breathing subtly change. The rhythm of it picking up and each breath tickling her hair.

"Good morning," is the murmured reply.

So the kriffer really is aware of what he's doing? He's intentionally molesting her, then?

"Get off of me."

Rey pushes at his chest more firmly. Tries to roll out of his arms but all she succeeds is gaining herself an inch of space. She uses this to tilt her chin up and glare at him.

It's becoming dawn very quickly, the sky brightening into sweetly pinkish glow. Pink with flares of iridescent purple. It gives Kylo's skin an almost unnaturally pale hue, like he's carved out of flawed marble.

"You look beautiful when you sleep."

Rey's face feels both hot and cold. When he smiles down at her he looks younger, sweeter. It's very… confusing.

His smile grows wider then, and Rey frowns, realizing that he's in her head. Of course he is, the man has absolutely no sense of boundaries or respect or-

"I can help you if you're confused."

The hand on her ass lets go and he catches her chin. The insult that had been building on her tongue is immediately silenced when he presses his lips to hers.

Part of her is shocked. A small part of her. A far greater side surges up, commanding her to close her eyes and just let this happen.

They fit so perfectly together. Every part where she bends he can tuck into. Even that strange, somewhat oversized nose of his aligns perfectly when her head is tilted to the side. And his lips are surprisingly smooth and soft. She remembers them being rougher before, back up on the ship.

Kylo moves to deepen the hiss, a low hum building in his throat and vibrating into her from where their chests are touching. It's lovely. It really is. Before they didn't have time for long and lingering kisses, and now Rey is starting to see the appeal of the act.

But she's also starting to get cross. He didn't ask her for approval. After that stunt he pulled up in the sky, the one that in all rights should have killed her and perhaps that was halfway his intention anyhow. After that the only way he's allowed to touch her again is with damn near written permission.

Rey pushes away, pulling her lips from his. As the dawn continues the sky has become darker, as if everything on this planet has to be a different version of itself. Now it's turning into a deep and otherworldly swirl of purple and grey, like the center of a vortex.

"Rey."

The way he says her name is too much. He's too much. It's the voice of obsession and longing and insanity.

Rey needs to put a stop to this. Soon.

"Don't think that you can get away with this, Kylo. That's not how things are going to work."

She begins to squirm in his arms, pawing at his chest until his hands reluctantly loosen for her.

Irrationally, she immediately misses his warmth. It had been so safe in his arms. Or it had felt that way for a few precious seconds. In truth his embrace was far more dangerous than any crash landing or hungry cat could ever hope to be.

"How is it going to work, Rey? You tell me. It's all up to you."

Up to her? Hardly. Since when has Kylo ever given her a choice in anything?

And yet… Kylo is different now. He's simply laying there peacefully, watching her with a content smile on his face.

Rey can't help herself. Can't even come close.

She kisses him again, leaning down and sinking one of her hands into his hair. It's not her fault. He just looked so… so much like someone else at that moment. Someone she wishes he would become and not this living infuriation that shadows her.

Truth be told, her experience with kissing begins and ends with Kylo. And she's always been on the receiving side of the strange movement, so figuring out how to take the lead is a little sloppy at first. Kylo works with her eagerly, working his lips against her own and obediently pulling back when he starts to get too forward and she growls a warning into his mouth.

His hands are everywhere, though. Stroking her own hair or running along the line of her back as far as he can reach.

With a grunt, Rey slings her leg over him, straddling him and plonking her butt down on his stomach.

The muscles of his abs roll underneath her and Rey pulls away from his lips to see that he's smiling again, amusement crinkling the corner of his eyes.

"What?" she snaps, noticing how swollen his lips are now. Gods, she did that, didn't she?

"Thank you for putting me in my place, Rey," his voice is so low that it could almost be only in her head. "I should piss you off more often. It's a good look on you."

Rey should slap him. Or in the very least unstraddle him. Leave him here and take off with all their stuff. All her stuff.

No. She does none of that. Instead, Rey kisses him again. This time with more force and purposeful dominance. Kylo puts up a fight, warring his tongue against her own.

She bites him and he still doesn't back down, his hands drifting down. She likes it when he touches her waist, too. His grip is wide enough that he can nearly spans her, and there's something quite flattering about how the smooth pads of his thumbs trace the outline of her abs. It's like he's memorizing her, feeling the strength of her muscles and he knows that she's not weak, she could put an end to this at any time if she wanted to.

During their first time together, she remembered his hands being rough. Not now though. It's stupid how good even these simple touches of his can make her feel. How warm she's becoming and they're still fully dressed.

Rey pulls away again, resting one of her hands on his chest as he watches her, looking up at her with that look of endless, obsessive need.

"Rey?" he asks, and the scratchiness of his voice makes something in her lower body twitch.

She runs her hand down the center of his chest, his shirt parting open to her touch.

"Please kiss me."

Her touch falters for a moment, her palm resting just above his diaphragm. Kylo isn't one to ask for something like that. Certainly not ask nicely. The air around them is heavy and dark. It's still night. They still have time.

"Good boy," Rey praises, deciding to reward his good behavior with another kiss.

Their passion quickly intensifies, building up and Rey begins to feel lightheaded from her growing arousal. But what the hell does she think she's doing? This isn't right. She hates him.

"So I have gathered," he hums against her lips.

His hands on her tighten, and he lifts her up by a fraction, trying to flip her over so she's underneath him. She immediately puts an end to that, overpowering him effortlessly. Thens he starts to kiss down his chin, along the line of his neck. She had wanted to do that before. Wanted to do a lot of things to him, but there hadn't been any time. They'd thought they were going to die. It had made for a hurried first encounter, not this steady and building exploration.

Rey bites down on his neck, savoring the groan the movement brings. The noise of it is very primal, reminding her of when he was inside of her and they were both too far past the point of no return to have any regrets at that moment.

The regrets had come after, though. Had hit her in full force and made her question everything she knew, starting with her own sanity.

If she keeps going now, she'll regret this. That's a fact.

Rey swallows and slows to a still. She needs to stop this now. She has to. She absolutely has to.

Rey wakes up.

Her eyes pop open, her whole body jerking awake.

Confusion laces through her thoughts, the foggy haze of sleep taking its own time to recede.

Relief follows immediately afterwards. It had been a dream. Just a dream.

Rey heaves herself up, propping herself on her elbows. She blinks, shaking her head and trying to catch her breath.

Kylo isn't there. Or at least he's not cuddled up next to her.

And it is dawn, for real this time. The sky is now a deep topaz color, a supernatural glowing green haze tinting its edges. There's a pleasant breeze in the too warm air, and it tickles the exposed areas of her hypersensitive skin.

The mortification hits her next, slamming into her consciousness so hard that Rey actually gasps, shooting upright and looking around in a panic. Kylo isn't here, but he's nearby. She can feel him so clearly because their bond is open. Wide open and fully unguarded.

This can only… it would have been completely impossible for him not to have been privy to every moment and every movement of her dream.

He could have shut himself off from it. Could have woken her up. But, oh no, the karker didn't do either of those. No, he had been watching and now he's somewhere very close and amusement is radiating off of him.

I only took them because you gave me no choice, Rey. I was the one who wanted to share, you were going to be greedy.

What… what is the idiot even rambling on about? Share what? They don't have anything other than the…

Other than the computer terminal and the scavenged repair parts which had been drying out by the fire but aren't there anymore.

Rey emits a howl, leaping to her feet so fast that she momentarily gets tangled up in Kylo's cloak which had been draped underneath her. She feels a flutter of confusion from his side of their connection, but then he swiftly shuts himself off from her when he discovers the nature of her emotions.

He took them! That kriffing, smug, conceited, hateful, souless, unbearable bondmate of hers stole their meager few belongings from her! Before she could do it to him!

She kicks the cloak away, sending it flying into the dusty muck near the edges of the river, and summons her lightsaber into her hand. At least Kylo had the common sense to leave her with that, or in the very near future his arm would have had something in common with his own uncle's.

Then begins the search for her other half, following the pull of their connection which should lead her straight to him.

Finding Kylo is easy. He hadn't gone very far at all.

Rey stomps her way up the scraggly hill where she can feel his presence. He knows she's coming and he's waiting, not even having the decency to feel contrite.

Actually, he doesn't have any decency at all. Because, if he did, he wouldn't be meditating in the sun. Without his shirt. Sitting there with his eyes closed. Shirtlessly being shirtless.

"Where the hell are your damn clothes?!"

Rey's eyes dart around, looking anywhere but at him. Their belongings nowhere in sight. Where did he put them? Where would he have hidden them? Why the hell isn't he wearing more?

It's hot.

His words are artificially blasé in her mind. Rey knows that he wasn't really in a meditation stance. Perhaps maybe he was earlier, when she was having her dream, but not-

Even the memory of her dream is enough to heat her face up. Rey glares at him, feeling her blood start to rage as she imagines that the corners of his mouth lifting.

And it is hot, actually. Even now in the early stretches of morning the air has an unpleasantly heavy heat to it.

Rey doesn't like this planet. This planet is awful. Beautiful in its own strange way, but also utterly horrible. As horrible as the man sitting peacefully and shirtlessly before her, basking in the intense sun like he doesn't have a care in the world.

"I hope you burn," she spits, circling him but not seeing the stash of items.

"Did you sleep well?"

Rey falters, her eyes growing wide. Now Kylo isn't even trying to hide his smug grin. She can even see a hint of teeth, he's smiling so much.

"Did you do that, then?" she comes to stand right in front of him, blocking his appreciation of the sun with her own scowl. "Did you… put me in a Force sleep or something? Is that why I didn't wake up when-"

"You'd know if I did, Rey. Don't be stupid. I spent much of last night watching you shiver with your head propped up on a rock. You were so exhausted that you didn't even move when I picked you up and brought you over to my bedroll. You were very lucky I was around to watch you, any jungle creatures out and about would have had a fine meal of you."

Rey's hands begin to ball up into a fist as she listens to his diatribe. She's a light sleeper. None of that can be true. Except, perhaps, the exhaustion and…

"Well I guess being chased all day by a pack of piss cats really takes it out of me."

Kylo opens his eyes, his gaze dancing up and down her form.

"So it would appear."

Rey shifts from one foot to the other, refusing to be intimidated. Her annoyance simmers steadily until she catches sight of the dark purple bruise that has blossomed across the side of his head and face. With everything that had happened, Rey hadn't had the chance to notice it before.

"How is-"

Her voice cracks when Kylo begins to stand up and for a second all she can see is rippling muscles covered with a web of scars flexing in the light.

He looms above her now, and at least with their difference in heights she doesn't have to be confronted with the proof of the deadly injury that would have taken him away from her.

"Rey?"

"How is all that?" she gestures by the side of her own head, fingers twitching through the air rapidly. "Did it heal alright?"

"You're concerned? I'm touched."

"Kriff off."

He shrugs and rolls his neck. The neck that she had been running her teeth along in her dream. Rey wraps her arms around herself and digs her nails into her biceps.

"It's fine, Rey. Painful, yes, but you did a good job. I owe you for that."

"Fabulous. Now put some clothes on."

Kylo cocks his head to the side. Rey feels her left eye start to twitch when he doesn't immediately obey her.

Then he moves past her, brushing against her and making her step out of his way. She glares daggers at the back of his head as he walks to the edge of the small clearing. Kylo reaches behind a tree and pulls out their humble bundle of equipment from where he'd hidden them. They're all wrapped up in his shirt so that's two mysteries solved.

"Half of those are mine," she calls out, watching him from a safe distance. "At least half. All of them should be, you owe me everything after I saved you."

Rather than answer, Kylo shakes the bundle, uncaring as the delicate components clatter to the ground. Rey flinches, forcing herself to robotically walk over to him.

"Give me my half."

In the very, very least he should apologize. He owes her that much.

"You were planning on stealing them from me."

He says it very matter of factly, but there's an edge of annoyance to his voice.

"Was I? That's odd. I don't remember that."

"You said it three times, Rey." Kylo fiddles with his shirt in his hands but, to her great annoyance, he doesn't put it back on. "First by the wreck when we were reunited, then last night, then… then during this morning."

Rey falls silently, squatting down to pick up the computer terminal. She holds it next to her chest like a protective shield as she fights to get her nerves under control.

"So you were spying on me."

"You were projecting."

"I wasn't!"

"You were."

Kylo squats down, reaching out to pick up the scavenged capacitors from the dirt where he had so carelessly dropped them. Rey snatches them out of his hand but she has no place to carry them other than down the front of her shirt. She shoves them down there and silently dares Kylo to say a word about it.

He doesn't, but he doesn't stop looking, either.

"You never answered my question. The one from before."

"Oh which in the hells one was that?"

Rey is so over this. So over him and this planet and the piss cats but especially him.

"Did you sleep well?"

Hers fingers tighten, squeezing into the plastic of the terminal frame. Gods, why does he have to be this way? Sometimes he's someone she quite likes. Someone gentle and dark and deep. Other times he's such a kriffing ass that she would rather taken on the whole planet and all it's fanged denizens rather than put up with him for a moment more.

When he reaches out for her, Rey's first instinct is to slap him away. Harshly. And she absolutely would have if it wasn't for the unnatural green tinge that had suddenly flushed across his skin.

Rey's eyes bug wide when she realizes it. Kylo is literally glowing. The exposed skin of his arms and chest has a greenish cast to the surface, but his hands look like he dipped them in psychedelic spaghetti.

"How the kriffing hell did you not feel that?" she asks, quickly rising up to her feet and taking a step backwards.

"Rey?"

Kylo looks up at her, a deep frown on his face that quickly melts into a question. She gestures to his arms and shock prickles at her skin, reflecting onto her from his side of their connection.

Then Rey reaches out with the Force. Or rather, she tries to. Already her connection to her powers is becoming muddled and that can only mean one thing.

"They have found us."

The cats, those damned jungle cats are coming. Again!

"Why now?" Rey asks, her eyes darting around to every possible shadow or nook around them. There were too many to count. "Why not last night when they were much more vulnerable? How the hell do they keep finding us?"

"We have to get out of here."

It's Kylo's turn to say it and she nods, bending down to help him scoop their belongings into his shirt like a makeshift duffle bag. They still have a little time, but not much. The cats are definitely coming, alerted by some unknown force, but they're not here yet. She and her other half's latest argument will have to wait for another time.

While Kylo quickly finishes tying everything up, Rey listens. Listens with both the Force and her own ears.

She hears nothing. The jungle is quiet. A jungle should never be this quiet.

Fine, they can argue later. For now, though, they just need to put aside their differences and get out of here while they still can.

Author's note:

The funny thing is that our duo could really achieve true greatness if they would just get over themselves and work together. Odds aren't looking too good of that happening any time soon…

Anyone want to make a guess how the kitties keep finding them? It's not just by chance.

Next chapter:

Kylo fucks up real bad, Rey knows what she wants but refuses to give into it, and, damnit, jungle kitties just want a tasty snack. Or two tasty snacks. Is that so wrong?