A/N: I promised a longer chapter, and here it is!
I'd like to thank my friends Sheva and Bug for all their help on this chapter. Go B-Team! Also Pandora_Spocks for encouraging me to start a fic in the first place. I can't believe I forgot to thank you last chapter!
Kylo's look was murderous. He could scarcely believe he was even here, let alone that Rey was willing to return with him. He was even willing to let Skywalker go if that's what she required. Somehow she had become what was most important, faster than he could grasp what was happening. Skywalker had enough to answer for already, no way in hell would he ruin this too. Rey, for her part, looked like she might allow him to at least rough up his uncle enough for them to get away. He dismissed the nagging thought that no one allowed him to do anything. He had offered to teach her that day in the woods, but deep down he knows she is his master.
A look of alarm passed through Luke's face, and he held up his hands in an attempt at desculation. "No, no, I only meant I'm coming with you! I was on my way to tell Rey I'd changed my mind when I felt the presence of Kylo Ren. I think you're making a huge mistake going with him, but I've learned I can't stop you. If Rey isn't returning to the resistance I will go in her place."
Kylo stood up, grabbed Rey's bag, and growled out, "Okay then let's go!" He exited the hut only to remember he was on an unfamiliar planet and hadn't a clue where the ship was parked.
While he looked around bewilderedly Rey pushed past him, giving him a smile. "You should probably stay back, if Chewbacca sees you stomping towards the Falcon he's likely to shoot you again."
"I do not stomp," Kylo muttered under his breath as he stomped down the hill. In a louder voice he agreed, "I don't know if you noticed but I haven't even completely healed from the last time."
Luke called back from where he had moved to the front of the procession, "Can we please not talk about when Rey might have noticed your wounds? Mother of Kwath! This is not what I had in mind when I introduced you as my niece."
Rey looked down at her feet, feigning caution in regards to where she stepped. Her and Kylo both were glad the rain disguised the color in their cheeks. The rest of the trek was spent in silence.
Kylo hung back as they neared Han Solo's old freighter. He felt a familiar rage course through him at the sight. The usual hatred for his father was laced with something new, shame perhaps, that he was not quite ready to identify. He gritted his teeth and expanded his awareness with the force so he'd have warning if Chewbacca decided to attack again.
Luke and Rey found Chewie in the main hold fruitlessly trying to teach a porg how to play Dejarik. He was pleased to hear they were leaving, and that Luke was joining them. Picking up Luke had been the mission that sent them to Ahch-To in the first place, after all. Luke calmly explained that they had another passenger while infusing the air around them with a sense of tranquility. Even then Kylo could hear Chewie's protest from where he stood outside.
Rey cleared her throat and spoke without looking them in the eyes, "I… I had a vision, I think".
Chewie huffed as if he had never put much stock in such things.
"He turned, and joined me." Making eye contact with them both in turn she informed them, "You failed him by thinking his choice was made. It wasn't. There's still conflict in him. If he were turned from the dark side, that could shift the tide. This could be how we win."
Grief darkened his face, but Chewbacca growled his acceptance. He let a porg crawl on his shoulder then lumbered off to the cockpit.
With indignation Kylo heard the engines roar to life. Of course they would abandon him on this cursed rock, they've abandoned him his whole life. But then Rey started down the ramp and begged him forward with her hands. His heart swelled at the sight of her. She wouldn't leave him here, she would have abandoned the ship before him. He inwardly chastised himself for doubting her. He was just so used to disappointment and betrayal that he didn't know what to do with someone having his back.
Luke and Kylo sat on opposite ends of the booth in the main hold of the Falcon in uneasy silence. Rey sat at the engineering station with her chair turned around to face them. They had been sitting like that for the last 10 minutes and Rey was getting antsy. Compared to the famous Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and the infamous Master of the Knights of Ren, she was no one. She had no experience (and no place) making plans and strategizing but she knew from her years on Jakku that idleness lead to death. She was just about to speak up when the silence was broken by R2-D2 leading a group of porgs into the room like a mother duck. As the droid let out a series of angry beeps Kylo crossed his arms and stared towards the port side.
"Artoo's right you know," Rey said in a stern tone that brooked no argument. "If we want to sneak into the First Order we need a plan."
"Fine," Kylo growled as he turned to face them. Since he had the most up to date information he took the lead. He had been on Snoke's Mega-class Star Dreadnought the Supremacy before being transported to Ahch-To. He assumed they were still following the Resistance ships as they slowly trudged along at sub-light speeds. They compared the signal from Rey's bracelet with Kylo's memory of the Supremacy's last location and gave Chewie a set of updated coordinates.
Once the plan had been hatched Kylo suggested he and Rey take a nap. If something goes sideways they might need all the energy they can get. Rey turned bright red, not knowing exactly what his intentions were. Luke excused himself to help Chewie pilot.
Kylo led the way down the port-side corridor to the crew quarters. Han Solo had updated the room to include a galley but that meant taking out some of the bunks. Now there was one slightly bigger, probably meant for Kylo's parents, and one smaller, probably meant for Kylo himself. There were also two bunks in the main hold but neither of them liked the idea of sleeping in such an open, well trafficked space. Kylo offered her the bigger bunk, but Rey rushed to sit on the smaller instead. Kylo was one of the tallest humans she's ever met and built like a brick so he'd need the room.
He shrugged his shoulders and sat on the larger bed, both of them bending to take off their boots. Rey was satisfied with that level of undress but Kylo apparently was not. She found herself unable to look away as he undid his belt, unzipped and removed his jacket, and then pulled his shirt over his head. Underneath he wore a black tank top with black suspenders. As he went to unbuckle the suspenders Rey quickly jumped under the covers and turned to face the wall. She could practically feel his smirk burning into the back of her head. He left his undershirt and pants on as he too climbed under the covers. The last thing Rey heard before she fell asleep was his measured breathing.
Rey woke up first. Despite her intense trip to the mirror cave she hadn't fought anyone and who knows how much energy was sapped when Kylo had… traveled to her location. We need to come up with a better term for that, she thought. In actuality, Kylo just always needed more sleep, ever since he was a kid.
She heard a decidedly not human sound and slipped easily into a fighting stance. She edged her way over to Kylo's bunk and had to stifle her laughter as she noticed the porg snuggled up to Kylo's - no this was definitely a Ben thing - Ben's chest. Smiling to herself she pulled her boots back on and left to search for Luke.
She found him in the co-pilot's chair next to Chewie. Luke twisted to look her way when he heard her enter. With a raised eyebrow he stated, "Oh good, we're almost there. I was going to come wake you. but um… I wasn't sure what I would walk into." If Wookies could snicker, Chewie did just that.
Turning back around she said, "Oh… okay then. I guess I better go wake up Ben", and scampered from the cockpit. She didn't see them raising their eyebrows further at using his given name.
Back in the crew quarters she turned on the light, hoping that would be enough. He slumbered on. She softly called his name, first Ben then Kylo. He muttered a protest under his breath but continued sleeping. She walked over to his bunk and bent down, meaning to tuck a piece of his hair behind his overly large ear. At that moment the porg disentangled itself and hopped out of the bed. Ben let out a whining noise and reached out frantically as if to pull his cuddle buddy back in. Instead he found Rey, flipping her over to crush her to his chest with a squeak of surprise.
He signed in contentment, still at least half asleep. Before she could follow the porg's footsteps and get the kriff out of there, he began nuzzling into her hair and neck, breathing her in. She froze, half unable to move and half not wanting to. He threw a heavy leg over her own as he peppered kisses down her neck and shoulder, and she knew she was done for. Right as he started to nibble on her earlobe, earning a mewling noise from her, Luke opened the door.
"Mother of Kwath! This is exactly what I did NOT want to see!", Luke shouted, raising an arm to shield his vision and backing away with a huff.
Kylo came to so suddenly he jumped an inch off the bed, causing Rey to fall on the floor. He looked at her there with surprise and confusion. "What are you doing down there? And what in the hell was Skywalker screaming about?"
She felt her cheeks get hot, again. Was it even possible for a person to feel embarrassed this many times in the same cycle? "Well, um, I imagine he wasn't expecting to find us, you know, and then you pushed me off the bed..."
His eyes went wide and he pushed himself back towards the wall, realizing what she meant. "Tarkin's teeth! I'm so sorry, I thought I was dreaming!"
She stood up, brushed off her pants, and said in the least quivering voice she could muster, "Well. Okay then. Good to know." Without daring to look at him she headed back out the door, "Luke said we'll be there soon so we better get going." Does he have dreams like that often? she wondered. This is going to make our plan even more uncomfortable.
The escape pods were one room over from the crew quarters so it was a short walk. Luke had already opened one for them and was inputting information into its system. They decided to only take one as that would make it harder for the First Order to tell Kylo was with her instead of on the ship.
Rey saw that the pod was emblazoned with stenciled letters:
ESCAPE POD CLASS A9-40
MILLENIUM FALCON
And below that was added, in poorly written Clynese:
PROPERTY OF HAN SOLO PLEASE RETURN
She allowed herself to smile, wishing she could ask Han if that had ever worked. She regretted that more than likely this pod would never be returned. It seemed like desecration to remove something explicitly his without plans to bring it back.
Kylo, having redressed, slid down into the pod. Damn, that looks like it will be a tight fit, Rey thought as she mulled over the best way to proceed. At least her time on Jakku prepared her for fitting in small spaces. She decided she would fit best on her stomach, her front pressed against his. To do this she'd have to go down feet first, dropping to her knees and then angling her back forward so she could basically slide down his form. Realizing this meant she'd have to straddle his face with her crotch, she covered her face with a palm and groaned. She looked down into the pod and gave Kylo the gist of her plan, asking him to press his legs together so hers could fit on either side of him.
Luke decided that was his cue to be anywhere else and gave R2-D2 the instructions for launching the pod.
Rey took a deep breath and carefully placed each foot on either side of Kylo's head. Even then he let out a muffled "ow!"
"Sorry! Did I step on your ear?"
"No, Rey, you did not step on my ear", he responded with a huff. "You stepped on my hair." Under his breath he muttered, "they aren't that big."
Stifling a chuckle she bent down on her knees, there wasn't much she could do about his hair at the moment. Looking down to calculate her next move and seeing him in that position woke up some part of her that had mostly lay dormant. She knew she needed to move before that became obvious. Especially once he brought his hands up and grabbed her hips to steady her.
He hadn't exactly meant to grab her hips, if anything it was to steady himself. Seeing her like this? Force, he needed more. Especially after his not-a-dream. It took all the control he had to resist moving his mouth closer, to breath in her essence. If she had an inkling of what she was doing to him, she didn't show it.
She leaned her torso forward as much as she could while extending her legs behind her. Kylo's hands actually did help, keeping her pressed close to his body so she didn't hit herself on the top of the escape pod while also pushing her further backward.
Now that he had felt her against him, he couldn't let go. The bottom of her abdomen, right above her waistband, was now pressed against his face. Each breath of her was intoxicating. The escape pod was shaped like a coffin, and he thought he could die happy in this place with her.
Feeling his breath through the fabric of her top, she started to panic. Kriff, I'm going to suffocate him! I did not think this through, she thought as she frantically tried to push herself all the way back. Feeling her panic rise, Kylo kept a firm grip on her hips and turned his head sideways so he could ask in a husky voice, "Rey, what's wrong? Are you alright?"
Mentally kicking herself for not realizing he could do that, she relaxed into him, resting her forehead on the metal hatch that would soon lock them in. He began rubbing small circles with his thumbs in a soothing motion, which both relaxed her further and made her stomach tense in a pleasant way. "I'm fine. I thought I might be hurting you."
He chuckled, causing her body to vibrate. "Sweetheart, you could never hurt me."
Is he being cocky, or…? She shook her head to clear her thoughts and continued inching her way into the pod. Kylo stared as her breasts descended towards him, mesmerized by her form. His hands felt at home on her hips and he wondered when he might have a chance to do this properly.
They locked eyes as her face became level with his. Tentatively he raised his head to brush her lips lightly with his own. She melted into his touch. As he tried to pull back she followed, not done with him yet. But as much as he enjoyed their kiss he needed more.
In one fluid motion he pulled her down so she could feel his erection at the apex of her thighs. They didn't even notice when R2-D2 locked them in.