#ben solo [pre tfa]

[starstruckunknown-princess]

Asphodel - Kylo Ren x Reader

Asphodel (Asphodelus) - Meaning: My regrets follow you to the grave

Summary: The night Ben Solo became Kylo Ren, and the love he lost along the way.

Pairing: Past! Kylo Ren x Reader

Word Count: 1048

Warnings: Pre-TFA, discussions of Luke's School for Little Jedi and Luke's attempt on Ben's life, emotional manipulation, slight gaslighting, off-screen explosion, mentions of Knights of Ren killing people, brief fight, reader gets stabbed with a lightsaber.

Not sure how I feel about this one, but here's Day 5! This is my interpretation of how that night at Luke's Jedi Academy went, it's probably very inaccurate but whatever!

In Bloom Masterlist

Likes, Comments, Reblogs are always appreciated! <3

“Ben, what’s going on?” she asked, rubbing her face sleepily, adorably, as she joined him in the hallway of the dormitory. He wasted no time folding her into his arms, placing a kiss in her hair. 

How sure he’d been that she would be on his side, how Snoak assured him that their relationship would not get in the way of his training as opposed to Luke, who had advised against forming such close attachments. 

But how could he help himself? She was beautiful and smart and strong with the Force. She made him laugh on his first day when his heart was breaking as the Falcon lifted off the ground and dashed away. They trained together, challenging each other, and making one another better. Ben couldn’t picture a future without her in it, and he knew she felt the same about him.

“It’s time,” he said, “we’re going to join Snoak.” He stepped back and reached out his hand toward her, expecting her to take it but she just stared. 

“Join Snoak? But Ben, I, I thought…what happened?” The confusion read clearly across her pretty face, and Ben stepped closer. He cupped her face with the hand he’d reached out to her, tipping it up so he could explain while looking into her eyes. 

“It was just as Snoak said,” he explained, “Luke is afraid of my power. He tried to ambush me, tried to kill me in my sleep. Snoak told me he would betray me, betray us, so now we need to go.” 

“No,” she said as she stepped away from him, “Luke wouldn’t do that. I’m sure it was a misunderstanding. If we just talk to him, hear his side, it’ll be okay.”

“It’s too late for that, my love,” Ben tried to console her, but again she shuffled out of his reach. “We need to leave.” 

“No.”

“If you’re not with us, you’re against us,” he warned, “Is that really what you want?” 

“Snoak is dangerous, Ben, he’s been lying to you for months, twisting things around, please be reasonable-” 

“Reasonable? Is it reasonable to try and kill your nephew because he challenges you? Because you’re not as strong or as powerful as he is?” 

“That’s not what happened, Luke wouldn’t-” 

Kylo Ren closed the distance between them, crowding her against the wall with his body. “He did. And he will pay for it.” 

To this day, he could still feel her fear through the Force and how he had used it to influence her. 

“Come with me,” he said. “You want to come with me.” 

For a moment it seemed like it would work, that he had managed to bend her to his will as her face went momentarily blank, but she shook her head and it cleared away. 

“No,” she defied, opening her mouth to say more when a large explosion from outside caught her attention. Letting her push past him, she ran to the window and gasped. 

“The temple is burning,” she said, shock evident in her tone. 

“Good.” 

For a moment she stood there, frozen with her mouth agape. He could almost see the gears turning in her mind, how she was putting together that he had orchestrated the explosion, how his fellows were taking out the troublesome Jedi who would eventually stand in their way. Through the Force, he felt her rage rise within her like a tide. A smirk graced his lips, and with an angry yell, she ignited her blade. 

For the second time that night, he blocked an initial attack. Her anger fueled her rapid-fire attacks, and he couldn’t help but feel a little proud and perhaps even hopeful. If he could make her feel the intoxicating power of the Dark Side, maybe she would see the error in Luke’s teachings.

“Good,” he repeated, parrying her latest attack, “Feel your rage, use it. Can’t you taste the power? This is how it would be for us, always, if you joined me!” 

That comment caught her off guard, and he was able to land a blow to her shoulder. The smell of singed flesh accompanied her cry of pain, but he didn’t stop. She rallied, blocking his blows.

“Come with me,” he insisted, “And I will teach you to use this passion, this power, and we will use it to rule the galaxy. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?” With a grunt of anger, she began another offensive strike, but he continued, “You and me, side by side forever? Now is our chance!”

“Our chance to what?” she panted, “Become the next Empire? Rule through tyranny and suppression? That’s what our parents fought against! It’s everything that Luke taught us was wrong!” 

Their sabers clashed in an ‘X’ formation, and he stared at her through the light. 

“If you’re not with me, you’re against me,” he explained simply before turning off his blade. This made her fall forward and he smoothly stepped out of the way. She fell onto her hands and knees, her saber turned off beneath her. 

A voice inside him whispered for him to kill her. Another told him to kidnap her, take her with him. Yet another, this one real and outside of himself, called that they needed help outside the burning temple. 

“Last chance, my love.”

The hate in her eyes as she looked up at him — such potential wasted. Her breathing was ragged and her resolve absolute. 

“Never.”

Letting his rage and anger and desire for revenge eclipse his love for her, he reignited his saber and drove it into her back. A short gasp was all he heard before he felt her Force drain away and her limp body fall to the floor. Killing her was like killing a part of himself, but what was he supposed to do? He couldn’t have her chasing him all around the galaxy and he certainly couldn’t have her interfering in his plans.

As much as he wanted to go to her and brush her hair away from her beautiful face for the last time, he knew Snoak would label that as weakness. His future training needed to proceed unencumbered and, like he had said: If she wasn’t with him, she was against him. 

Maker, how he wished things had turned out differently.

[short-wooloo]

@david-talks-sw recently made a post (https://www.tumblr.com/david-talks-sw/712987173655363584/luke-skywalker-in-the-last-jedi-22) about Luke in TLJ, specifically on how some ideas struggled to work due to the film being unable to delve into Luke as deeply as is ideal, and how this can be remedied through additional media

So in that spirit, here’s my Ideas for what can be done with a pre-sequels Luke and Ben series, expanding on Ben’s turn to the dark side and basing the relationship between him and Luke and the falling out off of Shifu and Tai Lung from Kung Fu Panda

(Originally this was from a reblog I made on @ensomniaa​ ‘s post on the Jedi and Oogway https://www.tumblr.com/ensomniaa/696816137236774912/the-jedi-and-master-oogway)

This would start 10 years before TFA/TLJ (thus 4 years before Ben’s turn which is 6 years before TFA/TLJ), and cover a period of time of 4 years, so the timeline is 24-28 ABY

Let’s start with Luke, in line with basing him off of Shifu, Luke has a great deal of love and pride for his nephew/student, unfortunately this is clouding his objectivity on the subject, that love and pride is becoming attachment, Luke is not seeing what his nephew is becoming/not taking the warning signs as seriously as he should, ironically Luke is attempting to learn from his past mistakes, in ESB he rushed into Bespin without thinking because of a vision, so here Luke is seeing visions of Ben falling, but he’s trying not to overreact to them and make the same mistake or worse cause what he sought to prevent, that’s good, but as I said, Luke’s attachment to Ben is clouding his judgement and he’s not taking it as seriously as he should, and of course over time these visions will become more frequent and Ben’s own behavior (we’ll get to him in a minute) will worsen, but Luke, somewhat arrogantly (ties into Rian Johnson’s commentary that Luke is conflating his own failures as failures of the Jedi as a whole, he was arrogant and it caused disaster so now he’s thinking of the Jedi as a whole as arrogant in bitterness) reassures himself that he saved Anakin so he can do the same again with Ben

Speaking of, for Ben Solo, his bloodline and abilities are a great source of pride to him, but that pride is turning to arrogance and entitlement, we would see him grow more aggressive and cocky (which Snoke/Palpatine would eagerly encourage), becoming more violent in fights and prone to un-Jedi like behaviors, while also believing himself to be the greatest by virtue of his bloodline, we also have the revelation of Anakin/Vader (this is largely taken from the eu stuff), like Luke before him, Ben idolized Anakin Skywalker and was not made aware of his identity as Darth Vader, and the reveal is crushing, again just like it was for Luke, but whereas Luke came to terms with it, Ben will not, and it makes things worse,

Now I want to take a break from Luke and Ben specifically to address some additional factors

during all of this Luke would have some outside factors making things worse (and not just Snoke/Palpatine prodding at Ben trying to make him turn), obviously we know that the correct way to go about Jedi training is one Master focusing all their efforts on one student

unfortunately, Luke can’t exactly do that

in addition to mentoring Ben, Luke is also trying to rebuild the Order, Lead it, recover artifacts, and train a few dozen other Jedi all at once

It’s the worst of both worlds, nobody/nothing is getting the proper attention needed

Now I want to be clear, this is not a criticism of Luke, this is just a fact of how things are, he’s one man with a ton to do (and also maybe this feeds into his later self loathing, Luke thinks himself responsible because he tried to do everything), ideally it should not be this way, but like with the Prequel Jedi, Luke is lacking in good options, and taking on all of that work at once is simply the least bad option

As I already said, we wouldn’t see this all at once, this would be a gradual process over the course of years, I kinda would approach this like a lot of prequel material does: that feeling of dread as we slowly approach disaster

And speaking of disaster, we set the stage, the point in time is just a few days (or hours even) before the flashback in TLJ (the year is 28 ABY, 6 years before TFA)

Luke and Ben have returned from a mission, while it was a success, Luke is concerned, his visions have gotten worse, and the reality is not much better, Ben was very aggressive and arrogant, and even killed the darksider (who maybe is another apprentice of Snoke’s and Kylo’s own predecessor in the First Order) they fought after that darksider had been defeated (why yes that is an allusion to Anakin killing Dooku), and the whole thing has Luke questioning if he’s been going about this the right way, and then Ben does it...

He is demanding to be made a Knight, and this is where we lock in Ben’s parallels with Tai Lung (and parallels to his grandfather), rather than awaiting the time as to when he is judged to be worthy of something (knighthood/the Dragon Scroll), Ben in his arrogance is demanding it of his teacher

and the rejection of it causes something to snap

In a blind rage Ben lashes out, igniting his saber and attacking Luke, the fight is brief but furious, with Luke winning soundly

(and yes, I did deliberately inject aspects of the Obi-Wan/Anakin relationship and decline into Luke and Ben’s, if Kylo Ren’s story is going to mirror Vader’s so to should his fall)

though this all seems like should be the end of it, in truth this is the beginning of the end, Luke orders Ben to return to his hut to meditate and think on his actions, in a combination of attachment to Ben and an attempt to not act rashly, Luke is not taking this situation as seriously as he should, he’s not seeing Ben as the person who gave into anger and attacked him, Luke is still seeing Ben as his nephew and student

ut now Luke is questioning everything, he fears he has made a mistake, his love for Ben is clouding his mind, and after a little while he heads for the hut Ben stays in hoping to try and resolve this

But what has happened with Ben since the fight?

Well he is mad, he’s stewing in rage, dark murderous thoughts flow freely, self control is out the window, he’s not over the edge quite yet, but its enough for Snoke/Palpatine to use to create a disaster, they cultivate these dark thoughts, amplify them, even in Ben’s dreams knowing it will just take one wrong person in the wrong place and wrong time to set everything off

And thus, as Luke enters the hut hoping to speak with Ben and resolve things, he’s hit by darkness in Ben’s mind (Snoke/Palpatine probably took care to make sure that Luke was able to see such), and those thoughts, in tandem with Ben’s growing violent behavior and the fight just a few hours earlier, Luke seriously considers the unthinkable...

And from this change in context, Luke contemplating killing his nephew as we seen in the TLJ flashback is less out of the blue and instead shows that this is the culmination of a low point in the relationship

Of course, all of this wouldn’t exactly fit in a single movie’s runtime, but it just goes to show what disney should be doing with the sequels, expanding on the context to help improve them

I had a few other ideas but they’re not really about the Luke/Ben relationship, more just ideas for “if this was a show”, stuff like ongoing plots, arcs, other characters, etc

[ao3feed--kylux]

The Shape Of Trust

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/doMbX45

by Itsstef, KyberKills

Kylo suddenly wants it so much, to be trusted, to be perceived as someone reliable, as someone safe. He wants to envelop Hux and be allowed into the tiny cracks in his consciousness— He wants Hux to let him put him back together, he wants Hux to let him close.

Hux is breathing violently now, hyperventilating, and Kylo is fucking dizzy with confusion and panic and the need to just help—

He takes the scarf off his neck, repressing the surge of guilt, and walks up to Hux’s naked body. He tries not to stare, not to linger; it’s quite impossible. Who knew Hux had freckles on his shoulders?

Words: 7704, Chapters: 1/10, Language: English

Fandoms: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Kylo Ren, Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Snoke (Star Wars), Phasma (Star Wars), Knights of Ren, Dopheld Mitaka, stormtroopers and officers

Relationships: Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren, Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

Additional Tags: Pre-TFA, Yes all of the 100k of it, Canon compliant to TFA but with a twist!, BDSM, D/s relationship, 24/7 more or less, Dom!Kylo, Sub!Hux, Pining, Denial of Feelings, Hux is a mess, Kylo isn’t doing so much better, Millicent the Cat Ships It (Star Wars), Chapter-specific TWs in the notes of each chapter, Top Kylo Ren, Bottom Armitage Hux, Self-BDSM gone wrong, luckly Kylo is there to save the day, Accidental Aftercare, Kylo Your Ben Is Showing, Porn With Plot, healthy kink, Surprisingly fluffy considering the amount of hard kinks involved, PWP means Porn With Pining in my books

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/doMbX45

[ao3feed--reylo]

Please Don't Catch Me

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/ZIfJXOe

by AmazingGraceless

He crashes onto her world, and nothing will ever be the same again. What happens when Rey encounters a wreck and saves a man's life - a man who before was never tempted by the light side. As he learns more about the luminous Rey, Kylo Ren is finding that he isn't as immune to the light as he once thought.

Words: 50821, Chapters: 46/46, Language: English

Fandoms: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M

Characters: Rey (Star Wars), Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

Additional Tags: Written pre-TFA, Rey is a Skywalker, Kylo Ren is not, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/ZIfJXOe

[abloodlineunraveled]

Jacen's Verses

General Verses

A Long Time Ago - Jacen’s fifteen or sixteen with his whole life spread out in front of him but no idea what to do with it.  (No Vong unless specifically stated otherwise)

Death Doesn’t Discriminate - Jacen’s reaching adulthood in the midst of a war that could be the end of the galaxy as he knows it, fighting alongside his family and friends for survival and their way of life against an enemy like none he’d ever faced before. (Vong War Verse)

After the Storm - After the war things are slowly trying to return to normal, Coruscant is rebuilt and the Jedi try to find their footing.  Jacen is helping, as best he can, while still healing from his experiences during the war.

Awoken - TFA verse, Ben/Kylo Ren is Jacen’s older brother and Jacen has been active in the Resistance as a scout while hiding the training he had as a Jedi though he hadn’t yet reached the rank of Knight when Ben turned and the Academy was destroyed.  But upon feeling his father’s brush with death he’s returned to the Resistance base to be with his family while Han is in bacta and critical condition, reconnecting with his twin sister who left with their father all those years back.

Teen Rebel - Pre-Movies TFA verse; Han and Jaina have left, Anakin is presumed dead, and Jacen is growing up on a series of resistance bases with Leia.

Of Royalty - Leia stepped up as Queen of New Alderaan after the New Republic was up and running, with Han as her Consort.  Jaina is her heir and Jacen is about to step up as Senator for the New Alderaanian people.  Though all three children trained at their uncle’s academy under their father’s name to protect their identities only Anakin continued on to become a Jedi, as the twins felt their other duties necessitated them dropping out shortly before they would have been knighted.

Wanderer - Takes place during his post-Vong journey of self-discovery.  Jacen’s wandering the Outer Rim, searching for peace and trying to reconnect with the kind of Jedi he’d been before the war.

A Knight’s Tale - After returning from his years of wandering Jacen dedicates himself to the Order once again, traveling as needed to serve the people of the Alliance.  He remains a knight, turning down the offer of a promotion to Master as he doesn’t feel he’s ready for that title just yet.

Earth Born - Modern/Earth AU where Jacen is a wildlife photographer and zoology student, son of UN Ambassador Leia Organa, who attended a fancy international high school with his sister and friends as a teenager.

Muse-Specific Verses:

Tryptich - The Solo Twins are the Solo Triplets.  Jaina, Jacen, and Julian Solo are all on the Myrkr mission when Julian is lost in the destruction of the Voxyn Queen.

Lost and Found - Jacen disappeared in the Vong war and was never actually seen again, the Jacen Solo who returned and became Caedus was a clone created by Vergere so that she could hide the original at a secret home of hers in Wild Space.  Eventually he finds his way back, only to discover that his face is reviled and someone committed heinous crimes in his name

Knight Follows Queen - After the war Jacen spent a single night with the Queen Mother of Hapes, a culmination of the feelings they’d been forced to put on the back burner by circumstances, before leaving to try and figure out who he was to become in the aftermath of such a devastating conflict.  He essentially fell off the radar and completely out of contact with everyone he had known, thus never learning of the daughter he and Tenel Ka shared.  But when said daughter is kidnapped he senses Tenel Ka’s uncharacteristic rage and rushes back to discover what went wrong and how he can help.

Sideways - A freak hyperspace accident launches Jacen into a parallel world, one in which the local version of him was consumed by darkness and became the Sith Lord Darth Caedus.

Aldera - Fantasy AU!  Jacen has been sent to the courts of the Hapan Empire to gain their protection for the shattered remnants of the kingdom of Aldera.  The nobles back home hope he will marry the Empress, Tenel Ka, but he’s content to simply negotiate a protectorate status for his people.  Unless love so happens to bloom on its own.

[chaostheoryy]

Caught [Ben Solo X Reader]

(Gif credit: @fandomjumper​)

Summary: You and Ben are training partners and disciples of Master Skywalker. One night, when your troublesome brain keeps you up with thoughts about your padawan companion, he catches you staring and confronts your restlessness in a rather unexpected way.

Word Count: 1,587

Rating: General

A/N: Unlike most of my imagines, this one isn’t based on a prompt but rather a dream I had. I haven’t written for Ben in soooo long so forgive me if his character doesn’t feel completely on target.

His face is all you see in the darkness of the hut. There’s a streak of moonlight shining through the open window that paints his cheek in a silvery glow and makes the freckles on his face stand out like the stars in the night sky. His long, black lashes flutter slightly as he dreams and the way his hair drapes across his forehead makes you want nothing more than to brush it all away with your hand. You know you shouldn’t even let the thought cross your mind but it happens anyway: he’s beautiful.

“It’s rude to stare, you know.”

Your heart skips at the sound of Ben’s voice and you force yourself to swallow back a gasp as his eyes slowly open.

“I couldn’t sleep,” you reply, “Not exactly much to look at in here. It’s either you or the walls. And frankly, I’ve spent far too much time looking at them.”

He chuckles sleepily and nestles his head deeper into the pillow beneath him.

“At least my face is a lot easier on the eyes than this stupid hut,” he murmurs, “I’d probably want to appreciate the masterpiece of my complexion if I were you too.”

“Okay, don’t get all cocky about it, Solo. I never said I wanted to stare it you. And I am certainly not implying that it’s something I’m enjoying.”

You can’t help but blush as one of those smug, lop-sided grins finds its way onto his lips.

“Then put me in my place and tell me I’m the ugliest creature you’ve ever seen.”

“You’re not—“ You cut yourself off and frown at him. “Stop instigating me.”

There’s an obvious layer of playful sarcasm in his deep, drowsy voice as he responds, “Instigating you? Now why would I do that?”

“You tell me.”

He adjusts his position, sliding closer to you as he looks you dead in the eyes. He’s so close now, you can feel his kneecap gently pressing up against your leg. A part of you wants to turn away before your heart starts beating so hard that your sternum cracks but you hold your ground. You’re not weak like the other padawans make you out to be.

“You really want to know why?”

You refuse to break eye contact as you nod.

“I do.”

There’s a darkness in his gaze that isn’t at all unfriendly. He’s in a position of power and he knows it. He looks down at your mouth for the briefest second before locking eyes again.

“Because I love making you squirm,” he whispers lowly.

You’re more than happy that you’re laying down at that moment because your knees would have buckled had you been standing. Suddenly very aware of the weight of your stomach and the saliva in your mouth, you swallow hard.

“You want me to fight you?” You murmur defensively in an attempt to distract yourself from the hammering in your chest, “’Cause I won’t hesitate if that’s the case. We can step outside right now and I’ll force you to the ground just like I did during training this morning.”

The corner of Ben’s mouth twitches in amusement but that domineering look in his eyes remains.

“No, no. I don’t want to fight. I want something else.” His eyes wander down to your lips again and this time he lets them linger there. “And I think you want it too.”

As if his stare alone has the ability to heat your entire body, your lips go dry and, before you can stop it, your tongue darts out to wet them. You know he sees it too because that smirk is pulling at his mouth once more. How he knows what you want before you’ve even allowed yourself the thought of wanting it is beyond your understanding.

His hand reaches out to grab yours and you let him take it. Long fingers slip between yours as he brings your palm up to rest on his chest. Even through his clothes, you can feel the warmth of his body.

“Touch me,” he breathes out in encouragement, “The way you’ve been wanting to.”

You obey his command without a second thought, allowing your hand to wander up to the collar of his tunic where your fingertips begin to trace the lines of his neck muscles. His Adam’s apple bobs gently underneath your touch as he swallows but you can tell it’s not from nerves. He’s holding himself back, restraining his own desires to allow you to explore. 

Your fingers comb through his raven black hair for a few moments before you drag your palm slowly over his cheek. Fingertips ghost over his jawline until they settle on his chin less than an inch from his bottom lip. His mouth instinctively opens ever so slightly and his hot breath tickles your skin. Goosebumps crawl up your arm.

“Can I kiss you?”

You pry your gaze from his jaw to look in his eyes. The dominance is still there but there’s now a mixture of affection and desperation as well. 

“Yes,” you whisper as your hand slides back down to his collar.

“Tell me where.”

You blink at the command. From the moment he caught you staring, he’s been in charge and yet now, at the peak of the tension, he hands the reigns over to you. As little sense as it makes, you accept the change and begin thinking of where it is you want those lips of his to touch. 

“Cheeks.”

He obliges, leaning forward to press a long kiss to your left cheek. His lips are warm and wet against your skin and their touch makes your stomach churn just thinking about what they might feel like against your own. But you’re not going to give in just yet. He needs to earn it.

He presses a kiss to your other cheek before pulling back to wait for the next command.

“Forehead.”

Ben cranes his neck and does as instructed, planting another lingering kiss to your forehead just below the hairline. It’s an action so gentle and so affectionate that it shouldn’t make you crave anything more and yet you do. You want so badly to beg for that final kiss and feel the relief of knowing you’ve gotten what you need and, judging by the look in his eyes as he settles back down in front of you, you know he’s just as desperate to give it to you.

“Lips,” you finally exhale.

You half expect his entire body to come crashing into yours but, to your surprise, he’s just as patient and collected now as he’s been thus far. His lips gently capture yours, your noses pressing into each other’s cheeks as you kiss. Without so much as a fleeting thought, you let your eyes flutter closed and reach up to cup your hand over the side of his neck. How a man of his stature and confidence can kiss you so delicately, you’ll never quite understand.

Just as you’re about to tilt your head and deepen the kiss, he pulls away and stares at you with those dark, mysterious eyes. There’s so much love and understanding in them that you swear they might suffocate you.

“How did you know?”

“I had a feeling. Plus it’s not the first time I’ve caught you staring at me.”

He takes your hand in his once again. Your cheeks flush a soft shade of pink. He chuckles. 

“Don’t worry,” he adds with a smile, “I’ve been staring at you when you’re not looking too.”

You give him a look as you ask, “Are you implying that I’m not as observant as you are?”

“Maybe…”

You finagle your hand out of his grasp and, with a haughty sigh, roll over so that your back is to him. Even without being able to see his reaction, you know this is only instigating him even further.

“Oh, come on. Don’t throw a tantrum.”

You hold your position but soon feel a strong arm hook itself around your waist and pull you backwards. Ben’s torso leans heavily against your back and a pair of supple lips press a soft kiss just below your ear.

“You’re as stubborn as they come,” he murmurs softly in your ear.

“You’re one to talk.”

A deep chuckle rumbles in his throat.

“Guess that’s why we make a good team.”

Ben sighs as he settles down behind you, nuzzling his nose against the back of your neck. His breath is perfectly warm on your skin and the weight of his arm on your waist provides a comfort you didn’t even know you needed.

For a moment, you lay there, appreciating the sensation of his body pressed against yours. But it isn’t long before concern comes knocking at the door in your head. You swallow.

“We probably shouldn’t sleep like this,” you whisper, “Master Skywalker could come in at any time. If he knew we were…” You pause, not really sure how to put your budding relationship into words. “He’s not going to be pleased.”

“Relax. My uncle’s not going to find out. I’ll be awake long before he makes his rounds in the morning, I promise. Just go to sleep.”

You accept his reassurance and let your head settle deep in the pillow. It doesn’t take long for the exhaustion to take its hold and, within minutes, you find yourself falling asleep to the sound of steady breathing and a soft “I love you” that fades into the night air like mist.

[bbl8te]

𝒫𝓇𝑜𝓋𝒾𝒹𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒 — 𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝟧

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23104051/chapters/58112719

Ben wakes in the late evening, agitated and breathing heavily. Rey abandons her dinner and rushes over to him.

“Relax,” she says, putting a hand on his forehead. He is burning with fever. She compels him to drink some water and he does, asking for two more refills afterwards.

“Thank you.”

Before Rey even has the time to process this first expression of gratitude, he’s asleep once more.

———

[ Pre-TFA, Kylo Ren crash lands in the graveyard of ships on Jakku. Rey rescues him and offers him shelter until he’s well enough to leave. The more they learn about one another and mysterious power connecting them, the harder it is for them to stay apart.]

[kylo-wrecked]

“Hold my hand? I’m afraid I’m getting lost in your eyes.”

<< North of the Lianorm Swamp, Naboo >>

They were wandering the swampy forests at the base of the Gallo mountains, collecting rare herbs, tough rinded edible fruit, and other treasures that were only to be found beyond the borders of the enclave. Ben strode at Dany's side, wondering at the magnificent trunks of the Cambylictus trees, their ancient brown bark, their tangled roots. For a moment, he saw a snake. It looked at him and winked. Or had he simply seen a vision of his own fear? He'd trained with Daenerys a month now, and still he felt drawn towards the creature, the great, black shifting danger, she had come to warn him of just one moon ago. 

'Hold my hand?'

Dany's words had broken his gloomy reverie. He started, peered over his shoulder at her. He sometimes felt her powerful lavender gaze surge straight through him when she looked at him this way. Ben never knew what to make of it. Only that it was a danger best to be avoided. Now here he was, wholly awake and enthralled to near stupidity. 

'"W-hat?"

'I'm afraid I'm getting lost in your eyes.'

The adage of getting lost in one's eyes was far too silly a thing to say for Daenerys to have been entirely serious, and yet. 

"My-- hand," he stammered. Then he silently took Dany's hand in his. As though testing hot waters, or the temper of a dragon, he tentatively laced his fingers through hers. 

"Like this?"  

Ben lifted gaze from their entwined fingers and glanced at Daenerys. He was initially artless in his body language and puerile in demeanor--a gentle giant--but his eyes told a different story.

[whirlybirbs]

Idk why "I don't want your apology" is so strongly connected to Kylo/Ben for me

Your mother dies in the spring.

Cardota mourns her death well into the summer.

Your coronation as Queen is celebrated under a cast of solemnity; you’re not the only one painfully aware of loss turning a new page in your planet’s history. Your father promises you will do well — she was already so proud of you. You rise into the ranks of the upper-caste and graduate from domestic policy.

This is when you begin to unravel the web your mother had begun to spin.

This is when you meet Ben Solo for a second time in your life, though he’s no LONGER the freckled, bright-eyed Jedi padawan who served as your knight the summer of your eighteenth birthday. He’s no longer a star-crossed friend, a boy who you’d told yourself that, maybe, one day, you’d marry. 

He’s changed.

It seems Senator Organa, his mother, didn’t have the heart to break yours — she’d kept the truth from you.

(You’d asked her about him two summers ago, asked how training was going. Was Master Luke well? Ben seemed excited to continue under his uncle’s teachings. She’d been guarded in her response, hand on your cheek as a flurry of a senators came and went around you: “He misses you, I’m sure”.)

And Ben? Well, he’d stopped writing years ago.

(You wished for nothing more than to get a penned letter again — his penmanship was an art itself. He liked focusing on writing, he told you once. It shut out the darker parts of him. It was the same darker parts that kept him awake well into the nights that summer he spent as your guard on Cardota.)

Tonight’s dinner was supposed to be purely diplomatic. And yet, you find yourself surrounded by the vulture-like officers of the First Order and their sympathizers. You’re wading in your dead mother’s territory, trying to grasp how she could have ever aligned herself with these men, with this authoritative power. It shows. Your usual poise is shaken, traded in for wide eyes and tamed fear.

Coruscant hums off in the distance, through the balcony doors.

“Supreme Leader Snoke,” the young Commander at the head of the table says, “is most glad that you interested in continuing a working partnership, your majesty.”

The comment feels double-edged. Perhaps it’s the polished Core World accent that does it, or the way the redhead looks down at you -- his eyes are cold. You try to hide the evident discomfort in your tone.

But, when you open your mouth to speak, but are silenced by a shadow that enters the room.

He rolls in like a storm and the air turns electric. 

He’s tall, jet-black robes sweeping the ground as he strides through the private quarters of Senator Omni-Po, a First Order constituent. There’s a heaviness in his movements that anchor a feeling of dread in the pit of your stomach. Seemingly distracted, the man (or monster, you are not sure) moves to pry at the helmet along his jaw.

“Ah, Kylo Ren,” says Commander Hux, “A pleasure for you to finally join us.”

The hair that falls from the helmet is wild.

The second you see the curve of his chin, the sharpness of his nose — there are no words to describe the snap of your heartstrings and the violent burn of memories associated; he must feel the jarring stab of pain in the force.

(Ben Solo has always been hyper-sensitive to emotions.)

But, it’s Kylo Ren who looks right at you.

He’s a ghost of the boy he once was — he’s older now, more of a man and handsome all the same. But he looks tired. Angry. Sad. His eyes are darker than you remember. His cheekbones are high and sharp and his face alone cuts you deep.

You feel, then, the icy pass of an intrusion in your thoughts.

You drop your knife.

Standing quickly, you don’t even excuse yourself from dinner. And when Kylo Ren Ben Solo follows you into the quiet hallway, you don’t look back.

He isn’t given the chance to apologize.

But you don’t want an apology anyways.

[afaroffadventure-aa]

@patronodellearti​ liked for ben solo !!

            “ do you think that i can stay here with you? ”  he knows that he’s out of his element once again  --  but as long as he was FAR AWAY from snoke then that was all that mattered.  though he was still in ben’s head, even his master couldn’t get to him now.

“ i promise,  just for one night. i won’t be any trouble. ”

[darlingofdathomir]

Chapters: 6/10 Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Kylo Ren/Original Female Character(s), Ben Solo/Original Female Character(s) Characters: Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Original Female Character(s), Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, Armitage Hux, Snoke (Star Wars), Knights of Ren, Rey (Star Wars), Kylo Ren, Ben Solo This is my pre-TFA idea of how the knights came to be, but more about Ben/Kylo & an OFC. TRoS has shot my theory straight to shit, but it’ll still be a fun to read/writing thingy. Has a good bit about Luke’s Academy in there.  *Finally got this updated, and it’s now earned it’s ‘Mature’ rating, lol. For those of you following along I hope you enjoy it!* No R*ylo, so for those of you that don’t ship it, it’s safe. 

[moralscarred-blog]

Tag Drop

[ao3feed--kylux]

As Long As Your Luck Shall Live

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/A6u4MNf

by ChibisUnleashed

Hux stopped short and held his arm out to stop Ren, too. There was so little time. They might not even make it to a pod. Hux had one thing, just one last thing he wanted out of life, and where better than on the bridge of his beloved ship?

Hux let his hand fall the rest of the way and gripped Ren's arm. "Marry me."

Words: 2506, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Phasma (Star Wars), Rey (Star Wars), Finn (Star Wars), Poe Dameron, BB-8 (Star Wars)

Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren

Additional Tags: Humor, Fluff, Crack Treated Seriously, Wedding, Marriage, fiance to spouse in record time, TRoS-style Finn 'will he won't he' shenanigans, Rating for Language, Screen Reader Friendly, no beta we die like ben, post-TFA, pre-TLJ

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/A6u4MNf

[greyturned]

i think i said before that Tai was Ben’s first crush and an important figure in his life / academy era as well as a close friend whose death was the final straw that secured his fall but what if i said Tai was Ben’s first boyfriend?  who will stop me?

[brokenedgeben]

So, these are both for the prompt “if we were drunk + hallucinogenic”. (I don’t think it turned out very well, but there you go) They’re both AUs -- the first is an AU where Poe gets drunk with Ben after Ben learns that he’s Vader’s grandson, and the second is an AU where Ben’s a pilot alongside Poe, they’re celebrating a good mission, and the alcohol gives them a good excuse to confess how they feel about each other.

[boasamishipper]

EMILY YOUR TAGS IN THE LATEST POSTSS I'M DYING!! SPILL THE TEA - Sanji aka allkinds-oftrash

Okay.

So I was in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy fandom for five whole years. From 2015 to 2020. Finn was my favorite character and Finnrey was my preferred ship, and if you know anything about the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy and what an enormous flaming shitshow it became (thanks a lot Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy; I refuse to blame JJ Abrams because he did his best cleaning up their messes), you Know that I - and my fellow Finnreys and Finn stan mutuals - deserve So Much Financial Compensation.

How does this relate to my tags on that tg2 post the other day, you ask? Well......

So being an active Finn stan and Finnrey shipper in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy fandom for so long (hereafter referred to as the SWST fandom) means that I saw the best of fandom (incredible fic and art and meta and graphics) and the worst of fandom (racism, sexism, misogynoir, I cannot emphasize enough how mindbogglingly, infuriatingly racist some of these fans were) all in one place. What I learned from those five years is something that I've seen in every fandom I've been in since (and in retrospect): characters of color (particularly Black characters) are consistently ignored and overlooked in favor of white characters. Whether this is purposeful or accidental bias is another question entirely that I honestly do not have the spoons to look into. All I'm gonna do is lay out the facts as I see them.

Back to the SWST. We have Rey, our female lead (played by Daisy Ridley, a white woman), introduced to us in The Force Awakens (2015). In TFA, TLJ, and TROS, we are shown that she is closest with Finn (played by John Boyega, a Black man), a former Stormtrooper turned Resistance hero who saved her life, and Kylo Ren, once known as Ben Solo, (played by Adam Driver, a white man) has been trying to manipulate her to the Dark Side (and when that fails, tries to kill her - and also mindraped / tortured her / killed her father figure in TFA).

Who does fandom ship Rey with the most?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Which brings me to Top Gun: Maverick (2022), which came out a little under two months ago as I write this. Our characters with the most screentime (and who they are shown ON SCREEN to be closest to) are as follows:

Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise), shown to be closest to Iceman Kazansky (Val Kilmer), his wingman from the first movie; Hondo Coleman (Bashir Salahuddin), a close friend of his who worked with him on the Darkstar project; Warlock Bates (Charles Parnell), NAWDC commander, who Mav is stated to already be acquainted with pre-movie; Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly), his old flame and on-again / off-again love interest; and Rooster Bradshaw (Miles Teller), who he views like a son ("I was trying to be the father he lost."). Mav has an antagonistic relationship with Cyclone (Jon Hamm), who does not hide his dislike of him for the majority of the movie. Mav was also very close with his RIO Goose Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards), who died in an accident when they were at TOPGUN in the first movie.

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller), shown to be closest to Phoenix Trace (Monica Barbaro), who knows him best, and Maverick Mitchell, who was a father figure to him after his father Goose's tragic death. He has a longstanding antagonistic relationship with Hangman Seresin (Glen Powell), who insults the way he flies (and vice versa) and insinuates that Rooster's father figure was responsible for the death of his father; he and Hangman do come to respect each other at the end of the film, after Hangman saves his and Mav's lives.

Jake "Hangman" Seresin (Glen Powell), shown to be actively disliked by many of the pilots, including Rooster, Phoenix, her WSO Bob Floyd (Lewis Pullman), and Payback's WSO Fanboy (Danny Ramirez). He is shown to be most comfortable around Coyote Machado (Greg Tarzan Davis), whom he holds in as high of a regard as he holds himself ("And here I thought we were special, Coyote."). See above for his relationship with Rooster.

Other close relationships shown to us onscreen include Bob and Phoenix's relationship and Payback (Jay Ellis) and Fanboy's relationship. Payback, Fanboy, Coyote, Warlock, and Hondo are the main characters of color. Halo (Kara Wang), Fritz (Manny Jacinto), and Yale (Raymond Lee) are pilots of color, but have few (if any) speaking lines.

There have been 1005 fics posted under Top Gun: Maverick (2020) - the fact that the tags were combined is a rant for another day - since May 24, 2022, which is the date of the early access premiere. Let's see our most popular ships. (This list excludes x reader fics and does not distinguish whether the ship listed is the Main Ship of a fic.)

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw/Jake "Hangman" Seresin (397)

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw & Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (148)

Robert "Bob" Floyd/Jake "Hangman" Seresin (116)

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (105)

Tom "Iceman" Kazansky/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (76)

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw & Natasha "Phoenix" Trace (62)

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw/Natasha "Phoenix" Trace (52)

Pete "Maverick" Mitchell/Jake "Hangman" Seresin (28)

Penny Benjamin/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (27)

Pete "Maverick" Mitchell/Beau "Cyclone" Simpson (26)

Now let's take a look at the relationships laid out above that are missing from this list and see how many fics they have.

Bernie "Hondo" Coleman & Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (2)

Bernie "Hondo" Coleman/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (0)

Solomon "Warlock" Bates & Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (0)

Solomon "Warlock" Bates/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (0)

Pete "Maverick" Mitchell & Beau "Cyclone" Simpson (1)

Reuben "Payback" Fitch/Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia (12)

Reuben "Payback" Fitch & Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia (4)

Javy "Coyote" Machado & Jake "Hangman" Seresin (24)

Javy "Coyote" Machado/Jake "Hangman" Seresin (8)

Robert "Bob" Floyd & Natasha "Phoenix" Trace (21)

Robert "Bob" Floyd/Natasha "Phoenix" Trace (17)

And who is being written about the most?

Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (743)

Jake "Hangman" Seresin (666)

Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (533)

Natasha "Phoenix" Trace (402)

Robert "Bob" Floyd (346)

Javy "Coyote" Machado (197)

Reuben "Payback" Fitch (142)

Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia (138)

Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (119)

Beau "Cyclone" Simpson (80)

Penny Benjamin (79)

Solomon "Warlock" Bates (33)

Bernie "Hondo" Coleman (26)

Notice a pattern here?

This post is not meant to make anybody feel guilty for choosing to write about one ship or another, nor is it arguing that anybody who does focus on one ship (ex. Hangster) over another (ex. Macheresin) is inherently racist. You can't choose what you're into. What I am saying is a fact: the characters of color in Top Gun: Maverick (no matter who their relationships are with) are not being written about as often as the white characters. And though I haven't personally delved into all 1005 fics in this tag, I can guarantee you that the vast majority of the fics in which these characters of color are being tagged in do not feature these characters in a leading role.

Just something to think about.