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ohemgeeitscoley · 4 years ago

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Signed, Sealed, Delivered (2/6)

Fandom: Star Wars

Pairing: Rey/Ben Solo (Reylo)

Note: Chapter count went up! As always, giant thank you to @andyouweremine @notababoonbrandishingastick and @storiesofimagination for all of the reading and cheerleading and handholding.

Read below or on AO3

Creepy Threepio agrees and Ben sends Rey a message to coordinate with her on getting Amilyn and Snoke in the elevator at the same time and when to meet Ben in the maintenance room in the basement of the building.

Everything goes completely and horribly wrong. Which really doesn’t surprise Ben, he knew that the plan was a long shot. But it does surprise him at just how wrong everything does go.

Rey is standing next to him, her jaw hanging open as she watches the disaster that is happening on the screen. Creepy Threepio looks overly thrilled by the scene in the elevator. Which with everything Ben has heard about him through the building grapevine, it also doesn’t surprise him.

To Rey’s credit, they did get Amilyn and Snoke in the same elevator. Everything went well for about ten seconds. Ben would give them that. For ten seconds their plan went absolutely wonderfully.

Then there was a flower delivery man that stepped into the elevator. Then Threepio stopped the elevator. Then Amilyn and Snoke fought and fought about what to do, cancelling and recalling the emergency button, arguing about who had cell service and just calling the fire department.

All of which was, quite frankly, bad enough.

And that was before the delivery guy really started to panic about being stuck in an elevator and took his clothes off and stood naked in front of Amilyn and Snoke.

Obviously, the situation took many turns for the worse.

But then he started urinating.

That’s what they are watching now. The aftermath of this man urinating in a small enclosed space with their bosses. Snoke is losing his shit, and if it wasn’t going to become Ben’s problem when those doors opened, he would find it a bit amusing to see him so out of sorts.

Amilyn handles it better than Snoke. She’s trying to comfort the man while shooting daggers at Snoke as she rambles on about stress incontinence and how it’s a perfectly normal thing.

“Open the doors, Threepio,” Rey orders, her face paling as she keeps looking at the monitor. “Open the fucking doors. We have to get them out of there.”

“I told you this was a bad idea,” Ben says, holding his hands up when she looks over to him and glares. “I’m just saying.”

Rey doesn’t say anything else, just keeps her eyes on the screen, unable to tear her attention away from the trainwreck that is still occurring as Threepio takes his time to get the elevator up and running and the doors open.

Finally, the doors open and Ben watches as Amilyn and Snoke fight each other to get out of the elevator first, screaming at each other about their behavior.

“Yeah,” Ben sighs, watching as both Amilyn and Snoke walk off the screen. “Real good first meeting. I definitely think this is the meet up story they are going to tell at their wedding.”

Rey bites her bottom lip, one hand gripping the edge of the desk in front of her. “We’ll do better next time.”

“Next time?” Ben rolls his eyes. “Rey, there is not going to be a next time. Did you not just see what a fucking disaster that was? Someone peed in front of them.”

“Yes,” Rey answers, with a small nod. “That is what just happened. So, we can’t really do worse next time. We’ve got nowhere to go but up from here.”

Ben stares at Rey, trying to figure out how exactly she is taking what just occurred to be anything but a certifiable loss. “There is no way. I’m not doing this again.”

Rey turns her attention to Threepio, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks for your help.”

“Thank you,” Threepio exclaims, a wide grin spread over his face. His eyes are crinkled at the corners. “This is the greatest thing I’ve ever done.”

Rey gives a nervous chuckle before pointing down at the small plant she had brought for him. “Don’t forget to water this guy at least once a day. Okay?”

Ben follows Rey out of the room. They both look at the elevator for a second, before heading toward the doors for the staircase.

“I’ll come up with another plan tonight,” Rey says as they start the walk up to their floors. “This was a rash plan. We need to pay more attention to the details and the variables.”

“Rey, I really don’t know.” Ben pulls his phone out of his pocket as it starts beeping. He holds his phone up for Rey to see. “Snoke is losing his mind. Today is going to be awful and we probably deserve that for trying to mess with our bosses’ love lives.”

“Don’t,” Rey started, before grimacing as her own phone started going off. “Don’t back out on this yet. One more shot. Just one more.”

Ben pauses at the landing between the floors, starting to read through the onslaught of messages from Snoke. One of them even suggests that he needs to find and fire the delivery guy. As if that is something in Ben’s power.

He isn’t sure what makes him agree. He isn’t planning on it. He is planning on telling her no. That this was fun, or, well, fun wasn’t really the right word for it. But it was something. A nice break to his usual days.

Her eyes are hopeful though as she whispers please and holds his gaze.

He’s going to tell her no. Absolutely no way in hell is he doing this again.

And yet, he says, “Okay. Fine. Just one more.”

***

“Ben,” Leia’s voice is demanding and clearly irritated over the phone. “You were supposed to be at the restaurant 45 minutes ago.”

“I know, Mom.” Ben sighs, spreading his legs out wider to stop anyone from trying to sit in the two seats next to him. “Snoke is running late. As soon as he gets here, I should have about two hours and I’ll head straight to the restaurant.”

“This is ridiculous.” Leia mutters. Ben can hear ice clink against her glass in the background. “I don’t know why you won’t just let me or Luke make a few calls so you can quit.”

“I don’t want to get into this again.” Ben runs his hand over his chin. “I want to get my jobs on my own. It’s important to me.”

“You’ve been saying that since you graduated,” Leia points out and Ben hates how he knows that she has a point. “How long are you going to put yourself through this? You're currently holding seats for someone that can’t even be bothered to be at his kid’s show on time. You work an impossible number of hours every week. Your pay is a joke. You haven’t made it home for dinner in months. There’s only about a ten percent chance I’m actually going to see you today, Ben. We both know it.”

Ben tilts his head back, briefly closing his eyes as Leia brings up with the same arguments she uses every time they have this conversation. Not that they aren’t good arguments. Everything she is saying is true. It just doesn’t change anything.

“You’re wasting your potential, Ben,” Leia adds at the end. Which is new. She hasn’t pulled that card before. “You could be doing so much more and you are just wasting it waiting for Snoke to open up doors for you that you don’t need him to open.”

Ben’s just about to respond when he hears Snoke’s voice in the auditorium. Ben sits up straight, turning his head to see him practically pushing people out of his way to make it to the front where Ben is waiting.

“I’ve got to go, Mom,” Ben says, holding his free hand up for Snoke to see. “I love you.”

“Ben—”

Ben hangs up the phone.

***

Rey’s spread out across her bed. She has her cell phone upside down and left on the shelf by her door. It’s 2 am and she is decidedly not going to look at her phone again until at least 6 am when she is getting ready for work.

She pops another piece of popcorn in her mouth as she watches another video of a sports event. This time it’s a basketball game and she’s zoning out as she can hear the music change to some cheesy song about kisses and the video focuses on people sitting next to each other for the kiss cam.

Kiss cam.

It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect. It’s so much better than the trapped in the elevator idea they had gone with the first time.

Rey gets out of bed and grabs her phone. She’s about to text Ben her great idea when she hears Kaydel come in the front door.

Rey sets her phone back down and looks over at the “Will you be my maid of honor?” sign that Rey had found on her bed this morning. She picks it up off her dresser and walks out to tell Kaydel yes.

She’s going to be the best maid of honor for her. She just needs this plan with Ben to work out to have the time for that to happen.

***

“Okay, we didn’t do so great last time,” Rey says, tapping her fingers against Ben’s desk as she talks. “But our luck is going to change. This plan is going to blow your mind.”

Ben smiles despite his best efforts not to. Her excitement is contagious. It’s quickly becoming one of Ben’s favorite things about Rey. The positive spin and twists she can put on most situations is so different from how Ben sees things. It’s nice to have around.

“We’ll see,” Ben teases. “Are you going to tell me this great plan?”

“When I feel like I have your full attention.” Rey leans forward over his desk, to look at the list he is writing. “Lemons? Wire? Still working on this?”

Ben drops his pen on top of the list before rubbing his hand at the back of his neck. “Snoke’s kid needs the best science project for the science fair. Obviously.”

“Ah,” Rey says with understanding. “And you are doing… lemons to electricity? Very fancy. Definitely the best.”

“I hate my job.” Ben groans, shaking his head. “I’m twenty-eight, and I’m still an assistant. This is… not where I thought I’d be in life by now. Googling how to do a stupid middle school science fair project.”

“So, let’s make our jobs a little bit better by getting at least a slight increase in personal time added to our days.” Rey beams at him, pulling two tickets out of her jacket. “These are ours. I’m assuming you can get Snoke a seat at the next Yankees game?”

“Yeah.” Ben shoots her a curious look. “I can do that. What’s your plan exactly?”

“You’ll see.”

***

Ben’s been standing at the front of the Yankee Stadium for almost thirty minutes waiting for Rey to show up. The game is going to start soon and he hasn’t heard from her since she sent him a location pin of where to meet her before the game.

He’s just about to call her when he sees her running across the street toward him. His eyes widen slightly as he takes in her appearance. She is dressed in Yankee’s gear from head to toe. She looks absolutely ridiculous… and a little bit adorable.

“What the fuck are you wearing?” She asks, slowly moving her eyes up and down his body.

Ben glances down at the suit he had on. He doesn’t see anything wrong with what he is wearing.

“A suit?” He responds, lifting one of his shoulders up in a small shrug. “I came straight from the office.”

“No one wears a suit to a Yankees game, Ben.” Rey rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling and shaking her head just enough that a piece of her hair falls into her face.

Ben doesn’t think and lifts his hand up to brush the hair back and tuck it behind her ear.

“Thanks,” Rey blushes as Ben pulls his hand back from her face. She glances down away from Ben for a moment, but Ben is almost sure he sees her lips twitch up in a smile.

“You’re late,” Ben points out, trying to distract himself from the way his heart is beating faster when she looks back up at him and her cheeks are still slightly pink. They start walking toward the line to go through security. “I’ve been waiting forever.”

“Forever?” Rey scoffs. “You’re such a drama queen. I had to get supplies.” She waves the foam finger in her hand as an example. “I over dicked around.”

“You what?” Ben laughs.

“You know. I over dicked around.” Rey says the phrase again as if it is a common expression. “I got down here early to get everything set up with the kiss cam. And then I saw this cute shirt,” she points at the button up jersey shirt she is wearing. “Then I figured you’d need a foam finger to show your team spirit, which clearly I was right about, Mr. I-wear-a-suit-to-a-baseball-game.”

She pauses as they get closer to the front of the line, pulling the tickets out of her bag.

“I lost track of time.” She continues, giving him an apologetic look. “I still can’t believe you are wearing a suit.”

“I didn’t realize there was a dress code for a baseball game.”

“Comfort,” Rey teases as she hands her tickets, before grabbing on to Ben’s hand and pulling him through the crowd. “You should be comfortable at a baseball game.”

“Maybe I find suits to be comfortable.”

“You’re so weird.” Rey says, letting go of his hand as the crowd around them thins. Without much thought, Ben reaches forward to grab onto her hand again. He pauses just before his fingers would brush against hers, remembering that he has no reason to hold Rey's hand. He just wants to. His hand falls back to his side as he follows Rey as she starts heading up the stairs to their seats.

***

“You got everything set up?” Ben asks, tilting the popcorn bag that he had grabbed during the third inning toward Rey.

Rey assumed when he left he needed a little bit of a break from the group of teenagers that had bombarded him with questions when they sat down. Rey introduced each of the kids to him, and she introduced Yoda, the sweet old man who ran the group home that the kids were placed in.

“Yep,” Rey answers, throwing a piece of popcorn into her mouth as she smiles at Ben. “I think I can sort of see them?” She adds, squinting her eyes down toward where Snoke and Amilyn are sitting next to each other.

Ben had taken off his suit jacket and his tie after one of the teenage girls sitting next to them had joined Rey in making fun of him for looking so formal. He had also rolled his sleeves up to just below his elbow. Between that particular look and the way his hair softly moved with the gentle breeze, Rey is fairly distracted by how attractive she finds him.

“Me too,” Ben says. “They don’t look like they are yelling at each other.”

“Very promising.”

“It’s definitely a step up from the elevator incident,” Ben teases, bumping his shoulder against Rey’s. “I’ll give you that.”

“I told you we could do better,” Rey reminds him. “I have a good feeling about this.”

Rey watches the game, groaning when the umpire makes a bad call with the rest of the crowd. The atmosphere and sense of belonging in a crowd that came along with being at a live sporting event has always been one of Rey’s favorite feelings. She fell in love with it during her first minor league hockey game that she went to when she was 10. She loves watching the kids next to her fall in love with the same feeling.

“They aren’t even watching the game,” Rey complains, glancing over at Ben who seems into the game at least. “I know we set them up to come to the game, but with seats like that, I would be falling over myself.”

Ben looks off to the side for a few seconds before he responds. "I’ve had seats like that before," he says and he sounds almost ashamed to admit it to Rey. "I didn't appreciate them then."

"That's okay." Rey shoves her shoulder up against his, softly laughing. "I bet you will next time."

Ben looks like he is about to respond when Kiss Me starts to play over the speakers. Rey claps her hands excitedly before hitting one of her hands on Ben's knee.

"It's time!" Rey exclaims, her eyes glued on the jumbo screen, watching as the first couple gets picked out.

The first couple laughs before leaning across their seats for a brief kiss. The next pair does the same thing.

Rey loves watching the people blush, the quick glance to the other person making sure that this is okay, the shy smiles on their faces as they lean in for the kiss.

Her heart plummets to her stomach when she sees her face on the screen.

This was not supposed to happen. She's going to kill Artoo. Rey clearly and explicitly explained to him that she needed the camera on Amilyn. She gave him the exact seat.

Ben brushes his finger over her elbow. "Rey?" He asks.

Rey squints her eyes at Amilyn and Snoke's seats. They both seem entranced by their phones still. But Rey can't guarantee that they will remain focused on their phones and not on the giant screen with her and Ben's face.

They could get caught, Rey realizes, if the focus stays on them and Amilyn or Snoke look up from their phone.

They can't get caught.

So Rey turns her head, leaning closer toward Ben and kisses him.

He's surprised at first. At least Rey hopes the way Ben freezes against her at first is from surprise, but then he seems to melt into her, responding with passion she isn't expecting, one hand tilting her head to angle her better against his lips while the other brushes against the hair at the nape of her neck.

Objectively it's a good kiss. Ben's lips are soft and move against hers with ease. Rey's stomach swoops as Ben's mouth opens slightly. It would be easy to get lost in the way Ben kisses her.

There's wolf whistling and hollering coming from the kids around them when they pull away.

Rey stares at Ben for a moment after they separate. Her eyes are wide and there's a blush creeping up his neck and Rey hopes that her face isn't too red, but she can feel the heat on her cheeks.

She looks away, straightens her shoulders and sees the camera focus on Amilyn and Snoke.

They are still lost in their phones and Rey lets out a sigh of relief because they missed the kiss. She's certain that they didn't see her and Ben. Their plan can still work.

Rey focuses her attention on joining the crowd in cheering, trying to capture the attention of Amilyn and Snoke. It's a good distraction from the way her lips are still tingling from the kiss. From the way her thoughts want to drift away to imagine kissing Ben again.

Their bosses finally, finally, look up when the man behind them taps them on the shoulder.

Amilyn looks up at the screen and then over at Snoke. She laughs before shaking her head and looking back at her phone.

Snoke doesn't seem to understand what is going on.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” Rey joins the crowd in chanting, smiling as Ben joins in as well.

They don’t.

Rey joins the crowd in booing when the camera moves away from Snoke and Amilyn and onto another pair of people.

“Fuck,” Rey mutters under her breath. She scrunches her nose up and turns her head to look at Ben. “Well, that’s two of my ideas that have completely failed. My bad luck at romance appears to be contagious.”

“We’ll come up with something,” Ben says, giving Rey a small smile. “Maybe I’ll come up with the next idea.”

“I don’t know Ben.” Rey shakes her head. “Maybe you were right to begin with. This is crazy. I’ll just have to find a way to tell Kaydel that there’s no way I can guarantee being able to do all of the things she is going to want me to do as her maid of honor. Or tell Amilyn that I’m going to be slightly less available to her for the next few months. Neither of which are conversations I actually want to have, but I’m an adult and I can--”

“Rey,” Ben interrupts her, placing one of his hands on her knee. He points at the screen with his other hand. “They went back to Amilyn and Snoke.”

“What?” Rey asks, turning her attention to the screen. Sure enough, Amilyn and Snoke are the focus on the screen, a glittery pink heart framing their faces.

The crowd is even louder this time chanting for them to kiss. The music changes to Kiss the Girl. It’s easy to get lost in the atmosphere.

Amilyn is blushing and Snoke still seems unsure of what to do as he keeps his eyes off the screen. Rey notices when he looks over at Amilyn though, as if he’s considering just going for it.

Ben is chanting loudly next to her, clapping his hands together to accentuate the words. Rey giggles as she starts clapping in time with him.

Amilyn bites her lip and leans over the armrest separating her seat from Snoke’s. Rey grabs onto Ben’s hand, shaking it in excitement as she watches Amilyn closes the distance between her and Snoke and…

And kisses him on the cheek.

Rey groans, letting go of Ben’s hand. “So close,” she says, tilting her head back. “So close.”

The crowd seems to be just as outraged as Rey feels, judging by the sounds that are echoing in the stadium.

“It’s progress?” Ben offers. “This is still going better than the elevator.”

Rey snorts. It’s strange to hear Ben being the positive one. She appreciates him trying, but she recognizes that he is only saying these things to try to make her feel better. Not because he actually believes that this plan is going to go anywhere.

Rey’s not sure if her disappointment is just because this means she’s going to have to let her best friend down or risk her job… or if she’s going to miss having a reason to talk to Ben.

Rey sits up, watching as another couple kisses on the screen.

“It’s basically the law that you kiss when the kiss cam is on you.” Rey complains, tossing her hands up in front of her face. “I’ve been to so many games Ben, so many, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone not kiss. This should have worked.”

“One last time, folks,” the announcer’s voice rings out across the stadium as the camera once again focuses on Amilyn and Snoke. “Why don’t you just kiss the girl?”

Amilyn rolls her eyes, but Rey catches the way her chest shakes slightly from laughing, the way her eyes crinkle at the sides in humor.

The crowd is far too invested in this kiss happening, Rey decides, as she and Ben stand up and continue chanting for the kiss to happen.

And it does.

Finally, Snoke places his hand on the side of Amilyn’s face and they kiss.

Rey cheers, throwing her arms up in the air in victory. Ben grabs onto her waist and pulls her into his side.

“We did it!” He exclaims, wrapping his arms around her and picking her up from the ground.

Rey squeals, burying her head into the crook of his neck. She pulls back when he puts her back down, smiling widely up at him. “I told you I had a good feeling about this.”

Ben matches her grin, shaking his head. “Right,” he teases, the word almost inaudible as he laughs. “You had zero doubts this entire time.”

“Not a single one.” Rey drops her gaze to Ben’s lips, and she wants to kiss him again. To stand on her tiptoes and press her lips against his. She looks away, feeling the way her neck is heating up. Scratching at her neck, Rey sits back down and gives Ben one last, small smile.

“Now what?” Ben asks, sitting down.

Rey keeps her eyes forward on the game that is just starting to resume.

“Now… now we enjoy this small win,” Rey says after a few minutes, turning her head to look at Ben. He looks more relaxed in that moment than he has all day. “Then you get to come up with some ideas for phase two.”

***

The Yankees win. Amilyn and Snoke kissed.

Rey kissed him.

For a plan Ben had been so hesitant to agree to, it has so far been working in his favor.

Rey tugs on his hand as they head out of the stadium. He likes the way Rey keeps grabbing his hand, holding it when they walk. He likes the way her hand fits in his.

He’s starting to think that he might just like her.

Rey is practically beaming with glee between the win and her plan working. She’s chattering at about a million miles a minute about the game and stats that he finds oddly impressive that she has memorized. He doesn’t know enough about baseball or the Yankees really to follow half of what she says, but her joy is contagious.

Ben can’t remember the last time he smiled this much.

Rey’s phone beeps and she drops his hand to reach for it. Ben’s phone goes off a few seconds later.

“Oh my god,” Rey whispers, stopping completely once they are just outside of the stadium. “It worked. Ben, it actually worked.”

Ben nods, rereading the message on his phone. “Snoke isn’t coming back into the office for the rest of the day.”

“Neither is Amilyn,” Rey grabs onto his hand again, slightly swinging their arms together. “I don’t have to go back into the office.”

“Neither do I.”

Ben is a bit amazed that this actually worked. That somehow Amilyn and Snoke were off together and because of it he and Rey both are now free for the rest of the day.

“So what are you going to do with all of this free time?” Ben asks as they make their way toward the subway.

“I was thinking…” Rey’s sentence trails off and she bites at her bottom lip. She looks nervous. “I was thinking maybe we could go get drinks? Or dinner? You know, to celebrate the win?”

“Yeah,” Ben quickly responds before Rey is fully finished talking. “I would love to do that. Maybe I could even convince you to help me come up with some ideas for phase two?”

“Absolutely not,” Rey shakes her head. “But you can try.”

***

“Do you think we’ll even need a phase two?” Ben asks, taking a drink from the beer bottle in his hand. “I mean, maybe we should just let nature take over from her?”

“Nature?” Rey sputters, staring at Ben as if he’s grown two heads. “Ben, we need this relationship to work out for at least the next 3 months. It took two well thought out plans to get them to this point, and you think nature can just take over from here?”

“Well thought out plans?” Ben mocks. “That is one way of describing your plans I’m sure.”

“Hey,” Rey swats at his hand, laughing as he pulls it away from her. “My plans ended up working so no complaining about them. Besides, we’ve been here for,” Rey glances down at her phone, “almost two hours, and you have provided zero plans for phase two.”

“That’s because I’m still not convinced that we need a phase two.”

“We need a phase two,” Rey states as if her opinion is fact. Because it absolutely is what they need and Ben just needs to get on the same page. “So you better start thinking of one.”

Rey finishes her drink, running a finger across the rim of the glass. “I told Kaydel I’d meet her soon.”

Ben nods, finishing his beer. “This was nice.”

Nice might be an understatement. Even if they still don’t have a plan for what they are going to do about Snoke and Amilyn next… just talking with Ben had been great.

She knows more about him now, about his past, and his family. The reasons why he won’t let his family help him out. It’s hard for Rey to imagine having a family that wants to help and turning them away. But she can sort of see where he is coming from, it’s an almost foreign concept to her.

Getting to know Ben is nice. Talking to Ben is nice. Hearing him laugh and smile and watching the way his eyes lit up when he gets excited is more than nice. It’s doing nothing to stop her growing desire to kiss him again.

She probably needs to figure out what she is going to do about that problem later.

“It was,” Rey agrees, watching as Ben smiles. She wonders if he has any idea just how gorgeous he looks when he smiles. She wishes she was just a little more brave, or a little more drunk, to tell him. “Even if you have presented no plans. Or apparently even thought about a plan more than coming up with a bad argument about how we don’t need a plan.”

“I’ll come up with a plan,” Ben laughs when Rey narrows her eyes in disbelief. “Have some faith in me.”

“Okay,” Rey concedes, grabbing her phone from the table before standing up. “But just some.”

“Have fun with Kaydel,” Ben says, standing as well. “Enjoy your time with her.”

“I will.” Rey pausing, glancing away from Ben for a moment, debating her next move. Ben’s arms are around her before she has much time to consider anything, pulling her into a hug.

Rey grins as she wraps her arms around him. She lingers when he pulls away, stretching up to press her lips against his cheek.

“Good night, Ben.” Her voice is light and soft as she takes a step back. “I expect at least three options tomorrow morning.”

Rey can still hear him laughing when she exits the bar.

***

“Wait, wait, wait,” Kaydel starts, waving her hands around. Rey grabs onto Kaydel’s arm, pulling her away from a larger crack in the sidewalk. “You and the guy who you said was a—and I am quoting—‘giant fucking asshole’ kissed today?”

Rey rolls her eyes. That would be the part of the story Kaydel would focus on. “We were on the kiss cam.” Rey says as if it’s a complete and full explanation. “And Ben isn’t an asshole. I mean, okay, he can be an asshole. But he isn’t always an asshole. He can actually be kind of… sweet sometimes?”

“Oh my god,” Kaydel grins, clapping her hands together excitedly. Kaydel always talks with her entire body, but it’s more pronounced and with larger movements when she has been drinking. “You like him.”

Rey sighs, pressing the button for the crosswalk. “That’s rather irrelevant,” Rey says as they start crossing the street. “I don’t even know if it’s true. Can’t we just focus on the fact that I got off work at a reasonable time today and that I came up with this evil genius plan to make sure I have time to perform my maid of honor duties?”

“Absolutely not.” Kaydel rolls her eyes. “We are one hundred precent focusing on the fact that you kissed a hot guy and that you can’t stop blushing every time you mention him.”

“I’ve been, I’ve been drinking,” Rey tries to come up for another explanation for her blushing. Because she is blushing. She knows that she can’t stop blushing whenever she thinks about Ben and it’s a little ridiculous. She feels like a schoolgirl with her first crush. “My face always gets a little bit red when I’ve been drinking.”

Kaydel stops in the middle of the sidewalk. Rey almost runs into her at the same time that Kaydel turns around. Kaydel’s eyes are narrow and pointed, but there’s no heat in the glare that she is giving Rey. Kaydel places her hands on Rey’s shoulders and stares at Rey for a few moments before she finally says, “You’re an absolute idiot.”

“Real nice, Kay,” Rey complains. “I’m really feeling bathed in your love right now.”

“You should always feel bathed in love when you are around me.” Kaydel sways slightly, increasing the weight pressing down on Rey’s shoulders. “But that doesn’t make you any less of an idiot.”

Rey huffs, blowing a stray piece of her hair out of her eyes. “Why don’t we just go home? You can tell me more about what an idiot I am while we drink some water.”

Kaydel shrugs, turning around and looping her arm through Rey’s as she starts walking again. “I’ve got nothing else besides you’re an idiot. But maybe you can tell me more about this plan and more about Ben. I think I’ll like him.”

***

“Princess?” Han yells from the front door. He is leaning against the open door and the smug smile on his face is maddening. It only grows the longer Ben just stares at him. “Our son is here.”

“What?” Ben can hear Leia ask from in the house. He can practically see her shocked face with the surprise he can hear in her voice. He hates that showing up unannounced is such a rare thing that he deserves this kind of reaction from his parents.

“Are you busy?” Ben asks, stepping forward to go into the house. Han moves just enough for Ben to squeeze by him. “I can always leave if you guys had plans.”

Leia walks toward him and slightly smacks his arm before wrapping her arms around him.

“I was just about to kick your dad’s ass at cards,” Leia says, pulling back. “You can help.”

Han pats Ben on the back as he walks toward the family room.

“Do you need money?” Leia questions, her eyes narrowing as they all sat down. “Are you finally going to let us help you?”

“No, Mom.” Ben tries to keep the irritation out of his voice, but he knows he isn’t very successful with the look Leia is giving him. “I don’t need money. I’m doing just fine. And my job is getting better. As I assumed you could tell, since I’m here visiting you.”

Leia purses her lips giving an almost imperceptible shake to her head. “One day of getting off at a reasonable time does not make the situation any better Ben. Especially when it’s a situation that you don’t even have to be in.”

“How’d you end up getting off so early anyway?” Han asks, giving Leia a look that Ben knows is him telling her to stop pushing. He shuffles the cards in his lap. “I don’t think that in the entire time you’ve been there you’ve gotten off before 10 without a lot of prearrangement.”

“I got off at 6.” Ben is a little too proud in the way he says it, as if getting off at a reasonable time is some kind of accomplishment Leia is going to want to hang on the wall. “So I’d say things are going much better.”

“Off at 6?” Han starts dealing out the cards. “And what did you do for the first few hours of your freedom?”

“I, uh, I went out for drinks with a…” Ben pauses, pretends that he is looking at his cards and contemplating his move. Maybe he should have just gone home and hung out with Poe. Poe was less likely than his parents to ask questions. Most of the time. “A friend. I went out for drinks with a friend.”

“A friend?” Leia repeats, her tone far too knowing. “Does this friend have a name? Do we know him?”

“Her,” Ben corrects, rolling his eyes at Leia’s inability to be subtle. “And her name is Rey. You don’t know her.”

“How did you two meet?” Leia places two cards face down in front of her without appearing to glance at them as she keeps her eyes on Ben.

Ben keeps his eyes on his cards, debating the best way to phrase the way he and Rey had met. He doesn’t quite think his mom will be too thrilled with the truth. That he had pretty much stolen Rey’s food delivery and then asked for her to pay him back with interest the next day.

Even he was aware that he was kind of an asshole in that story.

Somehow explaining that she’s an assistant in the same building as him who came up with an idea to set their bosses up so that they can have more free time doesn’t seem much better.

He decides on somewhere in the middle.

“She’s an assistant who works in the same building. We met when we both were trying to get dinner for our bosses late one night.”

“Uh huh,” Leia hums and Ben hates that Leia just knows that there is more to the story than he is telling. It’s always frustrated him the way Leia can pinpoint every time he tries holding something back from her. “And you two are bonding over work?”

Ben glances at Han, trying to signal for him to jump in and change the subject. Han just smirks and shakes his head.

Not that Ben can blame him.

“Poe is really excited about your birthday party,” Ben says instead of answering the question, trying to change the subject on his own. “Thanks for sending him an invite directly. Instead of just having him tag along with me.”

“Well, I wanted to make sure that he knew he was welcome whether or not you could make it,” Leia tilts her head to the side. “With your schedule it’s not that it’s a guarantee that you’ll be there.”

“I’ll be there,” Ben sighs. “I promise I will be there.”

“Good,” Leia grins. “And you should bring Rey. If you’d like. We always love meeting your friends.”

“Always,” Han adds, tossing a card onto the table. “I’m sure it would make your mom’s birthday to meet your new friend.”

“You both know that I’m 28 years old right?” Ben asks, glancing back and forth between the two of them. “And that there is no way I’m going to bring Rey, who I’ve known for less than two weeks, to Mom’s birthday lunch. I would consider telling Poe he isn’t allowed to come, but I’m pretty sure you’ve both run through all of my embarrassing stories with him already.”

“I’m sure I could come up with a few more,” Leia teases. ‘And this is exactly why I sent Poe his own invite.”

Ben runs a hand through his hair. “Can we just play cards? Go back to you giving me shit about my job?”

“Sure kid,” Han agrees. “But we really are looking forward to hearing more about Rey.”

***

“Okay, what about this spot?” Rey asks, turning her phone toward Kaydel so she can see the picture she has pulled up. It’s a gorgeous winery just outside of the city. The pictures show the grassy hills, with the perfectly planted flowers, and there is a little stage that could be used for a DJ or a band.

Kaydel crinkles her nose and shakes her head. “It’s too far away. I don’t want to have to leave the city for my engagement party.”

Rey nods, pulling her phone back and resumes scrolling through the different results of different venue ideas. “Well, what have you found over there?”

“This place looks nice,” Kaydel hands her phone over. “The rooftop is definitely a good size, and it has a bar already set up. I think this might be the place. And they have availability on most of the nights Rose isn’t scheduled to be on call at the hospital.”

Rey looks through the pictures. It’s perfect.

“I say book it then.” Rey gives the phone back to Kaydel. “And let me know what night you guys end up picking so I can make sure I can coordinate to have it off.”

“Maybe you’ll bring Ben,” Kaydel teases, rolling over onto her side on the couch. “I think I’d like to meet him.”

“Maybe I’ll bring one of the guys from that new dating app you signed me up for.” Rey shakes her phone in the air.

“Sure, you could do that.” Kaydel’s face is inquisitive as she continues. “Have you had any good matches?”

“No.” Rey sighs, tossing her phone onto her lap. “I have had zero good matches. I’m starting to think there’s no hope for me. I’ve looked through hundreds of matches, and just, nothing?”

Rey decidedly does not mention that part of the problem is that she has been comparing every match to Ben. It’s not a fair comparison. Not everyone can be tall and handsome and have annoyingly nice hair.

And it’s hard to get an idea if someone is insufferable in an endearing way in the few sentences that are posted in the bios she reads.

The truth is that it’s hard to get any sense of who a person is on a dating profile and it’s one of the main reasons Rey is pretty sure she is never going to have luck finding a date on one.

“So ask Ben,” Kaydel says as if it’s the most logical decision. “I’d like to meet the guy that’s helping make sure my best friend gets to attend all of the important things for my wedding. And he makes you smile, Rey. You should invite him.”

“Maybe,” Rey concedes, biting down on her bottom lip as she stands. “I’ll think about it. But it’s late and I’m going to bed. I love you, good night.”

Rey tries not to think too much about how Kaydel might have a point as she gets into bed. Ben does make her smile. A lot. He also makes her laugh. And, yeah, he can be a little infuriating sometimes, but if she’s being honest, she kind of likes that about him. There was also the kiss at the game.

It was a good kiss.

One Rey doesn’t mind thinking about while she falls asleep.

#reylo #reylo fic #reylo fanfic #reylo fanfiction #reylomovies #my fic

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ohemgeeitscoley · 4 years ago

Text

Signed, Sealed, Delivered (1/5)

Fandom: Star Wars

Pairing: Rey/Ben Solo (Reylo)

Note: Written for the Movie Exchange. This was a blast to participate in, and I’m so excited to share it!

Biggest thank you and love to @andyouweremine and @storiesofimagination and @notababoonbrandishingastick for reading along and cheering me on and pointing out the ways to make the story better. You guys make writing fun and I love you.

Read below or on AO3

This is not where Ben wanted to be in life. When he was a child imagining his future being a 28 year old assistant for a giant dick was not even remotely on the list of possibilities.

But here he is spending his Friday night standing outside of a building with an annoying bouncer reminding him that the doorway was for members only.

The fucking doorway.

Ben could be a member if he wanted. If he wasn't too stubborn to touch his inheritance. But he wanted to make it in life on his own merits and not because of old money and his family's name.

Nights like tonight make it hard to remember any of it matters.

His mom has been on him more the last few months. He's been Snoke's assistant for two years. The last assistant had only had the job for a year before Snoke got him set up as a VP for a large hedge fund.

Ben's been wasting his time getting Snoke food and encouraging him through drinking green juice for two years with nothing to show for it.

He knows he should take his mom up on her offer. Hell, he could call his uncle and get a position at his company and really no one would blink.

But it matters to him. He doesn't want to rely on nepotism and to be in a position he hasn't earned.

He has an MBA. He didn't think it would be this hard.

Ben sighs, shoving one hand into his pant pocket and scrolls through the messages on his phone.

Most are from his mom. Reminding him that he is supposed to go home this weekend for a family dinner. As if he is going to have time for that. There are a few from Poe talking about a new guy he met at the bar and some random items Ben assumes are groceries Poe wants him to pick up whenever he heads home.

It's almost midnight and he's been standing on a sidewalk for 45 minutes.

His boss finally walks out of the building and he's already harping at Ben about different things and Ben is having a hard time caring and paying attention. Snoke stops next to Ben, adjusting his tie, before running his hands through his slightly turning silver brown hair.

“Alright,” Snoke says, unscrewing the lid from one of those God awful green juices he keeps buying, “do your thing.”

Ben responds immediately, listing off the first few better tasting foods that come to his mind. Snoke downs the drink and tosses him the bottle, like he has anywhere to throw it away, and heads toward the car that is waiting for them.

“So I’ll see you tomorrow then?” Ben asks, opening the door to the car.

“What?” Snoke asks, narrowing his eyes as he glances up from his phone to Ben. “What do you mean tomorrow? You’re going back to the office.”

No, Ben thinks, resisting the urge to grit his teeth. “Right. Of course I am,” he gets out, following Snoke into the car. “Do you want me to order dinner? Since we’re going back to the office?”

Snoke looks at Ben like he’s growing a second head. “I just drank my juice. You just saw me drink my juice.”

Ben did just see him drink his juice. Just like Ben has seen him drink several juices and then act affronted that Ben didn’t order him lunch or dinner twenty minutes later when he realizes he’s still hungry.

The car pulls away from the sidewalk and merges into traffic. It’s going to be a long night.

***

Rey loves her job. Really. She does. Being the assistant for Amilyn Holdo is an honor and a privilege. Amilyn is a force to be reckoned with and there is so much for Rey to learn from her. Not to mention the exposure. Rey is working in one of the best digital media firms in New York. Outside of Amilyn, Rey is surrounded by some of the best writers, editors, and photographers. She’s lucky to have the job. She knows how lucky she is.

However. It is almost midnight on a Friday and she’s been in the office since 6:45 and all she wants to do is go back to her apartment, curl into her bed, and watch a stupid movie and fall asleep. But Amilyn is still in her office on the phone and Rey knows that she can’t leave before Amilyn. It was never a spoken rule, that Rey needs to be the first one to arrive and the last one to leave. But that was because it didn’t need to be said out loud. It was expected.

Rey’s phone buzzes against her desk. Glancing down at the lit up screen, Rey scrunches her nose at the text notification from Kaydel. It’s text number twelve for the night. She was supposed to meet up with Kaydel and Rose for drinks after work. Rey hates that she has been such an absentee friend, but Amilyn had been throwing herself even more into work the last few months and Rey’s social life had all but vanished since then.

Amilyn’s door opens and she throws Rey a fitness watch.

“I need that up to at least 10,000 steps before I leave,” she says, already walking back into her office. “My trainer can’t think that I’m slacking off in between sessions. And order me dinner from that one place.”

Amilyn’s door closes before she’s done talking, her voice muffled. But Rey knows what she says and she knows the place that Amilyn is vaguely referring to because she is a good assistant.

No. She is a great assistant.

Rey opens up the restaurant's website and places Amilyn’s dinner order. Rey’s stomach growls, she isn’t quite sure when she ate last. Amilyn had needed her to take notes during her lunch meeting and Rey didn’t have a chance to eat afterward. Rey glares down at her belly for betraying her and adds dinner for her to the order before sending it out.

Her email pings with the confirmation of her order. The estimated time of arrival is 45 minutes.

45 minutes for two sandwiches at almost midnight seems ridiculous.

Rey calls the restaurant and bickers with them until they concede that the food can be delivered in 30 minutes.

Sliding Amilyn’s watch on her wrist, Rey stands up and stretches her arms before beginning to pace around the office.

***

"What do you mean you can't take a credit card?" Rey's eyes widen as she starts going through her wallet even though she knows she does not have enough cash to cover the food. She's not sure she has any cash at all.

Rey is sweaty and gross from trying to get the fitness watch up to 10,000 steps in 30 minutes. Rey had only managed about 4,000 and she feels like her lungs and legs are going to be burning for days. She still had another 3,000 to go.

"We're cash only on deliveries now," the delivery driver answers and he looks like he's contemplating getting ready to take the food and leave.

But Rey needs that food. She can't let her boss down at almost midnight when she said she was going down to the lobby to get her dinner.

"I have… I have Venmo? CashApp? I'll download any app you have actually." Rey offers, pulling out a checkbook. "What about a check?"

The guy rolls his eyes. "You think if we aren't taking cards, we are going to take checks?"

"It's not 1990, so the fact that you guys are refusing to take digital currency led me to believe you were stuck in the past." Rey huffs in annoyance, her brain spiraling trying to come up with another plan.

Rey hears the elevator ding behind her, but she's too distracted by the problem in front of her to pay much attention.

"I can offer a contract for a small piece of my soul?" Rey jokingly offers.

"Do you have the $32.50 or not?" He asks, clearly not impressed.

"Yes, I do have the $32.50," Rey argues, "in any form of currency available to me that is not actually cash in my hand. Which was also nowhere on your website. This seems like a scam. Are you trying to pocket the cash?"

"I don't need this shit," he starts to put the bag away when--

"I have cash," a deep voice says from behind Rey. "I can pay."

Rey turns around quickly and looks at the man walking toward them.

He's… large. In a fairly tall, very wide kind of way. His face is all sharp angles and his hair is long and dark… and it looks really soft.

He's vaguely familiar looking. Rey assumes he works in the building too and that she's probably seen him at some point. She's surprised she doesn't remember him though, because he is extremely attractive.

"You don't have--" Rey starts, before realizing the hot stranger is handing delivery driver money and grabbing the bag and he is stealing her dinner. "Excuse me, that is my dinner. Fuck. That is my boss's dinner."

The delivery driver leaves with a slight flick of his fingers to the other man before walking away.

"I paid for it," the food thief shrugs, "So it's my boss's dinner now."

"No, no, no, no, no," Rey breaths, her mind spinning to come up with a plan as she followed the man toward the elevator. "There's two dinners in there. One for me and one for my boss. I need my boss's dinner. I cannot get fired."

Something near sympathy seems to pass over his face. He pauses, his grip on the bag loosening.

"And it's about to be my boss's dinner because I cannot get fired."

"Listen," Rey begins, chewing on her bottom lip. "What's your name?"

"Ben," he responds. "And I really need to get back to work."

"So do I, Ben," Rey holds on to the vowel in his name for a few seconds. "But I cannot go back without food. Spare a dinner. Does your boss really need both?"

"What did you get?" Ben asks, but he's already opening the bag before Rey can answer.

He pulls out the first box and hands it to Rey before he grabs the second box and let's the bag fall to the ground.

Rey opens her box first. It's Amilyn's steak sandwich with blue cheese crumbles and a lettuce wrap instead of a bun. There's a side of pita chips and hummus.

That means Ben has Rey's pulled pork sandwich, with the caramelized onions and perfectly toasted brioche bun. Not to mention the apple slaw and sweet potato fries.

Rey's mouth waters and her stomach betrays her and rumbles. Her cheeks redden with embarrassment.

"This is my boss's," Rey holds up the container in her hand. "Yours gets to enjoy mine."

"It's a pulled pork sandwich," he states as if the sandwich is personally offending him.

"It's an amazing pulled pork sandwich," Rey shakes her head in disbelief. "Does your boss have something against good food?"

"Good?" Ben looks at the sandwich again. "This is a basic sandwich at best. Pork and onions? Sweet potato fries? I'll be the one getting fired if I bring him this. He is a man of refined taste."

"I can fix this." Rey drops to her knees, setting down the steak sandwich and holding out her hand for the container from Ben.

He looks amused when he hands her the box. Rey ignores it and goes to work.

She pulls the top bun off the pulled pork sandwich, trying not to inhale the delicious scent wafting from the box. She takes a handful of bleu cheese crumbles from the other sandwich and sprinkles them over the sandwich. Then she grabs a fork out of the bag and strategically places about a quarter of the apple slaw on top of the onions.

She then gathers the rest of the apple slaw and puts them in her boss's container, followed by the sweet potato fries. The hummus and pita chips fit perfectly in the box next to the remastered sandwich.

"There we go," Rey puts the bun back on top of the sandwich and closes the lid to the boxes. She stands slowly, holding out one box for Ben. "Viola, a culinary masterpiece."

"I don't know about that." He gives the container a quizzical look. "But you owe me at least $22 for this."

"What?" Rey scoffs. "That's more than my sandwich was to begin with and you took most of the toppings."

He shrugs. "I saved your ass. There's a tax for that."

"You're a monster," Rey glares at him. "But fine, deal. I'll bring it to you tomorrow, Ben."

"Perfect, I'm on the 22nd floor…" he stops, tilting his head. "I don't know your name."

"Rey," she answers, a smug smile overtaking her face. "I'm on the 23rd floor."

He isn't impressed. Or if he is, he hides it well. The arrogance that rolls off of him is off putting. He walks away to the elevator, pressing the up arrow. "I expect you'll be there no later than 7. I have a life."

"Right," Rey snorts, picking up the bag he left behind on the floor. There was a wrapped pickle inside. Score. "Says the assistant getting his boss dinner at midnight. You'll get it when you get it."

Rey hits the button for the other elevator across the hall. She does not want to be in an elevator with him.

The doors open for both elevators at the same time. Rey walks into hers first, turning around to see him step.

"You'll be there by 7, or the interest will double," Ben chuckles.

Rey's mouth falls open. "Interest!" She exclaims, but the elevator door is already closing. "You never said anything about interest you ass--"

The door shuts.

"Asshole," Rey finishes in the elevator. "Absolute asshole."

Rey pouts as she takes a bite into the pickle. Interest. What kind of person charges interest on essentially stolen food.

She's still lost in her thoughts when the elevator opens and [boss] steps in.

"I'm going home," she says, pressing the button for the main floor.

Rey barely has time to get out of the elevator before the door starts to close.

"I'll be in by 7 tomorrow," she adds just before the doors finally close.

Rey closes her eyes. "Here's your $30 sandwich that I just spent 40 minutes to get for you," Rey says to the vacant office. "And maybe tomorrow I'll pitch my idea about the positive effects of team sports for foster children and other disenfranchised youth."

The majority of the lights are dimmed, leaving the normally colorful and bright walls dark and shadowy. Rey heads toward her desk, unwrapping the sandwich and taking a bite.

She presses the button on the side of her desk to raise it up so she can stand while she finishes eating. Glancing at the time, Rey groans. 12:17.

By the time she finishes responding to all of Amilyn''s invites, it'll be 1. After the subway ride to her apartment and some much needed unwind time, Rey will be lucky to get three hours of sleep before she has to be back at the office.

Her skin practically vibrates at the amount of caffeine she is going to need to order in the morning. And she's going to have to stop by an ATM to pull out cash.

Maybe even a bank.

Because she is only giving Ben $22. Not a penny more.

***

The article Rey is reading when Kaydel and Rose come stumbling into the apartment has her close to tears. She wipes at her eyes quickly as Kaydel throws herself down onto the chair across from Rey.

“Rey!” Kaydel shouts holding her arms up in a v above her head. “We missed you. You didn’t even respond to the last few messages I sent.”

“I know.” Rey grimaces. “I couldn’t get out of work. Amilyn had meeting after meeting.”

“It’s okay,” Kaydel smiles brightly at Rey. “I love you anyway.”

The best part of being best friends with Kaydel is that Rey knows without a doubt that Kaydel absolutely means everything she is saying. Kaydel doesn’t mince words. She doesn’t hide from the hard or uncomfortable things. She plows forward until the matter is addressed and resolved. And then she moves on.

“Well hopefully you can join us next time,” Rose offers, sitting on the arm rest of the chair next to Kaydel. “I need someone to try to help me keep up with her.”

Rey laughs, her eyes crinkling in the corners as she shakes her head. “We all know I cannot keep up with her.”

“Please,” Kaydel huffs. “No one can keep up with me. I am an unstoppable machine.”

“You need water,” Rose says, leaning over to kiss Kaydel’s cheek. “I’m going to get you water.”

Kaydel watches Rose as she gets up and walks into the kitchen. Rey hates the tiny bit of jealousy that fills her stomach. Kaydel’s whole face is lit up, her cheeks are flushed and her eyes are soft and warm and full of love.

Rey wants that.

She just doesn’t have time for that.

Relationships had never been something Rey was particularly good at. In high school, she wasn’t secure enough at home to have time for dating. Planning on whether or not she could go on a date seemed trivial when she had to worry about whether or not she was going to have to switch foster homes if she didn’t prove her worth or caused any problems.

Then in college, Rey had been so focused on keeping her scholarships and her grades, she just didn’t have time. The fact that she had been assigned to be Kaydel’s roommate had been one of her only saving graces for socialization.

Now, she has her job. She can’t even make it to drinks with two of her best friends. She eats dinner after midnight.

Dating just isn’t something that is going to fit in her life any time soon.

“You should go to sleep,” Kaydel points out. The concern in her voice becomes apparent as she continues. “You look exhausted. When are you going in tomorrow?”

“6:30?” Rey debates out loud, tilting her head side-to-side as she thinks. “Maybe 7. I need to stop at an ATM, or maybe an actual bank, and I’ll still need to get Amilyn’s coffee and bagel.”

“Why do you need to go to a bank?” Kaydel asks, curling up her lips. “I can’t even think of the last time I went to a bank.”

“I need $22. Exactly.” Rey answers, shrugging. “It’s a… long story and we definitely do not have time for it tonight.”

“Tomorrow then,” Kaydel demands, her eyes narrow and Rey knows that she means business. “Dinner. Even if it’s a late dinner. You can catch me up.”

Rey nods giving Kaydel a tight smile. “Sounds perfect.”

Kaydel returns Rey’s smile before standing up and walking toward the kitchen. Rey leans her head back against the couch, sighing as she closes her laptop. The list of things Rey knows that Amilyn is going to want her to do tomorrow is daunting. Kaydal may have said that it could be a late dinner, but for Kaydel that was 7, maybe 8, not 11 or 12.

Maybe Rey will be able to sneak off for a little bit though. Grabbing her phone and laptop, Rey heads toward her bedroom, debating going through Amilyn’s calendar to see if she can move anything around to guarantee her an hour or so around dinner to be free.

That’s when she hears Kaydal scream.

Rey quickly tosses her phone and laptop on her bed before running toward Kaydel’s room. Flinging the door open, Rey’s heart feels like it’s about to beat out of her chest. “What the hell--”

The question dies on Rey’s lips when her brain connects what is happening. Rose is still on one knee and Rey’s not sure she’s ever seen someone look so happy. Until she looks at Kaydel, who is holding her left hand over her heart.

They are getting engaged.

“I said no,” Kaydel blurts, but the smile and happiness in her voice give her away. “I’m just kidding. I said yes. Of course I said yes.”

“You guys are getting married?” Rey asks in a breath. She’s not shocked by the news. Rose and Kaydel have been together for two years and they were both crazy about the other. But it still is forcing Rey to imagine what life is going to be like when Kaydel is Rose’s wife and not her best friend and roommate.

Which is selfish and wrong and Rey knows that, but despite a lot of counseling, Rey is terrified of being left alone again.

She pushes those thoughts to the side.

Rose and Kaydel are going to get married. Her best friend. She’s going to be happy for them. She is happy for them.

Kaydel walks over to her, holding out the ring. It’s gorgeous and fits Kaydel’s personality perfectly with the medium-sized, princess cut diamond and the white gold color. It’s sharp and fierce.

“I’m so happy for you, Kay,” Rey whispers, pulling her into her arms. “I’m so, so happy for you.”

***

Ben walks into his apartment quietly, careful not to wake Poe up. It's already… fuck it's past two. He undoes his tie before sliding his suit jacket off and beginning to undo his pants to kick them off while he makes his way to the fridge.

The fridge light is bright in the otherwise dark room. There isn't a lot in the fridge, Ben understands now why Poe was sending him a grocery list worth of texts.

He grabs a beer, twisting the lid off and tossing the lid in the trash.

"Hey," Poe says, scaring the fuck out of Ben.

"Shit!" Ben exclaims, slamming the fridge shut. "Jesus, Poe. Make some noise next time."

“I said hey,” Poe laughs. “I don’t know how much more noise you need me to make.”

“What are you even doing up?” Ben grabs two beers from the fridge and walks over to the living room, sitting on the couch across from Poe.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Poe says with a shrug, taking the beer Ben is holding out. “You’re home late.”

“Yeah. Snoke needed me to start on his kid’s science project.”

Poe stares at Ben before shaking his head. “You need to quit your job man.”

“It’s not that bad,” Ben winces at how defensive he sounds. “It’ll be worth it in the end.”

“You’ve been saying that for a while.”

Poe isn’t necessarily wrong. When Ben first took the job with Snoke he imagined that it would only be for six months, maybe a year.

“Yeah, Ben finally says, nodding in agreement. “I have. The job has its perks though, so I’ll probably stay until something better comes along.”

Poe sighs. “Perks? Like what, working on a twelve year old’s science project until two in the morning?”

“I also made a guy cry for not being able to get a stain out of one of his shirts today,” Ben smiles. “Really helps make me feel good inside.”

“Find a new job,” Poe says, standing up from the chair. “One that doesn’t involve working until 2 am, doing a kid’s homework, and making someone else cry in the same day.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Ben twists his fingers around the bottle in his hand. “We’ll see.”

***

Rey looks down at her phone to check the time. 10:37. She missed dinner with Kaydel and Rose. Not that either of them were surprised when she told them that she hadn’t been able to move enough things around to make it. Rey hates how predictable and unreliable she has become to her friends.

It will eventually be worth it. At least, she hopes that it will be worth it.

She has exactly $22 on her. All in quarters. It might be a little dramatic, but Rey feels justified every time she thinks of the way Ben had mentioned adding interest on to the amount.

Rey sees Ben as soon as she steps off the elevator. He has bright markers covering his desk and a giant poster board in front of him. Logically, she knows that he is probably working on his boss’s kid’s homework, and she is grateful at that moment that Amilyn doesn’t have kids and that those kinds of tasks aren’t even on Rey’s radar.

That doesn’t stop her from teasing him as she walks up to him.

“Making electricity out of lemons?” Rey asks, leaning over the desk a bit to get a look at what he is writing. “How original. I’m sure you’ll get first place with an idea like that.”

Ben turns his head to the slide and glares at her. “You’re late.”

“I was busy.”

“You’ll have to give me a minute to calculate the interest for your… what three hour delay.”

Rey rolls her eyes, reaching into her bag to pull out the bag of coins. Ben stares at the bag for a moment, before looking back at her. Rey smiles, carefully stacking up the quarters until there are twenty two even piles covering his desk. “$22 exactly. You’ll have to sue me for the interest.”

“Quarters?” Ben looks down at the coins on his desk again. His face is annoyingly void of any outrage or shock, but his voice sounds lower than it had been before. “I should sue you for being a nuisance.”

“You didn’t state any terms as to the payment method beyond cash.” Rey’s smile grows as she watches him begin to slide the coins into a drawer.

“I suppose I made a mistake not clarifying that by cash I meant dollar bills,” Ben admits. “But I also mentioned interest and you had no problem ignoring that, so I’m sure you’d have ignored that part too.”

“Probably,” Rey agrees. “Consider it your good luck that I didn’t have enough pennies to make it work that way.”

“Oh and I’m supposed to believe you had 88 quarters just lying around your place?” Ben finishes clearing off the quarters from his desk and closes the drawer.

“No, I only had two dollars worth of quarters that I could find. I went to the bank for the other twenty.”

“Of course you did.” Ben laughs, shaking his head. “Next time I’ll be more specific.

Rey drops the empty bag into the garbage can next to her feet. “What makes you think there’ll be a next time?”

“Just a feeling.” Ben turns around in his chair, opening a cabinet door on the desk that ran along the wall behind him. He pulls out a bottle of alcohol. “Drink?”

“I’m still working.”

“It’s past ten,” Ben points out, setting the bottle on his desk. “Have anything better to do right now anyway?”

Rey doesn’t. She really doesn’t. Amilyn is going to be on this phone call for at least another hour and then she will either go home or start reviewing some of the submissions that have been stacking up in her email.

One drink really wouldn’t hurt. Ben’s smiling at her and it’s a little unfair that someone as annoying and frustrating as he has been is also very attractive at the same time.

“I guess not,” Rey says, sitting down in the chair on the other side of Ben’s desk. “But just one drink.”

***

Ben doesn’t say anything as Rey reaches for the bottle, pouring what he is pretty sure is her third drink into her cup. It’s well after midnight at this point, and neither Snoke or Rey’s boss had called for them or needed anything.

It’s nice, talking to Rey. She’s cute and passionate when she talks about her job. Her face is a little flushed from the alcohol. Ben can’t quite remember the last time he just talked to someone that he wasn’t related to or wasn’t Poe.

“Anyways, that’s what I want to do,” Rey continues, and Ben tries to remember what she had been talking about before he got lost in his own thoughts. “I want to write articles that matter. The ones that people read and are inspired to do something because of it.”

“Have you submitted any articles to your boss?” Ben asks.

“No,” Rey holds onto the vowel for a few seconds and shakes her head. “I haven’t, God, I haven’t actually written anything since I graduated. I never have time. Amilyn’s schedule isn’t very forgiving. When I’m not working, I normally just want to sleep. Or to have a conversation with someone who can’t just tell me what to do and expect me to do it. I don’t even know what it is like to have a social life anymore. I think this is the longest conversation I’ve had in months.”

“Same,” Ben gives her a small smile. “I was just thinking that. My days and nights consist of making Snoke’s life easier and doing what he wants. It doesn’t even feel like my life anymore.”

“I can’t believe I’m about to admit this,” Rey squints her eyes at Ben, as if she’s sizing him up. She takes another drink from her cup. “Sometimes I wish Amilyn had a… fuck, I wish she had a life. A boyfriend? More family events or friend events to attend? But she has been avoiding them for reasons I’m not going to even get into, but God, I just imagine all of the things I could do if she were busy doing things that aren’t work.”

“You could go on a date,” Ben responds, tipping his cup toward her.

“A date,” Rey huffs, shaking her head. “I can’t even think of the last time I went on a date. I can’t even make dinner with my roommate to celebrate her engagement.”

Rey looks down at her cup, watching the liquid move around as she swirled the glass. “Engagement,” Rey repeats, eyes wide. “I have no idea what I’m going to do to be able to make it to all of the events. I don’t think Amilyn is going to care that I have an engagement party to go to if it doesn’t fit into her schedule.”

“Snoke is the same way,” Ben taps a finger on the desk. “I missed my parents 30th anniversary a few months ago. I asked for it off and everything. I was almost out the door when Snoke grabbed me and said he needed an analysis on some new proposal he received and his normal analyst wasn’t answering his phone, and he told me to do it.”

“I get it,” Rey nods. “It sucks, but I get it.”

“You’d think we’d be able to do something about it,” Ben points out, his eyebrows knitting while he thinks. “I have access to basically Snoke’s entire life. I’m assuming it’s the same with you and Amilyn?” He pauses and waits for Rey’s response, she nods and he continues. “So in theory we should be able to coordinate their schedules to give us a break?”

Rey tilts her head to the side as she ponders what Ben is saying. “I mean, you’re right. In theory that would work. But I have to be available for all things scheduled that are work related, and Amilyn doesn’t have much of a personal life these days.”

Rey sits up straighter, her eyes widening slightly, a devious smile pulling at her lips. “Ben. The answer is so obvious.”

“The answer?” Ben asks with a small chuckle.

“To our problem,” Rey says as if it’s obvious. “We Cyrano them. It’s perfect. We know everything about them. We know their schedules, their favorite foods and restaurants. We know what drives them crazy and irritates them. We can do this. And then when they are with each other… we can be free, Ben.”

“I’m not sure I’m really following you here.”

“We set them up.” Rey rolls her eyes. “It’s the perfect plan.”

“You’re drunk,” Ben points out, nodding his head down to the mostly empty bottle between them. “That would never work.”

“You’re wrong,” Rey says with a pointed nod. “But even if you are right, which you are not, because you are wrong, what’s the harm in trying?”

Ben doesn’t say anything for a few minutes. He finishes his drink, setting his empty glass next to Rey’s.

“Maybe,” Ben concedes, “What’s your plan exactly? I don’t know that Snoke and Amilyn have ever even met and they’ve worked in the same building for years.”

“Leave it to me,” Rey’s grin is big and wide. “I’ll come up with something.”

“I’m not saying I’m agreeing to do this,” Ben clarifies, watching as Rey stands up and stretches, her shirt pulling up slightly as she raised her arms.

“I know,” Rey says, grabbing her bag. “But you will. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Rey places her hand on his shoulder and squeezes it gently before she walks past him and then she’s gone.

Ben opens the drawer that they shoved the change into and he smiles to himself. He’s not quite sure what he’s getting himself into, but he does know that if Rey really does come up with an idea to set their bosses up, which is probably a really terrible idea, he’s not sure he’s going to be able to tell her no.

***

Rey brings Ben coffee the next morning. She assumes he likes it black with too much sweetener, and when he smiles after his first drink Rey feels a little smug for being able to figure it out.

“Let’s go for a walk.” Rey says, grabbing his free hand and tugging on it. “I have a plan.”

Ben let’s her pull at his hand and stands up from his desk. “I only have twenty minutes before Snoke’s meeting ends.”

“Perfect.” Rey drops his hand, blushing slightly as she walks in front of him toward the elevator. “Just enough time to get some steps added to Amilyn’s watch and to fill you in on my absolute amazing plan that you are definitely going to be impressed by and will agree to.”

Ben laughs, smiling as he gets into the elevator and stands next to Rey. “We’ll see.”

The sun is bright and the air is already warm when they step outside. Rey has to walk a little bit faster than normal to keep up with Ben’s long strides.

“So, tell me about this plan that is apparently so wonderful that you’re absolutely sure I’ll agree to it.”

“Okay, so it’s the same plan as last night,” Rey admits, taking a drink of her tea. “But I’ve thought about it more and I know that we can do this.”

Ben sighs, shaking his head. “I don’t know, Rey. We can’t just magically make our bosses like each other.”

“Sure we can,” Rey argues. “We get them to meet. Then we listen to them and their cues and go from there. That’s the beauty of this, Ben, we will know if things are going a little wrong and can adjust the plan accordingly.”

Ben stops walking and looks down at her. “You really think this will work?”

“I do.”

“How do you propose we get them to meet?” Ben shakes his head as he asks the question and Rey can see the lingering doubt on his face.

“I… I haven’t quite figured that part out yet,” Rey responds, quickly holding her hand up as Ben opens his mouth, she assumes to argue with her. “But I’ve seen a lot of romantic comedies and I can figure this out. Just give me a minute.”

They start walking again, back toward the building. Rey finishes her tea and tosses it into a garbage can.

“I’ve got it!” Rey exclaims, as they step into the elevator. “We just need to get them in a small space, stuck for a few minutes, so that they have to talk to one another.”

“And how do you think we will pull that off?”

Rey shakes her head, glaring at him. “Why do I have to figure out all the details?”

“This is your crazy plan,” Ben points out, pressing the button for his floor, and then Rey’s. “I’m not even sure I’m fully on board.”

“You are,” Rey smiles. “So, help with some of the details already. Are there any rooms that lock from the outside? Maybe we can ask maintenance? Do you think they’d think that was weird?”

Ben laughs, tipping his head back against the elevator wall.

“Fuck,” he mutters under his breath. “I hate that I have an idea. The elevator. If we can get them both in the elevator, we can get Creepy Threepio to stop it.”

“Creepy Threepio?” Rey asks, scrunching her nose up. “Who is Creepy Threepio?”

“He works in maintenance,” Ben laughs. “He’s, well, he’s a bit creepy. But I think he’d do it. I’ll ask him today and let you know what he says.”

“What did I tell you?” Rey beams at him as the doors to the elevator open. “You’re totally on board.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Ben pinches the bridge of his nose. “But I’m willing to give it a shot.”

Ben steps out of the elevator while holding his hand out to stop the doors from closing. “Hand me your phone so I can give you my number.”

Rey pulls her phone from her back jean pocket and unlocks it before handing it over to him. She watches as he puts in his number and hands the phone back to her.

“I’ll text you the details later,” he says, dropping his arm and the doors start to close. “I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this.”

The doors close and Rey grins sliding her phone back into her jeans. She can’t believe he agreed either.

#reylo #reylo fic #reylo fanfic #reylo fanfiction #reylomovies #my fic

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