#reylo coffeeshop au

[chromisomi]

lifebuoy, a reylo fic | ch 2 posted!

Benjamin Solo.

The cursor blinks back at Rey as she stares at the search bar. She remembers the signage just outside of Professor Hux’s office, reading Armitage Hux, Ph.D., and just below it: Benjamin Solo, Ph.D. “Here goes nothing,” she mumbles before searching his name on Google. The search comes back random, with multiple images of older men posing for headshots or Facebook profiles of younger men looking nothing like the americano enthusiast.

“Try Ben,” Finn whispers next to her, eyeing the screen intently.

They’re sitting on the living room couch, the first day of the semester done and over with. It’s evening now, with the sun setting outside the window overlooking other student apartments.

She does as he says, typing out Ben Solo and pressing enter.

“Yes!” Finn cheers.

His headshot comes to view first, lined up with photos of other men. Further down are links to profiles, but only one belongs to him – a LinkedIn page. Rey pounces on it, making sure her browser’s still in incognito mode. The same headshot from the first page comes to view, along with his name and occupation.

Ben Solo, Ph.D.

Lecturer at Coruscant University

Postdoctoral Fellow with CU Department of Communications

“So, you’re telling me,” Finn turns to her, eyes wide and lips barely suppressing a grin, “you’ve been shitting on a professor this whole time?”

“Lecturer,” Rey corrects him.

“Not just a professor,” he continues, sitting up to face her fully, “but the one rooming with yours, who no doubt is hitting on you by the way.”

“Once again, just a lecturer.”

“Not to mention that he’s also working in the communications department,” Finn’s grin grows into a shit-eating one as he shakes with contained laughter, “and you’ll no doubt have him later in your program.”

“You’re not making this any better.”

He explodes, laughing against his knees to the point of tears. “Rey…” he struggles to get a breath in, “it’s only the first day of class, how is your semester this fucked already?”

“I think you’re being a little dramatic.” She crosses her arms, “It’s not like I threw a drink at him or anything. Just laughed at the name.”

“And treated him horribly.”

“He was mean!”

Poe walks in from the kitchen with a plate of leftover pizza, “She’s right, peanut. It’s not that bad.”

“Thank you, Poe.” Rey sighs.

“I mean about the Solo guy,” he adds. “You’re pretty much doomed with Intro to Public Relations. Is this Hugs guy hot at least? Think you can… you know, for a good grade?”

“Poe.”

Finn points a finger at Rey, “If anything else happens, you better tell me first.”

Rey stands from the couch and grabs her laptop, “I will not tell you anything, because nothing will happen, got it?”

The two lovebirds smirk at each other.

She groans before stomping off to her room and shutting the door. Plugging in her earphones and blasting music, she gets ready for her evening of study. She pulls out her planner and exits out of the browsers still up on her laptop before opening her course page.

Off to the side, her phone lights up from a notification. With a quick glance, she sees it’s from Instagram.

I’ll check it later, she tells herself. Her mornings are taken up by work and her afternoons are taken up by classes. She’ll be damned if her evenings are taken up by distractions.

Rey reaches for her phone anyways.

She gained a new follower on her photography page.

User1826740.

“Okay,” Rey mutters, tossing the phone on her bed, not thinking anything of it.

Read the rest of the chapter on ao3!

[howlsmovinglibrary]

Hello! I saw your response to the "5 things you could talk about for an hour" tag game, and I just wanted to say that I am in fact very interested in your perspective on how fandom/fanfic has impacted media literacy and the publishing industry, if you'd ever like to yap on Tumblr about it!

hmmm... other people have said it better than me in various different tumblr posts but I'm a yapper why not?

(under the cut to save a long post)

fandom/fanfic impacts on media literacy:

media is viewed through shipping goggles first and a critical lens second (both of them are allowed! i love my shipping goggles! but i also like having multiple tools of analysis in my arsenal!)

this also sometimes means that media devolves into relationships and 'fan service' moments, above plot or delivery of a good and satisfactory story (I'm not saying OFMD but I kind of am. I'm not saying BG3 additional content that has focused on popular characters and ships above incomplete and underwritten narratives... but I kind of am)

because fandom now also has a big purity culture kick back, and fandom has become mainstream, that means mainstream media also has a purity culture kick back (for instance, everyone performing scandalised and 'disgusted' reactions to Saltburn, when actually all that is is a... psychological thriller)

fandom/fanfic impacts on the publishing industry:

the Locked Tomb's popularisation of fic-ish writing, alongside the reylo fanfic boom (Ali Hazelwood serial numbers filed off -> romance pipeline) kind of coincided perfectly with the pandemic. as did the success of Travis Baldree's coffeeshop AU, Legends and Lattes. people wanted comfort media, but at the other end, publishing industry professionals were working from home and likely spread thin. I think this created a perfect storm for 'fast fiction' (like 'fast fashion') where basically a fanfic can be quickly changed into a book with minimal editing that doesn't matter anyway bc it provides a dopamine hit. None of this is inherently bad. I don't dislike fanfic-to-published-novel on principle. What I *hate*, is bad editing. Extremely high quality editing is what trad publishing has, in a way fic doesn't. Bc fic can be as long as you want it to be, and can linger, and can have fun - it's not designed for efficiency or quality control bc that's not the point. that being said... quality control can, in fact, improve a work's quality. but trad publishing doesn't have good editing anymore, bc the pandemic proved it didn't necessarily need it, and publishing companies love to not spend money on things, especially if it will make them a profit without that care or attention.

what i will also say, is there is a reason it's easy to file the serial numbers off. reylo fics are very far from canon, for a number of reasons. Legends and Lattes is a coffeeshop AU, without any character work. This doesn't mean they are bad. It just means they feed into a general trend of 'fic as tropes' - rather than 'fic as character study', for instance - which in turn means that romance in particular has also become 'romance as tropes' (or even 'romance as smut' which is another thing I have feelings about, bc bad editing + fiction as smut = really, really bad smut actually lads)

in general 'fiction as tropes' has then obviously been aided by tiktok as the primary marketing platform. rather than provide an explanation of your story, providing an explanation of its tropes encourages your book being read this way

another thing that has happened as a result of fic is 'queer rep' as being 'there is queer people in it' or 'there is queer romance in it'. again, not inherently a bad thing. i love a gay book. but gay and queer experiences exist on a spectrum. a book with queer MCs for the sake of having queer MCs may end up feeling tokenistic, if the writer has included queer rep for the sake of queer rep, or (and we need to admit this happens!) to be trendy!! to hit on the 'queer rep' zeitgeist!!! similarly, a queer book without any romance in it can still be queer, but gods forbid we have *that* conversation.

As I said, all of these things have been discussed in tumblr posts far better than mine. In terms of my personal experience - teaching undergraduate literature classes, this is what I've noticed:

because of fandom or social media with fandom lite edges, a lot of my students are very up-to-date on things such as intersectional feminism, gender performativity, compulsory heterosexuality, queer coding, etc. I don't need to define these terms, whereas they were defined when I was an undergrad.

however, the flipside of this is they often approach the texts I teach only with a contemporary mindset. The biggest example I have of this is Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre actually benefits from a contemporary mindset - after being heralded as feminist in the 1960s, intersectional criticisms in the 1980s/90s by postcolonial critics called out its racist treatment of Bertha Mason. BUT if I have to read another essay about Jane Eyre's relationship with Rochester being 'problematic', I will scream. Not bc I don't agree, but because criticisms of this novel need to also acknowledge that in the victorian era, such a blatant discussion of female sexual desire was radical for its time. That class and sexism was a big enough issue in the 19th century that for Jane to get to marry a man from the landed gentry on equal footing was a big deal at the time. It's fine if you decide Jane Eyre isn't feminist! but you need to prove that through multiple critical lenses and not just a jezebel-article style treatise. (for instance, one essay critiqued the male gaze in Jane Eyre... Jane Eyre was written by a woman looking very disrespectfully actually, and also... film hadn't been invented yet. while the male gaze existed in art, the normalising of female objectification, sexually, required film. also... the male gaze is a term that requires a man with eyes to be making that piece of art.)

the other biggest problem I have when teaching, is the 'queer character as queer representation' thing, and ESPECIALLY "good queer representation means morally good queer characters'. I teach Giovanni's Room. Anyone who has read Giovanni's Room, knows that the main character is both gay... and a bad person. That book isn't just talking about being gay, but about being closeted, trapped in compulsory heteronormativity, and also... 1950s racism. One of the biggest challenges for me as a teacher is to ask students "don't just tell me there's gay people in it, look at what those gay people are doing. is queerness portrayed positively or negatively? what aspects of the experience are being represented? do these aspects have value, especially when it is a queer artist making the art?"

(people also feel like they can't call a gay character mean or bad, because of the whole 'gay is inherently virtuous' part of fandom's mindset. spoilers: gay people can suck too. and are allowed to be portrayed as such in fiction, once you have a tool in your toolkit known as nuance).

anyway, aside from the fact it means i occasionally struggle to find good romance books bc I want not just well written sex but character development - which fanfic has! I'm not saying fanfic doesn't have it! but the fanfic that gets published sometimes doesn't, and certainly very rarely has both! - my teaching is absolutely where I see fandom's impact most clearly.

[phoenixwrites]

This might be badly worded but I just wanted to say thank you for everything you're doing when it comes to fighting against callouts and all. I still struggle with feeling stupid for having anxiety attacks and what I've been told is PTSD because of baiting to kill myself and detailing how I deserved to be r-ped over a fic and a character, I still cannot watch what fandom it was apart of because of how terrifying and triggering it was all so I'd "learn my lesson", "see the error of liking (fictional character)" and "we'll be nice again once you delete that fic bestie!" and so much more. There was immense trauma that I feel so shameful for feeling traumatized about still. I really struggle with participation in fandom because of it but from the bottom of my heart and soul, thank you for being here and fighting back, making fandom feel a little safer. You, your strength, your ethic are an inspiration. I wish you endless good things and support.

I don't think it's badly worded at all. And I'm so, so sorry this has been your fandom experience. You didn't deserve it, they were in the wrong, and the fact that this is becoming a problem from younger folks in fandom spaces? Fucking sucks.

It's literally...baffling to me. The rise of purity culture in fandom? Baffling. Fandom is where I went to ESCAPE purity culture in high school and now this shit is following me in? EW.

I kept this message for a while, because it really meant a lot to me to reread. It's such...all I wanted to do was to write fic. Fandom has ALWAYS been this open inclusive space for ANY ship, even the ones I fucking hate. I'm not shy about the ships I hate! I talk about it literally all the time! There is space to hate ships. That's why the anti tag exists. Some of my closest most beloved Hellcheerers are Reylos and I fuckin' haaaaaate Reylo.

But there's space for me to hate Reylo. I don't need to take a faux-moral stance for me to hate it, I can just hate it because I hate Adam Driver's stupid face. (Or how the focus on his arc deteriorated Finn's arc as a result IT'S FINE. NOT THE ISSUE.)

There is space for fluff and coffeeshop AUs and the most disturbing violent dead doves you've ever seen. There is space for love and fun and trauma and hate.

It's just very outside my fandom experience. The ship wars were vicious, but they weren't trying to shove puritanical moral value to them. It was literally just "I fucking hate Kikyo's stupid face she's a slut", which yeah, reductive and mean, but at least it was honest and not trying to turn it into good vs. evil.

I really hope this weird fuckin trend of harassing dead dove writers or writers of "problematic" ships dies. And I hope your next fandom is lovely and warm and supportive, because you fucking deserve that. We all do. No one deserves this kind of vitriol. It's inexcusable, pathetic, and I'm never going to shut up about how awful it is.

I'm not going anywhere, babes.

[ao3feed--reylo]

lifebuoy

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/bB9XdC2

by chromisomi

Rey doesn’t look back at the man when she makes her way to Finn, rushing to hug him and forget about the weird encounter. Finn picks her up and swings her around, mumbling how much he’s missed her into her neck, and she takes a chance to peek over his shoulder.

The man is still staring at her.

Words: 3227, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

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

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M, M/M

Characters: Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey (Star Wars), Finn (Star Wars), Poe Dameron, Jessika Pava, Armitage Hux, Rose Tico

Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Finn, Poe Dameron/Finn/Rey

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff and Angst, Slow Burn, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Coffeeshop AU, Modern AU, Reylo - Freeform, TW: Past Abuse, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Forbidden, ish?, Hurt/Comfort, Rey is a Kenobi (Star Wars), Rey is Bensexual (Star Wars), Ben is Reysexual, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Rey is 20 and Ben is 30, Enemies to Lovers, in the vaguest sense, author doesn't know how to tag, still debating on how sexual this will be, tags will update, Staring, lots of staring

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/bB9XdC2

[midnightbluefox]

So excited to share this gorgeous art for my story, Broken Things.

Commissioned by one of the most wonderful people I know, @rebelrebelreylo and done by one of my favorite artists, @assortedfruitsnacks212! A million thanks to both of you! <3

When I first saw it, I was honestly speechless. It’s so perfect for Broken Things and beyond gorgeous and I couldn’t love it more!

For anyone wanted to check out my fic, here it is:

Broken Things

Rating: Explicit

Status: Completed

Summary: 

Modern AU. Rey loves everything about her new apartment; everything except for her neighbor who keeps her awake at night with his nightmares, lonely and plagued by his demons. She knows she doesn't have room in her life to fix another broken thing, but how can she resist? Especially when there's an undeniable tension between them, something neither of them ever expected.

----------

Broken Things was the first Reylo fic I ever wrote and it will forever be my favorite. It’s so special to me and brought so many amazing people into my life and I couldn’t be more thankful for all of the people who supported me <3

@thereylowritingden

[pacificwanderer]

Working at a coffee shop in Seattle was neither romantic nor fun, but at least some of the customers were easy on the eyes. When handsome Ben walks into her life, Rey is convinced that someone like him would never be interested in a barista like her. But after a particularly hard day at work, Rey’s car gets a flat and Ben is there for the rescue. On the drive back to the U-District, will Rey and Ben discover that they share more than a love of caffeine between them?

Dedicated to anyone who’s ever worked in a coffee shop before, or retail in general. Y'all are the real MVPs.

Chapter Summary:  Tourist traps, propositions, and moms.

Read Chapter Thirteen on Ao3 or FFnet.

[rebelrebelwrites]

Edit for Broken Things

By @midnightbluefox  

|| Neighbors AU ||

Kylo kissed her desperately, his mouth hot against hers. He kissed her like he'd been holding himself back for weeks, like he thought he'd never get to again.

Her mind went blank. She'd been dreaming of this for so long, wringing out every ounce of restraint she had in her. And here she was, being kissed like she'd never been before, a kiss that tasted of pure passion and need.

Fuck restraint.

Start from the beginning. 

Read the latest — Chapter 23. [WIP]

An absolute MUST-READ from my dear friend @midnightbluefox — who is also one of the sweetest people ever. GO. BINGE. IT. NOW. You won’t be disappointed!

P.S. Make sure you read the tags. Midnight handles tough subject matter incredibly, incredibly well, but if you’re triggered by certain things, make sure you pay attention to the tags for your own safety.

[renandreyvibes]

fic update :)

In the Corner of Millennium Coffeehouse has a second chapter!! More to come!! I have no idea where it’s going but it’ll be fun!! Join me on my wild adventure in which Rey deals with my writer’s block for me!!!

link here

[fanfictalkdotcom]

what's your fanfic life like? 

[chromisomi]

lifebuoy, a reylo fic | ch 3 posted!

This was not a good idea.

Outside the lecture room, Rey stands at Rose’s side, clutching at her new tumbler as she watches more and more students enter. She feels like she’s intruding, somehow, as the communication majors find their seats and get ready for class.

“This was not a good idea,” Rey says aloud, glancing over at Rose. “He’s going to notice me.”

Rose shoots her a funny look, “There’s like a hundred students and it’s only the second day. You’re not going to stick out.”

That is true. But the irrational, panicked side of Rey wants out. She didn’t have to sit in his class, but the deal she made with Rose after her shift yesterday was all-binding, as well as the grip Rose held Rey’s arm with.

“A deal is a deal.” Rose peers up at her.

With a grunt, Rey follows Rose into the lecture room, pointedly avoiding looking in Ben- Professor Solo’s direction. They find a seat a few rows up – not nearly far enough from the communications lecturer – and settle in with the rest of the students. It’s only then that Rey decides to look up at him.

He stands in front of the projector screen, leaning down on his desk, typing out last-minute notes on his laptop before the clock strikes 4. He seems… relaxed. Peaceful, even, as strands of dark hair fall against his forehead. Rey’s gaze drops to the Naboo Café cup sitting next to his laptop, and she realizes that he must’ve came after her shift since he was nowhere in sight that morning.

He takes a sip of his coffee before straightening up and facing the students. The time is 4 o’clock. Rey sinks down in her seat as he begins the class.

“Welcome back, everyone.” His voice is loud and clear, even without help from the microphone clipped to his collar, “I hope the week hasn’t been too rough on all of you, yet.” Some people mutter under their breath at that.

He surveys the room, “Now, I want to see a raise of hands, how many of you are here to actually learn to become better public speakers?”

Two students in the front row raise their hands.

“Alright, how many of you are here because it’s a requirement in your degree plan?”

The whole lecture room shuffles to raise their hands, students giggling at the drastic difference.

“Yeah, thought so,” he mumbles with a sigh, but there’s an amused glint in his eyes before he turns to face the projector screen. The PowerPoint he has up moves on to the next slide, “Unfortunately, as this is a communications class, we will be having consistent speaking presentations to better those skills of yours. Our first one…” He turns back to the groaning class with a smirk, “will be next class.”

The room erupts as Rose chokes next to Rey, who would pat her back if she wasn’t so taken by the spectacle in front of her.

Ben Solo actually… talks. And shows emotion… and does something other than stare at Rey so quietly.

The class continues on, and Rey can only stare as Ben continues on with the lecture, making dry jokes here and there and causing, more to her surprise, his students to laugh. He walks around the space, looking over at each student as he explains the assignment and lesson for the day.

He is in his element, Rey realizes as she takes a sip of coffee from her tumbler.

Read the rest of the chapter on ao3!

[she-who-reads-fanfiction]

When you read so many coffeeshopAUs that you trick yourself into craving coffee even though you can't stand the taste.

But sunshine barista and grumpy customers call to me.

[kylorenspubes]

Here goes: after this has sat for years, I dusted it off this morning and posted chapter 1 to ao3. please be gentle, its my first time.

This is Wrecked.

Summary: Rey's working in a coffee shop near the entrance to a popular state park and trail head in rural Pennsylvania, which is being taken over at an alarming rate by the oil & gas industry. Kylo is a VP in charge of First Order Gas, and stops for coffee in Rey's shop. Something goes wrong at the well site, and our two sorta heros are stuck together.

Rated M for an eventual fuckening.

[bauliya]

my stance on reylo is that i ship it with the power of thousand suns but also i don't ever see it working out, it was doomed since day one and bound to end in tragedy, and that's honestly fine

[midnightbluefox]

Absolutely stunned by this gorgeous gif that @reyloner made me for my fic, Broken Things. She is so sweet and talented, one of my favorite writers ever. Thank you so much, I’m so in love with it <3

For anyone wanted to check out my fic, here it is:

Broken Things

Rating: Explicit

Status: Completed

Summary:

Modern AU. Rey loves everything about her new apartment; everything except for her neighbor who keeps her awake at night with his nightmares, lonely and plagued by his demons. She knows she doesn't have room in her life to fix another broken thing, but how can she resist? Especially when there's an undeniable tension between them, something neither of them ever expected.

[pacificwanderer]

Working at a coffee shop in Seattle was neither romantic nor fun, but at least some of the customers were easy on the eyes. When handsome Ben walks into her life, Rey is convinced that someone like him would never be interested in a barista like her. But after a particularly hard day at work, Rey’s car gets a flat and Ben is there for the rescue. On the drive back to the U-District, will Rey and Ben discover that they share more than a love of caffeine between them?

Dedicated to anyone who’s ever worked in a coffee shop before, or retail in general. Y'all are the real MVPs.

Chapter Summary: Long distance, sexy phone calls. Red-eyed flights. Mysterious boyfriends. Just what is waiting for Rey when she finally touches down in New York for her visit with Ben?

Read from the beginning here.

Read Chapter Five on Ao3 or FFnet.

[scruffyskywalker]

the same way i crave for a coffeeshop au is literally the same way i crave for my morning coffee