Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Bloody fucking hell,” Rey muttered groggily as her phone went off. She grabbed the offending item and blearily held it up to her face. On it was a text from First Order technologies, her phone carrier of choice - well, not so much choice as necessity as they were the only carrier she could afford, not that they were cheap. Ever since Finn had broken his foot getting back home after a night of drinking, she’d taken to leaving her phone off silent at night. A mistake. The text was run of the mill, offering her specials and deals ‘tailored’ to her needs. She looked at the time in the top right corner and groaned. As she tossed her phone back onto the bedside table, another text came through, and another and another and another, until there were five messages from First Order. At 1:30 in the morning. Rey’s irritation was now too great for her to fall back to sleep, so she sat up roughly, angrily rubbing her eyes.

Grabbing her laptop from under the bed, she immediately went to FO’s website to find a number or an email address or anything at which she could direct her ire. As she opened the site, a support bubble popped up at the bottom of the screen with an automated message encouraging her to ‘get in touch’ with them. She’d get in touch with them alright. She typed out a message in a matter of seconds and didn’t even check it for errors before clicking send.

It's past 1:30 am. In the morning. As in, it’s stil; dark out. This is not a goof time for text messages! I pay First Order a shitload! The least you could do is let me rest. I work really hard I NEED TP SLEEP!!!!!!!!!

At first nothing happened, then the iconic ellipsis appeared indicating a response was being created. She wondered idly if it would be automated or if some poor schmuck was sitting on the other side at almost 2:00 am taking abuse from strangers. Now that sounded like a shitty job. Rey began to feel a bit guilty, obviously it wasn’t their fault FO hated its customers. She hastily added another message,

Sorry. I know it’s not your fault, and you’re probably sick of people shouting at you. Obviously, I’m not great at handling sleep deprivation.

Again the ellipsis appeared and then disappeared. Ok, so obviously it was a person on the other side.

Ben wiped a hand over his face and sighed at the screen. The first message had been one of two typical types of messages he received – and honestly, he often wondered what he’d done to get stuck with the night shift. FO updated their programming software or did maintenance on their towers in the middle of the night, pissing off night owls everywhere. The other type of message, like this one, were those screaming blue murder about receiving messages in the middle of the night. As he had begun to type the standard company answer, another message popped up and it stopped him in his tracks. Nobody ever apologised. Later he’d blame it on the surprise of it, but he wrote back,

Hi there, I’m really sorry it woke you up. It sounds like that’s the last thing you needed.

And then he remembered he was supposed to address the initial complaint.

It’s probably a cell tower that was rebooted in your area and there were backed up messages that went through. It doesn’t happen too often, but if it does, please feel free to let us know.  

As he sent it, he received a few other messages complaining, although most people put their phones on silent or vibrate at night, so at least it wasn’t an overwhelming amount, and he could easily send the usual rote reply. Thank God he didn't work the support phone line. He watched the ellipsis at the bottom of the screen as the first customer replied,

Ah. Well ok then. Thanks for getting back to me, and I’m also sorry that you’re stuck with the graveyard shift, must really suck.

He shouldn’t. He really shouldn’t, but people – on- and offline – weren’t often nice to him, and something about it being the small hours of the morning made it seem more collegial than it would in the light of day. He typed back,

Yeah, pretty sure I pissed off someone in management lol. FML. So much.

You won’t tell anyone I said that, will you?

Ellipsis, then a reply from the customer,

Yeah, because I’m obviously on such good terms with my network provider. All the same, I pinkie promise.

He laughed to himself, then replied,

Woah. A pinkie promise - heavy stuff. Don’t worry, I don’t want your first born or anything.

Rey laughed at her screen, half surprised at the strange direction her night had taken. She thought for a moment about how far to take things, then decided she didn’t care. Virtual conversations did that to people, made them brave, or foolish, or both.

Considering I’m single as fuck, you’d be waiting a very long time for that first born lol

She waited for the ellipsis but none came. Maybe she’d taken their banter too far. Then a long moment later the response came,

Yeah, me too. Girls aren’t exactly lining up to be with the IT guy you know… plus, I work the graveyard shift, not exactly chick magnet material lol

She’d suspected he was a he, IT stereotypes were stereotypes for a reason, but it felt different actually knowing. It was too late at night to hold herself in check, so she typed the first thing that popped into her head,

Hey, as a woman I feel that I should decide that. So, Mr Fix-it Felix IT man, what do you look like?

Ben leaned back in his seat and stared at his computer screen as if it held the answer to her question. This had taken a less than professional turn, not that any of it had actually been according to company policy, but this felt much more… intimate.

Not sure I should answer that…

Rey looked at her screen with morbid fascination. She’d definitely gone too far this time. She was just about to type in an apology when the ellipsis appeared. She waited patiently as he typed, and typed, and typed.

Um… well, I’m tall. Too tall, I don’t fit anywhere really. I have really big ears and a big nose. My hair’s kinda nice I suppose. It’s almost shoulder length (read back to big ears), black and wavy. Obviously, working IT and at night, I’m quite pale, also I burn easily. So, that’s me. Overgrown, basement dwelling vampire. Nice to meet you.

Rey read it eagerly, taking in every detail and giggling to herself. She wondered if his description was accurate, or skewed by some sort of self-deprecation – that seemed more likely she thought.

Hmmmm. Sounds like a chick magnet if I ever heard of one. If it’s any consolation, I’m not exactly a guy magnet either. I’m a female engineer, a dying out species if you will, which intimidates the fuck out of any guy I tell. Whether they nope out at the beginning or it comes out at the end. Also, I’m tough and scrappy and have small tits. I’m not exactly swarmed with offers, but eh

Ben stared at his screen, he could feel his face heating up, and tried not to imagine the exact size of her breasts, which was no small feat considering the way their conversation was going.

Wow. I’m really impressed that you’re an engineer!

Not because you’re a female…

Of course

Um, it’s just a really difficult field in general. That’s what I mean. But also considering it’s mostly men, must be especially tough. Mad respect.

Ok, he’d officially blown it. The first time he’d been able to actually talk to a girl and he’d opened his (overly) big mouth and ruined it. Ben face palmed himself, groaning at his own idiocy. She was going to reply any minute and tell him to fuck off with his condescending misogyny, any moment now.

I’m not offended, don’t worry. And thanks, it’s really demanding to begin with, plus there are a lot of dickheads who love to mansplain my job to me, but I get by I suppose. What time do you normally work until?

Ok, so not ruined then. Ben cracked his knuckles,

I work the 12:00-8:00 shift.

He hesitated, then typed further, all in…

Sometimes it’s not so bad, you know? Like the rest of the world is quiet and it’s so fucking peaceful. Then other times it feels like I’m the only person alive, and it’s just me and my thoughts and I’m so…

So alone.

Rey nearly teared up at that. There was nothing more in the world she understood than loneliness.

You’re not alone.

Her response hit him squarely in the chest. He blew out a shaky breath. This woman who said she was tough and scrappy, and single, and worked in a male-dominated field… she had to be lonely too.

Neither are you.

Simple words. Just words. But so much more. He didn’t know what more to say – ask for her number? No, that would be a little creepy and unethical considering how they started talking. Ask for her name so he could look her up and find a way to contact her? Again, creepy and stalker-y. He slumped in his chair, at a loss.

Thank you, that means a lot to me.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. He was tempted to bang his head onto his desk repeatedly. It took a few moments for her to reply, and he regretted every single life choice he’d ever made.

I’m glad. Anyways, Mr Fix-it Felix IT man, I’m going to try go back to sleep. I have work in the morning.

Every. Single. Life choice.

Oh, sure. Sorry again that FO woke you up. Hope you manage to get a few hours in before work.

Ellipsis –

Thanks. Well, I’ll leave you to it. Good luck with the rest of your shift.

And then she went offline. Their conversation had ended and he felt more alone than ever. He realised that throughout their conversation he had felt something that he almost never felt – comfortable in his own skin.

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Over the next few days, between tasks, Rey found her thoughts continually returning to the unnamed IT man she’d conversed with a few nights previously. She chided herself that she was chasing shadows, and it was really just loneliness driving these thoughts, but still, she wondered what he looked like. Was he as sweet in real life as he sounded? Did he ever think about her? Had her words made any impact on him at all?

After nearly a week, she realised she was driving herself crazy. She also wished she’d asked for his number, at least then she could talk to him more and put to rest the questions that kept popping up. She was lying in bed late that Friday evening watching Mansfield Park for the millionth time – despite her tough and scrappy outward appearance, she was really a romantic at heart and especially loved the classics like Austen, Brontë and Shakespeare. She never showed that side of herself to anybody, it would undermine any respect she’d managed to build up from the people around her; vultures who were always looking for any weakness to prove she was inferior to her male counterparts. Just as Fanny declared that she absolutely could not marry Henry Crawford, an idea struck Rey. She only hoped that her mystery IT man would be on duty again… also, she hoped she wouldn’t irreparably screw up her network settings, but she needed an excuse to contact support. At a little past midnight, she fiddled with the network access settings on her phone until it locked her out. Ok, step 1 done. She pulled up the FO site on her laptop and immediately engaged the support bubble at the bottom.

Hi there, I seem to have locked myself out of my network on my phone and it won’t pick it up again. Is there any way you could help me?

Ben had only just come on duty and already there was a customer contacting support. He sighed heavily and replied,

Thank you for contacting support. I’d be happy to help you if you’d give me a few more details on what happened before you got locked out.

Every night he had hoped that she’d reach out again, he’d all but given up hope that she ever would, and why would she anyway?     

Rey swallowed nervously. It was now or never.

Well, my internet was a bit slow and restarting my phone and wifi wasn’t working so I thought if I told it to forget the network and then reloaded it that might make it connect better? Only now it’s not picking it up at all 😟

Ben wanted to gouge his eyes out. Why did people think they knew how things worked when they very obviously did not?! He was about to begin replying when another message came through.

Help me Mr Fix-it Felix IT man, you’re my only hope.

He did a double take. He had to be imagining this, he’d finally gone completely crazy.

Is that you, Miss Tough and Scrappy Engineer?

Not even a beat later,

Sure is 😁 Hiya

He replied so fast there was barely an ellipsis,

Hi 😊

So, are you really locked out, or was this just a ploy to enjoy my company again?

Smooth Ben. Real smooth. He palmed his forehead, really glad she couldn’t see him.

Well… I may or may not have fiddled with my settings even though there was nothing wrong with my internet…

Rey chewed her lip, hoping she hadn’t come on too strongly. Then she saw his reply:

Well then, I’d have to say that I’ve been hoping something would happen so you’d have a reason to contact me.

Not that I want bad things to happen to you! You deserve only good things

I’m just really happy to hear from you again

I’m blowing this, aren’t I?

Rey full on laughed. He was even more nervous than she was and she found it charmingly adorable.

Ben waited while the ellipsis on his screen wiggled from left to right and back again as she typed. He didn’t even realise he was holding his breath until he released it when she replied.

Not even a little bit. You’re really sweet

Ben scratched his head. Hadn’t Hux once told him it was the knell of death if a girl thought you were sweet? Oh boy. He didn’t know if he could handle being immediately friend-zoned by a girl who hadn’t even met him.

Uh, thanks! You seem really wonderful too.

‘Really wonderful’? Ben started thinking maybe he should just cut the conversation short while he still had some dignity left.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t see the point in dragging out the suspense – so tell me Mr Fix-it Felix IT man, what’s your real name?

Ok, he definitely didn’t see that coming. Well fuck. He’d come this far.

Ben Solo. What’s yours?

A heartbeat…

Rey Niima.

Ben scrambled to open up another browser tab and had to correct his typos as he frantically searched for her. Well fuck again. She was absolutely, mind-blowingly stunning. Hazel eyes stared back at him above a light dusting of freckles over a pert nose. Sweet, dusty pink lips pulled into a stern smile, a no-nonsense expression subconsciously etched onto her face. He wouldn’t have described her as scrappy at all, more like a lithe goddess. Her tanned skin was smooth and firm under the lighting in her company photo, her blouse and blazer doing little to hide her fit body. He stared at his screen for a few minutes, taking in every aspect of her 2D image. What he wouldn’t give to see her in the flesh, see all her nuances up close.

Rey, likewise, stared at her screen for an inordinate amount of time, not believing her eyes. He had definitely undersold his looks. The man in front of her was built like a fuckable redwood, even though the photo was only from the waist up - a narrow waist that led up to a chest that strained the buttons of his work shirt, up to broad shoulders that looked like they could take a heavy load. Then there was his face. Sure, his features were large and unusual, but somehow they worked together in harmony to form the most interesting, handsome face. He had deep umber eyes that seemed to hold a depth of emotion. Of everything she’d seen so far, his eyes held her the longest. The last was his hair, it looked so soft and shiny, being in way better condition than her own. Rey toggled back to the FO page and reopened the bubble at the bottom.

Fuck Ben.

Ben chewed a hang nail. Was it a good ‘fuck Ben’ or a ‘I didn’t realise you were that ugly’ kind of ‘fuck Ben’?

You definitely undersold yourself buddy.

Ok, so a good ‘fuck Ben’ then. He couldn’t supress his grin.

So did you. You’re a fucking goddess Rey! And I don’t say that lightly…

Rey sat there vaguely aware that she was grinning at her screen like an idiot.

Give me your number. At this point I think it’ll be easier to continue this offline…

Ben didn’t hesitate to send it to her, and moments later he received a text from Rey. He instantly replied, then he accessed the logs and deleted his conversation with her. Fuck ethics and legalities.

Seeing the conversation on the FO site go blank and then disappear as if it had never been there to start with, Rey sighed dreamily. She closed the lid of her laptop and tucked it back under the bed. Clutching her phone, which had started the whole thing, Rey settled back into her pillows to continue their flirtation – and to fix her internet settings.

Virtual conversations really did make people brave, or foolish, or both, she chuckled to herself.

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I think we should meet up.

They’d spent over an hour trading messages back and forth about things like their education, the area they each lived in (thankfully quite close to each other), their opinions on dogs vs cats. The unspoken question had lingered over them until Ben couldn’t take it any longer and decided to put it out there.

If that’s what you want. No pressure, Rey.

He added.

I’d love to Ben. When were you thinking?

He barely read her response before replying,

Well, I need a few hours of sleep after my shift ends, but what about tonight? There’s an old café, Maz’, we could meet there at 6 if you’re available?

Rey jumped up and down on her knees on her bed, squealing with glee.

That’s perfect, It’s a date.

And she meant it.

Have a good shift, Ben. I’ll see you later 😊

A moment later he replied,

Goodnight, Rey.

And thought to himself, ‘A thousand times good night.’

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Ben was half an hour early, crammed into a seat where he could watch the windows and the door. He’d planned, well, over planned it. He wanted to be able to take her in before she even saw him. By the time 6:00 had come and gone, he thought to himself he should go for his annual check-up with his doctor – his heart had stopped and restarted every time someone entered. By the time she was 20 minutes late, he had decided to put a reminder in his phone to add more cardio to his exercise regime. The door jangled as another patron entered and he looked up from his phone to see that it was indeed her, the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. Her chestnut hair was down to her shoulders in carefree waves and it was clear she had no makeup on save for mascara and lip balm. She was absolutely kissable. Her frantic eyes roamed over the bustling café, finally making contact with his and he couldn’t help his knee-jerk reaction to stand immediately, kind of like an over-eager golden retriever.

“I’m so sorry I’m late!” She panted as she hurried over to his table. Her accent would star in every jerk-off fantasy going forward. There was just no way she could look and sound like that.

“That’s ok, don’t sweat it,” he nervously smiled, gesturing to the chair next to him. They took their seats together and for a second, a heavy, anxious silence settled, then he took a deep breath and held out his hand in greeting, “I know we introduced ourselves last night, but it’s really nice to meet you.” She put her hand in his to shake it and a bolt of electricity shot up both their arms. After looking at her dainty hand inside his larger one a beat too long, she dragged her eyes up to his,

“It’s really good to meet you too,” she managed to croak. Neither of them removed their hands, holding it in both a familiar and yet unfamiliar greeting. The silence stretched again, but this time filled with the static electricity that had hit them as their hands met. “Um,” she unsuccessfully tried to fill the silence, her throat working to swallow as her mouth had gone dry.

Ben’s brain had short circuited. The most beautiful woman in the world was still technically holding his hand – his hand. He couldn’t help but feel completely unworthy of her and, unbidden, he mumbled the first thing to stumble into his thoughts, completely out of context, “Good pilgrim you do wrong your hand too much…”

Rey’s eyes rounded in surprise, her gaze immediately drawn back to their clasped hands. It seemed that they were, incredibly, on the same wavelength. This was unbelievable, nothing like this had ever happened to her or to anyone she knew, for that matter. Looking into his eyes again, she replied, also completely out of context,

“… palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss… Have not saints lips? … Then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do…”

“Fuck. You’re absolutely perfect,” Ben intoned with awe.  “You’ve no idea… I mean… I’d like to… Shit!”

“It’s ok Ben,” she slid her hand to grasp around the edge of his palm and beginning of his wrist,  lowering their grasped hands to the tabletop. “I have a feeling that we have time.”

Ben suddenly felt as if there wasn’t enough air in the café. The buzz of people chatting, and cutlery clinking, and artistic music softly humming in the background were getting in the way of taking her in; he wanted no distractions. “I get it if you don’t want to, I mean, we just met – but, do you maybe want to get out of here? Go somewhere else?” He asked softly, thumb daring to stoke the back of hers.

“Sure, I’d love to,” she beamed back at him. If either of them had looked back as they wove their way out of the maze of tables and chairs, they’d have seen old Maz herself leaning against the door to the kitchen, chuckling to herself while nodding her head knowingly.

Once they’d made it outside into the early dusk, Rey reached for Ben’s hand again, needing to reassure herself that it was all real. To her confusion, Ben pulled his hand away as he felt hers searching for his, but it was short lived. He hesitantly pulled her into his side, waiting for her reaction. Searching her face and seeing only contentment there, he curled his arm around her shoulder protectively. He could have held her hand. Hell, he could have kissed her, but there was something so intimate and lived-in about the act of fitting together like this, as if they’d known each other for years. Rey, in turn, tucked her head into the meat of his shoulder and inhaled with her eyes closed. Tipping her head back to look into his pretty eyes, she asked in a sultry tone,

“Can we go back to yours?”

Ben’s breath hitched, then he spluttered in reply, “Yes… that’s… please.”  

Ben’s apartment was only a few blocks from Maz’, but they took the time to stroll with their arms around one another, talking intermittently about everything and nothing. The wind pulled locks of hair out of Rey’s messy bun, causing them to dance and then whip into her face every so often. Ben tried to use his bulk to block most of the wind from reaching her, sheltering her against himself as they walked. The leaves of the trees lining the city street had already begun to exchange their summer dress for an autumnal one. Noticing this, Rey made them pause to take in the colours around them; the twinkling grey of the asphalt, the gold and auburns of the trees, the yellow-pink-purple-sapphire of the sky; lights reflecting in the windows of the shops and cars lining the road. Somewhere, someone had lit their fireplace already, even though the season had only just begun, filling the air with the dense, smokey yet comforting smell of wood burning. In between taking in the life around them, both secretly feeling like they had never seen the mundanities of life look so beautiful, Ben began to feel nervous about her being in his home for the first time. His thoughts started to spiral into a pile of unhelpful what ifs but he kept it to himself, and acted, he hoped, as natural as possible. The sun had begun to properly set by the time they arrived at his door. Ben nervously unlocked it, almost missing the keyhole, before ushering Rey inside. His place was not quite as warm and homey as her own apartment, but Rey could tell that he made the most of the space.

“Can I get you something to drink? Some wine, or water maybe?” Ben politely offered.

“No, thank you,” Rey replied, slowly shaking her head. She approached him and lifted her hand to gently stroke his cheek. His eyes slipped closed the moment her skin made contact with his. Every time they touched, a thrilling buzz filled them both, an unshakable, undeniable connection that thrummed under both their skins. Ben turned his face into her hand and laid a soft kiss to her palm before pulling back from her. He wanted her more than anything, but he was terrified of cheapening this once-in-a-lifetime connection to that of a hook-up. Despite not knowing each other that long or well, he had no doubt by now that she was actually his soulmate. Rey’s face fell instantly as he drew back, then she softly spoke,

“Wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?” Ben faltered for a moment, then murmured,

“What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?”

“The exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine,” she answered without hesitation.

“Rey… sweetheart, I feel it too,” he responded fervently, “but I don’t want you to regret anything with me. Ever. I don’t want to rush this. I want this… you… more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. I don’t care if it’s only been hours since we really started getting to know one another, it would kill me to lose you now that I’ve experienced being near you,” he almost pleaded.

“You won’t, I’m here Ben, I’m not going anywhere,” she answered, then he saw the sheen of tears in her eyes, which he’d missed at first in the rapidly darkening room.

“Rey?” Ben asked with concern.

“I just… I never thought this would happen to me!” A tear slid down her cheek. “I mean, it’s not that I never thought about it happening, it just seemed so far removed, you know? Like how people always think that nothing bad will ever happen to them until it does… except reversed, sort of… I've always had to fight for everything in my life, how could this have just fallen into my lap? People search lifetimes to find this kind of connection with another person and somehow it just happened to me out of the blue - and right after I bit your head off too,” Rey laughed wetly.  

“You apologised, so it doesn’t matter, but I know what you mean,” Ben replied solemnly, taking hold of her hand once more and reverently placing a kiss on her inner wrist just over her pulse. “I actually didn’t think it was possible for this to happen to me at all. My life has been mediocre at best, and then you came along and you’re like… like…” he searched for the right words to express how she made him feel, “…you’re like this supernova igniting the nothingness I lived in and filling it with… with an explosion of light and colour. In the middle of that first conversation, for the first time in my life I felt alive, but also so at home in my own skin, it felt… right. This feels right,” he declared, laying her hand over his heart.

Rey closed the remaining distance and leaned up as he leaned down, meeting perfectly in the middle. Their lips tumbled over one another sensually and slowly, the perfect tender yet tentative first kiss. Ben’s tongue tapped her lip silently asking for entry, which she happily granted. Once his tongue met hers, there was no way for the kiss to remain tame as their feelings burned brightly between them. Breaking the kiss, Rey enveloped what she could of his massive hand with hers, lifting both away from his chest and sliding his into her peasant top and inside of her bralette. They both looked down at him holding her. Ben licked his lips, eyes fixated on the sight, then his hand moved of its own accord to massage her breast. Rey let out a soft groan of pleasure, causing him to pinch her nipple and lightly twist it; her breathing significantly speeding up. Ben’s hand moved up from her heaving breast to her collar bone, then swept back down to pull her top and bralette down until she was fully exposed to him. Without warning, he reached down to grab the backs of her thighs and pulled her up against him where she could wrap her legs around his waist, putting her breasts within easy reach of his eager mouth. He kissed and licked his way around and across her breasts, nipping at her to leave little love bites.

“Ben, please…” she hoarsely begged, spurring him into action as he turned and practically sprinted to his room with her in his arms, only pausing briefly to turn on his bedroom light. It was as if a switch had been flipped between them as they frantically ripped each other’s clothes off in between desperate kisses.

“Rey,” he groaned, “Rey, I’m not the most experienced in this… uh… this department,” he managed to get out between kisses.

“Don’t care,” she panted in return. “Want you. Now.”

Ben carefully laid her down on his bed and pulled back to gaze into her eyes. Rey’s expression gentled in fondness and she laid a soft kiss on his jaw. Ben’s hand ventured south, both soothing and riling her up at the same time.

“Put your fingers in me, Ben. I need to feel them,” Rey urged. Ben immediately sunk one of his fingers into her to the third knuckle, causing her to buck into his hand.

“Fuck, Rey! You’re so wet for me sweetheart. Can you take another?”

She nodded feverishly and he immediately obliged. He worked his way up from slow, careful movements to slamming his fingers into her as hard as he could, encouraged by her pants and moans until he felt her orgasm break over her. Rey breathed hard for a few moments, enjoying the sensation of pulsing around his digits, then she snaked her hand down to his engorged cock and palmed it.

He jerked in her grasp, “Do I need a condom, baby?” Rey shook her head,

“No, it’s safe, I promise. I mean, I’m clean and I have an IUD so if you wanted to… Not that you have to if you’re worried…” she rambled. Ben gently pulled his fingers from her and pressed his lips to hers.

“You could’ve stopped at ‘it’s safe’. I trust you, Rey.” They both stared, each star struck by the other. Ben firmly gripped himself and eased into her until she’d taken him to the root. Holding her gaze, he began to rock into her, filling her again and again.

Tenderly sweeping his unruly hair from his eyes, Rey whispered, “It’s you. It was always going to be you.” Ben nodded, then rested his head in the crook of her neck as he continued to move within her. His lips slid mindlessly against her skin, moving lower until he could suck her nipples as he made love to her. There was no doubt in either’s mind that that’s what they were doing.

“It’s you and me now,” he promised against her left breast. Rey drew his face back to hers and he went willingly, sealing his vow against her lips. He could feel her getting close as she began to meet his thrusts until they were slamming into each other with abandon. One of his hands moved to circle her clit hard and fast, pulling a loud cry from deep in her chest, the hard points of her nipples jerking into his sweaty chest as she let the sound loose. “Come for me, sweetheart. Come so that I can give you my cum, let me fill you up… please…” he panted earnestly into her open mouth, their breaths mingling. Rey’s hips jerked up involuntarily into his as she fell over the edge, crying his name out hoarsely over and over until the aftershocks had stopped moving through her trembling limbs.

“I want to feel it. Make me yours, darling” she crooned to him. Not even a moment later, his thrusts became erratic until he gripped her hip, holding her hard to himself as he emptied inside of her, grunting until he had no more to give her. They lay entangled for a while longer as they got their breath back until eventually Ben rolled over to Rey’s side and they smiled dopily at each other. After quickly excusing herself to the bathroom to pee and clean herself up, Rey returned to the rumpled bed and immediately snuggled into Ben’s embrace. “It’s never been like that before,” she told him in the quiet of the evening.

“For me either,” he replied, tightening his hold on her. “I can’t wait to do that thousands of times more with you,” he added with a boyish grin. After another length of comfortable silence, he sighed, “but seriously, this thing between us is a gift, like you said, people search their whole lives for this. If you’ll let me, I want to get to know every part of you.”

“Me too… I’m not letting go,” she said determinedly.

“Never,” he concurred, adding, “…and all my fortunes at thy foot I’ll lie.”

“… and follow thee my lord throughout the world,” she answered sleepily.

And that they did, for the rest of their lives.

~ The End. ~