[ Jakku has trained her to respond to a threat at a moment's notice, startled by even the smallest ominous noise, and so his departure doesn't go undetected. She's too light of a sleeper for her not to stir as soon as the door creaks open on squeaky hinges, sending panicked alarms off in her mind. Blearily, her head lifts from the pillow to blink out into the barely lit room — but when she discovers the familiar outline disappearing around the bend of the door belongs to Ben, she falls back to her sloppily made pillow.
Not an intruder, her mind soothes. There's a twisted sense of irony in her relief; she'd been stricken with terror as he'd stalked her through jungle terrain, but the same man she had once dismissed as a monster is the same one that feels comforting. That feels like a sanctuary should when he clutches her to him.
— When he clutches her to him. Wait. She returns to her senses too slowly for mortification to fully overwhelm her at the entangled position they've taken on the floor. Somewhere along the way, it seems she had been pushing back against him in an unconscious desire to generate body heat. Whether it had been successful is open for debate; her toes are solid blocks of ice, but her entire body feels damnably warm where it's tucked into his.
She tries valiantly to ignore that dilemma in favor of another: he could have fled without another word, and she would have been none the wiser. Belatedly, she clings to his arm where it coils around her waist and chains her to him, locking him into place as if she's only just realized how easily he could walk away. ]
You came back.
[ In all fairness to Rey, it's a half-asleep drawl, spoken in that fuzzy space that exists before waking. Come morning, she may not even recall snuggling back against him so eagerly, and murmuring about abandonment. Perhaps it's better that way if she ever hopes to look him in the eye again. ]
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Not an intruder, her mind soothes. There's a twisted sense of irony in her relief; she'd been stricken with terror as he'd stalked her through jungle terrain, but the same man she had once dismissed as a monster is the same one that feels comforting. That feels like a sanctuary should when he clutches her to him.
— When he clutches her to him. Wait. She returns to her senses too slowly for mortification to fully overwhelm her at the entangled position they've taken on the floor. Somewhere along the way, it seems she had been pushing back against him in an unconscious desire to generate body heat. Whether it had been successful is open for debate; her toes are solid blocks of ice, but her entire body feels damnably warm where it's tucked into his.
She tries valiantly to ignore that dilemma in favor of another: he could have fled without another word, and she would have been none the wiser. Belatedly, she clings to his arm where it coils around her waist and chains her to him, locking him into place as if she's only just realized how easily he could walk away. ]
You came back.
[ In all fairness to Rey, it's a half-asleep drawl, spoken in that fuzzy space that exists before waking. Come morning, she may not even recall snuggling back against him so eagerly, and murmuring about abandonment. Perhaps it's better that way if she ever hopes to look him in the eye again. ]