Excerpt - Kylo Ren dream-shares with Rey and draws her into his memories of water. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sky blooms purple-black above them as pin prick stars twinkle in the veil. There are two moons, one orange and one white, both in deep crescents as the planet blocks them from their sun.
They stand at the lip of a pond, hands clasped together. The water seems dark under the night sky… until they see it. Bright flickers of neon green. Her gasp is audible, and it makes him wonder if she’s ever seen this shade of color before. If not, perhaps he’s given her something new to look for in the rainbow.
The phosphorescence licks its way up the lake in a stripe before dimming down to nothing. After a moment it happens again, but in a different pattern this time, making the water look like it’s pulsing. Breathing in blazes. Even he feels reverent in this place.
“I don’t know how I got here the first time,” he admits. “I had just been sent to Skywalker. My family left me at the Temple that night without telling me I was staying behind. I got… intense… things were floating everywhere – shattering. I was losing control and terrified that I would get in trouble again, so I knew I had to hide it. I had to get away.”
Surprising her, he gets down on one knee and starts to slowly loosen her boot.
“So I ran. I ran until my body was on fire. I ran until I didn’t know how to breathe.”
She allows him to lift her foot, unearthing her toes before moving to the next.
“And then I ran some more…”
Still kneeling, he begins on his own battered footwear, politely placing both hers and his beside one other, standing at attention. Rising and looking distant, he pads his way over to the lake across the soft, dampened sand. The water that ripples over his feet is only faintly cool, refreshing more than anything. The green shimmer lights up in arcs while he watches, making him feel both lost and found all at once.
Splashes echo behind him and he turns to see her awe as she takes in this meaningful place. Closing her eyes, she listens to the nighttime chirps of life all around her as she tiptoes ahead of him and deeper in. To her ankles. To her calves. Her knees. Thighs. Clothes soaking through while her lids remain shuttered. He sees her breathe in the sweet floral air and it reminds him to take a moment to do the same.
“Will you teach me something, Ben?”
He wants to say, ‘Politics?’but, instead he answers, “Anything.”
She looks at him in three-quarter view and her face is mischievous. “Teach me to swim.”
He shyly tips his head down, his lopsided grin dimpling his cheeks. “Clothes on or off?” he challenges.
She rolls her eyes, her answer being to simply walk deeper into the water in her full regalia. Sans shoes, of course.
He remembers the night he’d silenced her fury by accident when the Force connected them. Roguishly, he decides to repeat the moment and quietly slips off his shirt, placing it in the water and letting the damp seep in and sink it out of sight - after all, this is only a dream.
Leaning forward, he lifts his feet from the bottom, shoulders working in the water to pull himself closer to her. She’s up to her breast line now and adorably wincing over the coolness that laps at her skin. Touching down to the ground again, he stands closely behind her. Slowly, he lifts his large hands to place them over her forearms, coming dangerously close in doing so. It makes him feel something in his body. A kind of anticipation. An instinct telling him to hold her. To touch her. To have her touch him.
Instead, he lifts her hands above the water. “Move forward until your shoulders are all the way under. Then, I want you to lift your feet.”
He can sense her apprehension, even without the Force. Reassuring her, he reminds, “I’ve got you.”
She moves forward a step but stops short. “There aren’t any, um… fish… in here, right?”
He lets out a short, quiet laugh. “No, no – you’re fine.”
She turns to smile at him but, when she spots his bare chest, her eyes widen and snap away faster than anything, making him smirk. When she turns to look again and whips away just as fast, he downright grins. If this was a game, he just won. “Nice to see that some things don’t change.”
“You like embarrassing me?” she says, her voice a little pitchy.
“Isn’t it obvious?” he taunts. Smug and completely satisfied, he releases her to regain her composure while he dips under the water, tipping his head back and soaking his hair for a moment. The non-silence of being underwater fills his ears with his own heartbeat while imaginary stars dapple the sky. He silently vows to find this place again someday… and to bring her. Once he succeeds. Once he wakes her up.
Remembering her request, he lifts himself from his thoughts and stands once more, catching her looking at him. Her expression is intense. It’s like she’s watching every droplet run down his neck and shoulders. When he lifts himself fully, her eyes light on fire, gaze flowing up and down over his skin as her bottom lip pulls between her teeth, catching there for the briefest of moments. Her face is flushed pink, and the sight of it does something to him. No one has ever looked at him like this before. It makes him feel powerful in a completely new kind of way. Strong. Bold. When she moves to turn her face away again, he reaches out and catches her jawline.
Tipping her back in his direction, he murmurs, “Eyes on me.”
Facing each other this time, he holds her hands once more, leading her in deeper but never looking away. In the darkness of the water, a gleam of green shoots between them, though he doesn’t even see it. He just sees her.
“Now, knees up.”
Rey’s weight shifts in his grasp as he steadies her, letting her flutter her legs. Her eyes are wide open as she glances to the water and then to his face repeatedly before letting out a sound of incredulity.
“Is this floating?!” she chirps.
His smile is unending. “No. Not yet, anyway.” He shifts his position slightly and brings them shallower. “Hold on to me like this for a second…”
Lifting her hands, he places them to grip against his bare shoulders and her nails dig in slightly, a heady sensation that’s now burned into his mind. He moves a palm behind her back and places his other one feather-light against the front of her hip.
“I need you to trust me.”
The words carry weight. Her eyes meet his and she nods. “I trust you.”
And he dips her down. The back of her head parts the water all the way to her hairline and he brings her hips up towards the sky. “Straighten your legs out and let the air fill your lungs all the way.”
Shegrins.When he hums a question mark at her she squints her mirthful eyes to the sky. “Your voice sounds funny.”
He realizes her ears are under the surface. It must be another first. Smiling down at her, he can’t help but ask, “Do you like what you hear?” and her grin widens.
They stay like this, her floating in his arms, eyes closed to the night sky, while he keeps finding her in his field of vision no matter which way his face is turned.
A smirk tugs at her lips as she opens one eye to peek at him. “Stop watching me, Ben.”
He grins unabashedly as the water nudges her hair into a halo. “I find I rather like watching you.”
The water breaks as she lifts a cool hand to press against his cheek. She says nothing, but he doesn’t think she needs to. Instead, her fingers slide up to wind themselves in the hair at his temple, her palm sliding against his unmarred face. He closes his eyes and tilts into her, lips parted ever so slightly.
“Rey?”
“Hmm?”
“Come to me next time. Come into my mind. Then, you’ll never have to see Jakku again. Come to me.” His plush lips caress the softness of her palm before catching at the calloused ridges where the base of her fingers come together. “Please.” And that word is an ache. A wound. His brows are twined together in insecurity as he bares himself to her once more.
Her thumb traces over his parted mouth and he opens his eyes to her. The longing he sees there must reflect his own.
Rey is an overworked med student who falls asleep on the subway late at night and ends up in an unfamiliar part of town. Ben’s a (reluctantly) concerned citizen, who wants to make sure she has a safe place (his place) to stay until the morning.
While waiting for his family to arrive at a restaurant for his “Birthday Dinner” (as his mother insists), Ben meets Bartender Rey. (Then he meets her again after dinner).
Looking for a stress relieving hook-up on Tinder, Rey swipes right on Poe. He doesn’t turn out to be the date she had hoped for, but his roommate on the other hand, might be the geeky fanboy she needed to save the night.
Modern Neighbors AU. A troubled Ben moves next door to a lonely Rey … the longing, the angst, the past trauma, in a quiet neighborhood with front porches and manicured lawns.
Modern Neighbors AU. I scrolled past a mood board post for this fic yesterday, I’m reccing it today. Lovely apartment neighbors one shot to get lost in for a morning. Ben keeps waking up to find his neighbor Rey asleep in his bed …
Modern Roommates AU. Delightful, with depth. This is one of my favorite Reylo authors, angharabbit consistently delivers delightful fics with depth. the name of the fic has humorous cheekiness in delivery, while keeping a smile on your face as you read, then hitting you with the emotional introspection at the end.
Modern Neighbors AU in the Amnesia & Holiday Trope. Rey may be responsible for her attractive neighbor’s current amnesia, to assuage her guilt she’ll just have to take care of him until he is better …
Modern Apartment Neighbors AU with Accidental Anonymous Sexting. When Rey accidentally receives a sext meant for someone else, she’s too intrigued not to text back …
Modern Apartment Neighbors AU within the Fake Relationship Trope. Rey and Ben keep “saving” each other from awkward situations by pretending to be in a relationship, it keeps happening over and over, it’s almost as if they are in a relationship …
Author:drnucleus Rating:E Genre:Modern AU, Romance, Mild Angst, Semi-slow burn Pairing:Ben Solo | Rey, Minor character pairings Warnings:Healthy BDSM, D/s relationship, Male submissive, FemDomme Summary:For much of his life, hotshot architect, Ben Solo, lived a life full of privilege and entitlement. Son of a Senator and Admiral, the world was his oyster. He slid easily into the alpha male persona that was expected of him. Yet, running his own architecture firm by his late twenties he’d never expected to be saddled with the control behind every single decision. And underneath that façade lay a man, yearning to lay it all down at the foot of a powerful woman. What happens when he uncovers that side of himself and that leads him right to Rey Erso; a psychologist and domme who decides to help him navigate the world of dominance and submission in the local scene. That is until they find they’re more compatible with one another than either of them previously thought.
Be sure to follow the tag “drnucleus writes things” for all updates and liveblogging the writing experience.
Feeling like you wanna do more than leave amazing comments and kudos? Buy me a Ko-fi to feed my caffeine addiction. A caffeinated writer is a productive writer!
He was not sure if he was imagining it, or if it had really come from Rey’s lips, but his eyes cleared, and when he pulled back enough to see her face, he saw Rey’s eyes searching and full of emotion.
