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“You cannot be serious,” Kylo says when Hux offers him a hideous, endlessly offensive, wig. “Aside from you and Supreme Leader Snoke, not a soul aboard this ship has ever seen my face. What is the purpose of this?”
“I find it amusing. That’s purpose enough,” Hux informs him, forcing it into Kylo’s hand and while Kylo has never seen the man smile, his lips are closed over something similar to the shape of a curl. “We need to learn how to ensure that the workers all fall into line without having to dispose of the said personnel. The wig will dampen your,” he pauses here with consideration, “particularly brooding nature and make you more approachable among the lower ranks. Put it on.”
Kylo doesn’t hasten under the order.
Hux’s brow lifts. “Do you need for me to assist you, Commander?”
“Take enjoyment out of this while you can,” Kylo says before putting himself in front of the mirror. He gathers a section of his natural hair and with an ease he didn’t know he still possessed, fingers that haven’t practiced since he was a boy, he begins a braid at the crown of his head. In the mirror’s reflection, he catches the surprises that passes over Hux’s face. “I will not fail.”
…
When they enter the technicians’ common area, what was a lively din plunges into a cautious silence. Those who are in the midst of eating settle their utensils on their trays and occupants who’d had their backs to the door turn until they are facing front. All of their spines straighten and they’re almost immediately at attention.
At Kylo’s side, Hux addresses the room. “Members, I am here to introduce you to our new recruit for your engineering team. He has been appointed as the new radar technician. However, he will need to be familiarized with our base, its operations and its complexities until I’m satisfied with his work output. He will need a mentor. Which one of you will be filling the position?”
As one would predict, there are no emphatic volunteers.
The stormtroopers flanked at the entrance step forward but Hux halts them with a raised hand. Curtly, “That won’t be necessary. I will choose.”
Hux scans their audience and nods to a humanoid girl seated at a nearby table. “You. What is your designation?”
She keeps a strong and proud chin as she stands. It’s impressive. The girl speaks clearly and her eyes don’t shift under Hux’s gaze. Few can claim that. “RY-1215,” she answers.
Datapad in hand, Hux taps at the screen. He reads, “A recent acquisition from the desert planet Jakku but you’ve already shown yourself to be quite skilled. Workers who have been here for twice as long haven’t accomplished half of what you have. Reprogramming the turbolasers is a particular troubleshoot that I must commend you on considering that weaponry isn’t even your predilection.” He clicks off his device. “You’re a premiere candidate,” he says ultimately and it’s decided.
…
“Matt? What does that stand for?” She asks when they’re back at the table. The mealbread in her hands is torn in half as she peers at him. Her eyes are just one pair of many on him, wrapping him up in an uncertain gaze.
She’s rightfully suspicious, seeing as how the name had slipped from Kylo’s mouth without much thought. “It’s not an acronym. I have no designation. I’m simply Matt,” he lies.
Popping a piece of bread into her mouth, she eats and swallows before replying. “You must be very special if they allowed you to keep your name.” Her tone is thinly-veiled, dry and wary, strangely resentful. Kylo can feel himself being dissected. She’s smart and it’s to her credit that Kylo skips the pretense of misunderstanding her .
“Speak your mind,” he insists, resting his fork.
“Is this a set-up?” she inquires, blunt. “A design of the general’s to trap one of us. You deem someone, or their actions, as traitorous and then report them to General Hux or perhaps Kylo Ren. I’d like to say that it’s too transparent but for all I know that could very well be the intent.”
“Are you always this cynical?”
“Are you a spy?”
“A spy? For the First Order?”
“I haven’t been here for long. However, I know that it’s not common practice for a new worker to be personally escorted. By General Hux, no less.”
“Is there treason to uncover?”
She continues to pick apart her bread, ignoring the question. “I don’t trust you,” she tells him.
“You’re not meant to,” Kylo says. “I’m here with you because I need a teacher. Learning whatever secrets you may or may not be keeping isn’t my priority. The only information I wish to accumulate is that of the mechanics of this base.” He doesn’t know what comes over him, pushing at him, but he continues, “and if you’re willing, I’d like to address you by your correct name. To keep things fair.”
Her mouth is a firm line and it’s the first bit of hesitation he’s seen from her.
Kylo rolls his eyes. “Now you’re just being deliberately unreasonable. The database already has it filed away,” he reminds her. “It’d do no service for me to report that.”
She remains quiet and for a moment, Kylo is plagued with mild disappoint. It shifts into a fragile and unexpected warmth soon after when she finally speaks.
“Rey.”
…
The fusion chambers in the engine room need maintenance. Rey assures him that the components are universal except for the ignition coil that runs perpendicular compared to its usual location on other models.
“It’s an easy enough job though,” Rey tells him. She keys in the code for the supply closet and it opens with a hiss. Searching the shelves, she adds, “You’ll do fine.”
He turns to her and only just manages to school his face, not let his bewilderment show. “You want me to do it? Are you sure? Maybe it’d be more prudent for me to watch you demonstrate first.”
Rey shakes her head. “No. I want to get an idea of where you’re at with the technology. I’ll be right here if you get into any trouble.” She passes over a pair of protective gloves. “You’ll need these. It runs at three-hundred degrees standard.”
Kylo takes them and follows her, does his best not to be intimidated by the roar of the engines and the large, violently-animated pistons.
Three failed attempts, a punctured steam hose and a broken starboard engine later, with his forearm under a dermal regenerator and Rey effectively exploding before him, Kylo sits in the sickbay feeling every bit a fool.
“How could you not let me know that you’ve never worked on a fusion chamber before? That’s absolutely moronic.” Rey is angry and so fierce that the attending medical droid actually flinches away from her, letting out a high-pitched whir.
Kylo, however, returns the fervor with equal intensity. “You can’t address me like that!”
“Do you think yourself to be some sort of prince? I’ll have to work beyond my regular shift hours to fix that engine. I’ll talk to you how you deserve.”
Unnerved by her audaciousness and her seemingly innate ability to get to him under his skin, he snaps, “Here’s an idea, grab your headstart and go.”
“Oh you’re not getting off that easy. I’m staying here until you’re done and then we’re both going back to the engine room and cleaning up that mess,” she avers. She pops up onto the cot and looks him dead in the eye. “I’ll drag you if it has to come to that.”
Kylo believes her. He ducks his head at the picture of it with the pull and pain of a smile. It gets to the point where it no longer hurts, loses its tightness and he aims it her way.
“I won’t win many arguments against you, will I?” He wonders, half-rhetorically.
Rey’s laugh lines crinkle as she jokes, “I must not be doing a good enough job of berating you if you’re asking.”
…
“Did you have family in Jakku, Rey?”
He asks when they’re finished with the repairs and he’s putting away the tools, facing away from her like a coward.
“No," she says after a stretch of silence. "What about you?”
“I left them behind.”
“Was your home that terrible?”
“That’s what I had thought at first. Things have changed since then.”
…
Hux will continually ask Kylo what’s he learned from the lower decks, how are the workers’ minds wired.
Neutrally, Kylo recites the wiring instructions to repair a calcinator, thermal deposition, and circuit theory. With the rhythm of a mantra, Kylo warns him to not leave wrenches unattended. He lets him know how stupid the idea had been from its conception. Kylo does this each time so Hux is left unaware of the joy Kylo gets from being at Rey’s side, having the freedom to be true to himself.
…
Kylo can’t lift any limb from the tangle of the network cables but if he could, he’s not sure that he’d want to. Not with the image above him, haloed by the room's stark overhead light.
“Well at least you didn’t maim yourself this time. At this point, I don’t think that the sickbay will accept you anymore,” Rey says. Her hands are akimbo at her sides, her gray sleeves rolled up, and she’s looking down on him with amused and sparked eyes. And Kylo was flattened with weakening circulation. Now he’s flattened with weakening circulation and breathless as she laughs.
Rey stoops down to untie one of his wrists. “I was not gone long enough for you to manage this. How are you even real? This is a nightmare.”
“I could have been more mindful of the overlapping while plugging in cords.”
“That explains maybe a third of this situation.”
“Two left feet and an awkwardly tall stature for the rest?”
She surveys the electrical outlets and nods her head in approval. “I wonder if we could get you out and not have to unplug the cables. Because you got all of them right, Matt.”
She’s smiling at him, wide and proud but the name is a vacuum and sucks the beautiful moment dry.
…
One shift, they have a bet on who can weld the most metal joints together by break and Kylo beats her by a wide margin. In quantity, she stresses.
The advantage once again in her favor, Rey flips up her welding helmet and shows him the blemish-free surface of her work. She impresses upon him that haste makes waste.
“Wow, that’s one I haven’t heard before,” he drips sarcastically.
She deflects it with a honeyed grin, going for a pure innocence that’s just out of her reach. “I guess that I could have clarified the rules. The most with smooth finishes." She shrugs. "They hold up better over time.”
“You fully intended to omit that. Otherwise you would have been robbed of this self-congratulatory moment. I’m beginning to get a handle on you.”
She rises from the bench. “You wish,” she tosses back.
“Yes, I do,” he admits quietly, too relaxed and content in her presence.
Rey stops her progress and wheels around to him. “You. I didn’t know that you felt like that. I’ve been waiting for—”
“I actually can’t,” he edges off her reply. He stands up. “I’m not supposed to feel this way.”
“What else do we have? What's getting in the way? What aren't you telling me, Matt?” The ache etched in her features knots his stomach and Kylo wants for nothing more than to soothe it.
“I’m sorry,” he says and he leaves before the regret manifests into more confessions that he can’t afford.
…
“I’m not very good at this am I?” Kylo asks with a slight grin.
“No, you’re not. I haven’t seen anyone more dreadful,” Rey tells him seriously.
Softly and careful, more gentle than Kylo knew he could be, he rubs away the oil from her face with a wet cloth. He’s managed to get them both covered in it while changing the filtering system. “I’m sorry. Again.”
“Stop apologizing to me. If you want to make up for it then tell me the truth. I can’t just forget what you said.” Rey places her hand over his and brings it to a pause. “Who are you? They’ll kill you, you know? Hux seems to tolerate you but he won’t for long if you can’t get the handle of things. Do you think that he’d considered assigning you to a different position onboard?”
“It wouldn’t matter.”
"It would matter to me," Rey says urgently and spirited. "You matter to me."
It’s ironic the charge that ignites between them. It’s the one thing he’s gotten right on the initial try in recent weeks. They’re in perfect sync leaning in and reading one another, operating with minimal effort. They kiss slowly to start and it turns persistent, sharpening all of the senses. He feels her—her want, voice, and fear in his head. When Kylo pulls away it’s with reluctance. There’s difficulty and then there’s this impossible feat.
Aside from line caused by his spectacles, her nose is smudged once again, wrinkled above a worried mouth. He both hates and adores the sight. “Tell me who you are,” she says again. “I can help you.”
He opens his mouth before he has a plan on how to respond and the cracking yawn of the communal ‘fresher’s door interrupts cruelly.
“You’re needed,” Hux informs him.
…
The Resistance is moving swiftly through the galaxy. Snoke insists that Kylo can longer be spared for games. Missions are laid out for him to spearhead.
Kylo gets rid of the technician's uniform and wig, spills them down a chute they can’t return from. He slips back on his mask but not before allowing himself to thumb the spectacles dirtied with oil and place them near Anakin Skywalker’s ruined helmet.
He’ll finish it for them both.
…
Hux greets him at the bottom of the ramp when Kylo’s shuttle touches down at the base. “You really shouldn’t have.” Through the mask, his tone is especially dry and uninterested.
“I’m sure you’ll find the welcoming committee at your quarters more to your liking.” The reply is snide and pointed, more annoyed than usual.
“What are you on about?”
“Your engineer has been making quite the fuss since your departure. She demands to know what happened to the radar technician. When I told her that I didn’t know she insisted on talking to you instead and wouldn’t leave it alone. Truth be told, it was growing tiresome. She’s lucky that you arrived so expediently.”
The wash of rage nearly engulfs him but his need for Rey to be safe and stay safe overwhelms it, forces him to calmly walk away from Hux and get to her as soon as he can.
Relief hits him like a shock when he sees her unharmed—restless, yes, but without a scratch. His vision blurs with a sting as she starts a barrage of questions. He blinks rapidly as he listen to her asking after Matt, what has he done with him, why is Matt no longer on the base. She calls him a monster for killing Matt, goes on about how kind the technician was and how unfair it was for Kylo to end his life, to destroy so many lives.
Kylo gathers the strength to draw closer to her, near enough for his whisper to be heard. He carefully, as gentle as he can be, strokes his hand down her arm. Soothing. “I know that you’re not always this cynical.”
It dawns on her face in a brilliant fashion, she slowly looks at the entirety of his physical form, takes in his appearance, and then all at once she joins it with ‘Matt’, finds where they overlap and sees the real him.
“Don’t say anything just yet,” he warns.
Once they’re inside of his quarters he waits on her, gives her whatever time she needs to process.
“You are a spy,” Rey announces, for formality’s sake.
“Yes,” Kylo confirms with a small smile. “I met you and I was taken aback by how quickly you discovered that. I was immediately worried that it was obvious to everyone. That everyone could see it.”
“No one sees you the way I see you,” she states it as an inarguable fact. Then, “Are you with the Resistance?”
“My mother leads it,” he answers.
“Meaning that you are a prince,” she sorts out.
"Yes, you were right a good deal." Kylo searches Rey’s thoughtful expression. He doesn’t want to eavesdrop. That’s another conversation that they’ll need to have soon. “What are you thinking?”
She steps to him and stretches up, kissing him lightly and sweetly. She acquires a fold of his clock with a strong fist and rest her other hand in her hair, faintly playing with its ends. “I'm thinking that you had better answer my next question accurately or I’m going to punch you,” she tells him with a grin as only she can.
It causes him to laugh but he agrees in a no-nonsense manner. “Ask me.”
“Will you let me help you?”
“I’d be absolutely moronic otherwise.”
fin