You have holes in your socks

AN: This is my first ever Star Wars fic, and definitely my first ever Reylo. But it was a cute little idea when I saw my own black socks with holes in them after a 13-hour shift. Kylo/Ben might be a smidge OOC but only a tiny bit, and that's because I imagine him to be much more Ben in this scene than Kylo. Anyway, yadda yadda yadda don't own Star Wars blah de blah de blah.

Snoke or no, the force held little regard for Rey and Kylo Ren's ideas of personal space. Long after Crait, they were still bound, appearing to one another at inopportune and random moments. As used to it as they were steadily becoming, it didn't do much to reduce the annoyance at these moments.
Many moments, much like their current one.

Rey all but collapsed onto the edge of her bed, groaning as she pulled off her shoes and fell into the pillow. The ache of her tired and sore feet made it impossible to be on them any longer, even to get undressed. Instead, she simply opted to remove her belt and over tunic, leaving her in thin cotton trousers and a high neck vest. Comfort no longer mattered at this point, she was pretty sure she could fall asleep on a bed of rocks she was so exhausted.

So, turning her face into her pillow and wriggling her toes into her blanket, she closed her eyes, already feeling the tug of sleep on her body.

Until there was another tug.

A tug of the force.

Ben's force.

"No, no, no, no…" Rey whispered, screwing her eyes shut and ramming her cheek even deeper into her pillow. "Not now."

It did little to stop the expansion of the now somehow larger bed behind her. She couldn't see him, but she didn't need to. He stood a little away from her, just to the right of the bottom of the bed, and stared right at her. There was no malice in his eyes, just sheer and utter exhaustion.

"Now?" he breathed, running a hand through his already dishevelled hair.

Rey sighed and sat up as she felt the sweet embrace of sleep fall from her. "I was just going to sleep." She had wanted to sound irritated, but instead, it came out whiny. She felt silk sheets pool around her waist and assumed it was the strange mix of his blankets and her own - something that often happened in moments like these.

He sighed, shoulders visibly dropping. "So was I."

"I was closer than you," Rey remarked, raising an eyebrow at his still fully clothed body. Clearly not ready for sleep.

"Shush," was he all he said as he unclipped his cloak from his shoulders, throwing it onto a dresser somewhere she couldn't see. To her, it seemed like he had just thrown it and it disappeared into nothing.

It was only after unbuckling his belt from his waist and sliding off his tunic that she realised he was getting undressed. His tunic fell to the floor before she could even speak out, and soon he was dressed solely in his trousers and boots.

"Hey!" she cried, "don't get undressed while I'm here!"

He shot her a glare, hands on the waist of his trousers. The glare held no malice, just slight frustration.

"Then close your eyes. I want to go to bed, and I'm not waiting for you to leave." He grumbled, voice even deeper with exhaustion.

With a huff and slight blush, she slammed herself down into her mattresses with more force than necessary. But she didn't close her eyes.

And she was glad she didn't because, out of the corner of her eye, she saw him remove a boot. The removal of the boot revealed a black-clad foot.

Except… at the end of the sock, was a large, white digit… a…

Rey snickered, and Ben's head shot up in a second to glare at her. He followed her eyes to his foot and bent his toes under his feet self consciously when he realised what she was looking at. This only fuelled Rey's amusement, and she snickered louder.

"You have- you have a hole in your sock." She giggled, now curled around slightly to look off the end of her bed at his big toe sticking out a hole in the black fabric.

Big bad Supreme Leader Kylo, with his big, stubby toe sticking out his sock.

Rey shook with the force of keeping her laughter inside.

Ben looked uncomfortable for his part, a rarity indeed. He looked off to the side, big lips pouting slightly - so slight that she'd have missed it if she didn't know him- as he still held his boot, and curled his toes.

"Yes, thank you," he growled, embarrassment clear in his tone, "I'm aware of that, it's been driving me insane all. Day." He emphasised the last part, growling in frustration.

The mundane, domesticity of it all made Rey warm inside, smiling softly. It was normal, just two people laughing at something equally as normal.

Except they weren't normal and it was Kylo Fucking Ren with a hole in his sock.

The laughter came back and she made no attempt to hide it. She laughed even harder when a black boot was flung her way, in no way at risk of hitting her but slamming into the pillow beside her.

"You're never going to be threatening again," she all but sang around her laughter, "the Supreme Leader – with a hole in his sock! Pahaha!" Saying it out loud renewed her vigour, and she was laughing so hard tears streamed from her eyes and she held her sides.

"Shut up," he hissed, clearly embarrassed. "I've been wearing these boots for 36 hours, it's no wonder I have holes in my socks." He finally bent down to take off his other boot, and Rey's laughter trickled into light giggles, and soon just a big grin on her face.

"Ben," she breathed, grinning hard.

He sighed and rolled his head up to look at her, knee still bent to his chest to remove the boot. He didn't say anything.

"It's funny," she said, and he rolled his eyes.

"Clearly I can see you think so." He tossed the other boot away and made for the waistband of his trousers. This time, Rey did close her eyes.

After a moment, she felt her bed – his bed – dip under his pressure, and she felt the warmth of him against her back. She rolled over, grinning more at him as he laid his head down on his own pillow, that was somehow also her own pillow.

He was laying on his back, but he turned his head to look at her.

"Do you find anything funny?" She asked, still smiling.

He shrugged, looking back up at his ceiling. "I find Hux's face smashing into the ground extremely amusing."

Rey rolled her eyes this time, but he wasn't looking at her. "I mean, I would too but that's not really funny."

He looks at her now, brow raised, "and a hole in my sock is?" In a moment of childish teasing, he tickles her shin with a wiggle of his toes under the blanket.

She giggles, and kicks him gently. "When you put it like that, no. But a hole in your sock is bloody hilarious."

"And why's that?"

"Because," she chuckles, "you put up this mask of this big, bad thing. This creature of death and destruction and mayhem. But then you come to bed with a hole in your sock, embarrassed about it, and all of a sudden your very human. You're not Kylo Ren, the monster in a mask. You're Ben – the tired man with a hole in his sock after a long day."

He finally rolls over onto his side, looking at her straight on with blank eyes. "And you like him? This Ben."

She smiles softly at him, tucking a curly strand of black hair behind his ear. "I do. I like Ben a lot."

His mouth doesn't smile, but his eyes do and she curses herself for cutting it short with a yawn. As she does so, her hand slips from his cheek, and down his neck to fall on the bed with a soft whoosh.

She doesn't open her eyes after the yawn, simply snuggling her face into her own pillow and smiling. Her hand is still close to his chest, fingertips brushing his bare sternum. He wraps his big hand around her little fingers, gives it a squeeze and says, "goodnight, Rey," a soft smile in his voice.

She smiles back. "Goodnight, Ben." She giggles slightly, eyes still closed, "don't forget to bin those socks."

The last thing she hears before she falls asleep is his deep sigh, but there's humour in it, and she falls asleep smiling, hand wrapped in his.