Title: Laser tags

Pairings: Reylo, + side Stormtrooper

Rating: PG for mild profanities

"Rey! Go, go, go!" Poe hissed, his hand gesturing her to push forward through the dim light that consumed the entire room. In a beat, Rey nodded and shuffled her feet to cross the aisle – careful not to trip on any suspicious obstacles that might cause her to trip nor stumble. She then joined Finn and Poe behind a brick wall that hid them from any potential predators.

The small receptor watch attached on their wrists blinked at the same time: notifying them that another party is down.

"Two more groups to go!" They could practically feel Finn vibrate with excitement.

Two groups left for them to take down. Six players in total. And if they were lucky, they might take down each other before even reaching them. Somehow, Rey couldn't believe they're already on the final three.

She knew Finn and Poe are both well-equipped in laser tag battles; they've set up a perfect routine almost every Friday nights to play (date) but none of which Rey has been present. The blame is mostly on her part time job at the record store. With her weekdays being dedicated to school meant a great deal of sacrifice for her weekends at work.

But the only reason she's agreed to join them on her day-off instead of taking a rest from all of this semester's stress is because of the competitive game this local place had. Too boost their laser-tag members, they decided to promote a competition composed of three persons in one group who would be thrown with a handful of others to win the main prize of unlimited pizza night. It seems like a pretty good deal for Rey; Finn and Poe handled the game exceptionally well, only they needed a third player – and who doesn't love good pizza enough to do it? It's free.

Seven groups entered the pit, and only one would reign victorious. Passion and excitement drowned the three of them – Finn is bouncing on his toes. They're so close.

Poe poked his head from the wall to survey the terrain as the two of them leaned back to wait for the signal. He flicked his wrist to signify a clear field, and Finn followed by rushing to the staircase and crouch behind a pillar.

Rey moved next. She fleet swiftly from the wall to the staircase. But as she climbed almost halfway, a series of footfalls that was fast approaching resounded that forced her to turn towards the source.

"Come on, come on! He's the last one!" A man's voice echoed from the coming group.

Soon enough, a lone running silhouette emerged into the room lit by a green vest. Rey crouched down and held up her gun to shoot, but a flash of red coming from the opposite direction beat her trigger by a second. The green vest went down, and she could hear the cursing ensued by the player who's out of the game. Quickly picked up by the system, everyone's watches blinked to notify another team has gone down the drain.

"You wouldn't have won, anyway. Even with all the luck in the world." A somewhat familiar deep voice spoke as the sound of sprinting footfalls reduced to walking.

Rey could feel a lump forming in her throat. Sweaty palms griped the railing while she watched in pure curiosity and anticipation. There was something that she found alluring with how familiar the voice was, like she knew him and at the same time she didn't.

"We have one last team left, then." A female voice quipped.

"About time. We could've sacked this bag earlier if it wasn't for his temper holding us back." There was another man. A voice not as intimidating as the first male but clearly owned by a sharp tongue. It only proved that they were still three of them – just as their team. Three on three; it's going to be a fair and dangerous game.

"Well, if it wasn't for you—"

"Both of you shut up!" The female interrupted. "Grow up, will you?"

"How rich of you telling us to grow-up when we're playing this stupid game."

The green player left the room as the footsteps of the impending enemies got louder and louder. Under the dim lighting, three tall individuals stepped within Rey's field of vision. They were wearing red coded vests, and she could barely register their faces as she squinted. There was an atmosphere of superiority around them that could be felt even across the room through the way they carried themselves with their doubtless skills and physical advantage. It almost seemed as if Rey, Finn, and Poe were children come face to face with the figures.

'No.' Rey thought. 'I can't be intimidated.'

One of the new comers read his watch receptor. The white glow of the screen reflected his face, which picked him apart of the other bodies of silhouettes in the darkness. From at least 10 meters across, Rey could finally picture his long, dark hair, wide eyes, prominent nose, and his angular face.

'H-him?!' Her eyes widened and her mind scrambled to differentiate images of its memories from the current events before her eyes. She knew this person – maybe not by name but by face.

Almost every weekend, he drops by the record store. Sometimes to actually buy a few CDs or vinyl, others just to brows for some good sets of albums. She wasn't exactly sure how it all played out or when it happened, but recently (about six weeks ago) without much thinking, she blurted out an attempt to strike a conversation.

"New York Dolls! Where did you find this 'Paris Burning' vinyl? I didn't even know we still had this!" Rey mused at the record, before looking up to see the owner of those striking brown eyes.

"I got lucky at the bottom shelf – very last rack." He shrugged, a small smirk tugging his lips. "You don't look like the type of person who would listen to New York Dolls."

"I hope that's a compliment," she chuckled. "I have some memories regarding some bands growing up…" It was the most that she could say without going through her childhood in the orphanage where her best friend and roommate influenced her to listen to such bands when they were kids. It was hard to grow out of fond memories, to say the least. "You have a good taste in music… I noticed for the past months."

He flashed a wide and genuine smile, only for his eyes to completely regret it in a split second when he tried to hide it as if abashed. Rey blinked and raised an eyebrow when he dropped his gaze and made no attempt to continue the conversation.

'Weird,' she thought, pursing her lips.

Maybe striking a conversation with him was a mistake. Maybe he didn't want her to speak to him. The latter thought somehow made her feel guilty of even trying – but also irritated on how condescending his lack of reply is.

Shaking her head, Rey continued to punch down the serial code into the computer to distract her from these thoughts on a stranger she just met. Best be not too quick to judge.

"That would be $50," she choked, avoiding the man's fixated gaze on her.

He handed the bill without a word—quietly pondering over his mistake of either talking to her or flashing a smile. And for a moment, their skin brushed like feathers when she accepted the paper. It made her eyes flicker back to meet his, like a moth searching for the light. But the moment their gaze intertwined, he dropped his almost immediately once again. It was only then could she appreciate how wide and gentle his dark brown eyes were, in contrast to his other striking features. They were so out of place – like he had lost all of his innocence but those eyes still belonged to a kid.

She sucked in a deep breath and drove her focus on the task of putting the record in a bag, feeling those eyes trail her as she worked. It was hard not to grit her teeth and clench her jaws. It got to her nerves: the way this mysterious person could startle her easily when she knew well that she shouldn't be.

It was killing her to be so blind as to why he's acting so weird when he didn't have any reason to be. Though he's certainly older and carries himself in all superiority. He's not a supermodel image, but he did have his own prominent signature of good looks in an odd way, plus a tall and athletic body. Not to mention his dark hair is far healthier than hers – or anyone else's that she'd ever seen rather. He had a better status than her, a cashier, and had no tangible reason as to why he acts so inferior.

"There we go," Rey mustered her courage to meet those eyes again. She just had to put up with a few more seconds before he leaves. Fake it 'til she makes it. "Thank you for buying. Please come ag—"

"I can show you other music sometimes." The man blurted out without sparing it some thoughts. "Older ones, I mean. Underrated, but really good – probably you've never heard of… If you're not busy and if you'd like, of course." He watched her for a while, looking for any hints of reaction on her blank face before squinting and shaking his head. "No, never mind—"

"O-oh! No, no, no, that would be fine." Rey spat quickly. "That would be… fine." She said once again, tasting the words in her mouth before he could change his mind.

"Really?" He sounded surprised, which was bothersome.

"Yes. It's great." A grin flashed her lips to try to comfort him. "I'm always in the store by weekends." Yeah, why not? She could use some company. Sometimes the store gets a bit lonesome looking after it when people would rather buy digital albums nowadays. Besides, he's always here by the weekend. Might as well be friends with a regular customer.

"Well… uh… great," he smirks and runs his fingers through the dark curly locks he had. "I'll see you later, then—" his eyes squints to search her name on her tag. "—Rey."

"Yeah," Rey smiled, waiting for him to spill his name before leaving, but that grin soon withered into a confused look when he closed the shop's door without another word.

"How unfair," she huffed before looking around the room to scan the deserted place.

And once again, she was left alone to tend the store with nothing but the humming of the old speakers. Yet somehow, she managed to fumble through the system computer and change the shop's music to New York Dolls for the entire day.

Six weeks ago. That was the last day she'd seen her. Until now.

"REY!"

Without even having the chance to see what was happening, a body tackled her which almost sent her flying down the plight of stairs if not for gripping the railing. She's been too drowned in her thoughts that Rey figuratively blacked out from reality, and now Poe is screaming at a yard's length from her to go.

Like a good soldier, she followed and ran as quickly as she could up the stairs. She heard Finn curse, which followed a blue ray from the upper floor to hit one of the figures below.

She quickly rejoined Finn and the boy wordlessly grabbed her hand and rushed through the corridor into a tunnel that would lead to another terrain.

The dim passage was still and quiet. There was nothing but the low hum of the air conditioner below the sound of their footsteps and their heavy running breath. It was odd; no one was in pursuit- not their opponents, and especially not even their small band's commander.

"Where's Poe?" Her eyes are glued behind, practically letting Finn drag her until they were finally out in another open room. But he didn't stop there, he still continued to run through another passage and took multiple sharp turns that would make sure to get them more time from their final adversary.

"Finn, where's Poe?" Rey pulled her hand from his vice grip once safe. The two of them leans on a wall and slides on the ground to rest and catch their breaths. Like the passage, the new room was quiet and without a sign of any player's presence but the two of them. This one reflected the theme of some space jungle, with some plastic replicas of plants and painted boulders showered by a dim neon light. It was probably the largest room the arena had but was still crowded by the ornaments nonetheless.

What Rey and Finn didn't expect was the tall makeshift "hedge" from a garden shrub painted drywall in the middle of the room, approximately eight feet in height and up to 30 meters wide. It took them one glance to know what it was and to be equally amazed and terrified. Rey didn't know which feeling consumed her most.

It was a replica of a hedge maze.

"Oh man… They're totally pulling some The Shining shit here. I don't like it." Finn's cracked voice echoed as he shifted his weight and repositioned his gun with the other hand. "Sorry, Rey—I'm not familiar with this new room… This game must have been a promotion to beta test this arena. We'll both be fumbling in the dark this time. No pun intended."

The amount of detail the designer had put into this place has already been ridiculous – and that's not counting the hedge maze. Still, Rey couldn't really focus on the smaller details when their commander in charge is missing. A small voice inside her head already knows the truth, but she needed to hear it herself.

"Where's Poe?" She asked again for the third time, now that they're immobile and Finn is finished from all of his distractions.

Under the blue light, he sighed and shook his head. The look of exhaustion from running the whole day finally taking toll on his face. It was disturbing to actually exaggerate what had happened as if they have lost their friend, when in reality Poe is most likely resting and watching the two of them from a security camera in the lobby with a drink in hand, but guilt had burdened Rey too much to actually ponder over reality. Poe was kicked out of the game because of her. Because of her carelessness.

"Did you manage to retaliate?" She asked, remembering the whole scenario five minutes ago. Her blacking out, Poe's cries and urges, and then Finn's laser from the upper floor. A spark of hope fueled her while waiting for his answer. She needed him to take down one of them, which was the least they could do for their fallen commander and to level down the field.

"I did my best shot. I really hope I did."

It was the most that she could bear to hear. Finn is a good shooter, after all. She doubted the concept of him missing a shot, especially when perched up above the target for a clear game. "I trust you," she squeezed Finn's shoulder in reassurance. "And I'm sorry for what happened," Rey choked out, not sure as to how she could explain what happened but it obviously deserved an apology. "I'll make up for it, I promise."

"Nah. Don't mind it, I'm sure Poe just wanted to sit down and take a break after manning a squad and all," He grinned. Of course, he'd say that. It was so him to partially lie just to make his friends feel better. And somehow, Rey only questioned if she should be thankful.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Finn asked gently, studying her face carefully in case he accidentally crosses some line. "All I know is that you two are supposed to join me, but we got held up by the other group and then I heard Poe call your name so I went into position to shoot, since there's no point into hiding anymore."

"I… I recognized one of them," she croaked out, waiting for him to lash out for such a petty excuse but Finn was still quiet and patient for a further explanation. "He's been at the store plenty of times."

"Oh," Finn bobbed his head and pursed his lips before breaking into a chuckle as if delving deeper into understanding. "Ohhhh…"

"What?" She blinked at him, clueless at his train of thoughts and to where it's leading him. What could he possibly know? He's never met him. Finn doesn't know how he suddenly disappeared because of one conversation without an explanation. Not that Rey is expecting a lot from him, but it was both rude and hurtful even if she knew well she had no right to feel so.

"Assuming based on your reaction after seeing him, I'd say it's either he owes you something – money, probably OR – and I'm not going to say that you like-like him because you're not exactly the type of person who develops crushes on random guys – but maybe you need something from him."

"You're quick-witted, I'll give you that." Rey smirked.

"Of course. I don't have to be smart to figure out one of my best friends."

To be stunned in the middle of a battlefield and have her combat leader sacrifice himself should've meant something more. But the more she takes time to process her inferiority towards this guy, the more unreasonable they sounded.

'It was nothing. Maybe he just didn't want to talk or see me anymore. End of conversation. It's not a big deal,' Rey tried to convince herself but half of her wanted to pursue him for answers why. Did she do something wrong? Did she offend him in any way? Was there a hidden message that she failed to recognize?

And to think that growing up an orphan meant having to be able to develop a thick skin around people who doesn't want to do with her.

"What do you suppose we should do next?" Rey asked after a moment to save herself from these dark thoughts.

"We attack them. Or we let them find us. Whichever's more convenient, I guess?"

The two of them took their time to relax and think of the best solution. If only Poe was here to strategize, it would've been a landslide win.

"We need Poe," She sighed.

"Yeah. He's always best at—wait—" Finn jumped grabbed her hand in anticipation. Force of a habit. "Wait wait wait wait wait—" His eyes widened and scanned the wide room animatedly. The only thing that seemed to go amiss was a comical light bulb over his head. It was one of the many moments Poe loved most about his energy.

"Wait! I got it!" He was giddy to point a finger at the maze that it didn't take long for Rey to finally understand how this game will end.

Hidden behind a large fallen tree, Finn shot towards the couple of incoming figures. And as expected, they put on quite a challenge. "A worthy finalist, indeed," he muttered under his breath as he aimed once again only for his shot to be deflected. It didn't take long for his spot to be located with all the blue laser beams he was feeding, so sprinting off would be the best option before they could even close their distance.

It was decided that the best way to take them out, without risking their own lives, is to gain the maze field to their advantage. Better to harness the greatest laser tag arena for this game, after all.

The original plan was to wait for the other two to arrive, and if lucky, Finn could take them out behind this trunk without ever reaching the need of dwelling within the maze trap where Rey would stay low and shoot from a corner.

She was faster than Finn, but given that their two opponents are both experienced shooter like himself, he decided to face them as the bait instead so as it wouldn't be too unfair. They knew the risk, but if Finn couldn't achieve on taking one of them down then Rey could from her safe spot.

Footsteps and lasers filled the otherwise silent rooms. Finn was running like a prey from his predators. The experience isn't exactly pleasing, but it was for a successful plan which he wanted not to abandon. His legs carried him, dashing in a zigzag pattern to avoid blasters while shooting back to shake off a slim, ginger male from his tail.

Through the maze he ran, consistent with his strategy to avoid and shoot. But it seems like his skills pared well with his adversary. He was just as sly and quick on his toes as Finn was. But if he couldn't take him down, then the most that he could do is stay alive and Rey would take care of the rest.

And take care, she did. The moment Finn ran straight at the intersection where she was hiding, she set her gun to shoot the next person to cross. It took one hit, and the red light of his system automatically shut down.

"Dammit!" She hears him curse, halting from the pursue.

"Ha!" Finn scoffed, seeing their plan worked. But just when he was about to reach Rey to celebrate, a red beam struck his blue vest which deactivated his gun and its light. At the end of the passage materializes another tall male, brisk walking instead of sprinting. The rush had actually taken over him so much that he overlooked the absence of the redhead's partner.

"Crap-" Finn hissed, watching the lanky male stroll towards them. "Rey! Go!"

His partner blinked: dazed by the unexpected scene before stealing a glance at the incoming player and dashing on the opposite direction.

The taller man passed by them without a word – not even to his partner, turning left to follow Rey in a sedated stalking manner. It was like seeing a shark hunting down his meal: quiet, calm, and very dangerous. Ready to go down for the kill on his own time of preference.

"Just hurry up, Ren," his partner groaned, dropping his weapon carelessly on the ground and walking towards the maze exit. "Don't waste time."

Ren rolled his eyes and carried on with his own pace in obvious disregard at the redhead's request.

"You think he'll win?" Finn jogged to follow him at the exit, but only realized that it was a really bad idea after spilling the words. The man is obviously a sourpuss. The scowl on his face confirms that.

"He should."

In the middle of the maze was an elongated clearing with four park benches on each corner. It seems like this would go on forever in this maze, if Rey kept running and running. And with Ren being slow on her tail, it gave her enough time to catch her breath and process on how to end this deadlock. Obviously, there could only be one coming out of this maze victorious – and given that she and Finn only had limited time to examine the place, the only entrance/exit passage that she knew was the one where they all entered. It was most likely that she'll be able to encounter Ren if she attempted to trace her steps back. Best be waiting here for the advantage of surprise instead of having him jump on her.

Rey slumped on one of the far benches. She reached down her pocket to grab her phone only to realize that they were made to surrender it before entering the arena. The most she could do now is wait, and pray that Finn and Poe wouldn't be angry nor disappointed.

"There you are," a deep voice called her out from the still world she was swallowed in.

Reflexes kicked in, and in a split second her gun is aiming for his red glowing vest and ready to pull the trigger. He seems to mirror her own instinct, because a red lit gun is also rested on her direction while he was crouching, muscles ready to run or deflect her fire.

"Here I am," she muttered, frowning at his presence. Part of her wondered if Finn somehow anticipated this to happen. To be the bait so she could last longer and meet him. It was a long shot, not knowing if Ren would be the other person standing, but maybe it had crossed his mind.

Ren chuckled to his own amusement, dropping the gun on the ground and resting his hands over his head to surrender – much to Rey's confusion. "Can we talk?"

"I don't know. Can you?" She retorted, shaking off the smug tone in his voice.

He took careful steps towards her, but Rey didn't budge. Her gun was still held eye level and it never once left his vest. Winning is the least of her concerns now, since he basically declared his defeat after leaving his weapon at the entry way of the clearing. But it was somehow calming to be able to grab on some intangible string of control, that this game is still hers for the taking despite of all the explaining that she needed to hear from him.

"Sorry," he grumbled, sitting cautiously at the end of the bench. "I wasn't expecting you playing."

"Of course you weren't. If you did, I doubt you would've joined in the first place." She snapped, only to quickly regret the words on how rude they sounded. Again, as if she was in a position to say such.

"You're right." A coy smirk is playing on his lips despite seeing the surprised look Rey was wearing. Was it the truth? Or was it to mock her? And they said that women are hard to figure out.

"… why?" She croaked out. The gun on her hands slowly lowering to her lap. It wouldn't make any sense if she were to explain things as if they had something special, but it was fair to say that he needed to hear the guilt she pressed on herself. "Did I do anything wrong? Did I offend you?"

"What?" Ren blinked in confusion. "No! Is that what you've been thinking of?"

Rey tore her gaze from him, a slight blush painted on her cheeks that were fortunately concealed by the dim room. Indeed, it was pathetic to think of how being clingy she was to someone no more than a stranger. But being left by her family as an orphan did take its emotional toll on her, even after all these years. If only he knew this.

"Oh god," His elbows rested on his lap and hair locks intertwined with his slim fingers. "I had no idea."

"It's fine, don't worry about it."

"No it's not," He released an exasperated sigh, searching for Rey's eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't consider…" Ren bit his bottom lip, hesitant to continue. It was too personal for his taste, and opening up was never his specialty but Rey at least deserved knowing as to why he started avoiding her for some reason she burdened herself with.

"You were a regular customer! I was the one who spoke to you first, because I thought it would've been a good idea at the moment. And then you suddenly disappeared, so conveniently after that. How was I not supposed to think bad of myself?"

It wasn't even about their friendship or what not anymore. Without even noticing it, Rey had just accidentally shed a layer of her skin for this stranger.

"It's not about you. I… I try to avoid as much traps as I could." He muttered hesitantly, hiding his face. There was a hint of spite hidden in his voice, but she couldn't determine if it was directed towards her or himself.

"That… that doesn't make any sense," now it was her turn to scoff.

"I don't understand it, either."

Of course, it was a lie. He understood it well, only he didn't have the courage to tell her now. To realize that he had developed a growing crush on a subtly charming girl made him regret ever enjoying a single conversation with her. It's a sin. Because the closer the proximity he had with her, the more dangerous it was for him to actually care. That, in his own sense, is just as cancerous for a lone-wolf to encounter. How could he possibly say that he was saving himself from her without sounding like a total creep?

"Well, no point in staying away now. It's too late." Ren muttered to himself before standing up and leaving his vest completely unprotected. "Claim your victory, Rey. It's the most that I could do in apology."

Everything is still muddled, but she followed his direction without complaints To drop his own flag to express his regrets was enough for her to forgive and forget, anyway.

The red glow of the vest soon deactivated until the only light left in the room is Rey's blue one. Her receptor went insane – beeping and flashing continuously in its little celebratory victory that the owner had already overlooked.

"What's your name?"

"Kylo."

"Kylo?" Rey raised an eyebrow, standing up to join him on their way out of the arena. "It sounds like it's a screen name."

"Well…" He pursed his lips indecisively, running his fingers through his hair. "My friends call me Kylo."

"I knew it was fake," she giggled, much to his mild irritation. "And your real name?"

"Must you really pry upon that?"

"It only seems fair," Rey told him in defense.

What's the point in fighting? The moment he stepped in the clearing with his arms over his head might've been the start when he accepted his defeat over her. Literally and metaphorically.

"It's Ben." Under the dim lighting, she could sense him roll his eyes.

"Ben…" she tasted the sound of his name rolling from her tongue. "Ben, huh… I like it better."