Thread by @curiousniffin

ʙᴇꜰᴏʀᴇ-ʙᴇɴ, ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀ-ʀᴇʏ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴᴄʀᴇᴅɪʙʟᴇ ᴘᴀɴᴅᴇᴍɪᴄ ʀᴇᴠᴇʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴ - 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙥𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙪

when co-workers rey & ben are suddenly working from home, they both come to some realizations about their relationship.

some notes:
- this is my first attempt at twitter fic! please be gentle.
- this will probably get NSFW, but i'm not promising smut
- hey @textfichub i think I'm supposed to tag you?
- #tw for corona-inspired events (see next tweet for details)

#tw: while this fic is corona-inspired, there will be minimal references to global conditions beyond the gang working from home, and my in-universe illness is fictional. i totally understand if this makes anyone uncomfy, feel free to unfollow or mute as needed for your health!

ᴏᴜʀ ᴄᴀꜱᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀꜱ:

ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴏ ᴏᴜʀ ꜱᴛᴏʀʏ ʙᴇɢɪɴꜱ:

Before-Ben would have loved the idea of working from home for four weeks. Uninterrupted quiet time; no one to bother him besides his clients. The thought of all of that peaceful alone-time would have been 𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘴. But that was before-Ben. Before-𝘙𝘦𝘺-Ben.

Before-Rey-Ben didn’t know what it was like to have a desk-neighbor like Rey; just the thought of sharing space with her was enough to make his mother’s brightly lit, warehouse chic, open floor plan bearable. More than bearable. Incredible.

Rey was a gremlin, sure, but she was his gremlin (not for real, not in any meaningful capacity, but the thought warmed Ben even on his worst days). He could hardly remember what life was like before Rey came along;

she stole his favorite pens, she shared her ipod with him on days when the office was eerily quiet, she mocked him relentlessly about his coffee order (no one said grown men weren't allowed to have whipped cream in their coffee, Rey).

While before-Ben would have loved this situation, after-Ben was not thrilled. He wouldn’t have to see Hux or Dameron for weeks, but he also wouldn’t be able to see Rey, and he had minimal reason to contact her outside of their shared clients.

After-Rey wasn’t doing so well herself. Before-Rey had never had a job that she’d loved the way she loved this one; she would be forever grateful to Finn for recommending her. She was thriving, and she finally had what felt like a family. And Ben.

Not that she really 𝘩𝘢𝘥 Ben. Sure, he’d never see her the way she saw him, and she was slowly dying inside every day that she had to tamp down her feelings for him, but it was fine!! They were a perfect team, and that was enough. It had to be.

ᴍᴏɴᴅᴀʏ:

Ben was struggling. It was only Monday, but he could feel himself losing it. He had stopped by the office, ostensibly to grab some paperwork; timing his visit to be after noon was just a coincidence and absolutely not because Rey wasn’t a morning person.

It didn’t matter - she wasn’t there. He lingered at her desk for longer than was strictly necessary; her succulents were gone. She must have come through already and he’d missed her. The thought was more upsetting than he had anticipated.

Before-Ben was not a compulsive phone-checker. Hell, before-this-week-Ben barely looked at his phone. Something about working from home was turning him into the kind of person he hated, constantly glancing at his phone whether or not it had buzzed.

Someone (not Rey, just someone, anyone really) could need something, he reasoned. Keeping it fully charged and nearby was just common sense when working from home. There was the risk that he’d interact with Hux, or god forbid, Dameron, but -

what if it 𝘸𝘢𝘴 Rey? They shared most of their clients - inevitably they would need to touch base. He wasn’t going to do anything drastic, like 𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵 her; he would be available if she needed anything. It was the responsible thing to do. For his co-worker.

Ben had never been more riveted (or less focused) during a meeting. Seeing Rey’s face on his monitor after what felt like an eternity apart was thrilling; he couldn’t pull his gaze away from her; that smile, those freckles. Her hair was a mess (like always). She 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥.

Ben had been told many times throughout his life that he had ‘RBF,’ and suddenly he had never been more thankful for the natural ease of his scowl. He was sure he’d spent the meeting slack jawed and wide-eyed, but according to Kaydel’s email, that wasn’t the case.

It was good to know that he hadn’t been obvious; at least he hadn’t made Rey uncomfortable or embarrassed himself in front of his co-workers. Rey looked happy & healthy & like herself, and now Ben could focus on other things, like his actual 𝘫𝘰𝘣.

And then his phone buzzed.

Now that Rey had texted Ben, it was like the floodgates had opened. She didn’t want to stop texting him - she had gotten used to spending all day every day with him, and it felt so good to be talking to him again. It felt 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭.

Rey hadn’t had 'normal' for most of her life, so any time she found that feeling, she wanted to cling to it, but she was equally scared of getting too attached - once you get attached, you can be 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵, and Rey didn’t want to feel that way ever again if she could help it.

She knew she was already too attached to Ben, but he couldn’t leave her if they were just co-workers, just desk-mates, just acquaintances (she was sure Ben would hesitate to call her a friend if he was asked). This way, she couldn’t get hurt.

He didn’t seem upset that she was texting him; Ben had always been patient, willing to listen to her ramble on about 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, far more than he was with anyone else. So she would just keep texting him. Increased communication was important when social distancing, right?

Besides, they had projects to discuss. Or so Rey would keep telling herself.