Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Simply put, Rey did not want to be here.

“Here”, being a smelly, crowded bar that must be exceeding the legal maximum occupancy. Why she continually allows Rose to drag her to these places boggles even her own mind, especially since there is nothing more she wants to be doing on a Friday night than lounging her in comfiest, yet ugliest, sweats while snuggling her cat BB-8 and rewatching Wednesday on Netflix for the umpteenth time. Her mismatched couch and cramped apartment is calling her name.

Yet here she is.

“Rose!” She yelled over the commotion of the bar. Rose was standing next to her shoulder, yet Rey still had to grab her hand to get her attention. “Maybe we should go somewhere else? Some place that isn’t hosting a karaoke competition?”

“Why on earth would we do that?” Rose asked over the 12th iteration of the night to “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus.

“So we can actually hang out and hear ourselves think? Let alone speak to each other? I’m still waiting for you to spill the tea on Poe’s latest antics”

Instantly Roses eyes narrowed. They both loved their friend Poe dearly, but Rose and Poe being room mates was clearly a terrible idea.

“Don’t even get me started! All I wanted was some peanut butter—“

Rose sharply cut off as a tall, ginger colored shape fell on to her. A man, whose hands promptly fell on Rose’s ass.

“Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing???”

Rose’s question had barely pierced the general commotion when Rey’s fist shot forward on autopilot, aiming to break the miserable gingers face when-

He moved. Embarrassment coloring his already red face as he dipped to help Rose straighten. The movement was faster than the trajectory of Rey’s fist unfortunately, which proceeded to promptly fall on the very large nose of a very tall, very annoyed and very dark haired man.

Instantly, pain exploded in Rey’s fist as blood began to run down the man’s face. How did she always forget to put her thumb outside her fist, instead of inside? You’d like a decade and a half of foster care would have taught her better.

“What is the matter with you?” The man yelled, blood spewing on to Rey’s face. He reached out and pushed her away, which was the precise moment Rey realized just how close they were in packed room. How long had he been that close?

Unfortunately, Rey had never been a particularly graceful person. She promptly fell backwards on another patron, who instantly pushed her forward again.

Acting on autopilot, she tried to catch her balance-

And instantly kneed the tall, angry stranger in the balls.

“Shit I’m sorry I-“

“Seriously what the fu-“

His hand shot out to push her again, this time meeting with her cheek in a resounding slap.

“Dude what is the matter with you?!” Rose’s voice- but Rey was suddenly much too dizzy for it to register. Had the room always been this dark? This…blurry?

“Alright you two! Out! Now!”

A new, even angrier voice, accompanied by a firm hand on the back of Rey’s shirt and she was dragged backwards through the bar by the bouncer she had been tempted to give her phone number too when she had first arrived.

He definitely wasn’t getting it now.

The cool air outside was a welcome reprieve to her sense. The dizziness was starting to fade but the full ache on her face remained. She turned her face to the sky and once again cursed Rose’s name for dragging her out of her apartment.

“Okay you two. What happened?”

The angry voice of the bouncer brought her back to reality. She turned to explain, but before she could open her mouth an even angrier voice cut in-

“This feral bitch assaulted me! I was minding my businesses when she broke my nose and -

“Hey! You started it! You pushed that other dude onto my friend and-“

“I did not! Hux is a clumsy asshole in his own right and -“

“Clumsy or not, that doesn’t give him the right to feel up a stranger at a bar-“

“Hey! Knock it off. Assault is assault and you can tell your excuses to the cops. I don’t have time for this shit.” The bouncer cut in, jerking his chin to the cop car and the officer who was striding towards them.

“What’s going on? Do you want to press charges? “ He asked in a surprisingly high pitched voice, looking far too eager to be of assistance.

“Yes,” she and the strange man announced at once before turning to glare at each other.

She didn’t stop glaring at him. Even when the cop spewed some speech that vaguely sounded like the Miranda Rights that had definitely been practiced in the mirror. It wasn’t until she had been handcuffed and tossed in the police car that she even noticed the stranger was also handcuffed….

….and in the same police car.

“Oh absolutely fucking not!”

Chapter Text

Chapter 2:

“Are you out of your damn mind?! We’re planning to sue each other for assault and you put us in the same cop car?!”

Outside the dimmed car windows, Rey can see the moment the Tall Angry Dude’s words register in the cop. He pales visibly, and rushes toward the car with keys in hand.

Call it nerves or general dumbassery, but the keys are shaking so loudly that Rey can hear them attempting to enter the lock and failing. Repeatedly. The cop is muttering something that appears to be a string of expletives as he struggles to unlock the car.

“What an idiot. How does this dumbass still have a job?”

“Hey be nice! Maybe it’s his first day” Rey bites out, not entirely sure why she feels the need to defend the cherub faced policeman. She decides she really just wants to be derisive toward the Tall Angry Dude.

“You know, it actually is my first solo shift-“ he injects from outside the car, cutting off sharply as the keys fall.

There is a moment when all three of them freeze. Blinking slowly. Before Rey says softly, “wasn’t there a storm drain right there?”

Tall Angry Dude’s head hits his seat headrest with an audible thud.

Outside, the cop doesn’t seem to be recovering well. He turns in a full circle, then again counter clockwise, before pulling his hair in both his hands.

The poor man looks close to crying and something in Rey stirs again. “Hey, it’s okay! We all drop things sometime. Maybe we -“

“Why are you being nice to this idiot?”

“Look you asshole, he is obviously having a rough time.”

“Let’s hope so, considering he just locked us up together! What if we tried to hit each other again?”

“Well I promise not to break your nose again, so if you promise not to slap me we should be fine-“

“I didn’t slap you! I meant to push you off me because you kneed me in the groin-“

“On accident! I fell!”

“Oh well if it was an accident-“ he began sarcastically before Rey cut him off, derision dripping from his tone.

“Officer! Look, maybe there’s someone you can call? A coworker? Superior?”

The cop looked at her dumbly for a moment before ripping his phone out of his pocket and stepping away quickly. Just out of earshot, they watched in silence and the cop clearly got his ass handed to him by whoever was on the other line.

“Man. Poor guy is really getting put through the wringer.”

Tall Angry Dude huffed, before lolling his head to look at her. “He’s an idiot. He deserves it.”

“He does not! Haven’t you ever made a mistake at work? Plus it’s his first solo shift and -“

“That does not matter. “

“Yes it does.”

“Let me rephrase: that should not matter”

“Why?”

Oh, if looks could kill. Rey felt about an inch tall. Which honestly made her even more pissed off. She opens her mouth to retaliate when-

“Okay, another officer is on their way with a key to do some damage control but you two need to keep your hands where I can see them in the mean time.” He says this with all the authority he’s able to muster given the circumstances, but the overall effect is somewhat dimmed because….

“Officer” the Tall Angry Dude says in a flat tone.

“Yes?”

“Our hands are literally handcuffed. Behind our back.”

Rey didn’t know it was possible for the cop to look even more flustered, yet here they were.

She also didn’t know Tall Angry Dude could look even more angry. And yet.

“Right- well - uh. Just. Don’t move. Okay? Please?”

Tall Angry Dude opens his mouth to retort but Rey cuts him off before Dude can crush his poor little soul.

“We won’t! We promise.” She gave him what was hopefully a reassuring smile. It seemed to work, because he looked relieved before standing back and walking over to talk to the bouncer.

“Ugh. You do not need to flirt with him to get out of being arrested. They’d be out of their minds to not just let us go at this point.”

Rey jerked back and swung around to look at him. “What are you talking about? I am not flirting”

“Sure you aren’t sweetheart.”

“What are you on? And don’t call me sweetheart. There’s a difference between flirting and being nice, but maybe you can’t tell because you’re such a dick that no one bothers being nice to you!”

He rolls his eyes and looks back at the cop. “Look, it’s flirting if he already wants to get in your pants. Which he does. “

Her eyebrows knit together. “Oh please. He does not.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Are you dumb or oblivious. He does too.”

“Does not!”

“Does too!”

“Let’s just shut up and wait to get out of this mess okay? My head is already pounding.”

“Find by me.” He replies, venom dripping from his tone.

An awkward, heavy silence descends that Rey has no intention of breaking.

It occurs to her then, that she hasn’t seen Rose since the commotion in the bar. Is she okay? Did the ginger guy leave her alone? Did she not see Rey’s first bar brawl?

A heavy feeling settles into her stomach. What if Rose was looking for her right now, worried or afraid for her well being? What if she was being harassed by Ginger Guy?

Rey shook off that particular concern. Rose could handle herself. She always remembered to put her thumb outside her fist.

A loud, petulant sigh pulled her out of her musings. A glance to her right showed the strong profile and prominent Adam’s apple of her current company.

“What is it now?”

“I’m trying to decide if suing the police department for negligence is worth talking to my parents.” He mumbles more to himself than to her. “Uncle Lando could win this shitty case in his sleep but there is no way he wouldn’t tell them at their weekly squash game.”

“And….that means they would talk to you? If he tells them?”

“They’d call.” He presses his eyelids together even tighter, somehow. “And they’d just keep calling. And calling. And calling.” Another sigh.

Rey wasn’t quite sure what to say to that, and also wasn’t sure if he was even talking to her?

His head lazily shifts closer to her. “Parents. They’re the worst right?”

Despite the obvious Olive branch, Rey is royally pissed off. Again.

“At least you have parents. I’d do anything to have mine call me after their ‘weekly squash game’, but it’s hard to do that from the grave isn’t it?” She snapped before thinking. What an ungrateful, entitled prick. His eyebrows were bunched, and somehow that made Rey feel dumb. What was she thinking sharing anything about herself, let alone anything so personal? With any hope she’d never seen him once this stupid cop car was unlocked.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

Of course he didn’t. It’s not exactly something you tell someone you barely met. It’s definitely not something Rey usually tells people she barely met. She had been college roommates with Rose for two years before she had the courage to tell her the truth about why she stayed on campus for Christmas.

She gave a tight shrug. Suddenly missing the tense silence before as she felt his eyes on her face. Red and blue lights reflected off the buildings outside and seemed to intensify, or maybe that was the mist in her eyes.

A creak of leather as he leaned toward her. “Hey-“

They both startled as a figure appeared at the window of the car. A much older police officer, large in stature and glaring daggers at his younger counterpart as he quickly unlocked the car.

“We alright?” He gruffed as he helped them both out of the car. “Deepest apologies about this situation-“

“No worries at all” Rey cut in, grateful to avoid the awkwardness of earlier. “Accidents happen, and I don’t want to press charges anymore anyway. So.”

She scurried off, hardly registering the officer asking Tall Angry Dude if he wanted to press charges. Hardly hearing him say that he didn’t.

Chapter Text

Rey hadn’t even reached the entrance of the club when she was accosted by a high pitched squeal that could only have been emitted by her best friend. Rounding on her heels, she saw Rose running up to her.

“There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you. What happened?! Did you just get out of that cop car?”

Rey sighed, the events of the night suddenly piling up, and making her exhausted.

“Yes, I was almost arrested, or, I was arrested and let go? I don’t actually know?”

Rose’s eyebrows furrowed. “What were you almost or maybe arrested for?”

Rey felt the heat gather in her cheeks.

“Well, after that creep felt you up I tried to punch him, to, you know, defend your honor-“

“Defend my honor?” Rose snorted, a giggle evident in her voice.

“Yes,” Rey insisted, suddenly feeling quite dumb. “But he leaned over to help you up and I, well, sorted of punched the bloke that was standing behind him, and he sort of hit me back? But I think it was an accident. It must have been.”

“What a dumbass. How did he hit you on accident?”

“Hey!” Cried Rey, indignant. “I hit him on accident too….its a thing that…happens. Accidentally.”

Rose’s eyebrows crept up her forehead, her lips pursing. The entire thing pissed Rey off more than it should.

“Where have you been anyway? Didn’t you notice I was bring hauled out of the bar?”

Color immediately rose on her cheeks and something like embarrassment flashed across her face.

“Well,” she said slowly. “I was….distracted.”

Rey looked at her. Waited. Raised an eyebrow.

“That bloke that touched my ass? He helped me up and we got to talking and then, well-“

“Rose. “ Rey deadpanned. This could not be happening.

Rose made a noncommittal noise, suddenly very interested in the light rain and the vehicles driving on the glossy road.

“Rose.” Rey said again. “Tell me you didn’t have sex with him.”

Rose made another much higher, much more uncomfortable noise. It was all the confirmation Rey needed.

“You mean while I was getting arrested for defending your honor- “

“OMG Rey. Not this ‘defending honor’ bit like
It’s the 1830’s-“

“— you were getting railed in the bathroom?”

“ew? Of course not. I’m too classy for bathrooms. We went to his car.” Rose bit her lip, and Rey had the sudden urge to vomit. Or scream.

“Rose. Honey. That doesn’t help me. “

“You’re right, you’re right. I’m sorry I was distracted and that you were almost or maybe arrested. Now can we please go home? There’s a carton of strawberry ice cream with an apology written all over it. “

Still annoyed but never one to say no to sugary carbs, Rey huffed and agreed. Rose immediately grabbed her hand, swirled, and started hauling her towards their parked car two blocks over.

Rey couldn’t stop herself from looking back, just once.

Tall Angry Dude was standing on the curb, looking strangely lost and watching her go, not looking nearly as angry as he had before.

Chapter Text

The light filtered through Rey’s Lilac and Orange mimosa, casting her French toast with a rather charming look. The entire thing looked like an instagram filter and Rey didn’t have enough pride to refrain from snapping a picture. Or several.

“Finn, you have seriously out done yourself this time. This is unreal. “

A chorus of agreement echoed around the table, mixed with various grunts of enjoyment as their friends dug into the brunch Finn provided.

If she angled her phone just so, she could get the light reflecting off the beads of syrup on the blackberries….

“If Rey could get off her phone she would know what we were talking about!”

Without glancing up, her fist shot out and collided firmly with Poe’s stomach. He immediately started choking, and Rey would have been more concerned if he wasn’t such an ass.

Deciding her miniature photo shot was over, she locked her phone and slid it in her pocket. She looked up to find Finn’s bulging cheeks smiling at her as he chewed.

“This is art, and it is my duty to document it!”

A blush rose on Finn’s cheeks as Poe’s breathing finally regulated.

“It tastes better than it looks!” Rose contributed from her spot across the table from Rey. She was also glued to her phone, but her activities seemed to be more texting related, if the movement of her thumb was anything to go by.

Rey picked up her fork and began eating with gusto. Rose wasn’t wrong.

The moan that left her lips might have been embarrassing and board-line sexual, but Rey didn’t care.

“Watch it with the sound effects. There are young ears present.” Poe said, gesturing to his his head.

“Poe, you’re 27.” Rey said through a full mouth.

“But you are a child.” Rose snipped, looking up from her phone to take a sip of champagne glass.

“Hey! Poe exclaimed, looking at Finn and Rey for back up.

They both took a long, slow drink of their mimosas.

“Wow. Betrayed by my best friends. I should have known this is how it would end.”

“Yes, yes.” Rose replied, once again looking back at her phone. “Betrayed by the friend who drove you here because your license is suspended, again, which was me. And the friend who made you this amazing brunch because your dumb ass is hung over- thank you Finn, and the friend who is currently hosting us and is generally a perfect angel sent to walk among men, which is Rey. “

“Oh shucks,” Rey say with an over exaggerated hair toss.

Poe glowered, but the effect was ruined by the syrup still stuck to his chin.

“Get over it, Poe.” Finn said with a laugh. “My French toasts deserves better than your whining.”

“I’m offended. But you’re right, the French toast deserves to hear nothing but praise. “ Poe conceded, shoving a large piece in his mouth.

“Finn, you should seriously start your catering business already.” Rey said, bringing it up for the thousandth time this week alone. “You’re wasted at that stupid diner and you don’t even like it!”

Finn face immediately grew wistful, just like the other thousand times this week.

“I want to but Rey, a good French toast recipe does not a successful catering company make.”

“It’s a damn good first step though.” Rose said without looking up.

“It is!” Rey agreed, “In fact, I would argue that being a good chef is a crucial aspect of a successful catering company.”

“But the other aspects like the business stuff, and marketing and taxes,” He paused to shudder, “are also pretty crucial.”

“Well,” Rey “if only you had a friend with an MBA who is willing to be paid in pastries. And has connections to marketing and tax people.”

Finn gave her a small smile. “If only.”

“Like I said” Rose interjected, still texting “Literal angel. Joy among men.”

“Look Finn. I know it’s scary!” Rey carried on. “But I’ll seriously help you with everything-“

Rose let out a small giggle, two hands on her phone-

“Okay that’s enough,” Rey said. “Who are you texting Rose?”

Rose looked up, dropping her phone on the table with a thunk.

“Hmm?”

“You’ve been texting this whole time, but the giggle? Who is it?”

“Yeah Rosie,” Finn agreed. “I assumed it was just your sister but that was a suspicious laugh.”

Rose offered a rather strangled noise, reaching for her mimosa and draining the remained in one audible gulp.

“I bet it’s that ginger dude.” Poe said through another full mouth.

Finn and Rey froze, staring at Poe.

“The…ginger dude?” Finn asked.

“Yeah that red head that Rose has been hooking up with for the past few weeks.”

“How did you even know about that?” Rose asked sharply. She glared at Poe, and the poor champagne glass stem looked in danger of being snapped in half.

Poe scoffed. “Rose. We share a bathroom. I have seen his pasty ass more times than I ever wished too. Which, to be clear. Is none.”

“Wait wait wait. Wait.” Rey said, hands up in a stopping motion. She turned to Rose. “The ginger? The one from the bar???”

Rose blushed and gave a guilty little nod, grimacing.

“From the bar?” Finn asked, “what bar?”

“From when Rey was arrested.” Rose said simply, recovering from her shock and cutting another bite of her breakfast. Finn and Poe stuttered.

“You got ARRESTED?!”

They may have spoke in unison, but Finn’s tone was horrified where Poe sounded proud.

“Just, a little. Just a little arrested for like a second.” She said, much more interested in grilling Rose about this little development than explaining her short lived time in police custody.

“How do you only get arrested a little?” Finn asked, eyes wide and fork half way to his mouth.

Rey ignored him and turned back to Rose. “So you’ve still been seeing that guy that grabbed your ass?”

“He grabbed your ass in a bar?” Finn asked, swinging towards Rose. “And you slept with him after that?”

“Yeah,” Rose said to Rey with a smile. “He called me the next morning and asked if I wanted to come over that night and obviously I’m not passing up that good of a lay.”

“Get ‘em Rosie” Poe said, in a tone Rey would like to never hear again.

“Ew, gross. But okay! I’m glad you’re getting some on the regular!” Rey said. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Rose swallowed. “Yeah I just, I don’t know. I….i like him. “

“Well if you’re doing the dirty with him, I’d sure hope you like him.” Finn said.

Rose gave him a look. “Well obviously, but I like like him. Like a lot. “

Rey gave her a small smile. “That’s good right? How does he feel?”

Rose met her best friends gaze. “I didn’t know before, and I’ve been worried I like him a lot more than he likes me. We’ve shared meals together and stuff but it was never defined and I didn’t want to assume, you know?”

Rey nodded, “Totally, but now?”

“He just asked me if I wanted to go out with his friends on Friday.” She said, a gorgeous smile splitting her face in two. “Said his friends have been asking to meet his girlfriend.” She said the last word with another giggle.

Rey had known and loved Rose for a long time, and she didn’t know if she had ever seen her so happy. Even just thinking about this man was making her best friend giddy.

“I’m so happy for you Rosie!” Rey said, reaching over the table to grab her friends hand.

“Thanks,” she said with a smile. “He wants me to meet up with them on Friday to go laser tagging. I haven’t gone since college but I’m ready to whip their asses.”

Rey laughed. Her friend could be wildly competitive and she loved it.

“I could uh, really use some help.” Rose said, looking hopefully at Rey. “Will you come with me?”

Rey gave her a smile. “Of course.”