"Any questions about your new assignment?"

Despite your efforts to remain as inconspicuous as possible, you somehow found yourself meeting with General Hux--again--this time in his office. You were growing tired of being at all involved with the heads of the First Order.

You sighed. "With all due respect--sir--I'm not sure why I need to go. If the ships on the Finalizer need work, why not send Sam Foster? He's far more flexible than I am. Sir."

General Hux's face remained as stoic as ever, and you briefly wondered if he had smiled even once in his entire life. "Your assignment is no accident. You'll be getting to the Finalizer by way of the Command Shuttle. Kylo Ren is coming with you."

"What?" you asked, the hands of terror and excitement fighting over your heart. "Excuse me--why's that, sir?"

"He has a job to complete there, as well. Additionally, I'm growing tired of pretending to care about his outbursts. You will work together during this assignment and that will be the end of it." Hux's eyes were drilling holes into your skull.

You swallowed the bile in your throat. "Sir, please, if I may offer an alt--"

"Do you wish to be permanently reassigned to the TIE fighters on the Finalizer?" His tone was harsh, snappy.

"No--no, I don't. I will take this assignment. I'll report to the Shuttle at fourteen-hundred hours. Thank you, General."

Hux nodded and waved you away with a flourish of his hand. "Dismissed."

After a slight bow, you escaped from his office area and back into the corridor, where you slumped into the wall. Ever since he had pinned you down a little over two weeks ago, Kylo Ren had been dominating your thoughts. A part of you wanted to find any excuse not to go on the Command Shuttle--maybe a self-amputation. But the other part--the part that you hated--was ready to board the shuttle the second Hux had mentioned it.

You wondered if Kylo Ren knew how much you had been thinking about him. He seemed to figure out everything else. For you, it was bizarre to dedicate so much brain-time to a man in a mask, a man whose skin you had never seen, whose voice you had never heard, a man who--for all you knew--wasn't even a human to begin with.

Shaking your head, you drew yourself from the wall and began your journey back to the docking bay. Since you weren't sure how long your stay aboard the Finalizer would be, Sam would probably have to cover the additional ships under your assignment.

It wasn't too long of a walk, thankfully, as you were anxious to speak with him. The full view of the bay came into your line of sight, and your chest swelled. Though you saw it every morning, you were genuinely amazed every time you entered the docking bay on Starkiller. Your education, regardless of how thorough, couldn't have prepared you for the size or the breadth of something so massive.

You found Sam at a diagnostic terminal down the ways from your area. As you made your way to him, your eyes followed his every movement. Every decision, every diagnosis, every coordination he prepared seemed so effortless. A potent mixture of envy and admiration washed over you. You weren't sure sometimes if you wanted to be with him or be him.

"Sam," you said, grabbing his arm. He leapt in surprise, and you both laughed.

"Hey," he replied. His eyes seemed tired.

"Hey, man," you said. "So, I got some news for you."

Sam smiled, leaning against the terminal. "Oh yeah?"

You shrugged. "I'm gonna be heading to the Finalizer to do some work on a few superior officer vessels."

His face lit up. "Really? That's amazing!"

"I don't know about that," you said, the image of Kylo Ren flashing through your mind. "It seems like you've been really busy lately. I feel bad leaving you with all of this work."

"C'mon, don't worry about me!" he said, not losing an ounce of his positivity. "What an honor to be selected to work on the ships up there! I told you that you were great at your job."

You rolled your eyes. "Whatever. You're so much better than I am."

His mouth became a thin line, and he crossed his arms. "Seriously? This again?"

"Oh please," you said, "you always get all of the accolades, the praise, the recommendations. You and I both know you're damn good at this. If it weren't for Guerrin's stubbornness, I'm almost positive you'd be Chief Engineer by now."

Sam blushed, seeming torn between feeling flattered and embarrassed by your praise. He shrugged. "Still--you're the only one who made it here with me."

You smiled, feeling a flush rush over your own face. "Yeah." You pulled him into a hug, and the warmth on your cheeks grew as you felt his arms wrap around you. "Thanks, Sam."

He pulled away and rubbed the back of his head. "So, when do you leave?"

"Umm," you said, and peeked over his shoulder at the terminal to check the time. "In, like, two hours."

"Oh, damn," he said. "You need to pack or something?"

You shook your head. "No. Hux told me that they'd provide everything for me up there. Which is fine. I don't feel like packing, anyway."

"I hear you on that one," he replied, searching your face. "How are you getting there?"

Your heart thumped. "Oh yeah, that's the other thing." You pointed back at the Command Shuttle. "We're taking that. And by we, I mean Commander Ren and me. We're going together."

A gamut of emotions ran through his face. He patted you on the shoulder. "Well..." His eyes focused on something far in the distance. "Good luck with that. Just be careful, okay?" he said.

"I will," you replied. You said your goodbyes with him, then returned to the shuttle to inspect the systems. Despite your mixed feelings, you didn't have an overwhelming desire to burn up in a ball of flames.

You ran through the checks and cross-checks, and as you wrapped up, you looked at the clock and saw that it was 1400. Kylo Ren would arrive any second. Your palms were sweating as you debated on what to do. Should you go on the ship and wait for him? Or stand outside and walk him through what you had done so he felt confident in your abilities? You felt like you were prepping for a first date.

In the end, you decided to stand by the terminal and await his arrival. It was only moments after your internal debate that you heard the familiar sound of his quick, confident stride. You looked and saw him, a whirlwind of black, making his way toward the Command Shuttle. Swallowing, you stood up straight and met his gaze.

"Commander Ren," you said. "Do you need me to run through everything with you?"

"No," he replied. "We're leaving." He had barely stopped to acknowledge you.

You chewed your tongue and censored your thoughts. "Okay then," you muttered through your teeth.

Once on board the Command Shuttle, you made your best effort to not be in the same space as Kylo Ren, deciding to sit the area behind the cockpit. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw him as he fiddled with the control panels, testing your work. You censored yet another bitter thought that dared to form.

"Are we going to wait for the pilot, sir?" you asked.

He turned to face you. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm the pilot."

You gaped. "Really?"

"It's a short flight, most of it will be auto-pilot." His tone was cold. "I'm wondering how an apparent world-class engineer can be this ignorant," he replied, before turning back to the controls.

His comment felt like a stab wound, but fury rose to cover your pain. You bit it back as you saw him sit down and prepare to take off. You didn't want to have a pissed-off pilot.

The shuttle began to whir and groan as the ramp drew up and the ion engines warmed up. Nervous energy gripped your chest. Despite all of your work on the shuttle, this would be your first time flying on board. You wanted to get up and watch from the cockpit--see the space whizzing by you--but Kylo Ren was enough of a deterrent.

The wings of the ship squealed as they shifted into place and then, without any warning, the ship lurched forward, flinging you onto the floor and into the wall, your knees scraping against the metal plates embedded into the ship. A groan escaped you as you rolled onto your side, curling in a ball of pain.

Kylo Ren was silent, and you heard the clicking and beeping of the control panels behind you. You shook off the pain shoved yourself into sitting up. As you rubbed your knees, vibrations ran through you--his boots hitting the floor. Your spine iced over and you attempted to clamber back to your seat, but your knees buckled as you tried to stand.

Somehow you had ended up in this position again--against the wall, on the floor, with him looming over you. You cleared your throat. "Um, excuse me, Commander..."

"You don't know appropriate flight protocol?" he said.

Your throat felt like the desert. "I just... forgot, I guess." You had no excuse. You had been so distracted by the Command Shuttle's power.

"Your incompetence is astounding." His words sunk into you like teeth into a peach.

"Excuse me?" you said, hoping to bide some time to prevent your anger from bubbling.

"You fail to understand my capabilities as a pilot, and then you fail to even practice the most basic safety protocols," he said. "And for some reason, I haven't heard a peep from you since I boarded."

You shielded your face with your hands, groaning. A word didn't dare slip past your lips. He was so close. A distant portion of you was aching for him to be closer.

"What are you hiding?" he asked. His voice seemed louder than it had just a second ago.

"I'm not hiding anything," you replied. "Sir."

An invisible hand lifted you up, pushed you into the wall, and forced you to stare into the empty, black hole that hid his eyes. "How is it that youmanage to do this to me?"

Okay. You were lost again. "Sir?"

Answering the thoughts you'd been avoiding, he leaned close to you again--not touching you--but the cold metal of his mask skimmed your cheek. An electric thrill raced through you, your lungs shuddering in your chest. You weren't sure if it was fear or desire.

"I know you've been thinking about me," he said, the synthesizer causing his voice to ripple through your ears, down to your toes. "And I know you've been trying to hide it." He placed a gloved hand on the wall next to your face, trapping you underneath him. "What I can't figure out is why I can't hear you now. How are you doing this?"

You wanted to twist away from him, to push him away, to silence the warmth pooling between your legs--anything to get this to stop. "I really don't know, okay?" you said, your jaw locked. "I just didn't want you to hear me calling you a bunch of names or whatever!"

His leather fingers snatched your hair, pulling your head back by your scalp. He leaned closer, resting the icy metal of his masked face into the crook your neck. "What names?" Your body quaked as he spoke.

You groaned, unwilling to say. You couldn't believe this was happening.

He tugged at your scalp. "What names?" he demanded.

The pain of his grip sent you over the edge. "Would you get off of me, you dickhead?" You huffed. "Gods, you're an asshole!"

Under the mask, you heard a near-silent chuckle. "There's that mouth of yours," he said. His other hand came behind the small of your back, and he pressed into you. The heat of his body made your breath short. He shifted your thighs with his knee and drove his hips into yours, and even through all of the robes, you felt the hardness between his legs rub against you. "Someone needs to teach that mouth a lesson."

You were melting in his arms, melting against your will--but feeling his desire ignited a raging fire within you. "I hate you!" you said, with the knowledge that you'd be bucking your hips against his if you could.

The ship rocked, a loud, urgent beeping coming from the control panel. Kylo Ren paused for a moment, and stepped back. "Looks like we've arrived." He returned to the cockpit, and released his hold on you.

Movement returned to your body as you crumpled on the floor. Your mind was reeling and your skin was burning for his touch.

You wondered if Sam had problems like this.