Chapter Text
Rey Niima abides by one rule and one rule alone: to always keep her professional life separate from her personal life. It’s a strict rule that she thoroughly adheres to, and to be honest, she would rather die than have the two things bleed into each other.
For a normal person, separating their career from their personal lives might not be such a big deal: it could be as easy as shutting off one’s work phone after work hours, making sure that they’re not contactable during personal leaves, or keeping work friends strictly just work friends. But for Rey, it’s a whole different situation entirely.
In the morning, Rey works as an art curator for the Takodana Art Gallery. Her job consists of making sure that all of the gallery’s artworks, sculptures, and other masterpieces are all in good quality, safe for the general public’s viewing, and clean and maintained throughout their stay in the gallery. Aside from that, Rey also works with her coworkers-turned-friends, Finn and Rose, as they are also tasked to manage gallery events by making sure that it runs smoothly.
Rey has made a name for herself in the art world. And she likes to think that to an outsider’s eyes, she looks like a woman who has her shit together: because she’s excellent in her career, she knows how to do her job, and her experience is truly impressive. She’s a self-made woman who has achieved so much for a twenty-six-year-old.
But beneath her own facade, Rey has an interesting secret to behold. Once she drops her work attire, she turns into a fan. Not just a basic fan of some boy band—but a fucking simp for The First Order. She has been following the band’s lead singer, Armitage Hux, since his rise to fame. And she’s not stopping anytime soon.
For Rey, Armitage—or Armie, as the fans lovingly call him, isn’t just a celebrity whom she admires. He’s way more than that. His songs are inspiring and a great motivation for Rey to fight through her most difficult days; his concerts help Rey power through everyday life; his TV show guestings never fail to make her smile. She loves him so much (but not in a sexual, I-hope-I-can-date-you way) in a totally thank-you-for-existing way.
She admits that her love for Armie is quite intense—if that’s one way to put it. Because one, she handles a Twitter account with over 500k followers where she constantly updates her fellow fans with the most recent news about their favorite golden boy; Two, Rey likes to think that her love for The First Order also paved the way for her own economy, where she buys, creates, and sells the band’s merch. It’s a thriving side hustle that she’s thankful for—mainly because of all the merchandise that she has collected over the years. The additional earnings just come second; And finally, being a well-known fan under the pseudonym of MillicentsArmy has its perks. She has coordinated with The First Order’s team multiple times to hold live streams and various events where the band could connect with their fans.
These experiences that she had been blessed with are all wonderful experiences for Rey, and she is forever grateful to have this part of her life that always seems to bring joy to her, no matter the circumstance.
Also, that explains why she’s been looking at her watch for the nth time, with her high heels clicking against the marble floor as she waits for the gallery event to finish.
“Earth to Rey, are you okay?” Rose, who works alongside her as the gallery’s events coordinator, asks her out of the blue. Rey blinks back to her friend and color washes over her cheeks as she realizes how distracted she has been. “What’s up, Reyrey? Are you still nervous about the event? We’ve already pulled it off, you’ve got to let yourself loose,” Rose chides.
It’s because The First Order is having a meet-and-greet eight blocks away, and I can’t afford to be late, Rey’s mind supplies yet the answer that comes out of her mouth is far from the truth. “It’s just, there’s this bag from Canto Bight that’s on sale today. I just want to make sure that I can get my hands on it,” Rey mutters with a practiced sheepish grin.
Rose laughs before taking a sip of her champagne. “Tell you what, it’s a Friday night. We’re twenty minutes done until the event wraps up. Go and get that bag for yourself, and Finn and I will be here to usher everyone away once the event is done.” And at that moment, Rey swears upon the heavens that she would do absolutely anything for one of her best friends.
Rey tries very hard not to squeal as she wraps Rose in a tight hug. Her heels click and clack across the floor as she hurries to exit the gallery. She almost runs to the parking lot, and once she gets inside of her back seat, she changes into a more comfortable, casual outfit. Once she’s settled, Rey prepares her DSLR camera in hand, and she buckles up in the driver seat. And off she goes, to meet Armie Hux once again.
By 10 in the evening, Rey walks to her little apartment and settles back into her couch. Once again, it has been another amazing time spent with The First Order—but most especially, her favorite boy, Armie Hux. She feels utterly giddy as she looks through the photos that she was able to take. With a dreamy sigh, Rey stretches a bit before proceeding to start a tradition that she’s familiar with. She connects her camera to her laptop to transfer all of the photos, and she massages the cricks in her neck to prepare for the long night ahead. It’s always like this when the band has events like this one.
Once the files are done with the transfer, Rey takes two to four hours to look through the images, do edit-downs, and have them all posted on her Twitter account. Her fellow fans are hanging on the edge as they await her updates, and she never lets them down.
In the meantime, Rey gets comfy as she stands up to start to brew some tea, and microwave some leftovers for her dinner. She goes through the band’s Twitter account while she waits for her food to heat, and she grins as she spots a retweeted video from over a year ago—one that features Armie’s apartment.
Rey taps it excitedly and she docks her phone nearby. The familiar accent of Armie rings around her kitchen, and she smiles as she listens to him talk about his favorite furniture, appliances, and other random items of attractions in his home.
But Rey’s interest is piqued when she gets to the part of the video where Armie talks about his adoration for paintings—preferably by a familiar painter named Solo. Rey grabs her stool and settles in front of her phone, then she pauses the video to study the painting that Armie was showing off.
Rey quirks her lips at the sight. Solo is an elusive painter in the art world—his abstract paintings are one of a kind, and the mystery of the man behind the paintings is only one of the many factors why his pieces are truly worth their coin. Takodana Art Gallery is yet to get one of them. So the moment that the gallery owner, Maz Kanata, had heard a rumor that a Solo piece will be auctioned off in Coruscant, Rey was hurriedly assigned to make sure that she secures that painting for the gallery.
Rey bites her bottom lip in thought. An idea starts to form in her mind—maybe, if she secures that Solo painting in Coruscant’s auction, she could connect with the band’s manager, Phasma, and string up an invitation for Armie so that he could see the painting for himself.
Rey just knew that her golden boy would enjoy it so, so much.
And it will be utterly lovely to meet Armie in her more professional persona.
Rey smiles maniacally as her plan settles in her mind. She taps her phone to resume playing the video and proceeds to start eating her meal and finally drink her tea.
And little did she know that in another city, another man is itching to get his hands on the same piece that she is after.
Kylo Ren sits comfortably on his leather couch with a glass of his favorite scotch in hand. He studies the paintings that are framed on his living room wall—brows furrowing as he takes into account that there are only two paintings left until he completes the full picture.
Kylo drinks his alcohol with distaste. The last one is yet to be located, but he’s heard a rumor that an auction in Coruscant would be featuring it, so he got his assistant to ensure that he’ll be attending the auction.
On the other hand, the other painting is owned by some boy band starlet. He’s still working on a plan on how to convince a celebrity to sell a Solo painting.
He downs his glass before standing up to stretch. For years, Kylo has been desperately scrounging the art world to complete the paintings of Solo—or as he likes to think, the man he used to call his father.
For Kylo, it’s still a mystery why Han had decided to suddenly release the paintings, which are a series of abstract art that could only make sense once you complete it. He has 8 of the 10 paintings in his possession and once rearranged, the paintings make up a familiar picture from his youth—only, he doesn’t have much recollection of where and when he has seen it.
He’s convinced that the paintings are some sort of puzzle. Maybe, if he completed it, he could have a clue about his father’s sudden disappearance in his life. Maybe, getting all the paintings together meant that there was a hidden message that’s waiting to be figured out.
Maybe, it’ll finally explain why you left.
Kylo walks around to the large glass walls of his living room. The sight is magnificent—it overlooks the city, and it helps to make him feel more of the powerful man that he is. His thoughts are brushed away as his phone rings once again. He walks toward the nearby table to put his earbuds in before answering the call.
“Hey, Benny-boy. I’ve got some excellent news for you!” Kylo groans at the voice of his assistant and unfortunate childhood friend, Poe Dameron. Despite Kylo’s relentless demands for Poe to call him by the new name that he had made for himself—the fucking bastard could not be budged. So in turn, Kylo is the one who gave up.
“Make sure it’s actually good fucking news. What is it?” Kylo replies.
“Sheesh, you’re up to your ass tonight,” Poe sighs at the other end of the line. “Anyway, I got you a ticket to that auction in Coruscant for Monday—the one that’s rumored to have another piece of Han’s paintings.”
Kylo feels unsure if it’s actually excellent news. There’s a high probability that the rumor isn’t true. But if it is, he knows that auctions like this could be cutthroat. He only hopes that he can get the Solo painting at a price that no one is willing to contend with.
“Thank you, Poe. Kindly email me the details,” Kylo says.
“Coming right up,” Poe replies before saying goodbye.
Kylo then walks up to his office. He sits on his office chair and studies Poe’s emails on his laptop. The first email is a ticket confirmation from the auction, while the other one is an invitation to the event. He leans back into his seat and sighs as his mind tracks back to the collection of paintings on his living room wall.
After this, one last painting, he thinks.
And maybe, it would all finally make sense.
Rey has a feeling that the auction’s promised ‘special item’ is none other than the rumored Solo painting. For one, the auction houses some of her colleagues instead of their own assistants. Second, she spotted two or three of Maz’s friends, who are all in the upper chain of the art world. And finally, Kylo fucking Ren is sitting beside her.
This auction will turn into a bloodbath.
Rey isn’t a newbie in the art world, and she knows that everyone has heard of Kylo Ren. Everyone knew that he used to be under the tutelage of Arthur Snoke. In his younger years, Kylo had taken the world by storm with his performative pieces and thoroughly eye-catching paintings. However, a rift between him and his former mentor made him come back to the country and go solo. Now, he’s known to mentor several art schools in Coruscant. He also lends his expertise to galleries and museums, and despite what had happened, Kylo’s critique is a direction that every artist or enthusiast keeps in mind.
And Rey can’t believe that she’s casually sitting beside him. In an auction. If she was more of a social butterfly, she would have initiated a conversation.
But Rey’s focus leans toward the matter at hand—and that’s securing the Solo painting for Takodana Art Gallery. Because she knows that getting the painting means a chance to have a one-on-one with Armie.
And that’s all the inspiration she needs to make sure to take the painting home.
Two hours fly by in a flurry, and excitement starts to buzz the moment that the auctioneer presents the ‘special item’—which is no surprise, is the Solo painting. People all around start to whisper at each other, and Rey bites her lip as she studies the painting. Right now, all of the people in this room are her enemies. She needs to come out on top.
The auctioneer begins with a hundred thousand dollars, and Rey’s about to raise her number when Kylo’s hand flies hurriedly. The auctioneer points at him, and the entire room goes quiet as Kylo confidently says, “Seven hundred thousand.”
Rey blinks back several times. Even the auctioneer himself gulps at Kylo’s offered amount. In Rey’s periphery, she could see several people with their mouths hanging open.
Rey is wrong. It isn’t a bloodbath. It’s a fucking massacre.
The auctioneer shakes off his initial shock and starts to call out seconds. Rey does mental math of Maz’s approved budget, and what factors in their finances can be adjusted. She knows she has to confirm with Snap from accounting—but once again, it’s a fucking massacre. She needs to decide before the gavel is hit.
Rey raises her number with a wince. “Seven hundred thirty,” she says. And she swears that she could feel Kylo’s cold stare like daggers on her side.
Just as soon as she places the number on her lap, Kylo’s hand shoots forward, and his rumbling voice quiets the room. “Seven hundred fifty. And whatever the next offer is, add thirty thousand,” he says with a sense of finality.
Rey gulps. She knows that they don’t have that amount of money.
The auctioneer calls for seconds, but there aren’t anymore. He hits the gavel and announces that the Solo painting is sold to Kylo Ren for seven hundred fifty thousand dollars. Fucking hell, she thinks.
The auctioneer starts his closing spiel, and before it even wraps up—Kylo is already standing and walking away, and Rey takes a few moments to talk herself out of it, but as soon as she sees him out the door, she bolts up and runs after him.
“Sir! Sir! Wait up!” Rey huffs. Despite her height, a massive man like Kylo Ren has one step that is equivalent to three of hers. To her relief, Kylo actually stands still and turns back with a questioning look on his face.
Rey tries to control her breathing as the giant regards her. She’s a self-made woman with an inspiring career, she will not be scared of one big man. “I know that this isn’t conventional, but may I propose a beneficial agreement with you? You see, our gallery is interested in having that Solo piece. And I know we can’t have it because we can’t match the amount that you bid. But maybe, there’s a way we can agree to have the piece borrowed by our gallery—even just for a limited time?”
Kylo arches a brow as he stares at her, and his deep, rumbling voice gives Rey a couple of goosebumps. “Why would I lend a seven hundred fifty thousand dollar-worth painting to your gallery? Give me one good reason,” he says in a low, almost dangerous tone.
Rey is scrambling for reasons. She didn’t even think this through—just blurted out the first thing that came into her mind. And she’s afraid that she’s doing more damage. “We could hold an event that centers around your work and your knowledge. Surely, this would be beneficial to you as—”
“Hold it right there, miss,” Kylo Ren chuckles. Fucking chuckles and Rey knows that she’s messed it up. “First of all, my reputation doesn’t need any boost. And second, I will not waste time sharing my work or knowledge when half of your gallery’s attendants wouldn’t know art if it slaps them in the face. So, no, thank you. There is nothing you could do to convince me or to prove that an arrangement would be beneficial.”
And the thing is, Rey could have accepted defeat if Kylo Ren was more of a respectable man. She would have accepted defeat with her arms wide open if he didn’t talk to her that way. Just as Kylo turns around, Rey pronounces his name with all the anger she could muster—enough for him to stop dead in his tracks.
“We all know you’re some big fucking deal, all right. And I’m sorry for proposing an agreement in the first place. I would never have if I only knew you’re some big fucking prick. I could totally accept a more respectable way of you declining my proposal, but the way you addressed me and this entire situation? That speaks volumes regarding the kind of man that you are,” Rey breathes in as soon as she finishes her tirade. But she throws one more for good measure. “Sure, you’re the best and brightest in the art world. But you’re also the cruelest. And honestly, being the best doesn’t matter when your attitude’s shit. You are the best, but you’re also nothing.”
Rey says it with a tone of finality. Then she straightens her posture and turns back. Rey is many things, and one of them—is a person who has learned not to take a shit, not from anyone.
Kylo Ren needs to remember that.
Kylo curls and uncurls his fist as he reels in from the meeting he had with the lady who wanted the Solo painting as much as he did. He isn’t angry about her sudden outburst—no, it was actually refreshing. What bothers him the most is how beautiful she is and how he had nuked that meeting the moment that he opened his mouth.
He replays the situation in his mind, and there are so many different scenarios where he could have heard her out. But as usual, his attitude came to the forefront, and he lost his chance.
But the fiery and almost feral stance that the woman had taken, god. It’s going to be in his mind for the longest time. It’s been a while since someone had stood up to him, and Kylo finds it exhilarating—to have someone put him in his place.
He loses his train of thought when his phone pings from his pocket. With an exasperated sigh, he takes it out only to see a message from Poe, which is filled with emojis, but mainly talking about how he shouldn’t forget his trip to Takodana tonight.
Maz, an old family-friend, has hired him to be her gallery’s director for the time-being as she and her husband Chewie, will be cruising in celebration of their silver wedding anniversary. He couldn’t refuse even if he tried. So Kylo had agreed on a whim, and Maz started the arrangements—with a fully-paid apartment in Takodana that will house him for the next six months, as well as a tight schedule for the week, which begins with him enduring a five-hour drive to reach the city, and an after-hours pass should he decide to visit the gallery before he settled down in his apartment.
Kylo does the math in his head, and decides that it’s better to visit the gallery by tomorrow morning. And with that in mind, he walks out of the establishment and calls his driver to meet him by the entrance.
If there’s one thing that Rey truly believes in—it’s about moving forward. As she made the drive back to Takodana that Monday afternoon, she had already readied herself with Maz’s reprimands, only to have the old lady shrug with a mention of how Rey has done her best. They could get a more excellent piece instead.
But what shocked Rey the most is Maz’s sudden announcement of a six-month leave starting Tuesday. Don’t worry, child. It’s all ready, she had said. Apparently, behind their backs, Maz had hired a substitute gallery director who shall oversee the gallery for the next six months that she’ll be off cruising with her husband, Chewie.
Rey wants to fuss. There is so much preparation to be done. Her team is unaware of the situation, that’s why she decided to come in early to brief them before the new director arrives. She only hopes that everything goes well with her team, so that she could help out the new director as best as she can.
With a sigh, Rey parks her car and jogs to the entry of the gallery. She loses her mind over plans on how to break the news to Finn and Rose, and how she could do a turnover of Maz’s work within a day. Rey likes to remind herself that there’s no reason to fuss now. She must only move forward. She hypes herself even more as she approaches the next hallways that will lead her to the open area of the first floor.
Rey is so lost in thought that she fails to be mindful of her surroundings, because as she makes her way to the end of the hallways, she accidentally bumps into another person. The only thought that lingers in her mind is how the other person’s posture didn’t waver, and instead, she takes the brunt of the impact. Before she realizes it, Rey is already falling to the floor.
Until one arm securely wraps around her waist, and the other supports the back of her neck. It takes a while for Rey’s vision to adjust—only to see a familiar face that she’s been itching to slap since yesterday.
Kylo Ren is in her gallery.
Kylo Ren is in her gallery.
“What the fuck?” She mumbles, clearly perturbed.
“You must be Rey Niima, Maz had warned me,” he whispers before a sly grin forms on his mouth. “Nice to officially meet you. I’ll be your gallery director for the next six months.”
In her periphery, Rey could see the closest abstract painting. A piece by Lor San Tekka. Priceless and utterly exquisite.
If only, she could lift the gigantic canvas and slam it right on Kylo Ren’s face.
If only.