rey skywalker & quentin coldwater
February 14th | Valentine Party | PGish
⚠ vague mentions of sexual experience. nothing explicit.
Rey had come to realize that there were many holidays in this world that seemed to call for celebrations. It was so different from her life at home, but she was enjoying it. There was something to be said for fellowship and companionship and this particular one even had come with a pretty dress as well as the invitation to attend with someone who had become a good friend since his own arrival here in San Francisco. They came from different worlds and yet Rey found she really enjoyed his company.
Spotting him in his suit, Rey couldn’t help the soft intake of breath. They weren’t entirely used to seeing one another like this, but she didn’t think she would mind seeing him dressed so formally more often. Smiling, she approached him and leaned up to place a soft, tentative kiss on his cheek. “Thank you for the […] strawberries,” she murmured while she was still close. She’d not tried that particular fruit before, but they’d been delicious, especially covered in the chocolate.
Ever since he’d arrived in San Francisco, Quentin had found himself drawn to Rey. She was different from anyone he’d ever known before and the more that he learned about her, the more he found that he wanted to know. He’d never been particularly good at dating, he’d loved Julia for years before finally realizing that she didn’t feel the same way and that they were better off as friends. Alice……well Alice was complicated. Everything about their relationship had been complicated and while they’d loved each other, it wasn’t meant to be. At least he had closure now after her visit on Christmas Eve, a visit that he still wasn’t sure had happened but others in the building had also had visitors so at least he wasn’t crazy.
“You’re welcome,” he said with a smile, enjoying the way it felt to have her so close. “I thought you might like them. What’s not to like, chocolate and strawberries?” Unable to resist the temptation, he brushed his lips gently over hers. “You look beautiful,” he said softly.”
Rey hadn’t been expecting the kiss, but she leaned into it, returning the gentle pressure of lips and almost regretting the brevity of it. It wasn’t something that had been a common occurrence since New Years, but it was enough times to make Rey very sure kissing Quentin was nearing her list of favorite things about San Francisco.
Her cheeks pinked as she smiled at the compliment before returning it. “You look amazing,” she said honestly. She’d read things about how women were meant to be coy and demure, but it wasn’t really Rey’s style not to say what she thought or to not be completely open with the people in her life. “Maybe you should dress like this every day,” she teased him, idling running her hand along the lapel of his suit jacket.
Quentin smiled. He appreciated the fact that Rey said what she was thinking. He’d known too many people who tried to beat around the bush and he enjoyed her honesty. He also enjoyed the way she looked at him and her smile. Yes, meeting Rey was worth ending up in San Francisco. “Well I don’t think wearing the suit to work would be a good idea. The place does have an unusual vibe but I’m not sure they’d like the suit.” He was also afraid that they’d try to dress him up as a vampire or something weird like that and the shop was unique enough as it was.
“Besides.I like surprising you by wearing it when you least expect it.” Which would be more often if she kept looking at him like that. In fact, he wasn’t entirely sure they’d even make it to the party if she kept looking at him like that.
“I do like the fun shirts, too,” Rey admitted. She’d visited him at the shop he worked at a few times and she had to admit the place seemed to suit him. It was an interesting place, even if she didn’t fully understand everything they sold there.
Her lips curved up into something between a smile and a smirk at his next comment. “I don’t think I would object to you surprising me more often,” she murmured, before forcing herself to take a step back. Her hand found his and she nodded toward the door. “Shall we?” As tempting as it might have been to stay right here, she was looking forward to being at the party with him, too.
“Let’s go,” he said and they headed out the door and were off to the party. It was, as promised, very posh, and there was plenty of food of all different kinds. “You can add some more Earth foods to your list,” Quentin said with a grin. “I’m not even sure I know what some of this sushi is but it looks good.” He wasn’t a huge fan of the stuff but every now and then he didn’t mind trying it. Picking up a piece, he immediately put it in his mouth and it turned out to be very tasty. “You have to try this,” he said, putting a piece on her plate.
Grinning, Rey picked up the piece and examined it briefly before bringing it to her lips to take a bite. She chewed slowly, savoring the flavor and nodding. “It’s really good!” she agreed. A server came by with a tray of something - some kind of egg rolls, it looked like. Rey helped herself to two, intending on sharing one with her date and was pleasantly surprised by the spicy flavor. “Oh, these are fantastic!” she remarked before offering the other one to Quentin. “It has a bit of a kick,” she warned.
Quentin loved egg rolls so he was more than happy to take one. “You aren’t kidding,” he said, laughing as he swallowed the piece. “It has quite a kick.” Luckily I a waiter was walking by with a tray of what looked like water and he grabbed a glass for each of them. “We’re going to need this, I believe.”
Of all the foods Rey had tried on Earth, she’d found the spicy flavors were her favorite, but she accepted the water from Quentin with a smile and took a sip before taking a moment to tease him. “Maybe we just need to toughen up your taste buds.” If that involved sampling more of the delicious food at this party, she certainly wasn’t going to object, although she did hope they would get around to dancing eventually.
“We might just have to give that a shot,” he said and put his now empty water glass on a nearby table. “Would you like to dance?” Quentin enjoyed dancing although it wasn’t something he’d had much time to do back home. Too busy trying to fix magic and prevent apocalypses kind of didn’t lend itself to that but here, he could do those things and he couldn’t think of anyone he’d rather do them with than Rey.
“I would, yes!” Rey replied, smiling as she finished her own drink and set the glass down so that she could reach for Quentin’s hand and let him lead her out to the dance floor. Dancing wasn’t something Rey had a lot of experience with, especially the kind of dancing they did here on Earth, but she’d been watching the others and she thought she had a feel for the style of dancing they did here.
It only took a moment for them to find a rhythm to match the music and Rey decided this dancing was even better than all of the food sampling.
Dancing with Rey was great but the more he looked at her smiling up at him and seeing the way she looked in that dress, the more Quentin wanted to just go home. “So, do you think we’ve stayed long enough? Because I’d like to get out of here if you would, although I guess we should tell Luke he needs to find another way home. Unless he’s already left without saying anything.” It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. Luke wasn’t fond of social obligations so he might very well have left five minutes after they got there and didn’t bother to tell them. “I guess you could tell if he was gone though, couldn’t you?”
Laughing softly, Rey shook her head. “Luke didn’t come with us, so I don’t think he expects to leave with us, either,” she offered. She hadn’t been paying attention to where the Jedi Master was while her focus had been solely on enjoying her time with Quentin, but she thought her date was probably right. This didn’t seem like the kind of thing Luke would want to spend much time at.
“Don’t tell me I’ve worn you out with all the dancing,” she teased. She had to admit that as fun as the party was, it would be nice to get away from the crowd and the noise and enjoy a little quiet. Her shoes weren’t entirely comfortable and it would be nice to kick those off, too.
He grinned. “No, you haven’t worn me out at all. I do think it would be a lot more pleasant in my apartment though. No people, just you and me.” Quentin wasn’t smooth when it came to women, he would never say that he was and he was probably botching this terribly but he leaned in and kissed her softly. “We can have a slumber party if you want.” Not that he had any intentions of there being a lot of slumbering but they could figure that out later.
“What’s a sleep over?” Rey asked as she let Quentin start to lead them toward the exit. She may not have understood that particular reference, but she could admit that spending a little time alone with him sounded nice. Especially if it meant she could slip out of these shoes and be a little more comfortable.
“You spend the night with me,” he said as they made their way downstairs and got into a car. “And there’s not actually a lot of sleeping involved. It’s a play on words.” Quentin had no idea had to ask the question that he needed to ask but he just decided to be out with it. “Rey, have you ever had….sex? Because if you haven’t and you’re not ready for that, I’m fine with it. We don’t have to do that. We can just sleep in the same bed and hold each other. That would be just as amazing.”
Rey hadn’t expected the question, but she appreciated the directness of it. She wasn’t the sort for subtlety or game playing. “I have,” she admitted, “but it wasn’t like [...] I’ve never been close in that way to someone I truly cared about.” Her experiences on Jakku had been something different. Curiosity coupled with opportunity in a place where there hadn’t been many men she would choose to be with now. The experience had been underwhelming. Nothing like what she’d felt even just kissing Quentin.
“There was someone at home. We were together for a while then we were kind of off and on. Mostly off to be honest, it was complicated.” There were really no other words to describe his relationship with Alice. He’d loved her but there was just too much and then there was Eliot but that was even more complicated. “We didn’t get to say goodbye before I……died…..but she came at Christmas when people were getting visitors and we talked and said our goodbyes so I hope she’s happy and I don’t feel guilty anymore about not telling anyone that I knew what I would have to do.” He’d told Rey the story already, it hadn’t been easy but he wanted this thing between them to be open and honest, his relationship with Alice hadn’t always been that way.
“I want to be with you, Rey,” he said softly, reaching out to touch her face. “In every way. I want us to be together, you mean a lot to me.”
“I want to be with you, too, Quentin.” Rey liked that their relationship was so honest and open. She loved that he had opened up to her and she’d tried to do the same, telling him about her grandfather, about being left behind on Jakku as a child and the way she’d wrestled with the balance between light and dark. She’d told Quentin more than she had Luke and it had felt good to be able to talk about all of it, including her connection with Ben.
It didn’t take long for her to collect her coat and she turned to him with a smile. “Shall we go, then?”
He took her hand and smiled. Quentin had not expected to find anyone in this place, he hadn’t had any expectations at all other than to try and make a life, make the most out of the second chance that he’d been given but he was happy to have found Rey. She made the strangeness of this place feel a little less…..well, strange.
“Yes, let’s go upstairs,” he said and led her into the building.