letoldthingsdie | IC Inbox faderift

She knows, logically, that they aren't on Jakku, but watching that water swirl down the drain she still can't help calculating in her head how many weeks she could have survived on it. It's something she does every time she takes a bath, not something unique to this situation. The first time she'd used the fresher on the Falcon and water had poured out instead of sonic waves she'd nearly jumped out for fear that she was wasting all the potable water on the ship.

Moving to wrap her arms around his waist from behind Rey leans against Ben's back, pressing a kiss to his spine.

"We should get some of that soap that makes foam over the top of the water."

His hands immediately move to hers when her arms slip around him. He doesn't have to look into her head to know that she's internalizing watching that water drain from the tub only for more to replace it. He wished, more than anything, he could take away any anxiety that it might give her.

"We can do that." He reaches for the soap immediately, adding it to the water and watching it bubble as the tub continued to fill. It smelled floral and sweet without being overpowering. While the smell filled the room, his long fingers trace hers and he massages down to her knuckles and along the backs of her hands.

Once the tub was filled, he turned in her arms to place his hands to her cheeks and kiss the top of her head before returning his attention to the tub and stepping into the water. Once he was comfortable he held out his hand to her again to help her climb in and fit herself between his legs like earlier.

Sometimes Rey thinks her heart can't possibly hold any more love for Ben. That she's absolutely full to bursting, and any more would be impossible. Then he does something simple, like give her these small reassuring touches because he knows that the water going to waste bothers her even when it shouldn't, and she finds herself loving him even more. This feeling is something she never wants to lose.

After he settles in the tub she climbs in after him, though rather than settling in the opposite side of the tub like she had earlier she settles down with her back against his chest so his larger body is framing hers. She sighs as she leans against him, her hands disappearing beneath the foamy water.

"I never knew how nice baths were, before coming to this place."

He tucks her hair to one side, once she settles against him, to press kisses to the back of her neck. His large hands move up and down her arms before disappearing beneath the water to find hers, his fingers threading between them.

"Mm. They're not the worst thing to ever be invented," he agrees, smiling against her nape before tucking his chin onto her shoulder to look down at the foamy surface of the water that surrounded them. He takes a scoop of water into his hands, careful not to drip any into her eyes, and lets it fall over her head to cascade down her hair.

"Baths are good for more than just getting clean. You can think or relax after a long day." He was used to having such luxuries from an early age. As a child he hadn't always been clean and proper but baths took care of that right away.

Rey closes her eyes as Ben kisses the back of her neck and just savors the feeling of him at her back, caring for her. Moments like this she loves almost more than when they're making love, because while they may not be joined in body, they are in spirit. She tilts her head back as he pours water over her hair, turning her face towards his and pressing a light kiss to his cheek, eyes only half open.

"The hot springs in Skyhold were good for that. Or at least they were when there weren't several other people kicking around." Which was rare, given how many people had ended up calling Skyhold home. "I think I like this better, though. Just the two of us."

"Why did the Inquisition move from Skyhold? Too many people?" He hadn't ever seen it, of course, but had heard about the stronghold that people traveled to from time to time. When she kisses his his cheek his mouth curls into a smile. He liked this too. It was better than the public baths or the two of them living separately. This was their space.

It had been strange getting used to having someone else in his space at all, but it had started small with Rey just sleeping in his bed at night. The fact that they both slept easier beside one another helped. Now they were like this. He reaches for the loofah they had used earlier, scrubbing her shoulder above the water. He only pauses to reciprocate the kiss she'd given him, his mouth sliding over hers.

"I like this better too." The Gallows had been large enough to keep him isolated from people, but he liked having a space that was just theirs. It was their own little world.

She indulges in his kissing her, one hand coming up out of the water to cup his cheek, soapy trails being left on his skin in the wake of her fingers. She could stay like this forever, wrapped up in their own world. She had sometimes pretended as a child that she shared her space with another person, her family mostly, but as she'd aged there had been the occasional thought of someone she had chosen to be her family, rather than someone bound to get by blood. The reality is different, but with Ben it feels almost effortless at times. They understand one another well, and living with him has just felt like where she belongs.

"We left Skyhold partly because of the population, but also because a group of people were... They ended up in the future, and they had intel from the future versions of those of us who were left behind that Corypheus was building a Navy, and we needed Kirkwall to combat that." Some days it seemed less like they were working towards that than others.

"That... sounds like a longer story than we have warm water." The future? And Corypheus, who he had yet to ever see, was building a Navy, or would eventually build a Navy. That's just great, really. He can't help but adopt a serious expression as he thinks about it.

"How far in the future is this Navy of his going to be?" He still tries to wrap his head around magic sometimes. Even with the Force at his disposal, being able to make fire out of thin air or move forward in time still seems a bit much. He's happy with his run of the mill mind probing and lifting objects with a wave of his hand, thank you very much.

Instead of worrying about all the what ifs, he's content to think about the here and now. He draws the loofah from her shoulder across her collarbone, scrubbing away the sweat on her skin. She's perfectly capable of doing this herself, but he likes doing it. He likes watching the soap suds drip down her freckled skin and back into the water.

"I don't know exactly how far in the future the navy is. But they ended up five years in the future." She'd heard a little about it from Hermione, before she'd left. It had all seemed insane to her, but the magic of this world sometimes worked in strange ways. "I think we've already changed the future that they saw, though. Kirkwall was under Tevinter rule, then. The Inquisition moved us here to avoid that."

She smiles a little as he scrubs her skin, enjoying being pampered, even as the conversation turns to serious things like time travel and the ever present if somewhat remote threat of Corypheus. Scooping up a handful of soapy foam she lifts it up to stick to Ben's hair, slowly smiling as the bubbles streak through his curls.

"Hm. Well then I guess we shouldn't worry about it right now." He closes his eyes as he feels the water and soap reach his hair. He lets out a huff of amusement, catching one of her hands before they might disappear in the water again. He kisses her palm and moves down to her wrist.

"It would be nice if we could just stay in here forever." In the tub, inside their home, away from all the things he didn't want to have to bother with when it could be just the two of them.

Her smile only grows as he kisses her palm, soapy though it is, then her wrist. The thought of staying here forever is a nice one, she has to admit, and she hums softly, tilting her head so she can plant a kiss on the side of his jaw.

"We'd get very pruney. But I'm not entirely against the idea in theory." She curls her hand back to press against his neck, kissing his jaw again. "Though it would mean we'd never have sex again. Considering it didn't go so well the last time we tried it in here."

"Mm. Pruney might be bad." He lets out a hum of contentment, worrying his bottom lip and closing his eyes against the feeling of her mouth on his jaw. "We'll just have to figure out how to make us both fit in this tub without it being awkward."

He smiles to himself, his free hand dipping beneath the water to rub circles against her stomach. He liked feeling her laying against him in the tub, his limbs cocooning her against him beneath the water. At least this way she wasn't on the other side of the tub and they could both stretch their legs if they wanted to.

"We fit right now and it isn't awkward," she points out, smiling as she leans her head back against his chest as he rubs her stomach. There's something soothing in the gesture, but then so many of the ways they touch each other seem to be soothing. Even from the first trembling touch of their fingertips, that had felt like a balm. The first time Rey had found someone else in any world as lost and alone as her.

Her hand slides around to anchor itself on the back of his neck and she tilts her head to the side, looking up at him.

"This is actually really nice. You're like the perfect size for me to lean on."

"No, definitely not awkward. It helps that we're not both built like a tree." He makes a noncommittal sound, scrubbing a line of suds along her opposite shoulder from the one he'd been working on earlier, pushing her hair back out of the way. At the implication of trying again to have sex in the tub, he gives pause.

"We don't have to try again unless you want to...?" His eyes meet hers when she looks up at him and he licks his lips absently, turning his thoughts over in his head.

Rey blinks, before her eyebrows shoot up and she quickly shakes her head.

"Oh no- I just meant... this isn't uncomfortable. I'm enjoying just being together like this." She looks a little embarrassed, she had mentioned the sex and then she'd moved on from her own joke. She slides her hand down from his neck, running her knuckles up under his chin.

"I don't really think it was the position we were in that was the problem, it was the water."

"Oh. No, of course." Excuse him while he wills the universe to just swallow him whole now. Even so, he likes how they are right now. Her hands on him are soothing.

"I'm enjoying this too." He kisses her temple, letting his earlier embarrassment leave him as much as possible. He didn't always get it right but she never made him feel bad for getting it wrong either. That seemed to make all the difference.

"Are your toes pruney yet?" He smiles, reaching forward to run his fingers along her leg beneath the water.

She feels bad that she's embarrassed him, but he's relatively good-natured about it, which is something that she appreciates. Her hand gently cups his cheek as he kisses her temple and her smile is less embarrassed, more content. At his question she lets out a small laugh, lifting her foot up out of the water and giving it a scrutinizing look.

"Not pruney yet. Maybe getting there."

"Mm. We should finish washing up eventually." Eventually yet he makes no moves to grab the loofah again, or the soap. His hands follow her thighs down to her knees and back again. He was entirely too comfortable just snuggled up with her in the tub.

"The dogs might worry we've drowned." He's joking, obviously.

She smirks a little at his joke as well as his wandering hands, her own sliding beneath the water to mimic his actions, running her own fingertips along his thighs resting alongside hers.

"I'm sure that if they were really worried they'd come to check on us. Though we don't want to let it get too late. The bed still needs to be remade." She's really not hurrying, though. Though it's not uncommon for them to be curled around each other in bed it's less frequent for them to sit the way they are, now. Clearly something that will be changing, now that Rey has discovered what a comfortable back board Ben makes.

"True. We did make a bit of a mess of it." He runs a hand through his hair, pushing wet strands back from his face, before dropping it back down into the water again.

"Comfortable? Or did you want to finish up before the water gets cold." He felt almost disappointed at the idea of leaving the tub, but knew once they were dry and the bed was clean they could always migrate there again.

Her eyes follow the movement of his hand, back through his hair and then into the water again. She exhales a little at his question, her hand seeking his in the water, lacing their fingers together.

"I am very comfortable." She knows she just said they shouldn't take too long, but she's content pressed against him with the cooling water wrapped around her like a cocoon. "We're doing this more often."

"Mm. Taking baths together, sleeping together, training together... I do like spending time with you." He presses a kiss to whatever bare skin he can reach - probably her shoulder - and squeezes her fingers lightly between his. The size of her hands was drastically different. His everything dwarfed her in comparison but he liked that about the two of them. He could lift her like nothing, hold her in his arms in a perfect fit, and sit in a tub together.

"The bright side of remaking the bed is we could also mess it up again." His fingers stretch to tease along her outer thigh beneath the water, drifting inward to tease the skin of her inner thigh too.

Rey tilts her head to lean against his as he kisses her shoulder, a soft smile playing across her lips as she closes her eyes for a moment. They'd both been on their own for such a long time, it's nice to be within the constant orbit of another person.

As his hand wanders she draws in a breath, her smile widening into a smirk as she opens her eyes to look at him.

"Then we'll just have to remake it again," she replies with a quiet laugh, her free hand seeking his wandering one to hold onto that, too as she presses a kiss against his temple. "We don't have an unlimited supply of sheets, love."

"Mm. True." He wrinkles his nose, smiling a bit as she kisses him and touches him. His arms fold against her waist again, stilling his attempts to touch her and settling himself for just sitting in their tub.

"I will say living with you has never been boring. Whether we do things like this or nothing at all. That's not something I've ever had before." He knows it's the same for her. They're happy here, despite the thought that lingers in his mind that they don't belong here and that the natives don't want to accept them. He wants this home to be the place where they belong - no wars, not a single person could keep them apart.

"It's nice, isn't it?" Rey smiles, settling her hands over his arms, leaning back against him more fully again. She has never experienced this, either, such a content existence. She'd survived, but for the first time she truly feels like she's living.

"I'm grateful for this. Moments like this... I never thought I'd have them."

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