This did feel to her as well like a glimpse of another life, an alternate reality to what they'd known before. Neither of them had grown to maturity with the sort of nearness they sought from each other now; both had been kept at arms' length and further from those they'd cared about, forcing them to withdraw themselves, to build impenetrable walls that shouldn't have been there in the first place. Not for them, two who were so very sensitive to the Force and to the connections forged between the living, that they felt everything much too deeply — every instance of scathing neglect, intentional or otherwise; every disappointed look, every instance of having been shunned.

To Rey in particular, who couldn't even remember if she'd known this sort of closeness even as a child, the thought of being his keeper and of not being alone was a draw she couldn't resist. The peace and comfort she felt emanating from him cinched it.

"I don't want to think of anyone else filling that role," she answered quietly, honestly. She should have been surprised with how easily she could speak the contents of her thoughts, how little effort it took, but she wasn't.

No more than she could have predicted how she leaned further into him and lowered her mouth to brush it against his, something unidentifiable burgeoning inside her chest as she did that felt a little like possession.