Chapter 20 (The Scar) of Bird and Bayonet is live!
Rey, disguised as a male private in the Union army, must choose how to proceed following her fever.
#reylofic
Last spring I commissioned
@KasiopeaArt
to do the fever scene from ch.18 of Bird and Bayonet. I've been sitting on this piece like a dragon on its hoard because KA is so dang talented and brought this scene to life. Now that the chap's live, you can all stare at this with me 😍
Rey buys herself some pretty lingerie to wear around the apartment…when she’s alone, of course! Her roommate Ben was NOT supposed to get home from his business trip for another 2 days. But now here he is. And here SHE is. And-
“Don’t let me stop you,” he says hoarsely.
May I present: two gorgeous portraits done by
@_afterblossom_
of Private Johnson and Captain Ren 😍 I added the (accurate) watermark myself, and am head over heels for the fire v. water vibes. Thank you AB!
Based on the fic Bird and Bayonet:
I want to believe that an X-Files AU is out there...except I need Rey to be Mulder and believe that aliens abducted her parents and that's why they left her, and Ben's the grounded skeptic Scully inserting himself in every situation shouting I'M A MEDICAL DOCTOR
@reylo_prompts
Canonverse AU where post-war Rey and Ben are adventuring in the Falcon and whenever something breaks, Rey weasels her way into the ship's ducts and Ben verrry slowly and nervously walks down the halls waiting for his gf to pop out of the walls like a f*cking xenomorph
There's been several Reylo book deals lately which is *super* exciting! But in case you needed to hear it: it's also extremely valid to write fanfiction as a fun hobby and leave it at that.
You know what I want? A novel/show where the couple is already together and in small reveals we realize that they’re a villain and hero who have gotten together. Maybe the rest of the world thinks a dumb sacrifice happened, but they’re alive, powerful, problematic, and in love.
Rey blushes, mortified. The waiter has paused mid-step, turning to look down his long nose at her. His dark eyes are expressionless, taking her in.
"I'm SO sorry," she blusters. "I mean, you are but-"
"Cute," he says simply, then turns and keeps walking. Two can play this game.
I love when Rey and Ben meet mid-meltdown. Like:
Rey, poking her head over the fence: Hey, neighbor! Are you making s’mores?
Ben, watching all of his First Order paperwork, FO ID badge, and personal letters from Snoke go up in flames: Um, maybe, yeah.
cw: period normalization
Her face is as red as the blood on his sheets.
"I'm SO sorry."
Ben sits up, alarmed at the sight. "Are you-?" He rubs sleep from his eyes hastily. "Are you hurt?"
Rey's blush darkens. "No! No, no. My, um...period started."
"Oh," Ben says simply.
1/
There are lot of things you just absorb as Facts after reading tons of fic:
-If Ben’s got another love interest, name her Bazine
-If Ben has an assistant, name him Mitaka
-Rey’s last name can be Jakku,Niima,Sand (TFA fics), Johnson (TLJ), or Palpatine (post-TROS)
I’m gonna be off for the next 24 hours-ish, so in the meantime:
I’ve been having many ✨thoughts✨ about a certain sexual preference that Captain Ren has. If this gets 69 likes, I’ll tell you what it is. If this breaks 100 likes I’ll *show* you with an excerpt.
Cracky canonverse fic where whenever one of them cums, the other does too.
“How much time are you wasting touching yourself??”
“It’s an island, I’m bored.”
“I’M running out of laundry.”
Imagine: an early TROS scene where Kylo reconstructs his own helmet, intercut with Rey reforging her lightsaber. It ends with him helmed and her armed for battle. They both whip around...and there's nobody there. No bond. No one. And both slump, disappointed.
Just spent the past week celebrating my (dating) anniversary which turned into celebrating my engagement! I’m in a happy daze and can’t stop staring at the ring 🤩
Annnnnd here it is, the gorgeous Bird and Bayonet piece that
@_afterblossom_
made ON HER OWN TIME just to give me (happy) heart palpitations 😍
I imagine this is what it looks like when Captain Ren sneaks a peak at his lovely aide.
Fic 🔗:
I will only accept pregnant Jedi Master Rey if they have her shrug and say "the Force works in mysterious ways" before smash cutting to Ben absolutely railing her
Ben gets a lot of attention, but what do we love about Rey? I'll start.
Jakku Rey pretty much captured my heart. She's focused and practical, cleverly innovative (living in the AT-AT, surfing on spare bits of metal). Even the way that she eats is ferocious. She inspired B+B Rey!
If you hate AI, dislike AI, or just prefer supporting artists who don’t use stolen art mashup “tools”…take an extra few seconds to look before liking. This post is edited AI and a good example of all the basic red flags (full pics in thread)
I just…
A whole action movie…where Adam is a whole half of the cast…the sheer AMOUNT of screentime we’ll get of him being hot and scraggly and protective of a little girl…
A WHOLE ACTION MOVIE.
This man looks like he’s been sleeping, hydrating, getting vitamin D, giving plenty o’ D, and leaves his counseling sessions feeling “Ok, actually!”
No wonder the Ben Solo vibes are on point
Ben slams the door as he enters their home; that’s Rey’s 1st sign that his work day was shit. The 2nd sign is that he stays in the mudroom for an extra long time attempting to cool off. And the 3rd sign is when he approaches her and sheepishly asks: “Can I use your spa stuff?” 1/
I’ve always admired
@buriedbloom
so much (she was my intro to
#reyloart
!) and I finally got to commission her! This is peak domestic Reylo from chapter 7 of my fic It Being Late and I absolutely love it 😍
Chapter here:
INCOMING: New Bird and Bayonet chapter in the next couple of days! It's 12k so I may post pt.1 this week and pt.2 next week for pacing, but I'm inclined to yeet the whole thing.
I suggest rereading at least ch.17-19 to refresh yourself, but here are a few scenes to keep in mind:
This expression 😂
College nerd Ben woke up in a panic Saturday morning, spent the next 36 hrs at the library cramming for his chem exam, dragged himself back to his dorm room…and found that crew-jock Rey, his Friday night hook-up, was *still* in his bed casually eating snacks.
"And you really don't mind?" she says as she complies.
"Mm-mm." He pulls her down against his chest, and she cuddles into him. He smiles against her hair. "I do feel like some kind of feudal lord."
"Oh, shut UP!" Rey laughs.
It's a beautiful sound.
10/10
Did we hit peak sugar daddy AU during quarantine bc we collectively longed for someone to give us certainty and financial stability during these trying times? In this essay I will-
This pose makes me think of a dad sprawled on the floor helping his kid open presents, and now I can’t unsee Supreme Leader Kylo watching his kid run back into Rey’s arms. Things had been going well, but now visitation is over and Rey hisses at him “you can’t BUY her affection.”
Thank you SO much
@selunchen
for capturing Rey and Captain Ren from my fic Bird and Bayonet! It’s for a future battle scene but I can’t stop staring at it in the meantime. Words can’t describe how much I love this feral, filthy dyad 🖤
Chapter 18 (The Fever) of Bird and Bayonet is live!
Rey, disguised as a male private in the Union army, finds herself in an unusually vulnerable position following her strange night with Captain Ren.
#reylofic
-in a little voice “Yes.” and he takes a very deep breath and sets down the drink and runs his hands over her thighs, gathering her close to himself, and once he’s swallowed her with his own larger frame he rumbles in her ear “Rey? Is this- are you mine, too?” and she kisses him.
It’s zero degrees. More like -10 because of wind chill.
Ben’s foot taps restlessly.
It’s zero degrees, and Rey’s shitty apartment still doesn’t have heat. She’d said so last week.
Ben’s fist clenches.
It’s zero degrees, and /Omega must be cold./
But Ben isn’t there.
1/?
Now that ch.18’s been out for a while…I commissioned this lovely piece from
@blackkingsdream
to capture Rey and Ren’s awkwardness the morning after their winter swim. I wanted it simple to emphasize their distance, and BKD delivered!
(Scene from Bird and Bayonet, link below)
I like to imagine that if Rey and Ben flew back from Exogol together, it would be dead silent in the cockpit bc they wouldn’t know what to say to each other even though Rey is in Ben’s lap and their bodies are SO close they’d be trembling if they weren’t so tired, and then...
Imagining Ben as a were-dog.
“You mean a werewolf?”
“No.” He says it defensively, jaw set and cheeks a little bit red. “A dog.”
“Oh.” Rey appraises him. “So like, a Great Dane, then?”
“No.” The word’s muffled, his jaw is so tight.
“…Wolfhound?”
“I’m not a fucking wolf!”
Chapter 17 (The Deserter) of Bird and Bayonet is live!
Rey, disguised as a male private in the Union army, is forced to make a difficult decision about Captain Ren.
*** READ THE CONTENT WARNINGS IN THE START NOTE! ***
#Reylofic
Today I offer you all my TROS headcanon where Hux pulls off a coup and Rey and Finn go undercover to rescue an imprisoned Ben.
Rey: *bursts into his cell disguised as a stormtrooper*
Ben, lounging like Leia, drawls: aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper
To celebrate the new chapter of B&B, here are dual portraits of Rey I commissioned from the inimitable
@tarzelladraws
! I love them both, but especially Farm Rey 😍
Jesus 🥵 This is Ben at his dad's funeral:
Rey: "Do you want to talk about it?"
B: "Nope. Do you want to fuck?"
But while they're at it in his childhood bedroom they knock over and break something Han made for him and Ben has a full meltdown. Rey sits with him through it 🥺
Thinking about how the TLJ throne room fallout is a product of mutual projection. Rey wants someone to show her her place, so she thinks Ben needs her to show up and help him. Ben wants to burn it all down, so he thinks Rey is here to do that with him. They genuinely connect-
If Adam gets the role of Reed Richards, this fandom is gonna explode with stretch-dick fics. You thought it was long before?? Wait until Gumby-dick literally puddles on the floor like a boa constrictor.
Now that everyone's had some time to read the newest Bird and Bayonet chapter, I can finally share the art I commissioned (IN FEBRUARY 😅) for the last scene!
This was done by the lovely
@LilibethSonar
, and perfectly captures Rey & Ren's small but momentous gesture. 🐳
Thank you all for following this intense Reylo daydream I’ve just had 🙏🏻 This Rey and Ben are having a Pretty Housewife date night tomorrow night and generally living their best lives.
Chapter 19 (The Farm) of Bird and Bayonet is live!
Rey, disguised as a male private in the Union army, fights her fever in the present and her foes in the past.
READ THE CONTENT WARNINGS!
#reylofic
This is Ben in every fic where he's a public figure, he's broken up with Rey, and he's realizing in real time that the bad boy persona he built for himself is hollow.
He wore the sunglasses so Rey won't see the ache in his eyes. He's FINE.
Our boy really stood there with tears in his eyes and a quivering lip like “Babe, I just got that big promotion, so I can buy us a real DOUBLE bed, and, and I’ll learn how to cook, and-“
“From his POV it‘s very naked, open emotional appeal. It‘s his Version of 'I‘m Just a Girl standing in front of a guy asking her to love him‘“ – RIAN JOHNSON
See, the thing is that Rey doesn’t often feel pretty. Capable, yes. Intelligent, yes, and maybe, sometimes, hot. But not pretty. Not soft. Feminine. Lovable. And especially after such a bad breakup, she WANTS to feel pretty.
(So Rey explains to Ben, blushing + hiding herself)
She didn’t mean to make him uncomfortable
(No, you just surprised me)
Or to make things weird
(Rey, it’s seriously okay)
Or to, y’know, give give her roommate some weird surprise boner
(Um, uh- no. It’s okay)
Yeah?
(Yeah. And for the record…you DO look pretty)
Jedi academy Reylo thoughts:
“The masters say we can’t get attached.”
Ben tenses. “Yes.”
“But I like you a whole lot. And don’t you like me?”
Ben looks at Rey. She’s still just a child, with a heart he won’t break.
“Yes. Very much.”
She smiles at him.
“Well that’s ok, then.”
They’re at Poe’s shitty off-campus house the morning after a party. Ben’s looking at Rey, who just came down the stairs to join everyone. Only the 2 of them know that she spent most of last night in Ben’s room, trading whispers and kisses, before leaving to sleep on Finn’s couch.
He hugs her and tucks his face against her neck. Rey returns the embrace, sighing contentedly.
“Thank you,” he mumbles; this part is hard, too.
“Whenever you need it,” Rey murmurs to him.
“Love you.”
“Love you too.”
And his stress dissipates like a wisp of bath steam.
5/5
I want an AU where Ben is the manager of a tiny NYC art house theater. He doesn’t feel like opening? It stays closed. When it is open, tickets are dirt cheap and he does everything from sell tix to sweep. Broke college student Rey *loves* the theater…and the surly manager.
My cousin apparently did a 7 day bike race through farm country where the locals bake pies and let bikers sleep on their lawns, and now I want to SCREAM about Biker Ben and Farmer Rey and her delicious pie and how she drives to meet him at the end of the race in her rusty pickup.
Ben thinks CEOs need to be cruel and cold, because that’s what Snoke was. Rey ought to be a tyrant, but instead she’s…human, muffin crumbs on her dress. Effective, calculating, but ever so warm.
And he catches her eye: the new guy with soft eyes who subtly flinches too much.
It takes Rey a while to leave her bedroom, but Ben truly seems to just be unpacking. He’d looked pretty exhausted. And why IS he back early? Snoke probably scheduled him for this shitty red eye flight…
“Ben?” Rey tiptoes down the hall to his door. “Can I make you a drink?”
Rey is good at pretending. Before Ben arrived, she was already pretending to be someone’s wife. Some (happy) sixties housewife, all dolled up and beloved. Now, she mixes a drink and gives the husband Ben’s face.
It’s just a little game. It’s just a little pretend.
For
#Reylosss
here's a snippet from next chapter of Bird and Bayonet. I've literally squealed and kicked my feet a few times while writing this, it's VERY exciting and I can't wait to to share it with you all.
Rey strides out of their house, incandescent with rage. The teenagers next door are easy to find, since they’re the ones shooting off fireworks.
“HEY!” she shouts, going to the fence. “Pack it up, it’s the 5th!”
The boys turn, stupefied.
“It’s our lawn!” one shouts back.
1/?
And maybe it’s just a little bit suggestive, with her still in the gossamer baby-doll slip. It’s definitely old fashioned. But there’s something NICE about old-fashioned. - The thought of her mixing cocktails and bringing one to Ben in her pretty slip.
Married Rey+Ben stay at home for NYE, totally miss the ball drop because they get carried away kissing. After *ahem* “kissing” is over, Rey laments this. Ben, in all seriousness, takes hold of his pouch, raises it slightly, then lets it slap against his bare thigh.
“Dropped.”
Chapter 16 (The Bible) of Bird and Bayonet is live!
Rey, disguised as a male private in the Union army, encounters a new side of Captain Ren- and new secrets, as well.
#Reylofic
cw/ ao3 stats
Bird and Bayonet just passed 90k hits this weekend, and while I KNOW at least a third of those must be folks checking for a damn update, it still means a lot. Thank you for being along for the ride 💕
It’s quiet for a moment, and Rey is torn between repeating herself and slinking back to her room like it never happened. But Ben clears his throat like he can hear her doubts.
“That would be great, thanks. I’m almost done here.”
And Rey smiles to herself.
Elderly married Reylo sitting in different rooms of their house (Ben in his leather chair, Rey in the sunroom) both working on today’s crossword, yelling across the house to ask each other for hints. Their dog Chewy is deaf enough by now that he sleeps right through it.
-One day she brings him his drink and sits in his lap and his brain stutters a little and he exhales slowly and says “this drink’s for me?” and she says “Yes” and he slowly plays with the edge of her slip and says, “And this…this is for you. But is it also for me?” and she says-
Chapter 14 (The Whales) of Bird and Bayonet is live!
Rey, disguised as a male private in the Union army, tries to find common ground between herself and captain Ren. She may not be pleased by what she discovers.
#Reylofic
Inspired by mucky TROS Ben here, I want a hurt/comfort fic where Ben straight up stops washing/cleaning himself after TLJ. No one knows why or dares call him out on it except for Rey, who finally coaxes him into a fresher with her and does the cleaning for him🥺
AU idea: Rey is writing a popular fic, and Ben is the bartender at her favorite bar. She writes on her phone while hanging out there, and ends up venting about it to Ben. They talk through plot points, also talking around their own attraction, which is the basis of Rey’s fic.
And maybe it’s pretend, but there is something REAL to the look in his eyes. Real appreciation. Perhaps…real desire.
“Anytime you want to,” he says haltingly. He shrugs. “I don’t mind.”
Rey doesn’t mind either.
finally Ben leans his face down onto Rey’s shoulder and lets his posture *relax*, just ease to curl around her, and Rey lets out the breath that’s been hovering high in her throat and closes her eyes and leans back against him, and the silence is at last allowed to become peace.
The key to the game is that neither of them pretends anything’s strange. Ben accepts the drink. Rey asks about his trip. They chat, pretending Rey’s wearing real clothes.
Or, no, not that. Ben knows what she’s wearing (or what she’s NOT wearing). But neither of them mind.
He stares at her and Rey embraces her moment of power. She’s prepared for it: practiced standing straight-backed, walking slow and serene, calming her nervous hands. But it’s only a moment; she’s his prisoner now. Her body is a weapon, but it isn’t one she can kill Kylo with.
1/
Raise your hand if you love all the new content but are also overwhelmed by the content/the fact that you can't actually watch this movie until August 🤚