Chapter Text
“Fuck this mall,” Rey mutters under her breath, and narrowly avoids being slammed into by a woman pushing a stroller. Why did she come here again? Oh, right, the only estrous shop in a twenty mile radius was at the Mall of Coruscant. Because of course it was.
Rey did not really like going to the mall.
It was too busy. Too many scents, sights, sounds — pheromones, candles, children squealing, music playing, crammed shops side-by-side. Too expensive. Too much.
But Rey braved the forty minute drive in her beaten up Subaru, parked in the hellish maze, and went in.
It was approximately two or three days until her biannual heat. These were... manageable. Miserable, but manageable, and she couldn’t afford nicer suppressants, though at least what she had took the edge off during her suffering. Regardless, a restock was clearly necessary for this bout, and that meant heading to the estrous store.
Clinical and white, the entry doors were frosted for privacy, and there was only one other omega inside. Rey politely declined assistance from the clerk, and instead went straight past the tempting aisle of knotted toys to the cleaner section to grab descenter spray and enzyme wipes. The health section contained heat tests, pregnancy tests, supplements and more, but she only nabbed a pack of pre-heat vitamins to get her through the week.
As much torment as it was, there was something to the routine: clean the apartment, nest, do some food prep, shut the curtains, see it through.
It always costs more than Rey wants it to, but she forces a smile to the cashier as her items are put in a discreet, plain bag.
Time to get the hell out of here, she comforts herself with, and exits to slip into the sea of patrons on the upper floor.
She gets lost.
It’s not hard, given that the mall is gigantic and she’s only been coming here a few months now since the other estrous store closed. The crowds are nearly suffocating with their stimulation, and she exhales pure relief when she sees the doors of the elevator appear.
The wait isn’t long. There’s a ding, then the heavy doors slide open, revealing a clean, empty space.
Rey steps inside. And then, behind her, someone else does.
She’s only a little put-out — she’d been looking forward to a few seconds of peace and solitude. But she turns, and then looks up, and up, and up some more, and she’s staring straight into the face of one very broad, dignified man.
“Oh,” she says, and steps to the side to make room for him, “pardon me.”
The man is well over six feet, and has shoulders as broad as a boat. His clothes, like his long hair, are black, and tailored perfectly to his physique. She’s never seen anything like him. His posture screams alpha.
He doesn’t say anything, of course. One look at him told her this man was not the talkative sort, and in their silence, he leans over and presses the button for the parking garage level. That was fine, she was heading there anyway.
The doors roll shut with a rumble, and then the engine starts up.
Everything is normal. Until it’s not.
They’re descending only two floors. The stranger smells amazing. It’s a short trip by anyone’s definition, but the elevator’s rumbling changes from a deep hum to a creaky whine and their downward movement turns stilted. The machine groans, vertigo kicking in with it, and then they come to a complete, jerking stop.
The lights flicker momentarily, as if in warning, before shutting off and being replaced with the dimmer emergency lights.
Rey doesn’t scream, to her credit. Even if her adrenaline was coursing through her like a typhoon and panic was welling up in her gut, she manages to stay cool. It wasn't going to fall out from underneath them. They were in a populated building with help.
Her companion, too, seems only mildly agitated.
Calmly, the man reaches over for a second time, and presses the open doors button. Nothing happens, minus a dull thudding that leads nowhere. So he presses the emergency call.
There’s a gap before ringing blares in the elevator. Again. And again. It echoes noisily, the phone going on and on until an eternity passes and it goes silent.
The large man frowns, and his voice is unsurprisingly low and smooth as he announces, “We’ll call again in a minute.”
Rey nods. There’s really nothing else to do. Any concerns of the elevator suddenly collapsing or falling didn’t feel imminent, at least, and the emergency lights were working. So they just had to wait.
Neither of them say anything. The man clicks the button again, and listens to the ringing for another full minute—
“This is Coruscant Security speaking.”
The voice echoes against the walls, loud and bored, and Rey exhales a breath she didn’t know she was holding with relief.
“The elevator by the food court is stuck. Myself and one other person are inside.”
“Uhhh...” The security person is speechless with surprise before activating their professional mode. “Stuck in the elevator? No problem, let me take a look into some things and we should have you both out of there in no time. Is everyone safe?”
The man turns to Rey and with the smoothest, driest sarcasm asks, “Are you having any medical issues?”
Rey smiles dryly. “I am well.”
“We’re both intact and fine.”
“Great.”
Security asks for details on what happens, and the man explains. Rey just listens, trying not to pay too much attention to the smallness of the room and the suffocating nature of the walls. That, and the longer they were in here with the minimal air circulation, the more the other tenant’s scent was surrounding her, and damn did he smell incredible. The scent was too fine to be just cologne.
Rey shakes her head, embarrassed at her own thoughts. She was a grown woman and she could hold it together. Going into heat in a few days did not mean it was time to objectify the polite, handsome figure occupying the nightmare elevator with her.
After being assured by security that they were safe and they would be sending help, the line goes dead, and they’re alone again.
The man sighs, raking a hand through his hair as he mutters something about “hours” that she can’t quite make out. It doesn’t help the sinking, bad feeling in her chest at being trapped, but she takes a deep breath, and whoops, that’s a mistake, he still smells good. Fucking alpha pheromones. Stupid heat. Dumb biology. The scent both sends her off-kilter and calms her. It doesn’t help.
She has to stay positive. She has to be optimistic. She had no plans for the next week, so it wasn’t like she was going to be late for something stuck in here.
“I’m glad they answered,” she says awkwardly, and tacks on, “at least they’re doing something. We’ll be out in no time.”
The stranger doesn’t reply, unless a grunt counts, and pulls out his phone. He doesn’t do much with it — it’s back in his pocket just as fast, and he asks, “Do you have signal?”
Rey fumbles for her own phone and pulls it out — nope, no bars. She shakes her head.
There is no small talk after that.
The man is — clearly — very unhappy with this situation. His irritation radiates through the small room, making the silence even more painful, and Rey is torn between holding her tongue and trying to alleviate some of the tension.
She checks her phone again. No signal.
Oh well.
“Is it alright if I ask your name?” Might as well know who she’s stuck with.
“Ben.”
Okay, so Ben. Not Benjamin, not Benny, not Benji.
“I’m Rey. Sorry to meet like this.”
For the first time since they’ve entered the metal trap, there’s a ghost of amusement across his lips.
“Quite,” he says, and then they’re quiet again.
Standing becomes boring, and not knowing how long the wait might be, Rey gives in and decides to sit on the floor. Ben follows not too long after, making himself comfortable with an arm on a knee to mess around on his phone.
It’s been at least fifteen minutes since the call. The air is getting warmer, though not unbearable, and Rey sighs as she pulls out her own phone for the third time to find a game to play. Ben’s aroma wasn’t making things easier. She pokes away at a tile builder, trying to focus on the tiny trees and rivers.
It works, for a while. Some amount of time passes, and Rey is able to sink into the pixels until she loses a level and grumpily turns off her screen.
Ben is still content with his own.
For the first time, Rey allows herself to truly sneak a long look at her unfortunate companion. He might be dressed like the average GQ model, but he doesn’t look like one — even if there’s something very handsome about his dour face and penetrating gaze. He’s not the typical sort of attractive, though the more Rey stares, the more she finds to like. Like his mouth. He has a nice mouth.
When she discreetly sniffs the air, testing his scent more attentively, there’s musky, sharp notes that teeter on decadent. It’s not even a fragrance, she thinks, it’s just his stupid natural scent.
Slowly, like a sip of hot coffee, a familiar tingling works its way down her nerves to her belly, where it tightens and simmers. The air is definitely humid now, and even her skin feels warmer. Her clothes feel clingy. Sweaty.
Horror sweeps over Rey. She knows this feeling.
Pale, she tries not to let it show on her expression, even if her heart is starting to beat out of her chest and anxiety is seeping into her bones. She wasn’t supposed to be going into heat yet. It was still a few days away. She couldn’t believe this. This couldn’t be happening. How could this be happening?
She glances at Ben — he’s still absorbed in his phone, blissfully unaware of her plight. They have to get out of this elevator. Now. As soon as possible. Immediately.
And they can’t.
Rey does breathing exercises soundlessly, inhaling and exhaling precious stabilizing oxygen through her mouth so she can stop dousing herself in his addicting pheromones. In and out. In, hold, out. Count backwards from ten.
At this rate, she probably had a few hours tops until she was past the point of no return. It had never kicked in this fast and hard and the symptoms were still below the surface, kept carefully at bay by strength of will.
Distraction, Rey thinks desperately, she needs distraction. She needs to not think about— yeah.
“So what brought you here today?” Her voice sounds remarkably normal, somehow. “I never come to the mall, really.”
Ben raises his head from his phone momentarily before answering, “Needed new sunglasses. You?”
Oh shit. Rey blushes deeply as she peeps at her discreet shopping bag full of estrous supplies, realizing she’s trapped herself with her own question.
Think, she urges, and she replies, “Health and beauty.” Then, “What sunglasses did you get?”
Ben, thankfully, does not look annoyed when he pockets his phone and goes for his own bag. He reaches in and pulls out a very nice glasses case, which he pops open to reveal a pair of sleek, black Ray Bans.
“My old pair broke,” he explains briefly.
“They’re really nice. Are they the same as your old pair?”
“Yes. I’m a creature of habit.”
“It does go with the wardrobe.”
There’s that ghost of a smile again. “I like black.”
“It suits you. Matches your hair.”
Ben grunts, but if her eyes aren’t playing tricks on her, he seems a little bashful. Her heart thumps, and her insides clench.
Fuck.
Suddenly, a voice booms through the elevator, shattering the delicate quiet: “This is security speaking, is anyone there?”
Ben immediately scrambles up into action, going to the intercom. “Yes.”
“Awesome. So, a little update for you guys: we’re in touch with maintenance, but it’s looking like we’re waiting a bit longer for the right people to show up. Once they’re here you’ll be out in no time. Everyone still doing alright?”
Ben glances at Rey, which is kind of nice, frankly, and she nods in affirmation and gives a thumbs up.
“We’re fine. Do you have an ETA?”
“Unfortunately we do not, just know we got in contact and help is heading this way. As soon as we hear anything else I will call with an update.”
“Thanks.”
The line goes dead. Ben sighs, then slowly lowers himself to the ground again. He pulls out his phone, frowns at it, and sets it down.
“Still no signal?” Rey asks sympathetically.
“None.”
“Same. I’ve just been playing phone games.”
For some reason, the conversation sticks; Ben pulls out his phone and shows her the tower defense strategy game he’s been working on, and Rey in turn shows her tiled map. Neither of them are intrigued enough to try playing the other’s, but the appreciation is there nonetheless.
The room is suffocating.
“I can’t get past this level,” Rey explains, gesturing at her screen. “I never hit the points.”
“I refuse to spend money on a mobile game, so I’ve been plateauing too,” Ben says with mild amusement.
Ben, it turns out, has been playing video games since he was a kid, and has a fondness for strategy and pinball. Rey has never been able to afford a proper system, but she was a beast at Candy Crush for a time.
“Ah, Candy Crush,” Ben rolls his eyes. “My mother’s favorite.”
“She has good taste.”
“You would probably get along well.”
“Well send her my regards if we get out of here,” Rey jokes.
The speakerphone in the elevator comes to life again suddenly, startling both of them.
“Hey guys, still there?”
“Yes,” Ben answers quickly.
“So I have an update with some good news and bad news. Good news is help is officially on the way, and we’re gonna have you out of there, but bad news is it’s looking like about two hours before maintenance arrives from their last job. How are we doing in there?”
“Peachy,” Ben says sarcastically, and the security guard offers his apologies and a promise to move as quickly as possible before the call ends again.
Two hours.
The words wash over Rey, slowly processing — two hours in here. That was too long. She couldn’t do that. She was very glad she didn’t need to use the bathroom, but also, that might have been preferable to her current conundrum.
Stricken, she does her breathing exercises, and counts backwards from ten anew. She needed to do everything in her power to tamp down on the building simmer in her gut, warm and cloying. She wasn’t quite sweating yet, but she was warm, and it was only a matter of time.
In a bid to keep her mind occupied, Rey blurts out, “What music do you like? I’m going to The Cantina this summer for a show.”
He humors her, thank god. “I listen to a lot of instrumentals, but some rock, too.”
“Classical?”
“Baroque, classical, electronic.” He pauses for a moment, and then adds, “My father listened to a lot of rock.”
Something in the way he says it strikes a chord in Rey — she can sense the forlorn undercurrent. She isn’t sure if she should push. She kind of wants to. What kind of person was his father? He said ‘listened’ in past tense, so maybe he wasn’t around anymore. Maybe it was rude to ask. But something in her heart pulls and tugs, says comfort him, and Rey desperately, urgently wishes she wasn’t going into fucking heat in a goddamn elevator with an alpha she could climb like a tree.
“Doesn’t any more?” She finds herself saying out loud, and thank every star above, Ben isn’t visibly offended.
“He’s dead,” he says, plainly, like they’re talking about the weather. “I couldn’t listen to anything he listened to for... years, I guess. I blamed myself for his death.”
“That sounds hard.” It was an understatement, but Rey meant it with true sympathy and understanding. She doesn’t push any further. In fact, before she loses her nerve, she admits, “I lost my parents when I was very young.”
Ben frowns somewhat. “That’s hard.”
Rey shrugs, ignoring the vague, quiet cramping that’s trying to start up in her belly. “It’s what it is. I made out alright.”
Ben half-smiles. “Yeah, stuck in an elevator with me.” It’s sarcastic.
Rey smiles back. “So far not the worst person to be stuck with.”
A warm quiet follows. Ben seems... relaxed, moreso. Less irritable. Rey is happy.
Fuck.
She checks the time on her phone — still over an hour and a half to go.
She has to tell him.
She figures the only reason he hasn’t noticed anything is because they’re both on suppressants, and she’s the one close to her heat; his senses aren’t hypersharp and alive like hers are. And if his tailored clothes and expensive sunglasses say anything, he’s probably on much nicer suppressants than she is.
Rey’s stomach roils at the thought of everything that could go wrong.
All things considered, Mr. Ben didn’t seem like the type of alpha to decide to dehumanize her by taking advantage of her. And if she had misread his reserved, saturnine temperament, then she had her car keys in hand, and knew how to defend herself with them.
“What are you thinking about?”
The question surprises Rey from him. And then comes the dismay — how the fuck was she supposed to answer that?
He must see the conflicting emotions on her face, and his head cocks. “Bad time to ask?”
She should just tell him. This was the perfect opportunity. But she didn’t know where to even begin, how to say it—
“Sorry.”
Rey glances up from her wringing hands. That wasn’t what she wanted. “No, no, I’m sorry. I just— It’s...” She swallows thickly. “I’m just having a hard time getting it out.”
“You don’t need to force yourself on my account,” Ben frowns back.
Her heart is thumping so loudly she’s sure he can hear it. Something in her twists sourly at his unhappiness.
Alpha unhappy, her brain irritatingly supplies, and Rey knows she has to say something before she explodes.
“Ben,” she begins, very delicately, and her throat is suddenly tight and her palms are clammy, “I um, this has never happened before, but— but, um, I think... I think there’s a real chance I might be going into heat early.”
Her eyes are locked onto his face, observing every minute change in his blank, neutral expression. His earnest curiosity faded into surprise and then confusion, all in the tiniest twitches, and Rey thinks she might throw up if he doesn’t say something.
“What do you mean ‘going into heat early’?” he echoes.
Rey squirms, thighs pressed together to stifle herself and hide her scent. “I know it’s TMI but I figured this was an emergency. I didn’t plan this.”
Slowly, Ben’s eyes widen as he begins to comprehend the gravity of what she’s saying.
Rey’s heart raced. He wasn’t freaking out yet. Or maybe he was, silently, inside his own mind. But he wasn’t freaking out on her, and he didn’t seem mad...
“You came out this close to your heat?” He asks incredulously, and Rey blushes hot red.
“No! I’m not due for another three days, I— something just triggered it. I don’t know.”
She watches as Ben very discreetly, but not discreetly enough, sniffs and blinks. It’s kinda cute.
“Oh,” he says, lamely. Rey blushes harder. “Did... I do something?”
Now that’s not what she was expecting to hear. She quickly shakes her head to placate him: “No, no, I mean — no. Not your fault. You just...”
“I just what?”
God, the room felt so small. He was only a couple feet from her. The whole place was covered in his blissful aroma and there was no escape, it curled around her like a blanket.
Rey pulls her knees up in her arms and flumps her head down, hiding. “You smell good.”
“What was that?”
“I said you smell good.”
Rey peeks up. Just with one eye. Ben’s still hard to read, but he’s clearly not upset, and arguably looks...
“I’m not mad at you,” he says after a few seconds, and the words genuinely lift a weight from her shoulders.
Looking up fully, Rey bites the inside of her cheek and replies, “Promise?”
“Promise. You didn’t orchestrate this.”
Rey laughs humorlessly. “Believe me, I did not.” She gestures to her shopping bag, and pulls out the smaller bag inside with the estrous shop’s logo on it. Ben recognizes it, and snorts.
“Ironic.”
“Tell me about it.”
Pause.
“...How are you feeling?” He asks, hesitant.
Rey answers honestly. “Kinda like shit. It’s a battle. It’s warm in here, stomach cramps. I just need to stay distracted.”
Ben nods. “We can do that. I apologize for the personal question, are you on suppressants?”
“Yeah, but they’re cheap and shitty. You?”
“I am, I take the shot.” Yup, expensive and the best alpha suppressant outside of an implant.
“So it doesn’t smell too bad in here for you?”
Ben sniffs the air, openly this time, and she catches him swallow, clearing his throat as he answers tightly, “No. Smells fine.”
“I don’t believe you.”
He rolls his eyes. “Fine. It smells good. Not overpowering, but definitely... Yeah.”
Rey’s cheeks grow warm and she twiddles her fingers. Well, at least it wasn’t bad.