Pothos and the Neikea

21. You can't stop change any more than you can stop the suns from setting.

A full weekend away from Rey was too much. Kylo barely got to see her while he was at the university, due to him being her professor and both of their studying. But he couldn't just turn down the opportunity to present his work at the First Order conference. It was one of the best around, and coincidentally, he was even offered a couple of great jobs. He politely turned them down; moving away from his girlfriend wasn't in his plans for the near future. He had a plus one, talked about bringing her with him. What a nice opportunity that would be... a nice, romantic weekend at Chalandria with all the expenses paid. But both of them laughed at the idea. They weren't ready to be called out for this prohibited relationship yet.

"Then maybe I'll just bring Bazine with me... there are some great biology lectures taking place in the First Order this weekend."

Obviously, it was a joke. Rey didn't laugh. Instead, she tried to choke him during sex. He would never admit he kind of liked it; just like he would never admit that Bazine was actually going to the conference on her own, anyway. Well, he should know better than to joke about things like that. Rey had seriously tried to murder him after the high of fucking had left her. Not because he had a one-night-stand with someone years ago; that would be insane. But because he had decided to reveal it in the cruelest way.

But as Kylo arrived at his hotel, walked around the streets and admired the city's skyscrapers, he missed Rey more and more. He got more and more frustrated that he couldn't just spend time with her like that. They could only meet in secret at his apartment. Dammit, they couldn't even go on a proper date together. Sure, he tried to make up by cooking for her and getting every movie she liked to watch. But what did he have to do to walk with her hand-in-hand? To go for a dinner, or for a night out with her friends? It seemed like they were doing a lot more things together back when they absolutely hated it.

During one of the more boring lectures, he took out his laptop and started googling ideas for dates where people couldn't see them. He found a few lists- apparently, there are a lot of people having the same problem. For a second he stared into the void, his professional scold in place, something reminiscent of fatherhood in his eyes, as he hoped no other students were fooling around with faculty members of their universities. And then he went on.

The lists consisted of mostly dumb ideas that were for couples-only. An escape room, a trip at the beach in the middle of winter, hiking, touristic monuments (well, people would see you in that one, but you would most likely not know them). All of them stupid. All of them dangerous. But then there was one that spiked his interest. One that took the meaning of "people not able to see you" a little too literally.

It was one of those restaurants where you dine in complete darkness. Apparently, that way you could experience the journey of taste better... but who cared about that? If Rey and he could get there separately and just sit together when inside, truly no one would see a thing. Trying really hard to hide the mysterious grin that was forming on his lips, Kylo quickly searched whether there was such a restaurant near them, and for once, his hopes weren't crushed inhumanly. He got bright red with excitement and barely could hear a word for the rest of the conference. Thank goodness he had already finished his presentation the previous day.

Professor J.J. Binks, an old man with a terrible Chalandrian accent, ears bigger than even his and skin so red he looked like a wrinkled bady, sat down next to Kylo, patting him on the shoulder. The man had to repeat what he was saying three times in order for the younger doctor to understand it. And it was basically this: he was lead of a study that could really use someone like Kylo. So if he ever decided to move to Chalandria, they were ready to offer him a very generous wage to work with them.