SW Rare Pairs roundup

This exchange has been one of my favourite sources of fannish excitement for the last couple of months. I've always tended to throw myself in headlong when I find a new hobby, and it looks like fic exchanges are no exception - but honestly, I couldn't have picked a better event to over-invest in. It's been so much fun.

I got gifts! Four gifts! Four absolutely amazing gifts! Seriously, just look at the gifts I got:

a million ways to toe the line by spookykingdomstarlight (Qi'ra/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren)

Han Solo is the ghost who haunts them both.

This fic is everything I dreamed and more. It's Ben's POV, and beautifully angsty, full of guilt and disgust and twisted, unhealthy desire that's half about craving a human connection and half about finding something (anything) to distract him from his murderous past. Qi'ra's damage is quieter but no less painful, and the relationship that comes out of it is so exquisitely brittle that I felt like I had to read extra carefully to make sure it didn't break apart.


With a Gentle Unknown Woe by ambiguously (Finn/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren)

Finn captured his mortal enemy by luck. Now he has to figure out what to do with him.

There's nothing about this fic I don't love. It's all my favourite things about Finnlo assembled in one place: enmity, anger, irresistible chemistry and a dash of brutal First Order backstory. (ambiguously also wrote me one of my all-time favourite Reylo fics earlier this year, so author reveals were a delightful 'I should have known!' moment.) It leans right into the darkness off Finn's past in a way that makes me love him harder than ever, which I didn't think was possible until I read this fic.


What I do, I do for Me by darktensh17 (femslash Armitage Hux/Phasma/Kylo Ren)

Phasma has always done what must be done to get ahead and survive. Why should taking her commanding officers into her bed be any different?

This fic is sexy, iddy fun and also a perfect example of why fem!Character AUs are such an eternal favourite of mine. Amelia and Kyla are absolutely their canon selves, with dysfunction and bratty egos galore. Phasma is a stern Amazonian domme who uses a perfect balance of praise and punishment to get what she wants out of her fractious girls. (She also call them her girls throughout, because darktensh17 is strong with the Force and can see what's in the depths of my mind.)


Greyer Shades of White by lady_needless_litany (Qi'ra/Rey)

The destruction of Hosnian Prime and the New Republic has left the galaxy in chaos. With the First Order rapidly moving to seize power, General Leia Organa - on behalf of the decimated Resistance - sends an emissary to seek out an ally in the Outer Rim. But Rey's mission on Cadomai Prime goes far from to plan...

There is so much story in here, I wish I knew how lady_needless_litany made it all fit! There's a lot of competence porn on both sides, with a whip-smart, level-headed Rey up against a Qi'ra whose cartel has passed its glory days but whose hold on her own power is as razor-sharp as ever. The chemistry between them is subtle - they're both focused on their own agendas, with not much conscious thought to spare for romance - but extremely hot and just as dangerous as everything else about them.


So yeah, basically, I've been spoilt rotten and I'm going to cherish all these fics forever. I've also read a ridiculous amount of the main collection - like, easily 3/4 of all the Sequel Trilogy fics and counting - so I'll be here till old age takes me if I try and write a rec for every single thing I love in there. But there's a looooot of really amazing stuff.

( I also wrote some things! )