Drown Your Lovers (a Reylo fanfic)

Aldcore

"Good morning, Mr Solo" the barista smiled. "The usual?"
Ben nodded and waited patiently for his coffee. This thingy was getting more and more fun. His stress and worries about this whole project thing had been easier to cope with once he learnt how to channel his energy. Ok, he was not entirely sure what was going on or how or why, but each time he nailed it, it was bloody fantastic. The food delivery guy was forty minutes late and he could have let it pass, considering that he was well aware of how nightmarish the traffic was in that city, but the guy just ended up being plain rude and unapologetic. He was too hungry and tired to have an argument with an entitled brat, so he simply focused enough and the boy changed his frown into a gentle smiled. He offered an apology and the food free of charge. Ben accepted the apology with much pride, though he was feeling uneasy accepting the food for free. In the end, he paid the meal but refused to tip - after all, his lasagna and crepes were cold and his stomach had been demanding the damn food for too long.
At work, however, he had been rather reluctant to use the trick. He had made Hux and Phasma do his bidding that one time, but it hadn't been on purpose. Therefore, he had avoided everyone for the entire week, using the project as an excuse to just ignore everyone and not cause any drama. Thankfully, his department consisted only of a handful of people and they were all busy minding their daily tasks. And, boy, they were all busy.
With summer approaching, the high temperatures were helping the virus spread more easily and faster. Each summer there were a couple of outbreaks that ended up causing too many casualties in the poorer regions of the country or in the industrial ones, where the pollution levels were higher. Even the capital was not safe, as people were constantly coming and going and all the cars, buses, trains and planes were creating the perfect environment for that virus. Things seemed a little bit better when PharmStar released that vaccine, but it was only a temporary cure. Of course, for their company, all the cash and the lack of competition was making them all filthy rich; it was an honour to work there, but cashing on a tragedy was anything but honourable. The honourable thing to do would have been donating a significant sum of money to some of those organisations responsible of cleaning the polluted waters, or at least reducing their own chemical waste because PharmStar was a polluter on its own.
"Anything else?"
Ben shook his head and took a sip of coffee. He had barely got any sleep lately and this caffeine abuse was going to mess him up for a while. When was even the last time he ate something? He had that soup on Friday and then some pretzels over the weekend, but for the past few days, he hadn't actually had any proper food except for a bagel now and then. Speaking of bagels...
"Lilah, do you have some of those smoked salmon, cream cheese and capers bagels?"
The employee shrugged with compassion.
"No, sorry."
And that was a lie. Phasma had them delivered to her office every Friday and it was not yet lunchtime. All the supervisors and bosses and, for some unknown reason yet, Hux too were eating them at lunch, whereas the other employees were served the day-before-weekend-leftovers. Ben turned his nose up at the Greek salad and yesterday's turkey with coleslaw and mashed potatoes. He was hungry, but he could also not stand the smell of onions and reheated meat. He would have asked for just mashed potatoes with coleslaw, but he had his doubts regarding the freshness of the mayonnaise and he already knew that Friday mashed potatoes were made of those disgusting flakes. He should have ordered some food from the nearest restaurant, but his lunch break was almost done. Unless he got his hands on some of those bagels.
"Are you sure, Lilah? Because I do know you have a couple of large trays full of them."
Lilah's eyes grew wider and she smiled hypnotised.
"How many do you want, Mr Solo?"

***

"Where did you get those?"
"I made them."
Ben hid a smile and just enjoyed Hux's flabbergasted face. He ate what was left in one bite and stood up to go wash his hands. Unfortunately, his second shadow followed him.
"Look... about the project..."
"I don't care."
"I just want to be sure that things are alright with you. Your project is the last one to be presented and in case I win, it wouldn't be nice for you to... you know... throw a tantrum or anything like that."
Ben snorted. Wasn't that little boy a little bit too confident?
"You do realise that I don't need to win? I've been working here for years. They know what I am capable of. Unlike you, I don't need to impress anyone."
He turned around and left the restroom. He grabbed his belongings off his desk and entered the meeting room. Some of his colleagues were there and Phasma and other board members had just entered the room and were chatting nonchalantly. He took a seat and listened carefully to the discussion about labels, new ads, feedback from the public, some backlash in the wake of a new plague outbreak and export.
Ben didn't care about any of those things and he was becoming impatient.
"Now about the next product launch" Phasma spoke, "Ben Solo will show us his idea and I think that we can already decide which route to follow."
Ben stood up and turned on the projector. He took his time presenting his analysis of the market and some of the past campaigns that helped him support his choice in terms of ad suggestions, name and slogan. He had his charts perfectly researched and he even went over the top with his sketches and samples for the main ad.
"Alderaan: Let the Force Awaken."
Everybody remained silent as the projector entered in stand by mode. It felt as if no one had the courage to speak up and instead of this worrying him, Ben felt the anger build inside him. It was embarrassing and humiliating as if they were trying to coddle him with that silence. He knew that his presentation was far from perfect, but it was slightly better than some of his colleagues' projects and he had never intended to participate in this campaign more than required.
"Soooo..." one of the board members broke the silence. "Alderaan."
"Alderaan? Why does it sound so familiar?"
"It is my mother's hometown and I..." attempted Ben to explain.
"Isn't Alderaan that city that was almost wiped off the map during the war? And it eventually was wiped off the map when the canal was built."
Ben nodded.
"Yes, but it used to be the heart of modern medicine and for 200 years, Alderaan had provided the best plan-based treatments. Alderaan was the one responsible for curing some of the most dangerous diseases. It is an honourable nod."
"Sorry, Ben, but it sounds too much like painkillers and we don't want to mislead the public."
Ben fought his urge to roll his eyes, so he coughed and came up with a new title.
"How about Corellia?"
"Corellia? Now that sounds better."
"Yes, but Corellia is that industrial city. It is a strong name for a great economic power, but do we really want our product to be associated with a place that pollutes? I mean... PharmStar is the only company that managed to come up with a vaccine that cured the plague caused by pollution."
"Why not mix them? Something like Ald...ellia. Aldellia!
"Aldellia is too... feminine. Sounds more like a cheese spread or butter."
Ben sighed.
"Aldcore?"
One board member stood up all excited and pounded his fist on the table.
"It's perfect! Aldcore!"
He should have felt proud, but he was just tired and in need of a vacation, so he went back to his seat and waited for all the murmuring to cease.
"Alright now" a board member took over the discussion. We have decided unanimously to declare Armitage Hux as the leader of this campaign. His project has impressed us the most. We are going to use the name Aldcore as suggested by Mr Solo, considering that he is the runner up. But we did have to consider the unfair advantage some of you had."
Ben tilted his head. He had never expected Phasma to tell anyone about that incident and less alone allow them to bring up intellectual theft. Yet, the wording was making him feel uneasy.
"Mr Solo's project was very good, but he did know more details about the product than his colleagues."
Ben was shocked. The entire room was suddenly full of whispers and he was able to sense the outrage of his colleagues. Phasma used his own trick against him! She looked at him smugly, defying him with no shame. She had forgiven Hux, but she had turned him up. Ben glared at her, feeling a wave of energy invading his body, then leaving it like a bunch of radiations.
"Congratulations, Mr Hux and everybody else. We are going to email you all the details regarding your responsibilities for this campaign. And we..."
Phasma looked at Ben again, who was still glaring at her. She cleared her throat and continued:
"And we... umm... we demand the same level of confidentiality as usual. As the campaign leader, Mr. Hux will be able to guide you best as he is..."
People were beginning to notice her lack of self-control and they were getting slightly worried. It was unusual for her to be overwhelmed by emotions, let alone not be consistent. Maybe she was sick or maybe...
"As he is my lover and spy. He stole his idea from Mr Solo and I had to cover him up because I needed my Armie to work so close to me. I didn't discredit Ben Solo just because he knew about the product. To be honest, I told him myself all he needed to know, but I had to make him look untrustworthy... preventively."
No one was saying anything and it felt as if no one even dared to breathe. Ben relaxed his muscles and shifted his angry gaze on the water jug. He had wasted too much time there. Too many years and too much effort for nothing. He stood up and took off his name tag, throwing it on the table.
"You will have my resignation on your table on Monday morning."