Summary: Luke is taking Rey and a redeemed Ben onto a field trip/beach vacation, Finn and Poe are tagging along to provide the peanut gallery. There is no way this could ever be awkward. Let's hope nobody gets eaten by the wildlife, or "accidentally" left behind.
Notes: I felt like writing the beach trip discussed in "The Trouble with Jedi Field Trips." I also felt like finally writing a fic for my OTP, so enjoy Finn and Rey being cute amidst some minor mayhem.
The Trouble With Jedi Beach Trips
Chapter 1: An Awkward Fellowship
Nobody who knew Finn could doubt that he loved Rey, and would do just about anything for her.
He had stayed and fought the First Order with her before they'd even shared their first kiss, and hell had he been terrified. Of the Order, not the kiss, though working up the courage to kiss her had been nerve-wrecking, too. Poe still claimed that it had been worse for him, and that Finn's poetic waxing about how Rey would never like him back had given him his first grey hairs. Finn still claimed that he had never sunken to poetic waxing. It had, at worst, been agonized babbling.
Finn shook himself out of his wandering thoughts, and looked up, only to look right into Ben Skywalker's glaring eyes.
And here was the reality.
Fact was, right here and now, Finn was stuck in a too-small ship with his girlfriend, his best friend, his best friend's robot, a hermit Jedi Master and his girlfriend's probably-not-a-Sith cousin… and nobody would be walking into a bar. He almost wished Luke hadn't agreed to Poe and him accompanying Rey on her Jedi field trip thing, but in the end he was glad they could come. They had plans to teach Rey swimming. It was worth braving the danger of Kylo Ren-style temper tantrums.
Ben's glare intensified as if he had read his thoughts.
He winced, and looked down at the table between them. Finn picked up a few of the abandoned playing cards to fiddle with. Rey had wrangled them into a game of Hotansi, but when she'd joined Poe in the cockpit for the landing, Finn and Ben had abandoned the game.
Finn gulped. "You're still angry about karaoke night, aren't you?"
Ben remained quiet for a good long while, until Finn had given up hope to get an answer. "I hate sand," he grumbled.
That was weird. Both Han and Leia had mentioned how much Ben used to love beach vacations. He opened his mouth to remark on that, but thought better of it. All Skywalkers vouched for Ben being reformed, and Finn had always tried his hardest to make him feel welcome. He knew best how hard it was to find your place among the former enemy. Ben was just… Well, Finn used to clean up after his temper tantrums.
Finn stood up. "I'll… uh… check on Rey," he announced awkwardly.
Ben leapt to his feet. "I'll check on Uncle Luke."
They gratefully went their separate ways. The relief was palpable in both.
The first day of Jedi communing with nature turned out to be boring to watch, which meant that Finn dragged Poe and BB-8 along to explore some caves while Luke meditated with Rey and Ben.
"Legend says this planet used to be a smuggler's haven," Finn told Rey that evening, as they all sat huddled around the campfire in the largest cave. "Poe and I have been looking for traces of old smuggler activity. No luck yet. But we found skeletons of giant fish!"
BB-8 rolled around and beeped excitedly.
Poe nodded. "That's right, you took pictures. Show them, BB."
BB-8 rolled deeper into the cave, away from the flickering firelight, and projected its recordings onto the cave wall, while Finn and Poe regaled the group with their tales of adventure.
They ate the fish Poe and him had caught once they had grown bored of exploring, and much to their delight Luke announced fishing with the Force as part of tomorrow's Jedi training. That was bound to be more fun to watch than meditation.
Rey and him kept edging closer as the evening went along. Their fingers brushed when they reached for the same piece of fruit, their gazes lingered longer than was strictly necessary.
"Do you want to watch the waves?" Rey asked quietly once the conversation came to a lull.
"I'd love to."
They slipped away, sitting at the shore. They stretched out their legs, let the waves lap at their toes. "Did you have fun today?" Finn asked.
Rey's face lit up like the sun, it made Finn's heart skip a beat. "I did! We haven't done anything exciting, we have just been meditating to the sound of the waves. But Dad is happier here than on the base. I think he felt trapped in the base." She wriggled her toes. "And I love the ocean. When I lived on Jakku I dreamt of it, but I had almost forgotten how it looked for real."
Finn grinned. "Still not tired of water after your time on Luke's hermit planet?"
Rey's toothy grin matched his own. "Never!"
They did another awkward little dance of edging closer when they thought the other didn't notice, until they were pressed side by side.
Out of the corner of his eyes he watched Rey watching him. The sudden look of determination gave him half a second's advance warning before Rey's arm slipped around his waist. She cuddled against him, and Finn finally found the courage to pull her into his arms properly.
"It's nicer like this," Rey declared.
Finn tightened his arms around her and nodded. "It…" He never got to finish the sentence before Rey's lips found his.
After all the awkwardness of the day it was ending on an absolutely perfect note.
to be continued...