Characters: Poe, Finn, Rey
Rating: General Audiences
Prompt: Rey, Finn, Poe, happy and safe
The Solution
Finn? Finn was easy. Poe could present him with a new piece of clothing, a holo he had never heard of, or a new food to taste and Finn's eyes would light up and he would smile as bright as a sun as he dove headlong into a new experience. Poe had become especially fond of finding ways to break up the monotony of Finn's recovery once he was still mostly confined to the med bay but finally feeling well enough to be frustrated by the recovery process.
Rey? She was another matter. Sometimes it was nearly as easy as it was with Finn. More specifically, when Poe gifted them something together; Rey seemed far more likely to enjoy a gift when it was something to be shared or experienced with others. But when Poe tried to offer something specifically to her and her alone? She seemed to view it with a fair amount of suspicion.
It's not that he necessarily thinks that she doesn't trust him, specifically. But more that, she isn't inclined to trust anyone easily. At least not when the stakes aren't ridiculously high and she has the chance to think about her options.
Poe gets it. Or, he gets it as much as he'd ever be able to, with his far different background and life experiences. But it still stings a bit when Rey hesitates for long seconds before accepting his offer of flight training in an X-wing simulator or pauses as if looking for a "catch" to an offer of a book to borrow.
But Poe was just a generally generous guy and he loved making those around him feel welcome and included. And he loved introducing new experiences to a willing audience. And so, after a brief period of experimentation, Poe figured out the trick.
Because he is amazing, of course.
In addition to including Finn whenever possible (because, frankly, he and Rey were both happiest when Finn was around, which was not just a byproduct of their relief at his full recovery), Poe discovered that if he gave Rey a reason for the gifts he offered, if he passed it off as something that was practically expected of him, then she was far more likely to just… have fun.
And that? That is why Poe had, thus far, made up five holidays that he insisted were long-standing Yavinese traditions that he was excited to share with his friends. And both Rey and Finn were either too amused at Poe's antics to want to question him or they were far more culturally sensitive than he'd given them credit for.
Regardless, Poe had a lot of fun making up themes and coming up with ways to throw mini celebrations.
Spicy Food Day was the only dud thus far. It turns out that people raised on exceptionally bland diets were not given to appreciating food with a bit of a bite to it. And Finn had insisted on going to medical for an examination, insisting that he'd been poisoned and was surely going to expire on the spot.
That failure aside, Media Appreciation Week, Friendship Day, New Year's Festival, and The Feast of the Seven Breads were all rousing successes.
Poe would pat himself on the back if he had a free arm, but given that it was the last night of Media Appreciation Week and he had a wide-eyed Rey and a reluctant-but-determined-to-endure Finn curled up on either side of him watching a classic Twi'lek horror holo, he would settle for a little silent self-admiration.
Yeah. He could get used to this.