"Try it."
"I dunno, Poe."
"Would I ever make you do something you didn't want to, buddy?"
Finn's right brow arched sharply at that and Poe had to throw his hands in the air in defeat.
"Okay, okay, you got me. But that was only the one time. And this time, it's only flying."
"Only flying?! That's fine for you to say, Mr Hot Shot Best-Pilot-in-the-Resistance!"
Poe rolled his eyes and patted the X-Wing next to him affectionately. "She won't bite!"
"If you want to kill us both, then yeah, I'll get into the pilot's seat!"
Finn's arms were crossed defiantly now, crumpling his - Poe's - tan jacket. The hangar around them was bustling with activity, Resistance orange jumpsuits, welding sparks and smoke filling the air, high pitched beeping from droids, the smell of oil and heated metal. Sights and sounds that made Poe feel at ease; this was his team, his routine, his world.
He wanted Finn to see it. He wanted Finn to feel it. The solid strength that was the starfighter around him, the power that his hands on the controls would wield. The breathtaking expanse of the galaxy in front of him when you were in space with nothing between you and the stars but the plexiglass in front of you. The thrill and the rush that you could only understand when you were out there.
Instead, he simply said, "I'll be there with you. I won't let anything happen."
"You're not gonna let it go, are you?"
Poe smiled broadly. "You know it, buddy!"
A look of resignation flashed across Finn's face. "Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you!"
He trudged to the base of the ladder leaning against the starfighter, pulling himself up it quickly as if to stop himself from changing his mind. Poe kept the smile on his face as he scurried up after him, hauling the two helmets in his left hand. When he reached the cockpit, Finn was in the pilot's seat, sitting forward, hands resting on the console. He pulled himself inside the cockpit, pushing the mounting ladder away.
Finn turned around, eyebrow arched again.
"Have you seen how many fricking buttons are on this console?!"
Poe laughed, dropping one of the helmets onto Finn's lap and slipping onto the pilot's behind Finn. "I'll tell you which ones you need. Budge your elbows, it's tight back here."
Finn obliged, letting Poe slip his legs forward to rest on either side of his friend.
"First things first, helmet on." He followed the instruction himself, pulling the distinctive white helmet with the Resistance insignia over his head. Finn followed suit, turning back to the console.
"Whoa, not a fan of helmets so much."
Poe winced. He hadn't considered that. "Sorry, buddy."
"Don't worry, it's not nearly as bad as the stormtrooper one. At least I can breathe in this one!"
Poe couldn't see his face, but could hear the smile in his voice, both directly and through the earpiece in the helmet. Okay, so he knew getting Finn into the starfighter in the first place would be a battle, but hadn't thought the rest would be. Never mind, it would be worth it. I hope.
He pulled the harness over his shoulders and passed it on to Finn to buckle closed.
"Okay, so next you're going to power up this baby. Row of switches on the right, just next to the centre console? Switch all five up."
He watched Finn reach over and somewhat hesitantly flick all the switches up. The starfighter came to life around them; the console lighting up, various readouts scrolling across different screens, buttons glowing red and yellow and blue, the hum of power reverberating around them.
"Good. Now, above those is the canopy release. Black one with red line - yeah, hit that." The canopy hissed as it closed above them. Click and they were airtight.
"Right, so now we're gonna power up the engines. There's four, Incom 4L4 fusial thrusts. The readouts on the left are for engine status, all at zero at the minute. Toggles next to them are to power up. Put your hand on all four at once and slide them up - gently!"
The starfighter whined in protest as Finn pushed the toggles a little too hard too quickly. "Sorry!" He eased up and the engines hummed loudly, but not in protest anymore.
"Now for the fun part, getting this baby up off the ground."
"I'm glad you think this is the fun part!"
"I'll help, stop worrying." Poe leaned forward, so his chest was flush with Finn's back. Finn flinched slightly at the contact. "Sorry, man, did I hurt you?"
"No, it's fine. It's not so bad anymore." Poe hoped he was telling the truth. It had only been three weeks since Kylo Ren had torn the younger man's back open with a lightsaber. He reached both arms around Finn so that he could reach the controls. He really hoped he was telling the truth, because if he was honest with himself, this felt good. Having Finn sit between his legs in the tight confines of the X-wing cockpit, should tucked beneath his chin.
Just be honest with youself, Poe. Showing him the stars was only half the reason you wanted him in your cockpit, reliant on you. Stop thinking and get this thing of the ground or you won't be showing him anything.
"That's good. We're gonna do this bit together." He put his hands over Finn's on the controls. "Just follow my lead."
He guided Finn's hands to the thrusters, easing forward the toggle, propulsion pushing the starfighter to hover above the hangar floor.
"Are we up yet?" Finn asked, leaning to the right to look through the canopy. "Oh, we are. Fierfek. I'm flying."
Poe snorted. "Calm down there, big deal, we're only a metre up! A long way off space. But let's get there. Ready for this?"
He felt Finn's shoulders tense as he settled back into the seat. "As I'll ever be!"
"Let's go!" And Poe pushed forward the lever, moving his and Finn's hand to the stick, and pulled back. The X-Wing sprang forward and up, angling through the hangar entrance and into the blue sky beyond.
Finn whooped, the force of it pushing him backwards into Poe, knocking the air out from his lungs. "Oh wow, oh wow!"
Poe smiled at his enthusiasm. "See, now you're getting it! Hit that green button up on the left, that retracts the landing gear. Don't want that slowing us down! Okay, let's keep pulling back on the stick, and keep the engines hot - we need the speed and the angle to break through the atmosphere. D'Qar isn't too rough, so you're lucky you've got it easy on your first go."
"I'm getting it, I think! Where's the turbolasers on this thing? I think I'd be better at those."
"Ha. If we need them here, we're a bit screwed!"
"Just sayin'! Oh wow, the view's actually really awesome, Poe!"
The starfighter was streaking across D'Qar's northern hemisphere, the large lakes and low lying woodlands fanning out beneath them. It was twilight here, D'Qar's sun just visible across the horizon.
"That's what I'm talking about! Okay, feel the vibrating starting? Hitting the atmosphere now, bit bumpy, but just keep your hand steady on the stick and keep the speed up."
"Right, boss."
He felt less unsure beneath his hands now, Poe thought. Surer and practically trembling with excitement. This was how Poe liked the ex-stormtrooper best; wide eyed and excited, trying something new and wonderful, and best of all, in Poe's arms.
Stop it. He's your friend and you're showing him the universe. That's it.
And then they were free of the planet's gravity, out in the darkness of space and skimming D'Qar's asteroid belt. Poe eased off on the throttle and let go of Finn's hands, bringing his hands to rest on his knees.
"And there you have it, buddy. Say hi to the stars."
Finn didn't say anything for a moment, his breathing fast against Poe's chest as he took in the view before him. The velvet blackness of infinity around them, glittering pinpricks of light scattered like diamonds across the endless vista, little islands of brightness in the forever emptiness. The asteroids tumbled lazily past them to their starboard side, and beyond that, the simple blue and green of D'Qar belied the hive of activity and life that couldn't be seen from here.
"It's ... Poe ... it's really beautiful." Finn's voice was breathy and low, strung with awe. "When we were in the TIE fighter, I didn't really have time to actually look at it. But I'm looking at it now."
Poe leaned forward again, lifting his hand to point out to starboard, above them through the canopy. "See the constellation there? The three stars together, just there? That's the Yavin system, that's where I'm from, where I grew up."
"And where the Death Star was blown up."
"See, it's not a bad place. I'll take you there someday."
"I'd like that, I think."
That made Poe smile. Good. He wanted to take Finn to Yavin, and to everywhere else in the galaxy, just to show him what life was like beyond the First Order. He'd lost count of all the things Finn had no idea about over the last three weeks. He didn't know about holovids, or Corellian ale, or baths. He'd never been to a memorial before Han Solo's. He'd never celebrated a victory with music and dancing and Poe had had to laugh at his wide eyes and bewilderment when Jessika had taken his hand and spun him onto the dancefloor. He didn't know about girls or relationships and had asked with that innocent wonder what Jessika had later done with one of the Red Squadron members (they'd been kissing near the bar, his hands in her hair).
Poe's heart had broken a little at that. He'd laughed and tried to explain, but despaired at the thought that he could hardly say or do anything when Finn didn't know anything. So he'd resolved then to be his friend, and forget how his heart beat harder in his chest when Finn smiled, how his skin tingled when Finn grabbed his hand in his childish innocence, how he looked forward to Finn's reactions in the canteen at dinner over the new and different foods.
"There's so much out there, Finn. I get to see it everyday. Sometimes the bad guys are shooting at me, and other times, I get to have a better look."
"There's like a hundred, a thousand, a million things I haven't done, isn't there?"
"There's a million things that we could do the first time, if you want."
Finn turned in the seat, as far as the harness would allow and pulled the helmet off. He gave Poe a lopsided grin, all boyish and happy.
"That would be awesome!"
Poe's breath hitched in his throat, his chest tight. He clenched his fists, to stop from reaching out and wrapping his hands around Finn's chest. He smiled back, warmly and hoped Finn couldn't see the wistfulness.
"You bet, buddy! Right, will we go back?"
"But try not to crash us this time, yeah?"
In a bigger ship next time though, Poe thought, as Finn turned forward again. His large shoulders were comforting but confining against Poe's chest in this tight space. He unclenched his hands and leaned forward to cover Finn's hands with his own and pulled Finn's helmet back on, then guiding their hands back to the control panel.
The descent back to base only took a few minutes, the starfighter winding lazily through the clouds, punctuated only by Finn's exclamations as they passed over D'Qar's landmarks.
They didn't land back in the hangar this time, but out on the exposed ferrocrete outside the bunkers. The X-Wing settled heavily on the landing struts and Finn had already forgotten where the canopy release was in his excitement.
He released the restraints and clambered quickly out of the cockpit, barely waiting before one of the droids pushed the landing ladder to the side of the ship before scrambling down it.
"Oh wow, Poe, that was amazing! I like, really didn't get why you'd be so mad on flying, like I know you kinda have to fly if you want to get places, but that's fine in a freighter, or a shuttle but starfighters? After Jakku, I was like, never again, but this like makes way more sense now!"
Poe pulled himself out of the cockpit, watching Finn pace excitedly across the ferrocrete, hands animated as he rattled on in his wonder. His face was glowing, that same glow that Poe remembered from the time that they met again after Takodana on this exact spot. He felt like his chest was going to implode.
I can't, Finn, I can't do this. I have to...
He slid down the ladder, smoothly dropping to the ground, helmet in his hand. He crossed the distance between them while Finn continued on his tirade.
"Like, it's such an experience! Way better when no one's shooting at you, but to be honest, I think I'd be fairly good at shooting back, maybe not so much at actually flying, but hey, I'm not a pil-"
And then Poe was in front of him, hands on the lapels of his jacket, pulling him close and was kissing him.
It was a desperate kiss, full of pent up emotion just spilling out. Finn's lips were warm and soft. He opened his mouth underneath his, probably to say something and Poe used that to slip his tongue in. Finn froze in his hands, and Poe knew he'd gone too far. He'd gone against everything he'd just told himself above D'Qar, but he didn't think he could've stopped himself if he'd tried.
He let his hands drop and stepped back, shame flooding his cheeks.
"Fuck, Finn, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
He turned to leave, when he felt Finn's hand on his elbow. "Poe, wait."
He looked back Finn's face, heart pounding at the confusion there.
"I shouldn't have done that."
"Why not?"
Poe's brow furrowed. Isn't it obvious, buddy? "I took advantage. It wasn't fair."
Finn took a step closer to him. "No, you didn't. I've ... I've just never done that before."
"Exactly," Poe said, miserably.
"But maybe I've wanted to. And just didn't know how. And now I know and I liked it."
"You liked it?"
"Will you do it again?"
Poe stared, shock spiking through his belly. Finn didn't have to ask twice - he grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him close again, pressing his lips to the younger man's. This time, Finn didn't freeze with surprise, he kissed back. It was clumsy and unpracticed, but Poe didn't care in the slightest. It was passionate and heated and beyond anything he could ever have dreamed it would be.
When they broke apart, Poe left his hands curled around Finn's neck, caressing the smooth skin there. He rested his forehead against Finn's, nose to nose so that he could feel his breath against his face.
"I've wanted to do that since the first moment I met you. You've no idea, Finn, you've no idea."
Finn smiled. "I think I do now. Hey, you did promise me we'd do a million things together for the first time."
Poe's lips curled into an excited grin of his own. "Buddy, I've so much to show you." And kissed him again. And again. And again.