Finn had been excited for the winter vacation. He wouldn't say that winter was his favorite season but he couldn't deny the charm and surprising warmth of the season overall. This vacation he was going to spend it with his close friend Rey and her family, they had a cabin up in the woods. Finn had been there a few times over the summer so he was interested to see what the place looked like in the winter. Probably like a winter postcard.
Rey had left about a week earlier, she had finished all her classes and she wanted to help her family pack up things for their trip. Finn was to follow a few days later and while Rey offered to come back down and pick him up, he told her that he could find a ride himself and to not worry about. He had found a ride from a posting on a bulletin board. Rey was worried but Finn reassured her that he would be okay, though he did agree to send her a photo of the person's license plate before they left.
Finn gathered out his bags and waited outside in front of the campus for his ride to show up. It was cold, the sky was covered in thick grey clouds and Finn remembered that the weather man had predicted snow at some point today. He pulled his hat down further over his ears and zipped his jacket up the last little bit so it covered his chin as he waited. As he stood there, rocking on his feet when and old Volvo station wagon, completely black, pulled up in front of him. Out of the car stood a tall, broad shouldered man with messy black hair; he rested one arm on top of the car's hood.
'Cute.' Finn thought to himself.
"Finn?" He asked, pointing towards him.
Finn licked his dry lips and nodded. "Yeah…that's me and you're Kylo Ren, yeah?"
The man nodded. "I'll pop the trunk for you and you can just toss your bags in the back." He ducked back down and got into his car. The trunk popped open.
Finn dragged his bah towards the back and lifted the trunk the rest of the way up. The trunk was pretty clean all things considered. There were some random blankets, other bags, and a few pillows. Finn placed his bag down next to the pile of blankets and made sure to snap a picture of the license plate and text it over to Rey with a message that he was on his way.
He made his way back towards the front of the car and climbed into the passenger seat. "Thanks for this by the way," he smiled and pulled his hat from his head. He dug into his pocket and pulled out fifty dollars, handing it over to Kylo. It was the agreed payment for the ride there, with Finn helping to pay for gas and snacks along the way as well. "Do you always offer strangers rides?"
Kylo shook his head and he put the car in gear and drove off. "Nah…only around this time of year, try to get some extra cash."
"Oh yeah, for gifts for the family?"
"No." He said softly.
Finn pressed his lips together, sensing an uncomfortable shift in the car. He knew families could be complicated, especially around the holidays. He always felt awkward when people asked about his own family. Being an orphan was never fun to talk about.
He cleared his throat. "Oh…" Finn shifted in his seat. "Well, uh, extra cash is always nice. For…things…"
Finn heard Kylo chuckled and that made him relax a little bit. They started on their trip.
"So," Finn mused as he leaned against the door. "What are you planning for the holidays? Anything special?"
Kylo Ren just shook his head and gave a little shrug. "No more than I usually do."
"And what do you usually do?"
"Nothing special."
"Oh, okay."
So this guy didn't like small talk. That's fine; some people just didn't like pointless conversations. But that was going to make this ride a long one. Finn stuck his hand into one of his pockets, looking for his headphones only to find that they weren't there. He quickly searched his other pockets but found nothing. Finn sighed softly to himself; he must have forgotten them back in his dorm or packed them in his bag. He pursed his lips and looked out the window, noting that snow had started to fall from the sky.
Sometime later they pulled into a small gas station. Finn stepped out, the snow was really picking up now, thick clumps and the quick winds forced him to squint and pull his hat low over his eyebrows.
"Cold?"
He looked over at Kylo to see the man, finishing zipping up his jacket. He had a small smirk on his lips as snowflakes clung to his black hair. Finn scoffed softly and shook his head.
"What please," he said, his breath forming clouds in front of him. "I love weather like this. Not being able to feel your fingers? It's the best."
Kylo shook his head, laughing, and shook the snow from his hair, though it was quickly covered in snow again. Finn smiled.
"Do you want anything?" he asked him.
Kylo Ren waved a hand as he put the pump into the gas tank. "Nah, I'm good, thanks."
"You sure, not even a bag of chip? A twinkie? Some chocolate?"
Kylo smirked, glancing away from Finn for a moment. He raised a hand and pushed his hair back out of his face. "Heh, okay." He drummed his free hand on the roof of the car. "Some chocolate would be good. Thanks."
Finn grinned and gave his driver a thumb up. "You got it!" he said and headed towards the station.
"Get ten gallons!"
"Right!"
By the time he reached the door his head and shoulder accumulated small mounds of snow. He pushed open the door, causing the small bell above the door to ring and shook the snow off himself. He quickly grabbed some snacks and walked up towards the counter, looking up at the tv that hung up in the corner. It was a weather report saying that a snowstorm was quickly rolling in.
"It looks bad." Finn said.
The clerk behind the counter, who looked a little sleepy, turned his head to look up at the television. "Oh yeah," he said as he turned back towards Finn. "Sucks."
Finn was worried that he wouldn't make it to Rey's family cabin at all that day. He paid for the snacks, also buying a couple of hot chocolates for the road. Kylo was already back inside the car.
"There's a storm rolling in," he told the man and sat Kylo's drink in the cup holder. "It looks bad."
"We'll be fine," Kylo said, holding his hand out for his chocolate. "Don't worry."
"You really think so?" Finn wasn't so sure. The sun was just starting to set in the sky from what he could tell and the snow was really picking up at that point. "We shouldn't stop somewhere?"
"You trying to get be alone for the night?"
Finn, who had been in the middle of taking his first sip of hot chocolate, sputtered softly, spilling a bit on his pants. Kylo laughed as he backed the car up and pulled out of the gas station. Finn shot the man next to him a mild glare as his face warmed.
"I'm joking. Loosen up."
They continued on their way, an easy atmosphere inside the car. Finn would talk, every now and then, about school, his friends, or whatever came to mind. Kylo didn't seem to mind too much. He didn't contribute much to the conversations, but he would hum at points to let Finn know that he was, in fact, listening. It was a nice time.
Despite the comfortable air in the car Finn still worried. The snow fell in thick white sheets, making it hard to see, even with Kylo's high beams on.
"We should stop for the night."
"What?" Kylo glanced over at him, a look of annoyance creeping over his features. "We're almost there. If we stop now you won't get there until next morning."
"That's fine, I'll just call Rey and her know I'll be late. It's awful out here!"
"You're being paranoid for no reason, I got—"
"Watch out!"
Kylo jerked the wheel to the felt causing the car to swerve off to the left and spin. Finn closed his eyes as they spun, being pressed against the door of the car. The car eventually stopped, things in the car had been thrown about. Finn's hot chocolate, which had only been half finished, ended up spilling on Finn's pants.
"What was that!?" Kylo was looking at Finn, a wild and angry look in his eyes. He was breathing hard; his pale cheeks flushed red and his hair a complete mess, in front of his face.
"I-I sorry," Finn said, sitting up, his arm hurting slightly. "I thought I saw something!"
"You can barely see anything out there!"
"Which is why we shouldn't even be driving right now," Finn pointed out, "but I thought I saw something!"
Kylo scoffed, shook his head and tried to start his car up again. He revved the engine but the car remained still. Kylo tried a few more times before but to no avail. The tall man cursed under his breath and got out of his car. Finn could barely see him out the front window. He was out there for all of five minutes before he was climbing back into the car, shaking snow off of himself.
"Well…" he sighed, pushing his hair up out of his face. "We're not going anywhere. Just like you wanted."
"What? Really?" Kylo nodded and Finn frowned. He pulled his phone out but noted that he had no service at the moment. Well, that was just perfect. "We can't stay in here…"
"You wanna go out there in that be my guest."
"You were just driving in it."
"Yeah, driving." Kylo said. "Walking in this? No way, I'm not leaving my car."
Finn huffed and crossed his arms because he wasn't going to walk out there by himself; especially with no phone service. The pair fell silent for a moment. Finn sighed.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't."
"But if I hadn't—"
Kylo rose up a hand and Finn clamped his mouth shut. Fine, if he didn't want to hear Finn's apology then fine. Finn folded his arm over his chest, tucking his hands under his armpits. The silence dragged on between them making the minutes tick by slowly. Kylo had slumped a little bit in the driver seat, his left leg raised so that his foot was up on the dashboard. Finn wondered how the long limb man felt comfortable. Finn slumped down in his seat a bit as well, the cold creeping into the off car. He had pulled out his phone, checking again if he had service (he didn't) and looking out the window at the falling snow.
"You're shivering."
Finn looked back over at Kylo who had shifted his position so that he was facing more towards Finn.
He hiked his shoulders up towards his ears. "It's cold."
"I got blankets in the back."
Oh yeah, Finn had forgotten all about those. "Uh, yeah. Thanks." He slipped into the back seat, wiggling between the driver and passenger's seats and then reached over into the trunk. The things back there had been thrown about and the blankets were stuck under one of Finn's own bags, but it was easy enough to pull one of them free.
It was a thin blanket and Finn wasn't sure it would really help him keep warm, but it was better than nothing. Finn rested in the back seat, wrapping the blanket round himself leaned back against the door.
"Are you cold?" Finn asked.
"I've been out in worse," Kylo said from the front seat.
"That doesn't answer my question."
Kylo turned to look at him, his eyebrows rose. "Are you trying to get me to cuddle you?"
"It's cold," Finn said, though he couldn't say that he would be opposed to snuggling up to the taller man. "And this blanket is thin as hell, the heats not on...I mean...c'mon? Please?"
Kylo made a soft noise that Finn wasn't sure how to read but the man did move his long limbed body into the back seat. They shifted around each other to find a more comfortable position, finally settling down; Kylo with his back resting against the door with Finn sitting between his legs and the blanket was on top of them. Finn already felt a bit warmer with both their body heat wrapped under the blanket.
"I am sorry," Finn mumbled after some time.
Kylo rested his chin on top of Finn's head. "Nah...I shoulda listened to you. I coulda hit something anyway."
"Still...I feel bad. I mean, your car—"
"—Is old."
Finn tried to twist around so he could look at his driver but Kylo wrapped his arms around him to keep his still. Finn sighed. "The point is that I wanna make it up to you."
There was silence and then, "Are you offering to buy me a new car?"
Finn laughed and shook his head, because really, if Finn could have afforded a car he wouldn't have needed a ride. "But...uh, maybe...I could, I dunno, take you somewhere?"
"Like a date?"
"No..."
"No?"
"Not really..."
"Not really?"
"Are you just going to repeat everything I say?"
"I just wanna make sure I understand what you're offering," Kylo said with a hint of a laugh in his voice.
Finn pressed back against Kylo's torso, his head pressing up under his chin. "I'm just...you can say no, y'know."
"I know," he said softly, "but I'm not."
"Oh."
"We can talk more in the morning, yeah?"
They fell into another comfortable silence and at some point they drifted to sleep. Neither was aware of how long they slept but they were awoken by a sharp knock on the window. It was a police officer; apparently Rey had gotten worried when she couldn't get in contact with Finn and had informed the police to be on the lookout for Kylo's car, giving them his license plate number.
Finn and Kylo Ren spent the next thirty minutes standing in the cold and explaining the situation to the officer and got a tow truck for Kylo's car. The officer offered to drive Finn the rest of the way back to Rey's place while Kylo went with his car to the nearest shop.
"Okay...well, I'll uh, talking to you later," Finn said with a smile and a wave.
Kylo raised his own arm in response to Finn after he got into the trunk's passenger seat. He gave him a small smile before he settled back as the truck pulled off.
Finn raised his hands to cup around his mouth, "Merry Christmas," he called as the truck drove further and further away.
He could see Kylo stick his head out of the window to turn back towards Finn, the wind whipping his hair all across his face. He cupped one hand on the side of his mouth. "I'm Jewish!"
Finn covered his mouth for a moment in embarrassment before shouting out an apology that he wasn't sure Kylo actually heard him. Oh well, he could just apologize properly when they go on their...date. Finn slipped into the officer's passenger seat, rubbing his hands together in the warm air of the car.
He hummed softly to himself and relaxed. This was going to be a good holiday.
Carrie Fisher was Jewish so I thought it was appropriate.
