The mirror surface of the lake shimmered with ripples that draped the inverted green wedges of the mountains in thin silver garlands. In the far off heart, a blue so deep it was nearly black pulsed through the bright patina of sky with an ominous stillness. In the shallows, the flaxen light of midday wavered and glittered in threads of silver and gold across the diffuse mud of the lake floor. A small cloud of fish-like creatures flickered about, brassy scales flashing and then shuttering off as they wove as one through light and shadow. Poe watched the little school, seeing them and yet not seeing them. In his mind's eye the slips of fish morphed into the narrow prows of X-wings, following in the same faultless dance, mirroring the leader precisely, a group so tightly in tune with one another that they seemed to be one being.

The fish melded suddenly into the deeper shadows and seconds later Poe heard quick, crunching footfalls approaching. He came back to himself, shaken, but glad for the interruption. Snap brushed an overhanging bow of oblong yellow leaves aside and then stood by him, shaking his head wordlessly with his arms crossed in front of his chest as if trying to keep a rant from escaping. Snap's eyes slid down to him and his mouth thinned.

"They're still out there. Somewhere." Snap said adamantly.

Poe's eyes flickered away, back towards the lake. The little fish hadn't returned. He licked his lips. "We knew this might be a possibility."

"Now, don't tell me you're writing them off." Snap stood, aghast.

"No! Of course not, Snap. But…she is right about one thing. Even if they're not gone, we are cut off from them. So. That means we need to start acting on our own with the understanding that maybe we won't find them."

"She's just a batty old lady!"

Poe smiled reluctantly though it was hidden beneath his wrap. "Yeah, maybe. But she's also not wrong, and that's why you're pissed off, right? I mean, I know that's why I am."

Snap heaved a giant sigh and rubbed at his brow. "Look, Poe, don't start playing squadron psychologist on me. We came all the way out here only to have her tell us that what we've been fighting for is finished?"

Poe couldn't say why Maz's words had both upset and unlocked him; something about them had lodged in his heart, steeling him against the hope of reunion so that he could move forwards freely. He chose his next words carefully. "We were never fighting for the Resistance. The Resistance was fighting for ideals, and we can do that under any name and with any number. I think that's what she meant about the light 'taking a new form'. Things have changed—we can't wait for a General, or for orders, or for a squadron to back us up. But," he hurried on, "that doesn't mean we stop looking. We've still got the tracker to show her—she might know something. Enough to get us started on a trail."

Snap stood, fidgeting with the ends of his beard as he often did when stressed. He ran Poe's words though his mind, placated but still not happy about it. "Okay, but what then? We follow the trail to the First Order and try and take them down, just the three of us?"

"5 of us." Poe corrected with a fond look at the patiently waiting BB-8. "Don't count out our droids."

"Look…" Snap placed his hands on Poe's shoulders and stared him dead in the eye with a pained expression. "You know I'd fly right up Snoke's ass for you guys, but…these are not good odds. And yeah, I know we're no stranger to bad odds, Poe, but we had an organization, money, intel, tools and fuel and weapons at our disposal."

"I told you it'd be rough, pal." Poe patted his hand and Snap nodded grimly, standing back from him with a frustrated breath. "What do you think we should do?" Poe asked with all seriousness. "You don't want us to get caught by the First Order—which I totally understand. But you don't want us to hang around doing nothing against them either, right?"

Snap sighed, his hands falling like leaden weights to his hips. "Man—this sucks."

Poe laughed. "Yeah, tell me about it. But you know us: We'll take it as it comes, step by step; refine the plan as we learn."

"Well, the plan is gonna need a lot of refining as it doesn't exist yet; not unless you guys have got something worked out that I don't know about..." He trailed off as Poe's eyes jumped over his shoulder. Finn was walking up, his gaze turned inwards as he moved through patches of sunlight and earthy shadow, his cloaked form guttering like a candle. Poe wished he could see the rest of his face—he imagined the little concerned wrinkle running at an angle above his brows, and his lips pressed into a line of concentration. Snap stepped away from Poe and BB-8 burbled.

Finn approached as if he were sleepwalking, and didn't look up even as he came to a halt. Poe realized that more than concern had hollowed his gaze—this was something bordering on shock. "Hey, you okay, baby?" Poe reached out for him and Finn took his hand, coming back to himself as if surprised to see Poe and Snap standing before him. His eyes jumped gratefully to Poe's, honing in on the deep russet that ringed his pupils like a flower before fading into tawny brown. Caught in his eyes, Finn was drawn out of his head and back to the real world as if through a wind-tunnel of ideas and energy.

"Oh. Oh, yeah. I'm fine." He said in a voice of forced casualness.

Snap looked between the two of them, very clearly feeling like a third wing. "I'll uh…I'll take a walk around Maz's. Keep an eye on them for me huh, BB-8?"

[I will.] It whipped out it's longer manipulator and saluted.

Poe hardly noticed as Snap's heavy footfalls dwindled away towards the ruined castle. Poe peered deeply into Finn's eyes. "What is it, Finn?"

Finn held his silence for a beat too long before answering. "Nothing. Just…upset about the Resistance I guess." His eyes hastily darted away, out towards the lake, though his fingers tightened against Poe's, the tips pushing through the gaps and lacing them together.

He felt the need to hold on to the idea of him being Force Sensitive for just a little while longer. He needed time to understand for himself what exactly it meant before trying to explain it to anyone else, even to Poe. He felt a guilty squirm in his gut—he did not like keeping anything from him. With all of Maz's talk of cosmic, eternal lights and evil shadows, he wanted Poe with a frightened-animal ache. He needed the real, solid, warmth of him; the way that every unnerving thought faded into the background beneath his lips and his body. He pivoted slightly, and gathered him against him in a tight hug.

Poe held for a shocked moment, aware that something well beyond Maz's confirmation of the state of the Resistance was bothering him, and then gave, pressing hard into his chest with a slow exhalation, tensing his arms and shoulders as he squeezed Finn. He nudged the side of his face against Finn's neck, his hands rubbing up and down his scar in a way that Finn had come to crave. Though not erotic, it was such an intimate act; he knew others would look at his scar with pity, disgust, or at the very least, shock. Kes certainly had. But Poe always touched and stroked him there with tenderness, as if nothing could have pleased him more. The gesture was uniquely theirs.

"It's okay, sweetheart." Poe murmured through his wrap. Finn's hands tightened across his flanks, the heat of belonging radiating out from his touch.

"I love you."

"I love you too, but you're kinda scaring me a little," Poe admitted with a weak laugh, "Is it something Maz said? Something bad?" He led, unable to help himself.

"Yeah, but…it's not bad. Not really. Maybe not at all. I just…need to think about it a bit." He drew back slightly, leaning in to press a kiss to Poe's forehead though his covered lips hit his cap instead. It was like kissing a towel. A frustrated breath ghosted through his nose, fluttering the band that hung between his eyes like a strip of ribbon. "These costumes are ridiculous."

"Just an hour ago you were all about them." Poe grinned wryly, but he brought a hand from Finn's back and began to pull the other man's wrap slowly down, his covered nose and mouth brushing tantalizingly against the full double arch of Finn's upper lip. Finn tensed pleasurably; there was the warmth he needed.

[Maybe you shouldn't-] BB-8 began, but it was too late; Finn tugged down Poe's wrap and then they were kissing, slowly and deeply in the dappled light, Poe's hands to either side of Finn's face. [And you did it anyways. What's the point of a disguise if you take it off?] it tossed it's head back in a full-body eye-roll.

Poe's smile tightened his lips from Finn's, and he parted an eye at the droid. "Relax buddy," he tried as Finn kissed adamantly at the corner of his mouth, "There's no one around."

"I was going to see if you two would like to stay for dinner—but it seems you're already having it."

Poe nearly jumped out of his skin, and Finn jerked away from him so hard he stumbled backwards over a mossy root. Poe grabbed a handful of his robes to keep him from falling, but it was a near thing. They stared down in shock at Maz. The diminutive woman stood among the gold-flecked ferns with her hands on her narrow hips and a naked yellow brow arched in amusement.

"Jeez…" Poe breathed as he quickly pulled his wrap back over his face "you have a cloaking device or something?" He shot a look at BB-8. Obviously the droid would have seen and heard her approach—it had simply chosen not to warn them. It turned away from him with an innocent whistle, making a show out of looking about at the lakeshore.

"I'm small enough not to need one." Maz grinned.

Finn perked up, the words small and device combining to remind him of the tracker. "Maz, there was something else we needed to ask you." He turned to the astromech, "Hey, BB-8! Can you bring that tracker over here?"

It bleeped an affirmative and rolled up, damp leaves clinging to it's scuffed chassis. [Here.] A small hatch flipped open revealing a storage tray. Finn plucked the cold, heavy device from the droid and held it out to Maz. The tracker dropped to her palm like a brick, her hand dipping under its dense weight. "Hmm…" Her lips thinned as she held the tiny thing before her, turning it this way and that in patch of flaxen sunlight. Bringing a hand to her glasses, she toggled between three different sets of lenses until her face had been wholly taken up with giant, glossy pupils.

"I've never seen a homing beacon like this." She said carefully, and Finn and Poe, glanced at one another, their spirits managing to fall even further. "But," Maz hurried on as they visibly deflated, "I know that symbol."

"You do?" Poe leaned in with cautious excitement.

She nodded slowly. "I haven't seen it in...120 years or so. It's almost identical to the mark of Umbra Core, a crime syndicate that used to serve the Hutt Cartel in the days of the Clone Wars. They did a booming trade out of Hutt Space, specializing in surveillance and trafficking equipment."

"Trafficking as in…" Finn began.

"Slaves. Collars, restraints, and the like." Maz finished with a distasteful curl to her lip, and Finn's stomach tightened sickly.

"And now it's popped up again." Poe muttered to himself. "And…and!" his hands went wide as if he were trying to catch a sudden thought before it vanished into the ether. He turned to Finn. "Hutt Space just openly declared themselves for the First Order!" Connections went off in his brain like a bomb.

Maz continued to squint at the shallow embossing. "There's an additional…wing, to the symbol though. Something new. And as to that, your guess is as good as mine." Maz shrugged.

Poe placed a finger to his covered lips, and Finn knew that the two vertical creases he liked to trace were trailing up from his brows. "This syndicate…do they have a base? A…I don't know, recruitment office, or something?"

A warning flair went through Finn's mind; Poe could not be thinking what Finn thought he was thinking. "Poe…" He began, but Maz's mirthless laugh cut him off.

"An office?" She snorted.

"Yeah…I realized that was stupid as soon as I said it." Poe grimaced.

"That, I couldn't tell you. As far as I knew they'd been wiped out along with old clan leaders. But, as I have said—things morph and change with time; if not their ideals and goals, then at the very least their names."

"But they definitely operated out of Hutt Space before."

"In the old days, yes, from Nar Shaddaa. If that's still the case…." She shrugged and let the sentence hang.

Poe nodded to himself and then his dark eyes latched on to Finn's. "It's a start."

Finn felt torn in two. The very mention of human trafficking made his stomach swim. He pictured the children he'd seen in the General's case files, their innocent eyes staring out of his old datapad as if right into his soul, the children that had been taken and shipped away into the blackness like so much cargo. And what if he was recaptured? A tendril of the old fear wrapped about his lungs like cold wire, but at the same time he pictured the three of them coming across those very slavers, stopping them, stopping the whole organization and saving countless innocents from a terrible fate. They'd be seen as heroes; he could almost hear people cheering for them. The gaudy image seemed ostentatious even in his mind and he doubted the reality would work out so flawlessly. By the time he'd tuned back in, he realized he'd missed several minutes of conversation.

"-he's one of the best forgers in the galaxy, and I'll cover your fees…for a bit of manual labor." She grinned up at Poe wickedly.

"Hmm…that's not a bad deal. ID's could come in really handy." Poe nodded as Maz turned and motioned them back towards the Castle with a wave of her hand. Poe started after her and then stopped, feeling a vacancy by his side; Finn had remained behind, staring silently off at nothing with fathomless eyes. "Baby…what's wrong?"

Finn swallowed. "I don't know about this, Poe."

Poe's eyes darted quickly to Maz, who stood waiting beyond the smattering of trees, and then back to Finn. "What…the fake ID's? I thought that was a good idea." He said quietly.

"No, no," he waved away the IDs, "Nar Shaddaa...you want to go there, but what are we gonna accomplish by doing that? We don't even have a current name of that organization—much less an address."

Poe understood all at once, and he felt like an idiot for not realizing it sooner. Of course Finn would be reluctant to go anywhere near a planet that specialized in illegal trades of very literally every kind imaginable. "We can talk about it later, okay? We'll get Snap in on the conversation too…see what he thinks. But, it's about the only lead we've got."

He nodded hesitantly, thawing into motion only when Poe's hand found the tough center of his scar and began rubbing slow circles, sparking warmth through his lower back, down his legs and through his core. He smiled at him and found it mirrored back in the crinkling at the corners of Poe's eyes. His heart rose into his throat as if his personal gravity had been switched off. How can a few wrinkles do that to me? He wondered not for the first time. Poe's hand slipped into his, his fingers tracing the bracelet encircling his wrist before settling in place against his palm.

They rejoined Maz who carried on without missing a beat as she led them across the dust-tumbled stone, past the old stairway and the commanding specter of her statues bodiless head and hands. "I owe you an apology, Poe." She spoke without looking away from her course.

"Huh?" He tore his eyes from Finns, utterly bewildered.

"Earlier. What I said about 'fires springing up' and so on—it upset you. I'm sorry."

"Oh, that." Poe licked his lips, not an easy feat with the cloth over his mouth. Truth be told, he felt awkward about his outburst; he didn't often lose his temper, much less with someone he knew so little about. "It's okay…just…a sore spot."

The sun had dropped from high noon, and the light glanced off her glasses as she cocked her head up at him. "You've lost a great deal of crew; friends and family both. I know that feeling, pilot." She halted them before a patchwork tent that billowed fitfully from its latticework of rebar and durasteel struts; in the dark pit that it sheltered, they could hear the clattering of stone being moved about and voices echoing, morphed beyond all semblance of meaning. She crossed her reedy arms before her chest, still staring up at Poe in a way that made him feel naked, both inside and out. It was so similar to the sensation he got from Leia, as if she could read in a glance what lay in the furthest reaches of his mind and heart. A homesick pain lanced through his chest. Maz nodded slightly, as if satisfied by what she'd seen, and carried on lightly.

"I was telling Finn and Snap that when the free worlds make their move, I will helm my ship again in the battle."

"You will?" Poe gaped, and Finn smiled to himself at the feel of Poe's fingers tightening against his.

Maz winked. "Pilot, when your ancestors were still learning how to walk, I was fighting the darkness. I have lost so many crewmates…so many friends in the centuries since—some from the fight, and some simply to the span of time. Children they seemed to me, but already growing old before my eyes; blooming and wilting in the same breath. Like poor Han." She sighed wearily and her dusky eyes fell like setting suns to the cracked stone beneath her feet. Poe suddenly felt like an ignorant toddler. It had been foolish of him to assume that she'd never lifted a finger against the darkness in all of her long years. I can't believe I yelled at her. She caught both of their eyes suddenly with a tired, yet serene look. "I am over one thousand years old. My ship is nearly as old as I am—but we're both still space worthy, I assure you."

Poe's jaw dropped. "A thousand—your ship…is it here?"

Finn huffed a gentle laugh. Good thing that wrap is over his face—he's probably foaming at the mouth.

"Mmm," She nodded as she motioned them forwards once more. "There's a hanger in the lower levels—opens out on the other side of the lake. Perhaps you'd like to see it?" She grinned knowingly.

"Uh, yeah, I would. I really, really would love to see your ship. What kind is it? I've never heard of a ship that old even breaking atmo. Are we talking…6…7 hundred years? Jeez, what kind of fuel does it use? Are there—"

Finn grinned as Poe's hand moved from his, gesturing broadly with the expanse of his interest. Maz humored him, patiently answering as much as she could before he tripped over her with more questions. Their voices faded pleasantly to the background of Finn's mind. A sudden thought visited him. Maz said I should be able to see and feel energy. He held back a few steps as Maz led them to the edge of the pit, focusing hard on Poe's form. Okay…don't think anything…be at peace…focus…he forced his breath slowly out of his nostrils and breathed deeply. Haha, he's so into her ship, and he hasn't even seen it. I love how he moves. His hands are graceful—like how he flies. I hope his wrists are okay. That reminds me, we need to change the bandage on his arm. Dammit, focus, Finn. He exhaled slowly, from the bottom of his lungs up. His mind remained clear for nearly two seconds. See? You did it! Augh, but now you're thinking again! Stop it! He closed his eyes and recentered himself for another quiet second. He opened them to find that had Poe bent to peer down into the pit. Yes, bend over. Oh my gosh, the sun is hitting his ass perfectly! That's crazy. He's crazy. His brain screeched to a halt as he realized he was monologuing again. This is impossible. Maybe I should start with someone I don't want to have sex with. That would have to be easier.

[Are you okay?] BB-8 chirped from his calves and Finn jolted as if the droid had been reading his every thought.

"I'm fine." He said too quickly, and the droid cocked it's head as Finn hurried off to rejoin Maz and Poe. He was glad the wrap hid his blush as Poe straightened and faced him with his hands on his hips.

"Ready for some grunt work?" Poe asked.

"Yes." He said very solidly, hoping Poe inferred much more than what he'd said. Poe, always on the alert for possible innuendo, perked up and then gave him a wink that giddily tipped Finn's stomach. Poe swung his legs into the pit and disappeared down the ladder that bridged the gap. Finn quickly followed after him. Maz caught BB-8's lens and gave it a look as if to say 'ah, children'.

BB-8 tossed it's head dramatically. [I know.]


They found Snap and two human women busy lifting chunks of stone onto a caged hoversledge, or picking up various odds and ends and examining their soundness. The late-afternoon sun cast only a wedge of light into the cool darkness of the ruined vault, but Maz had set up two floodlights that seared themselves into the retinas of anyone who dared to look directly at them. When set against such brightness, the underground shadows took on a deeper, almost solid hue, like black holes just waiting to swallow them up. They picked a careful course over the uneven footing towards the large, backlit form of Snap who hardly noticed their approach as he chatted with the two women. One of them was tall and slim with milk-pale skin and a severe, no-nonsense haircut. She nodded along with Snap, but offered little in the way of conversation. The other was her opposite in almost every aspect, round and curvy with tawny skin, and a halo of soft, fluffy black hair. She laughed appreciatively at each of Snap's bad jokes, her honey-brown eyes more on him than the Devonian war-god figure she had clutched in her hand. Poe caught his eyes and winked.

Maz dropped from the last rung of the ladder with cat-like softness and introduced them. "Boys, these are my friends, Merra and Hali, scavengers with a good eye for true antiques. They've liberated many from…underserving collectors, and always give an old woman a good deal." She grinned wickedly.

"Hey," Poe held out a hand, though only Hali took it. "I'm…," he trailed conspicuously off, trying to remember their aliases, "I'm Dand, and this is Wex."

Finn groaned inwardly.

Hali snorted, not fooled in the least. "Sure, and I'm Luke Skywalker."


They spent a dusty few hours lifting stones into the hoversledge, gathering together bits and pieces of old statues, relics, coins, and things they couldn't begin to identify, though the three women knew precisely what they were and what to do with them. It was good to move, good to have something simple and physical to do with an end goal in sight. The atmosphere reminded Poe of the hangers and lockers back on Base, when each of them had been working simultaneously on their own projects, but talking and laughing together; like tributaries all flowing seamlessly into the same river. As usual when around many different people, Finn listened more than he talked, happy to absorb the general feeling of goodwill the group generated. Poe, however, got started with Hali on the best way to jury-rig a ship from sub-light to light and did not stop, aided and abetted by Snap. Again, Finn tried to focus on him and feel his energy but it was pointless with the noise and constant movement.

Poe found to his dismay that he couldn't grip and lift chunks of stone weighing more than twenty or so pounds without his wrists flaring up. He shunted them self-consciously to the side and Finn, who guessed the cause, focused on those without comment and loaded them into the hoversledge.

Nearly three hours later they were trailing back to the Hyrotil like shadows in the night, using the lake-path that Maz had recommended. The lake loomed to the left like a gigantic black inkblot, shining here and there with cold specks of starlight. The pitch-black canopy shivered and rasped above their heads, spindly limbs reaching out and snagging at their robes as they passed, and dry leaves pattering down to the dew-dotted forest floor. BB-8 rolled along behind them, as close it could get to the backs of their legs without tripping them; the whispering darkness unnerved it and it stared nervously into the deep blackness at the heart of the lake. Finn and Poe however, strode along at their ease, Poe finally winding down from a ten-minute gushing spiel about Maz's ship.

After finishing their 'shift' Maz had taken them down five flights of stairs to a vast, cavernous vault that housed the strangest ship Finn had ever seen. The floodlight they'd brought with them had illuminated something that resembled more a vast, jointed crustacean than any kind of traditional ship. The segmented body-panels met along a narrow dorsal keel—like a seafaring craft turned upside down. Flags soft with cobwebs hung in shrouds about its cockpit and stern like shed skin.

Poe had gone spare over it, coyly orbiting for several minutes before swooping in and splaying his hands over every inch of the cold surface he could reach with an intensity that made Finn blush by proxy. They'd eaten with Maz, down there in the darkness where it was absolutely safe to reveal their faces, Poe hardly able to stop talking long enough to get food and drink into him. Snap, who'd opted to remain above ground, had come to check on them and then had nearly lost his mind over the Beggar's Bone, which set Poe off again. The two pilots would've gone on for hours if Maz hadn't shut off the floodlight as a signal to head out. They'd dawned their disguises, chatted for a while with Maz's crew, and then bid them goodnight. After much bashful chatter with Hali, Snap decided he'd rather 'hang out' for a while; Poe'd given him an incredibly unsubtle wink as they left.

"Man…" Poe trailed off as they walked through the darkness. The look of starlit wanderlust on his naked face struck Finn like a blaster bolt. "I'd give my left nut to see that ship of hers fly."

Finn snorted. "Why the left one?"

Poe caught his eye with a laugh. "It's just a saying. Don't worry, I'm pretty attached to it myself." He wrapped an arm around Finn's waist with a grin, his hand draping low on his hip and squeezing his ass.

Finn jolted and then grinned playfully. "Good. I like them both."

Poe's eyes latched onto him like a magnetic detonator—and Finn knew it would be only a matter of seconds until they went off. Poe was just so suited to the night—those heavy lidded eyes, so wide and dark, his lashes and brows smoothed and deepened in the shadows until he seemed as open as a limpid pool. Poe, for his part, was lost in the way the starlight caught in the dark glimmer of Finn's eyes, in the way his brows arched as if he were always on the verge of telling a secret. The perfect way the angle of the bridge of his nose was mirrored in the width of his brows, like an hourglass.

Poe reached out pressing the tip of his middle finger to the dusky rose of Finn's lower lip. Finn let his mouth part, then wrapped his lips around Poe's finger with wet, sucking heat. Then they were kissing so hard, so desperately, that they nearly fell to the ground.

[At least get to the ship!] BB-8 all but moaned, casting nervous looks back towards the lake.

It was all they could do to stumble the last five meters to the Hyrotils ramp, and even more difficult to make their way up it. They left a trail of clothes like breadcrumbs leading from the engine room as they staggered a few more mindless steps. Poe found himself suddenly pinned between Finn and the wall between their room and the fresher. Oh gods, he loved the way Finn was taking charge, the firmness in his fingers that wouldn't let him move and held him prone beneath his mouth and his grinding body.

"Ahn…" Poe gasped, arms wrapping around Finn's back and dragging down his spine as he began to tug his pants off his hips.

Finn needed this. After the way Maz had upended him, he needed the anchor of Poe's body, the sureness of his heat. Poe thrust up his half-hard cock, fluidly rocking his hips, teasing him with a knowing look.

"I need you," Finn breathed as he pulled Poe's shirt off and to the floor.

"Mmm…give me one minute." Poe ran his tongue up Finn's lips before taking a gulping kiss and then pulling coyly away. Finn swallowed the taste of him, his fingers trailing down his spine as Poe opened the door to the fresher and shut it behind him. "When I come out," Poe called through the thin durasteel door, "I want you hard."

Every muscle in Finn's pelvis tightened and his cock bobbed before him like a divining rod. "I'm way ahead of you."

"Good. Get the lube, baby."

Finn might as well have transported to the bedroom and back in the same breath, and he set the lube on the floor with his heart sprinting in his chest, throbbing out through his fingertips and cock. He could hear the toilet flushing and then the shower running, and knew that Poe was cleaning himself within an inch of his life. "Tell me what you're gonna do to me, Finn." Poe said over the rushing water.

Finn choked—he'd never had to speak out loud of explicitly sexual acts—they simply did them. Poe was the vocal one. It was odd, at first, to form his mouth around the words and he knew he sounded clumsy. "I'm gonna…" he panted, "I'm gonna finger you."

"Yeah?" Poe's voice was breathy as he pressed a soapy finger into his asshole.

"And then…I want you to suck my dick."

"Fuuuuck." Poe groaned needily, clenching around his finger, so aroused at hearing Finn actually say such a thing that he wondered if he'd last beyond the first thrust. He pressed in another finger, hurriedly stretching himself. "Keep going, holy shit, keep going."

"I want you to suck me hard—gag, like you did back on Base."

Oh. My. Gods. Poe could stand no more. He slammed the water off, ran a towel over his body at light speed and exploded out of the fresher. Finn made a move as if to pin him again, but halted in his tracks; the bruise on Poe's stomach showed a deep, purplish green.

I don't want to hurt him.

Poe caught the look. "No. No, no, no, don't you dare go easy on me." He slid up against him, kissing under his jaw while his hands mounded the warm, round muscle of his ass. Finn groaned, his concern vanishing like a ship into hyperspace. Poe's teeth pinched and rolled his nipple, his tongue sliding like lava down the hills and valleys of his ribs while at the same time he took Finn's cock in his hand and began to pump it. Finn's back arched like a line of fire, Poe sinking to his knees before him and making good on part of Finn's list. He gulped at his cock, holding him by the root while the other hand splayed across Finn's ass. Slurping noisily, he rubbed his fingers and lips in a circular, dragging motion across the head of him before bobbing seamlessly to the root, his nose nearly touching the tight coils of Finn's pubes. He gagged, his throat convulsing around him, as saliva pooled in his mouth.

"Ah! Shit!" Finn gasped.

A flare of satisfaction swept over Poe as he leaned back and breathed—it was the first time he'd managed to make him curse with pleasure. Finn's muscles tensed like wire beneath his hand and Poe repeated the motion hungrily, over and over, swallowing him, then pulling back and sucking so hard it was as if he were trying to turn him inside out. Finn squirmed beneath him, and when his hand landed on the back of Poe's head, Poe went still. Go ahead, Poe willed him, do it.

Finn's eyes parted blearily and he gazed down heaving chest. Poe was staring steamily up at him, his mouth open around the flushed head of Finn's cock, his tongue slipping back and forth just beneath the velvety flared edge. His cock twitched in Poe's mouth just at the look of him. He thought he understood what Poe was giving him permission to do, but he couldn't believe it. His hand tightened against Poe's curls, tentatively pressing him forwards down his shaft. Poe opened his throat and relaxed his tongue, saliva flooding his mouth and dribbling down Finn's balls as Finn's cock pressed back into his throat. A ragged groan burst from Finn. "Oh my gods…oh gods, Poe!" He thrust forwards unexpectedly and Poe gagged. He loved that part of it—the unexpectedness of his lover's movements, having to remain open, taking a quick breath whenever he could. Finn thrust into his throat four more times before Poe pulled back, Finn's cock sliding from his mouth to bob wetly before him. He grinned wolfishly up at Finn as he stood, Finn's mouth opening expectantly as Poe cupped his face and kissed him. He could taste his arousal swimming in Poe's mouth.

Poe lifted a leg and wrapped it around Finn's hips, grinding their cocks together as Finn pivoted him up against the wall the wall. There was something extremely erotic in having sex in the open like this; while it was unlikely Snap would come back any time soon, but the possibility of being caught lent a mad urgency to their movements. Finn dipped for half a second, uncapping the gigantic bottle and scooping a dollop of lube into his palm. His cock was already dripping with spit, but he slicked it further and then reached without hesitation between Poe's legs.

"Ohh…fuck, baby…" Poe looped his arms around Finn's shoulders, supported more by the wall than anything else and he quivered from his head to his toes as Finn's middle finger pushed into his silky heat. He thrust mindlessly in and out a few times, pressed in his ring finger, and then pulled out to quickly stroke Poe's cock. He widened his stance, dipping an arm under Poe's thigh and lifting him almost wholly off his feet. Poe's arms tightened around his neck, shocked and pleased; it was easy to forget just how strong Finn was—he was always so gentle and careful—but now Poe found himself utterly prone. They kissed hastily, Finn's cock nudging against his anus and sending sparks through his pelvis. Poe groaned.

"I want you to fuck me. Hard." Poe breathed in a deadly serious voice, and his words sliced through Finn's remaining control like a lightsaber. He pushed into him in one quick stroke.

"Ahn!" Poe's arms tightened around him, his luscious neck exposed as he tossed his head back. His asshole clenched and plunged and for a moment Finn worried that he'd hurt him. "Ohh, keep going, fuck me like that—yeah!"

It was all the permission he needed. Finn thrust into him with abandon, far faster and harder than anything they'd yet tried, either because he'd still been healing, Poe had been in charge, or Poe had been healing. It was a profound relief to lose himself in the hard smacking rhythm, Poe's gasps and jolting, staccato cries music to his ears. There was nothing else in the galaxy but this—no First Order, no bounty hunters, no lost friends; only Poe's hot, writhing body, and the mindless pleasure gripping round his cock. Finn's mouth fell open and his eyes closed, sweat starting on his brow as a he pumped in fluid waves, deep into Poe's clenching body.

He pulled back, shifting his weight to wrap an arm under Poe's other leg and lifting him fully off the ground. He tucked his hips and pistoned up in a hard, grinding thrust that Poe felt in his teeth. "Ahh—ah! Fuck-fuck-fuck!" Poe shouted, his arms tightening around Finn's neck and the muscle of his back, and his legs clenched like cables around his hips. His spine and shoulders hit the wall hard with each thrust but he was well, well beyond caring. Holy shit, he's fucking amazing! Nnn! Yes, fuck me till I can't even think about the Resistance anymore. Fuck it right out of my head.

Finn felt the firm, aroused bulb of his prostate slipping past the head of his cock and he slammed back into it, again and again until Poe was crying out, his legs shaking spasmodically against him and his nails digging into his back; Poe was close, on the edge of utterly losing control. He gripped his cock and pumped quickly just below the head. "Ah! I'm gonna come, babe—fuuck!" Finn leaned forwards, kissing at his neck and then, his breath hot in Poe's ear, lightly pinching his earlobe between his teeth. Poe exploded, yelling and convulsing around Finn in shuddering waves, his cum streaking up his sweaty chest and spattering runny white lines on the grey wall behind him. Finn watched in awe; he'd never seen him come so hard and the sight of it set off a chain reaction in his body. His balls tightened at each constricting pulse of Poe's asshole.

"Arghh! Ahhn—!" Finn's voice strangled in him as he peaked. He sped suddenly and then slowed just as quickly, slamming hard into him and holding for several hot quivering seconds, pulling out and slamming fully back in again, his seed spurting deeply into Poe. The pilot moaned disjointedly at the flushing heat, feeling as if he were regaining consciousness after a stun-shot. Finn slouched forwards, his face scrunched up as his body shivered in small pumping thrusts. With one last cry, he was emptied, and the strength seemed to slide out of his arms. Poe unsteadily took his weight as his bare feet pressed into the cold floor, Finn still buried deep within him. He kissed at Finn's sweaty temple and then Finn turned into the kiss, drowsily fumbling across his lips and tongue. For several mindless minutes they kissed one another, Poe relishing the tingling glide of his tongue, and the way Finn's heart seemed to pound through his both of them until he could no longer tell who's was who's.

With a low purr of satisfaction, Finn stepped back, sliding thickly from his body with a wet smacking sound. The cool shock of emptiness swept up into Poe, and his hands tightened across Finn's flanks, drawing him back against him. They stood, post-coital tenderness wrapping them tightly around one another. Finn kissed down Poe's neck, sucking a line of Poe's cooling seed into his mouth and lolling it about his tongue. Poe groaned. "Oh…gods, Finn,…that's so fucking hot…" he breathed.

"Mmm…" Finn kissed his mouth open, passing part of the load over him.

Poe breathed a laugh as he swallowed it. "I remember when you were so innocent." His dark eyes crackled with warmth.

Finn chuckled, and then they were laughing, loud and long. They haphazardly cleaned themselves up, gathered up the clothing that remained in easy reach, and fell exhausted into bed. Poe kissed Finn drowsily, his eyes half closed. "That was so good, baby." Finn grinned at his praise, though he kept his eyes closed. He reached blindly for Poe and snuggled up against him, kissing his mouth and cheek. Poe fell asleep in his arms and Finn smiled softly to himself as he nestled his nose and lips into Poe's hair and listened to his slow deep breaths. He felt utterly at peace and relaxed.

Hmm…peaceful…relaxed. I wonder if…

Brow furrowed, he propped himself up and focused hard on Poe. He was too tired for any worry or extraneous thoughts to pop willfully into his head. He cleared his mind, focusing on the slow rise and fall of Poe's chest, unconsciously timing his breaths with the pilot's. He imagined his mind was as still and deep as the lake.

And then it happened—a small shimmer that at first resembled somewhat the afterglow of staring into a light for too long. He blinked, keeping his focus. The shimmer remained, brightening from an indistinct blur just beneath Poe's ribs, into a stream of cool blues; the same blue he'd seen shimmering at the edge of the Force Tree's leaves. His mouth dropped open in wonder; it was as if a nebula were blooming through Poe's body, sparkling here and there with pinpricks of pure white light so bright it was stunning. He was a constellation made physical. The shimmering grew, streaming now, he could see, from Poe's feet up towards the crown of his head where it disappeared, as if Poe were simply a small tributary in a river huge beyond reckoning, or a slender vein in a vast body. It's the Force…the bit of Force that makes Poe, Poe.

"Oh my gods." He gasped, bringing a shaking hand to his mouth. Tears welled in his eyes, brimming and streaming down his cheeks, and for a moment he was so overwhelmed that he had to turn his face into his pillow so that he wouldn't wake Poe up. It was the purest, truest state of Poe. Of life. And it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. The sheer force of emotion sweeping over him broke his concentration and the blue light faded into nothingness before his eyes as if it had never been. He reached out a panicked hand, pressing into Poe's chest to reassure himself that Poe still lived, even though he couldn't see his lights. His heart still beat steadily beneath Finn's hand. Too dumbstruck to let the full magnitude of his discovery in, Finn curled flush against his lover and buried his head in his shoulder. It took a long while for him to stop shaking.

In the furthest corner of the cargo hold, BB-8 cocked it's head up towards the narrow hall, wondering if it was safe yet to turn it's aural receptors back on. In the cockpit, a shell-shocked Tubbs wondered the same thing.