A/N: This is set immediately following on from the penultimate scene of The Rise of Skywalker, with Rey, Poe and Finn just reunited. I adore the friendship between the three of them, and I think there's a lot of natural chemistry between Poe and Finn. Having seen interviews where the actors said they'd have liked them to be a couple, I've decided to realise that potential and give them the ending I'd have loved to see on screen.

I'm no expert on Star Wars, so please forgive any inaccuracies you see in here. I've tried to capture the characters' voices, though, and give Finn and Poe's relationship just that little nudge past where it was in the films.

Also I wish they'd resolved the argument Poe and Finn had by the Death Star wreckage, because Poe looked devastated afterwards and it never got brought up again, so I've fixed that here too.)

The relief Poe feels is so overwhelming that it leaves him feeling almost dizzy and so happy that he thinks he might be crying. It's so much, so soon after the most terrible moment of his life - the sickening boundless horror of failing, of knowing no one was coming, of seeing Snap die and comrades fall around him and knowing there was nothing he could do to stop it, that the best he could do was to take one more of the bastards out with him, that Finn would die here and they'd leave Rey to stand alone against Palpatine and the whole of his fleet. And from that terrible low point they've somehow come to this, to cheering and laughter everywhere, him and Finn and Rey clutched so tight together that there is no space to separate them now. The solid proof is here in his arms that there is still a foundation to his world. He's never known joy like this - bittersweet but so absolute, so pure, because he would rather have died himself if he'd lost them, these brilliant people that he gets to call his family.

They cling together for a long time and Poe feels like he could stay in this moment forever and never need anything else. But they do pull apart eventually, though only just. Finn holds tight to them both, hands on their shoulders like he's at once keeping them close and leaning on them for support. Rey, for once, adjusts his grip so she can twine their hands together instead and then reaches out for Poe. He grabs Finn's shoulder in return and holds tight to Rey's hand, far enough apart to look at each other but unwilling to be out of contact. His arm twinges with it, the blaster wound still barely treated but it doesn't matter, because the strength of them, the feel of warmth and thundering heartbeats, is what they all need so desperately as proof that they did it. They made it through.

Finn looks too overwhelmed to speak, staring at them both with shining eyes like a man who cannot believe his luck. Poe understands with his whole being, but he's burning up with questions all the same.

"What happened?" he asks, squeezing Rey's hand tighter.

"Palpatine's dead," Rey replies, and there is a quiet strength in her that seems to sing through her words.

Palpatine is dead. Poe had figured he must be, to have Rey here and the fleet destroyed, but to hear her say it is a huge weight lifted.

"All the Jedi were with me," she continues, soft and awed, "and Palpatine is gone."

There is more to this story, so much more that she is not saying, and he looks at her with concern. She never seems to need his worry, this fierce warrior, but he cannot help it; that's what family is.

Rey sees it and her eyes soften, but she shakes her head a fraction. "Later," she says. "I'll tell you both later."

It's not a story for here and now, is what she isn't saying. She's not ready to speak of it and it doesn't belong here, in this moment of triumph. There is something heavy in her thoughts, that much is clear, and Poe will lighten that burden for her if he can.

"We did it," he breathes, echoing Finn's words from earlier; they feel caught up in his mind, a glorious lightness in his heart. "We all did this." He casts his eyes around, encompassing it all - the raucous triumph around them, the celebration of life, of survival and victory that right now is echoing across the galaxy - only to return his gaze back to Finn and Rey, drawn inexorably home.

"You're both alright," Finn says, finally finding his voice, though it comes out hoarse and full of wonder. "Rey, I felt - I felt..."

Exactly what he felt, Finn doesn't seem to be able to voice, but there is a moment where Rey's eyes widen a fraction and something about her shifts. It's just an instant, gone in a heartbeat, so that Poe might almost have imagined it, and she doesn't press Finn for an explanation.

"I was afraid for you both," she says instead, so bold in admitting to fear. She's brave in so many ways that Poe feels like he's still trying to learn. "Palpatine's lightning - he was going to destroy you."

"That was a bad moment," Poe agrees, trying to be light, like it was nothing, but he knows some of the dread of that moment stays in his face. "My engine went completely."

Finn's hand clenches on his shoulder, almost painfully tight.

"And you - that ship," Poe says, looking to him, his chest tightening at the thought. "Finn..."

"It had to be done." Finn shrugs, calm and firm, and Poe is struck by how changed he is from when they first met, how much Finn has faced and accomplished. "I couldn't walk away."

And that's the story of their lives now, isn't it? The three of them - they hadn't felt ready, they hadn't always known what they were doing, but they'd been there, they'd faced the choice to stand or run and they'd always found the strength to fight.

Poe has never felt such pride as he does in that moment, in himself and in both of them.

He's about to try and find the words to suggest they join the celebrations, enjoy this moment that they've won, but he never quite manages it.

"Finn!"

Rose Tico is a hurricane of delight and fury, and there's a split second in which Poe and Rey exchange a glance and both automatically take a step away, just in time for Rose to collide with Finn, who is visibly stunned.

"I cannot believe you deliberately stayed on that ship just to blow it up, you brave, idiotic, ridiculous-"

It's not entirely clear if they're hugging or if she's trying to hit him, which is a strange conundrum, and Poe knows he shouldn't laugh but they're all still alive to tell each other off and that's such a heady feeling that he feels almost drunk on it.

Salvation from drawing Rose's ire onto himself comes in the form of a small ship that suddenly cuts low overhead at speed, drawing close for an emergency landing; half of it appears to be on fire, with sparks visibly flying off the tail. Poe catches Rey's eye and then they're running after it, and they throw themselves into the midst of the group that gathers to meet the craft as soon as it lands.

The pilot is helped out, cursing enough that they seem perfectly fine, and Rey is up on the roof pulling open a maintenance hatch even while the fire crews are still putting out the last of the flames. Poe scrambles up after her with less grace, which he considers forgivable since he is hampered by both a lack of Jedi powers and a toolbox he snagged on the way over.

It is, Poe thinks later, like they know each other so well they anticipate what's coming even before the other person does or says it. They move seamlessly around each other, always complementary and never in the way - though being who they are, they bicker the whole time they're doing it.

"I bet it's a malfunction in the suppressor," Rey is saying, already half inside the bowels of the ship. "It always is with this manufacturer-"

"No, that's only an issue with the earlier models, they fixed it on everything made in the last ten years and this is a recent model-"

"That fix only worked on the freighter and cruiser classes, this is clearly one of the racing class ships; hey, pass me a - that's it, thanks."

"Actually, while you're on that, I think there's an issue here too, this wiring's almost burned through, I'm going to replace the couplings..."

Afterwards, when the ship has stopped sparking, they're both satisfied that it's out of danger and the pilot's finished frantically thanking them and been ushered away into the celebrations, Poe looks at Rey where she stands smiling and watching the party from inside the maintenance hatch. He feels such a burst of affection for her that he doesn't know how to express it; how do you tell someone you're this glad they survived, that they saved the galaxy, that you're beyond happy they're still here to bicker with you and tell you you're wrong and be your friend?

Impulsively, he bends down and presses a kiss onto the top of her head.

"Good work, Jedi," he says, and it's so insufficient but it sums everything up, because he was wrong all along - her place was never in the skies fighting with him and Finn, it was always on this path that she saw for herself.

Rey looks up at him with a scrunched up nose and laughing eyes and Poe barely has time to instinctively lean backwards before she's doing an impossible leap and backflip to land on the top of the ship beside him slowly and gracefully like gravity is a mere suggestion rather than an inescapable force.

"You're a difficult man, Poe Dameron," she says, and the echoed words make him grin. She smiles at him knowingly, and the way she seems to see right into him feels like it's nothing to do with the Force, and everything to do with Rey. "And you're a good one, too."

She's gone before he can do more than blink, swinging easily down off the ship and heading off into the crowd with BB-8 on her heels, and Poe is left gaping after her from the roof.

He finds himself just standing there for a moment, taking it all in, because it seems to hit him all over again - he's here, with the sun and wind on his face, and it's actually done. He can see what Rey was enjoying, because it feels special to just watch all of this joy.

But Poe is not an observer, never has been. He clambers down from the ship in time to hear a round of cheers and realise that someone's brought out a crate of alcohol; he's not sure if it's one they had in their supplies or if one of their allies was just really confident of victory, but it's clearly well received either way. He can't spot Finn, but he sees Rey getting pulled into everyone's buoyant conversations. It makes Poe pause, and rather than immediately seek out friends himself he heads off to hunt through their supplies for the best box of rations they have left, which he drags over to the makeshift bar that's sprung up. Rey searches out food at the best of times and he's not sure when she last ate - or any of the rest of them, for that matter.

He then gets cornered by Connix, who despite having been injured herself in the battle is determined to see him get medical treatment ("Poe Dameron, you are a General, you will stay still and let me heal you before you lose the damn arm"), so he lets himself be corralled into a bacta spray and rebandaging under the close watch of several stern faces. He's in no real danger of losing the arm, he is quite sure, but it's a heartwarming reminder that they really care, these wonderful people brave enough to stand up at the edge of the galaxy and say no, I will not stand for this, I will fight back.

By the time he finds himself safely sequestered with a few friends and a drink, he's long since lost track of Rey and Finn but he's always searching for them in the crowd, even without meaning to. When he does catch a glimpse of Rey, he's halfway to his feet without thinking; she looks overwhelmed, surrounded by all these people who want to talk to her, when she's so used to being alone. Poe has some half formed idea of going over to pull her out when he sees Finn get there first, pressing a piece of fruit into her hand and beckoning her away. They head out into the jungle, heads bent together and talking quietly. Poe hesitates, but he sits back down. They both looked serious, and he doesn't know what this is about but he feels sure it's whatever secret Finn was so desperate to share with her before. The urge to follow is strong but this is theirs first and perhaps always, so he sits back down beside Rose and gets Chewie to tell the story of how Han Solo won his medal from the Rebellion, because it's one of the Wookiee's favourite stories.

The thing is, he loves them both, even if it's in such different ways. He loves Rey like he thinks you might love a sister - they argue and bicker and both always think they're right but he would do anything she needed of him, would cross galaxies to make her smile, fight whoever he had to for the sake of keeping her safe, even though she can protect herself far better than he can. He would do it anyway just to let her know he cared.

How he feels about Finn is something else entirely, something soul-deep, this feeling that he's found someone who makes everything about his life make sense, even though at the same time nothing does. There is no feeling on any planet like being the sole focus of Finn's attention, nothing makes him feel better than the way Finn laughs, and he could spend every moment for the rest of his life just standing beside him and never feel that he's wasted a second.

But the thing is, if it turns out this great secret that was worth Finn's last breaths is that he's in love with Rey, Poe will be happy for them. It will break his heart, over and over every day, but he will be happy for them all the same. They deserve whatever will bring them joy, these brilliant souls with such dark pasts, and he wouldn't begrudge them a thing. He would stay wherever they needed him, happy just to be their friend.

But he wants and wishes and hopes, all the same.

There is a faint thread of Poe's attention that stays off somewhere in the trees, curiosity and a trace of worry that he thinks he might have to deal with every time they're out of his sight for a little while. But for the most part he's relaxed, sprawled loose and content on the ground as people come and go, bringing drinks and swapping stories. Someone a little way off started singing a few minutes ago and now there's a rousing chorus going on in a language Poe doesn't speak, but in the nature of these things he suspects it's got a lot of rude lyrics about the First Order. He's so caught up in conversation that the hand on his shoulder startles him a little, but the leap his heart gives when he looks up into Finn's face is very familiar to him.

"Have you got a minute?"

"For you, buddy, I've got all day," Poe says, and lets Finn pull him to his feet.

Rey isn't with him, and Finn leads Poe to a quieter patch a little further from the singers, though still just on the edge of the party. Poe isn't sure what it means that they don't go walking into the trees like Finn did with Rey.

"I really am glad you're alright," Finn says, one hand ghosting over Poe's mostly-healed arm and settling on his shoulder. "When the lightning hit all our ships... The comms all cut out, I couldn't hear you, I didn't know if you were alive or dead."

Whatever is between them, of one thing there is no doubt: Finn cares about him. The pain in his voice is so raw, so full of fear that hasn't left him yet, and Poe feels that so viscerally that he wants to hug him or cry, it's hard to tell which.

"You too," he says, because there's no excuse for being afraid to admit these things when Finn and Rey have both so boldly given voice to them. "I've never been so terrified - when Rose said you'd not got on the cruiser..."

"Yeah, she ripped me a new one about that," Finn mutters sheepishly.

"I would have come for you," Poe says. "If the Falcon hadn't."

"You'd have crashed your ship trying."

"I wouldn't. And I don't care. I'd have come for you."

There is something he can't quite read in Finn's eyes, and his heart leaps uncertainly. Finn takes a deep breath and steps a little closer; Poe's eyes dart between both of his, breathing quickly.

"Listen, I want to apologise," Finn says.

It's - well, it's not what Poe thought might be about to happen, and he steadies himself. "What for?"

"Before, when I said you weren't like Leia."

"Oh." It's like being jolted back to reality, away from this breathless, beautiful moment where Poe thought Finn wanted to kiss him. It brings back everything he's been running from, the things he's been trying not to think about - all the ways he's failed as a leader, and it makes him falter. He opens his mouth to say that it was true, because he still feels the pain of those losses so badly, but Finn beats him to it.

"I meant it, but I shouldn't have said it like that."

Poe actually recoils, stepping backwards as though he can get out of range of how much that stings but it doesn't work. It still feels like it did the first time Finn said it, like a blow he didn't expect from someone he so desperately wants to think well of him. It's worse now, even. It felt harsh the first time, but Finn had been angry and scared and they'd been in the middle of the war. Now it just feels cruel, because it's so much worse hearing this from Finn than thinking it about himself, and Finn must know that this is the worst thing to him, feeling like he's failed Leia.

He falls back on weak humour like a reflex, like there's anything he can do to pretend this doesn't feel like a gaping wound even though he's pretty sure it must be all over his face. "That's a weird sort of apology you've got going there, buddy."

Finn gives him an impatient look. "I'm sorry for throwing it at you like that, like it was something you were doing wrong. I know what Leia means to you, and I shouldn't have said it."

Means, not meant, because even when he's breaking Poe's heart Finn knows him so well. Leia might be gone but she will never stop meaning the world to Poe.

And before he can even try and find his footing, Finn changes everything again.

"Because the truth of it is, you never needed to be Leia. No one ever needed you to be her - Leia least of all. She didn't love you because you were like her, Poe. None of us are at your side because we think you're Leia. We follow you because you're you, and we trust you. I know we don't always agree but there is no one in the galaxy I trust like you. Well, apart from Rey," he allows, and really that's fair, because Poe would follow her without question too.

He can't dwell on that though because he's still reeling in the face of Finn's determination. All the fervour that led a Stormtrooper to save the Resistance is now fixed on Poe like Finn is prepared to do just as much again to make Poe believe him. It's heady and hard to process, the cusp of everything he's ever wanted. But it's so hard to accept.

"I screwed up," he says, and it's low and raw and a little broken, all the truths that don't belong at the celebration he suddenly feels a million miles from. "Everything I did-"

"And after all of it, Leia still made you General," Finn says steadily. "You gonna question her wisdom now?"

It's a cunning catch, and Poe subsides, glaring at Finn.

"Plus your first action as General was to promote me," Finn adds, and that's definitely a touch of smugness in his voice. "Seems pretty wise."

"Oh really?" Poe says, and it brings a spark back to his voice - and perhaps that's what Finn was aiming for, because his face both softens and lights up like Poe's joy is something precious, something to treasure and protect, and that thought only occurs to him because that's what every one of Finn's smiles means to Poe. If he means this much to his friends, maybe Finn is right - maybe it's enough to be himself. "Well, if I'm going for wisdom, there's still one thing I need to know."

"And what's that?"

"What did you just tell Rey?"

It's like picking at a scab, he's only hurting himself with this but he can't quite help it. And he's increasingly thinking maybe he was wrong, that maybe this isn't about Finn loving Rey. It's a fragile sort of hope but what is between him and Finn is different to how Finn is with Rey, and he thinks perhaps the latter is not a romantic kind of love. He doesn't understand the Force but he trusts his instincts, and they're telling him somehow that Rey's path will lead her somewhere different - crossing often with theirs, he hopes, but never remaining in the same place.

And if Finn doesn't love Rey, maybe - maybe...

Maybe it means something, the way Finn is looking at him right now.

"Seriously?" Finn shakes his head, though there's a fondness in it now that wasn't there last time Poe brought this up, but perhaps that's the difference between waiting for execution and winning the war. "You're never going to let that go."

"Would make it easier just to tell me, then, huh?"

Finn looks skywards, as if to beseech the galaxy to explain why he has to deal with Poe. But then he glances at the party, and Poe sees the moment Rey looks round and catches Finn's eye. It's an odd coincidence, in all that chaos, unless it isn't, and the faintest suspicion curls into Poe's mind. Rey gives Finn a smile then raises one eyebrow and points very deliberately at Poe, and then she's turning away to hug Chewie.

That's not suspicious at all.

Whatever this exchange means, it seems to give Finn courage. He turns back to fix his full attention on Poe, full of fire and determination - and it leaves Poe breathless for a minute, how much he loves this man.

"I'm Force sensitive."

There is a beat of silence between them in which Poe just stares at him.

"What?"

Finn shifts his weight slightly, casting another glance at the party, but Rey doesn't look round this time. He looks back to Poe. "I'm Force sensitive," he says again, as though the issue is that Poe didn't hear him.

Poe's mind feels both perfectly still and like it's racing. He didn't know this was coming, and yet... It makes such perfect sense that he feels like he should have known all along. It was Finn, after all, who wielded the lightsaber first, who faced Ren with it on Starkiller; it's Finn who has unerring instincts and learns things quicker than breathing, whose reactions and aim are better than almost anyone Poe's ever seen. And it's Finn, who's special right down to his core, and how could a man like that have any less potential than to become a Jedi knight?

Poe's grin feels so wide it might split his face in two, and he grabs Finn in a hug, squeezing him tight for a moment and laughing. He pulls away before Finn has even reacted enough to hug him back, but only far enough that he can still grip the back of Finn's neck.

"Of course you are, buddy!" he crows. "You just would be, wouldn't you? Are you going to train with Rey? Wait, if she's training you, do you have to call her Master now, because that is just weird and there's no way I'm going to do it too, however much it might make you feel better."

Finn is staring at him like he's never seen Poe before. He seems to take a few moments to process this, then a tentative smile blooms beautifully across his face.

"Rey was right," he says wryly. "I should have told you sooner."

"Why didn't you?"

Finn looks uncertain again, and he shrugs. "I don't know. I mean, I wasn't sure, for a long time. But I started getting these feelings that turned out to be right, I had this sort of connection to things outside of myself, Rey most of all. I wasn't sure until I knew about the command ship, and about what happened to Rey, with Palpatine - we'll explain later, it's her story to tell. And you've had worse experiences with the Force than most, I didn't want that to be what you saw when you looked at me."

"Buddy," Poe says helplessly. "For one thing, I don't see Ren when I look at Rey either. And I could never see anything like him in you. You're - you're incredible, you're light, Finn, you're all the light in the universe."

Finn would have to believe him in a heartbeat if he could see the brilliance of his own face in that moment, Poe is sure of it.

But Finn isn't done. "It's not just that, either," he says, and he seems to be rallying his courage. "I guess - I kind of thought, if you knew I had that kind of connection with Rey, it might make you think... I mean, I'm not connected to you that way, but only because you don't have the Force. And I didn't want you to think that meant you mean less to me, because that couldn't be further from the truth, Poe. Not ever."

His eyes seem to be beseeching Poe to understand, to hear the words he doesn't seem to be able to find, and Poe's heart sings.

Because it's true that he doesn't have any grasp of the Force. He's never going to be a Jedi, he's as straightforward as they come, he's just a damn good pilot who runs towards the fight when others run away.

But he knows, beyond any hint of a doubt now. He knows what Finn's trying to tell him, and it's the best thing he's ever felt.

"I love you," Poe says, and it feels like the bravest moment of his life but also, somehow, entirely ordinary, because all he's doing is voicing something so true that it's part of who he is.

Finn smiles, sweet and bold and radiant. "I was kinda hoping you did."

And he kisses him.

This isn't where it ends. Because it doesn't end, it isn't really a new beginning, it's just part of where they were heading and on the way to somewhere else. There's so much yet to do. They've got a party to rejoin, to give themselves time to celebrate winning and still having each other. There will be mourning and reunions hand in hand, because they have also lost so much. But the Generals have volunteers to see home and lifelong rebels to keep sheltered, fed and healthy. They are still cleaning up after a battle and after that, wonder of wonders, there is all of life ahead. There will be a new democracy to fight for and support, planet after planet to help, because they are standing at the head of the force that defeated the First Order and so many will look to them for alliances and others will see them as the next Republic to corrupt. They will have much to do to preserve this victory, to build the world the last generation strived for - to build something new for themselves.

But through it all they will be Finn and Poe. They will be a spice runner and a Stormtrooper who chose different lives, chose to make a stand. In between all the work that lies before them they will carve out a space for themselves, a safety that's called peace. They will fly together with no mission in mind, walk just to see what the world looks like from another place, talk just to hear each other speak and make each other laugh. They will stay together as often as they can, hands clasped in even the most important meeting, because that is the only talisman that matters, steady proof that they got through the worst and still have each other.

And they will be a home for Rey to come back to, a safe point for her to navigate by as she travels; the last Jedi for now but ready perhaps to rebuild and make the Jedi mean something new, learning from the voices of the past. They will be here when she needs them because family is a home, wherever it is, and the three of them will always be family no matter the distance that stretches between them.

Poe can believe it's all ahead, this world after war he sometimes never thought he'd see. And he smiles, and kisses Finn again.