A/N: So here's the last part of Morap's story. I really enjoyed writing it. Special thanks to auroralynne . , whose drawing of Morap is propped up against the window in front of me as we speak. Thank you for giving Morap his beautiful face and dazzling smile and for making Meelan come to live as well with his stern expression and those intimidating eyes! :-*

Blown Fuse

Part III

But whoever treasures freedom

Like the swallow has learned to fly

Beebee-Ate complained loudly about being left behind. Morap sighed and bent down to the little droid. "You have to recharge sometimes, you know that."

A whining sound told Morap that Beebee-Ate wanted to come along anyway.

"I'm not carrying you back, lumpy." Morap answered, smiling brightly.

Beebe let his head drop and he rolled backwards towards his socket. Sometimes he reminded Morap of the pet he'd never had.

"Don't start sulking. I polished you and now you just need to recharge. We're going on another patrol tomorrow and I need you ready for everything." Morap winked at the droid even though he felt a pang of guilt. This didn't happen that often anymore, it had been seven years after all, but from time to time he couldn't help but wonder if he'd ever see his brother again. If and when the Order launched an attack on the Republic, like some people feared, would he come face to face with Meelan? He was fully aware that the chances of that happening were very slim. The galaxy was huge and the odds of him having to confront that particular officer out of thousands were so very much in his favour... but still. The universe was funny that way sometimes.

Morap zipped up his green jacket. He was off duty now after a long day of going over flight data in a cramped office and a seemingly endless debriefing on the work which had to be done over the coming week. This bright green jacket was his favourite. He loved colours. All of them, but he couldn't get enough of this particular tinge of forest green. On the way to the door he almost tripped over one of his shoes. Cursing quietly he kicked it out of the way. This place was messy, even for his standards, but he simply couldn't get himself to tidy it up. He looked around his small apartment again. It wasn't big exactly and located very close to the Republic's permanent base on Corellia. He lived in the barracks when he and his comrades were stationed on any other planet, but this tiny apartment was his home and he was glad about having a place of his own. Even if, and maybe even because, he knew that the Order wouldn't approve, especially not of the countless objects strewn over the apartment's floor and colourful pictures adorning every space of wall available. Of course the Order wouldn't approve of anything he had done these last seven years and Morap couldn't help but feel proud of what he had accomplished. He had escaped, had managed to find Wedge Antilles and eventually, after reading up everything on the Order and the Republic he could, he had joined the New Republic's navy. It hadn't even felt weird to sign up. He was used to military life, but everything seemed to be a little bit more easy going in the New Republic and he could be himself while doing what he did best. He had always been fairly good during flying lessons at the Academy, but here had had become good enough to be promoted quickly and to be appreciated among his colleagues. Not only because of his skills, because they genuinely liked him. He had even met a man with whom he'd allowed himself to fall in love for a short time, before it had ended for no real apparent reason. It had taken Morap a long time of getting used to this. Of getting used to having friends and not having to worry about how he moved or talked or what he might let slip by accident. Over time he had even become positively cheerful and seeing himself smile in the mirror more often than not, had taken some getting used to as well. But still there were moments when he wondered what had happened to Meelan or his mother. When he was worried about what they had gone through and suffered because of his betrayal and every time he did he felt like he should go back. But he knew that he couldn't. Not only, because they wouldn't want him back, or because he knew that he'd be executed on the spot just like his father had been, but mainly because he didn't want to leave all of this behind. His apartment. His friends. His freedom.

Freedom. Sometimes he still had problems grasping the concept. Especially in times like these, when he had an evening off and didn't have to work until late the next morning. When he was allowed to sleep in and especially when he could leave what felt like all of his possessions pell-mell scattered all over the floor. He kept everything as clean as possible though. That was something he hadn't been able to shake. It was a weird combination, but it worked for him. Clean chaos.

Whenever one of his friends came over and saw how untidy his place was, he told them that he was making a statement. Of course no one but him, or Commander Antilles, who still came by occasionally to check up on him, knew what Morap meant by that. No one but Antilles knew where Morap had come from and Morap was intend on not telling anyone. Ever. That time of his life was over for good. The only thing he had kept from this other life was Beebee-Ate, the droid his father had built.

Morap looked around the apartment once more, at the shoe he had kicked away, at the pictures of X-Wings, of planets he had been to and other memorabilia and realized, not for the first time, that he was genuinely happy.

When he walked into the cantina he saw immediately that he'd have a hard time getting to the bar and ordering a beer. The place was packed with humanoids and other sentient species from across the galaxy. Morap had needed some time to adjust to this diversity as well. In the First Order's domain every creature which wasn't human was considered inferior and it had taken him years to move comfortably in heterogeneous groups like this one and a bit longer to appreciate that this kind of interaction between species was actually worth exploring. That he could learn from those who looked completely different from him.

It took him a couple of minutes to push through the crowd of people chatting loudly in various languages while trying to get themselves heard over the blaring music. When he finally reached the bar he held up one finger to indicate to Zuess the Utai barkeeper that he wanted a beer. The black eyes surveyed Morap, then Zuess nodded and reached under the counter to take out one bottle. "Really crowded in here tonight," Morap said over the noise and Zuess nodded before heading off to attend to another costumer, when Morap had paid him.

Looking around he felt like going home again after all. There were too many people around here for his liking. He spotted two pilots from his squadron at the other side of the bar and when they saw him they waved him over and Morap just started moving towards them, when he heard someone say: "I can fly anything!"

Surprised at this bold statement Morap turned around with raised eyebrows and felt like he was hit over the head by a club when he saw the young man sitting at the bar, his curly dark hair falling into his face. Their eyes met just for an instant, but to Morap it was like that short eye contact which couldn't have lasted more than a fraction of a second, had frozen him in place. He held on tight to his bottle and tried to remember how to move. How to walk.

"Seriously," the man said, looking back at the woman leaning at the bar next to where the man was sitting, a bottle of beer in his hand. "Anything." The man looked down at his bottle and started peeling off the label, when the woman put an arm around his shoulders. His face was bright red and Morap wondered for a moment what was going on exactly.

"Have you ever-" She began, throwing back her blonde hair and the man shook his head.

"I don't want to give you a list, okay?" He sounded annoyed. Annoyed with his companion and annoyed with the conversation he was having. He looked up again and when his and Morap's eyes met again, when Morap's heart made a giant leap, the man's eyes widened for a moment and Morap knew at once that the man wanted him to do something. To interfere. To help him.

"Hey..." The man called out to him and raised a hand in greeting. "Eh.. babe!"

Morap swallowed. Hard. He hadn't expected this! Not at all! There was one moment in which he could have turned around and vanished, leaving the man to his solitary struggle of getting away from that woman, but before he could decide on anything she turned around and her grey eyes fixated on him.

"Oh...", she said, her lips pursed sulkily.

Morap smiled weakly and stared wide eyed at the man, who didn't look at him anymore, but at the woman who merely shrugged and took off after saying a hasty goodbye. Feeling like he couldn't possibly walk away now in case she threw them another glance and simply because he couldn't hold himself back, Morap approached the bar again, clutching his beer tightly in his hand. "So... babe...", he said quietly, his smile growing into a grin, while he could feel his pulse in his fingertips. "What's your name again? I know we've been in a relationship for months, but I keep forgetting." He was feeling bolder now and the man returned his smile. A smile which made Morap's heart miss a beat. He had never thought that something like this could actually happen. That meeting someone and feeling like something heavy had just been dropped on the top his head wasn't something that only happened in fiction.

"I'm Poe," the other man said smiling. He hesitated for a moment and winked stupidly. Morap couldn't help but realize that the other had stopped trying to peel off the label of the bottle he was holding. "Sorry for dragging you into this."

"No worries," said Morap shrugging as if he didn't really care. No need to tell this Poe character that he was actually glad to get the opportunity to talk to him. "I'm Morap."

Poe, still smiling, stretched out a hand and Morap hesitated a moment before shaking it. Poe's hand felt warm and dry in his own and Morap felt like he really didn't want to let go right away. But when Poe dropped his hand, Morap followed suit.

"Shouldn't I be kissing you instead of shaking your hand?" He asked before he could stop himself and laughed loudly to cover up his embarrassment about what he had just let slip by accident. This wasn't his style usually. Not at all. But somehow these dark brown eyes, looking at him with something like shock, tempted him like nothing in his life ever had. "You know... just in case she's looking." Morap grinned but couldn't help notice that Poe was a little thrown by his blunder.

"I think she left..." He tailed off and threw a look at the door. He'd be hard pressed to see her in this crowd. "Thank goodness."

Morap took a deep breath, hiding it behind his beer bottle and took a sip. "So you don't like women that much?", he guessed, knowing that he was probably testing his luck here.

Poe shrugged. "I don't mind exactly," he said, not really turning back to Morap. "She was just a bit too drunk for my liking."

Raising an eyebrow Morap drew up a bar stool and sat down on it so he was sitting next to Poe, who kept sipping at his own beer. Their knees were touching slightly. "Sorry..." Morap made to move away, but Poe shook his head, turning back so he was facing Morap again.

"That's fine," he said, still smiling and cheeks slightly flushed. "You were right. She is still looking at us."

Morap couldn't help but notice how Poe's eyes twinkled when he smiled. It made his heart flutter. This was insane. Absolutely insane. "You think she knows?" Morap raised his eyebrow again.

"I think she suspects, but she can't possibly come back now, can she? I'm not her property." Ruffling through his hair he spun the bottle in his free hand.

"I guess not." Morap couldn't stop smiling, but for a moment he felt like he should go. He had no idea how to carry on from here. It had never been particularly easy for him to make small talk with people he had never met before. It just wasn't something you learned when growing up within the First Order. He didn't want to go, though either. On the contrary. Their knees were still touching and he wanted to see more of that beautiful smile.

"So..." Poe began and looked over at Morap, one hand on his hip. "I think I should try to get to know my supposed boyfriend." He winked again and Morap's heart missed a beat. How could this be possible? "Where are you from?"

Not a question Morap was particularly fond of, but he was used to providing an answer to it by now. Not a lie exactly, but nothing too specific either. "Unkown Regions. You wouldn't have heard of it. How about you?"

"Yavin 4. Hobbies?"

That was something he still had some problems with. There were certainly a couple of things he liked, but they weren't hobbies exactly, just things he liked or was particularly good at doing. "Eating, sleeping and making a mess out of everything. Especially my wardrobe and my apartment." He grinned as if those statements were just a cover for things he was too embarrassed to talk about. "Your turn."

Poe laughed and it made his face look even more attractive. The tiny wrinkles around his eyes and the dimples just made Morap want to move closer to him. "So you're a chaotic person?"

Shrugging Morap smiled without really providing an answer.

"So I guess I have to tidy up behind you all the time? Good to know for our dynamic."

"I'd never make you clean up my apartment."

"You're not making me do anything." Poe beamed at him and lifted the bottle to his lips. For a moment Morap wondered what it would be like to pull him closer, to taste the droplets of beer from his lips and shook his head as if to remind himself that he must be going crazy. "What?" Poe laughed, misinterpreting Morap's headshake.

"Nothing, just... this is weird."

"I know, huh?" Poe put the bottle back on the counter and leaned over conspiratorially. "You know, I've never done this before? Asked someone to pretend to be my boyfriend so I could get away from someone I didn't fancy?"

The corners of Morap's mouth lifted in amusement. Their hands were almost touching by now. Morap would only have to lift a finger to be able to stroke Poe's hand. And he wanted to. He really did. Morap had never before picked up anyone at a bar. He had seen a couple of his colleagues leave with a stranger they had just met before, but not him. Oellyn had been the only person he had ever been with and the only one he'd ever really been attracted to. Until now. And now he was as nervous as he had never been before in his entire life. Or rather: this kind of nervousness was entirely new to him. His heart was still racing and he just wanted to lean over and kiss those tempting lips, but didn't dare to do anything that might end this encounter before it had really begun. "I've never been asked to be someone's pretend boyfriend before either," he said, cheeks burning as Poe leaned forward even closer. This was real. This was actually happening! Morap felt like he could literally grasp the tension and didn't even dare to blink.

"I think you're doing really well", Poe smirked and that was the last straw. Before he could really stop himself Morap had leaned forward and kissed Poe on the lips. It felt like a bolt of lightning had shot through his body, paralyzing him at the same moment that his lips hat touched Poe's. This was a stranger. A man he knew nothing about but still, this felt incredibly right. Poe's hand found his and weaved his fingers through his before Morap could really grasp what was going on. Poe pulled him closer towards him and Morap slipped off his stool. His legs felt like they wouldn't be able to support him and when Poe pulled away, Morap opened his eyes. When exactly had he put his hands on Poe's hips?

Breathing fast, Morap wanted to take a step back, but Poe put one hand on his neck and held him in place, his eyes wide and his lips slightly parted. "Might as well make the most of it?" he asked and he wasn't smiling now. The look in his eyes froze Morap in place more that the words, or that voice ever could.

"Huh...", he made, unable to say anything else, as he leaned in again pressing his lips against Poe's and savouring the sensation of feeling utterly helpless for the first time in his life. He even forgot about the people surrounding them. About the music blaring in his ears or the fact that this person he was kissing right now with a desperation he had never felt before, would have been his enemy had the stars chosen a different lot for him.

A/N: The lyrcs I posted before actually posting the chapter are from the song "Donna Donna". I couldn't help but think of Morap in combination with that song. If you don't know it, check it out! It's actually a song about Jews in the Third Reich and about how they had no chance of escaping their fate. Of course it's a very delicate subject, but I feel like every people living under an oppressive regime can find themselves in this particular song. Morap is no exception and even though this chapter feels a bit more hopeful than the last two, I still know what will happen to him and so do you if you've read my story "The Pilot". That's why I chose this song. Because it doesn't only reflect Morap's struggle against the universe, but also his inabilty to really, truly escape.

Thanks for reading! I'm going to start translating Chapter 12 from "The Pilot" now and I'm hoping to be able to post it later today.

Please leave a comment if you liked this short excursion!