Poe knew something was different the moment he saw Finn and Rey come in for breakfast. He had just settled in, a plate full of all the fresh Yavin fruits he couldn't get anywhere but here, when they walked in from the direction of Rey's room, holding hands. His appetite vanished.
Looks like you're out of luck, Dameron.
He'd known it was coming, but it didn't make the reality any easier.
"Morning," Rey said, all sunny smiles.
"Hey." Poe returned the smile on automatic, and forced himself to include Finn in the greeting. As much as he wanted to just sort of slink away and sulk, his pride wouldn't let him do that. "There's a ton of food on the counter, just yell if you can't find anything." He didn't want to think about how early Kes had gotten up to make sure there was food ready. Tomorrow he'd be sure to get up early as well, to help.
Rey didn't have to be asked twice, and started filling her plate. Her appetite was both endearing and a little scary. Like the girl herself. Finn lingered behind, an uncertain look on his face.
"Congratulations," Poe murmured. "I'm glad you got things sorted."
"Wait, it's not like you—"
"Poe! There you are." Kes came in from outside and thumped Poe on the shoulder. "Finish eating. I need your help in the northwest clearing."
Poe ate a couple of hasty bites, then stood. "I'm done. Ready when you are."
"Can I help?" Finn asked.
Kes looked him over. "You know anything about mending fences?"
Finn looked like he was going to lie. He was about the worst liar that Poe had ever met and should really just give up trying altogether. Poe decided to spare him the trouble. "He can hold things in place," he said. "We could use another pair of hands, right?"
"Always can," Kes said. "Come on then." They followed him out to the speeders. Finn climbed on behind Poe while Kes took the one carrying the equipment. The path to the northwest clearing of the ranch was an old familiar one, and Poe spent the trip marveling at how little the forest had changed since his last trip home. The only odd thing—he should be hearing the constant sound of the runyips digging for their forage. It was a sound he'd grown up knowing, and he'd barely heard it at all since coming home. Worrying as the thought was, it kept him from focusing on the feel of Finn sitting pressed against his back. He wasn't thinking about that at all.
The fences on the ranch were old and in a continual state of needing repair. Poe often wondered why his father didn't just replace them all at once, but he suspected that Kes enjoyed having a project to work on more. An entire section of the clearing fence was down, and promised to be a morning-long chore. The three of them unloaded the speeder and got to work.
Why had Finn elected to come out here and work when he could have stayed at the house with Luke and Rey? Was he that afraid of Luke? Finn hadn't said anything about it, but Poe knew. He'd seen how Finn's shoulders tightened whenever Luke spoke to him, and how he almost never looked directly at the Jedi Master. Whatever the reason, Poe couldn't decide if he was glad to spend time with him, or if he wished Finn would go away so he could sulk in private.
"So, Finn." Kes finally spoke after they'd been working for about an hour. "Have you been with the Resistance long?"
"Not long." Finn didn't try to lie this time, thank the stars.
"Where are you from originally?"
Poor Finn, he looked trapped. He gave Poe a desperate look. Help me, it said. "You can tell him," Poe said. "It's all right."
"I don't know." Finn clutched the fence wiring Poe had just handed him. "I was a... a stormtrooper."
Kes stared at him, midway to reaching for a pair of pliers. "First Order?"
"Dad, he got me out." Poe hadn't wanted to tell his father about being captured, but now was as good a time as any. "They caught me on Jakku, and Finn—" here he grabbed Finn by the shoulder and squeezed "—Finn rescued me because it was the right thing to do."
"I thought they brainwashed their—"
"I know!" Poe still could scarcely imagine the force of will it had taken for Finn to throw off his conditioning. "But he fought it and beat it. And speaking of fighting, you should see him in one. We're damned lucky to have him."
"I see." Kes looked between them, and Poe had the sinking feeling that he really did see, far more than Poe wanted him to. "Well, I'm glad you're here, Finn."
After another bit of fence was repaired, Kes turned to Finn. "I left our canteens on the speeder. Do you mind going back and getting them?"
"Sure." He trotted off.
Once he was out of earshot, Kes smiled. "He's a good man, then? You're happy?"
"Dad!" Poe's face heated up. "It's not—he's with Rey. Not me."
"The Jedi girl?"
Poe nodded.
"Then why has he been following you around like a lost pup?" Kes deftly twisted two new extensions of wire together.
"He hasn't been—"
Kes silenced him with a look.
"But it's not like that," Poe protested.
Kes hmphed. "I wouldn't be young again for all the credits in the galaxy. Blind and foolish, the lot of you."
Thankfully, he didn't say anything else before Finn came back with two canteens. He handed one to Poe and one to Kes. After they'd all had a drink, Kes said, "I need to go check on something back at the house. Can you two finish this on your own?"
"Uh, sure." Poe cringed internally. Subtle, dad. So subtle.
"All right, I'll see you back at the house." He took the speeder without the equipment and left.
"He doesn't like me, does he." Finn wouldn't look at him, just focused on cutting down a damaged piece of fencing. "I mean, I get it, if a former stormtrooper showed up at my house, I wouldn't be thrilled either."
"Hey." Finn ignored him, so Poe grabbed the spanner in Finn's hands to get his attention. "Hey. It's not that at all."
"Well he took off outta here pretty quick." Finn still wouldn't look at him.
"I swear to you, buddy, that wasn't it." Was Poe going to have to say it aloud? Could he?
"You sure?" Now Finn looked up at him, his dark eyes soft with vulnerability. Poe wasn't sure he'd ever known anyone who wanted so badly to be accepted, to be liked. Maybe that's what made him say what he said next.
Poe rubbed his hand over his face and crouched next to Finn. "Look, he—he has the wrong idea. About us. I tried to tell him about you and Rey, but he didn't listen." The morning was still relatively cool, but Poe's cheeks were on fire.
"Wait, he thought that you and I were... together?" Finn glanced back the way Kes had vanished, bemused.
"Why do you think he was asking you where you were from?"
Finn sank back on his heels, putting the spanner down. "That's why he left? He was mad about that?"
This conversation was not going the way Poe expected. "Why would he be?"
"Former stormtrooper," Finn repeated.
"Doesn't matter who you used to be, just who you are now. But listen, it's okay. You and Rey are gonna be great." It was true, but that didn't make it any less painful to say. He reached out to squeeze Finn's shoulder.
"About that..." Before Poe could react, Finn leaned over and kissed him. His aim was a little off, so the kiss landed on the corner of Poe's mouth, but to Poe it was a direct hit.
"Wait, what—" He planned to say something sensible, but that wasn't what happened. Instead he landed on his knees next to Finn and kissed him back. They made the connection this time, the spark growing into a flash fire burning everything in its path. Without him willing it to happen, his hands were on Finn's face and they were clinging to each other. Finn kissed him breathless before he managed to get his wits gathered back around him. "Finn, what are you doing? What about Rey?"
"She told me to talk to you."
Poe tried to remember how to breathe. "That wasn't talking."
Finn's cheeks darkened and he glanced down. "Sorry. I shouldn't have done that."
"It's okay. We can just pretend that it never happened." They should tell her though. Poe had a sick feeling in his stomach just thinking about it.
"No, I mean—she's right, I should have talked to you first." Finn's face was so earnest, like he hadn't just given Poe a little glimpse of exactly what he could never have.
"I—I don't think there's anything to talk about." Poe stood up and dusted off his knees. Forget the fence. He'd come out and work on it later. "Come on, let's go back to the house."
Before he could get to the speeder, Finn caught up to him and took his hand. "No, wait. There is. She wants to... to share."
It took several heartbeats before Finn's meaning fully registered. "What—I—no. I mean, I'm flattered, but no. Rey's a pretty girl, but I just don't think of her like that. Not to mention, Commander Skywalker would probably kill me."
"Not like that. Me. She wants to share... me." Finn let him go and stood back, waiting.
"You mean," Poe gestured between the two of them, "you and me, and you and her..."
"Yeah."
How badly did he want Finn? Poe still felt the sting of jealousy, thinking of Finn and Rey holding hands coming out of her room. Was he jealous because he was possessive of Finn, or was he jealous of what he thought he'd never be able to have? It seemed like a vital distinction. Finn watched him, his hands fidgeting together as he waited for Poe's answer. "Can I think about it?"
Finn's face fell a little. Poe sympathized; that kiss had been something else. Even now, part of his brain was screaming at him to just say 'yes' and worry about consequences later, but he was old enough to know better.
"Yeah," Finn finally said. "Of course. Yeah. Not a problem."
"I'm sorry, I just want to be sure." Poe was probably going to kick himself later. Hard. Finn had become a part of his life the moment they'd met, that unforgettable moment when the enemy's mask came off to reveal an unexpected friend. Everything he felt for Finn was tied into that one crazy burst of hope, of relief, and Poe needed to decide how much of his future he was willing to risk on that one moment, and everything that had followed.
"The fence?" Finn said.
"It's been busted for ages, it'll wait another day. Listen, you can take the speeder back. I'm going to walk." Without waiting to see if Finn followed, Poe walked off into the jungle.
#
Rey's heart felt lighter than it had in days as she finished her breakfast and went back out to the tree. She stretched, already feeling the burning ache in her muscles from her earlier training. Living on Jakku had made her physically fit, but so far her Jedi training was beyond the limits of even scavenging in the desert. The grass was soft under her feet, the unfamiliar texture tickling her skin. She sat down to wait for Luke, then laid back against the green lushness.
She couldn't have been asleep for long when Luke's chuckle woke her up. "Comfortable?"
"Sorry." Rey sat up, struggling out of sleep. "I'm just so tired."
"You're working hard." Luke waited for her to stand. "It takes more out of you than you realize at first. The rest of your training today will involve helping me prepare to take the cuttings."
"I'm afraid I don't know much about trees. Not many of them back home."
"I didn't exactly farm living things myself. But I managed to find the information." Luke gave her a wry smile. "The bigger concern is how to remove part of the tree without severing the connection to the Force. That, as far as I know, isn't something anyone's tried before."
That didn't mean he didn't have an idea how to make it work. The two of them, working together, he said, might be able to strengthen the tree's connection to the Force temporarily, allowing them to sever parts of the branches and sort of... tie off the Force's energy—Rey didn't know how else to think of it—into the cuttings. Hopefully, at least. That was the plan.
"Is this really the only tree like this left?" Rey asked, when they stopped for a quick lunch, sitting in the grass under the tree. She could feel it radiating against her skin, warm and a little unsettling.
"The only one I know of, that's connected to the Light Side of the Force." Luke paid more attention than seemed necessary to picking out just the right piece of fruit. "I know of another, aligned with the Dark Side, if it's even still there."
"At your first school..." Rey hesitated. He refused to talk about it so far, but she knew what she'd seen. "You said you planted the first tree there. And Kylo Ren destroyed it?"
Luke's eyes darkened, and for a moment a stranger sat in front of her. The wise, kind-but-a-little-sad man she knew was gone, and she saw a hint of someone harder, older, grimmer. "No. He didn't. I did."
"What?"
"The First Order cannot get their hands on this kind of power. Snoke and his followers play at being Sith now. If they had access to something like this..." Luke lowered his head and his shoulders dropped, and some of the grimness faded away. "So I cut it down and burned it once I realized it was too late to stop what was happening."
"But if it's strong with the Light Side of the Force, wouldn't that mean it wouldn't help them?"
Luke chuckled, and Rey found herself relieved to hear it; it sounded more like the man she'd come to know and trust. "It's not sentient. It can't pick and choose who can use its power."
"Oh no, I guess not. How do you know this kind of tree will grow on Ahch-To?"
"I have a feeling they will. And I can't think of a more fitting place, than at the first Jedi Temple."
Rey's thoughts returned to the tree here, and the risk it could pose. She thought of Kes, friendly and doing everything he could to make two strangers feel at home. "Kylo Ren doesn't know this tree is here, does he?"
"Ben Solo didn't." There was a weight in those words, in that name. "The man he's trying to be now... I don't know. I doubt it. He would have been here before now. Aside from the Damerons, no one knew what happened to the second tree. In fact, outside of the old Empire, no one knew a second tree existed. And I doubt those records have survived."
He sounded sure, and Rey supposed he had reason to know as much as anyone, but she couldn't erase the little niggling worry at the back of her mind.
"If you're ready, let's get back to work."
Rey stood up and they began again.
Later, when Luke called a halt and Rey's awareness slowly filtered back into her body, she thought that they had worked for less than an hour, not long at all. The stiffness in her hips said otherwise, as did the sinking sun. Rey wasn't physically tired, apart from the stiffness, but her mind was exhausted. Restless, rather than go into the house, she went for a walk.
She came to a clearing not far from the house that held a weathered, somewhat battered hangar. It was big, big enough to hold a decent-sized ship. Curiosity got the best of her, and she tried the door, which opened. Rey thought at first she'd stepped back in time when she stepped through the door.
Sitting on the permacrete was an old RZ-1 A-wing, a little scorched, but otherwise pristine. There was a Rebellion symbol painted on one of the stabilizers. An A-wing. Rey couldn't keep the smile from her face. She hadn't seen one since she was a little girl. The A-wings that passed through Niima Outpost had been her favorites, with their single pilots able to take off and go anywhere. She'd never been inside one, though. The ladder to the cockpit was in place. Maybe she could just...
"Oh!" As she got to the foot of the latter, a curly brown head appeared over the edge of the cockpit.
"Thought I heard footsteps," Poe said.
"I'm sorry, I just saw the hanger and..."
He grinned. "You don't have to tell me. I get it. Ever see an A-wing before?"
She nodded. "Never one in this good a shape, though."
"I learned to fly in this old crate. My dad still keeps it cleaned up, but I don't think it's been up in the air for years." He reached out and patted the ladder. "Come on up. Ever been in one?"
"There's no room—"
"Sure there is, come on." Poe climbed out of the cockpit and crouched on one of the wings.
Rey clambered up and Poe gave her a hand into the cockpit. It was smaller than she'd imagined. Flying in this, you'd be practically touching the stars.
"I'd ask if you wanted to take her up, but I'm not she flies anymore. The fuel's probably turned to goo by now."
"I didn't mean to interrupt you, coming out here." Rey ran her fingers over the ship's console, making sense of all the controls.
"It's fine. I always used to come out here to think, even if I didn't take her up." Poe shifted, settling into a sitting position on the wing.
His words, plus the Rebellion symbol, gave her a realization. "This was your mother's ship."
"Flew in the Battle of Endor, can you believe it?" Poe ran a hand over the hull.
Rey couldn't find the words, so she sat in Shara Bey's pilot seat in quiet awe. She wasn't just in awe of the historic significance, but how... how personal it was. Poe not only had known his mother, he had this to remember her by, and a father to remember her with.
The two of them were quiet for what felt like age, until Rey broke the silence. "What were you thinking about?"
Poe burst out laughing, the sound sudden and bright, echoing against the hangar walls and ceiling. "I wonder. What could I possibly have to consider that would require getting away from you two lunatics for a while?"
Oh. "Finn talked to you." Rey climbed out of the cockpit to sit facing him, her legs dangling down into the pilot seat.
"As a matter of fact, he did." He scooted around so he was facing her too, their knees nearly bumping across the narrow cockpit. "What are you thinking here, Rey?"
"I care about him. You care about him. He cares about us. Doesn't it make sense?"
"On the surface, sure." Poe rubbed at his forehead and then ran a hand over his hair, ruffling it. "But—people aren't that simple. We can't just decide to—to share him like a loaf of bread."
"Why not? Would it be better to make him pick? Because that way two of the three of us would be miserable, Poe. Maybe all three of us." It was so obvious to her. "I can't—I can't be to him what you would be."
Sometimes during training, Luke would stop and look at her with such an intense look she wondered if he could see into her mind without her feeling it. She'd thought it was just a Jedi thing, but she'd been wrong. Poe studied her intently, and she did her best to meet his eyes. "What if you decide you want more someday?" he asked. "Marriage, a family?"
Rey shook her head. "Jedi don't do that." How could she explain? She had a family, and until she found them again, she couldn't just throw a switch inside of herself and replace them.
"What if I wanted him all to myself?"
"Do you?"
"No. I don't know." Poe scrubbed at his face again. "People don't do this sort of thing."
"Of course they do!" Rey reached out and pulled his hand away from his face. "People do whatever they think will make them happy. Would this not make you happy?" Holding Poe's hand was nothing like holding Finn's. There was nothing scary in the warmth of his skin against hers, but nothing exciting either. Funny that it took leaving a desert planet for her to realize how many different types of warmth there were in the galaxy.
"It would make me happy for now, but for how long?" Poe gently eased his hand out of hers.
"We're fighting a war against people who think destroying entire systems is a valid strategy." She gestured around them. "This could all be gone tomorrow. We could all be gone tomorrow, just like the Hosnian system. You don't know how long anything is going to last. But in the meantime, we could be happy."
"You really believe that." He shook his head, but he was fighting a smile.
"What, that we'd be happy with Finn or that we could all die any day?"
"Both." He stopped fighting the smile.
"Absolutely."
"Listen. You and I, we have to keep talking." Poe's smile faded and his eyes took on an earnest expression. "And Finn. Otherwise it really won't work."
"Deal." They shook on it.
#
Finn felt guilty about leaving the fence repair unfinished, so went back out after lunch. Poe was nowhere to be found, but the work wasn't actually that difficult, and he made enough progress to assuage his conscience. He headed back toward the house when the sun started to move behind Yavin's gas giant neighbor.
He'd hoped that keeping busy would tire him out enough to sleep, and keep him from replaying Poe's kiss over and over again in his mind. Well, he might sleep, but nothing had quieted his mind all afternoon. What should he say to Poe when he saw him again? Should he mention what happened? Should he avoid him altogether?
Rey came to his rescue. When he came into the house she grabbed him into a hug and kissed him on the cheek. Both caught him off-guard, but he wrapped his arms around her in return, closing his eyes. She felt warm and right in his arms, and the tension drained away from him for a few moments.
"What's this for?" He leaned down enough to rest his chin on her shoulder. "Not that I'm complaining."
"It was a good day," she said. She looped her arm through his and steered him toward the dining room.
Having her at his side made him feel brave enough to face Poe again. A good thing, since Poe was putting food on the table when they walked in. "Hey," Finn said, fighting back the awkwardness that tried to come back.
"Hey." Poe looked more at ease than Finn felt.
Rey squeezed Finn's arm. "I need to go wash up." She slipped away before Finn could protest.
The two men stood there, Finn sure he looked awkward as hell. He scrounged for something neutral to say. "Dinner smells good."
"That's because I didn't help cook it." Poe came around the table to Finn. "I talked to Rey this afternoon."
"Yeah?" Finn's heart gave a little kick. He tried to keep his face still.
"She's a smart girl."
"She is."
Poe tilted his head to look up at him, and Finn realized he was nervous as Finn was. "Can we... maybe go for a walk after dinner?"
"Yeah, okay." Finn's heart didn't skip, it galloped. "Whenever you want."
"Good." Poe darted in and kissed him on the opposite cheek that Rey had kissed earlier. It felt like a circuit closing, something snapping into completion and leaving him warm and glowing. Before he could react, Poe winked at him and then headed back to the kitchen, leaving Finn in a state of uncertainty.
Finn was sure he ate dinner, but the entire meal was a blur of anticipation. He half-heard the conversations that went on around him. Skywalker and Rey expected to be able to take cuttings the next day. Rey asked questions about Poe's mom and Finn tried to pay attention, but couldn't. Instead he was acutely aware of Poe: his body language, his facial expressions. He was acutely aware of his own body, feeling as if every single thought and emotion that passed through his head wrote itself large enough for everyone to see.
Finally the meal ended and Rey jumped up and offered to help Kes clean up the kitchen. Poe and Finn slipped out together into the late twilight.
"I'm sorry about earlier," Poe said, once they were out of earshot of the house. "I shouldn't have bolted."
"I wouldn't say you bolted." Finn glanced over and grinned. "You moved too slow for that."
"Not as fast on my feet as I am in the air."
"Where are we going?" Finn kept trying to look at Poe and walk at the same time, and sooner or later he was going to trip over his own feet.
"Nowhere really." Poe seemed content to just walk without talking.
Finn tried, he really did. Just spend time with him. This is really nice, see? You don't have to talk.
It lasted about a minute and a half.
"So what did you and Rey talk about?"
"Flying. My mom's ship. How to be happy." Poe was playing with him; there was a little smile tugging at the corner of his lips and he wouldn't look at Finn.
"Are we..."
Poe stopped. Ambient light filtered through the trees from somewhere nearby, some outbuilding lit up for the night. It caught in Poe's eyes and made them gleam as he turned to face Finn. "Where'd you learn to kiss like that? Do they teach kissing in Stormtrooper School?"
"No. Stormtroopers... just fight. Nothing else." It wasn't just culture Finn had struggled to absorb since leaving the Vehement. It was the realization of everything he'd been denied. "Maybe it was my partner?"
"So wait, are you telling me that was your first kiss? You've never—you and Rey haven't—"
"Until I met you and Rey I never wanted to," Finn said simply.
"Never?" If Finn didn't know how brave Poe was, he would've thought that was fear in Poe's eyes.
"Doctor Kalonia said she thought maybe they were giving us something—"
"Finn." Poe placed his fingers over Finn's mouth to quiet him. "What do you want from this? All of this."
It was hard to think with Poe's fingers against his lips. Harder still to keep his lips from forming the shape of a kiss against them. "I just know that I would do anything for Rey, anything she needed or wanted. If it wasn't for you, I'd still be... out there with them, or maybe worse. And when you kissed me I'd never felt anything like that before and I—I want to do it again."
Poe's eyes were on his while he was talking, and when Finn stopped for a breath, he leaned in slowly. Finn's heart roared in his ears as he moved to meet him halfway. Their lips met first, and their bodies followed, hands linking as if by instinct. The kiss was slower, more cautious than the one by the fence. Deliberate. Finn was hyper-aware of the tiniest sensations: the faint whisper of Poe's stubble against his chin, the warm feel of his breath, and the way his fingertips started to tingle as the kiss went on, their lips only barely parted.
Finally they broke apart and Finn remembered to breathe. Poe's eyes fluttered open, his gaze heavy-lidded and almost sleepy-looking as if he were dreaming. The expression on his face twisted Finn's belly into a knot of yearning. Poe let go of his hand and curled his fingers into Finn's shirt instead, pulling him back to kiss him again.
They weren't as tentative this time. Something about the way Poe was holding him in place made Finn's knees start to shake. Their lips parted and Finn couldn't stifle a gasp when Poe's tongue touched his. It was like grabbing a live wire, current arcing through his body and making him jump. He held on to Poe's waist for dear life, only able to follow his lead.
When they parted a second time, both of them were out of breath. "There's—the hangar is just past those trees," Poe said, his fingers uncurling and resting flat against Finn's chest. "It's quiet. No one goes in there but me anymore."
"Yeah, all right." Finn felt dizzy. He'd had a crash course on what might come next, but all that really mattered was that it was Poe, and he trusted Poe. Poe took him by the hand and they walked the short distance to the hanger—the source of the light Finn had noticed earlier.
The hanger was dark inside but for the emergency lights. A large shadowy shape dominated the room—a ship, Finn assumed—but the rest seemed to be open floor space. Finn's nervousness spiked. Poe must have sensed it because he squeezed Finn's hand. "Hey. I just want to be with you. I'm already flying here. Anything else is just extra."
Finn was the one who kissed him this time. Poe's hands came to rest on his hips and he guided them as if they were dancing (something else Finn had never done) until the back of Finn's knees hit something solid.
"Sit down," Poe murmured against his mouth.
Finn sat without looking, coming to rest on what turned out to be a workbench. Poe sat next to him and nuzzled his way back to Finn's mouth. His hands slipped inside the jacket Finn was wearing (Finn still thought of it as Poe's jacket) and moved warm against Finn's sides, then back, pulling him closer.
That was when Finn did something he'd been wanting to do almost since the moment he met Poe. He slid his fingers up into Poe's temptingly curly hair. In Yavin's humidity, it was even curlier here than the tousled waves Finn was used to. It was as soft as he'd imagined, and the sound Poe made as he melted further against Finn was... well, it made Finn's hair stand on end. More than just his hair, in fact. Since leaving the First Order, Finn had gotten more accustomed to having the occasional erection, but it had never felt like this. The feeling threatened to swamp his entire brain and wipe it clean.
It reminded him that there was more to this than kissing, but Finn couldn't imagine stopping long enough to move on. At least, until Poe stopped kissing his mouth and moved to his neck instead. Finn tightened his fingers in Poe's hair reflexively and Poe groaned loudly enough to echo in against the hangar walls.
Finn let go. "I'm sorry, did I—"
"That wasn't a bad noise." Poe's lips moved against Finn's neck and Finn couldn't stop shivering from it. "I'll tell you if I don't like something. You will too, right?"
"Y-Yeah." Finn cradled Poe's head again with trembling hands. He couldn't imagine not liking anything that was happening.
Poe laughed, the sound tickling against Finn's throat. "If I had any sense, I would have taken you back to the house."
"Too many people there." Some boldness seized him and he said, "I don't want to have to be quiet."
"I don't want you to be," Poe gasped before coming back to Finn's mouth, fiercer this time, teeth and tongues and lips. And Finn did make a noise, a groan that got louder when Poe rested a hand just above his knee. He tried to stay focused on the kiss itself, but his awareness kept zooming in to that hand, sliding up his thigh.
"You okay?" Poe paused long enough to look Finn in the eye.
"Yeah. Hell yeah."
"You sure?" Something wicked glinted in Poe's eyes as his hand slid the rest of the way up Finn's thigh. "Yeah, that seems okay."
Finn couldn't answer, his mouth had gone dry. He tried to keep his eyes open but Poe was touching him through his pants and he wasn't sure he could keep breathing much less keep looking at him.
They stopped talking, kisses interspersed with Poe slowly opening Finn's pants. Finn's entire body tingled and burned with anticipation. Poe was moving so slow, folding back a layer of fabric, then pausing. Too slow, the wait was going to drive him mad. A single word exploded from him. "Please."
"Please what?" That voice wasn't like Poe's everyday voice. It was darker, lower, teasing to match the spark in his eyes as he stopped again to look at Finn.
"I don't know—something. Anything."
Whatever Finn might have expected next, it wasn't for Poe to go to his knees in front of him.
"What are you doing?"
"Something." He leaned in and pressed his face against Finn's belly, nuzzling his shirt aside until his lips found bare skin. It tickled, but not in a way that made Finn want to laugh. Finally, Poe pulled away the last layer of Finn's clothing and he sprang free. Poe wrapped his hand around Finn and Finn saw stars. His breathing got louder, more ragged, only to trail off in a whimper when Poe leaned down and started to kiss him. Finn barely had time to get used to that before he was inside Poe's mouth and there was no way anything could feel so good.
His vision cleared a little only to give him the sight of Poe, his lips parted and a little swollen, his eyes burning into Finn's as he moved up and down. Finn wanted to say something, to tell him how it felt, but all he could do was make helpless vowel sounds that got louder with each stroke. He held on to Poe's shoulders, curling his fingers into the fabric of his shirt hard enough to make the stitches pop.
The steady growing buzz of pleasure rocketed forward, catching Finn by surprise. He cried out, his body going rigid, quivering, shaking under Poe's mouth until it faded away and left him limp.
He opened his eyes to see Poe resting his head against his knee, smiling up at him.
Finn took a shaky breath. "That was... definitely something."
Poe laughed and shoved his knee. "Okay, I deserved that." He rose up and caught Finn's face between his hands, looking at him intently. "All right?"
Finn kissed him hard. "Yes. More than. Come here. What do I do?" Could he make Poe feel that good? He wanted to try, desperately.
"Nothing, tonight." Poe got to his feet and sat beside Finn once more, snuggling close. "Tonight was just for you. We've got time for more later."
More. Finn shivered. He wasn't sure he could survive anything more.
After he got re-dressed, they sat in the hanger and talked, trading kisses and snuggles. Not about anything serious, just whatever came to mind.
By the time they walked, hand in hand, back to the house, it was dark. Poe kissed him one last time and they went to their separate rooms.
The bedside light was on in Finn's room, revealing Rey, curled up asleep on his bed. It was easy to forget how relatively tiny she was when her presence loomed so large. He'd never seen her look so vulnerable, the lines of her face soft and slack. There was room in the living area for him to sleep. He unfolded the blankets from the foot of the bed and drew them up over Rey.
She stirred, her eyes fluttering open. "Hey. I meant to wait up for you."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." He brushed a strand of hair away from her face and she smiled.
"How'd it go?"
"It was... it was good." Finn's face got hot and it must have shown, because she laughed.
"I meant did you talk, you rat."
"Oh. Well, yes, we did that too."
Rey rolled her eyes, but smiled at him. "Should I go?"
"You can stay, if you want."
"Good." Rey snuggled back under the blankets. A few minutes later, he was there with her. She curled against his shoulder and he tightened his arms around her. "Do you think you'll be happy?" she asked. "With the two of us?"
"I'm happy right now," he said. This must be what home feels like.