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Chapter Text

Finn knew answering an online advertisement for $600 rent in an old lady’s house could go very, very badly. It was definitely a good opening scene for a horror movie. But he was broke, and he needed a place to spend the last year of university, and the place was not even 20 minutes from the university, which was closer than he’d ever lived. It was, by all accounts, absolutely perfect for him, which was one of the more worrying things.

It was pet-friendly. Okay, not necessarily relevant for Finn, but he did have a soft spot for animals so it was nice to know she wouldn’t charge more if something came up. It was $600 a month for a single room, which was…impossible to find in this city. Granted, he’d have two roommates and the old lady landlord, and they’d all share a kitchen and stuff, but Finn had gone to boarding school; this was more privacy than he’d ever had in his life. She claimed she cooked for them all, but demanded help and reciprocity. Okay, he could definitely do that: he’d been taking care of himself since he was 12 years old.

He took one deep breath, then another, and strode up the front steps to knock on the door. Within a few seconds, it opened, revealing a kind-looking old lady carrying a very fluffy blue Persian who looked much less kind than his lady.

“You must be Finn!” she exclaimed, gesturing for him to come inside. “Have a look around, see if it suits your needs.”

Finn already knew he’d be staying if there were no glaringly horrifying details. “Thanks, Ms. Organa.”

She shook her head. “Please, call me Leia.”

“Okay. Leia.” This woman looked old enough to be his mother, and Finn wasn’t quite used the concept of calling Actual Adults by their first name, but it was what she asked.

He took off his shoes by the front door, earning an approving smile from Leia. The house wasn’t too large, one story and narrow hallways, but it was cozy. It was clean. It was the kind of place Finn could absolutely live for $600 a month.

Another cat poked its head out from around a corner, but this one was more skittish than the blue one. “That’s Threepio,” she said, gesturing to the anxious one, “and this is Artoo.” She lifted her arms a little, earning a glare from the cat in question.

“Those are…interesting names,” Finn replied. But he liked cats, so this was fine.

Leia shrugged. “They already had their names when they came to us.” Artoo squirmed, and she simply opened her arms, dropping him to the ground. He landed gracefully and with one last haughty glance at Finn, sauntered away.

They continued exploring the house. The kitchen was nice – a little messy, with some dishes still in the sink, but with a good oven. He could cook there for sure. There was a nice little kitchen table that looked older than Leia, even, and four chairs to match, and in one of them sprawled a pretty girl with dirt on her face, eating pancakes.

It was a little late in the afternoon for pancakes, but Finn was a college student, so he supposed he couldn’t judge.

“This is my niece, Rey,” Leia introduced.

She waved enthusiastically. “’Lo!” she greeted through a mouth full of pancakes.

“Rey goes to the same university you do,” Leia explained, which startled Finn. He couldn’t remember if he’d mentioned his school in the email, but he must have. “She’s studying mechanical engineering.”

“Finn,” he introduced, and she nodded.

“Oh, I know. I stalked you on social media,” she replied, unashamed, taking a drink of milk. “As soon as you answered Auntie’s ad. You’re pretty.”

Finn snorted. There wasn’t much to find – a few pictures, maybe. A Facebook account he never used that he’d made to stay in touch with friends from school, back when he assumed that was something he’d want. “Well, you have me at a disadvantage, then,” he replied.

She saluted. “Rey Skywalker,” she began, which wasn’t a much more normal name than the cats. “Twenty-one. Mech-e student. I want to work for NASA.” She grinned, and Finn could see the outer space adventure in her. It made sense. “I have a blog I’ll show you if you stay, but don’t expect anything of quality, it’s all memes and shitposts. I love dogs and cats and all animals, really. Also classic rock. I would like to be Freddie Mercury. Favorite food is pancakes” – she gestured at the plate – “and I am basically nocturnal.”

Leia raised an eyebrow. “Rey, honey, have you taken your meds?”

“No, it’s not a school day or a workday so I decided to take today off.” She smiled winningly. “It saves money.”

“It’s not like we don’t have enough.” Leia snorted. “You forgot, didn’t you?”

Rey flushed. “No!” Leia stared levelly at her. “Okay, yes. But it doesn’t matter because I’m just staying here all day.”

Leia shrugged. “You’re a big girl,” she said, and then gestured for Finn to follow her through the rest of the house. There was a cozy little den area full of mismatched couches and chairs piled high with blankets and pillows, plus a sort-of old looking TV. The curtains were red and drawn, filtering the light. Hell, if there wasn’t a bedroom, Finn would be happy to sleep here.

Then there was a narrow hallway with five doors, ostensibly four bedrooms and a bathroom. One door was open and revealed a bright yellow bedroom that looked like a clothes-and-stuff star imploded in the center. It had pictures of athletes and also Hedy Lamar on the wall, and Finn hazarded an educated guess that this was Rey’s room.

The next door was closed, probably Leia’s room, as was the third, but that one she knocked on.

“Come in,” came the muffled response.

Leia pushed open the door to reveal quite possibly the most beautiful man Finn had ever seen, cross-legged on a plaid bedspread and wearing a purple button down covered in tiny robots. He was chewing on the cap of a ballpoint pen, notebook settled in his lap. Asleep next to him was a small, round corgi, snoring slightly, and the man on the bed had his hand buried in the fur behind its ears.

He looked up and smiled, and it was blinding. “Hey,” he greeted.

“Poe, this is Finn, our potential new tenant. Finn, this is Poe Dameron, a grad student at the University down the way,” Leia said, as if that would mean anything to him. “His parents are close friends of mine.”

“Welcome,” Poe greeted. “Heard you’re a teacher?”

Finn wasn’t quite sure how he’d heard that, but he nodded. “Uh, yeah. Well, going to be, anyway.”

“That’s great!” Magnetic energy just radiated off of Poe, drawing Finn closer. “I’m working on finishing up a two year Urban Affairs and Public Policy Masters. I’m doing a lot with educational policy this semester, so I’d love to ask you some questions.” He tilted his head. “If you stay.”

Finn was definitely staying. “Sounds great,” he managed.

Leia led him out of the room, shooting him a knowing smile. “Don’t worry, happens to everyone. Except my boy, I guess.”

Finn didn’t know remotely what she was talking about, but he thought it might be rude to ask.

The final room was fairly spartan. “This is where you’d stay,” Leia explained. “The bed and the closet shelves are provided, but you’ll need to bring anything else you want.”

The mattress on the double bed looked softer than anything Finn had slept on in his life. The walls were painted in the colors of an almost-set sun, which was a bit of a weird color scheme, but Finn couldn’t complain.

Finally, the bathroom. “There’s only one,” Leia said apologetically. “It’s not too bad to share since we’re mostly on different schedules. Poe’s a beauty queen and takes forever in the shower, but other than that it’s very doable.”

Finn did his best not to think about Poe in the shower, and he nodded quickly.

Leia led him back to the front foyer, where his worn-through sneakers waited for him by the door, next to a pair of smart dress shoes and an even-worse-worn pair of high tops. They almost looked like they belonged already.

“So, what do you think?” Leia asked, but it seemed like she already knew the answer.

Finn couldn’t help but smile at her. “When can I move in?”

---

“Your room makes me uncomfortable,” Rey declared, marching into it anyway.

Finn squinted. “Why?”

“It’s too orderly,” she replied.

She had a point. The bed was made with military efficiency. All his clothes were folded and stacked perfectly in his closet. Every surface in his space – a desk, a bedside table – was free of clutter and dust. He hadn’t had any decorations to put up after he moved in, so it was just him and the walls.

“I mean, even your duvet is heather grey. Like, what the fuck?” Rey demanded, flopping down on his bed. “Oh, but it is very soft. I guess that’s okay. Still, you need posters or something.” She looked around. “Maybe a pop of color. I like yellow. Do you like yellow?”

Finn snorted, purple pen hovering above a sheet of paper, the mark he’d been about to make lost from his brain. “Did you want something, or did you just come here to criticize my sense of interior design?”

“The second one.”

“Why?”

She chewed on her lip. It was one of the precursors to her moments of vulnerability, Finn had learned, moments when her larger-than-life energy and attitude fell away for a second. “I’m procrastinating.”

Finn was grading his fourth graders’ math tests, but he couldn’t focus with Rey there, so he put them on his desk and gave her his attention. “And why are you procrastinating?”

“Got a test tomorrow,” Rey muttered. “Don’t wanna study. Head’s fuzzy.”

Finn raised an eyebrow. This was not the first time he’d seen Rey putting off her schoolwork. “Did you take your meds?” he asked, referring to her daily dose of Adderall. ‘Head’s fuzzy’ sounded like a no, but he wasn’t sure.

She rolled her eyes at him. “Yeeeeeah, but I still don’t want to do it.” She sighed.

“Is it because you’re bored, or because you’re anxious?” Finn asked. He had experience with ADHD, though usually only in kids under 11; still, he hoped he could be sort of useful. Thus far, he’d been pretty good at helping Rey through things, and it was good practice for working with kids who wouldn’t have the self-awareness of a college student.

She glanced away awkwardly. “Anxious,” she answered quietly. There it was. “I don’t – there’s so much. What if I don’t know anything?”

“Rey, you’re so smart.” Finn had only lived there for a few weeks, but already he knew that beyond a shadow of a doubt. “You’re going to do great. I bet you already know everything, anyway.” He reached out to pat her hand. “Want me to help you study?”

“Would you?” she asked. When he nodded, she raced out of the room – god, the girl was fast – and was almost immediately back with a notebook. “Okay, here. Quiz me.”

None of the notes made a damn bit of sense. There were diagrams he couldn’t parse and letters that didn’t even belong to any alphabet Finn was familiar with. Rey was staring at him expectantly, and he felt himself floundering.

He came up with a better solution, one that didn’t require him to have any idea at all what was going on. “How about instead of me quizzing you,” he suggested, “you teach me. Teaching someone else is one of the best ways to learn.”

“You can’t read my notes, can you?” Rey smirked.

“That’s not – okay, yeah.” The way Rey had started laughing before he even managed to stutter out his denial was both endearing and annoying. When she smiled, her whole face scrunched up and she showed a lot of teeth and dear god, she was beautiful.

“You’re a terrible liar,” she told him, like he’d never heard that one before. “I like that.” Then she scooted up close to him, close enough that their sides were touching, and placed the notebook in his lap. “Okay, so I’ll start from the beginning.”

She was beautiful when she explained things, going full speed ahead with excited fervor. Finn still didn’t understand half of what she was saying, but she only had to pause once and rifle through the notes before she considered her next words and plunged on.

“I’d say you’re ready,” he told her when she finished. “I’m definitely not, even after that, but you are.”

She gave him a heart-stopping grin and flopped back onto his bed, leaving the unreadable notebook in his lap. “I feel better,” she declared. “And now I studied. So I’m freeeeeee.”

Carefully, with more reverence than Rey probably had for any of her stuff, Finn put the notebook on his desk and flopped down next to her.

“You see those stars on the ceiling?” she asked, pointing. Finn wasn’t sure he’d have guessed they were stars, the flecks of gold and silver and white, but he nodded. “I put them there. Ben and I painted this room when I was ten years old, and he let me do the ceiling.” She sighed. “He wasn’t always an asshole.” She paused. “Or maybe he was, but I was too young to notice.”

Finn had heard bits and pieces about Ben Solo, Leia’s son and the former inhabitant of this room. He knew the guy was Poe’s age, studying art, and had gotten into a blowout fight with his mother and moved out a few months ago, but beyond that, he didn’t know much.

Rey rolled over to face Finn, staring deeply into his eyes. She had a gaze like she could see your soul, always. “That’s why your room is weird,” she said. “It used to be Ben’s, and he was never this clean. Also there was so much color.” She laughed. “But it was really pretentious, like, he insisted his color scheme was black and red and purple and any time Auntie Leia tried to buy anything outside the color scheme he’d pitch an absolute fit.” She wrapped Finn’s bedspread in one fist. “I like that there’s grey here, now. And that the floors are clean.”

“I went to boarding school,” Finn found himself telling her. “Military style. Our dorms were small and always had to be pristine.” He sighed. “Old habits die hard, I guess.”

“I mean, I admire the skill it takes,” Rey replied. “I just – that could never be me.”

“Trust me, I know,” Finn laughed, thinking of all the things he stepped on any time he tried to go into Rey’s room.

She reached out to shove him lightly. “Wow, traitor.” But then her demeanor turned serious. “Why did your parents send you to boarding school?” she asked. “I can’t imagine wanting someone like you out of the house.”

This was getting more personal than Finn had necessarily prepared for, but he didn’t have a whole lot of friends, and it was dark outside, which was the perfect time for sharing secrets, he supposed.

“Didn’t have any,” he replied, shrugging like it wasn’t a barb in his side. “I was in foster care for awhile, and then the school offered to take me in on scholarship. Most of us there were foster kids; something about shaping us into disciplined adults since we lacked strong role models or whatever.”

Rey grinned, which was not the usual reaction to that story. Usually, there was some sort of sadness or pity. But Rey, she just beamed, and said, “Me too!”

Finn had to stop, but he couldn’t quite figure out what she meant. He’d said a lot of words. “What?”

“I was in foster care too! My parents abandoned me when I was a baby,” she said, very chipper for such a sad phrase, “and so I was there for awhile until Luke adopted me when I was eight. Leia’s brother,” she added. “That’s cool. I don’t meet a lot of other people from the system.”

“All my life.” He nodded slowly. “I aged out, though. They helped pay for some of school, but then I got too old.”

It was something Rey wouldn’t have experienced, having had the good fortune of being adopted, but she looked like she knew that. She stayed quiet, as if waiting for him to say more.

“It’s been hard, since I stopped getting the checks,” he confessed quietly. That’s why this place had seemed a godsend, affordable and doable and trustworthy.

She nodded sagely, but she reached out to grab his hand. “You’re here now,” she said. “Leia Organa’s home for lost souls. We’ll make sure nothing bad happens to you.”

There was a fierceness in her eyes that Finn couldn’t help but believe. It’d only been a few weeks, but already, he loved her.

---

Finn knew, on some level, that falling in love with your roommate(s?) was a terrible idea.

But it was nine o’clock at night and his lamp was blinding him and the lesson plans he’d been working on all day still didn’t seem good enough and he was hungry. So when Poe brought him a plate of dinner - easy to eat, just some chicken and rice - Finn’s heart flipped and he considered marriage.

“Hey, buddy.” Poe knocked on the door, even though it was open, and stood waiting in the doorway until Finn nodded. “You seemed hard at work here. Haven’t seen you all day, really. And I’m pretty sure you skipped dinner, so…”

He held the plate out in front of him. Finn took it gratefully, setting his work to the side for a minute. “I did,” he admitted. “Thanks.”

“Can I stay?” Poe asked. Finn nodded, and he sat down on the edge of Finn’s bed, right next to the desk and chair Finn sat at. His knees brushed against Finn’s. “So, what’re you working on?”

Finn slid the papers over and started to wolf down the food Poe had brought. “I teach my first lesson tomorrow. This is my lesson plan.”

“Whoa.” Poe’s eyes grew wide as he picked up and flipped through the lesson. “This is...thorough.”

“Can you tell I’m nervous?” Finn cracked, making the effort at a smile. Maybe joking about it would help the feeling.

“Finn, this is...amazing.” Poe looked at him seriously. “I think even I could teach this. Or Rey.” Poe snorted at the idea of Rey in front of a classroom of children.

Finn imagined setting Rey loose on his fourth graders. He wasn’t sure who would win. Rey was fearsome, but his nine-year-olds were too.

“Would it help to practice?” Poe asked.

“Hm?” Finn wasn’t quite sure what Poe was offering, but of course practice was helpful.

Poe grinned. “I could act like a clueless nine-year-old and you can teach me this math.”

Finn snorted. “You don’t mind sitting here and having me explain factoring to you?” He couldn’t imagine that would be very engaging, and there were probably a million other more interesting and enjoyable things Poe could do with his time.

“Sure! I barely have a fourth grade understanding of math anyway,” Poe joked, giving Finn a smile that melted his insides. “C’mon, I wanna help.”

With a shrug, Finn began to run through his lesson. He kept waiting for Poe to give off signs of boredom, but Poe kept rapt attention on him, even better than a kid who actually wanted to learn. Every once in awhile he’d throw out a question for Finn, stuff to help him be more flexible in front of the classroom.

“Okay, and here’s the exit ticket,” Finn concluded, sliding a small sheet of paper in front of Poe. “It’s to assess where they all are, how comfortable with the content.”

Poe studied the piece of paper. “D’you want me to fill it out?”

“Nah.” Finn shook his head. “I think you get it.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Poe laughed. “I’m a humanities major. So maybe you should give me the test anyhow, just to be sure.” His eyes flashed and he gave a tiny smirk.

Was that flirting? Finn thought that might be flirting, but he was not great at picking it up, and by the time he’d made up his mind about something to say, the moment had passed.

“Listen, you’re gonna do great.” Poe clapped him on the shoulder. “Try not to freak yourself out too much. It’s great.” He grabbed Finn’s plate. “I’ll let you be, but don’t work too hard.” With that, he was gone, leaving Finn to miss his presence and debate going after him.

---

Even months after The Incident, Ben Solo haunted the walls of the house. It made Poe tired.

It was late, but Poe’s mind was running wild, and he sighed heavily, flipping over again. Most of the time, he was fine. Most of the time, he barely remembered the guy existed.

Tonight was not most of the time.

Maybe it was the racist remark he’d overheard in the coffeeshop that had reminded him, or maybe it was the way he always got a shock seeing Finn’s stuff amid the familiar walls. Whatever the reason, Ben Solo was in his head, and he couldn’t stop thinking about the fight that’d made Auntie Leia cry and made Ben leave. Harsh words rattled against the inside of his skull, words he’d do anything to erase from his brain, but more importantly, from Leia’s. The sight of her face crumpling was one of the worst things Poe had ever seen.

He groaned and got out of bed. Beebee was asleep at the foot of the bed, but only stirred a little bit. Good. Only one of them needed to be so disturbed right now.

Maybe a cup of tea would help. Normally, he’d prefer a cup of coffee, but he did want to sleep eventually, and he didn’t have Rey’s magical immunity to caffeine, so Leia’s boxes and boxes of decaf were the best choice. Besides, green tea was supposed to be calming. He could use some calming.

He left his bed, not mourning much loss because as warm as he was, it wasn’t a cozy, comfortable kind of warmth and his body felt weird, begging to move. In the living room, he discovered Rey sitting cross-legged on the floor with a bowl of popcorn in her lap and the bright colors of a video game flashing across her face. The intensity with which she stared at the TV was as beautiful as it was amusing.

“Rey, it’s one a.m.,” he said, as if she didn’t know, as if they hadn’t known each other for years, as if she hadn’t been like this all her life.

She shrugged. “You’re not sleeping, either.”

“Not for lack of effort,” Poe grumbled. He rolled his shoulders, willing some of the tension out of his body.

She clucked. “You’re wound so tight,” she said, though her entire body was also taut like a bowstring as she played her game. “You need to relax.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m trying.” He walked into the kitchen and opened a cabinet.

She never once looked at him, but she asked, “Can you make me a cup too? Especially if you’re doing the pomegranate kind.”

“How the fuck do you do that?” he demanded, but she hadn’t been able to explain it since they were kids and she always found him during Hide and Seek or knew what he wanted for dinner, and he doubted she’d explain it now.

She shrugged again. “Because I love you,” she replied flippantly. “Oh, shit, fuck, fuck!”

Poe put the water on to boil, smirking. “You okay there?”

She didn’t answer, just furiously clicked away at the buttons on her controller in some pattern Poe would never be able to guess and continued to swear - not particularly quietly, either, so it was kind of a miracle she wasn’t waking Finn or Auntie Leia.

Poe pulled two mugs from the cabinet, one that said ‘Feral’ with a very aggressive looking opossum that he had custom made for Rey for her birthday, and the one she’d given him for Hanukkah when she was sixteen, an overly ornate one saying “Happy Challah-Days.” It meant more to him than he’d care to admit, though he was sure she knew it was his favorite mug. He was pretty sure everyone knew.

He was also pretty sure everyone knew how stupidly in love with Rey Skywalker he was.

Somewhere around Purim when he was twenty, and she’d come home from her first year university, he’d realized she was more than just “younger friend” - she was beautiful and whip smart and her energy was electric. Being around her was exhilarating. He’d fallen in love with the girl he’d grown up with, and he hadn’t noticed until it smacked him in the face.

But he tried not to be weird about it.

“Tea’s ready,” he declared, bringing both mugs over to Rey. He hadn’t even really noticed he was making it, he was so lost in thought.

She nodded in thanks and took a long sip. “I lost,” she declared, frowning. “Hey, play with me. It’ll help you relax.”

“Oh, because you look so relaxed,” he replied, laughing. But he sat next to her anyway, keeping a very respectful distance between the two of them and sipping his tea carefully.

“What, you afraid of me or something?” She scooted closer, pressing herself up against him, and it was amazing, but he knew - he saw the way she looked at Finn, because it’s the way he looked at Finn too, and who wouldn’t be in love with Rey Skywalker? - and he knew it was a terrible idea to get his hopes up.

He snorted. “Hardly.” He grabbed a handful of popcorn out of her lap, and then she passed him a controller. “How do I play?”

Rey grinned wickedly. “You’ll figure it out.” And then she started the match.

“You asshole!” he hissed, immediately starting his game-winning strategy of button-mashing. “Unfair!”

Rey laughed. “You’re smart, you’ll figure it out,” she said again. Her fighter moved towards his character and landed a solid kick, sending him across the screen.

It was a good distraction. All thoughts of racism and betrayals and former friends had flown from his mind. All that existed was him, Rey, and the controller in his hands. B button was useful, A button too - the triggers didn’t help much…

Rey’s fighter knocked him out. She crowed victoriously.

He gritted his teeth. Poe liked Rey, but he didn’t like losing. “Rematch,” he demanded.

She won the next round, too, and then he managed to get a win after that.

And then - and then! When it looked like he was going to win again, when he was going to even out their record, she came up at the last second and stole his victory.

“Bastard!” Poe hissed. Rey cackled.

And then, like they were kids again, he tackled her. Rey was wiry, and scrappy, and incredibly agile, but he was a little bigger than her, and he had the element of surprise, knocking the bowl of popcorn out of her lap. Both his hands came up and locked with hers as he tried to pin her and she squirmed, laughing gleefully.

Trying to win against Rey was, of course, useless, because she was Rey, and pretty soon she had her legs tangled up in his and she was flipping him, using their still intertwined hands to pin him to the ground and straddling his hips.

Markedly different from when they were kids was the way being in this position with Rey felt. The fact that she was just wearing a loose t-shirt and a pair of boxers did absolutely nothing to help him.

He began to feel awkward, heat rushing in his face, but she was still panting heavily, reveling in her real-life victory. Her grin was wild and intoxicating, and if he’d been a braver or more stupid man, he’d have kissed her.

Luckily, he was neither, and then Rey started blushing too, and Finn cleared his throat.

“What are you two doing?” he asked as they scrambled apart guiltily. He rubbed his eyes blearily. “It’s like, ridiculously late. Or early. I don’t even know.” He was wearing a pair of grey sweatpants to sleep; Poe was always weak for a man in grey sweatpants, because he really needed more people to be attracted to in this moment.

“Video games,” Rey said primly, earning a raised eyebrow from Finn.

Then he turned his gaze to Poe. “Don’t you have a class tomorrow morning?” he asked, and Poe remembered, oh shit yes he did, and it was early, and he was definitely not getting the advised amount of sleep tonight. He grabbed his miraculously un-spilled mug of tea.

“Sorry to bother you, buddy.” Poe pushed himself up to standing and patted Finn on the shoulder. “I should be going to bed.” With that, he absconded as quickly as he could with whatever dignity he had left.

Only after he was back in his own room, door locked and covers pulled, trying desperately not to think about Rey or Finn, did he realize he’d left Rey alone to clean up the popcorn. Whoops.

---

It was too early in the morning. Finn was not a night owl, by any means, but sometimes it was just a ridiculous time to get up. He regretted how far his student teaching was from the house, but it was cheap enough that the hour of travel time was worth it.

One of the perks of being up this early was that he had the bathroom all to himself, so he could take as long and as hot of a shower as possible. The last apartment he’d lived in had a useless water heater, but here it lasted as long as he wanted it to.

Another perk was that no one was awake to hear him singing in the shower. Janelle Monae was his artist of choice, and this morning was a “Make Me Feel” kind of morning, so as he washed his body, he sang as loudly as he dared. It was a bisexual anthem, really, and also the music video was the kind of double romance he dreamed about with Rey and Poe. (Terrible idea, he reminded himself.)

He didn’t realize he had company until he pulled open the shower curtain and grabbed his towel. Facing the other wall was Rey, toothbrush shoved in her mouth.

“You sing very well.” She spit out her toothpaste. “Sorry, you - I thought I’d be in and out before you finished your shower but I guess I misjudged how long you’d already been in there.”

There were a million questions in Finn’s brain as he tightened the towel around his waist, including how she knew how long he showered, but he finally settled on, “Why are you up so early?”

“Oh, I’m getting ready for bed,” Rey replied. “Brushing my teeth before I knock out.” As if to prove her point she took a big mouthful of mouthwash.

Finn gaped. “Rey, what the hell?”

She shrugged, then spit. “I was working on a project! But I finished and now I should sleep.”

“It’s five in the morning,” he told her, just in case she didn’t know.

She nodded, turning back towards him. “It be like that sometimes.” Only when she actually caught sight of him did her face go a little red, and he felt it too. “Um, yeah. Sorry for busting in on you. But like, really, you sing so nice. Um. Oh, I made some late-night waffles; they’re still on the counter, you can eat them for breakfast.”

With that, she brushed past him, not letting him even respond before she disappeared out the door. His bare skin prickled where they touched, and he had to take a moment to regroup.

His clothes were undisturbed in the pile he’d left them in, shirt still hanging on the back of the door, and he put them on carefully, then returned to his room to pick out a tie. He settled on a blue and gold one for the day, and it took him two tries to tie it, because he was distracted, apparently.

When he walked past Rey’s room, her door was closed and her light was off. He couldn’t hear a thing. Probably snuggled under her weighted blanket with her black-out curtains closed, maybe asleep already; he’d seen how fast she could go to sleep.

In the kitchen, the waffles weren’t on the counter like Rey had said, but rather at the seat Finn usually took at the kitchen, with a bowl of blueberries and a little whipped cream spiral on top. He smiled. She was weird as fuck and kept ridiculous hours, but she was kind and considerate about it.

The waffles were...decent. Rey was not a master chef, but waffles were pretty hard to fuck up, and the whipped cream added the extra moisture he wanted to the slightly-dry waffles. Normally, Finn would have added syrup, but he didn’t trust himself not to get it on his tie. Whipped cream was less dangerous.

It was the heartiest breakfast he’d had before student teaching since the semester started. He felt awake, and prepared, and thought that maybe being up this early wasn’t so bad, after all. He put the dishes in the sink and grabbed his bag on the way out the door, thinking how he’d need to thank Rey.

Whenever the heck she woke up.

---

Artoo was an asshole. Officially. Poe had known this since he was little, of course, because the cat had always been an asshole, but he just got worse with age.

His crime of the day was vomiting onto Poe’s basket of freshly clean laundry. Laundry he’d put off doing for weeks.

“Auntie Leia,” he called casually, “would you mind terribly if I murdered your cat?”

“Yes,” she called back in the same tone. “I’m rather emotionally attached to the bastard.”

At least she understood. Poe sighed, salvaging the few unruined clothes to put in his closet, and took the rest back to the laundry room, where he met Finn, loading up the washer.

“Hey, buddy.” He looked at Finn awkwardly. “Got room for a few more things?”

Finn scrunched his brow. “Didn’t you just wash those?”

“Yeah, but Artoo’s an asshole.” Poe gritted his teeth. Fucking cat hadn’t been nearly this bastardous ten years ago; back then, Poe was mostly just covered in claw marks.

Finn nodded understandingly, stepping aside. “Here. Join me.” For as much as Artoo was an asshole to Poe, Artoo and Beebee seemed to have it out for Finn. Which was very inconvenient, considering Beebee was Poe’s dog specifically, and dogs were supposed to be good wingmen.

Poe tossed his basket’s worth of button-downs and t-shirts (and one unlucky pair of pants) into the washer, watching forlornly as they entered the pile of Finn’s dirty clothes. At least he was being a little eco-friendly by tossing them in a wash that was already going to happen.

While the washer did its job, Poe rinsed the rest of Artoo’s gift off the side of the laundry basket. God, that cat. Something had to be done, he thought, going to join Leia and Finn in the living room.

He took the laundry bin and tossed it over Artoo where he sat at Leia’s feet. “You are now in jail for your crimes,” he told the cat, who stared back at him imperiously, probably thinking something to the effect of ‘this puny prison can’t hold me forever, asshole.’

Finn snickered from where he was tucked into the corner of the couch, going over notes for some presentation he was going to tonight. Or giving. Poe hadn’t quite understood, because he thought Finn was just attending, but then, why would he need to go over notes?

“Sit,” Poe directed when the washer beeped that it was done. “I’ll get it.” Finn gave him a grateful smile, the kind that made Poe want to do anything he asked. He turned back to his notebook.

How the hell did Finn get Poe so wrapped around his finger so fast, Poe wondered. He knew he was the kind of guy who fell in love easy, but this was...ridiculous. He was so damn gone for Finn, and it’d only been a couple months.

He tried to focus on the task at hand, shoving wet clothes into the dryer, piece by piece. He dropped only one thing on the ground - unfortunately, it was a pair of Finn’s boxers and that was no help to him at all. He shoved it hurriedly into the dryer, too, and sent the clothes spinning.

After that, he went back to his room, because his plan for the day had been cleaning before Artoo decided to undo all his hard work. He’d gotten all the clothes off various surfaces and washed them, which was a success, but he still had more to do.

At least he wasn’t Rey. She had seven plastic water bottles under her bed (and counting), and Poe wouldn’t even know where to start if he wanted to pick things up off the floor. Then again, if he was Rey, he probably wouldn’t have decided to clean, either.

Curse being a responsible adult, or whatever the fuck it was he was pretending to be these days.

He picked up his textbooks from where they were sprawled on the floor, putting them in order next to his school work and papers and research. All his professional stuff lived in one place now on his desk, a desk with a chair no longer covered in button downs.

This was progress. He changed his sheets, next, because he realized he couldn’t remember the last time he’d done that and that was kind of gross. As he was laying his duvet back on the bed, Finn knocked on his open door.

“Come in,” Poe invited. “You know you’re allowed in here any time, bud.”

Finn smiled at that. “Here.” He thrust out a basket of folded clothes. “These are yours.”

“Oh, man, you didn’t have to do that.” Poe looked at him gratefully. One less thing to clean. He took the basket and set it down on top of his freshly made bed.

Finn shrugged. “I was getting ready for the event, and I was folding them all anyway.”

Then Poe looks at him, really looks at him, and feels several stutters of a heartbeat. “Finn,” he says, halfway between a statement and a question. “You’re wearing my shirt?”

Finn glanced down. “Oh. I could’ve sworn this was one of mine.” He looked back at Poe guiltily. “I can change if you want.” His fingers went to the top button.

Poe shook his head sharply. “No, no. Here, wait just one second.” He grabbed an old, worn brown leather jacket out of his closet and gave it to Finn to put on.

God, he was a beautiful man.

“Keep it,” Poe told him, biting his lip. “It suits you.”

---

Rey was absolutely sopping wet when she came home, carrying a bundle under her jacket, and she shook herself out like a sheepdog, splattering rainwater everywhere.

“Watch it!” Poe complained, brushing off whatever water had hit him. She stuck her tongue out at him.

“I found something,” she declared excitedly. When Poe didn’t ask what it was, she sighed. “Fine. I’m going to find Finn because he cares about me.” She pouted only slightly.

“You do that,” Poe replied absently. He didn’t bother looking up from the giant book he was reading. “I’m busy right now. Tell me later. When you’re dry.”

“You’re an asshole, Poe Dameron,” she called, walking down the hallway. She didn’t really mean it, though.

“Just for you, sweetheart,” he shot back. She couldn’t see him, but she knew he was smiling.

She threw open Finn’s doorway without knocking, because she wasn’t quite used to the concept of “he’s not family, dear, give him privacy” like Leia kept reminding, and she shouted his name excitedly.

“Yeah?” He glanced up at her. “Jesus Christ, Rey, you’re soaked.”

Her hair was plastered to her forehead and she was pretty cold, but that was not the most important thing right now. “Yes,” she answered simply. “But –”

“Rey, you are dripping on my carpet,” Finn said, tone measured but strained.

“Oh. Sorry.” She shuffled backwards into the wood-floored hallways. “Listen –”

Finn stood up from his seat. “Rey, you’re going to catch your death of a cold,” he fussed. “Tell me everything after we get you dried off.” He shuffled her towards the bathroom at the end of the hallway. “Hold on.”

She huffed, but she stepped into the bathtub anyway, peeling off the outer layers of her wet ensemble, and sat down heavily.

The scrawny dog that had been hidden away shivered.

“Don’t worry, Dio. I’ve got you,” she cooed, reaching out a tentative hand for the chihuahua to sniff from the other side of the bathtub.

Finn returned shortly later with a whole dry outfit for her, and thrust a towel into her arms. It was warm.

“I heated it in the dryer,” he explained. “So it’d be nice for you.” He glanced down. “Is that a dog?”

Rey nodded. “I saw a guy kicking him around so I fought the guy and he’s mine now. His name is Dio.”

“Hi, Dio.” Finn knelt down and tentatively reached a hand out, but the small dog shivered and backed away into the corner of the tub.

“Don’t take it personal,” Rey suggested. “He’s been abused, so we’re going to need to get him used to humans and kindness.”

Finn nodded. “Good thing I heated a second towel,” he said, pulling it from the pile of clothes. He handed it to Rey, who scooped up little Dio and toweled him dry. “So I see you’re a hero. Is that what you wanted to show me?”

Rey nodded. “I love him. I would die for him.” Dio gave a small whine. “Yeah, you.” She started stripping off her soaked t-shirt.

Finn startled and then turned around, which was the usual reminder to Rey that other people had hangups about nudity or whatever. Granted, when Finn stepped out of the shower, she had been kind of awkward, but that’s just cuz she thought he was cute.

She rubbed at her skin, attempting to feel dry and warm, but she was chilled to the bone. It wasn’t her fault it had started to rain when she was jogging. She couldn’t dodge responsibility for continuing to run the last quarter mile and then also fighting that guy for Dio. Still, if she had to go back, she’d do it all again.

“Alright, what was the thing you wanted to show me?” Poe asked, pushing open the door. When he caught sight of Rey’s lack of shirt, he went bright red and spun around next to Finn. “Jesus, Rey!”

She didn’t see the big deal; he had grown up around her. They used to change in the same room as pre-teens, for goodness’ sake. Though they hadn’t done that in a long time, he was still...Poe.

Which was why her crush on him was hopeless because there was no way he’d ever see her as anything other than that little kid he used to hang out with.

She put on the last of the dry clothes. “You can turn around now, you prudes.”

“Forgive me for giving you some privacy.” Finn rolled his eyes.

Rey did not dignify him with a response. “Look!” She pointed to the little chihuahua. “He’s mine!” Leia had her cats, Poe had Beebee, and now Rey had a dog, too.

“Well, isn’t he precious.” Poe knelt down next to the bathtub, getting a cute, soft look on his face. “Hi, buddy,” he cooed.

“His name is Dio,” Rey declared, pointing to his collar. The collar that probably had that asshole’s number on it, now that she thought about it, so she should get Dio a new tag. But the green collar suited him, so she’d keep that.

Poe reached out a hand but Dio flinched away.

“I don’t think he likes men,” she explained.

Finn snorted. “Understandable.”

“Hey!” Poe protested. “Some of us like men around here.”

“And some of us are attracted to men but recognize that they are worth distaste.” Finn laughed.

Rey fist bumped him for that one. He deserved it. “He’s been abused,” she explained, “but I beat the shit out of the guy and now Dio is mine and I’ll take good care of him.”

“You can take some of the stuff I’ve got for Beebee until you start amassing your own collection,” Poe volunteered.

She grinned. “Thanks.” Then, carefully, she held out her hand until Dio put his tiny paw in it. This was going to be great.

---

Leia had been distracted all day, watching the door when no one was looking. Finn had a feeling she was waiting for Ben, but he didn’t think the boy was coming. He hadn’t been there for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, or Sukkot - three holidays Finn had never celebrated until now, the last one involving the construction of a hut - and he probably wouldn’t come back for Hanukkah either.

It was the third day, but it was also the end of the semester for most area schools. The first two days had been mildly celebratory but also panicked as Rey crammed for her finals and Poe still had a paper to write.

Finn had not procrastinated, which Rey and Poe could not believe and were very unhappy about, so he ended up helping Leia do a lot of cooking. Hanukkah was another holiday he’d never celebrated, but Rey had learned early on he had a knack for making challah, so that was his job every holiday. Leia also taught him to make latkes, which Rey made Finn dip in applesauce and then crowed in triumph when he admitted it was actually pretty good.

Today, however, was Rey’s first day of freedom, and she insisted on making her “magnificent” jelly donuts. Poe was also in the kitchen, because it was the place to be, but he was helping Leia with the main meal, and Finn was baking another loaf of challah because Rey had inhaled the last one in two days and had definitely had some when everyone else was asleep.

“Are you all right?” Finn finally asked Leia, getting close enough while he slid the bread in the oven.

She patted his shoulder and gave him a very convincing smile. “I’m fine, dear,” she replied, and she sounded like she was trying to mean it, but Finn didn’t really believe her.

Still, he decided to let it be. Finn didn’t know Ben the way Rey or Poe did, wouldn’t be able to give her comfort, anyhow.

He set the table as nicely as he could, then bustled back to help Leia start serving. He could give her comfort by being helpful and minimizing the effort she had to do. He fussed over her to sit down, the same way Poe and Rey did, and then when they were all seated at the table, he listened attentively to the proceedings.

Finn didn’t know what they were saying, really. Poe had taught him a few words to help him understand the prayers, and Rey had taught him a few nasty insults that he would never ever use. Even so, he’d come to love the sound of Hebrew. It felt like love, and family, and belonging - things he’d never really felt before now.

They let him light one of the candles, the tall one in the middle, though Rey and Poe squabbled over the order it was supposed to be done in - something about different Jewish ethnic traditions, if he understood correctly. They’d compromised by switching off the traditions nightly. Leia refused to weigh in, but she was always wearing an amused smile when she listened.

After they ate the meal, Rey proudly brought out her donuts and then shoved one in her mouth before the others even had a chance to taste. When Finn took a bite, he had to admit it was much better than her waffles.

“Luke taught me to make these,” she explained.

Leia snorted. “It was the only thing he was ever any good at baking.” She smiled fondly, the way she always did when she talked about her brother.

Poe made a theatrical, incredibly unfair moan that traveled straight down Finn’s spine. “It’s the only thing she’s any good at, too,” he teased. “But boy, does she do it well.”

After that, Rey challenged Poe to a game of dreidel and they both got weirdly intense about it. Both of them kept betting, and betting, and Finn was glad they were using chocolate gelt and not real money.

“You cheated!” Rey shouted, earning a laugh from Poe. Finn didn’t even know how someone could cheat at dreidel, and it made him smile.

This wasn’t just a house, it was a home.

He stole away to his room, grabbing the tiny presents he’d stashed. He didn’t have the financials to buy really cool stuff for eight days, much as he wanted to, but there were eight tiny gifts for each, mostly homemade. Today’s gifts were a citrus bath bomb with a dinosaur inside for Rey, a decently knitted scarf for Poe, and some tea for Leia.

Rey and Poe had been giving him back knicknacks too, small fun things, but Leia had been giving him money. He was pretty sure she’d already given him the month’s rent back, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about it, but he also wasn’t sure how to bring it up.

Well, he did have five more days to figure it out.

Rey squealed when he handed her the bath bomb, throwing her arms around his shoulders, and Poe immediately wrapped the scarf around his neck.

“Amazing,” he breathed, and then he handed Finn a poem he’d written and Rey gave Finn a little fidget-y toy she’d cobbled together from scraps of her other projects, and then they were all hugging.

They fell asleep on the couch, tangled up the three of them, and Finn was pretty sure he’d never been happier in his life.

Chapter Text

Finn had politely declined Rey and Poe’s invitation to go out to a bar. There wasn’t any big reason why, really, except that he was tired and something about the loud noises and atmosphere was unappealing to him.

“C’mon,” Rey had wheedled. “There’s this amazing bar in Chinatown, it’s like, the best place to go on Christmas if you want good drinks. Plus they do a ‘thanks for coming on the Christian Holiday’ discount.” She’d given him a look that had almost convinced him.

Finn had actually forgotten it was Christmas until Rey had mentioned that, somehow, but it did not convince him to go out. It was just him, a few books, and the animals tonight, because Leia had gone off somewhere to visit someone who was ambiguously her girlfriend? It was unclear to Finn.

Threepio nudged himself anxiously against Finn’s legs, and Finn reached down to scratch behind his ears. “S’okay,” he assured the cat. “I’m here. You’re not alone.”

In Finn’s opinion, Threepio was the best animal in this household. He was biased, because the cat looked at him with a kind of respect that Artoo and Beebee absolutely did not possess, but there was something endearing about a cat with an anxiety disorder who actually liked him.

Dio was sweet, but still hid whenever Finn or Poe entered the room, so he didn’t qualify for the running yet.

Threepio glanced up at the couch and meowed plaintively. He could probably jump up there if he tried, but the actual method of ascent was waiting for Finn to lift him and then snuggling into the man’s side.

Finn’s two-week winter break project was expanding and diversifying his classroom library, which meant he had a stack of elementary-school novels that he’d been reading to vet each one. It was a little strange to read them, because Finn saw every protagonist as far too young for that kind of responsibility, and he felt a great desire to protect these fictional children while he cheered them on. Poe and Rey had been asking him about each one, and they seemed to genuinely care, so he’d been practicing his book pitches on them for when he got back to his kids.

The book he was currently reading was a fantasy set in New Mexico about volcanoes and Mayan gods. It was technically a middle grades book, but Finn definitely had some kids in his class that were not being properly challenged by the reading material they were provided, so he wasn’t discounting anything short of Young Adult Lit.

He was so absorbed in a world of twelve-year-olds, Mayan gods, and school-appropriate adventures; the drunk giggles and the “Fiiiiiiiiiinn!” that came from the front door was all the more jarring.

Raising an eyebrow, Finn slipped a bookmark into the novel and went to the door to find two very intoxicated dorks leaning against each other.

“Fiiiiiiinn!” Rey cried again, lurching forward to throw her arms around his neck. “I miiiiiiiissed you!”

Poe looked...slightly more sober? Or maybe just standing straighter. But he too came to join the hug pile, and Finn was overwhelmed by the smell of fruit. “Missed you too, buddy,” Poe mumbled into Finn’s shoulder.

“I had some reeeeeeally good whiskey,” Rey informed him. “And Poe’s drinks were pretty and colorful! And the super cute bartender was trying to get with him, but we missed you so we came home.”

Finn guided them carefully over to the kitchen table. “You absolute disasters,” he mumbled, but he couldn’t help the smile. The raw, unfiltered love flowing out of the two of them was better than anything he’d ever experienced.

He poured 3 glasses of water. “Drink,” he directed, taking the third for himself. “Have you been eating?”

Rey looked at him with big eyes. “I had so many dumplings,” she said solemnly. “They were so good. You need to come with us next time!” she pleaded, grabbing his hand.

Poe nodded. “For sure.”

“Did you take the train like this?” Finn asked. All he could imagine was the two of them like this in a heap in the train car, taking up three seats.

Poe shook his head. “She wanted to” - he jerked his thumb at Rey - “but I said we should Uber.”

“Thank god.” Glad to hear they hadn’t caused any incidents.

Rey finished her glass of water, then stood and poured herself another. She only spilled a little bit, but the look of intense concentration on her face was what really made the moment.

She drank more. “Water...is good.” She stared at Finn until he nodded in agreement.

When Poe finished his glass, Finn gently began herding his two housemates towards their rooms. Rey, however, veered into Poe’s room and dragged Finn with her.

“Let’s snuggle. Poe wants to snuggle,” she declared.

Poe’s face was a little red, either from embarrassed blush or from whatever he’d been drinking. He didn’t contradict Rey, but Finn wasn’t sure how much could be attributed to either of them.

Still, he let himself be dragged, tumbling onto the bed between them. Rey held his waist like a vice - she never did anything by halves - and Poe settled his chin on Finn’s shoulder far more carefully.

It was warm and cozy and Finn felt loved. He’d never had friends like this before. He’d never been in love like this before, either, which was not a helpful thought right now, cuddled up between them in a messy pile and wishing this could be a common occurrence, not just when they came home wasted.

“I’m so glad you came to live with us,” Rey mumbled into Finn’s stomach. Poe nodded in agreement.

“Me too,” Finn replied, trying to pour as much affection into it as he could without letting through the “stupid-in-love” part.

When it seemed like Rey and Poe were about asleep, Finn extricated himself carefully. Rey frowned, but she snuggled closer to Poe.

“I’m going to go to bed,” Finn whispered, unsure if they heard him. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

There were some sort of mumbles, and Rey and Poe got closer, and Finn closed the door quietly behind him.

He managed to doze a little while until he was woken up by some rather obscene noises. At first he was confused, then mortified.

Should he knock on their door? Just let it be? Fuck, they were loud, and also Finn’s poor soul could not handle what he was hearing. They were both gorgeous and...Finn stopped his brain before it could go anywhere it shouldn’t.

Finally, he settled on throwing on some headphones and listening to “Hive Mind” on repeat until he fell asleep, praying his dreams would be kind to him. Whatever that actually meant.

---

The first creature Finn interacted with when he got up was Beebee, who glared at him reproachfully, as if it was Finn’s fault Poe had exiled the dog from the room. “Listen, man, I have nothing to do with this,” Finn defended, but Beebee did not seem to care.

The next creature was Rey, who slammed herself miserably into her seat at the kitchen table. “Is there coffee?” she groaned. She was not wearing pants, and Finn was pretty sure he recognized the boxers she was wearing from Poe’s laundry, not to mention her shirt was inside out.

“There can be.” Finn set a pot on to brew. “How are you feeling?”

“Head hurts, but not as much as it would’ve if you hadn’t made me drink water last night, so thanks for that.” She stuck her tongue out, going a little cross-eyed trying to look at it. “Also my mouth feels gross.”

Finn slid her a cup, black, the way he knew she liked it, and she took it gratefully.

“Finn,” she began, and then she took a long sip of her coffee and sighed in relief. “I would kill a man if you asked me to.”

“Please don’t.” He winced.

She looked up at him with a lopsided smile. “Okay. Just letting you know.”

Everything about Rey Skywalker was entirely too much, but it was still wonderful.

Finn sipped his own coffee - taken with cream and sugar, because he wasn’t a barbarian like Rey - and ate a bowl of cereal. Rey just drank coffee, not bothering with food, and not saying anything, until finally, she blurted out, “I slept with Poe.”

“I know,” Finn said before he could stop himself, then winced, because he should’ve started with something more sympathetic because she was clearly torn up about it.

Her eyes widened and she grimaced. “Oh my god, you heard us, didn’t you? Jesus, I’m sorry, Finn, that was - I make terrible decisions when I’m drunk, apparently.” She shoved her face in her hands miserably.

“Do you regret it?” Finn asked. He was pretty sure the two of them were attracted to each other, but he also knew it was never that easy.

“No. Yes. I don’t know.” She lifted her head. “I’ve been in love with Poe since I was like...sixteen. I fell in love with you in like, five minutes, but with Poe it took time, and it’s been so long…”

“Wait, hold on, back up.” Finn waved his hands. “Are you really confessing your interest in me? In the middle of your existential crisis?”

She shrugged. “Figured I may as well. Get it all out, blow things up a little more. Like, if I slept with you and then you rejected me the next morning, it’d suck, but I’d live. But when Poe’s like, whoops, sorry, no thanks, it’s not just my heart breaking, it’s also little teenage Rey who’s suffering.” She buried her face in her hands again, kneading the heels of her palms over her eyes.

“Why are you so sure of rejection?”

Rey looked up at him and snorted. “I mean. Listen. You like Poe. I know this. Poe likes you. I also know this. Besides, who the fuck wouldn’t be in love with Poe Dameron?”

“You like us both,” Finn pointed out. She was not being particularly logical, in his opinion. Sure, he liked Poe - same as she did. But Rey was probably the most beautiful, lively, energetic girl he’d ever had the pleasure of knowing.

“Yeah but I’m not…” She struggled for the word. “Normal, I guess. I know everybody else is like ‘yay, one person,’ but that’s not me.” She chewed on her lip, as if waiting for rejection, and he understood, because he’d felt that way, too.

“It’s not me, either,” Finn replied. “I like you both. And I think he likes you.”

Rey shook her head. “Absolutely not. I’m just like...kid sister status or whatever.”

The way Poe looked at Rey was decidedly not familial, and they had just slept together, but Finn wasn’t going to argue it. Rey could figure her shit out on her own.

“So where does that leave us?” he asked.

“I mean. I’d like to date you.” Rey shrugged and took another swallow of coffee. “I don’t want to fuck things up for you in the Poe department, though.”

Finn snorted. “How thoughtful. I’m more worried about if it doesn’t work out, then living here gets really fucking awkward.” Rey had the priorities of someone that hadn’t experienced housing insecurity in a long time.

“Oh.” Rey tapped her lips. “Well, I’m really good at staying friends with my exes. They’re all girls, but I think it’d be the same here. You?”

Finn shrugged. “Never been in a relationship.” There’d been people, here and there, but no real connections or commitments.

Rey’s eyes grew comically round. “How could anyone not throw themself at you?” she asked, as if she herself hadn’t avoided throwing herself at him for months. Then she shrugged. “Okay, well, if we break up and it’s super messy, but you don’t have any bad blood with Leia or Poe, I’ll move out.”

Finn snorted again. What a concept. “Rey. This is your house.”

“Technically it’s my aunt’s house, my dads live in a different part of the city.”

He shook his head. “I’m not gonna chase you out of it.”

“Well, I’m not going to blow up the life you’re building for yourself because I think you’re super cute.” Rey shrugged. “How about we just...keep it casual? Nothing exclusive - obviously - low commitment, dates if we wanna, kissing and stuff if we wanna.”

Finn nodded. “I can work with that.”

“And if it doesn’t work out, well. No sweat. We just go back to what we were doing before.” Rey grinned, toothy and wild and intoxicating.

Finn had to look away. “So was he any good?” he asked, both to tease and out of curiosity.

Rey flushed. “Yes. Annoyingly good.” She groaned. “If you’re down to have sex, you need to help me because the boy I grew up with can not be the best man I’ve ever slept with.” She groaned again. “And don’t tell him I said that, he’ll be insufferably smug.”

Finn couldn’t really imagine that, but then, he and Poe had an easy and comfortable friendship. Rey and Poe were bickering all the damn time, almost definitely because of their mutual attraction that they definitely wouldn’t do anything about.

Except he guessed they had now.

“Wasn’t gonna,” he replied, wondering how he’d even bring it up. As far as he was concerned, he wasn’t mentioning a thing about this conversation to anyone.

Rey finished the rest of her coffee. “Thank you,” she said. “For everything.” Then she crossed to his side of the table and gave him a long, hungry kiss, the kind they’d both been waiting for for months, apparently.

“I feel gross and still vaguely like alcohol,” she complained when she pulled away. “I’m gonna take a shower. Want to join?” She asked.

Finn let out a rather undignified squawk, feeling his face heat up. That was fast.

Rey laughed. “No pressure,” she said, and then kissed him again before running off to the bathroom.

---

With four days left before the end of winter break, it was just Finn’s luck that of course that’s when the holiday sickness hit.

“I’m fine,” he protested, sniffling slightly, but Poe was unconvinced. He pressed Finn’s shoulders to make the man lie back down in bed.

“You’re not.” He shook his head, tutting. “I’m going to make you soup. Just stay in bed! Rest. Feel better.”

It was the most Poe had spoken to Finn in awhile. First, Poe had started out avoiding Rey, not making direct eye contact. Then Rey made a decision to kiss Finn in front of Poe, and now he was avoiding them both.

Finn had been trying so hard not to make it weird.

“He’s being stupid,” Rey grumbled, entering Finn’s room and flopping down in his chair.

Finn snorted. “It’s not ‘stupid’ just because you don’t experience embarrassment.”

“I totally do! You remember how embarrassed I was!”

“Yeah, and then you kissed me less than an hour later and decided everything was fine.”

“Well, it is!” She threw her hands out helplessly. “If he would stop being stupid about it, we could just move on and pretend it never happened.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want to pretend it didn’t,” Finn pointed out. “Maybe he wants to talk about it.”

Rey twisted up her face in a way that shouldn’t amuse Finn but did. “Well, I’m not stopping him.” She stood up. “Ugh. I meant to do something but he passed me in the hallway but didn’t look at me and I got distracted. Hold on, I’ll be back.” She stomped her way out of her room, leaving Finn to himself. He debated trying to sit up again, but his head felt stuffy and he decided against it.

“Here.” She came back with her purple weighted blanket. “To make you cozy.” Carefully, reverently, she tucked it over and around him.

Rey’s blanket worked better for her than it did for him, but Finn loved the gesture all the same. She even kissed his forehead, then flopped back in the chair.

“I have to plan,” he said half-heartedly.

“No, you have to rest.” Rey shook her head. “You can’t go back to school sick. You’re supposed to help children, not expose them to the plague.” She smiled. “Besides, I know that you’re done everything you need to. Or do you want me to prep stuff for you?”

“God, no.” Finn cringed to think of Rey trying to organize any of his things.

Poe came back with a bowl of soup. “She’s right, you know.” He stepped in front of Rey, earning a huff, and helped Finn sit up. “You’re going to be fine. Just focus on getting better, buddy.”

“How could I not, under the care of you two?” Finn asked, smiling dopily. It was the painkillers kicking in, he told himself, but he knew that wasn’t it.

He was just a sap.

The soup was good, chicken noodle with some sort of dumplings. Leia’s mother’s recipe, Rey told him. Plus a little bit of Poe’s favorite spices, because he had to make it his way, and besides, it would help decongest Finn’s nose!

Rey handed Finn a much-needed tissue. Still, the soup was fantastic, and it warmed Finn’s belly and made him feel much better.

Rey sat with him while he rested, not seeming to mind that he was a poor conversationalist as he spent most of the time napping. She hummed and petted his hair and talked about her upcoming semester and the textbooks that were too expensive and - again - how Poe was being stupid, but he knew she didn’t expect him to catch most of it.

She was just there to make sure he felt loved.

And it worked. Finn couldn’t remember the last time he’d been taken care of when he was sick; usually he just took some pills and dealt with it. Even that one time he’d caught the flu.

It was nice.

When he woke up again, there was more soup, but also an egg salad sandwich - “My suggestion,” Rey declared proudly, “in case you were tired of soup.” - that Poe had prepared and left while he’d been napping.

“He’s being stupid,” Rey groused again. Luckily, Finn had fallen asleep, so he didn’t have an actual count of what number they were at in the “complaining about Poe” reruns.

He grunted, rather than give her an actual answer. He knew she wasn’t looking for one.

“I told him to stay when he dropped off dinner, but he said he had stuff to do.”

“Maybe he does have stuff to do.” Finn levered himself up into a seated position.

Rey groaned, unconvinced. “What could possibly be more important than hanging out with you and making sure you’re okay?”

She didn’t say ‘and keeping me company,’ but Finn heard it anyway. He definitely missed Poe, too, but he wanted to have faith in the guy.

He gave an awkward shrug and ate more soup. It made his nose run again, and Rey just tossed a wad of tissues at him. “This should last,” she laughed.

The egg salad sandwich turned out to be a good choice, and Rey was proud of herself for it, clearly. Her pride was pretty cute.

Finn had to admit, being sick sucked less when you had someone to take care of you.

---

Finn was better in time to go back for his first day of school. Rey, in attempting to be a lovely and attentive and healing girlfriend (or whatever the heck she was to Finn), had not properly taken care of herself, and now she was the proud owner of Finn’s winter cold.

There were numerous bad things about this, including the fact that Rey absolutely hated getting sick and took it like a child. But there was one okay thing, which was that she still had a week of winter break since she didn’t have to student teach like Finn, and a good thing: Poe was talking to her again.

His caretaking instincts and memories of Rey as a sick kid must’ve overpowered any awkwardness he felt.

“You dumbass,” he groused. “I told you that you were going to catch it. You never sleep.”

She coughed. “I sleep very regular hours between five in the morning and noon,” she replied. “You’re the one who doesn’t sleep.”

He set his mouth in a thin line, but he couldn’t really argue with her. The man had no sleep schedule to speak of, which he claimed was a part of being a grad student. At least Rey did her best to keep to that nocturnal schedule, even if it had gotten significantly harder with Finn around. She’d also spent the night with him on occasion and gone to bed at midnight and wow was that a weird experience.

“Pooooooooe,” she wheedled. “Will you make me some tea?”

He sighed. “Fine, but I’m making you the ginger tea, because it’s good for sickness.” He brushed some hair carefully out of her face, looking at her with a softness she’d missed, then stood up to go make the tea.

So she was definitely still in love with him, then. Gross.

He gave her tea and sat by her bedside and they chatted, like old times, but he still looked at her with pain in his eyes that she desperately wanted to take away. And also yell at him for.

Dumbass. He was doing this to himself.

They could totally have what they had before if he’d just stop avoiding her. Did she want what they had before? She wasn’t sure, but she certainly preferred it to this. Yeah, she’d like to kiss him, but then, she had kissed him, among other things, and it had gone quite poorly. Maybe the years of useless pining were the way to go.

He came back with her tea, Beebee trailing at his heels, and fuck, if this was the only attention he’d give her, she was getting her money’s worth.

“Poooooooe,” she whined. “My head hurts.” It wasn’t a lie, and it wasn’t out of character.

He rolled his eyes. “I swear to god, you have been like this since you were a child.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Are you feverish?”

Rey shrugged. “I dunno.” She did know. She was definitely running a fever. But she wanted…

Poe leaned over and pressed his cheek to her forehead, and that was what she wanted. It was a trick he’d picked up from his mom and it never failed to make Rey feel loved. “Oh, yeah, definitely.” He sighed. “I’ll get you some tylenol.”

“And a cold towel!” she called as he left the room.

Poe came back with both, and she took the pills with the tea before dropping the cold towel over the top of her head, continuing to sip her tea.

“Do you feel hot?” he worried.

Rey shrugged. “Yeah, kind of.” He made to move her weighted blanket. “No, leave it, I’m gonna be cold again in five minutes.” She took another sip of her tea. “This is my favorite mug, you know.” It always made her laugh; it had a possum on the side. She related to it spiritually.

The soft smile Poe gave her melted her right down to her core. “I know.”

Did he know it was her favorite because he gave it to her, and it was one of the most perfect gifts anyone had ever picked out? Probably not. But that was cheesy as hell and she wasn’t going to verbalize those thoughts to a man who’d been avoiding her so much.

Instead, she stuck her tongue out petulantly at him. Poe’s eyebrows scrunched up. “What did I do to deserve that?”

“Ignore me,” she replied.

He rolled his eyes. “Well, I think I’m giving you plenty of attention.” He pointed to the tea, then her blanket, then Beebee sitting at the end of her bed, and finally gestured to himself, sitting in the chair.

“Yes. It is good.” Rey nodded, continuing to drink her tea. “Keep doing it.”

Poe rolled his eyes again. Rey thought they might get stuck. “Yeah, you always did like the spotlight.”

That wasn’t quite true; she just wanted attention from the people she cared about. Besides, if they didn’t give her positive attention, she started obsessing over every little thing she could’ve possibly done wrong ever in her life and -

Poe flicked her forehead. “You’re doing it again.”

“Let me anxiety spiral in peace,” Rey huffed, rubbing the spot on her forehead more out of annoyance than actual pain.

“Nah. I don’t want you deciding I hate you or something.”

It was the wrong thing for him to say. “Don’t you?” she challenged.

Poe choked. “For fuck’s sake, no! What?”

She placed the now-empty mug on the table beside her bed and crossed her arms, attempting the harshest face she could muster. It was probably ruined by the fact she was definitely sniffling a lot. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

“No,” he protested, but she didn’t believe him. “I’ve just been busy. You know, getting ready for my last semester and all that.” He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, which had been his tell ever since they were kids, but she was suddenly so tired and she decided to let it drop.

“Well, you’re not busy now,” she mumbled, sliding herself under the covers. “So you can stay with me.” He nodded, and she drifted off with Poe’s fingers in her hair.

---

Poe knocked on Finn’s door frame. He was feeling nervous, annoyingly nervous, but it was fine, they were friends, even if he’d been avoiding Finn and Rey a little lately.

Okay, maybe a lot.

“Hey, buddy,” he began, cringing internally. “I, uh, know it’s late notice - but I’m going to a presentation in a couple hours, about colleges and poverty and how schools should help low income students, and it seemed like, I dunno, something you might be interested in. Do you want to come with?”

Finn’s eyes lit up and Poe’s heart did an annoying little swoop. “Yeah, I’d love to!” He pushed himself up out of his chair. “When do we leave? Where is it? Is it fancy? What should I wear? Who’s the speaker?”

Poe nearly swooned. No one was ever this excited about his field.

“Uhhhh...Four pm, your university, not really, clothes, and a man named Anthony Jack.” Poe ticked off the answers on his fingers.

“Wait, he’s the one who wrote The Privileged Poor, right?” Finn looked even more excited than he had a minute ago. “It’s so good. Yes, I’d be so happy to go.”

They ended up taking the train for the short trip down, and Finn, as resident expert of campus geography, led Poe to the auditorium they were supposed to be at. Poe couldn’t stop beaming.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Finn asked.

Poe flushed. Caught. “I’ve never actually…had anyone engage with what I do before,” he confessed. “Well, besides Leia, but this was like her job, too. Ben always told me it was a useless degree – which is rich coming from a guy in his sixth year of art school, but okay – and I know Rey cares but…” He spread his hands helplessly. “You know she has the same attention span as Beebee, and she doesn’t understand half of what I’m saying, same way I don’t understand a dang thing about her machines. It’s just…nice. To be with someone who gets it. And cares.”

“All you have to do is ask,” Finn replied. Poe’s heart skipped a beat. “Maybe you can convince me to do grad school like my professor wants.”

“God, no, don’t do this to yourself.” Poe shook his head aggressively, making his curls bounce. “You have a future. Go teach in your classroom.”

Finn nodded, grinning. “Yeah, that’s what I tell her.” He looked at Poe with big eyes at made Poe want to do whatever he was asked. “Besides, if I want to hear cool research, I can just go with you to talks like this, right?”

Poe nodded, mouth a little dry. “Yes. Absolutely. If you want to spend time with me.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Finn asked.

Oh, shit. He shouldn’t have said that. “I just thought - with Rey -” He doesn’t know where to go from there. “I don’t think she likes me very much right now. And I know you two are dating.” It was stupid and only half true, but she had been doing a lot of glaring at him. It hit different than when they were kids, though. It felt...heavier.

“Kind of…” Finn wiggled his hands helplessly in a way Poe wasn’t sure how to interpret. “Kind of dating. Very much testing the waters, very casual. Also, she loves you.”

Poe snorted. “Now that I know isn’t true.”

“You’ve known each other your whole life, man. Why would she start hating you now?”

Poe figured it was probably a bad idea to tell Finn he’d slept with Rey - Finn’s “kind of, testing the waters, very casual” girlfriend - and that she obviously regretted it and hated him for taking advantage of their drunkness and also he was in love with her and also also Finn, so he kept his mouth shut. Instead, he shrugged.

Finn sighed. “If you’re so worried she hates you, just talk to her, Poe.”

Poe gave another shrug, noncommittal, but he knew Finn was right. It was one of the man’s annoyingly many good qualities.

The presentation started, cutting off their conversation, for which Poe was grateful.

Finn had a notebook to take notes, which was cute for someone who wasn’t obligated to be there. Poe was also taking notes, but his advisor expected a writeup on the presentation and how Poe thought it could fit into his thesis, so it was more expected.

The guy made some pretty fascinating points about different levels of poverty, the ideas of neighborhood schools versus private schools, and how all that prepared students for college differently. Finn was nodding along the entire time, scribbling things away in his notebook, and Poe kept getting distracted by him, pen departing from the guidelines of his notebook repeatedly.

“Can we go talk to him?” Finn asked Poe, beaming, and Poe could do nothing but nod. He’d give Finn anything.

Poe wound up buying two signed copies of the speaker’s book, one for him and one for Finn. He stood off to the side lovingly listening to Finn chatter away with the academic. He could ask questions, too, probably, and normally he would, but he was just...staring. Transfixed by Finn’s animated conversation.

Finn told the presenter that everything he’d said was really true, and that he was going to be a teacher and even though it was an elementary school he could still start with some college readiness skills early. He talked about his personal experiences and how he hoped to use them to be a better educator.

Fuck, Poe was in love with him.

The two of them were the last to leave besides the folks working the event, and they wandered around a little bit before Finn caught his hand and dragged him into a nearby pizza parlor. “I’m hungry,” Finn declared, “and this is the best pizza in town.”

Poe raised an eyebrow. “That’s a pretty dramatic claim, you know.”

“Eat it and tell me I’m wrong,” Finn challenged, lips quirking up beautifully and lights dancing in his eyes. “But I’m ordering.”

Finn ordered, but Poe paid. He insisted on it. One slice of pizza was pepperoni and sausage, and the other was Mac ‘n’ Cheese pizza.

“Mac ‘n’ Cheese Pizza?” Poe asked doubtfully.

Finn grinned. “Just trust me.”

Poe decided he would trust Finn, mostly because of the intoxicating smile, and was pleasantly surprised when he did. “This many carbs should not be this good.” He squinted suspiciously at the pizza. “But it…is good. It’s so good.”

“Told you,” Finn replied with a smirk. “Best pizza in town.”

They passed the slices back and forth, sharing evenly; they probably could’ve cut each slice in half, but this felt cuter. This felt like a date, and if it was the only one Poe would get with Finn, he was going to take it for all it was worth.

As they walked back to the train station, their fingers kept brushing, and Poe wanted more than anything to take Finn’s hand.

Instead, he dug out his phone.

“This happened while you were at school the other day,” he began, flipping through his photo album. “It was so funny, I had to record it for posterity.”

There, in the photo, was tiny Dio shivering and shaking, standing on top of Beebee’s fluffy back. How the dog had balanced there was a mystery to Poe, but he’d just found them standing there and only managed a picture before Dio hopped off.

Finn smiled. “What weird animals,” he laughed, slipping through the turnstile. “You know, I think Dio’s starting to warm up to me. Now if you could just put in a good word with BeeBee…”

BeeBee did like Finn, he just played hard to get. But BeeBee would never like Finn as much as Poe did, and Poe was so very easy to get. Finn just didn’t want him.

---

Poe always called her a gremlin. Rey simply considered herself practical, and also time-efficient. She didn’t need makeup, she had her two-in-one men’s shampoo that smelled like “Bearglove” (an unspecific scent, but nice), and she hadn’t taken a bath since she was ten.

She stared at the bath bomb. It did not stare back at her, but it may as well have.

She had never used one before, but it seemed pretty intuitive. Object in water. It fizzed. She wondered if the temperature mattered, and reasoned that since it was a chemical reaction the hot water might speed it along, which was really an excuse for dragon-temperature water.

Stepping in with one foot, she grabbed the small sparkly orb - it even had gold glitter, that’s how cool it was - and plopped herself into the water. The bomb dropped into her lap.

It started fizzing immediately, turning the water into brilliant, shining swirls of orange and yellow and letting off an orange-y lemon smell. It was, as he’d promised, honestly delightful. Maybe Poe was right that she’d been missing out. He swore that face masks were “also delightful,” and she’d never bought into the hype, but now she was intrigued.

She should get Finn to teach her how he made this thing so she could make her own. Poe would probably appreciate some nice lavender calming stuff - Rey didn’t know much about flowers, but she did know that bit. And also that Poe needed to chill the fuck out.

He was going to get grey hairs early, and then he’d be really fucking annoying about it.

She knew her fair skin was turning red in the water, but she didn’t care. Let her blood do whatever it needed to do for relaxation. She didn’t want to think about Poe being weird, or the start of her semester, or the dumbasses in her lab, or anything but how beautiful the water was and how great she felt.

She eventually realized that she’d accidentally made herself dissociate when she felt...something like her soul clicking back into place. The bath water was cold, which was a testament to how much time had passed, considering she had been boiling like a lobster to start.

Pushing herself out of the tub, she gave one last glance to the beauteous water and then pulled the plug, watching it drain. To continue this moment of luxury, she wrapped herself in a gauzy robe. Or perhaps robe may have been a glorified term, but it was something she cherished because she’d sewn it herself in high school back, when she thought for approximately 48 hours that she could be a fashion designer.

Her stomach growled and she headed to the kitchen. Nothing like some two am pizza after a nice relaxing bath.

In theory, anyway. This was, of course, her first relaxing bath in years, and also her first since Leia let her start using the stove. Ten-year-old Rey was allowed to use the stove at her dads’ house, but Auntie Leia cared about things like “age appropriate risks” and “fire hazards” and “non-genetically-transmitted recklessness.” But now she was an adult, even if the other two concerns still applied.

There was some shitty leftover pizza in the fridge, which was definitely the best kind, and Rey shoved some slices into a pan on the stove, flipping it up to high. She wanted her pizza fast.

And some juice. She was pretty sure she had half a bottle of fruit punch somewhere in the fridge, and she rifled through it, trying to find her prize. It proved elusive, however, and she became suspicious of Poe. He also liked fruit punch. Would he finish hers? And it was officially hers, because she’d bought it with her own money, and even put her name on the cap.

She searched around some more, and finally grabbed water, pulling her head out of the fridge just as she smelled smoke. “Oh, shit.”

The ungodly fire alarm caught it at the same time she did, and she wondered how long she’d been with her head in the fridge.

“Shit, shit, shit!” She hopped over to the stove, cutting the gas, and fanned in front of the smoke detector, trying to get an airflow to turn it off. It smelled god awful.

She heard drowsy thumps and cursed.

“Rey, what the fuck?”

She sighed heavily, turning to face Poe. His face colored as he looked at her and she figured he could probably see most of her body through the robe; it’s not like he’s never seen it before, though.

“I wanted pizza.”

“So you set it on fire?” he demanded, staring carefully at a spot above her head.

She bit her lip. “I was looking for my fruit punch.”

“The punch you finished last week?” Poe glanced back at her for just a second, then looked behind her, horrified. “Rey, your pizza is still burning.”

Indeed, it glowed red-hot, but Rey wouldn’t necessarily say it was burning. She sighed anyway, then dumped the water bottle in her hand on the pizza.

Poe groaned. “Rey, that’s not how you put out a kitchen fire.” He covered his face with his hands.

“It worked,” she replied testily. She wanted him to look at her, goddammit. “I did not finish the punch.” She stalked closer. “I put it back with two cups still left on Wednesday.”

“Yeah, and then you drained it at midnight on Friday.”

Shit. She did.

Letting out a groan about the soggy pizza and the fruit punch and all of life in general, she dramatically flopped down at the kitchen table. Her robe fell open, slightly, and Poe flushed further.

“Since I can’t cook, apparently, will you please do it?” This time, she shifted and let the robe slip intentionally, reveling in Poe’s awkward sputtering.

“Is everything okay?” Finn asked, rubbing at his eyes. Rey fucking loved his sweatpants.

Poe nearly growled. “No. Your girlfriend is a dumbass who can’t fucking reheat pizza.”

“Hey!” Rey protested. Jackass.

He rolled his eyes. “I’m going back to bed, please don’t start anymore fires.” He pushed past Finn, grumpy as hell.

Finn watched him go, teeth worrying at his lower lip.

“Fiiiiiiiiiiiinn,” Rey began. “I burned the pizza and I don’t feel like trying anything again. Can you get me a snack?”

“How did you burn the pizza?”

She refused to put on a shamed face, especially after Poe. “I got distracted.” She shrugged.

Finn snorted. “Okay. Mini corndogs?”

“Hell yeah!”

He made a plate for the two of them and they picked at it in silence until finally, Finn ventured, “We should...you know, do something. About Poe.”

“Kill him?” Rey suggested. “I vote kill him.” Yes, she was in love with him, but they’d also grown up together and he was fucking annoying, especially right now.

Finn rolled his eyes. “I meant like...I don’t know, talk? I wanted to give him time but if you two keep fighting I think I’m going to go insane.” He sighed.

“Kiss him and see what happens, then,” Rey suggested nonchalantly.

“You’re terrible at plans.”

“It’s a great plan!”

“Rey,” he said evenly. “We’re going to talk. Like adults.”

She didn’t see the fun in that, but whatever.

---

Rey was, in many ways, like a bird. A corvid, probably, or perhaps a penguin. If there was something small and pretty, she liked it.

This was why, on a jog through the neighborhood ending at a local park, Rey had gotten dirt under her nails digging a really cool-looking rock out of the late-winter ground. She’d also split two nails, but that wasn’t particularly important, because she’d been successful.

“Why are you going out, Rey? It’s freezing,” Finn had asked, bundled in a nice sweater that she wanted nothing more than to cuddle up into.

There’d be time for that, later, though. The cold didn’t bother her much - she’d lived much farther south before Luke and his husband adopted her, and it was too damn hot there. This was always a refreshing change.

The rock in question was smooth and flat, grey with a bluish cast, and it fit perfectly in Rey’s palm. It brought her great joy.

She was going to give it to Finn.

Her sweatpants had two very baggy pockets but she still decided to keep the rock in her hand anyway, starting her jog home. The cold air stung her bloodied fingers, but then, that sort of thing didn’t bother her anymore. Rey couldn’t stand being sick or uncomfortable, but she had a pain tolerance bestowed by some war god.

When she got home, Finn yelped at her for letting the cold air in, but she swooped down to give him a kiss and he smiled, so she knew he wasn’t really upset. Then he started freaking out over her fingers and dragged her to the bathroom to wash them off and bandage the split nails.

Poe had followed them silently, sullenly, like a shadow, after she interrupted his conversation with Finn. Only now did he click his tongue and demand, “What happened to you?”

“I was acquiring a gift.” Rey picked up the shiny rock - now damp with sink water - and held it out to Finn. “For you, the light of my life, my steady, pretty, shiny rock.”

They’d said they would be casual, but Rey had never been casual about anything in her life ever.

Finn smiled at her softly, but also looked worried, and she gave him another kiss.

Poe made a vaguely disgusted noise in the back of his throat and turned to walk away, but Rey was fucking sick of this, so she shot out her arm and grabbed him by the wrist. “You’re acting like Ben!”

“You take that back!” Poe’s face flushed and he scowled, yanking his arm to break free, but Rey held fast. Finn winced, like it hadn’t been his idea to have this talk. Though she supposed in his head the talk probably went a little differently than this.

“No! You’re doing the whole, Oh, I am so tortured, caught between the pull of the light and the dark, woe is me, I must run away from my problems, I can never have what I want…” Rey mimicked. “Paint a fucking pretentious ass picture about it, or else stay and talk like a fucking adult.”

Finn winced again. “Listen, I know I wasn’t...here for all that. But that seems like an unfair analogy.”

“Thank you!” Poe threw his hands over his head.

“Fine, not Ben. Just a jackass.”

“Having emotions does not make me a jackass!”

Rey practically snarled. “No, but being a jackass does. You fuck me and then you avoid me, barely say a word unless I’m sick, like I’m nothing, like we didn’t spend our whole lives together.”

“Well, sorry for not making you remember something you’d rather forget!” Poe shouted back, only sparing one unreadable glance at Finn. “I figured it was fine, you were with Finn now and you were happy and you never had to think about it.”

Finn rubbed his temples. “Can we please stop yelling?”

Rey didn’t listen. “I am always thinking about it! Every time you won’t look me in the eye I think about how ashamed of me you must be.”

“Ashamed?” Poe choked out. “Maybe of myself.”

“For what?” she demanded.

“For taking advantage of you!”

That one stopped Rey. She had to take a minute to process it, and then she was torn between laughing and screaming. “I’m the one who took your pants off!”

“Yeah, well, you were drunker than me and I should’ve stopped it.” Poe looked absolutely stricken and it almost tempted Rey to tell him how much she enjoyed it, but that seemed out of place.

She huffed. “I have agency, for fuck’s sake. I meant to sleep with you and I did. And clearly you hate that, so I’ll apologize, but can we please just go back to being bros?”

“I hate it?” Poe sounded strangled. “Christ, no, I was - I thought we should talk about it, I should apologize - but then two days later you were kissing Finn and I thought, well, shit, yeah that makes sense.”

Finn chose then to interject, “Rey, I told you that would happen.”

She waved her hand at him. “Unhelpful!”

“Can both of you shut up for one second?” That got her attention. Her hand was still wrapped around Poe’s wrist, but both of them turned to Finn. “Do you even hear yourselves? Because both of you said you don’t regret sleeping together, but you’re screaming like it’s a problem.”

Poe made a slightly wounded noise, seeming to process Finn’s awareness for the first time. “You knew?”

“You...weren’t quiet,” Finn explained sheepishly. “I put my headphones in, though.”

Poe’s face flushed red, this time from embarrassment instead of anger.

Rey took a breath. “Yeah, well, I’m mad that he acted stupid about it.”

“What was I supposed to do?” Poe demanded. “I fucking - we - and then not even two days later, before I’ve got my shit sorted out, you’re with Finn! I don’t care, I’m happy for you two, you’re both great, but it’s a little emotionally overwhelming to watch the two people I’m in love with together and to feel like I missed my chance because I was too drunk to do it properly.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Don’t,” Rey warned, frowning.

“I told you,” Finn replied, a little too triumphant for her tastes.

Poe groaned. “Oh, great, you knew that too. Well, I’m probably the world’s biggest fool, so will you please give me my arm back so I can drown my sorrows in The Communist Manifesto or something?”

Rey, being a woman of action rather than words, used his wrist to yank him into a kiss. He was off-balance, not expecting it, but he kissed her like he knew how to, desperately, and she guessed he did.

“You idiot!” she huffed when she pulled back. “You could have saved me so much trouble if you’d just led with that!”

“But - Finn -” Poe’s eyes were round as his head flicked back and forth between the two of them.

Rey snorted. “We’re not monogamous, and we were also just keeping it casual.”

“How was I supposed to know that?” Poe protested, finally managing to free his wrist from her grasp.

“Well, I did tell you at the talk we went to,” Finn pointed out, smiling wryly.

“Oh.” Poe stood there, dumbstruck.

“Do you want a turn?” Rey asked, to be polite. “Because otherwise I’m annoyedly kissing him again.”

Finn snorted. “Lord, then I’ll just be standing here for eternity.” He fidgeted awkwardly. “We both like you, too, Poe.” He was much less a man of action than Rey. “If you want to be a part of this, we want you, too.”

Poe nodded, still with that awed look on his face, and then he and Finn crashed into each other, an equally desperate kiss on the part of Poe with Finn’s lips curled up in a smile.

They were panting when they broke apart. Rey rolled her eyes. “Showoffs,” she teased. “Oh, also, Poe, I told him if this goes wrong we move out and he stays here with Leia.”

Poe startled. “Hey!”

“We can...negotiate our terms,” Finn said between bursts of laughter. “I dunno, I have a good feeling about this.”

Honestly, so did Rey.