Chapter Text
Finn had been out of the medibay for a month by the time he had his next life lesson from Poe. They had been spending increasing amounts of time together, mainly with the excuse of showing Finn the ropes of life with the Resistance. There was a lot he still had to learn, but it was nice to know that being severely injured didn’t end with a bullet to the head. Or however the First Order disposed of useless stormtroopers, Finn wasn’t really sure.
Every tour of the base ended with lunch or dinner in the dining hall. Poe made sure to keep the both of them well fed, and tried not to tire Finn out too much. There were a lot of people to meet though, and Finn was scared he’d never learn all their names. He was getting the feeling even Poe didn’t know them all either though, as he had a lot of vague nicknames for people. Finn wanted to try though, it was nice having names to remember instead of designations. Even if half of them were nicknames, like Finn’s. It was nice to be known by something else other than letters and numbers.
It was to be another busy day, Poe was due back from a mission that afternoon, so he spent the morning with his hoverchair reading manuals and trying to understand everything he could about the tools and machines the Resistance used. He might have worked in sanitation as a stormtrooper, but his training had been varied and intense. He wanted to give that much dedication to all facets of the Resistance. He wanted to be useful.
So it was after 12pm that Poe found him, seated at the small desk cut into the wall in his tiny room. He had manuals spread out over the desktop, as well as boxes on the floor and more manuals on his tiny cot. Poe had opened the door and leaned on the doorframe, arms folded across his chest and a disbelieving look on his face.
“You’re still at it. Haven’t you read all these, like, a billion times already?” He asked with a laugh, shaking his head fondly. He pushed himself off the doorframe and moved to stead behind Finn’s hoverchair, peering over his shoulder and down at a manual on one of the stoves used in the kitchen. “Why do you want to know about that?” Finn shrugged, pushing the manual away.
“I want to know everything.” Finn replied, looking up at Poe. “Maybe when I can walk on my own, you can show me the X-Wings up close? I want to know how they work as well. How to fix them.” Poe raised his eyebrows.
“From what I hear, you need to learn how to tell the difference between tools first. Why all the effort into this, though?” Poe picked up a manual on the comm devices used in helmets.
“I want to be useful, when I’m better.” Finn replied, moving his hoverchair away from the desk. Poe jumped out of his way, shaking his head at his friend with a soft smile.
“You’re ridiculous. You already are useful, Finn. You’re a great fighter, a great person. We’re lucky to have you.” Poe moved some of the manuals over so he could sit down on the bed. Finn sighed, watching his friend as he sat down.
“Yeh, but I’m not like you or Rey. I want to be better. I want to be out of this chair. I want to actually be doing something!” Finn smacked his hand down on the arm of the hoverchair, frustrated. He huffed, looking over at the still open door. “You eaten yet? I’m starved.” Poe laughed and shook his head.
“I’ll never understand you. But yes, I’m hungry.” Poe stood up, waving at Finn to head out the door first. He followed behind him, out into the hall, and then walked beside him as they made their way to the dining hall. The door slid shut behind them with a schlick.
“How did the mission go?” Finn asked, looking up at Poe. Poe shrugged.
“Well, I guess. We only got part of what we were looking for, but we know where to find the rest. So that’s good.” Poe replied, turning right through a set of open doors. Inside was the busy dining hall, full of chatter and clanking cutlery. There were at least a hundred people eating, and twenty people working in the kitchen. Since it was after the lunch rush, this was considered quiet. Poe lead them to their usual table, which was blissfully free of Jess and Snap and the other pilots that hung around those two.
“You stay, I’ll go get us something to eat. The usual?” Poe asked Finn. Finn shrugged.
“Sure, whatever.” Poe nodded and headed up to the kitchen. Finn watched him, head in his palm, and sighed. The usual… it was almost worse than the gruel he got with the First Order, and that was saying something. He debated long ago whether or not he should tell Poe that he hated the food he kept giving him, but it was Poe’s favourite… he didn’t have the heart to tell him it was disgusting. It was this weird rice porridge mixed with this even weirder moldy vegetable thing that was similar to something Poe use to eat on Yavin 4. It was disgusting.
Poe came back with a grin, putting the tray down in front of Finn. Finn looked down at it and took a deep breath to steal his nerves, before picking up the spoon and shoveling a bite in his mouth.
“Mmmmm.” Finn forced a grin at Poe. “Deri-shoush.” He spoke around his mouthful, forcing himself to swallow. His grin must have turned into a grimace, since Poe frowned. He looked confused.
“Is something wrong? Did they burn it?” Poe took a delicate bite, and stared down at his bowl. His brow furrowed, and he looked up. And then at Finn’s bowl, and then back at Finn. “You don’t like it.”
“No! It’s fine. See?” Finn took another bite, swallowing and forcing another smile at Poe. “Delicious.” Poe sighed, putting his spoon down. “Oh nononononono. No, we are not doing another disappointed Finn talk, okay?” Finn went to have another spoonful, but Poe pulled the bowl away from him.
“Finn. I’m not disappointed.” Poe said in a disappointed voice. Finn raised his eyebrow, awkwardly holding his empty spoon. Poe rolled his eyes. “Seriously. If you don’t like something, you can say so. Shit, how many times have I made you eat this?” He shook his head.
“Uh… Poe, it’s fine. I’ve had worse.” Finn replied, but couldn’t help but think to himself how he seriously, literally, had never had anything worse than this slop. Poe looked skyward.
“What have I done to deserve this.” He laughed, shaking his head. “Finn, it’s fine to tell someone that you don’t like something. It’s fine to have favourites and dislikes. I won’t get offended if you don’t like my favourite food. And I promise to not get offended if you ask me to get you something different. It’s fine. Trust me.” Finn hesitated a moment, looking at his spoon.
“Okay… well… in that case. What else does the kitchen have today?” Poe grinned, taking Finn’s bowl of his tray and putting it on his own.
“They have a nice smelling soup that has heaps of vegies and what looks like some kind of bird. Maybe chicken.” Poe suggested, grabbing the now empty tray.
“Okay, I’ll try that. Thanks, Poe.” Finn smiled softly at his friend, a little hesitant. Poe continued to grin.
“No problem.” Poe stood up and headed back to the kitchen, shaking his head at Finn and chuckling to himself. Finn rolled his eyes, but secretly he felt relieved. He thanked whatever higher power that was out there that he didn’t have to have that moldy rice porridge again. His mind went off on a tangent from there, wondering if it were the Force that you’d be thanking, or if there was something that controlled the force? Or maybe he should be thanking the Jedi? Finn stared at his spoon in thought, frowning. How did that work? Maybe he’d ask Rey when he spoke to her next. She’d probably be able to ask Luke Skywalker for him.
Poe broke him out of his musings when he put another tray in front of him. This one looked much, much better. There were things he recognised for one, like meat, and that green vegetable that he didn’t know the name off, and it smelled great. He took a spoonful and slurped, and the salty soup flavour filled his mouth. He moaned in delight, taking another spoonful with some of the meat and slurped again. Definitely chicken.
“Poe! This is delicious.” Finn grinned at his friend, who was looking at him with a small smile, shaking his head.
“Good.” Poe took another bit of his, and Finn grimaced.
“How do you eat that. Here, try some of this!” Finn shoved a spoon in his face, and Poe hesitantly tried the soup. He frowned, pushing Finn’s hand away.
“Way to salty for me. Thanks, buddy. You keep it.” Poe took a drink of some water that he had brought back, cleaning out the salty flavour. Finn shrugged.
“Cool, more for me!” They finished their meal in comfortable silence, Finn thinking about what Poe had said.
He was right (again).