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The music in the smoky cantina had switched from bass-heavy dance songs to slow ballads as the crowd dwindled. Each of your fellow mechanics was in various states of wrapped around men they had befriended over the course of the night. Fifth wheeling wasn’t your favorite past time but the amount of alcohol coursing through your bloodstream had you uncaringly grinning to yourself.
“We’re probably going to, ahem, take off in a few minutes.” Antima, your roommate, and co-worker breathed as the man she’d been passionately making out with for the past forty-five minutes moved on to her neck. “Do you have a ride home?” The insinuation in her question wasn’t lost on you.
“Oh, do they not do shuttle flights here?” You tried to play it cool but your drunk attempt at humor was met with a few scoffs.
Okay, so maybe you weren’t as funny as the alcohol made you think you were.
The med-bay nurse seated a few feet away disconnected from her own marathon tonsil hockey game with another random cantina patron and laughed.
“Dameron would travel parsecs in a heartbeat for you and you know it.”
You rolled your eyes and hoped the dim lighting would mask the fact that your face was heated and quickly turning a deep pink.
”Plus he made sure to make it abundantly clear he didn’t have any kind of plans tonight! When are you going to take that delicious piece of pilot of the market?”
“It’s not like that.” In all honestly, you didn’t know the nature of your relationship with the almost irritatingly charismatic Black Leader.
He was so ambiguously charming to everyone on base whether they were a med-bay worker, a service droid, apparently even an X-wing mechanic such as yourself. It was frustrating, to say the least.
Some nights would be spent talking about anything and everything, Poe sitting cross-legged on the tarmac a few feet away from where you were working. By the end of the night, you’d find yourselves curled up in the cockpit of his fighter. You’d use his jacket as a makeshift blanket, point out galaxies at random, and listen as he whispered vivid descriptions of each one until you eventually fell asleep.
Other days went something like this morning had.
Making your way to the mess hall (seeing him speaking in hushed tones to a very giggly med-bay supervisor). Working on a U-wing that had taken a beating (watching from across the hangar as he poured on the signature Dameron charm, leaning against his X-wing as a new droid-tech fussed over BB-8).
You tried to ignore the acidic burn of jealousy in your throat as he laughed and leaned in to whisper something in her ear. Naturally, she was all but swooning by the time she finished her work and waved her goodbye.
You didn’t blame her, you couldn’t. Men, women, droids, it didn’t matter. No one was immune to that irritatingly warm gaze, or his frustratingly sincere nature.
By the end of the day, it had gotten so ridiculous that you had called it a day early and rearranged your plans for the night. Antima seemed shocked when you’d finally taken her up on the offer for plans that you had always declined in favor of seeing Poe. Something in your body language must have let on that you were desperate to get off world for the night.
Little did you know that four seconds after entering the packed bar, each of your co-workers would pair themselves off with their go-to shady cantina patrons of choice.
You really should have taken Antima up on the offer sooner.
If you had, you definitely wouldn’t be nursing your fourth (fifth?) mug of Ebla beer of the night by yourself.
You also would not be in a position where your only hope of getting back to base rested in the hands of the very man you were here to distance yourself from.
You saw no use in putting off the inevitable any longer as the crowds continued to thin.
“‘M going to, uh…” There was no use in announcing anything as your companions had all resumed their earlier activities. You lifted yourself from the booth, allowing for a moment to get your bearings on your feet.
Side-stepping and staggering through the crowds, you managed to find a quiet corner to get a signal on the comlink. You made a mental note to your alcohol addled brain to talk to someone about shortening the number of steps required to transmit a signal off world.
Call anyone, it doesn’t have to be him. Your brain was chastising you like an unruly child. Wexley, Pava, L’ulo, anyone.
Just your luck he answered on the third buzz.
“Dameron.” The grittiness in his voice told you that it had reached an hour where any sane human would be asleep.
“Shit, I’m sorry it’s late. I shouldn’t ’ve-“ It was almost as if he sensed you were moving to disconnect the transmission because his voice cut in the second your fingers.
“Y/N? Hey- take it easy.” All traces of sleep were gone from his voice in an instant. “Where are you? I swung by your room before and it was empty.”
“’S a long story but basically ‘m in some club in Keren. Everyone I was with ’s going home with someone ’n I’m alone.” Gee Y/N, don’t make your night without him sound too pathetic.
“You need me to pick you up?”
“’M sorry, I just need a ride back to base.” A Besalisk passed just as the words left your mouth.
Revulsion rose in your throat just being on the receiving end of his leering stare. The disgust turned to anger when you heard the vile words he grunted out a moment later.
Your grasp on the language was weak but you understood his reference to you, himself, and another type of ride.
You took the opportunity to hurl back a few of the expletives you could recall. His replying snort didn’t really inspire confidence in your rebuttal but it worked to get him the fuck away from you.
“Easy there, little warrior.” Poe’s tone was playful with an edge of concern. “I’m almost to the tarmac. Are you safe where you are? Is there someone there waiting with you?”
“Nope but I’m’nna head outside. Get some air.” You heard him hum his approval on the other end before the growing rumble of an X-wing engine drowned out the connection for a moment,
“I’ll be there in a few. Please don’t kill anyone, you’re bad at alibis and I’m bad at lying.” He reminded and you had to bite your tongue to keep from saying something about his charm. That shit was a one-way ticket to putting your foot in your mouth. Still, it took a conscious effort to quiet the angry mumbling at the back of your mind.
“Let th’ record show that I’m not makin’ any promises.”
“Of course not.” His melodic laughter was still present as he disconnected the transmission.
You took a deep breath and willed your legs to get with the program as you made your way to the exit with the crowds. Essentially bumping into and ricocheting off of the other patrons until the cool night air washed over your skin.
Actually, ‘cool’ was putting it lightly. Without the communal warmth of every man, woman, and Nabooian in the cantina, the wind was biting. Your off the shoulder wrap dress was hardly enough to warm the parts of you that it did cover.
“Warming properties of alcohol, my ass.” You hissed to yourself, scrubbing your hands over your arms in a pathetic effort to generate warmth.
What felt like an eon but was more than likely about twenty-five minutes later you heard the click rumble click of an engine. Even over the hustle and bustle of Naboo city, you knew that engine.
You had rebuilt that engine from the ground up a hundred times over.
The knots in your stomach tightened painfully as the familiar battered X-wing landed in a grassy area about a hundred yards away.
You managed to swear under your breath without your chattering teeth biting off the tip of your tongue. The hatch of the cockpit lifted and a familiar head of black curls popped up.
Pick a side, your brain chided.
Are we irritated with him? The grin that unwillingly spread across your face as he bounded to close the distance between you told you otherwise. As much as you hated to admit it, there was no denying you were putty in his hands.
He came to a stop just in time to not barrel into you and only then did you notice the concern radiating off him in waves.
“By the maker,” Poe attempted to get his breath back. ”Was the end goal of the night to get back with frostbite?” His eyes combed you over for a moment longer than necessary before he seemed to shake himself out of it.
“Sorry, mom.” Your laugh was stuttered as you both started the walk to the ship.
“Oh, bite me.” His tone was playful and you saw him moving in your peripheral vision.
“What are you-? Poe, you don’t have to do that.” Before the words had passed your lips, you were wrapped in the warmth of his jacket.
“Y/N, it’s fine.” He pulled it closer around you as you finally reached the hydraulic steps to the ship.
He climbed in first and you half sat, half fell into his lap a moment later. His wear groan at the jarring contact made your eyes widen a second before you were both laughing.
The close proximity wasn’t awkward in the least. You had both long since crossed the line where anything would be uncomfortable.
Between the jacket and your face in his neck, his familiar scent flooded your senses. The slight hint of musk, leather and the eucalyptus of his body wash.
As you finally broke through the planet’s atmosphere you spoke up again.
“Take the long way home, okay? I like the scenic route.” You felt his laughter vibrate in his chest and looked up in mock anger. “You making fun’a me Dameron?” He was still laughing as his arm held you steady so he could lean forward to change the route on the dash pad.
Seeing an opportunity, you crept a hand under the hem of his crisp white t-shirt and splayed frigid fingers over the warm expanse of his stomach.
Whether it was the yelp that escaped him or the lurch of the ship you didn’t know, but the laughter bubbled out of you. He easily caught both of your hands in one of his, restraining you as he righted the ship.
“Besides the fact that we could have easily just died,” Poe’s focus was still on the controls as he flipped on the autopilot. “Never do that to me again.” The instant he looked at you his stern façade shattered and the two of you were howling with laughter.
He was the first to regain his composure and only when he looked down did you both realize your hands were still encased in his. Poe cupped his hands around yours before raising them to his lips and breathing warm air over your suddenly shaky hands.
Maybe it was all the laughter, maybe it was the effect of the alcohol, or maybe it was something else entirely, but suddenly you felt a little lightheaded just watching him.
For someone who was so attentive to you and anything that was weighing on your mind, you would have thought that by now he’d have caught onto the fact that you’d-
“Y/N?” Those soft brown eyes were trained on you. Fuck, he’d asked you something.
“Huh?” Smooth.
“Are you feeling alright?” You nodded and prayed that the heat rising in your cheeks didn’t warrant a temperature check. You didn’t know how much more skin to skin contact you could handle. “Okay, good. Because if you get sick in my ship I’d have to launch you into space. Talk about a scenic route.” He punctuated the threat with a crooked grin and a wink as you ducked your head into his neck with a laugh.
“I asked if you had your eye on anyone special tonight.” Yeah, he’s flying me home. Still, you thanked your lucky stars he couldn’t see your face pale a bit at the question, or feel your stomach drop for that matter.
“Can’t look for someone you’re not looking for.” You sing-songed.
“Care to elaborate on that one?” You wanted to open the hatch to the cockpit and dissolve in the cold void of space. Why did you even open your mouth?
“Is declining an option?” One peek at the look he was giving you told you. No. No, it wasn’t.
A millisecond later his eyes widened and you thought you could feel your stomach drop into the tips of your toes.
“Wait a sec- are you already seeing someone? Do I know them?”
“Poe, we spend every waking-“
“So it’s someone on base!”
“Poe I-“ Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.
“Do I work with them?”
“It’s not-“ Don’t do it, Y/N.
“Are they a mechanic? Or a-“
“It’s you, alright?! Fucking hell.” The following silence was so jarring it was like the air had been sucked from your lungs. Poe’s eyes went wide as he looked at you, his throat working as his mouth fell open the smallest bit.
Before he could see your eyes brim with tears your face was in your hands.
After what felt like a year and a half of nothing but the sound of the blood whooshing in your ears you heard something. You didn’t know it was possible to feel emotions as swift and crushing as the sadness and rage that hit you in that moment.
He was laughing.
His shoulders were shaking with the force of it.
“If you’re going to humiliate me can you at least take a faster route?” Your voice was harsh and cold as you finally looked at him. Your teeth digging into your lower lip was a welcome distraction from the lump in your throat that was almost sealing your airway.
Instantly his laughter seemed to die in his throat.
“No, no no no. Hey.” His fingers lifted your chin but you kept your eyes down. “Y/N, look at me.” His voice was soft and you finally looked at him. “I wasn’t laughing at you, I would never. I was laughing because we might be the most oblivious creatures in the galaxy.”
“We?” A grin broke across his face when he saw your eyebrows furrow in confusion.
“Y/N I’ve had feelings for you for four years.”
Your heart slammed into your ribs. In the next breath the more logical, cynical part of your brain and you shook your head.
“Don’t do that,” you sniffed as the first tear fell. “You don’t have to humor me, Poe. I can handle rejection.”
This time his laugh was incredulous.
“You want proof? Orientation.” Poe grinned at the memory. “I saw you across the tarmac when everyone was making their introductions. You were wearing that mustard yellow sweater that’s eight sizes too big on you.” You coughed out a laugh at the memory of the old sweater that fell halfway to your knees. “You were so excited. Literally glowing with it. And I got up the nerve to talk to you and you asked me if my ship needed any work done.”
Poe’s laugh was infectious and he pressed his lips to the top of your head.
”I didn’t even have a ship at the time. But I looked at you and my eyes caught on the patch on your bag-”
“If not us, who? If not now, when? Join the Resistance and make the galaxy safe again.” The warm feeling in your chest was steadily growing. “My grandmother made it as a gift before I left.”
“And I swear my feelings for you started at that moment.” His warm, rough hands came to rest on either side of your face. His thumbs came to sweep away the tear tracks streaking your cheeks.
You realized that this moment was off for the both of you. Not off in a bad way, it just felt very . . . tentative. It was like you were both testing the waters before diving into uncharted waters.
Poe moved first, the hint of a smile still present in his features as his lips brushed against your own.
It was almost scary how fast your heart was beating just at the slight contact.
But by the gods, if you weren’t about to grab this opportunity with both hands (in this case, those hands were fisted in the fabric of his t-shirt.) The two of you were smiling so hard into the kiss that you were nearly bumping teeth.
You retreated first, only to pull in a breath as you rested your forehead against his. For a fleeting moment, you were afraid to open your eyes. You weren’t wholly convinced that you wouldn’t wake to find that you had dozed off on his shoulder and this had all just been a vivid, alcohol-fueled dream.
The sound of your shaky exhale cut through the blissful haze in your mind and was met with Poe’s own breathless laugh.
“Do you believe me yet?” The warmth of his breath hit your lips and you tried your damnedest to form words, you swear you did but settled for pulling him back to you.
Everything. This kiss said everything you couldn’t. Every word you had bit back for fear of rejection over the years. Every emotion you had held back, afraid of making things awkward or ruining your relationship.
And all this time he felt the same way.
You nipped at his lower lip, soothing the spot with the tip of your tongue a moment later. With the ego boost you got hearing his breath hitch the slightest bit, you figured you could take over the galaxy.
You reluctantly pulled back when a question itched its way to the forefront of your mind. You bit back a small smile at his groan of frustration.
“What did I say before?” His eyebrows knit together, not understanding what you were referencing. “Back at the bar? In Nabooian?” Poe’s laugh was more carefree than you’d ever heard him.
“Oh kriff, that bad?” He pressed another quick kiss to your lips, grin still plastered to his face. “By the Maker, Poe, what did I say?”
“The rough translation is something along the lines of ‘I hope all your houseplants fucking rot’.” He rested his forehead against yours as you dissolved into laughter once again.
“Stars, I need to see someone about getting a translatacomp.” you sighed.
“True,” the word was mumbled against your lips. “Or you could just keep me around as your translator.”
You arched an eyebrow.
“Just a translator?” A devilish grin spread slowly across your features at the color that crept up his neck to the tops of his ears.
You made him nervous.
That was what set you apart from the leagues of men, women, and droids that all but swooned when he walked by. You were the one that could turn Poe Dameron, the Poe Dameron into a nervous stuttering school-kid.
“I, uh, also make a helluva bodyguard.” He pretended to toy with a dial on the dash. “Or uh, a. . . boyfriend? I mean If you- if you’d have me?” He was still fidgeting with the knob when you put a finger under his chin so he would actually look at you.
“I definitely think we could swing that.” You grinned, pulling him to you by the thin material of his t-shirt.
This time, his lips were slow and relaxed. There was no rush to your movements because as unexpected as the events of the night had been, you knew that this shift in your relationship wasn’t going to disappear the second you stepped back on base.
You weren’t used to getting what you wanted, especially in the relationship department.
So when it came to someone like Poe, who essentially had free reign of anyone on base, needless to say, it would take a while to get used to.
“One more thing. . .” You mumbled as he moved to mouth and nip at your jawline. He hummed, not wanting to break contact with your skin. “Your quarters or mine?”
You grinned devilishly as you felt him tense before he looked up with an astonished smile.
“I mean, I feel like we deserve an award for subconscious restraint at this point.” He leaned forward, tapping at the dashpad as you looked on.
Your estimated time of arrival on D’Qar was cut nearly in half, your route twelve minutes shorter than it had been seconds earlier.
The ship was damn near approaching lightspeed.
There you were, huddled close in the cockpit with stars and moons whizzing past at dizzying speeds, laughing like a couple of young kids in love. Never in a million years could you have ever guessed how this night would end.
Your friendship over the years was a series of unexpected adventures.
You couldn’t wait to find what a relationship with Poe Dameron would bring.