Work Text:
“How much homework do you have tonight?” asked Rey as she and Finn arrived at his house.
“Not much,” he said, locking the door and kicking off his shoes. “Just a creative writing assignment.”
“Okay, good,” said Rey, taking off her shoes and pushing them against the wall. “Because apparently I made one mistake on my last math assignment and Mr. Ren is making me redo it explaining exactly what I did wrong, as well as doing today’s assignment. Can you help me when you’re done writing?”
Finn agreed, then headed upstairs to do his homework, rolling his eyes at what a dick Mr. Ren was. Everyone he’d met who’d had him for geometry had complained about how strict he was with how people showed their work.
Once Finn got to his room, he looked into his backpack for his creative writing notebook. He always wrote the name of the class along the top of the notebook to make sure he never pulled out the wrong one by mistake. But somehow, he didn’t find the notebook titled CREATIVE WRITING. However, there was one notebook with no class name. Confused, he pulled it out.
Across the front cover, the notebook read Creative Writing - Ms. Kanata. Just below it was the name Poe Dameron.
Ms. Kanata must have given Poe and me the wrong notebooks, Finn thought. I should call him and give it back.
He pulled out his phone, then remembered that he didn’t actually have Poe’s number. He glanced at the cover of the notebook again, thinking of the bashful blush that crossed Poe’s cheeks whenever they were asked to share their writing with classmates. He thought of how Poe had only ever shared his writing with his friend Jess, even when Finn, who sat next to him, had asked to read it. Just a peek couldn’t hurt, he thought. He opened the notebook to a random page.
Immediately, Finn was greeted with his own name.
FINN
He greets me like the morning sun
With smiles just as radiant
Although the day has just begun
It is already brilliant
With coffee and a wish I start
The day, before I see him there
Does he know that he has my heart?
I whisper it into the air-
“I love him more than skies above,
I wish he did return my love.”
Finn blushed. Is that really what Poe thinks of me? Or am I just imagining things? He blinked several times and reread the poem. No, he wasn’t imagining things. Poe, the gorgeous guy who sat next to him in creative writing, really was in love with him.
He kept flipping through Poe’s notebook. There were a lot more poems there- one about his dog Bebe, one about a childhood memory of his mother, even one about a rainbow he’d seen on the way home from school. Finn wanted nothing more than to read everything Poe had written, but he remembered that he still needed to get his actual notebook back.
Reaching under his bed, Finn found a copy of the school directory. In the section for the senior class, he found a number for Dameron, Poe. Picking up his phone, he dialed nervously.
The phone rang three times before a strange man’s voice answered. “Hello?”
“Hi,” said Finn nervously. “I’m calling for Poe, is he there?”
“Just a second,” said the man. Finn heard some distant footsteps and muffled voices. “Hello?” came Poe’s voice through the phone.
“Hey, this is Finn,” he said. “Do you have my creative writing notebook?”
“Hold on.” The sound of papers shuffling. “I do, actually.”
“Because I have yours,” said Finn. “Want to meet up and trade them?”
“Uh, sure,” said Poe. “Is this your cell phone?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“I’ll text you my address,” said Poe, before hanging up.
---
Poe’s house, as it turned out, was just a short walk away from Finn’s. Right after sending a text to Poe that he was on his way, however, Finn revisited the poem about himself. Next to Poe’s line “Does he know that he has my heart?”, Finn wrote “now I do”.
At the front door, they made a quick exchange of notebooks, Finn rushing home immediately afterwards (“I promised I’d help Rey with her math homework, she has Mr. Ren, you know…”).
---
The next day, when Ms. Kanata asked the class to share their work with each other, Finn once again asked if he could read Poe’s writing.
“Two heads are better than one,” Ms. Kanata reminded the class. “If you’ve been showing your writing to the same person all semester, try to find someone else today.”
Poe shrugged and handed over his notebook. Finn did the same, then opened Poe’s notebook to its latest entry.
CONFUSION
“Now I do,” you wrote
Beside my poem titled “Finn”.
What does this mean? I’m not sure
Of the situation we’re in.
Did you write this in mockery?
Or do you love me back?
Or was it just a statement
That you read this paper stack?
Please answer me, o gorgeous one,
With smiles as brilliant as the sun.
Finn looked over at Poe, who was still reading Finn’s latest short story. He pulled out his phone and fired off a text to him.
I wrote it because I was surprised you felt that way about me and I feel the same way.
Poe’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out and read Finn’s text, his eyes widening slightly as he got to the end of it. Finn quickly sent another one.
Wanna hang out tonight?
Poe quickly sent his reply.
ya, sounds great