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Finn knew, deep down, that what he was doing was wrong. He was a thief, after all, and okay, so maybe thieving in and of itself was wrong, but it was made even worse by the fact that he worked for a crime syndicate known as the First Order.
The First Order were not good people. The things they did were…well, Finn tried not to think too hard about that. So, he knew, on some fundamental level, that was he was doing was wrong.
Yes, thieving was wrong.
But the thing was, it was so kriffing fun. And Finn was very good at it.
Very, very good at it.
One of the best, he thought to himself with a grin as he felt the last pin move into place. He turned the wrench and his grin grew as the lock gave. He pushed open the door. “Easy peasy.”
“Lemon squeezy,” said a voice from inside the room.
Finn looked up into a set of big brown eyes, crinkles set next to them. “Poe,” he muttered. Of course.
Finn stood and walked into the room as Poe leaned against a cabinet, casually tossing a bag of what Finn suspected were rubies in the air.
“Buddy,” Poe said, a smile spread wide across his face. “I was wondering how long it was going to take you.”
Finn’s eyes narrowed. He and Dameron had been rivals for years and there was an unspoken rule that they’d never sink to physical altercations, but sometimes Poe made it tempting. “Had to take the long way around.”
Poe caught the bag one last time, clenching it tight. “Too bad.” He opened the bag. “Figure there’s got to be close to a million dollars here. I imagine your bosses would’ve been pretty happy with that.” Poe liked to rub it in that Finn was essentially a hired hand.
“And I imagine your bosses will give you a nice pat on the head for a job well done,” Finn said.
“Ouch,” Poe said, clutching the bag of rubies to his heart. “You wound me.”
“I wish,” Finn muttered, already backing away towards the door.
Poe laughed. “Till next time then.”
“Yeah,” Finn said, turning and running down the hall before security figured out what was going on. “Next time.”
# # # #
Two months later, Poe’s ear was pressed up against a safe and he was slowly turning the dial when he heard a click. “Yes,” he breathed out. He yanked open the safe and then frowned. Wait, what?
“Looking for this,” came a voice from behind him.
Kriffing hell. Poe schooled an easy grin on his face and turned. “Finn, buddy!”
“Poe. Buddy.” Finn held a pearl necklace in his hand. “So good of you to come.” Finn examined the necklace. “I figure this is going to cost your Resistance…hmmmmm…a quarter of a million, easy.”
Poe’s smile faltered for an instant. “I wonder how many weapons the First Order can buy with that kind of cash?”
“Because the Resistance never buys any weapons,” Finn countered.
“Well, none that we use on civilians, anyway,” Poe muttered.
Finn’s face turned hot. He stuffed the necklace into his pocket, along with the bonds he’d lifted from the safe. “See you later,” he said, already heading towards a back door.
“Yeah, later.”
# # # #
That evening, Poe clenched the handle to his coffee mug, wondering how he could’ve gotten to the safe just a little faster.
“Wow,” Jess said, sitting down at a table in the mess. “What is with you?”
“Long day,” Poe said, taking a drink of coffee.
“And you came up empty handed,” Iolo quipped, sitting down next to Poe.
Poe shot him a look and Karé walked over, hissing, “Iolo!”
“What? Is that not the truth?”
“Tact, Iolo,” Jess said. “It’s a thing. Look it up.”
Iolo shrugged as Snap sat down at their table. Snap stared at Poe a beat before asking, “Was it…”
Poe nodded, “Yeah. Finn.”
There was a collective groan.
It was universally agreed upon in the Resistance—a sort of Robin-Hood-esque criminal organization that specialized in taking from the rich and corrupt and re-distributing to the poor—that for overall thieving, there was none better than Poe Dameron.
If you wanted a getaway driver, Jessika Pava was your woman. Reconnaissance? Snap Wexley. You needed a pair for an extended con? Karé Kun and Iolo Arana couldn’t be beat. But if you needed someone to sneak into a place undetected and snatch something? The Resistance always went with Poe.
And for years, he’d been unmatched, even by the thieves their rivals, the First Order, regularly sent out. Poe was simply the best.
Then, one day, about three years ago, Poe met Finn.
Finn was also a thief. A very good thief, as it turned out.
At first, Finn had simply stumbled upon Poe while Poe had been working a job, but then, he’d started scooping Poe, beating him to things. Now, it was a 50-50 split on who was going to end up with any given item, Finn or Poe. And it was doing things to Poe’s morale.
“Which job was it,” Snap asked.
“The Milton job. Safe with jewelry and some bonds.” Poe looked around the mess hall in the underground bunker that served as Resistance’s headquarters: the wobbly tables, the decades-old coffee machine. Not to mention all the people we could’ve helped. “We coulda used that cash.”
“I’m sure we’ll make it up,” Karé said.
“Sure,” Iolo added. “Kun and I have a con starting tomorrow.”
“Plus, I’ve been scouting a place in Chicago that sounds perfect for you,” Snap said.
“If Finn doesn’t get there first,” Poe grumbled.
The group traded worried looks until finally Jess said, “Um, Poe, why don’t you and I take a walk?”
“Yeah,” Poe said, “sure.”
Jess led Poe out to the garage, where she had a Ford Shelby GT500 up on the lift.
Poe whistled.
“I know,” Jess said.
“Wow,” Poe said, and then as he walked up under the car. “But isn’t this a bit…ummmm, noticeable for a getaway car?”
Jess swatted his shoulder. “Let a girl dream, Poe.” She smiled. “Besides, Eleanor isn’t for getaways. She’s going to bring in a lot of cash when we sell her.”
“You named the car Eleanor?”
“Yep.”
“And you really think you’re going to be able to sell her?”
“Yeah. Why not?”
“Because you named her, Jess, and you’re looking at her like you want to ask her back to your place.”
Jess laughed and hit Poe again—a bit harder this time. She nodded towards a stack of pallets and sat on them. “Okay, so spill. Finn.”
“Finn,” Poe repeated. He leaned against the pallets and crossed his arms. “I feel old, Jess.”
“Mmmmm-hmmmm,” Jess hummed. “What else?”
He turned to look at her, unsettled by how perceptive she was. He lifted an eyebrow.
“What? We’ve known each other for ten years. You aren’t the great mystery you like to think you are.”
Poe huffed. He then turned to stare out into the garage. “Fine,” he finally said. “So, the thing with Finn is…” Poe rolled his eyes, looking up to the ceiling. “Kriff, it’s just a stupid crush!”
Jess squeaked and her hand flew to her mouth.
“Jess,” Poe said.
“Sorry,” she said. “That’s just…” She shook her head. “You have a crush on Finn?”
Poe nodded.
“The mysterious Mr. Finn? The guy who has been scooping you all across the U.S. and Europe.”
“Don’t forget the time he beat me to that statue in Beijing,” Poe muttered.
“Wow,” Jess said. “You have a crush on Finn.”
“How many times you gonna repeat that?”
“Until it sinks in,” she said. She turned to Poe. “But I thought you hated each other. You’re always talking about all the taunting and the quips and the—”
Poe shrugged. “It’s kinda sexy,” he said in a small voice.
“Oh kriff,” Jess said.
“Yeah,” Poe said. “I know.”
Jess frowned. “Well, does he… I don’t know. Have you ever talked to him about—”
“Hell no!” Poe pushed off the pallets and started pacing, running a hand through his hair. “Come on, Jess, how exactly is that conversation supposed to go? Oh hey, Finn, I beat you to the safe and all, but I was really wondering if you’d like to go get a coffee sometime. I mean, it’s not like you work for a terrorist organization that’s trying to eradicate me and all my friends or anything. But, you haven’t taken a shot at me yet, so...” Poe made a frustrated noise and pulled on his hair. “Yeah, that would go great.”
“Wait,” Jess said. She got up off the pallets and stood in Poe’s way. “You’re telling me that over the past three years, despite the fact that this guy is First Order, he’s never once tried to kill you?”
“No,” Poe said. “Of course not. There’s a code.”
“A code? What, like the pirate code or something?”
“Well, kinda?”
Jess snorted.
“Unofficial thieves code. We’re gentlemen. We don’t kill. We leave that to the hired guns and hitters.” He moved past Jess. “We break in and we steal. No physical altercations.”
Jess harrumphed at that.
Poe spun. “What?”
She put her hands on her hips. “Remember that thief First Order sent about four years ago? What was his name… Nines!”
“That was different.”
“The guy tried to blow your head off.”
“He was an amateur!”
“What about that other Order thief, the lady who threw daggers at you?”
“Bazine,” Poe offered weakly.
“Yeah, her!”
“Well…”
“No. Don’t well me, Poe. First Order doesn’t train their people to play by the rules. They are killers.”
“Not all of them,” Poe started. Not Finn.
“Name one First Order operative that you’ve ever encountered, besides Finn, who didn’t try to kill you.”
“Ummmmm…” Poe frowned. “That one guy?”
“That one guy?”
“From that one time?”
“Poe,” Jess said.
“Fine! He’s the only one. But that doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it just means he doesn’t think I’m worth killing.”
Jess snorted again. She walked over to Poe, putting her hand on his arm. “Next time you’re in a room with him, just ask. Either he’s into you or not, but this way you’ll know.”
Poe bit his lip. “That’s what I’m afraid of,” he whispered.
Jess shook her head and walked back to her car. “Just tell him, Dameron.”
# # # #
The next three jobs, Poe tried to talk to Finn, but it was a disaster.
The first job, Poe got to the goods first—a set of Ming dynasty vases that a crooked French politician had purchased on the black market a few months earlier. When Finn showed up, Poe tried flirting instead of their usual banter.
“Hey,” Poe said, putting the vases into a padded case. He looked over at Finn through his eyelashes. “How are you?”
Finn stopped, raising an eyebrow. “How am I?”
“Yeah,” Poe said, closing the case.
“Are you feeling okay, Dameron?”
“What? I can’t ask how you’re doing?”
Finn shook his head. “If this is some new kind of trash talk, I have to tell you—”
“I just wanted to know how you are! Jeez, Finn, does it all have to be taunting and trash?”
“Uh,” Finn said.
“Whatever,” Poe said, clearly pouting. He started towards a side window. “The guards will be here in about a minute.”
What in the hell was up with him? Finn stood there for ten more seconds, flummoxed, before running for the door.
# # # #
The next two jobs, Finn beat Poe to the goods, and both times, Poe didn’t seem as upset as usual. In fact, both times, Poe seemed friendly. Sweet, almost.
Something’s off, Finn thought as he lay in his bunk at the First Order’s headquarters—affectionately dubbed Starkiller Base—and listened as the other operatives in his squad, Nines, Slip, and Zeroes, all squabbled about their latest assignment. Finn was set to steal something out of a safe in the Drake Hotel in Chicago while the others were going to be helping with a heist downtown. Finn closed his eyes, trying to drown out their bluster, and he couldn’t help but think about his interaction with Dameron the day before.
When Poe had seen that Finn had gotten to the statue first, he’d shrugged and smiled. “Guess the best man won,” Poe said.
Finn just stood there, his brows knitted, trying to figure Dameron out. Finally, he said, “What?”
Poe’s face had fallen and he’d made a sad little squeaking noise and run off.
Now, Finn couldn’t stop replaying the encounter in his head.
He was doing that a lot lately.
At first, Finn told himself that his nearly daily daydreams involving Poe were merely professional curiosity—he was trying to figure out how to best the master thief. But the problem was, the daydreams might have started out purely professional, but they hardly ever stayed that way.
Finn frowned and rolled to his side. Lately, he’d been wondering what it would feel like to run his hands through Poe’s hair.
Poe.
He squeezed his eyes tighter.
Poe, the absolute pain in the ass who loves to rub your nose in it when he beats you to a score.
Poe, with the prettiest eyes you’ve ever seen.
Finn groaned and rolled back over onto his back.
“Are we interrupting his highness’ beauty sleep?”
“Just want to be well rested for tomorrow,” Finn snapped back at Nines.
“Yeah, wouldn’t want Dameron beating you to it again,” the other man hit back.
“I beat him yesterday.”
Nines snorted. “When you beat him every day—or better yet, when you kill that stuck up little prick—then, we’ll talk.”
“Whatever,” Finn said, rolling back over to his side. “It’s not like you could ever beat him.” Finn heard Slip and Zeroes holding Nines back and he couldn’t help his smile. “You guys should get to sleep. We have a wake-up call set for 0330.”
Finn waited a moment and when he heard Nines huff out something and walk to his own bunk, Finn relaxed. What in the kriff am I doing with these people?
# # # #
Poe beat Finn to the safe in Chicago, and paced the hotel room for three minutes as he waited for his rival to show up. When Finn did, Poe handed him a cup of coffee.
Finn stared at the takeaway cup in his hand as if it were an alien species.
“I wasn’t sure how you took it,” Poe said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of sweeteners, sugars, and stirrers, holding them out for Finn.
Finn looked from Poe’s hand back to the coffee and then up at Poe. “You brought me coffee?”
“Yeah,” Poe said, sheepishly.
Finn looked back at the cup in his hand. “You brought me coffee.”
Poe frowned. Such an idiot. He pulled his hand back and stuffed the packets and stirrers into his pocket. “Well, yeah, I mean—”
“Black,” Finn said, walking past Poe towards the door and taking a sip.
“Huh?”
“I take it black.” He smiled and gave Poe a quick nod as he left the room.
Poe smiled. “Good to know,” he whispered before closing the safe and leaving.
# # # #
In Milan, Finn beat Poe to the west wing of the museum and smiled as he pulled out a bottle of wine he’d been saving.
Ten minutes later, Poe skidded to a halt in front of the display case. Instead of an Aztec turquoise mosaic mask inside, Poe found a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. There was a bow around the neck of the bottle and hanging from it was a note that read: Better luck next time.
Poe smiled and grabbed the wine, sparing one last look around the gallery before dashing to the exit.
# # # #
The thing was, after the coffee and the wine, it should’ve gotten easier. Instead, it got more awkward. Poe no longer taunted, but he stuttered and stammered. Finn started stumbling over his words, refusing to make eye contact. The two of them had gone from sophisticated bantering to barely intelligible sounds when they were around each other.
And the gifts were getting ridiculous.
Poe left a stuffed orange bumblebee he’d dubbed BeeBee in a display case at a high-end jewelry store.
Finn left a Blu-Ray of Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief in the desk of a crooked CEO.
There were flowers and bottles of cologne and chocolates and all sorts of little trinkets.
But neither of them ever said what was on their minds.
Or more aptly, what was in their hearts.
And then, they both ended up in Florence at the Uffizi.
It rarely happened, but one time in twenty, Poe and Finn would show up to steal something at the exact same time.
Poe came running into the Hall of Tiziano from the south at the exact moment that Finn came running in from the north. A German investor with ties to some really questionable political groups had loaned a painting to the gallery, and both men were there to “borrow” it from him.
They ran in, zeroing in on the painting, neither noticing the other until they were nearly in front of it. Poe skidded to a halt as Finn’s shoes slid to a stop on the tile floor. They both stood there, less than five feet apart, staring at each other, panting.
Neither moved. Neither spoke.
After a full minute, there was a sound somewhere outside.
Finn shook his head. “Well,” he started.
“Well,” Poe said.
They both still stood there, frozen.
“So,” Poe said. “Uhhhhh….”
“One of us is gonna have to go for the painting.”
“You cut the security system or were you just planning on—”
“Bypassing it here?” Finn scoffed. “No, I cut the security on this hall. Unlike you, I don’t like taking chances.”
“Hey! I’ve been doing this longer than you and—”
Finn smiled.
“What,” Poe said, trying to hold onto his righteous indignation.
“Just feels good to bicker again.”
Poe stopped and smiled. “It does.” He then looked down, rubbing a hand over the back of his head. “It’s been…”
“Strange.”
“Yeah, strange lately.” Poe decided to take a chance. “But also good?”
“Yeah,” Finn said. “Good.” But then he lost his nerve. “Uh, sorry?”
“No. Not your fault.” Poe looked back up. “Pretty sure it’s mine.” His eyes met Finn’s. What the hell. “You see, I have this friend and she says I should just—”
There was another noise outside.
“Kriff,” Poe said, stepping towards the painting.
“Uh,” Finn said, stepping forward.
Poe stopped. “Ummmm, rock, paper, scissors?”
“Seriously?”
“You got a better idea?”
Finn frowned and thought. “No.”
“On three?”
Finn nodded and the two shook their fists. “One. Two. Three.”
Finn held out a fist. Poe held out a flat hand.
“YES! Paper beats rock,” Poe said, putting his hand on top of Finn’s.
Finn wanted to be mad, but Poe’s hand was on his. He looked up, his eyes meeting Poe’s, and for a second, the two of them stayed that way.
Then, an alarm started blaring.
“Crap,” Finn said, reaching for the painting.
“Hey,” Poe yelped, tearing it out of Finn’s hand. “Play fair!”
“No honor among thieves, Dmaeron. Besides, it’s your fault the alarms are—” Finn shook his head and started running. “Whatever! I’ll beat you next time.”
Poe started running too, but then he stopped at the end of the hall. Screw it. “Hey Finn!”
“What,” Finn said, turning and stopping.
Poe held up the painting. He raised an eyebrow and grinned. “I love you,” he said as he ran into the darkness.
You what? Finn stood there until the sounds of the security guards broke him from his trance.
# # # #
Poe was on fire the next two times they met, easily beating Finn to the loot, and both times, he would call out, “I love you” to Finn as he ran away.
# # # #
Finn banged his head into his locker at Starkiller Base.
“Hear the golden boy isn’t so golden anymore,” Nines taunted from the other side of the room. “Hear Dameron’s bested you the last three jobs Phasma’s sent you on.”
“And,” Finn asked, not bothering to look over at his squad mate.
“And, if you keep this up, you’ll be back to working sanitation by the end of the month.”
“Shut up,” Finn said, opening his locker and pulling off his shirt.
“Ooooh, touchy.”
Finn closed his eyes and sat down, untying his boots. Ignore it.
He took a deep breath, trying to find his center.
It’s just a few jobs. I’ll get the next one. Everyone has a slump or two.
Poe is just… He’s just trying to get into my head. He frowned.
Unless he’s not, Finn thought. He couldn’t help replaying that one moment in the Uffizi when their eyes had met. There’d been something there. Of that, Finn was sure.
Plus, there was the coffee and all of the little gifts.
Finn finished changing and walked back to his bunk, deep in thought.
Maybe…
He crawled into his bed with images of Poe Dameron’s lovely smile dancing through his head.
# # # #
“So let me get this straight,” Jess said. “Instead of coming out and telling this guy how you feel, you’ve been giving him little gifts, and when that didn’t work, you started shouting I love you at him when you see him on a job?”
“Technically, that is telling him how I feel.”
“Poe,” Jess said, her voice dripping with exasperation.
“Jess,” Poe answered, curling up on the couch and putting his head on her lap. “I can’t help it. I’m either awkwardly staring at him and saying nothing or I’m telling him I love him.” He looked up at her. “Help me.”
Jess shook her head. “Fine.” She rolled her eyes. “But only because you’re so pitiful.” She thought for a moment. “I’m guessing that part of this is the fact that you’re on the clock. You only have so much time to steal something—”
“And there’s usually guards or police or something,” Poe said.
“So, what you need is to get him alone, away from work, so to speak.”
“Sure,” Poe said. “I’ll just call up the First Order and ask them if they’ll let Finn out to meet me at the local Starbucks.”
Jess thumped Poe’s head. “No, idiot. Just make sure you get to the next item first and you leave him a message.”
Poe pursed his lips. “A message?”
“Yeah,” Jess said. “If he’s any good at all, he’ll be able to slip away. And then, the two of you can talk without a job hanging over you.”
Poe nodded.
“And this time, don’t shout I love you at the poor guy, okay?”
“I make no promises, Pava.”
# # # #
They were in Hong Kong, and Finn was crouched in front of a safe in a penthouse at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The safe creaked open. He looked around the room, half expecting Dameron to saunter out of the bathroom with a smirk on his beautiful face. Finn looked back into the safe to find nothing but a folded piece of paper. Crap.
He reached in and carefully pulled it out, opening it.
198 Temple Street. 2nd floor, first room on the right. 10pm.
Kriff. Finn balled up the paper and shut the safe, quickly making his way to the door. Right in the middle of the night market, he thought as he started down the hall. That means it’ll be busy. Less chance anyone will see me, but… He pressed his lips together. Could be a trap. Finn frowned. After three years of competing against each other, Finn felt like he knew Dameron pretty well, and that didn’t seem to be his style.
If it even is Dameron. Finn frowned, letting his fingers brush against the note. Something in his gut told him this was from Poe. He wants to see me. Finn felt a spark of something warm travel through his chest.
Finn looked at his watch. His superiors would be expecting him to check in within the hour. Finn raced down the stairwell, telling himself it would be suicide to go following Poe’s note. It would be stupid, and I’m not stupid. As he entered the lobby, he slowed his pace, walking casually to the entrance. Just go back to the safe house and report in. He nodded to one of the taxis standing outside. Forget about your crazy daydreams. He stuck his hand into his pocket, feeling the paper against his fingers. “Night market,” he heard himself say as he slid in. The driver nodded and took off.
What in the kriff did I just do?
Finn leaned against the seat, the Mandarin Oriental fading in the rearview mirror. “Stay calm,” he muttered to himself. “Stay calm.”
# # # #
Thirty minutes later, Finn got out of the cab and started navigating one of the packed streets of the night market. He made his way down Temple Street, pausing in front of number 198. “I can do this,” he whispered as he started in the door.
# # # #
Poe had been pacing for the better part of the last hour.
What if he doesn’t get the message?
What if he does, but he ignores it?
What if someone else gets it, Poe thought, putting his hand on the gun he was wearing on his hip.
He heard movement in the hallway and tensed.
# # # #
Finn had sensed something wasn’t right the moment he set foot in 198 Temple Street. Instead of heading upstairs, he paused underneath the stairway and listened. He’d always been good at triangulating based on sound, and his senses told him that there were four bodies on the second floor. One was more muffled than the rest. Poe. In the room.
That left… Finn sighed. Somehow, he just knew. Slip, Zeroes, and Nines.
They figured me out.
Kriff.
He pulled his gun from his shoulder holster and started up. I really don’t want to kill you guys. He took a deep breath and moved quickly to the top of the stairs.
# # # #
Poe heard what sounded like a scuffle in the hall. There were grunts and fighting.
Kriff. He grabbed his gun, holding it out.
Someone tried the door and it slowly opened.
Poe raised the gun.
Finn burst into the room, holding a hand out.
“What?”
“This is a rescue. I’m getting us outta this place.” He grabbed Poe’s hand and drug him out of the room, past three unconscious bodies, and down the stairs.
“Who were—”
“Associates of mine.” Finn shook his head, starting down the street. “I’m guessing the First Order figured me out.”
“Figured you out?”
Finn spared a quick look over at Poe, who was scanning their surroundings. “Yeah, that I’ve fallen for a member of the Resistance.” Finn didn’t miss the smile that played at Poe’s lips.
But then, Poe’s demeanor went steely. “Up ahead on the left,” he said, nodding to three men who definitely looked out of place.
“Stormtroopers,” Finn said.
“Huh?”
“Hitters. They’re here to kill us.”
Poe grabbed Finn’s shoulder and pulled him into a side alley, the two of them now jogging.
“You have any backup, Dameron,” Finn asked, keeping an eye on their rear.
Poe nodded. “Two streets up,” he said.
The Stormtroopers entered the other end of the alley. Finn jerked Poe behind a dumpster as they started firing.
Poe peeked around the corner and watched as Finn hit two of the three men. “Kriffing hell! Who are you?”
Finn smiled. “First Order insists we all be able to take care of ourselves.”
“Crap,” Poe said, popping up and hitting the third man in the shoulder. As the man fell, Poe turned to give Finn a self-satisfied look.
“Lucky shot,” Finn said, dragging Poe to the other end of the alley.
Poe stopped at the edge of the alley and peered out into the street. He then pulled out a cell phone, pressed a button, and started talking. “Hey, Jess. Yeah…um, we’ve run into a little problem. Seems the First Order is trying to kill me and Finn and we could use…”
Finn could hear yelling on the other end of the line.
“Yes, ma’am.” Poe hung up. “They’re coming.” He nodded to the street and raised an eyebrow, asking for Finn’s assessment.
Finn peered out. “Looks clear.”
They both started out, heading north.
They’d made it about three-quarters of the way up the street when Finn grabbed Poe’s arm. “Run,” he said, nodding back to a tall, blonde woman who had suddenly appeared behind them.
Poe started laughing, though, as a white van pulled up in front of them and people started pouring out of it. He stopped moving and panted out, “Oh thank goodness.”
“What,” Finn asked.
“Cavalry’s here.”
Finn watched as a group of ten Resistance agents all aimed their guns at the woman. A big burly one called out, “That’s far enough, ma’am. They’re coming with us.” Finn turned to see her stop and then shrug, lowering her weapon. Her eyes met Finn’s and a chill ran up his spine as he realized he was probably number one on her hit list now.
“Who’s the woman,” Poe asked as the group started shepherding him and Finn into the van.
“Phasma,” Finn said, still a bit stunned by what was happening. “She’s my boss. Was my boss,” he clarified. The van sped off into the night.
# # # #
Neither spoke as the van made its way to the airport, and when they arrived in a private hangar there, a group of guards took Finn in one direction, and above Poe’s loud protests, took Poe in another.
Finn turned to watch Poe struggle against his own people and then felt a prick in his neck. The world soon went black.
When he woke up, he was in an interrogation room. He lifted his hands and checked his surroundings. They hadn’t cuffed him and there was a bottle of water and a granola bar on the table in front of him. He raised an eyebrow at that, and then said, “First Order would’ve already killed me by now.”
“That’s not how we work,” said a small woman with grey hair piled high on her head as she walked in. She slapped a file on the table and sat down across from Finn. She nodded to the water. “Drink.”
Finn took the water bottle and gladly downed the whole thing.
She smirked. “Statura, would you bring us some more water please,” she called out. She opened the file. “Finn Orlani, twenty-three, been working for the Order…” She started flipping through pages.
“All my life,” Finn answered.
She raised an eyebrow at that.
“They pulled me out of the foster system when I was seven. I started weapons training when I was nine. They sent me out on my first job when I was thirteen.”
“Kriff,” she said, closing her eyes and rubbing her temple. She sighed. “Is that how they recruit all their operatives?”
“Some,” Finn said, pausing as a man brought in a tray filled with water bottles. He set it on the table and left. Finn took another bottle of water and sipped. “Some volunteer. Some join as adults. The Order’s big in certain mercenary circles.”
“I bet.” She looked back into his file. “Why didn’t you ever try to kill Dameron? You two ran into each other enough.”
Finn bent his head, trying to hide his blush. He took a deep breath and looked back up. “Didn’t seem right.” He leaned back. “Look, I’m a thief. A pretty good one, and sure, I know how to protect myself and I’m a decent shot, but at the end of the day, I’m a thief. Not a killer or whatever else it is the First Order wants its people to be.” He looked around the sparse room. “You wanna know why I didn’t kill Poe?” He leaned forward. “Because it wouldn’t have been the right thing to do. I have a code, and I’m not going to break it for anyone. Certainly not for them,” he said, leaning back.
She smiled. “He said you were a fundamentally good guy.” She closed the file. “I guess I’m curious as to what you plan on doing now.”
“Isn’t that up to you?”
“Pretend it isn’t.”
Finn shrugged. “I don’t know. I never really…” He shook his head. “I didn’t have a plan past meeting Poe on Temple Street.”
“So, why’d you go?”
Finn looked down again. “I’d really rather not say.”
She leaned forward.
“I think that’s something I need to talk about with Poe first.”
She smiled and shook her head, rising. “We’re not going to hold you. Poe says you’re a good guy and given what happened last night, I’m inclined to believe him.”
“I’m free to go?”
“Well…” She couldn’t help her smirk. “There’s one more interrogation.” She turned to the double-sided mirror behind her. “You can come in now.” She walked to the door. “Good luck, Mr. Orlani.”
“Thanks,” Finn said.
As she left, Poe walked in. He closed the door and slowly walked to the seat the woman had just vacated. He sat, furtively looking at Finn before ducking his head.
Finn wanted to laugh. Over the past few years, he’d come to see many different sides to Poe and bashful Poe had to be one of his favorites. Finn leaned forward, “So, who talks first? I talk first? You?”
Poe smiled. “I guess this is all sorta my fault,” he said.
“How do you figure?”
“I’m the one who asked you to meet and…” He shook his head. “I still don’t know how they made our location.”
“I figure the Order got suspicious when I kept stowing little trinkets in my locker.” He chuckled, pulling out the stuffed bumblebee from his pocket and putting it on the table.
“Bee!”
“Not really standard First Order issue,” Finn said with a smile.
“They figured you’d turned on them.”
Finn leaned back, stretching. “They weren’t wrong.” He stood, slowly walking around the room. “I’ve never been a big fan of what they did, but I didn’t have a way out and…” He stopped, turning to Poe. “When you gave me an excuse, I took it.”
“Is that all it was,” Poe asked quietly.
“No,” Finn said. He wanted to say more, but found he couldn’t. He started walking again. “Of course, now I’ve gotta figure out what I do in the real world. No money. No ID.” He shook his head. “Kriff.”
Poe reached out and grabbed Finn’s wrist, pulling him towards the table as he stood. “I’ll help you with that.”
“You don’t have to,” Finn said.
Poe cocked his head. “I wasn’t lying, Finn.”
“Huh?”
“Every time I shouted I love you,” he ducked his head down again, “I wasn’t lying.”
Finn put his fingers under Poe’s chin and lifted it up. “No?”
“No,” Poe breathed out, his eyes locked on Finn’s.
Finn’s mouth slid into an easy smile. “Good.” He pulled on Poe’s chin as he leaned forward. “I was hoping you were telling the truth.” He pressed his lips against Poe’s and then moaned as Poe’s hands moved to pull him in closer.
# # # #
In the next room, General Leia Organa, leader of the Resistance, started herding her operatives out. “Give them some privacy,” she hissed as they all retreated to the hall.
“Does this mean we’ve got a new thief working for us,” Snap asked.
Leia looked back at the door to the interrogation room. “Maybe,” she said with a smile. “Hopefully.”
# # # #
Two Months Later…
“You know, not to put any pressure on you, dear, but we only have four more minutes before the security guard passes back by here, and at the rate you’re going with that lock…”
“It would go a lot faster,” Finn grumbled, “if a certain someone would keep his adorable mouth shut.”
“Not any good working with distractions,” Poe countered, pretending to be concerned.
“Not any good with loudmouths who suck at picking locks.” Finn felt the last pin give. He turned the wrench and smiled as the door opened. “You were saying?”
Poe smiled and slid into the room, making his way to the safe and pressing an ear to it as he started turning the dial.
“Now, let’s see how well you do with the constant commentary,” Finn said, moving to stand beside him.
“Perfectly fine. Unlike you, I’m a professional.”
Finn shoved Poe’s shoulder. “Ooops. Sorry. Amateur here.”
“Oh, I’m aware,” Poe said.
“Are you, old man?”
“Old man? Really?” Poe stopped working and shot Finn a look.
Finn raised his eyebrow.
Poe raised his.
Finn pointed to the watch on his arm.
“Fine,” Poe muttered. He blew Finn a kiss and then turned back to the safe.
Sixty seconds later, Poe opened the safe, quickly reaching in and pulling out the paperwork Leia needed to take down this company, which had been polluting the Charles River. He handed it to Finn, who stuffed it into a satchel. “We good?”
“Good,” Poe said, closing the safe. “How are we on time?”
“Ninety more seconds before the guard is here.”
“Well, then, plenty of time,” Poe said.
“Sure,” Finn said. “Maybe you want to take your shoes off or do a little dance or yell I love you at me.” He grinned.
Poe rolled his eyes. “You yell I love you at a guy a few times and he gets a big head.” He started forward.
Finn froze. “Crap,” he whispered, grabbing Poe and pushing him up against the door.
“Hey, what—”
Finn pressed his hand over Poe’s mouth and leaned in. “He’s early,” he hissed into Poe’s ear.
Poe looked down at Finn’s hand on his mouth, annoyed.
Finn smiled back at Poe, moving his body closer to Poe’s as he heard the guard walk down the hall outside the office. He closed his eyes, praying that the guy kept on walking.
As soon as he heard the guy round the corner at the end of the hall, he backed away. “Four more minutes till he’s back.” He looked at Poe. “You think you can make it to the exit by then?”
Poe shoved Finn’s hand off his mouth. “I don’t know. I’m so old, I might need help.”
“True,” Finn said. “You do seem to need a lot of help lately. That is why they brought me in, right?”
Poe growled, grabbing Finn’s shirt and hauling him forward until they were nose to nose.
Finn wore a sweet smile. “Yes?”
“I love you,” Poe whispered, pressing his lips to Finn’s.
As they broke apart a minute later, both a little breathless, Finn whispered, “I know.”
Poe rolled his eyes and opened the door. “Star Wars? Really, Finn? That’s the best you could do?”
The two of them ran across the hall into the stairwell. “Well, I had to make a reference old enough you’d actually get it,” Finn said.
“Just for that, I’m making you find your own way back to the hotel,” Poe said, jumping over the railing and landing on the next set of stairs.
Finn followed, “I bet I could make it back there a full five minutes before you.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah,” Finn said, pushing in front of Poe.
“Usual terms,” Poe said, shoving Finn’s shoulder and jumping ahead of him.
“Sure.”
“Then it’s a bet,” Poe said, pulling open the door at the bottom of the stairs and rushing across the lobby of the building. “See you at the hotel!”
Finn pushed a button and the automatic doors opened. “Not if I see you first,” he called after Poe as the two of them took off into the night.
# # # #
“You cheated,” Finn said as he walked into the hotel room, twenty minutes later.
“I did not,” Poe said with a smile that seemed to indicate he had, in fact, cheated.
Finn crossed his arms and stared at his boyfriend.
Poe put on his most innocent face and crossed his finger over his heart.
Finn raised an eyebrow.
“Wow,” Poe said, shaking his head. “This is just sad. It’s been, what? Two months? And already you’re doubting my word.”
“I saw you get in the cab, Poe.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. If you’re gonna cheat, at least make sure to do it where I can’t see you.”
“Well, then how did you get here so fast?”
“After you cheated, I figured that meant that I could too.”
“Cheater,” Poe said, pointing at Finn. “Cheater!”
“So, does that mean it’s a draw?”
“Guess so,” Poe said, shaking his head.
“Too bad,” Finn said, walking towards the bathroom.
“Yeah,” Poe asked, following.
“Yeah. I figured a late dinner, a bath…”
“Hmmmm…”
“What about you,” he asked Poe.
“If I won? Which technically I did.”
“If by technically you mean not really because you cheated.”
“Yeah, exactly,” Poe smiled, leaning against the bathroom door as he watched Finn start to fill the tub. “I was thinking dinner and a movie.”
“We did that last night.”
“That’s why it’s a classic.”
“No, that’s why it’s better when I win. My dates are far superior.”
Poe laughed. “Yeah?”
Finn looked over at him. “Well, I was about to fill this with,” he picked up a bottle of some expensive-looking bath salts, “this heavenly-smelling stuff and take a nice, long bath. What were you going to do?”
Poe suddenly pictured Finn in the bath and every word went out of his head.
“Poe?”
“Baths are good.”
Finn chuckled. “Yes, they are.” He sprinkled the bath salts in. “You wanna join me?”
“Yes,” Poe said, already shucking his clothes.
“So, you concede that I won?”
“Sure,” Poe said, jumping out of his jeans.
Finn shook his head. “You are too easy.”
Poe winked at him. “Easy peasy lemon squeezy.”
Finn groaned, unbuttoning his shirt.
“What? I thought you liked our banter,” Poe said, walking over to the bath. “It’s our thing.”
Finn shook his head. “Just get in the tub already, Dameron.”
“So bossy,” Poe said, kissing Finn’s temple before putting a foot in the water. He groaned as he stepped in. “This is why I love overnight jobs.”
Finn stepped in. “This is why I love working for the Resistance.” He sat down, leaning back into Poe.
“Plus, your boyfriend works there.”
“Eh,” Finn said.
Poe splashed at him.
“What are you, four?”
“First, I’m old, then I’m four. Make up your mind,” Poe said, nuzzling the back of Finn’s head.
Finn’s eyes fluttered shut and he hummed out a happy noise.
Poe wrapped his arms around Finn, pressing a light kiss to the side of Finn’s head.
Suddenly, Finn tensed. He listened for a moment and then whispered. “You put the goods in the safe?”
Poe made an offended noise. “Yes,” he hissed.
Finn listened for another moment before pushing himself up, grabbing a towel, and running into the bedroom. Poe was fast behind him.
A small woman, her hair piled in three tight buns on her head, smiled at them as she slipped the papers they’d just stolen into a bag. “Gentlemen,” she said.
“What the kriff,” Poe said, nearly letting his towel drop.
She eyed them up and down for a moment and gave them a wink. “Thanks for this,” she said. “It’s just what my father and I have been looking for.” She then dashed through the room and jumped off the balcony.
Finn and Poe both shouted at that, running to the balcony to see the woman repelling down the side of the building.
“Who in the hell was that,” Finn said.
“It can’t be…” Poe shook his head. He turned back into the room, running a hand through his hair. “Kriffing Skywalker.”
“Skywalker? As in Luke Skywalker?” He was a legendary thief who’d retired years ago. “I thought he was a myth.”
Poe frowned, picking up his cell phone and punching in the Resistance’s number. “Hello? Patch me through to the General. Yeah…General? We have a problem… Yeah, it seems Skywalker’s back… No, not him. Her. Rey’s back, and she got the paperwork… Yeah…Sure…Okay.” Poe hung up the phone, sat down on the bed, and looked at his boyfriend.
Finn looked back out the window. “New competition.”
“Yep.”
Finn thought for a moment and then smiled at his boyfriend. “We can take her.”
“Yeah?”
Finn laughed. “You and I, together, we’re the best. I pity anyone who tries to go up against us.” He walked over to the bed.
“She got the drop on us tonight.”
Finn carded a hand through his boyfriend’s hair. “And that’s the first and last time that happens, right?”
“Right,” Poe repeated. He looked up at Finn. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Dameron.” He leaned over to give Poe a quick kiss. “Now, let’s figure out how to steal those papers back.”