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Rose frowned. “Let me go see what we have,” she said, setting down her datapad. She walked out of her workshop down the hall to the main storage room. Well, that’s what they were calling what had once been the gymnasium for an academy long since abandoned.
The Resistance took what it could get these days, and that meant that even the minor parts one might need for repairs were hard to come by, which made Rose’s job all the more difficult, especially as she was now basically in charge of maintaining all of their tech. Poe and Finn had just shown up with most of the pieces of a long-range transmitter—salvaged during their last mission—and they wanted to know if Rose could make them work.
As Rose’s door slid shut, Poe started drumming his hands along the bench he was sitting on. He began to hum.
Soon, he’ll be singing, Finn thought with a smile.
Sure enough, two seconds later, Poe started singing an old Yavinese folk song.
Finn, meanwhile, started snooping through Rose’s workbench.
Since Crait, when Rose had become the defacto tech specialist for the entire Resistance, she had acquired quite the collection of bits and pieces.
“So,” Poe said, abruptly stopping his song. “You two good now?”
Finn paused. It took him a moment to process the question. “Me and Rose?” He picked up a part. “Yeah. Of course!” He put it back down. “She has two girlfriends now, or didn’t you notice?”
“I noticed, but…”
“But what?”
Poe shrugged. “I don’t know! I know you were worried about the kiss, and…”
“And nothing. We talked about it, and she thinks of me as a dear friend and nothing more.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“More than okay,” Finn said, being careful not to look at Poe, lest he have to explain the slight blush on his cheeks.
Poe tried not to smile. Ever since Crait, he’d been trying to give Finn his space—he’d heard the rumors about Finn and Rose’s kiss and he didn’t want to intrude, but then, a few days ago, he’d heard about Rose and Rey and Jess. And that little bit of news had given him hope.
Finn picked up Rose’s datapad and it flicked on. He smiled. “Force Fictions,” he said. “An Archive of Transformative Works?”
Poe chuckled. “Really? She’s on Force Fictions?”
“I guess so,” Finn said. He started scrolling through the page. “Wait. Isn’t this that…”
“Romantic fiction site? Yeah,” Poe said. He shook his head. “Oh man, the problems that site caused in the academy. Everyone was writing fic about everyone else.” He laughed. “I even wrote a few.”
Finn put down the datapad and lifted an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yeah,” Poe said, turning bright red. “Way back in my misspent youth.”
“Oh, so a really long time ago,” Finn said.
“Moof-milker.”
Finn laughed. Then, he stopped scrolling. “Hey, what is RBF?”
“Real Being Fiction,” Poe said. “So, not pairing fictional characters together but like…”
“Real beings?”
“Yeah,” Poe said, “Famous beings, mostly. Like Jabba the Hutt or…”
“Or…” Finn started scrolling. “Poe Dameron?”
“What?”
Finn nodded.
“No way,” Poe said, standing and grabbing for the datapad.
“Afraid so,” Finn said, holding the datapad away from Poe. He kept scrolling. “Kriff.”
“What?”
“I’m on here too.”
Poe started cackling. “Of course, you are! You’re a really big deal in the Resistance.”
“Shut up,” Finn said with a smile.
Poe kept on laughing. “So, seriously, we’re both on there?”
“Yeah,” Finn said, wondering why Poe wasn’t bothered. His finger hovered over his own name, but he couldn’t click the link. “So, this RBF…”
“Oh yeah, that,” Poe said. “So, for instance, if you think Pava and Kaydel would make a hot couple—”
“You’ve given this some thought, haven’t you,” Finn laughed.
Poe shoved him playfully. “I’m just trying to illustrate,” Poe said. “Anyway, let’s assume, just for the sake of argument, that you think Pava and Kaydel would make a cute couple, then you could write up a little story and—”
“Poe,” Finn said, all hints of playfulness gone. “There are stories about us on here.”
“Us?”
“Yeah, you and me.”
“What,” Poe squeaked.
“Poe Dameron and Finn.” Finn started scrolling through the heading. “Lots of them. They call it Finneron.”
“Finneron? That’s terrible! Why not PoeFinn or, or, or FinnPoe or…Puffin! Like the birds! Poe-Finn. Puffin?”
“Poe, focus. Beings are writing smut about us.”
“Any of it good?”
“I…” Finn looked up at Poe incredulously. “That’s your question?”
Poe shrugged. “What should I be asking?”
“Why,” Finn said. “Why are beings writing smut about us? And why does your love life or better yet, our love life seem to be of so much krififng interest?”
Poe rolled his eyes. “What’s the big deal? I mean, what? We’re talking about two or three little—”
“There are over two hundred, Poe.”
“What?!?”
“Yeah, two hundred and sixty-three to be exact. Kriff. I’ve only been with the Resistance for four months!” Finn leaned back, shaking his head. Then, he had a sickening thought. “What if the General has seen this? Or Rey?”
Poe chuckled. “I think they have better things to do than go trolling for smut.” Poe reached for the datapad. “It is smut, right? Or…”
“Uh, looks like most of it is smut. Some of it is something called domestic fluff?” Finn kept scrolling. “This one imagines us as First Order officers.”
“What in the kriff?” Poe grabbed the datapad and started reading.
“Oh, I thought it wasn’t a big deal, Poe.”
“Yeah, well, when people start imagining me in the First Order and…” He started reading the summary. “Oh, well…okay. That is kinda hot.”
Finn snatched the datapad from Poe’s hands. “No!”
“What? You don’t think that sounded a little hot?”
“So not the point, Poe!”
“Kinda the point,” Poe said. “I mean, if people are going to write smutty fanfiction about us, I’d like it to be hot.”
Finn groaned.
They heard boots on the metal walkway. “Rose,” Poe hissed.
Finn closed out of the datapad and put it back on her bench. Poe sat back down.
“So, it turns out,” Rose started and then, seeing their faces, stopped. “What?”
“What,” Finn said, his voice just a bit too high. “I mean,” his voice going lower, “What?”
“Yeah,” Poe said, crossing and then uncrossing his arms. “What?” He crossed his legs. “What do you mean what?” He shared a look with Finn.
“Ummm, we should go,” Finn said. He grabbed Poe’s shoulder, hauling him up. “We need to…”
“Yeah, really important,” Poe said as Finn drug him from the room. “Thanks, Rose!”
Rose watched them go and then pressed her comm. “Jess,” she said.
“Yeah?”
“When you saw Poe and Finn earlier were they acting super strange?”
“No.” Jess sighed. “I mean, unless you count the stupid pining and heart-eyes stuff.”
“Urg,” Rose said. “No. I just…” She looked down at her datapad and then realized. “Kriff.”
“What?”
“I’ll tell you and Rey later.”
She walked over and picked it up. When she opened it, it was on the Force Fictions site, specifically the Finneron page. “Oh kriff.” They must think I’m such a perv. Rose pushed her head into the wall. “Kriff, kriff, kriff.”
# # # #
Out in the hall, Poe asked, “Do you think she suspected anything?”
“No,” Finn said. “We’re good. We’re super good. We’re…” He realized his hand was still on Poe’s arm, so he immediately let go. “I, um, I…I should.” He nodded to the left. “That way.”
“Yeah,” Poe said, nodding forward, “and I’m that way.” He plastered on a fake smile and waved. “Bye.”
“Yeah, bye.”
As Finn left, Poe stared at his hand, still waving. What in the kriff just happened?
# # # #
Finn made it back to his quarters in record time. He opened his datapad and quickly made an account for Force Fictions. He scanned through all sorts of works: artwork of Snap and Karé, fics of Rey and Rose, Rey and Jess… Rey and Poe? Seriously! Finn blushed, trying hard to ignore the Rey/Finn fics he could see out of the corner of his eye. One nightmare at a time, he told himself.
He clicked on the link to the Poe and Finn fics. He started scrolling through them. Man, there are a lot of stories about us getting together.
Seriously, like a lot of them.
Like, A LOT a lot.
He closed his eyes, after reading a tag that said, “I will get these two pining idiots together if it kills me.” He groaned. I am so kriffed.
He took a deep breath, scrolled back to the top, and started reading…
# # # #
Poe paced his room for thirty minutes before he finally muttered, “Whatever,” grabbed his datapad, and opened Force Fictions. He opened his account. Yeah, I have an account, he said to the invisible person judging him. So, I like to write about the General and Han from time to time. Or Skywalker and Wedge. Or… Oh, sue me!
However, he’d never even considered that other beings were writing about him and…
He started scrolling through the possibilities.
Rey?
Luke?
The General?
Bee? He threw the datapad onto his bed.
BB-8 trilled a question.
“Nothing, buddy. It’s…” He shook his head. “I’m…” He sat down on his bed. “Why don’t you go ahead and start charging, okay?”
Bee beeped in the affirmative and rolled to its charging station.
Poe picked the datapad back up and went to the Poe and Finn fics. “Kriff,” he said, scrolling through the list. “Lots of mutual pining.” He licked his lips. Lots of beings with very strong opinions about my love life, it seems.
He scrolled down to the oldest fic of the bunch—written just five hours after the Battle of Starkiller—and started reading.
# # # #
“Are you sure that’s what spooked them,” Rey asked as she ran her fingers through Rose’s hair.
“Yeah,” Jess said, hugging Rey towards her. “Maybe they were just being their usual idiotic selves.”
“It was open to the Finneron page on Force Fictions. I didn’t leave it there. I mean, I had Force Fictions open, but not to the Finneron page. They had to have found that on their own.” Rose groaned. “Oh maker, that means they saw that I’m on Force Fictions.”
“They have no way of knowing you wrote some fics.”
“Most of the Finneron fics,” Rose said, miserably. I just want them to get together.
“Rose, love,” Jess said, leaning down. “I’m pretty sure everyone in Black Squadron has written at least one fic about them.”
“I have,” Rey said.
Jess smiled. “And it was good.”
“You just like the smut,” Rey said, blushing.
“They’re so going to hate me,” Rose said, wishing her girlfriends would take this seriously.
“No, they’re not,” Rey said. “And if they do, well…”
“They won’t,” Jess said. “Heck, maybe it’ll force them to talk.”
Rose laughed. “Yeah, right. Oh Finn! People are writing RBF about us! I think that means we should finally talk about our feelings!” Rose shook her head. “That sounds like a bad fic.”
# # # #
Poe leaned in and sucked a bruise on Finn’s throat that had the younger man moaning and bucking his hips. Poe smiled, running his teeth over the sensitive skin there. “You like that,” he asked.
Finn whimpered in reply…
“Commander,” Leia asked.
Poe jerked his head up. “Yes, ma’am?”
“I asked about the roster for the next two weeks.”
“Oh, yes, of course,” Poe said, shuffling through the files on his datapad. “Right here.” He took a deep breath and tried to focus on his work.
# # # #
“I’ve been in love with you since…kriff, since you took off that stupid helmet on the Finalizer,” Poe said.
Finn smiled a sweet, soft smile. “You have?”
“Yeah, I was just so kriffing scared that you didn’t…”
Finn surged forward, pressing his lips to Poe’s. It was awkward and quick, but it was also the most perfect first kiss either man had ever received…
Finn smiled and let out a contented sigh.
Bastian gave him a strange look. “What’s got you so happy?”
“Huh,” Finn asked, coming out of his daze.
“I said, what are you so happy about?”
“Oh,” Finn said, closing out of the file on his datapad. “Nothing! Just,” he gestured outside. “Nice day.” He got up and left the mess before anyone else could ask him another question.
# # # #
Their execution was scheduled to take place in one hour, and as best as Poe could figure, there was no way for reinforcements to make it back to the First Order base in time. “Finn,” he said, his voice shaky. “If we’re gonna die, there’s something I need to tell you…”
Poe put down the datapad, wiping away the tears in his eyes. Seriously, guys! Lighten up.
# # # #
Poe wrapped his hands around Finn’s throbbing…
There was a knock on Finn’s door. He jumped off the bed, putting the datapad down and covering it with a pillow before taking a deep breath and opening the door. “Yes?”
Rey walked in. “We need to talk.”
“We do,” Finn asked, nervously glancing at the pillow hiding his datapad. “Now?” Right when it was getting good?
“Yes, now,” Rey said, sitting and pointing to Finn’s bed.
He carefully moved the pillow and datapad to the side and sat down. “What do you need?”
“Did you and Poe go snooping on Rose’s datapad the other day?”
“Ummmmmm….” Finn stood. “You know, it’s late and—”
“Sit,” Rey barked, crossing her arms. She leveled the most disappointed frown she could muster at Finn.
“Sorry,” Finn said. “I, I…I didn’t mean to, and then we saw Force Fictions, and I was curious and…” He couldn’t meet Rey’s eyes.
“She thinks you two are mad at her.”
“Why would we be mad at her?”
Rey raised an eyebrow.
Finn shook his head. “I think embarrassed is the better word.”
“Embarrassed?”
“Rey, beings are out there writing about me and Poe…ummmmmm…..” He looked around, hoping he wouldn’t have to fill in the blanks.
“Having sex,” Rey said.
“Yeah,” Finn squeaked.
Rey smiled. He’s adorable when he’s uncomfortable. “Finn,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said, finally looking up.
She nodded to the datapad. “Have you been reading the fics?”
Finn buried his head in his hands.
“Have you?”
“Yes,” came his muffled reply.
“And?”
“And?” He looked back up at her. “Beings are kriffing writing about me having sex with Poe! And it’s…it’s, it’s…”
“Hot,” Rey offered.
Finn paused a moment and then said, “Yeah.” He shook his head. “So kriffing hot.”
“So why don’t you tell him that?”
He looked at her like she was insane. “Rey, just because other beings write about us—”
“Finn, I guarantee that he’s as crazy about you as you are about him.”
Finn let out a squeak. “You know about that?”
“Everyone knows about that!” She laughed. “It’s why we all write Finneron.”
“All,” he said, suddenly realizing what that meant.
“I’m not telling you my screen name, Finn.”
“Kriff.”
Rey walked over and nudged Finn. “Go talk to him.”
Finn sighed. “But, what if…”
“Go talk to him.”
“Fine,” he said, rising.
“And then, tomorrow, tell Rose you don’t hate her.”
“Of course, I don’t hate her!”
“I know that,” Rey said, shoving Finn towards the door. “She’s the one who needs to hear it.”
# # # #
“I thought you were dead,” Finn said, standing there breathless on the tarmac at D’Qar.
“No, I just…” Poe got lost in the other man’s eyes, and he couldn’t help himself. He leaned forward, pressing his lips to Finn’s.
Finn had a moment of surprise before he closed his eyes and melted into the kiss, wrapping his hands around Poe’s shoulders, oblivious to the sounds of the Resistance soldiers hooting and cheering around them…
There was a knock at Poe’s door. Kriff. Poe jumped. He then looked at the door and then back at the datapad, contemplating pretending he wasn’t in.
“I know you’re in there,” Finn said.
Poe pushed off his bed and opened the door. “Buddy,” he said, with all the fake enthusiasm he could muster.
Finn smiled. “Hey, Poe. Can we talk?”
“Of course,” Poe said, showing Finn in. “What’s on your mind?” Poe’s eyes darted from the datapad to the unmade bed back to Finn. Oh kriff.
“Rose thinks we’re mad at her.”
“Huh?”
“She thinks we’re mad about Force Fictions,” Finn said, nodding at Poe’s datapad.
“Oh,” Poe said, reaching over to turn it off before Finn could see what he was reading.
Finn smiled. “Which one is that?”
“Oh, ummmmm,” Poe blushed. “Tender Embraces,” Poe said, reading the title off the screen.
“Haven’t gotten to that one yet,” Finn said.
“I started with oldest first,” Poe explained.
“Oh,” Finn said.
He sat down on Poe’s bed, nodding to the spot next to him. “Any good?”
Poe sat down. “Uh, yeah?”
Finn took the datapad from Poe’s hand. “Finn had a moment of surprise before he closed his eyes and melted into the kiss…” He chuckled. “That certainly would’ve been one way to reunite.”
“Yeah,” Poe said, his mouth suddenly very dry. He stood abruptly. “You thirsty? I think I have some—”
“Sit, Poe.”
“Yeah, right,” Poe said, sitting.
The silence was awkward and oppressive.
Finn bunched Poe’s sheets into his hands.
Poe tapped out an irregular rhythm on his leg. Finally, he blurted out, “Did you read the one where you’re a vampire and I’m a werewolf?”
“No,” Finn said. He chuckled. “A vampire?”
Poe laughed. “Yeah. A sexy kriffing vampire.”
“Well,” Finn said, joking. He gestured to himself. “Come on.”
“Yeah,” Poe said, bumping his shoulder into Finn’s.
“You read the one where I’m a Jedi,” Finn asked.
“Kriff,” Poe said. “No.” Poe sulked, “You get to be all the cool stuff.”
Finn laughed. “It’s because I’m a big deal.”
Poe shook his head. “You’d think at least one fic would make me able to fly or give me telepathic powers or something.”
“Awwww, poor Poe,” Finn said, playfully pushing the other man. “You just have to settle for having the prettiest eyes of any being in the galaxy, with these crinkles set next to them that always made a being stop and think about how unfair it is that one being could be so good looking.”
Poe stuttered, “Someone wrote that?”
“Yep.”
“And you memorized it,” Poe asked.
Finn gave a nervous laugh. “It was memorable.” He took a deep breath. “And accurate.”
“It was,” Poe breathed out, turning to face Finn.
It’s now or never. Finn took another deep breath and then, he asked, “Do you like me?”
“Kriff,” Poe breathed out. He was not ready for that.
“Not really the answer I was looking for, but—”
“Yes,” Poe said, far too loudly. “Of course, I like you,” Poe said, reaching for Finn’s hands. “I…I just always figured that you were interested in Rose or Rey.”
“No,” Finn said, smiling and reaching up to brush Poe’s hair off his forehead. “It’s always been you.”
“Kriff,” Poe breathed out.
They stared into each other’s eyes for several moments before Poe said, “Are we gonna…”
“I think so.”
Poe took in a sharp breath. “I’m scared.”
“What? Why?”
“I’ve been reading about our first kiss for three days now. What if it isn’t…” What if I’m not what you expected?
Finn chuckled. “You really think it won’t be as good as the fics?”
“Have you read me in the fics? I’m so kriffing smooth.”
Finn laughed a bit louder. “Yeah, and we’re both sex gods.”
“Well, that part they got right,” Poe joked.
Finn cupped Poe’s cheek, brushing his thumb across it. “We’ll never know until we try.”
“Kriff,” Poe whispered. He closed his eyes and leaned forward…
# # # #
“Hey,” Rose said, two days later as Finn came into her workshop. “How are you? Someone said you were sick?”
Finn chuckled. “More like indisposed for a few days. Had something important to do.” Someone important to do, Finn thought and then tried to ignore the way his cheeks heated up as memories of the past day and a half flooded his brain.
Rose was staring at him, trying to figure out what was so funny.
“Anyway,” Finn said. “I just wanted to say that Poe and I weren’t mad about the…” He nodded at her datapad.
“Oh maker,” Rose said, hugging it to her chest. Her cheeks flushed. “I didn’t mean for you to see that and—”
Finn raised a hand, shaking his head. “No worries, Tico.” He walked over to her and gave her a quick hug. “Everything’s good.” He kissed the top of her head.
“Good,” Rose said. “I just, I can’t imagine how mortifying it would be to find out that your friends were…”
“Writing smut about you?” Finn shrugged, walking towards the door.
“Yeah,” Rose said. She put down the datapad and followed Finn. “Why are you so calm about this? I’d be so embarrassed.”
“Oh, so I take it, you haven’t read any of the fics about you yet?”
Rose squeaked. “Me?”
Finn laughed. “You didn’t think that the fics about me and Poe were the only ones, did you?”
“No,” Rose said, “but…” She looked back over at her datapad.
Finn leaned in. “Go ahead. I won’t tell anyone.” He laughed as he walked out of her workshop.
Rose dashed to her work bench, opening the Force Fictions site and scrolling to the search bar. She yelped when she got the results.
# # # #
Poe was waiting in the hall. “She okay?”
“She’s fine,” Finn said, placing a quick kiss on Poe’s cheek and then wrapping an arm around his waist. “Looking up all the steamy fics that feature her as a protagonist.”
“You’re evil,” Poe said as they started back towards Command.
“Yep, your boyfriend is evil,” Finn said, hugging Poe to him. “An evil Jedi vampire.” Poe laughed. “But,” Finn said, “it serves them right for writing about us.”
“Well,” Poe started. “To be fair…”
“No, Poe, please tell me you didn’t write about us.”
“Not us! But, maybe, from time to time, I might have written a fic or two about the General and Han.”
Finn groaned. “We work with her, Poe! Are you seriously telling me that you can look her in the eye after…”
“Yes,” Poe said, pressing a kiss to Finn’s cheek. “And someday, if you’re lucky I’ll let you read some of it. Maybe it’ll give you some ideas.”
“Oh, I’ve got plenty of ideas,” Finn whispered before quickly nipping at Poe’s ear. “I don’t need fic for that.”
“Just to get up the nerve to tell me how you feel,” Poe said.
“I don’t remember you making the first move, flyboy.”
“Ouch, Finn.” Poe shook his head, playfully clutching his chest. “You wound me, sir.”
“You’ll get over it,” Finn said.
As they rounded the next corner, they let go of each other and stepped apart, suddenly all business. “I’ll see you later, Captain,” Poe said with a nod.
“Yes, you will, Commander,” Finn said with a sharp salute.
As they went their separate directions, the members of the Resistance watching them all thought how sad it was that Finn and Poe just couldn’t seem to make that next move and confess their feelings to one another.
Kaydel sighed and turned to Commander Koo. “Seriously!”
“I know,” Koo said. “It’s like they’re deliberately trying not to see it.”
Finn overheard them and smiled as he walked towards the training rooms. He and Poe had decided to keep their new relationship a secret for at least a few more weeks—until they both finished reading all the Finneron fics up on Force Fictions. As they’d both discovered during their two day “illness,” there were some really creative beings writing fic in the Resistance, and they wanted to make sure they’d sampled all of it before letting everyone in on the big secret.
And sure enough, when Finn snuck into Poe’s bunk later that night, there were two brand new fics about them waiting to be read…