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“Are you sure this is edible?” Poe asked, eyeing the lumpy bit of charred flesh on the stick he was holding. He wasn’t even sure what it was, or what it had been. When it was alive. A rodent of some sort, he assumed. Rey had brought it back just around the time when Poe was wondering what they were going to manage for dinner and he hadn’t asked questions.
Sometimes it was better not to, with Rey, he had realized. No matter how settled she was in the Resistance now, she would never completely stop being that strange feral desert girl, and Poe loved that about her. Even if she scared him a little, honestly. Maybe because she scared him a little.
Rey blew on her own meal and bit into it, answering as she chewed. “I’m sure.”
“You have a strong constitution. Not sure what you can eat won’t kill me.”
She shrugged. “Don’t eat it, then. You’ll be hungry. Don’t complain about it to me.”
“If I die,” Poe said after a moment, “please take care of Beebee-Ate and tell him I love him.” He took a bite, chewed, and swallowed.
“Are you dying?” Rey asked, raising an eyebrow. She had already finished eating.
“Not yet. Could be delayed.”
“I’ll check your pulse when you’re sleeping. To make sure you haven’t died.”
“I appreciate it, babe.” It was definitely the lowest quality barbecue he had ever had, too burnt on the outside and not quite cooked enough on the inside, the unidentifiable alien meat kind of chewy, but it did actually seem edible, and Poe wasn’t going to die from eating it. Probably.
He hoped Rey would be sad if he did, having killed him and all.
“At least I’d make a handsome corpse,” he said, tossing the stick back into the fire. He watched the flames lick at it, the smoke curling upwards into the dark sky.
Rey rolled her eyes. “That’s the important thing.”
“Yep. Well, always figured I’d die young. Just thought it would be in a fiery explosion in my cockpit.”
“I can still arrange that for you. If you want it to look like you died doing something impressive rather than, you know.” She shrugged. “Eating.”
“Aw, you’d do that for me?” Poe knocked his shoulder against Rey’s. “Guess you do love me. Even if you did try to poison me.”
Rey bit her lip and grinned. “Maybe that’s just how I cover it up. Make it look like the First Order got you.”
“Remind me to not get on your bad side. You’re devious.”
“Thought that was why you liked me?”
“Mostly I just like your butt, but sure, whatever.”
She laughed and smacked his arm. “That just makes us even. Literally the only part of you that I like is your butt.”
Poe waggled his eyebrows suggestively, knowing exactly how ridiculous it made him look. “Well, now, I know that’s not true.”
Rey made a face. “I walked right into that, didn’t I?”
“Sure did.” He scooted a little closer to her on the log where they were seated, so he could feel the press of her side against him. “Shouldn’t take too long to fix the ship, then we’ll be out of here. You won’t have many more chances to poison me.”
“I have other ways of dealing with you, don’t worry.”
“Good ways or bad ways? Because sometimes I like it when you deal with me.” Poe couldn’t help smiling at her.
Rey glanced away from him for a second, like his smile was catching and she didn’t want him to have the satisfaction of knowing. “Depends on how annoying you are.”
“Oh, so there’s levels? I might need to experiment.”
“You’ll regret that.”
“Will I, though?”
Losing the battle, Rey just let herself smile. She leaned against Poe, her head tilting towards him. They watched the fire burn, a spot of bright against the darkness, offering a flare of warmth. It wasn’t cold here, exactly, but the night had brought a slight chill, enough that Poe was glad of both the fire and Rey beside him.
Mostly Rey, and for more reasons than just her body heat.
They didn’t get to fly together on missions as often as he might have liked, their roles within the Resistance so different, so he always appreciated the times they did. He wasn’t happy, exactly, that they had needed to make an unexpected stop on this out of the way moon to repair their ship, but he couldn’t say he was sorry about it, either. It meant he got to be stuck alone with Rey for a night and that wasn’t something he was about to complain about.
The data they were bringing back could wait a day more.
“Hey,” he said, drawing circles over Rey’s thigh with his fingertips. “We’ve never done it by the fire before, you know, outside, beneath the stars. Not like there’s anyone here to catch us.”
“Stars,” Rey said, moving back to look at him incredulously. “Is that all you think about?”
He shrugged. “I was thinking about food before. Anyway I definitely think about flying more than sex.”
She giggled and then looked irritated at herself, like she hadn’t mean to laugh. When Poe grabbed her palm and kissed it, she gave him this reluctant smile.
“What level of annoying is this?”
“Acceptable,” Rey admitted, her lips still curving up.
Poe leaned in to kiss her cheek, then dragged his lips across her skin to whisper in her ear about what he would like to do with her. She shivered, clutching his leg in her firm grip.
He pulled back, watching her. He liked the way the shadows cast from the fire played across her skin, the way the flickering light seemed to shine in her eyes.
Rey kissed his mouth. “Okay,” she said, her breath on his skin. “You’ve convinced me.”
“Uh huh,” Poe said, laughing, and kissed her again. “And you’ll try to poison me again in the morning?”
“Most likely,” Rey agreed, and slid into Poe’s lap, wrapping her legs around him to get as close as she could, her chest pressed against his.
“Mmm, okay,” Poe hummed, “just so I know,” and slid his hands down her back, kissing her deep beneath the stars.