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The debrief was perhaps one of the more quicker ones Black Squadron had ever had, considering the ungodly hour they arrived back on base and that the mission had gone as planned. It was a long and tedious deployment, but amazingly, there were no glitches, no nasty surprises. A rare occurrence for Black Squadron missions, but Black Leader Poe Dameron was not complaining. He already felt that they’ve been gone for too long, and he’s never more glad to be back on base finally. He sat through the debrief impatiently, knowing that it was the one last task he needed to do before he could finally be where he wanted to be.
Poe was a bit miffed earlier when the debrief was slightly delayed because the General was in the midst of a holo-conference with Force-knows-who. He knew his impatience was getting the better of him, with Leia working seemingly tirelessly to infuse new life to the Resistance. The unexpected downtime allowed him to shed off his flight suit and hit the showers, the warm water washing away some of the weariness of the two and a half week mission but not really doing much for his anxiety. He and Black Squadron had been away for a little over a fortnight, the first mission of their team since he had gotten back from a mission with Rey. That particular mission with her was a life-defining experience for him, and he had been sent away almost immediately after they got back, way before he even had time to process much of what happened.
Compared to the just concluded mission, that mission with Rey was much longer, much more complicated and had all sorts of glitches. The constant need to be on guard was mentally taxing, and they both had to dig deep to deal with all the curve balls thrown their way. Nevertheless, the surprises weren’t all nasty. The thing with missions like that, is that they practically spent every minute together. Which led to talking about practically everything, and discovering things about the other. Things that they would very likely not talk about in casual conversation on base, things that tend to change relationships. It did not take long for Poe to realize that they were threading dangerous waters, he knew he was perilously close to falling into something he had been hoping for but at the same time was terrified of. His uncertainty of how Rey felt held him back, but halfway through the mission, an unguarded moment led to him overcoming his nerves. He braced himself for the death blow from her, and after what felt like eternity, the brightest smile lit her face, and he knew he just became the luckiest man in the galaxy.
It was a tough mission, hits threatening their burgeoning relationship more than once. By the time they accomplished their objectives, they have weathered through enough to convince both of them that what they have was something real and worth fighting for. Poe had been half-scared that when they got back to base, everything will change back to how they were before the mission. He thanked all his lucky stars that his fears were unfounded; if anything, it had been easier for them once they got back, because much to their surprise, no one seemed to actually be surprised that they had gotten together – everyone apparently had been expecting it, and that it was a matter of when, not if.
Then the mission with Black Squadron came up out of the blue, just as they were settling back to life on base. He was never one to turn down calls for duty, but he found himself desperately wishing he didn’t have to go. He thought he and Rey would finally have some time to spend together without the constant threat to their lives and safety looming over them. That’ll have to wait though, and Poe left with a seed of anxiety in his belly that seemed to grow the longer he was away. For much of their mission, he found himself wondering if Rey believed him when he promised he would be back, truly believed the words he whispered in her ear just minutes before he left. He spent much of the past two weeks hoping desperately that she wouldn’t think he was using the mission as an excuse for getting cold feet or running away from this thing they both agreed to embark on together. He was afraid Rey’s past will make it all too easy for her to doubt his words and see his decision to accept the mission as him changing his mind about them.
Now that the mission’s finally officially wrapped up, he found himself quite unsure what to do next. When Black Squadron touched down, all he wanted to do was to go to her, and now that he was finally free to do so, he was gripped by a wave of uncertainty. He knew that she most likely was not aware that they were back, and the timing was not exactly ideal. It was too late for anyone not on duty to still be awake, and too early to be up. When he reached the T-junction on the corridors, he stopped dead on his tracks, causing BB-8, who had been rolling quietly behind his heels, to run smack into him.
“Sorry, buddy,” Poe apologized. BB-8 trained his optic sensor to his master, silently asking why. Putting his hands on his hips, Poe looked to his right first, where Rey’s quarters were, then to his left, where his quarters were. With a sigh, he turned back to his faithful astromech. “What do you think, do we go and see Rey now, or do we wait ‘til the morning?”
With a cheery thrill, the droid promptly turned right. Taking a deep breath, Poe started following him, silently berating himself for being the bundle of nerves that he was. He didn’t need to tell his droid which door was Rey’s, BB-8 spent enough time with her to know where her room was. Poe knocked and waited a few moments for any answer from inside. He knocked again, waited some more, still no answer. Turning to his droid, Poe nodded to the direction of their quarters. “Looks like we’ll have to wait ‘til morning, buddy.”
Before he could take a step away, the droid had one of his appendages locking onto the door’s control panel. A few quick turns had the door sliding silently open. Poe raised his eyebrow to his droid, who seemed to purposely refused to train his optic sensor to meet his master’s eyes. Without waiting for the pilot, the astromech rolled into Rey’s room.
“BB-8!” Poe whispered urgently, rooted to the spot where he stood in her doorway. “We can’t just barge into her room like this! Come back here!”
The droid seemed to have conveniently forgotten that he was programmed to follow his master’s commands. He stopped midway between the door and the bed, and Poe couldn’t help but let his eyes move past his droid to the bed. The light from the corridor poorly illuminated the bunk, just enough that he could faintly see Rey’s sleeping form. He smiled when he saw how she was curled up, reminding him of how she would always cuddle close to him during their time away. His eyes followed her arm, remembering how it felt to have it resting lightly on his shoulder with her hand reaching his nape and her fingers buried in his hair. It was much like how her arm was laying over…his heart nearly stopped when he realized Rey was curled against someone covered by the blankets. The dimness of the room made it difficult to see clearly, but the shape under the blankets suspiciously looked like a person. Suddenly, Poe felt as if he was drowning.
Before he could turn on his heels and leave, Rey stirred and opened her eyes. Poe wanted to bolt before she saw him, but his limbs felt like lead. He was unaware that his smile had slipped off, and that his face looked stormy as he struggled to quash the unpleasant wave of emotions that threaten to surface. He felt detached from his body as he watched Rey fully wake and casually throw the covers back, hopping off the bed and falling to a squat before BB-8, who returned her greeting cheerily. She then looked up from the droid, beaming as she trained her eyes to Poe. It brought Poe back to their first meeting at the Falcon.
“Poe!” She practically flew to him, as if she was going to launch herself on him. However, she abruptly stopped when she was toe to toe with him, and Poe could only stand there with his arms hanging limply on his sides. Rey’s happy smile was quickly replaced with a concerned frown. “Poe, what’s wrong? What happened?”
“I’m sorry we disturbed you.” Poe closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, struggling for control. When he opened them again, he found that he could move again. He took a step back and was about to turn and walk away, but Rey reached out to lay her hand on his arm.
“Poe.” Something in Rey’s tone made him pause, and even if he was crumbling inside, he found himself unable to stop his eyes from seeking hers.
“I’m sorry we disturbed you,” Poe repeated curtly. “You should go back to bed.”
She gave him a concerned look. “Are you sure you’re okay? You just got back, didn’t you? What happened?”
Poe knew he should walk away before he said something he’d regret. However, despite all of the times he’s been rendered speechless around Rey, he couldn’t hold back the words right then. “No, I don’t think I’m okay. Yes, I just got back. I’m not quite sure what happened, but I think, this,” he made a gesture towards her bed. “I think this is pretty much what I have been stressing about since leaving for the mission.”
Rey continued to look perplexed. “You were stressing about me sleeping?”
“No,” he shook his head. The words wouldn’t stop. “I didn’t want to leave, I didn’t want to go on that mission, even if it was with Black Squadron. The timing sucked, but I knew it was my duty to go. I didn’t want to leave things hanging between us, but that was probably exactly what I did, and although I’m not happy to find this, I do realize we haven’t properly talked about us before I had to go.”
“I thought we were quite clear about that,” Rey frowned. “We did talk, we talked plenty before we even got back. I…I thought you were…I was…you told me how you felt about me, and I told you how I feel about you, I thought we had that established before we even decided to go back. Before you left, you promised you’d be back, and I believed you. And so here we are.”
“That’s what I thought, too, but…”Poe shrugged hopelessly. He gestured to the bed again. “What is this? Or maybe I should ask who is this?”
“What? Who?” Rey seemed to be getting more and more confused. She looked back to her bed, then as she was turning her head back to Poe, she suddenly looked back at the bed again. She stared at the bed for a few moments, then turned back him. It looked like she was trying very hard not to laugh.
“I don’t think it’s funny, Rey.”
“I do,” Rey smirked, the confused look gone. She reached out and grabbed his hand. “Let me make it clearer, then. Come on, I’ll introduce you.”
“I…you…don’t really have to,” Poe said haltingly, not really feeling ready to meet who managed to get the girl while he was away. However, his traitorous body allowed Rey to pull him inside her room and towards her bed.
“I have to, wipe that frown off your face,” Rey replied, leaning to grasp the blanket on her bed. Without letting go of his hand, she pulled away the blankets, revealing who she had been sleeping next to.
Poe felt his face go on fire when he saw who, or rather, what was under the covers. “Pillows?”
“Pillows.” Rey looked at him in amusement. “If you look closer, you might recognize them.”
“Kriffing hells, those are MY pillows,” Poe remarked weakly, feeling very foolish and mightily glad that Rey had not gotten angry. He looked at her apologetically. “I’m an idiot. How are you not mad at me?”
“Because you looked absolutely devastated,” Rey replied. “Serves you right for thinking I'd do something like that to you."
"I'm so sorry," Poe hung his head. "I'm really still finding it unbelievable that an incredible person like you..."
"Yeah, and that's the only reason why I'm not angry at you," Rey interrupted. It wasn't the first time Poe had expressed his amazement that with her feelings for him. She gave him a stern look. "But I will be upset if you’ll continue to stand there and not give me a proper greeting.”
“I definitely wouldn't want you to be,” Poe said, using their clasped hands to pull her closer, saying a silent prayer of thanks to all deities that his mistake hadn't made things spiral out of control. When she was close enough, he let go of her hand and wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing her even closer. His free hand went up to brush her hair from her face, before cupping her cheek. As she leaned into his palm, his thumb stroked her cheek tenderly. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” Rey whispered. “That was why I got your pillows.”
“Those kriffing pillows nearly killed me tonight,” Poe winced, making Rey roll her eyes. “Do you mind if I take their place tonight? It will be kinda hard to sleep in my bunk without the blasted pillows.”
“I’m now awfully close to getting upset with you, Commander,” Rey warned. “And stop swearing at your pillows. They were actually pretty good pillows, I’ve actually gotten quite fond of them.”
“Right, you’re calling me by my rank now and defending my pillows,” Poe murmured as he began to close the distance between them. He felt rather than heard Rey sigh as his lips started getting reacquainted with hers. He was determined to make up for his blunder tonight, to let her know how much he missed her, and she seemed just as eager to let him. It wasn’t long before they were both on her bunk. With the pillows occupying half of her bunk, there wasn’t much room for them, not that either minded being crammed into such a small space. They continued making out until Poe pulled away.
“Sorry, I’m about to fall out,” he apologized. He reached over Rey and grabbed the closest pillow. Without looking behind him, he threw it off the bed and reached out for the next pillow. One of the pillows might’ve come close to hitting BB-8, who had remained at the center of the room, because the droid suddenly emitted a shrill beep. As Rey moved to the space previously occupied by the pillows, Poe glanced at BB-8 before adjusting his position on the bed. “Sorry, buddy.”
“BeeBee, why don’t you close the door and start recharging?” Rey called out softly from Poe’s side. The astromech cheerily beeped affirmative and promptly heeded her words. As the room darkened with BB-8 closing the door and powering down, Poe raised himself on one of his elbows, hovering over Rey. She reached up and carded her fingers through his hair. “You’re here. You’re really back.”
He felt her arms go around him, and as he let himself get drawn into her embrace, he found himself affirming what she just said. “Yes, I’m really back, just like I promised. I know I acted like an idiot tonight, but I hope you’ll still have me.”
“You’re my idiot,” Rey said fondly as Poe started to lean in for another kiss. He stopped abruptly, dipping his head in an almost bashful manner as a chuckle escaped him. She joined his laughter as he dropped back down to her side. As their laughs subsided, the amused expression on his face was replaced by a tender one. Rey sidled against him, sighing happily as they both adjusted to a familiar cuddling position. “As much as I’ve grown to love those pillows, I love the idiot who sleeps on them so much more.”
“You just called me idiot twice in less than five minutes,” Poe pointed out, not looking a bit offended. He kissed the top of her head. “But I guess I deserved that.”
“Mmmm,” Rey nodded sleepily, her arm coming up to rest on his shoulder, with her hand on his nape and her fingers buried in his hair. “I also just did tell you that I love you.”
Poe tightened his embrace and kissed her crown once more. “I know.”