Chapter Text
Poe tries to ignore the two intimidating bodyguards that eye him through blackened sunglasses as they hang protectively near the jet black car that shines with the glinting lights of the nearby buildings and the bright headlights from passing cars. But there is that snarky, sarcastic part of him that wants to ask them why they need sunglasses at night.
“I’m not asking for your entire life’s fortune,” he continues his plea as his feet scramble to keep up with his fast walking counterpart. “Fuck, I’m not even trying to blackmail you or anything, really.”
“Oh,” the younger man in the navy blue pressed suit snorts in disbelief as he steps up beside the shiny black car, one of the black suited bodyguards moving to open the door for him. “I find that hard to believe, Poe. Especially when this sounds suspiciously to be exactly something of that nature.”
Poe tries to take a deep, steady breath, but it comes out shaking with a combination of stress and irritation.
“Look, I don’t even have any proof that we were together,” he promises as the door to the car slams closed, but the tinted window thankfully rolls down just a few inches. “I’m not trying to threaten you, I’m not trying to… I don’t know, ruin your public image, or whatever… I just really could use a bit of help, and I thought-”
“You have a job, Poe,” the man in the car points out, leaning forward a bit towards the open window. “And you’re three years older than me. It’s degrading for you to be asking for money from an ex lover, do you realize that?”
Poe can’t say the words surprise him, but he still feels the need to receive official verification.
“Ex?” he asks, attempting to make his tone sound more confirming than questioning.
The man inside the car gives a half sigh, his eyes drooping slightly as he looks upon Poe, as if he were looking at the most pathetic thing he had ever laid eyes on.
“Yes, ex,” he replies. “I made it clear to you from the very beginning that this wasn’t going to be something long lasting.”
“You did,” Poe nods, his hands going to his hips as he stares consideringly down at the dampened cement of the sidewalk. “I just thought you’d be able to last more than two weeks.”
The man rolls his eyes, leaning back into the seat of the car.
“Goodbye, Poe,” he speaks in a short, emotionless note as he stares straight ahead. “Please don’t contact me again, or I will be forced to inform the police.”
The sound of the window rolling up causes Poe to finally snap his gaze back up to the car. Something clicks in him, and he takes two quick steps forward.
He doesn’t know why. What is he planning to do, rip the door open and get in the car? Drag the man out? Beg one last time for a couple hundred dollars to pay this month’s rent? Or perhaps he just wants to get one last look at the young millionaire’s handsome face that had called out to him from across the restaurant a couple weeks ago. Another handsome face content with leaving him behind.
His sudden movement toward the car is apparently too violent, because the next thing Poe knows, one of the bodyguards is grabbing him by the jacket and tossing him several feet back, landing him painfully on his back and tailbone atop of the ice cold pavement that splashes slightly from the remaining puddles left over from today's rain spell.
Groaning at the pain that shoots through his spine and his elbows, Poe pushes himself up to a sitting position as he watches the fancy black car zoom off into the busy city streets, looking like a frightened animal rushing to hide among a crowd to get out of sight of its predator.
He sits there on the sidewalk for a little while, staring off to where the car had disappeared. He is only vaguely aware of the various pedestrians slowing their pace and staring at him with concern as he continues to sit here. He pays little mind to what people think of him when he’s in a situation such as this. He’s been in them too many times to care. And he knows no one is going to offer help anyway.
Shaking himself off, he finally rises to his feet, feeling only a small bite of loss at the end of his eighth or ninth relationship, but more bitter at the loss of a possible five hundred dollars to help pay his rent. What is five hundred dollars to a millionaire anyway?
Not bothering to gather up his dignity, Poe simply walks off down the street in the direction of his apartment building, once again not bothering with a taxi tonight. He needs to save every penny now, apparently.
As it turns out, walking in the crisp cold air is enough to set his spirits a little higher than they had been before. Being denied money certainly isn’t new to him, and being thrown on his ass is far from the worst it can get. At least this time he didn’t get punched in the face.
* * *
“How many times do I have to say it, Kylo?” Finn groans as he pulls his shoes on while sitting on the couch, calling back to where his roommate is clanging around in the kitchen to try and prepare his lunch for the day. The man is so forgetful that he is always running at the last minute.
“You can keep saying it a million times if you wish,” Kylo calls back to him through the commotion of plates and tupperware and pans. “It won’t change the fact that I will be getting you a date for this weekend.”
Finn rolls his eyes as his boot covered feet now drop heavily against the rug.
“You know, I’m not the only one in this apartment who is single,” he reminds him. “I don’t know why you seem to be so adamant that I get a date.”
“Because I’m not the one who’s been complaining about it for five months!” Kylo hollars back as Finn stands up from the couch and grabs the tattered backpack he’s had for far too long.
He knew it. He knew he should have just kept his mouth shut. Not that Kylo Ren has ever been the type to jump up and try to find a solution to everything, but maybe this time he felt obligated.
“Everyone complains, Kylo,” he says quietly as the taller man stumbles out of the kitchen, nearly tripping over his feet as he runs into the living room to gather his things and shove his thrown together lunch into his bag. His roommate never has been too graceful.
“Yes, but you’re different,” Kylo insists, throwing his bag over his shoulder and running a quick hand through his tousled hair before turning to look back at Finn. “You are depressed.”
“No way,” Finn quickly denies as the two of them head out the door and into the hallway.
“Oh yes,” Kylo insists, turning and locking the door behind them. “You mope around all day, you always say how bored you are, you get all jealous when those commercials of the people finding each other at airports come on…”
“I do not!” Finn argues, his voice a bit louder than necessary and echoing slightly through the building.
“Why are you so against this?” Kylo asks as they walk down the first flight of stairs and through the short hallway past the mailboxes and towards the front doors of the building. He gestures at the various brown and red leafed garlands and dull orange pumpkins decorating the lobby. “It’s the holiday season! Isn’t that supposed to be the most romantic time of the year?”
“Well I don’t see you rushing to meet your true love,” Finn points out as they walk past the threshold and into the crisp, chilly morning air.
“I’m too busy to date,” Kylo answers simply as the two of them walk briskly down to the bus stop at the end of the street. “I have a full time job at a business firm. You split your time between four hours at a dead end internship and five hours at… Schlunkel.”
“Sunkel,” Finn corrects him on the name of the clothing store he works part time at. “Look, I pay… almost half the rent.”
“I’m not suggesting your career endeavors are problematic to your income,” Kylo assures him as they step at the corner of the street, both of them choosing, as always, not to sit on the rusty, ice cold, gum-covered bench at the bus stop. “But if I had to spend every week sharing my time between sitting at a desk and filing and working retail at Slungel, I’d be pretty depressed too.”
Not bothering to correct him again on the clothing store name, Finn crosses his arms against the cold and leans against the side of the overhang that poorly shields the bench from the outside elements.
He knows there is no way he’s going to talk Kylo out of this now. And to be quite honest, it is entirely possible that his lack of recreational human interaction could very well be contributing to how shitty he’s been feeling lately and probably the reason he spends the entirety of his weekends not setting a foot outside the apartment. Sometimes not even off the couch.
But Lord, he can’t think of anything more awkward and intimidating than a blind date set up by his rather antisocial roommate of all people.
The creak of the large bus parking in front of them and the sharp hiss of the doors opening snap him out of his thoughts, and he follows Kylo up the steps and onto the crowded bus.
By far the most amusing thing Finn has learned about traveling by bus since moving into the city, is that the bus is always full to bursting on Mondays and Tuesdays, half full on Wednesdays, dwindling on Thursdays, and nearly completely empty on Fridays. Kylo had said it was because people are less and less inspired to return to work as the week goes on, which Finn has always found to be an amusing thought whether or not it’s true.
“Just be thankful I’m doing it this way for you,” Kylo says to him as they shove themselves uncomfortably into the mass of people while the doors close and the bus starts to move. “I could be a complete dick and set you up an online dating portrait. Or whatever those are called.”
“Profile?”
“Yeah, that.”
“I would murder you.”
“I know. That’s why I’m doing this the old fashioned way.”
“You’re being an asshole the old fashioned way.”
Kylo just shrugs, his gaze staring out at the sea of people keeping to themselves, quietly sitting or standing on the bus.
“Whatever you want to call it,” he answers. “But you’re doing it. Mostly because it would be nice to finally have the place to myself for one Saturday night.”
Finn rolls his eyes again, but smiles to himself as well.
Kylo likes to pretend he doesn’t really care about much aside from himself, but he’s failed every time so far when trying to convince anyone of it.