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Rey stares out the window in wonder, face practically glued to the glass. Outside, the rain pours from the sky in buckets. It patters against the window, drops sliding down the glass to the ground. It’s mesmerizing.
A hand touches her shoulder. Rey yelps, startled. When she spins around Poe is holding up both his hands, palms facing her. He looks surprised, but bemused.
“Woah! Didn’t mean to scare you.”
Rey lets her shoulders relax and rolls her eyes with an exasperated smile. She turns back to the window. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Poe walk up beside her, bend down slightly so his head is level with hers, and gaze out the window too.
“How long have you been standing here?” He asks.
“A while.” A beat. “I didn’t know it could rain so much all at once.”
She flicks a glance at Poe, sees his brows raise in amusement.
“Oh, yeah? You don't get this on Jakku?"
“Asshole.” She puts her hand on his shoulder and shoves him. He grins at her before turning back to the window.
"It’s nothing compared to Yavin 4. During the rainy season you can’t leave your house for even a second before you’re soaked to the bone.”
"Really?"
"Yeah, me and Ben—” He clears his throat, eyes flicking downward for a second. “—Me and Ben used to spend hours playing in the rain. Didn’t come back inside until our teeth were chattering so hard we could barely speak."
Rey looks at the older man, a wistful look on his face as he gazes out. She tries to imagine a younger, smaller Poe playing with a younger, smaller Ben. Spending their days together on the tropical planet, laughing together, being friends. She tries to imagine a Ben Poe could be friends with. A Ben who was still a good person.
She thinks she would have liked to have known this Ben.
"That sounds nice," she says.
A faint smile spreads over his face. "Yeah. Leia wasn't too happy when we came dripping water on her floor, though."
Rey snorts.
The two share a look, playful twinkles in their eyes. Then wordlessly bolt from the window, sprinting through the halls of the Resistance, grins plastered on their faces. Rey’s garb swooshing after her. Other Resistance members quickly scoot away from their path, plastering themselves against the walls to give the two space as they zoom past.
The rain is much louder outside than inside. No one else is outside, the rest of the Resistance having opted to seek shelter inside. It’s just her, Poe and Finn, standing under a little stretch of roof over the entrance.
She feels a gentle shove. When she turns Poe is watching her, brows raised inquisitively. Finn stands behind him, peeking over his shoulder. Waiting. For her. Rey braces herself, squares her shoulders, and steps forward.
The rain is colder than she expected, droplets splashing against her skin lightly. She looks up and several more droplets hit her face, narrowly missing her eyes. Her face breaks into a wide smile as she looks back at her friends. They smile back at her fondly.
Then Poe kicks his foot into a puddle on the ground, water splashing against her leg. Rey shrieks and jumps and Poe laughs at her, but Rey’s laughing too. And so is Finn.
They must have stepped into the rain right after her because Poe’s hair is already dripping wet. He rakes his fingers through it and pushes it away from his face. They both grin at her and Rey can’t help but feel like they’re being incredibly childish right now, standing outside in pouring rain with the intention to get as soaked as possible. But at the same time, she doesn’t care if it’s childish.
Rey kicks at the same puddle, splashing water on Poe’s pants and then runs for it. She hears him yelp and then come bolting after her. Revenge is sweet , she thinks to herself, but not in a malicious way that would have Luke Skywalker chastising her about giving into the dark side, because she’s laughing and Poe is laughing too as he yells that she’s going to regret that.
And then Finn runs into a tree with enough force to shake it, sending water cascading from the leaves over the both of them. He looks proud of himself until they both decide to run at him. He barely makes it a few steps before they’re both barrelling into him and he topples over into a large puddle, them on top of him. Finn wrestles them off him and they both fall into the puddle too.
Her hair is soaked and loose strands are plastered to her forehead. She thinks her hairdo is starting to fall out too and her clothes are sopping wet, clinging to her skin. She thinks parts may have gone see-through from the water, but she has half a mind to care about it right now.
Both Finn and Poe’s clothes are soaked through as well, wet material clinging to their limbs. Poe’s hair is plastered across his forehead, some locks almost going over his eyes. Water drips from them and onto his face. His nose is red from the cold and his cheeks flushed. She imagines she must be in a similar state herself.
“You look like a wet Wookiee,” she tells him and he splashes water in her face.
It’s a bit cold, but they never stop moving, running around and throwing themselves at each other so she hardly feels it. Besides, they’re all laughing so hard their bellies hurt and Finn doesn’t look so worried anymore, and Poe seems lighter, and Rey can’t remember the last time she laughed this much.
They keep at it for a good while. Taking turns dunking each other in freezing cold water. At one point she uses the force to splash a sizable amount of water at Poe, to which he exclaims, “That’s cheating!” and pushes her into a puddle. She drags him with her and they wrestle to keep the other on the ground for a while before Finn finds a bucket someone left lying around and showers them both in a healthy amount of rain-water.
They both shriek, high pitched and startled, and Rey thinks she might have heard Poe’s voice crack.
Rey has no idea how long they stay out there, but it feels like hardly any time at all. It’s only when they stop to catch their breaths that they notice Leia standing under the roof by the door. She watches them with an amused expression, taking in their messy looks.
“General!” Poe exclaims with a smile. “Lovely weather we’re having today.”
Leia rolls her eyes fondly. “Get inside before you catch something.”
Finn and Poe scramble to their feet and the three of them rush inside after Leia. They do their best to wring the water out of their clothes, but it does little to help. It’s only when they’re inside that she notices how cold she really is, Finn and Poe must too because they wrap their arms around themselves and hold themselves stiffly as they follow the older woman, dripping water onto the floor.
Their teeth are chattering and Rey thinks about Ben and Poe, small and freezing as they come back inside for warmth. Something pleasant blooms in her chest when Poe glances at her, a small smile on his face.
Leia mutters words Rey is too giddy to listen to, and Poe answers her with an all too pleased smile on himself as they bicker. Like they always do. “You’re a bad influence,” she hears Leia tell Poe and Poe looks dramatically offended.
She shares a look with Finn who smiles and shakes his head. Whatever Poe says next fades into the background. Outside, the rain continues to pour down.
It was worth it, Rey decides. even if she does get sick. Even Finn and Poe don’t seem to regret it, despite the fact that they keep shivering violently and their teeth chatter in tandem with the raindrops hitting the roof of the base.
Rey decides she quite likes the rain. Hopefully Poe will take them to Yavin 4 after the First Order is defeated and she can experience the rainy season there, like he talked about. That would be nice, she thinks.