Work Text:
Poe should know better by now that there’s no such thing as an easy mission.
He’s been chased out of the air by a tie fighter, and basically forced to crash land on a nearby planet to avoid absolute annihilation. Thankfully, they seem more preoccupied with guarding whatever it is than checking to make sure he died. This is definitely something they are going to have to check out later, but for now, he’s focusing on any damage that’s been sustained to his ship. Anything that is damaged - mostly just burn marks against the hull - is fixable or isn’t bad enough to keep him grounded.
However, he can’t exactly say he’s ready to get back in the air quite yet. Just because the tie fighters didn’t follow him to the planet’s surface doesn’t mean they aren’t waiting for him. Instead, he clips a blaster to his belt and sets off, trudging through the foliage. He knows where he is - he purposely steered his ship to set down on Endor - and hopes that the inhabitants are as friendly as his mother’s stories made them out to be.
It’s about half an hour before he comes into contact with anyone, and he’s only alerted to the Ewok’s presence by its squeal of alarm. He jumps back, stumbling in the thick undergrowth, and ends up on his backside. The Ewok seems equally hesitant, but when he doesn’t move, it sniffs at him, unimpressed. After a few moments, it deems him uninteresting and shuffles past him, determined to get somewhere else. It’s the best lead he has, so Poe slowly pushes himself to his feet and follows after it. It’s smaller than he remembered them being in the stories, as it only comes up to about his knee, but it’s his first experience with the little creatures and maybe he just remembered wrong.
The Ewok stops at the base of a tree and looks up at the little fruits hanging down from it. This is not where Poe thought they would be going. He sighs, trying not to be disappointed. He had hoped that this little creature would lead him to the Ewok village where he could lay low for a bit and maybe get some food before he chanced leaving the atmosphere. He eyes the Ewok, who seems to have little success with actually reaching any of the fruits and it makes Poe smile.
“Here, little guy,” Poe says, plucking one of the fruits from the tree and squatting down, holding it out for it to take.
The Ewok eyes him curiously. It makes a few noises, nothing that Poe could understand, but slowly inches closer.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Poe promises, despite the fact that he’s pretty sure it can’t understand him.
The lure of the fruit must outweigh any fear the Ewok has of him because it reaches out and snatches the fruit from his hand, immediately shoving it in its mouth. It makes a few more noises, one’s which Poe interprets as delight, and the fruit is gone in just a few seconds. It backs away from him when he stands, but Poe picks more of the fruit, gathering 4 or 5 in his hands, and the Ewok seems excited.
“Will you help me out?” He asks the Ewok, giving it another piece. “I’m kinda stranded here for the next little bit and I can’t get any signal out over the trees.”
The Ewok stares at him, and Poe hands over another fruit.
“I’m running late for my next check-in, and I don’t want anyone to worry. The General-“ Poe cuts himself off, staring at the creative contemplatively. “I guess you might know her as Princess Leia.”
The Ewok makes a little noise and looks up from its snack.
“Did you understand that? You know Leia? Princess Leia?”
The Ewok makes the noise again.
“Huh,” Poe says, rocking back onto his heels. “Well, I’m with her. I’m her friend. Do you think you could help me out?”
He isn’t actually sure whether the Ewok understood what he was saying or is just excited that he is tall enough to reach the fruit, but he follows it as motions for him to come and disappears in the undergrowth. He’s a little turned around by the time they reach their destination, but any worry about being able to find his ship again is out of his mind as he stops to take in the sight of the Ewok Village. It’s even more spectacular than anything he could’ve imagined as a kid, and he just stands there for a moment to soak it all in. He feels weirdly giddy, until the Ewok from earlier squeaks, getting his attention.
What he hadn’t considered was that just because one of them liked him, doesn’t mean the rest of them well. His awe-filled staring is replaced with a face full of spears. The Ewok from earlier is grunting something at the rest of them, and Poe realizes that he was right. The Ewoks here are taller, reaching about waist height, and so Poe must have been hanging around with a child. Just his luck. The older Ewoks shake their spears at him, and he holds up his hands to the best of his ability as they are still full of the pieces of fruit.
“I’m a friend of Princess Leia.” He says again, seeing as it seemed to work out for him before.
The Ewoks make that same noise again, so he continues talking.
“I’m stranded here for a bit, but I’ll leave as soon as I can.” He pauses for a second, unsure of what else to do. “Uh, here.” He reaches out and sticks one of the fruits onto the end of the spear in front of him, before raising his hands again. “I come in peace.”
The Ewoks chatter amongst themselves and inspect the piece of fruit. Eventually, the spears are lowered and one of them steps out in front. It chitters at him and starts to walk away, so Poe chases after it. The young Ewok from earlier has disappeared into the crowd, and Poe just hopes he isn’t going to get in trouble for interacting with it. The adult Ewok leads him through the treetops, helping him navigate through the wooden platforms and across the shaky bridges. He has to duck to get inside the little huts, but for the most part, their village is pretty human-friendly. He’s brought to what he assumes is the leader of the Ewoks, and has to crouch down again to fit inside the little room. He dips his head in respect to the leader Ewok, whose fur is graying with age and the Ewok who brought him there makes the noise Poe has started to assume means “Leia” in their language.
The Elder Ewok looks at him differently now, and Poe thinks he might look a little stupid holding the fruits still. He wonders if it would be offensive to offer it to the Elder, and doesn’t want to mess up any progress he’s made so far. The two Ewoks talk among themselves and Poe figures he might get comfortable, so he shifts into a sitting position, placing the fruit on the ground next to him. He still isn’t quite sure what is happening, but no one has shoved any more spears in his face or thrown him off the side of the platforms, so he figures he’ll be alright. He hadn’t quite realized how much time has passed until it starts to get dark, and the Ewoks bustled around their village, lighting little fires to see again. His stomach growls and it draws the attention of the two Ewoks, who stare at him.
“Sorry.” He says, feeling the need to apologize, even if they can’t understand him. “Hungry.”
He decides to chance it with fruit on the floor and takes a bite. It’s sweet and tastes good, but it does little to fill him up. This seems to make sense to them, and he’s left alone with the Elder while the other Ewok hurries out of the room. It comes back with a huge bowl of food, most of which Poe doesn’t recognize, and the Ewok places it between them. He reaches out to grab a piece, but the Elder goes to grab something at the same time and Poe pulls his hand back as if he’s been burned, dropping the food in his hand back into the bowl. He isn’t sure about Ewok customs, but he’s not about to steal the food of his host, regardless of how hungry he is.
The Elder makes a noise that sounds somewhere before confused and amused and holds out the food piece he had dropped. When Poe doesn’t take it, the Elder makes the “Leia” noise again, followed by a different sound. Poe isn’t quite sure what that is supposed to mean, but takes the food piece and holds it in his hand. The Elder takes a different piece and holds it up slightly, before putting it in its mouth, as if demonstrating to Poe how to eat. He takes this as a sign that he’s allowed to eat it, and takes a bite as well. It’s a little while later that Poe realizes that maybe sharing the food is a sign of trust and solidarity, and dips his head to the Elder again, thanking him.
Once the meal is over Poe is led from the Elder’s hut to a different one nearby, where a blanket has been laid on the floor. He’s left alone in the small, one-roomed hut but the Ewok doesn’t stray too far, seeming to stand guard outside. Poe finds that he’s too tired to really care, and curls up on the small patch of fabric. It isn’t the most comfortable, but he’s definitely had worse, so with a full stomach and the adrenaline of the day wearing off, he finds it relatively easy to fall asleep.
The sunlight streaming in through the window wakes him in the morning, and it takes a second for him to remember where he is. He realizes that he forgot to comm home base last night, and searches around in his pocket for the little device. He finds it and is relieved that this high up the trees doesn’t block the signal, but isn’t actually able to make a report because an Ewok comes inside just then. It makes the same noise the Elder had last night, the “Leia” noise followed by the same sound, and heads for the door, expecting for him to follow it. He does, stretching once he exits the small hut, and is led to a large platform where a bunch of Ewoks are crowded around something. He cranes his neck to see what it is and realizes that it’s another one of those big bowls of food. All meals must be communal then. This time he feels less bad about reaching in alongside the Ewoks and grabbing something for himself to eat.
The more Ewoks that spot him, the more the “Leia” noise followed by that sound is made, and he thinks that it’s what they’re calling him. He isn’t sure if human vocal cords can make the same noises, but he tries out his name, and the Ewoks around him get excited. It didn’t sound quite the same, but they seem happy with his attempt anyway, and he makes the noise again. He’s accidentally made himself the center of attention as the Ewoks start to focus more on him than the meal. Some of the braver ones poke at him, pull on his shirt, or tug at his hair. He’s starting to feel a little trapped when the Ewok that has been leading him around screeches at them and they back away.
“Thank you,” He says to the Ewok, feeling relieved and guilty at the same time.
Things go pretty much back to normal as the crowd focuses back on the bowls of food and leaves him where he sits off to the side. He spends more time than he means to just watch them but soon starts to scan around the wooden platforms, trying to remember the route they took to get here. If he could retrace their steps from last night, he could get back to the forest floor and back to his ship. Enough time should’ve passed that the tie fighters would be gone.
He’s broken out of his thoughts by the sound of a horn, and all of the activity on the platform stops. Ewoks pop out from all over the place, and everyone is silent, waiting on something. Poe isn’t sure what, until he sees the Elder Ewok coming toward them. He’s holding something shiny and metallic, but it’s too far away for him to identify what it is. The Elder says some things, and Poe recognizes the noise he’s begun to associate with himself and suddenly he has a bad feeling about this. The crowd parts for Elder, who walks towards him with the object in hand, and Poe weighs the pros and cons of throwing himself off the side of the platform. Once the Elder gets closer, however, he realizes that the object isn’t meant to hurt him. It looks a little like a crown, to be honest, and Poe wonders if there has been some miscommunication with the whole “princess” part of things when referring to Leia.
Poe takes the crown into his hands anyway, looking over it. It appears to be made from various scrap metals, some dull from wear and others shiny like jewels. It’s weirdly pretty, in its own unique way, and the Elder motions towards his head, as if Poe didn’t understand. Poe places the crown gently on his head and the crowd roars. He tips his head in thanks again, and the Elder says a few more things before the music starts. They’re throwing a party, Poe concludes, and the entire place seems to come alive.
It’s nice, but Poe has already been here way longer than he intended so he starts to back further and further away from the celebration. It’s hard for him to sneak around, he’s too tall to blend in, but if he moves slowly, in increments, then no one really seems to notice. It takes him a while to find the way down, but he eventually finds the platform that will bring him to the forest floor when he’s suddenly cut off, spears in his face. He thought they were past this.
“This has been really great.” He says as if he could talk his way out of this. “But I’ve really got to go. My ship is down there and I need to get back to base. I have some important intel they could use.”
The Ewoks aren’t placated by anything he says and shake their spears at him until he backs away from the elevator. When they deem him far enough away from it, they relax, but if he comes closer, they throw up their spears again. The sinking feeling in his stomach comes back from earlier. Poe doesn’t really have any experience with the idea of “too much of a good thing” but he’s starting to see how it might be an issue. He pulls his communicator out of his pocket and finds a quiet place to retreat to, away from the elevator platform.
“General,” Poe’s voice crackles to life across the comms “We have a problem.”
“I expect a full report, Commander,” Leia’s voice snaps back at him. “You missed your last check-in and didn’t return to base at your scheduled time.
“About that…” The Ewok’s party is relentless and loud, even from where he’s sequestered himself away. “I’ve crash-landed on Endor.”
“Are you grounded?”
“No, the ship is fine. I was being chased by some tie fighters and had to land. They didn’t come after me, but the trees were too thick for me to get a signal out.” He sighs, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed. “I wandered around a bit and came across the Ewoks. They gave me some food and a place to stay but now, they won’t let me leave.”
He can hear the amusement in the General’s voice. “You’re being held captive by Ewoks?”
“It’s a nice captivity,” He feels the need to defend. “I’m allowed free range of their little village and they’re throwing some sort of party right now, but they won’t allow me to get to the ground. I think there’s just been some miscommunication.”
“Hang tight, Commander,” she says eventually. “We’ll send someone to come get you.”
The comm falls silent and Poe shoves it back in his pocket, feeling a little useless. He already knows he’s never going to live this down. He sighs, debating on just forcing his way through to the elevator platform but he doesn’t really want to hurt anyone or himself and doesn’t want to turn their allies against them. Finally, he just decides to go back and join the party.
It takes a few days for the rescue ship to get there, but Poe is treated well the whole time. They still keep him away from the elevator platform and insist he wear the crown but he gets so used to it that he forgets it’s on his head. Even still, he can’t help but be relieved when he gets the report that the rescue ship has arrived and they’ll be there soon.
“Poe!”
He hears his name and whirls to face the direction it came from, face lighting up when he sees it’s Finn.
“Buddy!” He calls back, and they slam into a hug, Finn lifting him from the ground and spinning them slightly.
“Only you would get kidnapped like this.” Finn shakes his head with laughter coating his voice. “I was so worried about you, and here you are, getting worshiped.”
“What can I say, I’m one of a kind.” He teases. It’s so good to finally talk with someone who understands him, and that he can understand back. He goes to say something else, but then catches the rest of the party out of the corner of his eye and he has to keep his jaw from dropping.
“General?” He asks, a little overwhelmed.
“Poe Dameron.” She says fondly, pulling him in for a gentler hug. “What am I going to do with you?”
They pull apart and he smiles at her. “Rescue me, I hope.”
She shakes her head fondly. “I heard there was a misunderstanding.” A moment of silence, “Come on then,” Leia says, and they fall in line behind her.
“Why did you let her come?” Poe whispers, a little worried.
Finn scoffs. “As if I could prevent her from doing anything she wanted.”
Poe admits that he has a point, but it doesn’t make it any less embarrassing. An Ewok grunts something at them, and Leia makes a few noises right back. They stare at her in awe.
“You can speak their language?” Poe asks, stunned.
“Of course,” she says as if it would be obvious. “They make good allies.”
Poe and Finn exchange glances. They soon find themselves with the Elder Ewok, who talks with Leia extensively. Eventually, it seems they reach an understanding, but the Ewoks look a little saddened by it. The Elder Ewok beckons Poe to him and makes a few noises, before touching their heads together.
“He’s apologizing,” Leia explains. “And wishes you well.”
Poe is somewhat saddened as well. He enjoyed his time here, even if it was a little hectic and confusing. He unwinds the scarf from around his neck and folds it up into a neat little pile, before dipping his head and presenting it to the Elder. He then takes a step back and returns to where he had been before, just beside Leia. She doesn’t seem mad at him for doing that, so he figures it must’ve been the nice gesture he intended it to be. They are escorted to the elevator platform where the village gathers to see him off. Poe has quite a few Ewoks who hold onto him and tug at his clothes and make it a general hassle to walk through the crowd, but he can’t find it in him to be upset.
They finally make it back to the rescue ship when Poe tries to go off in search of his own.
“I’ll meet you back at base?” He asks, stepping in the direction that he thinks his ship is in.
“Absolutely not,” Leia says and Finn tugs him closer to them, holding onto Poe like he might run off anyway.
“We can’t just leave it here.” He protests.
“It's a gift.” She explains. “They can use it for scrap metal or whatever they want. Besides, we need a pilot to get us back to base.”
She smiles at him knowingly, and well, Poe can’t argue with that.
“Did they really call you-” she makes the sound he associated with his name.
“I think so. I started responding to it, at least.”
Leia’s smile was soft and bittersweet.
“Why?” Poe asks, suddenly suspicious. “What does it mean?”
“Leia-son.” There’s a moment of quiet on the ship, “They thought you were royalty.”
“That explains the crown,” Finn points out.
Poe had forgotten he was wearing it. "They were nice." He says at last.
No one really says anything for the rest of the trip.
Once they land back on base and Poe gives his full report, he finds himself sitting in their shared room with Finn. He has yet to take the crown off his head, mostly because he doesn't know what to do with it. It needs a place of honor in the room, but it's already so messy there's no real place for it to go.
"I was worried about you," Finn says out of nowhere, breaking the stillness of the air.
Poe looks over at him and tries to smile reassuringly. "You don't have to worry about me." He means for it to be comforting, but he doesn't think Finn takes it that way.
"I think I always will. I mean, I know you can take care of yourself, but you missed your check-in and then you didn't come back that night, and then you were being held captive. I know it was just Ewoks, which are our allies, but I couldn't help but fear that they'd suddenly turn violent and hurt you. But then there you were, wearing that crown and shining and... I wanted to kiss you."
Anything Poe was thinking about saying immediately disintegrates from his mind at Finn's last words. He stares at his friend with wide eyes. "Did you still wanna do that?" He manages to say.
Finn doesn't say anything but stands to his feet instead, and Poe finds himself rising to meet him. Finn's hand slips around the back of his head and their lips crash together, meeting in the middle. The kiss leaves them breathless, breathing heavily as they pull back to look at each other.
"You can do that anytime," Poe says, crown glittering teasingly at Finn from where it sits atop his head.
"I love you," Finn says in return, kissing him again.
"I love you too."