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He’s in his room the first time one of them asks.
Dazedly staring at the ceiling (is the rust mark there big enough for concern?) and Starling’s headphones (gifted. not stolen.) turned full blast. The Condor rocks gently as Stork flies it to their next destination, a nearby market terra to restock and find missions while they lay low. Finn thinks this is how it feels when you’re a baby; looking at nothing in particular with the rock of a cradle to keep you company.
He’s just about to doze off when someone knocks on his door. 3 rhythmic taps that echo off the metal unpleasantly. For a half second he toys with the idea of not answering, but then 3 more knocks come in, just a little more forcefully.
“Come in.”
The door opens, Piper standing in the hallway, hands on hips and foot tapping impatiently. Finn squints, trying to recall if he did anything (or didn’t do anything) to make her mad but he comes up empty. Still, it’s better to ask than guess.
“Did I do, or not do, something again?”
Despite the distance, he can easily make out her expression change from one of impatience, to her face scrunching up in thought, before sighing. He also catches her eyes quickly dart side to side, as if worried someone else will catch her in the hallway in front of his room. Finn squints more.
“Being awfully nervous about speaking to the hottest guy on the ship.”
It snaps her out of whatever nervous stupor held her, Piper glares at him, lacking any real heat that would have him apologising, “I wanted to talk to you.”
Finn fishes his hand from where it was pillowing his head, “Go on.”
She sighs, almost in defeat, stepping across the threshold and making sure the door closes behind her, “It’s about Aerrow.”
Instantly his eyebrows furrow in concern, were they fighting again? Was the sky-knight falling back into his habit of burying his feelings? But then he notices her nervously fidget with her headband, the rosey blush just noticeable on her cheek, and he relaxes.
“Finally gonna tell him how you feel? About time-”
“-And you.” she cuts him off.
At his blank stare, the mage groans, rubbing both palms over her face before tapping her cheeks twice as a way to psyche herself up.
“We’ve both established that I like him.”
“Uh, duh.”
She glares again with a pout at being interrupted, “I’m planning on confessing soon, but I can’t.”
Finn does his signature confused blink, “Why? Because if it’s about timing or setting, Junko and I can just lock you two into a closet.”
“Neither of those things, different reason.”
“You’re not gonna make me guess, right?”
Piper walks over to his bed, jumping and landing on the mattress with a thump before looking back at him, “We’d be here all day if I did.”
“So tell me~” he whines.
The mage doesn’t tell him, instead she reaches over and grabs a pillow, moving herself to a cross-legged position as she leans her chin against the cushion. Only then does she tell him, her voice barely audible in the fluff (and embarrassment).
“I want to kiss him.”
“Yeah? I know?”
“I don’t know how to kiss people.”
Finn feels his face contort in confusion again. Out of the three of them, Piper was the one who had scored the most dates, usually with the other girls in the orphanage but it wasn’t rare for her to hang out with another guy.
“You said you got your first kiss with Karina at 15.”
Piper moves her face so that her head is encased in the pillow, Finn has to strain his ears to hear the next sentence.
“It was my first and only kiss and it was awkward.”
“So what are you-”
“Only kiss.” echoes in his head. Then the earlier words “Aerrow, and you.” Understanding dawns on him at the same time she peaks her head out to shoot him a third glare, her ears bright red.
“-you want to use me as kissing practise.”
“...Yeah.”
He shoots from his bed, placing two placating hands on her shoulders, “I need to ask Junko for permission really quick hold on.”
Finn barely catches the startled “You two are dating?!” as he dashes towards the hangar.
Just as he thought, Junko is lying underneath Aerrow’s skimmer, fiddling with the engine as its owner lies a few feet away, snoring.
“Hey, Junko babe.”
“I’m busy.”
Finn hops from one foot to another, doing his best to keep his voice low because the sky-knight nearby is a light sleeper. “I know you are but can I ask you something very quickly?”
Sensing the desperation in his tone, the Wallop rolls out from the skimmer, flipping up his goggles as he sits and removing his oil-stained gloves. “What is it?”
“Would you be okay with me kissing someone like, Piper or,” the red-head catches his eye, “Aerrow like once? Not with any emotion or anything but it’s still kissing?”
The Wallop doesn’t have eyebrows but if he did they would be raising and lowering in thought, “Why would you kiss them?”
“They would kiss me, as probably like, practise for each other.”
“Ohhh.” he mutters, Finn can’t read minds but he’s sure that Junko’s running through every almost-kiss moment the two of them have had. “Yeah go for it.”
Relieved, he presses a grateful chaste kiss to his lips before dashing back to his room. “Appreciate it!”
Piper’s playing with the edges of his duvet when he comes back, panting slightly from the run, “Junko said yes.”
She startles, eyes unblinking as he closes the door and plops onto the bed beside her. He shifts and turns so that he faces her, legs crossed and arms in the space between. Dutifully he closes his eyes, “Ok you can kiss me.”
“If you laugh, I’ll defenestrate you.”
“Baby girl, I don’t even know what that word- mmmph!”
Her lips are soft (she has him to thank for introducing her to lip balms), pressing firmly against his. At least she’s not pursing them, that way, Finn can help her relax, holding her neck and slowly moving his lips to coax her to follow.
He can feel the breath of relief she lets out when he doesn’t pull back to laugh at her. Piper presses on, hands pressing into the mattress besides his hips for support as she clumsily follows his movements. He shuffles back to stop himself from falling, hands raising to fall at her forearms, fingers gripping as her muscles shift to balance.
At some point they let their tongues slip, brushing slightly which startles the both of them to break apart. Finn wipes at his mouth to get rid of any spit connecting them, mildly horrified that his cheeks are burning. Piper herself looks dazed, copying his signature confused blinks, hand raised to brush her lips as if they were a new crystal she was prodding at.
When they try again, for the third, the fourth, the fifth time, Finn equally helps her learn the ropes while he (semi-unwillingly, but if you’re making out with your best friend it’s inevitable) learns about her style. She likes raking her hands through his hair, fingers ending at the nape of his neck while she leans into him. Piper laughs when he loses his balance, landing on the mattress with her on top as they continue.
She also likes biting on his lower lip. Not enough to draw blood. But it is very good blackmail material nonetheless.
They only stop when Stork’s voice grates over the comms, calling that they’ve arrived at the market terra. Piper flashes him a smile as thanks before sneaking back to her room.
>>>
Aerrow is a lot more tactless when he asks Finn for the same thing a few days later. They’re in the bathroom, side-by-side, elbows brushing, as Finn splashes cold water on his face and specifically his lips because Piper’s nibbling left them bruised.
When he complained about it to her, she flushed bright red, handing him a small Icer crystal and a muttered “Sorry.” as an apology.
“Would it be weird if I asked you to kiss me?”
It doesn’t shock Finn, but the location and timing are so poor that it makes him whip his head around to their dear leader with an incredulous look.
“No, it’s not weird,” he answers first to alleviate Aerrow’s nerves, “but you could have asked at any other time aside from now.”
Aerrow flashes him a puzzled glance, there's still toothpaste on the upper corner of his lips and he speaks as Finn holds his chin in place to wipe it off. “What's wrong with now?”
Finn gawks, “We’re in the bathroom.”
“Yeah?”
“Stork is literally outside.”
As if on-cue they hear the Merb knock, “I will walk in there and shower in front of you if you don't move!”
They shudder at the thought. And then make plans to strategically reconvene in Aerrow’s bedroom.
Halfway through Aerrow’s explanation as to why he wants Finn to kiss him (he’s a lot less nuanced than Piper but he can't really complain), the sniper almost has the mind to interrupt and say that he’s heard the same from Piper. But then that would probably lead to bigger problems. So he keeps his mouth shut and nods at the appropriate times.
When Aerrow’s finally finished with his spiel (Finn suspects he was also using it to hype himself up), he joins him on the bed with a sigh.
“I just like her too much to not worry about it.”
“I get it. You don’t want to mess things up. First kiss and everything else.”
He nods, still lost in thought, eyebrows furrowed and gears turning. Finn wants to pinch his cheeks when he looks back at him, eyes wide, “And you don’t think it's weird? That I ask you, I mean. Like as a guy.”
So this is also a mild sexuality crisis. “Aerrow, when did it ever occur to you that two dudes, aka you and me, kissing was weird?"
“Sorry-” he begins, and Finn decides that he’s heard enough and stops his apology before it begins.
Mirroring his own surprised noise from before, the sky-knight scrambles slightly, lips open in shock before the sniper shuffles a bit closer, one hand at his waist and the other at his neck. It takes a few more moments before Aerrow shudders, closing his eyes to mimic and kiss back.
To his frustration, Aerrow is a lot less insistent than Piper, pulling away at first before letting Finn continue to press small kisses on his lips. At some point the sniper has to press him against the wall to stop the movements from disturbing their kisses.
Aerrow lets out an almost inaudible whine when it happens, Finn compartmentalises this for later.
Eventually, the sky-knight does relax. Not too eager to follow but instead content with receiving whatever Finn gives. They stay in one position rather than pushing and pulling, Finn sitting in his lap as he traces the shell of the redhead's ear and snorts light-heartedly when he shivers in response. Aerrow’s arms find themself loosely wrapped around his waist, anchoring him as he licks at his bottom lip for permission and swallowing the gasp Aerrow startles out when their tongues touch.
Just like with Piper, he ends up learning a few things. Aerrow’s ears are sensitive and practically hot to the touch. He prefers having Finn flush against him as they make out, if he does move away then he gives him these sad puppy eyes that Finn can’t stand. His eyelashes flutter whenever the sniper draws a calming hand through his hair. The sky-knight’s hands roam lower than the mage’s, nothing like her wandering fingers but instead tightly gripping as if he’ll disappear if he doesn’t hold on. Doing his best not to get to flushed when Aerrow gropes at his outer thigh, he reasons that this is simply a very normal massage. It half-helps.
He’s like putty in his hands, a perfect match for Piper with how he gasps and sighs whenever Finn moves his arms, slipping fingers down his neck to playing with the curls of his hair to gripping at his shoulders. When they do break apart, Aerrow can barely manage 3 seconds of dazed eye contact before turning his head bashfully, his skin turning red to the collarbone.
“You know,” Finn drawls, climbing off his lap and joining him at the wall, “that was technically our second kiss.”
“The kiss we had when you were 8 does not count.”
“It totally does!” he splutters, “We literally kissed because we saw that stupid show and wanted to see what all the fuss was about.”
Aerrow rolls his eyes, ruffling Finn’s hair, “I preferred this one compared to that.”
“Don’t play with my hair when you had your tongue down my throat a second ago.”
“GET OUT.”