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“But…what’s the point?” Rey asks right off the bat, clutching the fluffy towel Poe had given her to her chest.
Poe can see Finn wondering the same thing by the set of his jaw, the slight rise of his left eyebrow. He sighs, shaking his head at the both of them. He can’t say he’s surprised – this is just another bump in the journey of Poe teaching Rey and Finn all the things they’ve missed out on in their lives up to this point.
“The point?” Poe says, gesturing at the wide pool in front of them, towards the steam rising in spirals from the surface of the water. “The point, my loves, is to relax in the water. It’s warm, it’s fun. It gets you clean! You can splash each other!”
He can see that his explanation hasn’t really done much for Rey, but Finn now has a wide smile on his face. Poe watches as Finn starts over towards the set of stairs that lead into the pool, and slowly lowers his bare foot into the water.
“Ah!” Finn exclaims, drawing his foot back. “It’s so warm! I didn’t think it’d be warm…”
“Of course it’s warm. It’s not like those sonic showers in the ‘freshers, babe. Go on, it’s not going to hurt you,” Poe encourages as he sidles up to Rey to try and get her onboard.
As Finn continues to test the water, so to speak, Poe lets his hand rest below Rey’s elbow. She glances at him, and Poe feels his heart clench. There have been fewer and fewer of these moments lately – Rey looking like the whole world is crashing in around her and her shoulders are too weary to hold her up anymore, and Poe’s not sure what’s set her off this time.
“We don’t have to do this now, if you don’t want. We can come back later on. The sonic showers are just as good,” Poe tries, his voice notched down low so that Finn can’t hear, though he knows the other boy will be listening anyways.
“No, no, it’s okay. It’s just got me thinking a lot…” Rey begins, trailing off.
She’s tightens her grip on her towel again, letting her chin drop down to rest against the soft red fabric. A slight crawling feeling makes its way up Poe’s back and he aches to dig his fingers between his shoulders to get rid of it, but he doesn’t move.
“I’m just…used to dirt, that’s all. Dirt and sand. I used to use it keep myself clean, out at the AT-AT. It worked well enough. I never had enough water to spare for cleaning, I always needed it to drink.”
Rey stops, and Poe hears the slight scuffing sound as Rey rubs her bare toes against the tile beneath their feet. It’s sinking in what Rey’s feeling now – all this water, used for something else other than keeping you alive.
Poe suddenly feels really stupid.
“Sith, I’m sorry, Rey. I should have realized…” Poe begins, but trails off as Rey shakes her head furiously, her long hair bouncing around her shoulders. Both Finn and Poe had been encouraging her to wear it down lately, and she did so most of time now, unless they were outside training.
“No, no. Don’t apologize. This just makes sense! Obviously water is good for something other than drinking. It was just overwhelming coming in here and seeing it, that’s all,” Rey says, nodding, as if she’s trying to convince herself. “It looks fun. And Finn is having fun. It’s just going to take me a while.”
She smiles that award-winning smile at Poe, and he feels his knees go weak again, even as his rising heart keeps him upright.
“C’mon, Finn is having all the fun without us,” Rey says, holding her hand out for Poe to take. He does, going willingly as she tugs him over to the stairs.
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Later on after the bath, the three of them are sitting in their room again.
Finn is trying, and failing, to win a game of holochess against BB-8, but the little droid isn’t having it. The happy, excited beeping every time he captures one of Finn’s pieces is enough to brighten up the whole room.
The beeping, though, is usually followed by some colorful curses from Finn. Poe is going to have to have a talk with the rest of the resistance pilots about cursing so much in front of impressionable minds.
On the other end of the room, Poe has his back to the edge of the bed, sitting on the floor. Rey sits cross legged in front of him, face turned away as Poe careful combs out the tangles in her hair. He’s got a small bottle of conditioner on the floor next to them, occasionally squirting a bit of it onto the wide tooth comb he’s using.
“You’ve gotten good at this,” Rey murmurs, and Poe can tell her eyes are closed by the soft tone of her voice.
He smiles at her words, working one of the last tangles through his fingers gently, before running the comb back through her hair once more. He doesn’t answer for a few minutes, weighing his words as he continues to work through finishing with her hair.
“It was something my Mama, thought was important when I was little. I had quite long hair when I was young, so she taught me how to take care of it properly,” Poe begins as he starts to work Rey’s damp hair up into her signature knobs, his fingers gentle the whole time. “I used to watch my Papa comb out her hair every night. It was a real act of love and commitment between them.”
The last part is said on a whisper, and a tiny bit of Poe wishes he could snatch it back as he hears Rey’s sharp intact of breath.
“I mean…” Poe stammers out, his hands freezing in the middle of twisting up Rey’s second knob. “I just…”
They hadn’t actually said anything about love yet, even if all their actions scream it, day and night. Ever since the Starkiller was destroyed, every day that they had been together had been full of love and caring and affectionate, to the point where Poe doesn’t remember what it’s like not to have these two beautiful creatures in his life.
Poe doesn’t know what else to say now, so he begins to redo the knob he had been working on, but Rey stops him when she reaches back to grasp his wrist. He moves it to take her hand, tangling their fingers together.
“It’s okay, Poe. It’s alright,” she soothes him, and Poe knows he doesn’t deserve her at all.
Leaning forward, Poe presses a kiss to their clasped hands, feeling a small sob erupt in his throat that he pushes back down. Damnit, but he loves these two so much.
Poe doesn’t respond to Rey’s words, just gives her fingers one last kiss, before returning to his task. He gets the second and third knobs finished to his satisfaction before he pulls back, laying his comb down on the floor.
“Okay, that’s you done, Rey,” Poe says, leaning forward to grab the small hand mirror he’d picked up earlier before they’d come back to their room from the baths. He handed it to her. “How’d I do this time?”
Rey angles the mirror, a strong look of concentration painted across his face as she checks out her hair. She hums for a second before nodding.
“Good job, Pilot Dameron,” she responds, laying the mirror down and glancing back at him.
Poe can’t help himself when she looks at him like that, and he leans forward to press their lips together. This isn’t the first time they’ve done this – far from it, in fact – but it’s still a lovely surprise every time she responds, her own lips moving under his.
Her lips aren’t soft, not really. Poe thinks years of living on Jakku have made that impossible, but it’s not something he minds. He really likes the feel of her lips, honestly. They’re completely different from the feel of Finn’s, whose actually are quite soft in comparison, especially now that Finn has taken to carrying around a small tub of wax that he rubs on his lips a few times a day.
“Hey! What about me!” Finn exclaims and suddenly he’s down on his knees on the floor next to them, looking eager and excited, making Poe’s heart swell in his chest.
“Okay, you get some too,” Rey says when she pulls back from Poe, reaching forward with her right hand to draw Finn close to her.
She doesn’t let go of Poe though, the fingers of her left hand reaching down to encircle his wrist in her grasp again. Poe lets his own fingers rest against her palm, shifting around so he can lean against her shoulder.
Finn and Rey kiss for a few minutes, Finn making happy sounds in his throat that cause Poe to chuckle. It’s been amazing watching the three of them together, learning how to be intimate and in love and it almost feels like Poe is watching his parents again. So full of love and affection and gratefulness for each other, amazed to be alive at the same time.
Poe can’t believe he gets to be with them too, all three of them together as one.
Something of his thoughts must have shown on his face, because Finn pulls back from Rey, his lips shining and wet. He beams at Poe before reaching out to let one big hand cradle the back of Poe’s head.
“We’re not forgetting about you either,” Finn whispers before their lips touch. Poe moans slightly at the feeling, Finn’s lips so soft and tasting faintly of jogan fruit under his.
Rey smiles from her position snug between them, leaning back against Poe’s chest, her hair resting against his shoulder.
They all exchange kisses for a few more minutes, going back and forth until it’s a blur of who’s kissing who. It’s quickly obvious that Finn wants to do something more, letting a hand rest on both Poe and Rey’s thighs.
Unfortunately, BB-8 has other plans.
Rey frowns. “Beebee says he’s getting some kind of transmission from General Organa.”
“Sounds like we’re needed again,” Poe sighs.
He certainly doesn’t mind jumping to the Resistance’s cause, but they were just getting to the good stuff.
He laughs when he notices Finn pouting at them, and he leans forward to kiss the look off Finn’s face.
“Don’t worry, buddy. I’ll give you a nice blow job when we get back to make up for it – how’s that sound?”
Finn groans at that, pressing a hand down to his pants, even as Rey’s bright laughter fills the room.