Work Text:
It was Finn who had noticed first; even the one who had pointed it out to Rey.
“Don’t you think his eyes are pretty?” He’d ask, picking up his fork as he stabs at the food on his plate.
“Who?” Rey questioned, brow raising before she looks up at him. He doesn’t answer, but she finds out the answer by following the direction his gaze was aimed to. “Poe?”
Poe had recently returned from a little mission, but as he says, no mission is a little mission. He’d met with them both earlier, catching up with anything major he missed at the base and promising that he’d speak to them later when there was less chaos and commotion. Right now he sat with his squadron, boisterous and eager and raising his cup with tired enthusiasm.
Both Rey and Finn had found themselves smiling, one more obvious than the other.
“But don’t we all have the same eyes? Brown?” Rey would question.
“Oh. Well, yes.” Finn nods, looking a little bit flushed. “But.. it’s.. you know-”
Rey quickly nods her head, more or less encouraging him. “No, I think I get it. It’s like when you think someone has a nice smile.”
Finn averts his gaze back to the squadron table and then sheepishly back to Rey. “Do you think he has a nice smile?”
Not one to back down from a question, she confidently looks over to the other table. It was more than easy to find Poe. His eyes were bright and the corners would crinkle when he laughed. He wore the biggest grin. Anyone else would call it adorable but for Rey… her lingering gaze would say enough.
“You do, don't you?” Finn teases and Rey found her cheeks warming in response.
“You’re one to talk, saying he has dreamy eyes.”
It was Finn’s turn to fluster. “I said pretty! Not dreamy!”
Rey starts noticing more and more things about the other pilot more often. He’s hanging around her and Finn a little more now after he spent the past hour with his squad.
It’s easy to see how tired his eyes looked, but like Finn had pointed out she couldn’t help but find herself drawn to them. They were naturally slanted near the ends; a little droopy looking. Though, they do tend to look heavier when he hasn’t had enough rest. They were still bright as ever, able to look at both her and Finn individually yet somehow managing to balance his attention between the two of them.
Even if Finn deemed it impossible, he knows that there’s a side of Poe that he favored. Like when the other was sitting, looking down as he concentrated on something he was doing, Finn would find himself appreciating the pilot’s profile. He wanted to touch his jaw, to trace the deep dimples that would form whether he had a grin or a grimace. Looking a little bit longer, one could see new little scars and old faded scars,
Poe brings a hand up, absentmindedly scratching along his hairline and accidentally reopening one of the minor cuts hidden up there.
“Hold on.” Finn would say, reaching forward to hold Poe’s hand to stop him from scratching.
The pilot gives him a confused little look, glancing up at their hands and making an “ah” sort of noise when seeing the bit of blood on his own fingertips. “Oh, that- okay. I keep forgetting not to scratch.” His hand is released and he can hear Finn moving things around. “It’s fine, it’s barely even noticeable.”
Finn raises a brow, already holding up an unused cotton swab. “I might as well. I mean I already have it in my hand.” Poe nods, deciding not to argue- once Finn stepped closer, he moves his head out of the way.
“Nope.” He’d grin, moving his head again when Finn would move the cotton swab closer.
“Keep still,” Finn chuckles, grabbing Poe’s shoulder and trying to keep the other from moving around too much. “Poe!”
The two are practically giggling, fussing with each other as Finn tried to reach for Poe and Poe would dodge away from Finn’s grasp. “Okay, okay fine okay.” Poe would say, pushing back his hair to reveal his hairline.
“No more tricks.” Finn would huff, using the cotton swab and finally able to carefully wipe away the blood.
Finn and Rey were sitting up, backs rested against the backboard of the “too thin for three people” bed. Poe rested in between the two of them, lying on his back with an arm underneath his head and the other arm resting on his stomach. It was naturally understandable that he would be tired. There’s no time to properly sleep or lie down or even relax when one was out on a mission, always having to be on edge and even when things were still in the clear, constantly needing to keep an eye out.
Poe is snoring, but the other two don’t mind. He barely moves in his sleep, exhaustion most likely the cause.
“Should we wake him like he told us?” Finn asks under his breath and Rey adverts her eyes in thought. It took them a while to convince Poe to rest, reassuring him that no, it wasn’t rude if he took a short nap while her and Finn were guests in his room. He had said to wake him in a half hour, but would that really be necessary? He’s been away from the base for nearly a fortnight- about twelve or so days.
“I’m not sure.” Rey answers, watching as Finn brought down a hand to trace along Poe’s jaw and cheek. She grins, flickering a teasing look at Finn’s direction. “I don’t think you would mind if we let him sleep a little longer.”
Finn looks slightly offended, though mostly embarrassed. He doesn’t move his hand, making the other man let out a little sleepy hum with each little trace. Poe turns slightly, curling up a bit and practically burying his face by Finn’s hip.
Finn gives Rey a victorious grin and she scoffs, lightly giving his shoulder a little shove; it nearly makes him fall off the bed. Oh. It. Is. On. Finn reaches for the pillow resting behind her back, planning on throwing it at her but she grabs onto just as he did.
“Get your own pillow.” She huffs, trying to look serious but unable to hide a silly grin. Rey has a tough grip and she nearly pulls Finn on top of Poe, who somehow was still sleeping like a log.
“I don’t have my own pillow!” Finn whispers back, tugging back and once more nearly losing his balance.
“Let go of it!” Rey demands again, biting her lip to stifle a laugh. She clenches her eyes tightly, focusing on her strength and managing to rip out the pillow from Finn’s hands before smacking him in the face with it. The two of them cover their mouths in a quiet giggles.
Poe stirs suddenly, turning again to lie on his back. Rey peeks down and is met with brown tired eyes.
“Was the ground mmh.. just shaking just now?” Poe asks, hiding a yawn behind his hand and stretching with an arch. Finn doesn’t advert his eyes. Neither does Rey.
‘The ground?” Finn questions- and then. “Oh! No no, you’ve got it all wrong. We were just fighting over a pillow. Sorry if the bed moved too much."
“You were fighting over the pillow.” Rey accuses. “I had it in the first place you sneak.”
Before Finn could retort, Poe sits up and hands Finn the pillow he had just been laying on. “Here, use this. I’m done with it for now. I’m a busy man,” He chuckles, running a hand through his tousled hair. “I should be on my way so I can--”
“Nope, you’re not going anywhere. Right Finn?”
Poe throws Finn a curious look, seeing that he was already grinning. “Right!”
Not sure when they both had the same plan, they’ve somehow managed to make Poe lie down again, both of their weight on top of him.
“So that’s how it’s going to be then?” Poe huffs, though, any sense of seriousness wasn’t really heard in his tone. He decides to play along, aware that they expected him to struggle. He gives Finn light shoves with his hand, attempting to push him off of his stomach. For Rey, he tries to shake his arm, seeing if he could lose the tough hold she had on it. Poe doesn’t mind this at all, honestly. It was certainly warmer, having two people to hang around with or lie down with. He playfully struggles for a second time, suddenly jolting and making a surprised “nngh” sound when Rey leans up on her elbows and accidentally presses against his side.
This caused everything to go quiet.
Her and Finn share a funny look. Poe doesn’t realize what's going on until it’s too late.
“No, this is not--” Poe’s caught off by his own laugh, throwing his head back as he felt his sides being squeezed and his stomach getting prodded and pressed into. “Not h-how you treat your host!” He tries to turn away, though is unable to curl up or hide his vulnerable spots away considering the other two were nearly sprawled over him, somehow still able to cling onto him. “I i-invite you to m-my room--- let you s-sit on nn-- my bed ahhhah--” He nearly bites his tongue trying to speak.
“And we are very honored by your hospitality!” Rey would say, leaning in and reaching over across him to attack more of his left side. He nearly bounces on the bed, able to bring an arm up to try fending her touch away.
“Fiiiiinnnn,” Poe would complain, trying to gain sympathy, though, that was difficult considering that Finn was very concentrated on digging his thumbs into his stomach.
“Sorry, buddy . We’re on a mission.”
“A mission to kill me?” Poe huffs, though, his next words are immediately washed over by another bout of laughter when his worst spots were pressed on harder. “O-oh jeez c-come on!” And in no more than a second he’s consumed with giggles, arms going up and resorting to force (aka shoving Finn’s head and trying to bounce Rey off of him). They were clearly suited for rough-housing considering that the tickling was kept consistent despite his attempts to roll the three of them out of bed.
Poe finally feels their weight ease off of him and he heaves out an exhausted sigh, eyes shut when he was allowed to breathe.
“We’ve done him in, didn’t we?” Finn comments with mock concern, lifting a hand to brush back Poe’s hair.
“If this was all to keep me in bed, you guys win.” Poe says, cheeks flushed from their little scruffle but he was grinning nonetheless. He was responded by the two huddling up against him. He has an arm around Rey’s waist and he lets Finn use his other one as a pillow.
This... wasn’t so bad. Frankly, if laying by two people was all it took for him to actually try getting rest then… he wasn’t going to complain.
“That… feels great actually.” Poe would murmur, leaning into the pleasant scratches against his scalp. Rey toyed with his hair, lightly pulling on the curls to see them give that little bounce.
“If I finish rebuilding it first, I get to braid your hair.” He had teased, holding up two plane controllers that had been undone.
“And what if I win?” Rey would ask, more curious about the pieces he held than the bet he had made.
“Then you get to braid my hair.”
She had won.
Naturally, his hair couldn't be braided due to its length, but it doesn’t stop her from running her fingers through the dark curls. They were soft under her touch, almost fluffy and they seemed to bounce right back to their regular places after she moves her hand away.
“Tell me about your first flight.” She would say, hiding a smile when those brown eyes lit up as an old story made its way to his lips. She’d watch his hands as he spoke, taking note of the constant gestures and exaggerated hand movements.
“Rey.” She hears him say and she looks down to look at him, brows raised when her name is called so suddenly. “Wanna fly?”
“Can I?” Rey questions, nearly jolting to stand. She stays seated, studying his face for any signs of him humoring her.
They’re both smiling at each other. “Yeah,” He nods.
They are holding each other’s hands, running around, goofing off. Today was a good day. Poe has one of Finn's hand in his left one and Rey's hand in his right one, positioned in between the two as they jumped and hollered and avoided obstacles that would have made them trip. The three of them had all shared a sudden spout of optimism, laughing as they ran and holding each other’s hands even tighter.
It’s dark out, stars giving them minor illumination. Rey is leading their run, breathless and grinning, and she manages to avoid and prevent them from tripping. Finn is in the back, watching the other two and nearly stumbling with them whenever they closed their eyes to laugh too hard.
It’s hard to tell who’s laughing the loudest when they all fell, laying down on their backs as they roll around and get tangled up with one another’s limbs in a playful scuffle. There are tears in their eyes, stomachs hurting, having a good time.