Work Text:
“BB-8…you do know that you can’t swim, don’t you?”
BB-8 didn’t respond to Rey as he was locked in an intense staring competition.
With a D’Qarian sea turtle.
The sea turtle in question lost interest in the droid and waded into the ocean gracefully. BB-8, who had followed each of the enormous creature’s steps along the beach, stopped at the shoreline. Gentle waves lapped at his base as he looked towards the ocean wistfully – well, the wistfulness might have been Rey’s imagination.
Rey lay propped up on her elbows on the sandy shore, basking in the warmth of the westering sun and the waves rolling in up to her knees before receding. This was hardly her first time at the ocean – she had taken to sneaking out whenever she could spare the time – but she was yet to learn how to swim. For the moment, she was content simply dipping her feet in the seawater, feeling the pale sand wash from under her. She watched BB-8’s antics with a fond smile on her face.
The little droid was still peering at the depths of the ocean from the edge of the shore. He was now rocking gently from side to side, as if he were on a …boat? Rey recalled hearing about sea vessels from off-world traders as a little girl on Jakku. She wondered if the droid was imagining himself on one. Poe had mentioned that BB-8 was prone to daydreaming.
Rey sat up and walked over to the droid. “Do you want to go in, BB-8? Swim with the turtle?” she asked, teasingly.
BB-8 looked up at her beeping excitedly, and to Rey’s shock, rolled at full tilt into the sea.
“BB-8, stop! You’ll drown in there,” cried Rey, watching helplessly as the droid rolled away merrily into the crashing waves. Thankfully, the water was fairly shallow. One of BB-8’s lower panels lit up and slid inwards. A bright red foam spilled out of the opening, covering half of BB-8’s round body. In an instant, he was floating atop the waves, rocking gently.
“Traitor, you never told me you could actually swim,” muttered Rey to herself with a laugh, settling down on the sand once more. The droid was bouncing up and down the sea with his head bent low, no doubt in search of the sea turtle. She watched, fascinated, as BB-8 expertly navigated through the water using a small propeller that stuck out from his side.
After a little while, BB-8 seemed to remember Rey’s presence and sped towards her, beeping her to join him. Rey considered for a moment.
This shouldn’t be too bad.
***
There was very little in life that frightened Poe Dameron, Commander of the Resistance Starfighter Corps, hero of the Battle of Starkiller Base. But the sight that greeted him as he trudged up to the beach, once again in search of his rogue droid – he really needed to have a word with BB-8 about going AWOL like that – chilled his blood like a winter on Hoth.
BB-8 was in the middle of the sea with Rey clutching the droid for dear life.
Rey, the girl who had never seen an ocean, much less swum in one, until two days ago.
Poe ran the rest of the way. “Rey, are you alright?” he shouted as he reached the shoreline, already divesting himself of his blaster to jump in. The cry caught BB-8’s attention and with a squeal of joy, the droid sped towards him with Rey in tow.
He was taken aback by Rey’s beaming face as she moved alongside BB-8 with ease, hugging the droid’s round middle and chatting with him animatedly as they approached the shore. He belatedly realized what was going on and stopped, sighing in relief. Once BB-8 had melted away the float-foam and retracted the propeller, Rey waded the rest of the way up to the shore. BB-8 rolled up to him, beeping enthusiastically in greeting.
“You could have drowned,” Poe said, looking at Rey and was taken aback once more.
Rey sat curled up on the sand, soaked to the skin, flushed and breathless from the exertion. For the first time in his memory, her hair was out of her tightly pulled buns, tumbling down to her waist instead in dark waves. Droplets of water running down her body glistened in the light of the setting sun. Combined with the look of pure wonder on her face, it made her seem soft, young, and carefree – a far cry from the battle-hardened pilot, the future Jedi with the weight of the galaxy on her shoulders that he encountered every day.
She is young, Poe reminded himself as his thoughts veered into dangerous territories.
“I trusted BB-8,” Rey replied, looking up at him, face still lit up with a smile. BB-8 rolled around him, demanding his attention as the droid described their adventures in the sea.
Poe hushed BB-8 with a wave of his hand. “Doesn’t change the fact that you can’t swim.” He tried to look stern, but relented and settled for a smile instead. Her happiness was infectious.
“I’ll learn. It isn’t as bad as I thought it’d be out there,” she said, inclining her head towards the ocean.
BB-8 chose this moment to headbutt Poe’s legs and regain his attention. The droid continued his story about the sea turtle, and how Rey had thought he couldn’t swim, and how – Poe lost track at this point as his eyes were drawn back to Rey. She was carefully gathering up her hair into her customary hair buns.
“No, keep it, it suits you,” blurted Poe, echoing his words to Finn. Poe regretted the words as soon as they came out - he had no business complimenting her, or worse, asking anything of her. He guessed her odd look at him conveyed as much. She did, however, let her hair loose, opting to run her fingers through it instead as she went back to scanning the horizon.
Poe couldn’t deny that in addition to her excellent piloting and her almost mystic status as a Force-user, he had taken to admiring her beauty as well – a quick glimpse of her bright smile as he passed her by at the hangars, her sad and expressive eyes as they watched over the still recovering Finn, her slender form as she trained with her staff, bringing down opponents with impressive skill.
But he was quick to tamp down on his admiration in case it strayed too far. She was so, so young, with such a heavy burden. He was a battle-hardened veteran on the brink of the greatest battle they would face. This was not a time to be distracted.
He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of an annoyed BB-8, who was beeping Poe’s name after realizing that his master wasn’t paying the slightest attention.
“I’m heading back to the base. Will you come?” he queried, as Rey stood up and took a few steps closer to the crashing waves.
“I want to go in again,” she replied.
“But you can’t go in without BB-8. You still can’t swim.”
Rey turned around to face him with a cheeky smile. “Then why don’t you teach me?” she asked, as if it were the most logical thing in the world.
Poe stared at her. It was the sensible thing to do. He was technically off duty and wasn’t too pressed for time. If only Poe could focus on her request, instead of on stray thoughts about being close to her and touching her sun-warmed arms and seeing her smile up close…
It was a heady sensation that was far too appealing. Poe immediately steeled his resolve. This has to stop.
“I… have to make some reports to the General. I would have been there already if I hadn’t had to take a detour to - what the- “ Poe cut off with a strangled cry as something round and exasperated flew past him, toppling him over straight into Rey. The last thing he saw was Rey’s eyes widening in surprise. They both crashed unceremoniously into the water.
Poe resurfaced to find himself drenched, and to his utter mortification, in Rey’s arms. She took a little while longer to recover, and when she did, she took in the pilot cradled in her arms and burst into soft laughter.
“Since you’re in here anyway… how urgent are those reports?” she slowly inquired, letting go of him.
Poe sighed wearily. “I suppose they could wait.” For better or for worse, he was going to roll with it.
He caught sight of his droid standing on the shore looking smug and beep-muttering something about proper attention.
Whatever came out of this, at least he knew who to blame.