Chapter Text
Rey smells of oil and sweat and sand (it’s a surprise to Finn that sand even has a smell, but the moment they hit Takodana he realizes that, standing next to Rey, he can close his eyes and fool himself into thinking he’s still on Jakku with a few deep breaths). She is warm and earthy, like the ancient pottery cups the General takes her caf in, and he has to shake himself back to reality when he realizes the General’s been looking at him out of the corner of her eye for longer than he’s comfortable with.
Poe smells like water, but headier, like the woods during the break in a storm. Occasionally there’s something sharp there, too, which he learns during a “bonding” session with Black Team is Corellian rum (apparently as multi-talented as everything about Poe, it serves as both drink and aftershave). The air around Poe smells like sun and a salt breeze, and Jessika ribs him several drinks in for putting coconut oil in his hair to tame what she calls “the unruly mess” of his hair.
Finn smells of Serennian cedar and bergamot. He has no idea what either of those things smells like, but together they smell like the fist-sized wheel of scented soap he’d found abandoned, still wrapped, in the refresher. The label might be wrong, but he’s never had anything like this before, and cleaning himself suddenly feels like a pastime, a snippet of joy, instead of a regimented segment of his day to be completed with a palm-full of clear liquid cleanser that burned if he washed too close to his nose. Soon it is on his clothes and in his hair, and Jessika asks him with a raised eyebrow if he’d changed something in his routine. Finn shrugs and laughs it off, though he notices the look she and Poe exchange, and the sly smile that ticks at the corner of Poe’s mouth.
Rey, when she returns and launches herself against him in a tight hug, pulls back. Her face is scrunched. The two are silent, and Finn’s confusion must show on his face, because she fumbles for words to cut the silence.
“Are you… Is that… perfume?” she asks, the words uncertain.
Finn feels heat in his cheeks. “What? Uh…” He casts his eyes everywhere but at Rey, and after a moment, puts his hand on the back of her head and draws her face back into the crook of his neck.
“I missed you,” he blurts, and he can feel Rey snort into his jacket.