Work Text:
The day had started off with Poe showing up at Finn and Rey’s apartment bright eyed and bushy tailed at nine o’clock, earlier than he’d showed up for any of his other Valentine’s Days dates with previous lovers. The original plan had been to meet up there and just have a mutual chill day filled with junk food, bad Netflix rom coms and seeing how far they could get into Until Dawn without someone getting too scared. But alas, the universe always has its back turned on young love.
They were all cuddled up on the couch, blankets spread out over their legs, with the lights off and curtains drawn to keep the mood of the video game as they watched Rey maneuver the forest as Mike. Poe sat with a bowl of popcorn in his lap, watching intently with Rey between him and Finn. Both of his younger counterparts were completely absorbed into the gameplay and were terrified at what was coming next, which Poe suspected was nothing. They’d been walking around in the woods as Mike and Jessica for damn near half an hour now and nothing of interest had happened yet. On top of the lack of gameplay, the dialogue was campier than that of a tween movie from 2002. Yet despite all of that, Finn and Rey still jumped at every predictable jump scare and huddled closer to Poe who was wedged between them.
“This has to be the campiest game I have ever played.” Poe chuckled.
“Well you’re not the one playing so shut it.” Rey whispered harshly, her eyes still glued to the television screen.
“As someone who is still very scared of the dark, this is a nightmare.” Finn followed.
The game paused, pulling up the character menu. Both Poe and Rey turned to look at Finn. “You’re still scared of the dark?” Rey asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Hey, you haven’t spent nights in creepy foster homes, so you have no place in this one.” Finn replied quickly, defending himself.
“Maybe we shouldn’t be playing this game if you’re scared of the dark.” Poe suggested. “I mean it’s called Until Dawn. I don’t think there’s going to be much light in this game anytime soon.”
“No no. I can do this. I got through Albino Lullaby with minimal trouble, so I can make it through this too.”
Rey gave a shrug and unpaused the game just as Mike and Jessica were coming up on a telescope perched on a cliff. Poe heard both Rey and Finn take in a sharp breath as Jessica walked up to look through it.
“Ooh, let’s see what I can-oh. Mike, I think something is down there.” the motion captured blond said on the screen.
“Don’t do it Mike.” Finn whispered.
“Ssh!” Rey snapped.
Slowly, Rey commanded Mike towards the telescope. Again, everyone in the room took a collective breath, even Poe. He wouldn’t admit it, but the way the music was ramping up, the darkness of the room and the fact that the weather outside was overcast and he could hear thunder in the distance was slowly sending shivers up his spine.
“Okay...everything looks good so far.” Rey said as she moved the viewfinder of the telescope across the screen.
“See, I told you this game isn’t scary at, OH HOLY FUCK!” Poe shouted as something monstrous flashed across the screen, resulting in screams from the two younger people beside him. Almost as if to top off the tension in the room, the sky opened up releasing a loud clap of thunder followed shortly by lightning and heavy rainfall.
The television and game system flickered a few times before finally shutting off, leaving the room deadly quiet save the sound of everyone’s ragged breathing and the rainfall outside.
“Oh you have got to be shitting me.” Rey muttered. “I didn’t even get to save my progress!”
“Maybe next time we shouldn’t play for two hours straight without saving.” Finn said.
Rey let out a frustrated sigh. “Well this is just great! What’re we supposed to do now?”
The trio sat quietly for several moments, listening to the rain beat against the window. It was eerily quiet, even with the storm. Poe’s mind flashed back to the face that had showed up in the telescope and the masked figure that kept appearing in the background of the game. Always there...always watching….just out of reach of those dumb teenagers.
He was starting to regret agreeing to play the game. I knew I should’ve just brought Mortal Kombat X. He thought.
“Guys, it’s really dark in here….” Finn whispered. Poe could hear the quiver in his voice. He had thought that Finn was only joking earlier when he’d said that he was still afraid of the dark. This wouldn’t do.
Poe rose from the couch and felt his was around the coffee table and tangle of snack wrappers on the floor.
“Where are you going?” Finn asked.
“I’ll be right back, don’t worry.” Poe reassured him. The room was suddenly illuminated by another lightning bolt outside. Poe briefly made out Finn huddling closer to Rey on the couch, his eyes wide as he searched the room for him.
Poe turned the corner into the kitchen to rummage through the drawers that held piles of junk that the pair in the living room kept for god knows what reason. It didn’t take him long to find the flashlight and a spare pack of batteries. He quickly turned it on shining a single ray of light down the short hallway from where he’d just come.
“Oh thank the Lord.” he heard Finn sigh. Poe smiled to himself and walked back into the living room where he was met by another beam of light in his eyes. He threw up his hand to shield his face and heard the duo on the couch laughing at him.
“You know, I just remembered that most phones come with flashlight features nowadays.” Rey said jokingly.
“True, but the power’s out and God know’s when it’s gonna come back on.” Poe recovered quickly.
“Dammit. You got me there Fly Boy.” Rey shut off her phone and set it on the arm of the sofa. “So now what? We just gonna sit here and swap campfire stories?”
“More like flashlight stories.” Finn snorted. Rey swatted him on the arm.
“Actually, that’s not a half bad idea.” Poe said. He saw Finn and Rey’s faces perk up. “You thinking what I’m thinking?” Finn asked Rey.
“Pillow fort!” the girl hopped off the couch and pushed past Poe to reach the bedroom.
“I was actually thinking we just watch Netflix on my phone,” Poe called behind her, “but I mean, pillow fort is a cooler idea.”
“We can pillow fort and watch Netflix.” Rey called from the bedroom. Leave it to Rey to find some joy in the darkness (no pun intended hardy har har).
“Guess we’re gonna need the sofa cushions.” Finn said getting up and tossing the throw pillows onto the floor along with the blankets. “Rey bring Hamilton out here, he can join in on the pillow fort too.”
Poe raised an eyebrow. “Hamilton?” he asked. “Like the Broadway musical?”
“Yeah. He’s a stuffed pig named Alexander Ham ilton. Rey got it out of Goodwill the other day.”
Poe snorted a laugh which resulted in a pillow being chucked at his face by Finn. He scrambled to keep the flashlight from dropping to the floor.
“That was dirty.” Poe said. “You can’t attack someone while they’re holding the only source of light.”
“All rules are out the window when you talk bad about Hammy.” Finn smirked.
“I didn’t even say anything!” another pillow was hurling towards his face again. This time he caught it, flashlight in hand. He placed the light onto the television stand before closing the gap between himself and Finn and starting attacking him with the floral printed throw pillow.
“Hey! Poe at least let me grab another pillow!” Finn laughed beneath him.
“All rules are you the window!” Poe echoed his boyfriend’s earlier words.
“Oi! Are you two trying to build a fort or start a softcore wrestlemania?” Rey asked as she trudged back into the room with the entire bedspread and pillows from both her bedroom and Finn’s teetering in her arms. Poe could make out a small stuffed pink bottom with a curly tail poking out from the folds of the blanket.
“We can multitask.” Poe said.
“New idea! We build our own forts and whoever demolishes the enemy’s first gets to choose what we eat for dinner.” Finn suggested.
“Is that a challenge?” Rey asked with a devilish smirk on her face.
“Hell yeah it is!”
“You’re on!” she dropped the comforters and pillows to the floor. “I got dibs on the body pillow for my fort!”
Soon everyone was scrambling for pillow and blankets to build their forts. Several minutes later, Poe was holed up in the hallway between the kitchen and living room, giving him a perfect vantage point of Finn in the far corner of the living room between the window and couch. Rey had somehow managed to set up a tower of pillows on the couch. Alexander Hamilton sat proudly on the coffee table with the flashlight and everyone’s phones pointed upward toward the ceiling, providing just enough light for everyone to miss the television as they threw their pillows across the room.
“Hold on, if we’re gonna do this, we gotta get some music to set the mood.” Finn said pulling his iPod out of his pocket.
“Cease fire!” Poe shouted as Rey was ramping up to throw a pillow in his direction.
“If you play ‘The Final Countdown’, the pig gets it.” Rey laughed.
Finn snorted a laugh. He couldn’t deny that he was a shameless Europe fan, even if that was the only song he knew by them.“You know what, I was, but since you mentioned Hammy I think I’ll do something else.” There was a pause before the opening countdown to ‘Ten Duel Commandments’ blasted from the small speakers.
“You guys really love this musical.” Poe said.
“If you think we’re bad you should see Leia whenever we play ‘Right Hand Man’.” Finn replied.
“Here comes the general!” Rey in a bellowing voice.
Poe rolled his eyes. They resumed their game for several minutes more, pausing only to change songs and rescue poor Hammy after he was knocked backwards into the game console and television stand (“He was already shot by his best friend, do we really need to take him out with pillows too?” Finn had sighed).
It didn’t take long for the pillows to start diminishing as they landed in the middle of the living room, or “No Man’s Land” as they were calling it for the purposes of their battle. Rey was the first one out, not taking her defeat easily, she opted to chuck sofa cushions at the both of them. It was a miracle that nothing was broken in the process.
“Okay okay okay,” Poe said grabbing the last of his pillows. “Rey’s out, and I’ve got two pillows left.” he held up his hands from behind his fort, which had been thoroughly demolished by Rey’s flying sofa cushions. “How many do you have left Finn?”
“One. Looks like it’s a draw.” the younger man said from across the room.
“It’s the duel of the century.” Rey said. “Should I turn around so I have deniability?” she smirked in Finn’s direction. The pair swapped a laugh before turning back to Poe.
“I really need to listen to this musical. You two are gonna drive me up a wall with all these inside jokes.”
“Yes you should.” they said in unison.
“Okay but real talk,” Finn continued. “This is a duel. And yes Rey, turn around for dramatic affect.”
Rey gave a thumbs up and turned on the sofa, sitting cross legged and facing the wall. “I’ve got my eyes closed too so you can’t say I cheated.”
Poe tossed his extra pillow behind him before meeting Finn’s gaze across the room in the dim light. “You ready?”
“It’s him or me! The world will never be the same!” Finn sang out. “I only had one thought before the slaughter: this man will not make an orphan of my daughter!”
“Finn you don’t have kids and Bee does not count as your child.” Poe said deadpan referring to his dog that was probably cowering under the bed back at home.
Finn threw his head back and groaned. “Oh whatever! Just roll with it!”
“Get on with it you two!” Rey shouted.
“Look him in the eye aim no higher! Summon all the courage you require, and count!” Finn pointed a finger to Rey, who automatically knew to start the countdown. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine! Number ten!”
“Places!”
“Fire!” they shouted in unison.
Before the pillow even left his hand, there was a loud rumble. Everyone in the room paused for the second time that day. Slowly but surely, the lights flickered back to life.
“Augh!” Rey said turning back around to a proper position on the couch. “Even the electricity doesn’t want to think about that duel.”
“So much for a dramatic finish.” Finn pouted.
“Ah, don’t be like that!” Poe said, trying to keep the mood alive. “We can still see who makes it out alive.”
“Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?” Rey and Finn whispered in sing-song voices.
Poe tossed his pillow in the air, watching as it landed among the pillow carnage in the center of the room. “You know what, let’s just listen to Hamilton.”
“You got yourself a deal Dameron.” Rey said hopping off of the couch.
Soon afterwards, everyone was cuddled up on the floor on top of the mess of pillows and blankets with Finn’s bluetooth speaker. Poe listened intently to the younger adult's commentary on each song, learning more about American history from two grad students and a musical than he had in all his years of school. They sat like that for a long time, completely unbothered by the mess and not noticing that the rain had stopped outside.