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Rey's comm beeped, startling her out of the mesmerized daze she'd settled into halfway through the holovid Finn had lent her. She had been distracted from the completely improbable and almost certainly made-up adventures of a much younger Luke, Leia, and Han with worry over the romantic travails of her best friend. Being a good friend was emotionally exhausting, she had found. Being the galaxy's next potential savior might even be less stressful
The comm beeped again and she tapped a button to answer. Luke's voice filled the room, complete with the familiar slightly-harried tone that had lurked there ever since they'd left his island hermitage.
“Rey, could you come by conference room 3? We're having a meeting to discuss the situation with Finn and Poe.”
“The situation? Luke, that seems unnecessarily dramatic. They just need to talk it out.”
There was a brief silence and then Luke replied, sounding puzzled, “We are both talking about their Force sensitivity, right?”
“Oh. Oh! Yes. Absolutely! I can't imagine what else we could possibly be talking about.”
“Would you believe me if I said lying to your teacher led to the Dark Side?”
“I have no idea what you mean. On my way,” Rey cut off the call in the middle of what sounding like Luke smothering a laugh.
She only vaguely remembered where the conference room Luke had named was located, but her sense of direction was trained by wandering the deserts of Jakku for a decade and a half and she found her destination easier than she had expected. She also found Finn and Poe leaning against the wall next the conference room door, facing each other. Poe's arm was wrapped firmly around Finn, pulling him close, and Finn's hand was in Poe's hair. They were kissing. It went on for a long time, leaving Rey increasingly uncomfortable. Should she say something? Leave? Leave and walk back around the corner whistling so they would have time to stop doing … all of that and feign innocence? Was there even a protocol for this sort of thing?
Finally she gave up and cleared her throat. Loudly. Finn nearly fell over as he fumbled free of Poe's embrace, ignoring the audible whimper from the other man and the hands that tried to pull him back.
“Rey! I didn't see you there! How long were you standing there?” Finn's question held the tiniest bit of panic and came out sounding like one long word. He seemed to have forgotten what to do with his hands now that they weren't occupied with Poe, and kept alternating between folding his arms and sticking his hands in his pockets. Poe wrapped his arms around Finn's chest from behind and propped his chin on Finn's shoulder. She smiled back at his smug expression. The part she'd played in getting them together had been messier than she would have liked, but she was happy with the results. There was still something a bit fragile in Poe's face, like he still wasn't quite convinced this was all real, but he was doing a good cocky flyboy impression for the moment.
“Relax, Finn. I've seen worse. I mean, your technique could use a little work, but no one's bleeding, so that's a plus.”
“I don't know, his technique was working for me.” If Poe's smirk got any broader, he was probably going to sprain something.
“What could possibly happen during kissing that would lead to bleeding?” Finn looked horrified and when Rey raised her hands like she was about to start counting off scenarios, he frantically added, “Never mind, don't tell me, I'll just worry about them happening.”
“But it sounded like she was just getting to the good part,” Luke said as he rounded the corner and scared them all into flustered silence. “Relax. I was young once too.”
“Luke, no one wants to hear any of your kissing stories from your youth. Especially since there was maybe one at most and that is not one to share with children,” Leia said as she approached the group from the opposite direction. Luke turned a deep crimson color.
“Let's just get to conferencing,” Poe said, all but jogging into the room.
They settled into their seats, Finn and Poe scooted close together on one side of the circular table. Rey, feeling intimidated, was flanked by Luke and Leia.
“I'm sure you're both wondering why we've called you here.”
“Is it because we're Force sensitive?” Finn interrupted Luke's obvious attempt at building drama.
“I'm sure that was fairly clear to them, Luke,” Leia as she poured herself a mug of caf from the carafe she was noticeably not sharing.
“I'm not Force sensitive. We had this conversation twenty years ago,” Poe's face had settled into a stubborn grimace.
“Finn, can you try projecting something to Poe? An image, some music perhaps?”
Finn looked a bit uneasy being singled out by the General, but turned to Poe and stared at him, his forehead crinkling as he concentrated on projecting something through the bond they shared in the Force.
“Poe, what is Finn thinking right now?”
“General, I have no idea.”
“Concentrate.”
Poe grumbled under his breath and turned to look at Finn, whose face had eased into the most guileless expression possible. Poe stared at Finn for a long moment and then gasped out a scandalized, “Finn, not in front of the General!”
Finn smirked at the rest of the table, only to falter as he realized they were all looking at everything in the room that wasn't his face.
“Please tell me you didn't all get that.”
“You have a … vivid imagination,” was Luke's comment.
Rey burst out laughing and Leia covered a smile discreetly in a cough before adding, “Maybe try words next time. Preferably something of a less … salacious variety.”
“Okay, that, that incident we will never speak of again, that does not prove anything. Okay, sure my boyfriend's a Jedi. Great. I'm still not,” Rey noticed Poe repeating the word “boyfriend” under his breath as a trace of a goofy grin crossed his face.
“They're not wrong, Poe. I can understand not trusting Luke or myself, but you've known Leia for years. I thought you had more respect for her than that,” Using Poe's idolization of Leia was a bit of a low blow, but Rey was still alive because she was willing to go for those.
Poe looked visibly pained at the notion of doubting Leia. “But you told me, Luke. You said I wasn't Force sensitive. Now you're telling me you lied?”
Leia and Luke exchanged glances and Rey could feel the buzz of voices passing through the Force right in front of her. She didn't try to listen in, but she couldn't deny she was tempted.
“Would it help if I said it was true from a certain point of view?”
Poe's expression grew stormy and Leia stepped in to help her brother, “We, Luke, myself, and your father, made a decision to shield you from the knowledge of your abilities. They hadn't manifested as anything more than the standard package of enhanced reflexes and reaction times and we were waiting for a healthier time for us to guide you into your power.”
“You thought I'd go Dark? Like Ben?” Rey could see from the barely contained flinch that Poe knew he had gone too far with the last gibe.
“This was before we started to worry about Ben, but yes. You were very angry and you didn't like me very much at all,” Luke said.
“Mom had just died. I remember,” his gaze turned introspective and shadowed. Finn reached out and took his hand.
“Whatever Poe decides, I want to train. If only so I can shut out all of the noise,” Finn gestured vaguely with his free hand.
All eyes turned to Poe and he shrugged, “It seems like you're just going to nag me into it anyway, so sure. I guess. But I have a condition.”
“Which is?” Luke prompted.”
“I only agree to Jedi training if I can have a rainbow-colored lightsaber.”
“What? That's … I don't think that's even possible.”
“Rainbow lightsaber or no deal.”
“Deal,” Leia interjected.
“Leia!”
“Luke, do you want three students or not?”
Luke looked back and forth between his twin and Poe like he was giving serious thought to answering no, but he finally rolled his eyes and agreed, “Deal.”
“Great! Can mine play music when I activate it? Like a really cool trumpet fanfare? Maybe some dance music for when I'm fighting? And can it change colors?” Rey bite the inside of her mouth trying not to laugh. Poe was clearly a bad influence on her friend and it was going to be utter joy watching Luke deal with it.
“I miss my island already,” Luke sighed, but he was smiling. It was the happiest Rey had seen him in all the months she had known him.