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“Poe! Poe Dameron!”
Poe turned around to find Zorii pushing through the crowded hallway toward him. Poe felt on edge as it was, and the air in the school was already thick with mingling scents. He wasn’t exactly in the mood for Zorii Bliss’ particular brand of sass just then. One needed their wits about them around her, and he was still not feeling quite awake. It had been a long weekend.
“Morning, Bliss,” Poe mumbled when Zorii made it to him.
Zorii jumped ahead of Poe and started walking backwards down the hall so she could look Poe in the eye. She clearly didn’t care if she ran into anyone. She was the type of alpha who had presented early—freshman year—and had enjoyed the societal perks of being an alpha for just a little too long, in Poe’s opinion.
Not that Zorii wasn’t a bad person, she just didn’t seem to notice the way the rest of the world tended to bend over backwards for her. As she walked, multiple underclassmen and a fellow senior, an omega, jumped out of her way.
“Zorii—” Poe reached out and grabbed her shoulder to stop her from backing into a sophomore who was down tying their shoes.
“Oh!” Zorii gasped when she stopped just short of tripping over the younger student. “I’m so sorry.”
She smiled down at them but was one her way a moment later as if nothing had happened.
Poe shook his head at her retreating back and shot an apologetic glance at the omega. Who smiled apprehensively back at Poe. Poe had only presented over the summer, but he swore he was never going to be as oblivious as some alphas seemed determined to be.
“You will literally never guess what’s happened,” Zorii said as she turned down the hall where her and Poe’s lockers were located.
“Mr. Solo blew up at Ben again.”
“What? No. I said you’d never guess, not this happens everyday,” Zorii laughed. She cocked an eyebrow at Poe, there was a glint in her eyes that he knew meant trouble.
“Alright, I give up, what happened,” Poe said with a shrug. He knew he couldn’t stop Zorii when she got like this. He made a beeline for his locker, he couldn’t be late for class again or Holdo would have his guts for garters.
“You know that new foster kid? The one who’s staying with Organa and Solo?”
“Sure,” Poe said. He tried his best to sound uninterested, but knew exactly who she was talking about. He hoped the change in his scent was lost in the mix of his fellow classmates.
“Apparently, he presented over the weekend, and he’s an omega! Can you believe it? I know they say don’t judge a person before they present, but I literally never would have picked him as an omega. Dude is built.”
Poe made it to his locker and yanked it open. He stuck his head inside and took a deep breath, trying to will himself not to pop a knot while surrounded by dozens of his classmates. There was no way Zorii wouldn’t smell the arousal on him if he didn’t get out of there quickly.
“Poe?”
Poe yanked his head out of his locker and slammed it shut. “Sorry I just—I left my homework in my car. I uh—I’ll see you in class.”
Poe left Zorii standing there, probably confused, but he didn’t dare look over his shoulder to see.
Poe ran into more than one person as he fled the school, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. It was only when he made it to his car and shut the door that he finally closed his eyes and let out a low moan.
Of course he knew who Zorii was talking about. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him all weekend.
Finn, who Poe had never paid a second thought to before Friday. Finn, who Poe hadn’t even known was at Rose Tico’s party until he caught the unmistakable smell of an omega in distress mixed with presentation hormones as he walked past an upstairs bathroom. Finn, who had whimpered and collapsed into Poe’s arms when he found him shaking, covered in sweat, and trying not to vomit in the sink. Finn, who had kissed Poe when he gave the omega his jacket and then talked with him for hours out in the cold night air. Finn, who Poe had thought about while getting himself off an embarrassing amount of times in the two days since the party.
Speaking of which, Poe’s dick was achingly hard and there was no way he was going to be able to sit through class without doing something about it first. He was about to palm his erection over his pants just to try and get some relief when a familiar scent reached his nose. It was faint but unmistakable. Finn.
Poe opened his eyes to see the omega standing in front of his car looking back at him, eyes wide. Poe gazed back at Finn for a moment, unsure what to do. Poe’s eyes drifted down Finn’s chest and he could hardly contain the low rumbling that emitted from somewhere deep in his chest when he realized Finn was wearing his jacket. He practically tripped over himself trying to get out of the car.
“Finn.”
Poe’s voice sounded foreign in his throat, impossibly lower than normal. He locked eyes with the omega, trying to stop his eyes from darting to Finn’s lips and pulse point every few seconds.
“Poe,” Finn gasped out. His nostrils flared slightly and he added, ”you’re here.”
“So are you,” Poe said. He stepped up to Finn, close enough to feel the omega’s warmth pouring off him, but he didn’t dare reach out. “I wasn’t sure if you’d come to school today.”
Finn took a single ragged breath and leaned slightly toward Poe.
“Yeah. Well. Saturday was the worst of it. Thank you for getting me home after the party,” Finn said. Poe saw him playing with the edge of the jacket’s sleeve with one hand. “I’m feeling a lot better now.”
Poe was vaguely aware of two younger students giggling as they walked past them. He was sure they both reeked like arousal and apprehension. All Poe could focus on was the smell of Finn’s scent mixing with the faint stale hints of his own from his jacket.
“That’s my jacket,” Poe said, dumbly.
“Oh, here.”
“No—” Poe surprised himself by practically shouting. Finn stilled with the jacket halfway off one shoulder. He still didn’t dare reach out to touch Finn, but his instincts were going wild, screaming at him to keep Finn in his jacket, drenched in his scent, “No—no. Keep it. It suits you.”
Finn pulled it back on, and finally gave Poe a weary smile.
“You don’t have to feel—” Finn said at the same time as Poe said, “about Friday—”
They both laughed awkwardly.
“Go ahead,” Poe said, motioning for Finn to continue.
“I was just going to say you don’t have to feel like you owe me anything.”
“Owe you?” Poe repeated, not missing the subtle anxiety that was creeping into Finn’s scent.
“Yeah.” Finn looked down and rubbed the back of his neck, which had the decidedly distracting side effect of dragging the sleeve of Poe’s jacket across Finn’s scent gland. “We kissed, but it doesn’t have to mean anything.”
“Do you want it not to mean anything?”
“I—” Finn started, but he shut his mouth and blinked back at Poe.
Poe didn’t realize he’d even reached out to Finn until his fingers were already brushing the hem of his jacket and settling on Finn’s waist.
They looked down at Poe’s hand, and back up at each other in near unison.
More of Poe’s own scent mixed with Finn’s was reaching his nose. He could practically feel his eyes dilate as his gut clenched around a heat that was starting to spread to his entire body.
“I slept with it under my head—your jacket, I mean. Your scent. It helped,” Finn whispered, like it was something shameful, like the thought of Finn finding comfort in his scent wasn’t warming Poe’s entire being.
Poe’s chest rumbled. Finn’s eyes widened and Poe yanked his hand back.
“Sorry, I—I don’t know where that came from,” he shoved his hands in pockets, looking everywhere but back at Finn, get it together Dameron.
He felt like such a knot-head. He didn’t want to push Finn into anything he was uncomfortable with, but his brain was feeling more and more foggy the longer he went without reaching back out to touch Finn.
Poe shook his head, and took a step back. This felt dangerous, and overwhelming. Poe hated when he heard other alphas talk about not being able to control themselves around omegas, he’d chewed those alphas out on more than one occasion, yet here he was having trouble keeping his mind off of Finn’s scent, let alone the urge to mix their scents even more thoroughly together.
Another rumble rose from Poe’s chest, and he clapped his hand over his mouth in surprise and horror.
“Holy shit—I’m so sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” Poe took another step back. This time however Finn followed him, closing all the distance Poe had put between them. His hands landed on Poe’s chest and he lightly grabbed at the fabric, not enough to pull Poe toward him, but Poe felt the draw to lean forward all the same.
They were practically the same height and their eyes met easily as another growl rocked Poe’s body. They stepped together, chest to chest, Finn’s hands still kind of trapped between them. The answering purr that vibrated from Finn’s chest where it was pressed against Poe’s cut right through the fog in Poe’s brain. He’d been so worried about pressing his advantage as an alpha that he hadn’t really stopped to consider that Finn was struggling too.
Poe brought a tentative hand up to cup Finn’s cheek. The omega leaned into the touch, his eyes fluttering close. Hardly a few seconds passed before he tilted his head away from Poe’s hand, clearly presenting the scent glands on his neck. His breathing was shallow and loud.
Poe swallowed and slowly let his hand run down Finn’s neck, he paused for a moment, wrist hovering just above Finn’s skin.
“Are we gonna do this?” Poe asked, double checking one last time. Scenting wasn’t the most intimate thing an alpha and omega could do, not by a long shot, but it certainly sent a message.
“Yes—Fuck Poe, just scent me already!”
Poe smiled, remembering how Finn had demanded, are you going to kiss me again or not? When Poe had dropped him off at home after the party.
“Poe,” Finn pleaded, his voice rising in desperation.
There was no way Poe could say no to that tone. He finally brought his hands to the nape of Finn’s neck. He rubbed his wrist lightly over Finn’s pulse point, before deciding that wasn’t enough and brought his lips down to press a kiss to Finn’s neck.
The vibrations of an inaudible purr from Finn spurred Poe on and he nuzzled his cheek against Finn’s neck. Almost immediately the sweet mix of their scents began to fill Poe’s nose and the fog of arousal and want and mine began to clear from his mind. It settled into a cozy contentment. A Rightness.
The first period warning bell echoed out over the student parking lot, and Poe growled against Finn’s neck, he wasn’t even close to done yet. Finn chuckled and pulled back from him.
“Have lunch with me?” Poe asked. He knew he sounded desperate, but that was the least of his worries. All he wanted was to keep Finn by his side, and with classes looming in his mind, meals seemed like the best option. ”We can sit with your friends, or with mine, I don’t care.”
“Of course I’ll have lunch with you.”
“Really?”
“What? You think I just want you for your scent?”
“Want—me—”
“Come on, Dameron, we’re going to be late for class, some of us can’t skate by on athletics,” Finn teased, as he started off toward the building.
Poe stood frozen for a moment before grabbing his bag out of his car and jogging to catch up with Finn. He draped his arm over Finn’s shoulders without even thinking about it. More than one person stared openly at them walking into the school, and Poe couldn’t help but puff his chest out a little bit.
Poe steered them toward the Junior hall, assuming that’s where Finn needed to be.
“Calm down,” Finn whispered.
“I am calm.” Poe responded, though he wasn’t entirely convinced of it himself.
“I was talking to myself.” Finn shivered and readjusted his backpack strap on his shoulder. “I can already feel my instincts panicking at the thought of being apart from you right now.”
“Well—” Poe paused, taking a moment to order his thoughts, “I don’t think anyone would mistake either of us as available right now. You smell so much like me it’s driving me wild.”
Finn nodded to himself and pulled Poe’s jacket closer around him. Poe’s chest bloomed with heat and pride seeing Finn take comfort in his jacket—his scent.
“This is me,” Finn said, indicating a junior math classroom with his head. They stopped walking and Finn immediately turned into Poe’s chest, tucking his head against the alpha’s neck. He took a deep breath.
Poe grabbed Finn’s hand and pressed a kiss into the palm before guiding it to the other side of his neck. Finn pulled back to look at Poe, his eyes widened slightly, and his scent abruptly changed to include a sweeter note.
It wasn’t unheard of for an Alpha to scent an Omega when they were still a new couple, but the reverse? That tended not to happen for months. Weeks at least. Poe didn’t care though, and when Finn took the hint and rubbed his wrist against Poe’s scent glands before pushing his fingers into Poe’s hair, he growled again and let Finn pull him into a kiss. Surely there could be nothing sweeter than the smell of them mixing together as he breathed through his nose so as not to break the chaste kiss.
“Jesus Dameron, get a room.”
Poe recognized the voice of one of his teammates from somewhere behind him. Finn peered over his shoulder, Poe rolled his eyes, a silent, don’t worry about them, that he hoped would come across.
The hallway was slowly emptying as more and more students disappeared into their classrooms. Finn needed to get to class, let alone Poe who knew he was probably already going to be late as it was.
“I should go, I don’t want you to be late,” Poe said.
Finn nodded and took his hand back. Poe chased the lost contact, which earned him a light playful pat on the cheek.
“Slow down,” Finn laughed, “You haven’t even taken me on a real date yet.”
“What about dinner? Tonight?” Poe hurried to ask with a smirk as Finn was backing up toward his class.
“Let's start with lunch.” Finn said with a chuckle, and turned to walk into his class.
Poe couldn’t help but feel a bit rejected, even if somewhere in the back of his mind he knew Finn was right. He was just high enough on Finn’s lingering scent not to care if he was being clingy.
Poe followed Finn into the classroom and caught the omega’s hand as he was about to take his seat. The non-alpha part of Poe’s brain caught up with what he’d done just in time to notice half the students in the room turn their heads toward the pair of them.
Poe let go of Finn’s hand and backed up a step. For someone who prided himself on not being a dick of an alpha, he sure felt like he was acting like a possessive knot-head.
“Sorry. I just—I wasn’t joking. I’m not sure if you were.”
“About dinner?” Finn asked, barely hiding his amusement..
“Yeah,” Poe said quietly, aware most of Finn’s classmates were hanging on his and Finn’s every word. “I mean—we don’t have to, I just wasn’t sure.”
Poe wasn’t used to being in a room where so few people had presented. Poe would guess maybe a quarter of the students had based on the scent saturation. His senior classes were unbearable sometimes with how many contrasting scents mixed together. It was confusing, not being able to gauge the general reaction.
Finn’s eyes softened, he glanced at his teacher to make sure they weren’t looking and kissed Poe on the cheek.
“Of course I’ll go to dinner with you Poe, now get out of here.” Finn pushed Poe lightly on the shoulder.
“Ok—Awesome. Excellent.” Poe nodded, but he didn’t move. “So I’ll see you at lunch?”
“Yes, now get out of here.” Finn pleaded, even as he chuckled.
Poe left the room grinning and smelling like Finn.