The four of them had been stuck in the tiny shuttle for what felt like eternity with a few non-pilot crew members to pick up supplies from a small neutral planet on the “other side of the friggen galaxy,” Finn’s words. Rey and Poe switched off piloting shifts for three days until Rose kicked Poe out of the cockpit just fifteen minutes after he took over for Rey, who he had just sent to bed. “I am a perfectly capable pilot, Poe Dameron.” She snapped, her hands on her hips. For how small she was, she was terrifying. “You can barely see straight! Between you and Rey, you both have only slept a few hours in the last three days!”
He grumbled as he slammed the console into autopilot. “Fine.” He snapped before he frowned. “I’m sorry . . .”
Rose’s face softened. “It’s okay.” She said, placing a hand on his arm. “You need some sleep.”
Poe got up, leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. “Thanks.”
Before he left, Finn entered the cockpit. “You’re going to have to fight Rey for the captain’s bunk.” He said, moving around him to sit in the copilots seat.
Poe growled as he walked past him. “She’s not that scary, I can take her.”
Finn snorted. “You’re crazy if you think you can fight her. She’s strong even without the force.” He said. “She knocked me on my ass when I first met her, when she thought I stole this jacket from you. . .”
Rose punched Finn in the arm to quiet him. “I’m sure you can.” She said with a bright smile, it didn’t stop Poe from glaring at them as he took the three stairs into the common room where miscellaneous crew meandered around, bored probably, not that Poe cared. He crossed the small galley, opting to eat something before sleeping for the next three years. The pickings were slim, between ration packets or sandwich making supplies. He settled on making a sandwich.
The captain’s quarters was small, with the tiniest bed in the galaxy. Poe opened the door and the light from the galley shined on the lump of Rey, who groaned in response. “If it’s the First Order, tell them to sod off.” She growled from the pillow, not bothering to lift her head or even open her eyes. “I can’t . . . .” It was a small whine, and normally Poe would smile but he couldn’t be the least bit bothered.
The thought of heading back to the cockpit made him shut the door a little too forcefully, he couldn’t actually lock the door in case there was an actual emergency, but he was not going to leave this room until he had a few hours away from the console and away from the nagging Rose and Finn. “No, it’s just me.” He said sitting on the edge of the bed to take his shoes off. “I love them, but I might actually hit Finn and/or Rose if I see them anytime soon.”
“Same.” She answered with a yawn as he sat down next to her on the bed with the sandwich in his mouth so he could take off his shoes. “What are you eating?”
He pulled the sandwich out of his mouth and looked between her and the sandwich in his hand. Man, he must really like her to share food with her right now. He took another bite and leaned over to hand the remaining half to her. “Here.”
“Thank you.” She nearly moaned, in a way that sounded far too inviting for his liking, and for having to platonically share a bed with her.
He huffed. “Yeah, don’t say I never brought you anything good.” He warned as Rey made quick work of the sandwich. He slid his arms out of his jacket and took his overshirt off, tossing it on top of Rey’s vest and armbands.
He playfully slapped her thigh. “Scoot over.” Trying to ignore just how muscular her thigh was.
She scooted some, but it wasn’t a whole lot-her back was nearly against the wall. She rolled over onto her side as he flipped the ambient light off, rolling over to face her and after some shuffling they ended up resting against each other, with her head on his shoulder and his arm around her, and their legs tangled. It wasn’t like they had a lot of room to spread out.
Once settled, Poe looked at her across the pillow they shared. In the dark, he was sure he could make out an amused smile on her face.
“Nothing.” She replied, laughter in her voice that tickled his chin. “Thank you for sharing your sandwich with me.”
He gave her a tired smile, his eyes finally adjusted to the dark and he could make out the freckles on her nose. “You are welcome.” He said softly. “It’s a good thing I like you, because I’m not liking a lot of people at the moment.” Finn and Rose were the top of his list, followed by the non-piloting people on this ship who felt that the two of them were going to fly this ship into an asteroid field because they hadn’t slept since they left base.
She laughed. “I would’ve used the Force to take it from you.” She said with a smile and a shrug.
He shrugged. “I don’t think that’s how the Force works.” He said playfully.
“How would you know? I am quite literally the last Jedi, I get to make to rules.” She responded just as playfully. She always felt the light around Poe, enough to joke with him-especially when they had been sitting next to each other since they started this expedition. He laughed softly. “If not, I could just force it from you.”
He gave her a knowing look, his eyebrow raised, it was lame-but it felt good to just let loose with her, even if they were crammed in the smallest bed in the galaxy, a billion light years from base in the literal middle of the galaxy. “Believe it or not, little Jedi, I’m not afraid of you.” He said, nuzzling her nose with his own, he had his own cheesy grin on his face.
Her sleepy giggles filled the empty room. “I guess it’s a good thing you shared your food with me, so we don’t have to test that theory.”
It was his turn to laugh as he reached across and brushed her hair back behind her ears. It was intimate, he knew, but he couldn’t resist. “I guess it is.” He agreed fondly, his hand resting on her cheek, his thumb brushing the freckles just under her eye. Her eyelids began to grow heavy with each pass of his thumb until eventually she couldn’t keep them open any longer. “Sleep tight, Little Jedi.” He whispered as her breathing evened out.
For as exhausted that he was, he couldn’t bear to fall asleep. He watched her sleep in his arms and a warm feeling filled him, and for right now-he was the happiest man in the galaxy. She shifted slightly in his arms, burying her face into his neck between his shoulder and his cheek, her hand resting on his chest, just above his heart.
It was her soft rhythmic breathing that soothed him to sleep.
Rose put the ship into autopilot for a moment, after sitting there for three hours, she needed to stretch her legs-her injuries still pained her when she sat for long periods of time. “I’ll be right back.” She said, she could trust Finn, who she had been teaching to fly for a few months.
He nodded as he reached for her hand. “Will you grab me something to eat?”
She nodded, holding it until she was just out of reach. She stepped into the galley, half expecting to see Rey and Poe sitting at one of the tables, bored like the rest of the crew and pouting that they’ve been kicked off the controls. But neither of them were there.
“They’re both in there.” Said a tall man from a table in the corner, he was playing sabacc with a couple of others to pass time. “Hadn’t heard a sound from them since Commander Dameron stomped into the galley to get something to eat.”
She had to hide her glee as she nodded as she crossed the floor to the captain’s quarters. Rose peeked inside the door unsure what to expect and she gasped quietly, seeing them lit up in the light from the galley, both of them unmoving, cuddled up in each other’s arm, in a more than platonic way, she could barely contain her squeal of excitement.
She watched for a moment before she saw Poe involuntarily shiver and pull Rey closer to him. Rose stepped inside and picked up the blanket that had fallen onto the floor at the foot of the bed and covered them with it, neither of them stirred.
With one more look at them, she shut the door behind them-letting them sleep for as long as they could.
When she returned to the cockpit, Finn turned around with a raised brow as she handed him a piece of fruit. “Did you go back to base to get this?” He teased.
She punched him lightly in his arm as she took a seat in the captain’s chair. “I was making sure Poe and Rey were actually asleep and not causing trouble, because we actually need them coherent when we fly home in case we can get our hands on some x-wings.”
“And were they?” He asked, leaning back in his chair.
She nodded, foregoing telling him how she found them for the moment, in order to give them the privacy they needed to figure things out with each other-she loved Finn, but tact wasn’t his strongest quality.
He shrugged and turned his attention to the window as they sped through space leaving Rose with a knowing smile.
Rey was slow to wake up, her body betrayed her obvious need for sleep as she came into consciousness. She was warm and content as her eyes fluttered open to realize that a sleeping Poe held her tightly to him. His arm under her neck was attached to the hand on her shoulder and the other hand was spread wide on her back.
He was still asleep, looking years younger with stubble growing along his jaw, it was definitely something she could get used to. She already knew he was handsome, he flaunted it, but being this close to him made her insides flutter. He surrounded her and for the first time in forever she felt safe.
It was then she realized that her hand had found its way into the open mouth of his shirt, just over his heartbeat. She flushed to herself, his skin warm under her hand. Her eyes map every line and muscle on his face, memorizing every feature, even though she knew that she should get some more sleep.
Eventually, Poe shifts around her, the rhythm of his breathing changing as he begins to wake up, and she reaches up and smooths her thumb over his cheek bones. “Just sleep.” She whispers. He needed the sleep more than she did.
He dozes off again almost as quickly, unknowingly pressing a sleepy kiss to her forehead as he tightened his grip on her, making her flush brightly again.
She smiles to herself and buries her face back into his chest, breathing in everything that was Poe Dameron as she too fell back to sleep.
