Chapter Text
Finn knew answering an online advertisement for $600 rent in an old lady’s house could go very, very badly. It was definitely a good opening scene for a horror movie. But he was broke, and he needed a place to spend the last year of university, and the place was not even 20 minutes from the university, which was closer than he’d ever lived. It was, by all accounts, absolutely perfect for him, which was one of the more worrying things.
It was pet-friendly. Okay, not necessarily relevant for Finn, but he did have a soft spot for animals so it was nice to know she wouldn’t charge more if something came up. It was $600 a month for a single room, which was…impossible to find in this city. Granted, he’d have two roommates and the old lady landlord, and they’d all share a kitchen and stuff, but Finn had gone to boarding school; this was more privacy than he’d ever had in his life. She claimed she cooked for them all, but demanded help and reciprocity. Okay, he could definitely do that: he’d been taking care of himself since he was 12 years old.
He took one deep breath, then another, and strode up the front steps to knock on the door. Within a few seconds, it opened, revealing a kind-looking old lady carrying a very fluffy blue Persian who looked much less kind than his lady.
“You must be Finn!” she exclaimed, gesturing for him to come inside. “Have a look around, see if it suits your needs.”
Finn already knew he’d be staying if there were no glaringly horrifying details. “Thanks, Ms. Organa.”
She shook her head. “Please, call me Leia.”
“Okay. Leia.” This woman looked old enough to be his mother, and Finn wasn’t quite used the concept of calling Actual Adults by their first name, but it was what she asked.
He took off his shoes by the front door, earning an approving smile from Leia. The house wasn’t too large, one story and narrow hallways, but it was cozy. It was clean. It was the kind of place Finn could absolutely live for $600 a month.
Another cat poked its head out from around a corner, but this one was more skittish than the blue one. “That’s Threepio,” she said, gesturing to the anxious one, “and this is Artoo.” She lifted her arms a little, earning a glare from the cat in question.
“Those are…interesting names,” Finn replied. But he liked cats, so this was fine.
Leia shrugged. “They already had their names when they came to us.” Artoo squirmed, and she simply opened her arms, dropping him to the ground. He landed gracefully and with one last haughty glance at Finn, sauntered away.
They continued exploring the house. The kitchen was nice – a little messy, with some dishes still in the sink, but with a good oven. He could cook there for sure. There was a nice little kitchen table that looked older than Leia, even, and four chairs to match, and in one of them sprawled a pretty girl with dirt on her face, eating pancakes.
It was a little late in the afternoon for pancakes, but Finn was a college student, so he supposed he couldn’t judge.
“This is my niece, Rey,” Leia introduced.
She waved enthusiastically. “’Lo!” she greeted through a mouth full of pancakes.
“Rey goes to the same university you do,” Leia explained, which startled Finn. He couldn’t remember if he’d mentioned his school in the email, but he must have. “She’s studying mechanical engineering.”
“Finn,” he introduced, and she nodded.
“Oh, I know. I stalked you on social media,” she replied, unashamed, taking a drink of milk. “As soon as you answered Auntie’s ad. You’re pretty.”
Finn snorted. There wasn’t much to find – a few pictures, maybe. A Facebook account he never used that he’d made to stay in touch with friends from school, back when he assumed that was something he’d want. “Well, you have me at a disadvantage, then,” he replied.
She saluted. “Rey Skywalker,” she began, which wasn’t a much more normal name than the cats. “Twenty-one. Mech-e student. I want to work for NASA.” She grinned, and Finn could see the outer space adventure in her. It made sense. “I have a blog I’ll show you if you stay, but don’t expect anything of quality, it’s all memes and shitposts. I love dogs and cats and all animals, really. Also classic rock. I would like to be Freddie Mercury. Favorite food is pancakes” – she gestured at the plate – “and I am basically nocturnal.”
Leia raised an eyebrow. “Rey, honey, have you taken your meds?”
“No, it’s not a school day or a workday so I decided to take today off.” She smiled winningly. “It saves money.”
“It’s not like we don’t have enough.” Leia snorted. “You forgot, didn’t you?”
Rey flushed. “No!” Leia stared levelly at her. “Okay, yes. But it doesn’t matter because I’m just staying here all day.”
Leia shrugged. “You’re a big girl,” she said, and then gestured for Finn to follow her through the rest of the house. There was a cozy little den area full of mismatched couches and chairs piled high with blankets and pillows, plus a sort-of old looking TV. The curtains were red and drawn, filtering the light. Hell, if there wasn’t a bedroom, Finn would be happy to sleep here.
Then there was a narrow hallway with five doors, ostensibly four bedrooms and a bathroom. One door was open and revealed a bright yellow bedroom that looked like a clothes-and-stuff star imploded in the center. It had pictures of athletes and also Hedy Lamar on the wall, and Finn hazarded an educated guess that this was Rey’s room.
The next door was closed, probably Leia’s room, as was the third, but that one she knocked on.
“Come in,” came the muffled response.
Leia pushed open the door to reveal quite possibly the most beautiful man Finn had ever seen, cross-legged on a plaid bedspread and wearing a purple button down covered in tiny robots. He was chewing on the cap of a ballpoint pen, notebook settled in his lap. Asleep next to him was a small, round corgi, snoring slightly, and the man on the bed had his hand buried in the fur behind its ears.
He looked up and smiled, and it was blinding. “Hey,” he greeted.
“Poe, this is Finn, our potential new tenant. Finn, this is Poe Dameron, a grad student at the University down the way,” Leia said, as if that would mean anything to him. “His parents are close friends of mine.”
“Welcome,” Poe greeted. “Heard you’re a teacher?”
Finn wasn’t quite sure how he’d heard that, but he nodded. “Uh, yeah. Well, going to be, anyway.”
“That’s great!” Magnetic energy just radiated off of Poe, drawing Finn closer. “I’m working on finishing up a two year Urban Affairs and Public Policy Masters. I’m doing a lot with educational policy this semester, so I’d love to ask you some questions.” He tilted his head. “If you stay.”
Finn was definitely staying. “Sounds great,” he managed.
Leia led him out of the room, shooting him a knowing smile. “Don’t worry, happens to everyone. Except my boy, I guess.”
Finn didn’t know remotely what she was talking about, but he thought it might be rude to ask.
The final room was fairly spartan. “This is where you’d stay,” Leia explained. “The bed and the closet shelves are provided, but you’ll need to bring anything else you want.”
The mattress on the double bed looked softer than anything Finn had slept on in his life. The walls were painted in the colors of an almost-set sun, which was a bit of a weird color scheme, but Finn couldn’t complain.
Finally, the bathroom. “There’s only one,” Leia said apologetically. “It’s not too bad to share since we’re mostly on different schedules. Poe’s a beauty queen and takes forever in the shower, but other than that it’s very doable.”
Finn did his best not to think about Poe in the shower, and he nodded quickly.
Leia led him back to the front foyer, where his worn-through sneakers waited for him by the door, next to a pair of smart dress shoes and an even-worse-worn pair of high tops. They almost looked like they belonged already.
“So, what do you think?” Leia asked, but it seemed like she already knew the answer.
Finn couldn’t help but smile at her. “When can I move in?”
---
“Your room makes me uncomfortable,” Rey declared, marching into it anyway.
Finn squinted. “Why?”
“It’s too orderly,” she replied.
She had a point. The bed was made with military efficiency. All his clothes were folded and stacked perfectly in his closet. Every surface in his space – a desk, a bedside table – was free of clutter and dust. He hadn’t had any decorations to put up after he moved in, so it was just him and the walls.
“I mean, even your duvet is heather grey. Like, what the fuck?” Rey demanded, flopping down on his bed. “Oh, but it is very soft. I guess that’s okay. Still, you need posters or something.” She looked around. “Maybe a pop of color. I like yellow. Do you like yellow?”
Finn snorted, purple pen hovering above a sheet of paper, the mark he’d been about to make lost from his brain. “Did you want something, or did you just come here to criticize my sense of interior design?”
“The second one.”
“Why?”
She chewed on her lip. It was one of the precursors to her moments of vulnerability, Finn had learned, moments when her larger-than-life energy and attitude fell away for a second. “I’m procrastinating.”
Finn was grading his fourth graders’ math tests, but he couldn’t focus with Rey there, so he put them on his desk and gave her his attention. “And why are you procrastinating?”
“Got a test tomorrow,” Rey muttered. “Don’t wanna study. Head’s fuzzy.”
Finn raised an eyebrow. This was not the first time he’d seen Rey putting off her schoolwork. “Did you take your meds?” he asked, referring to her daily dose of Adderall. ‘Head’s fuzzy’ sounded like a no, but he wasn’t sure.
She rolled her eyes at him. “Yeeeeeah, but I still don’t want to do it.” She sighed.
“Is it because you’re bored, or because you’re anxious?” Finn asked. He had experience with ADHD, though usually only in kids under 11; still, he hoped he could be sort of useful. Thus far, he’d been pretty good at helping Rey through things, and it was good practice for working with kids who wouldn’t have the self-awareness of a college student.
She glanced away awkwardly. “Anxious,” she answered quietly. There it was. “I don’t – there’s so much. What if I don’t know anything?”
“Rey, you’re so smart.” Finn had only lived there for a few weeks, but already he knew that beyond a shadow of a doubt. “You’re going to do great. I bet you already know everything, anyway.” He reached out to pat her hand. “Want me to help you study?”
“Would you?” she asked. When he nodded, she raced out of the room – god, the girl was fast – and was almost immediately back with a notebook. “Okay, here. Quiz me.”
None of the notes made a damn bit of sense. There were diagrams he couldn’t parse and letters that didn’t even belong to any alphabet Finn was familiar with. Rey was staring at him expectantly, and he felt himself floundering.
He came up with a better solution, one that didn’t require him to have any idea at all what was going on. “How about instead of me quizzing you,” he suggested, “you teach me. Teaching someone else is one of the best ways to learn.”
“You can’t read my notes, can you?” Rey smirked.
“That’s not – okay, yeah.” The way Rey had started laughing before he even managed to stutter out his denial was both endearing and annoying. When she smiled, her whole face scrunched up and she showed a lot of teeth and dear god, she was beautiful.
“You’re a terrible liar,” she told him, like he’d never heard that one before. “I like that.” Then she scooted up close to him, close enough that their sides were touching, and placed the notebook in his lap. “Okay, so I’ll start from the beginning.”
She was beautiful when she explained things, going full speed ahead with excited fervor. Finn still didn’t understand half of what she was saying, but she only had to pause once and rifle through the notes before she considered her next words and plunged on.
“I’d say you’re ready,” he told her when she finished. “I’m definitely not, even after that, but you are.”
She gave him a heart-stopping grin and flopped back onto his bed, leaving the unreadable notebook in his lap. “I feel better,” she declared. “And now I studied. So I’m freeeeeee.”
Carefully, with more reverence than Rey probably had for any of her stuff, Finn put the notebook on his desk and flopped down next to her.
“You see those stars on the ceiling?” she asked, pointing. Finn wasn’t sure he’d have guessed they were stars, the flecks of gold and silver and white, but he nodded. “I put them there. Ben and I painted this room when I was ten years old, and he let me do the ceiling.” She sighed. “He wasn’t always an asshole.” She paused. “Or maybe he was, but I was too young to notice.”
Finn had heard bits and pieces about Ben Solo, Leia’s son and the former inhabitant of this room. He knew the guy was Poe’s age, studying art, and had gotten into a blowout fight with his mother and moved out a few months ago, but beyond that, he didn’t know much.
Rey rolled over to face Finn, staring deeply into his eyes. She had a gaze like she could see your soul, always. “That’s why your room is weird,” she said. “It used to be Ben’s, and he was never this clean. Also there was so much color.” She laughed. “But it was really pretentious, like, he insisted his color scheme was black and red and purple and any time Auntie Leia tried to buy anything outside the color scheme he’d pitch an absolute fit.” She wrapped Finn’s bedspread in one fist. “I like that there’s grey here, now. And that the floors are clean.”
“I went to boarding school,” Finn found himself telling her. “Military style. Our dorms were small and always had to be pristine.” He sighed. “Old habits die hard, I guess.”
“I mean, I admire the skill it takes,” Rey replied. “I just – that could never be me.”
“Trust me, I know,” Finn laughed, thinking of all the things he stepped on any time he tried to go into Rey’s room.
She reached out to shove him lightly. “Wow, traitor.” But then her demeanor turned serious. “Why did your parents send you to boarding school?” she asked. “I can’t imagine wanting someone like you out of the house.”
This was getting more personal than Finn had necessarily prepared for, but he didn’t have a whole lot of friends, and it was dark outside, which was the perfect time for sharing secrets, he supposed.
“Didn’t have any,” he replied, shrugging like it wasn’t a barb in his side. “I was in foster care for awhile, and then the school offered to take me in on scholarship. Most of us there were foster kids; something about shaping us into disciplined adults since we lacked strong role models or whatever.”
Rey grinned, which was not the usual reaction to that story. Usually, there was some sort of sadness or pity. But Rey, she just beamed, and said, “Me too!”
Finn had to stop, but he couldn’t quite figure out what she meant. He’d said a lot of words. “What?”
“I was in foster care too! My parents abandoned me when I was a baby,” she said, very chipper for such a sad phrase, “and so I was there for awhile until Luke adopted me when I was eight. Leia’s brother,” she added. “That’s cool. I don’t meet a lot of other people from the system.”
“All my life.” He nodded slowly. “I aged out, though. They helped pay for some of school, but then I got too old.”
It was something Rey wouldn’t have experienced, having had the good fortune of being adopted, but she looked like she knew that. She stayed quiet, as if waiting for him to say more.
“It’s been hard, since I stopped getting the checks,” he confessed quietly. That’s why this place had seemed a godsend, affordable and doable and trustworthy.
She nodded sagely, but she reached out to grab his hand. “You’re here now,” she said. “Leia Organa’s home for lost souls. We’ll make sure nothing bad happens to you.”
There was a fierceness in her eyes that Finn couldn’t help but believe. It’d only been a few weeks, but already, he loved her.
---
Finn knew, on some level, that falling in love with your roommate(s?) was a terrible idea.
But it was nine o’clock at night and his lamp was blinding him and the lesson plans he’d been working on all day still didn’t seem good enough and he was hungry. So when Poe brought him a plate of dinner - easy to eat, just some chicken and rice - Finn’s heart flipped and he considered marriage.
“Hey, buddy.” Poe knocked on the door, even though it was open, and stood waiting in the doorway until Finn nodded. “You seemed hard at work here. Haven’t seen you all day, really. And I’m pretty sure you skipped dinner, so…”
He held the plate out in front of him. Finn took it gratefully, setting his work to the side for a minute. “I did,” he admitted. “Thanks.”
“Can I stay?” Poe asked. Finn nodded, and he sat down on the edge of Finn’s bed, right next to the desk and chair Finn sat at. His knees brushed against Finn’s. “So, what’re you working on?”
Finn slid the papers over and started to wolf down the food Poe had brought. “I teach my first lesson tomorrow. This is my lesson plan.”
“Whoa.” Poe’s eyes grew wide as he picked up and flipped through the lesson. “This is...thorough.”
“Can you tell I’m nervous?” Finn cracked, making the effort at a smile. Maybe joking about it would help the feeling.
“Finn, this is...amazing.” Poe looked at him seriously. “I think even I could teach this. Or Rey.” Poe snorted at the idea of Rey in front of a classroom of children.
Finn imagined setting Rey loose on his fourth graders. He wasn’t sure who would win. Rey was fearsome, but his nine-year-olds were too.
“Would it help to practice?” Poe asked.
“Hm?” Finn wasn’t quite sure what Poe was offering, but of course practice was helpful.
Poe grinned. “I could act like a clueless nine-year-old and you can teach me this math.”
Finn snorted. “You don’t mind sitting here and having me explain factoring to you?” He couldn’t imagine that would be very engaging, and there were probably a million other more interesting and enjoyable things Poe could do with his time.
“Sure! I barely have a fourth grade understanding of math anyway,” Poe joked, giving Finn a smile that melted his insides. “C’mon, I wanna help.”
With a shrug, Finn began to run through his lesson. He kept waiting for Poe to give off signs of boredom, but Poe kept rapt attention on him, even better than a kid who actually wanted to learn. Every once in awhile he’d throw out a question for Finn, stuff to help him be more flexible in front of the classroom.
“Okay, and here’s the exit ticket,” Finn concluded, sliding a small sheet of paper in front of Poe. “It’s to assess where they all are, how comfortable with the content.”
Poe studied the piece of paper. “D’you want me to fill it out?”
“Nah.” Finn shook his head. “I think you get it.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Poe laughed. “I’m a humanities major. So maybe you should give me the test anyhow, just to be sure.” His eyes flashed and he gave a tiny smirk.
Was that flirting? Finn thought that might be flirting, but he was not great at picking it up, and by the time he’d made up his mind about something to say, the moment had passed.
“Listen, you’re gonna do great.” Poe clapped him on the shoulder. “Try not to freak yourself out too much. It’s great.” He grabbed Finn’s plate. “I’ll let you be, but don’t work too hard.” With that, he was gone, leaving Finn to miss his presence and debate going after him.
---
Even months after The Incident, Ben Solo haunted the walls of the house. It made Poe tired.
It was late, but Poe’s mind was running wild, and he sighed heavily, flipping over again. Most of the time, he was fine. Most of the time, he barely remembered the guy existed.
Tonight was not most of the time.
Maybe it was the racist remark he’d overheard in the coffeeshop that had reminded him, or maybe it was the way he always got a shock seeing Finn’s stuff amid the familiar walls. Whatever the reason, Ben Solo was in his head, and he couldn’t stop thinking about the fight that’d made Auntie Leia cry and made Ben leave. Harsh words rattled against the inside of his skull, words he’d do anything to erase from his brain, but more importantly, from Leia’s. The sight of her face crumpling was one of the worst things Poe had ever seen.
He groaned and got out of bed. Beebee was asleep at the foot of the bed, but only stirred a little bit. Good. Only one of them needed to be so disturbed right now.
Maybe a cup of tea would help. Normally, he’d prefer a cup of coffee, but he did want to sleep eventually, and he didn’t have Rey’s magical immunity to caffeine, so Leia’s boxes and boxes of decaf were the best choice. Besides, green tea was supposed to be calming. He could use some calming.
He left his bed, not mourning much loss because as warm as he was, it wasn’t a cozy, comfortable kind of warmth and his body felt weird, begging to move. In the living room, he discovered Rey sitting cross-legged on the floor with a bowl of popcorn in her lap and the bright colors of a video game flashing across her face. The intensity with which she stared at the TV was as beautiful as it was amusing.
“Rey, it’s one a.m.,” he said, as if she didn’t know, as if they hadn’t known each other for years, as if she hadn’t been like this all her life.
She shrugged. “You’re not sleeping, either.”
“Not for lack of effort,” Poe grumbled. He rolled his shoulders, willing some of the tension out of his body.
She clucked. “You’re wound so tight,” she said, though her entire body was also taut like a bowstring as she played her game. “You need to relax.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m trying.” He walked into the kitchen and opened a cabinet.
She never once looked at him, but she asked, “Can you make me a cup too? Especially if you’re doing the pomegranate kind.”
“How the fuck do you do that?” he demanded, but she hadn’t been able to explain it since they were kids and she always found him during Hide and Seek or knew what he wanted for dinner, and he doubted she’d explain it now.
She shrugged again. “Because I love you,” she replied flippantly. “Oh, shit, fuck, fuck!”
Poe put the water on to boil, smirking. “You okay there?”
She didn’t answer, just furiously clicked away at the buttons on her controller in some pattern Poe would never be able to guess and continued to swear - not particularly quietly, either, so it was kind of a miracle she wasn’t waking Finn or Auntie Leia.
Poe pulled two mugs from the cabinet, one that said ‘Feral’ with a very aggressive looking opossum that he had custom made for Rey for her birthday, and the one she’d given him for Hanukkah when she was sixteen, an overly ornate one saying “Happy Challah-Days.” It meant more to him than he’d care to admit, though he was sure she knew it was his favorite mug. He was pretty sure everyone knew.
He was also pretty sure everyone knew how stupidly in love with Rey Skywalker he was.
Somewhere around Purim when he was twenty, and she’d come home from her first year university, he’d realized she was more than just “younger friend” - she was beautiful and whip smart and her energy was electric. Being around her was exhilarating. He’d fallen in love with the girl he’d grown up with, and he hadn’t noticed until it smacked him in the face.
But he tried not to be weird about it.
“Tea’s ready,” he declared, bringing both mugs over to Rey. He hadn’t even really noticed he was making it, he was so lost in thought.
She nodded in thanks and took a long sip. “I lost,” she declared, frowning. “Hey, play with me. It’ll help you relax.”
“Oh, because you look so relaxed,” he replied, laughing. But he sat next to her anyway, keeping a very respectful distance between the two of them and sipping his tea carefully.
“What, you afraid of me or something?” She scooted closer, pressing herself up against him, and it was amazing, but he knew - he saw the way she looked at Finn, because it’s the way he looked at Finn too, and who wouldn’t be in love with Rey Skywalker? - and he knew it was a terrible idea to get his hopes up.
He snorted. “Hardly.” He grabbed a handful of popcorn out of her lap, and then she passed him a controller. “How do I play?”
Rey grinned wickedly. “You’ll figure it out.” And then she started the match.
“You asshole!” he hissed, immediately starting his game-winning strategy of button-mashing. “Unfair!”
Rey laughed. “You’re smart, you’ll figure it out,” she said again. Her fighter moved towards his character and landed a solid kick, sending him across the screen.
It was a good distraction. All thoughts of racism and betrayals and former friends had flown from his mind. All that existed was him, Rey, and the controller in his hands. B button was useful, A button too - the triggers didn’t help much…
Rey’s fighter knocked him out. She crowed victoriously.
He gritted his teeth. Poe liked Rey, but he didn’t like losing. “Rematch,” he demanded.
She won the next round, too, and then he managed to get a win after that.
And then - and then! When it looked like he was going to win again, when he was going to even out their record, she came up at the last second and stole his victory.
“Bastard!” Poe hissed. Rey cackled.
And then, like they were kids again, he tackled her. Rey was wiry, and scrappy, and incredibly agile, but he was a little bigger than her, and he had the element of surprise, knocking the bowl of popcorn out of her lap. Both his hands came up and locked with hers as he tried to pin her and she squirmed, laughing gleefully.
Trying to win against Rey was, of course, useless, because she was Rey, and pretty soon she had her legs tangled up in his and she was flipping him, using their still intertwined hands to pin him to the ground and straddling his hips.
Markedly different from when they were kids was the way being in this position with Rey felt. The fact that she was just wearing a loose t-shirt and a pair of boxers did absolutely nothing to help him.
He began to feel awkward, heat rushing in his face, but she was still panting heavily, reveling in her real-life victory. Her grin was wild and intoxicating, and if he’d been a braver or more stupid man, he’d have kissed her.
Luckily, he was neither, and then Rey started blushing too, and Finn cleared his throat.
“What are you two doing?” he asked as they scrambled apart guiltily. He rubbed his eyes blearily. “It’s like, ridiculously late. Or early. I don’t even know.” He was wearing a pair of grey sweatpants to sleep; Poe was always weak for a man in grey sweatpants, because he really needed more people to be attracted to in this moment.
“Video games,” Rey said primly, earning a raised eyebrow from Finn.
Then he turned his gaze to Poe. “Don’t you have a class tomorrow morning?” he asked, and Poe remembered, oh shit yes he did, and it was early, and he was definitely not getting the advised amount of sleep tonight. He grabbed his miraculously un-spilled mug of tea.
“Sorry to bother you, buddy.” Poe pushed himself up to standing and patted Finn on the shoulder. “I should be going to bed.” With that, he absconded as quickly as he could with whatever dignity he had left.
Only after he was back in his own room, door locked and covers pulled, trying desperately not to think about Rey or Finn, did he realize he’d left Rey alone to clean up the popcorn. Whoops.
---
It was too early in the morning. Finn was not a night owl, by any means, but sometimes it was just a ridiculous time to get up. He regretted how far his student teaching was from the house, but it was cheap enough that the hour of travel time was worth it.
One of the perks of being up this early was that he had the bathroom all to himself, so he could take as long and as hot of a shower as possible. The last apartment he’d lived in had a useless water heater, but here it lasted as long as he wanted it to.
Another perk was that no one was awake to hear him singing in the shower. Janelle Monae was his artist of choice, and this morning was a “Make Me Feel” kind of morning, so as he washed his body, he sang as loudly as he dared. It was a bisexual anthem, really, and also the music video was the kind of double romance he dreamed about with Rey and Poe. (Terrible idea, he reminded himself.)
He didn’t realize he had company until he pulled open the shower curtain and grabbed his towel. Facing the other wall was Rey, toothbrush shoved in her mouth.
“You sing very well.” She spit out her toothpaste. “Sorry, you - I thought I’d be in and out before you finished your shower but I guess I misjudged how long you’d already been in there.”
There were a million questions in Finn’s brain as he tightened the towel around his waist, including how she knew how long he showered, but he finally settled on, “Why are you up so early?”
“Oh, I’m getting ready for bed,” Rey replied. “Brushing my teeth before I knock out.” As if to prove her point she took a big mouthful of mouthwash.
Finn gaped. “Rey, what the hell?”
She shrugged, then spit. “I was working on a project! But I finished and now I should sleep.”
“It’s five in the morning,” he told her, just in case she didn’t know.
She nodded, turning back towards him. “It be like that sometimes.” Only when she actually caught sight of him did her face go a little red, and he felt it too. “Um, yeah. Sorry for busting in on you. But like, really, you sing so nice. Um. Oh, I made some late-night waffles; they’re still on the counter, you can eat them for breakfast.”
With that, she brushed past him, not letting him even respond before she disappeared out the door. His bare skin prickled where they touched, and he had to take a moment to regroup.
His clothes were undisturbed in the pile he’d left them in, shirt still hanging on the back of the door, and he put them on carefully, then returned to his room to pick out a tie. He settled on a blue and gold one for the day, and it took him two tries to tie it, because he was distracted, apparently.
When he walked past Rey’s room, her door was closed and her light was off. He couldn’t hear a thing. Probably snuggled under her weighted blanket with her black-out curtains closed, maybe asleep already; he’d seen how fast she could go to sleep.
In the kitchen, the waffles weren’t on the counter like Rey had said, but rather at the seat Finn usually took at the kitchen, with a bowl of blueberries and a little whipped cream spiral on top. He smiled. She was weird as fuck and kept ridiculous hours, but she was kind and considerate about it.
The waffles were...decent. Rey was not a master chef, but waffles were pretty hard to fuck up, and the whipped cream added the extra moisture he wanted to the slightly-dry waffles. Normally, Finn would have added syrup, but he didn’t trust himself not to get it on his tie. Whipped cream was less dangerous.
It was the heartiest breakfast he’d had before student teaching since the semester started. He felt awake, and prepared, and thought that maybe being up this early wasn’t so bad, after all. He put the dishes in the sink and grabbed his bag on the way out the door, thinking how he’d need to thank Rey.
Whenever the heck she woke up.
---
Artoo was an asshole. Officially. Poe had known this since he was little, of course, because the cat had always been an asshole, but he just got worse with age.
His crime of the day was vomiting onto Poe’s basket of freshly clean laundry. Laundry he’d put off doing for weeks.
“Auntie Leia,” he called casually, “would you mind terribly if I murdered your cat?”
“Yes,” she called back in the same tone. “I’m rather emotionally attached to the bastard.”
At least she understood. Poe sighed, salvaging the few unruined clothes to put in his closet, and took the rest back to the laundry room, where he met Finn, loading up the washer.
“Hey, buddy.” He looked at Finn awkwardly. “Got room for a few more things?”
Finn scrunched his brow. “Didn’t you just wash those?”
“Yeah, but Artoo’s an asshole.” Poe gritted his teeth. Fucking cat hadn’t been nearly this bastardous ten years ago; back then, Poe was mostly just covered in claw marks.
Finn nodded understandingly, stepping aside. “Here. Join me.” For as much as Artoo was an asshole to Poe, Artoo and Beebee seemed to have it out for Finn. Which was very inconvenient, considering Beebee was Poe’s dog specifically, and dogs were supposed to be good wingmen.
Poe tossed his basket’s worth of button-downs and t-shirts (and one unlucky pair of pants) into the washer, watching forlornly as they entered the pile of Finn’s dirty clothes. At least he was being a little eco-friendly by tossing them in a wash that was already going to happen.
While the washer did its job, Poe rinsed the rest of Artoo’s gift off the side of the laundry basket. God, that cat. Something had to be done, he thought, going to join Leia and Finn in the living room.
He took the laundry bin and tossed it over Artoo where he sat at Leia’s feet. “You are now in jail for your crimes,” he told the cat, who stared back at him imperiously, probably thinking something to the effect of ‘this puny prison can’t hold me forever, asshole.’
Finn snickered from where he was tucked into the corner of the couch, going over notes for some presentation he was going to tonight. Or giving. Poe hadn’t quite understood, because he thought Finn was just attending, but then, why would he need to go over notes?
“Sit,” Poe directed when the washer beeped that it was done. “I’ll get it.” Finn gave him a grateful smile, the kind that made Poe want to do anything he asked. He turned back to his notebook.
How the hell did Finn get Poe so wrapped around his finger so fast, Poe wondered. He knew he was the kind of guy who fell in love easy, but this was...ridiculous. He was so damn gone for Finn, and it’d only been a couple months.
He tried to focus on the task at hand, shoving wet clothes into the dryer, piece by piece. He dropped only one thing on the ground - unfortunately, it was a pair of Finn’s boxers and that was no help to him at all. He shoved it hurriedly into the dryer, too, and sent the clothes spinning.
After that, he went back to his room, because his plan for the day had been cleaning before Artoo decided to undo all his hard work. He’d gotten all the clothes off various surfaces and washed them, which was a success, but he still had more to do.
At least he wasn’t Rey. She had seven plastic water bottles under her bed (and counting), and Poe wouldn’t even know where to start if he wanted to pick things up off the floor. Then again, if he was Rey, he probably wouldn’t have decided to clean, either.
Curse being a responsible adult, or whatever the fuck it was he was pretending to be these days.
He picked up his textbooks from where they were sprawled on the floor, putting them in order next to his school work and papers and research. All his professional stuff lived in one place now on his desk, a desk with a chair no longer covered in button downs.
This was progress. He changed his sheets, next, because he realized he couldn’t remember the last time he’d done that and that was kind of gross. As he was laying his duvet back on the bed, Finn knocked on his open door.
“Come in,” Poe invited. “You know you’re allowed in here any time, bud.”
Finn smiled at that. “Here.” He thrust out a basket of folded clothes. “These are yours.”
“Oh, man, you didn’t have to do that.” Poe looked at him gratefully. One less thing to clean. He took the basket and set it down on top of his freshly made bed.
Finn shrugged. “I was getting ready for the event, and I was folding them all anyway.”
Then Poe looks at him, really looks at him, and feels several stutters of a heartbeat. “Finn,” he says, halfway between a statement and a question. “You’re wearing my shirt?”
Finn glanced down. “Oh. I could’ve sworn this was one of mine.” He looked back at Poe guiltily. “I can change if you want.” His fingers went to the top button.
Poe shook his head sharply. “No, no. Here, wait just one second.” He grabbed an old, worn brown leather jacket out of his closet and gave it to Finn to put on.
God, he was a beautiful man.
“Keep it,” Poe told him, biting his lip. “It suits you.”
---
Rey was absolutely sopping wet when she came home, carrying a bundle under her jacket, and she shook herself out like a sheepdog, splattering rainwater everywhere.
“Watch it!” Poe complained, brushing off whatever water had hit him. She stuck her tongue out at him.
“I found something,” she declared excitedly. When Poe didn’t ask what it was, she sighed. “Fine. I’m going to find Finn because he cares about me.” She pouted only slightly.
“You do that,” Poe replied absently. He didn’t bother looking up from the giant book he was reading. “I’m busy right now. Tell me later. When you’re dry.”
“You’re an asshole, Poe Dameron,” she called, walking down the hallway. She didn’t really mean it, though.
“Just for you, sweetheart,” he shot back. She couldn’t see him, but she knew he was smiling.
She threw open Finn’s doorway without knocking, because she wasn’t quite used to the concept of “he’s not family, dear, give him privacy” like Leia kept reminding, and she shouted his name excitedly.
“Yeah?” He glanced up at her. “Jesus Christ, Rey, you’re soaked.”
Her hair was plastered to her forehead and she was pretty cold, but that was not the most important thing right now. “Yes,” she answered simply. “But –”
“Rey, you are dripping on my carpet,” Finn said, tone measured but strained.
“Oh. Sorry.” She shuffled backwards into the wood-floored hallways. “Listen –”
Finn stood up from his seat. “Rey, you’re going to catch your death of a cold,” he fussed. “Tell me everything after we get you dried off.” He shuffled her towards the bathroom at the end of the hallway. “Hold on.”
She huffed, but she stepped into the bathtub anyway, peeling off the outer layers of her wet ensemble, and sat down heavily.
The scrawny dog that had been hidden away shivered.
“Don’t worry, Dio. I’ve got you,” she cooed, reaching out a tentative hand for the chihuahua to sniff from the other side of the bathtub.
Finn returned shortly later with a whole dry outfit for her, and thrust a towel into her arms. It was warm.
“I heated it in the dryer,” he explained. “So it’d be nice for you.” He glanced down. “Is that a dog?”
Rey nodded. “I saw a guy kicking him around so I fought the guy and he’s mine now. His name is Dio.”
“Hi, Dio.” Finn knelt down and tentatively reached a hand out, but the small dog shivered and backed away into the corner of the tub.
“Don’t take it personal,” Rey suggested. “He’s been abused, so we’re going to need to get him used to humans and kindness.”
Finn nodded. “Good thing I heated a second towel,” he said, pulling it from the pile of clothes. He handed it to Rey, who scooped up little Dio and toweled him dry. “So I see you’re a hero. Is that what you wanted to show me?”
Rey nodded. “I love him. I would die for him.” Dio gave a small whine. “Yeah, you.” She started stripping off her soaked t-shirt.
Finn startled and then turned around, which was the usual reminder to Rey that other people had hangups about nudity or whatever. Granted, when Finn stepped out of the shower, she had been kind of awkward, but that’s just cuz she thought he was cute.
She rubbed at her skin, attempting to feel dry and warm, but she was chilled to the bone. It wasn’t her fault it had started to rain when she was jogging. She couldn’t dodge responsibility for continuing to run the last quarter mile and then also fighting that guy for Dio. Still, if she had to go back, she’d do it all again.
“Alright, what was the thing you wanted to show me?” Poe asked, pushing open the door. When he caught sight of Rey’s lack of shirt, he went bright red and spun around next to Finn. “Jesus, Rey!”
She didn’t see the big deal; he had grown up around her. They used to change in the same room as pre-teens, for goodness’ sake. Though they hadn’t done that in a long time, he was still...Poe.
Which was why her crush on him was hopeless because there was no way he’d ever see her as anything other than that little kid he used to hang out with.
She put on the last of the dry clothes. “You can turn around now, you prudes.”
“Forgive me for giving you some privacy.” Finn rolled his eyes.
Rey did not dignify him with a response. “Look!” She pointed to the little chihuahua. “He’s mine!” Leia had her cats, Poe had Beebee, and now Rey had a dog, too.
“Well, isn’t he precious.” Poe knelt down next to the bathtub, getting a cute, soft look on his face. “Hi, buddy,” he cooed.
“His name is Dio,” Rey declared, pointing to his collar. The collar that probably had that asshole’s number on it, now that she thought about it, so she should get Dio a new tag. But the green collar suited him, so she’d keep that.
Poe reached out a hand but Dio flinched away.
“I don’t think he likes men,” she explained.
Finn snorted. “Understandable.”
“Hey!” Poe protested. “Some of us like men around here.”
“And some of us are attracted to men but recognize that they are worth distaste.” Finn laughed.
Rey fist bumped him for that one. He deserved it. “He’s been abused,” she explained, “but I beat the shit out of the guy and now Dio is mine and I’ll take good care of him.”
“You can take some of the stuff I’ve got for Beebee until you start amassing your own collection,” Poe volunteered.
She grinned. “Thanks.” Then, carefully, she held out her hand until Dio put his tiny paw in it. This was going to be great.
---
Leia had been distracted all day, watching the door when no one was looking. Finn had a feeling she was waiting for Ben, but he didn’t think the boy was coming. He hadn’t been there for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, or Sukkot - three holidays Finn had never celebrated until now, the last one involving the construction of a hut - and he probably wouldn’t come back for Hanukkah either.
It was the third day, but it was also the end of the semester for most area schools. The first two days had been mildly celebratory but also panicked as Rey crammed for her finals and Poe still had a paper to write.
Finn had not procrastinated, which Rey and Poe could not believe and were very unhappy about, so he ended up helping Leia do a lot of cooking. Hanukkah was another holiday he’d never celebrated, but Rey had learned early on he had a knack for making challah, so that was his job every holiday. Leia also taught him to make latkes, which Rey made Finn dip in applesauce and then crowed in triumph when he admitted it was actually pretty good.
Today, however, was Rey’s first day of freedom, and she insisted on making her “magnificent” jelly donuts. Poe was also in the kitchen, because it was the place to be, but he was helping Leia with the main meal, and Finn was baking another loaf of challah because Rey had inhaled the last one in two days and had definitely had some when everyone else was asleep.
“Are you all right?” Finn finally asked Leia, getting close enough while he slid the bread in the oven.
She patted his shoulder and gave him a very convincing smile. “I’m fine, dear,” she replied, and she sounded like she was trying to mean it, but Finn didn’t really believe her.
Still, he decided to let it be. Finn didn’t know Ben the way Rey or Poe did, wouldn’t be able to give her comfort, anyhow.
He set the table as nicely as he could, then bustled back to help Leia start serving. He could give her comfort by being helpful and minimizing the effort she had to do. He fussed over her to sit down, the same way Poe and Rey did, and then when they were all seated at the table, he listened attentively to the proceedings.
Finn didn’t know what they were saying, really. Poe had taught him a few words to help him understand the prayers, and Rey had taught him a few nasty insults that he would never ever use. Even so, he’d come to love the sound of Hebrew. It felt like love, and family, and belonging - things he’d never really felt before now.
They let him light one of the candles, the tall one in the middle, though Rey and Poe squabbled over the order it was supposed to be done in - something about different Jewish ethnic traditions, if he understood correctly. They’d compromised by switching off the traditions nightly. Leia refused to weigh in, but she was always wearing an amused smile when she listened.
After they ate the meal, Rey proudly brought out her donuts and then shoved one in her mouth before the others even had a chance to taste. When Finn took a bite, he had to admit it was much better than her waffles.
“Luke taught me to make these,” she explained.
Leia snorted. “It was the only thing he was ever any good at baking.” She smiled fondly, the way she always did when she talked about her brother.
Poe made a theatrical, incredibly unfair moan that traveled straight down Finn’s spine. “It’s the only thing she’s any good at, too,” he teased. “But boy, does she do it well.”
After that, Rey challenged Poe to a game of dreidel and they both got weirdly intense about it. Both of them kept betting, and betting, and Finn was glad they were using chocolate gelt and not real money.
“You cheated!” Rey shouted, earning a laugh from Poe. Finn didn’t even know how someone could cheat at dreidel, and it made him smile.
This wasn’t just a house, it was a home.
He stole away to his room, grabbing the tiny presents he’d stashed. He didn’t have the financials to buy really cool stuff for eight days, much as he wanted to, but there were eight tiny gifts for each, mostly homemade. Today’s gifts were a citrus bath bomb with a dinosaur inside for Rey, a decently knitted scarf for Poe, and some tea for Leia.
Rey and Poe had been giving him back knicknacks too, small fun things, but Leia had been giving him money. He was pretty sure she’d already given him the month’s rent back, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about it, but he also wasn’t sure how to bring it up.
Well, he did have five more days to figure it out.
Rey squealed when he handed her the bath bomb, throwing her arms around his shoulders, and Poe immediately wrapped the scarf around his neck.
“Amazing,” he breathed, and then he handed Finn a poem he’d written and Rey gave Finn a little fidget-y toy she’d cobbled together from scraps of her other projects, and then they were all hugging.
They fell asleep on the couch, tangled up the three of them, and Finn was pretty sure he’d never been happier in his life.