Chapter Text
2 Years Ago
It was somewhere close to nine o’clock at night, every muscle in Rey’s body was aching from working in her father’s shop the entire day, she was covered in sweat and smelled like grease despite the quick change out of her coveralls before she left the shop. All she wanted to do was go home, shower, and curl up in bed; but thanks to a promise she had made to her best friend Finn yesterday as he dropped off his car at the shop, she had to pick him up from work first before she could do any of that. It wasn’t too bad, Finn didn’t live that far from where she lived, and the coffee shop where he worked was only two blocks away from her apartment as it was, however, as soon as Rey walked in the front doors and saw a completely packed coffee shop with dim lights and someone playing up on the stage in the corner of the shop - Rey just wanted to turn around and go home already.
“Please tell me you’re ready to leave.” Rey grumbled, walking right up to Finn as soon as the customer he was dealing with sat down with their coffee.
“It’ll take me a few more minutes, we got a lot more people in here tonight than usual.” Finn said. “You want a coffee?”
“Might as well.” Rey sighed.
Finn made her coffee just the way she liked it, with lots of creamer and lots of sugar and some hint of caramel in there somewhere, and she tried to hide somewhere in the back of the crowd while waiting for Finn to finish up his shift. Alderaan was usually a quiet coffee shop, some place where Rey would come in the early mornings before her shift down at the shop, or maybe as a mid-day pick me up if she got out of the shop early. A few months ago before summer kicked in, they had started having musical acts come down to attract more customers, and though the owner just so happened to be her Aunt Leia, she tried to avoid these packed nights as much as she could. Tonight they had some guy up there with his guitar, he was pretty good from what Rey listened to, and god, he was handsome as hell and he knew it, especially when he’d give a million watt smile to some girl sitting in the front rows who would practically faint when he did so. Sure, he was handsome, and talented to boot, but Rey couldn’t help but roll her eyes at how easily those girls fell for his charms.
He wasn’t on the stage much longer, maybe another song before he got off the stage and someone else for the girls to swoon over took his place. Rey leaned up against the back wall and let her eyes close for a moment, she didn’t know why Finn was taking so long, but she figured she might as well enjoy the music while she was here. When someone bumped into her shoulder however, her eyes snapped open and tried to figure out who was standing beside her now.
“Oh, god, I’m sorry.” The man beside her said and moved his guitar out of the way now that had bumped into her. “It’s so damn dark and crowded in here.” It was then that Rey realized it was the man who had been on the stage just a few moments ago.
“It’s fine.” Rey assured him, though she almost started to hate the fact that he was even more handsome up close - dark curled hair, brown eyes, and that smile despite the darkness was still enough to make Rey’s heart involuntarily skip a beat.
“You here for the show?” He asked curiously.
“No, I’m waiting for my friend, he’s in the back somewhere.” Rey gestured towards the counter and the door that lead to the back of the shop. “You were good though, from what I saw.”
“Thanks.” He nodded. “I’m Poe Dameron.” He held out his hand to her.
“Rey Skywalker.” She responded and shook his hand, not wanting to be rude and leave him hanging there like that.
“Nice to meet you Rey.” Poe gave her a smile, and Rey was sure that if Finn hadn’t shown up just then and there that she would have let the butterflies in her stomach take over.
“Ready to go, Rey?” Finn piped up and glanced over at Poe before looking back over at Rey in a confused way, wondering if he had to chase Poe off or leave it be.
“Yeah, let’s go. Nice meeting you Poe.” Rey said with a nod before walking off with Finn.
1 Year Ago
Against her better judgment, Rey came back to Alderaan a few more times during their musical nights, looking for a certain dark haired man, sometimes she’d get lucky and he was there - the two often chatting once he was done performing; other times Rey would strike out and have to make up some odd excuse to Finn about just wanting a coffee and leaving as quickly as she could. Eventually it reached the point in their friendship where Poe started inviting Rey to wherever he was playing at any chance he could, and Rey would do her best to show up, even if she was dead on her feet from a day of working in the shop. Those nights led to long talks filled with laughter and perhaps a bit too much tequila in her system by the end of the night where Poe would have to hail Rey a cab and call her to make sure she got home alright. Then there was the night at The Cantina, the two still lingering long after Poe had performed, and Rey well on her way to a steady buzz while her cheeks were flushed a bright shade of red from all the laughing she’d been doing.
“You’re terrible, you really are.” Rey laughed out, she was leaning on Poe a bit now due to how much alcohol she had consumed, but he didn’t seem to mind as he wrapped his arm around her waist to help keep her steady at the bar.
“I can’t be that bad, you keep talking to me.” Poe smirked as he downed one of his shots in one smooth motion. Rey pushed her glass aside letting Poe know she had her fill and was doing just fine for the rest of the night.
“That’s true.” Rey giggled, her eyes flickering up towards Poe’s and her expression softening a bit, she was almost thankful that her cheeks were red already so he couldn’t tell that she was blushing. “Why do you spend all of your time with me? Don’t you have a long list of girls throwing themselves at you?”
“I like spending time with you, you aren’t afraid to be exactly who you are.” Poe stated. “And no, there’s no long list of girls, that’s all in your head.” He added with a laugh.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve seen more than a few girls who would like to go to bed with you.” Rey pointed out cheekily, her gaze wandering back over to the bar.
“I think it’s time you got home.” Poe smirked, pressing a kiss to Rey’s temple before getting off his barstool and keeping his hands on Rey’s back to help keep her steady.
Rey didn’t make a move to get off the barstool, instead she turned around in her chair and leaned forwards, kissing Poe without any warning and being greeted by his shock. He didn’t respond to the kiss, Rey pulling back looking a bit dejected, but once he realized what she had done, he leaned over and captured her lips, his hands cupping the side of her face and tasting the tequila on her tongue. They stayed like that for a moment, their tongues wrestling one another until they finally pulled apart to breathe - their chests heaving and a spark of something in the air between them that had never been there before in such a noticeable way.
“I don’t want to go home.” Rey whispered, only loud enough for Poe to hear in such close proximity above the cheering crowd and music going on behind them.
“You could, uh, come to my place, if you want.” Poe offered.
Rey smiled at him and nodded, Rey taking his arms to help steady herself as she rose from the barstool. Poe paid for their drinks, grabbed his guitar, let Rey wrap her arms around him, and walked out of The Cantina to his apartment where their growing friendship turned into something a bit different and a bit more complicated.
Present Day
When Rey woke up to the sound of her alarm on her phone blaring in her ear in the morning, it always took her a moment to register where she was. She knew she wasn’t in her bed, the sheets were too soft and the bed was a bit too big, there was light pouring in from the opened shades and she was surrounded by the familiar scent of Poe that made her want to stay in bed all day. Once she could smell the coffee already brewing, she knew she was at Poe’s place again and that he needed to stop being such an early riser. Rey sat up in bed, stretching a bit before leaning over the edge and grabbing Poe’s shirt to throw on for now, she still had some time to get ready for work. The wooden floor beneath her feet was icy cold to the touch, something that happened in the summer in Poe’s building since both the heating and air conditioning worked far too efficiently compared to any other apartments Rey had been in. She slowly lowered her feet back down before treading quietly and carefully out of the room, attempting to sneak up behind Poe while he sat at the breakfast bar half asleep and sipping on his morning cup of coffee.
“You’re going to have to try harder than that.” Poe said without turning around, just as Rey was going to cover his eyes which she gave up with a sigh.
“You’re no fun sometimes, you know that?” Rey asked as she leaned up against the breakfast bar beside him.
“I know.” Poe admitted with a grin. “There’s coffee.”
“What do you think woke me up?” Rey asked cheerfully, making her way over to the machine and more than grateful to finally get some coffee past her lips to start the day.
“If you keep stealing my shirts, I’m not going to have any left to wear.” Poe teased.
“I’ll leave this one behind, I promise.” Rey said. “If I get anymore mysterious shirts I’m going to be getting questioned by my dad and my Uncle, I’d rather not face that.”
“They don’t seem so bad.” Poe answered with a shrug.
“Really? Then do you want to be the one to explain to them that we’ve been casually having sex for about a year?” Rey asked with a big grin, a laugh threatening to leave her lips.
“No, not really.” Poe laughed as Rey chimed in.
“Besides, I like things the way they are.” Rey gave a shrug and took a seat beside him. “Family makes things complicated, we promised each other nothing complicated.”
“I remember, I was there too you know.” Poe answered.
“Technically you were-”
“I know where I was, technically.” Poe cut her off, all Rey could do was smile in his direction, she liked getting a reaction out of him, it seemed like he didn’t react much, but he always expressed himself with her.
Rey pressed a kiss to his temple and couldn’t help but ruffle up his dark curls a bit before returning to her coffee, offering to make them both something before she went to work and Poe went back to writing his songs that he refused to let her listen to until they were done. They just had some eggs and bacon, something simple to start the day before Rey threw her clothes back on and left Poe’s shirt behind on his bed. They gave each other a quick and chaste kiss as she made her way out the door and things were simple between them - harmonious and simple - which was exactly what Rey wanted more than anything else in the world. But had Rey known that there were limited days left in their peaceful little bubble, she would have dragged out their morning just a little bit longer.