Title: Needing a Pilot

Author: tarotgal
Fandom: Star Wars: the Force Awakens
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Finn/Poe
Disclaimer: Not my characters! No money made!
Summary: Finn seems to repeatedly find himself in situations where he needs a pilot.
Author’s Notes: Written for my 2016 comment fic meme

 

 

Needing a Pilot

 

This was going to be the best mission ever. When he’d found out he and Poe were to be going out on a mission together, Finn had been ecstatic. Though he didn’t have that many skills the resistance could use, Finn was excited to finally be useful . He was even more excited to get to leave the base. And he was beside himself with excitement to be able to do it with Poe. Sure, they shared a bunk on base most nights. And, sure, they spent practically every moment of free time with each other. But being out there together, working together, just the two of them, would be huge.  

 

But then Rey was enlisted to go with them. And, well, that was a little disappointing, Finn wasn’t going to lie. No one wanted a third wheel along, even if their mission was supposed to be about the resistance and not special boyfriend vacation time.  But Rey was kind of the best, so he really didn’t mind. It wasn’t until they were on the planet, looking for the remains of a First Order base, that he wasn’t just glad to have her there but relieved as well.

 

“Can you see anything?” Finn asked, holding fast to her ankles. She stood on his shoulders, holding his head tight between her boots to keep herself stable and upright. The binoculars were old tech, but Rey had spent most of her life searching the desert sands for items she could scavenge so that she could eat. If anyone could spot this thing, she could. Because Finn wasn’t so sure he’d be able to. And Poe definitely wouldn’t have been able to.

 

There were a whole host of things Poe wasn’t going to be able to do right now. These included jumping the canyon that lay between them and where satellite photography recording the anomaly, because that was physically impossible. Or climbing any of the tall trees surrounding them, because none of the trees had branches or even bark rough enough to give them purchase. Or breathing in and out for a minute without sneezing, because there was definitely something on this planet he was terribly, horribly, amazingly allergic to.

 

“Yeah, d’you see any… any… hah-Kjjshuhhh! Aw, man! Sniff! See anything?”

 

“Nothing yet,” Rey replied, studying everything before her carefully. “I definitely hear something, though: the sound of someone giving our position away by sneezing. Maybe you should go back to the ship and breathe some recycled air for a while, Dameron.”

 

Poe shook his head, looking dejected and sniffling. “Won’t sniff help now. Once my nose sniff gets going, there’s no… no stop-op-huh… huh-KIDSCHuhhh!” He scrubbed his cuff back and forth beneath his nose. “There’s no stopping it. Sniff!

 

Finn worried, that’s what he did. Poe was the best pilot in the resistance. Rey had these Jedi-like powers. And Finn worried. That was probably why they kept him around; he could worry so much that no one else had to. And right now, he was worried that they’d come to a planet that contained something Poe was highly allergic to, weren’t going to find any evidence of First Order activity, and not be able to safely leave because their pilot couldn’t stop sneezing.

 

hiyahhKDdddtchhhh! Sniff! Sniff! hah Hah-KITChhuhh!

 

It seemed like a pretty reasonable set of worries, actually.

 

huhh-KERKschhhh!

 

Because these sneezes seriously would not stop.

 

hah hahh-YIHHKKktchhhh!

 

And Poe’s allergies seemed to be getting worse. Though five minutes ago, Finn would have thought that impossible, that he’d already seen the worst of it. Finn didn’t want to imagine how bad it would be five minutes from now.

 

“I don’t see a thing,” Rey declared finally, completing her one-eighty rotation. “I think we’re safe to do a flyover.”

 

hihhh-kuhhh HIDTchhhhhh!

 

“I’m not so sure about that,” Finn replied. He got down on one knee and reached up, taking hold of her hand to help her hop off his shoulders. She probably didn’t need his help, but she took it. When he rose, he was free to step closer to Poe, examine him more closely. Eyes reddening. Nose running. The man was definitely having a bad reaction to something on this planet. Finn’s first instinct was to throw his jacket over Poe’s head, as if that could protect him from whatever pollen or grass was getting to him. His second instinct was to take the man in his arms and hide him against his chest from any allergens. But he knew neither would actually do any good. They were stuck there. “Unless…”

 

Finn’s eyes lit up.

 

Poe’s head was thrown back “huhhhhhhhh…” and forward again “H’KIHtchhhh! Hey-IYIHShhhhh! Hepbtshhhh!

 

“Got something?” Rey asked, wincing as Poe gave an incredibly long, wet sniffling sound.

 

“Yeah, you’re a pilot! You can fly us over the site!” Finn declared. And he was suddenly gladder than ever that Rey had come along on the mission. How was he always finding pilots exactly when he needed them? Maybe that was his other talent. Worrying and finding good pilots.

 

heh-YIHTGshhhhh! H’KEHTchihhh! Heh hehhhhhhh hehh-KIDJSHhhhhh!

 

And not sneezing from whatever was making Poe Dameron’s nose go crazy. All good abilities to have. No wonder they kept Finn around. He circled around Poe and placed his palms on his boyfriend’s back, giving him a playful push in the direction of the ship. “C’mon. Let’s head back.”

 

Poe shuffled forward, sniffling into his already damp sleeve. “You should hahhh hah-KahhDTTtttchhh! walk in front, so I hah hahhhh have something to sneeze in in in-in-to-ihhhh-DIHCHHhhhhh!

 

They laughed as they headed back. And Poe looked indignant when Rey slid into the pilot’s seat. But that was short-lived when he realized it meant squeezing into next to Finn and not having to do anything but sit there and rub at his nose and sneeze and have his boyfriend worry over him. Finn put an arm around him.

 

“Is there anything that will help your sneezing?”

 

Poe raised his eyebrows suggestively, and Finn shot a nervous glance in Rey’s direction as Poe opened his mouth to reply. “Time,” he said, instead of a dozen dirty things Finn imagined he might say. “Just hahhh have to hahh-YIHKSchhhhh! Just have to snee-eh heh heh hehh-IHHHTCHHH! Have to sneeze it out.”

 

Rey tipped the ship to the side, avoiding a bog and matching the slope of a lush, green hill on its border instead. The movement made Poe press closer against Finn’s side. While there, Poe slid an arm across Finn’s middle, hugging him, cuddling in close.

 

“Hey,” Rey spoke up. “I hate to disturb the snuggling, but we’re coming up on something that might be what the satellites picked up. You want to check it out, Finn?”

 

The answer to that question was an obvious ‘no,’ but Finn turned to the window anyway, looking down for materials or designs or patterns he might recognize. Poe, on the other hand, buried his face right into Finn’s shoulder as he drew a heavy, urgent breath. “huhhhhTUShew! HehhKRshooo! Uh… oh man, sorry ‘bout that.” But the way he snuggled even closer indicated he wasn’t actually sorry at all.

 

Finn grinned. Best mission ever.