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Whenever Rey thought of Poe Dameron, she got tingles. 

From the day she finally met him face to face on the Millennium Falcon after the Battle of Crait, when she felt her hand tingle after he shook it and said those amazing, affirming words of “I know” to her, he had made her feel things no other person in her lifetime had ever made her feel. His smile, his laugh, his brief touches, all made parts of her body tingle. The back of her neck, her spine, the area of skin he touched. It was very similar to the way the Force made her feel when she used it, but different. More substantial, less ethereal. 

As they got to know each other better, his touches became more frequent and lasted longer. Her breath would catch, and she would have to remind herself that he was simply a very demonstrative man, that he thrived on touch and expressed himself to the people around him with no embarrassment or shame. But she had had very little physical affection in her life, and she found that she craved it from those she cared about. Finn, Leia, Chewie. But as much as she cared for her friends and loved showing them affection, they didn’t make her skin tingle. Her heart didn’t race and her breathing didn’t quicken when in their presence. In fact, there was no one on base, male or female, human or otherwise, that made her feel like Poe Dameron did. 

The day he leaned in to her to whisper the name of a contact that she had forgotten into her ear, and she had smelled the heady mix of starship fuel, leather, and warm spice, those tingles had appeared in rather embarrassing places. The fact that they had coincided with her nipples peaking as if she was cold when she wasn’t, and a tight feeling between her legs, almost as if she needed to pee when she didn’t, had disconcerted her and caused her to become flustered. She wasn’t so naïve that she didn’t know what it meant when her body reacted that way; she was just confused as to why it was happening now and only in the presence of one man. 

Why couldn’t it have been Finn who made her feel that way? Or Kaydell? Or someone else who wasn’t… Poe Dameron? 

He treated her like a little sister most of the time. A bratty little sister who he had been tasked with taking care of by their ‘mother,’ Leia. He cared about her, she knew, but he seemed to resent the fact that he was the one responsible for keeping her safe. As if she needed someone to keep her safe, she thought with a resentment of her own. Rey had spent all of her adult life unconcerned about sex and not at all upset about that fact. She was perfectly fine loving her friends without being ‘in love’ with them. Even her feelings for Ben, before she gave up believing he could be turned, had been chaste. But then Poe Dameron and his smile and his bravado and his absolute devotion to the people around him had come along. And Rey knew he had no interest in her outside of friendship, so even thinking about exploring these feelings for him were out of the question. 

But that didn’t stop her from getting tingles because of him.  

It was the night before Life Day that everything about her relationship with Poe Dameron changed. She was unable to sleep, and as had become habit for her now, when she couldn’t sleep she got up to walk around the base, oftentimes heading for the mess and its kitchen to find something to snack on. LaLingo, the Bith cook, always made sure fresh fruit was available for midnight kitchen raids. Tonight, Rey was craving some loloberries, and she knew they had just gotten a shipment of them in the other day, so…

She entered the kitchen and stopped short. Poe, who was standing behind the main counter, looked up with a startled expression. Recognition took over, and he smiled. 

“Hey,” he said. “You scared me. I didn’t think anyone but the night crew was up and about at 2 in the morning.” He looked back down at the tray in front of him, and Rey watched as he used a spoon to dip dough out of a bowl, used his free hand to roll the dough into a ball, and then place it on the tray, where other balls of dough sat. 

Rey frowned. “What are you doing?” She made note that he was dressed casually, wearing loose trousers and a tank top, with simple slides on his feet. 

“It’s Life Day,” Poe told her with another grin. “It’s been a tradition in my dad’s family to make Sweet Star Cookies. I haven’t done them in years, but since I had the time and a kitchen and access to the ingredients, I thought I would make them this year.” 

“Sweet Star Cookies?” Rey had never heard of them, but they sounded delicious. 

“Sugar cookies,” Poe shrugged. “With a chocolate and cream topping.” He finished filling the tray in front of him with balls of dough just as the oven timer sounded behind him. He put the spoon in the bowl of dough, which was far from empty, and grabbed up an oven mitt. He pulled out another tray from the oven and placed it on the opposite counter. Rey could see perfect round cookies on the tray, light colored like the dough with a tiny bit of crispy brown on the edges, and the smell made her mouth water. 

“Can I help?” she asked. And maybe taste test, she thought. 

“Actually, yes!” Poe told her, motioning her over. He showed her a bowl of chocolate drops and a squeeze tube. “Take the cream icing,” he said, grabbing the tube. “And cover the tops of the cookies.” He demonstrated on a couple of the warm cookies. He set the tube down and took up the bowl of chocolate. “Then place a drop in the center on top of the cream.” 

Poe looked at her, one eyebrow raised in question, and Rey nodded. “I can do that.” 

He grinned and left her to decorate the cookies while he placed the next tray in the oven. He took a third tray and began to put more dough balls on it. Together they worked, chatting about minor base gossip in a relaxed way. When Rey started decorating the second tray and the third one was in the oven, Poe used a spatula to carefully take the first batch of cookies off the tray, moving them onto some wax paper he had set out on one of the tables, then he loaded that tray up with more dough balls. Rey realized there were a dozen perfectly shaped cookies on every tray.

While Poe moved about the kitchen, going from the counter where he put the dough on the trays, to the oven, or to look over her shoulder at what she was doing, he often touched her. A nudge of his shoulder, a lean into her body, an intentional bump of his butt against hers. It was familiar and comfortable and it made her tingle. Everywhere. 

Finally, Rey decorated the last tray. Eight dozen cookies total. The cream had hardened just enough as the cookies cooled that Poe was able to stack them carefully into a container that would keep them fresh until the Life Day meal that was planned for around noon. As they waited for the last tray to cool enough to put in the container, they ate the last few remaining chocolate drops and they each took one cookie, eating them while they were still warm. Rey thought they were divine.  

Poe picked up the tube of cream that was now almost empty. “Still some left,” he told her with a sly look in his eye. “This kind of cream has other uses, you know.” His voice was teasing. “It works really well for food play.” 

Rey wasn’t exactly sure what ‘food play’ was, but she had an inkling thanks to his mischievous expression. “Food play?” she asked. “As in sexual?” 

He nodded, his head tilting as he looked at her. Was he actually inviting her to ‘play’ with him? Her heart started racing.

“I’ve never done anything like that,” she said honestly, her body tense. “I’ve never been interested in stuff like that, really.” 

Poe’s expression fell. He cleared his throat and moved back a step away from her. “I… I’m sorry. Of course, not everyone is interested in sex. That’s not a bad thing.” He looked… embarrassed. 

“Well,” Rey amended in a rush. “I’ve never been interested until…” She stopped. Should she really tell him? He was probably looking for something casual. What she felt was far from casual.

“Until?” 

She shook her head. “Never mind.”

Poe watched her for a long moment. “Well, no sense in letting this cream go to waste,” he finally said. “Do you want to share what’s left?”

Knowing the cream tasted amazing from the cookie she had already eaten, Rey nodded. 

Poe pulled out a bowl and positioned the tube so that he could squeeze the last of the cream into it, but nothing happened. He shook the tube, then squeezed again. He gave Rey a sideways look. “It’s not supposed to harden in the tube,” he explained. “Maybe there’s less in there than I thought.” He lifted the tube up, shook it again, then squeezed hard. 

Cream shot up and out of the tube, right toward Rey. She cried out softly as the stream of cream rained down over her, hitting her right temple and cheek, then falling to the front of her shirt. 

“Oh, fark!” Poe exclaimed as he pulled the tube upward away from Rey. This caused the cream spilling out to fall over the floor and then on top of him before the stream finally ran out of steam and stopped. “Kriff!” he swore again. 

Rey started laughing, looking down at her sleep shirt and the floor in front of her, now covered in half-hardened cream icing. She looked at Poe, laughing harder as she realized his beautiful curls were now decorated, too. “Well, this is a different kind of play than what you were hoping for, I think,” she giggled. 

It wasn’t hard to miss the flush of red in Poe’s cheeks, despite his dusky skin and beard stubble. “I am so sorry!” 

“Let’s clean this up before LaLingo shows up to make breakfast,” she said, still smiling. 

“I’ll clean it up,” Poe grumbled, still looking embarrassed. “I made the mess.”

Rey shook her head. “I’ll do it,” Rey insisted. “Why don’t you put the last batch of cookies away before something else happens?” 

Poe glared at her, making Rey giggle again as she grabbed a rag to clean the floor. She used her finger to wipe off her cheek, licking the cream off. She heard a strange noise coming from Poe, but when she looked at him, he looked quickly away, focusing on the cookies. She knelt down to clean the floor, but her loose shirt got in the way, spreading even more cream on her arm. Without thinking she pulled the shirt up and off, laying it on the ground beside her. She was still wearing her breast wrap, so she didn’t feel as if she was doing anything indecent. 

“Rey!” Poe’s voice was sharp. 

She looked up at him, noticing he had finished putting the last of the cookies away and was watching her with his brows furrowed. Was he blushing again?

“What?” she asked. 

“Please put your shirt back on.” His voice was soft. Too soft. 

Still kneeling, she straightened her body. “Don’t tell me you’re embarrassed by a little skin,” she teased. “Weren’t you trying to get me into your bed a moment ago?” 

“Yeah, and I still want you there despite what you said, and you taking your shirt off is not helping my mental or physical state.” He sounded desperate. 

Rey bent and wiped the last bit of cream up, then grabbed her shirt and stood. “Do you mean that?” she asked, any teasing gone. “You still want me even if I’m not interested?”

He sighed and looked away. “I’ve wanted you for a long time, Rey. I’m sorry if that makes you uncomfortable and you can be assured I would never do anything you don’t want me to do. But I…” He stopped, still not looking at her. 

“You what?” Rey pushed. 

“I care about you, and…” 

“So, you’re not looking for something casual?”

He turned to her, his eyes wide in surprise. “With you? Hell, no. What I feel for you is far from casual.” 

Rey’s whole body began to tingle. 

Poe watched her for a long time, his eyes still wide and soft looking. Then he blinked and cleared his throat. “You should probably get cleaned up.”

She gave him a shrug. “We both should.” 

He nodded, then he turned away, motioning with his head for her to follow. “I know a place better than a sonic shower.” He left the kitchen. 

Rey followed him as he left the mess, then walked across the still dark base toward the east. It was warm and muggy, a typical night on Ajan Kloss, and the sky was clear after the rain that had fallen earlier in the evening. Ajara sat on the horizon, barely visible through the trees, creating a green glow in that direction. Rey continued to follow Poe as he entered the jungle, passing one of the cliff-faces that held a few caves that were now being used as barracks. They had only been on Ajan Kloss for about a month, and Rey had spent most of that time either training with Leia or working on repairing the old ships the Resistance had managed to acquire since Crait. She had yet to really spend any time just investigating this lively green planet. 

But Poe obviously had. 

“Where are you taking me?” she finally asked.

He grinned back at her. “You’ll see.”

It only took a couple of minutes to reach their destination. A beautiful pool of water stood almost hidden around the curve of another rock face. A waterfall fell from that ridge down into the far end of the pool. Even in the faint light from Ajara and the one moon currently shining above them, it was gorgeous. 

Poe stopped and looked at her. “It’s warm and it’s shallow, so you don’t have to worry if you’re not a swimmer.” He gave her a lopsided smile. “It’s also pretty much unknown to others on base. So far. So, it’s private.” 

“Have you brought others here?” Rey asked, wondering how private it was. 

He shook his head. “I’ve told a few friends how to find it. Leia knows. Finn and Rose. I’ve never actually come here with anyone before.” 

Rey couldn’t help but be pleased to hear that. She smiled and took a step toward the water, slipping off her half-boots as she did so. 

“Enjoy,” Poe said softly as he started to turn away. 

Rey spun toward him. “Wait!” she said quickly. “You’re leaving?” 

He faced her, letting out a self-depreciating laugh. “I already explained that you kind of mess with me, unintentionally,” he shrugged. “As much as I’d like to remain ‘just a friend’ with you, this kind of situation would make that very hard for me. I’m not that virtuous.”

Rey took a deep breath. “It’s you,” she blurted out. 

Poe’s eyes shifted as he frowned, confused. “Me, what?” 

“I’ve never been interested…until you.” 

He was silent for a moment, still not understanding what she was telling him, and she was about to explain further when his eyes widened. Obviously, he had recalled what they had been talking about earlier. “Me,” he said softly. 

She nodded, biting her lower lip. “Yes. You.” She cleared her throat. “I was quite sure you weren’t though, and even if you were, that it was for something temporary. Just for fun.” She gave him a one-shouldered shrug. “I may not have any experience, but I do know I can’t do casual.” She focused on him. “When I give someone a part of myself, it’s theirs forever.” 

Poe took in a deep breath. “I just got tingles.” 

Rey smiled. “Really? You do that to me a lot.” She nodded at him again. “So, I’d really like you to join me. I can help you get that cream out of your hair if you’ll let me. And then…” she took a deep breath. “We’ll see what happens.” She let her shirt fall to the ground, then reached up and undid the clasp on her breast band, dropping that down on top of her shirt. She looked at Poe once more. “Well?” 

With a soft smile, Poe grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it up and over his head, tossing it down next to Rey’s clothing. He stepped out of the slip-on shoes he was wearing and began to remove his loose pants while Rey pulled off her leggings. She let her eyes wander over his naked form, the tingles turning to sharp shivers all along her skin as she itched to touch him. His eyes were roaming over her body as well, and the heaviness she felt between her legs suddenly became very wet. 

With a soft whine, Rey turned toward the water, wading quickly into the warm pool. She heard Poe following her. When she was in the middle of the pond, she turned to face him. Without hesitation, she lifted her arms and he stepped right into her, his body flush against hers. His lips touched hers lightly, but then he stilled, his arms tight around her.

“Forever?” he whispered against her lips. 

“Yes,” she whispered back.

“I can live with that,” he told her, then he was kissing her, his lips and tongue like magic. Rey tasted the sweet cream and she realized some must have still been at the corner of her mouth. Suddenly, food play was something she was very much looking forward to with this man. 

And with that thought she once more felt her whole body react with tingles. 

THE END