"Go get 'em out there, Flyboy," you shouted across the hangar.

"See you on the other side, Bomber," Poe called back as the two of you disappeared into the cockpits of your X-Wings.

"You know," you started, after you set your comms up, "Bomber is starting to grow on me."

"You'll have time to talk about this after, Red-3," your Squadron leader said.

"Roger that, Red leader."

"Such a good little soldier," Poe's voice quipped.

"Shut it, Dameron."

"Happily, (Y/L/N)," Poe chuckled over the comms. 

"Enough flirting you two, let's get in and out. I want to be back for dinner," the Red leader piped up.

"Blame the Black leader for any delays," you commented.

"Just get together already," Jess commented before the two squadrons zipped into lightspeed.

By the time the mission was over, you and Poe settled down in the cantina both enjoying a much needed drink. It was an unspoken tradition between you two, no matter the outcome, there were always drinks afterwards. You even had a protocol for if either of you went down in a flight.

Months after you two began with the resistance, the idea of dying in a fight weighed down on both of your minds. You had both agreed that if Poe were to go down, you would keep BB-8 company and promised to fight twice as hard, for the both of you. And if you were to go before him, he made the same promise, minus the BB-8. You swore that if it were to ever come to it you wouldn't dwell on grieving, you'd stay strong and keep living.

Poe heaved out a sigh. He looked over at you, taking in the features on your face as you took a drink of the hard alcohol, watching how your face screwed up at the mild burn. He let out a chuckle at how adorable you looked, even when completely exhausted. 

When these thoughts first filled his mind he tried to push them away, saying he didn't like you that way. But they kept flooding his mind, and he found himself completely taken with you. Even if you didn't know. He's tried many times to tell you, but stopped himself each time. Did he really want to jeopardize the friendship you shared? 

"One more round?" Poe asked seeing your glass empty.

You looked over at him a small smile on your face, "Just one more, Flyboy." 

"You got it, Bomber," he grinned.

Bomber was the callsign he had given you almost two years ago. You had always been awful at being able to time a good bomb drop. The blasters on your X-Wing were much more your speed. But ever since he found out how awful you had been, he would never let it go.

"I challenge you," you said now raising your glass, waiting to clink it with his.

A devilish look crossed Poe's eyes. "You're on," he accepted, holding his glass next to yours.

"On three," you said, "one."

"Two," he counted.

"Three!"

As soon as the word left your lips, the both of you had your head's tipped back slightly chugging away at your drinks. You glanced over at Poe seeing he was slightly ahead of you. So you reached out and pushed at the bottom of his glass. The drink started to dribble over his lips and he sputtered, placing the almost empty glass back on the counter top as you finished off your drink.

"That is cheating!" Poe said wiping his face.

"I just saw a window of opportunity," you said.

"An unfair opportunity."

You smirked over at him, "Is any fight fair?" 

Poe glared for a moment before a smile broke out on his face and he began laughing. You laughed along with him. It was nice, allowing yourselves to enjoy the mundane things that seem to be stolen from you whenever you worked. 

"I should get to bed. Big mission in the morning," you said, stifling a yawn.

"Be safe out there tomorrow," Poe said with a sudden serious tone.

"Always am," you said ruffling his curls and heading for the door. "Goodnight, Dameron."

"Goodnight," Poe said, watching you leave.

He always hated when you had to leave. Wondering if you would come back or if the mission would take a turn for the worse and he would be left wondering what if. As much as he wanted to tell you, something stopped him every time. But he had to tell you eventually. He couldn't accept the "what if" possibility.

You had to know.

When your squadron arrived back on base, Poe was the first to be jogging across the hangar to envelope you into his arms before you even got the chance to take off your helmet. You laughed and he squeezed you tightly. When he finally let go, you got your helmet off and look up to your fellow pilot with a fond smile.

"Someone missed me," you teased.

"So what if I did?" Poe retorted, wrapping his arms around your shoulders as the two of you began walking out of the hangar.

"Aw, you're so sweet." You rolled your eyes sarcastically.

Poe shrugged his shoulders jokingly, "Only for my favorite girl in the whole galaxy."

The was a hidden tone in his voice, but you couldn't quite put your finger on it. "Surely, I am not your favorite girl in the whole galaxy."

Poe stopped the two of you in the hallway, he looked down at you a small hint of want in his eyes. "You are," he said no longer teasing, "you're one of the best things that could have happened to me."

"Poe," you whispered, reaching up to caress his cheek.

Okay, this was it, he was going to do it. 

The moment he started to move, BB-8 came rolling in beeping up at you.

You turned your attention from Poe and smiled at the droid, crouching down next to him. "Hey Buddy! Yeah, I missed you too. I hope you've been keeping Poe in line." 

BB-8 whirred happily.

"Good, I always need someone looking after him while I'm away."

"I find that offensive," Poe said, though he felt defeated by being interrupted.

"It's the truth, Flyboy." 

Poe scoffed, lightly shoving your shoulder, "Go get cleaned up, Bomber. I can smell you from a mile away."

You rolled your eyes playfully at him, but began your trek toward a shower. You really did need to clean up.

Poe couldn't find you at dinner, and so he rounded up a tray and brought it to your quarters. He knocked a few times but there was no answer. Your door was unlocked and it hissed open for him.

He smiled fondly down at the sight. Your flight suit had been thrown carelessly at the bottom of your bunk and you had yourself wrapped in a blanket sound asleep. Poe laid the tray aside and sat next to you on the bed. He gently pushed back a few strands of hair from your face taking in all of your features. His favorite being the slight pout that only came on your face when you were sleeping. Poe slowly shook your shoulder, waking you up. 

"Hey there," he said softly, "you never showed up for dinner so I brought you some," he added, watching as you perked up at the sound of food.

"You're too good to me, Dameron," you said sitting up in the bed and rubbing at your eyes.

"Well, you deserve the best," Poe said, you met his gaze and noticed that same look in his eye from earlier. "(Y/N), I have to tell you something."

Now or never.

"You can tell me anything, Poe," you told him, reaching out and taking his hand assuringly. 

"I, uh, you see... the thing is," finally, that tone in his voice becoming clear to you and you fought to hide your smile. You found it adorable watching him try to find his words. "For a while now I've been having these... feelings, and well I can't keep them a secret anymore, (Y/N), I like you. I mean I really —"

You put your free hand over his lips, stopping him from talking anymore, "I didn't want to jeopardize anything either," you told him. You could tell that the only reason he didn't tell you was because he was afraid of ruining such a good friendship. It was the same reason you never said anything.

His eyes looked relieved and you let your hand drop to his neck. Slowly, you both began shimmying closer to one another. Your lips were just a hair away from one another, Poe's breath running down your lip and chin giving you a good chill throughout your back. 

But you were both abruptly torn apart as the door hissed open once more and BB-8 zooming in the room, beeping fanatically.

"The general wants to see you?" you looked to Poe.

"I guess so," Poe had a small look of confusion over his face, "But this," he gestured to the two of you, "picks up where we left off when I get back."

A small blush rose to your cheeks as you nodded. "I like the sound of that." 

Poe reluctantly stood up from the bed and followed BB-8 out of the room, silently cursing the droid. This was the second time he had interrupted the moment. All he wanted was to just have a moment with you. Was that too much to ask?

Apparently it was. A mission, but he couldn't say no. This was a mission to go to Jakku and see Lor San Tekka, he apparently held a map that lead to Luke Skywalker. And Leia wanted him to go as soon as he could. 

"BB-8, go get (Y/N), tell her to meet me in the hangar."

BB-8 beeped and rolled away from the debriefing room. Poe left not long after and made a quick stop in his quarters to quickly change out of his uniform. He jogged off to the hangar and started warming up an X-Wing. Leia specifically told him to take a different ship because his was too easily recognizable. There were only a few people hanging around this late at night, most of them were mechanics doing late night repairs or pilots who were just getting in. He heard footfalls coming closer to him, as well as the familiar sound of his droid rolling nearby. Poe turned seeing you standing below him with a questioning glance.

"What could possibly be so important you have to leave now?" you asked looking up at him.

Poe climbed down the ship and made his way to you, "Leia has an ally on Jakku," Poe said, "he says he has a map to Luke Skywalker," he added.

Your eyes widened, words now foreign to you. You knew the stories, everyone knew the stories. But the fact that he may be so close seemed so surreal to you. "The Luke Skywalker?" you asked, the shock clear in your voice.

"I know," Poe nodded with a small laugh. "This shouldn't take me too long, I should be back in the morning." Poe smiled sadly, "I'm sorry, this kind of interrupted our moment," he said his cheeks flushed.

You chuckled, caressing his face in your hands, "I've waited this long, Dameron. I think I can survive a few more hours."

Poe grinned down at you, covering your hand and pressing a gentle kiss to the inside of your wrist. "I look forward to it."

"Be safe out there, Flyboy," you said taking your hand from his grasp and ruffling your fingers through his curls.

"Will do, Bomber," Poe chuckled stepping out of your reach.

"I will be here when you're back." 

Poe sent off one last charming smile as he climbed back up the X-Wing, shutting the cockpit behind him. He waited for BB-8 to be secured in the ship before he whirred up the engines. You stepped back, watching as the ship slowly rose from the ground and quickly left the orbit.

You were left with a heavy heart, slowly making your way back to your quarters. You'd check with the communication base to see if they heard anything from him in the morning. It was a long night waiting. The confession weighing heavy on your mind. He was so close, you could still feel him so close to your lips. It was difficult to think of anything else when his presence was so intoxicating. In a good way. 

Morning came all too slowly, you waited until it was closer to noon to get to communications. If he was going to be back in the morning, it probably wouldn't be until later. You were making your way there when Bastain ran into you.

"Hey, (Y/L/N), wings up in ten," he said.

You turned to fully face him, "What's going on?" you asked.

"You didn't hear?" he asked and you shook your head. His face fell, he didn't want to be the one to give you the news. "We lost signal on Poe's ship. The General wants us to go check it out." 

His words didn't really hit until after the silence, "Let's go," you said to the Lieutenant.

You couldn't let the sadness consume you. He wasn't confirmed dead. But there was a tug in the back of your mind. What if? There was always that what if. It was just his ship, not Poe himself.

Your squadron was up and taking off to Jakku. Your mind couldn't stop racing because of the possibility of losing Poe. You wouldn't accept the fact. The squad landed in the village where the last signal came from his ship. 

"This is a warrior zone," you said looking around at the scattered bodies, you felt your stomach churn. 

"They probably didn't even stand a chance,"  said Ello Asty. 

You wandered off, seeing something a little ways from the village. You inspected it for a while before realizing that this was the remains of the X-Wing Poe took. You felt your breath catch in your throat.

"This is his ship," you called looking back to the rest of the squad. "No sign of him or BB."

"I'm not seeing anything over here," Bastain said. 

There were other murmurs of agreements. A lot of dead bodies, but no dead droids or pilots amongst them. It lifted your spirits slightly. 

"What now?" you asked to no one in particular, "If he got out of crossfire he could have gone anywhere." 

"We keep looking," Bastain said, "(Y/N) and I, we go east, Ello and Nien, you take west. Report in immediately if you find something." 

You all nodded to one another and clambered back into your ships. You and Bastain took off east, flying low to be able to see anything on the ground. It truly was a scavengers planet here, seeing all these people scattered across the land picking away at old crashed ships and droids. You flew over a small village, people almost cowering and fleeing at the sight of the ships.  Bastain flew a few feet ahead, allowing you to pick up on things he didn't. Like the sink whole in the sand.  You cocked a brow slightly wondering if anything got swallowed up in there. It wasn't long after that Bastain spoke up.

"What's that up on your left?" he asked.

You peered over, squinting your eyes at the harsh light. That was a person. "Maybe another scavenger," you said seeing something not far behind him. It looked almost like a chute attached to a chair. "Bastain, it looks like our man deployed from a ship," as you said the words the stranger collapsed to his feet falling face first into the sand. "I'm going to check it out." 

You made up your mind, finding a flat area in the dunes and landing your ship. You pulled your helmet off and grabbed your blaster. But the man was unmoving lying in the sand. That didn't stop you from approaching him cautiously. It wasn't until you got closer you recognized those unruly curls. 

"It's him!" you shouted into the comms, "It's Poe!" 

Your feet moved quickly through the sand, dropping down next to him. You pulled him over to his back, your heart aching at the sight of his beaten and bloodied face. You shook him slightly trying to get him to wake up, but his eyes remained closed. You pressed two fingers to his neck and let out a breath feeling the pounding against your fingertips.

"He's alive, but unconscious. We're going to need to get him back to base for medical." 

Bastain was at your side not long after, "I notified the others, there on their way with the U-Wing."

You nodded, but didn't look. Your eyes stayed trained on Poe. What happened to him in the hours he had been gone? He seemed so confident in this mission, what went wrong? Where was BB-8? Nien and Ello landed not far away. Bastain and you shared the effort in picking up Poe and transporting him on board. You strapped in down across the seats, letting you hand fall through his curls. 

"You're gonna be okay," you mumbled and pressed a chaste kiss to his forehead. "I'll inform the base to have medical on standby," you said making your way back into your own ship.

Hours had passed and Poe still hadn't woken up. His face was cleaned up and no longer bloodied, it was still slightly bruised but he looked much better from when you found him. You sat there, with your leg bouncing as you read off your datapad, there was no way they were getting you to leave this room until he woke up. 

Another hour passed when finally, Poe opened his eyes. Yours were closed and your arms crossed over your chest with your chin tucked into your chest as you attempted to sleep. But Poe knew you weren't, by the way he saw your eyes move beneath your lids.

"Quit pretending, Bomber," Poe's voice was raspy. 

You immediately picked up your head and a smile lit up your face. "Thank goodness you're awake," you said moving from your chair to the side of his bed and taking his hand in yours. 

"Don't say that with too much concern, people might begin to think you really care."

"I find you half dead on the worst planet out there, you've been out for almost six hours and the first thing you do is tease me?" you said, feigning anger.

Poe put on a weak smile, his exhaust and pain making it hard to have any effort for much. 

"Stars, I love you," you said.

You hadn't realized you said it. But Poe sure did. The way his eyes went from tired to lighting up his whole face. And he gripped your hand tightly.

"I love you too," he breathed. 

The two of you shared gazes for so long, you were immune to the time around you. 

"Can we pick up where we left off?" you asked.

"I would like nothing more." 

You leaned in closer, brushing your nose against his, almost hesitant before finally pushing you lips against his. It was nothing grand, it was full of want and passion. But it wasn't powerful or forced. It was filled with complete and utter admiration. This was just meant to be.