"Wow, this is great guys. Thanks for inviting me." Poe snarked as he hastily made his way down the ramp of the Falcon.

They had arrived at the New Republic base on Yavin 4. The ruins were a ninety standard minute speeder ride away.

The pilot turned to face his friends, quickly accepting the offered duffel bag from The Mand'alor's hand. He slung the strap over his shoulder with a grimace.

"Come off it, Poe. It'll be fine." Rey sighed, running a quick hand over the top of her head as they entered the base.

"I don't think getting killed by Ren would be considered fine." He muttered, adjusting the strap around his shoulder while he nodded at a nearby guard.

"I didn't think I'd see the greatest pilot in the Resistance scared." Luke teased in his trademark deadpan tone.

Poe flipped around to walk backwards, facing the jedi with a small scowl in his face.
"I never said I was scared."

"It was implied." Luke shrugged.

The pilot frowned before turning back around, picking up his pace with the shake of his head to walk beside Din.

"Hey, what's with the grumpy walking?" Poe huffed, catching up to meet the mando's quick pace. Din gave him as much of a side eye as he could with a helmet on.
"Come on, I thought we both agreed we liked each other enough to not be doing this anymore."

The Mand'alor's helmet turned to face Poe's for a moment before looking back in front of them.
"...I don't want you to go to the ruins." He let out finally.

Poe scoffed before he could practically feel the glare from behind Din's visor.

"Stop doing that."

"I-" The pilot raised his hands up in exasperation, his brows furrowing. "Doing what?"

"That. Every rational thought I have is shaken off." The mandalorian explained, shaking his head, not deigning to look at his spouse again.

"I'll be fine. Even if anyone does show up, the all powerful Mand'alor will be there to protect everyone." Poe reasoned as he playfully bumped his shoulder against Din's, a small ring sounding from beskar hitting beskar.

Din let a breath out through his nose, which the pilot took as a laugh.

-

Poe looked at the virtually brand new speeder bikes, crossing his arms over his chest with narrowed eyes.

"Pretty sure Leia could afford getting us more than three of these things." He shook his head, as the rest of the group moved closer towards the vehicles.

"Knowing her, it's probably punishment for something we don't remember doing." Finn smirked as he and Rey walked up to a bike. Luke and Din moved to the other two.

Poe eyed the mandalorian's visor before pointing his thumb at the speeder beside him.
"I'm heading with Finn, yeah?"

Din shook his head, unimpressed, before immediately climbing onto the bike without a second glance towards him.

"Joking, I was joking." Poe called out before heading towards the bike. The mando revved the engine, making a move to leave the pilot behind. Poe scoffed before hopping on, hastily wrapping his arms around the other man's waist.

"An hour more of this sounds great." Rey called out thirty minutes into the journey, shielding herself from the sand whipping past them by using Finn's shoulder. She eyed Poe who who leaned into Din's back, moving a hand to run through his curly hair.

"Yeah, I don't think I wore the right pants." The pilot shouted to her, tugging at the fabric of his jeans as he squirmed. "And again, does the Resistance not have money for goggles? Or, I don't know, helmets?"

Rey laughed and Poe smiled along before he yelped, reeling back from the pain of an elbow being jabbed into his abdomen.
"What was that for?" He moved to wrap both hands around Din after nearly falling off the bike.

"Stop moving around. I'm going to crash." Din grunted, clearly all business.

The pilot huffed, smacking the mandalorian's shoulder.
"Stop then, I want to drive."

Din quietly followed the demand, moving to a stop. Rey seemed grateful for the interruption, taking a break as she stretched her back languidly.

The Mand'alor stopped him from moving to get on the bike again with a grounding hand on his upper arm.
"Will you be okay seeing it?" He asked quietly. Poe didn't look at Din as he eyed Luke from a few meters away. The jedi was solemn, as he always was.

Poe decided to shrug his shoulders. He wanted to come off as nonchalant, but probably only made his spouse more concerned.

Poe found it odd at his immediate sobering up at the thought about their imminent arrival to the jedi academy. He wasn't there when the attack had happened, but he could still feel the flames licking at his boyish face when he visited the aftermath.

He could still hear the last words Ben had said to him before he turned to the dark side. They were so, normal. He should have known. There were signs, right? There had to have been.

"Okay." Din said simply, letting go of his tight hold on Poe's arm before climbing onto the back of the bike. Poe silently followed moments after.

The pilot was sure Din probably understood why he had become quiet.

Rey, on the other hand, thought differently.

She was glaring daggers into the Mand'alor's beskar helmet for the rest of the journey, assuming the worst of Din.

Once they arrived, Poe cleared his throat as Din moved to get off the bike, rubbing a hand over his suddenly dry throat as he stared out at the ruins. His spouse offered a hand to help, which he accepted silently.

The mandalorian watched Poe for a moment, as if he were assessing him. The pilot's eyes met the other man's visor for a moment before Din decidedly grabbed both his distuptor rifle and Poe's bag, hauling them over his shoulder.

"I can d-" Poe's protest died off as quickly as it had started before he decidedly followed the man. It felt as if he were on autopilot and he found that he didn't entirely mind it.

Poe often didn't find it hard to be the first to speak. He always had a snarky remark to fill awkward silences or a reassuring joke to instill camaraderie in a moment of fear.

In this very moment, as he looked in front of him, no words came to mind.