Until now, Rey hasn't attended a party of any sort. Probably her closest experience was that one time she stalled long enough at the Jakku village, cleaning her loot to exchange it for one barrel of lower quality water he could use for a shower. She was aware of what alcohol was, even tried moonshine from one scavenger she was friends with. Yet that scavenger seemed to drink to get herself numb and forget. When Unkar Plutt drank with his friends, he didn't do it for any of those things. He was celebrating selling yet another stolen, small-class cruiser, and it was a rare sight to see him offer Quanya to the closest of his 'business partners'.

Apparently, Finn understandably hasn't had the chances for participating in any party, so when Poe proposed to have one to celebrate Rose's recovery his friends agreed happily.

With Leia's approval, Jess turned the small celebration into a full party with every bottle and a bit fancier food she could find in their stocks.

„We're allowed to use all of that?" Rey asked out loud Poe. He just brought in another box with whiskey bottles and preserved Pyollian cake.

Poe shrugged and replied on his way back for more supplies, chewing on one of the cakes, „We have to use it sometime, and General said she wants to celebrate life. Who knows the next time such opportunity might happen."

By the time Rose entered the room, Rey was sure she hadn't seen that much food in her entire life and wondered how they'd consume all of that. She was quickly proven wrong. Everybody at the party, including Leia, was able to hold their drink quite alright.

Somewhere around one hour into the party, the girls were listening to Leia recounting her adventures with Luke and Han, and Snap started a cake eating contest much to Finn and Jess' delight. Rey was having generally a good time and was thrilled for her friends too, yet something bothered her peering at participants of the competition who were absorbing the sweet dessert on time. She was aware it was a one-time thing, the remaining Resistance fighters draining their stress, and nobody ever wasted food among her friends. Still, she excused herself for a minute under the pretext of needing water.

Rey entered the tiny supply room and shortly investigated the shelves for some bottled water. After she grabbed one, she took a big sip and leaned against the shelves. She was thankful for her new home, the people who became her new family, but in all honesty, she wouldn't ever forget the troubles of her life on Jakku.

A few minutes passed, and although Rey calmed down, her apparently head didn't. The walls around her kept spinning, so she closed her eyes again. Clearing her head helped only temporarily until someone opened the door and burst in almost knocking her over.

„Sorry," Poe gasped and steadied Rey with his hands. „I didn't realize anybody was here."

„That's okay," Rey lied, though the whole world in front of her eyes kept wobbling. „I needed some air."

Poe scanned the area as if he expected to witness fresh air with his naked eye. „Here? I hear it's quite refreshing outside."

Now, Rey definitely felt offended, even if it was an unnecessary side-effect of meager intoxication. „I guess I'll get out of your way."

„No, you don't have to, please don't move," the pilot blurted and reached behind young Jedi's head.

At first, he didn't glance at her, but her eyes watched him carefully as he got closer. Poe bent over her, supporting himself on one of the metal shelves. Although Rey curled up into the wall behind her, their breaths mixed. A faint smell of whiskey mixed with what she couldn't recognize, but what specifically was Poe's scent hit her nostrils. It was far from unpleasant.

Finally, his deep, brown eyes found Rey's stare and she lowered her eyes to his lips, which definitely worsened her case. Somewhere around this point Rey couldn't stop herself and simply leaned towards him. Within second her lips touched his. She didn't close her eyes at first, so she saw his eyes widen at her action. Yet he didn't protest and they both closed their eyes. He seemed more than okay, the next thing Rey knew he took the initiative and tilted his head to turn the soft brush of their lips into something more.

His other hand crawled up Rey's right side and found the back of her neck to deepen the kiss. A moan vibrated in her throat when Poe nibbed on her lower lip, asking for entrance, and she gladly obliged. Her own right hand sneaked behind Poe's back, fingers traveling up his spine.

Rey's vision wasn't spinning anymore, if anything, everything, including Poe, felt real and sharp. She clung herself tightly to him, and he gently but firmly pushed himself into her.

Then the door swung open interrupted their little moment. Their lips broke apart, and Rey only saw a glimpse of Rose, who yelped 'Whoops, sorry!' and fled just as rapid as she appeared.

Poe didn't even flinch, panting and drilling his gaze into Rey's head. His linen shirt was a bit messy, but his hair was all over the place. Somewhere in the process, Rey managed to do that which deep inside made her a tad proud.

„I didn't intend to kiss you," he admitted in low voice and pulled a bottle of water from behind Rey's head with his right hand.

„Oh," she breathed and instantly blood drained from her entire face. Being embarrassed didn't even cut it. The closest thing she was experiencing was probably utter humiliation.

With one movement Rey broke free from his palm locked around her. „Excuse me," she breathed and stormed out the door, leaving a stupefied Poe alone. She headed for her quarters, hoping to go unnoticed, but met Finn on the way.

„Hey, here you are," he exclaimed, „Are you coming back to the party?"

„No, I'm tired," Rey spat and kept walking. She felt wrong to treat her best friend like that, but she wasn't up for confiding in him yet.

Instead of her room, she marched to the hangar of Millennium Falcon. It was extremely quiet, with Chewie still at the party. The humming of the machines soothed her frayed nerves. She quickly found a blanket and covered herself with it in one of the crew's quarters bunks. Exhaustion hit her the moment she laid down her head on the pillow. Soon sleep came.

In the early morning, Rey was thankful to find she was still alone on the ship. Her mood definitely lightened after a good rest, but she didn't want to think about last night's events yet.

Not really up for grabbing breakfast, she headed outside the Falcon bearing some tools, with the decision to fix some long overdue short circuits.

Her head felt completely thought-free while she worked, Rey hadn't even noticed as the hours passed by..

Sometime later, she heard a droid roll in into the hangar, beeping happily on its way.

Rey's forehead creased and she turned towards the incoming droid. Sending BB-8 was a low blow on Poe's part.

[Friend-Rey, my master is asking if you could come meet him at the canteen?]

Rey huffed, it was the last thing she needed right now, especially in a room full of eavesdroppers.

„No, thank you, Beebee," she denied, her heart sinking at the way droids' head dropped and beeped sadly. She gestured at the Falcon, „I'm actually quite busy."

[Master-Poe predicted that you'll say so, he asked me to also tell you he's offering handmade soap-flakes with strawberries!]

An uncontrolled chortle escaped her lips. „Panna cakes by chance, Beebe?"

Seeing her interest grow, BB-8 only confirmed with a single, jolly beep.

„Fine," Rey sighed and rolled her eyes, suddenly stomach growling loudly, „lead the way."

The second they entered the room, Rey regretted her decision. Poe was sitting at one of the tables, grinning like an idiot while he organized plates in front of him. For that alone Rey felt an urge to punch him in the center of that smug smirk. Fortunately, there weren't that many people in the canteen she feared there would be.

Poe patted Beebee on his head and praised, „Good droid."

„Where did you get strawberries?" Rey huffed and skeptically eyed the still steaming pancakes.

„Now, a magician never reveals his secrets," he chuckled and added, noticing Rey approach the bench on the other side of the table, „Sit next to me, please?"

„Why?" she questioned but fulfilled his request. Poe moved to make space for her.

„Humour me," he answered cockily, which didn't help his case. „Help yourself."

Rey didn't answer and dug into her portion of pancakes. She moaned quietly tasting the sweetness at the tip of the fork.

While she ate, the pilot beside her shifted in his seat to send BB-8 away and moved his right leg over the bench so his body was fully facing Rey.

„So... listen, I'm truly sorry about my behavior yesterday," Poe started slowly, fishing for any reaction from Rey.

Rey was aware the breakfast was a smokescreen, but deep inside hoped they wouldn't talk about it and they both would wave the farce kiss aside. She smoothed her shirt in a nervous manner.

„It's okay, it was my fault, I'm the one who flung myself at you. We both drank a bit, but that does not justify me. A Jedi should know better," she admitted and winced at the bitterness of guilt that covered the taste of her breakfast.

„I'll forgive you if you forgive me," he proposed.

„Deal," Rey agreed in a muffled voice, full pouches. She couldn't stay angry at him even if she tried.

A comfortable silence fell between them and only when Rey was almost done she realized Poe didn't touch his culinary handicraft.

„Aren't you gonna at least take a bite before I plunder it all?" Rey asked and offered her plate to Poe.

He shook his head. „I'm good. I already ate the normal breakfast, I found only enough ingredients in the pantry for one serving."

Rey groaned, „Great, now I feel so much better. Please, share some with me."

Poe pretended to think hard. His whole face lit up and he pointed to her meal. „Are you sure, you're done? Maybe I'll just try for the taste, see if it's actually any good."

„Definitely, it's wonderful," she eagerly confirmed and pushed the plate a bit to her left.

Next, Rey turned her head she found his face inches away from hers. Breath stuck in her lungs, she let him get even closer. She was well aware what was about to happen, yet the sensation of his lips against hers sent a shiver down her spine. The kiss was chaste and short, apparently, Poe couldn't help the chortle bubbling up inside his chest.

„Now we're even," he laughed and didn't even try to dodge Rey's fist as it lightly hit one of his biceps. After licking his lips, he continued, „My cooking skills got better, indeed."

Rey blinked a couple of times, completely lost. „Not to rain on your parade, but why did you kiss me? I thought you made all of this to make sure we're friends only?"

Poe looked almost offended like his response was the most obvious thing in the world. „I may not have intended to kiss you last night, but it doesn't mean I didn't want to overall. You just took my intoxicated self by surprise last night, that's all. And now, that we're past our first, official date..."

„Wait, what? Is that what it was?" Rey squeaked loudly, making a few heads around them turn. Some were watching with interest for some time now.

„I intend to kiss you often, sometimes even without your permission if you'll have me. Feel free to do the same. Neither of us knows what the state of the Resistance will be or if you'll have to leave again to complete your Jedi training… but I hope you stay. BeeBee and I both adore you, I mean, not that I want you to kiss BeeBee but…" he babbled and paused, feeling Rey's fingers delicately placed over his mouth.

„I'd love to have you both. This is where I wanna be."