Still on suspension, Finn and Poe weren't allowed to take their meals at the scene of the previous day's brawl. They were therefore on their way to the mess hall before the official dinner time began.

Poe was still feeling the adrenaline effects of his flight with Rey, and was in the process of telling Finn about his day. "So we leave the Falcon, and the last thing she said to me was that she was going to write some 'reyetry' tonight."

"Some what?"

"I know, right? It took me two minutes to figure out what she was talking about."

Finn looked confused. "What was she talking about?"

"I explained poetry to her."

"Uh-huh…."

"And I'm Poe." He pointed at his chest. "So if she wants to write some…"

"Oh, Rey-etry! I get it." Finn laughed. "That's pretty good."

"Right? So I'm in the middle of the hanger, still mulling over what she'd said. Admiral Statura comes up to me, to bawl me out about getting suspended, you know, and right in the middle of his lecture, I figure it out and start laughing."

"Did the admiral go supernova?"

Poe smirked. "Well, I kinda covered it up. But…well, you can never tell with him. His face always looks so calm."

They were silent for a moment. Then Finn piped up. "Betcha she'll write a poem about me before she writes one about you."

"What's there to say about you?"

"You know, I'm her hero and all."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot." Poe paused. "She'll probably write about the night sky. Or sand. Or the sensation of flight. Not people."

Finn looked incredulous. "I'll take that bet. Ten credits. Why would she write a poem about sand? Or the sky?"

With a start, Poe realized that he might understand Rey better than Finn did. He shrugged it off. "I spent all morning with her, so I'm an expert now."

Finn threw him an apprehensive glance. "And you're in love with her, too?"

"Of course not. I just…we actually have some things in common. We have fun together. She's a lot different than the other women I know."

The men had made it to the mess hall, and were now headed back to Finn's quarters, carrying their dinners on steel trays.

Finn was increasingly uneasy about Poe's train of thought. "How so? Besides flying, I mean."

"She's more honest. And enthusiastic, you know?" Poe considered. "Everything here is new to her, so she really savors every experience, every conversation, everything. It's fun to watch her."

"So," Finn surmised, "you're like a teacher to her." He felt better about that idea: Poe as a flight instructor.

"Yeah, kinda." Poe nodded slowly, though that was not the word he would have used. Teacher? I wonder what it would be like to teach her how to kiss. He squelched that thought bubble before it expanded.

Finn grinned. "Okay, so I'll be her hero, and you'll be the old, wise professor."

"Hey," Poe protested. "I ain't that old, and you ain't that heroic."

Finn, always quick to laughter, smiled again. Then his face grew more reflective. "But now you get what I see in her, right? You like her?"

Dameron hesitated. "Sure, I like her," he said mildly.

"Me too." Finn sighed. "It's not love, I don't think. I just like her, and want to know her better. Or maybe it is love. Have you ever been in love?"

"No," Poe admitted.

"Well, even if it's not exactly, you know, 'love,' what if we both like her and she actually picks one of us? It could wreck our friendship, right? Have you ever liked a woman, and she went for your best friend instead?"

"No," Dameron said again.

A peal of laughter came from behind them. They'd both forgotten they were in a rather public corridor, and anyone could be listening. Poe and Finn looked first at each other, then slowly turned around. Luke Skywalker was right behind them, smiling pleasantly. "That happened to me once," the Jedi said lightly.

Finn gasped audibly, then sputtered, "Master…sir… Jedi...Mr. Master Skywalker?"

Poe rolled his eyes at his friend. Mister master? Either make sense, Finn, or shut up. "Good evening, Master Skywalker," Poe said in what he hoped was a conversational tone of voice.

Luke bowed slightly to them. "Hi. I didn't mean to eavesdrop. Hope you don't mind."

"No, of course not." Finn had reconnected his brain.

"I was just going to say, that happened to me once. I loved a girl, and she fell for my best friend."

"Oh." Poe had believed Jedi weren't allowed to fall in love. But if he can, maybe Rey can. Berating himself for letting these ideas again creep into his head, he stopped mid-stream and instead asked, "Did it ruin your friendship?"

Finn added, "Did you kill the guy?"

Luke laughed gently. "No, and no. The three of us just had to…redefine the parameters of our relationships."

Finn scowled, thinking. "You didn't try to steal her away from him later?"

Luke shook his head. "Steal her away from Han Solo? Impossible."

Poe and Finn both said "Oh!" simultaneously. Finn laughed. "Oh, Solo? You had no chance at all. That's not even a competition." Then he remembered whom he was addressing, and wiped the grin off his face. "Master," he added seriously. "Sir."

Luke smiled easily. "You can call me Luke. Would you like to come to my quarters? I'll tell you the whole story."

By the time they finished eating dinner with Luke Skywalker, Poe and Finn had realized a few things. One was that he was much better company than they'd imagined. Finn in particular had been raised with the view that Jedi were deceitful, politically self-motivated, and always dangerous. This evening had blown all of those theories. Luke was simply a nice guy, and despite his age, he retained a boyish sort of charm when he spoke. His stories were plentiful, funny and entertaining—including the one about how his first crush turned out to be his sister.

Another realization Finn and Poe had made by the end of dinner was that there was strength in a trio. Luke's stories all revolved around the triumvirate of Han Solo, Princess Leia and himself, and the unshakeable love which bound the three of them together. The Jedi master seemed to be hoping that the two young men might form a similar partnership with Rey. She was Luke's apprentice and he obviously thought of her as a daughter. So Poe and Finn felt honored that he even considered them suitable company for Rey, let alone her best prospects for friends.

The final conclusion they had reached was about the nature of friendship itself. "In a war," Luke told them, "you have to trust that your friends would do anything and everything to protect you. Even on the day we met, Han ran headlong at a squad of stormtroopers just to get them away from Leia and me…to protect us, you see? We never, ever went into battle without the absolute faith that the other two would be there as backup." But Luke stressed that their friendship had come first—not lust. He and Solo might have "entertained some romantic thoughts" about their beautiful comrade, and maybe she thought of Han the same way, but nobody acted upon it until their friendship was solidly constructed. "That has to be the foundation," Luke told them.

And so, as Poe and Finn left Luke's quarters to return to their own rooms, they decided to heed the Jedi's advice and just focus on deepening their friendship with Rey. "We'll just be there for each other—you're the pilot, she's the one with the lightsaber, and I'm the soldier," Finn resolved.

Poe smiled affectionately. "I thought you were the hero."

"Yeah, on the ground. The soldier-hero. You can be the hero in the air." Finn smirked, recalling their first meeting. "You can 'fly anything,' right?"

"Hell yeah, I can." Poe paused. "So can she," he admitted.

"Well, then, the two of you can be the pilots. But no more thinking of her as, you know…." He stumbled.

"As a woman?"

"Right. She's not a woman."

Poe squinted at his friend. "She is, though."

"Not a beautiful one."

Poe twisted his lip. "She is, though," he repeated.

Finn stopped walking and punched Poe's arm. "She's not! She's just our friend."

"Got it."

"And maybe," Finn concluded, "someday, if she decided to see one of us as more than that, you know, then maybe we'd..."

"Redefine the parameters of our relationships," Poe finished for him, quoting Skywalker. "I think you're right. We'll let Rey grow up a little more, and decide what she wants for herself. And in the meantime, we'll just work on cementing our friendships with each other."

Finn smiled at his buddy. "You've already given me a name. That's a lot."

"Yeah, but the real question is, would you charge into a squad of stormtroopers for me?"

Finn nodded. "Absolutely."

Poe grinned back at his friend. "Yeah, so would I."

Finis

And so our new triumvirate is established. Will they all stay friends? Will Rey choose romance some day? And if so, will she go for the dashing pilot or the cute-as-a-button warrior? If you want to find out my thoughts on the subject, read "Charged Particles." (Or just ask yourself: what would Leia do?) (I ask myself that a lot; it's one of my guiding principles in life.)

And please leave me a review. I love reviews.

Thanks for reading!