1. They’d always said it, growing up. Kes Dameron, the mothers in the village licking their lips, oh, Kes, yeah, he’s a looker.
But Poe had never really registered it. Never really paid attention. Because it’s his dad. He’s not supposed to be a person, he’s supposed to be someone that takes care of Poe, and provides for Poe, and generally only exists to be an extension of Poe’s wellbeing. Obviously, Poe realizes this isn’t the case, but it’s - freeing, in a way, not to see your parents as a person. To see them as something unconditional, unwavering, open and unhesitating in their support of you.
The whispers continued even after his mother passed - paused, briefly, in apparent respect for Shara - and changed only slightly in tone. Now they were, Kes Dameron, that suitably grief-stricken, handsome, unattached widower, and they seemed more sincere, more genuine. Like, maybe we’ve actually got a shot with him.
It bothered Poe, at first, but he got over it soon enough when it became apparent that his father didn’t return any of their affections, and by the time he’d left Yavin and joined the Resistance and only saw his father a few times a year, it was pushed out of his mind. For the most part.
2. “Poe, I love you,” Finn says, one afternoon out of the blue, and Poe thinks, oh, do I have a bad feeling about this. “I love you, I only want to be with you, etcetera etcetera. But your dad is really hot.”
They’re on Yavin 4. A transport was headed there, and Poe begged and pleaded and managed to secure a week of off time for both Finn and Poe so he could go back to meet Poe’s family. It seemed like a great idea - a week of vacation, and sunshine, and mangoes, and family. Now Poe’s coming to regret it.
“I -” Poe starts, and isn’t sure where he’s going but it doesn’t seem to matter because Finn plows onward.
“Like, you’re attractive. Super attractive. Way hotter than your dad, obviously. And I love you, obviously. But, like - your dad has got it going on.”
Poe tries not to look too flabbergasted but - well, he’s flabbergasted. It’s all he can do not to let his mouth hang agape. The flies would get in.
“Haven’t you noticed?” Finn presses, leaning closer under the shade of the umbrella. They’re in the backyard; Kes isn’t nearby, thank god, because even now Poe can’t help but conjure to mind he’s dad’s face, try to understand what Finn sees there. His dad is attractive, of course, he’s not a bad looking man, but -
“Anyway, there’s no real point to this, I just wondered if you’d realized,” and then Finn goes back to reading his book, and Poe is left staring ahead into nothingness, thinking, what the fuck?
And, a few minutes later, when what Finn’s said really sinks in, trying to repress the jealously. Because, seriously - what the fuck?
3. “Oh, god, have you seen that man, I would climb him like a tree,” Jess is saying. The pilots are all clustered around their usual lunch table; Poe’d had an issue with his engine, so he’s late to joining them, and the conversation, it seems, is already in full swing.
“Would you really -“ Snap starts, and Jessica interrupts with a hiss and a vaguely threatening glare, “like a tree.”
“Who would you climb like a tree?” Poe asks, settling down at the table, and for a moment, it goes frighteningly silent. Poe’s first instinct is Finn - oh please, tell me they’re not talking about Finn - and then himself, both of which he quickly dismisses because, well, that’d be absurd, they wouldn’t say that.
“Your father, of course,” Jess says, and Poe almost spits out his drink, immediately reevaluating what would and would not be absurd because -
“What?!”
“Your dad,” another pilot - Emily, new recruit, joined after they destroyed Starkiller base - pipes in. She shrugs at Snap’s surprised look and Poe’s blatantly horrified expression. “I mean, he’s older, yeah, but he’s, like - old man hot, you know?”
“What are you - Jesus Christ, how do you even know what he looks like?”
Emily shrugs again. “Holo on your dashboard. You’re very fond of those, I’ve noticed.”
Jessica snorts into her rice, and when Poe glares at her, looks almost defensive. “Hey,” she says, “you can’t blame me for speaking the truth. The truth is, your dad is hot. I mean, damn, I’m not even into men and even I see it.”
“Oh my god,” Poe groans, pushing himself up from the table. “I can’t deal with this. I really can’t.”
Jessica shrugs, takes a sip of her juice. “Sorry, hotshot,” she says. “But the truth never remains hidden for long.
Poe bites back another groan and goes to find someone who won’t talk about how attractive his father is. Someone like BB-8, maybe. Or C-3PO.
The fact Poe actually considers have an extended conversation with him, Poe thinks miserably as he troops away from the pilots’ table, really says a lot about this situation.
4. Poe almost dies a lot, so he thinks it’s a little extreme the next time he crash-lands his X-wing on a desolate planet, he wakes up to find his father sleeping at his bedside.
Leia is there too, of course, and Finn, also sleeping. When Poe wakes, rousing with a groan and a crink in his neck, it’s Leia that smiles down at him, explains.
“You crashed three weeks ago,” she says, almost whispering - presumably to let Kes and Finn sleep. “Luckily, Finn found you and pulled you out of the wreckage. He was able to get you back here soon enough that medics were able to repair almost all of your injuries immediately.” Poe shifts on the bed and lays hand on his knee, cautioning. “You’ll need bacta baths,” she says, and as Poe looks down at himself, swaddled in bandages like a mummy, amends, “a lot of them.” She smiles at him. “But you’ll be okay.”
“Why’s my dad here, then?” Poe asks. “Last time I checked, we don’t call in the cavalry for minor injuries.”
“Just because you survive something doesn’t make it minor,” Leia points out. “We were within range of Yavin anyway, and I thought it might help. Seeing him.”
Poe swallows hard, looks at his father’s sleeping face, the wrinkled lines of his forehead. Help me, yeah, he thinks, but what’s this going to do to him?
“Also,” Leia adds, stepping backwards. “Your father is an incredibly attractive man. So it was certainly no burden to bring him aboard.”
For a moment, Poe is sure he misheard her. “You - what?” he asks, and in his shock forgets that Finn and Kes are sleeping beside him. Finn jolts up immediately, glancing around, panicked, saying, “What’s happening, what -“ and then he realizes Poe’s awake.
“Poe,” Finn says, and it’s somewhere between an exclamation and a sob, and so Poe leans forward - gingerly, around his bandages and no-doubt newly accrued scars - to hug him, press Finn’s face to his neck.
He makes eye contact with the General over Finn’s shoulder, but she just winks and him, and is gone before he can ask her anything further.
“Hey, babe,” Poe says, pressing a kiss on Finn’s jaw. “What did I miss?”
He figures his father’s apparent attractiveness is the not the most important thing at the moment.
5. “- and so then, I said, well, why are you even trying to subvert the drive in the first place, it’s an X-wing, not a fucking cargo ship, you really don’t need the extra stress on the engine, and it took them a few minutes, but they got it, they did! And I think they’re going to implement it on all of the X-wings, yours included, barring testing of course.”
“Outstanding, buddy,” Poe says, squeezing Finn’s hand. He’s still laid up from the crash landing, but he’s doing better, and his dad’s getting ready to leave soon too. “How did I get so lucky - a man both smarter and more handsome than I am?”
Finn grins, blushes a bit. “I don’t think I’d agree with either of those,” he says. “You’re definitely the most handsome person on this base.”
Poe makes a considering face. “Nah, I don’t think so,” he says. “You want proof? Here - BB-8 has an algorithm, it can prove it. Hey, BB-8!”
BB-8 rolls out from the corner where it’s been talking to Poe’s med-bot. “Who’s the most handsome person on the base?”
BB-8 tilts it’s head to the side, calculating. 'Well', it says a moment later, 'based on objective algorithms, human standards of the term 'handsome', and the general consensus by those on this base, I’d say Kes Dameron, who has earned the nickname 'Goddameron', is the most attractive person here.' And then BB-8 rolls right back over to the corner, seemingly unconcerned by Poe’s expression.
“Poe?” Finn asks, clearly concerned. “Poe, what is it?”
“Nothing,” Poe says a minute later, his voice faintly weaker. “Nothing, it’s just -“ he coughs, clears his throat. “You, he said you’re the most handsome?”
“Really?” Finn asks with a raised eyebrow, and Poe nods frantically.
“Oh, really,” he says, and Finn, thankfully drops it.
Kes Dameron, the most attractive man on base, Poe thinks, and has to repress a shudder.
6. The next time Poe goes home, it’s under decidedly different circumstances. The war is not over - Poe is starting to think the war will never be over - but they’re in a period of unprecedented peace. Things are looking - comfortable. Flexible. Better.
He gets two weeks this time and a promise from General Organa that she’ll do everything she can to avoid calling him in early - really, General, it’s not a big deal, he says, and she pats him on the back with an open hand, says, kid, you’ve done enough, and, really, Poe can’t fight too much with that one - and so here he is, back on Yavin 4, alone.
Finn would’ve liked this, Poe thinks when he steps off the transport into the thick heat of the jungle, and he tries not to let it splinter him, but. Finn would’ve liked this. Six months and it still feels like it was yesterday. Poe swallows and tries not to think about it. Finn would’ve liked this.
The house isn’t empty when he gets there. It’s more full than he can ever remember it being - cousins and uncles and his father, in the corner, with a woman by his side.
She presses a kiss to Kes’s cheek when she sees Poe, murmurs something to Kes and pushes him forward. Vaguely, Poe thinks she looks familiar - one of the mother’s from the village, perhaps, from his younger years - but it doesn’t much matter, he thinks. His father looks relaxed, near her, and seems relaxed now, stepping forward into Poe’s space.
“Son,” he says, and sweeps Poe into his arms, and it’s all Poe can do to not start crying.
“Hey, Dad,” he says, and his voice must give him away, because Kes squeezes him harder. “I missed you.”
“We missed you too, son,” Kes says. It’s warm and loud inside the house, and reminds Poe of what it used to be like, here, in his childhood. So many people on the same side of everything - so much warmth and love and affection. It’s something he’s been missing, these past six months. “We all did.”
Poe nods into his father’s neck. Later, he’ll go around, getting hugs from all the grandparents and nephews and distant relatives hard to trace; he’ll ask about their lives, and they’ll probably apologize about the state of his, but - not now. In this moment, Poe is content to bury his head in his father’s neck - his father, who is happy, and no longer alone.
FILL: Kes Dameron Has Got It Going On (5+1)
But Poe had never really registered it. Never really paid attention. Because it’s his dad. He’s not supposed to be a person, he’s supposed to be someone that takes care of Poe, and provides for Poe, and generally only exists to be an extension of Poe’s wellbeing. Obviously, Poe realizes this isn’t the case, but it’s - freeing, in a way, not to see your parents as a person. To see them as something unconditional, unwavering, open and unhesitating in their support of you.
The whispers continued even after his mother passed - paused, briefly, in apparent respect for Shara - and changed only slightly in tone. Now they were, Kes Dameron, that suitably grief-stricken, handsome, unattached widower, and they seemed more sincere, more genuine. Like, maybe we’ve actually got a shot with him.
It bothered Poe, at first, but he got over it soon enough when it became apparent that his father didn’t return any of their affections, and by the time he’d left Yavin and joined the Resistance and only saw his father a few times a year, it was pushed out of his mind. For the most part.
2. “Poe, I love you,” Finn says, one afternoon out of the blue, and Poe thinks, oh, do I have a bad feeling about this. “I love you, I only want to be with you, etcetera etcetera. But your dad is really hot.”
They’re on Yavin 4. A transport was headed there, and Poe begged and pleaded and managed to secure a week of off time for both Finn and Poe so he could go back to meet Poe’s family. It seemed like a great idea - a week of vacation, and sunshine, and mangoes, and family. Now Poe’s coming to regret it.
“I -” Poe starts, and isn’t sure where he’s going but it doesn’t seem to matter because Finn plows onward.
“Like, you’re attractive. Super attractive. Way hotter than your dad, obviously. And I love you, obviously. But, like - your dad has got it going on.”
Poe tries not to look too flabbergasted but - well, he’s flabbergasted. It’s all he can do not to let his mouth hang agape. The flies would get in.
“Haven’t you noticed?” Finn presses, leaning closer under the shade of the umbrella. They’re in the backyard; Kes isn’t nearby, thank god, because even now Poe can’t help but conjure to mind he’s dad’s face, try to understand what Finn sees there. His dad is attractive, of course, he’s not a bad looking man, but -
“Anyway, there’s no real point to this, I just wondered if you’d realized,” and then Finn goes back to reading his book, and Poe is left staring ahead into nothingness, thinking, what the fuck?
And, a few minutes later, when what Finn’s said really sinks in, trying to repress the jealously. Because, seriously - what the fuck?
3. “Oh, god, have you seen that man, I would climb him like a tree,” Jess is saying. The pilots are all clustered around their usual lunch table; Poe’d had an issue with his engine, so he’s late to joining them, and the conversation, it seems, is already in full swing.
“Would you really -“ Snap starts, and Jessica interrupts with a hiss and a vaguely threatening glare, “like a tree.”
“Who would you climb like a tree?” Poe asks, settling down at the table, and for a moment, it goes frighteningly silent. Poe’s first instinct is Finn - oh please, tell me they’re not talking about Finn - and then himself, both of which he quickly dismisses because, well, that’d be absurd, they wouldn’t say that.
“Your father, of course,” Jess says, and Poe almost spits out his drink, immediately reevaluating what would and would not be absurd because -
“What?!”
“Your dad,” another pilot - Emily, new recruit, joined after they destroyed Starkiller base - pipes in. She shrugs at Snap’s surprised look and Poe’s blatantly horrified expression. “I mean, he’s older, yeah, but he’s, like - old man hot, you know?”
“What are you - Jesus Christ, how do you even know what he looks like?”
Emily shrugs again. “Holo on your dashboard. You’re very fond of those, I’ve noticed.”
Jessica snorts into her rice, and when Poe glares at her, looks almost defensive. “Hey,” she says, “you can’t blame me for speaking the truth. The truth is, your dad is hot. I mean, damn, I’m not even into men and even I see it.”
“Oh my god,” Poe groans, pushing himself up from the table. “I can’t deal with this. I really can’t.”
Jessica shrugs, takes a sip of her juice. “Sorry, hotshot,” she says. “But the truth never remains hidden for long.
Poe bites back another groan and goes to find someone who won’t talk about how attractive his father is. Someone like BB-8, maybe. Or C-3PO.
The fact Poe actually considers have an extended conversation with him, Poe thinks miserably as he troops away from the pilots’ table, really says a lot about this situation.
4. Poe almost dies a lot, so he thinks it’s a little extreme the next time he crash-lands his X-wing on a desolate planet, he wakes up to find his father sleeping at his bedside.
Leia is there too, of course, and Finn, also sleeping. When Poe wakes, rousing with a groan and a crink in his neck, it’s Leia that smiles down at him, explains.
“You crashed three weeks ago,” she says, almost whispering - presumably to let Kes and Finn sleep. “Luckily, Finn found you and pulled you out of the wreckage. He was able to get you back here soon enough that medics were able to repair almost all of your injuries immediately.” Poe shifts on the bed and lays hand on his knee, cautioning. “You’ll need bacta baths,” she says, and as Poe looks down at himself, swaddled in bandages like a mummy, amends, “a lot of them.” She smiles at him. “But you’ll be okay.”
“Why’s my dad here, then?” Poe asks. “Last time I checked, we don’t call in the cavalry for minor injuries.”
“Just because you survive something doesn’t make it minor,” Leia points out. “We were within range of Yavin anyway, and I thought it might help. Seeing him.”
Poe swallows hard, looks at his father’s sleeping face, the wrinkled lines of his forehead. Help me, yeah, he thinks, but what’s this going to do to him?
“Also,” Leia adds, stepping backwards. “Your father is an incredibly attractive man. So it was certainly no burden to bring him aboard.”
For a moment, Poe is sure he misheard her. “You - what?” he asks, and in his shock forgets that Finn and Kes are sleeping beside him. Finn jolts up immediately, glancing around, panicked, saying, “What’s happening, what -“ and then he realizes Poe’s awake.
“Poe,” Finn says, and it’s somewhere between an exclamation and a sob, and so Poe leans forward - gingerly, around his bandages and no-doubt newly accrued scars - to hug him, press Finn’s face to his neck.
He makes eye contact with the General over Finn’s shoulder, but she just winks and him, and is gone before he can ask her anything further.
“Hey, babe,” Poe says, pressing a kiss on Finn’s jaw. “What did I miss?”
He figures his father’s apparent attractiveness is the not the most important thing at the moment.
5. “- and so then, I said, well, why are you even trying to subvert the drive in the first place, it’s an X-wing, not a fucking cargo ship, you really don’t need the extra stress on the engine, and it took them a few minutes, but they got it, they did! And I think they’re going to implement it on all of the X-wings, yours included, barring testing of course.”
“Outstanding, buddy,” Poe says, squeezing Finn’s hand. He’s still laid up from the crash landing, but he’s doing better, and his dad’s getting ready to leave soon too. “How did I get so lucky - a man both smarter and more handsome than I am?”
Finn grins, blushes a bit. “I don’t think I’d agree with either of those,” he says. “You’re definitely the most handsome person on this base.”
Poe makes a considering face. “Nah, I don’t think so,” he says. “You want proof? Here - BB-8 has an algorithm, it can prove it. Hey, BB-8!”
BB-8 rolls out from the corner where it’s been talking to Poe’s med-bot. “Who’s the most handsome person on the base?”
BB-8 tilts it’s head to the side, calculating. 'Well', it says a moment later, 'based on objective algorithms, human standards of the term 'handsome', and the general consensus by those on this base, I’d say Kes Dameron, who has earned the nickname 'Goddameron', is the most attractive person here.' And then BB-8 rolls right back over to the corner, seemingly unconcerned by Poe’s expression.
“Poe?” Finn asks, clearly concerned. “Poe, what is it?”
“Nothing,” Poe says a minute later, his voice faintly weaker. “Nothing, it’s just -“ he coughs, clears his throat. “You, he said you’re the most handsome?”
“Really?” Finn asks with a raised eyebrow, and Poe nods frantically.
“Oh, really,” he says, and Finn, thankfully drops it.
Kes Dameron, the most attractive man on base, Poe thinks, and has to repress a shudder.
6. The next time Poe goes home, it’s under decidedly different circumstances. The war is not over - Poe is starting to think the war will never be over - but they’re in a period of unprecedented peace. Things are looking - comfortable. Flexible. Better.
He gets two weeks this time and a promise from General Organa that she’ll do everything she can to avoid calling him in early - really, General, it’s not a big deal, he says, and she pats him on the back with an open hand, says, kid, you’ve done enough, and, really, Poe can’t fight too much with that one - and so here he is, back on Yavin 4, alone.
Finn would’ve liked this, Poe thinks when he steps off the transport into the thick heat of the jungle, and he tries not to let it splinter him, but. Finn would’ve liked this. Six months and it still feels like it was yesterday. Poe swallows and tries not to think about it. Finn would’ve liked this.
The house isn’t empty when he gets there. It’s more full than he can ever remember it being - cousins and uncles and his father, in the corner, with a woman by his side.
She presses a kiss to Kes’s cheek when she sees Poe, murmurs something to Kes and pushes him forward. Vaguely, Poe thinks she looks familiar - one of the mother’s from the village, perhaps, from his younger years - but it doesn’t much matter, he thinks. His father looks relaxed, near her, and seems relaxed now, stepping forward into Poe’s space.
“Son,” he says, and sweeps Poe into his arms, and it’s all Poe can do to not start crying.
“Hey, Dad,” he says, and his voice must give him away, because Kes squeezes him harder. “I missed you.”
“We missed you too, son,” Kes says. It’s warm and loud inside the house, and reminds Poe of what it used to be like, here, in his childhood. So many people on the same side of everything - so much warmth and love and affection. It’s something he’s been missing, these past six months. “We all did.”
Poe nods into his father’s neck. Later, he’ll go around, getting hugs from all the grandparents and nephews and distant relatives hard to trace; he’ll ask about their lives, and they’ll probably apologize about the state of his, but - not now. In this moment, Poe is content to bury his head in his father’s neck - his father, who is happy, and no longer alone.
Good, Poe thinks. Good for him, and hugs him.