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Title: Brighter Than A Meteor Shower

Summary: Poe teaches Ben to fly a ship.

Prompt: Ship and Captain/Mount and Rider

Disclaimer: I own nothing.



Poe visited Adani at times, where Ben trained, and one of those times was a day after Ben’s eighteenth Naming Day to teach him how to fly.

“You taught Zorii how to fly?” Ben said. He couldn’t help but feel at least a twinge of jealousy, even though it was likely unnecessary. Poe had been uncertain if they actually had been in a romantic relationship during his Spice Runner days. It didn’t matter, of course. After all, Poe most likely saw him as just a childhood friend, just someone who could have been like a kid brother.

Of course, Poe was never going to see him the way Ben wanted him to see him. He most likely saw Ben as just the same boy he’d left behind. Even though Ben was eighteen now, hardly a child. He wished that he could actually see Ben the way that Ben saw him.

Poe faltered for a moment, and Ben regretted bringing it up the moment that he said it. “I did,” he said. “She took to it pretty well."

“I can imagine,” Ben said. Then, "I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault,” Poe said. He looked alone, vulnerable. Ben knew him best as a young man with a great big heart. A radiant smile and a great big heart. People with great big hearts didn’t deserve to have them broken, Ben thought, and if Ben could, he’d find a way to heal Poe’s. He hadn’t loved Zorii, but he had lost a friend. Ben knew that.

Hesitantly, Ben reached over, tentatively (silently) asking if he could touch Poe’s hand.

Poe accepted. Ben was struck by how small it was, how nimble. Poe was smaller than him. And yet so strong, so brave, so brilliant.

Ben loved him for it, for everything.

Poe turned to look at him then, and smiled. A hint of the smile that could outshine a meteor shower. Just a hint, but it was enough, Ben found. "Ready to blast off, Ben?”

“More than ready.”

“Right. So, the controls are here...”

Ben listened. He couldn’t help but listen. Poe’s voice — it really was beautiful, soft and musical. Ben swore that he could get lost listening to it. And listening, it was easier to blast off into the sky — to laugh in delight as they shot into the atmosphere.

“It’s beautiful!” Ben exclaimed even as they looked over Adani, over the grass and buildings and people that seemed so very small below them both. They were all but bigger than the rest, higher...

“There’s definitely tricks I can show you sometime!” Poe called to him. “Barrel rolls, for example.”

Ben laughed. “I love it.”

Eventually, they parked on grass — smooth, green grass, and they were both laughing. Laughing so hard their stomachs no doubt ached. Ben looked over at Poe — the way he was laughing, losing it, and he looked so joyful. The crinkles around closed eyes, the flash of white teeth that could put a meteor shower to shame, the mirthful sounds...

Ben loved him then. Loved him so fiercely that it felt like his heart was breaking, like Poe was out of reach despite being right there. It was like that laugh was just a snapshot of a beautiful, compassionate being that Ben would do everything and anything to protect.

Eventually, Poe recovered, wiped his eyes. “You did good, Ben," he said, more seriously. “Really good. You have potential.”

“You’re a good teacher,” Ben said.

Poe laughed. (Stars, he was so beautiful) “I try my best.”

“You succeed.”

They got out of the ship. “I feel better,” Ben said. “Just being around you.”

Poe smiled at him. "Same with you. I’m home.”

Ben could at least take comfort in knowing that, even if Poe wouldn’t love Ben in return.




May 2023

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