minoanmiss | Today's Frivolous Fic Excerpt

So, like many fan creatures, I'm a contrary sort. I've noticed that a lot of the Poe/Rey romance stories are really.... heteronormative, but I don't think the most important dynamic between them would be male/female, but between less experienced/more experienced. So, here I go writing another story that will not get widely read. *laughs at myself*

A little while later seven speeders sit with three fuel cans by the airlock, Poe has coached Rey through several ‘barrel-rolls’, and now they’re pretty much just playing tag, shouting and slapping errant limbs as they zip and zigzag across the warehouse.

Rey’s cheeks burn with the wind, her blood races, gravity falls behind, and she can’t stop laughing as she swoops towards Poe. He twists his speeder sideways and darts away, curls ruffling in the rushing air, crinkled eyes sparkling. She said before that they should take the speeders outside, but Poe didn’t want to “put on our masks and gloves and all that gear,” and suggested instead they could work on tight cornering. He’s turned out to be right about the warehouse’s useful limits, but it’s also so much fun to whirl around each other in midair. Rey kicks her feet and yowls high as she gives chase, and Poe laughs challenge and steers his speeder down into the maze of shelving.

Rey almost follows him in, but catches herself, instead swinging around to look down from above the shelves. She can still hear his speeder buzzing, his low chuckle, but she doesn’t see him anywhere and reaching out with the Force would be cheating. She banks and turns as she searches for Poe —

“Hi!” he calls behind her, popping up almost vertically, waving as his speeder arcs up into a turn, and Rey shouts and revs hers, wrenching it around —

The steering handle cracks sharply under her palm, and her speeder stops responding, swinging in a circle, skidding towards the wall. “Argh!” Rey shouts, wrenching uselessly at the handle, which snaps off in her hand.

“Rey!” She glances up, at Poe’s shocked face and huge eyes as he wheels his speeder around towards her, at the swiftly approaching wall behind her, at the hard floor ten meters and more below her. There’s no way out, but —

Lifting rocks, Rey remembers, and breathe, and fills her lungs. Still too far away, Poe’s leaning forward, pressing his handles in with his whole weight, heading for her.

Rey wraps her awareness around herself like she would wrap her fingers around a rock, plants her foot on the console, closes her eyes, and leaps.

Air rushes around her, gravity tugs, but she holds herself in her own self, pushes and throws herself, up, across, opening her eyes as she reaches for Poe, his lips parted, his arm stretched out —

Their hands slap and clutch. Her speeder meets the wall with a horrific crunch. Poe tips back over empty air, hauling Rey in, and she grips the dash-brim, slams her toes on the footrest, flings her leg astride and her arms around Poe’s shoulders, digs her fingers into his jacket and holds on. He wraps an arm across her back, deliberately spinning his speeder, puffing over her ear as she crams her face against his neck. Bits and chunks of debris pelt them as he steers them away from the crash, and his speeder soars down and settles to the northwest corner with barely a thump.

“Whew,” Poe breathes in Rey’s ear, curling the other arm around her, shaking in her hold, or is that her shivering? “That was some flying.”