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Chapter Text

The Idea

The first one to suggest the idea of renting an apartment together had been Finn. It made sense; they were all going to the same college (though Poe and Ben were entering graduate school, while he and Rey were freshmen,) they were all looking for cheap off-campus housing, and they were all friends. What could possibly be wrong with sharing an apartment?

He made the mistake of talking to Rey about it first.

Rey, of course, would be the easiest to convince. Poe was practically her brother, Finn was her foster brother, and Ben was…Ben. They were her family, she loved the three of them to bits, and spending every day and night with them was the best thing since Luke Skywalker decided to foster two orphans who were already into their tweens, no longer little kids with round cheeks and bright grins.

Of course. Rey was all for the idea, and immediately set about looking at apartments within walking distance of campus, with at least two bedrooms and two baths (because Rey knew that Finn had grown up with Rey's messiness and sloppy bathroom tendencies, no way was he going to start his adult life with it).

She'd sequestered herself in her room for the rest of the day, browsing rental sites and neighborhood profiles, while Finn's excitement had steadily dropped because damn, now that Rey was all excited and all for it, he had to make sure that Poe and Ben were agreeable to the idea, because no way would they be able to afford an apartment without four tenants. He knew then that he should have started with the most difficult to convince first, but now that he'd gotten Rey on his side, he knew he had to go to Poe.

Poe wasn't as sure about the idea as Rey was at first. He'd reluctantly admitted that the idea had some merit, but thought it would be inappropriate for two graduate students to be sharing housing with two freshman undergraduates. Especially since neither of them were actually legally adults yet. Both Finn and Rey had been orphaned in the same incident—the Takodana Hospital Fire of 30 ABE.

Birth records had been destroyed, many doctors, parents, and children had not made it out alive, and no one was certain whether the two orphaned children were four or five. Both had seemed rather smart, so they'd assumed they were five—until six years later, when their new foster father had taken them to a dentist appointment and the dentist had discovered their actual ages in their dental records. They had been too far along in their schooling at that point, so Luke had just enrolled them in the next grade level, and here they were, seventeen and freshmen in college.

Finn had Rey's excited face in mind though—she hadn't become this excited since she'd won the science fair two years ago for her project on solar energy—and with determination, he argued for his idea.

In the end, it didn't take as much convincing as Finn had imagined it would. It was a bit disappointing, actually, he had at least four more points to make, but Poe stopped him.

"All right, all right. I give in! We can find an apartment together," Poe had said with a reluctant grin. But then his gorgeous smile had dropped into a more serious expression. "But if we get an apartment with less than four rooms," which they both knew was one-hundred percent likely, "you room with Rey." Poe had bitten his lip after saying that, a slight blush stealing across his golden cheeks. "Can't have Ben being tempted with little miss jailbait after all," he had finished with a wink. Can't have me being tempted, is what he didn't say.

It was Finn's turn to blush.

Ben, Finn knew, would be the hardest to convince. Though he had been their friend since they had moved in with Luke—Luke was his uncle, after all—he was also the most serious of the group, and the least likely to agree to such a plan. He listed off more reasons than Finn could count why this was the worst idea in the history of bad ideas—and Finn had to admit, some of them (like Rey's propensity to stay up late tinkering loudly with her inventions) had merit. But in the end, after all was said, Finn had the ultimate trump card.

"Well, if we don't share an apartment with Rey, she'll probably live at the dorms," Finn had said. "Who knows what kind of girl Rey might be roomed with. She could be a drug addict—or have a boyfriend!" He was only pointing out the obvious, but at his statement, he could see the wheels start to turn in Ben's head.

Ben frowned, obviously thinking this over. With a sigh, the tall man crossed his arms and reluctantly nodded. "Fine. Very well. But you are sharing a room with Rey," he stipulated.

Finn nodded eagerly, grinning. "Deal," he agreed, internally laughing at the fact that both Ben and Poe had been adamant that neither shared a room with their younger friends.

Ben gave a short nod. "Fine. Deal."

Finn almost couldn't believe it. Ben had agreed. Ben had agreed!

With a grin, Finn turned around and started running across the street, back to Rey. He couldn't wait to see how she would light up at the news.

Chapter Text

Cooking Trade-Offs

Living in an apartment together meant sharing responsibilities. One of the most important responsibilities they shared was that of making dinner.

The weekend found the four roommates coming home to their parents house, so there were only four days where dinner had to be prepared. This ended up working out well—four days, four friends. Divide and conquer. So, they decided to assign a day to each person to be in charge of cooking dinner, and whoever wasn't cooking would be responsible for cleaning up afterwards.

Monday nights went to Finn. He thought himself to be a good enough cook; he wasn't the best, and he didn't know how to make a lot of dishes. But the recipes he did know, he knew well enough that his dinners were enjoyable to eat, and never lacked flavor. Finn made fantastic pizza, his lasagna was great, and the garlic bread that accompanied each Monday dinner was mouth-watering. And okay, Italian food was all he knew how to cook.

There were a lot worse things than having Italian once a week for dinner.

Finn was comfortable in the kitchen. Monday nights would invariably find him in the cramped space between their fridge and stove, wearing the "Trophy Husband" apron, humming along to the classical music he listened to on his iPod. He jumped from one counter to the next (which really wasn't hard considering their matchbox kitchen,) chopping tomatoes and preparing the garlic spread, in his own world. He liked to be alone when he was cooking—his recipes were secret, after all—so no one was allowed in the vicinity of the kitchen.

When Finn was in the kitchen, the entire apartment complex started to smell like a pizzeria. Rey, who'd taken to doing her homework while washing laundry two floors down in the laundry room, knew exactly when dinner was ready. Over the weeks she had managed to time herself so perfectly, so when her laundry came out of the dryer Finn had just finished setting the table.

Whoever made dinner also controlled where the four roommates would eat. Monday nights meant eating at their four-legged square table without fail. Finn had lived for eleven years without a stable home. More often than not, he'd had to eat fast enough that he hardly even tasted the food (which, really, wasn't a bad thing). Rey would press her shoulder to his, and they would take turns keeping an eye on the other foster kids who, given the opportunity, would try to take food from the scrawny brunette and too-thin Finn.

Most the time it was Rey who would end up fighting off some bigger kid who thought the girl would be a pushover.

Now that Finn had the chance to eat in a calm setting, with three of the four people he considered his family, he took it.

And that wasn't to say anything against Luke. But Luke had never been big on sitting around a dinner table to talk about everyone's day, see how everyone was doing. Luke was more of a sit on the couch, watch a movie, hope nothing spills but if it does, well, no big deal, it's just furniture kind of dad (which had also been refreshing for Finn).

Finn always smiled when he looked back on the first few weeks he and Rey had spent with Luke. Luke had been so conscious of the hurt he and Rey had experienced from the system that was supposed to help them. He'd taken the time to find out what Finn and Rey liked, the foods they enjoyed and the ones they couldn't stand. What kind of movies they liked, their favorite books, colors, he learned everything he could about them.

They thought it wouldn't last. It had to be too good to be true; this random man who wanted not just Finn or just Rey, but both of them. Luke saw the pair as the package deal they were. They weren't Finn and Rey, they were Finn and Rey.

It took a while for Finn to realize…it didn't have to be just him and Rey against the world. The two orphans Finn Storm and Rey Kenobi were no more—in their place, Luke, Finn, and Rey Skywalker. Together against the world.

Tuesday nights belonged to Ben—who to everyone's surprise, had a ridiculous sweet tooth. Tuesday night quickly became known as dessert night, and was anticipated by all. Yet someone, Tuesday night was also one of the healthiest nights of the week. Ben prided himself in creating delicious desserts that were also low-carb, low-fat, low-calorie, and basically low-everything else, too. Neither of his parents were health nuts—nor was Ben, for that matter—but there was something satisfying about watching his friends savor his pineapple upside-down cake, only to find it was vegan, gluten free, and made without any artificial sweeteners.

For this reason, Ben was also a fan of an empty kitchen. He gained immense pleasure from tying on that "Trophy Husband" apron and turning carrots into caramel (okay, maybe not that, but he did use carrots frequently as a healthy natural sweetener). Finn and Poe could enjoy vegetables, but Rey, Ben had discovered, had made it her personal goal to avoid as many vegetables as she possibly could.

Ben had been told that there was a reason for this, which could be traced back to something that had happened when she and Finn were in a foster home, but he had never gotten any specifics.

So Ben had made it his personal goal to get her to eat as many vegetables as possible without catching her notice. The desire was born out of love, of course, and not in order to toy with her or deceive her in any way. She had been sick often as a kid because of poor nutrition, and Ben was bound and determined to make sure she didn't get so bad again. (Of course, his mission had nothing to do with the information Uncle Luke held regarding Ben's early experimentation with name-changes, which might find its way into dinnertime conversation if Rey didn't get a daily dose of fruits and veggies).

Ben grew up eating at the table during family dinners, and had rather mixed emotions about the affair.

Sometimes, when everyone was over, it was a wonderful and lively experience. Uncle Chewie came to visit often, sometimes accompanied by Uncle Lando (neither of whom were Ben's uncles, just close family friends,) and they brought with them amazing tales of the old days where they, along with Ben's dad, would go to foreign places on dangerous missions. Half of the fun was trying to figure out what Uncle Chewie was saying through his thick accent (Ben could never figure out where that accent was from, though, and only his father had been able to really understand the man).

Uncle Luke would come over, Grandma Padmè and Grandpa Annie would visit, and dinner would be filled with laughter and fun. It was even better when Finn and Rey had joined the family, even though they were six years his junior. It was kind of nice, have two kids that would follow him around, practically worship the ground he walked on. They were good kids, now two of his best friends, and with everyone together, dinner was perfect.
Other times though, dinner at the table was terrible.

When it was just Ben, his mother, and his father, dinner was tense. Between his mother going on about politics and his father going on about whatever he was working on in his workshop that week, Ben would be grilled about his schoolwork and volunteer work and why he hadn't gotten a job yet and what his plans were for the future. Other times, dinner was a heated argument between his parents (that often ended with them going to their room and shutting the door and god he had ears and he didn't want to hear that).
So, on Tuesday nights, they would typically eat crowded around the end table in the living room, playing board games while trying to hold off the notorious dessert-thief, Rey.
Sometimes, Ben would look the other way on-purpose-without-being-obvious-about-it, just long enough so Rey could get a few extra spoonfuls from his plate.

Poe got Wednesdays, even though they formally belonged to Rey. Unfortunately, Rey was the absolute worst cook any of them had ever met. The only dish she knew how to make was Ramen, and she couldn't even make that properly. She didn't know how to spice it up, and sometimes even forgot to put the actual spice packet into the water, so they ended up just being over salted, probably soggy noodles.

Rey knew what a terrible cook she was, so she banned everyone from the kitchen for the first Wednesday, tied the "Trophy Husband" apron around her waist and had started looking around the kitchen for any sort of quick-bake meal. Spotting a bag of rice, Rey had started boiling a pot of water, poured in a random amount of rice, closed her eyes, and crossed her fingers.

That was a bad idea.

Twenty minutes later, Rey had half-cooked rice burning to the bottom of the pot. Panicking, Rey frantically threw it into the sink, ran out of the kitchen, grabbed Poe—who was her best bet at not getting laughed at—by the hand and dragged him in with her. She explained the situation, begrudgingly admitting that she had no idea what she was doing and that she needed help.

Poe had graciously—god damn, the man was nothing if he was not gracious—offered his assistance, and there started the tradition of teaching Rey, step by step, how to prepare a meal.

Poe had the patience of a saint.

Wednesday dinner-making started early, because Poe took his job of teaching Rey to cook very seriously, and he left no small step unexplained. She appreciated the help, and gave Poe her very sincerest thanks each Wednesday night. Poe would smile at her, looking at her like the little sister he'd always wanted, and then would act as if she was the master chef, teaching him to cook until the both of them dissolved into giggles and the onions started burning. Poe would just laugh it off, remarking that no one likes uncooked onions, but burnt ones are the easiest to hide (and then of course he would explain how to hide burnt onions).

Rey enjoyed dinners at the table as much as Finn, but she also wanted his night to be a special night. So Wednesday night found the four of them taking their food into Rey and Finn's room, cramming together on the bottom bunk of their bed and watching Disney movies on Rey's laptop (which was balanced on Rey's left thigh and Finn's right).

They were all quiet when they ate on Wednesday nights, enjoying the closeness of their three best friends, enjoying the childhood-feels that they got from watching the movies. The only time they spoke was to comment on how great Rey's cooking is, almost as good as Poe's.

(Everyone except Rey knew that everyone knew it wasn't Rey actually cooking, but no one said anything. How could they, when the engineer would proudly bring out each dish with a giant smile on her face, detailing each ingredient that went into the dinner, thinking that she had both Finn and Ben fooled, so proud of their pride in her? No, it was better left unsaid.)

Thursday night was the night everyone looked forward to, because Thursday night was Poe's night. Poe often said that he had spices in his blood—and no one would have been surprised if this was the truth. Thursday night meant a different foreign cuisine each week, and they hadn't had a repeat so far (not counting Wednesday nights, of course, since Wednesday was Rey's).

No matter how much Finn begged for a repeat of the vegetable samosas Poe had made (which found their way into Finn's lunch bag a week later), he refused to repeat a dish. Rey's pleas for him to recreate the spaghetti bolognaise, which she had absolutely adored, had fallen to deaf ears (but they had had it at Mama Dameron's house the following Friday, and she just so happened to have enough leftovers for Rey's lunch for the next three days). Even Ben, who had not-so-subtly requested a second Fish-Taco Thursday, had been denied (unfortunately for Ben, the halibut had just gone out of season, otherwise he would have found it in his personal mini-fridge the following week).

Poe thoroughly enjoyed cooking, and he was not closed-off about it. Thursday night, he would slap on the "Trophy Husband" apron (throwing a subtle wink at Finn) and gather everyone in the kitchen. They would sing along to the old rock stations, dance happily in the cramped space, and clean up the mess that Poe left in his wake.

Thursday night was Poe's favorite night. To him, this was exactly what a family should look like. The dancing, the laughter, the singing, all surrounding the food. It was how he was raised, and he took great pride in the fact that he brought this happiness to his three closest friends, to the three members of the family that he had chosen, the three people who had chosen him in return. Thursday night was a celebration of their family, a celebration of the paths they had taken that led them right to that moment.

As such, Thursday nights found the four of them sitting knee-to-knee on the kitchen floor. The only sounds for the first ten minutes were the sounds of forks on plates, of groans of oh my god Poe this is amazing, and the noise of the too-loud music in the background. Poe always made too much food, but none of it ever made it through to the next day. So, Thursday nights also found the four of them sprawled together on the kitchen floor, jean buttons undone, chatting away sleepily until one of them (Rey) fell asleep and started unconsciously kicking the others (Ben). Afterwards, they would all shuffle off to bed, full, content, and glowing with love.

Chapter Text

Professional Heartbreakers

Poe was an unintentional serial flirt.

It wasn't his fault—kind of—that he spoke with such overwhelming charm, good-natured compassion, and genuine care. It was how he was, who he was as a person. Poe unconsciously flirted with everyone, and this proved problematic for Finn, Ben, and Rey. Because of Poe, they had had to become professional heartbreakers.

It started simply enough. It was a Monday afternoon, none of them had classes so they were all studying together in the living room. It was rather calm for once; Finn was stroking BB's fur while listening to a podcast for his communications class, eyes closed and head tipped against the back of the couch. Rey and Poe were quietly trading Engineering notes (well, Poe was strengthening his engineering foundations by helping Rey with her engineering notes). Ben was sprawled across the floor, highlighting a dense law textbook with a bleak expression. They were all calm and content.

And then the doorbell rang.

Finn, too absorbed in his podcast, was the only one who didn't look up. Instead, he continued rubbing BB-8's head, while the others glanced around at one another to see who would be willing to stand up.

By unspoken decision, Ben got up from his position on the floor and walked to the door. There was some muffled conversation, and a moment later Ben returned with a perturbed look on his face.

"It's for you," he said to Poe, practically falling back to his place on the ground with an annoyed sigh.

Poe furrowed his brow, not expecting anyone today. He slid his notebook off his lap and went to the door to greet whoever had come for him.

Nearly a full five minutes later, Poe came back with his cheeks stained pink. Rey's curiosity was instantly piqued.

"Who was it?"

"No one," Poe answered quickly. Clearing his throat, he sat back down and glanced over at Finn, who was still involved in the podcast. "Just, uh, a girl from one of my classes who misunderstood something I said to her."

Rey scrunched her nose in thought. "The one with the red hair? Lila…Leila…Liza! Liza, isn't it?"

Poe's blush deepened. "Linda. Yeah, she's the one. It's fine, everything is all cleared up now. Come on, we've got a test to prepare you for."

Everything was not all cleared up.

Rey was half-asleep on the couch two days later, leaning against Poe as he played a handheld piloting game. The doorbell rang, and Poe—gentleman that he was—elbowed Rey so that she would get up and get it.

Rey was too tired to waste her energy arguing, so she got up to get the door without a fight. On the other side was none other than Linda, grinning brightly with her pretty red hair tied back in a ponytail, showing off the rounded contour of her face. She looked rather dressed up for a Wednesday afternoon, Rey thought, but didn't comment. Of course, just because Rey's idea of dressing up was wearing an unstained shirt and some nice jeans didn't mean it was everyone's.

"Can I help you?" Rey asked, not unkindly.

Linda's grin dimmed a bit, and she glanced hesitantly over Rey's shoulder. "Is, uh, Poe here? He said we should hang out and study later this week…"

Rey stared down at the shorter girl, blinking. Poe hadn't mentioned anything about company—and clearly this woman was looking to stay. Wordlessly, Rey stepped aside and allowed Linda in.

For his part, Poe looked as if he hadn't expected the company.

"Linda!" He exclaimed, closing his handheld device and standing quickly. He masked his shock with a bright grin, and Rey could hardly even tell the difference between his usual grin and this strained one. "What's up? I thought…"

"Oh! Um, well on Monday, you said that we should hang out today? So, uh, here I am."

Rey took a seat on the couch. This conversation was going to be great.

"Did…I say that? I guess what I said could have been…" Poe looked uncertainly towards Rey, who was at this point wide-eyed and awake. She offered no help.

Linda, for her part, looked abashed. "Did I misunderstand—"

"No!" Poe interrupted, suddenly self-assured again as he tried to appease the girl. "No, no it's fine, I'm glad to have you." Poe threw on a charming smile, one that nearly had Rey blushing. "How about I get you something to drink? Rey, where do we keep the water?"

Poe disappeared into the kitchen before Linda could agree to anything, dragging Rey along with him by the arm. When they were safely tucked away in the kitchen, Poe turned towards Rey with a harried expression on his attractive face.

"You have to help me out, what do I do?" Poe exclaimed, eyes flicking between the window and the living room—as if he was seriously contemplating jumping three stories just to get out of this awkward situation.

"You didn't mean to invite her over, did you?" Rey clarified, smirking.

Poe frowned. "You don't have to enjoy this so much. I—I'm not interested, and I think she is…"

Rey chuckled quietly. "Oh, she definitely is." No one wears make-up to a study session unless they're not interested in studying school..."But you don't need to worry, I can talk to her for you."

Poe looked at her with wide brown eyes. "You'll do that?"

"Yeah," she said with a sly smile. "But next time your mom makes dessert empanadas—"

"You'll get all the empanada you can stomach," Poe finished, knowing all too well that that was more than he and Ben could stomach combined. "I'll even convince Ben to let you have his portion. And Finn too!"

"Oh, I'm sure you will." Rey winked, and walked out of the kitchen with flourish.

Seeing Linda sitting on the couch all lonely with her books, Rey felt pity for the woman, and slight shame with what she was about to do. So, she resolved to let her down softly.

"Hey, Linda…"

For Ben, the day he became Poe's break-up assistant (he refused to call himself a professional heartbreaker like Rey did) was a late Friday afternoon.

It was the day after Rey and Finn's last final, and they were sleeping off their late night study sessions snuggled while tangled together on the couch. Ben, not wanting to wake them, had magnanimously gone to answer the door when someone came knocking. He'd slipped outside before the air conditioning could slip out of the apartment, closed the door softly behind him, and then stared at the last person he imagined he'd see on his doorstsep.

"Hux? What do you want?"

Armitage Hux, one of Ben's colleagues, stood tall and proud before Ben. He was dressed impeccably as always in a clean black suit, red hair slicked back, pasty skin only slightly flushed in the summer heat.

"Hello, Solo. I am here to show Dameron a night he'll not soon forget."

"It's Organa-Solo," Ben grit out. "And there's no way in hell Poe agreed to go on a date with you."

The red flush of Hux's cheeks deepened. "I can assure you, Solo, that Dameron whole-heartedly and enthusiastically agreed to accompany me to dinner. Now, if you will fetch him, I can be on my way."

Gritting his teeth, Ben turned on his heel and stalked back into the house. Careful to close the door softly, Ben tip-toed past the snoring pair wrapped together and sought out Poe in the kitchen.

"Your date is here," Ben grit out, not the least bit pleased to be telling his friend of more than twenty years that his enemy of more than ten years was waiting on their doorstep for a date. Truth be told, Ben felt betrayed and disgusted. Poe knew more than anyone that Hux was not the sort to carry out a stable relationship. Had he really been swayed with the promise of a fancy dinner?

Poe, for his part, looked perplexed. He left for the front door, leaving Ben to brood in the kitchen. Grabbing a beer from the fridge, he popped the cap and drained half the bottle in one chug.

A moment later, Poe had returned. His skin was strangely drained of color—not the way Ben expected him to look after greeting his—and Ben had to swallow bile at the thought—date.

"Uh, listen, buddy—"

"I don't want to hear it," Ben snapped, chugging the rest of the bottle. "I just—I don't want to hear it."

"No, I swear, I didn't—I didn't realize what…what I was agreeing to. I didn't agree to a date…or if I did, I uh, I didn't mean to."

Ben blinked.

"Do you…do you think you could get rid of him for me?" Poe asked, eyes desperate.

A slow, malicious grin settled on Ben's lips.

"Oh, it would be my pleasure."

It went far more simply for Finn.

One night, a young woman who'd managed to get Poe's home address showed up asking for him, and Finn was the one to answer the door.

Seeing the girl's beautiful complexion, maroon-painted lips and fancy dress, Finn leaned in real close and whispered "He's not interested," in a voice that brooked no arguments. He had shut the door in her face, and that was that.