#*so we have finn/rey

[stenka-razin]

I finally watched Star Wars 9 (aka Star Wars 8) and Star Wars 11 (aka Star Wars 9) along with a rewatch of Star Wars 7 (aka Star Wars 7). They're all bad!

The Force Awakens - I feel like this got by because people assumed it would resolve and pay off and you know, be a movie. It didn't and unfortunately the failures of 8 and 9 directly affect 7 because it leaned so heavy on future installments. It basically balled out on a credit card and episode 9 was the bill. But despite that I do think it's the closest to telling a coherent story in its own right. It's a story called Star Wars 1977 aka A New Hope, but whatever. It's also weird in that it like, double dips. It mocks this series adherence to the past while whole heartedly leaning into that earnestly. At it's best it's like Canonized Spaceballs, at it's worst it's reheated leftovers. But yeah, as soon as they drop that cryptic vision and "a story for another time" crap I know this was gonna blow. It's the guy who made fucking LOST. When will people learn!?

The Last Jedi - Guys this is dumb. Dumb as hell. Dumber than most Star Wars. Even the good ideas it flirts with are rudimentary. But they also botch half the story. Like the entire plot about the escape from whatever could have been solved with a single five minute conversation, and there's really no consequences. Like Holdo looks like an idiot for not briefing her crew... Poe Finn n' Rose look like idiots for botching a mutiny and getting thousands killed. It's so dumb.

Luke kills kids now... guess it's genetic. Like I think there's a small seed of a good idea in here. That Luke, once an anomaly amongst the Jedi, who saw good in a man everyone else thought was irredeemable, is now stodgy and conservative, a natural process that often comes when people are in power for a long time. That's a good idea. But for the first story with the character in years (I don't give a fuck about some stupid book) and we immediately jump to, "I tried to kill a kid cuz his rancid vibes" is bad! Bad writing!

Rise of the Skywalker - Everyone basically went in know this was gonna suck right? Like it had to wrap up a bunch of crap that no one had any plans for. Then it also had to deal with the fact that the Last Jedi kind of dismantled all that crap for a bunch of other crap know one had any ideas for. Like I know JJ and Kennedy are portrayed as villains for cutting down Johnson's vision, but I call bullshit on him having any ideas for a third movie either.

And in spite of that, it introduces a bunch of other stupid crap, too. Yeah this is Episode 2 levels of bad. I totally checked out. I had no idea what anyone was trying to do beyond shoot people. Babu Frik and D-0 were delightful though. Give those two a movie. Oh and it seems like each of these leans heavily on one old guy to breath life into the movie. Anthony Daniels, you may have been the best part of this?

Oh yeah the cast, like in general. They're mostly good, but also like. They don't properly hang out together until Rise of Skyguy and I just find it so odd that the filmmakers decide, oh yeah, they all hate each other? Like even Finn/Poe who were all like Buddy-this Buddy-that, now they're total dicks to each other. I also love that they one up Jedi butchering a love triangle, by introducing like six* potential couplings and all of them fizzling out. Like that's bad but it's even more confusing that they introduce more to fumble in the final installment.

Anyway, in summation. It sucked, and anything good about the first entry was a time bomb destined to suck because no one knew what the hell they wanted to do with any of this. Except make money. They knew that and did. Star Wars sucksssss

[alienfailboy]

please remember that luke skywalker adopted rey and fin a few years after marrying din djarin and and opening his jedi school on mandalor with their green rat son.

[poebrey]

me watching The Acolyte after suffering through the absolute fucking mess that was Kylo’s character and TLJ/TROS:

[gg-collective]

Oh my fucking God, I just remembered all the Star Wars books we had... it honestly makes me curious if I'd ever be able to find them lmao

[trashnotfound]

Shoot me, but these 2 had way more tension and chemistry then Kylo and Rey ever did! So much so they had to separate them for an entire movie…

The hugs!!!!

THE LONGING LOOKS!?!?

2 outcast coming together and fighting for a better life with eachother.

kate's 365 days of ships:

day 58: finn & rey star wars

[nevesmose]

I have to change the tense of a story when it's about 90% done. Aggrieved Waluigi noises.

As it is now it's just a bit blah and presenting it differently will a) give me a chance to try something new and b) hopefully tie in better with the kind of atmosphere/literary milieu I'm trying to evoke. And c) still let me pull off the twist ending I'm feeling smug about.

Third person past ➡️ first person present it is then!

[retrob0t]

i just want star wars YA book about Rey.. give me a cute little story of her life on Jakku!!! her fixing up the falcon for Unkar Plutt and getting into shenanigans!!! UGH or even just a normal book in between tlj & tros or... even post tros???!!!! I know we probably won't get much Rey related stuff until her movie is out (or maybe they'll bring back the Journey to Series, that was fun!!!) but I desperately want books focused on the sequel cast. The post rotj era books have been SOO GOOD and if i could just get some more breadcrumbs of these little dorks, then i'd be SO happy

[mamawasatesttube]

can you imagine talking about anything else the way comic-fanon fans talk about comics?

"the beatles are my favorite band! oh no i don't listen to their music i just look at the album covers and imagine what it sounds like lol."

"star trek fandom is so fun like there's so many series and episodes and reboots that you can just say anything and it probably happened in one of them anyways. and if it didn't, who cares! theres no point in trying to figure out what happened in canon anyway!"

"i love how 90% of doctor who fans all agree that you can do whatever companion with whatever doctor and its pretty much canon because the show is so wild. like, we all just have fun and then some guy shows up and tells you um, 'that actually is directly contradicted by the basic setup of the show?', and then they get offended when you tell them to go away!! LOL!"

"star wars is just too complicated for people to understand - like, are you supposed to start at movie 1 or movie 4? - so you really can't blame anyone for not even trying before they start posting in the star wars tag. anyway here's why i think finn is an angry black man and kylo ren is better for rey"

eta: have been informed this is the star wars experience already. im so fucking sorry yall have to bear this curse too

[better-call-mau1]

Yeah…it’s a pattern that I’m hoping is broken with Sabezra (and it’s a real hope since apparently Dave said something about wanting to give his characters happy endings after all their suffering), but that said…

…I’ve prepared myself for the worst. 😖

Y’all are wanting Sabine + Ezra to be a thing. I mean don’t get me wrong, I do too, but what happens to Star Wars couples?

Kanan and Hera?

Padmé and Anakin?

Rey and Kylo?

Obi-wan and Satine?

TRAGEDY

TRAGEDY

TRAGEDY!

Kanan died,

Padmé died,

Kylo died,

Satine died.

Do We ReAlLy WaNt ThIs!?

(And yes I know there are more people but these people came to mind first.)

[saphronethaleph]

New Media Jedi Order

“Okay,” Rey said. “I don’t know if you can use the Force, yet. Not really. It’s… not something where I had a lot of training myself. But…”

She shook her head. “Okay, I’m already not expressing this right. But the way the Force works, it’s… a mystical energy field, that fills the whole universe. And that might mean that everyone can use it. Or it might mean that it’s just easier for some people, and harder for others. But the most important part of it all is that… the Force is there. It’s real. It binds the universe together, and once you start to understand that… that’s when you can start to understand the rest.”

The words hung in the air, and Rey held out her hand. Her staff rippled slightly, then rose, and she pulled it over to her as she stepped back.

“The Force connects us all,” she said. “Every living being, and it flows through everything that isn’t alive, as well. And it means that every living being in the universe is unique, and important, and special… which is where the first part of the problem can come in. The Dark Side. And that’s why I want to make sure I make this completely clear – because everyone is special. Which means you’re special. But that means that everyone else is special as well.”

She exhaled. “That’s… important. Something you have to remember. Because if you forget the second part, then you’re fundamentally wrong, and that never ends well – for you, or for anyone else.”

After a pause, to impress the gravity of her point, Rey took a deep breath, and let it out.

“So… there’s a number of ways to get a closer and stronger connection to the Force,” she said. “But one of them is that it’s about… knowing things you couldn’t otherwise know, and touching things you couldn’t otherwise touch. If you’re wearing a blindfold, but you can still see. If you’re light years apart, but you can still feel. If you’re the other side of the room, but you can still move.”

She closed her eyes.

“If it hasn’t happened yet, but you can still know. The Force is… transcendent. It connects everything, but everything is larger than one person – it’s larger than everyone – so it’s not possible for an individual person to channel the whole of the Force. But they can touch it, shape it, influence it, and with it… impossible things can be done.”

Hux stabbed the pause button, scowling at the screen, then looked up at the intelligence officer.

“What kind of nonsense is this?”

“We caught it on the HoloNet twenty minutes ago, sir,” the intelligence officer replied. “It had been up for forty minutes before that, and it’s already gone dramatically viral. At this point I’d say about one point two percent of the entire userbase of SpaceTube has clicked the link.”

Hux glared back down at the screen, then caught sight of the view count – and the subscriber count.

And the account name.

“How did the scavenger girl get access to such a popular SpaceTube account?” he asked. “And why is it called Singular Smuggler?”

“Just a guess, sir,” the intelligence officer offered, intelligently. “But I’d guess it’s because it’s Han Solo’s old account? And she does work with his wookiee.”

Hux gave him a baleful look, a muscle twitching in his cheek.

“Well, how bad is it, then?” he asked. “This is obviously a blow for the First Order’s public relations, especially after that nonsense with the broadcast last week where they called for the galaxy to rise up – and the fact we’ve lost Starkiller Base and the Supreme Leader, thanks to-”

He bit off the words.

He wasn’t going to blame the new Supreme Leader for their misfortunes out loud, no matter how much he detested the man.

“It’s bad, but how bad it is depends on what she says in the whole video,” the intelligence officer pointed out. “I haven’t had time to watch it, it’s three hours long.”

Hux muttered something about incompetents, then flicked down to look at the contents list.

He blanched.

“...section two is labelled ‘examples with Finn’,” he said. “Isn’t that the Traitor?”

“That sounds likely, sir,” the intelligence officer frowned. “Why?”

“Block the video immediately,” Hux said. “Across the whole of the First Order. We cannot permit their propaganda to spread to the Stormtroopers.”

The intelligence officer hurried to his desk, ready to issue the order, but before he actually got there the door to the command room crashed open – several inches of durasteel crumpling like tinfoil.

“Huh,” said the stormtrooper standing behind where the door used to be, and examined her gauntleted hands as she flexed them. “Looks like that bit works.”

“...well, kriff,” Hux muttered.

At least there was one bit of good news that he took vicious pleasure in.

Supreme Leader Kylo Ren was going to hate this even more than he did.

[jessequinnfirstofhername]

The Rules:

Every twenty-four hours there will be another round. After every round, the ship in last place will be eliminated.

If there are multiple ships tying for last place, there will be a special elimination round. In these rounds, every ship in last place will be eliminated, even if all the ships have tied equally.

When there are only two ships remaining, they will face off against one another in a week-long poll to determine the victor.

If the ship that you consider the best isn't listed here, hit the 'you forgot the best ship' option and reply to this post with the overlooked ship. The ship with the highest 'write-in' votes will be added to the next round. Unless the 'you forgot the best ship' option is the least voted for, in which case it will be eliminated.Welcome to the fray, Kalluzeb!

This is all for fun. Don't take it too seriously ;)

Adios Anidala! Wow, I'm shocked they went down so fast! With all of that amazing romantic dialogue!

Anyway! Round Three, here we go again!

[happyhauntt]

fight or flight — poe dameron.

writing masterlist | askbox

─── summary: you and poe have never seen eye-to-eye. most days, you wonder if you ever will.

─── pairing: poe dameron x solo!reader.

─── warnings: reader is gender neutral, reader is han & leia's child, no use of y/n. lots of snarky banter. this was supposed to be flirty fluff but it turned into an angstfest so, yeah, sorry for that. finn eavesdrops and chewie is sassy bastard.

─── word count: 1.6k.

     “YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.”

     Poe ducks his head and quickly manages to conceal the wince creeping onto his features just in time, but crouched in the cockpit beside him, Rey still feels his shoulders go stiff. She presses a hand to her mouth in a weak attempt to stifle her laugh, but she’s not quite successful as Poe shoots her a glare.

     She doesn’t blame him, really. You are… Well, sort of scary when you’re angry.

     There’s more than just a spark of your mother’s fire in you, that’s for sure.

     Glancing over her shoulder, she finds you standing in the doorway, regarding the pair of them with a ruthless glare so sharp it might leave a mark.

     Rey is suddenly pretty sure that Poe didn’t talk to you like he said he would.

     “I go for a nap because I haven’t slept properly in two days after you—” The finger you jab in Poe’s direction might as well be a knife, the way he flinches, “— get us stranded in First Order territory after leading us on a wild goose chase, knock out the comms and the navigation with your, frankly batshit, behaviour which I have spent hours trying to fix, and then I left you with one simple instruction.”

     Which… Alright, not all of that is strictly fair, Rey thinks, because at least half of the chaos of the past few days can be attributed to sheer bad luck, and another third can be blamed on decisions made under pressure whose outcomes boiled down to bad or worse.

     It’s not really Poe’s fault. Not anymore than the rest of them, at least.

     But Rey knows how you feel about this ship. The Falcon is your inheritance, the only real home you have left in the world. It’s all that is left of your father.

     You were protective of it even before he died, and since—

     Rey clears her throat. “I’m just gonna… go check on Finn.”

     Poe’s expression reeks of betrayal as Rey scoots past you to go and find Finn, who’s loitering in the main hold with Chewbacca, but she’s not about to hang around and get caught in the crossfire between the two of you.

     She doesn’t have a death wish.

     Finn looks just suspicious enough, when she locates him, that she doesn’t even bother scolding him for eavesdropping. She’s about to do the same, after all.

     “He told me he checked it was alright before we started reconfiguring the navicomputer.” Rey folds her arms across her chest, frowning in the direction of the cockpit. Your voice is still rattling down the corridor towards them.

     Finn clicks his tongue. “Evidently not.”

     In the cockpit, Poe pushes himself to stand, resting a hand on the back of the captain’s chair. Your voice is hard as duracrete as you take a step towards him, crowding the small space with so much of your frustration that it feels difficult to breathe.

     Poe wonders if the sensors are on the blink, and someone popped an airlock somewhere, because the air feels a little thin. You jab in the chest with your finger, and all he does is blink, suddenly lightheaded.

     “I gave you one instruction. I said, the nav systems are rebooting, I’m going grab some shuteye, don’t touch anything. And what do you do?”

     “The console was beeping!”

     “I don’t care if a damn mynock got in here and started eating it, I said don’t touch it.”

     “But it’s alright for Rey to touch it?” He’s being petty, he knows that, but an angry flush has started creeping up your neck, and he wants to know what you look like with your cheeks coloured that delightful shade of pink.

     “Rey didn’t break it!” A ragged breath tears from your throat, and you rake a hand roughly through your hair. “She knows what she’s doing. I trust her.”

     “And you don’t trust me, is that it?” Something like sadness swirls low in his gut as he waits for your response. It hurts him to ask, even though he’s wearing his bravado like a mask, even though he likes pushing all your buttons because when your eyes flash like that, it’s like standing in the eye of a hurricane or falling in zero gravity.

     You’re not friends, he knows that. Not since the day you met, and you pressed a blaster up against his neck in the cargo hold of your old ship and he’d grinned down at you as if getting his life threatened was his favourite pastime.

     He’d been trying to steal it. You’re still not sure what happened, exactly, except that there were Stormtroopers firing at your ship — which, honestly, was held together by little more than string and sheer stubbornness at that point — and your mother’s favourite flyboy watching you with a bizarre hope in his eyes, and you’d just… hated him, in that moment.

     Hated him for crashing into your life and dragging you, kicking and screaming, back to the life you’d fled. Hated your mother for her good heart and your father for running away. Hated the whole damn galaxy for not killing you when it had the chance.

     Poe had wanted you to take him to D’Qar, but you’d spent too long leaving things behind to go back now, so you’d dropped him at the nearest safe outpost and prayed you’d never see him again.

     Clearly, the universe had other plans.

     It’s been years since that first encounter, but neither of you have warmed to one another since then. There’s very little point, you think. He’s unbearable, always needling at you, picking at all of your defences as if he has a right to know you.

     It doesn’t matter. In the end, everyone leaves, one way or another.

     You just wish he’d hurry up and do it, already.

     You’re not friends, but you’re something more and something less, and the way your lower lip twitches at his question feels like a punch to the gut.

     “Why should I?” You blink at him, and a moment later you realise how close you’ve grown, almost chest-to-chest with this man who drives you mad. With a rough swallow, you force yourself to take a step back.

     He doesn’t move. Hardly dares to breathe, with his mouth curled into that little half-smirk he knows you hate, because it hurts that you don’t trust him, but it would hurt more if you knew it.

     “Why shouldn’t you?”

     A scoff. “Well, for starters, I don’t think you’ve ever had a plan that didn’t blow up in your face.”

     The familiar howl of Finn’s laughter rolls down the corridor, quickly cut off by a quiet thump and a low, pained groan.

     Poe blinks at you. “Excuse me?”

     “And you don’t take proper care of the Falcon!” The controls and all their exposed wires serve to prove your point.

     Turning on your heel, you march out into the corridor, abandoning him in the cockpit. He stares at your retreating form, unable to kick his brain back into gear for a few seconds, but a moment later he’s striding after you.

     “I take care of the Falcon!”

     A huff of laughter bubbles out of you, entirely lacking in humour. “Lightspeed skipping.”

     “That was one time!” His voice squeaks out of him much higher than he’d like, and as they emerge into the main hold, he clears his throat. “And the Falcon was fine.”

     You come to a stop so suddenly that he can almost hear your shoes screeching on the floor. “It was twice, and just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. That seems like a lesson you should’ve learned by now, but no, you keep pushing it!”

     Reckless and stubborn, headstrong and utterly selfless. Not for the first time, you regret being dragged back into this mess. Your life hadn’t exactly been peaceful before — you are your father’s child, after all — but it wasn’t this.

     How many more heroes will you watch die before all of this is over?

     How much of it can you take?

     You watch one of those heroes stare at you, now, and it feels like you’ve swallowed a handful of broken glass.

     Behind you, sitting at the dejarik table and making absolutely no attempt to disguise his eavesdropping, Finn leans close to Rey. “You’d never guess they were married, huh?”

     He’s whispering, but it’s not exactly quiet.

     As if you’re suddenly possessed by the same entity, you and Poe whirl around, mouths agape. “We are not married.”

     An uncomfortable heat curls around your spine at the thought of it. Married to Poe Dameron? You cannot imagine anything worse.

     Chewie, seated opposite Finn and Rey, makes an exasperated sound. Rey can’t help but snort.

     You narrow your eyes at your father’s oldest friend, resting your hands on your hips. “‘Could’ve fooled me?’ Chewie, what are you talking about?”

     As your wrath settles upon a new victim, Poe takes the opportunity to slip out of sight, with every intention of hiding in the Engineering Bay on the opposite end of the ship until the danger has passed.

     Marching quickly down the corridor, Poe drags a hand over his unbearably warm face and feels like something beneath his ribcage is itching to crawl out. He thinks it might be his heart.

Married to you. Yeah. He can’t think of anything worse, either.

[jessicas-pi]

It seems I've been on a Sequels kick lately, so, just for funsies, here's some of my Everything In The Sequels Makes Sense Because It's Kids Playing Pretend AU!

------

“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Rey put her hands on her hips and glared down as disdainfully as she could, from her perch on top of an old stump. “Who’s tellin’ this story, me or you?”

“Don’t listen to him,” Poe said, before Ben could snark back. “We think it’s a great start to a story.”

“Good.” Rey took a deep breath, stood up straight, and gazed down at her mostly-attentive audience sitting on the fallen log. “A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…” She threw her hands in the air dramatically. “LUKE SKYWALKER DISAPPEARED!”

Poe gasped in horror. Finn cried out in dismay. Ben rolled his eyes.

“AND THE BAD GUYS ARE BACK!” she went on, flailing her arms.

“What bad guys?” Finn asked, leaning forward in his seat, clutching his favorite stuffed toy—an old clone trooper doll—tightly in his excitement.

Rey huffed. “Uh, the Empire. Duh.”

“Empire’s gone,” Ben put in, with the irritated indifference of an almost-13-year-old who is far too old to be playing pretend.

“Yeah, but in this story they came back.”

“They can’t come back if they’re gone.”

“Well in THIS STORY—”

Poe jumped in, acting as the peacemaker as usual. “Maybe it’s different bad guys. A couple of the Imps got away, and they made a new evil empire, but it’s called something else.”

Rey considered it. “What’s it called?”

“Um…”

Poe trailed off, thinking. Behind him, Luke Skywalker walked past, consulting with the new Jedi teacher at the school. “So the first order of business is…”

Poe snapped his fingers. “It’s called the First Order!”

“Stuuuupiiiiid,” Ben grumbled, then yelped as Finn aimed a kick at his shin. They would have descended into bickering as usual, when a new voice interrupted.

“Hello? Excuse me?”

Rey turned around and saw a boy standing behind her. He was probably a little bit younger than Ben or Poe. He had red hair, a sunburned face, and a funny fancy accent. He stood up very tall and clasped his hands behind him.

“What’s your deal?” she demanded. “I’m tellin’ a story here!”

The boy pointed to the new Jedi teacher talking with Luke. “My father will be an instructor at this school. He said I ought to make some friends.”

Poe clapped his hands. “The more the merrier! Come on, sit down. Rey is telling us an adventure story.”

“That’s your father? Talking to Uncle Luke?” Ben questioned, as the kid strode over and sat down on the far end of the log. “There’s not much resemblance.”

Poe flicked Ben on the back of the head. “Ever hear of adoption, genius?” He looked over at Rey. “Start over for… uh…” Poe turned to the new guy. “What’s your name?”

He shifted a little uncomfortably. “Um… you can just call me Tidge, I guess? Everyone else does.”

“Great! Rey, start over for Tidge.”

Rey huffed over the request, but she did start her story from the beginning again.

“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… LUKE SKYWAKER DISAPPEARED AND THE BAD GUYS ARE BACK! They’re called the First Order. It started when some Empire guys escaped and started making a new Empire. AND THEY’RE AFTER LUKE!”

“That sounds so dumb,” Ben muttered.

Tidge cleared his throat. “If I may…?”

“May what?”

He stood up, walked over to stand beside the stump, and cleared his throat again.

And then he threw himself into storytelling with slightly-fancier-but-equally-dramatic gusto.

“Luke Skywalker has vanished! In his absence, the sinister First Order has risen from the ashes of the Empire, and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed!”

“Hey, you’re pretty good at this,” Rey said approvingly. “Okay, do this part for me.”

She bent over and whispered to him. He listened, then nodded.

“With the support of the Republic, General Leia Organa leads a brave Resistance. She is desperate to find her brother Luke and gain his help in restoring peace and justice to the galaxy!”

Ben rolled his eyes again (maybe his eyeballs were loose or something?) and Poe nodded. “Not bad.”

Rey whispered a bit more, and Tidge finished: “Leia has sent her most daring pilot on a secret mission to Jakku, where an old ally has discovered a clue to Luke’s whereabouts…”

Rey beamed at him. “Okay, that’s all.”

After Tidge was sitting down again, she went on, pointing at Poe. “You’re the most daring pilot.”

He pumped a fist in the air. “YES!”

“I’m better,” Ben grumbled. Poe blew a raspberry.

“If you’re so much better, how come I’m the most daring pilot and you’re not, huh?”

Rey waved her hands, trying to get their attention. “Hey! Don’t fight. Poe’s the daring pilot and Ben’s a Jedi.”

“I thought Luke was the last Jedi,” Ben pointed out.

“Well—I guess, but—” Rey faltered.

“I think Ben should be a Sith,” Poe contributed.

“Yeah! He frowns a lot and he’s grumpy and doesn’t like us,” Finn seconded.

Rey was horrified at the idea. “But it’s Ben! He can’t be a bad guy!”

Ben, on the other hand, seemed taken by the idea. He actually perked up. “Hey, if I kill off all the main characters, can I leave?”

[inklore]

garage rooftop

premise: the lines of friendship or something more grow more blurry the longer your eyes move from each mole, his cheek bones, his dark eyes, his lips. and you really don't understand why the two of you hadn't become something more ages ago.

pairing: ben solo x (f)reader

word count: 1k

contents: college au, fluff like this is nothing but fluff with one sexual innuendo and that's it, friends to lovers, quick mention of han being a lackluster dad sorry it's for the plot.

note: let's ignore that i actually wrote this back in april and just never got around to editing it but now that i'm in my driver era i had to come back to it. the title is from this song that i highly rec listening to while reading <3

The way his face morphs into something that was once joyful and silly—the blissed high that paints your cheeks red from laughing too hard over being overheated from how weightless it feels to be laying on the roof of your apartment building. The space decked out with rugs, blankets, and cushions from past and current tenants, mostly college kids like yourselves. 

Making it the perfect place to get high and look up at the sky at night. The city lights outshine the stars, but the clouds—and the strain of ganja Poe recently snagged from his dealer—give the same ethereal effect. 

“Why haven’t we ever...”

“Ever what, Solo? Dated?” There’s a pause between your words, and a slow, sly smirk moves across your lips as you look over at him. “Fucked?” 

The blush painting his cheeks quickly moves down to his neck as he shakes his head in laughter, biting his lower lip to hide whatever feelings are currently making him look like a shy schoolboy—something he was far from. 

It’s the “both. Why haven’t we done any of it?” That makes you both fall silent. That makes the joyfulness fade and something else fill the air the longer the silence spreads between the two of you. 

And it’s not the weirdest question or the wildest thing that’s come out of either of your mouths. 

It’s a question that makes you wonder, why? Seriously why? With the longer you stare at him, the more you take in the nervous tick of his chiseled jaw. The way his dark hair falls into his face each time he laughs and he has to continuously push it out of his eyes. How the crook of his nose looks oddly kissable and more attractive than you’ve noticed it before when it’s this close to your face. 

When the haze from the weed is making your body feel limitless and swoony. 

It’s a feeling that has you turning on your side. Putting a hand under your head shifts your body closer to Ben’s. Smiling when he doesn’t act phased in mirroring you, his body moving in the same motions and position as yours. Now putting the two of you so close that you can feel his breath hit your face, and the space between your legs barely exists without some part of him touching it. 

The two of you had been friends for forever, it seemed. Stuck in the woes of academia, making your parents proud does that to you. Makes you lose track of time and forget how the two of you became friends after getting into an argument over a Hamlet book in the library. 

A fight Finn quickly broke up, but Poe enthusiastically cheered on. 

The lot of you—Rose and Rey included—became inseparable after that day. Something that didn’t have a timestamp or expiration in your mind. It just happened. 

And now you have four best friends, and you’re coming to the conclusion that you’ve possibly liked one more than that. The lines of friendship or something more growing more and more blurry the longer your eyes moved from each mole, each scar, and each strand of hair. His cheek bones, his dark eyes, his lips. And you really don't understand why the two of you hadn’t become something more ages ago.

“Have you wanted to?” 

“The fact that you’re asking me tells me that you’ve never noticed. I’m not that subtle.” 

“Nose stuck in a book at all times, Ben, not subtle?” You make a sarcastic face, “yeah, who would ever think you’re subtle?” 

His knee nudges your thigh as his cheeks rise in that smile that makes his eyes crinkle at the edges. “You think I’d let Poe or Rey borrow my stuff? Steal my takeout from the fridge—which I know you do—without consequence?”

“In their defense, Poe and Rey have three late library books from two years ago and only you and I like the takeout you get from the bodega on the corner, so…it’s not really a fair asses-”

The squeal that comes from his fingers digging into your sides, pinching the skin at your hip and rib bones, fills the air and knocks the wind out of you all at the same time as you realize the position the two of you have wrestled yourselves in. 

Strands of dark hair moving against your forehead, your fingers instinctively reach up to brush the strands from both of your faces. Ben’s lips so close to yours that all it would take is a heavy breath and you’d be kissing. The relaxing rhythm of your heart now feeling like a hammer in your chest. 

Ben’s fingers run along your jawline, resting at your chin. 

“What if we did?” He asks. Searches your face for any reaction or indication that the subject should be changed. That he should stop asking, and the two of you should move away and pretend like this never happened. Go back to how things were—which was clearly not subtle and most definitely screaming ‘I’m in love with my best friend’. 

“Why have you never asked until now?” You answer with a question. 

“Losing my best friend is not the traumatic life experience I’d like to put on my resume beside divorced parents and an absent father.” He jokes, his smile playful, as the pad of his thumb draws small circles against the skin of your jaw. 

“No wonder you’re unemployed.” The two of you laugh, breaths mingling in the joys of this moment. Of the jokes that come easy and the touches that seem to come even easier. But then there's silence, and you’re leaning closer to him, a feathering touch of your lips against his as you murmur, “maybe you should stop being so afraid, Ben Solo. And have me.” 

And if you’ve ever felt like there was something missing—some cataclysmic event in your life that could rewire your nervous system and make you feel like you’ve been barely making it, your heart barely beating and keeping you alive: Ben’s mouth is the puzzle piece as he brings your mouths together in a bruising kiss. 

[gffa]

If you could change anything about the Prequel and the Sequel trilogies, what would it be?

I love the prequels, in all their both brilliant and dumbass glory, so as tempted as I am to say that I would have had Lucas find someone else to direct the prequels after Spielberg said no (I think he was firm in saying Lucas should do them?), I really love that mix of something genuinely good and something genuinely bonkers. I would change the Tuskens storyline to be less racist/the Neimoidians to have a different accent and I would put more Asian Jedi into the scenes, if you're going to base them on Buddhist monks, we could use a little more real world reflecting of that. The sequels on the other hand need an overhaul from top to bottom. At a bare minimum they needed to have at least planned the storyline out ahead of time and had a single vision instead of the tug-o-war that we got. I would not have made Kylo and Rey's characters all about each other, I would have spread the connections around more, given Kylo and Luke more than just the one scene together, I would have given Finn a better storyline, I would have given Poe a better backstory, I would have connected the storyline better in the movies to the world they inhabited (ie, use more established settings and alien races, etc.), I would have kept the OT trio to secondary characters, but also let them have reactions to each others' deaths in the same room, I wouldn't have made Han/Leia into that because how am I supposed to have fun with rewatching the originals knowing everything went to shit, I would not have brought Palpatine back (or at least I would have set it up from the beginning otherwise), etc. The sequels were in a difficult place, but even as many issues as I have with TFA (too much of a palette swap of ANH for my tastes), the pieces for a satisfying story were there, it's just that everyone wanted to take it in different directions and none of the three movies really seemed to get what Star Wars' themes were. I love the characters and there were great moments in there, but I would have sat them down with a bunch of Lucas interviews about what the themes of Star Wars was before starting and tried to give them a better foundation for understanding it.

[teamchasezwrites]

I know we are a couple matches short, but who do you got? let’s talk!

Cody - What’s the point of Cena winning 17 immediately if the whole point of his return is winning the championship. What does he do in the meantime? It’s not like he can just leave and not show up anymore with the belt like he’s threatened. We have his schedule.

Iyo - Once Rhea lost I knew she wouldn’t be regain the title. Bianca and Rhea are too caught up in themselves they aren’t paying attention to Iyo causing them to lose. Setting up Iyo and Rhea. I hope Bianca goes back to Smackdown to Naomi and Jade.

Tiffany - Purely because I don’t like Charlotte and she should have never gone straight to a Mania title shot. (The terrible feud didn’t even factor in.)

Penta - I hope Dom and Finn cost each other so The Judgement Day finally goes away. It’s so awful. Maybe if they had a better storyline but their entire storyline has been the cracks. It’s old. Move on.

AJ - Period.

Seth - With Roman’s shitty schedule I could see him winning to have Seth and Punk continue their feud since they are actually there. But I would like to see Seth win and have Punk and Roman’s feud start and let Seth and Roman’s marinate longer. Then again, Roman is never there which really kills the builds.

Jey - I do like the feel good and then capitalizing on his popularity. He doesn’t have to hold it long. Just don’t make it a shitty reign. As for Gunther, his reign just isn’t it. He can get it back down the road but whatever they did between his IC run and WHC run, they better find it. (And stop with the long title reigns.)

LA Knight - I’m not buying into the Jacob hype. I don’t see it.

Naomi - but I can see it going either way. Doubtful they let this feud run long even though they should. Will at least get a Backlash match. Or should. And they should 100% bring Bianca back in to it.

Rey - Can the stupid El Grande Americano die? We just did this with Elias. And it was done so much better. Both these teams should be concentrating on the tag titles on Raw in a division that is severely lacking.

Not officially announced:

Drew - My heart is set on Damian though. This one I can see going either way because I truly have no idea what is next for either character. I’d say Cody, but Cena will more than likely have him tied him the whole time which I hope not. Cody and Drew would put on great matches and a great feud. (Plus they are there every week!)

Liv/Raquel - I wish they’d take the women’s tag titles and burn them honestly. It will more than likely be Lyra and Bayley winning the gauntlet. Lyra is the IC champ, she’s not winning the tag belt too.

Zelina/Chelsea - ??? maybe. I hope Zelina. Again it’s okay for a champ to lose the belt and continue to feud to get it back. Chelsea can win at Backlash. It won’t “ruin her” or “bury her”.

Randy ?? I don’t see them just putting Randy in a match just to wrestle at Mania.

War Raiders/New Day - ??? Give it to New Day. That team has to do something. Their heel turn has been a disaster. They got heat the first couple of weeks but now no one cares.

SD men’s tag match - I hope it’s all those teams in one match. And honestly, give it to Pretty Deadly, but ultimately, outside of MCMG and DIY, any of them should win in my opinion.

What do you guys think? Let’s talk!