lina_musebox

;poe

Sex Pollen Pre Relationship
Poe Dies Pre Relationship
Nightmare Early Relationship
Hogwarts AU Pre Relationship
Poe Almost Dies Pre Relationship
MoM AU First Night
Slightly Older Hogwarts AU
Post-TLJ
Bodyguard and Prince AU; overflow
Massage Pre Relationship
Oblivious Poe AU
Cyborg Poe AU
MoM AU Sex Pollen
FO Infiltration Sex Ring
TFLN
Soulmate Tattoo AU
Finn Marries Someone Else AU
Evil Finn AU; overflow: 1, 2
MoM AU Poe 10 Yrs Older
Vamp/Were AU
Missing for a Year/Telepathy AU
MoM AU Poe 'canon' updated
Dark Possessive AU
Married on Yavin AU
MoM AU Sexy Outfits
MoM AU Subway Sex
MoM AU with Melodies!Finn; overflow
MoM AU Photo-Op Kiss
Nearly Old Men AU
MoM AU Rule 63
Online Dating AU
MoM AU Poe Lost His In-Game Memories; overflow
Trans Poe AU
College Roommate AU
TIE Pilot/Prostitute AU
MoM AU Finn Returns from Port-Out
MoM AU Manipulative Masturbation Machine
Canon AU Manipulative Masturbation Machine
Shape Shifter AU; timeskip
FO Sexual Torture AU
MoM AU Finn Has a Boyfriend
Hades AU Finn Left Alone
MoM AU Apocalypse
MoM AU Poe Died in Canon
Canon AU Handjob in a Hospital (inspiration)
MoM AU Another Apocalypse
WWI Pen-Pal/Love Letters AU
Institutionalized Prostitution AU
MoM AU Body Swap
Post-TROS Victory Party

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Poe had known almost instantly. Even before Finn’s helmet had came off that fateful day, he had felt the little pulse of electricity under his skin. He hadn’t had a chance to confirm, of course, their escape had kind of been more important at the time. And then Finn was gone again.

But the second time?

He’d broken in a run to catch up with him, the heat in his wrist beating in time with his heard, pounding near loud enough to be audible.

But there’d been no time then either. It wasn’t until after starkiller that Poe had really seen it. Sitting next to Finn’s bed, fingers tracing the threads of light that were so much brighter then they’d ever been before. He’d been trying to get a speech ready, but it never seemed to happen. Finn simply didn’t have the same recognition in his eyes, the same barely constrained excitement.

Poe had heard of it before. Heard that some people didn’t match together. Sometimes the person was already matched with someone else. He just had never really thought it would happen to him. He’d always assumed he and his match would meet and instant connect. The way his parents had.

He didn’t know what he was supposed to do, if his heart belonged to someone who didn’t need it. So he kept it to himself, buried it deep, and just tried to enjoy the time they got.

That would be easier said than done if his tattoo wouldn’t tingle every time Finn got close.

Poe set the large box down and gave a huff of a breath, he was stripped down to the waist, sweat running in rivulets down his spine. His tattoo was glowing, pulsing just beneath the skin.

“Alright. Just a few more crates and we’re good to go.”

Finn had been confused about a lot of things since leaving the First Order. Just little things that most people understood about life that he didn't seem to grasp. Sometimes, when he asked, he'd get weird or almost pitying looks. For the most part, he just stopped asking and tried to find the answers on his own... Though, they were sometimes the wrong answers.

Poe's tattoo was something different. He'd only first noticed it when they were doing this work, both of their shirts gone in an attempt to fight this planet's heat index. It was a good thing to work wasn't complicated, because Finn really wasn't paying attention to this at all.

He'd learned the hard way that when it came to seemingly personal stuff, it was just better not to ask at all. A tattoo, no matter how lovely the glow, was probably really personal. So it took him all of an hour's worth of work for him to get up the courage to ask. This was Poe, after all. He wouldn't be mean about it.

"Hey, uh-" Finn placed another box down, his body shining with sweat almost as much as Poe's tattoo did. He was trying to not look too hard at Poe in general, though. The man was gorgeous when fully clothed. Finn could hardly handle this. "That tattoo's really cool. There a story behind it?"

Finn wasn’t the only one trying to avert his gaze, though he couldn’t help stealing glances back at Finn every time his tattoo pulsed like a second heartbeat.

He couldn’t aver his gaze when Finn asked him, though, blinking stupidly and then blushing darkly as it was pointed out.

“Oh, uh—- sorry,” he immediately went to cover it up. “Think it’s been acting up, nothing to worry about. Same story as everyone else, I guess—“

Oh. The blush was indication enough that he shouldn't have asked. "Don't apologize." Finn straightened up from his work, feeling guilty about bringing this up. A part of him told him to just drop it before he did any real damage.

But concern was winning out. "What do you mean acting up? You okay?" Was it... infected or something? Was that why it glowed like that?

If it was anyone other than Finn, he would assume they were making fun of him. But Finn wouldn’t do that, and there was a very earnest tone in the man’s voice that confused Poe.

“Uh, you know, almost like it was - uh - you know. Activated.” But something occurred to him and he blinked. “Have you never seen an activated one before?”

Activated? A tattoo can activate? What did that mean?

This was clearly something far beyond his knowledge, though Poe didn't seem to be forthcoming with an explanation, so... maybe this was supposed to be common. And, yet again, Finn was behind.

He glanced from Poe's face to the tattoo to the crates back to the tattoo and back to Poe. "Um... No. I... didn't know they could do that...

"You sure everything's okay?" As behind as he was, Finn knew ink didn't do that.

Poe couldn’t help it. He glanced down at Finn’s arms, but it was true. There wasn’t even the faint outline of where a dormant tattoo should be.

He felt a sudden surge of sympathy and he looked at Finn apologetically.

“You have no idea what I’m talking about.” The words were almost soft. Poe looked sheepish, but he held out his arm for Finn to inspect, the light dimming and brightening in time with his pulse. Though that was a little fast than usual.

“It’s a... it’s a pretty standard device. Most people are given one when they are 18. It’s supposed to, uh... it’s supposed to help you find your soulmate.”

He could deal when other people gave him that sad look, but Finn really hated it coming from Poe. Still, the other didn't pause or try to jump around the subject. Just extended his hand and explained.

Finn stepped forward before he finished, lightly touching his wrist and stopping short. "Soulmate? How?" That was a thing people could find?

Then he looked at it again. "So, wait, you... have a soulmate?" Finn didn't have one, which was already enough of a blow, but Poe's... tattoo thing was activated. He definitely had a soulmate, even if Finn hadn't noticed, like an idiot. There had never been a shred of hope for them, had there?

He lightly touched it again, the glow mesmerizing. "Lucky person, huh?"

“Honestly, no idea how it works.” His skin prickled under Finn’s touch and he felt his ears grow hot but he pushed it aside.

“Not a flawless system, though. It doesn’t always trigger mutually for two people. Sometimes it activates for one person and not the other.” But if Finn didn’t have one... well, maybe that explained it?

But he’d seen Rey’s. He hadn’t meant to look, but he couldn’t help it. It was activated too, even though she generally kept her arms wrapped right.

“I, uh- it’s not mutual.” He said with a shrug. “No one has activated for me. I don’t think. So. Not that lucky.”

That... was certainly a flawed system. "Does it get things wrong often?" There didn't seem to be a point. If it got things wrong, then hopes were dashed. Finn... wondered if he'd rather just not know.

Plus he had no idea what he should tell Poe? Sorry? He was sad that Poe was cheated, but there was a selfish, guilty part of him that said he still had a chance. Instead he settled on: "Doesn't seem fair."

“Nah, I’m just special.” He gave Finn a sheepish smile. “Something like a one in a million chance.”

But there was a new and blazing hope burning in his chest. His lips parted, about to say ‘we should test it’, but he thought of Rey and his courage faded.

“You could always ask others, if you wanted to learn about it. People who’ve had it work. Snap and Kare tried to pretend theirs weren’t pinging each other for years.”

Finn gave a sheepish smile in return, but the thought was depressing. What if he fell in love with someone that wasn't meant to be his?

Was that what happened to Poe? Did he love this person his tattoo pulsed for?

It just didn't seem worth it. "I'm sorry," he finally said. "This thing's supposed to help and it's-..." It's doing this instead. "Thanks for showing me."

The hope flickered, fading, and Poe took his arm back, putting his hands in his pockets.

He tried to shrug casually. “Hey. You know me. Married to the cause, right? It’s kind of fitting.” He wet his lips, watching Finn. “It did help, though. When it wasn’t on at all, it was real easy to just ignore all of that. Which might be backwards, but.” His heart thumped hard enough that he could feel it in his throat.

“Only been a couple months since it lit up,” he admitted, a little too quickly.

Finn desperately wanted to ask if he could still get one, but that seemed cruel considering Poe's situation. To be hopeful, when Poe had nothing to show for it.

Oh, if only Finn had one of his own. A couple months... That could have been him. If he had a tattoo like that, it could have been the other half to Poe's. In reality, they were both alone.

"Why did it do that? Why did it activate without another? Could it... just have malfunctioned or-...?" He didn't know what he was talking about so stopped the questions there.

“Nah, it worked. I would have known anyway, I think. Or well, I don’t know. Maybe I would have written it off as a crush, but...” he fidgeted.

“They spark when you meet. Some people, they get theirs and it activates in a day. Took mine fourteen years. Which is pretty unusual in itself, so I should have known it was always going to be complicated.”

He paused, wetting his lips.

“Honestly, I thought Rey would have told you about them.” But maybe she felt the same way Poe did?

So... Poe was definitely in love with someone. While Finn was heartbroken that he'd been skipped over, he felt much worse that whoever Poe loved hadn't returned his feelings. It's soulmates. Didn't sound like something a person just got over.

But he didn't know what to say to that. There was nothing he really could say to make it any better. He desperately wanted to ask who this other person was, but that was private... not to mention it would definitely drive Finn to confrontation.

Instead, he latched on to the one other thing Poe mentioned. "Rey has one? I hadn't noticed." He didn't expect her to have gotten one on Jakku... Made him feel just that much more isolated, really.

“Yeah, she keeps it hidden. Maybe she’s embarrassed.” Or, more likely, she thought it wasn’t recripocated.

“You should talk to her about it.”

Maybe she’d convince Finn to get one.

"Even though she might be embarrassed?" To be honest, Finn didn't really want to talk about these tattoos to anyone ever again. Maybe he should consider getting his own, but a part of him didn't want to. He hadn't needed one before, didn't know they existed until a moment ago.

And if it wasn't Poe, then- Maybe he'd find someone, though. Someone for him. Maybe he already knew them, and they were just waiting for him to get a tattoo, too. Was that part of it? If he never bothered, would his soulmate always be alone? Just like him now?

Catching himself lost in thought, Finn shook himself. "I, uh- I don't want to make people uncomfortable..." Another subject. Any other subject. "Um, so, how many of these crates we got left?"

“With you? I doubt it. I doubt she even knows you don’t have one.”

He watched Finn a second too long and then forced a smile to his lips.

“Uh- maybe a dozen.” But he took the subject change for what it was - a quiet instruction to drop the topic, and he obliged.

"I'll... try to ask," he finally relented. It was Rey, after all. She wouldn't begrudge him too much if he didn't push hard.

But, right. Crates. Judging from Poe's forced smile, the faster they finished this work and left, the better off this whole subject would be. "We can handle that," he sighed and quickly (though awkwardly) took back to the task.

Poe didn’t bring it up again.

Mostly that was because he was thrown back into work, back into missions, and if he was a little more gung-ho about it than usual, who could blame him? Sometimes he felt like the entire Resistance day on his shoulders, and so he kept a bright face up when appropriate, and a stern war-like one when required, and played his role as well as he was able. Leia was giving him more and more responsibilities, and he couldn’t say no.

Even if it felt like he was tearing chunks out of himself whenever he had to be far from Finn.

He got back far too late at night for this latest mission. Everyone was asleep save the droids, and Poe couldn’t help but relish the quiet moment that was so different from everything he’d been through, lately. He sat down by the only window - a huge broad thing that looked out over the back approach to the base - grasslands and a forest beyond. And the sky. A huge sky, full of stars.

He felt the tingle in his arm that alerted him that he was in the same place as Finn. It had started pulsing as soon as he was on base, but he’d only given it attention now. He pulled up his sleeve to watch it glow in time with his heart beat, and he let out a long sigh as he touched it with his finger tips.

“Yeah, I already know he’s here,” he whispered quietly to the tattoo. It did not answer him.

Finn had eventually gotten up the nerve to ask Rey about her tattoo. She had been a bit defensive at first before realising his situation, much in a similar way to Poe. Only, Rey had only been too happy to tell him all about her soulmate.

When he brought up problems like Poe's (without mentioning names), she assured him that those things happened so rarely that she wasn't sure they were real. Finn knew otherwise but kept silent.

Time passed, and Finn tried to bury the whole idea. Unsuccessfully. What eventually wore him down was the thought of his soulmate alone all because he wasn't brave enough to see this through. So, purposely choosing a time when Poe was away on a long mission, Finn got his own tattoo. He didn't want to add insult to injury when it came to the other man, and Rey was all the cheerleader he really needed. It looked almost normal on his skin, not glowing and beautiful. All that was left was to wait.

He wanted to show Poe as soon as he got back. Not to boast but to make him aware as soon as possible rather than hear it from someone else...

Though the warm pulse in the middle of the night woke him up. Half convinced it was a dream, Finn rolled out of bed and followed the sensation as best he could. And what he found was- "Poe?" He quietly stood at the other end of the hall, his arm angled away in an attempt to hide what must be a dreadful misunderstanding.

The voice startled him and Poe immediately sat up straight, tugging his sleeve down sharply, but giving Finn’s warm(if slightly sheepish) smile when he recognized him.

“Oh hey, bud. No luck sleeping? I uh - I just got back.”

"Did it go okay?" Because some things just came first.

At the same time, Finn was fidgeting and knew it. Poe was clearly the only one here, and this new mark was practically screaming at him about it. Except Poe already found his soulmate in another.. who didn't find their soulmate in him...

Should he show him now? Should he tell him?

Edited 2019-04-01 04:56 (UTC)

“Yeah, about as well as you’d expect. Wandered right into a First Order outpost that I didn’t know was there. But it isn’t there, now.”

If it were anyone else, Poe would begrudge them the interruption, but Poe could never pretend he didn’t want to be with Finn whenever he could. So he just stood up and walked over to him, the gentle pulse in his arm going ignored.

“Everything going alright on this end?”

Soulmate Tattoo AU

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