There was a peace in Atlantis now that all the Strigoi were captured. Erin hadn’t been on any of the teams helping to catch them but the fear and anxiety in Atlantis was intense. On her way home she did her best not to fall, the roads were all made out of shiny jewels and she heard an ear muff insult, someone, as she slid a little bit catching herself before continuing home.
Entering her home she heard the familiar beeping of BB-8. “Hey,” she greeted with a warm smile. “It’s crazy out there today, I heard someone get insulted by an earmuff that was on a tree.” She listened to the beeps and nodded. “Yeah, I guess it’s not the worst thing that could happen.” She agreed as she carried the couple of bags she had to the kitchen. Erin had taken to making sure the kitchen was stocked and today was no different.
She was putting away the cereal when she heard the door, looking up she saw Poe come in. “I got that cereal you really like.” She called out.
Poe was glad those nasty things had been caught and they could all breathe a little better now in Atlantis. The fear had been real, even for the Resistant Pilot whether or not he would like it to admit it. Now he could go back to his normal life and go out at night if he wanted to. Which he did. And with someone in particular, for that matter. Someone who had just walked into their house.
He smiled when he heard her talking to BB-8 as he finished putting his clothes on after taking a shower. He pushed some of his damp hair back with his hand and walked out of his room. “Thanks, Erin,” he said with a smile as he made his way to the kitchen. “I don’t know what I would do without you or those cereals,” he chuckled.
Laughing she looked over at him with a sceptical look. “I think you’d manage, you’d just have to go to the store more often.” Erin didn’t mind going to the store and really it just simply was what she did. She would have been going anyways, there was no sense making everyone in the house go more than needed.
“How was your day?” She asked as she got on her toes to put the coffee away where it belonged.
“Probably,” he chuckled. “It was good, productive. I even took the X-Wing out for a ride after work since I finished a little early,” he explained. His lips curled into a smile as he remembered the day he took Erin for a flight. He hoped he would get to do it again soon.
“How was yours?”
Smiling she nodded. “That sounds like a great way to end the day.” She really loved going up, even though she did have a moment of fear at first. It was a completely new experience to her.
“A little hectic, there have been a lot of questions, especially after what happened with intake,” she knew people were upset and she didn’t blame them, it was just that no one really had an answer.
“It’s always nice when I get to take her out for a while,” he said with a smile. Having his X-Wing here definitely made him a happy pilot. He could never keep his feet on the ground for too long.
“That must’ve been crazy,” he said. “Hope no one was rude or anything like that to you,” he mentioned as he moved closer to her. BB-8, knowing what he planned to do, pushed him a little closer and beeped. “I know, buddy. I know,” he murmured to the droid before turning back to Erin.
Nodding, she’d heard him talk about flying more than once, she liked it, she just didn’t always know what to say about it other than it was really fun.
“I don’t really blame the few that did, it’s been a hard week for a lot of people.” She looked curiously between Poe and BB-8. “What is it?” She asked assuming she had something in her hair or something like that.
“Don’t mind him, he’s being silly,” he said with a gesture, which made the droid beep and roll away to go play with the dogs. “So, I was thinking now that it’s safe to go out at night I was wondering if maybe you’d like to go out for dinner? Maybe this Friday.”
Erin looked up nodding. “Yeah, that’d be great, what do you have in mind? And don’t tell me Noodles again.” Erin smiled even though if he said noodles, she’d still go. A dinner out sounded nice, she just had no idea he might mean it as more than just well, eating food. “Speaking of dinner, I was thinking of ordering in tonight.”
“What’s wrong with Noodles?” he asked. But he knew his went a little crazy with any type of food with noodles in them. But he couldn’t help it, they were delicious. He laughed and smiled at her. “How about some Italian then? Or maybe go to Cinders?” he suggested. He was happy she had agreed so easily to going out on a date with him. Very happy. “I like that thought. Did you have anything in mind?”
“Nothing is wrong with, just every other night?” She teased as she picked up her tablet to look at what they could order for dinner tonight. “How many times have you had noodles in the last week?” She added as she nodded. “Yeah, either of those sounds good to me.” Erin had no idea he meant as a date. “As for tonight,” she paused. “How about Cajun? If we are thinking Italian later this week, seems like Cajun would be a good balance.”
“Alright, alright. You do have a point,” he laughed softly. He didn’t say how many times he had had noodles that week, but they both knew it was a lot. Probably too many. “Cool, then maybe some Italian,” he said with a nod. “Cajun sounds perfect.” He really liked all the types of food that you could find in Atlantis. So much better than the food in space.
“Italian it is,” Erin agreed as she started to flip through the menu. “Red beans and rice? Maybe some gumbo? Or do you want po’boy?” Erin clicked the red and beans and rice for herself as she waited to hear what he wanted.
“Red beans & rice and gumbo sounds about right for me,” he nodded, smiling softly at her. BB-8 came back a few moments after and Poe gave him a thumbs up when Erin wasn’t looking, which made the round droid beep happily and then run away to play with the dogs again.
Clicking the buttons she looked up when BB-8 started beeping again. “He’s happy,” she commented as she looked back down to make sure selected everything, including beers to go with it. “Should be here in about 20 minutes,” Erin told him as she turned back to putting things away. “I got some beer too.”
“He’s happy you’re around,” he said with a smile. “You know he likes you.” And he did too, but he kept that to himself for now. Maybe he’d let her know on their date. “Perfect. Thanks.”
Erin smiled watching one of the dogs chase BB-8 happily. “I happen to like him too,” she said with a smile. “Are you planning to go to the party on Sunday?” She asked remembering seeing a notice about it at work.
“I think so, yeah,” he nodded. He was finding out this world had a lot of parties and he had no problems with that. Despite being in a war, celebrations were always needed and appreciated. “You want to go with me?” He asked, hoping she would say yes again.
Erin smiled, she really didn’t understand that he meant more than friends. “Yeah, we can go together, safety in numbers at these events.” The events were usually a little bit, well interesting.
He was a little taken aback by her comment, but he smiled and made sure she understood it was more than just ‘safety in numbers’ thing. He was beginning to wonder if she didn’t think their date was a date. Hadn’t he made that clear? Maybe not. In his head it was clear. “Well, yeah, but it’ll be nice to go with you. Just the two of us.”
"Yeah, it'll be fun," she agreed, she really didn't get that this was something more, in her mind someone like Poe wouldn't be interested in someone like her.
“Erin... You do know I just asked you on a date, right? Two dates, actually,” he said softly, a smile on his lips. “If you’re not okay with it, I totally understand, but... I like you, Erin.” That should make his intentions very clear. If she didn’t get it then, he didn’t know what else to try.
Erin looked up at him blinking startled. Did she just hear what he said clearly? "What?" She was too surprised to even know what to say, she really wished Delilah was here right now. "I mean, yes," she stuttered. "Are you sure?" Shaking her head that wasn't what she meant to say. "I-" she paused. "Yes."
He couldn’t help but find this whole situation endearing. He chuckled softly and nodded. “I’m very sure,” he said softly.
"Oh." She really didn't know what else to say, she really wasn't sure she believed.
"Well, yes, I said that already didn't I?" Erin smiled looking down before looking back up at him still blushing.
His smile grew as he saw her blushing. She looked cute when she blushed. He made a mental note to make that happen more often. “You did, yeah,” he nodded. He opened his mouth to say something when the doorbell rang. “Saved by the bell,” he chuckled, giving her a wink. “I’ll go get it.”
Yup, she really missed Delilah at that moment, she was just glad that Emilia was still here. Erin tilted her head as he was about to say something. Nodding she turned and grabbed a couple of plates, napkins and silverware and headed to the living room setting everything up on the coffee table while he got the food. When he came back towards her she looked up. "What were you going to say?"
He came back a few minutes later with the food and set it on the table. “Oh, just that you looked really cute when you blushed,” he said, hoping it’d make her blush again.
Erin's startled eyes reappeared as she smiled, indeed blushing again. Laughing softly she looked down at the food and started to dish it out to both of them. "Thank you," she said glancing back over at him. Erin felt oddly nervous but not all at the same time. "And I'm really looking forward to Friday."
Poe’s lips curled in a smile when she blushed again and he moved to help her with the food. “Me too,” he said. Now that it was clear they were going to a date, he was looking forward to it even more. “Should we watch a movie while we eat?”
"Yeah, I think we should." She said moving over just a little to give him space to sit down next to her. Erin knew a good handful of movies from mates back home but there was so much out there. As they picked a movie, Erin couldn't help glancing over him every now and again.
Poe sat down next to her and took a swig of his beer. He noticed her glancing at him and chuckled. “What?”
Oops, she was caught. "Nothing," that was sort of true, she was just trying to figure out how he could be interested in her. "You have rice," she reached up gently brushing a piece of rice off of his face.
He wasn’t buying the ‘nothing’ comment, but he just smiled. “Thanks,” he smiled. He briefly wondered how would it feel like to kiss her, but he told himself to slow down. He was going to take things slow this time. “So what are we watching?”
Erin looked up at the TV and found the list they’d created earlier and just picked the first movie on it, she really didn’t care what they watched. “The one next in line,” she told him and let the movie start, allowing them to settle into watching it. As the movie continued and they finished their meals, Erin used her wand to clean up and store any leftovers.
“I have to admit I’m really jealous I’m not a wizard,” he said as he watched her cleaned up with her wand. Something as simple yet a little tiring as cleaning up seemed so easy with a wand.
Erin hadn't even thought about it. "It has its benefits." She admitted. "But I think you'd miss flying your X-Wing too much." Erin couldn't imagine him not flying, a broom just wasn't the same.
There was no way he couldn’t have his ship with him. Flying was in his blood. “I could still have my X-Wing... Or the wizarding world wouldn’t allow that?”
"Fighter jets aren't really part of our world, even regular muggle air force ones." She shrugged.
“That sucks,” he said. “Then I think I better stick to regular cleaning and fly on my X-Wing as many times as I want,” he grinned, leaning back on the couch. “I don’t think I could ever not be a pilot.”
Leaning forward, Erin picked up her beer and tucked her feet up under her as she leaned back on the couch turning to look at him. “I don’t think you could either.” She agreed, even before she really got to know him better she knew how much flying meant to him.
“My mom was a pilot. She was part of the Rebel alliance. I learned how to fly on her old A-Wing,” he remembered fondly. “Flying is in my blood, I guess. When I’m up there, I’m free.”
Erin smiled leaning her head against the back of the couch, looking over at him as he told her about learning to fly. “Was she as daring as you are in the sky?”
He nodded. “She was one of the best and most daring pilots the Rebellion has had... Until me, that is,” he added cockily. “I wish she would’ve seen me become a Resistance pilot. I think it would’ve made her proud.”
"I'm sure she is proud," Erin didn't know what the afterlife was but she imagined those that passed were still able to be proud of their loved ones. "But, if we are going on a real date, shouldn't we save the getting to know each other questions for it?" She asked it was probably pretty clear she was thinking about the date.
Her words made him smile, and he nodded softly. “Then what should we talk about until Friday? Gumbo and movies?” he teased.
Erin shrugged. “We could watch the movie,” she suggested blushing a little bit, she couldn’t help it but her heart kept racing.
“Alright,” he smiled, nodding lightly. He grabbed his beer, drinking the last bit and settled back on the couch with her, looking at her and smiling. “You’re blushing again.”
Erin glanced over at him with a smile blushing a little bit more but not commenting only because she didn’t know what to say. This really wasn't her strong area.
Poe smiled back and didn’t say anything else, focusing on the movie. And on her. He could not keep his eyes off her and glanced at her every once in a while.
Settling back in she tried to focus on the movie but he was glancing at her and she was glancing at him, it was one of those moments she had heard about but never experienced herself. Summoning all of her courage she moved just enough so she could lean into with her head resting on his shoulder.
Trying not to smile too much when she leaned into him, he moved his arm so he could wrap it around her shoulders and she could still lean against him. His fingers caressed her gently as he looked at her and smiled.
Erin glanced up and smiled as his arm wrapped around her. She did her best to just focus on the movie but it was difficult, eventually, she ended up shutting her eyes drifting off to sleep.