𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 | 𝘱. 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘯

• 𝘹𝘹𝘷𝘪 - 𝘦𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘦

WHEN I TALK WITH POE, it's like I'm talking to someone I've known my entire life. I trust him, although I've only known him for about two weeks. His personality—his joy, his enthusiasm, his genuine desire to be the best in his department—is intoxicating. I desire to be like him. I wonder if he's always been like this.
— Elyse Organa-Solo

Poe leads me into his apartment. It's a small, one bedroom apartment with a miniature kitchen, yet a generously large bathroom. I stop him dead in his tracks, staring up at him.

"Where does it hurt?" I ask.

His hand is placed on his left set of ribs, a wince greeting him as he applies pressure. I nod.

"Where else?" I ask.

He raises an arm to his shoulder, pressing his fingers into his shoulder, wrapping onto the back of his arm.

"Okay. Now, take off your shirt." I instruct him.

He raises an eyebrow, smirking slightly at me. I stare at him, unamused, holding out an open hand.

"I'm asking so I can see your wounds, Poe, not to get in your pants." I reassure him.

He grins now, exposing his teeth.

"Are you sure that that's the only reason, Elyse?" He asks.

I glare at him now.

"As of now, right now, it is Doctor Organa-Solo. Not Elyse, not Private Organa-Solo, Doctor Organa-Solo, got it?" I ask.

His smile drops and he nods.

"Shirt off, now!" I say.

He painfully unzips his flight suit and peels off of his deep tan t-shirt, dropping the pile of burnt and torn fabric into my hand. I nod.

"Go sit in the bathroom. I'm gonna find a first aid kit." I say.

He nods. I walk into the kitchen, tossing the remains of his shirt into the sink. I press my hands into my eyes, sighing out sharply. I crouch, opening the cupboard, finding a large white box labeled "med-kit". I grab it, walking into the bathroom. He stands shirtless in the bathroom, staring at a large burn on his ribs.

"Wow," I say, immediately regretting my first word. "That's a bad burn."

I try to cover up my amazement, but he's already smirking when I approach him. My cheeks feel warm, flushed full of hot blood, embarrassment flooding my entire body. I walk him to sit on the ledge of the bathtub, raising his arm so I can see his ribs. The skin is red, blistered, and already peeling. His skin looks waxy, almost like a melted candle was poured over his skin. He hisses out sharply as I work, trying to keep quiet.

"You were so obviously blushing, Doctor," He says. "What, is it strange to see your Captain shirtless?"

I shake my head, hiding my face behind a large gauze pad, acting as if I'm peeling it apart.

"Elyse?" He asks, looking over the gauze.

I raise my eyes to him now, his warm smile greeting me.

"Poe, what did I say to earlier about calling me that?" I ask, looking back at the gauze.

He pushes my hands down, both eyebrows raised now, staring relentlessly at me.

"You weren't responding to me anyways, Doctor. What was I supposed to do?" He asks.

I shake my head. He stands, placing a hand on his ribs.

"Where's my shirt, I'm gonna go find Marlene and Piper. They'll actually talk to me." He says.

He limps toward the door before I grab his wrist gently.

"Poe, stop," I say. "I'm sorry. It's just, you embarrassed me tonight. You made all of the initiates run lap after lap after lap because one hit me. And then, you seem to doubt my medical skills, even after I tell you multiple times that I know what I'm doing."

His eyes, once cold and hard and full of anger warm up again, staring down at me.

"I did that?" He asks. "I'm sorry I guess I never even noticed that I was ignoring you like that. And I just had to set Gage straight. And the rest of them. It's true, I'm the reason you're in this program. I begged your mother to allow you to join the program and finish your training."

I smile. He steps closer to me, leaning against the wall gently.

"Think you could patch me up, Doc?" He asks. "I really don't wanna have to walk all the way to the med-bay to find Marlene or Piper."

I nod. I lead him back to the ledge of the bathtub where he sits and allows me to cover his burns. The burn on his ribs is longer than it is wide. The burn on his shoulder, although at first glance looks small, upon further examination, stretches all the way down to his lower back, reaching a dimple in his back, just above his waist-line. I cover him with a bacitracin triple-antibiotic ointment and wrap his burns in gauze and adhesive bandages. Once he's covered, I hand him two pain-relief powders. He pours them in a glass of like-warm water, stirs it aggressively with his finger until dissolved, and guzzles the mixture down quickly, washing the concoction down with another glass of cold water. He sets the glass down on the counter, smiling down at me. His deep chocolate brown eyes look black in this lighting, his deep ebony hair, curling with the perspiration around his hairline, his deep brown light-stubble freshly growing meaning he must've shaved recently, probably this morning. I snap out of my daze, looking up at him as a whole again.

"What we're doing is wrong," I say, pursing my lips together. "We shouldn't be doing this."

He raises one messy, distractingly perfect eyebrow, his peach lips creating a smirk.

"What exactly are we doing, Elyse?" He whispers.

He grows closer, his warm presence ever so tempting, but I must resist.

"This! You allowing me to stand this close to you without any disciplinary measures... this is wrong." I say.

He smiles even wider, shrugging his shoulders.

"We're just talking," He says. "There's nothing wrong with talking."

I sigh out again, yet grow even closer to him.

"You're biased, Poe," I say.

He gasps, shaking his head quickly.

"I am not," He says. "That's not true."

I nod, pointing at him, then back at myself.

"Yes, you are. This could affect my ranking and get us both in a lot of trouble." I say. "So we should stop now while we're ahead."

He nods, biting down on his bottom lip.

"But," He says quietly. "I don't really want to stop talking with you."

I smile, exhaling with relief.

"Yeah, me neither." I say. "Then I'd really have no one."

He smiles, looking down at me as he crosses his arms over his chest.

"Then this will just be our little secret... No one has to know, including your mother." He says.