You had a reputation.

You wished you could say it was for something as exciting as sleeping around or being a trouble maker, but no. You had a reputation for being the best mechanic on base. Yep. You were the best at your job. How boring.

And, let's be honest, all that really meant was more work for you. If no one else could find the problem, they got you to take a look at it. Did they care if you hadn't had a day off in weeks? Or that you hadn't strung together more than five hours of sleep at one time in the last two? Of course not. Not when the great and mighty Poe Dameron was complaining that his fighter was sluggish and none of them could find anything wrong.

You huffed out a breath in irritation. It wasn't Poe you should be mad at. He wasn't the one that woke you from a sound sleep to look at his ship. But you'd bet good money that he did more than hint that they should get you down to the hangar when they couldn't fix the problem.

Something bumped against your leg startling you from your thoughts. You jerked in surprise causing your wrench to slip and you barked your knuckles. Damn it. That hurt. You sucked on the tender skin and glared down at BB-8. "What did I tell you about doing that?"

"Don't be mad at him. He just gets excited to see you. Who can blame him?"

The smooth voice drew your attention and you snapped your gaze from the droid to his owner. Poe Dameron. He smiled as your gaze met his and your heart sped. Heat flooded your face and you cursed under your breath. Why did he always have this effect on you? Every single time you hated yourself for it and swore it would never happen again yet here you were.

"Dameron." You turned back to your work doing your best to dismiss him. The sooner he left you alone the better. He was far too distracting.

"Y/L/N," he responded in a mockingly serious tone. "Fix my ship?"

"Haven't found anything wrong with her yet."

"Yet. See, that's why you're my favorite. Everyone else just gives up."

You grunted in disagreement. "They don't give up. Not really. You just pick up on microscopic changes in your ship before they actually become a problem. Makes them harder to find. That's all." You knew some of the mechanics didn't even bother trying to look beyond the obvious. They turned it over to you to do the hard work and walked away. But not all of them were like that and you didn't like to listen to anyone besides you complain about it.

"But you always find the problem, Y/N. I swear some of the others think I make stuff up."

You glanced at him to find him grinning at you and your traitorous heart threatened to skip a beat entirely. You quickly shifted your eyes back to the wiring you were now inspecting. "I've never known you to be wrong about your ship, Poe. I'll find the problem."

"That's my girl," he said in that sweet, smooth voice. And didn't that do all sorts of things to your fragile pulmonary system. Damn the man. Before you could even think of a response, he disappeared, taking his droid with him.

***

"Are you still working on this stupid fighter?" Rey's voice caught your attention and you looked up with a smile. You were currently sat on the floor of the hangar taking a break in the shadow of the ship.

"I'm nearly finished," you assured her.

Her brows shot up in surprise. "You've found the problem then?"

You shook your head. "No, but I'm running out of places to look." With that pronouncement you got back on your feet and climbed the ladder to the wiring you had exposed for your inspection.

Rey sighed and pulled over a nearby stool to sit on. "You've been at this for two days. Have you even slept?"

"I caught a few hours." And you had, but your brain wouldn't let you rest for long when there was a problem to solve. So for the past two days you'd been mainlining caffeine and sleeping in short bursts before getting back to work. In fact, you'd just come back from a three-hour break to rest and eat. It was supposed to be a full eight hours, but you'd had an idea and couldn't rest until you looked into it.

"That's not healthy, Y/N, and you know it."

You glanced at her. "You know how I am, Rey. I can't help it." You turned back to your work, separating the wires to inspect them individually. And then you found it. Finally.

For some reason one of the bolts on Poe's seat had been replaced with one far longer than the original. The extra length was enough to have it rubbing against the wires in the compartment below. Undoubtedly the fluxuation in power Poe had complained about came from the bolt hitting the bare wire once the protective covering had been worn away. You had no idea who had replaced the bolt but once you looked back over the maintenance logs to find out, you were going to chew their ass. This was the kind of thing that could cause a system to short out during a flight. It was the kind of thing that killed pilots. The First Order did enough of that without the mechanics adding to the body count.

"Y/N—" Rey started and you cut her off.

"Give me a minute. I finally found the problem. Let me fix it and we can get out of here." You slid down the ladder and dug through your tool box. A quick comparison of two bolts and a length of wire later and you were back in the access hatch under the fighter.

Now that you knew the problem, it was a quick matter to fix it. After one last check over the wiring to make sure only the one had been compromised, you grinned. "All fixed," you announced as you sealed up the access hatch.

"I knew you could do it. This calls for a celebration with my favorite girl."

You were surprised to hear Poe's deep voice and were thankful your back was turned so you had a moment to compose yourself before facing him. Your heart was racing as your feet hit the floor and you turned to accept his invitation. Only Poe wasn't looking at you. No, his focus was solely on the petite blonde under his arm. She giggled at his attentions and your heart dropped somewhere in the neighborhood of your stomach. Of course he wasn't talking to you. You should have known better.

Your gaze shifted from them to Rey to find her looking at you with a face full of sympathy. Great. Just what you wanted. Her pity. You shook your head and sighed. Stepping around Poe and his date, you spoke to Rey as you walked by. "Let's go get something to eat so I can get some sleep and you can get off my ass."

She fell into step with you. "Don't be pissy with me just because..."

You glanced over to see why she had trailed off. She was looking behind you with a frown. Before you could question why, a hand grasped your arm pulling you to a stop. You turned to find Poe standing behind you. "Seriously, Y/N. Thank you. You're the best."

You grunted in annoyance and gestured toward the woman trailing behind him with a lift of your chin. "Pretty sure that designation falls to her. Have a good day, Dameron." You twisted your arm from his grasp and walked off, ignoring the weight of his stare on your back.

***

Three weeks passed. Three weeks in which you did your level best to ignore Poe Dameron. You monumentally failed, but you tried. Fortunately, things had been busy so you were never left without an excuse when he tried to engage you in conversation.

Currently, you sat at a table in the mess hall with one hand wrapped around a mug of coffee while the other picked at the plate of food Rey was making you eat. One of the squadrons had gotten into a firefight with some First Order assholes and you'd been busy patching holes in their ships for the last three days.

You grinned as she filled you in on the details of her and Finn's date the day before.

"Fantastic," she grumbled and rolled her eyes. "Incoming."

Before you could ask what she meant, Poe dropped into the seat beside you. Rey made a face and you snickered as you broke off a piece of bread and popped it in your mouth.

"I just came from the hangar. Campbell told me he fixed my fighter."

You gave Poe your attention, your brows arched in question. "And? It's usually a good thing when your ship gets fixed isn't it?"

The pilot frowned. "Yeah, when you fix it."

You rolled your eyes. "In case you haven't noticed, Dameron, I've got half of red squadron in for repairs right now. I don't have time to be your personal mechanic."

"I know you're not my personal mechanic, Y/N, but I feel better when you look her over before I take her up again. I trust you."

Your traitorous, traitorous heart sped up just a little. Damn it. You sighed and tore your gaze from his. "Flattery changes nothing, flyboy. I'm busy."

"Can't my girl find a little time for her favorite pilot?"

You didn't even glance in his direction. Instead, you stood and grabbed the bread from your plate. "See you later, Rey."

As you walked off you heard Rey behind you. "Sometimes, you're a real asshole, you know that, Poe?"

"What did I do?"

***

Two days later you'd finally finished the repairs. You sat on the roof of the hangar with your feet dangling over the edge while you sipped from your flask. It wouldn't be long before you headed to bed for some much needed sleep but for the moment you were simply enjoying a bit of peace as you watched the stars. It was late and most of the base was dark as people with much less work than you were already asleep.

Footsteps fell on the roof behind you and you didn't so much as glance in that direction. You didn't need to. Only one person ever bothered you when you came up here. Poe fucking Dameron.

He sat beside you and you passed him your flask. He took a drink and you smirked when he coughed as he returned it to you. "Are you trying to get drunk or strip paint?"

You shrugged. "Works for both. It's particularly useful for cleaning engine parts."

"I don't know if you're joking or not, but it wouldn't surprise me if you weren't. That's disgusting." Even as he said the words, he held out his hand for another drink.

You took one of your own before handing it back to him. "Grows on you, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. Like a fungus." He took another swig then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He stared at the flask in his hand for a moment before stealing another drink.

You snatched it from him, causing some of the liquid to spill on him as a result. "Quit drinking all my liquor, Dameron."

"Name's Poe, Y/N."

You lifted your brows but didn't look at him. "Pretty sure your name is also Dameron, Dameron."

"You have been avoiding me since you fixed my ship. And you haven't once called me Poe. I don't like it."

"Don't know what to tell you."

He huffed a laugh. "How about you tell me what I did to piss you off? And how I can fix it. I miss you."

You clenched your teeth and worked a muscle in your jaw. "If this is about your ship, you can stow it. I already looked it over. It's fine." You saluted him with your flask. "You're welcome."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, Dameron, that you smile and flirt until you get what you want from me. Which, let's be honest, is always fixing your ship. Once she's back in fighting condition, you disappear until something else goes wrong." You took another swallow of liquor. "I'll save you the effort and tell you that you don't have to sweet talk me into doing my job."

"That's not...okay, yeah maybe that's fair. But in my defense you don't make this easy, you know?"

You laughed and shook your head in disbelief. "What exactly is it that I make so difficult for you?"

"Liking you, okay?" He muttered to himself and ran a hand down his face when you didn't immediately respond.

Realizing you were staring, you tore your gaze away and cleared your throat. "Liking me as in I'm a horrible person and there is nothing likable about me?"

He laughed. "No. Liking you as in you're amazing and I'm just another flyboy."

You cringed as you remembered calling him exactly that the last time you'd talked to him. "I'm just a mechanic, Poe. Pretty sure the Resistance would crumble without their best pilot."

He shook his head. "You underestimate your value. To me and the Resistance."

"I didn't think you saw me as anything special." The confession hurt so the words were quieter than you'd intended.

"Rey was right. I am an asshole if you believe that."

"Not going to argue with you, Dameron."

"Hey now. That's not fair," he protested.

You shrugged. "You only talk to me if you want something. Forgive me if I find it difficult to believe you see me as anything other than a mechanic."

He sighed. "I can talk to you about my ship. I can talk to you about flying and fighting and know that you won't think I'm an idiot. I know about all that stuff."

"Do you remember the first time I fixed your ship?" you asked.

He frowned but nodded. "Yeah. What about it?"

"You took it out the next day. When you came back, I was arguing with Roberts about something and you interrupted. Told him to quit giving your girl a hard time. When I looked over, you just gave me a grin and a wink before walking off. I was smitten from that moment on. Stupid."

"Y/N, I—"

"Let me finish," you interrupted. "'My girl.' That's what you call me. And every time it melts my heart. Gives me a minute where I can pretend maybe it's real. Then I heard you call Victoria that. And Shelly. And some blonde I didn't recognize. And every time it hurts. Which is stupid, you know, because I'd never had any indication those words meant to you what they meant to me." You sighed as you pushed yourself to your feet. "I expected something from you that you'd never promised me. That's on me, not you. I'll get over it."

You were half way to the ladder when Poe grabbed your wrist and pulled you to a stop before releasing his grip. "Wait. Can we just start over?"

This was stupid but you found yourself unwilling to disappoint him. You turned to face him, extending a hand. "Y/N Y/L/N. Head mechanic. Nice to meet you."

Poe shook your hand. "Poe Dameron. Pilot." Instead of releasing you, he tugged you closer until there was little more than a breath between you. His eyes ran over your face and a small smile curled his lips. "I think you're brilliant and beautiful and amazing and I'd love it if you'd be my girl."

Your heart raced as you licked your suddenly dry lips. "Don't you think you're moving a little fast? After all, we just met."

He narrowed his gaze and pulled you closer before wrapping an arm around your waist to hold you to him. "Be my girl, Y/N." His lips brushed yours as he spoke but he stopped short of actually kissing you.

You leaned into him and moved your lips over his in answer. Your hands fisted in his shirt to keep him close as you kissed. When you separated, you sucked in a breath and smiled. "Finally."

His answering grin lit his whole face. "Finally." Then he dipped his head for another kiss.

As the night wore on, he walked you to your room. And when the two of you couldn't separate long enough to say goodnight, he followed you inside. You slept in his arms and woke to sweet kisses and lazy smiles.

And when he talked you into staying in bed instead of heading into work on your day off, he rewarded you by pulling you closer. "That's my girl."