Chapter Text
Sometimes all you need is a fresh start in a new place, or at least that’s what Finn kept telling himself as he rushed across campus to his first class. He promised his mom he wouldn’t be late on his first day at Republic University, but alas he’s fallen back into his old ways.
It’s not like it was his fault, the alarm clock didn’t go off so once Finn finally awoke for his 8 am course at 7:30, he knew he was in deep trouble. By the time he was presentable, it was 7:50 and Finn had no idea where his Astronomy class was.
He rushed to the elevator, hoping that it had gotten fixed while he was asleep, but after pressing the call button 7 times he noticed the flimsy sign taped to the elevator doors. ‘Out of order’ it read in terrible handwriting that looked even worse when used by the thick black marker.
“Dammit not again,” Finn grumbled as he shuffled to the stairwell. He’d grown accustomed to the familiar smell of weed and appearance of paint that’s been chipped away along the railings. This was the fifth time he had to take the stairs for the past two days he’d been on campus.
The doors opened to the ground floor, and Finn hurried through the lobby towards the outside. Once he pushed past the door the dark haired man realized two things. The chill down his back was because it was 18 fucking degrees outside and he had forgotten a jacket.
“Well shit,” Finn said, rubbing his hand across his other arm in an attempt to warm up. “I hope Duncan Hall is close by.”
This of course, was Finn’s first time actually looking for where any of the buildings hosting his courses were, so he had no idea where anything was. Which left him wandering in the snow covered courtyard in an attempt to find a map, or something to aid him in his lack of whereabouts. He finally spotted some large object right along the edges of the courtyard, so Finn trampled through powdery snow to what he hoped was a map. Once again, he was wrong. It was just a giant glass covered cork board filled with posters about on campus events.
Unlucky enough for the 20-year-old, as he stepped back from the map-lacking board he trampled into another student walking right behind him.. Their bodies collided, leaving the man in the brown leather jacket on his back, with Finn on top of him.
“Oh god I am so sorry! I didn’t even see where I was going I was in such a hurry and-” Finn stopped talking once he realized his words were overlapping the other man’s. “Um, you go first.”
The guy had a smirk on his face as he replied, “It’s okay, I wasn’t planning on getting to Astronomy early anyways. I’m Poe, Poe Dameron.”
Poe lifted his arm out from under Finn’s leg to offer his hand in a handshake, whilst Finn realized that he was straddling the first person he had met. Finn leaped up from Poe’s body, desperately hoping he wouldn’t slip on the ice that covered the sidewalk—and failed. Now he was facedown beside Poe, his black shirt steadily being encompassed in snow flurries and his face flushing in embarrassment.
The other man chuckled in response to Finn’s clumsiness and carefully maneuvered himself into a standing position. “Need some help there, buddy?”
“That’d be much appreciated, Poe.” Finn responded, his voice muffled by the ground.
Poe squatted down beside him, offered his hand once again, and carefully pulled the clumsy man back up to his full height.
“Thanks man, I’m Finn, just Finn.”
“Well ‘just Finn,’ where are you off in such a rush to?” Poe said, not letting his grip on Finn’s hand go quite yet.
The taller man’s blush deepened when he realized they were still squeezing hands, and replied, “Astronomy class in Duncan Hall. I think the teacher’s—uh,” he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his recently printed schedule to check the name of his professor. “The teacher is Mr. Lor San Tekka. Odd name, do all the professors here have long ass names?”
“Lucky enough for you that’s also what I have first class,” Poe smiled as he released Finn’s hand, patted him on the shoulder and looped his arm around the taller man’s neck. He pointed towards the building in front of the pair and continued. “You see that building? That’s Duncan Hall. So I guess it wasn’t too bad that we bumped into each other. And yes, they all have abnormally long names here at Republic University.”
Finn was relieved that they were no longer holding hands, but felt a weird flutter in his stomach when he realized it was this cute guy’s arm around his neck.
“Well damn. Looks like I’ll have nothing but a mouthful no matter where I go.” Finn casually said when he glanced over to see Poe waggling his eyebrows at his statement. “Oh shut up you.” He shoved the shorter guy’s arm off from around his shoulders and continued their journey.
The two had entered the slightly warmer building and Finn was counting down the room numbers until he spotted 203.
“Looks like I’ve helped another don in distress.” The leather clad man smirked as he pushed the door to the auditorium open, allowing Finn to enter first.
Finn was left with his mouth agape when he saw how giant the room was. He had heard that some classes at Republic University were large, but he wasn’t expecting a 300 seat filled class. Lucky for the pair, there were two seats by the aisle open a few rows up the stairs. Finn felt the hushed tones around the auditorium so instead of speaking, he just pointed in the direction of the seats, and cocked his head towards Poe. The other man nodded and the two slid into their seats just as Professor Lor San Tekka entered the room.
Class began and Finn couldn’t help but feel that running late today was actually the second best decision he’s made all week, the first of course transferring to Republic University.