Runaways
Pairing: Poe Dameron x reader (female pronouns)
Summary: Regency AU! You’re the only unmarried daughter of a wealthy family, but the man who has your heart is Poe, a stablehand. When your family announces your engagement to a man you’ve never met, will yours and Poe’s love survive?
Warnings: Angst, mentions of a forced engagement
A/N: Forbidden romances are my favourite trope ever omg
Poe was whistling to himself as he worked away, grooming the grey mare in front of him until her coat shone. He chuckled as she nudged him with her nose, and he scratched her muzzle affectionately before going back to his work.
“You’re seeing her today, aren’t you?”
He looked over the mare’s back to see Han, the head stablehand, leaning over the stall door. Poe shrugged nonchalantly.
“I don’t know who you mean.”
“Miss (Y/N) from the big house. You’ve been whistling all damn morning.”
“Being in love makes a man whistle,” Poe shot back with a grin. Han scoffed.
“And you couldn’t have fallen in love with someone closer to your level?”
Poe stiffened defensively, all traces of laughter gone. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Han raised his hands in surrender. “I’m just saying, she’s not like you and me. Her parents won’t let her go unmarried for much longer, and they won’t be looking for a suitor amongst stablehands. I saw a fancy carriage pulling up about an hour ago, looked a very handsome young gentleman going inside.”
“Probably just some cousin of hers,” Poe insisted, feigning dismissiveness despite the panic biting at his mind. If your parents wanted you to marry someone, there was nothing he could do to stop it without exposing the relationship you’d been so carefully hiding for the past year.
“Don’t go getting your heart broken, son,” Han said, his voice unexpectedly gentle. “Falling for someone above your station never works out well.”
_____________________________
Your heart had plummeted to land somewhere near your feet.
Your parents wanted you to marry. No, they didn’t just want you to marry- they had already arranged an engagement without so much as a word’s notice to you.
Your heart ached for Poe; you had promised him that you’d meet him at noon, but your parents had insisted on you taking a walk with Armitage Hux, the so-called gentleman they intended for you to marry. Everything about him turned your stomach, and he was nothing compared to Poe; where Poe was confident, Hux was smug and obnoxious; where Poe’s eyes were dark and warm and full of laughter, Hux’s were cold and calculating. His hand on your arm made your skin crawl.
“Perhaps you’d like to see the stables?” you offered hopefully, trying to find a way to get to Poe. Hux sneered.
“No, thank you. I’d rather keep my distance from the filthy creatures down there. The horses are no better, I’ll wager.” He burst into cold, cruel laughter, and you bit your lip to stop yourself crying. You could never marry this horrible, horrible man.
Hux didn’t leave until late that evening, and the minute his carriage had disappeared down the drive, you were off at a sprint towards the stables. Guilt, fear and anxiety gnawed at your belly as you came within sight of the old building, the lanterns lit outside the barn doors a telltale sign of how late you were to see Poe.
All of the horses had been brought inside for the night, but the stable was in darkness except for one solitary lantern at the far end. You could hear a familiar voice, singing and mumbling softly to the horse in the stall, and your heart clenched.
“Poe?” you called nervously.
The voice stopped, and you held your breath as the stall door swung open and then shut again.
“Miss (Y/N), shouldn’t you be with your fiancé?” Poe asked coldly. You flinched at his formal address and tone.
“Poe, I can’t marry him,” you told him, tears welling in your eyes. “This isn’t what I want, they’re giving me no choice.”
As soon as he heard the heartbreak in your voice, his composure dropped and he stepped towards you, taking you in his arms. You breathed in deeply as you clung to his chest; he smelt of horses and outdoors and freedom. Hux had smelt artificial and overpoweringly of money.
“I don’t know what to do,” you whispered against his shoulder, tears streaming down your cheeks. “He’s coming back tomorrow with his parents.”
Poe pulled away suddenly, his hands firm on your shoulders as he looked into your eyes. His own eyes shone with tears, but blazed with determination in the dim light of the lantern.
“Marry me,” he said simply. “(Y/N), marry me. We’ll run away tonight, they’ll never find us.”
Your lips parted in shock, your hands coming shakily to cup his cheeks.
“Poe, you’d be ruined. If anyone found out, they’d never employ you again, and you’d be done for,” you told him regretfully, fresh tears welling in your eyes.
“But I’d have you,” he whispered, nuzzling his nose against yours. “The rest means nothing to me.”
A tiny smile tugged at your lips, and you kissed him softly. “Then yes, I’ll marry you.”
A grin to match yours spread across his face, and his hands came to hold your waist as he pressed kiss after kiss to your lips until you couldn’t stop giggling.
“Go back to the house, pretend to take ill and go to bed. I’ll prepare a couple of horses and come for you when it’s time,” he promised, kissing you again.
“I love you,” you murmured against his lips, running your fingers through his dark curls. “Be quick.”
“I will. I love you, my darling.”
With a final kiss, you disappeared into the night to return to the house for the last time. Poe watched from the doorway, his heart fuller than ever as he thought of how soon he would be able to call you his wife.
“When I said be careful, this wasn’t what I had in mind.”
He turned sharply to see Han coming out of one of the stalls.
“Don’t try and stop us,” Poe warned. “You know how unhappy she’d be if she married the way they want her to, and you know I’d never forgive you if you got in our way. I love her, Han, and I won’t let anyone in this world or the next come between us.” A single tear ran down his cheek, the force behind his words too much to contain.
The older man chuckled. “When did you hear me say I would get in your way?”
Poe frowned in confusion. “But you-”
“Take Bee and Artoo,” Han told him, gesturing to the skewbald mare and the grey stallion behind him. “I’ve saddled them already, those two’ll get you far from here before her family even notice she’s gone.”
Poe was shocked into silence, and the grey-haired man chuckled, clapping him on the shoulder before making his way out of the stable.
“You didn’t really think I’d rat you out to those rich bastards, did you?”
You held your breath as you crept down the main staircase, pulling the hood of your thick cloak over your head to hide your face as you hurried across the marble floor. A glance over your shoulder at your childhood home brought no feelings of apprehension or regret, and you slipped through the doors into the cold night air.
Poe stood a few metres away in the shadows, a horse on either side of him. He dropped their reins upon seeing you, and pressed his lips to yours in a tender, passionate kiss.
“Are you sure?” he asked, his voice hushed. “You know that if we do this, I won’t be able to keep you the way you’ve grown up living.”
“Do you promise?” you whispered, a grin on your lips. He smiled against your lips, before helping you up onto the grey horse. You gathered the reins in your hands as he mounted his own horse quickly, adjusting a small saddlebag that he had fitted.
“Shall we?” he asked, reaching to take your hand nearest to him. You squeezed his fingers reassuringly, not planning on letting go.
A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope you have a wonderful week!
