"Oh great, I get the love birds."
To say that Bodhi was displeased about having to share a tent at night with Andor and Erso was a touchy understatement. It could be more difficultly described as 'you two can sleep outside, I'm so over this already'.
The mission had been long and weathering. Quite literally weathering, though that may seem like an odd choice of words. Bodhi felt battered and faded and just so over this whole sleeping out in the great wild wilderness thing. Most of the crew felt the same. Not all of them. Their noble leader, for instance. Yes, Cassian, it's good for the new recruits to having training outside. Yes, Cassian, they need to learn to always be prepared. Yes, Cassian, they don't know how easy they have it despite the current shortage.
"I told you this was a terrible idea. Take one look at the smuggler. Does he look responsible? Does he?"
Yes, Jyn, it's entirely Han Solo's fault for most of this. Or at least definitely the part of being too distracted by his pretty pretty princess to make sure that adequate supplies were brought for this run. And, by adequate supplies, Bodhi absolutely does mean little things like enough basic accommodation so everyone doesn't have to bunk up three or four to into their remaining few tents like affectionate savages.
Solo naturally had remembered to bring his own private tent, but of course he wasn't willing to share because hashtag dickreasons. Bonhomme had been very lean throughout the evening after that particular announcement.
Cassian had stayed quiet throughout Jyn's muttered objections as she laid out her bedroll, squeezing it onto one-third of the normally one-person tent. Bodhi had followed in his stoicism after Jyn had quite literally growled at him when he tried to tell her that 'he likes to sleep on the right'.
Now the lady of their household was stalking around outside, pacing the perimeter of their camp like a territorial Loth-cat.
"Jyn, it's getting cold. Come inside" Cassian tries, speaking for the first time.
Bodhi glares at the back of his friend's head. They're not friends tonight. If they were, Bodhi would be sleeping in his own damn bed on base and not whatever awkward hell this camping trip was becoming.
"Kriff off Andor," at least Jyn's no more into the al fresco life than Bodhi is. "I think I heard a bottle open. Do you think we need to start frisking them before each mission?"
...It probably wasn't a bad idea. The recruits seemed to think this whole thing was a big adult slumber party. Judging from the frequent whoops and squeals commotion coming from their side of camp, more than one rule was being (or three or four or twenty) after tonight's 'light's out' call.
"Jyn… we need to get up early."
Bodhi closes his eyes. Internally screams at his body to just pass out immediately so he doesn't have to hear Captain Diligent try to talk sense into the rebellion's most hard-headed operative.
"You have to get up early, Andor. I think I'm going to sleep in tomorrow."
It doesn't work. Turns out silently screaming isn't nearly as relaxing as Bodhi would have hoped.
"Sleep in?!" Cassian sits up, throwing his sleeping bag open. Half of it lands on Bodhi's third and he flicks it away with an annoyed swat of the top of his hand.
"Jyn, if you sleep in, what sort of message do you think that's going to be making to the recruits? They need discipline. It's bad enough that they think they can-"
"I just heard a 'woohoo' and a lot of giggles. What the hell do you think is going on over there?!"
Bodhi literally face palms. Great. This is just fantastic. Not only is he stuck in close-closer-too close quarters with these two, the team's resident unrequited love birds who keep making 'fucky-fucky-oh wait, I need my space-' eyes at each other all the damn time, but now he gets to be serenaded by the recruits taking their bedrolls for a ride.
"Jyn, come on, that's-"
Bodhi shoves his fingers in his ears to tune out whatever PSA Andor was about to make.
So Han's got his princess. The recruits have each other by the handful. Even these two nerf brains he's about to be cuddled up with have each other. So what does Bodhi have? A complete lack of patience, apparently.
"Kriff it… I'm out of here."
Bodhi propels to his feet so suddenly that Cassian's arm lunges out to steady him as if he was falling when, in fact, he was doing the diametric opposite.
"Where are you-"
"To bunk with Han. It's his fault we're in this mess. And if his oversized carpet sample is there, well… at least I'll have a fluffy mattress to sleep on."
Freezing cold air, two day old pajamas, and untied combat boots. Three more reasons Bodhi hates the great outdoors.
Jyn shoots him a wide-eyed, pleading look as he stomps past her. 'Please don't leave me alone with him,' she mouths. Her wide eyes quickly narrow when he makes an obscene two-handed gesture and mouthes 'try it, might help' right back at her.
Because it might help. Maybe just being stuck in close canvas quarters with each other is just what those two need to get all that tension between them out of the way. Or they will just spend the whole night frustrated and pretending to ignore each other. That could happen, too.
Either way Bodhi doesn't really care because he, for one, is going to get a good nights sleep. Han, Carpet Sample, and everyone else can just sit and spin if they've got a problem with that.
After Bodhi had resolutely left, Cassian hadn't even bothered to try and sleep. He'd gotten out of the oppressively tiny space and paced, pondering if he was really such bad company that both of his closest teammates would rather be anywhere else, or perhaps something else was going on to set everyone's nerves to their sharpest setting.
Yes, Han's dick move of forgetting to make sure enough tents were put into the cargo hold was tedious, but… oh come on, sharing a sleeping space just isn't that big of a deal, is it? It's really not.
Or at least it shouldn't be, but the other two thirds of the bed space seemed to be taken a great and profound exception to it. They were the ones making it awkward. Cassian, on the other hand, was simply trying to sleep and wake up to a whole new day tomorrow.
Jyn had stayed out for a good long time. She'd returned all but silently. Waiting until he was at the furthest point of his round before slipping behind him. The only outward sign that she'd returned at all was her boots placed outside the zipped tight entrance.
Insects. Insects will, not might, crawl in if she leaves them like that. He'd told her, or rather told the whole group, and he'd just assumed that she'd listened.
He hangs them upside down on the stick meant exactly for that reason. And then waits. And waits longer. And silently wishes Bodhi would get his ass back here and be their buffer because, if it's just the two of them in here now…
Yeah, they need that buffer. C'mon, Bodhi, get back here soon...
He doesn't. The moon shifts, drawing changing patterns of dappled light against the landscape. No Bodhi. Not a whisper of movement from inside.
By the time Cassian steels his nerve enough to open the flap and creep in, Jyn is fast sleep.
He knows she is based on his instincts alone, because there's no outward sign of it otherwise. She's hushed, stalk still, and curled up tightly around herself along the right side of the tent. The only sign that she's asleep and not hiding is the faint and barely there slip of her breathing.
He pauses for a moment and regards her. She is taking up the least amount of space possible. Certainly much less than her third share of the ground space.
Is this how she normally sleeps, or is this just because of him?
And Cassian knows it has nothing to do with Bodhi. Jyn and Bodhi get along just fine. They have a level of easy, effortless camaraderie that Cassian often feels jealous of.
So, when he creeps inside the tent, he is careful not to disturb her. Not to touch her at all and to stay as silent as he can as he takes off his boots and props them outside next to hers. He leaves the flap half-zipped so Bodhi can come in later without struggle.
Then he lays down on his back and clasps his hands together over his chest. Tries to occupy his mind with tomorrow's to-do list or the longer term training schedule for the recruits.
Or any of the other of millions of different threads that he could think about other than the curled up little bundle by his side.
His efforts fail spectacularly. Every now and then, Jyn will twitch in her sleep. It's a minuscule movement, usually one of her shoulder blades jumps or something shoots up along her spine and makes her momentarily stiffen.
What is she dreaming about? It doesn't seem to be the nicest of dreams.
But do any of them have pleasant dreams anymore? Cassian very much doubts it, but Jyn never really opens up about things like that.
Some sort of grandiose romantic gesture of her having a nightmare and him sweeping her into his arms pops into his head. He immediately flicks it away. Cassian is quite sure that, if and when Jyn Erso has nightmares, anyone attempting to touch her would receive an immediate black eye or violent interconnecting of her limbs into their most delicate of places.
Time stretches on. Sleepless and drifting. Once, she sighs in her sleep. He matches her. It must be past midnight, if not later.
Still no sign of Bodhi. He'd been keeping a very low profile all evening. Almost as if he was worried that he'd come into the tent and interrupt something.
No. Nothing to interrupt here. Just two people sleeping. Or one sleeping and the other finding it to be completely elusive.
He turns onto his side to face her and frowns. Seriously Jyn, it can't be comfortable to be all huddled up like that. She's going to give herself a backache or neck pain and then be on edge all tomorrow morning.
Cassian reaches out and lightly touches the shoulder exposed by the loose neckline of her sleeping sweatshirt. Nothing. He'd expected to get slapped away or at least wake her up.
Her skin is cool to the touch. It's unsurprising since she's not in her bag and instead is curled up into a tight ball laying on top of it. Which means that he has to give her his bag while he gets to sleep out in the cold but that's okay, sacrifices like that are the only way he can express himself around her during quiet moments like this.
The bag is draped around her and, to his great surprise, she rolls onto her back and makes little sleepy wuffling noises. Exactly like a contented kitten except she's still asleep. Her eyes are closed and her breath is coming slightly faster as she flickers at the upper layers of dreaming.
When he stays motionless, watching her with quiet emotion, she sinks deeper. Unconsciously wriggles further into her new cocoon, and at this moment Cassian couldn't possibly be more fond of her.
With a sigh, he lays down next to her. Bodhi's tent, because it originally was Bodhi's before the change of plans befell them all, is meant for someone about 2 inches shorter. And also very much just one person. Which means that it's not only uncomfortable, but that he has to have his side pressed to her side. That it's not all bad, at least. Maybe, gods be willing, that he'll be able to get at least an hour or two of shuteye before morning formation.
Jyn of course has other plans. Even in her sleep she's impossible.
She rolls over again, this time facing, and his breath falters for two beats of his heart before catching. She curls herself around him, bringing her legs up and spooning him. Her little hands tuck in close around his arm and Cassian frowns. She can't be sleeping. No one can sleep snuggle like this. This isn't just a casual 'oops I rolled over onto your side' kind of thing. No, Jyn is literally snuggling against him.
And it goes without saying that her hands are like ice, digging into his armpit as she tries to drain away his warmth through his flannel sleepshirt.
"Jyn."
He mouthes the words. Puts just the barest hint of vocalization into it. It comes out as barely even a sound, and one that's easily lost in the sound of the wind through the trees above their head. If Jyn wasn't so close, she wouldn't be able to feel his chest barely rumble.
If Cassian wasn't so close, he wouldn't be able to see the corners of her mouth flicker up.
"You're not sleeping."
It's an obvious fact, but he still whispers it nonetheless because to speak too loudly now would be uncivilized.
If he had any doubts about that, which he most definitely did not, they are fully laid to rest when those lips of hers spread wide, grinning clearly despite the darkness of the night surrounding them.
"I was never sleeping," she returns his whisper, cuddling against him brazenly and it suddenly becomes obvious why Bodhi couldn't get out of there fast enough. "You were laying there watching me, and I can't sleep when someone's watching me."
Cassian brings his arm up, his free arm up, and wraps it around her. This is the most they've touched since… well, since Scarif. But neither of them talk about that ever.
"No. I'd know if you were awake. You were sleeping."
"Maybe you're just really bad at reading people, you ever think about that?"
Her eyes are still closed, but those damned lips of hers keep up her Cheshire grin.
Rather than belabor the point, Cassian changes tactics. Seeing instead how far he can push his luck now that she's all sleepy and seemingly feeling charitable.
"Bodhi left in a hurry," he muses, pulling her closer until he head has no choice but to rest on his shoulder.
"Yes. He did."
"Seems like he didn't want to be around us."
Her eyes open then into two little slits. They mirror the pleased narrowness of her expression.
"Why do you think that is? Do you think we were making him… uncomfortable?"
Cassian raises an eyebrow. There was no part of that line delivery that she didn't make sound suggestive.
"Maybe you make me feel that way, too."
She bites her lower lip. His eyes watch every part of the movement.
Then her hand leaves it's warming mitt under his arm and traces along his chest. Cassian allows this for a few speechless seconds until it begins to drift lower along his abdomen. He catches her wrist in his free arm and tries to think of any way he can call her a 'little minx' without sounding like a cheesy anti-hero from an old-timey holovid.
"Cassian?" the innocent look doesn't suit Erso well. Not at all. "Am I also making you… uncomfortable?"
The exact same intonation as before. Exact same teasing tone and the only thing that changes is how she tips her chin up ever so slightly.
Something about this time of night changes things. It allows them to be themselves but also… be the best version of themselves. Where their feelings on their sleeve instead of under a mask.
Is that too poetic? Cassian is feeling quite poetic right now.
And even more so when he lets go of her wrist to catch her chin. Jyn is grinning so wide that their first kiss isn't quite as perfect like he wanted it to be. But wait, it is perfect, flawless, in its own way, because she doesn't hesitate to kiss him right back. That first initial awkwardness fades in a nanosecond as her soft soft soft lips roll against his own.
"Oh kriff, you've got to be fucking kidding me!"
Because the universe is savage and cruel and just plain wrong, Bodhi interrupts them at their greatest moment together. He loudly clears his throat and Jyn squeaks into Cassian's mouth before pulling her lips away and burying her face against his collarbone.
"Bodhi."
Cassian says his former friend's name like a weapon. Like a duosyllable that carries nothing but the purest of threats.
It's promptly ignored in entirety.
"Gods fucking damnit you two… No. You can't throw me out. Not again."
Oh, so he did get the 'fuck off, can't you see we're having a moment here' glare? He just doesn't care. Some former friend he is…
"It's almost midnight," Bodhi states. Cassian blinks. He'd thought it was much later than that. "It's almost midnight and I need a place to sleep tonight and neither of you two are going to stop me."
The two lovebirds immediately pull apart, scattering as far as the extremely limited space of the walls of the tent will allow.
"Bodhi, we-"
We were busy. But wasn't that just kriffing obvious enough from the get-go?
"No. Shut up. I already tried to give you two plenty of space. You were both jerks about it. I even went to shack up in Han's tent for the night, but he… well, his fancy pretty princess girlfriend showed up 'wanting to talk about the stars' and I got kicked out. Literally kicked out. I'm pretty sure there's one of Han's bootprints on my ass."
Jyn makes a strange noise, then rolls away and clears her throat. Cassian can't really see her in the dimness, but she's attempting to act as normal as she can given the circumstances.
With a sigh, Cassian heaves himself up onto his elbows. Smooths out his sleeping bag and tries to take up as narrow of a profile as he possibly can.
Bodhi crawls inside and slumps there, glaring at the both of them.
"Well?" he asks, "what do you two have to say for yourselves?"
Cassian squares his jaw. Refuses to look anywhere except straight up. It's not even midnight. Dear gods.
Jyn snuggles in deeper into her pillow as her way of response. This time she's laying on her stomach and embracing it like it's her beloved childhood friend. That ever so pleased looking grin still graces her face and it makes Cassian feel all kinds of conflicting emotions.
"He was cuddling me, Bodhi," she says, yawning softly. "I was trying to sleep and he was trying to get fresh with me. Thank goodness you came here in time."
Cassian's face heats up. He glares at her but the first place his eyes automatically land on are those lips of hers. Those lips that are still shining with one of their saliva from their first kiss.
Bodhi shakes his head. Maybe he believes her, or maybe he's simply sick of them both. Cassian is willing to wager that it's the second option. Regardless, he has to set the record straight. His good name as their captain and generally upstanding member of the XY chromosome class can't be maligned.
"Bodhi, I was definitely not-"
"Oh shut up, Andor, you were totally snuggling with me."
Jyn's voice lilts with her inner amusement. He can more feel the expression than see it, but the her foot "accidentally" finds his shin and she kicks him.
Bodhi snorts in appreciation at Cassian's grunt of protest.
The immaturity of the situation brings them all back around. This is stupid. They're all adults here. Or maybe not. But still, definitely no reason to make sharing a sleeping space anything more than exactly just that.
"Bodhi?" Jyn whispers as the silence stretches.
He makes a hum of acknowledgement, sounding like he was on the cusp of nodding off already.
"Do you want me to cuddle you, too?" she asks, ignoring the man in the middle in entirety. "Y'know, so you don't feel left so out?"
Cassian raises his head to look at her. Her eyes are shining brightly despite the night.
'So you admit to cuddling me?' is right on the tip of his tongue but he can't quite bring himself to say it. With a frown he looks over at Bodhi who pays him no attention.
A moment of consideration spreads between them.
"Sure," he finally answers. "Why not?"
Cassian's frown deepens as he debates whether they, both of them, are just trying to rile him up.
Apparently not, because Jyn proceeds to gracelessly clamber over Cassian. Elbows and knees and hands go this way and that, and Cassian more than once takes a hit to the gut or lower as she crawls up and over him.
Then he gets shoved to the side -her former side- by her heels and damned if the motion it doesn't remind Cassian of that naughty Loth-Cat burying a fresh kill in the leaves.
"You two aren't-"
Jyn tucks herself right in to Bodhi's side, silencing Cassian's protest. Bodhi remains on his back, but his amused smile gleams in the dim light.
"I like being cuddled," he whispers to no one in particular. "It's nice."
"It's warm," Jyn agrees, cozying in closer.
Cassian's frown couldn't get any deeper. But… you know what? He's not going to be their punchline. If they're going to do the whole 'sharing bodyheat thing', he's going to get in on it too.
He spoons Jyn and she grunts. Whatever expression is on her face is hidden by Bodhi's shoulder. Fine. Whatever. Those two aren't actually into each other. Just like the Princess and the Jedi, they're just playing to get a rise out of him.
No rises here, though. Cassian categorically refuses to deign down to their level.
Instead, he cuddles closer, squishing Jyn against the wall of his sometimes-friend and enjoying the fact that like this she has nowhere to hide.
The space in the tent is tiny. It would be impossible for them not to have to stack so close. And, compared to the assumed wild shenanigans going on in Recruit Town across the meadow, this is pretty much as tame as it gets.
In the harsh light of morning things will probably change. Jyn will go back to bouncing from one spectrum of emotion to another and Bodhi… he'll go back to being the same but different. That's just kind of what he does.
For now, though…
For now though, this is nice. Who the hell cares about all the rest? Anything more than what's going on in here is just background noise.