Cassian leads you the short distance back to a seat while you focus on breathing. You feel unbearably hot, not just from his hands on your shoulder and waist; the slight warmth welling in the bandage at your side is uncomfortable (to say the least). You slump on to the bench and lean your head against the metal wall behind you, trying to ground yourself.

"You should've just asked me, Y/N. There's no need to do all this."

Your heart skips a beat as you wrench your eyes open to look at Cassian. Your blood pressure drops almost immediately though as you realise he's smiling and offering to clean up the blood.

"I-," you say, your throat locking slightly, "I… I thought I could do it myself."

He shakes his head lightly, sits down next you, and looks at the floor for a moment. Crimson still skirts the collar of his jacket and his cheeks are no less aflame than they were. Cassian turns the cloth over in his hands and then raises it to you in question. You nod a little, and he lifts your hand to begin.

Cassian is gentle. It surprises you, which you do not appreciate because your mind is already a whirlwind and this small fact is threatening to be the straw that breaks the camel's back. He steadily works up your arm as you silently watch through hooded eyelids. After he finishes, Cassian softly drapes your limb over his own shoulders so he can reach your left arm.

"Are you alright? You're shaking." he asks eventually.

"I got shot, Cassian. I'm a little worse for wear."

At that, he laughs breathily and you're forced to recognise how intimate the situation feels. Even when he was patching you up earlier, it had felt friendly and open (everyone being full clothed most likely helped). This was different and holy shit, you were so out of your depth.


After surviving the (all kinds of) painful ordeal of having your ribs cleaned, you're forced into eye contact with him. Cassian pauses for a moment, as if he's reassuring himself, and then raises the cloth to clean your cheeks. There is nowhere to look but him, and your heart is refusing to give you any kind of a break. Soon enough you notice a stray curl of dark hair curving out from behind his ear right next to your hand. Before you can think, you absentmindedly twist it around your fingers a few times. The hands near your face instantly stop their work. It takes a second for your mind to catch up with the transpiring events and when it has, all it does is wordlessly scream.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Bit by bit, you move your gaze to meet Cassian's. Something behind his eyes has changed. They're not 'dark' or 'hungry' or anything as dramatic as that. It's more like a realisation; more of a simple oh.

"Y/N…," it's an offer and a question that you are not allowing yourself to hear.

This is too much. This is too much. You don't understand what's happening here because it seems like he wants you but this is not how it works for you. You don't get happy endings, and this doesn't make sense. Some of your panic must have shown because Cassian jumps back like you've slapped him.

The world is capsizing and you've been left as the sole stationary point. Everything is whirling and you feel sick. You watch Cassian rush to leave, and know that you've ruined it. And so, with nothing to lose, you realise you'll never forgive yourself if you don't do something now.

"No, wait!"

Whether it's the words themselves or the desperation that carries them, Cassian immediately stops. Everything just kinda hangs as you try to find the right words but they just escape you. So, in the end, you just say what's been floating around your head for weeks.

"Cassian… Please."

The standstill breaks apart like brittle bone.

He turns back, and you stand. Cassian's hands find their places first, resting on the sides of your face. You in turn entangle your fingers in his hair as he kisses you and Maker, it just feels right. You feel your head tilt back as he presses forward, always tentative and careful of the wound at your side. Your lips open for him and it feels like you're dissolving or drowning or falling but it doesn't matter because you are kissing Cassian. You drag your hands down his neck. A low moan escapes Cassian's throat and it's honestly enough to weaken your knees. You wrap your hands in his shirt and try to fill any space because you want to learn every curve that Cassian's body has to offer and you've been dying to touch him and taste him for so long.

"We're entering Yavin 4 airspace, if anyone's interested."

With that, the spell is somewhat broken.

You rest your forehead against Cassian's collarbone and laugh quietly as he cusses out K2, "Are you shitting me, K2?"

"For future situations, would you rather I open the cargo door and allow the whole base see your… copulation?"

"Kay-Tuesso, I swea-"

Whatever he had left to say is cut off as the hatch swings shut. You try to hold in your laughter, but it keeps leaking out in bursts like sunshine peaking through clouds. Looking at you, Cassian tries to muster some sobriety but he just can't. He, Cassian Andor, had kissed you and now here you were, laughing in his arms. If he was completely honest, in this moment, there was nothing more he would ask for.