Garazeb Orrelios had always been the type of creature that was sure of his decisions and actions that came from those decisions, even if it was a momentary 'screw it, I'm doing it anyways' type of decision. Even after the fall of Lasan, where he had moments of self doubt about his decisions and actions, he still felt sure of it but not as sure like he had before – the finding of Lira San took all but a smudge of that self doubt away, thankfully. He had been, after all, a captain of the Honor Guard, now a captain of the Rebellion, part of the Ghost crew, and was respected enough inside said Rebellion that he was often asked to settle deputes among the other Rebels. And it wasn't because he was one of the stronger members of said Rebellion, either; he was thankful that there were more than a handful of sentient beings that saw past his brute nature and saw him as the intelligent being he was.
So why was he, as sure as he normally was, doing something so ridiculous as picking petals off of a flower in a silly game of 'loves me/loves me not'? And using the outcome of that to make his decision for him?
Sitting in the jungle of Yavin IV, not far from the bustling base the Rebels called 'home' for now, but far enough away so that he wouldn't easily be disturbed, Zeb briefly ran a claw along the fallen tree he sat on and glared at said flower in his hand. He had been out in the jungle for close to a standard hour now, first pacing along the small clearing he had stalked out to, then plopped himself down onto the tree and stared out into the jungle. He had spent ten minutes staring into nothing before getting up and picking a flower – the name of he couldn't remember at the moment, but he knew it wasn't poisonous nor was going to shape-shift into a monstrous planet-creature-thing upon being plucked – and settling back down. Where he stared at the flower in question right before beginning to pluck at the petals and mouthing the words 'loves me' and 'loves me not'.
Growing up on Lasan, young kits did this, and some of the older Lasats did as well, to the weed-like flowers growing there and played a similar game, but with less plucking of flowers and more letting their crushes or hopeful mates-to-be smell them instead. If their intended smelled something sweet then it was meant to be, if they didn't smell anything then it wasn't – sometimes the feeling was mutual between a pair and it took something as simple as smelling a flower to get things started. Why Zeb didn't do this he didn't know, perhaps because the one he wanted to allow to savor the beauty of a flower with him didn't have the same senses as a Lasat did. Perhaps he was mixing up several different culture's children's games again and spinning it to help him decide on something important as this.
Or maybe he was just scared of the possibility of rejection.
Closing his eyes, Zeb took in a deep breath and looked down at the flower, which now only had one petal on it. Loves me, if he remembered his place correctly. Then he laughed, plucking the petal and letting it fall to the ground before getting up and walking back to base. His strides were slower, less sure he wanted to return back to reality, as he didn't know if he could face the galaxy quite yet. The sights and sounds came back into focus as he appeared out from the jungle, swatting the last of the foliage out of his way as he made his way to where the Ghost sat, not quite ready to head out for another mission quite yet as some minor repairs needed to be done from their last mission. Zeb was partly glad that they were grounded for the next three to four days, as it gave them time to rest and catch up with any other work High Command gave them outside their missions and also to have time to relax, to enjoy a small break from the horrible reality of the galaxy at large.
It also gave Zeb a chance to act on his feelings for a certain Imperial-turned-Rebel.
As soon as the Ghost came into view, Zeb stopped and stared, his eyes focusing on two beings standing near the open ramp, talking to each other and smiling. One was Hera, the other – Zeb hesitated at first, his mind going back to the flower who's petal's he plucked and the decision he made while playing that childish game. Shaking his head, he made the last strides to the ship, his eyes focused not on anyone, or anything, else but Alexsandr Kallus, who turned around as soon as Hera had looked around him and gave Zeb a welcoming 'Hello' when he approached. Zeb didn't give him a chance to say anything before he stepped in front of Alex, pulled him closer to him with hands grasping his sides, leaned down and kissed him. Time stood still for that briefest of moments, before Zeb ended the kiss and stepped back, dropping his arms at his side and looking away, embarrassed; his ears reflected that, drooping ever so slightly as he rubbed the back of his neck, not only to give himself something to do but also flatten the fur there from his embarrassment.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have," Zeb mumbled, stealing a glance over towards the other two. Hera was still standing there, eyes slightly wide but was grinning like she just won a jackpot, Alex on the other hand – he was just staring out into the open space of the base, eyes unfocused and unsure of what just happened. He didn't move, didn't make a sound, just stood there – it was only when Hera nudged him in the back, to make sure that he was still alive, did he come to his senses and look around before his eyes rested back on the Lasat. Zeb's heart dropped at the look, his ears flickering for a moment before he grumbled that he had things to do on the ship before he started heading towards the ramp, all the while mentally berating himself for doing something so foolish and where others could see him. It was only when Alex grabbed him by the arm did Zeb stop and look at the human, his eyes trying not to look directly at his face.
"No, you should have," Alex said, pulling Zeb closer to him. Smiling, he wrapped his arms around Zeb's neck, pulling him even closer as their lips touched for a second kiss, Zeb's arms wrapping around Alex's back as the rest of the galaxy faded away for all but the two of them. Hera sneaked away long enough to the Ghost to grab a data pad so she could snap a holo of the two of them, who now were resting their foreheads together and hands were intertwined with the other's, not noticing that Hera had not been the only one who took notice of their kiss. Nor did they care at that moment, the only thing that mattered was that they finally could stop dancing around each other and start something new, even if the galaxy ended the next day.
Author's Note: I had been trying to do this little fic for a bit without much success, at least not until I looked over Solrika's art dump 'When the Day met the Night' over at AO3. So that art dump helped inspire this one and get my fingers moving.