Here we are again, this time during Season 3. I won't give any exact time other than it's not too long before 'Trials Of The Darksaber' so it's in the second half of Season 3. This one is longer than the previous two and the remaining chapters should all be longer in length like this one.
This time around is Ezra and Sabine being good friends and I tried to make it resemble something a bit more like an actual teenage friendship. I've always felt Season 3 is the transition from Sabine seeing Ezra as a friend to starting to fall for him. She's not in love with him (yet) but she's starting to take the steps towards it. Ezra gets a bit braver this chapter but it's more a case of joking and prodding his friend than him making genuine moves on her.
There are a few jokes and innuendos here and there but it's nothing explicit and certainly nothing to warrant any rating change. It's just something that fits naturally into teenage friendships and makes it feel more real than the squeaky clean PG stuff the show usually gives. It won't be a habit, that stuff doesn't really fit the tone of the remaining chapters, but since this is more lighthearted and fun I threw some in anyway.
"Don't make me repeat myself, I'll call you when you can come back", commanded the Twilek from the top of the Ghost's ramp.
The Mandalorian stood her ground with her arms folded, "Hera come on, we've stayed in our quarters the last time. Does it really matter?"
Hera scowled at her standing at the bottom of the Ghost's entry ramp. Ezra stood a few feet behind her, watching the two women from a safe distance. He too was being kicked off the ship for a while, all so Hera and Kanan could have their privacy for a couple of hours.
Folding her own arms in response, Hera wouldn't budge. "Don't you think we deserve a break from you sometimes?", the Twilek replied with a smirk.
"You get a break when we're in our rooms, which is where we could be now", Sabine answered.
Hera laughed, "Maybe when you're older you'll understand. Sometimes people just want some peace knowing there's no one else around"
No one except Kanan... Sabine knew exactly why they wanted privacy. Heart's Day landed on the same day every year and no doubt Hera and Kanan wanted a little alone time together on it.
"I know it's your special day but we can be quiet, we've never bothered you before have we? If anyone will be making the noise it's you two".
The Twileik's mouth opened in surprise but the corners of her lips curled into a smile, "Okay now, I think someone is asking for extra cleaning duty"
"I won't make another one if you let us stay", Sabine stepped carefully backwards as Hera stepped further forward.
"Oh you won't make another one unless you want me to assign you refresher duty for the next month." Hera walked over to the ramp control and hovered her hand over it.
Sabine backed off down the ramp, accepting that there probably wasn't a way to change her mind this time. "At least tell us how long you'll be?"
Hera waited until both of the crew members were firmly off the ship before replying. "Long enough for you two to have your own lovely Heart's Day together", she told them with a wink before gently pushing the button and sealing them out of her vessel.
Looking at where Hera had just been, Sabine was still standing with her arms folded and mouth agape, she knew when she'd lost the battle. Hera wasn't much of a joker most of the time but she'd proved more than capable of putting someone in their place with a quip or a joke. This one, she had to admit, was another one of those times. Sabine looked over to Ezra who stood under the ship like her, clearly surprised as well at their Captain's parting comment.
"You know it's probably a good thing we're not on board for this...", Sabine joked.
Ezra stifled a laugh at her, "Yeah, I don't need that mental image."
The Mandalorian laughed and shook her head, "You're awful, thanks for telling me that."
"What? You said it?", Ezra shot back.
"Hey I made a joke, you made it weird"
The Jedi grinned at her, "Come on it was already weird"
Sabine rolled her eyes with a chuckle, "Whatever you say"
She sighed and turned away from the Ghost, looking around the base to find some idea of what to do for the next few hours. It was late afternoon and the it'd likely be pushing on sunset by the time they could come back. It was one of the rare days off the two had and Sabine didn't fancy spending time moving crates or cleaning weapons. She ran through her options in her mind. Zeb and Rex were probably helping with the training of some of the recruits, she could always lend them a hand. No... I honestly can't be bothered to deal with that today, I deserve a day off. All of her art supplies were trapped in the ship still, ruling out any artistic activities. Then her hand landed down on her left hip, on the Westar blaster that sat in its holster. There's an art form that doesn't require paint. Target practice was always a good choice. Easy, relaxing, a good way to blow off steam and a chance for some time to herself.
"What do we do then?", came an interrupting voice from behind her.
Sabine looked back at him, "I was going to go fire a few off for a while. I don't want to do much else."
Ezra nodded to her with a smile, "Oh, right, that's a good idea. I'll probably go meditate or something I guess."
Usually, Sabine wouldn't have thought anything of it, Ezra wasn't always one for company. He never was as much of a loner as her but he'd still spend plenty of his time keeping to himself. This time though, something told her today wasn't another one of those days for either of them.
"You want to come with? Get some peace and quiet for your meditation of whatever it is you Jedi do", Sabine suggested. "As long as a few blaster shots won't distract you"
He must have been surprised that she offered. "Oh... uh, are you sure? I don't want to intrude or anything."
"Ezra, you're my friend, I don't mind you being there", Sabine pointed to the DL-44 strapped to his hip, "Besides, maybe I can teach you to actually shoot straight"
"Hey! I can shoot straight!", Ezra retorted.
Sabine shook her head teasingly, "Have you ever even trained with that thing?"
Ezra folded his arms, "I tend to focus on the training that can let me pick things up with my mind or use an ancient weapon only a handful of people know how to use. Blasters are too boring for me", he boasted jokingly.
"Believe me, I can tell you don't focus on blaster training", she taunted.
The Jedi patted his lightsaber, "I'd like to see you trying to wield one of these"
"Hoth will melt before I pick up a lightsaber, Ezra"
"Because you know I'm better", he teased.
"Ugh, you wish". Of course he'd be better, she'd seen his skills for herself and they were impressive. She'd never let him know that though. "So you in? Are you going to let me teach you how to hit something?"
"I already know how but yeah I'll come with. I gotta prove you wrong now."
With that, their choice was made. They headed to Chopper Base's requisitions officer and signed the manifest for two speeders. Normally it was difficult for anyone to secure them for recreational time but the crew of Captain Hera Syndulla's ship had a special privilege. Sabine grabbed one of the many spare emitters that helped keep the spiders at bay. Ezra had protested, insisting he could keep them calm enough so they wouldn't attack but she wasn't taking chances, not after what she'd seen them be capable of. She led the way out of the base's perimeter into Atollon's wilderness towards the familiar spot she'd found a few months ago. It wasn't a place she used all too often but she already knew the way like the back of her hand.
The journey was short, the small clearing she liked to practice in was only ten minutes or so on speeder bike. It was far enough to have privacy and be away from distracting noises or prying eyes whilst close enough so she could be back in a flash if something came up. Sabine steered the bike into a break in the hills that gave way to a small open clearing nestled into the landscape. She'd left four old targets here on one of her visits and they were still standing where she'd left them several weeks ago.
Stepping off his speeder, Ezra inspected the small corner of Atollon Sabine had claimed for herself. "So this is where you've been disappearing to then?"
"What do you think?", Sabine motioned her hands around her private retreat.
"It's nice. How'd you find this place?"
Sabine shrugged, "Just went exploring, seemed quiet enough. The base's practice range is too busy all the time."
"I think someone is shy", the Jedi smirked to her whilst walking away from his speeder.
Her hands fell to her hips and she glared at him, "Shy? Of all the words to call me, you think 'shy'?"
Ezra raised his hands up in surrender, "Relax, I'm kidding."
With a laugh she playfully punched his arm as she turned towards the targets on the far side of the clearing. "Keep it up and I'll use you as target practice", she warned with a pointed finger.
The Mandalorian looked carefully at the targets in the distance and back down at the ground in front of her. 20 metres? Child's play. Satisfied she'd got the distance about right, she smiled happily to herself. Her boots drew a horizontal line in the dust barely half a metre in front of her.
"Want me to go first or do you want to embarrass yourself?", Sabine jabbed.
Her friend took a step back from her and waved exaggeratedly at the line that marked the firing position, "Oh, after you m'lady."
With a grumble and a signature eyeroll Sabine planted her fleet firmly shoulder-width apart. Staring down the leftmost target, she kept her eyes locked on it as her right hand reached down, unholstered her blaster and raised it to aim in one fluid, meticulously practised motion. Taking aim and steadying herself even more she squeezed the trigger sending bursts of blaster bolts onto the target. Her first three shot volley was a bit left of centre, her second lot a bit right and her third rattled hard on the dead middle of the target.
Her arm dropped down and her blaster slid into its regular place. With a smug smile she looked over at her friend, "Come on then, Bridger. Give it your best shot."
Sabine stepped back and copied his earlier exaggerations as she motioned towards the line. Ezra suavely walked over and placed his feet behind line, squaring himself up to the second left-most target. He straightened his posture and closed one eye while pulling his pistol from his hip. Holding one arm out, he lined up his blaster and red bolts began flying at irregular intervals in the general direction of the target. His smug demeanour faded with each shot taken. The first hit the wall behind the target, as did the next three. Another hit just below and a few managed to connect with the outskirts of the board. Ezra's best shots were a far cry from Sabine's worst.
Before he'd even finished his set Sabine was almost in tears, struggling to catch her breath between her laughter. The confident and cocky Jedi had been reduced to an awkward and embarrassed young man.
"Bad day I guess?" Ezra shrugged while his hands played nervously with the back of his neck.
Sabine looked him up and down as her laughing slowly quieted, "I didn't realise... wow. I didn't think you'd be that bad."
"Yeah yeah, laugh it up. These targets are small, as long as I can hit a target the size of a Stormtrooper I'll be fine"
"You may as well be a Stormtrooper with that aim", Sabine laughed with a nod over at the barely scratched target.
Despite his embarrassment, Ezra couldn't help but smile. Sure he could be cocky but he didn't mind being the butt of a few jokes sometimes. It was one of the traits he'd gained since joining the crew and something she'd seen more and more of in the last year. As Ezra shed his young, arrogant and immature personality he and Sabine had become much better friends. That didn't stop them ribbing on each other constantly though, it was a huge part of the friendship they'd built.
She watched her friend's flushed cheeks and awkward stance with a sigh, "Come on, I'll teach you how not to do... that", punctuating the end of her sentence by pointing at the mess he'd made.
Sabine stood on the line facing the target and turned to him as he took his place next to her. She folded her arms and watched as he raised his blaster and pointed it down range. Has he ever shot a blaster before? His posture is all wrong, his feet aren't braced, his grip is too loose, his arm is swaying as if he's too weak to hold it. She shook her head with a sigh.
Ezra watched her unamused expression, "Uh, what am I doing wrong?"
"It'd be better to ask what you're doing right... which is pretty much nothing", she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, "Your stance, your grip, your aiming, it's all just wrong."
Letting his arm drop he looked at her in confusion, "How is it wrong?"
Where do I even start? She huffed and stepped closer to him, "I'll just show you."
Sabine quickly noted as many of things that were wrong as she could and marked them in her head. Arms, back, hand, feet, shoulders... everything really. With a sigh she reached out with her hands and pushed his back in, making him take a more upright stance.
"Well, that's the first thing...", her hands quickly moved to his shoulders and pushed them down, "And relax these..."
It was then she realised he'd gone completely silent and had tensed up even more than he had before. Sabine then looked at her hands, clasping tightly to his arms as she drew herself close to him to move his body. Oh... of course... right. Ezra has lost a lot of what made their interactions difficult in the first few years but this particular thing was something Sabine still knew was there. Hidden, usually, but there. She'd see it sometimes every now and again, on Concord Dawn for example, but it was far less obvious than it used to be. They may have become really good friends, best friends even, yet Ezra still liked her in that certain way. It's Heart's Day, you're up close, touching him all over and probably sending his mind into a tailspin.
Sometimes I swear he hasn't grown up at all, she chucked to herself. That wasn't true obviously, he'd grown a lot. He was as tall as her now rather than barely reaching her shoulders. His new haircut helped him look older and his raggedy clothes had been switched out for a new, more fitting set. Ezra had filled out too, his shoulders were broader and wider and his arms bulkier and toned. The tighter fit of his clothes accentuated his developments enough for Sabine to have started to take notice of them.
"Sa-Sabine?", Ezra interrupted. "You stopped?"
Stopped? She'd stopped. She was just standing there, staring at him and holding on. Karabast.
"R-right, sorry. Just...", she fumbled and quickly let go of him. "Just... copy me."
What was that? Sabine scolded herself for acting so... weird. Can't you just be normal about this? It's just Ezra... it's just Ezra. She stepped to the side of him and glanced at his face, seeing the familiar tinge of a blush on his cheeks. Great, just when I thought we'd have a Heart's Day without the awkwardness. When those feelings of his made a rare appearance, she never knew how to react. It was rarely obvious enough to warrant an open acknowledgement nor subtle enough for her not to notice at all, it was a weird middle ground. Enough for her to see it and, she didn't doubt, for Ezra to notice she had too.
They never spoke about it, not properly anyway. She'd joke about how he used to be around her for sure and even tease him about still liking her but they'd never brought it up with any hint of seriousness. Sometimes she thought it was a thing of the past but it was moments like these that reminded her he still had those feelings tucked away somewhere.
"Ahem?"
Sabine jumped again at the sudden noise. Kriff, you were out of it again. "Uh, right, sorry. Distracted I guess", she regretted her choice of words there but let them slide anyway, "Just watch what I do."
She resolved to focus on the task at hand and not worry about Ezra's awkward phases. Her feet found their place on the ground as she aligned her body with the target. After a few seconds, Ezra did the same.
"There, you get better stability. You brace yourself against the shot and you don't move as much as when you're just facing head-on", she instructed him.
Ezra shifted his weight around with a nod, "Okay... okay I get that. What else?"
Looking at him she saw a distinct slouch in his back that'd he immediately regained after she'd let go of him and his shoulders were tensed up again too.
"Stand up straighter, like I showed you. And loosen those shoulders, no one'll hurt you... so relax."
He looked quizzically at her, "I thought you're teaching me how to shoot even when people are trying to kill me?"
Sabine sighed angrily at him, "Just do what I'm telling you."
"Right, sorry", the Jedi apologised and let his shoulder muscles loosen.
"Good", she told him, "Now draw your blaster the way you did before."
He drew the DL-44 from his hip and held it out in front of him, pointing in the general direction of the target. Yep, loose grip and he's not even holding his arm out right.
Sabine turned more towards him, "First of all, grip it tighter. A DL-44 is more powerful than your average blaster pistol, the recoil from that thing will be much worse. That's why your shots get worse as you go on, you're letting it move too much."
"You mean like this?", Ezra asked as he clenched it tighter in his hand.
"Ugh, no. You're holding it too tightly" Ezra let his hand slacken and loosen around the grip. "Now too lightly", she was about to go over and move his hand herself before he seemed to get just the right pressure as far as she could tell. "Good, you can be taught", she laughed.
"Ha ha, very funny", Ezra muttered.
The Mandalorian girl smirked at him, "I don't think someone likes being told what to do"
"I think you're enjoying being in-charge way too much" His voice full of that joking attitude he used against her so often.
"Do you want me to teach you or not?"
Begrudgingly the Jedi nodded and focused back on his lesson. Ezra resumed his previous position, remembering the grip, posture and stance Sabine had been ordering him to adopt. Sabine analysed every inch of his stance; back, arms, legs, butt, shoulders. All to check he'd been listening of course... The more she looked at him, the more she surprised herself. He's really grown up, hasn't he?
Not wanting him to get the wrong idea from her staring, she cleared her throat loudly. "You look good, give it a try and see if you can actually hit something this time."
His head turned to her and she saw a wry smile form on his lips, "Look good, do I?"
"Ugh, you know that's not what I meant", she replied with a laugh.
Ezra shook his head slightly and turned back down range, "Yeah, right...", he teased under his breath.
That's how you want to play, is it? Sabine rose to his jabs, "Really? You're going to try telling me I'm the one who has a thing for the other?"
Once again the Jedi lost his focus and turned back to her, "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"
You know exactly what I mean. With a giggle she put on her best attempt at an impersonation of his younger self. "My name's Ezra, what's yours?", she said in a wholly mocking tone.
His cheeks flushed red instantly and he meekly looked away, "Okay, no... stop it!", he begged with a pained expression.
His reaction only encouraged her. Oh I'm having fun with this, serves you right. "Hey, if you ever need some inspiration", she fluttered her eyelids exaggeratedly at him. "Wait, you know what I smell like?", she continued in her teasing impersonation of him.
"I get your point, can you stop now?", Ezra replied as he awkwardly kept his gaze locked on the ground in front of him. "It wasn't my fault"
Sabine sighed out her laughter and folded her arms at him, "What do you mean it wasn't your fault? You kept 'flirting' with me all the time" She accentuated the verb with air-quotes to show how loose that description of his actions was.
Ezra glanced at her from the corner of his eye but didn't quite look at her, "You're a beautiful girl and I'm still a teenage guy, what am I meant to be like?"
...Beautiful? The Mandalorian was taken by surprise at his sudden change of tone. Did he just call me beautiful? She continued to stare at him in front of her, he was still facing away from her and probably letting his compliment sink in. It wasn't even the word that had caught her so off-guard. You're. Still. Present tense. He had flirted with her before plenty of times but it'd been so long since he'd been this forward about it and she couldn't ever recall him being so... genuine about it. Even more, she'd never been this taken aback by it. Maybe it was how close they'd become, maybe it was how much she'd grown to trust him, maybe it was the cheesy spirit of this stupid holiday getting under her skin. For the first time, Ezra's flirting wasn't a joke or just plain awful, it was real. It was an honest to goodness compliment. And it made her... smile.
"Hey Sabine?", Sabine broke from her trance. Oh kriff, not again. Ezra gave her a barely-contained smug grin, "You were staring again."
She'd have kicked herself if he wasn't looking back at her now. "What do you mean 'again'?"
Whatever sense of embarrassment he'd had a few seconds earlier has completely dissolved and given way to his familiar but not fully serious cockiness, "Earlier, when you were sorting my stance. I saw you", he winked at her and started laughing.
"I wasn't! I was trying to make sure you weren't getting all flustered and nervous!", her arms folded and she stared at him defensively, friendly irritation creeping into her voice.
The Jedi shrugged, clearly thinking he'd won out, "Alright, if that's what you tell yourself"
Her eyes rolled hard and she scoffed at him. "It wasn't for the reason you were thinking"
"So you admit you were staring?"
Sabine just shook her head, "That target isn't going to shoot itself"
On her command he'd turned back and brought his arm up again to fire downrange. Sabine watched his every move with the echoes of a smile still on her lips. This was fun, joking and prodding each other as they always did. They were doing it more and more these days, spending more time together than they used to and enjoying it too. In the last few months Ezra had moved from being a good friend to her absolute closest, even overtaking her recently rebuilt relationship with Ketsu. With him she could just relax and spend hours teasing, rambling and opening up to each other. It was a far better friendship with him than she could have hoped for back when they first met, a friendship she hoped was here to stay.
As Sabine mused on him, Ezra had started shooting at the target. This time Sabine's instructions had helped immensely and he was at least managing to hit the things albeit sporadically. When he'd finished his set, it was still stark contrast to Sabine's, but miles better than his first attempt.
"You're getting better but that's not saying much"
"I'm not as bad as you think I am", he said, folding his arms and facing her.
Sabine cocked her eyebrow, "Really? Prove it"
Ezra nodded, "How about a competition?"
"Okay, you're on", her competitive nature taking over her actions. "What do you have in mind?"
"I'm not stupid enough to try and beat you in accuracy, how about speed? Whoever hits all four targets first wins."
An idea formed in her head as she thought of the match-up. "Alright, what do I get when I win?"
"You mean if you win", Ezra looked up and thought for a second, "If you win, I'll take carbon scrubbing duty for you next time you get it."
"And if a miracle happens and you win?" Sabine took her place by his side and stared him down.
"I don't know, what's a scrubbing session worth? A hug? A romantic Heart's Day kiss?", Ezra's sarcastic grin taunted her.
Sabine's face hardened and her arm reached out to deliver a swift hit to his stomach. "Just because it's Heart's Day, doesn't mean I'm desperate."
A kiss? Who does he think he is? Sabine watched her friend giggle while hunched over from the swift blow she'd given him. At least he's upfront about it now. Sabine laughed at herself, a year ago she'd have probably felt this was a worse development. There was something about it though that she didn't mind any more. Not the affection, she had absolutely no intention of kissing him, but it was all for fun. Why can't you have fun with this? He's your friend, it doesn't mean anything.
With a sputter and a groan Ezra stood up fully. "Kriff I was joking. You can at least give me a compliment if I win though."
"It doesn't matter what you'd get if you won, you're gonna lose."
"You're boasting now, you'll be surprised how quick I can be" The Jedi hovered his hand over his blaster ready to start.
Sabine chuckled quietly to him, "I'm sure you are quick, but that's not always a good thing."
From the corner of her eye she saw the puzzled look on his face, "What? I don't get it."
"Of course you don't", she said with a wink at him.
Her brief time with Ketsu is countless sleazy underworld locations had taught her a lot about life that she wouldn't have otherwise known. She'd found she was able to sneak some references at him at various times and he'd never catch them. Ezra's upbringing was surprisingly clean so pretty much all of them flew right over his head much like this one.
"Right", the bemused Jedi answered, "On my go we draw and first one to hit all four wins"
"I hope you like scrubbing, Ezra"
It was quiet for a few seconds but Sabine had already formed her plan. Ezra, in his haste, had overlooked one crucial rule that sealed her victory. He never said how many blasters I could use.
"3...2...1...GO!", Ezra shouted as his hand grabbed his pistol, firing from the left most target to the right.
As quick as he was, Sabine was faster. Both of her hands simultaneously drew her Westars and went from the outer target to the inner. Sabine had plugged all four with a blaster bolt before Ezra had even reached the second target. Ezra had hit the second target before realising he'd been beaten. He looked to Sabine with his mouth agape and the faintest hints of a smile on his lips.
"Okay, that was cheating!"
Sabine holstered her blasters and smiled innocently, "There weren't any rules against it. Guess you're just slow and inaccurate."
"I thought being quick was bad?"
"Not so much for a girl...", Sabine watched and laughed as the boy struggled to figure out what she was talking about.
"Yeah well you still cheated, I win by default" The Jedi folded his arms and locked his gaze with her.
With a sigh she relented, "It's a tie, it's your fault for not laying down rules" The Mandalorian looked back out at the targets and then at her friend. "I'll give you a rematch for your caf ration tomorrow?"
Ezra smiled and took up his pose once more, "One blaster", he warned her.
She dropped one of her Westars off to her side. "You're going to regret this."
Sabine was true to her word, winning out in the next set of shots. That competition gave way to a second over the next day's ration. Before long, Ezra had lost a half dozen different things from the next few days to her. As time wore on their wagers moved back to chores, jobs and favours for the other. Responsibility for the next inventory, taking the fall for the next lost datapad, the next helper for Chopper's oil bath. Sabine even started taking pity on him, throwing a match or two to give him just enough hope to keep trying.
It was pushing on sunset by the time they'd had enough of their little competition. They'd bet so much to each other that she doubted they'd even remember half of it. The truth was that she wasn't in it for the prize, she was there for the fun. Hanging out with him was an escape from everything they did on the daily. They could relax, play games, tease, joke and tell stories like normal people did. Granted, 'normal' wasn't a term she'd used to describe them, but they got to kick back and just be friends for a while rather than just 'allies' or 'teammates'. Time had a habit of melting away with him. In the last few months she'd often find herself surprised how quickly time flew when he was around. It reminded her a bit of her time with Ketsu or her other friends at the Academy. It'd been so long since she'd been able to have fun like this and it made her friendship with him all the more special.
With the last set over Sabine somewhat reluctantly picked up her discarded blaster from the ground. "I think it might be time to call this off now. We've been at it for hours"
Ezra sighed but seemed to agree, putting away his own weapon and moving to sit down on one of the rocks beside him. "You know you wouldn't have stood a chance if this was a lightsaber contest."
"I know", Sabine replied as she sat down on the ground opposite him, "But it wasn't and you lost."
The Jedi relaxed and slung his hands behind his head to stretch out, "This was fun, we should do it again when we get a chance."
Sabine paused and smiled up at him, "I'd like that. It's fun getting away from it all sometimes."
"You said it, there's only so much serious stuff I can handle before I need to take a break."
She leaned back on her hands a let out a breath, sending whatever stress she had left with it, "You know where I am if you ever want to take your mind off things."
Ezra looked back down at her with a raised eyebrow, "Really? What kind of offer is that?"
Sabine shot daggers at the boy but couldn't stop herself from smiling, "I hate you sometimes."
"No you don't", he winked.
As Ezra leaned back to look up at the sky, Sabine watched him for a bit. To think she'd let him get away with that now when a year ago she'd toss him out the airlock for so much as a compliment was strange to think about it. It just went to show how comfortable they'd become with each other.
The pinging of her communicator suddenly cut off whatever she was thinking about. "Sabine? You there?", it was Hera's voice.
"Hera, what's up?", she answered.
"Just want to let you know you can come back, I'm sorry we kept you out there so long."
Sabine glanced over at Ezra and saw in his eyes what she was thinking too. Just a bit longer.
She cleared her throat and began to speak, "Ahem, uh, okay. We'll be there later."
The comm was silent for a few seconds, "… I thought after earlier you'd be eager to come back?", Hera asked.
Sabine shrugged even if she knew she couldn't be seen, "I know, we're just doing some stuff"
"Right..." Hera's spoke with a knowing tone, "Well, don't be out too late."
"We won't, Hera."
Sabine dropped the comm from her mouth and waited for a response. When none came she clipped it back to her waist. Leaning back into a comfortable position, she saw Ezra smiling to himself on the rock.
"What's got you so happy?" Sabine inquired.
Ezra laughed, "It's nothing", he shook his head. "I just wanted to say thanks."
She perked up to look at her friend, "Thanks? For what?"
"For today, I mean", her friend looked at her with a warm smile, "The last few times I tried spending, you know, today with you, you weren't happy about it."
She stifled a laugh, "Yeah, you could be annoying sometimes. You still can be but... I don't know. You've grown up"
"I guess I have. At least I can stay in a room with you and not stare at you all the time", he sighed, "I mean I was pretty bad. I kept getting distracted, I thought you were the most beautiful person in the galaxy."
Sabine sat up again and squinted at him. Sure, that was sweet, but 'thought'?
Ezra caught her movement from the corner of his eye and instantly realised his misstep. "W-wait, I still think you are! I didn't mean to... wait, I mean, I don't mean it like that... Well I do but..."
Sabine broke into laughter at the sight of her fumbling friend. "You really know how to dig yourself a hole."
"Hey! I'm being nice to you! I don't even get a compliment in the first place."
She sighed, "Oh Ezra, you gotta earn those."
The black-haired Jedi chuckled, "Gee, thanks. Glad to know I'm not worth those yet."
Lying on her back, Sabine sighed to herself. You know, just this once. "Fine... You're not half-bad looking yourself." Sabine told him nonchalantly.
"Half bad, that's all I get? Not even 'handsome' or 'good-looking.'" Ezra was sitting up again with a grin.
For a few seconds she was quiet. A few biting remarks popped into her head but none felt right. After a while she decided to bite the bullet. It was something she'd realised herself over the last few months as he'd grown up and filled out. He actually is attractive. Of all the days, today proved to be the one she'd throw him a bone. It would at least pay him back for his own honest admission of how he saw her.
Sabine sat up quickly, "You're handsome, alright?" Ezra clearly hadn't expected her to actually say anything and he'd almost jumped when she'd said it. The familiar tinge of red returned in full force. "But don't let it go to your head. Kanan is too, Wedge is alright, I'm sure Zeb was a looker on his homeworld too", she added, hoping to inject some humour in and prevent it becoming too serious.
The Jedi was still speechless but a cocky smile slowly emerged, "I'm still the most though, right?"
She would have shut him down there and then but something small nagged at the back of her mind. Friends don't lie. Instead, she lay back down, content to let him have this one. He's your closest friend, what does it matter if he is? She smiled up to the sky without looking back at him. She wouldn't stroke his ego and tell him he was but letting this slide uncorrected wasn't something she minded.
"Whatever you say, Ezra", she muttered contently.
"I'm not hearing a denial", her pleased if flustered friend was grinning delightedly at her.
Ignoring his comments, Sabine casually moved on. "So how's Jedi training going? Anything interesting or just the boring usual?"
For a second she worried that he wouldn't drop it, that she'd be forced to put him down once more. To her surprise, he let out a sigh and leaned back.
"It's going good actually."
Sabine knew he could talk her ears off about Jedi training as much as she could to him about art. Not that she minded, that was the reason she asked. Right now, all she wanted to do was lose the night to conversation with her closest friend. After night had fallen and they eventually decided to return to base, a handful of words stayed tucked away and just about unsaid at the back of her mind: Happy Heart's Day, Ezra Bridger.
With this third chapter out, I have published all of the completed chapters that I've been sitting on for a while. As for the remaining chapters there'll be a wait or around a month at least. It's not that I don't want to write them I just simply don't have the time to. Rest assured, I'll get around to writing them and have them conceptualised already but there'll just be a bit of a wait.
Kind regards - Lothcat1138