(Author's Note: prompt: a 'we're actually kind of being silly for once' kiss)
On reflection, the umbrella may have been a bridge too far.
It isn't really an umbrella, technically- a length of torn-up parachute due for recycling tied to a few piece of scrap rebar- but it keeps the sun off her face. That's the important thing. But oh, the Odessen sun feels good after the chill rain of Dromund Kaas.
Nine rolls over onto her stomach, folding her shirt up and the waistband of her shorts down to expose as much skin as possible and still maintain a modicum of decency. The thin blanket she's laying on only barely cushions her from the riveted panels beneath her, but-
Someone's coming up the ladder; she lifts her head.
"I thought I heard something up here," Theron says, just coming into view as he clears the edge of the tower's roof. "D'you need help with-"
He stops, eyeing her, the blanket and makeshift sunshade, and she waves cheerfully before folding her arms beneath her head.
"What are you doing up here?"
"Sunbathing. Obviously." She squints up at him. "And you're standing in my light."
He crouches down beside her. "On top of the control tower? I'm almost afraid to ask."
"According to Doctor Oggurobb, my vitamin D levels are worryingly low. He suggested a course of supplements, but I'm sick to death of the infirmary so I thought I'd work on it the low-tech way." She presses a bottle of UV protectant into his hand. "And yes, you can help. You can spray my back."
"At your service," Theron grins. "You are the Commander. Though I hesitate to mention that this probably runs counter to your stated purpose."
"Likely. You remember Tatooine, though." (She forgot to respray, just once, their last op on Tatooine. She peeled for a week after that.)
He shakes the bottle, settling down cross-legged in the shadow cast by the chute-silk. "Say no more."
The spray's cold but his hands are warm as the sunlight when he runs them along her skin, up and down her back and shoulders and arms and legs; she closes her eyes, content, and when he's done he presses a kiss to the nape of her neck.
"I'll leave you to your tan," Theron murmurs into her ear before she reaches out to catch him by the sleeve.
"Stay awhile, won't you? I need a pillow." With her grip on him as leverage, she shifts onto her back, resting her head in his lap with a wink. "And you've still got to do my front."
"You are-" he leans down, smirking, when she beckons, and his mouth tastes like the sunblock smells, something tropical that reminds her of Rishi on the days when the breeze blew in from the sea- "an absolute slavedriver. But i suppose I could be persuaded."
She grins and-
A shout from far below, down at the base of the tower- "Commander? Are you out here?"
When they both peer over the edge of the tower Lana's standing on the platform, looking up in obvious confusion.
"What in the Void," she says, "are you two doing up there?"
"Sunbathing," they reply in unison, and dissolve into fits of helpless laughter as Lana shakes her head and sighs.