Luke was starving. He'd avoided the galley for all the harassing Rogue Group would give him, but he couldn't stand it anymore. He braced himself for the onslaught as he walked through the tight corridors, but managed to get his tray of food and sit down at an empty spot of a table receiving nothing more than hellos from various acquaintances.

Quietly trying to keep to himself, Luke stabbed into the overcooked vegetable salad and avoided eye contact with everyone. It worked until another tray slapped down on the table so hard the food bounced. Wedge threaded his legs onto the bench to sit opposite of him.

Luke peered up and tried not to glare. But he also tried not to grin.

"Took you long enough," Wedge said as he began to cut up his food.

Luke eyed him, in request and in warning, as he sipped his water. He turned his eyes back to his plate.

Wedge watched him in daring as he chewed down his first bite.

Luke dashed his head aside, "I waited until her training was over." He met Wedge's eyes with honesty. "Did you expect anything else out of me?"

"No. Course not. It just seemed like your asceticism lasted longer than the end of her training."

Luke nudged a piece of food out of his molar and shook his head. "It didn't."

Wedge's brow arched with disbelief.

"Is that why you shot at a target I already had locked?" He stabbed at his food. "Because you thought I froze?"

"I didn't shoot at your target, Luke." Wedge said in a low voice. "I never even aimed. And you know it."

Blue eyes angled up from under blonde eyebrows.

Wedge met the hard stare. "I'm sorry if it worried you." Wedge remained steadfast in his apology. "It won't happen again."

Untrusting, Luke pulled his eyes back down to his tray.

Wedge leaned over and thumb over his shoulder, lowering his voice to a whisper. "I've had two girlfriends in the time it took you to train her. And I didn't need Jedi tricks to see the frustration you put her through. I ought to beat your ass for making her wait so long." Angry in his own right, Wedge stabbed at his food.

Luke chewed, distracted. His eyes watched Wedge's fork forcibly cut into the hockey puck of protein. He missed his best friend. He needed his best friend right now. "I'm thinking about proposing when this thing is over."

Wedge's eyes shot up. His mouth parted in shock. Delight quickly swelled out of his Force Print. His smile spread. "Yeah?"

The man's emotional response was exactly what Luke needed to trust him again. He closed his eyes, overwhelmed, and began to smile that he admitted it before he consciously decided it. "Yeah."

Wedge sat up as he chewed, resting his fork hand on the table beside him, and nodded hard. "Good."

Luke's eyes turned up.

Kayla slid in beside Luke until she bumped him and squealed with secret glee. "Whatchyou two gabbing about over here?"

Both men turned their eyes to her and back to each other, sharing a slow blink of humored patience.

Wedge folded his elbows on the table in front of him and opened his mouth—

"Don't." Luke lifted a finger. Then thumbed over his shoulder at the woman nearly cuddling his side to poke her nose into their business. "She can't keep her mouth shut."

Wedge grinned big at Luke. "In some things she can," and those eyes shifted back to Kayla. "Apparently."

Kayla sat up with a smiling warning. "Now, now. Don't start something you can't finish, flyboy."

Wedge chuckled and pulled his elbows to return to his eating. His voice was carefully quiet. "That's 'Commander' to you now, peaches."

Luke's eyes flashed open. He looked at Wedge and over at Kayla. His mouth dropped open at the emotions he detected out of the two.

Wedge's eyes glanced up with a guilty grin.

Luke chortled, "Target acquired?"

"Nope." Wedge shoved a bite into his mouth and talked over his chewing. "Target lost."

"And new target acquired," Kayla gave him a teasing smile back.

Wedge gave her a scolding eye to shut the fuck up, but Luke could sense his grinning.

"Who are you talking about?" Luke queried.

Kayla dropped her ear to Luke's shoulder and batted her eyelashes. "See? I can keep a secret."

Luke shook his head at her. "Not this big."

Her brows flicked.

Wedge ordered as friendly backup. "Leave it alone, Kayla. You'll hear it from the right person."

Luke kept his eyes on his plate, but he felt Kayla smile at the hint. She and Wedge drifted into a conversation about gossip amongst the ranks. Apparently, Rogan said something to Jewie to put her in a twist and Kayla told the Commander only because he needed to know a possible disconnect of teamwork was pending just before a firefight. Wedge listened and asked few questions about what she heard, then nodded her to shut about it and let him handle it.

"Did you see her before we left?" Kayla asked him as she ate.

Wedge's eyes lifted, shifted, and squinted. "Jewie's on board with us."

"I'm not talking about Jewie anymore, dummy."

Wedge closed his eyes.

Kayla murmured suggestively. "Kess could round up a double date when we get to Coruscant."

Wedge shook his head. "I don't need a wingman for that." He eyed Luke, "No offense."

Luke shrugged, more so because he still didn't know who they were talking about, but he paid attention for clues.

Kayla hid her quiet words by hovering her fork in front of her mouth before a bite. "So you gonna dive for it?"

Wedge swallowed carefully and whispered over. "She doesn't date pilots."

Yana! Luke thought, and began to grin. He had known Yana longer than any of the rest of that gang. Yana's 'rules' about not dating pilots were well told.

"That can be remedied," Kayla assured the man.

Luke watched, with his eyes and with the Force, to find Wedge considered this offer heavily, then squinted at Kayla out of the side of his eyes as if considering further her power to aid in the situation. . . .

The last of Luke's worry about Wedge and Kess promptly disintegrated.

Still, as a caring friend of them both, the man had a right to certain confirmations. Maybe if Wedge was assured that Luke didn't freeze, Wedge would be emboldened not to freeze himself.

Luke put his fork down and wiped his mouth. "Kayla, will you do me a favor?"

Her attention snapped over.

The Jedi stood from the table and motioned his chin over at Wedge. "Tell him what you know about Kess and me."

Kayla blinked in surprise.

"Convince him I didn't wait like he thinks."

Wedge grinned as Luke left, and Kayla launched into whispered diatribe behind Luke's back.