A/N: A tumblr prompt fill! This got wayyy out of hand and I'm not sure about characterization, but I tried! And had fun writing it, too. :D
For people who do not know if they will see next day, Rebels sure party a lot. Or perhaps that's exactly the reason why. Though 'party' is a mightily stretched term for groups gathering together in the makeshift cantina and drinking until they sing or drop. (Or both.)
Usually, Jyn does not join them, still feeling like there's invisible wall between her and rest of the rebels. With equally invisible ink words 'Galen Erso's daughter' are written on it and she isn't sure if there's any door in this wall that would lead to them occupying the same space. Doesn't really care to find it, either. She has her Rogue One team. That's more than she could ever imagine.
But tonight she's angry and either she will drink it away or punch it out of her system. Probably the latter. It'd be best if she could hit Draven, for making Cassian so busy he has been basically ignoring her for a week now while she's forced to sit back and do nothing. Baze and Chirrut have each other for endless bickering and Bodhi's busy learning to be X-Wing pilot, but no one is teaching her that, as she's too unpredictable in field.
Bantha assholes. Every last of them.
So, if she can't touch their precious ships, she's at least going to peruse their booze collection. Especially since this is a larger gathering they're all suggested to attend. Even Cassian is here, in middle of small crowd, most likely discussing something work related. The bottle in his hand looks half empty, not that she's checking or anything.
Jyn downs another glass (or two) of something sweet and suddenly, he's by her side. "Don't you think you've had enough?" Cassian asks with a frown she wants to slap off his face. Who gave him right to-to…
The thought floats away, as does lights and the next thing she's aware of is metal ceiling above her and dryness in her mouth that would make Jedha jealous.
She makes a groaning noise, rubbing her face with hands. There is dull ache in her temples, like distant boots thundering over metal floors. When did she get back to her room? The last thing she remembers is… Drinking something that felt far too sweet to belong in Rebel Alliance party.
Jyn sits up and then nearly falls back when she notices the slumped form in her only chair. She must have made some noise, too, because the person groans and straightens up some. It is both relieving and shocking to see that it's Cassian.
"Why are you in my room?" she asks, tingles of horror (that has to be the cause) running up her spine.
"Your room? Look around, you're in my room." He very clearly does not have time for her hungover-fueled accusations. But the answer does nothing but create more questions. (And he's right, it definitely is Cassian's room when she gives it a second look, though they both they have kept it nearly void of any personal marks, hers is still somehow more messy.)
"Why am I in your room?" she asks his back because he's very grumpily looking for something in the small dresser.
"Look," Cassian flops down on the small cot, rubbing his bloodshot eyes, before focusing entirely on Jyn.
"You passed out…straight into my arms. I had to get you out of there and my room's closer." He pauses and then apparently decides to toe the line he's been just considering.
"You know, if you wanted my attention you didn't have to go to such extremes." There is something in his tone, shining through the weariness, that is nearly new. It hums a soft tune of teasing (flirting) and hope, creating an echo in her own heart.
One Jyn cannot ignore in this moment when he's so close she can distinguish the pupil in his dark eyes even in this low light, smiling wryly in a way that has had her heart fluttering recently. (It's because he has been starting to smile more in these past few months. Surely because of that.)
"If I wanted your attention, I would do this..."
She is still drunk, it seems. She must be, to reach and grab Cassian by his shirt collar and drag him in for a sloppy clash of mouths.
It is about as awful as you would expect from a kiss between two people who drank too much and have not brushed their teeth and yet, it is also the best one she's ever had. (To be honest, her experience is not very grand, but the part Jyn that can still think is convinced it doesn't matter - this would still blow her mind.)
When they part, she has to untangle her fingers from his now truly messy hair, but his gently firm hold on her wrist stops the process. "Consider my attention wholly gained." His other hand stalls in its search for a satisfying path that joins nape of her neck and waist, resting between her shoulderblades.
He looks like hell, she wants to smack him for acting like a smartass in a moment like this, and yet this is safest and most held she's felt in decades. And the wavering fear of rejection, of it all being nothing more than lapse in judgement that dances in Cassian's eyes is too much a reflection of herself that she can do nothing but try to kiss it away.
It is slower now, more deliberate, just as amazing and she... "Cassian - Oh. I did not realize you were held captive by a witch."
They break apart so quickly it could put lightspeed to shame. Yet, somehow neither make excuses that 'this was nothing'. "If you have been freed from the wicked clutches, your presence has been requested," K-2so says dryly, but somehow, it feels like he is about to start dripping resentment instead of machine oil.
"I will be out in a second," Cassian tells him, hurriedly standing up. The droid disappears as quickly as he had come. There is silence, definitely awkward one, before Jyn erupts in laughter, burying face in hands. Cassian stares at her for a moment before joining in, though more quietly.
"Caught... Like two teenagers... By disapproving, stern parent. I can't believe this," she chokes out. It feels so surreal, that there would be someone she wishes to kiss, someone who would care what she does (or does not do), that at this moment K-2so has informed at least their three friends and there are credits passed around for bets lost and won. Because she belongs somewhere.
"Don't worry about K-2. He will get used to it. Until then - this is rebellion. We rebel," Cassian tells her, shrugging on his jacket with a wry, if a little self-conscious smile. And her heart does an odd lurch at this, at the promise of something more, nearly a future. "You can use my fresher and there's something for headache in top drawer."
He hesitates then, lingering between the bed and doorway, before he makes up his mind and moves closer, pressing fleeting kiss to her forehead.
"See you later."
By the time she processes it, Cassian's already out of the door and maybe it's better that way. Because it's all so sudden (not at all, it has been building up for months) and too much. And somehow also so them. After all, when have they done anything like other people, when will they ever have 'normal'? They just have to create their own brand of right.
It will not be easy, Jyn thinks, they both have luggage in size of a small moon, but their stubbornness is much larger and now that they have taken these first steps…They will walk the rest of the way, too, wherever it may take them. Together.