"Brasso, are you available for a bit of a chat tonight?," Cassian asked through the intercom at his friend's door. It was a little late at night, but he knew that Brasso very rarely went to bed early anyway, despite his work schedule at the factory. That was precisely why Cassian had quit that job. He guessed that he he wasn't made for long hours of monotonous and repetitive work, day after day.
And that was one of the things that weighed on him when he thought about his burgeoning feelings for Jyn. His inability to keep a steady job anywhere. How was he supposed to make a good impression on Jyn if he was constantly changing jobs, scavenging, fiddling and stealing from the Empire whenever the occasion arose? Too often he wasn't even sure where or how he was going to earn some credits. He hadn't given two shits about that in the past, and that was one of his shortcomings which his family and friends insistently reproached him for since he was a boy, but he hadn't listened seriously.
"Of course, just give me a couple minutes, Your Highness. As usual, your sense of timing is bitchin'." Even through the static of the intercom, Brasso's voice oozed his trademark dry sarcasm.
Cassian smiled mischievously, even if his friend couldn't see him. "Ohhh, have I interrupted something?," he asked in fake, exaggerated innocence, enjoying the other man's predicament.
It wasn't the first time that they caught the other one with their pants down, literally. Brasso, though generally much more discreet and less licentious than Cassian concerning sex affairs, was quite the quiet casanova himself, no pun intended, Cassian thought in amusement.
He knew that Brasso was currently seeing a working partner whose marriage had fallen apart recently, and she was seeking easy sex and fun after her emotional stress. Brasso was free and willing to give her what she was looking for, and thus they fell on his bed.
But Brasso never denied Cassian his companionship when he needed his reassuring presence, and viceversa, whenever they could. Cassian felt just an ounce of guilt for putting an end to his best friend's night of sex. He hoped that Brasso at least had had time to finish whatever he'd been performing.
"Bastard," Brasso grumbled grumpily but without real venom, and his pickup's angry voice went next in the intercom. "One of these days someone is going to find your fucking corpse on a dark alley, you dumbshit Andor," Veera said very irritably. Cassian had known her for years from the factory, and she was cute, witty, cheeky, rude, bad-tempered and harmless.
He laughed openly, aware that his blatant amusement wouldn't earn him Veera's good disposition. He realized that he needed that comic relief in the middle of his own emotional turmoil.
A short while later, the door opened and a dreadfully cranky and a bit disheveled Veera appeared, sticking her forefinger into Cassian's chest quite forcefully and painfully. "You son of a bitch, you're lucky I had time to get off at least once. I have a mind to do you the same courtesy when you're with one of your chicks, but be warned that you'll have the severest case of blue balls of your entire cursed life, I swear."
Cassian raised his hands in teasing surrender. "Now, now, so vengeful. You just admitted that you already got off once, so why the fuss?"
Veera huffed and growled. "Next time wait at least until he sticks his dick into me, would you? Or otherwise I'll give you the promised case of blue balls in exchange for his."
"Okay, okay, next time I catch you two together you just go on and notify me when you're both done," Cassian tried to appease breezely.
"As if that would happen. Brasso's not the type to screw with an audience on the other side of the wall, and besides he would never let you down, you jerk. I sometimes think that he and you should fuck each other, that would spare the rest of us a lot of headaches," Veera snapped while storming off briskly and giving him the finger.
Cassian guffawed and watched the foul-mouthed spitfire of a woman vanish at the corner of the street. Then he crossed the threshold into the small foyer, connected to the sitting room. Brasso's flat was indeed a loft, with just a single room to dwell in. The only separate space was the refresher, which was little more than a pretentious closet with barely room for a shower and a toilet.
"So glad to have you make me be left at half-mast, asshole," Brasso greeted him, not bothering much to rearrange his, as well as the room's, state of disarray. The bed was rumpled and there were used glasses on the table together with a half-full bottle of Corellian whiskey.
Cassian whistled in appreciation. "Wow! That one must be something between the sheets for you to wangle a bottle of high-class Corellian. You didn't tell me, you scrooge." And he proceeded to grab a clean glass from the rack above the sink and poured himself a generous dose. He needed the extra support if he was going to broach the difficult topic of his feelings for Jyn.
"By all means, feel free to make yourself at home," Brasso told him off in his phlegmatically sarcastic manner.
Cassian waved his other hand while taking a sip of the strong, tasty liquor. "Meh, you were to offer it to me anyway, I've just saved you the trouble."
"Oh, indeed. So considerate," Brasso retorted and sat in one of his scarce chairs, crossing his imposing arms. "And well? What's that so worthy of ruining my sex life?"
Cassian followed suit and took another chair. "Come on, Brass, I promise I'll make it up to you."
Brasso lifted a thick eyebrow. "Oh? Are you volunteering yourself? I'm afraid you're not my type. Too much beardy and annoying to my taste."
Cassian hid his snort behind another sip of whiskey. "I was thinking more in terms of gifting you and Veera a night of passion at the hotel or a short getaway. I'm sure she won't complain for once."
It was Brasso's turn to snort. "I might take your word for it, now that you're quite close to a rich jerk."
Cassian chuckled and then blushed. He was already feeling the effects of the whiskey in his blood. "It's Jyn," he blurted.
Brasso lifted both his eyebrows that time. "What about her?"
Cassian blushed even more. "I like her. A lot," he emphasized.
Brasso watched him skeptically. "I see."
"You're playing dumb on purpose, aren't you? I deserve it, I know," Cassian said, conciliatory. "And now that you've taken revenge on my indiscretion, will you please take this seriously?"
"I got it, Cass," Brasso said with a defeated sigh. "You have the hots for her. I've noticed it since the first time you searched for me a few days ago and you had that distracted air around you. I knew that you'd met someone who had impacted on you quite a deal. You're not exactly subtle, not to me at least. I haven't seen you like that since your thing with Bix, and it's been a few years since that."
Cassian covered his face with his hands. "I don't know what to do." He heard his friend's huff of mocking surprise.
"What? Such a ladies' man like you, doesn't know what to do and is asking his long-suffering best friend for advice?" It looked like Brasso was beginning to enjoy the situation too much.
I had it coming, Cassian thought in resigned self-deprecating amusement. "Yeah, that's precisely what I'm doing. You happy now?"
"Not by a long shot. I'm sexually frustrated, looking at your insufferable face and hearing your plaintive voice instead of nailing Veera this very moment on that bed just over there. Please, excuse me if I'm not very suitable for love advice right now."
Cassian held back a wide smile, quite unsuccessfully. "Oh, come on. I'll persuade Veera to blowjob you to death if necessary, and now please can we go back to the topic?"
Brasso relented with an eyeroll and a sigh. "Okay. But why is it so difficult for you to tell her how you feel? You think she doesn't feel the same? If it soothes you, I watched her carefully the night the four of us went out and, although she gave the impression of being quite a guarded person, I caught the glances she shot at you. If she's not greatly interested in you, then I'd better devote the rest of my life to becoming a chaste monk, because obviously I've lost my touch."
That ridiculous remark had indeed the effect of soothing Cassian's fears a lot. Brasso was much cleverer than what he usually showed behind his quiet, calm, gruff appearance. "That's precisely the problem. She's different, vastly different, from the type I always deal with. She's been terribly alone, looked down on and manhandled for years, Brass. I'm scared of taking a wrong step and hurting her."
Brasso remained silent for a few seconds, thoughtful. "You've always had a soft spot for strong, resilient women. Bix was the only one capable of capturing your heart, and we know she's tough as nails. The others you've dealt with since then have been the safe choice, it was always easy with them because they weren't really your romantic type, you just fancied them physically and there were no feelings involved, am I right?"
Cassian nodded, grateful for his friend's wise insight.
Brasso went on. "You've been afraid inadvertently of meeting a truly strong woman, because that's what appeals to you the most, but it scares you the most too. That's Bix's main trait, but you weren't mature enough for her at the time. Are you mature enough for Jyn now? If you feel you're not, better let her go, because I don't believe she'll be willing to put up with your shit, like Bix got too tired of it and of waiting for you to grow up," he expounded blatantly. "Make up your mind and don't look for excuses. You're in or you're out. It's that simple."
Cassian's heart jumped in thrill and his jaw almost dropped in massive relief at his friend's succinct and extremely accurate observation.
He know what he had to do, because he couldn't deny his feelings anymore, and the alternative was too hard to contemplate.
He had to be the bravest he'd ever been.