(A/N)- Set sometime after "Trials of the Darksaber". Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I am up laaaaaaate getting these done, lmao. Don't mind me. I don't own.
Day 3: Surprise
Light pink sky up on the roof
Sun sinks down, no curfew
Twenty questions, we tell the truth
You've been stressed out lately? Yeah, me too
Something gave you the nerve
To touch my hand
-"It's Nice To Have A Friend" by Taylor Swift
"Just a little bit further," Ezra promised her, both hands taking her forearm now, guiding her over a particularly tricky patch of ground.
"Are you going to tell me where we're going yet?" Sabine complained, stumbling a little as she followed after him, her eyes firmly closed per his directions.
"You'll see," he just said, glancing ahead eagerly, thrumming with anticipation. "You're gonna love it."
"Certainly hope so, with how long it's taking to walk there," he heard her grumble.
Ezra stifled back a laugh, eyes eager and wide. He kept checking her footing to make sure she wouldn't stumble, kept checking forward for the familiar landmarks.
There was the weird oblong fern that curled up almost like a leaf of Rodian firecabbage... there was the sanded yellow rock that jutted out like a pointed finger...
Sabine gripped his wrist tightly, cautious and yet trusting him completely, never letting her closed eyes crack once. The ground leveled out beneath them, and Ezra quickened their pace, leading them up the sandy incline to the top of the ridge they'd been climbing to.
He brought Sabine right up to the flat part at the top.
The view from here was breathtaking, the Atollon plains laid out in a vast tapestry of orange and yellow and brown washed pink by the setting sun. Dry coral and scub brush dotted the landscape, showcasing a harsh beauty he knew Sabine would appreciate.
Grabbing her other wrist, he positioned her very carefully, then let go and took a step back.
"Okay," he said. "Open them."
Sabine pried open her eyes.
They widened, shock and awe crossing her face as she gasped, a breathless sound of adoration that sent tingles straight through his head.
"Oh—!" she exclaimed, speechless. Her hands rose up to clench in front of her chest.
He watched her take in the picturesque scene, her eyes scanning the horizon to the distant falling sun, surprise and delight and wonder competing for space in her soft features, and felt warm with a heady kind of glee.
For a moment, he let her enjoy it. Just existed with her while she let it soak into her mind. The shimmer in her eyes and the happiness he could feel off her in the Force almost made him breathless, warm with affection and love.
She was... beautiful like this. He felt like he would give anything to see her this way all the time.
Her glimmering eyes were focusing in on him, her smile so wide it was like all the weight had been lifted off her.
"Ezra, this is..." She couldn't even speak, shaking her head to try and kickstart her words. "I should have brought my sketchbook," she bemoaned, still grinning.
"Luckily I thought ahead," Ezra told her, one hand on her shoulder, the other hand pointing, directing her attention to a spot just a little off to the side, where a blanket had been spread across the ground with disposable plates arranged on it and a little easel with a canvas and a small collection of paints stood proudly next to it.
Sabine laughed, a wonderful, musical sound, hands still up by her chest. "A picnic and a new paint set?" Her eyes sparkled at him. "Ezra Bridger is this a date?" she teased.
His face flamed red instantly, her comment immediately unseating all his confidence and making him feel awkward and fourteen again, fumbling and flailing to say something that wouldn't offend her.
"No, I mean—!" he squeaked. He coughed once, harshly, into his fist. "Not if you don't... want it to be, I just thought it'd be nice, you know, something to say 'Congratulations on surviving darksaber training.' or, you know..." he trailed off awkwardly, looking down, rubbing his head. "Something like that."
She touched his arm softly, reassuringly.
"This is lovely," she assured him. "And thanks." She shook her head. "Honestly, if Kanan's as much of a hardass on you as he was on me then you've got nerves of durasteel," she joked.
"He is little scary sometimes," Ezra admitted, relieved. "And I know it's not easy to be so open and emotionally raw like that," he sympathized.
"It was..." Sabine paused a moment, thinking about her next words. "Cathartic," she decided upon. "I think I needed it."
Ezra just nodded in agreement. It was a familiar kind of peace he felt off Sabine now, the kind that had to be ripped out of you, cut by painful cut, breaking down and screaming out your feelings into the Force until it could seep in through the noise and calm you. A quiet, sober kind of relief to be free of one's burdens.
Sabine was moving forward, looking around and marveling at his setup. "When did you find this place?" she asked. "This isn't on any of our normal sentry routes."
Ezra's mouth twitched grimly as he dropped eyes, glanced aside.
"I used to come up here to get away from everything. Back when..." He swallowed thickly around a sudden tightness in his throat. "...when me and Kanan weren't speaking."
Soft pity was in Sabine's eyes. She didn't probe or ask for more details, silently understanding, just tugged him down by the sleeve as she sat on the blanket.
He sat with her, accepting the plate she passed him, burying his feelings by picking up the chalky loaf of bread and biting into it noisily.
"I'm sorry," Sabine was saying. She curled her knees up, draping her arms over them. "I know it was hard for you back then."
Ezra swallowed his mouthful and offered a faint smile. "I had you to pull me out of the worst of it," he said. "I don't know if I can thank you enough for that."
Sabine looked off with a shrug. "I know what it's like to feel abandoned by everyone you loved and looked up to. Someone had to look out for you," she told him. She let a grin steal across her face and reached over to tweak his ear playfully. "Keep you from doing something stupid," she quipped.
He covered his ear in mock offense. "Not sure you really succeeded in that," he joked back.
They could laugh now but Force those six months after Malachor had been painful. He really was glad Sabine had been there; she had always managed to keep the negative, holocron-tinged voices away.
He let her steal the bread loaf from his plate and steered the conversation to a safer subject, namely, how busy they'd been lately. Sabine commiserated and swapped frustrating stories, went on an entire rant about AP-5's munition sorting habits while she popped open the paints and splashed color on the canvas, checking behind the easel at the glowing orange-rose sky in front of them.
Their little picnic snacks slowly disappeared as they talked, eased by each other's presence. Ezra watched and marveled at her skill as she put soft brushstrokes to paper, capturing the Atollon sunset with careful precision.
The faintest glimmer of stars were starting to peek out of the velvet sky by the time they wrapped up. Ezra gathered up plates and tossed crumbs as Sabine wiped down her brushes and capped the paint cans.
They stood, supplies in hand, and then Sabine unexpectedly leaned in and pressed lips to his cheek.
Ezra froze, mind going quite blank, unable to kickstart back into function. His heart thumped loud and painful in his chest as Sabine drew back with a lovely smile.
"Thank you," she whispered. "I had a really good time."
Ezra wished he could say something in response, but his brain was still useless; all that left him was a squeaky sound of acknowledgment, something that sounded like, Mhm-hmm, and Sabine was already turned away and picking up the blanket to fold it and Ezra was left picking up the pieces and spinning inside his head and wondering what exactly she'd meant by the gesture.
All he'd wanted to do was share his favorite spot with her, maybe impress her with a beautiful sunset, and it was her who'd caught him off guard, yet again.
It was effortless, the way she could affect him.
He had so many questions.
But he kept them back, gathering up their things and preparing for the long journey back to base under the deepening twilight.
(A/N)- Imma gnaw on my own knuckles they're so frigging cute.
I say, as if I did not myself write this.
Are some of my headcanons leaking in? Maaaaaybe.
