runaway rebelcaptain kisses in the rain, the fic-version of this gorgeous artwork by @crazy-fruit <3! | Ao3 link, 680 words | @rebelcaptainprompts, soaked
Jyn ran, hair slicked to her face and Cassian’s hand clutching drenched into hers. They turned, turned again, tiny lights speckled bright in the puddles, blurry when their boots kicked over the surface. The storm grew heavier and the alleyways darker- they had made it outside the city.
They were safe.
“Close,” panted Cassian, his shirt plastered wet across his chest. “That was close.”
Jyn skipped her back against a permacite wall, tried to catch her breath. She smiled- her exhale a wisp of fog- she tipped her head and let the rain splatter over the last of her makeup.
“Not close enough,” she managed, her mouth pulling wry at the corner. “Didn’t even get to test our cover story.”
Cassian gave a husky laugh, leant into the wall beside her. He steadied himself, shoulders lifting as his heartbeat slowed, the hollow of his throat gently dipped as he swallowed.
“The one about our wedding anniversary?” he chuckled, blinking raindrops from his eyes.
“May I introduce my husband, Ambassador Joreth Sward, returning from his five year diplomatic mission,” Jyn recited, grinning. “To enjoy my company and an evening of hand-to-hand dancing, dignified whispers and passionate kisses against the red velvet curtains when anyone important happens to pass.”
Cassian stared at her, for a moment unanchored as when they nearly lost each other in the crowd. A second later and the expression was gone, Jyn wondered if it had ever been there at all.
Guess I’m just getting too good at the whole undercover business, Jyn thought to tease.
“You know, it’s funny…” she started instead, drifted her hand to the small of Cassian’s spine. “I could’ve sworn I saw some of the party guests just before the last corner.”
Cassian was still, silent, Jyn’s hand felt hot and shaky as she let her palm rest above his belt. Her cheeks were flushed despite the cold, water trickling down the neckline of her green silk blouse.
“But it was also very dark,” she added, tried to clear her throat. “And misty. And I was mostly concentrating on not slipping-”
“I… might’ve seen some guests too,” Cassian ventured, his voice coarse and unsure. “Possibly. No one I could name. But maybe…”
“-you can never be too careful-” mumbled Jyn, tucking her fist into the damp of Cassian’s shirt to stop her fingers from trembling.
“-whilst on a mission-” said Cassian, the words barely making a sound as the sky crackled overhead. A small pop of lightning scattered between the clouds, Cassian’s face caught torn and hesitating, he softly reached for Jyn’s cheek.
Gentle, Jyn caged both hands to the rough of his jaw, her heart stung in her chest and her eyes shuttered closed. She opened them a second later when Cassian breathed out- a small, aching sound- wrapped his arms tight round her back and near lifted her from her feet. Jyn kissed him, hard, his mouth prickling warm in the downpour, his lower lip squashed beneath hers. His eyebrows tipped up at the centre, droplets of water catching on his eyelashes as he barely held her gaze. Jyn kissed him, deeper and breakneck, tender when he tightened their embrace, fierce when she held him tighter still. His hair dripped against her brow, she grazed her thumbs below his cheekbones, the scrape of a scar by his collar. He was there- right there- Jyn had never been this close.
And yet, somehow, she always had.
“I don’t want to let go,” Cassian said quietly, his brown eyes creasing at the edges as Jyn felt herself smile.
“I’m not,” Jyn whispered, their shadows faded together as the night tangled in. “I won’t.”
One day, Jyn imagined, she’d tell him she didn’t much like parties, and that a darkened alley in the middle of a storm was everything she hoped a first kiss would be.
She’d tell him when they were somewhere safe, somewhere warm, surprise him when he’d least expect.
If there was nothing left, nothing but each other.
Kay didn’t glance up from proofreading Cassian’s essay, continued his systematic deletion of whole paragraphs in what Cassian assumed was a well-meaning gesture.
“Do you ever get the feeling that… you’ve met someone before?”
“Yes,” Kay said flatly, eyes still fixed on the laptop. “When someone starts talking to me, or uses my name, or sits next to me in a lecture, or makes the terrible mistake of inviting me to a party… I often get the feeling that they know who I am.”
“Right,” said Cassian, distracted by the number of folders and post-its spread around Kay’s feet. The last time his roommate devised a cross-referencing system for their study notes, it had taken Cassian several days just to locate the contents page.
“But I mean like… in another life.”
Kay paused his typing, a half-chewed stylus drooping from one side of his mouth.
“Cassian,” he said slowly, “exactly how much sleep have you lost over this assignment?”
“None- okay, some,” Cassian admitted, drew a breath when Kay’s deadpan expression didn’t change. “I’m feeling a lot more prepared today though.”
“Prepared and perfectly sane are not mutually exclusive parameters,” Kay said dryly.
“Give me two minutes.” Cassian grinned, kicked Kay’s boots from the couch so he could sit. “and then I promise you can spend the next two hours explaining how dynamic interfacing works in non-binary devices.”
Kay reached for his coffee, tried not to smile.
“Your negotiation skills need work,” he muttered. “I would’ve heard you out for thirty.”
“Infinite universe theory,” said Cassian, pointedly closing Kay’s laptop. “Is the idea that at any given time, in another universe there is another version of ourselves, making different choices that take us down completely different paths.”
Kay folded his legs beneath him, stirred his coffee with a finger. Cassian frowned, tugged at the sleeves of his jacket.
“...what if those paths somehow crossed?”
“I suppose,” Kay said slowly, almost to himself. “Given time and space is infinite, no matter how small the likelihood of something, given an infinite amount of time and an infinite number of possibilities, then the likelihood of any given possibility occurring at some time, or somewhere, all the time… is in fact a certainty.”
There was a small silence. When Cassian blinked, Kay dropped his stare to his lap, gently huffed a breath as his hair fell over his eyes.
“There’s as much chance of recognising someone from another world as there is one existing,” he finished.
In the pause that followed, Cassian felt a strange prickle over his skin, as if somewhere, at some time, a light right next to him had flared to black.
That in a universe of infinite outcomes, one single possibility could make enough difference to spill into the rest.
When Kay looked up, Cassian was almost sure he felt it too.
“So maybe it isn’t whether you’ve met before,” Cassian said quietly, grateful for Kay’s company as the room grew still. “But when you’ll meet again.”
part 7 of 7 - the rescue mission concludes | Ao3 link [or, from the beginning]
thank you so so much @jynappreciationweek for this celebration, it has been amazing and wonderful and I have enjoyed every day of it! Thank you! :’D
Jyn expects the lift from atmosphere to be quiet. They’ve disobeyed Council orders, risked critical information in the event of their capture. They went back on a deal, the mission was never intended to trade like for like. And they used potentially lethal force- Jyn still isn’t sure who made it out and who didn’t.
No one is quiet. Cassian reboots Kaytoo at the back of the fuselage, Bodhi jams the craft into autopilot and leaps over two stowage crates, slams into the droid’s chest so hard that he almost sends them both to the floor.
“What are you- you’re going to hurt yourself,” K-2 says incredulously, his long arms hover stiffly in the air as Bodhi hugs tightly round his middle, face buried in Kay’s metal plating. Careful, like he isn’t quite sure how the action works, Kaytoo ventures an arm around the pilot’s shoulders, then gently, the other.
A few paces away, Baze has one large hand gripped firmly into Cassian’s shoulder, his smile curves worn and rough.
Jyn finds herself talking without pause, fragments of stories spilling over as Chirrut binds a wound in her palm. Jyn has no idea where the memories are coming from, there are so many she thought she’d lost.
Across the space, Cassian’s eyes reach for hers, softly creasing at the edges.
“In the tome of the Guardians,” Chirrut muses, considering. “Bravery is not written as a quality of the body. It is of the soul.”
“In the tome of the Guardians, the symbol for bravery looks very similar to the symbol for recklessness,” Baze calls loudly over the engine, and Chirrut answers with a wide smile.
Later, when the rest of the team have fallen asleep swapping accounts of who-did-what-when, Cassian shuffles his sleeping bag to the pod next to Jyn’s.
Tentative, Jyn catches the zip on her own sleeper, tugs a wide enough gap and squeezes up in the corner of the material. When Cassian doesn’t take the cue, she feels a sad lump rise in her throat.
She’s seen it before, adrenaline running high as the stakes. It isn’t personal.
“Jyn,” says Cassian, he’s trying to whisper but the word sounds scraped and torn. “About what I said-”
“It’s okay,” Jyn hushes, quickly to spare him. “I still mean it. I’m still here for you.”
She shrugs, as best she can whilst laying on a metal hull at least, she’d rather see him get some rest before facing Draven. Cassian knots his eyebrows, confused for a second, then untangles his arms from the rest pod, cages both hands tightly around Jyn’s.
“I was going to say-” he swallows, grimaces, Jyn steels herself not to blink. “That I meant every word. But if that’s not something you want, or it’s not the right time-”
He trails off, searching, ash and mud from the jungle is still gritted into his skin. Jyn wants to respond, reaches between her scars for something she can begin to understand.
There’s only peace. There’s only them.
“Jyn…” rasps Cassian, and Jyn draws the clasp of their fingers to her cheek. Unthinking, she grazes a kiss to his palm, closes her hand where his knuckles have started to bruise. He breathes in, sharp, his mouth crumples at one corner.
“I don’t know if there’s ever a right time,” she whispers hoarsely. “For people like us. Who make choices like this-”
She glances around the U-Wing, the creaks and battered equipment, the mud-soaked camouflage and a comms-system they can rely upon to break.
“But I know that I want this,” she continues, her lips are dry and her voice raw. “All of this. Whatever happens and whatever it means. I know I love you too.”
Cassian stares. He trembles his thumb over the hook of her finger, shadows dark beneath his eyes.
“So get over here already,” Jyn breathes a laugh, nods to the empty space in her sleeping bag as Cassian slowly twitches to a smile. He nudges closer, gentle, curls his body into the dips and edges of hers. His limbs are heavy, warm; Jyn’s ear is pressed to his chest and his face buried in the damp of her hair. It feels reckless. It feels brave.
“Tell me one more time,” Jyn mumbles, hopes she’s spent enough tomorrow to forget hearing herself say it. But she’s never seen Cassian smile like he does when he leans up, he kisses her like that day will never come.
“I love you, Jyn,” he whispers, rough on every syllable like he’s only ever heard it in his head. “And I always will.”
“Why didn’t you leave?” Bodhi asked softly. “There was time for you. And I’m an Imperial.”
The cool shadow of the cell seemed to close around them, Cassian’s stare didn’t falter in the dark.
“Are you?” he answered.
if you get us onboard
chapter 5 of 6... aka bodhicassian is finally happening ^^;; | 1375 words | cw: canon-typical violence | day 4: force sensitive Bodhi Rook | [Ao3] - updates daily
No matter the facility, Bodhi thought miserably, pressed his sleeve to Cassian’s head wound. There’s never any shortage of Imperial holding cells.
Cassian gave a hoarse murmur as he came round, eyes moving behind his lids. He coughed, dry and urgent, tried to sit up as Bodhi reached for his water flask.
“You’ve had a bad injury,” Bodhi said quickly, Cassian was shivering as he collapsed back onto the ground. “Do you feel numb anywhere? Do you remember our landing on Jedha?”
Cassian slitted open an eye, Bodhi held the flask for him to drink. He still seemed disoriented, and not two seconds had passed before he coughed again, this time spitting out most of the water he was trying to swallow.
“Sorry,” Cassian said thickly, Bodhi tried to rub between his shoulders.
“We’re in a containment cell,” Bodhi whispered, Cassian’s hands were fumbling for the pouch strapped to his ankle. Bodhi shook his head.
They’d already taken it.
Realising the same, Cassian swiftly abandoned the effort, his stare now travelling to each corner of their surroundings. Gritting his boot against the wall, he was about to make another attempt to stand when something stopped him, he narrowed his eyes.
“Are you hurt?” Cassian rasped. His gaze fell to the bandage on Bodhi’s arm, far shabbier than when they’d landed.
“No... this is the one I prepared earlier,” Bodhi offered, and to his surprise, Cassian shot him a woozy smile.
“Where’s Kaytoo?” was his next question, but to that Bodhi didn’t know. He hadn’t seen the droid since they were dragged from the ship.
“We’ll find him,” Bodhi murmured, realised he was reaching for Cassian’s hand. He hadn’t meant to say something so unhelpful- in fact, he couldn’t remember an Imperial prisoner ever finding anything except a labor camp sentence- but Cassian’s determination in the hangar had awakened in him something he thought the Empire had taken for good.
“Why didn’t you leave?” Bodhi asked softly. “There was time for you. And I’m an Imperial.”
The cool shadow of the cell seemed to close around them, Cassian’s stare didn’t falter in the dark.
“Are you?” he answered.
Bodhi blinked, the dull ache of his blaster wound felt nearer on the words. He remembered the shouts, a low, droning siren. He was back in the flight hangar, the words raid and lockdown echoing through the passageways. The emergency power had failed, he was bolting around the corners on memory alone.
And then there was the rebel, dark-eyed, unarmed, wrong turn, no time. The blaster was in Bodhi’s hand. He had every opportunity. He raised the weapon.
“You might need this,” Bodhi said quietly. “If you’re going to make it out of here.”
From another passageway, a volley of shots whizzed past. Bodhi turned, dived in front, the halogens shuddering overhead and the taste of carbon at his throat. When the lights spluttered back to life the rebel was gone, his wrist left burning and dark.
“No,” Bodhi said under his breath, louder when he knew it to be true.
He knew why Cassian looked so familiar.
“Not anymore.”
The admission stretched between them, Bodhi’s face was damp with tears. Cassian reached his hand, grazed the inside of his palm to Bodhi’s cheek. He looked more wounded than Bodhi had ever seen, and before he could guess, or think, or hesitate, Bodhi leant forward, brushed his lips where Cassian’s had gently parted. For a half-second the rebel’s eyes widened, raw and searching, his fingers trembled where they caged below Bodhi’s jaw. And then Cassian was kissing him back, his mouth warm and stinging and wet, rough as Bodhi pulled him close. Cassian kissed with a tenderness that knocked the air from his lungs, Bodhi’s hands tangled fiercely in the taller man’s hair, his flight goggles slipped to the floor. Cassian held him until his stare blurred bright and torn, Bodhi closed his arms around Cassian’s neck.
“If there's a chance, I want you to take it,” Cassian whispered, his mouth flinched to a snarl as footsteps sounded outside.
He looked surprisingly impassive by the time two stormtroopers entered the cell.
“Let’s move,” came the command, Cassian’s wrists were bound at his front with energy cuffs. Bodhi wondered why he didn’t receive the same treatment, the decision leaving him unsettled rather than reassured. They had barely marched the length of the holding cell before Cassian’s balance wavered, one of the troopers driving him forward with a shove. Bodhi saw a trickle of fresh blood leak from Cassian’s wound.
“I want to speak to Tss’uek,” said Bodhi, daring to hope the one officer who seemed fair was on duty. The stormtroopers only laughed, the sound so empty that Bodhi couldn’t bring himself to ask again.
“Do you know who he is, in the Alliance?” said the trooper holding Cassian. He shook Cassian for emphasis, and alarmingly, Cassian looked so drained that he didn’t notice.
“Where’s our droid?” Bodhi demanded, desperate for something to distract them. He had some idea that if he could only stall long enough, Cassian might only be pretending, he’d use some secret rebel move to free himself from the cuffs and disarm their captors in one.
The stormtroopers didn’t slow their pace.
There were no magic happy endings.
“Did you reprogram the droid?” said the taller one, jerked Cassian viciously when he stumbled. “I hope you had a backup at home.”
Cassian’s head rolled forward as he fought to remain conscious.
“Stop that,” Bodhi said softly, his nails digging into his palms as he tried to think.
“And do you have any idea what happens to traitors?” the second trooper said, quieter now. “It’s worse than what’ll happen to him. He’ll disappear without note. You’ll set an example.”
From somewhere faraway, Bodhi realised the words were meant to scare him. And, not so long ago, they would’ve. But right now, all he could see was Cassian, his face unflinching as the troopers shook him again, blood tracing the line of his jaw and spattering onto his shoulder. When they got no reaction, an armoured boot kicked into the side of Cassian’s knee. Still Cassian showed them nothing.
“Stop that,” said Bodhi, louder. He could sense his pulse racing, feel the roll of a sweatdrop over Cassian’s lip. He could hear the rattle of Cassian’s lungs as he struggled not to cry out in pain, taste blood as Cassian bit into his tongue.
“Stop! Stop it!” Bodhi shouted, his wrists were seized before he could lunge forward. In the same instant, Cassian’s energy cuffs flickered, opened and clattered heavily to the floor. The stormtrooper who had been shaking him had frozen. Bodhi could barely breathe.
“Let go of me,” he said slowly, felt the air prickle and seize as the second stormtrooper’s arms loosened from his wrists.
Cassian was trembling, from shock or from what he was seeing Bodhi wasn’t sure.
“It isn’t possible…” Cassian whispered.
It isn’t, thought Bodhi, his heart clawing in his chest. But I have to try.
“You will tell me the location of the KX droid,” Bodhi said clearly, fixed his gaze on the stormtrooper nearest to him.
“I will tell you the droid has been restrained on your cargo ship, awaiting inspection by the General,” recited the stormtrooper. Cassian held himself up on the opposing wall.
“And you will tell me the condition of the cargo ship,” Bodhi said calmly.
“I will tell you that the ship has been landlocked, all clearance codes erased,” answered the trooper. Bodhi felt his windpipe tighten, he shot Cassian a despairing look.
“If you get us onboard,” Cassian said huskily. “Kaytoo and I can do the rest.”
When Bodhi stared up, Cassian managed a grim nod. His eyes had come back into focus.
“You will provide us with your armor and weapons,” Bodhi addressed both soldiers, his tone left no room for question. “And afterward return to our cell. And lock the door,” he added.
“And forget you ever saw us,” Cassian said hopefully.
“And forget you ever saw us,” said Bodhi.
Only once disguised in the stormtroopers’ armor, an emergency bacta patch plastered to Cassian’s brow and the door of the shuttle closing behind them, did Bodhi allow himself to believe.
one of them protecting the other + love confession | Ao3
for @crazy-fruit, wishing you an amazing and fantastic Star Wars day for 2017! I enjoyed writing your prompts (I chose both.. :’’) so much, as well as admiring all your lovely art along the way! I really hope that you enjoy this gift and may the force be with you! <3
Cassian stumbles into what’s become their shared quarters, Jyn halts her pacing at the edge of his bunk. He doesn’t know what he expected.
But this isn’t it.
“How dare you,” Jyn whispers, the sound hissed through her teeth. The silence that follows stings raw and bright. Cassian grips into the doorframe, to stand upright or stop himself from running to her he isn’t sure.
“You’re safe,” Cassian manages, the words parched and clumsy, viciously inadequate. He doesn’t say he’s dragged himself from Medbay, that it took four droids to hold him down when she wasn’t there. That he wept with relief when he saw the bandage round his middle.
Because for a single, splintering second, the one just before he came-to.
Cassian thought it had been her.
He sees a tear glaze the corner of Jyn’s eye. It tremors as she blinks, his head twitches before he can quash the reflex.
No.
His jaw clenches, voice prickles to ash in his throat.
Not for me.
Jyn cuts her stare aside, her smile gritted and trembling. She can’t halt the tear’s path down her cheek, won’t let him see her brush it away.
“You,” she chokes again, the heat of it sends a welt through his stomach. “Are supposed to know what you’re doing. You’re the one in charge.”
“I knew what I was doing,” Cassian snarls. It feels like a misstep, too quick and too harsh, he can’t find his footing when Jyn’s glare pins him to the wall. He takes another breath, but the words only spit out fiercer.
“I was protecting you.”
It is completely, utterly the opposite of what Cassian wants to say.
Because it’s true.
And he already almost lost her once today.
“That’s only the entire reason I’m-” Jyn cuts herself off, whips to her feet. “Do you have any idea of how reckless you were? Or what you’d say to anyone else on the team, if they ever went back for you?”
“They wouldn’t have had to,” Cassian barks, the force of it wrenches through the wound. He’s too stirred up to heed, pushes forward like she’s still out there.
Like he’s still searching.
“-because I damn well wouldn’t have been there.”
Jyn flinches in anger, her lip curls before she can swallow. She’s every bit the soldier he isn’t, the one who doesn’t leave a man behind. She’s the Partisan the other rebels talk about in whispers, can’t hear what answers she’ll give. And she’s every bit her father.
Who doesn’t nod because someone told her to.
Even if that person is her Captain.
“You were supposed to meet us at the ship, Jyn.”
His whisper is terse, the grit of it risen beyond his control. His hands are shaking, he can still feel the space where his commlink fell dead and silent. The moment K-2 stopped relaying the time check.
Because they both know it’s passed.
They both know she’s not coming back.
“I wasn’t at the ship,” Jyn answers, and her tone has fallen dangerously low, “because I was being watched. And until I could figure out how, or what-”
“So you decided to remain in a hot zone, surrounded, make no contact with-”
He’s yelling now, his voice rakes hoarse in his windpipe. Jyn doesn’t stand down an inch, she’s close enough that Cassian sees the flecks of amber in her eyes. The line of her mouth hardens, and he’s past telling himself he should stop. He wants to hold her, he wants to transfer her off the team for good.
He wants to feel her heart beating and know that today wasn’t the day.
“If it means keeping them from you, then yes,” Jyn shouts. “If it means taking a blaster bolt, then yes to that too. And if you hadn’t stupidly, stupidly-”
“I’d do it again, Jyn,” he snaps, furious, it escapes him before he can help it. Jyn clenches both fists, her shoulders lift with an inhale. Her eyes widen, dark with hurt.
It’s the same expression he saw before he hit the gravel.
“How can you-”
“Because I love you,” Cassian hisses, sucks a shuddering breath. The echo of it burns his eyes wet, his mouth grimaces ajar. There’s so much more he wants to say, needs to say-
There’s so much more he should have said.
Before it was almost too late.
And now there’s only-
“-and I’m so sorry,” Cassian manages, wavers on the sharper edge of a tremor. He swallows it, but Jyn’s face has already crumpled, and the bite of knowing that’s on him rakes hollow through his chest.
This isn’t how he meant it, any of it, and he grapples behind him for the hold that isn’t there.
“Jyn, I’m-”
“Stop talking,” Jyn whispers, darts her arms round his waist as he buckles. She steadies him- for the first time he realises he’s shivering violently- her grip is strong and close and her cheek presses damp into his.
“Shush,” she falters again, her palm snares unthinking at his jaw.
He can still feel the brush of her fingertips as she realises, just as quickly pulls away.
“I’m so, so angry at you-”
“-I’m so angry at you too,” Cassian mutters roughly, catches her hand to his chest. He squeezes tight, this time she doesn’t let go. His hair drips sweat into his eyes and he’s staring, stricken, his throat is dry and torn.
“So angry.” Jyn glares, her knuckles go white as she squeezes his hand back. Cassian knows she means every bit of it, he’s not ready to forgive her for almost-dying either.
He’s still sorry.
He still loves her.
And then she’s there, and he’s falling, her mouth grazes warm against his. Her fingers knot in his hair and she pulls, eyebrows tensed and her nose squashed against his cheek. Just for a second, Jyn’s eyelids flicker closed- and Jyn never closes her eyes- and Cassian feels his whole world tangle and shatter and flare back to one.
“-because I love you too,” Jyn says softly. His hands cage to her cheeks, hers tremble at the small of his spine. His lips fall ajar as he tries to breathe. It barely works, his inhale crackles through his chest and he blinks, can’t brook the tear that traces to his jaw.
“Jyn,” he murmurs, reaches for all he has to tell her, stumbles like he’s trying to say don’t.
She hears it anyway, her mouth twitches at the corner. Jyn never did take his bad advice.
“I’m going to kiss you again now,” she whispers, their fingers weave and he’s no longer shivering. Tender and needful, a low, aching sound escapes him as her lips part into his, her exhale dances on his cheek. Jyn slowly pushes deeper into the kiss, Cassian’s hands clutch the fabric of her shirt. He can feel her teeth on his lower lip, gentle, mouth wet as Jyn tugs, his limbs heavy as he leans into her embrace.
There’s no more space between them, Jyn’s careful not to press the bandage.
Cassian grips fiercely in spite of it, her smile blurs against his lips.
a 6-part undercover!cassian story for bodhicassian week | [Ao3] - updates daily
a/n- my first reading of the day one prompt was ‘recovery and/or after Scarif au’, and I have since realised this might mean both, not either/or! So I really hope this is okay for everyone, it’s a recovery au chapter, but follows a first meeting plot rather than being set after Scarif. <3
Chapter 1. caught
Something was wrong.
Bodhi quickened his pace down the passageway, he could already see the codeswipe to his quarters had been left unsecured. Inside, he could hear the soft beep of a scanner, followed by several items being shuffled and dropped. His heart squeezed in his throat, but he forced his face to a neutral expression as he slid open the door.
Inside, Bodhi found himself face to face with a KX enforcer droid and an Imperial Security Officer- a Captain, by his rank bar. In his panic, Bodhi for a moment imagined he saw the droid flinch, much like the pair had been caught red-handed. It only took Bodhi a second to realise it was probably him who had flinched, he was trembling badly enough that his salute felt uneven.
There was nothing even remotely contraband in Bodhi’s quarters.
That didn’t calm him one bit.
“Ensign Rook,” said the officer, more a statement than a question. A ranking Captain could call up his entire birth-to-current history on a whim, probably have it erased on even less.
“Yes. Yes, that’s me,” Bodhi said quickly, tugged self-consciously at the bandage encasing his left arm. The wound beneath smarted viciously, the time he needed in bacta was time he didn’t have.
“Can… can I be of assistance?” Bodhi swallowed on the pain, attempted to gesture to his belongings. Most inspections left his room looking worse than an insurgent sweep. This time, had he arrived minutes later, he wouldn’t have even known anyone had been there.
“No. I’m sure you were aware these inspections were being conducted?”
The stranger twitched his eyebrow, his tone bordering conversational. Beneath the Imperial grey of his cap, his eyes were wide and brown, crinkled at the edges. There was an ever increasing number of officials on the Jedha routes these days, most of them barely gave Bodhi a second glance. And, knowing what most officials were like, that suited Bodhi just fine. But there was something in the man’s gaze that felt familiar, somehow reminded him of home. Bodhi blinked, lowered his stare to the floor.
“I… yes. Yes, sir,” he said quietly, nodded. “Security’s being tightened after the cargo shipment raid. They told us route-patrol officers would be making sure nothing else goes missing.”
Bodhi wondered how many other bunks were being searched at this very moment, whether any of his colleagues weren’t quite as loyal to the Empire as they’d had him believe. Far from his initial impression of the droid being caught off-guard, it was now looming behind the officer in what Bodhi considered a deliberately menacing stance.
“Not missing, Ensign,” said the officer, his expression unreadable. “Stolen. The last cargo shipment was stolen.”
Bodhi’s mouth pulled down at the corners. His arm throbbed worse as he tried not to think about it, he felt ill and more guilty with each passing second. Bodhi knew the officer was, in his own way, searching him too.
“What happened?”
Bodhi could only shake his head, his inhale strangled in his throat. He and every pilot on the run had already been questioned about the rebel raid- they knew what we were carrying, they knew how to get in- and Bodhi knew nothing more now than he did then.
“Please, I-” Bodhi halted his apology as he realised the officer was gazing at his arm. The question hadn’t been about the cargo, but his injury.
“I, um. A blaster shot during the raid,” said Bodhi, took a breath to keep his voice steady. The rebel’s caged expression as he’d rounded the corner still burned bright in his mind.
The question Bodhi couldn’t answer, was why he hadn’t shot first.
The officer stared, a strange, quiet frown shadowing his features.
“Go back to medwing,” he said after a moment, a roughness to his tone that Bodhi wasn’t sure what to make of. “That won’t fix in a day.”
I know, Bodhi thought miserably, bit the inside of his cheek to stop from wincing. But I fly out in an hour.
If the officer picked up on Bodhi’s hesitation, it only seemed to trouble him more. He turned to the door, paused.
“Try to keep warm,” he said, expression darkening. The KX droid gave him a final unsettling stare.
Bodhi stood for a long while after they were out of sight.
Perhaps it wasn’t so much that the man reminded him of Jedha, nothing of his accent or manner spoke of Bodhi’s homeworld. But there was something he couldn’t place, or at least, hadn’t felt for a long time.
Ironically, it was something so very far from all that was Imperial.
For a single, splintering second, Bodhi could almost believe such a choice existed.
part 6/6 of my bodhicassian week ficlet | Ao3 link [ or, from the beginning ] 1235 words | day 6: friends to lovers
thank you so much @bassianweek for creating and hosting this event, I have enjoyed all the new works and art and headcanons so much, it has been fantastic! thank you for making & bringing this together <3
They cleared the moon’s atmosphere, the mining facility spinning to a distant, coppery curve. The stars waned to ribbons of light as Cassian made the jump to hyperspace, K-2SO held tight to the flight controls as the shuttle creaked in protest.
“We’ve depleted most of our shield backup,” the droid informed him. One of his oculars was dimmed as a result of circuit rupture, there was a deep gouge in the metal plating at his chest. They’d barely reached lightspeed before Cassian had his field kit in hand, Kaytoo glancing up in surprise.
“Cassian...”
“Hold still,” Cassian interrupted. Standing gave him roughly the same height as Kay in the pilot’s seat, he could have the damaged wiring replaced before they were halfway to Yavin.
“Cassian-”
“Aren’t you supposed to be a security droid?” Cassian muttered, searching through his kit for a central fitting. “How’d those deathtroopers get round the back of the ship anyway?”
“Cassian,” said K-2, halting when Cassian fixed him with a glare.
“I’m not the one you need to talk to,” the droid said quietly.
Cassian drew a breath, swallowed. The coil of wires felt heavy in his hand, the ache at his temple creeping to the back of his throat.
“I feel like I’m about to be ill,” Cassian said warily, shot Kay an exasperated frown when the droid only twitched his head, amused.
“According to my core data on human behaviour,” K-2 intoned, gentler when Cassian leant into the chair beside him. “That for once sounds about right.”
Cassian couldn’t quite manage a smile, the corners of his mouth doing something uneven instead.
“I’m glad you’re safe, Cassian,” said Kaytoo, then turned back to the dashcon.
Slowly, Cassian made his way across the fuselage, knocked on the hatch before climbing down. Bodhi hadn’t moved from the cargo hold since takeoff.
Cassian was pretty sure he was the last person Bodhi wanted to see.
On the lower carrier, Cassian found Bodhi staring through one of the viewports. One arm was crossed vaguely across his chest, the other slack by his side. In his hand, his flight goggles were slung loosely from his fingers, bumped against the leg of his flight suit as he breathed out.
Cassian lowered his gaze to the floor.
“It’s alright,” Bodhi murmured, when Cassian didn’t approach. “I’m alright.”
Cassian squeezed his knuckles, wished he had the words to make anything he needed to say easier. Whatever stability Bodhi might’ve had with the Empire, that was no longer an option. There’d be no goodbyes, no chance to collect anything of personal value. Bodhi offered a small thread of a smile.
He already knew.
“Was it...” Bodhi’s voice wavered, he silently urged himself on. “...was it you who stole the cargo shipment? During the raid, I mean?”
Cassian looked up in case Bodhi needed to face him, considered what it was he was asking.
“No,” Cassian said slowly, watched as Bodhi’s stare flickered to the wall. “But it may as well have been. We staged the raid as a distraction, to get me in.”
Bodhi gave a quick nod, he seemed to have guessed something similar.
“Did you…” Bodhi ventured, and Cassian grimaced, his eyes stung as he tried keep his gaze level.
have help?
think you’d make it out?
...kill anyone along the way?
“Did you manage to take anything good?” Bodhi tried. The lightness in his tone didn’t quite come easy, but the intention behind it was there.
“If the resistance ever needs to dredge a swamp,” Cassian offered, a hand slung awkwardly into his pocket. “I’m sure twenty-three crates of excess rock cuttings will definitely come in handy.”
Something in his ribcage loosened as Bodhi gave a crooked smile.
“That’s why I had to get to Jedha,” Cassian said quietly. “At the very least, to see what’s being mined. No one generates that much debris unless they’re digging deep.”
Bodhi tucked his arms around his middle, troubled.
“They… the Empire… they don’t share information about classified cargo with pilots,” he started, and Cassian dipped his head. That he already knew.
“But they do with the scientists…. and engineers,” Bodhi continued. When he drew his hand from beneath his vest, Cassian saw in his palm a small, rough-cut crystal. It was jagged at one edge, looked to have been broken from a larger surface.
Perhaps in a hurry.
“Nak’tra?” breathed Cassian, the stalactite caverns of the Wookiee homeworld stirring in his memory.
“Kyber,” Bodhi said sadly. “It was stripped from the temple near where I grew up. I… I told a friend on Eadu once, that if I ever found a piece, I’d like to return it there.”
Cassian felt an unfamiliar pinch in his windpipe when Bodhi held the crystal out to him.
“This turned up where I sit in the canteen a few days later,” he murmured.
Cassian gazed at him, didn’t move. He’d long hardened himself to the conditions that forced men to choose the Empire, sometimes he couldn’t bring himself think of them as men.
It was strange to consider that in another part of the galaxy, an Imperial had risked more than his job to bring Bodhi hope.
“Keep it,” Cassian whispered. “For when you go home.”
Bodhi shook his head, a smile crumpling the corners of his mouth. He pressed the kyber into Cassian’s palm.
“My home has been lost for a long time,” he said, and though it was soft, his voice didn’t shake. “I want to help you make sure no one else loses theirs.”
They stood, Bodhi’s hand clasped over Cassian’s, the warmth of the crystal in between.
“There’s a place… a home, for you, in the Resistance,” Cassian said huskily. His heart was already sinking as Bodhi’s eyes followed down to his alliance-issue captain’s jacket, his insignia now clearly visible.
“As a defector,” Bodhi uttered, as though he hadn’t quite gotten used to the word.
“As someone fighting for what’s right,” Cassian answered, more feeling behind it than he intended.
“When I joined, I knew what the Empire was,” said Bodhi, his voice hollow in the empty carrier. “Not everything, or even most things. But what I did know should’ve stopped me.”
He looked to Cassian, his eyes raw and dry.
“...and it didn’t.”
The floor of the shuttle hummed beneath them, the dark beyond the viewport flaring, fading.
“The choice you’ve made,” Cassian said quietly, “doesn’t mean less on account of what choices came before.”
“It doesn’t undo them either,” said Bodhi, scrunched his fist into the Imperial emblem on his shoulder.
Cassian felt a weight beneath his lungs as he exhaled.
“That’s why you have to keep fighting,” said Cassian, no longer sure where the words were coming from. “And pushing. And trying. Until it means something.”
A tear slid from Cassian’s eye, he felt Bodhi’s fingers thread between the rougher clasp of his. When a sob knotted in his throat, Bodhi wrapped both arms around the taller man, his cheek soft where Cassian’s was scarred. Bodhi kissed him, slow and deep, Cassian stumbled on an incoherent sound. Bodhi kissed him again, gentler, Cassian cupped his hands to Bodhi’s jaw, brows leant together and Bodhi’s eyes reaching back for him.
“It already does,” said Bodhi, and whether through the Force, years spent being other people, the war or something just as intangible, Cassian found something of himself waiting in the pilot’s arms.
[ Cassian Week ] - Day 3 - favourite relationship(s)
I would fight to the death for every single Rogue One character, but I still have the dorkiest soft-spot for Cassian & K-2SO, best friends forever. :’)
not on my watch
Cassian & K-2SO + Cassian Andor/Bodhi Rook | 1611 words | below or [ Ao3 ] | part 8 of cassian said I had to
K-2’s circuits get scrambled by an electrical storm, he’s still there for Cassian when it counts.
“Did you hear that?” Bodhi shuffles upright from the blanket, Jyn lowers her hand of cards. At a distance, Cassian could almost mistake the sound for an engine test, or a low-flying squadron. He glances at K-2.
They’ve both seen enough systems to know better.
“It’s an electrical storm,” Cassian mutters, he’s already heading for the door. “Coming in fast, by the sound of it. Need to power-down the generators.”
“On it,” Jyn returns, throws Bodhi a torch and clips another to her belt. Bodhi’s face creases worriedly, he holds a hand up for silence. K-2 tips his head, they all listen as the crackle stirs again.
“Actually-” Bodhi hesitates, “-it sounds a lot like the atmosphere of Eadu.”
Cassian runs a hand over his jaw, Bodhi fidgets with the sleeve of his flight suit as their eyes meet.
“A magnetic storm,” K-2 says slowly, and to Cassian’s surprise, there’s something in the droid’s tone he doesn’t recognise.
“Jyn, take the repair hangar,” Cassian says after a second. “Bodhi, supplies. Kaytoo, come with me.”
“Why don’t I get my own assignment?” K-2 answers tetchily, keeps pace beside him all the same. The fluorescent lights are blinking overhead, the corridor wavers dark and bright. Cassian turns a corner, breaks into a jog. When a sharp clatter echoes behind him, he realises too late Kay is no longer at his side.
“Kaytoo!” Cassian wheels back around, sees the droid half-collapsed against the wall.
“Ca-ah-ssian,” K-2 pronounces, his vocabulator dipping in and out of pitch on the word. His eyes flicker, just for a second, he only gathers his bearings as the fluorescents stop shuddering.
“Oops. I mu-uh-st’ve tripped.”
“On what?” Cassian snaps, distracted, Kaytoo makes a vague gesture toward the general vicinity of the floor. They quieten as a low, booming noise rattles the ceiling, the pulse of it raising the hairs on Cassian's arms.
“C’mon,” Cassian mutters. He jerks his head in the direction they need to travel, makes a mental note to check the energy cells on Kay’s recharging station. The droid picks up his pace, lifts his hand and gives him a slightly uncoordinated thumbs-up.
Cassian frowns.
It isn’t till they burst into the main hangar, the lockdown procedure already well underway that he wonders-
Did Kaytoo just say oops?
“Andor, leave it!”
Han grips him by the shoulder, his eyebrows raised incredulous as Cassian tightens the lead-rope round his waist.
“Seriously, buddy, those new astromechs are built for these conditions, we’ll dig him out of the snow in the morning and he’ll be fine, yeah-”
Across the hangar, the yells of one of the youngest rebels have turned to crying, it takes two squadron pilots to restrain him from running to the doors.
“As u-uh-nlikely as it would seem, Ca-a-ptain, Ha-hn Solo is on this rare occasion, c-correct.”
Despite the glitches in Kay’s intonation, Cassian struggles to hide a smile as Han turns, does a none-too-subtle impression of being honoured. Cassian hands Kaytoo the rope.
“If I’m not back in five.”
“Cassian,” K-2 blurts urgently, the humour gone from his tone. “I am a fa-rr mm-ore appropriate choice for thi-ih-s task, I assure you I can-”
He tries a step forward, clumsy as a peal of thunder quakes overhead. Cassian places a hand on the droid’s arm.
“If I’m not back in five...” he says gently, squeezes Kay’s elbow and lets go. To Han he offers a grim nod- keep an eye on him- wrenches a gap in the loading door and whips out into the blizzard.
“Damn crazy Festians!” Han bellows through the wind, Cassian grins through chattering teeth. He can already see the chirping light of the unit, it’s round middle spinning uselessly in a bank of snow.
“I gotcha,” Cassian mutters, starts scraping where ice has packed below the drift. He can feel the cold through his gloves, his fingers stinging as he braces against a fresh wave of sleet. The unit makes a small, hopeful sound, beeps quicker as Cassian fumbles to tug it free. His heart races- it’s not working- and he can already feel the tentative pull of the cord round his middle.
“Wait-” Cassian shouts, his fingers slip on the droid’s surface as he fights to hang on.
“On it,” says K-2, reaches a long arm around the astromech and pulls it out in a spray of snow. Cassian falls, catches Kay by the wrist as Han hauls them back in.
“I said to stay here, safe-” Cassian spits furiously, harsher than he intends as the droid pitches to his knees back in the hanger.
“No,” Kaytoo says weakly, his processors make a low whirr as he looks up. “You said if you weren’t back in five.”
“-‘right, I’m ‘right-” Cassian pinches a drop of moisture from his nose, wishes he could stop shaking for two seconds so that Bodhi might believe him.
“You’re freezing,” Bodhi hisses, both fists clench Cassian’s shirt sleeves. His expression grits uneven, and for a moment Cassian thinks he’s going to let go.
Instead, Bodhi opens his arms, wraps Cassian in a fierce embrace. Cassian blinks as he finds himself staring over Bodhi’s shoulder, the pilot’s face wedged firmly in his neck. They haven’t hugged since the day they came home, Cassian desperately wants to hold him back. He drags his arms, heavy, his jaw nearly rests on Bodhi’s collar.
“And you’re an absolute idiot-” Bodhi says thickly, rubs Cassian’s back as he shivers. From somewhere behind Cassian hears Han’s ‘co-signed!’, meanwhile Jyn’s sprinting across the hangar, mouth tight with concern.
“And-” Bodhi pulls back, frowning as he realises. “You’re completely soaked. Hold on.”
The warmth of Bodhi’s chest lingers at Cassian’s front, he steadies himself on Jyn’s arm as the pilot turns to fetch him some dry clothes.
“It’s the other way,” K-2 calls, his modulation somewhat less blurry. Bodhi halts, confused, Kay points toward Cassian’s quarters to clarify.
“Your all-terrain jacket. You leant it to Cassian last week. Cassian keeps it next to his bed.”
Cassian, who had been listening to Jyn’s update on the conditions, suddenly feels his inhale stick in his throat. He shoots Kaytoo a helpless squint, watches as the seven-foot droid flinches visibly, his posture drooping several inches.
“I mean-” starts Kay, more flustered as Han and Jyn stare at him too. “The jacket was next to Cassian’s bed. Before… he… moved it. To… the… garbage chute.”
“You threw my jacket down the garbage chute?” Bodhi’s eyes widen in alarm. Han coughs, stifles something that sounds a lot like a snort.
“No-!” blurts Cassian, Kaytoo covers his face with both large hands. They’re saved from an explanation when a flash of lightning trembles across the air-control viewport, the emergency lights dim and Kay’s balance falters, he doubles-over unsteady.
“Cass-i-aihn,” the droid tries, Cassian’s already racing for him, “I don’t-t-”
Cassian catches him round the middle, Jyn’s there a second later, hands gripped under Kaytoo’s arms as they lower him to the ground.
“You’re heavier than you look,” Cassian whispers, he knows Kay will tease him later for the way his voice breaks.
“Funny,” Kaytoo rolls his oculars, Cassian gives a watery smile as he remembers teaching him. “I think the same about you.”
The hangar is quiet and empty, Jyn’s jacket snug round Cassian’s chest and Bodhi’s quilt tucked over both of them. Kaytoo’s head is resting in Bodhi’s lap, his eyes give an uncertain flicker when the pilot peers over him.
“How long have I been...” asks Kay, and Cassian lets out the lungful of air he didn’t realise he was holding.
“Just under an hour,” says Bodhi, squeezes his eyes in relief. “The storm’s almost passed.”
“The storm,” K-2 intones. Pauses. Sits bolt upright.
Cassian’s mouth pulls at the corner as the droid swivels to face him, he takes a breath and gets there first.
“You’re alright,” Cassian says gently, “we can check your circuits if you feel like it, but I’m pretty sure it was the magnetic field messing us around.”
“It was,” K-2 says hurriedly. “The magnetic field must’ve caused an error in my communication relays. I wouldn’t take anything I may or may not have said to infer… anything. At all.”
Cassian chuckles, more relieved to hear his friend recovered than all else.
“I’d better run some self-diagnostics at the charging bay,” K-2 continues, and Cassian quirks an eyebrow. He’s never known Kay to willingly accede to maintenance in all the time they’ve worked together.
“Just to be sure. The margin of error on these sort of things can be quite variable. I shall report any findings to you later, Captain.”
To Cassian’s surprise, Kaytoo briefly tucks an arm around his back- it’s the closest they’ve ever come to a hug- and before he can even return it, the droid is already on his feet, striding determinedly across the floor. Kay glances shyly over his shoulder as he ducks through the exit, Cassian stares a few moments, astonished.
“Some night, huh,” Bodhi offers, swallows.
“Yeah,” Cassian says gruffly, clears his throat. “Thanks for staying.”
There’s a small pause.
“You still owe me a jacket, by the way.”
When Cassian startles, Bodhi brims to a wry smile. Cassian breathes out a laugh.
“I didn’t-”
“-I know,” Bodhi says softly.
Through the walls of the hangar, the rain slowly fades to dawn.
“What do you think of mine?” Cassian ventures after a while. He lifts his hand, hesitates, then lowers it back to his lap. “It’s been stitched back together a few times, but-”
Bodhi reaches, gentle, his thumb brushes rough over Cassian’s knuckles.
“I’d like that,” Bodhi whispers, “I’d like it a lot.”
