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[ouzel]

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[ouzel]

There's a subtler ghost of a shudder this time, along his spine as she moves closer again, his nerves lighting up with each point of contact. Somewhere during the course of the conversation his mind had allowed himself to forget there wasn't much by way of clothing happening between them right now.

"Are you warm?" Is she going to attack him with her cold toes, he considers the moment after he asks her.

[realists]

Predictable to a fault, that is exactly how she answers, laughing softly and cuddling closer. "I'm freezing, if you've any ideas to keep me warm."

Her tone is obviously teasing; she is curled around her very own space heater, she is perfectly content under the blankets and wrapped up in Cassian.

[ouzel]

"I always have ideas," he admits softly, but there's no action behind it other than to curl in a little when her toes find his legs. How her feet are always so cold is a mystery to him, but he's fine capturing them between his calves in order to warm them up.

There's more he could say in that vein, he supposes, but at some point he'd decided that he would wait for her to take the first steps in that direction, be it tonight or tomorrow or months from now. Instead he presses his lips to her forehead.

[realists]

She doesn't let him get away with such a vague answer, expression plainly expectant and waiting. "What kind of ideas, Cassian?"

[ouzel]

"The kind of things that have kept people warm for centuries." He looks at her, holding her gaze. "The kind of things everyone assumes we're already up to."

[realists]

"Do they?" She would have to talk to... anyone... to suss out any assumptions they may or may not have about the remaining two members of Rogue One so, of course, she has no idea they're even a topic of discussion.

Stretching up, she presses a kiss to his jaw, nosing again his ear and whispering: "I'd hate to disappoint them." She doesn't care about them at all, even one iota of care. Her teeth catch his earlobe, a playful little tug between her teeth before she soothes the spot with a lazy kiss.

[ouzel]

It's Cassian's job to know these things, to pay attention to rumors and horde information like some mythical creature until he knows how best to use it to the Resistance's advantage. Also it's a strange and new thing, to be the center of chatter and speculation; usually he's too good at his job for that sort of thing.

Here, there's less action - just people healing and people moving information around. They have less to worry about, he supposes, and more to gossip about instead.

His eyes close and he tries to breathe regularly before giving up on that in light of her teeth on his skin. "I don't care about disappointing them," he murmurs, swallowing. The arm tucked beneath his head now stretches out and he shifts his weight a little so that she is more draped over him than alongside him. "Neither do you."

[realists]

Her knee drags up his thigh, untangling from his legs enough that a quick shift of her hips has her perched on his lap, looking down at him with glassy eyes and a smile that looks like it's about to cause trouble.

Her mostly dry hair falls over one shoulder, strands brushing across his chest as she leans down. "True."

[ouzel]

He lets out a sharp breath when she moves, eyes opening in time to see her smile. Dangerous, perhaps, but he is more intrigued than afraid, wanting than hesitant, even when her hair against his chest leaves him shuddering again.

Cassian reaches up and traces her lips with his forefinger. "I love you." In case she's forgotten in the last few minutes.

[realists]

Her lips part with a happy sigh, and then she bites him. It's mostly gentle, not sharp enough to wound, just enough pressure to be considered a bite. And she draws his finger into her mouth a breath later, tongue a tempting swirl before she slowly releases him.

She's not inexperienced, but her experiences have been ten minute spurts against a wall with a person whose name she didn't bother to know or another ten minutes by her own hand so it wasn't as if she ever gave herself the luxury of lingering or taking her time with it.

Both of which she's decided Cassian deserves.

[ouzel]

Watching with nothing short of fascination as Jyn draws his finger into her mouth, Cassian gives another little shake, like his mind isn't sure this is real and thus keeps telling his body to snap out of it.

(It is real, and he isn't going to snap out of it anytime soon.)

Instead he drags that selfsame finger across the line of her collarbones, down one arm and to the palm of her hand, where he can intertwine his fingers with hers.

[realists]

Her eyes follow the path of his hand, smile touching her lips when he twists their hands together. Leaning forward again, her necklace swings forward to bump against his chest as she steals another kiss, free hand cradling his face, thumb brushing his cheek before her hand disappears into his hair.

"Why me, you idiot man?" Making an insult sound like an endearment since day one. She doesn't need an answer, but she can't help making the comment anyway.

[ouzel]

"Do you want the list?" Of course there's a list. "Besides the obvious." What exactly is the obvious, he isn't saying, too bothered with tilting his head so that his lips brush against her fingers.

He marvels, a little, at how the crystal between them is never cold, but seems to share the warmth of Jyn's skin. "But I'll tell you if you tell me."

[realists]

"I asked first." Which is the most petulant reply honestly and in no way indicates whether or not she is going to reciprocate. "I would like an annotated list, please."

There! She said please. She's serious about those notes, too. Being the daughter of two scientics, that's just in her blood.

[ouzel]

"Mm, you said please." If Cassian sounds happy about that, just don't mind him. "Annotated, all right. You tried to escape, when we freed you from that transport. Most fools would've waited around to see who we were, first, and hoped for the best.

You're a damned troublemaker, which means I'll never be bored.

When you smile it looks like art. When you smirk it feels like I'm in on some cosmic joke that is finally in my favor. When you're upset I'm torn between trying to carry you out before you take a swing or trying to hit whatever is making you angry.

You can hold your own in a fight. You stole a blaster in a base full of Resistance fighters and no one caught you.

You're beautiful. Should I get a mirror for that one? I know you might not believe me."

[realists]

"I found it." She will take that protest to her grave, if only because there was no skill required like there would be in an actual theft so she genuinely doesn't consider it stealing. "It was on a table, I picked it up."

Her focus goes to that particular comment because if it doesn't she might die from the absolute flood of affection for all the rest of his reasons. He doesn't mention her inability to talk about her feelings or her nightmares or the fact that her temper can flare over absolutely nothing because sometimes she thinks about Bodhi and anger is easier to deal with than sadness. He doesn't mention either that she hogs the blankets always or has a tendency to come up behind him and palm his ass in public because she is a brat.

Although maybe he likes that one.

"And I'm not a troublemaker."

[ouzel]

"Still." He's not sure he believes her 100% but he can accept it as possible. People are often idiots when they feel comfortable.

Jyn makes him comfortable but hopefully not enough to behave like an idiot, ever.

Also, he is totally into her inappropriate displays of public affection.

"You're the worst troublemaker I know."

[realists]

"You have terrible taste in troublemakers," she counters, even if it doesn't actually make any sense as a statement. Anything to avoid having to answer in kind.

[ouzel]

"I have delightful taste in troublemakers." Smiling, but there's something still in his eyes. "I do want to know why me, though. I'm not a good person."

[realists]

"I never asked for a good person. It wouldn't be fair to a good person. I wouldn't be fair to a good person."

Her shoulders lift in a shrug, not nearly as good at explaining herself as he is. Her eloquence does not apply to her own personal life or feelings. She can't give herself a rousing speech to sacrifice herself.

"You make me feel like I'm not alone. Everything else is just... more."

[ouzel]

Cassian thinks maybe you deserve a good person but knows better than to say it. For one, it would imply doubt in their relationship, and he doesn't really doubt that they deserve each other. For another? She's probably right.

Jyn Erso is a bit of a handful.

"As long as I breathe, you are not alone, and I will fight to keep breathing, always."

[realists]

A bit is a bit of an understatement.

His words bring a smile to her lips though, almost relieved. She ducks her head against his neck.

"I love you, too." And then she bites him. It's gentle, playful, a light press against the soft curve where his neck meets his shoulder, tongue licking a soothing stripe over immediately afterward.

[ouzel]

Cassian squirms a little beneath her, almost laughing at her bite, because of course she'd say that with teeth. Of course she would.

"While I appreciate the gentleness, I'm made of stronger stuff than that. Unless you're planning on softly teasing me to death, in which case, ignore that I said anything."

[realists]

"Have you recovered enough to be teased to death?" A slow question peppered with a series of kisses up his throat, across his jaw, a teasing curiosity giving her tone a playful quality that is about as rare as either of them sleeping through the night.

Her hips finally settle firmly against his with a slight swivel, breath hitching against his skin. She could tease him to death, but she wouldn't make it.

[ouzel]

"I would like to think so," he murmurs, letting his eyes slide shut and committing these moments to memory. The feel of her lips against his skin, for one. "We could certainly find out."

He takes a sharp breath in, opening his eyes to look at her.