#therebelcaptiannetwork

[rxbxlcaptain]

I'd like ... 'are you still awake ... ?', if you wouldn't mind. :)

Months ago while searching for writing inspiration, I found an prompt that said “You were supposed to be aone night stand, but we ended up talking till dawn instead of sex. And wow wereally click, so do you maybe want to have breakfast and stay longer?” and I’d really wanted to write that for these two (it just seemed to fit so well!) and with this sentence prompt I was finally able to do it! So enjoy a modern, not-quite-a-one-night-stand AU :)

AO3

The first fingers of light were coloring the distant horizonwhen the balcony door slid open behind her. She didn’t turn at the noise,leaving her head resting on her hand and her eyes trained on the early sunrise.

“Are you stillawake?” Cassian asked gently, the accent that first intrigued her lastnight at the bar thicker now, more tired than it was when she’d first heard it.

“Yeah.”

“You’d been quiet for so long, I wasn’t sure.” At that, Jynturned to him, enjoying the way his lips curved up into a half smile and hiseyes softened as he looked at her.

“What can I say?” Jyn gave him a smile of her own, teasing.“You wore me out last night.”

“Yeah,” Cassian laughed, moving to sit in the chair besideher, propping his feet up on the balcony railing. “Just not quite in the way Iwas expecting.”

“It’s not my fault you believe ‘All You Need Is Love’ is abetter song than ‘Hey Jude.’” Jyn threw her hair up in the air with a mockserious expression on her face. “Your opinions needed to be corrected and somethings are just more important than sex.”

Cassian laughed again, the low sound escaping into the crispearly morning air freely. Jyn wished she could bottle that sound; she’d onlyheard it for the last few hours, ever since she’d met this gorgeous stranger ata bar, but she wanted to keep it with her and replay it occasionally.

Ten hours previous, Jyn was gathered in a crowded bathroomwith her two flatmates, Leia, who was trying desperately to arrange Jyn’s hairin any style other than her traditional bun, and Shara, who kept intentionallyknocking Jyn’s elbow every time she started applying eyeliner. They hadn’t hada “girls’ night out” in months, Leia had been complaining, so she’d organizedan evening of a classy dinner – followed by a less-than-classy after party at abar Leia had been suspiciously pushy about going to.

(It wasn’t until they arrived at the bar to find Han Solo, aman Leia refused to admit she was attracted to, working as the bouncer. Jyn andShara only rolled their eyes when Leia went pink at the sight of him.)

The music was loud and the drinks were strong. Han clockedout an hour after the girls arrived and Jyn and Shara subsequently lost trackof Leia; Shara remained by Jyn’s side for another twenty minutes until, with awink and a request to not wait up, Shara was led onto the dance floor by a tanman with dark eyes.

That was when Cassian found her.

He’d skipped the cheesy lines and the sleazy moves most menin a bar like this would have tried (smart move, Jyn thought, since that wouldhave earned him either a fist to the face or a knee to the crotch). Instead, he’dgaze at her from under the mess of hair littering his forehead and smiled thatillusive smile and, god, something about his long eyelashes…

Jyn was pulled in before he’d asked if she wanted to getaway from the noisy music and rowdy atmosphere.  

She texted Leia and Shara – both of whom were likely toooccupied to notice if Jyn had gone or not – and accepted the outstretched handCassian offered her.

(She’d used that hand to her advantage, too, pulling himinto a nearby alleyway and pushing him up against the brick wall of the club.)

But the wait for their Uber quelled the heat between them –but not, as it turned out, the intrigue.

It all started with a random car driving down the street,its windows rolled down and blaring, not the hip-hop tunes Jyn expected, but anold Beatles tune. Cassian picking up the tune – and what a voice he had! –sparked a debate over the merit of the different Beatles eras.

By the time their Uber met them, they’d transitioned over toclassical composers (both parties were overly surprised the other knew anythingabout the true art of classical music, though Cassian insisted Jyn’s educationwas lacking, since she didn’t recognize several Mexican composers) and, by thetime they’d arrived at Cassian’s apartment, they had found their way toliterature. (Jyn maintained Cassian won their contest over who could place the openingline with the correct novel because they were in his apartment and near hisbook shelves. Cassian wanted to kiss the stubborn pout off her face.)

Somewhere between Kurt Vonnegut and Aldous Huxley, betweenletting her hair down and finishing an entire bag of Lay’s potato chips, thesun began to rise and Jyn slipped out onto Cassian’s balcony, taking in hisview of the city from a lounge chair.

Whatever Jyn had been planning on when she left her flat theprevious evening had not been this, but, taking in Cassian’s profile in thepale light and considering how she’d discovered so much more than what helooked like, she wasn’t sure she regretted it.

In fact, the whole crazy situation made her throw her headback and laugh.

“What is it?” Cassian asked, asmile already on his face and in his voice.

“This,” Jyn replied, gesturingacross the space between them. “Me and you.”

Cassian reached out to take her hand,rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. “Will your friends be worried about you?”

“No. They know where I am.” Leiaand Shara likely weren’t even awake yet and, if they were, they had morepressing matters to attend to than worry about Jyn’s one night stand. Besides,they knew she was a big girl who could take care of herself.

“Then they aren’t expecting youback anytime soon?”

“I think your time for attemptingto seduce me has past,” Jyn teased. “You should have taken me up on the offerlast night.”

“Ah, I didn’t realize it had an expirationdate,” Cassian smiled back. “You should have been more clear in the contract Isigned.”

“You didn’t read the fine print.”

Cassian inclined his head,conceding the argument. “If it’s too late to try and seduce you, what aboutbreakfast?”

Jyn raised an eyebrow at him. “Idon’t get breakfast with one night stands.”

“Good thing you didn’t sleep withme, then.” Cassian stood and reached out his hand to her. “What do you say?There’s an excellent breakfast joint a few blocks from here that puts out freshbagels at six.”

“Hmm,” Jyn tapped a finger to herchin, pretending to consider her answer. “That depends on whether you preferblueberry or cinnamon swirl bagels in the morning.”

“Blueberry, of course.”

“That,” Jyn said, rising to herfeet and poking Cassian in the chest. “Is the first correct opinion you’ve hadall night. Lead the way to the fresh bagels.”

[rxbxlcaptain]

"This wasn't supposed to happen."

Set in the lovely world of “What do you mean they died? They’re perfectly fine. Obviously.”

Words: 294

“I do not believe thatfits protocol, Cassian,” Kay remarked from the cockpit as he lifted theirU-Wing into the air. “Personal affects should not be brought on a mission suchas this.”

Cassian ran his handover his face – clean shaven, for once; Jyn would barely recognize him – as heclicked the holoimage off.

Kay was right, ofcourse. Under no circumstances should Cassian – or Joreth Sward, as he’d beencalled for the last month – have a holoimage of a girl in an Alliance uniformtucked away with his belongings. Even now, as Cassian and K-2SO brokeatmosphere and sailed away from his Imperial cover, he should not risk bringingthe image out. His actions broke every basic rule of protocol he’d everbelieved in.

Sighing, Cassian joinedhis droid in the cockpit, assisting with the calculations for the jump tohyperspace.

“Well?” The droidprompted after a few moments of silence. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Nothing,” Cassian saidplainly, keeping his focus on the controls. “You’re right. That’s breakingprotocol.”

“But you’re likely to doit again in the future,” Kay said, not questioning, simply stating a fact.

Cassian paused beforeanswering. “This wasn’t supposed tohappen, Kay. None of it.”

“Locating and recruitingJyn Erso was requested. It was supposed to happen.”

Yes, bringing Jyn Erso tothe Alliance was, but discovering JynErso – learning her flaws and her strengths; knowing how she looked first thingin the morning and how his lips felt against hers – was not. Cassian didn’tknow how to explain it to the droid.

“Humans are morecomplicated than orders, Kay,” Cassian offered quietly.

Kay’s head turnedtowards him, regarding him thoroughly. “Yes, you are, and I will neverunderstand any of you.”

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