He had to admit it to himself: maybe he was afraid to push because he didn't want to do to Jyn what he'd felt, sometimes, Bix did to him. Now, of course, maybe he should consider he'd been unfair to her, since he was feeling in that position. Where she'd push and he'd say Why are you doing this? Well, perhaps she'd felt that whatever-it-was was just as present, maybe moreso, by not talking about it, and talking about it at least had the possibility of finishing it.
It was a strange turn. He'd never for a moment compared Jyn to Bix. Suddenly it was himself he was comparing.
"Fact, I guess," he said, mouth curving at least a bit. "I still feel sometimes like you don't say things because you don't want to ruin my day. If that's the only reason, please say them. But I also said I trust you, and I do.
"So… question: I keep forgetting to ask. You said there were other people here who know about what happened back home. Can I meet them sometime?"
It was a fair point, one that Jyn very easily could have made herself if their positions were reversed. She was trying, determined, really, not to impose before-him on now-him, and the number of years it had been since she'd previously been with him made that much easier than it might have otherwise been. Now, though, she couldn't help the way some of their conversations in those first few months, as they were just figuring things out and retroactively getting to know each other, came to mind. More than once, she'd asked him not to shut her out when he dodged or downplayed something.
She wasn't trying to do that now, but he did have a point. There were things she hadn't said because they seemed too heavy for whatever the particular moment was, but that determination wasn't hers alone to make. Left to her own devices, chances were good she wouldn't bring up any of it. She didn't want him to have to push her, or even to feel like he was doing so, but sometimes she needed a little prompting.
"Of course," she answered. This question was easy. "The ones who're still here are all from before us, I think, but there's probably still plenty they could tell you." She breathed in deeply, her chest rising and falling with it. "And all right. It's still... It's not always easy for me to know how to say things. But I will try. I am trying. I trust you, too."
"I know." He caught her in her slow swirl, with himself at her head; cupped her face, upside-down, and kissed her forehead. "I love you for it. And everything else."
Cassian sank further into the water, making himself into an armchair for Jyn, and scoffed, "From before us? Well, forget them, then!" Though there was real heartache there. He would give so much to hear how things turned out. But that was the cost of dying in battle: never knowing. Genuinely again, "Who are they?"
For a moment, Jyn couldn't do anything but smile: at the sweet way he kissed her forehead, at the accompanying statement, at the seeming ease with which he took her at her word. Over and over again, she thought that she had never been as understood by anyone as she was by him, but it was more than that, too. There was acceptance there, taking her as she was even when there were things for her to work on. She hoped, at least, that he knew just how true that was for her in turn.
"Two Jedi, a Senator, and another rebel," she rattled off. She might have been prepared to shoot Kallus on sight when she first encountered him, newly arrived and walking off her ship, but she knew better now. Cassian, in fact, was the reason she hadn't done so. He was also the reason why she didn't describe Kallus now more bluntly as a spy, instead alluding more subtly to that particular truth. "He's used the same codename as you, actually."
no subject
It was a strange turn. He'd never for a moment compared Jyn to Bix. Suddenly it was himself he was comparing.
"Fact, I guess," he said, mouth curving at least a bit. "I still feel sometimes like you don't say things because you don't want to ruin my day. If that's the only reason, please say them. But I also said I trust you, and I do.
"So… question: I keep forgetting to ask. You said there were other people here who know about what happened back home. Can I meet them sometime?"
no subject
She wasn't trying to do that now, but he did have a point. There were things she hadn't said because they seemed too heavy for whatever the particular moment was, but that determination wasn't hers alone to make. Left to her own devices, chances were good she wouldn't bring up any of it. She didn't want him to have to push her, or even to feel like he was doing so, but sometimes she needed a little prompting.
"Of course," she answered. This question was easy. "The ones who're still here are all from before us, I think, but there's probably still plenty they could tell you." She breathed in deeply, her chest rising and falling with it. "And all right. It's still... It's not always easy for me to know how to say things. But I will try. I am trying. I trust you, too."
no subject
Cassian sank further into the water, making himself into an armchair for Jyn, and scoffed, "From before us? Well, forget them, then!" Though there was real heartache there. He would give so much to hear how things turned out. But that was the cost of dying in battle: never knowing. Genuinely again, "Who are they?"
no subject
"Two Jedi, a Senator, and another rebel," she rattled off. She might have been prepared to shoot Kallus on sight when she first encountered him, newly arrived and walking off her ship, but she knew better now. Cassian, in fact, was the reason she hadn't done so. He was also the reason why she didn't describe Kallus now more bluntly as a spy, instead alluding more subtly to that particular truth. "He's used the same codename as you, actually."