#SHOOT I FORGOT YOU REQUESTED LYRA TOO

[sincerely-sofie]

Twig and Ark!! Not sure what in particular, but any art of them is wonderful! Perhaps some Lyra too

Ark being nice to Twig and Twig thinking about it would be a nice thing to see

Does a continuation of this that I’ve been cooking for the past week count?

(Bonus comic under the cut)

[bruh-haikyuu]

A/N: i am once again combining requests 😔👊 here’s that childhood friends au i’ve been dying to write, enjoy!!

lucida. | akaashi keiji

word count: 3307

warnings: none, just fluff for those bygone days

(n.) the brightest star in a constellation

It had been the night of a full moon the day you’d moved into the apartment building across Akaashi’s.

You were the Sun on that moonlit night. A meteorite hailing all the way from the distant countryside. Bright and unyielding (and adorably chubby at the cheeks). That time, he was a few months older than you, but that hadn’t stopped you from cheerfully befriending him.

It was because your mothers were awfully dear to each other, and that meant that you and Akaashi would spend a lot of time together by some means. But it wasn’t like either of you hated it.

Akaashi’s mother would cook you up some pancakes when you visited, and your mother would scoop him generous helpings of ice cream when Akaashi visited. It was a win-win situation for the both of you, but aside from the cordial feasts your parents offered, you really did enjoy each others’ companies.

“L/N-chan, it’s Akaashi-kun not ‘Kaashi-kun...” he mumbled gloomily as the both of you hiked up the subsided hill only a few meters away from the residential district.

“Ehh... it’s much shorter and easier to say though,” you said, eyes gleaming with wonder as you tugged harder on his jacket sleeve. “C’mon, hurry up, ‘Kaashi-kun! We’ll miss it!”

Reluctantly picking up his pace, he followed you through the spiraling tangle of trees and rocks. Akaashi mused on why he was doing this in the first place, when he could just be laying around in his room playing video games or the sorts. But you were so insistent that he had to accompany you to God-knows-where that he’d immediately rushed out the door before you could catapult more konpeitou* at his window.

Arriving at a barren lawn of grass and wildflowers, you stared up at the sapphire dome that stretched out across the horizon. The night was windless, unexpectedly so, considering it was already teeming into summer. Freckled with ivory motes, your eyes glazed over, reflecting the blue yonder in your childlike pools.

Watching you crane your neck upwards, Akaashi grew tireless at your unjustified antics. He wouldn’t find stag beetles here, might as well go home. “L/N-chan, what—”

You only shushed him briskly, pointing up at the unstirring sky. In a low whisper, you giggled. “It’s starting.”

And like the landscape had come to life, a blazing cascade of stars poured against the deep backdrop. Diamonds, Akaashi had thought when he saw the first one skid past his sight. It’s raining diamonds.

“A-Are the stars falling out of the sky?” Akaashi gulped, gripping your hand tighter.

Like always, you smiled at him kindly. “Nope! Papa said this is called a meteor shower. It happens on a special day each year—something like a birthday, I think.”

‘Like a birthday’. Whose birthday is it? Akaashi thought, his usual pout surfacing. “Why would the meteors need to shower?”

“I don’t know.” You shrugged. “Maybe they’re smelly or something after travelling a long, looong way to get here.”

Why would they need to travel? Where are the meteors going? All his questions made Akaashi dizzy. If he’d asked you, you probably wouldn’t know too much either. Letting go of your knobbly hands to crouch over the grass, the boy observed your marveled expression with sleepy eyes.

You looked so happy to watch the sky rain down on the horizon. He didn’t get why, but seeing your laughter as the heavens twinkled and glittered at you, he felt calm. Not the sluggish kind of calm, where he’d instantly fall asleep at the slightest touch, but sort of like a calmness of “heart”. Like how he felt whenever his parents mended one of his broken toys, or how he felt when he ate his favorite sweets.

And perhaps, like how Akaashi felt every single moment he spent with you.

“Wah!” Your sudden cry of alarm nearly made him flinch. “I forgot!”

Eyes widened as he watched you scramble to kneel amongst the grass, Akaashi timidly followed your actions and clasped his hands together as if he was visiting a shrine on New Years’.

“I thought you only made wishes to shooting stars?” he questioned.

“I’m not making a wish, ‘Kaashi-kun,” you murmured, pressing your knuckles to your forehead. “I’m thanking the sky.”

The boy’s lips flattened into a straight line as he saw you softly mouth your prayers. No wishes, huh? That was new. Awkwardly taking a deep breath, Akaashi tried his hand at expressing his gratitude to the heavens.

Thank you, sky. For being bright and beautiful and everything else. Although, I don’t really like when you rain, I think L/N-chan would want me to thank it too. Thank you for all your hard work. From Akaashi Keiji. Seven years old.

He hoped that would be enough. You were still praying; he wondered what sorts of things you were saying to the sky. You reminded him a bit of the stars. Night would come and Akaashi’s head would drift over to you. Bright and beautiful and everything else. He wondered if he was actually just thanking you.

Averting his gaze towards the fading shower, Akaashi let himself drown in the calmness that overtook his heart. The world was so much bigger to young children, and to you and your best friend, the doors to the great wide Milky Way had just opened up.

══════ ⋆★⋆ ══════

“Konpeitou look a lot like stars, don’t they?”

Eyeing the tiny bullet of candy between your thumb and forefinger, you let out a satisfied hum when you pop it in your mouth. A sweet and sour flavor spreads in your tongue, and you consider eating nothing but star candies for the rest of your life.

“If you eat too much sweets you’ll get cavities,” Akaashi sighs, tapping the side of your bento that you’d barely touched. “Eat your vegetables, L/N-san.”

You stick out your tongue at him yet reluctantly pick up a floppy slice of eggplant. “Geez, you sound like my parents. Can we trade, ‘Kaashi-kun? I’ll give you my carrots and fried eggplants for your sunny side up and three octopus sausages.”

“Just the carrots. And you only get two sausages.”

“Deal~!”

Promptly piling up your carrots into his lunch box, Akaashi watches your eager smile falter into a sulk. Your best friend sighs, propping his elbows up on your desk to cradle his face.

“You were barely able to focus back there in class. You didn’t stay up all night again, did you?”

“O-Of course not! I’m sleeping fine.” There you go again. Akaashi wonders what face you’ll make if he told you you were bad at lying. He decides not to touch on that today.

“But your bedroom light was on. I saw it through the window.”

“I-I just forgot to turn it off!” you flush. “And what were you doing looking through my bedroom window? ‘Kaashi-kun, don’t tell me you’ve turned to a pervert—Ow! That hurts, ‘Kaashi-kun!”

“Don’t accuse me of ridiculous things if you’re going to lie. Your bedroom window is right across mine, I’d have known even if I wasn’t trying to.”

Holding up your hands to the spot where Akaashi had flicked your forehead, you give him a faux pout of defeat. When Akaashi gets violent, you know you wouldn’t be able to get away with anything. No matter how much konpeitou you bribe him with.

“I was just trying to get a good look at the stars again,” you mumble, the candy in your mouth splitting in half with a roll of your teeth. “Lyra and Aquila are getting pretty noticeable this time around.”

Akaashi racks through his mind to recall the right information you’d mentioned to him from all those late-night talks through your balconies. “Hmm... you mean the Tanabata* constellations? The ones representing Orihime and Hikoboshi, right?”

“Yep~! Vega and Altair are going to be at a spotlight during this year’s festival, so I made myself a promise to track down it’s progress until it’s over.” Dreamily sighing into your palm, you smile. “Orihime-chan and Hikoboshi are finally going to see each other again, what a pain to be separated like that... Aah, I’m super lucky that ‘Kaashi-kun’s balcony is just a reach away...”

Your slip of the tongue doesn’t go unnoticed by your childhood friend as Akaashi’s face burns crimson. You nearly forget that you’re not children anymore—that you’re past the ages of bathing together nude in a flimsy inflatable pool smack in the middle of Akaashi’s living room. That you’re both hormonal teenagers and there’s a very high possibility that you’re very much past the feeling of “just friends”.

“I-I see...” Akaashi clears his throat. “But that doesn’t dismiss the fact that you’re skipping out on sleep! You have to rest up, L/N-san, even if there’s a planetary convergence out in plain sight.”

“A planetary convergence! I’d never miss something like—Ow! Okay, okay, I get it! I’ll try not to miss out on too much sleep next time.”

Leaning back on his chair, Akaashi’s lips wrap around the plastic straw of his strawberry milk. He tries to slurp something up to soothe his mind, but only a crackly noise erupts from the carton. His eyebrows twitch in annoyance; if he doesn’t get your sleeplessness out of your system soon, you’re in worlds of trouble.

Akaashi doesn’t want you to suffer. He hates it when you do. There’s only so much he could do as your best friend, but if there was a chance for him to let your mind off things for just a moment... that would do him ounces of favors. Just a moment for the both of you, like the olden days. A moment away from Bokuto-san and the Volleyball Club. A moment away from your collapsing Astronomy Club. If Orihime and Hikoboshi would listen to his wishes, he hopes they’re listening to him now.

Please let me be with L/N-san. More than anything else.

“Ah,” he perks up. “Your family has confirmed the meet-up point for this year’s Tanabata Festival, right?”

Beaming brightly, you barely notice the faint blush on your classmate’s cheeks. “Yep! Don’t forget to remind your parents, alright? It’s a nice tradition that our families get to hang out every year during festivals~ My grandma said she’s going to come this year!”

“How nice. I haven’t seen your grandmother in a while,” he says. “H-hey, L/N-san... you think that old observatory is still there?”

“Ah, you mean by the hill? I think it is.”

And Akaashi smiles. The softest smile that you think he could ever muster. Just for a spare instant you think you’re seeing another wonder of the skies. A blessing that takes the form of your childhood friend... until the bell rings, signaling the next period.

Akaashi taps your shoulder quietly as he turns towards his own desk. “On the day of the festival. I want to show you something, so... could you ask your parents if you could stay for an extra hour or so?”

You don’t even realize your heart is racing hard enough for someone to hear. And you can only nod at your childhood friend who’s not quite a ‘friend’ anymore at this point.

══════ ⋆★⋆ ══════

When you make a wish upon a star, how much are you willing to share them with another person?

Akaashi can only remember glimpses of what he’d wished for all those years ago. Better grades, a new toy, hope that onigiri would come down raining on him one day. It was always the normal wishes for him (and most of them didn’t really verge on being too weird) which is why he had no problems with sharing them with you.

On the other hand, you were more secretive about your wishes. But that didn’t mean you weren’t going to be so predictable about it...

“So you wished for that new telescope?”

“Aaah, ‘Kaashi-kun! Did you read my tanzaku* or something?! Rude!”

He sighed. “I don’t know. Probably has to do something with how much you’ve been saying ‘telescope’, ‘telescope’, ‘telescope’ in your sleep lately.”

He laughs at the memory of your beautifully flushed face. How old were you then, twelve? It was during this exact same festival too. Packed and stuffy just as always. You were radiant that night. A shooting star lighting up the universe with a simple grin. And Akaashi wonders if any constellation would ever be able to size up to you.

“‘Kaashi-kun! Sorry we’re late!”

Yukata*. A plum blossom-patterned yukata that draped over your body like a silk curtain. Akaashi has only counted two times in his life where he’d seen you wear something like that. One, the funeral for the old ramen shopkeeper in your apartment. Two, the cultural festival in your second year of middle school. Akaashi’s mind goes completely blank and his lips creep up into a smile as he doesn’t even hide his obvious blush anymore.

“‘Kaashi-kun, i-is my yukata okay?” you falter at his gaze. God, did he have to stare so much? “I probably look silly.”

“N-no! Y-you’re...” he shakes his head profusely. Beautiful? An angel? A gift to mankind? The only word good enough to measure up to your splendor was—

“Perfect. You’re perfect.” He twinkles. “I wouldn’t change a single thing.”

If you hadn’t dug your shoes so deep into the ground, you were sure your knees were going to buckle. Friends don’t normally call their friends ‘perfect’ with that expression, right? Particularly Akaashi with that comical poker-face of his. That’s unfair, ‘Kaashi-kun.

Right at the perfect second, your mother calls over to the both of you. “Hey, kids, want to write some tanzaku?”

“That’s alright, Auntie. I’ve already hung mine up when I got here.” Akaashi turns to you, still averting your gaze from him. Cute. “What’re you going to write this year, another wish for a supermoon?”

“Secret~” you wink impishly. “How about you?”

The boy hums quietly before returning your wink. “Secret.”

You grit your teeth. “Oh come on, you usually tell me anyway! Say, tell me? Is it something embarrassing? Where’d you hang it? I want to see!”

Akaashi only chuckles. Gently patting your head, he urges you towards the display of bamboos and streamers arching over the entrance to the festival.

“You’ll find out soon enough. Now let’s go and enjoy Tanabata before the stars decide to give out.”

Taking his hand, you gleefully lead him into the throngs of people. And he’s thankful that you do, because right now, it would be troublesome if you looked back to see the intense blush that covers him head to toe. Right now, he’s going to enjoy the festival with you. And later, well... There is always the perfect moment for everything, and Akaashi wants to make sure of it.  

══════ ⋆★⋆ ══════

It’s a bit ironic, to be fair.

Something nostalgic hits him in the back of his head as he drags you through the trees and rocks towards the moonlit hill. Funny. You had always been the one to take his hand and encourage him to try something new. Stargazing, making friends, even a small push for a taste of volleyball. There are so much things he wanted to thank you for and he hopes whatever he was going to tell you tonight is worth it.

Akaashi’s hand on your wrist is warm as you approach a large clearing. Just overlooking the slope are the luminescent lights of the festival, like crystals that make the night glow even brightly. When he turns back to check on you, your wrist tethers upon scorching, but you make no move to pull your hand away.

“I-is this—?” you gasp.

It’s almost ethereal. No, it is ethereal. Shards of the Milky Way spread beautifully against an azure curtain, presenting itself to the both of you in a manner reminiscent to a dancer in motion. Threads of purple and rose weaves through the stars and wrap together like the hands of Orihime and Hikoboshi, bound together by fate. This is the essence of Tanabata, and you’re here to see it up-close-and-personal.

You don’t even notice Akaashi’s hand slowly creeping down your wrist to entwine his fingers with yours. He watches your features contort into a smile that showers meteors in his stomach—he wonders how amazing it is that he’s lasted this long in your heavenly presence.

“Do you like it?” he murmurs quietly.

‘Kaashi-kun... He must’ve spent so long researching about the timing and the shortest path to get here. “Thank you, ‘Kaashi-kun! Thank you! Oh wow... I can see the sky really clearly from here. You must’ve worked very hard... It’s beautiful.”

Akaashi raises his free hand to slip a strand of your hair behind your ear. “Not as much as you.”

You hold in your breath, the feeling of your best friend’s fingers lingering upon the leaf of your ears burning. It leaves you shaking inside your yukata, and you wonder how long you’ve been reacting like this towards him.

“Don’t tease me like that, ‘Kaashi-kun,” you mutter, looking away from his rain-streaked pools.

“I wasn’t teasing. You really are beautiful.” Akaashi hesitates to bite his lip. Soft and kissable, and smelling sweetly of candied apples. “L/N-san, this entire time... I was jealous.”

The color of your cheeks must’ve been beyond a radiant red by now. Akaashi takes both your hands in his. There’s no stopping the torrent of emotions that overtake him as he continues.

“I was jealous of the stars. That you were always looking at them with amazement and love. I thought I was being stupid, but it’s really not. You’d probably get mad at me for staring at you instead of the sky during those times you took me stargazing. But I can’t help it.”

“‘Kaashi-kun...?”

“I like you, L/N-san. More than a friend.”

A lump grows in your throat, and you croak shakily. “Y-you do?”

Akaashi stutters but his words are as resolute as his gaze. “Of course I do.”

Silence hanging in the air, cold sweat begins to bead on the boy’s forehead. He’s still holding your hands—it’s warm just like you, and he worries if what he’d said might’ve ceased him the opportunity to experience such warmth ever again.

Then you laugh. Bubbly and absolutely pleasant. Resembling the coordinated twinkling of stars in the night sky. And Akaashi goes through a crisis, realizing that you’d finally seen him as a joke.

Clearing your throat, you beam kindly at him. “So do I, ‘Kaashi-kun. More than anything.”

“Ah...” he blushes deeply again and immediately finds interest in your shoes. “S-s-sorry. I thought you were going to reject me, so I didn’t really think of what to do next past this point.”

Sidling up closer to him, you let out a breathy sigh. Peeking down at you through your curled lashes, Akaashi’s chest pounds fervently against his dress shirt. And just upon his arm, he can feel the faint ba-dump of yours. How calming.

“I suppose while we’re here, we can thank the stars,” you say. “Like the old days.”

Akaashi chuckles, the rumble of his laughter buzzing under your skin. “That’d be nice.”

So you look up at the great vaults of heaven and expressed your gratitude. For each other, for konpeitou and boiled rapeseeds, for volleyball and the vast universe. Just for a moment, just for a peek, Akaashi feels the graces of Orihime and Hikoboshi shining upon him—Vega and Altair sparkling brilliantly on their stage.

The secret of your tanzaku isn’t much of a secret after all, you don’t have to admit it to each other either (much to Akaashi’s regard). It resonates within your congruent hearts like a reminder of the infinite sky that will always watch over you.

I want to gaze upon the stars with ‘Kaashi-kun forever.

I want to love L/N-san with all of my heart.

══════ ⋆★⋆ ══════

Glossary:

konpeito - Japanese sugar candy that look a bit like stars

tanabata - a Japanese festival, usually celebrated on the 7th of July, based on the romantic legend of Orihime and Hikoboshi

tanzaku - a narrow strip of card where wishes are written upon then tied on a bamboo stalk

yukata - a light cotton kimono

[lannisterslioness]

Almost - Five

A/N: So we've finally reached the end! I'm glad that I got to see this fic all the way through and I'm even more glad that not only did I have a ton of fun writing it, but that so many of you guys seemed to like it too! I've got other fics currently in progress for these two (Hope Is Not Lost & Wild Things), I've got another one on the way I hope you guys will like, not to mention other one shots, and also feel free to send in some requests for them! Thank you guys so much, and a big thank you to Athelise [ @athelise ] for being my beta for this entire fic <3

Pairing: Rebelcaptain (Jyn x Cassian) 

Rating: M

Words: 2,393

AO3: (x)

There was nothing gentle about giving birth, although she never expected it to be easy in the first place. But everything about it had been a shock to her system; starting with the shooting pain through her body in the middle of the night, two weeks before she was due. She bolted upright in bed and tried to contain her sudden scream, her movement woke Cassian, but thankfully he did not fall into a panic.

“What's wrong?” Cassian asked, still half asleep, and curled up in bed.

“The baby is coming.” Jyn tried to stay calm as reprieve in contractions eased the pain.

“Mhmm.” Cassian agreed, and obviously the gravity of situation hadn't struck him yet.

“The baby is coming, now.” Jyn hissed through the next contraction.

It was enough to finally wake Cassian, and upon seeing Jyn in a cold sweat with pain written all over her face, he was wide awake now.

“The baby is coming.” His eyes were wide and manic at the realization.

“Don't you dare panic on me, Cassian Andor, just help me get out of bed. We need to get to the hospital.” It fell on Jyn to remain calm, biting back any agitation bubbling up in her for the sake of keeping Cassian focused.

“Right, right, okay.” Cassian seemed to get a handle on himself in that moment and leaped out of bed, dressing as quickly as possible and getting Jyn's bag out of the closet that she had packed in foresight of this moment months ago.

Jyn could still walk, she knew, but Cassian, being his overprotective self, had taken it upon himself to carry her to the living room so she could wait until he had everything ready to go. She remembered she had to focus on breathing, in and out, like the doctors told her, and trying to keep her own panic from setting in - she was having a baby, she about to give birth to another life and she was terrified.

Somewhere in the middle of her panic, Cassian had gotten her on the ship and to the hospital just as the contractions were really starting to kick in. Jyn didn't remember getting into the delivery room, or medical droids and a doctor surrounding her while she lay on that bed; all she could focus on was Cassian and the pain.

One person was telling her to keep breathing, another was telling her to push at certain points, and there was something cold and metal down at her legs, though she couldn't see what was going on with the barrier the droid had put up. Cassian held her hand, which she was sure she had almost broken at some point, though he never said a word about it. He just leaned in close, kissing her forehead and telling her everything was okay, that she was doing a good job.

Jyn didn't like this pain, it wasn't something she wanted to be in, it felt like her whole body was being torn apart and pulled together too tightly at the same time and all she wanted was for the pain to be gone.

“It's okay, Jyn.” Cassian soothed her with another light kiss to her temple as she let out another scream of pain. “You're doing great, I'm so proud of you.”

One of her final screams turned into a sob, something like relief coursing through every part of her body, despite her pain. The droids and doctor had gone silent as they were at work by her legs, and suddenly there was a cry that pierced through the room that made Jyn's heart leap out of her chest. It was just a sound, a tiny little cry, but Jyn knew it was the sound of her baby and hers alone, no other child in the galaxy could make a sound that resonated with her quite like that.

Cassian was at her side, smiling like a fool, as he was able to see their baby before she could. The droids took the baby away just for a moment to clean it before returning to Jyn's side, their baby wrapped in a bundle of pink blankets; the tiny face peaking out was so red and so...so perfect.

“It's a girl.” The droid announced, handing the baby to Jyn, who couldn't wrap her arms around her little girl fast enough.

She didn't know what made her cry, the pain was subsiding as the other droid stitched her up, the baby was healthy and finally in her arms, but something about finally holding her made a few tears spring to her eye. She pressed a kiss gently to her daughter's forehead, inhaling that scent that full baby scent that little Poe still had a hint of.

“Hi,” she whispered through her tears of joy, “I'm your Mama.”

Cassian leaned in to get a closer look at their baby girl, their daughter, and Jyn swore she heard him weeping now, too, though he was still grinning from ear to ear. Even though their daughter’s eyes were still closed, it was as though she knew Cassian’s hand was close to hers and her tiny little hand wrapped tightly around his finger to hold him close.

“And I'm your Papa.” Cassian managed to say.

In that moment, all of Jyn's fears and anxiety of becoming a parent washed away. Her daughter was here and Jyn wasn't afraid, it felt right to hold her close, and to love her so much already that her heart could barely take it. She wasn't afraid of her and Cassian becoming parents, either, because if they could love her this much already, they would do anything to keep her safe and loved.

Cassian was sure he'd never seen a more perfect thing in his life as soon as he got to hold his daughter. Jyn had fallen asleep shortly after feeding her, and she was surely the most beautiful person he'd ever seen, finally resting after hours of labor to bring their daughter into the world.

He'd been so afraid to hold Poe, but now he wasn't at all afraid to hold his precious baby girl, despite how small and fragile she was. She was something he needed to protect and hold close for the rest of his life, and not a minute would go by where Cassian wouldn't protect her and make sure she knew she was loved.

She was the perfect combination of him and Jyn; her coloring was just a bit lighter than his, but it still unmistakably there, she had Jyn's nose, and his dark hair. He couldn't wait to see her eyes, he knew they’d be light at first, something he remembered seeing in one of the many books Jyn had, but once they started to take their true color, he wondered if her eyes would be bright green like her mother’s or dark like his.

When she started to squirm Cassian started singing. He thought he had forgotten the lullabies his mother had sung to him so long ago, but as soon as he had to sing for her it was as though no time had passed between his mother crooning in his ears and now. The lullaby seemed to sooth her almost instantly, pulling her back to sleep and allowing Jyn to have a little more rest, or so he thought.

“She loves you already.” Jyn croaked, a smile on her face just for him, despite her exhaustion.

“She loves you too.” Cassian replied quietly, trying not to wake his sleeping bundle.

“We should probably give her a name at some point.” Jyn tried to sit up some more, but only winced in pain before giving up.

“What were you thinking?” Cassian asked.

“Honestly, I have no idea.” Jyn sighed. “I've spent so long worrying about being a good mother, I forgot to think of what to call her.”

“What about...Lyra?” Cassian offered gently.

Jyn's eyes lit up at the sound of it, and Cassian knew before she even replied that it was the perfect name for their little girl.

“Lyra Andor,” she tried, “I like the sound of that.” She grinned

At the sound of Jyn's voice, little Lyra woke from her slumber and started crying and squirming in protest.

“I think she realized you're awake now.” Cassian laughed, rising from his seat and bringing little Lyra to her mother, and Jyn happily scooped her into her arms and held her skin-to-skin. Lyra calmed almost immediately.

“I think you'll have to teach me that song of yours. I think she liked it.” Jyn smiled.  

Six months came and went in the blink of an eye. To Jyn it didn’t seem like that much time had passed, but their little girl was already six months old, and she was starting to understand what parents meant when they said children grow quickly.

The first few months were plagued with late night crying fits and too little sleep for Jyn and Cassian, but Lyra had finally begun to sleep through the night. Granted, Jyn still couldn't sleep, worrying as she was every second if Lyra was alright.

“You should get some sleep.” Cassian spoke, breaking the silence of their bedroom and rubbing small circles into her lower back, something she still found soothing even though she no longer had to contend with back pain from being pregnant. “She's going to wake up soon.”

“I can't sleep.” Jyn grumbled in protest.

Cassian pulled her closer then, his hand resting on her abdomen, and the scruff of his beard brushed against her bare shoulder.

“Do I have to sing you to sleep, too?” He asked and Jyn couldn't help but laugh.

“Maybe.” Jyn grinned, turning around in his arms to face him. “But I think there are other ways you can help me sleep.”

“I'd be more than happy to, if I weren't half asleep myself.” Cassian swore with a yawn.

Jyn moved as close to him as she could, nestling into his warmth and seeking comfort. He began humming at some point, and while Jyn tried to fall asleep to it, she couldn't help but be captivated by the sound and start kissing at his neck everywhere she could reach. Somewhere along the way during her quest, his humming choked and turned into a moan, to which Jyn could only smile proudly and continued kissing where she’d gotten him moaning.

“Still sleepy?” Jyn asked with a smirk, lips still pressed against his neck.

“You’re going to be the death of me.” Cassian mumbled.

“I know.” Jyn smirked.

Cassian grabbed her and took control, climbing atop her to kiss everywhere he could reach, getting giggles more than anything else out of her.

“You’re gonna wake her up.” Cassian hushed her with a quick kiss to the lips. Between the lack of sleep, the long days of farming, and caring for Lyra, time alone was precious in its scarcity, though their passion never faded.

“I thought you were too tired.” Jyn countered.

“Well,” Cassian acknowledged, “you woke me up, and it’s been too long since I’ve had you all to myself.” Cassian’s voice became husky and Jyn could barely stand how much she wanted him then and there.

As if on cue, Lyra’s cries started to flood into the room from across the hall, and Jyn couldn’t help but smirk at Cassian’s disappointment.

“My turn.” Jyn whispered, leaning up to steal a kiss from her husband before he rolled off of her. “Hey, it’ll be a few minutes, but when I come back I’m all yours,” she promised.

“I’ll hold you to that.” Cassian said.

Lyra was soon a year old. It had once seemed like something far off and distant to Jyn and Cassian, but there they were, holding their year-old daughter in their arms. Soon she’d be learning how to talk, to run, and so many other things that would go by all too quickly.

Soon there would come a day when Lyra would be too big for Jyn to hold like this, there would be a day where she’d have her own life, and while there was finally peace in the galaxy, Jyn still worried about everything Lyra would do with her life.

Maybe she’d go off and have a family of her own, hopefully with someone who made her feel as safe and beloved as Cassian made Jyn feel. Someone who would never leave her, though thankfully she’d never have to grow up with the same fears Jyn or Cassian did.

Jyn watched over her as she slept that night, trying to absorb that Lyra had grown so much and would only keep growing for the rest of her life whether Jyn was there or not. She didn’t even hear Cassian come into the room until he placed a hand around her waist and pressed a kiss to her temple.

“She’s gotten so big.” Cassian whispered, careful not to disturb their sleeping daughter.

“I just want her to stay small forever.” Jyn mused, realizing she didn’t want her daughter to grow up so quickly, or at all, really. “But I suppose I can’t really stop that.”

“No,” he agreed, “but she’ll always be our little girl to us.”

“Maybe not.” Jyn replied, taking Cassian’s hand and placing it on her abdomen. “I’m pregnant.”

    “You have much better timing with this one than you did with her.” Cassian tried to contain his laughter. “At least I don’t have to worry about you running around a war zone.”

“You still have to worry about me running around.” Jyn smirked. “Especially to keep up with this one here.”

Cassian let out a quiet chuckle, Jyn pulled herself close to him to listen to the steady sound and let him hold her close with one hand still on her yet-flat stomach; she had to remember and enjoy being able to move around and keep up with Lyra for as long as she could before the giant swollen stomach would return.

“How do you think I feel?” He gazed at their daughter, “I’m always running around with the both of you. If this one is going to be another girl I don’t know how I’ll keep up.” Cassian said.

“Well, for your sake let’s hope it’s a boy.” Jyn smirked.  

“I love you.” Cassian whispered.

“I love you too.” She replied.