#some of you need to read a goddamn book before you adopt words to assign your whole experiences and others as good or evil

[ghostlyerlkonig]

Chappell Roan... ily..... do not regret finding you on bandcamp in 2020..... but if I see one more separatist terfy asshole say lesbians are the only ones to be able to relate to part of a song ABOUT A PAST LOVER EXPERIENCING comphet and NOT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF someone experiencing it, I'm going to kill myself.

[aliynavenus]

‘A Little Adjustment’                                         a damirae fanfic

Chapter three

Monday 12:30 p.m 

“Damian!” Donna rushed up to catch up to him in the hall during their passing period, “So it is true, you are back!” 

Oh right, he forgot he never really did tell the team he was back. Not even his brothers knew, though he guaranteed his father already told them.

“I wasn’t planning on informing anyone. I’m assuming Jon told you?” 

Donna lifted up her eyebrow taken aback, as if he said something unbelievable. “Are you kidding me? You’re the whole schools talk right now. Everywhere I go--” lifting up her hands gesturing at nothing, “it’s Damian Wayne this and Damian that.” 

Tsk, as if that was any better. He already had so many prids attacking him with questions about his whereabouts at the academy. It was only 6th period and he already had people wanting to meddle into his life that wasn’t his father. It was awful. 

“How come you didn’t tell anyone except Jon, you should’ve told me, or Wally or even Roy!” Donna shouted mildly disappointed but she mentioned someone who he didn’t even know. 

Damian paused walking, turning to her, “Who’s Roy?” 

“Roy Harper…?” Donna blinked, tilting her head till something clicked, “Oh right!--Did Jon not mention him to you? He's new to the team, aka Speedy. He’s Oliver’s--well was his sidekick. He actually goes here now too. You might like him, he's a really good fighter.” 

Damian scoffed, “I’d expect him to be, if he’s already part of the team. As long as he’s not an imbecile with unhumorous jokes like Logan” 

Donna rolled her eyes, bambling about something that he wasn't really listening to. When he heard a small distant laugh behind him. He knew who that shy awkward chuckle belonged to. 

Raven was leaning against the side of the library doors laughing with whoever that poor scum is. Something in his stomach twisted with greed seeing that. Her hair in a messy bun with strands of hair framing her face, the academy’s white blouse fitting her too well. She was pressing her pile of books against her chest, they almost looked suffocated. That navy plaid skirt still as damn short as he remembered. Gods, she doesn’t even realize if she bends over even the slightest, all will be at risk, for him. This school really needed to overlook its dress-code. And What the hell was that imbecile saying that was making her laugh like a child? It made him unsettled.

“Hellooo, birdbrain to Donna.”Waving a hand over, jerking him back into reality, “You’ll be considered creepy if you keep staring at them like that. Besides, if that guy wants to live, he’ll have to deal with Jon. And boy is he such a protective brother towards her.”

Jon? A protective brother? That was something he never thought he’d never hear. Jon was a child, an oblivious care-free ditz who wasn’t at all threatening or even the slightest way orderant. How come it was his first time hearing about this, Jon never--

Then it clicked

No wonder, Jon didn’t even mention not doing anything with Raven to him. It’s because he didn’t feel the need to. Jon didn’t know anything about the sin, just the mind link. Of course he wouldn’t expect his best friend to lay a finger on his adoptive sister. Yet he already did. 

Crap. And that’s when Damian felt a guilt crawl up his skull, “Jon sure did change.” he muttered under his breath holding back a curse.

Unfortunately Donna heard, “Right! But it’s nice seeing Jon like this, he’s always saying he likes having Raven as a sister. I guess he just doesn’t wanna see her get hurt. You should’ve seen his face when the team told him we were planning on telling her who we actually are.” 

Damian shot a glare at Donna. “You told her?” 

Donna faced her hand towards him, “Relax, she doesn’t know yours or Jon’s identity. After you left, the team except Jon was assigned to help out in defeating her dad. We all became friends--though me and her are the bestest of friends--anyway in the end we told her who we actually were though she was surprised. But she knew I was a wondergirl, something about how coincidentally my eyes were the same blue. Which I’m surprised no one’s ever noticed.” 

Damian furrowed his eyebrows, why the hell did that make him bothered. Just knowing that they don’t have any secrets between her, they were free to act how they wanted without any fake personas in the way. As for him, he had to be a Wayne and only a Wayne around her. For multiple reasons. 

Truth be told he hasn’t seen Raven since last night, it wasn’t that he was avoiding her. He just hasn’t seen her till now, almost like she was the one avoiding him. 

Back in that moment in that cramped closet, every passion, every want all combined together wanting to come out. But he had to keep it under control, it scathe him not to touch her more, not to reach down under her clothes and please her in every way he possibly could. But he couldn't do that. He couldn’t fall vulnerable to whatever the hell he was feeling when she’s near him. It was Raven, for god sakes who was now Jon's adoptive sister.

Dammit. Why does she affect him like this? He never felt defenseless with the women back in Tokyo. Everything in his head kept telling him that it was the sin that was making him like this, the goddamn attachments he had with her. It felt like an urge--a burning one that imprinted in his body that left him eager to not just understand her but to feel every curve of her body. 

Gods he sounded pathetic.

Ding Ding Ding 

“Crap that’s the bell. Mr. Lawson is going kill if I’m late again, I’ll see you later.” Without responding to Donna, Damian looked back to the area where Raven was with that scum. But they were gone. He cursed under his breath hoping he’d never have to see that again. 

Opening the doors of the library to attend his next period, study hall. The same place where he noticed Raven having no idea that day was going to cause havoc a year later. The academy's library was immense, two stories of towering book shelves with the golden lights that came from the ceiling, illuminating the place to give it a sense of ease. Though no student actually liked being here to enjoy literature, just to slouch sleep where they please like sloths. 

Damian already felt the eyes of drooling girls staring at him, ignoring them as he walked up the spiral stairs to the second floor. Staying away from everyone. It was rather empty up there wandering to the far end until he noticed Raven. She was in the corner all alone, seated at the floor leaning against the shelved books against the wall. Looked like she wanted to get away from the sea of people too. 

Raven was reading that book, that caused their moment back in that closet. He couldn’t miss the texturized grey undertone that had red stones plastered in a circle on the cover. He wasn’t an idiot; he knew what it was for. It wasn’t a coincidence why she was so eager to get it last night after meeting with Robin. Though it was a perfect time to act oblivious. 

----

“You know you never did end up telling me what your research was on with that book.” 

Oh no. 

Raven felt her spine stiffen, lifting her head to see Damian standing there. Gods he looked more defined in the school’s uniform. His sleeves were rolled up exposing his tense arms that were searching her body last night--gods she needed to stop recalling last night. Especially after what she found out. Her words were caught in her throat feeling the air tighten in her lungs. She had to say something, anything. 

“Uhm, just some research on my powers.” Her words were stuttered; she couldn’t even look him in the eye. If she did, all she would think about was everything that happened between them. Why did he have to have this study period? Especially after doing a great job at avoiding him. 

“Anything I could help with?” Damian set his notebooks to the side, sliding down his body next to hers, keeping just enough space between them.

Help? Like he would know anything about reversing a sin. Or anything about magic. Raven shifted almost automatically, trying to regain that comfort she was in before he came. Oh azar, doesn’t he feel any sort of awkwardness between them. Because gods know that she does. She couldn’t face him, who was she kidding, she made a mistake, afterall she kissed him first. Kissing Damian Wayne was like kissing a prince around here, and she was no princess. She could practically feel the embarrassment skinning her alive. 

She chuckles hoping it would ease her nerves. “I don’t think you’ll know anything about...magic.” 

Damian scoffed, as if she just told a joke. “I may know a thing or two.” 

Yea right. “Hm.” she couldn’t say anything else. She didn’t want to come out as rude but she needed him to get the jist that he needed to get the heck away from here. Especially after what she found out like last. It was the best option. “I have a lot of work to do. You should probably go downstairs, hang out with the high status people. I can’t really have distractions right now.” 

So much for trying to sound natural. She just sounded mean. 

Damian blinked furrowing his eyebrows completely shocked she even suggested that. For a second she wanted to take it back and just let him be but instead he scoffed, half hearted, “Is that what you think of me? A distraction?” 

Yup, he was. And she so badly now wanted to take it back hearing his words cut deep through her chest. “N-no I just can’t concentrate when you’re around.” 

Damian seemed unfazed. “Might I remind you, you kissed me last night. I don’t think I’m the one causing the distractions.” 

He really mentioned that right now after she was doing anything she can to avoid that subject. Damian was really testing her, he wanted to make it into an enticing argument. And for some reason she was willing to argue. “I might’ve kissed you first but I pulled away. You’re the one who shut me up by kissing me again. So yes! You are distraction, a distraction to my head, and my body, my soul!” 

He tilted his head, licking his lips confused, “Your soul?” 

Great. After her enticement she just slipped a variable of her research. She had to bring it up now, he was already belittling seeing that she was actually protecting him from her. Cat’s out of the bag once again. 

Raven sighed, “Well it has to do with an accidental connection to a sin I set with someone a while back. That’s what this book is for, research on how to reverse it.” 

Damian didn’t even look shocked. “And did you figure it out?” 

“Almost. I thought this sin wouldn’t have much effect on me. But it does and I found something else….something that partially has to do with why I kissed you last night.” Raven’s grip on the book tightened, biting her lower lip. Feeling a rush of color want to appear. 

Damian lifted an eyebrow, but said nothing waiting for her to respond. 

Raven shifted the book from her lap to his pointing at a sentence reading it aloud, “The devoted one who unleashes Lust has the stance of the uncontrollable tolerance of the lurement of one whose soul pleases their eye yet if the devoted one is not fully satisfied. Consequences will occur that will lure the lust out of the body itself till the soul cleansed.”

The air seemed to thicken after she read those words. She could feel Damian drift his gaze onto her but she couldn’t look himt. “What does this all mean?” 

Damian’s low voice was echoed against her ear. Raven didn’t notice how close they were. They’re bodies could touch simply if one of them moved just the slightest. Looking into him, she was sure he could see the rid of color flowing into her cheeks.

“It means that since I’m the one who made the seal my soul and body has seen searching for the one who attracts it….and that soul happened to be yours. I guess that’s part of the reason why I came on to you so suddenly…. it’s because my soul likes you. So there’s going to be times where I won't feel controlled when I’m only around you.” Her voice was so brittle she could feel it break with embarrassment,  “..but if my soul isn’t fully satisfied when we do stuff like that...then Lust will take over my body until it is. It’s a slight pressure of pleasure mixed with frustration that makes the body ache, it’s almost chastisement.”

His eyebrows knitted together hearing that, “So you’ll be in pain until your soul is satisfied.” 

Raven nodded her head, gods this would be easier if he was an abnormal being of some kind. But no her soul just had to be attracted to a person who’s human. “This is why you can’t be near me anymore. I can’t have my morals be acting on its own when it sees you. It could want you at any given time and I don’t want to put you through—” 

“Use me.” 

Raven’s eyes widen, “What?” 

--

For gods sake what was he saying. It was as if his words were a reflex all on its own. 

Damian bit his lower lip, looking into her eyes. It was a whole universe in them. He didn’t want to see those same eyes in pain, afterall he caused her so much agony for a year with his unruly intimacy with women. 

His voice was soft, a cautious tone simmering between them both, “Use me. Do what you want. If I know it’ll help you to not feel agony then I’ll take it.” 

Did he have any idea what he was saying. Or why he was willing to help her as Damian? He shouldn’t be meddling, she made a simple request for him so why wasn’t he just letting it go. It was one thing to deal with Raven as Robin but now dealing with her like this. 

It was complicated, more than that. But he didn’t care.  

“Damian I can’t--” 

Raven couldn’t even get her sentence out, the next thing she knew Damian’s lips were on hers. Every nerve in his body wanted to shut her up and accept his request without telling her twice. He didn’t want to hear a rejection, he just wanted her to take it before he regretted saying it. Grasping her chin under his thumb in a light kiss, careful not to startle her away. Yet she wasn’t. Releasing his rough lips from hers, their lips were still close enough where they were merely touching. 

The collide of amethyst and emerald taking in each other’s eyes to admire everything that held a universe in them. The library was so silent Damian was sure he could hear her heartbeat, if not his too. Raven’s hands were at her sides yet he found it within himself wanting to feel her grips everywhere. The tension was breaking him already missing the awkward lingering traces of her lips onto his. “Damian.” 

The sound of the book from his lap was heard hitting the floor. Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, drawing her closer to him. His senses being filled with her scent of jasmine that he couldn’t get enough of. 

“Don’t...don’t say another word. Just let me.” 

With that Damian imprinted his lips onto hers. Savoring the way her soft lips felt against his rough ones, it was awkward yet searching. The heat that was exposing both of them, dragging kiss after kiss. Until they bathed in each other’s taste. 

Raven’s lips pressed deeper into his. Her kisses electrocuting his body making him ache everything he wanted to do to back in that cramped closet. Raven groaned against his mouth feeling his tarrying tongue wet her bottom lip begging for entrance. Graciously inviting him, as she gripped the fronts of his white oxford harshly.

She wanted this. Or more like her soul did, and he knew it. He could sense it. For fucks sake he was just grateful that she couldn’t sense what he was feeling. Whatever it was, he didn’t even know it himself. 

Feeling Raven’s teeth nibbling on Damian’s bottom lip, he grunted against her mouth. His rough hands behind her soft hair, “My soul..it...it wants you.” Raven muttered in between the drowning kisses, her voice was so fragile he was it could break. 

He needed to fulfill her soul. And by gods he wanted to do more than just that right now. 

Taking a sense of their awkward position, Damian gripped her lower waist guiding her to his lap. His cock twitched feeling her skirt riding up her thighs. Fuck this felt good. 

Damian licked his lips, watching Raven’s breaths caught in her throat, staring into her through her heavy-lidded eyes. He wanted to take a moment and enjoy every little breathless exhale she took. Her cheeks were reigning with color, her grip against his shirt was tight. Almost like she was keeping him hold, and to say he liked it. The perfect bun she had was now a tangled mess but yet still she didn’t look a mess. Hell, she looked goddamn irresistible. 

Slowly guiding his lips to her neck, tasting her flesh that was just as honeyed as her lips. Without a thought Damian found himself reaching for her ponytail that held her bun and easily pulled it away from her silk hair. Raven’s head leaned back, biting her lower lip from letting a vulnerable sound escape her lips. Damian’s tongue was hot and lasting that dug aimless trails, stopping at various points to bite down her flesh. Her skin tasted as if it was sprinkled with sugar, every lick better than the last. He could feel Raven shiver with every bite he plastered on her neck. 

“Damian.” 

The way she said his name--why did his name sound so angelic when she said it. It could drive him mad if she continued saying his name with her husky breath that swirled with anticipation. 

He wanted to feel that pleasure that was too goddamn good last night. Recalling the way her hips rolled onto his, stopping her, before he knew he would risk it all if she continued. But he didn’t care anymore, he was throbbing for her and he was sure she could feel him. 

Working his hands down her body, digging his fingers into her hips. He took the pleasure of guiding, rocking her hips onto his cock. Raven jerked and let go of a stifled noise, her teeth sinking into her lower lip.

How can something so unright feel too goddamn good. 

Damian could feel her damp panties against his trousers. His cock responding to every roll that was given. Raven’s mouth fell open, wanting every sound to escape. Damian could see the pleasure takeover her eyes, desperately hearing the soft pants that could echo the library if she wasn’t quite. But shit, how he want to hear her plead, if only they were in a more secluded area. Thankfully no one during this period was scavenging for a book or even cared to look for one while they were all far away from any sightful crowd. 

“Wouldn’t want people to hear us, Raven. Try to stay quiet for me.” His voice a rumbling growl against her lower ear. Yet she was only able to nod, closing her eyes as her nails were tugging at his hair that made him growl. Continuing his motions every swipe against her aching pussy sliding along his cock. 

Raven chewed onto her bottom lip, only letting small mutters come out. Her shaky breath as her hand trailing down his hard chest. Without noticing what she was doing he felt her fingers brush against his cock. Twitching at the feel wanting her to pump him through his trousers, but she didn’t, instead she did something he didn’t expect. 

Fuck. 

Damian couldn’t look away as Raven slid her hand under her skirt. Grunted something explicit in variable languages that he knew she didn’t know. Wanting to see what the hell she was doing but he could feel her fingers desperately pull aside her panties. Oh shit. His cock was painfully growing to her motives, feeling her pussy, she was so much more soak than he imagined. He may be fully clothed, this was enough. At least enough to drive his pulsing cock aching to be let out from his trousers. 

His fingers buried into her white blouse, surely leaving marks, and fastening his pace. Pulling her roughly down onto him desperately. Heat curled up his spine, feeling it wasn’t just him controlling her hips anymore. She started to frantically move into his hands with him. Increasing his pace,, again and again, over and over, without stopping--

Oh, fuck was that a sight.

Raven’s mouth falling open, her eyes barely staying open staring into him. It was as if she wanted to say something but all she was able to concede was the sounds that sounded so mellow that were aching to be louder. 

Raven groaned “A-ah..!--” A moan that was too loud leaked from her mouth but quick to her response. She shut herself up overthrowing the back of her palm onto her mouth. Biting down her eyes shut, muffling cries. Sweat that seemed to glisten on her skin feeling the sizzling heat of her body attached to him. She looked helpless, eager for him. Almost at the edge. 

Damian shivered feeling Raven’s hand below his navel. She looked down at their doing and back at him, her body may have been pleading more but her eyes. Her eyes said something else. Slowing down his pace hesitantly. He wanted these moments to burn into his mind longer, but he knew why she made him stop. Even though she couldn’t say it herself, he knew. 

Taking her hand away from her mouth slowly. He leaned forward into her, pressing his lips onto hers softly. Feeling the missed contact of her soft, wet, now bruised lips from all the biting down she did on herself. Tangling his fingers into her hair, cradling her cheek. Damian wanted to ease those marks, licking slowly across her lips. Raven’s eyes were open the whole time not wanting to miss a second of his doings, not like he minded anyway. He liked staring into her eyes. 

A silence stretched between them after not quite sure who should speak first. Though Damian could feel she was embarrassed with her cheeks still filled with color, her head dropped taking her gaze from him. “I-I think it’s satisfied..”

Oh right. Damian bit back a curse remembering that was the main reason why their bodies reattached on it’s own. Why they’re in another particular situation anyway. Yet even though she said her body is content, she didn’t move away. They were still in this position that seemed all their own. He could still feel all of her, if he kept feeling her pussy pressed against his trousers any longer, he wasn’t sure if he could contain himself. 

“Right. You won’t be in pain then?” He tried his best to make his expression unreadable, not wanting her to realize how much it was restraining him to kiss her. 

Raven shook her head, “I don’t think so, it would’ve happened by now.” her words were stumbled when she looked down at their laps. “U-uhm, I should probably move from your lap.” Damian could feel himself grin seeing the rush of heat maneuver it’s way up to her face. Sensing a bashful Raven a mile away yet it was an interesting view to see. 

“Mm.” Feeling this thighs lighten from her small weight, yet something was clearly seen on his dark grey pants. Damn She really was soaked. The darken area around his cock that was quite noticeable if someone would stare too long. Though Raven seemed to notice rather quickly, 

Raven pushed her hands to her cheeks, shaking her words. “Shoot I-I’m so sorry. I didn’t know I was going to leave a stain or that I was going to do that. Azar, I’m sorry you probably don’t have an extra pair of--” 

Damian cut her off, “Relax, it’s okay. I have workouts next period. It shouldn’t be a problem. Alfred always packs a spare uniform in my duffle bag.” 

Raven tilted her head relieved but confused. “Alfred?” 

“He’s my family’s butler, more of a friend though. He always keeps me prepared.” Truth was Alfred made him keep an extra pair of everything at school in case he lost some of his uniform when having to transform into Robin during dangerous times. 

“Oh, a butler. That’s nice of him.” 

Damian grunted, stretching his body to come up to fix his oxford that crinkled from Raven’s grasp, though not like he mind. “Yea it is.” 

Damian looked at Raven who was trying to fix herself, adjusting the hem of her plaid skirt as well as the wrinkles from her white blouse. His eyes drifting through her plush skin until it stopped at the noticeable bite he left that soon bruised on the side of her neck. Raven didn’t even notice them. Fuck did she have to look so densely cunning, if he didn’t tell her she would be a walking mark of his own. Though that was a thought. That he somewhat enjoyed thinking. 

But that wasn’t what he was meant to supply her with. He wasn’t even supposed to touch her, afterall there was also Jon to think about. 

Damian clears his throat, “You should probably cover those up. I went a little far.” eyeing at the marks. 

Raven brought her hand to her neck where he was referring, “Oh right, I’ll heal them right now. Jon would lose it, if he found out. ” Damian only managed to nod not wanting the guilt to skin him. Raven ended up letting a soft chuckle, muttering lowly under her breath, “Can’t have that happen again.” 

What? She may have not wanted him to hear her. But he did. Has someone else left marks on her? Or done something even remotely the same. But it shouldn’t even bother him, what’s it to him. He was only meant to supply her in satisfaction. So why did he feel the need to pry into that statement. 

“Have you ever done something like this before with someone to make him pissed off?” He tried his best to choose his words wisely not wanting to sound like a questionable gossip. 

Raven chuckled awkwardly, “No I haven’t done something like that before with anyone.” she paused. “More like Jon got ragingly mad after a friend of mine kissed me a few months ago.” 

“Who?” 

“Roy Harper. He came after you left.” 

Donna thought they could be friends. Hell he didn’t even need to get to know him. That name was already dead to him.

[moonprincess92]

A family can be 2 traumatised soldiers and their 30 children (1)

Jyn Erso (who may or may not have broken a man’s arm during mandatory recruitment training) is forcibly assigned to train the Rebel Alliance’s “youth” class as a punishment.

or

A 'Jyn accidentally ends up adopting 30 children and Cassian thinks she's #nuts but helps out and wHOOPS guess we're basically parents now' fic.

Read on AO3 

Part 1 

Jyn Erso could handle the cold.

She had grown used to surviving any kind of weather while fending for herself. The flurry of snow that rattled the base walls, the icy blasts that raced through the Echo One hangar, none of it deterred her. Nothing would make her move while she was waiting.

He’d been gone four days this time. Not the longest amount of time by any means, but long enough that she was starting to get twitchy. Any longer, and she knew exactly what would start happening – the headaches, anxiety and the severe lack of sleep – and so self-isolation it was. The symptoms came and went, depending if it was a good or bad day and she knew that it probably wasn’t very healthy to have another person’s presence decide whether it was a good day or not, but she’d just been through a goddamn war. She’d handle her issues later.

It was when she kicked her heels against the metal crate she was perched on when she could finally breathe again. His shuttle had announced it was coming in to land over an hour ago, but only now was he finally traipsing back into the hangar, a disgruntled expression on his face as he dusted snow off his jacket. Jyn had stopped caring about what others thought months ago.

She ran.

“Jyn!” Cassian only had seconds to react before catching her in his arms.

“How long does it take to land a stupid shuttle?” she muttered, hugging him tight.

“It’s a blizzard out there, I’d like to see – … it’s good to see you too,” Cassian grumbled.

This was new. Everything about their lives felt new. Sometimes, Jyn wondered whether she really had died on Scarif, that she had somehow been burned up from the rays of the Death Star and was then reborn from the ashes, because sometimes it felt like she was having to learn how to live again. She wasn’t used to caring about someone. She wasn’t used to someone else caring about her. She pulled back out of his arms hastily, stumbling a little and trying not to smile too much, trying not to catch his eyes, only she apparently stumbled too far. She bumped into someone significantly smaller right behind her.

“Oh, sorry–” she began.

The kid couldn’t have been more than 12. He shot her a wide-eyed look for a second or two, only to be hastily pulled along once more by one of the officers who had been on Cassian’s mission.

“Who is he?” she asked.

“A child we picked up along the way,” Cassian shrugged. “We go out recruiting, sometimes children find us.”

“They’re going to seriously let him join the Alliance?”

“You don’t officially enlist until you’re eighteen … but I was six when I first came here,” Cassian just shrugged.

Jyn supposed she had never thought about it. She knew that Cassian had had roots in the Alliance for a long time (I’ve been in this fight since I was six-years-old) but she had never really thought about what it must have meant … she pictured for a moment a smooth, bright-eyed Cassian, young and scared, wandering these endless corridors. She had seen some young faces around base before when she was paying attention, but then again, anyone under the age of sixteen was a child to her for all she knew.  She couldn’t ever remember seeing someone as young as the boy before.

“True,” She turned back to Cassian. “Well, you’re in one piece at least, so I’m going to call the mission a success. Come on, we’re probably both starving.”

“Training?” Jyn cried, aghast.

“Yes, training,” Draven snapped, his patience clearly almost worn thin by this point. “I’m not going to accept Saw Gererra’s upbringing as appropriate training for the Rebel Alliance, and neither will anyone else on the council for that matter. And NO,” He added on at once. “Running around the galaxy as some kind of free-lancer or whatever the hell it was that you did before you wound up in prison does not count as ‘training’ either.”

Outraged, Jyn tried to remember what Cassian would tell her. Breathe. Count to 10. “Fine,” she practically spat. “How long will this training last?”

“New Recruits go through the usual six standard months of training before they officially enlist–”

“I’m a goddamn Sergeant!” Jyn nearly leapt the table.

“An emergency rank–” Draven threw back.

She was practically seething. She didn’t regret the attempted assault, but she did regret having to be hauled out of the meeting room over Cassian’s shoulder like some kind of wild animal. If she hadn’t have been held back she would have punched Draven for sure, but she still didn’t need the High Council knowing she was as unstable as she already knew she was.

“Six months!” she yelled, still hanging over Cassian’s back.

“I know you’re mad, but it’s not that long–”

“Says you, Captain!” Jyn complained. “I blew up the kriffing Death Star! I don’t need training, Draven just wants me shoved somewhere out of the way where I can’t do anymore damage–”

“To be fair,” Cassian’s arm that held her over his shoulder tightened at the hint of amusement in his voice. “we didn’t do the actual physical blowing up of the Death Star.”

“Whose side are you on? And would you put me down?”

Cassian dumped her to the floor halfway down one of Echo Base’s endless corridors. Stark white and bland, everything felt meaningless here. The blood had rushed into her face which didn’t help the angry flush she no doubt had. Fighting was the only thing she could think of that might help. She had spent too long keeping her head down, trying to stay out of trouble, ignoring the problem instead of actually doing something. Their insubordination through the Rogue One mission obviously hadn’t helped get her into the Council’s good books, but she might have thought that succeeding in the mission and getting the Death Star plans at great personal cost might have at least meant something.

Apparently not.

“I just want to help,” she insisted.

“I know,” Cassian said, voice thick with something she couldn’t identify. “but going through training has to be better than doing nothing.”

“Right. I’m a useless spare part to the rebellion,” Jyn muttered, bitterly.

“You are not useless,” Cassian countered. “You might feel like you contribute nothing and I know that this isn’t what you hoped for, but you’ll be of no use to us if your training is lacking … Jyn,” His hand moved and Jyn almost flinched. It was an unspoken rule that they didn’t needlessly touch. They hugged when reunited, they deflected blows as they sparred, but parts of her screamed that she still barely knew this person. They didn’t brush hands, squeeze arms or press against each other’s sides (no matter how much she might want to).

But his hand reached for her now. It clamped on her shoulder, warm and heavy. “Jyn,” he said again. “you are worth something.”

Her heart gave a very painful lurch.

“Fine. I’ll do it. But I won’t be happy about it.”

“Are you ever?” Cassian let his hand fall away, a small smile gracing his lips.

The training gym had apparently once been another smaller hangar for the base, only it had been quickly closed off and re-designed due to the amount of snow build-up. It was frigid and her training officer was a total moron, but at least she got to punch the shit out of other recruits.

“ERSO!” the training officer barked as again, her opponent was sent flying to the floor. “YOU’RE GOING TO BREAK AN ARM DOING THAT!”

“He’s fine!” she called out in earnest, gesturing down at the recruit at her feet.

“He’s crying, that’s what he is!” Without so much as another word, Jyn was sent to the back of the group. She tried not to snarl, but she did notice most of her classmates giving her a wide berth. The current new recruits were made up of anyone from Imperial defectors, all the way to civilians who had never held a blaster in their lives before. She was barely four weeks into this nightmare, and Jyn was certain that she was yet to actually learn anything of actual use. Hanging on the fringes of the class as the training officer fawned over the man she had just dropped (honestly, his arm was fine! … ok, probably fine) Jyn felt her attention wander.

The old hangar floor of the training gym had been split into several different areas, each marked by painted lines on the floor and decrepit old rugs that masqueraded as training mats. The far end she noticed had been turned into a target range, but apparently they weren’t due to actually start blaster training for another week. She was going to die of boredom before she could ever actually join the rebellion.

Instead of watching the new recruits hesitantly try and get each other out of headlocks, Jyn glanced over at the mat nearest them. Two young recruits sparred together with long wooden bows. She was certain that the girl couldn’t be more than 17, the boy even younger perhaps. They seemed to be part of another large group of recruits, only Jyn realised to her surprise that these ones were all young children. They sat around the edges of the mat, cheering the older teenagers on as they fought. Jyn noticed the boy Cassian’s mission had picked up amongst the crowd. The 12-year-old watched the fight with hungry eyes.

The girl kept trying to jab at her opponent. The boy wasn’t quick, but she could never do quite enough damage to take him out. When she failed for a third time in a row, Jyn found herself suddenly calling out,

“You want to use your entire body behind your thrust.”

The teenagers on the mat paused. They looked around nervously and Jyn nodded, indicating that she was the one who had spoken. She held up an imaginary bow. “You need more strength behind your thrust. Use all of your torso – then the bow–” She mimed the action.

The girl tried it. She stabbed the boy right under the ribs, making him gasp.

“That’s right–”

“Excuse me,” a rather angry voice cut in. “but who the hell do you think you are?”

The man who had stormed right up to her was almost as short as she was, but his ire apparently made up for it. He was balding and huffy and Jyn didn’t have the patience for this. “Sergeant Jyn Erso, Sir,” she retorted.

Immediately, the children around the mat started hissing and whispering to each other. Several recruits from her own group were turning back to her now, wondering what was going on. Luckily, Jyn’s own training officer hadn’t noticed.

“Are these your recruits?” she asked, gesturing a hand vaguely towards the mat of children.

“They are,” the officer in front of her snapped. “what are you doing talking to them?”

“I’m teaching something,” Jyn pointed out. “which apparently you aren’t doing much of.”

She noticed the teenaged girl behind the officer exchange an amazed look with her sparring partner.

The officer in front of her turned red, spluttering. “Who the hell–”

“Erso!” her own training officer had finally realised a scene was happening. He stormed over, addressing the other man, “Officer Hadlow, if this recruit is hassling you in any way, feel free to send her to –”

“She’s trying to tell me how to do my job!”

“Only because you’re apparently too busy yelling at me to notice that one of your kids is trying to chew the gym mat!” Jyn pointed angrily at the small child she’d noticed behind Hadlow’s back. The man turned in a flurry, yelling, “Caylen, how many times have I said don’t do that–?”

At least a little satisfied, Jyn turned back to her own training officer to accept her fate.

“Training … the youth class?” Cassian murmured.

“Yes.”

“The … the youth class?”

“I could do it,” Jyn tried not to sound so hurt at his scepticism.

“It’s not that, I …” She felt Cassian shift beside her a little. “I just didn’t think it would be something you’d willingly do.”

Jyn hadn’t either. She hadn’t even wanted to bring it up at all. The days that they could spend together on base she didn’t want to waste with talk of her ridiculously ineffective training. She didn’t want to talk about the headaches and the anxiety. She didn’t even want to speak about his classified intelligence missions (well, most of the time). No, she wanted to speak of normal things, mundane things. How his day had been, what they ate for lunch, where they thought the next rebel base would be. Whether they could remember the name of another one of the soldiers who had died on Scarif. They could never exactly have normal lives, but they could at least pretend like they did.

She wasn’t quite sure when the sleeping together had happened.

She curled in tighter towards his body. Her bunk was technically still somewhere in the recruit barracks, so squeezing into Cassian’s was always a mission in of itself, but they made it work. She knew that there had been a night they had just been talking in his room together when she’d accidentally fallen asleep mid-conversation. Maybe that’s when. A lot of their relationship seemed to happen in leaps and bounds, after all. Months of nothing and then suddenly, everything. They only slept together, but that didn’t mean Jyn didn’t think about other things sometimes. About how her heart would snap every time he left for a mission, or how he would always get a cup of caf for each of them in the mornings without even thinking about it, or how he would hold her on the nights she would wake screaming.

She tried not to think too much about his mouth and how she would very much like it on hers one of these days.

Jyn tried to shift away, lest he feel the length of her body burning, but there wasn’t much room in the narrow bed. It was late, they should be going to sleep, but the evenings were the only times they ever really got a good chance to talk.

“Look, apparently, my training officer refuses to ‘handle’ me anymore,” she tried to explain herself.

“You? No,” Cassian muttered into her hair.

She slammed a hand into his chest. “He complained to Mothma. Apparently, Officer Hadlow is leaving to take over training recruits at an outpost somewhere, so they’ve been looking for someone to take over the youth class. Mothma called me in today. She said if I refused to be trained, then I should be more than happy to do the training.”

“So you’re going to … teach?”

“Apparently,” Jyn rolled over so that they were almost nose to nose, his arm slung heavily over her. “and Mothma seemed to really enjoy sentencing me. Cassian, you were in this class once. Be honest, what have I gotten myself into?”

He almost laughed. “If anyone can handle the kids, it’s you.”

“But I know nothing about children!” Jyn bit her lip. “I was the youngest person in Saw’s entire cadre, and I certainly wasn’t treated like a child. How do I even talk to them?”

“Ok, so maybe the youth class has a reputation for eating people alive,” Cassian mentioned, lightly. “but just talk to them like they’re human. I think the Council often just sees them as future soldiers and forgets how young they actually are.”

“You don’t think I’ll mess up?”

“Oh, you’ll mess up,” Cassian said. “but learn from it and you’ll be fine – ouch–” He suddenly hissed against what Jyn knew was pain in his thigh. He cringed, a hand reaching down and rubbing the spot where he had been shot on Scarif, the spot that had never quite healed.

“It’s hurting again?” Jyn asked quietly.

“It’s the damn cold, it’s always hurting–”

It was no use trying to suggest he see a medic. Cassian was nothing if not stubborn and any hint of physical injury would take him out of the field, so he silently bore his pain. If Jyn had her way she would chain him to this bed. She let her own hand inch down and pressed down over top of his.

“We should try and get some sleep.”

She didn’t want to. She hated sleeping. She hated the images that haunted her when she was unconscious, but she also knew she had no choice if she wanted to remain functioning. Luckily, sleeping by Cassian’s side usually made it better.

They drifted off with their hands still entwined.

Jyn’s first day taking over the youth class didn’t go so well.

The children were anywhere from the youngest 3-year-old boy, to the teenaged girl Jyn had helped in the gym at 17. There were 22 kids overall and between them, they came from 19 different planets, spoke 29 languages, and had probably an uncountable number of behavioural issues. Some were children of soldiers on base, and many more had wound up in Alliance care somewhere along the way with who-knew-what traumas behind them. They had a ‘classroom’ of sorts dedicated to their training that was down the corridor from the training gym, but it wasn’t so much a classroom than it was a prison. Rebel posters were slapped up on the otherwise bare walls along with multiple scratch marks and scribble drawings. There were low tables and a few broken chairs tossed in a corner. The large mat sat on the floor near the back of the room had stray threads yanked out of it and vomit stains on the corner. Sulky teens huddled together around one table while little kids screamed and ran everywhere else.

Jyn stared in amazement.

Well, she had to start somewhere.

“You!” she barked at the teenaged girl she had helped in the gym. “What’s your name?”

Luckily, the girl’s face lit up. Her accent was similar to her own when she spoke, though she had much darker skin and hair than Jyn. “I’m Malia! You’re Jyn Erso – GUYS, GUYS! Remember Jyn Erso?”

The entire room came to a screaming halt.

Jyn hadn’t expected much of a welcome from the youth class, quite honestly, but these kids apparently knew of her. Faces gaped in awe. Friends whispered to each other. Malia looked beside herself. Well, at least she had the room’s attention now.

“My name is Sergeant Jyn Erso,” Jyn confirmed for the record. “Officer Hadlow is teaching a different squad of recruits, so it’s my job now to take over the youth class.”

One kid let out a barely-concealed snort.

“Clearly,” she continued without being thrown. “Hadlow didn’t do his job very well. That’s going to change with me.”

If the Council wanted to punish her, fine. If they refused to let her fight, then fine.

She would create her own army.

While the children had been rather receptive when she first walked in, everything kind of just slowly derailed from then on.

Malia was only one of a handful of older teenagers, whereas most of the class were under the age of eight. There were no records accompanying them, no indications of their previous training – there was just absolutely no way of telling what these kids had been through or what they had seen. Jyn had to forcibly separate five physical fights within the first hour, with one little girl actually scratching her, while another screamed every time someone so much as looked in their direction in the background.

God, she had her work cut out for her.

Malia, at least, had apparently warmed to her. The teenager seemed bright, and mature enough that Jyn (with desperate relief) felt like she could talk to her and get some answers out of her. Malia seemed only too happy to help throughout the day as she cheerfully pointed at each child and rattled off facts and anecdotes,

“Yeah, that Lyle has a nasty bite, watch out for that!” Malia warned at one point. “Oh, Warrin’s the one who can speak five languages – it’s good because he can interpret for Kady – but I also think he’s got some kind of attention disorder, because you can’t get him to concentrate long enough to actually listen to someone, ha! – no, no, Trina’s the one who scratched you – that’s not infected, right? – yeah, she speaks basic as well as her home-planet’s language, but she’ll pretend that she doesn’t just to annoy you. That’s Rivi, she is CRAAAZY good with a blaster, but also a compulsive liar, oh my god – that’s Talek–” She pointed out the boy who had arrived with Cassian’s mission a couple of weeks ago. “He’s the newest and so far, he doesn’t talk. Like, I think he can, he just … doesn’t. I don’t know. Oh – that one’s Arlo, he’s the youngest–”

Her head literally swam with the onslaught of information day one had hit her with, and the next day wasn’t that much different. Actually, the entire first week kind of felt like she was being repeatedly shot and told to somehow enjoy it. It was ridiculous! She didn’t have the first clue as to what she was doing! From morning to afternoon, she was literally wrestling with these kids to get them to just stop hitting each other. How the hell was she supposed to teach them when she couldn’t even get them to all listen to her for five minutes at any given time?

She sighed in exasperation as once again, 10-year-old Reno shoved Azha out of his way. The last hundred times Jyn had stormed over there and stopped the fight before it could ensue, but now she just rubbed her eyes, pressing down hard as she leaned against the wall and waiting for the inevitable to unfold. Sure enough, Azha’s whining voice cried out, “RENO, I HATE YOU!”

She wasn’t cut out for this.

“Ooh,” Malia had apparently sidled up next to her, and Jyn peered over as the girl watched the fight in amusement. “My money’s on Azha! Kiddin’, I have no money.”

“How do I do this?” Jyn asked.

“You’re already doing better than Officer Hadlow.”

“How? I’m not doing anything!”

Malia just shrugged. “You actually give a shit.”

Jyn considered that for about five seconds, before sighing and storming over to where Azha was currently sitting on Reno’s head, pummelling his body with her 11-year-old fists. After hauling the girl off him and dumping her on the other side of the room, something snapped in her mind.

This was her fate. This was what she’d been dealt with. She could either throw the cards back or play them as best she could. She could see quite clearly that the Rebel Alliance didn’t want her here. Despite everything she’d done for them, she was a liability, someone to try and get rid of. They couldn’t literally banish her, so she’d been put here in the hopes that these insane children would eventually drive her away.

And for about five minutes, it had worked. She’d considered leaving.

But then she watched Kady, who was frustratingly attempting to join in a game without understanding anything. She saw a seven-year-old have a brief moment of empathy for another who was crying. These children were being treated just as well as she was right now and Jyn found herself gritting her teeth. Damn it, Mothma was not winning this round!

She was doing this.

Cassian ended up walking into his room eight days into Jyn taking over the youth class to find the walls plastered with what looked like an entire essay.

“What the …?” he began.

“Don’t mind the paper,” Jyn turned around in greeting. “I guess I could’ve just used a datapad, but it helps to see it all laid out.”

Cassian moved to peer closer at the scribbled notes Jyn had written. Twenty two pieces of paper – one for each child – were taped haphazardly to walls. A name was underlined in bold, followed by literally any notes she could think of for each child.

“Have you been doing this all day?”

“Just since getting back from class,” Jyn admitted. “Mothma wants me to quit, I know she wants me to quit! She assigned me to that classroom knowing full well what she was throwing me into. It’s a kriffing war zone in of itself, Cassian, but if I survived Scarif, then I’m surviving this! I’m not letting Mothma scare me out of here, no way in hell.”

Cassian smiled a little. “Is it still in that grotty classroom near the training gym?”

“It’s disgusting!” Jyn said. “I mean, that’s how children of the rebellion grow up? In a room with as much personality as a rock, getting the living daylights beaten out of them ten times a day? Screw the kriffing council, they couldn’t care less about those children! How the hell did you survive to eighteen?”

“I learned how to block a punch very quickly,” Cassian answered simply.

“Well, it’s changing,” Jyn said determinedly, nodding up at her wall of notes. “Mothma can shove it, you’ll see!” 

“I believe you – wait, you have a child from Fest here?” Cassian pointed out Lyle’s page.

“That kid is a menace,” Jyn pointed out. “he’s bitten me about three times now!”

“Don’t worry, that’s common on Fest,” Cassian said, apparently without thinking. Jyn felt a thrill of something hit her stomach as Cassian suddenly glanced around, looking somewhere wildly over his shoulder. “I – I meant–”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Jyn failed to conceal her smirk. “I’m learning about every side of you, Cassian.”

He took off his boots so that he could throw them at her.

Jyn Erso marched into the classroom with a mission.

“New rules!” she barked. Maybe she sounded too much like a Sergeant, but right now, the youth needed one. She slammed a giant chart that she had spent far too much time making up on one of the walls. It was so big that it covered several of the rebellion posters. She slammed up a second, similar chart right next to it. “These are your reward charts! Twelve and up, your name is on that chart, if you’re younger than twelve, your name is here. You might notice next to every name is a green card,” she gestured very clearly to the easily accessible coloured cards. “Every day, you’ll start on green. If you do something bad, it changes to yellow. That means warning. If you keep being bad, it changes to red. That means time out. If it changes to black …” She glared at the children. “You don’t want to know what happens on black. Got it?”

Naturally, the children didn’t exactly take to her plan, but she hadn’t spent two full days researching on the holonet for nothing. This was a system she had seen a few times, so had figured it was better to at least start somewhere (that, and Cassian had voiced his concern that she was still up at 3am once again and really, she needed sleep more than anything else, come on). She dragged one of the few unbroken chairs across the room and declared that that was now the time out area.

Within five minutes, Lyle had bitten her.

The warning wasn’t heeded, and another bite definitely meant time out. While Jyn was busy dragging five-year-old Lyle into the time out chair for the tenth time, she let her mind wander a little and contemplated how it was that she had ended up at this point. Her chances of surviving she hadn’t dared hope of, but nowhere during the battle on Scarif did she expect to survive, only to end up hauling a screaming child into a plastic chair.

Jyn was practically convinced that this hare-brained idea would never ever work, until suddenly, on the 19th time … it did.

“Is he … staying there?” Jyn whispered to Malia.

The girl grinned as they watched the boy cry and rage, but ultimately stay remaining in the time out chair. “I think he is!”

“I can’t believe it.”

“I can!” Malia said.

“Toys.”

Mon Mothma glanced up in bemusement over her desk. Jyn wasn’t wasting time going through the ranks, she was hitting up the main woman herself. Mothma gently placed her datapad down, before casting her gaze on Jyn, with her tangled hair and bruised arms (were those teeth marks? The answer was yes, probably).

“I’m sorry?” she asked.

“You want me to teach the youth class, fine,” Jyn snapped. “but I need toys. Lots of them.”

“This isn’t a nursery, Sergeant Erso.”

“You have a classroom in this base with eleven children who are aged 10 and under,” Jyn pointed out. “These kids are going nuts because they’re bored as hell. I’m not teaching a three-year-old hand to hand combat yet, so either you give me some toys, or YOU can teach them.”

Jyn wasn’t entirely sure how Mothma managed to come through for her, but she did. The woman had probably thought that Jyn was storming her office to finally say that she was quitting, but had gotten the exact opposite instead. The shrieking was unbearable, but Jyn persevered, at least just for the looks on the kids’ faces. Jyn stood back from the two large boxes that she’d had Cassian help her carry, watching as they devoured the contents. She was certain that some of these kids had literally never had a doll to carry before.

“They’re so happy,” Cassian mentioned.

She glanced back at him, standing a little further away that she’d expected. The man had obviously experienced some kind of flashback on coming into the place he had spent a majority of his childhood in, and not a good one if his face had been anything to go by, but he was still there at least. Jyn reached out to him.

“They’re not going to hurt you,” she said, lightly.

“Like you can talk, they bite you,” Cassian eyed the kids, but she just grabbed his arm and hauled him forward next to her.

“Yes, I’ll be breaking up fights over the toys within thirty seconds, I’ll bet you,” Jyn said. “but look, isn’t this worth it?”

“You’re really starting to enjoy yourself, aren’t you?” Cassian asked.  

Jyn scoffed. “I don’t know what you – AVA! You give that back to Kady right now!” Jyn cut herself off with the reprimand, as the younger girl had snatched the datapad out of the older’s hands. Ava grumbled, but gave the datapad back to Kady. Jyn hoped that Mothma had taken her list of requested items seriously and that there would be at least some downloaded stories in multiple languages on the datapads. She knew that Kady was still struggling to learn basic.

“Jyn,” She glanced down to notice Arlo tugging on her trouser legs. The three-year-old held up one of the datapads and asked her, “Read me a story!”

Jyn sighed, glancing at Cassian. He shrugged, so she promptly sat down in the middle of the floor. To her utter surprise, Arlo crawled into her lap the second she was seated, shoving the datapad into her hands.

She honestly hadn’t thought that she’d had that much of an impression on these kids yet. She stared down at the top of Arlo’s head and realised that oh shit, she’d never actually done this before. How the hell were you supposed to hold a tiny person like this? The last time she’d been held as a child must have been before she’d lost her parents, for god’s sake! She almost looked to Cassian for help, until she remembered that he was probably even more out of his depth here than she was.

She had no choice but to quickly figure it out. She took a deep breath before accepting the datapad that Arlo was banging against her leg. She could do this.

She could do this.

“Right,” she said determinedly. “So Arlo, which story do you want to read?”

He picked one and Jyn began a very riveting children’s book about an animated Bantha. Before long, it wasn’t just Arlo, but several others crowded around them too, listening and all wanting to see the pictures. Jyn hadn’t expected so many to be roped in with such a simple story, but apparently kid-humour was fairly easy, as they had all roared with laughter when the Bantha had slipped in his own poo.

“You actually liked that?” she asked in disbelief once it was finished. “Arlo, seriously?”

“Read it again!” the boy insisted.

“It was funny, Jyn!” Ava was giggling.

“I’d trust their judgement,” Cassian said simply then, cutting in. He had apparently decided to join them on the floor, and he currently sat a little behind her as if trying to hide himself slightly. Jyn glanced around at his words, causing several of the kids to do so as well. Cassian had gotten a lot of side-eyeing when he’d first come in, but the distracting toys had prevented anyone from really questioning why this strange man was in their classroom until now. Arlo stood up in her lap, bony feet digging in as he and literally everyone else eagerly stared over her shoulder at the new-comer amongst them.

“Who’s that?” Trina asked loudly and unapologetically.

“Ok – HEY EVERYONE,” Jyn had to yell over the background melee of new-toy-fun. Thankfully, the children seemed to recognise her yell by this point. They all went silent (save for Reno still banging furiously at a datapad) which left Jyn free to point behind her.

“I want you guys to meet Captain Cassian Andor,” She shot Cassian her best encouraging smile. “He’s a soldier, and my friend.”

“A soldier,” Trina said. “Whooooaa!”

“Did you ever kill anyone?!” Rivi suddenly yelled from across the room.

“Oh my god, is that the hot one from Intelligence?” she heard 16-year-old Tavisha hiss to Malia.

“WILL YOU READ ME A STORY?!” Ava shrieked in greeting.

Jyn just shrugged at him. Cassian clearly hadn’t been intending on interacting too much with the children of the youth class, but it seemed that the kids weren’t giving him much choice. Within 20 minutes, he had been roped into reading at least five different picture books, Ava having dropped unceremoniously onto his lap somewhere between books two and three. Jyn watched him with a protective eye the entire time (look, these kids could be literal animals at times) but the more he read, the more at ease he eventually seemed to become. He’d even caught her watching at one point and had given her a tentative smile over Ava’s head.

“See? They didn’t kill you,” she said good-naturedly at the end of the day. Walking back to Cassian’s room together after dropping the kids back off at their barracks, Jyn grew slightly more serious then. She added in a lower voice, “But, hey. I’m sorry if … going back there was hard for you or something. I guess I didn’t really think when I asked for your help.”

“It’s fine,” Cassian reached out, touched her arm briefly. “I just remember that place as being hell confined to four walls. It was nice seeing the kids with a training officer who actually cared.”

“Oh, that’s me,” Jyn said, dryly.

“Seriously, Jyn,” Cassian said. “You’re great with them. They’re going to go far with you.”

She touched his arm back in thanks.