He supposes he can't linger much longer. There are other sick children Jyn needs to see, and he should get Poe home so the poor thing can rest. Besides! He'll be seeing Jyn again later. With another quick smile and thank you, he ducks out of the room and heads to the front to finish out the last of the paperwork.
He finally manages to text Jyn the address a little after three, when Poe dozes off for a nap. He sends her a picture of the sleeping baby too, just so she knows for sure that it's him.
Shara picks up her baby boy only a couple minutes late, rattling on about how Kes is going to pick up everything at the pharmacy, including the chapstick, thanking her brother for all he's done today. He tries not to rush his sister back out the door, but he doesn't want to tell her he has a date, so it isn't until 5:30 that Cassian manages to text Jyn that he's free at last, and they agree to meet up around 6:15.
Cassian is lucky he's not late, considering he labors over what to wear, which is stupid because they're just meeting up for pizza. He settles on a nicer pair of jeans and a black three-quarter sleeved henley, after washing and cleaning himself up. Goodbye baby germs. He even puts on a nice cologne. He gets to the restaurant first, taking a little corner table right by the window. It's a battle between looking at his phone and looking out the aforementioned window, not sure which is the least awkward.
But he catches sight of her walking in and his face lights up. He lifts his arm up in a wave, as if she hasn't already seen him. This is dumb, it's pizza! Pizza with a girl he's apparently been really into for a while.
Jyn gets puked on twice so when her last patient cancels she sprints home to take the world's longest shower to get the ick off of her. By the time she is done, she smells like a woman again -- like roses and honey -- and hurriedly grabs a pair of skinny jeans and a tank top out of her closet. Once she's yanked it on she figures she should probably wear something suitable for being briefly outside and she tugs on an oversized jumper in palest lavender cashmere that she's never had a chance to wear since Bodhi bought it for her five years ago.
He'd be so proud.
She shoves her feet into her worn boots and sprints out of her apartment, looping her hair into a disheveled top knots as she hurries to the pizza place, double checking that she has her phone and keys and money. Should she have checked before she left? Of course. But she lives dangerously.
Walking right past the door, she has to double back when she realizes she's in the right spot, grinning when she spots Cassian waving her over. "Hi!"
Oh god, she's like a freshman in high school level of disaster.
Cassian honest to god debates if he should get up and pull her chair out, but it's not like they're in a fancy restaurant. It's just pizza!
"Hi," he says. Just pizza doesn't stop him from smiling like an idiot while she makes her way over. They are literally behaving like teenagers, not very accomplished medical professionals. So much so that he doesn't know what to say for a second, struck by the simple momentum of being out on a date with her and excited to be here.
This is ridiculous.
He huffs a little laugh while she sits down. She looks... cute. It occurs to him that he's never really seen her in nice casual. It's always been med-coats and camping clothes. "You look nice. I hope the rest of your afternoon was not so bad."
"It was rubbish, actually. Poe was definitely a high note." He's a sweet baby, okay. The ones that puked on her were sweet too and she'd rather be puked on than their poor parents so it was fine, just gross. She hasn't been puked on in a while, she did not miss it.
"I want to ask about Poe, but I don't want to talk about babies on our date." She makes a face like SO YOU FIELD THAT FOR ME, please.
Also now it is officially a date since she said it out loud. They're on a date, deal with it.
"How about I just tell you he seems about the same? Shara says thank you, for all the prescriptions too."
He did not tell his sister he was going to see Jyn for her to say so specifically, it was more of a broad thank you universe statement that Cassian decided to pass on. Poe is a good bean, he does not mind talking about him briefly.
Date! She used the word date! On the date! He's so distracted by the word that he completely misses her throwing the conversation into his field and there are a few moments of weird quiet, before he just puffs out a little laugh.
"I had no idea you worked so close. I remember that you had an office in New York, but it was not like we talked about details. I really lucked out today." A beat. "How long have you been here?"
She nods, pushing back the urge to ask more questions about Poe. This is not a work thing, she doesn't want to talk about work.
"I'm still up at the hospital a couple times a week, but honestly I prefer my office." It's her space! And usually the kids are healthy, she needs those well baby visits to make up for the heartbreaking outcomes at the hospital. "It's been a few years, I think. My parents teach in the city so we've been here since I was... 21, I think? Maybe 22. I went to school in the city, Bodhi and I shared a flat for years. But I've been here here for just a few years."
Here in her own apartment without her brother, here at this hospital, here in the hipster part of town. Brooklyn, her true love.
"We came here when my sister was a toddler, and so her accent is much weaker than my parents and mine. They still live in Sunset Park." A beat. "My parents. Shara and I live around here now, but she has been with Kes for so long the most I ever lived with her was crashing on her couch."
He and Shara both went off and did their own thing for a while, and yet here are, back in Brooklyn. It was very hard to resist his mother's not so subtle demands that they both come back home until they got married, which Shara circumvented nicely with the birth of her son. Cassian used the excuse of wanting to be near Shara in case she needed anything, and Carina could not agree more!
"I start work here in two weeks. My first time in a steady hospital trauma center. I almost wish I had an office like yours." So, still plenty of trauma to be had, but at least it's not out and about and being stationed overseas away from his family anymore. It doesn't occur to him it could be the same place Jyn works part time - there are plenty of hospitals in Brooklyn, and his is going to be about a twenty minute commute. "It used to be St Rosa's, now it is the Rosa Santiago Medical Center?"
It treats high levels of immigrant populations and his fluency in Spanish was a big old bonus.
"Rosa's? You're at Rosa's?" Her eyebrows lift, bleating out a soft laugh. "Bodhi and I are at St Rosa's."
The name might have changed, but it's always going to be St Rosa's to the majority of the people in the city.
"Bodhi's there full time, I'm more of a consultant at this point, but I'm there a couple days a week. And I bet you anything that Bodhi knew that." He gave in too easily when Jyn refused to make a move on Cassian during their trip. He must have known that they would inevitably run into each other again at the hospital.
His face lights up. He does not bother to hide it. Not only did his nephew facilitate their reunion, now he finds out they work - at least part time - in the same place. He is having the best fucking luck today!
He huffs his own quick laugh. "I will be there soon, yes. He mentioned it over the summer to me, when we were talking about what to do after the trip. I had nothing lined up and he thought it would be perfect for me after he discovered I was planning to move to Brooklyn."
So. Yeah. Her brother definitely knew, but Cassian can't say he minds. "We will have to grab a vending machine lunch sometime."
He knows how hospital shifts are! But it doesn't mean he won't use it as an opportunity to hint that he already wants a second date when the first one has barely started and they haven't even gotten their pizza yet.
And he's a twat that won't even be scolded because that would mean Jyn acknowledges his gambit was successful and she refuses. She told Cassian he was a sneaky bastard and no one suspected him because he was the nice brother but now there is proof!
"Vending machines in peds are better than anywhere else." Do it, Jyn, fucking do it!! "But we could probably get lunch before then, too."
He said two weeks, they could have... many lunch dates before then.
Bodhi one hundred percent knew what he was doing. Cassian fears that man meeting his sister, it's a disaster for he and Jyn waiting to happen. In this case it turned out to be a good kind of sneaking, but what if next time! It's worse!
His grin widens. "We definitely could." Please, son, try not to sound too eager. He already knows that's impossible but she's the one who asked this time. "There is no short supply of places to eat around here. Maybe for dinner again too."
Planning multiple dates, it's fine. He'll bring up a walk in the park next, that's at least a little different.
Jyn bites down on her lip to hide her smile but then she's sort of just grinning and it doesn't even matter. She is clearly into this line of thinking. Maybe they have just two weeks worth of dates, lunch and dinner.
"Do you..." Maybe this is too fast, but Jyn doesn't like feeling like a goofy idiot in public. She would much rather be a goofy idiot with less of an audience. "Do you wanna, maybe get the pizza to go? We could rent a movie. Or discuss with steadily growing horror the fact that Poe and all his little friends are never going to know what renting a movie even means."
They are both full of grins and smiles. It's a good sign of how their date is going so far, as though it hasn't barely begun. He felt like he had to be more restrained overseas, keep up a level of professionalism even against the thinly veiled flirting they couldn't help but keep at almost the whole trip.
He wonders if he should be offended she wants to leave already, but literally everything about her offer sounds appealing. Maybe they are old! But he doesn't care, he'll take this elder excitement.
Breakfast tomorrow sounds especially appealing.
"I have netflix. We do not even have to rent one, which I suppose only adds to Poe's lack of understanding." A beat. "I am not far, if you want to go back to my place."
Place has more specific connotations than house, but so does breakfast tomorrow, so they're still on the same page.
"Sure." Her head bobs in a nod and this time she really does have to rein it in so she doesn't seem too eager to be going to his place. Even if she is a little too eager to be going to his place. It comes off as casually eager.
"But only if you make me breakfast in the morning."
She is the one that suggested getting breakfast so she feels like she is well within her rights to amend that suggestion as well. She wants Cassian to make her breakfast, preferably so she can stay lounging naked in bed because that is exactly where she wants the evening to lead.
Sure. If she is just casually eager, he is just casually excited, biting back on the smile that threatens to light up his entire face. It doesn't quite leave his eyes though.
"How do you feel about pancakes?"
He is very into the idea of making her breakfast, because it means they don't have to rush and leave the house at a certain time to avoid the morning food and coffee rush. So, that's a yes. He will absolutely make breakfast in the morning, even if it isn't pancakes. He could probably do waffles.
He just wants her to still be there in the morning, in his bed. With him. After a whole night with her too.
She finally gives in and grins, standing up and holding out her hand. Some small part of her brain tells her that this is too fast and they should take it slow and get to know each other first but they had a whole summer of taking it slow and getting to know each other.
She'd spent an entire summer watching Cassian without a shirt on and unable to touch any part of him. She is tired of being slow. "Come on, lets go get that pizza. To go."
Pizza, movie, sex, sleeping, pancakes. This date is already going better than he ever dreamed.
He climbs to his feet and takes her hand, giving it a little squeezes as if he's trying to reassure both of them that this is not too fast. It's fine! They had a whole summer of awkwardly flirting without being able to do anything about it. They already were slow!
He tugs her and over towards the counter. "A couple of slices and maybe some breadsticks? I have drinks at home, alcoholic or otherwise."
"We could get a whole pizza. In case we get hungry... later." Later after bouts of wildly acrobatic sex, that way they won't have to figure out what to eat when they get hungry at 2am after making out naked on the couch, too tired to keep banging but too wired to go to sleep like reasonable adults.
She can very much see that happening this evening so it makes sense to prepare for the best.
As if he wasn't already beaming, Cassian's face brightens more. Maybe this evening isn't going like he planned so far, but it's going... better. It's still going great. He's holding her hand and they're gonna get pizza and hang out on his couch all night. Probably naked.
He resists the urge to tell her she's the real midnight snack, as tempting as it is. Maybe he'll feel safer doing so after they actually sleep together.
"What do you like on your pizza?" That's a yes, let's get a whole pie. "My favorite is jalapeños and olives, but I know it is not everyone's choice. I am not picky."
"Wow, that's... absolutely horrifying." She is insulting his taste with a bright smile and a laugh, but that sure sounds disgusting. And she's definitely going to snog him after he eats that.
"Sausage, spinach, and mushrooms. We can get a half with each." And then they won't have to eat the other's disgusting toppings and still enjoy their own. Sure they could split a full pepperoni but why would they?
"They balance each other out!" How rude, Jyn! He's inviting you back to his house, and you insult his favorite pizza!! But he's laughing too, so clearly he doesn't care that much. "Yours is not much better."
He can't seem to stop laughing or smiling and he doesn't even want to. "Half and half, sounds great."
Cassian orders it when they get to the counter, with some mild friendly chatter with the worker - he clearly comes in here a lot - and he even gets a few dollars off the pie when they don't charge him for every single topping.
Maybe the guy just senses something excellent is happening in this very fine pizza establishment tonight.
They chat idly while the pizza gets made, and either it's a slow night or Cassian's friendliness pays off, because it only takes about fifteen minutes for the pie to finish. Cassian tries to pay, but Jyn fights with him and they go halfsies. She even manages to grab the box before him, cackling her way out of the restaurant.
But then he gets to put his arm around her shoulders outside, so it works out nicely.
He wasn't kidding when he said it was a short walk to the pizza place, just around the block from his apartment. It's a decent building, and he takes them up the elevator to the third floor. The living room and kitchen are connected and decently spacious, with two doors off to the side for his bedroom and bathroom. He probably could have afforded a two bedroom apartment on his upcoming salary, but what use would it be? No one's going to crash at his house. If anything, he'd stay over at Shara's.
While Jyn puts the pizza down on the table, Cassian moves to the fridge. "Water? Soda? Beer?"
He has a nice apartment, clearly just moved into since it doesn't look nearly as lived in as Jyn's own apartment. It has an elevator, which is nice except she spent the entire brief ride smelling his cologne and trying not to shove him against the wall.
Get a grip, girl.
She sets down the pizza, glancing around before she turns back at his question. "Water with ice, please." Maybe that will chill her out enough to eat some pizza before she climbs him like a tree. Maybe, maybe, maybe she will just jump him right now...
NO. Pizza first. She is hungry anyway, even if her mind if completely occupied. "Can you, um. Could you kiss me so I'll stop thinking about it?"
It is definitely too neat as a combination of having just moved in plus his being a literal neat freak - but he also just doesn't have a lot of stuff yet. He was all over the world the last few years when he wasn't in medical school, it left little time for much personal effects.
He's not quite self conscious about his apartment, but there isn't much of a tour to give, so he just gets her a glass of ice water when she asks. He turns around with it just as she asks for the one thing he has been dying to do for probably just as long as her.
His mouth quirks up with a grin, and he sets the water down on the island table before stepping up close to her. He reaches out and gently cups her face with his hands, breathing in like he can't quite believe this is happening. "You are not the only one who has been thinking about it."
And then he leans in to kiss her, pressing his lips to hers as tentative as he is sure. He's wanted to kiss her since she walked into that pizza place. Longer, if he's being honest, but it hadn't been as pressing before.
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ohnofeelstho2017-06-26 08:50 pm
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He finally manages to text Jyn the address a little after three, when Poe dozes off for a nap. He sends her a picture of the sleeping baby too, just so she knows for sure that it's him.
Shara picks up her baby boy only a couple minutes late, rattling on about how Kes is going to pick up everything at the pharmacy, including the chapstick, thanking her brother for all he's done today. He tries not to rush his sister back out the door, but he doesn't want to tell her he has a date, so it isn't until 5:30 that Cassian manages to text Jyn that he's free at last, and they agree to meet up around 6:15.
Cassian is lucky he's not late, considering he labors over what to wear, which is stupid because they're just meeting up for pizza. He settles on a nicer pair of jeans and a black three-quarter sleeved henley, after washing and cleaning himself up. Goodbye baby germs. He even puts on a nice cologne. He gets to the restaurant first, taking a little corner table right by the window. It's a battle between looking at his phone and looking out the aforementioned window, not sure which is the least awkward.
But he catches sight of her walking in and his face lights up. He lifts his arm up in a wave, as if she hasn't already seen him. This is dumb, it's pizza! Pizza with a girl he's apparently been really into for a while.
He's... pretty excited.
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He'd be so proud.
She shoves her feet into her worn boots and sprints out of her apartment, looping her hair into a disheveled top knots as she hurries to the pizza place, double checking that she has her phone and keys and money. Should she have checked before she left? Of course. But she lives dangerously.
Walking right past the door, she has to double back when she realizes she's in the right spot, grinning when she spots Cassian waving her over. "Hi!"
Oh god, she's like a freshman in high school level of disaster.
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"Hi," he says. Just pizza doesn't stop him from smiling like an idiot while she makes her way over. They are literally behaving like teenagers, not very accomplished medical professionals. So much so that he doesn't know what to say for a second, struck by the simple momentum of being out on a date with her and excited to be here.
This is ridiculous.
He huffs a little laugh while she sits down. She looks... cute. It occurs to him that he's never really seen her in nice casual. It's always been med-coats and camping clothes. "You look nice. I hope the rest of your afternoon was not so bad."
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"I want to ask about Poe, but I don't want to talk about babies on our date." She makes a face like SO YOU FIELD THAT FOR ME, please.
Also now it is officially a date since she said it out loud. They're on a date, deal with it.
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He did not tell his sister he was going to see Jyn for her to say so specifically, it was more of a broad thank you universe statement that Cassian decided to pass on. Poe is a good bean, he does not mind talking about him briefly.
Date! She used the word date! On the date! He's so distracted by the word that he completely misses her throwing the conversation into his field and there are a few moments of weird quiet, before he just puffs out a little laugh.
"I had no idea you worked so close. I remember that you had an office in New York, but it was not like we talked about details. I really lucked out today." A beat. "How long have you been here?"
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"I'm still up at the hospital a couple times a week, but honestly I prefer my office." It's her space! And usually the kids are healthy, she needs those well baby visits to make up for the heartbreaking outcomes at the hospital. "It's been a few years, I think. My parents teach in the city so we've been here since I was... 21, I think? Maybe 22. I went to school in the city, Bodhi and I shared a flat for years. But I've been here here for just a few years."
Here in her own apartment without her brother, here at this hospital, here in the hipster part of town. Brooklyn, her true love.
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He and Shara both went off and did their own thing for a while, and yet here are, back in Brooklyn. It was very hard to resist his mother's not so subtle demands that they both come back home until they got married, which Shara circumvented nicely with the birth of her son. Cassian used the excuse of wanting to be near Shara in case she needed anything, and Carina could not agree more!
"I start work here in two weeks. My first time in a steady hospital trauma center. I almost wish I had an office like yours." So, still plenty of trauma to be had, but at least it's not out and about and being stationed overseas away from his family anymore. It doesn't occur to him it could be the same place Jyn works part time - there are plenty of hospitals in Brooklyn, and his is going to be about a twenty minute commute. "It used to be St Rosa's, now it is the Rosa Santiago Medical Center?"
It treats high levels of immigrant populations and his fluency in Spanish was a big old bonus.
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The name might have changed, but it's always going to be St Rosa's to the majority of the people in the city.
"Bodhi's there full time, I'm more of a consultant at this point, but I'm there a couple days a week. And I bet you anything that Bodhi knew that." He gave in too easily when Jyn refused to make a move on Cassian during their trip. He must have known that they would inevitably run into each other again at the hospital.
That little meddling prick.
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He huffs his own quick laugh. "I will be there soon, yes. He mentioned it over the summer to me, when we were talking about what to do after the trip. I had nothing lined up and he thought it would be perfect for me after he discovered I was planning to move to Brooklyn."
So. Yeah. Her brother definitely knew, but Cassian can't say he minds. "We will have to grab a vending machine lunch sometime."
He knows how hospital shifts are! But it doesn't mean he won't use it as an opportunity to hint that he already wants a second date when the first one has barely started and they haven't even gotten their pizza yet.
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And he's a twat that won't even be scolded because that would mean Jyn acknowledges his gambit was successful and she refuses. She told Cassian he was a sneaky bastard and no one suspected him because he was the nice brother but now there is proof!
"Vending machines in peds are better than anywhere else." Do it, Jyn, fucking do it!! "But we could probably get lunch before then, too."
He said two weeks, they could have... many lunch dates before then.
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His grin widens. "We definitely could." Please, son, try not to sound too eager. He already knows that's impossible but she's the one who asked this time. "There is no short supply of places to eat around here. Maybe for dinner again too."
Planning multiple dates, it's fine. He'll bring up a walk in the park next, that's at least a little different.
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"Do you..." Maybe this is too fast, but Jyn doesn't like feeling like a goofy idiot in public. She would much rather be a goofy idiot with less of an audience. "Do you wanna, maybe get the pizza to go? We could rent a movie. Or discuss with steadily growing horror the fact that Poe and all his little friends are never going to know what renting a movie even means."
Are they old???
Impossible.
Deep breath, Jyn. You can do it.
"Maybe we could get breakfast tomorrow."
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He wonders if he should be offended she wants to leave already, but literally everything about her offer sounds appealing. Maybe they are old! But he doesn't care, he'll take this elder excitement.
Breakfast tomorrow sounds especially appealing.
"I have netflix. We do not even have to rent one, which I suppose only adds to Poe's lack of understanding." A beat. "I am not far, if you want to go back to my place."
Place has more specific connotations than house, but so does breakfast tomorrow, so they're still on the same page.
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"But only if you make me breakfast in the morning."
She is the one that suggested getting breakfast so she feels like she is well within her rights to amend that suggestion as well. She wants Cassian to make her breakfast, preferably so she can stay lounging naked in bed because that is exactly where she wants the evening to lead.
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"How do you feel about pancakes?"
He is very into the idea of making her breakfast, because it means they don't have to rush and leave the house at a certain time to avoid the morning food and coffee rush. So, that's a yes. He will absolutely make breakfast in the morning, even if it isn't pancakes. He could probably do waffles.
He just wants her to still be there in the morning, in his bed. With him. After a whole night with her too.
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She finally gives in and grins, standing up and holding out her hand. Some small part of her brain tells her that this is too fast and they should take it slow and get to know each other first but they had a whole summer of taking it slow and getting to know each other.
She'd spent an entire summer watching Cassian without a shirt on and unable to touch any part of him. She is tired of being slow. "Come on, lets go get that pizza. To go."
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He climbs to his feet and takes her hand, giving it a little squeezes as if he's trying to reassure both of them that this is not too fast. It's fine! They had a whole summer of awkwardly flirting without being able to do anything about it. They already were slow!
He tugs her and over towards the counter. "A couple of slices and maybe some breadsticks? I have drinks at home, alcoholic or otherwise."
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She can very much see that happening this evening so it makes sense to prepare for the best.
"Midnight snack."
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He resists the urge to tell her she's the real midnight snack, as tempting as it is. Maybe he'll feel safer doing so after they actually sleep together.
"What do you like on your pizza?" That's a yes, let's get a whole pie. "My favorite is jalapeños and olives, but I know it is not everyone's choice. I am not picky."
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"Sausage, spinach, and mushrooms. We can get a half with each." And then they won't have to eat the other's disgusting toppings and still enjoy their own. Sure they could split a full pepperoni but why would they?
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He can't seem to stop laughing or smiling and he doesn't even want to. "Half and half, sounds great."
Cassian orders it when they get to the counter, with some mild friendly chatter with the worker - he clearly comes in here a lot - and he even gets a few dollars off the pie when they don't charge him for every single topping.
Maybe the guy just senses something excellent is happening in this very fine pizza establishment tonight.
They chat idly while the pizza gets made, and either it's a slow night or Cassian's friendliness pays off, because it only takes about fifteen minutes for the pie to finish. Cassian tries to pay, but Jyn fights with him and they go halfsies. She even manages to grab the box before him, cackling her way out of the restaurant.
But then he gets to put his arm around her shoulders outside, so it works out nicely.
He wasn't kidding when he said it was a short walk to the pizza place, just around the block from his apartment. It's a decent building, and he takes them up the elevator to the third floor. The living room and kitchen are connected and decently spacious, with two doors off to the side for his bedroom and bathroom. He probably could have afforded a two bedroom apartment on his upcoming salary, but what use would it be? No one's going to crash at his house. If anything, he'd stay over at Shara's.
While Jyn puts the pizza down on the table, Cassian moves to the fridge. "Water? Soda? Beer?"
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Get a grip, girl.
She sets down the pizza, glancing around before she turns back at his question. "Water with ice, please." Maybe that will chill her out enough to eat some pizza before she climbs him like a tree. Maybe, maybe, maybe she will just jump him right now...
NO. Pizza first. She is hungry anyway, even if her mind if completely occupied. "Can you, um. Could you kiss me so I'll stop thinking about it?"
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He's not quite self conscious about his apartment, but there isn't much of a tour to give, so he just gets her a glass of ice water when she asks. He turns around with it just as she asks for the one thing he has been dying to do for probably just as long as her.
His mouth quirks up with a grin, and he sets the water down on the island table before stepping up close to her. He reaches out and gently cups her face with his hands, breathing in like he can't quite believe this is happening. "You are not the only one who has been thinking about it."
And then he leans in to kiss her, pressing his lips to hers as tentative as he is sure. He's wanted to kiss her since she walked into that pizza place. Longer, if he's being honest, but it hadn't been as pressing before.