(no subject)

[imthepilot]

It's nearly a month standard before Bodhi can get a haul that leads him back to Eadu. There are too many other runs and too much going on. The Empire needs cargo and they need it everywhere.

Bodhi doesn't always get any say where he's sent. Even if it's the one place in the galaxy he least wants to be.

Jedha.

As much as he hates being wet. As much as he hate the load of Kyber in his hold. AS much as he wanted to just lock the doors and sleep, he is looking forward the being back on Eadu.

And he doesn't want to think too much about that.

About the fact Galen might be the only person in the galaxy who is expecting to see him. The only person who would notice if he didn't show up.

He calls ahead to the tower, radioing in his flight path and arrival time.

He has unpacking to do, he can find Galen once the work is done.

Do the job, move forwards.

Don't look back.

Comments

[galen_erso]

Galen holds him easily, as Bodhi is tall but slight, easily draped over his shoulder and held safely.

Galen feels a bit out of his depth, not having held anyone since Lyra and Jyn, but just goes forward with what seems right to him: hug the shaking man and stroke his back, giving him the silent permission to let go with strong, warm hands.

[imthepilot]

Bodhi clings for a long moment, taking Galen's embrace as permission to let himself feel. Stars! How long has it been since anyone held him? The last time he saw the girls? Two years at least, maybe more. He'd forgotten how it felt.

Eventually he pulls himself together, hating himself for having let go of Galen as he straightens. "I'm sorry. I didn't... this isn't why I came here tonight."

[galen_erso]

" it it's whatyouneed to might, after allthat happened, " Galen says. "We can be glad that we haven't gone nhmb."

[imthepilot]

"Sometimes I wonder if numb might be better." he sighs, distracting himself by pouring them both some mead. He offers a glass to Galen and drinks his own in a too fast gulp.

[galen_erso]

Galen takes hismead and sips.

"No," he says. "Never. I never want to lose.."

He gestures vaguely towards one of the children's drawings, showing figures labelled with names.

"I treasure the pain."

[imthepilot]

"They took them from you?" He asks softly, pouring another glass. They again has come to mean the Empire between them. The vast and dangerous other that looms over them both.

[galen_erso]

"Lyra, my wife, is dead," Galen says. "My little Jyn is safe. A rogue associate found her."

Rogue associate.

That may be the most dangerous admission yet. If Bodhi is some sort of emotional honey trap after all, he will pounce.

[imthepilot]

Bodhi's eyes widen, holding his breath.

He looks at Galen for a long moment before stepping away to sip his drink. When he does speak, his voice very soft. "I don't know whether to be relieved or worried. That I'm not the only one with people on the other side. Not that my brothers would acknowledge me. If they are still alive."

"Still, to know she's out there and safe." He nods. It's not much but it's hope.

He looks up at Galen slowly, his eyes still red. "How do you do it? Do this. When they took so much from you?"

[galen_erso]

"While I do what I'm supposed to, they have no reason to go out there and catch Jyn to force my compliance," Galen points out. "As long as I know that, I can put up with anything -- even the ache in my conscience."

Pause.

"Your brothers disowned you for choosing a living as a pilot over death as a -- bandit."

Or freedom fighter.

[imthepilot]

Galen's suffering cuts deep and Bodhi's heart aches for him. In a rare gesture, he reaches for Galen's hand, entwining their fingers.

"For being a traitor to Jedha, yes. And worse, for kidnapping my sisters and selling them to the empire. All because I helped them find work on a more stable world rather than see them suffer in the slums of a war zone."

[galen_erso]

Galen closes bis fingers around Bodhi's and holds them.

"It was worth it, for them."

Not a question.

He sighs.

"That's probably one of the most perfidious things about tyranny."

[imthepilot]

"No matter what we do, we're traitors to someone." He sighs, stepping closer to Galen, their hands still links. "And ourselves."

It wasn't a conscious decision, kissing Galen. It just... was.

[galen_erso]

Galen isn't surprised, his answering kiss soft and gentle and chaste, savouring the closeness, but not pushing further.

His eyes are open and deep. In this moment, the earnest warmth and sweetness of the young pilot finally touches his heart, and all the pain of their memories is suddenly suffused by a bright spark, a new hope.

[imthepilot]

Bodhi breaks the kiss softly, resting his forehead against Galen. He gives wry little sigh and shakes his head. "I feel like I should apologise but I would be lying. I'm not sorry I kissed you. And I'd rather like to do it again. If you okay with that."

[galen_erso]

Galen lifts his hand to stroke Bodhi's narrow cheek, then wordlessly tilts his chin forward to once more kiss him, gently and full of awe.

[imthepilot]

Bodhi doesn't quite moan, more of an awed sigh of his own as he returns the kiss. He keeps it chaste for now, just enjoying this simple connection.

Galen's generous lips, the light brush of his beard against Bodhi's, the scent of mead on his breath. His hand drifts lower, caressing the curve of Galen's neck before resting over his heart.

[galen_erso]

Galen is stroking Bodhi's neck, strong fingers tangling in the dark hair. It feels like a sunrise after a hailstorm, or stepping into a warm room after a march through a cold and wet night.

He hadn't even realised that he's missed the friendly touch of a person.

[imthepilot]

Bodhi feels it too, like a break in the clouds that makes you realise how dark it's been. He smiles, soft and shy. He has no idea what to say. He just wants to revel in this.

[galen_erso]

Galen is looking at him just then, and his sudden amazement probably registers on his face.

He hadn't realised how lovely the gangly pilot really is, not until right now when the shy smile lights up the soft, sweet lips and the deep, dark, soulful doe eyes. Bodhi is lovely as a shy sight-hound would be lovely, elegant and reticent and sad and gentle. Bodhi is, at this moment, heart-piercingly beautiful all of a sudden when he had been a friendly but generic person to look at right until now.

But then, Galen realises he's a bit weird that way; when he'd met Lyra, Orson Krennic and their other friends had assured him she was nondescript at best, commonplace at worst, when in Galen's eyes she was the most breathtaking creature in the universe.

"Bodhi..." he whispers, kissing him again.

[imthepilot]

Bodhi's breath caught in a half sob. No-one had ever looked at him like that. Like he was worth something. Like he mattered.

He had had lovers. Well, no. That was overstating it. He had had clandestine fumbles in back room; other cadets and pilots. People who needed to scratch an itch and move on. But no-one who had looked at Bodhi like he was worth looking at. Like he might be someone special.

Certainly no-one as strikingly handsome as Galen Erso.

He leant into the kiss, his fingers straying to the fine hairs at the nape of Galen's neck.

[galen_erso]

Galen kisses back while that honeyed warm feeling washes through him in great, slow waves, blooming upwards in the way a Scarif sunrise unfolds though time.

But then, there comes a small, mean beep in the background, insistent like a fussy droid.

[imthepilot]

Bodhi parts his lips, just risking a deeper kiss when the chime breaks through his wonderment. He tenses. "Door chime?" He asks in a whisper, prepared to bolt for the fresher if needed.

The last thing Galen needs is to get caught with a pilot in his room.

[galen_erso]

"Comm," Galen says, not yet letting go of him. "I have to answer."

[imthepilot]

Bodhi nods and darts in for one more soft but meaningful kiss before stepping back, sitting back at the table to be out of Galen's way.

[galen_erso]

Galen answers the comm, and his first comment to the worried babble emerging from the speakers is "NO!", followed by "Don't do anything, I'll be right there," and then "Don't risk all that kyber until you are certain."

He slams a flat hand on a button and turns to Bodhi.

"I have to go. The night shift found a flaw in a routine process."