Chapter Text
No one except Hera had flown her ship before.
The Ghost suddenly felt like a stranger with Kanan at the helm. Hera was far too anxious in the seat beside him, instead she chose to hover behind him, fingers twitching on his shoulder.
“You really ought to relax.” He said simply as he leaned back. There was a slight pulse of his body as he came into contact with the hand, Hera’s hand, at his shoulder. She couldn’t see his face, so guessed his reaction. He probably drew a quick smile across his face, something terribly sweet like that.
“I can hardly relax with an idiot piloting my ship.” She huffed, although let her hand drop to her side.
“Sit down. Relax, let me drive.” Kanan said as he encouraged the Ghost to lift steadily. Always in control, he didn’t let his hands slip from the steering and didn’t fool around like some hapless idiot.
“Pilot.” She corrected as she moved around him, turning swiftly to sit in the co-pilot seat.
“What?”
“It’s a ship. You don’t drive, you pilot.” She put simply as she glanced at him. She caught a smile tugging at Kanan’s lips, although she tried to keep her eyes off him. After all, he was piloting her ship and by Force, if he accidentally scratched the exterior, she would offer no mercy.
“Hera.” Kanan said suddenly, voice low enough to pluck her from her thoughts entirely.
“What?” She asked a little too quickly with a heartbeat that matched the pace of her breath. And even worse, she felt herself near the edge of her seat.
“You’re adorable.” He chuckled, breaking from his sudden seriousness. He turned back to the viewpoint easily, and Hera genuinely wondered if he noticed her blush.
“Oh, for Force sake.” Hera rolled her eyes as she sank into the seat, shielding her flushed face slightly.
Kanan kept grinning beside her as he took the Ghost through the ascending motions. Hera wasn’t exactly convinced by his piloting stories, mostly from Gorse and even if it was dimly-lit and difficult to see, she wasn’t overly impressed.
Although, he actually took to the role of captain well. He managed to avoid even the tiniest of turbulence and listened to her every instruction. It was surprising, even now after a full year together, how he didn’t overindulge when in-charge. In fact, when he was the pilot, the leader, he didn’t operate as much as the ignition without communicating with her first. It seemed that Kanan’s ability to take control could only function if issued with Hera’s faith and confidence first.
Kanan tapped a couple of the buttons on the main panel, and then drawled, “see, Captain - and don’t worry, I’ll still let you be the captain - this is a piece of -“
“Cloud cover!” Hera interrupted, darting upright. The seat spun behind her as she leapt towards Kanan’s controls.
Over the dashboard, the peaceful skies introduced a few black clouds in the shape of TIE-Fighters. If she was at the helm, she could’ve taken them easily, and even though Kanan was pretty decent at handling her ship, she didn’t want to overindulge her trust in him.
“What? What are you-“ Kanan stammered as Hera shoved her way to the steering. It wasn’t time for a lesson and it certainly wasn’t time to be caught in an unexpected battle with the Imperials.
“I don’t feel like taking a hit from the Empire today!” She cursed as the Ghost buckled under a hit.
It frustrated her, running from a fight, but with nothing worthwhile to fight for in the current moment, fleeing seemed the better alternative. Especially when they could go somewhere when there was no where to go.
Jabbing her finger at plenty of controls, she fumbled for the wide lever in the centre of the panel. The skies were sparse with little opportunity for decent cloud cover, and with so much plain sight, the TIEs could easily damage the Ghost. With a fierce tug, she yanked the lever back until the ship zoomed forward in a dedicated motion.
“Wait, hyperspace -“ Kanan murmured into the sleeve that was pressed against his mouth. Hera’s sleeve to be precise. She might’ve relaxed against him as the gentle Lothal horizon turned into blue sparks and streaks.
“Yes, hyperspace.” Hera confirmed as she watched the skies around them disappear.
With the TIEs forgotten about, she coached the Ghost into a steady rhythm until the ship relaxed. Although, Hera could already tell that the ship would need more than a little oiling. Forcing an unprepared ship into hyperspace, especially going from a dirtside airfield straight into orbit to connect to a neighbouring system, would be detrimental to any spacecraft. And her spacecraft just happened to be a little older and more broken than most.
“That was incredible.” Kanan remarked at her side where she sunk into her seat. Now that they’d switched places, he towered over her.
Hera gave him a little appreciative nod and tried to think of something to say in return, but a short spark caught her eye.
A machine board under the main panel spluttered and croaked, and while the noise was frustrating it was somewhat insightful. Standing again, Hera tore off her gloves as she hummed, attempting to keep herself from getting consumed by irritation.
”Hand me the hydrospanner,” she asked as she knelt down to the appliance again, her hand outstretched above her head.
The abrupt rattling of the toolbox ensured Kanan was hanging off her every word. The metal clanged as he searched the depth of the box and the sudden silence indicated that he must’ve found the requested tool.
The tool was placed gently in her hand, so she muttered a swift ‘thank you’ and returned to prodding the machine.
“So…” Kanan started, his eyes downcast as he toyed with a rag.
“…so?” Hera pulled herself out from the stomach of the machine, taking a moment to shake out her lekku as she looked up at him. “What do you want, Kanan?”
“You know, you’re mean when your ship is screwed up.”
“And whose fault is that?” Hera sighed frustratedly. Although, she didn’t truly want to take it out on Kanan, but repairing the ship while in hyperspace without access to anything she might need was the pressing thought in her mind.
“It could’ve been worse.” Kanan shrugged.
“It could’ve been better.” Hera said flatly, but dropped her pointed brows and offered a patient smile.
“And it could’ve been worse.” Kanan repeated, grinning. He nodded to the broken panel, “How long ‘till we’re out?”
“Hyperspace? Well, I picked the nearest system so expect a day or two.” Hera replied as she tried to tuck her hand further into the panel.
“A day? Oh -“ Kanan mumbled, the giddiness from the adrenaline suddenly wearing off. When Hera turned back to look at him, shaking out her wound lekku, she noticed his sunken features.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.” He said quickly, diverting his attention to the toolbox at his side.
“You don’t get hyperspace sickness, do you?” Hera asked, trying to ignore the spike of guilt washing over her.
“No, it’s not that.” He assured.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.”
“Kanan Jarrus, I swear to -“
“Okay, okay. You’re pretty intense, you know that?” Kanan raised his hands as a slip of his grin returned.
“Intense is just fine, thanks.” She retorted.
“That’s -“ he raised a single brow, “clever.”
Hera rose to her feet to stand before him, one hand resting on her hip. “What’s your deal with hyperspace?”
Kanan pulled a face, and then his hand went to the back of his neck awkwardly like it always did when he was being… strange.
“It’s… it’s Fete Week, that’s all.”
“Uh-hu.” Hera nodded. After a moment, when he didn’t say anything, she simply said. “We had those drinks the other night at that weird cantina, we’ve already celebrated.”
Kanan shook his head. “No, I know, but - today, uh - tonight is when the year changes…”
“…so?”
“I was gonna… I was - I might’ve… I considered taking - going to that place back on Tatooine. The weird cantina. You liked the music.” Kanan nervously shifted as he kept his eyes downcast.
“Considered?”
“I may have booked a table?” He looked up with more of his usual wryness apparent.
“Kanan,” Hera sighed, a little more pained than intended. She closed her eyes briefly and attempted to lean against the bashed panel behind her.
Kanan winced as he threw his hand to the back of his neck again. He looked awkwardly around the room as if something was going to jump out and deflect from the current conversation, but it didn’t, so he simply admitted. “I just wanted to celebrate with you.” He cleared his throat. “If you wanted to, that is.”
Hera let out a breath as she twisted a dirty rag, squeezing the last of the grease from it. She looked at him gently, hoping her expression wasn’t giving anything away. He could be so sweet, right under her nose. It was only when she wiped her hands on the side of her overalls that it suddenly clicked.
“Like…celebrate with me or celebrate with me?” The rag dropped to the floor.
“What?” Kanan said quickly, like he too was just coming to the same conclusion.
“This time last year we, you know, kissed.” Hera felt herself heat up as the memory flashed up in her mind. She let her eyes flit away and back, returning to a Kanan that was very uncool and clumsy.
His cheeks grew red as he fumbled. “I didn’t - I didn’t mean that. Not celebrate like that.”
“Right.” Hera pressed her lips together, choosing to sit with the tension than say anything daring. She moved away, turning slightly to give herself a private moment to let the heat depart her cheeks.
She could still hear Kanan moving, stepping between feet before he eventually spoke.
“We’d be cutting it fine anyway,” he remarked, a trace of nervousness still apparent in his voice yet with a roguish tone she only recognised from one previous conversation.
When Hera didn’t reply, Kanan leaned past her to get a good look at the flashing and broken chronometer behind her. As he moved into her space, Hera felt herself stiffen.
“Six minutes.” He said simply.
“You didn’t give me a lot of warning.” Hera uttered softly, a croak in her voice she didn’t want to reveal.
Kanan drew back with a surprised expression, his smile a little lopsided. Once again he was a smitten boy, all nervous and sweet. He slackened, shrugging his shoulders.
“I really didn’t mean kissing. Well, I don’t know. But I didn’t want you to be by yourself. I just thought you’d want to be with someone, not alone in the cockpit when it hits midnight.”
“Last year… I don’t know what I was thinking.” She answered shyly. It was true, she didn’t know exactly what was going through her head, but it didn’t mean she regretted it - or didn’t think about it occasionally.
“It’s alright, it didn’t change anything, did it? We’re still good.” Kanan assured her. “We don’t have to do it again.”
“Yeah…”
A pout made its way to her lips. She hadn’t realised how frustrated she became throughout the conversation. Initially, she believed all her concern lay with the Ghost and the days in hyperspace that were suddenly sprung on them.
What she didn’t realise, was that she was perhaps most frustrated by the opportunity that was just presented and stolen from her in the same second. Obviously, she wouldn’t offer to… kiss Kanan, not so randomly. But she’d be lying to herself if she said she didn’t think about last years fete week over the last few days.
The kiss was pretty great last year, and it wasn’t down to some harpy tradition that drunken partygoers celebrated. Hera told herself it was more than that, definitely more important than a silly celebration, but not enough to kiss him again. It wasn’t like she liked him like that.
“Okay.” Kanan said, obedient and discreetly. Never one to overstep. Even when she brought up the first kiss conversation last year, how she explained in clipped tones that she didn’t know what it felt like nor did she wish. But Kanan must’ve read her, seen her like no one else. All he did was look downward with a perfect grin and very lightly suggest that he could ‘show her how it’s done’.
Whether that was supposed to charm her or not was irrelevant. She’d just laughed and looked away, because he was funny like that and he must’ve just been funny then. When she eventually looked back at him, with ten minutes to spare until the chronometer buzzed with a silly little tune that was down to Chopper’s maintenance intervention, he’d dressed down all his charming features and simply smiled at her.
That smile, a dangerous one, had been offered to her once before. In quite a different yet exciting moment, when Kanan was just a bartender from Gorse with nothing but a satchel and attitude to his name. When he showed her that smile then, she couldn’t return it, because his finger was pressed to her mouth and trembling. Even in his coolness, he was terrified. The revelation of a Jedi, he was marking the bounty on his head.
She’d been utterly floored in that moment, not because she was swept away by a real-life Jedi or because she was finally convinced that he was a little bit good looking. She realised then, a hundred yards from the catwalk that could’ve killed her, that she must’ve done something right for once to earn the trust of a man she’d know day.
She turned to face Kanan after what felt like a short eternity. He was looking at her questionably, a brow furrowed. Clearly, she stated. “We’re not doing this next year.”
”Doing what?” Kanan said in that lights-on-no-one’s-home tone he occasionally used.
”What we’re doing this year.” She said pointedly before softening her gaze and using her hand to encourage Kanan towards her. First, she felt the soft fabric over his arms, stopping at his elbow where the sleeves had been tugged up. A mark of grease on his arm, probably from handling her toolbox. When her fingers traced his warm skin, a cool green against the copper, her body rushed with the feeling she only recalled once, about a year ago.
”Hera, are you sure?” Kanan asked gently, his voice stripped of foolishness.
”Are you?” She returned, trying to be perhaps coy in a way, but her hand trembled just by touching his wrist. Hopefully, if he agreed, he’d let her join her hand with his.
“I’m not gonna turn down a kiss from you, like ever.” Kanan took a step forward and brushed a hand over her cheek, touching the skin softly, nothing like the way he clutched the hydrospanner or held the back of his neck. “But I promise, I didn’t mean this - even if we weren’t trapped in hyperspace. I wanted to take you out to dinner to just… celebrate.”
”Well, you still can, in two and a half days.” She drew a smile, short and quick. Excitement zapped most of her sense, and she could barely look at him. “But right now, I think, this doesn’t count.”
”Well, I guess it’s another happy new year for us.” Kanan noted as he dipped towards her. First, taking her hand in his and then bringing it up to rest on her shoulder. He squeezed her hand there and whispered another ‘are you sure?’ before he kissed her.
If Hera was surprised the first time at what a good kisser he was, she was delightfully shocked at how his talent remained with such little practice.
There might’ve been a year between the first and the second kiss, but Kanan offered no reluctance as he kissed her.
Kanan squeezed their joined hands before releasing them, instead taking Hera’s face to hold instead. She lifted herself onto her toes to wrap her arms around him, trapping his ponytail. He quietly murmured against her lips, saying something between kisses that she couldn’t quite make out.
Some pilots favoured a hyperspace rule that one trip was marked as a day because of the difficulty to keep track of the calendar. That was a stupid rule, Hera knew, but a little piece of her begged her to use it on this occasion.