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“Oops, time to run!” Hera sang, holstering her pistol and taking off across the rooftop. The bolt she had just fired had missed her target, instead throwing up the dust at a nearby Stormtrooper’s feet.
“The hell just happened?!” Kanan took off after her, bounding in order to keep up. For all his acrobatic talents, he could still barely match pace with her as she slipped and slid down the ladders and rooftops that made up their escape route.
“After them!”
“We’ve got Troopers on our tail!” Kanan made for his blaster when he noticed that Hera had pulled the hood of her cloak up already.
“Don’t make a scene,” she hissed, grabbing his hand. “Hustle!”
Hera took a hard left and whipped Kanan around the corner with her. Behind them, two Stormtroopers barked orders at civilians, telling them to move aside in the cracked, tin-can voices that came out of their helmets.
A few buildings down and a street or two over and Hera had led Kanan into the market. People were everywhere, bustling and yelling in all different tongues and dialects. She pulled him into the crowd, keeping her head low.
“This might be our lucky day,” Kanan called, raising his voice just enough to be heard over the hagglers.
“Wouldn’t count on it.” Hera came to a sudden stop and Kanan nearly bowled her over. Down at the other end of the market, three more Stormtroopers had appeared, apparently responding to the distress call from the others.
“Shit. What now?”
“We don’t have time to talk about this,” Hera said suddenly and yanked Kanan into the nearest alleyway. She grabbed him by the front of of his shirt and pulled him up against her as she backed against the alley wall. Suddenly feeling like his feet were too big, Kanan stumbled to keep up with her, and reached out to catch his weight on the wall before he slammed into her.
“What—“
“Sell it,” Hera whispered, ditching her cloak. She unfastened Kanan’s and tossed them both in the nearest pile of refuse before turning back to him and grabbing the back of his head. She pulled his face into the crook of her neck, wound her other hand around his back, and began giggling and squealing as if she were being tickled.
All at once, Kanan felt as if he’d thrown back an entire bottle of fire-water. Hera was certainly pulling him into her and tugging at his hair, but he was still struggling to process why.
“H-Hera,” did his voice just break?! “What’re you doing?”
She turned her mouth to his ear and whispered, “Play along.”
Kanan’s knees buckled. The heat of her breath and the brush of her lips on his earlobe snapped him back to attention, but he still wasn’t quite sure. “What?”
Hera growled suddenly and pulled Kanan’s head back to look him in the eye. She was about to explain, very plainly, what was going on, when two Stormtroopers appeared in the street at the end of the alley.
Immediately, Hera yanked at the collar of Kanan’s sweater and nipped at his neck. “Come on,” she whispered.
The light finally clicked on for Kanan. He grabbed Hera’s waist with one hand and leaned them back against the wall. Hera broke away from his neck and began to focus her attention on Kanan’s belt. Taking the cue, he turned his head to kiss her jawline, running one hand down her back while the other flicked the buttons on her clothing open.
Not bad, he thought, considering how out of practice he was on that front.
He used the opportunity to sneak a glance down the alley. Unfortunately, the Troopers were still there, and—extra unfortunately—had been joined by the remaining three. Either they hadn’t noticed the couple fooling around in the alleyway or they had, and were turning a blind eye for the sake of decency. He thought one of them might be watching, but couldn’t quite tell. Regardless, playing at each other’s necks and absently removing unnecessary clothing was going to sell for much longer.
In no way did Kanan want to make Hera uncomfortable. She had initiated whatever this was, but he knew she had boundaries. Kissing her neck was one thing, but her lips? That felt… Different.
“Kanan.”
“Hera,” he breathed.
“Sell it.”
Hera yanked open Kanan’s belt and he sprang on the opportunity. The second her hands were free, he seized her by the waist and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around his hips and Kanan became very suddenly aware of how hard she was breathing. Before going in for his next move, he paused to look Hera in the eye. Her gaze darted to the Stormtroopers and then back to him and she nodded.
Permission granted.
Time slowed down. He saw her lick her lips and inhale deeply. Nerves? Well, he was nervous at least. All this roughhousing and now…
Kanan cupped Hera’s face in one hand as he leaned closer, looking between her eyes and her mouth. There was another world there. He wanted this; he’d wanted it for a while. Since the moment they had met, he wanted this. He wanted her.
As his nose brushed up against hers, he let his eyes slip closed.
Might as well let it be everything you’ve wanted.
“YOU THERE!”
Kanan jumped and nearly bit his tongue off while turning his head. Hera pulled herself tighter against Kanan as two of the Stormtroopers marched into the alley, blasters drawn.
“Did uh, Either of you see two cloaked people run through here?” One asked, clearly uncomfortable.
“Only person I’ve seen is Doja, here,” Kanan grinned at the Troopers and bounced Hera on his hip. She squealed and giggled as she had earlier and Kanan tried not to notice that she was biting her thumb rather playfully. “Why? What’d these two fellas do?”
“I bet it was something naughty, love,” Hera said and winked.
“You…” The first Stormtrooper turned to look at the other. “You two have a nice day. Stay out of trouble.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it!” Kanan called and Hera laughed as the Troopers marched out of the alley.
Once they were well out of sight, Hera exhaled deeply. “That was close.”
“Are things always this close?” Kanan laughed, looking back at Hera. He once again became acutely aware of their proximity, of Hera’s legs wrapped around him, of her breathing pattern. He could still feel her lips on his skin.
“We’re… Certainly close.” She said softly and swallowed. Although he couldn’t quite tell, Kanan thought he saw her looking at his mouth. In truth, he would not have objected if she wanted to finish what they had started.
“We’ve been this close before,” he whispered, though he was unsure why.
“Not without shrapnel and a fireball,” she smiled.
“Oh. I guess you’re right.”
“Well, that was…” Hera suddenly cleared her throat. “That was something.” She placed her hands on Kanan’s shoulders and climbed back down. He held onto her to ensure both feet made it to the ground safely, but didn’t let go.
“It was something.”
She felt so small in his hands. After all, she was small, the top of her head only reaching his chin on a good day. But something about feeling her waist caused a great surge of affection in his stomach. In that moment, all he wanted was to make her happy.
“Dire circumstances,” Hera explained, turning away and starting down the alleyway. “Come on, we’ve got work to do.”
“Are you saying you don’t wanna do that again?” Kanan pouted, and only exaggerated it a little.
“Hey, love?” Hera called back.
“Yeah?”
“Your fly is down.”