the late fic that was thrown in the trash apparently(?
A/N: Ik I'm eliminated surprisingly or maybe not to me, but I did finish to write this and liked the interactions, so here you have it! Guess we'll never know what could've happened now tho, but thanks @domschreave for the RP from weeks ago. I might write some more stuff for future jyn cause she deserves me giving her an ending, so in case anyone is interested, be on the lookout ❤️ (this fic is around 3500 words and it is not a leaving fic, but a date with dom that happened and i couldn’t post before)
Dom opened his door after my knock. “Hey.”
I crossed my arms with a grin. “Hey…I wanted to put dominoes in your room after a meeting so that when you opened the door they'd all fall down...but that's such a mess to get your attention, so I thought I could also just ask.”
“Yeah, that sounds like a lot of work. Did you need something?”
“A few hours of your time maybe.”
“Are we breaking into some other abandoned thing now?” He asked and I had to hold back a smile. You could call that being predictable, but I took it as a good sign on his part.
“Well...we could. Not sure if you still haven't done it, but I heard something about wanting to climb the outside of a Ferris wheel... and I'm pretty sure the only way to do that is if we go to an abandoned amusement park.”
We both grinned at each other.
“I'm always up for a little adventure, but if we die I'm blaming you.” Wouldn’t want to get blamed for the death of a royal.
“Fair enough...Do you happen to know if there are actually any abandoned amusement parks anywhere near here?”
“I like having a plan, so yes, I did a little research.” Something I do a lot these days. “There's one in the outskirts of the city. If you want to go... then you have a date with the prettiest girl in the hallway.” I smiled at my own reference to our last date.
“Sure, let's go. And…” he paused to look around the hallway, “You're the only girl in the hallway.”
I rolled my eyes with a sigh, slightly amused, but wondering if he’d even noticed the reference I’d made. “Yes, you're a lucky guy.”
“You might say I'm the luckiest guy in this hallway.”
That almost made me laugh, but I held it back, looking around to refute his claim and finding someone once I squinting at a distant corner. “I think there's a guard there… But he's not getting a date with me, so the title of luckiest is still for you.”
“Alright then. Shall we go?”
After my nod we both started heading for the garage.
“What is today's special on the Dom Express?”
He gave me a confused frown. “What?”
I didn’t stop my pace and grinned slightly, “I meant what means of transportation are we using this time. I assume walking is off the list since it’s so far away.”
“Probably… but I don't know, what kind of vehicle do you want to use?”
“I'm... afraid I don't know that much about fancy cars.” I barely knew about cars at all really. Small town and all, where I lived cars were pretty unnecessary. Nonetheless, I cleared my throat after a pause. “I have been hitting the library to figure some of them out though... but I still think you should be the one to give suggestions if you want to go in a car again.”
“I don't know... and we don't even have to take a car if you don't want…”
“Oh.. No, that's fine. I don't really mind if it's a car or not. Anything is fine really.” I glanced at him briefly. Maybe this was his attempt at making me comfortable? I wanted him to choose this time though, so I added, “But I picked last time, so it's your turn.”
“Well I think it's just easier to take my motorcycle, so let's just do that.”
“Alright…” I smirked as some of the details from our crazy last date crossed my mind. “Did your dad ever find out we used the Lamborghini?”
“Not that I know of… Which means he didn't find out.”
“Does that mean he would have told you something if he had found out?”
“Yes.”
That was his only answer, but I stared at him in silence for another moment, waiting to see if he gave any other details. He didn’t.
I wasn't sure if what I felt was disappointment or not. I just wanted to get to know him. We wouldn't get anywhere if he didn't open up. But then again, maybe the topic was hard or just uncomfortable, so I bit my lip trying to think of a way to make him add on and settled with, “My dad would have hidden all of the keys from you... If he changed places with your dad that is.”
“My dad should hide his keys…” Dom mumbled, and I hoped that meant he would say more. “I don't know why he just leaves them out like this. Probably he thinks it looks cool.”
“Hmm, he should reconsider his definition of cool.”
He laughed shortly, but since I rarely saw him do so, I counted it as a win--even if I wished it sounded happier. “Probably.”
“What would you consider cool? I'm sure car keys on a wall isn't it.”
“I don't know... I'm not sure I have a single definition of "cool".”
Maybe not but...That sounded like a smart way to avoid my question. “Motorcycles are cool.” I pointed out, sparing him a glance to see if he understood where I was going with this. “The night sky, the sunrise, hanging out with friends…” I waited for him to add on and surprisingly he did.
“Leather jackets, rock music, ...quiet.”
“You mean as in silence?”
“Yeah.”
“Quite the polar opposite of rock music,” I smiled before looking back ahead. Happy he'd either intentionally or unintentionally given me a detail about himself. “But yeah, silence is cool too. We can be cool right now if you want..”
I offered a sheepish smile, hoping he would take my words in good heart. He gave me a small smile back, but didn't say anything else. I took that as a yes to being silent for a while and just followed him the rest of the way to the garage in peaceful silence.
“So motorcycle right?” Dom asked once we reached the garage.
“Yes, you once said you would show it to me anyway.”
“Right.”
He handed me a helmet and I stared at his motorcycle after taking it. The design seemed slightly familiar. “What model is it?
“It's a Ducati Diavel.”
“Interesting,” I stared at it a while longer, trying to picture it on library pages filled with specs. “I think I remember Ducati from the book I read…” I put the helmet on and struck a pose like the ones we had practiced for magazine issues. “How do I look?”
“Cool.” He grinned and I laughed a bit.
“Good.” That was definitely a compliment considering our previous conversation. “Now let's see how well you drive on two wheels.”
He got onto the motorcycle and I followed suit, skeptically. “Ready?”
“Uh, yes, hopefully I won't fall off.”
“You'll just have to hold on tight.”
Smirking, I placed my hands on his shoulders. “That's the oldest in the book, Dominoes.”
He sped off into the almost-night and I tightened the grip around his shoulders to avoid falling. When we started passing by next to cars though, I ended up placing my arms around his torso.
You better not kill me, Dominoes.
“Is it safe to move now?” I mumbled, clinging onto his torso as the motorcycle stopped.
“Yeah, you can get off.”
I let go of him while clearing my throat. “Sorry.”
“It's fine. So, ready to go?”
Standing up and taking my helmet off, I smiled. “Always.” Behind me was the Ferris wheel a few feet away. It seemed huge and a little rusty, yet not old enough to break under our weight. I placed a short strand of hair behind my ear as I searched for the way to climb it. I had to admit one of the inconveniences of shorter hair was it getting in your face because of the wind.
“We're actually gonna climb it?” Dom finally asked, breaking the silence. I couldn’t help but laugh at the question.
“There's a ladder, no? You're the one with this on your to-do-one-day list. We can scout the area if you changed your mind though.”
“No, I'm fine. I was just checking if you were too scared. Since, you know, you were terrified the entire time on my motorcycle.”
I glared at him with narrowed eyes, but smirked. “I love heights, I'm just not good with high speeds on moving objects... yet.” But I will. Just you wait.
“Uh huh. Sure.”
I faked a gasp. “Are you questioning my tolerance of heights, Dominoes?”
“Just a bit.” He smirked.
I laughed with a scoff. “Well, then let's prove you wrong.” Squinting at the Ferris Wheel, I pointed when I found a ledge where we could sit on with the wheel not moving. “I think there's a small spot for us to sit there halfway up.” Offering one last grin, I walked over to the ladder at the Ferris Wheel’s mounting and started climbing. Once we were both climbing I asked, “Why did you want to do this?”
“I saw it in a movie once and thought it looked cool. Hey, there's another thing to add to the cool list.”
I chuckled. “That's way better than keys on a wall. And I find heights in general to be cool.”
That led us to discuss the height of the Ferris Wheel, which according to what I’d read was around 150 feet. We only planned to go halfway up but I still took the chance to tease Dom, telling him not to worry about too much.
“Have you ever been on one before?” I wondered aloud. “Like, a functioning one? I was only on one when I was younger, but I don't really remember it...though I don't remember much before I was six.” I chuckled, thinking of how Jason reminded some of the weirdest stories from when he was little. Sometimes I couldn’t tell if they were made up or not. “Don't know how other people do.”
“Yeah, there are a couple amusement parks near us that we've gone to a lot in the past. I haven't ridden a Ferris wheel in forever though. They're kinda boring after a while.”
Boring? I paused at that, holding onto the ladder with one hand and letting go with the other to stare down at the amusement park. The breeze was so refreshing it almost begged you to relax. It wasn’t that surprising to get a glimpse at the beach further away, past the other old games and rides giving into oxidation. “This view gets boring?”
“I mean once you've ridden the ride a couple times, yeah.”
“Hmm…” I kept climbing. “I would like to say I disagree, but technically I can't.”
“Since you haven't ridden on one?”
“Except for that time I don't really remember. Though when I think about it, climbing the outside might be more fun than the actual ride.” I would still love the view however.
“I'm pretty sure it is.”
“Only because this way I choose how long I stay up. Oh, and because it's cooler of course.”
“It's definitely cooler.”
“I assume you like roller coasters better... or did those get boring with time as well?”
“Nope. Roller coasters are cool.”
“Hmm... what about bumper cars?”
“Bumper cars? Lame.”
I laughed, thinking I was starting to see a pattern. “I see now. You like the thrill of speed or something new.”
“Yeah I guess.”
Smirking down at him, pausing the climb, I raised an eyebrow. “You guess?”
“Yeah.”
“Well... if I'm wrong you can just tell me instead of guessing.”
“There's nothing wrong with saying the phrase "I guess." It doesn't mean you're wrong, it just means it's mostly correct. I guess I like "the thrill of speed" but that's not necessarily how I would've phrased it, so I guess I'd agree to it.”
Wow, okay cowboy, settle down. “I... didn't say there was something wrong with the phrase.. Just seems like it closes off the conversation. I don't mind silence, Dom, but I can't really know you as a person if we never talk.” I sighed before climbing again, not knowing what else to say. It seemed like saying anything would cause some sort of argument. “But alright.”
“I've just been assaulted by some of the other girls complaining about me saying "I guess". I'm just really tired of it.”
When we reached the ledge, I stood up and stared down at him with a head tilt. “Assaulted?”
“Yelled at? Bitched at? Confronted? Verbally assaulted.”
“Huh..” That’s odd. I sat down letting my legs dangle in the air as I gazed at the amusement park. I could imagine some of the girls in the Selection losing their temper at him, but it still felt weird. “You sure there wasn't a reason for it?”
“I said "I guess". Apparently that's illegal around here.”
“You sound pretty worked up about it.” I patted the spot next to me, offering a small smile, hoping he would calm down. “You don't need to get defensive all the time... when I mentioned it I didn't mean it in a bad way. I just meant that if I were wrong about an assumption you could tell me. I couldn't be sure of what reason there was behind your "I guess."”
He obliged and sat down. “It's just hard not to get defensive when I've been yelled at about the same thing multiple times. And it's not something that I think deserves being yelled at for.”
It seemed unreasonable that a girl would get upset about something like that, but I couldn’t really know what had happened, it wasn’t really my place to take sides. After a moment of silence I replied with: “I can't really say who was right since I wasn't there... but maybe stress also had a part in it. Selections aren't as simple as they're set up to be and I'm sure it's the same for you. When two forest fires meet halfway they'll just make a bigger mess.”
He nodded. “I'm not saying I'm perfect, I just don't like being scrutinized so harshly by people I might spend the rest of my life with. I get enough criticism from the public and the press... And my father.”
I looked at him surprised he would bring up his father into conversation at all, yet composing myself, I tried smiling apologetically. “Is he... harsh?”
Dom avoided my gaze, staring ahead. “Sometimes.” It sounded like those sometimes were enough to bother him, and being close with my dad myself, I always felt a little bad for people that didn’t get the chance of that.
I watched him in silence for a moment and hesitantly, reached for his hand before squeezing and smiling softly. I hoped I looked encouraging while doing so and waited to see if he would add anything else. In a pleasant surprise, he did. “You don't have to worry about him, though. He's only ever hard on me.”
“Well... if I worry about you, I'll worry about it either way…” I averted my gaze as I said that, clearing my throat, trying not to sound awkward. “If you make me worry about you that is..” My smile turned sheepish at the end when I looked back at him. Way to be subtle, Jyn.
He shrugged as if done with the conversation and looked away. My smile faltered and I pursed my lips, staring down at the amusement park too. “You really are a red and green light on at the same time…”
“What do you mean?”
Back in our first date I hadn’t really explained what I meant with it in detail, but up in the Ferris Wheel I did, not meeting his eyes. “You know how sometimes traffic lights don't work and both the red and green light are on, so you're stuck there unsure if you should keep going or wait? Well, it's like that, but in a conversation... it's hard to talk to you sometimes. Like if I say something wrong everything will crumble to bits.” I dared to glance at him then. “I don't like that feeling... but I want to see if this can work... if we can work.”
“I'm sorry I'm like that.”
I shook my head. It wasn’t like I wanted him to feel bad either. “You don't have to apologize... or I guess you do...?” Rambling took over. “It's not like all you do is bad-- not that you're precisely doing something bad-- I kinda like you even if you're stubborn sometimes... I'm just not good when I don't see trust, but I wouldn't ask you to change who you are either and--” I sighed, dropping my gaze. “I'm just making this worse, I'm sorry.”
He sighed too. “I don't want you to feel like you have to be careful about everything you say to me. I just don't like being interrogated... or insulted... I didn't think that would be so difficult but maybe I am too sensitive about some things…”
“Maybe... just a little…” I eyed him warily. “But if I ever make you feel like that it's better if you just talk to me about it... Calmly. I promise I'll hear you out.”
Dom nodded silently and I smiled a little at the sight before kissing his cheek and staring back at the sky filled with stars now.
“We should probably head back to the palace soon.” He pointed out quietly.
I kept my eyes fixed on the stars but mumbled, “Five more minutes of being cool?”
“Sure.”
I liked how he seemed to soften a bit after our talk. Made me think he wasn’t always jokes and teasing. “Thanks.”
“Just let me know when you're ready to go.”
Nodding, I let the night sky swallow me with it’s beauty, the lights of the city too far away to ruin the view of the constellations. It was a beautiful night and I’d made some progress with Dom, the breeze still met me with delight and my short hair danced wildly with it.
It wasn’t like back home, but it was still pretty great.
In front of the bike again I pointed out Dominic needed something new to add to his list of things he hadn't done and wanted to do. He agreed, but admitted he didn’t know what that would be. I told him if he ever figured it out and it was something doable, I’d be up for it. He assured he would tell me if he did which, to be honest, made me feel even better about the evening.
I grabbed the helmet on the bike and stared at it as if it were a challenge, putting it on afterward. “Okay, maybe it'll be less scary this time.
He actually smiled at that. The simple smile I’d noticed I liked on our first date. “You're not going to scream the whole time again are you?”
His joke took me by surprise and I stared at him agape for a moment before smiling myself. “I wasn't yelling!”
“Uh huh, then what do you call it? Breathing loudly?”
“Well--” I was ready to argue, but it was hard not to laugh at the situation and I ended up pulling down the visor on my helmet to hide my amusement instead. “Maybe it is.”
“Alright. Lets just get going.”
We both got on and I held onto him again as he started up the engine, joking, “Hope you have good eyes for the dark.”
Dom was quick to point out: “The motorcycle does have a headlight you know.”
Little smarty pants, are you now? “I'm glaring at you under this visor just so you know.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“So was that better than the last time?”
I took my helmet off with a smile and said, “I breathed with my normal volume mostly, so yes, it was better.”
“Good. I'm glad.”
“I'm glad too...did you have fun?” Not too many questions Jyn, he already told you enough about himself. “Forget it, I've made enough questions today.”
“It's fine. I did have fun.” I thought I almost saw the hint of a smile on his face at that
“Okay, that's good to hear... it's kind of late so you don't have to walk me to my room if you don't want to.”
“I can if you want…”
I looked at the motorcycle and mumbled “only if you want to..” again, making Dominoes roll his eyes. Looks like I still got it.
“This is getting us nowhere. Come on. I'll walk you to your room.”
I grinned in victory and followed him out of the garage. Maybe Kat was right and I had a chance at this.
:)
