aka first time Cassian and Reader meet

Time Cassian and Reader have known each other: A week by the end

Author's notes: Hey guys! I got a prompt to do Cassian x Reader Firsts Headcanon, but it kinda blew up and became 7 pages long so I decided to make it a series of chapters instead of headcanons. Each chapter will be about a particular first for Cassian and Reader. It will go in order!

"Your mission is to find Cassian Andor. Last known location, Coruscant."

You had been in the rebellion since you were 10 years old. The rebellion trained you quickly and at 11 you were off on missions by yourself. Your job was to find people. You were a bounty hunter of sorts. The rebellion would send you to hunt down missing or stranded rebels all over the galaxy. Your supervisors said you had a "young and trusting" face that would be able to do the work that the well-seasoned rebels couldn't. They stood out where you could blend in.

Even though you worked in the same area as Cassian, you had never met him. Not many people knew what your job was and you were off world so often that you barely met your fellow rebels. However, over the years you heard bits and pieces about Cassian. The rebels you rescued rewarded you with stories of their travels and you'd pieced together what you could about the most popular rebels, Cassian included.

From what you had heard, Cassian was the best spy the rebellion had. The years passed and you rescued rebel after rebel, but none of them stuck around long enough to become a friend after you returned them to the base. You lived your life alone, giving yourself fully to the rebellion and you didn't expect that to change. It wasn't until years later, when you finally met Cassian that everything you thought you knew was turned upside down.

You were sent after Cassian Andor after he had been stranded on a mission on Coruscant. He had been there gathering intel, when he became trapped under fire. Without a second thought, he sent his droid Kay, back to Yavin 4 with the information he gathered, leaving himself stranded. You were sent to retrieve him. And retrieve him you did.

After arriving on Coruscant and scouring the area for information about a rebel spy you were able to scrounge up enough information to begin your search. It took you a few days but you were finally about to locate him. Some low level dealer was holding him, waiting to auction him off in the planet wide auction in a few days. After "asking" around the local market and "borrowing" a few weapons from a stall you went into the dealers den guns blazing.

"Cassian Andor! Where is he?" You calming stated, pointing your gun at the only man in the room.

Not even missing a beat, the man, without even looking up, pointed to the back room.

Your brows shot to the air, but you held your composure and made your way through the messy room to the door in the back. There you found Cassian Andor tied to a drainpipe.

"Who the fuck are you?" He snarled up at you.

You smirked down at him, twirling your gun, "I'm here to rescue you, Princess."

"I'm doing just fine as is, fierabrás," he scoffed.

Ignoring his words, you leaned down to cut through his handcuffs, but he pulled away.

"Let. Me. Do. My. Job." You said through gritted teeth.

He opened his mouth, but before he could say another word, you drove your stolen gun into his head and he dropped to the ground. You sighed before groaning with the realization that you would now have to carry him all the way back to your ship.

After cutting through his handcuffs, you pulled him up and hoisted him up onto your shoulder. You fell slightly into the wall before you regained your balance and began your trek back out into the market. The second you opened the door to the main room three men came running into the building.

Without even flinching you opened fired and dropped all three of them within seconds. You turned your gaze to the man who had pointed out Cassian in the first place. He looked at you, at your gun, and then went back to reading. You shrugged your shoulders and left to return to your ship.

Thankfully you didn't run into any more trouble on the way back to your ship. Once you reached it, you hurried inside, dropping Cassian unceremoniously on the floor and quickly took off headed to Yavin 4.

You set course, turned on the autopilot, and settled down with a sigh in the back of the ship with some food and began to write up your mission report. It wasn't until about an hour later that you began hearing groaning from where you had dropped your new buddy, Cassian.

You had to give him credit, because within a minute he was on his feet and taking in his surroundings. He seemed to quickly register that he was in an unmarked ship, meaning he couldn't receive any answers from his surroundings. He then turned his gaze to you.

His mouth opened, but before he could get a word out, you put up your finger, silently telling him to wait. You finished the sentence in the brief you were writing and looked up at him. Cassian drew in a breath, but once again you interrupted.

"I'm Y/N. I work for the Rebellion. Mon Mothma sent me to retrieve you when Kay returned back to base without you."

You heard him sigh and fall back against the side of the ship, sliding down to sit restlessly on the ground a few feet from you.

"Y/N. I know you. Mon talks about you a lot. You're the bounty hunter who finds stranded rebels?"

"Present and accounted for."

"How do I not recognize you?" You look up and see him scrutinizing you.

You chuckled, "Because that's how the rebellion wants to keep it."

"They told you that?" He probed.

You took a deep breath and looked down at your data pad, "Not in as many words. But they definitely don't want my face known. Makes it easier to not get caught as a rebel. Though, it could also be that most of my time is spent away from the base. You'd be surprised how many rebels go missing."

"That must be lonely."

You look up at him startled as no one you had ever rescued had ever taken an interest in your life, "I've been alone most my life. Doesn't make a difference to me. The rebellion has been all I've known since I was 10."

He looked surprised. "Since you were 10? What about your family?"

Your shoulders stiffened and you could see him flinch out of the corner of your eye. He began to speak, probably to apologize when you abruptly look up straight into his eyes, "I've been on my own for longer than I can remember. Even before I joined the rebellion I barely had any family. I don't remember what it was even like before this life."

He grimaced as your once bright eyes began to darken as bad memories were pulled to the surface. Your eyes glazed over as you turned to stare at the wall opposite you, your body feeling heavy as the painful flashes you had pushed so far into the crevices of your mind came flying out.

Cassian was quiet for a few minutes before moving closer to you. He gently took the data pad out of your hands and you shook your head trying to focus on something else.

Cassian began to speak, softly and slowly about how he joined the rebellion at just 6 years old. He took you through losing his family, his home, his pet, his possessions. How the rebellion had given him a family, only to take it away yet again. After losing his partner he swore that he would never get close to anybody again. And so the rebellion became everything he knew.

As he continued speaking, you began to relax in his presence. Everything he spoke of was something you had experienced yourself. How you had both lost your family. How you both barely remembered anything from before the rebellion, but what little you did remember was desperately clung to. The way you distanced yourself from others to avoid making connections you would ultimately lose in the fight. Or the way that you followed orders, because they had been drilled in your head at such a young age.

It took a week to get back to Yavin 4. By that time you felt that Cassian knew you better than anybody ever had, even your family. He was easy to talk to and you felt safe telling him your secrets, because he had the same secrets. He listened without judging and offered support without forcing it on you.

You didn't know how different everything would be after this.

This mission started out as just any other, but something had changed. You weren't ready to admit it to yourself, but Cassian had become your family and would change everything you thought you knew.

Next up: I never knew what I was missing (from a friend like you) aka First time you realized you had a best friend