[It's easier now, combat. Doesn't shake him the way it did before when the stakes felt impossibly high and he had to choke down the reality that they weren't sims he was taking shots at. Now he's got a cause worth defending— but more than that he's got the people behind it. General Solo, Leia Organa, Poe Dameron, Rey. They mattered. They left their mark on him.
And he's better for it.
Doesn't mean he's any less lonely, though, when the missions end and he's back on base without news on either Luke or where Poe's been sent. It's not a big deal. Really, it isn't. But it'd be nice to know how things were going beyond the gossip between pilots and crew. Those times when General Organa would call him in and leave the charts up for a minute or so too long (on purpose, it had to be, she wasn't that kind of careless).
Instead, between jumps and missives, he's drowning the urge in the ship's mess hall, picking through the list of available rations. Picky. He can afford to be picky about what he eats for a change.
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