#sbficlets

[sushiburritonoms]

Untitled Library Din/Luke ficlet

@darkisrising asked for #25 on the AU short fic list and I wasn't short enough for the little Ask box reply thing. I have worked multiple positions in libraries public and private so this came really quickly to me. Sorry for the multiple inside jokes in here but I hope @sadiebwrites appreciates this!

--

Normally Luke enjoyed Wednesday mornings. The middle of the week was a quieter time for library staff; it was far enough away from the hell that was the weekend shifts that Luke could take a break and mentally prepare himself for Thursday’s Toddler Storytime and Friday’s afterschool crush.  There were usually only a few moms with small children hanging around the board books corner at this time and typically his page could handle their easy questions.  It was supposed to be a nice peaceful time for him.

“Heads up Luke, your DILF is back.”

Luke nearly dropped the stack of new picture books he was carrying out from tech services. “Geez Dak, careful with that cart! ….Wait my what now?”

The library page grinned as took the new books from Luke’s hands and put them on his cart. “Your DILF! He’s in Children’s with his kid. You know, the biker looking dude with the sweet ‘tash?”

“I’m sorry young Dak,” the reference librarian Obi-Wan said with his head still huddled over his Wednesday crossword puzzle, “but might I inquire what a ‘DILF’ is?”

“No you may not!” Luke moaned as he ran his hand over his face. “And please keep your voice down.”

“Sorry boss!” Chirped Dak, “but they’re the only two in the room right now, so you got him all to yourself!”

“Luke’s got who all to himself?” their archivist Tionne asked as she walked by with her empty coffee mug.

“The DILF from last week. He’s back with his toddler and it’s not even Thursday,” Dak reported breathlessly.

“Hmm, is this the dark haired patron with the 2 year old boy, just moved in from Nevada?” Obi-Wan said thoughtfully as he finally looked up. “The one you were all telling me about last week?”

Dak nodded. “The hot one, yeah!”

“Don’t you have books to shelve,” Luke hissed at his page.

“Oh that’s so sweet,” Tionne murmured, “you looked so smitten after they left last week too.”

“I did not!” Luke protested. “I looked like my usual non smitten, very busy self.”

“You spent a half hour with them and pulled every single amphibian book we had for the dad,” Dak reported, “the guy looked overwhelmed as he left.”

“I was doing my job,” Luke said through gritted teeth, “just like a certain somebody should be doing.”

“I’m going, I’m going,” Dak smirked as he started to push his cart out into the public area.

“Wait a minute,” Luke said suddenly as he remembered something. He peered at Dak’s bookcart and pulled a green and pink picture book out. “I think I’m gonna need this.”

Dak frowned. “You better not try to reshelve that yourself, I need to take stats if you use it.”

“I’m fully capable of logging usage stats myself,” said Luke.

“Yes, but will you?” Tionne asked as she sipped her coffee.

“No.” Obi-Wan and Dak replied for Luke.

“Why do I put up with any of you,” Luke muttered to himself.  “I’m leaving this conversation now.”

“Hmm,” said Obi-Wan. “Have fun with the ...DILF.”

“Oh my God, please never say that again,” Luke begged his mentor as he almost but not quite ran from the back room. The sound of Tionne and Dak laughing followed him out.

Sure enough as Luke walked towards the Children’s Room he could see there were only two patrons inside. The tiny toddler Grogu was absorbed in yet another book about frogs and snuggled inside of one of Luke’s red bean bag chairs, while his father sat awkwardly in a child sized wooden chair.  For a moment, Luke thought he might be able to sneak back to the reference desk without being spotted but nope. Little Grogu looked up and squealed in a non library friendly pitch as he spotted him.

“Shhh, mijo,” his father said gently. “We’re in a library, remember? Inside voice.”

“It’s alright,” Luke said as he stepped towards them. “There’s hardly anyone here at the moment.”

The father was startled and looked up at Luke. Then he unfolded himself from the tiny chair and stood up, looking strangely nervous. “Ah...hello.”

Luke put on his best friendly and not at all flirty children’s librarian face. “Hello again and ¡Hola, Grogu! ¿Cómo estás?”

The toddler squeaked from the beanbag chair in almost incomprehensible Spanish.

“Bien,” his father translated. “¿Y Usted?”

Luke’s spanish was limited to grade school level so he just went with “Muy bien, ¡gracias!” Then switched back to English. “Did we finish all of those books from last week?  What a great reader, excellente!”

Grogu’s dad looked up with his gorgeous brown eyes and chuckled, his deep voice sending a small bolt of electricity down Luke’s spine. “He wouldn’t put them down, he’s been obsessed with them all week. Especially the bilingual ones, thank you Mr. Skywalker.”

“Call me Luke,” he said with a smile. “You got a real reader there, señor…” Luke waited.

“Oh!” The man said. “Sorry, I guess I forgot to introduce myself last week. Din Djarin.”

“It’s nice to meet you Mr. Djarin.”

“Just Din is fine.” Din gave Luke a shy smile that sent more fluttering feelings throughout Luke’s cardigan covered chest.

“Din then.” He couldn’t help staring, fascinated by how the dingy lighting of their poorly funded library could still make Din’s eyes look amazing. Oh he had it bad--and for a patron! If the Head Librarian Jocasta Nu saw him, he’d get another damn lecture about professionalism and there would go his chances for the library to fund his trip to ALA in Chicago this year.

“¡Papi!” Grogu suddenly said. “¡Quiero libro!” He pointed to the picture book held in Luke’s arms.

Luke blinked. “Oh of course! Yes, this is for you.” He knelt down and handed Grogu the picture book. “This book is new, we just got it today and it’s about Frogs. It’s called ‘Kiki Kokí: La Leyenda Encantada del Coquí.” In English it was ‘The Legend of the Coquí Frog.’

Din looked down and gave Luke a huge smile. “Another bilingual book.”

“I try to order as many as I can,” Luke said solemnly. “I have some time, would you like for me to read it to him? It would be good to practice my Spanish in front of a more sympathetic audience.” The toddlers at Thursday’s Storytime were brutal critics.

“I--we--would love that,” Din said, giving Luke another amazing smile.

Oh god he loved Wednesday mornings, even if he was in so much trouble.

---

You can request a ficlet from the AU list here but I'll probably be slow in replying (I need to go do some actual work lol).

Edit: There's a part II here

#au fic #Din/Luke #dinluke #skydalorian #libraryAU #sbficlets

[sushiburritonoms]

Din/Luke Kyber Crystal Drabble for Tene <3

Hi gang!

My dear @bronze-lorica has been so supportive to me this year so I wrote her this short Drabble (ficlet?). I'm sorry it wasn't smutty my darling ;_; (next time tentacles!)

This is untitled, not beta'd, doesn't really make sense and its just vibes and thoughts about sentient kyber crystals. Maybe one day it'll turn into a real story, idk. Enjoy!

All kyber crystals are sentient.

When Luke told Din this, it was said so casually, so matter of fact that Din failed to immediately grasp the enormity of the statement. He’d been too busy processing the revelation that the Darksaber, the ancient Mandalorian weapon that was so coveted and desired by his people, was the source of his recent spat of odd dreams and strange phantom sensations. The faint pulse against his palms. The way in which the saber seemed to curve in the desired direction even before his arms completed the move.  The strange weight that the Darksaber had when he dwelt for too long in negative thoughts. All of it was real.

It was even more impressive because Din was only slightly Force-sensitive. More than most, but not to the level of Luke and Grogu. Apparently, for a full Jedi the sensations were a lot more intense. “You’ll get used to it,” Luke had assured him, with a sheepish look on his face.  “Eventually.”

It was a lot to take in and there were so many other things to worry about; Bo-Katan and Boba Fett’s Tatooine takeover and revenge tour being his biggest problems. Then when Mandalore was reclaimed and Fett and Shand were mostly content with the Empire they had built, Din had found himself distracted with Luke himself. He had completely forgotten the existence of other kyber crystals until the day when he had pinned Luke against the wall of his newly built Jedi temple and accidentally pressed his beskar clad hip too deeply against the metal shaft of Luke’s saber.

One second he was sucking on a particularly sensitive part of Luke’s lower jaw and the next second he felt something like electricity shoot through his left thigh and down his leg.

“Ow! Kriff!”

Luke also flinched, his hand pulling away from Din and immediately going towards his side. “Oh!  I’m so sorry.”

Din winced and pulled away so he could rub at his leg.  “It’s ok.”

Luke’s eyes flicked to Din. “Not you.”  His hand closed around the saber and his eyes fluttered closed. “I was apologizing to my crystal.”

Was it just Din’s imagination, or was there a slight hum in the air? A mix of electricity, the sound of a X-Wing’s engine, and a soft metal chime.

Din’s hand immediately went to the Darksaber.  He felt nothing.

“They don’t like the feeling of your armor pressed against their casing,” Luke explained as his eyes opened.

A thousand questions rushed into Din’s head but all that came out was “They?”

Luke shrugged. “They prefer they/them as their pronouns in Basic.”

Din swallowed nervously. “They being the kyber crystal in your lightsaber,” he clarified.

“Yes.” Luke looked apologetic. “I think it’s the Force damping properties of beskar, it bothers them.  It’s interesting, the Darksaber never said anything about that before.”

The Darksaber. Talked to his ...to Luke.  Din’s grip tightened on the Darksaber and in the back of his mind he was bewildered to realize he felt the slightest pang of jealousy.

He pushed away the feeling and thought for a minute before he spoke. “Do they...have a name?”

The look Luke gave him could only be described as ‘fond’. “They’re a kyber crystal, they don’t identify like that.”

Of course, they kriffing didn’t. Din had a dozen more questions about the nature of kyber crystal identity and how they were sentient enough for pronouns but not names, but he squashed all of them in favor of the most important one.  “Does the Darksaber use pronouns?”

Luke tilted his head, perhaps asking Din’s saber silently. “The Darksaber....identifies as The Darksaber.”  Luke sighed. “The Darksaber has a very unique presence in the Force.”

The Darksaber finally gave Din a slight pulse against his palm. The sensation reminded Din of a massiff headbutting his hand for attention. He gave it a reassuring pat.

“You looked disturbed.” Luke held out both of his hands for Din again.

“I’m….thinking,” Din admitted, but he let Luke pull him close again.

“As much as I treasure the ability to watch you think, I was really enjoying making you stop.” Luke leaned to press his lips lightly against Din’s chin. He knew that even the gentlest touches were still intense to Din after his many years of covering his face. He only needed to caress Din’s cheek with the tip of his nose and he was a boneless mess in the shorter man’s arms.

“But we should go to my room and put the sabers away first,” Luke sighed in between nips to Din’s neck.  “It’s not like they’ve consented to any of this.”

That was like a burst of ice against Din’s back. He pulled back in shock, only to see a wicked grin spread across Luke’s face.  He giggled and Din swatted at his ass.

“That’s not funny.”

“My crystal thought so,” Luke laughed. Then before Din could pout Luke grabbed one of his hands so he could lead him back towards his room.

That night they were very careful to lay the sabers side by side on the softest cushion in Luke’s room. Just in case.

—---

It was possible that Luke’s kyber crystal had enjoyed riling Din up because after that night he became more aware of the crystal’s presence. It started with Din hearing the strange starfighter/wind chime noise more frequently. When Luke appeared content or when he was in deep mediation, Din would hear the hum emanate from Luke’s side.  In the rare moments when Luke lost his patience or became annoyed, the air around him would become charged with static electricity. When Luke held Grogu close or laughed at something that Din said the hum would shift to a vibration that reminded Din of a Tooka’s purr. Eventually--he wasn’t quite sure when--he started to hear the crystal every day.

But where Luke’s crystal was loud, the Darksaber remained mostly silent. It didn’t seem to respond to any of Din’s moods nor did it react when he tried to talk to it, both out loud and in his mind. The only time it reacted at all was when it was used.

When Luke and Din spared, the Darksaber would finally open up and pulse like a living breathing creature.  The longer Din practiced with Luke, the more the Darksaber seemed to come to life. Perhaps it was his imagination, but there were times when the Darksaber seemed to become heavier in his grip when he needed a steady blow but as light as a vibroknife when he needed to reach.  Din wasn't Force-sensitive and he couldn’t make the saber come to his hand with his mind, but it soon became clear that no other Mandalorian was going to disarm him. It was like it was glued to his hand in combat and only Luke had the power to part the blade from Din’s grip.

Din asked Luke once why the Darksaber never seemed to hum like Luke’s crystal.

“Well. My crystal has never partnered with another sentient before. It’s very young compared to the Darksaber. The Darksaber is ancient even for a kyber crystal and it and has passed hands so many times. The experiences it has had, the lives it ended or saved are so incomprehensible to the average human, so there’s no way for me to tell you why it reacts to you the way it does.”

Din had frowned at that. “Are you saying the Darksaber is traumatized?”

Luke had shrugged. “I’m saying I have no idea. All I know is it’s chosen to be with you.”

Maybe the Jedi said that to make Din comfortable but if anything it made him feel worse.  At least Luke’s saber sounded like it liked him. It gave off an aura of warmth and the soft chimes and hums it made seemed to fit the Jedi’s personality like a true partner. He didn’t have that any of that with the silent Darksaber.

Or least that’s what he’d assumed until the day when they encountered the Sith.

—--

Technically, it was an Inquisitor, which Solo would repeatedly remind Din of later. She wasn’t a fully trained Sith. But then, what did any of them know about the Sith?  Even Luke’s knowledge had gaps. The Inquisitor was dressed in all black skimpy clothing that looked like it wouldn’t protect her from a strong breeze, let alone a battle. She had the exact same lack of common sense that Luke had by refusing to wear armor. Truthfully, she looked like a diseased womp rat, with beady yellow eyes, equally yellow sharp teeth. Even her lightsaber was ridiculous, all sharp with unnecessary spikes along the hilt. She didn’t have a name, just a number and she wanted nothing more than to murder Luke. Seemed Sith-y enough for Din.

The fight between Luke, Din and the Inquisitor was intense.  Despite her decrepit appearance, the Inquisitor fought like a woman with nothing to lose. Where Luke’s strikes were powerful with purpose in each swing, hers were wild and chaotic and her randomness and desperation was slowly pushing the battle to her favor. Soon their sabers moved too fast for Din’s eyes to follow. After wasting precious moments trying to follow, he gave up and focused all of his attention on the monitor in his HUD that was monitoring Luke’s heat signature. He watched and waited.

When the monitor suddenly detected a heat spike, it coincided with a choked gasp from Luke. That’s when the Darksaber was vibrating in Din’s hands before he was even fully aware of it. His body was moving before Luke’s could land on the ground.

Din didn’t scream–the Darksaber did with a howling sound that reminded Din of the booming scream of a detonator, the wail of a child, and the growl of blaster fire. He felt warmth pour out of the hilt in his hands and wrap itself around until there was pressure against his shoulders, molded to him like his own beskar’gam. The Darksaber pulled Din’s arms and he instinctively followed; he went just low enough so the red saber nicked the top of his helmet. Instead of shooting up, the Darksaber pulled him around, like a child’s top. He stuck out his leg and the Inquisitor went flying with a rageful screech.

He could feel the Darksaber like he never had before, still vibrating like the aftermath of an explosion, its warmth wrapped around his arms just like beskar. For a moment he even thought he saw something shimmering, reaching out to Luke as he lay stunned from the deep burn in his side.

Before Din’s brain could start to panic he felt something pull his chin away from Luke and towards the Inquisitor. The Darksaber brought him back into the battle and directed his gaze past the still screaming woman to the abandoned silver hilt lying abandoned in the dirt behind her.

Din is not Force-sensitive.

But kyber crystals are and that is how Din suddenly ended up with a green blade in his left hand.

Both Din and Luke did not how to duel weld.

The Darksaber did.

It pulled back so that Luke’s crystal could wrap itself around Din like cool water that flowed along his forearm and wrist. Where the Darksaber growled, Luke’s saber sang. It moved Din’s left hand defensively while Din’s right hand attacked.  Every time the Insquistior tried to harm the crystals’ partners, they helped move Din’s arms up in ways he only vaguely recognized from Luke’s training. Together they managed to push back the Inquisitor long enough until her saber was pinned under twin blades, leaving her face unprotected.

Which allowed an injured Luke to finish the battle. He pulled Din’s beskar staff off his back and directly into the Inquisitor’s neck with the Force. Din didn’t even flinch as blood splattered onto his helmet’s visor. He was too distracted by the harmonizing hum that flooded him from both the Darksaber and Luke’s saber. They sang together in a type of kyber crystal victory song that shook Din’s entire body and it didn’t leave him even after he clipped both sabers into his belt and rushed back to Luke.  The Jedi didn’t have the strength to say anything but Din could tell that he heard it by the look of awe and wonder in his tired eyes.

—---------

The two crystals continued to hum softly as he carried Luke back to his ship. The Darksaber steadied Din’s shaking hands as he tried to bandage Luke’s wound with bacta.  It was Luke’s crystal that pulled his attention back to the cockpit so he could direct their ship to the closest inhabited planet for medical help. When Luke was taken into surgery, the crystals comforted Din with tendrils of warmth pressed along his arms and around his chest.  They stayed wrapped around his body until Din was finally allowed back into Luke’s hospital room and was seated by his side.

He felt Luke’s crystal finally leave him as he gently brushed some loose hair from the Jedi’s sleeping face. His left hand tingled as the crystal slowly slid down his fingers and into Luke’s forehead, disappearing into the other man, like particles of dust being blown off his fingertips by the wind. Luke smiled in his sleep and something shifted inside of Din and he felt himself relax.

He slowly moved his right hand towards the Darksaber on his hilt. This time, he felt the saber pulse under his palm.

Thank you, he told the Darksaber silently. Thank you.

The Darksaber hummed back, satisfied.

#tene my beloved #the world needs more bestie Darksaber #like the only time the Darksaber possesses Din is emergency battle tactics and when the man needs a nap #he's great on road trips #I want more Darksaber in love with Din damnit #Luke's crystal on the other hand is a little shit #it likes to chime at inappropriate times like sex #it keeps asking to be dumped into a cup of caf and Luke refuses #don't want to see that crystal caffeinated thats for damn sure #Luke's kyber crystal is a hyperactive dog that craves violence #The Darksaber is a no fucks given cat #sbficlets #dinluke

[sushiburritonoms]

Hello There

I’m a bipoc fan with anxiety that mainly identifies as old and tired. I write really long things sometimes.

Fics

Escape the Night (Season 3 currently)

Don't Let Me Down (explicit for sexual violence, attempted non con, Matt/Manny, Matt/Joey, Matt/Manny/Joey and Matt/Lucy (non con))

AU of Season 3, episode 9. What if Matt was the one put into the Collar of Control instead of Nikita? What if Lucy turned all her sexual frustration on her male captive instead of Mortimer? How would Manny and Joey, who are attracted to the poor Detective, react?

And finally, what if there was a way for all four of the final survivors to survive?

Status: Complete!

STAR WARS (OT, Mandalorian)

DIN/LUKE

The Father the Son and the Exile (Mature for violence only, slow burn Din/Luke, canon Han/Leia)

It is my reimagining of the some of the themes and plots from the Sequel trilogy as if they happened to a young post ROTJ Luke Skywalker.  The premise is what if Luke received Force visions of Ben turning to the Dark Side when he was just a baby and what if the First Order/Empire was just a little more competent and forced Luke to isolate himself several decades sooner than in canon. 

Status: Complete! 

Last to Know, First to Judge (Gen, Din/Luke, Han/Leia)

A comedy fic about Han’s reaction to being the last to find out about his brother-in-law’s relationship with a damn Mandalorian.  Totally not canon to anything else I write.

Status: Complete!

Sacred Texts (Modern AU, Mature, Din/Luke, minor Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan)

Luke Skywalker is the beloved Children’s Librarian at Jedha Public. He is overworked, underpaid, underestimated, and utterly adrift in the post military life he’s created in Arizona. The work is important and the children he works with are well meaning chaotic demons, but at night the stars and the empty desert landscape remind him of the former life he misses and the parts of himself he’s still waiting to discover.

But maybe that will change now that there’s a new family in town.

Status: WIP/ probably dead sorry

BOBA/DIN/LUKE

A Thousand Prayers for the Dead (Explicit for threesome sex, Boba/Din/Luke)

It is Boba and Din’s first Night of the Three Winds, a Tatooine festival meant for honoring one’s dead ancestors, and it’s another day of Luke avoiding Boba and the strange magnetism that exists between them. When Din is around, the three of them are able to exist in some sort of equilibrium, but the moment he’s gone Boba and Luke find themselves caught in a powerful push and pull of desire and abstinence. But maybe on the night when the spirits are said to visit the living, they can come to some sort of agreement.

Status: Complete

Short Tumblr Fics and Drabbles

Are typically posted under #SBFiclets

Responses to an AU Fic List

28. Knocking on the wrong door (Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan)

38.cop/person getting a speeding ticket au (Din/Luke)

30: tourist/knowledgeable local au (Din/Luke)

19. parents meeting when they take their kids to class au (Din/Luke)

15: meeting in the E.R/A&E au (Din/Luke/Boba)

40: Soul destroying exes meeting again after not speaking for years au (Din/Luke)

25: Library/Avid Reader AU Part I (Din/Luke)

Library AU part II (Din/Luke, Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon)

Misc 

Permission to Illustrate, Translate or Podfic Works?: YES! Please let me know if you do and I'll promote you!

Ask Box Status: Open! 

#SBFiclets #sb fics #escape the night #the mandalorian #star wars

[sushiburritonoms]

okay fine, I’ll play. let’s see, something you can’t make sad (and no, that is NOT a challenge!)… Summer has me in a vacationy mood, so how about DinLuke number 30, tourist/knowledgeable local au? I’ll leave you to decide if Din is the reluctantly knowledgeable local, or if Luke is eager to show the hot dad and his son around

FINE. YOU WANT HAPPY, I'LL GIVE YOU HAPPY!!!

Wait, sorry that came out in my drama voice. *coughs*

30 of AU Ficlist: tourist/knowledgeable local au

Din was no longer a religious man, not since he gently but firmly broke away from his Mormon upbringing years ago. But there were some habits that were hard to break, especially for an exmo, and he couldn’t help but offer up a quick prayer to...something...before he set out on his hike with Luke. Maybe he was praying to Poli`ahu; she would be the most appropriate goddess, given where they were (and wouldn’t his adoptive mother have had a fit over that!).  He sent up a quick prayer for no rain, for clear skies, and, most importantly of all, no tourists.  That last was a big ask, even for the Goddess of Mauna Kea.

But it was the off season for the Big Island, and a weekday, so the trail was quiet.  It was a short hike, five miles roundtrip. It was practically nothing for the two of them. Din wasn’t trying to wear Luke out….yet.  That would hopefully--fingers crossed and prayers sent to all gay friendly gods/godesses out there--come later.

“It really is unbelievably beautiful here,” Luke said quietly as walked near the ocean.  He paused for a minute to close his eyes, tilting his face towards the sun, looking like some sort of god himself, especially with the way in which the light hit the highlights in his hair. A sun god, maybe. Din felt a wave of fierce affection and lust rush through him, like a burst of wind off the sea. His hand drifted down to his cargo shorts pocket, where he reassured himself that the small box he’d put there that morning was still there.

“I can’t believe you left,” Luke admitted as he opened his eyes. “If I was raised here, I’d never leave.”

Din had heard that before from many people. But coming from Luke it felt sincere and probably was, given his childhood history.  “You’d be surprised how quickly you get used to all this,” he said as he waved his arm at their picturesque surroundings. “You don’t notice after a while. The island is too small to spend your whole life here.”

He’d wanted more from his life and freedom from the expectation that he would settle down, marry a nice Mormon woman, and have a small army of children.  He’d always been fine with the children part, and even the marrying part. But the woman part had been the dealbreaker, and when he left the Big Island for the mainland he’d also left that childhood expectation behind.

Now he was back home, a decade later, and surprisingly it was almost how he’d originally expected his life to turn out. He had a son, he had love, and hopefully….

No. Best not to think about it, not to jinx it.  Instead, he waited until Luke had his fill of the ocean before they continued on their way.

“I can see why you didn’t want to bring Grogu,” Luke said as they carefully navigated a rocky curve.  “This isn’t very kid friendly.”

“There’s not much for him to do. The current here is too strong for him,” Din explained as he reached out a hand to Luke so he could help him across.

Luke pouted. “But I thought you were taking me to a secret beach so we could swim. Or...do something else.” Luke raised his eyebrows at him.

“I never said swimming would be involved,” Din said as he gave Luke’s ass a swat.  “We’re not doing what you’re thinking about doing either.” Yet. “This beach isn’t secret, it’s pretty famous.”  There were other more private beaches he could take Luke but that wasn’t the point. It had to be this beach for a specific reason.

“Almost there,” he added as he felt his nervousness begin to grow.  Din could see the ridge where they would begin their descent into the bay. “This area is called Puʻu Mahana; it’s an ancient cinder cone that erupted eons ago.”

“Hmm... I love it when you talk about eruptions,” Luke leered at him.  “I could listen to you talk nerdy all day.”

Din snorted.  “Shut up and get over here.”

“Alright geez, wait up. I--woah.” Luke stopped at the top of the ridge next to him and stared in amazement. “That’s beautiful.”

“Papakōlea beach,” Din said with satisfaction as he looked at the pristine and--miracle of miracles--completely empty sand. They were early enough so they had the bay to themselves. Everytime Din came to Papakōlea he was taken back by the bay’s contrast of colors, with light green cliffside melting away into bright blue water.

“It’s so green!” Luke exclaimed happily. “Is that grass on the sand?”

“Not quite,” Din chuckled as he led the way down the ragged cliffside, towards the old metal staircase built into the cliffside.  “Papakōlea is special because it’s one of the few green sand beaches in the world.”

“Wait? Green sand?!”  That was it, Din had lost Luke. His love ran ahead, hoping over rocks to clammer over to the staircase like a small child.  By the time Din had caught up, Luke was pulling up handfuls of sand and letting the small grains fall through his fingers.

“I never knew sand could be green! We should have brought Grogu! It’s his favorite color!” Luke beamed at him as he approached.

“And yours,” Din acknowledged with a nervous smile. It was rapidly becoming his favorite color too, after silver.

“What is it?” Luke asked. “Fossilized seaweed or something?”

Din snorted. “What? How the hell did they let you graduate from Cal again?!”

“I wasn’t a science major,” Luke retorted. “So why don’t you explain, Professor Djarin?” He leered at Din and oh fuck. He had to bring up his favorite roleplay right now, right when there was a 50% chance he was about to ruin one of the best things that had ever happened to him.

Din pushed aside vivid memories of Luke dressed as a slutty schoolboy out of his head with extreme effort. “Ah..it’s olivine,” he said, suddenly nervous.  “Tiny specs of olivine that is created by the volcano on the island. It’s a dense mineral so it tends to accumulate on the shore rather than be swept into the sea like most other deposits…” His voice trailed off as he saw the moment when Luke suddenly realized why he’d been brought to this particular beach.

“Olivine aka peridot,” Luke said slowly. He let the last of the grains of sand fall from his hand as he moved to touch the small, slender peridot gem that was always around his neck on a smooth silver chain.

Din had asked Luke in the very beginning of their relationship why he always wore the green gem around his neck. Luke had explained that the peridot was the last gift from his grandfather, Qui-Gon.

“He told me he was originally going to give it to my dad’s future wife, because it was a family heirloom. But my biological father never really got along great with my grandfather, and dad and father weren’t able to legally marry until after grandfather died.  So he gave it to me. I don’t know why he didn’t just give it to Leia, but when he died, I put it on and never really took it off.  I’ve always loved the color. Peridots are the stones of compassion and I think that’s just really nice.”

As their relationship grew Din realized that the peridot gem was a perfect description of Luke himself. Compassionate to a fault but also vibrant and full of life. He was spiritual, creative and strong; all characteristics of the gemstone according to the hippie websites Luke liked to frequent.  So when they decided to return to Din’s hometown of Kona for a vacation, Din immediately thought of Papakōlea beach. Olivine was a common mineral on the islands--they liked to market them as “Hawaii’s Diamonds”.

So where else could he bring Luke to propose to him?

“I need to ask you something,” he began. He pulled Luke further along until they were in a spot where Din could see the green sand and the crystal clear blue ocean. Blue and green, the colors that reminded Din of Luke.  “The day we met, you gave me the greatest gift of my life by saving Grogu’s life.  You came in like a superhero, flying in on your stupid skateboard and grabbing him from the path of that car. That could have been the worst day of my life and instead it was the third most important day.”

Luke stared at him with bright eyes that sparkled with unshed tears. “The third?”

“Second one was the moment they said that Grogu could stay, that I could start the adoption process,” Din acknowledged.

Luke nodded. “And the first?” He whispered.

Din took a deep breath and sent another wild prayer to  Poli`ahu or Peli; whoever was listening and had got him this far.

“I’m hoping the first is right now.” He slowly reached for the ring box in his pocket and got down on one knee.  The sand was rough against his bare skin and he was shaking--but so was Luke. There were tears slowly falling down his face and he was looking at Din as if he was the sun god and not him.  “Luke Skywalker,” he said slowly as he opened the ring box, “Would you--”

“YES!” Luke blurted out.

“--You have to let me finish!” Din said with a laugh.

“You’re taking too long!” Luke grabbed at Din’s hands and pulled them to his chest. “Yes, yes a hundred times yes! Of course I’ll marry you! I thought we pretty much were already.”

Din laughed, his voice cracking. “I want it to be official--”

“Of course you do. Can’t take the fear of God out of a exmo like you.” The softness of Luke’s voice tempered the teasing words.

“Hey this is scared land,” Din said somewhat seriously, “on this part of the island, it belongs to the goddess Poli`ahu.”

“Well, then with the grace of ‘Polly-hue’, I say yes, Din. I’ll marry you.”  Din had only a second to frown at Luke’s butchering of the Hawaiian language before he was dragged to standing. He ditched the ring box on the sand so he could put the ring onto Luke’s finger. It was a silver band embedded with koa wood and olivine, made by a local company on the island.  It sparkled perfectly against the backdrop of the sand but Din had only seconds to admire it before he was dragged into a searing kiss by his fiancé.  He tangled his hands into Luke’s hair and let all the love and relief he’d been carrying on their short hike pour out of his mouth and into the other half of his soul.

When they finally parted and pulled away, the light caught the peridot on Luke’s neck and shone brightly, like the slender gem was alive and winking at him.

--

Au List is here if you have a request

Previous answers:

19. parents meeting when they take their kids to class au

15: meeting in the E.R/A&E au

40: Soul destroying exes meeting again after not speaking for years au

25: Library/Avid Reader AU Part I

Library AU part II

#just for V the happiest ending I could think of #with a side order of religious trauma LOL #this makes me sound like I know stuff about gemstones I do not #all I know I learned from Steven Universe ok #my wedding ring is also made of koa wood! #but with purple sugilite instead #I also interrupted my spouse because I have no chill #still get teased for that #sbficlets

[sushiburritonoms]

WIP Wednesday

Since my daily torture session Zoom meeting got cancelled I'm sneaking on here to post s snippet from one of my WIP. This damn fic has sat on my computer for months, so I'm putting this bit out into the world to make the rest of it write itself.

It's the sequel to Last to Know, First to Judge, tentatively titled "You Break It, You Buy It" (because I suck at titles). So it's a comedy fic, from Han's POV (don't look at me like that!)

The small village that was attacked by the Imperial remnants was mostly a pile of rubble when they arrived. There were piles of wood and metal scattered across the dirt, along with rings of ashes and barely hidden red stains. It was a familiar sight to them all, even if it had been a while since Han and Leia had witnessed such devastation first hand.

“All this destruction and the Core is completely unaware,” Leia muttered as she nudged the burnt remains of a child’s toy with her boot.  “The Senate is too busy debating synthcookers instead of this.”

“It’s the Mid Rim,” Din said softly. “I thought he’d be safe this close to the Core.”

“Yeah that was dumb. Luke can find trouble anywhere.” Han peered into the remains of a burnt house, looking for signs of life. When he looked back, Leia was frowning at him with her ‘you know better’ glare.

‘What?’ Han mouthed at her.

“He’s really upset!” Leia hissed at her husband.

Really?! Han looked back at the Mandalorian. For those like him who were unable to cheat with the damn Force, there was no way of picking up on anything from the Mando.  Plus Han was still pissed at Din, even if it was a bit irrational.  Luke was supposed to be settling down and putting this drama behind him. He should be raising little Force toadlets, not getting kidnapped or hurt AGAIN.  The kid was 30 years old now, why was he still finding new ways to hurt himself?!

Leia smacked Han with her open palm as if she overheard his uncharitable thoughts. “Ow!”

“Stay here, and be. Nice.”  She stalked off, towards a circle of burn marks scorched across what was once the middle of the town.  Chewie followed, keeping a respectful distance but openly carrying his bowcaster and snarling at any bystanders brave enough to make eye contact. Han watched as Leia knelt into the ashes and put her hand over the worst of the burn marks. Her behavior was strange enough to force Din to approach him, with Grogu perched in a carrier around his waist.

“What is she doing?” Din muttered to Han.

He shrugged. “Force stuff.” Han had stopped asking for clarification a long time ago.

There was a pause. “So, Leia is a Jedi,” Din said slowly.

Han rolled his eyes. “Nope.” His lips popped on the ‘p’ sound.

The Mando just wouldn’t shut up. “But she has a lightsaber.”

“Yup.”

“She can use the Force.”

“Yes.” Han found himself wondering where this was going, despite himself.

“She has a tendency to be cryptic, and often refuses to answer a direct question.”

Han snorted. “Oh yeah.”

“She’s a Jedi then,” Din said triumphantly.

“How many Jedi have you met where you can make that decision?” Han asked. “Also, don’t let her hear that.”

They both paused as Leia spun around in a slow circle with her eyes closed and her hands out in front of her, like she was directing traffic in the middle of a busy street. Han assumed there was a whole lot of something going on in his sweetheart’s head, but she probably looked crazy to the surviving townsfolk watching them from nearby.

“I don’t understand.”

Yeah neither did Han. “Look, Leia is more a weekend Jedi ok? She doesn’t want full custody of her Father’s Chosen One banthashit.”  Kriff Anakin Skywalker and the podracer he flew in on.

Djarin shook his head. “How is that fair?”

Han blinked. “What?”

“Why is Luke rebuilding the Jedi Order all by himself when she has the same abilities?” The Mando flung out at arm to point at Leia while the baby at his waist cooed in confusion.

“I don’t see Luke trying to build an entire government from scratch, be a mom, and lead one of the biggest refugee populations in the galaxy!” Han shot back.

“No, he’s just trying to defeat the Imperial remnants single handly and rebuild an entire culture lost to genocide,” Din countered.

Ha, Han had the winning answer to this morbid conversation.  “Leia’s planet was destroyed!”

“Well, Luke’s entire family was killed!” Din turned to face Han.

Han couldn’t believe this guy. “--So was Leia’s, you know. BECAUSE HER ENTIRE PLANET BLEW UP!”

Din paused as his brain caught up to him. “Oh. Right. Kark.”

Han didn’t need to see his face to tell he was embarrassed.  Kark was right. Although, now that they were comparing notes... “His father did cut off his hand. That’s pretty kriffed up.”

“Vader tortured Leia,” Din offered back.

“And me,” Han grumbled.

“She is married to a di'kut.”

He had no idea what that meant but his default was to take offense. “HEY, I wouldn’t talk, Mr. No Face--”

“ By the Goddess!” Leia shouted at them.  “This is not a victim competition! Will you two idiots stop comparing which twin is more miserable and come over here!”

#I am just obsessed with Din and Han right now so let me just burn it out #Premise is Luke is missing so the gang is back together for shenanigans #SB what is their power level? #The himbo level is over 9000! #someone please just make me finish this so I can plan Exile's sequel or the angsty Din story I have in mind #all I hear is stupid voices these days #I see stupid people mostly Han #sbficlets #din/luke

[sushiburritonoms]

DinLuke 10. high school popular kid/nerd au

I've been sitting on this AU Fic request all week because High School was a long time ago for me and I have no idea what all you young people are doing these days. After talking to Dark, I finally came up with an idea based off what I remember from high school in the 1990s. Hence this is one of the more serious ficlets I've done, but then again I've never thought of the high school genre as a happy one? Unless we're talking about Sailor Moon or something (which trust me I WAS TEMPTED).

10. High school popular kid/nerd AU

Warnings: USA centric, Time period appropriate homophobia, homophobic language, school bullying.

This looked so easy in the movies.

Din squinted at his target, readjusted his stance and after a moment, let the small pebble fly from his hand. It made a graceful arch…and landed on the top of the roof instead of hitting Luke’s second floor bedroom window. Again. He groaned.

“I can’t believe you’re the Captain of the football team.”

Din yelped and spun around. Standing directly behind him was Luke’s twin sister, staring at him with an annoyed expression on her face. She was still dressed in the same white cardigan, pink spaghetti strap tank and skinny jeans he’d seen her in at school, and was carrying her silver JanSport bag on her back and her clarinet case in one hand. If looks could kill, Din would be….well. Not dead, but most likely wounded, since the look Leia Amidala Skywalker was giving him was one of distrust and utter annoyance.

A thousand different excuses flew through Din’s head, in one ear and out the other.  Of all the things he could have said, what actually came out was, “I thought you had Jazz Band today.”  Or was it Model UN? Was it Thursday yet?

“It was cancelled. Ms. Junda is out sick.”  Leia used her free hand to push her glasses further up her nose.  “Why didn’t you just use the front door like a normal person?” She shook her head at him and started to walk towards her front door.

Din hesitated.

Leia looked back and rolled her eyes. “My parents aren’t home. My mom has another fundraiser and my dad got dragged into helping. Doesn’t my parasitic twin tell you anything?”

Din frowned. He took AP Bio and that insult made no sense. “Did you two have another argument?”

Leia gave him an incredulous look. “We never fight.”

Not according to Luke, but Din wisely avoided mentioning that.  “My pager got confiscated,” Din admitted. “It went off during history and Mr. Mundi took it.”

“You could have just talked to him,” Leia said. Then she used the palm of her hand to hit her head. “Oh duh, I forgot. You’re too cool to talk to Wormie and Squirmie at school.”

“Hey!” Din walked over to Leia. “I don’t call you guys that.” He hated Luke and Leia’s stupid nicknames. He couldn’t stand the way the other kids treated the Skywalker twins, especially Fett and his gang of morons.

Leia’s hand jingled as she pulled out her house key. “You don’t stop them,” she said quietly as she turned her back to Din. “It’s pretty much the same thing.”

Din felt his heart drop into his chest.  That wasn’t true. Every time he heard his teammates talking smack about other kids he told them off. But apart from Football practice, he didn’t really spend time talking with Fett and his friends. He was too busy working his afterschool job at Blockbuster and helping his foster mom with the other kids.  “I would,” he protested. “If Fett or anyone else ever said anything to my face about you and Luke, I would smack ‘em.”

Leia side eyed him, with her hand still clutching at her front door. “What about Han? Would you stand up for him?”

“Han Solo?”  Din blinked. The infamous dropout of Coruscant High? “I thought he joined a biker gang?”

That was the wrong thing to say. Leia whirled around. “No he didn’t! What is wrong with you!” She swung her clarinet case at Din and he had to take several steps back. “I don’t know what Luke sees in you, you stupid jock!”

“HEY! Shhh! I’m sorry, I’m sorry ok! Calm down!” Din looked around nervously to see if anyone had heard Leia.  He had no idea what he’d done to piss Luke’s sister off. They’d never had more than a few short conversations with each other ever since Din moved into town two years ago.

“What? You don’t want people to know you’re a homo?” Leia shouted at him. She had tears in her eyes. “You afraid you’ll stop being Mr. Popular if they knew you were a gaylord like Luke? Huh? You thick headed, scruffy looking….Neanderthal!”

“Leia!”

Din and Leia both froze. They hadn’t noticed the front door opening nor noticed Luke until he was standing right in front of them.  His blond hair was all disheveled and he had an ice pack in one hand and the beginnings of an awful black eye on his swollen face. His lip was cut up and there was blood dotting his green t-shirt.

“What happened!” Din blurted out. He pushed past Leia to hover next to Luke. “Who did this?!”

Luke winced and pulled away before Din could touch his face. “I’m fine.  Will you two get in here before you get outed to the entire town?”

Din opened his mouth to reply but was shoved into the doorframe by a furious Leia.  “I didn’t know it was this bad.” She grabbed her brother’s hand and dragged him into their living room.

“I’m fine!” Luke repeated. “How’d you even find out?”

“Amy told me. She saw the fight.” She pulled Luke over to their couch and nudged her brother into sitting. Din quietly closed the door and watched the siblings from a safe distance. Amy must have been Amilyn Holdo, the school’s resident weirdo.  She was one of Leia’s best friends and another frequent target of the meaner kids in their class.

“Ugh Leia, quit it! Did you skip Jazz Band for me?!”  Luke tried to wiggle away from his sister as Leia fussed over his cut lip.

“I thought it was cancelled,” Din frowned.

“That’s what we’re telling my parents,” Leia muttered.  “But I don’t think we can explain this!”

Luke sighed. “You know they won’t even notice.” He sounded so defeated that Din felt a surge of rage at Mrs. Skywalker and her busy city council career.

“Mom’s gonna notice a black eye!” Leia paused. “Eventually.”

Din counted to three just like his foster mother was always telling him to do. “Will someone tell me what the hell happened?!”

Both twins turned to look at him simultaneously, doing that creepy staring thing that made them frequent targets of the school bullies.  “Greedo,” they both said at once.

Ugh. He really liked Luke, but that was just too creepy. It reminded him of the movie Village of the Damned. “Christopher Greedo?”

They both nodded. “He insulted Han,” Luke protested. “Spreading rumors about him and nobody was saying anything.”

OH.  Now Leia’s earlier comments made sense. “You tried to fight Greedo?” Chris Greedo was infamous for his bad temper, a real ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ type of jerk.

“He keeps spreading that stupid biker gang rumor. Nobody knows what really happened to him.” Luke kept clenching and unclenching his fists--which also looked bruised. “I couldn’t take it anymore.”

Din slowly started to approach the twins, keeping one eye on Leia.  She glared at him but still scooted over so that Din could sit next to Luke.

“What really happened?” He asked gently.  He only hesitated for a moment before he reached over and grabbed one of Luke’s bruised hands.

“Han’s old man threw him out.” Leia answered instead of Luke. “He’s been homeless for the last four months.”

“He’s currently living with Chuy Baca’s family on the East Side,” Luke added. “It’s not fair! Han was so close to finally graduating this year but Leia and I can’t convince him to come back.”

“That’s messed up,” Din said as he looked at Leia. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

It felt like he was being judged by Leia as her brown eyes peered into him. “It’s alright,” she said finally. “Now you do.”

There was a whole lot of school politics that Din didn’t understand, even though he’d been living in Coruscant for two years. He knew that Han, Leia and Luke’s nerdy group of friends were low on the social totem pole and by sheer luck Din’s athletic ability meant he was attractive to the popular group that ran the school.  Boba Fett in particular acted like he was some sort of king and because Din was useful to him he had become one of the ‘cool kids’ for the first time in his life.  Boba had some sort of grudge against the Church that Luke’s parents attended (Church of the Sith Eternal or something like that).  The other kids also picked on Leia because she was at the top of their class and Luke because he was gay. It didn't matter that Leia had garnered enough votes from the underclassmen to become the secretary of the Student Council. She wasn’t liked by Boba, so that meant the Juniors and Seniors had it out for her.

Din had tried to stay out of the politics. He had his Senior year and then he was done--he would be finished with school and aged out of the foster care system.  Maybe he’d go community college (if by some miracle he could find the money) but most likely he’d end up in the military like his foster brother Paz.  He had so many other problems to deal with, from helping out his loving but overworked foster mother to his uncertain future. But now as he looked at the horrible bruising on Luke’s face and the tears that still lingered in Leia’s eyes, he realized he was making a huge mistake. Distancing himself from the twins and taking refuge in his own popularity wasn’t right. Somebody had to stand up to the ridiculous bullies of Coruscant High. Starting with that slimy bitch Greedo.

“Easy, Romeo.” Din felt a pillow smack the side of his head and he looked up to see Leia shaking her head at him. “I can feel the bloodlust from here. Punching Greedo in the face isn’t gonna help Luke and you’ll only get yourself detention.”

“I’m fine!” Luke insisted as he gingerly put his ice pack back on his eye. They ignored him.

“He can’t keep getting away with this,” Din argued.

“I agree but we have to be smart about this. I’ve seen your GPA Djarin, I know you’re not a moron.”

Luke frowned. “How did you see his grades? Are you hacking into Principal Windu’s computer again?!””

Din tilted his head. “You have a plan.”

Leia adjusted her glasses again. “I have several plans, ranging in severity. Some of which hinge on you.”

Luke groaned. “Oh no.”

“Me?”

“Amilyn and I have a plan to take out the worst of Luke’s tormentors…” Leia hesitated for a moment before continuing, “but it depends on if you’re willing to come out of the closet or not.”

“What! NO!” Luke jerked up before Din could say a word. “You can’t Leia, he’s gonna go to the army next year! They won’t take him if he’s out!”

Leia nodded. “We don’t have to use that plan--”

“--I never said I was going to enlist for sure,” Din interrupted. “I’d like to hear all your plans first.”

Luke turned to him with wide eyes. “No! I’m not worth it!”

“Don’t say that!” Leia scoffed. “If anything, he’s not worth it.”

“Hey.” Din frowned.

“He’s about to graduate!” Luke said to his sister. “Why would we drag him down with us when he’s close to getting out of this hellhole!”

“Because you still have one more year and I can’t take this anymore.” Leia was crying now, slow tears dripping from the corners of her eyes. “Luke, please. Let me help.” She turned to Din. “I know you don’t really want to join the army, I heard you talking to Fennec last week. If you’re willing to work on this with me and Amy, I’ll see to it my mom hires you after you graduate.”

Din hesitated. A promise of a job after high school, something that paid more than Blockbuster,  would be a real life changer for him. But there was a problem. “Wait. Will this plan of yours out Luke to your parents? I thought they’d be against it because of their religion.”

This made Leia snort. “Please, my dad is the worst Sith in the world and my mom is only in it for him.  The bonus is that this plan would convince dad to finally leave that cult.”

Luke shook his head. “If Aunt Ahsoka and Ben weren’t enough to get dad to leave, why do you think he’d leave for me.”

Din tightened his grip on Luke’s hand. “Your dad loves you,” he said quietly. “I’ve seen how he interacts with you. I’ve always thought you weren’t giving Anakin enough credit.”

Leia nodded. “We’re almost in the new millenium, lots of people are out now,” she argued. “It's not like how it was when Aunt Ahsoka was outed.”

“I don’t know, this is a lot!” Luke moaned. But he allowed Din to tuck his head onto his chest and to wrap his arms around him.  Din was happy to see Leia smile at them instead of reacting with any sort of disgust.

“Why don’t we just take this one step at a time,” Din suggested.  “Can you call Amilyn over to talk about all these different plans?”

Leia nodded. She wiped her face with the back of her cardigan sleeve and took a deep breath. “I’ll page her. Will you stay for dinner? We’re ordering pizza. Our parents will be out all night.”

“I need to call home, but yeah, sure.” He wasn’t one to turn down free food.

“Coolio. I’ll brb!”  Leia shot up from the couch.  She walked over to her brother and gave him a soft kiss on the head. It meant that she had to lean close to Din and he could smell something sweet and floral in her carefully braided hair.  “We’re gonna be ok, little brother.”

“I’m two minutes older,” Luke griped.  But Din felt Luke relax in his arms.

As Leia left to use the phone in the kitchen, Din slowly loosened his grip around Luke, enough so he could look at his eye. “I thought I taught you to duck.”

“I did! The first time.”  Luke flinched as Din carefully applied the ice pack to his face again.  “I tried to go low like you said, but then Greedo got me with his knee.”

“That bastard fights dirty,” Din growled. He was going to have to create an ‘accident’ for Greedo in the hallway tomorrow. If he called in his favor to Boba, he might even get one of his lackeys to do it for him.

Din felt Luke’s fingers twist into his plaid shirt.  “Let it go. Please. It’s not right if we stoop to his level. And you shouldn’t come out for me, it’ll just ruin your senior year.”

“Who cares about senior year? Why does everyone make such a big deal about it?! Best years of our lives--that’s depressing as shit.” Din raised his hand to Luke’s chin and gently cupped his face. “I’ve been a big fat coward, ok? This is wrong, Luke. There’s nothing wrong with us.”

Luke swallowed. “There’s a big difference between everyone thinking you’re a fag and being in an actual relationship. I don’t know if you or I are ready for that.”

Din knew what Luke meant. He didn’t know any gay couples. Just rumors of various people, like Luke’s aunt, that existed in their town. There was a significant part of him that was terrified of the consequences of Leia’s plan. Would he still be able to play Football? Would his teammates be afraid of him? What if Leia was wrong and Anakin forbid him from ever seeing Luke again?

But then again, Leia was also right. Luke had one year left and what would happen once he was gone and unable to divert the worst of Luke’s tormentors from jumping him in the hallways?  It wasn’t fair to let the injustice in Coruscant stand. Not while he was still around to do something about it.

“I want to take you to Homecoming,” Din admitted. “I want to see you in a stupid rented tux and make out with you in front of Mr. Windu.”  Luke giggled, then winced as it made his lip hurt.  “And Han should be there with Leia so she can finally make him slow dance.” Din’s hands wandered into Luke’s hair as he dragged him closer.

“Han dances like a penguin,” Luke sighed.  He slowly rested his forehead onto Din’s.  “He’s got two left feet.”

“Even better.”  Din carefully kissed the side of Luke’s mouth, careful to avoid his cut.

“Promise me you won’t do something stupid,” Luke pleaded. “We can wait until I graduate and then we can both leave this trash town.”

Instead of answering, Din pulled Luke into his arms and held him close. He looked up and saw Leia return to the living room. He locked eyes with her and nodded.

“I won’t let them hurt you anymore.”

#this is also a role reversal fic kinda sorta #Let Din be the cool kid for once #Leia the jazz band clarinet player is dedicated to Sadie #Nerd Leia is life #spoilers: in the end Luke and Din do go to homecoming together and Anakin gets his head out of his ass #I never went to homecoming or any shit like that so I aint writing it #I was a theater kid and I went to see one of the prequels after prom thats how cool I was #sbficlets #din/luke

[sushiburritonoms]

Oh oh, exciting!! What about-- DinLuke for number 40, the one with the exes meeting again after some years? (Preferably in universe, but you do what you do--!)

In Universe? As in SW universe? ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT SALTY? WE ALL KNOW HOW CANON ENDS RIGHT?! RIGHT SALTY??!?

...Fine. Kids they did this to you, not me.

--

In the end, it was his son that made him find Luke. Not Leia, or the New Republic. Even Cara couldn’t move him to find his husband. It was his son’s tears one late winter day as the sun set and they were getting ready for dinner.  Grogu had a terrible feeling, a waking nightmare of his dad.  He could barely get out the words as he sobbed his little heart out against Din’s chest.  All he saw was red sand, empty worlds and one final image of Luke standing alone against the First Order, in one last battle against his nephew. Nothing concrete but it made Din finally decide enough was enough.  If something truly awful was going to finally drag Luke from whatever corner of the universe he’d fled to, then Din deserved first crack at the hut’tuun before he destroyed whatever hope Grogu had left in his little heart.

He’d tried to forgive. He tried to let go and move on.  Nothing he did--not losing the Darksaber, not returning to Bounty Hunting or any man he fucked--could make him forget Luke. He was a pulsing, still bleeding wound that plunged Din into a foul mood whenever anyone so much as mentioned him or his kin murdering nephew. The desperation and fear he felt over Luke’s disappearance had over the years grown into a callus of hate and bitter regret. Nobody could make Din face this wound but Grogu. Grogu who had never stopped loving and mourning his dad.

Now finally, Din had a map to his riduur’s location and all it had taken was the murder of his brother-in-law and the last of Ben Solo’s soul.  What was Din supposed to feel as his ship finally breached the gravity well of Ahch-To?  Relief? Excitement? Anger? He felt none of these things as he passed endless waves of blue ocean.  He felt nothing as his ship settled down into a small green island. His heart was thuded in his chest as he wandered past primitive stone huts and next to a coastline covered in stupid squaking birds and all he felt was grim anticipation.  The waves were thunderous in his ears and the wind bitterly cold.  He knew his stupid, overdramatic, idiot husband would be waiting for him at the top of the largest stone staircase he’d ever seen, so he took his karking time walking up, his bad knee causing him to take frequent breaks to rest.  He’d throw Luke down these steps if he so much as said one word about how time had ravaged him. How mourning him had destroyed his health.  How he had turned him into a walking dead man because he left Din. He stabbed him in the heart and he hurt. Their. Son.

But when he finally dragged himself to the top, when his uncovered face felt the beginning of scattered raindrops on his skin and he finally saw the remains of Luke, he finally felt an emotion break free from his stone heart.

Pity.

His riddur was staring back at him with the same dead eyes he saw in the mirror every morning. He was riddled with age, his face drooped with wrinkles and grey hair and there was nothing of the Luke he loved in this old sad man’s face.  His eyebrows rose in surprise but there was no happiness in his face either. Just resignation. Maybe even acceptance that Din had come there to drag him back to a universe that hated them both.

“Din.” Luke’s voice shook and sounded pathetic to his ears. Weak and unfamiliar. It dragged another feeling out of him.

Exhaustion. Din was so tired. He didn’t even have the strength to yell all the obscenities he’d been saving up, all the demands he’d carried, the pain of too many lost years. The hike up the long staircase had winded him and so all he did was turn around and slump down on the last step, completely spent.

“Din.” Luke hesitated, then came around to kneel by his side.  “I…” The words died on his lips.

Din looked at Luke with eyes empty of tears and no buy’ce between them. His bare hand wiped raindrops from his brow.

“I’m here to bring you back,” he finally said.

Not home. Never again.

#I hate myself #I HAD JUST FINISHED A VERY SAD STORY #DAMNIT SALTY NO MORE GOATS FOR YOU #I legit can't make Last Jedi happy if it happens in canon #there's no going back from what Luke does that late in his sad life #bad ending #try a new game + to unlock the good ending #I don't even want to tag this as din/Luke its so sad #im sorry guys blame the penguin #I also completely forgot myself and used the f word in SW! My bad #sbficlets

[sushiburritonoms]

DinLuke #38 if you're still doing these prompts! :D Been really enjoying reading these, haha

Look my darling @lulollymint, I tried so so so hard to write a normal cop story, but I kept getting stuck. So I hope you don't mind that this goes incredibly off prompt and probably isn't what you were expecting. I don't even know what genre or motif I was working with, its just mashing things together for the lols. I hope its ok!

Also warning, there was a lot of F-bombs in this one, to fit the AU Din I was going for. Sorry?

AU Fic List

38.cop/person getting a speeding ticket au

The moment Din saw the familiar white GT-86 fly by him, not even trying to slow down this time, he groaned and flipped on his lights with more force than necessary. “Damnit, not again.”

Was there even a point to this? Everytime he handed this driver a ticket, it mysteriously disappeared in the system, thanks to his all powerful Mother.  Christ, Din hated this guy.  He was tempted to just turn around and find another place to patrol. But no. One day the driver could kill someone at those speeds and anyways it was the principal of the thing, even if this rich asshole would never face consequences of his actions. It was an unjust world but Din was forced to live in it, for Grogu’s sake.

Usually when they did this song and dance, the GT obediently pulled over to the side of the road as soon as it caught sight of him.  This time it took several minutes, until Din was close to calling for backup. At least they were on a rural road and there wasn’t any other traffic heading out of town at this time of day. After several tense minutes the GT finally swung to the side of the road in a sharp, sudden movement. It wasn’t the most graceful stop he’d seen from the man, but Din was too pissed to care.

“Fuck.” Din growled as he slammed his driver side door shut. Maybe he should drag him to jail this time, let him stew in a cell for a few hours before his mommy came and got him this time.

“Again, Skywalker?!”” he hissed as he made it to the GT’s front window. It was already rolled down and waiting for him.  “Third time this...month…”

The words died in his mouth the moment he caught sight of the bane of his existence.  Skywalker looked up at him, one eye almost completely black and swollen shut, his face covered in scratches that were still slowly oozing blood.  He had his left hand on his wheel but his right hand was just gone--his arm ending at the wrist.  How was he even changing gears in that car?!

“Hey Officer Djarin,” Skywalker rasped. “This really isn’t a good time, can we--” he gave a wet cough, “--do this, l-later?”

“Jesus Christ!” Din put his hand through the open window and popped the door. “What the hell happened to you!”  He pulled it open and immediately reached over to shut the engine off. Skywalker tried to bat his hand away from the ignition but Din easily dodged him.

“‘No don’t,” Skywalker groaned. “Please don’t--I have--have to keep going--”

“The only place you’re going is a hospital,” Din said grimly as he caught sight of Skywalker’s bloody blue checkered shirt.  Had the pretty boy been in a bar fight? At...2pm on a thursday? Din sighed as he reached for his radio. “Darjin. I have a 105, requesting a rig to South Socorro, next to Mumble’s Turnaround.”

“No hospital!” Skywalker gasped, shouting over dispatch’s reply. “No, please, you don’t understand, this is the only way. I have to leave town--”

Fuck. It had finally happened.  The pretty boy must have done a hit and run.  Din craned his neck to look at the front of the car. “Who did you hit, Luke?”

“Nobody,” Luke rasped.  “Please, you have to let me go.  You will let me go.”  The young idiot tried to raise his only hand and wave it at Din’s face and the moron was lucky that Din wasn’t as trigger happy as the rest of his hillbilly squad.  Din grabbed his hand and frowned.

“Christ you’re on some sort of drug aren’t you? What did you take? Spice?”  Jesus, where was his ambulance?  He used his free hand to hit his radio. “Dispatch, confirm?”  He waited to hear from Omera, but instead of an answer his radio made a high pitched electronic wail that was piercing. “The hell?”

“No no no noooo,” Luke gasped. He was staring at Din’s radio with a sheet white face.  “Please not now!” He tried to pull his hand away from Din’s grasp.

“Luke! Calm down before you hyperventilate.” That’s it, Din was putting him in his squad car, where he could lock him in if he started to violently hallucinate.  He reached over to unbuckle Luke’s seatbelt only to realize the moron wasn’t wearing one.  So instead he just raged silently as he dragged the other man out.

Luke’s legs buckled the moment he stepped out of the car. “You have to leave,” the boy mumbled. “Before...too late.”

“Whatever, your highness,” Din sighed, using Fett’s most innocent name for Skywalker.  He started to drag the other man to his car, noticing at the same time that it was a lot darker outside than it had been two minutes ago. He looked up and saw clouds suddenly  blocking the summer sun. That was odd. It had been a clear cloudless summer day earlier. “Fucking climate change.”

It was while he was trying to maneuver Skywalker into his back seat that he finally noticed the strange tattoos the man had on his left and right forearms.  They were thick green lines that swirled in weird sharp geometric shapes and angles, almost looking like words in an alien language or something.  The right arm tattoo ended with Luke’s wrist. The left spilled into his hands and even down his fingers. They looked expensive and very new, with ink that was so bright it almost looked like it was glowing.  Din didn’t remember Skywalker having any tattoos the last time he’d pulled him over. But then again, he was also sure the last time they’d met Luke also had a real fucking hand.

“Nice ink,” he said finally, unable to bring himself to ask the other man if he’d always had a really amazing prosthetic hand and multiple massive tattoos. He was losing his touch--what was he thinking, letting Cara talk him into transferring into this hellhole state? As he chastised himself, his right thumb moved to caress the closest line on the other man’s arm without thinking. But the moment he touched it, a painful sensation almost like electricity shot through his hand and down his spine. “Fuck!” What the hell was that?!

Luke also jerked. “Don’t touch me!” His voice sounded low and full of pain.  He looked down at his arms with his one good eye in horror. “Oh God! It’s too late.”

“What hell are you on?” Din said, just as he felt a sudden icy wind blast past them both. It was strong, dragging leaves and other debris over their car and pelting Din’s unprotected back with small pebbles. “Ow! Damn it!” The sun had disappeared, and the world around them had taken a sinister grey color.  He instinctively pushed Luke back, into the protective shelter of his car.

Then he heard a terrible, low laugh, so close it felt like there was someone inches next to his near. He flinched and turned...and saw no one. The back hair on Din’s neck stood straight up and he found himself reaching for his gun. All his instincts were screaming and when he looked back at Skywalker he yelped because now Luke really was glowing bright green.

“Din.” The sudden use of his first name jerked his attention from the glowing green marks on Luke’s arms to his face.  His unbruised blue eye was clear and full of determination. “Move.”

Din found himself scrambling to let Luke drag himself out of his car before he could even blink.  It was like he was possessed.  He watched as Luke took several unsteady steps until he was in front of Din and facing the empty road. He stood in a wide ready stance, with both glowing arms held out at his sides.  His left hand was open, palm forward and his right stump was a bright ball of green fire.

The unnatural wind blew again, making Din flinch against dust kicked up in their faces.

“Drive away,” Luke commanded, as he continued to face the road.  “Leave.”

Din’s body started to move towards his front seat, but he stopped it just as his hand touched the door. “No!” He rasped.  Instead he made his hand pull his gun and he found himself pointing it at the empty road in front of them instead of at Skywalker like he should have done.

Luke sighed. “You’re too honorable for your own good.” Gone was the cheerful yet annoying voice Din had become used to hearing. Skywalker sounded like a stranger, an unnatural being. “Stay behind me and whatever you do, don’t turn your back to him.”

“What--”

Between one breath and the next, the devil himself arrived. Without a flash of light or possessed gale force winds, it suddenly just appeared. It had a red and black demonic face, a head covered in horns and had glowing yellow eyes. It was dressed in all black robes and had a glowing black sword in it’s right hand.

“Maul,” said Luke. His right stump twitched and suddenly his hand was back and it was holding a glowing green sword. Except it wasn’t his hand, not really. It looked like it was made of light instead of flesh.

“Chosen One,” said the devil.

“Oh fuck off,” said Din.  Chosen one? This guy?!

Maul smiled, all sharp teeth. “I’ll kill the human and eat his soul.”

“As happy as that would make my mother, I can’t let you do that,” Luke replied.

“Then I’ll use his corpse to kill her too,” Maul hissed. “Then your sister and her unborn babe.”

“HEY!” Din shouted. “Nobody is using my corpse for anything.” Also he was pretty sure Governor Padme Naberrie would be fully capable of killing the devil herself.

The devil laughed and before Din could let loose one of his bullets into him, he disappeared. Then he reappeared inches from Luke’s face, his black sword swinging for his neck. Din shouted but Luke was already moving like he was a character from the Matrix. He brought his green hand and sword up and there was an explosion of energy.

Then the fight was on. Somehow tiny Luke pushed Maul away from him, but the devil stopped in mid air and swung towards him like he was launched from an unseen hand. Luke parried and ducked, more agile than his appearance would suggest. He slid underneath the demon and leapt to his feet. Maul landed on the ground and launched another attack, swinging the black sword up over his head. It hit Luke’s glowing hand sword with a crackle of energy. They swung, parried, swung and parried again, moving in a blur too fast to Din to see them clearly. He kept his gun out, pointed vaguely in Maul’s direction but he knew he was more than useless here.

Luke was beginning to tire. Din could see it in the way he was swinging his hand and the way his legs were shaking.  When Luke had launched Maul several feet away from them, Din turned to see if he could reach his rifle in the back of his car without the two noticing. But as he did that he heard Maul hiss in triumph and suddenly he felt an intense burning in his back, like a hot poker being buried into the middle of his spine. He couldn’t even let out a cry as he dropped his gun.

“NO!” Luke screamed.

“Didn’t the boy tell you,” he heard Maul hiss in his ear. “Never turn your back on a Sith!”  Din gasped, unable to form words as the world dimmed and he fell to his knees. He felt like he was being slowly dragged backwards, out of his own damn body.

Just as he started to see black spots in his vision, he heard an inhuman roar.  The pulling sensation stopped and he felt himself slam face first into the ground. There was the sound of growling and he heard Maul shriek. Bright lights flashed over his head.

Then he felt himself being lifted up into someone’s arms. There was air rushing past his face. He struggled to open his eyes and the first thing he saw was his squad car rapidly disappearing as they left the ground in a rush. He also saw shimmery white scales, like the kind you would see on a snake, and impossibly, a white leathery wing flapped in and out of his vision. He heard the wings pushing through the air and another loud roar.

“The fuck!” He gasped.  The arms around him tightened. Din’s head was pressed against Luke’s shoulder, his arms wrapped around him and holding him against the back of some sort of living, breathing FLYING thing.

“Hold on!” Luke said grimly and they flew through the air.

“ARE WE ON A FUCKING DRAGON?!” Din shouted.

“Technically it’s my GT!” Luke yelled back.

“WHY THE FUCK IS YOUR CAR A DRAGON?!”

“That’s what you’re gonna fixate on?” Luke said incredulously. “Fine, yes! It’s magic, now shut up and let me concentrate!!”

“Your arms are still glowing!” Din said, his brain completely broken. He could feel energy pulsing through Luke’s bare arms, their heat licking at his skin. It felt good, because he was freezing, so cold he felt like he could barely move.  “What--what is that? What are you?!”

He felt Luke sigh and suddenly there were lips firmly pressed against his, swallowing the torrent of panicked words that were trying to spill out of him. He also felt the freezing cold that had its grip in him ease, replaced by warmth. It felt like Luke was pouring fire and light into him and when he pulled away a moment later, Din saw that Luke’s face was pale and full of worry.

“Better?” He asked, words barely audible over the flapping of dragon wings.

Din nodded wordlessly.

“Right, ok. Everything is under control,” Luke said, more to himself than Din. “We’re alive and you have most of your soul left, so everything is going to be fine, just fine. Ok? Right, calm down.”

“I am calm now,” Din said. Well mostly.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Luke replied. He tightened his grip on Din and sighed. “Not gonna lie Officer Din Djarin, we’re pretty screwed right now. But I’m gonna get us somewhere safe, I promise.”

“How do you even know my first name,” Din exclaimed.

“My mom’s the Governor, you don’t think I wouldn’t have her lookup Navarro City’s best and brightest police officer?”

Din frowned. “You just did that to erase your speeding tickets.”

“Maybe,” Luke chuckled. “You gonna arrest me now?”

“Yes,” Din moaned. “So very yes.”

He heard Luke laugh and tug him closer to his GT/Dragon as they glided together through the bright summer sky.

---

Obviously the dragon was inspired by Lulolly's X-Wing dragons! I know nothing about cars, I just picked a GT-86 because I like the way they look and they're not that crazy expensive. I think Luke might drive one.

Previous Responses

30: tourist/knowledgeable local au (Din/Luke)

19. parents meeting when they take their kids to class au (Din/Luke)

15: meeting in the E.R/A&E au (Din/Luke/Boba)

40: Soul destroying exes meeting again after not speaking for years au (Din/Luke)

25: Library/Avid Reader AU Part I (Din/Luke, Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon)

Library AU part II (same)

#I don't know what's going on in this AU but I like it #I can't write normal things ok? #I don't watch cop shows so I don't know anything about them #I make it a policy to also avoid them in real life #there was a lot of googling that occurred about police culture before my brain gave up #I think the last police adjacent show I watched was Sherlock #I was also thinking of Stranger Things when I wrote this #sbficlets #din/Luke

[sushiburritonoms]

AU game: #15 feels very appropriate for a BobaDinLuke

This was surprisingly fun for a ship I've never written before!

15: meeting in the E.R/A&E au

“Djarin, what the hell did you bring me now?”

Din sighed as he wheeled his ambulance gurney through the ER doors. “Late 20s, Caucasian male, blunt cranial trauma from a bar fight down on 4th street. Lost consciousness for 10 minutes, still complaining of photopsia and--”

“Hi brown eyes! Are we there yet?” Din’s patient giggled.  “I promised Han I’d leave before closing. So I gotta hurry this up, k?”

“That.” Din shook his head but he still found himself gently reaching down and tucking the concussed man’s hand back down on the gurney. “Easy Mr. Skywalker, we’re here now.”

“LUKE!” The happy, still slightly bleeding drunk replied.

“Great another tech bro for the hospital to overcharge,” Dr. Motto sighed. “Take pretty boy to bay 2 for me, will ya? I think I see Dune bringing me another victim.”

Din winced. “Right that would be--”

“THERE’S THE FUCKING TWINK! I’M GONNA KILL YOU!!”

“The other guy,” Din finished.

Dr. Motto turned to look at the patient being brought in by an unamused Cara Dune and then back at Din’s patient. “This little shrimp tried to take Mr. Short Thick, and Bald on?!”

“Wow Boba sounds maaaaaad,” Luke singsonged.

“He ah...has more muscles than you’d expect,” Din coughed. He’d know, he’d felt them through Luke’s black mesh top as he’d taken his vitals. And got glitter all over his gloves for his troubles.  The man smelled like vanilla and it was a bit disturbing.

“SIR!” Cara shouted as she wheeled the other man in. “Calm down or I will sedate you!”

Dr. Motto took one look at “Boba” (who was dressed in dirty biker leather and distinctly did not smell of vanilla) before throwing her hands up. “I ain’t touching this one, he’s covered in bar grime. Give him to Koska.”

“Really?!” Cara snapped as Motto walked away. “God, I told you we should have driven them to General!” She smacked Din’s shoulder. Hard.

“Fuck, Dune! This was closer.”

“Don’t hurt brown eyes!” Luke whined. “He’s got such soft hands.”

“HEY!” Boba shouted from the next gurney. “What’s a guy have to do to stop fucking bleeding around here?!”

“Fuck this,” grumbled Cara. “It’s my damn dinner break and you owe me! I’m out.”  The EMT locked the wheels of Boba’s gurney, did a sharp 180 and marched out of the ER doors.

“Dammit Dune!” Din yelled after her. “Don’t leave without me this time or I’m reporting you!” God, now what was he going to do with two bleeding drunks? Where was the intake nurse?!

“It’s ok,” Luke said as he tried and failed to pat Din on the hand. “I won’t leave you!”

“You betta, you little munter,” Boba hissed. He had, Din realized quite belatedly, a rather nice New Zealand accent. “You got me stuck here and ruined my one day off.”

“But Boba, you said you wanted to ‘work for it’ tonight,” Luke protested and fluttered his damn eyelashes at his ‘attacker’. “So that’s what I did!”

Oh God what was Din trapped in the middle of?  “So wait, you two know each other.”

“‘S my secret boyfriend!” Luke giggled. “But my dad and my brother-in-law hates him so dun tell anyone.”

“Christ, Skywalker, I’m not your bloody ‘boyfriend’,” Boba growled.

“So I don’t have to file a police report then?” Not that Din actually did that in his job but he was feeling overprotective of ‘sweet’ Luke who apparently wasn’t really that sweet at all.

“Nooooo.”

“Fuck it, file it. I don’t care. I just want to get out of here.”  Din felt Boba’s eyes rake across him with all the grace of an alley cat in heat. “You wanna help a brother out and leave with me and Sunshine over there?”

Din sighed through his teeth. “You’re both bleeding all over the place. No.”

“Maybe later?” This time Luke’s hand found Din’s and damnit. NO. DJARIN. NO.

“You know, he’s small but really feisty,” Boba chuckled. “I could really use help holding him down and you've got the skillset already.”

Din counted to three. Then did it again when he felt Luke’s clever fingers starting to stroke his wrist, flicking between his sleeve and his latex glove. “Let’s get you boys some stitches first, then talk about this later, ok?”

“Yeesssssssssss!” Luke closed his eyes and smiled as Boba just shook his head and laughed.

--

You can make a request of me from this list here!

#considerably less depressing than the last #sorry I won't write a sad thing again #unless specifically asked #boba/din/luke #the unholy trio #SBFiclets

[sushiburritonoms]

@ofcoming4th requested from the AU fic list:

43: falling in love with their best friend’s partner au

There's many characters I can see cheating, but Din and Luke aren't two of them. So have soft pining and breakups instead.

They could all hear Bo screaming at the top of her lungs at Din in the parking lot next to the bar, even over the obnoxiously loud bar music.  Thankfully it was loud enough so he didn’t hear the exact words, but the rage and shrill peaks of their argument still made their way over to Luke. He slumped further into his seat, cradling his right stump close to his chest, and did his best to pretend he heard nothing.

Wedge made no such effort. His boyfriend was leaning towards the slightly open window with Boba.  “It’s the kid argument again,” Wedge said with a shake of his head.  “Damn, Din, you gotta let that go.”

“He needs to dump the bitch,” Boba growled. “I’m sick of him putting up with this shit.”

“Agreed,” Cara said from her seat across from Luke.  “It’s fine if Bo-Katan wants that child-free life, but don’t keep Mando from it if that’s what he wants.”

Fennec took another sip of beer. “How did this even come up? I thought we all agreed not to talk about crotch droppings and other domestic shit.” She had arrived late, just in time to see Bo-Katan drag Din out by his leather jacket.

“Crotch droppings,” Cara snorted. “Ha--good one.”

Boba pointed a finger at Luke. “Fucking Skywalker’s fault.”

Luke sighed. “All I said was that I was watching Ben this weekend.” He slumped further into his seat when he saw Wedge twitch at the mention of his nephew.

Ok, maybe it was his fault. Children were a sensitive topic for both Bo-Katan and Wedge and he’d already had a massive row with his boyfriend earlier about his agreement to watch Ben for the weekend. Luke knew better. But when Din had asked what his plans were he’d just let the words slip out of him. Truth was, he liked having Ben around. He couldn’t help it if Wedge was uninterested in playing Uncle to an (admittedly difficult) child.

More than that, it wasn’t fair to Luke. Leia and Han deserved a break from being parents once and a while and there was no one else his sister could turn to besides him and Chewie. Chewie was in Oaxaca for the month visiting his family, so that left Luke. He’d already arranged it so he would watch Ben at Han and Leia’s house, leaving Wedge alone in their apartment for the weekend. What more did his boyfriend want from him?

There was more shouting outside--this time it was Din’s voice.  It must have been a bad one if Din was raising his voice enough for them to hear it.

“This is why I keep my gay ass out of the whole family conversation,” Cara sighed. “Kids are more trouble than they’re worth.”

“Kids are fine. Dealing with parents is the real nightmare,” Boba said, surprising them all with the seriousness in his voice.

“Kids are expensive, loud, needy, and too much work,” Wedge countered. He wasn’t looking at Luke but he felt tense all the same.  “I can reason with adults more than I can with kids.”

“HA! You’re telling me you’d rather put up with Solo than his kid?” laughed Boba. “I’ll take Solo Jr any day.”

“I happen to like Han,” Wedge grumbled.

‘He really doesn’t’, Luke thought sadly.  Han and Wedge were barely cordial these days. Maybe once, back when Luke and Wedge were still flying together in the same squadron, but now that Luke was out of the Air Force and living as a civilian things were strained between his family and Wedge.

Basically, everything about Luke’s life was wrong since his accident. Losing his hand turned out to be the easiest thing to adapt to because he’d had lots of physical support from his medical team, his liaison with the VA, and his family. Sure, his prosthetic wasn’t great, but he’d adapt, and now that he was out of the Force he could smoke his pain away. Nobody expected him to get a job right now and the inheritance from his mother was more than enough to scrape by.

What he hadn’t adapted to was the new strain in his relationship with his boyfriend. Wedge was still enlisted and could be redeployed at a moment’s notice.  Their apartment on base meant that Luke was constantly surrounded by the life he’d been abruptly ripped from and it hurt to see men and women walk by in blues or to hear the screech of fighter jets constantly overhead.  He felt like a damn military spouse, buying food at the commissary every Friday and getting sucked into random conversations about the rising price of beef.  He knew that Wedge desperately wanted Luke to reconsider the Force’s offer to transfer him to the USAF Test Pilot School down at Edwards, but he had no interest in retraining for aerospace.  He wasn’t smart enough for NASA or SpaceX either.

He wasn’t a hotshot anymore. Why was he still living like a parody of one?

Luke came back to himself when he felt Wedge squirm beside them. “I think they’re done,” he said quietly.  Luke listened and sure enough, he heard nothing but country music belting from the bar’s stereos.

“Do you think he’s coming back?” asked Cara.

“The bitch better not,” Boba hissed.

“Maybe someone should go check to see if they’re gone?” Fennec suggested.  “Otherwise we’re paying for their tab.” The table groaned.

“I’ll go,” Luke said as he stumbled to his feet.  It was his fault Din was in this situation, to begin with. He looked to see if Wedge was going to argue but the other man was already focused on trying to badger someone to play darts with him.

That used to be their thing before Luke lost his throwing hand.

Fuck, his life was pathetic.

He marched out of the bar, dragging his jacket behind him. The cold autumn air hit him like a slap to the face as he stepped outside.  The sun was gone and the only lights around were the bar and one sad streetlight several feet away from him. Luke squinted as his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he looked around for a familiar black leather jacket or blue dress. “Din? Bo?”

A flicker of light appeared at the edge of his vision and Luke turned to see Din lighting up a cig while leaning against the wall of the bar.  “She’s gone.”  There was no emotion, no heat, behind his words.  The only thing illuminating Din was his lighter and it cast shadows that distorted his face, hiding his facial features like a mask. It was hard to see if he was truly upset by Bo-Katan’s absence or not.

“I’m so sorry. I knew better than to bring Ben up--”

“You did nothing wrong.” Din took a deep drag.  “Don’t apologize.”  Din leaned his head back and Luke could hear the soft thump as he hit the brick wall.  “You wanna…” Din held up his cigarette carton and let his words trail off.

“Sure.”  Luke struggled to pull on his jacket one-handed but Din waited patiently until he was covered. He let Luke pull out a cigarette before he put the carton back into his pocket and pulled out his silver zippo so he could light it for him.

Luke promised Leia he’d try to cut back, but every time he went out to a bar the cravings hit him like a tidal wave.   There was something about being in a dark loud bar with friends that made him crazy for the first rush of nicotine in his system. As he took a long drag he almost moaned at the sensation of smoke curling up deep inside of him. It seeped out of his nose and dragged with it the minor aches and pains that he constantly lived with. That was probably why Din kept it up too.  You could watch a tiny bit of your life pull away from you and curl up into the evening air.

They were silent for a good long while, just taking turns blowing smoke and listening to the raunchy laughter of the servicemen and women inside.  If not for the ever-present awareness Luke had of his missing hand he could almost pretend this was a year ago, before his crash, when Din and Bo-Katan were having a good patch and contemplating marriage.  When Wedge still looked at Luke like he wanted him and when he could just fly away from all his problems. Just him and the endless sky.

“She’s really gone,” Din said finally, breaking the silence and Luke’s self-pity.  He flicked away the butt of his cig and turned to look at Luke.  “It’s over.”

Fuck.  Luke took one last greedy hit before he stomped the rest out with his shoe. “I’m so, so, sorry.”

“I’m not.”  Luke could see Din’s eyes tracking him in the darkness, carefully watching his reaction.  “We should have ended it a long time ago. I knew she was never going to change her mind about getting married and starting a family. That’s just not Kryze.”

Luke couldn’t imagine Bo-Katan as a mother either. He’d never wanted to frankly, and had never seen what Din saw in her. It wasn’t just because he was gay either. “She didn’t deserve you anyway.” On this, the entire friend group was in agreement. Din had lousy taste in women and men.

“Cliché, Skywalker,” Din teased him.  “Are you gonna offer me some wine and chocolate next?”

“Nothing wrong with drinking wine,” Luke shot back.  He had a bottle back ...home.

Home with Wedge.  Luke’s face fell as soon as the thought crossed his mind.

“Hey.” Din nudged Luke with his shoulder. “You ok?”

“That’s supposed to be my line.”

Din shook his head. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks.”

“Is therapy going ok?” Din looked concerned now and Luke was overcome with a wave of affection. Here was Din, freshly dumped by his long-time girlfriend, and yet he was worried about him.

“It’s going.” Luke waved his stump for emphasis. “Still waiting for my cosmetic hand.  You know how the VA is.” Incompetent and full of red tape.

“It’s been six months,” Din said with a frown.

Luke shrugged.

“Can’t Wedge pull some strings for you?”

“He’s a Captain, not a miracle worker.” Plus that would require Luke and Wedge to actually talk about his missing hand instead of dancing around it.

“You’re not talking to him again, are you?” Din’s fingers twitched and he knew that the other man was longing for another cigarette.  But they were both trying--and failing--to quit so he probably would stand in pain until the craving completely overwhelmed him...five minutes from now.

Luke sighed. He knew Din would see right through his answer. They’d known each other for years now since Luke first hooked up with Wedge after Iraq. Din had been one of the few friends that bothered to visit Luke in the hospital right after his crash.  He’d come as often as his duties would allow, bringing him magazines, snacks, and plenty of base gossip. He’s been Luke’s lifesaver and after he was finally discharged he found himself dragged into Din’s orbit more frequently, standing next to him as they held up the walls of every bar in town with a cloud of smoke. Din knew the basic details of his deteriorating relationship with Wedge; more than anyone else except maybe his sister.

“There’s nothing left to say,” Luke finally admitted.  Nothing that they hadn’t already dissected, fought, and screamed over.

“Luke.” He felt Din’s hand on his shoulder and he looked up into sympathetic brown eyes. “You two either need to get some help or finally end it.” He lessened the harshness of his words by offering another cigarette to him with his other hand.

Leia was going to kill him.

Luke let Din put the cig in his mouth and light it for him.  The intoxication of the smoke and the closeness of his friend made him dizzy and lightheaded. Din reeked of smoke, leather, and stale beer, and yet it was comforting all the same.

“We never talked about any of this,” Luke admitted. “I never thought I’d leave.” Except maybe via a body bag. He knew Wedge felt the same way, as did nearly everyone in Luke’s squadron. That’s why their visits had been short and performative after his accident.  His squadmates pitied and feared him...and he didn’t blame any of them for that.

“Well, I’m done.” Din lit up and turned to blow the smoke away from Luke’s face. “I’m done with all of this shit. I’m discharging and going back to college.”

“Y-you...really?” Luke stuttered. He knew Din’s IRR was almost up but he just assumed he’d re-elist like all of their friends.  “You’re gonna leave Boba and Cara?”

You’re gonna leave me?

“Fett, Dune, and Bo are lifers. I never saw myself extending even this long.  That last fight, it wasn’t just that I wanted a family and Bo-Katan didn’t. She’s committed and this is just a job for me.” The look on Din’s face was peaceful. He met Luke’s confused eyes with calm focus.

“Oh.” Luke didn’t know what else to say. Good on you? Good luck?

Din sighed. “Wedge is one of them.” Din jerked his head towards the wall of the bar. “He’s never gonna leave until they give him the boot. You know that right?”

Luke nodded wordlessly. Until he lost his hand he’d thought he was one of them too.

“Look, I’m not gonna tell you how to live your life. Just do me a favor.  You listening?” Din paused until Luke squirmed uncomfortably and nodded. “Try to put yourself first for once in your life. You deserve more than this too.”

Then Din stepped away. He threw the end of his cig on the floor and stomped it out.  “I’m gonna head out. You can tell the others everything, I’m sure they’ll all be thrilled.”

Luke shook his head to try to find his voice again. “Hell no, I’m not telling them you’re leaving!” Fuck that was going to be a disaster conversation.

Din laughed. “Ok fair enough. Just tell them about Bo. Cara will owe Boba $50 so she might as well get paid now before the idiot spends it all on booze.” Then without waiting for Luke to reply, Din started to walk towards his bike with his hands in his pockets.

Luke watched as Din walked away, with his head held up high. He looked lighter already. Letting go of Bo-Katan must have settled the anguish that had permeated his entire being for months now. It was strange, Luke had grown used to seeing Din with slumped shoulders and downturned lips. Whenever he had visited him at the VA, he’d always looked so beaten.  But now, he was walking away like a new man.

More than that, he looked like the old Din again. The one Luke had once found very attractive before he’d gotten too involved with Wedge to notice other people around him.  It was like watching someone reappear in his scope of vision while he was in the cockpit of his fighter, or like watching a bird reappear from the clouds.

“Din!” Luke shouted.  He watched as the other man turned back. He meant to say something appreciative, a thank you for the smokes and the advice. Instead what slipped out of his lips was, “I’m taking Ben to the zoo this weekend! Do you want to come?”

He didn’t know what exactly possessed him to say that, but it was worth it to see Din’s face break out into a real honest-to-god smile. “Yeah, sure. Text me!”

He watched Din until the man disappeared with a loud roar of his Harley, until his cigarette was ashes in his fingers and he felt his own smile finally fade away.

---

Previous responses

28. Knocking on the wrong door (Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan)

38.cop/person getting a speeding ticket au (Din/Luke)

30: tourist/knowledgeable local au (Din/Luke)

19. parents meeting when they take their kids to class au (Din/Luke)

15: meeting in the E.R/A&E au (Din/Luke/Boba)

40: Soul destroying exes meeting again after not speaking for years au (Din/Luke)

25: Library/Avid Reader AU Part I (Din/Luke)

Library AU part II (Din/Luke, Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon)

#warnings: a lot of foul language and Fennec says rude things about children #also I don't know jack shit about the US Air Force #forgot to mention in this AU don't ask don't tell never happened and homophobia aint a thang #I feel like Wedge was very OOC and I apologize I just assume he's a bit of a jerk in this AU #their squadron is not Rogue Squadron they are generic meatheads #the US military is a trauma into itself and would change people's personalities for sure #ok please I beg of all of you never make me write bo-katan and din again #sbficlets #Din/Luke #if you squint

[sushiburritonoms]

28. knocking on the wrong door au Qui & Obi or QuiObi, dealer's choice...

Happy Birthday, Dark! I finally finished this one! It's been 5000 years since I last saw the Prequels and even longer since I took a Philosophy course, but I hope this still works for you.

28. Knocking on the wrong door

The soft pacing footsteps outside of his door, followed by the hesitant knock made Professor Qui-Gon Jinn immediately think, ‘lower-division undergrad, come to bargain’. Probably someone from his Existentialist Philosophy course. He usually starts to receive visitors to his tiny corner of the basement of the Amidala Humanities Center when they’re forced to grapple with Kierkegaard in the midterm essay. It’s not office hours, but he’s never been able to turn a pathetic first year away.

“Come in.”

Instead of a nervous-looking 19-year-old, he is surprised to see a strikingly handsome man dressed impeccably in a navy pinstripe suit with a tasteful lavender tie cautiously peeking into his messy office. The man has auburn hair, brushed neatly across his forehead, and a well-maintained beard. The beard made Qui-Gon think ‘university administrator’, aided by the lost look of his blue eyes.

“Hello there,” said the man, “I hope I’m not disturbing you.” The man had a soft voice with an accent--British perhaps?

“Not at all,” he replied as he carefully placed his worn leather bookmark to save his place in his book.

“I hate to barge in like this,” said the other man, even if he’s doing the very opposite of it, with most of his body politely behind the frame of Qui-Gon’s door. “But I’m looking for the Chair of Philosophy, Professor Windu? I was told his office was on this floor?”

“Ah! Mace is just down the hallway, four doors from here,” Qui-Gon said, sitting back in his chair. “Take a right, another right at the water fountain, then the corridor narrows, and at Professor Mundi’s office, turn left. Mind you don’t go too far or you’ll reach Theological Studies and you’ll never be seen again.”

The man chuckles. “My word, this building is a maze. I should have brought breadcrumbs so I could find my way out again. Thank you, Professor...ah…” the man leaned back and checked his door. “Dooku?”

“That would be my former esteemed colleague,” Qui-Gon corrected. “Administration failed to change the doorplate when I moved in and I have no compunction to correct them.”

“I see.” Qui-Gon could see the wheels turning in the young man’s head as he took in Qui-Gon’s crowded and messy office, crammed packed with books, his many office plants, and other odds and ends he’s collected over the years. “And when did Professor Dooku retire exactly?”

“Hmmm about 13 years ago now, I should say,” he replied thoughtfully. Ah his old mentor, he missed the irritable Master. Always threatening to take over the department in the name of Schopenhauerian pessimism.

“And you’ve never changed the name on the door?” The man looked amused now, crossing his hands over his chest. The navy of his suit made his eyes sparkle. Even the ghastly light of the basement corridor failed to dim their splendor. In front of Qui-Gon was a perfect simulacrum of the traditional British gentleman, and he did have quite the fondness for the old country. Qui-Gon suddenly found himself almost wishing he had a modern phone with a camera so he could capture the beauty of the moment. Almost.

“And make it easy for the first years to find me? I should think not,” Qui-Gon said with a real smile. “Finding my office is a rite of passage in the department and it helps weed out the uncommitted.”

The man laughed openly now, a wonderful sound that reminded him of the University Tower bells. “Well then, I dare say I’ve passed as well.”

“Ah, you weren’t looking for me and you don’t know who I am,” Qui-Gon said with a shake of his finger. “It's not a true experience.”

“Perhaps, but I would have searched for you eventually. My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi.” He finally introduced himself and stepped past Qui-Gon’s threshold to hold out his hand. “I’m the Visiting Professor from King’s.”

Qui-Gon rose and shook Obi-Wan’s hand. “Qui-Gon Jinn. I didn’t know we had an open position,” he admitted. “My apologies, Professor Kenobi.”

“Just Obi-Wan is fine. I didn’t think I saw you at my presentation.”

Obi-Wan had soft hands but a surprisingly strong, confident handshake. Qui-Gon’s own hand was slow to withdraw. “I’m afraid I’m notoriously absent at department events.”

“Is that so?” A smirk tugged at Obi-Wan’s mouth. “A hidden office, absent at hiring. I don’t suppose you attend the required department meetings I was told about?”

“Not since I received Full Professorship,” he admitted.

“Hmm, a pity. I was hoping I’d get the chance to meet my new colleagues. I’ve nothing else to do at the moment since I’ve arrived mid-semester.”

Was the man fluttering his eyelashes at him? Qui-Gon was so very out of practice at flirting but he was sure he never felt such heat from any of their other new hires before (not that he remembered them). There was a magnetism to Professor Kenobi, he couldn’t deny that. The suit, the accent, and the way he looked at Qui-Gon like he was the most fascinating thing in the room (and he had quite the impressive collection of bromeliads and fiddle leaf figs in his office!). It was quite flattering...and it had been too long since he’d enjoyed the company of his fellow faculty. He was content to ignore them all, especially Mace, but perhaps this young professor would be more tolerant of his eccentricities? After all, a visiting position was just a year or two, it wasn’t like this man was going to interrupt his life too badly.

“Perhaps after you’ve checked in with the Chair, you’ll have time for some lunch?”

Obi-Wan tilted an eyebrow at him. “It’s 3:30 pm.”

Ah. Not like he got much light in the basement. “Early Dinner? Actually, by the time Mace has finished detailing your contact, it’ll be almost breakfast time. ”

“I should hope not,” Obi-Wan laughed. “I’m still on London time--”

Was that a no? “Then I shan’t keep you any longer,” he said with a sigh. Perhaps he had misread the younger man.

“You didn’t let me finish, Professor,” said Obi-Wan with a shy smile. “I was going to say, my body clock is so out of sync, I could eat at any time.”

“...Well then, that’s settled,” Qui-Gon said slowly. “Please feel free to come back when Mace is finished with you. I look forward to hearing your perspective on his unique outlook on Academia.”

“Oh dear, I’m beginning to think I’m in over my head,” Obi-Wan laughed.

‘Me too,’ thought Qui-Gon with a tiny flutter stirring his chest.

--

Previous responses to the AU Ficlet List

38.cop/person getting a speeding ticket au (Din/Luke)

30: tourist/knowledgeable local au (Din/Luke)

19. parents meeting when they take their kids to class au (Din/Luke)

15: meeting in the E.R/A&E au (Din/Luke/Boba)

40: Soul destroying exes meeting again after not speaking for years au (Din/Luke)

25: Library/Avid Reader AU Part I (Din/Luke)

Library AU part II (Din/Luke, Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon)

#Qui-Gon is the professor that you'd love to spent more time with if only you could ever find him #The only one who can find Qui is professor emeritus Yoda who just won't fucking leave #He's outlasted four University Presidents and is determined to outlast President Mon Mothma #If he can survive President Palpatine's dissemination of the Arts and Letters College he can survive whatever trend Mothma jumps on #They don't need a diversity counsel #nobody even knows what race Professor Yoda is #He is immortal and will lecture your children's children #qui gon/obi wan #sbficlets

[sushiburritonoms]

Din/Luke 19

From the AU Fic List

19. parents meeting when they take their kids to class au

So toddler music class was a bust.

Din sat awkwardly on the bench just outside of the Alderaan Community Center room where the Saturday AlderRock-A-Bye classes were held.  His three year old was sobbing into his chest, mushing his nose into his t-shirt and running his tiny hands up and down Din’s arms in an attempt to ground himself. Din held himself still, trying hard not to overstimulate his sensitive son. He wasn’t even able to whisper comfort since that seemed to only prolong these outbursts.  He always felt overwhelmed and like a complete failure of a father when Grogu cried like this. It was made worse because he had known deep down this was a terrible idea, even if Grogu’s therapist had suggested the classes in the first place. He knew his kid didn’t like certain loud sounds and as soon as he spotted the giant drum in the center of the room, he should have scooped Grogu up and left.  But no, he kept him there until the first enthusiastic child threw herself at the drum with a shriek and a bang and that was it for the day.

Now, as he sat silently ripping himself to pieces over this latest setback, he failed to notice another door further down the hallway quietly open.   Nor did he notice the second child until he spoke.

“The baby is crying.”

Din looked up. There was a small Black boy, about three or four, staring at them from several feet away. The child was dressed in the weirdest outfit. The white top looked like some sort of karate robe but he also had tiny black billowing pants with pleats in them and weirdly connected toe socks on his feet. But more importantly, the child also had tear tracks on his own face and he wiped his nose with his robe as he stared at them.

Grogu looked up from his chest to stare at the interloper.  He looked surprised and confused as to if he should continue sobbing or not.

“Don’t cry baby,” said the other child solemnly.  “You’re safe now.”  The words seemed very practiced, as if this child had heard an adult say them over and over again.

Then, to Din’s amazement, Grogu stopped. He said nothing to the other child but popped his thumb into his mouth and eased his grip on Din’s forearm. Din released a tense breath.

The other child grinned. “Hi.” He waved at them.

Grogu buried his face into Din’s shirt but no tears followed.  It was a small miracle.

“Hello,” Din said slowly.  He looked around. Where was this child’s parent?  Was there some toddler karate class in the building somewhere or was this the world’s tiniest monk?

Before he could get his parent brain in gear to ask he heard another voice in the hallway.

“Finn?!”

The child turned around. “Daddy?”

“There you are!”  A dark blond haired man dressed very similarly to the boy in the same billowing black pants and white top appeared.  “You scared me.”

There was something wrong with the other man as he approached them. He was cradling his right arm and holding an icepack on it. His eyes briefly met Din’s and he could see that the other man--Finn’s dad?--was in a lot of pain and trying his best to hide it.

But as the dad drew closer, Din saw Finn zero in on his right hand and immediately his eyes filled up with tears. They fell silently down his little face.

“Oh Finn,” the man sighed. “I’m ok, buddy, I promise. It was just an accident.”

“I didn’t mean to…” Finn whispered. He seemed to shrink before Din’s eyes.  As soon as his dad was within arm’s reach he flinched and stepped away from him. The sudden shift in body language screamed DO NOT TOUCH and Din hated that he recognized the look immediately.

Din saw the other dad stop. He kept his face cheerful even as his pain filled blue eyes darted from Finn, to Din and Grogu and back to Finn again.

For a moment it was silent in the hallway except for the muffled shrieks of toddlers and drums from the music class.

Then Finn’s dad took a deep breath and turned to look at Din. “Rough day?” He nodded his head at Grogu.

“You could say that,” Din replied.

“Do you mind if I sat with you for a minute?”  It looked like the dad was used to this behavior from his son, because he was clearly willing to give the child space.

“Sure.” Din scooted over on the bench so Finn’s dad could sit down.

“Thanks.” The other man settled down with a sigh. He moved the ice pack on his right hand and ...oh.  Now Din could see that the ice pack wasn’t on his hand because there was no hand at all. The man’s arm ended at the wrist.

“We had a bit of an accident with my prosthetic,” the man explained as he caught Din’s stare. “It got knocked clear across the room.  You probably heard the screams of my students.”

Din shook his head. “We didn’t. What with all the drumming.”

“They were loud!” Finn blurted out.  There were still tears in his eyes but he was more interested in the adult interaction than crying.

Din nodded. “Was it scary?”

Finn shot a look at his dad, then looked at Din. “Yes.”

“They were very loud and it’s ok to be scared,” Finn’s dad said slowly. “Even I was scared for a second.”

Finn’s eyes grew large. “Really?”

“Yes, because it hurt. But only for a minute. I’m ok now buddy. See.” His father slowly raised his arm and waved the stump at his son.  “All good!”

Finn didn’t look convinced.

Din felt compelled to help out, even though this should have been a private moment between father and son.  But he knew what it was like to parent a child with unique needs and how hard it was to keep himself together in public.  Plus Finn’s dad was in pain and so was his son. He couldn’t help it.

“He looks fine to me,” Din lied. “But I’m a paramedic, so if you want, I can look your dad over to make sure he’s ok.”

Now he had Finn’s attention. “What’s a para-mic?”

“A paramedic is like a doctor,” Finn’s dad said with relief coloring his voice. “They drive the ambulances we see at the hospital sometimes, remember?”

“Oh yeah!”  Finn nodded. “Do you make the ambulance go BUR DUR BUR DUR?”

Grogu giggled--actually giggled!--at Finn’s interpretation of a siren.

“I do!” Din said in a bright voice.  “I also make sure people are ok when they get hurt. So I can check your dad out and make sure he’s ok.”

Finn took a moment to think about this. “Ok,” he said finally.

Din nodded and shifted slightly so he could look at the other adult. “Ok Mr….”

“Luke Skywalker,” Finn’s dad smiled. “I teach at the Dagobah Keno Dojo downtown and I do free community lessons here on Saturdays.”

That would explain the robes.  “Din Djarin, paramedic with the North Alderaan fire department. Oh. And this is Grogu.”

Grogu smiled around his thumb and then buried his face into Din’s chest again.

“Hi Grogu,” Luke said quietly.  He looked up and met Din’s eyes. “You don’t mind if he sees my arm up close?”

Din shook his head. “He’s fine.”  Din figured if they treated Luke’s injury as normal, both children would realize it was nothing to be afraid of.

Luke nodded gratefully and extended his arm. There was a large red welt next to the end of his wrist that was probably going to bruise.  The wrist itself was well healed and whoever had amputated the hand had done a good job as far as Din could tell.

“Got smacked with a Shinai,” Luke explained. “A bamboo sword.  Occupational hazard. Finn caught the cuff of my prosthetic and off it flew.”

There was really nothing DIn could do--he was just an EMT not a doctor. But he still made a big effort of taking Luke’s pulse on his left hand and looking like he was giving Luke serious medical attention. Finn and Grogu both watched, utterly fascinated.

“Well Luke, you look fine. I think you’re just gonna have a big bruise by tomorrow. I suggest you keep some ice on it and take it easy. 10 minutes at a time,” Din finally said.

“Thank you Mr. Darjin,” Luke said, playing along.

“Din. And you’re welcome.”

“See, buddy?” Luke said to his son. “No harm done.  Do you want to go back to class or do you want a hug---” Finn rushed into his dad’s arms before he’d even finished his sentence. “Oof!”

Din smiled. The pair really were adorable.

Luke looked at Din over his son’s head and mouthed ‘thank you.’ Din nodded back.

“Ok bud, we should really get back to class now,” Luke finally said after several minutes of hugging.

Finn pulled away with a frown. “Can Grogu and Mr Din come too?”

“Well, they’re welcome to watch the rest of the class, but they might be busy,” Luke replied as he looked up at Din.

Din really should say no. Grogu had already been overwhelmed once today. But when he looked down at his son, he saw with some surprise that he was calm and alert. His brown eyes were fixed on Finn and he had a small smile curled around his thumb again. Din was shocked by the prolonged eye contact. Grogu never showed much interest in other children. As for Luke….

Luke had a grateful smile on his face that he couldn’t say no to, damn it.

“Maybe we could just watch for a few minutes?” Din looked down at Grogu. “Is that ok?”

Grogu nodded and Finn whooped.

“Yay! Come on Grogu, lets go!”

Din slowly loosened his arms and  Grogu surprised Din yet again by letting go of him and letting him lead him off the bench.

“In Kendo we use Shinai but we don’t hit bodies. Just other shinai. We are respect-ful and listen to sensei,” Finn said breathlessly as they walked.

Luke smiled. “Very good Finn.”

Din caught Luke’s eye as they walked. “Ah...you should know. Grogu...he doesn’t talk yet. He also doesn’t like sudden loud sounds.”

Luke blinked, then nodded. “I see. Well this is lucky. I teach the sensory friendly class here at the Community Center.  I teach all of our special needs classes actually, both here and at my dojo. After my accident, I ended up having to relearn everything with my left hand so I’m very sensitive to differently abled learners.”

Din’s jaw dropped. “I had no idea that was even a thing.”

Luke nodded. “I’ll show you our list of classes online. I mean...if that’s ok.”

Din shook his head. “No, that would be great. Thank you.”

“Of course.” Luke gave him a big smile that lit up his blue eyes and suddenly Din knew he was a goner and that they were going to be seeing a lot of Luke and Finn in the future.

--

Notes: I know nothing about Kendo but we're going to pretend that one handed Kendo is possible ok? Great.

You can make a ficlet request from this list here

#sbficlets #SB is incapable of writing a completely happy thing but she tried ok #I'm incapable of short stories too #toddler music classes just sound like hell #sure lets give the mini humans many loud things to bang together #but ok maybe toddler kendo is worse #sword is going in the nose for sure