Eyes on Her
AN: This takes place shortly after ROTJ, maybe a few weeks. They're just settling into their apartment and getting used to living together. Han's never really watched her get ready like this.
I don't know anything about space makeup or whatever. Do we know anything about makeup in space? george lucas give me the dets plz and thank you.
Han tossed the data pad aside, grumbling quietly to himself. Reaching his arms out in front of him, he ached to pull at the collar of his uniform that confined him. He was dressed in his General's uniform adorned with his numerous medals including the one Leia had presented him with only a few years before on Yavin; he and Leia were doing an interview on one of the many different news channels. They were technically going on the show to talk about some new political initiatives that Leia was working on putting in place, but since they'd requested he join her, he was sure the conversation would turn to their wedding. Ever since Leia'd been spotted wearing the ring he'd given her back during their last day on Endor, everyone wanted to know what they had planned for the wedding.
He unbuttoned the top button of his jacket even though he knew Leia would make him refasten it before they left. She was taking forever to get ready. They weren't running late or anything, but she'd asked him to get ready before him so now he was stuck in an uncomfortable uniform for hours while he waited for her to do her hair and whatever else she needed to do. An hour and a half had gone by since she closed the 'fresher door, an hour and ten minutes since he'd heard the shower shut off. He sighed and leaned back against the headboard. She was doing her hair. He had heard the hair dryer and then the distinct sound of a box of hair pins falling to the floor. He listened to her pick them up and curse softly as she worked on whatever intricate design she was weaving her hair into.
The door opened a few moments later, Han looked up to see Leia stepping into their room. He couldn't help the grin that spread across his face at the sight of her in her pale blue, satin robe. She looked gorgeous, almost angelic with her long hair braided to the side and hanging over her shoulder. However she'd braided it, it looked a lot shorter than it really was. It rested just below her breasts instead of falling almost to her waist as it did when it hung loose. She'd gotten it cut shortly after they'd settled into their apartment on Coruscant, claiming she needed to get rid of the split ends- whatever that meant. He'd secretly worried she'd cut it too short. Not that he'd love her any less or find her any less attractive, but he'd come to love her hair. That had surprised both of them when he'd admitted it. In the beginning, before they'd even started dating, they had a number of arguments about her hair. He found it all over his ship whenever she stopped by on Hoth to play cards or visit Chewie. "No, I'm not here to see you, you self obsessed moon jockey!" She'd say as she walked inside and sat down, talking to him for hours before retiring to her quarters with hair pins and long, dark strands of hair left behind. Her hair clogged the drains and once they started sharing a bed, it managed to get into his mouth and tickle his face while he tried to sleep. Now, for whatever reason, he loved her hair. Leia said it was because he was getting soft. He'd rolled his eyes and claimed Han Solo would never be "soft", but maybe she'd been right. He was a lot different now, a lot different with her.
"Han?" Leia said, pulling him from his thoughts. She was standing at the foot of the bed with an eyebrow raised in amusement. "Where'd you go?" She reached out and grabbed at his foot teasingly.
He wiggled his toes, poking at her fingers with them. "Nowhere. Just thinkin'."
"Don't hurt yourself." She remarked, letting go of his foot to crawl onto the bed, stopping when she reached him. On her knees, her leaned forward to slide her hand into his hair, resting on the back of his head. Her braid brushed against his chest as she leaned close to press a soft kiss to his lips.
He lifted a hand to her side, moving his thumb over the soft fabric of her robe.
She pulled back, smiling softly as she sat on her knees and gently fixed the top button of his uniform.
He huffed a little, his hand falling from her side to rest on her thigh. He ran his fingers along her skin, soft from whatever lotion she was using now. The smell of her perfume- some flowery scent from Naboo, filled his nose. He tightened his hand on her thigh, squeezing gently as he lifted his eyes to hers. "Ready to go?"
Leia laughed a little, shaking her head. "Not even close. I still need to do my makeup."
"That doesn't usually take that long. Isn't it usually your hair that takes forever?"
She rolled her eyes. "It doesn't take forever. And yes, it doesn't usually take me that long...but I'm wearing more than usual."
"Why?"
She shifted away from him and climbed off of the bed, walking over to the white vanity that Rieekan had given her when they moved into the apartment. He remembered how he'd seen tears in her eyes, that she'd hugged Rieekan in the middle of their living room. She later told him that it'd been modeled after the one that had been in her bedroom in the palace on Alderaan. Her father had helped design it and had given it to her on her thirteenth birthday.
He watched her open one of the large drawers on the side, pulling two large cups of various different sized brushes out and setting them in front of her. In the drawer below it, she moved her hand around through the contents before deciding on light pink rectangle box...thing. She opened it up and peered inside, eyes running over the little squares of color.
"What's that?" Han asked, moving to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Hmm?" She responded absently, closing the box.
"What's that stuff for?"
Leia looked back at him, lifting the box in question. When Han nodded, she answered. "It goes on my eyes. It's eyeshadow."
"Why is it so big? You wear all those colors at the same time?"
She shook her head. "No, not all of them. Just two...three maybe. Four sometimes."
"I thought you just used that stuff for your eyelashes."
"Mascara? I wear that every day, yeah. It's quick and easy. I usually do a little bit of eyeshadow and liner. This eyeshadow is...tedious. I only wear it for certain events like the interview today." Leia explained, reaching back down into the drawer to pull out various little circles and square boxes, plastic tubes and pencil-looking things.
"What's all that for?"
"The rest of my face." She told him, pulling a glass jar the size of her palm from the drawer and then closing it.
"All of that stuff goes on your face? Why?"
She glanced back at him, grinning teasingly. "Haven't you watched someone apply makeup before?"
He shook his head. "My idea of fun ain't watching women paint all over their faces."
"I would have thought a scoundrel like yourself would have seen a fairly large number of women apply their makeup."
"I didn't usually hang out with them in the morning." He said, smirking a little.
She rolled her eyes. "I forgot. You're not a nice man."
"You'd hate it if I was."
She didn't want to award that remark with a smile, but she couldn't stop herself. "I think it would get quite boring, to tell you the truth."
He leaned forward, resting his elbow in his knee as she turned back toward the vanity.
"The women I was with weren't really the makeup type. I didn't think you were either."
She shrugged, picking one of the tubes up and twisting off the cap. She poured a small dollop onto her index finger and then carefully closed the lid without using her finger, keeping the clear gel-like stuff from falling. She sat the tube aside and dotted the gel along her face- some on each cheek, a bit in the middle of her forehead, her chin, and then a little on her nose. "I'm not, really. I used to hate wearing it. I fought my mother and anyone else who did my makeup. But princesses and then female senators...women in the public eye- they usually wear it." She told him as she rubbed the gel into her skin.
"Is that lotion?"
"Primer." Leia corrected.
"Primer? For makeup?"
She didn't respond. Instead, she moved her fingers along the tops of her brushes before plucking one from a cup. After twisting the cap off of the glass jar, she poured the liquid onto the bristles of her brush. She moved the brush along her cheek, painting the skin colored liquid onto her face.
Han watched her move the brush quickly, covering her entire face with the liquid until it blended in everywhere. She painted along her jaw and the down her neck before sitting the brush aside and picking up a small tube. She unscrewed the lid and used the little wand attached to the lid to add the lighter color underneath her eyes. She blended it in and then applied powder with a bigger brush.
Han was quiet, almost transfixed. He was lost in her movements- the delicate strokes as she applied the darker powder to the sides of her cheeks, the small smile as she dabbed the blush (he knew that one!) to the tops of her cheeks. He smiled to himself as she turned her head slowly from side to side, checking to make sure they looked the same he supposed.
"What are you smiling at back there?" Leia asked, looking back at him in the mirror and closing the lid of the blush.
He sat up straight and folded his arms. "Nothing. Are you almost done?"
Leia smiled knowingly, shaking her head a little as she reached for her eyeshadow. "Still need to do my eyes."
"This is taking forever, your worship. Princesses do this every day?"
She rolled her eyes, opening up the box of eyeshadow and grabbing a smaller brush from the cup. She dipped her brush into the lightest shade and spread it across both eyes.
Han leaned forward again, returning his elbows to his knees and assuming the position he'd been in for the last half hour.
Leia moved swiftly, with more skill than he'd think necessary just to apply some makeup. She alternated between brushes, between dark and light colors, between shades with glitter and shades without. She spread the middle shades along her eyelid and the dark shades went in the outside corner. It was a little messy until she spread it out, the brush moving carefully. She added a glittery shade along the inside corner and then shut the box. Next, she added eyeliner along the edge of her eyes, close to her eyelashes. After applying mascara, she blinked and leaned forward to study her eyes in the mirror.
"They look good." He felt like that's what he was supposed to say. Not that he didn't think they looked good, but he just felt like he needed to say something. To be honest he didn't see the point in all of it. Her eyes looked fine without it. She looked over her shoulder and he smiled at her. "They look fine, Leia."
"You're just saying anything to speed this whole process up."
"No, I mean it." He stood, walking over to her. He rested his hands on the back of the chair behind her shoulders. "Your eyes look good without all that stuff too."
"I know." She told him, meeting his eyes in the mirror.
"Then what's the point of all this?" He gestured to the makeup on her desk before dropping his hand to her shoulder.
She lifted her hand to his, the soft pads of her fingers moving along his lightly. "A lot of reasons. I'm not really one to wear it all the time. And yes, I used to hate it but I don't really anymore. It really boots your confidence."
"You've never seemed like you needed a confidence boost, princess."
Leia laughed softly, stroking his fingers again. "I usually don't but I'm not too excited to be on everyone's holos talking about our love life."
"It's not supposed to be about us. I shouldn't even be there. This is about you."
"The galaxy." She corrected. "It's about the galaxy."
He nodded. She was right. It, everything she was pouring her heart and soul into, everything she was working herself to the bone for- it was for the galaxy. But he couldn't stop seeing it as her time to shine also. Hell, she deserved it. She'd given everything, had lost everything for the Rebellion and she deserved to stand alone and have every single being in the galaxy's eyes on her.
Leia reached forward and grabbed a tube of lipstick. She applied the pink color, pretty similar to the color of her lips, Han noticed, and then sat it aside. She moved her lips together and then carefully wiped away some smudges before turning in the chair to face him. She shifted to the side to peer at the time behind him. "I should get dressed. We need to leave soon."
Han nodded as she stood and walked into the closet. He leaned forward against the chair to look at the makeup laying across the top of the vanity. His curiosity got the best of him and opened up the box of eyeshadow. She hadn't used all of the colors, just as she'd said she wouldn't; she only used the browns and tans. The weirder colors- a blue, dark purple, and bright pink, were untouched. Furrowing his brow a little, he reached down and pressed his index finger into the purple color. He stood up straight and brought his finger up to look at the color.
As he moved his thumb and index finger together, spreading the powder along both fingers, he tried to imagine what Leia's eyes would look like with purple eyeshadow.
"Han?"
"Yeah?" He lifted his head, looking toward the closet where he could see her struggling to reach a zipper on her back.
"Zip me up?" She asked.
He nodded and wiped his hands on his pants. "You know I prefer UNzipping-"
"Later." Leia smiled. "If you can manage to behave like a gentleman for the duration of the interview."
He stepped up behind her and pulled the zipper easily up the length of her back. "Holding you to that."
She nodded in response, turning to look at him. She ran her eyes over him quickly, nodding again to herself, deciding he looked presentable. She touched his arm as she moved past him toward her mirror again. She leaned forward, turning her head side to side again. Whatever she'd applied to the tops of her cheeks made them sparkle in the light. She touched at her hair gently, making sure the pins holding her hair into the braid were secure. Her fingers hooked into the hair near her ears and pulled out tiny strands that hung loosely down the side of her face.
Once she was satisfied, she straightened and looked at him. She ran her hands down the front of her dress, smoothing the dark green material. "Ready?"
"As I'll ever be, your highness."
She rolled her eyes and stepped past him, grabbing his hand along the way. "Let's get this over with."