Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. I just make them do stuff. I do not profit from this in any way, shape or form.
Author's Note: This was inspired by a writing prompt of "Your OTP trying each other's weapons". This takes place sometime before ESB. I didn't really think much of a specific place or time was important to the story other than Han and Leia are on an Alliance base together.
Leia sat back in her desk chair and let out a long sigh. In front of her was a jumble of data pads, full of work she had brought back to her quarters with her that evening in hopes of getting something accomplished. She was frustrated and unfocused, jumping from one project to another, none of which seemed to be going anywhere after hours of pouring over them. Between researching for upcoming missions, trying to balance supply spreadsheets and various other tasks, she had accomplished nothing other than giving herself a headache. Glancing at the chrono on the wall, she noticed she had worked well into the middle of the night. Too awake still to try and sleep, Leia turned in her chair and stood up. Pacing around her small quarters for a moment, she felt as though she was restless. She needed to do something to occupy her mind, anything other than try and make sense of her work. She grabbed her blaster and holster from the table next to her cot and secured it to her leg before making her way from her quarters.
The hallways of the base were quiet, aside from humming of the climate control system working in the duct work above her. Rounding a corner, Leia wasn't paying any attention to where she was going, hardly expecting anyone else to be wandering the halls of the base in the middle of the night when she ran directly into someone.
"Captain Solo!" Leia exclaimed as she took a step back, immediately recognizing the scruffy man in front of her. "What are you doing walking around in the middle of the night?"
"Could say the same thing about you, your highness" Han replied. He had grown frustrated with a late night repair on the Falcon. Deciding it would be best to step away from the project before he either ripped the wiring from his ship in anger or accidentally electrocuted himself, he had taken a walk from the hanger in order to clear his head, hardly expecting to be run into by the very Princess that had been clouding his thoughts of late.
Leia began to side step around Han and continue on her way. "Excuse me" she said firmly as she tried to squeeze past him in the narrow hallway.
Han made no effort to move out of her way. "Where ya going?" he asked inquisitively.
"It's none of your business what I am doing. Now, if you could please move out of my way" Leia replied with a huff.
"Don't need to get snappy with me, sweetheart". Han took a step to the side, opening enough room between them to allow Leia to push past him as she began down the hallway.
"Nice running into you, your worshipfulness" Han called out to her retreating figure with a cocky tone in his voice.
Something about that nickname for her got under her skin. Something about everything the arrogant smuggler did or said to her irked her in a way that she couldn't quite place but it caused her to cease her steady pace away from him. Leia stopped walking completely and turned back in Han's direction, crossing her arms as she looked back down the corridor towards him.
"If you must know, I was heading down to the blaster range".
"Is that what Princesses usually do in the middle of the night?" Han said as he swaggered a few steps closer to where she was standing.
"Do all Corellians like to infuriate woman in the middle of the night?"
"Usually at this hour, we're engaging in other activities with 'em. Maybe you'd like try that out sometime".
Rolling her eyes at him, she replied with a curt "No thank you" as she began to turn on her heels, wondering to herself why she had bothered to stop in the first place, knowing full well she had given him the opportunity to make such a comment towards her. Han's voice stopped her again, her feet halting in place as she turned back yet again.
"Ya know, it's been a long time since I've actually practiced my shot. Didn't know the Alliance had such a place".
"They do. For members of the Alliance to use" Leia retorted.
"What if I tagged along with an Alliance member?" Han suggested.
Leia pondered the idea of company for a moment and sighed. Cocking her head in the direction she was headed, she agreed.
"Follow me".
The weapons range was longer than it was wide and hardly expansive by any means, but it served it's purpose. It was usually reserved for use by new recruits going through the Alliance mandated training camp required to be completed before being assigned duties. At one end of the room, paper target sheets with the outline of a human-like form hung from long wires that ran the length of the ceiling on an automated pulley system that ran along a narrow durasteel track. The other end of the room had a low wall roughly waist high running across it, separating the range from the firing area.
Leia hit a button of a control panel on the wall near the door. With a whoosh, the room air-locked itself as a means of noise reduction, followed by the hum of a fan switching on to circulate the air within the room to clear the smoke produced by blaster fire. Pressing another button on the panel, whirring and clicking came from the wires above them as the machinery worked to set the targets and ready the range for use. It was clear to Han that she was familiar with the room, wondering to himself how often she might have come here before in the middle of the night to work out her frustrations.
Standing next each other, Leia looked over Han with a glimmer in her eyes. Any annoyance with him from earlier seemed to had faded, a certain calm upon her now that she was in a place she wished to be in. She clearly was thinking something, what it was, he couldn't quite tell.
"Let me try your blaster" she said as she pointed to the holster strapped around Han's leg.
"I don't think so, Princess" Han replied. His fingers that were resting on the buckle of his belt tightened around the leather, almost in a protective manner.
"I'll let you try mine" she playfully said back as she continued to curiously eye the blaster resting against Han's leg.
Han had handled many different weapons over the years but he had a special admiration for his own blaster. While the model was outdated and beat up with chipping paint, he still held onto it. Even in the times he had excess credits to his name and could have afforded a newer model for himself, he chose to hang onto it. No matter how many times he had disassembled it for cleaning, he couldn't remember a time where it ever looked new, but he liked that about his weapon. The blaster had saved him more times than he could count, picking up where talking his way out of things had failed, always faithfully awaiting to protect him if need be at his side. He had never lent it to anyone before, not even Chewie had fired it before. The look Leia was giving him was swaying him though, causing him to give into her request.
Han cracked a small smile as he reached for his leg. Unholstering his weapon, Han handed his beloved DL-44 over to Leia. She smiled back at him as she took the blaster from him, examining the weapon. The blaster was heavier in her hands than she expected it to be. It was far from a stock model. Han had clearly modified the weapon to his own preferences, removing certain parts and replacing others over time so it was exactly to his liking. Her small fingers wrapped around the grip as she got a feel for the unfamiliar weapon.
Han stepped back as Leia stepped towards the low wall. He watched as Leia fired off a few rounds, easily hitting the kill marks on the target repeatedly. He was not surprised by her aim or shot, for he had seen her in action taking down stormtroopers before. They had fought their way off a Death Star together, he knew full well what she was capable of with a weapon in her hands. What he had never seen before was her doing it with his weapon. He couldn't deny the fact that watching her handle his blaster bemused him a bit. There was something about the way she so confidently handled the weapon, how fiercely she was focused on the target that entranced him. Han would only be lying to himself if he denied that fact that it turned him on a little. She was beautiful to him in many ways, but this was just another element about her that added to her allure. She was focused as she fired. Her petite body was in a stance so her arms were outstretched in front of her and her feet slightly apart. Her long braid that hung down her back swayed a bit after each shot, her body reacting to the recoil of the blaster as she continued to fire. Han shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he continued to watch her.
Lowering the weapon as the sound of the last laser bolt echoed around the room. Leia used her free hand to push back a few stray hairs from her face that had worked themselves loose from her braid as she turned back towards Han.
"Your turn, hot shot" she smiled as she flipped the safety back on Han's weapon and handed it back to him.
Securing the blaster back into the holster on his leg, Han looked at Leia with a half cocked smile at the edge of his mouth.
"Alright, what'dya got for me?" He asked, curious to see what type of weapon she had on her.
Leia bent slightly and grabbed the hem of her long skirt, pulling the fabric up to expose a slim blaster strapped to her own leg. Undoing the fasteners of the holster, she passed the weapon to Han and let her skirt fall back around her ankles.
Han looked down at the blaster Leia had given him. Compared to his, it felt almost weightless in his hand as he stepped forward to the firing platform. The course had reset itself, a fresh target now in place where Leia's spent one had been. Han raised his arm to aim. It was a strange feeling staring down at an unfamiliar blaster in his hand. Studying the paper target as he lined up his shot, Han's finger pulled the trigger. The first few bolts he squeezed off were slightly off the mark but he quickly found his groove with the weapon and finished off the round with perfect shots.
"Not bad, huh sweetheart" Han remarked as he studied the target. The paper was riddled with burn marks through it in all the necessary spots to fall an enemy.
"That was too easy. Let's see who's better from two hundred meters" Leia suggested. Pressing the buttons on the control panel, the new target sheet that had reset was now at a substantially further distance from them.
"A bit of a challenge? How about a little wager then?" Han chuckled as he looked back from the range at Leia.
"Alright, flyboy. Same blasters as last time though".
"Five credits to me when I win?" Han chided back to her.
"If you win" Leia corrected him.
Han stepped forward, Leia's blaster in hand. Studying the target for a moment, he lined up his shot. He had quickly accustomed himself to her weapon, fairly sure of himself that he would easily beat her at her own game. Firing off a few rounds, the target's chest quickly became dotted with blast marks, all flawlessly executed. The clouds of smoke from the laser fire cleared the room, disappearing into the ventilation system.
"Try and top that" Han gloated as he turned back towards Leia, clearly proud of himself. Passing his blaster back to Leia, she took his place at the firing platform.
Leia steadied Han's blast in her grip, narrowing her eyes as she looked down the long room at the target. She began to fire off rapid rounds, bolt after bolt hitting the targets center perfectly. On the last shot, Leia raised her hand a bit, firing a laser bolt that pierced through the target squarely between the eyes. A near perfect head shot had been singed into the target paper. Turning around, she had a smug smile on her face at she looked back at Han.
"Damn, Leia" Han remarked, slightly stunned that she had upped him in such a fashion. "I'm glad I'm usually on your good side".
"I like your blaster" Leia laughed with a smile of satisfaction on her face as she passed the weapon back to it's rightful owner, knowing full well she had won. "You owe me five credits by the way".