Han was scowling at the forward thrusters on the Falcon when he heard Luke approaching, laughter ringing across the hangar.
"Han! Hey, Han!"
He knew exactly what this was about, and he didn't care. He didn't kriffing care. He began examining the wiring mechanisms, looking for weak connections.
He could hear Luke greeting Chewie now, a little out of breath. "That was really something, yeah?"
Chewie growled in assent. [You are very happy for someone whose record has been beaten.]
Han listened for the "Aw, shucks" reaction he was expecting, and was not disappointed. He could practically feel Luke blushing from here. Typical Kid.
Why am I listening to this? I don't care. He turned his attention back to the thrusters.
"Did you tell Han that she beat me?" Luke was asking. Han felt himself cringe.
[He was there for that], Chewie growled. [He saw the scores.]
"Huh," was all Luke said.
You don't care, Han reminded himself, picking up a spanner as he heard Luke approach.
Yearly flight tests were a requirement for every member of the Alliance who took part in off-planet missions, and highly recommended for anyone who commanded flight troops. High Command members tended to do their tests at one of the quieter times, using one of the larger ships, and the only beings who knew their scores were their testing instructor, the droid who recorded them, and the commander who reviewed that week's results.
When Princess Leia chose to do her testing in an X-Wing, however, enough word had managed to get out to attract an audience. Wes Janson's betting pool on her scores certainly did not hurt in that regard.
Wedge Antilles was taking Leia through her paces, and the remainder of the Rogues were watching from the ground, along with Chewie, Han, and a small contingent of ground staff and pilots from other squadrons.
"Holy Sith," gasped Janson. "Skywalker, you better watch out. She's coming up on you." Luke held the record for the highest test flight score, recorded about an hour before the Battle of Yavin.
"And that was on a sim," Hobbie pointed out.
Luke was watching with interest, grinning broadly. "She's gonna beat me."
Chewie made a pleased whuff, and a chuckle. Han was beside him.
"Oooh-hoo-hoo." Janson was looking at his slate of bets, making some calculations. "Gonna be close…"
Minutes later, the two X-Wings had landed, and most of the group was waiting feverishly for the droid to finish calculating the final scores. Leia had disembarked and removed her helmet, her face flushed with excitement as she walked back with Wedge.
The group roared as the droid announced that Leia had, in fact, beaten Luke's test flight record.
But Leia was not paying attention to the group gathered to greet them; she was having an animated discussion with Wedge about their flight and some of the maneuvers they'd taken on.
"You sure you don't want to become a Rogue?" he was teasing as they approached.
"Tempting," she agreed. "But you've got a full squadron; you don't need me."
"We'll just ditch Hobbie," Wedge said. "You know how to play sabacc, right?"
"Hey!" Hobbie protested.
Luke run up to them. "You beat me! That was amazing!" he exclaimed, opening his arms to Leia for a friendly hug.
Leia laughed as he twirled her around. "Thanks." She glanced at the group that had gathered. "Did you put out an announcement or something?" she asked Wedge.
He shrugged. "Nah, I guess word of good flying gets around. But I can find out who blabbed to Janson. Have 'em roughed up a little for you," he offered with a quirk of his eyebrow.
She laughed again. "That won't be necessary, but thank you."
There were a few more back and forth bits between them, and Luke was reminded a little of watching Leia banter with Han. Friendly, teasing, but with a little something behind it.
"You sure I can't convince you?" Wedge was asking. "You want to be in charge, we can work with that, Commander," he said, putting a bit of a flourish on her title and giving her a knowing look.
"Much prettier than our current XO," Janson put in from his corner.
"You know, on second thought, Hobbie's back in. We'll ditch Janson instead," Wedge said, slinging his arm around Leia's shoulders as they walked over to check out her official scores.
Chewie came up to congratulate her, too, and that's when Luke realized that he hadn't heard a single thing from Han. Odd, he thought. Wonder where he disappeared off to?
"Hey, where'd you go?" Luke asked.
Han turned away from his work on the thrusters and gave him a pointed look.
Luke shook his head. "Okay, stupid question. Why'd you leave?"
"Stuff to do, Kid. You wanna give me a hand, or you wanna chit-chat?" I don't care. Just go away.
Luke was quiet, and when Han looked up he saw that his friend was looking at him in that sort of spooky-intent way he had sometimes. Like he knew something. "What?" Han asked.
"You're jealous," Luke said.
Han's eyes narrowed. "Jealous of what?"
There was that look again. Still a little spooky, but now like the look Chewie gave him when he was accusing Han of being full of bantha shit. He been takin' lessons?
"Of Leia being the best pilot? I don't know," Luke admitted. "But you're acting weird."
"Whatever," Han said, turning back to the thrusters again.
"That's it, isn't it?" he said. "Soon as you knew that she beat me, you disappeared."
Han glared at him. "Why would I care that she beat you? That doesn't prove anything." It was almost insulting that Luke thought he would give a shit about that.
Luke was watching him again. "No, you're right," he finally said. "That's not like you."
All this scrutiny was making Han want to squirm. "You gonna help with these thrusters or not?" he asked.
"Sure."
Han had been surprised when Chewie had offered to bring him dinner from the mess, so that he need not interrupt his repair work after Luke left. But as they sat down together to eat, Han realized his friend's ulterior motive.
[Cub, we need to talk.]
Han finished his bite of nerf stew. "All right. Talk."
[Your jealousy is very unattractive.]
"My—I'm not—"
[You do not like to see the Little Princess talk with others the way she talks with you], Chewie said, stopping him.
No, he did not, but hells if he wanted to tell Chewie or anybody else that. And he felt like a heel for feeling that way, like he owned her or something. He didn't want to be that guy.
[I am not the only being who has noticed], Chewie said.
True. Luke obviously knew something was up. And Leia would be sharp enough to figure it out, too—although given that many of the men on base were so loath to give her credit where it was due, he wouldn't be surprised if she also thought it was about the flight test results. He didn't want to be that guy either.
Han looked down into his bowl. "Yeah," he said quietly. Though he wasn't sure what to do about it.
The plunk of the thermal mug on Leia's desk late at night was familiar, if not always predictable. But it was followed by a new sound, a softer one. She looked over to see a small wrapped package beside the mug, then looked up.
"Hi," she greeted. "What's this?"
Han smiled, pulling over a chair to sit down. "Open it."
She carefully tore off the wrapping to reveal a deck of sabacc cards.
"For your future career as a Rogue," he said, grinning. "Congratulations gift."
Leia laughed softly. "Thank you."
"Open the deck," he urged. "There's more."
She opened the box to find an extra card, one that looked to be homemade. She arched a brow. "Flying lessons?"
"You're a hell of a pilot," he said, "but if you're gonna beat me someday, you gotta know the Falcon. Otherwise I got the home advantage."
Well, this was a surprise. And an honor, she realized. Han didn't let just anyone touch the Falcon, much less pilot it.
"In that case, I accept," she said. "And I look forward to the challenge."
She picked up the sabacc deck, and to Han's obvious surprise, shuffled it like a pro. ''Fancy a game?" she asked.
Han grinned. "Bring it on."