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: Based on the tumblr writing prompt: "Bunk".
Han looked around his quarters, or were they now considered their quarters? The room, while never exactly in pristine condition to begin with had seemed to be hit by a force storm. The princess, while organized in almost every aspect of her life seemed to lack the skill of picking up after herself while aboard his ship. So far in her wake, Leia had left a pile of dirty towels on the fresher floor, the bed unmade and an empty glass and plate on the bedside table. Part of her snowsuit had been lazily thrown over the back of a chair and hair pins littered various surfaces around the room. All this in the few hours she had been awake that day alone.
We've only been limping along towards Bespin for what? A fortnight? How can one little princess cause such a mess? Han thought to himself as he began to stack the dirty dishes and walk about the room, collecting the items that needed to be brought elsewhere in a jumbled pile in his arms.
He walked down the corridor towards the lounge area, stopping only to throw the towels into a small crate with other soiled garments waiting to be washed before continuing on.
Han found Leia tucked into the bench behind the dejarik table, her knees pulled up to her chest and her data pad resting atop of them. She was staring down at the screen intently, her finger only occasionally tapping against it. She looked contented in whatever she was engrossed in, most likely a novel. Han had learned that Leia loved reading, and with actual downtime for once to do so in, she devoured literature like a hungry wampa. Han couldn't help to stare at her for a lingering minute. She looked so relaxed, nestled up on the bench, lost in whatever adventure was unfolding in the words on the data pad in front of her. The weight of the items in his hands brought him back to the moment as he shook his head to clear his thoughts. Han quickly reminded himself of what brought him out to the lounge in the first place as he set the plates and glasses against the table. The clinking of china against the tabletop caused Leia to look up from her holo-novel.
"These look familiar?" Han asked with a quick flick of his finger in the direction of the dishes between them.
Leia observed the stack with a slight annoyance that he was interrupting her with such a trivial question. "Of course they look familiar, they're the dishes from your ship" Leia replied smoothly as she looked back at Han, wondering if he somehow hit his head while working and had completely lost any memory of where he actually was.
"And you left them all over the desk in the bunk". Han paused for a second. "You're messy" he added bluntly, no longer wasting any time, jumping straight to the point.
"You should talk. I spent hours yesterday organizing your tools and spare ship parts...which I might add I found all over the place" Leia retorted.
As if Han had any room to accuse her of being disorganized. The Falcon looked as though it hadn't been properly deep cleaned in years. There were bits of Wookiee hair balled up in the corridor corners and a thin layer of dust on almost every flat surface in the ship. She had even unearthed an empty Corellian ale bottle from the far reaches of the cargo space that could have been older than Chewie.
Han wasn't looking for an argument with her. He only wanted to bring the matter to her attention. He cracked a bit of a smile. "Is it some kind of Alderaanian thing to throw hair pins all over the place? I've stepped on at least a dozen of those things".
Leia's expression softened, not wanting such a simple matter to turn into a shouting match either. It was hardly worth the time and she hadn't intentionally thrown her pins to the floor. If anything, Han had every bit a part of them ending up there. Setting her data pad aside, Leia stretched her legs back under the table as she scooted towards the edge of the bench. Han offered an outstretched hand to help her up, his fingers lacing in between hers as they made their way to the bunk.
As Leia stepped into the bunk, she realized what Han had meant by her being on the disorganized side. She admitted to herself she had become a bit lazy in the past few weeks of returning things to their proper places. The bed was a tangled mess of blankets and discarded clothing was strewn about the room. She stepped on one of her hairpins, a sharp pinch shooting through the bottom of her foot.
"Hurts worse in the middle of the night in the dark" Han laughed.
Lifting her foot slightly to work the pin free from the woven bottom of her sock, Leia shot Han a look from the corner of her eye as he began moving around bunk.
"Why don't you make the bed?" Han suggested as he picked up a few empty ration bar wrappers from the bedside table. The foiled crumpled in his hand as he balled them up in his fist.
"Okay..." Leia faltered as she stepped towards the edge of the mattress. Reaching forward, she grabbed hold of the pillows, pulling them to her chest in her arms with a puzzled look on her face as though Han had just asked her to dismantle the Falcon's engines and put them back together again.
Han began to chuckle. Leia, normally always collected and with a perfect response on the tip of her tongue even if she was completely unsure of something, looked absolutely dumbfounded on even where to begin the task at hand. Han found the situation completely amusing, figuring to himself that no one else in the galaxy had seen the Princess in such a confused state before.
"You can win a debate in the Galactic senate but no one ever taught you how to make a bed?" he asked.
"No" Leia admitted matter of factually.
Han stared at her for a moment, slightly in disbelief that she possessed so much knowledge about complex subjects yet had so little when it came to the simplest of domestic ones.
"Well then, you are about to learn". Han shoved the wrappers in his hand into his pocket and reached towards the bunk. With one swoop, Han cleared the blankets to the floor, leaving only the mattress covered with a simple fitted sheet. He bent towards it, smoothing out any wrinkles or bunching before picking up a flat sheet and with a flick of his wrists had the sheet smoothed across the bed. At the bottom two corners of the mattress, he pulled the fabric tautly into a triangle before folding it over and tucking it under the mattress. He repeated the process with the blankets before taking a step back to admire his work.
"That didn't seem so hard" Leia remarked, having watched the process intently and being a quick study, was sure she could replicate Han's actions if he asked her to.
"Watch this".
Taking a credit out of his pocket, Han tossed the coin downwards towards the mattress. The firmly tucked sheets were so tight that the coin bounced off the taut fabric back up into the air. Han caught it in his palm, slipping it back into his pocket as he turned to give Leia a cocky smile. Still holding the pillows in her arms, Leia looked slightly amazed at his little trick.
"You never went through basic training?" Han asked, having figured the Alliance would have at least required Leia to complete the bare minimum of training required of any soldier.
"I did. But they never taught us to make beds".
"You must have gotten the abridged princess version of basic then. A properly made bed was basically ingrained in me on day one".
Leia opened her mouth to say something about how Han had attended Imperial basic training, not an Alliance one, but she quickly stopped herself before the words could escape. Han rarely spoke of his time in the Academy and often would give her a dark look whenever the subject came up, quickly changing the subject or going quiet all together.
"Well apparently bed making training aboard your ship is more thorough" she decided to quip instead.
"And undoing too" Han added as he gave her a cocky grin.
Taking one of the pillows in her arms to her hand, she playfully threw it at Han. "Shut it, flyboy!" she laughed as it hit him squarely in the chest.
Han reached down to the floor where the pillow had fallen, quickly grabbing the corner of the pillowcase firmly in his fingers and swinging it back in Leia's direction. She used the remaining pillow in her possession to block his oncoming attack. Effectively thwarting it, Leia seized the chance to swing at Han again. Her pillow came crashing down against the outside of his arm, her bright laughter filling the cabin.
"So this is war, huh princess?" Han chuckled.
The two swatted at each other, ducking and dodging each other's oncoming attacks as though they were blaster bolts instead of overstuffed pillows. Leia's face was flushed both from the physical exhaustion and her breathless giggling, a rosy glow spreading across her normally pale cheeks. Han's laughter matched hers as he blocked her once again, bobbing to the side letting the pillow swipe through the empty air between them. He turned on his heel, swinging his pillow around with him and catching Leia off guard as the pillow crashed into the back of her thighs. She jumped at the unexpected contact, a fresh round of laughter coming from her as she began to turn back towards Han only to be greeted with a haze of feathers. Han's pillow had given out, the seams ripping apart when it hit her, exploding it's contents around them. Quadduck feathers fluttered around them in a swirl as if snow was falling, coating every surface in the small cabin. The tops of Leia's braids were quickly dotted with white and tan plumes. Han had not fared as well in the situation. Not only was his hair peppered with feathers, but also his shoulders and various parts of his clothing where static had decided to make clumps of down stick to him. He stood in the middle of the cabin slightly shocked at what had just happened, hardly expecting that his pillow would have given way.
The two stared at each other for a second before Leia burst into laughter again and took a step towards Han.
"Who's the messy one now?" Leia said with a smile as she let the pillow she was still holding slip from her fingers and fall to the ground. She brushed a few feathers from Han's shirt before wrapping her hands around him and looking up at him.
Han joined her embrace, wrapping his own arms around her. He pursed his lips and blew a gentle puff of air at the top of Leia's head, causing a couple of feathers to float free from her braids.
"Still you, sweetheart. You started this".
"I did not!" Leia protested with a giggle still in her voice.
Han gave her a gentle smirk as leaned down to give her forehead a kiss. "Mmmhmm. Whatever you say, princess".