Chapter summary: Leia and Han continue to butt heads. How many times does she have to meet this prick?
Chapter Pairings: Mara/Luke, Han/Leia, Mara&Leia, Jyn/Cassian
A/N: Chapters will be posted every other day or so. Thanks for the support, I appreciate it.
The wedding was going to take place on Uncle Owen's farm, and Mara wanted to show Leia where everything was going to be. Leia wasn't too perturbed by the tour taking place quite early on a Friday morning, she was an early riser anyway. Every morning at 6:30 she got up for a run, got her breakfast, and headed to work. The latter was replaced on her vacation with either lounging around the Lars' residence or working on the small amount of work she'd been able to bring with her. She'd found early on that a steadfast routine—while monotonous to some—was one of her only anchors in a turbulent world. She'd found very little in the way of permanent closure, but dammit if she couldn't get through a day.
That day she'd gotten a bit of a late start, but it didn't matter; she didn't have anything else to do but wish she was spending her (probably only) vacation someplace with beaches and hotter guys—at least ones that don't race. Mara was waiting for her when she got back from her run, along with Luke and someone she had hoped to file away under "bad encounters." She wasn't sure what Han Solo was doing here, but she knew it wasn't good.
"Leia, care for some eggs?" Aunt Beru asked her, and she politely declined.
That smirk was back as Solo eyed her up and down. "Couldn't help but notice you're driving a 2017 TIE, not bad."
Leia set her hands on her hips and stared at him for a second, at a loss for words. "Its a rental. I don't have a car."
Solo seemed shocked by this. "Really, how do you get around in that big city then?"
Leia shrugged. "Walk, take the bus. Sometimes Uber or I carpool."
Solo shook his head. "You should get a car. Now, I know a guy selling-"
"If I wanted a car, I would go to my local dealership and buy one, not buy some junker off of a random." Leia was not in the mood for this, her routine was off and she had not anticipated this encounter.
Solo shook his head. "This car is not a junker, far from it. I admit it might need some work done, but-"
"Let me guess, you know a guy."
"Yeah, me. I'd help you with any of your car troubles, sweetheart." His grin was back.
Leia winced at the nickname. "This is the problem with you Naboo guys, you're obsessed. You only look at girls because your cars don't have tits. I'm surprised some sucker hasn't done that yet, or maybe he's just worried you'll stick it in the tailpipe!" A noise made her glance over and she realized that Mara and Luke were barely holding back their laughter.
"What's so funny‽" She demanded.
"You two," Mara said, wiping her eyes. "C'mon, Leia."
"Why is he even here?" Leia demanded.
Luke cleared his throat. "He's- he's my best man."
Leia's whole body went rigid as she stared incredulously at her brother, already dreading every single encounter she was going to have with this man.
"You've rendered her speechless, kid," Solo said, still smirking, causing her to redirect her icy gaze to him. He didn't even flinch.
"C'mon, Leia," Mara said again, and Leia turned to follow her.
"Oh, princess, before you go." Leia stopped but refused to look back. "You may be right about 'Naboo guys'-"
"Hey!" Luke protested.
"-but I'm from Corellia. Nice to see you again." He sounded like this small distinction meant a world of difference, but it did little to sway her opinion. Leia stormed out after Mara, catching up with her just outside of the house.
"He's always been like that, ever since I've known him," Mara said, catching Leia's look.
"How do you stand him?"
"He's better once you get to know him. He can be a real great guy." Mara chuckled at her groan. "Just don't let him know he's getting to you, he'll only pick on you if it bothers you."
Mara showed her the place where the pavilion where they'd be having the ceremony as well as where they'd have the reception. "The old barn is the rain plan, but we're hoping it won't come to that. You can only get those places so clean. And sorry again for not having you as a bridesmaid, we decided simpler was better and I figured you'd want to be on Luke's side anyway."
"Don't worry about it. So long as I'm sitting by someone nice, I'll be fine." When Mara didn't say anything, Leia groaned. "Not him, anyone but him."
"Sorry, but we want the same number of people on both sides, for pictures, you know? And Han doesn't have a date and Jyn is sitting with Cassian."
"Is there an open bar at least?"
Mara laughed, and nodded. "It was Luke's one request for the reception. He said he didn't care where it would be or how many people would be there, he just wanted you to be there and an open bar." The two walked side by side back to the house. Leia was dreading another encounter with Solo, but she hoped that maybe he'd left.
"You're back," Luke commented from the couch. He and Solo seemed to be drinking coffee and watching a race.
Leia avoided Solo's gaze, and made to go back to her room.
"The offer for that car still stands, sweetheart," Solo called to her, and she stopped in her tracks.
Don't let me know he's getting to you. She let out a breath and turned around.
"What is it?" she asked.
He smirked and sat up. "An old 1974 Tantive, the 4th in its series."
She crossed her arms. "I thought you said it wasn't a junker."
He chuckled. "It isn't. Its from my pal Lando, he doesn't buy junkers."
Mara scoffed. "He's right, Leia. But Lando also wouldn't tell you about any fatal flaws in the cars either."
Solo assured them that he'd checked out the car himself. That it maybe need some bodywork and a fresh coat of paint, but was, overall, a good buy.
"Isn't that car huge?" Leia asked. "I'd need something more compact. No, I think I'll be fine, thank you anyway, Mr. Solo."
He looked amused. "Mr. Solo is my deadbeat dad, Ms. Skywalker-"
She flinched and snapped. "Organa, my name is Organa, not Skywalker."
He blinked, but barely missed a beat. "My apologies, call me Han."
"Alright, Han. You may call me Leia."
"Oh, may I?"
"Can you two give it a rest?" Mara asked, rubbing her temples.
Leia slipped away to her room, intending to call the office. Maybe they'd had some work they could send over.
She was on the phone with Mothma when Mara poked her head into her room.
"Hold on one second, yeah?" She said to Montha.
"Would you like to go out tonight?" Mara whispered.
"With who? Where?"
"The six of us, you, me, Luke, Jyn, Cassian, and Han. To Jabba's."
Leia sighed. "Yeah, yeah."
"Ok, sorry to bother you." Mara ducked out.
Leia sighed inwardly and went back to talking on the phone.
Leia had remembered the first time she'd gone to Jabba's Hut when she was 19. It had seemed so cool to get past the bouncer with a fake ID Cassian had gotten for her. She'd gotten drunk for the first time there, and had puked in Cassian's car when he brought her home. Things had definitely changed since then. What was once a 21-up bar that sometimes had shows was now a full on club with a DJ, dance floor, and laser light show. Nearly as soon as they had ordered drinks and sat down, the two couples had paired off to go dancing, leaving the two singles behind. Leia expected S- Han to ditch her and start hitting on the locals, which she told him. He shook his head.
"I don't mess around at Jabba's anymore. I'm lucky I was able to get in," he shouted over the music.
"What? Why?" Surprising, to be honest. She straightened her dress over her legs. It wasn't necessarily like what she would've worn to a club in Coruscant, but she had limited options living out of her suitcase. Besides, who was she trying to impress in this town.
"Jabba and I had a- let's say a disagreement awhile back over a sponsorship. It's all smoothed out now, but at the time it was pretty serious." He wasn't looking at her, but staring out at the dance floor. She wasn't sure if he was scouting out potential trouble.
"I didn't even know there was a 'Jabba.'"
"Well of course there's a Jabba, who else would come up with that name?" Leia shrugged at him and sipped her drink. "I'm surprised you're not dancing or looking for a date yourself," Han said.
Leia shook her head. "I thought I made it clear what I thought about Naboo guys. I grew up with some of these people, as far as I'm concerned, they're lucky I even showed up."
Han seemed to laugh. "You graduated with Luke?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I went to Alderaan High up until my junior year, and moved to Tattooine when I was a senior."
Han shook his head. "Alderaan, wow, that's a name I haven't heard of in a while. Tore it down, didn't they?"
She nodded. "Yeah, they claimed structural flaws, but I'm convinced it was bullshit. They just wanted to build that strip mall."
"Must've been hard, moving in your senior year."
She shrugged. "Everyone had to, so I wasn't alone. And after-…well, the Ruling, there wasn't much worse that could be done." She took another sip of her drink. "Besides, I met Cassian, and we dated for a while. Got to spend my senior year with Luke, wasn't all bad."
"You dated Cassian?"
"Yeah, for maybe four or five years."
Han looked shocked. "I never would've thought- huh."
She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest. "What?"
"Nothing, I just-"
"Never would've thought a princess like me would be willing to date someone who relies on DACA?"
"Well, when you say it like that-"
She shook her head. "I might have been like that when I was younger, but things have changed. People change. Now I want to make the world better. Make sure people get their just desserts, might run for DA someday, even."
"Alright, alright, no need to convince me, I might just be some lowly tailpipe fucker, but I wasn't born yesterday." Leia laughed.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here, you two getting along?" Luke shouted as he and Mara slid into the booth next to the two of them.
"A moment of weakness, I assure you," Leia said, not looking at Han.
"C'mon Leia, dance with me," Mara said. "Luke's pussying out."
"Not surprising," Leia said as she moved to get out. "I was shocked he was even willing to come here, it cuts into his usual time of reflection and contemplation."
Luke scoffed, drinking, and she laughed. The two of them danced and even ran into Jyn and Cassian. Cassian went to go get another drink so the three women all danced together. Leia conceded that this was indeed a good time, if it wasn't for the lights flashing and the loud music beginning to give her a migraine. She tried to muscle through it and focus on how Jyn—for the first time since she'd met her—looked like she was having the time of her life. After a few songs, Leia was hot and exhausted. She got some water from the bar and was just about to head back when she felt a strong arm around her.
"Fuck off," she said without thinking.
The intruder laughed. "Maybe, if you buy me a drink first, but how 'bout a dance instead?" She turned to see Han, one arm draped over her shoulder.
"You drunk?" She asked.
He shook his head. "I told you I don't mess around at Jabba's."
"Dancing counts as 'messing around.'"
He shrugged. "I'm not good at following rules, even my own."
"Why is that not surprising? I'd really rather sit down, I'm starting to get a headache."
He followed her back to the booth where Mara and Luke were swaying to the rhythm in their seats. The song playing was one of the slower songs that night.
"Oh, Leia, Han, will you sit with the table so we can dance? Its our song," Mara asked emphatically.
"Yeah of course." The two of them sat down as the couple got up to dance.
Han and Leia sat in relative silence until the song was over, and there was a small reprieve from the music.
"I should show you my car," Han said.
"What?" Leia asked, even though she'd heard what he'd said. He took out his phone, an older smartphone with a screen cracked nearly beyond repair. He showed her some pictures flipping through some before and afters, and telling her about the history of the '63 Falcon. It was hard to tell what Leia was looking at exactly with the cracked screen, and it was hard to hear over the music and her pounding head. She merely nodded and said "yeah" whenever seemed necessary, hoping this conversation wouldn't go on forever.
"So you'll come tomorrow?" He asked and she blinked.
Leia had no idea what he was talking about. "Sure, where at? What time?"
He gave her the address and she put it into her calendar under "Solo Thing" at 8 am. She could barely think of Han getting up before 11, but she could barely think at all at this moment.
"You weren't kidding about that headache, you look awful," Han said.
"I bet you say that to all the girls."
"Only the cute ones." Leia was pretty sure he winked, but she couldn't tell at this point.
"I think I need to go home." She rubbed her temples, not sure if she should surrender her fate into the hands of a man who she'd only recently become on speaking terms with.
"Say no more, sweetheart." He stood and made his way over to the dance floor, hopefully to find Luke so he could take her home. She felt bad to ruin her brother's good time, but she was beginning to feel sick.
It was Jyn and Cassian who came to the table, not Luke.
"Sorry you're not feeling well." Cassian sounded about as remorseful as he could over the music, which was quite a bit considering. "Do you need a ride home?"
"Taken care of," Han said. "I already texted Luke, but I couldn't find him. Tell him I'm taking her home."
"Ok, but make sure it's her own, ok?" Cassian asked. "I don't think you want to know what'll happen if its not."
"Guys, I'm having a migraine, he didn't roofie me," Leia protested. Cassian held up both his hands in surrender
Han led her out of the building and over to the parking lot where an old black sedan sat.
"Is this the Falcon?" Leia asked.
Han gave her a look, but didn't call her out for not paying attention to his small spiel. "No, this is a 2005 TIE, a commercial car, alegally drivable on the roads. The Falcon is for racing."
"Oh, that's disappointing." Leia got into the passenger seat, curling up under her seatbelt.
"Don't worry, you'll see the Falcon tomorrow. That is, if you're feeling up to it." He got into the driver's seat, turning on the car and turning down the radio to a soft hum.
Leia waved it off. "I'll be fine. I'll be there." As they headed towards Uncle Owen's farm, Leia added the note to the event in her calendar: "See the Falcon?"
A/N: If the chapters seems short its because I cut them in such a way as to make them semi-even. I like to have chapters of similar length because I'm anal about that stuff.
I would also like to make a note that I am no longer accepting requests. This was a long time coming, but recently I've been getting a lot people coming from my stories, claiming they love my writing but not showing any support in the way of follows, favorites, or reviews. And most of the requests aren't ones I can do for various reasons (ranging from I don't know the fandom to being so specific there is no creative freedom for me). It was no specific person or moment, just a long time coming. Thank you in advanced for your understanding.
Reviews, follows, and favorites are not necessary. I don't need them I write for myself, but if you truly like my writing and want to support it, that's the best way to do it. Also follow me on tumblr as kisstheprincessofpurewhite. I'm more active on Ao3 also as kisstheprincessofpurewhtie. Thanks again, everyone. New chapter in a few days.
