A/N: Initially, I made this anthology only to collect the fics I'd written in response to a specific list of prompts. But since I have a few short vignettes that I've only posted on Tumblr, I thought I could add them to this collection instead of creating a new one. I'll be sharing most of these fics (I'll hold on to a couple for future, longer projects) here over the next weeks. They'll mess with the chronological order but I'll just have to accept that. Enjoy!

Prompt: A fistfight + Tears [pre-ESB]

Sympathizing

Han had been in enough fights to be familiar with the way time seemed to slow down to a crawl from the moment someone said the wrong thing and someone else decided they'd had enough, to then speed up into a frenzy as the first blow landed. The surprise element came from who had been the one to start this fight.

Aw, kriff, he thought, staring in disbelief as Leia's nose flared furiously, her brown eyes blazing, her fists balled tightly at her sides.

It had been a solid punch, he'd give her that, but the other woman didn't seem to be a stranger to getting in trouble—that much was clear, since she'd gone and poked the hornet's nest—and after making a quick recovery, she charged.

He had to get them out of there fast. His eyes followed the women's movements for an opening—he'd seen Leia fighting without a blaster before, but it had always been about survival, trying to find the quickest way to take down the enemy and get out. There was something else now, something Han knew too well.

Still, he couldn't wait for her to get it out of her system. In a split second, he whipped out his blaster and stunned the quarrelsome patron, lunged at Leia and threw her over his shoulder, and fled through a back exit as outraged yelling rose in the cantina. People accusing them of a dirty fight were the least of his problems, though: for one, after her initial shock, Leia had begun pounding at his back. After a couple of blocks of having his kidneys used as a punching bag, he understood what Leia was actually yelling at him.

'WE'RE BEING CHASED, HAN, PUT ME DOWN OR GIVE ME MY BLASTER NOW!'

Han didn't have a chance to check on Leia until after they had outrun their pursuers and gotten an emergency lift from Chewie. If word had not gotten out yet that Princess Leia was picking rows in a seedy cantina of a backwater planet, it would very soon—or Han was the lost King of Corellia.

Now that adrenaline had worn off, Leia looked as if she had been the one to get a stun bolt as she sat in the main hold. She had a cut near one of her eyebrows, a bruise on her cheek, and the pale skin of her neck sported a couple of finger-shaped bruises, too. Without a word, he rummaged through the medkit and grabbed an ice pack and some small bactapads.

'Here, you're lookin' a bit banged up, Your Worship,' he said, throwing the stuff lightly on the Dejarik table.

Leia winced, but looked up at him and tried to smirk.

'You should have seen the other guy.'

'I did,' Han said dryly, although his mouth twitched. He was pretty sure Leia had broken the other woman's nose. 'You hurt anywhere else? Want the scanner?'

'Just bruised. We didn't have enough time to do much damage.'

'You're welcome,' he said, making her snort lightly. Suddenly, she blinked, and Han noticed her eyes were watery as she stared at her hands, spread out on the table.

'I'd never done that before,' she whispered, blinking; a tear rolled down her cheek. 'I don't know what came over me. Punching a stranger in a bar just because she—'

Han thought back to the loud-mouthed woman from the cantina telling everyone who would listen (and those who wouldn't) about how Alderaan got what they deserved. As much anger as he knew Leia could possess, he would have never imagined she would react.

'Hey, I get it,' Han told her, sitting down next to her. 'Hard not to punch, that one.'

'It's not that. I'm not that kind of person, Han,' she said, looking at him.

You shoot people and plant bombs and steal ships of cargo, but you draw the line at fistfights? Han wanted to ask. Instead, he shrugged and said, 'I thought that was badass.'

'Of course you would,' Leia said with an eye roll, but he also got a glimpse of a smile before she grabbed the ice pack and pressed it against her cheekbone.