"Luke, you're going to be late!"

"Coming!"

Luke shoved the markers in his backpack and stumbled out the door, only to hit Anakin's shins. With a small grunt, Luke staggered backwards, and he would have fallen on the ground if his father didn't catch him on time.

"There you are," Anakin said, laughing a little as he steadied Luke. "Come on, your sister's already at the door."

"I was coming," Luke said, shouldering his backpack. He looked back at his bedroom anxiously, trying to remember if he had gotten everything. But all he saw were really things that no kindergartner would need to bring to class—not the plush loth cat that Auntie Soka gave him for his birthday, and not the small stack of picture books Uncle Obi-Wan had given him just last weekend. And Luke had originally tried to put those things in his backpack last night—that was, until his parents had told him that they probably wouldn't all fit, and, besides, his loth cat and picture books were probably safer at home anyways.

So really, there wasn't much five year olds really needed for school except for...well. A backpack for the formalities of having a backpack.

But Luke didn't really know that yet, and he had dutifully packed in pencils and colored markers into his backpack anyways, because he had seen his mother do the same whenever she was about to go out to work. He would have taken her datapad too, except that was strictly Mommy's Stuff.

"Okay," Luke said finally, turning back around to Anakin. "I'm ready."

"Then in that case," Anakin said, nudging Luke forward by the shoulder, "see if you can race Leia to the elevator. First one who gets there chooses dessert."

That just about did it. Luke sprinted down the hallway—which was semi-cluttered with pillows and blankets from the fort that he had built with his sister last night—and down through the kitchen, where his mother was just zipping up lunchboxes.

"Luke!" Padmé called, and Luke obediently backtracked a few steps, ran up to his mother. He hopped up to give her a quick good morning kiss and get his good morning hug—good morning kisses and good morning hugs were supposed to make the day better, and Luke figured that on his first day of kindergarten, he would need all the luck he could get.

For one, he wasn't going to be around Leia anymore, which was strange for him to wrap his mind around. He had always been in the same room as Leia, back when they were babies and their version of school had always been listening to their parents and Uncle Obi-Wan and Auntie Soka and Uncle Rex's occasional lessons. (Luke liked Obi-Wan's lessons best. He spoke differently from his parents, and he never seemed to run out of stories about anything.)

But this would be a little different. Being in a different classroom, having different grown-ups around him...different people in general. Luke hoped that he would be liked. He hoped he would like the new people.

So, again: he could use all the luck he could get.

And what would make his day even luckier would be if he could outrun Leia to the speeder for once. He hopped down from his mother's arms, and giving her a quick wave over his shoulder, he sprinted to the door—and sure enough, he found his sister already leaning against the opposite wall, her backpack settled over her shoulders.

"Where are you…" Leia started, but Luke was already opening the door.

"First one chooses dessert!" Luke said over his shoulder, and he bolted into the hallway. A few guards startled as Luke came barreling down—he managed to chirp a hello to them, and he just barely heard a hello back before he was focusing back on his run.

"Wait!" Leia shouted behind him.

"No waiting!" Luke said gleefully, looking over his shoulder. Leia was already running after him, her hair coming loose of the careful braids that their mother had arranged last night. "No—ooph—" He hit the ground with a hard thump, and he felt something scrape against both his chin and his knees.

"Luke!" Luke heard Leia's footsteps near, and really, Luke was just disappointed that his sister had already caught up to him. He had been really hoping to outrun her this time, because all the last times they had raced, Leia had managed to run faster than him. "Daddy! Luke fell!"

"Did not!" Luke protested, scrambling back up to his feet. Still, he lifted a hand up to his chin and rubbed it ruefully. He pulled his hand away to feel something wet and sticky, and then he heard Leia come to a slow stop next to him.

Leia took one look at the blood on Luke's hand and said louder, "Daddy!"

Luke winced, lifting his hand to his chin again. He scratched a little at the skin, felt something rough there. Huh. He looked at Leia, who grimaced. "I don't think you should touch it," she said, slapping Luke's hand down.

"It feels funny," Luke replied defensively.

"That's because it's bleeding," Leia said.

"Bleeding?"

Both Luke and Leia started and turned as Anakin came striding through the door. Only a moment passed before Anakin took in the mess, and upon seeing Luke's chin, his face fell. "Aw, Luke…"

"Sorry," Luke said. "I was just racing—"

"No, I know," Anakin winced. "Let's just—no, Luke, don't touch it—"

"I told you so!" Leia said.

Luke made a face, but he dropped his hand from his chin as Anakin walked towards them. "Am I in trouble?"

"No," Anakin said, grimacing. "But I might be."

As if on cue, Luke heard his mother calling, "Anakin, you forgot the kids' lunchboxes!"

Luke, Leia, and Anakin all looked at each other.

"Daddy's in trouble," Leia said solemnly.

"Yes, thank you, Leia," Anakin said. He took both Luke and Leia's hands, and they turned to walk back down the hallway. Luke wanted to point out that his hand was still a little sticky, but his father didn't seem to mind, not as they walked back into the apartment.

Padmé was already waiting at the doorway with two lunchboxes. And when they walked into the apartment, Padmé took one look at the scrape on Luke's chin and sighed.

"Did you tell them to race again?" she asked, setting the lunchboxes down on the table.

"Well, you said we were running late…" Anakin started.

Padmé looked at Anakin. "Choose your next words carefully."

"I'll get the bandages."

"Wonderful," Padmé said. She kneeled in front of Luke and pressed her lips together, turning his face lightly to one side, then the other. "You need to be careful."

"I was!" Luke said.

"He wasn't," Leia chimed in. "He kept looking back."

"I was not," Luke said furiously, turning around to his sister. Leia only shrugged her shoulders before sticking her lunchbox in her backpack, then Luke's in his.

Luke turned back around to his mother, who only raised an eyebrow at him.

"Okay," he said after a beat. "I looked. But I was still careful!"

"Mmhm," Padmé said. She tugged Luke towards the kitchen and picked him up. He found himself sitting on the edge of the counter a moment later, and then Padmé turned on the tap. She splashed the water around a few times, and then, satisfied with the temperature, she rubbed some soap over her fingertips and turned to Luke. "Stay still, okay?"

Luke nodded.

Padmé smiled and dabbed the soap and water over Luke's chin. He winced, automatically squirming a little at the slight sting. "Come on, you said you'd stay still."

"I'm trying," Luke said.

"I know you are," Padmé said. "But you're just gonna have to try for a few more seconds, okay?"

Luke winced at the soap and water again. His ankles knocked a few times against the cupboards underneath him, but just as his mother promised, the soap and water was eventually dabbed away with a towel.

"Here we go," Anakin said now, walking into the kitchen. He set the box of bandages next to Luke. "Leia, do you wanna help Luke pick out—"

"Yes," Leia said automatically, and in the next second, she was sitting on the counter too. Anakin shifted the box of bandages between the two of them, and Luke looked down at the neatly assorted stacks of bandages. There was a cluster that were just plain white—some of them were thicker ("bandages for really, really, really bad things," Anakin had once told Luke when he asked), but the bandages Luke and Leia were really interested in were the more colorful and patterned ones.

"Alright, lift your chin for me," Anakin said, picking out the cream. Luke lifted his chin, let his father dab just a bit of the cream on before Leia plucked out a silver bandage decorated with stars. When Luke nodded his approval, Leia stuck the bandaid on his chin with as careful hands that a five year old could possibly have.

"Great job," Anakin said, snapping the medical kit shut. "Now. Let's actually go."

"Don't run," Padmé warned.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Anakin said, helping Luke and Leia down.

Luke heard his mother let out a short breath—but when he looked up, he saw his parents exchange quick kisses. Their own version of good luck-good morning kisses, that was. And then Anakin was scooting Luke and Leia along. "Do you two have your backpacks? Lunchboxes? Shoes on? Yes?"

"Yes," Luke and Leia chorused.

"Top marks for the day," Anakin said. "That's it, no school."

"Anakin," Padmé called.

"Just joking, guys," Anakin said, nudging Luke and Leia again. "Come on."

They made it to the school eventually—and they were late, Luke realized, because his father was mumbling something about just that. He let himself be unbuckled from the speeder, hopped down next to Leia as Anakin looked around the school.

"Okay," he said after a little while. "Front desk—that's where we start. Front desk…come on, guys." He stuck out his hands, and Luke automatically looped his hand into his father's. Leia, he knew, was on their father's other side.

They walked through the front doors.

And the first thing Luke noticed was that everything was a lot bigger than they were back home. The front desk, as his father called it, seemed to loom before Luke, and behind the desk, an elderly gentleman was typing away at a computer.

Anakin cleared his throat.

The man looked up from the screen with bleary eyes.

"Morning," Anakin said.

The man grunted. "Is it?"

Luke had the feeling that wasn't exactly how regular grown-up conversations were supposed to go. The old man's voice scared him a little, all rough and gravelly, and Luke found himself squeezing his father's hand a little harder. Luke hoped this man wasn't his teacher.

"We're a little late," Anakin said. "Just looking to drop my kids off to their classes, so if you've got the names…"

The man mumbled something under his breath, looking at the computer. "Names?"

"Luke and Leia Amidala-Skywalker," Anakin replied.

"Amidala-Skywalker, eh?" the man mumbled. "Like that Senator and the Jedi fella?"

Luke looked up at his father, whose face had gone a little funny.

"Sure," he said after a little while. "Like them."

The man looked at Anakin. "Huh," he said after a while, and then he looked back at his computer. "Well, Luke and Leia Amidala-Skywalker. Here they are. Leia's off with Mr. Basout—Luke's off with Ms. Parat. Kindergarten classrooms organized alphabetically on the second floor." He looked back at the computer, the audience clearly over.

Luke looked back up at his father. For a moment, Anakin looked like he wanted to say something—but then, clearly thinking better of it, he just shook his head and looked down at Luke and Leia. "Come on, you two," he said. "Let's go find your teachers."

And they did find their teachers. They dropped Leia off first, since her classroom was the closest.

And Luke found something a little funny at that point too: Leia's teacher, Mr. Basout, just blinked at Anakin a few times, and then he started stammering about how "oh, no problem at all about Leia being late, we're just glad that she made it here". Leia only looked at Luke once, and she just rolled her eyes: something that Luke noticed she had perfected over the last few weeks.

"Bye, Daddy!" Leia said loudly, and she yanked at Anakin's hand.

"Bye, princess," Anakin replied, and he obediently ducked his head so Leia could kiss him on the cheek.

With that duty completed, Leia adjusted her backpack over her shoulders, tossed Luke a confident little smile, and marched right into the classroom. Luke, meanwhile, watched from his father's side as Leia plopped herself down at the first table she saw.

"Noon pick-up time today?" his father was saying now.

"Yes," Mr. Basout replied. "Noon. Noon every other day—do you have a schedule? I could get you a schedule."

"No," Anakin said hastily. "We've got a schedule at home—I just wanted to make sure—"

"Of course, of course—"

"Well," Anakin said, tugging at Luke's hand. "I've got to drop this one off to Ms. Parat's classroom…"

"If you don't know where her class is—"

"No," Anakin said quickly. "I think I can find my way. Nice meeting you."

And then Anakin and Luke were both hurrying down the hallway, and Luke had the itchy feeling that maybe the school year was going to be different in ways more than one. Luke wasn't really sure how he felt about that, but he decided that things couldn't be too terrible, because at least his classroom wasn't too far from Leia's, and at least he would only be here for a few hours. That was what his parents had told him last night.

Just a few hours—even though a few hours felt like a forever, Luke supposed that was better than spending the entire day in this odd little place where odd people talked oddly to his father.

Ms. Parat, though, didn't seem to really speak as oddly as the man at the desk or Mr. Basout, because when she opened the door, she said little more than, "There's an open seat by the window. Come in when you're ready." And then the door had snapped shut in their faces.

"Is this what school always supposed to be like?" Luke asked after a moment. He looked up at his father.

Anakin's face softened. He knelt down next to Luke and, straightening the straps of his backpack, said, "Not always, I don't think."

"Seems...interesting," Luke said. "It's weird."

Anakin let out a quiet laugh. "You're right," he said. He stood up. "So you'll have to tell me about it when I pick you up, okay?"

Luke nodded. "Okay." He looked at the door and squared his shoulders. "I'm ready!"

He heard his father laugh again, and then he pushed open the door.

Luke discovered multiple things about kindergarten that day: firstly, that Ms. Parat said "ms." like "mizzzzz", and secondly, that lying down on the rug during storytime was okay, and thirdly, that his classmates liked swapping things like markers and pencils, and Luke liked swapping them, too. He swapped them now, as Ms. Parat passed around little cards that would mark their seats for the first week of school.

"I like your blue," a boy said politely to Luke.

Luke looked down at his marker. "Thanks," he said. He looked at the boy's array of markers, and, after a little while, he said, "I like your orange."

They looked at each other and decidedly scooted their markers together.

After a little while, their markers were mixed together to the point that they couldn't quite remember whose markers were whose, but Luke decided he didn't mind, and the boy sitting next to him didn't seem to mind either.

"I'm Luke," Luke said after a moment.

"Ezra," the boy replied.

They smiled at each other.

Other things Luke learned about kindergarten: it was a little different from what his usual day back home would be. There weren't any floating or flying lessons, but there was a storytime and an outdoors time, and Luke liked both of those when he was at home. Ezra seemed to like outdoors time, too, and the two of them spent their time trying to climb one of the short trees in the courtyard.

"What are you two doing?"

Luke turned to see Leia walking over. Her class, too, was let out for outdoors time, and behind her, Luke could see Mr. Basout and Ms. Parat talking nearby the entrance to the courtyard. A cluster of children were bouncing a ball amongst themselves, while another were jumping around some chalk-drawn circles.

"Trying to climb," Luke said. To prove his point, he grabbed one of the lower branches and stuck his feet against the trunk. He made it two little steps before his arms grew too heavy, and he had to drop himself back down on the ground.

"That's not how you climb," Leia said.

Ezra looked at Leia. "Then how do you climb?"

Leia huffed, and she grabbed one of the branches and hoisted herself up. She wobbled a little bit, and for a moment, Luke thought she would fall, but she just stuck her foot in another hold of the branches. A moment later, she was clumsily making her way up to one of the branches above Luke's head. She really shouldn't have gone up there too fast—but she was suddenly another branch higher, looking absolutely pleased with herself. "See?"

Luke scowled. He grabbed at the branch and, ignoring his sister's laugh, he followed her movements. The bark scraped against his palms, and a leaf fell in his hair, but he didn't really mind. In another moment, he had his stomach on the branch, and he was looking over at Leia, who had crawled down the end to give him some room.

"Okay," Luke said. "I get it." And then he turned down to Ezra, who was peering up at the Skywalker twins and clearly waiting his turn. "Come on!"

Ezra's face lit up. And then he, too, was scrambling up the branch until all three of them were sitting together, with their feet swaying a little in time with a passing breeze.

"I wish we had class outside," Ezra said.

"Me too," Luke said, looking down at their feet. He watched an ant crawl around the branch.

"Me three," Leia agreed. Holding on to the branch above them, she slowly started to stand up. Her knees wobbled again as she tried to keep her balance, and then she looked triumphantly down at Luke. "Bet they can't find us."

Luke looked at the teachers. They were still speaking, although now at a different section of the courtyard.

Luke felt the branch bounce a little, and he looked up in time to see his sister already making her way above him. She clung to the branch with her hands and feet, belly down.

Luke looked at the teachers again. They still weren't looking.

"What are you still doing there?" Leia asked.

Luke sighed. He had been practicing that specific sigh, the kind that he would hear his mother or Uncle Obi-Wan give whenever his father said or did something that Luke apparently wasn't allowed to know about. It was a funny little sound, and perhaps an even funnier sound both to and from a five year old, but Luke was rather proud of it.

"Fine," he said, and he stood up, too. "Are you coming, Ezra?"

But when he turned around, Ezra was already standing against the tree trunk, looking for another branch to grab ahold of.

Fine, Luke thought, and he took hold of the branch above him. He started to pull himself up, his hands straining from the sudden pressure. He set a foot down on the branch he was standing on, readjusted himself so that he had a better grip. He could hear Leia shuffling around above him.

Luke tried to get up, realized that wasn't the right way either. He frowned and moved to the side. Maybe if...ah-ha, there was a better grip.

Luke swung a leg over the branch and was just about to push himself up when he heard a dull crack.

He didn't really know what was happening next except he fell back on the branch below himself with a soft thud, and then he heard a sharp cry as his sister lost her grip—

And Luke scrambled over the branch, reached just as his sister flew past him, and—

So the funny thing about his home schooling was that he had, in fact, had his own share of floating lessons, and he had mostly done that with apples and his markers and pencils, but he figured that maybe—

He heard a quiet gasp below him, and he looked down to find both Mr. Basout and Ms. Parat staring in half-awe, half-shock as Leia hovered an inch or two above the ground.

Oops, Luke thought, and he dropped Leia. His sister landed with a soft thump, and then she was scrambling up to her feet.

After a moment that seemed a little too long, Ms. Parat said, "Get down from the tree right this instant."

And yet more things Luke learned about kindergarten: climbing trees was not okay if there wasn't a grown-up watching him, and most of his classmates couldn't do the floaty thing, actually, so it was all very confusing for the other children in Mr. Basout and Ms. Parat's classes to see Leia Amidala-Skywalker hovering in the air.

A few children gave Luke funny looks towards the end of the day because of that, and Luke caught Ezra looking at him a little funny too.

That didn't really feel good.

And what also didn't really feel good was listening to Ms. Parat and Mr. Basout tell Anakin that his children had, in fact, already broken a few rules.

Leia shuffled a little bit next to Luke. They exchanged a guilty look, and at the same time, they looked down at their shoes.

It was a long while before the teachers finally stopped talking, and Luke heard his father say something that sounded a little grown up, but when he looked, Anakin's mouth was twitching. "Thanks for the heads up," he said. "Got it. Careful. They'll be careful."

Luke caught his father's eye. Anakin winked.

And Luke had a feeling he wasn't, in fact, in trouble.

Which was proven the second the three walked out of the school, because as soon as they were out of earshot, Anakin asked, "So what did you two do again?"

"I climbed a tree," Leia said. "Really fast."

"And then she fell," Luke reported.

"Only a little—"

"Because I caught you!"

"How far? How long?" Anakin asked, opening the speeder door.

"Dunno. A few seconds?"

Anakin grinned. "A few seconds. Wow. Wow," he said again, shaking his head. "I should have seen it!"

"You're not mad?" Luke asked hesitantly as Anakin put him in the speeder.

Anakin grinned. "No way," he said, rubbing a hand over Luke's hair. "Not mad at all."

He set Leia in the seat next to Luke and added, "Just wait until your mom hears about this! Or your uncles or your aunt—you kids are geniuses—"

Luke looked at Leia.

They both grinned, listening to their father's excited voice all the way home.

"And then apparently, Leia ran up the tree, go on Leia—"

Leia bolted up to the top of the couch, her hands on her hips in a very triumphant, very proud manner that she had obviously copied from her parents.

"And then when she fell, Luke caught her—"

On cue, Leia leapt down from the couch belly-first. Luke, who was already sitting at the arm of the couch, very dramatically reached out his hand as she hit the couch pillow.

"And ladies and gentlemen, the crowd goes wild—"

"Oh, Anakin," Obi-Wan said wearily, shaking his head. But when Luke looked, his uncle was smiling a little, and so was Uncle Rex and Auntie Soka and Padmé.

"Sounds like you two had quite the adventure," Padmé said, sitting down on the couch.

"It was awesome," Leia said, crawling onto her mother's lap. "And Daddy says Luke and I can practice—"

"Did he now?" Padmé said.

Anakin grinned. "Not from trees all the time," he said. "But…"

"We'll be careful," Luke said.

"Exactly," Anakin added.

"Careful, he says," Obi-Wan said. "Mark that down, everyone."

"I don't know," Ahsoka said, laughing into her glass. "Sounds like a good idea to me."

"You would," Rex muttered.

Ahsoka grinned. "Well, who knows—maybe they'll start practicing on you—"

"Don't give them any ideas—"

Leia's eyes lit up. "Can we start practicing on you guys?"

"See, now it's guys—plural," Rex said, gesturing to Leia. "Would you like to be the first test subject?"

As the rest of the party's conversation dissolved into laughter, Luke curled up by his mother's side and simply listened. He felt his father settle down next to him eventually, and when Luke fell asleep later, he realized that he had learned some other things: first, that Leia and he were wonderful actors, at least, according to Uncle Obi-Wan, and second, that apparently his father and Auntie Soka used to throw Uncle Rex around, and third—and this was the most important bit of all—that his family would never, ever be truly disappointed in him.

A/N: hello, hello! if you are here from to these memories, hello again!

if you are here for just some pure, wholesome everything-is-happy-au family things, hello to you too! Let's get started!

Each chapter will follow the perspective of eight different character, and it'll be rotated. (I've got Luke, Leia, Anakin, Ahsoka, Padme, Rex, Obi-Wan, and a bonus character that I'm still keeping quiet about for now. We shall see!)

As always, reviews/follows/favorites are greatly appreciated!