You hurried with a search-and-rescue team toward Hangar Five after receiving an urgent message from Han Solo. Since Han had specifically requested for you, they allowed you to lead the team. When you reached the door to Hangar Five, you typed in the code, the door opened, and you ran inside to see Han cleaning the outside of his ship, the Millennium Falcon. He looked up from the spot he was shining and smiled.
"Chewie, come out here! Our help has arrived," he announced as he put his rag away. The search and rescue team shifted behind you and you heard murmurs of disapproval.
Lando, who had insisted that he come along, walked to the front. "What's this about? We don't have time for your shenanigans, Han," he said with overtones of disapproval.
Han walked up to the group and put his hands up defensively. "I wouldn't exactly call them shenanigans, Lando," he said. "More like creative ways to get the help I need."
From your spectator's position, you rolled your eyes. Han was always pulling stunts like this, and it annoyed you to death. However, occasionally, there was something about him made you want to laugh. Of course, you never did. You felt it was against your character. There was some unspoken promise to yourself that you would not encourage Han Solo.
"General Solo," you began.
Han rolled his eyes. "Please, none of that 'General' junk," he pleaded, shaking his head, and offering you a mischievous smile. He stopped and performed an exaggerated a bow. "The name's Han Solo... or just Han if you like."
You stared at him unimpressed. "Yes, we've met, Han," you reminded him through gritted teeth. "We're here because you sent us a message saying that you were in danger."
"Whoa, wait. Hold on. I never said I was in danger," he insisted, never losing his smile. You would've told him off right there in front of everyone, but Lando beat you to it.
"Han, what did you call us here for?" Lando repeated. By then, most of the rescue patrol had become fed up with Han. They'd all either left or stuck around to see who would hit him first.
"Look, I didn't ask for a whole search and rescue gig," Han replied. "I asked," He took the rag back out of his pocket and pointed it at you, "for Y/N." He walked back to his ship and started wiping down the same spot.
Lando and the rest of the team walked away, muttering under their breaths, and you were about to follow suit.
"Y/N!" You heard Han call you from behind. Nearly everything in you told you to just walk away; but, be it the tone in his voice or the desire for the satisfaction of slapping him across the face, something made you turn around.
You folded your arms over your chest. "Do you need something?" you asked, exasperated.
Han nodded as if it was obvious. "Come on," he instructed. You hesitantly walked up to the Falcon. You stood there for a while and watched Han shine the same spot over and over again.
"I'm pretty sure that spot is clean now," you pointed out in monotone.
He stared at you. "What are you doing standing there?" he questioned.
Your arms dropped to your sides. "You called me over here, Han," you would've laughed if you weren't so annoyed. "Did you call me here for anything at all? Or were you so busy drooling over the Falcon that you forgot?"
He laughed and your traitorous heart skipped a beat. You scolded yourself inwardly. You were supposed to hate him, but on rare occasions like these it seemed impossible. "Calm down," he instructed. He walked under the Falcon and started up the ramp. He stopped, turned around, and held out his hand. "I'll show you."
You sighed and pushed his hand away. "I know how to walk up a ramp." You walked ahead of Han and into the Falcon. He smiled and followed you in. You wandered around, Han following close behind. "You brought me in here to see this piece of junk?" you asked, only halfway joking.
"The Falcon is the fastest ship in the galaxy." Han bragged defensively. "That is if the hyperdrive is working... Chewie!" You heard a growling in the distance. "Waddya you mean it's not fixed yet?" Han repeated. He started to jog off to help Chewbacca but turned back to you. "Just don't touch anything," he ordered before going off to help Chewbacca.
You navigated the halls aimlessly until you found what looked like the control room. You ran a hand over the controls, disregarding Han's insisting that you not touch anything. Han irritated you endlessly, and there had to be a way to repay the favor. You knew how much Han loved the Falcon and it gave you an idea. You turned around and walked to Han, who was on his knees, bent over a bunch of wires.
"Hey, Han," you began, your plot fully formed in your mind.
He continued to stare down at the twisted wires with a vengeance, but he nodded in brief acknowledgement.
"I'm just going to try pushing a few buttons in the control room," you casually announced. "I hope that's ok."
"Yeah, uh-huh," he agreed absently.
You sucked in a breath to keep yourself from laughing. "Ok, thanks!" you managed.
"Gahhhhh!" Chewbacca warned Han. You put your finger to your lips to silence Chewie and ran off to the control room. The panicked Chewbacca remained by Han, trying to get his attention, eventually resorting to punching him in the arm.
"Ow! What was that for? I'm working on it!" Han said angrily.
"Grahhhh!" Chewbacca explained.
Han dropped the wires and jumped to his feet. "She what?" he yelled and ran after you. He burst into the control room and looked around anxiously. You had your back to the side of the door and watched him turn the seats around hoping to find you in one of them.
"The Falcon didn't ask for a whole search-and-rescue gig, Han," you said smirking.
He spun around and pointed the bizarrely-shaped tool he had in his hand at you. "You can't go pushing buttons on my ship whenever you feel like it," he practically screamed, his face turning beet red.
"Never fear, darling, I didn't press a button on your precious ship," you promised. "Though even if I did, I happen to recall that you said I could."
"I never said anything like that!" he insisted.
You were barely refraining from doubling over laughing, and Han could tell. His face returned to its normal color. "Oh, you think this is funny, huh?" he questioned.
At that moment, Chewbacca walked into the control room, announcing that the hyperdrive was fixed. Han smiled. "Buckle up, sweetheart," he instructed.
It took you a moment to process what was going on, but once you understood, you were thrown into a confusing mix of emotions. On one hand, you had no intention of allowing Han Solo—a reckless pilot and a scoundrel—to fly you anywhere in the Millennium Falcon—theoldest and junkiest ship in the galaxy. But on the other hand, you were intrigued and excited at the prospect of an adventure with Han Solo—a reckless pilot and a scoundrel. You decided to let curiosity kill the cat and burn bridges when you came to them. You took a seat and strapped yourself in. "Where are we going?" you inquired.
Han looked at you, turned to Chewbacca, and smiled. The ship lurched and the main door to Hanger Five opened. The Falcon headed through the opening and started flying surprisingly steadily.
You had always liked flying but you were sort of on edge about riding in the run down piece of scrap metal Han called a ship. You watched Han push buttons and flick switches with a cocky smirk all the while. Chewbacca leaned over to Han and grumbled something inaudible. Han whispered back while you strained to hear what they were saying. All you got was a snippet about malfunctioning and Han undoubtedly lying about it being ok.
"When you're ready, Chewie," Han allowed. There was a flash of light and suddenly you were in hyperspace. In your experience, hyperspace usually meant kicking back for some smooth sailing; but on this particular piece of garbage, it felt shaky and uncontrolled. You wondered how long it would be before the ship came to a stop. Light speed, of course, was supposed to be quick as a wink, but this seemed a lot longer than a wink.
A red light started to flash on the control panel in front of Han. The Falcon was definitely shaking uncontrollably now, and presumably not just because it was an old ship. There was a loud crashing noise and the Falcon stopped dead. Everything in the Falcon turned off suddenly and thankfully flickered back on.
You sat there gripping the seat tightly mouth agape. "You're dead," you announced with conviction. Han turned around to look at you, and then hopped out of his seat.
"Not yet, I'm not!" He yelled behind him as he ran toward the hyperdrive he was fixing earlier. You turned to Chewbacca who was ready to follow him.
"I'll have something to say about that," you muttered to him.
"Arghhhhh," Chewbacca snapped angrily. He brushed past you nervously, and you followed him.
"Well I have a reason to be angry at him!" you insisted. "First, he drags me into his ship without even telling me where he's going, then goes into hyperspace knowing the hyperdrive was malfunctioning, and now we're stranded in the middle of nowhe-" Chewbacca stopped abruptly causing you to run into him.
"Alright, no need to get worked up," you heard Han say.
You scoffed. "No need to get worked up? You didn't do anything about that hyperdrive, and now I'm paying the price!" you lamented. Han handed the tools off to Chewbacca, stood up, and brushed himself off.
"You think I wanted this to happen?" he asked.
"Considering how much trouble you get into, I'm beginning to wonder!" you hollered at him.
Behind Han, Chewbacca grunted. Han spun on his heel to glare at the Wookiee. "Whose side are you on, Fuzzball?" he questioned.
"Han, where were you even planning on taking me?" you asked through your teeth.
"Well I was going to take you to Corellia, but now I'm thinking about taking you to Hoth and leaving you there!" He brushed past you and sulked back into the control room.
You threw a pleading look at Chewbacca, but he just shrugged and got back to work. You offered to help, but Chewie didn't seem to want any—not from you anyway.
Having nothing else to do, you began to wander back to the control room. You told yourself over and over again that you weren't going there to see Han. Though, every time you told yourself that, it seemed less true.
You leaned against the frame of the door, watching as Han flicked switches in frustration. You began to suggest, "Have you tried contacting—"
"Yes!" He interrupted. "For some wonderful reason the com is down, and it looks like it's gonna be for a while."
"How long is a while?" you asked.
He turned to you ready to snap again, but after a moment of looking straight into your eyes, his face softened. He took a deep breath and silently walked back to Chewbacca. He whispered something you didn't catch. The Wookie growled softly, though you weren't very good at Shyriiwook, the Wookiee language, anyway.
Han turned back to you. "It shouldn't be that long, but we need to get the hyperdrive working," he explained.
"What's wrong with it?" you asked. Chewbacca made a noise that seemed to be a laugh. You looked at Han. He fidgeted and looked everywhere but your eyes. You realized that not only did Han have no idea what was wrong with the Falcon, but he was unprepared to fix it if he did. You glared at him.
"Settle down this will be over before you know it." He said.
"And if it isn't, I'm making a magic carpet out of Wookiee fur, and flying off of this junkyard."
You sat there for hours occasionally getting up to test communications. You figured that this must happen a lot in a ship like the Falcon. But the more you looked over at Han, the more clueless he seemed. It was hard to read expression on Chewbacca's face, but you could tell it wasn't any better on his end.
You got up once more to try to make contact with anyone at all. There was nothing but static. You went back to report to Han. Going back and forth between the cockpit, and where Chewie and Han worked was all you could really do. You didn't have any mechanical skills, so helping Han was out of the question. Han slammed his hand against the hyperdrive, making you jump.
"I can't fix it!" He yelled at no one. "This piece is entirely ruined!" You gave up any small hope you had that Han could get you out of this. Chewbacca growled in agreement. You planted your face in your hands and didn't want to look up until you were out of this mess.
You and Chewbacca spent a good portion of time playing Dejarik. The Wookiee wasn't very good, but Han explained he didn't like losing. You would rather let him win anyway. The game wasn't very entertaining, and it got tedious when Chewbacca kept challenging you round after round.
"Agghhhhrrgh" Chewie challenged once more. You noticed Han trying not to laugh out of the corner of your eye. You stood up and gestured to the seat.
"Your turn," you told him. Han leaned back in his chair.
"You're doing just fine," he said. "Maybe next time, if you don't use the lowest ranked character, you just might win." You walked over to him, pulled him out of his seat, and set him down in front of Chewie.
"Show me," you commanded. He obviously regretted commenting and reluctantly played Chewbacca. Though the game was boring to play, it was even worse watching it. The only thing that kept you looking was Han struggling to beat Chewie. Chewbacca had actually gotten better since you started playing him. That, unfortunately, only told you that you've been playing for far too long. You started walking in circles to get the blood flowing in your legs again. Han had lost the game and turned it off.
"You'll hurt your brain playing for too long." He told Chewie, who was growling in frustration. Han held up his hand for everyone to be quiet. There was a faint beeping noise off in the distance. You, Han, and Chewbacca started running towards the noise.
"Harrrghhh" Chewie said. You knew that had mentioned "hyperdrive", but you didn't understand the rest.
"I know, Chewie, but it shouldn't be." He picked up a pile of wires and studied them. Out of nowhere they sparked and Han jumped back. He noticed that the sparks had caught on to the withered hyperdrive manual Han had been reading. Han tried to quickly grab the papers but they set fire.
"Garrghhhhh!" Chewbacca howled.
"You didn't fix that?" Han shouted back. The Wookie shook his head. You grabbed Han's shoulder and turned him toward you.
"What didn't you fix?" You asked him. Han turned back toward the fire, started stomping it out.
"It wasn't my job to fix it!" Before the flames died away completely there was a loud noise. You figured it was some sort of smoke detector. Then immediately after the sound, water started pouring everywhere around you, Han, and poor Chewbacca.
You stood still as the cold water ran down your hair and onto your back making you shiver. This is why you didn't "hang out" with Han. Whenever you were around him, something had to go wrong. Han took one look at your face and started laughing. You turned to look at Han. He was being as childish as ever, something about that made you want to laugh. You trudged over to him and give him a push. He slipped and fell on his back. You and Chewbacca laughed until Han came to his senses. He stood up with a hilarious look of shock on his face.
"I guess I deserved that." He predicted. You nodded, and Chewbacca growled his agreement. "I wasn't asking you, you overgrown hairball." Chewie smiled causing Han to smile. The water had stopped now and you realized how soaked you were. You shivered and leaned over to Chewbacca
"How to you deal with him?" You playfully asked him. He shrugged in response.
"Come one, I'm a nice guy." Han said defensively. You and Chewbacca exchanged a glance, and the Wookiee went to dry off. You looked over at Han. He looked just as cold as you were. "Let's go see what we can salvage." He said walking toward the Dejarik table. There were a few papers on the table that were past saving. You gathered them up in shreds and threw them away. When you came back, Han was fussing over a control board.
"It still works right?" You asked Han. He turned to you.
"It should still work, but if Chewie had just fixed the sprinklers then I wouldn't have to worry about it at all." He said grudgingly.
"I don't get what was wrong with it," you said. "There was smoke and the smoke detector found out."
Han walked toward you, and turned around to see the water everywhere. "It's supposed to know where the fire is exactly and only spray there, but it malfunctioned a while ago." He clarified. "Come on. Let's go check the other rooms." You nodded and turned to go right when Han turned to go left. You ran into each other and almost fell over. Han recovered first and grabbed your hand. When he pulled you up you weren't expecting it and you ran into him again. This time he held on to you. You stared at him for a while captivated by his brown eyes. You looked down and backed up.
"Sorry." You said fidgeting. You didn't want to look up because you knew that no matter how hard you tried not to, you were falling for Han. He was the galaxy's biggest pain in the neck but there was the way he went about it that you thought about. He was confident in his decisions- including the stupid ones-. No, that didn't make him any less annoying either, but it helped. You had misjudged him, and ignored him. He still was not great at the responsibility thing though.
"How about I go right?" he decided. You agreed and walked away smiling. You couldn't seem to get Han out of your mind. You cleaned up anything that was spoiled then met Han back in the cockpit. It was quiet except for the controls beeping every now and again. You were tired from all the stress so you sat down on the ground. Han chose to join you when he had dried most everything off.
"What a day," you sighed.
"No kidding," Han replied. "I'll never get this place dry again."
You looked at him and for once you didn't mind if you were there forever. He started leaning toward you. Your heart was beating out of your chest. Your noses were touching when you heard static from the controls. You both jerked away from each other to better focus on the incoming transmission. It cleared up and you recognized Lando's voice.
"It's about time!" Han said standing up, then helped you to your feet. Chewbacca walked in the room with matted, slightly dry, fur. You had forgotten that he was there on the Flacon with you.
"Are you ok? You tried to contact us," Lando said.
Han rolled his eyes. "Our communications were down. I think I got half a message through before it went out though," He guessed.
Lando confirmed that had happened and sent the search-and-rescue team for a real rescue this time. After Han was done telling Lando all the necessary details, Chewbacca gave us both towels to dry off on.
"That was perfect timing." You joked.
"Lando's good like that." He said. He bent down and kissed you ignoring the questioning growls from Chewie. His lips were still cold from the water but you didn't object. It seemed impossible that this would have happened. But then again, Han had never really understood impossible.