"Din Djarin runs from a fate he didn't want, wishing for something to hide him in the shadows again. That's until he finds peace in a place he least expected too."
AN: This is the companion piece to the previous chapter, with less dialogue but added feelings! All written during my Neuropsychology lecture cause my sleep-addled brain couldn't keep up with my teacher.
Hope this delivers!
Din is lost for what seems like years, the world spinning around him in an alcoholic haze he can barely escape. In reality, it's only been days, either spent at the local cantina, Peli's or the palace Fett took over. They stare at him with sad expressions but don't interact with him, leaving him to wallow in his misery.
Then, one day, Fennec gets tired of his drunken sobs, taking the bottle and kicking him in the side.
"I bet your son would be delighted to see the mess his father has become." She snarls at him, then turns sharply, and Din's left to stare at her retreating back.
Din stares at his reflection, not recognizing the man looking back at him. Damn, he's a mess. And he needs a shave. He considers the Darksaber on his belt, but stops before he can unhook it. There's no guarantee that Bo-Katan won't feel him disrespecting the blade and come to kick his face in for being a bad leader. Oh well, he already looks like the wrong end of a bantha. No need to ruin the situation even more.
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Very funny, Fett," he collapses onto one of the couches, moving over when the material feels a little sticky to the touch. "I need a ship."
"Are you going to chase after the Jedi?" After the world stopped spinning and he could remember how to speak in Mando'a without biting his tongue.
"Possibly. Most likely. But I can't do that without a ship." Fett laughs at him, the motions Fennec over, whispering something to her. She nods, giving Din a look he can't quite decipher before leaving.
"Anything for my King."
"Kriff you and the ship you flew in."
Luke Skywalker. Luke 'blew up a Death Star' Skywalker has his son. And there's not a kriffing trace of him in the whole Outer Rim, and he's not about to ask his sister. He's pretty certain he'd get dragged into the politics of the galaxy and he's not about to start acting like a king. No way. No sire.
He stops on Nevarro to ask for a job, shocking Karga enough to fall off his chair when he walks in. Cara pats him on the shoulder, making him stumble, then hands him a few bounty pucks.
"I need information."
"And you got exactly that," she responds, daring him to talk back. And Din Djarin, mighty and reluctant leader of Mandalore, sweats under his helmet, nodding so fast, it almost falls off.
Jakku is nearly as bad as Tatooine. There's still a lot of sand, he feels like he's cooking under his armour and people are staring at him in open terror. The cantina is just as dusty but lacks the mechanic ready to bash his head in with a wrench for being 'the stupidest and most pathetic king she'd ever seen'.
Din sits down at the bar, nodding at the droid when it turns to serve him. His mark was last seen somewhere here, babbling about how 'the wizards with powers from the damned had ruined his career' and stealing things from everyone in sight. Should be an easy job. Beskar is pretty noticeable and he was not afraid to weaponize it.
His instincts start screaming at him to hide, and he lets out a long-suffering sigh. Hoping to every god that his intuition was wrong, he turns around in his seat, coming face-to-face with a scowling Bo-Katan. Kriff this planet and his whole existence.
"I've been looking for you."
"Not like I was hiding." Why did he have to leave Fett's palace again? Right… his kid.
He has just enough time to catch his man and interrogate him about the 'space wizard with a green sword' who he ran into on Yavin 4 before Bo-Katan drags him away to Mandalore. It was time he stopped running and put on his big-boy armour, according to her. Din firmly disagreed with her on the matter.
"You are a fresh face who has shown himself to be very dedicated to his foundling. Also, you have a lot of capable allies and are a pretty capable warrior who honours his word," she tells him on the way to his planet, and Din doesn't need any weird powers to feel the disdain in her words.
Mumbling something back that vaguely resembles 'I didn't want it' and 'you should have taken the damn thing', he settles into his seat, staring at the controls of his ship. This was going to be a long journey. Hopefully, Grogu was having a much better time than him.
Escaping the delegates of what seems like an endless amount of clans takes a few weeks. There's always someone just around the corner ready to ask him something very important that can't wait another minute and Bo-Katan has become his shadow, nearly following him into his own rooms too.
"I just need a week!" He complains to Cara, holocom nearly falling off the stack of books he placed it on.
"You're the boss there, Mando, just tell them that."
"I can't! Everyone is counting on me for guidance," she snorts, and he flips her off, banging his head into the table. His research wobbles dangerously, and he stares at the laws written nearly hundreds of years ago. "I just want my kid, Cara."
"Then go. You have Bo-Whatever there to keep things together while you're away. And is there no law about keeping contact with your kid?"
"But he's with his own-" He freezes, eyes wide. Yes, Grogu was with a Jedi. But he wasn't with someone of the same species. Technically, Din had just entrusted him to Skywalker until he finished with his work. Which was still bad, but still! He could visit his kid!
"I need to go!"
Yavin 4 is covered in forests, and Din finds his son in a clearing, working on an improvised garden with Skywalker. The man looks golden in the sunlight, and Din stops only to watch them for a while. He doesn't want to intrude and destroy this picture of calm. But there's a squeal and Grogu is rushing towards him, little hands raised. Din kneels down, and catches him when he jumps at him and where did he learn that? Is he taller? Is he a little lighter? Does he feel alright? Is he...he's home.
Skywalker acts weird around him. He could be planning to get rid of Din so he wouldn't put them at the risk of discovery. Or maybe he was just not comfortable with Din being there. But he still lets Din return time and time again, the Jedi temple turning into a little safe-haven away from his exhausting life on Mandalore.
Grogu is delighted to have him there, showing off every new trick he learns with a puffed up chest, waiting for his recognition with his little ears almost flat against his head. Sometimes, he asks to go exploring, finding various shiny rocks and pretty flowers while out in the forest. Those are brought back for his teacher, his son demanding Din give them over while Senator Organa, if she's there, watches their interactions with barely hidden amusement.
Din likes watching Grogu and Luke meditate. He enjoys how his son tries to stay in one place for extended amounts of time, giving up eventually to try to catch butterflies as sneakily as he can. And Luke just opens up, expression growing soft as he connects to the world around him. There's almost always a small smile on his face, and he seems ethereal against the backdrop of lush green trees.
Din tries to memorize every single detail of his face, comparing it to the image of the same man who decimated a whole army of droids without breaking a sweat and the goofy kid who sometimes forgets how certain things work.
Grogu coos at him, expression happy, as blue wings struggle in his grasp. He smiles back at his son, face hidden behind his mask. He could get used to this.
"You like the Jedi," Bo-Katan tells him when he gets back to Mandalore. He freezes mid-step, contemplating her remark. Does he?
"I don't know." She rolls her eyes, launching into an explanation about the newest trade route that's being set up with Tatooine, of all of the planets in the universe.
Someone challenges him for the throne when he stops to refuel on his way to Yavin. His signet is not familiar, but he shows experience in his fighting, nearly overpowering Din.
He doesn't notice his wounds, too strung up, until he finally sees Luke. Safety. He can let go now.
Din can barely hang on to consciousness when Luke lets out a high, keening sound. He turns to face him, wincing when his wounds protest against the movement.
"Are you okay?"
"I should be asking you that," he responds, face red. Din raises an eyebrow at that, turning back around with a groan. Luke's hands stop, and Din resists the urge to curse. Dank farrik, the kid's enamoured. So this was what Leia was hinting at for so long.
Another realization hits him when Luke leaves him alone to get Grogu, skin tingling from the memory of his hands touching it. He likes Jedi. He really likes Luke.
"What do you think I should do?" Grogu blinks at him, munching on some fruit. Luckily, they're alone, Luke somewhere off, most likely together with Leia.
"Cara would tell me to confess," Din muses, and the kid lets out an 'aboo' that he takes as an agreement. "You like him, don't you?"
He settles on telling him his name, hoping he would pick up on the meaning of that. A part of him wonders how the kid has managed to not share his name with his teacher, given the fact that Luke told him Grogu enjoyed chattering. But the perfect moment doesn't come, No matter how much he waits. Either he's loopy from the painkillers, or Bo-Katan needs something or Luke has to run because his brother-in-law got reckless again.
They're finally alone when Luke decides to help change his bandages, tongue sticking out in concentration. Din watches him with heated cheeks, hand itching to touch him and to pull him into his lap.
"Din Djarin. My name is Din Djarin," he tells him when Luke finishes, catching his wrist before he can pull away. The other one looks him in the eyes, and Din smiles at him.
"Nice to meet you, Din," he lets out an involuntary chuckle rubbing his finger across the soft skin of his wrist. Luke's expression changes, cheeks growing red while his eyes grow distant. Leia had told Din that her brother looked like this when he was trying to read the emotions around him, and he offers up as much as he can. Then he places his other hand on Din's helmet, the metal not radiating the same warmth as the one in his grasp. Their forehead touch and he has to remember how to breathe, wondering briefly if Luke knows the meaning of that gesture.
"Nice to meet you too, Luke," pain and emotions cloud his voice and he pulls Luke closer. There's the shadow of his duties over his mind, but he feels happy. Like he'd managed to catch starlight in his hands, and he was not going to let go of this any time soon.