Written for a recent fic challenge, prompt "hot and bothered." My thanks to StarryEyedGalathynius, who edited this and is a true pleasure to work with.
Sometimes, the best part about visiting a planet was leaving it, especially if the planet in question was a big wasteland of a desert, a red-orange ball of sand covering nothing other than rock, bones, and scavengers, a planet that barely managed to support the lackluster criminals who made it their home.
Tatooine.
Leia knew there were many moisture farmers on the planet, but the majority of the commerce pointed to a one-fashionable criminal underworld gone to seed. Tatooine had once been a destination people came to for various reasons: to watch the podraces, buy slaves, or just to spend a few credits on cheap drinks and lay low for a few days without laying too low.
Time had ravaged it all, and everyone who could afford to had moved on. Now, there were a few pitiful souls doing honest moisture-farming work, and a few pitiful souls too far down on their luck to be in on any reputable criminal enterprise... unless they had owed Jabba the Hutt, and of course no one had wanted to owe Jabba the Hutt.
It still boggled Leia's mind that Han had, at one point, come here voluntarily.
She wondered what would happen now that Jabba was dead, whether one of his henchmen would take over, or whether the whole organization would simply collapse and be scattered into the sands like everything else on this planet.
At least they were almost done here. At least she had some decent clothes on, even if the heat from Tatooine's twin suns left her feeling hot and uncomfortable. At least Han was whole, safe, alive...
Asleep, his head on her lap.
Leia felt the weight of him, a comforting reminder that all their planning had paid off; they had him back. She hadn't been able to stop looking at him, had barely been able to let him go long enough to climb into the speeder that would take them to the Falcon, settling next to Chewbacca and letting Han, who still looked more than a little unsteady, rest against her.
It hadn't taken long for him to fall asleep. Once Luke had moved to help Lando navigate, Chewbacca had taken his former seat. This left Leia with more room, but it also meant Han kept sliding down until Leia had given up and moved his head into her lap.
Innocently, of course.
What was much less innocent now, however, was Han burrowing into her, as if he was still cold, as if he couldn't get enough of her heat.
It was... distracting. And a bit embarrassing. She shifted to nudge Han's head back, Han responding by nuzzling his way up, nearly to the apex of her thighs.
The spike of heat that shot through her was a purely biological reaction, and she ignored the way Chewie huffed out a breath suspiciously close to laughter.
She held still as her pulse pounded in her ears, willing her body to relax, to accept that there was no intent here. In the front of the speeder, Lando and Luke were diligently scanning their surroundings, and the droids were conversing with each other. Just across from her, Chewie was pretending not to be paying attention to her predicament... and so Leia let her hand thread through Han's hair instead of waking him up, instead of protesting his inappropriate position.
She was long past denying she would allow herself this touch if he were awake, and so she let herself indulge while he was asleep, confident he wouldn't mind. She was confident of so many things, now. Somehow, in his absence, she had learned to understand him better.
She was still hot, uncomfortable, and her legs were falling asleep... but she would rather be here with him, than anywhere else in the galaxy.
She played with his hair, scratching lightly at his scalp, half-asleep herself... right up until his hand slid around her hips, his fingers gripping her where no one could see.
She stilled. His eyes were still closed, but she could still see the edges of a smile forming on his face. Unbelievable. She had half made up her mind to scold him, to tell him that if he was awake enough for that, he could sit up and let her regain feeling in her legs... but he was already drifting off again, his hand letting go, his smile fading into sleep.
Leia sighed, resigning herself to a very long speeder ride, for a start, and then, assuming the best, a long, frustrating life with Han always by her side.