A/N Luke is ten in this chapter! Sorry for taking so long for an update! I struggled with this chapter but I really hope you like it!
"Sign up for the bake-sale after school! All proceeds go back to the Academy!" A girl announced in the lunchroom as she held out a datapad. Aaron and Luke sat at their tables, they were discussing their excitement for the Octave Stairway holo show all night showing on holovid. Aaron stopped to listen to the girl's announcement and sighed.
"Aww man, that sounds like fun." Aaron kicked his feet back and forth in his chair, looking off at the bake-sale sign. Luke glanced at the bake-sale sign and backed to Aaron.
"Yeah- but I don't wanna miss the marathon tonight." Luke had been to a bake-sale before, they were a lot of fun but it wasn't worth missing a marathon. Aaron's attention snapped back and smiled.
"Oh, Yeah- me neither," Aaron paused and his eyes lit up, "We should have a sleepover!" Luke almost jumped in his seat. Luke, although still struggled with homesickness, still thought sleepovers were fun. Tonight would be a perfect night as well, Luke couldn't stop smiling.
"Yes! That would be awesome!" Luke exclaimed, Aaron pulled his backpack close to him and began to rummage through his bag.
"Alright, I'll ask my parents if-" Aaron paused and looked slightly disappointed, "I just remembered- my apartment is gonna have reconstruction tomorrow…" Aaron sighed, "I probably won't be allowed to have friends over."
"Oh- well that's fine! You could probably stay over at my house tonight." Luke smiled, Aaron's eyes flew open. He hadn't been over to Luke's home very often, when they would hang out after school it would be at Aarons. Aaron had only met his father a few times and while with each encounter he grew braver, he still was slightly frightened of him.
"S-Sleep over? At your house?" Aaron asked nervously, "Will your- will your father be there?" Aaron said quietly, Luke looked at him funny.
"Uh yeah- he lives there." Luke laughed, "Uhm- you don't have to be nervous. He will probably just be working or something." Luke reassured, Aaron's worrisome look lessened and nodded slowly.
"Well, having a sleepover tonight would be cool," Aaron said softly, Luke smiled.
"That's the spirit! I'll ask if you can sleepover when I get home then com you." Luke honestly felt ecstatic, he had never had a sleepover before at his home. Luke still struggled slightly with homesickness, but sleepovers were fun, and having it at his home was the best of both worlds. Luke didn't know what his father would say but he didn't see why he would say no.
The bell rang through the lunchroom, an audible groan was heard across the room as kids began to stand and collect their things. Luke was smiling excitedly while Aaron looked like a good mixture of emotions. Luke sat up and swung his backpack over his shoulders, Aaron did the same and they both walked out of the lunchroom towards their next class.
When the school had finally let out, Luke jumped out of his seat in his class towards the landing pads. He had excitedly told Lekauf about his plans for the evening, though Lekauf looked somewhat skeptical. It cast small shadows of doubts that maybe his father wouldn't really allow the sleepover. It made Luke wonder why he would have a problem with it, it's not like Aaron and he would be loud. They would just stay in his room the whole night.
When they finally arrived at the hangar, Luke jumped out and threw his backpack over his shoulder and ran to the lift. Luke's stomach churned anxiously as the lift ascended to his floor, hoping his father wouldn't mind a sleepover. Luke felt his father's force presence brush up against his, his father was home. The lift doors swooshed open, he darted down the hall and quickly threw his backpack in his bedroom then ran to the conference room. His father stood at the end with a load of datapads stacked upon each other, the idea of doing that much work made Luke cringe internally.
"Hi father!" Luke smiled and sat at one of the conference room chairs.
"Hello, my son. How was your day?" His father asked as he set down one of the datapads he was working on.
"It was good- same as usual." Luke spun side to side in his chair, "So uhm- I was wondering something." Luke asked, he was mixed with emotions, but mostly was worried his father would shoot him down.
"What is it, young one?" His father picked up his datapad and continued his work. Luke took in a deep breath.
"Well- I was wondering if maybe Aaron could...sleepover?" Luke asked slowly, his father was silent for a moment. Luke began to wonder if he had heard him, he was about to repeat himself when his father finally replied.
"A sleepover?" His father asked, still looking down at the datapad, "Here?"
"Uh- yeah?" Luke said quietly, "If that's okay."
"Luke I have a great deal of work I must finish," His father stated, "I do not want your friend over while I am working." Luke's mouth dropped and let out a sound of disbelief.
"Please! We will be quiet! I promise!" Luke begged, "It will be like he was never here!" His father set down the datapad and turned to address Luke, he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Listen to me, young one. I am not sure it would be a good idea considering the large amount of work I have." His father said sternly, Luke's mood was dropping rapidly. His father's stubbornness along with disappointing his friend burdened him, he clapped his hands together.
"Please, just for one night! We will be quiet!" Luke begged once again, hoping his father would change his mind. "I swear! We won't leave my room!" His father stood there silently.
"If you and your friend are making too much noise, he will have to leave." Lukes's eyes lit up, he was about 50/50 if the begging would work. But it goes to show if you don't have enough determination you won't get anywhere. Luke jumped from his seat and out of a surge of gratefulness ran up and hugged his dad.
"Thank you!" He pulled back, "I am going to let Aaron know!" He turned to head towards the conference room door and left. He ran into his room and quickly pulled out his com.
"Hello?" Aaron's voice came through the com.
"Aaron you can come over!" Luke blurted, Aaron took a minute to respond.
"Uh- okay!" Aaron said nervously.
"Aaron, you have nothing to be nervous about!" Luke reassured it was silent over the com for a moment.
"I-I know, I'll be there soon and I will bring both of my sleeping bags," Aaron replied.
"Okay! See you soon!" Luke smiled.
"Bye Luke." The com was cut, Luke was beginning to wonder what he should start to prepare for a sleepover. Snacks? Drinks? Luke ran his hand through his hair, realizing he had never thrown a sleepover or something close to a party. He nervously wondered if he would be a decent host, he didn't want the sleepover to be lame. He ran over to his panel by his door and began ordering loads of snacks and drinks to be delivered to his room.
He quickly changed out of his school uniform into his pajamas and ran into his closet. He shuffled through a box filled with some of his old toys and games and pulled out a deck of cards. They could find a game to play with this, he walked back into his room and placed it on his desk.
He went to go check to see if the snacks were on the way. He opened his bedroom door and looked down the hall, two droids were coming down carrying trays. He stepped out into the hall to make room for the droids, the conference room door swooshed open and his father stepped out and saw the droids carrying in the snacks.
"What is this?" His father asked, "You cannot have all of that." His father said, Luke turned and faced his dad.
"But I wanna be a good host!" Luke emphasized, "Where is your party spirit?!" His father stepped in front of him towards one of the droids carrying a tray.
"Take this back to the kitchens." He ordered the droid, Luke's mouth dropped open when his father turned to face him again. "You can have one of the trays, two is unacceptable." His father said as he placed his hands behind his back.
"Okay, fine. Just one." Luke said slightly disappointed and folded his arms over his chest with a small huff.
"I am going down to the hangar to speak with Lekauf, com me if you need me." His father walked down the hall and entered the lift. Luke turned back into his room and continued to clean his room. Luke then realized how messy his room really was so he asked help from a droid to organize his things. An hour or so passed when he finally finished and thought the room was good enough.
Now, his party was complete with snacks, games, and drinks. But now Luke was slightly worn out from his assembly of a small party with his friend. He fell flat on his back and waited until Aaron would com him to tell him he was on his way.
"Report any updates on the skirmish outside of Taris, send my confirmation to Senator Brimen on her proposal, and set up a meeting with Grand Moff Randd in my conference room tomorrow at 0500." Vader told Lekauf, Lekauf frantically entered all this information into his datapad as he walked behind the Sith Lord.
"Yes, my Lord." Lekauf responded, they reached the door of Lekauf's office that exited into the hangar. Vader walked out of the office into the hangar, he really did have a mountain of work to finish. Vader had too much on his mind and swore that if Luke and his friend made too much noise at night Luke's friend would have to leave. That was one of the reasons he said yes along with the need to get back to work. He couldn't carry on the discussion with Luke, he was sure he would have kept begging all night.
He didn't want someone else to stay in his home, even if it was just Luke's friend. He was the Lord of the Sith, now he was going to have his child and his child's friend have a sleepover in his home? Vader sighed internally, wondering when Lukes begging would no longer work on him. As he was walking towards his lift to go back to his level he saw a speeder slowly lower into the hangar.
Vader watched as the speeder landed, he folded his arms over his chest. Luke should be here to bring his friend up, he opened to the force and searched for his son. To his surprise, Luke was asleep, perhaps preparing for his friend's arrival really took it out of him. Luke's friend was taking a while to get out of the speeder, but eventually, the doors opened.
Luke's friend walked out, looking to the ground with his bag wrapped over his shoulder. The pilot's side door popped open as well, a woman walked out. She looked at Vader nervously, her fear spiked at the sight of him. She walked over to the boy and hugged him and whispered something in his ear. Luke's friend nervously departed from the woman and walked up to Vader but kept somewhat of a distance, his fear spiked being close to the Sith Lord.
"W-Where is Luke, s-sir?" The boy asked softly.
"It would seem that he has fallen asleep," Vader said as the speeder began to slowly leave the hangar.
"Oh," Is all the boy said, Vader was quickly losing interest in this conversation. He would bring Luke's friend to his son and continue with his work.
"Follow me," Vader said and continued down the hangar towards the lift doors, the boy scampered behind him. They both were in the lift, the boy huddled close to the wall and looked down towards the floor. They ascended up to the level in silence, the boy's fear was still very high in his presence.
Finally, the lift doors opened and Vader stormed ahead and opened Luke's bedroom door and saw him sleeping on his bed. "Luke!" Vader called out, Luke jumped slightly and pushed himself up to sit on his bed. Luke rubbed his eyes and looked at Vader confused.
"What is it?" Luke whined.
"Your friend is here, he was dropped off while you were asleep." Luke shot up in his bed and stood. "He is out in the hall." Vader turned and left the room to enter the conference room to continue with his work. He was already losing his patience for this sleepover.
Luke ran out to his door frame and looked down the hall, Aaron looked incredibly tense. "Aaron!" Luke gasped, "I am so sorry!" Aaron shuffled into Luke's room and dropped his bags by the door.
"It's okay." Aaron breathed, he walked further into Luke's room and smiled, "Wow, snacks, games, you really went all out." Luke's doors swooshed closed and he walked over towards the tray of food and snacks and sat down on the floor in front of it.
"Yeah, well I wanted to be a good host." Luke leaned forward and grabbed some food from the tray.
"You fell asleep!" Aaron laughed and sat next to Luke and began to eat some of the snacks as well. Luke tensed at Aarons very valid point but quickly changed the subject by turning on the holovid. The Octave Stairway marathon was on. Finally, his hard party planning was worth it and now he was having his first sleepover at his house.
Luke was still somewhat tired from his nap and yawned, Aaron popped a couple of candies in his mouth and looked at Luke. "Hey, if you're tired, why don't we have some caf so we can stay up?" Luke pursed his lips, Luke wasn't really allowed to have caf. He had tried to have sips from Lekauf, he drank caf all the time. But his father had forbidden him from having caf, but maybe he could sneak some. Then, he and Aaron could stay up late watching the Octave Stairway.
Luke stood up and walked over to the control panel by his door, he looked through the selection and eventually found caf. He turned around, "Okay, I got us each one." Luke smiled but his attention quickly turned back to the holovid. Only a few minutes passed when his door swooshed open with a droid holding a tray, on top were two cafs. Luke grabbed them and his hands immediately warmed up.
"Thank you," Luke said to the droid, Aaron snickered to himself as the droid turned to leave. Luke turned to face Aaron and looked at him funny, "Why are you laughing?"
"You thanked a droid." Aaron smiled and grabbed his caf, "You're like the only person I know that does that." Aaron took a sip of his caf.
"Well, I feel rude if I don't thank them," Luke said as he eyed the caf suspiciously, he slowly lifted it and took a sip. He jumped a little at the heat but didn't hate it, his room door swooshed close and sat next to Aaron. They continued to watch the marathon, snacking on the food he brought and drinking the caf he had gotten.
His father always compared caf to spice, but didn't feel an addictive need to drink it. He expected it to hold onto him with one sip, feeling a strong urge to drink it. At least, that's what his father's warnings made him think would happen. He continued to drink it until it was gone.
A new episode began and Aaron sighed, "I really thought Brin was going to reach her family in this episode." Luke nodded in agreement. The Octave Stairway was about a girl named Brin who lost her family and was taking the stairway to find them. "It left on such a good cliffhanger too!"
"I know!" Luke laughed, they chatted through the night while they watched the marathon, Luke popped open his deck of cards and attempted to remember the rules of sabacc that Lekauf taught him in secret.
His attempt on remembering the rules of sabacc failed, Aaron suggested they play a different game called shul. They switched between paying attention to the marathon and the card game. They continued to snack on the food and drink some of the juice boxes he had brought to his room. Eventually, they settled on just playing the game, they both were deeply invested and were oblivious to the passage of time. Luke looked up, almost as if he was broken from a trance. He saw almost all the snacks were gone and he was jittering slightly.
Luke didn't feel tired at all either so the caf worked, he looked over at his chrono on his desk by habit and saw it was already 0400. Luke's mouth dropped open, he had never ever stayed up this late before. "Woah- its already 0400!" Luke whispered.
Aaron looked between Luke and the chrono, "Wow, time passes fast when you're having fun I guess." Aaron smiled. Luke was happy they both were having fun but knew they had to go to sleep or his father would be really mad for staying up this late. Luke ran over to his light switch and turned it off.
"We have to get to bed!" Luke said in a frantic whisper, Aaron nodded and handed Luke the sleeping bag he brought him. They both assembled their sleeping bags in the dark, almost stumbling over each other. Aaron got in his sleeping bag, Luke tiptoed over towards his bed and slowly grabbed his ducky blanket and wrapped it over his shoulders. He slipped into his sleeping bag and came to the realization that the floor was significantly more uncomfortable than his bed. But this was in the spirit of sleepovers so he decided he would just bear the back pain.
He shut his eyes tightly, trying to fall asleep. He still felt slightly jittery and not tired at all. He didn't expect the caf to affect him like this. He silently cursed caf under his breath, his father was right. He waited impatiently, he would ask his father to just use the force to put him to sleep but that would mean admitting to staying up all night. Not that he could lie and say he was trying to sleep, his father could tell when he lied.
Minutes passed, they both tossed and turned in their sleeping bag. Luke rolled on his back and stared at his bedroom ceiling, he let out a weary sigh. "Can't fall asleep?" Aaron whispered, Luke shook his head.
"No." Luke sighed, he sat up, "The caf worked too good." Aaron sat up as well and nodded.
"Yeah, I am not tired at all." Aaron crisscrossed his legs, "Wanna play another card game? Why not? Neither of us can sleep," Luke looked at the scattered cards on the floor of his room. Luke nodded, but wanted to grab something from the kitchens first. His father disabled service to Luke's room between certain times so he wouldn't order things past his bedtime.
"I'll be right back, I am going to grab a drink from the kitchens." Luke slipped out of his sleeping bag and crept to his bedroom door. The door swooshed opened quietly, he slowly made his way down the hallway towards the kitchens. He passed the large sitting area, a large viewport lined the walls giving a view of the city. The glow of the city illuminated the room with a slightly blue glow, Luke kept going till he reached the kitchens.
The droids were powered down, he moved towards the icebox and pulled out another juice box. He quietly left the kitchens and rushed down the hall trying to get back to his room as fast as possible. Maybe if he had looked down the hall he and took the time to notice his surroundings, he would have seen the lights were on, along with the man right in front of him that he bumped into. Luke stumbled back and heard a splash, his hand was wet. He looked down at the floor and his juice box and saw it burst on the impact of the man right in front of him.
Luke's eyes widened, the man turned around slowly and faced Luke. "G-Grand Moff Randd?" Luke asked awkwardly. Luke then noticed Lekauf standing next to Randd looking at Luke in shock. Randd looked at his sleeve which was soaked in Lukes juice box and thinned his lips and let a huff, Lekauf crossed his arms over his chest.
"What are you doing up?!" Lekauf asked in a frantic whisper, he turned to Randd. "I apologize sir."
"I just hope Lord Vader won't mind my ruined uniform." Randd sighed then the hall was silenced by his father's respirator.
"Why is there a crowd in my hallway?" His father asked, then spotted Luke behind Lekauf and Randd. "What are you doing up, Luke?!" He practically pushed the two out of the way.
"I-I uh-" Luke stumbled, "I couldn't fall asleep," Luke mumbled, his father looked down at the spilled drink then the broken juice box in Lukes's hand.
"Was it because of the large amount of snacks? Did you sneak more food or beverages in your room after I said one tray was enough?" Luke flushed slightly under the scrutiny of his father in front of two other adults. Luke shrunk into himself and looked down at the floor.
"N-No." Luke said quietly.
"That is a lie." His father folded his arms over his chest, "Any attempt to lie to me is pointless." Luke sighed and braced himself.
"I- I snuck some- some caf." His father stood in front of him silently, desperate to know what he was thinking, Luke poked at his father's shields. His father opened their bond, anger poured out of him, and filled their bond.
"Caf?" His father asked, Luke nodded slowly. "A drink I have specifically forbidden you from consuming?" Luke nodded again, wishing more than anything to just run off to his room. "We will finish this discussion in the morning, but you must know that you are grounded." His father pointed at Luke.
Luke knew that was coming, but he didn't expect a giant wave of fatigue to wash over him. "W-wha-" He mumbled and slightly tripped under himself trying to keep balance, then knew his father was using the force, next thing he knew he fell into a deep sleep.
Vader caught Luke as he fell asleep and held him, he heard a small gasp as he turned and faced Grand Moff Randd and Lekauf. "Go to my conference room and wait for me there, Randd. I apologize for my son ruining your uniform, but I am sure you will find some way to cope." He walked past them and towards Luke's room. He opened the door and saw Luke's friend dividing cards.
"Geez Luke, what took you so lo-" Luke's friend looked up and saw Vader carrying Luke, "Uh! Uh! I am sor!-" Vader used the force to put Luke's friend asleep as well, he fell back onto his sleeping bag. Vader walked through Lukes's disaster of a room, it was incredibly dirty. He placed Luke on his bed, lifted his hand, and Luke's blanket flew to it. He placed it on Luke and left his room. His son would definitely not have a sleepover again.
A/N I hope you guys liked this chapter update! It took me a while to finish lol, anyways, thank you so so much for reading! Please let me know what you thought! Love reading the comments!