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The temple is big, Luke knows. He remembers his own reaction when seeing it for the first time. His eyes went so wide they felt heavy. R2 had laughed at him for no less that twenty minutes.
Now as Luke pulls into the atmosphere of Yavin 4, it is hard not to have the same reaction as R2. Din walked up to the window pushing himself against the glass to get a better look. It takes a lot for Luke not to laugh, though his efforts are put to shame when Din leans to close to the window. His head bumps the glass with a loud clank and he pulls back hard, turning to look at Luke and Grogu.
He looks shocked, like the window landed a surprise attack. This was not something Luke could hold back from. He laughed so hard tears formed. Din lowered his head a bit and turned back to the window. And that might be the most adorable thing Luke's ever seen.
Grogu hops down from his seat and goes to pull at his fathers pant leg. Luke watched Din lift his son and takes a moment to stare. To watch the interaction and feel them both stand comfortably together. Pulling his eyes away he turns back to the controls.
They land easily grabbing their things and walking into the city. Luke's house is just inside the border, closer to the forest than the city. It is bigger than he needed when he started living on Yavin, but he's grateful for the extra room now. At the time Leia had insisted he live closer to her at the hear of the settlement, but the force humms louder near the trees.
Luke opens the door walking in, Din following behind. Its a nice house, just a kitchen, living room, two bedroom and two bathrooms. He turns into the hallway, sneaking a glance at the Mandalorian on his way.
Din looks awe struck again. Like he'd never seen a house before. Its nothing special, but the wonder Luke can sense from under the helmet make his cheeks warm. "So there are bathrooms attached to both bedrooms. This rooms is mine," he says passing the first closed door. "Grogu's been sleeping with me, he doesn't like to be without you-" it takes a second for Luke to realise Din didn't start walking with him again. He's just staring at Luke, his head tilted slightly. It takes another second for Luke to realize Din might be uncomfortable sharing a house. "I forgot to mention this was my house. If you would prefer your own place I can help you find a good spot. In the mean time your both welcome here, and I promise your bedroom is completely off limits to anyone else." Luke knows he's rambling but its a nervous habit.
Din looks over to Grogu then nods to Luke. "Thank you," it is quiet and a little airy. Luke thinks he probably wants to get to his own room and take the helmet off. He continues down the hall to the next door. Opening it up he holds his breath a little to gage the Mandalorian's reaction.
Din walks in with Grogu in one arm and a bag slung over his other shoulder. He looks around walking to the bed and depositing his things. "I had a crib brought in and everything's pretty plane and in basic positions, so feel free to rearrange," Luke says. He feels a bit uncomfortable, not uneasy but nervous.
Luke doesn't step into the room but waits outside for Din's reaction. Din looks at him again and Luke's body catches on fire. They watch each other for a moment with no movement. Luke takes a step to walk away and allow Din to unpack, but is stoped by a soft "thank you." He watches Din look down for a moment then back up at Luke almost nervous. "Burc'ya," (friend) he finishes.
He doesn't know what it means, the word completely lost to him. But Luke nods anyway and moves to walk away. He recognizes the language as manda'o and the significance is not forgotten; Being called something in a language Din only speaks to his son.
Only moments later Luke feels Grogu approaching from down the hall. They have been living together for a few weeks now and his patterns are not hard to pick up. Its time for a snack, only hours before dinner, but his appetite is never failing.
Grogu makes his way to Luke grumbling and babbling as he goes. Their force bonds have become so intertwined it's not hard to know what he's saying. "Yes Grogu, I am excited he's here," he says. He stand below Luke, at his feet, raising arms above his head wanting up. Quickly Luke lifts him, Grogu held close in his arms. The cupboard they keep food in is more sparse than usual, but a half empty jar of canned frog legs rests at the top.
The snack is nothing Luke chooses to eat if he can help it. He started buying copious amounts of frogs when Grogu arrived and Luke noticed he enjoyed them. It quickly became their daily routine to have some frog in the evening. The babbling continues, luke listens. Keeping the child in one arm, Luke opens the jar with some Force help. "I think it will be nice to get to know each other, your father seems very nice," Luke says looking down at Grogu. His eyes are wide and there is a look Luke doesn't recognize there. He turns sideways to reach for a bowl bringing it down to hold the frogs.
Seconds before Luke turns around he realizes the other presence in the room. Its startling for a moment, Luke had not felt him enter. Din is standing in the doorway looking a bit uneasy, with his head shrunk and body stiff. His blaster is held limply in his hand, as he watches Luke and Grogu.
Luke smiles hoping to relax him. "Hello, would you like some frog legs?" He's trying to extend a branch. Ask the Mandalorian to join them. Din seems to snap out of his staring to walk into the kitchen. Luke sets Grogu in his counter seat and fishes out some frogs to deposit into the bowl. Din walks up being Luke and rubs Grogu's ears for a moment before bringing his attention back to Luke.
"There's a droid outside my door." As if on cue R2 rolls himself out from the hallway. He is beeping obscene words and talking about a Mandalorian kicking him and storming through the hallway.
Luke laughs lightly at R2's over dramatic explanation. "This is R2, he's a friend. It promise he's harmless," Luke tries to assure. "You don't like droids?" He asks curiously.
Din looked at him taking a moment to debate what to say. "Not particularly," he says. "Its a long story," he looks down, then back up to meet Luke's eyes.
Luke is up early the next morning; he takes some time to prepare for class before sitting to meditate. The force swells in him taking up every atom of his being. It settles his uneasy and sorts the new information he learned of Din and Grogu's life.
They had spent hours together the previous evening. Sitting around the counter talking. It was the most Luke has herd the Mandalorian speak since they have known each other. Even after Grogu was put to bed din made his way back out to Luke. They sat on the couch sharing the more personal bits of their lives. Luke felt warm, the whole time. It was like something within Din set him on fire. Not an uncomfortable feeling, just uncommon.
Luke told him about his past. He talked of the war and the things he's done since its end. He told Din of his father and his death, talked of the death star and of tatooine.
They are comfortable with each other, something Luke has not found outside his family. Din had placed his hand on Luke's arm or knee as he talked and Luke had done the same, finding the places in the crook of his elbow that is not covered in bescar.
Luke can feel Din watching him from the doorway of the hall. He opens his eyes and flips from his hands to his feet, rising to make breakfast. Luke offers a smile and a good morning on his way to the kitchen. He watches Din walk in behind him carrying a mostly asleep Grogu in his arms. "I'm going to make some eggs for myself and Grogu, would you like some?" He asks turning to Din with the egg carton in hand.
He nods setting Grogu at the counter and standing behind him. "When we first met, you said something," he says sounding unsure. "about me and your magic thing. What did you mean?" He asks avoiding looking at Luke's face. It takes a second for Luke to find the words. He walks over to the Mandalorian standing on the other side of the counter.
"Some children are born with the ability to feel the force. For some children it is weaker than others. Grogu, myself, and my nephew are some of the last force users strong enough to do much outside of feeling the immediate environment." Din moves forward listening closely to every word Luke says. "I can feel in you the ability to manipulate the force. Not as strongly as we can," gesturing down to Grogu almost completely asleep. "But its there within you." Luke can hear Din breath, his modulator deepening the sound.
There watching each other, looking as closely as possible at the others eyes. Luke's body feels warm again, a shiver sending itself through his back. He only realises how close they are when Din's hand sneaks around to grasp his forearm resting on the counter. And Luke feels weak. "Your nervous."
He takes a step around the counter to stand in front of Din. Feeling compelled to be closer. "Yeah." Din shifts a little closer and Luke feels his body burst. A tingling sensation runs up his arm following Din's hand. Luke watch him for a moment enjoying the feeling of Din's hand running up and down his arms.
Din watches Luke's face taking him in for a moment. "Can you teach me Cyar'ika?(dear/darling)" He asks sounding completely breathless. Luke nods not breaking away from Din's helmet or the feeling of his hands on Luke's body.
Beside them Grogu squeals, an alarming sound that makes both men jump. He has stood up in his seat and is now grabbing at the carton of eggs, completely deserted. Din moves to grab him before he has the chance to jump on the counter. Luke stands in the same spot for a moment, feeling lost.
He watches Din speak to Grogu about patience and almost cries at the loss of his presence.
Lunch after class was Leia's idea, she had said something about meeting the person he's living with, and getting the children together to play. Luke knew it was a bad idea as soon as he heard it but when she gets an idea its impossible to dissuade her. So Din, Luke, and Grogu made their way to her house.
Han answers the door sending nerves running through Luke's body. "Mando," he said glancing to Din. "Kid, how ya been, come on in, Leia's on edge," he opened the door wider to let them in whispering the end as Luke passes. There's uneasy in the room from behind him, its strong and commanding.
Din stands in the doorway for a moment staring at Han. He is tense and Luke thinks he might reach for his blaster. "Solo," he sounds odd.
To Hans defence he doesn't look worried. He stands taller narrowing his eyes at Din. "Should you be off somewhere hunting people for money?" Luke takes a step forward.
Din's shoulders relax easing a bit of the tension in his body. "Shouldn't you be in jail?" He asks walking into the house.
Luke quickly forgets his worries when Ben comes running into the room. He's bolting right for Luke and he has to throw his arms open at the last moment to catch him. "Hey kiddo, you not sick of me yet?" He asks having just seen him in class an hour ago.
Ben shakes his head excitedly then gets distracted by Grogu's happy squeal. "Can we go play?" He asks looking up at Din. He looks unsure staring at Ben for a moment.
Luke feels safe here and knows nothing will happen if they go down the hall. "Its ok Din," he looks over to Luke, tilting his head in question. "Its safe here," he says with a shrug.
He watches as Grogu is set to the ground. "Slanar geroya ad'ika (go play little one)," Din says in Manda'o. It brings a smile to his face that only gets wider when Din looks at him.
A loud crash comes from the kitchen and Luke is startled. He hears a loud sigh and watched his sister come into the living room. "Han I asked you-" she cut herself off seeing Luke and Din. "Oh your here," she says. Changing tones quickly and bringing Luke into a back breaking hug. Pulling away she flicks Luke's forehead hard. "You should have told me when you got back." He rubs his head and shrugs.
He watches her turn to Din with a smile on her face and goes in for a hug. He stand in her embrace, arms tucked into his body beneath her. Din looks up at him, and he can only imagine the pleading look under the helmet. When she pulls back she smiles at everyone and walks backwards to the hallway. "Lunch is ready, I'll go get the kids," she directs to din.
Its a good meal, something he wishes they could do more. Leia spent some time preparing it that morning. Throughout the meal they make good conversation, and din is even included in some of Leia and Hans bantering. Things are going well. Luke doesn't think about ulterior motives when Han asks to show him a new upgrade he installed to Luke's X-wing.
**
Din is nervous as Luke walks out the door. His sister had an air to her that commands the room. She is fierce, even without spending an afternoon with her he can tell.
The kids are in a different room playing and Luke realizes there's no way around being alone. "I'll admit I didn't think about the helmet when I insisted you come over," she looked sheepish. "I hope it wasn't uncomfortable for you," he shrugged helping her clear the table.
"I'm use to it by now." It's the best he can come up with. He follows her into the kitchen, feeling a bit like being guided into a trap.
She takes out a container and begins to fill it with food from lunch. "So listen," she starts, not turning to look at Din. "My brother, he's got a thing for you. And I'm not sure what your Mandalorian rituals are but Luke is complicated." She pauses glancing back at him. Din is startled, and frozen in place, still holding a bowl of salad.
"I'm not saying you should pursue him, in fact if your not sure you want to, don't. But if your even thinking about it you should know, he was taught to be loyal to the Jedi order." She pauses turning to him and grabbing the salad from his hands. "I know he's trying to teach the kids a new Jedi order, one where having attachments to people is acceptable." She turns back to the container of food.
"But its important for you to understand, that I'm not sure he even knows if his new order applies to him." She looks back to see him unmoved. "So be careful." Closing the lid over top the container she turns around to face Din. "And if you hurt him, so help me, I will steal his lightsaber and separate your body from your head." She shoves the container into his hands still frozen from holding the salad. "Some food for you to take home," a smile a cherry tone takes over her demeanor.
**
Things can never be that simple. Luke walks back into the house hearing talking from the kitchen. Din is standing completely rigid in front of his sister. He's holding a container of food and Luke catches the look on her face change. "Everything ok?" He asks in an attempt to get Din to relax again.
He spins around quickly and looks at Luke, almost dropping his food in the process. They watch each other for a moment but Leia moving catches his attention. "What's going on?" Now something feels off. He leaves for ten minutes and the air in the room is suffocating.
Din looks back to her, then back to him and shrugs. "I'm going to head home. Bring Grogu back with you?" He asks trying to sound calm. Its doesn't work.
Luke shakes his head still looking confused. He wants to find out from Din what happened. "I'll come with you," he says. Before he's even finished Din is shaking his head. He still looks uncomfortable but is easing a little, its hard for Luke to relax with him so shaken.
Din steps forward looking at Luke as best he can. "I'm just going to go eat. You stay and spend time with your family," he steps toward Luke again placing his hand on Luke's shoulder close to his neck. "We can talk later," it calms him a little, but he knows what his sister is capable of. With that Din steps around Luke and walk away.
They sit together on the ground, cross legged, under tree cover, below the stars. Their surroundings are alive and buzzing. Luke promised to teach Din everything he can, but meditation is proving to be quite difficult. They spent the last week attempting to bring Din into the force, make him focus. It not going well.
Luke sits feeling the wind blow and the trees move and bend beneath its will. He sees a night creature running from a predator. And most importantly he can hear Din groan beside him and break any connection he may have had. "This isn't working," he says.
Luke eases out of his meditation and opens his eyes, blinking up at Din. He feels centered and has an idea to try something new. Standing up Luke offers a hand down to pull Din to his feet. "I have a new idea." They begin to walk back to the house, side by side, falling into step. "You own a saber. Do you know how to use it?" it is an innocent question, Luke doesn't think Din will respond so...odd.
Din stops walking, turning to look at Luke. He seems startled, Luke noticed his palms opening and closing against his sides. "Its not mine," he says in a very matte of fact tone. An end of discussion kind of voice. Luke can feel his nerves pulsing beneath his skin, can sense Din's uneasy.
Luke is confused but knows he can't push too hard. Instead reaching out his hand to place it in the spot on Din's arm that he knows has no armor. Din stays still watching, he still feels stiff. Luke connects to Din, appeals to him through their newly forming force bond. "Its a long story," Din breathes. He seems to abandon the walls he's built, letting Luke in further.
Luke nods, he can feel some of the emotions from Din's untold life. He knows the only thing that can cause this much fear is the loss of a child. His hear breaks a little but he pushed forward. "Does this have anything to do with the night we met?" Luke glanced up to make eye contact with Din hoping he is granted access to the story.
Din nods, he's watching Luke, deeply watching, every move and every flutter of his eyes. Din's hand comes up to Luke's arm and he is reminded of their late nights and soft moments. Of their bodies meeting for the first time in Luke's kitchen, the way they spoke, the way they sounded together spoken through the the Force.
Luke already had the thought by the time he remembered Din was reading him. His body exploded into flames, he knows the color of his face is changing quickly. Din faces him full on, moving his hands up his arm and receiving the same reaction as before. Luke can feel goose flesh popping up on his skin. "Can I try something?" Din asks. He moves his hand further up cupping it behind Luke's neck.
He feels hot, burning, vaguely reminding him of Tatooine. Luke nods tilting his head back slightly to meet Din's eyes as fully as possible. He watches out of the corner of his eye as Din brings his other hand up. A piece of Luke's hair is tucked behind his ear. Only when the hand rests on the side of his face does Luke realise it's bare. The glove is gone and the feeling of Din's skin on his make his heart stop. Moving slowly Din's helmet gets closer to his face. Gently they bump together holding for a moment.
Luke can see flashes of memories from Din's life. Days of fear and dread that plagues his memories. It takes a moment for Luke to see an appearance of the dark saber. It looks like nothing he's ever seen, and he can feel Din's anger towards it. The ruler of Mandalore, a rightful king based on the choice of a lightsaber.
After the full story is seen Din pulls away looking at Luke again. He can feel a strange feeling oozing from him. He knows how confusing situations like this can be. But Luke can tell, as much as Din doesn't want to rule, he knows he must. "I often think about going back to tatooine where I grew up, being a farmer again. Or travel the galaxy and find a nice secluded place to settle down. It would be a lot easier to leave and let whatever happens happen. But then I would be leaving children alone to live with a power they can't control. Letting people suffer when I know I can help," its the best Luke can think to say. His best way of explaining that he understands.
Din's force bond surges through Luke and is almost dizzying. "Does your rule for the children, about allowing attachments extend to yourself?" Din moves closer to Luke again. His voice is rough, Luke is convinced even without the modulator between them, it would be deep.
"It does," Luke says in a gasp. He is shocked out of the moment when Din drops his hands from Luke's head and grabs his hand. Pulling him quickly toward the house. As soon as the door is opened Din is dragging Luke in, and as soon as it closes he is pressed up against it. He reaches up and pulls Din down to him, connecting their heads. They stay like this for far shorted than Luke intended.
Luke watches as Din gently takes off his other glove and sets them on the couch behind him. Luke jumps when he sees him going for the helmet as well. "Din you don't have to. This is ok," he says. Hoping not to startle him.
Din nods from under Luke's gaze. "I know Kar'taylir darasuum (love). But I trust you, and I- its ok" Luke listens to every word, hanging on every syllable. He doesn't understand the manda'o but the word is filed away for later.
Every thought in Luke's head went out the window when the helmet slips off. He looks the same as weeks before, when they first met, but different some how. Maybe its the lighting or the look in his eyes as he approaches Luke, still backed against the door.
They watch each other for a moment looking into each others eyes. Luke reached up to cup Din's cheek, he flinches away for a moment before pressing his face to Luke's hand. Din's breath deepened almost coming out as panting wines against Luke's face. He pulls Din in close, connecting warm flesh foreheads. There both burning, turning a deep red color. Luke continues to stroke his cheek, giving Din the drive to take back the situation.
Their mouths hit, pushing all their emotions through the bond. Its hot and slow, and Din is pushing against him hard. Reaching up to hold Luke in his hands. Luke almost loses the ability to stand, savoring the moment. "Your beautiful Kar'taylir darasuum (love)," Din whispers into Luke's ear. And the word is locked away forever.
Before heading home after class Luke goes to find C-3PO. The word Din gave him last night on the tip of his tongue. "Oh master Luke what a surprise," he hears from being him.
Luke smiles to him walking over. "Good afternoon 3PO. I have a question for you," he says. The droid moves excitedly clapping his hands together. Luke thinks if he were built different he might jump up and down.
"Oh wonderful sir, what can I help with?" And Luke almost regrets his choice to ask.
He looks down, feeling embarrassed. "There's a Mandalorian word I heard, but I don't know what it means. The word Kar'taylir darasuum." he knows he butchers the pronunciation, but Luke holds his breath.
"Oh yes master Luke, a very kind word. The meaning is complicated but closely translates to Love, very nice-" Luke stops listening. His chest swells and he turns from 3PO to go find Din. Because he's immediately sure that he's in love with the Mandalorian.