#are my readmores gone again? guh

[visionmarred-archive]

43, "You're lucky you're cute" for Sky/Atton!!

thank you, Alexandra!! 😀 this is later than my fics usually are rip I’m sorry. Also u may recall a discussion we had a while ago about an idea I had… here it is. :’)

43. “You’re lucky you’re cute”

—

After an insane several months filled with Sith Lords, being trained in the Force powers he had been denying he had, getting dragged into the middle of a handful of wars, and finding himself working with the weirdest kriffing group of people the galaxy had to offer, Atton privately felt that there was something almost sweet in simplicity about how he found himself getting shaken up for pazaak credits again.

He’d love to say this wasn’t his fault if Sky asked, but really, he doubted that he could. At the very least, he had an excuse of how this wasn’t a recent game if she asked. The last time he had been playing pazaak on Nar Shaddaa was about two, maybe three standard weeks ago, and he had miraculously avoided trouble that day.

The crew of the Ebon Hawk found themselves on the planet and in a cantina once more for the sake of relaxing, but this time, no errands were ran first. After finally pulling herself from that week-long depressive stupor that had persisted after Kreia’s death on Malachor V, the Exile had slowly but surely started to act a bit more like her old self.

Considering how she admitted to him that her brand of cheerfulness tended to be more on the “smile to hide your pain” side, Atton privately wondered whether or not that was a good thing.

Sky had gathered them all into the main room of the Hawk, thanking them all earnestly for their hard work and for helping her on this journey. A lot of “I couldn’t have done it without you”’s and “You all mean the galaxy to me, and I’m so grateful for your help”’s. As a thank you, she decided to treat them all to a night out of their choosing on Nar Shaddaa. The only hiccup so far had been Atton and Mira arguing for a solid fifteen minutes on what the best cantina on Nar Shaddaa was, an argument that ended only when Bao-Dur had pulled up the holonet to search both and realized that they were, in fact, the same kriffing cantina, just described differently by both parties.

Atton ran into hiccup number two when he had left a conversation with Terran and Bao to smoke a cigarra in the corner. Instead of that satisfying smoke to top off his good mood, he found himself cornered by two Gamorreans who didn’t look that happy. Not that Gamorreans ever look particularly happy.

“You! Ugly human man!” The first one snorted at Atton, not-so-subtly drawing his attention to both himself (herself?) and the axe that it had on its back. “You owe the boss credits, and you’re gonna pay up now!”

“Yeah! One thousand credits, right now, or things are aboutta get a lot more fun in here!” The second one laughed.

Blinking rapidly and lowering the unlit cigarra from his mouth, Atton briefly ran through the list of everybody on Nar Shaddaa that he still owed credits to. With a private groan, he realized it was likely the Aqualish that he had taken on the Peragus job for; Atton had been out of contact for months, but he doubted that the gangster would forget him or think him dead that easily. It would make him feel warm and fuzzy if it didn’t mean that Roba sent goons after him whenever he got word that he was in the area.

“Look, guys,” Atton replied, conjuring the most people-pleasing smile he could muster. “If you’re here for Roba, then - ”

“Roba? Who Roba?” The first Gamorrean interrupted. “We here for Atton! Atton Rand!”

Clearly, their boss had sent the best and brightest.

Before Atton could reply, Sky crept into his field of vision, stepping around to tap the second Gamorrean on the shoulder. “Excuse me?”

The Gamorrean turned to look down at her, the same angry expression on its face. “Human girl, what is it?”

“We’re in the middle of something here!”

“I know, and I’m sorry.” Sky said politely, stepping backwards and standing by Atton. She smiled as sweetly as ever, and the scoundrel didn’t know whether he was grateful, embarrassed, or annoyed that she was stepping in.

“Sargas, I can handle this myself,” He whispered to her, settling on the first two emotions.

“I know,” she whispered back before turning her attention back towards the thugs. “Gentlemen, I think there’s a misunderstanding here. Did you say you’re looking for Atton Rand?”

“Yeah, and this is him!” The second Gamorrean replied. “Boss gave us a picture, he looks just like him!”

At that, Sky snapped her fingers. “Oh! I’m sorry, I think there’s been some confusion here, but this isn’t the right man!” Reaching up to place her hand on his shoulders, Atton wondered where the krif she was going with this when she spoke again.

“You see, this is Atton’s twin brother, Randy.”

What.

What.

Turning his head to look at her incredulously, Sky didn’t even break her gaze away from the Gamorreans.

“Your name… Randy Rand?” The first Gamorrean snorted, looking back towards Atton.

Smiling as much as he could manage, Atton gritted out, “Yeah, that’s me. Randy Rand.” Shooting a quick glance at Sky, he added, “Whoever named me must have hated me.”

The corner of Sky’s lips curled upwards into the briefest of grins before plastering back into the same mask as before.

“We’re so sorry for the misunderstanding, gentlemen. But Randy, you’ll let Atton know right away, right?” She said, looking up at him pointedly.

Look at her! She’s enjoying this. Atton thought irritably before replying. “Yeah. I’ll… get in touch with Atton soon as I can.”

The first Gamorrean opened its mouth to speak, but Sky began digging around in her satchel before it could. “Here. Why not relax and enjoy a drink? We’re sorry again for the misunderstanding.” She said, flashing a big smile as she held out a handful of credits.

The Gamorreans only took a brief glance at each other before the second one took the handful from Sky’s hand, both lumbering off to the bar.

Once they were out of earshot, Atton whirled around to face her. “Randy?!”

Sky burst into laughter, unable to hold it in much longer.

“Randy Rand?!”

“It - it was - ” She stopped, laughing for a solid twenty seconds before she had to take a breath. “Heh, it was… the best, most nonviolent solution I could think of!”

“Ohhhhh, don’t even give me that!” Atton said as she started laughing again. “You’re the schmoozing charmer, and you expect me to believe that Randy Rand was the best thing you could come up with? Really?”

Wiping away a tear from her eyes, Sky still snickered as she replied. “I thought of Randy Rand a while ago on Dxun and I’ve been waiting for the right moment to use it.” Eyes twinkling and grinning wide, she added, “They just gave me the best opportunity I’ve seen so far.”

Well. It was kind of funny.

Okay, objectively speaking it was pretty kriffing funny. Not that he was gonna let her know that.

“You’re lucky you’re cute, because Sargas? You don’t have a future as a comedienne, let me tell you.” Atton crossed his arms, though found he was unable to hold back a smile anymore.

“Aww. There goes that dream.” She laughed, wiping away another tear as she started walking back to the table where the others were sitting at. “I’m curious, though - who’s Roba?”

“How should I know?” He replied in a dry voice. “He’s after Atton Rand, remember? I’m his twin brother. Randy Rand.”

Sky laughed again, and this time, Atton couldn’t help but laugh with her.