#provider din will always hit i'm telling you

[dindjarindiaries]

Dincember - December 19: Coat

character: Din Djarin (The Mandalorian)

prompt: Coat

main masterlist • dincember masterlist

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Din had insisted on making a quick supply run while you and Grogu rested at the inn. The travel day had been long, and with such a big mission ahead of you, he wanted you to be rested. He left before you could say the same thing about him.

You looked over at Grogu and brushed a hand over his sleepy head. "Your first mission as an apprentice is tomorrow." You smiled at him. "Are you excited?"

Grogu let out a tired ah, though you could see the light deep within his closing eyes. You laughed and picked him up from the bed, tucking him in your arm as you brought him over to his pod.

"All right, little guy." You set him down and tucked him into his blankets. "Get some rest before your big day." You bent down to give his furry head a kiss. "Sleep well."

Grogu let out a sound akin to an affectionate purr before he closed his eyes. You smiled and closed the pod, allowing him the peace he needed to sleep. Before you could even get back to the bed, the door to your room slid open.

You raised your brow at Din as he walked inside. "That was quick."

Din nodded at you. "I tried my best." He set a knapsack down on the bed, but there was something else in his other arm. He offered it out to you. "Here."

You wrinkled your brow as you took the dense fabric from him. "What is this?"

Din began to sort through the supplies as he responded. "It's a coat." You held up the item in awe, amazed at its high quality and warmth. "I was asking about the weather, and some of the merchants said it's gonna cold the next few days." Din's visor took a quick glance at you. "I wanted you to have something more suitable."

You grinned and tried it on. Unsurprisingly, it was a perfect fit, just the way you liked it. You gave Din's armored shoulder a tap to get his attention, and he immediately offered it to you. "What do you think?" You held out your arms and did a spin. Din's helmet tilted as he nodded.

"It fits well." Din stepped forward to adjust the collar on the side of your neck, his gloved hands straightening out the rest of the coat as he gave it a gentle tug. "Is it warm enough?"

You gave him an obvious once-over. "I mean, you've got me sweating blaster bolts, so I'd say yes."

Din huffed and shook his helmet, swinging it away from you and moving to step back to where he was before. You held his arm to stop him, smiling even wider as you nodded.

"Seriously, Din. It's perfect." You held one side of his helmet with your hand and kissed the other side. "Thank you."

Din nodded. "This is the Way." He gave your collar one more gentle tug. "You're not freezing under my watch." Din pointed his finger, though his tone was laced with amusement. "I managed to help you survive Maldo Kreis. I'm not letting you freeze on some other random planet."

You laughed and shrugged. "It was kinda fun, looking back."

Din tilted his helmet. "The ice spiders, or the nearly freezing to death?"

With a chuckle, you brought yourself even closer to him, resting your head against his cuirass. "Maybe both."

Din shook his helmet and supported your back with one of his gloved hands. "At least that makes one of us."

[queen--kenobi]

Okay, so I've been on a big Boba kick lately and am rereading HAC. (Which I am enjoying just as much as when I read it the first or fifth time) And was wondering if you had any thoughts, thots, or HCs about Boba and reader before the Sarlacc explosion? Like maybe more about the night he gave reader the necklace? Or his first impression of her? Just... Boba 😏 Either way I can't wait to see where this story goes (not pressure to work on it, I know you're reworking it and you've got a million other WIPs probably) 😘

I'm sorry your body is rebelling against you right now. If it provides any comfort I just know Din or Boba or Rex would be absolute KINGS at the comfort and soothing needed during a bad period. Big, warm hands and soft cuddles and even softer words. 🥺🥰

!!!!!!!! Hell yeah I do!

So I think he did try early in his life the "married" life. He didn't end up marrying her, he just lived with her for a bit. This was when he was in his late teens/early twenties, so it wasn't a good idea. He was still just a very angry and reeling from the lost of everything when he was young

Tbh he never really thought about settling down again until the events prior to HAC. I think he tried to convince himself that his feelings weren't as strong as they were for the longest time. Mostly because if he was in love with you, it meant you were a target, and that's the last thing he wanted

Eventually he realized that yeah, he had to actually own up to it because not doing so meant that you were still in danger. It actually put you in greater danger because at least if he made it obvious, then most people would know better

He opted for the necklace because it's discreete enough that you could hide it if you needed to. He's also not the ring type imho

One of his favorite memories is waking up really late one morning (he had been chasing after a guy for like... 5 days without almost no sleep so as soon as he got home to you he passed the fuck out for nearly 24 hrs), and he hears music coming from the kitchen. He's on high alert at first, and then he sees it's you. You're in one of his old, oversized shirts he "lost," making him breakfast and just being domestic. He just stood in the doorway and watched you for a bit

Like how he left an impact on you, you left an impact on him. He didn't realize how big it was until one day when he's going into a bar after someone. The jukebox is playing, and he knows all the words to the song. He doesn't know why he knows it because like... Why the hell would he even know the lyrics to a song??? That just takes up space in his brain that could be used on something else??? It eventually hits him; it was one of your favorite songs playing. That's how he knew the all the words

I do have some thots too...

First time he sees the necklace on you and realizes that you're his and want to be his? Oh yeah. That does A LOT for him

You can always tell when he's in that kind of Mood when he reaches out a curls one finger around the chain and uses it to gently pull you towards him

He knows he can't leave hickies in obvious places because white collar business, so he makes up for it by leaving hickies pretty much everywhere else

At the beginning, it was absolutely rough and fast sex. As time went on, it gradually became softer and slower.

Tbh the first time y'all like... "made love" vs fucked, it probably kinda threw him for a loop because he's never really had anyone be soft and gentle with him, nor has he really wanted that before

He becomes addicted to it real quick. The world both of you live in is harsh and cruel, so having something soft and gentle and sweet??? He can't get enough

That's not to say there's not plenty of rough, kinky sex because there is. There's also a lot of just slow moments where it's just the two of you

Likes to take his time over quickies. He wants to savor it as much as he can. If he has to do a quickie, he will, but he doesn’t like it

Also. The first time y'all fuck is ABSOLUTELY after he beat the absolute shit of Lamtur

Phone sexing is a staple of the relationship with how often he has to be gone. He absolutely made several JOI audios for you no question

Massive tease! Especially since most people are so scared by him they don't even pick up on the fact that he's just blantantly teasing you in public. So he can get away with a lot

[phoenixhalliwell]

Im sorry to interupt your daily broadcasting but I just want to say thank you to all the accounts who take time out of their day to provide us with some amazing content for the Pedro fandom. Ive always been somewhat aware of him as an actor but my growing affection hit me like a truck sometime at the beginning of the year and apparently its here to stay 😂 I honestly couldn't tell you whether it was Din or Frankie or Whiskey, maybe even Javier who was responsible for getting their claws into me and dragging me in but I'm glad I finally got here.

I am by no means talented enough to produce my own stories/ drawings/ headcannons/ video edits So here is my love letter to everyone who is 💌

I am sorry that there are people on here who are rude as fuck and go out of their way to be horrible to you guys in your asks. I am sorry that there are times you feel frustrated that you arent getting back the comments/ reblogs/ likes/ interactions that you want and deserve for you work. ( At the beginning I was guilty of not leaving comments but it was because I was shy and didnt have the words to tell you all how much I loved your work, i aim to correct this!) I'm sorry that there might be times that your hard work has been used without your permission on other sites and you've not been credited for your masterpieces. I'm sorry that at times the fandom might feel toxic and you have felt forced to leave for your own mental health. I am sorry there are times you feel harassed by ungrateful people who think you write too much or too little, who forget you are a person with feelings and are not a bot who just churns out high quality work for their own desires.

And I know that you guys dont know me at all, I'm just one girl in a vast sea of tumblr users, but I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me a safe place to come to when my anxiety is sky high, when I've lost my motivation to do anything but lie in bed or when I just dont feel like being a 100% functioning human being. Thank you for bringing other characters that I hadn't met yet to my attention ( Max Phillips, tovar, Ezra, Marcus Pike, Oscar Isaac's entire back catalogue 😂) thank you for making me feel good about myself through your work (I'm a big girl and to read about people like me being worshiped like royalty makes me 😍) and for being inclusive for people of all shapes, sizes, colour, gender etc. Thank you for providing us with achingly sweet chapters that make us smile and blush and long for a love like that of our own. Thank you for making us laugh when writing our favourite characters as absolute scoundrels and are up to no good!

Just. Thank you ❤

I hope you all have a great day

Emma 😊

heres some to name a few:

@cinewhore @hopelikethesun @ithinkhesgaybutwesavedmufasa @absurdthirst @dindjarindiaries @zeldasayer @scribbledghost @little-ms-fandom @qveenbvtch @longitud-de-onda @sunshinepascal @softpedropascal

And I'm sorry if I forgot to tag other favourites of mine! You are all talented beautiful bastards ( please forgive my language I'm scottish it's in my blood 😂) and I am grateful for you!

[madslorian]

Something More Saturday

Chapter 19 is up... and Amy DID NOT HESITATE TO PULL ON MY EMOTIONS. Pleaseeee take this time during her mini-hiatuses to catch up on the series. It's so worth it, I promise 💚

SPOILERS AHEAD! So check ya self before ya wreck ya self on this chapter.

Here's how I feel after that whole thing (so much so that it took me like a day to come back to this):

I can't tell if I went straight into an asthma attack or what, but I could not breathe this entire chapter. Like there were some parts that made my body just go rigid and I left out a breath of air once I finished the paragraph?! Here are some parts that had me ✨freaking out ✨because of the brilliant writing (either crying or laughing):

It makes sense, really, especially because you’re not even sure if it is the Force that you’re feeling, or if you’re just an empath, extra intuitive, because no one has ever sat you down and explained that something bigger than yourself lives inside you. Honestly, you’ve always been able to connect to your surroundings more deeply than those around you, but you just figured that was part of being you.

↳ Felt that shit. I would say I'm Force-sensitive, but unfortunately, this isn't Star Wars and I myself am probably just an empath. But that confusion and having to figure it out on her own just to come to the conclusion she's found somebody like her? GORGEOUS, UGH.

... you don’t want to be running. You promised him you wouldn’t, even, and it’s that thought and that thought alone that makes you stop. You freeze, crying something horrific, hands seized around fistfuls of green grass as you sink into the field, the luminescence of the flowers glittering through your tears.

↳ The idea that Nova just wanted to run, and run, and run, but realized that she was doing exactly what she promised not to and that's what made her stop had my eyes bubbling up. Having your first instinct be to run is so familiar to me, but having that grounding rock within Din is such a saving grace.

Wordlessly, he pulls the pillowcases off the pillows, heaping in the blanket that always resided at the foot of the bed, sealing it up with the smell of your family inside.

↳ So it was when Nova was standing outside the door to her old home that I accidentally threw my tablet on my bed and started crying. (Also when I messaged Amy telling her that this was beautiful, and I meant it) I was shaking honestly. Before going in and having her say "I don't know how it will look" brought me back to times when I wish I could have left areas of my life untouched, preserved in time, but be out of sight out of mind. So when they finally go in and everything is still the same just as it was left, it hit me the hardest. There are so many times I wish I could go back to my old childhood house and open up doors to see everything there, pristinely untouched. (I still drive by sometimes when I'm in the area and feel my heart hurt when I look at even how much just the outside has changed) I wish I could have left my grandma's room untouched after she passed so I could venture back in there and be reminded of her whenever I wished, but I couldn't. And there's so much importance behind Din taking off the pillowcases to keep with her and be able to smell that faint whiff of her parents after 10 whole years. Even now, 11 years later after her passing, I have a perfume that my mom bought me because it smells like my grandma and I'm too scared to run out and lose the scent of what I think she smells like. I'm just babbling now and turned this into a therapy session, but there was SO MUCH emotional connection to this part.

Also a side note, I thought that the idea of the planet being deserted, and with Nova leaving the door open just a crack if she decided to come back, would lead to a whole lot of cute domesticity between them. Like the idea of them somehow making the base into a habitable place and living there between work or when/if Din finally leaves the Guild, was so cute inside my mind. But at the same time, that isn't her home anymore so 🤧

“Din means noise,” you repeat. “A—and I always thought how—how ironic that was, when it came to you. You make me quiet. You make the silence less loud.”

↳ LOVE IT!! To have somebody provide such peace and safety that it quiets the depths of your mind is absolutely fricken magical. But I thought something so sweet about their names and the meanings was that Nova was able to outshine the thoughts Din was having about preserving the Creed. He was able to silence her noise, but she was able to radiate like a beaming light through his thoughts. Like a beacon calling to him from shore through the thick and hazy fog that his mind was in, confused about how the Creed fell alongside his love for her.

Lifting your left hand, you wriggle it at him, pointing to your ring finger. He stares at it for a second before you can explain what you mean.

↳ I love our himbo space cowboy tin can. This part just made me laugh.

You swallow, pulse racing, all you can think about is how awful it is to see his bare face—the way his eyes glow, the way he looks into your soul—when he’s bewildered.

↳ yeah, I screamed. what about it? The chapter leaving off on the word betrayed? Yeah. I'm heartbroken but it's okay. My mans just proposed 😌I am confident in their relationship but homegirl, why'd you wait so long to tell himmmmm? I feel like he would understand though, so there's that to look forward to possibly?? It's just the idea of finally being able to see his face and seeing that pure betrayal and hurt makes me wanna scream so badly, but there's the rest of their lives left to enjoy that face. So I'm looking forward to the next chapter in 2 weeks!!! ily @amiedala

------------------------

This song came on my "falling in love on the Razor Crest" playlist while Din was proposing, and truly I can't put my finger on why this feels like it fits Nova and Din, but it does in my mind?? Like I could totally picture them being together and devoting themselves to staying alongside one another even as this bomb approaches and destroys the world. As long as they have each other.

[the-last-airblender]

Chapter 5: The Siege (part 2)

This is part of the Run series, check out part 1 here and the masterlist with the previous chapters here

Notes: here’s part two!

~

You whirl around, ready to grab your hidden throwing knives, but then see it's Hal.

He raises his hands and smiles hesitantly. 'It's just me.'

'Sorry.' You let out a sigh of relief and smile back. 'It's not like I can stab you right now, anyway.'

Hal chuckles and walks over to the balustrade, leaning against one of the small columns supporting the domed roof. The corners between the columns and the cupola are adorned with intricate stone wickerwork, just like the balustrade, which you can therefore partly see through. These graceful patterns seem to be almost the only thing not made out of volcanic rock; where the interior walls are mostly plastered white, the rest of the three-storey house has a red-gray tone that blends in nicely with the landscape.

'How are you feeling? People saw you running upstairs as if your life depended on it.'

You look up and silently curse your lack of subtlety.

'I really needed some fresh air', you sigh. 'I think the pastry from earlier didn’t agree with me. But I’m feeling better now.' You give him a warm smile. 'Thank you.'

'We can stay out here for a while', Hal suggests. 'This is my favorite place in the whole building, actually. Or, well, outside the building, I suppose.'

You chuckle and you’re inclined to agree, but then you remember why you’re here in the first place and shake your head.

'As beautiful as this view is, I came here to party', you say.

He gallantly offers you his arm, grinning broadly. 'Very well, m'lady. Let's party.'

~

'Hurry up, purge the drives', the imperial scientist commands the colleague next to him.

Both are hurriedly pressing all kinds of buttons on the control panel, but a few seconds later the blasterfire sounds too close for his liking and when he looks up, the intruders are rapidly approaching them and he quickly grabs his own weapon.

'Destroy it!', he yells to his buddy, who also takes out his blaster and desperately starts firing at the panel. Then he hears his colleague fall to the ground and he fires a few more shots in the direction of the strangers, but to no avail. A well-aimed shot hits his chest and he falls over the panel like a bag of salt.

An eerie silence falls over the room as Din and his companions slowly walk past the cabins embedded in the wall. The four of them have placed enough explosives to destroy the entire base with Karga's detonator, but their element of surprise is lost. Din has already given you the signal to start a fire in the villa.

Blue light illuminates their confused and horrified faces. The cabins seem to be filled with a certain cloudy liquid and Din can only just make out the faint contours of motionless figures floating in it. He doesn't know what’s in there, but it certainly isn’t human. A chill runs down his spine.

'I thought you said this was a forward operating base', he says.

'I thought it was', Karga mumbles.

Dune stares at one of the cabins, her face dark. 'No, this isn't a military operation.' She looks up to the others. 'This is a lab. We need to get into the system and figure out what's going on.'

Mythrol starts to protest, but Karga interrupts him. 'Do it!'

Din looks from the cabins to the half-destroyed panel. The scientists had been very intent on destroying their data. What kind of research could possibly be so important?

'I don't like this', he announces to no one in particular.

'Pardon me.’ Mythrol gently pushes the scientist's body, which still hangs over the panel, to the side until it slides to the ground with a thud. Then he starts pushing buttons, hoping to get at least something out of the burnt device. For a moment it looks like the scientist succeeded in wrecking it, but then a small hologram pops up and the figure of a man with glasses starts talking. Din immediately recognizes the doctor to whom he initially delivered the child.

‘-replicated the results of the subsequent trials, which also resulted in catastrophic failure’, the doctor says. ‘There were promising effects for an entire fortnight, but then, sadly, the body rejected the blood. I highly doubt we'll find a donor with a higher M-count, though. I recommend that we suspend all experimentation. I fear that the volunteer will meet the same regrettable fate if we proceed with the transfusion. Unfortunately, we have exhausted our initial supply of blood. The Child is small, and I was only able to harvest a limited amount without killing him. If these experiments are to continue as requested, we would again require access to the donor. I will not disappoint you again, Moff Gideon. '

The message ends and an ominous feeling creeps over the Mandalorian. He looks from Dune to Karga.

'This must be an old transmission. Moff Gideon is dead,' he says, partly to reassure himself, but panic is already stirring in his chest.

Mythrol hardly dares to look at him. 'No. This recording is three days old.'

'If Gideon's alive, then...'

He doesn't get to finish his sentence.

'Over there!', a stormtrooper shouts from the hallway.

Blasterfire erupts from both sides and the man falls to the ground, but he didn’t come alone.

'We have them!', shouts another to his colleagues.

'I need to get to the kid', Din says hastily.

'Jet back, you're faster that way', Karga shouts over the sound of the shots. 'We'll head to the speeder and meet you in town!'

The Mandalorian nods and runs down a nearby hallway. Now he just needs to find the way out.

~

You're in the middle of your second dance with Hal when you get Din's signal. Because of the music, you can only understand half of it, but that’s all you need. Time to set this place ablaze.

On the way here you had worried about making any fire at all, since you didn’t have a lighter on you, but upon entering the mansion, the solution had immediately presented itself: candles had been placed on the balustrade of the second floor, inbetween each column, providing nice mood lighting. They certainly create atmosphere, but also an opportunity: with so many candles in the building, no one would be too surprised about a fire.

'All that twisting makes me sick', you shout in Hal's ear. 'I'm going to get some fresh air again. Be right back.'

'Wait, I'm coming with you', he says.

'I'd really prefer to go alone. Recharge my social battery, you know', you say quickly, planting a kiss on his cheek, hoping that will prevent any further protests. He opens his mouth and closes it again, flustered by the gesture, and you turn to walk away. Immediately, you bump into a person dressed in blue and you start to apologize, but then you see who it is.

'May I steal your friend here from you for a second?', Mayweather asks his son with a smile.

Before Hal can answer, however, the man has already put his arm through yours and is somewhat forcefully leading you away from the loud music.

'I almost didn't recognize you, lady Signas', he says without looking at you, pulling you to the side of the courtyard, towards the shadow of the overhanging balustrade. His body language still radiates the perfect, calm host, but the undertone in his voice is not lost on you and your heart is pounding so loudly that you have to make an effort to understand him. You pray to Dedis that he doesn't feel your trembling.

‘Then again, it has been years since I last saw you and you've certainly grown up a lot. But I'd recognize Duuganise wedding attire anywhere. I was at your father's wedding, remember?'

'No', you mutter as you reach the shadows, unable to stop your voice from shaking.

'Ah, I suppose you were very young at the time', Mayweather continues calmly, as if the two of you are just talking about the weather. 'His wife looked beautiful that day, almost as beautiful as you. What's her name again?'

He still holds your arm in a tight grip, even though you’re standing still now. To the other guests, it must seem as if the host is just having a friendly conversation with his guest.

You swallow and answer: 'Avlin.'

'Avlin, right', he nods. 'Did she do this?' He points to the paint on your arms and the lump growing in your throat prevents you from doing anything more than shake your head. 'No? Must have been your aunt, then. Always liked her. She's a very strong woman. Isn't it her son you married?'

All your instincts scream the same: he knows. Yet you cling to the last glimmer of hope for his ignorance and nod in agreement.

'That's right', you force yourself to add.

Then a guard appears from the corridor near you. He looks around and when he spots Mayweather, he comes up to him and whispers something in his ear. You're too busy panicking to hear him, but deep down you already know what news the guard is bringing. You’d heard shots when Din gave you the signal.

'Is that so?', Mayweather says with an unmistakably icy tone in his voice.

He looks down on you and you avoid his gaze. The grip on your arm tightens even more.

'I was wondering where you left that Mandalorian friend of yours.'

Your heart drops and you don’t fight him when he harshly drags you to the hallway. You’re led through a couple of wooden doors until you arrive in a mostly empty room where the festivities and the music can no longer be heard. The next moment you’re thrown against the wall and you fall to the stone floor with a pained cry.

'So what was your plan here, huh?', Mayweather begins, resting his hands on his knees and looking down at you as if you’re a naughty child. Every trace of kindness has now completely disappeared from his demeanor. 'They infiltrate the base while you stay up here and do… what, exactly?'

You push yourself into a sitting position and stubbornly stare at him, not planning to tell him anything about your intentions. For the time being, he doesn't seem to be aware of your affinity for knives or the ones still strapped to your legs. Whether he never knew or forgot, you can’t be sure, but once again you have to be smart about when to reveal your hidden weapons.

'One of my men did report a missing key, sir', suggests the brown-haired guard standing in the doorway. Mayweather raises an eyebrow and looks from him to you.

'I assume you're responsible for that, then', he concludes. ‘Certainly explains how they got in without the alarm going off. I should have known you were up to no good when I first noticed you, considering what you did back home. I should have put you on a ship and sent you back to Duugan the first chance I got. Guess I could still do that. But first I wanna know this: what are your friends planning on achieving down there, little girl?'

You don't answer and before you can blink, he slaps you across the face hard enough to make stars dance before your eyes. You can't hold back a scream as you lose your balance for a second. Your cheek burns painfully and anger rises in you.

Oh, this asshole is gonna pay.

You’re just about to grab a knife when Mayweather's next words stop you.

'What do we have here?'

He looks at something on the floor next to you and when you follow his gaze, your heart skips a beat.

Your earphone fell out of your ear.

In the silence that falls, a voice can be heard coming out of it, but you can only make out your name.

'Damn, my son sure is a bad judge of character', he sighs.

Before you can stop him, he plants his boot on top of the device and with a pathetic cracking sound your connection with the Mandalorian is severed.

~

Your scream echoes in Din’s head long after the connection is lost. He rushes through the long metal corridors, but every now and then he gets held up by alarmed stormtroopers. His instincts are screaming for him to fly to the child as quickly as possible. The news of Moff Gideon's survival scares him more than he'd like to admit and he can't wait to get to the Crest and leave this planet. But a little voice tugs on his conscience as he finally sees sunlight in the distance. The plan was that you would be picked up by Mythrol's speeder, but as always, the plan has long fallen apart. The sound of his heavy boots resounds through the hallway as he runs towards the light. He's not gonna leave you behind.

~

Panting, you run down the hall, as fast as your legs can carry you. Suddenly the road in front of you is blocked and you shoot into a side corridor, which turns out to lead back to the party. However, screams behind you tell you that the guards won't be afraid to just chase you there too. They underestimated you once and it cost them dearly, but they won't do that again.

You keep running under the balustrade while the rest of the guests let out cries of excitement and confusion, and you shoot up the stairs for the third time today. Your bun has come undone and the remnants flutter in the wind when you turn right twice without really knowing why. Once in the narrow hallway you realize what a stupid decision that was, but you can't go back. Wide-eyed, you slam against the balcony balustrade, wildly looking for a way out, but there isn't one. You're trapped.

Running footsteps echo behind you and you turn, half expecting to get shot right away, but much to your surprise it’s Hal who’s the first to reach the balcony, followed closely by the guards. The poor boy struggles to stop the enraged men, his face all confused.

'Wait, wait!', he shouts as you climb the balustrade in a desperate escape attempt. 'What are you doing?! Get down, I'm sure there's been some kind of misunderstanding... '

The Zabrak guard from earlier steps past him, his blaster pointed at you.

'Get back here', he barks.

'Stay there!', you shout, now standing upright, with your face towards them and holding on to the pillar next to you, still not really knowing what the hell you’re doing. You nervously glance down at the pass.

'Please, we can work this out', Hal begs.

The guards are staying where they are for now, no doubt because they want to bring you in alive and make you pay for the death of their commander and the injuring of their boss. You shoot the boy an apologetic look, but your cockyness has returned.

'You know, sometimes it is a good idea to look up a lady's dress', you tell the guards dryly.

And with a smug smile on your face, you let go of the column, salute them and let yourself fall off the balcony.

The sheer drop twists your insides to the point where you can't even scream and as the strong wind blows through your dress while gravity pulls you towards a painful death on the rocky floor meters below you, you immediately regret your decision; out of the corner of your eye, you see the black-and-metal-y blur that is the Mandalorian, who you saw flying in your general direction when you looked down.

And then you plummet right past him.

You finally manage to make a yelping sound as you start frantically flapping your limbs around in a desperate attempt to spontaneously grow wings and fly away from the rocks that are getting bigger and bigger by the second. Your now completely undone hairdo half clouds your vision when the realization hits you: in a few seconds, you're gonna hit the floor. If you're lucky, you'll be dead on impact. If Yris is in a particularly bad mood today, you'll survive but break every bone in your body. A strange calmness suddenly drowns out all your panic and time seems to slow down as you close your eyes and let your now useless body travel the last meters towards the ground.

When a strong force knocks the wind out of your lungs, you prepare yourself for the pain, but it wasn't rocks that hit you. It was beskar and muscles.

You open your eyes and see how Din awkwardly moves one of his arms from your waist to your knees to lift up your legs and thereby switch to a position he can actually hold long enough. You fly up into the sky again and as you rise above the hills, poorly aimed blaster shots fly right past you. Din seems to be too busy keeping both of you in the air to worry about it, rightfully relying on his beskar.

'Are you insane?!', he growls angrily.

With one arm you clamp to him and with the other you grab his blaster from the holster.

'Possibly', you shout back, looking past him and firing a few shots at the balcony, making sure not to aim at Hal. The guards duck and cease fire, and soon you’re too far away to get hit. You put the weapon back and you silently let yourself get flown back to the city. It’s all you can do to not ponder on the fact that the Mandalorian is literally carrying you in his arms like some kind of damsel in distress. Admittedly, you were very much in distress when you were falling from the balcony. You can feel his body heat and the strong muscles of his arms around your waist and legs and for some reason you feel like you’re in the safest place in the universe. Finally able to catch your breath, you let your head rest against his breastplate.

When you’ve almost reached the Razor Crest, the relative silence is rudely disrupted by a series of blasts, and you look over his shoulder at the fireballs rising up from the pass and the mansion. To your relief, you see that the guests are already outside, but that relief disappears as soon as you see thin shapes flying through the sky. Not birds, but Tie Fighters. You recognize them from a book and immediately realize that Karga, Dune and Mythrol are in trouble.

'They're being chased!', you shout. 'Tie Fighters are shooting at them!'

Din lands right next to his ship and hastily puts you down on the ground. He whirls around and sees that you’re right. He goes to move, but you’re one step ahead of him.

'Start the engines', you order. 'I'll get the kid.'

Before he can protest, you run into town.

~

A wild chase and a lot of shooting later, the Crest is flying safely over the city gate again, where Karga and the others are standing by the speeder and looking up at the ship. Din is just using his cape to wipe away the strange, mint-blue stuff the child spit out after the last looping, when Karga's voice sounds over the comm.

'That was some pretty impressive flying, Mando. Aren't you gonna let me buy you a drink?'

'Sorry', Din replies. 'We gotta hit the road before Gideon catches wise.'

'Well, good luck flying, my friend.'

Karga’s voice fades away and for a moment, a blessed silence falls over the cockpit. When the Crest leaves the atmosphere and Din has entered the coordinates for Qalla-knows-where, he turns to you. By now, the green color has disappeared from your face, but you’re pretty sure that you’d looked a lot like the child just now.

'I don't want to drag you into the whole Gideon business', he says. 'I can drop you off on any planet you like.'

After today's events, you're too tired to ask what that whole Gideon business is.

'Seems like we keep dragging each other into our businesses.' You laugh wearily. 'I don't mind. It's not like I have anywhere to go. So I wouldn't be against sticking around for a bit. You know, if you'll have me.'

You immediately regret your words, realizing that he was probably giving you a subtle hint, and you want to back out, but he answers before you can.

'Fine.'

He turns back to the controls and that's that. You blink slowly. That was easy. You decide to think about it later and you make a quarter turn in your chair and pull your knees against you, planning on getting some well-deserved shuteye. It’s not exactly comfortable, but you’re not complaining. Sleep is all that matters right now.

'You can take the bed', Din suddenly says, without looking up. 'It's next to the bathroom.'

You force yourself to protest. 'But that's yours! You should get some sleep as well.'

'I have some things I need to take care of.' When you still don't move, he adds: 'You need it more than I do. Go.'

You lack the energy to protest any further and you get up from your chair. At the sliding doors, you look back at him for a second. You’re no idiot, you’re fully aware that he just lied to you. The question is: why? An ancient instinct deep within you calls the answer, but you refuse to give in to it.

For now, anyway.

You leave the cockpit and climb down the stairs. That bed does sound great right now.

~

~

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