#summer is the worst in my hometown because it's a tourist hot spot.

[mananea]

a lot has happened the last few months and it won't slow down until september or so. if i die, heres some things left in my PC

[sushiburritonoms]

okay fine, I’ll play. let’s see, something you can’t make sad (and no, that is NOT a challenge!)… Summer has me in a vacationy mood, so how about DinLuke number 30, tourist/knowledgeable local au? I’ll leave you to decide if Din is the reluctantly knowledgeable local, or if Luke is eager to show the hot dad and his son around

FINE. YOU WANT HAPPY, I'LL GIVE YOU HAPPY!!!

Wait, sorry that came out in my drama voice. *coughs*

30 of AU Ficlist: tourist/knowledgeable local au

Din was no longer a religious man, not since he gently but firmly broke away from his Mormon upbringing years ago. But there were some habits that were hard to break, especially for an exmo, and he couldn’t help but offer up a quick prayer to...something...before he set out on his hike with Luke. Maybe he was praying to Poli`ahu; she would be the most appropriate goddess, given where they were (and wouldn’t his adoptive mother have had a fit over that!).  He sent up a quick prayer for no rain, for clear skies, and, most importantly of all, no tourists.  That last was a big ask, even for the Goddess of Mauna Kea.

But it was the off season for the Big Island, and a weekday, so the trail was quiet.  It was a short hike, five miles roundtrip. It was practically nothing for the two of them. Din wasn’t trying to wear Luke out….yet.  That would hopefully--fingers crossed and prayers sent to all gay friendly gods/godesses out there--come later.

“It really is unbelievably beautiful here,” Luke said quietly as walked near the ocean.  He paused for a minute to close his eyes, tilting his face towards the sun, looking like some sort of god himself, especially with the way in which the light hit the highlights in his hair. A sun god, maybe. Din felt a wave of fierce affection and lust rush through him, like a burst of wind off the sea. His hand drifted down to his cargo shorts pocket, where he reassured himself that the small box he’d put there that morning was still there.

“I can’t believe you left,” Luke admitted as he opened his eyes. “If I was raised here, I’d never leave.”

Din had heard that before from many people. But coming from Luke it felt sincere and probably was, given his childhood history.  “You’d be surprised how quickly you get used to all this,” he said as he waved his arm at their picturesque surroundings. “You don’t notice after a while. The island is too small to spend your whole life here.”

He’d wanted more from his life and freedom from the expectation that he would settle down, marry a nice Mormon woman, and have a small army of children.  He’d always been fine with the children part, and even the marrying part. But the woman part had been the dealbreaker, and when he left the Big Island for the mainland he’d also left that childhood expectation behind.

Now he was back home, a decade later, and surprisingly it was almost how he’d originally expected his life to turn out. He had a son, he had love, and hopefully….

No. Best not to think about it, not to jinx it.  Instead, he waited until Luke had his fill of the ocean before they continued on their way.

“I can see why you didn’t want to bring Grogu,” Luke said as they carefully navigated a rocky curve.  “This isn’t very kid friendly.”

“There’s not much for him to do. The current here is too strong for him,” Din explained as he reached out a hand to Luke so he could help him across.

Luke pouted. “But I thought you were taking me to a secret beach so we could swim. Or...do something else.” Luke raised his eyebrows at him.

“I never said swimming would be involved,” Din said as he gave Luke’s ass a swat.  “We’re not doing what you’re thinking about doing either.” Yet. “This beach isn’t secret, it’s pretty famous.”  There were other more private beaches he could take Luke but that wasn’t the point. It had to be this beach for a specific reason.

“Almost there,” he added as he felt his nervousness begin to grow.  Din could see the ridge where they would begin their descent into the bay. “This area is called Puʻu Mahana; it’s an ancient cinder cone that erupted eons ago.”

“Hmm... I love it when you talk about eruptions,” Luke leered at him.  “I could listen to you talk nerdy all day.”

Din snorted.  “Shut up and get over here.”

“Alright geez, wait up. I--woah.” Luke stopped at the top of the ridge next to him and stared in amazement. “That’s beautiful.”

“Papakōlea beach,” Din said with satisfaction as he looked at the pristine and--miracle of miracles--completely empty sand. They were early enough so they had the bay to themselves. Everytime Din came to Papakōlea he was taken back by the bay’s contrast of colors, with light green cliffside melting away into bright blue water.

“It’s so green!” Luke exclaimed happily. “Is that grass on the sand?”

“Not quite,” Din chuckled as he led the way down the ragged cliffside, towards the old metal staircase built into the cliffside.  “Papakōlea is special because it’s one of the few green sand beaches in the world.”

“Wait? Green sand?!”  That was it, Din had lost Luke. His love ran ahead, hoping over rocks to clammer over to the staircase like a small child.  By the time Din had caught up, Luke was pulling up handfuls of sand and letting the small grains fall through his fingers.

“I never knew sand could be green! We should have brought Grogu! It’s his favorite color!” Luke beamed at him as he approached.

“And yours,” Din acknowledged with a nervous smile. It was rapidly becoming his favorite color too, after silver.

“What is it?” Luke asked. “Fossilized seaweed or something?”

Din snorted. “What? How the hell did they let you graduate from Cal again?!”

“I wasn’t a science major,” Luke retorted. “So why don’t you explain, Professor Djarin?” He leered at Din and oh fuck. He had to bring up his favorite roleplay right now, right when there was a 50% chance he was about to ruin one of the best things that had ever happened to him.

Din pushed aside vivid memories of Luke dressed as a slutty schoolboy out of his head with extreme effort. “Ah..it’s olivine,” he said, suddenly nervous.  “Tiny specs of olivine that is created by the volcano on the island. It’s a dense mineral so it tends to accumulate on the shore rather than be swept into the sea like most other deposits…” His voice trailed off as he saw the moment when Luke suddenly realized why he’d been brought to this particular beach.

“Olivine aka peridot,” Luke said slowly. He let the last of the grains of sand fall from his hand as he moved to touch the small, slender peridot gem that was always around his neck on a smooth silver chain.

Din had asked Luke in the very beginning of their relationship why he always wore the green gem around his neck. Luke had explained that the peridot was the last gift from his grandfather, Qui-Gon.

“He told me he was originally going to give it to my dad’s future wife, because it was a family heirloom. But my biological father never really got along great with my grandfather, and dad and father weren’t able to legally marry until after grandfather died.  So he gave it to me. I don’t know why he didn’t just give it to Leia, but when he died, I put it on and never really took it off.  I’ve always loved the color. Peridots are the stones of compassion and I think that’s just really nice.”

As their relationship grew Din realized that the peridot gem was a perfect description of Luke himself. Compassionate to a fault but also vibrant and full of life. He was spiritual, creative and strong; all characteristics of the gemstone according to the hippie websites Luke liked to frequent.  So when they decided to return to Din’s hometown of Kona for a vacation, Din immediately thought of Papakōlea beach. Olivine was a common mineral on the islands--they liked to market them as “Hawaii’s Diamonds”.

So where else could he bring Luke to propose to him?

“I need to ask you something,” he began. He pulled Luke further along until they were in a spot where Din could see the green sand and the crystal clear blue ocean. Blue and green, the colors that reminded Din of Luke.  “The day we met, you gave me the greatest gift of my life by saving Grogu’s life.  You came in like a superhero, flying in on your stupid skateboard and grabbing him from the path of that car. That could have been the worst day of my life and instead it was the third most important day.”

Luke stared at him with bright eyes that sparkled with unshed tears. “The third?”

“Second one was the moment they said that Grogu could stay, that I could start the adoption process,” Din acknowledged.

Luke nodded. “And the first?” He whispered.

Din took a deep breath and sent another wild prayer to  Poli`ahu or Peli; whoever was listening and had got him this far.

“I’m hoping the first is right now.” He slowly reached for the ring box in his pocket and got down on one knee.  The sand was rough against his bare skin and he was shaking--but so was Luke. There were tears slowly falling down his face and he was looking at Din as if he was the sun god and not him.  “Luke Skywalker,” he said slowly as he opened the ring box, “Would you--”

“YES!” Luke blurted out.

“--You have to let me finish!” Din said with a laugh.

“You’re taking too long!” Luke grabbed at Din’s hands and pulled them to his chest. “Yes, yes a hundred times yes! Of course I’ll marry you! I thought we pretty much were already.”

Din laughed, his voice cracking. “I want it to be official--”

“Of course you do. Can’t take the fear of God out of a exmo like you.” The softness of Luke’s voice tempered the teasing words.

“Hey this is scared land,” Din said somewhat seriously, “on this part of the island, it belongs to the goddess Poli`ahu.”

“Well, then with the grace of ‘Polly-hue’, I say yes, Din. I’ll marry you.”  Din had only a second to frown at Luke’s butchering of the Hawaiian language before he was dragged to standing. He ditched the ring box on the sand so he could put the ring onto Luke’s finger. It was a silver band embedded with koa wood and olivine, made by a local company on the island.  It sparkled perfectly against the backdrop of the sand but Din had only seconds to admire it before he was dragged into a searing kiss by his fiancé.  He tangled his hands into Luke’s hair and let all the love and relief he’d been carrying on their short hike pour out of his mouth and into the other half of his soul.

When they finally parted and pulled away, the light caught the peridot on Luke’s neck and shone brightly, like the slender gem was alive and winking at him.

--

Au List is here if you have a request

Previous answers:

19. parents meeting when they take their kids to class au

15: meeting in the E.R/A&E au

40: Soul destroying exes meeting again after not speaking for years au

25: Library/Avid Reader AU Part I

Library AU part II

[moativational]

WEEK 2

Do you usually go on vacation during the summer?

No. There was actually one summer when everyone else in my family traveled multiple times while I spent the entire summer at home working.

What is the best vacation you have ever been on?

Ooohhh, this is a hard one to answer. I’ve been on a lot of trips with my family over the years. We used to always travel to Siesta Key, Florida during Thanksgiving. I think those vacations would have to be some of my favorites. We don’t do a lot during our vacations and just hang out as a family. We also drive to Florida from where we live so the road trip part is one of my favorites! We find really interesting towns that we wouldn’t go to otherwise, fun fact one of my favorite towns we’ve visited ended up being the hometown of a friend of mine that I met in college.

What is your dream vacation?

My dream vacation would be to travel to London or Seoul and just explore. I want to see historic monuments, discover places that aren’t popular tourist spots, see the places that I’ve only dreamed of going to from movies and television shows.

What is the worst vacation you have ever been on?

Any vacation is a good vacation in my book. No matter how bad it can get, as long as you’re with the right people you can make it fun. If I were to pick one, my mom planned a trip to a place in Florida we haven’t been to before and we were in just the wrong area and the weather wasn’t great. Despite those things, we had a great time spending time as a family and I bought one of my favorite pieces of clothing on that trip.

What is your favorite vacation memory?

I think my favorite memory would have to be one of our first road trips as a family. We found this small town in Georgia and walked around a little shopping area which was really pretty. We also found an interesting restaurant where I tried my first fried pickle and I’ve never been the same. Every time we travel near that town we always stop by that restaurant and get some fried pickles.

What is your favorite event or day in the summer? Are you a ‘summer person’ or you prefer it when it is colder?

My favorite event of the summer is the National Balloon Classic that takes place in my hometown every year. It doesn’t feel like summer until I see hot air balloon’s in the sky. It’s another event my family used to go to every year and it’s something I think I’ll always hold dear to me. Another event that gets held in my town that screams summer to me is bike night. Every month for one night a lot of people drive up to the town square to show off their motorcycles. My family goes for the music and to see friends. It’s another event I’ll keep with me. I am definitely NOT a summer person. I greatly prefer when it’s colder. I LOVE autumn weather the most.

What is your typical daily routine in the summer?

My routine this summer is a lot different from past summers. This summer I’ve been waking up earlier, I’ve been waking up somewhere between 7 and 8 am. I’m working this summer and have been getting a lot of morning shifts so I usually work until noon or 2 pm and then after work I just chill until bed time, which is usually around midnight.

GENERAL UPDATES

I’ve begun preparing for school to start up again, and because a lot of my supplies are in storage miles away from me I have to replace them all. I’ve ordered some stuff to replace what I’m missing and I’m excited to get the supplies I’ve ordered to start up my kpop journal again, unfortunately that got stuck in storage.

I also got some good news regarding my classes for the next semester. Because of the news that I won’t be able to move back to campus I was waiting for my classes to change to online and one of my classes to longer than rest so I got a bit worried, but they’ve all been moved to online so I won’t have anymore changes in my schedule now!

🎧 Currently listening to: ONF and Verivery, someone help me get into verivery!!

🎬 Currently watching: It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, Itaewon Class, To All the Guys Who Loved Me, Was it Love?, New Girl, and desperately waiting for The Umbrella Academy season 2