Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

prologue: 

Din Djarin was not a theatre kid. He would like the record to state that Din has never once been interested in or sought the life of theatre. While Din wouldn’t label himself as a football player, he did play the sport, hence the acceptance of the title. But theatre kid? No way in hell. Even if Din didn’t have terrible social anxiety, it was just not something he was interested in. Flash forward 6 months, and somehow Din found himself showing up to yet another long rehearsal for his high school’s musical. 

See, every high schooler has to take some sort of fine arts credit in order to graduate. When looking through his options, Din figured taking a tech theatre class was better than learning to draw, learning to dance, learning music appreciation, or even learning to act. He had heard from his teammates that the tech class was rather simple and some even learned basic tool usage in the class, overall it seemed like a win to Din.

So that is how Din found himself in a fourth-period Technical Theatre I class his junior year of high school. And Din would’ve been fine with this. The class didn’t seem to be too hard. The basics of technical theatre, including the building of sets for each show at the school. In fact, everything was going rather great in the class. None of his classmates were super annoying and almost none of them talked to him. The only person he really talked to was the teacher, Mr. Stinson. There were a few students said to be in the ‘advanced’ class that typically worked on other projects for Mr. Stinson. But when it came to demonstrations, Din became Mr. Stinson’s partner to show the class what they were doing.

They hadn’t fully started on sets yet but rather covered the basics like how to build a flat and how to build a platform. Din had to admit that it was actually kind of fun. That was until Luke Skywalker showed up. 

Din had never had him in a class before but he vaguely knew of him. He was a theatre person, most likely an actor. Skywalker had a huge, bubbly personality and appeared to be somewhat popular. That could technically be said about Din as well, but he kept to himself and tried to not surround himself with the “popular” people at the school. The only other thing Din knew about Skywalker was that he happened to be one of the prettiest boys in school, not his words. 

Now Din didn’t have a problem with Skywalker, can’t really have a problem with someone you don’t know. The “problem” began when Luke joined the class. Din had never even spoken to the boy before. He really only knew him from the gossip he heard and his name from his sister, Leia, who was Din’s partner in any class they shared. 

But because the universe hated him, Luke joined his fourth-period tech class. And that would’ve been fine if Skywalker would’ve been considered an advanced kid like the other theatre kids that took this class. But like Din, Luke was just slightly ahead of the rest of the class when it came to tools or slightly more responsible and sensible than the freshman in the class. Din had lost Mr. Stinson as his partner and was now almost always paired with Luke for almost every project they had in that class. Which again, would not have been a problem if Skywalker was anything like his sister. 

Leia and Din (, and yes, they were on a first-name basis because Leia had told him at the start of freshman biology “If you call me by my last name like some dumb jock, I will punch you, no hesitation”) got along great because of how much they didn’t care for gossip. Not that there was anything wrong with gossip but Din didn’t care for it and Leia was often the center of it, unintentionally of course. Second-period biology was where the two first had met. Din not saying much and Leia not expecting him to say much. They got through the year swimmingly, others almost annoyed at how we the two worked together. But when the school year came to an end, Din assumed he wouldn’t talk to Leia again even though he considered her a friend for how well they worked together. It wasn’t until first-period chemistry of the next school year after a whole summer of no communication that Leia sat next to Din. And she kept doing that throughout their shared classes. They were friends. They didn’t need to talk every day or every minute or outside of school at all for both of them to understand that they were there for each other.

One time that had been proven was when Leia came into class, eye red-rimmed and puffy. Din hadn’t said a word, just took her sheet and filled it out alongside his, not knowing what to do except keep her from having to do any work. It was in the last five minutes of class, with everyone talking away that Leia cleared her throat to get Din’s attention. 

“Do you believe what they say about me...in the locker rooms? The rumors?” The last part was said so quietly Din almost had to lean to hear her.

“No,” Din caught her eye, “Never.” And Leia gave him a small smile.

Leia was great. She didn’t ask Din too many questions and could read his mannerisms quite well. She was also funny at times and could roast Din without being mean. Luke on the other hand, was almost the opposite of his sister. While both twins were outspoken, Leia was reserved. She did things with a certain poise and purpose, aiming for valedictorian and ivy league schools. Luke was dramatic. Everything he did had flair and theatrics to it. He especially, as Din was learning, loved to talk. And because of this class, he was constantly talking to Din, even talking more to make up for Din’s lack of talking.

At first, Din had thought he was annoyed with the boy who was the embodiment of a golden retriever. Upon talking to his best friend, Cara Dune, the person who knew him like the back of her hand, he realized that maybe he liked when Luke talked to him, like a lot.

“I don’t know Cara. He just talks so much and rambles on about nothing for a whole 50 minute class period. Like today, while we were painting the walls of the set, he went on for 30 minutes about the different types of reusable bags and which ones he liked the most. 30 minutes!”

“Which is his favorite?”

Din huffed, “Depends on the occasion. For an everyday tote bag, he likes the cloth ones that usually have fun prints on them. But for grocery shopping, he says that the stiff, durable plastic ones are the best because they hold more. But also the ones that have that thing in the bottom that keeps the shape of the bag---”

“Do you hear yourself Djarin?”

His brows furrowed, “What?”

“You are complaining about the cute boy in your class that goes out of his way to talk to you and you actually listen to everything he says-”

“I never said he was cute.”

Cara smirked, “You didn’t need to.”

And okay. If Din had happened to stare at the boy from time to time, that wasn’t his fault. It’s not like Din knew that Luke’s hair was long enough to scoop half of it into a half-bun. Or that he wore a lot of black clothing including this particular set of black boots that went almost all the way to his knees. Or that when he wore blue, which was at least once a week, that his eyes popped. It’s also not Din’s fault that he knew a lot about the other boy. He talked so much, Din was bound to retain some of the information. Like how Luke preferred his Mom’s cooking over his dad’s because of ‘the grilled cheese incident’ that the family no longer talks about. Or how he has a dog and a cat both named after these cheesy gay robots in some 80s space fantasy movies. Or how Luke hates sports but loves the marching band so he attends every Friday football game. Or how at every football game, he finds Din and gives him a small smile and a wave, leaving him with a “good luck Din” in a soft voice that seems to float in the air. And if Din wins every game because of that, nobody has to know. 

In fact, if Din, who thought he was annoyed with this very chatty boy, somehow over time and over small conversations and over paint battles in class and over set construction and over football games, actually became quite infatuated with Luke Skywalker, nobody needed to know. 

That brings us to now. The pair were entrusted with dressing the set. Din thought those were fancy words for stapling vines to the fake walls of the set. But there they were, a box of fake vines between the two of them as they filled a painted cobblestone wall with fake greenery. 

Over time, Cara would like to say that Luke broke him down, but Din would like to say that he was being polite by sometimes responding to Luke. He by no means was full-on ranting, but Din would contribute more than his usual appropriate hums during Luke’s rabbles. Din found that he liked talking to Luke. Though Din also had to admit that over time, he became quite fond of Luke’s long talks, his voice became soothing to Din. He tried not to think about it too hard. 

Luke was currently going on about something that happened in his first period. He was wearing his usual black turtleneck and high-waisted blue jeans combo with black high-top converses. Din was trying very hard not to stare at the boy who added an additional flower clip to his hair, something that he typically didn't do but it looked like it belonged. Din was so lost in thought, in awe of how pretty this boy was when he met Luke’s eye, staring right back at him.

“I wasn’t staring at your flower clip.”

Luke blinked, “I didn’t think you were.”

Din nodded and squatted down to grab another handful of vines as he would place the vines to Luke’s liking and Luke would staple them in. He didn’t hear Luke moving at all and looked back up to see Luke staring at him, almost nervous for some reason.

“Does it look bad?” Luke asked, his voice small. It was so unlike him that Din was taken back. This brave and charming boy was scared of...Din’s opinion. No one in his life really cared for his opinion.

Din realized he hadn’t said anything when Luke reached up to take the hair clip out of his hair, eyes cast down. He acted quickly and grabbed Luke’s hand, pulling it away from his hair, causing not only Luke to jump at the sudden touch but all of the vines Din was holding to fall on the ground. 

They both looked down and then back at each other. Luke staring at Din and Din staring at his hand wrapped around Luke’s. 

Din hesitated. 

“It doesn’t.” 

Jesus Djarin, use more words . 

“Look bad-I mean,” He was still holding Luke’s arm. He released his arm and glanced at the clip one last time. Luke gulped.

“It uh-it looks nice,” he punctuated this by reaching up to run his fingers across the material of the flower. 

“You look very pretty,” His hand slowly trekked down Luke’s (super freaking soft) hair, barely skimming his face before he pulled it away entirely and looked at Luke. 

Luke was bright red. Din thought it was a nice color on him.

“Thanks.”

And if Luke started wearing more clips in his hair and Din happened to notice (and die a little on the inside), no one needed to know.

Chapter Text

chapter one:

After the ‘hair clip’ accident, Din was fully prepared for things to go back to how they normally were. He would let Luke talk and Din would only chime in when necessary and it would be fine. Din would ignore that little voice in his head that sounded a lot like Cara and not think about Luke and ‘crush’ in the same word. 

Because Din simply did not have a crush on Luke Skywalker. Nope. Not a thing. 

But when Din walked into the auditorium for class, he found that his usual spot in the middle of the front row currently had a (cute) boy in a black and gray flannel sitting next to it. Din smiled to himself before turning down to sit next to Luke. 

Luke didn’t seem to notice Din at first, having his earbuds and reading from a script. 

Din set his stuff down and glanced at the class. Everyone quietly chatted amongst themselves, all waiting for the ring of the bell and for Mr. Stinson to appear from wherever he was hiding. 

Din looked back at Luke who was now humming under his breath while flipping through his script. 

Din said nothing, just stared at the other boy's profile. It was quite a good profile, objectively speaking of course. Luke had a nice jawline and a slightly upturned nose. His skin was a fairly even tone and looked super smooth. Today, half of Luke’s hair was pulled up in a knot of sorts with a couple of pieces left out to frame his face. He looked beautiful. 

Din quickly turned his head when he heard Mr. Stinson’s footsteps echoing on the stage. Luke looked up and saw Din next to him, “Hi Din.”

Din turned to him and mumbled a greeting back before turning back to Mr. Stinson, who was now sat at the edge of the stage. 

“Alright, a couple of announcements. The show, the one we’ve been working on for the past few weeks, opens up next week. Everyone here must see the show and sign-in on the piece of paper that will be at the ticket table. It runs about an hour and a half and you can Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 pm or a 2:30 showing on Sunday. It is free for everyone in this class as long as you sign in.” The man stood up and wiped his hands on his pants, “As for today, we are currently in the process of tech week. Since we actually finished the set last week, you may all hang out in the audience until class is over. But please try to keep it down as we will be working on lighting and I will need to hear the people on stage.” With that, Mr. Stinson walked towards his advanced students and left the class to have essentially a free period. 

Din sat there, suddenly everything that he could possibly do left his brain. Because of the lack of free time they usually had, Din had all his school work done for his other classes. Din was also struggling with the fact that now he had a whole period where he could just talk to Luke, nothing interrupting them. No walls to hide behind, no paint to separate them, just the two boys sitting in the front row away from the class. Din gulped.

Din finally took a deep breath and turned to Luke, seeing the other boy also looking down and then up at Din. Luke must have seen the underlying panic in Din’s eyes and laughed. Din cracked a smile because Luke’s laugh was so infectious. 

Luke turned his whole body towards Din, crossing his legs so his shoe brushed against Din’s jeans.

“So I was wondering if I could ask a huge favor of you? And it is like totally okay if you don’t want to, I mean, it won’t hurt my feelings or-”

“Okay.”

Luke tilted his head like a confused puppy, it was only slightly adorable.

“I haven’t even asked you yet.”

Din shrugged, “Anything for you.”

It took Din a minute to process the sincerity of his words and he found that he kinda actually meant it. But Din did not have the time or mental capacity to deal with that and instead rushed to add, “Like anything for my friends because we are, um, friends. And that’s what friends do.” Din looked at Luke who seemed to be enjoying Din’s struggle with words.

“So what is the favor?”

“Right. So I’m actually in the show that opens next week and I was wondering if you would help me with my lines? It’s Shakespearean so there's a lot of lines and a lot of weird words-”

Din cut him off, “What do you need me to do?”

Luke grabbed his script from where he set down at the start of class and flipped it open to a tabbed page with a lot of highlighted lines and messy writing around certain words and phrases.

“Okay if you will read all the not highlighted parts and I will recite the ones that are.” Luke paused for a second, “You’ll have to read for Juliet if that's okay?” Luke averted his eyes.

Din stared at Luke’s face, “I don’t mind.”

Luke smiled, “Great. So I’ll start at the top.”

Din looked at the script Luke placed in his hands. At the top of the page it said Romeo and Juliet followed by what appeared to be the act and scene. From all the highlighted lines, he could only assume that Luke was none other than Romeo. Din didn’t know much about the show other than reading it in his freshman year English class where Din had to read the small role of Lord Montague during their class reading, but he knew that Romeo was a pretty big role. Din also knew that getting Romeo probably meant that Luke was really good at theatre or acting or whatever you would call it.

Din looked at Luke who appeared to be waiting on him.

“If I mess up, just stop me and tell me the line. And if I call line, if you could also tell me the first few words of the line until I get it I would appreciate it.”

Din nodded and Luke took a deep breath. 

“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? 

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”

Luke glided out of his chair. 

“Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief,

That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.

Be not her maid since she is envious.

Her vestal livery is but sick and green,

And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off!”

Din knew he should be staring at the script. Din knew he should be looking at the script as Luke recites his lines to make sure that Luke was word for word on each line delivery. Keywords here were: Din knew he should. Din should be doing what Luke asked of him, but he couldn’t. Not when this charming boy was in front of him is reciting a bunch of words in a language that Din doesn’t even really understand. It wasn’t even the meaning of the words to Din, not really. It was the way they came out, the words that Luke was reciting had almost this angelic sound to them. 

Din isn’t one for flowery words (which ticked off his English teachers from time to time) but suddenly all he could think to describe the boy in front of him was downright ethereal, unearthly, and majestic in a way. 

“See how she leans her cheek upon her hand.” Luke made eye contact with Din and smiled.

“Oh, that I were a glove upon that hand

That I might touch that cheek!”

Din stared at him until he realized Luke wasn’t just staring at him but rather waiting for him to read his line.

“Ay me!” Din cleared his throat and nodded at Luke, ready to continue the scene and hopefully move the focus from Din’s face where he felt a burning in his cheeks.

Luke places a hand on Din’s shoulder, like an act of comfort, and gave Din another warm smile. 

“She speaks.

O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art

As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,

As is a wingèd messenger of heaven

Unto the white, upturnèd, wondering eyes

Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him

When he bestrides the lazy-puffing clouds

And sails upon the bosom of the air.”

Luke finishes this by plopping back down next to Din, hand removed but legs crossed and dangling near Din’s. 

“O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?” Din’s eye glanced up to find Luke giving him a small nod of encouragement. 

“Deny thy father and refuse thy name.

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.”

Luke let out a content hum, “Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?”

Din’s eyes widened upon looking at the huge chunks of dialogue coming up.

“'Tis but thy name that is my enemy.

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.

What’s Montague?--”

“You don’t have to read all of it.”

Din looked up at Luke.

Luke tucked some falling pieces of hair behind his ear, “I mean, it's just you and me so if you just wanna read like the first few words and then like the last line or so, I just need those last few words as my cue lines.”

Din let out a sigh of relief, not wanting to look like a joke while attempting to read Shakespeare in front of Luke.

“Okay, so I’ll just go to the end of this chunk?”

Luke nodded at Din. 

Din took a deep breath in, “And for that name, which is no part of thee

Take all myself.”

“I take thee at thy word.

Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized.

Henceforth I never will be Romeo.”

“What man art thou that, thus bescreened in night,

So stumblest on my counsel? Holy fuck.”

Luke chucked at him. Din was trying his hardest to go through these lines but no offense to Shakespeare, the dead playwright could take some advice from Din and just get to the point. 

“I know right,” Luke collapsed his hands together on his knee, “Don’t get me wrong. I love Shakespeare. His work is phenomenal, I mean, we're still putting on his plays to this very day. But even I can admit, sometimes he can be doing wayyyy too much.”

Din chuckled, “Yeah. I probably haven’t read this much out loud since like freshman English.”

“Well,” Luke bumped his shoe against Din’s leg, “I think you’re doing great.”

Din looked into Luke’s eyes, blue ones radiating feelings of happiness towards brown ones.

“Thanks, Luke,” Din mumbled.

The two boys sat for a second, looking into each other's eyes. It was a lot for Din to handle. 

“We should get back to the script.”

Luke’s smile seemed to hesitate as if he was ready to just stare at Din for the remainder of class, but he quickly hid whatever had come over him and made his smile just as bright as before. 

“Yes. I believe it is my line... By a name

I know not how to tell thee who I am.”

And that is how Din found himself reading for the role of Juliet for an entire class period. 

When the bell rang, Din handed Luke's script back to him and picked up his own untouched backpack from the floor.

Luke shoved the script hazardously into his backpack and threw the thing over his shoulder, now standing next to Din.

“Well,” Din switched from foot to foot, “I will see you tomorrow?”

Luke nodded, “Yes. Tomorrow.”

Din nodded and patted Luke’s shoulder on his way past Luke to leave the auditorium and tried not to think about why he did that. 

“Din?”

Din looked back over his shoulder, Luke was still standing close to the stage, a red flush on his cheeks, “Thanks for helping me with my lines.”

Din felt a smile coming onto his face, “Anytime Luke.” And the smile remained on Din’s face as he walked to his next class. 

In fact, the smile on Din’s face remained the entire walk to his AP Physics class and stayed as he sat in his spot waiting for Leia and waiting for class to start. And Din’s smile was so apparent that it actually threw Leia for a loop. 

“Not to say that you don’t smile Din,” Leia walked around the table and slid into the chair next to Din, “But you..don’t smile Din.”

Din looked up from his phone where he was playing Sudoku on his phone.

Leia raised her hands in a defensive manner, “No offense. I mean, I think the smile looks great on you.”

Din huffed and dropped the smile, hoping he could fight off the blush he felt coming onto his cheeks from being called out.

“Din.” Leia nudged his arm a little.

“I was just kidding. I don’t know why or who,” her words mumbling on the last part, “caused this smile but I am happy for you. I’m happy when my friends are also happy.”

Din took a deep breath, and gave a half-smile towards Leia, signaling that he wasn’t actually mad at her.

The two of them nodded at each other then turned to see their rather (awful) teacher begin his lesson. After a very short and confusing lecture, the class was left to work on some simple worksheets which actually meant everyone ignored the teacher and talked amongst themselves. Din and Leia tended to work on theirs in class to avoid homework but sometimes, Din or Leia, depending on the day, would break down and text the other to ask for help on a specific question. But for two fiercely independent people, it was hell asking for help. Working in class together was a compromise. 

At the current moment, they had finished their worksheets and were playing on their phones. Leia in particular was arguing with her boyfriend over text and would occasionally ask Din for a specific word to help confuse her boyfriend, the not-so-bright boy named Han. 

Din was happy to assist Leia, actively keeping a google tab open to look up synonyms to common words. Din at the moment was looking through his emails when he found one from Mr. Stinson. It was a flyer for next week’s play, Romeo and Juliet . The flyer in question was black with this clique-looking image of a boy made of water and a girl made of fire embracing each other. It was rather awful to look at, but the poster held details for the shows that they were having. 

Din currently had a bi-week in football where none of the teams had a game that week, technically meaning he could go to the show any night next week (or even, every night). He glanced over at Leia, who had moved on to looking through a planner, phone set aside. 

The one thing Din did not want to do was go to the school play alone. That meaning, Din would have to ask one of his few friends if they would like to attend a two and a half Shakespeare play. Cara would definitely laugh in his face as if Din told the funniest joke in the world if he asked her. Luke, a new option, would presumably be busy being the star of the show. Not that Din would actually have the courage to ask Luke to go with him. So that left Leia Skywalker, sister of the very boy that would not leave Din’s thoughts. 

Din assumed Leia would go. She didn’t talk about her brother too much to him but Din knew she cared about him a lot. 

“I can feel your stare Din.” Leia didn’t even look up from her planner.

Din rubbed his neck, a nervous habit that realized he had been doing a lot recently.

“Are you going to see Romeo and Juliet next week?”

Leia flipped a page and pointed towards Friday, skimming the page, “Yes. I believe my mother bought tickets for Friday for my family and Han.” She finally looked at Din, “May I ask why you are asking?”

“I have to see the show for my tech class,” Din’s voice going quieter towards the end of his sentence.

Leia hummed in acknowledgment. 

“Well, you should come Friday night. If you sit with me and Han, then we don’t have to sit near my parents,” She closed her notebook as the bell rang, always one step ahead of everything, “I love them to death but sitting near them at any of Luke’s events is actually torture.”

They both stood up and grabbed their bags, packing their stuff and getting ready to leave. 

“So you’re coming with us on Friday?” Leia asked. Din looked at her, something about her tone almost felt as if she were hiding something.

“Yeah, I’ll go Friday.”

A smile broke out on Leia’s face, very different from the one that was on her twin’s face less than two hours ago, “Sounds like a plan. See you in English.” And she walked away from Din, leaving him slightly confused and now very nervous because seeing the show with Leia very well-meant meeting the infamous Skywalker parents that he had heard about from both Leia and Luke. 

Din gulped and shook his head, already worrying about next week when it was only Monday.  

deep breaths Djarin, deep fucking breaths

Chapter Text

chapter two:

Din was slightly confused. While Din had an understanding that he was friends with Leia and he was now also friends with Luke, Din would often forget to think about the fact that the two were twins and definitely talked, and for some reason, Din would be a subject in their conversations. 

Din had received a text from Leia on Thursday morning, which was weird for a couple of reasons but mainly because the text seemed to be a warning.

From Leia Skywalker:

Just an FYI, today is the opening night of R&J so if Luke seems a bit...distracted, just let him talk it out. I promise it is better for everyone that way.

I say this because I know you have the same 4th period.

The last thing that Din wanted was to assume that Luke talked about him to Leia. While Cara would say he was “whipped”, Din would very much argue that he just liked to make Luke smile. They were friends. And that's what friends did according to Din’s understanding. So the new information that Leia knew about their friendship was a lot to process at 7 o’clock in the morning. 

The other thing that was slightly confusing was the warning in general. Din hadn’t really known Luke prior to this class or if he did, he didn’t remember him. (How could you forget a smile that could quite frankly light up the night sky?) Din has a feeling that maybe Leia is referring to Luke getting the theatre equivalent to pre-game jitters. And if that was the case, Din would do what he normally did in class, let Luke talk it all out. 

When it was finally fourth-period, Din walked in to see Mr. Stinson doing some last-minute touch ups on the set. A couple of students with him as they worked to fix the smallest of details. Din walked to his seat and found Luke’s tote in the seat next to his, meaning the other boy was already here. Din set his own bag down and looked around, trying to find the blonde haired boy. When he didn’t see him, Din sat down and waited for class to start, hoping they might have something to do. 

The bell rang and Luke still hadn’t walked in. Din kept looking around as Mr. Stinson talked, hoping Luke might appear. 

“Enjoy this class because next week, we strike! Remember the show opens tonight and runs till Sunday.” Mr. Stinson clapped his hands and walked back to the set, picking up a drill on his way. 

Din looked down, the class was so quiet. With nothing to do and no one to talk too, Din was left alone with his thoughts. Din typically preferred this. He was an introvert at heart, wanting nothing more than to be by himself and enjoy his time away from everything and everyone. But for some reason, Din didn’t want to be alone. Not in this class where he had grown so accustomed to a routine or more specifically to a person. As much as Din didn’t want to think about what that meant, he had nothing but time to think about why the absence of Luke was bothering him so much. 

“Din!”

Din whipped around to find the boy currently occupying his mind standing at the back of the theatre. Luke smiled at him, eyes crinkling at the corners. He gestured with his hand for Din to come to him. Din obliged, getting up and leaving his stuff as he trekked towards Luke, throwing a look over his shoulder to make sure Mr. Stinson didn’t mind.

When he finally reached Luke, Din was taken back by him. There Luke stood, simple gray hoodie and baggy blue jeans, his shaggy hair down and hiding his forehead. For as much as Din had been worrying this morning, Luke looked the same as he usually did, that calming Din a bit. 

“Hi Din,” Luke spoke so quietly, a small and tired smile on his face. 

“Hey,” Din looked behind Luke at the small ticket table that sat in the center of the lobby, a few stacks of what looked like programs placed in the center. Luke seemed to follow Din’s eye line.

“I have another huge favor to ask.”

“Programs?” Din moved to look back at Luke’s face, his long bangs getting in the way of his bright blue eyes.

Luke nodded, “Please.”

Din nodded, not wanting to repeat what happened last time Luke had asked for a favor. He walked over and took a seat by programs.

Luke followed suit, sitting so close to Din that their arms brushed against each other. Din felt a flush on his cheeks, a flush that kept appearing around a certain blonde haired boy.

The two worked in silence for a while, something that Din was used to with just about anybody but Luke. Even back when Luke had first joined the class and began to annoy Din, he talked to Din like they had been best friends in another life. That was just the kind of person Luke was. A social butterfly. A person who was nice to just about everyone he met. So this silence was almost deafening. And Din honestly wouldn’t think much of it if not for the text that Leia had sent him. 

Din had come prepared to have Luke talk his ears off and then some, not that it was really a chore anymore. The silence and occasional, “can you hand me that?” was unsettling to Din. 

“So, opening night right?” Din just about blurted out as he set his stack of finished programs in front of Luke, reaching for another stack of papers. 

Luke froze. Din finally glanced over at him, the close proximity allowing Din to see the stress written all over Luke’s face. His normal smile and smooth features looked wrinkled and out of place. 

“We don’t have to talk about it,” Din quickly looked away from Luke, trying to seem more interested in the folding of papers than staring at the boy beside him, “Just, if you want to talk about it or something, like literally anything , you can.”

Din slowly continued folding papers and tried not to immediately cringe at how awful he was with words when it came to Luke. 

After about a minute and a handful of programs later, Din finally braved another glance at Luke. The other boy was sitting with his face in his hands, his eyes still visible but clenched shut. Din heard a shaky breath come out of Luke before his blue eyes, evermore blue like crystals due to the tears that began to fall.

“What if I’m,” Luke’s hands began to fiddle with each other, his eyes still not looking directly at Din, “what if I’m not good enough?” The last part Din almost didn’t hear because of how broken it sounded.

Luke wiped a few tears before turning to fully face Din, knees brushing against Din’s and face red from crying as opposed to the usual blush that Luke had. 

“I know it sounds stupid, but I wasn’t the first choice for Romeo. The other guy dropped out and they gave it to me, which is great. I am so happy that I get to play him,” He tucked a piece of hair behind his ear, tears still slowly trickling down his face, “I mean, Romeo is my first major role, my first named role. But I just feel like I’m not good enough. I mean, I couldn’t even get Romeo the first time around.” Din didn’t quite know how to respond to Luke, not very good with people in general, hence his very small and select group of friends. But he knew the feeling that Luke had. Constantly being in second place and always feeling like an afterthought, never quite good enough to be first. 

“I just,” Luke’s eyes finally met Din’s, “I-I’m scared. And I don’t want to fuck this up.” Din stayed silent. Staring right back into Luke’s eyes, seeing the sadness within them, something that was so out of place. 

Luke blinked his eyes, getting the last of his tears to fall before taking his sleeves and wiping his face, “I know it sounds stupid or wh--”

“It’s not,” Din reassured, “It’s not stupid to feel like that.” 

Din looked at the space between them and decided to do what his mind was telling him to do. Din placed his hand on top of Luke’s hands, taking them in his, “I know this probably doesn’t mean much, but as I am sure you are aware, I am not good with words,” Din heard a snort from Luke, “but, I think you are going to do great.”

“You haven’t even seen me act,” Luke’s eyebrows raised at Din.

Din’s gave Luke’s hands a squeeze, “I don’t need to. Everything you do is great, I assume that this is no different.” 

Din’s eyes moved back to Luke’s face. The other boy’s face not as red as before, but small patches of redness. His eyes were slightly puffy and ever so blue. “You mean that?”

Din felt torn between looking away, those blue eyes making his stomach flutter, or moving even closer, wanting to be closer to the other boy. Din slowly nodded his head, all the words he wished he could say stuck in his throat as he focused on the feeling of their joined hands. 

“Thanks, Din,” Luke all but whispered. 

With a final squeeze to Luke’s hand, Din slowly removed his hand and immediately felt the lack of warmth from holding the other boys. 

“Shall we?” Din gestured towards the programs, not wanting to change the subject but also not really sure what else he could say to Luke. 

Luke stood up and shook out like a dog would do after a bath, his blonde hair flapping around before Luke smoothed it out and sat back down, grabbing a new stack of papers, “First one to finish three piles wins?”

Din laughed, “You’re on.”

It wasn’t long before Luke had completely taken over the conversation between two boys. Telling stories of failed rehearsals and funny things that have happened throughout the rehearsal process, saying names of people Din didn’t recognize but now knew all about. They had finished all but one stack of programs when the bell rang. Din hopped up, Luke in tow, as he made his way around his classmates to grab his forgotten stuff. 

“Skywalker! I have some papers for you.” Mr. Stinson called out as he caught sight of the two boys. Din grabbed his stuff, throwing it over his shoulder, and turned back to Luke, rosy cheeks and a big smile.

“It means a lot.”

Din’s eyebrows furrowed.

Luke brought a hand up to move his hair out of his face, blue eyes shining, “What you said earlier. Coming from you, it means a lot.” 

Din felt like his insides were melting. The inside of his brain was turning to mush as he stood there staring at the wondrous boy that was Luke Skywalker. Din could barely manage a nod and a goodbye as he rushed out of the auditorium, practically running to his next class. When Din finally arrived at his class, he couldn’t tell if the redness in his cheeks was from Luke’s words or the act of running across campus. 

---

“Wanna go watch a movie tomorrow?” Din looked up from his phone to see Cara as she made her way out of the girl's locker room and into the hallway where Din was waiting for her so they could ride home together. 

Din and his parents had lived in a small duplex since roughly the age of 8. A small little home that the three of them shared. Din had met Cara that way when the Dune’s moved into the neighboring house. Din and Cara had grown up together. The only person that knew Din better himself was Cara. 

Naturally, over the years, the two best friends did everything together, this extending to where they were now, two players on the varsity football team. Cara was most definitely better than Din, not that he would ever admit that to her. But it helped them being on the same team because it meant saving gas on their way home. 

Typically, Din would rush in the locker room, ready to be home, and would stand outside waiting on Cara. This was only because the volleyball team’s practice finished at the same as the football team, giving Cara the ‘perfect’ opportunity (her words, not Din’s) to flirt with the other girls that had a thing for her big muscles (also her words). 

Din didn’t mind though. He usually spent his time playing sudoku on his phone, trying to beat his previous record each time. Today though, Din had been staring at the new contact in his phone. 

After so many months of friendship, Din had never thought about asking Luke for his number, never seeing the need to do so. It had been the end of Physics when Leia had snatched Din’s phone out of his hand, mumbling something about if her brother wanted Din to see a certain meme, he should send it straight to Din and not her, she wasn’t a messenger. Din had still been stuck on the fact that Leia had grabbed his phone and he didn’t even move as if that was a normal occurrence. His phone was dropped back in his hand as the bell rang, the name Luke Skywalker and said boy’s phone number now in Din’s contacts. Din hadn’t brought himself to text Luke yet. Din instead had Luke’s name pulled up, ready to text. Din had left it at that, staring at the blinking line waiting for him to start typing.

Upon Cara’s question and appearance, Din locked his screen and tucked his phone away, instead making himself busy trying to find his house keys. 

“I have a thing tomorrow.”

The two friends began the walk from the gym to the student parking lot where Cara’s beat up truck was waiting for them. 

“What thing? You don’t have any friends besides me that would do stuff with you.”

“Haha Dune.”

“Seriously, we get one Friday night off and you already have plans. Sounds a little sus to me.”   

Din tilted his head, “Sus?”

He could feel Cara’s eye roll, “Suspicious and don’t change the subject.”

Din raised his hands in defense, “Seriously. I have to watch Romeo and Juliet --”

“Oooooh. You have plans to see Lover Boy.”

Din felt his face start to burn. He willed his red cheeks away and put a scowl on his face, “I have plans to watch a school play, which I am required to do .”

Cara stopped at her truck, tossing Din the keys to drive, “Requirement or not, you would be there. I mean, Din, you are so w--”

“Say it and I will leave you here,” He threatened, climbing into the driver’s seat and turning on the truck.

Cara made the motion of zipping her mouth before hopping in the passenger's seat, as it was Din’s week of driving. She still had a smirk on her face as they buckled up and pulled out of the parking lot. 

“Whipped.”

“ Cara. ”

They had almost made it completely home without Cara bringing Luke up again. But alas, the universe tended to hate Din most days. So when Din felt his phone buzz, assuming it was most likely his mom, Din handed his phone from his pocket to Cara, asking her to open it and read the text. Not remembering until after Cara had unlocked his phone that Din had closed it earlier still on a new text window to Luke. 

“Cara--”

“I didn’t even say a word.”

Din sighed. If he weren’t driving, he might’ve even hit his head against the steering wheel of the truck. 

After the longest five minutes of his life, the two friends and neighbors finally made it home. Parking in Cara’s driveway, Din buckled and snatched his phone from Cara, tired of her snooping. 

“Don’t worry, I didn’t text anything to him...yet.”

Din narrowed his eyes, “I hate you.”

He closed the door and tossed the keys to Cara before rushing to his front door. 

“Din!”

He turned back to her, placing his hand on his hip and moving his weight to one side. 

“Make sure you bring your Lover Boy a gift tomorrow night. It’s proper etiquette.”

Din felt an eyebrow raise, “You mean like flowers?”

Cara rolled her eyes, “No. Only grandparents do that. Like something that has a meaning, not something that’s gonna die in a week.”

Din really wanted to ignore Cara’s advice, figuring she was probably trying to embarrass him but Din hadn’t been to a play before, let alone, had a friend that was in a play before. “I’ll think about it.”

“Suit yourself.”

Din had walked inside and greeted his parents, opting to take another shower as opposed to the rushed and slightly gross one at the school. Din opened his phone, hoping to listen to a podcast when he found his screen was still open on a new message to Luke. He glanced at the time and saw that it was roughly 6 pm, meaning Luke would probably be getting ready soon. Din didn’t know too much about theatre but a 7 o’clock show probably meant Luke was already at the school. 

Din thought back to earlier in the day. The warmth of Luke’s hands under his. The tone of his voice as he told Din his opinion mattered to him. The color of his eyes, even under a layer of tears. Din didn’t quite know what all his feelings were and what that meant, but whatever the feeling in his stomach was, Din didn’t hate it. 

Din finally began to type, the cursor moving as Din typed out a short and simple message, hoping that maybe it would make Luke smile. 

From Din Djarin:

Hey Luke, this is Din. Good luck on your show.

From Luke Skywalker:

DIN!!!!! tysm :,,) 

omg, i can finally send you memes and tiktoks

after this performance of course, bc i’m a professional. obvi 

Din smiled and set his phone down.

Din Djarin, you are sooooo whipped.