Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Perhaps the backseat of an old, rattletrap Razor Crest long since out of production isn’t exactly an optimal living space, but Din Djarin has made do. It’s positively cozy… if one were to strip the definition of “cozy” to its very bones and squint hard enough.

Even so, ever since moving out of the tight-knit community of his covert and striking it out in the ‘big city’ (his covert’s words, not his), Din has considered the old car to be home. Not that he has much of a choice, but it’s the thought that counts. And it’s certainly functional— he’d woken up to watch the sun rise through the windshield, and now only a handful of minutes later he’s driving to work. And praying the car holds together long enough for him to get through the day. He really ought to take a look at it later, the damn motor always acts up as the weather changes…

Maybe it’s his fault. Maybe it’s the other man’s. He’d like to think it’s the other man’s. But one minute he’s easing his foot down on the gas— too much too fast and the Razor Crest will make its dissatisfaction loudly known —and the next he’s staring directly at a harried-looking man in the driver’s seat of a car far too close to his own for comfort.

And then the crunch of metal hits his ears, at almost the exact moment as he’s jolted to the side. Din swears vehemently, slamming on the brakes as the Razor Crest spins out of control, skidding with an earsplitting screech across the road. He comes to a stop a sizable handful of meters from where he’d first started, relatively unharmed and extremely ticked off.

“What the hell?” Din shoves open the car door, storming over to the other driver, a fresh-faced young man with sandy hair who is picking his way out of the car. He seems similarly unhurt, if a bit shaken, though Din doesn’t exactly have any sympathy for him, seeing as he’s the one who’d rammed his car right into Din’s.

“I’m so sorry,” the man says immediately, in such an earnest tone that he genuinely forgives him for a moment. But then the moment passes and reality settles in— the front of his car is completely crumpled. Getting it repaired will be a nightmare, especially considering how old the model is. Not many mechanics know how to fix up a Razor Crest, and he’s always been content to fix the car’s many problems himself, but this is definitely too much for his limited skills. Even Boba won’t have a clue how to fix… this.

The man is tapping away at his phone, presumably calling the authorities to get things sorted out properly. He’s also apologizing profusely, but Din couldn’t care less. Already his anger is fading into worry, the initial rush of fury draining away and taking all his energy with it. What the hell is he supposed to do without his car? Maybe Cara will let him crash on her couch for a while, but with his entire covert on the other side of the country, it’s not like he has many options. And he can’t go back, not when he’d left with a promise to make them proud.

Sighing deeply, Din pulls out his phone and dials Boba.

He’s definitely going to be late for work.

Chapter Text

This is all his sister’s fault.

Leia’s been insisting for months now that Luke move out of the cramped city apartment he shares with a few college friends who’d stuck around after graduation. He’s perfectly content in the place, of course, but as the twin brother of a well-known senator , he apparently ought to at least consider finding somewhere ‘respectable’ to live. He’d agreed with her without really taking action on it, claiming to be too busy with his job to hunt for a house, and besides, he’s not interested in increasing his commute anytime soon.

So his sister had taken things into her own hands.

Which is how he’d ended up speeding down the road and straight into the man— or rather, Mandalorian —standing beside him now. Of course his sister had neglected to mention she’d finally found a potential apartment for rent until the night before the meeting she’d scheduled with the owner (according to her, telling him any earlier would just give him a chance to come up with an excuse not to look into it).  And of course his alarm clock had chosen today to stop working. And of course he’d been so distracted by the stress of the impending meeting that he hadn’t been paying enough attention to the road.

At least the owner of the apartment, a woman named Satine Kryze, had been nothing but understanding when he’d emailed her about postponing the meeting. It’s a rare stroke of good luck that only possibly has something to do with the fact that he’s the son of Padmé Amidala and the brother of Leia Organa, Coruscant City’s two most beloved politicians.

And thank the stars the Mandalorian, who’d introduced himself as Din Djarin, isn’t interested in pressing charges. Of course, Luke will still have to pay for the damage to the man’s car , but that’s the least of his worries. He’s more focused on appeasing Leia, who is swinging wildly back and forth between worrying over his safety and worrying about how this will look for her re-election campaign.

“I’m fine, Leia,” he sighs finally after almost twenty minutes have passed without signs of her slowing her rant. “He’s not upset about it, I don’t even think he recognized me. No one is blaming this on me.”

“Easy for you to say,” Leia mutters. “This is my most important election yet. I’m allowed to worry. You’re sure you’re fine?” Just like that she’s back to fussing over his health. What would he do without his twin sister? (Probably fret a lot less…)

“No injuries.” The Mandalorian shuffles awkwardly, pointing towards the pickup truck that’s just pulled up to the curb. A solemn-faced man holds up a hand in greeting, clearly the Mandalorian’s ride.  “And Satine rescheduled the meeting. Gotta go.” Luke hangs up before she can reply, turning his attention towards the man. “We’re free to go, then?”

“Yeah.” With that, the man rushes away as if he can’t stand being at the scene of the crash a moment longer. Considering the fact that Luke’s all but totaled his car, it’s a valid response. Luke awkwardly kicks a pebble off the curb, avoiding the gaze of the truck driver and the man he’d hit. Hopefully they won’t hold it against him— he doesn’t know much about Mandalorians, but they’re notorious for their tempers and willingness to pick fights.

Oh well. Han had promised to stop by to pick him up in five minutes or so, and after this mess of a morning, Luke is eager enough to move on with the day that he’ll risk a ride in his brother-in-law’s rattletrap minivan, lovingly nicknamed the Millennium Falcon. The crash had made for one hell of a morning, but it’s all behind him now.

Time to focus on the future… namely, the looming meeting with Satine.

Chapter Text

“You’re too young to be having a midlife crisis,” Cara declares, throwing a pillow at Din to emphasize her point.

“What else am I supposed to do?” Din picks up the pillow and arranges it neatly on the couch, taking her not-so-subtle cue to stop lying facedown on said couch while wallowing in his thoughts. Cara’s offered to let him crash at her place for a few weeks, at least until he can find a more permanent living situation, though her parents have been making it abundantly clear that they don’t approve of Din and Cara sharing a house.

Not that either of them are interested in each other for any reason besides friendship, but he’s listened to her grouse about her stubbornly tradition-minded parents enough times to know that explaining they’re just friends won’t make a difference in the eyes of her mother and father.

“Not sure, actually.” Cara shrugs, collapsing onto the couch and completely ruining Din’s work. “How’s the house search going?”

Terribly, to be honest. Everything is either too far away from a bus station— without a car, his only transportation has become the public transit system —or far too expensive for Din to even consider. He’s narrowed it down to a grand total of one place. “I found an apartment a few blocks away from the bus station. Looks like a nice place. Mandalorian owned,” he adds, and Cara grins.

“Sounds like your kind of place. You get in contact with the owner?”

“A woman named Satine,” he says. “Satine Kryze. Her family used to be one of the more prominent Mandalorian lines in the area.”

“Any drama?” Cara leans forward with a somewhat evil grin. Though she’s far from a gossip, she can never quite get over the extensive feuds and battles that fill Mandalorian history. And, well,  Din is happy enough for any chance to talk about his people.

“Her family has been involved with the Nite Owls for a long time ,” he says hesitantly. “They’re not exactly known to get along with Children of the Watch.”

She whistles. “Good luck.”

“Might not need it. Satine’s a modernist.” At Cara’s confused look, he explains. “In her opinion, there are too few Mandalorians around here to get caught up over petty arguments. She gets along with everyone.” In theory, of course. Mandalorians have been ‘welcomed’ everywhere for years, and yet Din can still hardly find a job or housing outside his covert. Meeting Boba and landing a job as a mechanic had been an uncharacteristic stroke of luck.

“Sounds like a saint.” She reclines against the pillow, sounding less interested now that there’s no dramatic backstory between his people and Satine’s. “When are you meeting?”

“Two days.” It doesn’t hit him until then that there are only two short days until he’s meeting with the owner of what very well may be his first home. “Shit. Two days .”

“Poor thing,” Cara laughs, though she sobers slightly under his glare. “Right. I’m going to have to help you with this, aren’t I?”

“What are friends for?”

Chapter Text

Everything is going to go well today. It has to. Luke can’t stand going through this apartment-searching process again, not with the stress of work quite literally piling up in the form of ungraded tests, unwritten lesson plans, and report cards just around the corner. Teaching may be Luke’s passion, but grading is certainly not. And planning. And organization. And… all the parts of teaching that aren’t the actual act of teaching.

Stars, why is he thinking about his job? He needs to focus on the apartment, on meeting Satine, on getting there on time this time, and preferably without crashing into an unsuspecting driver. Luke’s hands grip the steering wheel painfully tight as he pulls into the parking lot, nerves honing in on every possible thing that could go wrong. What if Satine doesn’t like him? What if the apartment is falling apart? What if this is a mistake?

Still, Leia’s going to kill him if he doesn’t at least try to make this work. So Luke steps into the building, following the signs to the office of Satine Kryze.

Of all the unexpected things he’d expected to happen today, he can’t say this is one of them. But really, what are the odds that the same Mandalorian he’d crashed into would happen to be sitting in this office?

“Satine…Kryze?” Luke’s voice is soaked with horror as he stares at the man. He’d thought Satine would be a woman… and he can’t for the life of him remember if the Mandalorian had ever directly introduced himself to Luke. Perhaps he really is Satine. Stars, there’s no way he’ll get this apartment now…

“Din Djarin,” the man says evenly, sticking out a gloved hand. Luke can’t see his face beneath his impassive chrome helmet, but he must be somewhat offended that the man who’d wrecked his car just two days ago can’t even remember his name.

“Luke Skywalker,” he manages, shaking Din’s hand before he can make this any more awkward.

“I know.”

Right. Of course. “Sorry. Rough morning.” He gestured to his bag. “I’ve been up all night grading students’ papers. You wouldn’t believe some of the answers they come up with.” Oh, for Force’s sake, why is he rambling about his job?

“I can imagine,” Din replies politely, deciding to humor him for whatever reason.

“Do you teach?”

“No.” There’s a brief silence in which they both stare awkwardly at one another. “I used to help with lessons in my covert, though.”

Luke draws on his limited knowledge of Mandalorians and manages to piece together that Din had helped with educating the younger Mandalorians in his clan, though presumably the material they’d learned has little to do with the grammar lessons and essays Luke’s students are working on. “Great. That’s great. For the kids, I mean.”

Fortunately, a blonde woman he assumes to be the real Satine rushes into the room just then, saving him from any further embarrassment. She pulls up short when she sees Din and Luke, lips parting in surprise.

“Din Djarin,” the Mandalorian says helpfully, sticking out a hand for her to shake. Satine stared at it for a moment before accepting, but when she pulls her hand back she’s shaking her head.

“I believe there’s been some kind of mistake.” She glances back and forth between the two of them. “Din Djarin and Leia Skywalker?”

“Leia’s my sister,” he says slowly, worry creeping into his mind. “Is something wrong, ma’am?”

“No, I just…” Satine pauses, shuffling through s stack of papers on her desk and sinking into the desk chair with a heavy sigh. “You contacted me through your sister’s email?”

“I’ve been having some trouble with mine,” Luke admits hesitantly. “The password was leaked, and I haven’t been able to use it since.” He’s been meaning to set up a new one, but since his school email is the only one his students and coworkers ever contact him through, it hasn’t exactly been a priority.

“Stars…” Satine nods slowly, folding her hands together. “Let me explain.” She gestures for them to sit, and Luke feels inexplicably like a kid in the principal’s office. “I have a younger sister, Bo-Katan, who recently moved into the building. You can understand why I would be reluctant to have two unmarried male tenants around her age living nearby, no?”

“Of course,” Luke says immediately, heart sinking. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

“I didn’t mean to lead either of you two on— when I received the email from your sister’s account, Mr. Skywalker, I assumed you would be a woman. And Mr. Djarin, I simply assumed your name to be a female one. I’d never come across it before.”

Din just shrugs. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“I hope you’ll understand that I just can’t give you this apartment. My sister has to be my priority. I’m sorry.” Satine meets both of their eyes in turn, regret dripping from her words. Luke can accept her apology, but it’s not exactly easy considering he now has no prospects for a potential home. He barely hears Satine say something about her sister and other places nearby, too busy mentally rearranging his plans for the next several weeks. How long had it taken him to find a place within his budget and close enough to the school to keep his commute reasonable? Longer than he would’ve liked, which means another few weeks at the least, all down the drain…

Time to start the whole process over again.

Chapter Text

Well this is an admittedly shitty day.

Din had all but guaranteed Cara this was going to be his future home. Affordable, Mandalorian-owned, a great location, and in a relatively safe section of town. He’d really only come to meet with Satine as a formality. Instead he’d gotten a rejection.

Beside him, Luke appears to be silently cycling through the five stages of grief. Din can relate, though he’s grateful his helmet masks most of his emotions. He’s wondering if the man has reached bargaining yet when Luke jolts upright suddenly, eyes bright with a sudden realization.

“Unmarried male tenants.”

Din just stares.

“She doesn’t want two unmarried males moving in next door to her sister.”

”Right.” He can understand Satine’s concerns, even if they are somewhat frustrating. After all, the Armorer had fretted for weeks over Din moving away from the covert, quietly worrying over watching one of her first foundlings stray so far away from the protection of the covert. There’s a difference between understanding a loved one is ready to face the world and actually having to let them go face it.

“I need this place. I haven’t found anything else, and I just can’t start over again…” Luke looks as desperate as Din feels. “What if we told her we weren’t?”

”Weren’t what?”

”Unmarried.” Din stares pointedly at Luke’s bare ring finger, and he shakes his head. “We can tell her we’re together. She won’t worry about either of us trying to… you know, seduce her sister.”

”You want us… ” He’s admittedly been involved in more than one wild plan, but this? This is the craziest idea he’s ever heard. For one thing, he’s not even… well, he’s never even… “How would that work?”

”We just have to pretend when Satine’s around. No one else has to know.” Even as Din shakes his head, he knows it could work out. It would just be a bit of pretending, nothing much, not really. The apartment in exchange for some acting every now and then. He wouldn’t even have to tell Cara. After all, same-sex marriages are still not legally approved, so he wouldn’t have to go through a mess of paperwork to pull it off. It would simply be a relationship of convenience, with no strings attached.

It could work.

”You’re sure about this?”

“I need this place. Don’t you?”

He can almost hear the Armorer’s voice. This is the Way. Her favorite saying, and the motto Din carries with him through life. What would she think of this? She knows the difficulties of trying to find acceptance outside of tight-knit Mandalorian circles. But would she see the lie as a rejection of their Creed? He’s never been as good at interpreting the words they live by into his own life.

”Fine.”

-:-

Satine returns only minutes later to find the two of them standing awkwardly at the door. Luke speaks for them both, much to Din’s relief. “Ms. Kryze… there’s something Din and I need to tell you.”

Stars, what are they doing? There’s no way this is going to work. And yet Satine nods slowly, glancing back and forth between the two of them. “About?”

”Well, we didn’t want to say when we first got here. We were… afraid.” Luke glances to him quickly before continuing, he’s a better actor than Din would have wagered. While his earlier reaction to Satine’s rejection had practically been written on his face for all to see, he gives no hints to the fact that everything they’re saying is a lie. “We didn’t know how you’d take it.”

”If this is about the apartment, I’m sorry but—“

”We’re gay,” Luke blurts out, the words too loud in the small office. He grabs Din’s hand as if for strength, and it takes everything Din has not to flinch at the unexpected touch. The last thing he needs is to appear disgusted by his supposed boyfriend. “Din and I, we’re together. We didn’t know how you’d take it, so we contacted you separately about renting an apartment in the same building.”

”Oh,” Satine says quietly. Her concern over what she’d expected them to say fades instantly into sympathy. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

“To be fair, that’s what we were trying for.” Luke’s words put her instantly at ease, and it looks like they’re actually going to get this apartment. “We didn’t think it would matter, but when you told us about your sister…”

“Well that’s obviously not a problem now.” Satine shuffles through her papers. “I would be more than happy to let you rent— I’m assuming you’d prefer to share an apartment?”

“That sounds perfect.” Luke grins at Din, who tries his best to look somewhat excited in return. It worked. Their plan worked. He’s going to have a place to live. He can at least be happy about that.

“Let’s get started, then.” Satine leads them up to the apartment, talking about kitchen space and bathrooms and a dozen other things Din can’t find it in him to focus on right now.

How the hell does someone pretend to be in love?

Chapter Text

Leia’s sudden invitation to a family dinner had been unexpected, but Luke expects it has something to do with his finally renting a ‘respectable’ apartment. Most of his things have already been moved into the new place, but he manages to find a nice enough shirt and jacket and does his best to scrape together a dessert to keep from showing up empty-handed. He glances over the ungraded stack of papers piled on his bed before leaving, half considering bringing them along— after all, family dinner always lasts far longer than he plans.

But work can wait. So can the looming fear that he’s gotten himself into more than he’d bargained for with his new boyfriend.

Han and Leia have broken out the ‘Congratulations’ banner that makes rare appearances at milestone anniversaries and unexpected promotions, a sign of how proud— or perhaps relieved —they are that he’s moving. Though the house looks like a political-campaign-themed bomb went off inside it, his sister and brother-in-law have managed to clear off enough space in the kitchen for them all to cram together at one end of the dinner table and enjoy a meal. They make the usual obligatory small talk about Leia’s campaign and Han’s local shipping business, but all too soon Luke finds the conversation turning to his own life.

“…And your roommate is the same man you hit with a car?” Han shoots him an amused look, while Leia seems more embarrassed than anything else. “Sounds like a great way to start things off.”

“We have… an understanding,” Luke mumbles, taking a generous sip of wine to give himself an excuse to remain silent. “He’s in a hurry to move, too.”

“Can’t imagine why, when the city’s full of reckless kids causing car accidents.” Leia not-so-subtly elbows Han, who just shrugs in return. “Fine. How are the kids treating you?”

”Same as always.” He’s lucked out this year, his class is relatively well-behaved, with only one or two troublemakers. He manages to prolong the apartment conversation a little longer with a few anecdotes about his students, particularly his resident ‘class clown,’ a witty boy named Poe who enjoys pulling harmless pranks— and dragging his two best friends along for the ride.

Of course, the fact that Poe is friends with his nephew Ben doesn’t influence Luke’s decision to bring the topic up at all. It’s pure chance that Leia mentions knowing the Dameron family, and pure chance that he decides to coax her and Han into a rather lengthy conversation about their son and his friendships with several of Luke’s students. Definitely.

But Han inevitably turns the conversation back to Luke’s recent accomplishment, much to his dismay. “Got any neighbors?”

“Just one. Satine’s younger sister.”

“Oh?” His own sister’s interest is suddenly piqued, and Luke cringes internally. Kriff . Leia can’t find out about his fake relationship— she’s stressed enough about her re-election campaign, and the thought of any of her competitors discovering her brother is lying his way into an apartment would certainly send her into overdrive trying to keep this covered up. Luke doesn’t need to add another thing to her plate, especially not after sending things into chaos with the crash.

“It’s not like that.” Actually, he doesn’t know how it is, seeing as he still hasn’t met Bo-Katan. She supposedly works strange hours, and while he and Din have been back to the apartment several times to settle things with Satine, the younger Kryze has always been conspicuously absent. But his sister doesn’t need to know that. Just like she doesn’t need to know about his and Din’s little lie.

Stars, how is he going to keep this all under wraps?

Luke decides to save that problem for later— it seems like that’s becoming his go-to strategy these days —and just enjoy a nice, relatively peaceful family dinner.

Chapter Text

“Where the hell did you get this? ” Cara holds up a bright blue “World’s Best Dad” mug with a look of utter glee, and Din groans internally, already preparing himself for a good few weeks of teasing.

”Gift from Boba,” he mutters, peeling off his gloves in order to scrub at a reddish stain on one of his jackets. He swears it hadn’t been there when he packed it, but it’s not as if there’s anything else in this box but clothes.

“Boba? The same Boba who couldn’t make a joke to save his life?”

”Fennec may have been involved.” Cara’s grin widens. “And a decent amount of alcohol.”

”I knew it.” She runs her fingers over the bubbly yellow lettering. “Mind if I keep it?”

”Please do. Last thing I need is Satine thinking we’re adopting a kid.”

“Right.” She shoots him a knowing look. “You and your boyfriend.”

Cara had taken the news of his fake-dating-his-way-into-an-apartment plan surprisingly well. So far, she’s only called him an idiot seven times. Six of which have involved the allocation of the apartment’s sole bedroom and bed (Din had offered to take the couch several times, but Luke insists that he doesn’t mind sharing).

”You called?” Luke steps through the doorway of said bedroom, a massive bag slung over his shoulder. Din’s heart stumbles in his chest at his unexpected appearance, and he quickly busies himself with the jacket stain again. 

Living with a relative stranger is going to take some getting used to, and Luke’s extroverted personality isn’t making it easy. He treats everyone as a close friend, which had been endearing until Din had realized Luke will eventually expect him to return those affections. And, well… he can hardly keep up a conversation with Cara, and she’s the first friend he’d made upon moving into the city.

”Just talking about your wonderful personality.” Luke doesn’t seem to notice her sarcasm, instead grinning brightly and nodding a hello to Din.

”Great. I have to pick up a few things for my sister, but I’ll have the boxes in our room cleaned up by tonight.” Luke waves a cheery goodbye as he slips past the two of them, the back of his hand briefly brushing Din’s. He doesn’t seem to notice Din jerk away, caught off guard by the unfamiliar sensation of touching someone’s skin without his gloves, but Cara certainly does. She tosses Din his work gloves— his everyday ones are buried in one of the handful of boxes holding all his worldly possessions —and raises an eyebrow.

“Wasn’t expecting that,” Din manages, heartbeat jumping for the second time in five minutes.

”Clearly.” A perfunctory tap on the door cuts off whatever she’s about to say, but in true Cara fashion, she recovers just as quickly. “Your boyfriend’s back.”

He sighs, heading for the door. All things considered, Luke is a perfectly good housemate, but he has a tendency to forget little things— particularly his key. Din pulls open the door, already rummaging in his pocket for the spare he’s begun to keep on him. “You really need to keep a copy in your car—“

”Thanks,” the red-haired woman standing in front of him says dryly. “I’ll make sure to keep that in mind.”

”You’re not Luke,” he replies rather obviously.

”Bo-Katan Kryze.” Her eyes rake over him, clearly sizing him up, then jump to Cara. “So you’re my new neighbor?”

“One of them,” Cara offers helpfully when it becomes clear that Din is at a loss for words. “Just missed the other.”

“Is he coming back soon?” She glances over to the stairway for a moment before refocusing her gaze on Din. “Doesn’t matter. I’m sure we’ll all get to know each other soon.”

”Yeah,” Din says lamely. ”Luke usually comes back by evening.”

She nods, looking past him now and into the apartment. “Need any help moving in?”

“I—” Shit, and just when he’d thought his talkative new housemate has been helping his conversation skills improve. “We’re fine. Luke and I. We’re a good team.” An utter lie. They’ve barely exchanged more than a few pleasantries since the meeting with Satine; for all Din knows, they’ll make a terrible team.

”See you around, then.” Bo-Katan offers a half-smile, disappearing down the stairwell before he has a chance to make things any more awkward.

The second he closes the door, Cara’s laughter breaks the silence— a bad sign if he’s ever heard one. “What?”

”Never thought I’d see a woman leave you that speechless,” she goads, and Din groans internally. “I guess the whole ‘love at first sight’ bullshit really is true.”

“Funny,” he mutters, but the words needle at him as they finish unpacking the rest of his belongings. Had the strangely heart-attack-like feelings elicited by Bo-Katan’s arrival been… attraction?

He’s never wished to be back in his covert as much as he does now. The Armorer would know what to do about this, how to identify the unfamiliar feeling. And the other Mandalorians would have advised him on how best to address it given his current situation. And, well… having his covert with him would just make things so much simpler.

Especially if he’s going to have to hide… whatever this is, in order to keep up the ruse with Luke.

Chapter Text

It’s been about two weeks since Din and Luke have moved in, and things are going surprisingly well. Din is the ideal housemate, at least in Luke’s opinion. Private, but friendly enough once you get to know him. Perhaps a little too quiet, but at least he’s not a morning person like Luke’s former roommate, Biggs. They’ve managed to work through the first rough patch of adjusting to life together, each one learning the schedules and patterns of the other.

Even better, no one has questioned their relationship. Din had made it clear from the first few days that his sect of Mandalorians isn’t exactly big on public displays of affection. Or public displays of… well anything . So they’ve been able to keep the acting to a minimum, and Bo-Katan and Satine don’t expect them to be overly touchy in public. A win-win situation if Luke’s ever seen one, though Din’s aversion to physical contact does take some adjusting to given Luke’s tendency to use it as a way of showing friendship. He’s making an effort to remember, but the times he does forget can be… awkward.

As for the Kryze sisters, Satine seems to spend more time at work than at home. As the head of a local Mandalorian political group, she’s almost constantly busy keeping its dozen or so committees in line, meeting with different Mandalorian sects, and brokering peace between the many, many feuding groups. It’s safe to say Luke has learned a lot about Mandalorians in the past two weeks.

Bo-Katan, on the other hand, works as a paramedic at the local hospital— a job that sees her working strange hours and splitting most of her time between work and sleep. But she’s been making an effort to befriend them, perhaps out of loneliness, perhaps because they’re her only neighbors so far and she needs something to entertain herself with. They’d exchanged numbers the first day she’d stopped by, and Luke’s made sure to strike up a friendly conversation whenever he sees her in the hall.

Din appears to be doing the exact opposite, avoiding having to talk to her at all costs. Though he seems to act that way with almost anyone, so perhaps he’s just introverted. After all, Luke has seen many a shy student over the years, and he knows that running from conversations tends to be in their nature. There’s nothing he can do to force Din to change who he is.

Of course, that doesn’t stop him from dragging his ‘boyfriend’ over to her apartment for drinks after work once they’ve fully settled in.

”So how did you two meet?” Bo-Katan asks after they’ve exhausted every other topic for small talk.

”It’s… complicated,” Luke manages.

”He crashed his car into mine,” Din says matter-of-factly, and he winces internally at the bluntness.

Right. Maybe figuring out a story for how they’d come to be boyfriends is something that should’ve been higher on their list. Well it’s too late now, it’s not as if they can take back their words. And it’s one less lie that they’ll have to remember later on.

“How romantic.” She kicks her feet up on the table, raising her drink in their direction. ”Care to explain?”

”I was running late,” Luke begins hesitantly. “And I’d forgotten to eat breakfast, and I hadn’t slept. I wasn’t paying attention to the road, and…”

“You crashed right into me,” Din finishes, sounding more amused than upset. There’s a note of fondness in his voice that makes Luke’s heart melt a little bit. “We started talking after that. Business, and then—“ He shifts uncomfortably, the easygoing lilt to his words disappearing. “Well, we’re dating.”

”Sweet.” The corners of her lips tilt upwards slightly. “So you two took ‘lovestruck’ a little too seriously.”

Luke laughs. “You could say that.”

Bo-Katan lifts her glass in a mock toast, and he and Din are quick to join in. “To Din and Luke, then,” she proclaims to the empty air. “And to their unconventional-as-hell love story.”

Chapter Text

Shit. Shit.

One would think that after several weeks of using the public transport system, Din would be used to it. But old habits die hard, and he’s had years of ample time to get ready in the morning, having lived only minutes from his workplace for as long as he’s been able to work. Which is how he ends up glancing at the clock one morning and realizing rather unpleasantly that he’s exactly two minutes away from missing the bus. A bus that departs from a stop about seven minutes from the apartment.

He really needs to start taking up Skywalker on his offers for a ride. But he leaves so early… And besides, it feels like he’s overstepping their fake-dating contract. Nowhere in their agreement did they determine anything about acting like a real couple, aside from the necessary playacting when Satine is around.

Din is debating whether to call Boba or Cara for a ride— does he want to face silent amusement or relentless teasing? —when Bo-Katan trudges down the stairs, looking as if she hasn’t slept in a week. “Hey, Djarin.”

He manages an awkward wave in return, nearly dropping his phone in the process.

”Shouldn’t you be at work?”

”Yeah.” He glances down at the phone. Maybe he should call Cara. She has today off, right? “Missed the bus.”

”I could give you a ride, if you want.” Bo-Katan says this like it’s nothing, though he knows Boba’s shop is at least fifteen minutes out of her way. Besides, the idea of spending at least half an hour in close quarters with her is… intimidating, to say the least.

“It’s fine. I’m—“

”I insist.” She holds up her car keys like an offer. “Luke told me about your car.”

Right. Skywalker is the polar opposite of the Mandalorians he’d been raised alongside; the man has no concept of privacy. Or, at least a very different idea of privacy than the don’t-ask-don’t-tell lifestyle Din had grown up with. It’s endearing when he’s telling random stories about virtual strangers, but a bit strange when it comes to him talking about the details of Din's own life. Not that he minds, since he knows Luke doesn’t mean any harm… it’s just another reminder of how different city life is from home.

Which is how he ends up in the passenger seat of Bo-Katan’s car, the two of them sitting in relative silence save for the radio, which she has tuned to some old rock station. “So… a Child of the Watch, huh?”

”Yeah.” He doesn’t ask her how she knows, it’s rather obvious to anyone even remotely familiar with Mandalorians. “You’re a Nite Owl?”

”How’d you know?”

“Your jacket.” She glances down at the patch discreetly ironed on to the shoulder of the silver-and-blue bomber jacket she wears almost religiously. “It’s the Nite Owl symbol, though there aren’t many who wear it that freely.”

“Most people think it’s a penguin,” Bo-Katan says with a grudging laugh. “Or a face. You’re the first non-Nite Owl who’s recognized it.”

”I thought you knew plenty of Mandalorians.” It’s easy, talking to her like this, about Mandalore. And refreshing, too— it’s been far too long since he’s spoken to another Mandalorian face-to-face, and it’s nice being able to talk about their people without fear of prejudice. Of course, Boba is Mandalorian by technicality, but even he’ll admit he barely knows the first thing about the culture, having lost his father and connection to the Way at a young age.

”Nite Owls aren’t exactly popular here,” she shrugs. “Most Mandalorians Satine deals with are moderates. Not that it’s their fault— they have to be. No one wants to hire a Mando.”

“Tion’Mando’a gar jorhaa’ir?” You speak Mando’a? Now this is unexpected. The Armorer had insisted every foundling learn the dying language, but he’d never thought he’d find someone who actually knows it. Especially not in this city, where most Mandalorians are either too modernized or too disconnected from the Way to bother learning.

”Ni kih’jorhaa.” I speak a little, she’d said, though her grammar is a little rough around the edges, like a youngling first beginning to learn the language. Din can’t help but laugh at that, something Bo-Katan immediately takes to heart. “Hey! It’s been a few years!”

The initial silence of their ride is forgotten as they travel from one topic to the next, discussing their early training, Bo-Katan’s failed attempt at learning to play the bes’bev, Din’s job of wrangling the foundlings, everything they can think of, all in an utterly-incomprehensible-to-outsiders mix of Mando’a and Basic. Din can’t remember a time he’d felt happier since before he’d moved to the city, and the unfamiliar lightness in his heart follows him for the rest of the day— to the point where Boba and the other mechanics poke fun of him for his unnaturally good mood. Who’s got you so happy?, Jyn Erso, the stubbornly persistent woman in charge of deliveries, asks when she catches him humming an old Mandalorian song.

Shit, maybe Cara was right.

Maybe he’s falling in love with Bo-Katan.

Chapter Text

Luke isn’t entirely sure what had happened between Din and Bo-Katan, but whatever it is, it’s made her a permanent fixture in their lives. Or rather, a more permanent fixture in their lives than she already had been. On any given day, he’ll find her settled on their couch with her laptop, bouncing ideas off of Din for some Mandalorian newspaper she works with, or sipping coffee in their kitchen and admonishing them for forgetting to water the sole potted plant Luke’s manage to keep alive, or simply wandering around the apartment building in search of something to occupy her free time.

The three of them are quickly becoming a tight-knit friend group that rivals even his relationship with Han and Leia. Something Luke couldn’t be happier about… save for his growing guilt about his and Din’s little lie. The closer they grow to Bo-Katan, the worse he feels about lying to her and her sister. But what choice does he have? It’s not like they can admit to Satine that they’ve been purposely deceiving her just to keep the apartment.

But overall, things are going well. Great, even. Their fake relationship is of little importance, what with the many other aspects of their busy lives distracting them from lingering on the white lie for too long. At least until Bo-Katan inadvertently decides to throw it back in their faces.

”Have you applied for domestic partnership, then?” The question quite literally comes out of nowhere— she’s reclining in her usual spot on their couch, tapping away at an article on her laptop, when suddenly she decides to pop the question, so to speak.

”Domestic partnership?” Din sounds out the words as if they’re in a foreign language, and they might as well be.

”You know, for same-sex couples.” She says this as if it’s something everyone knows, though Luke has only read about it in passing. He knows same-sex partners can’t officially get married, so domestic partnership is most couples’ substitute. But what exactly it all entails is a complete mystery to him. “So you can have some of the legal benefits you would have if you were married.”

She seems excited by the prospect of them applying for this, but Luke feels his heart sink with every word. Playing at being in a relationship has worked out so far, but marriage— or this approximation of it —had never even crossed his mind as being a hurdle they’d have to cross. “That sounds…”

“We can’t,” Din blurts out, uncharacteristically hesitant. Not to mention the fact that he’s willingly involved himself in a conversation he clearly knows nothing about. Din Djarin is nothing if not predictable, and so two unusual events in less than a minute is enough to give Luke pause.

”Why not?” Bo-Katan winces at the surprise in her voice, shaking her head quickly. “No, sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed—“

”It’s not that.” There’s a brief silence as he gathers the right words, a silence that Luke has grown used to in the time he’s known Din. “Death Watch is a… traditional clan. I have Mandalorian citizenship only.”

”Which means?” As far as Luke knows, Mandalorian citizenship is the same as normal citizenship, just with the added Mandalorian designation that some long-ago clan had requested in order to keep their homeland closer to their hearts. Though with all that he’s been learning about Mandalore to better understand Din, he wouldn’t be surprised if that limited knowledge is dead wrong.

”Most Mandalorians have dual citizenship,” he explains. “But Mandalorian-only makes things… complicated.”

“Because Mandalore isn’t a place,” Luke recites. All three Mandalorians in the building have made sure to ingrain this knowledge into his brain. “It’s a people.”

”Exactly,” Bo-Katan continues for Din, who clearly wants nothing more than to not have to explain whatever legal mess she’s about to delve into. “Mandalorian citizenship is granted to fifteen or more Mandalorians who form a clan anywhere in the boundaries of the country. But it isn’t really official citizenship, since most Mandalorians lived off-grid when the practice began. And without citizenship, a domestic partnership isn’t recognized.”

“It isn’t?” Din shoots her a curious look, and Luke idly wonders how the hell Bo-Katan knows so much about this. Though it’s probably a side effect of having a politician for a sister. He would know, having been Leia’s main practice audience for speeches ever since she’d declared her candidacy a few years ago.

”Only marriage.” She leans back against the couch cushions, thinking deeply for several minutes before suddenly perking up. “Unless… I’ll be right back.” She jumps to her feet and races out of the room with all the confidence of a woman with a plan. A plan that Din and Luke will clearly not be privy to until she returns with… whatever the Force she needs.

And so he’s left alone with Din once more. Not that it’s unusual, seeing as they live together, but this feels different. There’s a whole chasm between them, a divide created by his utter lack of expertise about citizenship and clans and all things Mandalorian. “So how different is Mandalorian citizenship anyway?”

”Not much.” Din picks at the fabric of his gloves, avoiding Luke’s curious gaze. “Just makes legal things harder. Job applications, taxes… marriage, apparently.”

”I had no idea.” Din’s spoken about his job only once or twice, and each time he acts as if he owes his boss Boba some kind of debt simply for hiring him. Perhaps the difficulty of hiring a Mandalorian has something to do with that, not that he wants to pry far enough into anyone’s personal business to find out. Especially not when it’s clearly making Din uncomfortable just thinking about it.

”Most people don’t. Mandalorian citizenship isn’t common.” He pauses to think for a minute. “Likely why it hasn’t changed in decades.”

“Yeah.” There’s a strange feeling taking over Luke’s head, a dizzying sensation that gives him the sense of standing at the edge of a very steep drop. The thought of Din— Din, of all people, who goes out of his way to avoid inconveniencing others —facing any kind of difficulty simply because of his Mandalorian status is… well, he’s not exactly sure how to describe it. He wants to both fight against every burden Din has ever had to carry just for being Mandalorian and to comfort the man for what he’s experienced. Not that he knows the first thing about what that would be, but damned if he isn’t willing to try.

He reaches his hand out, not really sure why, but it feels like the right thing to do. Din doesn’t like physical contact, he knows, but he nods when Luke silently tilts his head in question. He rests his bare hand on Din’s gloved one, for once at a loss for words. He should say something , but what is there to say? ‘Sorry’ doesn’t feel like nearly enough.

And then Bo-Katan rushes back in with a small stack of papers and a bright grin. “Figured out your citizenship problem!”

Luke yanks his hand back, fighting back a heady rush of some foreign emotion. What the Force is this? His heart pounds in his chest as Bo-Katan lays out the papers on their coffee table, patiently explaining to Din how to make the partnership application work. It could be that he’d just been startled by her reappearance, but this feels different. It’s clear that she’s the cause of the unfamiliar feelings though— after all, he hadn’t noticed anything abnormal until she’d burst into the room. Right? And that has to mean something. Something important.

Is he falling in love with Bo-Katan?

Luke groans internally. Just his luck, falling in love with the one woman in the world who thinks he’s gay.

Chapter Text

The Armorer has long since made peace with the fact that one of her foundlings has moved across the country to seek his fortune outside of the covert, but that doesn’t mean the loss of one of their own isn’t painful. She may be outwardly unemotional, guarding her heart like she guards the foundlings who find their way into her forge, but the small reminders of her wandering foundling can be painful at times. Like the photographs of Death Watch’s foundlings as children that adorn the walls of her sparsely decorated home, or the important-only-to-her dates like the day the covert had taken her ad in, or the scratch on the kitchen table from a particularly rambunctious game of Siege of Mandalore with Paz.

Or the letter that shows up in her mailbox bearing the name Din Djarin.

It happens from time to time, her receiving something addressed to Din. When he’d first moved to the city, he’d had no official address, and although she knows he’s recently moved into an apartment, Death Watch custom dictates that his secondary address be registered as the home he’d been raised and trained in for as long as he remains Mandalorian. A bureaucratic error like this is to be expected even now that he actually has an official address in the city he’s moved to.

Fortunately, the issue can usually be resolved by simply sending Din a picture of whatever’s come in the mail for him. The Armorer pries open the rather official-looking envelope and shakes the letter out onto the kitchen table, fiddling with the camera on her phone as she tries to get it to focus on the obviously important letter. But as the blur around the words disappears, what she reads is enough to make her completely forget about taking the photo.

This is to inform Mr. Din Djarin that the New Republic has received your application for domestic partnership, along with records of birth within the borders of the country, Mandalorian citizenship in the clan Death Watch since age seven (7), and proof of application of Mandalorian citizenship to domestic partnership requirements.

Your application for a same-sex domestic partnership with Mr. Luke Skywalker has been considered and approved. Enclosed is your certificate of domestic partnership, which has been registered with all New Republic databases.

On behalf of the New Republic, we would like to congratulate you on your accomplishment.

The Armorer’s pride grows with each word. So her foundling has finally found someone to settle down with. She’d never expected him to be the type to do so; Din had always shied away from the more intimate pretend-family games the other foundlings had played as children. Even as he’d grown old enough for the younger kids to guilt him into joining the game, he’d still preferred to play the role of a solitary cousin or uncle, never wanting to take on the responsibilities of a relationship. But it seems he’s found that married life suits him after all.

This is certainly a cause for celebration. And congratulations, of course. She has half a mind to call him now, but her hand hovers uncertainly over her phone. Yes, she could call Din and let him know how happy she is for him. But on the other hand… she has been meaning to visit her foundling for quite some time now. The Armorer would never admit to being lonely, but the house is so empty without Din and the other now-grown foundlings of Death Watch.

A little surprise visit to Din and his new partner may be exactly what she needs.

Chapter Text

”Come on, it’s just a few blocks up.” Bo-Katan glances over her shoulder with a look of impatience, and Din and Luke share their own private glance. She won’t tell them where they’re headed, only that they’re going to meet up with a woman named Koska for drinks. A date night, she’d told them. You two deserve it. You never have time to go out together.

And, well, it’s not as if either of them can tell her the reason they never go out on dates is because they’re not actually dating. So here they are, trailing behind Bo-Katan as she practically speeds down the city block despite the fact that those heeled boots she’s wearing can’t possibly be comfortable to walk so quickly in.

”You’re sure?” Din glances around the city block, taking in the plethora of fast-food restaurants and abundance of pedestrians. “You said this place was… less crowded.” 

”Promise!” She calls back to them, picking up speed— something Luke hadn’t even thought possible, but here they are. She tugs her phone free from her pocket without pausing for even a moment, glancing down at it for a moment before turning to shoot them a grin. “Koska’s saving us a table.”

”This isn’t what I expected when she said we should go out for drinks,” Luke mutters to Din, who offers a sympathetic half-laugh in return. But Bo-Katan had claimed this place is special to her, for whatever reason, so they’d gone along with her plan to spend the afternoon in the city before heading back to the apartment. Supposedly, there’s going to be a celebratory dinner at some point in the evening, to commemorate Din and Luke submitting their request for a domestic partnership. They’d protested on the grounds that the application hasn’t actually been approved, but Bo’s stubbornness and enthusiasm for them had won out in the end.

”We’re here,” Bo-Katan announces abruptly, before pulling them down a set of stairs Luke hadn’t even seen. He catches only a glimpse of the sign bearing the bar’s name— Coruscant Closet, though he can’t imagine why anyone would name an establishment after a storage room —before he’s hit with the unmistakable scent of leather and alcohol. And peaches. For some reason, this place smells like peaches.

It takes a few minutes for his thoughts to catch up, and he realizes the fruity scent is coming from the dusky-skinned woman waiting anxiously by the door. She barely gives him a moment’s notice, though her whole face lights up at the sight of Bo-Katan and she practically throws herself into the other woman’s arms. “You’re late.”

”I told you I would be,” Bo replies without any real annoyance, planting a kiss on the unfamiliar, peach-scented woman’s cheek before disentangling herself from their embrace and turning to Din and Luke. “This is Koska.”

” Su’cuy ,” Din says by way of greeting. Or perhaps it is a greeting. He still hasn’t gotten the hang of this Mando’a thing, no matter how often his boyfriend tries to walk him through a handful of basic phrases. He’s been trying his best to learn the language, for Din’s sake, but the unfamiliar sounds and syntax trip him up every time. “You edit Bo’s newspaper.”

Koska arches an eyebrow. “You read it?”

”Not really.” She seems to accept this as an adequate answer, turning her scrutinizing gaze to Luke instead. “You’re the boyfriend?”

His heart absolutely does not miss a beat at that, no matter the evidence to the contrary. While they’ve been playing at a relationship long enough that it should feel normal to be referred to as Din’s boyfriend, Luke can’t quite adjust to it. Still, the heart-failure-like feeling in his chest is preferable to the sheer panic that had hit him the first time Bo-Katan had announced his relationship status in public.

”I’m the boyfriend,” he manages to reply. “Din’s. He’s my— yeah.”

”Oh, honey,” Koska drawls, a knowing smile touching her lips as she glances between the two of them. “You’ve got it bad .” She grabs Bo-Katan’s hand and drags them all further into the bar before Luke has a chance to respond.

-:-

Coruscant Closet is a relatively empty bar, though Luke suspects part of that has to do with the fact that it’s still only late afternoon. There’s a mural of a city block splashed with rainbows covering one wall, each arching rainbow filled with what appears to be names, and strings of bead necklaces are draped over every available surface in various color combinations— the ones at the table Koska leads them to are in several shades of pinks and oranges, with a single white thrown in for good measure. It’s a welcoming place overall, and even Din seems as relaxed as Luke has ever seen him out in public. It’s kind of sweet, actually. Not that he’ll ever admit it out loud, since it will no doubt offend his stoic boyfriend.

“Drinks are on me,” Bo-Katan calls before they even have a chance to settle in, and Koska rolls her eyes, elbowing her friend’s side as she slips past her to the bar.

”Drinks are only on her because she’s friends with the owners,” she confides once Bo-Katan is out of earshot. “She’s known Vel and Cinta for ages. Cinta used to work with her, actually.” She smiles fondly in the direction of the bar before turning a much more stern expression on them. “So you applied for domestic partnership? How difficult was it?”

”Bo and Satine did most of the legal work,” Luke admits. “We were just there to give the personal information and sign things.”

”Must be nice.” She sounds almost wistful, but he can’t get a decent read on her. It seems all Mandalorians are difficult to interpret when it comes to matters of emotion. Save for Bo-Katan, of course, but according to Din, she’s practically a radical by Mando standards. “Congratulations, by the way.”

”Thanks?” She hadn’t exactly said it like a compliment, but he can at least take it like one. Fortunately, Bo-Katan chooses that moment to reappear, dropping another kiss on Koska’s cheek as she settles into the empty seat beside her, all while juggling three glasses of… something.

“Closet special,” she announces grandly, lifting her glass in toast. “It’s like rainbows and acid.”

Luke takes a dubious sip of his own and finds out the hard way that she’s right. There’s no other way to describe the violently fruity drink, and he immediately passes it off to Din. It isn’t until a second later that he remembers his boyfriend can’t exactly take his helmet off to drink it, but Din just shrugs when Luke sheepishly takes it back. “You remembered.”

”Kind of hard not to,” Koska cracks, somehow draining half her glass without choking on the rainbow overdose. “Death Watch?”

“Yeah.” He tilts his head toward the blue stripe on the arm of her otherwise gray t-shirt. “Nite Owl?”

”Same as Bo.” She smiles sweetly at Bo-Katan, glancing towards Luke. “And you’re not Mandalorian.”

“No.” He feels as if he should say more, but there’s not much else to add. Din is Mandalorian, Luke is not. And while it’s actually a bit refreshing to be around a group of people who couldn’t care less about his family, it does tend to make him feel like an outsider from time to time— though Din does make an effort to keep him in the loop when things get too Mandalorian-specific for him to understand.

”Pity. Bo’s been trying to gather Mandalorians, y’know, like us.”

“Right.” He has no idea what ‘like us’ refers to, only that it doesn’t apply to him. Din appears to be equally clueless, something Luke can’t help but find surprising. He knows nearly as much as Bo-Katan about the local Mandalorian scene, and she’s lived here her whole life.

”Cinta and Vel offered to let us use the place to meet up, but…” She gestures around. ”Well, it’s just the two of us so far. And Din, you’re always welcome.”

”Thanks?” Din looks to Luke for a cue, though he can’t imagine why. They’re both far out of their depths, but Bo-Katan is nodding along as if this is something they should understand without a second thought.

“Well it’s nice to finally meet a Mandalorian couple we can bring here,” Koska finishes, lifting her half-empty glass in their direction. “To Din and Luke, and their happy domestic partnership.”

Luke just smiles and clinks his and Din’s shared glass against hers, silently wondering what the hell he’s agreeing to.

Chapter Text

Despite his initial awkwardness around her, Din finds himself enjoying Koska’s company. She and Bo-Katan are like two peas in a pod, each finishing the other’s sentences or subconsciously adjusting their postures to angle themselves towards one another. He’d been uncertain about her when they’d first met, but she brings out a side of Bo-Katan they’ve never seen before— a laughing, affectionate side, who seems to delight in every little surprise the world has to offer. It’s a little off-putting at first, though he’ll never admit it out loud for fear of ruining her unnaturally good mood.

Just like he’ll never admit the way he’d flushed bright red under his helmet earlier in the bar, when Luke had first spoken to Koska. I’m the boyfriend. Din’s. Hearing those words aloud had done something strange to him— not that he has the first clue what that would be.

“So,” Koska says conversationally as they all awkwardly gather in the entryway of Din and Luke’s apartment, silently gesturing for one another to enter first. “You’re Death Watch?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re pretty heavily traditional people, aren’t you?”

”Traditional enough.” He’s not sure where this conversation is headed; Death Watch is a controversial covert even among Mandalorians. They have a reputation for being harsh and unfeeling, misconceptions that have made it difficult for Din to form relationships with many of the more mainstream coverts in the city. Or… any of the coverts in the city, with the exception of Bo-Katan and Boba. 

“Verd’goten traditional?” Koska says almost conversationally, and Din does a genuine double take. He hasn’t heard the word since… well, since he’d completed the coming-of-age ritual himself.

”Are you…”

She anticipates the rest of his question before he has time to finish it. “No, I’ve always been a Nite Owl. But I come from a long line of ge’ver’alore.” Din digs through his knowledge of the many complicated Mandalorian honorifics and comes up with a rough guess at what Koska’s family has historically done.

”Aides?” It’s not the best translation, but he knows Luke is listening in— he and Bo-Katan are systematically raiding the kitchens of their respective apartments in order to find dinner ingredients —and it’s the closest thing Din can come up with on such short notice.

”You could say that,” she agrees, following his gaze to where Luke is. “Right. Ge’ver’alore protect the leaders of their covert, as well as working alongside them in political matters.” Luke grins his thanks, and Din can’t help but return the smile under his helmet. Skywalker’s good moods are growing more and more infectious. “Since it’s such a demanding job, we’re required to complete a verd’goten even if the covert doesn’t practice the custom.”

”You still train for the five years?”

”Three and a half, really, but it’s political training instead of survival skills. And we don’t go as in-depth with the fighting. It’s mostly self-defense. You’re…?”

”All five.” Din can’t help the hint of pride that creeps into his voice. After all, there aren’t many chances to be proud of the years of work he’d poured into completing the test of every skill a Mandalorian could need. “My test was two weeks in the woods with two other foundlings, and a duel against both of our instructors.”

Koska whistles appreciatively, and Bo-Katan’s reappearance puts an effective halt to their conversation as she and Luke take the opportunity to tease them for slacking off. They’ve got everything needed to make a decent pasta dinner, apparently, and she and Luke aren’t about to let the other two get away with taking the easier jobs. “We’ll split into teams,” Bo-Katan says. “Me and Kos, and you two. Let the partners work together, right?”

Which is how Din and Luke find themselves assigned to cooking pasta while Bo-Katan and Koska throw together what Bo humbly calls “the best homemade pasta sauce you’ve ever eaten.” It isn’t until Luke dumps the entire box of spaghetti into the pot before even adding water that Din realizes they’re going to have a problem. “Luke. What are you doing.”

”Making…pasta?” The clueless look on his face tells all: he actually thinks he’s doing this correctly. It would be adorable, really, if he weren’t so damn appalled.

”How are you still alive?” His boyfriend glances guiltily at the pot, still clearly unaware of what he’s doing wrong. “You can cook, right?”

”Yeah?” He looks torn between being offended that Din is even asking and doubtful of his culinary skills, a strangely adorable look for someone who’s so unprepared for their dinner assignment that Din would consider tearing his hair out from frustration if it were anyone other than Luke making the mistake.

”And you know you’re supposed to add the pasta after the water is boiling?” Luke sheepishly pours the sticks of pasta out onto a stray cutting board. Din just sighs as he refills the pot with water, stepping in before the man can set it down on the stove as if that’s all a good batch of spaghetti needs. “Wait. We need to salt it first.”

Luke watches with growing apprehension as he shakes salt into the water. “Din, that seems like… a lot.”

”Trust me.” The Armorer’s idea of home cooking had typically included a mixed bag of whatever she could scrounge up from their garden, especially since most meals had been shared in the massive wooden building affectionately as the Karyai— Mando’a for the main living chamber of a Mandalorian household, used for anything from mealtime to training. But Din had taught himself, through years of trial and error, to replicate the flavorful meals typical of the Karyai on his own. The Armorer had quipped once that he’d been preparing for the move years in advance, ensuring he’d still be able to have a taste of home even now that he’s halfway across the country.

It may not be true, but at least he can make one hell of a pasta dish.

Luke watches in mild awe as Din walks him through the basics of making the perfect pasta, although it’s not exactly rocket science. Still, it’s just now occurring to him that Luke subsides mostly off of hastily thrown together sandwiches and cafeteria fare from the school he teaches at. So maybe this actually is new and interesting for him.

Or perhaps he’s just faking it for Din’s benefit. He’s never liked the idea of being pitied, but this feels like more than that. In the weeks since they’d moved in together, Luke has never once complained about him. He’s never had an issue with the Death Watch customs Din practices whenever he can, or gotten annoyed with him and Bo for switching to Mando’a mid-conversation. His roommate is making an effort to be considerate… and to Din, it’s surprisingly heartwarming.

Damn. City life is making him sappy.

He makes up for it by foisting pasta-cooking duty onto Luke, giving him careful instructions to keep the pot over the flame until the strands of spaghetti stick to the wall when thrown. He’s sure Skywalker thinks he’s crazy by the end of it, but at least he now knows one reasonable dish. Force forbid Din let his boyfriend starve after the mess he’s gotten himself into to get an apartment with this man.

The four of them have only just sat down to dinner when a knock at the door breaks through the happy thrum of chatter. “I’ve got it,” Luke calls before anyone can, perhaps trying to make up for his ineptitude in the kitchen. Din barely gives a second thought to whoever their visitor may be, automatically assuming it to be Satine stopping by to check in on them the way she does from time to time.

And then a familiar voice fills the apartment, and Din’s head whips around to the door. “I’m looking for Din Djarin.”

As out of place as she should look in the city, the woman standing in the doorway still manages to ooze authority. If Din didn’t know better, he would assume she belongs here, perhaps even that she’s lived in this building her whole life. Her confidence has been a source of his respect for as long as he’s known her, and he can still remember all those times as a youngling when he’d practiced his posture in the mirror for hours in an attempt to copy her poise.

He’s no longer that youngling, but the Armorer’s authority still intimidates him after all this time.

“Buir?”

Chapter Text

Luke manages to gather from the stunned silence that follows Din’s outburst that he knows the woman standing in the doorway well. In fact, after a few moments of fumbling for the limited Mando’a knowledge he has, he realizes she’s his…parent?

”Congratulations,” she says briskly, nodding to Din. He nods back, clearly as bewildered by her appearance as Luke himself. “This is your riduur?”

Partner, Bo-Katan mouths to him, then seems to think better of it. Or spouse.

“How did you…?” He freezes halfway to his feet, staring at the armored woman with a look of utter shock. She tilts her head in response, saying something in Mando’a with a lightly admonishing tone. Koska smothers a laugh in her pasta, and Bo leans over to whisper a translation to Luke: Is that any way to greet your buir?

“No,” Din agrees before turning to the others. “This is the Armorer. She took me in as a foundling when I joined the Watch. Buir, this is Koska, Bo-Katan, and— and Luke.” He falters as his gaze lands on Luke. “My… riduur.”

“Nice to meet you,” he tries, earning an approving nod. “Din’s told me a lot about his family in Death Watch.” Though nothing about the Armorer herself. Perhaps he’s more homesick than he’d let on in the few times he’d spoken of his covert— the idea is painful for Luke to even consider, and he’s suddenly happy this woman has shown up.

”Can we get you something to eat?” Bo-Katan steps in to fill the silence. “From what we’ve heard from Din, you’ve come a long way.”

”Thank you.” She takes the seat across from Din and Luke, sitting back with the regal air of a monarch settling herself on a throne. “Din, you didn’t tell me you had met someone in the city.”

”It was… unexpected,” he says quickly, tipping up his helmet and shoveling a forkful of pasta into his mouth to avoid having to explain any further. Luke stifles a smile at his deflection— it’s just so Din —but his amusement fades as he realizes she now expects him to pick up the story.

”Things moved so quickly.” This, at least, is true. Luke searches for something else to say that isn’t an outright lie, and settles on the first thing his desperate mind comes up with. “Din and I… we tried to keep things private. If too many people found out, it could put my job in jeopardy.” Which isn’t exactly wrong— while he knows his coworkers really couldn’t care less about who he loves as long as he teaches his students well, he has no doubts that there are more than a few parents who might be upset by his choice of partner.

”Unfortunate, but understandable.” The Armorer turns her focus back to Din. “Though I am hurt that you didn’t feel comfortable telling your own buir. ” He starts to object to this, and she holds up a hand. “I meant nothing by it. Your privacy is your own.” Some kind of silent amusement passes between them, a kind of shared understanding of the situation that Luke misses out on completely. 

”How did you find out?” Din asks finally, in the tone of someone who isn’t quite sure he wants to know the answer. 

“Ah.” The Armorer reaches for her bag, fishing through it in search of… something. “I seem to have received something that belongs to the two of you—“

Another knock at the door interrupts whatever news she has for them, and Bo-Katan and Luke turn at the same moment, and he’s only halfway out of his seat in the time it takes her to spring out of her own. “I’ve got it,” she says quickly, leaving Luke in the rather awkward position of leaning directly into Din’s lap— and toppling off balance as he does.

It feels as if he’s falling in slow motion, tipping forward onto Din, who thankfully has the decency to catch him despite his general awkwardness when it comes to physical contact. Time doesn’t resume its usual pace until Luke has thoroughly made a fool of himself in his efforts to disentangle himself from his boyfriend without making a mess of the dinner table. “Sorry,” he whispers to Din, embarrassment burning through the word.

”Don’t worry about it,” Din replies, reaching around Luke as if to hug him. It takes him a moment to realize he’s actually pushing his glass of water away to ensure Luke’s clumsiness doesn’t result in an even bigger mess. After another moment, he realizes they’re both laughing. Koska takes that as a cue to join in, and even the Armorer chuckles to herself at the sight of Din and Luke’s awkward embrace.

”Luke?”

Oh kriff. Luke scrambles away from Din and flattens himself against his chair, pasting an awkward smile on as he turns to find his twin sister standing in the doorway.

-:-

“What is… what are you doing?” For the first time he can remember, Leia is at a loss for words. Her gaze darts between Din, Luke, and the Armorer with a look of utter incomprehension before finally settling on Bo-Katan as if she’ll be able to explain everything.

”Family dinner,” Bo says with a shrug. “You’re Luke’s sister, right?”

”I— yes. Luke?” Leia straightens, composing herself as best she can. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

“The walls are kind of thin,” Koska offers rather unhelpfully. “You might as well just say it here and save yourself the time.”

His sister crosses her arms in a familiar gesture that Luke knows means she’s about to start an argument, then relaxes, apparently thinking better of it. Which doesn’t exactly give him much to be relieved about, since the focus of her warpath has now shifted back to him. “Han said you were visiting a gay bar?”

”What?” If he had, he has no memory of it, that’s for sure. “When would I—?”

“This afternoon?” Luke glances to Bo-Katan and Koska, who are both staring at Leia with looks of dawning horror. ”Are you trying to ruin my reelection campaign, Luke? If something like this hits the news, everything I’ve worked for is over. You know that.”

”No, I— Leia, I would never do anything to hurt your campaign.” Not after being by her side for every step of the journey, not after supporting her from the very beginning when her bid for senator had been a far-flung pipe dream they’d daydreamed about from Luke’s former apartment. “I don’t know what Han saw, but I was not at a gay bar. Bo-Katan and Koska took us out for drinks at a place their friend owns.”

“Coruscant Closet?” Leia asks, and he nods. “Luke, are you…?” She trails off, unwilling to even voice her concerns aloud. She looks horrified by the very idea, and guilt floods his heart as he realizes just how much stress he’s caused her, let alone how badly he’s betrayed her trust by keeping his and Din’s fake relationship a secret.

This isn’t going to end well.

Especially not when the Armorer holds up an envelope— presumably the one she’d been hunting through her bag for —and nods, every ounce of her poised figure practically brimming with pride. “Their domestic partnership application was just approved. Din and Luke’s, I mean.” She inclines her head in their direction in what he assumes is meant to be a fond gesture, perhaps even a motherly glance. “K’oyacyi. Ni briikase kyr’tayl gai ner aliit, Skywalker.”

While he recognizes the first word as a congratulatory one, the rest are foreign. Luke turns to Koska with the expectation of a translation, but she appears to be frozen in place, staring directly at his sister so hard her eyes are watering.

No, that’s not it. He realizes with a shock that Koska is crying. “Are you—“ She scrambles out of her seat and darts out of the room, sprinting for the bathroom before any of them can step in. 

“Cyare, wait!” Bo-Katan is the only one who manages to call after her in time, but whatever she’d been about to say is cut off by the resounding slam of the door. In the silence that follows, Luke hears the lock click shut, and Bo’s shoulders slump as she sinks down into the nearest chair, regret etched across her pale face.

With the rapid-fire conversation finally slowing to a stop, Luke finds himself left with a choice: he can face his sister and try to straighten things out between them, or he can find out what had set the seemingly unflappable Koska on edge to the point where she’d rushed out of the room.

The Armorer sets the envelope containing their domestic partnership approval down on the table gingerly, as if it could explode at any moment— or cause his sister to do the same. “I take it that Din isn’t the only one who didn’t come out to his family, then.”

Chapter Text

“Koska,” Din says from his rather undignified position on the floor, attempting to peek through the sliver of space between the door and floorboards. “Whatever’s wrong, we can talk about it. Just open the door.” That’s the right thing to say in this situation, right? She clearly needs some kind of support, though for what he isn’t sure.

Her only response is silence, along with what might be a muffled sob.

“Kos, can we come in?” Bo-Katan tries when it becomes clear that she’s in no mood to leave the safety of the bathroom. “It’s just me and Din.” Luke had pulled his sister out into the hallway, presumably to explain things to her, and the Armorer has chosen to pack away the remains of their dinner under the probably-correct assumption that they won’t be resuming it anytime soon.

The door cracks open just enough for Din and Bo to slip through, then slams shut again just as quickly. Koska is slumped on the floor, a copious amount of toilet paper pressed to her face as she attempts to scrub away the tears streaking her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she chokes out before burying her face in another wad of cottony tissue.

“Oh, cyare, it’s not your fault.” Bo-Katan’s voice is unusually gentle as she slips an arm around Koska’s shoulders, prising the soaked toilet paper scraps from her shaking fists. Din nods his agreement, shifting closer on the cold floor and wincing as his armor screeches loudly against the tiles. “I should have gotten us out of there earlier. That wasn’t our argument to listen in on.”

“And I’m sorry if Luke’s sister got… aggressive.” He can’t place why she’d fled the room so suddenly, but it clearly has to do with Leia. And as her brother’s boyfriend… well, he ought to at least apologize on her behalf. He knows that Luke would be doing just that if it were him here.

“It’s not that,” Koska whispers, and Bo squeezes her shoulder— both a reassurance and a warning, judging by the look in her eyes. “I’m so sorry Bo, I promised you— and everything was going so well—”

“What?” Din glances between the two women, trying to read their shared secret in Bo-Katan’s narrowing eyes, in Koska’s nervous biting at her lower lip. They share a look that seems to contain an entire conversation, then turn back to face him. “Do you want to tell him?”

“You’re their neighbor,” Koska replies, a hint of her casually confident self returning. “It should probably be you.”

“Right.” Bo-Katan inhales slowly, leaning against her friend for support. Din still doesn’t have a damn clue what’s going on, but he knows well enough to stay silent and let them explain things in their own time. After all, he’d learned from the best— something his buir would doubtless be proud to see if she were to walk in on them right now. Not that he’s hoping she does, since there are already enough upset Mandalorians packed into this bathroom.

“We’re gay.”

Din just stares at the two women sitting in front of him. Then the enormity of what she’d just said hits him, and several pieces of the puzzle crash violently into place. Bo-Katan’s unexpectedly affectionate demeanor around Koska. All that talk about Mandalorians like us . Even Leia’s accusation… “That place you took us to was actually a gay bar?”

Koska snorts through her tears. “Din, it’s called Coruscant Closet .” Seeing his confusion, she tilts her head. “You know, like coming out of the closet?”

”No?”

“Din, you di’kut.”  The insult comes without any venom, and she and Bo-Katan both smile hesitantly once it becomes clear that he isn’t upset with them for keeping their relationship a secret— albeit an accidental one.

”So how long…”

“About two years,” Bo-Katan answers before he can finish. “I wasn’t ready to tell Satine. She thinks we’re close because Koska’s my ge’ver’alor . She isn’t wrong , but… there’s more to it than she knows. But I wasn’t ready to tell her just yet. I’m still not. She’s the only family I have left.”

“And I thought that if Leia found out,” Koska adds slowly, dabbing away the last of her tears, “She’d tell Satine. She didn’t exactly seem happy about you two being gay.”

Din winces, more out of embarrassment for Luke than anything else. “She’s not usually like that.” Not that he’d know, considering it’s the first time he’s met her.

“You don’t have to defend her ‘cause she’s your boyfriend’s sister, you know.” Bo-Katan slips her hand into Koska’s in silent agreement, and Din feels a stab of guilt at keeping the truth about his relationship with Luke a secret after they’ve revealed their own to him.

But it’s not just that— it’s that word, boyfriend, used to describe Luke. It’s the way Koska and Bo-Katan each seem to complete each other, to add that extra spark of life that looks so reminiscent of how it feels to be around Skywalker. It’s the mess of feelings that had come with the Armorer’s easy acceptance of their relationship, and the way she’d been so quick to support both her foundling and his supposed partner. It’s the mess of emotions he’s been ignoring for too damn long, the ones he can’t find a label for to save his life. He wants to admit everything to them, starting with the lie that’s been growing since that day in Satine’s office.

“I’ll tell my buir not to bring up your relationship,” he says instead, and Bo-Katan and Koska smile their thanks.

Chapter Text

Leia and Han live just under forty minutes away from the apartment, which gives Luke a considerable amount of time to come up with a way to explain things to them without making things too complicated. He knows he’s pushing his luck by waiting this long, but he’d been too thrown off by Koska’s dramatic exit and the domestic partnership approval to come up with any semblance of an explanation. It had taken a veritable mountain of promises to Leia that he’ll tell her everything if only she would wait until tomorrow. We might not have until tomorrow , she’d said, still panicking over the state of her campaign, but he’d sworn the bar Bo-Katan and Koska had taken them to had been practically empty, placating her slightly.

But here he is in that dreaded tomorrow , and nothing has gone wrong. Well, except for the fact that he’s about to have to tell his twin sister that he’d faked being gay to get the apartment she’d been so proud of him for moving into.

“This is my stop.”

Luke nearly jumps out of his seat. He’d been so lost in thought that he’d completely forgotten about poor Din, who he’d agreed to drop off at his friend Cara’s house. Din, Luke, and Bo-Katan had all agreed after last night to spend the day away from the apartment building in an attempt to clear away any lingering memories of the disastrous dinner party. Cara had offered to let the Armorer stay the night with her, and Luke knows Din intends to spend the day introducing his buir to the handful of other friends he’s made in the city.

Din offers a curt thanks as he unbuckles his seatbelt, and Luke finds himself reaching out to rest his hand on top of the other man’s before he has a chance to slip away, throwing all caution to the wind. “Din, I…”

“Yeah?” He finally turns to look at Luke, waiting for him to speak as if he has all the answers. Stars, he wishes he did .

“I think we should end the ruse. My sister wasn’t wrong .” He takes a breath before continuing, ignoring the tiny voice at the back of his mind screaming for him to stop. “If anyone finds out, people could come after us for being together . Even if it isn’t…” For some reason, the word real sticks in his throat . “You know. It could ruin Leia’s bid for re-election, us being associated with her . And we can’t keep lying to your buir, not after last night. ”

“Oh. Yeah.” Din seems to stiffen, pulling his hand out from under Luke’s. “I guess we should. We got what we wanted, right?”

“Right.” 

He pulls open the door and slips away before Luke can get another word in, leaving him in awkward silence. Kriff. That hadn’t gone at all how he’d expected it to. But he had to do it. He had to break things off. This has grown so much bigger than the two of them— it’s hurting Bo-Katan and Koska, Leia and Han , and even the Armorer and her trust in her foundling. Luke can deal with a little awkwardness between him and Din if it means their loved ones are kept from the fallout.

Probably. Last night had been particularly uncomfortable, with the silence that had blanketed the apartment as they cleaned up from dinner being almost maddening. And this morning hadn’t exactly been any better. Is it just him, or is Din being unnaturally quiet today? Maybe even quieter than when they’d first moved in together?

The thought leaves an oddly hollow feeling in Luke’s chest, as if something is missing. As if Din is missing from the considerable space he now occupies in Luke’s heart.

He’s probably just overreacting. Emotions had been running high last night, leaving them all drained after Leia and Koska and the Armorer’s departures. And everyone had been a bit more subdued than usual as they’d parted ways back at the apartment— even Satine, who hadn’t been involved in the dinner debacle at all.

It’s just one of those days. That’s all. At least that’s what Luke tries to convince himself for the rest of the drive.

Chapter Text

As it turns out, the Armorer had been too eager to explore the city to wait for her ad to arrive. According to Cara, she’d gone out about half an hour ago in search of a good donut shop, something their hometown is severely lacking, in her opinion. Which leaves Din sprawled out on Cara’s couch once again, questioning how his life has reached this point for the second time in less than a month. Cara, to her credit and Din’s relief, refrains from making fun of him for having yet another crisis on her couch.

Well. She refrains more than usual.

“So you threw a dinner party so bad that your boyfriend and roommate and her girlfriend had to step out?”

Din just throws an arm over his eyes to block everything out and sighs. “He kept apologizing. I think he thinks I’m angry at him.”

“Are you?”

“ No. ” As if he could ever be angry with Luke. Even when they’d argued over stupid little things— which one of them had forgotten to close the fridge, who’d tracked in mud, whether or not Luke steals the blankets at night —Din had never been able to get truly upset with him, his annoyance fading almost instantly at Skywalker’s sheepish grin of apology. Cara snorts a laugh in reply, and Din bristles. “I’m not angry with him.”

“Heard you the first time.” She’s wearing a smug grin, as if she’s in on some kind of secret joke, and while he would typically press her on it, his thoughts are preoccupied… elsewhere.

“What if he’s the one who’s angry?” He’d sounded different in the car, when he’d suggested they come clean about their relationship. Had Din done something to piss him off so badly that he’s willing to give up the apartment? Maybe he’s upset Din hadn’t defended him from Leia’s tirade, or that he’d abandoned him to follow Bo-Katan and Koska. As painful as it is to think about, there’s a damn good chance that he’s the cause of Luke’s unusual behavior.

“Aren’t you supposed to be well-adjusted now that you have a house?” He aims a kick in her direction, fully aware of how childish of a reaction it is. Cara has a special talent for pissing people off, and she certainly knows how to put it to good use whenever he’s around.

“It’s just… Skywalker. He was so frustrating at first, and now he’s…” Everything. He’s the reason Din smiles to himself at work, remembering some conversation they’d had. He’s the reason he feels comfortable in this massive city, so far away from home. He’s the reason Din can now easily converse with everyone in the apartment building, where before his words had come out tangled and stilted, to the point where it had simply been easier to remain quiet. 

“When Bo-Katan and Koska came out, when they told me how they felt about each other, it made me think of Luke.” The realization hits him with the same jarring shock as Luke’s car that day they’d met, the words to describe the maelstrom of feelings for Luke materializing after hours spent searching for them. “The way they felt, Koska and Bo. Everything they said, it was the same as how I feel about Luke.”

His confession hangs in the air for too long, the words weighing heavy in the space between them as their burden is lifted from Din’s shoulders. Holy shit. I think… I think I… but I’m not… am I?

“Well shit,” Cara says quietly. “That was deep.”

“What do I do?” He’d quite literally just agreed to break up with the man, and now he’s realizing what had been right there in front of him all along: he’s in love with Luke Skywalker.

Just his luck, figuring out exactly what he’s been missing just as he loses it for good. Din just sighs, sinking deeper into the couch. Can’t one thing go right in his life for once? Cara senses his descent into another round of moping and throws a pillow at him before he can start complaining again— yet another talent of hers, though this one is slightly more useful. If only she would find a gentler way than hitting him with things to snap him out of a mood.

“Well it’s pretty damn clear Skywalker’s already head over heels for you,” she says, which is news to him, and most likely a lie to try to salvage his feelings. “Kiss him, or something.”

Chapter Text

Luke lingers in his car far longer than he should, prolonging the confrontation with his family for as long as possible. He’d give anything to have Din by his side right now. Most days his presence alone is enough to calm Luke’s racing mind, and he certainly needs to be as put-together as he can manage if he’s going to pull this off.

But of course the reason he’s here is because he’d wanted to keep Din out of this mess of Skywalker drama, so Luke shoves away his doubts, squares his shoulders, and finally gets out of the car.

Leia is considerably calmer now that she’s no longer living in fear of the entire city finding out her brother is gay before she does. They’d both been relieved to wake up to a newspaper that was decidedly not full of supposedly scandalous pictures of Luke at Coruscant Closet, though she’s still worried that any number of people could have recognized him and spread the news by word of mouth instead.

Han, on the other hand, couldn’t seem to care less. He’s worried for Leia’s campaign, of course— all of them are. But it’s merely one of a dozen tiny crises he’s been dealing with lately while helping her manage her bid for re-election, and he seems more amused than upset with the whole situation as the three of them settle down in the kitchen after shooing Ben off to play outside while they talk about adult matters , as Leia calls it.

“So,” she says slowly once they’re alone. “How exactly did you end up in a domestic partnership with the roommate you hit with your car?”

And so Luke tells them everything. From the day he’d crashed into Din to the disastrous event of last night’s dinner. It’s strangely freeing, finally telling someone the truth— though he leaves out the bit where Koska and Bo-Katan are dating, out of respect for their privacy.

As expected, Leia winces when she hears about the domestic partnership and how Bo had proudly boasted to her Mandalorian friends when they’d finally sent in the application, though she relaxes slightly when Luke assures her that the news had hardly spread beyond a handful of Nite Owls. But to his surprise, it’s Han who finally asks the question he’s been expecting all along:

“You’ll be ending the partnership now, right?” Luke hesitates just a second too long, though the answer should be an easy one. “Or getting a divorce, or whatever they call it.”

“Din and I talked about it this morning.” There’s a sudden lump in his throat, and Luke finds himself struggling to keep his voice even. “Din’s been very understanding about the whole thing. He agrees it’s for the best. For your campaign.”

“Understanding, huh?” Han asks, as if he’s in on some joke Luke doesn’t know about.

“Yeah.” His voice cracks like a teenager’s, and suddenly he’s fighting back tears. “Din’s… he’s great. You’d get along.” Maybe in a world in which their relationship hadn’t been built on a lie, Luke could’ve introduced his boyfriend and brother-in-law. No doubt Din’s mechanic background and love of old cars would have endeared him to Han almost immediately.

Kriff, he’s going to start crying. It’s hitting him all at once, the fact that this is really coming to an end. That he and Din will likely go their separate ways now that the ruse is up. That they may never see each other again, since Satine will no doubt be unwilling to keep them on as tenants after finding out that they’ve been deceiving her all along.

He’s gotten too used to having Din Djarin in his life. Too used to his good-natured grumpiness in the mornings, his endearing tendency to fuss over Luke for some reason or another, his expertise on all things Mandalorian, his infrequent but always well-thought-out comments in the midst of a conversation, his propensity for falling asleep on the couch on days he’s too tired to make it as far as the bed after returning home from work, his… everything.

“Luke?” Genuine concern seeps into his sister’s voice, and Luke resists the urge to break down crying into Leia’s shoulder the way he’d done when they were younger. They’re not younglings anymore, but he still feels impossibly small in the face of all his problems, and just as helpless as he’d felt all those years ago after a playground scuffle or particularly bad grade.

“Oh Force,” he whispers. “I think I’m in love with my boyfriend.”

Chapter Text

It’s raining. Of course it is. Leave it to the weather to screw him over the one day he has to wait outside for his ride. Little droplets of water gather atop his helmet and dot his jacket as Din hunches his shoulders in an attempt to avoid the rain as much as possible.

His afternoon with Cara and the Armorer had been a nice distraction from his troubles— or, it would have been, if not for his realization about his feelings for Luke. While the newfound understanding of every reaction he’s had to Skywalker’s presence for the past several weeks should be comforting, the feeling is ruined by his growing anxiety.

How the hell is he supposed to explain this to Luke?

He’d just agreed to put an end to their relationship for good, and now he’s supposed to admit that the feelings he’s been ‘faking’ for weeks are actually real? There’s no universe in which Din can imagine that going well. It’s bad enough that even Cara finds it in her to display a rare bit of tact and avoid bringing up the Skywalker situation the whole time they’re exploring the city— something Din should feel grateful for, but the fact that she pities him enough to stop teasing him only makes things worse.

Din’s heart sinks at the familiar sight of Luke’s car, the normally brilliant red stripe against white paint somewhat muted by the rain, and no doubt by his jittery mood as well. Luke offers a hesitant grin as he waves, but Din can’t find it in himself to return the gesture.

And then Skywalker gets out of the car.

-:-

It’s raining. Of course it is. This is just like those cheesy rom-coms he and Han and Leia had laughed themselves silly over as teens, the ones he would poke fun of his sister and her boyfriend for having so much in common with. He can picture the scene in his mind’s eye, the same one that’s featured in dozens of romance flicks— the two lovers, racing through the rain to be reunited despite the forces of the galaxy trying to keep them apart.

The irony is not lost on him.

In a split-second decision, Luke parks his car and jumps out, flinching under the torrent of rain. Kriff, but it’s cold. Whoever thought this stuff was romantic must have been crazy. As far as he can tell, there’s absolutely nothing sweet or intimate about the way the puddles of rain soak his socks through the thick fabric of his boots or the way the downpour makes him look like a wet cat.

Din stares at him like he’s gone mad— not an entirely unreasonable conclusion —and motions to the car. “Aren’t we—?”

“Can we talk?”

“Here?” He glances dubiously at the warm, dry interior of Luke’s car, then seems to think better of it. Considering the awkward silence that had served as the soundtrack for their last car trip, he can’t help but be grateful. Luke’s going to need a clean slate if he wants to tell Din… well, any of what he’s about to say.

“I told Leia everything.” No, that’s a terrible way to start things off, bringing up his sister after her reaction to hearing about their partnership last night. Of course, she’s calmed down now that she’s come to the realization that her brother being gay won’t topple her career to the degree she’d imagined, but Din doesn’t know that, does he?

Din holds up a hand. “About that. I… I need to tell you something.”

-:-

Shit, he’s actually doing this. He’s actually telling Skywalker how he feels. Din’s heart threatens to explode in his chest, anxiety clamping down on his lungs as he struggles to get the words out. “When Koska and Bo came out last night… I realized something.”

Luke freezes, staring at him in awe for some strange reason. Then again, the man has just jumped out of a perfectly dry car to chat with him in the rain, so perhaps he’s just having a very odd day. Regardless of whatever is going through Luke’s head, Din plows on, determined to at least get halfway through the impromptu speech he’d thrown together while waiting for his ride. Maybe he’ll even make it to the part where he confesses his feelings before passing out from sheer terror— or embarrassment, if (when?) Luke rejects him.

“They talked about how they fell in love, how they knew they’d found the one.” Which had been a bit cheesy, but it’s Bo-Katan he’s talking about, and their friend deserves every ounce of the happiness Koska brings her. “And how they’d flirted, what it felt like being around each other… all of it.”

“Yeah, they seemed head over heels.” Luke shifts anxiously, glancing over his shoulder. “Din, when I was talking to Leia—”

“And I feel the same way about you.” He hadn’t intended to cut off Skywalker, but the words come out in a rush far beyond his control. “Shit, Luke, I’m falling in love with you. I’ve never— I didn’t know how to name it until Bo-Katan told me what it felt like. And now… I don’t want to break up with you.” He laughs at the sudden weightlessness that comes with finally telling the truth, his view of Luke blurred by the tears rising in his eyes. “Damn it, Skywalker, I want to spend my life with you, and I didn’t even know until I almost lost you.”

Luke doesn’t move. He doesn’t speak. He simply stands in the rain and stares, and the painful silence is worse than any rejection Din can imagine.

-:-

I’m falling in love with you.

The words ring in Luke’s ears, echoing and overlapping until they match the incoherent mess of his thoughts. “You…”

Din merely shrugs, looking self-conscious as ever. “I know this is a terrible time to tell you. But we didn’t have much left, and I didn’t know how else to—”

“You ruined my surprise.” He can only stare at Din in utter shock, still parsing through his confession like one of his students trying to comprehend a particularly difficult reading passage.

“Your what?”

“I love you,” Luke blurts out by way of explanation, which is far from the most eloquent answer, but at least it gets the point across. ”I don’t want to break up for my sister’s career. I don’t want to void the domestic partnership. I— Din, I’m in love with you.”

Oh Force. He’s actually done it.

And this time it’s Din who’s frozen, Din who can’t think of a single thing to say in response to the sudden admission of love. And then suddenly they’re laughing, both of them laughing like this is the funniest thing imaginable— and it is, isn’t it? He’d rushed here to confess his love for Din, who’d been waiting patiently in the rain to tell him the exact same thing. He’s spent so much time pushing away his feelings for Din, and now when he finally realizes them for what they are, his boyfriend just happens to have done the exact same thing.

Luke really can’t catch a break, can he?

And thank the Force that he can’t, because as wild and turbulent as his life has been, in the end it had led him back to Din.

-:-

Din laughs louder and more openly than he has in years, pressing his forehead to Luke’s amidst the pouring rain and grinning under his helmet. I love you. I love you. I love you. Each beat of their hearts, each drop of rain around them, each breath they take brims with the sound of those words. He could hear them again and again from Skywalker’s lips and never grow tired of the sound.

Perhaps it’s this strange new love-drunk feeling that causes him to tip up his helmet, or perhaps it’s the privacy given to them by the rain making him bolder than usual. Whatever the cause, Din kisses his boyfriend full on the lips like he’s in a goddamn holodrama, laughing like a youngling as he does. Luke returns he kiss without hesitation, pulling Din closer until the two of them are locked in a lovers’ embrace.

How could he ever have let himself come so close to losing this man?

The rain drenches them both, and Din couldn’t care less. He would be perfectly content to spend the rest of his life like this, safe in Skywalker’s arms and shielded from the prying eyes and wagging tongues of the rest of the world. Even his covert has never felt this much like… home.

In their this private little paradise in the midst of the storm, Din falls in love all over again.

Chapter Text

Luke can’t stop smiling. And while Din would be content to spend the rest of his days staring at Skywalker’s gorgeous grin, it’s kind of killing the whole ‘serious talk’ thing.

Satine and Bo-Katan stare at them expectantly, waiting to hear the reason they’ve been called down to Satine’s office out of nowhere.

He holds Luke’s hand tight— they haven’t let go since they’d reached the apartment building —and takes a deep breath. “There's something we need to tell you.”

“Which is…?” Bo-Katan checks her watch. “It’s 3 in the afternoon. This couldn’t have waited?”

“Not really,” Luke says rather cryptically— or at least it would be cryptic, if he weren’t beaming like a foundling who’s just completed his verd’goten.

“We’re gay,” Din blurts out before Bo-Katan can delay them any further with some witty reply that will send things flying off track. Of course, he’s always been more of a think-before-speaking type, so everything comes out wrong, and to the Kryze sisters it must seem as if he’s stating the obvious.

“I hate to break it to you, Din,” Bo says slowly. “But we’ve known that for over a month now.”

“I know.” He hesitates. Revealing their lie could lose them this apartment, Satine’s trust, Bo-Katan’s friendship, everything they’ve built in their short time together. But he can’t keep living a lie like this. It’s like the Mando’a saying the Armorer had been so fond of quoting throughout his childhood— haat, ijaa, haa’it. Truth, honor, vision. A Mandalorian is nothing without these things, and damned if Din is going to go another second without them. “We’re gay. But we didn’t realize until today.”

Satine catches on first. “So this past month…”

“We lied about being together,” Luke admits, finally managing to drop his smile. “And about being gay. But then Leia showed up, and the domestic partnership approval came through, and we both realized it wasn’t a lie at all.”

“Except it was,” Satine points out. “Originally, at least.”

“Yeah.”

Din steals a glance at Bo-Katan, who stares back at them with a mix of shock and horror. “So yesterday, at the bar…”

“I’m sorry,” Din says. It’s the only thing he can say, and he knows it will never be enough. Bo looks as if she’s on the verge of tears, and it’s their fault.

“What bar?” Satine’s gaze darts between the three of them, confusion etched into her features. “You three went to a bar?”

“Yeah. Coruscant Closet,” Bo says slowly, wincing as Satine’s face clouds with even more confusion. “I wanted to bring Din and Luke to a place where…” She takes a deep breath, looking to Din and Luke with a half-smile. “Where people like us could be ourselves. I, uh. I’m gay, Satine.”

Satine stares at Bo-Katan. She turns to Din and Luke, opening her mouth and then closing it again after several seconds. He’s half prepared for her to simply blow her top the way Leia had been poised to last night, but instead she merely sighs and rests her clasped hands in her lap.

“There were much easier ways of doing this, you know.”

A strangled laugh bubbles from Bo-Katan’s lips, relief blossoming across her face. “You’re just… you’re fine with that?”

“You’re my sister. We have a constant love-hate relationship, remember? You being gay isn’t going to change that.” Satine’s eyes widen in sudden realization. “Wait… Koska?”

“We’ve been going out for two years,” she admits sheepishly, and Din can’t help but laugh to himself. Unfortunately, in doing so he also draws the sisters’ attention back to himself and his boyfriend. His real boyfriend. Damn. He’d expected the label to take some getting used to now that they’re using it genuinely, but it seems all those weeks faking a relationship have at least been good for one thing.

“And you two…” Satine just sighs. “Well, I can’t throw you out now, considering the precedent that would set for my sister. Not that you’re off the hook— we’ll be having a long talk about honesty at some point, but… I appreciate your coming clean, at least. You could’ve kept it a secret indefinitely, but you chose to tell the truth. Eventually.” She casts Bo-Katan a look, her weary expression softening. “And you’ve helped my sister to do the same. So I suppose you two have a few things going for you.”

“Thank you,” Luke says, squeezing Din’s hand with a little grin of excitement. Din just laughs again, louder this time as he leans into his boyfriend’s touch.

Satine leaves the room, mumbling something about needing a break. and they’re finally left alone with Bo-Katan. “So you’re together together now, huh?”

“Looks like we’ll be needing that domestic partnership approval after all,” Luke grins. “Thanks, by the way. Apparently you’re the only reason Din figured out he was gay at all.”

“You’re welcome, you di’kut.” She punches Din’s arm lightly. “Guess this means Koska and I can apply now.”

“For a partnership?” Excitement for Bo and Koska seeps into his voice, buoyed by her sister’s accepting reaction to the news of their relationship. Now that they’re no longer in danger of losing the apartment and their secret has been brought to light, Din feels as if a massive weight has been lifted from his shoulders.

“We’ve waited long enough,” she says with a shrug. Then, with all the confident impatience of a woman with a plan that’s taking far too long to put into action, Bo-Katan turns on her heel and heads for the printer, likely to print off another round of applications. “Think you two could help us?”

“Yeah?” Luke replies, only half paying attention as he rests his head on Din’s shoulder in a way that only makes Din want to pull him closer. Stars, but he could get used to this.

“Of course.” She grins, a familiar gleam of mischief in her eyes promising no time for Din and Luke to snuggle. ”You know, since you two are so good at it.”