Chapter Text
Together
When the juice box had emptied, Din held out the first kit aid again. “Can I take a look at that cut now?”
Luke reached out a hand before running his tongue over the split lip. “It’s not that deep.”
“Let me see.”
“It stopped bleeding hours ago,” Luke said but didn’t pull away this time as Din lightly grabbed his chin and tilted his face up. It was indeed a shallow cut that showed no signs of being infected. But Din still cleaned the cut with a spray of disinfectants from the first aid kit.
“I’ll kill that bastard,” Din declared as he finished.
“Thank you,” Luke huffed out a small laugh. “But I don’t think he’s worth it.”
“He reminded Grogu of his uncle.”
“Did he?” Luke squeezed the empty juice box. “I’ll kill that bastard.”
“I already called dibs.”
“I saw him before you,” Luke argued. “But I doubt either of us will see him again. It’s New York after all.”
“Are you really alright?” Din asked after a brief hesitation. “I heard the things he yelled and—they weren’t pleasant to hear.”
Luke gave a shrug. “I honestly heard worse. I’m used to it by now.”
“You shouldn’t be.”
“It stopped bothering me a long time ago,” Luke said airily before kicking at the floor. “And, uh, sorry for snapping at you earlier. You didn’t deserve that.”
Din made himself comfortable before leaning against his seat, his head tilted down at Luke. “Apology accepted. Want to talk about it?”
Luke gave a slow sigh before leaning against his own seat, slowly edging closer to Din. “I don’t know where to begin.”
“Start with the easy part.”
There was a moment of silence, Luke staring up at Din, until he finally spoke.
“After New Orleans, I wasn’t in the best place. I didn’t even mean to come to New York, I had climbed aboard a random bus and let it take me anywhere. I spent most of my days just drifting in the city until Uncle Owen found me.”
He hadn’t even been aware that he had relatives this far out in the East until Owen had told Luke of Shmi Skywalker. Owen and Anakin were half-brothers but they were both too deep in their own lives and family to forge a brotherhood. So things had stayed friendly between the two if not a little curt. After the passing of Shmi, they saw little reason to keep up their connection for reasons other than friendly formality.
Before Luke could fully wrap his head around the new revelation, the man had tossed him an apron and told him to get off his ass. Lack of brotherhood or no, Luke was still a family in Owen’s eyes. And no nephew of his was going to spend his life aimlessly wandering.
Aunt Beru had kinder words than Owen, though she wasn’t as soft. She had fire in her eyes and a spirit of steel. She didn’t take nonsense from any critic or rude customer and bade them good riddance when they had threatened to never return.
“I remember this lady with cat eye glasses that harassed one of our waitresses for supposedly getting her order wrong. Beru had literally swept her out with her broom before returning to the kitchen. The diner had shouted that this business wasn’t going to last a month,” Luke said, the corner of his lips twitching up to a bare semblance of a smile. “Feels good to know she was wrong. I mean the place is still running after forty years. Forty .”
Din winced as Luke repeated the number with a disbelieving shake of his head.
“I don’t think my mind really grasped it,” Luke continued. “Even with the technology and the photographs, I couldn’t even begin to decipher what it all meant until … now. God, I feel so stupid .”
“You’re not stupid,” Din interrupted firmly. “Your circumstances were out of your control and I don’t think anyone could handle any of it better than you.”
“And I’m mostly mad at myself.”
“Why?”
Luke rubbed at the back of his neck before he gave a long sigh and shrugged off his backpack. He shuffled through the cassette tapes and the loose change until he finally handed over something to Din.
“You’re not the only one who has been doing research,” he said softly.
It was his notebook, folded open to a page filled with Luke’s doodles of cats and handwriting: Apple, The Golden Girls, Gogurt, Pixar, Twitter, Pokemon, Jurassic Park, what are prequels?
“I was keeping a list,” Luke explained before Din could ask, “of everything that I overheard from the train or things that Grogu mentioned. And I was curious.”
Din finally looked up to find Luke eyes nervously studying him. “When did you start writing this?”
“A few weeks ago.”
“I thought that—” Din stumbled over his words. “You want to learn about this stuff?”
“I didn’t care at first. It didn’t seem to matter since I only wanted to go home. But then I kept spending more and more time with you and Grogu. And I was thinking that maybe it won’t be too bad if I stayed. I wouldn’t mind it at all actually.”
Din’s grip on his notebook tightened. “But … I thought you wanted to go back.”
“I do,” Luke said. “But the things I have seen on this train—in this era— are just crazy for me. I mean look at how far technology has advanced. And there are strawberry milkshake Pop-Tarts!”
“Which you never had before?”
“They haven’t been invented yet! I’m going to have to wait for at least five years before I can taste them again if I go back.”
“And that’s being optimistic.”
“Exactly,” Luke said, looking down at his nails. “And I’ve been on this train literally 24/7 and I would see gay people. Like holding hands or wearing rainbow pins in front of everyone. And they’re left alone pretty much all the time which is wild for me.”
“But it’s not perfect,” Din reluctantly pointed out.
“No, but it’s different,” Luke finally glanced up to Din. “And yeah I might never get to see Leia which, don’t get me wrong, would break my heart. But I'll learn to live with that loss and find my own happiness.”
“Because this a good time for you?” Din asked slowly.
Luke let out a short laugh. “Yeah, I could be with you and Grogu.”
Din blinked. “With us.”
“With the both of you. This whole situation scares the shit out of me and I know that I can’t have any sort of compromise, but I know I will be happy with the two of you in my life. I am sure of it.” And Luke smiled, his eyes shimmering a kaleidoscope of blue, blue, and even more blue despite the sickly fluorescent light. “What do you think?”
“I—” Din blinked hard to keep from losing himself. “It’s— it’s probably desperate but I want you. And if you want—”
He didn’t have the chance to finish before Luke yanked him down for a kiss.
Din broke away before he could enjoy the feeling. “What does that mean?”
“I— It means …” Luke leaned up to continue the kiss but Din held him away with a pointed look.
“What does it mean?” Din demanded. “Say it.”
“I want you too. The same way that you want me.”
“Together until we can’t?”
Luke nodded in agreement. “If that’s what it comes down to.”
“Okay,” Din breathed out, leaning down far enough to gently bump his forehead to Luke’s. “I’m fine with that.”
“Even if I leave?”
“Even if you leave. It doesn’t matter.”
Luke rested his hands on Din’s shoulder and gave him a peck at the very tip of his nose before leaning in. “Okay, so will you teach me about the twenty-first century in case I stay?”
“The technical stuff I can teach,” Din said. “But I’m not the most educated with pop culture.”
“We can learn together then.”
Din cracked a smile at the thought of him and Luke together, leaning over magazines and shared laptop screens to decipher the latest celebrity gossip or Hollywood’s endless list of franchises. “Yeah. Together.”
Photos
“He seemed nice,” Luke said as he waved Fett goodbye until the doors shut. Unlike Dune, Fett had taken the time travel displacement with a cool head. Ignoring the fact that he had gone near pale at the sight of Luke disappearing midair. There had been accusations of jokes and pranks at first despite Grogu’s insistence that it was all very true. But it had faltered as he failed to prove how Luke managed to appear in every single train cart that they boarded onto.
Eventually he had accepted the situation and agreed to search about the circumstances of Luke’s public disappearance. Then he left with nothing more than a gruff nod.
Din let out a scoff. “That’s not how most would describe Boba Fett.”
“How would people describe him then?”
“Someone you really don’t want as an enemy.”
“And what do you think of him?”
Din let himself mull over the question. “Someone I was lucky to have met. He was the one who gave the job at the grill.”
Luke’s smile turned sad as he leaned against his seat. “Just as Owen and Beru had done to me.”
“Sort of,” Din said and placed his hand on top of Grogu’s head to ruffle his hair. “A lot had happened before we ended up in New York.”
“We had to leave our first home,” Grogu said sadly. “And we lost Razor Crest.”
“I needed a clean record to keep, Grogu. I had enough money saved from my previous jobs to keep us comfortable, but being unemployed was a major setback. Fett offered to hire me for other fields but being a waiter was the best option among them.”
The other options were arguably legal and they were all something that Din had excelled at as a muscle. But he couldn’t leave Grogu worrying for his safety every time he would go out.
“Are you upset with me?” Luke asked suddenly, interrupting Din’s musings.
“What?”
“You spent all this time trying to help me. And I refused to tell you about Beru and Owen. It probably would have helped if you had known sooner, huh?”
It might have. It certainly would have given Din more motivation to contact the grill owners sooner and have given the exact date where Luke went missing. That itself could have greatly helped determine why Luke was stuck on this train. But …
“I’m not upset at you,” Din said, honestly. “It’s your right to keep some things private.”
And in a roundabout way, he had learned more from Luke’s silence than his recounted stories and snatched photos ever could. Despite his best efforts, a part of Din had started thinking Luke was an infallible perfect being. How could he not when every memory and story had spoken of his free spirit on the open road or his determined nature as he joined the protests and fights that were now regarded as bravery?
But now, Luke was someone who was quick to jump to conclusion and let his emotions carry him before logic. And Din loved those characteristics just as much if not more as it made Luke thousand times more realistic and alluring than the man with the constant smile.
What else could he learn with their shared time together?
What else would Luke learn about Din?
It would depend, Din realized, on how much time they would have left together.
It was his goal—his mission —to get him off the train by whatever means possible. And neither party was ready to accept failure, much less consider it. They would piece every scrap of clue together, one by one, until finally someday Luke walks off the train and goes home.
Wherever that is.
And Din would only watch at the sidelines. Quietly hoping. Painfully longing.
And he would be satisfied with that.
He had to be.
The grill was back in business four days after the flood. Fett had grumbled about the lost customers in the before tossing a yellow paper folder toward Din an hour before his shift ended.
“This was the best I could do,” he said without elaboration and moved away to rearrange the chairs. “Had to say that it was a marketing scheme.”
Din had been confused at the vague words before opening the folder to see photographs of Tatooine Grill in its prime. Customers with polka dotted dresses and gray suits had flooded the booths with their pile of sandwiches and salads on the table. And Luke stood in front with a stained apron and a wide smile. A time stamp had been included in the bottom with a black sharpie pen: January 1977 . A new lead.
The wheels of his mind turned as he flipped through the rest of the photographs, each with their own timestamp scribbled on and with their own little Luke featured in the photos.
Before Din could study them further the door to the grill opened, announcing yet another diner. He hastily stuffed the photos back into the folder and turned to find Tano waiting to be seated.
“Were you closing for the day?” she asked, eyeing Fett who was wiping the empty tables.
“We still have another hour,” Din reassured and guided her to Grogu’s little corner. “But you can take your time.”
Grogu glanced up from his homework and let out an excited little gasp before insistently motioning her to sit across from her. She gave a little laugh at the display before accepting the seat and Din’s offered menu.
“Keep this safe, Grogu,” Din passed over the yellow folder. “It’s important.”
Grogu pinched his face to a serious frown before accepting the folder with a salute. Tano watched the scene with a quiet curiosity but made no questions. She instead gave her order before shifting her attention to the kid. Din overheard the question of Grogu’s latest school project before ducking into the kitchen to pass on the order and serving other customers that Fett was not so subtly hinting at to leave.
When Din had eventually returned to their table, the yellow folder was opened with the pictures spread out all over the table. Grogu was shuffling through the pictures, his eyes scanning each one before holding it out for Tano or placing it on top of a messy pile near his homework. Hopefully they weren’t arranged in any particular order for Din to look through.
“Excuse me,” Tano held up the photo for Din to see before he could speak to Grogu about the mess. “Does this man happen to have any relations to Skywalker by any chance?”
Din’s heart skipped a beat at the unexpected question. “He is Skywalker.”
Tano’s confused frown increased tenfold as she slowly shook her head. “That can’t be it.”
If it were any other surname, then Din might have struck it off as a coincidence. But in what world was Skywalker a common name?
“Were you thinking it was a man named Anakin, by any chance?”
Tano couldn’t hide her surprise at that name as she gaped at Din. “I suppose you can say that. They both look so similar that it’s uncanny.”
Din quickly slipped into the booth, accidentally squishing Grogu further in. “Do you know anything about Anakin Skywalker’s twins?”
“I do but how—?”
“I was hired to investigate one of the twins,” Din quickly lied. “The one in the photo, Luke Skywalker.”
“ Luke ?” Tano repeated as if the name was foreign to her. “But Anakin doesn’t have a son.”
Now it was Din’s turn to be surprised. Though it didn’t last very long. “I know one is Leia. The other started to go by Luke by the time he had arrived in New York.”
Tano stared blankly at Din before the understanding dawned upon her. “So that’s what she meant.”
“Who?”
“Leia,” Tano answered, her voice turning rueful. “She said that her twin was different from what we remember. We had assumed that it was because of the distance.”
“Do you know when she had last contacted Luke? I know she sent him postcards.”
“It was years ago,” Tano set the photo down, her confused frown growing. “Who hired you to investigate him?”
Din’s heart twisted in guilt as he lied again. “By his old friend from New York. They fell out of contact around ‘77.”
It would be easier if he whisked Tano out of the diner and onto the subway. But immediately throwing Tano and Luke into a reunion without warning would be insensitive. And the memory of Luke’s grief for the lost time was still fresh in his mind.
Tano studied him carefully before slowly starting to speak. “I was close to the Skywalkers in my youth. But I could never bring myself to settle as Anakin had. I traveled anywhere and everywhere with my visits being regretfully few and far in between. I adored the twins but I was never able to develop a close bond with them as I wished I could.”
“But you have been keeping in contact with Leia, right?”
“Just phone calls and friendly visits,” Tano admitted. “And those are still so rare. I haven’t heard from her in years now.”
Din’s heart sank at the answer. “But did she tell you anything at all about Luke?”
Tano narrowed her eyes as she thought of the answer for a minute. “She said she had been calling and exchanging letters with each other during the years he was gone. I believe the last phone call was around the summer of 1977. After that she wasn’t able to reach him again.”
Summer of 1977. Din would bet a good amount of money to bet that was the date that Luke had stepped into the subway and disappeared.
“Did she try contacting him again through her aunt and uncle?” At Tano’s confused look, Din explained. “The original business owners of this grill were Luke’s aunt and uncle. The Lars couple, have you ever heard of them?”
“If Leia and Luke have really been in contact then I imagine Leia did know about them. But she probably had difficulty considering the circumstances.”
“What do you mean?”
“Because of the black out,” Tano said, shaking her head ruefully. “It was near impossible to make phone calls across the country and everyone heard stories about what happened. Leia never heard from Luke again after that.”
“But didn’t anyone think it was strange that he had suddenly disappeared?” Din asked. “Didn’t anyone ever try to find him again?”
“We didn’t know Leia was in contact with Luke until months later. She only told us when she said that she was traveling to New York seemingly out of nowhere. Normally we wouldn’t have had an issue and I would have been a hypocrite to try and stop her. But she wasn’t fit for traveling at that time.”
“Because she was pregnant,” Din said, the guess coming to him automatically. Luke’s reveal about his sister’s family had added weight now. “And she would have been in her final stages by the time she decided to go to New York.”
Tano seemed surprised at Din’s answer but nodded her head. “None of us were expecting the child. She wasn’t even married and had panicked. But she managed to find happiness in it. I was never too sure but I always thought that it was Luke that had managed to calm her down and gave her the support she needed.”
And Din could vividly imagine it. Luke comforting his sister on the floor of his kitchen, well past midnight with eyes drooping from exhaustion but determined to cheer her up. He would imagine the jokes to make her laugh, new bands he discovered to distract her, and would give the quiet reassurances that left his sister feeling hopeful instead of frightened.
“That is all I know,” Tano said. “I never had the heart to ask about anything after that. I was never close to Leia as I hoped to be and bringing up the topic only brought Anakin grief.”
She sighed and gazed down at the photos. “I don’t suppose that you managed to find out what happened to him after ‘77?” she asked, her voice low.
He’s still alive , Din wanted to say. Alive and grieving for them as they were grieving for him. But he only shook his head, his heart bitter with guilt. “I’m sorry.”
“Actually,” Grogu piped up, holding up Din’s phone. “We know something.”
On the screen was a blurry picture of Luke on the train. His eyes were glued to one of the many newspaper clippings that hinted at his past, leaving him completely unaware of the photographer. It was a picture completely unfamiliar to Din, but with the way Grogu had confidently pulled the picture up along with the low angle, he had a solid guess to its origins.
“Is that him?” Tano leaned closer to the phone. “When was this taken?”
“March 1977,” Din quickly spoke over Grogu. “It was one of our first leads.”
His son’s confused eyes turned to Din in shock. “No, it isn’t!”
“It’s up to debate,” Din explained at Tano’s confused expression. “The photo was cleaned and edited for a more modern appearance by a digital media student.”
“I took the photo!” Grogu protested. “Dad!”
“Yes, you did.” Din said with as much calmness as he could muster. “The student showed it to you and you captured it using my phone.”
“That’s not—!”
“Could you excuse us?” Din asked Tano as he firmly tugged at Grogu’s sweater. “We won’t be long.”
A flimsy excuse but he didn’t bother to come up with a better one as he quickly ushered Grogu out of the booth. He ignored Fett’s curious stare or Vanth’s questions as he hastily entered the back office with Grogu and shut the door.
He inhaled deeply to grasp at some sense of calmness before turning to his son.
“Grogu,” he said slowly. “What are you doing?”
“What are you doing?” Grogu stamped his foot and crossed his arms. “Why are you lying to Ms. Tano?”
“I’m not lying . I just—” Din stopped himself before he could get too defensive. “Grogu, do you not remember Luke asking us not to look into his relatives? We have to respect that.”
“But that is not the same! Ms. Tano is right there and she wants to learn more about Luke. She asked us if we knew anything!”
“And we can’t tell her what happened to Luke.”
“Why? She’s his family!”
“I know and—”
“We can take her to the train right now!” Grogu eagerly suggested. “They could meet and Ms. Tano could help us free him. Luke can have his family again. And he wouldn’t have to leave us!”
Din’s heart skipped a beat as dread pooled at his stomach. Of course, Grogu had figured it out even without Din or Luke telling it directly to him. Not that either of them hid it very well from the kid.
“Grogu, that’s not how it works.”
“Why not? His family is here as well.”
“It’s not just about family. His home is back in 1977 too.”
“He can have a home here.”
“Kid,” Din said as weariness settled deep in his bones and heart. “That’s not up for us to decide.”
Grogu’s arms trashed out in frustration. “But I don’t want him to leave!”
“It would be selfish to force him to stay.”
“But … don’t you want him to stay?” Grogu demanded, his lips starting to quiver. “I thought you loved him.”
“Of course I want him to stay but I don’t—” love him?
The denial felt wrong. He liked Luke, that much he knew.
But to love him? That would be foolish and not at all unrealistic for Din.
“It’s not up to us to decide what happens to Luke,” Din said as he shelved that thought aside. “And we can’t let Ms. Tano meet Luke now when he specifically asked us not to look into his family. Neither of them are ready to be reunited.”
Out of arguments, Grogu could only mutter, “It’s not fair.”
“I want him to stay too, Grogu. But … I would be happy if he is happy.”
Grogu stared up at Din balefully until the last of his frustration washed away. “I’ll miss him.”
A knot coiled around Din’s throat as he took in Grogu’s defeated posture. His son had lost his birth parents and was forcefully uprooted from his home, but Luke might be the first instance that Grogu had ever felt loss. And Din was absolutely powerless to shelter him from that numbing emotion.
But he could pick up the pieces.
“I will too,” Din said. “But Luke is still here and we still have time together.”
Grogu gave a glum nod and silently held up his arms—a gesture that Din hadn't seen in ages but was still familiar with.
He leaned down to the floor, in spite of the weary protest of his knees and spine, and picked his son up. Grogu tucked his head to his neck and let out another muffled, “It’s not fair .”
“I know, kid,” Din muttered, feeling his shoulder grow wet from the tears. “I know.”
Tracks
I have a theory
Of ?
Since you’re able to walk between cars, you might be able to walk on the tracks
Luke?
Luke, pick up your phone
…
Please don’t say you jumped off the train
Tested out your theory
Didn’t work
Why would you do that??
You could have been electrocuted if you landed on the rail
I was avoiding them
Okay, don’t try anything else
Luke.
Pick up your phone.
You jumped again didn’t you
I am part of the electricity!!!
What.
I can stand on the third rail
😃
I’m off the train!!
Din had boarded the subway an hour after that text, his nerves still in fray. “You could have died .”
His words had caught the attention of absolutely no one but Luke. Not that there were many to hear his words on the train car. Besides him and Luke, the only other passengers were a tired looking nurse, a tourist with a large map covering him, and a man who reeked of beer.
“I don’t think I can,” Luke said, his hair messy and face flushed with a bright smile. “In fact it felt amazing. I think I ran all the way up to City Hall until I got pulled back.”
And Din should be mad. Furious that Luke had endangered his life so recklessly. But it was difficult. That mad gamble has resulted in the closest thing that Luke ever had to freedom for fifty years.
Up to City Hall was probably the furthest he had ever run without a door or a wall to block his way. And Din found that he regretted that he couldn’t be there with Luke and hear his infectious laughter. Even if it was in the dark and dusty tunnels of the subway.
Luke patted the seat beside him in invitation. “So what did you find out this time besides my ability to walk on tracks?”
“What makes you say that?”
“It’s written all over your face.”
Din wished he could be surprised at that statement. His lack of poker face had been the cause of countless teasing. Even Grogu was able to form a solid guess with a glance.
“I met your family,” Din admitted. There was little reason to beat around the bush.
Luke didn’t even flinch as he processed the words. “Who?”
“Her name is Ahsoka Tano,” Din said. “Do you remember her?”
The corner of Luke’s lips tugged down softly in confusion. “Vaguely. How’d you meet her?”
“It was long before I met you. When Grogu’s uncle tracked us down, I panicked and fled from our home.” Din gave a long sigh. “That didn’t look too good when we eventually landed ourselves in court. But Ms. Tano ended up helping us, she’s the reason why I got to keep Grogu.”
She had been reluctant to help at first. The only reason she had offered her assistance was because she was familiar with Gideon’s infamous reputation. Din had sat through her borderline interrogation for nearly an hour until she had asked what he planned to do with the money.
And Din, within his confusion, asked, “What money?”
In the hindsight, Din should have seen it coming. Despite the insistent claims of familial bonds and child neglect, Gideon had seemed a little too obsessed with keeping Grogu’s custody. Din had never let himself wonder why though for the sake of his own sanity. Never once did Din think of the possibility that perhaps the obsession had stemmed from Grogu’s inheritance.
Ms. Tano had gazed at Din with open incredulity before laughing at his face. Like Luke said, Din had never been a master at controlling his facial expressions. His confusion and lack of awareness was what had won over her trust in the end.
“I don’t know if it's because of the train or what, but I don’t remember much about her,” Luke traced out an indiscernible pattern on his palm before giving a sigh. “The latest memory I have of her was when I was around eleven. I think she went backpacking around somewhere. She … she was the one that gave me the frog pin before she left.”
“Grogu showed her the pin before,” Din paused before continuing. “She said it was a fad back then.”
Luke grimaced, his face twisting in discomfort.
“What is it?”
“Well,” he started slowly. “I still haven’t told you everything about me.”
“You do remember Ms. Tano?”
“No, memories of her are still fuzzy,” he inhaled slowly before sitting up straighter to meet Din’s eyes. “Do you remember when you first found out about me? When I asked what you would do if Luke wasn’t my actual name?”
Din gave a slow nod. “Yes?”
“Well, it isn’t. My father had always said if he ever had a son, then he would have named him Luke. And when I left it seemed to be the only good cover up,” he gave a long sigh before shoving his hair back. “I mean I had to. I knew how dangerous it was for runaways on the roads. And by the time I found a place to settle—in both New Orleans and New York—I didn’t want to change back.”
The last words fell away weakly to the silence as Din slowly took in the words.
“I was wondering why I was having so much trouble finding your birth certificate,” he finally said. “I suppose that makes sense.”
Luke’s hands stilled, his eyes wide with surprise. “You’re not mad?”
“Why would I be?”
“Because I lied to you. Again .”
“Like I said before, you have the right to keep quiet about the things you don’t want to talk about,” Din said. “But would you like me to keep calling you Luke?”
“Yes,” Luke said with little hesitance. “I—I would like that. But you don’t find it weird?”
“I used work as a gun for hire until I just happened to kidnap an heir to an unspeakable amount of fortune. Now I’m dating a man that somehow broke the laws of time and space by trapping himself in the New York subway of all places.”
Luke ran his hands roughly over his eyes before letting out a loud laugh. “Well, when you put it like that I suppose it’s not the weirdest thing.”
“I wouldn’t find it weird even without the whole subway thing,” Din said and shrugged. “Just to let you know.”
“Okay,” Luke said in a weak rasp before clearing his throat. “Alright.”
“Did anyone else know?”
“Beru and Owen thought it was strange at first but didn’t really care,” Luke answered. “Some of my roommates and friends in New Orleans were the same as me. Han knew but only because I had to spell it out to him. But that didn’t change how he treated me.”
“That’s good,” Din said, a relieved sigh escaping him before he could hold it back. “I’m happy for you.”
“Well, that’s it, you now know everything about me,” Luke gave a long defeated sigh. “I used to be so mysterious and sexy.”
“You’re a time traveler so you’re still mysterious. But sexy?” Din made a so-so gesture. “Eh.”
“Shut up.”
Din laughed as he dodged away from a swat. “I’m kidding! I was kidding!”
“You better have been!” Luke withdrew his hand back with a barely concealed smile. “Do you have any secrets to share with me?”
Din thought for a moment. “I nearly got a tattoo of a skull on my back once. I was still a teenager then so it was going to be a really edgy one. But my foster mother somehow managed to talk me out of it. I thank her for that daily.”
“I once thought about getting tattoos of my family,” Luke admitted after laughing. “Something that would keep them with me. But I could never decide on what I wanted that would perfectly represent them.”
“Have you tried calling anyone other than Leia?”
Luke winced but gave a slow nod. “I tried calling once when I was in LA. My parents were livid and my dad told me not to bother coming back since I was so eager to leave. So I thought that was it.”
Din stared at Luke in shock at those words. He didn’t have the highest opinion of Anakin Skywalker after Luke had admitted their strained relationship. But now, he had to wonder just what kind of a father he was to spit out words like that to his own kid.
He had lost control in his worry for Grogu before, but Din had never sunk low enough to berate the child with harsh words. And he definitely cannot see himself pushing Grogu away if he reached out to him.
“It was years ago,” Luke said as if sensing Din’s thoughts. “And I don’t really blame him for it. I ended up saying some horrible stuff to him too.”
Doubt and protests rolled through Din’s mind but he held them back. Now wasn’t the right time to argue about it. He had more important matters to speak about to Luke.
“I also have another theory about you.”
Luke tilted his head, his curious gaze meeting Din’s. “Go on.”
“Tano said that she didn’t know the full details but Leia apparently lost contact with you around the summer of 1977.”
“You think that’s when I got trapped here?”
“Could be. She also said that Leia tried to contact the Lars couple but couldn’t because of the black out.”
“The black out?”
“The New York blackout in July 1977,” Din explained. “It was a huge power outage that happened in most of the city.”
Luke grimaced in sympathy. “Of all the places.”
“So I’ve been thinking,” Din continued. “Since you took the subway to the grill regularly, maybe black out occurred when you were on the train. And it somehow trapped you here.”
“But … if that’s the case then what about the other passengers? I couldn’t have been the only one that had been affected.”
“I don’t know,” Din admitted. “But maybe if you recall something about that night then we can figure it out.”
“July 1977.” Luke squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed at his forehead while repeating the date. “Leia must have been in her mid stages of pregnancy then.”
“She went into labor several months after the black out according to Tano.”
His eyes were still closed as he spoke slowly. “I had a phone call with Leia before my shift that day. I don’t remember what we talked about. But she was … excited.”
“About her baby?”
“No.” Luke shook his head before stopping. “Yes but not really. It was related to her baby but … it was something else. I think I was excited too. But I was terrified as well.”
“Were you worried about her health?”
“I think so? I don’t know why. Leia is healthy and is able to afford enough medical care.”
“But you couldn’t be there for her,” Din pointed out. “With the distance you wouldn’t even be able to know if she had delivered the child unless her husband called you.”
Luke bolted upright, his eyes flying open. “No, I—I would have been there. Because I … was planning to leave.”
That information was new. “Leave?”
“Leave New York,” Luke said, his eyes distant. “I agreed to work one last shift at the grill as a goodbye to Beru and Owen. And I had a bus the next morning—heading straight to California. To … to my family.”
Din’s heart sank. “Do you remember anything about the subway?”
“No,” Luke slowly shook his head, his face turning pale. “I only remember the tracks. And how I fell down.”