Chapter Text
“Are you one hundred percent sure you can survive one week alone with Luke Kenobi? Much less the last week of camp?”
Han shifted uncomfortably on his bed as he watched his friend pack up her things in a hurry. Over the weeks, the two had grown incredibly close and spent almost each second with each other. Even with his other cabin mates, a week still wouldn’t be the same without the feisty Leia Skywalker. He never let his guard down for anybody but he made an exception for her. And frankly, he thought it was unfair to spend her last days with someone she completely loathed.
Leia shoved miscellaneous items into her extra gym bag, assuring herself she wouldn’t need much for just one week. Just a handful of clothes and lot of snacks if she had to tolerate her ‘nemesis’ over the days.
“I’m positive. Besides, I’ll just be sleeping and eating and definitely not talking to him anyways.”
“Sounds like a boring week.”
“The best kind.” She scoffed. "I need some time to reflect. Or whatever.” Squeezing all the rest of her belongings into the gym back, the girl pulled her hair back into a pony tail and headed for the door. She paused, hand on the doorknob and looking back at Han, who was still sitting criss cross on his bed.
“Don’t die without me, Solo. And besides - “ She took out the walkie talkie in her pocket with a toothy grin. “ - I’m just a click away.”
Han pulled his from the bedside table, returning the smile. “I know.”
With a final salute, Leia walked off further down the path where she’d be isolated for the next seven days.
In all honesty, Luke should've already been up the steps by now. But instead, he merely stood at the bottom, clutching the cabin key with his hands. The headmaster trusted him enough to leave him alone at the path and get to the cabin safely. And now there he was, staring up at it. He couldn't exactly describe what was hindering him from continuing forward but he just felt like he had to.
Back at cabin Tatooine, his goodbyes weren't all that heartfelt. Sure he'd made a name for himself but nobody really thought to be close friends with him. Either they thought he was too 'snobby' or didn't want to be associated with him after the lake incident. It didn't bother him much though. He knew he had friends at home he could count on.
"Hey, laserbrain!" A shrill voice behind caused him to turn on his heel and find himself face to face with Leia Skywalker.
"Get moving, will you? I see the key's in your hand." She pouted, tapping her foot in impatience. Now Luke realized he probably shouldn't have waited.
The two struggled to get their luggage up the steps since they were so steep. One one occasion, Leia almost fell had it not been for the railings beside her. After a laborious journey up, they finally entered the dark little cabin, fit for about three or four.
"Jeez finally. Who had the bright idea of building a cabin here anyways?" The Skywalker threw her bag on top of the bed she had claimed hers with surprising precision. Turning on the lights, she'd taken note of how run down the place actually was.
Luke jumped back, swatting away a spider that was on his bed. "Dirty and dusty too. They really need to renovate this place."
"Yeah they do." Leia muttered as she took her clothes out from her gym bag.
The response took the boy by surprise since he wasn't used to her agreeing with him. Or at least speaking to him in a neutral manner. Call it a sixth sense but he could tell there was a side to the other that he hadn't discovered yet. But now, they were both to tired to continue conversation and decided to sleep off the day.
One of the unfortunate responsibilities of being sent away to the isolation cabin was raising and lowering the flag during the mornings and nights. And normally, this wouldn't pose a problem had it not been pouring rain the following morning. Leia volunteered, regrettably so and returned to the cabin in a mud stained poncho. Ripping off the heavy clothing, she unknowingly tossed it aside right in Luke's general direction.
The journal Luke had been happily recording his experiences in was now covered in mud in a flash.
"Are you serious?" He huffed, holding up the journal with a hand on his hip.
Leia felt a hint of guilt but her expression hardened. "Sorry. You'd be cranky too if you had to drag that flag down in the middle of a storm."
As much as he didn't want to admit it, she was right. He was still mad but she was right. Without a word, he picked up the stained poncho and took it outside, letting the rain cleanse it out. He returned to his previous activities, wiping off as much mud as he could off of the journal.
The girl watched him from the opposite side, sitting criss cross. She bit down on her lip. Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to snap at him. He was just an innocent bystander anyways.
"Hey."
Luke perked up.
"I'm actually pretty sorry. It wasn't right of me to take out my anger at you like that." The apology was the first genuine out she'd said in a while. It felt good. Felt right.
He smiled, shaking his head dismissively. "Nah, it's alright. I can understand. You walked all that way just to fetch a dumb flag. It's not my place to fuss over a journal."
As if the world understood their conversation, the rain subdued to a light drizzle. Leia peered outside the window, sighing in relief that the weather had taken pity on them. Suddenly, she remembered something, taking out a pack of Oreos and peanut butter from her bag. Clutching the items close to her chest, she strode proudly next to Luke and sat beside him.
"I'll make it up to you. I'll give you the privilege of being the first to have my snacks shared with." She opened the pack of Oreos, enjoying the joy on the other's face as she did. "I like to eat them with peanut butter though. I know it's sort of weird."
"It's not weird at all. Cause I do the same thing!" Luke took the jar of peanut butter and spread some over his oreo, Leia doing the same.
"Wow. We have more in common than I thought, Kenobi."
For the first time being on the boy's side of the cabin, she noticed he had put photos on the small bulletin board near his bed. She pointed at a rather large one at the right corner in curiousity. It pictured a smaller Luke with an old man, standing in front of a slim little house.
"Hey, is that your house?"
Luke glanced at what she was pointing at and nodded, taking it off the board so she could see it better. "Yup! That's me and Pops, my grandfather. He's very sweet just like the nickname insinuates." He giggled, pointing at some obscure detail in the background. "If you squint, you can see my father at the back, tending to his plants."
"Wow. It looks like the American Dream. You know, my dad and your dad could get along. My dad owns a huge vineyard with lotsa plants too. Except with a whole lot more grapes."
They sat there, laughing for a few minutes before Leia decided to pry into his personal life. She shifted uncomfortably. The subject was relatively hard for her to talk about but she mustered enough courage to ask him about it.
"Hey, Luke? What's your mom like?"
He took a bite out of another peanut butter covered oreo, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know, I never had a mom. Well, I guess I did before. I never knew her. I was adopted by my two fathers. Sadly, they divorced too. I never see my other dad anymore and my dad now rarely ever talks about him, so I don't know a lot about him too. But I know he was very handsome. I have a picture of him but the poor thing's ripped straight down the middle."
"What about you? Is your mom nice and stuff?"
Leia hugged herself, maybe because of the cold or in fear of answering. "I don't know. I never knew her either."
"I was adopted too. By two dads, just like you. And who split up just like yours." She shivered and let out a shaky sigh. "I don't know why I'm shaking more, the fact that I'm talking about my seemingly nonexistent mom or that our early childhoods were almost exactly alike."
There was an awkward tension between the two. Other than looking strangely alike, now their life patterns seemed to fall into place too? They avoided looking each other in the eyes before Luke, very softly, piped up.
"Leia. How old did you say you were again?"
"12. Turning 13 on August 23rd."
If he had been drinking anything, it would have been all over the floor.
"You're kidding. I'm turning 13 on August 23rd too!"
Leia stared with wide eyes at him before she came back to her senses, getting up from the floor and pacing around the cabin.
"No, no, I refuse to believe the things I'm hearing right at this second." There was no way they could've had the same birthday. Well yes, lots of people could've been born on that day but the two of them? Who shared similar experiences and looked alike? No. Nuh-uh. No way, Jose.
Luke, however, seemed to be fascinated by all of them and immediately got up to continue this wild discovery.
"It all makes sense! If the things you're saying are true, and the things I'm saying are true too, and our birthdays fall on the exact same date, well ... Leia, we could be - !"
"Don't say it! Don't say the word. Because we are not. We are just two kids with the same birthdays who happened to meet each other at camp. That's it. End of story."
He so badly wanted to continue this debate but seeing the hurt in Leia's eyes, he couldn't. Returning to his bed, the boy flipped through his journal again. All the mud was now cleaned off and all was left was a big stain. Whilst flipping through pages, Luke stopped at a particular point when the girl started to talk once again.
"You - You mentioned that you had a picture of your other dad, right?" She seemed to be holding something in her hands. Something, he sensed, that was important.
"Yeah, the one that was ripped straight down the middle."
"I have a picture of my other dad too. And it's ripped."
"Straight down the middle?"
"Straight down the middle."
Luke immediately took said picture out of his journal and scrambled up to face her with heavy breaths.
They took a moment and looked at each other, with the same mournful eyes.
"Alright." Leia gulped down her anxiety and got a hold of herself. "On the count of three, we show the pictures to each other, okay?"
Luke nodded in agreement. "Okay."
"One."
"Two."
"Three!"
There was a moment of silence and for one second, it felt like the world stopped spinning. The shaky hands of these children could barely hold up the pictures. The two pieces perfectly paralleled each other. Both showed two men in tuxedos, staring at each other with love in their eyes, like no one else in the world mattered but them at that moment. Leia held her breath. Luke let out his.
"That's my dad - " " - That's my father!"
All of a sudden, a loud bell rang throughout the camp, interrupting their heartfelt reunion.
"And that's the lunch bell, heh." Leia remarked, trying her best to hide the tears that started to form at her eyes. All this time, trying to uncover the mystery of her other parent, and she'd found her brother on the way there.
"I don't think I'm that hungry anymore." Luke inhaled, doing nothing to stop the trails that were now dripping down his chin. "So it is like I thought. If my dad is your dad, and your dad is my dad, and we were both born on August 23rd, that means - Leia, you and I are like - "
"- Twins. We're like twins, Luke!"
The two, newly discovered twins, released a relieved sigh and exchanged hopeful grins. They saw themselves in each other. A pair of misfits, separated and now found. They took each other in an embrace, wrapping their arms around so tight, in fear they'd lose one another again.
After a tearful hug, they managed to separate themselves but now, it didn't hurt as much as the last time.
"We better go. Headmaster will probably yell at us if we start slacking." Luke struggled to say this in between sobs but Leia understood him enough.
"Yeah, probably. But as the older twin, I totally get to cut in front of you in the line today."
Before the other could protest, Leia sped out the door in a fit of laughter.
"Wha - Hey! We don't even know who's older and who isn't!" Luke ran after her, a huge grin plastered on his face as he overtook her.
The twins raced all the way to the cafeteria, bursting in and claiming that they were the first ones who entered, and cackling when the other tried to give a rebuttal, leaving all the other campers to wonder what kind of spell that cabin placed upon them.