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Lando was a solution. It certainly wasn’t one of Han’s better ideas but right now he was running out of ideas of where he could run to.
Leia didn’t need to know why it was a bad idea. She thought it was a great idea that he had a plan at all. She didn’t need to know the truth.
The truth was in the past. The truth was long ago and there was no need to bring it up right now. There wasn’t time for it and there was no need to tell a long and complicated story in the time between running and taking a breath before the start of the next run.
It just so happened to be an additional fact to the matter. It may end up complicating matters but he’d work through. He was Han Solo, he could get through anything. This was just another thing he had to get through.
He just didn’t think he would have to do this so soon, if ever. He was kind of hoping he could run forever and never go back and face Lando. It would make things easier and running was always the easier path to take than staying where he was and trying to escape nicely. Especially when there was no hope left for option two. Han always took Option One.
He was trying to be better now. Leia was trying to make him better. He was trying to make himself better for her. Running backwards was not the solution but that wasn’t what he was doing. He was going forward by revisiting his past in a new way. This was different, in a way. It was a new start. It was going to work out alright.
Or at least that’s what Han was telling himself as he put in the co-ordinates for Bespin.
It wasn’t a difficult decision but it was a decision that he had made, just as he made all the decisions in the past and all the decisions that had lead up to this one.
This was the difficult path.
They came up to Bespin and the clouds parted to reveal the city hidden in them. It was glistening and gleaming gold, shining out to them as the Falcon approached. The dust settled around the Falcon and Han took in a deep breath. Leia looked as wary as he felt but for different reasons. She was worried about Luke and worried about meeting people she didn’t know if they could trust.
The air on Bespin was different than that of Hoth and Yavin or anywhere else they’d been lately. It was lighter but settled around you like a gentle guiding hand.
Then he walked out and Lando was there. The same angry face as always, that same face that matched the one Han had last seen on him. Then there it was. Lando’s smile. Drawn together by bravado and an overload of confidence it was lighting up his face now.
It had been years since Han had seen that smile.
To be honest he kind of missed it a little bit.
It didn’t affect him the same way it used to. Lando’s smile used to hold some kind of superpower over him but now it barely stunned him.
Leia’s smile was his new enemy. Hers made resisting Lando’s a lot easier.
Lando was all charm, always had been and always would be. Maybe it was his way of getting back at Han for everything that had happened in their past. Leia was clearly important to Han. Lando knew Han well enough to know the signs. It wasn’t just that she was standing too close or looking too worried or relying on Han for support. It was something else entirely but it was something that Lando knew. It was the same thing that Lando had once shared with Han. That’s how he could identify it. He knew it so well himself.
Lando could see that Han was in love with Leia.
Lando knew more than anyone what Han Solo in love looked like.
It could be said that it was his way of getting back at Han. For all the love that they once had there was a lot of bad blood there now, lots of years for resentment and upset to fester and brew and now he could have a small way of getting back at Han. It was simple enough to flirt with Leia. It fit in with his character, fit in with the person that Han knew he was and Leia would assume that he was. It fit in with who he was.
Flirtatious, charming and petty.
Lando was allowed to be bitter. He lost his ship when he lost Han and now years had passed and Han was here, right in front of him, thinking it was okay to show up out of the blue looking for help and parading the perfect woman on his arms. She was beautiful and held herself like royalty. It wasn’t like his fake swagger, hers looked real.
Maybe Han had traded up. Maybe that’s why Lando was extra bitter. Leia was perfect and he was just him. He could put on all of this swagger and bravado but Han knew the real him. Han knew what he was really like. Han knew what was an act and what wasn’t. Lando had never let anyone get as close to him as Han did.
Han moved Leia closer to him in defiance. It was a reaction to the simplest of actions. So this is how they were going to be now. They were going to be passive aggressive and not talk through any of their old issues. Well if that was the way they were going to play things then it would be fine. It wasn’t going to last long anyway. Lando had already done what he had to in order to protect his city. He knew it was too late to stop any of that. So all he had now was this fleeting time before he would betray Han.
He didn’t think it would come to this.
So he could do what he could. He could flirt with Leia and smile charmingly at them both, treat Chewbacca like an old friend he hadn’t seen in years (he didn’t have to pretend much on that one) and pretend that seeing Han again and pretending that everything wasn’t horrible and fractured between them.
Han could do the same. He could focus on Leia and her worries and fears and his ability to calm them and reassure her that everything would be okay. He could ignore Lando and his charisma and focus on his princess. He could do this. He could ignore the problem until it wasn’t a problem anymore.
Lando was Lando. This was just the solution to the problem. Yes, it was creating further problems but they were adults and they could ignore their problems, and each other, for as long as they could. They’d been doing it for years, ever since everything fell apart. They were really good at it by now. It was all they had now.