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He’s avoiding him.
It took a while for him to notice- with making sure all their supplies were secure, setting off from a desert planet, and stopping the child from rummaging through said supplies, he’s been busy- but it’s definitely been more noticeable since that incident in the cockpit after his sleep shift. Din might have been a little groggy still but he is a bounty hunter. A sharp one at that. However, one doesn’t need to be so honed into their senses to recognize evasion to that extent.
After that, it was like glass shattering, and now all Din can think about is the lack of Corin’s presence for the past three days.
A soft ‘coo’ sounds from behind him, interrupting his thought process. Turning in his chair, Din tilts his head in wonder as he watches the child gnaw on his most recent acquisition from the last planet, Jakku: a metal spinning top.
Din still isn’t sure where the child found it, but Corin insisted it was harmless after checking it himself.
The child pauses in its gnawing to stare at the Mandalorian. Then, to his shock, the child’s ears droop low as it frowns at him. After, the child turns its head away as if to ignore him and continues to gnaw on the top.
“What?” He asks but is still completely ignored.
He’s not sure where to go from there other than to turn back around and continue piloting the ship.
A few hours earlier...
Both hands on his helmet, the Mandalorian shifts it into place as he leaves his sleeping quarters to take over the cockpit. Climbing up the ladder, he hears whispering from above. Not thinking much of it he pulls himself up to the cockpit floor.
“... because your dad will always be there for you.” Corin states softly from the pilot chair. He can’t really see him but as he steps closer, he can see the child sitting on Corin’s lap, facing the stars and snuggling close as the ex-trooper plays with one of its ears, caressing up and down with a fingertip.
The child makes a soft humming sound as it looks up at Corin, almost upside down, and stretches its arm up as its fingers try to reach his face.
A small, almost hollowed sounding, chuckle leaves Corin’s mouth as he moves the hand not playing with the child’s ear to reach out and allow the child’s hand to wrap around his index finger.
“Of course. Always.” As if he was answering a silent question.
It’s at that moment that a small shift from the Mandalorian causes him to accidentally kick one of the child’s few toys (He could’ve sworn he told them no more than one toy at a time in the cockpit) causing the other two to look over, startled.
Everything happens so fast after that.
Corin stand ramrod straight from the seat. Still holding the child, he moves as if to get out of the Mandalorian’s way but then trips over the same toy that was just kicked and ends up falling right into his chest instead. Din barely gets his arms up to try to secure Corin and the child before said child is then shoved into his arms. He watches as Corin stiffly walks away, not once making eye contact with his visor.
“I... uh... everything is as you left it. Sorry... I’m...” He pauses a brief second, not once looking back, before hopping down to the lower level.
Din glances down at the child as if it had the answers for what just transpired. In return, the child just stares blankly at him, a soft gurgle escaping his mouth.
Present
‘He looked troubled...’ Under the helmet, Din’s brow furrows as more memories come up of the other times Corin has avoided him since that first day on Jakku. They were more subtle, but definitely an act of avoidance on his part: leaving a room every time Din entered it, taking care of the child in an area away from him while he was coming by a job, claiming he wasn’t sleepy at night so the Mandalorian could have the bed to himself (because, of course, they were supplied a room with only one bed, again). The list goes on.
Nothing really stands out as to the reason behind his avoidance. As far as planets they’ve visited go, this one was a pretty tame one. Jakku was almost a vacation for them compared to the other planets as no blood was shed during their stay. No bounty hunters. No Stormtroopers. And most definitely no Blurrgs.
A memory of soft lips on his bare wrist, strong, but gentle, fingers wrapped around it. He wraps his own gloved fingers around it and closes his eyes.
Setting the ship to autopilot, Din decides to get to the bottom of this.
“Stay.” He demands the child as he passes by it. The child just stares at him, pausing in devouring the spinning top.
Jumping down to the lower level, he heads to the cargo area, sure that the ex-trooper is hiding back there.
Sure enough, he finds Corin sitting on the floor, one knee up and leaning against the ship wall. In his hands is one of their many weapons, taken apart for cleaning.
“Corin.”
Said man’s head shoots up in shock in his direction, eyes and mouth wide open.
“Wh-what are you doing down here? Shouldn’t you-”
“Enough.” The Mandalorian interrupts him. “Stand up.”
Corin’s mouth clicks shut, lips shut tight. Without complaint he sets the weapon carefully to the side and slowly stands up. Ramrod straight again, he stares at the ground as if he’s being reprimanded.
“Look at me.” He clenches his fist trying to stave off his annoyance at Corin’s complacency. He takes a long deep breath through his nose as well. Why is he acting like this?
The ex-trooper finally looks up at him but it’s with a look that Din wishes he’d never see directed at him.
Closed off.
Hollow.
Empty.
It cuts deep in his chest. His breath catches. He isn’t sure why, exactly, or what this feeling is but he doesn’t like it. That look makes him want to go to Corin (and do what???) while at the same time run far, far away from him in hopes of never receiving that look ever again.
Taking a small gulp to mask how affected he is, he continues on his mission, subtly wrapping his fingers around a bare wrist to help keep him grounded. He takes a small step forward and drops his wrist.
“Why have you been avoiding me?”
A flicker of light crosses Corin’s eyes as they dart to his wrist then back to his visor. He licks his lips, “I haven’t been.”
If Corin could see his face right now, he’d see him purse his lips in anger and confusion.
“Don’t lie to me.” He bites out, taking a step closer. “I’ve barely been around you for the past three days and it’s not like there’s a lot of ground to cover.” Which is true. The closest, and only, village they stopped at to gather supplies had maybe ten houses, the only unoccupied one rented out to them for their short stay, and four shops in it. He’d have to actively steer clear of the Mandalorian in order to not occupy the same space as him. And that’s not even mentioning their time on the ship.
It’s silent. Both men continue to stare stubbornly at each other before Corin drops his gaze to the Mandalorian’s boots. Shoulders slumping as if defeated, he takes a deep breath and finally answers him.
“I’m staying on the next planet.”
His body reacts before his brain can fully process the answer.
Stalking forward, Din reaches his right hand out to grab onto Corin’s shoulder at the base of his neck and slam him into the ship wall. He can hear it knock the breath out of him but he doesn’t care as he comes in close, Beskar helmet brushing the other man’s nose.
“Why?” Din grits out, unable to keep his emotions in-check. Too many to feel. Half of them he can’t even put a name to.
He sees Corin take a big gulp before shifting his head to the side, staring into the middle distance. That soft, hollowed chuckle comes up again like before in the cockpit.
“Why does it matter? It’ll be one less mouth to feed. No more bad luck to come your way. You’ll only have your child to worry about and not this useless enemy who shouldn’t even be-”
Din stops him by slamming him into the wall again.
“Shut. Up.” Now he’s furious. Barely able to speak passed those two words, he takes a few careful breaths in order to be able to talk again. “You are NOT the enemy. You were never and never will be useless. You are NOT a burden.” Both hands are now at the base of his neck, unsure if he wants to cradle his head or strangle him. He almost wants to shake some sense into him, too. So many emotions this man makes him go through...
Corin still refuses to look at him, not believing a word he just said. He lets out a deep breath. “What’s bringing this on?”
Still not receiving an answer, Din lifts his left hand to Corin’s cheek and cups it, turning his head to face him. There’s a little bit of resistance before he finally relents and faces the Mandalorian. Not taking his eyes off of Corin’s when they are finally on him, he feels a soft touch on his bared wrist before the ex-trooper takes a firm hold of it with his right hand, as if desperate. His eyes hold the same amount of desperation as well as a contrasting conviction which just confuses Din even more.
“Please.” Din glances down at Corin’s lips at the soft plea. “Just let me go.”
In response to the ex-trooper's muted request, Din just crowds further into his space until both bodies are aligned, his right hand mimicking his left and cupping Corin’s other cheek. He feels Corin’s other hand come up to grasp tight to the clothing between the gaps in his armor at his side. His helmeted forehead rests on the other man’s, eyes closing as he focuses solely on feeling this man who dared get under his armor, bother literally and figuratively.
“... Why?” He asks again. Quiet. Afraid that if they speak any louder, the ex-trooper will leave them forever right then and there.
He feels a shaky breath come from the other man. “That first day on that planet... you had already finished the one job pretty early... and I figured that was it and we were good to go. But then you took on another job that almost cost you your leg because of some freak accident. Bad luck. And I could have taken a job but you told me to just watch the kid and that it was all simple jobs compared to your others.” He can hear a slight panic sliding into Corin’s voice the more he spoke. Faster. Desperate. “Then I find out that you would have been fine with that first one but because you have another free loader,” Corin’s jaw clenches under his hands at these words, “you had to take on that second job and I can’t... I can’t...”
Feeling his breath leave him, Din is speechless. This stupid, stupid man. He glides his right hand, the one not being held at the wrist by said stupid man, to the back of his head and weaves his gloved finger through his hair to grip him tight.
“Never,” He finally finds the words. “You are never a burden, or a free loader.” He spits those words out with disgust, it was never even a thought that crossed his mind. “None of that is your fault. Don’t blame yourself for something like that,” swallowing hard, he opens his eyes to stare at the wide ones in front of him. He continues, “We want you here. I want you here. You belong with us.”
The hands on his wrist and side tighten exponentially as he continues to stare into his eyes.
“I won’t let you go.”
Corin desperately tries to keep his composure. Instead of continuing to stare at the Mandalorian though, he drops his head next to the Beskar pauldron and buries his face into the crook of his neck. It doesn’t seem like any tears are being spent, at least he hopes not, but Din allows it. It seems Corin has given up on his current sacrificial spell.
They stay like that for a short while, regrouping after such emotional turmoil, until they each feel a push at their shins and a small ‘coo’ reaches their ears. Looking down they find wide brown eyes staring up at them.
The child lifts its arms. Din takes a small step back as Corin bends down to pick it up.
“Hey, there.” Shifting the child into his left arm, Corin ruffles the small tuft of hair on his head with his right hand. The child replies with another ‘coo’ and grabs his cheeks with its tiny clawed hands. It stares at him as if questioning him.
The ex-trooper stares back until he finally answers, looking over at the Mandalorian. A small smile stretches across his face, content with this answer. This causes a smile to tug at his own face under the helmet.
“No, I think I belong right here. With you two.”
The child squeals in delight.