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“So, what happens if you take that thing off? You’ll explode?”
Cara Dune asked that playful jab at the Mandalorian with no malice in her voice. As usual, he didn’t look at her nor give her a response. They’d found a remote planet with the child midway through their journey, and they’d been able to stay here safely for some time now. No trace the Empire was on to them. So, Mando felt comfortable in the past few days, able to lay down his guard for once. He was currently busy repairing some of his Beskar, helmet still on as long as he was in Cara’s presence.
“You know, I always thought Mandalorians were ugly as hell beneath their armor. That’s why they never took any of it off,” she was eating a sweet fruit she got from the marketplace, cutting it up into slices with her knife.
Cara looked over at the child asleep in his little basket they made comfortable for it. Then she looked back at the Mandalorian.
“You really are a stick in the mud, huh?”
“I prefer listening,” he finally spoke.
“No, you don’t. You just don’t like when I’m making fun of you. I’m just teasing though, honest,” she reached her leg over and kicked him in the back, “You need to lighten up.”
“I’m plenty lightened up.”
Cara chuckled, not believing that for a second, “You’re still on high alert. All the time. And I get that. But we got a nice place out here. But seriously, do you ever laugh? Like, do Mandalorians also take an oath to never show joy again?”
Mando looked at Cara now, “We never have much reason to be laughing. We’re secretive, we’re sent to perform missions to our honor and dignity. We can’t exactly be intimidating if we’re known for joking and laughing.”
“You have a personality, though,” Cara reasoned, “I like that about you.”
Mando returned to fixing his breastplate. Cara kept watching him, her mind still on the fact that she never truly knew when the guy was happy or not or whatever.
“Smile for me,” Cara said bluntly, sending another kick his way as she munched on fruit.
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
“You won’t be able to see–”
“Do it.”
The Mandalorian sighed and he turned to her for a brief second and then went back to his adjustments.
“You didn’t smile,” Cara started to laugh.
“Trust me, I did.”
“Can you laugh under that thing?” now that she finished her snack, nothing was stopping her from leaning over and giving the Mandalorian’s side a poke. He didn’t flinch. She grinned, knowing he was focusing on his work now, intentionally ignoring her. So now she went to pestering him, poking him and shoving him and his arms. She gave his side a pinch at one point and that made him jerk, a gasp coming from underneath that helmet.
“No…” Cara’s face lit up with realization.
“Stop.”
“You’re not–”
“Don’t.”
Cara made sure his sodering tool wasn’t active when she tackled him to the ground, easily pinning him.
“I never knew Mandos could be ticklish.”
“What even is that, I don’t know what that is.”
Cara didn’t know if he was stalling or genuine. She decided to show him anyway. She went to kneading into both of his sides as she straddled him across his thighs. She could hear Mando gasp and then his struggling intensified. She kept it going up to his ribs and then a staticky laugh filtered through the Beskar helmet. He was trying to wrench her hands away but all he could do was hold onto her wrists, her strength far outweighing his.
“C-Cara! Caraha wait! Stop!”
“This has got to be a design flaw, right?” she kept up her teasing now that she had him giggling for sure, “I mean you guys are supposed to be hardcore.”
“Ohoho shut up,” Mando tried his best to wriggle free but he still couldn’t, also trying to suppress his laughs but that was also a losing battle. Cara grinned, taking the snark as a challenge. She dug her fingers into his belly, wiggling and grabbing and vibrating them. Mando squeaked.
“NO! Nonono AHAHA!” the dam burst and he was fully laughing, undeniable behind the static mouthpiece of his helmet, “Not thehehere! Cara, plehehease!”
“What, this bother you?” she had free reign over his entire torso because he had removed his Beskar for the repairs.
Now he had started to try to crawl away, turning on his side and trying to hunch over, anything to get her to stop tickling him. Cara thought it was cute. The guy did have a wild laugh now that she got him going. It was harsh and loud and it didn’t fit with the usual bravado he presented himself with. But she loved hearing it.
“Oh, hey little guy,” Cara greeted when she saw the Child wandering over towards them. She was still drilling her thumbs into Mando’s hips when she saw the kid lift his hand. She raised her own hands up, “Woah, hey! We talked about this! Not hurting him, I promise. Listen, he’s laughing,” she kept her hands in a surrender position, pausing her talking so the Child could hear Mando’s lingering giggles. The little creature lowered his hand and tilted his head in curiosity more than confusion when he first saw them like this.
“He likes this,” Cara continued educating the youngster.
“Please shut up,” Mando spoke, still on the ground.
“What was that?” she grabbed right onto his exposed ribs and he yelped again, surrendering to laughter, “You tell me to shut up or something?”
“NO! Nohoho!”
“You should try tickling him some time, little guy. I’m sure you’d be good at it with your making things float powers,” Cara saw the Child come closer to the thrashing Mandalorian.
“CARA!” Mando exclaimed desperately when she went back to tormenting his belly.
The ex-shock trooper finally relented and she got off of the Mandalorian, sitting down with her back against the tree where she was previously perched. Mando cleared his throat and caught his breath, also sitting up. The Child walked right up to him, looking up at him with his big eyes. Mando picked it up and scratched under its chin gently, making it gurgle happily.
Cara could now tell when Mando was smiling under the helmet. She’d have to inflict it more often to keep it that way.