Chapter Text
Cobb Vanth was not a pessimistic man by nature. He was a social worker, and by virtue of profession he had to be somewhat optimistic about the future in order to help people with their lives.
His job description dictated a certain criteria he had to live his life by, and it worked for him most of the time.
That is until he started lying to his parents about his love life.
In his defense, his parents were old fashioned and wanted him to settle down and have kids as soon as possible, as all parents do.
Not his fault he was a raging homosexual with no luck in romance.
The first time it happened was Thanksgiving of the previous year. He had grown so sick of his family’s pestering that he comes home with someone, anyone, and told them that he’s spending Thanksgiving with his boyfriend’s family. That settled that and he thought he did quite a good job with handling the situation.
His sister, Peli, on the other hand, did not.
“You’re an idiot.” She stated. Cobb hummed to himself, that was common knowledge. “You know mom, she’s not gonna let it go.”
“I know.” He sighed.
“And? Where are you gonna find this mystery man?” She placed her hands on her hips and gave him a once over, “Gods know you’re not enticing enough to find one before they start breathing down your neck about it again.”
“Hey!” He exclaimed, “I’ll have you know I’m plenty enticing!”
Unconvinced, or just plain unbothered, she scoffed and turned away from him to rummage through her purse for something, “I’m telling you, man. When shit hits the fan I’ll be the first in line to point and laugh.”
“You’ll be the one to turn on the fan in the first place, you rat.”
“You know me too well.” She smirked.
That he did, because a little over a year later she did turn on the metaphorical fan.
He had narrowly escaped Thanksgiving of the current year but that was as far as his luck could hold.
A dreaded phone call from his mother, and a demonic intervention from Peli, left him panicking two weeks shy of Christmas trying to figure out how he was going to get out of this mess.
Peli had name dropped someone during the phone call.
Not just anyone, but their mutual friend and Cobb’s crush of two years now.
One Din Djarin.
He wanted to hit Peli and thank her at the same time.
He didn’t think Din would refuse playing the boyfriend part but that raised another issue: how the hell was he going to cope with Din acting like they’re together for over a week.
“Man up and tell him you like him.” Was Peli’s preposterous suggestion.
Honestly he didn’t know why he even bothered asking for her advice.
He whipped out his phone to send a quick text to his friends asking for help:
Me: yall
Me: who wants to help me murder peli and move to mexico
Sharpshooter: blasphemy!
Sharpshooter: what did she do this time you whiner
Me: she betrayed me!
Boba Tea: you probably deserved it
Me: fuck yall honestly
Me: she name dropped din as my mystery bf to my mom
Sharpshooter: !!!!!!!!
Boba Tea: ATTA GIRL PELI
Boba Tea: ABOUT DAMN TIME YALL HAD SOME PROGRESS
Me: NAH FUCK YALL HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO PULL THIS OFF
Sharpshooter: obviously you meet up with him and explain the situation and ask him for help
Sharpshooter: din is a sweetheart he won’t refuse
Me: see I know that he wont BUT how am I supposed to behave with him so close to me all the time
Me: what if I do sumn weird and freak him out
Boba Tea: aint nothing weirder than you being you
Me: boba fett I swear to fucking god
Boba Tea: just telling it how it is
Sharpshooter: ANYWAY
Sharpshooter: just tell him and see how it goes
Me: alright fennec I’m trusting you on this one
Sharpshooter: damn right you are
He took a deep breath and dialed Din’s number. Best to get it over with.
“Hey cowboy” Greeted Din, and he felt his chest seize both in elation and in apprehension.
“How many times do I have to tell you that me being from the south doesn’t mean I’m a cowboy.”
“Your family does own a ranch.”
“You got me there.” He conceded, and heard Din chuckle in response.
They talked for a few more minutes about Din’s favorite subject, Grogu, and Din’s latest cases before Cobb tells him he wants to meet up. They agree on the afternoon of the next day. No use wasting time if it’s something important, according to Din. And Cobb agreed wholeheartedly. He didn’t know what he would do to himself if this thing dragged on.
Din works as a private investigator with a couple of his friends, taking up cases for a certain price. He had first started out studying mechanics, which was how he had met Peli, but after a semester he realized it wasn’t for him, so he dropped out and changed courses. He and Peli kept in touch all those years.
Talking to him always left Cobb in a better mood.
The next day found him sitting across from the man in question in a local Starbucks filling their time with small talk while they wait for their order.
“And then Cara just knocked the poor bastard out with one headbutt and put an end to the whole discussion.” Cobb burst out laughing at the mental image, he and Cara Dune didn’t see eye to eye very often but he couldn’t deny the woman was fearsome.
“Oh man remind me not to cross her any time soon.”
Whatever Din was going to say next was interrupted by the barista calling out their names.
After retrieving the order and settling down, they a talked bit more before Din leaned back in his seat and gave Cobb a look.
His time was up, apparently.
He sighed and placed his coffee on the table, “so you’re probably wondering about the reason of this meeting.”
He proceeded to explain everything to him in as much detail as he could give, from inventing a boyfriend to Peli’s meddling, carefully avoiding any mention of his true feelings.
He watched the myriad of emotions ripple across Din’s face and wondered what he could be thinking about at this moment. Would his opinion of Cobb change after what he just told him? Would he think less of him for what he’s asking him to do?
Even if he agreed to do it, that still left Cobb’s own feelings to consider. The thought of being closer to Din, no matter what scenario it would be, set his whole body on fire. He knew what he felt was stronger than a simple crush but he did not dare put a name to it. Din would never return the feelings anyway, and it would be delusional of him to even consider it an option. There was no way Din would fall for someone like Cobb and that was the truth he had trouble accepting but had to make peace with nonetheless.
He thought about what his parents’ reaction would be. He didn’t think they’d actually believed the boyfriend ploy but they hadn’t called him out on it so he hadn’t said anything. They hadn’t reacted strongly when he came out to them at nineteen years of age but they hadn’t stopped suggesting girls he could date, either. It was a matter of seeing to believe and since he never brought a boy home, they had no reason to believe him no matter what he said.
“Wait wait.” Said Din after a long pause in which Cobb was considering the consequences of just running away and changing his name and contact and working as a prostitute in Las Vegas. “Why were they asking about a mystery boyfriend in the first place?”
“Ah.” Smiled Cobb, “I might have invented a boyfriend to get out of social functions.”
Din’s blank stare drilled holes in Cobb’s smiling face.
“You’re dumb.” He stated simply.
“I know.” Replied Cobb with a shit eating grin.
In the end, they abandoned their cold coffees and decided to head to Din’s place for a brainstorming session. Being a private investigator, Din needed to make sure they had a foolproof story. Starting from how they met, to who confessed his feelings first, to why they haven’t moved in together yet, etc.
One thing was for sure, this man was thorough.
He brought up things Cobb wouldn’t even have thought about.
Who in their right mind would think to ask about what they gifted each other for their anniversary?
“Peli would.” Came Din’s answer from where was sitting, neatly writing notes on his phone, “and you know she takes after your mom so…”
Cobb sighed miserably and took a seat next to Din on the couch. He was right. Peli was their mother’s carbon copy.
He shuddered to think of what other details his mother would want to know.
“This might be the first time I’m spending Christmas with an actual family.” Said Din, almost too quietly for Cobb to hear. His heart twinged in sympathy and he berated himself for worrying about his own self and forgetting that Din was an orphan who spent his life between foster homes.
He vowed to himself that no matter what happened, he would make sure that Din had the best Christmas anyone could have.
Looking for a way to comfort him without sounding condescending, Cobb looked around the living room of his apartment and noticed a running theme about the place.
“So, you like space, huh?”
The mention of space seemed to have awakened something in the young man. His warm brown eyes, though still slightly dull with sadness, had regained some of their previous spark as he told Cobb about the ceiling of his apartment and how he had painted it himself, about the constellations he put there, and how the planet Saturn was his favorite. He told him that whenever he felt lost he would look to the sky and be comforted, because people came and went but the universe was infinite and eternal.
They were the same old constellations that Cobb grew up seeing, but he had a feeling he would never look at them the same way again.
Din Djarin rarely spoke this freely and unguardedly. In this quiet moment he was like the pied piper charming the listener with his melodies.
It was a captivating and rare sight to see the object of his affections so in his element, and it was a moment that he would cherish and commit to memory.