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It’s impossible to pinpoint the exact moment you fall in love. It’s a culmination of events that happen over time. Little gestures or actions that just continuously compound until that one day where you finally realize that this person has carved out their own little place in your heart. For Din Djarin, he was certain that falling in love was something that would never happen for him. Those little intimacies that build up to that adoration and love, he was sure he would never experience them.
So imagine his surprise the day he realizes that that is exactly what happened to him
~~~~~~
You’ve been working as a mechanic and babysitter for the Mandalorian, Din Djarin, for two cycles now. It’s been an adventure to say the least. The Crest has to be the most abused ship in the entire galaxy, and how you’ve been able to keep it together and functioning, much less able to still jump into hyperspace, you’re not even sure. The Maker must be taking pity on the poor pre-Imperial vessel. That, or you’re just that good.
Most of your days, when you’re not entertaining the gremlin to keep him from attempting to hijack the ship for himself, you spend tinkering in the panels of the ship, crawling into the places your Mando refuses to attempt to reach. In the two cycles working as the Crest’s mechanic, you’ve come to know not just the vessel, but the metal clad man who pilots her as well. Mando is quiet, a man of few words. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t communicate in other ways, whether he realizes it or not.
When you first joined the motley crew, you were sure that the fearsome bounty hunter hated you. His lack of communication and his one word replies made you feel as though you could do no right, but with time you came to realize that that was just how he is. The longer you spent on the ship, the more he would talk to you. They were never expansive conversations, but they did develop beyond “did you eat?”
Eventually, you came to find comfort in the quiet, and the more comfortable you grew in your existence on the Crest, the more you began to pay attention to your traveling companion. Mando never asks for anything. By nature, he is independent and used to doing everything on his own, be it feeding himself or stitching up wounds. When you began to notice how exhausted he was when he would get back from a hunt, you took it upon yourself to start doing whatever you cool to ease his burdens, be it setting out clean underclothes for when he got out of the ‘fresher or setting his meal in the cockpit for him after he jumped into hyperspace. You never asked for thanks or validation, satisfied enough with seeing how his shoulders relax just a tad when you pat his pauldron before making your way back to the cargo hold, or how there would be a lingering touch on your hand in passing. Silent communication .
It makes his head spin, really, all the little things you’ve noticed about him. He brought you on as a mechanic and babysitter. He never expected the patched clothes and capes, or the newly sewn clothes for Grogu after a stop at a market near where a quarry was hiding. He never could have predicted how quickly you caught on to his routine, seeming to notice his habit of not really eating. Every time he found the bowl of soup waiting in the cockpit for him after cleaning up in the ‘fresher, his heart would swell as he thought of you in the cargo hold, giving him his privacy to eat in peace. He needed a mechanic and he got so much more. But it isn’t until the day he takes you and Grogu to a new planet in the system that he realizes just how much more he really got.
~~~~
“Snow!” you gasp, turning from gazing out the transparisteel to your Mando with a smile. For a moment, he swears your eyes are actually sparkling in the light of the Crest’s control panel.
“Go put on some warm layers and we can go walk around,” he grunts, turning to grab Grogu from your lap to dress him more warmly as well. In a blink, you’re gone, bolting down to the cargo hold to do as instructed. When he finally wanders down to the hold himself, he has to suppress a laugh when he sees you bundled up, scarf wrapped around your head to protect your ears. “Ready?”
“Yes! Let’s go, let’s go!” You bounce on the balls of your feet and Din’s heart does that little stutter that it sometimes does when you flash him your brilliant smile. This time, he does chuckle, earning a happy grin from you as he moves to open the hatch. As the hatch lowers, a little gust of wind sweeps through the cargo hold, bringing with it a swirl of snowflakes. It’s barely finished lowering before you’re bolting down it, running out into the drifts of snow, your laugh dancing on the falling flakes. From behind his helmet, Din smiles fondly as he watches you, more free than he’s seen you in the two cycles you’ve been with him. When Grogu starts squirming in his arms, Din looks down curiously to see the child making grabby hands in your direction. “Be careful,” he warns, setting the little terror down, slowly following after him as his little legs attempt to waddle through the drifts.
The thrill of seeing snow for the first time in so many cycles courses through your veins and you spin around, arms spread wide as you enjoy the silence brought only by the presence of a snow covered landscape. When the child makes it over to you, he tugs at your pants, cooing to be picked up and you happily obliged, leaning down to hoist him into your arms. “What do you think, little one?” You press a kiss to his wrinkly green forehead and he giggles happily, squirming in your arms. “Do you like the snow?”
Din leans against the support of the ramp, hands resting on his belt as he watches the two of you play in the snow. His heart throbs in his chest when you set the child down before laying down to show him how to make a snow angel. When the tiny green gremlin flops backwards in a less than graceful manner, Din can’t suppress the laugh that crackles through his modulator. You lift your head at the sound, eyes wide at hearing a legitimate laugh for the first time from your normally stoic bounty hunter. He gives you a small wave when he sees you looking at him, and a wicked smile crosses your face as you roll over to whisper something to the child.
When you hop up, leaving the child to run up to him, Din’s helmet tilts. “Come out and play, Din!” you chirp, grabbing his hand to tug at him. He hesitates at first until you flash him those puppy dog eyes. He finally caves at that, following after you as you pull him through the snow drifts. For just a moment, he forgets his tiny terror is still hiding in the snow banks.
“I don’t really pla-” He’s cut off in his protest by a snowball splattering against the back of his helmet. He spins around to see Grogu giggling in the snow. “Buddy? Was that y-” He’s cut off again by another snowball hitting the back of his head. “What the?” He wheels around, realizing you’ve ducked behind a snowbank with that Cheshire grin stretched across your face.
“Snowball fight!” you sing, hauling another ball right for Din’s head. He ducks out of the way of yours, only to be hit from the back by one of the ones Grogu has used his abilities to throw. “You’re outnumbered Mando! You have no choice but to surrender!”
“I’ve seen worse!” he calls, ducking behind his own drift and balling up his own snowball before hauling it at you. You squeak as it hits your shoulder, laughing when the child hits Din with four snowballs simultaneously.
“Still think so?!” It’s punctuated by your own snowball hitting his helmet and he finally throws his hands up in surrender.
“I yield, I yield!” he calls, laughing as he stands up from behind his own drift as he laughs, covered in snow. You giggle, springing up from behind your drift before running to Grogu, hoisting him into your arms once more before spinning around to smile at Din. And then, right then, it hits him. That feeling in his chest every time he looks at you, the way your smile warms him even through the cold of his beskar, he can finally name it. When you make your way back to him, smiling up at him with that beautiful smile, for the first time Din reaches out for you and it feels right. His hands rest on your shoulders before running down your arms slowly. His visor tilts to watch your face as you beam up at him. He finally knows. He can finally tell you. Your name whispers past his modulator and you tilt your head with a smile, waiting for his next words.
“I think… I’m falling in love with you.”