Work Text:
Snow… She had always been so perfect. So great. So wonderful. The kind of daughter that Satie never could be. People always commented on how Snow was so sweet and so beautiful and just so smart. Snow looked so much like their father, but a fairer and girl version. And she was probably more beautiful than their dad would have been if he had been a girl. Sometimes people even said she was like a fairy tale princess and what made things worse was Snow let people call her Princess Snow. If anything, she encouraged it.
Satie… well, usually they commented on her name, which was Satine. They would usually say how she was nothing like Satine and that Snow should have been given that name instead. Sure, people would say that she was a good Mandalorian and a warrior, more so than Snow, but it was still hard to hear so many wonderful things about her sister.
When she was just Satie…
“Don’t worry, ad’ika,” Din, Satie’s father, said once. “They love you too. You and your sister are just different.”
Different as Snow was the favorite. How could she compare to her? Satie was talented in combat and the twins had equally good grades, but it hardly seemed to matter when Snow was just so charismatic and beautiful.
And Satie wasn’t…
“You’re going to be the ruler of Mandalore, ad’ika,” Bo-Katan, Satie’s mother, said. She smiled weakly at her and then looked at Din and smiled a lot more. Satie’s parents… they were odd because in a way they didn’t seem like two who would end up together, but it just worked. They were sweet. Not that Satie would ever admit it. Ew. “You have the personality for it, Satie.”
“I’m the oldest,” Satie said, barely blinking.
“That’s not the reason we picked you,” Din said, putting his hand on her shoulder.
“And I’m not actually sure you’re the oldest. I was in a lot of pain.” And she had been alone. “And it happened… Not fast but I was out of it. Pretty sure you’re the oldest though.”
Dad was trying to not cringe like he always did when this happened. He had wanted to be there, but he couldn’t, not that it was his fault.
It was the Empire’s.
“Grogu says that Satie was born first,” Dad said.
“Then he’s right,” Mom said. She paused and looked at Satie. “I know you’re jealous of your sister—”
“I’m not jealous!” But she knew that she was. How could she not be? Everyone thought Snow was so wonderful. They didn’t see her flaws.
“But she’s not any better than you. Your dad and I love you and your siblings the same.”
Dad nodded and wrapped his arm around Satie’s mom’s waist. She looked up into his eyes. Ew. Her mother really loved her dad and he loved her too. Satie’s father was so sweet to her mother and they were both good parents.
And she already knew they loved her and Snow the same. They weren’t the ones she was worried about.
Still it was good to hear them actually say it.
But it didn’t change that it was hard to have a sister like Snow. Really hard. Her mother apparently had issues with her older sister when she was growing up and had always been in her shadow, but Satie doubted it could be as bad. Her mom and aunt weren’t twins after all and twins were constantly being compared.
Even now with Love Day coming up, it was difficult. The Holonet always talked about Snow’s romantic life even though she was sixteen like Satie was. It was as if the Holonet was obsessed with her. Satie wouldn’t want that for herself and yet, she couldn’t help but be jealous that her sister got so much attention. Maybe there was something wrong with her if she couldn’t be as loved as her twin.
But it wasn’t like she would talk to anyone about this. The last thing she wanted to be was scolded for her being jealous. It wasn’t like Satie was jealous of everyone of her siblings though. She and her brothers got along fine. Both her little and older one.
It was just Snow who she was like this with.
Today she was trying her best to avoid Snow, especially since Snow had been going on and on about Love Day to their mother, who looked like she was barely able to pay attention. Snow clearly hadn’t cared because she kept discussing it.
Satie had locked herself up in her room since she didn’t want to deal with it. It wasn’t like she didn’t have romantic prospects but there was only one person she was interested in. The sweetest person. Other people… well, she didn’t want to date any other people…
Satie threw herself on her bed and started to read a book on her datapad. This was what she spent a lot of her free time doing now.
Then there was a knock on her door. She looked up. It would probably be Snow. Even though Snow could be annoying, Satie would listen to her talk about her potential suitors. She would try to be a good sister. Even if everyone thought Satie was the inferior one.
And even if it could be so hard to be a good sister.
“Come in,” Satie said.
But it wasn’t Snow who came in. Instead it was her. The girl who Satie thought about before she went to sleep. The best person who Satie knew. Dulcie.
Dulcie was so beautiful with her dark hair and blue eyes. Mom always said she looked like her father, Axe, but Satie didn’t see it. Dulcie was all her own person. She was so pretty. But that wasn’t what she really liked about her. She had the sweetest personality. And not just that, she would do anything for the people who mattered to her. Satie was lucky that she was one of them.
She wasn’t just wonderful and beautiful. She was also a fighter. No one would mess with Dulcie Woves.
Satie just might love her, even if she wouldn’t admit it.
She couldn’t admit it when she didn’t know if Dulcie felt the same way. People told Satie that she was brave, but clearly that wasn’t the case. If she was brave, she would flat out say it and not be worried what anyone said.
“Satie!” Dulcie said as she came over and hugged her. She even smelled good. Like freshly baked desserts from the best bakery. It was because she was always baking things. Even though she was so strong and smart, she wanted to be a baker. She made amazing desserts. It was almost like art.
No, it wasn’t almost like art, it was art.
Satie smiled and hugged her back.
“I didn’t know you were going to come visit,” Satie said as she pulled away and smiled at Dulcie.
“I… Yeah…” Dulcie said. She tugged on a lose strand of her hair and took a step back from Satie. “I… I’m glad you’re here.”
“I don’t go many places.”
Dulcie smirked. “You go lots of places. You’re always with your mom or dad.”
That wasn’t true, but she did have to spend some time with them, especially when they were expecting to do something public.
“It’s… I guess?” Satie said. She couldn’t help but remember some times when she and her siblings had been little and their dad would take them on amazing trips. He knew the best places, probably because he had spent so long as a bounty hunter traveling from planet to planet. He would show them planets that Satie wouldn’t have even been able to dream about and she loved every part of it. She wished they did things like that now, but Satie and her siblings always acted like they’d rather stay home and spend time with their friends.
Satie loved her friends, but she missed the family trips they had done. Her siblings didn’t seem to care at all. So Satie acted like she didn’t care either because maybe that was how she was supposed to act.
But it didn’t change that she missed them.
“It’s not I guess. You do spend a lot of time with them,” Dulcie said, because she was probably referring to how they would show up on the Holonet. Depending on where you looked sometimes they looked like the perfect family and sometimes they didn’t. Really they were just a real family. Not perfect, but not horrible either.
“I—” Dulcie tried to say, but Satie spoke before her best friend got to respond.
“I’m glad that you came here too,” Satie said.
Dulcie smiled and played with her hair even more. It was strange. That was the kind of thing that her friend did when she was nervous. Satie didn’t know why she would be nervous.
“Are you okay?” Satie asked. What if something had happened? The two of them went to the same school, the Royal Academy of Mandalore, and some of the people there could be snobs. They weren’t that bad to Satie because of who she was related to, but she had seen how they could treat Dulcie. Some of them acted like she was weird. But she was different in the best of ways.
And Satie hated when people mistreated her and she always tried to stand up for her friend.
“Yes, I’m… I’m fine.” Dulcie was twisting her hair even more and shifting her weight from one foot to another. “I… I just have something that I have to tell you.”
“What?” Satie’s stomach twisted. “Did I do something wrong?” Sometimes she could be too outspoken. People told her that she was like her mom in a lot of ways, and while her mom had a lot of good traits, she had a lot of bad ones too. And when people told Satie that she was like her mom, Satie thought they were referring to the bad traits her mother had. Not the good ones.
“No, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Dulcie said.
“Really?” Satie asked. “Because if I did then you can tell me. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for anything I did that I shouldn’t have.” She couldn’t let her friendship with Dulcie be ruined just because Satie sometimes didn’t think before she spoke. She couldn’t imagine where she would be if she didn’t have Dulcie as a friend. She was just such an amazing person.
“You really didn’t do anything,” Dulcie said. “I just… I…”
“You what?” This wasn’t causing Satie to feel any better. “Is everything okay with your parents and your sister?” She should have thought of this right away. Maybe something horrible had happened to her family. If Satie hadn’t been so selfish she might have thought about this, but instead she had gone straight to thinking about herself.
“No, everyone is great. Really good.”
“Did anything—” Satie tried to say.
“Everything is fine,” Dulcie said. “Nothing is wrong. I promise nothing is wrong.”
Satie forced herself to nod. Even though her life had been pretty good overall, she still constantly worried about something horrible happening. There had been… incidents… when she was younger. She knew that her mom and dad did everything they could to protect Satie and her siblings, but even when they ruled Mandalore, it was hard. Her parents had enemies who would love to harm them.
So Satie always expected something horrible might one day happen and she wouldn’t be able to safe the people who mattered to her.
“I just… I need to ask you something.”
“Okay.” Satie bit on her lip hard enough that she tasted metallic blood. Maybe she had done something wrong and Dulcie was just too nice to say it. Normally she wouldn’t be too worried about doing something wrong, but it was different when it came to her best friend.
Because deep down Satie wanted her to be more than just a best friend.
“It’s… You know that Love Day is coming up?” Dulcie said. She had taken off her backpack and was now playing with the straps.
“Yes… yeah… Snow has been talking about it a lot.” And with that a horrible thought suddenly came in Satie’s stomach. “You’re not wanting to ask Snow out also?” Everyone always wanted to ask Snow out. How could they not when she was so beautiful and kind? Not very traditionally Mandalorian in many ways, but so many people didn’t seem to care about that.
Dulcie made a face. “Ask Snow out?”
“She’s… She’s the pretty one,” Satie said, knowing that she sounded horrible and jealous. “And she’s the one—”
“I wouldn’t want to ask Snow out,” Dulcie said. “Snow… Snow’s a good friend, but I wouldn’t ask her out.”
“Oh…” Suddenly Satie felt really stupid. She did have a lot of insecurities when it came to her sister.
“I want to ask you something. It has nothing to do with Snow,” Dulcie said. Her eyes were wide.
“Okay, ask,” Satie said. She bit her lip even harder. She tasted even more blood.
“I…” Dulcie pulled out a little cake and took it out of its box. At first Satie was just confused. Yes, her friend often had cakes, but she usually didn’t act like this about it. Usually she would just pull it out and show it.
“I made this cake extra special,” she said. She pretty much shoved the cake in Satie’s hands. She didn’t look at it yet. “I made your favorite flavors, Satie.”
“What… why?” Satie asked. Yes, Dulcie would do things like that, but normally only for special occasions like her birthday and this wasn’t a special occasion, right?
And then it hit her.
But there was no way that she could be right about this. Not when it came to Dulcie who so sweet and loyal. She could have anyone and a lot better people than Satie like…
So there was no way that she could be right.
But there it was. Right. On. The. Cake.
“Will you go out with me for Love Day?” It was written on with perfect handwriting. There were little flowers on the side of the small cake in Satie’s favorite colors. Purple and green. Most people thought her favorite color was blue, but it wasn’t. That was just her armor’s color because it was expected for her family. Really expected for anyone in House Kryze.
“I… Really?” Satie asked, staring at her. “You’re not having me look at this for someone else?” She would feel so stupid if that was the case.
And yet she wouldn’t be horribly surprised if that was. And this cake… it obviously wasn’t for someone that Dulcie was asking out as a friend. No, she really cared about this person.
Which made it even crazier to think that it could be Dulcie.
“It’s for you,” Dulcie said. “I want to go out with you, Satie. You’re… I’ve always wanted to go out with you.” She played with her hair even more. “And it will be nice. We can do whatever you want. If you want to eat we can do that or we can go to a sho—”
Satie put the cake down and then hugged her friend. Today… today was an amazing day. The best day. Dulcie… she was the one who she had liked for so long. Sometimes, she even thought that she might be in love with her.
“Does this mean yes?” Dulcie asked, looking up at her. Satie was a couple inches taller than Dulcie. She had gotten her height from her mother and it wasn’t like Satie’s dad was short either.
“Yes! It means yes for sure,” Satie said. She grinned. “I can’t wait! I’ve… I didn’t think you would want to go with me.”
“Of course I want to go with you,” Dulcie said.
“I can’t wait,” Satie said. And with that, she hugged her yet again. This was going to be the best Love Day ever.