Chapter Text
Taking a short stop on a nearby planet to pick up some gear and food was a good way to stretch Din’s legs, after spending the majority of the day on the Razor. He makes sure Grogu’s following him in his little pod as they pass by whatever this planet’s market had to offer. Grogu plays with the toy Din had brought him earlier that day, smacking it around the pod. It’s … really cute. Not that Din would ever say that. He glanced down at the little guy, a small smile spreading across his lips under the helmet.
Grogu babbled curiously, big brown eyes looking up at the divots of Din’s helmet where his eyes should be. The warm hue of the market’s lights reflects off of Din’s silvery armor, but the scratches and scruffs make him feel oddly .. exposed. He needs a polish.
He tore his gaze away from Grogu to focus on his surroundings, looking for any potential deals he could snag from vendors that were willing to bargain. The sand below his boots crunched softly as he walked, the gentle breeze cooling him. This planet’s way too stuffy, but Grogu’s happy. He can’t complain.
Picking up some items that Din deemed useful enough, he crouches down near one of the markets’ booths to store most of what he bought into a bag. He takes a piece of the food he planned to save for way back to give to Grogu, so he isn’t fussy.
Grogu cooed happily, taking the tiny piece of food excitedly. Din smiles, reaching out to gently scratch Grogu behind one of his ears as the baby grinned at him. Din stood up, beginning to head off to see what else the market had.
Din doesn’t register the confused murmurs of the passerby around him, until a blur of brown and red rams into him. He steadies the man that nearly knocked his ass onto the sand, gloved hands on upper arms. The other man’s hands were splayed onto his chest, and Din nearly has a heart attack when a pair of dark brown eyes meet his.
Poe Dameron.
“Hey, bucket-head!” Poe smiles, all teeth and charm and everything that makes Din dizzy.
“Poe?” he grunts.
“Yeah, long time no see. You got a ride?” Poe’s smile settles into a wry smirk.
“Yeah.” Din makes a strangled noise, feeling Grogu’s big eyes on them.
“Well lead the way, tin-man.” Poe chuckled, pulling away from Din- whose face *definitely* wasn’t burning under the helmet.
Honestly, Din was just glad he *had* one.
“You seem cheery as ever,” Poe remarks, breaking the heavy silence as Din starts up the Razor. Poe in the passenger seat of the cockpit, and Grogu’s playing with one of his toys behind them. Din stays quiet, letting Poe continue.
“You haven’t changed a bit, looks like I haven’t missed much,” he snorted wryly.
Din huffs at that, the beginnings of a headache building behind his eyes.
“Shut it. Have you got anywhere to be?” he asks bluntly, sparing the other man a glance.
“Yeah, but that could wait. Wouldn’t hurt for us to catch up, Mando.” Poe feigned a pout. Din sighs, rolling his eyes.
“What happened back there?” he asks instead, hoping to steer the conversation away from territory he didn’t dare breach.
“Undercover mission for the Resistance, I tried to bag some shady guys and my cover got blown.” Poe shrugs, playing up his disappointment from the subject changing so suddenly.
“You just need to be more careful,” Din says quietly, his mechanized voice masking his slight worry. Poe nodded, faltering.
As the Razor soon took off and came out of orbit – silence lulled within the cockpit as Poe heard Grogu let out a small giggle, he turned to see the baby playing with a variety of toys that littered around him. The child paused and met Poe’s eyes, gurgling curiously at him.
“Still can’t believe you’ve got a kid, Mando,” he says to Din while shooting the baby a gentle smile. Din hummed in reply as Poe turned back to face him, not bothering to give much of a response. Grogu waddles over to Din. Awh.
Din glancesdown at Grogu, who raised his little arms out to be held. The man let a smile quirk at his lips as he scooped the baby up to place him in his lap. The baby’s big brown eyes peered curiously at Poe, then blinking up at Din.
“This is a friend. He’s nice,” Din explains to Grogu, who then reached out to Poe.
Poe’s heart melted , he quickly glanced at Din as if he needed the approval to hold his kid. The other man gave a short nod as Poe gently took Grogu out of his lap and settled him down into his own. Grogu plays with the open zipper of Poe’s jacket, as the pilot’s expression softened at the sight.
Din looks at them from the corner of his eye and feels a twinge of something . As if he missed having someone else around to keep him company.
Grogu begins to get fussy as Poe sets him down, watching as he waddles off to play. It’s quieter now, if not for the tense air that seemed to make it hard for Din to breathe.
He didn’t want to ask, but did anyway.
“How long has it been?” he croaked. Din gazed at Poe, watching as many different emotions he couldn’t place flickered through his face at once only to settle into a light one.
“You must be getting old if you can’t remember what just happened.” he tries to joke, choosing to ignore the question. The tightening his chest is making it hard to breathe.
“Poe…” Din murmurs. the younger man could somehow feel the guy’s frown deepen.
“How long has it been since we last saw each other?” Din presses on. He isn’t sure why he cares. Every ally he’s had was only temporary. That’s just how it was.
He leaned back against his seat, watching as Poe sighs.
“It’s been a few years, I think,” he answered Din roughly, dropping the jokey act for something wearier, exhausted. Din knew the feeling.
He cleared his throat, “How have you been doing since then?” he tries to lighten the mood with a slight wince.
“I’m fine,” Poe said shortly as Din’s shoulders seemed to relax, he merely hummed in reply.
“How is it as a bounty hunter? I assume people would take you less seriously if you had a baby with you,” Poe tries to joke. It’s half-hearted at best.
“People still take me seriously, even when I have Grogu. Offended you think I’d be less intimidating.” the bounty hunter huffs wryly. Poe chuckled a tad bit, a smile playing at his lips.
Without missing a beat as the conversation died down, Din turned to Poe. “You hungry?” he asks.
Poe smiled again, “Yeah, I could use some food.” he says softly.
“You weren’t that bad back there,”
The two re-enter the Razor, having just picked up some food from the closest planet in their orbit. Not without a couple of scrapes, curtsey of those shady guys from before.
“You weren’t so bad, either,” Din said quietly, dropping the food he still managed to pick up onto the small table inside the cockpit. Poe gave a lazy hum, “You know what I find hard to believe?” he asks as he slid in the passenger seat with Din turning to him, momentarily flipping some switches to set them up for taking off.
“Hmm?” the other man eventually prompts once they’re out of orbit.
“That you brought a meal with a toy just for the kid,” Poe snorts. “Can’t go bad with a deal,” Din replied easily.
“I just think it’s funny that immediately after stopping some baddies, you casually just step inside that fast food place in full armor, asking for a toy.” the pilot released a short, sweet laugh.
Din shakes his head, “I’d do anything just to keep the kid happy,” a tiny smile tugged at his lips at the thought.
“I can’t argue with that,” Poe says thoughtfully, beginning to take some food out from the bag in between the seats where the sets of controls lay.
Poe seemed to smirk, “You seem much more open than what I remember, it’s almost scary at how much you’re talking. I must have that effect on you,” he teases.
“It’s because you won’t stop bothering me,” Din shoots back, a hint of cheekiness in his tone.
Poe faked a pout, “that’s not you treat your lovely guest that wanted to spend some time with you.” he practically whined. Din feels a smile twitch at his lips.
“You aren’t a welcome one.” he jokes. Poe gasps dramatically, pausing his eating just to let a hand shoot up to his chest.
“Finish your food, drama queen.” Din rolled his eyes as he then heard the kid yawn loudly, he switches the Razor on autopilot with a press of a button to tend to Grogu. He scoops up the baby from where he played on the floor, Grogu blearily blinked up at him, pawing at his chest. Din let him play with one of his fingers as he soon set Grogu down onto his pod, draping his blanket onto him as he rested comfortably.
Poe and Din quietly eat the rest of their food and clean up around them once it got late. Poe ends up crashing in the guest quarters of the ship, not that Din minded.
Din lost track of time, he wasn’t sure how long he’s been sitting in the cockpit since both Poe and Grogu were fast asleep. He didn’t know how to feel about meeting Poe again, even older, he still hasn’t changed – at 23 when they first met, he was still the same… annoying hotshot.
He wasn’t sure what bothered him more, the thought of missing that banter he had with Poe, or that he felt he wasn’t getting any younger and at some point, he would be alone…just wandering the galaxy without much of a purpose.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Poe’s soft remark breaks Din out of his thoughts.
“You couldn’t either?” Din twists back to see the younger man with a weary smile, his hair tousled from sleep – his jacket and gear likely in the guest quarters, now sporting his black tee and matching pants.
“That’s how it is with space travel,” Poe shrugs, sitting next to Din. He found it hard to sleep, his head stuck on the same thought of him being with Din again seemingly on loop.
He shakily reached up to his neck to toy with his late mother’s wedding ring that he wore on a necklace, his brain seemingly struggling to shut off even when he tried to distract himself with his nervous habit.
“Don’t remember you having a ring,” Din said gently, startling Poe a bit.
“Yeah, it’s my late mother’s wedding ring. One day, I’d… nevermind, you wouldn't want to hear it.”
Din frowns.
“No, go on.” he coaxed.
“I hope to share the ring with someone one day,” Poe winced, tearing his gaze away from Din.
Even if Din had vague memories of his parents, he still understood the significance of what the ring meant to Poe, he couldn't say if he had the thought of settling down with someone. He shoved that thought down as far as it could go, not wanting to think of it. Not right now.
“Oh,” was all he said. Poe seemed to smile as he glanced at him, “You have such a way with words, huh?” he jokes, voice barely above a whisper.
“Shut up. Try to relax and get some sleep, hotshot.” Din rolled his eyes. Poe chuckles as he gets up.
“Alright. See ya, Mando.” he drops a gentle kiss on where Din’s forehead should be, he shoots a warm smile Din’s way, who felt his face heat up under the helmet, stiffening for a moment. Thankfully, Poe doesn’t seem to notice as he headed off.
Din slumps in his seat. He’s way in over his head.