Chapter Text
Luke bounced his leg nervously as he glanced back and forth between Leia and Han sitting awkwardly on opposite ends of the couch and his father, who was angrily pacing the living room floor. Their mother sat in the armchair identical to Luke’s on the other side of the room, ready to jump in and do damage control any moment.
Leia had been caught. Their parents weren’t supposed to be back from Padmé’s business trip for another two days. Leia had invited Han over, which meant Luke retreated to the basement to play video games with surround sound and Actively Not Think about what was happening two floors above him.
Their parents had decided to surprise them, though, and apparently Anakin had walked in on his daughter in a very compromising position with one of the other drivers that frequented his favorite racetrack.
While this situation was a shitshow in and of itself, Luke wasn’t just nervous for Leia and Han. Anakin catching them in the act meant he would likely be much more strict in the months to come, and that would probably extend to Luke as well. That might not have been an issue a few months ago, but now, Luke had Din.
And judging by how their father was handling the revelation of Han, Luke dating a man who was around Han’s age and also a single father was unlikely to go over any better.
Anakin paused in the middle of the room and took a deep breath. “How long has this been going on?”
Leia glanced at Han out of the corner of her eye. “Two months, maybe.”
Luke had to refrain from snorting. Leia wasn’t one for estimation. If she weren’t backed into a corner right now, she’d be able to say that it had actually been closer to three months since she and Han started hooking up, but almost a year since they started dancing around each other at the racetracks.
He wasn’t going to point that out, though. Anakin was fuming, and Han looked like he just wanted to disappear into the couch cushions.
“Two months, you’ve been sneaking around with someone ten years older than you?” Anakin asked in disbelief, his volume rising. “What were you thinking?”
“Dad, I’m an adult-“ Leia began.
“You are twenty one years old! You’re barely old enough to drink! You still live at home!”
“Ani, we asked them to stay here,” Padmé reminded him firmly.
Anakin conceded that point, nodding stiffly. “How did this start?”
“I was working on one of your cars at the track. I needed a spare part so I asked Han, and we started talking. I think you can probably figure out the rest,” Leia grumbled.
“This is not the time for sass, Leia! And you,” Anakin growled, glaring at Han. “Explain yourself.”
Han visibly gulped. “Well, sir, I-“
“You know what, I don’t want to hear it! I don’t want to hear whatever justification you have for messing around with a girl a decade younger than you!”
“Dad, stop! He brought that up, too, and I said it was fine!”
Anakin’s face was so red, Luke was honestly starting to get concerned about spontaneous human combustion.
“Solo, I think you should leave,” Anakin gritted out.
Han hesitated, turning toward Leia.
“Get out of my house,” Anakin snapped, clearly losing his grip on himself.
“Ani…” Padmé chided gently.
“Are you gonna be okay?” Han asked quietly, focusing only on Leia.
Leia softened, the barest hint of a smile on her face as she nodded. With that reassurance, Han stood awkwardly, nodding once and swiftly making his exit.
Luke gripped the armrest of his chair, bracing himself. Without the presence of somebody outside the family, regardless of how mad Anakin was at that person, things were undoubtedly about to get a lot more heated.
Immediately, he was proved right as Leia glared fiercely at Anakin. “You are such a hypocrite! You were two years younger than me when you married mom, and she’s older than you!”
“Five years older! That’s half the gap between you and that-“
“Careful,” Leia warned. “By all accounts, his situation isn’t that different than yours when you met mom.”
“Alright, I think-“ Padmé started, sighing when her husband cut her off.
“You have no idea what my situation was! You don’t know how good you’ve had it your entire life! That’s by design, Leia!”
“I know I have a good life! I’m not fucking ignorant! But, you have to let me live my own life, too! I can make my own decisions!” Leia was standing now, and Luke was regretting his decision to sit in on this.
“Well, you’re not making very good ones, are you?” Anakin yelled back.
This was the thing about Leia and Anakin. Leia was extremely similar to Anakin, and that made them incredibly close most of the time. However, that also meant that when they fought, it was explosive.
“And whose fault is that? You’re the one setting the example!” The color in Leia’s face was quickly rivaling their father’s, and Luke felt dread creeping into the pit of his stomach. This clearly wasn’t going to end well.
“Luke seems to be doing just fine! I don’t see him doing anything like this!”
Luke swore his heart stopped in his chest.
“Oh yeah?” Leia shot back.
An icy weight settled in Luke’s gut. “Leia…” he attempted weakly.
“Well, I’m not the one who thinks he’s in love with a thirty-something single father he’s been fucking for four months!”
A tense, incredulous silence blanketed the room.
Anakin slowly turned toward him. “Luke?” he choked out.
Luke felt his breathing start to speed up, hurt and panic and stone cold fury building inside him. He swallowed and met Leia’s eyes. Honestly, she looked horrified with herself. As she should, Luke thought bitterly.
“At least I’m not lying to myself,” he bit out, pushing past Leia to take the stairs two at a time. He heard his father call out after him, but Padmé quickly intercepted him.
He slammed the door to his room, trying desperately to blink back his tears to no avail. He was full on hyperventilating now, gripping at his chest to try to calm his frantically beating heart. He fumbled for his phone in his pocket and found Din’s contact with trembling fingers.
Din picked up almost right away. “Mesh’la, how are you?”
“Din,” Luke gasped out, a hiccuping sob escaping directly after.
“Luke? What’s wrong? Where are you? Do you need help?”
Luke sobbed again and took a deep, shuddering breath. “Leia told my parents.”
Din was quiet for a moment. “About us?”
Luke whimpered his affirmation.
Din took another second to answer. “Luke, can we video call? I want to see you.”
Luke gave another shaky affirmation and Din hung up, calling back seconds later on FaceTime.
“There we go. Take a deep breath, baby, it’s gonna be okay.”
Luke tried, but the gentle assurance in Din’s voice set him off again.
“Okay, okay. You’re okay. We’ll figure it out. We were talking about telling your parents anyway.” Din had clearly just finished putting Grogu to bed, as evidenced by the lack of toddler babble in the background and the characteristic spot of drool on his shoulder. Luke focused on that spot, trying to calm his breathing so he could have an actual conversation.
“It was supposed to be on my terms,” he rasped.
Din nodded in understanding. “I know. I’m sorry that moment got taken from you.”
Luke shrugged. He propped his phone against a pillow and pulled his hands into the sleeves of his sweater. “My dad found out about her and Han. They were fighting, and that’s how it got brought up. I don’t really know what to say to any of them, now.”
“How did your parents react?”
“They didn’t, I guess. Too surprised.”
Din hummed. “And I’m guessing they didn’t react to Han very well?”
“No. Dad was the only one yelling, but Mom clearly wasn’t happy, either.” Luke rubbed the ends of his sweater sleeves over his face.
“Alright. I’m going to assume it wouldn’t be very smart if I came and picked you up right now.”
Luke laughed humorlessly. “No, I’ll be surprised if I’m ever allowed to leave the house again. It was nice knowing you.”
“Hey, if that’s the case, I’ll be at your window every night. You can’t get rid of me that easily,” Din teased with a small grin.
That got a more genuine, if slightly watery, laugh out of Luke. Just after, though, the sound of a baby crying arose through the speakers. Din winced. “I’m sorry, he’s still getting over his ear infection.”
Luke shook his head. “It’s okay. You made me feel better, so he should get some of that magic, too.”
Din smiled fondly. “I love you, Luke. I hope you know I’m not going anywhere.”
Luke smiled back. “I know. I love you, too.” He hung up first, knowing Din wouldn’t want to and also knowing Din really had to go comfort Grogu.
He flopped back onto his pillows, staring at the ceiling. The anxiety that had been subdued during his conversation with Din almost immediately started rising again, and he closed his eyes and tried to take deep, slow breaths. A minute in, there was a soft knock at his door, causing his heart to skip a beat.
“Honey, can I come in?”
It was his mom, which was probably the best option he could have hoped for just then. “Sure,” he called back, not moving otherwise.
Padmé slipped into the room, closing the door behind her again and going to sit on the edge of Luke’s bed. She didn’t say anything, and neither did Luke, but after a few moments, she started gently running her fingers through his hair. Luke melted further into his bed, leaning into his mother’s soft touch.
“It’s not fair,” he mumbled after a while.
Padmé just hummed a vague question.
“I was trying to figure out how to tell you guys, but Leia just threw me under the bus. It’s not fair.”
“It wasn’t her information to tell,” Padmé agreed. “I could tell how much that hurt you.”
Luke nodded, feeling tears welling up again and forcing them back. “I called him.”
“I figured. I wasn’t listening in, but I could hear you talking to someone. Did it help?”
Luke wasn’t sure whether to feel appreciative of or frustrated with his mother in that moment. She was being pretty nonjudgmental so far, but she was clearly angling for more information. It was hard to ignore the automatic comfort that her presence brought him. He’d have to open up eventually, anyway.
“Yeah. I really didn’t like Leia’s implication. The one that I just think I’m in love, but I’m not actually. I am.”
Padmé nodded. “I believe you.” She paused for a few seconds, clearly trying to work out how she was going to phrase her next words. “I want you to be happy, sweetheart, I want that for both you and your sister more than anything. But, do you understand why hearing about these relationships was so concerning for your father and me?”
Luke sniffed. “Yes. I know it’s a big age difference, but you and dad have one too, and you got together when he was younger than we are.”
“You’re right about that, but your father was also right in saying our age difference is about half of that. I’m not saying that automatically makes your relationship unbalanced, but it is a concern for us,” Padmé replied, still carding her fingers through Luke’s hair soothingly.
“I know, but I don’t know how to convince you that it’s not other than just asking you to trust me.” Luke knew his tone was bordering on whiny, but he was tired and still pretty upset with Leia. As much comfort as his mom could give him, the situation was a bit too stressful for him to be able to handle it with the amount of grace he might have wanted to.
Padmé sighed. “It’s a difficult situation, but I do trust you, Luke. I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt here, and assume that you’re involved in a healthy and loving relationship. I think I’ve managed to talk your father down from his ledge as well, though don’t be surprised if he’s a little on edge.”
Luke nodded absently. “Thanks, Mom.”
Padmé bent down to kiss his forehead. “Tell me about him,” she requested lightly.
Luke lifted his head. “Really?”
She nodded with a fond smile. “I want to hear about the man you’re in love with.”
Luke smiled bashfully, sitting up a bit. “Um, his name is Din. He just turned thirty a month ago, and he has a fourteen month old son.” He pulled out his phone to show his mother a picture of Din and Grogu together, grinning as she gasped and leaned forward.
“Oh he’s handsome, and such a cute baby!”
Luke swiped to another picture of him sleeping on Din’s couch with Grogu napping on his chest, then another of the three of them at the park during the cool fall weather a couple months prior. They were all bundled up with rosy cheeks and big grins on their faces, Luke’s face resting on Grogu’s adorably lopsided frog hat. Padmé cooed at all the pictures in turn, clearly drawn in by the irresistible magnetic force that was Grogu.
“He works at the same garage Han does, that’s how I met him. He’s pretty quiet around new people, but he’s really sweet once you get to know him. He’s a really good cook, too. He makes a lot of Mandalorian food,” Luke listed, fondly scrolling through more pictures.
“He’s Mandalorian?” Padmé asked with interest. When Luke nodded, she continued, “Satine is Mandalorian, she makes great food, too. Before we all moved away from each other, she, Bail, and I used to get together every other Friday, and we’d each bring a dish to share. Hers were always the best.”
Luke winced. “You brought something, too?”
Padmé playfully slapped his shoulder. “Yes, although it was usually some sort of dessert from the bakery by my apartment.”
“That makes more sense. I don’t think they would have kept inviting you if you actually cooked for them.”
Padmé laughed out loud. “Alright, alright, that’s enough out of you.” She pulled him into a one armed hug, leaving another kiss on his temple. “You’ve seemed really happy these past few months, sweetheart, and you look really happy in those photos.”
“I am happy. I really love him, Mom. Both of them,” Luke mumbled into her shoulder.
“Then I’m happy for you.” She squeezed him one last time and stood up. “It’s getting late, I’m going to bed, and so is your father, whether he likes it or not. If you need more time, I understand, but I think you might want to talk to Leia before you go to sleep.”
Luke hesitated, worrying his lower lip between his teeth. “I’ll think about it.”
Padmé kissed his forehead one last time. “That’s all I ask. Goodnight, honey, I love you.”
“Love you, too. Goodnight.”
With that, Padmé exited his room and left Luke alone with his thoughts once again. Admittedly, his mother’s tentative acceptance made him feel much better, though the tentative part was still a bit anxiety inducing.
That was a problem for another day, though, a day when Din could be there in person as well. For now, he had one parent on his side, and with his mother on board, his father would eventually come around as well. The only one left was Leia.
The nature of his and Leia’s relationship meant they were always on the same side, even if they didn’t always agree about what that side was. Leia revealing his own secret to take heat off of hers was a blow Luke hadn’t been expecting. He’d thought they’d left that sort of betrayal behind in their preteen days.
He didn’t need to coax Leia into approving of his relationship with Din, but apparently he did need to convince her that he knew what he was feeling. Just because she was denying her own feelings didn’t mean he had to. He figured she probably wouldn’t take it well if he told her those exact words, but he would be justified in saying them.
Luke wouldn’t do that, though. Leia had made his night hell, but hers had undoubtedly been worse. Luke hadn’t gotten into a screaming match with one of their parents, and Luke had reached out to Din in order to feel better. He was pretty sure Leia hadn’t reached out to Han. He wouldn’t be surprised if Han had texted to check on her, but Leia tended to close in on herself when she was upset, and if she couldn’t even admit to Luke that she had actual feelings for Han, she definitely wasn’t giving Han much in the way of emotional vulnerability.
So yes, he’d talk to Leia before bed tonight. Right now, though, he was going to text Din and let him know that everything was going to work out just fine.