Work Text:
“I hate Coruscant,” Shane muttered, hugging his arms protectively against his chest. “Who’d wanna live in the galaxy’s biggest city?”
“I used to live here, you know,” Ryan replied pointedly.
“Yeah, but it’s not like you had a choice.”
“Still, it’s home. Kind of.”
“Home doesn’t mean safe.”
Ryan eyed him. “I know.”
Shane wasn’t wrong, it was dangerous to be here. Stupid, too. But they needed the credits and this Ithorian spice dealer was going to pay out nicely. If another bounty hunter didn’t get to him first, of course. But that was the advantage to being a pair—two heads worked better than one. Just ask the Troids.
“Just saying, we can leave any time you want. Go after one of the junk dealers that was on the list.”
“First of all, those jobs all pay nothing, and second of all, I’m not bringing in someone who’s selling stolen Imperial goods. They’re fine by me.”
“Didn’t realize we could afford to have standards.”
“We can have some. A few. At least one.”
“One single standard. I can handle that.”
When they found the bar the spice dealer was said to be working out of, they split up. Ryan hugged the back wall, his hood pulled down over his eyes. He steadied his breathing and reached out into the Force, trying to find the weakest minded beings here. He honed in on a Twi’lek who was stroking one of her lekkus in the corner. Ryan could tell she was a user, poor thing. But Ryan wasn’t here to save her from her habit, just to follow her to whatever middle man the Ithorian used.
When she followed a cloaked figure into a back room, Ryan quietly followed, catching Shane’s eye on the way. He didn’t move from his spot at the bar, although his shoulders straightened just enough for Ryan to know he’d see him. The Twi’lek and the cloaked being made their deal while Ryan spied from the shadows. As soon as she was out of sight, Ryan slipped into the light, his blaster cocked and pressed into the figure’s back.
“Take me to your boss.”
The figure didn’t flinch, his voice oddly calm. “Now, why would I do that?”
Ryan dug the blaster in harder. “Because you’ll be fried if you don’t.”
“My boss would kill me if I turned on him, so I guess I’m dead either way.”
“Tell me where he is and I’ll let you go,” Ryan demanded.
“Ah, you gave in faster than I expected. I guess a Jedi never changes his spots,” he said with barely restrained glee.
The shock of the accusation distracted Ryan for only a split second, but a split second was long enough for a crowd to spill in from the bar. Quickly, Ryan grabbed his hostage, holding the blaster to his forehead, as the gang moved in.
“Stop! I’ll shoot!” he warned.
“No, you won’t.”
One of the gang yanked a tall figure forward from the crowd, a bruise purpling over his right eye. Shane was unfazed, though. He usually was in these kinds of situations.
“You shoot him, we shoot this ugly mug,” a man from the crowd with a nasty scar across his throat said.
“Well, I wasn’t this ugly before you punched me in the eye. That’s really on you fellas.”
“Shut up!”
In total, there were about nine beings surrounding them, including Ryan’s hostage. He and Shane could take them, they’d been in worse scrapes before, but the Jedi mention made Ryan anxious enough to want to get the hell out of here as soon as possible.
“Trade then. Give me my partner and I’ll give you yours. We all leave and this never happened,” Ryan suggested.
Ryan’s hostage cackled. “You think you’re getting out of this that easily? When Jedi traitors are going for so many credits?”
“Whatever you think I am, I’m not. You’d be wasting the Empire’s time,” Ryan warned.
The Force sent Ryan a warning. A Rodian standing right behind Shane cocked their blaster. There wasn’t enough time for another option. Using the Force, Ryan redirected the blast into the ceiling.
“Now, what was that about not being a Jedi?” the hostage sneered.
A struggle erupted. Ryan tried desperately to fight through the crowd, but the Force kept sending him warnings of Shane being endangered. He wouldn’t risk Shane’s safety for anything, not even his own. Time for a new gambit.
“You can have me if you let him go!” Ryan announced, throwing his blaster behind him and putting his hands up.
“Ryan, no!” Shane protested. His lip was split now, a small trickle of blood running down his chin. Two of the gang were holding his arms behind his back as he struggled against them.
“Now, why would we do that?” one of the gang asked.
Ryan summoned the blaster back to his hand and shot the asker in the shoulder before anyone knew what happened.
“Does that answer your question?”
While the gang member clutched at their shoulder and groaned, the rest of the group looked to their leader, the man Ryan had taken hostage. For his part, Ryan only had eyes for Shane. Shane shook his head the tiniest amount, his face pleading for Ryan to not do this. Too bad it was the only option that guaranteed Shane’s safety. Sure, Ryan would probably get skewered by an Inquisitor if he couldn’t escape, but he’d known that was a possibility for the past decade. He’d been living on borrowed time ever since the end of the Clone Wars.
“Fine. Release him.”
The gang let go of Shane’s arms, but he didn’t leave, instead watching as they overpowered Ryan, locking his hands together in stun cuffs and getting in a few free punches now that they could.
“Don’t do this,” Shane warned.
“Too late, bud. Find a new partner, one who is less annoying,” Ryan joked, hoping he could get one last smile out of him.
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
Suddenly, the Force began emanating from Shane in a way Ryan had never felt before. It was strong, even stronger than some of the Jedi Masters Ryan had grown up with. What the hell was happening?
Eyes narrowed, Shane reached out his hand. “Last warning.”
The gang laughed. Shane’s hand shoved left.
The gang stopped laughing.
Four of the members were piled in a heap against the wall. They’d hit it so hard that Ryan saw teeth and blood splattered on the floor. The power flowing from Shane was unlike anything Ryan had ever felt before and he’d once fought alongside Master Windu in battle during the war.
With a rock in stomach, Ryan realized where that power was coming from.
“Shane! Stop!”
The remaining gang members started shooting at Shane, but he deftly batted them away. With another push through the Force, the gang crumbled onto the floor. With blazing eyes, he stood over them.
“Don’t come after us.”
The gang leader laughed, spitting blood. “And give up the bounty on two Jedi? You’re crazy.”
“I’m not a Jedi.”
The dark side flowed out of Shane. In his mind, Ryan saw Shane snap the leader’s neck in a few moments’ time. He couldn’t let that happen.
He flung himself at Shane, pushing him away from the gang leader. “No! Don’t!”
“He’s going to come after us, tell everyone about us,” he said, staring over Ryan’s shoulders. “We can’t leave him—them—alive.”
“Not that way,” Ryan pleaded. “Not with the dark side.”
Shane’s eyes finally met his again. “The what?”
Ryan didn’t have time to explain. A blaster bolt missed them by millimeters as he shoved them both out of the way. With his hands still cuffed, Ryan couldn’t do much, but he could still use the Force. He reached out, pulling down on the ceiling tiles until they fell onto the gang in a giant pile.
“Run!”
Shane blinked like he was coming out of a trance. “What—what did I—?”
Ryan shoved him. “Later! GO!”
They sprinted out of the bar and into a nearby alley, ducking along the shadows until it was safe to rejoin the crowded walkways of Coruscant. Ryan pulled his hood back down over his eyes before grabbing the communicator out of his belt.
“O-B1, ready the ship.”
A string of angry astromech beeps was all Ryan got for an answer.
“I know the thruster is still bad, but we have to go! Now!”
More beeps. Ryan shoved the communicator under Shane’s nose. “Tell your damn droid to listen to me.”
“Do what he says, Obi,” Shane muttered, distracted.
Resigned beeps this time. That was good enough for Ryan.
Silently, they weaved their way through the crowd back to their ship. Ryan was fairly certain they weren’t followed, but his mind was racing with so many thoughts that he couldn’t be totally sure that he’d missed someone.
How had Shane used the Force, let alone the dark side? And how had Ryan missed it this whole time? They’d been partners for a few years now, it seemed impossible that Shane could have kept his Force sensitivity under wraps for that long. Or perhaps that was a sign of how weak Ryan’s own connection to the Force was these days. Shame flowed through him. His Master would be so disappointed in him.
Once their ship was in sight, O-B1 rolled out of the docking bay door, continuing to complain about not having enough time to fix the ship. Ryan ignored his grievances.
“Get these cuffs off me.”
O-B1 stuck out his multi-tool, but not far enough to cut the cuffs off. Ryan stepped forward, but the droid rolled back, keeping himself out of reach.
Someday, Ryan was going to kick this damn droid out of the airlock and no jury in the galaxy would convict him.
“Son of a—we don’t have time for this! Shane, help me out!”
Shane was standing at the bottom of the ramp, trembling. “I—I can’t—I don’t—”
“Meltdown later, after I get out of these cuffs and get us off this stupid planet.”
Shane looked behind them with a frown. Ryan didn’t sense anyone on their trail, but maybe Shane did. He could apparently do that, afterall. With a grim nod, he passed Ryan and O-B1, patting the latter on the dome.
“He’s right, buddy. We gotta go.”
That finally got that damn orange droid to listen. He quickly cut the cuffs off Ryan’s wrists and rolled back onto the ship, heading to the astromech port to ready her for takeoff. Meanwhile, Ryan and Shane headed to the cockpit, each taking their seats.
Ryan pulled the ship out of its docking bay and into the sky.
“Put in coordinates for Ord Mantell. We can refuel and figure out where to go from there,” he said to Shane.
Together, they navigated their way out of Coruscant and into hyperspace. O-B1 was right, that thruster was going to become a real problem any minute now, but Ryan had bigger things to deal with first.
As soon as the blue and white light of hyperspace surrounded the cockpit, Ryan turned to Shane. He was staring out the windows, his face blank.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Ryan asked. There was no point beating around the bush.
“It wasn’t relevant.”
“For the love of—you know my history. How is it not relevant?!”
“It’s not. Can we let this go?”
“Let it go?! Shane, you used the Force. If you think I’m letting this go, you’re dumber than a bantha.”
“Banthas aren’t dumb,” Shane muttered.
“Don’t change the subject,” Ryan said. “Seriously, why did you never tell me?”
“Because I was never a Jedi, so what was the point? No one ever came to my family and said I had any great potential,” he muttered. “Can you imagine being a little kid, making your toys float when you got upset, and no one being able to tell you why?”
“I mean, vaguely, yeah.”
“Until the Jedi found you,” Shane finished for him. His bitterness was so strong Ryan could taste it in the back of his throat. “But they didn’t care about the Outer Rim. No one ever does.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell me any of this beforehand. We’ve been partners for years, Shane, you’ve seen me use the Force a hundred times, heard all about my former life. You really don’t think I would be interested to know that you are Force sensitive as well?!”
“I haven’t used it since I was a kid and I never planned to again, so there was no point.”
Ryan couldn’t understand. The Force was the most consistent thing in his life, the only consistent thing in his life. It was always there, guiding him when nothing else could. Even in the darkest hours, when the dark side nearly clouded everything, there was always a thread Ryan could hold onto. He couldn’t fathom it not being part of himself, let alone choosing to ignore it.
“You don’t make any sense to me at all,” Ryan told him.
A smile nudged at Shane’s lips. “Have I ever?”
“Fair enough.” Ryan sighed, leaning back in his chair, his hands behind his head. “I just…why?”
“Be more specific.”
“Why did you stop using the Force? Why didn’t you or your family try to contact the Jedi before the Empire took over? Why did you not use it that time we were getting our asses chased by venom-mites and almost died? Why did you use it tonight? Why,” Ryan swallowed, suddenly nervous, “did you use the dark side?”
Shane held up a hand and began ticking Ryan’s questions off one-by-one. “One, because I almost killed my brother with it and no, I’m not going to talk more about it. Two, because we had never heard of the Jedi. Three, because I knew you would save us. And as for the last one, I have no idea what you’re talking about, as usual.”
“You’ve never heard of the dark side?”
“Should I have?”
“I guess not,” Ryan admitted. “There are two sides of the Force, the light and the dark. I was always taught that the dark side leads to corruption. Not that I think you’re corrupt! Um.”
“Good, because I was very worried about that.”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “It’s dangerous, Shane! Using it could get you expelled from the Order!”
“I’m not in the Order. And neither are you,” Shane reminded him, although not unkindly.
Annoyed, Ryan swiveled back around in his chair to check the readings on the dash. Classic Shane, always missing the point. “You still shouldn’t have used it. They’re going to put bounties on both our heads now.”
“It was that or let them take you.”
“I would’ve escaped,” Ryan shrugged.
“Or they would’ve let one of those Inquisitors slice you in half.” Shane leaned forward, elbows on his knees, hands clasped. “You know better than anyone what they do with Jedi.”
A memory that was never distant flashed in the Force, of Ryan’s Master being struck down by an angry red blade. He knew Master Padd’ngton would tell him to let his grief and loss go, but Ryan always kept a thread of it wrapped around his finger.
He had never been the best student.
“I know.”
“And you think I would take that chance? On you?”
“Wow, you really don’t trust my skills, huh?” Ryan was trying to play it off, but his stomach squirmed, uncomfortable with the direction this conversation was taking.
“I don’t trust anyone else.” Shane lowered his voice with uncharacteristic sincerity. “I was so scared I’d never see you again. That’s why I used it tonight—I couldn’t let that happen.”
An old adage about fear and where it led flashed in Ryan’s mind. He’d have to warn Shane about that at some point. Not now, though. Not when his heart was beating against his ribcage. Not when his own fear was crawling up his throat.
“Shane…”
“I know, Ryan, I know. Your allegiance to them is admirable. But I’m tired of pretending this doesn’t exist.” Shane gathered Ryan’s hands up in his own, his gaze piercing. “I’ve known it wasn’t just me since that night on Ilum. And I’ve respected your desire to ignore it until now. But I’m done.”
A shiver ran through Ryan’s bones. He remembered that night well. A dangerous, selfish journey to build a new lightsaber, one that could be concealed at the first sign of Imperial trouble, had almost killed them both. The avalanche had come on swiftly, burying them inside one of the caves. Ryan had tried for hours to move the snow with the Force, but he barely made a dent. To survive the night, they’d huddled close, using body heat to stave off the frostbite. Of all the times Ryan thought he might die, that was the one he was most sure of. He remembered shaking against Shane’s chest, protesting when Shane wrapped his own scarf around Ryan’s neck, telling him he was skinnier, he should keep it. Shane made some joke about Ryan being more important to keep alive that Ryan hated. It annoyed him so much that he almost told Shane his best held secret right then. Told him how stupid he was for not realizing his own worth, how he always calmed Ryan during their trickiest hunts, how the songs he hummed made wherever they were feel like home, how his clever thinking had saved both their hides a dozen times. But when he’d tried to speak, Shane shook his head, telling him to save his energy. Instead, Ryan expelled his love for this man out into the Force, hoping that it would envelop them and help them survive. When they awoke to O-B1 blasting the snow away with his flamethrower, Ryan knew the Force had saved them, but apparently it had done more than that.
“You felt it?” Ryan asked quietly.
Shane nodded. “I didn’t understand it at first. Thought I was hallucinating before I remembered what it felt like. That little bit of light in the darkness, the thread of connection. I never knew it could feel like that, though.”
A lifetime of instinct told Ryan to let Shane down gently. To tell him this love between them could not grow, that it could destroy them. Just look at how far Shane had gone tonight, using the dark side so easily to save Ryan. To let this happen would be stupid, dangerous, reckless.
But wasn’t Ryan’s entire life stupid, dangerous, and reckless? He was a former Jedi living in a galaxy where Jedi were outlawed and killed. He traveled from system to system, collecting bounties for gangsters. Every day could be his last as it was.
“Your brain really goes in circles, huh?” Shane teased gently. He pushed some hair off Ryan’s forehead and kept his hand cupped around his cheek. “I always knew, but I can actually feel it now.”
“You’d be better off by staying away from it, it’s a nightmare in there.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
“You’re an idiot then.”
“Then I’m an idiot,” he grinned.
Ryan laughed softly, shaking his head. “I won’t argue with that.”
Shane dropped his hand from Ryan’s face, but stayed close. Close enough that Ryan could see the burst capillaries around Shane’s bruised eye. He wanted to kiss them away.
“I know that I’m asking a lot and I’ll understand if you can’t. But tonight I briefly saw a future without you and nothing in my wretched life has ever hurt like that. However you want me, I’ll be here.”
And with that, Shane stood and left Ryan alone in the cockpit.
Dumbfounded, Ryan stared at the doorway.
No. No no no. This was not—that piece of bantha shit. The audacity.
Ryan’s legs were already moving, stomping through The Watcher’s cockpit and into the galley, where Shane was unwrapping a ration bar. He knocked it out of his hands.
“Hey! I was going to eat that.”
“You are insufferable, intolerable, insane, and above all else infuriating,” Ryan told him, leaning up on the balls of his feet to get in Shane’s face. “How dare you!”
“Okay, what’s happening?” Shane asked, biting down a smile.
“Don’t play cute with me.”
“Trust me, I don’t know how.”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Oh shut up, you impossibly tall nerfherder! You don’t get to play coy after saying all of that to me and then leaving.”
“I don’t think coming out to get a snack counts as leaving,” Shane said calmly, which just irritated Ryan more.
“Shane, for the love of—,”
“And,” he cut-in, “maybe I was giving you some time to think and meditate if you needed. I know that’s important to you.”
“As if you know what’s truly important to me,” Ryan snapped.
Eyebrows raised, Shane opened his mouth to argue, probably, but Ryan surged up to press their lips together before he could. Shane’s Force reflexes were more honed than Ryan realized, as he didn’t seem taken aback by the kiss. His hands curled comfortably around Ryan’s hips as they deepened the kiss. It’d been ages since Ryan had felt the lips of another and even longer since there’d been a hint of feelings as well. There was no shame, this time, however. None of the fear and guilt that drove him away from his first love back at the temple churned in his stomach. Instead, the Force glowed inside of him—both of them—tying them together at the center. It was the most glorious, wonderful—
A string of angry beeps interrupted them.
“O-B1, not now,” Ryan growled against Shane’s cheek.
Shane’s soft chuckling mixed with more shrill binary whistling. “Obi, hey. You can divert power from the blasters for the thrusters, that’s fine.”
O-B1 beeped graciously at Shane before deliberately running over Ryan’s foot. He swore as Shane’s laugh grew brighter and his grip firmer.
“Ow! He did that on purpose, you know.”
“I know,” Shane said with a kiss to Ryan’s hair. “You could be nicer to him.”
“He started it!”
“He’s just protective, that’s all.”
Ryan pressed his thumb to the cut on Shane’s lip. He winced, but didn’t pull away. “Runs in the family.”
“I didn’t like how it felt,” Shane whispered. “All that power. I could have snapped all their necks like it was nothing. But I’d do it again if it meant keeping you here, with me. Selfish, I know.”
“Selfish isn’t bad. Not for people like us.”
“That’s not a very Jedi thing to say.”
“The Jedi aren’t here anymore,” Ryan told him. “But you are.”
“Ryan,” Shane said with unheard of reverence. “Are you sure?”
“Search your feelings, Shane. You know it to be true.”
Shane laughed. “What the hell does that mean?”
Grinning, Ryan looped his arms around Shane’s neck. “It means yes, you idiot.”