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Din often thought that there had to be a reason why he had such bad luck. There was no way he had the worst luck in the universe just because. Sometimes he thought of this when he was in the middle of shooting his way out of a situation, barely scraping by with his bounty and his life, other times he thought of his shit luck when he somehow managed to acquire being a king of a whole planet by accident, and so on.
Now he was really cursing his luck once again, half resigned to everything going wrong, yet again, when he somehow got stuck in the elevator with none other than Han freaking Solo. What were the odds huh, all he wanted was to drop by his latest bounty and leave. He definitely did not want to deal with that .
Any other day he would have thought his luck was great, where else would he find the man who had so many bounties on his head right there with nowhere to escape? But today he didn't want to deal with that, all he wanted was to get the Neimoidian head to his latest employer, get his credits then get back on his ship, all so he could go visit Grogu and Luke. It had been a few weeks since he last saw either of them and he was starting to miss them.
It hadn't been too long since Din started hanging out with the Jedi, at first reluctantly, since it was the only way he thought he would get to see his son again, after all, Luke had simply showed up, taken his kid, and left without as much as a name or a place. He had not wanted that to be the last he saw of his son, so he tracked them down, hoping that if he was friendly enough, he could see him again.
All his worries had been dissipated when Luke had seen him land, apologising for not telling him the coordinates or well, anything really. With everything going on he forgot about that small detail, and had no way of contacting him since Grogu had refused to give his name to him.
Din loved his son so much .
Once that had been cleared, he started to grow fond of him. He didn't know when Luke went from “Grogu’s Teacher” (Derogatory) to Luke (affectionate). He would never admit that out loud though, which was why he kept finding excuses to go see them again, getting little gifts for both his son and Luke seemed to work just fine for an excuse, hence why he needed to get his credits for his job soon.
It all had gone smoothly, he captured his bounty with minor fuss, and was going back in record time, and then here he was, stuck. He decided he was going to blame this all on Han Solo, from all he has heard of the man, it feels right to blame him.
Solo shouldn't have even been in the same elevator as him, it really was his fault for being stupid enough to get inside a closed space with a bounty hunter. The moment the other man had seen he was a Mandalorian, he had tensed and gave him a stink eye, resting his hand on his blaster just in case, but still hopped inside.
Din didn't know if he should be impressed or not by this man’s ability to not have the capacity for rational thought. If he had been any other Mandalorian, Solo would already be in carbonite and sent to the biggest bidder.
It was clear Solo was thinking the same thing, except without knowing he wasn't there as a bounty hunter, because not even seconds after the elevator got stuck, with no way of opening from the inside, his whole demeanour changed, more alert and on the defensive, preparing himself for a fight.
Din did not want to deal with this .
Sure, he could win. That much was true. But he really wanted to avoid it. He ignored the voice in his head that told him he was getting soft after spending so much time with his clan of three. He would honour the creed when he had to fight though, he always would. He simply… would rather avoid fighting for the time being.
Guess the only remaining thing to do was talk to him. Din shuddered at the thought. He was going to have to make actual conversation with him before things escalated, ugh, he hated having to talk it out. On second thought maybe they could just fight it out, it would be taxing but he would win and with Solo knocked out, there would be no conversation.
But he really would prefer to make it back to his son moderately unharmed to not freak him out again. One would think that Grogu would have gotten used to Din being bruised from all their adventures together, but his kid always fretted since he discovered he wasn't shiny and indestructible as he first thought.
He sighed. This was going to be a long torturous wait if someone didn’t get them out of there soon.
“I know who you are, Solo. But I don't care about bounties on your name. Just letting you know before you try to use that blaster on me. It won't end well for you.”
Solo bristled and turned to look at him. “You think I'm going to believe you? You're a bounty hunter, a Mandalorian .” He sneered. “I’ve had more than enough run-ins with your kind .”
“And I have with yours, doesn't mean I’m going to start a useless fight in an elevator of all places.” Din said, the helmet modulated his voice, devoid of any emotions. Solo did not do anything, barely moving from his spot, calculating his next move, uncertain and two seconds away from starting shooting. Din sighed. “I give you my word, I won't hunt you down today, we part ways unharmed as long as you do not start anything.”
“Your word means shit. All you kriffing bounty hunters are the same: untrustworthy .”
“I give you my word as a Mandalorian, we take this seriously and I honour it. This is the way.”
Solo eyed him suspiciously, not moving his hand from his blaster but stood at ease, no longer about to fight. He gave a curt nod.
“Good. Seems we are going to be stuck here for a while since they haven't gotten us already, I prefer to not waste my energy.” Din said and leaned slightly against the wall, hand resting on his own gun, just in case.
Not one of them said a thing, happy enough to ignore the other as long as they could. That was until the three-hour mark hit, and they were still stuck. Solo was getting restless. They had called for help since the start but apparently, they were understaffed. They couldn’t even blow their way out of there as he managed to score one of the few elevators in the whole galaxy that was bomb proof.
Din really hated his luck.
Solo was getting antsier and even though Din would love to ignore that and pretend it was all fine, he knew better, if he didn’t deal with this now, it would escalate again. Focusing entirely on the other man, he raised his alertness, quickly checking he still had his knife as well as his other equipment ready to use. However, when he spoke, he tried to keep it light and relaxed, not that he succeeded much, partly because of his modulated voice, partly because he sucks at tone cues. “You're not thinking of shooting again, are you?” He tried to go for joking, it didn't work.
Solo snapped out of it and stared at him, shoulders tensing. “No. Are you?”
“No. You sure look like you want to start shooting though.”
“I might be, we have been here for hours.”
“And shooting will do bantha crap to get us out of here. What's got your panties in a twist.” Din rolled his eyes at being stuck with the dramatic idiot.
“It's none of your business.” He said and then to himself, after checking the time for the umpteenth time. “Leia is going to kill me.”
Din heard it, nonetheless. He didn't have to guess whoever this Leia was, must be someone Solo knows, she must be waiting for him, worried. He didn't know when he became a softie, as Luke often liked to call him whenever he interacted with Grogu. He sighed again, already regretting his future choices. “You don't seem to have any communicator with you, and I’m guessing this Leia of yours is going to be worried.”
“None of your business.” He replied with annoyance and anger. It reminded Din of a caged animal.
“It’s— look, you're brooding, and we are going to be here a while, and I would rather not deal with whatever drama you have going on, so, here,” He took something out of his pocket which put Solo on defence, reaching for his gun, until he pulled out a holopad. “You can call her and let her know, then delete the call history of it if you're worried I'm going to track you down.”
Solo wasn't convinced at first and stared at both the man and the holopad for a while, taking it slowly, waiting for the other shoe to drop, thinking it was a trick. Once he was mostly convinced it wasn't a trap, he tilted his head slightly “You're not like the other Mandalorians I've met.” He squinted. “I still don't trust you, but thanks.” Din found it a little funny how it pained the other man to thank him, he grinned under the helmet.
Din turned his back at him, trying to give him some semblance of privacy as he called whoever this Leia was. He knew how unnerving it was to call people one cared about in front of others, he rarely did it, best to avoid it in case anyone tries to use them against him, but sometimes it had to be done, and he knew if he ever had to call Luke or Grogu when with others, he would appreciate the privacy.
Luckily for him, he wouldn't have to worry about contacting them for another few hours, possibly until the next day, since Luke had told him he was taking Grogu on a very safe little adventure for the time being.
Lost in his thoughts he was able to tune out the call Solo was having, up until an awfully familiar voice answered on the other side.
“Yeah, Leia is fine, she's just busy in some meetings, don't worry, I'm here for a social visit, nothing else. Is everything alright?
Din snapped his neck at the voice, he knew that voice almost as well as his own, he heard it almost every night, but it couldn't be, he blinked and took a step closer to Solo who was currently shielding the holopad as best as he could.
“Hey, the hell is your problem?” Solo took a step back, hitting the wall as Din moved.
Din wasn’t really listening to him anymore, which wasn't the smartest move, but he couldn't make himself care, now that Solo moved, he could clearly see the holopad showing no other than— “Luke?”
“Din?” Luke wasn't seeing Solo anymore, eyes only for the Mandalorian. He smiled brightly at seeing him, making Din’s heart feel warm, he was glad he had the helmet on that hid the ghost of a smile on his own. That was until Luke’s smile faded into one of confusion as he tilted his head, realising who he was with. “What are you doing there?”
“I got stuck in an elevator bringing back a bounty, what's your excuse?” Din said, still figuring out why Luke didn't seem to be on the planet he was supposed to be.
“A bounty?” Luke almost squeaked, but he didn't. “Din, please tell me Han isn't your bounty.”
“What? No, just some guy’s head to get payment, Solo showed up here on his own. Why is he calling you? Where are you? Is Grogu okay?” He lowered his voice at the last question, a threatening tone through and through.
“Grogu is fine, he’s with me, I told you we were going on a little adventure, we’re visiting my sister. He has her wrapped around his cute little green finger.” He laughed. “He’s safe, I promise.” He said softly, doing his best to reassure him, and forgetting about the other person in the room. “I can go get him—”
“It's alright, cyar’ika, let him have fun.” Din really wanted to talk to him, but he knew he had to let the kid have some fun, besides he would see them both soon. Before he said anything else he was cut off by a shocked exclamation.
“You know each other?” Solo spoke after a minute, having witnessed their interaction and finally being able to get his voice working again. Because seriously, what the kriff was going on? Din froze as he spoke, having also forgotten he was there too, he mentally berated himself for lowering his guard when talking to Luke. If this happened again in any other situation things could go so very wrong.
Din tensed, putting all his guard up before answering, not quite knowing what he was going to say. He nodded and shrugged. “We’ve crossed paths once or twice.” He said carefully, not wanting to reveal anything to Solo of all people.
Solo stared, gaping at him before turning to Luke who had suddenly gone oddly quiet. “Luke what is going on?” He frowned, the interaction he just witnessed did not scream acquaintances, he was missing something, but he didn't know what. Until it dawned on him Luke was on a first name basis with a Mandalorian. And wasn’t that- oh— “A fucking Mandalorian?? Really?!”
Din thanked any deity he did not believe in when the elevator doors opened before he had to deal with any aftermath of that shitshow of an interaction, especially after Luke decided to end the holo-call without any warning. He slipped past the doors, far away from Solo, deciding to be quick about his bounty so he could get out of there as quickly as possible. He didn't want to stay on that forsaken planet any longer.
He couldn't stop thinking about this one thing though, Luke never did say how he knew Han Solo. It had been pestering him ever since he left the elevator, he shoved that question for later as he made his way into his ship, he would get his answers soon enough, and hopefully this would be the last interaction with Solo he would have. He shuddered. Now, having to deal with him again would be bad luck.