Work Text:
"The Date Table"
Leia was having an idle lunch, and innocent conversation, when a blue-eyed ensign turned her world upside down. They weren't even discussing anything pressing, or remotely related to the Rebellion - Leia had accepted an invitation to break for lunch with a new group of recruits she'd been walking through the base, and she, along with another female veteran, Ciegra, were offering them some tips regarding what it was like to live and work among mostly men, in desperate, icy conditions.
"It's not really worth it to fraternize with anyone who is permanently stationed on the base," Ciegra was saying frankly. "It can just get...uncomfortable. You think it's great, things go wrong, you have to see that person all the time," she laughed. She gestured at Leia. "And technically, it's not allowed to fraternize within your chain of command."
Leia nodded, picking at her rations. She wasn't feeling the cardboard flavored noodles today. She'd been a bit spoiled lately with the fresh food Han was bringing back and secreting away on the Falcon. And she'd been off planet twice lately on missions that yielded better fare.
"The potential power issues make it off limits," Leia said, "more for the protection of younger, lower ranked recruits than anyone else."
"Is anyone here younger than you, Your Highness?" piped up one of the girls, her eyes wide. "They made me wait until I was twenty to enlist."
"I'm twenty-two," Leia said. "Please call me Leia."
"So, not that it's the only reason we're here, but I don't plan to be celibate while I throw my life on the line," another woman said wryly. "What's the smart way to...scratch the itch?"
"Off planet," Leia said succinctly.
"Well, yes," Ciegra agreed, "but not all of us get out as much as you," she snorted. "Off planet is better for us, because if you're a woman and you're sleeping with men, if it's off planet there's way less chance of it becoming the talk of the fishbowl," she rolled her eyes, "but if you're looking close to home - as homey as the barracks get," she glanced around, then pointed vaguely to a concern of the mess where some of the contractors were gathered. "Look for the contractors," she said, "smugglers, freighters, intelligence," she listed. "They aren't around all the time. Some never come back."
The new recruits nodded earnestly.
"What if we want the same one?" a woman asked archly. "Or we fight over one?" she laughed.
"Be adults," Ciegra retorted, and gestured at Leia with her fork, "though hearts broke all over Hoth when she took Han Solo off the market."
Leia, who had been taking a sip of her juice, nearly spat it all over the table. She instead settled for spitting her mouthful discreetly back into the cup so she wouldn't choke on it and lowering it slowly.
"He never really leaves," though, Ciegra continued thoughtfully.
"Ciegra," Leia said loudly. "What are you talking about?"
Ciegra shrugged.
"I am lamenting the fact that Solo only has eyes for - "
"Han and I aren't dating," Leia broke in, incredulous. "Did he tell you that?"
Ciegra paused.
"No," she said slowly.
She looked at Leia without guile, and Leia frowned, her attention completely taken off the new recruits - though she could see them watching the conversation closely.
"Who told you we were dating?" Leia asked.
"No...one," Ciegra said.
"Then why - "
"Aren't you?"
Exasperated, Leia plopped her cup down loudly.
"Why do you think I'm dating Han?" she asked.
Ciegra's mouth moved soundlessly. She looked vaguely alarmed, but not deceptive, which led Leia to believe her conviction was genuine. Which was even more concerning.
"Well, well," Ciegra floundered. "He takes you to dinner all the time."
Leia laughed.
"We're on a locked down base - "
"But he asks you to eat with him, and you go, and you sit over there," she pointed to a two person table in the corner of the mess, "which is the date table, and - "
"The what?!"
"--or you go eat with him on the Falcon, he only shares really fresh stuff with you, and Chewbacca told me the last two times you were off planet you had dinner together - "
"You speak Shriyywook?!"
"-and once he took you to the botanical gardens on Nentaan, and last time he came back he brought you flowers? We all saw, so - "
At the look on Leia's face, Ciegra trailed off.
"We're - we're - friends," Leia argued faintly.
"Um," Ciegra said. "But."
"But what?"
"You...don't do any of that with...anyone else, and neither does he. Jansen brought you candies once and you didn't take it because you were afraid it would send the wrong impression. Megga asked Solo to sit at the date table last week and he said no...?"
"What," Leia hissed, "is the date table?"
Ciegra pointed it out again.
"That one. Everyone knows that. It's so others on base knows who is going with who and to steer clear until it implodes."
Leia gaped at her.
"So, maybe you didn't know that," Ciegra muttered.
The other women watched the exchange like an engrossing smashball match.
Leia turned to look narrowly at the table. It sat empty and unassuming. She clenched her jaw.
"Does Han know that is the date table?" she asked crisply.
When Ciegra didn't answer, Leia turned to look at her imperiously. Ciegra swallowed. She nodded. Leia sniffed, her nostrils flaring - of course he did. That...scoundrel...that...insufferable -
"Did you, um," Ciegra began faintly. She winced. "Did you not know you were dating?"
Leia dumped her utensils into her ration tray and stacked her cup on it. She stood up.
"Excuse me," she said, climbing out from her bench.
Ciegra nodded. Leia managed to give a tight smile, and a polite nod, to the new women, who all looked somewhere between fascinated and bewildered, and started to stalk off - she had a smuggler to find.
"Oh, um - Leia?" Ciegra called.
Leia turned slightly.
"Well, also...the rest of us just call him Solo," she added, as if that made everything obvious.
Leia wanted to retort that Luke called him Han, too, but Luke spent most of his time with the Rogues these days, or off planet running covert missions, so no one probably remembered that. Her cheeks flamed slightly, and she snapped her head forward, continuing her stalk out of the mess hall - if memory served, at this time of day, Han was usually bumming around the Falcon making its existence more illegal by the second. With any luck, he'd be trapped amidst some tangled wires when she found him, with no avenue of escape.
[The Princess is here,] Chewbacca announced unnecessarily, his eyes fixed on the viewport.
"I can see her," Han muttered, looking up from the navigational computer.
[Does she not look pissed off?] Chewie asked.
"No. She always looks like that. That's how she looks," Han snorted.
Chewbacca tilted his head. He hit a button to make sure the boarding ramp was down for her. Han glanced over at the movement as if he was going to say something about it but shrugged. He hadn't seen Leia all day, and he had a nice dumpling fry idea for dinner, so it would be a good time to ask -
"HAN SOLO!"
Her voice echoed through the ship so unexpectedly loudly that Han jumped. Alarmed, he raised his eyebrows and turned around.
"What the fuck?" he whispered, eyes going wide.
[Told you she looked pissed.]
"Chewie - I've been here all morning; you know I couldn't have - "
Chewbacca stood up, raising his hands in surrender.
[Goodbye.]
He booked it out of the cockpit.
"Chewie!" Han hissed. "Vouch for - "
[He is in the cockpit,] he heard Chewie growl loudly.
Han's mouth fell open. He scrambled, looking around furiously, accepted immediately that he had nowhere to run - and he didn't even know what this was about! - and then decided to play it as cool as possible. He swung his feet up on the controls, leaned back casually in this chair. He ruffled his hair. He poked at the collar of his shirt so it fell open a little more than usual - irresistible, right? He had to be.
Leia appeared in the doorway like a thunderstorm, and at that moment Han realized the obvious course of action would have been to lock the damn door. Since he had not done that, he swiveled his chair a little and turned to her, mustering a careless grin.
"Hey Sweetheart," he greeted. "Want to join me for dinner tonight? I have dumplings from - "
He trailed off at the outraged look on her face. Apparently, he'd said exactly the wrong thing.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" she snapped.
Han thought about his answer for a split second.
"Yes?" he retorted. "Why else would I ask?"
"As part of your grand plan to convince this whole base we are dating," she hissed.
Han closed his mouth. He reached up to touch his face. Oh. So she'd - ah. She'd realized...but why was she so angry? He thought he'd done a pretty good job of taking it slow. He hadn't even made any physical moves on her! Just that one incident of very tame footsie when they were at that diner on Mygeeto, but she hadn't moved her foot away.
"I dunno why you're so - wait, convince?" he said, narrowing his eyes. "What do you mean 'convince'?" he asked.
He wasn't playing a game. He wasn't...carrying out some bet. He was just trying not to make her feel pressured, or spooked or -
"What do you mean asking me what I mean?" she fired back, driving her hands into her hips.
Han stared at her, uncertain. She glared right back, though after a moment, she did falter a little.
"You," she started, "have made it look," she stopped again. Her brow knit. "Are we...dating?" she asked faintly, suddenly wildly unsure of this situation.
Han pointed to himself.
"I haven't made it look like anything," he defended. "I've asked you to dinner. You keep saying yes - "
"You are my friend, Han, of course I said yes!"
"We sat at the date table, though," Han said, and she was incensed to find he was completely serious. "And when I took you over there you didn't object."
"You knew it was the date table!" she accused.
"Of course I knew! Everyone knows!"
"How does everyone know about this damn - "
Han started laughing, albeit a bit nervously.
"You didn't...? Well, I'm sorry, Your Worship - but you come here alone, too!" He accused. "And the dinners on Mygeeto and - the botanical gardens - "
"You're my friend," she argued faintly.
"Leia, I don't take my friends bouquets of sun daisies as soon as I get back from a run," Han said dryly.
Leia folded her arms. She glared.
"I don't know your business."
"Yes, you do," he argued. "You know it better than anyone else."
She stared at him. Han swung his legs off the controls and got up. He leaned back against the dashboard, facing her and folding his own arms. He raised his brows.
"You really didn't know it was the date table?"
To his amusement, Leia stamped her foot. Actually stamped it in a fury, like people did in films and in books.
"What is the matter with you?" she growled.
"Just tryin' to show a lady a good time," Han retorted.
"Don't you think it is polite to ask someone if they'd like to date you before you just start," Leia paused, crinkling her nose, "dating them?"
"No."
"No?" she demanded.
"Listen, I thought I was bein' pretty clear," Han said. "'Cause, y'know, I also don't put my foot on my friends' ankles underneath tables."
"That could also be a friendly gesture," Leia blustered, her face turning red - right, he had done that...but she'd thought it was a mistake, like he thought her leg was part of the table or something, and it had felt kind of cozy, so she hadn't alerted him.
"Really? You gotta introduce me to more of your friends."
Leia opened her mouth to yell at him. He held up a hand.
"I just asked you to do stuff alone with me and you kept sayin' yes," he pointed out. "It was your say if you wanted to. I never asked you in front of people, either."
Leia snapped her mouth shut. All of that was true.
"You never said the word 'date,'" she argued, a little of her anger abating.
Had she just been ignorant?
"Ha," Han snorted. "That's 'cause 'date' is on my list of words that make you twitch, and not in a fun way."
Annoyed at that, Leia put her hands back on her hips.
"Oh, you have a list?" she challenged. "I'd love to see that."
Han turned and hit a button on his computer. It glowed. He tapped another button, and then gestured to the log.
"Be my guest."
In disbelief, Leia eyed him, and then stepped forward cautiously. She sidled up next to him and peered down at his notes. He actually had a bulleted list, filed in the system, of words that he'd apparently observed made her twitch. She read: date, relationship, emotion, feelings, love, romance, therapy, Vader -- she did twitch at that, and Han put a hand on her shoulder, and killed the screen. Before he did, she read a few more of the notes: grief, future, snakes, needle.
"Well," Leia said stiffly, trying to maintain some dignity. "You are right about one thing. Snakes."
Han laughed.
"Sorry," he said. "Some of them are more serious than the others."
Leia stared at the now blank screen, biting the inside of her cheek. Her irritation had completely faded away. She thought of the utter innocence on Ciegra's face when she'd announced to those women that Han Solo was off the market, because Han Solo was Leia's. This was clearly something the rest of the base understood implicitly, and Han was right - had asked her on all those...dates...privately, and she had agreed. And he'd brought her those flowers. And now that she thought about it -
"The sun daisies," she said. "That was the day after my birthday."
Han dipped his head.
"Yeah, that's why I came by so early," he said. "Thought I'd be back the night before. Missed it."
She didn't say anything. She looked up and out the viewport. Activity consumed the hangar, and no one spared a second glance for the Falcon, or Leia in the cockpit with its captain. She tapped her fingers on the controls, letting her mind wander. She glanced back down at the navi computer, thinking of all those words. She wanted to find it obnoxious, mean, even, but instead she found it thoughtful. He'd taken the time to keep track of things that...scared her? Instead of bombarding her with them every day.
"Leia," Han said finally, "I wanted to make it less intimidating for you. You'd run off if I just said the word 'date,'. It's too...weird. For what we're all doin' here."
Date. Who dated in the middle of a war? It was a light word. An incongruous word. And he was right, normalcy scared her, and so did attaching definitive nouns to her actions, sometimes. When it pertained to him. That meant...well, defining it. And defining it meant getting hurt by it.
"Sorry if I fucked up," he said bluntly, "but I didn't think I was bein' creepy."
He'd just been being nice to her. Once or twice, a while ago, he'd asked her to dinner and she'd said no, and he shrugged it off. He didn't make a thing of it. He'd been heartened when she started saying yes.
"I don't think you were being creepy," she said immediately, meaning it. Half an hour ago, she might have called it devious, roguish, but she didn't feel manipulated, because she liked spending time with him. And he'd given her a way to do it without feeling obligated to put a name on it. It was others who had thrown the word in her face.
She turned to him and impulsively slid her arms around his waist, putting her face against his chest. His shirt was open, so her cheek brushed his skin.
"It's sweet," she decided quietly. "I love sun daises."
He shrugged.
"I know," he said.
He didn't do anything with his arms for a moment, and then he rested his hands on her shoulders warmly. He leaned against the controls more heavily, letting her use him for support. Relieved, he smiled. When Chewbacca slowly poked his nose into the cockpit to check on things, he let out a breath, trying to indicate that he was safe from the wrath. Leia felt the movement - or sensed the audience - and pulled back a little. She let her hands stay on Han's waist but whipped her head towards the Wookiee.
"Chewie. Did you know about this?"
Chewie drew back.
[Goodbye,] he announced.
"Chewie! She's not mad," Han said, rolling his eyes. "Uhh...anymore."
[Oh.] Chewbacca filled the doorway. He shrugged. [Of course I knew. You were always sitting at the date table.]
Leia's mouth popped open. She slapped her palm lightly against Han's chest.
"For the love of...why am I the only one who didn't know about the date table?"
Han started to laugh, and Leia flushed, biting back a smile, trying to look indignant - if anything, this just proved that the most important intelligence she ought to be analyzing was right here in her own backyard.