Chapter Text
No matter how much Luke loves going back to Tatooine to visit his grandmother and his aunt and uncle, nothing will ever compare to the feeling he gets when he finally lands on Naboo and almost jumps out of the ship, not being able to keep a smile off his face as the familiar warm air hits his face.
As always, Padme is there to welcome him home.
“Luke!” She calls out with nothing but pure happiness in her voice, taking him into her arms the moment he is close enough. Luke wraps his own arms around his mother’s waist and pulls her off her feet for a second, drawing out a breathy laugh out of her. “How are you, sweetheart?”
“Tired.” Luke, being the son of the dramatic Anakin Skywalker that he is, whines and takes a step back, although Padme places her soft hand on his cheek and looks at him knowingly.
“Did the kids on Tatooine ask you to show them the Jedi tricks again?” Padme asks with a hint of amusement in her voice as they start making their way towards the palace, Artoo following them behind.
“Of course they did.” Luke grins proudly and fondly at the memory of the kids’ bright eyes filled with wonder as he suddenly made some objects around them float. “One of them even asked me to float him next.”
“Did you?”
“Mom! Who do you take me for? I am very responsible when it comes to–”
“Luke.”
At that knowing expression on Padme’s face again, Luke deflates like a balloon and quietly admits, “I might have.”
“Sometimes I wonder if there’s anything you did not get from your father.” Luke instantly opens his mouth to protest the statement but her mother looks at him with a raised eyebrow and Luke knows that specific look very well, there is no point in arguing. “Anyways, how are things on Tatooine?”
Luke’s entire face beams at the question and he quickly starts telling her everything that happened when he was back with his family on his home planet again.
He tells her about the tears Shmi desperately tried to hide the moment he caught a glimpse of him and for a second, she even thought that he was Anakin, despite the fact that he was there last week. He tells her about her bone crushing hug he ended up being pulled into by Owen and the hundreds of thousands questions about his safety that Beru dumped on him before he could even step a foot inside the house properly.
Luke doesn’t forget to get into a very heavy detail about meeting some of his old friends and their children, who didn’t even hide the astonishment as they discovered that their parents know and are friends with the Jedi.
“And all of it was so good until I got on Coruscant and The Council immediately demanded that I–”
Luke’s ranting is interrupted by a very familiar voice of Threepio who greets them happily as they finally reach the palace.
“Prince Luke!” He exclaims like Luke has been gone for years instead of only a week. “So nice to see you again!”
“You too, Threepio.” Luke replies with a grin on his face and pats him on the shoulder, the droid instantly getting distracted by a beeping Artoo behind Luke.
“What did The Council demand from you?” Padme asks carefully as they step inside the palace and that tone is another thing Luke knows very well. It’s the tone Padme usually uses when she’s planning to have a talk with the Jedi Council.
Luke is still not sure how Padme manages to get so directly involved with the Jedi business sometimes but he can take a guess that being the Queen of Naboo, being married to one of the Jedi masters and being the mother of the Prince of Naboo who also happens to be the Jedi has at least a bit to do with all of that.
Still, he’s pretty sure Anakin will never forgive him if he allows Padme to scold the entire Council for who knows how long now.
“Dad already took care of it, you don’t need to worry.” Luke tells her and even though it’s not exactly true, it’s not a complete lie either. Anakin did say that he would take care of the stupid request and Luke knows that he will.
Padme narrows her eyes at Luke like she’s trying to read his mind and for a second, Luke completely forgets that his mother is not Force-sensitive until a smile returns on Padme’s face and she simply nods.
“Speaking of your father, why did he not come with you?” Padme asks when they reach the staircase leading to the floor where Luke chose his bedroom to be. “He told me he would be here for dinner, almost the same time as Leia.”
“Obi Wan and Ahsoka asked him to stay behind for a while, I think it had something to do with the trainings of the younglings.”
Luke tries not to roll his eyes in annoyance at the memory of Anakin putting his hands on his shoulders, turning him around and physically shoving him out of the Jedi Temple when Luke suggested that he’d wait for him, claiming that he needed to get back to Naboo and rest as soon as he could.
“They’re risking letting the poor children see Anakin again since the last time?”
“Mom, it was an accident .” Luke is quick to defend his father, despite Padme’s tired sigh. “How is it dad's fault that one of the younglings suddenly bursted into tears at the sight of him? It’s not even like Anakin is scary .”
“Not scary?” Padme comes to a halt in the middle of the hallway and truly looks like she’s holding back a laugh. “Do I need to remind you of your trainings?”
Luke has to stop himself from physically wincing at the question.
Years ago, when The Council said that they couldn’t allow a father to train his own son to be a Jedi because they thought that he would go a bit easy on him, Anakin quickly turned around and proved them all wrong.
“Okay, fair.” Luke sighs out, accepting the defeat before they continue walking down the hallway and finally teach the familiar door. “I still have nightmares about it sometimes.”
“Oh, now you’re just being dramatic so I can feel bad for you.” Padme rolls her eyes, even though the smile never leaves her face. “You should be glad that Leia is on Alderaan, otherwise she would already be tackling you to the ground for the theatrics.”
“I’ll have you know that she is very used to my theatrics at this point.” Luke replies, batting his eyelashes innocently at her mother.
Padme shakes her head and reaches out to softly ruffle his already messy hair and pinches him on the cheek like she always used to do when he was a kid.
“Get rest.” She tells him gently and suddenly, Luke feels tiredness truly washing all over him, as if it was waiting for Padme to mention it so it could show itself. “I’ll wake you up when Anakin and Leia get here as well, alright?”
“Yep.” Luke confirms, leaning down to press a kiss on his mother’s cheek and then drags himself into his bedroom.
As soon as he closes the door behind him and hears the sound of Padme walking away, he presses his back against the wood and pulls the necklace out of his pocket, gently brushing his fingertips against the cool beskar in the shape of a mudhorn.
He breathes out in relief when he finally puts the chain around his neck again, almost like he finally found the piece of himself that has been lost since the moment he took it off to hide it. He hated that he had to do it but he couldn’t afford The Council to see it and question him about why he was carrying the Mand’alor’s signet with him.
Just because they finally got rid of that no attachment rule when they found out that it was being broken behind their backs anyway, it doesn't mean that they would simply accept the fact that Luke is married to the Mand'alor, the king of people who they have been at the war with for generations.
Luke isn't even sure that he can tell it to his parents without them (and especially Anakin) completely losing their mind about it.
That's exactly the reason why he and Din decided to take an example from Anakin and Padme and keep their marriage a secret for as long as they could.
After all, what could possibly go wrong?
☆
“How many times is Han going to drive his ship into the asteroid field until he finally learns his lesson?” Luke asks Leia across from him at the dinner table, grinning as she rolls her eyes because of his comment.
“Not as many times as you lost your lightsaber, of that I’m certain.”
“Hey!” Luke, clearly offended, calls out and instantly looks over at his father for help. “Dad, tell her I haven’t lost my lightsaber since I got the new one.”
“He really hasn’t.” Anakin replies without tearing his gaze away from Padme at the other side of the table and Luke is very familiar with the look the both of them are exchanging, but because he can say anything about it, Leia beats him to it.
“Okay, you two have been acting weird the entire dinner, aren’t you going to tell us why?” She questions with her eyes narrowed and takes a small sip of her drink, dragging her gaze back and forth between her parents.
The thing is, Padme has an amazing poker face, but the same truly cannot be said about Anakin, so it’s not surprising even a bit when Anakin immediately looks down at his plate like it’s the most fascinating thing he has ever seen the second the twins fix their gaze on him.
“Ani.” Padme says gently but at the same time it sounds quite demanding.
“Okay, fine.” Anakin breathes in like he’s trying to brace himself for whatever is going to come next. He pushes his plate back, his eyes instantly finding his son’s and Luke doesn’t even have to reach through Force to feel Anakin’s anxiety, he can see it in his eyes.
“Dad, you’re scaring me.” Luke releases a humourless chuckle. “What’s going on?”
“Luke, there’s something we need you to do for us.”
He furrows his eyebrows in confusion. “We?”
“The Jedi Council, The Republic– but mainly,” Anakin looks over at Padme for a split second before returning his attention back to Luke. “mainly Naboo.”
Luke snaps his gaze to Leia, as if she is the one who has the answers, but then turns back to his father again.
“What exactly is that something?” He asks and for whatever reason, he suddenly feels like he isn’t entirely sure if he’s ready to hear the answer.
“Naboo needs to strengthen its relationship with one of the planets that’s also quite important to The Republic and The Council, considering that they’re the ones with a very high number of Force-sensitive children…”
Anakin refuses to look away from Luke and it’s not very hard to realise that while talking to him, his father is also trying to find out through their bond how Luke feels about all of this, even though he doesn’t even understand what’s happening properly.
“God, dad, get straight to the point!” Leia, who clearly took after Anakin when it comes to impatience, calls out and almost throws daggers at Anakin with her eyes.
“The only way to make sure that all of our relationships with the planet are secure is with political marriage.” Anakin says and that last sentence is enough for Luke to process what they’re asking him to do before his father even has a chance to say it. “Luke, we need you to get married to the prince of–”
The first person that Luke’s panicked eyes find is his sister, who is mirroring his expression across from him. Considering that she’s the only one, excluding Han, who knows about his marriage with Din, it isn’t even surprising that suddenly, she looks like she’s ready to fight anyone who might force Luke to do something he doesn’t want to do, even the Jedi masters.
Luke doesn’t even notice that he’s back on his feet until Anakin pushes his own chair back and quickly makes his way towards him, placing his gloved hand on Luke’s shoulder and squeezing slightly.
“I know all of this is quick and a little scary but–”
“A little scary? A little scary? ” Luke’s eyes widen comically at his father’s words and looks at Padme, immediately being able to see the guilt in her brown eyes and despite already knowing the answer very well, he still asks, “mom, you know about this, didn’t you?”
Padme sighs out tiredly and gets up from her chair as well, cupping Luke’s face with her hands gently as soon as she’s standing beside him.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, sweetheart, I didn’t want to do it without your father.” Padme says and Luke thinks, the worst part is that he knows that Padme truly is sorry, he can hear it in her voice very well. “Luke, I need you to understand that–”
Luke doesn’t even give her time to finish the sentence because he already knows what she’s going to say and he isn’t sure he can bear hearing it.
“No, don’t.” He cuts her off quickly, maybe even a bit rudely and frees himself from both of his parents, walking away from them enough to put a distance between them. “I don’t– I don’t even know him, how can I get married to someone I have never even met?”
“Luke, of course you’ll meet him before the wedding.”
Leia curses quietly under her breath and gets up from her chair, not even hiding the fact that she’s glaring at both of their parents as she makes her way towards Luke.
“Dad, that’s not the point .” Luke chokes the words out and physically has to force himself not to burst into tears as soon as he feels Leia wrapping her fingers around his wrist. “I don’t love him–”
“Luke, you need to understand that this is not only about you or us, it’s–”
“I don’t care what it’s about!” Luke interrupts Anakin quickly, feeling like he’s boiling underneath his skin.
“We all have a duty here, Luke, whether we like it or not.”
“Since when does my duty involve throwing away my happiness for politics?! Leia is getting married to someone she loves, you two got married because you loved each other even though it was not allowed.” Padme and Anakin exchange a look but Luke isn’t able to put a name on it, it disappears too quickly. “Why don’t I deserve to have that too? Why don’t I deserve to spend my life with someone that I love?”
All of the sudden, Luke feels like the mudhorn signet is trying to burn through his skin on his chest and he wants nothing more than to yell at his parents’ faces that another reason why he cannot do what they ask of him is because he already is married, he already is someone’s husband.
“Luke, nobody is saying that you don’t deserve to be happy.” Padme tells him and those words are enough for the first tear to roll down Luke’s cheek. “However, you need to understand that things don’t always go the way we want them to.”
“We get it that this is hard for you, but sometimes we need to push back our own wishes to do what’s necessary.”
“Oh, like you and mom did when you got married in secret?” Luke almost spits the words out, not being able to feel bad at the way Padme flinches and Anakin’s eyes widen. “What happened to you two? I don’t even recognise you anymore.”
Before they have a chance to say anything in return, Luke quickly turns around and storms out of the dining room, slamming the door shut behind him.
☆
After a couple of days, when Luke realises that there’s no point in yelling at his parents about the marriage he doesn’t want to be a part of, he decides to go to Mandalore.
He slips a small note under the door of Leia’s room in the middle of the night and then without even taking Artoo with him, he sneaks out of the palace like a thief before anyone can notice or worse, try and stop him.
He forces himself to push aside the disappointment he feels when he notices that Din isn’t on the landing dock of Sundari. The only ones Luke sees are the Dutchess, her nephew and Bo-Katan with Grogu on her hip.
As soon as he steps out of his ship and gets close enough, Grogu leaps out of her arms and almost flies directly into Luke’s.
“Hey, little one.” Luke scratches his tiny head gently, the way he knows that Grogu loves.
Grogu wastes no time informing Luke about everything that he missed while he was away. The images and feelings are so quick and so many through their bond that Luke almost trips over his own feet and ends up face planting on the ground.
“Luke, it’s so nice to see you again.” Satine says with a warm smile on her face and Luke cannot stop blood from rushing up to his cheeks.
Grogu coos happily in Luke’s arms as he stares up at him and for whatever reason, Luke feels like the kid has the audacity in his small body to make fun of Luke for it.
“I can definitely say the same.” Luke replies politely as they start making their way through the city. “If you don’t mind me asking, where's the–”
“The Mand'alor is at the palace.” Bo-Katan answers before Luke can even ask the question properly and the look in her eyes is enough for Luke to realise that Din finally told her about them. Although, Luke doesn’t even want to imagine the reaction she probably had.
“How are things on Coruscant?” Satine asks, gently brushing her fingers against Grogu’s ears as the kid keeps messing with Luke’s robes. “I’m pretty sure Padme is still working as hard as ever, if not more.”
At the sound of his mother’s name, Luke tries not to wince simply because he doesn’t want to end up explaining the real reason for his visit to the Duchess of Mandalore.
“She is.” Luke hopes that the smile he offers to her isn’t too forced. “She is running around in the Senate the entire day while dad basically lives in The Jedi Temple, at this point.”
“Are he and Ahsoka still causing trouble for poor Obi-Wan?” Satine asks with a spark in her eyes.
Luke cannot for the life of him understand why Bo-Katan groans out quietly and rolls her eyes the moment her sister mentions Obi-Wan.
“We’re all pretty sure doing that is one of their main missions in life, Duchess.” Luke tells her, winking at Korkie who doesn’t even try to cover up the cackle that breaks out of his throat.
Luke and Satine talk about bits of everything as they continue walking towards the royal palace and, much to Luke’s surprise, sometimes even Bo-Katan decides to get involved in the conversation.
When they reach the throne room, Bo-Katan takes Grogu from Luke, although the kid almost starts crawling on the walls the moment he’s removed from his favourite Jedi, and tells her sister something with her eyes that Luke doesn’t quite understand but Satine does.
“Well, I think we should go now.” She says politely and smiles at Luke again. “I’ll see you later, Luke.”
Then, they walk away and Luke wastes no time barging inside the throne room.
Din snaps his head towards the entrance and even though the helmet is covering his face, Luke knows that he’s glaring until he finally processes who has walked inside.
“Luke.” He whispers out like he’s trying to make sure that he’s really there.
Luke lets out a small laugh and not caring about who might suddenly walk inside the throne room, he almost runs towards his husband who quickly drops the datapad on the floor and opens his arms right in time, stumbling back slightly when Luke’s body crashes against his with full force.
“What are you doing here?” Din asks quietly as he wraps his arms a bit more tightly around Luke’s body when he buries his face in the crook of his husband’s neck.
“What?” Luke giggles under his breath and pulls away slightly so it’s enough to be face to face with Din again. “Don’t tell me you’re not happy to see me.”
Luke is completely sure that Din rolls his eyes because of his comment.
“Stop being stupid.” He says and Luke can hear a smile in his voice.
It isn’t even a bit surprising when Luke’s heart skips a beat and his breath hitches in his throat the moment Din removes his helmet and Luke is finally able to look into those brown eyes again.
Din, being the menace to the society that he is, lets out a quiet chuckle because of Luke’s reaction and lets go of his helmet in order to cup Luke’s face with both of his hands and pull him into a kiss.
Luke instantly melts into it.
“I thought you were going back to Coruscant, why are you here?” Din asks when they finally manage to pull away, even though his hands never leave Luke’s face and Luke refuses to let go of him as well. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, obviously, but is everything okay?”
Luke has no idea what his expression turns into because of the question but, apparently, it’s enough to make Din worried and fear to flash into his eyes.
“Din, my parents–”
“Are they okay?” Din asks before Luke can even get the words out properly.
“Yes, yes, they’re fine.” Luke assures him and tightens his grip on Din’s forearms, an attempt to keep himself grounded. “Din, they need me to marry someone for political reasons.”
For a second, Din doesn’t say anything else and then he drops his hands and looks at Luke like he cannot believe what he just heard.
“What?”
“He’s the prince of a planet that they need to have a secure relationship with– it’s not only about Naboo, it’s about The Republic and The Jedi Council as well but…” Luke forces himself to swallow around the lump in his throat and tries his best to figure out what Din is thinking and most importantly, what he’s feeling . “But it’s still mainly for Naboo and I–”
“You as both the Prince of Naboo and the Jedi knight have a duty.” Din cuts him off and there’s something about his tone that makes Luke feel like he’s being suffocated. “What does Padme say about all of this?”
Luke tries not to show how much the unexpected question takes him aback.
“She’s– she’s trying to convince me to go through it.” Luke tells him and wishes he could just read Din’s mind to know what’s going on in that head of his. “I’ve been arguing about it with them for days but it all seems to be in vain.”
Din takes a step back and drags a hand over his face, suddenly looking so exhausted that Luke’s heart aches.
“Is it really that important to Naboo?” He asks and he either does not notice the way Luke’s eyes widen because of the question or he simply doesn’t focus on it.
“I– I think so… My mom was quite serious everytime she brought it up.”
“Do your parents think it’s the only solution?”
“Din, what are you trying to say?” Luke whispers out, not being sure if he’s ready to hear the answer in case it’s what he fears it is.
Din sighs out tiredly and all of the sudden, he looks like he wants nothing more than to avoid looking into Luke’s eyes which makes him even more unsettled.
“ Din .” Luke’s tone turns a bit more cold, a bit more demanding. “What are you trying to say?”
“Luke, I– I don’t think your parents would tell you to do such a thing if they didn’t think that was the only solution to the problem…”
Luke is quite sure he hears the way his heart cracks in the middle of his chest.
He takes a couple of steps back to put a bit of distance between him and Din and looks at the man in front of him like he cannot recognise him at all.
“Din, I’m your husband– how can you even…” Luke is unable to finish the sentence the moment a sob threatens to break out of his throat.
“I understand your parents, Luke.” Din says like they’re discussing a political issue and not Luke’s entire life. “As a leader of people myself, I know why Padme is doing all of this. I understand her–”
“What about me? What about me , Din?” Luke chokes the words out, his eyes instantly filling up with tears. “No, I get it, okay? I get it. You understand my parents and you understand the choices they’re making but what about me ?!”
“Luke…” Din whispers and reaches out, but Luke takes another step back as the feeling of betrayal tears his heart into million little pieces. "I'm willing to let you go if that is what's needed for your planet."
"I don't want you to let me go! I want you to choose me, I want you to fight for me– I’m your husband, Din! Are you going to just stand by to watch my father walk me down the aisle and hand me off to somebody else like none of this hurts ?”
“Of course it hurts, Luke!” Din snaps, his eyes flashing dangerously. “I love you, of course all of this is breaking my heart as well.”
“Then help me do something about it!” Luke yells as he physically forces himself to not storm over to Din and shove him onto the ground.
“What can we do? Do you think there's anything we can do?” He asks and throws his hands in the air before dropping them again, releasing another exhausted sigh. “Our people hate each other, Luke. I don’t even know how my people will react when they find out that their king is married to an enemy–”
“Oh, is that what I am now?” Luke hisses, wiping the tears away from his face. “ An enemy ?”
“You know what I meant.” Din lets the words out between his teeth, suddenly looking at Luke in a way that people look at an unreasonable child. “Our people will always see each other as enemies and your people need you to do this for them…”
“Don’t lecture me about what my people do and don't need, I’m not a child.”
“Then stop acting like one!”
Those five words are enough for Luke to fall silent and the silence that stretches between them is enough for Din to realise what he has done.
“Luke, I didn’t–”
“Don’t.” Luke cuts him off harshly, his blue eyes cold. “We both know that you did.”
Din tries to say something but the words turn to ash right on his tongue as he watches Luke remove the necklace with the mudhorn signet and take a couple of steps towards him. Then he grabs Din’s hand and shoves it into his palm.
“I guess there’s no point in holding onto this if I’m going to be someone else’s husband soon.” He says, his eyes filled with anger and hurt and disdain before he turns around and starts making his way towards the door.
“Luke–”
“Enemies or not, you'll probably receive a personal wedding invite from my mother too.” He shrugs coldly. “She’s close with the Duchess.”
Without giving Din time to say anything to him, Luke steps out of the throne room and slams the door shut, but he doesn’t leave.
He waits for a minute or two, waiting to see if Din follows him because if he does, Luke will stay here with him and not go through the wedding no matter what anyone around him says; because if Din says don't go , Luke will stay forever.
But Din does not follow him, he does not tell him not to go and that’s enough for Luke to let the tears fall as he runs out of the royal palace of Mandalore.
☆
After a few days of giving Din the signet back, returning to Naboo and earning a couple of hours long lecture from his parents, Luke is in his room, curled up against Leia’s side in his bed and trying to hold back the tears as his sister gently runs her fingers in his hair.
“Has he tried contacting you at all?” He asks quietly, his gaze fixed on the garden he can see through his ridiculously big windows.
Leia sighs out and that’s enough for Luke to guess her answer before she even says it.
“No, he hasn’t.” She tells him and Luke forces himself to ignore the way his eyes start to sting. “The Duchess did contact mom, though. She was worried about you suddenly leaving Mandalore…”
“ That’s how she knew I was there?” Luke gasps out and sits up on the bed, leaning against the headboard as he stares at Leia, who just shrugs. “Still, that’s not the same as Din even caring if I got home safe–”
“Luke, don’t say that.” Leia interrupts him softly, even though Luke knows very well that she’s more angry at Din than she’s allowing herself to show. “He cares about you…”
“Well, he’s truly great at showing it.” Luke rolls his eyes. “Considering the fact that I’m getting married to someone else tomorrow and he doesn’t even pretend to care.”
“What if you just run away, then?” Luke doesn’t know what kind of expression he has on his face when Leia says those words but, apparently, they’re enough for a laugh to break out of her throat before she sits up properly on the bed as well. “Think about it. You don’t want to go through the loveless marriage, no matter how important it is to our planet–”
“So you do think it’s important to our planet–”
“Do not interrupt me.” Leia cuts him off quickly, ignoring Luke’s pout. “You don’t want to go through it but you cannot go to Mandalore either for multiple reasons, which leaves only one planet you can go to.”
It takes Luke a few seconds to understand which planet Leia means, and then his eyes widen so much that they’re close to popping out of their sockets.
“You’re suggesting that I run to Tatooine and hide there?!”
“Do you have any better ideas?!” Leia fires back the same way Padme does when Anakin tries arguing with her about something he should not argue back about.
“I’m pretty sure they’ll just drag me back here anyway so…”
“If you think uncle Owen and aunt Beru will let them do that, you are gravely mistaken.” Leia rolls her eyes, nudging him in the ribs. “I’m pretty sure they’ll guard the entrance of the house with rifles in their hands against the Jedis if it means protecting you.”
Luke cannot stop the way his mouth curls up into a smile.
“Do those Jedis include dad too?”
Leia thinks about it for a second and then shakes her head. “Dad will have to deal with grandma one to one.”
“Oh, he’s so losing that one.” Luke giggles and curls back against Leia’s side again, dropping his head on his sister’s shoulder as she wraps her arm around him.
The silence that falls between them is enough for Luke to get transported back to that throne room on Mandalore, his brain replaying the final conversation he had with Din and before he even knows, he’s crying and the tears are sinking through Leia’s shirt.
“Luke…” Leia breathes out the moment she realises that Luke is seconds away from turning into a sobbing mess and she tries to pull away to look at him properly, but he shakes his head and tightens his grip on her arm. “Luke, what’s wrong?”
“What isn’t ?” Luke finally manages to choke out. “I’m being forced to marry someone I haven’t even met and– and the man I love more than anything in the entire galaxy isn’t doing anything because– apparently, he understands–”
Suddenly, he feels the way Leia tenses against him before she wraps both of her arms around his trembling body and pulls him even closer. He presses his face against the side of her throat and continues breaking down.
“He said that he understands why my parents are making this decision– can you believe it?” Luke releases a bitter chuckle and sniffles. “He understands and he’s okay with people treating me like I’m their puppet, he doesn’t even think about standing by my side when I need him the most–” He sits back weakly and looks up at Leia with a hopeless look in his teary eyes. “I’m his husband, Leia, why won’t he fight for me?”
Leia opens his mouth to say something but Luke never gets to hear it, because the door of his bedroom cracks open and Padme walks inside with an unreadable expression which twists into concern as soon as she notices Luke’s tear stained face.
“Luke, what’s wrong?” She asks and quickly makes her way towards the bed, sitting down beside him and caringly putting her hand over his.
The simple touch is enough for Luke to feel like he has been burnt.
“ What’s wrong? ” Luke scoffs as he pulls his hand back from her touch and frees himself from Leia’s hold before he crawls out of the bed. He stands in front of his mother and harshly wipes his tears away from his face, looking at her like he doesn’t even know what to say.
“Luke–”
“How can you ask me that when you know exactly what’s wrong?” Luke chokes the words out and hates himself for the way more tears spill out of his eyes. “Mom, please, don’t make me do this– I cannot do this…”
“Luke, we’ve been through this already.” Padme sighs out and the look in her eyes tells Luke that it is hard for her to do this as well, but it isn’t enough for Luke.
Her guilt isn’t enough, he needs her not to make him do this.
He’s running out of time, he’s losing hope and all he needs right now is his mother to stand by his side because she’s the only one who can stop all of this.
“Mom, please,” Luke whispers out helplessly and drops on his knees in front of her, paying no mind to the way her eyes widen at the action before he grabs her hands and holds onto them for a dear life. “you’re my only hope.”
Under the light of Luke’s room, Padme’s eyes start to shine with tears all because of his words, because of the pain in his eyes and desperation in his voice.
“Luke, I know you’re scared but I promise–”
“It has nothing to do with me being scared, mom!” Luke yells out, letting go of Padme and jumping back up on his feet again. “It has nothing to do with that! I just can not do it! I do not want to do it!” He quickly wipes away the tears that keep rolling down onto his cheeks, both from anger and from heartbreak. “What happened to you, mom? You of all people should be standing by my side right now–”
“I have a duty as a Queen of this planet, Luke, and so do you.” Padme replies, slowly getting up from the bed as well until she’s standing in front of Luke. “And I truly hate to do this to you kid, I really do, but right now, your duty is to get married to–”
“Mom, I am already married!” Luke yells, his ears ringing and his heart threatening to beat out of his chest. “I am already someone’s husband!”
Luke’s heavy breathing is the only sound breaking the silence that falls into the room.
At this point, Leia is standing behind Padme and looking at Luke over her shoulder with widened eyes while Padme is staring at her son like she’s trying to comprehend the words that just left his mouth.
It doesn’t take her long.
“You are what ?”
Although Luke feels like he’s seconds away from passing out the moment he processes what he has done, he still manages to realise that, much to his surprise, Padme doesn’t look or sound angry, she just seems like she cannot believe it.
Still, that doesn’t stop Luke from reflexively taking a step back in worry.
“Luke, what did you do?” Padme asks quietly, not tearing her gaze away from him.
“I love him, mom.” Luke whispers with a shaky voice because he does . “I love him so much.”
It doesn’t matter that Din broke his heart into tiny pieces by not doing anything, it doesn’t matter that he still hasn’t contacted him even though he knows that the wedding is tomorrow.
None of it matters to Luke because he loves Din so much that the thoughts of having to be without him and having to spend the rest of his life with someone else is enough for Luke to feel like dying.
“Who is he, Luke?” Padme asks him, that unreadable expression back on her face. “Who did you marry?”
“Din Djarin.” Luke answers, sticking his chin out even though his entire body is trembling from worry. “The King of Mandalore.”
Padme’s face drops altogether and without saying another word, she turns around and almost runs out of the room.
Luke stares at the open door stupidly before dragging his gaze to his sister.
“Leia, what have I done?”
As always, she’s there to hold him when he breaks down again.