Chapter Text
“So there’s this guy,” Paz said as soon as Din opened the front door for his brother that Friday night.
“Is there?” Din asked, stepping aside so Paz could walk into the little apartment without bowling him over. He couldn’t help that he sounded so blase about the whole thing. There was always a guy in Paz’s life, and none of them usually went anywhere. Paz wasn’t necessarily the type to settle and stay settled. Something he got from his father, their mother always said. She never spoke the words in bitter tones, but Paz and Din could always hear them in her voice anyway. Din never asked, and Paz never offered up answers.
“Yes.” Paz hissed. He stopped in the front hall, staring Din down. He looked a little panicked. “His name is Val. He works at the kid’s daycare.”
Din blinked. He knew Val. Val was sweet and kind and watched Grogu on the days that Miss Tano had off and wore far too many pastel sweaters. Din liked Val. “I—“ Din blinked again and shook his head and closed the door and locked it behind him. He needed to take a minute and process that.“—I wouldn’t have thought he was your type.”
“I didn’t either!” Paz shoved his way down the hall, tossing his overnight bag on the couch as he stalked towards the kitchen. Din should start charging him rent with how often his brother stayed over. “But he stopped at Peli’s because he needed help jumping his car and we got to talking and things just—“ Paz paused as he saw Grogu drawing at the kitchen table. The kid had his crayons scattered everywhere across the table, the crayola box Din tried so hard to keep them in blissifly empty and on the floor. “Hey little man.”
Grogu offered up a wave before going back to his picture.
“Things just what?” Din asked. He bent down to scoop up the crayola box and started gathering up the crayons on the far end of the table. Then it clicked. “Did you sleep with him?”
“We got dinner first.” Paz mumbled, crossing his arms and propping his hip against the counter. Then he pointed at Din. “You can’t judge me, Mr. I fucked around with half the university’s population.” Then, "Are you wearing earrings?"
And yeah, okay, Din couldn’t argue with that, but still–
“I like Val, Paz,” Din said, ignoring Paz's question. He was, just a pair of old silver studs he had got when he first pierced his ears, but that wasn't important. Din picked up a red crayon to shove it in the box, but he just ended up passing it back off to Grogu when his son tugged on his sleeve. “He’s a good person. He doesn’t deserve to be one of your one and done deals.”
“I don’t want him to be a one and done thing, Din, that’s the problem.”
Din gave up on trying to put the crayons back and set the half full box on the table and turned to face Paz. “How is that a problem?”
“God you are no fucking help,” Paz sighed, then glanced at Grogu. Grogu was staring up at him. “Ready to get your Candy Land champion title taken away, little dude?”
Grogu gave Paz an incredulous stare.
Din snorted.
–
By the time Paz lost his third game in a row he called a break and demanded they go get a pizza to heal his wounded pride. Grogu cheered, and Din sighed and went to grab his wallet from his room.
Logically, Din knew it didn’t weigh anything more than it always did. But it felt like such a heavy thing as he picked it up off the dresser, the weight of all the extra money Boba had so easily given Din–enough to not need to take a job for several months and still be comfortable–there and present in the front of Din’s mind. It had been all he had been able to think about for this entire week, if Din were honest. Next time Boba had said, and it seemed like an excuse just as much as it did a promise.
Din shoved his wallet in his pocket and grabbed his leather jacket from the bed and left the room.
“Grogu wants hawaiian,” Paz said when Din came back into the living room.
Din wrinkled his nose. He hated hawaiian pizza, but Grogu loved it. Paz was pretty indifferent to it, but every time he got a chance to make Din eat it he took it.
“Please?” Grogu asked.
Din sighed. “Sure, kiddo.”
Grogu gave a toothy grin, then ran over to Din and wrapped his arms around Din’s thigh in a tight hug. Din knelt down to pull his son into a proper hug. He pressed a kiss to the top of Grogu’s head–the green dye was starting to fade, and he made himself a mental note to ask if he wanted to redye it–then reached for his coat and helped Grogu into it.
“You’re such a fucking dad,” Paz said.
Din hummed, zipping up Grogu’s coat for him. “Quit swearing in front of my kid.”
“I don’t swear in front of your kid,” Paz lied.
Grogu giggled, then took Din’s hand in his and led all three of them out the door.
The pizza shop Din went to wasn’t far from his apartment, and it was far quicker to walk there then it was to drive. Grogu held tight to Din’s hand the whole way there, swinging their arms back and forth. He caught Paz out of the corner of his eye with his phone out, probably taking a picture for their mother, but Din left it alone and didn’t say anything. He’d find a way to get a copy of it.
Eventually Grogu broke away from Din when they reached the little shop, running ahead to open the door for an elderly couple that was coming out.
Din’s chest warmed and tightened as they thanked Grogu.
“You’re doing a good job with him,” Paz said quietly, bumping his shoulder into Din’s.
“I–” Din swallowed back something heavy. “--I’m trying so fucking hard, Paz–”
Din hadn’t planned on Grogu. He hadn’t planned on any of this, but Din had taken a bounty that hadn’t been what he was told it would be, and as much as Din had wished then that he hadn’t taken the job he found himself so grateful that he had because Din couldn’t just hand a little four year old boy back to people who worked with the clientele at The Palace. He couldn’t. And before Din really knew what he was doing he was pulling in favor after favor he had racked up over the years and trying desperately to make space in his life for a child while adoption forms got pushed through overnight. And it had only been a few months since that night–since Din tried desperately to show Grogu that he wouldn’t hurt him, that he was safe and no one would touch him–but now Din couldn’t imagine not having Grogu in his life.
He couldn’t imagine not loving this kid so much that it scared him.
“I know.” Paz was smiling softly. “The kid knows that too.”
Din looked to his brother, opened his mouth to ask how do you know that. But then he snapped it back shut and pushed past Paz.
“Oola?” he asked.
She looked different. Her vibrant green hair had been cut short into a jagged bob. The clothes she wore were so big that they nearly swallowed her whole. There was a dark bruise on her cheek and across her nose, a cut just above her eye. There was dried blood on her left ear. Oola startled at Din’s voice, pulling the large coat she wore tighter around herself in stiff moments. When she finally recognized Din she didn’t relax, not completely, but she became less guarded.
“Din–” She took a step towards him, and Din rushed forward to catch her as her leg gave out from underneath her.
“What happened?” Din asked. He glanced back at Paz, relieved that his brother was already moving towards Grogu and picking him up.
“I–” Oola started, then cut herself off. Her lip trembled, and then she was digging her fingers in Din’s jacket as she started to cry. “--I need–I need Luke–”
“Okay,” Din spoke softly. Hesitantly he placed a hand on the back of her head, onl pulling her closer when she fully collapsed against him. “Okay, let me–” Din paused. He could call Luke. He still had his number. And it would be easier, Din knew that. But Boba’s club was just around the corner and Din wasn’t sure that he wanted Boba or Luke anywhere near his son. Not at this moment, when he knew they would lose that carefree and flirty personality they always had around Din as soon as they saw Oola. “The club is just around the corner,” Din finally said. “Can you walk a little further?”
Oola nodded, chest heaving around her sobs.
“I’ll take Grogu back home,” Paz said. Din turned to look back at him. Paz had Grogu propped on his hip, his little head tucked into his shoulder. “You take care of what you need to, okay?”
Din nodded. “Thank you.”
Paz gave him a tight smile, then spun on his heel and headed back the way they came. Din could hear him asking Grogu what other pizza shops were around, and then they got too far away for Din to make out anything else. Din stayed still for a moment longer, then took in a steady breath and slowly reached his arm out to loop around Oola’s waist. He didn’t want to scare her anymore than she already was. But she didn’t fight him, and after a moment of her own collapsed into Din’s side and let him lead her.
The club was warm and low lit and loud.
Just like he remembered.
Din thought it was odd that the bouncers outside let them in without a word, but he didn’t want to think too hard about it. Instead he busied himself with scanning the floor. Boba and Luke were at the bar, hanging off of eachother while the bartender–the guy, not the girl–was trying to shoo them away. Luke, Din couldn’t help but notice, wasn’t wearing much in the way of clothes.
Din ducked his head down so Oola would be able to hear them. “Can you get over there?”
She clung to him tighter, which was answer enough.
It was harder to make his way through the crowd with another person hanging off of him. Oola tried to help, but she was shaking so bad that there wasn’t much more she could do than put one foot in front of the other.
They were about halfway across the floor when Luke turned his head and spotted them.
He smiled when he saw Din, but it fell just as quickly when he saw Oola. His face went blank, and then he was pushing Boba away from him and hurrying across the floor. Boba looked up to see where Luke was going, and then he was hurrying after him when he saw Din and Oola.
“What happened?” Luke all but demanded once he reached them, holding his arms out and guiding Oola towards him.
“I don’t know,” Din said softly, letting her go so Luke could take her. He could guess, though. “But she’s–she’s hurt.”
Luke didn’t say anything. Not to Din, at least. He wrapped his arm around Oola’s waist where Din’s had been, lifting his other hand to cup her cheek and cradle the bruise with a gentle hand. Oola leaned into his touch, any and all remaining tension she had left vanishing. “Jabba was–he was upset,” she said quietly. “He was with another girl, and I couldn’t–I couldn’t let him hurt her.”
Boba took in a sharp breath.
“Okay,” Luke said softly. He held Oola a little tighter, pressed a kiss to her temple, then started to gently lead her away. “Let’s go to the back. Let me look you over, okay?”
Oola nodded.
She was still crying, but it wasn’t the choking sobs from before.
And then Luke was gone, and Din could see the bartender ducking out from behind the bar and following after them with what looked like a bottle of whiskey and a first aid kit.
“Thank you for bringing her here.”
Din blinked slowly, then drug his gaze away from Luke and back to Boba. His face was carefully blank and still, and Din would have been afraid of it if he thought for even a moment that Boba’s well hidden anger was directed at him. But he still didn’t want to be here to see what that anger really looked like. “...will you let me know that she’s okay?”
“Yes. Of course.” Boba answered.
Din nodded.
Boba looked like he wasn’t completely here.
A moment later he was whipping out his phone and frantically typing, and Din didn’t know what else to do except to slowly back his way out and leave.
–
When Din got back to his apartment Paz was pulling a frozen pizza out of the oven–still hawaiian, unfortunately–and Grogu was setting paper plates on the kitchen table, being very careful to set them around his drawing and crayons.
“Where did you get that?” Din asked, taking off his jacket and throwing it over the back of a chair.
“Convenience store down the block.” Paz answered. He set the pizza on the stove, then turned to face Din. “She going to be okay?”
Din paused for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah. She’s gonna be fine.”