Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Something about the taps of the cigarette box against his palm was therapeutic. His body knew a cigarette was coming, and that's all he needed to talk him off the ledge. Din pulled one out of the half empty pack and stuck it between his teeth. Today had been a long day already. They had barely gotten one scene done before lunch. At this rate, they'd be filming in to tomorrow. He dug his fingers into the front pocket of his jeans to fish out his lighter. He pushed the tab and a small flame was produced. The end of the cigarette started a comfortable burn and Din took a deep breath in. He was only contracted for four months. It had been timed perfectly for him to fly back home a few weeks before Grogu's birthday; giving him enough time to plan something. Unless this asshole director kept being so obsessive about his “vision”

“You got an extra?”

Din looked up to see a well-dressed blond. He was pretty sure the man was one of the main actors. If they could get past a single scene, Din would find out. He held the carton out in the blond's direction.

“Thanks. My agent hates when I smoke. Will bitch at me if I buy any.”

Din nodded. Not that he exactly had the same problem, but Grogu would whine about his smoking habit. He claimed it smelled bad. The man pulled the cigarette out, and held it between two fingers.

“Thanks.” The blond stuck it between his lips, and held his hand out in a silent gesture to borrow Din's lighter. Din wasn't sure why he did it, but instead he pushed the flame back up and leaned forward to light the man's cigarette himself. His bright blue eyes and long eyelashes made Din think that if the man was a girl, he'd be beautiful. It was probably what compelled him to do it.

The corner of the blond's mouth twitched, giving a half smile that looked like he tried to hide. He inhaled. He moved the cigarette back between his fingers.

“I'm Luke.”

“People here call me Mando.”

Luke slowly let his eyes roam from the bottom of Din's boots, all the way up to the curls at his forehead. Din suddenly felt self conscious that he didn't shave that morning. His stubble was pushing three days old at his point. He assured himself it was because the actor was extremely clean cut. His hair was perfectly swooped over his forehead, and his lips were shiny. Probably some kind of gloss to make them stand out.

“What's your real name?”

“Din.”

He wasn't sure why he told him. No one in his life called him by his real name.

“Alright, Din.” Luke took one more drag before tossing the cigarette to the ground. He ground his boot into the dirt to extinguish the embers. “See you out there.”

~ ~ ~

The only noise in the hotel room was the hiss of the air condition. Din had it up on full blast. Even the air wasn't enough to keep the room cool. The heat hung heavy in the air. His skin felt sticky against the hotel sheets.

He stared up at the dark ceiling. He couldn't sleep. He could turn the television on, but he wasn't even sure if any programming was running this late.
He turned to his side, and then to his other side, and finally back to his back. Nothing was comfortable.

He ran his own hand over his chest, and let his palm lay flat under the elastic of his boxers. They were novelty ones that Omera had gotten him last Christmas. They had smiley faces all over them. He lifted his hips to push them down his thighs. Din wished he had a magazine or something. The hotel probably had a pay-per-view channel but then he would have to explain to his employer why he was ordering porn on their dime. He closed his eyes. Maybe he could replay one of the times he had sex with Omera. It wasn't like she was going to know. If she somehow did, she'd probably be happy about it. She was always trying to coax Din into giving it another chance. He had told her they had to stop seeing each other because he was too ‘busy’. Couldn't focus on work, Grogu and a girl. It was actually because he felt like their relationship was just him going through the motions. He was bored. He actually wasn't even sure if he ever had feelings for her, or if it was just something he thought he had to do. Which sounded awful. She was nice. Grogu liked her. There was just something missing between the two of them. No spark.

He moved his hand over his dick to coax it to full hardness. He thought about the late night they were tangled up on her sofa together. She was laying on his chest, hair falling into Din's eyes. Her blouse had two buttons undone. Din had shifted the fabric of her skirt up to move his hand under.

Din was slowly rocking his hips into his own hand when his brain reminded him of the blond he had met earlier. Luke. His lips looked so soft. He made an annoyed noise to himself. All he wanted to do was get off so he could get some sleep, and his brain wanted to start to switch channels. How about the time Omera had motioned him to join her in the shower and.. . Luke appeared in his mind again. He remembered Luke's eyes studying him. How Luke's lips wrapped so perfectly around a cigarette. What if - Luke had his plump lips around Din's cock instead. Din came into his own fist almost immediately as the thought occurred to him.

He couldn't even enjoy the orgasm with the paranoia that started to creep into his veins. His eyes darted around the room, as if someone was lurking in the corners and judging. He felt disgusted. This wasn't him. He didn't get off to men. He wasn't gay. He was normal. The cum splattered on his hand started to feel shameful. Din kicked off the boxers fully before standing up.

He wandered into the dark bathroom, flicking on the light with his clean hand. A cold shower would help. He was tired, and stressed. His mind had crossed some wires, is all. It wasn't a big deal.

He turned the shower on the coldest setting he could tolerate.

~ ~ ~

Din had his arms crossed as he watched the scene play out from a distance. There was a pretty large collection of men all doing the same thing. Mara Jade was laid out in the plush bed, red curls decorating the pillow.

“Make-up, flying in.” A petite woman zipped in front of the camera. She started to power Luke's face with a brush. The blond closed his eyes as the makeup was applied.

Today's agenda was the intimate scenes. It was a pretty tame simulated sex scene. Still a sex scene, though. Everyone that could have, had weaseled their way on to set to watch.

Neither Mara nor Luke were even remotely close to undressed. The only piece of clothing Luke was missing was his shoes. As for Mara, she was covered tastefully with a blanket to make it appear that she was naked to the camera. In reality, she was wearing a nude colored tank top and jeans under the covers. The magic of movie making.

The makeup artist gave Luke a few final taps of powder before scurrying out of the scene. Din couldn't tell what she had added. He looked the same as before.

The director gave a nod. Another woman took a few steps in front of the camera, holding the slate.

“Blue Harvest. Scene Thirty-four. Take two. Soft sticks.”

She quietly tapped the stick against the board. She returned to the director's side, and muttered something in his ear.

“Camera rolling.”

“Sound speeding.”

“Action.”

Luke used a finger to move one of the curls out of Mara's face. “I've been waiting my whole life for you.” Somehow, Luke was making the cheesy dialogue sound sincere. Din shifted his weight from one foot to the other. It was hard to forget about his.. mishap the night before. Instead turned his focus to Mara Jade. Din was surprised she had agreed to do such a ridiculous film. She was the hot new actress on the scene. Men were practically drooling over her, including all the guys in Din's department. They had been looking forward to this scene in particular for a week.

Luke leaned forward, ghosting his breath over Mara's lips. “You're so beautiful.” He whispered before finally kissing her. He could see Luke's tongue slipping into her mouth from here. Din wrinkled his nose.

Luke made a small, strangled noise against Mara's lips. And, then another one until the noise became a full laugh. Mara laughed nearly directly into Luke's mouth.

“Alright, cut.”

“Sorry - sorry.” Luke said, his voice breaking slightly as he tried not to laugh again. Mara wasn't even trying. She had clutched Luke's side and fell into a fit of giggles.

“Luke, we all know this is very hard for you.”

That earned a chuckle from the surrounding crew. Luke rolled his eyes. This only made Mara giggle more.

“We'll reset.”

~ ~ ~

Din moved towards the crafty table, grabbing a small bag of pretzels. What he actually wanted was another cigarette, but he had smoked four already. If he didn't slow down, he'd crush the whole pack in one day. He ripped open the bag a little too aggressively.

“That sex scene took forever.” Din looked up to see Paz walking towards the table from the opposite direction.

The film industry was surprisingly small.
Din ran into the same handful of people. Paz was one of those people.

Din shrugged. “Wasn't bad. Could have been worse.”

Paz grabbed one of the nearby granola bars. “Wanna know why it took forever?” Din didn't think he had to guess. Paz was going to tell him if he was interested or not. “Skywalker is gay.”

“The lead?” Din asked, frowning. He didn't know who else Paz would be talking about, but he had to ask to make sure.

“Yeah.”

Din nodded, not sure what else to add.

“Weird, right?” Paz tore open his granola bar package with his teeth.

Din stuck a few pretzels into his mouth to avoid replying. Luke was gay. His brain probably picked up on it before he did. He was putting two-and-two together at a very inopportune time, is all. Nothing to worry about. It took him a few seconds to realize Paz had continued to talk while he was wrapped up in his own thoughts.

“ - rumor is he's friends with the director. And, this is a favor cause’ no one else will hire him after that stunt.”

“Huh.” Din replied, hoping that covered whatever Paz had said before he started paying attention again.

“S' crazy.” Paz said around a mouthful of granola bar. “Not that we mix with the talent but I'll probably avoid him. Don't want him to get a crush on me or anything.”

~ ~ ~

Wrapping cables was a good way to keep his mind busy. He wasn't even thinking about last night. Din moved the extension cord under his elbow and over the palm of his hand. Maybe he'd give Omera a call. There was a possibility that it had been too long since he had sex, and his mind was doing all sorts of messed up stuff. He didn't know why he was still obsessing over last night, anyway. There were countless reasons why it had happened. All of them pointing to it being a fluke.

“Hey. Din, right?”

Din looked up to see Luke. The man had no doubt taken a shower in his trailer. His hair was slightly damp, and he had a gym bag slung over his shoulder. He looked different out of his film wardrobe. Not in a bad way. He was an objectively attractive man. Without the layers of makeup, and fashionable clothes, he looked more real.

“Yeah.” Din tossed the wrapped cord into a large bin.

The bag strap started to slip off of Luke's shoulder. He adjusted it.

“Luke.” A tall man was weaving his way through the studio, doing his best to avoid the half put-away equipment on the floor. “Leia is looking for you.”

“Okay.” Luke hesitated for a moment. The man looked between Din, and Luke. He raised an eyebrow, asking Luke a silent question that Din didn't quite understand. Luke's cheeks gained a pink tint. “Alright, Han. Lead the way.” He gestured for the man to start moving. “I'll see you tomorrow, Din.”

As they moved past, Din could swear he saw Luke wink in his direction. That could have been the twelve hour exhaustion from the day on set settling in, though. He wasn't completely sure.

~ ~ ~

Even though his call time wasn't until eleven that day, Din still woke up at five thirty. It was a habit at this point. For the past week and a half he had to be on set promptly at six thirty. There was no adjusting his body now. At least there wasn't a repeat of the night before. He had a perfectly normal night, no unwanted thoughts of Luke popping up in his head.

Since he had a few hours before he had anywhere to be, he decided to check out the hotel gym. Even though he got most of his workout from lifting lights, and wrangling cables, it wouldn't hurt to get a quick run in.

Pushing open the door, Din was immediately blasted with the sound of a boombox playing nearby. It didn't take long to figure out where it was coming from. Luke was pounding against the belt of the treadmill, a Sony boombox sitting nearby on a seat of an unused machine. The blond's eyes locked with Din.

Luke nodded as a greeting as he glanced down at a digital watch on his wrist. The man was wearing a tank top that looked like he had cut himself. The arm holes extended nearly to the bottom of his ribs. His hair was damp with sweat. A bead of sweat continued to roll down as he ran. Not that Din kept up with fashion, but he didn't even know anyone still wore short-shorts to the gym. He looked away from Luke's toned thighs to the boombox. It was playing a tin-y version of Freedom! by George Michael. It sounded like Luke had recorded it off the radio.

The last few freedoms were sung before it faded into the next song. It was playing something Din didn't recognize. He realized he had been frozen in place in the doorway for what was bordering on an uncomfortable amount of time. He moved to the treadmill furthest away from Luke and started to adjust the settings. There were a couple small beeps from Luke's watch. The man tapped the buttons on the watch and the beeping died down. Luke turned down the intensity on the treadmill to a comfortable walk.

“Sorry - If I stop early I won't want to finish.”

Din moved the speed up a couple of notches so he could start jogging. “It's fine.” His eyes moved to the boombox.

It's raining men! Hallelujah!
It's raining men! Amen!
I'm gonna go out to run and let myself get
Absolutely soaking wet!

“Oh, yeah. It's a new version.” Luke hopped off the treadmill and clicked the volume down a few notches. “Don't like it, or not a Weather Girls fan?”

Din realized he was probably making a face. “I don't really like music.”

With Luke's back turned to him, Din's eyes moved over the sweat stain that developed on the back of the man's shirt. He must have been working out for a while before Din arrived. He wiped his hands on the bottom of his shirt. He was starting to sweat, and not just from the jogging. His hands felt clammy, and he was suddenly uncomfortable. Maybe he would have been better off not knowing about Luke's personal life. Even though he was sure it was biological, it was still annoying that he was getting so worked up about someone else's preferences. It wasn't like the man was going to make a move on him in a public gym. Din clicked up the speed on the machine.

“What do you mean you don't like music?” Luke returned to the treadmill, seemingly moving in slow motion now that Din was on a quick-paced jog.

“I don't like it.”

“What do you listen to on the radio?” Luke lifted his plastic Gatorade banded bottle to his lips. A few drops had missed Luke's mouth and dribbled down the corner of his lips. Din looked away from the blond to instead stare at the empty machines in front of him.

“Whatever's on. Sports, sometimes.”

“Big sports fan?”

“No.”

Luke's laugh caught Din off guard. He stumbled slightly against the moving belt. He gripped the railing to stop himself from tumbling over

“Do you have a Walkman?” If Luke noticed his near death experience, he didn't call attention to it.

“No.”

“I'll let you borrow mine sometime.” Luke stopped the treadmill altogether. He glanced down at his watch again. “I have to shower. Before hair and makeup.” Luke paused, looking back up in Din's direction.

“Uh, yeah. No problem.” Din muttered, unsure if he was even supposed to add anything to the conversation at that point.

“So, I'll see you later - today, I mean.” Luke clicked off the music.

Din started to hear his own breathing the newfound silence. He watched Luke gather up his things; a medium sized boombox, a water bottle and a hotel towel.

Luke started towards the door, but before he could push through, he glanced backwards at Din. “I'm serious, by the way. You're gonna borrow my Walkman and listen to good music and like it.”

“Okay.” Luke disappeared through the swinging doors. Din didn't notice he was smiling until Luke was long gone.

~ ~ ~

Despite the long day in front of him, Din was in a pretty great mood. Maybe he should get a quick run in before call time more often.

People were trickling in for the day; no one had anywhere to be for another half hour. A large group of Din's fellow technicians were gathered around a corner of a table whispering amongst themselves. Din wasn't interested in whatever drama they were gossiping about. He poured himself a cup of coffee and added a few creamers.

“Hey, Mando. C'mere.”

Din didn't turn as he stirred the creamer into the styrofoam cup. “Is this work related?”

“No but - “ Paz started before Din interrupted him.

“Not interested.”

“It's what I was talking about yesterday.”

“You talked about a lot of things yesterday.” Din wandered over, peering over several heads to see what they were all whispering over. It was a newspaper. Din squinted to try to read the headline.

GAY ACTOR WHO PUNCHED PAPARAZZI, NOW FILMING LOCALLY

His eyes scanned the paper to see an incredibly blurry picture of what he assumed was Luke. It was hard to tell. It was mostly just a picture of a fist about to connect with someone's jaw. This was probably what Paz was telling him about when he had zoned out. Din took a sip of his coffee while he tried to read the article. It was turned sideways, and the print was too small from the distance but he tried anyway.

“Looks like he punches like a faggot, too.”

The group of men erupted into laughter. Din ground his teeth together.

“Like you don't, Mayfield?”

Migs shot a glare in Din's direction as the table continued to snicker. “Go fuck yourself, Mando.”

“You're going to fuck yourself when you get kicked off of set.” He got a few curious looks from the men at the table. “He's -” Din pointed at the blur he thought was Luke's hand.” - is friends with the director. You think anyone will hire after they both bad mouth you around Hollywood?” Hopefully Paz wasn't just blowing smoke when he mentioned that Luke was friends with the director yesterday. If he was, the whole point crumbled. He just wanted all the guys to shut up. This wasn't something he wanted to deal with before the cameras even started to roll.

Din tossed his coffee in a nearby trashcan. He didn't want it anymore. Something had put a bad taste in his mouth that coffee couldn't fix. Maybe another cigarette would. Din stomped off in the direction of the equipment he had put away yesterday.

~ ~ ~

Din was still fuming from his interaction with Migs, but he had to watch himself. Other people didn't know why he was so pissed off, they were just asking for lighting adjustments. He couldn't blow up on them for obvious reasons. The obvious reasons being he wanted a paycheck.

“Can we angle it slightly to the left?”

Din breathed in through his nose as he shifted the light slightly to the left.

“No. That's not it.”

Din closed his eyes to start counting down the seconds until he could smoke his next cigarette.

“We need a stand in.” The director turned to his assistant director. “Have someone grab Luke's double. We need someone the same height.” Even from how far away he was, he saw the woman nod. She took two steps before coming to a stop. She had almost run directly into Luke himself.

“No need, I can do it.”

“Luke, it might take awhile.”

“It's fine, really.”

The blond took a few long strides on to the set. He plopped himself down on the couch located in the middle of the fake living room.

“Hi.” Luke tilted his head back to look up at Din from the couch.

“Hi.” Din was glad he was wearing gloves, because his palms were starting to sweat. Probably the fact that he'd been under the harsh lighting for the longest out of everyone. Under the light, Luke was practically glowing. Din was just told where to put things, but if he was in charge, he'd keep it exactly where it was. The light was catching Luke's jaw in a way that made Din understand the screaming fans he saw at premieres for other actors. He'd probably see the same for Luke when this film got released.

“Mando. Are you listening?” Din snapped his head up. Thankfully, the director looked amused that he had zoned out.

“Light's a little soft.”

“Right, yeah.” Din muttered to himself as he started to slowly adjust the dial. He felt his face heating up as the light lowered.

~ ~ ~

They wrapped nearly an hour and half early; making the day a breezy nine hours instead of the usual twelve plus. It meant that people were itching to blow off some steam instead of heading straight to bed to get ready for the next day. Din wasn't sure what department it had started in, but someone along the line had decided for them all to invade the hotel bar for the evening. Before he could dismantle the lights, he was invited at least four different times. He didn't exactly want to go, but it wasn't like he had any other plans. His evenings normally consisted of watching exactly twenty-two minutes of a Cheers rerun before falling asleep.

Din had made it to a half hour before he became tired of socializing. He didn't want to leave yet, so he decided a compromise was to drink his beer in the hallway directly outside of the bar instead. He lifted the bottle to his lips when he heard people approaching from his right.

“Mara, please. I don't want to go.”

Din glanced over when he heard Luke's voice, but he couldn't see him yet. They must be heading down the hall. He didn't blame the man for not wanting to come. Din didn't want to, either.

“C'mon, Luke.” There was a sound of dragging sneakers on the hardwood floor. “It'll be fun.”

Luke groaned.

“What if that cute guy is here? I think he totally has a crush on you.”

“Oh my God, shut up. There's people around.”

Din could hear the two approaching so he quickly opened the door and slid sideways through it. He didn't think it would be appreciated if they knew he was eavesdropping- even accidentally on their conversation. He gave a glance around the hotel bar; wondering who Luke could be interested in. If it was anyone in his department; Luke had awful taste. They were all assholes. Maybe it was another actor.

The door opened, and Mara dragged an unwilling Luke through the threshold. It only took seconds for her eyes to settle on Din. He was standing near the door, but it was still strange she walked straight up to him with Luke in tow.

“Lighting department?” She asked, pointing a figure at Din's chest.

“Yeah.” He had no idea how Mara Jade recalled that so quickly. Din couldn't even place half the people in the room. He noticed more than a few eyes turning in their direction. She used a hand to flip her red hair off her shoulder.

“What are you drinking?”

Din flipped the bottle around to read the label. “Miller Lite.”

Luke was standing behind her. If he was trying to hide behind her ginormous hair, he was doing a great job. Din could only see Luke's eyes and forehead above her curls.

“A round for the group?” She went to take a step away, but Luke's hand was lightening fast. He closed his hand around her wrist before she could get away.

“No, I'll get the drinks.”

“Don't be silly, Luke. I got them.” She wrestled his arm out of his grip and smiled in Din's direction. “You two talk. I'll be back.”

“Don't- “ Before Luke could finish, she had weaseled her way into the crowd. With her height, she disappeared almost immediately behind the mob of people drinking and chatting in the small hotel lounge. Luke looked nervous.

“You don't even realize this many people work on set.” Din nodded in the direction of the crowd that was getting rowdier by the minute. Maybe something neutral would calm Luke's nerves.

“Yeah. Sometimes it's overwhelming.”

“It's quieter outside. Want to smoke?”
Din pulled the carton of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket and shook it in Luke's direction.

~ ~ ~

The other half of the film crew that wasn't inside at the bar, was outside smoking on the curb. Instead, Din offered the inside of his car for some privacy. He told himself it was because he was also tired of the crowds.

“I'm going to owe you if I keep bumming cigarettes off of you.” Luke was leaning his elbow on the inside console, and tilted his wrist towards Din. Din took that as an offer that it was his turn to take a drag of it. He had enough left, he wasn't sure what compelled him to share one. Probably to lower his average daily count. This was only half. Din took it between his fingers from Luke. As he inhaled, he glanced in the rear view mirror to look at Luke without being too obvious about it. He looked good in studio lighting and moonlight.

“Don't worry about it.” Din said as he blew smoke out in the direction of the open driver's side window. “Half of your paycheck should cover it.”

Luke laughed. Something about Luke's laugh was making his stomach do flips. “I'm making way less than you think.” Din passed the cigarette back. “Lando is doing me a favor.”

“I heard.”

“Yeah, I think everyone has heard.” Luke flicked the end of the cigarette, sending a few embers out the passenger side window and to the paved ground below. “He deserved it, in case you were wondering.”

“I believe it.”

There was a silence that had developed between the two of them as Luke took a couple more drags of the cigarette. The pause in conversation didn't bother Din. It felt comfortable. Luke leaned forward to start messing with the radio. He spun the knob before settling on a station.

Oh darlin', when I'm near you
And you tenderly call my name
I know that my emotions
Are something I just can't tame
I've just got to have you, baby

“Do you know this one?” Luke asked, his eyes flickering to catch Din's gaze.

“No.” Din swallowed. He was suddenly aware of his own heartbeat. He could feel it in his ears.

“I Feel the Earth Move. This one is a cover. Original one came out in the late 60s, I think. Maybe 70s.”

Luke tapped out the cigarette in the ash tray Din had underneath the tape deck that he had never used since owning the car. The man shifted around, bringing a knee up to sit on his foot and have one leg dangling near the floor.

“Do you like it?”

“What?” Din asked, bringing his eyes up from where he was watching Luke's fingers play with a loose thread on his blue jeans.

“The song.” Luke asked, a smile appearing on his lips.

“Oh. Yeah. I guess.” Din glanced down again at Luke pulling at the fraying that was developing at the knee. A flush had started to develop on Din's face as he continued to watch Luke pull at the threads on the pants.

“Because I'm trying to figure out your music taste. To give you some recommendations you'll actually like.” Luke looped a finger around one of the strands.

“I have to wake up early tomorrow.” Din blurted out.

“Oh, yeah.” Luke blinked a few times, but he didn't look offended that Din had all but cut him off mid-sentence. “Early call time?”

“Uhuh.” Din reached over to turn the radio off. His hand was so sweaty, he accidentally spun the dial instead. It toggled to a new station.

They say in Heaven, love comes first
We'll make Heaven a place on Earth
Ooh, Heaven is a place on Earth

Din clicked the radio off correctly the second time.

“Thanks for the smoke.” Luke leaned forward to brush a light hand against Din's thigh. “We'll have to do this again.” Din's hands tightened around the car keys. The blockbuster card he had hooked to the keyring dug into his palm.

“Yeah. Definitely.” He muttered. The beaded lizard Grogu made him last year at summer camp hit the inside of the console as Din scrambled to find the handle of the car door. His fingers slipped under it and he awkwardly swung it open.

Luke was a lot more graceful as he existed out of the passenger side. The blond leaned over the top of the car, and folded his arms to lay his chin on them. “What floor are you on? We're probably close. We can walk together.”

Din had already taken four steps backwards. “Don't worry about it. Mara is probably looking for you.” Luke turned his head in the direction of the hotel bar. They were about ten rows down from the entrance. Far enough away that they were hidden from sight of anyone loitering outside.

“Din. Your car windows are still down.”

“It's fine.” Din was taking long strides to cover as much ground as he could, as fast as possible. “Goodnight.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a curious head tilt from the blond.

~ ~ ~

Once he unlocked the hotel room, he was practically throwing his car keys off on a side table. He kicked his shoes off in a rush, one of the boots hit the wall and landed sideways. Din moved towards the bathroom, stripping down as he did. His shirt hit the corner of the hotel bed, and his pants landed underneath the bedside table. He slammed the bathroom door shut behind him and leaned over to turn on the shower faucet. The shower head sprung to life. Din snatched the complimentary hotel lotion off the counter before hoping under the spray of water. He squeezed a generous amount into his palm. Some of it rolled off his hand from the pressure of the running water. He snapped his hips into his own hand, frantically looking for any kind of friction. Even masturbating wasn't satisfying how desperate he felt. He jerked his hand up and down, flying fast towards his own orgasm. Visions of Luke smoking under the glow of the interior lights of the car played behind his eyelids. He came so suddenly that he felt dizzy. Din rested his head against the cool tile as he rolled his hips into his own hand to finish. It still didn't feel like enough. He was breathing hard when he opened his eyes. Evidence of his orgasm had washed down the drain already. The water fell on his neck, and rolled backwards down his back as he stared at the shower drain. Waves of regret, disgust and embarrassment washed over him as he stood in the shower. There was no excuse for this happening a second time. He felt sick.

~ ~ ~

“You good?”

Din was digging for his lighter in his pocket when he heard Boba approach him from behind. Everyone had noticed his mood immediately that morning, so most people were going out of their way to avoid him. Not Boba, though. Of course it was the one person he couldn't ignore. Boba was the one in charge of their entire department.

“Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Just - “ Din flicked his thumb against the tab a few times before actually getting the lighter to produce a spark. “- need a smoke.”

“That's not what I'm asking.”

“I don't know what you mean.”

“Mando, I know you. You're being jumpy.”

“Didn't sleep. That's all.” He thought the bags under his eyes were obvious enough that he didn't have to explain them. He slept for probably two hours altogether the night before. His mind had been racing non-stop; everything between replaying Luke's hand on his thigh to the thought that he'd never get another job if he was gay. Which he wasn't. But, if he was, no one was going to hire a gay lighting technician. Which meant no income. How was he going to pay rent with no income? The kid was growing; he needed to eat. How was he going to feed the kid on a zero dollar budget? Din took a drag of the cigarette to try to calm his nerves.

“Take the day. We aren't filming anything too intense. I'll cover the extra work.”

“Boba, I can't.”

“Well. I can't have you on my set like this.”

Din didn't know what Boba meant until he noticed his hand visibly shaking as he held the cigarette.

“I'll fill out your time card. Don't worry about the money. Go get some sleep.”

~ ~ ~

Even though he definitely needed some sleep, Din decided to make a pit stop once he reached the hotel. He stopped at the wall of payphones in the lobby. Din slid a quarter into the slot and dialed Peli's number.

“ ‘Ey, Mando. Nice to hear from you.” There was a pause where Peli held the phone away from her mouth. Din could still hear her yell, so he was glad it wasn't directly into his ear.

“Grogu, your dad is calling!”

The sound of little shoes running across the linoleum floor of Peli's kitchen made him smile. “Hey, kiddo.”

“Hi dad.” Din could hear the whistle in Grogu's voice from his missing front tooth. He had lost right before Din left for set. The kid was growing up so fast.

“How's school? Keeping up with your homework?”

“S'good. I only have to read one more book for a free pizza.”

“That's great, keep it up. I bet all the other first graders haven't even gotten one free pizza this year. And you're on your way to two.”

“Can we go to Pizza Hut when you come home?”

“I won't be home for a while.”

“But I wanna go with you.”

Din felt like his heart was breaking. He hated how much money out-of-state filming made him compared to taking gigs at home. He wanted to be home with Grogu, and go to Pizza Hut more than anything right now.

“We'll go when I come home. Promise.”

“Okay, dad. Love you.”

“Love you too. Put Miss Peli back on the phone.”

Din dropped another quarter into the machine to buy himself more time. He heard the landline being passed over.

“He's eating vegetables, right?”

“Yes, Mando. I'm feeding him.”

“Okay. Just checking.”

Din saw Luke exit the elevator from across the hotel lobby. He hoped he could avoid being spotted.

“Alright, Peli. I have to go. Give the kid a hug for me.”

Peli said her goodbyes, and Din hung up the phone on the receiver. When he turned around, he saw a man stand up from one of the lobby couches. He walked over to Luke, and the two started to chat as they made their way over to the door. The conversation that he had overheard in the hall yesterday replayed in his mind. Din pursed his lips together. He was lucky he wasn't gay, because if he was, he'd be a little jealous.

~ ~ ~

Din didn't remember passing out fully clothed on the bed of his hotel room, but he must have. He woke up in a daze at a knock at the door. As he got up, he briefly caught a glimpse of the radio clock by the bedside. It was late-afternoon. He opened the door to see a member of the hotel staff holding a tray.

“Room service.”

Din blinked, wondering if he had somehow called down to the front desk for food while sleeping.

“Thanks.”

He took the tray and looked over it. Soup. Sandwich. Can of coke. Did he order this? Din looked back up to see the employee still lingering around the door.

“Right. Yeah.” Din turned to set the tray down on the bed before pulling out his wallet. He rummaged through it before handing over two crumpled dollar bills. The hotel employee gave a quick thanks before leaving down the hall. He shut the door and turned back to the tray of food. He was hungry. There was a folded over white note card in the middle of the tray. Din opened it.

Feel better - Luke

Din ran his thumb over the handwritten note as if he could hear Luke say the words himself if he did. The L looped ever so slightly that Din was pretty sure Luke wrote the note himself. It looked like something you would develop after writing your own name for so many years. That meant Luke either circled back to the hotel after being on set, or sent a personal assistant to stop by the front desk. Din wondered who told him that he had left early that day. Did Luke notice himself, or did he ask around?

Din crumbled the note into a ball and threw it at the nearby wall. The notecard hit the wall with a soft tap and fell straight down.

He needed to get over this. Whatever this was.

~ ~ ~

The next day, Din was determined to make it a normal one. He was standing at the coffee machine watching it drip into the styrofoam cup when Paz jogged up to his side.

“You missed a good day yesterday.”

Din gave a grunt as he ripped open a creamer packet.

“Mara took her top off.” Din looked at Paz sideways before shaking a couple of sugar packets in his hand.

“For a second. Wardrobe wanted a last minute change. But still. You missed it.”

Din ripped open the packets and dumped them into the coffee. “I'm not in the mood.”

“What? Are you gay or something now?”

“Shut the fuck up, Paz.”

The man shot his hands up in the air as a sign of surrender when Din snapped

“Alright, alright. You're not in the mood.”

~ ~ ~

He was surprised at how well he had successfully avoided Luke. During lunch, he had surrounded himself with other people in an attempt to blend in. Luke hadn't made his way over, and now Din only had to get through the second half of the day. He was so engrossed in getting exactly the right layer of color gels together for a more dramatic scene they had coming up that he wasn't paying attention to anything else around him.

“Hey.” Luke's voice made him jerk his hand directly on to the hot bulb, less than an inch away from singeing the plastic filter. There was a hiss when his glove made contact with the light. Din pulled his hand away, and took off the glove. He shook it for a moment to stop it from smoldering.

“Hi.”

“How you feeling?” Luke asked, and Din could swear the man was batting his eyelashes.

“Fine.” Din pulled on the fingers of the glove to do something with his hands. “Thanks for lunch yesterday.” His brain was screaming at him to tell Luke to leave him alone, but his mouth wasn't getting the memo.

“Are you working next Thursday? ”

“No.”

Luke had to already know the answer to that. Everyone was off on Thursdays. It was their only free day of the week.

“Want to get dinner?” Luke's gaze moved from Din, to someone a few feet away from them who had stopped to stare. They were carrying a handful of extension cords.

“Right there is good.” Din said, pointing to the ground. The man dropped the extension cords, but still looked suspicious of the conversation. Luke cleared his throat. The man turned around the way he came.

“Now isn't..” Din pulled his glove back on, focusing on adjusting the velcro instead of looking at Luke directly. “A good time to talk about that.” His voice was a low mumble. He wouldn't be surprised if Luke hadn't heard him, but the blond gave a quick nod in response.

“No problem. See you later.” Luke gave a friendly clap to Din's shoulder before running a light touch down to his elbow. Din didn't think he had a switch like most of the light he worked with, but apparently he did. He had never been so turned on, so quickly. The light touch had every cell in his body on fire. His heart was racing in his chest. Luke gave him a smile that made Din feel the Earth spinning for a split second.

Din watched Luke walk away, completely normal - like he hadn't just disrupted Din's entire day. Din's eyes trailed down from how the shirt stretched across Luke's shoulders to his impossibly slim waist. Then, to Luke's ass. Luke's ass was incredible. Hopefully Luke's agent would get him into a Levi's commercial for publicity after the shoot wrapped. Din would kill for a magazine that featured Luke's ass in jeans. Something he could keep by his bedside on the regular. Din didn't realize he had been leaning until the entire light jostled under his weight; threatening to collapse. He straightened up, and did the same to the lighting rig before anyone could notice he had nearly broken it while daydreaming.

~ ~ ~

For the next couple of days, Din barely saw Luke. Even when he has tried to purposely seek him out. Somehow, not seeing the man was worse than seeing him. It was all Din could think about now - instead of being able to focus on other things in between encounters.

He was mid-bite into a sandwich at lunch when a well-dressed woman made her way to the cafeteria style tables. She was holding a clipboard that looked official.

“Excuse me fellas.” All heads turned to her. Her tone was something similar to one used to scold school children. “Is there a.. “ She held the clipboard close to her face. “Din Djarin here?” All around him were murmurings about who this “Din” was.

“Uh, yeah?” He said, sitting up a little straighter to look at the women.

“I thought your name was Mando.” Someone asked to his left.

“Can you come with me? There's a question about your time card from a few days ago.” Din swung his legs over the bench seat. His eyes scanned the table looking for Boba, but no luck. He shouldn't have left early the other day. It was something he should have powered through. Committing fraud for one day's work wasn't worth getting fired over.

Din was working out a plan in his head for an excuse as he made his way over to the women. She didn't say anything, only turned on her heels and moved through one of the studio doors. Din followed her as she zig-zagged between different trailers, and equipment set ups. Finally, they stopped at one of the medium sized trailers on the edge of the parking lot.

“Don't make this a habit.” She said, pointing directly at Din's chest. Even though she was nearly a foot shorter than him, the threat felt real. Before Din could say anything, she knocked on the metal trailer door. The door was slowly pushed open, and Luke peaked his head out from around the corner.

“Hi.” Luke's grin felt ever warmer compared to the harsh glare the woman was giving him. The door swung open fully to reveal a sparse, but comfortable looking living room set up. There was a couch, a few chairs and Luke's boombox sat on top of an overflowing dresser. Scripts, magazines, and random books were laying on top of a coffee table in the middle of the small area. “I see you met my sister.” Din looked over to the woman, who now had her arms crossed over her chest. They didn't look anything alike. Except for maybe the fact that they were both on the shorter side. Luke's sister pushed him inside the trailer, before closing the door behind her.

“After the other day, I figured you didn't want anything too.. “ Luke ran a hand through his hair. “Public. So.” Luke's sister maneuvered around him to plop down on one of the chairs.

“I'm just glad you aren't smoking.” Luke rolled his eyes.

“What? It's bad for you, Luke.”

Luke ignored the comment as he moved to the dresser, opening the top drawer. He pulled out a walkman with a pair of headphones wrapped around it.

“I made you a mixtape." Luke's face had gained a pink color high on his cheeks. “I hope you like some of the songs. It's a pretty wide variety." He held it out towards Din. “Feel free to borrow it as long as you want.” Din reached out for it, letting his fingers linger over Luke's hand for longer than necessary.

“Thanks.”

Din looked down, and could see a few handwritten words on the tape through the clear plastic window of the player.

“You can tell me what you think about it when we get dinner on Thursday.” Luke chewed on the bottom of his lip. “My hotel room? Eight-thirty?”

“Okay.” Din said, without thinking about anything besides being alone, with Luke, in a hotel room.

“Oh my God.” Luke's sister said from the chair, utterly exasperated. “Can you two flirt somewhere else please. I'm trying to read.” Din looked over to see that she had opened one of the books that had previously been sitting on the coffee table.

“Leia, can you not hate-crime me in my own trailer?”

Luke dodged the paperback book as Leia launched it at his head. It fell to the ground near a pile of Luke's shoes.

“See you Thursday.” Luke said, picking up the paperback book and looked nervous as he ran his thumb across the closed pages.

“See you Thursday.” Din repeated, his mustache curled into a smile. His hand tightened around the Walkman as he existed through the door of the trailer.

~ ~ ~

The Walkman was nearly burning a hole in his pocket. It was too risky to pull it out around other people. For the rest of his day, it sat against his thigh as he thought about all the different kinds of messages Luke could have written on it.

He didn't allow himself to look at it until he was alone in his car. Din pulled out the device and very slowly clicked it open to look at the cassette tape. Written on the front of the tape, in incredibly small print, was:

Side A

My Prerogative / Love Shack / Get Outta My Dream, Get Into My Car / Invisible Touch / Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic / It Takes Two

No wonder Din couldn't read it through the plastic window. Luke had practically written a book. Din clicked open the tape player in his car for the very first time and slid the mixtape in.

The tape serenaded him as he glanced in his mirror before pulling out of the parking space.

Everybody's talkin' all this stuff about me
Why don't they just let me live?
(Tell me why)
I don't need permission, make my own decisions

~ ~ ~

Normally the drive from the studio to the hotel was fifteen minutes. Ten minutes if he was desperate to get to his bed. Tonight, he cruised well below the speed limit to allow himself longer with Luke's mixtape. Din had the car windows rolled down, cool air blasting onto his face as his radio boomed.

Sign says (woo) "Stay away fools"
'Cause love rules at the love shack
Well, it's set way back in the middle of a field
Just a funky old shack and I gotta get back

~ ~ ~

Din pulled into the parking lot of the hotel, and sat idling for a few moments. He looked up at the windows; wondering which one was Luke's - and if the man was thinking about him too.

I'll be your non-stop lover
Get it while you can
Your non-stop miracle, I'm your man
Get outta my dreams
Get in to my car

~ ~ ~

Even though he knew everyone in the lobby couldn't be bothered to care; Din still felt like all eyes were on him as he moved through clutching the Walkman. He kept his eyes on the floor as if someone would somehow recognize Luke's tape player among the millions of identical ones and put two-and-two together. He made it to the elevator, but as soon as the doors started to close, a hand shot out to hold them open. Boba stepped inside once the doors parted and pressed the number for his floor.

“Mando?”

“What?” Din shot back, feeling himself getting defensive already. He could say Luke dropped it. He was going to return it tomorrow. His hand clutched even tighter around the device.

Boba looked at him sideways. “What's going on with you this week?” He nodded his head in the direction of the elevator panel. “I wanted to know what floor you were on. Didn't think you were riding it for fun.”

“Oh.” Din relaxed his shoulders. “Four.”

Boba pressed the button for level four. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah.” Din replied as he watched the floors light up over the door. Boba didn't look like he believed him, but he didn't say anything else. Once the doors opened on the fourth floor, Din quickly stepped out.

~ ~ ~

The list of songs was so short, that Din didn't want to rush through them all in one evening. It was hard to resist, though. He leaned against the pillow, his wet curls dripping on the bed from the shower. Din clicked the tape back inside the Walkman, and pulled the headphones on. He pressed play.

She seems to have an invisible touch, yeah
She reaches in, and grabs right hold of your heart
She seems to have an invisible touch, yeah
It takes control and slowly tears you apart

~ ~ ~

“You're in a good mood.”

Though I've tried before to tell her
Of the feelings I have for her in my heart
Every time that I come near her
I just lose my nerve as I've done from the start

“What?” Din replied, lifting one headphone off of his ear.

“I said you're in a good mood.” Paz said as he bit the muffin he was holding.

Every little thing she does is magic
Everything she do just turns me on
Even though my life before was tragic
Now I know my love for her goes on

“Oh, yeah. I guess.” Din continued to stir the sugar into his coffee.

“I don't think I've ever seen you like this.”

“Like what?”

“You're practically dancing.”

“I am not dancing, Paz.”

“You sort of were. You were - “ Paz demonstrated an approximation of how Din was moving by shifting around his shoulders to an invisible beat.

“I wasn't doing that.”

“Yes, you were.”

~ ~ ~

Din was packing up the last of the gear for the night when he saw Boba heading in his direction.

“Almost done. I'm heading out in five.”

“Have any plans for tomorrow?”

Din looked up briefly before going back to the bag he was organizing some light stands in. “No.”

“Come out to dinner with the crew.”

“I see enough of you guys when I'm here.” Din zipped the bag up, gently laying it on its side next to a couple of cases. “I don't want to see you on my only day off too.”

“The guys are worried about you.”

“Worried about me?” He asked, an eyebrow raised.

“Yeah. Said you've been acting weird.”

“I'm fine, Fett.”

~ ~ ~

Din leaned into the mirror, looking at himself a lot closer than he normally did. He ran a thumb over his chin, making sure he hadn't missed a spot while shaving. Tonight was his.. He didn't want to call it a date. Dinner. His dinner with Luke. Din pulled the headphones up from where they were hanging around his neck once he was satisfied with his shave. He gave himself a one last once over as the song played in his ear.

You ready now?
One, two, three, get loose now!

It takes two to make a thing go right
It takes two to make it outta sight
Hit it!

~ ~ ~

Din looked both ways before exiting out of the elevator. Hopefully Boba's dinner was earlier in the day, so no one that would recognize him would be wandering the halls. The coast was clear, but he still took large strides towards the direction of Luke's hotel room. Once in front of it, his nerves started to get the best of him. He went to knock, and hesitated instead. He couldn't believe he was actually doing this. This wasn't him. He needed to leave and go back to his own hotel room, and not think about Luke Skywalker ever again - The hotel door swung open, and Din realized Luke was probably watching him almost talk himself out of it through the peephole.

“Hi.” Luke smiled.

“Hi.” Din remembered why he was there; because Luke was the most attractive person he had ever seen in his life. How was he going to turn down an invite to his hotel room?

Luke stepped to the side to allow Din to enter. Immediately after walking in, Din remembered that actors got all the special treatments on set. Luke's hotel room was much bigger than his; including a couch with a television set and a balcony. Din, unfortunately, was on one of the non-smoking floors so he was constantly cracking open the window to try to be less conspicuous. If he had a balcony, no one would even care.

Luke had walked past him to crack open the minibar that was built inside of the cabinet below the tv. “Do you want something? I have Coke and Sierra Mist.”

“I'll take a coke.” Din was only half paying attention as he continued to scan the room. Luke had stacks of pop culture magazines, and at least three different TV Guides. Din didn't even think they had been filming that long. His eyes settled on the television that was playing an MTV bumper.

“I figured we could watch some music videos.” Din glanced back over in Luke's direction. A blush had started to develop across the man's face. One that made Din's legs start to feel like Jello. All Din could do was nod. Luke stood up, placing one of the cans of coke on the coffee table.

“Did you listen to the mixtape yet?” Luke asked as he cracked open his soda can.

“Yeah.” Din took a few steps forward, trying his best to keep himself upright.

“Any favorites?” Luke dropped down on the couch. Din slowly made his way to the couch, choosing to sit at the far end near one of the arm rests.

“I like them all. But, the every little thing she does is magic one, probably.”

“Really? I would have thought you would have been an Elton John guy. Or, Wait. I probably would have bet on the Springsteen song.”

“There weren't any Bruce Springsteen songs.”

“Yes there were. They're on the B-Side.”

Din looked at Luke. He felt his mouth drop open, but no words came out.

“Did you flip the tape over?”

Din picked up the soda can and started to fidget with the tab instead.

Luke laughed, and immediately doubled over on the couch. “You - “ He started before laughter overtook him again. Din noticed a few tears roll down the corner of Luke's eye. “didn't - “ Din would have gotten annoyed if Luke's laugh wasn't the highlight of his week.

Din cracked open his coke can as he rolled his eyes. “I told you, I don't listen to music. I didn't know there was another side.”

Luke wiped at his eyes, but Din could tell he was still on the edge of another laughing fit. “I can't believe you. You're so cu- “ He cleared his throat, and Din watched Luke take another sip of coke. “- funny.”

“I'm glad my non-existent musical education is funny to you. I thought you were supposed to help me.”

Luke's face stretched into a grin as he reached for a remote. “You just need a lot more work than I thought.” He looked at Din out of the corner of his eye as he raised the volume on the television. “Oh- this is a good one.”

Din dragged his eyes away from Luke to instead watch whatever video that had just started. A yellow car rolled into frame. A woman started to rap as the scenes flashed between dancing on stage, and the yellow car parked on a pier.

Uh, here I go, here I go, here I go again
Girls, what's my weakness? (Men!)

“What's the name of this song?”

“Shoop. That's -” Luke pointed at the screen as the women continued to dance. “Salt, and - “ It was hard to tell who Luke was pointing at when they were moving so fast. “Pepa. The other one is Spinderella.”

“Why did they name themselves after spices?”

Lick him like a lollipop should be licked

“I don't know. Why are you named after a noise?”

“Din is a normal name.”

Um, you're packed and you're stacked 'specially in the back
Brother, wanna thank your mother for a butt like that

“I've never met anyone else named Din.”

“Yeah. I make the best use of it. Everyone decided to retire from using it after me.”

Luke gave a light-hearted eyeroll from the other end of the couch. “Keep telling yourself that.”

I wanna know, how does it hang?

The gap between them on the couch seemed ridiculous, especially for a date - or - dinner? Either way, Din felt a little ridiculous where he has basically stuck himself as far away from Luke on the couch as physically possible. It wasn't even comfortable; he had tucked his legs together to take up as little space as possible. He tried to roll his shoulders to relax a little, and not look - and feel - so uptight. Din shifted around on the couch to a more natural position. Luke flickered his eyes between the music video that was currently fading to commercial, and Din.

“Did you like it?”

“Yeah.”

Luke made an unconvinced sound. Din turned to him, and raised an eyebrow.

“Do you think I'm lying?”

“No.” Luke shuffled around on the couch. The gap between them was made slightly smaller. “But, I don't get it. You've liked everything I've shown you so far. You said you don't like music, but it sounds like you do.”

Din thought about this for a moment. Before Luke, he'd say he didn't really care for anything music related, normally just putting the radio on to entertain Grogu. Now, he'd say that he liked whatever Luke liked; which seemed to be a pretty wide variety.

“Maybe you just have good taste.”

The words made Luke's cheeks turn a light shade of pink. The man slid even closer on the couch as he reached for his coke. He tapped his fingers against the side of the aluminum can before taking a sip.

Din adjusted his position to be able to study Luke out of the corner of his eye as he continued to watch the commercials. Luke was dressed in a pair of dark jeans, with a faded casual graphic t-shirt on top. Din would guess it was for a band, considering the logo. The light of the sunset was illuminating Luke's jaw in such a way that he looked otherworldly. Din might start believing in God and angels after seeing Luke during golden hour. It was a little startling when Luke turned to look at him. Din forgot the man was perfectly aware that he was being ogled at.

“This song - uh, isn't my favorite.”

That made Din turn to the television. A montage of a room, and a woman being carried bridal style played. Luke reached for the remote and started to turn the volume down.

“No, come on. I want to hear it.” Din reached for the remote. That caused Luke to jerk the remote in the opposite direction, which only made Din want to hear the song more. The video wasn't giving anything away; it was just different close ups of a woman singing and a band. Din brought a knee up to Luke's side to stop him from moving away. Even though the blond was holding the remote in an outstretched arm away from Din, it wasn't like it was hard to reach. Luke's hand went up to Din's chest to try to hold him back. Din leaned forward, crawling over Luke to reach the remote. This forced Luke back with a oof as his back collided with the couch cushions. Din snatched it out of the man's hand and turned the volume back up.

I don't want anybody else

Din watched the video from where he had pinned Luke to the couch. It wasn't bad. He didn't think he liked the song either, but it wasn't worth turning the volume down.

Oh-no, oh-no, oh-no
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah, I don't want anybody else

“Give it back - “ Luke reached up from where he was lying on the couch. Din put the hand that wasn't holding the remote on Luke's shoulder to stop him from sitting back up.

When I think about you I touch myself
Ah-ah-oh, I don't want anybody else
When I think about you I touch myself, I touch myself

It wasn't until the video faded out to the next one that either Din or Luke spoke.

“They allow that on television? During the day?” Din asked, looking down at Luke.

“Yeah.”

Din's eyes wandered lower to where part of Luke's band shirt had shifted up during their back-and-forth. The bottom of the fabric was pushed up slightly, exposing his stomach. More importantly, it featured the start of a light strip of blond hair that disappeared underneath Luke's jeans. He swallowed as he looked back up to Luke's lips.

“I like your mustache.”

Din blinked down at Luke. “What?” He asked, wondering if he heard Luke right.

“I like your mustache.” Luke repeated, looking up at Din like what he said was normal when he was pinned by another guy to a piece of furniture. “It looks good on you.”

“Thanks.”

Din went to sit up. Luke obviously had other plans. A hand had reached up to take a handful of Din's shirt, restricting his movement any further.

“I know you want to kiss me.”

Din opened his mouth to fight it, but he couldn't. Luke was right. Din did want to kiss him.

“I'm not gay.” He finally said, even though with Luke underneath him, he was more than willing to make an exception

That only made Luke blow air out of his nose. “Could've fooled me.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me.’

The irony of proving that he wasn't gay by kissing Luke wasn't lost on him. But, right now wasn't exactly a time to worry too much about semantics. He leaned down slightly, but Luke's grip on his shirt did most of the work in pulling him down. His heart was beating so fast, Din was convinced Luke could hear it.

I think we're alone now
There doesn't seem to be anyone around

There was a noise at the door. Din couldn't tell if it was a knock, or if he was imagining things. He turned his head slightly towards the noise anyway.

I think we're alone now
The beating of our hearts is the only sound

“Are you alright?“ Luke took a second to place a hand on Din's chest. He gave a slight nod from where he was frozen, barely hovering out of reach of Luke's lips. He was just so nervous. It wasn't like he hadn't kissed before, but he wanted this one to be perfect. Was it different with two men? What if he was so bad at it that Luke became uninterested completely?

Look at the way
We gotta hide what we're doin’

The knock at the door was louder this time. Definitely a knock.

“Shit. I forgot I ordered Chinese food before you got here. You eat Chinese, right?”

'Cause what would they say

“I do.” Din swung his leg off of Luke to stand upright. It wasn't until then that Din noticed that he was half hard already. They hadn't even done anything.

If they ever knew? And so we're

“Lemme just get my wallet.” Luke sat up, and reached over to the coffee table. He started to push magazines out of the way to find his wallet in the chaos.

“No, I got it.” Din made his way to the door. He tugged it open to reveal a bored looking teenager.

“Twelve fifty.” The teenager said as he stuck out a plastic bag in Din's direction.

Runnin' just as fast as we can
Holdin' on to one another's hand

“You don't have to pay, Din.” Luke called from where he was still searching for his wallet. “I asked you out. I should pay.” The teenager gave no indication that he heard Luke, and if he did, he didn't look like he cared. It still made Din nervous. He pulled out his wallet, and shoved some bills in the teen's direction.

And then you put your arms around me
And we tumble to the ground
And then you say

“Keep the change.” Din muttered as he shut the door in the teenager's face.

I think we're alone now

He tossed his wallet on the side table near the door, and carried the bag to the kitchen area. “Don't worry about it.” Din's hands were shaking as he ripped open the plastic bag. He was glad that studying the takeout boxes contents gave him something else to focus on. He was reading the handwriting on the boxes when he noticed Luke hadn't joined him. Din lifted his head to see Luke had moved towards the entranceway. The blond was flipping through the pictures Din had in his wallet.

“Who's this guy?” Luke asked, holding up one of the many pictures of Grogu. The particular one Luke had chosen was a professional picture Din had gotten done at an Olan Mills studio. Grogu had thrown a fit and refused to take any photos where he wasn't holding his plush frog. So, the entire session was Grogu posing with his stuffed animal. “Is he a nephew? Or, a younger cousin?”

“Uh, no.” Din pulled out the plastic silverware that the restaurant had included in the bag. “That's my son.”

“You're joking.” Din looked up to see Luke had crossed his arms over his chest. “You've been flirting with me for weeks. You were juston top of me and you have a kid?”

“Can you keep your voice down?” Din hissed as he took a step forward, towards Luke. “I don't see what having a kid has to do - “ Din cut himself off mid-sentence when he realized that a kid normally meant having a wife. His brain was practically fried. He couldn't think straight anymore. Everything about this, and about Luke was so confusing. Part of him wished he had never met him. The other part of him was wishing they would both forget about the recent food delivery and kiss until they couldn't breath.“I'm not married.”

Luke raised an eyebrow from the entryway.

“No fiancé either.”

“Girlfriend?” Luke asked, not making any indication of moving from his spot.

“No.” Din paused for a moment. “He's adopted.” Luke's eyes darted down to the photos in the wallet again, seemingly trying to see if there was any resemblance.

“You adopted him?”

“Yeah.”

“By yourself?”

“Am I being interrogated?”

Luke flipped the plastic sheet over to look at another picture. It was Grogu at the beach, building a sandcastle. “I haven't heard of someone adopting a kid by themselves.”

“I wasn't getting enough work when I first moved to LA. I was a firefighter to cover bills.” Din flipped one of the plastic forks from the delivery around in his hand as he spoke. “Someone dropped him in the baby box. When I was waiting around for social services, I realized I couldn't let him go anywhere.”

“Oh. That's- “ Luke flipped to the next plastic covered sleeve. It was a picture of last Christmas. Grogu was posing with the Ninja Turtles action figures that he begged for all year next to the Christmas tree. He was grinning ear to ear, a Santa hat that was too big for him flopped over his head. “Really sweet.” Luke's shoulders relaxed. He flipped Din's wallet closed. “I'm sorry. I'm used to - You know what, nevermind. Not important.”

Din wondered if that meant Luke had accidentally gotten into situations with married men with families, or if that was just commonplace for gay men in Hollywood to run into. Either way, Din didn't want to know.

~ ~ ~

“Who's that?” Din mumbled around a mouthful of rice.

“Joan Jett. She's cool, right?”

pretending that you're oh so shy
I'm a natural ma'am
doing all I can

Din looked over to see Luke perfectly pick up a piece of chicken between two chopsticks. He looked down at the plastic fork in his own hand.

“She has the best style.”

“How do you do that?”

talking's fine
if you've got the time
but I ain't got the time to spare

Luke tilted his head, the takeout box jostling slightly in his hands. “Do what?”

Din pointed at the chopsticks Luke was holding between his fingers. “The sticks. How are you eating with them?”

“This?” Luke asked, picking up some rice with the chopsticks. He plopped the rice into his mouth. “I used to eat Chinese food a lot. I taught myself. S’ not hard.”

do you wanna touch me there, where?
do you wanna touch?
(yeah)

“Do you want me to teach you?”

Din nodded.

Luke slid closer so they were shoulder-to-shoulder. “So, I hold it in my hand like this. “ He glanced up at Din to see if he was watching his fingers holding the sticks together. “It's better if you hold it towards the top”

Luke handed the chopsticks over to Din. He already felt clumsy holding them. They seemed so delicate, and his hands too big. Din tried to pick up a piece of chicken out of his box, and the sticks clacked together at the bottom, dropping the food back into the container immediately. He leaned forward to set his takeout container on the coffee table.

“Let me try again. I want to try it on yours.”

“Mine?” Luke looked over at Din's container that was now a couple of inches away. “What's wrong with yours?”

but all you do is sit and stare
beggin on my knees
baby won't you please
run your fingers through my hair

“Nothing is wrong with it. I think your box is better for chopsticks. That's why you can do it, and I can't.”

“Uhuh. Tell yourself that. Nothing to do with skill at all.” Luke handed over the red and white box to Din anyway.

can't you see we're wasting time?
yeah!

Din fumbled with the chopsticks, giving it a few attempts. Each time he was less successful. One the last one, he couldn't even manage to pick up anything at all.

“I told you.”

Din leaned forward to set the takeout box next to his own on the coffee table. He stuck the chopsticks inside so they were sticking out like spears; something that looked wrong but Din wasn't sure how else you would put them away.

“Hey - I wasn't finished.” Luke leaned forward towards the takeout box at the same time that Din turned sideways on the couch to face Luke.

“Wait a second.” He tentatively placed a hand on Luke's leg. Having his hand right above Luke's kneecap wasn't the most seductive. He knew that. It was, however, the boldest move he could make himself do at that moment. “Can I try this again too?”

A soft, surprised oh made it past Luke's lips. Luke turned to face Din on the couch but his eyebrows had knitted together in concentration. Din could tell the man was calculating something in his head. Luke ran his tongue over his teeth. He reached over for his coke, and took a quick sip. “I probably have gum somewhere, um. I can.. “ Din took the can from Luke's hand and took a swig.

“Don't worry about it.” Something about Luke not being absolutely perfect in this exact moment gave him a little more confidence. He set the can back down on the coffee table. Even the small tap rang in Din's ears as he stared into Luke's eyes. He decided he couldn't wait any longer, and leaned in.

do you wanna touch me there
yeah
touch you
touch me
touch!

Din didn't know why he thought kissing a man would be any different, but it wasn't. The difference was it was Luke. His lips were perfectly soft. He still, somehow, tasted sweet. Behind the remnants of the coca cola and spices, he reminded Din of how a summer day tasted. Their tongues slid together like they've been kissing their whole lives. Luke was so solid next to him, running a hand along Din's jean-covered thighs. Luke's teeth scraped his bottom lip, and Din had to stop himself from moaning. This was without a doubt, the best makeout session he had ever had. When his head started to feel a little fuzzy, he couldn't tell if it was from lack of oxygen, or if that was an effect Luke had. He pulled away slightly, kissing Luke's open mouth. Din moved his head into the crook of Luke's neck. He flicked out his tongue on Luke's earlobe, wanting to taste every inch of him. The blond let out a shaky breath, and slid his fingertips under Din's shirt; resting them above his jeans. Din ghosted his teeth over the skin, and then moved downward to his neck.

“Wait - “

Din immediately shot up. Something about this reaction made Luke laugh. His lips were extra pink, and slightly puffy. There was a blush that was high on Luke's cheeks.

“No, it's good.” Luke said, practically reading Din's mind. His first thought was he had somehow done some wrong in the realm of kissing that only came into play when there were two men. “You can't leave any marks. I'd have to explain it to the Makeup Department.”

“Right. Forgot.”

Luke wiggled his fingers that had found their way under Din's shirt. The touch was light, barely touching any skin. They were more so resting on the top of Din's belt.

“This okay?”

“Yeah.”

Din leaned to kiss Luke again.

~ ~ ~

When the national anthem started softly playing on the television, Din turned his head. “It's getting late.”

“Uhuh.” Was Luke's response as his hand continued to rub over Din's chest. At some point, Luke had gotten his entire hand underneath the fabric. It was now bunched up around Luke's arm as he ran his palm over Din's pec.

“I should probably head back.”

Luke didn't respond to that. Instead he moved to Din's neck, which had already gained quite a few small hickeys, to start working on another one. The idea was that Din didn't have to get into makeup, so it didn't matter if he left with a few marks.

“Luke, I can't stay overnight.”

“And why not?” Luke asked, his voice vibrated against Din's neck as he mumbled.

“Because - Ah.” Din was caught off guard as Luke rolled his nipple between his forefinger and thumb.

Din left the I can't be seen leaving your room early in the morning unspoken. He didn't want to think about going back to the real world; where he had to pretend like he hadn't kissed Luke.

Luke lifted his head to look at Din. “Please?”

“I can't.”

The blond took a breath in. He slowly lowered his hand, letting Din's shirt fall down. “Next time?”

“Maybe.” Din couldn't promise anything, but he really, really hoped there would be a next time.

Luke slid back on the couch. “I had a lot of fun tonight.”

That made Din give a goofy smile that he tried to hide by pretending to scratch his nose. He didn't even know he was capable of smiling like that.

There was a beat where neither of them moved.

“Did you change your mind about staying.. or..?”

“No. Stop talking for a second.” Din put his head between his knees. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried counting.

The couch cushions shifted. Even in the darkness, he could tell Luke was staring at him.

“Are you okay?”

“I need a minute.”

Din started to count in his head again, starting over at zero. He had only gotten to ten the first time.

A hand came to rest on Din's shoulders.

“That isn't helping.”

“Do you need water or something?”

“No. I need a minute. I can't walk through the hall like this.”

“Like what? Oh.”

Din shifted on the couch. His jeans were so incredibly tight, he wasn't sure if he could stand, let alone walk.

“I can help, you know. Do you want me to su- “

“That isn't helping.” Din interjected quickly before Luke could finish his sentence. It was better if Din didn't hear it.

~ ~ ~

“Did you get into a fight with a vacuum?”

“Huh?” Din looked up from where he was shaking a few sugars into his coffee.

“Your neck.” Paz squeezed next to Din to pour himself some coffee. “It looks like you were attacked by a vampire.”

Boba walked towards them, a half eaten breakfast sandwich in his hand. “Hey, Mando. You shoulda came with last night. We went bowling.” He took a bite of the bagel and his eyes flickered to Din's neck. Which apparently was an interesting topic of conversation. “What happened to you?” A few crumbs fell to the floor as he spoke.

“How about you two mind your own business?” Din pressed down the plastic lid of the cup until it clicked.

“What are we talking about?” Migs asked as he wandered up to one of the nearby tables.

“Mando got lucky last night.”

“With who?” Migs popped open the tab of the coke can in his hand.

“No one. Leave me alone.” Din took a sip of his coffee. It wasn't as sweet as he normally liked it, but he didn't mind. Anything to get out of this conversation.

“Wanna know who I saw talking to Mando the other night?” Boba said, seemingly not caring that Din was standing right in the middle of the conversation. “Mara Jade.”

“That right.” Paz shoved Din, causing his coffee to splash around in the cup. “That's why you got all defensive when I told you Mara took her top off on set. You were mad everyone else got to see.”

Din saw Luke far off in the distance, chatting with the director. They looked like they were laughing about something. Luke's entire face lit up when he laughed.

“You guessed it.” Din didn't think his voice could get more monotone, but apparently it did.

“I can't believe it. That's why you've been acting so weird.” Boba clapped Din on the back.

“Yup.” Din took another sip of his coffee.

~ ~ ~

It wasn't until much later in the day that Din realized that people thinking he slept with Mara Jade was a problem. The rumor had quickly spread across all departments; so much so that Mara's makeup artist came to him to tell him not to break her heart. Which was a nice gesture, Din had to admit. The problem was that it was definitely going to reach Mara at some point and Din would have to explain that to her. On top of all that, Mara was almost impossible to speak to one-on-one. She was always surrounded by personal assistants, or other actors chatting her up. Din would never get a private moment with her - and if he did, what would he even say? He couldn't tell her about Luke.

Din held his cigarette between his teeth as he adjusted the dials on the lighting rig. Thankful it was a relevantly easy scene that didn't need much. Standard three point lighting. Din could do it in his sleep. He moved the cigarette to his fingers and took a puff.

“A little birdie told me about you and Miss Mara Jade.”

He looked over to see Fennec walking in his direction. She was the only woman Din had ever met who works in the Grip department. Of course that turned into speculation. He'd heard some of the nastiest things thrown in her direction from the men on set. The only saving grace was that she was good friends with Boba; who would escalate the men's catcalls and comments to anyone he could find. When the first couple of people got fired, word got out. Now the slurs and comments were exchanged in hushed groups. Din had never given much thought to if she was a lesbian or not.

“Uhuh.” He muttered around the cigarette as he worked the settings on the light. Fennec leaned over and pulled the cigarette out of Din's mouth. “Hey. Give that back.” She pressed the glowing red ember into Din's gloved hand and twisted until the cigarette extinguished. Lucky, the gloves were heat proof. He was more annoyed that she had ruined a perfectly good cigarette. Din opened his mouth to tell her off, but she had other plans.

“I don't believe you.”

“I don't care.” Din took the cigarette from her and dug in his pocket for the box. He flipped the tab open and slid the stubbed out cigarette back in the box. Hopefully he could get it to light again. The last couple in the box rattled around as he stuck it back into his back pocket.

“I think you hooked up with someone else.”

Din took a step backwards, and wiped at his brow. “Believe whatever you want. I don't have to prove it to you.”

“I saw you leaving last night.”

Din felt his blood run cold. He prayed to every deity he could think of that it wasn't obvious.

“Jesus Christ, Mando.” Fennec used both of her hands to shove Din backwards. “Don't give me that look. I'm not gonna fucking..” She lowered her voice, and gave a quick glance around. Once the coast was clear, she started up again. “- out you. This is your warning to be more careful next time. Someone else might.”

His mouth hung open, but no sound came out. In any other circumstance, he was positive Fennec would have told him how dumb he looked.

“We stick together.” Her words were barely registering. He was still trying to comprehend her previous statements. “Buy some concealer next time. It looks like you lost a fight with a curling iron.”

~ ~ ~

The rest of the day went on, mostly without incident. It was hard to ignore the whispering around him about Mara Jade and himself, but not impossible. It would have been helpful to brainstorm a solution with Luke, however, the man was constantly being carted around the set with an entourage of at least two at a time. Din barely got a glimpse of him in the entirety of the twelve hour day.

He was hopeful to see the man if he dragged his feet putting equipment away at the end of the day. Din was hunched over, taking his time to meticulously organize different lighting filters. A pair of sneakers squeaked behind him, and stopped. Din looked over out of the corner of his eye and saw a long, flowing floral skirt. It wasn't Luke, so Din didn't bother to look up.

A woman cleared her throat. Din moved a blue gel that had gotten mixed in with the teal ones. The sneakers didn't budge. He was really hoping if he ignored them, they would go away.

“Do you need something?” Din finally asked, lifting his head to see Mara Jade in front of him. She had her arms crossed over her chest. Her curls were pulled back into a bun, causing her to look far more serious than the few times he had seen her before.

“I heard we apparently had fun last night.”

“Right.” Din straightened up. “This is a misunderstanding. Didn't mean to drag you into - “

“Luke is my friend. So I will play along this one time.”

The amount of people that knew about him and Luke was starting to add up to an uncomfortably high number. Luke's sister, Fennec, Mara Jade.. Did anyone else know?

“Are you listening?”

Din nodded. There were only a handful of people left lingering in the sound stage, but Fennec's warning was ringing in his ears.

“Okay. Good.” Her shoulders slumped down as she relaxed. “I don't want anyone thinking I'm.. “ She waved her hand in the air implying something that Din didn't quite pick up on. “But, I am sooo happy for you two.” She leaned against the table Din was sorting on. He tried not to outwardly look too annoyed. He wasn't interested in conversation now, or really ever with complete strangers. Most of the time he wasn't interested in conversation in general. “I was getting a little tired of hearing him go on and on about you.”

“He talks about me?”

“Duh. Only all the time.”

Din shifted some of the lighting gels around to do something with his hands. Luke thinking about him when he wasn't around was making his heart do weird things in his chest.

~ ~ ~

Din pushed the door to the tape player in his car open, and flipped the mixtape around. The cassette whirled for a moment when he shut it.

Well I guess it would be nice
If I could touch your body
I know not everybody

Has got a body like you

But I've got to think twice
Before I give my heart away

~ ~ ~

As he was driving, Din gave a quick glance to the empty passenger side seat. If he thought hard enough about it, he could remember the smell of Luke's cologne and how it mixed with the cigarette smoke as they sat together.

Oh baby I reconsider
My foolish notion
Well I need someone to hold me
But I'll wait for something more

~ ~ ~

The phone cord was wrapped so tight around his fingers, it was starting to leave indents. He held the phone between his shoulder and ear as he waited for the concierge to return on the other end.

I gotta have faith
I gotta have faith...
I gotta have faith, faith,
faith, faith, faith…

“Thank you for holding, Mr. Djarin. How may we assist you?”

“Yeah, thanks. Could you..” Din untwisted, and then retwisted the cord nervously around his index finger. “Patch me through to Luke Skywalker's room? Room number is Nine Seventy Seven.”

“Alright. Just a moment.”

There was a brief delay as the phone lines were connected.

“Leia? I wasn't expecting you to call.” Din heard the sound of Luke flopping backwards on his back. “I'm used to you just pounding on the walls.”

“Is that your sister's name?”

A pause. “What?”

“I don't.. know what your sister's name is.”

Din couldn't believe he took this risk only to say something as stupid as that.

When no reply came, he decided to try again. “This is Din, by the way. If you're busy.. I could call back later.” The or never was on the tip of his tongue. This was humiliating. He was never going to go out on a limb like this ever again.

“Not busy.” Luke replied. Din could hear the corner of Luke's mouth tipping upwards into a smile. “Surprised.”

“If this is a bad time - “

“I always have time for you, Din.”

Hearing Luke say his name was doing dangerous things to his pulse.

“I talked to Mara Jade.”

“Mara said- “

Their words overlapped.

“You go.”

“You can -”

They both paused this time. Din wondered if this was a mistake. That was, until Luke let out a laugh.

“Seems like we both talked to her.” Luke finally said. “She agreed to cover this once.”

“She told me the same thing.” Din let the cord go and it bounced against the side of his arm. “I didn't start the rumor. The guys in my department did.”

“I figured. If it was a cover, you'd pick someone less…”

“Famous?” Din offered.

“Yeah, let's go with that.”

~ ~ ~

“Do you think that you'll have free time to hang out again soon?”

After an hour of chatting about anything else but their makeout session the night before, Din was surprised to hear Luke finally bring it up.

“Let me know when. I'll try to squeeze you into my schedule.” Din stretched his legs out on the bed, leaning his back against the pillows on the headboard.

“Hm.” Luke's voice hummed from the other side of the phone. “I think I will.” There was the sound of Luke shuffling around. “You're pretty good at kissing. Has anyone ever told you that?”

“Too many to count.” A small voice in the back of Din's mind reminded him that no one else had ever made that observation. This wasn't the time to share that, though.

“I've been thinking what else you could be good at.”

“Oh?” Was the only reply Din could manage. His hand had somehow already found its way to the waistband of his boxer shorts. He let it ghost over his skin, brushing over his lower stomach.

“I've seen you work with your hands.”

“You watch me at work?” His stomach gave another, all too familiar now, somersault.

“Sometimes.” Din heard the sound of the winding phone cord snap against the receiver. He could picture Luke twisting it around his finger. “It's hard not to.”

“You're always surrounded by people.”

“You want me alone?”

“I do, yeah.” Din heard his own voice lower, both in tone and volume. It was a secret he only wanted to admit to Luke.

“You have me now.”

Din slid his hand a little lower. “I've never done this before.” He muttered, not sure if he was talking to Luke or himself at that point.

“S’okay.” Luke's voice had lowered to a whisper. “I'll walk you through it.”

The band of Din's boxers stretched over his wrist. He was already half hard. That was the effect Luke had on him. The man could read the damn phone book, and Din would be hard over it.

“I wish I was touching you.” Din gave himself a dry stroke. He looked over at the side table, wishing he had moved the lotion from the bathroom over. The phone jostled against his shoulder as he brought his hand up to drop some split into it.

“Where - “ Luke sounded nearly breathless. The word went straight to Din's cock. It twitched as a small drop of precum dripped from the head. Din swiped at it with his thumb. “Where would you touch me?”

“I'd start by kissing your neck.” Din arched his hips up off the bed to pull himself completely out of his boxers. As he stroked himself, he pictured Luke next to him. Luke tasted so sweet, so perfect in the brief moments he got to place his lips on the man's neck before being reminded of reality.

“You're so..” Luke trailed off. It was hard to believe someone as gorgeous as Luke was getting so worked up over him. “Cute. Fuck.” Din heard the bed creak on the other side of the line as Luke adjusted.

“I'm over here thinking about - “ Even over the phone Din could tell Luke had shot his tongue out to wet his lip. “How much I want to suck your dick and your fantasy is .. kissing me?”

“You want to do that?” Din heard the words leave his mouth, and he sounded both unbelievably unsexy and dumb. He wasn't normally one to speak without thinking, but all his blood had rushed south when Luke started to whisper in his ear.

“Of course I do. I'm gay and you look like that.”

Din tried to think of some way to tell Luke that in his limited relationships that had always been a special occasion thing. A ‘it's your birthday’ gift, not something that was just always on the table. He couldn't come up with the words.

“You are still there?” Luke's voice sounded playful. He had to realize he had broken Din with a single sentence.

“Yeah.” It wasn't until then that Din noticed he was practically panting. His hand was wrapped fully around his dick as he rocked his hips into his closed fist. “I want to do both. Kiss you and - everything else. I think you're the most attractive person I've ever seen in my life.” He knew he was rambling. At this point, he couldn't stop. Luke's breathing speeding up on the other side meant he had to be saying something right. “I touch myself thinking about you. Thinking about.. “ Din started to speed up his rhythm. “You and how you look when you smoke. Your eyelashes. Fuck. Your ass. You look really good in jeans. I bet you'd look better without them.’

“Keep talking.” Luke's words came out as a grunt. Din was close, and hopefully Luke was too.

“You tasted - really good. The other night.” Luke was breathing heavy in his ear. “I want to do it again. Taste you. Make you feel good.”

Din's orgasm hit him like a ton of bricks. His breathing hitched in his throat, letting out only a gasp. His heart was beating fast against his chest. He rolled his hips a few times into his own hand. Luke was in his ear, letting out a breathy moan. Din watched his own dick twitch as cum started to spill out of it. Most of it landed on his own stomach.

“I wish I could have seen that.”

Din nodded before realizing that Luke couldn't see that. “Yeah. I wish I could see you too. Did you - “

“Yeah.” Luke answered. The man's voice sounded raw.

“I should get up and clean.”

“Me too.”

Din was positive that Luke didn't move, because he could hear ragged breathing on the line. Luke coughed once, and it sounded suspiciously like he was trying to cover up a laugh. Another half strangled laugh. He heard Luke clear his throat.

“Is something funny?” Din asked as he wiped his dirty hand on the fabric of his boxers.

“No.” He didn't think he'd believe Luke, even if the word didn't come out as a giggle.

“What is it?” The cum was starting to cool uncomfortably on his skin. He didn't want to miss a minute of Luke, so he'd deal with it for now.

“It's - “ Luke laughed again, this time moving the phone away slightly. Din heard a few seconds of a laughing fit before Luke returned fully. “Do you always get off thinking about my eyelashes?”

“You have very nice eyelashes.” Din muttered, feeling his face heating up.

“I'll make sure you get a good look at them next time.”

“Are you always this annoying?” Din leaned down to grab a shirt he had discarded earlier. He wiped the fabric at his stomach in an attempt to clean up.

Luke hummed, obviously pleased with himself. “Sounds like you need to get used to it.”

“Do I now?”