Crawl Home to Her | Mandalorian x OC

chapter sixteen

Kit spent the next few days in Boba's palace. She'd already begun to feel much better, to the point that she was able to wander around the halls with the new cane Din had promised her. It wasn't metal, like her last one. It was made of polished wood, smooth to the touch. It clearly wasn't made for the purpose of guiding her, definitely not durable enough for it. But Kit appreciated it nonetheless. She could tell Din was nervous when he gave it to her, unsure words as he placed it in her hands. Not wanting to embarrass him, she accepted it, seeing as it would have to do for now until she returned back to her apartment.

She spent most of her time with Grogu, relieving Din of the trouble of watching him as he helped Boba and everyone rebuild Mos Espa. It was clear whatever Grogu had learned with the Jedi had helped him become more confident in his abilities, judging by the amount of times he was able to steal the metal ball from her hands or him suddenly having a snack in his hand she definitely didn't remember giving him. He'd become more of a menace than he was originally.

Kit had also noticed a bit of a change in Din's behavior. He would hover over her. Not in ways where she thought he thought she was incapable of something, but he was just closer to her, sometimes just barely touching her. A hand just above her lower back, a hand on her knee, his arms brushing up against her's. Kit couldn't figure out what had brought out this small and subtle change, but she wasn't about to stop it. She liked it, liked feeling him close to her.

Then there was that nickname.

Cyar'ika.

Kit couldn't bring herself to ask what it meant again, fearful that he'd stop if he told her the meaning. She quietly relished in the softness of it, how each syllable sounded from his deep modulated voice, how it never ceased to have butterflies erupting in her stomach.

Despite how much Kit enjoyed getting accustomed to Boba's palace, she knew she should return back to Mos Eisley soon, return to her inn. However a stupid nurse droi was seemingly refusing to listen to her.

"I'm sorry miss, but your pupils are not reacting to light. You must stay longer for observation," the robotic voice told her.

"And I've told you, I am blind! Of course my pupils don't react to light!" Kit huffed as she tried to scoot away from the droid, feeling overcrowded. "Please, just tell me I'm going to be able to return home soon."

"You want to leave?" Din's voice was heard over somewhere by the door.

Kit flushed, embarrassed for not having heard him knock. Shooing away the nurse droid, she nodded as she heard his tell tale heavy steps walk into her room. "I've been feeling a lot better now, and I need to return to my inn, can't have R3 look after it much longer." His footfalls stopped somewhere in front of Kit. He must've stopped just out of her reach because she doesn't feel that close, comforting presence she's gotten used to the past few days.

"Right. . . your inn. . ."

Something was off about his voice, like he was physically with her, but his mind sounded somewhere else. "Is something the matter?" Din was quiet, not saying a word. With a huff, Kit pushed herself off the bed, stepping forward until she felt gloved hands on her shoulders, stopping her from running into him. "What is it?"

"I was. . . thinking." His hands moved down from her shoulders, caressing her arms.

"About?"

"You, cyar'ika."