Breakaway ---The Mandalorian

Chapter 8: Schemes

Din realized why he didn't sleep in his armor anymore. His neck had a cramp larger than a mudhorn and his shoulder felt completely out of place. It had been almost a year since he had adopted Grogu and moved into the house on Nevarro. Since then he had started sleeping without his armor and had decided it was far superior to the alternative. Gone were his days of sleeping in the Razorcrest and waking up after a few hours to hunt a bounty. The fact that he had done that for so long was baffling. He was surprised he hadn't gone mad from aches and pains by now. Grogu had slept comfortably in his hover-pram and was already up probably rummaging through the fridge. Din was thinking back to the night before.

He had taken Clara home to her house. He had let himself in using the spare passkey and put her to bed. She had asked him to stay with her. Well, she had asked him to sleep in her bed with her, which he had declined and decided to sleep in the spare room. It had taken a lot of self control to not lay down with her and feel her head against his chest. To feel her in other ways as well. He was finding himself more and more drawn to Clara. He pushed those thoughts from his mind. He reassured himself that he was sad after remembering Elena and that was the extent of his feelings. Still, something in the back of his mind was nagging at him, maybe he really did like her.

Clara awoke slowly. The moon was setting and the sun staring to rise. It was very late in the day. Once she got up she went straight to the refresher and realized that she was still in her costume. Then the nights events slammed into her. She had asked Din to sleep in her bed, he had taken her home. She felt horribly embarrassed and quickly showered. She didn't know if he was still here but was determined to put herself together before she saw him. Once clean and washed she put on some comfortable clothes and went to the living room. Grogu was on the kitchen counter digging into her fruit bowl and Din was making coffee. Well, he was making coffee in his full armor.

"Hi, I didn't expect to see you here." She said. "I mean, Its ok, I'm glad you stayed, but um." She felt horribly stupid saying these things. Why did I drink so much she thought. Because my life is a mess and I am trapped here.

"I was about to leave." He said

"No, wait let me at least make you breakfast to thank you for bringing me home." Clara said. Grogu perked up at the sound of breakfast.

Din sat down on her couch and put one arm casually over the back. He looked very comfortable in her home and Clara had to admit that she liked having him here. Except for the fact that he was probably getting charcoal from his dirty armor all over her furniture. She would just deal with that.

"So, I guess I got pretty drunk, sorry about that. I haven't drank in a while and I guess I cant hold my alcohol anymore." She said. Her back was to Din as she cooked.

"Seems like everyone did, the party was very, exciting." He said.

The tension in the room was nagging at Clara and she decided to address the topic no one wanted to talk about.

"Sorry I asked you to sleep over, I shouldn't have done that. That put you in a tough situation." She said quickly. Ducking down under the counter to get a pan.

"Its no problem, I was happy to do it. No one seemed to really help you." Din said. Shit he thought. He sounded like an asshole pointing out that she didn't have anyone to help her.

"I, went to the party alone, its more of a requirement for me these days." She said. "I don't have a lot of friends." She added dammit where is this conversation going. I feel like an idiot. She thought.

"Well me neither, so I guess we have that in common." Din said. In an effort to change the subject he started talking about the collectors' ball.

"We talked last night about going to the ball do you remember?" Din said