Coffee house ~ dinluke au

Chapter 13- Inhale

Din Djarin's point of view:

It had been a few weeks since the incident, and Leia had been discharged from hospital with a few stitches. Grogu had been told off and we installed gates on the kitchen door just to be safe. Now I was back, dusting Luke's shelf.

Luke cleared his throat, "Umm. Thanks for the other week." He said as if we hadn't seen each other every other day since then.

I turned my head to look back at his desk, "Why? I didn't do anything. You drove, you carries her." I said beginning to focus on my task again.

"No." He let out a breath laugh, "Thank you for listening to me." He explained.

Oh. His father, his family, all the workers. I understood now. "Oh, yeah. No problem." I spluttered out, already feeling quite tense in this conversation.

Once I had said that we slipped into gentle silence as I lifted up picture frames and cloth bound books to dust underneath them.

Everything had been slightly different since the hospital. Luke never argued with me (besides from the few backhanded remarks out of reflex) and took a calm tone with me.  Although we didn't talk all that much, when we did it felt more like a conversation rather than a battle.

Luke clearly didn't have anything to do while I cleaned as he just sat there twiddling his fingers. "Leia told me to invite you to our birthday dinner in two weeks." He blurts out and then continues looking down at his desk.

I cocked my head, "Really?" I asked hopeful. "Where is it?"

Luke shrugged, "Some Thai restaurant she likes. It should be quite nice. Ms and Leia are both paying so don't worry." He showed me a weak smile.

Ouch. "Who's going?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"Obviously me and Leia. Some of Leias friends, a few of my coworkers, my mother and father..." he trailed off, "And you hopefully, if you want to come." The way he phrased it sounded like he actually wanted me there.

Our conversations were always quiet, close to a whisper but were quite relaxing. Nothing to saturated I suppose. I showed a small smile and then said, "I would be happy to."

Luke awkwardly nodded and then resumed staring at his desk. As I continued to clean I heard him let out sharp breaths and go to say things but immediately stop himself. For five minutes he did this until I turned around, "Are you okay?" I asked.

Abruptly, he stood up, "Would you like to go and get coffee with me." He paused. "As an apology for being so awful the other day." He added on the end.

You could apologise by letting name leave here and never coming back. But I suppose coffee works too. I pulled my wallet out of my picket and cheeked what was inside, £5.85, perfect. "Yeah sure."

Time skip brought to you by my inability to understand acronyms
~;~;~;~

Now it was 11 pm and we were walking around the streets of London as Luke 'followed' the map on his phone. "I don't understand, it should be right here." He said looking up.

"Just admit we're lost." I sighed.

"No we're not- fine were lost." He also sighed.

I thought for a moment, "Follow me." I said, turning in the opposite direction and began walking.

Luke trailed after me with a light jog, "Where are you going?" He asked already out of breath.

"You'll see." I smiled.

We walked in the 'quiet' of nighttime traffic and teenagers with speakers until we approached where i was heading for. The coffee shop. I pulled the keys that Ashoka had given me in case of emergency (if I didn't have anywhere to sleep) and opened the door.

"Din are we really meant to be here?" Luke asked, hesitant to walk through the door.

I nodded, "I'm going to pay, and I'll leave a note telling them we were here." I explained, "It will be fine."

Luke sighed in defeat and waltzed through the door. Without a second thought I turned the lights on and made my way behind the counter, "What would you like?" I asked.

Luke sat down on a stool in front of the counter and leaned his elbows against it, "Mocha please." He let out a fatigued grinned.

I raised an eyebrow, "Really? Doesn't seem the type of thing a business man would order." I chuckled grabbing a cup.

"What can I say," he held up his hands in defense, "Im a sucker for something sweet." He chuckled.

After making his drink and mine, I sat down on the stool next to him and looking him in the eyes for a moment. "I don't think you're a bad person, you know?"

Relief washed over Luke, a faint smile took over his face, "Thank you. I'm sorry for all the shit I've said to you. I was awful to you Din."

Hearing Luke say my name like that sent shivers yo my spine. I tried my best to ignore, however my body had other plans and a feeling arose in my stomach. "You were."

Luke nodded, "How's living with Leia treating you?" He smirked as he raised his mug to his curled lips.

I finished my sip and cocked my head, "Well, shes something." I joked. "Nah just kidding. Shes wonderful, very kind to me." I said.

"That sounds like Leia." Luke joked. "I don't know if she ever told you this, but back when we were kids we would leave secret ransom notes around the house for the cleaner to find and then would hide and to see his reactions."

"First of all, you had a cleaner? Secondly, ransom notes?" I laughed at the idea of Luke and Leia just growing up and being children, before all of this.

Luke nodded as if not proud, "It only lasted a year though, until my father came out. Boy he did not like it at all."

"What was your father like?" I asked without thinking.

Luke froze up, "I'd rather not-" his voice cut off and he drew in a breath.

I nodded, "I understand."

1038 words
Meh. Thus chapter is meh.