the curious happenstance of pedro pascal and din djarin [The Mandalorian]

Is the roof interesting?

There was something about watching an alien react to Earth pop-culture.

Christmas had come to a close, but as the old saying goes: Christmas isn't over until it's the New Year, okay?

So on his day off, he sat Din down on the couch and piled up an abundance of Christmas movies.

It would be a long night, but if it cheered Din up, even a little, it would be worth it.

.~.-.~.

It wasn't long before Pedro realised he'd started treating the Mandalorian like a brother. Technically, they were brothers. The same person but different dimensions; surely they'd have the same DNA, right? So, brothers it was.

He decided to keep it to himself.

Din was... he was still brooding. He was still sad. But at least... at least he seemed to know now that he was allowed to talk about his emotions at any time. That, of course, didn't mean he did but. It was the thought that counted.

Pedro would come home from work late at night and Din would be asleep on the couch or contemplating existence at the dining table. Once he even found him sprawled on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. That was... it was interesting.

"Is the roof interesting?" Pedro chuckled at his attempt at humour. Din did not chuckle.

"Something wrong?" he asked this time. Din's helmet tilted to look at him, then moved back to its original position.

Pedro, being Pedro, walked right up to him and peered down. He stared into the visor, hoping he was making direct eye contact. "If you're going to lie down then you should at least lie down on your bed."

There was an audible sigh from under the helmet.

It seemed that the helmet was not only a physical barrier but also an emotional one. When Din didn't want to talk or move or really do anything at all, the helmet stayed on. Or, like the other night, when he was feeling more open, he would leave it off.

It was a strange sight, to see Din wear the helmet, but none of his other armour. With the various band shirts Pedro had lent him he looked quite out of place.

It's like his life wasn't weird enough already.

"You're going to give yourself a sore back," Pedro leaned down and attempted to hoist Din up by his shoulders. The bastard made no attempt to help, and Pedro wasn't strong enough to pick him up.

So he dropped him with a loud thud. Din groaned.

"Yeah, well that's what you get." He huffed.

But still the Mandalorian made no attempt to move. So Pedro decided to give up and instead get to making dinner.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd had to cook so much. Usually, he would order takeout but he wasn't sure Din would appreciate greasy food. Or it might be a blessing, who knows; either way, he wasn't going to be responsible for Din becoming fat.

He cracked some eggs into a pan. They made a satisfying sizzle noise.

"I want to accompany you tomorrow."

Pedro nearly dropped the pan. He turned towards the Mandalorian. "What?"

"To your work."

"I... I don't think that's a good idea."

"Doing anything other than sitting in here all day would be a blessing," he sighed. "I'm... not used to being in one place for too long. With nothing to do."

There was a beat of silence.

"Usually I have work to keep me distracted," he continued. "from emotions," he spat the word like it personally offended him. "But there's nothing to do here. Rewatching those films over and over doesn't work."

Pedro hadn't realised he'd been rewatching them. At the time, he seemed to scoff and nitpick all of them (except for Die Hard, which he actually seemed to be quite fond of), but if he was rewatching them then maybe the Christmas spirit was getting to him. Even though he didn't quite have a grasp on what Christmas was yet.

"I just... I don't know it's a good idea for you to leave. The apartment. Because... I mean, you don't know anything about Earth really but also, you look exactly like me. People will ask questions. And you can't come to the set in that helmet which I know you won't like."

"How am I supposed to learn about Earth if you won't let me?" Din got up from the floor and pointed an accusing finger. "I asked for the knowledge to sustain myself. You have not provided it."

Pedro shook the pan lightly.

Din was bored. He got that. But was it really a good idea to let him leave? It would probably stop the brooding, at least temporarily. But... never mind being in public, it was being at the set he was most worried about. He couldn't have Din bursting into tears in front of the entire crew. Especially since the... the kid would be there, but it wouldn't be the kid, it would be an animatronic and that wouldn't fly with the Mandalorian.

"Pedro."

He jumped. It took him a few seconds to process, and then when he did, he realised that was the first time the Mandalorian had actually addressed him by name.

"Please."

Pedro turned his gaze back over and saw that he'd taken the helmet off. God. He looked so sad.

"You... you can't come tomorrow." Pedro held up a hand to stop him from protesting, "but maybe some other time. I need to discuss it with Jon. And I also want to get you a phone."

"A phone?"

"Yes, um," he fished his own phone out of his pocket. "This thing. It's used for communication mostly. But also, and here's the best part," he opened it up and tapped on the web browser, "you can search for anything you want and you'll get an answer."

He handed the phone to Din, who stared at it. "Anything."

"Anything."

His fingers hovered over the keyboard. "I suddenly have nothing to ask."

Pedro chuckled. "Well," he took back the phone, "I'll get you your own phone and then you can search for whatever whenever."

Din stared at his now empty hands, then looked back up at Pedro. "Thank you."