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

The Child

Okay, so, I've decided that for now, I'm going to stop doing the asterisks. I know they're helpful, but I'm also aware that they ruin the flow and the immersion of the story. I will still do trigger warnings at the beginning of chapters. If you've no past issues with the content I choose to write about, feel free to skip the trigger warnings so that you can have a purely blind reading experience. If not, please do read them when you can.

I WILL continue to do the asterisks for Peri's past.

The beginning of this chapter includes potentially triggering content such as suicidal ideation. Please read at your own discretion.

"Hello, Christopher."

It wasn't that he didn't trust them. He did, he really did, after everything that happened. But some things needed to stay private, and as far as he was aware neither Djarin or Pascal understood French. So that was the language he spoke to Robert.

"You'll never guess who visited us today," he grumbled into the receiver.

Robert responded in turn, in French. "You were being followed? I'm hardly surprised—"

"No. You don't understand. We were in a cafe, and I went to the bathroom. When I came back, Eleis was sitting at our fucking table."

The silence that followed told more than words ever could, French or otherwise. It wasn't often Robert could be shocked into silence, he was a man of many words and a powerful thinker. Of all the times Christopher could recall him being speechless, it was always to do with Eleis.

When he finally did spoke, and it took a good long while, his voice was strained and low.

"He came to you... in person. What happened? What did he say?"

"We were in public, so he couldn't do anything, but— Jesus. Fuck. Fuck. I'm still fucking shaking." He dug a hand into his hair and tugged as hard as he could without ripping it out of his scalp. "I don't know what to fucking do! Oh god. I told him to go fuck himself."

"...you— you told him to what?"

"I did. I said it right to his face. And he looked so shocked too and it felt good at the time but I'm such a fucking imbecile. We were in public! He couldn't do anything! But I thought he was going to deck me. I'm so fucking dead. He's going to fucking kill me!"

"He's always wanted to kill you. Now he just wants to kill you more. You should... call your friend. Eleis must be after the child, which means your friend is in danger."

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna. I will. We still got four hours left before we get there, that's... that's plenty of time. Ugh, fuck. Shit! I want to jump off a fucking, a fuckin' bridge."

"Christopher."

"What?"

There was more silence, but this time not from shock or surprise. Robert was waiting. For what, Chris couldn't be certain.

So when he said nothing more, Robert continued.

"You have known me for long enough to surely understand that I always take remarks about suicide seriously, regardless of the context or the manner in which they're spoken."

Chris suddenly felt a very powerful urge to leap out of the car window. Instead he swallowed his tongue. A minute passed in silence, with only the sound of passing traffic and the occasional creak of Robert's office chair through the mic as he shifted in it.