when even the earth has numbered days, i can give

[carbonfrozen]

WHO: Han "trash can fire smuggler" Solo and Leia "literally a Disney Princess" Organa, with possible cameo from Persephone
WHERE: fancy restaurant in De Chima
WHEN: February 14
WHAT: it's a date! it's a Valentine's Day date!
WARNINGS: blanket Star Wars warning (possible discussions and references to war, violence, trauma, death). also, diabetes-inducing fluff.

Okay. Han, maybe, went a little bit overboard.

It's not like anyone can blame him, really. Most of his previous dating experience has generally not gone down so well, and the fraction that has belongs to—well, people he doesn't think about a lot anymore. And he's the first to admit: he's never dated someone like Leia before, who has this kind of effect on him, like she's a star and he's a planet orbiting around her.

Oh, that's a nice metaphor. He'll be keeping that.

Anyway: so. The Date.

He's nervous. He's been nervous since he first showed up on Leia's doorstep dressed like this, courtesy of Lando's tailor who Han is going to have to find a way to repay, at some point. He's pretty good at playing off the nervousness, has had to be, but there's no denying that he's kind of dying a little inside because, hell. What if something goes wrong? Something always goes wrong in this place. What if the restaurant accidentally becomes the site of some imPort's wrath just as they're sitting down? What if someone wrecks his car? What if baby Vader goes nuts? What if Leia takes a look at all these and realizes he's not worth it after all?

The waiter drops off their menus. It's a nice restaurant. Han had been relieved to find it, it was within his price range and had a few dishes reminiscent of what little Han remembers of Alderaanian cuisine. (Also, good wine.) He looks up from the menu, glances around their surroundings like he's sure something is going to happen, then at Leia.

It's better than last year, this Valentine's Day.

"How're you liking Valentine's Day so far, Your Worship?" he asks.

Comments

[articulations]

Were anyone to ask Leia about her dating experience, well, she would say something along the lines of: "The first guy's name started with a 'W'. The second guy's name started with an 'A'. The third guy's name started with an 'R'." That has been the extent of her dating experience. She could throw in a Bonus Round of 'B' being for Betrayal, but that would result in things she wouldn't want to sit and dwell on because those things were long gone.

There were some similarities between Han and Kier. Some. They both pushed her buttons. They challenged her in ways no one else would. Did it have to do with their feelings for her? Possibly. They also challenged her to do better, to be better. They made her think and rethink, a feat considering how reckless she could be at times. There were also differences between the two such as mannerisms. Such as the way they expressed their feelings. Han wasn't so open about it; he had his own frustrating way of trying to get across his thoughts and feelings. While Kier would never have shied away.

What Leia had with Han, it was good. It was comfortable. And although she was still getting used to the whole sharing a bed with someone and waking up to their face buried in her hair and a weight draped over her in a possessive sleep grip, it was...nice. Very nice.

Would it last forever? Apparently not.

They'd talked about what had happened, what would (still not her demise, but yes, his), and Leia felt that talking it over hadn't been enough. Sometimes she found that she was the one holding on too tightly at night, her mind constantly stuck in a place that was called the future. Of course and the past two weeks, her discussion with Kylo, how different her lightsaber had felt in her hand as she'd been ready to use it on him.

She hasn't touched it since. She couldn't bring herself to.

When Han had appeared on her doorstep dressed and ready for something, Leia had answered the door in sweats and a baggy sweater, hair pulled into a lopsided bun. That had been a fun conversation. But it hadn't taken her long to shower and get ready, appearing an hour or so later dressed in a red gown to match the red of the flower at his chest, her shorter hair styled in a thin crown braid while the rest hung in a single, thick ringlet down over a shoulder.

Once at the restaurant where they're seated, it's nice to feel like she can let out a long exhale and actually feel the tension from the last two weeks ease out of her with it.

"I'm liking the wine, if that's what you're referring to." Leia smiles across at him, diamonds in her lobes catching in the low light with her head tilt. "In all seriousness, Han, thank you."

Her hand slides across the table to reach for his.

[carbonfrozen]

The future sucks. Han's trying not to really think about it, per se, beyond so I guess this might happen to us at some point down the line. Might is the key word here—the future could be set in stone, sure. But Han is going to dig his heels in and push as hard as he can against that anyway, because damn it, he makes his own destiny, nothing else. Not even the Force, although he's willing to admit now that it exists.

He had maybe not thought through the surprise part, fine. He'd been surprised to see Leia in sweats and a sweater, and had had to explain to her, gesturing about with a bouquet in hand, about Valentine's Day and its traditions and also the part where he kinda, sorta, got them a reservation at a very nice restaurant. As a surprise. In keeping with the tradition, since, when on Coruscant, you did what the Coruscanti did.

That probably isn't the expression. Whatever.

Anyway.

Han's been a little bit nervous, fine, wanting to make sure the date goes well. No one can blame him for that, surely, considering everything he's been through in their galaxy and on this world, and he might—he might still remember Bespin, in the back of his head, the look on her face when they lowered him into the chamber, that last kiss. She doesn't. She might, one day.

Diamonds glint. She smiles. His breath catches in his throat, and all the nervousness eases slowly out of him, because here they are, and so far nothing has gone horribly wrong. He can relax, and so he does, smiling back at her with a roguishly charming twinkle in his eye. Still got it.

"You're welcome," he says. "Been a crazy few weeks, so I thought this, and the wine, might help more than the usual bucket of chicken. And with the holiday on," he shrugs, "I couldn't pass up the opportunity."

He says this like he hasn't been planning this since, like, December, trying to figure it out. But his smile fades into something softer, more real. "You look pretty good tonight, y'know," he says. This isn't false, but Han would say that about her pretty much all the time.

[articulations]

That bouquet of beautiful flowers, she'd made sure to set it up in a curved vase, placing it in the middle of the living room table before they'd left. It would be a nice thing to see, red roses and baby's breath neatly arranged being the first thing to look upon when entering the house. Certainly was one heck of a surprise; Leia knew Han Solo cleaned up good, but damn did he really clean up. He needed to wear suits more often.

Her hand squeezes as her smile widens. Everything about her is so relaxed. This side of her rarely ever showed itself back home, not unless she thought she had a moment of privacy in a corridor off to the side. "It's nice to get out. To spend an evening just the two of us. I'll admit, I never took you for the romantic type. Did you plan tonight all on your own?"

There were just too many reminders right now back in the house she was sharing with him. Particularly what had happened with Kylo. Sitting on the couch and trying to not let it show just how upset she was while talking to Han. Later talking through her tears. Showing him how vulnerable she could be beneath the strong, sometimes cold front she put on.

"Let's pass on the chicken buckets for the next little while." She wants to see him smile some more. Those softer smiles are new still, for her, and if they didn't have a table between them Leia would reach across and trace it. "But I won't say no to more wine."

[carbonfrozen]

He didn't get to see this side of her a lot back home—relaxed, happy, more or less not all that worried. He gets why not, what with the war and everything back home, but he's a little bit selfish, so sue him, he likes seeing her happy. He'll wear as many itchy-ass white suits as possible if it means she'll smile like that again, it makes his heart flip and his throat close up.

Sana would laugh at him, he thinks. Chewie would laugh at him, he knows, but unlike Sana he'd do it in a nice, slightly affectionate manner, because—well, Chewie knows how gone he's been on Leia for a while.

"Yeah, well," he says, with a shrug, "I asked around for restaurants and Lando got me an appointment with his tailor," a debt that Han will pay off at some point, somehow, "but other than that? Yeah, I did all the planning." It's something he's been trying to put together since December, which says a lot, maybe, about how much he wants it to go right for once. Especially after everything that's happened with Kylo, and Han wishes he were surprised all that happened, but that's fine. He's had experience in dysfunctional families, before.

"They're cheap and they taste good, come on. You gotta admit that much." He might, perhaps, be a little bit biased in that he's just been eating ship's rations for a good chunk of his life. Buckets of greasy, unhealthy chicken? They're practically heaven.

Wine is—well, it's different, that's for sure. Better than the usual cheap beer he gets at the dive bar, so he waves the waiter over and asks for another bottle for Her Worship here.

"And, hey. I can be romantic, I just don't get a lot of chances."

The most romantic he'd ever been before Leia arrived? Probably the fake wedding to Sana, and the whole time he'd been scoping out the place for loot, exits, easy ways out. He's not now, all his attention is on Leia, and he absently strokes his thumb along her finger.

/returns

[articulations]

"All of the planning? How long did that take you?" Leia is charmed. She knows him to not ever really plan. Han isn't exactly a Plan Man, he just goes in— all in. That's part of why she was taken by him. The chute incident, however, that she won't let him off the hook for. She may have been the one to shoot it open but they'd had no other escape route.

The waiter returns with the requested bottle and tops up Leia's glass as she props her jaw on her palm, looking across the table at him.

"Well, just think, you'll have plenty more chances now." Her hand gives his a squeeze.