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Din snuck off to Endor a lot.
Which was odd, considering he lived there and had been living there for the past five years with Luke and Grogu and Finn and Rey in a little cabin that Din had mostly built by himself while Luke had been off learning how to control these strange new powers of his. Except being a king of an entire planet meant that apparently you had to spend most of your time on that planet, which Luke didn’t really mind all that much because he was a little more into this sneaking around to see each other thing than he really cared to admit to.
Except he did mind it.
A lot, actually.
Sneaking around like the horny newlyweds that they had been on Tatooine had been fun before he started to miss his husband badly enough that it hurt.
“Where is he?” Bo-Katan stood in front of the door to their little cabin, looking for all the world like she was being successful in intimidating Luke into giving up his husband’s whereabouts--which she wasn’t, despite her haughty tone and the ten or so other armored Mandalorians standing behind her. Din’s royal guard. Because he had one of those now. Except they were more like the Din Djarin-Skywalker retrieval squad because Din kept running off every time someone left him alone for more than a second.
Luke recognized Paz hovering near the back, looking like he wanted to be anywhere that wasn’t here. He wondered if this was Paz’s punishment for letting Din slip away again.
“In the ‘fresher.” Luke answered anyway.
At least, that’s where he assumed his husband was. Din had landed a few minutes before Bo-Katan in his fancy new royal ship, all but threw his helmet off and onto the kitchen table, greeted Luke and the kids with quick kisses and hugs, then told Luke--and he was quoting here--tell her the fucking Ewoks ate me before disappearing back into the bedroom.
Bad day then.
Bo-Katan scowled and really, Luke didn’t know why she kept thinking she could scare him. His sister was Leia Kriffen Organa. Nothing and no one scared him.
“He has a meeting in twenty minutes.” she said.
“And he’s going to be in the ‘fresher for at least the next thirty.” Luke smiled brightly, then closed the door on her face in such a way that it left no room to wonder why exactly it was going to take Din half an hour to shower. He could hear Paz bark out a laugh through the door and someone else smack him upside the head, but if anything it just made Paz laugh harder.
Luke thought he heard a wheeze from the man, but he didn’t stick around long enough to confirm. He locked the door for good measure, humming a silly little tune the kids made up as a bedtime song as he used the Force to put the key back on the wall hook before following his husband’s trail.
Luke glanced out the large kitchen windows as he passed, seeing the kids playing in the garden with Artoo—picking flowers for Din Rey has said. Luke had to quietly urge the kids to let Din go back and clean up after he had landed—and Force if that hadn’t broken Luke’s heart because Din hadn’t been home in weeks--and redirect them to the gardens so they could pick some nice flowers for buir. They were off in the wildflower patch now, Grogu sitting by Artoo as Finn and Rey dumped flowers in his lap. The child looked like he was trying to weave them into a crown, eyes narrowed in concentration.
Luke smiled then continued on to the bedroom, then to the connecting bathroom.
The room was already full of steam.
Really bad day then.
“Is Kryze gone?” Din asked, his voice muffled by the steady fall of water.
“Probably not,” Luke answered, easily slipping out of his robes. He folded them over his arm before setting them next to Din’s armor, which he had neatly stacked on the counter. The deep red cape that Din wore was dumped on the floor haphazardly, and Luke bent down to pick it up and fold that too. He liked that cape on Din. It made him look very kingly and sexy. “But it’s fine. I told her you were occupied.”
Luke glanced at himself in the mirror, tilting his head and dragging his fingers along the line of his neck. There had been a nice bruise there a few weeks ago.
He wondered how much sweet talking he would have to do to get Din to leave another.
“With what?” Din stuck his head out of the ‘fresher, eyes narrowed before they widened and glanced down as Luke shimmed out of his pants. “Oh.”
Luke grinned.
--
The thing was, Din wasn’t supposed to actually keep the Darksaber.
After he had recovered enough from the injuries the darktroopers had given him to not pass out every time he stood and Luke had screamed into Din’s shoulder about the whole thing--becasue his husband was a king now what the actual fuck--they went back to Endor with the darksaber in tow and a threat from Bo-Katan to make sure Din learned how to use it. Something about legitimate challenges and proper ownership. Luke hadn’t really been paying attention to Bo-Katan, what with his hands full of concussed husband.
Still, Luke had taken to teaching Din with a little more gusto than his husband had about being taught, but they did do it.
Even if Din had threatened to give the darksaber to the Ewoks at least three times a week.
He had given it to the Ewoks once.
It took Luke a whole week of negotiating and threatening to and then acting on that threat of calling Leia on them before he got it back, and in that time Din had fucked off on a bounty mission for Greef, cyra’ika, I won’t be gone long and came back with a kid and really, the fact that this has now happened twice—
But that wasn’t the point.
The point was that they had found a little clearing far enough away from the house to not hurt the kids if something happened. The point was that Luke insisted they practice with sticks and staffs first to learn the movements and forms and minimize any injury, since he had learned the hard way just how dangerous lightsabers are. The point was that Din hadn’t had any complaints—truefully, he was happy to smack his husband with a stick if it meant he could keep the darksaber out of his hand—but when they finally switched to sabers after a few weeks and Din stood tall and proud with the darksaber Luke had to call a pause on the whole thing to kiss his husband silly.
It had not been a one time thing.
They had sex in the clearing more times than Luke cared to admit because something about Din with a lightsaber was doing it for him. Din had just sighed and let Luke have his way with him, even if he complained about dirt getting everywhere afterwards.
But the point was that about six months and another kid later, Bo-Katan showed up and issued her challenge and Din was all set to lose and continue his happy life of being a stay at home dad.
Except he didn’t.
He won.
Kicked Bo-Katan’s ass rather spectacularly.
—
“Do you feel better now that you got to fuck your husband?”
Din didn’t dignify Paz with a response—couldn’t, really, since Luke was spouting a rather impressive hickey under his jaw that he was doing nothing to hide. Nothing he could have said would have made that particular situation go away or made anyone think anything else.
And Luke had asked for it.
Begged, actually.
“If this is about the restoration of the mines, I told you to take it to the Armorer.” Din ignored Paz entirely and went right towards Bo-Katan, leaving Luke to lean against the doorway and watch the whole thing go down. “I put her in charge of it for a reason.”
Din hadn’t actually bothered to put anything on beside an undershirt that looked tight enough on him to be Luke’s, some dirt stained work pants and his helmet, but Bo-Katan still stood a little straighter as Din got closer, slipping her hands behind her back as she went stiff. There was nothing intimidating about Din at this current moment, but Bo-Katan was intimidated anyway. Which meant she probably didn’t have a good reason to be here.
She didn’t answer, and that meant that the supposed meeting in twenty minutes was not really a meeting and more of a shitty excuse to drag Din back to Mandalore.
Din sighed and held out his hand. “Just give me the reports. I’ll look over it tonight.”
She slapped the data stick into his hand without argument.
“Din!” Rey came skipping out of the house, slipping between Luke’s legs and crashing into Din’s without losing any of her momentum. Din didn’t even stumble. He bent down and scooped Rey up, propping her on his hip and turning his entire attention onto the little girl. She smiled big and toothy, then held up a fistful of Luke’s nice Naboo lilies. “I picked some flowers for you.”
Luke narrowed his eyes.
“They’re beautiful, prudii’ika,” Din poked Rey’s stomach and gently butted his head against hers. She giggled.
“We picked you flowers too, Din!” And there was Finn, darting around Luke with Grogu in his arms and wearing the flower crown their youngest had been making. Grogu cooed and held up a handful of wildflowers with dirt stained hands.
For all that Din and Luke had spoken the vows to Finn and Rey, for all that they loved the two fiercely enough to fight through Imperial troopers and droids for them, for all that they sang to them and tucked them into bed and chased away their nightmares, the word buir had never slipped past their lips. And Luke understood it--Finn and Rey had been through too much, knew it was dangerous to get attached because whatever you got attached to was going to get taken away from you.
But Din and Luke did not need a single word to make a family.
Din knelt down to scoop Finn and Grogu up with his other arm, and pressed his forehead against both of the boys in turn as he stood back up. Luke tilted his head and flapped his hand in front of his face to give himself a little cool air because kriffen hell.
Paz was looking right at Luke with that stupid head tilt he did when he was making fun of someone.
Luke stuck his tongue out at him.
“I love them,” Din said earnestly. He turned back to the door, completely dismissing Bo-Katan and his guard. Retrieval squad. Whatever they were. They needed to get off Luke’s front lawn. “We should go put them in a vase before they dry out.”
Din slipped past Luke and back into the house without another word to the gathered Mandalorians.
Really really bad day then.
—
“Hey, Starlight,” Luke rolled over and up onto Din’s chest, crossing his arms over Din’s collar bone and dropping his chin on top of them. He went right for the big guns. Din always caved when Luke pulled out Starlight. “Talk to me?”
Din lifted his hand to tangle in Luke’s hair, already mussed from their earlier activities. “I’m fine, mesh’la.”
Oh, Din didn’t pull out the mesh’la card unless he was trying to pacify Luke.
“You’re not,” Luke said softly.
Din had unwound as he made dinner for his family like he always did, the tension leaving his body slowly, but surely. His smile had grown warmer as he cooked tiingilar and showed Finn how to cut the vegetables, his posture a little more relaxed as showed Rey how to mix the spices and let Grogu stir the stew. But his laughter was just a little too late and his smile was still just a little too wide.
Luke had not said anything at dinner, not wanting to worry the kids. He had not said anything when Din tugged him into bed, vainly hoping that he could work out the last little bit of Din’s worries with desperate touches and frantic kisses.
“Din,” Luke spoke softer, lifting his head to place one hand on Din’s cheek. His skin was warm underneath Luke’s touch, his cheeks flushed a pretty pink. “Starlight, what’s wrong?”
Din let out a heavy sigh. “It’s not—“ he paused, held onto Luke a little tighter. “I just missed you.”
That was not it.
Not all of it.
But Luke wouldn’t push. Not right now.
—
“Please don’t punch me.” was Paz’s greeting the next morning.
Luke frowned at Paz and tilted his head. The Mandalorian was standing outside the front door, far enough away to just be out of Luke’s reach, and shifting nervously on his feet. Luke narrowed his eyes. Almost ten years he had known Paz, and he had never seen him get nervous like this. Well, except for that time he had wanted to ask Omera on a date, but Cara had beat him to the punch on that one.
“Why would I--” Luke started, then cut himself off with a scowl. “Oh, come on Paz, he just got back!”
“That’s what I told Bo-Katan!” Paz immediately defended himself and took a step back and held a hand up in front of his face. “But she’s being a--”
Paz spit out a series of curses that Luke hoped to the Force that the kids didn’t hear.
Luke stepped out onto the front porch, wrapping his robe tighter around him as the chilly morning air hit him and closing the door with a soft click. Din had finally cracked his normal sweet smile when he woke this morning, and Luke didn’t want to take that away again. “What the fuck is so important that she needs him right this second?”
“Clan border disputes.” Paz answered. “A couple of ‘em are getting pretty close to going at it.”
“And she can’t handle it herself?”
Luke understood that being a king meant that, more often than not, your duty to your people came before your family. Luke knew that, expected it to happen once Din--rather reluctantly--agreed to lead until someone won the darksaber off of him. Luke had seen it happen with Leia and Han and Ben. Leia had to put certain things above her little family, and Han had taken in all with a surprisingly graceful stride and gentle understanding. He had told Luke that it wasn’t always easy to watch his wife struggle with things he didn’t understand, but the funny thing with love like that was that Han didn’t need to understand to be able to help her.
And Leia had told Luke, the day after Din had picked up the darksaber for good, that just being there to wait for him to come home was more than enough.
So Luke had sat down with Finn and Rey and Grogu and explained that Din might not be around as much that first night Din went to Mandalore, but that didn’t mean he didn’t love any of them any less.
But Bo-Katan was an advisor for a reason, and that reason included situations like this.
“She can,” Paz grunted, and Luke could just see the scowl etched onto his face. “She just doesn’t want to.”
Luke frowned, and Paz took a step closer.
This was not any easier for Paz to watch either, not after he had watched Din and Luke fight through a rebellion and years of a tradition none of them followed just to stay together.
“I’ll have him back home tonight, I swear,” Paz said softly. “Even if I have to beat Bo-Katan off with a stick.” He placed his hand on Luke’s shoulder, squeezing once before letting go. “I think Din will want to add to that rather impressive collection of bruises you got going on anyway, if yesterday is anything to go by.”
Luke punched him, then invited him inside for breakfast.
--
“It’s been a long time since you’ve been back in my forge.”
The Armorer did not turn around as Luke entered the covert, but she did set her hammer down as she knelt down to wrap Finn in a tight hug as he ran to greet her. Rey hung back with Luke, hiding behind his legs and holding tightly to his hand as Luke gently led her inside the warm forge. She was still unsure about the Armorer, but Luke knew firsthand where Rey’s weariness of masked strangers came from. Grogu cooed and kicked his feet into Luke’s liver, but he was securely wrapped in the birikad Luke had made from one of Din’s spare capes. He could kick all he wanted, but Grogu wasn’t going anywhere.
“I know, I’m sorry,” Luke waited till the Armorer stood again, now holding Finn in her arms, then greeted her with a soft smile. “I missed you.”
“And I you, ad’ika.” She took a step forward, shifted Finn to her hip as she gently knocked her forehead against Luke’s. Luke leaned into the familiar touch, closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath. He had not realized how much his chest ached from Din’s absence, not until this moment. “What is it that troubles you?”
“Din’s been called back to Mandalore,” Luke murmured, the unspoken again hanging heavily between them.
“By the mean lady,” Finn pipped in. Grogu cooed in agreement and Rey nodded.
None of the kids like Bo-Katan, and Luke was right there with them.
“I see,” The Armorer hummed thoughtfully. “For how long this time?” She asked. Like Beru, she always knew what was upsetting Luke, often before he even knew himself.
“I don’t know.” Luke answered. “But it’s been—it’s been a few days since he left.”
Paz had brought Din back like he said, but then Bo-Katan had showed up and whisked him right back off before he could even sit down to dinner. Luke was getting pretty fucking tired of it, and after taking with Din in stolen moments for the past week and then finally snapping and yelling at Bo-Katan over the holocall with Din she had hacked into, Luke packed up the kids for a day trip to see ba’buir just to give himself some space and time to cool off.
“One's duties grow when one is a king,” the Armorer said. “As harsh as it is, ad’ika, Din’s life isn’t just yours anymore.”
Luke knew that.
Luke had known that long before his husband became a king.
“I know, but—“ Luke but back a sigh. That wasn’t what was troubling him. Luke was proud of Din. He was proud of him for taking up this responsibility, proud of everything he had done for Mandalore in such a short period of time. But that did not take away this strange and aching loneliness that hadn’t plagued him since their rebellion days, when Din had been with Leia on Endor and Luke had been half a galaxy away. “I just—I wish I could be on Mandalore with him.”
The Armorer hummed knowingly.
“I remain here because it is where I need to be.” she said softly. “When Din calls our Tribe back to the ancestral lands, I will go. But that is not where I’m needed now.” She adjusted Finn to keep a firm hold on him, tilting her head as she looked at Luke.
Luke hated when she got all cryptic like this, because she did that thing that Yoda did where he expected Luke to immediately understand what he was saying even though Luke was still struggling to understand the first two words of the sentence he spoke yesterday. Not that Luke wished harm upon anyone, but sometimes he was grateful Yoda could only nag at him through the Force every once in a while.
“I think it’s time you learned to make uj cake.” the Armorer finished, which did nothing to clear up Luke’s confusion.
—
It was a few days later when Din finally came home in the middle of the night, worn and exhausted while the uj cake Luke and the Armorer made still sat on the kitchen table, tightly wrapped in cloth.
Luke was still awake, never really being able to sleep well when Din wasn’t next to him, nursing a cup of hot cocoa at the kitchen table. The kids were all sleeping in a pile on the couch in the front room. They had wanted to stay awake to greet Din when he got home, but they were still too young to fight the incoming tide of sleep even with the sugar and spice of the uj cake in their bellies. Din was careful to stay quiet as he snuck past them, pausing only for a moment long enough to pull the knitted blanket off the back of the couch to cover them with.
“Hey,” Luke greeted softly.
Din did not answer, and when he knelt in front of Luke, when he took his helmet off and rested his head on Luke’s lap, when he sat on the kitchen floor and held Luke as tightly as he could, Luke knew that it had been a really, really bad day.
He set his mug of cocoa down on the wooden table as softly as he could, then gently worked his fingers through Din’s hair. Luke was slow with this, being as gentle as a child while he worked through the knots and tangles.
Din looked so tired, and Luke’s heart ached.
“I can’t keep doing this,” Din took in a shaky breath, holding Luke a little tighter. “I can’t keep leaving half of my heart halfway across the galaxy. I can’t--Luke, I can’t.”
Luke swallowed something bitter and heavy.
It had been different, during the rebellion, because despite every shitty thing they had been dragged through at least they knew they would be together in the end. Dead or alive, it didn’t matter because at least they knew that despite all the different directions they were getting pulled they would always find themselves heading back towards each other.
“Then let me come with you,” Luke said softly, because even though last time Din couldn’t follow him, maybe this time could be different. “Let us come with you.”
Din shook his head. “This is our home, Luke, I can’t ask you to do that.” He looked up at Luke, and Luke felt his heart crack. “I can’t ask--I can’t ask you to leave your home again.”
Again.
Because Din had asked him before, hadn’t he? Back on Tatooine, when they both hadn't grown enough to know what it meant to be selfless. And then the war came, and suddenly all they had to keep going was the promise of finding a home again. Somewhere they wouldn’t have to leave.
Luke held Din’s cheeks in his hands, leaning down to press a gentle kiss to his temple. “I followed you last time, didn’t I?”
Din didn’t answer.
“Starlight,” Luke murmured, repeating it again and again until Din looked at him again. “Did I ever tell you why I call you that?” At Din’s continued silence, Luke answered. “The slaves on Tatooine used the stars to navigate when they ran away. They mapped them out and used the constellations as a guide—Aunt Beru taught me how to find my way back home with just the starlight.” Luke paused for a moment, brushed Din’s hair out of his eyes, then, “In the slave language, home and starlight are the same word.”
Din blinked.
“You’re my home, Din. Not Endor, not Tatooine, not the covert—you and the kids.” Luke gently pressed their foreheads together, holding Din as close as he could. “I don’t care where we go. I just want to go there with you.”
Din still didn’t answer him, but Luke didn’t need him too.