Chapter Text
The warmth of the summer sun hit your face as the grass tickled the back of your knees. Your eyes were closed, but still your vision was red from having the sun on your eyes. A bit of concentration was all you needed to feel everything around you... how the wind moved the chimes near the backyard door, how the sun's rays nurtured the grass beneath you, how Han and Leia's voices rang through the kitchen as they fought... You could feel worry radiating from somewhere within the house, you felt grief, anger and a small twinge of compassion. If you focused enough, you could listen to Leia and Han arguing about sending Ben away to train with Luke. You knew Han disagreed with Leia's decision, though you couldn't understand why if your parents had already agreed to Luke training you.
—"I don't appreciate you eavesdropping on my parents." Ben Solo's voice made you jump. He sat with his legs crossed next to you.
Your eyes opened and you sat up. —"Sorry, Ben." You didn't even need to look at his face to know he wore a frown. Even if you knew meddling in family business was wrong, you felt the need to share your opinion on it. —"Still, I think your dad is wrong about not trusting Luke."
—"Oh, yeah? Well I think it's none of your business." The boy sighed and looked over at you. —"It's not that he doesn't trust Luke... He just..." Another sigh. —"I don't know, he just loves arguing with my mom about everything and anything."
You hummed in agreement. —"Well, for what it's worth, I want you to come along, too."
Ben smiled. —"I hope so, too. At least I won't be left alone for 'more pressing matters' every single day."
—"Ben!" Han said from inside. —"Ben!"
—"Ben! How many times do we have to go over this?" Luke said. "Correct your grip and keep your footing in order, you're making a mess."
Skywalker was particularly hard on his nephew. Not that you could blame him, really. Nineteen year old Ben was quite a handful if anyone asked you. His sudden mood swings, his aggressiveness when wielding a lightsaber, the way his violent technique made him unpredictable and dangerous. Still, to you, this was your every day routine, what with him being your fighting partner every single time, it was either you or Luke geeting into lightsaber duel with him. Of course, Luke was not only training you and Ben, but also about twenty other students. From that bunch there were only four you and Ben could actually stand. The ages ranged from 7 to 19 with Ben being the oldest student and you being only a year younger than him.
A hiss came from the dueling pit. You felt pain travel through the Force. You looked over to see Ben's leg smoking.
—"Get up and try again." Luke said mercilessly.
—"I can't, I'm hurt." He panted out.
—"Get up. Try again." Luke repeated.
—"I already told you I can't! Look at what you did you my leg!" Anger travelled through the Force now, and you knew it was time for you to step in.
—"With all due respect, Master Skywalker, I think Ben needs to get that bandaged up before doing anything else." You spoke up shyly from your spot. —"I can help if you need me to."
Luke sighed and deactivated his lightsaber before giving his nephew one last disapproving look. —"Go." He said with a nod of his head. —"And next time... try to control that wild temper of yours."
Ben took a deep breath through his nose and looked over to you. As you walked over to him, you tried sending a feeling of reassurance to him, as if to tell him everything was going to be okay, but he simply huffed and extended his right arm to you while his left arm firmly clutched his leg. He set his right arm around both your shoulders as he limped over to the infirmary. You half held his weight with your strenghth, half with the Force. You knew he was trying to pretend like it didn't hurt too much as he tried to hide his limp and keep his hissing to a minimum.
Both of you arrived to the infirmary and were greeted by the nurse droid there, but before it could even look at Ben's injury, he retorted, —"Turn that thing off, I don't like it."
You gave him a questioning look before turning the droid off. —"Will you let me help you?"
He hesitated a bit before looking at you. He not only looked in physical pain, but he looked like he was about to actually cry. —"Get out of my head, you know I hate it when you do that." You stood there quietly until he sighed once more and said, —"There should be a couple of bacta packets beneath that counter on your left." He sat down on the stretcher.
You moved to get the bacta packets from the counter, and after shuffling around a bit you were able to find two of them. You walked over to where Ben was sitting and quietly opened one of the packets while he opened the other one. —"You're particularly quiet today, everything okay?" He asked.
—"I guess I just don't like it when Luke treats you like this." You could feel his eyes on you, but you were far too focused on applying the bacta correctly to his wound. —"This was far from necessary, I know that he is perfectly aware you know how to wield a damn lightsaber. It makes me really pissed off."
Ben and you kept silent for a moment, but you could still feel him looking at you. —"Hey..." You finally willed yourself to look at him. There's a weird look in his eyes, something that looked close to gratitude. —"The old man is like that just because my mother is his sister. Don't worry about me." He smirked.
—"I felt it, Ben." He gave you a puzzled look now. —"I felt your anger earlier in the pit. Remember that anger is-"
—"A path to the dark side, I know. I don't need you to tell me that." He huffed again and took the hand with which you were applying bacta to his wound. —"I don't know how many times I need to tell you to stop looking into my head before you learn how to take a damn hint." Ben tossed your hand to the side and took the second bacta packet and started applying it himself.
You stood there for a moment, feeling a mix of anger and rejection, but when your voice came out, you just sounded really sad. —"I simply want to help you."
He didn't even spare you a look when he chuckled and said, —"Help me with what?"
—"I..." You sighed and looked away. —"I don't know."
—"Look, I don't want you worrying about me. I have enough with Luke radiating worry every time I'm near him." You looked at him, but he seemed intent on not looking your way. —"I can feel myself being a burden to him, you know?" Ben finally looked at you. —"Don't make me become a burden to you, too."
—"I'm sorry I keep looking into your feelings. I just want to understand you better."
He smiled at you. —"Would you help me? I do seem to be useless at this." He handed you the bacta over again.
—"Does it still hurt too much?"
—"Look into my head and you'll find out." He said teasingly.
You laughed and hit the upper half of his left arm. —"Fuck you, Solo."
He took both your wrists, making you drop the bacta. Ben brought you close to him until you were standing at the edge of the stretcher between his legs. The two of you hesitated before you started leaning in.
—"Hey, have you guys seen the med droid?" Lesath, one of the only students you could bare, asked.
You and Ben swiftly get away from each other, and Lesath didn't seem to notice. —"Uh... yeah. I turned it off, but it's right there on the back."
—"Thanks!" He walked over to the droid and turned it on.
Looking over to the floor, you made a move to pick up the bacta and put what was left of it on Ben's wound. You were much too embarrassed to even look at him. When you were done, Ben cleared his throat. —"I should probably get going." You simply nodded. —"Thanks for the help. I'll, uh, see you later?"
—"Yeah, yeah, of course." You managed an awkward smile as Ben walked past you, no limping now.
He looked back at you and smiled before walking out the infirmary. You could feel yourself blushing a bit as you leaned on the edge of the stretcher.
—"Well, what was that all about, huh?" Lesath asked jokingly.
You looked over at him and rolled your eyes. —"Man, what do I know?"