Work Text:
The Morning Commute
Leia had told him it would be a good move. A big city came with a level of anonymity that he never had in their small hometown… plus, he had never really left Arizona. When both Leia and Luke were set to go to college, their Uncle Ben had fallen severely ill, leaving him unable to take care of himself. Seeing how conflicted Leia was between taking care of their uncle and starting her future, Luke had offered to stay behind. He took over most of the responsibilities of running Uncle Ben’s tea shop while also attending classes online. It had been nice, and Luke hadn’t complained, but it hadn’t really been how he expected his life to go.
Then, when Ben had passed away last year, Luke had felt lost. Leia and him still had their godparents, Bail and Breha, but Uncle Ben had raised them. He could only take a year of sad looks and pitiful shoulder pats from well meaning locals before Luke lost his mind, calling Leia and telling her he needed a change.
Hence why he now found himself in Boston. It was… a huge move for him. So used to the desert climate, it was a shock to his system to move into his new apartment in the snow. But Leia and Han lived twenty minutes away with Bail and Breha an hour north, and he had managed to get a job at one of the local university libraries, finally putting use to his degree in anthropology.
Despite how much he was telling himself this was a good decision, that he was going to be happy, he still found himself struggling to adapt. It was too cold, he didn’t know anyone, Leia and Han were a busy married couple, and he was starting to get tired of his almost hour commute every morning on the T from Wonderland station to Boston College. He had decided to find an apartment in Revere, thinking it would be a better choice than Boston proper, but he was getting tired of taking the entirety of the Blue Line and then a decent chunk of the Green Line to get to work every morning.
He had settled into a vacant seat, luckily still being early enough that the train car was not packed, fighting to keep his eyes open. Luke had brought a book he was in the middle of reading, but he was too tired to read. Not only was he struggling with the long commute, but he was struggling to fall asleep at night. Uncle Ben’s home had been damn near silent in their town, but not he heard cars and people all hours of the night.
Soft cooing caught his attention. Looking up, he made eye contact with a little boy. He was in a baby carrier strapped to his father’s chest, dressed in black pants and a puffy jacket, a cute, green knit hat with ears sat upon his head. His bright eyes were locked on Luke, his tiny fists reaching out. His father was… gorgeous to put it simply. Tanned skin, dark eyes, and curly dark hair were only the cherry on top of a well-muscled body and strong jaw line. The father was reading a book, his hand reaching up and allowing the boy to grab onto a finger.
Luke waved at the boy, which set him in a fit of giggles, his feet kicking excitedly. That sound and movement got his dad’s attention, who looked up at Luke. A hot, bright blush spread across Luke’s face as he quickly tucked his hand in his lap. It felt like he couldn’t look away from the other man’s gaze. The father smiled, using his finger to wave his son’s hand in Luke’s direction.
“Are you making friends, ad'ika?” The man asked quietly, Luke needing to strain to hear the deep, rich voice over the train.
The boy cooed again, reaching forward towards Luke, making the man chuckle. The train stopped again, the man getting off, waving goodbye to Luke as he exited the train, the boy straining to look back at Luke around his father.
His blush didn’t die down until he was forced to brave the cold, the wind forcing the heat out of his entire body.
***
Luke saw the man and his son again at the Government Center stop, waiting for the next Green Line train to arrive. The father was bouncing his son a little bit, eyes trained on another book. They were only about ten feet away, standing a little away from the edge. The little boy was facing towards his father today, head resting on his father’s chest, tucked under his chin, eyes drifting open and closed lazily. He had a thumb stuck in his mouth and the same green hat on. It was around 6 in the morning, and Luke couldn’t blame him for being so sleepy, he also wouldn’t mind leaning on someone right now. Especially if it was on the father’s broad, nicely muscled chest wrapped in a soft looking sweater…
Shaking his head, Luke focused on the approaching train.
It wouldn’t do him any good to dwell too much on a stranger.
***
He started seeing the father and son duo almost every day. Sometimes on the Government Center stop platform, other times they ended up in the same train car slowly making their way along the Green Line. It was rarer for the boy to notice Luke and then for the father to notice Luke as well. Every time it happened, Luke’s face felt like it was on fire, and he could only manage a shy wave.
Plus, despite reminding himself every time to not fantasize, he couldn’t… help it. What was the man’s name? What did he do? Where was he going every day with his son? Was he single? Did he even like men? Would he like Luke? Would he like Luke’s apartment with it’s chaotic mismatched furniture and poor design choices?
Those and many more questions whirled through his head, and he couldn’t do anything to stop them. Every time he saw the man, it started up a new round of whirling thoughts. Even when he wasn’t on his morning commute, the stranger seemed to be teasing him.
Like right now, he was pushing his dinner around on his plate, absently listening to Han and Leia talk about their days.
“Luke? Luke, are you even listening to me? I asked you how work has been going,” Leia’s exasperated tone brought him out of his daze.
“Huh? Sorry, sorry. Yeah, work has been good. Really quiet, not many students in the anthropology department, so most of my days in the library are spent organizing books and I’ve been tasked with digitizing a lot of the primary documents the department has,” Luke babbled before shoving a big forkful of food in his mouth.
“That’s good, I’m glad. I know you were apprehensive about the move…” Leia admitted, seemingly letting Luke’s strange behavior go.
Han, of course, was not going to, willing to take any chance he got to tease Luke.
“What’s up with you? Why are you so spacey?” Han asked through a mouthful of food.
“I’m not spacey,” Luke denied, but it was too quick, too hurried.
“Sure, sure… That’s why you were staring at your food for the first twenty minutes of this conversation. Spill. Now. What is it? Apartment not good? Bad neighbors? Meet someone?”
Luke’s traitorous body jumped and his face blushed when Han asked if he had met someone, causing the man the let out a victorious cheer, throwing his fork to the table.
“I knew it! Who is he? What’s his name? Do I hear wedding bells?” Han cried, a huge smile on his face as he grilled Luke.
“Han, relax,” Leia scolded before shifting her full attention to Luke. “But… answer all those questions. Now.”
“I don’t… I haven’t even really met the guy. I just keep running into him on the train in the morning,” Luke mumbled, scared to admit that he saw this man nearly every day and had failed to introduce himself yet, too scared to start an actual conversation. “He always has his son, who seems to like me a lot, but I just… he’s so cute, I can’t talk to him!”
“Oh, kid,” Han groaned, rubbing his hands over his face. “Isn’t this why you moved out of that small town? To meet new people?”
“One of the reasons,” Luke agreed.
“Okay, then next time you see him, just… say “hello, I seem to see you nearly every morning, so I wanted to introduce myself, I’m Luke.” That’s not scary! And pretty normal,” Leia encouraged.
“Yeah, you could say that… Or you could say “hey my name is Luke and I’m a hot twink who wants you to f-”
“I’m going with Leia’s!” Luke cried, cutting off the rest of Han’s sentence.
“God, I’m just trying to get you laid!” Han argued.
“Just start slow,” Leia encouraged.
Luke nodded, agreeing.
How hard could this be?
***
Apparently, it was an impossible task.
The next day after his dinner with Leia and Han, he had convinced himself that he was going to say hello. To introduce himself. Maybe even be bold and ask for the man’s number.
What actually happened was… nowhere near that.
He was running later than he normally was, and then the trains kept getting delayed, and then he spilled his coffee all over himself. And then, because the universe truly seemed to want to mock him, he ran into the man.
Literally… he ran directly into the man’s side as he rushed onto the train car, nearly missing his connecting train.
“Woah, you okay?” the man asked, grabbing Luke’s arm to keep him from falling on his put.
“Uh, yeah, yeah, I’m great! Thanks, really appreciate it… have a good morning,” Luke babbled and mumbled, his words probably coming out incomprehensible.
He rushed to one of the open seats then, refusing to look up at the man’s dark eyes. For the entire ride, he kept his eyes firmly glued to his book, not reading anything but too scared to look up and potentially meet the man’s gaze.
Work wasn’t much better that day.
Luke felt like he wasn’t able to catch up. He was scatterbrained, unfocused, and it took him double the amount of time to complete a task. His boss then asked him to stay late, of course, and Luke still felt like he had to agree to everything his boss asked him to. So, he worked an extra three hours, putting together a last-minute presentation for a new student tour group coming tomorrow.
Finally, at like 8 p.m., he was finally heading home after eating a less than satisfying dinner of shitty food from the University cafeteria. He was slumped in the train seat, rubbing gently at his temple, eyes closed.
“Long day?” a familiar voice asked him from above.
Looking up, Luke’s stranger was leaning above him, a hand gripping the rail above him to keep him stable. He sat next to Luke, getting comfy in the train seat. He was childless at the moment, giving Luke an even better peak at his impressive physique.
“Uh… yeah, you could say that,” Luke agreed, voice coming out choked.
“Soooo… I feel like I see you every day, but I have no idea who you are. All I know is that my son really likes you. He doesn’t wave at every stranger,” the man grinned.
“I’m flattered. He’s uh, he’s a really cute kid,” Luke smiled, trying to let go of some of the tension in his body.
“My name is Din Djarin, and you are…?” the man introduced himself, holding out a hand.
“Luke Skywalker.”
The man’s hand was warm, and despite his better judgement, Luke allowed himself to linger, enjoying the warmth coming from the man in the cold train car. His linger did not go unnoticed, but instead of being mad, Din just smiled, continuing to hold Luke’s hand, his thumb rubbing soothingly across the back of his hand.
“So, I hope I’m not being too forward… but could I get your number? I’d love to take you to dinner sometime.”
“Of course!” Luke agreed too quickly before blushing brightly.
Blushing was apparently his permanent state around this man.
“Lovely, here’s my phone.”
Luke tried to keep his hands from shaking as he put his number into Din’s phone, making sure to text himself to confirm he had put in the correct number. He refused to let his nerves ruin this for him.
“I don’t normally work this late, so I’d be free for dinner whenever you are,” Luke explained, smiling at Din.
“We’ll set up a time. Child free of course, although Grogu does seem fond of you. He asks about you if we don’t see you in the morning,” Din laughed.
“Oh, that’s so cute,” Luke cooed. “You won’t be able to tell him where you’re going, he’ll get jealous.”
“Most definitely, buuut I think I’d like to have a night with you myself without my kid stealing my thunder. Plus… you’re very cute, Luke. Not everything I’d like to do on our date would be exactly child friendly.”
Din’s grin had just an edge of teasing, his dark eyes roaming over Luke in an exaggerated way. In an attempt to hide his embarrassment, Luke covered his face, making Din laugh. The train came to a stop then, saving Luke from having to somehow come up with a response to that.
“This is my stop, I’ll text you to set up a time,” Din said quickly, moving Luke’s hands to drop a quick kiss on his lips.
Luke could only sit there for a moment, stunned. When what had happened finally caught up to him, a ridiculously large grin spread across Luke’s face. Frantically fishing his phone out of his pocket, he quickly dialed Leia.
Han was going to be so proud of him.