this turned out to be far longer than what i expected; 4000+ words; requested by -DREAMCATCHERR and AmandaN28 ; this is a long amount of hurt/comfort and angst/turned fluff. din djarin is so beautiful

(and yes, i am accepting requests for din, cassian, poe, kylo/ben, han, luke, obi wan, anakin, lando, bodhi, finn, and hux. i will be publishing a brand new author's note/request page at the start of this book where you can comment your requests. or you can message me, if that's more comfortable for you.)

"I work alone."

Those were the first words out of the Mandalorian's mouth when you offered your proposition: you would split the holopucks given by Greef Karga in exchange for a place on the Razor Crest and a partnership.

Whether it was your desperation for a place to stay or your embarrassing desire to have a friend, you weren't sure, but you asked him. Knowing well that he would probably turn you away, you asked. It wasn't like he hated you. At least, you were pretty sure he didn't. You were one of the few people to know the Mandalorian at least a little bit. He didn't ignore you in the cantina like he did everybody else. He didn't glare at you when you showed up at Greef Karga's first. You were both Karga's favorites. You got the jobs you were given done and you did them well. Mando respected that.

And you'd gotten pretty good at reading the face of his emotionless helmet. Right now, with the way it was tilted to the side, staring at you in disbelief, you knew he thought you were crazy for asking.

"Surely you can make an exception," you replied, slightly teasing. "For me."

He scoffed and looked away from you and towards the window. You leaned forward on the table, your hands wrapping around the non-alcoholic beverage the bartender always made specially for you. A secret menu item, tasting of sweet berries. It was much easier to do your missions sober.

"Come on, Mando. I'm not asking for a lifetime thing. Just a chance to complete these bounties here together, split the money, then go our separate ways. You wanted first dibs on the good pucks? Now you've got dibs."

"Sharing isn't dibs," he said.

"I'm not offering this to anybody else, am I?" you asked. "So it is dibs. In a way. Because you get first dibs on accepting this offer or not."

"It's not dibs."

"You know, you are really stubborn." You sighed. He was stubborn, and you couldn't blame him. Not even Mando, the one guy in the cantina you were sure would help you out in times of need, wanted to help you. You knew that he knew how you lived. All alone, sleeping in the crappy cockpit of your crappy ship. Nevarro had been oddly cold the last few days, each night promising to be more bitter than the last. You would have another sleepless night, shivering in the cold of your ship again, praying that it would last another day so you could leave Nevarro and set off on your next bounty. "Do we have a deal or not? I'm not going to sit around here and beg you. You wanted an opportunity for a bounty, I literally gave you six. See you around, Mando."

As you slid out of the booth and started out of the cantina, he tapped his fingers against the table. "If we split the pucks... "

You turned, one eyebrow raised.

"We split fifty-fifty?"

"Of course," you said.

He nodded once. "Deal. We leave tonight."

A smile slowly spread across your face. "Deal."

It only took a month to complete all six bounties, and by the time the last one wrapped up, you knew that you didn't want to part with Mando. The two of you made a great team. The Razor Crest was much warmer than your old ship. You could argue that your missions were easier with him by your side, but that wasn't the only reason you wanted to be near him. His company was genuinely good. He was quiet and reserved, but he understood you. He knew what it was like to solely enjoy the silent comfort of being near somebody.

The two of you had lived particularly lonesome lives. You grew up without a family, just going from person to person on Nevarro, hoping to find someone willing to help you. While you weren't sure what Mando's life entailed, you were sure it had to be lonely. Showing his face was forbidden, and that meant he couldn't be close to someone... right? You tried not to dwell on it too much, because thinking about it led to thinking about him as a human... dreaming of what he was like...

Shaking yourself from your thoughts, you slowly climbed up the ladder. He was leaning back in his seat in the cockpit, his fingers folded behind his head as he stretched out. He looked over and straightened up as you entered the room.

"Were you sleeping?" you asked.

"No."

"Should we go back to Nevarro, see what Karga has for us next?" you asked, settling into the seat behind Mando. You didn't want to ask the question prodding at the forefront of your mind. Should we go back to Nevarro and stick together, or is this it?

"I suppose," he replied. "I haven't heard anything from him on new pucks."

"I'm sure he has something." You shrugged.

He shrugged back, and then silence followed. For the first time in a month, the silence bothered you.

You chewed on your lip. "But if Karga does have something for us... are we splitting the pucks fifty-fifty again?"

"Our deal was six pucks," he said. Although his voice wasn't harsh, it sent a pang of hurt in your chest. Realization that he didn't want to stick around you any longer than he had to hurt you deeply. You stood up slowly from your seat, nodding and swallowing hard. It was ridiculous to feel like crying, but you were fighting back the tears.

"Right. I'm gonna, uh, pack up my stuff," you said.

As you left the cockpit and moved down the ladder, you couldn't get down fast enough. Dropping onto the lower level, you looked up at the top of the ladder and wiped your face with your sleeve. Your face was warm and you were so embarrassed by yourself.

Why did you think that the Mandalorian liked you enough to stick around? You had invaded his ship, taken all of the bounties he wanted and offered the rewards for half of them at half the work, and now you were expecting him to extend the invitation and want to keep you around? This was his job. This was your job. This wasn't a time to make friends. In the one place he had to himself, you moved yourself in, and now you were fighting not to cry as you shoved your few belongings into the bottom of your bag.

"I like having you around here."

You jumped and turned around. He was standing at the base of the ladder. You hadn't heard him come down. As you swallowed, you whispered, "What?"

"Hunting down the quarry is easy," he said. "Getting them in custody is even easier. I know you don't like sleeping in your ship. I know you don't like being by yourself back on Nevarro. Besides, having you around... it's nice."

The hurt faded away. "I think it's nice, too."

"It would be hard to live with me," he said.

"You're not too bad of a roommate," you joked.

"It's dangerous."

"We're both bounty-hunters, Mando."

"I can't... give you everything you might want out of a companion."

His name. His face. You knew this. You nodded. "I know. I don't care. I just want to be with you."

"And I want to be with you," he said.

Your heart was fluttering wildly, as if it had grown wings and was fighting hard to break free. "But we only had six pucks to split."

"Maybe you're right," he said. "Maybe Karga has more for us back on Nevarro."

"So what, I can crowd your ship some more?" You smiled.

"I wouldn't call it crowding." He moved closer to you and your heart was pounding against your ribcage.

"I would," you said. "You once told me you work alone."

His voice was soft and careful. "Surely I could make an exception. For you."

It was so difficult to breathe, and it was even harder to stop smiling. Your voice was just a whisper. "Who am I to argue with that?"

When his hand moved to hold yours, both you and Mando found yourself in the midst of something neither of your hearts were prepared for. Yet, at the same time, you both longed for something like this. Pure, selfless, honest love. Love that would lead the two of you into something so beyond your comprehension.

As the year went on, you never parted from him. He never sent you away. The two of you stopped thinking of the missions as something to split and started sharing the credits and loot. You would show up at Greef Karga's, slide into a booth side-by-side, gather the holopucks, and head out together. Greef Karga always brought up your closeness, claiming that he always knew the two of you would find your way to each other and that was why you were both his favorites, but the two of you never acted like a couple in public. Maybe in the way you looked at each other, they could see it, but everything romantic was hidden away, in a place where it was only the two of you.

Mando was able to be himself when he was with you. He was able to find humor in things, have someone to go to when things were stressful, and have someone to share the weight of the galaxy with. He protected you and you protected him. He cared for you and you cared for him. There was a beauty in what the two of you had that no word in any language you spoke could fit.

The two of you lived in your own little world, cruising through the stars, seeing planet after planet and stopping to enjoy them for the first time in your lives. You were both obviously in love, although it was an unspoken thing.

It was better as an unspoken thing. It matched the two of you perfectly.

The Razor Crest needed a lot of maintenance. A lot. The ship was practically falling apart at the seams. You had never felt more unsafe on the ship than you did in the freezing cold of Hoth. The ship couldn't withstand the temperature, but Din was insistent on it being the only safe place even remotely close by. It was a place the two of you could breathe after a long string of difficult bounties and dangerous missions. The targets on your backs were huge and the threats were endless.

"I might rather take my chance with an assassin than deal with this cold," you said, wrapping yourself up in your fuzzy coat. You yanked the hood up and glared at Mando.

"How much complaining are you going to do?"

"Enough until you get me off this icicle." You wrapped your scarf around your neck dramatically, making sure to give him a long enough glare.

He chuckled at you before heading out of the ship with a toolbox in hand. "You want off this icicle? Help me work on the ship. The exterior of the hull needs touched on."

You had never been in the middle of a harsher snowstorm. There was no end to the falling flakes that blinded you completely. The horizon was a dim grey swirl in the distance. There was no way of telling if you were near mountains or near a lake or if there was anything except for piles and piles of snow and a plethora of falling snowflakes.

"How did the Rebellion make any kind of base out of this planet?" you grumbled, dropping to your knees next to Mando. In the harsh wind, you nearly fell over, instead bumping into him. You sank into the hard-packed snow all the way to your thighs.

"They probably didn't complain as much as you," he said.

"Oh, whatever," you scoffed, squinting to keep the snow out of your eyes. His armor was covered in a thick layer of frost already. "You're going to need me, Tin Can, when you freeze over."

He laughed. "Come on. I need your hands to hold this piece up so I can finish the wires."

For the next several minutes, you struggled to stay still as he worked on ripping out wires, replacing them with new ones. The cold was biting into your skin and you were shivering so harshly that you could hardly help. The coat and the scarf you were wearing were too thin, even though they were the thickest you could find in the market back on Nevarro. The gloves you wore were so caked in ice that the fibers of the fabric were frozen over. Your skin was burning with cold in a way you never knew that it could.

"You need to go back inside," he said. "I'll finish this."

"I'm not leaving you out here to get buried in the snow," you argued.

"And I'm not letting you freeze to death, either." He shoved you with his shoulder. "Go. Now."

"Mando---"

A click of a blaster behind you stopped your small argument in its tracks. You could feel the ghost of the object on your left temple. You froze, your eyes widening, your hands stilling next to Mando's. He turned his head to the left and hurriedly pulled out his own gun, aiming it at the hooded figure standing behind you. You raised your hands in surrender.

"Funny how they always think they're safe," the hooded figure said. His voice sounded robotic, and you wondered if you were dealing with a droid. "They go to the most remote, dead planets in the galaxy, and yet they're shocked that that's been where we've been hiding. The two of you have made a lot of people mad, you know."

"Drop your weapon," Mando said.

You just looked at him. He was so clouded in the thickness of the snowfall.

"If you shoot, Mandalorian, my finger pushes the trigger. She'll die."

"I'm not warning you again," he said. "Trust me when I say that you don't want to do this."

"Think I'll regret killing this one? They want her, dead or alive. Same for you."

"You'll regret trying to kill her," Mando said. It wasn't an attempt to scare the attacker. It was a statement that left no room for debate. The person behind you was going to die, and the harshness of his death all depended on how long he chose to hold the blaster to your head.

"No, you'll regret---"

The blaster shot went off. You ducked, hands smacking over your ears as the sound deafened you. Shockingly, you were not dead. It all had happened too fast and you were so blinded by the snow that as you rolled away from the two, you were barely able to register that Mando had knocked his hand away from your head, fired his own blaster, and had lunged at him all before your attacker's blaster went off.

You turned on your heels in the snow, up to your elbows in the icy mush. In the clouded sight of them on the snow, wrestling with one another, you were hardly aware of who was who. You watched carefully until the one on top stilled and slumped over.

"Mando!" you shouted. He did not reply and your heart lodged in your throat. "Mando?!"

With a grunt, he tossed the attacker off of him and turned on his side. "Fine," he muttered. "I'm fine."

Sighing loudly in relief, you stumbled through the snow to get to him. You helped him up to his feet and brushed off his shoulders. "You scared me."

"Are you alright?" he asked, cupping your face with one hand. He moved his fingers through your hair, across your temple and the side of your head where the blaster was pressed.

"I'm fine," you said.

He wrapped one arm around you. "You're freezing cold. Go on the ship. I don't know who else might be out here."

Although you were freezing, the shakiness in your body wasn't all because of the temperature. You were terrified and the realization that nowhere was safe was all too real in your mind. But as you stumbled onto the Razor Crest and pulled your hood down, feeling the stinging of your skin adjust to the warmth and the heaviness of ice on your hair and eyelashes, you felt safer than you should.

Mando moved behind you, helping your numb fingers pull the coat off of you.

"I-I'm fine," you stammered, teeth chattering. "I-I'm fine, Mando. I can do i-it---"

The coat dropped to the ground and he turned you around, watching your face as he pulled the scarf away from your neck. His hands were fast to move and he was panicked.

"You need to warm up." He grabbed a blanket that was folded in the corner and draped it over your shoulders. Planting his hands there, he lowered you to sit on a crate. You let him, staring up at him as he hurriedly moved away, going to brew you a cup of hot tea.

"Mando, I-I'm okay now. I'll warm up in a b-bit. Are you alright?"

He ignored you. You sighed, moving to stand. He was back in front of you, pushing you back down. "Sit."

You blinked quickly. The snow melted off of your eyelashes. He knelt in front of you, hands on your knees, then on the edges of the blanket, then back on your arms. You sighed and dropped your head, pulling your arms close around yourself. You were cold, but the fear of frostbite was far from your mind.

"Just breathe," he said. The tea kettle screamed and he rushed to get it. He poured you a cup and brought it back to you. Your fingers had no feeling in them, but still you held the cup tightly, hoping to feel the warmth soon. "I am so sorry. I had no idea... I had no idea they would target you."

"M-Mando." You closed your eyes and shook your head. "They could've targeted you, too."

"But they didn't. They targeted you."

"And I'm fine."

"What if you weren't?"

"You wouldn't have let them do anything to me. C'mon."

He shook his head. You watched him now, moving one hand away from the hot cup in your hand to touch the side of his helmet.

"Mando. You need to look at me."

"I am looking at you," he said. You moved the cup of tea to sit on the crate beside you. He covered your hands with his own and you leaned down, touching your forehead to his.

"I know we don't say it," you whispered, "but I think it goes without saying that I love you. I love you very much."

He pulled back and whispered, "You don't even know my name."

You gave him a gentle, reassuring smile as you touched the side of his helmet with your fingertips. "I don't care about that, Mando."

"I do. My name is Din Djarin. When I was young, I lived in the settlement of Aq Ventina. My parents were---"

Your eyebrows furrowed together. "W-Wait. Stop. Mando---"

"My parents were killed during the fall of the Republic and---"

"Mando, stop!" Your eyes were wide. You shook your head as you struggled to form words. The only thing you could think of was his name. Din. You had often wondered what it was, and now that you knew... you felt so guilty. "What are you doing?"

"You love me," he said, "and I have yet to even tell you who I am. I see us as a clan but you don't even know me."

"That's not true. I do know you."

"Not in the way that I know you," he said. "I've... I've heard your stories. I've heard about your past and your childhood. I know your name. But you don't know mine. I've... I've seen your face. But you haven't seen mine."

"That's okay," you whispered, cupping your hands on the sides of his helmet. "It's alright."

"No." He covered your hands with his again. This time, he did not push you away. "It's not alright. I've been alone for a long time. So long that I was beginning to become sad just by being myself. Nothing was right in my life except for you. You were always bright. Real. Always making me turn my head, to think of how badly I wished to be someone else. Someone able to be with you. The day that you came up to me in the cantina was the day I thought maybe I could be selfish enough to open up to that dream of mine."

There weren't words. Your mind was jumbled, your heart fluttering. Nothing had prepared you for this. This was something you could only dream of having.

"Love was not something I had the privilege of giving. The privilege of receiving --- but you gave it to me. I don't know when I started to love you, but it's been a long time, I think."

"It's been a long time for me, too."

"Good. Because when a Mandalorian forms a clan of his own, he's allowed to show himself. I've thought of us as a clan for a long time now. But I'm not going to trap you in this. If you don't want to be with me, please tell me. I want to show you everything that I am because we are one."

The smile on your face was the brightest one you'd ever shown. "Din Djarin. Of course I want to be with you. Always."

"Always," he repeated.

His hands guided you to push up his helmet. You must've looked hesitant, because he straightened up and pulled you closer to him. "It's okay. Do you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you. Can you trust me?"

"You've given me no reason not to," he said, laughing.

"I know, but you can't just break your Creed for me."

"Surely I could make an exception," he said. "For you."

You tilted your head. "Din."

"It wouldn't be breaking my Creed. As my spouse, you and I would be one. What I am trying to say is..."

"You're trying to propose," you finished.

He inhaled, then exhaled. "Yes."

The smile grew on your face as your heart took flight. "Din Djarin, I would be honored to marry you. To be part of your Clan. To... to get to spend the rest of my life with you by my side."

"You have become my heart," he said. "My soul. My love."

The two of you married in private, sitting next to your forgotten cup of tea, in the shivering, freezing cold, whispering vows to one another and promises of forever. At the end of it all, when your marriage was solidified and made true, you settled back in front of him and placed your hands on either side of his helmet. He covered your hands with his own, turning the front of his helmet towards your palm as if to press a kiss there.

"Din Djarin, I love you," you whispered.

All he could think about was the way his name sounded coming off your lips. It was the first time anybody had spoken it in years. As you pulled the helmet off his head, your eyes trailed upward from the scruff of a beard on his chin, the shape of his cheekbones, the curve of his nose, and finally, his deep brown eyes. You were in awe of him. And he was in awe of you. For the first time, he was able to gaze fully on your face. There was no veil covering his eyes. He could see you in full; full shape, full angle, full color.

"Look at you," he breathed. You set the helmet on the floor and the two of you held each other's faces. "So beautiful."

"You," you said, raising your eyebrows. "You are beautiful. Brown eyes."

His laugh was rough and his smile was wide. Your fingers brushed across his lips, tracing the shape of them. His brown eyes fluttered closed at the warmth of you and you just held him, and he held you, and the two of you slowly came to realize that you had forever of this. For the remainder of your time, neither of you would be alone again. Your lives of loneliness had come to an end with the start of your clan of two.