Armored Passion | The Mandalorian

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Mistakes are inevitable.

Whether the mistake you make be some sort of life-changing notion, or if it's just making the decision to sit on the cold metal floor of your already freezing room until you fall asleep leaning against your stiff bed frame and wake up to your back feeling like absolute shit, it's a mistake you're going to have to live with. 

And that's life.

"Oh fuck," I mutter under my breath in a low whine, peeling my eyes open as I try to stretch my aching legs out. The metal flooring scrapes against the skin of my legs and I wince in pain, forcing my limbs back into their initial position to avoid the rough scraping feeling. "Fuck, my back hurts."

Din soon walks into our shared room, stripped completely of his usual beskar armor—everything but his shiny helmet, of course. He still hasn't found any comfort in showing his face to Grogu as he had before everything fell apart for a good two years. I mean, it's only a matter of time before he shows his face to the kid again, or maybe not. Maybe a Jedi will come around to collect Grogu for training before Din ever gets the chance to show the kid his face again. 

Speaking of Jedi, if I remember correctly, Din had been setting up the navigation system so we could be on our way to Tython before I passed out on the floor to take a quick nap (if I could even call what I just took a nap). I can only assume that I had been out long enough for him to get everything set up since he was down here instead of up in the cockpit. 

"What happened to you?" he asks, sliding his helmet off before looking over at me. I sigh and straighten myself out on the mattress, stretching my arms and legs out in peaceful bliss. My limbs and bones pull against each other in a tight draw before they relax completely. 

"Fell asleep on the floor," I mutter, finally falling limp against the mattress. He chuckles and slides over to me, the dip of the mattress making me roll onto my side to face him. He sets one of his hands on my hip and pulls me in even closer, smiling softly as I lean forward to press a gentle kiss on his exposed collarbone. "I have a feeling carrying Poe on my shoulders wasn't the best idea in the book."

"I was a little surprised to see that you let him climb on your shoulders like that," he says, winking while sliding his hand up to squeeze my sore shoulder. I roll my eyes and shrug. 

"Yeah, that was a little unexpected for my old, brittle bones. Ni aalar shuk'yc," I joke in Mando'a, rolling onto my back to face the low set ceiling above us. He chuckles and shakes his head, making me look over at him and wonder what he was laughing about. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing. It's just sometimes I forget how different your accent in Mando'a is," he says, smiling sweetly at me. I perk a brow, still wondering what the actual meaning of his simple statement is. "I just mean, your accent is different compared to what I grew up around in the covert."

"You've never mentioned that before," I say, feeling a little embarrassed at the thought of me speaking the language completely wrong the entire time I've known him. It seems to click in his mind what I'm silently thinking about because his eyes immediately widen and his sweet smile drops from his face. 

"No, no, no—I didn't mean anything bad by it. It's a nice difference," he says in an attempt to reassure me. He rests a hand on my stomach and taps his fingers against my skin. "You know, I don't think you've ever told me how you learned Mando'a."

I take a deep breath, praying to the Maker that I don't embarrass myself any further. 

"The data libraries I used to hide out in had a bunch of books scribed in Mando'a. That's how I initially learned the language, but I didn't really learn how to pronounce anything until I found a few audio links set up within certain parts of the books. There wasn't enough to really understand the exact pronunciation of every word, but there was enough to understand the basics," I explain, already assuming that I sound like an absolute idiot. "And that's probably why my accent sounds weird."