An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Leia Organa/Han Solo
Characters: Leia Organa, Han Solo, Chewbacca (Star Wars), Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antilles, Crix Madine
Additional Tags: Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Engagement, Traditions, ceremony (to an extent), hanleia week 2024, Established Relationship, diasporic communities, Marriage Proposal
Summary:
Han fumbles through multiple attempts to propose to Leia.
//
this has been in my wips for everrr and it has been every kind of story in the process. very glad to have something to contribute to the event 🥰
Since I'm a big fan of weddings, of course I spent a lot of time thinking about what would Han and Leia's wedding be like.
As a passionate royal watcher and a big lover of Hungarian traditions, I just had to mash up aspects of these. This also means that I was able to combine today's two promts.
That tiara is the Cartier Halo Tiara, my absolute favourite. I just love to imagine that Han gets made a replica of Leia's birthday tiara given by her parents after hearing the tradition that Alderaanian royal brides wore a tiara from their family.
And yes, I'm a basic girlie, and my favourite wedding dress is Carherine Middleton's, but hey, own it! I feel like it's regal enough for the last Princess of Alderaan at her wedding that is the first big celebration of the new, free galaxy, bit still laidback enough for a sadly no longer big royal wedding and a bride who wants a more simple, personal occasion.
The bread tearing! My favourite Hungarian wedding tradition is where the couple grabs the two ends of a circle shaped 'kalács' and tears it to see who will be the 'boss' in the marriage. Of course for Han and Leia the two pieces are the exact same size!
A Hungarian wedding is a huge party until dawn, and to signal at midnight that the day of the wedding passed, and the groom and bride is now the 'new husband and wife', they change into red clothes. They are also for sale now, at least a dance with them, time to get back the price of the wedding😉 (And if you find the picture familiar, it's from Palvin Barbi and Dylan Sprouse's very fun and very Hungarian wedding!)
The bride sometimes gets 'kidnapped', usually by the men in her family, and the groom has to find and 'free' her with cute, silly tasks. I imagine this to be a Corellian tradition, which is told by Wedge to Leia, who finds it hilarious, but Han firmly states that they won't do that, but the Rogues do it anyway lol. Leia has a fun time, especially when Han completes the task in a very romantic manner. Bonus, the picture I chose for this is also good for simply aesthetic purposes.
I hope you enjoyed this silly little moodboard with my commentary! 😊
WE'RE BACK, BABY! "Wait, what's happening, wasn't this in August??" you might wonder. Based on your feedback, we decided to host this and (probably) future editions of Han/Leia Appreciation Week earlier in the year. July seemed like the better choice, given that it's a vacation period in both hemispheres!
This year we're also giving you the prompts over a month in advance, so you have plenty of time to plan and create!
Han/Leia Appreciation Week was an event originally hosted at @han-leia-solo between 2016-2019, but for the past three years, we've taken up the mantle here at @hanleiacelebration 😊
💖 How does Han/Leia Appreciation Week work?
The event will run from July 14th to July 20th, and there will be two different prompts each day that creators can fulfill with: fanfic, fanart, gifsets, graphics, fanvids, headcanons, crafts, playlists, rec lists. You’re encouraged to tag your posts with #hanleiaweek2024 so we can reblog them! After the week is over, we’ll share a masterlist with links to the works.
You can show your appreciation in many ways; however, please keep in mind that it has to be a creation of yours of some sort, e.g. don’t repost other people’s fanart, gifs, or unedited pictures. Rec lists should include a link to the original source both for fanfic and fanart (more on this after the cut).
🎆 The prompts
Sunday 7/14: Tradition / Ceremony
Monday 7/15: Braids & Bloodstripes (hair or clothing) / Home planet
Tuesday 7/16: AU / Canon divergence
Wednesday 7/17: Force / Belief
Thursday 7/18: Favorite scene / Favorite quote
Friday 7/19: Meeting / Escape
Saturday 7/20: Free day!
You can use only one of the daily prompts, combine both, reinterpret them, or skip the day if you can’t think of anything. If you’re not able to post on the same day for a prompt, you’re still encouraged to share it through the week—just don’t post works for a certain prompt before the day corresponding to that prompt.
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FAQs and Rules under the cut - please read!
💕 Can I post my work to another site and share the link on Tumblr?
Yes! This is a good option for people who might want to create explicit art that could be taken down on Tumblr, write a long fic or multichapter, or make videos or playlists.
💕 Does it have to be a new creation? Can I finish and post a WIP?
It has to be something that has never been posted anywhere else before, so finishing and sharing a WIP is okay! If it doesn’t fit any of the prompts, you can share it on Free Day.
💕 Is this event open to all ratings?
Yes! Just remember to use a “Read more” cut if you’re posting the whole work on Tumblr, and to add a note at the top if your work is rated Mature or Explicit, as well as if it has any major trigger warnings, so all folks can safely browse through the entries.
💕 Are there any length or quality requirements?
There’s no min. or max. length for fanfic or quality level for art, but please note that AI-generated works won’t be accepted. For gifsets, there’s a minimum of two gifs (that must be made by you!). For playlists, there’s a minimum of five songs. For rec lists of fic or fanart, there’s also a minimum of five recs. Some more questions you might have about rec lists:
- How do I share someone else’s art without posting a picture? You might post a thumbnail that crops a preview of the piece; if the piece has a title, you might use that; you might describe it; or you might say something like “this piece by [artist]”, and link to the source.
- What if I found a fanart on Google? Try to find the original source using reverse search image.
- What if I can’t still find it, can I just say “credit to the artist”? In that case, please just don’t share the piece.
- What if I know the artist but don’t have a link to the original source? Naming the artist and linking back to where you found it is okay, in that case.
💕 Can I write for canon/Legends and include other pairings?
All canons, time periods, headcanons and AUs are welcome, and you’re allowed to include side pairings, except for R*eylo. However, keep in mind that this is a Han/Leia appreciation week - at the risk of sounding repetitive, works should focus on appreciating Han and Leia’s relationship!
💕 What’s the time zone for the event?
Please don’t worry too much about time zones: when we say “day”, we always mean “whenever that day is for you in your part of the world”. IE: if it’s Monday for you, you can post your work for the Monday prompt.
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Do you have any other questions? Don’t hesitate to send us an ask or to message one of the mods: @lajulie24 @hanorganaas and @otterandterrier
Illustrated by Sophie Li and written by Beth Revis, Someone Who Loves You will re-tell the moments of Han and Leia’s wedding ceremony on Endor after the Rebel’s victory over the Empire—taking moments already told in Revis’ earlier novel and rendering them in beautiful, painterly new scenes, as the doting newlyweds-to-be explain to curious Ewok children just what love is, and what Han and Leia mean to each other. [x]
There’s a scene in The Princess and the Scoundrel where Leia, bedecked in her gorgeous gown and clutching wildflowers, steps into the tree temple, but no one’s noticed yet. No one but Han. While every single person is watching him, at the front of the crowd, he’s only got eyes for her.
Of course, in the novel, I had to expand the ceremony. Where are Chewie, Luke, Mon Mothma? What are they doing and seeing? What threat is happening in the background that will propel the story, and how might they face it?
But in this book, I was able to pull it back in. Yes, there are woklings running around, causing chaos. But it’s so clear—Han and Leia have eyes only for each other. In every image, no matter what’s happening, their love is at the center. We are back in that private moment, that personal time, where there’s nothing more important than their love.
Hello friend! I just wanted to reach out and say hi because I hope to be writing something great for you for the Hanleia exchange this year!
I only have one question for you so far, and that is if you have thought of anything else you would like or not like that never made it onto your signup. If so, great, definitely let me know! If not, that’s fine too!
Thanks for the message! I'm pretty much open to anything - I would just ask that it at least be hopeful/uplifting if not an outright happy/fluffy ending. H/L have suffered too much in canon - I want them to be happy in fic at least! I'm excited to see what you come up with!
💖 Last day to sign up for the Han/Leia Holiday Exchange 2023 ‼️
Hey! Hey you! Yes, YOU! Stop kissing! Have you signed up for the Holiday Exchange yet??
If not, this is your reminder that today, Friday, December 8th, is your last chance to join us!
That's right - we want YOU to sign up if you love writing Han/Leia, are able to write at least a 500-word fic in a month for someone else, and would love to receive your own Han/Leia fic tailored to your preferences 😊
👉 SIGN UP HERE!! 👈
You can find all the info here, and if you have any questions about how anything works you can send us an ask 💌
The form will be open all through the day wherever in the world you are 🌎
Now, if you've already signed up - well done, you!
And sit tight! The mods will review all the sign-ups and do their ✨ match-making magic ✨ over the weekend, so we should be sending out assignments no later than Monday.
A study of "I love you"/"I know" that I found in my drafts. Enjoy, all who are interested. Han Solo/Leia Organa
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Somehow she’d always known they were running on borrowed time, precarious moments all loosely strung together by the will of luck.
Or—by the will of the Force. She doesn’t know which. The two most prominent men in her life have such divided perspectives concerning how things come to be. Personally, Leia’s never quite believed in luck. And the Force is a little out of her element. Bygones, she supposes.
But if either happens to exist, Leia prays one will intervene. Now would be the time.
Please.
Leia curses herself for not knowing, not realizing sooner. She curses this star-forsaken gas mine and Lando Calrissian’s crackling audacity. Most of all, though, Leia curses the name of Darth Vader. So help her, she has half a mind to go tearing at him full force, screams rattling her throat.
But Leia knows better than that. It would only worsen matters. Not that things could get much worse, but she’s not in any mood to risk jinxing the situation.
Not when Han’s life is on the line.
“Nothing to worry about,” he’d said, upon their landing in this traitorous sky metropolis. “Trust me.”
She’d trusted Han, truly. Really, she had. It was Lando who triggered her suspicions and it was Lando who betrayed them. Leia should’ve trusted herself, when have her instincts ever led her astray?
Now the love of her life is being ripped from her white-knuckled grasp and Luke is most assuredly on his way, moments from tumbling into this mess, just as Vader intended. It’s a disaster, it’s a catastrophe, it all could’ve been avoided if only she—
Leia’s mind is racing faster than Coruscant traffic, there’s so much static between her ears that she hardly notices Chewbacca’s raging tantrum or Threepio’s panicked shouting. She’s lightyears away, she may as well be back in that revolting slug’s throat, that’s how utterly useless she is—
Han’s gaze locks with hers, green and brown mingling, expressions tight with sorrow and suddenly Leia is rendered immobile. The most basic of functions now sit just out of reach. Breath hanging idly in her lungs, heart resting motionless in her ribcage. For one electrifying beat they are a portrait, etched in the shattered passage of time.
The next double-crossing second sends time barreling onward once more and in a desperate instance of impulse, Leia is grabbing his shirt and Han is crashing into her and they’re tangled together in a kiss born of a nebula.
They’re breathing each other’s air, starved of this closeness, passion rushing through fingertips and fingers brushing through hair and all Leia wants is this. This this this, this forever, until the end of time itself.
And just as suddenly, Han is pulled away, brute force dragging him farther from her arms, farther from her lips, farther from her, and Leia has never known a pain like this.
That pain—that hollow, yawning cavern spreading through her chest—is what drives her to the words.
Words she’s never said, words that were always reserved for family, words so powerful that perhaps Leia’s gripping some obscure hope that they might reconcile this tragedy.
The words leap from her mouth.
“I love you!”
They explode, echoing across the chamber, dancing their way to Han’s awareness and she sees the way his eyes flood with something cosmic.
“I know.”
He knows.
He knows he knows he knows—
That smart-mouthed son of a bantha, of course he knows, he’s known all along but she’s too late, too late, and the platform is lowering and Han is disappearing and—stars, if the circumstances weren’t so bone-achingly grievous, she might actually laugh.
He knows.
That information isn't much but it’s enough, it’s enough to fill the chasm, it’s enough to soften the sharp-edged agony coursing through the tunnels of her veins. Twin tears streak down both cheeks and she doesn’t even care, she doesn’t care about her reputation or her image or anything.
With a final inkling of self-preservation, Leia turns away, burying her face in Chewbacca’s fur coat because she can’t watch anymore. Everyone has limits. She should’ve reached hers years ago. It’s nothing short of miraculous that her knees have the strength to keep her standing, the cold, durasteel floor has never looked so enticing.
Threepio is rambling on, robotic anxiety rolling from his speakers. Leia hopes Lando feels this anguish, she hopes he’ll remember it for the rest of his back-stabbing, rotten existence in this merciless galaxy. She hopes the torment of guilt will haunt his sleepless nights, she hopes it’s unbearable.
And when the steaming slab of carbonite is lifted from within, Leia’s eyes have a mind of their own and she risks a treacherous glance.
There he is. Her whole heart, frozen in a contortion of dismay. Stuck there. Trapped there. She wonders if he felt it. She wonders if he was afraid.
She shouldn’t have looked.
Vader’s imperious rumble cuts through the air, “Well, Calrissian? Did he survive?”
A question, reminding her how dire these circumstances really are, reminding her he might not have survived—
Leia’s stomach lurches with anticipation and she’s seconds away from another spiral, but then Lando chimes in.
“Yes, he’s alive. And in perfect hibernation.”
Relief. Alleviation rushing across sweat-soaked skin, premature consolation spreading like the sunlight of daybreak. He’s alive. Han is alive. And despite the trials she knows are about to bend her in half, Leia feels oddly renewed. Love has finally found her. She sure as hell isn’t about to let it slip through her fingers.
Delete if this doesn’t inspire happiness Marie Kondo style!
Hey, remember when I said I wanted to write some short prompts and then disappeared for three months? Me neither 🤣
There isn't much of either type of P in this, but I hope it brings joy anyways!
*
Leia missed the sea.
Oh, there were oceans—not only of water—on hundreds or thousands of worlds across the galaxy, and she’d seen many of them. But she’d never walk on the shores of Alderaan’s seas again, never smell that exact scent of salt air and kelp, never feel its waves lift her up. That sea had boiled into vapour with the rest of her home.
This planet’s water was lighter, a milky turquoise instead of the pure clear sapphire she’d grown up with, and the beaches were tilted sheets of slippery shale instead of dark red sand. She could still walk along the shore, though, and the wind felt nearly the same. Its strong push counterbalanced her as she stood just past the point where the waves’ hissing momentum failed and retreated.
The square-prowed silhouette of a fishing boat passed slowly across the horizon. Leia pulled off her boots and stuffed her socks into them, wading into the shallows with gritty rocks shifting under her bare feet. She twisted most of her long skirt up and tucked it into her belt to keep it out of the way.
She heard the scrape of footsteps approaching over stone behind her and sighed internally.
“Everything okay?” A thread of worry was laced through Han’s normally insouciant tone.
“I’m fine.” Which was only partly a lie. Leia wasn’t physically wounded, just tired: so tired of having to be a figurehead, strong for all the Rebellion to see with just a hint of vulnerability to keep her relatable. She could show her grief and her anger, but only in carefully calculated amounts. Sometimes she felt it like a tangled, writhing ball in her chest that could only be released by a massive explosion of fury.
As much as she wanted to let it out, Han didn’t deserve that. She drew in a deep breath, concentrating on the briny scent of the air.
He waded up slowly behind her and she felt his broad form block the wind, a bulwark of solid warmth at her back. She leaned into his chest and his arms wrapped around her.
“You’re bleeding.” His voice rumbled against her back.
She looked down and saw he was right: a scrape on her bare foot was oozing blood slowly, drifting into the water like red smoke. The water had numbed her to it.
“Leia. Are you sure you’re okay?” Han cupped her shoulders in his big, warm hands. “No one else is around. You can tell me whatever it is.”
“Kaltiss died yesterday.” Leia’s weak whisper voice was torn away by the wind. She cleared her throat and spoke louder. “She was the last survivor from Calabrida. We used to talk about the port there, where my parents had a summer home.” She looked for the faraway boat, but it had dissolved into the haze on the horizon. “Her family were fishers, and they were always buried at sea. I couldn’t give her that.”
“No one could,” Han said, flat and final. “And she knew that. She wouldn’t have joined up with the Rebellion and fought in space without thinking about it. You can’t carry everyone’s burdens, Leia.”
He turned her around in the circle of his arms. She looked up at him, braced for a bad joke about her height, but his face was uncharacteristically serious. “You’ll break yourself trying.”
Even if he was right, Leia didn’t want to hear anyone worry about her right now. She scowled half-heartedly at him. “Shut up and kiss me.”
For once, Han did as he was told. His mouth was hot on her cold lips and she needed that, needed him to make her feel less frozen. She wound her arms around his neck and clung to him.
A wave smacked into them, soaking Leia to the waist. Han lifted her up against him and she gasped, her fingers digging into the back of his neck. He kept kissing her, his fingers gripping her thighs hard, biting into her flesh. Leia could barely breathe. The wet fabric of her skirt soaked through his pants as she wrapped her legs tight around him, yanking at his shirt, trying to get her hands on the warmth of his bare skin as he mouthed at her neck...
“Wait a sec—” He lifted his head to scan the deserted beach around them. “Any chance we’re gonna be interrupted?”
Leia shook her head. “There’s a security drone within call, but that’s it.”
His slow grin made her shiver like the thin trickle of icy water down her spine. “Guess you better not scream, then.”
Han/Leia Appreciation Week 2023
Day 6: AU/Canon Divergence
honey don't feed me (I will come back) - A Han/Leia Vampire AU
{soundtrack}
breaking down florence + the machine | when your heart is a stranger friends in paris | haunted house florence + the machine | it will come back hozier | disturbia rihanna | howl florence + the machine | kill of the night gin wigmore | shark oh wonder | bury a friend billie eilish | make it holy the staves | take me to church hozier | bad romance lady gaga | wicked game stone sour | rescue my heart liz longley | in for the kill billie marten | various storms & saints florence + the machine | better in the dark say lou lou | white blood oh wonder | vampire empire big thief
jbbartram-illu
yousharknotpass
janainaart
andulkaphoto
origamiaround
izzy806
