✿ and ♫ for my exchange fic gift? 😊
✿ did anything major change when you started writing More like resting than running to when you finished?
This is such a great question! I think the key elements were there from the beginning — some ability for Leia to take care of Han given the premise that Han didn’t end up unscathed from his night out with Luke in the Hoth blizzard, a sense that bits of the movie canon would need to change and figuring out how to do that, some sense of them resting together and having an awareness that love kind of snuck up on them while they weren’t looking (and they kind of like it). Originally there was going to be a fair bit more backstory of what had happened while Han was out in the bacta, and we were going to actually see things like the Rogues helping to fix the Falcon (in part out of appreciation for Han having risked his life to save Luke), Leia deciding that she was going to go on the Falcon with Han and Chewie rather than take one of the transports to the rendezvous, Leia and Chewie deciding that Han would go to the rendezvous and would get further medical care there until Chewie determined he was well enough to face Jabba (or in Chewie’s mind, long enough for Han to change his mind about leaving again and decide to stay). There was also going to be a bit more backstory on exactly what blew up on Ord Mantell and what was up with the friends-with-benefits situation Han and Leia had going prior to that.
However, as often happens, sometimes as you write you realize that some of those logistics are less important to the story you’re trying to tell and more just “interesting tidbits I came up with in my head, or practical things I thought about that aren’t really the point”, so that’s what happened to most of that. The other thing that changed as I was writing the fic was my realization of just how uncomfortable Han “then I’ll see you in hell” Solo would be with being in any way idle as the base was preparing to evacuate and Chewie was desperately trying to put the ship back together. So there was a lot more of Han barely being able to stand being forced to rest, and of course him deciding that no way in hell was he going to sit around while Leia was in danger in the command center. (That part, at least, worked with the fact that I’d decided not to veer too terribly far from ESB once they left the base.)
I originally wanted more resting than actually made it into the fic, but it took longer than I thought to skim through canon and get them away from the Imperials. But ultimately I was satisfied, because it worked out as a pace contrast between escaping from the base/ evading the Imperials to actually having some space to take care of each other (and Han realizing that Leia probably needed that rest as much as he did).
♫ send a fic and i’ll make a 3-5 song playlist for you - More like resting than running
One, maybe two of these songs are a bit of a gimme, and the playlist turned out a little less restful than I’d expected, but here you go:
Lucky - Radiohead
Asteroid Field - Galactic Empire
Bizarre Love Triangle - Frente!
Fear - Sarah McLachlan
And Love - Florence + the Machine
Thank you kindly for the ask!
Fanfic asks!