All this talk about Din needing to adopt a certain little girl from Jakku inspired me to do a quick drabble. Obviously, I got carried away, so for your own amusement and consideration: dad!Din & foundling!Rey
Warnings: brief mentions of child trafficking, family fluff
• Boba has claimed the throne on Tatooine, and Din is laying low, avoiding Bo-Katan and other responsibilities involving Mandalore and the kriffing darksaber.
• He checks in with Cara, Greef, and Peli occasionally, seeing where he can help out, as a way of thanking them for helping him in his time of need.
• Fennec cleans up house, releases slaves, and comes across a young slave girl, Rey.
• None of the ex-slaves claim her as their kid, saying she's alone, an orphan.
• Fennec asks Boba what they should do with her, and he suggests she look for Din, knowing that the girl's background might hit a little close to home with him, but also could be a chance for Din to heal after having to let Grogu go.
• Unwillingly, Din adopts her after much bribing from Boba and Fennec: "She needs a home." "You wouldn't let a little kid just live their life on Tatooine alone, would you?" "What would your clan think if you ignored this foundling?"
• When Din stops by to visit with Cara and Greef in Nevarro, he has Rey with him.
• She always sits on his shoulders holding onto his helmet. Din had her promise to never lift it up because "it's important to me, ad'ika" and left it at that, and Rey never breaks her promises. She's had others betray her when she was sold into slavery, so she always promised herself to never break her promises. Din has been her protector for a few weeks now and gained her trust quickly when she quizzed him about Mandalorians and asked, "why do you wear that shiny helmet all the time?" Learning about honor, discipline, and compassion for the widowed and orphaned that the Creed emphasized was enough for her to trust Din with her life after being abandoned and sold like property.
• Walking through Nevarro, Din and Rey cross paths with a certain general and pilots flanking her (and of course Din doesn't keep up well with who the heroes of the galaxy look like -- hell, he didn't know who Boba Fett and Luke Skywalker were until Cara and Greef explained to him they were legends that he basically has on speed-dial now).
• He recognized one of the pilots, Blue, whom he encountered on the icy planet with the Frog Lady, and hoped to avoid an awkward "mAy ThE fOrCe Be WiTh YoU" encounter again, so he tried to haul ass through town.
• However, Rey had other ideas, and wanted to tell "the nice lady general" that she liked how her hair was styled and "Din, do you think she would show me how to make my hair swirly on the sides of my head?"
• Din tried to figure out a way to gently tell Rey that "the nice lady general" was probably too busy to explain hair techniques to a six year old, but the general must have overheard their discussion and walked in their direction.
• "Hey, Mandalorian!" The pilot exclaimed happily to Din, reaching out his hand for a shake, that Din unwillingly returned.
• "Oh, General! This is the Mando I was following a while ago that I told you about. How's your ship by the way?" Smiling up at the young girl on Din's shoulders, amused, he added, "and did you have another kid since I last saw you?"
• "Destroyed," Din flatly answered, "and uh - yeah, you could say that."
• "What's your name, little one?" the general sweetly asked the girl, who suddenly became shy, fidgeting with Din's cape underneath her.
• Din picked up on Rey's bashfulness and patted her leg lightly, "it's okay, ad'ika."
• "Rey," she quietly answered, "what's yours?"
• The general smiled kindly, stretching out her hand for Rey to shake, "it's Leia, and it's a pleasure to meet you and your father," winking at Din, who felt his face blush at the mention of his paternal relationship with Rey, and embarrassed at not realizing who the general was until now (Leia knew what she was doing, she enjoyed teasing people, a trait that Han loved to point out).
• Rey giggled as she shook General Leia's hand, picking up on her teasing. It looked as if Rey made a new friend who liked teasing her buir as much as she did.
• Clearing his throat, Din prompted Rey, "isn't there something you'd like to tell the general, ad'ika?"
• "How did you make your hair look like that? Could you show me and my buir how?" she excitedly asked Leia.
• Chuckling, Leia agreed, only if her buir would allow it, to which the Mandalorian shyly obliged and replied, "only if we aren't taking up your time, ma'am."
• Leia waved her hand to shush Din, shooed away the pilots, and insisted she could spare the time.
• Humbled, Din watched as the general sat with Rey as she braided and twisted her hair, noting how she effortlessly did it, and so he could help Rey learn to eventually do it herself.
• He listened to the general talk to Rey about her own child with long black hair.
• "He can be a grump like his father, but if you met him, I think you'd teach him how to open up and enjoy life more," to which Rey giggled, "he sounds like my buir. He's quiet and grumpy, too, especially when I wake him up each morning!"
• Laughing, Leia replied, "maybe our paths will cross again and you can meet my sweet Ben."
• Din didn't miss Rey's blush at that statement and could only groan at the thought that he signed up to not only be her guardian, but would have to be the one to explain the kriffing birds and bees to her when she was older.
• Kriff, he didn't know if he could handle all of that responsibility... especially after having to experience empty-nest syndrome since Grogu was picked up by the Jedi.
• But when he came to sit down near his ad'ika once the general finished braiding and pinning Rey's hair back, he saw the young girl smile so brightly, he realized...
• As long as he could provide a better life for her -- no matter the heartache he might experience in return -- it was worth it. If she could have that innocent joy that she wholeheartedly deserved, then he did his job well. As her buir.
