Here's a lil' fic for y'all!
~Time for some season one vibes~
Ezra once again tried to dodge or block each milk carton that flew his way.
He dodged about 25%, blocked about another 25%, and got hit by about 50%. He knew the kid couldn’t see it, but he was making good progress.
“Ugh, why am I so bad at this?”
“And why do we have to do this with milk?” The kid’s clothes did have a few spots of the blue liquid here and there. They just…didn’t really have anything else expendable enough just lying around to use as “ammunition.”
“Yeah…sorry about that, kid. C’mon, let’s take a break.” Kanan sat down and patted the ground next to him. Ezra came and sat down beside him.
The tall grass of Lothal swayed in the wind as the two sat in comfortable silence. Kanan looked over at Ezra to find that he was already gazing back at him. The two smiled. There was just such a peaceful, loving, safe energy between them. And to Ezra—it was refreshing. He finally felt like he was at home. And not only did Kanan recognize that, but he was extremely grateful for it. He never thought he’d be able to make a kid who felt as lost and alone as he did at that age feel safe and secure, but he was so glad that he and Hera had somehow miraculously been able to do it…Although, the fact that Hera had been able to bring him that sense of warmth and security didn’t surprise him.
“Kanan, have you ever been in love?”
“What?” Kanan was abruptly taken out of his thoughts.
“Have you ever been in love?”
“Uh…kid, why are you asking me this?”
“Well…I don’t know what the Jedi teach about…that kind of stuff and…let’s just say I’m dealing with some of that stuff right now.”
With who? Kanan wanted to ask, but he already knew the answer.
The amount of things wrong with this. The fact that the kid had a crush on Sabine who—for various reasons—would never reciprocate, the fact that he was actually that oblivious to him and Hera, and the fact that Kanan would have to somehow formulate an answer to his question.
“Well,” Kanan started, “the…traditional Jedi teaching is that forming attachments, especially romantic ones, is dangerous because they can make you act irrationally and prevent you from focusing on the greater good for everybody.”
“But,” Kanan continued, “just because you believe in most of what the Jedi teach, and call yourself a Jedi, doesn’t mean you have to agree with all of their teachings. Everybody makes mistakes and, due to my own experiences, I firmly believe that they were wrong about that.”
“Due to your own experiences?”
Kanan hesitated. After a moment he responded, “Yup.”
“So you have been in love.”
Kanan laughed. Then, took a moment to think about it.
She won’t mind, I mean, they are a family. And she probably thinks he’s already figured it out. I’ll just tell her after.
“Woah there, pal. Calm down.”
“Think about it for a minute. See if you can find the answer yourself.”
Ezra tried. Kanan could see him thinking long and hard.
“Uuuhhhh…I don’t know! I mean, who do we even see often enough that it would make sense for you to be in love with? I mean, there’s Hera, but you guys are best friends, so obviously that’s not the case–”
“Kid,” Kanan couldn’t believe he had to say this, “people can be best friends and something more at the same time.”
Ezra’s jaw dropped. It just stayed there for a solid ten seconds.
“YOU’RE IN LOVE WITH HERA?!?!?!?”
Kanan couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh, “Yup.”
“AND HERA’S IN LOVE WITH YOU?”
Kanan laughed even more at that, “Thankfully, yeah.”
“So that’s why you guys are so happy all the time?”
They both laughed this time, “Yeah, kid…She makes me really happy.” Kanan smiled warmly at that.
“Okay, okay. Enough sappy stuff–”
“I did. I did.” Ezra said, relenting.
“But yeah, all that’s to say, that my relationship with her makes me stronger, makes life better, and motivates me to care about the greater good more. And you, Sabine, and Zeb encourage me to keep fighting too.”
“So attachments aren’t bad?”
“Honestly kid, no, they aren’t. In fact they’re the best things that the Force can give us in this life.”
“Hey, boys,” a voice came from behind them. They looked up at the ramp of the Ghost. Hera stood there, leaning up against the door frame. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving. And unless you guys want me to try and make dinner again, and we all know how that went last time, I suggest that Kanan retires from Jedi master duties for the day and fulfills his role as our resident kitchen staff.”
Ezra and Kanan laughed. “Coming,” Kanan said.
“Hurry up, Kanan,” Ezra said, “I don’t want to spend another night feeling like I’m gonna barf out my insides.”
Kanan laughed. “It wasn’t that bad!” Hera retorted.
“Just go and tell Sabine and Zeb that I’m gonna be starting dinner soon,” Kanan said with a smile.
Ezra looked between Kanan and Hera, then gave a cheeky smile, “Okay,” he said and ran up the ramp, leaving the two of them alone on the ramp of the Ghost.
“What’s up with him?” Hera asked.
“Well…” Kanan said, sidling up to her.
“Well,” Hera said, eyebrows raised and an amused expression on her face.
Kanan held her elbows gently. With an amused smile he said, “He may or may not have finally, officially, figured out what’s going on here,” he gestured between the two of them.
“What?” Hera said with a laugh.
Kanan just smiled widely and nodded.
“Did you just straight up tell him? Like, was there a conversation that led into this? And did he really not suspect anything at all?”
“Woah, that’s a lot of questions,” Kanan laughed.
“Excuse me,” Hera said mock accusingly, lightly grabbing hold of his forearms, “But I’m allowed to have a lot of questions about this.”
“Fine, fine. Basically, the kid was like, ‘Have you ever been in love before, Master?’” Kanan clasped his hands wistfully mocking Ezra’s dramatic tone from earlier.
“Why is he like this?” Hera laughed.
“I don’t know,” Kanan chuckled, “But I think he definitely gets his curious nature from you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Hera rolled her eyes and smiled, “So what exactly did you say?”
“I basically told him that the old Jedi weren’t supposed to have attachments, but that my attachments make me stronger and he understood that. He’s actually pretty smart, that kid.”
“He also gets that from me,” Hera replied.
“True,” Kanan smiled, moving his hands down to hold hers.
“Well, now I feel like I should talk to him too.”
“Valid point, but let’s at least have dinner first, okay?” He pressed his forehead to hers. The sun beaming on Lothal was beginning to set. Hera relaxed in his arms as he gently pressed a kiss to her lips.
When he broke away, she smiled and quietly responded, “Okay.”
Let me know if any of y'all want me to make the continuation of this where Hera talks to Ezra!
Thanks SO MUCH for reading! Love you all<3
