Summary: Devon decides to make a cake for Maul's birthday.
cw: none. this is pure fluff
a/n: saw it was your birthday today @maulshornfile and you wanted a cute one-shot about maul getting a surprise birthday. happy birthday and i hope you enjoy it!
Master Daki's birthday was today.
Devon sat in her cabin, meditating before the little light of a tapered candle. The wax curled down the stick and cooled on the floor. They celebrated their birthdays like this for years— a single candle in the dark, while the galaxy at war raged around them. The only exception was the cake, which was not really a cake; it was a vanilla flavored ration powder that vaguely looked like a cake. She'd stick a candle in the bag and light it, then she and Master Daki would eat the rubbery, cool in the middle sludge straight from the bag. It tasted horrible, but she never complained. What she wouldn't give to share it again now.
She pinched the flame out before it guttered on its own, and wiped the tears from her cheeks.
Devon found Maul inside the garage, elbow deep in the engine of his speeder that needed endless maintenance, it seemed.
"When's your birthday?"
Maul didn't look up. "Why?"
"Master Daki's was today," Devon said, flatly. "So I was just thinking about it."
For a moment, she thought he might actually say something. A date, season, maybe even a year. Instead…
"Hand me the ten millimeter socket from my tools."
Devon rolled her eyes and pulled the socket from his tool case, waiting a few seconds before dropping it into Maul's waiting hand. He secured the attachment to the wrench and finally looked at her.
"That sentiment is a useless platitude," he said. "It has no meaning for me."
Devon rolled her eyes again, uncaring that Maul saw it. "That's a fancy way of saying you don't know."
Maul didn't reply and turned his focus back on the speeder.
Devon almost let it go. She should've let it go, but Maul didn't let things go, so why should she?
"Whatever," she said, and left, and let him think that was the end of it.
It was not the end of it.
She wanted real ingredients, not ration powder. Ration powder was all Master Daki ever had, and what they had was nothing, but it was between them. And Devon wanted something different with Maul— something she could prove to him. What that was though, she didn't know.
The markets ran late into the night cycle. She waited until the safe house went quiet, slipped her hood up, and made it four steps to the door before catching Maul in the corridor. Because of course that's where he was.
"I'm not going to run away again, if that's what you're wondering," Devon said, shifting her weight to one hip.
Maul didn't look amused. "Where are you going?"
"I just need to buy a few things."
"At this hour?"
"Personal things. Do you really wanna get into it?" she said, with the hope that it'd make Maul uncomfortable. It didn't. "I know you put a tracker in my comm," Devon waved her wrist. "Or do you want to follow me there and watch me buy all my lady stuff?"
Maul stared at her and she held it, because he didn't scare her on Janix, and certainly didn't scare her now.
"The market closes in two hours," he said, and stepped aside.
That was Maul speak for be careful, the closest she'd get to it, anyway.
The market smelled like fried dough and engine coolant, the two great perfumes of the galaxy. She followed a recipe on the holonet and bought flour, sugar, eggs, butter, a tub of icing (strawberry flavored), and a stack of disposable pans because she figured she'd ruin at least two. She found packs of birthday candles, and one shoved in the far back held a single red candle swirled with black. Devon paid and hauled the groceries back to the safe house, satisfied with herself.
She waited.
Devon lay in her bunk, watching cake baking holos in the dark. Maul usually went to bed late, which seemed to be much later tonight than usual. Typical, he loved to irritate her, unintentionally or not. A few hours past midnight, the safe house fell quiet. Devon tentatively stretched out with her senses and found Maul quiet in the Force— the closest to peaceful he ever seemed to get.
Why was everything so much louder at night? The pan rang like a dropped helmet when she set it on the counter. Devon froze with both her hands flat against it, eyes on the corridor. Nothing. She measured flour by the light of a single glow panel, and fished egg shells out of the bowl twice. She read the instructions until the light of her datapad burned her eyes, but she still had no idea what she was doing.
The first cake turned to rubber on the edges and melted in the middle. The second came out fine, if a little brown on the corners, and Devon burned her hands on the pan.
Dawn wasn't far. The cake wouldn't cool in time for the icing before Maul woke up. Devon thought thirty minutes in the freezer would cool the cake enough— but she was wrong. The icing melted and pooled to one side. The crust crumbled underneath the edge of a serrated knife, the only type they had in this pathetic excuse for a kitchen. Icing smeared in patches along the edges, a wall of it built in the middle to hide most of the damage. It was ugly, but tasted fine. Like cake.
Devon set the single black and red candle in the middle. Flour dusted her jumpsuit, batter smeared across her face and probably in her lekku. But she did it.
Somewhere between cleaning the kitchen and waiting for Maul, Devon fell asleep. Her last thought was that Maul would wake soon, at the same hour, like he did every day, and she'd be ready for it. But her head rested against her folded arms and the night came down on her all at once.
Devon woke to a knock on the wall. Morning light poured in from the window, illuminating the cake with its ugly icing and crooked candle. Maul was in the doorway, brow raised, looking between her and the cake.
"I am assuming this is the result of the lady things you purchased at the market?" His voice gave away nothing.
Devon stood from her seat with her chin up, holding steadfast despite being covered in the remnants of the cake massacre.
"I decided today was your birthday," she said. "So I made you a cake. You don't get a say in this."
"Is that so?" Maul stepped into the kitchen, unhurried. He stopped before the cake, and Devon suddenly felt very self-conscious.
"It's ugly," she explained. "I've never actually made one before. But the first one was worse, so—"
"You should light it," Maul said.
What she braced for was irritation and dismissal, but Devon didn't sense any traces of anger. Maul's patience continued to surprise her.
She lit it with a torch lighter that half melted the candle, but it was all they had. They stood for a few minutes in silence— Master and Apprentice, like her and Master Daki, except the galaxy was a little quieter now. Devon blinked back the tears in her eyes.
"Today, then," Maul said.
She would never tell him how much those two words meant to her.
"You're supposed to make a wish and blow out the candle," she sniffed. "But don't tell me what you wished for, or it won't come true."
Maul leaned in and put it out with a breath. The smoke curled between them and thinned. Once, many months ago, he'd put out another light in a tunnel below Janix. Devon hardly believed this was the same man who tried to frighten her in the dark because she wouldn't give him her name.
"Eat it," she said, before the lump in her throat formed. "It tastes better than it looks."
Maul cut two pieces with the serrated knife, and they ate it together in the morning glow. He liked the strawberry icing.
tag list: @lady-aires@purechickenwing@deluliaa@shitty-pigeon-nest39@p-arapsychology@timeladymorsillon@limousinecatblog@erenstitanweave@thelilypadlounge@lady-bess@ninthqueen@weoweo8@night-erudite @anishinew@kimbasfanfics@lindseybaby@and-bone-appetit@jayleeslasher@aneccentriccatgirl
Maul was apprenticed to Darth Sidious as a Sith Lord and, after his defeat by the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, then established himself as a crime shadow lord during the Clone Wars and Imperial Era. He is driven by hatred. I made this playlist inspired by Maul. Please check it out!
'The Sith took everything from me. Ripped me from my mother's arms, murdered my brother, used me as a weapon, and then cast me aside. Abandoned me. Once, I had power, now I have nothing. Nothing."
"You have forgotten me, but I will never forget you! You cannot imagine the depths I would go to stay alive. Fueled by my singular hatred for you."
"The chains are the easy part...It's what goes on in here that's hard..."
"The war you have waited your entire lives to fight is upon us, my brothers. Victory or death!"
"You may think I am evil. I am not. I am efficient."
Your last ask with Maul and Devon was so spot on! I’m so impressed! I can’t wait to see more of their dynamic. I wonder if the years will pass and we will see them develop a unique relationship. I low key see Devon staying with him in bursts. Staying 2 years, leaving for one, coming back to him for three. Running away for two. Etc
Thank you so much! I really appreciate the feedback!
I also am excited to see their dynamic grow, especially with the variable of Riley that Maul absolutely did not account for lol.
I wouldn't be surprised if Devon coming and going happens to be the case, since we know that she needs to leave for good at some point.
Personally, I hope we get some trauma bonding from Maul and Devon in season 2, and perhaps even a scene where they skirt around how they both failed their masters, (from a certain point of view) and kind of come to an understanding about each other. As much as it is going to fucking devastate me (and everyone else) I really want Devon and Maul to come together emotionally ala Luke and Obi-Wan, and then be ripped apart, by whatever circumstance it happens to be.
If Disney can really sell Devon as caring about Maul, and Maul learning some growth through being Devon's mentor, I would EAT THAT UP! And if I were Disney, I would have Devon learn that Maul betrayed Daki and have her stay with him anyways, and that choice of her staying being the catalyst that ultimately tears them apart, (Maul becoming paranoid she'll turn on him, Devon pushing herself too hard so that Maul won't ever have to sacrifice him/herself for whatever reason, or Maul realizing she's too attached and he needs to free her from her 'chains', etc there's lots of really creative options here that i think are more layered than just the 'Devon finds out and abandons Maul' angle.)
Here's hoping we get some good growth in Season 2 (and more Maul screen time lol)
right so i just made an edit of maul and devon and it made me absolutely despise maul but i can’t have that so i need to make another thirst trap and forget he’s evil ✌️
The temptation and the slow corruption of the Dark side of the Force seducing a jedi from their path. I created a playlist for falling to the dark side of the Force. Please check it out!
"Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to Suffering"
"The side of the Force that feeds on pain, hatred, and fear. Tap into it, and you risk losing yourself."
"Strike me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!"
"The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be…unnatural."
