#the mandocule

[astrotheyge]

A continuation of Din Djarin's Facebook files

[mykingdomforasong]

Luke: Sorry I'm late. I fell asleep in a sunbeam. Din: A likely story. Han: No, I've seen him do it. It's pretty adorable.

[astrotheyge]

[mykingdomforasong]

Baker AU / holiday fic 😇 for whoever you want

Reductress put out an article recently headlined "I'm a hot small town baker, and I simply don't have enough cum in me to fuck all you corporate lawyers this season."

And anyway, that's the premise of this. Rating: M

Relationships: Mandocule (not yet established), mostly dinluke with hints to skysolo and dincobb, as well as references to bobadin and dinfennec.

Other tags: human baby Grogu, Din being a little slutty, unrealistic Hallmark-eque small towns.

~

Din had spent years perfecting his Christmas eclairs. He piped out the batter onto a baking sheet, carefully making uniform Christmas tree shapes. A little less than thirty minutes later, he had idilic, golden brown and puffed up trees.

He filled his piping bag with pastry cream and pushed the tip into the trunk of the tree. He filled it slowly, before sliding the bag out and moving to the next one.

He was on his fifth when he heard the bell ring. Din stepped to the side, glancing from the kitchen to the front of the bakery.

"We're sold out of everything for today, but you could place an order for tomorrow," he yelled, eyes still fixed on the tree in his hand.

"I just stopped by to see you," the customer said. Well, not a customer at all really. It was Luke, one of the many city-slicker types who'd blown into town for the holidays. North Pole in Nevarro County was a charming, small, and overwhelmingly Christmas-themed town. It tended to attract the overworked, overtired, lawyer types this time of year. And this year, they had all found their way through Din's door.

He'd had more dates in the last month than in the last two years. It was good for his ego, and, since they were all wealthier than he was, good for his stomach too. But they were all starting to wear him down.

It was hard to complain about Luke, though. After one date and two glasses of wine, Din found himself in positions he didn't know his body could get into anymore, getting his insides all kinds of rearranged before the holidays.

The piping bag was squeezed thin; Din struggled to get the last few good drops into the soft pocket of the pastry. When he finally gave up, he put both down on his work station, resigned to refilling the bag when he was done with Luke.

"What can I do for you?" Din asked.

"Well," Luke said, leaning on the empty glass display case, "I seem to be the only Jewish person around, so I thought I'd throw a little Hanukkah party over at mine and Han's."

Han. He was another one. More fun on a date than Luke, but a surprisingly bratty bottom, which only turned on Din so much.

"When?" Din asked.

"This Saturday. Only one night, not all eight," Luke said smiling. "I might be looking to place a big order for it."

"Sounds great," Din said. Luke smiled and leaned up on the counter, looking for a kiss. Most years, he only got kissed if he got stuck under mistletoe. But this year, all kinds of people seemed eager to kiss him.

When Luke left, Din finished off his eclairs, coating them in a white chocolate ganache dyed a bright green. Some red candies finished the whole picture. Din slid them into the fridge for the morning, before finally turning to leave.

He had a date.

~

Luke was a public defender; Han had been making big money in criminal defense, but was drawn to public service by Luke (Din still hadn't exactly figured out their relationship yet). And then there was Boba, a fierce corporate lawyer with some fancy car. And Fennec who was a divorce lawyer because "I like bing involved in other people's arguments." Not to mention Cobb, a long time friend and fuck buddy from a few towns over who worked in small claims and traffic courts as a judge.

He wasn't sure what he'd put in the pastries this year that had lawyers flocking to him, but he was struggling to keep up. He'd learned a long time ago you could only put so much pastry cream in the eclair before it just fell apart.

Din hummed their names to himself as he drove home to the tune of Mambo Number Five.

Din grabbed the box of cannolis off his passenger seat as he headed inside.

Sure, he'd still go to Luke's for Hanukkah, and see Fennec again on Boxing Day. Han would probably steal him away for something salacious in the ally behind the bakery. And Cobb had already started delivering on an Advent Calendar of naughty pictures.

But none of that mattered now. This was the date he'd waited all year for.

Grogu was just starting on solid foods, and Din couldn't help but take a thousand photos or so of the way his big eyes got bigger as he tasted the sweet ricotta filling of the cannoli. Din had meant for him only to try the filling, but, overwhelmed with longing, Grogu reached out with his little baby hands and gripped the whole thing, crushing the shell. Din laughed as Grogu fought with all his might to lick his hands clean before Dad could get in with a wet towel.

"I'll bring home just the filling tomorrow, then," he said. Grogu made a happy noise, like he understood.

When the pastry and baby were all clean, Din got him into his outfit. It was a green and white stripped elf costume, featuring a hat with pointy elf ears. Once Grogu was throughly bundled, they headed out to the winter village.

Santa was easy to find, and Grogu was so brave sitting on his lap for a picture. He didn't have any words in his vocabulary to answer Santa's questions, but they got a good photo anyway. Grogu's smile was as big as Santa's, as Din crouched down by the arm rest, a reassuring hand on Grogu's back.

The bakery (and his collection of lawyers) kept him busy most days, but when Grogu came into his life, he promised his boy he'd always find time for him. Din picked Grogu up, and held him tight to his chest. Grogu had come with him on a few dates when babysitters fell through, charming Dad's new friends. He even was kind enough to sleep solidly through the night when Cobb stayed over. They were a team, the two of them, and where ever Din went, Grogu would go too.

Din picked up the photo prints and a paper frame that read "Baby's First Christmas!"

Grogu reached for the paper, but Din held it just out of reach, letting him look.

"Did you like Santa, buddy?" Grogu babbled something as Din kissed his little forehead. "Yeah, me too."

~

((Also I do not know how to make an eclair, and all the research I did I got from a Try Guys video. I do not know if you can make them shaped like Christmas trees, and frankly I don't care.))

[mykingdomforasong]

What’s the sick fic?? 👀👀👀

It was something I had been working on for Mandocule Mondays and then didn't finish in time lol.

Grogu gets sick while on Tatooine with Din, Boba, and Fennec. din is dating the two of them, but is also dating Luke. Boba and Fennec know Din has a mystery man somewhere out in the galaxy, but (per Luke's request) don't know that it's Luke. Din also doesn't know Han, for the same personal safety reasons.

Of course, once Grogu gets sick, though, Din calls Luke for help, since he's he's the only one who can communicate with Grogu, and the only one they know with any experience about the species.

The general plot was going to go in the direction of: Luke decides to go to Tatooine to help Grogu, willingly giving up his secrecy for Din and Grogu. And Han, well, .... You know how sometimes when a dog sees and hears a vacuum, it stands in between you and the vacuum because it wants to protect you, even though it's the one shaking scared of it? That's basically Han. Han doesn't let Luke go alone, even though Luke isn't the one who's really afraid.

They ultimately put all their differences aside, and the mandocule helps take care of Grogu for a few days until he's better.

snip-it under the cut:

Grogu made a tiny noise from the other side of the room. And then again, and again. 

Din was used to the sounds of him playing, making up little stories and games for himself in whatever language he used. But these were different. Listened a little closer, and sure enough, the kid was coughing. 

“You alright, kid?” Din asked. They’d just landed on Tatooine a few hours before, and Grogu had seemed fine the entire journey. 

Grogu responded in his Grogu way, making small sounds that were, to Din’s trained ear, less than happy. 

“Alright, let’s take a look at you…” 

He looked a little green -- well, greener than usual. Din slipped off a glove to gently check his temperature the way his mother always had. He didn’t notice anything unusual, but, then again, he wasn’t quite sure what usual was. 

It was dawning on Din in the worst way that he didn’t know anything about what it might mean to care for a sick Grogu. 

Grogu coughed in his arms again. “Alright,” Din said, “let’s go see if I can find you some soup.” 

~ 

The sound of rattling pots and pans seemed to be enough to alter Boba and Fennec to whatever he was up to. 

“You know,” Fennec said, appearing behind him without him ever registering that she was on the move, “we have cooks if you want something.” 

He turned to show Grogu in the sling Luke had given him. Grogu had fallen asleep on the long journey down the stairs, and Din didn’t know if that was a good sign or a bad one. 

“The kid is sick,” he said. 

“What?” Boba said. 

“How can you tell?” Fennec asked, poking the sleeping child’s head. Din shooed her off. 

“I’m just trying to get some soup made for him,” he explained. 

“Not a lot of soup in the desert, but I’ll see what the droids can do.” 

~

Back upstairs, Din swaddled Grogu to keep him warm, and laid him down on his wide bed to make sure he was comfortable. Boba had promised to send some food up for them when it was ready. So now all Din had to do was sit, watch Grogu, and try not to panic. 

He tapped his fingers on the mattress, trying to consider what to do. Boba could be back any minute, and he might want to stick around to try and help. Din would welcome any help, of course, but the one person he really wanted to talk to had given Din strict instructions to “not tell Boba Fett you know me, you know where I am, that we’re --” 

He and Luke had spent more time figuring out how Din was going to be both honest and open with his partners on Tatooine, while also keeping Luke’s life a total secret. Thankfully, given his proximity to several criminal undergrounds, Din’s request that Boba and Fennec not ask too many questions about his new man didn’t get challenged or even questioned. 

So, all in all, it probably wasn’t a smart idea to comm Luke from inside the palace while he was waiting for Boba. But Luke was the only one with any experience with the species, and he didn’t want to be making the situation worse. 

Din crept into the room’s closet and commed Luke. 

“Din?” Luke said on the other end. “Is everything alright?” 

Din could hear a voice in the background. He knew Luke occasionally had visitors to the planet, but there was one visitor in particular Din hadn’t been allowed to meet yet. (“Because of Boba Fett?” “Because of Boba Fett.”). Din’s anxiety swelled a little, realizing just how much this call might break their one very important rule. 

“I’m sorry to call you from here, it’s just … Grogu is sick. You’re the only one I know who has experience with the species.” 

A voice somewhere behind Luke spoke up. “The little green guy?” 

“The little green guy,” Luke confirmed. “Uh … Din, that’s Han, Han that’s Din.” 

“Nice to meet you,” Din said. 

“You too. Sorry about all the … yeah. Wish I could tell you Luke was the paranoid one.” 

“We’ll talk about it another time,” Luke said. “Tell me about Grogu?” 

Din gave a brief description. “I don’t know,” Luke confessed. “I mean, it sounds like a cold, but I can’t really tell you what might help him. I mean, I only saw Master Yoda sick once, but he died pretty fast.” 

“What?!” Din yelled. 

“He was like 900 years old!” Luke added hastily. “And I think I might have just annoyed him to death.” 

“Typical of you,” Han said in the background. Luke didn’t bother protesting the jab. 

“If you brought him back to Yavin 4, I could communicate with him, see how he feels, what he wants.” 

“Or,” Han interjected, “if you’re really worried, just bring him to a doctor. Doctors on Tatooine have seen all kinds of weird things. Trust me.” 

Din started to talk again when the door of his closet swung open. Din hung up the comm fast and without warning.  

“What are you doing in there?” Boba Fett asked him, staring down at where Din was sitting. 

“Had to make a call, I didn’t want to wake up Grogu.” 

Boba nodded. If he had more questions about who Din called and why, he didn’t say anything. “I brought up a soup and some blue milk. How’s the little one?” 

Din looked at the bed. “Still asleep.” 

“Let him rest. If the soup gets cold or the milk gets hot, we can fix it,” Boba promised. “Did your mystery man have any good ideas?” 

Din’s face got a little hot at the mention of him. “Take him to the doctor,” he said. Well, he added to himself, that idea had come from his mystery man’s mystery man. 

Boba laughed. “Can’t go wrong with that, I guess. I’ll see who I can bring in from town.” Din nodded. Boba rested a gentle hand on his face, before pressing their foreheads together. “Kids get sick, Djarin. He’ll be fine.” For good measure, Boba pressed a kiss to the top of his head. 

When the door closed behind Boba, Din shed his armor. He should call Luke back and apologize for hanging up, but that could wait. Luke was remarkably understanding and patient, and Din found his claim that he had once annoyed someone to death a little hard to believe. 

[astrotheyge]

my experience in the Mando fandom so far

[mykingdomforasong]

Sure, Star Wars/The Mandalorian is great, but you know what would make it better? A messy polycule. 

[ful-crum]

Pleasant Discoveries (The Mandocule; Fluff)

rated T || No Archive Warnings Apply || 4k

Din Djarin's face, as everyone came to realise, was exceptionally kissable. (Din shows his face to the people he cares about and gets smooched. A lot.)

Written for Mandocule May Mondays 2022. Features a lot of different ships, who all have one thing in common: they love Din Djarin. So, so much.