@thirstworldproblemss here for the DVD Commentary thing (and yes, I got your ask…. I’m just slow). This bit from Gresham House please:
“I do love it when you smile. Even though I can’t see. I can hear it. And it makes me happy. To know that you’re happy. Or relaxed, at least. It’s all I want, you know.”
He’s quiet for a long time. You’ve mostly learned to read his silences but this one feels different. When at last he speaks, it’s slow and deliberate. As though he’s testing the weight of each word before he says it.
“Things have changed since I last came here. I’ve shown my face to someone. Someone I… someone who’s very important to me,” he says. “And I want to show you. If you’d like that.”
“I should like that a great deal,” you tell him slowly. “But—”
He lifts his hand to his helmet and you catch his wrist before he reaches it. Before he does anything he might regret. “Wait. Are you really sure? You’re certain it’s alright?”
He gives you one of his nods.
“Let me—here, I’ll give you some room.” You transfer yourself from his lap to the mattress.
And then, unbelievably, Din hooks his thumb under the base of his helmet and slowly pushes it half way up his face, revealing to you his mouth, and a strong, unshaven jaw. He holds it there, seeming to hesitate.
“Have you changed your mind?” Or shall I dim the light?”
“Yes. The light. Thank you.”
His voice is different. Unaffected by whatever mechanism the helmet employs to alter it. Your heart begins to race at the sound of it, and at the sight of his teeth, his lips, his moustache. He has a moustache. And his jaw. His dear, stoic jaw.
You get up and lower the jet on the gaslight, watching his shoulders soften as the light changes. He waits for you to return to the bed, and once you’re seated beside him, he pushes the helmet the rest of the way off and places it carefully on your bedside table.
The words are inadequate - he is the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen - but they draw a soft smile from him nonetheless.
He takes you by the waist and pulls you closer. “Come here,” he murmurs, “I want to kiss you.”
Hiii TWP! 😍 what a treat to see you in my inbox 💕
This section is from my Din Djarin one shot Gresham House.
Oh man, this part was SO HARD to write. Poor @alwaysbethewest had to listen to me moan and whinge and complain about it every single day while I was writing this one shot. Aside from the smut, this was the thing that gave me the most trouble in this fic.
A little behind the scenes context here - I think Din first met Boarding House Proprietress some time before the events of Season One (I do have some thoughts on the circumstances of this...) but clearly, Din was unable to visit her while he was caring for Grogu. Hence their emotional reunion in this fic.
So when Din says Things have changed since I last came here. I’ve shown my face to someone. Someone I… someone who’s very important to me, he is referring to Grogu. I hoped that, for any readers who deduced this, his comparison with Grogu and his desire to also show her his face, would imply the strength of his feelings for Boarding House Proprietress.
I felt a lot of pressure to honour the seriousness of this moment and to show that the helmet removal was still a difficult thing for him to do - he can't just whip it off. So balancing his vulnerability, while still maintaining his power and stoicism, had me tearing my hair out tbh.
I also wanted to do justice to the excitement and enthusiasm she would feel here, while making it clear that she was not pressuring him at all.
And I felt extra pressure on that last point because the whole time I was writing this fic I kept worrying that readers would dislike her for some reason. She is quite different from most of the characters/readers that are paired with Din and I felt insecure about this.
All in all it was a really delicate dynamic to write.
And then it was just really hard to describe the mechanics of the helmet removal in a way that was dramatic and emotional and interesting. Kind of like writing an orgasm, which is another thing that gives me a massive bloody headache and another thing that @alwaysbethewest has to listen to me complain about on the reg 😅😅
One of my favourite lines in this fic is when she tells him “You’re very handsome.” That was my little reward to myself for managing to write that passage lol. I just want him to know how beautiful he is 😌
