Vadaphra AU where they're going to a nightclub or a house party?
OKAY ANON PLZ 🌽SIDER THIS
Modern Vadaphra AU. Soft-spoken, mousy little Piett is throwing a cocktail party at his place to celebrate a fellow officer’s promotion and Vader enters the lounge just as he’s explaining the deets to his colleagues. Piett ends up asking him if he’d like to come as well (partially out of courtesy, but mostly because he kinda sorta thinks Vader is a little bit cool and wants to get to know him better), hesitantly adding that he can bring a friend/girlfriend/boyfriend/whatever floats his goat if he wants.
(Nearby, Veers awkwardly coughs because Firmus wtf Vader doesn’t have friends)
Vader responds with little more than a “hm” - he just wanted some coffee to get himself through these next few hours of paperwork, not any of this social nonsense. But when he finally returns home and sees Aphra in the same sweatpants and t-shirt she was wearing just this morning, that inexplicably changes.
To elaborate: from the perspective of other characters in canonverse, Aphra strikes me as a difficult person to like, not to mention that her criminal archaeologist gig would require her to work alone most of the time. In short: she probably doesn’t have any friends. So when Vader asks her what she’s been doing all day and she responds with “Waiting for you to get back,” he sighs deeply, drops a jacket in her arms, and tells her to get dressed because they’re going out. As much as he hates to admit it, he realizes that they’re both pretty weak in the socialization department and this might need to change. Mostly for Aphra’s sake, but then again, watching your coworkers dart for the exit every time you walk down the hall is probably an indicator that you’re doing something wrong.
So they hit the road to Piett’s place. And it only takes half an hour of standing in his living room for them to realize they don’t want to be there anymore.
The TV is loud. Ozzel is completely drunk off his ass and tripping into everything and everyone. Piett’s about to have a stroke because that’s the fifth time this evening that someone’s nearly crashed into his deceased grandmother’s teacup cabinet. Meanwhile, Vader’s massaging his temples on the couch, cursing himself for leaving his migraine pills at home, and the only friend Aphra’s making is Piett’s corgi, Nellie.
The real deal-breaker, however, is when Ozzel drunkenly stumbles over to Aphra and asks for her number. Despite her responses of “Get lost” and “Bite me,” he doesn’t take the hint that she isn’t interested. That is, until he feels a tap on his shoulder and turns around to see a royally-pissed Vader standing behind him.
Ozzel nearly shits a brick right then and there. And before Vader can even say anything, Aphra hurriedly grabs his arm and is like “OOOOOOKAY WE GOTTA GO”
They end up spending the rest of their evening curled up on their couch and watching Titanic. And even though they end up getting into an intense debate over whether or not there was enough room for both Jack and Rose on that door, it’s twenty times more enjoyable than that unpleasant ordeal at Piett’s place.
Sorry, Piett. Maybe Vader-senpai will notice you next time.