For allbingo
Mar. 11th, 2021 01:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithianTitle: Cocoa
Summary: One favorite beverage of Luke’s brings back many memories.
Prompt: Hot Cocoa
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Kylo might as well be truthful; he can’t stand winter.
It is a very odd thing to feel, but cold climates bring back the memory of Uncle Luke making hot cocoa — and the less he thinks about that betraying swine, the better.
(Green. Green flashes of a lightsaber, and Ben waking up to find Luke standing over him with his lightsaber at the ready. Was he contemplating whether or not Ben should live or die? Ben still didn’t know)
***
“You seem upset, Ben.”
Ben is ten years old, and he’s separated from his mom and dad. Thrown away like garbage, a voice hisses, though Ben doesn’t want it to be true, stars willing.
Luke sits in front of him, kind-faced. At least, he tries to be kind, though he doesn’t seem to understand what it’s like. It’s not like he knew his parents, Ben thinks, and then he feels like a mean person just for thinking about it.
It’s not like it’s Luke’s fault he didn’t know his mom and dad.
“I miss my mom and dad,” Ben said. “I miss Poe. Poe’s daddy wouldn’t have sent him away.”
Luke shifts uncomfortably. Then, “Poe doesn’t have the Force, Ben.”
“So that means Mom can just throw me away?”
“Oh, Ben, don’t say that.” Luke pauses. “She wants to help you. She actually trained with me for some time, did you know that? And she mostly quit after she had you.”
Ben frowns. Luke’s not telling him everything, but he’s not about to pry. It’s rude to pry.
“Why?”
“Well,” Luke said, “...she thought politics was more important, as well as raising a child.”
Ben suspects Luke’s lying. He has that flinch he has, when he’s trying to give Ben the story in more “kid friendly” terms. But he doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t push. Even though he feels like he should. Even though something isn’t right here.
“You know, when I was upset,” Luke said, “Aunt Beru made some of the best warm beverages.” A faint smile. “Uncle Owen wasn’t much of one to make things. They were...occasionally not very understanding, but I think they loved me. I could make some hot cocoa; the weather’s just right for it.”
“...that’d be nice.”
Even sipping it after Luke’s done with it, Ben won’t deny that it really is very good. Incredibly good, actually. It gives him more of an image, too, of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, his uncle’s adoptive parents. More than just charred skeletons in the desert.
***
Ben gets older. Of course. The first time he introduces Poe to Luke’s hot cocoa, they’re in Ben’s hut. Poe’s put marshmallows on his, and they’re half-melted in the cocoa.
“I had to see you,” Poe says. “I missed you.”
“Bad dreams?” Ben can catch surface glimpses of Poe’s pain, through his mind. Zorii Bliss, shouting in Poe’s face to run for his life.
“Yeah. It’s the anniversary of the day I ran away. Is it a five year anniversary? Six years? One year?”
Ben shrugs. “It’s still an anniversary.”
“True.” Poe takes a sip. “Damn, there’s something about it that’s very...Tatooine.”
“My uncle kind of carried that over,” Ben says. “I guess you can’t take the farmboy out of the Jedi.” He doesn’t say it maliciously. Of course he couldn’t. After all, Uncle Luke is a good uncle.
Poe smiles. “He kind of told me that he was kind of like me when he was nineteen. Shit, I can’t picture your uncle young.”
“My uncle’s only forty-three. That’s not like, Yoda.”
“Point. Still weird.”
They sip their hot chocolate a while. Ben talks about an instance at the Academy where Hennix was intending to pull up a slideshow on Freedon Nadd, only to accidentally pull up a file of Hutt porn that, frankly, Ben hopes never to see again.
Poe nearly chokes laughing. “I shouldn’t...be laughing at Hennix’s expense...but stars, I bet that was awkward.”
“He took it in good humor. Even made a good dick joke about Freedon Nadd.” Ben grins. “He made Uncle Luke laugh, so I think he should have gotten an A by default.”
“Well, good. Good on Hennix for handling it gracefully.”
They talk. Talk about topics ranging from Poe struggling to fit into the Academy as a former spice runner, and Ben’s worries about being a good Jedi. And lighter things too. They talk, and Ben knows that the galaxy may be fundamentally wrong, but there’s nothing wrong with them.
***
When Ben comes back, brought back by his uncle’s spirit as a way of metaphorically flipping the bird to Palpatine, he can’t really stand the taste of hot chocolate. Before, as Kylo Ren, it meant betrayal; now, it means things that have, simply, run their course.
Things he lost in the fire. People who didn’t have to die, but did.
He and Poe, now married, don’t make hot cocoa. They make tea, tea like Poe’s mother had. Hot chocolate is for another time, a time that’s long gone by.
Ben doesn’t hate his uncle. It wasn’t his uncle’s fault he was mind-controlled that awful night. It wasn’t his fault in the slightest.
Poe and Ben, on the anniversary of the Academy on Adani’s destruction, drink tea together and share memories, and Ben hopes that in the future, other Force Sensitives will have their own happiness to share. Happier than others could ever be.
Summary: One favorite beverage of Luke’s brings back many memories.
Prompt: Hot Cocoa
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Kylo might as well be truthful; he can’t stand winter.
It is a very odd thing to feel, but cold climates bring back the memory of Uncle Luke making hot cocoa — and the less he thinks about that betraying swine, the better.
(Green. Green flashes of a lightsaber, and Ben waking up to find Luke standing over him with his lightsaber at the ready. Was he contemplating whether or not Ben should live or die? Ben still didn’t know)
***
“You seem upset, Ben.”
Ben is ten years old, and he’s separated from his mom and dad. Thrown away like garbage, a voice hisses, though Ben doesn’t want it to be true, stars willing.
Luke sits in front of him, kind-faced. At least, he tries to be kind, though he doesn’t seem to understand what it’s like. It’s not like he knew his parents, Ben thinks, and then he feels like a mean person just for thinking about it.
It’s not like it’s Luke’s fault he didn’t know his mom and dad.
“I miss my mom and dad,” Ben said. “I miss Poe. Poe’s daddy wouldn’t have sent him away.”
Luke shifts uncomfortably. Then, “Poe doesn’t have the Force, Ben.”
“So that means Mom can just throw me away?”
“Oh, Ben, don’t say that.” Luke pauses. “She wants to help you. She actually trained with me for some time, did you know that? And she mostly quit after she had you.”
Ben frowns. Luke’s not telling him everything, but he’s not about to pry. It’s rude to pry.
“Why?”
“Well,” Luke said, “...she thought politics was more important, as well as raising a child.”
Ben suspects Luke’s lying. He has that flinch he has, when he’s trying to give Ben the story in more “kid friendly” terms. But he doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t push. Even though he feels like he should. Even though something isn’t right here.
“You know, when I was upset,” Luke said, “Aunt Beru made some of the best warm beverages.” A faint smile. “Uncle Owen wasn’t much of one to make things. They were...occasionally not very understanding, but I think they loved me. I could make some hot cocoa; the weather’s just right for it.”
“...that’d be nice.”
Even sipping it after Luke’s done with it, Ben won’t deny that it really is very good. Incredibly good, actually. It gives him more of an image, too, of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, his uncle’s adoptive parents. More than just charred skeletons in the desert.
***
Ben gets older. Of course. The first time he introduces Poe to Luke’s hot cocoa, they’re in Ben’s hut. Poe’s put marshmallows on his, and they’re half-melted in the cocoa.
“I had to see you,” Poe says. “I missed you.”
“Bad dreams?” Ben can catch surface glimpses of Poe’s pain, through his mind. Zorii Bliss, shouting in Poe’s face to run for his life.
“Yeah. It’s the anniversary of the day I ran away. Is it a five year anniversary? Six years? One year?”
Ben shrugs. “It’s still an anniversary.”
“True.” Poe takes a sip. “Damn, there’s something about it that’s very...Tatooine.”
“My uncle kind of carried that over,” Ben says. “I guess you can’t take the farmboy out of the Jedi.” He doesn’t say it maliciously. Of course he couldn’t. After all, Uncle Luke is a good uncle.
Poe smiles. “He kind of told me that he was kind of like me when he was nineteen. Shit, I can’t picture your uncle young.”
“My uncle’s only forty-three. That’s not like, Yoda.”
“Point. Still weird.”
They sip their hot chocolate a while. Ben talks about an instance at the Academy where Hennix was intending to pull up a slideshow on Freedon Nadd, only to accidentally pull up a file of Hutt porn that, frankly, Ben hopes never to see again.
Poe nearly chokes laughing. “I shouldn’t...be laughing at Hennix’s expense...but stars, I bet that was awkward.”
“He took it in good humor. Even made a good dick joke about Freedon Nadd.” Ben grins. “He made Uncle Luke laugh, so I think he should have gotten an A by default.”
“Well, good. Good on Hennix for handling it gracefully.”
They talk. Talk about topics ranging from Poe struggling to fit into the Academy as a former spice runner, and Ben’s worries about being a good Jedi. And lighter things too. They talk, and Ben knows that the galaxy may be fundamentally wrong, but there’s nothing wrong with them.
***
When Ben comes back, brought back by his uncle’s spirit as a way of metaphorically flipping the bird to Palpatine, he can’t really stand the taste of hot chocolate. Before, as Kylo Ren, it meant betrayal; now, it means things that have, simply, run their course.
Things he lost in the fire. People who didn’t have to die, but did.
He and Poe, now married, don’t make hot cocoa. They make tea, tea like Poe’s mother had. Hot chocolate is for another time, a time that’s long gone by.
Ben doesn’t hate his uncle. It wasn’t his uncle’s fault he was mind-controlled that awful night. It wasn’t his fault in the slightest.
Poe and Ben, on the anniversary of the Academy on Adani’s destruction, drink tea together and share memories, and Ben hopes that in the future, other Force Sensitives will have their own happiness to share. Happier than others could ever be.
