For allbingo
Jan. 11th, 2022 07:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithianTitle: In A Land of Make Believe
Summary: Five times Ben played the role of Kylo when he and Poe were kids.
Prompt: Five Things
1. As far as Ben Solo’s remembered, he doesn’t like his name. He doesn’t like it at all. There’s the fact that it just feels it was built on lies — “Solo” wasn’t even his father’s real last name; Han even says that he had no idea as to what his parents’ real last names were. It’s an uncomfortable feeling, even if Ben, even as a youngling, thinks it makes for a good story: the poor man who married a loving princess.
(It’s a symptom of a larger issue, Ben thinks; it’s something that reminds him that there’s so much left unknown)
There’s also the name Ben. Apparently, Han suggested it. “Ben Kenobi was an old fossil,” Han says good-naturedly, “But he saved our lives. He made your uncle the man he is today.”
Ben doesn’t know how to feel, trying to measure up to a man who died long before he was born. The Negotiator, Ben heard Obi-Wan was called. Kenobi and Skywalker, an unstoppable team. He hopes he and Poe will be an unstoppable team when they get older. Them against the bad guys.
***
He’s three when he brings it up to Poe, who’s six years old. Poe smiles brightly. “You want…me to be the Jedi?”
“Sure!” Ben chirps. “You're a good person like a Jedi, and I think it’d be cool if you helped me. You can even have a blue lightsaber.”
“Nuh-uh,” Poe says good-naturedly. "Orange is the best color.”
Ben doesn’t get it, but whatever makes Poe happy.
***
Poe doesn’t even judge him for choosing the name Kylo. Kylo the Jedi, Kylo the kid with his best friend fighting alongside him — it’s one of many things Ben likes about Poe, that Poe’s never judged him for anything. Even as they run through the backyard of Yavin IV fighting off invisible enemies, Ben finds that with Poe, he’s very, very safe.
2. It doesn’t take long for Ben to find that the other kids at school are afraid of him.
Poe’s in the upper grades, being six years old, so Ben has to deal with the fact that other kids just see him as incredibly strange — the “creepy" three year old that can read minds and use powers they can’t understand.
“They’re not mean, just scared,” Ben says to Poe. “They’re not used to Force Sens-tives.”
“Sensitives,” Poe says. “And they shouldn’t be scared of you. Never, never.”
“How do you know?” Ben says.
“Well, you’re nice to me! You don’t mind I can’t use the Force or anything.”
“ ‘Course not!” Ben exclaims. “You’re nice! How could people not like you?”
Poe smiles. “I’m glad to be your friend too, Ben.”
***
They don’t play, but they color — Shara Bey’s babysitting, and Ben does miss his parents, but he likes Shara Bey. She’s cool and funny and says nice things, and she cares about them both, obviously. Even as Ben draws himself, it’s a crude sort of drawing, and he hasn’t figured out yet how to draw fingers that don’t look like sausages, but he likes to pretend he and Poe are pilots.
Above each figure, he writes KYLO for himself and POE for Poe, in sloppy handwriting typical of a toddler’s. He draws Shara too, though he thinks he messed up the scar over her eyebrow that she never really explained. He and Poe are pilots in the Republic Navy — unfortunately for some reason, the Republic Navy doesn’t allow younglings to attend, but he hopes he and Poe can go when they’re older.
Poe draws himself and Kylo as Jedi fighting off people with red lightsabers — they’re called Sith, and Ben’s confused about who they are. The Voice says the Sith are good guys trying to improve the galaxy, using all sorts of abstract words about order and justice Ben is too little to comprehend, and Uncle Luke and Mom say that the Sith are Bad Bad Guys and them being dead is a good thing. (Ben doesn’t understand. Isn’t any group being dead a bad thing?)
Still, Poe’s drawing is cool. Ben wishes he could draw like Poe. He really does.
3. It’s one day when Ben’s four and Poe’s seven that they decide to play at being Mandalorians. Uncle Luke has a new friend — someone who’s the same species as the same guy who got into a tug-of-war with Artoo and tried to steal Uncle Luke’s food. (Also a Jedi. Why would a Jedi do that?) His name’s Grogu, and his previous daddy was a Mandalorian, but the good Mandalorian, the type who fought bad guys to protect Grogu.
(Ben already is glad Moff Gideon is in jail. He’s never met Moff Gideon, but the jerk apparently hurt Grogu, and Ben doesn’t like people who hurt his friends)
“Okay,” Ben says. “I’ll be Kylo the Mandalorian, and…you can be the Jedi.” It just seems fair, for Poe.
“Nah.” Poe smiles at him, wrinkling his nose. “I like being a Mandalorian with you. That way, we can fight off those creepy guys together. And Grogu can be our Jedi!”
Grogu is training with Uncle Luke; it’s one of those times that Uncle Luke’s taken him out to play with Ben and Poe. Ben likes him a lot; he’s cute, and he’s nice, and he does funny things like babies do. Like a baby Yoda, Poe once remarked, which had made even Din, Grogu’s daddy, who was visiting at the time — even he laughed a bit.
“Okay!” Ben chirps. Then, deepening his voice as best as a four year old can (which is poorly), “This is the way.”
Poe bursts into giggles at Ben’s imitation. Ben should be embarrassed, but he’s not. Poe never judges him for anything. Besides, it’s happy laughter, and it always makes Ben happy too.
They play together, pretending they and Grogu are fighting off Moff Gideon’s troops (those creepy things that Din still has nightmares about, which is sad. Ben just wants his friends to be happy), and Grogu seems to enjoy it too.
Uncle Luke doesn’t say it outright, but Ben thinks he and Din don’t mind.
4. Fennec Shand is cool. Daddy doesn’t like her boss because her boss froze him once, but Ben thinks Fennec is cool. Plus, she and Fett saved Grogu’s life, so she’s okay in Ben’s book.
(Din’s also married Omera, a woman who used to be in the Rebellion, and that’s how Ben meets a friend of Grogu’s, Winta. Of course Ben and Poe welcome her into their group)
They pretend they’re part of Boba Fett’s crime organization. Fett’s trying to make it better after Jabba’s death as well as some guy named Bib Fortuna’s (names are weird, Ben thinks) and Ben, Winta, Poe and Grogu pretend they're out fighting those creepy guys who managed to incapacitate Fett, of all people.
Boba’s visiting. It's after Ben and his friends have to go home that he says to them, “Managing crime isn’t as glamorous as it looks, young ones.” He’s a big guy, but he talks softly, and takes Ben seriously. Ben likes him; he wishes Fett and Daddy would like each other; after all, Ben adores Daddy, and he likes Fett. Why can’t people you like get along? “I only hope to do better than Jabba did before me.”
“Was he a bad guy?” Winta says.
“Very,” Boba says. “He was needlessly cruel, and ruled with fear. I intend to rule with respect.”
“So you’re making things better!” Ben says. “I like that. I like you.”
Boba actually looks sad for a bit. Ben can see images in his head (he doesn’t mean to; he tries not to pry. Mommy compared it to going into someone’s room without knocking or reading their diary), of a little boy holding a Mandalorian’s helmet. Boba Fett had a daddy, but he doesn’t anymore.
Even before Shara Bey’s death and wanting to bring her back for Poe’s sake, Ben wishes Boba Fett had his daddy back. Why isn’t life fair?
5. One of the things that Ben and Poe do, long before Shara Bey’s death, is play Jedi and Sith.
Ben decides to, for a change, take the role of the Sith. Darth Kylo. Of course, at five years old, Ben’s attempt at an evil laugh sounds more adorable and funny than anything. It’s okay. After all, he’s not trying to scare Poe, Poe isn’t trying to scare him.
Ben goes gentle on him. Of course he does. Sometimes he worries about his powers, and if he’s going to lose control and hurt Poe. Poe is older and bigger than him, but sometimes he just seems so very fragile, and Ben doesn’t want to do anything to hurt him.
After Poe ends up play-fighting with Ben, their battle cries turning to giggles, Ben rolls off him and helps him up. “Did I hurt you?”
“You didn’t,” Poe says. “I don’t think you could hurt me if you tried!"
“You didn’t either. I don’t think we’re ever gonna be ene-mies,” Ben says. “We’ll always be best friends. Promise.”
Poe smiles at him. "Promise.”
Summary: Five times Ben played the role of Kylo when he and Poe were kids.
Prompt: Five Things
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
1. As far as Ben Solo’s remembered, he doesn’t like his name. He doesn’t like it at all. There’s the fact that it just feels it was built on lies — “Solo” wasn’t even his father’s real last name; Han even says that he had no idea as to what his parents’ real last names were. It’s an uncomfortable feeling, even if Ben, even as a youngling, thinks it makes for a good story: the poor man who married a loving princess.
(It’s a symptom of a larger issue, Ben thinks; it’s something that reminds him that there’s so much left unknown)
There’s also the name Ben. Apparently, Han suggested it. “Ben Kenobi was an old fossil,” Han says good-naturedly, “But he saved our lives. He made your uncle the man he is today.”
Ben doesn’t know how to feel, trying to measure up to a man who died long before he was born. The Negotiator, Ben heard Obi-Wan was called. Kenobi and Skywalker, an unstoppable team. He hopes he and Poe will be an unstoppable team when they get older. Them against the bad guys.
***
He’s three when he brings it up to Poe, who’s six years old. Poe smiles brightly. “You want…me to be the Jedi?”
“Sure!” Ben chirps. “You're a good person like a Jedi, and I think it’d be cool if you helped me. You can even have a blue lightsaber.”
“Nuh-uh,” Poe says good-naturedly. "Orange is the best color.”
Ben doesn’t get it, but whatever makes Poe happy.
***
Poe doesn’t even judge him for choosing the name Kylo. Kylo the Jedi, Kylo the kid with his best friend fighting alongside him — it’s one of many things Ben likes about Poe, that Poe’s never judged him for anything. Even as they run through the backyard of Yavin IV fighting off invisible enemies, Ben finds that with Poe, he’s very, very safe.
2. It doesn’t take long for Ben to find that the other kids at school are afraid of him.
Poe’s in the upper grades, being six years old, so Ben has to deal with the fact that other kids just see him as incredibly strange — the “creepy" three year old that can read minds and use powers they can’t understand.
“They’re not mean, just scared,” Ben says to Poe. “They’re not used to Force Sens-tives.”
“Sensitives,” Poe says. “And they shouldn’t be scared of you. Never, never.”
“How do you know?” Ben says.
“Well, you’re nice to me! You don’t mind I can’t use the Force or anything.”
“ ‘Course not!” Ben exclaims. “You’re nice! How could people not like you?”
Poe smiles. “I’m glad to be your friend too, Ben.”
***
They don’t play, but they color — Shara Bey’s babysitting, and Ben does miss his parents, but he likes Shara Bey. She’s cool and funny and says nice things, and she cares about them both, obviously. Even as Ben draws himself, it’s a crude sort of drawing, and he hasn’t figured out yet how to draw fingers that don’t look like sausages, but he likes to pretend he and Poe are pilots.
Above each figure, he writes KYLO for himself and POE for Poe, in sloppy handwriting typical of a toddler’s. He draws Shara too, though he thinks he messed up the scar over her eyebrow that she never really explained. He and Poe are pilots in the Republic Navy — unfortunately for some reason, the Republic Navy doesn’t allow younglings to attend, but he hopes he and Poe can go when they’re older.
Poe draws himself and Kylo as Jedi fighting off people with red lightsabers — they’re called Sith, and Ben’s confused about who they are. The Voice says the Sith are good guys trying to improve the galaxy, using all sorts of abstract words about order and justice Ben is too little to comprehend, and Uncle Luke and Mom say that the Sith are Bad Bad Guys and them being dead is a good thing. (Ben doesn’t understand. Isn’t any group being dead a bad thing?)
Still, Poe’s drawing is cool. Ben wishes he could draw like Poe. He really does.
3. It’s one day when Ben’s four and Poe’s seven that they decide to play at being Mandalorians. Uncle Luke has a new friend — someone who’s the same species as the same guy who got into a tug-of-war with Artoo and tried to steal Uncle Luke’s food. (Also a Jedi. Why would a Jedi do that?) His name’s Grogu, and his previous daddy was a Mandalorian, but the good Mandalorian, the type who fought bad guys to protect Grogu.
(Ben already is glad Moff Gideon is in jail. He’s never met Moff Gideon, but the jerk apparently hurt Grogu, and Ben doesn’t like people who hurt his friends)
“Okay,” Ben says. “I’ll be Kylo the Mandalorian, and…you can be the Jedi.” It just seems fair, for Poe.
“Nah.” Poe smiles at him, wrinkling his nose. “I like being a Mandalorian with you. That way, we can fight off those creepy guys together. And Grogu can be our Jedi!”
Grogu is training with Uncle Luke; it’s one of those times that Uncle Luke’s taken him out to play with Ben and Poe. Ben likes him a lot; he’s cute, and he’s nice, and he does funny things like babies do. Like a baby Yoda, Poe once remarked, which had made even Din, Grogu’s daddy, who was visiting at the time — even he laughed a bit.
“Okay!” Ben chirps. Then, deepening his voice as best as a four year old can (which is poorly), “This is the way.”
Poe bursts into giggles at Ben’s imitation. Ben should be embarrassed, but he’s not. Poe never judges him for anything. Besides, it’s happy laughter, and it always makes Ben happy too.
They play together, pretending they and Grogu are fighting off Moff Gideon’s troops (those creepy things that Din still has nightmares about, which is sad. Ben just wants his friends to be happy), and Grogu seems to enjoy it too.
Uncle Luke doesn’t say it outright, but Ben thinks he and Din don’t mind.
4. Fennec Shand is cool. Daddy doesn’t like her boss because her boss froze him once, but Ben thinks Fennec is cool. Plus, she and Fett saved Grogu’s life, so she’s okay in Ben’s book.
(Din’s also married Omera, a woman who used to be in the Rebellion, and that’s how Ben meets a friend of Grogu’s, Winta. Of course Ben and Poe welcome her into their group)
They pretend they’re part of Boba Fett’s crime organization. Fett’s trying to make it better after Jabba’s death as well as some guy named Bib Fortuna’s (names are weird, Ben thinks) and Ben, Winta, Poe and Grogu pretend they're out fighting those creepy guys who managed to incapacitate Fett, of all people.
Boba’s visiting. It's after Ben and his friends have to go home that he says to them, “Managing crime isn’t as glamorous as it looks, young ones.” He’s a big guy, but he talks softly, and takes Ben seriously. Ben likes him; he wishes Fett and Daddy would like each other; after all, Ben adores Daddy, and he likes Fett. Why can’t people you like get along? “I only hope to do better than Jabba did before me.”
“Was he a bad guy?” Winta says.
“Very,” Boba says. “He was needlessly cruel, and ruled with fear. I intend to rule with respect.”
“So you’re making things better!” Ben says. “I like that. I like you.”
Boba actually looks sad for a bit. Ben can see images in his head (he doesn’t mean to; he tries not to pry. Mommy compared it to going into someone’s room without knocking or reading their diary), of a little boy holding a Mandalorian’s helmet. Boba Fett had a daddy, but he doesn’t anymore.
Even before Shara Bey’s death and wanting to bring her back for Poe’s sake, Ben wishes Boba Fett had his daddy back. Why isn’t life fair?
5. One of the things that Ben and Poe do, long before Shara Bey’s death, is play Jedi and Sith.
Ben decides to, for a change, take the role of the Sith. Darth Kylo. Of course, at five years old, Ben’s attempt at an evil laugh sounds more adorable and funny than anything. It’s okay. After all, he’s not trying to scare Poe, Poe isn’t trying to scare him.
Ben goes gentle on him. Of course he does. Sometimes he worries about his powers, and if he’s going to lose control and hurt Poe. Poe is older and bigger than him, but sometimes he just seems so very fragile, and Ben doesn’t want to do anything to hurt him.
After Poe ends up play-fighting with Ben, their battle cries turning to giggles, Ben rolls off him and helps him up. “Did I hurt you?”
“You didn’t,” Poe says. “I don’t think you could hurt me if you tried!"
“You didn’t either. I don’t think we’re ever gonna be ene-mies,” Ben says. “We’ll always be best friends. Promise.”
Poe smiles at him. "Promise.”
