Beyond - Legends A Fun Date [OTP Challenge #29, Mara/Lando, humour, romance]

Title: A Fun Date
Author(s): UltramassiveUbersue
Timeframe: AUish Beyond Legends (post TTT)
Characters: Mara/Lando, Talon Karrde, OC
Genre: Humour, Romance
Keywords: challenge
Summary: Mara Jade gives this whole dating thing a try and explores her new feelings of boredom.
Notes: OTP Challenge #29

Prompt: #7 (first date)
Prompt #9 (on Coruscant)​

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Mara Jade has been waiting for nearly an hour at this table. She is not angry, but she is bored.

It is a novel experience, being bored. Back when she used to kill people for Palpatine-- she does not see the point in sugar coating it-- she did not experience boredom. Nothing happening for long stretches of time felt like freedom; she could think what she wanted and imagine herself experiencing anything she wanted, anywhere she wanted. It was a little treat she gave herself for not dying.

After Palpatine expired/exploded, boredom was relief from the agony of his last command seizing her brain. The silence felt like a warm, spring breeze.

Ever since she met Luke Skywalker and dislodged the command from her mind, she has been at peace. But also bored. She is unsure if this means she is becoming weak, entitled, or happy.

"Lando...." she mutters. She knows he is far too enthusiastic about this date to be purposefully keeping her waiting, and that he understands that she would never put up with that nonsense. Also, he is kind of a good person who respects other people's time.

This restaurant, The Citadel, is nice. It is at the top floor of The Pinnacle tower on Coruscant, and there is a staggering view of the city and the re-greened river basin below. This peak is so high that the sky is a significantly darker blue even at midday, and all of the staff are licensed paramedics in order to watch for signs of altitude sickness and ensure that guests are not ascending too rapidly in the elevators.

The waiter returns.

"Okay," says Mara, "I'll have a salad and some wine. Something light and not too sweet."

He bows and leaves.

"Dating sucks." She has been trying her hand at normal life, and has not been impressed so far. Yet, she has met a lot of normals who think her life is super awesome and exciting. Does anybody anywhere really have a good time at life? She figures that if anyone does, it's Lando.

Maybe this is why she is bored. She does not want to imagine being somewhere else. She wants to be here, with him, trying her hand at fun. She has never realized how much she yearns for fun until now.

She also does not know why she thinks Lando is going to be such a rich source of fun, because whenever they interact, he becomes anxious, as though this crush on her has mutated from a pleasant diversion into a sickness. She feels like this is a lot of responsibility, to be the catalyst for someone's... whatever this is. A sort of distant curiosity cued her to agree to the date, and now she feels guilty. There is no way she will be able to do whatever it is that people do to turn someone else's lovesickness into happy companionship.

She takes out her comm and punches in a number.

"'Lo."

"Hey, Talon."

"Do you need me to rescue you?"

"No, Lando isn't here yet."

"Uh-oh."

"I'm sure he's fine. He's probably stuck at work or something--"

"But--"

"I kinda think maybe I shouldn't have done this."

"Oh yeah?"

"I really have no business dating, especially people who really like me."

There is a brief silence. "Are you hearing yourself?"

Mara scowls.

"Remember what I said about an avoidant attachment style?"

She sighs. "But this is a good reason, though."

"Is it?"

"Yes."

"No, it isn't."

"Dammit, Karrde--"

"I'm going to look into why he's late."

"You don't have to do that--"

"He's my friend and I'm worried about him."

"Oh, for kriff's sake--"

"I'll get back to you." End communication.

Mara looks up to see the waiter bringing her wine and salad. "Thanks." She tries some. It is pretty good. But she is still bored. "Dammit Lando, where are you?"

She starts to scrutinize her own expectations. What is she looking forward to, exactly? Well, for starters, she wants to know if he is going to be wearing purple, or a cape, or both. He loves those two things, but she has not yet seen him in both at the same time. She finds it a little ludicrous, but it inexplicably makes her feel happy.

Because it is fun, that's why. Here she is thinking she does not give a shavit what people think, but she cannot see herself choosing to wear a cape in public. Why do that when you can wear something with sleeves? The cape is a tribute to frivolity.

She wonders if he is going to be wearing the purple velvet shirt with the deep v-neck. A garment with thick fabric but shows a lot of skin is an affront to everything she believes in. Both times she saw him wearing that, she angrily asked him (inwardly), "Well, is it cold out, or isn't it?" But as much as it offends her, she hopes he is wearing it this evening. It seems to her to be a fitting symbol of the man: Luxurious, ridiculous, almost classy, and unsettlingly hot.

What else is she looking forward to? Is he going to show off how cultured he is by sharing his detailed opinions on wine? Yes, of course he is. How will he react when she tells him she brewed a passable cooler out of an empty juice jug, a bag of sugar that got wet one time, a heel of bread, and some artificial fruit flavour packets that she found while she was living under a garbage chute? Those first post-Palpatine years were a very creative time for her. She wonders how loudly and at what length she can tell this story before the staff ask them to leave, and whether or not Lando will try to mollify them by ordering increasingly expensive items.

She chuckles at the thought, and is suddenly seized with guilt. This is how she is going to hurt him. She is going to be a big bully for her own amusement because she had all genuine emotion conditioned out of her by the time she was ten. She has no business dating. She should run. That is the sensible thing to do.

She sighs and rests her chin in her palm.

"More wine?" asks the waiter.

"Yep."

She sighs again. Is he going to want to take her out dancing? Probably. Maybe it will be one of those places with fake moonlight. She always thought they were so dumb. She hopes he takes her to one of those. She is wearing a skirt that twirls nicely just in case. Why? She has no clue. She wonders if he is going to be nervous or if he will manage to pull off that whole suave act that he is into. He might even try to kiss her. That will be interesting.

"I can't do this," she grumbles. This is all too weird and normal for her. She wants to go back to work with all the other smugglers, the ones who have not taken the Republic up on their offer to go legitimate because regular employment is just not for them. She would like to go there right now.

"Mara?"

She startles; Talon is calling her on her comm. The thought of actually going back to work fills her with disappointment. "Yeah?"

"I found your date. He's on Level 83."

"Why?"

"Ehhhhh... maybe just go down there."

She flags down the waiter. "I'm coming back," she says, and dashes toward the elevator and asks the medic/operator to take her to Level 83.

She arrives at Level 83 and dashes through the hallway, looking left and right, with great speed and sharp-eyed efficiency as though conducting a raid. She finds her date in a small office, lying on a couch with an oxygen mask, while a medic/bellhop attends to his care. "What the hell, Calrissian?" She is so relieved.

His apology is muffled by the oxygen mask.

The medic explains, "Apparently, he was running late because he couldn't decide what to wear, and he tried to make up for lost time by sneaking onto the freight elevator to go directly to the top floor."

Lando had decided on the purple shirt and no cape. He radiates sadness and shame.

"So, so dumb," says the medic.

Mara rolls her eyes. "Can I have some time alone with my dumbass for a sec?"

"Sure." He leaves and closes the door behind him.

Lando takes off the mask, says, "I blew it, didn't I," and puts the mask back on.

"Yeah, it was terrible. I was drinking wine, eating salad. Looking at the best view on Coruscant. It's going to take a while for me to forgive you." She sighs, "I'm really bored. Do you wanna snuggle or something?"

He nods eagerly.

"Alright." The couch is too narrow for the both of them, so she sits on the floor and lays her head against his shoulder in the least awkward way she can manage. They hold hands, and she closes her eyes and smiles. "I think this is kinda fun," she says. She can feel his happiness like sunshine on her face.

Mara decides to keep doing this whole dating thing, for now. Just to see where it goes.

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Thanks for reading!

 

Fun with Mara and Lando. For Mara, she had to wait until she heard that call and to find Lando like this, unable to choose what to wear and finally with shirt and no cape getting into trouble

 

Thanks so much for reading and commenting!

I figure that at this point in her life, Mara is used to independence and is still struggling to be authentic around people. She doesn't know if she likes Lando or not, and it doesn't occur to her to worry until Karrde refuses to say what happened to him.

And in my headcanon, Lando is so compelled to dress to impress that he has a mini meltdown when he can't figure out how to meet Mara's expectations.

 

Mr. Macho slit-topped velvet wearing smooth operator. Those descriptions fit Lando to a tee, all right. It was funny to hear Mara tell him how shattered she was to have to look at the view while eating salad and drinking good wine. Also, her introspections and rationalizations for wanting to get back to smuggling were intriguing. A well thought out response to the challenge.

 

Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I figure Lando's got this overt suaveness that strikes Mara as trying too hard, and she's almost relieved to find him in a tough spot because he has no choice but to drop any pretense and be real with her. Plus, caring for an injured friend is a form of emotional and physical intimacy that she has become comfortable with, so it doesn't trigger her the way that a more formal date setting does. Thank you so much for reading and commenting!