Stowaway | A Mandalorian Love Story | Din Djarin x OC

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Small Potatoes, Part II

Suggested Listening:
Your Mission - Lorne Balfe (from Mission: Impossible - Fallout) | ...the plan
Peace Negotiations - Laura Karpman (from The Marvels, which despite what the press is saying is a VERY fun watch and not at all a box office bomb??) | ...he's here
Wonder Woman's Wrath - Rupert Gregson-Williams | ...that face
Signori toileto Italiano - Daniel Pemberton | ...that could've gone better

The plan, I had to admit, was a good one. Mayfeld, for all his shortcomings, had made a decent case for us helping him. To be honest, the idea of those animals being stolen and dealt for underground fights did in fact stir up the same righteous anger in me that Mayfeld seemed to harbor — and he had promised Din and I a payment from the authorities if we helped him pull this off.

"Mando, you come in as a buyer," Mayfeld explained quickly. "This was only supposed to be a goods exchange between dealer and distributor. I was only supposed to get confirmation that this guy is without a doubt dealing Wendo eggs." He pointed at Din. "You stay mysterious, you act rich, you get the middlemen and the dealers to sit down to an actual negotiation."

"And then you get twice the information," I mused. "Not bad."

"How does that get us our bounty?" Rumbled Din.

"Once I get the info I need — any other animals they deal, any other client names, any competitor dealers — that's when this one comes in." He jerked a thumb at me and nodded.

"And what exactly is 'this one' doing?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.

"You play dumb, right?" He raised his eyebrows enthusiastically as he began to pick up steam. "You hang on Fane Reth, you be his bimbo for the night—"

"Watch it," said Din in a low voice.

"—His, uh — his lady... friend..." Mayfeld shot a nervous look over at Din to see if this phrasing was allowed. "... for the night. And when I give you the signal, you come out as an Agriculture Agent."

"Excuse me?" I asked, my eyes widening in alarm. "Why do I have to take your fall?"

"Because!" Mayfeld looked at me like it was obvious. "You say you're shutting the deal down and they're all under arrest, you pin Fane Reth as the mole who's been ratting on all of them to you, they turn against him, Mando and I take you both out to the alley to, uh... handle you, lets say... You take Reth, I go back in a hero, everybody wins."

Din and I stared at him in silence for a moment.

"You know, it's not bad," I said with an impressed shrug, turning to Din for final approval.

"I don't like it," he muttered. "You're the lightning rod, it's too dangerous."

I bit back a smile — I secretly felt a flutter of butterflies every time he was protective of me like this.

"I'll be fine," I soothed. "You guys are driving the ship, I'm just a red herring."

Mayfeld looked at him hopefully.

"Fine," grumbled Din eventually. He looked over at Mayfeld. "Give us a minute."

Mayfeld looked up impatiently and stepped away.

"Who's got a minute?" He muttered under his breath.

I looked up at Din, who took a step closer to me and leaned in ever so slightly.

"You sure you're okay with this?" He asked in a low voice. "I don't wanna throw you to the wolves—"

"It's going to be fine," I murmured. I wanted to reach out and touch him, but I could tell that public displays of affection weren't going to be a big part of our group dynamic. "I may not love the guy, but after everything that we all went through together... I do trust him."