Han & Leia | Galaxy of Us

Chapter 15

And now as she sat in the forward hold with him and Luke and Chewie – thankfully on his opposite – having downed a small cup of his ale (she'd learned well from prior experience), she calmly met his gaze and conversed with him as though none of it had occurred and she was perfectly unaffected. And maybe something about her impassive appearance bothered him because he grinned at Luke, clapping him on the back and said, "Her Highness over here keeps pestering me about whether I'm staying for good or not. What d'you make of that, kid?"

Luke rolled his eyes while Leia shot Han a glower. She hadn't been pestering him – well, not exactly. She just wanted a straight answer from him, that was all. He'd been on the base for almost two years now, it was about time he came to a decision. She didn't like uncertainties, she liked consistency and even though Han had been steadily demonstrating his support and courage with every mission, she still had a niggling doubt over his readiness to stay for as long as it took and that bothered her.

"And you keep pestering me for a pay rise," she retorted, "But that's nothing new."

"Maybe, you should just straight-up ask me to stay because you want me to?" he suggested with a waggle of his eyebrows, "I know it'll be hard not having a gorgeous guy like me around in your vicinity anymore..."

"Please. Your pretty face might get you a lot of things, but you should know by now it doesn't work on me."

"No?" he grinned, turning to Luke, "Her Worship and I've been having a little game – a challenge of sorts. She doesn't think she could ever possibly be attracted to me and I'm gonna prove her wrong."

"Good luck with that," Luke snorted and Leia beamed at him in appreciation, even while Han's announcement rankled. Possibly because she already knew she was attracted to him, even if she by no means wanted him to know it too.

"Oh, just watch me," Han drawled calmly, setting his feet up on the table, folding his arms behind his head, "I'll have her wrapped around my..." Leia's eyes widened as he paused and he smirked at her, before continuing, "finger by the end of the month."

Blast him. He knew exactly what she'd been thinking about – well, what was she supposed to think after that little pause and wicked grin? This was Han Solo they were talking about and she wasn't innocent. Her cheeks had flushed red and with her wretched porcelain-pale skin, there was no hiding it. And dammit, if he knew she'd been thinking about it, he'd definitely found a way to breach her defences.

"The Princess is the one who has you wrapped around her little finger," Chewie chuckled a few days later after Han returned to Falcon, grumbling about how Leia was an "unemotional, unfeeling little glacier of a woman".

"Me?" Han swivelled around to look at his friend with self-righteous shock, "I'm not the one who-"

"Just because she doesn't respond to your "charms", that doesn't mean that'll hold for another man," Chewie shrugged, watching as Han turned from indignant to furious. "Ah, there it is."

"There what is?" Han groused.

"You're jealous," the Wookie stated smugly.

"Jealous of who?" Han laughed, after the initial shock had rendered him momentarily speechless. He didn't get jealous. The notion itself was ludicrous.

"Not of anyone, yet. You're jealous of the idea of Leia being attracted to another man," Chewie said simply.

"That would suggest that I actually had feelings for the little hellcat," Han said dryly.

"Maybe you should think about what you're doing and how you're reacting," his friend suggested, "Is this little "challenge" of yours just to get up her skin, or is it because of something else?"