Chapter Text
It all started innocently enough. He hadn’t thought much of it at the time. He had much more pressing things to worry about.
Like surviving the night in a forest filled with hungry vornskrs…oh, and the scary lady who kept pointing a blaster his way and threatening to kill him at every turn. Even if she was beautiful with a clipped authoritarian voice that did things to him he didn’t want to scrutinise too closely.
Mara Jade had taken him prisoner and confiscated his lightsaber, thus establishing herself as their sole source of protection against the dangerous beasts.
She was a crack shot with a blaster, so it worked ok…until it didn’t.
Eventually, one caught her by surprise and attacked her from behind, pinning her down.
Luke had to act quickly, calling his lightsaber to him from where it was still clipped at her belt and get the vornskr’s attention so it raised its head enough that Luke could safely decapitate it without harming her.
For all the good it did.
As the smoking, headless carcass slumped over, Mara glared at him and pulled herself to her feet. “What do you think you’re playing at?”
Luke couldn’t believe it. “I just saved your life. I’m not expecting you to give up your quest for vengeance, but a thank you will do.”
‘After all,’ he added mentally, ‘I still thanked you every time you shot one of those things that was about to attack me, even though you are constantly threatening to kill me and I would be able to look after myself if you hadn’t taken my lightsabre.’
She looked away and sighed before turning back to him.
“Thanks, Lucky. Guess you came in useful to me after all.”
Could he really be blamed for thinking she had misremembered his name?
As politely as he could, he cleared his throat. “Um…sorry, Miss Jade, it’s actually just Luke.”
At the withering look of pure condescension, he realised the faux pas was deliberate, and if anything he was a bit embarrassed for his ignorance - but then they were moving quickly to find shelter and it slipped to the bottom of his list of concerns.
The following morning, as they packed up their ramshackle camp and prepared to move, Luke again felt more than a little clueless and in over his head.
She had taken to whistling at him for his attention or to get him to follow her. At first, he thought that was just how she communicated with people she saw as her subordinates, but after awhile it became obvious that this was special treatment only dished out to him.
When he felt brave enough, he decided to ask her about it. “Mara? If you don’t mind…uh…why are you whistling at me like that?”
Again, the condescending glare she gave him made him inwardly cringe. Taking a deep breath, as if having to explain the most basic concept to a complete simpleton, she answered at length.
“Because, Fido, you are as over-excited and irritating as a pup that hasn’t been potty trained. Now if you need attention, go wag your tail at your droid instead.”
Heat flooded his cheeks and he stared at her, gobsmacked. He had been spoken down to and underestimated before, but never in such a brutally mortifying fashion.
…So why did he feel so turned on?
With mounting horror, he realised the crotch of his pants was feeling unusually tight. Dank farrick, no! Not now! Please don’t let him get an erection in front of Mara Jade of all people!
He had to leave quickly before she noticed. Wordlessly, he turned on his heel and strode off, mumbling something about needing a moment in the bushes.
The unspoken implication was that he needed to evacuate his bladder, but he hoped he could achieve a different kind of release. Maybe if he was lucky, he would have a few minutes of privacy before they had to get going.
Keeping the whereabouts of Mara’s Force presence in his mind, as well as opening him up to sensing other life forms nearby, Luke made sure he was well hidden behind a large boulder before unzipping his flight suit and pulling down the waistband of his pants and smallclothes to free his aching cock.
Without any lube, he had to spit on his hand before giving himself a very rough, hasty working over.
Eventually he felt himself nearing the precipice and carefully aimed away from himself to avoid any telltale signs.
Once he had shot the last sticky, white rope over the grass and moss-covered rocks in front of him, he let out a heavy breath and tucked himself back in, cringing at the sensation of clothes rubbing against his oversensitive member and the resulting dribbles of cum he leaked into his underwear.
‘Ugh! This is going to be a long day…’
“Let’s hope they haven’t transferred Karrde off this ship” Luke remarked as they snuck aboard Thrawns Star Destroyer.
“They haven’t,” Mara replied, walking briskly ahead of him.“The only danger is that they may have started the full treatment.”
A shudder went through him and he almost didn’t want to ask, but he did anyway. “The full treatment?”
As per usual, Mara looked at him like he was dense. “The interrogation.” Shutting down anything he might have said to that, she turned and pointed at the floor between them.
“Just about there. That should do it. You shouldn’t hit anything vital.”
They were currently on a rescue mission to retrieve Talon Karrde from Thrawn’s custody onboard the Chimera.
Mara had turned up out of the blue on Jomark, while he was receiving some (albeit questionable) training from the Jedi Master, Joruus C’baoth.
She told him that she needed his help rescuing Karrde, and he felt compelled to help anyway, even without her insinuation that he owed her. There was just something about her that fascinated him and drew him in. Something more than just her ability to make him need to cum.
Taking her cue, Luke promptly unsheathed his sabre and cut a whole in the floor, right where she had indicated. As he pulled back and watched her look around for a magnetic winch to pull up the section of severed docking, he was caught again by how beautiful she was.
Her vibrant green eyes glittered like emeralds, and a lock of her slightly curly scarlet hair had escaped her beige head covering.
The breath caught in his chest. He didn’t realise he had been staring until she tilted her head back at him in irritation.
“What are you looking at me like that for, Toto? You think I’m gonna reward you with a snack? Outta my way!”
‘Jeez, there it is,’ Luke deflated a little. ‘She’s really going to do that while we are on a mission?? She likes making things hard for me, that’s for sure.’
Ignoring the twitch in his pants, he helped her with the winch and they both jumped through the hole into the deck below.
He found her on top of the New Republic military base, staring out at the Courscant sunset. Her back was to him and she didn’t react but he knew she knew he was there.
“Quite a view,” he remarked lightly. “How does it feel to be home this time?”
Without turning around, she replied “You know, Pup Tart, just between us - you’re pretty pathetic when you try to be devious. I’d give it up and just stick with that straight-out farm boy honesty.”
‘Who said I was trying to be devious?’ He thought as he sauntered up to stand beside her. ‘I was just trying to open a conversation.’
Instead of reacting, he changed tack and tried again, pleased he was able to control his body’s reaction to her just then, or his proposition would hit a little differently to how he intended. “So? How are you feeling?”
She seemed to weigh up her thoughts before answering. “Strange. It’s like coming home, only it isn’t. I don’t think I ever saw the Imperial City as people and lights before.”
Luke nodded. That must be a real paradigm shift for her. Just like finally being free of Palpatine’s voice in her mind, ordering her to kill him.
“Speaking of possibilities…” He started to broach what had been on his mind, but Mara misconstrued where he was going with that.
“The whole thing’s ridiculous. Karrde’s never going to be able to hold this smuggler coalition together. What do you need information for? Thrawn’s dead, the cloning centre is in shambles, and the Empire is in retreat. You’ve won.”
Turning to her, he folded his arms. “There are still years of work to be done. You’re someone both sides are willing to trust. That’s what’s important here.”
Mara’s eyes darted to him for the first time and she assessed him shrewdly. He could feel her mind reaching out and sniffing around the periphery of his own, but he doubted it was something she was doing consciously. Or maybe she didn’t realise exactly what she was doing, thinking she might just be observing him closely the way anyone might.
At length, she spoke again, cutting tight to the chase.
“I have to think about it. But there is something else, isn’t there?”
He grinned. “You’re getting pretty good at that.”
Her lips twitched and she shrugged it off, looking back at the sunset. “I had a good teacher.”
The compliment was not lost on Luke. In fact, it was the first proper compliment without any sarcasm that he had seen her give anyone. His beaming ‘puppy’ face broke out from behind his neutral facade, and he reached behind him to grab the hilt of his old lightsabre, holding it out to her in a silent offering.
She looked down at it. “What’s that?” She asked, even as she reached forward to accept it from him.
“It’s my old lightsabre,” he told her. “The one I lost on Cloud City. I’d like you to have it.”
“Why me?” It was easy to see how her brow furrowed, her Imperial trained instincts probably expecting some kind of favour or trick.
“Because you’ve earned it,” Luke said firmly, hoping to dispel her doubt.
“Because you’re on your way to becoming a Jedi and you’ll need it. Mostly though, because I want you to have it.”
He smiled at her. “I’ll be in the conference room with the others. Come on down when you’ve decided.”
Luke turned on his heel to go back the way he came, opting to give her some privacy. She had been through a lot in the past few days and needed some time to come to terms with everything and really think about where she wanted to go from here.
He was not expecting her voice to reverberate across the empty rooftop as he grabbed the door handle to the flight of stairs descending back down. “Hang on a minute…”
When he looked back at her over his shoulder, she was frozen, staring down at the lightsabre in her hands.
Then she glanced up at him and smiled. A pure, guileless smile that transformed her face. With her beautiful red hair merging with the sunset behind her, making it seem like it was glowing, she was the most gorgeous thing he had ever seen.
“I’ll come with you”
Mara stubbornly held onto her custom overtime, even when it was obvious Luke had gained her begrudging respect, and he was under no illusion that she was going to desist any time soon.
Proving him right, she continued to cycle through all those names she had already used. Along with Bingo, Kibbles, Rocky, Coco, Milo, Goober and Cookie. True, she now interspersed them with his last name, as well as the strangely affectionate ‘Farm boy.’ Her favourites, however, seemed to Spot and Lucky.
While she was understandably stand-offish due to her upbringing, being groomed from a young age to be the Emperor’s assassin, they did mange to step into a new terrain of friendship - which Mara did so cautiously, while Luke was just as eager as the puppy she accused him of being.
There was a time, however, when their relationship seemed to break down. Luke remembered the night things started to change between them.
Not long after finding himself a partner, he was invited to a swanky New Republic event and had the option to bring a plus one. Callista was happy to go with him and he was excited for their first formal event together.
Just as they were about to ascend flight of stone steps to the lit up Senate building, he heard someone call out to him.
“Fancy seeing you here, Fluffy.”
Luke would know that voice anywhere, even if he hadn’t felt her familiar presence in the Force. The dog name was a dead give-away too.
He sighed and turned a little to look over his shoulder. He was met with the sight of the one and only Mara Jade, resplendent in a glittering silver formal gown, hanging onto the arm of Lando Calrissian.
The sharply dressed man raised an eyebrow as both he and Luke’s own date for the evening repeated the derogatory nickname simultaneously, with equal measures of shock.
“Don’t ask,” Luke waved away the question, trying his hardest to feign a level of nonchalance. Beside him, Callista narrowed her eyes in suspicion, but he ignored it to instead try for a polite greeting.
“Mara, Lando - I didn’t know that you two were coming to this event.” ‘Together,’ his mind added sullenly.
“Well, kiddo, what can I say? I’m a Baron Administrator for Bespin. You and your sister aren’t the only high brow members of our little team to be invited to an exclusive New Republic Gala.”
Lando gave them one of his most charming grins before holding a hand out to Callista. “But more importantly, who do we have here?”
‘Are you serious, Lando?!’ Luke thought, outraged. ‘You are apparently dating Mara Jade, and you actually start flirting with another woman right in front of her!’
It was only as an afterthought did he realise he should probably be more incensed that the other woman in question was his own girlfriend.
Callista smiled and took his hand politely, seeming more than a little thrown off guard when he raised her hand to his lips. “A pleasure to meet you, my dear.”
Since they were friends, Lando and Mara attached themselves to Luke, which was uncomfortable at best.
One saving grace was that at least Lando’s flirtatious tendencies kept Luke sufficiently pissed off to keep any unwanted physical reactions to Mara’s nicknames at bay.
Callista definitely noticed his mood but didn’t pry since she understandably assumed he was being a protective partner.
‘She’s too good for me,’ Luke sighed. ‘I’m actually the worst person at this table.’
It would be yet another long night for him.
Both he and Callista walked away feeling disappointed with how tense the night had been. It’s wasn’t at all the luxurious romantic evening either of them had hoped for.
The next day, Luke swallowed his pride and sent a holotext to Mara.
Hey! It was nice seeing you last night. How long have you and Lando been dating? You never mentioned anything about being together.
He saw that she read it not long after it was sent, but she didn’t reply until hours later when all he received was a very clipped message in response:
You didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend, so why should I keep YOU abreast of my love life? Whatever, Skywalker. I’m busy.
That would be the last communication he received from her for a few months, no matter how often he sent her messages trying to get their friendship back to where it was.
In fact, it wasn’t until Callista left him that she even came back to Courscant at all. Luke wondered why it bothered her when she obviously didn’t see him as anything other than a friend, and sometimes he wanted to ask her, but there was so much weird tension between them now.
It would be another few months before things changed again, this time for the better…
Luke rubbed his temple, watching Mara and Karrde butt heads over the plans for the mission they were about to undertake.
The one they had asked Luke to accompany them on, in case they needed his specialised Jedi skills.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t seem to agree on how they approached the stronghold they were supposed to be breaking into and Luke has been listening to them argue for over half an hour.
In an attempt to make some progress and get a concrete plan together, he cleared his throat to get their attention and Mara turned her whole body around to plant her hands on her hips and fix him with one of hers most murderous expressions yet.
“Now you listen here, Pooch! This has nothing to do with you. WE are in charge and YOU are the hired help. You’ll do what WE say! Go find yourself a bone and pipe down.”
“Fine!” He threw his hands up in the air and stood from his place at the table. “Comm me when you settle on a plan. Just make sure it’s before we land.”
He got up and made his way to the communal living area (after a quick detour to the refresher to jerk off) and sat down heavily on one of the couches to try meditating for awhile.
An indeterminate period of time later, Karrde came in, and there was something speculative about his energy. Luke knew he was in for some kind of questioning.
“Skywalker, we have a plan now so if you’d follow me to my office, I’ll walk you through it.”
‘Here we go,’ Luke dutifully fell in step beside him and on entering the cluttered room, he sat down in the seat Karrde waved him to on the opposite side of his desk.
The sound of the door closing firmly behind them made him a little nervous. Just what kind of interrogation was he about to get? He hadn’t done anything to warrant the other man’s distrust.
Karrde dropped himself down in his high-backed chair, rested his head on steepled fingers and narrowed his eyes at him. After only a beat of silence, he said “before we get into the mission plan, I really need to ask…are you and Mara sleeping together?”
That was absolutely not what Luke was expecting and he gaped at him, dumbfounded, feeling his face grow warm.
“I…what?? No!!!” He choked out. “What makes you think-?! She would never-!”
He quickly clamped his mouth shut as that line of defence was a little too telling, and sure enough, Karrde’s eyes narrowed even further.
Luke tried to assure him again that no such thing had happened, but the more he tried, the more he floundered, until Karrde must have decided to take pity on him and cut him off. “Well, maybe that’s the problem. Why haven’t you slept with her yet?”
“Karrde!” Luke gasped, affronted. “With all due respect, that’s not your business, and it’s unprofessional to talk this way about your second in command!”
“And friend,” Karrde clarified. “She is also my friend, which is why I know her so well. It’s also how I know that she is way too nasty to you for the two of you to have not been…nasty, if you catch my drift.
Or that maybe she treats you like that because she secretly wants to do the horizontal tango with you and it’s making her frustrated.”
He sighed and checked he couldn’t see anyone loitering outside his door before leaning in close and lowering his voice. “Listen…Mara wasn’t herself while you were dating that Callista girl. She was in a constant foul mood and ready to snap at anyone over nothing. We all noticed it. The only explanation I have is that she likes you and didn’t know how to deal with you going all heart-eyed over another woman.”
For a moment, Luke’s mind went blank and he could do nothing but stare at Karrde as he willed his brain to reboot so he could process what he just said.
Because there was no way that what he suggested could be true…could it?
The thought of Mara Jade being romantically or even just sexually interested in him just didn’t make any sense.
Even if she no longer wanted to kill him and they had fallen into a sort of friendship after she killed his clone (thus nullifying Palpatine’s ingrained command) - the hope that she could feel anything more for him was laughably futile.
It was the whole reason why he had given up and tried to find love elsewhere in the first place.
Mara was so experienced and capable, so bewitchingly sexy. She could have anyone she wanted. There was no way Luke ‘the silly puppy’ Skywalker could hold any appeal for someone like her.
Just being around her made him feel like a dumb, awkward farm boy again - something that she herself confirmed she saw him as.
“No,” he said finally. “I don’t believe that. It could just be that I’m an easy target, what with being a farm boy and all.”
“Mara doesn’t waste her time on easy targets,” Karrde countered. “Never has. She is a woman who likes a challenge. And you are a farm boy who also happens to be the last Jedi. A powerful one at that. Why wouldn’t she be interested?”
That stumped him. Luke had never thought about it like that. Still, his heart gave a painful twinge and he decided that getting his hopes up for something he still felt was highly unlikely would just be asking for heartbreak.
After the showdown with C’baoth and his own evil clone, Luke knew that his feelings for Mara had deepened beyond lust, but he tamped them down and did his best to overcome them.
They were on two very different life paths and it would be messy. He just couldn’t kid himself into thinking they were compatible enough to work, no matter how much he wanted it. And he couldn’t agree to just a ‘friends with benefits’ situation when he knew his heart was involved.
Karrde must have seen some of the hopeless despondency in his eyes because he reached over and squeezed his shoulder before settling back in his chair.
“I’ll back off for now, but just think about it. Now, about our mission plan…”
A few hours later, they were stealthing their way through a crime syndicates main base.
A bit of danger was a good way to take one out of their head, just be primed and focussed in the present.
Luke was grateful for that so that he didn’t think too hard about what Karrde had said to him earlier.
If he was being completely honest with himself though, he was perhaps going a little harder than usual, and it might have something to do with wanting to show off in front of Mara. Part of him wanted to test if Karrde’s theory was right and Mara was inexplicably interested in him.
The results were hardly satisfactory. Mara seemed as unaffected as ever, and even continued to make dog remarks in front of everyone on Karrde’s team.
Things like “that’ll do, Scrappy, that’ll do” and “down, Rex, I’ll take it from here.”
To make things worse, each time it happened, Karrde shot him a surreptitious look as if it was somehow proof that he was right.
There were only so many rebuffs Luke could endure on one mission though, and after awhile he regressed back to his usual style, impatient for them to just grab the items Karrde was wanting to steal and get out of there.
In fact, he was in such poor spirits that he kept to himself back on Karrde’s ship after their successful escape, and didn’t join in the celebratory drinks in the main living area.
At some point, Karrde found him sitting on his bunk in near total darkness in the otherwise empty crew dormitory.
Flicking on the light, he exclaimed “there you are, Skywalker!” And proceeded to come in and close the door, brandishing a bottle of some potent spirits and two glasses.
“Don’t know why you’re moping around in here,” he said jovially, pouring out a shot for each of them.
“You should be happy! This is as much a personal victory for you as it is for us!” He winked at him, his ruddy face and the smell on his breath giving away how much he had already been drinking.
“How?” Luke grumbled, taking the shot offered to him and knocking it back. “All today proved is that you were wrong. She isn’t interested at all. I’m just a big joke to her. I shouldn’t have listened to you.”
“Luke, my boy,” Karrde chuckled, sloppily refilling their glasses. “Open your eyes! Maybe you can’t see it because you didn’t see the way she was before when you were coupled up, but she was glowing the whole time.”
“She always glows,” Luke murmured sadly, gulping down his second glass of liquid death.
He received a light smack upside the head. “I knew it!” Karrde crowed triumphantly. “You love her!”
“Kriff! Keep it down!” Luke hissed back, and nervously eyed the door, while reaching out with his mind. Luckily, no one was within earshot. “Yes, ok! Fine! But you had better not tell her.”
“Nah, ‘course not!” Karrde slurred, grinning from ear to ear. “That’s for you to do!”
Taking a breath, Luke fortified his himself against whatever falsehoods the intoxicated older man might start spewing.
“I’m not going to. And I don’t know why you think these ridiculous things about Mara and me. It’s a load of bantha shit. She couldn’t be more indifferent about me.”
He just managed to keep his voice from cracking. This was exactly why he buried his feelings and tried to move on. He could handle it when he kept himself numb and firmly grounded in reality.
The moment Karrde started to spin his tales and delusions, Luke’s defences fell away and now he was hurting just like he always knew he would be.
Gods! He was in agony! It was even worse than when Callista left him. While he had truly loved her, it wasn’t the same as his love for Mara.
Beside him, Karrde became solemn. “You are the one who’s wrong, Skywalker,” he uttered slowly, carefully.
“You don’t know how to read Mara like I do. She is not the same as other women, and she has insecurities that hold her back too.”
Luke clenched his eyes shut and shook his head, not wanting to listen but unable to stop.
Slumping back against the wall, Karrde set down his glass and shifted to face him.
“That’s the first time I’ve seen her look so alive since you and Callista got together. After finding out about you two, she was quite volatile, yet so…mechanical and lifeless, everything she did, it was just…going through the motions. Then you and your lady parted ways, but instead of improving, she became sad and mopey…because you were in pain. You were hurting and there was nothing she could do.
Having you back to your usual self again, having you here as part of our team, fighting by her side…”
The other man shook his head and smiled wistfully. “She was on fire. She was vibrant and happy, and playful - always trying to stay close to you and tease you, even have a little competition with you.”
His eyes crinkled with a kind of joyous relief and Luke could tell that Mara’s state had been troubling him for some time.
Turning his smile on Luke, he thumped him lightly on the shoulder. “I know she hasn’t come in here to hound you herself. She’s still shy…in her own strange way. But if you were to go out there now, you’ll see how happy she is. And it’s because of you.”
Then his look turned suggestive. “I think you’ll find that, whether she realises it or not, Mara’s special breed of insults is her way of flirting. Did you ever consider that, Mr all-knowing Jedi?”
For the second time that day, Karrde had him speechless.
The more he considered his words, the more they made a weird kind of sense.
Just to make sure, he closed his eyes and cleared his mind to connect with the Force, and was immediately met with a surge of truth.
Mara was interested. She cared, and his presence made her happy, even if her way of showing it was confusing and maybe a little counterintuitive.
“Force,” he croaked, feeling winded by the realisation.
Karrde let out a bellow of laughter and thumped him again before giving him another shot.
“For courage,” he said with a wink, pushing him off the bunk towards the door.
Luke felt lightheaded as he made his way to the living area, grateful for the steady warmth spreading through his body courtesy of the alcohol.
When he got there, the crew were all milling around in various states of drunken revelry, but he only had eyes for the mesmerising woman sitting with her feet up by one of the viewports, long red hair loose over her shoulders.
He nearly lost his footing when her eyes met his and lit up before she lifted her arms in the air yelling “Cookie! Where have you been!”
She was tipsy. Even so, Luke made his way over to her like he was walking on air. His love interest shuffled over clumsily and patted the couch beside her.
“Come sit down, farm boy. Have you had a drink yet?”
“Plenty,” Luke answered with an indulgent smile as he sat down like she requested, and he could see now what Karrde meant. Mara was happy, and unlike usual, she didn’t have any qualms about showing it.
Sitting up a little more, she leaned into him as she flung one arm around his shoulder.
“We were just discussing how bamf you are with your lightsabre,” she told him, sounding somewhat proud. “And the lads want to know what other cool shit you can do?”
So Luke allowed himself to relax next to Mara and answer the questions that were drunkenly shouted at him from the crew, meanwhile, the only thing going through his mind was ‘she thinks I’m bamf!’
Eventually the other crew members toddled off to collapse into their bunks, but he had seen Karrde flitting in and out for the remainder of the evening, each time with a twinkle in his eye as he watched them.
When it was just the two of them left, having drained Mara’s bottle of Spotchka between them, Luke took her hand in his. “I really enjoy spending time with you, Mara. Will you invite me on missions again after this.
Her cheeks went from a merry, alcohol enhanced pink to a deep crimson, and she laughed nervously, using her free hand to fidget with her hair.
“Sure, farm boy. We could always use your fancy Jedi skills.”
Luke blinked. He had never seen her flustered like this before and it made him want so badly to kiss her.
Coughing a bit to hide his train of thoughts, he warily tried standing up to see how stable he was.
“We should probably get to bed too,” he told her, as much as he wanted to continue with this easy space they found themselves in. But he had so much he was burning to say and do and he wanted them to both be sober for it.
The look of disappointment on her face was not at all subtle, but she took the hand he held out to her. “Oh, ok…”
“Come on,” he said. I’ll escort you back to your room.”
Both Mara and Karrde had their own private bedrooms on the ship. Luke was able to keep them from wobbling too much as he walked them down the corridor, supporting most of Mara’s weight.
She fortunately remembered her code and was dexterous enough to key it in to the control panel by her door.
It whooshed open and they stood silently staring at each other with wide eyes before Luke shifted uncomfortably and took a step back.
“Um well…I’ll see you tomorrow then.” He made to head back the communal crew dorm, when Mara grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
“Mmmm, nope. I think I’ll keep you here, Spike.” Suddenly, Luke was burning up and choked out a dazed “whaaa?”
The red-haired vixen grinned impishly and gave him another tug. “Here, boy!”
When she whistled at him beckoningly, Luke was a goner.
Dragging his way through the fog of oblivion back to consciousness, Luke slowly opened his eyes.
There was a split second of confusion at his unfamiliar surroundings, before he noted a warm arm around him under the blankets and everything came rushing back,
Dank Farrick! He was really in bed with Mara!
They hadn’t done anything, of course. Both of them were too wasted to even attempt any activity besides sleep, and Luke never wanted to take advantage of anyone like that. Plus he wanted their first time to be totally sober.
Rolling over onto his other side, he melted at the sight of Mara fast asleep while snuggling into him and sporting an adorable case of bedhead.
His heart pounded as he nestled closer, wrapping her more tightly in his embrace.
The movement jostled her enough that she also blinked awake and smiled sleepily up at him.
“Morning, Rocky,” she greeted and covered her mouth with her hand as she let out a long yawn.
Then she felt the answering hardness against her belly and her eyes popped open. “Skywalker!”
“Just morning wood,” Luke lied. “We don’t have to do anything with it. I’m enjoying laying here with you.”
Maybe that was the wrong thing to say. She craned her head up to look at him with her brows furrowed.
“Please don’t tell me you’re serious and you actually don’t want to do anything?! Damn your Jedi Piety!”
“Of course I want to,” he clarified quickly. “But you seemed like you didn’t want to.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Karking hell, farm boy! Are you really that dense?”
Before he could answer, she slipped under the blankets and yanked down his smallclothes, wrapping her lips around the head of his hard cock.
Luke jolted in surprise, all his muscles tensing, but they soon relaxed again as Mara pushed him onto his back and took him deeper, turning his gasp into a low moan.
When she began bobbing her head up and down his length, his back arched and he cried out her name.
This woman was going to be the death of him, especially when she re-emerged, throwing back the blankets and straddling his hips while reaching behind her to undo her bra.
Luke’s eyes widened as her full, luscious breasts came into view, reaching up in awe to graze his fingers over their sides and underneath them where they met her rib cage.
That wasn’t nearly enough for Mara.
“Oh for kriff’s sake!” She grabbed both his hands and forced them down onto each breast so he was holding her by the meatiest part of her bosom.
They both groaned in response, Mara becoming particularly vocal as he used his thumbs to massage her nipples.
Things cascaded rapidly from there. Both Luke’s boxer-briefs and Mara’s lace panties ended up on the other side of the room, with Luke’s head between her legs as he lapped hungrily at the fluids oozing from her core while his thumb rubbed tantalising circles over her clit.
Mara was panting and heaving in pleasure, until she lost patience and banged her fist against the headboard, shouting “Fierflek, Skywalker! If you don’t get inside me right now, I really am going to kill you!”
Her fist in his hair gave a good yank. He let himself be dragged up until she roughly took his mouth with hers, wrapping her legs possessively around his waist.
Luke gave into her wishes (and his), slotting himself inside her with one smooth, deft movement, basking in her euphoric wail.
There was no adjustment period. Luke instantly began moving his hips, first in slow but forceful thrusts that had her gasping and grunting as though short of breath.
Then he sped up, but remained just as rigorous in his thrusting, causing Mara to let out a shrill keen like an animal in heat.
On and on it went, until Mara reached her peak and tipped over into a violent orgasm, screaming herself hoarse as she rent her nails over his back. That and the powerful rhythmic gripping sensation around him had Luke pulled along with her into ecstasy, groaning into her neck until the sensation slowly ebbed and he flopped down on top of her.
For a long time, they laid limp and tangled up in each other, trying to catch their breath.
Then Luke slowly pulled out, causing them both to whimper, and settled down at her side, placing a loving kiss on her sweat-beaded forehead.
Mara’s eyes were still closed but she looked relaxed and blissed out, so he cuddled up close but didn’t disturb her.
“Karking hells,” she whispered eventually. “You have no idea how long I’ve needed to do that.”
“Mmm” Luke hummed, also closing his eyes in contentment. “Me too.”
“Really?” She asked softly, turning her head slightly to try and look at him. He felt her own hope in the Force, as full and trembling as his own had been.
“Really.”
They were both so jubilant that when they did get round to dressing and rejoining the others, they didn’t care at all that the whole crew made no secret of the fact they had heard everything.
At long last, they were in hyperspace, flying their borrowed ship far away from the gruelling ordeal they had somehow survived in Thrawn’s secret fortress.
Luke dropped heavily into the copilots chair and let out a gusty exhale of relief. “Next stop, Courscant.”
“Next stop, the nearest New Republic base or one of Karrde’s outposts,” Mara corrected him with a firm look that warned him not to argue.
“I don’t know about you, but I want a shower, some clean clothes, and something besides ration bars to eat.”
He smiled back at her. “Point taken. You always were the practical one, weren’t you?”
“And you were always the idealistic one,” she replied, lips quirking at the corners. “Must be why we work so well together. Speaking of practical, remember back in the cloning chamber when Artoo went all squeaky?”
It wasn’t just a deflection. He could sense the burning curiosity behind her question and tilted his head, thinking back. “You mean just before the sentinel droids showed up?”
“Right. We never did find out what was tying him in knots like that.”
“You’re right,” Luke conceded, nodding his head agreeably. “But I’m sure it’s not something so urgent that it can’t wait a few minutes, now that we are in the clear.”
He eyed her playfully. “At the moment, I’m more interested in talking about something else…”
“Like what?” She asked, doing a marvellous job of looking innocently confused. Too bad they now had a Force bond strong enough for him to see exactly what she was doing.
But he met her neutral expression with one of his own.
“Like the fact that you agreed to marry me down there.”
“Oh, yes. I did.” Her tone was casual and airy, like they were talking about the weather. “What of it?”
“Well…” he drawled, leaning forward in his chair. “That would make you my fiancée.”
“It would.”
He grinned. “And now that we aren’t standing waist deep in freezing water, I think it would be a good time to resume that kiss we had started, which you were so eager to break.”
“I was going into hypothermia!” She cried defensively, breaking character to give him a whack on the chest.
Chuckling, he shook his head, and he could feel his grin spread wider. “Well, you’re not now. So, if it’s not too much of a chore, can this humble master petition his lofty Jedi woman for another one.”
Amusement rippled through their bond. Mara rolled her eyes and gave him harder smack this time.
“You are way too excited right now, Spot. Grab your ball and your blankie, and take a time out.”
A shocked huff of laughter escaped him as he caught her hand that was coming in for another blow. “You’re unbelievable!” Still, there was no escaping the affection in his voice.
Mara returned it ten-fold, grabbing his face and pulling him in for a crushing kiss before shoving him back against his chair and climbing on top of him to straddle his lap.
“Apologies, Master, but this lofty Jedi woman has something more practical in mind.”
And without further ado, she stripped her top and bra off over her head.
Luke sighed and stretched out his limbs in languid pleasure, a bone deep satisfaction settling throughout his body. He and Mara had just tied the knot and were relaxing in the honeymoon suite of a beautiful resort on Naboo, following a night of strenuous physical activity.
Mara was still asleep with her head pillowed against his chest; an arrangement that found him more often than not with a a face full of her hair. Not that he minded too much.
There was only one thing falling short of perfection in his mind
After they confessed their feelings to one another and became engaged, she eased up on the dog-themed nicknames - to the point where she barely used them at all now.
True, finally hearing her call him by his first name was wonderful, and he knew that in her mind, she was cutting him some slack and being nice, but Luke was disappointed.
He missed it but didn’t know how to explain to her how he felt without revealing his little kink she had inadvertently triggered. He wasn’t quite ready for that yet.
Which is probably why he reacted the way he did when she started to rouse, and in a groggy whisper, asked him “you want to order room service, Muffin?”
Instantly awake, Luke snapped his head up from the pillow. “Is that another dog name?” He asked.
In hindsight, it was easy to see how she misread the eagerness in his tone for confrontation.
Mara grimaced, colour rising in her cheeks and she looked more contrite than he had ever seen her.
“I…no. It was more a reference to you being sweet, but it’s fair enough why you thought…”
She shifted uncomfortably, propping herself up on one elbow to look at him, as she drew the blanket up to her chest.
“I’m very sorry about…all of that. I know I must have humiliated and hurt you by treating you like a dog. I promised myself I would stop as soon as I found out how you felt. I promise, Luke.”
“No, Mara!” He insisted, so reflexively and forcefully her brows shot up to her hairline.
Bringing himself back down to a reasonable pitch, he continued. “Please don’t stop. I’ve actually always liked it and was sad when you didn't continue it on.”
She stared at him, mouth falling open in befuddlement.
“You…you liked it?? I…Luke, you are a Jedi, an ex-General, a war veteran - and I was treating you like a dog! Not even just a dog, a…a dumb puppy!”
“Yep,” he grinned, no longer feeling afraid to spill the beans. “I may be all those things, but I’m also a sub. I like a bit of power exchange and degradation…with the right person, of course.”
Luke took her hand, grazing his lips softly over her knuckles. “So…will you start calling me dog names again?”
A second or two passed as Mara surveyed him, full red lips still parted in surprise, before a glint came into her eye and she gave him one of her sultry smirks.
“Sure thing, Spot. I’ll keep on degrading you, if that’s what you really want.”
“It is,” Luke replied, beaming. “Although, I feel more like Lucky today.”
Her smirk turned into an exasperated smile as she rolled her eyes at his joke. “Lucky, then.”
A wave of giddy excitement passed over him. He knew he had the same look on his face as the times his now wife felt prompted to make a ‘tail wagging’ remark.
“Really? You’re ok with it? Because, I do kind of want to lean into it a bit more in the bedroom. Maybe you can be my Dom and boss me around while I’m wearing a collar and a leash?”
“Wow,” Mara leaned back to raise an eyebrow at him, but the feelings coming off her in the Force were positive, mainly a surprised delight, and perhaps something akin to awe.
“Yeah, I can do that. In fact I think I would really like that. It sounds like fun. I’m just…amazed, I guess. You always seemed a bit pissed off, the way you would frown and walk away every time I did it.”
Luke shook his head and sniggered. “Honestly? I only did that to avoid you seeing my boner.”
It felt like a prize when she flopped back down on the bed, heaving with laughter.