The Academy

[haveyourmoments]

Leia goes to the library, hoping for some peace and quiet amidst the chaos of the start of the new semester, old friends greeting each other and new enemies sizing each other up. She knows she’s doomed to be an outsider, being both a new student and younger than the average age at the Academy.

She has her nose in a stack of books about diplomacy when someone with an entourage arrives loudly, flinging the door open with a carelessness that makes her cringe. She peeks around a corner and sees an overly tall, not at all attractive, scruffy looking…nerfherder holding court with his subjects, and her eyes practically roll out of her head.

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[going_solo]

Han loves the library. There are plenty of pretty girls, prime for the picking, and he's flirting with a couple of them while pretending to read something about intergalactic policy like he's read it a thousand times before, turning each page as he leans across for the ladies to giggle in his ear.

It goes on for a while until they have to leave for class, and it's not like he's going to leave for class, so he just leans against the bookshelving for a moment more before he spots the one that remains, the one giving him a stern look that makes him break out into a smile. "You're not off to... whatever they're off to?"

[haveyourmoments]

“They’re off to folk dance etiquette. Do I look like the kind of being that would go to folk dance etiquette?” She replies without even raising her eyes, turning the page to continue her reading. “Of course, you’d know that if you actually listened to what they were saying instead of focusing solely on looking down their shirts.”

[going_solo]

"Hey! I wasn't just looking down their shirts. I was looking at their backsides, too. And I'll have you know that there's actually plenty of benefits to folk dancing, including helping you relax which something tells me you might benefit from, ______?" He looks across at her and thinks she's pretty, in an absurdly annoying way, and trails off to try and get her name.

[haveyourmoments]

All she’s willing to do is fix him with a long, icy glare, before turning her attention back to her readings. She can’t stand guys like him, entitled, lazy, spoiled boys who coast along on their looks and their daddy’s money. She can feel him staring her, though, and it makes her nervous, anxiously patting her hand over her braids, a childhood habit she hasn’t grown out of yet, and she tries to sneak another glance his way.

[going_solo]

"I can feel you watching me," Han says, looking over another book he's been pretending to read before loudly setting it down. The librarian looks over, and gives him a look, but he just blows her a kiss.

[haveyourmoments]

“Just trying to figure out where the smell of desperation is coming from,” Leia answers, her voice dripping with disinterest. When she glances back at him, she sees the book he’s got is one she’s been looking for, and sighs.

[going_solo]

Han laughs at that, because the idea of him being the desperate one in the room doesn't occur to him in the least. As far he's concerned, everyone's despairing for him, ever woman is wanting for him. But not this girl, and he finds himself furrowing his brows at he looks at her sigh. "What?"

[haveyourmoments]

“You have my book,” she says, holding her hand out, “and since I’m not even sure you’re literate…” She waits expectantly, now, hoping he’ll just hand over the book without any more of his wholly ineffective charm.

[going_solo]

"You want me to read it to you and prove that I am, sweetheart?" Han says through gritted teeth, annoyed at her assumption that he's some kind of idiot when he knows, in his heart, that he's not. He might hate learning but he's literate, at least.

[haveyourmoments]

A part of her registers the fact that he seems truly offended by that, and guilt forms a little pit in her stomach. It’s something to process later, though, because the disbelief that he’s called her by a pet name consumes her mind, first and foremost. “What did you call me?”

[going_solo]

“What? Not a fan of niceties, sweetheart?” He realizes he’s hit a nerve and maybe he should stop, should know better, but instead he’s smiling. He loves this.

[haveyourmoments]

“I’m not a fan of men - strange men - acting as if they’re overly familiar with me,” she says, her icy walls all the way back in place. “Especially ones who withhold the book I need in order to succeed in my courses.”

[going_solo]

"Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet," Han says thoughtfully, passing over the book because he is a dick, for sure, but he doesn't want her to fail something important to her because of that. "Something tells me we'll get along great if you wanna hang out after you're done."

[haveyourmoments]

“You…you want to - you’re asking me to hang out?” She asks, uncertain. She doesn’t get invited to things, parties or dates or whatever it is he has in mind, so it’s unfamiliar territory. “What about your blonde entourage?”

[going_solo]

"Maybe I've had my share of blondes," he shrugs, because he probably has. It's not that they're stupid, or that they're not beautiful, it's just that whoever this girl is intrigues him infinitely more. Maybe he has a penchant for pain, who knows?

[haveyourmoments]

She touches her braids lightly, a nervous habit, and looks down at the book he’d handed over so easily. Maybe she misread him, or maybe he misrepresented himself, but either way, it seems like an interesting prospect. Besides, it’s only the first day if the school year and she’s already eaten enough meals alone to last her a lifetime. “Okay.”

[going_solo]

"I'll met you in the cafeteria. I'll be the eating all of the Jell-O," Han says, because where else would Jell-O exist but in outer space? He shoots her a grin, then, before heading out to wait for her and digesting his weight in gelatine.

[haveyourmoments]

She opens her mouth to protest, to remind him to share, but he’s gone before she can even get going. She can’t focus, of course, too curious about him, and she decides to pack it up early, telling herself that it’s too prevent him from truly eating all of the jello.

[going_solo]

Han sits in the cafeteria with his feet up on one of the chairs, eating all of the dessert offerings - and yes, he left plenty for others – while he waits for the pretty girl to turn up, hopeful that she will.

[haveyourmoments]

Leia does show up, rolling her eyes at the casual way he sits, his boots propped up as if he owns the world. Still, she walks over to him, looking pointedly at his feet before sitting in a different chair, surveying the remnants of many, many desserts with a raised eyebrow. “I take it you have a sweet tooth?”

[going_solo]

"Why'dyou think I asked you to spend time with me?" He raises a brow, setting down the last of an intergalactic treat, pleased with himself for this flirty pun. "How was your... book?"

[haveyourmoments]

“It was…informative,” she says lamely, not really any good at the flirting thing. She folds her hands in her lap and looks at him expectantly, waiting.

[going_solo]

"Should we at least tell one another our names before we embark on this... galaxy-shattering friendship?" Again Han's brow is raised as he smiles across at the girl, sensing her nerves, or something like them. "I'm Han."

[haveyourmoments]

“Leia,” she says, relaxing a little. He’s simultaneously grating on her nerves and soothing them, and it’s a reaction that she’s never experienced before. “You’re from Correlia?”

[going_solo]

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Han asks, a little annoyed that he hasn't managed to keep his self a secret for more than a few hours with her, with Leia.