They called it “The Joke”.
Over the years, Kanan both borrowed and created more Dad Jokes than anyone cared to count.
But this joke. This was the one that ruled them all.
Actually, this joke didn’t even start its life as a Dad Joke. No, this one began when Kanan Jarrus was just a boy. Standing in front of a girl. Hoping she would like his waffles.
Mere seconds earlier, the warm aroma of vanilla, cinnamon, and butter made him confident that this would be his best batch ever, but Kanan froze as he set the plate down in front of Hera. Despite his best efforts to dress up the waffles with delicious fixings, he couldn’t help but notice that the boring quadrilateral shape of their recently acquired second or third-hand waffle iron left much to be desired.
As he stared at her breakfast, Hera, who was more than satisfied with someone else making breakfast for her and even more than a little bit hungry, looked up at Kanan and smiled.
“Ummm…this looks great. Thank you, love.”
At the sound of her melodious voice, Kanan met her eyes and found himself smiling back. In that moment, he would’ve given her the moon. Any moon. Of her choosing.
Oh, wait. He'd already done that.
But, anyway, on this day, all he had to offer her was waffles.
So he looked away bashfully because she’d called him ‘love’, and when his eyes came to rest on the waffles again, he saw them from a new angle.
A light went on (and never turned off).
“You’re welcome, *ahem*…Hera. But, hey, these aren’t just any waffles. Look,” he said as he rotated the plate for her, “See? I made Ghost waffles for you.”
Hera smirked because it was endearing and yet incredibly cheesey, and in response to her curious eyebrow, Kanan encouraged her to look again. She could almost see it when she squinted.
“Oooohhhh…” said Hera with a little appreciative chuckle. “So you did. Well, that was very sweet of you, Kanan. Thank you.”
Kanan chuckled in return. “You’re welcome," he replied, but he remained standing, a silly grin on his face.
“Uhhh…Kanan?”
“Yes?”
“Can we…eat…now?”
“Oh! Yeah! Right. Of course.”
As they became more comfortable with each other - and ate waffles more often than Hera ever thought she would - that original joke was dropped, mostly at Hera’s request, since he made mention of it, well, almost every time they ate waffles. Which was a lot.
So it was forgotten.
Until they started picking up new crew members.
Then it became a sort of initiation. The Joke.
Every time it was pretty much the same - Kanan delivered the plate. Then he swiveled the plate. There was squinting, a weak chuckle, groaning/smiling/nodding/eye rolling depending on who was present.
After a while, when there weren't any more new initiates, but Kanan still threw the joke out there most of the times that he made waffles for the crew. He even began a campaign to get everyone to call them Ghost Waffles.
It never took off.
He had to finally give up on The Joke when his beloved, four-square waffle iron bit the dust. For Life Day, the crew pitched in and got him a new one.
It was Alderaan-style, the crew insisted, because they just wanted to switch to the fluffier version with the deeper syrup pockets. Kanan knew the truth.
The Joke was over.
Unfortunately, while the round shape of the Alderaanian waffles DID give him some new ideas, there was no way Hera would even let him attempt to joke about assembling Millennium Falcon waffles.
So again, The Joke was over. And the war was on. There was very little time or resources to put into waffles then, and, eventually, everyone went their separate ways. Life moved on.
One day, several years later, it was late afternoon, and the Swaffle House was closed for the day when the Wafflemaster (as he was known then) served his six-year-old son a plate of waffles.
Jacen was bouncing up and down on his high stool from the way his legs are swinging excitedly beneath him. At the delivery of his sweet treat, he looked up and grinned widely at his father behind the counter, and Kanan smiled at him in return.
Then he swiveled the plate.
“Check it out, Jacen! I made GHOST waffles!”
Jacen abruptly stopped bouncing. As he scrunched up his nose, his pointed ears twitched slightly as he tilted his head. Then the boy looked down at his waffles and then back up again, glaring suspiciously at his father.
“Daaaaad…waffles can’t be GHOSTS!!”
“No! That’s not -“ Kanan sighed and gripped the counter as he hung his head. Even though he wasn't sure it was going to be worth the effort, the lad still seemed confused. So…do or do not…commit to the bit, that is.
"No. Jacen. Look," said Kanan as he removed a small holoprojector from his apron pocket. "Not ghosts. THE GHOST! Mama’s ship! Look - see how they're the same shape?"
Kanan outlined the shape of the Ghost in the hologram, and then he did the same for the waffles. Jacen followed along, and the same light that lit up Kanan all those years ago lit up his son, too.
"OOOOOHHHHH! GHOST WAFFLES!!"
A great, big belly laugh erupted out of the small boy, and Kanan couldn't help but join in.
“Dad, you’re HILARIOUS!” Jace said between giggles.
Kanan beamed. It might’ve been his best day ever.
Then suddenly, Jacen stopped laughing.
"But, wait! Dad! Waffles don't flyyyyyyyy!"
Kanan smirked. "Oh, they don't, huh?"
Jacen's dad, a Hero of the Rebellion, one of the few remaining Jedi, and a survivor of Order 66, reached out his hand, and made his son's waffle fly.
Kanan's son did the same.
It was short time later, amongst the "pew-pew-pews" and "vroooooms" and "I need more firepower", that the Syndulla-Jarrus men were halted by a distinctive, female "AHEM".
Cold waffles dropped suddenly to the floor.
Hera, who had entered the building by way of the kitchen's back door, had witnessed much of the Ghost Waffles event from behind the pass-through window. Pushing through the swinging door, she emerged just behind the counter where she paused for a moment to look like she meant business. But instead, as she studied the father and son who wore the same sheepish grins, Hera thought that besides the mess and the fact that Jacen probably hadn’t eaten yet, she was the luckiest woman in the galaxy. Her stoic commander face quickly melted into a slow smile. She couldn't wait to tell them the news.
But first, that mama-to-be was hungry.
"So, what's a General gotta do to get some of her own Ghost Waffles around here?"
Kanan and Jacen exchanged a look and a big sigh of relief, and they both let off some nervous laughter. Making haste towards the kitchen and his wife, Kanan scooped up the trashed waffles as he went.
"Coming right up, General Hera," said Kanan, kissing her emerald cheek as he passed by.
"Mama!" cried Jacen as he hopped down from atop his stool (where he'd been standing) and ran around the counter to grab her in a fierce hug.
Hera looked down and ruffled his green head. "You'll probably want to get Jacen some fresh ones, too," she called to Kanan. Jacen nodded eagerly at his mama.
"Already on it," Kanan called back.
Hera lifted Jacen in her arms, resting him on her hip so that they could both see Kanan in the pass-through. "Thanks, Love. Oh, and hey," she said while he gathered ingredients. "I was thinking…maybe you should change the name on the menu, too." Hera looked between her guys, reveling in their joy-filled faces. “You know, since the Ghost Waffles are so popular and all.”
Kanan beamed.
"Yeah…yeah, I’d like that. If you’d like it" he said. When she nodded in agreement, he whooped and high-fives his son through the window. "Ghost Waffles for everyone!" Kanan said as he retreated happily into the kitchen to prepare a late lunch (or was it early dinner) for the people he loved the most.
No longer a joke, Kanan’s Ghost Waffles officially became a part of their family history, and they shared them with the galaxy. To this day, when you take your date to the Swaffle House in the early morning hours, you can still read about them next to a sketch of a VCX-100 on the back of a sticky menu.
(Inspired by @kanerallels Steve Miller AU! And her love of waffles.)
