Just Married!
‘Boss! Come here for a sec!’
Mako’s voice, coming from the com reverberated in the otherwise silent room and Nino felt Torian flinch, curled on the bed with his head resting on her thighs, trying to sleep off the injuries of the fight with Tormen. Nino also felt tired to the bone; hardly able to concentrate on the book but she hadn’t taken the brunt of the blow.
All thanks to one very self-sacrificing boyfriend.
Well…husband now.
Nino still felt giddy with the idea.. - marriage. Where she came from..everything had to do with documents and repetition. ‘What will people say?’. If it wasn’t written down it wasn’t real and if there weren’t people to show off for it didn’t matter. But here, they had gotten married by few whispered special lines, in front of no one.
It felt very earnest, special and endearing, a small reflection of their whole relationship.
‘C’mon Boss!’ Mako called again and Torian groaned in pain, trying to bury his head into her lap, ‘It’s a gift. Your wedding gift..though you didn’t even invite me to it…- ’
Nino perked up at the mention of a gift,
‘Torian..- ’
‘No. ’ he hooked a leg over hers and grabbed a fistful of her nightie,‘ Let’s act like we’re sleepin’. ’
‘And I know you’re not sleeping I checked from the security camera.’ Mako continued and with that Torian actually got up swiftly - as swift as he can anyway with his torso covered in bandages and fractured ribs - pulling Nino up in the process. Despite that, all his reaction to the pain was a quietly muttered ouch as he fished around for a t-shirt. Nino didn’t bother changing anything, she liked her nightie and the feel of the cold metal beneath her feet - and of course, pressing them to Torian’s legs’ afterwards. Every time he tried so hard to not flinch, making a case of showing off, as it was with anything when she got into the matter. It was adorable, really.
And then they were climbing - limping in Torian’s case - down the stars and barging into the cockpit unceremoniously,
‘Better have an explanation for this. ’
She smiled mischievously, turning to them in her favourite chair with her hands clasped on her stomach,
‘ Hello to you too, Torian. You look awful by the way. ’
‘ Thanks.’ he rolled his eyes and flopped down to the pilot’s chair, ‘Explain. Cameras?’
She waved her hand, ‘Oh that? Just a bait. What? You think I’m a pervert who watches you havin..- You know what? Don’t answer that. It brought you here didn’t it?’ she grinned up at Nino who couldn’t help but smile back,
‘That was a good plan.’
‘I learned from the best.’ Mako winked and Nino blushed, bowing her head.
‘Now..If the bride could come a little closer…’
Nino leaned into the screen curiously, ‘What am I looking at?’
‘Ta-da!’ Mako got up to beckon in Torian as well,
‘Your wedding gift! I’m making you guys all official!’
‘Oh..! I… I hadn’t thought about this at all! I thought out vows were..official already? No? Torian?’
‘Of course, they are.’ Torian sat back in the chair, sullen and almost offended, ‘Don’t need any Imperials permission.
Mako turned to glare at him;
‘Ugh. Don’t be such a sourpuss! Do you know how much time I spent trying to hack into the Imperial database? Huh? Do you?’ she turned to Nino, ‘I thought you’d like this..-’
‘I love it! ‘ Nino interrupted, pulling her into her feet and into her arms, ‘Thank you so much, Mako! It’s a brilliant idea!
‘Oh, it’s nothing.’ she said, squeezing the taller woman between her arms, ‘I know you like things all ‘official’ if you know what I mean..and..’ she turned to Torian, ‘I don’t know why you’re being all grumpy. Unless I ruined your plans of bailing out from the marriage…-
‘NO!’ Torian got up, fast enough for Nino to bite back a chuckle, somehow sounding deeply insulted, ‘Take it back!’
‘I don’t know Torian. It just looks like..- FINE! Fine. top looking at me like that, I take it back. Happy?’
He nodded and gave her a small albeit a tired smile, ‘Sorry.’ he said, embarrassed; ‘Thoughtful gift. Thank you.’
‘See? Not so difficult.’ She put a hand on his shoulder, ‘Now…I didn’t call you here just give this amazing, thoughtful gift. I need to know something before I can finish it.’
They both looked at her curiously,
‘Surname.’ she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the galaxy, ‘Nino you don’t have a surname.’
‘Oh… right…Totally forgot about that.’ Nino shook her head. ‘What do I write?’
‘Your family?’ Mako offered. ‘Maybe your mother’s name? I dunno how that works for you guys but I’d definitely use my mother’s name..Uh..- If I had any. anyways…Moving on…What do you think?’
‘No.’ Nino shook her head, ‘She wouldn’t want me to.’ at that Torian reached out and took her hand, gently grasping it without saying anything, and she turned to him,
‘Am I supposed to use ‘Lok’?’
‘If you want.’ he looked at her, a strange expression on his face like he thought about saying something but couldn’t quite dare it,
‘Nope.’ Nino replied and she could swear to see him take a deep, relieved breath, a thickened silence among the room - it’s a very obvious answer but Nino still doesn’t have a good grasp of the Mandalorian politics and she sure didn’t want to piss off the Mand’alor - who would - or cost Torian anything. His life or his honour; the latter being the more important of the two to the young man. Nino would rather die than undoing everything he had accomplished all these years. Although if she had asked, she’d know there was a third matter more important to him than anything else.
For the first time in her life she decided to take a risk, she knew Torian would never bring it up otherwise -
‘Could I use your name?’ she asked, despite the bigger turmoil it’d bring - and he knew it, far too well. He searched her face - for something. Pity? And gazed into her eyes, fiercely loving; similar to the one he had when he proposed just after killing Tormen; bruised, bloody and dirty and grinning like a madman, he had gotten on his knee - mostly because he was too spent to stand - and had asked for her hand, Nino remembered kneeling in front of him and hugging him tightly, the heavy emotions taking away all the pain, and as embarrassing as it is - crying into his armor. It had gotten less embarrassing when she had felt something wet on her neck. This she had thought, for a lifetime. How did this even happen?
Nino felt herself getting lost to memories when she heard Torian’s quiet voice and chastised herself for daydreaming during such an important matter. She knew he’d never deny her. But still…
‘It’s yours.’ Torian said simply and seriously - never one for big reactions though, Nino could feel just how important and precious it was to him. He took her other hand too, holding them both tightly, ‘I..- Dunno what to say.’
‘Then don’t say anything.’ Nino smiled and squeezed his hands, we’ll talk later.
She noticed they’ve been looking at each other for an uncomfortable amount of time when Mako cleared her throat,
‘Soooooo…’ she drawled, ‘I’d say get a room but you just got out. What am I writing here? Cadera? Right? ’
Torian nodded without looking at her, getting up with a little difficulty and leaning on her shoulder, still not taking his eyes off of her, Nino turned to Mako with a warm face as she smiled at both of them;
‘This makes you…Mr and Mrs Cadera - Aww, Torian don’t cry..’ Mako cooed.
I’m not crying.’ he managed to glare at her in the mids of smile and wrapped an arm around Nino’s shoulders, ‘Could use some sleep. You too, Mako.’
‘Fine, Fine..’ she waved her hand at them, ‘I’m not joking guys, you do look really awful. Go and sleep.’
‘Some of us would actually sleep if you could shut up!’ came a rude voice from the floor below and Mako rolled her eyes, ‘As if he was sleeping..- Shut up Gault!’
***
