Author: Lia
Rating: M
Warnings: Slash, Han/Luke pairing.
Timeline: shortly after ROTJ
Summary: It's a very special night in Coruscant. A night when love, jealousy, happiness and sorrow fill you and surround you, like the unyielding tendrils of Force.
Disclaimer: Luke, Han and the whole Star Wars Universe belongs to George Lucas. Pity.
Feedback:I'll be glad and infinetely grateful if you write.
GAMBLERS
A slow smile lit Lando's face as he saw his card. He looked up at his partners, savoring victory.
"Sabbacc!"
There were some disheartened protests, some "ooohhs" and "aaahhhs" and some patting on his back while he collected his winnings. Then, with a slight nod and an elegant flap of his cape, Calrissian left the crowded lounge. A lovely Pleasure Girl – what was her name? Lootha? - waited for him at the exit but he dismissed her with a gentle kisson her forehead.
"Have to go home early tonight, darling. Maybe tomorrow."
Oh, yes, that night was certainly not for Pleasure Girls, Boys or Whatever.
That night he was celebrating.
Leaving behind the lights and laughs of Wyggit's Gaming and Pleasure House – or Wygs, as everybody called it –, Lando stopped by a small but very exclusive store to buy a bottle of Trikh'a 2000 Special and a pair of crystal flutes.
"Yourfriend will be certainly pleased. This is the last bottle remaining in all Coruscant. They are not producing it anymore." the store manager handed him the bag with the goods almost reverently.
"It is a very special occasion."
Very special indeed...
Minutes later Lando was in the Palace. He spotted Luke in the garden, next to a waterspring.
The young Jedi wasn't wearing his usual blacks for a change; this night he was wearing white – a plain, loose shirt, pants and a pair of worn but carefully conserved boots. The artificial bluish moonlight made him look almost ethereal with that outfit. His eyes were wide and bright as ever.
Tonight he wasn't Jedi Master Skywalker.
Tonight he was simply Luke.
A sudden gust of wind ruffled the blond hair and Lando could see diminutive drops of water shining among the silky strands like silver dust.
Hells, how I wanted to touch your hair...
"He is coming, you know." he said in what he expected to be a reassuring voice.
"How can you be so sure?" the boy gave him a small smile.
"I know that son of a bitch. And all your Jedi powers cannot change the fact that I am older and much more experienced than you are."
The remark made Luke laugh, and it sounded so beautiful to Lando. Only then he realized how rarely he saw the kid actually laughing.
I wish I were you, you damn lucky son of a bitch.
I wish I had met him before.
I wish I had seen him the way you had, naive and eager and ready for action, filled with passion and wonder.
"Kid."
It was Han. Hands in his pockets, looking around like a restless watchdog, with nothing of his usual arrogancy. He was wearing his old working clothes, worn, patched and marked with grass and oil spots but somehow he seemed as uncomfortable in them as he would in a brand new gala suit. It was as if his hands and feet had grown bigger and he didn't know what to do with them.
Tonight, he wasn't General Han Solo, hero of the Alliance, Leia Organa's companion.
Tonight, he was simply Han.
Lando never expected it to hurt that much. He saw Luke's face light up as the boy spotted Han, and in his sky blue eyes, a happiness too great for mere words. It sent an almost unbearable pang straight to his heart.
I would give anything to see you looking at me the way you look at him...
But then, Lando was a gentleman. None of his feelings showed in his perfectly composed face, of course. After so many years playing sabbacc, hiding emotions was almost a second nature. Besides, there was one thing he had that Han would never have.
I saved you back in Bespin.
I was the one who caught you when you fell. I was the one who first heard your desperate whispers and comforted you in the worst moment of your life.
It was me, not Han.
A small comfort, but right now he was grabbing at it as if his life depended on it.
With a wide smile, he politely excused himself and left his friends, even though they seemed totally oblivious to his presence at the moment.
Behind him, he heard soft footfalls, clothes ruffling and loving, passionate whispers. Knowing he would regret it, Lando turned to look at his friends.
They were fiercely embraced, eyes closed in rapture, exploring each other with small, light kisses, like affectionate cats.
Lando felt his heart shattering, but managed to keep a straight face.
Tonight was certainly not for jealousy and self pity.
Tonight he was celebrating.
The door to Leia's chambers was wide open. She was leaning at the window sill. Her brown locks were loose, cascading over her shoulders and down to her back. Whatever were her feelings Lando couldn't see any trace of them in her pale face.
"Hey."
She didn't seem surprised to see him.
"Lando."
He unwrapped his pack on the small table next to the door.
"I thought we should celebrate."
Leia approached almost warily and her eyes widened when she saw the small bottle in his hand.
"Trikh'a! How did you..."
"You know me. I have my sources." Lando opened it and poured the drink in the crystal flutes. The content was barely enough to fill the two flutes. "It's probably the last bottle. I was told they were not producing it anymore. Pity."
"Yes." her eyes were gleaming when she took the glass he offered. "There aren't Alderaani vines anymore."
The flutes made a ringing sound when they cheered. The Trikh'a made their insides vibrate pleasurably as they drank. It tasted wonderful.
Leia stared at her empty flute. Trikh'a was the most expensive drink produced in Alderaan.
It was delicious.
It was rare.
It was over.
Like Alderaan.
Like the Rebel Alliance.
Like her life with Han.
The flute slipped from her hand and shattered in the impecable marble floor. A sob escaped from her lips. She sank into Lando's arms, unable to keep her composture anymore.
Luke was startled by tears that weren't his own suddenly welling in his eyes. It took but a second for him to understand what was happening.
"Kid?"
With his thumb Han gently wiped a tear from Luke's face. The boy bit his lip.
"Is it Leia?"
"She's hurt, Han. She's crying. I can sense it."
"She'll be alright. She's tougher than any of us... I didn't have to say anything, you know. She just made me shut up and told me to go to you because she wouldnt have her little brother broken hearted." the Corellian gave a small snort. "The way you two are connected, I think she'd seen through you long before we came to a decision about this mess."
"The Force is strong in her. And she's damn good at reading emotions, better than I'll ever be."
"And being that good, you'd never been able to hide your feelings from her. If you decided to give up on us, she would find out sooner or later and probably, she would suffer even more."
"Yeah. But still..."
"Ssshhh..."
A slow, passionate kiss silenced the young Jedi. He melted under the older man's knowing caresses as he sensed the pain in Leia receding.
Lando whispered comforting, nonsensical words, trying to soothe the diminutive woman crying in his arms. He kissed her soft, thick strands. She smelled of flowers and night breeze.
Finally managing to control the sobs, Leia asked:
"What the hell are we celebrating?"
Lando couldn't help laughing at the question.
"Happiness, my dear. Not for us, unfortunately, but for the ones we love."
"I see..." through the tears, Leia started laughing too. "We are a couple of fools, aren't we?"
Lando Calrissian, former Baron Administrator of Bespin was absolutely serious and totally sincere when he held Leia's face in his hands and said:
"No, we are not fools. We are strong. We don't run when the bets are high. We take risks. And when we lose, we do it with class. We are good gamblers."
Tonight they were going to celebrate Luke and Han.
Tomorrow they would heal each other's wounds.
Author's note: some readers may not agree that Bespin was the worst moment of Luke's life until the end of ROTJ; I'm assuming that Lando wasn't told about Luke's confrontation with the Emperor in details.