Keldabe (The Mandalorian, M) - 1/1

[Garnet]

Hello, I haven't posted in here for a... good while, and if you want more of my nonsense it's more reliably up on tumblr. That said, I'm dipping my toes into an unfamiliar fandom and I'm feeling alright about the results, so here's this.

 

 

---

Cara Dune’s appointment as Marshal over Nevarro necessitated a great deal of muscle and a not insignificant amount of paper pushing, but it did come with a few perks. A small, cluttered office overlooking the landing port was among them, and as decent a spot as any to wait out the last-minute repairs to the Razor Crest.

She let the Mandalorian in behind her, allowing him to scan the room even as she sidled right for the bottle of Cassandran Choholl that she kept in a back cabinet. It was for especially miserable or favorable days and today had leaned into the latter, after coming very close to the first option. She uncorked the jug with a sharp pop, and measured a fragrant pour into one of the glasses she’d left on her desk. 

“Nice place,” Mando observed, looking over an impressively stocked weapons case against the far wall. Cara smiled. Man after her own heart, this one. 

“Can’t complain,” she agreed, then tilted the bottle towards him, already knowing that he would refuse. It felt impolite not to offer. “Drink?”

“No, thanks.” 

Cara shrugged and tossed back a bracingly sweet and searing swallow of the alcohol, rolled her neck and loosened her shoulders. Mando drifted towards the window, idly appreciating the view if the angle of his body was any indication. He favored the side where the Child was braced in his makeshift sling. The little thing’s enormous Chadra-Fan-esque ears tilted towards the transparisteel as he peered down with open interest. 

“They sure weren’t happy that you brought her out before they were finished,” Cara observed, ambling up beside the Mandalorian to look over the prominent silhouette of the Razor Crest. A few technicians were still actively welding loose parts back on.

“They weren’t,” Mando agreed, a smirk in his tone. “I’ve flown her in worse shape, though.”

“And you saved our butts in doing so,” Cara said. She lifted her drink towards her companion, an unspoken cheers, and received a tip of his helm in turn. 

“Happy to oblige.” 

They stood like that for an easy space, overlooking the city as it bustled through its teeming life. It felt nice.

After a while of shared contemplation, Mando broke the quiet first.

“You’ve done good work here, Cara, I…” 

He trailed off, for long enough that Cara turned to squint at him. He was soft at his core, underneath all of the armor, she knew that. He wasn’t usually sappy, though, so as to lose his voice with emotion.

She found the Mandalorian instead in a strange, hesitating stance -- unbalanced, with his weight shifted on the backfoot and one hand steadying the Child in the sling. Strange look for him. He held the pose for just a moment, while Cara puzzled, before tipping back at the waist and bringing an arm up in such a hurried tuck that his wrist cuff clanged audibly off the edge of his helm. He wrenched away from her, doubling to one side while the beskar was still ringing through the air. 

“--hihh-h… khnxhht!” 

Cara stared. Before she could truly process the strange seizure, Mando was already repeating the performance. He glanced briefly down at the Child, who seemed no worse for the jostle nor compelled to react beyond an idle coo. Mando’s shoulders lifted with a sharp breath, then, followed by another throttled glitch of sound that spasmed wildly through his vocoder. 

“-- heh-k’xghzshh!”

After another quick but violent shudder, he straightened, shook his head once, and gave a gusting sigh. 

“Excuse me.”

Recognition finally slotted into place. Cara gave a sharp snort of laughter, set her drink aside, and put her hands to her hips. She was as surprised as she was delighted.

“Dank farrik, Mando, that’s… are you sneezing?”

The Mandalorian cleared his throat, chased by a noise scrambled in audio interference, and which Cara could now identify as a genuine sniffle. Hilarious. 

“Yeah.” Another sniff. “It happens.” 

So it did. Cara grinned, her head cocked to one side. 

“That’s got to suck, with the…” She motioned in a loose circular motion around her face, pantomiming his helm. The Mandalorian sniffed again, then inclined his head in agreement.

“It’s not the most pleasant experience.”  

“I bet,” Cara agreed. She watched as he fussed slightly with the Child’s sling. “Especially if you forget and just let one fly?” Her nose wrinkled playfully. “Gross.”

Mando looked up at her, and if she couldn’t see his expression, it didn’t stop her from interpreting the glance as wry. 

“I appreciate your sympathy,” he said, tone flat. The delivery faltered just a little bit, however, as he gave his head another brisk shake, sniffled, and then tilted away with both hands still steadying the sling and an inhale frizzling through his vocoder. Ah, damn, again?

“-- eh’KHNNXHT!”  

His helm dipped hard with the effort of the sneeze, reflections sweeping dramatically across its smooth planes.

Cara winced at the sound of that one, like it had hurt to suppress. “Don’t be so fun to tease, then, and I’ll be nicer,” she riposted, but tossed her head over one shoulder because she was not, in fact, without sympathy for his plight. “You need a minute? I can turn around.”

The Mandalorian hesitated as he interpreted her meaning, and then seemed to actually turn it over in his head. Cara didn’t fully expect him to take her up on the offer. It required a considerable amount of trust, and although they would always have each other’s backs in a fire fight, would risk their lives for one another without a second thought, this was… a little different. 

She was surprised, but not unpleasantly so, when Mando sniffled again and fished the Child out of his bag. He held the gurgling little womp rat to her with an air approaching sheepishness. 

“Please,” he said, the slight strain evident even in his synthesized voice. 

Cara reached automatically for the Child. He was a good source of distraction from her brief flare of concern, as she about-faced away from the Mandalorian and gave him his ounce of privacy. She was good on her word, after all. 

The Child peered up at her with his huge, dark eyes and held up a searching hand. Helpless to resist, Cara placed a fingertip into his palm and smiled as nubby claws wrapped around her glove. Cute. Not for the first time, she wondered if this thing naturally projected some kind of special, disarming aura, or if he really was just that precious. It was probably a human thing, tapping into the same brain chemistry that allowed her to interpret emotions from Mando’s stark beskar facade. 

Speaking of…

She heard the soft hiss and click of his helmet depressurizing, and realized with a start that she could still glimpse his wavering reflection in the wall panel before her. Mando had his own back turned, and the scratched durasteel fortunately did not allow for any fine detail. Nonetheless, as soon as she registered his dark, tousled hair in mirror image, Cara quickly corrected her stance to put it from her sightline. Oops. 

It really did feel like accidentally walking in on someone undressing, and given her own military history packed into tight quarters with fellow soldiers, Cara had a pretty damned high tolerance for that. Curious, then, that her cheeks still warmed with a flicker of embarrassment on Mando’s behalf. 

Well, that could stay between her and the Child, who was now focused on trying to tangle his claws in the ends of her hair. In the meantime, she heard the Mandalorian take a quick, scissoring breath behind her, a telling precursor just before he sneezed with what sounded like ferocious relief.

“--hh’TSSZSCHH-uh!”

Cara’s brows rose, even as she steadfastly fixed on the Child rather than the temptation to backcheck and make sure Mando hadn’t knocked himself clear off his feet. 

“Impressive.”

A sniff was followed by a gently confused, “... thanks?” 

Damn, even his voice sounded naked, without the interference of the helmet. Still soft-spoken, though, and warmly rasped. Absurd as the thought was, she suddenly wondered if he read the kid bedtime stories, tucked away in a nook of the Razor Crest when nobody else was looking.

Cara smiled to herself, even as Mando drew another audibly tremulous breath behind her. Poor guy. Whatever was setting him off…

“--hheh!? … hedht’TDZSSCH-shoo!” 

… seemed to be doing a pretty good job of it. She’d been kidding about not painting the inside of his helmet, but gauging from the spraying edge of that last sneeze, they were both glad for its reprieve. 

“Please tell me you’re not getting sick.”

Mando sniffled, recovering, then permitted a chuckle as he fiddled with something either on his helmet or the rest of his trappings, she couldn’t quite tell.

“Why, are you going to worry about me?” 

“Yeah, tough guy, I will.” 

There was a soft rustle, then the unmistakable sound of the Mandalorian carefully, discreetly blowing his nose into whatever bit of scrap fabric he’d produced. It lasted a few seconds and finished with a small sigh of apparent satisfaction. 

“I’m okay. All the volcanic ash, I think. I forgot what a pain it is to clean it out of the filters.” 

A sensible enough explanation, Cara supposed. She chose to believe him, and gave her friend another few minutes to finish itching his nose or deciding if he needed to sneeze some more. Maybe changing the filters or whatever other routine maintenance he might have desired but couldn’t do in front of watchful eyes. She could grant that much. 

Finally, she heard a vocoder-warped sniffle, followed by Mando’s altered-yet-familiar voice and her cue that it was safe to look. “Alright.”

She peeked hesitantly past the fringe of her side-part, just in case, but turned when she saw the mask in place and his hands already held out for the Child. She passed the kid back with just a small twinge of reluctance. He really was adorable, and the tiny gremlin wasn’t half-bad either. 

“Thanks. Sorry about that.” 

Cara shook her head. “Not a problem.”  She frowned when she caught a repair tech waving exaggeratedly up at her through the window, then gesturing to the Razorcrest’s massive and newly-repaired hull. They could have just comlinked. “Hm. Looks like your ride’s ready.”

Mando followed her glance and nodded resolutely. “Looks like it.” 

“Sure you don’t want to stay for a bit?”

The Mandalorian tucked the Child carefully back into his bag, arranged so that he would receive minimal impact from his stride while still affording a good view of the surroundings. “Want and need are two different things. I’ve got to keep moving.”

Cara sighed in agreement. It was nice to have Mando around -- he was a good friend, but she understood that the needs and safety of the kid came first. As they should. 

“You know where to find me, then.”

Mando nodded, and held out an arm for hers. Cara smiled and reached to accept, even letting him pull her in to press a thumb to the thick muscle of her forearm, just above the guard. She tightened her hold and tucked him in the last step, for a fond tap of her brow against his helmet. 

Mando drew back, startled but laughing. 

“What,” she grinned.

“Nothing, it’s… that’s a little like a kiss, though. In the...” He gestured loosely to himself, which she took to mean both his armor and his general upbringing. In the Mandalorian tradition.

Cara’s eyes widened, amused and yet unashamed. “Oh, no,” she chuckled. “Is it romantic?”

“Not always,” Mando admitted, sounding fond. Nevermind her earlier assessment, he really was a great, big, disgusting sap. 

“Good, then here’s another one for good luck.” She leaned in and was pleased when her friend obliged, tilting his helm to bump harmlessly off her forehead. Gentle, where he easily could have cracked her skull by moving too quickly. She smiled as he withdrew. “Take care of yourself out there, alright?” 

“You, too. Thank you, Cara.” 

With a last touch of his hand to the Child’s head, and a slow nod for her, the Mandalorian turned and paced back out of her office, back out of her life. 

Until next time. 

 

 

Edited December 30, 2020 by Garblin

[SterlingSilver]

Saw this on tumblr and flipped out. Saw it here and flipped out AGAIN. UGH. I love the concept of sneezing in a helmet, and you took it to 11 with Mando. I've always loved your stories, and this one is no exception!! Thanks so much for writing and sharing this!!

[guleh8712]

This is the absolute best and I hope you write more sneezy Mando! Your characterization is perfect and this is a delight.

[Dusty15]

GUHHH!! I can't believe I hadn't thought about Mando in this way yet! This was a lovely read ❤️ 

[ellwren]

Aaah so good!

[angora48]

Great fic! Terrific little one-shot, with Mando perfectly in-character, cute Grogu content, and nice friend interaction. I liked Cara's "whoa, this is major" reaction when Mando actually took her up on her offer to turn her back.