Chapter 4 preview
HELLO LOVLIES
BEHOLD! A SECOND DRAFT OF CHAPTER 4! PREVIEW!
Title: Amber in Her Skin
Pairing: Din Djarin x reader, Din Djarin x you
A/N: PREVIEW
Warnings: *stage whispers* swearing, and a very light chemical burn with no graphic depiction
Tingling erupts in your cheeks and chest. You’ve been trying to be kind to Mayfield since no one else has been - but this crosses a line you didn’t know you had. You breathe out through your nose, look at the ceiling, and say slow but clearly: “You are insufferable.”
“That’s a big word.”
“It’s a big truth.”
“You don’t like me asking questions? Fine. I’m just trying to figure out what kind of person my life might be in the hands of,” he bites back. “My apologies if ‘nanny’ doesn’t make it to the short list of capable individuals. Especially when they fuck their-”
“Shut up, Mayfield!’
Something sticky scalds into your hand, and with horror you realize the chemically rehydrated bread has puffed up into the hand resting over the steel bowl, caking between your fingers. Mayfield reaches out but you jerk back from him, sucking in air.
“Let it go!” he yells.
“No, let me hold it more!” you mock, even as tears come to your eyes, using the nearest tool to wedge the hot food off of your hand. It plops on Boba’s work bench with a sick squelch and steams. The skin of your hand is visibly welted and a scaly pattern is emerging. You see Mayfield opening a couple latched cupboards and under the workbench top.
“Where’s the medkits?”
“Don’t bother,” you bite out, and turn down the ramp. The sun blinds you for a moment but you keep walking. You follow the sounds of a bolt gun until you find Boba by his green armour. He looks over as you approach.
“Is there a stream somewhere?” you ask. He looks at your hand cupped tenderly in your opposite palm, and the red welting already forming.
“No,” he drops the rag he’s wiping his hands with into the toolkit. “But if you hold still, I’ll flush it out so it can be bandaged.”
“All right.”
It stings when Boba flushes it. You hold your hand as still as you can while he pours a liter of water over the peeling area, making sure to get the crevices between your fingers. You focus so much on the feel of the water cooling the skin you don’t notice Mando slink up behind. You jump as he rests a hand on your shoulder.
You wait until Boba empties the container and lifts your hand to inspect it to turn to Mando.
“Did you hear all of that?”
He looks down at you. “It’s a small ship.”
“It’s a chemical burn, but it’s not deep,” Boba states, satisfied with his inspection. “Get a medkit, Mandalorian, it needs bandaging right away.”
Mando returns to where you’re trying to dislodge a rock from the packed earth and motions for you to sit on the ground; you drop cross-legged on your tailbone and wait for him to join you on the ground with a soft grown, medkit open between you.
You chew inside your lip while he does his own inspection of your skin.
“Sorry,” you murmur.
“You didn’t do anything.”
“I let him get to me. ‘Wasn’t that the first thing you told me? Don’t let them get to you’?” He focuses, head bent, over your hand to first dry it with cotton gauze, then unscrews the tube of cool bacta to slather over the puckering skin. “And now my hand is torn up.”
You hiss at the first cool touch of gel from his gloved fingertips. “It will heal.”
“So much for not getting hurt, huh?” you try to joke. He doesn’t make a noise. He wraps your fingers with precision, then around your palm; he negotiates the movement with ease, taking care not to aggravate the burns more than he has to with the dry gauze. He finishes; he cups the hand to keep the wrapping in place and moves on to the medical tape. The sun keeps beating on the back of your neck; there is no breeze to soften it. Every second that wanes on under your aching skin reminds you why he didn’t want you to come along in the first place. You sit quietly together once he finishes. You try to find any words to say.
A/n: lemme know if you would like to be tagged in other previews or want the next chapter on this platform, although I generally try to post on AO3 :)
Tags: @leias-rebelion @sarahjkl82-blog
