Room 317 [after classes]

[tatooine_doofus]

After an interesting conversation with his father early in the morning, Luke had gone for a long run.

And then an even longer session alone with the punching bag.

And then he'd tried some meditation.

Now? He'd spread parts to a small droid out all over the floor, back carefully turned away from the half of the room that was supposed to have a Z in it, and fiddled around with electronics.

Loud Corellian rock was blaring from his stereo and out through the open door.

If you asked him? He was fine.

Comments

[the_merriest]

"He is?" Rikku bounced on her toes a little, but tried to keep it to a minimum. "That ... is it Rory?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke tossed a sock at her. "Of course it's Rory."

[the_merriest]

Rikku laughed, pulling the sock out of her hair and tossing it back. "Hey, I don't know. I'm not all psychic-Jedi like some people."

She gave him a curious glance. "I thought you liked her? I mean, you're friends, right?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Exactly. And I love her. But not, you know, as a mother."

[the_merriest]

"She's not gonna be your mom." Rikku shrugged. "I mean, it's gonna be weird, yeah, and it might be ... hard? If they're all happy together and you're like 'that's great, but she's not Mom.' She's just ... the girl your dad married. Uh. Right?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"And one of my best friends," Luke said, "and I know I'm being stupid because they just fit together and it's not like my mother's ever coming back, but there's a new student now who looks just like her and it's kind of freaking me out."

[the_merriest]

"What part of it's freaking you out?" she asked, walking over to grab a seat near his. "I can understand, I mean, if there was someone here that looked just like my mom ..."

She took a second to imagine that, and had to swallow past a lump.

"Bad timing, yeah?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Kind of the worst."

[the_merriest]

That meant she had to lean over to give him a hug. "Right about now? I'd totally let you be veep, you know. The universe seems to hate you a bit more than me. Which I didn't think was possible, so that's something, right?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke leaned in for a second before pulling back again. "It's not exactly a distinction I was going for," he said with a sigh.

[the_merriest]

"Probably not," Rikku said with a sympathetic sort of smile. "Not sure how you'd do that anyway. Tie a raw steak around your neck and start announcing things really loudly, like 'I sure hope nobody I care about falls down a well!'"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Well, when you fall down the well, don't come bitching to me," Luke teased.

[the_merriest]

Rikku grinned. "If I really fall down a well, then you have to start shouting something like 'I hope chocolate-covered naked guys don't go rescue her!' It's only fair."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"If you're expecting me to turn into one of those chocolate-covered naked guys, you're going to be one disappointed Rikku."

[the_merriest]

"You can't afford me, remember?" she grinned. "Besides I think then your girlfriend would come try to kick my butt. Which is totally a good quality to have in a girlfriend, you know."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke beamed. "I like it."

[the_merriest]

"Has Dawn met her?" Rikku asked. "I'm pretty proud of us for not giving her the third degree or anything. We could've totally had a little committee meeting with clipboards and paperwork but see how nice we are?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"I don't know," Luke said. "She hasn't mentioned it. Either she."

[the_merriest]

"She wouldn't do an interrogation without me, I hope," Rikku said, bouncing on her toes. "That's just mean."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"I'd rather there not be an interrogation at all," Luke replied.

[the_merriest]

"That's because you're no fun," she grinned.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"I'm lots of fun," Luke insisted.

[the_merriest]

"Sure you are," she teased, eyes dancing. "I believe you."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke smacked her with a pillow.

[the_merriest]

Rikku flailed. And giggled. And grabbed a nearby pillow to retaliate.