Chapter Text
You don't remember arriving at the staff entrance or going through check-in and wardrobe. Yet there you were standing in the kitchen. However, looking at your much too modern clothing and the backpack in your hands, you realised that you must have skipped the last part.
Quickly you kicked your sneakers into the oblivion called 'under the kitchen sink' while simultaneously struggling to take off your jeans and put on your work outfit. Your backpack landed unceremoniously under the kitchen island. You will have to visit your locker during your break to stow it away. And to freshen up a bit. Right now, you were late and looked like a mess. Thank god you were the only one working during the early shift. Customer traffic only picked up during early midday. Maybe you could sell it as a deliberate choice and explain to the children that some mean Tusken Raiders had come by and tried to rob the coffee shop. It was worth a try.
The radio in the kitchen corner crackled alive, and you heard the familiar gong signalling five minutes till opening. Five minutes until another day full of "Hello and welcome to the Sorgan Common House, what can I get you?" began. You could do it.
You were wringing out some rags in the sink behind the counter, having used them to clean up some spilt spotchka off a table earlier when you heard them come in.
It wasn't uncommon for your co-workers or other staff members to swing by for a coffee or tea. The coffee shop was affectionately called 'Sorrow Come-on Out' by the crew, as it was situated right at the entrance to the staff buildings, making it an easy stop for everybody that was either arriving or leaving for the day. You’ve been a shoulder to cry or lean on or a listening ear for almost everybody in your short time working at the theme park.
When you looked up, you saw them stepping in, but this didn't seem to be a social call of the worrying kind. On the contrary, Rey and Finn seemed to be practically glowing while smiling widely at each other.
"How long do you think will it take Finn to finally tell Rey what he has been trying to confess to her for ages?" Omera grabbed the more or less dry rags from your hand and replaced them with clean ones as she passed you.
"Oh. I'm pretty sure they'll be done reconstructing the Death Star by then, and who knows how long that will take. And also," you say, turning around to face her, "I think something is going on between Poe and Finn. The number of times I’ve seen Finn wear one of his sweaters cannot be counted on my hands anymore.”
“You’ve worn Poe’s infamous jacket.”
“Once!”
“Is that why I see it hanging between our pans and pots?”
Before you were able to reply, you heard Rey’s voice over the noise of the customers, and you whipped around to face them again, leaving Omera to disappear into the kitchen.
“Oh, he’s a ghost, alright. For everything and everyone… with one exception.” Holding up a finger, she wiggled it in front of Finn's face. You could hear the amusement in her voice, the not-so-hidden ‘Ask me more about it!’.
Of course, Finn obliged her. He always would. “And what would that be?”
“CB.”
Finn snorted. “What the bantha cr-” Seeing your face, he stopped abruptly, looking around for any children and almost walking into one. Clearing his throat, he tried again, “What kind of drug is that?”
You mentally face-palmed yourself.
“The worst kind of them all,” Rey sighed as she reached you at the bar and dramatically draped herself over it to underline her point, “unrequited love.”
Raising his eyebrows, Finn looked at her before he turned to you, mock-whispering: “Wouldn’t that be UR?”
Rey playfully hit his shoulder but grinned nevertheless, happy that he stepped into her trap. “A cutie? Yes, I am! Thanks for noticing!”
It was your turn to snort, almost asking them why they weren’t at their stations on the other side of the park, but you knew they would just ignore you. So you just shook your head and turned around to serve a customer that had arrived in the meantime.
Out of the corners of your eyes, you saw Finn smile at Rey. “Do you just have a plethora of stupid phrases available, or are you actually that fast with coming up with them? Anyways, what’s a CB then?”
“Not what. Who. Them,” she said, pointing at you. “The cute barista.”
You smiled and wished the customer a happy day when a reflection of sunlight just outside the window to your right caught your attention. But when you turned your head, all you could see were children running around the playground, vanishing into or appearing from inside of the huge Razor Crest. Of course, some exasperated parents were also trying to keep up with their offspring. There just wasn’t a sign of the guardian of the playground. It wasn’t a shiny metal armour or helm reflecting the sunlight while he ran after children or picked them up after they stumbled over their little feet and handed them off to their parents. No, the Mandalorian seemed to be absent.
“Look at them. Already dreaming of their Prince Charming.”
“I’m not dreaming.”
“Oh right,” Rey draped herself over the counter again, “you’re yearning.”
Finn just laughed as you half-assedly tried to swat a rag against her leg and hit his bum.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be out of your hair in no time. Wouldn’t want to keep him from flirting with you.”
“He’s not flirting.”
“Yeah, he is full-on trying to make you fall in love with him before he takes off his helmet to reveal his… fangs?”
You and Rey both looked at Finn, and he just shrugged. “Why else would he never take off his helmet?”
“To not break the illusion for the children! He’s the Mandalorian, and Mandalorians always keep their helmet on - This is the way,” both Finn and Rey finish the sentence with you. “And, if you must know, he does take the helmet off. How else would he drink the spotchka I give him?”
Rey’s eyes grew big. “You’ve seen his face?”
“Merely his lips.”
“Are they kissable?”
“Rey!” you and Finn said at the same time.
“What? I am a curious woman! I want to know what the face behind the helmet looks like.”
“And you inquire about his lips?” Finn asks with a jealous undertone.
“If that’s the only thing they’ve ever seen of him, yeah! Does anyone actually know what Din looks like?”
Finn shrugged his shoulders. “Lots of people, I’m sure. Poe should. Aren’t they best friends or something? Didn’t they apply together and then got hired on the spot after Leia, Luke, and Han realised what kind of crowd-pleasers and people magnets they could be? For adults and children alike?”
That was true. You’ve heard something similar from Peli when she came over to talk to you about the gossip she picked up in her little repair shop. According to her, however, something must have happened between them shortly before you had begun working at the coffee shop for them to drift apart. They are still tight, but they’ve been very well-behaved and the stories of the shenanigans the two were up to in past years, especially during the yearly staff retreat, sounded like made-up stories. Man, you were looking forward to finally being a part of a staff excursion this year.
You had met both men on the same day. Poe was first, and then, later on, came Din.
Actually, you had bumped into Poe Dameron three times on the same day in short succession after each meeting. It was your induction day, and you kept running back to the shared staff wardrobe after either forgetting things or taking too much with you. Each time you managed to somehow almost run over Poe until he grabbed you by the elbows and told you to “stick with him out of caution”. His more than yours, as you apparently had the energy of a mudhorn. Since his job at the park was to be a tour guide for guests, you couldn’t have asked for better company. What you didn’t know (and still don’t know) is that he was just leaving for the day, exhausted as hell, but after seeing your face, he couldn’t let the opportunity slip away to get to know you better.
Meeting Din was less hectic, although there were many more people around. It was your first trial shift in the coffee shop, and if one asked him now, he wouldn't be able to say what came over him that day. Usually, he would have retreated into the shadows of the staff building, leaving the screaming children behind and just enjoying the quietness during his fifteen-minute break. However, on that day, an invisible force (more like his bladder) forced him to enter the coffee shop. He saw you, actually saw you as he realised how lonely and exhausting your shift must have been, even among the many people ordering a coffee, tea or snack. The park was understaffed, and there was nobody to help you out after your initial introduction. Seeing your forced smile, he decided to sit down at the counter, keeping you company and helping you out whenever you needed it.
“Hey,” Omera’s head appeared between the drapes separating the kitchen from the coffee shop counter area, and her call interrupted your thoughts. She turned to Finn and Rey and pointed at her watch, “If you’re not going to stay and pay for something to drink, it would be better if you make yourself scarce. It’s time!”
And just like that - punctual like a swiss clock - the sound of heavy footfall and clinking armour announced his presence.