Author: Angel

Email: valarltd@hotmail.com

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Luke enjoys his first rainstorm.  M/m kissage.

Timeline: A week after the end of ANH

Disclaimer: These are not my characters.  And while George might have
written this scene, he wouldn't have taken it where I did.

Distribution: Lady Angel's Den of Debauchery, Elusive Lover, ask and ye
shall receive

Feedback: Here's where I get paid, in applause.  If we poor shadows have
offended, think but this and all is mended, etc

Author's note: Inspired a bit by _Cabaret_ and more by wondering what would
happen the first time a desert dweller encountered rain.

*****
Sudden Storm
c 2000 Angelia Sparrow
*****
 
 

The sudden clap of thunder pealed through the Massassi temple, startling
everyone.  Most returned to their duties with only a second's delay.
Forewarned was forearmed, and they were too busy to be worried about
thunder.  They wouldn't startle again.

One did not share their casual approach.  "What was that?  It sounded like
an explosion." Luke, fresh from maintenance of his X-Wing, demanded of his
companion.

"It's just thunder.  Usually comes with a storm."

"You mean rain?  Water falling from the sky?  This I gotta see."  Before the
taller man could stop him, the desert boy had begun sprinting for the
doorway of the hanger.

"Han, you've got to see this!" he cried, his face turned up to catch the
first drops.  By the time the Corellian had made the door, the orange
flightsuit was soaking wet.  Luke's blond hair was plastered against his
scalp, and a look of sheer rapture covered his face.

"It's rain," grumbled the pilot.  "Means we get wet."  But Luke's joy was
infectious and some of the younger techs had joined him.  One had brought
out a shelter half, and several sat under it listening to the drumming of
rain on the taut cloth.  Han held back, dry under the eaves of the temple,
until a small figure pulled him out to join Luke in the rain.

"Come on, pirates need to get wet too," laughed the Princess.

"Bunch of fools.  Think you'd never seen a rain storm before."

"I haven't."  Luke had dashed over and now had one sodden arm around Han and
one around Leia.  He seemed to glow with joy.

The joy was shattered by a bolt of lightening hitting near enough for them
to smell the ozone and burning wood of the tree it hit.  The techs fled into
the temple, but Luke dragged Han and Leia into the shelter.  Under the half
dome, they watched him as he watched each drop roll off the edge.  The sound
of the drops beat in their ears, almost matching their pulses.

It was too solemn and grand a moment for words.  He hadn't let either of
them go and now pulled them both closer until all their foreheads touched.
The storm began to ease, and the heat of the jungle began turning the
newly-fallen rain to steam.

There was one thing to do with their faces so close, and Luke, astonished at
his own audacity, did it.  His lips tingling with remembrance of the chasm,
he tipped his head only a bit and kissed Leia.  Then without thinking,
moving strictly on instinct, he tipped the other way and kissed Han.

The three of them remained there, in companionable silence, until the last
drops were dripping from tree branch to shelter.  Then Leia extracted
herself from the closeness, and returned to the temple.

"So that was rain."  Luke still had not moved his arm.  And Han found his
own slipping around the younger man's waist.  They sat together, and watched
Yavin's primary set, followed by the bulk of the gas giant itself.  Two of
the other moons were visible.

"That was rain."

"I'm glad you were here to share it with me."  The upturned blue eyes held
only sincerity.

"Me too."  This time, Han leaned down, bridging the distance between their
lips.

"Maybe it will rain again tomorrow," Luke said as they carried the shelter
back into the temple.