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He landed the speeder and glanced out the viewport over to the store nervously. To an outsider’s perspective, being nervous to enter a store with their four year old would be crazy- nuts even. He knew this for a fact. Even Leia, his own wife, thought he was crazy too. Since she was at work during the day, Han would run most of the errands that needed to be done and would bring Ben along. So Leia didn’t know- no one knew or understood the strange phenomena of bringing Ben to the store.
Picture this- one second Ben is fine, out on the landing pads and happily walking alongside Han and holding his hand, then boom. They enter the store and the kid starts crying! It made going to the store with the kid far more challenging than it should be.
Not like going to the store was a challenge or anything- but he felt he needed to a gameplan at this point. Maybe he would make a guide or something, What To Expect When Bringing Ben Solo Into a Store… the title was a little wordy though, he would work shop it later.
He glanced at Ben, who was drinking out of his sippy cup then seemed to notice Han looking at him, Ben looked over and smiled, “Hi Daddy.”
“Hey kid,” Han said with a smile, he shifted in his seat and faced Ben- trying to be serious… emphasis on trying. “Can you uh- do me a solid, pal?” Ben tilted his head to the side and scrunched his nose.
“Huh?”
“Can you promise me you’ll be a big boy and try not to cry while in the store?” Han asked, his brows furrowing.
“I’ll try,” He said with a shrug, Han sighed, thinking that wasn’t very comforting as he stepped outside of the speeder then helped Ben out. Ben gripped his hand tightly as they walked towards the front entrance. Han braced himself as the doors slid open and they walked in, waiting for the loud wailing coming from his son.
But, there was nothing, just silence. He glanced down at his son and saw he was completely content, smiling as they walked forward towards the carts. Huh, this is a positive change- maybe all he had to do was ask- lay down the law, so to speak.
“You think you can pick a cart for us, Benny?” Han said, leaning down and placing his hands on his knees. Ben’s face lit up but quickly changed to look determined, like this was a serious mission and marched forward. Ben closely examined one of the many stacked carts and pointed at one, Han couldn’t be sure if there was any real rhyme or reason to choosing of that specific cart, he was just glad the kid wasn’t breaking down yet.
“This one!” Ben said confidently, smiling proudly as Han laughed and pulled out the cart. He lifted his son up and was about to put him in the kid seat up front but Ben resisted slightly as he reached out for the basket of the cart. “I want to sit up front, please.” Ben said, trying to sound as polite as possible.
“Hey kid, remember the last time I let you sit up front?” Han asked as Ben sat in the kid seat of the cart. “You stood up while I was pushing the cart and almost fell. I don't want you to get hurt, pal,” Han said, trying to make his four year old see to reason.
Ben huffed loudly and crossed his arms as he looked down, like he was in protest but didn’t know what to say. Han ruffled Ben's hair as he pushed the cart further into the store.
“What kind of flowers are you getting mommy?” Ben asked.
“Not sure, little guy- gotta look around first,” Han said with a smile, their anniversary was coming up and he wanted to give her something special. She always loved flowers too- he just hoped Ben didn’t tell her before their anniversary came up.
If Han was honest, he wasn’t sure where the flower shop was exactly. He doesn’t really go there too often, he wasn’t really a flowers type of guy. But first, before anything, they needed to find the attached caf shop.
He had a great wake up call this morning when he went to turn on his caf machine just to find it was broken. The damn thing was a cheap wedding gift someone got them. Maybe he would pick up a new caf machine while they were here too.
He stopped by the attached caf shop and ordered something strong. Ben begged him for a honey roll that was behind a glass display on the front counter. Han tried to stand his ground and say no, remembering Leia didn’t like Ben having sweets before lunch. But Han found it somewhat difficult to say no to Ben, especially when he didn’t want him to be upset.
They strolled out of the caf shop, Han holding his cup in his free hand, taking small sips while Ben happily munched on his honey roll. Things seemed to be going better than usual, Han kept glancing down at the kid trying to see if he was still in a good mood and was glad to see that he was.
“Alright Benny, can you help your old man find some flowers for Mom?” Han asked with a smile as he walked towards the flower department.
“Yes!” Ben proclaimed happily, Han looked around at the choices, instantly feeling overwhelmed. Who knew there were so many flowers? It looked as if they took flowers from every planet in the galaxy and put it in their huge plant nursery. It was impressive for sure-
Maybe a little overboard in Hans' opinion, though.
Han let out a sigh as he rubbed his hand down his face, he looked around at all the different flowers and displays set up, feeling somewhat helpless. How was he supposed to choose out of all of these?
“You gotta get the prettiest ones daddy!” Ben said, snapping Han out of his confused daze. He looked down at Ben and chuckled.
“I’m gonna try bud,” Han said with a smile, he walked into the premade flower sets, thinking that might be easier. There were dozens of displays set up on shelves built into the wall, all decorated with different types of flowers- some even had candy placed in them as well, something he was sure Leia would like.
He slowly walked down the aisle, looking at the displays when Ben shot his hand out, pointing towards a large display. “That one!” Ben exclaimed happily, “It's pretty like mommy!” Ben said as he kicked his legs back and force excitedly. Han did like the look of it, looked fancy and all- it was huge, chocolates decorated the outside with colorful flowers carefully curated to make a grand flower set. Han strolled the cart towards it to get a closer look and audibly gasped at the price.
“What the-” Han sputtered, pressing his brows together as he narrowed his eyes on the price. “-This- This can’t be right! These are just flowers!” Han said as he felt a wave of annoyance wash over him. What pretentious fuckers priced this damn display? Flowers were gonna die anyways!
“Get them!” Ben urged,” It's got candy! Mommy loves candy! And I can have some too maybe!”
“I don’t know kid,” Han said skeptically, “They are chargin these things like they are made of coaxium”
“Because it's so pretty!” Ben stated simply, as if that was a good enough excuse for the price. Han placed his hands on his hips and glanced side to side and spotted a smaller yet still beautiful display.
“Hey look at this one,” Han said as he pointed to the smaller flower set. “That's pretty, huh? Don’t ya like this one?” Ben looked over and frowned, shaking his head and crossing his arms over his chest.
“No,” Ben said firmly, turning his head away as if it were an offence to view the smaller display. Han frowned, he wanted this to be something he and Ben picked out together- he was sure Leia would have loved to hear how both of her boys picked out flowers for her. But that display Ben picked out was stupidly expensive.
It's not like he or Leia were struggling for credits or anything- far from it, it's just he knew that flowers should not be THAT expensive and he wasn’t going to spend that much money just because Ben thought it was the best. There were other pretty displays here, like the one he pointed out to Ben.
“C’mon Benny, this ones nice see-” Han said as he grabbed the end of the cart and began to pull Ben towards the smaller display. Ben let out a loud whine and reached out for the expensive display.
“No! this one!” Ben cried out, he grabbed the edge of the pot of flowers, causing the display to wobble side to side. Hans' eyes widened and felt as if the wind was knocked out of him as he watched the very large and very expensive display slip off the stand and fall to the ground.
There was a large crash, the flower vase shattered on the floor and Han could swear the entire store fell silent. He could feel everyone in the galaxies burning glare on him, he swallowed hard as he straightened up slightly.
“B-Ben!” Han sputtered, he struggled to form any words in his mouth, his mind was racing and couldn’t think straight. Finally, after the initial wave of shock passed he found it easier to speak. “Ben! You can’t do that stuff like that!” Han said firmly.
He quickly felt out of his element- he never yelled at Ben. He was the good cop in most scenarios.
Ben looked heartbroken and confused. He guessed Ben wasn’t used to Han yelling at him either and before he knew it, Ben was crying and kicking in the baby seat of the cart.
Han sighed softly and was frozen for a moment before tip toeing around the broken glass from the display and picking Ben up from the cart seat.
“Hey kid, shh,” Han hummed softly as he patted Bens back. His son gripped a handful of his shirt tightly, his cries slowly gradually becoming softer. Han wanted to make sure his son was okay before anything- and calming him down would probably also ease the tension he felt throughout the store.
He looked around to see a small crowd gathered to see what the loud crash was, he felt his face heat up as everyone stared at him curiously. What were these peoples problems? Don’t they know staring is rude? He grumbled under his breath as he assessed the mess on the floor, he sort of felt stuck- glass shards were scattered all around him.
He sighed as he heard a small commotion behind him, he looked up and saw a man push his way through the crowd- slightly shorter than Han in a store uniform. At a quick glance, Han could see it was the general manager, it said so right on his name tag. Han could tell the man wasn’t happy, his mouth turned in a sharp frown.
Then their eyes quickly met, he could feel the man's disdain for the situation radiate off him.
He straightened his back as he addressed the manager, gripping Ben tightly- who was now considerably more calm then before. “Sir, are you responsible for this?” The manager asked, his voice firm.
“Uh-,” Han paused, feeling slightly confused. He was expecting the manager to tell him he had to pay for this, accusing him right away- did he not know Han was responsible for this? Maybe he could get away with this and not have to pay for the damages. He needed this money for his wife, it was a stupid accident anyways- besides they were just flowers.
“No- we just-” Han began before Ben interrupted him.
“Sorry for tipping it over…” He said softly, he sniffled as he laid his head down on Hans shoulder. “It was an accident.” Han slumped his shoulders, guess he wasn’t getting out of this one. The manager glanced back down at the display then back to Han.
“You know how expensive that is right?” The manager asked, Han narrowed his eyes.
“Yeah yeah, I know the price,” Han grumbled under his breath, he glanced down at the broken vase as well and scoffed. “Ya know I bet with some glue it would look good as new, huh?” Han said, cracking a smile. The manager on the other hand didn’t seem as amused as Han.
“Glue won’t be acceptable, the store needs to be compensated for the damagers, sir,” The manager said as he shook his head.
“Look, that display was pretty expensive,” Han said, gesturing to it with his free hand that was still holding his caf. “-I’ll fix it for ya, I’ll even do it for free! It’ll be just like new, I guarantee.” The manager crossed his arms over his chest, practically glaring at Han.
“I don’t know what you think you're doing but you're not getting out of paying this!” The Manager snapped, he clearly was losing his temper.
“Alright there is no need for yelling, pal!” Han said back, through his peripheral vision it looked as though a larger crowd was gathering around them. Ben began to squirm in his arms, obviously growing upset to the confrontation. Han was struggling to keep him still in his arms, he couldn’t put him down though, the floor was covered in glass shards!
“Ben stay still-” Han said before Ben kicked his leg up, knocking his caf out of his hands and splashing on the store manager- soaking his entire uniform. Hans' eyes widened as the manager's mouth dropped open and looked at his clothes.
Meeting Darth Vader was nowhere near as tense as this.
“Can you hand me the salt, Benny?” Han said with a smile. Ben, who was stood right next to him on a pedestal in front of the kitchen counter, reached to the spice corner and handed Han the salt. “Thanks buddy,” Han said as he shook the spice into the pot.
Cooking cleared his mind and usually helped him forget the stresses of the day and he was glad the horrible store altercation from earlier was practically at the back of his mind at this point.
He glanced over at the smaller flower display he ended up getting, he was sure she would like the one he got. It had a nice arrangement of flowers and a couple pieces of chocolate placed in between the stems. He grumbled softly under his breath, remembering the amount of credits he had to cough up for the damages.
“Can I stir, daddy?” Ben asked sweetly, Han glanced down at Ben with a smile.
“Sure, kid,” Han said as he lowered down and picked Ben up. He brought his son over to the simmering pot of food and handed him a large stirring spoon. Ben grabbed it with his tiny hands and stirred it around, Han watched his son with pride, laughing softly as he imagined Ben in a tiny chefs hat.
Maybe the trip to the store didn’t go as smoothly as he would have liked it too, but he and Ben certainly made some memories. Maybe an older Ben will look back on these memories and cringe recalling his thunderous temperament, but Han knows for him that the memories will be fond ones.
