Ben did his best not to take the distance personally. He was used to it by now, people keeping him at arm’s length. It didn’t make it hurt any less, especially coming from his father. But he also had to remind himself that this wasn’t the man he’d grown up around. Or the man he killed. He couldn’t be expecting a whole lot from Han to begin with, their complicated future aside. It still would have been nice for at least one person to show him even the tiniest bit of affection but he knew that was asking for too much.
Especially from Solo.
He sat there and waited quietly while Han filled up his glass and began to make one for himself. Alcohol had begun to lose its thrill lately so while he appreciated the gesture, he wasn’t planning on going through a bottle. Then again, their conversation hadn’t even begun. Chances were this wasn’t going to go well.
Maybe he’d get lucky.
He snorted at the question. His gaze that had been fixed on his father’s face dropped down to the mess of scribbles and napkins on the counter. “A way out? Why would I do that? All my friends are here.” His tone was heavy with that typical Soio sarcasm. Or maybe it was the Skywalker in him. One couldn’t forget that he was a product of both.
His fingers tapped anxiously on the bartop for a minute. “I’m putting together a droid. It’s only an idea but I think I could make it work with the right parts. And it keeps my mind busy.” He wouldn’t say why but Han could make his own assumptions. Ben was sure he had spoken with the others. It was unclear how much.
“What do you know?” Ben put out there, bluntly pushing pushing past any other civil and polite small talk. They had never been good at that and if this was going to be their only conversation, which Ben felt like it might be, he wanted to make it count.