Chapter Text
Boba had now lived through the rise of two galactic powers and the death of another two. It could be argued that calling the New Republic a galactic power could be stretching it though, seeing as the Hutts had always just been considered a nuisance despite their large swathes of territory. The New Republic had Coruscant though, so that meant it was of the same breed as the Empire and Republic before it.
The point was, Boba didn't have much hope in the New Republic considering its predecessors, and the job he was currently on didn't help that much.
The Republic cruiser’s transmission request finally pinged in while Din climbed back up into the cockpit. Boba answered it, obviously, because he was closer.
“Razor Crest, we're going to have to take you in for questioning. Our landing bay is open, but we do have a tractor if you resist.”
Boba sighed silently. “You mind telling me why?”
“Yours is the only craft anywhere near this planet that just blew up, so forgive us for thinking you're suspicious.”
So Mylta was still down there. Boba quietly wondered if she somehow messed with the fob in order to lead them towards Gigi instead of wherever she was. It didn't really matter now.
“You think this thing has the firepower to do that?” Boba asked, playing up his incredulity. They wouldn't buy it, but he'd play as many angles as he could. “We barely escaped with our lives!”
“It's just a precaution, if you don't have anything, you don't have to worry”
Boba sighed and closed the transmission. He was so tired, and that was not helping.
“You handled that better than I would've,” Din commented, probably trying to be reassuring.
Boba shrugged. “Didn't try too hard. Feels inevitable at this point.”
“We could run,” Din suggested.
Boba just shook his head. “Nah. They hired us, they're going to have to deal with us. Besides, I have connections. They'll probably try to seem nice just long enough for me to pull enough strings to get us out of their grasp. And out of this haranyc job if we're lucky.”
“I hope your contact pulls through,” Din muttered, “because I know the one I was thinking of probably won't.”
The Crest lurched as a tractor beam started pulling them in and Boba's confidence crumbled a bit when he remembered it wasn't just him and Din on the ship. The New Republic wouldn't be too bad to a couple of children, right? With them trying to be the good guys and all?
They were arrested immediately, of course. Boba had been wanted by the New Republic ever since its inception and apparently Din had run into trouble with them about half a year before. Which was just great. They also apparently had a few weapons on them that were banned in New Republic sectors, which seemed a bit unfair because he couldn't remember anyone ever telling him about that.
Boba never got to see what they did with the kids. He was just herded off with Din. He wished he had had a chance to properly adopt Gigi before they got separated yet again. Maybe it just wasn't time yet.
Boba didn't have time to think too much about it though, because he had just been told to strip- sorry. Take off all his armor.
Boba slowly took off his vambraces. Din couldn't fully comply, so Boba tried to go along with it all the best he could, despite how much he hated it. He had the smallest inkling of a plan, because…
“I can't. Take off my helmet,” Din muttered eventually.
The guard who told them to remove their armor huffed. “Is it broken or something, c’mon! Your buddy seems to be doing fine.”
Boba froze in the middle of lifting his buy'ce off.
“It goes against my religion, the Way. We're both Mandalorian but he is not Morut’la, so he can remove his helmet in the presence of others. I can't. Many cultures and religions around the galaxy have similar customs.”
“Well I'm all about being respectful and all that, but I've never heard of a Mando not taking off their helmet. What I have heard about are the crazy custom HUDs that those buckets can come with, and that's what we're worried about. If you refuse to take it off yourself, we'll do it.”
“Or!” Boba exclaimed, shoving his buy'ce in the guard’s hands, “I can show you how to shut off the HUD yourself without needing to remove his helmet. Using mine as an example.”
Boba could feel Din giving him a look of betrayal, but he ignored it. This would be better than the alternative, even if it meant that a random aruetiise New Republic guard now knew how to disable a Mando's HUD.
The guard sighed. “If you're so insistent on doing all this I guess he must be telling the truth. Show me how this all works.”
Boba showed him the emergency shutdown buttons right on the edge of the inside of his helmet and even let the guard put the thing on to confirm that the HUD had been shut down. Then he went over and turned off Din’s.
Then they started walking again.
Din was very obviously trying not to look at Boba's now bare face as they went along. It was kind of heartwarming, if not unnecessary. Fate seemed to want Boba to be a bit more vulnerable a bit sooner than he'd wanted to. Which… Fine. He’d lost at that one. He didn't know how to communicate that, though it was sweet that Din was trying, it was ultimately an unnecessary effort because Boba had accepted at that point that he would be seen. At least while being walked to a cell by a guard he didn't know how to communicate it. Once they were locked up and left alone, Boba just told him out loud with his words.
“Right, sorry,” Din replied awkwardly. It was strange to hear him without the vocoder, but not bad.
Boba tried to wave him off, but then he remembered they had been handcuffed at some point. He sighed instead.
“I can barely see anything now that everything's off in my buy'ce,” Din sighed back. Buy'cese tended to have enhanced fields of vision, the visor was more for show and emergency than anything else. Unfortunately, it was what Din was stuck with.
”Well maybe I should've just tried to convince everyone to close their eyes and pinkie promise not to open them while your terrible, low visibility helmet was off.”
“I have a kut’buyce in the Razor Crest, you know.”
Boba huffed. “I don't think either of us expected the threat of your bucket getting forced off. I saved your shebs.”
“...I know,” Din conceited. “I just can't believe I've been given permission to appreciate your beautiful face and I can't even see it properly. With a kut’buyce I'd get a wonderful view.”
So this was proper Din flirting. Boba took a mental note. He didn't like thinking about his face. Looking at his face. It was better on everyone else that had it anyways. But still, the idea that Din liked it made his stomach flip in much better ways than usual.
“This is one of the better jail cells I've been in,” Boba remarked, changing the topic so he wouldn't explode.
“I don’t think it's supposed to be one.”
And yeah, the more Boba actually started paying attention to his surroundings, the space did seem like a stripped guest room their captors had put a ray field in front of last minute. They even got a separate ‘fresher with a sonic and everything.
The room didn't really have many comforts though, just angles and a thin cot that would only be able to fit one of them. Even if they squeezed in and started cuddling or something. Boba sighed and sat down on the hard ground.
Din was quick to follow, sitting right next to Boba, and it didn't take long for Boba's head to wind up resting on Din’s shoulder. Or for Din’s cuffed hands to make their way onto Boba's lap. Or for them both to start holding onto each other a bit desperately as they sat, waiting.
“One of your braids got unpinned,” Din suddenly said after what felt like an eternity of silence.
Boba swore and instinctively tried to pin it back, remembering too late that his hands were bound in front of him.
“...You want me to pin it back for you?” Din asked slowly.
Boba sighed. “I don't think I'm getting my buy'ce back anytime soon. You might as well just take out the braids entirely, they're a bit tight.”
Din didn't respond for a good thirty seconds.
“Boba, I think we're probably at the point where we can be honest about when we just want physical affection. Not that I'm saying no to undoing your braids, but.”
Boba felt his face burn. That hadn't really been on his mind when he asked, well… Okay, maybe he had been thinking about how nice it would be for Din’s fingers to run through his hair, but it wasn't his primary thought.
Din chuckled softly and Boba shot him a spiteful glance over his shoulder.
“You want me to take off my gloves?” Din asked cheekily.
“Please shut up.”
“I'll take that as a yes,” Din replied, smile clear in his voice. Boba couldn't bring himself to argue.
Din’s hands were clumsy, and considering the situation, Boba wasn't surprised. There was only so much one could do with cuffed hands. But it was nice, methodical, and slowly Boba's long curls were let loose.
“You have a lot of hair,” Din murmured. “It's nice.”
Boba hummed. “I work to keep it healthy. ‘S something I can take pride in.”
“How many people get to actually see it though?”
Boba smiled a rueful smile Din couldn't even see. “It's mostly just for me.” To distract from my face, he didn't say.
Din paused for a split second, and then continued as he spoke. “If we got married right now-”
Boba spun around to face Din, his hair getting pulled along the way. “What??”
Din laughed. The bastard. “ If we got married right now, and then got divorced when all this is over, I could take off my buy'ce, and then we could-”
“Fuck?”
“I'm never speaking to you again.”
Boba turned back around, maybe a bit too smug about that. “Right, I forgot. We can do that with your buy'ce on.”
Din didn't say anything.
“Wait, are you actually giving me the silent treatment right now?”
Din shrugged and Boba sighed. “Fine, if we got married right now you could take off your buy'ce and we could make out with SO much tongue.”
“Boba Arla Mereel Fett, I don't know why I associate with you.”
“That's an easy one!” Boba laughed, “You love me.”
Din froze and Boba realized he might've taken the teasing a bit too far.
“Love you too,” Din replied, letting out a held breath.
Boba relaxed and Din continued undoing his braids. It was… Conflicting, the situation the two were in. Boba wasn't all too happy about being rushed into things again, but it had worked out anyways. Again. He felt like a bit of an idiot for setting up boundaries only a few hours before that got smashed almost immediately, not that it was the fault of either of them.
And now they were acting like complete lovebirds to cope with the fact that their children and armor had been taken from them right before they got locked up. Or at least Boba was acting like a lovebird to cope and then projected that onto Din… Or maybe Boba was just saying the first things that came to his mind to distract himself from everything, and all of those first things just happened to be romantic.
And then Boba's thoughts turned to Gigi, of course. He wondered if Din was thinking about his own kid. Maybe those two were together too, thinking about their parents. Maybe they were wreaking a bit of havoc. The thought brought a smile to Boba's face.
Hopefully it would all be very temporary, he did have a contact. It was all so ironic. Getting captured by the client in the middle of the job for… Being accused of being the bounty. The Empire had been a mess, but at least this had never happened. If Boba were simply the heartless bounty hunter that was somewhat expected of him, he'd think the Empire was much better. But the New Republic had a few less genocides to account for, so he had to admit they were at least better.
Thoughts of the Republic and the Empire and the Republic again swirled ‘round Boba's mind for long enough that he started to bore himself to sleep, but then the door opened.
“Boba Fett? Your interrogation is first.”
Boba yawned and got up, gently lifting Din’s arm off his shoulder. He had fallen asleep, apparently. Boba hadn't even noticed.
The New Republic really did tend to make things harder for themselves. They were about to attempt to interrogate incredibly grumpy, half asleep Boba Fett.