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Din wakes up with a familiar weight on his chest. Din usually sleeps on his back, and whenever he’s not wearing his breastplate, Grogu’s favorite place to snuggle up is right on top of him, over his heart. On another night, this would be fine. Mara’s next to Din, curled up on her side. Luke is next to Mara, snoring gently. The whole family has slept together plenty of times.
Still, Din sighs, not loudly enough to wake Luke or Mara. They’ve made a half-hearted agreement to try to get Grogu to sleep through the night in his own bed. They all like having the kid close, of course, but it’s not good for him to wake up every couple of hours and wander around while they’re asleep.
If the kid were already asleep, Din would let it go. But when he lifts his head, the kid stares back, ears perked and expression sheepish.
Din sighs again, picks up Grogu, and rolls out of bed. “Back to your own room, kid,” he says.
The four of them have a few rooms to themselves inside the Jedi temple. Grogu’s room is next door, with a hammock like the one he would sleep in on the Razor Crest.
Din gently sets Grogu in the hammock, but Grogu gives an indignant squeak.
“You stay here, OK? You stay here with Burc’ika.” Mara went through a surprising amount of effort to find a stuffed mudhorn toy for Grogu. It’s as big as the kid, too big for him to drag around, but when he sleeps in his hammock, he does it clutching the plush horn. He frequently babbles “boo,” “boosh,” or “bor,” when he’s playing with it, sounding to Din like he’s trying to say burc’ya, a Mando’a word for “friend.”
He expects Grogu to argue more, but Grogu grabs Burc’ika’s horn and relaxes into the blankets.
“There you go.” Din kisses his son on the forehead, and goes back to bed.
*
Luke wakes up, senses Grogu is close, and sees him standing next to the bed. He’s looking at Luke pleadingly.
“Are you OK?” Luke whispers.
Grogu raises his arms, asking to be held. “Uh?”
Luke sits up, and scoops Grogu into his lap. The child coos. Luke is relieved to see Grogu isn’t sick, but Luke frowns.
“Did Mara or Din already tell you to go back to bed?” he asks.
“Mmuhm.” The sound is non-committal. Which tells Luke everything.
Luke holds Grogu in the crook of his arm, and slides out of bed. He steps into the hall, and looks down at the child. “It’s bad manners to go barging into other peoples’ rooms,” he tells Grogu.
Grogu mutters nonsense in response.
Luke carries Grogu into his room, and sets him in the hammock. Luke pulls a blanket over Grogu, and gently tucks in the edges. “We’re right next door. You can do it, little one.”
*
Mara wakes up when a floppy green ear tickles her forehead. She rubs her eyes, and sees the kid sitting next to her pillow. She worries there’s a problem, but she doesn’t sense that anything’s wrong.
“Muh?” Grogu asks.
She props herself up on her elbow. “You aren’t supposed to be here,” she reminds him.
He gives an apologetic gurgle.
“You think you can manipulate me by being adorable?”
He pats her face. Blinks those big, sad eyes. He’s pulling out all the stops, isn’t he? The manipulative little womp rat.
She shouldn’t. She really shouldn’t.
“OK,” she whispers.
Grogu scoots under the covers. She smooths the blanket over him, and pats his back as he settles in.
Din rolls over to face them. “I already…” he begins sleepily.
“There’s always tomorrow night.” Mara and Din scoot closer, so they’re curled around the baby.
“You’re a pushover,” Luke tells Mara as he spoons her.
“Grogu asked nicely.”
“Pushover.”
“How dare you.”
Mara squeezes Din’s shoulder, and he mumbles something that sounds affectionate in response. Grogu coos. Soon, all four of them have dropped back into easy sleep.