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frostycatblr-fandom-files · 8 months

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So I may have just realized your requests are open (my grandfather says I would be a terrible witness to a murder bc I am unobservant we love adhd lol) so here I am to beg!

I never see a ton (any?) fics exploring Din and Boba’s friendship and only that. Like, my blog IS the horny corner. Friendship fluff ain’t my usual reblogs but fuck it’s also like amazing??? Idk I just think Din and Boba and Cobb deserve to have time to be just guys being dudes and bonding. (I do love me some DinCobb tho don’t get me wrong) anyway, nothing specific other than learning more about how you see their friendship? They obvs respect each other and trust each other. I bet they have a lot of weird inside jokes.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME

Beskar Buddies [Mando and Boba Fett]

Warnings and Information: Not a relationship fic. This is just a silly, not-taking-itself-too-seriously friendship fic for Boba and Din Djarin. References to canon-typical violence, drugs (spice), alcohol, and some events from both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Minor Star Wars and real-world swearing. We're gonna make fun of Shiny Dad who doesn't know he's in Star Wars just a little bit. Din's helmet stays on. Narrative and stylistic use of italics. Minor proofreading and editing.

Word-count: 3,880

He's supposed to be here on Tatooine for a simple bounty - it's really nothing more than a glorified errand run for some spoiled little princeling who insists on only the finest Sansanna spice from the Outer Rim. But the princeling doesn't need to know that; he'll be allowed to believe that it was necessary to spend as much time as was desired for Din Djarin to acquire enough Sansanna for this young man's birthday celebration hosted on one of the Core Worlds, if it means Din can cleverly lighten those pockets by a few more credits in order to provide for himself and the little one a little more comfortably, even if just for a while.

Din only meant to spend an extra day here at most before collecting the requested goods and taking them back to his client. But when word made its way to the new Daimyo, and he knew that it would, that another who clads himself in the armor typical to Mandalorians is sniffing around Mos Espa, how could he refuse the request from the Master Assassin and second-in-command to pay a visit.

"Shand." he greets her once he's calmed the slight tremor of his heart after being taken by surprise in an alleyway in the Worker's District of Espa, and reholsters the IB-94. "I didn't expect to run into you here. Conducting business on behalf of the Daimyo?"

"Greet every woman that way?" Fennec Shand teases him with an indicative toss of her head to the holster. "Or am I just special?"

"You surprised me." Din admits, repeating himself that he didn't expect to run into her by this point. He knows Boba is a busy man with a syndicate to operate, and what he cannot oversee himself, he often delegates the task to the bounty hunter standing in front of Din now.

"Good. Means I'm not losing my edge." Fennec answers, a playful purr of pride in her voice. "Serves the Daimyo well if I can maintain the element of surprise when I am tasked to carry out his bidding on a busy man's behalf. To extend an invitation of sorts: Lord Fett would like an audience with you."

"Very well." Din agrees, playing into the façade of formality - all part of the performance of power and command that is carried out in the halls of the Palace on the fringes of the Northern Dune Sea. He relays a short message to Peli Motto over in Mos Eisley that his return for Grogu may be a little delayed, first, for peace of mind, before Din will follow Shand back to the Palace. "Lead the way."

Boba Fett dismisses the people within the throne room of the Palace - likely members who serve as part of the gotra or those who had come to pay tributes or give offerings of sorts to one of Espa's influential figureheads - as Fennec returns with Din as she had been asked.

He wears his armor and (most of) his notable weaponry while seated on the throne, save for the cool, dark green helmet which sits neatly on the armrest. Displayed, rather than worn, now. "I hoped she would find you. I asked if she could extend my invitation once I heard there was someone who did not tell me he would be paying the fair city of Mos Espa a visit." Fett is teasing him, he knows, but Din cannot help feeling the need to apologize regardless of that. There are only chuckles in return as Boba climbs from the lordly seating and moves to greet Din like an old friend.

Warm and calloused hands find their way around the other's wrist as Din and Boba first behave as if it is a simple handshake, but remain linked for some time. Old and ancient ways of checking strangers for weapons have turned to displays of trust. The longer the link, the stronger a bond, some would say.

There both is warmth and a mischievous glint to his eyes as Boba visually takes him in, almost inspecting the gleaming beskar for imperfection or pitting that would speak to a scuffle of sorts that might make for a good story, "Your armor gleams in the light of the twin suns, Djarin, of course someone will notice you trying to skulk about my territory. Are you looking for work?" Boba had offered him payment for a place at his side once. He believed the Mandalorian to be a respectable and trustworthy fellow; Boba would gladly extend the invitation for a stable occupation once more.

Din shakes his head, slowly, calmly, in the dim light of the throne room. He's not looking for work, he explains, he is working. "Product for a client. Princeling who wants a small crate of Sansanna spice for a party before next Taungsday. Specified that he wanted it from Tatooine of all places."

That explains what brought him here to the planet, at least.

"And why come to Espa to look?" Boba asks politely, keeping the conversation flowing as he pours himself and his friend something from a carafe he's kept on hand. One that Fennec is partial to, so he is sure to offer some to her as well as a silent expression of gratitude. Asking the Mandalorian to come to the palace and entertain a silly notion was a long shot when he has a foundling in his care, so Boba had cautioned Fennec that in the event he did not agree to come, it would be of no consequence. (He would prefer what's in the decanter, but he has yet to procure more, so it is untouched as it would not be enough to split among three.) "There is not much to find of the Sansanna that once belonged to the Pyke's before it was… misplaced." Boba suggests with a mirthful smile.

"I wouldn't have come asking the mighty Daimyo first," Din retorts after a polite sip from his glass of the contents of the carafe, replacing his helmet that had been inched just high enough on his head to drink and resetting the seal, "that wouldn't have been good business, for you, or me."

"No indeed." Boba agrees, appreciative of Din's caution given his reason for being here. Din knew to act in just the right way; ways that would not tarnish a carefully crafted image Boba had made for himself since putting an end to Bib Fortuna and laying claim to all that was once Jabba's. "Did you tell your client how long it would take?"

Din's helmet bobs. "I did."

"And did you tell this princeling how long it would actually take?"

The helmet remains still, but the mouth within it must have found an upward curve as the bounty hunter implies that he was not quite so honest with his client. "It might have slipped my mind."

Boba chuckles, almost proudly. An old trick of the trade: mislead the right clients on the right details, and you can earn yourself a few more credits. Live a little more comfortably for a time if you wanted.

While Din could be a uniquely honest and humble bounty hunter at times, he was still a bounty hunter. Clever, resourceful, and cunning. Just the sort of thing he was looking for. "Well, I'm certain a crate or two will turn up to take back to this princeling in the morning, and he'll pay you handsomely for the spice brought in from rugged lands to boast at his party, my friend." he suggests promisingly to Din, patting the shoulder-bell that bares the profile of the Mudhorn as he leads him from the throne room, and into other areas of the palace before he lays out why he invited the Mandalorian to come. "In the meantime, I'd like you to come with me. Out beyond Espa."

The low hum in his throat before he speaks suggests Din feels hesitant or uncertain about this idea. "Where? And why?"

"Call it something of an impulse; I have my business to attend to here in Mos Espa as the Daimyo of course, but recently I dreamed of camping under the stars, out in the desert - " Boba answers, bringing Din to an inner chamber that is guarded at all times, where once they have passed the guards, he shows to Din two crates of spice that are contained within a vault, " - and I have not been able to shake myself of the notion since. Could I convince you to join me, my friend?"

Din understands that the spice is being used to sweeten him to the idea of sleeping out in the sand-sprawling seas of this arid planet, where temperatures can drop dramatically within a few hours of the suns' setting, here. Even if he declined, Din Djarin doesn't believe the spice would be withheld now when it was already offered to him.

"Why not take Shand?" he asks curiously. "Or will she be staying here at the Palace to keep an eye on things in your absence?"

"I did ask Fennec, as a matter of fact," Boba replies with a bemused expression, carefully denoting the crates with one of the guards for a moment, "and she wasn't too keen to the idea the same way I am. And, yes, she has said that if I do this she would remain with the Palace to oversee matters, should anything happen tonight."

So it appears that Boba wants to entertain this fantasy tonight. Not just "some time in the future", but now. That in and of itself isn't surprising, but Din hesitates for one reason.

One curiosity has been sated. Another remains. "And if I don't know how I feel about the idea? I have a friend watching Grogu for me in Mos Eisley, and I didn't make any mention that I would be leaving him with them past nightfall at the latest."

Boba seems to give something a little thought before he asks "And who is this friend?"

"Peli Motto." Fennec replies from the threshold, watching the two men with a cool gaze that many would perhaps find intimidating if not for a simple smile. "I did a little digging while you boys were having your fun in the vault. She's a simple mechanic."

"A good mechanic." Din finds himself insisting. He's not at all surprised that the second-in-command to the Daimyo had recalled the frequency to and found some way to find information on Peli, but calling her a simple mechanic felt like an insult to her character and he would not let it slide so easily.

"And are you paying this good mechanic to watch the little one for you?" Boba wonders. "If you are worried about giving her adequate payment for minding your foundling, don't. I would gladly help you settle it with Ms. Motto."

It takes a moment to explain that Peli will need to mind Grogu for him overnight, but Din promises to explain why in the morning. "I need you to watch Grogu for me until the morning. Something came up."

Peli sounds worried. "Trouble?"

"Only if we make it…" Boba chuckles to himself in the background, and Fennec warns him to behave in a way that suggests this is not the first, nor the last time, she's heard him make self-entertaining remarks like this.

"What was that? You say something, Mando?"

Din dodges the question with some redirection. "No trouble; I just need to spend a little extra time in Mos Espa. I can explain when I come for Grogu." He hears the way the little one perks up at the sound of his name, a bright, cooing sort of noise. Peli must have pulled him closer to the receiver, because the next time he coos and babbles inquisitively, the sound is sharper, louder, but no less sweet.

"Ha-bah?"

"Grogu, can you behave for Peli for me tonight? I'll be back early in the morning, I promise."

Boba makes no further jokes or commentary in the background while allowing Din to speak to Grogu until he is satisfied that the little one understands Din will not be back tonight, but he will be back soon. Phrasing and re-phrasing his brief explanation until with a little help from Peli, the diminutive, green lifeform seemingly makes sounds of understanding.

He can imagine the way Jango would similarly caution him and repeat himself in preparation for his absences when he was perhaps too young to accompany his father on a bounty. These are memories from so long ago, now, to Boba. At least, they feel that way. He's only entering his forties, he reminds himself. Slightly older than Din, to his belief.

But roughly similar enough in age that neither of them feels any need to take separate materials for temporary shelters. Old enough and mature enough to tolerate the shared arrangement for a single night under a canopy of stars on a bed of sand where they would lay their sleeping sacks. Din has offered to start a modest fire since Fett insists he can pitch the tent on his own. He certainly sees the influence of the Tuskens that Boba spent time with after surviving a sarlacc pit in the shelter's construction once it is firmly staked in place.

"Sturdy."

Boba nods acceptively of the compliment, settling himself beside the fire across from Din. "I learned much in my time with the tribe of Tuskens that cared for me like one of their own before I became the Daimyo. They didn't teach me everything, but you can still learn by watching and observing."

There's a knowing chuckle before the dark t-visor turns and looks off into a rather deliberate direction for just a moment. Freetown. They're not too far from Vanth's community, as it turns out. "Wondering how the sheriff's doing; will we need to pay a visit in the morning?" he offers half-questioningly to Din, trying to gauge and guess what is on the mind of the man clad in beskar before him.

"Tempting. But perhaps another time." Din replies, beginning to remove a select few parts of his armor to make himself more comfortable. He did not opt to leave it behind in favor of more appropriate desert-wear, even when offered. Fett reasoned that much like his own armor, once belonging to his father in his case, the armor made of beskar carried its own significance to Din beyond a protective shell.

"Feeling guilty for leaving the little one, again?"

His companion shakes his head in answer as he carefully sets aside what he's removed. "Not quite. Just eager to complete this bounty and lay low for a time."

"Smart. Have somewhere in mind?"

"Yes." is all Din will answer. And wisely so. Telling Fett where he plans on going would defeat the entire purpose, no matter how much they each trust and respect each other. Because they do, a simple word is all the Mandalorian glowing in the light of the fire will find necessary to say.

"Good. I wish you uneventful times when you make it there, my friend."

They listen to the stillness of the desert together following Fett's sincere wish for Din and Grogu's safety; the crackle and muted roar of the fire, distant and slow gusts of wind, and once off in the greater distance, bantha. The deep bellows of the omnivorous quadrupeds were a strange comfort as the two men listened.

"Have you ever ridden a bantha?" Din asks, noting the nostalgic smile evident on the other's face. The smile broadens as Boba answers. "I have. There was a bantha I once had for a mount, I think of them from time to time."

The helmet tilts to the right with mild concern or surprise. "What happened to it?"

"Oh, nothing bad," Boba assures his friend, giving a singular chuckle as he stokes the flame a little higher, "I simply set them free before I reclaimed my ship. Hopefully they are out there now, meeting other banthas and making baby banthas."

"Heh. I see. Is that the strangest thing you've ever ridden that isn't a speederbike?" Din asks with a laugh, once more turning his head out to look beyond the light of the fire into the desert. Perhaps with his sensors, he could find these distant herds of wild or domesticated bantha

"That would be a rancor."

"You're joking."

"I'm not." Boba laughs with some insistence. "And what about you, my friend? Find a mythosaur to ride, yet?"

"Funny… " Din replies somewhat slowly, "...there was an Ugnaught named Kuiil who claimed it should have been easy for me to learn to ride Blurrg because of my 'ancestors' who rode mythosaurs when he was trying to teach me." He grows quiet, and his body language becomes a lot less casual, less open and fluid. "I haven't thought about his remark in a while." Din admits somberly. His companion, the man who invited him for a night in the desert, under the stars, doesn't press him for anything more to say for a moment, letting the silence grow.

"You've been busy." Boba reasons with him only when he is certain Din doesn't have anything to add. "Traveling the galaxy, collecting bounties… All while you care for the little one." The words don't seem to bring him any comfort. If anything, Boba suspects he's said the wrong thing. "Was he a friend?"

"Yes. Killed by Imperial scout troopers."

"I am sorry, Djarin," he sympathizes, for a moment thinking to lay his hand on the other's shoulder in a gesture of comfort were Boba sitting beside him rather than across the fire. "To lose those we care for is no easy thing."

The Mandalorian scoffs and, jokingly, asks Boba if he's certain he's as old as he claims. "You sound and look older."

"Well, the profession ages you. And I imagine there are still a scattered few, somewhere out there, that would look just like me. Maybe even older." This is the second time Din does not seem to understand what he means judging by his silence. "Surely you've seen them. Heard about them at least, the clones?" Boba inquires, growing increasingly more confused by the lack of apparent understanding as the t-visor slowly wags in the firelight.

"Djarin."

The fire is smothered out with sand following the conclusion of something of a pseudo history lesson once Boba feels he's adequately explained to Din what exactly Clone troopers are. Were. (Maybe still are? Truly, he's not certain how many men who look just like him and sound just like him remain in the galaxy.) The sand is stamped down for good measure before both men enter the tent for the first time since it had been put up and prepare to sleep. The night grows stiller and serene in a way that is entirely unique to Tatooine.

The desert planet is not for the weak-willed and those who will not be prepared to adapt. If you traversed the Dune Seas, you had different tribes of nomadic Tuskens to contend with (and hope they would let you pass through their lands in peace for small tributes), or the wild animals that were not as docile as the bantha that called this planet home. It took grit and gumption, or no small amount of necessary self preservation skills, to live in places such as Mos Espa and Eisley where you would expect to find yourself brushing shoulders with bounty hunters and crime families. Things could get messy.

Boba Fett and Din Djarin are no strangers to the grime and filthier aspects of what the galaxy has to offer them. Bloodshed and banthashit that would make weaker men stumble and turn away from such a profession far sooner. Sacrifices and difficult choices have been made in each of their lives.

Tonight didn't have to be one of them. A night of simple company and some time to catch up with a friend was a welcome change for both. Boots are carefully removed before each slip into their sleeping sacks after simple ration packs are eaten in silence - backs turned to one another even in the dark - and wrappers have been taken care of.

"We'll start our return to the palace before first light," Boba explains, "that way you can return to Mos Eisley for Grogu before Ms. Motto would begin her workday after you've secured the spice for the princeling."

There is a soft laugh under the modulator to his left, where he can make out the general form of his friend's body beside him and sees he's already laying down. "Thank you. Hopefully he will have slept well when I retrieve him."

He certainly hopes the little one will too, for Din's sake, with a laugh. "I have not forgotten my offer to pay Ms. Motto either. And thank you, my friend, for entertaining this idea with me."

"Anything for the mighty Daimyo of Mos Espa." he says in all seriousness he can muster for the moment. He can't maintain the composure for long, and thankfully it's Fett who laughs first, the two of them free to laugh as loud as they would like when it's just the two of them out here for miles as far as anyone would be concerned.

Free to spend as much time as they would like "winding down" and talking in low, golden tones until they come to realize it is coming up on first light, and they have spent the whole night in conversation without meaning to.

At least it may not be just Grogu who has not gotten any sleep tonight, they joke together as they come up on the palace, and Boba gives Din what he was promised. Two crates of Sansanna spice to carve a deeper hole in the pockets of his client, and many words of thanks from Boba follow after Din as he secures some transport to Mos Eisley. "Safe travels, my friend. Remember-"

"Oh I will." Din replies with a mischievous inflection, giving Fennec Shand reason to pause and consider what unfinished communication is unfolding before her as both men, Fett once more clad in his own armor in order to properly send the Mandalorian off before assuming his seat at the throne for the day. "I take it you now have… inside jokes." she grins.

"Maybe." each reply in tandem.

Boba smiles, nodding to Din. "Or-"

"-Reminding me to get a little more sleep once I'm in a hyperspace lane." Din concludes, bidding them farewell once again. He was eager to return to Grogu, and Din could only hope the little one had gotten some sleep. But if he hadn't, then perhaps they would be napping together as they navigated hyperspace. It would certainly not be the first time Din would potentially need to doze off when he could when traveling with a child, or at least daydream while looking at the view from the cockpit of his ship.

Nor will it be the last. Hopefully the same could be said for another opportunity to present itself for nights like last where Boba Fett and Din Djarin could simply spend time with a trusted friend.

Note from Frost: The title was a placeholder name, but then it grew on me; I'm callin' them the Beskar Buddies from now on. Ideas also changed direction on me in the course of writing, so apologies for the lack of Cobb in the end. :( I have not written anything for one of my first major Star Wars crushes in a long, long time. Probably since I was 16? Poor Boba. So this was a delight, and I had a lot of fun writing it. Thank you for making the request!

[Masterlist] [Requests: OPEN]

#frostfics #Beskar Buddies #star wars #star wars fanfiction #the mandalorian #the book of boba fett #tbobf #din darjin #mando #grogu #baby yoda #boba fett #fennec shand #friendship fic #fic request #your-slutty-gf

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