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Boba usually has no issues falling asleep. Years of working as a bounty hunter has conditioned him into being able to sleep anywhere. Sleep will find him as long as he knows he is somewhat safe and has a plan to escape or defend his position. He would sleep lightly, able to wake at just the feeling of something being not right. Rarely would he dream, or at least he wouldn’t remember any dreams when he woke up.
Boba usually doesn’t have trouble falling asleep. Being able to fall asleep at a moments notice despite being in an uncomfortable or unsafe environment is a skill he’d picked up early as a bounty hunter. It’s a skill he’s appreciated having through the years and is still thankful that he is in possession of. Sleep is not something to take for granted. Especially not as a bounty hunter. Never really knowing when you’ll be able to rest safely next has made Boba appreciate the moments of peaceful rest he used to get between hunts. And there was a time when he knew that he’d be able to rest as soon as the hunt was finished, and the bounty turned in. Then he fell into the Pit of Carkoon.
Sleep went from being something he looked forward to, to becoming something he dreaded, after crawling out of the sarlacc pit. Being able to fall asleep at a moments notice is still a skill he has. But rather than being able to sleep through the night without disturbance or discomfort, he now only has the nightmares to look forward to. The time he spent in the pit felt more like several years than the few days it actually was. It’s been many years since he escaped that pit of nightmares, and it’s become easier to not think about it during the day. But when the evening comes, it brings a feeling of dread along with it.
The years since the incident has shown him that it’s possible to survive something that horrible, and still carry the scars that healed long ago. For though the physical scars are mostly gone now thanks to bacta treatments, the mental scars are still there. Some days they feel almost completely healed, and other days they feel as raw as they were when he was still stuck in the pit.
Everything is a lot easier to deal with now than it was during the first few months. Now he has people around him that he cares for and who care for him in return. While at first a rather surprising turn of events, it was not an unwelcome one. Far from it actually. With people around him to go to for support Boba finds he’s become more comfortable seeking their comfort and help, even for minor things. The thought of asking anyone for help for anything would have horrified him earlier in his life. But now it has become a source of comfort for him.
Trusting people is not something that came easy to Boba. He’d learnt early on that trusting people would be more likely to get you stabbed in the back or killed than anything else. Most of it might have been because he was mainly interacting with other bounty hunters or people seeking to make a profit. But as it turns out there are some outliers amongst them as well.
Din being one of them. Now Boba is grateful that he apparently never lost the desire to find someone he could trust to work with him and help him deal with problems, without expecting to be stabbed in the back at their earliest convenience. Much less find someone he could trust enough to settle down with. It was in no way easy figuring everything out. They both entered the relationship with their fair share of issues to work through, both together and by themselves. But they managed.
By the time they got around to getting to know Luke outside of his jedi persona, or simply as Grogu’s teacher, they’d both managed to work out their more violent issues. They’d also talked about Boba’s reluctance to meet with Skywalker or join him and Din in their talks whenever they’d go visit Grogu. Somehow, they had eventually managed to convince him to join them in their talks, or at least not avoiding Luke. If only so he’d be able to spend more time with Grogu and Din together, and not each of them individually.
It had been another challenge when they’d both realized they wanted to court Luke. But like with every other problem they had faced, they faced them together. Afterwards they’d come out on the other side stronger, and with a new partner. The thought of his two lovers and their willingness to help, without question, is what keeps him going when the days are tough, and the nights are filled with nightmares.
So, the next time he wakes up from a nightmare and feels like he never actually escaped the sarlacc pit he reaches out and finds Din next to him, still sleeping soundly. Boba realizes that he might never be able to sleep as he did before the sarlacc ever again. But when he reaches out for Din in the middle of the night, and feels Luke’s presence flood their bond with love, warmth and care, he feels as though he might sleep better. So, he snuggles closer to Din and wraps his arms around himself. Engulfed in the arms of one his beloveds, Boba closes his eyes and falls asleep once more.
When Boba wakes next the suns have just started sending beams of sunlight though the windows. He’s still wrapped in Din’s arms and held tight against his chest. But in his own arms he now holds Luke, who in turn is wrapping his arms and legs around him and reaching for Din. Boba doesn’t know how Luke managed to get to Tatooine from Yavin that quickly, but he can’t find it in himself to care.
Boba decides that they have all earned being able to sleep in. Once again Boba closes his eyes. Arms wrapped around his loves, and with them holding him as well. Their force bond is calm and full of love. This time when Boba falls asleep, he does not dream of the sarlacc. Instead, he dreams of the future. Their future.