#lies and porg pajamas | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ahsokathegray · 10 months ago

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Lies and Porg Pajamas

Pairing: Rexsoka

Prompt: Rexsoka Monthly Nov. ‘23 - I Like It When You—

Summary: Dearest reader, all love stories must start somewhere. This one started twice. Once, in the close of war, amidst loss, uncertainty, and abrupt partings. And for a second time, amidst lies and porg patterned pajamas.

Tags: language, Rex in lingerie, fluff, idiots in love, porg orphanages

Word Count: 4,717

A/N: If you haven’t already, go give @rexsoka-monthly a follow and join us in supporting and creating prompt-based Rexsoka content! 🫶

read on ao3! / masterlist

This wasn’t the first time Ahsoka had seen Rex walking about the halls of the Tantive IV in the small hours of the morning.

It was perhaps the tenth time… not that she was counting, thank you very much.

There was an adjustment period to be had, after all, what with having been part of Bail’s rebellion for only a short while now. Rex had been aboard for just a few weeks longer than Ahsoka, but still seemed to be having issues settling in.

She knew him well enough to tell that he was wrestling with some internal struggle that no one was privy to.

During daylight hours (if you could call it that when they were moving through space), Rex appeared to be the otherwise fine, collected Captain she always knew him to be. But if anyone else had known him as she had, they’d know his under eyes were darker, his steps were more sluggish, and even his voice sounded slower… She was just a concerned friend, alright?

Ahsoka’s first guess on the reason behind his late night strolls were the nightmares. Rex had told her once, years before, all clones had them and that he was no exception. The idea that these dreams were somehow worse now that the war had ended caused her heart to sink.

Her second guess was simply the unfamiliarity with the ship and its inhabitants.

Trust was in short supply these days.

If you can’t even trust your own brothers, let alone yourself, how can you trust anyone else in the galaxy?

As good as Bail was and as much as his words and promises held up, she couldn’t blame Rex if he didn’t fully trust the Senator. Even she was wary of the man at first, not using the comm he’d given her until she had no other option.

Sometimes, Ahsoka wondered if Rex’s trust in her had lessened — or if there was any of it left at all. They didn’t speak much these days. When she all but insisted they part ways… they’d both felt the unimaginable hurt of it.

This was why, when she saw glimpses of him well past midnight, she kept to herself. It was often that she found her feet wanting to carry her to him, therefore, it was often she had to remind herself to stay away.

He’s just familiarizing himself with these new halls, Ahsoka. He’s busy memorizing passageways — testing his knowledge. He isn’t looking for conversation. He’s looking for escape routes if it all goes wrong, counting steps, seeing which doors belonged to who.

She passed the observation deck tonight, stole a quiet look at him, and continued to walk on. He wasn’t pacing for once, nor did he look like a man on a mission. Nevertheless, this part of the ship was taken.

She made it all but ten steps away.

“Can’t sleep?” Rex asked, his voice echoing in the empty corridor.

Ahsoka stopped and turned to face him, her heart in her throat, taken aback that he’d approached her at all. “I don’t exactly do much of that these days…. You?”

What was he wearing?

A pause drifted between them and the slight uplift of Rex’s lips lessened the tension. “Something like that,” he answered, then added, “Care to join me?”

“I figured you wanted to be alone.”

He nodded, as if he were considering the information, before beckoning his head towards the door and walking back through it.

With furrowed brow markings, Ahsoka followed him and entered the observation deck. Rex took a seat on one of the benches and she sat beside him, leaving a good bit of room in between.

Only in the awkwardness of this encounter did Ahsoka’s gaze roam, eyes settling on the specifics of his clothing. She’d never seen him between these small hours of night and morning… outside of the war at least. Therefore, she’d never seen him in anything less than his gear and his newly adopted civvies.

Simple slippers covered his feet — the same ones that covered hers and everyone else’s on board. He wore a snug fitting, long sleeve shirt that said something about riot racing in a variety of languages. Then for bottoms, he just had on a pair of gray sweats — these were quite tight as well. She didn’t allow herself to look very long at those. They were so terribly flattering on him. No one should have the right to pull them off that well.

Her own choice of nightwear in comparison made her nerves start to rattle. Coming up for air, she saw that Rex was taking stock of her appearance as well.

“Porg pajamas?” he asked, pressing his lips together to fight off his evident amusement.

Ahsoka blushed wildly and offered him a nervous laugh, “Courtesy of the lost and found.”

That was a lie. She’d never lied to Rex before. Why did she feel so embarrassed? This was a new and unwelcome development. Embarrassment wasn’t something she came by often and most certainly not with Rex. She bit her tongue out of guilt and tried to save it.

“What about yours? Betting on riot races now, are we?”

This was the right decision.

He laughed despite the late hour and how tired he was, looking down at his own nightwear, “Gotta do something with the excess of free time and all my hard-earned Republic credits.”

A bitter silence took the empty seat between them on the bench. Neither one of them had any credits to their name. Even if they had, the Empire was concluding the process of phasing them out — eliminating their value, purpose, and existence; just as had been done to the clones and the Jedi.

“So the lost and found then?” she asked, hoping to lighten the mood. Despite her glum thought that she and Rex themselves belonged in a lost and found crate, her maneuver worked.

Rex flashed his teeth and nodded, “I’m more of a bolo-ball fan.”

The next time Ahsoka saw Rex after hours, he spotted her first. She was pouring a cup of cold caf when he approached her in the deserted mess hall.

“You’ve got a steady hand,” he surveyed, walking up behind her and plucking an empty mug from the table.

She stopped mid-pour and arched an incredulous brow marking. “Jedi, Rex,” was all she said, shooting him a questioning smirk and then filling his cup. Then she saw the darts in his hand.

A mischievous smile broke out across Rex’s features. “Got anything better to do this late at night?”

Had he always been this charismatic? Her heart skipped several beats. Or this handsome?

“Sleep,” Ahsoka said, not meaning it whatsoever.

Darts with Rex was something a much younger Ahsoka hadn’t enjoyed too much. Abysmal — that was how Jesse had described her hand at the game. The only thing interesting about it was getting to spend time with a Captain she needed to win over as a shiny new Padawan — something that had eventually turned into her most cherished friendship in the galaxy.

To this day, the only thing interesting about darts with Rex would be that it was spent in his company.

Okay, so maybe she was interested in seeing where it would lead this time around — especially given their unspoken only-acknowledged-with-the-eyes care for one another. Neither one of them had dared speak of it after Ahsoka suggested they part. Force, it was part of the reason why she’d suggested it in the first place.

“You and I and that cup of caf know you’re not doing that any time soon,” Rex countered, beckoning her once again to follow him.

He soon stopped in the nearby doorway of a tiny office, currently serving as a storage room instead of a place of work.

The room was so small that Rex had to stand in the hallway to get a proper distance away from the dartboard. He threw one effortlessly that landed somewhere between the edge and the center. “Think you remember how it’s done?”

“Think you better stick to your pistols?” Ahsoka smirked, crossing her arms.

Rex rolled his eyes in a very-Ahsoka fashion, saying it was late and that he was rusty before he placed a dart in her reluctant palm. “Come on. It helps me think. Now, just how I did it. Once you throw a couple, the muscle memory will return,” he explained.

Tonight, his riot racing shirt was replaced with his blacks, plus the lower portion of his civvies. This part of the ship was drafty and only got colder with each level. Ahsoka found that she missed the sweats and the tight ugly racing shirt.

She then threw a dart and it bounced off the board. Her shoulders slumped in defeat, but Rex didn’t buy her plea for alternating turns. She went again and missed again. The fifth dart she threw had a bit of Force assistance behind it, ensuring it landed right in the center.

Rex gave her a look of disapproval.

“I think it’s your sleeves messing you up,” he observed, plucking her failed darts from the floor. Rex placed them back in her hand and stepped behind her, settling over her shoulder and taking hold of the long sleeve of her nightgown. “You’re thinking about it too hard.”

It happened so quickly she’d hardly had time to register it.

His breath was warm on her lekku and the tiny sliver of her neck that was exposed. Rex’s hand moved tantalizingly slow, one finger whispering across her skin as he tucked the excess material behind her elbow.

She felt like a stereotypical lover in a holo drama with a breath caught in her throat. Swallowing the lump away, Ahsoka allowed Rex to guide her.

“You’re giving the throw enough power but you’re losing your aim. Bring your arm back to the side of your head and let it release with the extension of your arm,” he instructed, bending her elbow in example.

How she was meant to retain all this when he was standing so close, Ahsoka didn’t know. Her heart felt too big for her chest and her ribcage felt too fragile to hold it. And he smelled good, like a fresh shower, caf, and hours-old cologne.

A niggling voice in her head whispered things she’d tried to bury.

There’s another reason you keep your distance from him, Ahsoka. He makes you lose focus in the way you so dearly crave of him.

“Now try again,” he said, noticing her tongue dart out to press upon her lip. “Without the Force.”

Ahsoka laughed defeatedly, “How’d you know?”

“You have a tell,” he answered, pressing his own tongue to his upper lip to show her.

Sithspit that was… her heart quickened impossibly further. Yes, okay, she very much enjoyed playing darts now.

She threw the thing, setting it on a sailing path towards the center of the board. Rex’s hands fell from her shoulder to her hips. The dart stuck and landed fairly close to the center. His hands slipped away, darting to the back of his neck.

With a small jump in celebration, Ahsoka cheered, “I did it!”

Rex’s face was slightly more pink than before. “I knew you could! Though, I think next time shorter sleeves will be the key. Maybe you can call upon your porg pajamas to do the job,” he teased.

Next time.

“I don’t think they’ll be of much help,” Ahsoka said.

“Why not? Did they manage to fly off somewhere? I wasn’t aware they could do that at all,” he joked. “Fattest little things I’ve ever seen.”

Ahsoka could feel the warmth in her lekku gather and darken her chevrons. “They can and I… can’t. I returned them to the lost and found.”

“No you didn’t.”

“I did.”

“Tell me you’re lying, Ahsoka.”

Her name on his mouth sounded better than it ever had.

“I’m not lying.”

“Alright, darts can wait. We’re going to rescue your porgs right now.”

“Rex!”

“Nope, I’ve already decided,” he replied over his shoulder, already on his way to the deck below.

Following him, Ahsoka huffed, “Rex I’m sure whoever they belong to has gotten them already.” She bit her tongue again, frustrated when this didn’t deter him from his mission. The pajamas would be exactly as she left them because they belonged to no one but her.

Sure enough, the cold, dusty corner that the lost and found crate sat in still held her nearly folded porg pajamas. Though, they were no longer on top.

Rex plucked them from under the pile of new additions and handed them back to her, “There. They’ve been returned home safely from the orphanage for porgs.”

Ahsoka only rolled her eyes and watched as Rex went through the remaining contents of the crate. Neither one of them had many possessions to their name. “They should really rename this thing to donations,” he said, tossing aside a muddy boot. “Oh ho, what’s this?” The inflection in his voice raised curiously.

Ahsoka craned her neck to see what he was holding and her eyes went wide when he turned to face her. Looped through his thumbs were two of the thinnest straps she’d ever seen, and what they held up… well, Ahsoka didn’t think it very much counted as clothing.

She swallowed her initial shock. “Where’s the rest of it?”

Rex wiggling the silky item around. “I rather like it. Fair quality material for how little of it there is. You sure you’ve got plenty of pajamas?”

He winked.

Ahsoka looked down at her simple night gown to hide the flush in her face. What he was holding was about a quarter of the length of what she had on. It was silky, and lacy, and… an image of herself wearing it materialized in her mind. Her subconscious version of Rex liked it very much.

She shook the thought away and snorted. “Yes I do, thank you. I actually think you’d look rather alluring in it, Rex, seeing as the riot racing shirt is clearly all the pajamas you own. Go on, please. Let’s see it,” she teased.

Expecting that to be the end of it, Ahsoka gathered her porg pajamas and made for the door. But Rex didn’t follow. She looked back. He had just discarded the upper half of his blacks.

Her face dropped, eyes already glued to his muscular back. Oh Force.

It was quite evident what Rex was really getting up to during his free time, and it wasn’t betting on riot racing. He had definitely not been this fit during the war.

Force.

Fuck.

His upper body was quite a deal wider now and his muscles rippled as he moved. Ahsoka’s eyes were unabashedly wandering lower and lower. Oh, his waist—

He kicked his slippers off.

Ahsoka’s mouth, had it not already been dry, was as good as the surface of Tattooine now. Now— Now, he was fiddling with the fasteners on his pants.

She was glued to the spot, unable to move, to swallow, unable to tear her eyes away. Rex’s trousers hit the floor in a heap and he stepped out of them. Tonight may be the night she passed away. Ahsoka Tano — survivor of Order 66 and the Clone Wars, dead via fatally attractive ex-Captain. She clutched her porg pajamas to her chest.

The flimsy negligee was tossed over his head. Ahsoka was certain it wouldn’t go over his broad shoulders, but by some miracle it did.

He faced her then, pure amusement plasters over his face. Rex was red in the face, trying not to laugh as he looked for Ahsoka’s reaction. The tiny gown had just covered his briefs. And whether the material was supposed to be sheer or not — as it was stretched to its limits across his muscular chest — Ahsoka didn’t know.

She knew nothing in this moment. Her head was empty except for the, albeit hilarious, revealing sight in front of her.

Ahsoka saw the concern reach Rex’s eyes when she finally found them and quickly collected herself. But it was a futile effort. The man had found a pair of porg slippers and slipped them over his feet. “Well aren’t you p-pretty,” she laughed, finally overcome with a giggling fit once she was brought out of her trance.

“There it is,” he smiled.

Taking a deep breath, Ahsoka asked, “There what is?”

“Your laugh. A real one,” he answered. “I haven’t heard it in… Well, it’s been too long.”

The mood had shifted. Rex gave her that empathetic smile he was too good at. She returned it, keeping eye contact for perhaps too long for what was normal between friends. It was then that Rex seemed to notice the full weight of what he’d done. It was cold. He was basically fully undressed. Ahsoka was staring at him, lekku darkened.

He reached for his discarded clothing at once and ripped the gown. “Oh,” was all he said, raising up with his pink tinged cheeks.

Ahsoka burst out laughing and Rex was helpless but to laugh at himself. Placing his clothes in her arms, Rex ripped the poor dress from his body and tossed it back in the lost and found.

Ahsoka swallowed hard and gave a nearly naked Rex his clothes back, trying extra hard to keep looking at her feet. “Such a shame about the little night dress.”

“I know. Should we hold a funeral?”

“We should. You’re keeping the porg slippers right?”

“Wouldn’t dream of leaving here without them.”

“Rex, what are you doing?” Ahsoka asked, bending down to where he lay on the floor the next evening.

She’d lie to everyone but Rex if they asked where she’d been tonight. Was she wandering the halls past lights-out looking for him? Absolutely not — depending on who posed the question.

He was staring up at the star charts as if they were stars themselves, his eyes glazed over, the ugly yet flattering racing shirt back on his body. She sighed and asked why he was on the floor before taking his unresponsiveness as her cue to give up.

Instead of pestering him for an answer, Ahsoka laid down beside him and looked up at the imitation stars. They lay in silence for a long time, watching as the mini map’s Tantive left one sector and entered another. “Ilos,” she whispered, pointing to a green dot indicating a planet.

Rex’s brows furrowed in her periphery.

“No, actually I believe that’s Ilos Minor,” Rex said.

She smiled to herself, “I know.” And really, she did. Rex had a special interest in maps and prided himself on his knowledge of the systems. There was a high probability he’d correct her if she guessed incorrectly, as he’d done frequently in the past, so she did so — on purpose.

Rex sat up slightly to look at her. His gaze again lasted longer than usual, the tension in his face softening. Then he noticed her porg pajamas, which elicited a genuine smile. “Your porgs,” he said, surprise in his voice.

“Your porgs. I’m just taking care of them,” Ahsoka corrected.

“Are they being fed properly?” Rex asked, a glint sparkling in his honeyed eyes.

Ahsoka bit her lip to stifle a laugh, “Most properly.”

“How about sleep? Are they getting the rest they need?”

She had a funny feeling they weren’t talking about porgs anymore.

Smiling, she continued playing the game. “Better than they used to.”

“Good. I like it when you take care of my porgs.”

Rex was overly pleased with himself, grinning like a fool at the star charts and thinking Ahsoka couldn’t see it. She scrunched her nose and looked away briefly to do her own foolish grinning. The silence that encased them now was comfortable, peaceful rather than tense — echoing, if she dare say, with something more.

Whatever had been ailing Rex had evidently subsided for the time being.

“I like it when you take care of you,” Ahsoka said after a long while.

His knuckles brushed hers and he took her hand, laced their fingers with care, and brought it up to his lips. A soft kiss was pressed to Ahsoka’s thumb. The bags under Rex’s eyes were deeper and darker than she’d ever seen, but the love still managed to reach his eyes.

Fine, she was caught in another lie. She wasn’t just the concerned friend she told herself she was. Ahsoka was concerned for him because she loved him — in every way a person can be loved.

He rested their conjoined hands on his chin. “I knew it was a matter of time before you started demanding that I sleep.”

“I’m not telling you anything your body isn’t already telling you itself,” she said smartly.

“Sleeping isn’t the problem,” he finally divulged. “I can fall asleep fine, it's just that once— once I do, I see everything I pretend to forget when I’m awake.”

“Nightmares?”

“I wish that were the extent of it,” Rex answered truthfully.

A pained look of sorts must’ve taken over her face, as Rex kissed her thumb again and told her it was alright.

She worried her lip and attempted to lighten the darkness that had just fallen upon them. “You ever try counting porgs?”

Rex gave her a laugh and shook his head. “Is that the solution then?”

“Yes. I’m prescribing you a bedtime scenario of 100 porgs jumping a fence.”

“Do they have a shepherd?”

“You can be the shepherd if you like,” she giggled.

“I want it to be you.”

A sheepish grin lifted the corners of Ahsoka’s mouth and her face felt warm. “It can be me, then. Whatever you want.”

Rex sat up after that and switched off the projection of the maps. Holding out his hand for her, he said, “Well, you’re the professional. Admit me, Healer Tano. Show me the way to my room.”

“I hardly believe you’ve lost your way,” she rolled her eyes, taking his hand. “You’ve memorized this entire ship back to front.”

“Have I now?”

“Yes. You have.”

“And how would you know this?”

“A little porgie told me.”

“And you’re sure it’s not because you’ve been observing my habits during our late night strolls?”

Ahsoka visibly flushed this time. “Are they ours?”

“They are,” he said, turning serious as they walked hand in hand down the hall.

When they reached the landing that led to all the ship’s quarters, the air grew thicker. Their night was coming to a close again. It was her least favorite part. It wasn’t lost on her though how Rex had slowed down, walking down the hall in the least hurry possible.

More space was slotted between them lest anyone else calling the Tantive home was awake and saw them.

All too soon, they came to a stop at Rex’s bedroom door. He gave her a smile she couldn’t read and said nothing as he opened it. It looked identical to her own, just mirrored, so she didn’t know why she was so interested in seeing it.

That, again, was a lie. She knew quite well.

Shifting awkwardly in the doorway, Ahsoka was about to walk away when Rex looked back at her.

“Aren’t you coming in?” he asked.

Ahsoka’s mouth opened and closed uselessly before quirking up into a smile. “I figured you wanted to be alone.”

His signature half smile appeared at the same words she’d just said only a few nights prior. “Being alone is better with you, I’ve recently found.”

She spotted his comically large porg slippers by the bed. “I get it. You just need someone to take care of your porgs. I’m not the porg whisperer, you know?”

Shaking his head, Rex just laughed. Ahsoka had a feeling this dance they were doing with the porgs was coming to a close. He stood by the bed, a glint in his eye telling her to shut the door and step into the room already — she did.

“You do realize that by me being here, that doesn’t count as us being alone?”

“Well we are, aren’t we?”

The lump that had been frequently occupying her throat rose up again. Silence rang loudly in her montrals. Ahsoka looked around the small room. They were in fact, after several nights of having the halls to themselves, now truly and actually alone. Her lekku felt hot and there was that tinge of pink decorating Rex’s cheeks.

It was no longer something of wishful thinking or bedtime scenarios to help her off to sleep. It was real.

Rex didn’t dare step towards her. “I didn’t mean… Of course, you can leave if you want.”

Ahsoka didn’t know if this was the part where they confess their feelings or run into one another in a passionate kiss. Tomorrow morning, she’d make a request that the cheesy holo dramas that played on one of the screens in the mess be switched to another news channel.

“You’re the only thing…”

“I want to stay,” she heard herself say.

“…I find comfort in,” Rex trailed.

The silence that rang in her montrals now rang in the small room around them.

“You what?” he asked.

Ahsoka felt that familiar airiness in her stomach, as was always present when Rex was around these days. “I want to stay. I think— I know now that I had it all wrong, Rex. Splitting up… That was the wrong call. I want to stay, and not just here tonight, but—”

Rex took that fate-sealing step towards her, “Come here.”

She fell into his arms, her entire body relaxing as they wrapped around her. The breath left her lungs as he hugged her, but she couldn’t find it in her to care. Ahsoka hugged him just as tightly in return, feeling him beneath her fingertips, her hands, her chest — reminding herself that he was real, and here, and alive.

With misty vision, she pulled away just enough to look up at him. His face was overcome with emotion, eyes soft, as he used a thumb to wipe away the twin tears that had begun to fall down her cheeks.

Her heart hammered in her chest, beating in sync against his.

“Stay. Organa is running low on rooms. Move your things into mine and stay,” he said breathily.

“Rex,” Ahsoka gasped, her heart doing the equivalent of riot racing.

“I’m serious. What’ll it take you? One trip, maybe two?”

“One,” she blushed. “But we should wait. Just a little longer, I think.”

He smiled, the blush in his cheeks spreading down to his neck. “Okay. We’ll wait as long as you’d like. I’ll wait forever if I need to. I— I care… deeply about you, Ahsoka.”

She pressed her lips together in an attempt to control the flutters in her body and laughed, “And my porgs?”

Rex fiddled the material on her shoulder and she felt his chest rumble with laughter, “Yes. You and your porgs.”

Ahsoka beamed up at him and he pulled away — all too soon, in her opinion — and climbed into his bunk. He looked back to her before he even got comfortable and beckoned her with his head once more, silently asking her to get in with him. She followed, senses overcome with nothing but Rex.

He dimmed the lights, helped her situate the blankets and they slotted together as if sleeping side by side was something they’d been doing every night since the war ended.

Strong arms wrapped around her and he nuzzled into the crook of her neck. A single kiss was pressed to the back of her left lek and Ahsoka smiled with her eyes closed.

“I don’t think I’ll need to count those porgs, after all,” Rex mumbled, kissing her shoulder.

Neither one of them had felt such peace in years.

It wasn’t the magic night that Rex had stopped having the nightmares. He’d always have them. They did subside sometimes, but from this night after, they did become less frequent. And as things rhymed in silly, cheesy holo dramas — it was the last night that they used porgs for euphemisms of their love for one another. For, dear readers, Rex and Ahsoka both woke the next morning to the Tantive’s gentle wake-up call and said those fate-sealing words with a fate-sealing kiss.

#rexsoka #rexsoka fic #rexsoka monthly #november 2023: i like it when you #lies and porg pajamas #my fic #ahsokathegray

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