#vod'ika's thoughts

[vodika-vibes]

I'm thinking about Dad!Rex

Rex having a pair of identical twin girls and just being like, "one set of identical twins isn't enough?" And then names Fives and Echo as their unofficial official older brothers.

Both girls being platinum blonde like him and no one believes Rex when he says he can tell them apart.

Twin A wears 501st blue. Twin B also wears 501st blue, but with white stripes.

Rex carries a baby in each arm as he does routine inspections. Vod'e who pass get to cuddle a baby, or both babies if they're lucky.

Anakin does something foolish and Rex lifts the twins and says, "Just know that you've disappointed all three of us." And it just wrecks Anakin.

Ahsoka has big sister privileges and gets to cuddle the twins whenever she wants.

Cody once babynapped the twins and had a full debriefing with a baby in each arm, he pretended he didn't know what anyone was talking about when they asked about the babies.

[yoursrosie]

i love seeing the command batch + rex as cadets

the one sunny day ever

[cc1010fox]

Fox: Did you know Alpha-17 was my first kiss? Thire: I thought I was? Years Earlier: Alpha-17, holding a tubie: Aren't they too little to be outside of their tubes? Kaminoan: We are conducting tests on them. Tubie, reaching up at Alpha-17's face: Ah! Alpha-17, leaning into his hands: What is it, vod'ika? The tubie pushes his face against Alpha-17's, planting a big sloppy baby kiss on him. Alpha-17, laughing: A little charmer, huh? You're going to be trouble, aren't you, 1010? Present Day: Fox: Nope. Alpha-17 told me he was.

[ct-51-4305]

AU - Priest kidnapped clone cadets and absconded from Kamino.👀

Cody thought his vod'ika had been decommed.😔

[mamuzzy-creates-stuff]

For the kiss ask prompts:

Deadshot x Fives + 32 - a kiss while someone watches

I want my babus *^*

One of the few things Deadshot had to accept that clone troopers didn't know the meaning of privacy. And that would mean, no sex without audience. "It's just makes things even more exciting" said Fives with a mischievous grin. When Shot's eyes met with Dogma's wide ones in the dark, it occured to his mind that maybe - just maybe -, the vod'ika didn't share this sentiment and Fives' round naked ass mooning at him wasn't the first thing he wanted to see when woken up in the middle of the night by the muffled moans and the squelching noises of sloppy kisses. Fives made sure that such inconveniences wouldn't bother Shots anymore while with him.

I really snorted when I saw this prompt, because my first thought was: Privacy? ON A VENATOR???

Also I returned back to my comfort zone with this one art-wise, I hope you like it ^^ I missed these di'kuts so much, thank you for asking for them ith <3333

[vodika-vibes]

I love him

I wanted to do some anatomy practice and because I need something to motivate me I decided to draw Commander Fox not just that you can see the improvement from when I last drew shirtless clones

[oceansssblue]

Ok, rare pairing for SW.....Fox and Yoda.

Still with me? Yoda is on Coruscant more often than not, usually meeting with Palpatine; he's bound to have run into Fox at some at some point; maybe Fox is his security escort when he visits. I HC Yoda being vaguely paternal, similar to how he treated the three clones in the first episode of TCW.

Rare pairing at it's highest! xD

Here's my take!

Xx,

Blue.

"REST, YOU MUST" – YODA/FOX 💖💔

WARNINGS: some angst implying fox being mind-manipulated by mr palpatine, work stress, otherwise fluff.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Fox feels... Fatigued. It's the best word that describes it –the best he can find, at least–. He's not excruciatingly tired; he's not really depressed either. He's just that; fatigued.

It has been a tough week for the Corries. Tension is all but growing in the low and medium levels of Corusscant; more and more resources being redirectioned to the effort of the –what seems to be– endless war, and therefore pushing the most vulnerable citizens of the capital to suffering. And he suffers, too; his heart breaks everytime he sees a scrawny kid bitting into his own dirty jaket, trying to fool his mind into thinking that the biting equals eating. Fox would wish to do more; but there's only so much a single man –or a few– can do.

The hardest part of everything is probably protecting the Chancellor. There have been a few attempts at his life lately –nothing mayor, nothing properly organised–; and he had been ordered to become his shadow at almost all times. It's draining. Fox doesn't know if it's all of this pent up stress; or the tension from having to stay vigilant all day. The knowledge that if something happens to the Chancellor, he'd be remembered as the foolish clone that hadn't been up to the task. He doesn't want to be remembered as such. Fox wants to be remembered by his duty with the Guard; chasing evil, helping those in need. He might be seen as a tough man; but he's just that, a man.

The bunkroom is the only place he really feels safe in nowadays. There, his body half crushed in the human pile he makes with his brothers, his vod'ika, he doesn't feel in danger. Or fatigued. He feels soothed; warm. He's able to breathe, to just be; nose hid in Thorn's neck and one arm slumped over Thire's chest. Surrounded by his family, the shadow and darkness that always seem to follow him dissipates.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Fox is having one of those days again. He feels dizy; a sharp headache pounding against the side of his forehead. The muscles on his neck and shoulders feel like proper stones by now; hours and hours of guarding the Chancellor's office finally catching up onto him. He's not on the best physical condition to do this, right now; but he's somewhat relieved that no-one could possible harm Palpatine in this instant. He's in a reunion with Master Yoda; and no one is as powerfull as him.

Fox has only seen the Grand Master fight on two ocassions; as the Corries don't get to join the rest of the GAR in the galatic battles. Two ocassions had been enough to solidify that idea, though. No one would think the small Jedi would be much of a threat just by looking at him –his body hunched over his cane, deep wrinkles in his face and a tuff of white hair on his head–; but the agility Master Yoda was able to conjure was astounding. His understanding of the Force, more so.

Fox was pulled of his thoughts with said Jedi slowly walking out of the Chancellor's office; a deep frown etched on his face. Fox inmediately straightened, not wanting to leave a bad impresion on the Master; but the small Jedi discovered something in him that went behond his physical form.

"Commander Fox" he greeted him, his cane tapping once against the floor right in front of him. "You should not be here".

Fox freezes. He stutter's; not expecting the comment. He had been ordered to...

"S-sir?"

Yoda makes a small, dissaproving sound with his tongue.

"A mess, your mind is. Rest, you must".

Fox sighs. He should have guessed; Master Yoda can feel about everything.

"I can cope with a few more hours, Sir. It's no problem" he answers, voice firm.

Yoda taps his cane against the floor again.

"Caring for the mind, we should, as much as caring for the body. A weakened mind is a weak oponent" he mussed, looking up at his bucket, and Fox could swear he was looking ar him into the eye. "Call one of your men to take care of the job, you should".

The commander relented. He didn't like the fuss; but he knew Master Yoda would insist, and he didn't like to feel reprimanded by him. He guessed he did need some rest; it would do him good.

"As you wish, Master Yoda" he agreed, and asked Thire to cover him.

The Jedi hummed, pleased, and asked Fox to follow him. He walked by his side, slightly confused as to what else the Master would want of him. Perhaps he wanted to make sure he truly went to rest?

Fox followed the Jedi into an empty room; and watched in confussion as Yoda sat down on the floor as if it were the most normal thing in the world. The Jedi gestured for him to do the same; and Fox obbeyed in silence.

"Meditate, we will" Yoda resolves, final, and the clone frowns.

He doesn't know how to do that kind of thing.

"Take your bucket off and close your eyes, you should" the Jedi guides him. "Empty your mind of all worries you can not control, you try. Breathe in and feel yourself, you shall".

Fox follows if only to please Master Yoda; because he doesn't really think this will be usefull for him. He's therefore surprised when, an unkown time later, his mind is somehow quiet; ebbing out of his physical form to somewhere warm and abstract. It's almost as falling into a peacefull trance.

He feels something brushing against his mind. It's bright, soothing, warm; like a caress that slowly takes the pain away and makes everything lighter, easier to carry. Still holding a part of his consciousness, Fox understands it's Yoda's life force; the Jedi Master interacting with his mind with the understanding fondness of an old friend.

When he opens his eyes again, and Fox locks eyes with the small Jedi, he can't help but flush; feeling that mental contact more intimate than any of his late sexual escapades.

Yoda looks unbothered and peacefull, looking back at him; and he reaches out to pat his hand with a few gentle taps.

"To take care of others, taking care of ourselves first, we must" he tells him, more tenderly than condescendant, and Fox nods in silence.

He can almost hear his heart beat speeding up.

THE END.

[coffeeandbatboys]

Where Your Road Leads

Pairing: Fives x Fem!Reader, platonic Torrent (Kix, Jesse & Rex) x reader, platonic Echo x reader

Warnings: Heavy angst, temporary spousal death, pregnancy, fluff, language, throwing up...I think that's all

A/N this is possibly my longest one shot ever...

A knock sounds on your door.

Kix.

You'd been expecting him for the last two hours and he’s just now made it to your home. You open the door with every nerve buzzing.

“Kix, what took—”

You pause in fear when his face reveals only sadness and guilt.

“What's going on?” You demand, ushering the medic inside.

“I'm so sorry, vod'ika.” Is all he can manage with tears gathering in his eyes. Fives. Something bad happened to Fives. You’ve heard the report that he'd tried to kill the Chancellor, and that he was wanted by the Corries. But you thought he'd be safe with Rex. After all, the captain had been worried about him when he stopped by earlier.

“Kix.” You repeat. “Where's Fives?”

The medic takes a deep breath.

“He’s been,” he chokes on a shaky breath and his already unstable voice lowers to a whisper. “killed.”

Your knees buckle beneath you and you want to throw up. You stumble to the ‘fresher, Kix following behind to hold your hair as you empty the contents of your stomach.

“Oh, maker! No….fuck no.” You cry, dry heaving now. “There's no way.”

Kix runs a hand over his face to hide the haunted look in his eyes.

It takes a few minutes for your breathing to calm down. “And the test?” You quietly ask the question you've been dreading since he came in. It’s the reason you were expecting him, after all.

He turns to face you.

“Conclusive. You're two months pregnant.”

For the next six months, Torrent is always a comm away. Kix stopping in to make sure you're eating well enough to support both you and the baby, and Jesse helping you set up a nursery. Rex goes with you to most of your appointments if he can. You're grateful to have a family, even if they're not blood, and even if you and Fives weren't officially ‘married’. He’s still your husband, and they're your family.

It still hurts to wake up with a cold back where there would normally be the warmth of his chest, pressed against it, and anything that reminds you of Fives in your apartment remains untouched

When Echo is brought back, he finds out all about what happened and decides that the Bad Batch can wait. For now, he needs to uphold a promise that he'd made to Fives when the two of you first got together. If anything were to happen to a domino twin and his significant other was left behind, the remaining brother would take care of them. Even with the looming realization that his best friend is dead, Echo couldn't be more excited to be an uncle.

A year and a half later, you're sitting at the table, reading about the Chancellor’s ‘accidental' death and a subsequently revealed plot to kill the Jedi via the GAR, when you hear the front door open. Echo must be back with little Fiv'ika from the store earlier than expected.

But the footfalls that find their way into the kitchen aren’t mechanical like Echo's, and there's no excited babbling from your son.

You turn to see just who had let themselves into your house and—

Well…damn. This is new.

Fives is standing in the doorway. His curls are a little longer and his shoulders hang a bit, but he still has that light in his eyes, and his goatee is kept the way he always used to do it, and the tattoo is on the same spot that it always was.

You don't trust your eyes with the image. He can't be alive. He would have been here this whole time if he was alive.

It’s only when he speaks that you accept that he's here.

“Ner runi…” he murmurs, and you cross the distance to throw your arms around him. He's warm and soft and above all, he's real.

“Fives!” You cry, bitter tears rolling down your cheeks. “Where the hell have you been? You were dead!”

Instead of letting him answer, you grab his face and crash your lips against his. He returns the kiss with a relieved hum and tugs you closer. When you pull away, he wipes a few tears off your cheek with a calloused thumb, and his own eyes become glossy.

“I went in deep cover to investigate the chancellor. Commanders Cody and Fox are the only ones who know that I'm alive at all.”

The front door opens again, and this time it’s the sounds of your laughing child and Echo announcing “We’re home!”

Fives, however, stills with panic and pulls away from you.

“Osik,” he curses himself. “I should have realized that you could have moved on.”

I didn't.” You cut him off. “I didn't move on. You're in for the surprise of your life, Babe.”

His eyebrows scrunch as Echo and Fiv'ika enter the room. Echo stops in his tracks when he registers Fives’ face and you silently take the child from his arms.

“Firstly I want you to meet your son, Fives Jr., or as we call him, Fiv'ika.”

Fives’ eyes go wide and his knees suddenly feel shaky. He's not sure that he trusts his voice, but he tries anyways.

“You had our first kid and I wasn't there? Oh, maker. Fuck.” he brings a hand to cover his mouth, and tears spill over his cheeks. He falls to his knees and looks up at you.

“Ni ceta, Mesh'la. I don't know what to say…”

You shake your head and tug on his sleeve, silently asking him to get up. You wrap one arm around the love of your life and press your temple to his, while the other arm holds your son.

“It’s okay. You whimper. “We’re here. Were together.”

Fiv’ika reaches tiny hands up to grab his father’s goatee. Fives lets out a wounded noise and kisses your cheek.

You pull away for a second.

“Secondly, you’ll want to see who’s been helping me.”

Confusion crosses his face and you look over to Echo, who’s been standing outside the doorway of the kitchen.

“Who is….” Fives trails off, eyes locking on his twin. “Echo?”

The paler clone’s eyes fill with tears and he nods.

“Su cuy’gar, Fives.”

Your husband gives your shoulder a squeeze and rushes towards his brother with open arms. The two quickly fall into a sobbing embrace and you watch, practically beaming.

“I would ask how you’re alive but if I survived being blown up I’m pretty sure that it’s not that hard.” Echo laughs.

Fives only looks horrified. “I am so sorry to both of you. I should have been there-”

“Hey,” you stop him, moving next to both of them, Fiv’ika in between. “We’re safe.”

Fives pulls you all together in a hug, mumbling “I love you all so much.” He’s holding his entire world—his wife, his son, and his twin brother—in his arms, and he’ll be damned if he’s letting any of you go soon.

Mando'a translations:

Vod'ika: Younger sibling

Ner runi: My soul

Osik: Shit

Ni ceta: I'm sorry; I kneel

Su cuy'gar: Hello; You're alive

[electrikworm]

Test Subjects: Part 6

previous next

Relationships: Crosshair & Echo & Hunter & Tech & Wrecker

Content Warnings: Blood and injury, Drug Usage, Emetophobia, CPR, Near Death Experience

Summary:

The immediate aftermath of Hunter and Crosshair's arrival at the Marauder as the Batch fight to get Crosshair's heart starting again.

Word count: 2’568

Read on Ao3

Chapter Text

Hunter heaves for air, adjusting the grip he has on Crosshair. He's made it out of the base, it's only a little further to the Marauder. Every step he takes, Hunter can sense her, closer and closer.

Crosshair groans weakly, coughing. He's been sick once more on the way, but hasn't tried to attack Hunter again. Hunter's ready to react if Crosshair were to throw up a third time, but he just wheezes.

“Just a little further, vod'ika” Hunter sighs, patting his brothers back. His leg is on fire, hot blood coating his skin, soaking his blacks. There's so much blood, Hunter can smell it stronger than any other scent, even Crosshair's own blood, the bile he threw up and the sweat running over his skin. Hunter grits his teeth and bears the pain of course, for his brother.

Crosshair's in a bad state, but Tech will have already figured out a solution. Tech always fixes the problems experimental substances cause, there's not a doubt in Hunter's mind that it wont be the case this time.

Hunter can practically smell the Marauder by now, the fuel fumes from the landing and dust it's picked up in space, as well as the familiar scent of their living space, their home. Limping a little faster, Hunter sighs softly. Almost there, almost safe. Then he'll finally get to sit down.

Crosshair wheezes loudly as Hunter shifts his grip on him. Despite his wiry frame, Crosshair is heavy, pushing down on Hunter's shoulder uncomfortably. But unlike the other times, Crosshair's breath doesn't go back to normal, becoming short, laboured gasps.

Fear grips Hunter's heart as he forces his injured limb to carry more than it should. Something is horribly wrong, he can feel it, almost taste it in the air.

Crosshair's heartbeat quickens, shifting to an erratic and irregular pace. Hunter's own heartbeat seems to want to match Crosshair's, thundering against his ribs as he starts running as best his bad leg allows him to.

Crosshair coughs, breaking out in a fit, then suddenly, Hunter's left alone with nothing but the sound of his own heart and breathing. A silence has fallen over Crosshair, over his body, his heart. It's the worst absence of noise Hunter's ever experienced.

Panicked, Hunter shifts Crosshair into his arms, holding him in front of his chest so he can see him as he hurries back to the ship. Crosshair's pale face is slack, just like the rest of him. His chest doesn't rise any more.

Hunter sprints the last few meters to the Marauder, feeling sick. This can't be happening, Crosshair can't die here. That thought is the only thing going through Hunter's mind and he takes the steps up to the ship two at a time.

Hunter can barely make himself form the words he needs to tell his brothers what happened.

Dropping to his knees with no regard for his own health, Hunter places Crosshair's still form on the floor carefully as chaos erupts inside the Marauder. He's aware of Tech and Echo's presence, but doesn't acknowledge them as he claws at Crosshair's chest plate, yanking it off his body.

Hunter's blind to the world as he places his hands on Crosshair's chest, extending his arms and pushing his weight down on his brother's chest. Nothing but how Crosshair reacts to the chest compressions matters to Hunter, everything else blocked out.

Distantly, Hunter's aware of some song they were taught to think of when applying CPR, but trying to recall it does nothing but piss Hunter off. It was something stupid, something to do with surviving. Who ever thought a song like that would be what someone wants to think of whilst a person dies in front of them, whilst their little brother dies in front of them, must have been crazy.

Hunter focuses his senses, hearing the organs shift in Crosshair's chest as he applies pressure. Ribs crack under the force, but that's nothing compared to death. Someone's cutting the blacks off Crosshair's chest, but even that doesn't keep Hunter from his mission. He refuses to let Crosshair die here.

Tech pushes Hunter's hands from Crosshair's chest. He wants to protest, but trusts Tech. Hunter wrings his hands as he watches Tech inject a hypo of unidentified substance into Crosshair's chest before applying electrodes to his skin. Hunter had almost forgotten they had a defibrillator. It's not like they ever used it.

Someone tells Hunter to stay clear of Crosshair, but he barely hears them over the blood rushing in his ears. Crosshair is still so horribly still. An painfully loud buzzing of electricity flares to Hunter's right, making him want to clutch at his head. It's like metal pipes imbedded in his brain is being hit over and over again.

Crosshair's body twitches, a controlled shock coursing through it. At the same time, Crosshair's heart reacts, twitching in response. Tech orders Hunter to continue the chest compressions, so he does.

Hunter keeps pressing his weight down on his brothers chest, once, twice with no response. Every time he fails, it's like the air around Hunter gets ticker, harder to inhale. Hunter keeps asking himself why it isn't working, what he's doing wrong.

Then Crosshair gasp, Echo just about able to flip him onto his side in time for more watery saliva and bile to pour from their little brother's mouth. Hunter's never been happier to watch one of his brothers throw up.

A shaky exhale leaves Hunter. It feels like an eternity since Crosshair's heart stopped, even if Hunter knows it's barely been a minute.

Echo wipes Crosshair's mouth before putting a breath mask on him, moving him onto his side more stably. Hunter's hands shake as he places one on Crosshair's wrist. He can hear the faint heart beat and ragged breathing, but wants to feel it too. If Hunter were to try standing up, he's sure he'd fall right back down.

Tech explains what they did with Wrecker, giving him blood to potentially dilute the drug in his body. Hunter's holding his arm out for the transfer before Tech's even finished. "Cross is bleeding," Hunter says, pointing at his brothers injured shoulder. Despite his best efforts, his voice shakes more than his hands do. Hunter's their Sargent, he should be level headed and calm at all times yet he's acting like a shiny. It's pathetic. Echo tends to Crosshair's injury with precision and care. He's doing so much better than Hunter is, managing to act like the soldier he was bred to be. It shows that Echo was chosen to be an ARC trooper for the skills he proved in combat and that Hunter's only Clone Force 99's Sargent because he was assigned that roll as a cadet. When Echo isn't watching, Hunter takes a roll of bandages from the med kit at his side. Hunter bunches some of it up and presses it into the wound on his leg. He won't make a fuss of his own injury. He can smell Echo's blood and Tech's voice is unusually rough, proving they're both ignoring damage to their own bodies. Tech connects Hunter's arm to Crosshair's swiftly. Hunter's already lost blood, but he can do with losing a bit more for his brother's sake. "They're stable for now," Tech rasps. There's something wrong with his neck for sure. The skin looks discoloured where his blacks don't fully cover his neck. "Watch them whilst I fly the ship." Hunter nods. There's no way he'd do anything other than watch his brothers. Echo is at Wrecker's side, so Hunter watches Crosshair. He still takes a moment to look at Wrecker, to listen to his breathing and heart. Both is weak, like Wrecker's body is struggling to keep up. But it's there. Wrecker's pale too and shaking. Echo, armed with the med kit, it trying to pull the glove off of Wrecker's burned hand. It's an ugly sight, skin coming with the item of clothing no matter how gentle Echo is. Hunter turns back to Crosshair. His chest is rising and falling, the motion almost steady. With his blacks cut, Hunter can see the damage he did to his little brother. Big bruises mar his skin, blood smeared from the cuts Hunter put in Crosshair's shoulder and hands.

Hunter had been slow. With getting to Crosshair, as well as subduing and bringing him back to the Marauder. They almost lost him and it would have been entirely Hunter's fault. Something in Hunter's chest seizes, making breathing hard. His eyes sting.

On top of everything, Hunter was also the one to accept the experimental stims in the first place. He should have told Tech to check over all the new supplies. A better Sargent wouldn't have neglected that.

Their two youngest vode could have died, almost did die. Kark, they might still do so if things take a turn for the worse.

The air is thick with the smell of blood and vomit, clouded with the heavy scent of fear. Hunter feels a little light-headed. He refuses to believe that's already from the blood loss.

Crosshair twitches and Hunter's immediately ready for his heart to stop beating, adrenalin spiking in his chest in response. But Crosshair's heart keeps going, just as weak as it was before. Something beeps at Hunters side, and only then does he realize that Echo's been alternating using the med scanner on both of their unconscious brothers.

Hunter hadn't even thought of that. His breath catches in his throat, the air hard to breath. He failed his vode and he continues to do so. If it weren't for Echo and Tech, they'd both be dead.

A burning sensation spreads through Hunter's chest and up his throat as his eyes flick between his unconscious brothers. He can barely hear them through the sound of his own heartbeat and laboured breaths. There must be something wrong with the ventilation in the Marauder, Hunter barely seems to gain any oxygen from the surrounding air.

Vision swimming, Hunter curses himself. He should focus on his brothers, but his mind wanders, finding it hard to stick in one place. Every sensation surrounding him, the smells, the Marauder's engine, the noises Hunter himself makes, it's all too much. Hunter can't seems to wade through the layers upon layers of stimuli, all desperate to pull the Sargent beneath its murky surface.

A loud snap in front of Hunter's face breaks through the overwhelming mist engulfing his mind. Echo's snapping his fingers near Hunter's head. Hunter wonders how long he might have been doing that.

Whilst the action does get Hunter's attention, it hardly gets him to focus. Their surroundings, what really matters, feels so distant. Hunter can barely keep a grip on it.

Something warm drips onto his hands and Hunter's blurry vision is pulled downwards to his shaky hands. He can't see anything, but he smells it now. Salt, specifically the saline scent of tears. Hunter hadn't even noticed that he'd started crying.

A soldier, even more so a Sargent, shouldn't be breaking out in tears whilst other trooper's lives are still at stake. Hunter's endangering them by loosing his composure, but no matter how hard he tries to clear his throat and wipe the fluid running down his face off, he can't calm down.

Hunter struggles to breath, his own body betraying him. He remembers all the trainers that used to shout at them for such emotional outbursts, though the additional guilt helps little to correct Hunter's behaviour. Sharp pain blooms in Hunter's skull, even sitting down he feels dizzy.

Then out of no where, arms are wrapped around Hunter's chest, drawing him close. Even with his senses preoccupied with his outburst, Hunter recognizes Echo. Hunter can't help but lean into the hug, head coming to rest on his brother's shoulder. Tears flow across his face and onto Echo's shoulder.

Echo seems to try and pull Hunter's composure back together with the embrace, and little by little, it works. Still unable to stop crying, Hunter becomes more aware of his surroundings.

He tries to push away from Echo when he remembers what Tech told them to do. “Wrecker and Cross-”

“I called Tech over, they're being monitored,” Echo interrupts him, like he's read Hunter's mind. Hunter is embraced tighter again.

Still struggling to get a hold of himself, Hunter tries to at least listen for his downed brothers as he clings to Echo. When he can finally pick the quiet thud of their hearts, interrupted by skipped beats ever so often, Hunter makes it his short-term mission to focus on that sound like Crosshair and Wrecker's lives depend on him doing so.

Hunter feels like a cadet, breaking down this badly during a crucial moment. He's a Sargent, he should be calming down his squad, not being the one needing comfort. On top of that, he's the eldest of the original Clone Force 99. Tech should be able to rely on his ori'vod in these situations.

When Hunter finally musters the willpower to remove himself from Echo he's shaking, barely able to look at the ARC trooper. Instead, he keeps his eyes on Crosshair. Tears still clouding his vision, Hunter relies on his other senses to keep an eye on his vode. Hunter mutters an apology, Echo patting his shoulder in response.

Hunter sways where he sits, blood loss affecting him more than he'd like to admit. He grits his teeth, reaching for the aggravated injury on his leg. This time, Echo notices, immediately grabbing Hunter's arm.

“Are you crazy?” he exclaims, loud enough to make Hunter jump. “You're bleeding this much and haven't told is to stop the transfer to Crosshair yet?” Muttering something Hunter can't quite make out, Echo pulls the needle from Hunters arm, with more care than the Sargent honestly deserves.

The puncture on Hunters arm is wrapped, and after Crosshair's is attended to, Echo helps Hunter with his leg. The armor is removed and the wound is covered in bandage material, tight enough to stem the blood flow. Hunter helps however he can, still feeling pathetic. He apologizes again, glancing over to Tech. Their pilot looks away hastily when Hunter makes eye contact with him.

“It's fine Hunter, we've all had a long day. Happens to the best of us.” Echo pauses. “But not the thing with your leg. Are you trying to die of blood loss?” The ARC shakes his head as he moves to the other side of Wrecker.

Hunter catches a glimpse of his face and Echo gives him a small smile, even in such a dire situation. The Sargent manages to return the gesture weakly. They're on route to Kamino and they've done as much as they could. Whilst Hunter helped little in keeping his brothers safe, at least he managed to give a decent amount of blood to Crosshair. Echo's right, it was dangerous but Hunter hardly cares. Rather he be in danger than any of his brothers. It's a risk he'd take any day.

Hunter goes back to wringing his hands as he watches Crosshair. The skin on his face is starting to feel tight from drying tears and Hunter inhales sharply to try and clear his nose. Now that he's had his little outburst he can go back to monitoring his siblings. Hopefully that was the last mistake he'll be making any time soon.

Mando'a Translation:

Vod/vode – sibling/siblings Vod'ika – little sibling Ori'vod - older sibling

[ani-and-the-corries-au]

Ani and the Corries Moments.

Little Anakin's first meeting with Commander Fox, aka, when things get really chaotic.

This moment has been living rent free in my head pretty much since I thought up this idea.

It's probably only days after the Senate agrees to put in another order for troops, Fox is Stressed, Tired and done. And has a run in with a really obnoxious senator who has some less than nice things to say, including a few comments about how easily replaceable the guard is, and how they're republic property and how they can always buy more of them if the current ones aren't good enough.

Eventually the Senator Leaves, but then just when he thinks he's done, he's confronted by a few other Corries, who saw the whole thing.

And the Tiny Jedi who's wiggled his way into the hearts of several of his brothers.

Said Tiny Jedi apparently heard the entire conversation and apparently has decided that he needs more information, and upon hearing confirmation that, yes they are Republic property. Promptly decides to go in to denial and starts going on about how that's not possible because this is the Republic, and they're literally on Coruscant and that's not possible.

Fox, who doesn't want to deal with tiny Jedi in denial about a fact that's common knowledge turns and snaps. "Yeah, Welcome to Coruscant Kid." Before Truging off to deal with whatever else he's got to deal with today, because there's always something.

Several hours later, he discovers that there's a baby Jedi sleeping in there Barracks.

Because apparently the Kid ran off to Senator Amidala the moment he'd gotten the chance and swarmed her with questions, Starting with a Confirmation about there recent new Purchase, and Ending with a Demand to know at what point in the last Ten years they had Legalized Slavery in the Republic.

The Kid had then proceeded to have a Breakdown because the Republic apparently had a slave army, especially one led by the Jedi was apparently some sort of intimate betrayal and the poor kid was having feelings about it.

He hadn't wanted to go back to the temple, and none of the Corries involved wanted to try and force it Because they were in fact not unfeeling assholes, and also because apparently the kid could stay because he had been claimed as a Vod'ika by the three Clones who'd allowed this situation.

[tending-the-hearth]

so my brother and i watched the episodes and yes, all signs point to clone x being tech, but we were throwing around suggestions, and we both thought of one name that would cause SO much angst.

dogma.

dogma, who we don't know exactly what happened to him.

dogma, who went along with the regulations until it was too late, and did the only thing he could think of to avenge his fallen brothers, and make it up to the living ones.

dogma, who left behind his best friend after what he did, who learned of tup's death, and wanted to do what he could to help, but ended up trapped and experimented on until he lost every little piece of himself.

just... rex and echo realizing who it is, maybe by taking off the helmet, either when it's too late, or just in time, and both of them just freezing, because it's their vod'ika, the one who struggled so much, whose mind was never truly his own, who was used by so many different evils.

[vodika-vibes]

I had a thought, just a minor one. And I'm gonna share it~

Late one evening, at the beginning of the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi (a former child soldier who's beginning to wonder if he's be cursed by a god of war) is sitting on the floor of the council chamber.

And by sitting, he's actually laying on his back with his feet propped up on his seat.

He's tired. Hasn't sleep in a week and has started hallucinating tired.

And maybe that's where the idea comes from.

He tilts his head back to look at the other members of the council, "we should end the war."

"Just like that?" Kit asks as he stares at his datapad, presumably reading something, only his eyes haven't moved in the last 30 minutes.

"...we're fighting droids who are using blasters." Obi-Wan points out.

"But what about the clones?" Depa asks, thinking fondly of Gray and the rest of the men she met earlier that morning. "They'll feel useless."

The Council chamber falls silent for a moment, and then Obi-Wan sits up, his legs toppling to the ground, "I have it!"

The next morning, Commander Cody nervously heads deep into the Jedi Temple, following the instructions given to him by his General.

"Commander! I'm glad you made it!" Obi-Wan sweeps over to him, a bundle of yellow cloth tucked into his arm. "Here, hold this!"

Cody holds out his hands and goes grey when he sees a tiny twi'lek baby staring up at him, sucking furiously on their pacifier.

"Uhhh..."

"Have fun! Don't worry! You only need to watch her for a couple of hours today!"

"Uhhhhh..."

Obi-Wan claps his shoulder, "You and your brothers are on Temple duty while we, the the Knights and Masters, end the war. Have fun!" And then he's gone, and Cody is left staring at the tubie in his hands.

" ...would you like me to read you the reg manual, tubie?"

She just stares at him and waves her fists in his direction.

[kotemf]

Codywan week - day 7

This is my last (late) post for @codywanweek 2024, thank you guys for organizing this event because I sure enjoyed it. I hope you all enjoy reading the story. You can read here, on Wattpad or Ao3.

  Prompt: modern AU (teacher / university / academia AU), courting, dimension travel (by one character)

The mandalorian palace in Keldabe was under attack. It was Death Watch, only there was more of them than the haat'ade thought. There were supposed to be a few hundreds at most. These were thousands. They weren't prepared for this.

  Kote was in his room when the attack started. He wasn't dumb, didn't stay there. Just put his bucket on and went to fight rather than wait for the demagolkase to come for him. With his blaster ready, he ran through the corridors, shooting at every kyr'tsad warrior he came across.

  Making sure his blaster was ready to fire, he turned another corner. Someone was there. Only at the last moment, Kote recognized his buir's armor. He lowered his weapon. So did Jango.

  "Kot'ika..." Jango hauled Kote into a firm embrace. "Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum."

  "Why are- why are you telling me this?" Kote had a sinking feeling in his stomach.

  "Not all of us are getting out of here. You have to go, Kot'ika. While there is still time. Take Boba and get out of here."

  "But I- I can't just-"

  "You can and you will. Take Boba and go."

  "I can't- I can't! I can't leave you here, I can't leave the others here!"

  "I know it's hard, Kot'ika. But you have to do it, for Mandalore. You need to run and wait for the right moment. You will defeat kyr'tsad once, when the time comes. I believe in you, ner Kote."

  "I'm scared, buir," Kote admitted.

  "It's okay to be scared sometimes, Kot'ika. What matters is that you can face your fears. I love you." Jango brought their foreheads together into a gentle keldabe kiss. After a moment, he pulled away and with a brief touch to Kote's shoulder, he was gone.

  Kote suppressed his tears. This wasn't the right time for crying. He had to find Boba and get then out of there. He couldn't fail Mandalore. He couldn't fail his buir, his mand'alor. And most importantly, he couldn't fail his vod'ika.

  It's been two years since they crash landed on Earth due to some problem with the hyper drive. With their ship broken and no way to repair it on Earth, there was no way of going back. They were never going to see buir again, they won't even know if he survived the attack. The same goes for their brothers, their friends and the rest of the haat'ade. 

  It sucked but everything could be much worse. Cody didn't even want to think about what could happen if it wasn't Obi-Wan who found their crashed ship in the middle of a forest.

  Obi-Wan Kenobi was a wonderful man. It didn't hurt that he was also attractive. And so very mandokarla. When he found a damaged aircraft in the forest, he didn't go and report it. He made sure that Cody and Boba were alright, took them home with him and helped them to adapt and to get registered as citizens. That's how Cody got the new name.

  Cody loved Obi-Wan.

  They still shared an apartment, but a bigger one now. When Cody started seeking a new home for himself and Boba because they just couldn't bunk on Obi-Wan's couch forever, Obi-Wan admitted that he enjoyed their company. They ended up renting a bigger apartment, with a room for each of them, and splitting the bills. They worked well like that. Cody cooked and made sure that Obi-Wan didn't forget to eat. Obi-Wan watched Boba when before Cody got back home from work.

  Cody liked seeing Obi-Wan engage with Boba. He was a mandalorian. They gentle way Obi-Wan spoke to Boba, how he played with the boy, might be the main reason why Cody fell for him.

  Right now, Obi-Wan was once again patiently helping Boba with his math homework. Boba excelled in English, perhaps thanks to Obi-Wan being his English teacher, but he was struggling with math. Cody was glad Obi-Wan could explain math to Boba because he had no idea how he would do it.

  It also gave him time. When he knew that Obi-Wan was with Boba in the living room, he couldn't come to Cody's bedroom. Cody didn't need Obi-Wan walking in right now. He didn't want Obi-Wan to know just what was in the package that Cody got earlier that day. Obi-Wan would definitely have questions that Cody couldn't answer just yet.

  Cody waited for the weekend before revealing the contents of the package to Obi-Wan. He cooked dinner, same as every day, only then instead of bringing the dessert right after they finished their meals, he handed Obi-Wan a carefully wrapped package. Obi-Wan looked surprised. Boba, not so much.

  Cody was nervous as he watched Obi-Wan unwrap it. He was so sure when he picked it out. But what if he picked the wrong thing?

  "It's nice," Obi-Wan said a few moments after he finally got a look at his gift. He didn't sound too convinced. 

  "If you don't like it, I can just retu-"

  "No, no, it's nice," Obi-Wan lied. Cody was sure he was lying.

  "Obi-Wan, I can tell you don't like it. It's okay."

  "No, I do like it. I just... I guess I didn't expect you to gift me a knife? Not that I don't like it, it's just... unexpected."

  Boba leaned closer to Obi-Wan. "Knife is a traditional mandalorian courting gift," he whispered loudly enough that even Cody could hear it. Boba was smart, Cody had to admit. He himself didn't even realize that to Obi-Wan, the ornamented weapon might not mean anything.

  "A courting gift?" Obi-Wan's eyes widened in realization. "I- Cody, I had no idea you felt that way!"

  "It's okay if you don't feel the-"

  "Of course I feel the same!"

  Cody didn't remember the last time he was this happy.

  A few months later, Cody found himself standing in the forest, where Obi-Wan first found them and their crashed ship. Obi-Wan was standing next to him. He dressed into a suit for the occasion and Cody thought he looked gorgeous.

  "I love you." Cody couldn't help but say it for the millionth time that day.

  "Considering we're about to get married, I would hope so."

  Cody grinned. He still couldn't believe it. He was marrying Obi-Wan, the love of his life, his amazing cyare. He held out one of his old vambraces, something he didn't even wear anymore and that Obi-Wan will probably never have a use for, but beautifully traditional all the same. "Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde," Cody recited the ancient mandalorian words.

  Obi-Wan took the vambrace before reciting the vows himself. He started learning mando'a shortly after Cody courted him, even if Cody assured him he didn't have to. He did love hearing the mando'a spoken with Obi-Wan's crisp accent, though. To finish the ceremony, he accepted a ring from Obi-Wan. That wasn't traditionally mandalorian but they decided that since Obi-Wan didn't posses any armor, the ring, traditional for most of the worlds in the galaxy, will be a nice exchange for the beskar vambrace.

  Then it was over. Just like that. They were married.

  Cody couldn't resist grabbing Obi-Wan, his beautiful, amazing riduur around the waist and spinning him in the air before finally kissing him. They kissed before, sure. But that was different. He wasn't just kissing his boyfriend anymore. He was kissing his husband. And Cody loved that feeling.

  Until Boba started fake gagging. Cody guessed he should've expected that from the nine years old. He couldn't say he was mad at the boy, though. Boba was a good kid, if a little grumpy. And as estranged as they used to be, being the oldest and the youngest of the brothers with almost twenty years between them, their time on Earth brought them together. Taking care of younger brothers used to be a chore but now, taking care of Boba strangely felt... nice.

  That being said... "We actually wanted to say one more vow today. If you will agree, Boba, that's it."

  Boba looked confused.

  "We were- we were thinking about adopting you," Obi-Wan explained.

  "If you don't want to, it's okay," Cody added.

  Boba looked at them, wide eyed. "You- you want to adopt me? Like... be my buire?"

  "Yes, darling. We would love to." Obi-Wan answered and in a moment, he had his arms full of a sniffling boy. Cody decided not to be offended at not being the first one to be hugged and instead hugged both Boba and Obi-Wan. His riduur and his ad. His throat was burning with tears as he said the gai bal manda. "Ni kyr'tayl gai sa'ad, Boba."

  "Ni kyr'tayl gai sa'ad," Obi-Wan repeated the words. Cody could tell he was crying and he couldn't really blame him.

  "I love you both so much." Cody kissed Boba's dark curls and then pressed a kiss to Obi-Wan's cheek. This was the most important day of his life, he decided. It didn't matter that there was no one to witness it, no one taking pictures and filming videos. What mattered was that Cody was going to remember this day until the day he died.

[tereox]

Warmup #13

Rating: T

Summary: Coruscant is haunted. The ghosts aren't bothering the Corries so they just go with the flow. What are they gonna do? Assassinate- oh.. Oh. Good riddance.

~~~

Fox picked up his mug of caff and paused when he realised that it was still warm. He could have sworn he'd put that there hours ago.

He looked around the glorified storage closet that was his office. "Vor'e." He whispered to the empty room.

He went back to work, the mug warming his hand.

~~~

"Kriff, I need-" Thread shoved his arm into the cabinet he knew was empty. He'd checked it several times but he needed that bacta, the vod'ika sprawled on the medical cot wouldn't make it.

Against all odds, his hand caught on something solid. He tugged the item out of the cabinet and spared only a fraction of a second to stare at the bacta. Then he threw himself out of the storage closet and held up the bacta like it would bring them salvation.

It would, for this particular vod'ika.

~~~

"You have no idea what I'm capable of." The senator sneered, tugging their fancy cape away from Grizzer. "I will have that beast put down."

Hound carefully tugged Grizzer back, pushing down the panic rising in him in the same motion. "Sir, she's trained to detect illegal substances and you-"

The senator whirled around to face him and their foot caught on something.

There was an aborted attempt to reach for them, but Hound could only watch as they tumbled off the platform. If there had ever been a good place for a railing on Coruscant, it would have been there.

… he should call that in.

~~~

Thire's patrol route was the same every Taungsday. It was a security risk, but with how scheduling worked it was difficult to change.

He caught a glint out of the corner of his eye and grabbed his patrol buddy's arm, wrenching them behind cover.

Paperclip stayed down. "What did you see?"

"Glint, might have been a sniper."

"Ah."

Thire reached for his comm and called in backup. Better safe than dead.

There ended up being no sniper. However, several blocks further, an ambush had been laid. He should ask Fox to have his patrol route adjusted.

~~~

Fox placed down his stylus and ran a hand down his face. He was dead tired. There were.. way too many things he still had to do before passing out in his bunk for a couple hours. He couldn't allow himself to stop now.

He grabbed one of the more important datapads and reached for his stylus. His fingers touched the empty desk.

Fox frowned and looked over. His stylus wasn't where he'd left it. Maybe his desk had gotten slanted from the constant pressure of hundreds of datapads and pieces of flimsi on top of it.

He leaned over to check and did not find his stylus. That sucked, it had been his favourite stylus. Oh well.

He went to open his desk drawer to get a new one but it wouldn't budge. Something slapped him in the face and that was his stylus!

Fox jumped up in a vain attempt to grab the floating object but he only got a wave of nausea rolling through him.

Maybe.. maybe he should go to sleep.

~~~

"The security cameras show it flew across the room and embedded itself right in the Chancellor's heart. There was no one who could have thrown it. The Chancellor was in his office by himself."

Fox silenced the thought of his floating stylus and nodded dutifully. "We'll keep an eye out for an invisible assailant."

Even a CorSec officer should have caught the sarcasm in that.

~~~

Mando'a vor'e - thanks vod'ika - little sibling

[bunny7567]

I got you - chapter 17

Pairing: Rex x Jedi!ofc

Word count: 6.7k Tags/Warnings: NSFW 18+; piv sex; minor character death; insecure Rex is adorable; some angst; more of Lexie's background - I have no idea why I chose to make it that ngl

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cyare - beloved cyar'ika - darling, sweetheart vod - bother ori’vod - big brother vod'ika - little brother/sister osik - shit, crap gedet'ye - please

~~~

The Kaldonya mission lasted two weeks, two weeks that Rex and Lexie very much enjoyed.  The mission ended up being easy, no one tried to assassinate Senator Amidala, and the Jedi and the Captain got to keep pretending to be two regular people exploring the beginning of their relationship. They accompanied Padmé on all the official visits that the Kaldonyans had planned and since she already knew and there was no need to hide anything, they got to just be themselves. They walked hand in hand through the botanical gardens of the capital city and they sat together during theatre plays and Kaldonyan music concerts. It was almost… normal. And with Fives keeping his promise to cover for them, Rex was able to spend every night in Lexie’s room, getting to know each other’s bodies and falling asleep in each other’s arms, without having to worry about a repeat of that first morning.

Not that Echo didn’t suspect it, he just didn’t want it confirmed. He really did care about regulations and always tried to follow the rules; as much as he could anyway, with Lexie as his CO and Fives as his teammate. But it was better to not know, know something like that, because if he did, then he would have to break said regulations and keep it a secret – and he would break them, there wasn’t really a question about that, Lexie was his vod’ika, he really cared about her, but he would still feel a bit conflicted in doing so. If he just suspected it, however, then he wasn’t really breaking any rules by not pointlessly reporting something unfounded.

He had more or less found out a couple of days before the mission finished. Echo had gone to Lexie’s room in order to go over their schedule for the last days of official visits and negotiations, and as they were talking, he could not help but see a dark purple mark on her neck. He tried not to pay attention to it, tried to convince himself that it could be anything, but Echo was always very observant, he was an ARC trooper after all.

He had noticed the tension between Lexie and Rex back on Padmé’s starship, and how that tension seemed to just disappear over the course of their mission. He had also glimpsed them through a window as they were dancing together during the welcome banquet after he and Fives escorted Padmé to her chambers, and Rex had very curiously not been in his room the next morning. Safe to say, it was really easy for him to put two and two together.

So as they talked about the upcoming day, Echo’s eyes kept drifting to the base of her neck and Lexie suddenly froze as she remembered the mark Rex had accidentally left on her the previous night. She’d seen it in the mirror that morning but thought the collar of her dress would cover it, and it had up until then, but as she brought her hand up to it she realised it had shifted down a little. Just enough for the hickey to be visible she assumed. Osik. Hers and Echo’s eyes met again and she cleared her throat.

“I-”, she started.

“I don’t want to know”, Echo interrupted her.

Lexie let out an awkward laugh.

“Just…”, he continued, looking unsure and a bit uncomfortable, “just be careful, vod’ika”.

“I will be”, she said quietly, pulling on the collar.

Echo looked at her a bit longer then shook his head with a chuckle. He didn’t say it but if what he thought had happened really did happen, he was actually happy for her and his ori’vod.

As much as they tried not to think about how things would be after their mission, Lexie and Rex had to face it eventually. Once the treaty was signed and Kaldonya officially joined the Republic, they left and regrouped with the 501st. And were quickly reminded of the harsh realities of war.

Lexie was left in charge of the battalion as Anakin accompanied Mace Windu aboard the Star Destroyer Endurance for a mission. She didn’t even get to speak with her friend for longer than a couple of minutes before he boarded a shuttle in the Resolute’s hangar. The 501st was then called to assist Obi-Wan with ending a siege in the Outer Rim. The battle was harrowing, and Lexie had to constantly force herself not to hover around Rex. She had to trust that he could take care of himself and also had to not show any favouritism. It helped when Fives reassured her that he had the Captain’s back, and Lexie was able to focus more on the battle and fight alongside Obi-Wan.

By the time the siege was done and the two Jedi could contact the Council again from aboard the Negotiator, they were informed of an assassination attempt on Master Windu. There was nothing for them to do, both Anakin and Mace Windu had already been rescued from Vanqor, and were now back on Coruscant, recovering in the Temple, while Ahsoka and Master Plo Koon were en route to Florrum to rescue the remaining hostages.

But one of the hostages had already been executed, and Lexie watched in horror the transmission they received from the Council that showed Aurra Sing shoot Commander Ponds point blank in the head. Rex and Cody were in the briefing room as well, and Lexie had to stop herself from reaching out and taking the Captain’s hand as she sensed the grief and anger that surrounded him.

Lexie knew both Rex and Cody were very close to Ponds, the Captain had told her during one of their late night conversations, months ago. It broke her heart watching Rex avoid her eyes as he asked if he could be dismissed after the briefing finished and it broke her heart even more to know she could not go after him without raising suspicion. At least he had Cody, who also asked to be dismissed and left after his vod’ika, presumably so they could comfort each other.

Rex was quiet on the shuttle that took them back to the Resolute after the 212th was called on their next assignment. It was an unfamiliar situation, as he usually was the one comforting Lexie when the anxiety got the better of her. The only time the roles had been reversed before was after Denal was killed, but during that instance Rex had not been as affected by it, or he had not let her see it at least. And there also hadn’t been a lot of time for her to be there for him either, as she had quite quickly been sent to Garronn. But now there was plenty of time, too much even, as the Resolute had been ordered to patrol the sector for the next three rotations before returning to Coruscant.

Rex didn’t seem to want to talk however, and also didn’t want to take some time for himself. He actually appeared insulted and a little angry with her when she suggested that he should take the rest of the day off. He categorically declined it, and so the both of them headed to the bridge to discuss their patrol trajectory with Admiral Yularen and take care of anything else that needed their attention. They couldn’t talk freely, and Lexie could still feel some tension between them which was making her anxious.

Later that rotation, once the lights in the corridors, training facilities and mess hall were dimmed in order to simulate the night cycle, Lexie was finally heading to her quarters. She’d lost sight of Rex a few hours ago, as he left the bridge to go to the mess, while she had to stay behind in a holo-call with the Jedi currently in nearby sectors. She was exhausted and worried that maybe she had really upset him, so she was a little surprised to find Rex in her room, armor neatly stacked and stored under her desk, while he laid in bed only in his blacks.

“Hi”, she cheerfully greeted him, “didn’t expect to see you here”.

He paused the nature documentary on the small screen above her bed that he was watching and turned to give her a small smile. “I hope you don’t mind… I-I know I didn’t ask, I just-”.

���I don’t mind Rex. You’re always welcome in my room”, she assured as she sat on the bed facing him. She cupped his face, her thumb gently stroking his cheek and he leaned into the touch. “How… how are you feeling?”, Lexie asked after a brief hesitation.

Rex took a deep breath and met her eyes, and Lexie could see the sadness behind them. “Not great, cyare…”, he admitted, his voice a little weak. “Ponds… he was a good friend… a brother”.

“I’m so sorry Rex. What can I do to help?”, she asked him, deeply touched by his vulnerability. He trusted her, he had come to be with her during a tough time and while he wasn’t allowing himself to cry, to break down, he was still showing her a side of him he hadn’t before.

“I just want to sleep and hold you”, the Captain replied with a weak smile.

“Aright”, she said, leaning closer and placing a soft kiss on his forehead. “Let me get changed”.

Lexie placed her lightsabers on the desk next to Rex’s helmet, then quickly took off her combat clothes. She put on the new blue pyjama set she’d bought on Kaldonya during one of their visits to the capital city, then jumped into bed. Rex wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly against him and taking in her sweet, floral scent. Lexie was snuggled into his side, one leg draped over his and head rested in the crook of his neck. One of her hands found itself on his head, fingers slowly gliding over his buzz cut, an action he found pleasant and calming. They just laid like that without talking, until Lexie felt her eyelids grow heavy.

“Cyar’ika, about earlier”, Rex’s voice broke through the silence.“I appreciate you trying to look out for me, but you can’t give me special treatment”.

“I wasn’t, Rex”, she protested. “I would’ve told Echo, or Fives, or anyone else the same thing. You just lost someone you cared about, you deserve to take a moment to griev-”.

“I’m a soldier, Lexie. I’m used to losing people. I can’t take a break every time one of my brothers dies”, Rex replied matter-of-factly.

Lexie sat up and looked at him dumbfounded. She understood what he meant, why he thought like that, but it was still heart-breaking to hear.

“It felt like you were trying to coddle me”, Rex continued. “I just can’t have you do that”.

“Alright”, she said simply, resting her head back on his shoulder. “I’ll try harder to treat you the same as the others”.

“Thank you”, he placed a kiss on the top of her head.

Lexie fell asleep after a while, a bitter taste in her mouth, wishing things could be different.

She woke up after a few hours, jolted awake by a bad dream. She couldn’t remember what it had been about, but an uneasiness was still surrounding her mind. She had turned while asleep and was now facing the room, with Rex cuddling her from behind. She felt the Captain’s arm wrap around her tighter, pulling her more into his chest.

“Are you okay?”, his low voice asked.

“Yeah, just a bad dream. Sorry I woke you up”, she answered.

“It’s alright”, he said, his voice a little hoarse, kissing the back of her neck.

He held her tightly in his arms, nuzzling her hair with his nose and breathing in her sweet smell. After a while his lips returned to her neck, then trailed up to the spot under her ear that made her giggle, then slowly down to her shoulder. Lexie hummed with pleasure and pressed herself more against him, feeling his hardened length on her ass. The small friction spurred him on, his kisses on her neck becoming more passionate. The arm she was laid on then moved, hand slipping under her tank top, kneading the soft flesh of her breasts.

“Rex, wait”, she breathed.

The Captain stopped, but did not retreat his hand. “What’s wrong, you don’t want to?”

“No, I… Are you sure you want to? you’ve just los-”, she tried to explain, concern present in her voice.

“Cyare”, Rex interrupted, his voice a little strained. “I need to feel something good, something other than…”, he trailed of, letting out a deep breath. “Gedet’ye”, he whispered in her ear.

“You know I’ll always say yes to you”, Lexie replied. She was still worried but she did want to make him feel better.

“Good”, he said with a small chuckle.

Lexie turned her head and he kissed along her jaw and on the corner of her mouth, before his lips found themselves on the sensitive skin of her neck once more, his kisses tuning desperate. She moved her hips, grinding against his hard cock while Rex groaned and pinched her nipples, making her moan.

His left hand hurriedly lowered her pyjama pants just under her ass, then did the same with his blacks, not wanting to waste any second before he could be inside of her. Rex grabbed his cock, aligning it at her entrance and then slowly pressed himself into her. Lexie winced slightly since their rushed foreplay meant that she wasn’t as prepared for him as usually, but once Rex began to slowly move and she adjusted, pleasure overtook her senses. 

He still couldn’t believe this was really happening. She was a Jedi, a general, but she was his. It felt surreal that out of everyone, out of all his brother, she had chosen him, that she was breaking the Jedi Code for him, that she was risking everything to be with him. Truthfully, Rex was still half expecting to wake up in the medbay and find out that the past two and a half weeks had been nothing but an injury-induced hallucination.

But she really was there, she was in his arms and she was letting out small murmurs of pleasure as Rex thrust into her, his pace growing quicker and harder. The right arm under her shirt abandoned her breasts and reached higher, wrapping his hand around her throat, an action she immensely enjoyed.

“Do… do that thing cyare”, Rex requested between grunts.

“You like that, Captain?”, she asked in a playful voice.

“Kriff”, he swore at hearing her use his rank, the rhythm of his hips faltering for a couple seconds. “Yes I… I like feeling you inside my head”, Rex admitted.

 He resumed his punishing pace, thrusting hard into her. Lexie obliged him, reaching through the Force to find his mind, their thoughts and sensations entangling in each other. Neither of them could really last long after she would do that, overwhelmed by the feeling of the other’s pleasure. His left hand left its place on her hips, finding Lexie’s clit and rubbing fast circles around it, increasing the pleasure both of them were feeling. Lexie reacted by moaning his name and reaching her hand back to scrape her nails over his scalp.

“That’s it, princess, scream my name”, Rex growled, squeezing her throat a little tighter.

“Rex!”, she loudly whimpered as she was pushed over the edge, her orgasm washing over her in powerful waves.

The Captain followed close behind, his release spilling into her with the next thrust. His left hand stopped its assault on her clit and wrapped around her torso, holding her tightly against him, both panting for air. After they caught their breath, Rex slowly slid his softening cock out of her and got up to go to the fresher, returning after a minute with a damp towel and gently cleaning their combined release from between Lexie’s legs. She thanked him, an adoring smile on her lips as she followed every movement with her eyes. She would never get tired of watching how caring he was with her. He went back into the fresher, rinsed the towel and left it to dry on the edge of the sink.

Rex chuckled as he walked back to the bed again, seeing her struggling to keep her eyes open. “Did I tire you out, princess?”.

She huffed an awkward laugh. “You, uhh… you seem to like calling me that”, she said, still unsure how she felt about hearing it.

“What, you don't like it? Cause it felt like you did earlier”, Rex teased.

“No I... I like it but it's… it’s a little weird”, she admitted.

“What do you mean?”, he asked, suddenly a bit nervous. The last thing he wanted was to make her uncomfortable or upset her.

“It's... it's complicated. I don’t really want to get into it right now”, Lexie replied.

“Alright cyare. Whenever you're ready. And I’ll stop using it in the meantime”, he said, running a hand through her hair. Rex felt a pit in his stomach as he could not stop his mind from wondering who from her past had called her that. Maybe that man from Pantora had meant more to her than she had let on? He felt annoyed with himself for being so insecure, why did his brain have to jump to these conclusions?

“No, it’s fine, really. You can keep using it if you want”, she assured him.

Rex’s mouth twitched into a small smile as he continued to caress her hair for a few moments.

“I should probably go back to my cabin”, Rex said, making Lexie whine in protest. “You know it’d be safer; most troopers are asleep right now, less chances to run into anyone”.

“I know. Doesn’t mean I have to like it”, she sighed.

Rex chuckled and leaned to kiss her forehead before getting up and putting his armor back on.

“See you at breakfast in a few hours?”, he asked as he stood in front of the door.

“Of course”, she confirmed with a smile.

Rex moved back to the bed, kissed her, then left her room. Back in his cabin, the Captain cursed himself for being so jealous of someone that he had no reason to worry about. He really couldn’t understand it. He was so confident on the battlefield, sure of himself and of his abilities, and yet when it came to Lexie he easily got insecure. And it’s not like she gave him any reason to worry. She had been open about everything and she had told him that she wanted their relationship, she wanted him. He sighed in frustration, took the armor off again and laid in his cot, but did not really sleep for the rest of the night.

The next three rotations went by quickly. The sector was quite, so Rex spent most of his time working on a battle strategy algorithm together with Fives and Echo. Lexie helped a little too, but she decided to dedicate her time to meditating or to some lightsaber training in order to keep her skills sharp. They sat together during meals, like they usually did, but besides that Lexie and Rex tried to keep their distance from each other, maintaining the appearance of a purely professional relationship. He did sleep in her room during another night cycle and they made plans to find some time for just the two of them once they were back on Coruscant. Lexie planned to take him to Dex’s diner on a date, maybe they could pretend to be two regular people for just a little while there.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like that would happen because as soon as Lexie arrived on world, she was summoned to the Jedi Temple. Whatever it was, it appeared to be urgent and she could only assume it would be another covert assignment for her and her ARCs, which made her heart sink, realising she would probably be sent away from Rex for who knows how long.

She couldn’t even talk to him as he was busy ordering some mechanics around, all the way across the other side of the busy hangar of the base. She did get his attention and slightly lifted her comm, signalling that she was being called away. Rex offered her a nod, his expression unknown to her under his helmet, and she responded with a mirthless smile before heading to the landing platform and getting on a shuttle that would quickly take her to the Temple.

Once she got there, she found Anakin waiting for her in the Great Hall. He seemed fully recovered from his near-death experience on Vanqor and, judging by the smirk on his face, it also seemed that he had spoken to Padmé.

“I heard you had a lot of fun on Kaldonya”, he started as soon as she was close enough so they wouldn’t be overheard.

“I did. The Kaldonyans are renowned for their hospitality, there was an event of some sorts for us to attend almost every night”, Lexie replied in a level voice.

“You know very well that is not what I’m talking about”, Anakin continued as they started walking towards the communication center.

“Not really sure what you want me to say about it”, she breathed.

“How serious is it?”, he asked her.

“I… it’s serious. I’m not risking everything for a fling… I’ve never felt this way about anyone before”, she admitted.

“I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you to be careful”, Anakin said in an amused voice, gaining a look from her. “You know I’ll cover for you two whenever you need. Force knows Rex has done that for me on many occasions, time I returned the favour”.

“Thanks, Ani”.

“I’m glad you two finally got together. Took you long enough”, he teased.

“Oh, shut up. You have not suspected it for that long”, she rolled her eyes.

“Are you kidding? I knew he had a thing for you from the moment he stepped in to defend you after your first mission”, Anakin laughed and Lexie looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. “You were more difficult to read, but I started suspecting it after you chose to wear that kama and dye your hair”, he continued, gesturing to her attire.

“I didn’t do that just for him”, she tried to protest quietly.

“Mhm, sure. Anyway, I was certain you liked him back after the siege on Dore’e. You kept hovering around him and I literally found you asleep on his shoulder on two different mornings”.

Lexie raised her eyebrows but did not deny it. She really had spent an excessive amount of time around him during that siege, and slept on his shoulder on more than two nights. 

Anakin had to stop his teasing as they reached the room they had been summoned to, but she probably would’ve preferred to keep being subjected to it rather than face what awaited her inside, for the moment the door slid open and she saw the person being projected on the holo-table, Lexie froze.

She knew what the woman’s shaved head and stylized Secca leaves tattoo on her skull meant and she wanted so much to turn back and walk away. But Anakin was right behind her, and he gave her a confused look as he waited for her to move further into the room so that he could also enter.

“First Consul”, she greeted, keeping her voice level and approaching the holo-table. The woman placed her right fist to her heart and bowed her head. she opened her mouth to speak but Lexie lifted a hand, not allowing her to say anything in reply. “What is this about?”, she asked curtly.

“Seccaya is being threatened by the Separatists”, Mace Windu informed her.

“Seccaya is neutral”, Lexie retorted.

“It appears Count Dooku doesn’t want to leave it that way. The First Consul has reached out to us to negotiate joining the Republic. But there is a catch”, Plo Koon continued.

“The Queen requests your presence for final negotiations and for signing the treaty”, the First Consul interjected.

A thousand emotions were swirling in her brain as flashes of memories appeared in her mind. Her mother begging her master to take her away, the hurried goodbyes, watching the planet get smaller and smaller through the transparisteel of his ship, the pain she felt as she realised she would never see her family again.

It all came crashing through so powerfully there was no hiding it and she saw the Council members present, as well as Anakin, turn to give her a curious look. Get it together for kriff’s sake. Lexie closed her eyes and focused on burying everything back down and took a deep breath before speaking again.

“And what would happen if I suggested that another Republic representative should go instead, someone with more diplomatic experience perhaps?”, she asked.

“The Queen will only negotiate with you”, the woman replied, an apologetic look on her face. “She’s expecting you to arrive no longer than within 3 rotations”.

“Well I guess I don’t have much choice in the matter. I will see you soon, Consul”.

“I will let Her Majesty know to expect your arrival”, she said, bowing her head again before the transmission ended.

“Are you up for this, Alexis?”, Plo Koon asked, looking at her.

“I am, Master”, she replied firmly, hands clasped behind her back and fingernails digging into her arm in order to keep her composure.

“For Seccaya, first thing tomorrow you and Skywalker will depart”, Master Yoda said.

“We want the Resolute in orbit during the entire visit, in case Dooku attempts an assault. It’s up to the two of you if you bring troopers on the planet as well, but I would suggest that you do”, Mace Windu added.

“Understood, Masters”, Anakin replied.

“The 104th will be on standby and act as your reinforcements should the Separatists attack”, Plo Koon informed.

Anakin and Lexie bowed their heads then left the room, heading back to the landing platform. Lexie was quiet, trying her hardest to keep the impending panic attack at bay.

“Are you alright?”, Anakin asked her once on the shuttle.

“How did you feel when you returned to Tatooine?”, she grumbled.

Anakin nodded and did not say anything else for the remainder of the short flight to the base.

The next few hours were a bit of a blur for Lexie. She and Anakin briefed Rex on their new mission, instructing the Captain to start the preparations for their departure. They were all concerned about the possibility of having to engage in battle with the Seppies, the siege they had just come from had really done a number on over 50% of their AT-RTs and AT-TEs, and Rex informed his generals that the mechanics had no chance of fixing them before their departure. All they could do was hope that the Separatists would not attack, or if they did, they would not be able to land on the planet for a ground assault.

Lexie then went to the infirmary, needing to go over the inventory for the medbay with Kix, and spent the next couple of hours in there with the medic, filling out requisitions and fast-track forms that could only be approved with the signature of a general. Maker, she hated bureaucracy. But at least it gave her time to sort through her feelings and prepare herself for the next day and by the time they were done and the new crates of med supplies were sent up to the Resolute, Lexie was actually sort of looking forward to seeing her home again. For the most part anyway.

However, she didn’t feel up to going out, no matter how many times Jesse, Fives and Hardcase asked her. They had come help with the crates of supplies and had pestered Lexie about coming to the 79s with them for over half an hour.

“Come on, Lex. When’s the last time we had leave together?”, Jesse asked.

“Yeah, I can’t even remember when you were last at the 79s with us”, Hardcase added.

“It was right after Echo and I came back from ARC training”, Fives piped in with a smirk, making Lexie shoot him a warning look.

“Boys, I’m really not in the mood tonight, sorry. We’re leaving first thing tomorrow and there’s so much left to-”

“There’s nothing left for you to do”, Jesse interrupted, grabbing hold of her shoulders. “Come on, we need you, the Wolfpack is gonna be there and you’re our secret weapon for drinking games”.

“I’ll make it up to you next time we’re all planet-side”, she promised, sliding out of his hold.

“But-”, Hardcase tried to protest.

“She said no, don’t push it vod”, Echo intervened. He’d also come help with the crates and had noticed that something was bothering his vod’ika.

“Alright”, Fives said with an exaggerated sigh. “But next time we’re not taking no for an answer”. Lexie rolled her eyes.

“Well, let’s go then. You’re done here Kix, yeah?”, Jesse said and the medic nodded.

“I’m staying back too, keep her company. You guys have fun”, Echo said, prompting annoyed groans from the others.

“Echo, come on”, Fives groaned.

“No, I’m fine. You go and enjoy a night out”, she tried to decline. “I need someone responsible to bring them back early. We ship out at-”

“0900 hours, we know”, Fives cut in. “I can be the responsible one”, he said, placing his hands on his hips and straightening.

“You?”, Kix asked and burst out laughing.

“Last time we were on Coruscant overnight, Commander Fox commed me at 4 in the morning to come get you from the Corries’ lockup”, Lexie retorted, crossing her arms over her chest and giving him a pointed look.

“Hey, that was only because Rex was pissed off with me. Fox commed him first but he told him to leave me there for the whole 24 hours”, he defended himself.

“Did you find out why Rex was so angry with you, vod?”, Hardcase asked.

“No, but he’s over it now, so no one bring it up and remind him!”, Fives quickly said, shooting Lexie an apologetic look.

“I’m going to the 79s with them, Lexie, don’t worry”, Kix assured her. “I’ll bring them back no later than midnight”.

She thanked the medic and wished the other a fun night. Lexie was actually glad Echo was staying behind. The two of them started walking towards the clones’ break room, but Lexie remembered there was a report she still had to write and told Echo she’ll meet him there after grabbing her datapad from her office.

As she walked down the corridor of the command level, she realised she really should talk to Rex before getting to Seccaya, so she headed to his office. Her anxiety started to rise as she approached the door. She hadn’t technically lied to him, she just omitted a piece of information about her childhood. A pretty big piece. Her hand hovered in front of the buzzer as she briefly wondered how he would react to her confession.

Only Rex wasn’t alone. As she walked into his office, Lexie found Commander Wolffe leaning on the wall next to the window, while the Captain was sat behind his desk, busy with some flimsiwork.

“General”, Wolffe dryly saluted after quickly standing at attention.

Rex followed his example, making her chuckle. He wouldn’t be this formal if it was just the two of them.

“Commander. Captain”, she acknowledged. “Have uhh… have you been briefed on our mission, Commander?”.

“I have, Sir. I assure you my men are ready to reinforce you, should the need arise”, Wolffe replied matter-of-factly.

“That’s good to hear, Commander”, she said, clasping her hands behind her back.

She saw the corner of Rex’s mouth briefly twitch into a smile. He could obviously tell how unsure she was about how to interact with his brother. Lexie had only met Wolffe once, after the 104th rescued the 501st from Felucia, months ago. She’d heard a lot about him from Rex, but otherwise she didn’t actually know him. An awkward silence settled in the room as Lexie had no idea how to continue the conversation. That scar on his face really did make him seem so intimidating...

“Are you going to the 79s with the boys, General?”, Rex came to her rescue. “We were just about to leave ourselves”.

“No, Captain. I’m not feeling it tonight. Gonna hang back with Echo. But the others have already left, you’ll find them there”, she replied.

The expression on Rex’s face immediately turned into one of concern. “Are you alright? Do you need me to stay here and help you with anything?”.

She didn’t miss the curious look that Wolffe shot the Captain. “No, no. I’m fine, don’t worry. You go enjoy your night, Captain”.

“Not sure how much we’ll enjoy it”, Wolffe said bitterly.

“We’re meeting Fox, Neyo and Bacara, having a drink in Ponds’ honour”, Rex explained. “Although maybe we should wait until Cody, Gree and Bly are also on world”.

“Who knows when that’s gonna happen, vod’ika”, Wolffe interjected.

“Commander Wolffe is right. You should take any opportunity you can. I’ll let you get going then”, Lexie said with a small smile. “See you at breakfast, Captain?”.

“Of course, Sir”, Rex nodded and watched as she walked through the door, concern still present in his mind. She really must be so worried about returning to Seccaya, Rex thought, and was really tempted to cancel his plans and stay back with her. He was so worried, he did not realise he was still staring at the door until he felt Wolffe swing an arm across his shoulders.

“Fox told me you have it bad for her, but I didn’t think it was true”, he teased.

“Kriff off, vod”, Rex shoved his arm away.

“You need to snap out of it, Rex’ika. She’s a Jedi, she’ll never let herself look your way”, Wolffe cautioned, genuinely concerned for his little brother.

Rex cleared his throat. “I’m done with the report, we should leave”, he changed the subject.

Wolffe huffed a laugh and shook his head but did not press the mater any further… that is until they got to the 79s where he immediately informed Fox, Neyo and Bacara about their vod’ika’s eagerness to help his general. All four commanders then ganged up to tease Rex, grateful to have something to keep their minds occupied for a little while from the reason they had all met up that night.

Rex didn’t see Lexie again that night. He had messaged her before he left from the 79s, asking her how her night had been and she told him that she and Echo had played holo-darts and Sabacc in the common room with Hawk and some of the other pilots that did not go to the cantina. Ahsoka had also dropped by apparently, so it had turned out to be quite a little party back at the barracks as well.

Rex had wanted to ask if he could come to her quarters once he got back to the base, he had even typed the message, but his insecurities forcefully returned. They had just spent two weeks sleeping together every single night back on Kaldonya and as much as he wanted to always be near her, he worried he would scare her away if he was too clingy. Rex was a perceptive man and had noticed the few instances where she seemed to get overwhelmed while they were together so he did not want to push his luck.

They sat next to each other at breakfast the next morning and listened to Fives and Jesse’s account of their night and then they were on the same shuttle that took them up to the Resolute. But after that Rex lost track of her when General Skywalker asked him to help with Ahsoka’s lightsaber training, having a couple hours to kill in hyperspace.

Once the training was done, and they were only minutes away from coming out of hyperspace, Rex went to look for her, and found Lexie sat on a crate in a more hidden part of the hangar, obstructed from view by the large crates deposited around. His eyebrows frowned in concern as he approached and noticed how worried she seemed. He also noted that she was wearing her burgundy robes again, and was absentmindedly fiddling with the sleeves. She looked up as he stopped in front of her and offered him a small smile.

“Hi”, she said half-heartedly.

“Hey, are you alright?”, he asked, leaning next to her on the crate and placing his helmet on the floor at his feet.

“Yeah, just not really looking forward to everything”, she answered with a sigh.

“I can imagine. It's probably not easy to return home after so long. And with the circumstances behind why you had to leave…”, Rex mused.

A nervous laugh escaped her lips. “Yeah, but weirdly enough that's not what I'm dreading”.

“What do you mean?”, he turned to face her.

“Uhm, what I am dreading the most is all the osik I'll get from Fives and the others after everyone learns my background”, she admitted.

“I'm confused, what background?”, Rex’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Uhm... remember when I told you about my childhood? About my mother being influential on Seccaya?”, she started, unsure how exactly to tell him.

“Yeah”, he said, remembering the conversation they had on Maridun.

“That uhm... that might have been an understatement…”. Lexie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “You see, my… uhh… my mother was Queen Axanna”.

“Queen Axanna? The Queen of Seccaya? But that would make you the...”, he trailed off.

“Princess? Yeah”, she answered with a mirthless laugh.

Rex's brain short-circuited. The fact that he'd been sleeping with his general, with his Jedi, had been difficult enough to wrap his head around as it was. But a princess? He could not understand how the hell she had feelings for him.

“You're a-a princess? T-The crown princess?”, his eyes were wide as he was trying to process what he just heard.

“Well I'm not really the crown princess anymore. When my aunt took the throne, Anara automatically became the next in line. Then it's Myria and only then it would be me if they didn’t have any daughters, but I'm a Jedi now so I couldn't really rule anyway”, Lexie explained.

“You're a princess?”, Rex repeated, still unable to fully process the information.

“Yeah… it’s not really that big of a deal-”

“Not a big deal? Lexie that is… that is just…”, Rex jumped up from the crate, looking at her in disbelief. “That changes things…”.

The confusion on Lexie’s face morphed into concern and she got up to stand in front of the Captain. “Rex, it doesn’t change anything. Certainly not my feelings for you”.

She looked around, making sure nobody could see them before taking his hand in hers and squeezing it reassuringly. Rex let out the breath he did not realise he was holding and lowered his forehead to hers. His mind was still going at a hundred thoughts a second, but being this close to her, breathing in sync, it was helping him ground himself. The two of them stayed like that for a few moments, until a loud sound signalled that the cruiser was out of hyperspace.

“We should go before they start looking for us”, Rex whispered.

“Yeah”, Lexie agreed and pulled away from him. She moved to leave before hesitating and looking back at him. She could still sense his confusion and anxiety. “We’ll talk more about this later. Stay close to me? Once we’re on the surface? I… I’ll need you close to me”.

“Of course, cyare”, he replied with a small smile.

Lexie returned the smile before walking away, heading for the center of the hangar where the LAAT that would take them to the surface was. Rex picked up his helmet, then waited a minute before heading there a well.

[oceansssblue]

Continuing with the rarepairing masterlist, we haveee...

"A FEW EXCEPTIONS" –DOGMA/TUP 💖

WARNINGS: mentions of alcohol.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Dogma is struggling. Not in the ways shinies usually struggle, though adapting to real life outside of Kamino, real war and losses and hours of exhaustion upon his young shoulders, has definitely not been easy. He has pushed himself through it, though; his loyalty to the Republic, his fierce need to protect and fight, greater than any worry or fear. No; what Dogma is really struggling with is with his feelings for the 501st' fellow shiny. Tup. Sweet, sweet Tup.

It's almost hard to believe he's also a soldier –though Dogma knows he's not any less brave and diligent–. He's just so... Innocent, though, and lovely; like a beacon of positivity and tenderness in a war filled with darkness. Dogma is painfully aware of the hundred rules that dictaminate that he can't persue a relationship with a fellow vod; but everytime Tup smiles at him, his heart forgets about all of them.

Sitting on a booth on 79's, other troopers from the 501st sprawled around him, Dogma can't help but smile at his vod'ika animatedly gossiping with Fives. While he usually remains fairly silent in the 501st' escapades into the Corusscant night –his usually serious disposition perhaps not friendly enough for others to try to engage with him– Tup laughs and chats and dances like a natural. It's a beautiful thing to see; such freedom in a life governed by others that overpower them.

A few hours into the night, Tup comes stumbling back to Dogma; the man quickly reaching out a hand to stabilize him while he all but drops down on the space next to him.

"Oops" he giggles, alcohol clearly washing away his balance and filters. "I think I shall rest for a bit now".

Dogma nods, and Tup sighs in relief, scanning the local around him. 79's is crowded; troopers from different companies chatting and dancing and flirting with the few natives that dare to put a step inside the clone bar. Tup watches as Fives pouts after he gets rejected by a pretty twi'lek with bright pink skin and laughs. Dogma follows his line of sight and shakes his head with fond amusement.

"You aren't going to try your luck tonight?" Tup asks, wiggling his eyebrows in a silly gesture that almost makes Dogma laugh as well.

The trooper shrugs.

"No native has caught my eye" he replies, and Tup chuckles in good humour.

"Perhaps you're too picky" he points out, and then half-jokingly adds. "You know, you could always try with a clone. We do make fine specimens..."

Dogma snorts. He really doesn't want to dwell in that...

"That's against the rules" he points out. "And you know how much I value those".

It's almost rehearsed, the way he says it. He takes a glance at the dance floor, were some vods are definitely dancing way too close; and misses how Tup's smile falls.

"So you'd never go for it, even if you secretly wanted to?"

Dogma frowns.

"You think I'd risk getting decomissioned for a quick drunk fuck with a vod?" He replies, and then gently pushes Tup's shoulder with his. "I thought you knew me, Tup".

For some reason, the joke doesn't sit well with the clone. Tup's expression closes off; and he mumbles a hasty excuse before he's all but running towards the dance floor.

"You know, I think I'm gonna dance some more!"

Dogma doesn't even have time to say goodbye to him; eyes following Tup's retracting figure with utter confusion. What the fuck just happened?

"Don't worry, vod" a hand pats his shoulder comfortingly, and Dogma turns to the side to find Jesse with his eyes fixed on the dance floor. "I'm sure good old Fives will help vod'ika to get over his heartbreak".

Dogma's body tenses; eyes inmediately flying back to find Tup pressed against the trooper's front. He's intelligent enough to read into Jesse's words; though he's still having trouble to believe them. There's no way Tup is actually into him... There's no way his questions were actually about him. Right?

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Dogma tries to ignore the sight of the two of them flirting; but it's easier said than done. When Fives bends forward to whisper something against the trooper's ear, and Tup all but grins, he clenches his hand so hard around the glass of spotchka that he swears he hears a crack. It's torture; the last hour the 501st spend in 79's before collectively deciding to return to the barraks. Dogma sighs in relief and stands up; though he is unable to relax completely when Fives is all but pressed to Tup's thigh in the cab.

A million thoughts run through Dogma's mind. Are they, is he... is Tup planning on taking it further with Fives? Dogma hasn't drunk much; but his stomach lurches unpleasantly at the possibility.

When they're about to enter their barraks, tension rises until Dogma isn't able to control himself any longer. He –perhaps a bit harshly– tugs Tup's hand towards him; hauling him back.

The trooper watches him in surprise; Fives glancing back at them once before shrugging and continuing his way inside. Dogma sighs and bites his own lip, hesitant; an unusual behaviour on him.

"Dogma?" Tup asks, concerned and confussed, and Dogma swallows down and erases every single rule about fraternisation from his mind before forcing himself to confess his feelings out loud.

"What I said, in the bar, about not risking decomissioning for a quick drunk fuck... It's true" he begins, and Tup's face fills with what can only be anger until Dogma squeezes his hand tightly and blurts "But I wasn't talking about you. Because you wouldn't be just a quick fuck".

Tup's eyes widen; his whole face transforming with the information revealed. His expresion fills again with that almost child-like happiness; staring back at Dogma in surprise and wonder.

"Are you..." he stutters, momentarily lost, and Dogma finally gives in into his long burried wishes and cups Tups face with his right hand.

"I'm saying I would risk decomissioning for a serious relationship with you" he nods, and it's so clear and impossible to misinterpret that Tup's eyes fill with tiny happy tears, blurring his sight.

"You've really put me through a rollercoaster of emotions tonight" the trooper chuckles, a blush setting on top of his cheeks, a sudden shyness enveloping him.

He has never done anything further than a few heated kisses here and there. He likes Dogma so so much...

"I'm sorry" the clone offers, thumb caressing his skin, closing his eyes and softly pressing his forehead against Tup's. "You know how I am".

Tup chuckles and presses back, hands slidding around Dogma's plated hips.

"You need to learn that rules always have one or two exceptions" he smiles. "Nothing is ever quite black or white".

Tup gives in into his desire to kiss the other's lips, sighing in happiness when Dogma makes a surprised little sound in his throat and kisses him back.

"I'm willing to learn" the clone whispers tenderly, and Tup feels like the happiest trooper in all of the GAR.

THE END.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

PS. Aren't they cuties?