anaisonfire: Drawn white woman smiling smlightly to the camera and holding a fountain pen. The background is a burning fire with pages floating around. (Default)
anaisonfire ([personal profile] anaisonfire) wrote2020-12-13 11:24 pm
Entry tags:

[Star Wars] love in a quiet moment of distraction

Title: love in a quiet moment of distraction (962 words)
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody/CT-7567 | Rex
Characters: CC-2224 | Cody, CT-7567 | Rex
Additional Tags: Established Relationship, Intimacy, Introspection
Summary:

“Hey.”
Cody hears him close the door without waiting for response and he wants to say something, just to be a bastard on principle but-
He glances up just in time to see Rex’s expression and can’t quite catch his breath enough to do it.

Written for Star Wars Secret Santa 2020.


“Hey.”

Cody hears him close the door without waiting for response and he wants to say something, just to be a bastard on principle but-

He glances up just in time to see Rex’s expression and can’t quite catch his breath enough to do it.

So what if he still gets caught off guard sometimes? He’s fine. It’s fine.

He’s just still not used to… this thing, that they are now. They’ve been together for practically as long as he can remember, joined at the hip as some people may put it, since they were both just trainees in Kamino’s barracks, even though they were in different classes, even though he’s a Commander and Rex a Captain. And here they are, still together, still alive against all odds in the middle of a war that’s killed so many clones already.

The shift from their old together to this new one had been almost seamless. A stolen moment of quiet and privacy after yet another battle gone bad in whoever’s quarters happened to be closest is practically a tradition for them now. Both of them can’t afford to let the men see just how badly their commanding officers take it - for all that no one would begrudge them for it, they still have a responsibility. Rex especially, Cody knows, feels that he has to go above and beyond, in some attempt to make up for the fact that he’s a Captain yet in charge of the whole 501st. (Which is a load of bantha shit, but Cody’s learned to pick his battles.)

So they’d stuffed themselves in Cody’s tiny bunk that definitely wasn’t made to fit two grown men and taken comfort in the warmth and closeness of a real person and then simply- continued. It had been… easy. Comfortable. More than he’d have expected if he’d put any thought into it at all beforehand, certainly.

Almost nothing changed. Except for all the things that did, of course.

Cody doesn’t get up and doesn’t move from where he’s bent over the latest reports because he has to get this done. He does however lift an eyebrow at Rex, who’s making himself comfortable on the bunk.

“Sure you have the time to play hooky?”

Cody knows he doesn’t. None of them have time for anything, ever, because even if the regular workload is done with, there’s surely a disaster happening somewhere on the ship. Torrent isn’t exactly known for being peaceful, even by clone standards.

“Mind your own business,” says Rex as he sinks down and lets out a sigh that seems a little over-the-top. It’s a bunk, not a million-credit hotel bed.

Cody does his best to not let the sight of Rex, stretched out and, for all intents and purposes, relaxed in his space, distract him from work. It is… harder than he'd like to admit.

He manages to hold out until he finishes the report he was already holding when Rex came in and then abandons his work with a speed unbecoming of a Marshal Commander. Just as well there’s no one to see.

“Move over,” he says to Rex, who is taking up all the space.

Instead of doing as told, he just cracks open an eye and has the gall to smirk at him.

“Done with work? Already?” he asks with an innocent tone that fools exactly nobody.

Cody simply glares at him until he lets up and moves to the side.

At this point, the lack of space is more of a comfort than a nuisance, not that he’d tell anyone that. Having to cling closely to each other to be able to fit, the press of bodies from head to toe is… soothing. Clones are all very physical with their affections, of course, but there's something about this, about it being Rex, that gives him pause. That makes it special.

It’s not new but- it still catches him by surprise occasionally.

Like now. Legs intertwined, Rex’s arms around him, one of his own hands in Rex’s hair and another on his back, and Cody feels like he can’t breathe.

After an unknown amount of time has passed, the both of them just lying there, Cody finally finds his voice.

“Something wrong?” It comes out soft, softer than he might say it normally, as a Commander asking for a status report, but they’re not soldiers right now. Here and now, they are simply people, only Cody and Rex.

He gets a quiet breath back, almost a sigh, and a long moment of silence. He thinks Rex won’t answer and he won’t push, entirely willing to simply stay in silence, but then:

“Nothing’s wrong,” comes the reply, Rex’s voice edging on rough. A beat and he clarifies, “Nothing concrete, anyway. It’s just…” He trails off.

Cody hums in response. Just the general everything. The war. The Senate’s continued refusal to acknowledge the clones fighting and dying for them. It's something easily ignored usually, in the midst of battle and work and a thousand other things to keep their attention, but the hopeless feelings tend to crop up in the rare quiet moments from time to time.

Rex huffs quietly.

“It’s fine,” he says and presses his face even more into Cody’s chest. “I just need a second.”

“I know.” And he tightens his grip as well. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Cody can’t make the war end tomorrow, can’t make people be sensible, can’t even promise both of them will make it through to the end or even the next battle - but he wants to. For himself and for all clones, yes, but right now, he wants it for Rex specifically.

In the face of impossibility though, he’ll settle for simply being together when they can and holding on tight.