Laksjdfkslff posting this oneshot I did a few years ago since it is r e l e v a n t
https://archiveofourown.org/works/34302967/chapters/86666386
It is always night in space. No matter what the chrono reads or what the artificial lighting tries to emulate. Always night, always trapped in the hours before the dawn. Just as Vader is trapped in other ways...
For years these silent, lonely hours have been his only reprieve. Time to meditate. Time to try and heal himself even as Palpatine is all the while leaching more and ensuring his wounds only end up worsening in the end.
And yet he finds new whims and thoughts pulling at his attention now. They had developed slowly enough so as not to be noticed at first. Thoughts of Piett edging their way into his mind as his attention was focused elsewhere. Then the baffling realization that he felt he could actually trust the man. And then even more...
Even more that he cannot afford to entertain. Not with all that is at stake. His son's safety, the boy's life, the fate of the galaxy itself hinging upon his ability to remove Palpatine from the equation before it is too late.
The dark, quiet hours tick by, across days and days, and eventually one night his self control fails. He indulges, pulling up the security footage on his meditation chamber's display and sifting through the results for his query. He watches bits and pieces, snippets, as if that makes the intrusion somehow acceptable.
What would Piett say if he knew?
Piett's loyalty runs deep, but deepest for him. That has become very clear. He has an inkling that it is more than Piett himself is aware of, but perhaps that is an insult to him.
The facial recognition algorithms obediently find and present footage of his admiral. Revealing moments he isn't privy to. Moments in the corridors, the mess-hall, one of his cap removed for a moment, another fiddling with his gloves, yet another staring into the middle-distance deep in thought, and one more smiling broadly at some jest from General Veers.
…Veers. He too is privy to the treason, and also one of Vader's comrades. The general isn't as astucious as his admiral is, but he is competent in his own right. It serves him well that they are amiable with one another.
He lets shots of them together in one of The Executor's gyms play through without as much skipping. Both of them in tank tops, Veers in jogging pants and Piett in shorts. They go about their own routines for awhile, and then run beside each on the treadmills. Some jest again, Piett teasing Veers for not being able to keep up with him apparently, and the general taking it rather poorly.
Vader watches. Watches the easy familiarity play out, and how Piett moves and the sweat beads on his brow and soaks a line down his back.
He finds himself agitated, and kills the feed. It takes him several minutes to put a label to the tension in his blood, how every fiber has gone taught with need for something— to possess, to be favoured with the same sort of intimacy, to be favoured with more.
It's been so long, he'd forgotten what it felt like to want in this way…
titsay
stormborns
ellievsbear
andulkaphoto
gummygunk
tangentwithtanner
turnnoffyourmind
gracieabrams
