I think I may have given Crosshair a "jewel kink". Let me explain. You know he is always cleaning his Firepuncher. It's all correct, everything is in working order, but most of all, clean. Shiny.
The first night he spends with Shara, he carefully undresses her. The delicate, shimmering cloth weaved between his fingers as he unwrapped her sarree. He doesn't want to damage the smooth seams. He takes great care. Then she is suddenly standing there completely bare, only her jewellery adorning her body. Her jewelled collar, armbands, bracelets, rings, the delicate chains with dangling coins and gems around her hips. Her ankles are with jewelled chains. She has toe rings. Even in hair, it is braided with jewels.
He makes love to her. He doesn't simply take her quick and dirty like one of his past conquests. He knows he is bedding a Goddess, and he must worship her with the utmost respect.
He will ask Shara to wear her jewels to bed and only for him. She willingly obliges.
The measure of one's worth can't be measured by how useful they are.
Despite the work Cody has put into trying to learn this, some habits die hard. Luckily for him, there are plenty of people that care about him and will make sure that he's well taken care of.
(Also on AO3)
Obi-Wan’s having tea in his quarters, enjoying a rare peaceful day on board of the Resolute, when he hears someone knocking on his door.
“Sir?” a familiar voice says. “It’s Waxer and Boil.”
Hearing that, Obi-Wan has the impression that his free peaceful time is about to be cut short. Knowing their troublemaker tendencies, he can only assume they must’ve done something - either that or they need a place to hide from Cody’s wrath.
“Come in,” he says then, already bracing himself.
When the two step inside, he understands that his worries might be exaggerated: they wouldn’t be this calm if they actually did something - especially Boil, who always gets angry at Waxer for dragging him into his nonsense.
“Something’s wrong?” he asks.
“Sir,” Waxer begins, “We’d like to talk to you about Cody.”
“What about Cody?” Obi-Wan asks, slightly worried now. Did something happen?
“He’s doing it again.”
“Ah…”
Damn it.
It’s a habit that, as far as Obi-Wan can tell, Cody has always had: he’d get up, one day, and decide that he doesn’t need sleep anymore, taking a workload of datapads and other jobs in the meantime, uncaring of his personal health.
At first Obi-Wan didn’t think it was that bad, but that’s only because Cody, the rascal, had been smart enough not to work when he was around, but as they’ve grown closer, he’s been able to see just how bad this kind of behavior can be.
It’s a reminiscence of Kamino, captain Rex told him in private once: the damned Kaminiise have drilled inside his brain that he will be sent back if he doesn’t make himself useful, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Obi-Wan would never do something like that, less than anything because he’s not useful enough; he’d never dream about quantifying the worth of anyone just based on something like that, and he knows for a fact that there are plenty of people who share this kind of view.
These last campaigns have taken a toll on all of them; they have suffered terrible losses. Obviously Cody feels responsible for them and feels the need to make amends somehow.
It’s a feeling that Obi-Wan understands well: they both have to deal with it, but he’s not going to let all the work he and the rest of the troopers have done to make Cody unlearn this behavior go to waste, not if he can help it, which is exactly what he intends to do.
He needs to find Cody.
Thankfully, finding him isn’t hard; Obi-Wan expected to find him at the bridge, and that’s exactly how it goes.
Cody isn’t even doing anything at the moment, just surveying everything with arms crossed to his chest, but there’s one particular that feels weird: he’s wearing his bucket, as if he knows his face doesn’t look that great and that someone would come to him questioning his health if they saw it. He must think he’ll get away with it because he outranks all his brothers, so nobody will dare approaching him, but he hasn’t considered that it isn’t so for Obi-Wan, and that he will approach him.
“There he is, sir,” Waxer points out, Boil on his trail. “What do we do?”
“Just be ready to catch his bucket, and keep an eye out while the commander rests,” Obi-Wan replies, turning to the trooper and winking at him. “I’ll handle the rest.”
Despite Cody definitely not being in any condition to sense his approach, Obi-Wan still moves carefully, not making a single sound, then, once he’s close enough, he taps Cody’s shoulder. As soon as he turns around, he immediately snatches the bucket out of his head, tossing it to Waxer, who promptly catches it.
Indeed those are two big bags under Cody’s eyes. He looks like he might pass out at any given moment.
“G-General?” Cody stutters, taken by surprise but such an attack.
“Come on, my dear, let’s go,” Obi-Wan tells him, trying to pull his arm in order to make him follow him - of course, he only pulls just a bit, not wanting to hurt him. “Everything’s taken care of. The ship won’t fall apart just because you’re resting.”
“But--”
Obi-Wan feared that Cody wasn’t going to budge, which is exactly what is happening as the commander has the courage to try and assure him that he’s fine - lie - and well rested - even bigger lie. He needs to do something dramatic, something that will make Cody unable to retort.
He sighs, metaphorically rolling the sleeves of his robes up - if he actually did so they would’ve just rolled down again immediately - and he grabs Cody by the waist, hoisting him up on his shoulder, using the Force to keep himself steady - just because Cody’s wearing his armor, or else he wouldn’t have had any problem at all.
“Sir?!”
Cody’s shouting now, face flushed from the embarrassment - it doesn’t help that a few chuckles are beginning to be heard, only to stop when people realize who exactly they’re laughing at, though Boil seems to be having a hard time keeping his face straight.
“See? Your men will keep everything under control. They’ve got you covered,” Obi-Wan says then.
Despite that, Cody still tries to kick with his legs in order to break free, but he doesn’t manage to do it. It helps that he also doesn’t want to hurt Obi-Wan, so even his kicks are pretty light all things considered.
“Sir, please!” he tries again then, but Obi-Wan doesn’t let him down. Actually, after bidding goodbye to Waxer and Boil, he begins to walk away.
“Obi-Wan! What the kriff?!” Cody tries again, abandoning all sorts of formality.
Still no answer.
Obi-Wan gets halfway towards his personal quarters when he finally speaks:
“If I let you down, are you going to follow me, or are you going to run away? Think carefully about your response.”
What’s even the point of escaping now, Cody thinks: it’s not like at least half the ship hasn’t seen them, and knowing how prone to gossip his own men are, it’s safe to assume that everyone in the galaxy will know about this. He would even be willing to bet that someone must’ve also sneaked a holo picture or two - traitors, the lot of them.
Still, Obi-Wan carrying him so nonchalantly is something unexpected but also not unpleasant. It’s making Cody a bit hot all over, actually.
“It depends, will you give me a head start?” he asks then, smirk on his face that becomes something softer when he hears Obi-Wan chuckle. It’s something that rarely happens as of late; well, that’s not entirely true, but Cody is talking about his real laugh, not the fake one he usually forces himself to make.
“You’re incorrigible,” Obi-Wan says, keeping walking, with apparently no intentions of dropping Cody, who is quickly to try to make amends for his mistake.
“I was kidding! Obi-Wan, please!”
That makes the Jedi stop; he must be considering it. Eventually he sighs, letting down Cody, who stumbles as soon as his feet touch the ground. If Obi-Wan hadn’t caught him, he would’ve fallen.
… Ok, maybe he should’ve kept being carried, but it’s too late for that. His pride wouldn’t handle it if he asks Cody to take him in his arms again, no matter how much more comfortable that would be.
Luckily for him, they’re not too far off the general’s quarters… Wait, the general’s quarters?
“What exactly are we doing, here?” Cody asks, almost panicking. Obi-Wan soothes the worries away by kissing his forehead.
“I’m going to prepare you a bath, getting you all nice and relaxed, then you’re going straight to bed,” he replies.
“A-A bath?” Cody asks, looking at Obi-Wan like he’s suddenly grown a second head. This is new for him.
“Yes, a bath. Trust me, it will help,” Obi-Wan promises as he helps him to his quarters. Baths aren’t something he usually indulges on while he’s on the ship, not wanting to waste this much water, but he figures the rest of the men will forgive him if he does it this time. It’s for their commander after all.
Once they step inside his quarters, Obi-Wan closes the door behind them, locking it. If there’s any emergency, he’s sure they’d comm him rather than trying to get here anyway.
He helps Cody settle on his bed, so he can rest here while he prepares a bath; the commander looks like he’s going to pass out at any moment, and Obi-Wan would rather have him do it on the comfort of a bed rather than on the ground - that wouldn’t be a pleasant experience at all, he knows it.
“Can you manage to stay awake for another while?” he asks, softly, caressing his hair. He can’t help but to smile at the way Cody leans into the touch.
“I’ve managed until now, I can do for a few more minutes,” he replies then. Still, when Obi-Wan pulls away, he can’t help but to be displeased: he was really getting into it!
“Hush,” Obi-Wan mutters, sensing it, kissing the top of his head, “You’ll get your cuddles later, I promise.”
Cody hums at those words, smiling. Yes, he’d like that very much.
Once Obi-Wan leaves his view, however, he realizes that keeping his eyes open is getting harder by the second, especially now that there’s nobody paying attention to him and can distract him.
Still, he tries his best to keep himself awake, not wanting to miss what Obi-Wan’s preparing for him. He tries to focus of the sound of running water then, but if anything that has the opposite effect of the one Cody was hoping it was going to have, causing him to get even closer to falling asleep.
His head slowly begins to fall down, only for Cody to snap to attention as soon as he notices it. If he had free rein to leave, he would’ve gotten himself some caf - Obi-Wan insists on keeping only a tea brewer in his room no matter how hard Cody insists on him getting a caf machine as well - but he doesn’t trust himself to walk all the way to get some. Besides, he doubts Obi-Wan would let him leave the room in the first place.
Thankfully, it’s not too long before he hears Obi-Wan’s steps approaching him.
“Sorry it took so long,” he apologizes, helping Cody up. “Here we go.”
As they step inside the fresher, Cody is immediately greeted by a flowery smell, though he’s not able to discern exactly what caused it.
“What’s this?” he asks then, turning his head towards Obi-Wan.
“The smell?” the Jedi asks. “Oh, just some scented oils I’ve found at the market.”
Despite everything, Cody can’t help but to raise an eyebrow at him. Since when does he go around buying scented oils and such? Well, he supposes anything is better than tea - he already has way too much of that.
“They’re supposed to help with meditation,” Obi-Wan says, but after a pause he can’t help but to admit: “And I was also waiting for a… special occasion to use them.”
Special occasion?
“And you’re wasting them for me?”
Obi-Wan’s gaze softens at those words.
“It’s not a waste if it’s for you,” he mutters, taking Cody’s face between his hands and gently pressing their foreheads together. Cody can’t hold back a smile.
“Alright, then let’s try it.”
Thanks to Obi-Wan, the undressing process is way less sloppy than it would’ve been otherwise - Cody isn’t doing great in the coordination department right now - and once he’s completely bare, he steps inside the tub.
He’s immediately welcomed by a sense of warm torpor that immediately spreads over his body; a happy sigh leaves his lips as he lets the sensation of contentment wash over him like the hot water is washing over his body. The flowery smell is delightful; Cody feared that it would’ve been too much, but it’s actually the perfect amount to be pleasant, not too much and neither too little. Obi-Wan clearly knows what he’s doing.
Speaking of Obi-Wan, he lets Cody bask in the warmth for a moment, before walking to the tub’s edge, sitting on it. He helps Cody clean himself up, massaging the sore muscles with gentle touch; it’s actually getting harder and harder to stay awake, so much that Cody has forgone keeping his eyes open, knowing that it would be a vain effort; besides, he doesn’t need to see now, he needs to feel.
Once Obi-Wan’s done, he pours some shampoo on his hands and he begins to gently scratch Cody’s scalp.
He smiles with tenderness at the way Cody leans into his touch; good, it means he’s beginning to relax: he can clearly feel the tenseness leave Cody’s body the more time passes, and he can be only happy about it. He deserves to feel calm and relaxed.
“You know you don’t have to do that, don’t you?” he asks softly, as if to not disturb the quiet intimate atmosphere around them. Even though he feels he might be ruining the moment, some things just have to be said, or else anything would ever be resolved and Cody would keep acting the same.
“I know…” Cody replies, voice soft as well. After a moment of silence, he continues. “Old habits die hard, I guess.”
Obi-Wan begins to wash his hair, watching the trails of shampoo trickle down Cody’s shoulders. Once he’s done with that, he presses a kiss on the top of Cody’s hair, uncaring of the wet hair.
“We all love and care for you. You don’t need to prove anything.”
“I know…” This time, Cody’s voice is weaker. He’s trying real hard not to make it crack, but Obi-Wan can still sense the effect his words have on him through the Force.
He knows Cody has a lot to unlearn and he knows how hard doing something like that is; it’s exactly because of this that…
“I love you, and I’m proud of you.”
A chocked noise comes out of Cody’s throat, then he raises one hand, taking the one Obi-Wan is still resting on his shoulder in order to bring it to his lips, pressing a soft kiss on its palm.
“I love you too.”
He helps Cody up from the bathtub and brings him a towel to help him dry off.
It’s good that by now Cody uses to keep a spare set of blacks in Obi-Wan’s quarters, because he hadn’t thought about clothes; to tell the truth, he didn’t think about this too much at all: it’s been more of a following his instincts situation.
After Cody finishes dressing up, they both get comfortable on Obi-Wan’s bed, secured into each other’s arms.
Obi-Wan can feel Cody’s breathing against his chest; it’s getting heavier and heavier. Just as he thinks that he must’ve fallen asleep, however, Cody speaks, or better, mumbles something:
“Thank you. For everything.”
Obi-Wan smiles, caressing Cody’s hair, leaning closer to kiss it.
“No need to thank me, my dear,” he replies, meaning each and every word of it. He’s just doing what is right. “Rest now, you deserve it.”
The situation was less than ideal, and even that is an understatement.
Not that it directly affects Cody… No, it does, no matter how hard he tries not to think about it. He’s supposed to be a professional, but this isn’t how a professional should act at all.
After the attack at the ship ended, Cody retreated to the troopers’ quarters as soon as he could. Normally he’d have his own private quarters, but with so many important guests they couldn’t afford to spare too many rooms for them. He was thankful when both general Kenobi and Skywalker tried to step in to give them something more accommodating, but apparently clones matter only to the Jedi; there was nothing they could do about it.
On one hand it’s nice being able to be closer to his brothers - being marshal commander can be a lonely job sometimes - but on the other he misses the privacy, especially now, when he doesn’t feel the best.
The worst thing about everything - and he feels bad about it - is that he was almost happy at the news that they were being attacked. It wasn’t good of course, but at least he could’ve focused on the action instead of his general and the Duchess, because that is the true problem, isn’t it? The general, the Duchess and whatever is going on between them.
Not that he was much useful even then and yes, he’s ashamed of it; he really wasn’t up to his usual game this time. Normally general Kenobi would check in with him - he always manages to understand whenever he or any of the troopers is having a bad day - but of course this time he’s too occupied to think about him, too busy running after his Duchess.
He shouldn’t feel like this, it’s not right: not only the object of his affection is clearly uninterested, but he’s also his general. How would he react if he found out about his feelings?
In a way it’s good that he was focused on the Duchess to notice anything. Cody can’t help but to wonder what would happen to him if he was found out; would he be reassigned to a new battalion? Or worse, would he be sent to reconditioning?
Kenobi isn’t the type to bestow such a terrible fate on anyone, less than any on someone he regards as a friend - because he and the general are friends - but even then things would be terrible, Cody feels.
He sighs, shaking his head.
What is he even thinking? As if someone like general Kenobi would want to have anything to do with him in a romantic sense; he’s got nothing under that front. He’s not the Duchess.
At the end of the day, he’s just a clone. It sucks, but that’s how it is. Just because the general treats him as a person, it doesn’t mean the rest of the world considers him as such.
Still, to be reminded of it in such a way…
He hears the door open, followed by the sound of steps getting closer.
He doesn’t even raise his head to see who it is; he just keeps staying there, sitting at the edge of his bunk, armor still on his body - he doesn’t have enough energy to remove it.
Only when the figure kneels in front of him, he sees who it is: it’s Rex.
“Cody…” he mutters, looking at him with sad eyes. Cody would love to reply to him, but not matter how hard he forces himself, he can’t speak at all, which in turn seems to be worrying Rex even more.
He wants to tell him that he’s fine, that he just needs some time, but how can he make him understand when he can’t even move?
“Alright, let’s get you out of this, first,” Rex says then, gently helping Cody to stand up.
With his help, he’s finally free of his armor, now neatly stacked under his cot. Cody feels like he can breathe again.
“You know, I was worried, back there,” Rex tells him. Yeah, Cody had noticed: right after the first debrief, as Cody had signalled the troopers that they were dismissed, he immediately felt a gentle nudge on his arm. When he turned, Rex tilted his head towards him, silently asking if he was feeling well. They were still close to Skywalker and - most importantly - Kenobi, so Cody quickly signalled that he was fine and went his way. He should’ve known that Rex wasn’t going to be fooled; he always seems to see what lies behind his bullshit.
He wants to apologize, to tell him that he’s sorry about making him worry, but still no sound comes out of his throat.
All Cody can do is to crash against Rex, who readily catches him into his arms. Armor isn’t that comfortable to lean against, but now that Rex is hugging him Cody doesn’t want to let him go, not even so that he can take off his own armor as well.
He doesn’t cry; he’s learned since he was a cadet that crying is useless: it only makes you feel void when you’re done, weak. Besides, nobody would come to him if he was crying.
He just… longs. Yes, he longs for something that he’ll never have. He wishes he was something that he’ll never be.
If only he could stop feeling this pain…
In the end, he supposes, that’s to be expected, given who he has fallen in love with.
He can only hope that he’ll be able to move on soon. He’d rather deal with entire battalions of droids than these ugly feelings that he has to keep in control.
Ugh, why did he have to fall in love with Obi-Wan Kenobi of all people?!
It gets better at least when Rex begins to caress his back, muttering that he’s there for him, whatever it is that he needs, that it’s going to be alright, and even though with the state things are Cody doesn’t feel particularly willing to believe him, he can at least be sure on the fact that even in his loneliness there is someone he can count on.
It doesn’t exactly make the pain vanish entirely, but it makes things easier. Maybe if he keeps focusing on this, Cody will be able to forget.
