III. Jedi Temple; Obi-Wan’s Questioning | OVERALL CONTENT 18+/HEED TAGS!
Something had to be wrong with Anakin. Obi-Wan had been off-world for over two months, and upon his arrival back on Coruscant, he hadn’t seen Anakin once. Anakin had even stopped calling partway through the deployment, stating he was too busy for holocalls and opting instead to just message Obi-Wan occasionally. His hurt had ebbed long ago, quickly replaced by annoyance at the thoughtlessness of his former Padawan, which then turned into curiosity and overthinking about why he’d stopped reaching out. He and Anakin were practically attached at the hip and had been for most of the war (well, most of the time they’d known each other, if he was being honest). Hence his surety in the fact that something was wrong.
Obi-Wan had tried on multiple occasions to reach out in their Force bond, but each time he felt Anakin blocking him. Whenever he went to his apartment, Anakin was mysteriously and conveniently not there. He was even absent from Council meetings, which finally prompted Obi-Wan to ask Council members about why their latest member wasn’t there.
⟢
Getting a straight response from the Council members should not have been this difficult. A gathering of the most perceptive beings in the galaxy, equipped with additional supernatural means of perception, and here he was practically begging for them to give him a straight answer.
“Talk to your Padawan yourself, you must,” Master Yoda hummed before tottering away. Obi-Wan could sense a vague disapproval from the little green alien’s Force signature. Whatever that meant, he had no idea.
⟢
“Oh, um…I don’t quite know, Obi-Wan,” Depa Billaba twisted her hands, looking down at them. “Have you checked his apartment? He’s more than likely in there. I mean, if I had to guess.”
⟢
“Master Windu, I can trust you’ll be honest with me. Do you have any idea what is going on with Anakin?”
Mace’s usual baseline expression of detached disgust morphed into an explicit one at the mention of Anakin. He even made a noise in the back of his throat. Somewhere between a scoff and a half-chuckle.
“Obi-Wan, I’m afraid I can’t help you there. He’s done this all on his own.”
Apparently that was all the answer Obi-Wan was to get. What did he truly expect from the most mysterious Jedi he knew?
⟢
Fortunately for Obi-Wan, he soon realized, a member of one of the best message-carrying groups in the galaxy was near glued to his side at all times.
One of the Grand Army of the Republic’s worst kept secrets was that their soldiers talked. About everything. Their Jedi Generals, what their battalion was planning on doing next, what relationships were kindling between the Jedi and ranks, who could be trusted, who couldn’t. And most importantly, any and all hot gossip happening to anyone near the vod’e. Marshall Commander Cody, being the highest ranking clone in one of the highest ranking battalions in the GAR, was practically guaranteed to know of any murmurings among the brothers.
Obi-Wan reached for his communicator and went to ping Cody’s line, but soon remembered hearing something about Rex wanting to spend time with him, and that the two of them would be out today. Ah, well. He supposed it could wait another day to find out why his former Padawan was so mysteriously unaccounted for.
⟢
“Cody! Just the man I wanted to see,” Obi-Wan smiled warmly as he approached his clone commander. He stopped Cody at the door to the briefing room, placing a light hand on his arm to prevent him from walking in.
“Morning, General,” Cody offered a small smile back.
“I had a question for you, Commander. I’m not entirely sure if you would know, but…” at this Obi-Wan leaned in conspiratorially. “I know your brothers have the tendency to…talk.”
Cody looked supremely confused. “Yes…sir?”
“That’s besides the point. I actually wanted to ask you if you had any idea, or if you’ve heard anything, about what’s been going on with Anakin?”
As with all of the others he’d asked (and quite frankly Obi-Wan was getting sick of this trend), Cody’s face changed completely. Different from all the rest, however, Obi-Wan saw a bright red begin to creep up Cody’s tan neck, slowly make its way to his cheeks, and eventually take over his entire face. A true and proper blush. His eyes got wide and he immediately looked away as if searching for anything to look at other than his General. His posture went ramrod straight, even straighter than how he usually stood. All in all, Cody was the prime picture of pure…embarassment?
“No,” he choked out, still avoiding eye contact. He cleared his throat and kept going.
“He’s not my general! W-why would I know?”
Cody was not the kind of man to lie, especially not to Obi-Wan. Which was why the quite apparent lie that he now peddled was so confusing. Why in the galaxy was everyone being so cagey about this? Why was his clone commander blushing? And where in the Sith hells was Anakin?
⟢
“You’ve reached the holomessage box of Anakin Skywalker, I’m a bit tied up, or across the galaxy, or doing important Jedi work. Either way, I couldn’t take your call. Leave a message and I’ll get back with you!”
BEEP
“Ah, Anakin, I know this is the fifth message I’ve left with you. I-I hope you’re alright. I’ve asked around; nobody’s seen you for days. Just…give me a call back. Please, Anakin. May the Force be with you.”
In the dark of his Coruscant apartment, Anakin sat alone on his bed, robes piled on the ground around him. He hadn’t intended on avoiding Obi-Wan this long. In fact, he was going to get ready and finally seek him out. But just as soon as he went to put on his clothes, he came to the horrible realization that none of them fit. He tried to squeeze into his biggest pair of pants, and the loosest shirt he owned, but they were just too tight to move at all comfortably in.
Damn, he thought, looking at the mess around him and down at his stomach where it rested on his thighs, taunting him by its mere existence.
II. Anakin’s Apartment; Cody’s Realization | OVERALL CONTENT 18+/HEED TAGS!
“Hey, vod!” Rex’s cheery voice came through on Cody’s comlink.
“Hngh,” he groaned back.
Cody was lying down on the bed in his quarters, face smushed into the singular pillow, still in his full armor. He, the General, and the rest of the 212th had just returned planetside after an extended campaign in the Outer Rim. This was Cody’s first day off in months, and truly, all he wished to do was lie here until he became one with the mattress or the universe exploded, whichever happened first.
“C’mon, Kote! I haven’t seen ya in ages! Don’t you want to see me?”
Cody didn’t have to look to know that Rex had turned on his puppy dog eyes.
“No,” he finally spoke, mumbling into the pillow.
“Aw, that’s too bad,” Rex oddly didn’t sound disappointed. Before Cody had the chance to investigate the lack of mood switch, Rex interrupted him. “‘Cause I’m already here.”
And with that, Rex hung up. Then the banging on the door started.
Cody buried his face further into his pillow and let out a truly exasperated growl.
Cody had not been sleeping well lately. Beyond the obvious issues of cramped starfighter quarters, the thin bunk mattresses, and the already light sleep that was necessary when in constant threat of attack, Cody had been plagued with what could only be called…visions. He’d call them dreams, but to his understanding, clones didn’t dream. They were so vivid, and they were only centered around one thing.
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Then…
It started when Rex called him one day mid-deployment. Beyond their necessary calls for cross-battalion communication, Rex and Cody had tried to keep a weekly personal call in their schedules, just to catch up and ensure each other was doing alright. This call was like any other. News on Cody’s end was mundane; their starfighter and the others with them were in a stalemate in dead space. No movement for days. Rex filled him in about this and that, what the Council was doing lately, what he’d last heard from Fox, and, most interestingly, the routine he and General Skywalker had fallen into.
“I dunno if there’s a goal here, but I think we’re trying every bakery in Coruscant. It’s always the middle of the night when he calls me, vod. And I really got nothing better to do,” Rex trailed off, scratching his head. “Plus, he always buys. And the food is really good.”
Cody hummed in curiosity as Rex chattered, typing another report on his datapad.
“We’ve been on this for about a month or so.” Rex paused to think. “Maybe two. Kinda lost track a few weeks ago.” He laughed to himself before continuing. “If you were the one here, you’d have some kinda itemized list ranking the alayi by texture or some shit.”
Cody rolled his eyes and laughed along.
“Oh, is that so?” he smiled.
“That’s so, vod,” Rex grinned back, before his head whipped around as someone off screen entered his vicinity. “Oh, hey, General! Come say hey to Cody!”
Soon enough, General Skywalker came on screen and…and good god. That was certainly different.
Anakin was about twice the size as he was when Cody last saw him. All of his previous hard edges had been replaced by soft lines and even softer rolls. Even the large Jedi regulation robes he wore seemed tight as they stretched across his stomach. His hair was longer, framing and falling into his face as he tucked himself into frame to offer Cody a shy wave.
“Uh, hey Commander! Good to see you,” he smiled.
Cody’s mouth was dry. Rex hadn’t mentioned anything about this. But…given the frequency in which their “supply runs” happened and how long they’d been going on, Cody supposed it did make sense…
“Cody? You alright?” General Skywalker’s voice broke through his spiral.
“Y-Yes, sir! Fine, just fine! Good to see you too, sir,” he coughed out the words.
Anakin kept smiling, but Cody noticed it got a little strained at the edges after he spoke.
“Well, anyway, I’ll leave you two to it!” he tried to make his voice sound cheery, not quite succeeding. “Stay safe out there, Cody.”
Cody nodded firmly, voice still catching in his throat.
“Yes, sir. I will, sir.”
And with that, the General exited the holo-transmission. Rex waited a beat, presumably for Anakin to leave the room, and promptly laid into Cody.
“What the hell was that, mate? You hardly said two words to him!”
“What’re you talking about, Rex? It was nothing. I’m just tired,” Cody snapped. “Anyway, I gotta go. These reports aren’t going to fill themselves out. Ret’, vod,” and before his brother could protest, Cody swiftly ended the holo.
The room was totally quiet.
Slowly, as though afraid of what he’d find, Cody glanced down to his lap, and immediately his fears were confirmed. There, standing proudly, was the evidence of what seeing General Skywalker 150 pounds heavier had done to him.
He prayed to whatever god was out there that Rex hadn’t seen.
⟢
Now…
For whatever reason, Rex decided that dragging him all over creation was the perfect idea for their first day reunited. He’d compiled what he described as “the best of the best” of the bakeries he and General Skywalker had visited that Cody simply had to try.
“Now, the quinberry cake here is really good, if you’re going for the most popular. But the Corellia chews are the General’s favorite,” Rex told him sagely, ordering four Corellia chews from the cart tender.
When the attendant turned to him, Cody stuttered out. “Uh, just—yeah, one of those. Thanks.”
Rex looked at him expectantly as they were handed the pastries. Cody sighed and tossed more than enough credits to the attendant.
“Look, Rex, I appreciate the thought, but I’m not all that hungry, and I really am ti—"
“Nah, mate, just try ‘em, I’m telling you.”
Rolling his eyes, Cody took a bite. Maybe, just maybe, his brother and General Skywalker were onto something.
Perhaps taking pity on him, Rex decided it was alright that they headed back after this. He, of course, cited “errands to run” as opposed to letting Cody rest. Along their way, he ate his two chews, stashing the other two in their original box and tucking it safely into his belt pouch.
“Hey, can we swing by my place real quick? I forgot something.”
Cody was a bit confused.
“But my quarters are closer than yours. Can’t I just—”
“Nah, vod, I know a shortcut!” Those words, accompanied by a twinkle in his eye, especially coming from Rex were a very bad thing.
Cody was far, far too tired to argue.
“Lead the way.”
⟢
After rifling around his room for about fifteen minutes as Cody strategized on how to get as comfortable as possible on a couch that could only be made from durasteel while in his full armor, Rex made a triumphant noise and came rushing out.
“Got it! Let’s go!”
Cody was now entirely sure that they weren’t headed back to his apartment any time soon.
⟢
When they arrived in front of General Skywalker’s quarters, and the realization of what and who exactly was behind that door (as well as a sickening remembrance of what had happened the last time he saw who was behind that door) hit, it was already too late for Cody to make a break for it.
Rex knocked cheerily, calling out to Anakin while trying to look in the peephole.
“Door’s open!” he heard the General call from the other side.
With that, Rex barged in, gleefully procuring whatever he’d stashed in another one of his pouches, and yelled across the apartment:
“Generaaaal! I found your chafe stick!” this call was accompanied by proudly waving said stick in the air so that Anakin wouldn’t miss it.
Anakin, who was milling about in the kitchen, turned around, and Cody saw that his face was rapidly deepening into ten different shades of red.
This was the first time Cody had truly seen him since all of the…changes had occurred. The holotransmission hadn’t done him justice in the slightest. The man’s sheer mass was almost overwhelming when standing next to him. It wasn’t like it had been easy to forget how tall General Skywalker was before, but now he stood not only incredibly tall, but incredibly large as well. He was in his casual robes, only a soft linen tunic and darker linen pants. There was no belt in sight to restrict his belly, which hung over his waistband, straining against the thin fabric of his shirt. His chest bulged in the tunic as well, creating a beautiful set of curves as it transitioned into his belly, then into his now-wide hips. His face was rounder now, too, Cody noticed. Where previously near-gaunt cheekbones lay now round, soft, almost innocent cheeks took their place. His hair was much longer than before, pulled into a messy half-up half-down situation, the dark waves falling onto his big shoulders.
Taking in the entire picture was intoxicating, but Cody found his eyes continually falling back to Anakin’s belly. It looked so soft. Absently, Cody wondered what it would feel like under his hands, if he could knead it, if it was as plush as it looked, how the General would react—
And it was at that moment that Cody felt the telltale rush of blood downwards and winced as his armor begin to get uncomfortably tight. As subtly but as quickly as he could, Cody removed his helmet and placed it firmly in front of his crotch. He offered General Skywalker a nervous smile and then quickly looked away. Oh god.
