Archive of Our Own ^beta

“You’re seriously gonna take another cup of caf?”

“You're on your 15th cup of tea, you're in no position to speak, sir.”

“I won't get into another pointless debate about the merits and demerits of drinking tea versus caf,” Obi-wan rolled his eyes with a small smile.

“I think we have better things to do,” Cody sighed, sitting back down in front of his pile of datapads.

The nonsense of his vod'e made him laugh less and less, especially when he had to fill out 5 different forms to justify the disappearance of three speeders that the Ghost company had found useful in their war against Torrent company (cody still didn't know what had happened to the speeders in question but he had doubts about a link between this event and the drastic increase in fuel consumption for the flamethrowers..)

“Who was responsible for the LAAT/i explosion again?” Obi-Wan suddenly asked.

“I thought we said we were turning a blind eye to the prank war since Skywalker started it?” Cody raised an eyebrow.

“Certainly, but the LAAT/i are unbearable to requisition, I think we can make an exception.”

“Fair enough, it was Quentin and Megatron.”

“Thanks dear,” replied Obi-wan absentmindedly.

He looked less tired than usual, Cody thought to himself as he watched his general place another datapad on the pile named 'finished'. It was the third day since they had returned from their last campaign and the reports were finally coming to an end. Tomorrow they would finalize everything in front of the Jedi Council and they would receive a new assignment. Cody hoped that tonight at least, Kenobi would be able to sleep for 8 hours straight.

8 kriffing hours, what luxury...

Perhaps eight hours of sleep could erase the veil of fatigue that had been resting for too long on his general's ice-colored orbs...

Cody shook his head and forced himself to focus back on his own datapad.

Obi-Wan's comlink suddenly lit up, filling the room with ridiculous music about Soda Pop. The general grimaced an apologetic smile at his commander and picked up the comm.

"Anakin, why did you change my Comlink ringtone again?"

“Sorry, Master, that was me,” Ahsoka’s voice answered him.

Obi-wan rolled his eyes, allowing himself to smile fondly since they couldn't see him.

"That's not why I'm calling you, master," Anakin continued. "I'm currently stuck at the RCMO, and Fox keeps threatening to take me to the RJCDC," he explained in a pouting voice.

Cody wasn't really surprised that Fox refused to let Skywalker leave his Republic Center of Military Operation, but he was very surprised that he threatened to take him to the Republic Judiciary Central Detention Center, as far as he knew Fox didn't even have the right to do that.

"That's Commander Fox to you Skywalker," a voice said coldly in the background.

Cody had to bite the inside of his cheek hard to stop himself from laughing, but he kept his poker face perfect; Kaminoans didn't mess around with training.

"Anyway, as Commander Fox just said, I need you to come bail me out."

“Why are you even in there Anakin, I need more expla…”

“Gotta go! Sorry master, thanks master!”

The connection ended, leaving them both with a strong urge to sigh desperately.

They were greeted at the RCMO entrance by Thorn, who immediately launched into a monologue to explain that Fox was in a premium grumpy mood, apparently it had something to do with a certain Quinlan Vos who had been annoying him all afternoon, and so he decided that putting that entire 501st group in a cell was a good way to relax. Thorn ended his presentation by wishing them luck in convincing Fox to let them go.

He left them in front of the cell where Anakin, Ahsoka, Rex, Jesse, Hardcase, Kix and Fives were crammed.

What a bunch of di’kut, Cody thought.

“Master! you’re finally here,” Anakin exclaimed.

Obi-Wan had to blink twice to focus on his former Padawan, the vision of Ahsoka somersaulting over Jesse to escape him still imprinted on his retina.

“Do I even have the right to know how you all ended up here?” Obi-Wan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers.

"It's my fault, General Kenobi," Hardcase immediately replied with a big smile. "I threw up on Stock's shoes, he took me to the RCMO drunk tank, and…"

"And we thought it would be a good idea to go get him quickly," Jesse interrupted, pointing at Fives and himself with a gesture of undeniable clumsiness.

“Except Stock saw us and as according to him our condition was even more problematic than Hardcase's…” Fives admitted with a sheepish smile, “anyway he put us here too, I don't think it was deserved but oh well…”

"You tried to illegally bail someone out of the RCMO, that’s a kriffing osik’la idea," Kix said coldly. "I'm here just because of your bullshit. I told you if would go like this and you didn’t listen. It's like the time Jesse wanted to try the cocktails at the Setratche bar."

"I still had nothing to do with the fact that 23 people ended up in the hospital," Jesse argued.

Cody felt a migraine starting to creep up on him.

"Stop, stop, stop, I still don't understand why Rex, General Skywalker, and Commander Tano are here too."

“They called me,” Rex sighed, “and I was with the commander so we came immediatly, except she thought it would be funny to stick a glitter bomb on Thorn’s back and detonate it in Fox’s office… Anyway, we ended up here too, so we called Anakin…”

“And what exactly did you do to end up here yourself Anakin?” asked Obi-Wan, about to turn around and leave them all there for the night.

“Absolutely nothing.”

Silence fell over the room and Obi-Wan and Cody exchanged an incredulous look. Up until this point, everything had seemed somewhat believable. The 501st was known for having its leadership as chaotic as its soldiers, but this was pushing it a bit far.

“Rex, what did he do?” Cody asked, deciding to check with more reliable sources.

“Absolutely nothing.”

It was becoming appalling, if even Rex started lying, there was something fishy going on.

“So no one wants to tell us how Anakin ended up here?” Obi-Wan asked.

“The theory we came up with while we waited for you is that Fox doesn’t like it,” Ahsoka blurted out, nibbling on a ration bar she seemed to have conjured out of thin air.

“No crumbs in my cells,” Fox grumbled as he entered the room, “and General Skywalker’s presence in this cell has nothing to do with my personal feelings toward him.”

He came with two cups of coffee and gave one directly to Cody who thanked him with a nod before starting to drink, Fox always managed to get the best caf in the army, Cody had never asked the name of the supplier, plausible deniability and all.

“Well, a Jedi and his commander, exactly the people I need,” Fox grinned, revealing sharp canines.

Cody knew from experience how much of a mark those teeth could leave, and Fox had kept the habit of exposing them when he was preparing to threaten someone whose chances of survival he knew were greatly reduced, in other words, it smelled like osik for their sleeping schedule.

"I don't plan on letting them go tonight," Fox informed them immediately, placing his helmet on a table. "I think we've been too lenient with them, and they're just getting into more and more trouble."

The great negotiator saw his entry point here...

"I'm sure we can come to an arrangement, I need Anakin to finish his reports for the Jedi Council tomorrow morning..."

"An arrangement? Perfect!"

To rush straight into the mouth of the fox.

"I happen to have this thing that's been bothering me for quite some time, but as Marshal Commander of the Coruscant Guard I don't really have the time to deal with it, especially when di'kutla soldiers like yours are messing with my schedule, so you're gonna run that errand for me, right?"

“What kind of errand?” Cody asked matter of factly.

“Someone has been messing with my caf stock, I was able to get a sample of their DNA but I can’t do much more without you.”

“No way I’m researching a random in Coruscant tonight, give Skywalker a datapad and let them go tomorrow,” Cody immediately refused.

Fox sat down quietly at the table, placed his empty cup next to him, and turned on his datapad.

– Well, you see Kote, I happen to have quite a lot of files about y’all, what a shame it would be if that video of you and Bly at 79’ ended up on the holonet…

Cody’s ears heat up at the mention of that… embarrassing memory.

"But that's not all, I also have... 246 videos of a certain General Skywalker's back-and-forth between the Jedi Temple and Senator Amidala's office, including at least three in more than compromising positions."

Anakin choked on air as Ahsoka burst into hysterical laughter and Rex just grinned.

"Rex'ika, if I were you, I wouldn't have fun so quickly. Do you remember that time you went to buy cookies on Christophsis?"

“I told you this explosion had nothing to do with me or my actions,” he denied.

“And for our dear General Kenobi, well General Vos can’t seem to shut the kriff up when he’s drunk so I got quite a handful of information…”

Fox left a few seconds of silence before placing the datapad on the table and standing up.

“So?”

Cody didn't see the point in continuing to negotiate, with Fox it was always pointless, accepting the first deal was probably the best thing to do since he still had five different blackmail options he hadn't presented yet.

“Let’s say we find this person,” Obi-Wan began carefully, “we bring them here, you’ll let them all go and you’ll delete all that stuff, right?”

Har’chaak, we’re fucked.

“General, with all due respect, maybe I wasn’t clear enough, but you have two options: either you go get me that shabuir now, or I’ll dump these files on the holonet.” He looked at the bottom of his empty cup with disappointment. “You have 20 minutes to decide, Cody, another one too?”

“Sure.”

Fox put his helmet back on and left the room.

“Well, Commander Thorn wasn’t kidding when he said Fox would be hard to convince…” Kenobi noted.

“That grumpy old man only lives for his caf.” Cody muttered.

“Anyway, I think we should accept his offer,” Obi-Wan admitted, “unless you have reason to think he will not go along with his threats?”

“Fox’ika never does things by halves,” Cody replied without a hint of doubt.

“Well, let’s get that DNA sample then.”

“Thanks a lot master!” Anakin replied immediately.

“Oh don’t think I’ve forgotten everything he said about you Anakin, and that’s good, I need a new cruiser for the 212th and I think you’re the perfect person to requisition one for me.”

Cody exchanged a look with Rex, they both knew Skywalker didn't have the slightest idea how to fill out a single fucking requisition form and that Rex would obviously be the one to do it again.

Two hours. That was how long they had to wait just to speak with an officer of the Security Service of Coruscant. Apparently, being a Jedi and being accompanied by the highest-ranking clone in the Army was pointless if you didn't have the authorization stamped by the Chancellor himself. Having to explain that he was indeed a Jedi to people who responded with 'yes, that's right, and I'm the Emperor's nephew' and 'nice to meet you, I'm Jabba the Hutt' had worn Obi-Wan's patience more than necessary.

However, after that, it had been relatively quick, an employee as pissed off to be here as they were, had put the sample into his machine before saying in a monotone voice 'Erel Startime, half human half unknown, last seen at their home, level 1342 district 25N43E' he had printed them a paper with the exact coordinates - Cody still couldn't believe that printers still existed - and had kicked them out of his office.

They now found themselves in front of a relatively ugly building, stuck in the most unsavory basements of Coruscant. The constant noise of water was almost unbearable, making the place even less pleasant. What a bad idea to live near the city's largest water treatment plant, Cody thought. What a bad idea to be poor, he added sarcastically.

The strangest thing about this building wasn't its more than questionable appearance or its impressive height for the area, but rather that it seemed empty of any living presence, which in Coruscant was theoretically impossible, any abandoned building only remained empty for a few hours. Without thinking, Cody sent his position to Boil and Waxer, having back-up could never hurt.

They approached the main gate and discovered a security system far too advanced for the place, nothing they couldn't hack of course, but still, another oddity.

“Wow,” Obi-Wan said as they entered a huge, ultra-modern laboratory. And terribly cold.

Cody couldn't even take a step forward before his general's hand landed on his arm, stopping him in his tracks. He waited.

“Feeling something special, General?” he finally asked, kicking himself for still relying on some Force osik.

“I’ve gotta bad feeling about this,” Obi-Wan muttered, shivering violently.

Cody placed his gloved hand on Kenobi's, even through the thick fabric he could feel how cold it was.

Fierfek, Helix is gonna exterminate both of us.

“I think we should go back to the RCMO, we’ll tell Fox this needs more investigation than we can deal with in one night.” 

Without waiting for an answer, Cody turned and pushed on the door. It didn't budge an inch. He tried again, harder, but to no avail.

“Have you tried pulling?” Obi-Wan mocked.

Despite his urge to punch a wall, Cody tried to pull the door with all his might, but it didn't budge more.

“And the Force can’t help us I guess?” 

Obi-Wan shrugged and reached for the door. When he realized there was really nothing he could do, he sighed and sat down on the floor.

“We’re waiting, it’s almost 2300, I’m sure they’ll send someone to pick us up before tomorrow morning, let’s get some sleep.”

Cody said nothing, simply removing his helmet and sitting down next to his General. He waited a few seconds before sighing loudly and shifting to put his arm around Kenobi's shoulders. To say Cody wasn't a cuddly person would have been a serious understatement, but the circumstances didn't really leave him a choice.

“Thank you…” Obi-Wan murmured, wrapping an arm around Cody’s waist, letting his head rest on his chest.

He'd never noticed Obi-Wan's eyelashes were so long, probably because their light color prevented them from being truly visible if you didn't have your nose to them. They cast a light shadow over the freckles that discreetly dotted the tops of his cheeks and cheekbones. Cody forced himself to look away and take a deep breath.

Even though he spent most of his time with this man, his beauty never ceased to take him by surprise, at least normally he had other things to do to distract himself, but here he could not help but be ultra aware of all the places where their bodies indirectly touched.

The longer the hug lasted, the more comfortable Cody realized he was. Worse, not only did he have no problem spending hours like this, but the feeling was so bad he was afraid he'd never be able to close his eyes again without imagining himself in the arms of his fucking superior officer!

He, who only vaguely accepted the embraces of his closest brothers, had absolutely no idea how to deal with this realization. He already knew he was hopelessly in love with the Jedi, but he had already had three years to get used to this fact; managing it, hiding it, and pushing it deep within himself was second nature to him.

Well, you're just going to do the same with that too, he mused.

In the meantime, there was no harm in enjoying what he could get, was there?

“How unprofessional of our commander,” Boil whispered to Waxer with a sly smile.

The latter rolled his eyes and took a holo of the scene for posterity, before leaning over to grab Cody's shoulder.

The commander woke abruptly; he hadn't felt himself drifting off to sleep, he was so lost in his thoughts. He blinked rapidly and began to blush as he realized the position his soldiers had just found him in.

He felt Obi-Wan chuckle against his chest before he pulled away from him to stand up, leaving a lingering sensation of gentle vibration throughout every part of Cody's body that had been in contact with him.

“Don’t be so embarrased my dear, I’m sure our great troopers won’t share any of this to any of their vod’e,” Obi-Wan smiled.

These two gossips never shut their mouths, he resigned himself.

They left the building, writing down the address, and that's when Obi-Wan realized that Erel Startime actually lived on the next street.

Cody poured himself a cup of the caf Fox had given him to thank him for his time when they dropped Erel at the RCMO earlier. He still had a large stack of datapads to process, and the caffeinated beverage was his only option. He glanced at Obi-Wan, who looked like he was about to nod off at his work.

Very strange, he just slept three hours in a row, usually he only gets like this when he hasn’t gotten any sleep in over four days…

He made no comment on this and gave the General a hot cup of tea. He had specifically chosen the blend Senator Amidala had given him on his last birthday.

“Thanks dear.”

Cody ignored the warm feeling that crept up his bones and went back to work.

When he looked up a few dozen minutes later, he was surprised to find the Jedi asleep, his cheek pressed against a datapad.

Well that’s rather unexpected.

He looked so peaceful that Cody hesitated to wake him up and try to convince him to go to bed. Especially since there was a very good chance the negotiator would take the opportunity to get back to work.

I can’t exactly leave him like this either…

“General, you should go to bed,” he said softly.

Obi-Wan didn't even open his eyes and stood up, leaning on Cody for guidance, he walked blindly to his bed where he fell headfirst into it.

As Cody was about to leave the room, he heard some sort of mumbling...

“Sorry, did you need anything, sir?”

“It’s Obi-Wan, and if you don’t stay here I’ll get up and be back to work before you even have the time to say ‘General’, so get your shebs in this bed, and don’t argue with me, it’s not like I can trust you to go to sleep and not run on caf the rest of the night to finish our work.”

If Cody had been less tired, if he hadn't already had such a sweet taste of the feel of Obi-Wan's arms, if he had been using his last neurons properly, he would have replied that it was 'hardly appropriate' and he would have slept in a chair.

But he was fallible.

So he undid his armor in a few movements, letting it fall to the floor carelessly and collapsed on the bed beside his General. He didn't even have time to enjoy the joy this moment brought him before he was already asleep.

⭒✭𐫰✭⭒

Obi-Wan was swimming in a dream that was too good to be true. He was in his bed, of course, nothing incredible so far, but a warm and luminous presence surrounded him physically and mentally, giving him a feeling of security such as he had not felt since he had left the Temple nursery.

He slowly opened his eyes, still bathed in that warmth.

Oh this dream keeps getting better, he thought as he noticed Cody in his bed.

His commander's often closed and tense face was relaxed by sleep, his scar reflecting the rosy glow of the sunrise, a ghostly smile hovering on his chapped lips.

The clone's heavily lashed black eyelids fluttered open, revealing chocolate eyes of a depth Obi-Wan could never tire of.

The look Cody gave him was filled with so much love and devotion that Obi-Wan felt like he could feel it in the force—completely impossible in a dream, by the way.

Without thinking any further, Obi-Wan simply moved away and placed a simple kiss on those lips that seemed to be waiting for him.

“General?”

Cody's real voice brought him back to his senses. His stunned gaze was like a bucket of cold water.

I’m not dreaming. 

Oh fuck.

“I…” 

By the kark of all the deities, what the hell am I supposed to say, this is so kriffing wrong.

“Were you really that sleep deprived?” Cody teased him, but there was still a hint of worry in his voice.

“I’m very sorry Cody, I shouldn’t have done that. That’s… highly inappropriate.” 

Something shifted in Cody’s eyes, Obi-Wan couldn’t what or why, but he was sure as hell he didn’t like it.

“That can happen to anyone, I’m sure Fox actually cuddled Ponds one night and was so mortified in the morning he didn’t eat at all for two days,” Cody told him with a smile.

Force, I wanna kiss him again… 

Get a grip for kriff sake, you’re a Master of the Jedi Council!

 “Anyways, corellian tea?” Cody asked, standing up.

“Yes, please.”

He glanced at the time and sighed as he realized he only had 30 minutes left until the Council meeting started.

The longer the meeting progressed, the more Obi-Wan doubted his ability to stay focused on what was happening. His mind constantly switched between flashbacks of waking up and aggressive self-reprimands.

Luckily for him, and unfortunately for Mace's nerves, it was finally time for Anakin and Ahsoka's campaign report. Obi-Wan would have loved some popcorn...

“…so at this point, we had no choice but to destroy that bridge,” Anakin explained, presenting the map. “Torrent Company and I did so quite effectively.”

At these words, Ahsoka snorted, her eyes meeting Obi-Wan's. They both had very different memories of this campaign, and Anakin was telling a more than sweetened version of it.

He could have at least mentioned that they destroyed that bridge by bowling with the droids as pins while throwing explosives at their faces...

“Then we had to destroy the commando droid in charge of the operation, it went as smoothly as possible..”

This time, Obi-Wan had to hold on to his seat to keep from bursting out laughing, as smooth as possible, well that was a way of describing the fact that Anakin had literally thrown Hardcase at it with two vibroblades.

The campaign reports finally ended, and Obi-Wan was able to share his most recent discovery. He explained everything he could about the lab, and they collectively decided that the case would be assigned to Quinlan Vos since he was the only Shadow available at the time, which explained how he had the time to piss Fox off…

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t be addressing this campaign urgently,” Anakin explained, striding briskly toward the meeting room. “I just find it extremely hypocritical of the council to only consider humanitarian emergencies when they have their senator buddies stuck in said humanitarian disaster!”

“Anakin, you’re exaggerating as usual, the council doesn’t do that kind of calculation, you just have to take into account the Senate’s funding and yes they tend to defend each other,” Obi-Wan replied, being careful not to speak too loudly, Anakin had a tendency to terrify the shinies, “Besides, I didn’t hear you talk about favoritism when we were saving Senator Amidala…” he finished, opening the door to the meeting room where Rex, Cody and Ahsoka were waiting for them.

“You’re both late,” Ahsoka teased, stepping down from the shelf she’d apparently perched on while waiting for them. Rex jumped slightly, leading Obi-Wan to think he’d dozed off under his helmet for at least a few minutes… As for Cody, he was completely focused on the holomap before his eyes and barely raised his head to greet them with a 'Generals' as energetic as usual.

The mention of Padmé was enough to silence Anakin, much to Obi-Wan's delight, and they were able to begin the meeting without being bothered by irrelevant philosophical debates.

Cody began to present the plan he had prepared and Obi-Wan couldn't help but notice that he was avoiding looking at him, preferring to focus on Ahsoka and Rex or even Anakin, which was even more frightening. He quickly shook his head, this was not the time to lose focus.

“For Phase 2, General Kenobi and myself will lead the Foxtrot group for the first assault on the south. We’ll be using AT-TEs and a few AT-STs. The firepower should be enough to draw their troops towards us, allowing Ghost, Lava and Haze companies to attack from the west for Phase 3. As you can see, they will have a long way to go between our target and this hill. The AT-TEs are too slow, so they will be mostly on foot and with AT-STs. Any questions?”

Obi-Wan quickly looked over the map and filled in the missing information. They were to reclaim the capital of Herbacea, a small Outer Rim planet located on the CIS-Republic border and which had the advantage of being very close to the CIS capital. The Sepparatists had recently taken control of this neutral system, taking all of the capital's civilians hostage, as well as Senator Zar of Ghorman, who happened to be on a diplomatic mission.

“I have a comment,” Anakin said. He and the 501st were tasked with taking care of the blockade around the planet so the 212th could get down there, which meant he wouldn’t be able to be there to save his former master’s shebs, and of course, he didn’t like that. “What are you going to do if the firepower they have is greater than what you anticipated, you’ll get shot like womp rats and…” he trailed off, his fists on the table.

“Anakin, please let the commander answer,” Obi-Wan sighed, already tired.

Cody gave him a nod and went outside and displayed a second plan sheet. "Ghost and Haze companies will also be bringing tanks. If all goes according to plan, we'll be fast enough and won't even need them. In case of a problem like that, we can always bring them out and rebalance the firepower. Is that all?"

Obi-Wan should be used to Cody's competence, but every time he found himself admiring him, and seriously, everyone knew that the Marshall Commander of the 7th Sky Corps and the 212th Attack Battalion had contingency plans for his contingency plans.

“Okay, but then if the clankers are faster than expected, you're dead,” Anakin noted.

Cody pulled up another, even bigger slide and simply showed the small logo in the bottom right corner that they all knew perfectly well, the rocket launcher.

“We blow up the bottom of the hill on which the city stands, the civilian damage would remain relatively low since they are theoretically all gathered on the other side, nevertheless, we would all prefer not to have to resort to such extremes.”

The meeting ended there and they all went to get ready, Obi-Wan still feeling the weight on his chest that didn't seem to be going away. He tried not to think about it, but the thought that he had embarrassed Cody and that nothing would ever be the same again wouldn't leave him.

⭒✭𐫰✭⭒

The LAAT/i descent to their rendezvous point with Foxtrot group had gone smoothly, at least as long as Cody didn't take into account the part where he ended up in a position he would have preferred to avoid. At the last moment before takeoff, the second LAAT/i that was supposed to drop off a third of the group at Planque meetpoint happened to be out of service, forcing two entire platoons to board together in a single LAAT/i. So far nothing insurmountable, Cody wasn't a big fan of collective cuddle sessions between vod’e but he knew how to do it if necessary.

What he hadn't planned was just to spend the journey with his body against his General's.

Since that morning, which had been more than confusing for Cody, he had been trying to put some distance between them. No matter what Obi-Wan had claimed, he knew very well that it was he who had kissed his General and not the other way around. He suspected that the Jedi was lying to preserve his dignity and simply because, as a monk, it didn't involve him in anyway. But Cody couldn't let himself go like this anymore.

So 14 minutes and 36 seconds (yes, he had counted) might certainly seem short for a normally constituted sentient being, but for a man in love who could feel even the vibrations of his general's laughter as he tried to reassure the five shinies next to him, 15 minutes was hell. Or a forbidden taste of Paradise…

They were now all in place, ready to launch the attack. Cody took a deep breath, looked Obi-Wan straight in the eye, and gave the order to advance into the open.

Of course, the first five minutes were very calm; the clankers hadn't spotted them yet, or at least they were just preparing to block their advance.

But nothing could have prepared them for the shitshow that followed. The separatists, not content with having invested in heavily armored tanks, also had the firepower to destroy the AT-TEs in a single strike.

In a few seconds, the battlefield transformed into fields of dust, Cody gave the order to withdraw towards the hill to the east of the capital, hoping to save a majority of them, Obi-Wan meanwhile rushed towards one of the affected AT-TEs to extract the two pilots, one was still standing but his co-pilot seemed seriously injured.

Haran!

“Cody for Gregor! Tell your soldiers to get out of those walkers now!” he shouted in his comm while dodging the punch of a B-2.

“Copy that commander!”

He put a bolt into the droid's red eye and did the same to another behind it. He had lost sight of Obi-Wan, but he didn't dare contact him; he couldn't risk getting distracted now.

He continued walking towards the group of shinies he had spotted earlier, they all seemed to be still in good condition.

“Come on vod’ike, let’s get out of here!” he said, grabbing some big shrapnel to throw it at another clanker. He guided them to the edge of hell, avoiding the most intense combat zones. “What’s your name, shiny?” he asked the one to his right who had just been half blown away by an explosion, all their armor smoking and they were coughing so hard that one of his buddies tried to convince them to take off his helmet.

“Didn’t get one yet sir!”

“Well Smoke, you better make it until we go back to the Negotiator ‘cause you deserve one hell of a paintjob.”

Cody couldn't see his vod'ika's face, but he knew a huge smile lit up his face. And maybe Cody would have smiled. If they weren't in the middle of a battlefield.

He directed the shinies to a route to the western hill and turned back. He had to find his General, false hopes or not, the safety of his superior officer came before all else.

He moved back up to the thick of the battle, where the cacophony of screams in his comlink forced him to filter out the complaints of his vod'e.

“Codes!” Gregor called from the slumped carcass of an AT-TE. “I have at least 18 wounded soldiers. I’m trying to organize their withdrawal, but we don’t have enough medics,” he explained, holding a vod with a broken leg.

“There’s one Atte left, take him and take him with you, go south, the general and I will manage to distract them.”

Gregor nodded and began preparing for the operation.

Cody stalked back toward the heart of the battle, shooting droids into the dust. A B-1 nearly got him from behind, but he heard it at the last moment and spun around, landing a precise kick in the back of its neck, decapitating it in the process.

“Good job commander!” 

To his right was Obi-Wan, Seppie blaster in hand, performing backflips to finish off the droids without getting hit.

“Where is your lightsaber, Kenobi?” he said through his teeth, dodging shrapnel and knocking down a B-1’s legs in one swift motion.

“I was hoping you’d know…” he threw five B-2s back with the Force, “But it seems I lost it in the fight!”

They continued like this, fighting side by side, each protecting the other with his body, all the while moving further and further to the northwest, just to be sure that Gregor could pass quietly to the other side.

“Gregor for Cody! We’re at Cave Point, waiting for you and the General. Gregor out.” 

“Copy that.” Cody replied, and he didn’t wait any longer to throw his last droid popper and signal to Obi-Wan that they were leaving now.

The distraction was enough for them to find an AT-ST corpse to hide in until the Sepparatists returned to the capital. There was no way they were going to attract the clankers to Cave Point just because they couldn't wait five minutes.

“We have to move, Cody, they're coming our way,” Obi-Wan suddenly told him.

They extracted themselves from the walker and ran as fast as they could to the next place where they could be camouflaged again.

“A Jedi and AAARGZHXZKJ!” yelled a B-1 before Obi-Wan Force crushed it.

“Go first Cody, I’ll deal with them myself.” 

Normally Cody would have obeyed orders, but Obi-Wan was unarmed and they had no backup.

“With all due respect sir, my duty is to keep you alive, leaving you alone without weapons is probably the stupidest thing I could ever do.”

Kenobi grimaced and seemed to realize he wouldn't be able to negotiate his way out of this one.

In any case, they didn't have time to procrastinate anymore, a full platoon was coming straight towards them.

Running towards the AT-TE they had just spotted on the ground, Cody saw something very useful on the ground: an abandoned rocket launcher. He skidded to a stop and grabbed the weapon in one motion, placing it on his shoulder. He fired straight at the platoon, blasting them like bowling pins.

“Good thinking, Cody!” his general called out with a bright smile before throwing himself onto the back of one of the B-1s that had survived the explosion.

The commander's heart skipped a beat, and he almost missed the familiar sliver of metal dragging along the ground. He rolled to avoid a B-2 arm flying straight toward him and grabbed the lightsaber with one hand.

“General, I think you’re gonna need this!” he shouted at Kenobi while throwing the weapon at him.

As if he couldn't simply pull it towards him by force, Obi-Wan did a triple backflip over the remaining droids, grabbed his lightsaber in mid-air, landed with his back to the enemies and threw the lit weapon like a boomerang behind his back, slicing through the clankers and ending up in his other hand, all without him having glanced back.

Cody stood there awestruck at the scene and missed the fact that a piece of shrapnel had pierced his left flank, the pain still numb from adrenaline.

Kark, this doesn’t sound good.

“Well, I think we’re good to go, I think this AT-ST can still walk!” Obi-Wan exclaimed.

⭒✭𐫰✭⭒

Thirty-four wounded and five dead, this was the more than disastrous result of this phase 2, they had of course contacted Waxer, Chicken and Joganpie so that they delayed their attacks, at least until Foxtrot was able to help them again.

Obi-Wan didn't understand how he could have let things go this way; he hadn't seen a plan go wrong like this since the time Anakin had managed to create a diplomatic incident involving a malnourished tooka and the Imperial Security Commander of Cato Neimoidia.

Sitting on the floor of the caves they had retreated into, he couldn't help but replay the day's events over and over again. He knew he shouldn't let the constant pain seeping into his Force defeat him, but cutting himself off didn't seem like a solution either. Something essential was missing; his instincts were nagging at him, and after the morning's debacle, he couldn't afford to ignore it.

He closed his eyes and focused on his surroundings.

When he opened his eyes again, he knew exactly what to do.

Contingency Plan Number 5, obviously prepared by Cody and modified by Obi-Wan, had been put in place in record time.

Obi-Wan, Cody and four troopers were now alone in the direction of the tactical droid that was managing the operation. They knew its position thanks to Shorlyne, the excellent slicer had managed to obtain it with only a seppie datapad and the code of a B-1 Commander.

“Gregor, how close are you from the civilians?” asked Cody in his wrist comm.

“I have them in view, sir.”

“Okay, wait for my signal, Cody out.”

Obi-Wan and Cody exchanged two hand signals under the confused gaze of their troopers, and they launched directly into the ascent of the capital's main tower.

This part of the attack was the riskiest, given that thanks to Obi-Wan, Foxtrot had been able to use a disused passage that connected the caves in which they had hidden to the heart of the city. The Sepparatists clearly had no knowledge of this passage, all they had to do was wait for the surprise attack of the other companies to take advantage of the distraction to take care of the rest.

So yes they were in plain sight, but given the low concentration of droids remaining in the city, they were relatively safe.

They finally reached the top of the tower and Shorlyne rushed to the door to find a way to hack the code.

“Uh… Commander? There’s no code to hack…” she explained.

Obi-Wan reacted first and simply used the Force to lift the door off its hinges from the inside.

“Gentlebeings…” he said, waving them past him.

He could practically feel Cody roll his eyes under his helmet in the force, and it made him chuckle.

Although the interior of the building was decorated with numerous tapestries and other gold and silver moldings, the impression of oppression did not leave them, and for good reason: they had not taken five steps inside when an alarm sounded throughout the entire floor.

“Well, it looks like we’re going to have some company,” Quentin said, deactivating the safety on his blaster.

“Don’t be such a jackass, clankers can be fun when they want,” replied Avalanche, his batchmate.

Well that’s unexpected, mused Obi-Wan, I didn’t know they felt that comfortable around me…

“They’re funnier when they’re in pieces on the ground,” Shorlyne blurted as she finished deactivating the alarm.

“Do you di’kute realize you’re talking in the main communication link right?” Cody sighed.

“Har’chaak,” Avalanche exclaimed, “Sorry sirs, won’t happen again!”

“Do that again and you’ll be cleaning the freshers with your toothbrushes for a month,” Cody explained calmly.

This explains a lot…

But Cody didn't have time to continue his threats because a platoon of B-1s was coming straight towards them.

Obi-Wan immediately placed himself in front of the group and began to deflect the bolts. They had to find a way to advance and quickly. The companies currently attacking from the west of the city could not afford to see the battle drag on.

“General, I think we should use protocol 4,” Cody suddenly suggested, continuing to shoot the droids in succession.

“Good thinking, Cody!” Obi-Wan smiled before Force-pushing the four nearest droids away. Taking advantage of the distraction, Cody and Avalanche fired at the ceiling above the platoon until it shattered, blocking the way.

The Jedi didn't wait any longer to cut the ground beneath their feet, causing them to land on the floor below.

“What floor again, Shorlyne?” Cody asked, leading them to the nearest stairs.

“Five below us, sir!”

“Perfect, let’s try to be discreet soldiers.”

To emphasize his words, he kicked the head off a droid guarding the next floor.

This is certainly not the time to admire those… skills.

They continued down to the floor indicated by Shorlyne and ended up in front of a relatively small number of droids for the guard of a tactical droid, but still slightly too many for the six of them.

“Gregor, time to free the civilians,” Cody muttered, sending the signal.

As soon as two dozen droids left the room, they launched an attack, chaining together the most improbable blows to achieve their goal. Avalanche and Quentin were back to back while Dip, the quietest of the group, protected Shorlyne who hurried to hack the last door separating them from the tactical droid.

For his part, Cody had thrown his empty blaster to the ground and was using a B-2 to protect himself while he mowed down the legs of a B-1 before ripping its head off with his thighs.

As if he felt Obi-Wan's gaze on him, he turned his head towards the latter and, grabbing the B-1 blaster he was still holding, he fired three shots at the droidekas that had just arrived behind his general.

“Thanks, Cody!” Obi-Wan said, refocusing on the fight at hand.

A bolt grazed his left shoulder, and he had to take a second to catch his breath before returning to his metal chopping. He sliced ​​through two more droids that were charging toward Shorlyne and took advantage of a brief lull to close in on Cody.

“Looks like you’re the one losing his weapon today,” Obi-Wan laughed.

Cody threw a massive kick right into the middle of a B-2, which Obi-Wan finished off with a swing of his lightsaber.

“I have to even the score somehow, and don't even try to pretend you're okay, I saw that bolt hit your shoulder!”

“I have no idea what you're talking about.”

Strangely, Cody didn't respond. And he didn't do anything either. In fact, he just stood there, his back to the wall. And he collapsed.

Oh for fuck sake.

“The commander is down, how close are you, Shorlyne?” he asked in alarm, speeding up the movements of his saber.

He could feel the waves of pain coming from Cody now that his shields were completely destroyed.

“It’s done… now!”

The door opened and Obi-Wan grabbed the tactical droid with the Force and immediately impaled it on his lightsaber.

After that, everything seemed relatively hazy, the battle was won quickly, the freed civilians returned home and Obi-Wan had to separate from his commander to handle the diplomatic part of their mission.

But one thing remained certain: Cody's mental shields were finally down. He now knew that his commander wasn't at all uncomfortable with him. And that was enough to make him smile again.

⭒✭𐫰✭⭒

To say that Obi-Wan no longer knew what to think would have been an understatement, his certainties of two days ago were close to collapse and the insidious idea that the frenzied professional that was Cody was using all his abilities to convince him that there was nothing wrong between them, was increasingly present in his mind.

His only consolation was that he would soon be back on Coruscant and that Quinlan had promised to buy him a drink.

⭒✭𐫰✭⭒

Cody hadn't exactly agreed to come to 79, but apparently Ponds, Bly, and Fox had decided that since he'd been back on Coruscant for a week, it was time he got out of the barracks.

“Come on Codes, we’re gonna have fun!” Bly exclaimed, giving him a big pat on the back as they entered the famous bar.

Obi-Wan was there, accompanied by General Secura, Vos and Skywalker, what a surprise...

“BLY!” Skywalker shouted across the room, “COME HERE!”

And so the four clones found themselves at the table of the four Jedi, playing the most ridiculous drinking games. From the beginning of the evening, Vos established a rule that every time Fox complained about a senator, they would all have to drink a shot, two if it was about Palpatine. Of course, they spent the first hour downing shots while General Skywalker tried, with his legendary discretion, to push Bly and Aayla into each other's arms.

“So, how did they convince you to come here, General?” Cody asked with a big smile.

He had too much alcohol in his blood to try to suppress the joy that the presence of the Jedi made rise in him.

“I could ask you the same thing my dear,” Obi-Wan replied before finishing his drink dead-on.

Cody's eyes traveled in spite of himself to the pale throat that was just begging to be kissed.

Keep your eyes to yourself, di’kut.

“Ponds and Fox didn’t exactly leave me the choice, they dragged me here against my will.”

Kenobi burst out laughing at his words, it wasn't even particularly funny but the commander wasn't going to stop himself from enjoying the sound. Obi-Wan suddenly leaned towards him, his thumb brushing Cody's jaw.

Oh Force, he’s gonna kill me.

“I’ll tell you why I’m here later, there’s too many people around us right now,” he whispers in her ear before sitting back down, completely unaware of the reaction he had just provoked in his commander.

It took Cody two more hours of waiting before his General declared he needed air, and they slipped away together.

They were still laughing at Quinlan's stupidity when they landed in front of the bar, much closer than necessary.

Their laughter slowly faded into the night, leaving only a comfortable silence that seemed to stretch for centuries. Cody turned his head to watch the city lights illuminate Obi-Wan's magnificent features.

He was so handsome with his cheeks flushed with alcohol and his lips still stretched into a big, frank smile...

Those laughing eyes suddenly turned towards Cody and everything else faded away. The noise of the speeders was gone, the screams of his voodoo coming from the bar were just a vague background noise, the essential was right in front of his eyes, this person he loved, this face he dreamed about every night, and these perfect lips that had already touched his...

Imperceptibly he felt himself leaning forward, ever closer...

“Anakin and Quinlan are trying to get Aayla to confess her feelings to Bly,” Obi Wan said suddenly, “they brought me into their messed-up plan to, I quote, ‘lure the prey with my negotiating skills’. I don’t really know what that means, but oh well…”

Cody shook his head to clear the images that had invaded his imagination.

“15 credits that they won’t tell each other before at least 3 more months.”

“You underestimate Anakin and Quinlan’s tenacity, it will be done in a month,” Obi-Wan protested.

“You greatly overestimate Bly’s emotional intelligence,” Cody joked.

“Perhaps, in any case, the bet is on!”

Cody had lost count of how many drinks he'd had, but he was pretty sure Obi-Wan had double, if not triple, the amount. So it came as no surprise when his general told the company he was going back to the Jedi Temple.

“Oh my god, you’re so old Obi-Wan,” Aayla mocked, immediately echoed by Quinlan and Anakin, who were already calling him an old man all the time.

“Well it seems the old man needs someone to take him home, so I'll be leaving you too,” Cody said as he stood up.

Fox didn't even glance at him, but Ponds smiled at him and Bly gave him two thumbs up in an absolutely disastrously discreet way.

Good thing Cody was too drunk to blame him now.

So they left the bar together, taking advantage of the fresh night air to finally breathe.

“Have you ever seen Reabulle Park?” Obi-Wan asked suddenly.

Cody shook his head, his eyes fixed on the copper curls that fell gracefully over his general's forehead.

“Follow me then, you absolutely have to see this!”

With that, he grabbed his arm and guided him from gateway to gateway until he reached a kind of immense glass bubble.

“Normally, this tree only grows atop the Chandrillan Mountains,” Obi-Wan explained as they entered the bubble, “Senator Mon Mothma’s predecessor presented this specimen less than 20 years ago, and thanks to the excellent botanists at the Jedi Temple, this Verlicula has tripled in size.” he finished with a childlike grin.

Cody said nothing, just watched the pink and purple lights the tree produced all around him, every second a new luminous blue flower opened, exploding with pink bioluminescent pollen that fell gently to the ground in a slow and beautiful dance.

“That’s…” he began, completely amazed by the scenery. “That’s beautiful, Obi-Wan,” he finished, turning his head towards the Jedi.

“I know,” Obi-Wan replied, but he was only looking at him, and the smile on those lips was so sweet, and the reason in Cody’s mind so weak, that he couldn’t help but narrowly drop his mental shields, letting all the adoration and desire his heart carried in that moment filter around him.

“Oh Kote…” Obi-Wan murmured before placing a hand on his cheek and kissing him gently.

He didn't have time to pull away before Cody was already grabbing him by the waist and pulling him against him, his lips kissing him with far more passion than he would have thought himself capable of. The blood in his veins had never raced so fast, and he almost felt like he was going to faint.

Obi-Wan responded to his enthusiasm with a loud groan from his gut, his hands gripping the back of Cody's neck more firmly.

Their mouths met again after so much waiting and it was like coming home, happiness seeping through every pore.

They stayed like that for far too short a time and at the same time for hours, before fatigue caught up with them and they reached the Jedi temple hand in hand, stopping at every street corner to kiss like infatuated teenagers.

When Cody opened his eyes the next morning, it took him several minutes of watching Obi-Wan sleep peacefully in his arms to realize he wasn't dreaming and was indeed in the Jedi Temple. He closed his eyes again.

Oh fuck. Oooooh fuck.

The memories of the previous day were so hazy that his instincts pushed him to push them away; there was no credible scenario in his brain to explain the current situation. He was so deep in the banthashit that he could already feel his lungs constricting in his chest.

“Hello sunshine, breath with me okay?” 

Obi-Wan's voice brought him back to the present moment and his breathing returned to normal. He hesitated to open his eyes again, but the feeling of a hand gently resting on his shoulder convinced him.

The Jedi seemed so rested and happy in that moment that only one thought crossed Cody's mind. He needed to kiss that man right now.

“Oh, you know you should do it,” Obi-Wan told him with a big smile.

You di’kut, why are your shields so down??

“But what if I want more?” Cody blurted out.

He immediately regretted it and closed his mouth shut.

But Obi-Wan moved closer to him, his lips against his…

“I’ll give you anything you want darling,” he whispered.

“You, I only want you,” Cody confessed before kissing him, pouring all the feelings he couldn’t bring himself to say in the action.

⭒✭𐫰✭⭒

“So you just executed him?” Mace asked, looking stunned.

Well, that's a tip that promises to be fun, Obi-Wan thought.

“Well he was gonna kill General Vos and he was using a red lightsaber so I just shot him in the back…” Fox explained in a bored tone for the third time.

“And like I said,” Quinlan repeated, “we’d ​​been spying on his conversations for two weeks already, and the ones he had with General Grievous left pretty little doubt…”

“And at no point in all this did you think it necessary to notify the council?” interjected Ki-Adi-Mundi.

“Oh, you know, paperwork and blah blah aren’t really my thing,” Quinlan grimaced.

Only minutes after that, they received a communication from Dooku himself requesting the opening of negotiations for a peace treaty. Obi-Wan was so happy that he was almost sure the entire Temple could feel it vibrating in the force. 

As soon as the council meeting ended, he rushed to his quarters where he knew Cody was still working on the reports from their last campaign.

He yanked the door open and rushed over to his boyfriend to give him the tightest hug he could.

“What’s going on sweetheart?” Cody asked, looking at him lovingly.

“The war is over and I love you,” he said before kissing him passionately, projecting his happiness straight into his commander’s soul.

He suddenly heard the door open wide.

“Master!! The war is… OH MY GOD,” Anakin and Ahsoka shouted at the same time.

Obi-Wan turned his head to find Anakin completely shocked and Ahsoka on the ground howling with laughter, and he simply gave them a sheepish smile.

“I owe Rex so much credit…” Anakin muttered defeatedly.