Work Text:
Considering Ponds’ rather strong reaction - although Ponds’ reactions to everything were strong, at least when you went by his texting style - after the reveal of Rex’s and Bacara’s closeness, Bacara had been expecting Ponds to find them at some point during their ‘outing’. That was what Rex called it. Bacara called it a strategic retreat. Neyo, if he’d seen them, would have called it ‘being a coward’.
Ponds did not find Bacara and Rex at all. He did, however, find Bacara when he was back with his own men.
“Commander Ponds”, Bacara said, making sure not to sound too welcoming.
Rex’s ori’vod was standing - Bacara was pretty sure Ponds would have liked there to be the word ‘menacingly’ in his thoughts but no - in the doorway of the command tent. Bacara resisted the urge to sigh. He was in the middle of a briefing. He could just go on and ignore Ponds’ presence.
Maybe, though, if he just let this happen now, let Ponds be as dramatic as he wanted to be, he wouldn’t have to deal with this again in the future. Bacara decided to go with that. Not that he had much hope it would work. The Shebse were slowly but surely becoming a regularly occurring nuisance.
“You’re dismissed”, he told his command staff.
They took the cue, filed out of the room silently and efficiently and if Bacara had been wearing his helmet, he might have let himself smile at that.
Ponds walked up to the table with a deliberately slow pace, took off his helmet and placed it on the table. He leaned forward, placing his hands on both sides of the table. Bacara didn’t roll his eyes.
He also didn’t get up, instead leaning on his forearms. He smiled in a way that was deliberately friendly without touching his eyes - his talking-to-someone-he-shouldn’t-threaten-openly smile: “What can I do for you?”
The smile didn’t seem to phase Ponds for a moment. Bacara would have been disappointed if it had. There was always a kind of reverence to Rex’s tone when he talked about the Shebse. And while some of it was sure to be hero worship left over from Kamino, Bacara trusted Rex’s ability to judge people too much to think there was nothing else to it.
No, the smile didn’t phase Ponds. Instead, he responded in kind with a smile that had Wolffe written all over it in the way the teeth were bared just a bit too much. It almost broke through Bacara’s resolve not to show how karking hilarious this was to him.
“I’m sure you already know this”, Ponds began in a tone that was a perfect balance between dangerous and casual. “But I’m not particularly happy about your…” He paused for dramatic effect. “...involvement with Rex.”
Oh, this was perfect. Bacara should have filmed this. Neyo would be disappointed he hadn’t.
“Rex is a grown man. He’s fully capable of making his own decisions.”
There was something of a snarl on Ponds’ face for a mere moment. It left behind a dangerous narrowing of the eyes. Bacara had possibly underestimated the possessiveness he was dealing with.
“If you hurt him in any way, you’re going to regret it.”
Bacara felt himself relax a bit. This, this was his battleground. He could deal with hidden meanings and diplomatic unpleasantries well enough but he was so much better with open hostilities. That was what he excelled at.
Bacara made himself drop his defences, very carefully didn’t control his tone and expression: “I’m not planning on it”, he said.
So, here was the thing. As infuriating as the Shebse could be, Rex loved them to bits. And they obviously loved him, too. And Bacara was… fond of Rex. He kind of wanted to get along with the Shebse. Because it would make Rex happy.
Ponds examined him for a while, then straightened. He shook his head: “I really don’t know what he sees in you.” The words weren’t nice but there was a sort of exasperated acceptance to the way they were said.
“I don’t either”, Bacara said before he could stop himself. The corners of his mouth were trying to stretch upwards in that smile that always threatened to take over his face he thought about Rex. Bacara fought against them viciously and won.
From the way Ponds’ eyebrows twitched upwards just a couple of millimeters, it was clear that it had shown anyway. Bacara didn’t give him the satisfaction of another reaction. Ponds waited a few more seconds, then put on his helmet and walked to the door.
He turned around just before he went out the door: “Two more things: One, we never had this conversation because Cody will definitely kill me if he finds out. And two, while something bad happening between Rex and you would make me dislike you personally, it wouldn’t influence your or Nova’s position as Vode . Got it?”
Bacara had been prepared for the shovel talk part. He had not been prepared for whatever the fuck this was.
“What?”, he asked.
“Kark. I didn’t really think this through. Cody’s gonna kill me. Rex, too.” Ponds sounded slightly panicked. “Just… forget I ever said anything, okay? Rex can take care of himself. What happens between you two is none of my business.”
“Do you need a medic?”
A weird squeaking sound came from Ponds: “I was never here.” With that, he hurried outside, his shoulders pulled up slightly.
Rex was really lucky Bacara liked him enough to deal with the Shebse’s bullshit.