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As Rex stops in the middle of the lecture he’s currently giving Hardcase, Jesse idly wonders how it’s taken him so long to figure it out. He comes to the conclusion that this is a social situation, so it’s not really that surprising. The Captain has never been very good at those.
Rex stares at Hardcase for several seconds, then looks up at the ceiling and stops moving . Jesse’s glad he hasn’t taken off his helmet, yet. Because that means, he gets to record the trainwreck of a conversation that will inevitably follow.
Hardcase shifts nervously from one foot to the other: “Captain?”
Rex takes a deep breath and slowly, as if it physically pains him, tears his eyes off the ceiling: “ Hardcase ”, he sighs.
Kix taps his bracer in a silent Kot’ . Jesse doesn’t know which of them it’s for but it’s probably justified either way, so Jesse follows suit, careful not to move too much so his video feed is as steady as possible.
“You’re sure, you don’t know where your feud with the Wolfpack is coming from?”, Rex asks.
It’s a very kind question for both of them. Gives Rex one last chance to not have this conversation. Gives Hardcase the opportunity to realize this himself. It’s too bad that Hardcase doesn’t take it. And the confusion on his face looks too genuine to be fake, considering the kid can’t lie for shit.
“ Hardcase ”, Rex says again. “Is it possible that you’re doing this to flirt with Wolffe?”
He looks so pained . Jesse has seen him get shot without looking this pained. If the probability of getting murdered for even having taken this video ever falls below 50%, this will be prime blackmail material. Blackmailing people is never without its risks but he’s not suicidal .
Hardcase’s face is something of a spectacle for the next minute or so. At first, it looks like every emotion in existence wants at least a couple of seconds on there. Then, Hardcase blushes in a bright red Jesse hadn’t quite thought was possible to achieve in a vod . Huh, apparently Dogma is more immune to his double entendres than Jesse had previously thought. You learn something new every day.
“It’s possible, Sir”, Hardcase says.
Bless that kid. He looks like he’s about to faint. It’s a good thing Kix is there. He’ll intervene before that happens. Probably. Hardcase has been getting on his nerves lately.
“ Hardcase.” The Captain stops. Looks at Jesse. Looks at Kix. Looks back at Hardcase. Looks up at the ceiling. Mouths something. Looks back at Hardcase. “I’m meeting up with Wolffe at 79’s this evening.”
Jesse knows that. Sith hells, they all know that. The Captain’s been all excited for a week, ever since they’d found out the Wolfpack is on leave at the same time as them. Besides, it took them like three times to figure out that the first night on Coruscant was 79’s with whatever part of his cadet squad was on planet. Took them a bit longer to figure out who his squadmates were (which Jesse thinks is totally justified because he still doesn’t know how Rex ended up in a CC squad).
“You’re going to come with me. You’re going to apologize to Wolffe. And if you do well, you might get to stay and have a drink with us.”
Wow. Maybe Jesse should get a crush on one of them and deal with it by way of explosives. Get himself some of that CC gossip that’s usually only shared over that priority messaging system, Jesse has yet to gain access to, and meetings a lowly Scout Lieutenant like himself doesn’t get invited to.
Kix rolls his eyes at him from across the room, as if knowing exactly what Jesse is thinking. He probably does. Kix knows him too well. Jesse gives him a shit-eating grin. With Kix it won’t matter that he still has his bucket on. He’ll know anyway.
The whole thing ends in chaos, injuries and Rex getting dragged to the Wolfden - as everyone’s taken to calling whatever part of the barracks the Wolfpack is currently inhabiting - by a very annoyed and fresh-off-the-transport Commander Cody.
And Jesse was there for exactly none of it. Because Jesse was doing paperwork. Because Jesse is a nice vod , who does his Captain’s paperwork for him. Because his Captain was looking very sad at the prospect of being late to his meeting with Commander Wolffe.
No, Jesse had to hear about all of that from Kix and Hardcase afterwards and as much as he loves both of them - and it may not be an even distribution but he does love them both - neither of them are very good story tellers.
“ Hardcase ”, Jesse starts when they’re done with their story. “Have you ever thought of flirting in any way that doesn’t involve explosives?”
Hardcase whines. Jesse isn’t sure whether it’s in response to his question or the bacta patch Kix is putting on his broken nose.
“To be fair, I didn’t even know I was flirting.”
“Hardcase, do you see the problem with that?”
Hardcase lets out a questioning noise.
“If you don’t know that you’re flirting, how will Wolffe know?”
“Kark, what if he knows?”
Jesse rolls his eyes when he’s sure Hardcase isn’t looking - because he may be dense as fuck right now but no one needs someone trampling all over their emotions - and then starts a bit slower: “You like Wolffe, right?”
“Yeah, I guess”, Hardcase says and he looks incredibly confused but he’s so very patiently waiting for Jesse to get to his point.
“So, ideally you’d like to be with him, right? Romantically? Sexually?”
“I want to build explosives for him to destroy clankers with”, Hardcase says. He pauses and thinks: “I don’t know where that falls.”
“For you”, Kix says, dry as the Geonosian desert. “That falls under a committed relationship.”
Jesse suppresses his laughter and, when it doesn’t quite work, coughs into his elbow.
“So, if you want that, you’ll have to start flirting in a way that’s actually recognizable as flirting to other human beings.”
Hardcase makes the distressed noise of a sloth that makes Jesse’s protective instincts scream. It’s just like when Dogma looks at him with his ‘tell me what to do’-look
“You can start carefully, you know?”, he tries. “Just have a conversation with him. And if that’s going well, then you can try to initiate contact. Put your hand on his shoulder, maybe. And just see how that goes.”
Hardcase nods diligently and bites his lip as Kix sets his nose.
Jesse and Kix have the dubious honour of watching from afar when Hardcase finally takes their advice.
“I feel like Wolffe looks like he’s panicking”, Kix says at some point, his head at an angle as if that might make his reading of the situation clearer.
And, yeah. Jesse sees it, too.
“He does.” Jesse thinks for a moment. “What if he could tell that Hardcase was flirting.”
“ No ”, Kix says immediately and emphatically. “No. Jesse, come on. That’s not”, he shakes his head. “ No. ”
“And him fighting back was him flirting back.”
Kix groans: “I refuse to believe that a person like that exists.” He pauses. “Or two, I guess. I believe that Hardcase exists.”
They watch as Wolffe and Hardcase part ways without a single punch having been thrown. Jesse doesn’t know if he’s imagining things but Wolffe almost looks… dejected?
“We’re going to have to explain that to Hardcase”, he says as the realization hits him.
“ Sith hells , Jesse. I don’t know if my sanity can take that.”
“See it as doing Rex a favour. Because his definitely couldn’t.”
Kix lets out a laugh: “What sanity are you talking about, exactly?”