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Cody winces as he sinks onto the bed with a grunt. His entire body feels like it’s gonna collapse out from under him and his brain feels like its halfway out the door and already melted into complete mush.
He sighs, he’s already iced, made sure to drink water and everything else he should’ve, now there’s nothing to distract him from running through everything he did wrong.
He wasn’t focused enough to see the hit coming in the first round, hadn’t ducked quickly enough after getting his feet under him, missed the feint in the second round and gotten too over confident in the third when he’d thought he’d finally figured out how to win.
He grits his teeth, rubs a hand over his face and can feel the ache setting into his bones.
‘What did you learn,’ 17 had asked before sending him off, and Cody had given some spiel or another about thinking things through more.
17 had looked disappointed, Cody tries not to feel like he’s let him down by failing some sort of test he couldn’t see.
There’s the barely there sound of footsteps near the bed and that's all the warning he gets before his bed is suddenly being overrun by polycotton fluff wrapping limbs around him and clinging.
Cody looks down at innocent eyes and raises an eyebrow, “Don’t you have lessons to be at?”
Rex shakes his head, “It’s the fourth-cycles up right now on the usual range, and I already passed the firearms evals for this cycle.”
Cody smiles, and that bubbling pride burns warm in his chest, he’s smart, their Rex’ika, and he’s good, puts everything he is into learning and growing and it makes all of Squad Shebs proud.
Cody dreads the day Rex starts to think he needs to do his growing alone in order to find his footing. He’ll respect it if — when — it comes, but he’ll dread it till then. Hopes that the growing doesn’t mean losing things like this.
He hums, musters up enough energy to scruff at Rex’s head and poke the spots that tickle and pull that loud, bright, giggle from a pest too stubborn for his own good.
Rex squawks, and wriggles fruitlessly, covers two of his most vulnerable spots and leaves another clear to take advantage of.
He curses, high-pitched and whiney, slaps uselessly at Cody’s sides as he giggles, rearranges himself to somehow take up even more space on Cody’s bed and wriggles limbs out of the danger range and wraps them tight around Cody’s.
He looks unbearably smug about it and it’s an ori’vod’s sacred duty to make sure kih’vod’s heads don’t get too big for their own good.
Cody relaxes, grumbles in surrender and waits for the long, suspicious, minutes it takes for Rex to relax.
Cody bites his lip to hide his smirk, ignores the aching of muscles and pangs of bruises and flips them over, goes limp and ignores the muffled cursing and the wriggling attempts to throw him off.
He sighs, gets comfortable and closes his eyes, slaps at Rex’s side at a particularly creative curse.
“Language,” he chides and Rex curses louder.
Cody rolls his eyes, lets him work it all out of his system.
Eventually he huffs and gives in, accepts his fate and grumbles, but goes still.
There is, for a moment, blessed silence.
“Wanna move everything in 17’s room 2 inches to the left?” Rex asks and Cody laughs.
“Sure,” he says, and is already looking forward to it.
‘What did you learn,’ 17 had asked before sending him off, and Cody will think it through later, when he doesn’t feel like ripping his hair out. For now, he heaves himself out of bed to Rex’s impatient whines, sweeps feet out from under gangly limbs and laughs at the pout he knows Rex will forever deny.
“Wolffe raised me,” the little polycotton fluff that’s wormed it’s way under his arm grumbles and Cody huffs offence, pokes at spots Rex still hasn’t learned to hide.
“Please, like I’d let him do it alone, you’d end up biting more people than you already do.”
Innocent eyes look up at him and nod solemnly, “That’s why Ponds helped.”
Cody sweeps his feet out from under him again and he smiles at the giggles that ring through the air.
Smart, their Rex’ika, and kind too, Cody hopes viciously that that never changes.