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Cody stared at his armor. Yep, definitely broken.
During the last mission, a far too near explosion had broken part of his armor and ruined the painting on its remaining parts and now, in the safety of the Negotiator, the commander was fixing what he could as he waited for the replacement parts to arrive.
He had just finished to fix the last piece when someone knocked at the door; he stood up and opened it finding himself face to face with Gearshift. “Commander,” he briefly saluted him “I brought the new armor parts you needed, sir.” he said pointing at the cart behind him.
He thanked him and brought the cart inside of his quarters to examine the new components and try them on to see if they fitted correctly. When he was satisfied with the results he focused on the next step: painting.
Of course the new pieces needed to be painted and the old ones needed a brush up as well, so he headed towards the depot were they kept the paint. At first he went to take the same paint he had used for his armor before, but then he stopped. It had been a long time since he had had the chance to draw the marks on his armor, in fact he had painted it before he met his general, the man he had fallen in love with.
His amazing general, always risking his life to save others', fighting on the front line side by side with him, protecting Cody's vod. The commander had fallen in love with him almost immediately, how could he not, Obi-Wan was beautiful, caring, smart, competent--
And suddenly Cody felt the need to show everyone that his heart, his life, that everything that was his belonged to the general, just as his heart did; and when he closed his eyes and thought about Obi-Wan the first thing that came into his mind was-- orange. That beautiful shade of orange of his hair.
Eventually he found the perfect painting, his armor would not be yellow anymore, the new color was darker, a light orange, the closest shade of orange he could find to Obi-Wan's auburn hair.
He took the can and headed back towards his quarters, thinking about how he could mark his new armor--
“Hello, there” His general greeted him “General.” he saluted back. Obi-Wan's gaze moved to the can of painting he was carrying and asked falling into step beside him“You're going to repaint your armor?”
“Yes sir. That explosion the other day roughed my armor up a little and I had to replace some parts, so now I was going to paint it, unless you need me for something else of course, sir.”
“Oh no commander, thank you.” and he added when they arrived in front of his room “Perhaps I could help you with the painting?” Cody's heart skipped a beat. “What!” he squealed and covered his mouth, coughing a little to regain his composure and then said again “What!?”
“I was wondering if you wanted help painting your armor and I was offering my assistance, if you'd like that of course.” Cody still thought he to have misheard after he repeated it. He would like his help, a lot; it was just that, according to mandalorian culture, to offer someone their help to paint their armor was the equivalent of-- well of a love declaration.
Does Obi-Wan not know that!? He has to know it, he passed a lot of years on Mandalore after all, but if he knows, is he really trying to declare his love for me? Impossible, he is too soft, too delicate, too perfect for someone like me. He is just being polite and--
And he realized he still hadn't answered. “Yes! I mean, if you'd like to I'd appreciate your help, sir.” he said, the tip of his ears reddening.
“I would very much like to, my dear. And please no need to address to me like that when we're off duty. Call me Obi-Wan.”
“Alright then, Obi-Wan” Force, he loved saying his name.
#
They had been working on his armor for an hour by now, but Cody still felt his ears flush because of their previous conversation, when his general asked him why he had decided to change the color of the paint. A simple question, really; one that Cody could have answered to quite easily in a normal situation, but in that moment his mind went totally blank save from: because it reminds me of you. But he could not tell his general that and he did not know what to say and Obi-Wan was waiting for an answer--
“Uhhhh because I really like red!” What am I saying it's orange not red, orange!
“Red?”
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh mission failed! Abort! Abort! “No, I mean yes, I like red when it's mixed with yellow, so, you know, orange.” What the kriff brain!? Nice to see that the training to stay calm under pressure worked fine.
“Oh, I see.” Obi-Wan had answered simply, hands coming to his face to stroke his beard in a thoughtful motion “Well, it's quite a curious coincidence.” he had added. “What is?” Cody had asked, looking at the Jedi sitting in front of him again, his cheeks red.
“You know, Cody, my favourite color, as well as my lightsaber color, is blue. And well, I found it curious because blue and orange are complementary colors, which means that their sum results in white, symbol of peace, of freedom, of balance.”
Cody had stared at him, unable to stop himself from doing so. Was the general saying that they were complementary? That they were meant for one another? Or was he just flirting as he usually did?
Luckily for him the general broke the silence “Well, we'd better start to paint! So, what do I do?”
And after a bit of explanation there they were, sitting one in front of the other, both of them painting Cody's armor.
But Cody couldn't stop thinking about what Obi-Wan had said.
Did he mean that? After all he had asked me if he could help painting my armor even though he knows what it means. Is he-- Is he courting me? No, it can't be, Obi-Wan deserves better, so much better than just a clone like me--
He glanced at him. He was beautiful, he always was, but he looked-- almost ethereal in the dim light of Cody's quarters, his bright blue eyes so focused on the piece of armor he was currently painting and-- Cody noticed a little splash of paint on his cheek and felt the urge to shift beside him and reach out with his hand and brush it away with his thumb and--
And he moved to do so, his brain catching up on his actions a second too late, when his finger was already touching the general' soft skin, Obi-Wan's head turning around towards him, whispering a small “Oh.”, their faces just inches from touching.
But Cody' sense told him to stop, because he could not risk his relationship with his general because of his crush on him and so he jerked his hand back and said “Sorry, you had some painting on your...” and he pointed to the man's cheek, unable to keep talking to him, because he had almost kissed him.
The general was still lookingat him, his expression morphing into something that Cody didn't understand, could it be disappointment?, and then he smiled again thanking him and went back to the armor piece in his hands.
The commander sat back in front of him, a bit further away this time, and went back to work.
Eventually they both finished, his new armor was beautiful and Cody felt his chest fill with joy and pride at the thought that his armor had been marked with the general's color and that Obi-Wan had helped him in the process.
That night, when he went to sleep after bidding goodbyes with the general, his dreams were filled with spots of blue and orange mixing together, their union bringing peace and order.
#
When he wore the newly painted armor for the first time, many of his vods looked at him in suurprise. Among them everyone knew what using that color meant, only the shinies seemed to not notice at first, but if Cody and the general stood side by side it was clear what the color was meant to represent.
For its part, the commander wore his armor with pride and did his best to be worth wearing that color, Obi-Wan's color.
Only the general seemed to not have understood what the color represented. And Cody honestly didn't mind that, it would have been a way too embarassing conversation to have with his general, if he ever came to understand what that meant.
That's why he was glad that no one ever commented it. Until that lunch.
He and his general had decided to join their men for lunch, chatting with Cody's vods while eating their rations.
And then Boil, because of course it was Boil, asked, a smirk on his face that meant trouble “So, general, what do you think about the commander's new paint?” and Cody wished he could disappear, feeling his cheeks flush and-- “Oh I think it's very lovely, but I'm afraid I'm biased, after all I helped him paint the armor.”
And suddenly the mess fell silent and Cody felt all the eyes pointed on him, Boil' smirk only widening on his face, Cody's cheeks growing redder by the second and somehow Obi-Wan had made things worse and--
And for once he was grateful for the timing of the Separatists, as the alarms went off saving him from his certain death and they headed towards the fight, his general on the frontline as always, his lightsaber slashing through the droids and Cody felt his heart ache, falling in love with his general even more.
#
However he couldn't escape his brothers forever and it wasn't long until they started to make comments again.
His general was resting, finally, after hours of paperwork and Cody went to the small gym they had onboard, looking for a way to relieve his stress and of course, his usual luck, the place was quite crowded.
He was getting ready to do his first set of pull-ups when he heard Waxer shout from across the room “Commander! Did you and the general really paint your armor together? I know he had been on Mandalor for a while, does he know what that means?” and Cody answered quickly, because he really didn't want to have this conversation right then. “He offered his help. That's all.”
And maybe that hadn't been the smartest of the answers he considered as he heard his vod talk among them.
“He offered his help to paint your armor and he probably know what that means??? Commander you son of a-- what else did the two of you do in that room!?!?!” and Cody almost, almost, lost his grip on the bar at that. He opened his mouth to tellhim to kriff off, but Boil was faster. “I tell you what! They kriffed!”
Cody's face had never been so red his entire life, as the gym filled with cheers and screams of his vods, wondering if what Boil said was true until Wooley told everyone to shut up and asked “So, commander, is that true?”
And really what could he say? If he said no, no one would have believed him, but if he said yes, he would never hear the end of that, not to mention the fact that he would be damaging his general's image among his troops.
“I will neither confirm nor deny the facts of that story.” the room filled with the buzz of his brothers' voices once again, but Cody ignored them and went on with his ork out, thinking Force, how I wish we did.
#
Cody headed toward his general's quarters without thinking twice about it. It was normal for him to go there quite often to work on their paperwork together, after all. So when Obi-Wan sent him a comm asking him if he could go to his quarters to help him with something, the commander went there immediately.
He expected to find his general sitting on the table, analyzing some kind of holo-projection and to ask him his opinion about the best strategy to use, or to ask his help with something on a report.
He didn't expect Obi-Wan to be sitting on the floor, his brows furrowed, his shoulder strap in hand.
He looked up and smiled as he saw his commander standing in the doorway. “Ah, Cody! Come in!” he entered the rom, the door sliding shut behind him, as his general added “I need your help with my armor, I wanted to paint something, but I can't seem to draw it right, I was trying to sketch it on a sheet, but well, see for yourself.”
He looked at the sheet. The design was simple, It was the symbol of the Open Circle Fleet, but the circle was not right, a bit too crushed in one sketch and a bit too large on another.
“I thought, maybe you could do it? On my armor for me?” Obi-Wan looked at him with his bright blue eyes and Cody already knew he would have said yes. There was little he wouldn't have done for the man anyway.
“Of course, Obi-Wan” he sketched it on the sheet and showed the result to his general for his approval. Obi-Wan told him that it was beautiful and Cody felt his chest fill with pride.
Obi-Wan showed him the painting for the first circle, the internal one. It was a bright yellow that vaguely reminded Cody of the color of his first armor. He immediately set to work, feeling his heart sing with joy at the thought that Obi-Wan had called him for his armor, that he was doing the same thing his general had done for him.
And then he asked Obi-Wan for the other paint, the one for the external circle, the symbol had to be red, but Obi-Wan told him, there was no red painting on board, so he opted for something else. His general handed it to him and it was-- it was orange. His orange, the same color he had put on his armor. His hands were shaking slightly as he dipped the brush, but he forced it to be still, he would ruin the painting if his hand kept shaking like that.
The world seemed to move in slow-motion as he brought the brush closer to the armor' piece.
He will wear the color of my armor he couldn't help but think. He tried not to read anything into that, told his heart not to hope in things that he couldn't have, but--
The brush touched the metal and Cody felt his mind clear, his hand painting it in sure motions.
When he was finished, he moved to hand the Jedi the piece and noticed that Obi-Wan was staring at him, his blue eyes looking right into his soul and after he looked at the art he moved his gaze back toCody's face as he said “Beautiful.” and oh, how easy it was for Cody to imagine that that beautiful was meant for him.
And then he felt his breath catch in his throat as Obi-Wan got closer and reached out with his hand, stroking his cheek with his thumb and then whispered his face so close their noses were almost touching, “You had a small patch of color on your cheek.” and really Cody only had so much self-control and he leaned closer their lips almost touching when--
The alarms went off again as they were under attack.
They headed towards the bridge immediately, breaking the spell, and Cody cursed the Separatists for their perfect timing.
They won, in the end, and the commander found himself thinking back about what had happened in Obi-Wan's quarters, what he was about to do. He needed to control himself because he knew that his heart wouldn't survive Obi-Wan's rejection.
#
“I swear, Aayla, I've tried evrything! And he really doesn't notice and if he does, he doesn't act on it! He was close, once, but we had to interupt and he didn't try to kiss me ever again! It's like he doesn't know what I feel for him” Obi-Wan cried, a bit tipsy, sitting in Aayla's Temple quarters and drinkng something strong that Aayla definitely shouldn't have had in the Temple.
“He probably doesn't. I swear they are as good on the battlefield as they are oblivious in this kind of things. If you donìt tell it to their faces they won't notice. It was the same with Bly, at first.”
“We painted each other's armor Aayla! It is their tradition! How could he not notice!!!??”
“They are idiots.” she said shaking his head, as she smiled.
“Well, then tell me how you did it, how did you let him know?” Aayla smiled. “Well-- I put on a spare armor--” she took a sip of whatever it was that they were drinking, Obi-Wan couldn't recall.
“Yes--” he encouraged her to keep talking
“Then I removed some parts and commed him saying that I needed his help as soon as possible. And when he did I told him that I was stuck.” she ended her sentence with a smirk.
“And when he asked where” she added, her smirk only widening and words slightly slurring“I took his hand put it here” she pointed at her breasts “And told him <here, commander> and then we kriffed”
“So you basically made him touch you and he got it!” Obi-Wan said
“Exactly!” “I'm trying! I'm trying this now!” he got up and went to leave the room
“Wait, Obi-Wan!!” she called making him turn around. “What?”
“Take a shower first!” she laughed and he left ready to make a last-ditch effort
#
Cody was in the barracks, almost ready to go to sleep when he got a comm from his general saying he needed his assistance as soon as possible.
He got up immediately, only slightly worried he told himself, put on his armor and headed towards the Temple. The guards luckily didn'tstop him, maybe because they knew who he was or because they sensed no ill will from him. Cody didn't really care.
He knocked on his general quarters' door and when he heard a soft “Come in” he stepped into the room, finding himself face to face with Obi-Wan. Who was currently wearing clone armor.
“Thanks the Force you are here! I really need your help!” his general whined.
“What's wrong Obi-Wan?” he asked worried by his tone “”I'm afraid I made a little miscalculation when I put the armor on and now I seem to be stuck.”
Stuck? Impossible.
“Stuck uh?” He asked arching a brow. In all his life Cody had never heard about someone getting stuck into clone armor-- except once, he recalled, from Bly, who had told him something about someone getting stuck in the armor, but they were both so drunk he didn't really remember.
Meanwhile his general had gotten closer and took his hand in his, Cody's heartbeat increasing, and moved them down, lowerand lower still until--
“I'm afraid I'm stuck here my dear Cody”
“Oh.” the commander answered, eloquently. “Yes, now if you'd be so kind to help me out of thi--”
Cody really didn't think about his actions, closing the distance between their lips and kissing him, his tongue sliding in his mouth to explore every inch of it and heard him moan out loud and call Cody's name.
“Let's get you out of that armor, shall we?”
And Obi-Wan smirked, beautifully, as he answered.
“Gladly.”