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“C’mon!”
“No.”
“At least branch out a little bit.”
“No.”
“So, me and Bick are your only friends?”
There was a long pause.
“Yes.”
A huff.
“Di’kut.”
The three clones, ARC trooper Ves, Commander Hyde and the field medic Bick of the 934th Legion all sat on a backless cement bench in the Jedi Temple’s Meditation Garden. The Garden itself was filled with lush willows and there were beautiful blooming pink and yellow flowers that lined up along some bushes. Even the butterflies made themselves present around the area of the garden as if they watched the clones converse with each other.
On top of all that, the Garden was peaceful. Hyde liked that kind of environment more than anything. Sure, the others tease him for fun over it, but he doesn’t care. There were the clones who loved 79’s, rowdy and rambunctious, and there were the clones who wish to open a tattoo shop and perfect their art, in a way. Hyde spared some thoughts from time to time about living on a peaceful planet with this much flora if the war ever ended. He liked all the action, especially when it involved taking down droids, but sometimes, he needed a moment of peace.
“You need to go out more.” Fringes of Ves’s hair shook as he sighed from Hyde’s right.
“That I can agree with.” Bick nodded along on the left.
Hyde crossed his arms with an eyebrow raised.
“Just cuz an accident happened doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try and branch out. Ouch!” Ves exclaimed as Bick punched him in the arm from behind for the poor choice of words.
Hyde was persistent, “I’m fine where I am.”
“What? Leading the 934th when you barely know half of your legion? Just to let you know, we all act like children and I’m the only sensible clone with a brain cell.” Bick countered as he retied his hair.
“What about me?” Hyde knitted his eyebrows together.
“You don’t count. You’re already a commander.” Bick waved his hand nonchalantly.
“Don’t pull rank on me,” Hyde spoke half-heartedly, though to be fair, the comment almost made him chuckle.
Bick was unimpressed, “That’s not pulling rank. I’m older than the both of you, so I’m the adult.” He waved his arms some more, “you’re a semi-adult, and Ves…he--he’s something.”
Ves groaned before he pointed an accusing finger at Hyde, which ended the commander’s and medic’s mini-debate. “You’re lucky we’re on shore leave. We are definitely taking you to 79’s tonight.”
Hyde settled his palms on his face out of pure exhaustion. How in the world could he continue to have control of a legion when his best friends acted like children?!
He was drawn out of his exasperation when Bick wrapped his arm around Hyde, “As much as I think that this might be a disaster, I do, again, have to agree with Ves here.”
Hyde let out an annoyed growl as he rolled his eyes.
“Deal or no deal, we’re going. So giddy up Commander.” Ves happily got up from his seat on the cement bench.
Hyde gave his friend a brooding glare. “If I had a credit for every time you say that to me, I would drown you in a credit jar.”
“Sounds amusing.” Ves glanced Bick’s way.
“I’ll comm the General,” Bick said as he got up.
⁘⁘⁘
Ves and Bick had been standing outside 79’s for at least two hours. The two hours in which Hyde ran off with some girl in the club. The medic and ARC trooper couldn’t even see if the girl was a Theelin or a human since the clone ran off so quickly.
Ves, well on his way toward a hangover, would often fall into a fit of giggles just thinking about how Hyde had finally got himself a woman, a partner, somebody! About time, he thought.
After some time, Bick and Ves were chatting away when Ves saw Hyde walk into view parallel to the front of the clone bar with a straight face, brows slightly furrowed. Hyde seemed tense and his loose hair was a little out of place, but Ves knew how to lighten the mood, despite his alcohol-infused brain.
“Well, look who it is! The man of the hour!” Though he was half wasted, it wasn’t unusual for Ves to be a little more lively.
“I’m never doing that again.”
Ves laughed as he took notice of how Bick tried to stifle his own laughter.
“You did the thing didn’t you?” Bick grinned.
Hyde rolled his eyes as he folded his arms and looked away from his vod in an attempt to change the topic. If anything, he flushed a nice shade of pink.
“He did!” The ARC trooper yelled as he took a bottle of ale from a random clone.
“Yeah, and I hated it!” Hyde shot back.
“How is that possible? I think you barely had anything to drink!” As Ves talked, he took a swig from the bottle. He was certain the taste was sweeter based on how much fun he was having teasing his vod.
“The woman got even more handsy afterward. It’s too much for me.”
“I’ll betcha she liked that pretty scar on his face, which is why she wanted more!” Ves snickered, turned to face nobody and nearly fell to the ground. When Ves got his one second of sanity back, he looked back at Hyde, the commander looked more than ready to throw a punch over Ves’s teasing.
“Maybe…I don’t know, but the possibility is in the air!” Ves continued yelling as he turned again and spotted a couple of onlookers as they walked by, bewildered. He turned his head back to find that Bick didn’t fare any better as he seemed to try really hard to keep his neutral and sober façade together.
“Well, I’m sure you’ll find other women who aren’t like the one you encountered back there.” Bick wrapped his arm around his younger vod.
Hyde moved Bick’s arm away from him and began walking away from the building that housed 79’s. “Oh no, this is the last of it. I’m going back to the barracks.”
“Nonono! Wait! You can’t forget us!” Ves began to sway as he whined. His hearing may be a little skewered because of his drunken state, but Ves could still hear very clearly…well, that was before he thought he was having a stroke…there seemed to be two extra clones that walked alongside his friends, who wore the same armor…how funny, they looked just like his friends!
Hyde waved an arm, “You’re drunk. Bick will take care of you.”
“I’m not gonna do it alone. I’m coming with you.” Bick placed a hand on Hyde’s shoulders to stop him from leaving.
Hyde looked to Bick with pure exhaustion before both men were startled by a screaming Ves.
“There’s two of yous! Ha!” Ves waved his arms forward and backward in full circles before he merely fell into a fit of giggles.
“He’s a goner,” Bick remarked.
“Do you think he’ll notice if we leave him here?” Hyde questioned.
“Nah. I don’t want you to get court-marshaled.”
“Well…” The commander shrugged.
“Hey!” A drunk Ves hung both of his arms on his vod’s shoulders with him in the middle, “I’d say we jump into one of the LAATs and throw a party! Launch droid poppers in the air and turn them into fireworks!”
“You owe me one Bick.”
“I said I agreed earlier about you coming here, but I never said you should go through with it.” The clones started walking as Bick and Hyde supported Ves on either side.
“Hehe.” Ves looked at Hyde. “You look like a Nexu.”
Hyde raised his eyebrow before Bick stepped in, “Ok, we’re heading back to the barracks, and no more drinks for you.” The older clone took away the bottle Ves still had in his hand, though most of the fermented liquid was gone based on how much arm and hand waving Ves did.
As the three clones were walking in the direction of their barracks, Ves was already singing up a storm.