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“The key to good eavesdropping is not getting caught.”
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“Snips? Did you finish my reports?” Anakin rapped a knuckle on her door before entering. Despite it being almost midnight the room was empty, her bunk was neatly made, and the ambient lights were still on. There was a stack of datapads on her desk, and he checked to see that they were indeed the reports he'd been looking for. But where was Ahsoka? She clearly hadn't been here in hours.
He frowned. Was she having problems with insomnia again? She’d started having issues after Zygerria that only got worse after Xior-Cal and then Umbara, but it'd been seven months. He thought she’d recovered from her sleeping problems by now.
He opened up the message center on his comlink and pinged hers. It flashed red from where it lay on its charging mat next to her bunk.
Great. He’d have to find her the hard way.
“Alright, kiddo, where’d you run off to?” Anakin muttered under his breath, leaving her quarters with a swish of his robe. There was the medbay, where she’d been spending more time with Kix lately practicing field medicine, but Kix was an early bird and never stayed up later than 2200 if he could help it when he was aboard The Resolute .
That left either the rec room, Rex’s office, or the hangar. He peeked in the rec room first as it was the closest, and only found a handful of clones glued to the limmie game on the holoprojector.
Rex’s office light was on, but as he stood outside the Captain’s door he could only sense one presence inside. He knocked anyway.
“General?” Rex had the overhead light off but the desk light on, had stripped down to his bottom blacks, and was sporting some impressive bags under his eyes. His office was unusually warm; the environmental controls must have been on the fritz again. Anakin made a mental note to fix it later. On the desk behind him there were two stacks of datapads, one as high as a jellyfruit and the other almost a meiloorun. Anakin dreaded asking which was the ‘done’ pile.
Anakin gave him an easy smile. “Have you seen Ahsoka? She’s not in her room.”
Rex frowned. “No, Sir, not since latemeal. She been staying up again?”
“No idea. I’ll ask when I find her. G’night, Captain.”
“Goodnight, Sir.” Rex respectfully waited for him to start walking away before closing his door.
Anakin found an elevator and took it down to the hangar, which was generally deserted except for engineers on this shift. There were a dozen or so milling around, working on the ships and ripping apart engines. He heard the music almost right away; that peppy, fast-paced Pantoran girl group stuff that Ahsoka loved to blast and dance around to, bouncing and shuffling like a little ortalan shrew.
She'd changed into her coveralls and wasn’t alone. Jesse sat on top of the Z-95 she was deep in the guts of, stripped down to halvsies and swinging his legs like he was sitting on the edge of a pier on a Nubian lake.
“I'm not making fun of you, I think it’s adorable!”
“Oh, shut up.”
Anakin smirked and actively shielded his presence in the Force. She hadn’t noticed him yet, and her Empathy and synesthesia worked in combination with her naturally powerful Togruta hearing to make her an especially effective apex predator. Sneaking up on her, truly sneaking up and scaring the crap out of her was nearly impossible but so , so worth it to get her reaction. If he was lucky he could get her lekku to inflate and her stripes to start wiggling, that would make her so annoyed that she’d start cussing in six languages.
“You’ve got a crUuUuUsh -” Jesse sang.
“You are really, really making me regret confiding in you, Jess.”
Anakin’s eyes bugged out. A crush? Now that he was close enough now to hear them without straining, he popped behind a munitions crate and sat on his haunches. He needed to know details .
“Aw, don’t say that!”
“Then stop teasing me!” There was a clang of a fallen tool on the hangar floor. “Don’t suppose I can get you to get off your lazy shebs and get that?”
“Nope. This is my last night aboard, after all. I'm not doing a kriffing thing.”
Anakin had almost forgotten that Jesse was leaving to start ARC training on Kamino the next shift. He’d be gone for three months; Ahsoka had been putting on a brave face but Anakin knew that she was heartbroken.
Ahsoka snorted. “Brat.”
“You’re gonna miss me.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said grumpily, and Anakin heard her go oof! along with the sound of bare feet slapping the hangar floor. He bit back his urge to bark that he'd told her a hundred times to stop going barefoot in the hangar before she got a screw in her heel.
“Hey, what’s three months?” Jesse said gently. “It’ll be over before you know it. And when I come back I'll have fancy new armor that you can help me paint. Plus you’ll be an adult by then, we can go get drunk and dance at 79’s. I'll kick your ass at darts and embarrass you in front of everyone.”
Ahsoka giggled. “Wolffe had me banned, didn’t you know?”
Jesse gasped. “What?”
“I snuck in one time, and he caught me less than ten seconds after I got in. Told me that Master Plo would die of shame if he found out and he'd be sent to Kamino to work janitor duty for letting his jetii die in such an undignified way, but he’d keep my secret as long as I gave him some of my carnivore rations.”
Jesse burst into laughter, and Anakin was hard-pressed not to do the same.
“I’ll get it revoked,” Jesse said firmly, then started laughing again. “Or is it based on rank? Osik , I think we’re going to have to get Cody involved.”
Ahsoka joined in with his laughter. “Just go ahead and jump the chain of command. Force, what a dick move.”
“Worth it, though.”
He heard her grunt, and then her voice was angled differently. “Hand me that five-sixteenths hydrospanner, would you?”
“Yeeeep.”
“No, Jesse, the five -sixteenths. This is three.”
“It’s five.”
“I’m looking at it, Jess, it’s three.”
“I’m holding three, Commander. You’ve got five.”
“It says shabla three!” There was a clang and a yelp from Jesse.
“I guess it does!” he cackled, and Anakin heard another clang as he presumably chucked the right hydrospanner at her. He shook his head. They really were all just teenagers, weren’t they? Why did those years feel like a century ago to him instead of barely a handful?
“You should tell him, you know.”
“I’m not telling him anything.”
Anakin raised a brow and frowned. Him? She had a crush on a him ? Since when did Ahsoka even like boys? Besides that Bonteri brat, obviously, but the kid had such delicate features he’d genuinely assumed she’d just gotten her wires a little crossed. Even now she had Arfour blasting Lavender Daze. He had noticed that she hadn't found a new… meditation partner… since her and Barriss’ blowout after Umbara, though.
“I can tell him for you!” Jesse cackled. “I’ll yell it off the side of the LAAT/i as I pull away so you can't kill me.”
“Jesse eeeeeee- " Ahsoka whined.
"You're the one in love with him, I'm just helping!"
Anakin’s jaw dropped. Love? Really?
“Not so loud!” Ahsoka hissed, but didn't deny it.
Anakin bit his fist so he didn't start cackling.
“It’s just a stupid crush, don't make it out to be more than it is.”
“Mmhmm.”
“It’s not like it would make a difference,” she said quietly. “It’s not allowed. Fraternization rules are pretty black-and-white.”
Anakin raised an eyebrow. Fraternization meant- oh. Oh.
She had a crush on a clone . Oh, that wasn't good.
But who was it? Obviously not Rex, she'd be the first to loudly scoff and insist he's my brother, di'kut. It clearly wasn't Jesse. Was it Greene? He was loud and boisterous, obsessed with his little plant collection that he kept in terrariums in the rec room, and liked to dye his mohawk a new color every month. He was the one who'd taught her to play Sabacc, and she did have a thing for hair, after all- wait, could it be Tup? She stayed up late braiding his hair all the time, was her hair obsession that bad-
“You never know, Commander. You might be surprised.”
She snorted. "Doubt it."
"Just let me talk to him for you!"
"Absolutely not."
"What have you got to lose?"
"Besides literally everything?" Ahsoka choked, and Anakin heard another clang of a thrown tool. "Even if he felt the same way, and he doesn't because I'd be able to tell , if my Master found out I would get kicked out of the Order and he would get reconditioned."
Anakin didn't need to have her gift of Empathy to feel the disgust pouring off of her at the term. He felt hurt at the accusation. He would never report her for anything. Hadn't he proved that after what he'd found her doing to Krell's body? And he'd certainly never send anyone for reconditioning just for reciprocating a crush. Besides Shaak-Ti and whatever Kaminoan they had the bad luck to encounter, the clones never saw a female in real life before deployment. The puppy crush that the 501st's shinies tended to develop on their pretty Commander was so universal that Rex had begun to hold briefings about propriety every time they got reinforcements. Besides, it always went away the first time they had shore leave, went out to 79's, and saw actual, adult women for the first time up close. It certainly wasn't anything to send them back to Kamino over.
"Well yeah, but that's why you have to be sneaky -"
"No. This isn't worth risking his life over, Jesse."
Jesse sighed loudly. "Where's your sense of romance? Of adventure ?"
"I like to save it for the clankers."
"The clankers don't care about romance."
Anakin couldn't take it anymore. He opened up his most encrypted channel and started typing.
>𝟷𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟼𝟿𝟸𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟶>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟷: 𝙰𝙽𝙶𝙴𝙻 𝚆𝙰𝙺𝙴 𝚄𝙿 𝙰𝙷𝚂𝙾𝙺𝙰 𝙷𝙰𝚂 𝙰 𝙲𝚁𝚄𝚂𝙷
>𝟷𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟼𝟿𝟸𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟶>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟸: ~
>𝟷𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟼𝟿𝟸𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟶>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟸: ~
>𝟷𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟼𝟿𝟸𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟶>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟸: ~
Padmé's little typing ellipsis popped up in their window.
>𝟼𝟷𝟹𝟽𝟿𝟺𝟻𝟺𝟹𝟻𝟿>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟸: 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠, 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎.
>𝟷𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟼𝟿𝟸𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟶>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟸: 𝚆𝙷𝙰𝚃
>𝟼𝟷𝟹𝟽𝟿𝟺𝟻𝟺𝟹𝟻𝟿>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟸: 𝚆𝙷𝙾
>𝟼𝟷𝟹𝟽𝟿𝟺𝟻𝟺𝟹𝟻𝟿>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟹: 𝙻𝚞𝚡 𝙱𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒. 𝙷𝚎'𝚜 𝚘𝚗 𝙲𝚘𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚠, 𝙾𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚘𝚗 𝚗𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚂𝚎𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚛.
>𝟷𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟼𝟿𝟸𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟶>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟹: 𝙽𝙾𝚃 𝙻𝚄𝚇
>𝟷𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟼𝟿𝟸𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟶>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟹: 𝙰 𝙲𝙻𝙾𝙽𝙴
>𝟼𝟷𝟹𝟽𝟿𝟺𝟻𝟺𝟹𝟻𝟿>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟹: 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝?
>𝟼𝟷𝟹𝟽𝟿𝟺𝟻𝟺𝟹𝟻𝟿>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟹: =𝟶
>𝟷𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟼𝟿𝟸𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟶>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟹: 𝙸𝙼 𝚃𝚁𝚈𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚃𝙾 𝙵𝙸𝙽𝙳 𝙾𝚄𝚃 𝚆𝙷𝙾
>𝟼𝟷𝟹𝟽𝟿𝟺𝟻𝟺𝟹𝟻𝟿>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟹: 𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚍𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗?
>𝟷𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟼𝟿𝟸𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟶>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟹: 𝙸𝙼 𝙸𝙽 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙶𝙴𝚁 𝙷𝙸𝙳𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚆𝙷𝙸𝙻𝙴 𝚂𝙷𝙴 𝚃𝙴𝙻𝙻𝚂 𝙹𝙴𝚂𝚂𝙴
>𝟼𝟷𝟹𝟽𝟿𝟺𝟻𝟺𝟹𝟻𝟿>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟹: 𝚈𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚜𝚍𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐?
>𝟷𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟼𝟿𝟸𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟶>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟹: 𝙸𝙼 𝙾𝙱𝚂𝙴𝚁𝚅𝙸𝙽𝙶
>𝟼𝟷𝟹𝟽𝟿𝟺𝟻𝟺𝟹𝟻𝟿>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟹: 𝚂𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝…
>𝟼𝟷𝟹𝟽𝟿𝟺𝟻𝟺𝟹𝟻𝟿>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟺: 𝙾𝚙𝚎𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚕.
>𝟷𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟼𝟿𝟸𝟶𝟽𝟸𝟶>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟺: 𝙸 𝙲𝙰𝙽𝚃 𝙸𝙼 𝚁𝙸𝙶𝙷𝚃 𝙱𝙴𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙳 𝚃𝙷𝙴𝙼
>𝟼𝟷𝟹𝟽𝟿𝟺𝟻𝟺𝟹𝟻𝟿>𝟶𝟶𝟶𝟺: 𝙽𝚘𝚠, 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎.
Anakin opened up her channel to see Padmé's hologram huddled under the covers with a pile of braids on top of her head, bleary-eyed but intrigued. He held up a wary finger across his lips and she nodded.
"It could work! Me and Leon are working! Well, kind of. We're not not working, I just never see him."
"Leon's a civvie, you aren't Leon's superior officer!"
Jesse snickered. "Obviously."
"It's better if I just let it work itself out, alright? It went away before, it'll go away again."
Anakin and Padmé exchanged silent, scandalized looks. It didn't sound like it'd gone away. That meant it was one of the older clones, maybe Fives? She hung around him a lot, and he was a notorious flirt. He was a third-generation clone, though, who else could it be? Coric? Vaughn?
Vaughn had a not-so-secret shine for her , but it was harmless, and even if she'd stripped naked in the rec room and declared herself his he would just run away in terror. Coric… well, Coric had an incredibly stoic personality, and while Ahsoka definitely got along with him as well as she did any other clone, she just wasn't as close with him as she was with the members of Jaig Platoon.
"I don't think it's going away, vod ," Jesse said gently. "He adores you, you know that."
Anakin's eyebrows dipped and he glared at Padmé's silently-giggling hologram. She thought this was hilarious, clearly, and he had too up until a second ago, but if she actually had feelings feelings then this was a problem.
His apprentice took after him in more than one way, clearly.
"But not like that." Ahsoka sounded so damn sad that Anakin had to remind himself not to reach out through their bond and comfort her. "He sees me as a kid, Jess. I'm his vod'ika. "
Anakin and Padmé both slapped shocked hands over their mouths. Rex? Rex?!
Zoyipa gehena , of course it had to be damn Rex . It was the hair, wasn't it? That thick, curly, platinum-blond hair that Anakin had been sure the man bleached until Padmé had pointed out how impossible it would be for a full-time soldier to maintain that color with a buzzcut.
"Yeah, but you're growing up. Trust me, we've all noticed."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Anakin's frown intensified. Yeah, what was that supposed to mean?
"Means your galase came in."
Anakin clenched his fist at the mention of Ahsoka's chest. That… was true , but he'd been very firmly ignoring their recent emergence and expected the men to do the same.
"Hey!"
"What, they're nice!"
There was a pause. "You think so?" she asked curiously. "They're not exactly… bountiful."
Anakin couldn't see her but got the distinct impression that she was peering down the front of her coveralls.
"Yeah, they're great."
Ahsoka scoffed. "Like you'd know."
"Hey, just because they don't do it for me doesn't mean I don't have eyes."
"And they're nice?"
"Yes, Commander, your tits are very nice."
Padmé was practically vibrating from her laughter. She'd even shoved her face into a pillow.
"Is that… are mine the kind he likes?"
Oh Force no, he almost popped up from the crate and killed the conversation right there.
"Well, he likes breasts in general, I can't imagine he'd complain about yours. I think he's more of a leg man, though."
"Legs?" Ahsoka sounded confused. Padmé's hologram pressed her face harder into the pillow, dying of hysteria. "He likes legs?"
"Yep. And you're all leg, Commander."
"So that's… good?" Ahsoka asked cautiously.
"Having long legs? Absolutely."
"Oh." Ahsoka sounded slightly mollified. "It doesn't matter. He still doesn't think of me like that."
Anakin snorted. Of course he didn't. Rex was a good man, an honorable man. Anakin trusted the captain with not just their lives but his marriage. If he ever did take advantage of Ahsoka's naivety, though, he couldn't say that he wouldn't be very tempted to send him back to Kamino. He wasn't a shiny fresh out of Tipoca City, he damn well knew better.
"Did you hear something?" Ahsoka asked, suddenly suspicious.
Oopsie . Thinking quickly, he knocked her toolbag off the opposite side of the fighter with the Force and made a hasty, silent retreat while she was looking the other way.
"And you thought I was going to give you away," Padmé wheezed once he was far enough away from the pair.
Anakin pursed his lips. "What do I do?" he muttered. "Do I talk to Rex? Warn him off?"
"Goddess, no. Just leave it. Rex would never."
"Are you sure?" Anakin asked. "If they actually do start-"
"They won't. And Ahsoka said it herself, she wouldn't risk his life like that."
Anakin glared at her serene hologram. "You think I'd have him reconditioned?" he asked, offended.
"If he took advantage of Ahsoka?" Padmé asked with a raised brow.
"Technically she's older," Anakin mumbled, feeling the insane urge to be contrary and defend Rex's honor as if he hadn't been the one to bring it up ten seconds ago.
The bemused look on her face said she noticed. "If you must, then bring it up casually. Tell him to be extra firm with the new troopers in case they get any ideas."
Anakin smiled. His wife was so smart. "Excellent idea."
Padmé returned his smile. "I'm going back to bed, but don't get yourself all worked up over it, alright? Everything will work out."
"Love you," Anakin murmured, almost too quietly to hear.
"I love you," Padmé whispered back, then closed the channel.
Anakin leaned against the wall and buried his face in his hands. Fierfek, fierfek, fierfek . Ahsoka had feelings for Rex, and had apparently been harboring them for a while.
How had he not noticed this before? Sure, he saw that she had been getting a little… distracted when the guys would work out or when they stripped to blacks to play limmie in the hangar, and there was that one time when he'd watched her open an electrolyte drink and try to drink it from the wrong end because she'd been so engrossed by the shirtless troopers below her, but he'd thought it was just… all of them. Hell, even he'd been a little distracted.
Rex had been on the skin side of that particular game, he was fairly sure.
Incensed, Anakin remembered that he'd even asked Obi-Wan then if he should be worried about it, and the old man had just laughed at him and welcomed him to the joys of puberty. Well, he certainly wasn't going to be laughing when he told him this.
Wait, no, he couldn't tell him this. He'd suggest something drastic, like transferring Rex or keeping Ahsoka at the Temple. Anakin wasn't about to punish his captain for the feelings of his Padawan, especially when she'd already confirmed that they weren't reciprocated.
Unless they were and she knew he was there…
No, she wasn't that manipulative. They'd… they'd just have to have a talk.
Zisiyeni , this was going to be awkward.
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