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Bode had gotten Zee safely back to the outpost without too much trouble. Sure, it was a bit unwieldy to get her over larger gaps or up cliffs, but all in all, it had gone well, so Bode considered it a successful operation. Usually, this was the point where he settled into his usual booth in Pyloon’s and waited for Cal to show up with the next piece of the puzzle and plans for the next step in their journey. But usually, they didn’t go on missions in the middle of the night without sleep either.
So instead of doing what he usually did or even trying to catch some Z’s, Bode went back out after getting Zee back to Pyloon’s. There was only one viable way for Cal to get back out of the bog the Lucrehulk had fallen into, and from there it was mostly a straight shot to Pyloon’s, but Bode figured it couldn’t hurt to check back with Cal anyway. Not that he couldn’t handle himself; even at night, he could; it was just…
Bode just had a bad feeling about it.
His shields were always tight as a durasteel wall, but he thought he’d felt a spike of intense emotion while they were in the escape pods. It could’ve been nothing. It could’ve been a spark of guilt from rooting around in Zee’s databanks in the hopes of finding some clue on how to get to Tanalorr. It didn’t feel like nothing, though.
His jetpack fuel was running low after zipping all over the Lucrehulk, so Bode forced himself to use it sparingly as he made his way out of the outpost and up the winding path that led toward Dredger Gorge. It turned out to be a good idea when he heard the sounds of fighting in the distance. He listened closely and frowned.
It was coming from somewhere to his left; from the direction of the natural valley carved by the stream that flowed by the outpost before it disappeared over the edge into a large waterfall. There was a lookout tower there, and a raider camp up the cliff, but it was all way off track.
He pulled out his binoculars and focused on the top of the tower. There were flashes of light, most of it red, against the slowly lightening sky. Somehow, he suspected Cal was involved.
“Damnit, Scrapper.” He changed directions and made his way over to the tower instead. The sounds of combat didn’t lessen in the time it took him to get there. Just what had Cal gotten himself into? A rope conveniently dangled from the natural rock plateau the tower sat on. He touched the charred end of the rope. The lightsaber burn was still warm.
He drew his blasters and used his jetpack to propel himself straight to the top of the tower. Cal was in the middle of bisecting a battle droid and looked up in surprise when Bode shot over the edge of the tower and took out three more B1s with a volley of blaster fire.
“Bode?!”
Bode landed. “Later. Focus.” He launched a shock grenade at a B2 that was attempting to activate, letting Cal dash in and grab the kill. A good number of droid parts already littered the floor, and Bode thought he saw a dead raider or two as well. Still, there were a few more droids left, and Bode actually worked up something of a sweat before they were done.
Once the last droid fell, Bode reholstered his blasters and eased out of his ready stance. Cal was already across the tower, peeking into boxes and under drapes, on the hunt for parts and cloths and Force knew what else. Bode let him, knowing that this was not the battle he wanted to fight and instead prepared for the coming war.
Once he’d inspected every inch of the tower, Cal came wandering back, BD-1 helpfully lighting the way in the half-darkness before dawn. “Bode.” He came to a stop just short of him. “What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you.”
The tension that had lessened while Cal was hunting for scraps immediately came back in full force. “Why? Is something wrong? Did the Raiders attack the outpost?”
“No.”
“The Empire?”
“No.”
“Cere-“
“Cal, would you let me talk?”
Cal lightly bounced on his feet. “Sorry. Go ahead.” His hands balled into fists at his sides before releasing, stretching, then repeating. He was wired and gearing up for a fight.
Something had happened in that escape pod.
Bode lifted a placating hand. “Everything’s fine. No one’s in danger.” Cal didn’t relax. His eyes started wandering, looking for a new fight, thinking about problems he could solve. He couldn’t have that. “But I do need you back at the outpost.”
Cal frowned. “What? Why?”
Because he was deliberately overworking himself and putting himself in danger. Because Bode, for reasons he wouldn’t admit to himself, cared for his wellbeing. But that wasn’t a reason Cal would accept. And definitely not in this state. He stepped in closer, letting his hand ghost over Cal’s arm. “Just… come back?” He let his tone dip low, kept his voice quiet, making Cal pay attention to what he was saying.
It worked beautifully. Cal softened, though the tension remained. “Yeah. Of course.”
On the way back to the outpost, Bode kept a careful eye on Cal. Every time his eyes would start wandering, or he’d hesitate for a moment at a sound in the distance, Bode would step in close. A brush of their shoulders, a soft hum, sometimes just stepping into his field of view, brought Cal’s attention back to him, reminded him of his request. Cal wouldn’t go back on his word, even if he’d rather be somewhere else, fighting for his life.
They took the back entrance straight down to Cal’s room. Bode didn’t want to risk getting sidetracked by any early - or very late - customers of Pyloon’s. He’d had the entire way back to think about how he wanted to approach the situation and had settled on something he believed had the highest chance of working.
Once the door closed behind them, he set down his jetpack and began stripping off his gear. “Hey, BD, how’re your energy levels looking?”
BD replied something Bode would categorise as regretful and tired. How a droid could sound tired, he wasn’t sure, but it worked for his purposes.
Cal looked at the little droid on his shoulder. “What? Buddy, why didn’t you tell me you were running low? Go charge.” He quickly carried BD over to the workbench and let him down. BD beeped something else, to which Cal replied: “No it’s- I’m sorry for keeping you up. I didn’t think about the fact that it’s been so long. The day-night cycle’s messing me up.” BD-1 acquiesced and went to charge in the little nook he’d made for himself on the workbench.
So far, so good. With BD-1 powered down, Bode could take care of Cal.
“Strip.”
Cal turned back to him, blinking in confusion. “Huh?”
“Strip. You’re taking a shower.” Commands. Not a request or a suggestion. Those Cal could worm his way around or talk his way out of. Bode couldn’t risk that right now.
Surprisingly, it worked on the first try. Cal glanced back at BD, apparently coming to the conclusion that he couldn’t run off and risk his life without the little droid, and then proceeded to start stripping right where he was standing.
Bode forced himself not to react. Not the time for that. Instead, he took Cal’s clothes as he stripped and folded them into a neat pile. Once he was naked, Cal made his way over to the fresher without complaint and disappeared inside. A miracle. Bode put the pile of clothes just outside the door to Cal’s room, hopefully for Greez to find and dump in the nearest clean water source. Cal would be sleeping in tomorrow - or today, he supposed - so they’d be clean by the time he got up.
Alright. BD-1 was out of the picture, hopefully until Cal was properly unconscious and Bode had a moment to get the droid on his side. Cal was still busy in the shower, though he was very efficient with them, so Bode had to be quick. He went over to the closet and pulled out his bag. Early on, he’d tested out if anyone touched his stuff and come to the conclusion that they didn’t. Which was good because that meant no one would find the stuff he’d started stashing behind his bag.
The shower shut off, and Bode hurried to gather what he needed and jam it in between the edge of the mattress and the foot of Cal’s bunk. Somehow, he managed to look appropriately casual, perched on the edge of Cal’s bed, by the time said man emerged from the fresher, towel around his waist.
Bode took a moment to appreciate the water droplets running down his body. Cal was still tense, though the shower had loosened his muscles a little. As Bode looked him over - checking for any obvious injuries he’d have to be careful of - Cal shifted on his feet.
“So, what did you need me for?”
“Come here.”
Cal frowned, but stepped forward. Bode captured his hand in his and pulled him closer, to stand between his spread thighs. “Something happened to you in that escape pod.”
Cal immediately went rigid. “What do you mean?”
Bode smoothed a hand over his hip, trying to exude calm he wasn’t feeling. “You were fine after the fight with Dagan. A little banged up, but nothing some bacta won’t fix. When I found you at the top of that tower, throwing yourself into a fight against a whole outpost of raiders, you were not.”
“Nothing happened in the escape pod. I’m fine.” Not even trying to deny that he’d been recklessly throwing himself into a fight.
“Cal.”
“I mean, there’s just-“
“Clearly, something happened. And you didn’t comm me or anyone else. You went off to throw yourself into a dangerous fight, and if I hadn’t shown up, you would’ve kept doing so until BD ran out of power or you suffered a serious injury.
Or maybe, you’d have gotten sloppy, and gotten yourself killed. And then where would the rest of us be, hm? Sitting here, waiting for you to come back, not knowing what happened because you didn’t bother to let anyone know what you were doing. Because you know it wasn’t healthy.”
Cal wilted under his words. It was almost cruel, manipulating him like this, but it wasn’t like Bode was lying. He sighed and rested his hands on Cal’s hips. “You need rest, Scrapper. And you need to tell someone about what happened in that escape pod.”
Cal started to step back. “I’m fine. We shouldn’t sleep now. It’s almost morning; we’ll just ruin our sleep schedules and-“
Bode lunged, grabbing Cal and depositing him onto the bed in short order. He janked the rope out from where he’d jammed it beside the mattress and had the first loop around Cal’s wrists before he even recovered from his surprise and started struggling.
“Bode?! What are you doing? Let me- stop that!”
Bode easily captured his arms and held them down, ignoring his protests as he began looping rope around Cal’s arms. Once he’d immobilised them, hands to elbows, behind his back, he sat back for a moment to breathe.
“Bode! Untie me!”
“No can do. This is for your own good.” He grabbed the other bundles of rope he’d prepared. The first two went to securing Cal’s legs. His lower legs tied to his thighs, and his ankles tied together, left Cal mostly defenseless. One more bundle of rope remained. Bode picked it up and turned it over in his hands, considering what to do with it.
Cal finally seemed to remember that he had the Force on his side. Clearly, his brain needed rest. A clumsy shove had him rocking back on his heels, but he was too heavy for Cal to throw off without more concentration. His control over the Force was also nowhere near fine enough to get himself out of the ropes, so Bode had no problem letting him uselessly scrabble at them. Figuring out the futility of the attempt, Cal went back to squirming wildly.
Bode sighed. Maybe a proper harness would calm him down. Cal liked physical contact, so feeling that his whole body was being held in place by ropes might do something for him. He might be grasping at straws, but he too hadn’t exactly gotten a lot of sleep in the past day.
He bodily hauled Cal into a kneeling position and began looping the rope around Cal’s torso.
“Bode, what’s gotten into you?” Cal sounded calm now. A very put-on, deliberate sort of calm.
Bode stroked a hand down his side soothingly. “Nothing, scrapper. Everything’s alright. Just relax; let me take care of you.”
Cal squirmed some more, and Bode was forced to keep him still with one arm while continuing to create the rope harness. “If everything’s alright, then untie me.”
“Can’t do that. You’d just run off on me again.” He finished tying the harness and tightened the ropes. “What happened in that damn escape pod, Scrapper?”
It wasn’t meant to be a question, just an idle musing, but something broke the dam Cal had built. The redhead froze in his grasp, his muscles going lax before tensing all at once.
Bode had to wrap both arms around Cal’s chest and hold on to keep him from launching himself right off the bed. Cal fought and squirmed and tossed like his life depended on it, trying desperately to get away. The same thing Bode had felt at the Lucrehulk now broke through his shields again, much more intense thanks to proximity. It was an acrid mix of fear, terror, confusion, and desperation. He forced himself not to react, not to reach out and try to smooth away those emotions. It wasn’t easy. All he could do was hold on as Cal came apart in his arms.
It took him a moment to realise that he wasn’t wearing his shoulder holsters and that the phantom pressure on his shoulders wasn’t real. Cal was projecting. He wouldn’t be projecting the sensation of Bode’s holsters, though; so what…
He slung his legs over Cal’s and dared to loosen one arm to pull at the ropes around Cal’s upper body. He couldn’t take them off one-handed, but he could shift the tension, taking it off the sections around Cal’s shoulders. The sections mimicking escape pod restraints.
As soon as the tension shifted, Cal stopped squirming, his body sinking into Bode’s front. Bode tried to breathe calmly while Cal panted. The redhead was shaking apart in his arms, and he wasn’t sure what to do, so he held on and started humming the first song that popped into his head.
He didn’t remember where he’d heard this song or any more than maybe a third of the lyrics. Partway through, he ran out of steam and switched to a different song. Eventually, he lost the melody of that one as well and just began humming anything, keeping his tone low and soothing.
“Bode?” Cal’s voice was quiet and strained. Bode squeezed his arms around Cal’s chest in acknowledgement. “Where are we?”
He stopped humming to answer: “Pyloon’s. You don’t remember coming here?”
Cal shifted minutely. “I’m… tired.”
Bode pressed his cheek to Cal’s temple and hummed quietly. “Go to sleep, then.”
“Okay.” Finally, the last of the tension drained away.
Slowly, Bode untangled himself from Cal. Cal’s eyes were closed, tears slowly trailing down his cheeks. Whatever had happened had really messed him up. Taking off his own shirt and pants while keeping body contact wasn’t easy, but he managed somehow. He made sure to loosen the ropes to ensure they didn’t cut off blood flow while they slept.
Finally, Bode got them both horizontal. Cal was still half wrapped in ropes and would stay that way until they woke up and Bode decided what to do with him. For now, he draped himself over Cal’s back and listened to his soft breaths. It didn’t take very long at all for sleep to claim him too.