Archive of Our Own

It all started with a typical night out. Out of nowhere, Cody was called out for being a clone and attacked.

He fought back, mostly to get out of there and never go back to that bar again, but then the guy's friends joined in.

Cody did his best, trying to fight back and get out of there.

But they weren't playing fair. They just wanted to beat up a clone because of course they did. The average civilian didn't like the war, and often took it out on the clones, as the easiest way to get back at the perceived cause of the war. 

Even though the clones had done nothing wrong.

Cody wasn't sure how long it was before he stopped fighting back, but they were still beating him when he fell unconscious.

.

Quinlan had finished another mission, and was debating on if he was going to go shopping for food to make or if he should just pick something up and save cooking for a day when he wasn't fresh off a mission. 

He heard the sounds of someone being beat up before the Force started nudging him to check it out.

Curiously, Quinlan followed the Force. 

"Hey, what are you doing? He's already unconscious!" he exclaimed. He could tell it was a clone, and a quick check with the Force told him it was not just any clone. It was Commander Cody. Obi-Wan's commander. That was not good. 

"We can do what we want. What, you're going to stop us?"

"Well, you're drunk and I'm not so I think I can take you."

Quinlan sidestepped the first charge casually, smirking. "Alright, fight it is. Let's get going." He dove in and didn't hold back his skills. He just didn't use the Force or his lightsaber. 

He smirked when he was done. All of the attackers were groaning in pain, aside from the one that was unconscious. 

Quinlan grabbed one of the Coruscant Guard on patrol to take care of the idiots while he got Cody to help.

The Guard member was a bit thrown off- this one had never met him then. Quinlan just picked up Cody.

"Wait where are you talking him, General?"

"To the Negotiator's medbay. I'm pretty sure Manner would rather his commander be there than anywhere else."

Quinlan didn't stick around for a response after getting a good look at Cody's face and realizing how swollen it was. Cody needed bacta.

Thankfully he ran into few issues along the way, and Obi-Wan ended up joining him along the way, worried for Cody. 

Once he saw Cody safely into the hands of the medics, Quinlan decided it was time to go. Most clones didn't like him. 

Understandably so. He was a hard Jedi to like. He just had a personality most didn't like over all. 

He could act for missions. He could act for diplomacy sake and for strangers. But all the time in front of people he was supposed to be comfortable with? No. That was never an option. 

If people couldn't handle him at his most overblown obnoxious, they weren't meant to be friends. 

He didn't know exactly where Cody fell on that range. Cody normally avoided him, so they hardly interacted. Quinlan suspected that Cody didn't like him and was avoiding him so as to not put up with him.

Quinlan left a note anyways. 

Then he went to go find some food and try not to worry about Cody; he'd been pretty well beat up by those drunken idiots. From the bruises he'd left on them, and the fact that two were still holding him down... Quinlan was certain he'd put up a fight until they made the fight too unfair for him.

.

Cody woke up with a groan. Everything ached. Why was he in the medbay?

Manner's explanation didn't really explain how he had gotten from being beaten unconscious to here, but he decided to just accept it if Manner wasn't going to tell him who had rescued him.

He was left alone to eat his breakfast.

Cody found a note on the table next to him and read it. 

Hey, Cody. Saw you in trouble. Got you out. Hope you recover swiftly. That looked nasty.

Cody stared at it in confusion. There was no signature. He didn't recognize the style of writing either. 

So in the end... he had no clue who had saved him from being beaten up.

Later, he heard from Fox that they had been having trouble with drunken idiots trying to beat up clones at night, sometimes they were even attempting to beat them to death. This was the first time any of them had been beaten at their own game.

"And of course we have that idiot Jedi Vos to thank for it," Fox grumbled at the end. "Glad to hear you're alright, I'll keep you updated on if anything happens with the idiots."

Cody could only agree and hang up. He stopped and stared at his comm once he had hung up. Vos? As in... Quinlan Vos? 

Quinlan Vos had been the one to get him out of there before it got any worse. 

Huh. 

Well, he had always suspected there was more to Quinlan than there appeared. He preferred to avoid getting caught up in the chaos. But that didn’t mean he didn’t like Quinlan or wasn’t curious about him.

Obi-Wan was always exasperated and yet amused. He was never truly annoyed. He didn't seem to just tolerate Quinlan, no matter how he acted. If Cody was reading his actions right. 

So, that meant that there was something Cody was missing about Quinlan. Something everyone was missing.

Although, Quinlan Vos was undeniably crazy.

Cody tried to put it out of his mind. There wasn't anything he could do right now. Quinlan had disappeared anyways.

.

Quinlan couldn't stop worrying about Cody. So he snuck into the Negotiator to leave another note, checking in on Cody and leaving him some chocolates to munch on if he got bored while hew as recovering.

He glanced at Cody and was relieved to see him looking a lot better. Bacta was a miracle worker.

A thought occurred to him, and he scribbled out a post note.

.

Hey Cody,

Just wanted to check in and see if you're feeling any better. Looks like you are. I'm glad.

PS Just realized how creepy it is that I'm doing this when you're asleep. Sorry. 

Cody stared at the note and shook his head. Well. That was... something.

At least he was certain who it was now. This person seemed to have been the person who saved him, and he knew that was Quinlan. 

Why would Quinlan only leave him notes when hew as asleep though, rather than visiting when he was awake? 

Quinlan wasn't the sort to hide... was he? Or was there something Cody was unaware of?

Cody decided to wait and see.

He was amused, but not surprised when the notes continued. They even continued after he was out of the medbay. Cody suspected that Obi-Wan was giving Quinlan a little help to make sure the notes got to Cody.

They were always sweet and full of interest in Cody's wellbeing. Sometimes they came with offerings of food or drink, and sometimes they came with other things. Just because Quinlan thought of him when he saw them.

Cody debated for a long time on what he wanted to do. 

Eventually he started leaving a note for Quinlan when he went to bed. 

At first, Quinlan seemed more hesitant to leave notes, but he regained his confidence when Cody never said anything bad.

It was... strange. 

Cody never saw Quinlan around anymore, but he heard a lot about him from his brothers.

Most of the comments were negative. Even from Fox. 

Cody was actually jealous of Fox. Quinlan was bringing food and caf to the Coruscant Guard at random times, helping out as much as he could, and generally just trying to help.

And yet... Fox didn't ever seem to have something good to say. No one who interacted with him did. 

It was... weird. Wolffe was normally a good judge of character, and yet he hated Quinlan's guts, complaining about how Plo tolerated him.

Others just were easily irritated.

The one that made him facepalm though was Bly complaining about Quinlan being all over Aayla.

Cody had listened to Obi-Wan and Anakin talk enough to know why. It had nothing to do with romance or sex. His heated response almost had him using Quinlan's name instead of just using his last name. Thankfully he caught it.

Bly you dikut, Vos trained her. General Skywalker talked about Generals Kenobi and Vos training him and General Secura together.

Of course that opened up a large wave of disbelief. How could a Jedi like that train one as amazing as General Secura?

Cody decided to give up on his brothers having any sense. They were all dikuts. 

Quinlan was sweet and caring. He may be a bit crazy, and he may have his problems, but he was far from the only one to ever be a bit obnoxious to deal with.

Cody wondered if he was ever going to get Quinlan alone to talk to him, but now Quinlan was avoiding him. He knew Quinlan was visiting Obi-Wan, and yet, when Cody showed up... no Quinlan. 

It was frustrating. He wondered what was going through Quinlan's head. Why was Quinlan holding him at arm's length.

Obi-Wan just patted his shoulder when he expressed confusion.

"That's something he needs to work out and you two need to discuss. I'm not getting between this."

Cody was a bit disappointed but understood. At least Obi-Wan was on both of their sides, though he seemed more amused than anything as time went on.

Cody continued leaving little notes, updating Quinlan on his day, how he was doing, and occasionally giving him something to tease Obi-Wan on, just for the fun of it. 

Besides, it was effective against some of Obi-Wan's worst habits. Quinlan knew Obi-Wan and understood why Obi-Wan did them. Which meant that when it came to getting Obi-Wan to be a bit better and not scare his medics (or the rest of the 212th), Quinlan was the best bet. 

He at least could talk Obi-Wan down without causing Obi-Wan to stress more, as Cody and the medics had discovered was a risk.

And Quinlan was passing on some of his tips to Cody so he could handle it.

It was nice.

Cody just wished he knew Quinlan more. The note passing was nice, but it felt superficial. Like Quinlan was holding back. 

But what could Quinlan be holding back?

.

Quinlan loved leaving notes for Cody. Especially when there was a return note. Sometimes there was even something for him as Cody cycled through different hobbies.

It was nice.

But, knowing how Cody had been avoiding him, and knowing how most clones seemed to hate him... Quinlan kept his distance. He never signed the notes, though he was certain that Cody knew full well who had left them at this point.

He just liked the illusion that he was anonymous. It meant that he felt a bit less nervous about exchanging notes like that with Cody. 

He found himself falling in love with Cody. He did not mean for that to happen, but it had. There was a reason he was actively avoiding Cody. At least that way he could avoid the inevitable. He could pretend that he had some control over how this was going to end up. 

Because why would Quinlan get to have this for himself? He could count the amount of people he trusted as close friends on one hand- Obi-Wan, Aayla, Tholme, and Kit. Beyond that he trusted the Council and Dex... and basically no one else. Some acquaintances he was friendly with, but no one he could truly be himself around without risk.

And he knew how other clones saw him. He heard the whispers of the 212th every time he was on board, at that. He knew some of them did like him, especially those who were aware that he was the one who rescued Cody from being beat up. 

But there as still a fair amount of people who did not like him, and whispered about how chaotic he was. How he hung all over Obi-Wan or the nearest clone that tolerated it. how he was obnoxious and always joking.

That he knew how to ignore. His personality was not for everyone. 

But it stung when people whispered that there was no way he could really be a Jedi with that attitude. How could General Kenobi stand such a poor example of a Jedi. 

It was what he had heard in the Temple growing up, and over the years. Those whispers had died down as he got older and rumors of how good he was at shadow work spread. When he became a little more noticeable by training a Padawan, that killed most of those whispers. 

But it still hurt to hear it from the troopers. Because he was always insecure about his place in the Jedi Order. Sometimes he wondered if he was doing the right thing, being a shadow. Sometimes he wondered how he could be a Jedi when he struggled so much with the Dark side at times, especially when he was all alone for far too long each mission. Especially when he was alone in general. He never did handle being alone well.

So, Quinlan was content to keep things at passing notes. He wasn't sure what would happen after the war ended. But he was willing to wait and handle it when it happened. For now, he was just trying his best to be a successful Jedi. He liked making Cody happy and getting new things for Cody to try on his own, something he didn't have to share with everyone. 

All the while, his investigations were wearing him down between his unfortunately unavoidable undercover missions. Especially as he increasingly needed to work with the Coruscant Guard or other battalions. The other battalions were as they were available for back up or needed him to take over while their general recovered or got a leave. The Coruscant Guard was just most convenient when handling missions that ended on Coruscant.

All the while he was getting the impression that clones were not his biggest fans. 

That was okay. They didn't need to be his biggest fans to work with him. As long as the job got done, he didn't care what they thought of him. 

He should have.

It was a routine mission with a random battalion, of a Jedi he did not know. That Jedi was in a coma and there was no telling when she would return.

Naturally, her troopers were not impressed with her replacement. Quinlan. 

He did his best to emulate Obi-Wan's energy. And Aayla's. But his reputation preceded him and they did not take him seriously. 

But he got them to listen and follow the plans, at least. That was all he needed. 

And then came the day he knew he should have been watching his back after all.

He had been sticking to the plan. He trusted the troopers to be were they were supposed to be to extricate him from the Separatist base that he was sabotaging and stealing information from as part of their mission. 

Only... no one showed up at the extraction point. He commed and commed. His comms were not jammed. He knew what that sounded and acted like. He could still hear them talking to the other troopers. It was like they just were ignoring him.

Quinlan didn't let himself think about it too much. He had to improvise. Improvisation was what he did best, anyways. 

In the end though, the Separatists caught him. 

The troopers were supposed to have his back. They left him there. They weren't at any of the possible extraction points. When he tried to escape the base, no one was there to have his back. 

Quinlan managed to escape eventually. But he was beat up, injured. He asked for an explanation. Not a single explanation worked. He eventually overheard them laughing about how beat up he had gotten and knew that they had done it on purpose. 

He let them get away with their excuses. He would be fine. It wasn't like he had anything worse than bruises and fractured ribs.

He withdrew from their daily lives, let their commander draw up all the plans, and basically just stayed there as a placeholder, the one person some people would listen to, and as the secret weapon Jedi could be. 

That wasn't the first time they sabotaged him. That they let him get into a mess without back up. But he was prepared and handled it on his own as he always did. It never stopped hurting that the troopers he was supposed to trust with his life did that to him.

"It's not like he actually died, he just got a bit hurt. I don't see why he's so sulky about it!" The mocking laughter haunted his waking thoughts and his dreams.

Finally, he was transferred out for a break. He quietly requested not to be sent back as they clearly did not like him. 

And then he went to his quarters and stayed there, only venturing out for food. It had hit him harder than usual, to be betrayed by people who were supposed to have his back no matter what. 

Why did they do that to him? He had flawlessly done everything he was supposed to. He almost got caught up in an explosion because they abandoned him. So why...

He heard that Obi-Wan and the 212th returned to Coruscant. Quinlan didn't leave his quarters. What was the point in bothering Cody with his presence? 

He didn't even visit Obi-Wan. 

Obi-Wan, of course, promptly visited him.

"Quin! You look terrible." Obi-Wan hugged him then looked him over again.

Quinlan sighed. "Of course I look terrible. I'm not sleeping. Couldn't sleep on that kriffing ship anyways but yeah. Not sleeping. This is a surprise?"

"For you? Yes. Yes it is. Come on, Quin. What's wrong?"

"You saw my reports."

"I did."

"What if I told you that each and every time I was hurt I was supposed to have back up or extracted and they never showed up?"

"What? Why didn't you say something?"

"I had no real proof, and they did that because they hate me and wanted to see me suffer. I'm not a real Jedi like theirs after all." Quinlan sighed. "So... I'm not going back."

"I will make sure that no one ever thinks of assigning you to them again. I'll point out that you had more injuries in those six months than you had all through the war."

"What? No, I remember being more injured than that..."

"I said more injuries. Did you look at your medical reports? The medics at least were thorough and truthful. You may never have been injured that severely, but you were always covered in bruises bad enough to note, required at least one bandage, and usually at least one fractured bone, for each mission. I know you can make it through missions without getting hurt. I had been wondering why that happened. I am so sorry they weren't supporting you like they were supposed to."

Quinlan shrugged. "It's okay. It's not like it's that big a deal. I'll live. I learned my lesson though. Clones hate me. I better steer clear of all of them unless necessary."

"What makes you think all clones hate you?"

"The 739th had never met me before. They hated me on sight, and betrayed me on our first campaign. If that's what clones who've never met me feel? How do the ones who do know me feel?" Quinlan sighed, heart aching. It felt like he was the only Jedi who was not finding friendship in clones.

"Quin... don't do this to yourself."

"It's fine. I've been mostly isolated through this war anyways. What's a little more?"

Obi-Wan knew better, spotting tremors in his friends hand and hearing a wobble in his voice. 

He wrapped Quinlan in a hug and dragged him to sit and watch tv. 

Obi-Wan made sure that Quinlan was rarely alone so long as he was on leave and on planet.

.

Cody knew that Quinlan had taken over a battalion temporarily. He was looking forward to them being on Coruscant at the same time once more.

But... notes never arrived. Day after day, until a week went by. No notes from Quinlan.

He heard from Fox that they were enjoying the peace and quiet of having no Vos around, though they did miss his spontaneous visits with food and caf. And they missed his little tips that he offered for no reason, that usually worked for them. 

That was even weirder. Quinlan always hung around the Coruscant Guard, whether they liked it or not. Cody was pretty sure that despite Fox's grumpy attitude, Quinlan was growing on him. 

It was concerning that Quinlan wasn't even doing that. What had changed? Was there anything he could do to help Quinlan?

He never did get the chance to try to talk to Quinlan before Quinlan was sent off on another mission, this time with a squad of the Coruscant Guard. 

Cody spotted them getting ready to leave, coincidentally in the same area.

Strangely, Quinlan did not look relaxed at all. He just looked tense and resigned. He didn't seem to want to leave his back open. It was all very strange behavior that Cody had never seen from him.

Just a month later, Cody ended up doing recon with Obi-Wan on an isolated planet that had its fair share of misfits.

Quinlan was there doing his mission with the Coruscant Guard. He looked skinny, and exhausted. But he was doing his job with the determination that Cody had come to know was part of who Quinlan was.

Obi-Wan quietly informed Cody that Quinlan was certain he was almost done with the mission, so they would probably be leaving with Quinlan and the Coruscant Guard squad that were with him.

Cody was out late one night. He had needed some fresh air. Recon was always a weird job. Cody liked being able to move and tackle the problem head on. Not being able to made him feel restless and sometimes cooped up. 

At least the recon was basically over. They were just waiting for Quinlan's mission to be done since they might as well leave with Quinlan and the Coruscant Guard squad.

So he was stretching his legs, taking a walk around the area they were staying in.

He heard the sounds of fighting. He went to investigate. 

Just a bunch of drunk idiots beating up a helpless victim. Cody remembered when that was him and shuddered. That had been awful. He should help. But could he help without bringing trouble on him and the mission?

Then the squad appeared. They crowded around the alleyway and laughed. 

"Oh, they did grab Vos, just like I thought." Strike laughed. 

Cody froze and looked closer. A flash of gold confirmed their words to be truthful.. It was Quinlan. 

Quinlan was the victim this time.

Cody was moving before knew it. He lifted his comm.

"I think Vos' mission is done. Found him in the same position I was over a year ago. Beating up some idiots now."

Obi-Wan's exasperated sigh came through loud and clear. "Do be careful, will you?"

"Of course. Just repaying the favor."

"Mm-hm."

Cody rolled his eyes, a bit amused that he knew exactly what Obi-Wan was thinking. Obi-Wan was so judging him for this. Oh well.

But he put it out of his mind to confront the drunken idiots who had targeted Quinlan. He was just going to knock them aside roughly and grab Quinlan to get him out of there.

Then he heard the comments they were making about Kiffar and selling him off and he was not going to go easy on them anymore.

The first one he tackled and tossed into the nearest wall. He smirked, pleased with himself when the idiot didn't get up again.

He turned to the rest of them and got started.

It took a bit longer than he'd like, but he found Quinlan stirring on the ground; he had been unconscious.

Cody picked him up. "It's okay, they're done. Rest." 

Quinlan mumbled something that Cody didn't make out before falling unconscious once more.

Cody hurried to get him up to the room he was sharing with Obi-Wan for the mission.

Obi-Wan was waiting with the first aid kit. 

Between the two of them, they got Quinlan as patched up as they could. He was a little worse than Cody had been the time he was beat up like that. 

Obi-Wan covered Quinlan with a blanket and sighed. "You should let his squad know where he is before they worry."

Cody growled. "They're not worried. They came up and started laughing about it before I jumped in and saved Quinlan. I don't trust them."

Obi-Wan frowned. "Again?" he muttered quietly, then sighed. Louder, he said, "I'll make a note of that for the Council and another note for the commanders of the Coruscant Guard. I don't care what they think of anyone, that is not a good position to leave anyone in. I don't want this squad escorting anyone ever. I would not trust them."

"You and me both." Cody sighed. He looked down at Quinlan. "Why would anyone target him? He's done nothing wrong?" He still had some energy to burn off so he started pacing.

"You don't know?" Obi-Wan asked, a bit surprised, but pleased.

"Don't know what?"

"How others feel about him."

"Oh, I know just about everyone hates him for some reason. Even Wolffe and Wolffe is the best judge of character of all of us! But what does that..." Cody froze and stared between Quinlan and Obi-Wan. "No... they want him to get hurt because they hate him?"

"Yes." Obi-Wan sighed. He ran a hand through Quinlan's hair. Quinlan leaned into the touch, despite being unconscious.

"Quinlan is... He is always himself when he does not have a mission to do that requires otherwise. He likes to lead with his worst foot forward to figure out who might be willing to be his friends. But who he is does not always mix with the rest of the galaxy. He's too clingy, too loud. Too immature. Too mischievous. Not good enough, depending on what aspect of his life you're talking about. And yes, people have said he can't be a real Jedi. Even though he's a better Jedi than most. He just chooses to embrace who he is rather than hide it behind a mask. Something I wish I could do sometimes."

Cody swallowed. "Me too." He sat down on the edge of the bed. Hotel beds were decent sized. He watched Quinlan worriedly. "Is there anything I can do? He stopped leaving me notes..." 

"I don't know how to help him," Obi-Wan admitted. "And why he did that... well. It's not something I can tell you. It's a matter of trust."

Cody nodded, then ran a finger down Quinlan's cheek. He got an idea. "Why don't I leave a note, and then go be in charge of the squad that came with him. I don't want to leave them up to their own devices and they're coming back with us when we leave anyways."

Obi-Wan smirked. "I like the way you think. We will be leaving tomorrow afternoon."

Cody nodded. "Got it. Plenty of time to make sure they understand the professionalism of working with someone they don't like." 

"I'm sure they will never forget the lesson, Cody."

Cody smirked, then frowned and worried over the note he wrote Quinlan before he left it at the table. He grabbed his overnight bag and left. 

It wasn't even the next day yet, technically. Just late enough to have drunk idiots beating up people in alleyways.

It took him an annoyingly long time to round up the squad and order them back to the hotel for a discussion.

He was looking forward to finally lecturing them.

.

Quinlan groaned as he woke up. "Ow... what hit me..."

"A bunch of drunk idiots grabbed you apparently," Obi-Wan said dryly, voice just inches from his ear.

Quinlan turned and smiled. "Hey Obes... nice of you to cuddle."

"I know you need it for healing. And you know I like cuddling, even if I try not to show it."

"Yeah. What's the damage?"

"Couple of broken fingers, many bruises, a couple of broken and fractured ribs... there might be more issues but without scanning equipment we can't be sure. There's a lot of swelling, but if that's just bruising or something else... well. we can't tell yet."

"Oh. Got it." Quinlan winced. Then he froze. "Uh... did Cody rescue me or did I dream that?"

"Oh, he did rescue you. He's setting that squad straight after seeing them laugh at you for getting beat up."

"Wait. What?" Quinlan stared at Obi-Wan. 

"I know you heard what I said. You just don't want to believe it."

"Come on, why would I believe it! It just makes no sense."

"Not all clones hate you."

"Could've fooled me," Quinlan muttered grumpily, crossing his arms.

"Well. Cody did leave you a note."

Quinlan turned his head to the other side and spotted the note on the table. "Huh." 

Hey Quin- Um. Actually I don't know what I'm allowed to call you? 

We both know that you rescued me. Well, now we can say we've both saved the other from a group of drunken idiots trying to beat us to death. Strange that it happened to both of us and that we witnessed it, huh? 

Anyways. Your squad thought it was funny. I'm going to make sure they understand what professionalism means before we get back to Coruscant. And if the 212th finds out what they did, they'll be furious too. We all try to follow Obi-Wan's lead in being professional and not letting feelings get in the way of respect and how we react to the situation. They'll be very offended if it gets out what happened. 

You were pretty beat up, and we don't have a medic around to make sure you're okay... I hope you heal quickly. This is less ideal than what happened to me, honestly and it worries me that you got so hurt.

Hope you feel better.

Cody

Quinlan stared at the note. Huh. So Cody did care. He was worried about Quinlan and how hurt he'd been. Huh. 

"Huh. Okay. When do we leave?"

"This afternoon." 

"Okay.... good. I'm ready to be off this planet. Ow."

"Sorry that your mission ended up that way."

"It's okay... could've had a better squad. Oh well. Clones don't like me."

"Cody likes you."

Quinlan smiled and glanced at the note. "Maybe."

Obi-Wan huffed. "You like him."

"Maybe a little." 

"Just a little? You never leave me little love notes."

"I never have to worry about you liking me."

"Uh-huh, that's the only reason."

Quinlan groaned, a bit embarrassed.

"How do you feel?"

"Alright... a bit sore... I don't think I could walk..."

"Probably not. We'll get you to the Negotiator and Manner will take care of you, okay?"

"Alright... he's good. But my cuddles." 

"If you think I'll let anyone chase me away from making sure you get cuddles, you're ridiculous."

Quinlan grinned. "Alright. You're the best friend I could ask for, Obes."

"And you're a brilliant friend too. I just wish more people would see it."

"I'm used to it."

"You shouldn't have to be."

"I don't have an easy personality to like. And I don't want to be anyone but myself. I'm never going to have an easy time with friends. I just wish it would be a little easier."

Obi-Wan sighed and hugged him. "I know. I love the way you are. It's just what I need to cheer me up sometimes."

"Yeah." Quinlan smiled. 

When Obi-Wan disappeared briefly to check on the situation, Quinlan scribbled out a short thank you to Cody, then he leaned back and thought about it. 

Cody had been there for him when no one else had been. His own squad had chosen to laugh at him, because most of the Guard thought he was obnoxious and stupid.

Maybe it was time to give up being friendly with them. His efforts weren't wanted. They weren't acknowledged. So why bother continuing to try to help them? They didn’t seem bothered he’d stopped in the aftermath of his disastrous months with that battalion anyway.

Quinlan sighed and curled up on his side. He hissed and adjusted when it hurt more than he expected. 

He found himself falling back asleep.

.

Cody was still stewing over the lecture he had to give a squad that really should know better. 

They let one of the people in their mission get hurt. They thought it was deserved. That wasn't how people acted in these situations.

He wasn't sure they understood his ire. So he was debating on letting it slip to Manner when they got Quinlan on board. Manner would tell one of the other medics, and the medics would tell everyone else. 

He wasn't certain the squad deserved to deal with that the whole trip back to Coruscant, though. But he was tempted.

He entered the room that Quinlan was sharing with Obi-Wan to check on him.

Obi-Wan was sitting and reading. Quinlan was still asleep. 

"He woke up," Obi-Wan said quietly. "He said he was hurting but it wasn't bad. He then fell back asleep not long after."

Cody nodded and walked over.

"How did the lecture go?"

"I don't think it sunk in so I think we're going to have to let it slip to the troopers, starting with Manner. I'm not sure they deserve to deal with the 212th's cold shoulder the whole way but I kind of want to make them deal with it anyways.

"I don't exactly approve of being petty normally but this is Quinlan, and they are not understanding. If it was anyone well known they’d be in major trouble. Go for it."

Cody smiled. "Good." He glanced where he had left the note and realized it had been moved.

He picked it up and smiled.

Cody-

Yes, you can call me Quin. Thanks for getting me out of there when my own squad was being useless. It means a lot to me. 

Don't worry too much about me. I know they hate me. Most clones do. Thought  you did. But I guess you don't, considering all these notes. Thank you.

-Quin

Cody frowned. "Most clones hate Quin?"

Obi-Wan sighed. "I'm not sure they hate him, but the attitude you witnessed is not uncommon."

"Oh. He thought I hated him?" Cody felt horrible. He sat down on the edge of the bed. He stared at Quinlan, sleeping peacefully. "He's adorable. How could I hate him?"

"You were avoiding him for a while."

"Oh... Because I knew he was chaos and didn't want to get caught up in it. I like appearing to be above it all so I can be sneaky."

"You know if you want to be sneaky, you could always tell him that. You know he and I prank together all the time."

"Oh... right. I should have done that, but at the time I wasn't as well acquainted with you and your pranking tendencies. But I should have realized... is that why he never showed his face around me if it wasn't necessary despite the notes after that?"

"Yes, I believe it is. If you did not like him, he would rather stay away and respect that even if that is not truly what you want."

"I suppose..." Cody sighed and brushed some hair out of Quinlan's face. "He's adorable."

Obi-Wan tilted his head. "Oh?"

"Uh I mean..." Cody hung his head, embarrassed. 

Obi-Wan chuckled. "You like him, don't you?"

"...maybe. I'm not sure. Yes? I like him. He's fantastic."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Well. What are you going to do about it?"

"Do about it- Nothing."

"Why not?"

"I doubt he's interested in me like that. I'm happy just getting to know him and being friends. We will be good friends... he's a great friend already I don't want to lose him by adding feelings."

"I don't think that will happen, but if that is your decision I can't argue." 

Cody sighed. "He deserves better."

"If it helps, I think he has vowed to never help the Guard out again the way he has been. This has made it clear that none of them care."

"Good. They don't deserve his help." Cody huffed. "I keep hearing Fox complain about Quin, nothing positive and I just.... how can he not think anything of Quin? Quin is amazing."

Obi-Wan sighed. "Quin has run into this problem before. Among the Jedi he can be a bit... much with his chaos. We have our circle of friends, and most Jedi tolerate him even if they're not his friends, but outside of the Jedi Order? Most people aren't that tolerant."

"Oh." Cody sighed. "Well... I guess I'll try to be his friend. If he'll let me."

"You two could start by actually being awake in the same room."

Cody chuckled. "Oh, I suppose that is a good place to start." 

Cody didn't move after that. There wasn't any reason for him to be anywhere else right now. The mission was mostly done, and the idiots knew that they had to stay in their hotel room. He would check on them periodically to be sure, but he was not in the mood to stay with them.

Obi-Wan's comm went off. "I better take this. Can you stay with him? He needs the cuddling."

"Right. I can." Cody moved so that he was more on the bed and able to cuddle. 

Obi-Wan carefully pulled away from Quinlan. He left to take care of the comm.

As soon as he left, Quinlan flailed for a moment then latched onto Cody and snuggled into his chest.

Cody stared down at him and then smiled. That was adorable. He wrapped his arms around Quinlan and got more comfortable. 

Quinlan woke up half an hour later. He groaned in pain, then realized that this was not Obi-Wan. The warm body didn't feel like Obi-Wan. He opened his eyes and looked up. 

"Oh. Hi."

"Hi. You're awake." 

"Yeah.... not sure I want to be awake. Everything hurts..." Quinlan wasn't sure what to think of the fact that Cody was there and Obi-Wan was nowhere to be found.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to get there faster."

"It's okay... I'm glad you were there at all... I'm not sure what would've happened." 

Cody nodded awkwardly. "Um, Obi-Wan had to take a comm call... he mentioned that you need cuddling?"

"Oh, yeah. Cuddling helps me heal. I get touch starved easily, too."

"Being around that squad can't have helped."

"No, it didn't. I respected that they didn't want me touching them."

"But it still hurt you."

"Conflicting needs." Quinlan shrugged. "It's okay. I wasn't to the clawing my skin off stage."

"It gets that bad?"

"Yeah. But it takes months to get there."

"Okay." Cody wasn't sure how to react to that. But it did explain a lot about Quinlan's habits when it came to cuddling, and how he went for the easy affection.

It made all of Fox's complaints all the more infuriating given he refused to tell Quinlan to stop. At least Quinlan was going to stop bothering him. 

Cody didn't want to listen to Fox's complaints anymore. Quinlan was a wonderful person. 

Cody looked down at Quinlan when he realized they hadn't been talking for a while. Quinlan was awake still. 

Quinlan smiled tentatively. "Thank you for sticking around to cuddle me. You didn't have to."

"I wanted to. You love cuddling. I don't mind it."

"You don't?"

"No... I just have to put up a professional look for the troopers, and I don't like the full piles like a lot of them do."

"Oh. Cuddling in a pile can be nice, but I like cuddling with just a few just as much."

Cody nodded. "So... want to keep exchanging notes?"

"Do you want to?" Quinlan asked hopefully.

Cody nodded. "I'd love to. They're the highlights of my day a lot of times."

"Alright!" Quinlan smiled a bit wider.

Cody grinned, pleased that he had managed to cheer Quinlan up. So naturally, he had to bring the mood down a little. "You didn't know I liked you?"

Quinlan looked away. "Not many like me," he said quietly. "No matter what I do."

"Well I like you. I just didn't want to get caught up with pranks and stuff so I avoided you. Didn't realize I could tell you to involve me in smaller ways or think of telling you that."

"Ohhh. Like Obi, then. You like trolling people and pretending not to be involved but you don't mind being involved as long as people don't know."

"Yeah. Pretty much."

"Okay. That makes sense. There are some ideas I have if you want to know?"

"Oh?"

"Well, Obi and I have always used pranking as a way to practice. Setting traps, catching people unawares, perfecting alibis and hiding the truth, and when we're caught in a prank war, it's a good way to practice avoiding traps and getting caught by pranks. Obes likes to do this for the 212th too."

"That makes sense. If you're the one setting the pranks no one suspects his involvement but it does help teach some skills when they're getting complacent. I'd love to get involved."

"Great!"

.

Cody helped Quinlan into the medbay while Obi-Wan showed the Guard to where they would be staying. 

Normally it would have been the reverse, but Obi-Wan pointed out that Cody would not be able to contain his ire at the squad, and Cody agreed it was better that Obi-Wan bring them in.

Manner was hovering as Quinlan sat down on bed. "What happened?" he demanded.

"Got in a fight."

Cody huffed. "And his squad did nothing to get him out. I was the one who got him out of that mess."

Manner gave him an alarmed look, then turned to examining Quinlan. 

Quinlan was relieved to get some stronger painkillers, and to get everything properly bandaged up.

"I'm afraid we can't put you in bacta."

"I don’t like bacta. I can't do more than two hours at a time and only if I'm cuddling with someone between sessions anyway." Quinlan shrugged, unbothered.

Manner frowned. "Why?"

"Oh, I get touch starved easily. I'm Kiffar, not human and yeah. Just better to avoid bacta tanks most of the time."

Manner nodded and glanced at his files, spotting notes to that effect. Then he looked at Cody. 

Cody raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"You heard him. He gets touch starved easily and needs cuddling."

Cody rolled his eyes and joined Quinlan in the bed. 

Quinlan snickered. 

"I know better than to disobey Manner," Cody muttered. "He is very protective of his patients. He can and will ban me outside of injury if he gets too annoyed at me."

"Ah, okay." Quinlan cuddled and sighed. "Are you sure this is okay?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. You're good. I probably have paperwork to catch up on, so Obi-Wan and I will need to discuss what we want to do, but I'm not going to just leave you with nothing."

"Okay, that's nice." 

Cody nodded and settled in.

.

Quinlan hummed cheerfully. He had recovered fully from his injuries, and he and Cody had started more regular correspondence. They still exchanged notes as before, but now they were in contact at other times when they weren't on Coruscant at the same time.

He was just wrapping up another intel gathering mission on Coruscant and things were going as planned.

So, life was good. Even with the war dragging on and on. It could have been far worse. 

Quinlan left the building. He was almost safe. 

"Hey, where are you going?"

"Nowhere," Quinlan responded cheerfully. "Just felt like taking a walk."

"You've been acting very suspicious."

Quinlan shrugged. "If you say so."

"I think you should come in and answer some questions."

Quinlan huffed. "I'm just going for a walk." He started walking. He stuck his hands in his pockets. One hand closed around his distress signal. He didn't want to use it. He was on Coruscant so it would go to the Coruscant Guard, but it seemed like he might need back up.

As he expected but had hoped wouldn't happened, he was yanked back into the building. 

He had spoken too soon. The mission had gone wrong after all. 

Quinlan hit the button as he was dragged into their usual interrogation room. 

They slammed him into the wall and searched him, finding the datastick he had been using. He was relieved he had found a good hiding place for his lightsaber this time. They did not find it. 

They shoved him into a chair and cuffed him to the table.

"Who are you working for?"

Quinlan smirked, leaning back. "Wouldn't you like to know? Not going to tell you."

"What were you looking for? Why?"

"Not telling you!" Quinlan responded cheerfully. 

The man growled. 

Quinlan cackled. This was the perfect time to use his obnoxious personality. It was a great way to distract them from questioning and made him look a bit dumb. 

"What were you doing when you left?"

"Going for a walk."

"You keep saying that!"

"Because I was going to go for a walk." Quinlan paused, watched them debate on if they should accept that answer, then smirked. "I didn't specify if I planned to come back from the walk."

The interrogator punched the wall.

He didn't get any more answers out of Quinlan.

Finally, the door burst open. 

Quinlan sighed. Of course it wasn't the Guard. It was the leader of the entire organization. 

And he looked pissed.

"I hear you've been evading interrogation."

Quinlan shrugged. "So what if I am? What are you going to do about it? Leave me sitting here?"

He yelped in surprise when a knife slammed right into his hand, pinning it to the table. It hurt too.

He stared at it.

"My underlings aren't cleared for this sort of interrogation... they're to leave it to me. You will talk."

Quinlan gave him a smirk. "You'll have to do worse than that."

"Ah, a pain tolerance. Good."

Quinlan watched a box of torture devices get dragged in. He didn't particularly care. This wasn't the first time he had been tortured, and it wouldn't be the last.

"I never understand why people think this is the best way to get intel. People will say anything to get pain to stop. How do you know if they're telling the truth instead of just telling you what you want to hear?"

"Because I don't tell them what answer I'm looking for... and if you were thorough about the search for intel, you would know about our big secret." He pulled out a needle and a vial of an orange substance.

Quinlan stiffened. "You use that for interrogations? But it's not a truth serum."

"So you were paying attention. It's not a true truth serum, no, but it makes it difficult to lie. Some find it impossible to tell a lie, others just suffer through pain to tell a lie, and it is obvious that they are fighting to be able to tell the lie."

Quinlan eyed the needle. "Well, I don't think you'll like my answers."

"You're a strange one." 

Quinlan shrugged. "I'm Kiffar. I get that a lot." 

"I suppose you would. Now, let's start the torture." 

Quinlan raised an eyebrow. "Do your worst."

The leader chuckled and picked up a sledgehammer. 

"The more injuries you have, the more ways the serum can cause you pain."

"Huh. That's a new one. Cool."

One of the underlings detached his cuffs from the table and turned his chair. They made sure his ankles were cuffed to the legs of the chair. 

And then the leader came in with a huge swing, slamming the sledgehammer into Quinlan's shin.

He gasped, but otherwise didn't flinch or show signs of pain. 

"Impressive. So you do have a high pain tolerance. I had wondered if it was that high." 

Quinlan stared at him stoically and didn't react to anymore of the torture. It hurt, but it never reached the worst he had ever faced. This was nothing compared to some of that.

After a bit, the leader determined that he was sufficiently hurt to continue the interrogation. 

Quinlan's arm was forced onto the table so they could inject the serum. 

It burned. 

"While we wait for that to start working... is there anything you wish to share with us?"

"No." Quinlan smiled. "Not a thing. I'm not even sure you'd believe me anyways."

"I see. You are surprisingly calm for what is coming for you." 

Quinlan chuckled. "You think this is my first time being tortured? I'm used to this."

He earned a backhand for that one. 

The burning stopped. 

"Let's start with something easy, did you use a fake name?"

"Obviously." Quinlan rolled his eyes. 

"Then what is your real name?"

"Why would I tell you that?" It wasn't a lie, just a question, so Quinlan was getting away with it. 

"What is your real name?"

"Not telling you." 

"What is your real name?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"What is your real name?"

"It's a secret."

Quinlan smirked at the rage on the interrogators face. He did so love getting under people's skin. It always made them be extra stupid, even if it also often came with pain as a consequence. 

He braced himself and laughed at the smack he got.

"Are you stupid?"

Quinlan shrugged. "People think I am." He was amused to find that it was indeed possible to get around the whole lying causing pain thing with answering incorrectly but truthfully. 

"That's not what- Alright, fine. If you cannot actually give me the answers you want, I shall have to take this farther. I don't like torturing too much. It gets... messy. Though it's impressive you don't seem to be feeling the pain yet."

Quinlan shrugged once more. "Do your worst." 

"Very well. Each time you do not give me a proper answer I shall do another thing to cause you pain. Is that going to work?"

"Probably not. Not the first time I've been tortured you know." Quinlan grinned at his irritated expression. Being himself was hilariously fun and always worked.

"How about we blindfold you then? I've heard that can make the pain worse." 

Quinlan didn't respond. He did hate being blindfolded. Not because it made pain worse, though it did do that. Losing a sense made everything heightened to compensate, in order to figure things out. But it wouldn't be enough here. Quinlan was well used to pain. 

The Force worked well enough to get around if necessary, and it had been necessary at points. 

The problem, however, with getting blindfolded was that it also heightened his psychometry. Everything was stronger, more vivid. It did weirdly help in getting an idea on how a room was laid out, but it also just meant that his already sensitive psychometry was picking up emotions more, and it was very difficult to deal with. He already had trouble handling anger and grief and pain through psychometry, at its strongest. 

Being blindfolded made it even worse. It made it so that Quinlan couldn't filter it out like background noise anymore. He'd be noticing everything. Including the weapons they used to hurt him, if it touched his bare skin, and considering everything so far, that was very likely. 

Quinlan didn't fight being blindfolded, though he wanted to whip his head around to make it harder. He decided he didn't want to risk a concussion or worse. 

"Now, tell me your name."

"No."

The strike of a whip across his cheek was unexpected. Quinlan jumped but didn't react to the pain.

"What is your name?"

"I won't tell you."

The whip struck his other cheek. 

"What is your name?"

"Try another question."

"If you won't answer a simple question about your name, I doubt we'll get anything else from you."

Quinlan's hand was forced flat on the table. He knew what was coming from the intense emotions he got through his psychometry at the touch. He braced himself. 

One finger was smashed. 

"What is your name?"

"You're just going to have to keep finding ways to hurt me."

The pains got worse. The punishments got worse. Quinlan continued to refuse to answer. 

Finally, the interrogator decided to change questions. He started asking what organization Quinlan was with. Quinlan denied being a part of any of the ones mentioned. Apparently none of them had any inkling he was from the Jedi Order and therefore the Republic. 

It made things easier.

"Are you one of those Separatists?"

"Nope. Try again."

"Gah! What group sent you?"

"I'm not going to tell you."

The interrogator yanked his hair.

Quinlan winced. Not the hair grabbing. It was one of his least favorite parts of getting captured, though few actually used it as part of torture.

"Oh, that actually hurts?" The interrogator yanked again, this time hard  enough to undo the hairdo Quinlan had kept his hair in.

His lightsaber clattered to the ground. 

Oops. 

Everyone stopped and stared at it in astonishment. That was very unexpected. 

Quinlan didn't say a word, waiting for a reaction. 

"You're a Jedi."

"Yep. Congrats, you figured something out." Quinlan was a little annoyed that they did get his lightsaber in the end, but at least his hair trick hid it for long enough. 

Where was the Guard? They should have been here by now. The distress signal meant urgent help was needed. He knew he wasn't too far from Guard headquarters; there was a reason this was a very necessary mission. It shouldn't take more than an hour. 

He was pretty sure they were approaching two. 

Not knowing if they were coming meant that he didn't have the same security to keep being obnoxious. He didn't know when they would arrive. He didn't know how long he would have to endure before they arrived. 

When he had no backup planned, Quinlan always approached these things differently, and often tried not to provoke them too much while still resisting. 

And now that they knew he was a Jedi... things were not looking good. 

Quinlan let out a breath and resumed smirking.

"A Jedi... Never would have guessed... you don't act like a Jedi."

Quinlan sensed that he had picked up the lightsaber and was tossing it up and down. 

"Of course not, I'm undercover. Why would I act like a Jedi when I very specifically didn't want you to know?"

"You make a good point. But the interrogation must go on. Perhaps you will be willing to tell me your name now?"

"Quinlan Vos." Quinlan figured that it wouldn't be hard for them to figure it out once they did some digging. He was the only Kiffar Jedi in the Order. 

"Finally, a name. Now... what were you looking for?"

Quinlan didn't answer. He could hear them moving around, sensed where they were. 

The sudden stabbing pain in his thigh still surprised him and he gasped in pain as the knife twisted.

"This one is coated with a mild poison. Nothing that can kill you, but it will make you suffer a bit more. I daresay you deserve it after all the trouble you're putting us through."

Quinlan didn't dignify that with a response.

"What were you looking for?"

"Weapons." Quinlan hissed as a burning sensation started in his head and started spreading down his neck to the rest of his body.

"Ah-ha, a lie! So that is what you look like when you're lying... you're good at hiding the pain, but not good enough."

Quinlan didn't bother responding to that. The burning was still spreading, and any parts that were already aching suddenly hurt a lot worse once the burning reached them. After a bit it faded. 

"The more you lie, the more attuned the serum is to the tells that you're lying, eventually it'll start burning at the thought of lying, before you can even open your mouth."

"Lovely. Clever way to torture someone for lying. But I won't give you anything."

"You have no choice."

"There is always a choice. I'd rather die."

"Oh, I won't kill you. Even if you somehow do avoid telling me all the information I want to know, I can still use you as an example, and examples are far more useful when they're still alive, at least to start with."

Quinlan didn't respond. 

The interrogation continued. He continued mostly refusing to answer questions, and accumulating more pain as a result. He lied occasionally, but noticed immediately that the interrogator was right, the burning started earlier and earlier each time he lied. And it would stop the moment he decided either tell the truth or at least not lie. 

Quinlan slumped after the latest round of pain. 

"You still haven't given us anything useful!"

"So?" Quinlan responded tiredly. "I don't want you to know, so you won't know."

"Very well, how do you feel about your own weapon causing injury?"

Quinlan didn't have time to process the question before he felt the annoyingly familiar searing pain of a lightsaber being stabbed through his shoulder. He knew from the placement that it wouldn't kill him, but it hurt. It was being stabbed and the wound being cauterized all at once. There might be some bleeding, but not much.

Before Quinlan could do more than gasp in pain, the door burst open. 

He felt the familiar presences of the Coruscant Guard, and relaxed. They had arrived. Very late, but they had arrived.

The others in the room tried to fight. 

Quinlan listened to the fight, slumping as the pain was getting to be too much for him. He could do torture. He could do pain. At the same time, there was a point where it had been long enough in pain with new pain being piled on where he found it very hard to continue without reacting to the pain. 

He was definitely at that point. He summoned his lightsaber to his hand and held it tightly as he tried to ground himself with the Force and his kyber. In the moment, not focused on the pain. 

Someone undid his restraints.

Quinlan fell out of the chair with a groan. He didn't get up. That was too much effort. He wasn't sure he had the strength left with how injured his limbs were. He could barely move one of his hands. One leg was broken in multiple places and he wasn't sure it would be able to bear his weight. The less said about the other leg, the better.

He shifted anyways, thinking about at least moving out of the way.

"Easy General, let's get you on a stretcher." The medic undid the blindfold.

Quinlan let out a sigh of relief. He carefully got into the stretcher and laid there as the medics started first aid in preparation of getting him out of there and to a place where he could be properly treated. 

He ended up passing out before they left the building.

.

Cody was annoyed by Fox's complaints in the group chat about how Quinlan had used his distress signal. 

It seemed Fox wasn't taking it seriously. Because apparently Quinlan couldn't actually be that in need. And he used it too frequently to be a good Jedi.

Cody was annoyed, but when Fox finally said they were leaving to rescue the Jedi out of whatever he got himself into, he quickly prepared.

Quinlan would never use a distress signal without needing it, Cody knew that. He knew that sometimes it just took a small slip up for the whole undercover thing to be blown. Quinlan was good, but sometimes that happened. 

Cody was worried that they were taking their sweet time. It sounded like they were always fast enough to get Quinlan out before there was real danger, but this time it took over an hour before they even thought about getting ready to go get him.

Cody waited anxiously for them to return.

He couldn't help but glare at Fox when he saw the condition that Quinlan was in. He looked awful and had clearly been tortured. Cody blamed Fox.

Humerus was grim as he started working on Quinlan in the medbay. "What are you doing here?" he grunted at Cody.

"Quin needs touch to heal. It's in his files. I figured if there was a chance he's injured, I better be available to cuddle since I am on leave."

"Touch to heal... Oh, here's the notes saying to always allow cuddling... Hold his hand for now, no cuddling until we have it all bandaged. Once we're certain he's stable we'll transfer him to the Jedi Temple."

"Of course." Cody sat down and held Quinlan's good hand, carefully staying out of the way.

He had to let go a few times but stayed nearby until he could hold Quinlan's hand once more.

Finally, Quinlan was transferred to the Jedi Temple. 

Obi-Wan met him there, looking over his best friend with worry.

"It looks bad," Obi-Wan murmured. "It's been a while since I've seen him in such bad condition after torture."

"It's because Fox didn't want to respond to the distress signal and took his sweet time," Cody responded angrily.

Obi-Wan looked up. "Oh no."

Cody nodded grimly. "Apparently Fox didn't think Quin's been using the distress signal properly because he's never in serious danger when they get him out, but I'm fairly certain that's because Quin is smart and activated it as soon as he knew it was going to go bad, so they arrived before anything serious happened."

Obi-Wan sighed. "Of course. I took a look at the intel he got, it was more than enough to arrest everyone and put a stop to their scheme, even if he hadn't been caught."

"Of course. Quin is brilliant. I can't believe Fox-"

"Why don't you go talk to Fox and tell him exactly what you think of his decision?" Obi-Wan suggested. "I wanted to cuddle Quinlan before the Council meeting later anyways. We can trade off when you get back."

Cody nodded. "That sounds good." He squeezed Quinlan's hand one last time before scribbling out a note about going to lecture his brother on being professional. Then he gave Quinlan one last worried look before leaving.

Cody reached Fox and glared at his brother. 

"What were you thinking?" he demanded.

Fox looked up, brow furrowed in confusion. "What?"

"You get a distress signal, you respond to it immediately regardless of how necessary you think it is. If you had responded faster, Quin wouldn't have been so hurt!" 

"Excuse you, he wasn't that bad."

"Not that bad?" Cody clenched his fists and reminded himself that it wasn't professional to punch his brother no matter how much he desperately wanted to. "The healers are saying it'll be weeks before he gets released from the Healing Halls and if he's lucky, he won't have to do physical therapy for more than a month or two!" 

Fox stared at him. "Well, maybe he shouldn't have been so dumb about using it in the past."

"This is not professional behavior," Cody hissed. "Your personal feelings do NOT get in the way of doing the job. You can file complaints, and give your opinions on how necessary extraction was on your report, but you do NOT get to decide not to respond to a distress call because you hate his guts."

"I don't-"

Cody pulled out the chat and started going down the list of complaints Fox had about Quinlan. "You have never had anything positive to say about him. He believes you hate him. And yet he still trusted you to have his back in the field, but it took you an hour of complaining before you actually got a squad together to go extract him."

Fox stared at him. "Well. I do like him."

Cody scoffed. "Playing mean and hard to get will drive anyone away. That's a horrible tactic. You realize he's been avoiding the Guard, right? Which makes it all the more important to respond when he gives a distress signal because that means he's putting his life in your hands!"

Fox frowned. "Why is this so important to you? Do you have a crush on him or something? He's nothing special, but I do enjoy his company sometimes..."

Cody went to retort, and paused. Well, he did. "So what if I do? You still are the reason he was tortured so horribly that how well he recovers is currently an uncertainty!"

"So they can just stick him in bacta," Fox said dismissively.

"Bacta is not that much of a miracle worker, and being Kiffar, Quin can't use bacta the way most do." Cody shook his head in disgust.

"Why do you care? He's pretty much the opposite of you."

"He's Obi-Wan's best friend. They interact like brothers. He appears any time he can to bother Obi and I've grown quite fond of him. And anyways, once you get past his obnoxious mask, we're actually not that different. He has the same trollish sense of humor that you and I do, just like Obi."

Fox gave him a weird look. "You're in love with him, aren't you? This is beyond a simple crush."

Cody sighed and placed his hands on the desk. "This isn't about my feelings for him. This is about you failing to be professional, getting him hurt. If you hadn't wasted an hour, he would not be so hurt, you and I both know that. So why can't you acknowledge that you made a mistake."

Fox looked away. "It's not that simple. You're supposed to side with me."

Cody scoffed. "Side with the Jedi who is always trying to help me and started exchanging notes and is currently unconscious, or the brother that has been pushing everyone away, and decided to be unprofessional, causing the Jedi to be more hurt than necessary?" 

Fox looked rather hurt.

Cody shook his head and decided it was a lost cause. He started for the door and stopped at it. He turned to look at Fox. "It doesn't matter if you need help or not. If you keep pushing people away and refusing to open up, eventually we're all going to take you at your word and give you the space you act like you desire. Or maybe we'll assume like Quin did that you hate our guts. The way you act, I don't know why I'm still trying. This might be the last straw. If there's a problem and you need help, say that. You don't even have to give us details... Just say you can't talk about it. But I know Rex has given up on you because of the last time you snapped at him."

Cody shook his head. "I don't know what's going on with you, and I'm sorry I can't help. But... you hurt Quin because you decided he's not smart enough to know when he needs help getting out. I can't ignore that."

Cody left, leaving Fox gaping at him.

He kept his face neutral until he was back out in Coruscant, then he sighed and slumped. He may have just ruined his relationship with Fox for a Jedi. 

But even without Quinlan in the picture, he had been struggling with what to do with Fox.

Cody sighed. It really wasn't simple. But for now, Quinlan needed him, and at least he didn't actively push people away. 

He replaced Obi-Wan at Quinlan's side and cuddled, watching Quinlan sleep.

He definitely had a crush on Quinlan. Did he love Quinlan? Maybe. At the least... he did want to see where they could go with a relationship. 

...this definitely explained a lot about some of Obi-Wan's comments and knowing looks. He was definitely aware of how Cody felt for Quinlan. Or maybe... maybe it was about Quinlan and how Quinlan felt for Cody? 

Could Quinlan have a crush on him too? 

Cody had always thought that Quinlan had a crush on Fox. But then, he had given up on Fox and started staying away. It was possible that Quinlan had moved on.

Cody decided that he would wait and see how Quinlan was and maybe he would bring up feelings. Maybe they would get together, and maybe they wouldn't. Either way, Cody was certain they could work something out.

Quinlan was usually up to trying anything, so at the least they would try a date.

And Quinlan was great- if he could be friends with Obi-Wan after an attempt at dating when they were in their teens, Cody was certain they could date and still be friends now.

He just had to actually talk to Quinlan. Which... was more daunting than it sounded. But it would totally be worth it. 

.

Quinlan woke slowly, groaning. Every part of him ached. Some parts more than others. At least he was very comfortable and there was a warm body snuggled up next to him. 

He reached out with the Force and smiled. Cody. Always good to have Cody turn up for cuddling. He was a good friend.

Cody stirred. "Quin?"

"Yeah?" Quinlan asked hoarsely. 

"You're awake!" Cody sat up and handed him some water.

"Yeah... I am..." Quinlan accepted the water with his good hand, wincing at the sight of his other hand. His good hand still hurt but it wasn't stabbed and broken like the other one. 

"I'll let the healers know."

"How bad is it?" Quinlan asked quietly. 

"It's pretty bad. But I'll let the healer explain, okay?"

Quinlan sighed and nodded, leaning into Cody gratefully. It was always nice when he woke up to cuddling instead of hand holding. There was a reason he loved Cody. Even if he sometimes was in denial that he had feelings.

One check up and explanation later and Quinlan felt numb. The torture had been worse than he realized, and the addition of poison had affected the healing process. He wouldn't be able to go in bacta at all until they were certain both the false truth serum and the poison were out of his system, and even then, he of course could only go in for two hours at a time. 

As a result, they weren't certain about his recovery. It was bad enough he was going to need physical therapy, and there was a chance there could be lingering pain, or that it would never heal completely. Which of course would affect everything. 

Cody hugged him tightly after the healer left. "How are you feeling?" he asked quietly.

Quinlan sighed. "Horrible. I egged him on because I thought they'd get there sooner... and as a result... who knows when I will heal up? If I can be the Jedi I was?"

"It doesn't matter what happens," Cody said quietly. "You will always be you, and you'll find a way to still be a Jedi."

Quinlan looked up at him, surprised. "Really? You think so?"

"Yes. I do." Cody smiled at him. "You are a wonderful Jedi, Quin. You can do whatever you put your mind to."

"Oh." Quinlan smiled. "You really think so?"

"Yes, and I think anyone that tells you otherwise is an idiot you shouldn't waste your time with. Just take your time and I am sure it will all work out."

Quinlan leaned on him. "Thanks. You're pretty great too, you know. I hope you get to try all the things you want soon."

"Once the war is over." Cody smiled at him. 

.

(Days later)

Cody decided to go out drinking with his brothers. He smiled when he realized that Quinlan had fallen asleep again. Poor Quinlan was sleeping a lot while he healed. It was driving him nuts.

But it meant that Cody could leave him another note. One that Cody had been thinking about for a long time. After the scare they both had... Cody decided he didn't want to wait any longer to write it out. 

Quin-

Just wanted to leave you a note before I head out as you already knew I was planning on. 

You are amazing. You didn't have to help me when I was being cornered and beat up, not when you'd didn't think I liked you. But you did, and that shows so much of your character. 

Even better, you need chose to leave me notes, giving me the choice on if I wanted to communicate with you, and willing enough to back off if I didn't want it. 

But I appreciated every little note, and that's why I started leaving notes for you to find. I wanted to get to know you.

And I have. You mean a lot to me, and I didn't realize it until I found you being beat up months ago. I was still debating what to do when this whole thing happened and now you're hurt.

So I think I need to tell you now. 

I love you.

We can talk about it whenever you're ready. I just wanted you to know.

~Cody

Cody smiled at Quinlan as he left the note on the bedside table before he headed out. 

He met up with his brothers. It was always nice to see Wolffe and Bly when they were on planet. Bly had just arrived that day, and Wolffe was leaving the next morning. 

Fox was always on planet but his schedule was hard to line up with theirs. For once, he was going to be there too.

There of course would be others. Rex and some of the other commanders they were more or less close to, but Cody was most interested in catching up with Wolffe and Bly. Fox he wasn't interested in seeing right now, not after his failure to be professional.

But Fox was going to be there, so he would have to just deal with it. 

Cody had a good time. At first. He even was able to forget his gripe with Fox for a bit as they bickered back and forth.

"Aayla was rather eager to land. I guess the Jedi who trained her was injured and she wanted to visit."

"Oh, yeah, I did see her." Cody nodded, taking another swig of his beer. 

She had rushed in, nearly tackled Quinlan in a hug and cried. She had been worried since Obi-Wan had informed her of his injuries.

Everyone was now staring at him.

"When?"

"This afternoon when she came to visit Quin." Cody shrugged, but he knew he was about to get all the disbelief and questions he had been hoping to avoid. Should've kept his mouth shut.

"Wait, Vos taught Secura?" Wolffe asked, surprised. 

"Apparently." Cody shrugged. 

Fox eyed him strangely. "What were you doing being around when she visited him?"

"Keeping him company." 

"Why?" Wolffe asked. 

"Because I like spending time with him."

"He's crazy," Wolffe pointed out.

"He's obnoxious," Bly added.

"He's clingy."

Cody rolled his eyes. "He's an obvious sort of crazy. Obi-Wan is just as crazy. They grew up together, they're like batchmates. He's only that obnoxious to test people, he's not nearly that obnoxious when he knows he can trust people... and of course he's clingy, he's Kiffar. Apparently that comes with high needs of touch, which is something you can look up on the holonet and is not something he made up," he added, knowing that was a likely argument.

Fox frowned. "How did you two even become friends?"

"Aside from Quin liking to mess with Obi-Wan?" Cody shrugged. "He thought I didn't like him and after he rescued me from those drunken idiots a while back, he started leaving me notes, I started leaving notes back and now we actually talk to each other."

"How did he get hurt anyways?" Wolffe interjected before Fox could say anything else. "I had thought he was like a super spy or something."

Cody glared at Fox. "Ask Fox." 

"How was I to know he was actually in danger this time?" Fox shot back.

"How about you trust that Quin has decades of experience and knows when he needs extraction- which is why everything you've gotten him out of so far has seemed so minor." Cody crossed his arms, glaring at Fox. 

Bly looked between them, lost. "Uh... what?"

Cody sighed. "Quin was undercover. He realized he was about to get caught and hit the distress signal. The Guard should have been there within an hour to get him out, but Fox decided to wait at least an hour because Quin couldn't actually be in danger. That delay cost Quin." 

Fox scoffed. "Can't be that bad."

"I had to reassure him that he will recover enough to get back in the field even if it does take months," Cody responded flatly. "You saw how bad it was. It would not have been so bad if you had been professional and followed the procedure. Quin mentioned that he would have handled the whole thing differently if he had known you were going to deviate from expectation." 

Fox huffed. "Don't let your crush color your perception of this."

Wolffe eyed Fox. "Do you have a death wish? You know I do a lot of search and rescue. An hour makes a lot of difference between uncomfortable but alive and completely dead. Choosing to hold back would see me arrested and courtmartialed and I'd deserve it. You're lucky you're getting away with it."

"Lucky? As if." Fox started to stand. "I'm not going to listen to you talk about me as if you don't kn-"

"Quin has been taking most of his medical supply allotment as a shadow and giving it to the Guard," Cody said quietly. "He has mentioned regularly bringing food and drink to the Guard and making arrangements for when he's not around because he is concerned by some things he noticed. Quin is not stupid. He's noticed what you have refused to ever elaborate on. The only reason you're not in trouble is the Senate don't care about shadows, as long as they do their job, they're expendable. You brought Quin back, he had the information. They're happy with that. Now if you had done that to someone more high profile... like Obi-Wan... or maybe even Aayla... There would have been a problem." 

Cody set his drink down. He had lost interest in continuing this drinking fun. Especially not now that Bly and Wolffe were giving him that same look. 

He paused before he could leave. He couldn't just leave Fox with whatever he was thinking here. 

"Fox, you don't want to tell us what's going on. I respect that. I respect that you want space. But you keep pushing everyone away and acting like we are out to get you too when we don't even know what we did to get you so angry."

Fox scoffed. "You just love him, don't you?"

"I do. But that's not what has me upset. Drop the attitude before you lose everyone. I don't care that you can't tell us what's going on. I wanted to be there for you, but you just..." Cody shook his head, lost for words. 

He left, leaving his brothers staring after him. 

He didn't look back. He would deal with Wolffe and Bly's comments later. 

Cody made it back to Quinlan's side and glanced at the note he left. Quinlan was still sleeping.

There was a note on top of it.

Cody smiled and picked it up.

Cody,

I started admiring you because you could handle Obi-Wan and you didn't assume things of him that were untrue as he has dealt with. He was happier around you than I'd seen in a while.

The more I watched you the more I thought you and I could get along. You got Obi-Wan's humor, you seemed to get my humor, but you always held yourself apart from me.

I thought it was just more people who don't like me. It's something I run into a lot. I don't have a personality a lot of people can handle, and I've accepted that. Some people act like it's personally offensive when I am just who I am. 

Many clones fall somewhere between quiet exasperation and annoyance... and I personally offend them. 

I decided, based on experience you couldn't like me. I couldn't believe Obi-Wan. He's been wrong about friendships before. How could he be right this time? 

I don't know why I left that first note. But I'm glad I did because it means that you and I are getting along now, and that we know each other better.

And... yes, I love you too. I've been debating on what to do with those feelings, if I should say something during the war with how weird things can get because of the position clones have been forced into... but you understand I have a duty.

A lot of people look at me and don't understand that I am a Jedi. Just because I don't act like their perception of a Jedi doesn't mean I'm not, and doesn't mean that I don't have a sense of duty. I refuse to put others before my job. 

But you get that, and I appreciate that. We won't have many conflicts because I understand you have your duty too. 

And... I'm ready to talk about a relationship when you are, I think. We know the important parts. I love you, you love me, we want a relationship, and we're not going to put each other above our duty, even though most of the galaxy will give us the side eye for that.

~Quin

Cody smiled wider and wider as he read. Once he finished reading, he set the note back down and curled up with Quinlan, watching him sleep. 

After that awkward conversation with his brothers, Cody was happy to be back with Quinlan. 

He would make it up with them when he was feeling less angry. But Wolffe at least seemed to understand his ire without taking feelings into account, so Cody didn't think it would go too poorly.

But he may have lost Fox as a brother. Considering Fox had done this to Quinlan on purpose, Cody couldn't say he was all that torn up about it, sadly. He loved Fox, but he couldn't believe his own brother would treat anyone that way when it came to a mission. 

Someone thinking they were in danger would be taken seriously, evaluation on if they were right or not could be done after.

Not taking them seriously led to situations like Quinlan. Unnecessary injuries. 

Cody couldn't believe Fox could act like that. That wasn't his brother.

One day maybe he would figure it out.

But it wasn't like he could keep helping Fox as it was. Fox didn't want them sticking their noses in his business, and now Cody found he didn't like it. 

Cody shook his head and refocused on Quinlan, waiting for him to wake up from his nap, smiling fondly.

Things were going to work out between him and Quinlan, and they could figure out the rest another time.