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Cassian felt like shit. How couldn’t he after a long day at work and an even longer night at the tapcafe? Waking in someones embrace the next morning, plucking his cloths from the ground and hurrying off. It was a nice morning, even if his head hurt and all he wanted was to chug a bottle of water. If only he hadn’t a shift this morning. A meiloorun on his way to work would have to do as a breakfast. Somehow he had made it to the office only about twenty minutes late for his shift. He accepted the cup of caf and the painkillers someone offered him when he entered and chugged the pills without thinking much about it.
“Thanks.”, he pressed out while the pill was still making its way down his throat and sat down at his desk.
“Had a long night, Captain?”, Kallus asked from the other side of the desk and Cassian sat a little straighter so he could look over the partitioning between them. The ex-ISB gave him a look that made that looked like he’d normally wouldn’t accept someone storming in that late to work, but couldn’t do much about it, since they both held the rank of Captain and this was only a rebellion, not a governmental organisation. He shrugged as an answer.
“Not my problem that you couldn’t find someone to have a little fun with yesterday.”
“We do have a problem with each other when I have to cover up for you though.”, Kallus answered and frowned.
“Urgh. Draven’s already here? Wasn’t he still here when we left for the tapcafe? Does the man sleep?” Cassian turned on the datapad he’d been working on yesterday and added simply to annoy Kallus further: “Stars, he’s worse than you.”
“Well he IS our General. What do you he’s supposed to do in this position? Drop in twenty minutes too late? Take the day off whenever he pleases? He’s supposed to lead by example and be informed about what goes around in this office.”
Cassian put his datapad down and rolled his eyes at him.
“Can you be just a little bit less of an imp from time to time.”, he asked and took a sip from his cup.
“I’m not….!”
“You still talk like one… I bet Draven teamed me up with you because he wants me to teach you how to pull that stick out of your ass.”
Another spy next to them chuckled and bumped her fist into Cassian’s shoulder. “Pretty sure he hopes you could learn from Alex.”
Kallus turned back to his work with a smug grin and ignored the grim stare Cassian was drilling into his forehead. Finally he got to his work. He preferred field work, but this had to be done. Kallus had told him that most people would agree on that. Field work was way more exciting and when you were sorting through message after message it got exhausting, because most of the times nothing happened. Still Cassian would have preferred another teacher for this kind of work instead of the stoic ex-ISB agent. Officially they held the same rank, but only because they were both Fulcrum. He wondered how many ranks he’d be under him if this was the ISB.
“Do I need to find another table for you? It seems like you find Captain Kallus to be distracting.”
Cassian’s eyes widened and he quickly looked down as Kallus’s eyes shot up with a frown.
“I want you both in my office.”, Draven demanded, gestured to Kallus and Cassian, and left as quickly as he had appeared in the room. Cassian waited until Draven had left before he locked his datapad and looked at the others around them.
“Honestly, how can any of you stand that guy?”
Kallus stood up and shrugged. “You don’t have to. Ask for a transfer if you find yourself incapable to “stand that guy”. I’ll prefer a grumpy, overworked General who cares about his resources over one that doesn’t.”
“Wouldn’t it be great to be more than a resource though?”
“I thought you search for appreciation with your nightly escapades and not with your superior. Maybe you should meet another type of person in the evening.”
Cassian shrugged. Sometimes he wondered if Kallus was just jealous because he was too serious to attract some suitors. He opened his mouth to make a remark about that, but Kallus cut him off. “Let’s not make him wait any longer than necessary.”
It was always like that. Kallus would say something and Andor would challenge him. He was barely younger but inexperienced in the ways intelligence operated. That was what they had to work with in the rebellion though. And Andor wasn’t a bad choice for a spy. Quick thinking, able to hold himself in a fight, and had an unobtrusive appearance. More than they could ask for…Who was he to judge though? The Alliance was desperate enough to allow a traitor in their midst. Instead of showing him the door after Atollon they had made him a Captain. Sometimes he wondered if the Ghost Crew had said something in his favour, or if Draven was more loyal to his informants than he seemed to be.
When they stepped into the office, Draven was already sitting at his desk, sorting through some datapads and managing to not nock over any of the several empty cups on his desk.
“Here.”, he said as he gave Kallus one of the datapads without looking up from his work and then stood up to rummage in the shelf behind his desk.
“We’re supposed to meet an informant in a nightclub?”, Cassian, who was peaking into the datapad, said. “Have you looked at us? Him especially?” Draven groaned in answer as he turned around to look over his shoulder.
“Well you both have to shave first so you wouldn’t get recognized...”. He reached into the shelf and pulled out two bundles of clothes. “Selwan prepared those for you.” Kallus looked down at them and noticed a purple piece of clothing that poked out of one of the bundles. His eyes widened as he noticed the pattern on it.
“You can’t be serious.”, he gasped and stared at his general with wide eyes.
“Do I look like I’m joking? So get dressed and ready, read your assignment, and meet me at 10:00 so I can get over the details with you.”, Draven said and pushed the package with the purple leggings against Kallus’ chest.
“No!” Andor flinched at the sound and even Draven looked surprised before he frowned at Kallus.
“I mean… is it really necessary that we walk around base with…this?”, Kallus asked and gestured towards the packages.
“Just do what you are told to do.”, their general answered as he sat down at his office and took one of the datapads in his hand.
“This print does not belong on clothing!” Kallus leaned onto the desk and towards his general.
“Pretty late to be an activist about it, Kallus.”, Draven answered without looking up. ”Now get to work. Sedwan will be waiting here to get your hair and makeup done.”
“You still prefer Draven? Or…not so much anymore?”, Cassian asked as they walked down the hall.
“Shut up.”, Kallus grit out through his teeth. His face felt unnatural. His eyes itchy and dry from the eyeliner, his lips felt dry too from the purple lipstick and he seriously hoped he never had too look in a mirror on this mission to see his curled hair. Andor barely looked better than him although his appearance didn’t question gender stereotypes that much. Instead the younger spy had his hair styled with gel and some eye pencil smudged around his eyes. He wore some black leather pants, a fishnet shirt and a short, white jacket on top of that. A strange look on a military base but still not as offensive as what Kallus was sporting. A black crop top, that only cover his left shoulder and the strings of his thong that peeked out over the waistband of his leggings. He would pay Sedwan back for those. The only thing that concealed him a little was the uniform jacket he had put on to keep himself a little warmer during their journey.
“Would you please hurry up?”, he asked and quickened his step. At least there was hope that no one would recognize him with this strange makeup and without the beard. He knew it wasn’t Andor’s fault, he did indeed hurry up, it just wasn’t fast enough. The tarmac was long and their style couldn’t go unnoticed for long. Only a few steps more.
“Hey punk! Think that’s funny?”
Kriff. He had been so focused on the Glimmer that he hadn’t noticed the very big and very angry lasat, that was now gripping his jacket to make him stand on the tip of his toes and nearly slam him into a nearby crate. “Nice shorts. Wanna find out if you’ve got the strength of a lasat too?”, Zeb growled into his face and Kallus’ nose was only a few inches away from his very sharp teeth. He couldn’t argue with him though. He too thought his lasat-print leggings to be rather tasteless and never understood the trend of putting lasat-stripes onto clothing. One of the worst places to be, was in the grip of an angry lasat, even worse when you offended them. But somehow Kallus found the nerve to press out.
“Last time I won.”
Zeb startled and squinted down at him. With a confused look he observed the more than questionable outfit Kallus sported. Kallus tried to focus on the jungle while Zeb’s eyes roamed over his body and made his heartbeat quicken. Finally the hands on his jacket disappeared and made him slump down and back against the crate.
“Sorry ‘bout that. You okay?”, Zeb asked and reached out a hand towards Kallus’ shoulder to steady him.
“Yeah, I think I will be.” once his body didn’t get observed by him anymore. Damnit, why had his hands to be so big, yet gentle. It was even worse when you knew about the power within them. Zeb choose those light touches, when he was powerful enough to knock him uncouncious.
“Did…Did something with your hair didn’t ya?..Looks er…good.”, Zeb asked and smoothed down the rumples he had made into Alex’s jacket.
“It’s only for a mission.” Zeb made some noise that resembled agreement, his eyes darted down to the offensive piece of clothing. His ears were still pressed to his head, but not in an aggressive manner. Kallus hated how the leggings looked. Light purple adorned with darker stripes, that made his legs look slimmer than they actually were. It looked stupid and nothing like the original... or what he'd think the original would look. He never had seen Zeb's legs above his knees and this was clearly the worst situation to think about it. Especially when watched so thorougly by piercing green eyes.
“You Like his new trousers, eh?”, Cassian asked and bumped his fist against Kallus’ shoulder, totally unaware about the past he and Zeb shared.
“I’m sorry, it’s only for the mission.”, Kallus stuttered.
“Nah… It’s…It’s fine.”, Zeb swallowed. “Suits ya…I guess… I’ll let it pass but only because it’s you.” The lasat looked away and finally seemed to be a little embarrassed by the whole situation. He rubbed his neck and looked around to observe the other rebels on the tarmac. His eyes lingered a little on Sabine and Ezra, who nearly fell from the temple stairs in laughter.
“They’ll be gone as soon as we’re back. I promise.”, Kallus assured his friend and felt his own heart ache with Zeb’s pain. Their eyes met for a sec, both remembering Lasan and all the shit that happened between them. All the reasons why Kallus should be the last one to sport such an already offensive piece of clothing.
“If you wanna make sure he doesn’t wear them again you can tear them off once we’re back. Until then, we’ve got a mission.”, Cassian said and pushed a blushing Kallus into the direction of their ship and out of Zeb’s hands. Now he knew why Kallus was so uninterested in hook-ups. Hard to do when you had someone else on your mind. Who knew why those two didn’t just get on with it. He had noticed the way Kallus’ eyes had wandered to Zeb’s mouth, but he’d never seen someone less afraid of sharp teeth right in front of his eyes. The way his hands had lightly rested on Zeb’s arms, when the lasat had grabbed him with all his might…also those leggings didn’t conceal what was going on behind it very well.
“Be careful.”, Zeb said before they were out of earshot.
Kallus turned his head around and answered with a silent nod and what looked like a sad smile, even though he frowned as usual. The lasat stayed in the same spot and watched them until they boarded their spacecraft. When Cassian swung himself into the pilot seat, he saw the older jedi of the Ghost Crew walk up to him and unfreeze him with a clap on his shoulder. Cassian grinned while he guided the Glimmer off the ground. He was beginning to see why he hadn’t been the one who’d bee issued the lasat-print leggings. And he’d make sure Kallus would understand too after their return.
“I look forward to our next time at the tapcafe.”, he announced when Kallus took the seat next to him. The other man raised an eyebrow in silent question, but his eyes were fixed on the lasat who nodded towards the jedi and left with him.
“Can we focus on the mission ahead please?”, Kallus said and finally tore his eyes away and towards the instruments.
“We can, but I seen no hurt in thinking about the reward.”, he answered with a wink. Maybe if he’d get some sexual action into Kallus’ life, the ex-imp would finally learn to loosen up.