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Almost before the second beep of his comm, Rex had thrown himself out of bed and begun putting on his armor.
“Captain Rex, what’s the situation?” he called, yanking his thigh plate up his leg.
“Rex, I- I need your help,” came Cody’s voice.
Rex paused, breastplate in hand, and finally looked at the hologram. “Aren’t you on Coruscant? Codes, we’re in hyperspace-“
“Yes, I am. Are you putting your armor on? Oh, kriff, it’s the middle of the night for you, isn’t it?” Cody shook his head distractedly and waved his hand. “Go back to bed, I can- I can work this out myself.”
“Vod,” Rex said sharply. “You’ve already woken me up. If it was for nothing, I’ll make you regret it.”
Cody hesitated for a moment. “Right, okay.” He blew out a slow breath, taking the time to compose himself.
Rex tried not to think about what had Cody so worried. It must be big, if he hadn’t even scoffed at Rex’s threat. Instead, Rex worked on removing what armor he’d managed to get on already. He didn’t do too bad for waking out of a dead sleep; he’d have to remember this for drills later. His men could always use some unexpected practice.
After nearly a minute passed without Cody elaborating, Rex cleared his throat.
“What’s on your mind, Cody? Are you-“
“I kissed the general,” Cody finally blurted.
Rex blinked. “It’s about damn time.”
Cody spluttered, then glared. “This is serious, Rex!”
“Why don’t you start from the beginning?” He settled back on his bed. If they had to have this conversation, he may as well be comfortable.
Slowly, Cody shifted to sit almost at attention, as if he were giving a formal report. “We’ve been on Coruscant for a few days. We were on a train, someone fell onto me from behind as the train started moving, I fell forwards into Kenobi, and my mouth landed on his.”
Rex waited a beat for more information, but none came. “Your mouth… landed on your Jedi general’s mouth. Because you fell over?”
Cody visibly swallowed. “That’s correct.”
Using a calming technique Cody himself had taught him, Rex managed not to lose his cool.
“I’m gonna need more than that, Vod. What happened after? And why didn’t he use the Force, or move out of the way?”
“Well, it did all happen fast-“
“Blaster bolts are fast, and he dodges those regularly,” Rex pointed out. He was beginning to regret agreeing to stay up for this conversation. “And don’t tell me it’s because you weren’t in combat, I’ve seen him anticipate far too many surprise attacks,” he added. “So, what, were you standing on top of him already?”
Cody grimaced. “I may have been very close, yes. The train was crowded! It’s Coruscant, you know how it is. And besides, I- I may have been-“ He cut himself off, shaking his head. “That’s not the point. The point is, I need to transfer myself-“
“Absolutely not. You are not dodging this, Cody. Tell me the whole story- the truth.”
After a second’s hesitation, Cody deflated. Rex internally patted himself on the back.
Cody released a breath through his nose. “We were on our way back to the Temple. We’d been to Dex’s and then on a walk, and ended up farther away than intended.” His expression softened, a slight smile pulling at his lips. “When he gets going about what he’s reading, he gets caught up in it and it’s- very sweet, and neither of us were paying attention. We got on the train, and- he stood very close to me, much closer than he needed to.” He winced, then continued, “The train wasn’t actually busy, I lied about that bit. Sorry.”
Rex resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and instead nodded, hopefully encouragingly. “Go on.”
“He was right in front of me, and he was staring into my eyes. Kriff, Rex, it felt like he was staring into my soul. He looked perfect, of course, not a hair out of place, the light making it shine, and all I could think was how badly I wanted to kiss him. I think I was leaning forward, just pulled into his orbit. Someone must have gotten on the train behind me right before it started moving, and they lost their balance. It pushed me into him, and since I was already close to kissing him that push made the decision for me.”
“Hm,” said Rex. He was definitely out of his depth. He’d had to field some lovesick calls from Cody before, but this was on another level. ‘Pulled into his orbit’? ‘Staring into my soul’? He was too ace for this. “And what did he do?”
“He held me by the shoulders, clearly pushing me back, so I pulled myself backwards and pretended nothing had happened.”
Rex couldn’t take it anymore. He dropped his head in his hands. “Okay. Sure. And then?”
“I couldn’t look at him for the rest of the ride, but when we got to the Temple’s stop we stepped out together. I planned to say good night and beat a hasty retreat, but he took my hand and thanked me for the evening with this- this shy smile, kriff, Rex, it was beautiful. I couldn’t handle it. I thought I was about to kiss him again, so I just nodded and walked away before I could mess this up any further.”
A muffled groan came from Cody’s side of the call, and Rex looked up to see his brother face-down on his desk.
Rex took a deep breath. “And how long ago was all this?”
Cody looked to the side, clearly checking the time. “About half an hour since I left him at the train. I called you almost as soon as I got to my quarters.” He put his head back down on the desk.
“So, let me make sure I understand this correctly. You two went on a date-“
Cody’s head snapped up. “It was not-“
“You went to dinner and for a walk by yourselves where you talked about the books he likes and lost track of time,” Rex deadpanned.
“Friends do that all the time!”
“Sure,” Rex replied irritably. “And all rectangles are squares. Whatever it was, he looked deeply into your eyes and then you accidentally kissed him and he held your hand and thanked you for the evening with a smile. And he was definitely, absolutely pushing you away during that kiss. Because he definitely, absolutely does not want to kiss you. Did I get all that right?”
“Of course he doesn’t want to kiss me, he-“ Cody turned suddenly, then sighed. “Someone’s at the door. Give me a second.”
Cody disappeared from frame, but didn’t pause the call. Rex distantly heard voices, and- ever the nosy little brother- turned the volume up all the way. He caught the end of a sentence from a suspiciously posh voice.
“- and I worry that I made you uncomfortable. If that is the case, I am deeply sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for, General. I’m the one who kissed you without your consent. I regret my actions- I wasn’t braced well on the train, and it meant I betrayed your trust. I’ll never forgive myself for it.”
“Cody, no, I- I know that was an accident. You betrayed nothing. If anything, I betrayed you by reciprocating what I- incorrectly- assumed was happening.”
Rex almost wished he had popcorn. Or that he could go back to bed finally.
“It may have been an accident, but I wanted it to happen,” Cody said softly.
A sharp intake of breath. “You did?”
Silence.
“Do you still want to?” Obi-Wan asked.
More silence, then a quiet shuffle of steps. Rex didn’t dare breathe.
A whisper of, “May I?”
A soft, slightly wet sound. Fabric rustling. More silence.
Suddenly, Cody was back in view, hair now askew, the curl he hated tugged free over his forehead.
Cody cleared his throat. “Uh, thanks Rex. I’ve got it from here.”
Rex hoped his wolf whistle made it through before Cody ended the call.