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Cold. Everything is so cold. Like there are ghosts in his bones freezing him from the inside out. He can't feel his skin. That's probably not good. Everything is sharp. And cold. Very cold. Like mice. Are mice cold? No, they have little fur coats. But maybe they have coats because they're cold. He could make them little buttons for their coats. No, off topic. The mice are cold because they're ice. Ice mice. Icey micey. Like Obi-wan is ice. Everything is ice. The force is very far away. He's so tired. Maybe he'll have a little nap.
Scorching heat. Surrounding. Burning. But his insides are cold. Empty. Frozen.
He's surrounded by gentle sunlight. Pressed against a warm chest, comfortable, arms holding him close. A small trickle of the force is brushing up against him, soothing, slowly filling him. A familiar scent fills his nose. Safe. Safe and calm. He curls closer and lets his mind drift back away.
Obi-wan wakes up surrounded by the gentle sunshine of his Commander's force presence. And... curled against his bare chest? Cody's arms are wrapped around him. There's a quiet crinkling noise in time with their breathing, their synced breathing, an emergency blanket, Obi-wan realises. And then he remembers the cold. Shivers from the memory. Cody's arms tighten slightly on reflex, pulling him closer. Into his bare chest. His... very well muscled bare chest.
"Morning Sir."
Obi-wan can feel the rumble of his voice. He presses a smile into Cody's skin, that is so very Cody, and huffs an amused little snort. He watches with interest the way a trail of goosebumps appears across Cody's skin in the path of his breath.
"Good morning, Commander." Obi-wan says, not lifting his face away. He's still half asleep, and he's happy. Besides, from the way his Commander's arms are curled about him he doubts he'd get very far. "I gather I have you to thank for saving my life again?"
Cody's chest rises in something between a sigh and a huff.
"I'm afraid that's my job, Sir." There's a deep warm, fond, amusement just lining the base of the words.
"You do it excellently."
"Can't say you make it easy for me, Sir."
And that's all the rebuke he's going to get. They both know that there are more important things at stake here than their own lives.
"Well, I wouldn't want you getting bored, Commander." Obi-wan teases. "A man as exceptional as you needs some challenges to keep him occupied."
"And did it never occur to you, Sir, that if I didn't spend so much time trying to keep you alive, I could devote more of my energy into defeating the Seppies?" Obi-wan can hear the playfully raised eyebrow in his voice.
"Commander," Obi-wan informs him, "without me distracting you, the Seppies wouldn't last a tenday."
"Ah." Cody says utterly dry. "I have uncovered your nefarious plan. You are secretly an agent of the enemy sent to sabotage the war effort."
Obi-wan snickers, burrowing his head further into Cody's chest. It really is a very nice chest.
"Sitrep?" He asks.
"No losses." Cody reports, and Obi-wan feels muscles he didn't know were tense slump in relief. One of Cody's thumbs strokes once across Obi-wan's arm, an instinctive soothing motion. "Comms are back up," he continues, "everyone's safe. Three squads have taken shelter in caves similar to this one, and the rest are back at base. No sign of enemy movement."
Obi-wan really appreciates the way Cody recites information concisely and in order of importance.
"There's been some contact with the local flora and fauna, Sir," Cody continues, "and I have to report a hostile takeover of my armour and person."
Obi-wan feels his brows furrow in confusion, and he leans back, away from Cody's chest, so he can look up into his face. Then he blinks. His arms are still trapped by Cody's, so he can't raise a hand to cover the absolutely delighted smile spreading across his face. Cody just stares placidly back at him, the tiniest hint of resigned humour just curling at the corner of his lips.
On top of his Commander's head, nesting amongst his hair, is a small, extremely fluffy creature. It's adorable.
"There's two more in my chest plate." He reports, "And some form of sparkly mushroom has taken over the inside of my bucket, Sir."
If the fluffy creature has any features, they're hidden under all the fluff. So Obi-wan gently reaches out in the force.
"Oh." He breathes.
"Sir?"
"They're force sensitive, Commander. They've come to you for warmth."
Cody's eyes flick between Obi-wan, curled in his arms, and something further away, his chest plate presumably, confused.
"Ah, not your physical warmth, my dear." Obi-wan explains. "Your warmth in the force "
The confusion doesn't lift.
"I'm not force-sensitive, Sir."
"No," Obi-wan agrees. "But you still have a presence in the force. Every living thing does. And everyone's is different. You're sunlight, Cody. Warm and steady. Endless."
Cody is watching him with a look Obi-wan can't decipher.
He can't resist the familiar fond mischief, lets it twitch the corner of his lips. Cody's gaze turns excessively patient, waiting for whatever teasing Obi-wan's about to impart.
"They're quite literally basking in your presence, my dear."
"As you say, Sir."
Obi-wan ducks his head to hide his smirk, intending on curling back into Cody's really very lovely chest, but he pauses.
Cody has tattoos.
Abstract swirling lines, curling over his torso.
Despite the fact they're not of anything, they still perfectly depict sunlight. Catching on the tops of a field, filtering through a canopy of leaves, glinting off the surface of water, the crests of waves, flaring through smoke and fog.
And amongst the dark lines, there's the occasional glimmer of 212th gold.
Obi-wan just touches the edge of one with a fingertip.
"Who designed this?" He asks, voice low. "It's beautiful."
Cody takes a second too long to respond, and Obi-wan glances up at him. The tips of his ears are red.
It's incredibly endearing.
This isn't how Cody normally responds to Obi-wan's praise. But then this is so much more personal than the compliments Obi-wan usually showers him with. Cody usually takes compliments as his due. Pleased, but knowing they're justified.
He knows he's good at war. Has worked hard for it, been trained for it his entire life. Has had no option but to be. But this, this is something else. Deeper. Something more Cody.
"Of course you did." Obi-wan says on a smile, lightening the mood, saving his Commander from his embarrassment. "Excellence in everything you do."
"I do my best, Sir."
The glittery mushrooms turn out to be rather tasty, and the three fluffy creatures refuse to leave. It had taken Obi-wan significantly longer than he expected, to Cody's barely stifled amusement, to charm the two of them away from his Commander's chest plate. Once his armour was back on, they'd promptly scaled him, perched on his pauldrons, and refused to move. The one in his hair has refused to move for Obi-wan at all.
Cody just sighs, tilts his head, folds his arms, and stares up at the ceiling with perhaps the most parental expression Obi-wan has ever seen on him.
The small fluffy creature rolls onto his shoulder with an air of petulance, and promptly hops back up on top of his helmet once it's back in place.
"How...?" Obi-wan asks.
And even with the helmet in the way, Obi-wan knows Cody's smirking at him.
"Practice." He says.
Obi-wan huffs in amusement.
They barely make it back to base camp before the droids attack. Wave upon wave of them, and they're straight into the familiar rhythm of battle, dodging blaster fire and -
There's a blast of grumpy-displeasure-annoyance in the force, and the droids go flying backwards. All of them. Crumpling as they go. One of the small fluffy creatures on Cody's shoulders turns a small circle, and settles themselves back down, the force filling with a sense of better-sleepy-warm.
"Sir?" Cody asks.
All of the troopers are staring at him.
"Ah. Well. I can't claim credit for that, I'm afraid. It seems one of the Commander's little friends objected to being woken from their nap."
They're recalled back to Coruscant, to the Chancellor's office, to explain their success.
"Ah, Excellent, excellent. Very well done, Kenobi."
But Obi-wan's attention isn't on the Chancellor. It's caught by one of Cody's fluffy little friends, who are still resisting all attempts to be parted from him. An eye has slid open, the first feature Obi-wan's ever been able to make out amongst all the fluff. It's the same amber as Cody's. And it's studying the Chancellor, narrowed. And, without ever moving from its indistinguishable blob of fluff, it's now definitely crouching. And... growling. High pitched and absurdly adorable.
There's a flicker of nasty-disgust-makeitgoaway, and then they leap. All three of them. Straight at the Chancellor, who's suddenly being attacked by three impossibly cute balls of fluff. With ...fangs?
Obi-wan takes a minute too long to respond, too busy standing and watching in incredulous shock. Blood is fountaining from an artery, and Obi-wan puts a hand on his lightsaber. He has no idea what is happening, but that doesn't seem to matter because the Chancellor gets there first. Lighting his own lightsaber. His red lightsaber. Only, he's too late as well, and the saber slips from limp fingers, hitting the carpet with a soft thump. The Chancellor follows it down with a desperate gasp, lightning sparking from his fingers. Only for one of the balls of fluff to open its mouth wide, far too wide, fangs dripping blood, and swallow the lightning down.
The three, now heavily bloodstained, balls of fluff roll away from the very dead body of the Chancellor, and back towards Cody. The fur of one of them is sticking out like static. They radiate warm-safe-satisfaction as they roll up to their usual places on his armour.
The staticky one starts licking its fur back into place with the most adorable tiny little pink tongue.
"Well." Obi-wan says eventually. "We appear to have found the Sith in the Senate, Commander."
"I didn't know they could do that." Cody adds thoughtfully.