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Rex does not have a thing for his general. He swears. He just.. thinks about him a little more than he probably should, gets inexplicably nervous when around him, and pays a little more attention to him than is considered normal. It doesn't mean he has a crush on him. He's just a good soldier.
And being a good soldier means that he notices things.
--1--
Rex knows something is wrong. Anakin is acting strangely. He has been more irritable than usual when dealing with work, moving a fraction of a bit slower than his normal standard (Rex thinks he's the only one who notices. He isn't sure why, as it’s glaringly obvious to him), looking like he's in pain when he thinks nobody's watching him. This typically would not be something to worry about; they were fighting a war that was constantly pushing everyone to limits they didn’t know they even had. That being said, this was Anakin Skywalker. Anakin, who prides himself on his abilities. Anakin, who hates people worrying about him, pitying him, taking care of him. Anakin, who would never show signs of weakness unless he couldn't help it. He decides that he should bring up the possibility that Anakin needs to see Kix. When Rex mentions it to him, because he's concerned about Anakin's ability to keep working and definitely not because he's been worrying for days, he's brushed off almost immediately. "Rex, don't waste your time on me," Anakin grins, "I'm really fine. Besides, I'm supposed to be taking care of you, not the other way around. Relax."
He should have known that Anakin would respond like this; he had never willingly allowed himself to be taken care of. This had never stopped Rex before, though. His general spent too much of his time focusing on others and not nearly enough time focusing on himself. This often resulted in Rex getting the help for him, typically without Anakin being aware of what was happening until it was over. It was always done through small acts (Rex would never be allowed to get away with it otherwise), like making sure all of his brothers all were medically examined after battle so Anakin would let himself be attended to, subtly sending General Kenobi his way when he thought Anakin was overworking himself, making sure Ahsoka was well looked after when Anakin couldn't do the looking.
Today, it would come in the form of Rex talking to his brother.
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"Kix?" Rex asked, walking into the medical bay. He glanced around, making sure that there wasn’t anybody on the tables or waiting to be seen. As worried as he was about his General, he would not spread his suspicion that something was wrong around the entire republic. Anakin resented being looked at like he was less.
Kix looked up from whoever's medical file he was working on upon hearing his name called. "Rex! Not often I see you down here anymore.” He paused and considered his words. “I guess that’s a good thing for you. Need something?" He looked Rex up and down, apparently trying to see if there was something wrong with him.
"Yes, actually. It's about the general." Rex walked over to where Kix was sitting and leaned against a wall in front of him, crossing his arms across his chest. "I’m willing to bet on it that something's going on with him. He's acting different. I mentioned that he should come and see you but, well.. you know how he is." He ended his statement with a slight roll of his eyes. All the men in the 501st knew how difficult it could be to get Anakin to do something he didn't want to do. The man had a reputation for his stubbornness. Kix snorted, but a look had come over his features, one Rex has learned to mean he was mentally going through his medical records. He grabbed a tablet from a nearby table and began to pull something up that Rex assumed would be Anakin's file. After a moment of reading, the expression on Kix's face turned to understanding. He knows something about my- the general that I don't, Rex noted as Kix closed out the file and looked back to him.
"I think you might just be right about that." Kix nodded at him. "I'll go talk to him later tonight. If I'm right, though, you don't have to worry about him like you have been." He finished this statement with a teasing grin. Rex felt his face flush the slightest bit. "No idea what you're talking about."
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Rex watched that night as Kix and Anakin spoke alone together on the opposite side of the room. Kix seemed to be lecturing him about something, to which Anakin shrugged and took what looked to be a pill bottle from the clone and slipped it into his pocket. Odd, Rex thought, might could get Kix to tell me what those are for. The pair spoke for a few more moments, Anakin receiving a firm and final use them, before going their separate ways. To Rex's objective delight and/or horror, Anakin had turned and began walking directly towards him, stopping only a few feet away. "Rex.." Anakin crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow in what seemed to be an attempt to look stern. "I thought I told you not to worry about it."
Once Rex regained the ability to form coherent thoughts and sentences, he raised an eyebrow right back at his general, which earned him a smirk that threatened to send Rex back into a panic that has absolutely nothing to do with the interest that he definitely does not have in his general. "Well, General, I would apologize, but it seems that it was needed, hm?" He willed himself not fall onto his knees and die when Anakin let his smirk grow into a grin, it's full force directed towards Rex.
"That, my dear captain, is still under debate." He chuckled before his expression sobered. "Thank you, though. You didn't have to.. It's not on you to watch over me." Rex manages a nod, wondering if the man had any idea whatsoever of the effect calling Rex his dear captain was having on him, before Anakin clapped him on the shoulder and gave his goodbye. Force, he thought, closing his eyes and letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding, that man will be the end of me.
--2--
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker had always been closer than most Jedi and Padawan duos were. That was apparent to anyone who watched them together for more than a few minutes. To Rex, who had been watching them since being assigned to the 501st, it was simply a known fact of life that if you messed with one, the wrath of the other would soon be upon you. Though the Jedi were forbidden from forming attachments, Obi-Wan and Anakin were each other's family. So, it shouldn't be anything out of the ordinary to see General Kenobi defending his padawan.
This time, though, stuck out to Rex.
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Ever since what had happened with Kix a few weeks previous, Rex had come to the realization that his general had a secret. Well, he was sure the man had many secrets, but this one had made itself known to Rex and now seemed to be taunting him. It wasn't like he was actively trying to figure out what Anakin was hiding, but he couldn't help it if every now and again another piece of the puzzle accidentally tripped and fell into Rex’s hands. This just happened to be one of those times.
He had been speaking with respective Generals Kenobi and Skywalker about one of their more recent battles when another Jedi, seemingly only a few years Anakin’s senior, had approached with a message. Anakin had asked Rex to stay so they could finish debriefing once the other man was finished. Rex had obliged, standing off to the side and running through what they had yet to cover about the fight. He hadn't been listening to the conversation in front of him until the unknown (at least to Rex) Jedi said something that was directed towards Anakin, though Rex couldn't imagine why. "They should just leave things like this to the real men," he had said, "right, Skywalker?"
Rex focused on what was being said once this comment was made. He could tell that what the man had said was meant to insult Anakin. General Kenobi and his own general had both lapsed into silence; Kenobi's silence seemed angry, and Anakin's as though he had been rendered completely speechless, a rare occurrence for him. After a brief pause in the conversation, Kenobi turned towards Rex's general. "Anakin, why don't you and Captain Rex go finish debriefing elsewhere. I’ll be sure to join you once I've finished here with our friend."
Anakin nodded, turning on his heel and beginning to walk (very fast, Rex might add) towards the furthest corner away from where they all stood. Rex stood staring after him for a moment before looking back at General Kenobi, then moving to follow Anakin. Once he’d finally caught up with him, they walked the rest of the distance in tense silence, Anakin only slowing down his pace once realizing Rex was almost jogging to keep up. When the pair stopped, they stood facing each other, Anakin staring somewhere past Rex's head and Rex staring directly at him. There had been a strange mix of emotions on the brunette's face that Rex couldn't quite decipher. Oh, he was definitely angry, incredibly so, but there were other things beneath the anger as well. Fear? Panic? He couldn't decide what exactly was lingering on the man’s face.
The silence between them stretched for what seemed like forever. Worse, his General would not look at him. Rex decided he needed to say something. "Sir.." he begun, but trailed off, not finding the right words to say. Or any words, for that matter. He was still lost on what had entirely happened. Anakin sighed heavily before finally meeting Rex's eyes. There was a raw emotion in them, and Rex was caught off guard that his general was allowing himself to be seen in such a state. He was definitely not complaining about it, but Anakin was always incredibly closed off when it came to these things. The taller closed his eyes for a moment, apparently trying to regain his composure, then finally opened them and started speaking. "I'm sorry, Rex. You didn't need to be a part of that. We need to finish the debriefing. We had left off at-"
"He was wrong, you know." Rex cut him off without honestly meaning to even speak.
Anakin blinked once. "I'm sorry?"
Rex hurried on before he could convince himself to stop. "Uh, I just mean, he wasn't right. I mean, I wasn't listening to the whole conversation, but he was implying that you weren't as much of a man as others or something, and um.. yeah. You're more of a man than he is, I don't even know what he was saying. He- yeah. Uh.. yeah. Sorry." He felt blood rushing to his cheeks as he finished rushing through his awkward explanation. His general stared at him for a long moment with an indecipherable expression. Rex was the one who wouldn't look now, his eyes moving to watch everything but the man in front of him.
"Thank you, Rex. I mean it." He waited until the blonde looked back at him before offering a small smile, which in turn caused Rex to duck his head to hide the blush that was already returning to his face. Anakin opened his mouth to say something more, but it seemed General Kenobi had dealt with their 'friend,' as he approached them at that moment. "I'm truly sorry for that interruption, Captain. How much farther into the debriefing have you two gotten?"
Kenobi looked between the two men before a smirk came across his face. "Ah, I see. As you two have obviously been otherwise occupied,” Rex glanced toward Anakin, who he could’ve sworn was slightly more red than he had been a moment ago, “we can finish this later.”
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Rex still wasn’t sure what to make of that experience. It seemed to him that it should be obvious; an explanation should be staring him in the face, but he simply couldn’t put the pieces he had together.
Well, he thought, shaking his head to clear it, I’m sure I’ll find out eventually.
--3--
Rex was throughly annoyed.
The past few days seemed like they had been on a mission to make Rex lose his ever-loving mind. A good portion of his men had been injured in their most recent battle and would be out of commission for the next few rotations. This resulted in an abundance of paperwork for the blonde and a constant headache while trying to get the duties of those injured covered. He hadn’t had a moment of silence for days on end. Then, as if he wasn’t already on the verge of a mental breakdown, he was made aware that he would be going with his general to talk about a war effort with Senator Amidala.
Rex was sure that Senator Amidala is a great woman. She’s kind, she fights for what she believes in, she treats him and all of his brothers like they are human instead of clone. He really shouldn’t feel this way towards her, but..
He had finally come to terms with his interest in his general. But he thinks that Anakin’s interest lies with Senator Amidala, which explains some of (read: all of) his mixed feelings towards her. He obviously can’t tell people that if they ask, though. So he has to settle for sucking it up and hoping everyone writes his stiffness off as being a watchful soldier, dedicated to protecting his charges.
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Anakin could definitely tell something was wrong with Rex. He wouldn’t stop glancing at him on the transport. Now, as they made their way to their meeting with the senator, his general was asking questions that were clearly meant to figure out what had the blonde in a mood. Rex will admit that he hadn’t been the most subtle, but he thought he could hide his disdain for the assignment better than this. He sighed as they arrived at their destination, suddenly thankful that he had his helmet to hide his frown. Anakin turned to him once he made sure the senator hadn’t arrived. Rex stared forward, arms crossed in front of him.
“Rex.” Something in Anakin’s voice made Rex finally look towards him.
“General.”
The brunette stares at him for a long moment, looking like he’s trying to put what he wants to say into words. He finally settles on frowning at his captain and saying, “What is going on with you today? Did something happen?”
Rex willed himself to loosen his posture and took a moment before responding. “I’m sorry, sir. It’s been a long week.” He sees Anakin’s gaze soften at his words, and almost feels bad for closing himself off today. Almost.
“I know. I’m worried about your brothers, too.” The general uncrosses his arms to run a hand through his hair, suddenly looking so, so, tired. “I’m sorry you had to be here today. I know how stressful these past few days have been with our men out of commission.”
Rex nodded, looking away from Anakin again, feeling guilty that the reason for his distance is not near as noble as his general assumed. “It’s.. alright, sir. We all know what we’re going into.” He felt his general's hand on his shoulder before he heard him speak. “You shouldn’t have to live like that. None of you should.”
Ok, now Rex feels bad.
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It was a few moments later that the senator had arrived, hugging his general in greeting. It had been about an hour since then, and they were (finally, Rex thinks) almost done. He almost felt bad. Senator Amidala had been nothing but pleasant to him, even asking about some of his brothers by name. Rex, on the other hand, only spoke when it was necessary and was ready to leave as soon as Anakin was finished speaking.
Once they wrapped up, the senator turned to him. “Captain, I hate to put you out like this, but would you mind if I spoke to General Skywalker privately? Ten minutes should be plenty of time.”
Rex nodded, standing to leave. “Er.. of course, senator. I’ll call Kix.” Anakin looked up at him upon hearing this.
“Comm me with whatever Kix says?” Rex nodded again, ready to be out of the pair's general vicinity. This seemed to satisfy the brunette, who leaned back where he was sitting and turned his attention back to Senator Amidala.
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Rex felt a rush of relief as he closed out his call with Kix. His men’s recovery was going incredibly smoothly. Two of them had already been released with painkillers and instructions to come get checked out once a day. He checked the time. It had been well over ten minutes. Well.. Anakin did say to call him with an update.
Before he could think about it too hard, Rex pulled up his generals contact and started an audio-only comm. Anakin answered up on the third ring. “Rex?”
“Uh.. apologies for the interruption, sir. You told me to comm with what Kix said, and it’s been almost 30 minutes, so..” He trailed off, waiting for his general's response.
“Force, I didn’t realize it had been that long. I’ll head that way. What did Kix say?” Rex chuckled. He wasn’t shocked that Anakin had lost track of time.
“The recovery is going really well. Two men have already been released, the rest are looking like they’ll follow closely behind.” He heard a sigh of relief from the other line.
“That’s great!“ Rex could practically hear the smile in his voice. “That’s really great. Listen, I’ll start heading back to the ship. Meet me there?”
“Yes, sir. I’ll be there.” Anakin gave his goodbye, and Rex heard something hit the screen, but the comm didn’t end. Rex was about to close it out, but he heard voices pick back up. Nothing bad could come from listening to what they were saying for just a moment, right?
Senator Amidala seemed to be having a fit of laughter. “Padme, shut up! It’s not funny!” His general practically whined. “Force, why do I even come to see you..”
The senator laughed for a few more seconds. “Oh, you are so whipped, Anakin. Look at that blush, just from a phone call?” She teased. Anakin groaned, and Rex heard him standing up.
“I am not! You’re seeing things.” The pair went silent for a moment, and they seemed to start walking. Rex was about to close out the call when Padme finally spoke. “Ani.. have you told him?”
There was a pause before his general replied. “No… no, I haven’t. I don’t even know how he feels about things like.. that. Or even what he knows. I don’t want to risk it.”
Rex suddenly felt like he was intruding on something very personal. Hanging up, he stood and started to make his way towards their ship. What did Anakin mean by ‘things like that?’
--+1--
Rex hadn't had much time to think about the conversation he'd heard between Senator Amidala and his general. He'd been preoccupied with getting his men back into a schedule, then when things looked like they'd calm down for a few days, they had been deployed to a planet Rex had never heard of to investigate some claims that separatist droids were hiding out there. They'd already been searching for a few rotations and were planning on leaving in the morning. There had been nothing to prove those claims true after they did some poking around, so they all assumed the tips they received had been wrong.
That's why the attack had caught them so off guard.
The fight had gone by smoothly for the most part. There really weren't many droids, but the clankers had caught them by surprise. Once the initial shock had worn off, it was over fairly quickly, with only minor injuries. After checking that all of his men were alive and undamaged (for the most part), he went to the tent where the general had been staying to update him. Before he had even made his presence known, Anakin spoke, his voice sounding slightly strained. "Come in, Rex."
Rex entered, prepared to tell Anakin that all of their men were fine, but his words died on his lips as he registered the sight in front of him. His general was sitting up on his cot, abnormally stiff, barely masking the pain etched onto his features. Rex gave him a once-over, noticing a singe mark on the fabric near his rib cage. They stared at each other for a long moment. "General.."
Anakin shifted, wincing at the movement. "Rex, I'm fine. We're leaving tomorrow. Kix can take care of it when we get back, I was just grazed."
"General."
"Seriously. I've dealt with worse. I'll be fine, really. Go make sure your brothers are prepar-"
He stopped talking abruptly as Rex crossed the small space, grabbing the medkit he knew Anakin kept near his cot and moving to sit next to him. The brunette eyed him warily as he opened the kit and started grabbing what he would need. Rex glanced up at him momentarily. "Take your shirt off for me?"
Anakin looked like he was ready to bolt. "Rex, I really don't need you to do this, I will be f-"
Rex interrupted him. "I don't buy it. We've all been hit before. I'm not going to judge you for getting shot, or whatever you think it is I'm going to do. I won't have you being stubborn and getting an infected wound because of it."
"That's not-" Anakin cut himself off. "Alright. Fine."
Rex turned his attention back to preparing what would be needed while Anakin started removing layers. A few moments later, he had everything prepared and looked towards his general. Just a glance at the wound made Rex glad he had insisted on treating it how they could without bacta, or even a thoroughly trained medic. They really should have been more prepared. As he began cleaning the wound, his eyes wandered a bit. Like most soldiers, Anakin had scars marking up his body. Rex counted about 8 just on his torso. The open wound Rex was treating was on his waist. He had multiple scars around his ribs, a few higher up near his shoulders, the two largest being on the area right between his chest and stomach. Rex turned his attention back to the graze, mildly wondering where his general had gotten them all, before a thought came to him that made him pause.
Oh, He glanced back towards the larger scars. Oh.
Suddenly, everything clicked in his mind. Those weren't scars from a battle, those were scars from a surgery. He thought back quickly through the moments that had made him wonder if something was going on throughout the past few months. They all made a lot more sense now. When Anakin had been acting sick, Kix had been giving him painkillers, most likely for a menstrual cycle. The Jedi who had insinuated that Anakin wasn't a 'real man' had been saying that because he wasn't born a man (which was frankly stupid, Rex thought). When Anakin had said "things like that," he had meant "people like me." Rex looked up at his general to find him already staring at him. He knows that I know, Rex notes.
He didn't ask. He didn’t comment. If Anakin wanted to talk about it, he would. He's close enough to the man in front of him to know that hell hath no fury like his general forced to open up. So, instead, he finished cleaning the wound. Neither of them spoke as the blonde applied a healing ointment, but Rex can feel Anakin's stare.
Finally, his general speaks, his tone cautious. "You’re not going to ask?"
Rex grabbed the roll of bandages and leveled his gaze with the man in front of him. "Not if you don't want me to. Move your arm for me?"
Anakin obliged, and they settled into silence again, this time more comfortable. Rex wrapped the bandages around his body, making sure they're secure. His hand lingered a moment on his general's body before he moved backwards on the cot, putting the supplies he used away while Anakin redressed. Once he finished with the kit, he stood to leave. "I'll have Kix on you the second we arrive back at base," he promised.
He was about to exit the tent when Anakin started speaking. "I was twelve. When I knew."
Rex paused and glanced back. Anakin took this as his invitation to continue. "I'm sure you know that I had a different upbringing than most Jedi. I joined the order when I was nine. I'd always felt.. wrong, almost. How I was raised, I didn't realize there was a name for what I was feeling, and it never seemed important in light of other things. I never mentioned it to anyone. Not even Obi-Wan." He paused and gestured that Rex should sit back down. The captain obliged, moving slowly back towards the cot and sitting, staring at Anakin the whole time.
"Obi-Wan realized what I was before I did. We had very recently developed our force bond, and-" He stopped at Rex's look of confusion. "Right. You wouldn't know what that is. Essentially, when two people form a strong attachment, their minds are, in a way, bonded together. They can feel each other's stronger emotions, and when it's honed, even communicate through it in a way. It's strongest with force users, but since everyone has a little bit of the force in them, normal people can learn to sense them, though it takes longer." He paused then, considering something. "I have one with you."
He moved on before Rex could ask about that mind boggling revelation. He'd have to settle on bringing it up later. "Anyways, we had the new force bond. He started noticing that whenever I was introduced as ‘she’, or called by my old name, I'd have a swell of negative emotions. Eventually, he sat me down and asked if I'd ever heard of someone being transgender. I told him no, and he explained it." An amused expression came over his face. "Apparently it was funny watching my face as I processed everything. 'You looked like I had just told you that you were becoming the next Chancellor,' is what he says."
"After that, I started the transitioning process. The whole ordeal, you know. Name change, pronouns, all the good stuff. I never officially came out to anyone besides Obi-Wan, Padme, Ahsoka, and now you." He gave Rex a meaningful look as he says that. "Everyone just caught on eventually, I guess. Kix had to know for medical reasons. I got one of his lectures last month, by the way, thanks to you. I skip out on asking for meds one time.."
They talked for a long while after that. The conversation had gone to a lot of different places, and they'd both admitted to things that would get them into trouble if let out. 'Things' may or may not have included Rex letting it slip about his feelings for Anakin, which may or may not have led to some very conspicuous bruising on Rex's neck. It's alright, though, Anakin hadn't left unscathed, either. He ended up staying with the other in his tent that night. He planned to tell his men that they had trouble with the reports about the attack, and he hadn't wanted to wake any of them when they had such an early start. Nobody had to know that they had spent the night with their lips on each other's. Nobody had to know that Anakin spent the moments in between whispering sweet nothings in his captain's ear. Nobody had to know Rex spent the night tracing the scars on his generals body. Nobody had to know but them.
Being a good soldier meant he noticed things. Rex couldn't be happier that he'd noticed this.