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"No." Cody's very drugged General murmurs, going even more tense in Cody's arms. "Hurting." His knuckles are turning white where he's gripping the edges of Cody's armour, fingers pressing into Cody's body. While it would have been good to have found their General sooner, preferably before he'd been injected with whatever this is, Cody's mostly just glad they found him before it got any worse.
"It's all right, Sir." He soothes. "We'll get Artery to fix it."
His General whimpers, and Cody tucks him a little closer.
"So many. So much pain." Is barely a whisper. There's a short pause, and a sharp inhale. "And death." Cody frowns. "I don't want them to die." Is another whisper. A plea. "They shouldn't hurt. I have to keep them safe. They need to be safe." His General pleads.
Oh.
No wonder his kriffing General hates going to the medbay if he can feel other people's pain in the force. And of course the kriffer hadn't said anything.
"Artery is looking after them, Sir." Cody tells him. "You know that even death is scared of him."
"Mm."
"What feels safe to you, Sir?" Cody asks, as he changes direction, takes them away from the medbay.
His General hums in thought. "My Sunshine." He decides. Which doesn't really help Cody all that much.
"Your sunshine?" He asks.
"Mm." His General agrees. "Steady and safe and warm. Nice. Sunshine is nice." He tilts his head so he can look up at Cody, eyes full of mischief, and it's good to see that expression back on his General's face. His General whose lips are tilted into a pleased little smile.
"He thinks I'm stupid." His General whispers, incredibly pleased, as if this is secretly the best thing that has ever happened to him.
"Who does, Sir?" Cody asks patiently.
"My Sunshine." Is the happy response. His General's smile has tipped right over into besotted now. "He laughs at me. He's always so perfectly composed, but inside he's laughing at me. I can tell."
"Is that so, Sir."
"Mmhmm." His General tucks his head back into Cody's neck, fluffy hair pressed against his skin. "It's his eyes. So pretty. So fond. They make me think that he likes that I'm there."
"I'm sure he does, Sir."
Cody, because contrary to his brothers opinions isn't actually a di'kut, keeps walking when he reaches the door to his General's quarters. Instead, he stops outside his own, and carefully rearranges his General so he can key in the code. As soon as they're inside, his General takes a deep breath, the same way Cody and his brothers do when they take their buckets off on an unpolluted planet.
"Safe." His General murmurs, all the tension draining out of him until he's lax in Cody's arms.
"Sir," Cody part scolds, "why have you gone floppy?"
There's no answer.
He sighs and carefully dumps his General's uncooperative limbs onto his bunk.
"Are you conscious, Sir?"
One eye opens, and a familiar mischievous little smirk plants itself on his General's lips.
"As smuch as any being can truly be described as such." The words are a little slurred still.
"Sir." Cody states as he pulls out his com to let Artery know their change in location. "I regret to inform you, you've gone philosophical. If you start quoting poetry, I'll have to ask Artery to sedate you."
"Artery scares me." His General confesses.
Cody's unimpressed.
"Artery scares everyone."
His General somehow manages to tangle his limbs into Cody's blanket while they're waiting for Artery, and is looking up towards the ceiling, eyes following something that's invisible to Cody, with a content little smile on his face.
"Is it strange?" He asks Cody, "Not being able to see the force?"
"No, Sir." Cody tells him.
"Just out of curiosity, Commander," Artery asks with his evillist smirk. "Why are you here and not in, you know, the General's quarters, for example."
"Everything tastes of Sunshine." The General informs them.
Artery's stare is absolutely unimpressed.
"Force-osik." Cody elaborates.
Artery blinks slowly, then visibly decides he doesn't give a kriff, and bends to reach the General's arm for a blood sample.
"You're taking away all my blood?" The question is pensive and a little worried.
Artery stares at Cody over the General's head, absolutely deadpan.
"But I don't know how long I can use the force instead of blood for." The General continues. "Bodies aren't really designed for that. They're supposed to have blood in them."
Artery closes his eyes.
"The blood goes on the inside." The General concludes with an air of great wisdom.
"How about this, Sir." Cody offers. "Once Artery has found whatever is making you sick in your blood, I'll fight him for it, and get it back for you."
"Thank you, my dear." His General tilts his head, studying Cody. "My Sunshine is very good at fighting." He informs them seriously. "He punches droids in the face. It's magnificent. And his spin kick... My dear, the spin kick is a work of art. It's so beautiful."
"Kind of you to say so, Sir."
Cody ignores the incredibly judgy look Artery is sending him.
"The force says it's time to go to bed now. It's bed time."
Cody wonders exactly where the force was all the other times his General has refused to go to bed.
His General stands up, swaying on wobbly legs, then pitches forwards as his knees crumple. Cody catches him as he falls, and is then shoved, very weakly, in his chest. He steps backwards obediently and, at a further push, sits on the edge of his bunk, hands around his General's waist keeping him steady.
"Bed time." His General insists. He stares intently at the edge of Cody's armour until it unlatches itself and falls towards the floor with a clatter. His General grins in triumph. "Bed!" He commands happily.
"Are you coming too?" Cody asks.
His General nods and pulls a face at the movement. "Yes. It's bed time. Have to go to bed."
Cody pulls his legs up onto the bunk, and then his General is falling on top of him, wriggling and squirming until he's nestled himself into a comfortable position, half on top of Cody, half tucked into his side.
"Night night, Sunshine. Night night, force. Night night, 'gotiator."
Cody's torn between melting inside and filming for blackmail. He settles for a sigh that comes out far too fond.
"Night, Sir."
Cody's woken by a groan, and a head burrowing its way into his shoulder. Which abruptly freezes, pulls back, then thunks lightly into his shoulder again with another groan. This one embarrassed.
"Commander," his General starts, full of aching regret, and Cody needs to head this off at the pass. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't be, Sir." Cody tells him. "I'm glad that you feel safe with me." Mischief rises. "And you didn't say anything that was wrong." He lets his own smirk spread its way across his lips. "Yes, I am laughing at you, and yes, I like that you're here." His arm's a bit numb where his General is lying on it, but he has just enough movement to brush his hand over soft hair. "I like that a lot."
His General relaxes, sinking back into him.
"Like that I'm here," he starts, in a tone of voice that lets Cody note that flirty mischief starts three point two seconds after waking up, "or like that I'm here?" He presses his head the barest fraction into Cody's shoulder to make his point.
Cody shrugs with that shoulder, purposefully jostling his General's head.
"Either. I just like when you're close."
His General sighs a little breath that's somehow both amused and wistful.
"And have you fought Artery for my blood?" He asks. Cody can hear the expectantly raised eyebrows in his voice.
Cody refuses to be embarrassed. That's an emotion there's no point to. And of course he'd fight someone to get his General's blood back. As he said, it is supposed to be on the inside.
"Not yet, Sir."
"While I'm incredibly flattered you'd go to such lengths for me, my dear," his General says with his mischievous little smirk, "I no longer believe that will be entirely necessary."
"If you're sure, Sir."