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It starts off very simply. Sitting in Cody’s inbox is a comm message from the Chief Engineer, Quad, with the report that the Engineering department are going to be starting the annual PAT Test of all equipment on the ship and any people Cody can spare would be greatly appreciated. PAT Testing is a large and painful job Cody knows, especially on a ship like the Negotiator. Every portable appliance- PADDs, cables, comms- needs to be inspected, catalogued and tested for electrical safety. The whole job will take well over a month, even with most of the Engineering team on it, and involve nothing but testing all day every day. Cody is not surprised Quad wants help.
Cody is walking through the dock, working out who he can spare for Quad and what is the fairest way to split what is undoubtedly a bit of a crap job when he nearly bumps into Obi-Wan, and just like that his day gets better.
“Ah, Cody!” Obi-Wan says, delight clearly written across his face, and Cody snaps to attention glad of his bucket hiding his own face “I was just coming to find you. I’ve received our orders through from the Council and was wondering if you would be kind enough to review them with me before our briefing tomorrow.”
Cody knew what this meant, a couple of hours of work then an evening relaxing with Obi-Wan. And well, he did need a break.
“Of course, sir.”
“Does 20:00 in my quarters work for you? I have a new flavour of tea I want your opinion on.”
“As long as it is not as bad as the last one, sir.” The last tea Obi-Wan had made him try had turned out to be some sort of slimy thing that tasted like old socks, and even Obi-Wan had agreed that it was awful. Cody is definitely going to be inspecting this one before he agrees to drink it.
“Hopefully not, my dear.” Obi-Wan says with a smile that Cody absolutely does not trust, which turns into something hopeful and slightly fragile. “I’ll see you then?” Obi-Wan asks, hands twisting in his sleeves, and how could Cody say no?
“Of course, sir, looking forward to it.” For a moment, neither of them move, the moment stretching between them.
“I’ll leave you to your business then Commander.” Obi-Wan says, and is he blushing? With a little nod, the General hurries off past him, leaving Cody a little shell shocked in his wake. He allows himself half a second of thinking about the sparkle in his General’s eyes when Cody had agreed, and how flattering Obi-Wan’s robes had looked on him. His attention catches on two troopers, their cleaning cloths in their hands, half hidden from him where they are seated on a fighter. They’d clearly seen the whole interaction.
“Yes sir, of course sir. Anything you want sir.” one of them quietly mocks, and the other sniggers, cloth scrubbing along the fighter’s wing. “Drink tea together in your quarters even though it tastes like ass? Nothing could be better, sir.”
“I love the taste of ass, sir.”
“That includes the taste of your ass, sir.”
“Anything else I can do for you sir? Stare lovingly into your eyes, sir?”
“You want me to suck your dick for you sir? I can do that sir.” The other says, and the first one flicks him with a cleaning cloth with a laugh. Neither of them have noticed him glaring at them.
Three things hit Cody in quick succession: one, embarrassment. If his troopers can see his… appreciation of his General then he has clearly not been hiding it as well as he thought he was. Two, a mix of confusion and disgust, because although he's fine with innuendo most of the time today is one of the days the sex repulsion has kicked in, and the implication of him having sex, even with Obi-Wan, is not something he likes. Three, a heated, burning anger. How dare they? And within earshot of Obi-Wan as well? If he’d have heard it- well Cody doesn’t know what he would have done but it wouldn’t have been pretty.
The two troopers still haven’t seen him, engrossed in their task as he stalks forward towards them, fists clenched in rage. And then the solution to his earlier problem snaps into place, and all his anger turns cold and cunning.
“Troopers!” he snaps, and they jump, guilt written all over their body language. Cody fights back a smirk at the dread in their eyes, keeping his tone as politely threatening as possible. “Report to Chief Engineer Quad. You’re on PAT Testing duty until further notice.” Cody watches the horror and resignation dawn over them, and this time he really can’t hold back the slightest twitch of a smirk, hidden as it is behind his bucket. Maybe next time they’ll think before making fun of their superior officer while within their earshot. Kriffing idiots.
“Yes sir.” They chorus, despondent, shoulders hunched in embarrassment and regret as they shuffle off towards engineering. If Cody’s feeling generous he’ll only assign them a week. He’s not feeling generous.
-
Boil puts his tray down next to Waxer’s with a thunk, the ration block perched on it wobbling slightly on the impact. How very appetising, he thinks dryly.
“We are not asking him!” he hisses to Waxer, who pretends not to have heard him.
“Rumour has it that he was in the General’s quarters til late last night.” Waxer says with an eyebrow wiggle. Boil just sighs into his food.
“Oh come on, Boil! Don’t you want to know if our dear Commander has done something about that massive crush of his?” and alright, maybe Boil did. But he was very sure that outright asking was not the way they were going to get the answers they wanted, and would very likely get them into trouble instead.
“Fine.” he sighs at Waxer “Just try and be subtle.” Even as he says it, he knows it is hopeless, simply based on Waxer’s widening grin.
As if summoned, Cody appears at the mess doors, picking up his tray of food and sliding into the seat opposite Waxer. He undoes his helmet and places it on the table next to him, and Boil braces himself.
“So,” Waxer says with a wicked smile. Cody glances up at him, eyes narrowed. “How was your date with the General last night?”
Boil could punch him.
“Our strategic meeting went well, thank you.” Cody says, perfectly calm, and oh Boil does not like this. He grabs Waxer by the arm and tries to pull him up before he can say something stupid-
“So that’s what they’re calling it these days” Waxer says with a bright smile, and if Boil wouldn’t have had to deal with his whinging afterward he would have dropped his arm then and there and booked it. He definitely considers it with one glance across at Cody.
“Sorry sir, we really should be going-” says Boil trying desperately to pull Waxer away, but Cody’s face has gone that specific expression of bitch blank that Boil knows means that inside he’s gone nuclear. There is no way they are getting out of this one now.
“You’ve earned yourself new duties, Lieutenant.” And there is the tiny smirk Boil has been dreading. Waxer goes stock still beside him, and oh they are so screwed. “You and Boil. Report to Chief Engineer Quad. You’ve got some PAT Testing to do.”
Boil’s heart sinks down to his boots. Force kriffing damn it, Waxer.
-
Rex, because he really does care about his brother's welfare thank you very much, nearly as much as he cares about stirring shit, comms Cody as soon as he hears about the rumour.
Cody, when he picks up the comm, is about as tense as Rex has ever seen him and for a minute he almost reconsiders his chosen topic of conversation. He doesn’t though, because he’s half a galaxy away and safe on the Resolute.
“What.” Cody glares down the comm, and Rex can only lean back in his chair and smile.
“Heard you finally did something about your massive crush on your General.” Rex says, the perfect picture of nonchalance. “Congratulations, Codes- what’s it been, two years?”
Cody, on the other end of the call, sinks his head into his hands with a groan. Rex honestly wishes he’d bought snacks, this is even better than he’d hoped.
“We’re not- he doesn’t-” Cody seems to be struggling for words, “How do you even know about that kriffing rumour?”
Rex channels as much Skywalker Force bullshit into his voice as he can. “I have my ways.”
“Fucking Waxer-” Cody cuts off with a groan, and no, it had been the medics actually, but Rex is no snitch and he doesn’t think his brother would want to know how far this rumour has spread anyway.
“So are you? Rex asks with a smile. Honestly, he’ll be slightly hurt if Cody is finally dating Kenobi and he had to find out by rumour, so he doesn’t pull his punches.
“Am I what?” Cody demands, then immediately realises his mistake. “No Rex-”
Too late. “Getting a piece of that General action? Doing anything about the Force between you? Marshalling yourself to his Commands-”
“Rex!” Cody yells, a strangled cut off thing, and for a moment Rex thinks he might have gone too far. “No. No I am not- doing any of those things. Me and Obi-Wan are not- I don’t want him to think that I- I can barely keep this rumour out of his earshot on the ship as it is and I don’t want to make him uncomfortable!”
And Rex gets it, he really does. Cody’s professional and personal relationship with his General has always been important to his brother, and no matter any other feelings he may have Cody would never do anything to jeopardise that working relationship. But the thing is, Cody is both Rex’s older brother and also a little shit, and Rex had one final innuendo he didn’t use.
He takes a breath and smiles at the look of dawning horror on his brother’s face. “So you don't get to hold his lightsaber anymore then?”
Cody hangs up on him. Rex is very, very glad he’s half a galaxy away, because the look his brother had given him had been murderous. Worth it, he decides, and resolves to make the most of the small amount of safety distance can bring.
-
Cody’s revenge comes three cycles later, with orders on Rex’s PADD from the heights of the GAR for him to report to PAT Testing duty, and three grinning vode who turn up from Engineering to supervise. The Resolute isn’t even due to start PAT Testing for another five months. Rex is far too impressed to be that cross.
-
“So” Esk says, stretching out the word. Next to her, Specs sighs.
“What is it?” he says, putting down the weights he’d been lifting. Behind him, Esk collapses down onto the training mat, crossing her legs, hair curling out in a halo around her. It had come out of her bun during their spar, and she hadn’t tied it back again yet.
“You heard the rumours about the General?” she asks, rolling over onto her side to face him. Specs sits down next to her, knowing that she was in the mood for gossip. Really he just wanted to hit the fresher, but he’d stick around a little longer if Esk wanted to.
“What rumours?” he replies, because there are many and not all of them can be true.
“The General and the Commander. People are saying they’re dating. I found them watching the sunrise together, once.” she says with a smile. “I mean, they could have been going over battle plans or whatever, but I don’t think so. They were tucked away, out of sight of the camp, and I only saw them because I was-” she stops for a minute, clearly thinking “Well I can’t remember what I was doing being up at pre-dawn. But there they were.”
Nightmares or looking for plants that would be safe to take cuttings of for her burgeoning plant collection, thought Specs. It was usually one of the two.
“Were they, you know- up to anything?” he asks, scepticism clear in his voice. He really couldn’t imagine their General in any sort of romantic situation, regardless of all the flirting he did, and the Commander… well Specs is too scared of him to want to think about it really.
“Just sitting together. But I think maybe these rumours are right- at least partially.” She pulls herself up to a sitting position on the mat, the training room quiet and empty around them. “The Commander of my last unit wasn’t anywhere near as close with his Jedi. And I’ve watched the Commander’s face sometimes, during Kenobi’s briefings- you know, the boring bits. There’s only so long you can laugh at the awful graphics. He seems… softer, sometimes, when he looks at the General. Less terrifying. I mean- he’s still terrifying but… I could believe it. That they’re together. Or maybe just want to be.” she smirks, heaving herself upright with a stretch. “Maybe the General could get the Commander to take that stick out his-”
“Troopers.” Marshall Commander Cody steps out the shadows of the far side of the training room, and all the blood drains from Esk’s face. Specs snaps to attention as the Commander strolls across the room towards them, his face a cold mask. He’s unstoppable, Specs thinks, like the ghost of Prime is standing there before them- and he’s probably enjoying watching them sweat.
“Report to Engineering. You’re on PAT Testing duty.” he orders, and Specs feels the dread rise. They still had three weeks in hyperspace before they made it back to Coruscant for leave, and if the testing isn’t finished he knows they wouldn’t be allowed off the ship. The Commander was still talking, and Specs tries to fight down the fear that is building in him. How did neither of them see him walk in the room? “And if I hear another word of gossip from either of you, I’ll make sure you get assigned to droid testing.”
Oh Force, the droids were so tricky to test, and did not enjoy being taken apart and cleaned. Specs remembers the Engineers bitching about it for weeks last time.
“You understand me?” The Commander says, and there is a real threat in his eyes. Specs tries to swallow around the lump in his throat, as next to him Esk somehow manages to straighten her spine even more.
“Yes sir! Sorry sir!” they chorus, and the Commander nods.
“Now get moving troopers.” he snaps, and they are only too happy to oblige.
-
Fox comms Cody- something he rarely does, but he’s been missing his most bitchy batchmate recently and is in the need of a bit of a fight.
Cody picks up on the second ring, says quietly but intently “Fuck off, Fox.” and hangs up. Which, well, probably has something to do with all the questions about General Kenobi Fox has sent him over the last couple of days.
-
Quad had not been expecting this many people, when they’d requested help from Cody. Twenty-three clones and two sulky Republic officers, from across all the different departments and ranks onboard the Negotiator. Cody had been very specific with his orders for them- PAT Testing, as monotonous and tedious as Quad could find, and they were happy to oblige. He sits at a table in the main workshop supervising the ragtag group, the rest of their Engineering team off doing the more complicated equipment while the group tested and catalogued stacks and stacks of cable.
Quad wonders if they were going to be gaining any more members- there had been a steady influx of them for the last week but that seemed to have stopped. They check their watch: only an hour more till the end of shift, and then back to it tomorrow. He hopes he’ll still have the group’s help by the time they get around to the droids, the astromechs are notoriously bitchy about getting tested and a handful of them still held a grudge from last time.
The doors to the workshop hiss open and the small amount of chatter around the tables ceases. Quad glances up from where they are adding a green ‘Tested’ label to a 13 amp cable, and is surprised to see General Kenobi in the door. He stands at once.
“General- a surprise to see you down here, sir. I’ll have the report on our progress by the end of the day- was there anything else you needed, sir?”
For some reason, Kenobi comes and sits down at the main table, pulling out an empty chair. Everyone else in the room seems absolutely terrified by the General’s presence, much more than usual. One of the pilots, Specs, even fumbles and drops the cable he was holding as the General sits down next to him. Across the table, Quad sees Boil glance at Waxer, who shrugs.
“As a matter of fact, Quad, I’m here to report for PAT Testing duty.” General Kenobi pulls a stack of untested cable and a screwdriver towards him. It takes Quad a moment to find his voice, but find it he does. More hands are always good, he supposes.
“I appreciate the help, sir, though if you have anything more important to do please feel free to do it, this job is not urgent. I presume you know what you’re doing?” they say, glancing with some concern at the screwdriver in Kenobi’s hands.
“I’ve done this a couple of times, back at the Temple. Qui-Gon seemed to think it would be meditative.” Obi-Wan’s lips twitch up momentarily, before whatever melancholy he’d bought in here with him drags any hint of amusement down. “But I would, of course, appreciate a refresher, and do tell me if I’m doing anything too wrong.”
“Of course, sir.”
Quad runs the General through the PAT Tester, the sticker system and the organising system, then leaves him to it. He seems to know his way around the cables well enough. The quiet at the table remains, but Quad doesn’t mind that. He loses himself back into the world of cables.
“Sir-” says Waxer, and Quad glances up, but the question is directed at the General.
“Yes Waxer?” and oh, Kenobi does sound rather exhausted, and why is he on PAT Testing duty in the first place, anyway? Maybe he really does find the process meditative, Quad muses.
“There’s been a rumour you and the Commander are, well-” Waxer can’t seem to make himself say whatever he is trying to say, and all the air seems to have gone out the room. Quad looks on in interest. It has been quite some time since he’s made it out of Engineering.
“Dating?” Kenobi says lightly, and Waxer can only nod.
“Is it… true, sir?” he asks quietly.
Kenobi sighs, all the strength seeming to deflate out of him until he just looks a bit lost and confused. He places the cable he was inspecting down on the workshop table with a slight thunk. Every single eye around the room is fixed on him.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t really know, Waxer. I did ask him if we were, but well-” Kenobi shrugs, dejected “I may not have gone about it in the best way and… He didn’t answer me, just asked if I was joking and ordered me onto PAT Testing duty. He seemed so angry that I thought I’d better go.”
“Really, sir?” Boil says, glancing worriedly at Waxer, who shoots him back a grimace.
“Really. Two weeks of PAT Testing. I wouldn’t have asked if I’d have known this would be the result- though there’s nothing wrong with PAT Testing of course, its an important job, but I’d thought- well, never mind.” General Kenobi falls back into a despondent silence, shoulders hunched, as the table falls into stillness once more, none of them quite knowing what to say to comfort their General, or even if they could.
-
Twenty three minutes later, the workshop’s doors burst open to the Commander, dressed in full armour. General Kenobi is out of his seat faster than Quad can blink.
“Commander- what is it?” he asks, the worry clear in his voice.
“Did you mean it- earlier.” The Commander says, breathlessness making it clear he’d run all the way down here. He takes a handful of steps towards the now frozen General and then seems to notice his audience.
“Of course, my dear.” says Kenobi softly, and okay maybe Quad can see it, the two of them.
“Right.” Cody says, then seems to settle himself for the first time since he burst into the room. “We should talk about this- somewhere else.”
“My quarters?” Kenobi says, and his smile is back, small and hopeful. Cody nods, all sharp sudden movements, and together they head for the door, a careful distance apart but leaning towards each other slightly. Quad mentally wishes them luck.
At the door Cody turns and scans the workshop, now filled with people desperately trying to look like they are working and not snatching every glance they can at their General and Commander. He nods once at Quad, who nods back, and then the doors shut behind him. As they close Quad thinks they see the General offer Cody his arm.
It takes twenty seconds for the whole room to break out into explosive chatter, and Quad gives up on any of them getting any more work done this cycle. They’ve done enough he supposes, putting the tester down, and they’ll be back tomorrow for more testing. They want to listen to the gossip, anyhow.
-
Obi-Wan walks into his and Cody’s shared office three cycles later with two cups of tea in his hand. He presses a kiss gently to Cody’s temple, still thrilling at the fact that he’s allowed to do that now and at the soft smile it brings to Cody’s face, buried as he is in maintenance reports.
“Cody, my dear.” he asks gently, placing Cody’s cup down on his desk, “Why is Commander Fox in our Engineering bay, PAT Testing?”
Cody smirks, completely unrepentant, and takes a sip of tea. “Reasons.” he says simply, and Obi-Wan has to laugh, fondness for his partner shining in his chest.