The Benevolence of the Force by Spiritofthesky4 (WILL RETURN)

Chapter 7: Electio

I awoke to the sound of giggling. Who's making noise? I thought grumpily, hugging my pillow closer. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter and let out a sleepy groan.

Suddenly, my pillow sighed. With reluctance, I blinked my eyes open to the bright morning light to see Tup's forehead. Ah, so it was not a pillow after all. He was curled into my front, his head snuggled into my neck, his arms tucked into his chest. I placed my right hand on his head, ran my two fingers through his curly black hair, and gently brushed his teardrop tattoo with the thumb of my normal hand. He sighed again and nuzzled closer.

The couches were completely empty, as well as the rest of the mattresses. It appeared that only Tup and I remained.

...That, as well as the giggling down the hall, probably wasn't a good sign. The 501st were known troublemakers.

Someone behind me groaned groggily and I felt arms tighten around my waist. I turned my head– only slightly, to avoid disturbing the still-sleeping Tup– to see Dogma wrapped around me, a grumpy expression on his tattooed face. One of the blankets was tangled between his legs, and he was wearing a pair of soft fleece pants that Rex and I had bought from the store, as well as an oversized shirt that Rex had misread the size label of. The sleeves extended well past his hands, only serving to make him look more adorable. His nose scrunched up rather cutely as his laid his head on my shoulder, one cheek squishing against it. Dogma's brown skin looked almost gold in the early morning sun streaming through the skylights. He looked so peaceful when he slept, his face free of stress lines. I felt a sudden, strong burst of affection for Dogma and the other troopers– these were probably the calmest, best nights of sleep they'd ever had. Going back to the war would be awful, now that they'd had a taste of near absolute peace.

Dogma blinked his eyes open blearily, sunlight catching on his eyelashes, and I smiled softly at him.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," I whispered to him, trying furiously to keep my fangirling under control. Honestly, the near-constant shrieking in the back of my head was just getting annoying at this point.

" Nooo... " Dogma whined softly. "Don't wanna. Too early."

I stifled a giggle as Dogma yawned massively, then smushed his face into my back again.

"Some of your brothers were giggling about something earlier," I told him. "Any idea what it was about?"

Dogma shrugged and hugged me tighter.

"You're cuddly this morning," I said. "Did the movie scare you or something?"

All at once, Dogma seemed to gain his composure back as he sat up quickly, withdrawing his hands from my waist. I propped myself up on my elbow, prompting a tired complaint from Tup.

"I'm sorry," Dogma said quickly. "I probably overstepped a boundary or something, but I was... kind of scared. By the movie. Because there were these sounds last night like there was something in the woods. It sounded like one of the monster things from the movie, and it was coming to kill me and my brothers, and–"

"Dogma," I interrupted. "It's okay . It's fine, and honestly, I enjoyed your hugs."

Dogma nodded sheepishly, avoiding eye contact. "What about the crashing in the woods, though?"

I grinned. "It's the woods of Washington state. It was probably snow falling off trees, or branches, or maybe a deer."

"How do you know, though?" Tup spoke up behind me, sitting up on the mattress. "It could've been, like, an Acklay or a Krykna."

"The most dangerous large animals we have in Washington are grizzly bears," I told them. "But you have no reason to worry about them while you're inside. It's incredibly rare for a grizzly bear to get inside a house, or to confront or attack a human for no reason."