Rex was in the mess hall in the middle of the night. He wasn't able to fall asleep, so while he snacked on a few rations, he was getting caught up on his paperwork. As boring as it was, it as better than staring at the ceiling while waiting for the day to come again. He sighed and nibbled on a tasteless ration cube. It wasn't his favorite thing to eat, but it was substantial and it focused his mind on chewing rather than picking up a new bad habit out of boredom.
"You're here late," a voice came from behind.
Rex turned his body to face the person, "I could say the same to you,"
Anakin shrugged and walked over to a seat across from Rex. He sat down, "Couldn't sleep?"
Rex shook his head and set his datapad on the table, "Between my restlessness and the fact that Ahsoka kept elbowing me in her sleep, there was no way I could get any shut-eye,"
"Heh, yeah. I've just been nervous lately,"
"Padmé?"
"Yeah. I worry sometimes, like the fact that she has to keep up a cover as to why she's pregnant, and there's many other things that come with pregnancy, which I'm sure you'll figure out soon enough," Rex slightly flushed at that. "Anyway, what're you working on?"
"Oh, just some work I need to get caught up on. Reports mainly,"
"....yeah, I should really get working on mine, but it's terrible 'cause it's one of my least favorite things to do,"
"Mm-Hmm, mine too, but it's something that needs to be done,"
"Yeah, I guess so,"
Rex couldn't think of anything else to say, and Anakin didn't seem to want to say anything else, so he picked up his pad and continued working. It was an uncomfortable silence, and he hoped he wasn't the only one feeling like this. Usually Anakin would ramble on, but he wasn't. Rex figured he was tired and maybe his brain wasn't functioning normally, but, then again, his brain never functions normally. He glanced up at his general and smirked when he saw Anakin with his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands with his eyes closed.
He turned his attention back to the pad and continued working. But then he heard footsteps behind him and voice say, "Captain?"
"Hmm? Whatcha need, kid?" Rex didn't even look up from his datapad and he knew it was Tup. Tup came and sat next to him. Rex eyes widened as he saw the state his brother was in. He slowly turned his head, "What. The-,"
Tup held up a hand, "Don't even ask,"
"I-I wasn't going too...." Rex had to keep his laugh tucked away. Tup's hair was an absolute mess. It looked like a convor had tried to nest in his long hair, but failed miserably. What made it better was the fact that there were tons of little flowers in it as well. "Okay, I'm sorry, but what the kriff happened?"
"Well, I went to use the 'fresher and when I looked in the mirror I saw this," he vigorously motioned to his hair.
Rex chuckled, "Oh you are gonna have a hell of time getting all that untangled,"
"Yeah, tell me about it," he said unamused. "Hey, uh, what's with the general?"
"Oh, he's just tired —oh for the love of—," Echo now plopped down next to Anakin. Rex sighed, "Is everyone not able to sleep?"
Echo shrugged, "Fives is snoring so loud he sounds like a bantha in need of medical attention —OH MY G—," he bust into laughter startling Anakin awake. "Tup!" He laughed, "Your hair!"
Tup narrowed his eyes at his brother, "Ne shab'rud'ni (translation: Don't f*** with me), I'm in a bad mood,"
Rex gasped, "Tup, don't say that!" He said in a loud whisper. Anakin raised an eyebrow and very confused. Echo was now here, along with Tup who was looking... interesting, and Echo was laughing so hard tears were forming. "Are you okay?" Rex asked Echo.
"It's just-," he couldn't stop laughing, "I.... When I'm tired.... I act really high or drunk...."
Rex blinked a few times, "....Okay, Tup, you should fix all... that. And Echo, you need to.... I don't know, take a sleeping pill or something,"
Echo took some shuddering deep breaths to calm himself down. He wiped at his eyes to get rid of the remnants of tears and he sighed, "Ugh. Sorry. I guess I can become a bit of a dinii (lunatic) when I'm tired,"
"Clearly,"
Jesse suddenly appeared and he sat on the other side of Anakin. Rex sighed and threw up his hands, "We might as well invite the whole 501st down here. What's your excuse?"
"I was hungry," Jesse said and he looked at Echo, "Also I tried to stop Fives from snoring, apparently smothering him with a pillow doesn't work and- woah, what in the universe happened to Tup,"
Rex sighed once again, "Tup woke up like that, Echo couldn't sleep, Skywalker couldn't sleep, I couldn't sleep, and you couldn't sleep. Happy?"
"Someone's in a bad mood. May I?" Jesse gestured to the tray of rations in front of Rex.
"Knock yourself out,"
Jesse smirked and reached over to pull the tray over to him. He started to eat the few rations and Tup was trying to untangle his hair with his fingers, but it wasn't working too well. Rex couldn't take it any longer so he decided to start plucking the flowers from the hair of his vod'ika. There was so much. Whoever did this had to have patience as a super power or lightning speed to place all the flowers and tangle the hair. What. A. Mess.
The clones played such big pranks on each other, and they needed to cool down on them for a bit. With all the messes they've all had to clean, it's a wonder they still do it. They must be extremely bored to do this a lot. As funny as it was, some were less fun. But soon, Tup started to snicker a bit, "I can't believe I managed to sleep through what they did. Most likely Fives did it. Ooh he's dead,"
"You guys have gotta get him back for everything," Anakin said, "Maybe we could all come together and think of something. Maybe a whole collection of ideas,"
"Sure," Rex said, "but I should go—," he realized only two of them at the table knew about him and Ahsoka. "... uh, go back to my quarters," he said slowly. He turned to Tup, "Good luck with all that," he heard Echo snort with laughter, making him smirk, "I'll see you all later," he stood up and stepped over the bench and grabbed his datapad. He nodded at them all and turned away, hoping no one got any growing suspicions about why he was actually going. Rex just didn't want Ahsoka to wake up and find him not in bed and become worried.
He made it to his quarters and opened the door. It made a loud shhhh sound and he grimaced. He closed it again and bit his lip, not wanting to wake her up from her slumber. He carefully took off the few bits of armor he had on and he changed back into his night clothes, but left his shirt off. He gently climbed into bed and breathed quietly as he slipped between the covers. He settled in and felt Ahsoka's arms reach around him, "Where were you?" She slurred tiredly.
"I took a quick walk around, now go back to sleep," he put and arm around her and she rested her head against his chest, right over his beating heart.
"M'kay," she breathed.
Rex caressed her lekku and made it to her cool shoulders. He kissed the top of her head and sighed deeply. He looked back at the ceiling, and figured he wouldn't fall asleep, so he had a long night ahead of restlessness and staring off into space.