Kix and Rex were walking down a hallway on the cruiser, talking casually. Kix finally worked up enough courage to tell his captain what happened last night. "So..." he started. "There's a bit of a situation..."
Rex rose an eyebrow, "What kind of situation?"
"I'm just gonna come out and say it." Kix put his hands together and it looked as if he was wringing them out. "Jesse knows about you and you-know-who."
Rex felt his stomach do a flip. "What? Kix!"
"I-I'm sorry, it just slipped out. And he had a suspicion anyway."
Rex combed his fingers through his buzzed hair, "Okay, no one else can know. It's going to spread like a wild fire if more people find out."
"I'm sorry, sir."
He took a breath and exhaled slowly, "It's fine, we understood what would happen and we knew the consequences. Look I have to go. Skywalker wants a sit-rep and I would've given him one yesterday, but... things happened."
"Mm-Hmm, and I—"
Kix was it interrupted by Rex's wrist comm beeping to life. Rex gave him a quick apologetic look and brought his wrist up, "Rex here."
"Hey, it's Ahsoka. I was wondering if you could tell Anakin I can't make it. I tried his comm but he wouldn't pick up."
"All right, I can do that. Just out of curiosity, why can't you come?" He asked.
Ahsoka hesitated for moment, "...I can't say. You suck at keeping secrets."
"Well I think I'm doing a pretty darn good job at keeping one right now. But yeah, sure, I'll tell him."
" 'Kay, thanks you're the best. And make sure not to tell anyone that the reason I'm not there is secret thing, okay? I'll talk to you soon. Love you."
"Mm, love you too. Bye." He signed off.
Kix gave him a smug expression and grin. Rex rolled his eyes. "Don't give me that look."
Kix just shrugged and they ended up going opposite directions when they came to a cross section. Rex continued walking and wondered what Ahsoka could be planning. She said it was secret, but it could be for anyone. He figured it wouldn't be for him since she never would've told him it was a secret. His comm beeped again, so he pressed the button.
"General." He acknowledged.
"Rex, are you on your way?"
"Yes, why?"
"Obi-Wan is always early, and today he's not. I need you to hurry you butt up so you can witness the first time he's been late to anything. This is going to be the greatest 'first' in the history of the galaxy." Anakin let out a quiet snicker.
"Uhh, okay?"
"Great. See you in a minute or so."
"All right, love you, bye." And he signed off once again.
Rex proceeded on walking down the hall and went through the events that had happened yesterday, mentally preparing himself. Of course, he wasn't there for most of it, so Cody was going to be there too and explain everything. He hadn't gotten word on Aayla or Plo either, so he hoped they were doing okay.
Rex had finally made it to the door and was about to open it when realization punch him in the gut. I told Skywalker I loved him. He backed up a few steps and grimaced. Anakin was probably just confused, but that didn't keep it from being embarrassing. Should he tell Ahsoka or not tell her? Rex just couldn't believe it. He obviously didn't love Anakin, but what should he say? That he didn't love him? That would be weird, and things were weird enough.
"Captain."
Rex flinched and saw Obi-Wan was next to him. "You seem troubled," He said.
Rex licked his dry lips, "Oh, I-I'm fine, sir."
Obi-Wan didn't believe it for a second. "...okay. I'll take your word for it." But he didn't want to pester Rex, especially if it was personal.
Rex slightly shook his head to shake the thoughts out and he opened the door, even though he did not want to. He kept his line of sight on the floor for a few paces and then looked up. Cody was already in the there, and he slightly shook his head at Rex. Anakin was next to Cody, both standing by the holotable. Anakin's expression, for a split second, was what looked like a mix of confusion and amusement.
He then looked at Obi-Wan and cracked a large grin, "So," he said, "what's your excuse?"
Obi-Wan rose an eyebrow, "For...?"
"Well," Anakin glanced at his chrono, "You're one minute and... seven seconds late, so therefore, for the first time in your life, you are late."
"Well, I do have a perfectly good excuse."
"Really? Then what is it?"
"Like I'd tell you. And we need to get focused at the situation at hand, which is the report."
"You're such a party pooper. But fine. Rex," Anakin said, "come here." Rex's heart skipped a beat. Oh no. But he did as he was told and he walked over next to Anakin, albeit, a little wary. "So, what is your side of the story when we got to Utapau." Anakin put his arm around the clone. "And, just for the record, I love you too, buddy."
Rex got out from under his arm and took a few steps back, "No, wait I didn't mean it— I mean-It slipped out and I..."
Anakin laughed. "It's fine, Rex. I'm assuming you just got done talking with Ahsoka before you said that?"
"Uhh." Rex swallowed hard. "Yeah."
"And you can drop that expression," Anakin let out a chuckle. "You look absolutely mortified. And speaking of Ahsoka, where is she?"
"She's doing stuff. She wouldn't go into detail about it though." Rex was now back to being a clone. A clone where you hide behind every neutral expression and act like a droid. He never liked doing it, but he was able to hide his true feelings and keep himself away from further embarrassment, especially when he saw Cody whispering in Obi-Wan's ear.
Cody stepped away and Obi-Wan cracked a small grin. "Okay," he said, hands now clasped in front of him. "Now that that's sorted, we should get down to business and stop tormenting Rex."
"Aww, fine." Anakin said. "Okay, now why are here? Oh. Yeah, I remember. Sit-rep. Co—" he was cut of by his comm. He sighed before bringing it up. "Hello?"
"Skywalker," came an incredibly soothing female voice, "It's Jammara. I need you to listen. As I was spying, I found that while General Grievous was in hiding, he was also planning to launch a massive attack on Coruscant. Thing is, the tactical droids know about his plans, so I will give you some coordinates and you need to destroy the buildings that are there, otherwise the droids could continue with that plan. And you need to destroy droid factories anyway, some are on this list. My associates and I are doing our best to do our part, but we're not invincible... and, if I'm being honest, we need help."
"An attack on Coruscant? Okay, I understand. I'll alert everyone and we'll get get down to business. Anything else I should know?"
"I'll give you more info soon, but right now I need to go. I'll alert you in a few hours if I get any more data." Jammara clicked off.
"Whelp, this meeting has ended early. Rex, you and Cody round up some troopers and sort the word, me and Obi-Wan will contact the Council."
Both Cody and Rex stood at attention and said, "Yes sir." Before leaving the room. Walking down the hallway, Cody accidentally let out a small snort. Rex rose an eyebrow, "Are you okay?" He asked.
"Me? I'm fine. I just find it funny that you told your general that you loved him." Cody shrugged.
"You need to see this at my level, then you'll understand how embarrassing it is."
"Wait, wait." Cody put his arm out to stop Rex and they stopped walking. He bent at the knees so that he was exactly Rex's height. He looked around, "Wow, everything's so big when I see it from your level."
"Make fun of my height one more time and I'll murder you in your sleep."
"That's a big threat coming from a tiny man."
Rex pressed his lips together. "I'm really fighting the urge to punch you."
"You're not tall enough to reach my face."
Rex slowly rose up to his tippy toes. "You were saying?"
Cody grinned and got on his tippy toes too, "I was saying that— OW! You hit me!"
Rex had given his brother a hard bop on the nose. "Don't be such a baby." He said. "You're lucky I didn't actually punch you."
Cody rubbed his nose and slightly scowled at him before they continued walking. "You're mean," He said.
"Oh, I'm the mean one? Really? 'Cos I highly doubt that."
"You know, we have more pressing matters, we should focus on that."
"Well you started it."
Cody rolled his eyes, "It's not my fault you're the one that's little."
"Ni cetar'narir gar'shebs."
"Watch your language."
"Shut up."
"Rex'ika."
"I'm serious."
Cody smirked, "What are you gonna do?"
Rex slapped Cody upside the head. "Stop being such a little shebs."
Cody did the same thing to Rex. "Only I'm allowed to do that."
A new voice cut in. "You two fight like an old married couple."
"Shut up, Fives!" the two said in synchrony.
Cody glanced at Rex and Rex just shrugged. They left their conversation at that. Yelling at Fives, but of course it wasn't an uncommon occurrence to pop up. Cody hoped the upcoming battles of destroying the factories and buildings would go well. But he didn't realize the changes it make for him, for better or for worse.