Note: Sorry, this one's a bit shorter.
As a man who had faced hundreds of thousands of droids, a fallen Jedi, poisonous gas, almost had his arm bitten and mauled off by a Mastiff Phalone, free-climbed a sheer cliff-side with lava boiling underneath, and thrown off a cliff by way of Force, Rex rarely considered himself lacking courage.
After listening to Ahsoka's plea to the Council, however, he turned tail and sought cover in the privacy of his room.
Not only did he did not want to hear what his men had to say about Ahsoka individually calling him out, Rex also needed to decompress.
He had recently realized just how good a friend Ahsoka was to him and how much she cared. It threw him for a loop.
What did it mean?
She obviously thought of him in a different way than the General did – thank goodness, because Rex didn't think he'd be able to deal with a tired and lost Anakin Skywalker coming to his door asking to stay overnight with him – but what did it mean?
Did she see him as just another one of her vod? Or was he something else to her?
Rex shook his head as he laid flat on his bed. It didn't matter. Even if she wasn't a Jedi anymore, he was still a clone, so it had to be against the regs.
And he was so obviously one to do everything by the regs.
Plus, it wasn't like he liked her like that. Right? She was just a friend. A really good, close, beautiful, sweet friend that he would take a blaster bolt for without a second thought and fit perfectly against him when they slept.
Rex groaned.
He needed to do something, and it wasn't like that pile of digital paperwork was going anywhere anytime soon.
Grabbing his datapad, the Captain did his best to drown himself in mind numbing GAR forms.
That was until he heard a knock on his door about an hour and a half, two hours later. Rex was almost impressed Fives restrained himself that long.
Still, though, he refused to deal with the ARC trooper tonight.
He didn't even bother getting out of bed, just bellowed towards the door. "Fives, if that's you, you're gonna wish the Seppies got you first."
The response he got in return was not what he was expecting at all. "Cute, Captain, but I don't think the clankers would stand a chance against me."
Her voice sounded so drowsy, but his brain had short circuited. "Shavit," he said under his breath as he rolled out of bed and dropped the datapad in his chair.
He tried to take a breath like he had seen her do when she was stressed before he opened the door, a hand scratching his neck. "Uh, hey, Ahsoka."
Smooth.
He watched her as her droopy blue eyes expressed her exasperation.
"Hey to you too, Rex. And I'm gonna tell you now, if you don't explain why the boys are looking at me like I grew a fourth lekku tomorrow, you're going to regret it." Ah, yes, because she looked so intimidating falling asleep where she stood.
"Right now, though, I'm dead on my feet and your room was closer, so if you don't mind, I think I'm gonna bunk over again."
Rex didn't know if his pounding heartbeat was trying to tell him that he was pleased or moments away from having a heart attack.
But it wasn't like he was going to turn her down. Besides, she really did look tired.
"Oh, um, no, I don't mind. My bed is always open for you."
Welp. That just about settled it. He was never going to be able to look Ahsoka in the eyes again. Ever.
He didn't know what it was about her, but, recently, as soon as she got near him, his capacity to not be a di'kut became exceptionally small.
She had to be using a Jedi mind trick or something.
"Thanks, Rexter."
He felt her briefly up against him as she glided past and flopped herself on his bed.
Had her meeting with the Council really made her that tired? It really wasn't even that late. Because when he said flop, that was exactly what he meant.
She was on 'her' side of his small bed, facing the wall, but she hadn't even bothered taking anything off.
He shook his head at how that sounded in his head. Rex just hoped she was that forgetful in the morning. Shutting the door as he finally regained his bearings, the solider walked over to sit on the edge of the bed and stared down at her.
Her lekku looked so inviting, and he remember how they had felt against his face when he had first woken up. Rex delicately laid a hand on the one closest to him and marveled at the contradicting texture of it. Both firm, but so soft.
He shook his head knowing he should stop. While Ahsoka definitely didn't mind him touching her, that didn't mean he could... do that without permission.
So, instead, the clone leaned down to untied her boots for her, pulling one off and setting it on the ground. Then the other. Next came her lightsabers. He carefully unhooked them from her belt and laid them in a bottom drawer that held his few personal belongings.
He didn't feel like becoming a skewered clone overnight.
Ahsoka had not even budge for the entirety of his process and when he reached over her to undo her wrist comm, it was no different.
Rex sat it on top of her lightsabers.
She was on the blanket, so there wasn't much he could do about that but quickly jerk it out from underneath her and hoped she didn't feel it.
Nothing.
Laying the cloth over her, Rex debated about trying to finish his work – he was almost done – or just going to bed.
The latter option won out. He didn't think he would be able to concentrate with her in the room with him.
He had taken his pauldron, kama, and the upper half of his armor off when there was another knock at the door. And it sounded distinctly like the General, causing Rex to panic.
But it wasn't like he could just ignore the Jedi. Skywalker could probably use the Force or some other unfortunate poodoo to tell that he was in his room. Plus, there was fact that the man was still his General.
So, he put on his most blank face and opened the door, hoping against hope the older – younger? – man wouldn't notice the sleeping Togruta in his bed. "General Skywalker."
The man was already looking over his shoulder before he had begun, eyes landing on the only bright spot in his room. And he would have been blind to not see that his Captain was in notably less white and blue than he was earlier.
His eyebrows raised a bit, and a smirk grew on his face, causing Rex to feel extremely worried. "Sir, I can expl-"
"No, don't worry about it, Captain. When Obi-Wan commed me to tell me Snips should be aboard by now, and I didn't find her in her room, I assumed she was here. Of which I am glad of."
Rex was sick of blushing. Stuttering, he tried to clarify again, because that knowing gleam in his General's eye told Rex that Skywalker really didn't understand.
"No – Sir, I appreciate that you trust me with her, but I swear, this isn't what it looks like. Really, we're just sleeping together. Tha-"
Rex wanted to blast something, and his frustration must have shown on his face, because the Jedi only grinned wider. "Sir, that's not what I meant either. Well, I guess that – I just meant that we are sleeping. In the same bed, but nothing else. Just the most literal meaning of the word sleeping."
The Captain could tell that the General was just letting him dig his grave for his own amusement. "Whatever you say, Rex. I'm going to head out now, so I leave you two to... sleep."
And with that, he turned around and walked off, but Rex couldn't let it go and tried calling after him.
"Wait – no, General," but the man in question just turned the corner without looking back.
If he had long enough hair, the clone was pretty sure he would have pulled it all out by now. He growled and hit the shut button angrily.
Kriffing fantastic, now his General thought he and his CO were sleeping together. In a less than literal sense.
And that he approved almost made it worse.
Not knowing what else to do, Rex just finished jerkingly de-kitting and left it in a pile on his chair. All he wanted to do was –
Sighing, he finally acknowledged the futility of the situation.
Because all he really wanted to do was go to sleep next to his Commander.