Chapter Text
The vode never had a lot in life.
Raised for war, they had no money, no childhood, no purpose besides to die. For that reason, they held everything they owned close to their chest. Their trinkets stolen from the longnecks and trainers, the paint on their armor, their bodies, their numbers, their names.
But more than anything, they kept their love to themselves. Affection was seen as a sign of weakness from the longnecks, so the vode kept it quiet. In front of the Kaminoans, they hated one another; competing in training, fighting in the halls, acting more animal than human. But within their bunks and quarters, they were soft. They fell asleep in vod piles, they offered comfort after night terrors, they helped one another train to not fall behind (to not fall in the scientists’ radar).
Within the safety of their quarters, the clones were brothers. It was the one thing they could truly have for themselves.
The vode had so little to give, yet so much to keep.
- - -
CC-2224 knew what he was expecting when it came to the Jedi.
Like the rest of his vode, he was debriefed on the basics back on Kamino - The Jedi were near godlike beings with mystical powers that allow them to read your mind and crush your body into a pulp. They were unfeeling, emotionless creatures that would lead their men into the war - the war they were created for (the war that they never wanted to be in).
But CC-2224 was more than a soldier. He was commander of the 212th battalion, and marshall commander of the entire karking GAR. So like any responsible commander, he dove deep into the Holonet (with additional amounts of hacking into the Jedi archives) for more information.
CC-2224 would be serving underneath High General Kenobi, a Stewjoni in his mid-thirties with quite a number of accomplishments underneath his name. He was the youngest member of the Jedi Council, one of the best duelists in the temple - infamous for his masterful control over the defensive form of Soresu, succeeded in countless rescue missions, and has led countless negotiations, earning the moniker of “The Silver-tongued Negotiator.” He was known as one of the sharpest minds of the Jedi Temple, cunning and quick-witted, and CC-2224 couldn’t help the small bit of relief he felt at the statement. It wasn’t the violent generals that led men to ruin but the uneducated ones, those who stumbled when faced with broken expectations and froze in the heat of battle.
Kenobi was first apprenticed under a Jedi named Qui-Gon Jinn before an (unfortunately redacted) mission on the planet of Melida/Daan led to Kenobi being transferred under Wolffe’s general: a Kel Dor by the name of Plo Koon. (For his brother’s sake, CC-2224 tried to dig into Plo Koon’s records but didn’t find anything of interest. He sent the files to CC-3636 anyways). Kenobi himself had one apprentice: General Anakin Skywalker of the 501st.
From what CC-2224 could tell from the mission reports, Skywalker could be an issue. He was impulsive and quick-tempered, with a habit of disobeying orders and running headfirst into battle without a care in the world. A majority of the mission reports referenced some kind of explosion, and really, how the kark was one of his report papers physically burnt off at the corners? His track record was impressive of course, but CC-2224 couldn’t help but wonder if half of the success simply came from working alongside Kenobi. Since General Skywalker was still only a knight, the two battalions would be working together more often than not - a fact that soothed something inside of CC-2224.
After meeting with his batchmates - his fellow commanders, his brothers - they confirmed their firm expectations about the Jedi - that it was their job to keep their brothers safe from both the Separatists and the Jedi, that the Jedi would leave them to fend for themselves by the end of the war, that when it came down to it, it was the vode against the galaxy.
CC-2224 knew what he expected from the Jedi, but Cody wasn’t prepared for how many of those expectations they would break.
Cody wasn’t prepared for General Skywalker and his reckless but efficient plans. He wasn’t prepared for the protective rage in his eyes as he nearly fistfought the natborn who dared call Rex a “flesh droid.” He wasn’t prepared for the jokes and quips the Jedi would throw back and forth at his men. He wasn’t prepared for the pranks General Skywalker would encourage and even join in. Cody wasn’t prepared for Rex to look him dead in the eyes and declare that General Skywalker was his.
Cody wasn’t prepared for General Plo and his obvious care for the vode. He wasn’t prepared for the blankets, books, games, gym equipment - anything that the general claimed would make the vode “feel more comfortable during their travels.” He wasn’t prepared for the firm yet comforting grip on his shoulders, the way the Kel Dor memorized the name of every single clone, even the ones not in his battalion. Cody wasn’t prepared to find General Plo in the center of a 104th vod pile, Cody’s most temperamental and aggressive brother fast asleep by his side. Cody wasn’t prepared for Wolffe to proudly declare his general as “General Buir,” and he certainly wasn’t prepared for the way the nickname would travel across the GAR.
But more than that, Cody wasn’t prepared for Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan, and the way he didn’t hesitate to throw himself into harm’s way just to protect a clone who was supposed to be expendable. Obi-Wan, and the way he sat with the vode during lunch instead of the natborn mess hall. Obi-Wan, and the way he took the time to introduce himself to every clone. Obi-Wan, and the way he treated the vode like they were actually people.
Obi-Wan, and the way his eyes lit up when Cody told him his name. Obi-Wan, and the way he scrunched his nose when he was concentrating. Obi-Wan, and his unnecessary robe drops and dramatic yet elegant flips and spins during battle. Obi-Wan, and his never-ending sarcasm and dry humor. Obi-Wan, and his dazzling smile and fiery red hair.
Obi-Wan, and the way he made Cody fall in love within only a few months.
- - -
No, none of the vode could’ve expected the Jedi. But as the commanders met at 79's, they all agreed on one thing.
The vode had very little to give, but they had enough to give for their Jedi.
The Jedi were under their protection, and every single clone would gladfully give their lives to make sure the Jedi saw the end of the war. Of course, they could never tell their Jedi this. All of the vode knew of the Jedi’s rule of attachment, and the last thing they wanted was to push their Jedi away with their love. So they learned how to love from afar - how to express affection by staying up late to finish reports together, always making sure their Jedi ate, not disturbing them while meditating. They showed their love on the battlefield, learning how to fight side-by-side as if they’ve been fighting together their whole lives (for the shinies, this was especially true). The vode learned how to love oh so quietly so that their Jedi may never know.
For their Jedi, they would give their love away.
Just this once.
- - -
Naturally, all of Cody’s problems started with Skywalker.
(Technically, it was Rex who started the whole debacle, but in Cody’s eyes, Rex could do no wrong).
The generals had just finished reporting their latest mission to the council, with Rex and Cody standing guard by the doors. The council dismissed one by one until only General Plo was left, looking at General Kenobi with a fond expression. Kenobi sighed, brushing the soot off his very burned, semi-torn robes. General Skywalker - who Cody was sure still had a few strands of hair on fire - stood in the back, holding Commander Tano by the ankles and shaking the ash off her while she laughed loudly.
Ahsoka Tano had arrived on the battlefield a year into the war. She had simply appeared on the landing strip with a message from General Yoda stating that she was to be Skywalker’s padawan. Cody couldn’t help but gawk at the child. She barely looked old enough to be out of training, let alone fighting in a war. Cody had to catch Rex from fainting as General Skywalker went off, loudly proclaiming that there had to be a mix-up, he couldn’t possibly take on a padawan (Cody couldn’t help but agree with the notion - he couldn’t count the number of times General Kenobi had to remind the poor man to eat or drink water).
Kenobi, however, had gone silent.
While Skywalker was far louder with his emotions, Kenobi had subtle habits that exposed his true feelings - a small quirk in his lips when he was happy, hands folded into his sleeves when he was anxious, the corner of his lips slightly frowned when he was displeased, a quiet huff when he was absolutely furious - and Cody held all of Kenobi’s habits close to his chest. But never once had Cody been unable to read his general, and the sight of Kenobi’s blank face left Cody reeling.
That night, Kenobi didn’t make it to the mess hall for dinner. Cody had stood in front of the doors to his quarters, holding cold rations as he listened to Kenobi’s muffled yet undeniable fury as he berated Master Yoda, the Jedi council, and even the Republic itself. That night, General Plo had appeared out of nowhere, taking the tray from Cody’s hands as he thanked the commander for taking care of the general, before opening the doors with the Force. Cody had taken one look at his general, curled up in a ball on the floor of his quarters, shaking, before he bolted.
(Cody couldn’t help the raw guilt that flooded his chest at leaving his general like that, but something told him that he would only be intruding).
After that, General Plo and Kenobi both took it upon themselves to help Skywalker with Ahsoka’s training. They taught Ahsoka what Skywalker was either too busy or too impatient to teach, with Kenobi busying himself in their downtime with creating lesson plans and demonstrations for the young padawan. General Plo didn’t have the luxury of constantly working alongside the 501st, but he made up for lost time whenever the two battalions met on Coruscant or had a joint mission.
The two generals had constant check-ins with the girl over her physical and mental health to the point that Ahsoka would complain about how overbearing they were and she could take care of herself and shouldn’t they be fighting in a war right now?
Rex told Cody that at some point, General Skywalker had pulled Ahsoka aside and told her to let them do their thing, because this was “personal” to them. (Cody almost wished Rex had pushed harder for what made it so personal, but Cody couldn’t even bring himself to ask his own general about it.)
A buzz from his pocket pulled him out of his thoughts. Cody took out his comm only for his head to whip around and stare at Rex from across the room, who was giving him a smug look from under his helmet (helmet reading was simply a vode skill, Cody himself perfected the art of expressing every single emotion he felt with only a tilt in his helmet).
COMMAND BATCH CHAT + ITTY BITTY BABY REX
The Child: send help cody is staring at his general again
Commander Kenobi: No, I wasn’t. I was going over mission details and simply had my helmet facing the general.
Commander Kenobi: Who the KARK changed my name.
Buir’s Favorite: what? Is that not how you sign your diary?
Lake: LMAOOOOO
Aayla Lover 9000: Mans got a bright pink glitter pen too
Ankle Biter: Bsfr this man has color coded spreadsheets of his future wedding
Commander Kenobi: I hate all of you. Gree is my new favorite.
Green: Ew tf
“...Captain?”
Rex’s helmet snapped up from his comm, staring at the hologram of General Plo. Cody didn’t need the Force to feel the embarrassment radiating off his form. Cody smirked. Serves that kriffer right.
“I’m sorry, what was that, General Buir?”
The room went silent. Tano fell onto the ground as Skywalker dropped her, a wide grin slowly spreading on his face. General Kenobi simply looked amused as Rex panicked, throwing his hands in front of him.
“PLO-I meant General Plo’buir, no-”
General Plo said nothing, simply staring at the stuttering captain. Cody felt himself pale, the nickname was supposed to be a secret for kark’s sake. Cody doesn’t believe General Plo would get upset at the obvious attachment, but he might distance himself from the vode, and then Wolffe would make it everyone’s problem, especially Cody’s.
General Plo suddenly cocked his head to the side, a soft trilling noise began to flow out of his mask. General Kenobi’s head snapped back to the Kel Dor as his face dropped, his lips mouthing a small oh no…
“Do you see me as a parent, Rex?” There was a melodic undertone to the Kel Dor’s words that made both clones pause. It sounded entrancing in a way, like a song begging to be heard. Before Rex could defend himself, this time it was Skywalker who spoke up.
“Uh, duh. All the vode call you buir. I thought that was common knowledge.” Cody watched as Rex waved his hand in front of his neck, the universal sign to shut the kark up. Skywalker, as usual, ignored him. “Almost half the GAR has a picture of you inside their helmets, hell, after you sent that last round of blankets, I’ve even had my men call you buir to my face. I don’t mind though, you give off super duper dad vibes. I’m more of the cool, older brother.”
Ahsoka wrinkled her nose from where she still sat on the ground. “Ew, only uncool people have to call themselves cool.” Skywalker made an offended noise as he tried to defend himself, starting a small bout of bickering between the two Jedi.
“Cody, is this true?”
Cody took a moment to regain his composure as he turned back to the Kel Dor, nodding slowly.
“Yes sir. I apologize if it makes you uncomfortable in any way. I know there’s the whole Jedi attachment thing and if needed, I can absolutely have my vode stop calling you that and-” Cody was interrupted by the Kel Dor squawking.
Like, legitimate, tooka-esque squawking.
Both of the clones’ mouths dropped open as the Kel Dor began to vibrate, his claws clacking together as he fiddled with them. Obi-Wan threw his hands up, seemingly trying to comfort the Kel Dor over the holo.
“Jaieh, no. We are in the middle of a war, you cannot be doing this right now-”
“Excuse me, my dears! I believe I need to begin preparations. Toodle-oo!” With that, the Kel Dor logged off, leaving a stuttering Kenobi and a cackling Skywalker. Ahsoka looked at Skywalker as if he lost his marbles (Cody could agree) as Kenobi rubbed his hands over his face, sighing.
“Oh Force, Jaieh Windu is going to lose his shit! I can’t wait to see the look on his face when Ponds gets stolen from right under his nose!”
“Wha-stolen???” Rex looked back and forth between the two generals. Kenobi gave him an apologetic look, smudging the soot on his face as he brought his hands down (Cody fought against the urge to walk over and help him clean off, to hold his face in his gloves as he gets a rag and-)
“Yes, well, you and all of the vode are now getting adopted. Congratulations.”
The room was silent except for Skywalker’s boisterous laughter. And then, Cody and Rex yelled at the same time.
“We’re WHAT?”
“HUH.”
Kenobi chuckled as he put his arms into his sleeves and stood up straight. Cody immediately recognized this as his Lecturing Posture™ as he slipped the helmet off his head, motioning for Rex to do the same.
“Kel Dors have a similar culture to Mandalorians, in the way that they both have a deep love for children. Except while it is more of a social value for Mandalorians, for Kel Dors it is instinctual. They have this special ability to find any child within a ten foot radius and automatically try to claim them as their’s.”
Skywalker raised his hand. “I can confirm, I was a personal victim!!!” Kenobi nodded seriously as Ahsoka stared at her master, gobsmacked.
“Master Plo Found you too????” Skywalker nodded.
“Yep, he stole me and ran. I’m pretty sure Obi-Wan has the holo.” At that, Obi-Wan huffed in amusement.
“I was also taken in by Plo, though there’s no need to go into the details of that. Of course, you and the vode might have it far worse than we did.” At the clones’ blank looks, Kenobi gave a smile that showed off his fangs (and Cody really shouldn’t find that as attractive as he does).
“Rex, my dear, you just let it slip to a Kel Dor empty nester that he has over one billion children who see him as a father. Not only that, but you let it be known that you were hiding your feelings from him. I’m afraid with how his instincts are through the roof right now, you all may be swaddled up and taken out of the war.”
Oh no, it was worse than he thought. They just activated the general’s instincts without his consent. What if the general didn’t actually see them as children but it was only his instincts that made him believe he did? What if the Kel Dor gets attached??? Rex seemed to have the same thoughts as he gave a pale look to Cody.
“So, how do we fix it? At Kenobi’s questioning look, Cody continued. “His instincts, is there some kind of medicine we should get him? Some kind of suppressors?” At that, Skywalker let out a loud cackle.
“Oh there’s no stopping him now. The last person who tried to stop his instincts was sent flying through a wall.”
Rex paled further as Kenobi looked away, muttering something about how Master Jinn absolutely deserved it (and where did Cody remember that name from?) Cody tried to calm his racing heart. A Jedi Master got attacked because of instincts??? Oh god, this must be why attachment is illegal for Jedi. It makes them overly aggressive and lose control of their instincts! What happens if they lose control of their Force abilities? Can that even happen??
Before Cody could have a panic attack, he felt a distinct vibration from his comm. He shared a glance with Rex before grabbing his comm to look at the chat.
COMMAND BATCH CHAT + ITTY BITTY BABY REX
Buir’s Favorite: CODY WHAT THE KARK DID YOU DO TO MY GENERAL
Lake: Hello????
Aayla Lover 9000: ??????
Green: lmao
Buir’s Favorite: HE RAN INTO THE BUNKS
Buir’s Favorite: PULLED THEM ALL DOWN WITH HIS BARE CLAWS
Buir’s Favorite: AND USED HIS FORCE OSIK TO MAKE A GIANT NEST IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM
Buir’s Favorite: AND THEN HE KRIFFING SUMMONED THE WHOLE BATTALION INTO THE NEST
Buir’s Favorite: WE HAD VODE FALLING OUT OF THIN AIR CODY
Buir’s Favorite: I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW HE COULD DO THAT
Buir’s Favorite: NOW HE’S AT MY SIDE NUZZLING ME LIKE A DAMN TOOKA
Anke Biter: ….what the fuck
Green: is he high? I need some of that lowkey
Aayla Lover 9000: I showed this to Aayla and she fell on the floor laughing
Green: Aayla
Ankle Biter: Aayla
Lake: Aayla
Aayla Lover 9000: fuck off.
Buir’s Favorite: CODY HE’S KARKING PURRING HOLY SHIT
Anke Biter: …like a tooka?
Buir’s Favorite: LIKE A TOOKA.
Lake: My general read this and said
Lake: “FUCK NO NOT AGAIN”
Commander Kenobi: Ah.
Commander Kenobi: Rex called him General Buir…
Green: holy osik
Ankle Biter: knew he was gonna be the first to break
Lake: damn glad that ain’t me
The Child: it gets worse.
Commander Kenobi: Skywalker then elaborated and told Plo we ALL call him Buir
Buir’s Favorite: …..
Lake: ….
Aayla Lover 9000: ….
Ankle Biter: …..
Green: ….
Commander Kenobi: And now he’s on an instinctive rampage believing we’re his neglected children, and he’s planning on adopting all of us.
Buir’s Favorite: …..
Lake: ….
Aayla Lover 9000: ….
Ankle Biter: …..
Green: ….
Buir’s Favorite: Rex, I’m gonna kill your general.
The Child: ….yeah okay
Buir’s Favorite: And then you’re next.
The Child: ….understandable