Jessix Week

“It’s been an honour to take your place, Captain,” Jesse put in, “I… just hope I’m an adequate substitute.”

He laughed awkwardly, somewhat forcedly, and Rex smiled - it was faint, but it was genuine.

“You’re more than adequate,” he said, “I meant what I said before. You’re doing great, Captain.”

That finally broke Jesse’s resolve, and his eyes welled with tears that he tried frantically to blink away, with little success. Rex rolled his eyes affectionately.

“Oh, c’mere Jesse.” He laughed weakly, grabbing Jesse by the arm and pulling him into a fierce hug, which Sister and Kix quickly joined.

The four of them stayed like that for what felt like a very long time, their arms wrapped tightly around each other.

“I’ve missed you all so much.” Rex whispered finally.

“We’ve missed you too, Captain.” Kix replied raspily.

“You don’t need to call me that anymore.” Rex said with a shaky chuckle.

“We know,” Sister murmured, “but we’re gonna do it anyway. You’re still our Captain.”

“Always will be.” Jesse mumbled tearfully into Rex’s shoulder.

“Alright,” Rex cleared his throat with another laugh that was bordering on a sob, “before we get too sappy here-”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Sister cut him off playfully before he could wiggle out of the group hug, and Kix felt her arms squeeze a little tighter. Then, in a softer, slightly more hollow - perhaps even desperate - tone, she added, “not yet.”

Rex sniffed.

“Okay,” he said, “just… promise me you’ll take extra good care of Echo now that he’s back. I know you will anyway-”

“We wouldn’t do anything otherwise,” Kix interrupted him fiercely, “he’ll get the best care possible, Rex, I swear.”

Rex seemed mildly taken aback by the intense dedication in his voice.

“Thank you,” he breathed, and Kix could feel a lot of the tension he’d been holding rolling out of his body, “I can’t think of any Clones better than the three of you to lead the 501st.”

“Besides you.” Sister pointed out with a snicker.

“Stop.” Rex choked, almost pleadingly.

It was time for the hug to end. It probably should’ve ended a while ago.

It was still a long time before any of them let go.

“I have something to give Echo.” Sister murmured.

Rex and Ahsoka had left Coruscant about an hour ago, and she, Jesse, and Kix had retreated to her commander’s quarters to process that - and the entirety of this mission, really - in private.

“I didn’t tell Rex,” she went on, uncharacteristically nervous as Kix and Jesse glanced at each other and then back at her, “I wasn’t sure how he’d feel about it, but… I’m sure you both will understand.”

Without waiting for either of them to speak, she stood and crossed the small room to her desk - which Jesse was currently sitting on - and pulled a small metal crate from beneath it.

Kix had seen that crate every time he’d been in Sister’s quarters - even before she’d become a commander, she’d kept it under her bed in the bunks as an ARC trooper. She’d had it for so long that Kix couldn’t even remember when he’d first noticed it, and he and Jesse had never asked about it, silently agreeing that she’d talk about it if she wanted to.

Sister had brought the crate over to her bed now, and Kix and Jesse both came closer as she opened it and pulled a round, white, dented object from inside.

Kix had to stifle a gasp.

“That’s-” Jesse began in shock.

“Echo’s old helmet.” Sister filled in, turning the polished helmet over in her hands and looking at it with a mournful expression.

She must have cleaned it up after she’d found it and not touched it since for it to be in such good condition. It even looked like she’d touched up the paint a little bit.

“And I don’t wanna hear it,” she said quickly as Kix opened his mouth, “yes, I know going back for it was dangerous and stupid. The Citadel was crawling with droids and I barely got outta there without getting caught. I was going to leave it on neutral ground just outside where we camped out in those caves, but…”

She trailed off, and a brief memory came to Kix then. The horrible shock of that battle, the unbelievable denial he’d felt - Echo couldn’t be gone, he couldn’t be, not Echo. He remembered how cold those caves had been, and damp. He remembered hearing Fives sobbing from somewhere around a bend in the tunnel as Rex and Cody tried to soothe him, despite how utterly futile that seemed.

But he also suddenly remembered something he hadn’t fully registered at the time; with his head rested on Jesse’s shoulder, wondering where Sister had gone to, and suddenly spotting her sneaking in with something charred and black under her arm, too far away for Kix to make out what it was.

He hadn’t thought much of it then, too full of numbing grief to question anything, but now it all made sense what Sister had been doing that day.

“But you couldn’t.” He finished for her, and Sister nodded wearily, still not taking her eyes off Echo’s helmet and holding it so delicately in her hands, like she was afraid it would shatter.

“I know we’re meant to leave our brother’s helmets where they fall,” she said quietly, “if we can, of course. I felt Echo deserved more than just having his helmet left on the battlefield. He deserved proper remembrance. But by the time I got back to camp I found myself running to hide it in a crate instead, I just couldn’t leave it behind, it felt like I was abandoning our baby brother.”

Kix’s eyes stung with tears. She was exactly right, that was how he’d felt too.

“We’re not mad at you, Sister.” Jesse said gently, resting a hand on Sister’s cheek as she turned to look at him.

“I know you aren’t,” she sighed, though relief had flooded her gaze and she had finally allowed the faintest hint of her radiant smile to shine through her sorrow, “and I’m sure Rex wouldn’t be either, none of us wanted to accept that Echo was gone.”

“It’s a good thing we never did.” Kix murmured, and Sister and Jesse both turned to grin at him.

“C’mon,” Sister gave a slight laugh, “let’s go give this back to him, welcome him back into the 501st.”

Echo and Fives were curled up asleep together in the bunks, under the blanket Lionel and General Skywalker had brought them.

Kix could tell Sister hated to wake them, but she did so gently so neither of them would be startled.

However, Echo’s eyes still snapped open at the sound of his name, and he struggled to rise to his feet, seeming to have forgotten about his missing legs.

“Commander,” he began urgently as Fives blearily opened his eyes mid-snore.

“No need to get up, Echo,” Sister murmured quickly, “both of you, stay put. We’re just here to give you something.”

“Give me…?” Echo repeated, confused, as Sister moved aside.

His eyes fell on his old helmet, held by Kix and Jesse together, their fingers intertwined in the back. Echo squinted in the lowlight, before a small smile began to spread across his face.

“You kept my-?” He started.

“Why didn’t you tell ME you had that?!” Fives interrupted loudly.

“Shush,” Echo huffed, nudging him, “let me see it!”

He extended his one hand to Jesse and Kix, and they both knelt down to his level, holding the helmet and allowing Echo to touch it as his eyes filled with awe.

“I did my best to restore it to its former glory,” Sister murmured awkwardly as she watched him with tender fondness, “I couldn’t get all the dents and marks out, but I-”

“The paint’s a little off.” Echo commented, seemingly without thinking, and Sister blinked.

“It’s… huh?”

“I typically used to water mine down to get a lighter shade,” Echo explained. Then he glanced up at her somewhat sheepishly. “Shit, did that sound ungrateful? Cuz I’m not, this is the best thing ever, I promise.”

But Sister had already given in to a bout of chuckles, tilting her head back.

Kix could never resist that beautiful, hearty laugh of hers, it was too damn contagious, and it didn’t take long for him and Jesse to start laughing too.

That was the thing with Kix - he tended to get so hyperfocused on a task that it was nearly impossible to snap him out of it. Jesse and Sister had tried so many things to get him to stop fussing over the tiniest details, but nothing worked. It was just who Kix was.

“If you’re sure…” Jesse mused quietly.

Kix didn’t even respond, his full attention now given to the datapad in his hands, cutely chewing his lip and brown eyes flicking back and forth as he scanned the patient notes on the screen.

Feeling mischievous, Jesse decided to test out something he’d never tried before.

He casually sidled up behind Kix, trying to walk as quietly as possible so he could take him by surprise, glancing around the room as he did so to see if anyone else was watching.

Across the medbay, he made eye contact with Rex, who was standing beside an injured shiny - probably giving them a little pep talk as they recovered from what was likely their first ever severe injury.

Jesse couldn’t help but grin when Rex looked at him, and the captain’s expression became stern when he recognized the fact that Jesse was up to something.

“Lieutenant,” he began warningly - he always addressed troopers by rank rather than name when he was scolding them.

It was already too late, however, as Jesse had already latched onto Kix’s sides and given his ribs an experimental squeeze.

The next second, he was on the floor with a big black splotch over half of his vision, which he realized was his hand covering his left eye. The second after that was when the pain hit, radiating in waves through the whole left half of his face, and he let out a groan, scrunching up his nose as he slowly sat up.

“Kix…” he mumbled, bewildered and still putting together what the hell had just happened in his head.

“Jesse!” Kix snapped back, sounding equally perplexed, “what the hell are you doing?! I could’ve just knocked you out!”

“You punched me?” Jesse practically squeaked, not sure if he was just surprised that Kix had done it or if his brain was still catching up and hadn’t realized that fact yet.

“It was a reflex!” Kix exclaimed, immediately kneeling beside Jesse and gently pulling his hand away from his face, “that’s gonna swell, you’ve already got bruising-”

“You punched me?” Jesse repeated, less confused and more incredulous this time.

“You might’ve given him brain damage too, Kix.” Rex muttered from across the room, and the shiny in the cot next to him snickered.

“I’m sorry,” Kix sighed in irritation, though the way he couldn’t quite meet Jesse’s eyes made it clear that he genuinely felt guilty, “don’t sneak up on me like that again, you scared me!”

“I scared you?” Jesse echoed, this time with a bit of a laugh in his voice as Kix stood up and quickly returned to his side with a cold compress, which he immediately pressed over Jesse’s eye, “all I did was tickle you.”

Kix’s mouth set itself in a firm, uncomfortable line, though his face also turned a little red.

“Well I wasn’t expecting it,” he mumbled, “you caught me off guard.”

Jesse was chuckling now.

“You’re ticklish.” He teased, reaching to try and poke Kix’s side again. Kix swatted him away.

“Stop moving,” he said, “and that’s really not that shocking - any medic in the GAR who’s ever done an examination will tell you that all Clones are at least a little ticklish somewhere. You should know that too, considering the amount of times I’ve treated your nosebleeds after someone accidentally kicked you in the face.”

“I’ve never been punched in the eye before, though.” Jesse laughed, still a little blown away by the fact that Kix had actually just done that to him.

“I said I was sorry.” Kix half-hissed, half-whimpered. Oh, this was really eating him up, Jesse could already tell.

“Hey, I’m not mad at you,” he chuckled, though he softened his tone to let Kix know he meant it, “this is hilarious!”

“You won’t think that if it turns out I gave you a concussion.”

“You didn’t give me a concussion, I didn’t hit my head on anything!”

“The fact that you think that’s the only way you can get a concussion is what worries me, Jesse. How do you feel?”

“Like I got punched in the face.”

“Jesse. I’m serious, do you feel dizzy? Nauseous? Is your vision blurry or doubled?”

“I’m fine, Kix.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“No! To all three! I’m alright, you don’t need to panic.”

“I’m not panicking, I’m doing my job.”

“Well your hands are shaking.”

Kix finally paused then as he seemed to realize Jesse was right, squeezing his free hand into a fist and releasing while his other hand still held the cold pack over Jesse’s eye.

“Jesse, I’m so sorry.” He sighed, rubbing his face with a mixture of embarrassment and shame.

“And I told you I’m not mad,” Jesse reassured him again, reaching to take his hand so he could look into his face with at least one eye, “seriously, this is funny to me! It might be the funniest thing that’s happened to me all week!”

“Normally if a patient said that after a blow to the head I’d be worried,” Kix murmured, rolling his eyes, “but the fact that it’s you saying it makes me less worried. For some reason.”

“Cuz you know me so well?” Jesse drawled, attempting to lean in for a kiss, but Kix’s hand pressing the cold pack into his face - which, for the record, still hurt like a bitch - forced him to stop, and he winced.

“Idiot.” Kix scoffed quietly, though there was plenty of affection in his voice.

“I wouldn’t be name-calling if I were you,” Jesse taunted, “I know your little secret now.”

“Not much of a secret.” Kix mumbled.

“Then you won’t mind me telling anyone else? Like Sister, maybe?”

For a fraction of a second, Kix’s eyes flashed with anxiety - it was quick, but Jesse saw it, and he couldn’t help but grin.

“I don’t care.” Kix replied evenly, staring a little too directly into Jesse’s eyes.

“You sure?” Jesse pressed mischievously.

“Quite.” Kix said curtly.

Jesse raised his eyebrows (or one eyebrow, the other didn’t seem to want to cooperate between the swelling, the pain, and the cold pack still pressed against it) and shrugged.

“Okay then.” He murmured nonchalantly.

Telling Sister was the first thing he was going to do once Kix let him leave, and he couldn’t wait to see her reaction.

A little bit later, Jesse found Sister in the mess hall with Fives and Echo, and wordlessly slid onto the bench beside her, pressing a chaste kiss to her cheek.

“Whoa…” Sister murmured, gently pushing him back with one hand on his chest so she could look at his face and the prominent black eye that was already starting to form there.

“What happened to you?” Fives asked.

“Kix punched me.” Jesse answered, almost proudly.

“What?!” Sister demanded.

“What did you do to make him angry enough to punch you?” Echo added.

“I didn’t make him angry!” Jesse protested indignantly, “what would make you think I made him angry?”

“Why else would he punch you?” Echo shot back dryly.

Jesse glowered at him for a second before grinning again.

“He did it because I tickled him.” He snickered.

Echo rolled his eyes, but Fives’ face lit up with intrigue.

“Oh…” Sister mused, a sly smirk curling her lips, “so our pretty little medic is ticklish, eh, Jess?”

Jesse nodded eagerly.

“Really ticklish, if he punched you over it.” Fives snickered.

“He said it was purely a reflex,” Jesse laughed, “this’ll be so much fun to use against him, Sister!”

“And get punched again?” Echo cut in.

“Oh, Echo, it was well worth it.” Jesse said seriously.

“You’re an idiot.” Echo muttered.

“An idiot in love.” Jesse argued lightly, casting Sister an adoring smile before getting up to grab some food for himself.

“No… just an idiot, I think.” Echo said as he walked away from the table, loudly enough for him to be able to hear.

Jesse didn’t care, Echo could call him an idiot all he wanted. The fact that he and Sister had something new to endlessly tease Kix about was all that mattered to him right now.

“I wish Kamino would teach the shinies caution as thoroughly as they taught combat skills.” Kix sighed.

It was later in the evening, Jesse and Sister having opted to spend the night in the medic’s quarters with Kix - it was one of the only parts of the barracks where individual Clones had the luxury of separate rooms.

Kix was slouched at his desk in the corner, his head cradled in one of his hands as he scrolled through yet more patient notes from the past month.

It seemed that whenever things slowed down with injuries to treat, Kix focused his attention on what other work he could do rather than just relaxing.

“The amount of sprained ankles and broken ribs and blunt force head traumas I’ve had to treat in the past month alone is astounding,” Kix went on, “most of them younger Clones - it’s clear that they’re just getting more and more reckless, and that worries me.”

“Kix,” Sister murmured from where she sat at the edge of Kix’s bed, “just lie down and rest, you’re exhausted.”

Kix frowned at the floor at his feet for a moment, pouting, then closed his eyes tiredly.

“Alright…” he muttered, standing and allowing Jesse to lead him over to the bed and scooting into the middle so Jesse could squeeze in beside him, his stomach pressed against Kix’s back - these damn beds were hardly big enough for one person, but somehow the three of them all managed to fit into it together. It was just a good thing none of them minded cuddling.

Jesse draped his arm over Kix’s side, lacing their fingers together, and Kix sighed contentedly as Sister lay down on the opposite side of the bed, reaching her arm over him as well, and making eye contact with Jesse over his shoulder.

She winked, and Jesse grinned - this was perfect.

Neither of them made any moves yet, however.

Drawing this out would be way more fun.

“So, Kix…” Sister said finally, after they’d felt Kix’s body start to relax between them, “mind telling me what happened with Jesse’s eye?”

Kix instantly went rigid, like he was expecting to be attacked.

He narrowed his eyes at Sister as she smirked back at him.

“I’m sure he’s already told you.” He answered after a long pause.

“But I wanna hear your side of the story,” Sister protested - she was clearly enjoying this just as much as Jesse was, “why’d you do it again? Something about him surprising you?”

“I’m not playing this game.” Kix said sternly.

Sister laughed evilly.

“Oho, you don’t have a choice, Darling,” she taunted, “and I’m pretty sure you know that.”

Jesse had slowly let go of Kix’s hand as the two of them spoke, inching his hand back until it was resting on Kix’s side just below his ribs - that spot had worked before, might as well start there.

As soon as Sister finished speaking, Jesse took that as his cue and gave the lightest twitch of his fingers.

Kix spluttered out a surprised laugh, his whole body jolting and his hand immediately grasping onto Jesse’s to stop him.

He giggled quietly, nervously, with the back of his opposite hand pressed to his mouth for a moment before it finally seemed to click in his head that he was currently trapped between two people who were very much aware that he was ticklish.

“Wait,” he said, alarmed, his eyes widening as he looked at Sister, twisted his neck to look at Jesse, then looked back at Sister again, “wait, no- don’t you dare!”

“Are you begging?” Sister asked snidely, propping herself up on one arm so she could lean over Kix, reaching down to pinch his thigh at the same time.

Kix twitched, his legs bunching up between Sister and Jesse as he started laughing again.

“Sister!” He pleaded, trying to grab her wrist with the hand he wasn’t already holding onto Jesse’s with, “Jesse, stop her, please!”

“You think I’m gonna help you?” Jesse taunted, suddenly snapping his wrist back to break free of Kix’s hold.

Kix let out a squeal of alarm before Jesse’s hand dove up and under his shirt to mercilessly tickle his stomach. Only then did Kix really start to laugh, wriggling helplessly between Jesse and Sister even though he knew that was pointless.

At the same time, Sister slipped both hands just below the waistline of Kix’s pants to target his hips instead.

Kix’s head snapped back with a small shriek.

“NO! No!” He exclaimed through frantic laughter, “Sister, please, not there!!”

“Why?” Sister teased, absolutely not letting up, “and you still haven’t told me why you punched Jesse this morning.”

“Sister!!” Kix almost whined, trying to protect his hips from her relentless tickling with his hands.

“And why aren’t you throwing punches now?” Jesse added, spidering his fingers up the centre of Kix’s stomach, “I barely had to touch you before for you to take a swing at me.”

Kix was laughing so hard that for a second he couldn’t answer.

“I don’t- I don’t wanna hurt you!” He spluttered out finally, “Jesse, please! This is mean!!”

“Aw, are we being mean to you?” Sister cooed, “I can give you a kiss to make it better.”

She shuffled a little closer to Kix - if that was possible - and instead of pressing a kiss to his lips or his cheek, she buried her face in his neck, her long, curly hair trailing across his skin.

Kix squealed, curling in on himself, his hands seemingly torn between protecting his neck and his hips.

“Oh, I think we found another ‘please not there’ spot, Jess.” Sister mumbled into Kix’s collar bone, which only made him laugh even more.

Surprisingly, he’d left the other side of his neck open, and Jesse took advantage of that immediately, knowing last month’s stubble that he hadn’t gotten a chance to shave off yet was going to work to his advantage.

Kix let out another squeal, more shrill this time, desperately twisting his body back and forth as much as he could between Jesse and Sister (which wasn’t much) as they continued to kiss his neck and tickle him all over. Sister stuck to his hips, ruthlessly focused on the spot that was making Kix shriek and squirm the most, while Jesse let his fingers dance across his torso. Kix didn’t have enough hands to defend against both of them, eventually giving in and just lightly holding onto one of Jesse’s forearms with one hand and Sister’s wrist with the other, still begging them to quit it but laughing too hard to get a full sentence out. Jesse was even shocked when Kix’s frantic laughter turned into a snort.

Sister paused for a second with a grin.

“Did you just snort?!” She demanded.

Kix still couldn’t answer, but at this point he was snorting more and wasn’t able to deny it.

Jesse never wanted to let up, he could keep listening to that soft, adorable laugh forever, but by the time he noticed there were tears in Kix’s eyes he knew it was probably best to give him a break.

He finally relented, and after a few moments, Sister did the same, the two of them staring lovingly at Kix as he panted, mouth still stretched open in a grin and eyes still tightly closed while a few residual giggles tumbled out of him.

“You cutie.” Sister murmured after a long silence, sitting up to kiss Kix’s nose. Kix let out a tiny squeak, clearly expecting to be tickled again as he pressed his head further back into the pillow.

“Relax, Kix,” Jesse chuckled, wrapping his hand around Kix’s waist again, “we’re done.”

“For now, at least.” Sister teased, resting her hand on Jesse’s arm.

“Oh no,” Kix laughed firmly, “you are never doing that to me again.”

“Or what?” Jesse pressed, leaning closer so his breath was on Kix’s ear, making him flinch slightly.

“I’ll get you back,” Kix answered, though his voice wavered in a way that made it clear he wasn’t brave enough to try that, “like I said, as a medic I know that all Clones are ticklish somewhere.”

“Good luck finding out where, though.” Sister mused tauntingly.

“That’s not fair.” Kix complained, covering his face with one hand.

“At least now we know how to get you to stop fussing over paperwork.” Jesse laughed.

“So not fair.” Kix repeated.

“Too bad it’s a team effort.” Sister chuckled.

“I think one of us could accomplish it just fine.” Jesse murmured, smirking.

“Wouldn’t be as efficient, though,” Sister pointed out with a wink, “and less fun.”

“Are you two finished scheming?” Kix cut in, unamused.

“I wouldn’t call it scheming,” Sister protested lightly, twirling her hair around one finger, “just letting you know how much we love you.”

“You’ve got a funny way of showing it.” Kix huffed.

“You know you like it.” Jesse snickered, pressing a kiss to the nape of Kix’s neck, causing him to stiffen slightly and let out a little “eep!” noise.

“You said you were done!” He snapped as Jesse burst out laughing, “if you’re gonna kiss my neck, you have to shave first!”

“I dunno,” Jesse mused, scratching the stubble on his chin, “I kinda like this look, I might keep it.”

“You’re insufferable,” Kix muttered, “both of you are.”

“But you love us.” Sister cooed, kissing his cheekbone, and Kix let out a sigh.