#assorted clonecest fics

(Awwww cute!)

Kote has a problem, a very big one, and it’s not even something that he can go to his batchmates for, because he’s sure that if he opens up about that, they’re just going to make fun of him, and he knows that if they begin with that, he’ll have to break their noses, and then who’s going to deal with Alpha’s lectures? Nah, it’s not worth it.

It’s not even that big of a deal, c’mon! It’s dumb that he worries about it so much, not when there are way more important things that he should rather focus on. What if his performance begins lacking because he’s distracted?

He should just stop chickening out like this and complimenting Rex the way he wants to, but the problem is: how can he do it, without appearing narcissistic? They’re clones, after all, so wouldn’t it look like that, by complimenting him, he’s complimenting himself? Sure, he could say something about Rex’s mutation, but what if that makes him feel like a freak?

No, no, no, no. He can’t have that. At this point he should just suck it up. Besides what would even be the chances of Rex returning his crush?

 Little does he know, however, that Rex shares a similar problem.

He isn’t good with people, so how is he supposed to flirt with Kote without making it weird? And what if Kote doesn’t respond well to his words and things get weird anyways? Ugh, this is impossible!

Why did he have to go and catch feelings for him, of all people? Because he’s awesome, that’s why, but what if he ruins everything, now? He’s fine with being just friends, he doesn’t want to lose him because of a stupid crush.

Ugh, what to do?

 The universe, apparently, has it out for both of them, because they’ve been assigned together as sparring partners, which means having to be in close proximity with one another. Oh no, this isn’t going to end up well at all: their performance will suck, and they’ll be humiliated in front of all the other cadets for it.

Rex gulps, nervously reading their designation numbers again and again on the datapad carrying the assignment, hoping each time that he’s read wrong, but no, that’s Kote’s number alright.

He turns towards the other cadets, each with a datapad in hand, and then his gaze meets Kote’s. He must’ve read that they’re going to be partners for the day. Oh no, he’s approaching him.

“Ready to show them who’s boss?” he asks, bumping his shoulder against Rex’s, who smirks, almost forgetting about his initial troubles.

“You mean to kick the shit out of you? Then yeah,” he retorts, in fact.

“As if you’d manage to do that. Face it, Rex, I’m better than you.”

A chuckle. “We’ll see. We’ll see.”

 In the end, Rex does get his ass kicked. That’s just how things are when you spar with Kote.

Still, in his humble opinion, he didn’t do so bad himself, though he’s probably the only one who thinks that.

Oh well, at least he did manage to get a few good hits on him, so it could’ve been worse, he guesses. They haven’t been reprimanded for their lacking performance, so they mustn’t have sucked that much.

Though, there was something in the way Kote moved and acted that… He doesn’t know, but it was weird. It was almost like him, but thinking about it, it’s probably because he’s just projecting his own emotions into Kote, and nothing more.

 “Rex? Hey, Rex!”

“What?!” he exclaims, shaking his head. He spaced out right while he was in the middle of getting his shirt off; he must’ve looked like an idiot.

After sparring they’ve decided to hit the freshers so that they could shower. Rex said yes at first, without realizing the implication of having to stay in such close proximity with Kote during that kind of situation, but when he realized it, it was too late to go back. He just needs to suck it up, though he must admit, he’s not doing a good job of it.

Kote looks at him, cocking his head to the side. He remains silent for a moment, then he says, serious. “Alright, out with it.”

“What do you mean?” Rex asks, confused.

“There’s clearly something that’s bothering you, so c’mon say it.”

 Oh no, absolutely not. He can’t say it! Kote won’t ever want to talk to him anymore if he does!

He needs to find out something else to say, and he needs to do it quickly…

 “I was just wondering what the hell the longnecks are feeding you,” he says in the end, which isn’t bad, if only he hadn’t continued, “You could kick my ass every day and I’d thank you.”

The pleased expression on Kote’s face soon becomes shocked when he utters those last words. “W-What?”

“I-I mean…” Rex stutters, unable to continue. Shit, he didn’t mean to say that! Oh, this is bad… “It was a joke!” he tries, then, hoping that he can manage to convince Kote. “Just a joke! Ahahah, I got you!”

They stay like this for a moment, both unable to speak, nor do anything else. Then Kote is the first one to move, looking away and clearing his throat. “I wouldn’t mind.”

Now it’s Rex’s time to exclaim “What?!”

“No, wait, that came out wrong!” Kote immediately replies, looking on the verge of panic. “I meant that I like sparring with you! So, uh… What if we ask to get always assigned as each other’s sparring companions?”

“Really?” Rex can’t help but to ask, surprised and honored by such a request.

Kote nods. “Yeah…” He scratches the back of his neck. “I mean, you fight well, very well, so…”

 Man, this is awkward. How are they both so bad at this?

 “A-Anyway, we should hit the showers before more people arrive, wouldn’t you agree?” Kote suggests, and Rex quickly agrees. Anything to escape that awkward situation.

“Yeah, let’s go,” he says, sending Kote a weak smile, smile that gets, however, returned quite warmly.

Oh, maybe things aren’t going to be that bad after all.

(You got it anon!)

(Fic under the cut)

Even though Kamino is safe, Rex can’t help but to think as he stares at the lifeless body of 99, that this doesn’t cancel the losses they’ve suffered.

They might’ve won, but it still leaves a sour taste in his mouth. This shouldn’t have happened at all.

 Of one thing he’s sure, however: Fives and Echo have the stuff to become ARC troopers, and he intends to make sure they can get their chance at it. It would be a waste of potential if he doesn’t.

 Before he can approach them, however, he gets distracted as he notices that the cadets have joined them. They look overjoyed and proud about their victory, which is more than right: they did very well out there.

There’s one cadet, however, that looks… Oh!

Rex is barely able to get to him, but he manages to do it before he can collapse on the ground. “Careful there!” he exclaims, lifting the cadet in his arms up. “Are you okay?”

“Y-Yes! Um… Sorry, sir,” the cadet replies, looking quite embarrassed by all this, though Rex understands how he’s feeling quite well. It reminds him of himself, during his first battles.

“It’s fine, just the adrenaline,” he reassures him in fact, sending a small smile his way, smile that becomes larger when the cadet returns the gesture.

“Something’s wrong?” That’s Cody’s voice, and as he turns, Rex watches him as he approaches them, worry in his face.

“Not at all,” he says then, shaking his head, then turning towards the cadet in his arms. “I was just telling him how good he’s been.”

“He has been good,” Cody smiles. “All of them have been.” All the cadets are hanging from his lips, beaming at his praise; it means a lot to them that the Marshal Commander himself would think that of them.

 It’s then that Rex notices that Cody is staring at him and the cadet very intensely. “What?” he can’t help but to ask, then.

“Rex, we’ve found you twin,” Cody chuckles, unable to hold back a fond smile.

“What…” Rex begins to mutter, realizing only then what Cody means: the cadet he’s just picked up shares his hair color, and he’s sporting a nice buzzcut too, just like Rex’s. Seeing that, the Captain turns to Cody, unimpressed, and he’s about to tell him that it’s not funny, when he notices the wonder in the cadet’s eyes and the joy for being compared to him. His words die in his mouth.

Cody steps in, ruffling the cadet’s short hair. “What do you think, Blondie? You and Rex are pretty similar, huh? I bet you’ll grow even stronger than him,” he says with a grin on his face.

Rex rolls his eyes, but he still looks at him fondly, while the cadet looks deep in thought. “Blondie…” he mutters in fact. “I like it!”

“Oh, you didn’t have a name yet?” Rex can’t help but to ask.

The cadet shakes his head. “I didn’t, but I like Blondie…” He turns towards Cody. “Sir, uh… May I use it?”

“Of course you can! If that’s the name you like, there’s nothing wrong with using it,” Cody answers. It’s hard to contain the joy looking at the cadets, but he tries his best to appear calm. It wouldn’t be good for someone of his rank to be caught being moved by something so small - and yet so important.

 Once Rex lowers Blondie back on the ground, he immediately runs to his brothers, excitedly telling them about his newfound name, while all Rex can do is to stare at them, until…

“I recognize that gaze. You can’t adopt them, you know that, right?” Cody teases him.

“Wha… I wasn’t thinking that!” Rex immediately pouts. Cody chuckles, gently shoving him with a shoulder.

“Riiight, just like you never think about adopting every shiny you set your eyes upon.” There’s a playful smirk on Cody’s face that Rex hasn’t seen in a long time, not when all he’s been thinking about as of late has been the war.

He reaches out for him, resting his hand against his cheek, but he too smirks. “Well, I learned it from you. If I recall you were the one who started the trend.”

“That’s not true, and even if it was, you can’t prove anything,” Cody retorts, crossing his arms against his chest.

“You sure?” Rex challenges him, but the tense air gets cleared soon as the two of them begin to chuckle.

 They’d love to keep it up like this more, but…

“We should join back with the others, bring these cadets to their instructor,” Cody says, eventually, though he sounds reluctant to leave them - see? Rex was right.

“I know, I know,” Rex mutters. “… Let’s go.”

 He can’t help but to think if one day… Well, who knows.

He won’t lie: he likes the idea of settling down somewhere with Cody at the end of the war, and adopt one or two cadets.

Oh well, there’s no point in thinking about that now, not when there’s still a long way to go before things will actually end, but this doesn’t mean that the though ever leaves Rex’s mind.

Still, if doing something like that were possible, it would make everything he’s been through worth it.

(Yes I love modern AUs!)

When Dogma tells Fives that that evening he’s going to a party, the latter raises an eyebrow at him.

“You? At a party? Is this some kind of sick joke?” he asks. Ok, maybe he’s being more dramatic than he should be, but hey as long as he and Dogma have known each other he’s never gone to a party, and actually, he has made his distaste for that kind of stuff very much clear, so much that he used to send Fives very disapproving looks each time he’d say he’d go to some party with Echo or alone. It’s more than fair for him to act surprised about this revelation.

Dogma doesn’t seem to take his behavior well, though, judging by the way he rolls his eyes.

“All my college peers are going,” he says, like that explains everything.

“Omitting the fact that you called them ‘peers’ and not ‘friends’,” Fives begins, “when has that ever mattered to you?”

“I know,” Dogma replies, aware of his own aversion. “But I’ve always told them no and… I wanna try it.”

“Mmmh, makes sense, if you ask me,” Fives concludes then, patting on Dogma’s shoulder. “Just be careful or they might steal you away…”

That brings a small smile to Dogma’s face.

“Yeah, right…”

At first, Dogma thought the party was going great. Now… he’s not so sure.

Don’t get him wrong, nothing has actually changed, it’s just that… He doesn’t even know himself… It’s just overwhelming, he guesses.

He could handle things just fine before, but now as the people present have multiplied and his social battery is running out… He wants to leave.

There’s a problem though: he went to the party with his peers, since he doesn’t have a license thus he doesn’t own a car, meaning that he can’t go home on his own, and as much as he wants to leave, he knows better than to ask the person who’s brought him to take him home.

What should he do?

His first thought is to call Fives, but he’s not sure that’s the best course of action: first of all, Fives would make fun of him - Dogma knows it - and second of all… he doesn’t want to disappoint him.

It’s probably dumb, just him making stuff up in his head, but he wants to show him that he can handle himself in social situations, that he’s not a “recluse”.

For some reason he’s convinced himself that Fives must be ashamed of being with someone like him, and this is the perfect occasion for Dogma to exceed his expectations, to surprise him, but in order to do that, he can’t call him.

Is it worth it, though? Dogma can’t help but to ask himself that.

The more he stays here, the more he feels sick.

If he doesn’t leave soon, then…

Fuck it.

He calls Fives.

“Dogma?”

The first thing Dogma notices when Fives picks up, is that he sounds worried. Of course: he must be wondering what’s happening if he’s calling him while he’s supposed to “party”.

“H-Hey…” Dogma stutters, trying to find the right words to say without implicating himself too much. “Hey, so… Could you come pick me up?”

There’s silence coming from Fives’ end, but eventually he speaks again. “Too much?”

“… Yes,” Dogma sighs. At this point, there’s no reason why he should lie, not when Fives has understood immediately what’s wrong.

“Alright, Dogma, I’ll be there in a few. Wait for me!”

True to his word, Fives texts Dogma that he’s outside in such a short amount of time that Dogma begins to worry about how many speeding tickets he’s going to get. If he does, he’ll truly feel guilty about it.

He shakes his head, trying not to think about that as he makes his way outside. He’s so anxious to leave that he doesn’t even bother to say goodbye to anyone, let alone the people he came to the party with, which he’ll later realize is very rude of him.

Oh well, he’ll send them a text once he gets home. For now, all he wants to do is to leave this place.

Indeed, Fives is outside, waiting for him. He smiles from inside the car once he notices Dogma, and waves his hand at him as the other approaches.

When Dogma gets inside, he can’t help but to let out a relieved sigh. Peace, finally.

“Hey.”

Dogma turns to Fives. “… Hey.”

“You’re okay?” Fives asks.

“I am now,” Dogma replies, sending Fives an apologetic smile. “Sorry for calling you…” he mutters.

“Don’t worry about that, it’s fine,” Fives replies. “You stayed in here for a long time. I’m actually quite impressed.”

He turns the car on and he looks at Dogma. “Ready to go home?”

Dogma turns his head to look at the house he just came out of from behind the car’s windows; the party seems to be going on even without him, not that he really thought that it would stop once he got out. After a moment, he turns back to Fives.

“Yes, I’m ready.”

He’s not going to lie: he’s had some fun at the party. It wasn’t entirely wasted time, but in the end, he’d rather spend some quality time alone with Fives.

(ajhsdsjhk yes please I love this)

Echo is many things, but despite what people might believe, oblivious isn’t one of them. He’s an ARC, trained to notice even the smallest details - and in missions, those usually are the difference between life and death. What he wants to say with this is that he has noticed that the bond that unifies the Bad Batch isn’t just a platonic one; it checks out, he thinks: the only people they can lean onto are each other, so it makes sense that they would seek each other out for that too.

What he wasn’t expecting was for them to try and bring him along for the ride, which he appreciates and all but… Well, maybe it’s still too soon, he thinks; he needs time.

Of course, this doesn’t mean he can’t enjoy their awkward attempts at flirting, and what attempts…

 Since Echo’s healthier now he can go back to physical training, which makes Wrecker the happiest.

“I’m gonna show you all my favorite moves!” he exclaims, eager to get started. Although Echo’s eager as well - he really needs to get back on track - he also knows that if he allows him, Wrecker would wreck his shit - he really can see how he got his name.

“Make sure you don’t break anything important, please? I don’t want to be stuck with physical therapy again…” he warns in fact.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle…” Wrecker immediately says, smirking, although it doesn’t last for long as he realizes the implications of what he just said, which makes him cringe and stutter. “Um… I mean…”

Echo can’t hold back a chuckle, shaking his head. This doesn’t last long either, because in a moment he immediately goes on the offensive, taking advantage of Wrecker’s distraction to land a kick on his knee, making him lose his balance.

What? Last time Echo checked, there’s no rule against fighting dirty.

 Tech’s way of flirting is more ramble-y than Wrecker’s, but Echo still finds it adorable. He’s so earnest in the way he begins to explain some complicated mechanical process that even though Echo doesn’t understand everything he’s saying, it’s still a delight to listen to him.

Right now he’s listing all the features he installed on his new mechanical arm; some have already gotten lost, but Echo’s gotten most of them.

“I figured you’d want to be still able to connect to machinery and such so if you close your pink like this…” he begins, gently moving Echo’s finger in the way he’s supposed to imitate next time he wants to do it, and soon a valve opens at the center of his palm, making space for a plug that begins to come out, just like a droid’s one. “There!”

“I’m sure it’ll come handy,” Echo says, “Thank you.”

“I’ve also adapted the shape to the rest of your body,” Tech continues, barely registering Echo’s reply. “You’re so well proportioned that I couldn’t not do it…”

“Well proportioned, huh?” Echo repeats, fighting back a smirk. He’s definitely heard worse - he really has - but still that’s not what comes to his mind when he thinks about complimenting someone.

After a solid minute of Tech stuttering, Echo thinks that he must’ve broken him. It’s cute but also he feels kind of bad now, so he decides to do something about it.

“Thank you,” he says then. “Took me a while to get back in shape, so it means a lot that you’d think that.”

Those words seem to calm Tech down, who sheepishly smiles at him.

Echo, of course, smiles back.

 Crosshair’s idea of flirting is, apparently, not insulting him, which Echo appreciates he guesses, but it’s still peculiar.

“You shoot well for a reg.”

“Thanks?” Echo says. He’s never sure about how to reply to Crosshair when he tells him this stuff; he supposes it could be worse - he’s heard Crosshair says way worse - but it seems that the sniper has some sort of soft spot for him, not that he admitted it of course.

They’re firing guns at the improvised shooting range they’ve created for Echo. Now that he can move better he needs to improve his aim to get back to his previous levels; thankfully muscle memory is still a thing, so it’s going faster than anticipated. Still, it’s hard to keep up with an expert marksman such as Crosshair, though Echo likes the challenge.

“Really, you’re recovering much faster that I thought.”

Oh, this is new: usually Crosshair is a man of few words, but today he’s trying to strike a conversation - at least this is how Echo is interpreting it.

“I am, and it’s also thanks to you,” he replies, smiling at him, because it’s true: they’re helping him in many ways that he would’ve never expected, and he’s truly grateful that they’ve taken him in with so little hesitation.

Crosshair reels back like he’s just been hit on his stomach.

“Yeah, right…” he mutters. “Let’s get back to target practice. We’ve lost enough time already…”

A chuckle leaves Echo’s lips.

“Yessir.”

 The way Hunter flirts is different from the others’: it’s less wordy or more physical.

Echo doesn’t mind that at all - it reminds him of Fives actually - but there’s always some hesitation in the way Hunter touches him, though he doesn’t know if it’s because he’s afraid he’d hurt him or because he thinks he might be overstepping some sort of unsaid boundary, which is beginning to unnerve Echo, especially if he’s doing it for the first reason.

Eventually, in fact, he snaps: they’re walking back to the Havoc Marauder, and Hunter’s hand is hovering over Echo’s shoulder, barely touching it. That’s the final straw.

Echo takes Hunter’s hand and draws it closer so that it’s actually resting on his shoulder. There.

“E-Echo?”

“I’m not going to break just because of a touch, Hunter,” he explains.

“O-Of course,” the other stutters, making a pause and then squeezing Echo’s shoulder with his hand. “… Is this okay, then?”

Echo nods, his hand still over Hunter’s.

At least they’re going somewhere…

 “Wait! So you knew?”

Echo laughs at those words. Many things have changed since those awkward flirting attempts, and now Echo can say that he’s officially part of the group, officially as in he now cuddles with them and kisses them and… other stuff too.

“You weren’t exactly subtle,” he says then. He feels Wrecker shift from behind, but he doesn’t move away. He’s not going to lie: he missed cuddle piles, especially with these many people.

“Why didn’t you say anything then?” Tech, settled between his legs, asks.

That surely is a question. Well, there are many reasons why he didn’t say anything at first, but Echo decides to just shrug. “Was funnier.”

He hears chuckling on his left and he turns towards Crosshair.

“I knew there was a reason why I like you.”

Echo doesn’t have the time to say anything because Cross’ lips are on his. He smiles into the kiss, especially when he feels Hunter hugging his waist.

“Well, it worked, didn’t it?”

Yes, it did indeed.

(Oooooooh nice! Love me some bros interactions)

It feels surreal having to thank the Seppies for something, but the fact that they aren’t doing much means that, after who knows how long, the entirety of Cody’s batch has been able to meet up and spend some time together on Coruscant, far from the frontlines.

They could’ve gone to 79’s, but for the occasion Fox has invited them to his personal apartment so that they wouldn’t be bothered by loud music and other vode being dumb.

 “Fox, you lucky asshole, of course you’d get the nice apartment,” Wolffe grumbles before finishing his fifth - is it fifth already? - glass of wine. At least Fox has had the decency to bring out the good stuff for the occasion.

“Listen, I have to deal with Senators all day, I get the apartment,” Fox retorts, and well, nobody has it in themselves to deny that.

“Yeah, I think I’d rather shoot droids than exchange even just one conversation with a Senator,” Ponds states. He looks drowsy already, though it’s also true that, out of them, he’s the one with the worst alcohol tolerance.

“So, Fox…” Bly interjects before the conversation gets derailed. “Any hot gossip?” He usually isn’t the gossip type, none of them are, but it’s nice indulging once in a while. Besides, Fox always has the best information to share, which can make the evening even more entertaining.

“Well, I know for a fact that someone in this room finally gathered the courage to ask out a certain Captain…” Fox drawls, purposefully leaving the sentence open-ended.

 Silence falls.

Slowly, one by one, they all turn to look to a certain Marshal Commander who’s being suspiciously quiet right now, as he drinks his wine pretending that this isn’t about him…

Then chaos erupts.

Screams, questions, hands, everything gets thrown at Cody who, in that moment, is really close to murdering his brother. Not that he wasn’t going to tell them eventually, but he would’ve done it at his own time!

Damn it, Fox.

 Before he can react, Ponds has slung his arm around his shoulders. “Cody! When were you going to tell us?!” he exclaims.

Cody pretends to laugh, though it’s obvious that he doesn’t really mean it. “When I damn pleased, Ponds,” he replies in fact, though his annoyed tone doesn’t seem to make the others back down. If anything, it provokes their general hilarity.

“Aw, little Kote thinks he can play the part of the big boy now…” Wolffe mocks him, reaching with his hand to pinch his cheek. He gets his fingers bitten in response. “Ow! You dick!”

Cody smirks, proud of having gotten Wolffe using his own methods against him, though unfortunately, that pisses Wolffe enough that he almost jumps at him, if not for the fact that Fox, who always somehow seem to know what their next move his, holds him back by the shoulder.

“Come now,” Bly says, trying to placate him. “We should congratulate Cody, not trying to kill him…”

“He bit me!” Wolffe retorts.

“And it was funny,” Bly says back, completely unbothered by Wolffe’s anger - it’s nothing far from the usual.

 Cody and Wolffe glare at each other just for another while before peace is restored.

Once things have calmed down, Cody turns to Fox. “How did you even know me and Rex are together now?”

Fox doesn’t even bat an eye at that question. “I saw you.”

“You saw me?!”

“Well, not directly, but one of my probe droids caught you confessing to Rex,” Fox explains. “Gotta say, Coruscant’s roofs during twilight, soft drinks in hand? That was so cheesy…”

There are many things that Cody would like to say, but they all get covered up by the others who begin to either laugh at him - he swears he’s going to beat Wolffe’s ass - and others that instead say that it’s cute. Still… “Do you have probes stalking us, Fox?” he can’t help but to ask. Talk about creepy…

The other rolls his eyes at that accusation, sipping some wine before replying. “It was just a coincidence that they caught you. I have probes through the entire city. How am I supposed to know if something happens then?”

Oh, well, that makes sense. Still, it’s quite curious that he managed to find out just out of luck, though it’s not like Cody can make an accusation without any proof. Maybe it was truly just a huge coincidence.

 Take it to Ponds to get the pleasant evening back on track before it degenerates into a brawl. “Well, at this point, why don’t we toast?”

“And to what?” Wolffe asks, while Fox already motions to fill everyone’s glass - he doesn’t really need an excuse to drink some more, so he doesn’t even wait for Ponds to reply.

“To Cody and Rex of course,” Ponds explains, taking his glass and raising it towards Cody. “May you two be happy forever and ever.”

One by one the others raised their glasses towards Cody as well, who can only stare at them with a surprised look on his face. What the hell are they doing? This is such a cheesy thing… and yet, it’s also heartwarming. Not that he doubted the fact that, deep down, his brothers love him - that’s how things are between them - but to have them genuinely wishing him and Rex the best is just…

 Damn it Cody, don’t cry for this dumb thing, or everyone will be on your case!

 Still, he can’t help but to smile as well, as he wordlessly raises his glass as well.

“To Cody and Rex!” Ponds exclaims then.

“To Cody and Rex!” the others all reply, while Cody is barely able to thank them. It’s a small thing, in the end, but those are what truly matters the most, at least that’s what Cody thinks.

 He’s well aware that soon they’ll get back to banter and insulting each other, but at least for now he can enjoy a soft moment between him and the people he loves the most.

He wouldn’t have it any other way.

(In which Rex discovers something about himself that he didn’t know before. Echo’s just here to enjoy the ride)

(Fic under the cut!)

(Nice)

(Fic under the cut!)