#ruby writes fic

Marshal Commander Cody could almost count on one hand the number of times he had actually used his planetside quarters. Shoved in the very back of the 212th's barracks, the room was just barely big enough to fit a bed and footlocker, plus an indent in the wall that might generously be called a closet, if only for the fact that that was where Cody had shoved his dress greys, confident they would never see the light of day again. The air was musty with disuse, and the door squealed unpleasantly when Cody keyed in the entry code. No, the room wasn't much to boast about.

But it did have its uses.

“You need a new pillow.” The words were muffled, mostly due to the fact that Rex, wearing only his bottom blacks and sprawled out diagonally across Cody's bed like a beached aiwha, hadn't bothered to unbury his head from the bedding.

“Hello to you too, vod'ika,” Cody said dryly, keying the protesting door shut and, with a glance at the bare skin of Rex's back, locking it with a code only the generals could override. “I see you've made yourself comfortable.”

“Not really, seeing as your pillow was used as a bantha boot in a previous life,” Rex groused, though his grumbling was ruined by the warmth in his eyes when he shifted so he could look at Cody, lips quirking up in a small smile that made Cody's heart do things he would deny under oath. “Seriously, did you use this thing for drill or something? I've known flimsies with more stuffing in them.”

“Sorry the accommodations don't meet your standards, princess,” Cody drawled, making Rex snort inelegantly. “Maybe these will ease the hardships of shacking up with a lowly marshal commander.” Cody tossed the small, colorful bag he had been studiously hiding in his belt pouch onto the bed next to Rex's head, refusing the acknowledge the fissure of nerve-tinted excitement trying to work its way up his spine – he was a veteran soldier, for kriff's sake, not some shiny cadet trying not to blush around his crush.

“What...?” Rex trailed off in puzzlement, pushing himself up so he could pick up the bag. “Hold on, is this – holy kriff, Codes, is this chocolate?”

“Yep,” Cody replied, finally letting himself grin at Rex's amazement as the other man practically ripped the bag open and stared at the small brown squards within. “Don't say I never get you anything nice.”

“How?” Rex demanded, looking up at Cody wide-eyed. “Did you sack Dooku's palace or something and didn't tell me?”

Cody snorted, coming over and, after kicking Rex's legs to get him to slide over, sat on the bed next to the other vod.

“Like I'd let you miss out on fun like that,” he replied, smirking at Rex. “No, these are actually compliments of Senator Chuchi.” Rex glanced at him, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“Chuchi... from Pantora?”

“That's the one,” Cody nodded. “I went to Fox's office to talk to him about some reallocation of resources – ”

“You mean, to harass him about those impounded speeder bikes, again,” Rex interjected, grinning as Cody looked at him balefully.

“They're not doing anyone any good locked up in his impound lot,” Cody replied waspishly, making Rex laugh. “Anyways, when I went into his office, Senator Chuchi was there, and she had a basket of those things.”

“And she just... gave you one?” Rex asked, looking back at the bag – whose contents currently had a higher black market value than sweetblossom – with no small amount of incredulity. Cody shrugged.

“Apparently it's a Pantoran tradition, giving sweets to soldiers during the holiday that is going on right now. I didn't exactly press for details, seeing as they had both jumped like cadets when I came in the door.”

“Oh, I see,” Rex laughed, a grin spreading across his face. “Our Corrie brother has a sweetheart, then?”

“Well seeing as he was blushing the same color as his armor, I'm assuming so,” Cody replied, chuckling at the memory of his brother's flaming face. “Not that I think he realizes it yet, mind you. But the senator doesn't seem like the type to back down from a challenge, so even odds that we'll be stumbling across them necking in every shadowy corner before the year is out.”

Rex snorted, then glanced at Cody out of the corner of his eye, his grin turning mischievous. “And what exactly would we be doing in those shadowy corners, hmm cyar'ika?”

“Health and safety inspections,” Cody retorted waspishly, rolling his eyes at Rex even as something low and tight in his gut shivered with warmth at the spark in his brother's eye. “You gonna eat those damn things or just fondle them all day?”

Rex's grin got even wider, every inch the tooka that ate the canary. He had gotten to Cody, just like he had gotten to him during ARC training, when he was nothing but the jumped up mutie standard to Cody's perfect phenotype commander.

Cody could still remember the first time he had seen him, standing beside Alpha as the trainer introduced him to the CCs. Shoulders back, head high, daring them to look at the blazing paleness of his hair – the hair he wore like a crown, instead of an aberration. Cody hadn't been able to take his eyes off him.

And Rex, damn him, had known it.

Holding Cody's gaze, Rex reached into the bag and slowly pulled out a piece of chocolate. He waggled it at Cody, making the other man snort and roll his eyes, then popped it in his mouth – using rather more tongue than was really necessary, Cody thought, swallowing. Once the chocolate hit his tongue, however, Rex's teasing look melted away and was replaced by pure bliss, his eyes sliding closed with the pleasure of it.

“Mmmmmmm... fuck, Codes.”

“Good?” Cody asked, smirking. Rex hummed, not bothering to open his eyes as he fished another piece out of the bag. “Oi, chakaar, you gonna share?”

“Maybe.” Rex glanced sideways at Cody from still mostly closed eyes, his lips curling up. “If you promise to get a new pillow.”

“Oh for – you're like a grandmother, y'know that? Always grous – ” The rest of what Cody was going to say, however, was lost as Rex leaned over and kissed him softly.

Cody immediately sank into it, a tightness in his chest he always forgot was there loosening at the warm, familiar feel of Rex's lips against his own. Suddenly he wasn't a Marshal Commander anymore, or a soldier. He was just a man. Rex stripped him raw so quickly that Cody almost would have been afraid if it weren't for the fact that he knew that the tension ran out of Rex's spine the same way, knew that his heart raced in his chest the same way Cody's did – a matched set even in this.

Unable to bear it any longer, Cody reached up and buried his hand in the pale blond fuzz of Rex's hair, pulling the other man closer. Rex went eagerly, practically sliding into Cody's lap as he did so. Cody grinned, making Rex nip at his lower lip in retaliation, and Cody opened easily for him – he had always been easy for Rex, never been able to say no to the carefully hidden inferno burning inside his ori'vod.

The sweet, rich taste of chocolate hit Cody like a plasma bolt, flooding his senses. Rex pressed his advantage, shifting so that he was fully straddling Cody's lap, using the height advantage to tip Cody's head back and devour him.

Cody was panting by the time they broke apart, his head swimming from lack of air and the intoxicating combination of chocolate and Rex.

“Taste good?” Rex asked, still so close that the words were brushed against Cody's lips as he spoke them. Cody nodded mutely, not at all confident of his ability to form words at the moment. Rex grinned, bright and happy, leaning down to kiss Cody again, sweet and slow.

“Dekit and you can have some more.”

No, Marshal Commander Cody's room wasn't much to speak of. But home wasn't a place. It was a person.