To say that fending off legions of battle droids wasn't tiring even for the Hero With No Fear would be the biggest joke of the entire century. The entirety of the five-oh-first as well as Anakin and Ahsoka were exhausted, to say the least. Cato Neimoidia had been their hardest battle in weeks and it absolutely destroyed them. With so many men lost and even more injured, (Ahsoka with a bullet wound in the knee was apart of that, too,) it was more or less a manning from the Force when Anakin received a call from the Council telling them to find a nice place to camp and strafe away from the frontlines for a day or two.
Echo was most excited because he finally had time to share this new game he and Kix learned while out and about drinking before they shipped off to fight this: truth or dare. It was game more fun while drunk, but it's not like they had bottles of beer laying around and Ahsoka was underage. Besides, as much as Anakin liked to let loose and get down and dirty, they could be invaded at any time, and that wasn't a risk he was willing to take as their General.
But that was okay. They'd still have a blast playing sober. "Hey, Kix, go round up the Commander and the General and a few other brothers, were gonna play." Echo was more than excited. He could just imagine all the juicy details he'd find out about Skywalker and Senator Amidala, or the embarrassing things Tano does when she thinks she's alone.
While Echo set up a fire and put logs in a circle around it, Kix managed to round up both the Commander and General, as well as fifteen brothers. "I'm not sure about this game," Anakin gawked, taking a place on a log.
"Don't be such a wimp, Master," Ahsoka teased while sitting down next to him. "It'll be fun! I'll get to know all your secrets." Winking, Ahsoka playfully punched his arm and flashed her sharp-toothed grin.
Anakin rolled his eyes as Echo explained the rules. "So say I ask our lovely general here and ask him 'truth or dare?' If he responds with truth, I can ask him any question I want and he has to answer it truthfully. Our Commander here will see to it that he says the truth. If he says he wants to do dare, I give him a dare of my choosing and he has to do it. No matter how gross or embarrassing it is. Sound good?"
Echo was responded to by a large amount of muffled uh huhs. "I'll go first. You know what, just for kicks and giggles, General, truth or dare?"
This caused Anakin to laugh a genuine laugh even the laid back guy that he was would usually release. He was so certain that nothing Echo could ask could possibly expose anything. His secrets were well hidden. "Truth," he said smugly, wanting to know how good the clone could come up with.
"Now don't be so smug with me, General. Because I have the perfect question." Echo chuckled for a few seconds, but then he formed his lips into a mischievous smirk. "How many times have you and Senator Amidala. . . . how do I put this. . . . made out? Like those big and wet make outs on the soaps, how many of those?"
The color in Anakin's face dropped and his mouth produced a scowl. "Mine and Pad—Senator Amidala's relationship is strictly professional, Echo. Why would you even think such a thing?" he said in a high-pitched, squawky voice.
"You're not that subtle about it, Master," Ahsoka teased, playfully knocking him to one side.
"Sir, I've literally seen you two." This voice was from Jesse, loud and clear. "Don't gotta lie to us. There's nobody for us to tell."
"Fine!" he yelped, throwing his hand on his knees and another pinching the bridge of his nose. "Somewhere around four-hundred, five-hundred times. I don't know. Why should I keep track of how many times me and my wife—" Anakin stopped after realizing he just exposed himself, and nearly exposed his sex life as well. "You know what, the numbers don't really matter. But if any of you utter a peep about this discussion your heads will be hung up on my wall."
"Don't worry, General. What's said in this circle stays in this circle."
"Fine then, Rex. I'm not going to ask, I'm going to say it. You're getting a dare."Anakin chuckled darkly to himself lightly as he thought of the dare that would best suit Rex. Then an evil grin came to his face as he knew what Rex would do. "Rex, because I am really immature—and curious—I want you to throw it back like they do on the holos. Like throw. It. Back. Like throw that ass in a full-on famous holo-celeb Minky Nimaj way. And don't say you can't, cause I saw you in the bars throwing it back like the sheer queen you are."
Rex flushes red with embarrassment. "Er, Sir, drunk me and sober me are two totally different people. . . . I'm not sure that I can." He scratched his blonde hair and chuckled sadly.
"Do it!" Ahsoka yelled, grinning with excitement. "Better get the crackers, Master, because I'm so ready for this showdown."
After sighing loudly, Rex stood up and stretched out his hips so they wouldn't pop out of place. As he tried to make his back and ass work simultaneously, the rest of the group watched as his spine let out a crack, and he let out a small cry of pain. He tried to move his hip as well, but the whole thing was just a disaster, and what high amount of dignity that Rex had was quickly diminished with just a few seconds of faux twerking.
"Artooie, please say you got that on film!" Ahsoka giggled, "because that's gonna be comedy gold for the rest of our lives." R2 beeped out a yes.
"Since you got such a laugh from that, Commander, how about a little truth or dare?"
Her eyes narrowed and she sported a sly grin. "Dare," she challenged. The whole squad knew she was a little daredevil in of herself—taking after Anakin in every way—and even when they weren't on the frontlines, Ahsoka always managed to find dangerous ways to train or lethal heights to climb. Very much a danger-is-my-friend type of girl.
Rex looked at Fives, and it was obvious that whatever Rex was going to have her do Fives was in on it. "That's a good one," Fives said, knowing something the rest didn't.
"Okay, Commander. I know you can't wriggle your way out of this one." Rex paused, trying to contain his laughter. "I dare you to explain— with all the details, don't miss a single one—your night on Carlac," he finished pompously.
"NO! Rex, you can't make me do that one. Gimme another—!"
"Nah. You're the one who does dangerous shit all the time, what's so different?" Fives teased.
"Wow wow wow wait. What night on Carlac? I don't remember a mission there. Tell me," he pressed. He would be kidding himself if he wasn't intrigued.
"It was nothing, Master!" Ahsoka tried to persuade. "Honest and truly nothing happened that you need to worry about." She was now sporting a guilty smile, trying to shove away any suspicion.
"Now now, Commander," Fives faux-scolded. "Rex ol' boy said all the details. And nothing certainly ain't it, sis."
"Fine!" she quipped. "I may or may not have had a little run-in with the Deathwatch. You know, the Mandalorian murderers that just hate the Jedi." Oh how much she regretted telling them that. But it was either tell them or risk getting Anakin involved—which seemed to happen anyway. "But it was nothing!"
"So impaling two Mandos and decapitating four is nothing, then?" Fives chided. "Fives has never heard such bullshit before."
Anakin spit out his caff all over Tup. "Excuse me? You did what? That was stupid and careless of you, Ahsoka."
Ahsoka tried to block out the lecture, but that son of a bitch blabbermouth Rex has to rat her out. "Actually, General, I think those terrorists should be the least of your worries. I heard something about one step too far and you coulda been a grampa."
Ahsoka was about ready to beat the shit out of Rex when Anakin stopped her. "WHAT. THE. HELL. AHSOKA!" he snapped, anger roaring like an akul. "You damn well explain everything to me, Ahsoka, or so help me your ass will be grounded and I'll actually have to parent you."
"It wasn't like that," she said quickly. Even though it was, "we didn't even share a tent. Well, we did. But that kiss was just to shut me up and—"
"What about the other one you shared with your top off?" chided Rex.
"Who is 'we'?" Anakin rumbled. "Which Mando scum gets to let his face have a personal tour of my fists?" Then his voice lowered, "and you better explain why the hell your shirt was off."
"He wasn't a Mandalorian. It wasn't off, Anakin! It was my coat—" she defended, but she knew her attempt was fruitless.
"Your coat's not the only thing off in the video R2 showed us."
Ahsoka flipped around and scowled at the astromech. "You filmed it, R2?"
"Yeah," chuckled Rex, "the whole thing. All the kissing and the suggestive conversation that followed."
Ahsoka was two inches away from socking both clones and the astromech and Anakin had to be a pooper and stop her. "Who did you kiss, Ahsoka Tano?" Anakin only used her first and last name when he was pissed, and this time was no exception. Ahsoka stayed silent, compromising herself even more would just anger her master even more than he already was. "Tell me who. Tell me now," he gritted angrily as he gripped onto her forearm—again, a technique he only used when she really needed to stern talking-to, which wasn't often.
"It was that ex-Seppi Lux Bonteri!" chided Fives and Rex together. "That same dude you told her to stay away from!"
"So let me get this straight," Anakin said darkly. "You go to Carlac after I specifically tell you to come home to Coruscant, kiss a Separatist, and do some badass tricks without me there to witness the badassery?" He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He didn't know if he should be proud or disappointed that she was taking after him so much.
"I'm sorry, Master. It never meant to happen," she sighed. "The first one was to stop me from saying not nice things about Vizla in front of Vizla, and the others, it was just more of a confusing time than anything else." There. That was it. Her master would never trust her ever again and he would have to be at her side at all times. Why did life have to be such a sick prank?
It was silent around the fire. Neither of the clones in the group had seen their general get so pissed over—in their eyes—a small thing that was actually pretty funny. This was certainly a new thing for all of them to endure.
The fire crackled as Ahsoka our her montrals in her hands and Anakin sporting an indecisive look. It was the moment when Anakin glared at Ahsoka when the clones knew she was dead meat. "Rip Ahsoka," Jesse muttered under his breath.
"Alrighty, everyone. I'm going to make the executive decision and say that truth or dare night is officially over. You may he's still your tents now; please get some well-needed rest."
"Yes, General" filled the solemn air as each participating clone trudged back to go sleep. Only Ahsoka and Anakin remained, both deathly quiet and still. Whatever beat down she was gonna her from her master, she was prepared. Except, Anakin never hit her, nor did he ever yell at her for no reason. Actually, he hardly raised his voice at her at all; most of the time it was directed at someone else. Whenever she was being too snippy he always just gripped her arm tight enough to get attention but loose enough it wouldn't cause harm, and tell her to drop the attitude. That was it. He never once ill-treated her. "Master, I'm sorry—" she started.
"I don't want to hear it, Snips. Just disappointed you told the others about your first kiss before you told me."
"Well, I didn't want this kind of reaction," she stated quietly.
"I'm not mad, Ahsoka. You just gotta tell me these things. Just please, next time you see him, don't be like me and Padmé, okay?" She raised a brow, early confused. "Maybe a kiss here and there. Nothing more extravagant than that."
"Yessir!" she saluted. Anakin wrapped her in a hug, and she knew just how much he hardly gave two shits about what she does, and he really, truly cared for her.
THIS CHAPTER WAS SO FUN TO WRITE IMO
okay so when i update the sequel tomorrow y'all are prolly gonna squeal like a newborn puppy because i have something exciting coming up for y'all!
let's just say, there's the letter A in the name and well as an I
okay
have fun
eat lasagna
and listen to "my humps" because that song is 👌
(actually listen to "baby got back" because that song is better imo)