Chapter Text
“I demand you release Boba into my care.” The red-haired jetii said, his blue eyes shining like beskar in the bright Coruscant sunlight.
Mace Windu glared up at his fellow jetii. “What exactly do you think you are doing, Obi-Wan?”
“Boba hasn't been given a fair trial. And even if he had been, I can't imagine any judge on this side of the galaxy would condemn a ten year-old to Central Holding where the worst of this galaxy's scum are imprisoned. Boba has made mistakes, but nothing he can't come back from.”
“Master,” Skywalker gasped, looking betrayed from where he was standing behind Windu, “He blew up The Resolute! And I was on it!”
Boba quietly watched, taking in all their expressions. He wanted to tell the red-haired jetii to kiss his shebs, he didn't need any help from a friend of the man who'd murdered his father.
Kenobi scoffed, “Please Anakin, you regularly blow up ships that both you and I are on.”
“But–”
“You have no right to Boba's custody,” Windu cut Skywalker off.
Kenobi straightened for a moment before turning to look at Boba. “Ni kar'tayl gai sa'ad.”
Boba felt his jaw drop open. Had the bantha poodoo jetii just adopted him?!
“You can't just kriffin' adopt me, you sleemo!” Boba cried, his hands shaking in the handcuffs. He tried to ignore Windu standing behind him. He'd been so close to taking out that shabuir.
“As Boba's new legal guardian, I do not give my consent to him being punished without a fair and proper trial,” Kenobi reached out and put a hand on Boba's shoulder.
Boba stiffened, uncomfortable with the sudden physical contact. He hadn't been touched kindly since his buir had died.
There had been a couple other orphans he'd tried to get close to after Geonosis, at the orphanage he'd been taken to. But none of the other traumatized children had been interested in his company, so he had broken out not long after that and gone in search of any of his buir's contacts.
That had been how Aurra Sing had found him. He'd thought at first that she'd keep him safe and steer him where he needed to go, like his buir had. But the longer he'd been with her, the more he'd realized that just wasn't true. She'd wanted to use him for her own purposes. Even now, he wasn't sure what those were, but he was glad to be out from under her grasp.
Boba wanted to pull away, but he also wanted to turn and bury his head in the jetii's chest and cry. It had been so long since he'd felt like someone might care.
But instead of doing either of those things, he straightened his head and shoulders, daring Windu or the guards to say anything about Kenobi's claim.
None of them did though.
Instead, Windu stared at Kenobi with a piercing look and then smiled.
What the kriff?! Boba thought to himself as Windu shook his head in amusement.
“I'm glad,” Windu said quietly, as if he were only speaking only to Kenobi. It made Boba seethe a little bit to feel as if the shabuir jetii was ignoring him. But at the same time, he knew that if Windu had addressed him, he would have been even more angry at being spoken to by this kyramud.
“I tried to ask for leniency in his case, but a Jedi's word means little to Judicial these days,” Windu said.
Kenobi tightened his hand on Boba's shoulder. “Come Boba, I need to talk to administration to sign you out into my custody.”
“Can you even do that?” Boba looked up at Kenobi from the corner of his eye.
Kenobi nodded. “Your sentencing was originally meant to be a parole arrangement with community service, but no agency could guarantee they could hold you safely, so they changed your sentence. As a Jedi, I have the ability to sign out any prisoner for the purposes of Jedi work. With those two things in mind, we'll see if we can't make a hearing with the judge over your case and set-up a new arrangement.”
Boba let himself be led by Kenobi towards the detention center, anxiety rising in his belly, worrying this was all just some sort of ploy to force him into jail without a fight.
Kenobi was able to get Boba signed out to his custody somehow, and then he took Boba out to a speeder piloted by a clone trooper in gold-accented armor. The man was wearing his buy'ce so Boba couldn't see his face.
It shouldn’t matter, but there was something about those helmets that had always put Boba off. It made them seem even more distant than usual. But at least he didn't have to see their face…
Sometimes it was so strange to see his father's face — his own face — looking down at him from all those troopers. He'd seen and met many both on Kamino and in his time sneaking aboard Republic cruisers, and yet it never failed to unnerve him.
His buir had always told him they weren't his family, that they weren't even people. But a part of Boba always shied away from that when he could see their faces.
When they had their helmets on, it felt less like they were people. He could see why a lot of Republic citizens seemed to refer to them as flesh droids. To Boba they felt almost sterile and robotic with their helmets on.
“Take us to CorJudicial Civil Court offices in sector 57-02, 4-Besh please, Wooley,” Kenobi said to the trooper and then hopped into the back, motioning Boba in beside him.
Boba hesitated, briefly thinking about making a run for it. Kenobi had even gotten them to take the cuffs off, so he had a pretty good chance of getting away.
But then he remembered that Kenobi had his kriffing magic jetii abilities, so he probably wouldn't get far. Not to mention that the prison platform was crawling with clone troopers.
Boba reluctantly got into the speeder, ignoring the trooper in front who was feeding directions into the vehicle's on-board nav system.
Kenobi leaned back in his seat and began to tap on the keys embedded into his left armored vambrace. “It's a boon in our favor that the new judge presiding over your case is Yal Brogsar. He's an old friend of my Master's, so if he's free I’ll bet we can get in to see him for a closed hearing on your case.” Kenobi's vambrace connected to a voice-only holocall.
Boba leaned against the side of the speeder as a voice answered and Kenobi spoke sweetly to the person on the other end.
Their speeder slipped by buildings, tram stations and countless other speeders, the trooper at the wheel driving smoothly and competently.
Boba stared at the back of the man's buy'ce, eyeing the small splashes of gold paint, where it was chipped and broken up from the wear and tear of war. He wondered how this man had even learned to drive a speeder. Had it been included in trooper training? Boba had seen snatches of the clones’ academic training, as well as how the clones learned to fight and work in squads, but his buir had also kept him as far away from the other clones as possible.
Boba himself had learned how to fly his father's Firespray, how to shoot cannons and blasters, and even how to fight hand to hand, but there were many things his education had missed out on that the clones had learned. Things his buir had thought he'd have a lifetime to teach Boba. Things he hadn't thought Boba had needed to learn quite yet.
“Good news!” Kenobi turned to him, breaking Boba out of his contemplation. “Yal Brogsar's assistant says he has a break in his schedule in two hours and she can fit in some time for us to see him.”
“Oh, did you want me to take you somewhere else in the meantime, General?” The clone trooper driving turned his helmeted head slightly to the side.
General. It was the way the trooper had said it, his tone almost reverent.
“No, we'll find somewhere to park at the courts, and we can find somewhere to eat. Do you have anywhere else you need to be, Wooley?” The jetii asked, stroking his beard.
Boba started. He was starving, but he'd learned to go without a lot of meals in the last year. He hadn't thought the jetii would even consider that.
“No sir, but I don't have any money right now sir. Lost my last month's allowance to Boil,” The trooper said mournfully.
“Gambling on competitive dejarik games again, Wooley?” Kenobi teasingly scolded the trooper.
“Not on dejarik sir,” Wooley said with vague embarrassment.
Kenobi laughed. “Ah, the betting pools are going again, are they?”
Boba had a feeling that if they could see the trooper’s face, it would be bright red with embarrassment.
“No matter, I am happy to cover you. I know a good noodle spot a couple blocks away. It would be good to stretch my legs, I've been in speeders and shuttles all day.”
“Yes sir,” the trooper said with a simpering voice.
Kenobi directed the trooper where to park when they got to the dull beige building that held the civil court, next to an equally boring building that held offices next door. Apparently there was a parking space reserved just for testifying Jedi, so they wouldn't even have to pay for parking.
Kenobi lead them out into the fresh air of Coruscant (well, as fresh as Coruscant could get), and down a few levels and back behind a dingy comm repair shop to an almost hidden noodle house, run by a very depressed-looking dark blue Twi'lek man.
The man seemed to brighten at Kenobi's entrance, and came around the bar to grasp Kenobi's arm and lead them to a table in the back, chattering away in Ryl.
Kenobi seemed to respond with equal enthusiasm, speaking back quickly and gesturing at Boba and the trooper.
The Twi'lek man seemed to give a slight pause at the trooper in full armor, but nodded at Kenobi and soon disappeared into the back of the establishment.
The trooper behind Boba seemed awkward as he followed the two of them over to a table in the corner and sat down on the bench across from Kenobi.
Boba only hesitated for a moment before scooting in next to Kenobi, who reached across and patted Boba's head.
Boba scowled, the head pat making him feel young. He wasn't a child anymore, and he certainly wasn't an akk dog. He hoped that Kenobi wasn't just taking him on because he wanted a pet or something.
The Twi'lek man came out with three cups stacked in one hand and two pitchers in another. He set down his burden and Kenobi carefully handed each of them a cup.
“Noodleku juma twenty minuteku,” the man grinned his pointed teeth at them and then left again.
“He says the food will be out in twenty. In the meantime, this is jawa juice,” Kenobi pointed to one of the pitchers, grabbing the other and pouring it into his cup. “This is water. Feel free to have either, Wooley, Boba,” he smiled at both of them.
The trooper across from them brought his hand up onto the table, clenching and unclenching his fingers for a moment, before removing his helmet and then gauntlets.
Boba blinked in surprise, he'd expected the similar features, but he hadn't expected to see the troopers flattened, blue, curly faux hawk or the finely tattooed script curling around the shape of his ear, on his head and down his neck. The trooper set down his helmet and gauntlets on the bench and looked back up before Boba could actually read the aurebesh on his neck.
“I don't think you two have formally met,” Kenobi said jovially.
Boba jerked his head at the unexpected remark, realizing he'd been staring.
“This is Wooley, he's a Junior Lieutenant in the 212th, that is a division under my command,” Kenobi gestured across to the trooper. “Wooley, this is Boba, you might know of him already. If we can get this all arranged with his judge, he might be living with us on the Negotiator, in the future.”
Wooley blinked, examining Boba's face carefully with his dark eyes. They looked even darker in the dim lighting of the restaurant.
“Living with us, sir?” Wooley's brow furrowed.
Kenobi sighed, “I might as well tell you, this will have spread all over the GAR in a few hours. More than a few of your brothers heard me today.” Kenobi turned to Boba and looked him in the eye, “I hope you don't think I was trying to keep your adoption a secret, I just don't want our new relationship to be used against you. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who want me hurt or dead. And also...” Kenobi trailed off for a second, taking a glance across at Wooley. “If I could, I would do the same for all of your brothers under my command. However, GAR and the Senate have made it quite clear that the Jedi have no claim over the vode unfortunately. And I don't want them to think I don't also care about their well being, since I've spoken the words to you and not them.”
“Sir?” Wooley was looking across at him with soft eyes.
Kenobi looked across at Wooley with a kind expression. “I spoke the gai bal manda to Boba today. Republic space must honor Mandalorian ritual adoption claims. As such I am now legally Boba’s guardian.”
Boba noticed a small flicker of pain cross Wooley's eyes.
“I am not...” Kenobi sighed, turning to look at Boba again. “I am in no way trying to take the place of your father, Boba. But hopefully in time, you can come to trust me, and see me as a part of your family.”
Boba said nothing, he wasn't sure whether he wanted to shout, reject Kenobi or cry. Instead he just stared down at the table, reaching across to the pitcher of jawa juice and pouring himself a cup.
Obi-Wan, Boba and Wooley wait for their noodles. Art by Michage
It wasn't long after that that the owner came out, balancing three large bowls of steaming noodle soup.
The food smelled divine, and Boba was glad of the excuse to ignore the awkward atmosphere of the table and dig into the dish.
Wooley, from the little glances Boba snuck of him, seemed to be really enjoying his bowl.
“I think this might be the best thing I've ever eaten,” Wooley moaned quietly, slurping down the heavily-sauced noodles between words.
The sauce was spiced a little too mild to be the best thing Boba had ever eaten, but it was delicious. The noodles sat warmly in his stomach, making him feel full and a little bit sleepy after he'd finished.
Kenobi paid after they were done, chatting quietly with the owner. Afterwards, he led them back across a few blocks and up a few levels to the Civil Court building.
“It's still a little early,” Kenobi said confidently, leading them through the busy hallways of the lower Court building and into the adjoining office building.
Security was tight and they had to go through multiple sensors, but somehow both Kenobi and Wooley were allowed to keep their weapons. The guards found and confiscated the thin, long knife Boba had taped to his ankle.
Kenobi watched them take away the long knife with thoughtful eyes but said nothing. After they’d finished, Kenobi led them through to the next hallway and the clerking and judge offices security checkpoint.
They took a turbolift up a few levels and down another hallway to an office with an open door.
A light green Quarren was sitting at a heavy-set desk, tiny spectacles perched on top of their nose as they read tiny print on a datapad screen.
“Obi-Wan!” The Quarren stood and said in a high, gurgling, feminine voice. “It's good to see you! It feels like you haven't stopped by in a Mon Cala decade!”
Kenobi smiled gracefully, stepping forward to entwine fingers with the Quarren. “And you as well S'hunto. I wish I had the time to stop by more often, if only to hear your pleasant voice.”
The Quarren's cheeks darkened to an almost emerald green. “Flatterer,” the Quarren shook her webbed hand, dismissing the compliment.
Kenobi smiled at her, a dimple appearing under his beard. “I know we're a bit early, but may we sit and wait for Yal here?”
“Sit, sit!” The Quarren gestured to a long bench along the right wall and opposite a closed door with 'His honor Yal Brogsar, CCJD, HoC' written in Aurebesh across the synthwood.
Kenobi carefully led Boba and Wooley over to the bench, sitting down between them.
Boba leaned his head back against the wall and sighed. This bench was much comfier than any of the prison bunks he'd been forced to sit on in the temporary holding cells he'd lived in for the last few days. He'd sat on one of those uncomfortable cots for hours that morning until a tired-looking public servant had come to tell him his sentence.
Mostly, he'd been glad when he'd found out where he was going. A part of him felt like he deserved it, and another part of him felt that at least he would know where he stood with the criminals in CorJust's prisons. They were people like him, people who hurt other sentients just because they could. He knew how to deal with people like that, where he stood in that world.
He heard Wooley ask Kenobi about the process they were trying to get through, and felt himself start to doze as Kenobi explained every step they needed to legally settle Boba permanently in Kenobi's custody.
Boba knew this was probably an important conversation to listen to. He wanted to know what was going to happen to him. But he felt so comfortable and nicely full from the noodles. And the office was so quiet and warm...
Boba jerked awake when the firm, warm pillow he was resting his head against began to move. Apparently his pillow had been Kenobi's arm.
He was glad that Kenobi only wore vambraces and pauldrons and not revebraces as well, or he might have woken up feeling a lot more uncomfortable than he was.
“My apologies, Boba,” Kenobi said remorsefully, then he turned back towards the new human who was standing in the middle of the room, dressed in a simple, yet high quality navy-blue robe and a tiny black, tall-brimmed cap.
Boba hadn't even heard or sensed the man come in.
Boba had had trouble sleeping ever since his buir had died. He rarely felt safe enough to fall asleep with strange people around, and it seemed like he'd hardly ever been alone after he'd been taken to the orphanage. Again when he'd teamed up with Aurra Sing, there'd always been someone around, too close for Boba to feel safe.
Despite the fact that there had been so many people around and he’d almost never been physically alone, he’d felt deeply truly lonely inside. He’d never felt connected to anyone around him, they'd just been other strangers he'd been forced to share space with.
But there was something about Kenobi. Something that made Boba feel safe, feel connected again. Like his buir had.
He wasn't sure how he felt about that.
“—Come straight into my office, Obi-Wan,” the human was saying, staring down at them with eerily bright, purple eyes peering out from an extremely pale face.
Kenobi stood and ushered Boba in through the newly opened door right behind the man, leaving Wooley behind to wait for them on the synthwood bench.
Just as the door began to close slowly behind them, Boba turned and stared back at Wooley's now helmeted face. Boba knew what it felt like to be excluded. He wondered if Wooley's face had been bare, if that was what he would have seen in that familiar face. Boba didn't like being left behind, and he couldn't imagine Wooley would either.
He just wished he really could see Wooley's face, or see him in a different kind of buy’ce. Maybe one like his buir had worn. Somehow, the clone helmets felt so much more blank, so much more emotionless and impersonal than his buir's ever had.
Something about the design made the clones seem more distant... less human.
The door clicked shut and Boba turned back to listen into the conversation.
“—she got me the forms, so all I need to do is have them authorized by the judge presiding over Boba's case,” Kenobi was saying.
The other man sighed, sitting down and glancing at the 'pad Kenobi had handed across to him.
Boba hadn't even seen Kenobi with a 'pad before, he wondered where it had come from.
The other man looked up, his gaze intent on Kenobi's face. “You do realize that sentencing has already been decided on this case. Even if you adopt this boy, he will still be remanded into the prison system. You'll have familial visitation rights, I suppose. Maybe that will help him if he is granted parole in a few years, but until then, he'll still have to face his sentence.”
Kenobi huffed impatiently. “Yal, if you would actually read the case file I handed you instead of just glancing at the summary, you'll see that you were the second judge assigned to Boba's case. You changed the sentencing in Boba's case, because there was no way to carry out the original sentencing. All you would have to do is file a reversal. Don't tell me you don't have the power to do that.”
“You know how many cases pass through my court on any given day,” the judge rubbed his forehead in tired frustration.
“I do,” Kenobi smiled. “That's why I brought the whole case file for you to read.”
With a low grumble, the judge began to sort through the files on the 'pad.
Boba looked back and forth between the two men for a moment. He noticed how Kenobi didn't even ask for one of the chairs that was sitting against the far wall, but instead was standing straight and tall, arms tucked behind his back at military ease.
For a few minutes Boba stood quietly at his side, trying to emulate Kenobi's posture. But the silence was beginning to grate on his nerves. It made his skin prickle uncomfortably and he kind of wanted to run away.
Kenobi blinked and looked down at him and then gestured over to the chairs.
Still feeling a bit groggy from being woken up, Boba moved over to one of the empty chairs and dropped into it without question. It was much more comfortable than the bench outside, but it was also quite a bit further away from the judge and Kenobi.
It was boring just sitting there waiting for the judge to finish reading the files, and Boba let himself zone out, thinking about how he might escape and where he might go if they wouldn't let him go with Kenobi. It made him oddly anxious to think of this not working out with Kenobi.
His gut began to churn.
Why was he feeling like this? He wasn't some ik'aad who needed someone to hold his hand! He was almost twelve years old! He could take care of himself, dammit!
His chest started to ache and feel incredibly tight. Boba closed his eyes and then...
Suddenly he felt someone kneeling in front of him, touching his knee. “Boba, deep breaths,” Kenobi said soothingly.
The hand on his knee felt like it was radiating calming waves through his body, and the tight band around his chest slowly loosened and the noodles they’d had for lunch no longer felt like a heavy lump in his stomach.
Boba opened his eyes and looked up. The judge was no longer sitting at his desk, but was over at an open wardrobe in the corner, hanging up his sleeveless robe and cap and putting on a very smart looking jacket over his shirtsleeves.
“The judge has finished looking over your case and has filed a reversal, signed the legal paperwork on your adoption and authorized me to carry out your parole.”
“Wait, that's it?” Boba asked, stretching his neck back into the right position. He wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting there, but he'd had his chin tucked awkwardly against his folded arms. His knees were also folded awkwardly, but he didn't dare move them, lest he push away Kenobi's warm hand that was still resting on his knee. He was almost afraid to breathe too hard and break contact.
But Kenobi squeezed his knee gently and stood up so Boba could get out of the chair.
“That's it.” Kenobi smiled down at him. “Let us go rejoin Wooley and I can take you back with me back to the temple.”
The jetiise temple. Where that karking asshole Windu lived. “Do we have to go back there?” Boba asked quietly, trying to give Kenobi his best tooka eyes. They had never worked on buir, but plenty of the trainers and older clones had given into his demands when he'd made this face.
Kenobi stared down at him for a second and blinked. “I suppose I could take you to the Negotiator in orbit. But we'll have to keep it classified. The other GAR officers have not been too pleased with you since you blew up the Resolute,” Kenobi winced and turned away to thank the judge who looked ready to leave.
Boba frowned, not liking Kenobi's tone or that he'd turned away so quickly. But then Kenobi's hand came up to rest on Boba's shoulder and he relaxed into the touch, leaning his body slightly into Kenobi's.
What was happening to him? Why did he just want to collapse against the other man? Why did he want all of his attention so badly? He hadn't felt like this when Kenobi had been talking to Wooley, but he didn't like it when Kenobi talked to anyone else.
Kenobi thanked the man, the judge waved him off cheerfully and they all left the office.
Wooley was still waiting patiently on the bench in the next room, his back ramrod straight and his body perfectly still.
“Wooley,” Kenobi sighed as they approached the Junior Lieutenant, “You could have gotten up or moved around, while we were gone. You didn't need to sit exactly there until we got back.”
“Sir,” Wooley stiffly stood.
Kenobi shook his head in disappointment. “You need to take care of yourself.”
Wooley's helmet drooped a bit, and Kenobi reached out to put his free hand on the other man's upper arm.
“You're important to me. Please don't do anything like that for my sake.”
“Yes sir,” Wooley said quietly, but with conviction.
Kenobi just smiled sunnily. “Now, we all need to head back to the main shuttle drop so we can get back on the Negotiator before lights out. We’ll need to find a place for Boba to sleep as well.”
“Sir? We're going back up? Don't you want to stay planet side?” Wooley sounded confused.
Boba felt a bit smug that he'd gotten Kenobi to decide not to return to the temple, especially if it was unusual for him. Boba would slowly get Kenobi to listen more and more to what Boba told him. Maybe in the end, Boba could even find a way to get Kenobi to let him go. It was nice having Kenobi around, but he wasn't Boba's buir. And if he couldn't have his buir, Boba didn't want anyone. Besides, Boba was better off alone. Alone meant you didn't have anyone to lose. It meant you didn't get hurt.
“You don't usually sleep on the Negotiator when we're in orbit of Coruscant, sir,” Boba could almost hear Wooley's frown through his vocoder.
Boba was happy with the idea of sleeping on a ship. He'd slept on his buir's ship almost as often as he'd slept on Kamino itself. He was comfortable amongst the stars, with the gentle hum of the engines and metallic clank of boots on the durasteel floors. So until Boba could get Kenobi to let him go, he would push to always sleep on a ship.
Ships were familiar.
“Well, just this time,” Kenobi smiled a little bit bemused. He put a gentle hand on top of Boba's head.
So Kenobi said, but if Boba had his way it would always be.
Wooley nodded, his body language seeming unconvinced, but led the way out of the office.
Wooley was just as competent a driver on the way back. But this time, Boba really noticed how Wooley kept his cool, even when some rude sleemo cut him off.
With Wooley concentrating on traffic, Boba turned to Kenobi.
“I was wondering...” Boba started, glancing up at Kenobi from beneath his lashes. But Kenobi wasn't even looking at him, instead he was staring out the speeder window, gaze hazy and expression slack.
The expression kind of freaked Boba out. He didn't like it at all.
“Kenobi!”
“Hmm?” Kenobi looked over at Boba, his eyes a bit unfocused as he looked down at Boba.
Boba took a gulp, trying to ignore the squirming feeling in his stomach at Kenobi's attention. He'd wanted Kenobi to look at him, to snap out of whatever was happening to him. How come now that Kenobi was looking at him, he didn't like being the man's sole focus? “What was with you not sitting down in that judge's office?”
Kenobi blinked, his eyes focusing on Boba, then snorted. “Yal has this notion that people will spend less time in his office if they are forced to stand their entire appointment. However, as he is a public court judge, it wouldn’t be acceptable for him not to have places for people to sit. So he puts the chairs further across the room, to distance himself from anyone who tries to use their presence as an annoyance to change his decisions by being a nuisance.” Kenobi chuckled, “Although if he could, he wouldn't let anyone in his office.”
“Buir hated dealing with people too. He hated all the Kaminoans, and most of the trainers too.” Boba felt the words slip out of his mouth, followed by the deep pang of grief thinking about his dead buir. For some reason he couldn't stop talking about his buir, and yet it always hurt.
Kenobi gave him a grimacing smile, then his expression smoothed out. “You miss him, don't you?” Kenobi said gently.
“What do you care, jetii?” Boba snapped back.
“I guess we don't know each other that well yet, Boba,” Kenobi looked away, staring straight out the front viewscreen. “But I do care, and...” Kenobi hesitated. “I know what it's like to lose a father-figure.”
“Jetii don't have parents,” Boba said mulishly, crossing his arms.
Kenobi just sighed. “We act as a family to each other, almost like a Mandalorian clan would. We have less defined roles, but our Masters are a bit like our parents and our crechemates are a bit like siblings and their Masters a bit like our Aunts and Uncles.” Kenobi turned back, looking at him with searching eyes. “And I would like you to become a part of my family.”
Boba looked away, out at the passing buildings, at a loss for words. He wasn't sure he wanted that. But also wasn't sure he didn't want that.
His chest ached and he didn’t know why.
The rest of the trip to the GAR transport launching pads was spent in contemplative silence.
Kenobi got him out of the speeder and into a supply shuttle that Wooley had called ahead to hold back for them.
When they arrived on the cruiser they were met by two groups of two clones who were acting as a skeleton crew security overnight.
“Anything wrong, sir?” The one marked as a sergeant asked Kenobi.
“Nothing wrong, Salem. We're just going to head over to the officer quarters.”
“Alright sir. Do you want me to comm Commander Cody to come up?”
Kenobi shook his head, a soft, companionable smile on his face. “No, thank you. I'll leave you four to your duties. Have a lovely night!”
“Sir,” The four of them spoke, not quite in unison, overlapping slightly, saluting. The sergeant nodded as they passed.
Boba followed Kenobi out of the hangar bay, trailing slightly behind him.
The first thing Boba noticed was how quiet it was. The last time he'd been on a ship it had been a bustling hive of activity, even before he'd started hurting people causing mischief. But the halls of the ship were silent and empty.
How devoid the ship was of life, was eerie.
“Where are all the clones?”
Kenobi frowned at his word usage for the Vode but didn't correct him. “Most of them are in the barracks in the temple grounds. Some of the less used park space was cleared and converted into four barrack towers.”
“So we're mostly alone up here?” Boba frowned, now understanding why Wooley hadn't been too keen on the idea. Boba shivered at the empty, echoing halls. Boba didn't like being on an empty ship.
After his buir had died, Boba had dragged his body back to Slave I and sat in silence in the ship until the fighting outside had died down. Then a nameless clone had come and collected him and buir's body and taken them away.
From there he'd been taken to Coruscant social services and forced to live in an orphanage. But he'd never forget that haunting silence inside Slave I, while canons boomed outside. It had been one of the worst moments of his life.
Kenobi glanced down at him with a frown and began to type something out on his duraplast vambrace.
The halls seemed almost darker, more shadowy, when they were empty like this. The corridor lights might very well be turned down to allow for energy conservation with the crew not on board.
Kenobi led him down a side hall that was a dead end, and into the last door on the left.
It was probably the largest cabin on the ship, even on a ship this size, considering how many people they packed into this tin can.
Although Boba hated to admit it, it was bigger even than buir's room had been on Slave I.
“Where...” Boba hesitated, looking around the room. “Where am I going to stay?”
“If you're alright with it, I thought maybe you could stay here,” Kenobi smiled at him warmly.
Boba frowned, this kind of looked like Kenobi's room, from the desk full of 'pads and teacups, down to the incense sticks and meditation mat. “Isn't this your room?” Boba's eyes narrowed.
“Yes. If you don't feel comfortable staying here, I can find somewhere else for you to stay. I just thought you might like being close by.”
Boba frowned at the single bed suspiciously, just as someone chimed at the door.
“Ah, that would be the cot,” Kenobi opened the door and one of the troopers they'd seen in the hangar bay was carrying a folded bed, the type the clones most likely used on campaigns.
Kenobi thanked the man and then motioned to the space in front of the small sofa. The trooper set it up quickly and left.
“I thought you might like the option of sleeping here,” Kenobi said kindly, after the door swished closed. “If you prefer to have your own room, that of course is an option available. I just thought I might offer you a couple different choices.”
“Why?” Boba frowned up at Kenobi, not sure why the man was being so accommodating to him, when he'd not been all that nice back.
“Sometimes it's nice to be able to make your own choices,” Kenobi said simply. “Which would you prefer?”
Boba paused, thinking back over the cold and empty ship they'd crossed to get here. “I'll stay here.”
“Alright,” Kenobi said simply and pulled open a drawer with some extra blankets. “Let's get you set up.”
The soft breathing sounds Kenobi made while he slept on the other side of the room was strangely comforting, and Boba found himself falling asleep all too quickly.
He woke, hours later, from a heavy sleep. The room was still dark but for the one dim light Kenobi had left on. Boba wondered if Kenobi had left it on for himself or Boba, but Boba wasn't going to complain either way. He might be old enough to not be afraid of the dark anymore, but that didn't mean he liked it. Especially when he woke up in some new place and didn't remember where he was. It was quite disorienting.
Boba crept out of bed to check the time on the room controls. He'd been asleep for almost 9 hours! He was surprised to see that Kenobi was still asleep too.
Kenobi looked so comfortable and warm in the bed. His arm was outstretched towards Boba and there was the perfect Boba-sized shape there to fit himself up against the man's chest. There was some deep, dark, squirming part of his gut that wanted to climb up onto the bed and curl into that space.
But he wouldn't. This man wasn't his buir.
As he contemplated the snuggliness of Kenobi, his stomach growled loudly. He didn't want to wait for however long it took Kenobi to wake up.
Boba reached out a hand towards Kenobi but paused for a moment, trying to decide if this was a good idea. Then, with a shrug, he poked Kenobi in the side. Hard.
Kenobi twitched and his eyes shot open, looking around the room wildly until he registered Boba standing beside him, frowning.
“Hmm?” Kenobi hummed sleepily and blinked up at Boba, confused. “Whaz the matter?” He asked roughly, his tenor voice husky with sleep.
“I'm hungry.” Boba said, folding his arms, worrying that Kenobi would tell him off for waking him up.
Kenobi waved his hand in the air and then winced as the bright lights began to flicker on. Boba wondered if they were on a timer. How else would they just come on like that? They couldn't be on a motion-sensor, they hadn't come on when Boba had stirred or begun walking around. He wouldn't even contemplate the thought that Kenobi had turned them on with his Jetii hocus-pocus.
Kenobi rubbed his hand over his eyes and sighed.
“Couldn't you have waited until I woke up?” He said with a fake gentleness. Boba could detect a hint of frayed nerves in the man's voice.
Boba frowned and poked Kenobi in the side again. “Hungry.”
“Alright, I'm up,” Kenobi huffed, a little annoyed.
It pleased Boba to know that Kenobi was grumpy in the mornings. It felt good knowing that the Jetii wasn't some calm example of patience and cheery endurance all the time.
Kenobi heaved himself out of bed and went over to the built-in drawers to retrieve a new tunic.
He was just about to strip off his sleep tunic when he paused and turned, eyeing Boba who was staring at him. “I'll be in the fresher, getting ready. We can go get some breakfast after I get dressed.”
Boba nodded, pleased. He moved back over to his cot and got dressed in his clothes from the day before, which he'd thrown on the floor after Kenobi had given him a nightshirt and left the room so Boba could change.
He looked down at the cot, which had been more comfortable than he'd expected, considering the circumstances. Should he make the bed? Fold the blankets? At the orphanage, they'd made them do lots of chores.
Boba left the cot as it was, wondering how Kenobi would react when he saw it.
Boba didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later Kenobi emerged from the fresher. Kenobi's eyes scanned over the room, including Boba's cot, but he didn't even blink at its state.
“Shall we go then?” Kenobi asked him with a slightly happier smile.
Boba nodded and the two headed out the door.