Double, Double Boil and Trouble - Part 2
A/N: This is a continuation of my fic for the @rare-clone-fic-exchange, which I wrote for @goblininawig. My apologies for the delay! The rest of the fic is plotted and in progress, and it takes place in a shared continuity with Stars Beyond Number, Martyrs and Kings, and “Do It Again,” but it stands alone and can be read independently of those fics.
Pairing: Clone Trooper Boil x Reader (GN; reader practices tasseomancy/reads tea leaves)
Rating: T, but minors DNI as always
Wordcount: 2K
Warnings and tags: fluff; angst; a really obscure joke; questionable fashion decisions
Summary: Boil returns to the scene of the crime.
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Four days later, you were awakened by an ungodly racket. You stumbled out of bed and shrugged on the nearest bathrobe, then shuffled out of your apartment and through the adjoining shopfront. Through the transparisteel door, you saw Boil, pounding insistently. You unlocked the door and opened it, squinting and blinking into the harsh sunlight.
He took in your attire with astonishment, then said, “You’re really committed to the bit, aren’t you?”
“You’re the one who barged in at the crack of dawn—”
“It’s ten o’clock in the mornin’,” he interrupted.
“—and then have the audacity to mock my pyjamas?” you continued as though he hadn’t spoken. “What do you want?”
He glanced down at your body once again and smirked. “What pyjamas?”
“Ugh.” You started to close the door in his face, but he blocked it with his foot.
“Wait! Just, wait,” he said. “I promise not to make fun of your nonexistent pyjamas or your retina-searing bathrobe.”
“You’re still doing it!” you exclaimed, disgruntled. “You’re actively making fun—”
“Yeah, but I won’t do it again!” he cut in. “At least not more than three or four times…”
You growled and braced your hands against his broad, solid chest, trying to dislodge him from your shop door. Infuriatingly, he didn’t even sway under your hands. Even more infuriatingly, he smelled better than he had any business smelling this early in the morning. He watched you with an expression of amusement that only raised your ire more, until you gave up in disgust and spun around, stalking into the shop.
Boil followed you as you strode toward the reception desk and rummaged around in it until you found what you sought.
“Here,” you said, slapping his leather gloves against his chest. “Now go away.”
He looked down, surprised. “Huh, I wondered where I’d left those.”
“That’s not why you’re here?” you asked.
“No, but it is a nice bonus.” You narrowed your eyes dangerously at him, and he hastened to continue. “I actually came to apologize. And… to bring you this.”
He held out a small canister. You recognized the label immediately, and your eyes widened in surprise and a grudging respect. “Wow. That’s one hell of an apology.”
“Is it?” he asked, looking interested.
Your eyebrows shot up. “You don’t know what this is?”
He shrugged. “Tea?”
“Hmph,” you said grumpily. “You might as well come on back.”
He followed you through the corridor to your tiny studio flat. “I didn’t realize you lived here.”
“I don’t exactly advertise it,” you said acerbically. “The last thing I need is some desperate or disgruntled customer showing up demanding a reading while I’m in the shower.”
“I thought you called them guests,” he said.
You refused to dignify his comment with a response. You walked to the kitchen and turned the kettle on to boil, then pulled a pair of mismatched, chipped ceramic mugs out of a cabinet.
“Saving the nice dishes for your customer-guests?” he teased.
“Yes,” you grunted. “And since you are neither of those things, you get what you get.”
“I’m not complainin’,” he shrugged. “I thought I was gonna drop that fancy-ass teacup and have to pay for it somehow. At least if I break this one, I can just steal another from—” he held up the mug to read the aurebesh slogan. “—the Dizzy Dewback Cantina. I thought that place was just a legend.”
You snatched the mug from him and measured a scoop of loose tea into it—not the tea that Boil brought, but a strong black tea with enough caffeine to kickstart your brain. “The pretty one came from the same charity shop as this one, just like everything else here.”
He looked around your flat curiously. “That’s pretty impressive.”
“Amazing what people give away,” you said.
“No, I meant—” he paused.
“What?” you demanded, your hackles rising instantly.
“Kriff, you’re cranky when you wake up,” he remarked. “I just meant it’s impressive that you were able to do…” he gestured vaguely around the colorful, eclectic flat, “... all this, with stuff that you thrifted. It’s nice.”
“Oh,” you said, somewhat mollified. “Thanks.”
“Not a lot of credits in fleecing tourists and bewitching troopers?”
“Not when I keep giving away my tea and pastries for free to every cute trooper who waltzes through the door.” You poured the hot water into the mugs.
“Speakin’ of pastries…” he said, not at all subtly.
You glared at him out of the corner of your eye, and he did his best to look convincingly famished. Grumbling, you went to the conservator and pulled out a couple of buttersweet puffs, then changed your mind and pulled out two more. No point in lying to myself. You popped them into the warmer, and by the time the tea was done brewing, they were appropriately reanimated.
“Milk? Sugar? Lemon?” you offered.
“Just sugar,” he said. “Please.”
You slid the sugar bowl toward him, then a jar of honey, just in case. He stirred a frankly obscene amount of sugar into his tea, then followed you to your sofa. The studio was too small to fit even a compact table in the kitchenette, so the sofa was the only seating option other than the bed. His eyes snagged on the rumpled bedding, and you felt the heat rise in your ears.
“Sorry about the mess,” you said, a touch of defensively. “I wasn’t expecting a GAR invasion.”
“Nobody ever does,” he murmured. “So, you think I’m cute?”
“Don’t push your luck, trooper.”
You took a long sip of tea, your eyes drifting shut in bliss as your head tilted backward to rest against the wall behind the sofa. When you opened your eyes, Boil was staring at you, holding a buttersweet puff halfway to his mouth. He blinked and looked away, cramming half of the pastry into his mouth in a single bite. He chewed for an awkwardly long time, looking increasingly frantic, until finally he washed the bite down with a large gulp of tea.
“Tea’s not bad,” he said at last. “That what I brought?”
You laughed. “No. Some of us aren’t used to tripping balls on a Primeday morning.”
“What?” he asked, dumbfounded.
“It’s a high-grade psychoactive tea,” you explained. “Very potent. Very expensive. Where did you even get it?”
He looked horrified. “General Yoda gave it to me. No explanation, just walked up and handed it to me yesterday while I was escorting Commander Cody to the Jedi temple.”
“Those Jedi really know how to party,” you said drily.
“Kriff me, I could have been court-martialed if I’d been caught with that!” he said indignantly. “What the kark was that little green gremlin playing at?”
You shrugged. “Who knows. I don’t fuck with Jedi. I’m not their—er—cup of tea.”
Boil looked intrigued and not a little suspicious. “Why? What did you do?”
“Very rude to assume I’m the problem,” you pointed out.
“It’s not exactly a leap,” he said.
“Agree to disagree,” you replied evenly, nibbling on your buttersweet puff. “Why are you here, anyway? I assume the trippy tea was just a ploy.”
“I prefer to call it a diversionary tactic.”
You raised an eyebrow to acknowledge the hit, but otherwise remained silent, waiting for him to tell the truth. He cleared his throat uncomfortably at your scrutiny, staring down into his mug of tea.
“I, uh…” he began before trailing off. You sipped your tea as you waited patiently. Eventually, he tried again. “I really did come to—apologize. I… I shouldn’t have gotten—I wasn’t expecting… that.”
You would have laughed at the way he practically had to pry the apology out of his mouth, except his eyes held such profound grief that your own heart ached for him. You regarded him steadily for a few moments, then leaned forward and rested your hand on his shoulder.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
He shrugged uncomfortably, and you withdrew your hand, giving him space.
“Wouldn’t even know where to start,” he said.
You waited a moment, giving him space to consider, before quietly suggesting, “Why don’t you tell me what ‘nerra’ means?”
“It’s Ryl. Twi’leki, you know?” he asked, glancing up to make sure you understood. “In Basic, it means brother.” He swallowed hard and looked away. “My brother, Waxer.”
Kriff. So I was right, you thought grimly. Karkin’ hate it when that happens.
“I’m sorry,” you said quietly, knowing that the words could never be enough. “When?”
“Umbara.”
You nearly flinched at the mention of one of the most devastating battles of the Clone Wars. So many deaths, all because of the treachery of one man. One Jedi. You’d seen the coverage of the battle and of Krell’s betrayal on the holonews, of course, along with everyone else in the galaxy. But you had also heard about it firsthand from troopers who’d come to you looking for answers, for closure. Troopers who had turned their weapons on their own brothers and only discovered the deception too late. You helped as many as you could, returning to your flat at the end of each night drained and distraught.
Those troopers had come to you willingly, though. Boil could hardly have been more reluctant. You hadn’t intended to ambush him, but it seemed the Force had other plans.
“Were you there, as well?” you asked.
He nodded. “Waxer… he’d just gotten promoted to lieutenant. It was his first command. He was so kriffin’ proud.”
You drew in a long, quiet breath. You’d heard so many stories like this, but they never got any easier. Not when the fallen had been such good men. Not when the survivors looked at you with those broken, devastated brown eyes.
Boil’s hand shook as he set down his mug, rattling it slightly against the low table. He turned to you, and after a few seconds’ hesitation, he asked, “Are you a Jedi?”
“No,” you replied.
“Then how…” he trailed off, confusion in his eyes.
“Not everyone who can use the Force is a Jedi,” you said.
He looked at you sharply.
“Nor a Sith,” you said in answer to his unasked question. “Some of us are just… people. Doing our best.”
“And you do that by telling fortunes?” he asked.
You smiled. “On my home planet, we call it the Sight. My grandmother taught me how to wield it. The tea leaves help me focus my intent.”
“But you don’t need ‘em, do you?” he asked. “You knew before you ever looked into the cup.”
“It was more a feeling,” you replied. “Hazy. Indistinct. Even with the leaves, all I got was a word, and even that meant nothing to me.”
“So you never trained as a Jedi because you didn’t have strong powers?”
“Something like that,” you replied uncomfortably. The truth was far more complicated, but you doubted this trooper had come to you expecting to read your full autobiography.
Boil wanted to say something. He watched you closely and took a breath, but he hesitated, looking away, and finally, he picked up his mug and downed the rest of his tea.
“I should get back to the base,” he said, not meeting your eyes. “Thanks for… everything.” He stood, and after a moment’s silence, he whsipered, “I wish I could talk to him, just once more.”
His voice was quiet and hoarse, and grief was etched starkly in his eyes.
“Boil,” you murmured, reaching for him on instinct, but you withdrew at the last second, recalling his earlier discomfort with your touch.
He took a breath and gave you a cocky, sardonic smile that didn’t fool you for a second. “I'll see ya around.”
“Yeah,” you replied, sensing that it might be sooner than he expected.
You walked with him out of your flat, down the hall, and back through the shop. Before he left, though, you impulsively reached for his hand.
“Wait.”
He raised his brows in surprise. “Somethin' wrong?”
“No,” you replied. “I just wondered if you’d like my comm channel. In case you ever decide to wake me up at the crack of ten again.”
He was silent for a moment, then he said, “Yeah… I’d like that.”
---
Part 3
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