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therisingdarkness · 1 year

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5 Times Ghoul Left the Bar Alone, and One Time He Didn’t

Welp, took me long enough. Battled like two weeks without a reliable internet connection but I can’t be stopped. It’s like 32 pages of smut, so have fun reading and if you’re not supposed to be reading try not to get caught. I’m not the feds. Not your mom.

Obviously, written for @cloned-eyes and Ghoul, who feels like he’s become as much a part of me as Odessa is, so I hope they live a healthy and happy life forever and ever. Good endings only for me XD. I hope those who’ve read enjoy themselves, and I appreciate the love these chapters have gotten. You’re all very nice, and made this a really fun experience. Thank you so much!

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

PART 6 (Part 1 of 2)

PART 6 (Part 2 of 2)

She liked the look on his face, the one she kept putting there every time she did something unexpected. Magda had been correct about assuming Ghoul’s inexperience, but Odessa didn’t think she’d so quickly come to adore his innocence the way she currently did. There was a part of her that wanted to tease him, to really test the limits of his patience…but she didn’t want to overwhelm him, either. What he had already allowed her to do was more than she had expected.

But she did love his look of wide-eyed astonishment when he set his eyes on her naked body for the first time. Selfishly she hoped it was the first one he had ever seen, vanity giving rise to ego in a way that made her feel wonderfully sexy and desirable.

She sat back in his lap, shuffling closer until she could feel the heat of his cock against the inside of her thigh and her knees met with the back of the couch, preventing her from pressing as close as she wanted. Ghoul held up his hands, back to not knowing where to touch or what was permissible—endearing, if she hadn’t already given him permission to do as he saw fit. But she didn’t fault him for it. This was new to him…and she wanted him to take things at his own pace just as badly as she wanted to push him down and show him everything he had been missing out on for all of his life.

“Surprised?” she asked, setting her arm around his shoulders and stroking his cheek, turning his head to hers. She kissed him, taking advantage of his slack-jawed expression to slip her tongue into his mouth and test the waters some more, curious about the velvety feel of his prosthetic tongue and the clinical dryness of his lower jaw.

He didn’t salivate—that had been the first thing she had noticed, but it wasn’t an issue. Kissing him felt like kissing anyone, just different textures and flavors; there was no getting around the taste of silicone and the faint bitterness of metal, but his mouth was every bit as soft as it looked and she had been delighted to find the plate hiding his lower lip had been removable. It made things easier, which was a good thing because she had quickly fallen in love with kissing Ghoul.

He was sweet and gentle, tender in his explorations and the tentative way he kissed back, like he was still trying to understand how his mouth was supposed to move. His inability to feel as she did likely hindered his progress, but Odessa was patient. She didn’t mind that he was a bit clumsy, or missed the mark, or that he didn’t quite know what to do with his tongue.

“I…I didn’t think about it,” Ghoul gasped as she pulled away from him after nipping his upper lip. “I…you didn’t have to—”

“I wanted to,” she said quickly, getting ahead of whatever nonsense he was about to say. Of course she wanted to. She had made up her mind the moment she had invited him inside, that this was how she wanted her night to end. He only took a little convincing to make it this far and she knew it wouldn’t take much more to get him into her bed. But all in good time—they had the whole night ahead of them, and neither of them had anywhere to be for the next couple days.

Filled with an affection for him that bordered on suffocating, Odessa pushed off of Ghoul's chest and climbed to her feet, stretching a little to alleviate the stiffness that had built up in her knees—and, maybe, just a little bit for show, to watch the way his eyes traveled up and down her body like he still couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was amusing how open he was in his desire for her when he worked so hard to maintain a mask of indifference toward everyone else. She hoped it was because he felt so at ease with her, that he could finally lower those walls he had erected around himself to keep others out.

Aware of his heated gaze against her backside as she turned to the kitchen, Odessa took her time gathering a clean hand towel and wetting it with warm water, making sure all the excess was squeezed out before returning to Ghoul's lap. This time, he helped her straddle him with an eager touch, immediately and curiously sliding his hands up and over her hips to cup her bottom.

"You're beautiful," he murmured, enthralled as he scooped up handfuls of her flesh and squeezed, making her giggle. "I…I mean it. You're th' most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

"Flatterer," Odessa whispered as she tilted his chin up, pressing the wet cloth to the spot between his eyes.

He closed them automatically and held very still as she wiped his face clean of the faded warpaint, until the only apparent discoloration in his skin was due to the scars surrounding his eyes. He really was handsome—she had no thoughts about 'despite the prosthetics' or anything of the sort. He was just attractive in his entirety and she couldn't look at him and imagine him any other way, even though it wouldn't have been difficult; there were thousands of men just like him, wearing the same face, many of them without scars.

But they weren't Ghoul.

"What're you lookin' at?" he asked, laying his head back against the couch as Odessa trailed the cloth down his chest, wiping away all evidence of his earlier release before it became tacky and dry.

"I am just thinking how amazing it is," she said, "that out of the many thousands of clones they are making…there is none like you. Not a single one who could come close to being what you are."

A shadow passed over Ghoul's face and he glanced aside.

"Maybe that's a good thing," he said, shivering as the now cool cloth passed over his stomach.

"If only because I am having you all to myself," Odessa said, kissing his forehead. "You are so hard on yourself. Why?"

She dropped the cloth and reached between her legs for his cock, rolling his foreskin up over the head in light movements that quickly had him groaning again. She could listen to him forever, she decided. His voice sent shivers down her spine every time he talked in that low, rough, raspy way, and his groans of pleasure were similarly stimulating. She wanted to press her thighs together just listening to him; the heat emanating from her sex was almost unbearable.

"E-Easier," Ghoul stuttered, lifting his head to watch her. He stared for a moment, then, tentatively, touched a few prosthetic fingers to the back of her hand, trailing them up the length of her arm. Her skin broke out in tiny little bumps at the contact; the metal was smooth and warm, not at all cold like she had initially expected, and the 'pads' of each finger were textured in a way that must have aided with his ability to grip things.

"Can I touch you?" Ghoul asked, staring at her in a way that made her feel like she was being stripped bare all over again.

“Of course,” she said breathily, “as much as you want. Please. I want to feel you too.”

Any other man might have just gone for her breasts. She expected that, but Ghoul surprised her yet again, touching one of her lekku with both hands, curiosity written across his face as he teased the end, watching it twitch rapidly beneath his touch, then sliding up until he reached midway, where the nerve endings were abundant and far more sensitive. Odessa moaned, leaning into his gentle grip and closing her eyes as she indulged in the sensation, wondering what it was about him that made him so good at knowing what to do.

“I read up on this,” Ghoul murmured, his voice a raspy mess she had to work hard to decipher. “Halfway up is where, uh, you have to be careful—stores part of the brain?”

“Closer to the head,” Odessa groaned as he gave her lek a small squeeze, just enough to make her whole body twitch; he stroked back down in a silent apology, winding the tip between his fingers.

“They’re…unique,” he said. “I like the pattern…it’s different from what I’ve seen before…they’re not tattoos?”

“N-No…the clan my father is from—mmm—all had markings like this. It is genetic.”

Odessa tried and failed to maintain her concentration long enough to keep touching Ghoul, but he seemed just as determined to stop her from doing so. He abandoned her lekku and ran both hands up her arms to her shoulders, then down to her breasts. He hesitated again, but touched one with his left hand first, sliding his last two fingers against her supple skin before cupping her gently. Odessa watched, biting the inside of her cheek to stifle a moan when he thumbed her nipple.

“That’s…that’s nice,” he said, giving her a squeeze. “Always, uh…always wondered how that felt.”

Odessa exhaled on a giggle, quickly covering his hand with hers before he could think to pull away. His curiosity was more of a boon than an actual hindrance. The last time she had taken someone to bed they had been almost too rough; she much preferred Ghoul’s reverent exploration.

“Keep doing that,” she said. “They are sensitive too, especially here–” she plucked at her own nipple, warmth flooding her body when Ghoul repeated the gesture on her other breast “–but if you play with them…it is fun, I admit.”

He snorted, but did as he was told, taking her words to heart and setting both hands to task. He squeezed her breasts like he was testing to see if they were fruit that had ripened, then scissored her nipples between his fingers, watching her face the entire time; Odessa tried to hold back from moaning too openly, but it was difficult when he was so thorough. She had a good feeling that he was storing the results of his experimentation away for later, keeping little notes on her body for his own personal use. She hoped so, at any rate.

"Wish my mouth wasn't so dry," Ghoul muttered, more to himself than for her benefit. "Wouldn't mind…uh, y'know."

His ears burned red and Odessa snickered a bit, cupping the back of his head and bringing him down for a kiss atop his crown.

"Do it anyway," she encouraged him. "It will only feel good for me."

He looked so sweet, shocked like he never expected her to capitulate to his whims. It made her want to give him anything he wanted, to let him do whatever he pleased to her without complaint. Admittedly, the thought of his mouth on her was…she was slick with the thought of it, and of what else he might do if she told him he could.

Patience, she coached herself.

Ghoul snaked an arm around the small of her back, holding her steady with his other hand on her ribs as he leaned forward, pressing his face between her breasts and inhaling deeply. Odessa chewed on her lip and stroked his head, bracing herself with a hand against his knee and arching her back so she could watch him nuzzle her.

"Do I smell good?" she asked, curious about the way he lingered against her for a moment, apparently content to just breathe in her scent.

"Yeah," Ghoul mumbled before pressing a hesitant kiss to her clavicle. "You…always do. Kark, that's not weird, is it? I can't help it, you just always smell so—"

"No, I like that," she said, flushing happily. "If you cannot taste, then it is good you can smell."

The look he gave her was nothing short of gutted, and he buried his face into her neck, inhaling again, a deep sniff that made her shiver with how intense and intimate it felt. No one had ever paid such close attention to her before. She wasn't even wearing any particular perfume (those were even more expensive than they had any right to be), and the rain would have washed away all the stink from the bar. It was just her skin, she realized…that's all he thought smelled good.

"Mmm," she moaned through a closed mouth, hugging Ghoul tight around the neck with one arm as he tilted her back just to the point of being uncomfortable. She felt him kiss her shoulder, exhale hotly against the spot, then kiss her again, where the juncture of her jaw met with her throat.

His left hand found her breast, kneading the malleable flesh until he ducked his head to press a kiss to the swell of her chest. Odessa gasped aloud as he kissed his way to her nipple; his tongue, the moment it touched her skin, was obviously different. Like he had said, his mouth was dry and the bit of moisture clinging to the artificial muscle dried in an instant.

But it was the effort that counted.

She closed her eyes and moaned as he sealed his lips around her nipple and sucked as she had done to him, silicone and flesh soft and insistent in a way that was pleasurable even if it was a little strange. She felt the hard ridge of his teeth against her skin as he tested her boundaries, but it wasn't painful—if anything it only enhanced the pleasure she felt, knowing he was working hard to be mindful of her comfort.

Ghoul made a noise into her skin, a muffled moan that made her bite her lip until she was sure there'd be a bruise come morning. His hands held her in a vice grip, keeping her in place as he tormented her with teeth and tongue, switching from one breast to the other and pausing only to glance at her face to make sure she was still okay with it. Of course she was; the thought of withdrawing consent when they had already come so far was absurd.

"You are so good," Odessa gasped, grabbing the back of his hand as he pinched her nipple gently, rolling it between his fingers. "So good…you are making me feel so hot, all over."

"Yeah?" Ghoul asked, his voice rough with interest as he pulled off of her nipple to press a kiss to her neck. "You like it?"

"I am liking everything you do to me," she sighed. "But I want more. Can I…show how I am liking to be touched?"

"Kark, yes," Ghoul groaned. "I wanna know everything. I…I meant it. Wanna make you feel good too."

He was so sweet and earnest.

How could I ever say no to him? she asked herself as she sat up on her knees. Ghoul glanced between them, at the space where her thighs met, and slid his hands over her hips to grasp at her rear. Odessa smiled and touched his head again, petting him until he looked up.

"Give me your hand," she commanded softly, knowing he'd obey without question. Wordlessly he offered her his left, favoring it for the experience of being able to actually feel.

Then I will make sure he feels everything I do to him.

"You are so obedient," she murmured, cupping his hand in both of hers and kissing the knuckles of his last two fingers. "So good at following orders. You like to be having clear instruction?"

"Yes," Ghoul whispered, the upper half of his face caught in a blush. "You uh…you have me at a disadvantage. I'll take all th' help I can get."

"I will give it to you," Odessa said as she curled his prosthetic fingers toward his palm. She pressed a kiss to the tips of his flesh and bone fingers and then, without warning, slid both of them into her mouth, swiping her tongue over and between them with a faint noise of contentment.

Ghoul sucked in a sharp breath, his eyes widening and his mouth falling open as he watched her. It was a good look on him, a wonderfully innocent expression she wanted to be able to remember. He didn't move while she sucked on his fingers, lathering them with as much saliva as she could; she was already wet enough to go without…but a little more never hurt anyone. Besides, she wanted him to feel as much as she could offer him.

"Osik," he said harshly, in a language she didn't recognize. It was a curse, that much was obvious from his tone, and the sound of his voice went straight to her sex.

"What is that?" Odessa asked, pulling off of his fingers with a parting kiss. "That word? It is not Basic."

Ghoul clenched his jaw, the look on his face curiously enigmatic—blank, like he had to work hard to scrub all the emotion from his expression. Immediately, she understood that this was another subject he didn’t want to delve into, not yet.

“It’s Mando’a,” Ghoul eventually responded. “From the planet Mandalore.”

“It is special to you?” Odessa asked, before sucking his little finger back into her mouth. Ghoul inhaled deeply and nodded without elaboration.

"One day you will tell me?" she teased, tweaking his nipple playfully.

He hesitated, then nodded like he wasn't exactly sure, just afraid of displeasing her. Odessa pulled his hand between her legs and pressed her cheek against his so she could whisper in his ear.

"Say something else? I am liking the way you sound."

"Fuck. Uhm. Anything?"

"Whatever feels right."

"...uh…yooba solus…mesh'la."

Odessa kissed the ragged edge of his ear and trailed her tongue around the shell, down to suck on his earlobe; she felt him flinch beneath her, and then curl his soaking fingers into the tender flesh of her inner thigh. His hand was so close to where she wanted it to be that she clenched around nothing and gave a needy moan—frustrated, but not with him, never at him.

"What does it mean?" she asked.

"Means…means you're beautiful," he said. "I…how do I touch you?"

"Like this," Odessa said, easily maneuvering herself to sit sideways in his lap. She spread her legs, giving him a perfect view of her flushed sex, and reclined back in his other arm. She heard him swear softly as she adjusted, sweeping his hand from her knee to the top of her thigh, feeling out her smooth skin. His touch electrified her in the best way, prickling her skin in the wake of his palm and the ghost of his hot breath against her lekku making her shiver as if she were cold, but there was only the heat of his body beneath her, surrounding her on all sides.

“Watch,” she murmured as she set her two longest fingers against her cunt, rubbing in the way she liked best and slicking up her fingers on her arousal as it practically dripped from her—at this point he could have done anything to her; the smallest touch was going to set her on fire, she knew it, and it would be over before it had even begun. She wished she could say as much to him, but she was so focused on showing him what she liked that the thought slipped her mind.

"This is the most sensitive," she instructed, finding it difficult to talk with the way it felt like her heart was in her throat; she touched herself with two trembling fingers, parting the cleft of her sex to reveal the tiny nub of her clit hidden among her flesh. "This is the best part…but I will like being touched everywhere."

"You'll cum if I touch you there?"

"Yes…but not by itself. It is different for me."

"I'll do anything you tell me," he said, curling his arm around her waist and splaying his prosthetic hand against her hip. "Anything."

"You do not have to worry about—"

"No. I do. I…It wouldn't be fair."

Ghoul slid his hand from the inside of her thigh to her cunt, fingers slipping through the mess her arousal had already made of her. That first touch shocked her, eliciting a gasp that tapered off into a breathy moan as he firmed up his touch, sliding his last two digits through her moist folds repetitively. Odessa flinched, automatically reaching up to hook her hand around the back of his neck. She bit her lip and tried to keep from making so much noise, but it had been some time since the last time she had masturbated…and it was Ghoul.

How could she resist when he was the one touching her?

"Th–that is good," she said breathily, her belly hitching as he dragged some of her slick up and over her clit, using two fingers (bigger and longer than hers, he made it look so much easier than it felt) to part her folds as he set his middle finger to task.

"Like this?" he asked, his voice husky and rough in her tchara as he traced featherlight circles around the little bud of flesh.

"Yes, ahhhh," Odessa moaned, sinking her nails into the back of his neck as tendrils of pleasure took root in her gut. "A–A little faster, please."

He was so obedient, so good at listening to her instruction, and he was so intuitive—she didn't need to tell him to keep making sure she was lubricated, or else the constant rubbing would become painful; he just knew and dipped his fingers back against her sex, collecting more lubricant. She didn't need to tell him that he could stroke her opening and tease her clit at the same time, he just figured it out on his own. Odessa rocked against his hand, moaning softly, barely able to think straight as he kept figuring things out on his own, letting instinct and desire drive his movements until she felt sick with the heat building in her loins and the pleasure corrupting her thoughts into mush.

"You're so hot," Ghoul murmured, sounding about as strained as she felt. "'S like you're burnin' up. Kark, I'd give anything t' be able to feel you properly."

"Oooohh," Odessa exhaled, arching her back as his fingers slipped against her cunt, dipping past her outer lips in a way that made her want to beg him for more. Her thighs tried to close of their own accord when he pressed against her clit, but he pried them back apart gently, with a chuckle that sent something racing through her, making her lightheaded and weak-kneed.

"What else?" he asked in a hushed whisper, pressing his nose against her cheek and inhaling her scent again. "Tell me what else."

"D-Deeper," Odessa stammered, "your f-fingers, please. Inside."

"You sure?"

"Please."

Ghoul ducked his head, pressing another kiss to her breast before withdrawing his hand from between her legs—the opposite of what she wanted! Odessa whined in disappointment, but froze when he lifted his hand to his face, sniffing curiously at his fingers. She stared, wide-eyed, as he flexed them, watching the way her slick strung two together with a thin, dropping thread that glistened like a tiny jewel before it snapped. Then, without warning, he stuck those same two fingers into his mouth and briefly sucked on them.

"Can't taste it," he said, frustration drawing his eyebrows together. "But you smell…you smell amazing."

"Frotz," Odessa cursed, her heart hammering like a piston against the inside of her chest. She reached for Ghoul, snaring him behind the neck and pulling him down for a hungry kiss that felt more teeth than lips and though he couldn't taste her, she still could, the lingering scent of skin and sweat clinging to his breath as he gasped into her mouth.

"Salty," Odessa moaned, kissing him again. "Musky, like I have not showered. It cannot be pleasant…but I wish you could taste me too, I–I want you so much, please, Ghoul…please do not stop."

She felt his hand grip the inside of her thigh again, squeezing and kneading his way back to her throbbing cunt—she groaned when he swept his smallest fingers back against her, then cried out when he pressed deeper, testing the give of her flesh until he found her opening.

"There," Odessa said, squirming in his lap, dimly aware of the hard press of his cock against her hip and the way he grunted as she writhed against him. He sunk his fingers deep, down to the last knuckle, scissoring and pressing them against her inner walls until she couldn’t hold back her moans; her neighbors would complain, surely, but she couldn’t bring herself to care in the moment, not when he was right where she needed him.

“How’s it feel?” Ghoul asked, fixated on the way her thighs trembled. “Am I doing it right?”

He wanted confirmation so badly, and Odessa didn’t have her wits about her to tell him in elegant words that he was perfect and wonderful and so sweet that she thought she could love him if she wasn’t terrified of frightening him off. The affection she held for him felt like it was bleeding over the edges of herself, like a glass filled with too much drink, and everything he said to her, everything he did was another drop breaking the surface tension until she felt like she was going to overflow.

“Ghoooul,” she moaned, lifting her hips, trying to feel more of him, deeper. “Ooohh, please, I am—ahhh, mmm! I am so close, please!”

“C-Can I—another finger? Can I?” he asked, sounding breathless. Odessa’s eyes were already shut so tight, her bottom lip trapped between her teeth as she tried to fight back against the feeling inside of her like…like a band tightening. He had driven her so close to the edge of her orgasm she could practically taste it, and she nodded desperately at his request, blindly feeling for his face to pull him back in for another sweltering kiss that he returned earnestly.

She felt him rearrange his hand, adding his prosthetic middle finger to her sopping cunt, stroking her diligently before attempting penetration—two might not not have been enough to bring her to orgasm, but three felt like a severe punch to the gut, stealing the breath from her lungs and making her cry out hoarsely as the added girth stretched her with a pleasant burn that settled into the kind of ache she couldn’t wait to wake up to in the morning. It was perfect, he was perfect, and all she could do was hold onto him, crying out as he pumped his hand against her, scissoring his fingers and mapping her out from the inside.

“P-please, pleasepleaseplease,” Odessa whimpered, “faster, Ghoul, I-I–”

“I gotcha,” he groaned, pressing his forehead to hers and tilting her until she felt the soft cushion of the couch at her back and Ghoul’s weight against her side. He leaned over her, panting heavily as he fucked her on his fingers, the sound of it obscene, squelching, wet and heady as the scent of her arousal permeated the air between them. Pleasure bit and snarled around her bones, setting her nerves on fire from within until she thought she might actually black out—it was almost too much, too much, and yet she didn’t think to tell him to slow down or stop.

Ghoul’s thumb slipped against the hood of her clit again, rubbing tight, frantic little circles against the general area—not quite right but still pleasurable enough that her toes curled with the attention—and she felt his hot breath against her cheek, then her tchara where he pressed a clumsy kiss that made all the heat inside of her coalesce into one bright, blinding ball that slowly exploded, expanding outward as she finally came on his hand, crying out his name in a loud, drawn-out wail.

Her body drew taut as she shook, legs pressed tight around his hand and wrist to stave off the hypersensitivity of too many nerves alight with too much feeling all at once. Odessa moaned again, softer this time as she rode out the waves of her release as it washed over her again, gnawing away at her like a blurrg with a bone. It left her winded and warm all over, panting as she tried to steady her breathing. Dimly, she became aware of the way Ghoul stared at her, mesmerized, it seemed, by her reaction.

Innocent, she thought, lifting a heavy arm to touch the back of her fingers to the arch of his cheek, so he could feel her.

“Are you okay?” he asked, tilting his head against her hand. “That…that looked intense.”

“I am fine,” Odessa sighed, inhaling deeply. A few stray tremors wracked her frame, but the brunt of her orgasm had already filtered through her; moving felt impossible…but the couch was much too small for them to comfortably lay side by side.

Ghoul swallowed and reluctantly withdrew his hand from between her legs, his wet fingers lingering against her inner thigh and the bend of her knee before he reached between them to take hold of his stiff cock. Odessa inclined her head, watching as he jerked himself indulgently, smearing her slick all over his length with a low groan that rumbled from somewhere deep in his stomach and passed through her. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply—she wanted him, again.

“You were so tight ‘round my fingers,” Ghoul murmured, gently pinching his foreskin and drawing it over the head of his member. “So wet. I didn’t know it felt like that. It was…it was so nice.”

“You were wonderful,” Odessa said, kissing his chest, right above his heart. Slyly she trailed her hand over his pecs and down his stomach, squeezing his side before sliding her hand past his to cradle his balls, massaging them methodically until he choked on his next breath. What was left of the skin tight undersuit he wore beneath his armor clung to his hips, the last barrier between them. She sat up and tugged them down around his thighs, then stripped them from his legs to toss them over the arm of her couch and, finally, curled up beside him to nudge apart his knees with one of hers.

“H-hey,” Ghoul stammered as she forced her leg between his and slid her hand against the inside of his meaty thigh, “aren’t you…aren’t you tired?”

“Are you?” Odessa quipped back, aiming a sultry smirk his way, disarming him completely as she squeezed the muscle she found. She liked the feeling of hair on his legs, softer and finer than the trimmed patch around his cock, or the sparse smattering of hair across his chest and belly. She loved touching him, loved feeling the way his breath hitched and his skin jumped beneath her fingers, twitching like he wasn’t expecting it.

“N-no,” Ghoul admitted, the movement of his hand stuttering as she cupped his balls again, passing them by to trail her nails over his groin and up his abdomen, poking his belly button for fun. He flinched and she kissed his chest again, stifling a giggle.

He gave her a bashful look, removing his hand from his cock and stroking his fingers against her lek, tracing the pattern of her stripes. She watched him, affection welling up inside of her until she felt she could drown in it. He was so sweet, so unlike the hardened man she had met months ago, who barely looked at her, didn’t want to talk to her, who spoke to her like she was a nuisance. It had taken time to break through that tough exterior, but what she found underneath must have been the man he was before the terrible event that disfigured him.

It wasn’t fair that he felt the need to tuck himself away beneath layers and layers of indifference and barely restrained anger, but she could understand why he did it. It was the same way her father acted after her mother died. She recognized hurt and saw the power it held over others…she didn’t fault him for trying to protect himself.

“You want to go somewhere more comfortable?” Odessa asked, walking her fingers up his stomach to tap on his chest. “The couch is too small.”

“Uh…yeah,” Ghoul said. “If you’re sure.”

She was more than sure.

“Come with me,” she said, sitting up suddenly and tugging on his arm. Ghoul frowned, but followed her to his feet, where she took him by the hand and led him to her bedroom. It was smaller than the room they left and her bed filled most of the space; a small closet with sliding doors took up one wall and she had managed to wedge a very small end table between her bed and the other wall, closest to the window. The window was, perhaps, the best part of her apartment; when she opened the shutters she had a view of Coruscant she liked to imagine most people only dreamed about…even though she knew it couldn’t be all that impressive.

At night though, and especially that night, with the storm, it was something special. She released Ghoul and pressed the button to activate the shutters, opening them midway to reveal a one way window that spanned the entire length of the wall. The sound of rain intensified as the soundproofing screen pulled back, revealing the storm still in full swing outside. Lights from neon signs blurred into colored splashes through the wall of water, bathing her dark room in soft lights of blues, purples, and greens.

“It is not much,” she said, looking over her shoulder at Ghoul apologetically, “but I am not minding it sometimes, when it is like this.”

“Better than the view we have at the barracks,” Ghoul said, standing awkwardly at the foot of her bed. “I’d rather have this.”

It’s yours, Odessa thought reflexively, but that was a foolish idea, just things she wanted to say because she felt like giving him anything he asked for and everything he deserved. But the idea of him staying with her, even living there…it was the kind of thing she would have liked, if it were possible for him. She shook herself free of fantasies and left the window, sliding her arms around Ghoul’s waist in a hug that he returned, albeit stiffly.

“I want to do something for you,” Odessa said, pressing another kiss to the center of his chest.

“There’s more?” Ghoul asked, sucking in a sharp breath as she slid both hands over his rear, squeezing playfully.

“There will always be more,” she teased, before pushing him to sit on her bed. “Scoot back, all the way. Make some room for me.”

She followed after him on her hands and knees, her lekku falling over her shoulders and trailing over his skin as she crawled on top of him, trapping him against her pillows and the headboard with a sweet kiss he tried to return with some grace. His flush was back, sweeping down his neck and over his collarbones as he watched her with a wary eye, not quite sure what she planned on doing; this time, Odessa had no intention of cluing him in. He was smart and would figure it out on his own, eventually.

“You are so good,” she murmured, dipping her head to press a kiss to his throat; she knew he couldn’t feel it, but that didn’t matter to her. It was the gesture and what it meant to her, to show him that she accepted him as he was, prosthetics and all. She heard his breath quicken and the sound of him trying to swallow.

“So gentle,” she continued to praise him, littering more wet kisses against his heated skin, “so curious. I am enjoying watching you discover new things. The look your face has when you feel something new, the way you are touching me…I love it.”

She swirled her tongue around his nipple and plucked at it gently with her teeth; he groaned and she pinched the other, feeling voracious in that moment, like she could just eat him alive and drink up all the wonderful sounds he made. He was just so sensitive, all over it seemed, but she especially loved the way he didn’t shy away from the attention she gave him. He liked having his nipples touched, he didn’t try to stop himself from making noises of appreciation, and he was just so…so beautiful. She didn’t think she had words for it, but she teased him with her mouth and her fingers to draw out more of those sweet noises, reveling in the way his hands found their way to her lekku, touching them slowly.

“Ahhh,” he moaned, “hah, Odie—too much. I–I can’t….”

Another groan tore itself from his throat as she pulled off of him to blow cool air against his spit-damp skin, his nipple puckering from the torment. Taking pity, she continued to kiss her way down Ghoul’s body, trailing her tongue over the dips of his muscled abdomen and scraping her teeth over the jut of his hip. She could feel his erection against her stomach as she slid back on her knees, smearing precum against her skin and twitching needily as she ignored it in favor of pushing his legs a little further apart so that she could comfortably lay between them.

“Oh fuck,” Ghoul swore when she ran her hands up both his thighs, kissing the top of one and the inside of the other.

“I have thought about this too,” she said warmly, looking up at where he sat propped against her pillow, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. Cute, she thought, before taking hold of his cock and licking a fat, wet stripe along the underside from root to tip. The noise Ghoul made was new, strangled, and his hands fisted up in her sheets, pulling them out of the careful tuck she had made them in this morning. Odessa sucked a spot at the base of his cock and then ran her tongue against a prominent vein crawling up its length before kissing the moist head.

“Odie,” Ghoul gasped weakly, “y-you don’t hafta—”

“Shhh. Stop trying to deny yourself things that feel good. Simply relax…let me take care of you. Is that so bad?"

"No," he groaned. “Just…you do that and I’m…kark, I know I’m not gonna last long. You’ll get a mouthful.”

“Then I will swallow,” Odessa shrugged, tugging on him lazily. Ghoul whispered another word in what she guessed was Mando’a, but spread his legs a little more and laid back against the pillows to watch.

“You’re a menace,” he whispered, shaking his head.

Odessa smirked and sucked the insides of her cheeks, working moisture back in her mouth so she could drag the flat of her tongue along his girth in a smooth movement that made him grunt. She rewarded his honesty with another kiss, then tilted his cock to her plush lips, taking the tip into her mouth.

“Ohhh. Odie…damn."

He tasted good in that way men did, in a way she imagined she would have tasted to him; salt-licked skin, sweat, and the faintest smell of rain clinging to him where his blacks had soaked through. There was something else there, something she guessed was the scent that was uniquely Ghoul, smokey and heady without being overpowering. She wanted to bury her face between his legs and breathe it in, until she could define it. It was his scent, and for the first time she thought she could understand the way it must have felt to bury his nose against her neck and inhale so deeply; she wanted to do the same to him, just so she’d never forget what he smelled like.

Odessa took him deeper, swallowing past the head and fisting what couldn't fit in her mouth. He was girthy—thick—but not unwieldy. She had known from first sight he was going to feel amazing once inside of her…and she was glad she had been right. Ghoul groaned gutturally as she took him further, her cheeks hollowing as she sucked him hard; she snuck her arm beneath his thigh when he shifted restlessly, pulling it against her shoulder and touching him aimlessly, her hand wandering up his hip and over his stomach for pleasure's sake.

"Kri–kriffing hells," he moaned, lifting his hips jarringly, instinctively trying to thrust. "That's a sight. Kark, you feel so good, ahh!"

Odessa hummed idly, swallowing him down until she felt the tip of his cock brush against the back of her throat. She stayed there, breathing through her nose as she bobbed her head up and down, closing her eyes and focusing on the feel of him resting heavily against her tongue. She felt his left hand take up her lek, rolling the very tip between his fingers and sending little shockwaves of pleasure through her; she clenched her thighs together, thinking back to how it felt to be stretched around three of his fingers.

Stealing glances at him when he least expected it was quickly becoming a little habit she enjoyed—like now, when she cast her gaze up at him with her mouth full of his cock and saw the way he stared at her, wincing through a mixture of pleasure and overstimulation, chewing on his bottom lip though he couldn’t feel it and how he refused to close his eyes for longer than a few seconds, like he didn’t want to miss out on watching her.

He was gorgeous.

Odessa pulled off of him with a wet gasp, slathering his length with her tongue and dropping messy kisses to the soft skin connecting his groin to his thigh. She wanted to ruin him for all others, wanted to fuck him so thoroughly he’d never think of anyone else, no matter where his path took him. Selfishly, she wanted him all to herself. He was special. He belonged to her, and she wasn’t willing to let him go so easily after it had taken so long for her to realize how badly she had been wanting him like this.

“I love your taste,” Odessa said huskily. “You are the perfect size, nice and thick. I cannot wait to be having you inside of me.”

"You just say things," Ghoul groaned, "fuck, y' don't know what it does t' me…."

He shuddered, the muscles in his stomach fluttering beneath her fingers in response to her whispered promise of things to come. He had to know—even if he was completely inexperienced he had to know, at the very least, where this all was headed. He bucked against her mouth again when she pressed her lips back to his cockhead, pressing the tip of her tongue against his slit in a tease. His aborted thrust forced him back into her mouth unexpectedly; she almost choked, but greedily took control again and swallowed him back down with a content moan, closing her eyes and gripping him as tight as she dared.

“Uuunnhh,” Ghoul moaned, arching his back and digging his foot into her mattress to give himself more leverage. She tried to push his hips back down but he was so much stronger than her; she could barely move him and the knowledge did little to quell the ache of arousal that had crept back into her loins. She wondered if, another time, he would be open to holding her down and fucking her hard and deep, or carrying her easily in his arms to press against a wall—she shuddered with each thought, crossing her feet at the ankle and clenching her thighs together for the sweet friction that came with the act. She could already feel the slip of arousal trickling down her sex. Kark, he made her so wet.

“Odie,” he gasped when she withdrew again to lave her tongue against his balls, nudging them before sucking a portion of his sac into her mouth. “Fffuuuuhhck. Odie, I’m gonna–I’m gonna cum. Uggh, don’t stop, don’t stopdon'tstopdon’tstop—”

She didn’t stop, not once, not until he started to stiffen up and his balls contracted; she kept pumping him even as she took him back into her mouth, suckling him sweetly, waiting for that moment when he released; the first spurt of cum hit the roof of her mouth violently, followed by more just the same and Ghoul’s deep, drawn-out groan that pierced through the veil of rain pattering against her window and even the distant rumble of thunder. He rolled his hips up into her face and his hand found the top of her head, resting between the bulge of her lekku as he pressed down the tiniest amount. Another thrill shot through her when she thought about how easily he could mush her face and take what he wanted—he wasn’t the type of man, she felt, but it was an attractive mental image all the same.

She swallowed easily, sucking him through it until his moans turned to whimpers and the hand on her head began to push her away rather than hold her close. She pulled off of him a final time, wiping her lips with the back of a finger, and stared as his cock continued to pulsate, twitching deeply against his stomach as though still caught in the throes of orgasm. Ghoul himself lay collapsed against her pillows with his flesh arm thrown over his eyes, mouth open and chest heaving as he panted for air.

“How was it?” Odessa asked, sitting up and running her hands back over his thighs; the muscle jumped beneath her palms and Ghoul let out a little nervous laugh before dragging his arm just over his forehead so he could look at her.

“I’m…I’m s’posed t’ answer that?” he asked incredulously. “I can’t…it was…it was better than I–I coulda imagined. It felt so good. Nothin’ like it. Ever.”

His speechlessness was adorable. Odessa threw her lekku over her shoulders and crawled back over him to kiss him softly, sweetly, pressing her tongue past his lips to tangle against his. He was getting better at meeting her, mimicking the way she moved her mouth against his and answering her demands with the press of his own tongue. It was good…but she still wanted more.

“You’re amazing,” Ghoul sighed when she pulled back to straddle him, sitting against his stomach with her hands on his chest, kneading the thick muscle of his pecs. “I…is it weird to say thank you? I…I feel like I should.”

“It is not weird,” Odessa said, smoothing over his shoulders and picking up his left arm to reexamine his tattoos. “But do not be thanking me yet. We are not done.”

Ghoul let out a shaky breath and touched her knee with prosthetic fingers, trailing them up her thigh to squeeze her hip.

“I dunno if I’m gonna last much longer,” he croaked. “That took…that took th’ wind outta me.”

“You’re still hard,” Odessa observed, after glancing behind her. She reached back and gave his erection a squeeze as if to test it, causing Ghoul to hiss.

“It’s sensitive,” he complained. “Hurts.”

“We can stop. If you are in pain, we do not have to–”

“No. No, I can…I can handle it, just…just gimme a minute.”

Odessa smiled down at him, cupping his cheek and running her thumb against his upper lip.

“Take all the time you are needing,” she said. “I am not going anywhere.”

~~~

He had underestimated her.

In the beginning Odessa was ‘just’ the bartender, and then somewhere along the line Ghoul had begun to consider her more like an actual friend, someone he didn’t mind talking to, someone whom he liked because she didn’t try to judge him or pry too deeply into things that were none of her business. She was polite, somewhat bold, but pleasant and understanding—constants he could rely on whenever he visited 79’s.

But now…now he felt like she had flipped the script on him, trapping him between her thighs and the mattress of her bed, looming over him like someone he didn’t recognize. She was…Odessa was hot, he realized, sexy in a way that didn’t even come close to what he remembered from Rollo’s (and how the memory of her dancing had been completely obliterated by the sight of her naked and squirming in his lap, wet on his fingers as she clenched down on him, crying and holding onto his neck like there was nothing she wanted more than for him to stick his entire arm inside of her and take hold of her heart from within).

Ghoul ran his hands up her thighs from where she sat astride him, marveling at her beauty and wondering, not for the first time, how he had managed to luck out like this. Her vibrant skin, cast almost blue in the neon glow from the lights outside, felt softer than anything he had ever touched before and he cursed his hands, that only one of them was functional, and only half-functional at that. He wished he could feel her.

“I like the way you touch me," she said warmly, smiling down at him with half-lidded eyes, totally unaware of his inner turmoil. He thought she must be tired…but she hadn't complained once, just…just kept pushing him along, further and further like this had been her plan from the beginning.

Realization struck; Ghoul gripped her waist, trying to pull her down but she resisted, her hands planted firmly on his chest.

"Were you…tryin' t' get me in your bed all along?" he asked. "Even when we left 79's?"

Odessa grinned, showing her teeth. He had never noticed before, but she had the slightest gap between her front two. It was…it was cute.

"Yes," she said, triumphantly, like she was pleased he had figured it out. "I had hoped. Not expected, but wanted—badly—for this. It was my intention…but if you had said no—"

"I'm glad I didn't," he said emphatically, an emotion he didn't recognize pooling in his gut. For the first time that night…he was starting to believe her when she said she wanted him, not because he looked like a freak and because it would be an experience, not because she felt sorry for him, and not because he was so obviously lonely and touch-starved that he deserved a pity-fuck…but because she openly and honestly desired him.

He still didn't understand why…but he was beginning to think…maybe it was okay if…if he didn't have to understand. Maybe that was part of what made her wonderful.

And she was wonderful.

Ghoul squeezed the tops of her thighs, memorizing the shape of her so he'd know her even in the dark. He liked the gentle flare of her hips and the curve of her sides, and especially her soft breasts—she had been right, they were fun to touch. He liked the look of them in his hands, how perfectly they fit in the mold of his palm, how he could splay his fingers wide and almost encompass one. He liked her nipples, a shade of green slightly darker than her skin, and he liked the way she moaned when he touched her. It made up for the way she had held him on edge, teasing him with her tongue and teeth until his own nipples felt raw from her attention.

But he didn't mind. He couldn't even think to complain. Complaining would be unthinkably rude. She could flay the rest of his damaged nerves open and pull them like strings, puppeteering him whichever direction she wanted him to follow and he'd go willingly…so long as she didnt stop looking at him like he meant more to her than just another regular at the bar.

"I like that about you," Odessa said, curling over him to press her lips against his forehead. His skin tingled where she kissed him and he sheepishly wondered if it would be stupid of him to ask her if she could keep doing that. He…he liked the touching, he liked touching her, he loved what she did to him when she handled his cock…but the kisses…the kisses made him weak. He wanted to melt into her arms while she took him apart with every tender touch of her mouth against his war torn flesh.

"Like what?" he asked, shaking himself out of his musings.

"Your determination," she murmured against his skin. Her breasts pressed against his chest, distracting him; it was hard to think past the way her nipples brushed his skin and the immediate way his cock twitched eagerly, like he hadn't already cum twice.

"You're th'…th' first girl who's ever touched me," Ghoul said, inhaling sharply when she ground against his stomach—fuck she was wet, he could feel her slick on his abs and it was torture, it was a special kind of hell that he didn't know how to initiate whatever was supposed to happen next.

Inside her, he thought.

That's all he knew.

"I know," Odessa was saying as she held her hand firmly against his jaw and kissed her way to his ear. His hearing aid crackled as thunder rippled through the air, but if he turned it down he wouldn't be able to hear the way her voice dropped an octave when she whispered in his ear, her breath hot and fuzzy and making his heart leap up into his throat.

"But if you are wanting to stop, or take break, we can. I would not force you to keep going. I want to be with you so much…but I can wait."

"I–I don't wanna stop," he reiterated. "I'm fine, really."

"Promise you will tell me if that changes," she said, resting against him. Her lekku slipped over her shoulders, their weight comforting against his chest. He touched her back, trailing his fingers up her spine until he caught her shiver in response.

“I promise,” he whispered.

Odessa kissed him and it felt like a reward, tender and lush and all things beautiful; his entire body sighed in relief and he swept both hands from her shoulders down to her hips and ass, fondling her leisurely. Kissing her, with the way she kept slipping her hot little tongue into his mouth, allowed him to suck a bit of moisture into his cheeks. It didn’t hold for very long, but it made things easier and ‘felt’ more natural—as near as he could tell at least. He just knew kissing was nicer when he had worked up a bit of spit. And she didn’t seem to mind either, just…just kept touching him through it all.

Ghoul groaned and shifted beneath her, flattening himself further against her bed and distantly recognizing how soft and comfortable her mattress was, how good everything smelled—like her, he thought—from the sheets to the pillows and everything in between. It was nothing like the barracks, with thin mattresses that felt no better than sleeping on the ground, threadbare blankets that never kept them warm enough, and flat pillows that woke them up with cricks in their necks more often than not.

He almost felt guilty for enjoying it so much, like he didn’t have any right to any of this while the rest of his brothers were forced to suffer. But then Odessa touched him again, breaking free of their kiss to stick her arm between them, questing fingers brushing against his cock, and suddenly he couldn’t be bothered to think about anything else. There was just her and the way she looked at him, like he was everything, like she wanted nothing and no one else.

"Still sore?" she asked, gently rolling his foreskin up and down his frenulum.

"Uh-huh," he groaned, gritting his teeth at the slight pain that accompanied the pleasure.

Odessa shuffled back on her knees until she hovered over him, her sex so close to his skin he could feel the heat from it radiating outward.

Inside her, he thought again, gathering his elbows beneath him to prop himself up.

He shouldn’t have looked—fuck, it was so hot, the way she played him, her slim fingers dancing on the end of his cock, her green thighs spread over his hips, soft and rounded and so smooth. A phantom sensation cropped up in his lower jaw, like his mouth was watering just looking at her; if anyone was capable of inspiring the spontaneous growth of new salivary glands, it’d be her.

“Odie,” Ghoul growled, feeling impatient just watching her jerk his member like that. “C’mon…stop teasin’. I–I can’t take it.”

“Sure you can,” she smirked. “You are a good boy. You can wait a little while longer.”

Good boy.

He shuddered, her words and her voice somehow connected directly to the nerve endings in his cock, making it throb as precum drooled from the tip, more than he ever produced before on his own. Was he supposed to be ashamed by that? It dripped onto his stomach, bridging the gap with a translucent string that thinned and snapped when Odessa held him still, rolling her index finger over his slit and smearing the rest over his head.

“Osik,” he cursed, running out of words with which to express himself. He felt dumb when she did that, when she did anything that left him bereft of expression, except his ability to moan. He couldn’t hold it in, not when she was so adept at making him feel so damn good.

“You are hard as rock,” she observed. She swiped her other finger through the precum on his stomach and immediately stuck it in her mouth, sucking thoughtfully. He watched, feeling like his insides dropped out of him, like he had just been kicked in the gut.

“Bet you could put a hole in my wall.”

“Odessa,” Ghoul warned through grit teeth, “please. I’m ready. You’re killin’ me.”

“I hope not,” she giggled. “I like you too much.”

He quickly tried to think of something slick to say, something that’d make her giggle again because the sound of her laughter was one of the best things he had ever heard, but she didn’t give him another chance as she slowly lowered herself to sit on him, the length of his cock aligned perfectly with her dripping sex.

I’m gonna die, he thought to himself as he dug his fingers into her thighs and threw his head back, hissing at the contact of her hot cunt—almost immediately it was too much, too hot, too wet, and she gave no quarter, immediately grinding against him, coating him in her arousal in a way he hadn’t even considered a possibility.

It was hot, it was so hot, and she was hot with her breathy little sounds, so soft, and his name on her lips like a prayer.

“Oohh,” Odessa moaned, “Ghoul, oohhh.”

It went to his head. It went straight to his head and his cock and he gasped, arching beneath her, holding her down by the hips so he could grind up against her. His cock moved through her plush sex as she rode his shaft, her fingers still teasing the head, keeping him from disappearing completely every time she rolled her hips against him.

“Ugghh,” he groaned, craning his neck to watch the way her finger slipped against the reddened tip. “Kark, Odie, shiiii–hah!”

She did something then, pinched back his foreskin just enough to slide her finger beneath it—he shouted and bucked harshly against her, his hips almost clearing the bed. He didn’t know how she did it, how she knew to touch him like that, like she was intent on finding all the things he liked, everything that made him squirm, everything he had done to himself at least once before and things he hadn’t even thought about—like that—until she tried them for the first time. It was like she knew his body better than he did…and he would’ve given it to her, if she asked.

Anything to feel like this again.

Anything to feel at all.

“Ahhh,” Odessa cried, “I want you inside me. Please, can—”

“Fuck, yes, finally,” he groaned in response, throwing his dick up against her, holding onto the sweet curve of her hip with one hand now as he gripped the bars of her bedframe behind him with his prosthetic, not trusting himself to maintain enough control to keep from accidentally hurting her.

She sat up again, little frustrated sounds escaping her as she fumbled him, his cock nearly slipping out of her hand as she hurried to angle him toward her sex. Ghoul thrust impatiently, not helping but drunk off the sight of her little hand struggling to contain his girth. She braced herself with a hand against his stomach and bit her lip, closing her eyes as she lowered her hips, this time keeping him pointed straight. Ghoul held his breath, every cell in his body coming to a standstill as he watched her.

Slowly, agonizingly Odessa circled her hips, rolling forward slowly as she pressed the crown of his cock inside of her. The pressure was immediate and immense, nothing like he had felt before, not even when he took to the showers to edge himself and his own grip was so tight as to almost be painful. This wasn’t pain, though.

It was…if there was a life beyond this one, like he had heard from others who were more familiar with different cultures, then maybe it felt like this.

His mouth fell open but no sound came out as his head made it past the ring of muscle at her entrance, only to be swallowed up by the vacuum-like crush of her inner walls sucking him in. His stomach clenched and he curled his fingers against her, the nails of his last two fingers scratching against her skin as he tried and failed to find his voice.

"Frotz!" she cursed, exhaling sharply as she dropped her hand down to grip his shaft near the base. She sunk lower, pausing every inch it seemed, to give herself space to breathe. He needed it too, to devote every last ounce of willpower he had into not immediately blowing his load early. Her wet heat enveloped him like a vice, an all-encompassing pressure that finally squeezed a ragged moan out of his throat.

It felt like forever passed until she released her hold on him to settle, her ass resting against the tops of his thighs and her sex spread wide around the thick base of his cock. Ghoul couldn’t stop looking, light-headed with desire and hand shaking a bit as he tried to scrabble for some sense of self-control before he really made a fool of himself. He swept his hand up her side, tugging the end of her lek and tweaking a stiff nipple, then steadied himself against her ribcage as she rocked her hips.

The movement forced a grunt out of him; he had no words to describe how it felt, but she was bewitching and he could watch her on end for days. She panted, her lips slightly parted and her eyes half-closed, her hands pressed hard against his stomach and chest as she adjusted, making herself more comfortable he guessed. Every movement sent liquid heat seeping into his veins, his blood so hot he felt like he was going to boil to death from the inside.

“O-Odiiie,” he groaned in complaint when she lifted her hips, coming off of him a scant few inches that felt like a thousand, torment compared to the feeling of being surrounded so intimately by the most perfect warmth he’d ever known.

“H-How does it feel?” she asked in a near whisper, her voice hitching a bit as she lowered herself back down, coming to rest again.

“I–I can’t,” Ghoul stuttered. “It’s–ffff. ‘S like…’s hot. Good.”

He sounded like an idiot. Shame rose up—she couldn’t possibly think any part of his inexperienced fumbling was attractive, but she laughed sweetly and tilted his chin up with a few fingers to kiss him. Her lekku draped over his chest and shoulders again and he wondered what it would feel like to bury himself beneath them and hug her against his chest. He bet sleep would come easy, if he could just hold her like that and let her scent surround him.

“You are so sweet,” she whispered against his lips, before licking into his mouth. “Let me take care of you this time. You do not need to be doing anything. Lie back and watch, okay?”

As if he had any ability to offer meaningful input on the matter.

How she could pretend to be so composed was a mystery to him, but it worked to his own benefit when she sat up and began rolling her hips against him in slow, undulating movements that worked his cock like it was caught in a sleeve, massaging every inch, her heat seeping into every molecule until he wanted to melt into her. She could do anything to him, he decided, anything at all and he’d just thank her.

He watched the lips of her sex cling to his shaft with every drag of her hips, her arousal causing the skin of her inner thighs to stick to his groin with a tackiness he reveled in. It was slow and tortuous, nothing at all like the frenzied couplings in the pornographic holovids he and every other clone had watched at least once out of sheer curiosity. It was better than he had ever imagined, better than he had dreamed, better even than Wolffe had said it would be the day he had come back from his first week of leave, grinning ear to ear and sporting a dark hickey on his neck.

Wolffe didn’t say it would feel like this, like something right had clicked into place, or that he’d feel so complete. He didn’t say it would feel like…like everything wrong was suddenly made right, that he’d stop caring about all the things that used to piss him off…like nothing else mattered, except this.

Odessa leaned back, her hands on his thighs as she gyrated, working her hips in a circular motion that almost made his vision black out. The base of his cock bulged as she fucked him over, exercising her inner muscles and squeezing him purposefully—she had to be doing it on purpose, there was no way it was an accident. Ghoul groaned, taking hold of her hips with both hands again, forgetting all about his trepidation surrounding his prosthetic.

He loved the way her flesh filled his hands, loved the sight of the indentations his firm hold left on her, pale spots in her skin that filled with color as soon as blood returned to the area. She bounced atop him a little faster, panting harder, sweat making her skin shimmer; the ends of her lekku curled and her nipples stiffened—her breasts jiggled hypnotically with every downward thrust, to the point where he almost couldn’t take his eyes off them. Every part of her paralyzed him and left him unable to do anything other than lie there and take it, groaning his pleasure at her ceiling.

She pulled off of him again and this time he thrust up, chasing after her warmth, wanting to bury himself so deep inside of her he’d never come out; she moaned as he ground up into her, pulling her back down to hold her in place.

“You’re so karkin’ hot,” he managed to growl, kissing frantically along her lek when she leaned over him. “You’re drivin’ me crazy.”

“Good,” Odessa gasped, digging her nails into his chest, hard, pinching his skin until he knew there’d be marks left over. “It is so hard to–hnn–think. You are so big, so full.”

“Kark, I can’t listen t’ you—shit, I don’t…I dunno if I can—hahh—hold out much longer. You’re so tight!”

He fucked up into her again, thrusting on instinct and going by feel—and it felt right, felt so fucking good to have some control in the situation, where she sat up on her knees and let him move the way his body was begging him to. Ghoul braced both feet against the bed and held onto her waist, thrusting awkwardly until he found a pace that worked—slow at first, easy, long strokes that had her clutching at his arms and moaning his name all over again, clenching down on his cock ‘til it felt like she was trying to rip it off.

“Fuck,” Ghoul cursed, watching her sex spread wide around him as he rocked against her. Her thighs clenched hard on either side of his hips and she stuck her hand between her legs, scissoring her fingers around his cock and spreading her lips enough to show off her clit, engorged with blood, plump and glistening as she spread her arousal over it in rapid, frenzied circles that made her jerk against him. He wanted to touch her so badly, wanted to be the one doing that to her, but he only had so many hands and he couldn’t divide his attention the way he wanted—his next thrust was clumsy, she came down too hard and the clap of their skin almost startled him.

“Oooohh,” Odessa moaned, “do–do that again, please!”

“A–Again?” he asked, before lifting her up, arms straining even though she didn’t weigh that much, and dropping her again while thrusting at the same time. It was much harsher, the sensation more powerful, and the sound they made when coming together made him dizzy with want and need.

“Like that?”

“Yes!”

He could do that. He could do anything she asked of him.

Odessa’s fingers never left her clit as he took charge, thrusting just hard enough that the ache in his groin intensified to an almost uncomfortable degree. Her breasts bounced with every movement, her lekku swaying tantalizingly just out of reach. Her stomach heaved and the wet noise of her fingers rubbing into her sex—shlick, shlick, shlick—embedded itself into his brain.

If he died…if he went back on the field tomorrow and a shell dropped out of orbit and landed directly on his head, blowing him to atoms, he knew he’d die happy, having experienced this…no, having experienced it with her.

“K-kark,” she whimpered, rubbing herself faster, her fingers pressing down hard, like it wasn’t enough. He could practically feel her frustration—he felt it too, on every thrust, like there was a tension inside of him so close to snapping and the fact that it didn’t was maddening. She clenched down on him and he groaned, his hips stuttering to a halt as he ground them together, trapping her fingers against her clit.

“Close,” he heard her whisper. “So close…please….”

His balls tightened and the band inside him stretched tight, a hole tearing through the thinnest part as she caught his eye, her bottom lip caught between her teeth as she rolled her hips against his. It was that look that did it, that intense, almost hungry look that felt like another punch in the gut because he realized it was for him, that everything she was feeling was because of him and though he had never had much of an ego to begin with, even before all that happened to him, a masculine surge of pride came to life inside of him, and the band snapped.

“Fuuuuuuh-ck,” Ghoul groaned as he came, his cock twitching inside of her and his hands gripping her hips hard as he thrust into her again, his balls clapping against her ass with a wet slap. Odessa cried out, arching her back as she ground her clit against the base of his cock, collapsing over his chest and pressing her face against his skin as she let out a muffled noise closer to a scream than anything else. He felt her walls ripple around him, then constrict in pulses as she finished, triggered by his own release. The tighter she felt, the harder it was for him to move and he choked, bucking against her desperately as she clenched down on his cock.

He couldn’t hold back another impassioned groan, dropping his head back against her pillows and sliding his hands around the round of her ass, pulling her closer, as if he could somehow open up his ribcage and swallow her inside of him. He couldn’t get enough of her, couldn’t get close enough, even though he was sure there wasn’t a single part of them that wasn’t somehow glued together at that point. He could hear her too, still mewling out her pleasure as they gradually came to a standstill.

His heart felt like it was going to explode with how fast it was beating, like a buzzing in his inner ear that had nothing to do with his hearing aid, something he thought he’d be able to feel if he were without.

“Kark,” he rasped, mouth suddenly too dry as he tried to find words.

Odessa laughed tiredly, still trembling as she caught hold of herself easier than he could, pressing kisses to the center of his chest.

“Oh, stars,” she sighed. “Ghoul…eswo Ghoul…that was…by the Goddess, that was amazing…you are sure you are not doing this before?”

He panted, finally falling limp, feeling like all his muscles had turned to liquid and were bleeding out of his pores. She shifted and his cock, finally spent, felt like it had been fucked raw; a sweet, tender pain lanced through his groin and he hissed, giving her a slight squeeze.

“Don’t move,” he whispered, feeling choked up for some reason. “Just…stay like that…for a minute. I need…I can’t do it again. I’m…I’m wiped, I–”

“I am not moving,” Odessa said, pressing her cheek to his sweat-damp skin. “We rest now. You did…you are so wonderful, so good. I cannot wait for how sore I am going to be in the morning.”

She propped herself up on her forearms and stretched to kiss him, just a little peck that paled in comparison to previous kisses she had bestowed upon him, but for some reason…for some reason that little moment, that innocent little gesture and her content, sleepy look, with her flushed cheeks and her smile and the way she laid against him…it broke him.

He pressed his fingers into the corners of his eyes before the sting of tears hit, but it was too late to stop the way he shuddered, or the strange sound he coughed up. He wasn’t crying. He didn’t cry, not while alone and especially not in front of her.

But his body didn’t care about the shame he felt; he felt tears wet his lashes and drip down the arch of his cheeks. He wasn’t fast enough to wipe them away and she was too close not to notice. The pressure in his throat expanded down to his ribcage and it ached, it ached like it did in the alley, when he couldn’t see anything except Toydaria and his dead and dying brethren around him.

“Fuck!” he said through clenched teeth, frustrated and annoyed with himself for ruining a perfectly good moment. “Fuck, I’m…I’m sorry, I don’t know why I keep…keep doing this, I—”

“Shhh,” Odessa said, cupping his cheek. Her thumb found a tear and wiped it away gently, but another fell in its place and she leaned up, capturing it with the tip of her tongue.

“It’s okay,” she murmured, kissing right below his eye. “If you need to cry, then cry. No one is stopping you.”

“I don’t know why,” he complained, looking up at her, distressed. “Everything was perfect, I’m just makin’ a mess of—”

“No mess,” she said gently, bringing her forehead to his. “Nothing is ruined. I am not upset, not kicking you out—you are okay. You are safe. Nothing is wrong with a few tears. If there are needing to be more, then that is fine too. I am not judging you for feeling too much.”

For a moment he thought he was going to lose control of his breathing, but her hand came over the top of his head and she pet him, rubbing back and forth until his shuddering—he hadn’t even realized he was shaking, fuck—slowly came to a stop.

He was gripping her too tight, he realized, but Odessa just watched him, catching his tears with the bend of her finger and flicking them away or wiping them on her pillow. She…she really didn’t care. She was warm all over, she smelled like flowers native to her home planet, and her voice was so sure, so soothing…he didn’t know why he ever bothered resisting the gravitational pull she had on him, from the very beginning.

“How are you real?” Ghoul asked.

“I do not know how to answer that,” she shrugged. “I am just…me.”

“I don’t know how I found you,” he said, lifting his left hand to touch his fingers to her face. She felt real. Odessa captured his wrist and turned her head to press a kiss to the flesh part of his palm and then laid back against him. His cock slipped out of her and they both groaned, with her finally rolling off to tuck herself against his side with her head on his shoulder and her leg still draped over his stomach.

“Maybe we have found each other,” she said, with a little smile. “Maybe it is the Force…or the Goddess…maybe just good luck? I am not caring so much what had a hand in it…but I like that it happened. You are…very interesting to me.”

“You keep sayin’ that,” Ghoul said, shaking his head. “I don’t get it. I don’t get what’s so ‘interesting’. What do you really mean?”

“Just that. You are interesting, and I want to know you more. It does not have to be more than that for now.”

He supposed she was right. He was too tired to keep trying to get a real answer out of her…maybe it was just a language barrier thing. Her Basic was fine, but…maybe there was a word in Ryl she was trying to translate that just didn’t have an equivalent. He could figure it out for himself, take up those lessons and try to learn as much Ryl as he could, maybe find someone to talk to who would understand what she was trying to say.

Ghoul yawned, exhaustion taking hold of him finally as everything around them fell into a strange stupor. He looked at the digital meter on her nightstand and realized only a couple hours had passed since he walked through the front door. It felt…it felt like a lifetime ago. The rain hadn’t let up at all since they left 79’s and the cool air against his damp skin sent a chill through him. Odessa hummed and sat up, twisting to stretch.

“You are staying the night,” she said, as if to make that perfectly clear. He didn’t have it in him to argue, but nodded and pulled himself up to sit. Together they yanked back the sheets and crawled beneath, collapsing again almost immediately. Ghoul took hold of Odessa’s arm, tugging until she crawled back against him with a content sigh.

“You are so warm,” she mumbled as he pulled her into his chest. “I could get used to this.”

His heart leapt and he tried to think of something to say to that, but she yawned and wiggled in place, making herself so comfortable and small that he couldn’t bring himself to keep her awake any longer. But…he needed to.

“Odie,” he whispered.

“Mm?” came her sleepy response.

“Uh…sometimes I…don’t sleep well. I wake up an’...it’s not always easy. It’s…violent, sometimes. I…I don’t wanna scare you.”

“I am not scared of you,” she said with a little snort. “If you wake up, so will I. Do not worry.”

Reluctantly he laid back down, chewing on the inside of his cheek though he couldn’t feel a thing. She said not to worry, but he did. Now that his lust was sated, now that all the desire had bled out of him (though not entirely; if he thought about her too hard he knew he’d want her again) he could think clearly. There were things about him she didn’t understand, things that had happened to him that made it difficult to get a full night’s sleep, or made it seem like he was…dangerous.

He didn’t want her to feel like she couldn’t have him around.

But…she said not to worry about it, and she was so warm and her bed was so soft, and he was so, so tired. Despite his misgivings, his eyelids felt heavy, like there was a string attached to them and someone kept pulling on it. He yawned, his chest expanding, and finally allowed his eyes to close. The sound of the rain striking the window was a little soothing, he supposed, and the weight of Odessa on his arm felt…really nice.

Don’t worry about it, he told himself. It’s a problem for the morning.

~~~

Hours later, the rain finally stopped, but the storm hovered above the city like black doom. Lightning flashed in the clouds, arcing through the sky to make contact with long, metal rods mounted to the top of every building taller than twenty meters.

Odessa stirred slightly, cozy and tingling all over. Distant thunder rumbled, followed by a much louder booming that rattled the window and dug into her bones, pulling her out of sleep. She hummed to herself, stretching her legs a bit; almost immediately she felt a tender ache between her thighs, followed by a slow warmth that spread through her entire body.

Oh yeah.

Beside her, Ghoul slept on, flat on his back with his other arm hanging off the bed and his legs tangled up in the sheets he had managed to pull off the both of them. She hadn’t even felt him moving. With a little tsk, she tried to pull the corner of her topsheet out from under him—he jerked, and thunder shook the air again.

With a shout, Ghoul shot up, scrambling until his back hit the bars of her bed frame; even in the dark Odessa could see how wide his eyes were and how he looked around wildly, gasping and chest heaving—she almost froze, almost let the sudden shock of his waking disarm her completely.

“Wh-where am I?” he shouted, his voice loud, grating—terrifying.

“Safe,” she hurried to say, crawling over the mattress to place her hand on his knee. He jerked away from her, the look on his face both angry and frightened, and she quickly changed direction, sliding off the edge of the bed to hit the button for her window and then turning on the small lamp sitting on her nightstand. A warm glow filled the room and as the shutters unfolded to their closed position, the sounds from outside slowly abated. Odessa sat back down on the edge of the bed, watching Ghoul as he squinted against the sudden light, shaking his head a bit.

“You are safe,” she repeated softly. “You are in bed, with me, on Coruscant. You are spending the night, remember? It is still raining outside…there is a really bad storm passing through.”

Ghoul’s expression shifted almost immediately, like someone had pressed ‘reset’; all the aggression drained out of him and he hung his head, dragging a hand over the back of his neck.

“Damnit,” he hissed. “Fuck. I…I’m so sorry. I’m sorry, I knew this would happen. I…I’m so sorry Odie. I–I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head and crawling across the bed again. This time, when she placed her hand on his knee he only flinched. “You were just confused…it is a new place and it was dark. I am sure the thunder is not helping.”

He looked up at her, his face…he looked like a kicked tooka, like he wasn’t entirely sure if she wasn’t about to change her mind and kick him out of her apartment. It was a ridiculous notion, but she had a feeling he couldn’t help it.

“How about we leave the little light on,” she said, nodding toward the lamp. “I can lower the brightness and you will be able to see if you wake up again. Shutters are closed, and the soundproofing will keep the worst of the thunder from reaching you.”

He glanced over her shoulder at the aforementioned things and drew a long breath, his shoulders sagging with defeat.

“I don’t think I’m worth all th’ trouble,” he said.

“You do not think much of yourself at all,” she pointed out, “but that does not mean I think of you the same way. You are no trouble to me…you are not a nuisance. I still want you here.”

He was quiet for a long time after that, staring at her like he was trying to peel her apart and get a good look at what was going on inside her head. Odessa stared back, refusing to back down. She could see why others would be on edge around him; he didn’t blink and the silvery glint of his prosthetic eyes was…unnerving.

But not to her.

“Do you want to try again?” she asked, tilting her head. “I am still tired…and I know you must be too.”

Ghoul stared some more, but then lowered his gaze with a short nod as he gave up. Odessa breathed a sigh of relief and took hold of the sheets, giving them a good shake to straighten them back out before slipping back under. She reached over to tap on the lamp, lowering the brightness to a low glow that still left them with plenty of light by which to see, and then rolled onto her side, wriggling as she found her sweet spot.

The mattress dipped as she felt Ghoul settle behind her, his body heat a familiar thing by now as he scooted closer. She bit her lip, hoping he wouldn’t feel so embarrassed that he couldn’t cuddle close like he was before, but she felt his hand creep under her arm, the metal so smooth as he spread his touch over her ribs and under her breast and she smiled to herself, knowing she had won out over whatever plagued him.

He pulled her against him, his chest firm against her back and his breath hot against her lekku; to her surprise he lifted one carefully, pulling it over his shoulder to rest comfortably. Then, his lips pressed against the back of her neck in a painfully tender kiss that made her stomach flutter.

“Thank you,” he whispered softly, stroking her belly with the tips of his fingers. “You’ve…shown me more grace than I’m used to. Feels rude t’ just…take it.”

“Nonsense,” Odessa sighed, enjoying the feeling of his touch trailing over her skin. “It is easy to be kind. I want you to be happy.”

“...wish I knew why.”

“Because I like you. I want good things for you.”

“...I like you too.”

Her breath caught in her chest and held for a moment before releasing; it was the first time he had admitted it that entire evening, and though she would’ve been a little hurt if he hadn’t felt the same way, she hadn’t expected him to say anything.

But he did and she couldn’t help the way she felt, filled with hope that…that this might not be a one-time thing.

“Ghoul—”

“Jenot,” he interrupted.

Odessa paused, the word foreign to her.

“What?”

Ghoul shifted, squeezing her tight.

“Jenot,” he said again. “It’s…it’s my name.”

“Your…your name is Jenot?” she asked, confused.

“Yeah…uh…it’s what I chose back…back before. When I left Kamino. Ghoul is what…what th’ others called me, after I got put back t’gether. I don’t mind it, either, if you’d rather call me that. But my name is Jenot.”

“Jenot,” Odessa said, trying it out. “Jenot, Jenot.”

“Like I said, if it’s weird, you can—”

“Jenot,” she said, addressing him. “I like it. It is a beautiful name. I am so happy you are trusting it to me…thank you.”

She heard him inhale sharply behind her and the arm around her waist tightened just a bit more.

“No,” he choked out, “thank you.”

He kissed her lek and ducked his head against the back of hers, holding her firmly. This time, she didn’t try to turn around and look at him, nor did she comment when she felt something warm and wet drip onto her skin. She just lay there, idly stroking his arm and letting him take his time experiencing whatever emotion had taken hold. It was his right…and she thought it was…kind of beautiful that she was there to take part in it.

“Jenot,” she eventually sighed, feeling sleep take her as her eyes began to close again. “Such a nice name…I cannot wait…to meet you in the morning….”

His hand fumbled for hers, metal lacing between flesh and bone as he intertwined their fingers.

“I’ll be here,” he mumbled back.

“Good…I cannot wait.”

#star wars oc #clone wars oc #clone trooper oc #friend oc #odessa x ghoul #bad batch oc #bruh this shit almost killed me #my magnum opus of soft fucking #the mun writes

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therisingdarkness · 1 year

Text

5 Times Ghoul Left the Bar Alone, and One Time He Didn’t

Written for @cloned-eyes and for Ghoul, with love and affection <3 (this is like 11 pages, be warned)

PART ONE

Odessa knew the face of every soldier who walked into 79s. How could she not, when they all wore the same face? The same deep brown eyes, the same tanned skin, the same dark hair—the fun came with finding ways to differentiate between them. Most clones did the job for her, marking themselves with tattoos (on the face!!), or shaving designs into their hair. Those were the easy ones and she had no trouble remembering the names they gave her, often spoken loudly, with pride, as if to say Look at me! I found myself!

She could tell how important it was for them to hold onto the little things that made them all individuals. She admired that about them. Made to be tools for war, but determined to be seen as people. It touched something inside of her, something soft and sweet that made her give out free drinks every now and then when her boss wasn't paying attention. She couldn't help herself even if she tried. She just liked them.

But her favorites had to be the ones who came in for the first time, the shinies who had no idea what to expect because they had never taken leave on Coruscant before. She loved seeing the looks on their faces: excitement and a bit of wonder, wearing broad, bright smiles that made her heart melt. It made the job worth it, even if the pay wasn't much to brag about.

She looked forward to learning their names and their quirks, loved watching them change each time, eager to show off new tattoos, piercings, scars—they were good men, all of them.

A group of shinies entered now, loud and rambunctious and barely held in check by a seasoned patron, who looked just about as amused as she felt. Odessa caught his eye and waved enthusiastically, her lekku already twitching in anticipation of meeting the newbies. A couple waved back shyly, and another stared with wide eyes. It was also easy to tell when a clone hadn't ever seen a Twi’lek in the flesh—they always stared at first.

"I’ll be with you shortly!" she called out as she ran three cold mugs beneath the tap for spicebrew. The clone in charge of the shinies gave her a thumbs up—Hammerhead, she thought to herself, only Hammerhead gives me the thumbs up like that—and herded his brood into one of the large booths.

Behind the group was another familiar face, once she didn’t see too often—Commander Wolffe, still outfitted in his white armor and carrying his helmet under his arm. He had been a tough one to crack at first, too austere and always ‘switched on’. Odessa used to think he didn’t know how to relax because he never seemed to smile, but bit by bit she had managed to get him to let down his guard—not a lot, but just enough to know that his way of letting loose and having fun was just as simple as showing up to the bar and having a stiff one before returning to the barracks. He didn’t engage in a whole lot of small talk but he was polite, if a bit short with his words.

Odessa put on her best smile and waved at the Commander, who gestured toward two empty seats at the end of the bar before making his way over. Too late, Odessa realized he had arrived with someone else; she hadn’t seen him at first, perfectly hidden behind Wolffe’s armored bulk, but the second Wolffe moved out of the way Odessa sucked in a sharp breath.

He was average clone height and wore the same scuffed armor as Wolffe, but he didn’t look like a clone at first glance. Beneath his heavy facial scarring there was the telltale shape of his nose that gave it away. Beyond that?

She didn’t mean to stare—and it seemed like she wasn’t the only one having trouble. As Wolffe and the newcomer made their way past the occupied tables and booths, more than a few clones paused their conversations and drinking and turned their heads to watch. He moved like he didn’t notice the way they looked at him—or if he did notice, he just didn’t care. Maybe he was used to it. Odessa couldn’t blame anyone…he was missing half his face.

Her heart skipped a beat and she didn’t know why. She had seen more than her fair share of war wounds—excited shinies fresh out of the medbay shoving their still healing skin grafts in her face and informing her they weren’t shinies no more, shy soldiers asking her if she thought they still looked like themselves after getting hit in the side of the face with shrapnel, and the bolder ones, like Hammerhead, asking for a kiss to ‘make it feel better’ while holding out a finger that had only been reattached a few hours ago—but the cybernetic component grafted in place of where his lower jaw should have been…it was so gruesome. Worse than anything that had come before it.

"Ah, fierfeck!" Odessa cursed as the spicebrew spilled past the rim of the mug she was filling and all over her hand. It dripped down her arm, off her elbow and onto the floor, making another mess she'd have to clean up before it dried sticky and tacky. She hadn’t even realized the mugs were so close to being full.

“That’s what you get for not payin’ attention!” Slackjaw laughed, leaning his torso across the bar to snatch one of the mugs from her hand. Odessa glared, but shook her head at him. His squad mates, Mooch and Piston, snickered, but adopted the most innocent expressions when she turned her eye on them.

“Shut up,” she grumbled good naturedly, setting the remaining two mugs in front of them.

They all chuckled and took their drinks with them as they sauntered off with the easy confidence of men who were looking to forget the entire evening by the time the sun rose. Odessa sighed and nervously rearranged her lekku before crouching down to mop up the worst of the mess.

“Sorry Commander,” she shouted toward the end of the bar, where Wolffe was now seated with his companion. “I will be there in a moment!”

Down on the ground it was easy to drown out the noise and clamor of the bar. The music filled the space between conversation and the clink of dishware and bottles, but so close to the speakers it was easy to get distracted. That's all she was—distracted by the usual noise and hustle and bustle. It was a busy night with a lot of clones clamoring to get in before last call and drink their fill. More than one unit was on leave, which made for good tips and fascinating stories. If she was lucky, they'd all run the bar dry early and she could convince her boss to close up. At least it wasn't a night where she was supposed to dance at her second job too.

With a huff, Odessa sat back on her heels and surveyed the floor, checking for any other major spills she might’ve missed. Then, on instinct, she looked up to see if Wolffe had heard her…and almost fell right over when she caught the immediate gaze of the other clone.

He was staring right at her, both his eyes the same, strange pale color as Wolffe’s cybernetic implant. Odessa swallowed and felt a flush work its way through her lekku and over her forehead, until her cheeks burned dark with the rush of blood to just beneath the surface of her skin. Caught you, his expression said, right before he sneered and turned his attention back to Wolffe. Shame filled her in that moment; it was so unprofessional to stare, not to mention rude. She should have known better and yet allowed herself to get caught up on it, like she’d never seen a prosthetic before in her life.

Stupid! Idiot! What were you thinking? she chastised herself as she climbed back to her feet. With her cheeks still aflame, she ran drink menus to the first table that had sat down and told them—begged them to take their time because as they could plainly see, she was a bit overrun and the only one at the bar. Hammerhead smiled his gap-toothed smile and told her not to worry about it, his shinies could barely fall in line, let alone order off a drink menu—he’d call when they were ready.

Taking a deep breath, Odessa hurried back to the bar—“Just one moment,” she said to the clone asking for a refill of whatever cocktail he had already had too much of—and grabbed another set of menus before hustling over to where Wolffe sat, his helmet taking up an appropriate amount of space to keep anyone else from occupying the seat next to them. A second helmet sat on the table closest to the wall, next to the other clone. He wasn’t looking at her this time, at least, but the burn of his earlier glare had left its impression. She smiled brightly and bounced in front of them, holding the menus out.

“Sorry for the wait, gentlemen,” she chimed, “it is so busy tonight and Rumi called out.”

“It’s fine,” Wolffe said in his usual sharp tone. He didn’t mean to be brusque, that was just the way he spoke. Odessa had learned not to take offense a long time ago.

“We won’t be needing these,” he said, waving his hand at the menus. “We’ll both have the Oryxxian Catsblood.”

“Very good choice,” Odessa smiled. “We just got a fresh shipment in, I believe. You want it on the rocks?”

“Sure.”

“Not me,” the other spoke up, his voice gravelly and soft. “I take it warm.”

“Sorry,” Wolffe said, “this is an old batchmate of mine. We came up together, but our rotations haven’t aligned until now. We’re just here for a couple drinks.”

“A pleasure,” Odessa said, meaning it and hoping to make up for her earlier rudeness. “I am Odessa, though you may call me Odie; all the boys do.”

He didn’t look at her, didn’t acknowledge that she had spoken to him at all. She thought she saw a shadow of annoyance pass over his face, but it was difficult to tell with his prosthetic.

“What about you,” she pressed, leaning her hip against the counter and watching him closely. “You have a name, or should I just call you ‘trooper’?”

His nose wrinkled in a definite sneer this time, and the look he gave her was almost poisonous. Odessa recoiled, hugging the menus against her chest like a flimsy shield. She hadn’t seen that look on a clone before, so hateful and angry.

I insulted him just now, she thought to herself, frantically trying to assess what it was that could have incited such a look from him. Was it the ‘trooper’ comment? That’s what she called every clone she did not know by name, and none had ever taken offense before now. She almost apologized, but Wolffe beat her to action, reaching up and flicking his gloved finger against the other’s exposed ear.

“Cut it out!” the unnamed clone hissed, slapping his hand over his ear. At least his glare wasn’t affixed to her anymore, but his aura remained hostile.

“Stop mean-mugging the pretty lady before she’s poured our drinks,” Wolffe shot back, unaffected by the other’s glare. He turned back to Odessa and offered her a small, tight smile, the only kind she had ever seen him give before.

“I apologize for my brother,” he said. “Ghoul doesn’t get out much unless I got ‘im leashed. It’s been so long he’s forgotten things like manners.”

Ghoul.

Looking back at his face, it was a fitting name; he certainly looked like he had crawled out of the grave, with the ribbons of scars leading up over his upper lip and surrounding his eyes. The detail work on his prosthetic was very intricate; instead of a sculpted lower lip he sported a row of teeth, and the carbon black material stretched all the way back to his ears, which also carried heavy scarring. He looked like Death itself. Odessa forced herself to look away and shrugged at Wolffe’s apology.

“It is no trouble,” she said. “I have only not seen him before. First time at 79s?”

For a moment she didn’t think he’d answer. He seemed determined to ignore her, like she was an inconvenience. Perhaps she was intruding? It wasn’t often that Wolffe graced her bar with his presence, but she remembered the last time he came he arrived alone, sat in one of the back booths by himself and nursed his drink for well over an hour before taking his leave. Now he had brought someone with him…it was different.

“No,” Ghoul growled. “Not my first time. Just been a while.”

“Probably before my time, eh?” Odessa said. “Very well, I will get your drinks. Anything else, Commander?”

“I think we’re set,” Wolffe said with a nod. “Thanks, Odie.”

She gave a little salute with two fingers and removed herself to the middle of the bar, standing on her toes to reach the bottle of Oryxxian Catsblood. She knew she should leave it alone, leave Wolffe to deal with his friend and check in with them only when she saw their drinks getting low. She hadn’t been bartending for too long, but one of the first lessons she had learned was how to tell when a patron wanted or needed a little more attention than the bare minimum. Ghoul may as well have a neon sign over his head, blinking DO NOT APPROACH in bright warning colors. He gave off all the signs of not wanting anything to do with her.

She could respect that…but when she looked over her shoulder, she caught sight of Wolffe’s face, his mouth stretched into the widest grin she had ever seen on him, until he almost didn’t look like Wolffe anymore. He slapped his hand on Ghoul’s shoulder and actually laughed. That was as carefree as she’d ever seen the Commander.

He can’t be that bad, if Wolffe likes him so much, Odessa thought to herself. He will just need time to warm up.

~~~

“You didn’t have to drag me out here to catch up,” Ghoul said, keeping his voice to just above a murmur. “Could have had a drink in the barracks.”

“You know it’s against regulation to keep alcohol on base,” Wolffe said, side-eyeing him in a way that meant he was either teasing or deadly serious, and Ghoul found himself a little pissed off that he couldn’t tell which it was.

“Since when do you care about regulation?”

“A lot’s changed. Gotta set a good example now.”

“Tch. You’ve turned into such a good soldier. Nice and regimented, exactly how they want us to be.”

“You need to relax. I didn’t come here to talk politics, I brought us here to see how you’re holding up.”

Ghoul stiffened at his words, an immediate influx of paranoia almost causing him to look over his shoulder. But his back was already pressed against the wall and he could survey the entire lay of the bar without any blind spots. He had insisted on it, not with words, but the way he had almost bodied Wolffe out of his way to get to the corner seat first. That was normal though. Most of them would have preferred to keep their backs against something solid…just in case. He wasn’t losing it. He was perfectly held together, he—

“You’re doin’ it again,” Wolffe chuckled.

“...doing what?”

“Tensing. We’re not headed into a warzone. Loosen up before you snap a muscle.”

Ghoul wanted to argue, but it was true. His shoulders felt so stiff from the way he was holding himself and it had nothing to do with the fact that he’d been in his kit for more than a full rotation. He wanted to shower and sleep and try to forget about the last mission he had just returned from. He needed a smoke more than anything, but his last pack of cigarettes had been confiscated and he hadn’t had the chance to pick up a new one before Wolffe had hit up his commline with the offer of drinks on him if they met up at 79s.

He had almost refused. Going out to a crowded bar full of idiot, idealistic clones plastered three sheets to the wind wasn’t his idea of fun, but it had been too long since he had last seen Wolffe, and there was an ache inside of him that could only be assuaged by the presence of his batchmates. He’d never say it, but he’d follow Wolffe into an active volcano if it meant spending a little bit of time with him where they didn't have to worry about being shot at or blown up. The softest parts of Ghoul had already been stripped away; the only bits of care he had left existed outside his own body, in the forms of Wolffe and Fox.

He didn’t say no, or complain, just asked what time and then bullied his way onto the nearest planetside transport. 79s had stayed the same, for the most part. The decor saw a few more additional neon lights, but the layout of the bar was still the same—a small comfort, really. The only real thing that had changed since the last time he stepped foot inside was the bartender.

He wanted to dislike her. Civilians, with their soft hands and the carefree way they went about their lives, ignorant to everything that didn’t affect them directly. He had been able to ignore the stares other clones gave him as he had walked in—he was used to the way they looked, knowing the whispers that followed him wherever he went. He would have worn his helmet all the way up to the bar if not for the policy plastered all over the doors— ‘No Helmets, Face Coverings, or Masks! Area Under Surveillance!’—but Wolffe had elbowed him right in his chestplate and would have wrestled it off of him regardless. He could handle it though, it was nothing he didn’t have to deal with back on Kamino.

But then the way she stared at him…he wanted to crawl over the bar and throttle her. Stupid Twi’lek should have stuck to serving drinks and minding her business. He could see it in her eyes, the shock and horror…and then pity. He hated the pity. He didn’t need it, didn’t want it. He wasn’t some broken thing to be sorry for. He didn’t want or need thanks or accolades. He wasn’t doing it for them.

But civvies didn’t know any better. They had no grasp of the war, safe as they were on Coruscant. They saw the armor and the helmets and they thought the same thing everyone else did, parroted back whatever hot new catchphrase the propaganda channels blasted over the airwaves, thinking they were providing support and rallying the troops. It was annoying.

They were annoying.

She annoyed him, with her cheerful smile and her questions, trying to pry his name out of him when he didn’t feel like giving it. But now she had it…and it wasn’t earned. He didn’t like that. It made him want to march right back out the door before his drink had even made its way to his hands.

“You gonna brood all night or what?” Wolffe said, snapping Ghoul out of his inner thoughts. “Come on…it’s not that bad here, is it?”

“No…no, it’s not,” Ghoul sighed. The Twi’lek bounced back over, a short, sturdy glass in each hand filled damn near to the brim with a crimson liquid that smelled as spicy as it tasted.

“Here you go,” she said, her accent thickening every word. “On the house, as a welcome back gift. You must come by more often, both of you.”

“You’re not gonna get in trouble, giving out free drinks all the time, are you?” Wolffe asked as he picked up his glass and gave it a swirl, so the ice cubes clinked against one another.

“I do not give them out all the time,” the woman said with a smile, “just to the customers I want to see more often!”

She winked, and it made something inside of Ghoul curdle. He didn’t know what it was, whether it was disgust or something else. He just…wished she’d go away and leave them alone. He didn’t bother thanking her, but picked up his drink and took a long, languid sip. The fiery brew only burned where it touched the roof of his mouth; he could feel a residual warmth as it slid down the undamaged parts of his throat, but the taste was all but lost to him, except in memory. It was rich and sensual, heady with its spiced aroma and the way it warmed every crevice of the mouth…from what he remembered, at least. He tried not to watch Wolffe clearly enjoy the drink, envious of the way it was so easy for him to taste. The things they all took for granted….

“Sorry,” Ghoul said after a moment. “I haven’t been out in…a long time. I’m glad you invited me. Really. I don’t want you to think—”

“Hey,” Wolffe interrupted, “you don’t have to apologize to me. I know how you are. I wanted to get you out of the barracks. You spend too much time holed up and isolating yourself, you’re gonna go crazy. Now…you doing okay? And don’t lie.”

Ghoul shrugged.

“Same as usual,” he admitted. “Mission after mission, trying to keep myself alive, trying to make sure more idiot shinies don’t bite it. You know how I feel about the war.”

“Then let’s not talk about the war. How are you doing? Just you.”

Frustrated, Ghoul shrugged again. What was he supposed to say? Downtime between skirmishes was best used for sleep and kit maintenance, scarfing down whatever rations were on hand, and stealing time to himself for a smoke while he tried to remember what nicotine tasted like. He didn’t have hobbies. He didn’t have friends. He didn’t know what it was that Wolffe was looking for.

His brother sighed and took a sip of his drink, looking at the liquid swirling in the glass before looking over at him.

“You been going to therapy?”

“...no.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t need it. I’m fine.”

Wolffe rolled his eyes.

“Sure,” he said, “we’re all ‘fine’. I know what that means. I’m worried about you, Jenot. I don’t want to see you end up like the others who survive a traumatic mission, just to wind up staring down the wrong end of your own blaster.”

“It’s Ghoul,” he growled, the sound of his chosen name making his heart ache. “I told you, don’t call me that. And I said I’m fine. You think I’m suicidal, just because I had one bad day?”

“It’s more than that and you know it,” Wolffe said, his voice softer. “I know you’re not shy—just talk to someone, see if they can’t lighten the burden you carry.”

“You’re so stupidly paternal,” Ghoul spat, tempering his ire. “Being in command has gone to your head; I’m not part of your ‘wolfpack’. You don’t get to patronize me.”

“I’m not patronizing…I just hate seeing you like this. You’re wound so tight it’s like anything could set you off. I care, damnit. Just…I miss the old you.”

“...and what if I said the old me is dead?”

“Then I’d say you’re lying. Maybe that’s what you want everyone to think, but I know you. I know you better than you know yourself, don’t forget that.”

All the wind in his sails, gone just like that. Ghoul groaned and downed the rest of his drink in two gulps, half hoping if he drank enough in one go he’d feel something, something other than shame when Wolffe gave him that look, the one that said he wasn't buying the bluster. It wasn't an act…to anyone else, this was just how he was. But Wolffe knew, and Wolffe remembered. He held on to the memories of the way they were back when they were fresh off the assembly line and itching for their first battle.

Ghoul grimaced. He didn't like to think that far back; he wasn't like his brother, taking comfort from fond memories and the way things used to be. He'd rather just forget. But to say that out loud would hurt Wolffe…like he was trying to erase something important to him.

"If I promise to talk to someone, will you get off my back?" Ghoul asked, trying to bargain his way out of the painfully awkward conversation. His hackles were raised and he knew it. Wolffe could keep digging for information, but Ghoul would start a bar fight before he started talking about his feelings so openly. Maybe if they had been alone, where no one else could hear them, and maybe if Fox was also there….

"Only as long as it's a promise," Wolffe agreed, smiling again, like the matter was solved. Maybe he just wished it was and was just as eager to drop the subject.

"Get off of the tables!" shouted the bartender suddenly.

Ghoul and Wolffe whipped their heads in the direction of the commotion, where a small squad of shinies had all but lost their heads and were wrestling one another on top of one of the large booth tables. Drinks crashed to the ground, glass shattering and skidding across the smooth floor, and the Twi’lek yelled something absolutely profane in her native language—he didn’t even have to understand the words to know she was angry. It didn’t help that the commando resting at the table didn’t bother lifting a finger to stop the ruckus…if anything, he seemed to be enjoying it.

“Well,” Wolffe sighed after watching the table suddenly break, lurching heavily to one side and spilling the wrestling shinies onto the floor where they continued to try and put each other into a superior hold, “looks like someone needs to be the adult. I’m gonna go step in and take care of that mess. You good here?”

“Sure,” Ghoul said, feeling bitter but refusing to show it. He knew Wolffe felt compelled to act because of his rank, but it would have been nice if he would have just…ignored it. Leave them to fight and just…stop trying to be a Commander for a little bit and go back to being his annoying little brother. There was still so much left unsaid…they hadn’t even gotten to talk about anything…substantial. Ghoul wanted to ask if Wolffe had heard from Fox at all, but it was unlikely.

He watched, jealousy surging through him as his brother stalked over to the table, barking loud enough that nearly every other clone in earshot (which was all of them, considering the way Wolffe’s voice amplified when he was angered) stood at attention before realizing they weren’t the ones in trouble. The two idiots rolling around on the ground didn’t stop until Wolffe aimed a sharp kick at one of them, and only then did the commando step up, grabbing the shinies by the scruffs of their necks and yanking them to their feet in a tremendous show of strength. Wolffe took a deep breath and started dressing them down in some of the most colorful language Ghoul had ever heard him use, and he knew in that moment that Wolffe was gonna be a while.

There was no use waiting for him.

His drink was empty, the last of the tingling sensation of its burn fading from the roof of his mouth. He didn’t have it in him to order another. The Twi’lek was busy anyway, trying to clean up the spilled drinks before Wolffe ordered her to stop, because he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to make his men clean it up for her. He really had changed…maybe not so much that he was unrecognizable…maybe this was just his natural evolution as he progressed through the ranks . Ghoul didn’t know, didn’t want to think about it. Watching his brother turn into a larger cog feeding the war machine of the Republic left a bad taste in his mouth.

He slipped off of his seat and dropped enough credits on the countertop to cover the drinks, then, on second thought, left another few for a tip just in case the bartender was the kind of person who would think less of Wolffe for the company he kept. Snatching up his helmet, Ghoul moved as quickly and quietly toward the door as he could, but thankfully this time all eyes were focused on Wolffe and the troublemakers at the other end of the bar.

At the door, Ghoul paused, looking back at his brother and the way he stood, straight-backed and oozing authority with one hand on his hip and pointing at the floor as he laid out the terms by which he wouldn’t report this infraction to their base commander.

Just beyond Wolffe stood the Twi’lek.

And she was staring again.

At him.

Ghoul tried to swallow, only to remember his mouth didn’t lubricate the same as it used to. The tops of his cheeks warmed with a flush that he immediately hated, because he didn’t know why it was happening. He couldn’t read the expression on her face; it wasn’t revulsion or pity at least, but he didn’t recognize it. Angry, he glared back and made a rude gesture before turning on his heel and storming off, shoving the doors open so fast he nailed a fellow clone in the face. Without stopping to apologize, Ghoul shoved his helmet back down over his head, breathing a small sigh of relief.

He had known this was a bad idea…but even so…it had been nice to see his brother’s face again.

#clone oc #star wars clone wars #clone oc fanfic #star wars oc #the bad batch oc #im just vibing #i'll finish this just you watch #lmao #Odessa is mine #Ghoul belongs to cloned_eyes #odessa x ghoul #the mun writes

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