Hi! I'm sorta new to tumblr, so I hope I'm doing this right. Can I get a 'whatever' sickness prompt with Rex from tcw?
You did it just right! One story with Rex reluctantly accepting help coming right up.
Rex is an incredibly stubborn clone. He can ignore his own health in great extremes. But there is one symptom Rex cannot ignore.
Barfing.
Rex cannot handle vomit. Not when his brothers do it, not when he does it, not even when an animal does it. So when Kix normally has to drag Rex to the med bay, if the good Captain throws up he will show up of his own free will.
As he has this morning.
Kix gives him a wry smile. “I’ll get you a disposal unit, sir.”
Rex eyes the door mournfully, debating whether or not he can ride this one out on his own. Especially when he catches a whiff of the other unfortunate souls in med bay.
“I’ll give you a private room,” Kix adds.
Rex reluctantly surrendered to Kix’s tender care. But that does not mean Rex’s reluctance is over. Oh no, getting him in the med bay is only the first step in getting him to accept help. Rex was a self-sacrificing dikut, and since he was in a private room, Kix couldn’t see when he was getting queasy and needed another hypo.
True to form, when Kix comes to check on him, the captain is laying flat on his back. On the floor. He’d thrown up, tried to get a glass of water to rinse his mouth out, gotten extremely dizzy, ended up on the floor, and hadn’t been able to get up again.
Kix sighed. “This is what the call button is for, Rex.” He pressed it into Rex’s hand. “Use it.”
When Rex did use the call button, it was for a glass of water to rinse out his mouth and for Kix to bring him a new disposal unit.
Kix rolled his eyes. “Rex, you do not have to suffer in silence. If you even think you might vomit, call me. We have medicine to prevent that.”
Rex remained silent, further proof of his reluctance to show “weakness”.
Kix glared at him and Rex opened his mouth.
Kix didn’t let him speak. “The men don’t need me more. They’re getting better because they actually tell me all their symptoms.”
Kix stared pointedly while Rex desperately tried to avoid eye contact. At last, Rex cracked.
“Well, my nose has been a bit runny and my throat’s been sore this last week. My whole body ached, but I thought that was just the campaign. And last night I was freezing, so I might have a little fever.”
“39.5 celsius,” Kix corrected as he stood up. “You have Puffer Pig Flu, and if you’d come when your symptoms started, you would not be currently tossing your rations.”
“Thank you, Kix.”
Kix smiled. “Your welcome, ori’vod. Next time just let me help you sooner, okay?”
Rex nodded like a good little patient and Kix snorted. Like Rex was ever going to be anything but reluctant and stubborn about accepting help.
For the clone hc thing uhhhh because of the blue shadow virus, Rex's immune system had been compromised leading to him getting sick easier then other clones, but he hates to admit it when it happens so he tries to power through the sickness. It falls to torrent (mostly Kix) to bully him into resting when this happens XD
Summary: Rex’s immune system has never been the same since the Blue Shadow virus. Cue Torrent company holding an intervention.
Pairing: None
Tags: sick rex, caring brothers, torrent company being the best vod, rex is very loved, but also stubborn when he gets sick
Word Count: 922
A/N: This was fun to write! Mando’a translations at the end. Headcanon submitted as part of this post.
|| Masterlist || Tag list ||
Rex gave a disgruntled sniffle as he walked down the halls of the Resolute, shivering lightly even under his full armour. In one hand he held a datapad and a stack of flimsi reports, in the other, a handful of tissues.
Ever since he contracted the Blue Shadow virus the previous year, Rex found he fell sick more often than most of his brothers, and that it hit him harder when he did. But, he was a soldier. He was the Captain of the 501st Legion and he had work to do. He wasn’t about to let a little sickness get in his way. They were at war, for Force sake!
Unfortunately, his vod’ikas had other plans.
----
Jesse was first to spot their ori’vod looking, well, for lack of a better word, osik. If it hadn’t been for the puffy eyes and coughing, the stumbling would have given him away. He tapped a few buttons on his wrist comm, tapping through to Five’s private comm link.
“Fives, we’ve got a protocol 57, spread the word.”
“Damn it, again?”
Fives responded almost immediately with a chuckle, and Jesse could hear shuffling on the other end, then a few beeps and Echo joined them. Before long, the rest of Torrent company was on the comm.
Fives chuckled as he and Echo made a quiet escape from the training room,
“Right, let's have a clean sweep this time, eh vod?”
Dogma laughed,
“Don’t worry, we got this. 34th times a charm, right?”
Tup elbowed him, and Fives continued.
“Echo and I are on point, we’ll run interference at the armoury and push him up to the bridge. Hardcase, you find him and get him to us.”
Jesse rolled his eyes as the rest of his brothers recited their jobs. “I’ll get word down to Kix. Good luck di’kuts.”
Jesse rolled his eyes as the rest of his brothers recited their jobs. “I’ll get word down to Kix. Good luck di’kuts.”
----
Rex was idly rubbing his temples as he headed for the mess hall, too engrossed in his datapad to notice Hardcase approaching him at first. Engrossed may be the wrong word, when really he was just trying to make the words stop moving.
“Captain…” Hardcase jogged to catch up with him. “Sir, are you alright?”
Rex snapped out of it, turning to face the trooper. He cleared his throat, balling his tissues in his palm.
“Hardcase, I’m fine, why do you ask?”
“You're headed for the mess and lunch finished an hour ago.” He nodded to the empty mess hall, beginning to guide him away and down the brightly lit hallway. “Are you sure you’re alright? Echo was looking for you to oversee an inventory in the armoury but I can help him if you’d like. I think Kix is still down in medical if-”
“That won’t be necessary. Thank you, Hardcase.”
The man just shrugged and clasped his hands behind his back. “I have the next training session, I’ll walk with you to the armoury, Sir.”
Rex loved all his vod, really, he did. But he did not have the energy for Hardcase right now. Still, he powered through, nodding his head.
Hardcase did. not. stop. talking. and gesturing energetically the entire time. He saluted the Captain as he stopped outside the armour, where Fives and Echo were conveniently just leaving, standing to attention.
He gave them a wink and left them in the company of their now exhausted Captain.
Rex waved his hand to put the arc troopers at ease, nodding inside the inventory and coughing.
“You needed me to do an inventory?”
Echo shook his head, “It’s alright Sir, Fives assisted me.”
“Are you alright, Captain? We can handle the bridge report this evening, why don’t you turn in early? You must be exhausted-” Fives tried, maybe they’d get lucky.
“I’m quite alright, boys.” Rex said suspiciously. “Why do you all keep asking if I’m alr-”
Rex cut himself off with a rather large sneeze, followed by a coughing fit. Fives grinned, giving Echo a look behind his ori’vod’s back.
“I think Tup was looking for your Sir, you might want to catch him on your way to the bridge, it seemed important.”
Rex suppressed his complaints and rubbed his temple, nodding. “Thanks vod.”
He set off again, and Echo was straight on his comm.
“Dogma, he’s all yours.”
----
On his way to find Tup on the bridge, Rex caught Dogma sprinting at the other side of the hallways, a stack of flimsi in his hand. Rex wasn’t in the mood for this, groaning and rubbing his temples.
“Dogma, what did I say about run-”
“Sorry Sir, I wa- wooooah-”
Dogma skidded to a halt in an attempt to salute his Captain and ‘tripped’, landing on the cold durasteel floor and clutching his ankle.
Rex kneeled beside him, shaking his head with a sigh. “Dank farrik, not again. Come on, let’s get you to Kix.”
Dogma let Rex help him up and limped all the way to the medical bay where Jesse was standing with Kix, grinning.
Kix just rolled his eyes and shooed Dogma away, who promptly stood on his perfectly uninjured feet and joined Jesse at the door.
“What the-”
Kix pointed to the nearest cot. “On the cot, Sir, you look like bantha shit.”
Rex opened his mouth to protest, and was hit with a fit of coughing. Scowling, he resigned himself to his fate and climbed up onto the cot. He shot a look at Jesse and Dogma, standing smugly in the doorway wearing matching smirks.
“Di’kuts.”
Jesse and Dogma just grinned as Hardcase, Fives, Echo and Tup’s heads appeared one by one, sticking around the doorframe.
“We love you too, ori’vod.”
---
Vod’ikas - little brothers
Ori’vod - big brother
Osik - shit
Di’kuts - idiots
Vod - brother
Dank farrick - fuck
Hmm how about speechless and Rex??
Speechless: Rex can't speak because of a sore throat.
“You’re definitely sick,” Kix remarked.
Rex glared at Kix. Really? He was sick? He had no idea, other than his crusty eyes and sniffly nose and the open sores at the back of his throat that felt like tiny daggers when he swallowed, nevermind spoke.
“I’d like to keep you in the medbay, for the next day or two. At least until you can speak again.” Rex crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. He knew Kix; he would never phrase it optionally unless it was optional. So Rex would be breaking no regulations by walking out of the medby right now.
Which he fully intended on doing, as he got up and headed for the door.
“Captain!” Kix caught him by the arm. “You can barely swallow, which means eating and drinking, both of which you need to do to get well, are going to be problematic. If you stay here, and rest, I can get you an IV and you’ll get better faster.”
Rex shook his head. As always, there was too much to be done. Better to work at partial efficiency for a while than zero percent efficiency. At least to make Kix feel better (and not because he was desperately thirsty) he took the cup of ice chips Kix had brought out earlier. The cold would be good for his throat.
*****
Kix watched with a scowl as Rex walked out. How was Rex even going to communicate with anyone?
Right, Rex did know some hand signs from his arc training. But the only people who could translate for him were other ARC’s…
Kix chuckled. The things he did to keep his patients in the medbay.
*****
Rex looked for Echo or Fives to help him “talk” to others. Try as he might, he couldn’t find Echo anywhere, but Fives was in the barracks, chatting with Hardcase about detonator yield.
Fives, with me he signed to the ARC.
Fives tilted his head. “Tooka got your tongue, Captain?”
Rex could almost swear he was hiding a smile. How many people knew he was sick already?
Rex motioned again, and walked back out.
Fives kicked Hardcase in farewell. “See yah later, ‘Case. Maybe we can go beyond theoretical and test some of your theories out.” Hardcase drummed on his legs in excitement.
*****
Those munitions storage, those food storage, Rex signed. A large shipment of new supplies had just come in, and needed to be inventoried and put away. Rex put himself in charge of directions, with Fives standing by.
Fives nodded. “Alright, those need to go to munitions, and those go to the food stores,” Fives said- switching the supplies.
Rex shook his head, and repeated himself.
“Ah, sorry Captain. Men, those go to munitions, and those go to food.”
More daggers in his throat as he swallowed some ice. Rex must have made a face, because Fives knocked his own vambrace against his. “You good there Captain?”
Rex nodded and shoved more ice in his mouth.
Thirty cases of the next bunch.
Fives turned to those offloading. “Woah men, too many! We need three, not thirty.”
Rex smacked Fives. Thirty, he signed again, making each motion sharp with his annoyance. Fives did learn ARC signals, right?
“Right right, thirty it is. Sorry brothers.”
Those are for the Commander.
“Bring these to General Skywalker’s room.”
Rex checked the registry and paled, before wildly waving his hands. He did not want to explain how a box full of female sanitation products ended up with the General.
T-A-N-O, he signed, letter by letter.
Fives laughed. “Oh, the Commander? Why didn’t you say so?”
Rex glared at Fives, before marching off to find Echo.
*****
Rex searched everywhere, but couldn’t find Echo. He even commed the Domino, but Echo was unusually silent.
Finally, Rex realized there was one place he hadn’t checked yet.
Echo was indeed in the medbay, helping Kix prep an empty bed with an IV drip and a cup of ice chips.
“Captain!” Kix said, all to cheerful. “Glad you could make it.”
You. Rex pointed at Kix. You did this.
“I don’t think the Captain’s too happy,” Echo remarked innocently. “He thinks you did something.”
“What? Captain, I never would do such a thing as telling Fives to forget his ARC signs for a day, and telling Echo to come here so he can help me prep your bed. Now, I suggest you take off your armor if you want to recover a semblance of comfort.”
Rex scowled at Kix, then accepted defeat by sitting on the bed and slowly stripping off his armor.
Once he was solely in his blacks, Kix pulled Rex’s sleeve up and stuck an IV in the crook of his elbow. “There. Hydration, nutrition, and even a small dose of painkillers because I’m so nice.”
Rex sighed, and gave Kix a thumbs up before sinking into the pillows.
Before Echo could leave, Rex gave him a couple signs, and Echo laughed.
“What did he say,” Kix said, curious.
“Oh I couldn’t repeat it. But the gist of it is, Fives better run when Rex is better.”
Hnnnng I told myself I'd restrain myself, bit I can't XD Can you do Oh No or Double Trouble for Rex XD I know those were in my ehhh 'list' XD
Thanks for the prompt! This is the last of these I’ll be doing, so please don’t send any more requests in! I got way more than I expected to get, which isn’t a bad thing at all and I’m super grateful for (and surprised by) all the requests I got, but now my brain is like “why are you doing this to me.” Thank y’all!
Double trouble— character is sick and injured
Rex hadn’t meant to let the cut on his arm go untreated for as long as he did. It was difficult to get things treated in the midst of endless battle after endless battle, and Rex hadn’t had time to go to any of the medics to get it looked at. It was a pretty long gash, but not very deep, so Rex figured it would probably be fine.
He didn’t really like the way that it was getting red around the edges and was hot to the touch, though. That didn’t really bode well, but it probably was fine for a little while longer. He’d get it looked at after this next battle. Ignoring the way his arm twinged with every movement and the waves of nausea that coursed through him with every step, he continued on with his duties and led the men from the very front as he always did, General Skywalker by his side.
Getting slammed against a wall and then falling off a short ledge in the midst of battle certainly hadn’t been in his plans for the battle, but it happened nonetheless. He heard someone yelling his name and jumping down into the small crevice he’d found himself in, but he was too busy blinking back stars and ignoring the way his arm was screaming at him to pay attention to who it was. Now his head hurt a lot, and he realized that his helmet had gotten knocked off at some point during that whole ordeal. Opening his eyes ever so slightly, he found himself looking up at Anakin’s worried face.
“Go back to the men, sir, I’ll be fine,” Rex managed. His stomach decided then was the time to do some flips, and he barely managed to roll over in time to throw up. His arm screamed in protest, and one of his ankles felt like it was twisted, if not worse, and he was somehow both cold and hot at once, but he’d be fine.
“Sith hells, Rex, you’re in rough shape,” Anakin said, obviously ignoring the fact that Rex had told him to leave.
“Sir, the men—“ Rex began as he rolled back over onto his back (with a little help from Anakin, although he didn’t really register that fact).
“Will be fine with Obi-Wan and Ahsoka in the lead. I’ll help take you back to camp and to the medics, and help them with anyone who got injured along the way, okay? There’s no way you’ll ever make it there on your own,” Anakin said, holding out a hand for Rex to take. Rex begrudgingly took it, but realized a moment too late that it was the wrong arm. He bit back a scream when Anakin pulled him up, causing Anakin to look at him in concern.
“What all’s hurt?” Anakin asked, using the force to call Rex’s helmet to him.
“Ankle, arm, head, nausea,” Rex muttered, “Not all of that’s new.” Anakin lifted an eyebrow at him but didn’t comment on anything, instead using his real hand to feel Rex’s forehead.
“And you’ve got a fever, Rex!” Anakin exclaimed, “Yeah, no way are you going back to that battle.”
Rex merely grunted in response. Anakin warned him that they were about to jump out of the little crevice they were in. Rex nodded, but as soon as they lifted up and landed, he nearly threw up again. There was a rushing behind his ears, and he gasped as pain overtook him. He could vaguely hear Anakin talking to him before he passed out.
Rex woke up to a very unhappy Kix standing by his bed, tapping this foot and looking at Rex expectantly. “Why, pray tell, did you not get that cut on your arm treated when it happened?” Kix demanded.
“Let a guy wake up first, Kix,” Rex muttered, gingerly sitting up in his bed, grimacing when his arm flared a little, along with the way his ankle protested at the movement..
“It got infected. Do you know how difficult it is for things to get infected with all the medical technology we have? If you’d taken 5 minutes to come get it looked at, it would’ve been fine, and I wouldn’t have had to fight for your life over something that was entirely avoidable,” Kix scolded, “Infections are deadly if they aren’t treated, Rex. If you hadn’t been injured out in the field today, by the time you came to finally get it checked, it may have been too late. We might have had to amputate your arm.”
Rex paled at the realization, eyes going wide. He really hadn’t thought it was that serious, but he certainly wasn’t the medic in the room.
Kix sighed and smiled at him kindly, “I’m just worried, is all, captain. I don’t mean to sound cruel. Just stating the facts. You’ve gotta take better care of yourself.”
Rex nodded, “Sorry, Kix. I won’t let that happen again.”
Kix smiled at him again, “I know you won’t. Now, General Skywalker was worried sick about you and I’m sure he’ll want to talk for a little bit. Should I let him in now, or let you sleep a little longer?”
Rex paused and sighed, “I suppose let him in now.” Kix went to go fetch the general, leaving a glass of water by Rex’s bedside.
Anakin came in not long after, going straight to Rex’s bed.
“I’m glad to see you looking much more… alive,” Anakin said as he sat down, “You passed out after I jumped out of that crevice. I had to carry you the whole way back— you are heavy!”
“Most of that’s the armor, probably. Adds about 70 pounds or so,” Rex said with a smirk, “But sorry about that, sir. You shouldn’t have had to leave the battle field because of one man.”
“When will you get it through that head of yours that I do that because I care about you guys? I would’ve done it for any of you. After I got you back here, I went back and helped with some of the other injured,” Anakin said, stroking his chin thoughtfully in a way that was reminiscent of General Kenobi, “We Jedi should do that more often.”
“I’m sure it would mean a lot to the men if you did,” Rex replied, “It’s not a horrible idea.” “Ah, that’s basically saying ‘I love that idea’ in Rex-speech, so I’ll take it. I’m gonna go check on some of the other men— just try and take better care of yourself next time, okay? I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t with me. Probably go insane,” Anakin said, smiling and patting Rex’s shoulder as he drifted off to the next patient. Rex settled into his bed with a smile and slipped back into an easy slumber.
Many years later, after the Battle of Endor was won, Rex would find out from a certain blond-haired Jedi exactly what Anakin would do when Rex wasn’t with him.
Could you do 'Right as rain' with Rex? (also your fics are so good, I really like all your ideas, all your stuff is so cool, like you've got fan art and everything!)
Some notes first— Thank you so much! It means so much to me to hear that you like my stuff so much. And I know right?? The first time I got fan art, I nearly fainted from excitement. It was such a cool moment. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this, anon (and @razena88 bc this was one of the ones you mentioned in your reblog— I also have another coming after this that you mentioned in your reblog, too)! To those of you who also requested something— I’m posting these as I write them, so you’ll see yours… eventually. I’ll also post these to AO3 at some point, although when also remains to be seen. Anyways, on with the fic!
Right as Rain— character says they’re fine before collapsing
The debriefing that was supposed to be 30 minutes had turned into a 2 hour long one. The battle had only just ended and Rex hadn’t had a chance to catch a break in between.
On any other day, that wouldn’t have been an issue. On this day, however, it was, although Rex would never admit it to anyone. The planet that they were on had a harsh environment, which included plants that could cause someone who even slightly touched its leaves to become ill. It started with a headache and some dizziness, but soon spiraled into a full migraine accompanied with a high fever. It was nigh impossible for someone who had been infected to keep down any food after awhile, too. It was potentially deadly if not treated soon enough.
They’d all been careful to avoid it and had been covered head to toe for the entire mission, even the Jedi. Rex was starting to think that maybe he hadn’t avoided it as well as he thought he had as the meeting droned on. Still, it wasn’t his place to interrupt a debriefing simply because he had a headache that felt like a herd of bantha was tap-dancing on his head (a comparison lovingly made by Hardcase earlier on in the war when he’d earned himself a concussion due to an impressive explosion). Besides, Rex didn’t really know if the symptoms were because of that deadly plant, or if it was just because he hadn’t slept in awhile. He’d been so well covered during that entire mission that he was inclined to believe that it was the latter.
Of course, that was ignoring the fact that he felt simultaneously cold and hot, chills running down his spine continuously. It was also ignoring the fact that it was getting more and more difficult to keep from swaying on his feet. Rex stood at Ahsoka’s right and Cody’s left, and it was all he could do not to lean into his older brother. Whatever. He was probably fine.
Rex’s awareness of the meeting, however, had become nonexistent, and so he missed when they asked him a direct question. He had been too focused on controlling the head splitting migraine he’d procured and ignoring the horrible chills running through his veins. Cody bumped Rex’s arm with his elbow, causing Rex to jump back into attention.
“Sorry, what was the question?” Rex asked, mentally kicking himself for not paying attention to the meeting (but Force, it was only supposed to have been 30 minutes long).
“We were asking about the status of your troops, Captain,” General Windu said through the holotable, “How they faired on the mission.”
Rex was fairly certain that they’d already covered that in the meeting (he could have sworn that was what Anakin had been talking about for the last hour or so), and he opened his mouth to say that when he realized that that would not be an appropriate response. He was very glad he was wearing his helmet, then, so that the generals could not see his facial expressions as he tried to get his thoughts in order.
“Captain, are you quite alright?” General Kenobi, ever perceptive, asked from across the table. Rex nodded— he thought he did, at least, but it was actually more of a shudder than anything else.
“Rex,” Cody said in a low tone, gently reaching out to rest a hand on Rex’s shoulders.
Rex was vaguely aware that now all eyes were on him, so he gathered up his strength to reply, “Yes, I’m fine.”
He collapsed into Cody’s arms immediately after getting that out, his strength spent. His head was aching, though, and he was so cold and so hot and he couldn’t even see straight. The last thing he remembered before everything went black was Cody ripping the helmet off of Rex’s head and asking him to respond.
Rex woke up an indeterminable amount of time later, finding himself in the medbay stripped down to his blacks, although the top had been peeled off at some point. He still had a hell of a headache, although now it only felt like one bantha tap-dancing on his head instead of a whole herd. He heard a chuckle at his bedside and found Cody was looking at him with an exasperated expression, and he realized that he must’ve said that out loud.
Rex opened his mouth to actually talk with his brother, but Cody held up a hand to hush him.
“Next time,” Cody said, “Just tell us you think you’re sick, okay?”
Rex had the decency to look embarrassed and nodded. Cody rolled his eyes at him and told Rex to get some more sleep. The good captain was more than happy to comply.
Error 404 for Rex!
Thanks for the prompt! Hope this is satisfactory! (Also @razena88 since this was another one you mentioned in your reblog!)
Error 404: character refuses to admit they’re sick
Although he was loathe to admit it, the Blue Shadow Virus had taken quite the toll on Rex’s immune system. That meant that it was much easier for him to get sick than it was for other clones who hadn’t caught that virus. Thus, he had become quite the expert in hiding the fact that he was sick.
It wasn’t that he got sick very often, mind you. Anytime he felt hot and cold at once or had a headache that felt like it was caused by something more than lack of sleep or dehydration, Rex could take care of it on his own. He didn’t count that as “sick,” seeing as it normally went away within a rotation of it happening. He could function through that. However, what he was experiencing right now seemed to be a little bit more than just a headache and a fever, considering it felt like his stomach was continually doing flips inside of him. It was like he was seasick, like how little cadets often felt seasick on Kamino before they got used to the way the buildings gently rocked with the rough seas below. Regardless, Rex chalked it up to needing some more food and water and went about his day.
“Captain! You’re looking a little green. Are you doing alright?” The question came up practically out of nowhere (for Rex that is). Had he been paying more attention to his surroundings, he would have noticed Fives slinking up to him in the mess hall. Rex had been too focused on finishing his meal without throwing it all back up for him to notice.
He did not jump at Fives’ sudden appearance at his side. He did not. Rex glowered down at the ARC and rolled his eyes, “Of course I’m fine, Fives. Just a little hungry.”
“Are you sure, because it looks to me like you’re having trouble finishing your meal. Are you sick?” Fives asked.
“No, Fives, of course I’m not sick. We clones are engineered to stay healthy, you know,” Rex replied, shaking his head at him.
“Okay. Fine. Then finish your meal right now while I sit with you,” Fives said, crossing his arms across his chest and holding his chin up, “If you’re truly as hungry as you say, then you won’t have a problem doing that, right?”
Oh, that stubborn kriffer. Fives had learned to be that stubborn from somewhere, however, and two could play at that game, “Fine, Fives. Not a problem.”
Rex turned to his meal and regarded it carefully. Force, just looking at it made him more nauseous, somehow. His stomach continued doing flips and he felt a mixture of hot/cold— no, he could not have a fever on top of nausea. That simply wouldn’t do. Then he’d be sick, and Captain Rex of the 501st Battalion could not be sidelined by something as simple as a little virus.
“I’m waiting, Rex,” Fives said, looking at Rex expectantly.
“You’ll call me ‘captain,’ or ‘sir,’ Fives, remember?” Rex said to the bratty trooper. Fives rolled his eyes at him— such insubordination! Rex wouldn’t have it any other way.
The blond clone picked up his ration bar and forced himself to take a bite, ignoring the way it caused his stomach to protest. Then he took another, and another, until he’d finally finished the entire bar. The nausea was ten times worse than it had been to start off with, but at least he’d eaten.
“I have to say, Captain, I didn’t think you’d manage it,” Fives said, sounding impressed.
Rex opened his mouth to say something along the lines of, ‘Of course I managed it, what do you take me for?’ but his stomach practically screamed at him. He jumped out of his seat and made it to the nearest trash bin just in time to throw up all of the food he’d just eaten. He felt a steady hand on his back, warm and reassuring, and he allowed himself to relax ever so slightly.
“You must’ve picked up some virus from the last planet we were on, Captain,” said Fives from his side.
“‘M not… sick,” Rex managed between gasps for air. It felt like was finished vomiting for now, and he had to admit that his stomach hurt a lot less than it did beforehand.
“Sure, Rex, you’re not sick,” Fives agreed, “Just indisposed of, right?”
“No,” Rex said, forcing himself into a standing position from where he had been hunched over the bin, “I’m fine.”
“Sir, I just watched you throw up a meal, which I had, very painfully, watched you force down even though you knew it would make you feel worse. C’mon, I’m taking you to Kix,” Fives said, holding an arm out for Rex to lean on.
Rex huffed and pushed him aside, intent on continuing with his duties for the day, but he didn’t make it more than a step before his knees buckled from underneath him. Fives caught him easily, placing a hand on his forehead as he did so.
“Force, Rex, I can even feel you’re burning up through my gloves,” The ARC trooper said, repressing a sigh, “We’re going to the medbay.” Rex had no choice but to go with him.
When they were about halfway there, Rex managed a pitiful sigh and looked up at Fives forlornly.
“Fives,” he said in a small voice, “I think I might be sick.”
Fives smiled down at him kindly, “I know, Rex, but you’ll be better in no time.”
As he was ushered onto a bed and fretted over by Kix, Rex instinctively knew that Fives was right.