Chapter Text
Boba considered himself a pretty cool guy.
It was everyone else who didn’t.
Okay, so he was a little shy. Maybe a bit anxious. Sometimes it came across as standoffish, or even a little mean. People tended to make their own opinions about him, and unfortunately, that meant he had kind of a bad reputation. But Boba tried not to let it bother him. He had Fennec, thankfully. People thought the same things about her, so they both tended to gravitate towards each other. Now they were each other's closest friends.
More recently though…
Boba met Din.
Anyway.
Boba was kind of a loner. His brothers, on the other hand, were pretty popular. Well, most of them. They didn’t really get it. Rex had Anakin and Ahsoka and their people. Fox had Quinlan and his wackjobs. Wolffe had his dungeons and dragons buddies. At least Cody could relate.
“Cody?” He called, sticking his head into the kitchen. Cody leaned against the counter, a bagel in hand. “Can some friends come over after school?”
Cody had to take on a lot after Dad died, so he was the authority figure in the house. Kind of. The Fetts that were a little closer to Cody’s age didn’t seem to think so. Honestly, they all had differing opinions based on the day. “Sure. Fennec?”
Shit.
“Yeah,” Boba said. “And… Din.”
Cody raised his eyebrows. “…yeah? Who’s Din?”
Him and Cody were both the quiet ones. They always got each other when it came to new friends, for the most part. And yet, Boba was still pretty awkward when it came to telling him things.
“I, uh,” Boba averted his eyes, rubbing the back of his neck. “I met him in art a few weeks ago. He’s pretty cool.”
An understatement.
Cody grinned, his scar twisting around his eye. “Yeah, of course. They need a ride?”
“If you can,” Boba replied, not wanting to ask.
“‘Course I can,” Cody said honestly, finishing his bagel. He wiped his hands and grabbed his keys from the counter. “You ready? And you better tell me all about this Din.”
Boba groaned, grabbing his backpack and following his brother to his car. He hoped Cody couldn’t see his blush.
-
Cody tapped his fingers on the top of the steering wheel, slowly pulling his truck through the carpool lane. He was planning on playing it cool in front of Boba’s friends. He didn’t want to make Din feel weird or anything. He’d get the details from Boba later.
Cody didn’t know much so far. He and Boba had been partnered on a project, apparently, and hadn’t stopped talking. Weird. Well, he couldn’t judge. He squinted out into the mass of students, finally seeing Boba and Fennec heading towards him. Another boy walked with him, a little taller than Boba with brown curls falling around his face.
Cody nodded as they climbed into the car. “Thanks for the ride,” Fennec said kindly. Boba’s been friends with Fennec for a few years now, so Cody knew her well.
“Of course,” Cody replied, driving them out of the carpool lane. “Nice to meet you Din, I’m Cody.”
The kid smiled a little awkwardly, from what Cody could see in the rearview mirror. “Uh, nice to meet you too.”
Boba shot him a look from the passenger seat. Cody resisted the urge to smile. No more asking Din questions, got it. When Boba made friends, it was always the shy ones. He tended to get protective.
Cody drove them back to the house, staying quiet as the three talked about their days. He had forgotten how ruthless high school was.
“Socratic seminars always suck ass, Din,” Fennec says. “I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.”
Din groaned, tipping his head back against the headrest.
Boba turned around in his seat, shooting him a look of sympathy. “I had one last month. Some guy tried to talk over me and I accidentally told him to shut the fuck up.”
Din chuckled, his face brightening a bit. “No way, what did the teacher do?”
Boba shrugged. “I may have walked out in embarrassment. She never mentioned it.” Din grinned.
“Boba, honey, you’re a hot mess,” Fennec said. He scoffed, affronted.
“Am not!”
Cody tried to hide his laugh. He cleared his throat instead.
“Well,” Fennec said. “I nailed my socratic seminar, so.”
“Only because everyone was scared to disagree with you.”
“Yeah, because I was right.”
Boba squinted, crossing his arms in a way that always made the rest of their class nervous. “After it was over you texted me asking where the nearest cliff was.”
Fennec made a noise of protest, but shut her mouth, looking down in embarrassment. Din patted her arm sympathetically. Cody smiled. Din seemed nice.
Cody’s phone rang.
Boba snatched it from where he had placed it in between them. “Boba-” Cody said, trying to reach for his phone.
“Hey, you're driving!” Boba said. “Keep your hands on the wheel.”
Cody glared. “Hey-” Boba looked at the phone’s caller ID.
“Who’s Obi-wan?” Boba said, looking up at his brother suspiciously as the phone continued to ring.
Oh, fuck.
Fennec looked way too interested in what was about to happen. Din just looked confused.
“I met him at work,” Cody said calmly, keeping his eyes on the road like the responsible driver he was.
Boba raised a brow. He held the phone out in front of him, staring at Cody’s profile. Without hesitation, Boba answered it.
“Cody’s a little tied up at the moment, can I take a message?” Boba said, putting on a posh, professional voice.
“Oh, tied up, is he?” Obi-wan’s voice said softly through the phone. “That sounds entertaining.”
…oh my fucking god.
Boba ripped the phone away from his face with a look of sheer disgust.
“What the fuck,” Fennec whispered harshly. Cody flicked his eyes to the rearview mirror again only to see Din look like he was physically fighting the urge to laugh.
“Cody take this phone away from me right now-” Boba said quickly, shoving the phone in his brother's face. Cody grinned. He quickly grabbed his phone with one hand, and held it up to his ear.
“Hey Obi-wan,” Cody said with a smirk. “I hope you know you said that to a car full of fourteen year olds.”
Obi-wan laughed. Cody could picture his smile, and how his eyes would wrinkle at the corners as he squeezed them shut in his mirth.
“Should I apologize? That sounds hilarious to me,” Obi-wan said. Cody just rolled his eyes.
“Did you need something?”
“Oh, I was just seeing if you had time to talk. I wanted to tell you that the twins got into my daisies and only destroyed one.”
Cody grinned. “Well, that’s because they’re quality daisies.”
“That, I have no doubt,” Obi-wan said earnestly. Cody sold flowers at the Farmers Market every weekend. That’s how he had met Obi-wan. He had come with his own siblings early in the morning and ended up talking to Cody for almost an hour.
“Can I call you back later?” Cody asked. “I gotta get these kids home from school.”
“Oh of course! That was Boba who answered, right?”
Cody grinned. “Yep. I don’t think he’ll be answering again anytime soon.” Obi-wan laughed, and they warmly said goodbye. He dropped his phone down, his concentration returning to the road.
“Cody,” Boba said slowly. He couldn’t place his brother's tone. “Who was that?”
“Obi-wan,” Cody said calmly, not looking at him. “I met him at the market a few weeks ago.”
He heard Fennec cough.
“The market,” Boba said.
“Mmhm.”
“Obi-wan.”
“Yes.”
“At the market.”
“You’re awfully nosy about this,” Cody said dryly as he pulled into their driveway.
“I have the right to be!” Boba said. “You never talk to anybody.”
Damn. “Oh come on, I’m not that bad,” Cody said, frowning. The group climbed out of the car, both Fennec and Din seemed to be laughing at them.
“It’s not a bad thing,” Boba said. “Not like I can talk, anyway. I’m just curious.” Cody smiled, shaking his head.
“Uh huh, thanks Boba. Go have fun with your friends.”
Boba bounded off, following Fennec as she took Din to Boba’s room. Cody never had a problem with any of his brothers bringing friends into their rooms. He trusted them, and if they didn’t there would be way too many people around for Cody’s sanity.
“Codes,” came a whine from behind him.
Cody turned around, seeing Rex trudge towards him, rejection displayed in posture. “Boba kicked me out of his room. Who does he have over?”
Cody rolled his eyes, nudging his shoulder as he walked past him. “Fennec and a new friend. Why were you in his room?” Rex followed closely.
Rex pouted. “I wanted to see the new guy.”
Cody scoffed, sending his brother a glare. “Well, don’t go scaring him off. He seems shy.”
Rex laughed. “Just like Boba. They must flock together, or something.”
“Yeah, sure,” Cody said dryly. Obi-wan was absolutely not shy so Cody would like to disagree with that statement. Rex rolled his eyes. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to make a call,” Cody said as he grabbed his phone from his pocket, already starting to grin.
“Obi-wan again?” Rex asked suggestively, a smirk on his face. It was Cody’s turn to roll his eyes.
-
“I thought you said Cody was the quiet one,” Din said from where he sat cross legged on the floor. Fennec was beside him on her stomach, Boba across.
“He is,” Boba replied seriously. Din just raised a brow. “I’m going to have to figure out who this Obi-wan is, I think I’m scarred for life.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” Fennec said. “I know you’ve heard much worse.”
“Not about my brother!” Boba cried, rubbing his face. “Well, other than Fox. Okay. Shut up. I’m done talking about this.”
Din chuckled, before turning quiet. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, ruffling his the ends of his hair. “Thanks for inviting me.”
“Of course,” Boba said with a grin. Fennec nudged Din with a smile of her own.
“You’ve gotten the run down on his family, so you’re already in a better position than when I first got invited,” she said, shooting Boba a glare.
Din furrowed his brows, turning to Boba. “What’s that mean?” Din asked.
“She walked into the living room to find most of my brothers watching Say Yes to the Dress and proceeded to call them all the wrong names.”
“I swear you said the blonde one was Megatron.”
“Why the fuck would his name be Megatron?”
“I don’t know! I didn’t want to judge!”
“You called Fox Foxy. He thought you were flirting.”
“It was close.”
“You play too much fnaf. I think we’re going to have to skip it today, you’ve had too much.”
She narrowed her eyes, holding one offended hand over her chest. “There’s no such thing.”
Boba laughed. “Yeah, alright.” He grabbed his computer, and opened up the first fnaf game. “Ready?” He asked with a grin. They scooted in close, crowding around his screen.
-
Cody heard screaming coming from Boba’s room.
“What were you saying?” He said, focusing back on his conversation. “Sorry, the kids are screaming again.”
Obi-wan laughed through the phone. “I remember those days. Anakin loves that game.”
“I don’t see the appeal myself,” Cody said, leaning back against the couch, smiling as he talked.
“I didn’t either, until Quinlan played it with me. I could play with you, if you wanted. Show you the appeal, and whatnot.”
“Oh yeah?” Cody said, smiling softly. “I'll have to give it a shot, then.”
A few days later, Cody still didn’t see the appeal. But he did enjoy Obi-wan clinging to his arm when he got scared. Cody ducked his head as he clutched his bicep, hoping Obi-wan couldn’t tell how flustered he was. And of course he would be flustered, he’s liked Obi-wan for too damn long to be normal about this.