Work Text:
“You’re joking,” Cody said, crossing his arms over his chest. “This cannot be real.”
“I’m afraid it is,” Bail Organa said, sighing as he set down his datapad. “Until the Clone Exemption Bill gets passed through, there’s not much we can do about it.”
“Respectfully, Senator,” Ponds added, “what do they expect us to be doing at Umate Heights Senior Academy? Basic training covered academics as well as combat.”
Bail sighed again, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t know. All I know is that legally, you’re considered underage wards of the state, and that means you have to attend classes at a registered academic institution until you reach the age of majority.”
“That’s four years, Senator,” Wolffe said pointedly. “You want us in classrooms full of younglings for four years?”
“No, of course I don’t!” Bail snapped, “but I also don’t want to have to pay the fines for non-compliance according to the Education Act.”
“Do you think I can be a padawan instead?” Bly asked thoughtfully. “They’re exempt, aren’t they?”
“I already looked into it,” Fox said, pinching the bridge of his nose, “and it doesn’t apply to wards of the state. You have to be legally adopted by the Jedi Order.”
“So?” Bly said, “surely our Generals would-“
“And then what, Bly?” Wolffe asked, “be surrounded by younglings with magic powers instead?”
“It sounds like a lot more fun than ‘Introductory Galactic History’,” Cody muttered.
“Senator,” Ponds said, frowning, “what about Rex?”
Bail let out another sigh, shooting Rex an apologetic glance. “He’s been placed at Manarai Junior Academy in the grade level below the rest of you for reasons I cannot possibly begin to fathom.”
“Don’t they let natborns skip grade levels?” Ponds asked, “can’t he just test out or whatever and be in our class?”
“If we can do that, can’t we just skip all the grades?” Wolffe added. “Just write the damn test and be done with it?”
“Senator Amidala and Senator Chuchi are working on it as we speak,” Bail said, “and I have a conversation with the headmaster this afternoon regarding Rex’s placement.”
“I’m sensing a ‘but’ coming,” Fox said drily.
“I mean no disrespect whatsoever,” Bail said, sinking lower in his chair, “but I’m not certain you could test out of the entire curriculum.”
All six of them turned to face Bail, varying levels of annoyance and displeasure on their faces.
“What,” Cody said after a moment of silence.
“The flash training had everything we were ever supposed to need to know,” Bly added, frowning.
“Did it include studies of Shake’speer’s plays?” Bail asked, “or the Republic’s Constitution? The Quadratic Formula?”
Fox blinked at him. “That sounds fake.”
“What do you mean, that sounds fake?” Wolffe asked. “Do you not know the Quadratic Formula?”
Fox shot him an offended look. “Maybe I’m not a nerd, Wolffe.”
“Says the man who memorized the entire Constitution,” Bly muttered under his breath.
“Yeah,” Fox replied, “so I could argue with Senators who thought they were hot shit.”
“Do you really not know the quadratic formula?” Ponds asked, frowning.
“Do you?”
“It’s negative b plus or minus the square root of b squared minus four a c all divided by two a,” Rex said, raising an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure we learned it in basic artillery.”
Bail let his head fall against his desk. “I’ll… see what I can arrange for you.”
“I heard you managed to test out of eighth grade,” Cody said, grinning as he sat down next to Rex at their usual spot in 79s. Technically, they weren’t supposed to be drinking on a school night - or at all, really, but the owners had decided turning away their most frequent customers wasn’t the best business decision.
”Ninth and tenth as well, actually,” Rex said, shrugging, “But I thought it would be nicer to be in the same class as the rest of you.”
”What?” Fox demanded, “How come you get to skip to eleventh and the rest of us don’t?”
”Yeah,” Wolffe added, “We also know the quadratic formula!”
”Well Fox doesn’t, but that’s easy enough to fix,” Cody said.
”Hey now-“
Rex shrugged again. “I spent a lot of time helping Ahsoka with her assignments while we were on campaigns.”
”So if I need to copy someone’s homework, I’m stealing yours,” Fox said, “noted.”
”Fox!” Ponds admonished, “We will not be committing any sort of academic misconduct!”
“Besides,” Wolffe said, a competitive glint in his eye, “we are genetically engineered to learn and retain information much better than natborns are.”
”Are you suggesting we make a game out of this?” Bly asked, leaning forward.
”Why not?” Wolffe replied. “Twenty credits says I can beat Fox in mathematics.”
Fox grinned. “Thirty I can take Cody in Galactic Civics.”
Cody shook his head. “I’m not that stupid, but I will bet you thirty on science instead.”
”Coward,” Fox said, still grinning.
”Twenty credits to beat Bly in Core World Geography,” Ponds added, “And ten to beat Wolffe in Basic Lit.”
Wolffe snorted. “Confident, aren’t you? I’ll raise your ten to twenty.”
Ponds considered it, then nodded. “Done. What about you, Bly?”
”I’m in,” Bly said, “and I’ll put another twenty on beating Rex in Coding.”
”Even after he announced he’s better than the rest of us?” Wolffe asked. “Ballsy.”
Rex nodded, his smile matching his brothers’. “And I’ll take Fox’s bet for thirty on Galactic Civics, if that’s still on the table.”
Fox raised an eyebrow. “You sure? I don’t want to pick on my baby brother.”
”Just for that, I’ll make it fifty,” Rex said, holding out a hand.
”You’re so fucked,” Fox said, grinning as he shook on it.
“One other thing,” Bail Organa added, setting his glass of wine down on the table. “Breha suggested this would be an excellent opportunity for you all to explore hobbies and other pursuits you’ve never had access to before.”
”Go on,” Wolffe said, leaning back on his chair.
Bail smiled. “I will give you two hundred credits each if you join an extracurricular activity - as long as it isn’t a sports team.”
”What about individual sports?” Cody asked, eyes gleaming.
”Nothing that your genetic enhancements or adult bodies would give you a particular advantage in,” Bail said. “So no shooting or wrestling or anything of that sort.”
“Fine,” Cody said, deflating again, “Although it seems unfair that Fox is allowed to join the debate team.”
”Actually,” Bail said, smirking as Fox shot a withering glare across the table at Cody, “that’s a good point. It has to be something new, not something that you’re already good at. Sound fair?”
”It’s a deal, Senator,” Rex said, nodding. “Thank you.”
”And thank you for handling all of these arrangements,” Ponds added, “we do appreciate it, even if the circumstances are less than ideal.”
”You’re the ones who fought and died for the Republic for the last three years,” Bail said, “The least I can do is make sure you make it to school on time.”
“We have some new… students joining us today,” Headmaster Flutie said, gesturing vaguely in the direction of Rex and his batchmates. “I hope you will do your best to give them a warm Zillo Welcome!”
Twenty six heads turned to face them, and twenty-six faces stared at the clones, dressed in their greys and trying to look as unthreatening as possible, completely ignoring the directive from the Headmaster.
”Still better than a senate meeting,” Fox muttered under his breath, earning him a swift elbow to the side from Ponds.
”Why don’t you introduce yourselves?” The teacher - a Ms. Aryrika Quarr if Rex was recalling correctly - said brightly, nodding as the Headmaster left again. “Give us your names and a fun fact about yourselves.”
Rex glanced at his batchmates before taking a step forward. “Call me Rex.”
“Do you have a fun fact to share with the class, Rex?”
Rex stared out at the sea of uninterested faces, wondering what he could possibly say that would be appropriate for the situation. “I’m adopted?”
One of the students raised a hand - a green twilek with ribbons tied around her lekku.
“Oishi?” Quarr said, “do you have a question for Rex?”
The twilek nodded. “How can you be adopted if clones don’t have any parents?”
The teacher looked horrified, but Rex shrugged it off. “I thought that was a prerequisite for being adopted?”
”Moving on,” Quarr said quickly, “Who’s next?”
”Wolffe,” Wolffe said, moving to stand beside Rex, “and I’m the oldest.”
Oishi’s hand shot up again, and Quarr sighed. “Yes, Oishi?”
”How can you be the oldest if clones are mass produced in separate tubes?”
”I think that’s enough questions about clones for now,” Quarr said, “we have lessons to get back to. Next?”
”Cody,” Cody said, the smile he learned from Kenobi plastered on his face. “My fun fact is that I’ve used General Kenobi’s lightsaber.”
Several hands shot up, and Quarr let out another exasperated sigh as Fox rolled his eyes. “Maybe Cody can tell us all about it at lunch?”
”I’d be happy to,” Cody said with a nod, shooting a grin towards Fox as he moved to stand beside Wolffe.
“I’m Ponds, and I… uh… pet the Zillo Beast?”
”Thank you, Ponds!” Quarr said, not even entertaining the idea of questions this time. “And you?”
”Bly. And I’m a pilot.”
”And lastly…?”
”Fox,” Fox said. There was a small quirk of a smile at the corner of his mouth, and Rex shot him a warning glance. “And my fun fact is that Bail Organa is a di-“
”It’s a fun fact about you, Fox,” Cody interrupted, “not a chance to air your grievances in front of the younglings.”
Fox rolled his eyes again. “Fine. Red used to be my favourite colour, but now I hate it.”
Rex winced as the teasing atmosphere evaporated in an instant, leaving the classroom once again in an uncomfortable silence as Cody tried to avoid making eye contact with Fox.
”Right, well…” Quarr said awkwardly, “if you all want to take your seats, we can jump back into today’s lesson…”
By the end of the period, it was clear that the news of their arrival had spread across the entire school. Students and teachers alike stared openly at them as they traversed the hallway to their next class, with a couple even approaching to ask questions, or, on occasion, asking Rex to sign an autograph. It was a bizarre experience and Rex wasn’t entirely comfortable with the amount of attention that seemed to follow him in particular - although admittedly, it was much better than he had privately been fearing. At least Captain Rex, Skywalker’s Loyal Sidekick drew positive attention, and no one was yelling about how he didn’t deserve the ground he walked on or the air he breathed.
Positive attention wasn’t helping him get to his next class on time, though, and Rex had to use every ounce of his field experience to wade through the crowded hallways to make it to his assigned seat just as the bell rang.
“Took you long enough,” Wolffe whispered beside him. “Thought we’d lost you.”
“Not yet,” Rex whispered back, “but I had no idea how many younglings watched Skywalker’s holo interviews.”
“You and Cody are definitely the most popular ones,” Wolffe agreed, “but it turns out we almost all have fans.”
“Almost?” Rex asked, frowning slightly.
“Haven’t seen anyone talk to Fox yet,” Wolffe admitted, “but that’s probably how he’d prefer it anyway.”
Rex glanced over to where Fox was sitting, tapping away at his datapad. Despite being the youngest of his batch, Fox’s curls had greyed faster than his brothers’ - Coruscant hadn’t been the easy posting they had all thought it was going to be, and the fact that Fox apparently didn’t get to be showered with praise alongside them didn’t sit well with Rex.
“Don’t worry about it, Rex,” Wolffe added. “He’s got a big enough ego as it is.”
“Imaginary numbers,” Fox grumbled, breaking off a piece of his ration bar. “What the fuck are we supposed to be using imaginary numbers for?”
“Square roots of negatives,” Wolffe replied. “Don’t tell me you’re giving up your credits already.”
“I never said that!” Fox snapped, “I just think that numbers should stay in reality where they belong.”
“But sometimes when you use the quadratic formula-“
“Will you shut the fuck up about the karking quadratic formula already?”
“So,” Ponds said, pointedly ignoring the escalating argument, “find anything interesting on the club board?”
“Well, there’s choir practice this afternoon,” Rex said, “so I might do that.”
“Oh really?” Bly said, “any particular reason?”
Rex shrugged. “Easy two hundred credits, for one.”
“You going to teach them Vode An?” Cody asked, smirking.
“Force, can you imagine?” Rex asked, chuckling. “I feel like their parents might have something to say about it.”
“I don’t know,” Ponds said, “aren’t natborn younglings supposed to hate their parents or something? And they all seem quite fond of you.”
“They’re actually fond of Skywalker,” Rex said, sighing, “but that makes me exciting by extension.”
“Why Skywalker in particular?” Bly asked, “No offense, of course.”
“None taken,” Rex said, ignoring the way a group of girls was pointing and staring at them, “I think it’s just because the Chancellor tried to put him in the spotlight all the time.”
“Sure,” Bly said, “but why?”
“Because he was grooming Skywalker to be his next apprentice after Dooku kicked the bucket,” Fox said casually.
“What?” Cody said, sounding horrified.
“You didn’t know that?”
“No!” Cody and Rex said together.
“Oh,” Fox said, finishing off his ration bar, “yeah. Pretty sure that’s why Kenobi’s keeping him at the temple for now, to unfuck his brain or whatever.”
“I thought that was because he was looking after the tubies!” Rex protested.
“Skywalker has tubies?” Wolffe asked, “Since when?”
“Since last week, I think,” Fox said, shrugging. “You’d have to ask Thire, he’s the one who keeps up on all the gossip. Honestly I thought your Jedi would have told you.”
“Jedi don’t gossip,” Bly said, crossing his arms. “It’s not proper.”
Ponds and Cody shared a glance across the table before Wolffe clapped his hands together. “Did I hear something about teaching the younglings Vode An?”
“Rex wants to join the choir,” Bly said, relaxing as the conversation drifted back to safer ground.
“And I thought it would be fun if he taught them how to sing in Mando’a,” Cody added.
“Hey hold on,” Fox said, frowning. “How come none of us are taking Mando’a as our language elective?”
“Because we’re on Coruscant and they don’t offer Mando’a,” Ponds replied, “and because none of us have a language elective this semester.”
“But we should be able to take the proficiency exam and get credit, shouldn’t we?”
“Probably,” Cody said, shrugging, “but that’s assuming we actually want to earn our high school diplomas and not just wait it out.”
“Well,” Bly said thoughtfully, “maybe not high school, but it might be nice to study somewhere one day.”
“Do you think they’d take us?” Rex asked, “those fancy schools on Alderaan and Corellia?”
“In theory they can’t turn us away,” Cody said, “since we’re sentient beings now.”
“That hasn’t stopped core-worlders from being snobs before,” Fox said, shrugging. “But then again, what the hell else are we supposed to do now that the GAR has dissolved?”
“As long as I don’t have to babysit Skywalker’s tubies,” Wolffe said. “I don’t even want to imagine what a handful Jedi tubies are.”
Rex snorted. “You just don’t want to admit you like kids.”
“Well, I don’t like them now,” Wolffe muttered, glancing around the cafeteria.
“Oh come on, Wolffe,” Ponds said affectionately, “we’re nearly halfway through.”
“Actually,” Fox said, not bothering to raise his hand, “the Sentient Rights Act clearly states that-“
“Fox!” Cody hissed under his breath, “don’t antagonize the teachers!”
“Or what?” Fox asked smugly. “This di’kut doesn’t even understand the nuance in Republic Laws that allowed the Senate to enslave us for years, how the fuck is he supposed to teach us anything?”
“I don’t care if you learn anything, Fox,” the teacher said, injecting a weight of command into his voice, “I care that you sit down, shut up, and listen to me.”
Rex braced himself for Fox’s rebuttal - he remembered the explosive arguments with trainers and superiors on Kamino - but there was something about the instructor’s tone that caused Fox to shrink back into his seat.
”Sorry, Sir,” Fox said, dipping his head low. “It won’t happen again, Sir.”
Cody shot Rex a confused look and Rex frowned. Something had happened to Fox during the war, and Rex had a feeling it ran a lot deeper than their batch was prepared to deal with.
”Wow,” another student muttered from somewhere behind them. “I thought Clones were supposed to be brave and fearless.”
”Oh yeah?” Wolffe snapped, spinning around in his chair. “And what would you know about it, you little brat? Ever met the business end of lightsaber?”
”Wolffe…” Ponds warned, “Not the time.”
”I’m not going to sit here and let him snicker at Fox,” Wolffe growled, “not when-“
”ENOUGH,” the instuctor shouted. “The next person who speaks without raising their hand gets a detention and a call home.”
Rex glanced over at Fox as the room fell silent, a pang of sympathy in his chest as he watched his brother pull apart his stylus and slide it back together again. It wasn’t dissimilar from the way Rex had often disassembled his own DC-15s after a particularly difficult battle, and that only made the feeling in his gut grow ever stronger.
”What do you want?” The teacher snapped, and Rex looked to his other side to find Bly sitting with his hand raised in the air. “If you also have a complaint at how we’re discussing the SRA-“
”No, Sir,” Bly said, his face a mask of neutrality, “I need to use the refresher, Sir.”
The teacher rolled his eyes but nodded. “You’ll need to take the hall pass.”
Bly nodded, taking the large cinderblock off the teacher’s desk.
“And you need to be back within the next ten minutes,” he added, adding a timer to the side of his holo projection.
”Yes, Sir,” Bly said, giving a small salute.
”Back to-“ the instructor let out a long sigh as Cody raised his hand. “What?”
”Why is the hall pass a cinderblock, sir?” Cody asked, his expression also perfectly neutral. “Isn’t that technically a violation of the Equal Education Clause?”
“What-“
Rex felt a small smile creep into his expression as he realized what was going on, raising his own hand in the air. “Because if you need the hall pass to use the refresher, and students are required to have access to hygienic facilities at all times, you’re restricting the access of beings who cannot carry a cinderblock, are you not?”
”What did I say about speaking out of turn?” The teacher snapped.
Wolffe raised his own hand, his expression bursting into a grin. “You said ‘the next person to speak without raising their hand’, Sir, and we are complying with your orders as you gave them.”
”That’s not what I meant and you know it!”
”You said to listen to you,” Cody said, his hand still in the air, “not to interpret your meanings, Sir.”
“FINE,” The teacher snapped. “You will all keep your damn mouths shut for the rest of the period, or I will call the Headmaster and have you expelled!”
Cody shrugged, giving him the fakest smile Rex had ever seen as he settled back into his seat and turned back over his shoulder.
You okay? He signed towards Fox, his hands forming the shapes with practiced ease.
Fox nodded slightly, although he still seemed shaken as he signed back his response. Expulsion also illegal under EEC, especially for first violation.
Wolffe snorted, breaking the tension that had formed between them. Let Rex have one choir before expulsion. Maybe two.
The last class of the day was Physical Education - although Rex wasn’t entirely sure why they had been enrolled in it. Of all the things they may or may not have been missing from their training on Kamino, this was the one thing he was absolutely certain they did not need to learn.
Their teacher seemed to have other plans, however, looking each of them up and down.
“I realize you’re… transfer students,” he said, “but that’s no excuse. We’re doing the Chancellor’s Fitness Test today, and I expect you to participate fully alongside your peers.”
Ponds politely raised his hand.
”Yes?”
”With or without armour, sir?”
”Excuse me?”
”Do you want us to do the fitness test in full kit?”
”What’s kit?”
Rex sighed. “Do you want us to go put our armour on first, or do it in our blacks, sir?”
The teacher raised an eyebrow. “Do you even have your ‘kit’ here?”
”Obviously,” Cody said without missing a beat. “It’s in my locker.”
“Uh… no,” the teacher said eventually. “Without is fine I think. Unless you want to?”
”What’s involved in this Chancellor’s Fitness test?” Bly asked.
”It’s very straightforward,” the teacher explained. “First you do as many pushups as you can manage, then run a mile, then do as many curl-ups as you can manage in a minute, and finally measure how far you can reach in a v-sit. Then we compare your results to the national average and determine your level of fitness.”
It was vaguely reminiscent of some of the tests their trainers had conducted on Kamino, but far less extreme.
”That’s it?” Wolffe said skeptically. “No slogging through the mud with another 80 kg trooper on your back or anything like that?”
”It doesn’t even have pull-ups,” Bly added. “And no time limits on pushups?”
”Look,” their teacher said, “you and I both know this is stupid and pointless and only gives kids body image issues, but I get paid to make sure all my students do it, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
“Do your students actually have to do the test themselves,” Fox asked, “Or can they just participate?”
”How can they do the test without participating?” the teacher replied. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
”Not if we do the tests with the younglings on our backs,” Fox said, glancing around at the rest of his batch. “What do you think? It would make it at least a bit of a challenge.”
”There are 17 other students in this class.”
”So we do it three times,” Rex said, shrugging. “I used to work out with Ahsoka sometimes while she was studying, it’s not that hard. Well, except for the infinite pushups thing.”
”We could time it instead?” Cody suggested. “How fast can you do a hundred, fifty with each arm?”
”Slowest buys the drinks next time we’re at 79s?” Wolffe asked.
”I thought you didn’t like younglings?” Fox said teasingly.
”I don’t,” Wolffe grumbled, “But not as much as I don’t like paying for booze.”
”I’m in,” Ponds said.
”Me too,” Bly added, “As long as that’s okay?”
Their teacher considered it for a moment, then shrugged. “Sure, whatever. As long as I have numbers to record for each kid.”
“How was your first day at school?” Bail asked as they all piled into his speeder. “I didn’t get any calls, so I assume it didn’t go that badly.”
”We skewed the Chancellor’s Fitness Test data so badly it will be functionally useless,” Fox said, sounding particularly pleased with himself, “And Cody almost got expelled.”
”Only because you picked a fight with the civics teacher,” Cody said, offended.
”Which was entirely justified because he was wrong,” Wolffe said. “I looked through his notes after he started talking shit and you’ll never believe what he thinks about the balance of power between the Senate and the Head of State is.”
”Wait hold on,” Rex said, frowning, “I thought the Chancellor was supposed to have all that power? Palpatine did during the war, didn’t he?”
”Because he took a bunch of emergency powers so he could become an evil dictator,” Fox said, “Obviously.”
”But Skywalker said-“
The speeder swerved violently into the oncoming traffic lane before Bail regained control of it again. “Sorry, Skywalker said what about the Chancellor’s power in the Senate?”
”That the Chancellor holds the ultimate power and authority on every decision in the Republic,” Rex said. “Is that not right?”
Cody put a gentle hand on Rex’s shoulder. “I’m sorry Rex’ika, but Skywalker has filled your brain with banthashit.”
Fox put his hand on Rex’s opposite shoulder, mimicking Cody’s comforting gesture in a distinctly sarcastic way. “I’m sorry, Rex, but you owe me fifty credits for that alone.”
”We still have lots of class left to go,” Rex protested, “I can still-“
”Actually,” Bail said, “the Senate fast tracked your exemption. You’re free to do as you please.”
”I guess it wasn’t as smooth of a day as we thought,” Ponds said, although there was a note of relief in his voice that echoed Rex’s own sentiments.
”On the contrary,” Bail said, “It had nothing to do with you.”
”Oh?” Fox asked. “Who fucked up worse than us?”
Bail let out a long sigh. “I’m not sure who authorized it, but somehow Clone Force 99 wound up placed in a kindergarten class.”