Smile

Hands.

The camp was dark, and quiet, except for the fire and the sound of Rex taking apart his blaster.

He would be on watch next, Ahsoka knew, and was merely getting ready to begin his shift, replacing her. He was sitting close to the fire, his helmet and gloves off, though they were resting just beside him on the grass.

Now, though, he was running his fingers over the pieces of one of his hand blasters, moving methodically through a process he'd done countless times before.

She shivered once, chafing her arms with her hands and moving to sit down next to him. He glanced at her briefly, hands still moving over nimbly the blaster, putting it back together and then returning it to its holster. He drew out the second one, beginning the process again.

Ahsoka stretched out her hands towards the fire, warming them. The night was quiet, and they weren't expecting trouble – yet. Things would get more dangerous tomorrow, and watch tomorrow night would not involve Rex with his helmet off, or her taking a moment to warm herself up by the fire. For now, she let the heat from the flames warm her face, press against her hands hard enough to heat them through to the bones.

"Get some rest, kid."

He put away his second blaster, returning it to his hip before leaning forward, his forearms resting on top of his knees, hands dangling in the air. There were a couple smudges of oil from the blasters on his fingers.

"I will," she replied, turning slightly and tilting her head. Her padawan braid swung idly back and forth behind her, dangling just over her shoulder as she looked at him, considering.

"What?"

"Hm," she shrugged, then lifted one of her hands and reached out, picking up his left hand, the one nearest to her.

"Commander?"

Ahsoka smiled. "Relax, Rex. I just want to see something."

His expression didn't change, remaining puzzled, and she slipped her hand around his, using her fingers to push his outward, splaying them open as she pressed palm to palm. Her hand was smaller than his, finer and more slender. His was broad, his fingers longer than hers, and though she knew hers was amber where his was bronze, those different shades seemed washed out in the dark and the firelight, both seeming to be almost the same shade of deep umber. The tips of his fingers were able to curl over the tops of hers.

She moved her fingers to one side, slipping them through the spaces between his and squeezing slightly, before sliding away.

Rex was looking at her oddly, somewhat confused, his gaze moving from his palm to hers, flexing his fingers as though something had changed about them, and he needed to experiment to make sure they still worked as they should. For her part, Ahsoka ran the thumb of her left hand over the palm of her right, still feeling the rough calluses of his hand against her own.

"You have nice hands, Rex," she told him quietly, blue eyes turned away. They were large hands, broad hands, and she'd seen him break droids in half with them. It seemed almost too strange, seeing him use them in more delicate operations, even if it was just cleaning his blasters. They were nice hands. Strong hands.

She didn't expect a reply, but she received one. It was very quiet when he said, "So do you."

Ahsoka looked up again, and they watched each other for a moment. His face was still, and with the flickering shadows of the fire, she could not tell if he was any redder than usual; that at least worked both ways, and he would be unlikely to tell if the dark chevrons of her montrals deepened at all.

"I'm going to get some sleep," she announced, turning to stand a little too quickly for casualness. "Good night, Rex."

"Good night, Ahsoka."

She picked out a spot to rest, away from the men in armor, but not too close to the fire either. Rex would move away from it soon, to start his rounds – she could hear him pulling on his gauntlets and helmet even now – but it didn't feel right, to take up a place so close to where he was currently sitting.

She curled up on the ground, on a patch of grass that wasn't too uneven, resting her head on an arm while she tucked the other in close to her. Before closing her eyes, she turned her hand over, looking at her palm, at the lightsaber calluses she'd earned from years of practice, and smiled.

He thought she had nice hands, too.

I know you'll all be shocked to hear this but – I'm not George Lucas. I know it's a stunning revelation, but I don't own Star Wars. :P

I thought it'd be fun to try a new series of one shots. All characters will be included, not just Rex and Ahsoka. Some will be romance, some will be friendship, some will be funny and some not so much.

I'm not writing with any particular plan in mind, so if there's something you'd like to see, I'm taking suggestions, prompts, and ideas.

Til next time!

~Queen