Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

" Jat'jahaal! Another round!" Wolffe roared and the table erupted into raucous cheers. Several nearby Vod'e rolled their eyes at what was definitely the loudest table in 79’s. 

Fox waited at the door to the bar, watching them for a second. He tossed a look behind him, eyes scanning and landing on a familiar figure approaching in the distance. Fox hid a smile and turned away. Neither of them was on time, but it's not Fox's fault one of them wanted a dramatic entrance. Instead, Fox sidled up to that noisy booth, leaning against it and raising a sceptical eyebrow.

“Stars, Wolffe, the nights barely started and you're already on round 2,” Fox said and the rest of Fox's brothers cheered at his appearance while Thorn swiveled his head around to fix Fox with a teasing grin.

“Mar'e! You're finally here,” Thorn said and then he leaned forward, “Now why on earth are you late to your own celebration, Senator Fox of the GAR ,” he crooned and Wolffe barked a laugh and slapped Thorn on the back.

“That is a great fucking question,” Wolffe said and he jerked a thumb in Quinlan's direction, “Even your little boy toy here got here before you did,”

Fox wrinkled his nose, “ Ugh , first of all being called senator is gonna take some getting used to, and second of all, never call Vos my boy toy ever again. He's my partner ,” Fox allowed the mandatory wolf whistling and jeering at that before continuing. He could hear a set of hesitant footsteps behind him and an otherwordly electrical prickle of electricityon the back of his neck prompted the sly smile across his face.

“But for the record, it's not my fault we're late,” Fox said and before anyone could ask, Fox indicated to his left as Fives came up awkwardly to stand by his side. His gait was still a little off since he was still getting reaccustomed to feeling the effects of gravity and body weight, but his half-nervous grin was just the same. Here he was, undoubtedly and wholly alive.

Fives actually wasn't meant to be here. The nurses had been very clear that he needed at least a week more of bed rest. Fives’ main counterargument had been that technically he’d been resting for a good couple of months now and that whether or not his spirit was inside of his body during that resting period was negligible. Fives then also made the point that really , the only thing they had to worry about was the potential concussion he’d get if his soul happened to be spontaneously ejected from his body like some kind of cruel cosmic joke. But still, the resting point still stood, he was very well rested thank you very much.

The nurses had not been pleased with this argument and had responded by increasing the number of nurses patrolling the halls of healing with a dirty look in Fox's direction. But hey, at least the two of them had the courtesy of waiting 24 hours before breaking him out anyway.

At the sight of a very-much-previously-dead-but-now-alive Fives, Thorn did an almost comedic spit take and coughed all over Cody who was so shell-shocked he didn't even react to the spray of booze his shirt had unfortunately been covered in. The rest of them were in similar states of shock and Fives, the cheeky bastard, winked and wiggled his fingers.

“Boo,” he said and Fox lifted his eyes to the ceiling and patiently reminded himself that he had willingly brought this di'kut back to life. Fox caught sight of Wolffe shaking his head in disbelief, downing the rest of his drink, before snatching a glass from a frozen Cody and downing that drink too.  Then Rex stood up abruptly, knocking over his glass as he stared wide-eyed and uncomprehending at the sight in front of him. 

“Fives?” Rex said, voice hushed.

“Come on Rex, you look like you've seen a gho- oof, ”

Rex launched himself full speed at him, wrapping him in a hug and pulling him close, expression still warped by pure disbelief. Not even a second later he was pulling back, examining every inch of Fives’ face as if looking away for even a moment would cause him to disappear again.

“You're here,” Rex whispered, words quiet and reverent. 

“I am,” Fives said gently, and the cheeky smile from earlier had morphed into something more genuine. The corners of his eyes were shiny but he didn't take his hand off Rex to wipe them away, not for a second, “And I'm really fucking glad to be here,”

“But how?” Rex asked, and that came out more grounded. Fox could practically see the gears turning in his head, trying to work it all out. Fives gently nudged him to sit back down, but he didn't unsling his arm from his shoulder.

“Well, we're not 100% sure but Fox has a theory,” Fives said, nodding at Fox who had slipped into the booth next to Quinlan, allowing the man to give him a kiss on the cheek with only a mild grunt of acknowledgement. The red blush on his cheeks spoke volumes about his true feelings on the matter though. 

“We believe that the Chancellor arranged for the preservation of Fives’ body after he was shot.” Fox started, “See, the chips were designed in a way that even having the thought process of investigating their existence was meant to be impossible, let alone being able to organise for their removal. Fives was somehow able to get around that specific feature of the chip when he started investigating Tup’s death. He then managed to will himself into removing his own chip which really should have been impossible. We suspect that the Chancellor wanted to preserve Fives’ body in order to investigate why he was able to disobey the chips' influence.”

“Apparently the bastard never got round to it though,” Fives continued, “Kept me in the tank, which was able to preserve my body somewhat, and also managed to undo just enough of the damage caused by the blaster bolt. Maybe I wasn't high on his priority list or something. Whatever the reason, it meant when Fox showed up and lit me up with some of that force magic, I was able to, well, come back to life.”

Fives spread his arms as he said this and Wolffe chuckled incredulously.

“Holy fuck, that is so stupidly fucking lucky,” Wolffe said, rubbing his face and leaning back. He grinned and waved a hand in Fives’ direction, “So, Mr Ghost, how does it feel to be back in the land of the living?”

“It’s weird,” Fives admitted, flexing his fingers in front of his eyes, “I got kinda used to being a ghost.”

“He walked into a wall on the way here,” Fox interjected, delivery deadpan. Thire snorted into his glass while Thorn made no attempt to hide his laughter. Fox hid his mischievous smirk with a sip of his dink, sending a wink at Fives’ embarrassed and flushed face.

“Oh shut up you,” Fives said, sticking his tongue out at him. He turned back to the rest of the table, “I can’t say I miss it though. There’s something about not being that really starts to fuck with your head a bit,” 

Fives smiled grimly, “Especially when you forget and try and interfere and you just- can't .“ Fives winced and sent an apologetic look at Fox, “Sorry, but it really wasn't easy being stuck on the sidelines when… well, you know,”

Fox accepted this with a short nod. He hadn't made it easy on Fives, that was for sure.

“But yeah, it's good to be back. Now I can actually punch Fox when I think he's being stupid,” Fives reached over and flicked Fox on the forehead to demonstrate, and Fox scowled but graciously allowed the movement.

“Don’t think that doesn’t go both ways,” Fox said warningly, but the threat barely carried any weight and Fives laughed like he knew this and leaned back.

Rex was still openly staring at Fives, but he was now looking at Fox too, and the familiar and easy way the two of them interacted. He wasn't the only one. Thire had a similarly calculating look on his face which quickly gave way to something much softer when he turned to Fives.

“ Vor entye. I think I owe you a debt that'll never be repaid,” Thire announced and Fives jerked slightly in surprise, looking over at Thire with wide eyes. 

“Oh, uh-”

“You were there for Fox, through it all,” Thire said, seriously, “I believe I speak for all of the Coruscant Guards when I say thank you for looking after our Commander.”

Thorn, Stone and Hound were giving him a similarly weighted expression, filled with the kind of gratitude that made Fives shift nervously in his seat. 

“Well, I'm not sure how much I really did,” Fives said sheepishly, “Like I said, there wasn't much I could do as a ghost, and this one certainly didn't make it easy with how much trouble he got into,” Fives said, jerking a thumb in Fox's direction.

“All the more reason we'd like to thank you for looking after Fox when we couldn't,” Stone said genuinely.

Fives smiled bashfully and shrugged, “Kih'parjai, I would do it all a million times over if I had to,”  And the way he said it, casting a sheepish glance at Fox but still holding the gazes of the Corries, communicated exactly how much he meant it. 

“I think I'm still trying to wrap my head around this,” Cody said honestly. He too hadn’t looked away from Fives since he’d arrived. 

This was always going to be a problem. In Fives’ mind, he had never died. He had passed out one day in the gutter of Coruscant and woken up the same but with significantly less physical presence to get his mission done. But there had been a continuity. To Fives, he had died and simply walked it off. To everyone else but Fox, Fives had been dead and gone for months now. It was an idea he seemed curiously unable to comprehend, and now he was faced with a ring of shocked and grief-stricken faces he couldn't understand. Fives winced and Fox fixed him with a pointed look.

“ ‘Don't’ tell them I'm alive’ he says ‘It'll be a fun surprise’ he says,” Fox said dryly, “ ‘It'll be super funny’, he says ”  

Fives clicked his tongue at him, “Shut up,” he said, puffing up slightly, “It was funny. It's not my fault I'm the only one who appreciates the theatre of it all,”

“Sorry to say Fives but I'm with Fox on this one,” Quinlan chimed in, “People don’t just die and come back causally . There is absolutely nothing casual about rocking up at 79s in all your newly resurrected glory,”

“Newsflash,” Fox drawled, “Rex is your brother who loves you and not mentioning you’ve been alive for a week is a bad idea,” And something about that seemed to help Rex click back online because he whirled around on Fives with a newfound fury.

“A week?”

Fives sent Fox a betrayed look, “Now, hold on-”

“You’ve been alive for a week-”

“Really it was more like 5 days-”

“-And you didn't tell me?”

“In my defence, I thought it would be funny,”

“That is a stupid , idiotic-”

As the two of them descended into petty bickering, Fox turned to Quinlan and gave him a look that plainly said ‘I told you so’ . Quinlan snorted, and ribbed him in the side.

“Hey, I’m not the one you should be aiming that look at,” Quinlan said quietly. Of course, Fives and Rex were far too involved in their little argument to overhear even if he had spoken at normal volume. Still, Fox mimicked his frequency.

“It was stupid of him to wait this long to tell them,” Fox said, taking a sip of his drink, “He's gonna have to deal with the consequences now.”

Quinlan shrugged and reached over to steal a sip of Fox's drink. It was a dark amber-coloured drink, and Fox immediately knew Quinlan was not going to like it.

“Oh yeah it was definitely stupid,” Quinlan easily agreed, and after taking a sip, predictably pulling a displeased face and handing it back to Fox, he continued, “But in his defence, we didn't know if it was gonna stick,” 

Fox pointedly took a long sip of the drink in his hand, smirking at Quinlan when he looked on with disgust, ”What, this too strong for you?”

“No, I just prefer drinking stuff that doesn't taste like rubbing alcohol,” Quinlan said, draining the last of something bright pink and yellow from his own glass, “But seriously, most of the Medics were worried your little magic would wear off and he'd just drop dead again.”

Fox wrinkled his nose. That had been the main concern over the last couple of days. The Jedi nurses had one of them constantly stationed in the same room as Fives, checking his vitals every couple of minutes. There was uncertainty, because they didn't understand how it was possible, they couldn't figure out how Fives continued to function and move around like nothing had happened. Fox thought the worrying was stupid. He had been the one to feel the spark of Fives’ life brought back to a roaring flame. He could feel it thrum up his arm whenever he reached out to hold Fives’ hand from the hospital cot. That fire wasn't going out anytime soon, he was here for good.

But everyone didn't quite have that same confidence, including Fives who would jerk awake after a light doze, sitting bolt upright and clenching the blanket in his fist while he pressed a hand to his wildly beating heart. When he caught Fox looking he would wipe all signs of panic from his face and smile sheepishly.

“ Sorry. You'd be surprised how much dying feels like falling asleep,” he’d joked lightly, “ I guess I keep getting them mixed up,”

It was the kind of statement that meant Fox spent two days by Fives’ beside, keeping a hand over Fives’ wrist pulse point with the promise to keep an eye on it so his little brother could finally sleep. But Fives at his core was a resilient, adaptable bastard and by day three, he had stopped holding his breath whenever he felt even the tiniest bit of dizziness. After that, Fives’ initial reservations about seeing anyone and ‘accidentally retraumatizing them via spontaneous re-death’ had eased enough for the two of them to start concocting escape plans. These plans came together quickly the more restlessness Fives accumulated the longer he stared at the ceiling of his hospital room. The trait of being a terrible patient was apparently something he and Fox shared. The nurses, who were still unconvinced that Fives' alive status was a permanent thing, were not best pleased. 

Still, Fox rolls his eyes at Quinlan’s statement. 

“Of course it’ll stick,” Fox said firmly, “And if it doesn't I’ll make sure it does,” 

Quinlan snorted at his decisiveness, “Well sorry that all of us don't have quite as much faith in zapping people up with electricity. It's not exactly a standard medical procedure,”

“Oh ye Jedi of little faith,” Fox said reprimandingly, “What, you guys have never used your force osik to bring people back to life?” Fox said it half jokingly, but he quickly sobered a little when Quinlan shot him a more serious look.

“No, we really don't,” Quinlan said simply, and then his voice became softer, “The Force, it usually doesn't bring people back, not like this. There's no other way of looking at it Fox, what you did was unprecedented, maybe even impossible. What you did was a miracle.”

Fox ducked his head, looking over at Rex and Fives whose conversation had leveled out into something far more tender judging by the sheen of tears in their eyes.

The actual resurrection didn't feel like the miracle. What felt like a miracle was the way Fives was reassuringly pulled Rex into a Keldabe. What felt extraordinary was the way his hands stayed whole and solid against the back of Rex's head. Seeing Fives’ eyes crease up at their edges because of the smile on his face, and seeing Rex's face match his expression, now that was a miracle.

“He’s my brother,” Fox said to Quinlan eventually, “I had to bring him back, so I did,” 

And it really was as simple as that, but Quinlan still smiled and leaned over to plant an indulgent kiss on his cheek.

“And that,” Quinlan said, “Is why you never cease to amaze me, cyar'ika.”

Fox rolled his eyes, but tilted his head to allow Quinlan to press a proper kiss to his lips.

“You said it right,” Fox mumbled, and he tasted Quinlan's smile when they shared another kiss. Fox's eyes were closed, but he noticed immediately when the surrounding conversations went quiet. Fox pulled back and glared openly at his brothers who were all staring at him with expressions spanning from faint amusement, slight surprise or, in Thorn’s very mature case, fake gagging.

Wolffe was of course the one to break the silence.

“OK but what I wanna know is how Fox , out of all of us, managed to bag a Jedi first ,” he said and the rest of the table jeered in agreement while Fox scowled.

“As if you're pulling anyone with a face like that,” Fox sniped back, and Wolffe's expression morphed into that specific grin he wore just before he kicked off a major debate amongst them. Rex took the critical pause before Wolffe opened his mouth to smoothly slide into the conversation.

“We're speaking as if bagging a Jedi is hard, ” Rex cut in, sending Cody a shit-eating grin, “I mean, if Cody did it,”  

And that effectively derailed the conversation as Cody spluttered and turned an interesting shade of red. He started stuttering out half-baked denials about how ‘Technically we aren't really-’ a nd ‘Maybe but we haven't quite-’   when Fives picked up where Rex had left off.

“Objection, General Kenobi has barely been 'bagged' when Cody can't even hold his hand without getting flustered and walking straight off a hill,” Fives said gleefully and Cody further covered his face and sank into his seat at the sound of their teasing, especially when Rex patted him on the shoulder with a ‘Don't worry, it only happened twice,"

“I would like to state that I also didn't 'bag' anything.” Fox cut in when the laughter had died down,” Quinlan just… a ttached himself to me,”

“How romantic,” Wolffe drawled while Quinlan squawked and put his hand on his chest in a distinctly offended fashion. Fives perked up and looked between the two of them, pointing his finger half accusingly.

“Oh, they're not romantic. They spend half their time bickering and homoerotically beating up criminals,” Fives said, and then he paused, “Also, Fox found him in the dumpster,”

“In the dumpster?” Cody asked.

“In the dumpster,” Fox confirmed solemnly.

“In the dumpster,” Vos also confirmed with a grin that Hound observed with a grimace.

“And you still brought it home? ” Hound asked with an exaggerated wrinkle in his nose. Thire huffed and reached across Wolffe to give Hound a slap on the shoulder.

“Stop that,” Thire said admonishingly, “That ‘it’ is our brother’s trash thing,”

“Alright, alright stop bullying Quin now, only I'm allowed to do that,” Fox said over their laughter.

“Aww I knew you cared about me honeybear,” Quinlan said, leaning obnoxiously into Fox’s side. Fox sighed but obligingly wound his arm around Quinlan's shoulder, shooting a stink eye at Wolffe who gave a wolf whistle at the movement.

“Honeybear?” Hound quitely asked and Fives shook his head miserably.

“Don't even get them started,” Fives said, “I'm not ready to go through the nicknames thing twice.” And then Fives seemed to realize there was no drink in front of him to take a morose sip from and abruptly stood up.

“Ok, I have not had a drop of alcohol for far too long,” Fives announced, “The land of the dead is not big on booze so who’s getting the next round with me?” and at that, Thorn started scrambling over Quinlan and Fox to get out the booth, showing absolutely no remorse for the way he jabbed his elbow directly into Fox's solar plexus as he basically bulldozed over them.

This was largely rendered pointless when Quinlan ended up getting out to help anyway which would have allowed Thorn to get out like a normal person if he'd just waited two seconds . Fox pinched his brow in exasperation, but didn't stop the fond smile on his face as he saw Thorn and Fives sling an arm on either side of Quinlan’s shoulders as they walked.

“So, what are your intentions with Fox…” was the last discernable bit of conversation Fox heard from those three as they headed towards the main bar. Fox waved cheerily when Quinlan shot him a helpless look as he was dragged away. Fox was distracted anyway when Cody slid into the spot Quinlan had left behind.

“You know, I'm not entirely convinced Quinlan's going to make it out of that in one piece,” Cody mused and Fox waved a hand.

“Trial by fire,”  Fox said, “If he can't survive Thorn and Fives then how the hell is he going to survive Wolffe?”

Cody laughed, “Careful, they might join forces, and then what will you have?”

“Well, I doubt the sum total of brain cells will increase between the three of them,” Fox mused with a grin, “So I don't think I’m too worried,”

Cody shook his head, shaking with quiet laughter before his face turned tender at the sight of Fox's smile.

“He's good for you,” Cody said, jerking his head in Quinlan's direction.

“He's annoying,” Fox corrected, and then he unwittingly felt his face soften, “But yeah, he is.” 

“You look happy,” Cody continued, “I don't think I've seen you happy for a while now,” 

Fox snorted, “Well, considering the circumstances…”

He said it lightly, because he knew Cody was probably still beating himself up about things he didn't need to. As Fox predicted, Cody's face briefly fell serious, before he glanced over at Fox. Upon seeing his brother's amused expression, Cody scoffed and playfully shoved his shoulder.

“Jagyc,” Cody said heatlessly, “But you know what I'm getting at here,”

“I do,” Fox said, watching the liquid in his glass spin as he swirled it with his wrist, “I… I'm sorry I ignored your comms,”

“Seriously?” Cody looked briefly taken aback and he raised an eyebrow in half-bemused disbelief, “In the grand scheme of things I think you ignoring my comms was probably of less importance,”

“Yes, but… It was still a part of it. I think, even if I couldn't talk about anything, keeping contact maybe…maybe it would have made things better. Or maybe it wouldn't.” Fox rubbed at his cheek, “I don't know. I think regardless…” 

Fox trailed off and Cody took pity on him, somehow sensing exactly what Fox was trying to say under all the nonsense he was spewing. Cody smiled broadly, taking Fox's hand in his and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“I missed you too, Fox,” Cody said, and Fox huffed a relieved laugh, and suddenly Cody reached over and pulled him into a tight hug.

“You commed me when you really needed me,” Cody said quietly into their hug, “And I'm damn glad you did. That's all that really matters to me.”

Fox brought his arms around Cody, and tucked himself under Cody's chin like he'd done a thousand times as a cadet. Cody had always been ridiculously good at giving hugs, the kind that sank warmth into the very hollow of your bones. Of course Fox had never admitted this as a cadet, but he'd never needed to when Cody had always seen through any pretenses he put up about 'being too old for hugs anyway'. So the two of them held that familiar position for a while, and when they pulled back they were both smiling.

They were suddenly interrupted by the sound of glasses smashing across the floor and the entire table looked over towards the bar where the sound had originated. 

Fox rolled his eyes when he spotted Quinlan, Thorn and Fives sheepishly standing in the epicentre of shattered beer glasses, covered in booze. The bartender and a couple of unfortunate customers caught in the crossfire were starting to engage them in what looked to be a heated argument. Quinlan was not doing a good job of diffusing it. Cody immediately stood up and shuffled out of the booth with a sigh only an Ori'vod could make.

“I'm going to clean that mess up before they get us kicked out,” Cody said resignedly as he made his way over to them and started dishing out apologies to an irritated-looking bartender. 

Fox watched with interest as Thorn briefly glanced over at Fox, before touching Cody's elbow to excuse himself from what was now a significantly calmer debate between the bartender and the rest of them. Thorn made his way back, and Fox shifted back to allow him space to sit back down at the booth. Thorn dropped down heavily next to Fox sending him a broad smile when Fox wrinkled his nose and leaned away from him.

“Ugh, you stink of booze now,” Fox said, watching as Thorn grinned guiltlessly and, quite pointlessly, brushed at the areas of his shirt which were damp with beer.

“It's not goin’ to kill you,” Thorn said mischievously. Fox sighed and reached across the table to grab the stack of napkins in the centre, handing them to Thorn who happily took them from Fox. His hands hesitated as he held them, and he looked up to study Fox's face thoughtfully.

Before Thorn could even open his mouth, Fox was smoothing his hands across his face in exasperation. He'd seen this exact expression far too often these last couple of days that at this point he should really just start scripting his responses.

“Are you going to start a profoundly unnecessary conversation about how sorry you are for something that wasn't your fault?” Fox asked, raising a challenging eyebrow at Thorn. 

Thorn briefly straightened with surprise before huffing and leaning back against the chair, using the tissues to try and dry up the worst of the spillage across his shirt.

“Well, when you say it like that I almost don't want to,” Thorn said while balling up the used tissues with one hand. Fox hummed.

“Good, because you've done nothing wrong, and there's nothing to apologise for,” Fox said, and then he paused, “You might have to apologise to the bartender, you know if we get banned from 79s there's nowhere else right?”

Thorn laughed quietly, but he still drummed his fingers restlessly across the table. 

“Your plan,” Thorn started, and he winced, almost like he didn't want to hear the answer to his own question, “How was it meant to go? Originally, I mean,”

And Fox immediately knew what this was about. This was about the near inaudible gasp that Fox had only barely heard over the roaring in his ears. This was about his head snapping up, still charged, still wired, only for everything to go abruptly silent when Fox met the eyes of his brother, staring at him and the gun pointed at a still-warm body. This was about the turmoil Fox had seen in his eyes, about the frustrated guilt that had hounded Thorn ever since. 

“Everything turned out as it should have,” Fox said firmly. It was technically a lie. If everything had turned out how it should have, Fox would be dead. Plain and simple. But the original plan had gone off the rails from the start, and really that was probably a good thing when it landed him here.

“But,” Thorn continued quietly, “I wasn't meant to find you right? I wasn't meant to call you in, I should have kept my mouth shut when I followed you and opened that damn door-”

Seeing Thorn, back then, at that moment, had been terrible. It meant Fox had burdened him with a decision he never would have wanted him to make. In the practical sense, it had also represented the final shove in the derailing of their plan, since Fox was meant to have had at least 2 more hours to sort himself out before being discovered. But selfishly, Fox was glad he'd bumped into him at that critical moment. Seeing Thorn had reminded him of exactly why he was doing this.

“Thorn,” Fox cut in sternly, “Everything turned out as it should have. You did exactly what you should have,”

“I turned you in-”

“And if you hadn't, then what? The whole Guard goes down for treason? You know without the Guard's misdirection I would have been caught far earlier.” 

Fox had run this scenario a lot when he'd been running. He'd worried, from the moment that Stone had handed him his helmet that the Guard would take themselves down with him. Fox had prayed that they would just stick to protocol while he collected the data he needed. If only so they wouldn't get into trouble. Or treason. And Fox had been right to worry because that was exactly what they'd done, but they had been so clever about it, they had made Fox so ridiculoulsy proud, right from start to finish of the whole affair. So what if Thorn's call had disrupted Fox's plan, it had resulted in an outcome that was even better than the one he'd planned. No, Thorn had done nothing wrong in Fox's eyes.

“You did the right thing,” Fox concluded, “Now drop it and enjoy this evening with your brothers,” 

“Ok,” Thorn said, half reluctantly, and then he squawked when Fox reached over and ruffled his hair.

“Stars, we really have a knack for needless guilt huh?” Fox said, allowing Thorn to playfully shove him away, “You think it's genetic?”

“Nah, if it was, maybe Prime would have called it quits on the first 100 of us instead of the full 2 million. He doesn't exactly scream ‘guilty conscience’ ,” Thorn said dryly and Fox snorted.

“Too right,” Fox said, finishing off the rest of his drink. It was just in time, because Fives slammed a tray full of their second round onto the table, only just managing not to send the whole lot tumbling to the floor again.

Behind him, Cody tossed out a belated 'Careful Fives’ but ultimately gave up and slid into the booth. Quinlan took his seat next to Fox again while Fives gestured proudly to the tray.

“Haili cetare,” Fives chirped.

“Oh look, you didn't spill them this time,” Fox intoned and Fives stuck his tongue out at him. Fox hid a smile behind his new glass. Then Hound started showing Cody his step-by-step plan to train the Massifs to steal from rich senators and the conversation shifted to something wildly different.

At some point, as the night had gone on and the conversation between them flowed nearly as smoothly as the drinks they tossed back, Fox found himself slipping away for a brief moment to stand outside. He could still hear them even outside, but their bright laughter and distinctive voices were muffled by the walls of 79s between them. Fox wandered toward the balcony, taking a second to lean his arms on the bannister and close his eyes. He tilted his head up, enjoying the faint breeze that brushed through his hair. There was a slight chill, but it wasn't strong enough to be uncomfortable.

Fox opened his eyes, and above him, the Coruscanti night sky was just as dark and starless as it had always been. For once though, Fox didn't quite feel the overwhelming despair that usually accompanied that train of thought. Before it had felt as empty and souless and the rest of Coruscant, but something must have changed, because Fox felt like the air was cleaner, like an invisible weight had been dissipated. Everything suddenly felt clearer. For once Fox kept his eyes trained on the abyss and took the time to really examine the sky, the dark depths beyond and-

Fox stopped, stared. 

And then couldn't help the disbelieving chuckle that left his mouth, something that expanded and grew in his chest to a continuous laugh that shook his shoulders. He lifted a hand to his mouth but still he couldn't stop the incredulous laughter spilling through the hands. Ponds always said that you found what you were looking for in the most unexpected moments. This was just another time he'd been proven right.

There, twinkling very faintly, dim enough to be missed entirely, was a single Coruscanti star. Fox gave it a little salute and dedicated the motion to Ponds. He swore he could hear his brother's laughter faintly in the distance; he probably would have found this funny too. Fox was still smiling when Fives sidled up next to him. He didn't announce his presence, simply joined Fox's side.

“I wanted to thank you,” Fox said, keeping his eyes trained on that faint twinkle above. It was astounding that he'd never noticed it before.

“Thank me?” Fives sounded vaguely amused by this prospect, “For what?”

And stars, where did Fox even begin? Fox briefly glanced to his right, at Fives, and then looked down at his arms resting on the banister. He leaned slightly to the left, feeling Fives immediately respond by balancing his own weight against Fox’s side. Before, Fox had always felt a faint kind of impression through the force when his hand had brushed through Fives’ blue form. It was something that had almost tingled, but ultimately felt more like passing through empty space. Now, Fives was a warm solid presence next to him. It settled something inside of him and Fox slowly breathed out.

“…Before you came into my life I only really thought about surviving. I didn't really stop to consider the injustice of it all, never really questioned why it was all wrong,” Fox said, and he kept his eyes trained away from Fives, “But you, you never settled for excuses like 'This is just the way things are’ or ‘There's nothing else you can do but keep your head down and get through’ you were so damn optimistic, determined .”

“I don't know about that,” Fives said, “I mean, I just needed to see things through with the chips, you were the one who actually did it all.”

Fox shook his head, because it was so much more than that.

“It wasn't just the chips. You… you inspired me, Fives. You showed me that maybe it all didn't have to be like this. Without you, I never would have thought about what kind of change I could make. I never would have been able to do any of this without you. And even if I did do it, I wouldn't have survived it.”

Fox felt himself flush, and a tendril of embarrassment crept up at the amount of vulnerability those words contained. He forced himself to continue anyway. He'd come close to dying many times, but this was the first time an experience had opened his eyes to the fact that there were certain things he never wanted to leave unsaid. This was one of them, alongside a whole list of truths, conversations and 'I love you's he was planning on distributing amongst what was definitely the loudest table at 79s.

“So, thank you Fives. Thank you for… for convincing me you were more than a hallucination. Thank you for showing me the way out of all this,”

He finally raised his eyes to look at Fives and his brother looked back at him with a warm expression. It was harder to make out when he no longer glowed with that blue light, but half hidden in the darkness, Fox found himself appreciating it for how much more real it looked.

“Nah Vod,” Fives said playfully nudging Fox in the side, “You were always going to find your way out. There's no way you Corries wouldn't have fought back. I just gave you a push is all,”

“A push?” Fox said eyebrow raised, “I'd honestly say it's more like you crashed into my life and tackled me to the ground but yeah, we'll go with a push,”

Fives tossed his head back and laughed, “Whatever you say,” Fives said, and then he looked over at Fox with a bright flash in his eyes, “The point still stands. It was only ever a matter of time.”

Fox raised an eyebrow, “You mean it was only a matter of time before we launched a military coup and assassinated the Chancellor?”

“Yeah,” Fives said seriously, despite the obvious joke, and he pushed back from the railing and turned, nodding his head at the crowded table behind them. 

At the table that had Wolffe, Thorn and Hound howling with laughter over what Fox just knew was an inappropriate joke. With Cody, who was covering his face with embarrassment but nonetheless had a small smile he was sharing with Stone, who had a similar fondly exasperated expression on his face. With Thire, juggling a whole tray of freshly refilled cups that Rex was leaping up to help steady before they crashed across the table and covered them all in booze, again . With Quinlan, who noticed Fox looking over at them and smiled, as if simply seeing Fox was enough to place that warm expression on his face. They all looked happy.

“And it was only a matter of time before everything worked itself out, too,”  Fives said, and it was so ridiculously stupidly optimistic that Fox couldn't help but reach over and drag Fives into a headlock giving him a delightful noogie that Rex had many a time been a recipient of. Fives squawked with indignation and immediately flailed his arms around.

“Hey, cut that out,” Fives said, struggling against Fox's hold and laughing all the while.

“Nope,” Fox said gleefully, gripping him tighter despite his protests and manhandling him into a firm hug, “Cause you're my brother, and this is what you've gotta put up with. Kay Kyr , for as long as I'm here, till the end of time. I promise you that.”