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"Highly intellegent, deviant, disturbed--and uncommandable."
--Orun Wa, describing the Null ARCs shortly after recommending them for death. "Republic Commando: Triple Zero", page 10.
Kom'rk had been away from the Core Worlds for months. War on the Outer Rim was sparse, but old Palps had managed to stretch his resources thin enough to reach out here. There were days when Kom'rk could lose himself in an engagement on some empty, tumbling sphere of rock, as faceless as any trooper as he helped to decimate the ranks of droids while he followed Grevious across the galaxy. But most of the time, he blended into the shadows on Utapau, listening to Grevious and Dooku battle it out through comspace.
"They're like an old married couple," a familiar voice murmured in his ear. Jaing had caught up with Kom'rk just hours before, and had promptly taken over the sleep couch he'd set up in a corner of a damp and forgotten cave deep in a caldera near the main Utapau spaceport.
"I didn't think you'd be awake yet." Kom'rk smiled, a mere twitch of his lip, and leaned back into Jaing, connecting with a solid clack of armor. They always slept with their gear on, when they were in the field. A habit they were unlikely to ever break.
"The rock poking my back had better ideas." Jaing messed with the com signal, managing to clear out some of the interference with a few taps of his finger--something Kom'rk had been having trouble with. It was clear enough that Grevious's hissing breath rang against the volcanic rock walls of the deep cave. "'Honey, where are those gazillion droids you promised me?'" Jaing mocked.
"Do you think Grevious will ever catch on to the fact he's been set up?"
"Give him another year or two. Then he might start to get suspicious."
The Nulls laughed, comfortable despite being deep within enemy territory. It was SOP to them by now. To men without a home, much of the galaxy was enemy territory. You carry home in your heart. They sat quietly together for a while, enjoying the company as Kom'rk continued to listen for anything that might be important to his brothers on the front line.
Jaing's finger tapped a rhythm on Kom'rk's shoulder. Then the tapping turned to light scratching, and the metal squeak rose to an teeth-freezing noise. "Something you wanted, vod'ika?" Kom'rk asked, even though he knew his brother well enough to know what was on his mind.
"Just wondering if I could use your plates to grind that rock to dust. Might make the bed a bit more comfortable."
Kom'rk passed his Verpine blaster over his shoulder to his brother. "Here, blast it and quit complaining."
Jaing whistled lightly. "Kandosii! Did you liberate this from Kal'buir's private stock?"
"It was a gift, courtesy of the Republic. For services rendered."
The tell-tale clicks of a highly trained warrior checking out a new toy let Kom'rk know his choice of "reward" was appreciated. Unfortunately, the weapon only distracted his brother for a few moments. The light scratching returned, putting Kom'rk's teeth on edge.
"If I stop now, I'll just have to go back and listen to it later. You were supposed to be sleeping."
"Sleep later. It's been months."
Jaing didn't have Ordo's self-control, nor did he have Mereel's gregariousness. Like most Mando men, he'd chosen his mate and remained loyal--but that didn't mean that the long absences didn't affect him. If he wasn't with Kom'rk, he wasn't with anyone, which only made the days when they were apart feel like centuries. Kom'rk knew that feeling well.
"If you're not tired, we can switch. I'll wander the Outer Rim while you chase Grevious."
The scratching stopped. "You don't have to stay out here, you know. Ordo would take over."
Kom'rk shrugged off Jaing's concern, suddenly feeling guilty for saying what he did aloud. "I'm just bored. I haven't seen Kal'buir in nearly a year. You and Mereel are the only ones that come out here, now that Prudii's been playing with Atin. Anyway, I don't want to pull Ordo away from Agent Wennen."
"Ah."
"What 'ah'?"
"You think they'll get married?"
Kom'rk thought about it. "Probably. She's mandokarla, from what I hear. Buir likes her."
"Ah."
"Vod'ika," Kom'rk said warningly.
"Hungry?" Jaing produced a small bag and tossed it to land on Kom'rk's lap. "Buir said to share."
Kom'rk opened the bag eagerly, already guessing what he'd find. Kal always brought treats to his men in the field, made sure they were being taken care of as best as he could. When he couldn't make it himself, he used messengers, the Null ARCs, even a Jedi or two to bring them what they needed. Whatever it took to give his boys a small taste of normal life.
"Uj'alayi," Kom'rk sighed as he opened the small bag. He breathed in the sweet, nutty smell of cake, and sighed again. "Vor'e!"
The small bag held a carefully wrapped piece of uj cake, sticky and sweet and spicy and everything that Kom'rk thought of as 'home.' The dense cake clung to the petals of the fabric wrapped around it, leaving traces of sweet syrup behind.
Kom'rk broke off a piece, and offered it to his brother. He held it over his shoulder in the general area he could guess Jaing's mouth was. Instead of simply liberating the cake from his hand, Jaing leaned forward and nipped it out of Kom'rk's fingers. Before he could pull his hand away, Jaing gave his sticky fingers a quick lick.
"Mmmmm. Just like ma used to make."
"You don't have a ma."
"We could put A'den in a dress and pretend we have one."
"I don't think he'll go for that."
"You tranq him; Prudii, Mereel and I will dress him, and Ordo can dig our graves for when he kills us once he wakes up."
"Too complicated. I'll stick with Kal, thanks." Kom'rk stuffed half of the remaining cake in his own mouth, savoring the taste. He could clearly remember that first time, eating cake in Kal's quarters on Kamino, holding Jaing close as he and his brothers waited for death. He could still feel Jaing's fingers in his own, matched in their smallness. He could remember being taken by an infinite sadness, alleviated only by the thought that at least he and Jaing would die together.
Kom'rk had always been closest to Jaing. All the Nulls were brothers, but Jaing was special. Different.
Jaing's hand slipped around Kom'rk's side to sneak towards the remains of the uj. Kom'rk smacked him across the knuckles with one hand while he stuffed the rest of the small cake in his mouth. "Mine," he pronounced carefully, letting the cake dissolve on his tongue before chewing and swallowing.
"We're supposed to share."
"I'm sure the cake was much larger before you started on the trip here."
"Hyperspace makes me hungry."
"Breathing makes you hungry."
Jaing sighed, settling his chin on Kom'rk's shoulder. He let his brother rest like that for only a moment before shrugging him off as he make a note on the file he just recorded. He really did want to get this done real-time, so he could truly enjoy a few hours with his brother. Grevious was very insistent in his reports lately to Dooku, and he didn't want to miss something important. The war was building up to something big, Skirata said, and Kom'rk didn't want to be caught lying down on the job.
"You're in a bad mood."
"I'm not. I'm just..."
"Bored?" Jaing moved away from Kom'rk to sit on the stool next to him. He played with the controls, finding another signal that needed some cleaning, then deftly setting it to auto record and collate. "You know, if you're really bored, you could go out and have fun with Mereel."
Kom'rk was well aware of what Mereel's idea of fun was, and it didn't involve heavy ordinance. He was already a bad influence on that trooper that Kal was training to be a commando. Kom'rk wasn't interested in that sort of fun. "Nu draar."
Jaing seemed relieved to hear it. "Not even in a million years?"
"Not if I lived to be 500."
"If Kal can get the right scientists to work on his little project, you just might."
"I'd be happy to live to be as old as Kal'buir. Surrounded by my brothers, and a few dozen nieces and nephews."
"No ad'ike of your own?"
Kom'rk shrugged. "Buir says to share." That was his dream, anyway. It didn't matter if he never adopted a child of his own, as long as he could share with his family.
With stuttering coughs and a request for more 're-in-FORCE-ments', Grevious's thickly accented speech ceased to growl over the comm channel. The cave settled into silence. Kom'rk didn't know much more about droid moments or battlefields than he did before ease-dropping, but one never knew when one might get lucky.
"You up for a game of sabacc?" Kom'rk started to ask, when he suddenly found him laid out on his back, with a heavy weight settling on his lower stomach. The clack of armor on armor was louder than Dooku's sonorous comm signal, but they were still in no danger of the outside world finding them. They were professionals.
Jaing's face hovered above Kom'rk, his expression a million lightyears away. For a frightening moment, Kom'rk couldn't read his brother's expression. "Me'copaani?"
"Just you. Now. Forever. Darasuum." Jaing closed the distance between them, claiming Kom'rk's mouth in a hard kiss. Chestplates squeaked as they collided, and Kom'rk's heart began to race in his chest. It had been too long.
Jaing broke it off first, resting his forehead against Kom'rk's. "Cyar'ika." The word was a sigh, floating across Kom'rk's lips. He breathed it in, inhaling the spice and sweetness of the uj cake, the familiarity of Jaing's breath in his lungs.
They laid together like that for a few moments, enjoying the closeness at last. Finally, Jaing heaved himself off Kom'rk's chest, giving his brother a hand-up as they both stood. Jaing smiled crookedly, a wicked gleam in his eyes as he joked, "Let's go take care of that rock."
Kom'rk leaned forward again, kissing him teasingly quick on the lips. "No armor. No blasters. Just you and me, vod'ika." Jaing merely nodded, his eyes locked on Kom'rk as he began to strip off his ARC gear.
Kom'rk and Jaing took off their armor, piece by piece, stacking the plates neatly as they had been trained as tiny children. The sight of the identical piles next to each other calmed a place inside Kom'rk, a place that needed that familiarity to relax. He sighed as he peeled off his bodysuit, his skin prickling with energy as he enjoyed the feel of air on his bare skin. It had been far too long.
Jaing mirrored Kom'rk's thought, sighing, "Too long," as his hand slipped down Kom'rk's bare back to cup his buttocks.
They kissed for a long moment, then Kom'rk freed a hand to help Jaing finally strip out of his bodysuit. There were times when they had had to take what moments they could, making love in full armor or only half undressed, but that wasn't what Kom'rk needed this time. They weren't in the middle of a battlefield, and a few hours naked, together, wouldn't make a difference in the war. The smooth fabric of the bodysuit clung to Jaing's skin as he slipped it off his body, and Kom'rk followed it down with his hands, delighting in the difference between skin and suit.
When Kom'rk started to use his lips, Jaing hauled him up by his shoulders. "Bed. Now. Jii," he insisted, pulling Kom'rk with him as he stepped backwards towards the sleep couch. When he felt the side of the bed, Jaing twisted, dumping Kom'rk on his back on the simple mat.
Jaing was right there, stretching out on top of his brother as he nuzzled into his neck. Kom'rk's heart gave a stammering thud in his chest as he cradled Jaing's head, rubbing his chin against his hair. Right here, right now, the war disappeared from their minds. They were just two men, bonded together, reunited at last. How many times had Kom'rk thought of this moment? How many times as hot metal sparked around him, as he drilled blaster bolts into a tinnie at point blank range, had he thought of Jaing in his arms, flesh touching, real and soft and alive and everything he needed?
The Republic could fall, Kal's quest could fail, and Kom'rk would be happy to die tomorrow if it meant that he'd had this time with Jaing--every time, perfect. "Cyar'ika."
Jaing's nipped at the skin of Kom'rk's throat, pulling him from his thoughts. The mark he was leaving didn't matter. There was nothing to hide out there, and he wouldn't want to hide it anyway. Jaing was his, and he belonged to Jaing.
Kom'rk groaned as Jaing began to move down his neck to his chest, leaving bruise-like marks across his dusky skin. No kaminii doctors to pull them apart, no aiwha bait to proclaim them defective, deviant. Just each other.
Kom'rk rubbed his fingers through Jaing's short hair and pressed him closer, wanting to still feel everything after his brother left. Jaing knew what he wanted, and sucked harder until most thoughts left Kom'rk's mind.
Jaing's hand wandered down Kom'rk's chest to the navel dip in his belly, finding his penis hot and hard against his stomach. Jaing wrapped his fingers around him, pumping once, twice, to test how much he wanted it. Kom'rk squirmed and tried to thrust into the tightness of his brother's fist, but Jaing moved his hand away, slipping down between his legs. Kom'rk lifted his legs and spread his knees, eager for a quick reunion.
Just the bare brush of his finger against Kom'rk's entrance sent his gaze crooked. Jaing watched him twitch, making Kom'rk's spine tingle when they matched eyes once more. "Stop teasing," he growled, his voice low and soft as though all the air had gone out of the room. Jaing caught Kom'rk's lips in a searing kiss as he tested his entrance with a single finger.
"So tight." Jaing's finger rubbed in circles, soothing him.
"Been so long," Kom'rk groaned absently, his mind distracted by the feeling of his brother just barely pushing in, teasing him. "Months."
Jaing stopped moving his finger. "You didn't... not even someone else?"
Kom'rk shook his head, waiting for Jaing to continue. When he didn't, he found his rough voice again to beg for a greater touch. "No. No. Nu draar, ner vod. Only you. Darasuum gar."
Jaing slid down Kom'rk's body, hiding his face in Kom'rk's belly, his chin and cheek roughly scraping against the sensitive skin of Kom'rk's cock as he burrowed and rubbed and nipped at his stomach. His fingers tickled down his thigh, over his knee, across the scars on his shin. He gently grasped Kom'rk's ankle, splaying him open further as he positioned his foot over his shoulder. Then he buried his face in Kom'rk's balls, licking and sucking on the skin in his mouth, exploring with his lips as he blindly searched out for his goal.
Kom'rk gasped as Jaing's tongue licked him open, soft and determined at the same time. His heel dug into Jaing's back as he twisted and thrust into the air before grinding back down against his face. Kom'rk dug his fingers in the mat behind his head, biting his lip to keep the scream of rapturous delight from escaping his throat.
Jaing slipped in a finger, slick with his spit or maybe something else, working around the tight skin with his tongue as he twitched his finger inside. Kom'rk's hips jerked, and his heel pressed hard into Jaing's shoulder. It had to hurt, but Jaing didn't complain and he didn't stop working Kom'rk into a frenzy, loosening him up with a single-mindedness that set the Nulls apart from their brothers.
Too soon, Kom'rk felt Jaing's tongue flick one last time before he pulled away, crawling up his body to hold himself above his brother. When Kom'rk's gaze finally cleared, he was staring up at the clear, dark eyes of his brother, who was watching him intently, as though memorizing every new line on his face. So serious, so strange to see him lost like this in a middle of their reunion.
Kom'rk wrapped his legs around Jaing's waist, locking his ankles together as he rocked against him, purposely driving any thought out of his mind but the touch of their bodies.
Jaing smiled, transforming his serious face once more into the mischievous young man he knew better than himself. He swooped down for another kiss, meeting Kom'rk's hips with a strong thrust of his own.
Jaing moaned and shuddered, finally stopping Kom'rk's hips with his hands. He bit his lip, arching back and breathing deeply through his nose as he sought control. Kom'rk was struck mute by the look on his brother's face when he opened his eyes again, his love and pleasure so close to the surface that he could taste it in the air between them.
"Vod'ika," Jaing whispered, as he lifted one hand to caress Kom'rk's cheek. Then he slipped both hands under Kom'rk, holding him open as he positioned himself.
"Cyar'ika," Kom'rk hissed as Jaing seated himself in one, long burning thrust. It had been a while, but Kom'rk's body remembered. Like uj cakes and the sweet sound of mando'a, it felt like home. He could never get enough of it.
Jaing was still, except for the small movements of his hips as he rested his forehead on Kom'rk's. "Too long." He slowly pulled back, only to jerk his hips forward quickly, hard enough to make Kom'rk gasp. No matter how much time passed, their bodies remembered, moving as one, always.
"Mhi solus," Jaing murmured, echoing Kom'rk's thoughts. "Solus darasuum, vod'ika. Cyar'ika," Jaing babbled on as they rocked. Kom'rk only nodded, tilting his chin until he could find Jaing's mouth for a long kiss.
Unable to hold back any longer, Jaing pulled away from Kom'rk's mouth so he could find enough leverage to fuck him quick, deep and hard, the way they both needed it. They couldn't last long, not after how long they'd waited. Kom'rk felt the tightening of his stomach, about to come. Jaing started to slow down, to draw it out, but Kom'rk was too far gone. "Keep going," he growled, and Jaing renewed his quick thrusts.
Kom'rk came silently, years of training preventing him from screaming his joy aloud. Only a whine escaped his lips, wordless and breathless, as he jerked against Jaing's stomach, painting them both. Jaing quickly followed, hissing breaths against Kom'rk's lips as he exploded inside him. They stayed like that, intimately connected, until Jaing's shaking arms finally let him fall to the bed, curled beside Kom'rk. They were both quiet as they caught their breaths.
Too content to move, they let the calm of their homecoming settle between them. It was too rare during the war that they were able to spend more than a day or two together, so they enjoyed pretending the world didn't exist for a while. Kom'rk could feel the coolness of the cave air against his sweaty skin, the slight stings of various bruises and strained muscles left in the wake of their powerful, frantic fucking. Jaing's heat beside him kept him from feeling cold.
"Do you think we can get married?" Jaing asked quietly, his hands wandering over Kom'rk's arms, a finger outlining the lingering impression of teeth.
His mind still spinning aimlessly, it took a moment for Kom'rk to understand what Jaing had said. Kom'rk could barely remember talking about Agent Wennen and Ordo before they had gotten distracted. It was relatively easy for the Nulls to pick up on the loose threads of their discussions; disjointed communications that were often incomprehensible to an outsider. "Probably. Clones aren't Republic citizens, but Manda'yaim isn't the Republic. Ask Kal'buir. I'm sure there's nothing he can think of stopping Ord'ika."
Jaing played with his hand, watching as he matched up their fingers. "That wasn't what I meant. "
It took an extra long moment for Kom'rk's mind to follow Jaing's thought. He remembered the words Jaing said to him as they made love--a variation of the first line of the Mandalorian marriage vows. Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome...
"Jaing... vod'ika..."
"You don't have to answer now. Or ever. It's okay."
"Jaing..."
"Just forget about it. It doesn't mean anything."
"K'uur, ner vod. My brother." Kom'rk held Jaing's hand in his own, watching the familiar fingers meld with his own. It was a comfort beyond all others--the only intimacy they had known for so many years was just holding each other's hand. He squeezed Jaing's hand, and lifted his eyes to his face, still flushed from their love making.
Deviant, the aiwha bait had said. He and all his brothers were too defective to be allowed to exist, to stand as examples of what could go wrong when your science wasn't perfect. Mistakes to be erased. The words had followed them their whole lives, like the bombs that exploded around them, like the cries of their unborn brothers drowning in the tanks.
The kaminiise were wrong. They weren't broken. They weren't mistakes. Kom'rk didn't know what they were, but they were brothers. They were just different.
"My brother. We're already bonded beyond any vow. Marriages can fall apart. You can be divorced by your partner, your sons. But we'll always be brothers. Nothing comes before that, nothing comes between that. Darasuum vode, solus kar'ta--always brothers, one heart. There's no vow or law that can break that."
"But if you should find a nice mando'ad to settle down with..."
Kom'rk smiled, a real smile that stretched across his face. "I don't see the two of us ever settling down, cyar'ika. Especially with anyone else. We're different."
Jaing brightened. "Mhi solus tome--"
Kom'rk cut him off. It didn't feel right, to marry his brother in the traditional Mando way, not when he had no idea what it would mean for them. Ordo could play at a normal life with his Treasury agent, and Mereel could have sex with every sentient lifeform he comes across, but things were different for them. Their world wasn't quite the same as the rest of the galaxy. They made their own way. So for now, he gave his brother the only thing he could. "Mhi solus darasuum--that's all we need."
Jaing looked a little confused, but he nodded his head. He moved his hand so he had a better grip on Kom'rk's, then looked him in the eyes. Kom'rk could see how much it meant to him when he said, "Mhi solus darasuum, ner vod."
"Mhi solus darasuum," Kom'rk repeated softly.
It seemed to be enough to settle Jaing for now. He leaned forward to give Kom'rk another searing kiss, then broke it off to re-settle himself on the bed.
"I was serious, though."
"About..."
"The rock. I bet if we tried it with your plates on, we could grind that rock to dust."
"Tomorrow, I'll dig it out for you. How about that?"
"Not quite as fun as trying."
His brother had a strange idea of fun. They all did.