Work Text:
Ahsoka was late, as honestly, she usually is. However, tonight there is a slight urgency in her steps as she weaves her way through the crowded streets. Summer has finally descended on the city, and she can feel the way her body slices through the warm air with her quick movements.
As she gets closer to the bar, Ahsoka finds herself staring into the reflective surfaces of store windows for an extra second or two. Reaching up to adjust her hair quickly or smacking her lips quickly to spread her lipstick, based on what she sees. Despite the nervousness, there is also a growing excitement inside her.
Finally reaching the little underground bar, Ahsoka finds her down the stairs and inside – keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of her friends. It is Padmé, of course, who finds her first, coming from behind her to grab her hand and pull her into a hug. After quick greetings, Padmé leads Ahsoka to a booth in the back corner.
“Look who finally decided to show up,” Anakin says while rising up from a pulled-up stool to greet her. He throws a hand over one of her shoulders. Just before she can respond, she hears Obi-Wan’s hand connect with the back of Anakin’s head in a light slap. While Anakin recoils in mock hurt, Obi-Wan connects his arm around her from the other side, giving her should a slight squeeze. Satine, Barriss, and Ryio all come up to give her a hug in greeting, as well as exchange the normal oohs and ahhs at each other’s outfits. From behind Riyo comes Fox, who gives Ahsoka a weirdly formal handshake, a running gag of theirs since the first time they met, when Fox had been so nervous about meeting Riyo’s friends he showed up to dinner in a suit.
There is only one person left in the group left to greet – the one that has been the source of Ahsoka’s nervousness and excitement. She’s managed to avoid eye contact thus far, knowing the second she sees him the whole night will change, though with all their friends around she isn’t sure for the better or worse. Though when Rex’s amber eyes rise to meet her own as he gets up to greet her, she finds herself unable to think of their friends surrounding them.
He is wearing a dark blue sweater, the same one that about a week ago at around 1 AM she decided was her favorite as she modeled a few pieces from his closet while he lay in bed, the sheets still tangled from the two of them. Ahsoka wonders for a second if he put it on knowing the reaction it would get out of her, and despite the self-control she is forced to exert finds herself hoping he did.
“’Soka,” he says, his handsome and tan face highlighted with a slight smirk once he reaches her.
“Hey Rexter,” she says almost quietly in return while reaching her arms up to give him a hug.
While in the hug, Rex quietly whispers in her ear, “You look really great tonight, ‘Soka.”
It takes all of her power to not shiver in response, and Ahsoka genuinely wonders if it’s possible for your heart to explode from a hug. They had been seeing each other for about a month now, with about two years of friendship and mutual but secret pining behind them, as well. Unsure totally of where this will go, Ahsoka dubbed this their “probation period” – no rules except not to tell anyone, if this should go south it’s easier if the rest of the group didn’t know.
However, now with all their friends either actively or passively watching them, the secrecy seems to have heightened all of her senses. When Rex squeezes her back just a bit before pulling away, she feels it throughout her body and slides her hand down his arm, giving her just an extra second of feeling his toned and lean arm under her fingers.
When he steps back, sending her another small smile, he is immediately pulled into a conversation with Fox and Anakin about the something Ahsoka has little interest in. A drink, she decides is exactly what she needs.
Grabbing Barriss’s hand and pulling her towards the bar, the two catch up on life since the last time they had seen each other, despite that only being a few days before. With a mixed drink in her hand, Ahsoka feels a little more settled in, and when they return to the booth and Rex has stepped away with Fox for a second, she feels she can take a breath while she sits down.
Ahsoka listens along as Padmé, Satine, and Obi-Wan debate on a topic where they all agree on the end goal but differ on the means to get there, but when Rex decides to slide into the booth next to her – pressing his leg against her own, the newly constructed mental restraints break down quickly.
She tries to keep it casual, but the way that his leg every so often presses a bit harder against her own makes her feel the need to grind down on something to curb the rising tension inside of her. Underneath the table, she places her hand on his tight, enjoying the way it tightens under her hand, feeling powerful in his physical reaction to her touch. However, when he moved his hand back down after speaking animatedly and brushes his back knuckles against her bare thigh, she involuntary moved forward an inch, trying to chase his hand for more contact.
Padmé, thankfully oblivious, misconstrues her movement and moves to allow her space to get up and exit the booth. Thinking quickly, Ahsoka grabs both her and Satine’s hands, calling the other two girls, and letting the boys know that they are heading to the dance floor. A quick look over her shoulder, and Ahsoka see’s Rex with a slightly smug smirk on his face – knowing it was his action that prompted this reaction.
Nevertheless, the girls form a tight circle on the dance floor and begin moving with the music. Dancing in a way that you only can when around your closest of friends, the girls show off their worst and best dance moves in a carefree way. Slightly subconsciously, Ahsoka’s eyes seek out Rex’s, hoping he is staring at her not only with want but the sense of security that makes her feel safe in what would be her most self-conscious moments. Each time she looks over she is rewarded with his amber eyes, and sometimes even a smile or questionable brow raise at some of her more uncoordinated dance moves.
After what feels like a lifetime on the dance floor, the group starts to head back to the booth. Noticing the density of the crowd, Ahsoka feels embolded to lock eyes with Rex and nod her head towards deeper into the crowd. Feigning off the rest of the girls with an excuse that she is heading to the backroom bathroom, Ahsoka pushes her way deeper into the mass of people dancing. Feeling safely enough away that the booth is invisible and unreachable without out some effort, Ahsoka waits for a moment before seeing Rex make his way through the last line of people separating them.
Immediately her hands seek out his neck, while his own reach to grab her hips and he pushes them right up against one another. Ahsoka is just starting to raise her head up to find his lips when she feels his own come crashing down against hers. His kiss is insistent and heated, providing some of the release Ahsoka was looking for while doubling it at the same time. At the same time that she feels this tongue come out to ask for entrance to her mouth, she feels him slightly turn her and move his hands from her hips up to cup her face. They kiss for what seems like an eternity, as the music from the nearby DJ shakes the room, each one of them fighting for dominance of the other’s mouth before conceding to the other over and over again.
Ahsoka grinds her hips against his own, and she captures a groan he left out with her mouth.
“Everyone will be leaving soon,” Rex says, pulling away slightly, “that’s when we can get out of here and continue this.”
Despite knowing that grinding against him in public with their friends close around is probably not the best course of action, Ahsoka feels slightly miffed at everything being cut short, even if only for a pause. “Only if you want to,” she says back.
Rex wraps an arm around her back, drawing her even close and when she gasps at the hardness she feels when their bodies connect, he leans down, looking at her in the eyes, and in a quiet and firm voice says, “Oh trust me, I want to.”
He breaks away first, heading back to the group, and Ahsoka takes his head start as a moment to wrap her head around what is happening. Feeling almost deliriously happy she dances to the music by herself for a moment, throwing her hands up and moving her hips in time with the music. Feeling as breathless, as she has since she first saw Rex earlier that night, Ahsoka decides he’s handed enough time and fights her way back to the booth.
“Oh, come on Rex, I could recognize your blond little head from anywhere – was that a girl you were with on the dance floor?” Ahsoka can hear Anakin’s voice questioning from a few feet away still.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Rex responds evenly and leaves it at that.
Anakin moves to say something else, but it is cut off when Padmé places a hand on his chest and says his name.
Her soothing effect can only last so long and when Ahsoka comes into view, Anakin turns to her “Snips, you went to the bathroom, did you see the girl Rex was with earlier?”
Ahsoka fakes a look of shock, enjoying a moment of playing into their game though she sees Rex roll his eyes at her poor acting, “Hmm no I did not, but next time we got out Rexter I want to meet this lucky lady.” Rex rolls his eyes once again at her response, grabbing her hand under the guise of pulling her out of the conversation and building, while Anakin nods his head vigorously.
Ahsoka hears Rex tell Fox and Riyo that he’ll add Ahsoka’s stop to his Uber ride, while she says her goodbyes to the rest of the group before she allows him to guide her to a car. His hand on the small of her back guides her and when they are seated in the car, she is practically on his lap the whole way to his house on the outskirts of the city.
Grabbing his hand, she pretends to sneakily make her way to the little garden gate at the side of his house – opening it up, pulling him inside, and locking the door behind her. Turning back about to face him, she finds him raising his head up to look at her, grinning.