FIC: Hukaat'kama ~ Star Wars Prequels ~ Jango/Obi-Wan ~ Mature ~ Chapter 2/6

[batsutousai]

Title: Hukaat'kama
Fandom: Star Wars
Author: Batsutousai
Rating: Mature
Pairing: Jango Fett/Obi-Wan Kenobi
Warnings: Asexual!Jango, AU, hurt/comfort, pre-relationship, established relationship, mentioned drug addiction and withdrawal, mentioned slavery, mentioned genocide, canon-typical violence, Mandalorian culture, Jedi culture, non-binary clones, grief, angst, Kamino is the worst, Jango's questionable parenting, mention of reconditioning, hopeful ending
Summary: Five times someone threatened Jango for Obi-Wan's sake.

A/N: This was originally going to be Quinlan, but then Dex elbowed his way in, so here we are. (Sorry, Quin.)



Jango didn't usually take jobs from beings in the Core-nor had he ever once taken a job to return stolen property-but the job posting had said the client's ik'aad was missing, and Jango, it turned out, was still enough Mando'ad to see 'endangered child' and accept the posting without reading far enough to see that the posting was about a stolen ship.

Which was how he found himself on Coruscanta, about six years after leaving Manda'yaim.

The client was a rich Gossam couple, which explained why they weren't attempting to go after the thief or thieves themselves, since their species were more mentally cunning, than physically capable. And, of course, they had no actual information on the thief or thieves, since the shipyard where they'd parked refused to turn over any recording evidence to private citizens, no matter how much money they offered, and the Coruscanta security forces hadn't even given them the time of day.

"We don't care about the ship or anything on the computer," one of the Gossam insisted. "That's replaceable, but our daughter isn't."

"It's already been a week," the other Gossam said, their voice shaking with emotion. "She may be dead-" their partner let out a rough, guttural noise "-and we do understand this. You will be paid half for killing everyone involved, in full only if you can bring her back to us alive."

"I understand," Jango said by way of agreement, and took his leave, since enough time had already been wasted.

Since the matter was time-sensitive, Jango went to the one being he knew was on Coruscanta who would be most likely able to help him: a Besalisk by the name of Dexter Jettster, who had been a friend of Jaster's, often supplying first him, and then Jango, with munitions at what Jango, in retrospect, suspected had been half the price he'd charged others for. A few years previously, Jango had heard that the Besalisk had changed to the information business and set himself up with a diner on Coruscanta.

He wasn't certain that Jettster would recognise him-or that he would even be willing to help him, after almost a decade since they'd last had any contact-but Jango didn't have any solid contacts in the Core, never mind on Coruscanta, and there was an ik'aad in danger.

The diner his directions led him to was a dump and, he found when he stepped inside, rather crowded and noisy.

"What can I do for you, sugar?" a waitress droid asked as it wheeled up to him.

"I'm looking for Jettster," Jango said. "My father was a friend, and I thought I'd pay my respects while I was on planet."

That was a reasonable excuse, wasn't it?

The droid stared at him for a long moment, then said, "No violence, or you're out," and spun on their single wheel and motioned for him to follow them into the diner.

Blinking in confusion at the warning, Jango had to hurry a bit to catch them up, which was his excuse for why he didn't notice Obi-Wan until his familiar voice said, "Myles?"

He almost ran into the droid, who had stopped in front of a table where sat Obi-Wan and Jettster. Obi-Wan was wearing a heavy brown cloak-instead of the blue kute that Jango had resized from his own collection to replace his ruined one, or his familiar green and black beskar'gam-and looked surprised, while Jettster's brow was furrowed in what Jango was fairly certain was suspicion.

Right, Jango realised with a wince, I never told him my real name. He'd never even let on that he hadn't given his real name in the first place, had reacted to his former second-in-command's name like it was his own, after seven years of his own name following Myles' when someone needed them both.

Obi-Wan's surprise smoothed out into a smile, fond and with a glint of mischief in his pale eyes. "Or whatever your real name is," he said.

Jango couldn't stop a huff. "When did you figure that out?" he couldn't help but ask, as he reached up to pull off his buy'ce.

"From the beginning," Obi-Wan admitted. "The Force told me."

"Mir'sheb," Jango retorted, and Obi-Wan beamed; by his own claims, his 'Force' had also told him that Jango's insults were almost always meant fondly, which Jango, unfortunately, had never been able to dispute. He liked Obi-Wan, even when he was acting the mystical jetii, or doing his damnedest to avoid medical treatment.

"Kriff me," Jettster breathed. "Jango Fett. I'd heard you were dead."

Jango grimaced. "Not quite," he muttered, while Obi-Wan let out a vaguely surprised noise. When Jango glanced at him, he found the jetii watching him with sharp, considering eyes, and spared a brief plea to the Ka'ra that he wasn't on such good terms with Satine, after all these years, that he would be comming the 'Duchess' with an update on whom 'Myles' had really been; the last thing Jango needed, was for the current leader of Manda'yaim to start harassing him to take his former title up again or, worse, join her damn council. He turned back to the Besalisk and said, "Jettster, I was actually hoping to borrow your knowledge for a job I'm on."

"Always happy to help Jaster's boy," Jettster promised as he heaved himself out of his side of the bench. "Obi-Wan, if you leave without finishing that burger-"

"I would never waste one of your nerfburgers, Dex," Obi-Wan said in a wounded voice, and Jango raised an eyebrow, because the burger was massive, and he'd watched the jetii pick at his food when he'd been of an age where he should have had an endless appetite.

Jettster pointed a finger at Obi-Wan with one hand, while another caught around Jango's shoulders to lead him away. "Don't go feeding it to any starving orphans, either."

"Once!" Obi-Wan complained, and Jango had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing.

Jango somehow ended up with a glass of Jawa juice and a to-go box of protato wedges, which he started snacking on after he'd explained what he needed and Jettster told him to give him a minute, then vanished into the kitchen.

A pale-skinned hand with a couple of old scars and what looked like a fresh burn on the pinky and down the side darted into view from next to him and snatched a protato wedge, withdrawing fast enough that Jango might have struggled to hit it, had he been of a mind to. He wasn't of a mind to, however; only so many beings could get that far into his personal space without him noticing, and he'd recognised the scars. So he asked, "How long have you been hiding that from a baar'ur?"

"I haven't had the time to go to the Halls of Healing," Obi-Wan muttered, tone petulant.

Jango sighed and pulled out one of the bacta-soaked plasters he kept on himself for emergencies, and turned towards the jetii, holding out his free hand. "Let me see, utreekov."

Obi-Wan huffed and made a show of sticking his nose up in the air in a passable imitation of Satine when she decided she didn't want to hear any more of Jango's lectures on why Mando culture was more than just violence, and forcing Mando'ade to give it up entirely was going to do the exact opposite of uniting the clans. "If you're just going to be rude about it," he said, a hint of a Kalevalan accent sharpening his natural Core accent.

Jango rolled his eyes and grabbed Obi-Wan's arm, tugging him closer so he could get a proper look at the wound. "What did you get into this time?" he muttered as he grabbed a napkin to wipe off the worst of the grease-Obi-Wan clearly hadn't let the burn stop him from eating his burger.

"Someone pushed me into the exhaust port of an idling speeder," Obi-Wan muttered, and Jango couldn't tell if he sounded cross or petulant. "It wasn't my fault."

"And why haven't you been to see a baar'ur, yet?" Jango asked as he opened the seal on the bacta plaster.

"I was hungry," Obi-Wan insisted.

Jango raised an eyebrow at that, uncertain whether or not he believed it, but didn't look up from carefully fitting the plaster over as much of the burn as he could manage. "Don't remove that for at least four hours," he ordered, which was more than was necessary, but experience-and Satine-had taught him that Obi-Wan rarely left plasters on as long as he was ordered to, so Jango had taken to adding an hour or three.

And then he looked up, and found that Obi-Wan was so close, one of them could easily lean in and initiate a kiss. Which he very suddenly wanted, on a level that he hadn't wanted physical contact with anyone since the last time he'd been in close quarters with this jetii.

He couldn't say whether Obi-Wan's brain had gone in a similar direction of its own power, or if his 'Force' magics had somehow shared Jango's thoughts with him, but he flushed a bright red and swallowed, then whispered, "Hi."

"Su'cuy," Jango breathed back, because reaching thirty wasn't enough to keep his brain from going on a brief holiday around Obi-Wan, apparently.

Obi-Wan breathed in, just a little sharp, and then leant forward and pressed his forehead to Jango's in a mirshmure'cya.

Jango couldn't stop a shudder at the contact, and he reached up to clasp a hand against the side of Obi-Wan's neck to keep him from pulling away, if he took the shudder the wrong way. And then he leant into the contact, letting their noses press together.

"Oh," Obi-Wan whispered, the word teasing over Jango's lips, before long fingers were gently threading through Jango's too-long curls, and Jango couldn't quite manage to fully supress a whine at the sensation of a touch that didn't hurt and wasn't that perfect clinical efficiency that baar'ure everywhere mastered.

"Jango," Obi-Wan whispered and, kriff, Jango never should have told him his name, because the way his stupid Core accent curled around the syllables made Jango want to break the mirshmure'cya for a proper kiss. "I've got you. Morut'yc."

"Kalevalan," Jango muttered in complaint.

Obi-Wan huffed out a quiet laugh, and then said, "Jan'ika?" in a testing tone.

"I will shoot you," Jango threatened, and tried to pretend his voice hadn't thickened at hearing the nickname that no one had spoken since Galidraan.

"You would never," Obi-Wan murmured, and Jango knew he was right. "Jan'ika."

Jango didn't know how to feel about having someone who was willing to call him that again in his life, whether it felt like a comfort or a curse, and his thoughts on the matter scattered when a comm started letting out a high-pitched wail.

"Quinlan," Obi-Wan snarled, even as he gently withdrew his hand from Jango's hair and stepped back, reaching into a pouch on his belt and pulling out a small comm.

The wail, Jango realised as it cut off and he could hear a number of the patrons of the diner singing, was apparently a song.

"You'd better be dying, Vos," Obi-Wan told whoever was on the other end of the call, tone implying that he would be happy to remedy the matter, if they weren't.

"Obes, the starshine of my soul, the blackness of my heart-"

"The plasma of my lightsabre," Obi-Wan interrupted flatly, and the being on the other end cackled.

Jango was distracted from listening into the comm by Jettster leaning forward over the counter in front of him. The Besalisk looked grim and dangerous, and Jango couldn't help the way he stiffened, one hand dropping to one of his holstered Westars at the implication of threat. "Fett," Jettster rumbled, voice kept low, "I'm only going to say this once, so you listen, and you listen well: If you're looking at Obi-Wan for a fling, walk away now."

"You-" Jango started, rage blooming in his chest.

"I'm not finished," Jettster snarled, and the glint in his eyes made Jango's mouth snap shut, some much smarter part of his hindbrain recognising that he was the prey, at the moment. "If you're looking for something more committed, then you commit. Do not leave that man wondering if you give a damn about him. You comm him regularly, you visit at least once a month, and you never, for one moment, let him think he isn't important. Do you hear me?"

Jango swallowed down nerves and questions and whispered, "Yes."

"If you break his heart, I will ruin you," Jettster added, and Jango knew that was no idle threat.

What had Obi-Wan done to earn this level of loyalty from Dexter Jettster?

Jettster stared at him for a long moment, then gave a sharp nod and straightened, leaving behind a datachip next to Jango's to-go box of protato wedges. "The ship you're looking for is in a scrap yard out in the industrial sector. You'll probably have an easier time slicing into any security video logs out there, or bribing the yard attendants, than getting answers out of any of the spaceport officials topside," he said, tone casual and almost friendly, as if he hadn't just been threatening Jango.

Jango sighed; if the ship was in a scrap yard, whoever had stolen it had probably got what they wanted from it. His instincts said he wouldn't find the ik'aad there, but he knew he had to check, especially since he needed whatever video footage he could get from the scrap yard. Which would probably be low quality and next to impossible to get any useful intel off of.

This shit was why he didn't take lost property contracts.

"Of course," Jettster said, turning towards the pastry case behind him, "if you had a jedi, well." He flashed a grin that was just shy of mean. "Topsiders usually play nice with jedi. Think they'll turn their brains to mush, if they don't."

And then he set a little to-go container with a miniature fork on top next to Jango's container of protato wedges, and listed a price that Jango knew included the pastry, despite the fact that Jettster should know that Jango had never had much of a sweet tooth, since Jaster had complained about it all the time to anyone who would listen.

(Obi-Wan did, Jango knew.)

Jango paid it without complaint, and grimaced at Jettster's smug smile as he turned away with the credits.

"Tell me," Obi-Wan muttered as he leant against the counter next to Jango again, and stole another protato wedge, "that you have a best friend who you want to murder, so I know I'm not the only one."

"I did," Jango admitted, and slid the pastry box towards Obi-Wan. "Here."

Obi-Wan's face lit up, and Jango wanted to kiss him all over again. "You got me cake? Everyone says Dex puts some sort of drugs in all of his food, you know," he said as he opened the box with sure fingers and stabbed at the cake with the fork, "but I've actually taken some things back to Temple to test them, mostly because Quin-that's my asshole of a best friend-kept trying to convince our Head Healer that I was addicted to something in Dex's pastries, swore it was spice-"

Jango stole Obi-Wan's fork and ate the piece of cake on it. It was just shy of too sweet, cut by something slightly bitter, and Jango actually found himself wanting to steal another bite. In a 'this is delicious' manner, not a 'there is spice in this and I was once addicted' manner, so he said, "Definitely not spice."

Obi-Wan cleared his throat. "No," he agreed. And then, quieter, added, "I'm allergic to spice."

That put an entirely different spin on Obi-Wan helping him through his spice detox. Assuming the jetii had known that's what he was detoxing from.

Instead of asking about that, he instead said, "So, you would know," and nodded to the cake.

"I- Yeah. Yes, I would have known," Obi-Wan agreed, and took a bite of his cake, closing his eyes and clearly taking a moment to enjoy it.

Jango grabbed for his Jawa juice and swallowed down the last mouthful to keep himself from doing...something. He wasn't certain what, but he just knew it would end in his embarrassment. "So," he said when Obi-Wan's eyes opened again, "is Jettster putting drugs in his food?"

Obi-Wan snorted, pale eyes bright and cheeks dusted with pink. "Not in the pastries, no. Not even in the rest of the food, technically," Obi-Wan added as Jango raised an eyebrow. "The oil he uses is sourced from-" He stopped, wrinkling his nose, and Jango recognised the expression as him attempting to remember some obscure fact; he'd seen it quite a few times during his detox, but not at all on Manda'yaim, and it was unexpectedly soothing to see it again.

"No, I've forgotten the name," Obi-Wan finally admitted with a sigh, and shook his head. "It's a plant native to Coruscant, actually, but the only source of it actually on planet, that we know of, is in Temple. It's got some mildly addictive properties, but it's not dangerous for most species to ingest, and I've seen Dex warning those species that would have a problem with it to not take anything from anyone else's tray." He cocked his head and gave Jango a questioning look. "What are you smiling about?"

Was he smiling? Jango huffed and shook his head, then offered, "Jaster would have adored you."

Obi-Wan flushed a brilliant red and he quickly shoved another bite of cake into his mouth.

Behind him, Jango heard a booming laugh, and he was fairly certain it was Jettster, though he couldn't say if the Besalisk was laughing at them, or someone else. Either way, it reminded him that he was supposed to be on a job, and it was time sensitive.

Obi-Wan clearly noticed him switching mental tracks, because his smile faded, taking on an edge of sadness that made Jango want to pull him into another mirshmure'cya. "Time to say good-bye?" he asked quietly.

Jango swallowed and grabbed his box of protato wedges. "Actually, if you have time, I could use your help with something," he admitted.

Obi-Wan blinked, and then said, "There's no Kyr'tsad on Coruscant. I don't think."

Jango scoffed and shook his head. "They'd never have come this far into the Core; Vizsla was too much of a coward. No, bounty hunting."

Obi-Wan winced. "That's...not really my area. I'm diplomatic track, not a shadow."

Jango made a mental note to ask more about that later-he suspected it was something specific to jetiise, and found himself actually wanting to know more about them, about how Obi-Wan was raised and what he saw for himself in future-and explained, "Jettster suggested I'd have an easier time getting some of the information I need with a jetii backing me."

Obi-Wan looked down into his cake box, prodding at the remaining treat with his fork. "Still not my area," he said, hesitation audible in his voice.

Jango swallowed and said, "It's a missing ik'aad, Obi-Wan. The parents think it was about a ship or something on the ship, but I-"

Obi-Wan's shoulders had stiffened at 'ik'aad', and there was a gleam of beskar in his eyes when he looked up and said, "You think it was about the babe."

Jango clenched his jaw and nodded. "Starting to suspect, yeah."

Obi-Wan set his box of cake down. "Where are we going?"

"I have two leads: An industrial scrapyard, and a spaceport topside."

Obi-Wan's eyes narrowed, gaze going distant, and this, too, was a familiar expression, one he had seen often on Manda'yaim while discussing tactics; Satine had been next to useless at organising verde or planning combat maneuverers, but Obi-Wan had clearly had experience of his own to draw on, and had been a quick study when it came to learning Mando'ad skills and their different specialities based on beskar'gam design.

If the Haat'ade had still existed, if Jango had still held claim to the title of Mand'alor, and Obi-Wan had shown up on their boarding ramps, Myles would have ceded his position as Jango's second in a heartbeat, even if Obi-Wan had been a teenager at the time.

Obi-Wan pulled out his comm and motioned to Jango. "Give me your code, and fill me in as we go; I can hit the spaceport while you head out to the scrapyard." And then he hesitated. "I mean, if that's-"

"Efficient?" Jango asked as he took Obi-Wan's comm to input his own code. "It's almost like you're reading my mind."

Obi-Wan huffed. "The Force doesn't work like that," he insisted, accepting his comm back and immediately setting it to dial Jango's code.

"Clearly, or you would know to take your kriffing cake with you," Jango retorted, grabbing the box and shoving it at Obi-Wan with one hand, while he tugged out his handheld comm to answer it with the other. "Didn't they teach you how to eat and walk in that fancy Temple of yours?"

Obi-Wan sputtered, "You- I did- That-" And then he let out a frustrated groan, picked up the remains of the cake, and shoved the whole thing in his mouth.

Jango laughed and grabbed his box of protato wedges as he gently shoved the jetii towards the door. "I thought you jetiise were supposed to be dignified."

"Get kriffed," Obi-Wan shot back around his mouthful.

"Are you offering?" Jango's mouth asked before his filter could kick in.

Obi-Wan turned red again. "Ah. Uhm."

Jango was reasonably certain that he was just as flushed as the jetii, even if his darker skin hid it better, and he cleared his throat and offered, "Ik'aad first."

"Yes," Obi-Wan agreed, and cleared his own throat, stepping away, into the crowds outside the diner towards a bin, so his next question was only audible through Jango's comm: "Which spaceport am I headed for?"

Jango told him, and then started to fill him in as he started heading towards a speeder rental he'd spotted on his way to the diner.

Obi-Wan got the footage of the theft from the spaceport while Jango checked over the stolen ship and determined that the ik'aad wasn't onboard, either dead or alive. The junkyard's security feed was useless, but Jango was able to threaten names to put to the faces of the thieves in the images Obi-Wan sent him, and Obi-Wan turned up an address where they could find the thieves not even ten minutes after Jango had got them.

Less than three hours after Jango had left his client's highrise flat, he was returning with their ik'aad, while Obi-Wan had called in a couple of other jetiise and Coruscanta security to take over what turned out to be a relatively small non-human trafficking ring.

"Let me take you to dinner," Jango said, after Obi-Wan had finished filling him in about what, exactly, they'd managed to stumble into, and how much it should help the Coruscanta security forces when they petitioned for additional funds from the Republic Senate at the end of the current financial term. (Because, apparently, the reason they hadn’t given the Gossam couple any response, was that they lacked the beingpower to take on every call for help they got, and there had been three different open murder cases, a spat of spice-related deaths, and a bomb threat that had taken precedence.)

"As a celebration?" Obi-Wan guessed, and Jango couldn't quite read his tone over their comms.

"Partially," Jango admitted, and he felt like something in his chest was beating against his hal'cabure, trying to break free, but he remembered what Jettster had said, that he needed to make sure that Obi-Wan knew he cared about him. "But, also, because I really, really want to share a meal with you. Just you."

Obi-Wan was quiet for a long moment, and only the light on his HUD indicating the comm line was still open, told Jango he hadn't been hung up on. And then Obi-Wan quietly asked, "Is this a date?"

"Only if you want it to be," Jango insisted, hesitated, and then quietly added, "I would like it to be one."

"Yes, please," was Obi-Wan's response, quiet but so very hopeful.

Somehow, Jango managed to find some civilian clothing in Jaster's Legacy, something that was half a size too small for him, but was better than his kute or beskar'gam, and Obi-Wan turned up in some very tight leather trousers and a button-up that looked like someone had very purposefully removed the top four buttons.

He couldn't say who moved to kiss whom first, when they met up, but it was worth the whooping cheers a couple of drunks loitering down the walkway let out. And, judging by the way Obi-Wan tugged him into another kiss before Jango could fully pull away, he wasn't the only one that thought so.

Chapters 1) Satine Kryze 2) Dexter Jettster 3) Quinlan Vos 4) Alpha-17 5) Cody (CC-2224) -1) Kaminoans Glossary

.