Prompt: Not holding your hand is kind of impossible

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Alright boys, we're heading down to Saleucami," you informed the boys of the 501st. 

Being one of their commanding generals, you always made sure you relayed any new information to them as soon as possible. You informing them came with a round of groans. They just finished a heated battle and wanted some rest but with Grievous on the run, time wasn't a luxury. 

You took the empty seat next to Hardcase, "I'm sorry boys, but Grievous is still a threat."

"It's okay General!" Hardcase happily replied, "We know it's not your fault and you'd much rather have leave on Coruscant!"

"Thanks Hardcase," you smiled, "we'll be heading out at 0800. Which is soon, yeah."

You got up and made your way over to the main hangar, waiting for 0800 to hit. That gave you about an hour to do whatever but you didn't mind.

You were sitting on the gunship floor when you sensed a presence behind you, "You're going to need a better way to spook me than that," you laughed, knowing it was Hardcase.

"Oh come on!" he sighed, taking a seat next to you.

You moved closer to the inside of the gunship and shut the door, leaving just the emergency lights on. The red glow revealed Hardcase's smile as he gazed into your eyes.

"I've missed you," he finally said, resting his head in your lap.

You ran your finger along the tattoos on his head and finished at his lips, where he gave you finger a soft kiss. You giggled and pulled your finger back.

Hardcase was flirty and you loved it.

"It feels like we haven't had a moment alone in forever," you sighed, your finger now running across his chest plate, "but we knew this would happen."

He sat up and faced you, holding both your hands, "and I wouldn't trade any bit of the last three months for anything."

During the first mission you had with the 501st, Hardcase had fallen for you hard. Luckily for him, you felt the exact same. His energy perfectly matched yours and his kindness towards you was unlike anything you've experienced before.

He rested his head on your shoulder and nuzzled closer to you. That was something you loved about him. Under all the armor and the big guns, Hardcaee was a soft teddy bear. Sometimes he liked being little spoon, and you loved it. He would never try to conceal his feelings for you to perseve his "manliness".

"I wish we could go back to my quarters and take a nap," you whispered, checking the time to make sure you wouldn't have any of the men walk in on your small snuggle session.

"(Y/N), I would love that. But, as long as I have you within arms reach of me, I'm happy."

He always had the right things to say to make your heart melt. You informed him that you would only have a few more minutes with him, which only made him try to squeeze himself closer to you.

You placed your hands around his neck and gave him a kiss, which he turned into a kiss much longer than you expected. Passionate, yet soft. "I love you, Hardcase."

"I love you more," he smiled, getting up, taking you with him. "Unfortunately, it looks like our moment alone will be coming to an end soon."

You sighed, "Yes, but, after we get back from Saleucami, we'll have a night to ourselves."

He started bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, "Hours of cuddling with my girlfriend when we get back?  Let's find this metal robot sith bastard right now!"

You laughed as you opened up the gunship doors, "I love your imagination."

"It's only half as big as yours," he remarked, leaving the gunship to pick up his weapon.

You smiled and shook your head before checking the time again. The boys had ten more minutes until departure. One by one they trickled in until the ship was full and ready to go down to the surface.

"General Kenobi and I will debrief you once we get there," you announced to the boys, "this won't be a difficult mission at all. Minimal fighting compared to what we're used to."

Once landed, you and Kenobi debriefing the boys and then separated by legions. You got to choose what each man did so you decided to give Hardcase a mission that would least likely result in him getting hurt.

"Rex! You, Jesse, Kix and Hardcase go scout out the land. Let me know if you see anything. Be back by 1400" you commanded, taking another look at your holomap.

"Yes, sir!" he saluted.  You watch the four of them drive off in the distance before you got to working with and assigning jobs to the other men.

After assigning men jobs, you stared at you holopad, waiting for intel from Rex's crew that you sent out. Honestly, you weren't that concerned with the Intel. You just wanted to know if Hardcase was still okay.

"General come in," you comlink buzzed.

"Yes, Jesse?"

"Rex has been injured. We found him shelter for the night but we are heading back now," Jesse informed you before cutting off.

You put your hand on the front of your head and started rubbing. If Rex got hurt, I definitely just made Hardcase vulnerable to injury.

Before long the men returned and gave you the rundown of everything that happened. Though their helmets were still on, you could sense Hardcase smiling at you. All you wanted to do was rip off his helmet and kiss him, but that was something that had to wait.

That night, the 501st and 212th set up camp near the sight where you all originally landed. You started a small fire near your tent for warmth. The boys were out in a nearby lake rinsing their bodies off from the sweat that covered their bodies from the hot Saleucami sun. You did this before they did so the fire felt phenomenal. Especially because the nights did get a little brisk.

"We're back!" you heard Hardcase yell from a couple dozen meters away.

You smiled at the sight of your lover being back within your reach.

"I'm going to call it a night," Kix announced, "The whole situation with Rex took a lot from me."

"With your medical care, he'll be better before you know it," you assured him as he went into his tent.

You, Hardcase and Jesse spent a while talking around the fire. The boys always felt safe letting out their feelings about the war to you. No matter what they said, you always seemed to have the right words to say. Kix decided to come back out and join the chat. He was too stressed about Rex to sleep.

At some point in the conversation, Hardcase managed to get his hand intertwined with yours. Holding his hand felt so natural, so right. You didn't even notice he did this.

"Ah ha!" Jesse exclaimed, pointing at you and Hardcase, "I knew it!!"

You and Hardcase exchanged a confused look before realizing that you were holding hands.

Quickly, you seperated hands and gave embarrassed looks to the other guys.

Kix laughed, "Oh no don't be embarrassed. We knew this would happen at some point. You are perfect for each other."

You look a sigh of relief, "Promise you won't tell Anakin?"

"Our lips are sealed!" Jesse nodded, "but we best be getting to bed."

Jesse and Kix retreated to their tents, leaving you alone with Hardcase. You shook your head and then placed it on his chest, pulling him into a hug.

"We should be more careful," you mumbled into his chest.

Hardcase kissed your forehead, "Well, with a girlfriend as beautiful as you, it's kind of hard to not hold you hand."

Yep, he's a keeper.