He Was Starting To Foam In the Heat...

[jedi_librettist]

Ani's bare feet made almost no sound as he trotted up the hallway. Dada didn't make sense. Dada felt too hot. Dada was even starting to scare him a little. Grandma wasn't home. He didn't know where she went. So he would have to find his uncle. Ani thought Dada would prefer Unca Bai, too.

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[jedi_librettist]

Ani blinked at his uncle and then kept walking. What he knew was that grownups were supposed to fix everything. “You fix Dada,” he repeated confidently as he opened the apartment.

[middleoftheforce]

Bail rolled his eyes just slightly at his nephew. He wasn't a doctor, it wasn't like he knew how to fix people. Engines, sort of. People? No. He stepped into the apartment and looked around.

"Ben?"

[jedi_librettist]

Ben lay in bed, almost completely hidden from view by a pile of blankets. He tried to sit up when he heard his name but ended up leaning against the wall. “Wasn’t me,” he muttered.

[middleoftheforce]

"Wasn't sayin' you did anything," was the automatic response. He squinted at his brother. "The hell's wrong with you?"

[jedi_librettist]

Ben squinted up at him, not meeting his eyes. “Nothing,” he insisted. “‘M fine.”

[middleoftheforce]

"Yeah and that would work on anyone who wasn't born with a bond to you," another eyeroll. "What's wrong?"

[jedi_librettist]

Ben frowned. No one here should know about that. He tried to get up, shivering as the blankets slid to the bed. “I’m okay,” he slurred. “I can work.”

[middleoftheforce]

"Ben get back in bed," it came out as an irritated sigh. "You're not fit to do anything."

[jedi_librettist]

Ben pulled off his shirt as he sat back down, visibly reluctant. His shoulders sagged.

“Please, master, I...” He broke off, coughing.

[middleoftheforce]

"Mast... put your shirt back on," Bail frowned again. What the hell was going through brother boy's head

[jedi_librettist]

Ben frowned in complete confusion. That wasn’t what most people wanted when they told him to get in bed, especially if they owned him. He looked at the shirt, not really moving to put it on yet.

[middleoftheforce]

"Ben, come on, you've got a fever," Bail moved forward, picking up the shirt and looking to try to at least get it over his twin's shoulders. "You're sick."

[jedi_librettist]

Ben flinched away when the other man stepped closer. He really didn’t want the individual attention. It never led anywhere good.

He got himself back under control quickly, not fighting as the man slipped the shirt over his head. He coughed and then leaned into his master. “Send the kid somewhere else?” he asked quietly. “He’s just a baby. He doesn’t need to see this.”

[middleoftheforce]

How the hell had it gotten so difficult to try to put a shirt on someone? It was like Ben had special... shirt resisting powers. Did that make sense? No, but it was how it felt. Bail paused in what he was trying to do to stare at him, glancing over at Ani. The kid had an equally confused look.

"...He doesn't need to see you sick?"

[jedi_librettist]

“I’m not sick, master,” Ben insisted, glancing at the toddler. He couldn’t figure out why the child looked familiar. He’d free the boy if he could. “Please.” He reached for the Force, threading into his words as he spoke. “He doesn’t belong here.”

[middleoftheforce]

"...I'm no one's master, Ben," he spoke clearly, stepping back and frowning at his brother. "You're... home. With me and Mom?"

[jedi_librettist]

Ben frowned slightly. So it was going to be like that. At least maybe he wouldn’t be cold anymore after. “Yes, father,” he whispered.

He slipped his arms into the sleeves, reaching for the man’s shoulders. “How was work, Dad?” he asked, teeth chattering.

[middleoftheforce]

"Wha.... No, Ben," he held his brother's arms as still as he could. "It's me. Bail."

[jedi_librettist]

He frowned deeper than he had earlier. “Don’t hurt him,” he whispered, slipping into Huttese. Going through this was bad enough. He didn’t think he could deal with his brother getting hurt like this, too.

[middleoftheforce]

The Huttese threw him, especially with what was actually being said. In his own experiences with Hutts, they were usually calling for more violence, not less.

"...Hurt who?"

[jedi_librettist]

“My brother,” Ben slurred, still in Huttese and sliding closer to the man. “I’ll do whatever you want. Let him go.”

Of course, that wouldn’t do any good if one of the Hutts had taken Bail. Getting a Hutt to give up a Solo would take a free man and a bunch of people dying. Still, Ben had to try.

[middleoftheforce]

"I'm not in their pits anymore," he said quietly, well aware that Ani had big ears for his little age and would repeat stuff at a really awkward moment. Ot had been Hell, fighting his way up in the Hutt owned pits... but he had done it.

"Ben, I think we need to get you to med. You're not well."

[jedi_librettist]

A sense of sharp terror slipped through their bond at those words before Ben did his best to close it off. He held the man in front of him tighter, pressing his lips to the clothes chest.

“I don’t need a doctor. I swear.”

[middleoftheforce]

It was the lips pressed to the chest that did it. Bail pushed his brother back his his shoulders hard, sending as much reassurance and awareness as he could via the Force

You're safe, Ben. It's me. You're home.

"You need a doctor."

[jedi_librettist]

Ben fell back to the bed. The push came as too much of a surprise for him to react and he just didn’t have the balance to keep himself upright. He trailed off into confused, indistinct muttering. But he cling to his twin’s Force presence even while he tried to hide his fear from the bond. Perhaps he could pretend he really was back home, at least until he got to the med center.