Story Time and Mischief

Special thanks to Maximus Potter for pointing out that Vizago is not a Zygerrian but a Devaronian.

Ezra stared at the ceiling, fingers tapping a silent rhythm against the mattress. It was early, ridiculously early if Zeb's holoclock was accurate. He let out a slow breath and rolled over onto his stomach. Three in the morning. Three in the morning and he was wide awake. Not really a surprise though, considering he'd dreamed of Lasan's fall.

Ezra wrapped his arms around his head. The images were still fresh, but the screaming that had been ringing in his ears the past day was finally gone and he was able to think more clearly. And speaki – er, thinking of Zeb. He still needed to get back at him and Sabine for doubting his abilities. The question was how to do it?

Glad for the distraction he spent the next few hours plotting and planning. By the time it was finally a decent hour to be up he had his plan. Smiling he slipped at out of bed.

Zeb twitched as Ezra began moving around. Normally he would throw something at the kid but that would mean admitting he was awake and make the kid noisier. He heaved a mental sigh as he rolled over.

'Weren't kids supposed to sleep until they were forced to get up?'

Ezra grinned as Zeb turned his back to him but otherwise ignored him. While he was trying to be considerate of his roommate (though considering said roommate had a nasty habit of throwing things if woken up too soon, it could be considered more an act of self-preservation), his real purpose was to get Zeb's guard down.

'Oh, this is going to fun!'

Kanan walked into the galley looking for breakfast and found Ezra and Chopper already there. That wasn't surprising as Chopper was almost always 'up' unless he was charging and Ezra had proven himself to be an early riser. What was surprising was how quiet they were.

While Ezra didn't have the same loathing for Chopper as Zeb did, the two could rarely go any length of time without causing a ruckus. Yet, here they were, calm and quiet. Spotting him, Chopper started grumbling.

"Mornin,'" Ezra yawned as he picked at his breakfast.

Kanan eyed them as he grabbed a random fruit, unsure if he should be worried they were getting on so well. Ezra yawned again and he decided the kid hadn't woken up enough for Chopper to get a rise out him. He leaned against the wall enjoying the surprisingly peaceful morning.

His eyes wandered over to the kid staring sleepily at the droid, and felt his stomach twist uneasily. He was supposed to start training today, he should have started it days ago, but there was one big problem: he had no idea what he was going to do or how. It was the biggest reason he'd been putting it off so long. He'd thought about it, every time he saw the kid he thought about it. But really, what right did he have to teach him? To be a 'Master?' He hadn't even finished his training!

As if sensing his unease and hesitance Hera walked into the room. She looked between him and Ezra and raised a brow, eyes narrowing slightly as she made her way past him and into the galley. Kanan rolled his eyes, he knew that look. It was the 'get your butt moving' look. Swallowing the last of the bright blue fruit*, he cleared his throat.

"Wake up, kid, it's time to start training." He watched the kid perk up, looking much more awake than he had before. He'd made the decision to start today and he would. . . Even if he still didn't know what he was going to do.

Ezra's eyes itched and he could feel them starting to water. But he refused to blink, not until Kanan did. His eyes narrowed slightly and his fingers clenched into fists as he fought the urge to rub his eyes. Ezra sighed.

'This is stupid.'

He wasn't sure how long the staring contest had been going on. Long enough that his eyes were burning and his muscles were beginning to protest the lack of movement. Ezra gritted his teeth.

'This is stupid. Very stupid.'

Kanan, as if to add insult to injury, didn't seem to be affected at all. No, he was still sitting exactly as he had been for the past. . .however long it had been. Legs folded beneath him, hands resting on his thighs, staring straight ahead, and still as a statue. The only thing that hinted the immobile man in front of him was alive was the slight rise and fall of the chest and the steadily deepening frown.

'This is stupid. So very, very stupid.'

Kanan wasn't even aware they were having a staring contest. Ezra having gotten bored and coming up with the idea shortly after Kanan had sat down and fallen silent, eyes glazing over and gaining a distant look as they stared at the boy in front of him – or rather through him.

'This. Is. Stupid.'

Ezra doubted Kanan could even see his eyes with his hat pulled so low, shading them from view.

"Ti nmad," Ezra muttered, his eyes finally closing. He rubbed them furiously, grumbling under his breath.

Kanan blinked, snapping out of his thoughts at the sudden sounds and movements.

"I thought you said we were starting training today?" Ezra mumbled from behind his hands.

"We are," Kanan answered with a frown. Ezra looked at him, complete disbelief written across his face.

"Right," Ezra muttered, shuffling around into a more comfortable position. "So are we going to do anything? 'Cause I can sit on my own just fine."

Kanan closed his eyes and inhaled slowly, reigning in his temper. Ezra shifted uneasily as Kanan's lips thinned, maybe he should have been a little more patient.

"I was thinking." Kanan said, opening his eyes. "Though you can consider it a lesson in patience, something it seems you need to work on."

Ezra looked away, scowling.

"Given how different your situation is," Kanan continued. "I wasn't sure where to begin."

"Why don't you just start at the beginning? I'm not trying to be smart with you," Ezra said quickly seeing Kanan's expression turn stony. "I mean, I don't know anything about Jedi so, like, where do they come from? How did they start? Jedi didn't just pop up out of know where, right?"

Ezra scratched the back of his head as Kanan looked at him. The man's expression was impossible to read and he was starting to wish he'd just kept his mouth shut.

"No. No, they didn't." Kanan answered at last. "Jedi have been around for a long time, thousands of years in fact. Though at first we were called 'Je'daii' and the Order began over 36,000 years ago. . ."

Ezra listened, fascinated, as Kanan spun the tale of the rise of the Force users and the beginnings of the Jedi Order.

Ezra was once again up at a ridiculous hour, only this time it was intentional. He slipped down the hall and into the galley. Chopper whirred and grumbled, waving his metal arms. He had wanted to do this entirely by himself, but Chopper had heard him talking about his plans to himself, a bad habit he really needed to get rid of, and had wanted in.

"You ready?" Ezra asked and Chopper gave a wheezy and evil sounding laugh. Ezra grinned. "Let's go then."

For the past three days he had gone out of his way to not annoy Zeb, staying extra quiet, making himself scarce, and basically avoiding him. He'd also been careful to stay out of Sabine's way, not saying more than a casual greeting. He was pleased to say that both had relaxed around him. It was time to start. Ezra's grin widened.

"Stupid, blasted, old rust bucket," Zeb grumbled under his breath as he made his way to his cabin. Chopper had been following him around all day, getting underfoot, tripping him up, and being just plain annoying. "I don't why Hera keeps that worthless–"

He flopped down on his bed and reached for his datapad. His hand closed on the device and he tugged, only the pad didn't move. He pulled harder. There was a groan of metal as the shelf strained against him, but the datapad remained firmly in place.

Cursing softly, he struggled with the book for a few more minutes before giving up and reaching for a different one. That one too remained firmly in place. Now thoroughly pissed he sat up and started grabbing random objects but was unable to move a single object.

"Karabast!" he swore, shoving and tugging at a sock.

"Uh," Zeb froze and slowly turned to see Hera and Sabine staring at him. "We heard you yelling, is there a problem here?"

"I can't move a blasted thing," he growled, slightly embarrassed and extremely annoyed. The females exchanged confused looks.

"What?" Sabine snickered. "You can't pick up a sock? That's the kind of laziness I'd expect from Ezra."

Hera chuckled softly and Zeb glowered at them, still tugging on the sock.

"What's going on?"

Zeb groaned as Ezra and Kanan, done with training for the moment, poked their heads around the door. 'Great, now he had an audience.'

"Apparently," Hera told them. "Zeb's having some trouble, ah, moving things was it?"

"You mean like this?" Ezra strode over and plucked the sock Zeb had been wrestling with off the floor and handed it to him. Zeb glared at him as the others snickered.

"Now, after the Force users began moving through the galaxy they," Kanan paused to take a drink and Ezra drummed his fingers impatiently. After a few minutes Ezra's patience ran out.

"They what?" Ezra asked and Kanan smothered a smile. While he should reprimand him for his lack of patience, it was oddly nice to talk about the Jedi.

"They began taking in members of other species that showed themselves to be especially Force sensitive." Kanan continued and Ezra inched a little closer.

Sabine hummed as she opened the door to her cabinet full of paint.

"What the-! Ten cans?"

She shut the door, frowning. First all her paints had been in the wrong containers, then half of them had been missing only for them to pop in random places, last night when she'd put them away half of them had been almost empty, and now she had four extra. What was going on?

Ezra settled himself comfortably on the floor and looked at Kanan expectantly.

"Alright, where were we?" Kanan asked as he sat down opposite Ezra.

"The Great Manifest Period." Ezra answered quickly, leaning forward excitedly. Kanan smiled slightly, the kid's eagerness was. . .refreshing, for lack of a better word.

"That's right. Now this period saw what was, perhaps, the greatest influx of new special Force users in the shortest time recorded. . ."

"So what am I gonna hear about in today's story time?" Ezra asked, stretching his arms over his head as he and Kanan made their way through the ship.

"It's not 'story time.' I am telling you about Jedi history." Kanan corrected quickly, feeling his face flush slightly at the idea. He was not a story teller! "They are lessons."

Ezra looked at him, lips quirking slightly. "Are you blushi–"

"What? You too?"

Kanan and Ezra paused outside the door to the common area at the sound of Zeb's shout.

"Yeah," Sabin answered. "Stuff keeps disappearing and reappearing as soon as I look away."

"Same here," Zeb grumbled. "Only it doesn't stop there. Woke up one day and found everything stuck to the ceiling! Couldn't get it off."

Kanan frowned. What they were describing could be the result of unintentional Force use, but he hadn't felt the kid using the Force, just brushing it during the meditation exercises. He glanced at Ezra and was surprised to see him holding back laughter.

"Something funny, kid?" Ezra's grin widened, and Kanan sighed. "What did you do?"

The door to the galley had opened as they'd approached and his question caught the attention of the occupants. Sabine looked over at them, eyes narrowing as she took in their expressions.

"You're responsible for this?!" Sabine yelled, jumping to her feet.

Zeb looked between her angry face and Ezra's smugly amused one, and it clicked. He growled lowly and stood up.

"Yes, I am. Well, with a little help." Ezra answered as Chopper grumbled behind him.

"Ezra," Hera sighed, stepping slightly between the boy and the seething Mandalorian and Lasat. "You shouldn't do these things."

"They deserved it for doubting my abilities." He answered stubbornly.

"Ezra, the Jedi way isn't one of revenge," Kanan said, his tone stern and slightly disappointed.

"I wasn't getting revenge." Ezra spluttered, rolling his eyes. "Honestly! Haven't you people ever heard the saying, 'Never doubt a thief's skill. It only makes you a target.' They doubted me and my abilities. I didn't want them to think I couldn't pull my own weight. Besides, it's not like I actually stole anything, just messed with them."

Sabine and Zeb exchanged looks.

"Shall we?" Sabine asked. Zeb grinned.

"Ladies first."

Ezra paled slightly as they faced him, expressions promising a rather unpleasant future.

"Uh, well, look at the time. Gotta go, bye!" He bolted and with a cry of "Get him!" Zeb and Sabine vanished after him.

Kanan sighed and slumped down next to Hera as the ship filled with shouts, cries, and the sounds of things crashing around.

"What did I do to deserve this?"

Hera's laughter was his only answer.

Author's Notes:

*Not actually sure what type of food they have in Star Wars so I just used something I saw from one of the movies, pretty sure it was type of fruit.