#bad batch mild spoilers

[elizaschuyler18]

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

I totally forgot about today being two episodes like Hello!?!

They are hinting us with the clones that are stripe from their identities.

HELLO!?!

Don’t raise my hopes because the lost you do that, the more delulu I get and the more I believe that Tech is alive.

Also the bond Omega and Crosshair are creating is everything I live for. SHE WAS COPING HIM WITH THE TOOTH PICK. That was so freaking cute. And Crosshair being a helicopter dad/brother? Yes I’m here for it.

Wolffe I missed you and I hope nothing happens to him otherwise the tears won’t stop.

That clone is one hell of a pain so I hope he’s either who I think it is (please), give him a good character arch OR let him be a good enemy because he has the potential.

Echo is making me nervous like not in a bad way, but he’s need to fight and belong to something big (thinking back to the Republic) is going to be his downfall. I feel like he needs to do this in order to ease up maybe the guilt of being an accessory to the Separatists (even if it was against his will) during the clone wars. The dream of living something that was taking away from him, which can also be from being a reg and all the program but my point is that we never knew anything else from him during Rebels and other shows which makes me nervous.

But then again we never heard from the Bad Batch, so they either go into hiding in order to protect each other or is the one we are dreading the most and I can’t stop thinking about the curse of the Domino Squad 😭 In the end only one survive the Great War (cries is swiftly and Star Wars fan)

[magicandmundane]

I just rewatched The Crossing, and with the added context from s3, it’s honestly a wonder how the Batch got literally anything done during the Clone Wars before Echo and Omega joined them between Wrecker and Tech bickering over every little thing that goes wrong and Hunter and Crosshair beating each other up over snide comments lmao

[adh-d2]

TBB team absolutely clowning us crediting a random technician in s03e01 as 'Imperial Tech'

[adrian-shepard]

You know how in a new hope there's a Y-wing that survives the death star i now head cannon that it's omega flying it

[clownery-and-fuckery]

PheeTech !!! The brainrot will never stop

Tech found himself following a lot more than he used to.

Before Eriadu, before Hemlock, it was always safe to assume Tech would be off the ship and scanning as soon as they touched the soil. It was his thing, his habit.

He liked to explore, before it all.

Now he stuck beside his brothers like glue, hands wringing and following them. Despite his interest, despite his curiosity. He was lost, clinging to his brothers stability and sense of place.

They knew what they were doing, they knew what they were made for. It was safer to follow them and not risk stepping out of place.

That was what he usually did. Now, he didn't know what to do. Phee was waiting for him by the ramp. They had come earlier than the others to scout, why had he done that? Why had he chosen to break away?

His hands twitched, his skin itched while his bones seemed to crawl underneath him.

"Love?" Phee called. "You coming?"

That was why. Phee.

Phee, who despite his lacking sense of direction and purpose, stood bravely against the current and held him. Like he was deserving of such kind gestures, of such loving ways.

The way she spoke so sincerely of him, it almost tricked him into believing he really was worth the effort it took to create him, to remake him when he so carelessly broke himself.

Tech sighed, scrubbing his face until it hurt, before he walked out. Phee had already reprimanded him once, he should hurry up and join her. He took his place just behind Phee, and they walked off.

The planet was beautiful, but this was not their rendezvous. He turned to her, questioningly.

Phee shrugged. "Thought we could take a detour," She said simply. "Have some fun, do some sightseeing."

He blinked. "That–" sounded fantastic. That was exactly what he wanted to do. How did she always know?

Still, hesitance pulled at him, urging him to follow the order Hunter had given: meet them at the rendezvous.

She took his shaking hand in hers. "It's a short walk, nothing serious," She assured. "Besides, we haven't had an adventure in forever. And I think that's just criminal, don't you?"

Tech found himself smiling privately, and nodded. "I supposed it is," He agreed. "We should do our best to rectify that misstep immediately."

"Indeed we should." Phee grinned, squeezing their hands before walking away. They strolled away from the ship, listening to the ramp shutting as they took in the surrounding forestry.

"Pretty terrain," She commented. "Lovely for crops."

"Yes," Tech agreed, digging his heel in to feel the ground better. "The soil is in prime condition for plantation. Strange how the weather pattern doesn't seem to agree."

Phee looked up to the stormy clouds rolling in. "A little extra nutrition never hurt anyone." She bumped their hips together with a laugh.

"I am slightly concerned with the possibility of overfeeding." Tech murmured, but leaned into the gesture regardless. Phee laughed again, shaking her head. "You would be." She said.

They continued walking. The trees stretched high above their heads, tall to the point that they couldn't see where the leaves started bunching together, the way they had seen on the flight in.

Tech found his gaze wandering to the surrounding area while Phee continued staring upwards. The local fauna were gorgeous combinations of blue and pink hues. Aesthetically very charming, however, most likely inedible.

Tech found he enjoyed the pleasing colours that swirled around them, and he sighed softly, breathing in the fresh air contently. Something in his chest loosened, a calm lull falling over him.

It was peaceful, he liked it.

"Look here!" Phee urged, pulling him over towards a large cliffside. Tech, for a moment, refused to look down, shielding his eyes from the sudden onslaught of sunlight. When his eyes adjusted, he blinked, looking out over the edge.

He couldn't contain his quiet gasp. There was a waterfall gushing over the edge of the cliffside, close enough that sprays of water danced across them both. The water cascaded into a beautiful lagoon, leading out into the sea.

The forest was much more visible up here, too. The treetops were lined with nests and habitats, and across the ocean, just on the horizon, Tech could make out another island.

The sky was a brilliant blue, and it was silent aside from the rushing water. The sudden, euphoric sense of peace rode over him like the waves of the sea, and he relaxed.

"It's beautiful," Tech breathed, watching the ripple of the sea from atop the cliff. Phee smiled beside him, taking a deep, calming breath.

"It really is." She replied. Phee was staring at him, rather than the view, unbeknownst to him.

He glanced towards her and paused, admiring her for a moment. She allowed him, openly staring straight back at him. He ducked his head after a few minutes, clearing his throat as he felt his palm, still holding hers, begin to sweat.

He moved to let go, to apologise for the uncomfortable stick of their hands now, but she only clasped them tighter to together.

"I don't mind–" She blurted. "–my hands are pretty sweaty, too. It's alright."

He blinked, and stopped pulling away altogether. Instead, he turned back to the view, admiring it once more. He took another soothing breath, the ache of everything inside him easing up.

"I've never seen anything like it," Tech mumbled into the quiet. "I've always wanted to see the prettiest sights in the galaxy. One day." He admitted, shuffling his feet as he tracked the water flow.

Again, Phee's gaze never left him. "I think I already found it." She said softly, smiling at him.

Tech tilted his head, looking back to her. "Where?" He asked, equally soft.

Phee's face flared, and she laughed, too loudly, before turning away. "Where do you wanna go next?" She asked.

Tech blinked. "Ah," He shrugged. "Are you not leading us?" He hoped she was.

He didn't have a clue, he hadn't done much independently in so long, he wasn't sure he could anymore.

Phee shrugged. "It's an adventure," She reminded him. "The point is that neither of us actually know where we're going. So pick a path, and I'll follow you."

There it was again. Phee knowing him better than he knew himself. Right now, he was very greatful for it.

He turned to the woods again, thinking. He caught sight of wildlife, and without question, without pause or without consideration, he lit up.

The action was far too like who he used to be. The nostalgia would have killed him had he been any less excited about his find. Had he the rationality to think his actions through, he was sure he would have shut up immediately.

Instead, he pointed wildly into the trees. "There!" He exclaimed. "Did you see that?"

Phee looked amused, but shook her head. "Nope, but you did. Let's go check it out!"

Thoroughly overjoyed, Tech took off. If it wasn't for the tug of Phee's arm, he would have sprinted straight into an overgrown root.

Thankfully, her moment's shock stopped him, and they stepped over it before continuing their sudden sprint into the forest.

Tech led Phee deeper into the woods, their joint laughter and speculation on what he had seen filling the calm tranquility of the woods.

If they missed the rendezvous, Hunter was only a bit angry. His initial reaction of fear-induced, haphazard questions melted at the happy, flushed look on his littlest brother's face when the two of them finally joined them.

"And where have you two been?" Echo asked, already smiling as the duo panted, still connected by hand.

"We went on a walk." Phee shrugged them off. "Saw some pretty sights, you missed it. Big time."

"We saw one of the largest herbivores in the galaxy!" Tech gasped out between breaths. "It was– huge. Like, four times the size Wrecker, maybe even as tall as a walker!"

Hunter couldn't help the fond laugh thay left him. "Was it now?" He asked, watching Tech's enthusiastic nod. "Well, you can tell me all about it on our way to the contact. Come on."

Secretly, Echo and Hunter shared a smile as their youngest brother managed to light up more, squeezing Phee's hand as he happily bound forward again, taking the lead as he dove into the recount of their adventures.

Hunter listened intently the whole way, enjoying the familiar, long lost sound of his brothers voice. One sound he thought he had lost forever, now back again, and this time, it wasn't a holo.

Echo caught the shine in Hunter's eyes and allowed him some privacy, asking Tech questions to pull his attention away from the eldest.

Tech readily complied, Phee jumping in with points of her own. The walk was filled with chats and delight. The normality brightened Echo's heart, and eased his mind.

His little brother talking as he once did, Phee helping him stay on track, a new but not unwelcome normal, and Hunter's shoulders finally dropping with the presence of his family back with him at last.

Yes, things were finally beginning to feel alright again.

[techtalksfics]

Tech Support (Part 2 - Tech x Reader)

Summary: Tech leaves before they even have a chance to have a dinner date. The Batchers are gone a long time and things are far from normal when they return.

Author's Note: I had a fluffy soft version of this written but I wanted to incorporate today's bombshell but Tech survives, okay. He survives.

Warnings: fluff, mild-ish smut (Minors DNI), angst

Word Count: 6.3 K

You'd overheard that they were leaving. They were leaving right now.

Although it did not surprise you that Tech had not come to say goodbye, there was nothing stopping you from saying goodbye to him. Something deep in the core of your being felt wrong about this mission. As you reached the courtyard, you watched as Tech spoke with Phee momentarily before you called out to him, "Tech."

"If you're going to give him a speech about goodbyes, save it. I already tried that." Phee said as she walked off with a wave towards Tech. You stood before him and he raised his eyes to you, something he had not done with Phee.

"Should I have said goodbye to you, too?" He asked perplexed by the onset of female attentions. You shook your head.

"I understand you, Tech. Your mind is on the task at hand." You reached up and tapped at the side of his forehead. "Which is exactly where it should be," you reached up and gave him a gentle hug and you felt the sharp edge of his data PADD dig into your back. He hugged you back at least. "Just... stay safe out there, okay. I have a bad feeling about this."

"What...feeling?" He queried.

"Just a feeling. Call it instinct, if that suits you better." It didn't. Tech didn't really hold much stock in either where they weren't warranted.

"I'll be back," was all he could muster when you pulled away from him. With that, he turned and disappeared onto the Marauder. It took off, sweeping and sneaking away in the dead of night. Leaving you stood there watching.

As Phee walked back towards you, she placed a hand on your shoulder, "well, I'm glad someone can make him look up from all that data. Listen kid, those boys have survived death defying odds over and over. They'll be find and they'll be back." She patted your shoulder twice over before simply walking away again. You simply stared up at the sky, though there was nothing to see. Just the stars lighting a sparse, vast sky. A perfectly cloudless night.

Somehow, deep within you, you weren't certain they'd be coming back this time.

-----------------------------

That very next night, you awoke with a start. Your heart was hammering in your chest, and you were drenched in sweat. You had seen Tech falling; falling into a clouded area. A clouded area with no end in sight. His eyes both resolute and afraid. No one could survive that fall. You simply watched as he dumbly fell and once, he had disappeared into the clouds, you'd awoken. Terrified and alone, in the middle of the night.

You tried to convince yourself it was all just a dream. But just like your feeling, you were certain it was not. Your time with the Jedi reminded you that not all dreams were fiction and not all nightmares were fears alone. So, you tried to reason with yourself that you were no Jedi. Yes, you believed in the Force but could the Force make you see things that had come to pass? No. It shouldn't be able to. And yet, you could not shake the feeling that Tech was gone as you tried to resettle your head on your pillow. Tossing from side to side. Landing on your back with a heavy sigh.

You knew it had come to pass. Tech had sacrificed himself for his brothers, for his sister. Something you had no doubt he would do, if it were the only logical thing he could do. You lay there with your heart hammering in your chest, legs numb, knowing you would not sleep again that night.

---------------------------

You hadn't slept in days. You had sat up at night sketching the vision, as you had come to decide it was. You feared sleep. You feared dreaming of Tech falling or something worse this time. You knew the Force was telling you something and you shared your fears with Shep. He could only frown and try to tell you it was only a dream. You had sighed and walked away without another word being spoken. You knew the Force was telling you he was gone, even if the others did not believe it; but you could feel it.

In the days that followed, Shep had attempted to bring you meals and you would not take it. It remained outside your door. You couldn't eat for fear of simply bringing it back up with nerves.

You were waiting and you did not know how long you would be waiting for the familiar sound of the Marauder returning. You couldn't do anything, you feared, until they returned. Until you knew one way or another. The pain was just too great.

And so, you began to meditate. Like Master Plo Koon had taught you. Had been kind enough to teach you, though you were no Jedi. You meditated as the sun rose and fell around you. You did not know truly how long you had been meditating. But you focused on the beating of your own heart. Your own heart beat is the only way to the truth, Plo had always told you. So, you focused on the familiar beat of your own heart until some unexpected happened. The beating of your own heart was met with the beating of another. Another heart. Another soul. It was his. You knew it. He was alive, you realised. As you smiled at the beat of his heart coursing through your body. You felt the warmth of joy spread through you, as if he was spreading throughout you.

He had survived. Or perhaps what you had seen had never come to pass. Perhaps they were all safe after all.

And yet, they still had not returned. Perhaps things were not as simple as you thought they would be. One rotation turned into ten. Ten turned into twenty. When you reached thirty rotations, you were convinced they were safe but you felt they would never return to Pabu. Realising you couldn't spend the rest of your life hiding away, you began to continue on your long neglected works. Your heart was heavy but hopeful.

He was alive but he would not return to Pabu. A promise unfulfilled. In your meditation, you had felt a darkness around the galaxy, holding the brothers captive. But as darkness does, it shrouded the truth. So, you entered a routine of waking up and meditating, feeling for his heartbeat. Thrilled when it was there. You'd go out and work without the support of the ever efficient Tech. You would eat alone, drink alone and end your day with meditation, so you could feel his heartbeat before you slept. You thanked the Force for the kindness of Plo. Without him, you feared you'd be lost. A soul frozen in time. You slept soundly now and with no further dreams of consequence. It was as if things had finally reached a new form of normal.

A normal which included your broken heart.

---------------------------

Then, the fateful and joyous finally came. You had been sat in the blistering sun with Corusca. She had broken her data bank again. Her bank of memories, kindly retrieved by Phee. Corusca was well into her seventieth year and had no idea how this technology really worked and she had a bit of a temper. A smack here and a whack with a rolling pin there, meant it had broken. Again. You sat with her as you fixed it, appreciating the company and her gratuitous chatter of her life and culture before Pabu. It kept your mind quiet somehow.

That's when you heard it. That familiar sound. The most out of place sound on such a peaceful isle. The Marauder. You almost dropped the tool in your hand as the sound filled your ears. Immediately, you head whipped up to the sky to confirm what you'd heard. There she was. The most beautiful ship in all the galaxy. The Marauder swooped into view, heading for the courtyard. You stood immediately and shouted, "I'm sorry, I promise I'll come and get this fixed later," over you shoulder as you ran up the stairs towards their designated landing zone. Coursca simply smiled as she knew what you were chasing after. Love.

Please be alive. Please be alive. Please be alive. You repeated in a mantra to yourself. You hoped that you had been feeling was, in fact, his heartbeat, his safety.

The gangplank swept down, and Omega came stumbling off and saw you. You lowered to your knees and swept her up in her arms, spinning her around wildly. Whilst you had worried for Tech, you had also thought of Omega often. How devastated you would be if she had been lost.

As you placed her down, you finally spoke, "hey kid, long time no see," but her infamous and infectious giggle didn't follow. She seemed wearied, aged and troubled; your heart dropped and shattered. You pulled back further to get a good look at her. "Where's Tech?" She had tears in her eyes. "Omega, where is Tech?" You found yourself pleading.

“He-he’s okay. I mean he - he wasn’t. We thought he’d died when he fell,” she explained.

“I saw the fall,” you explained, placing your hands on her shoulders, “please tell me he survived, Omega. Just tell me that."

“He’s o-okay,” she mumbled, looking back towards the Marauder, “he’s just a little banged up and weary.” Your eyes drifted towards the ship and you watched as Hunter aided Tech down the gangplank. He limped and appeared heavily bruised. Bruising you didn’t think came from the fall. She nodded that it was okay for you to go to him. She knew that’s what you wanted.

“TECH,” you voice bellowed through the air, and he looked up from his feet towards you, “Tech, you’re okay.” You reached immediately for him, arms thrown around his neck immediately and you collided with a thud. When he groaned slightly, you lurched away from him, face riddled with concern.

“Three broken ribs, a fracture to my shin which did not heal correctly, and I took a bit of a beating on our escape but yes,” he adjusted his spare goggles, “yes I’m alive.” You wrapped your arms more carefully around his neck this time, as you had done countless times before he left. He groaned with the pain but couldn’t help but bury his head in your neck and place his arms around the small of your back. Despite the pain, he was truly grateful to see your face again.

Realising you were crushing his ribs, you pulled back and mumbled out a sorry. Hunter returned to prop up his brother. “He just needs to rest,” Hunter told you, “he’ll be okay.” You let them walk past and you hugged Wrecker, who lifted and span you as soon as he grabbed hold of you. Just as you had done with Omega. When he placed you down and you were giggling, when you noticed a new figure. A figure with a crosshair symbol over his eye and then it clicked into place. The missing brother.

“Wrecker,” you said cautiously, “care to introduce me to your brother?” Wrecker whipped around and grinned, grabbing Crosshair in a brotherly embrace around the shoulder. Crosshair winced slightly at the contact or perhaps out of irritation. Maybe both; it was difficult to tell.

“This is Crosshair.” Wrecker said with pride, “former Empire drone. Now, our brother in exile.” Wrecker’s laughter boomed out around you, and you giggled along with him. Crosshair looked at you tiredly and you reached out your hand for him to shake. He took it in silence and simply nodded his head at you. He then swept past you to catch up with Hunter and Tech. “He’ll warm up to you eventually. He always was the quiet one.”

“Compared to you, Wrecker,” you gestured conspiratorially with your finger for him to reach down to your level, he complied, “they’re all the quiet one, my darling.” His thunderous laughter only proved your point.

“You got me there, love.” He pulled you up to hug you tightly again. Then, he threw an arm around you and you followed the others towards Shep’s home.

-----------------------------

That evening you all ate together to commemorate the glorious reunion. You sat beside Tech and could barely lift your eyes from his face. He noticed your stare but tried to avoid staring at you for fear of remembering and reacting to the kiss you had shared the night before he left.

The dinner was unusually quiet that night. Wrecker was the closest to his usual self. But he had his brothers and Omega, and a full meal so had the most to be thankful for. Hunter sat worried about Omega. Omega sat worried about Tech, remembering watching him fall. Tech was split focused between you and Crosshair. He had experienced only a fraction of what he had at the hands of Dr. Hemlock and that sufficient enough to know that the man was accomplishing nothing pleasant. Crosshair was simply trying hard to feel like he belonged, to forget the things he had done, the things he’d seen and experienced. Echo had already returned to Rex.

Shep spoke quietly with you about your drawing, of which you had done precious little. Though you had drawn that dream, that vision over and over again. Hoping that it being on paper would resolve the trauma unravelling in your mind. It never did. Only now had your mind truly quieted.

Dinner after dinner, day after day, things began to return to a form of normality.

But you knew that they would have to leave eventually. That the fight was theirs. That the war was theirs. You knew you could not stop them from returning. The Empire had made the fight personal. First with Tech's fall and then with Omega. With Crosshair. With all of it.

One morning, about three rotations into their return, you'd awoken content and enjoyed the rays as they hit your groggy face. You had dressed in haste, already late to start works. When you headed down to the Docks to help repair a vessel, you came across a familiar sight. Tech had already begun the works on the ship. When he spotted you, he simply smiled and said, “I thought I may be of some assistance.”

“Tech, you should be resting,” you admonished. He hopped off the ship, using one hand to propel forward, so that he could approach you cautiously on the dock. The fact he was able to do that alone showed that maybe he didn't need quite as much rest as you thought.

“I have healed to a more than sufficient standard.”

“You were going stir crazy lazing around huh?” You retorted with a graceless snort.

“Yes, you could say that.” He adjusted his goggles and offered you a small smile, “I have almost finished the repair.” Once again, as he had done before, he looked at you expectantly. You tilted your head at him before shaking your giggly head. He smiled as he recreated his previous actions. So, you did what you always do, you reached up and hugged him. Yet this hug was filled with an intensity the previous ones had not. You were almost buried inside of one another, and the hug lasted longer than any previous ones. You felt the heartbeat that you head been feeling for so long by yourself. The heartbeat that belonged to Tech.

When you lifted your head from his shoulder, you whispered, “I am truly so glad you’re safe and well.”

“As am I,” he joked. A silly little Tech joke. Your favourite kind of joke. As you pulled away from each other, he held your gaze by your chin in his fingers as he studied your eyes. “I missed those eyes.” Well, that was new. Unexpected? Certainly. Unwanted? Definitely not.

“As I have missed yours,” you retorted, “brown eyes.” You did your best to mimic Phee’s accent as you said it and you both simply just smiled. After a beat of silence, you tried to start things anew, “I believe I owe you a dinner.” You tried not to sound too hopeful, to give him the chance to refuse.

“I have a distinct memory of that promise.” You placed a hand to his cheek for a fleeting moment. “Would this evening suit you? I do not feel that we need another group dinner.”

“This evening suits me fine,” you said with a grin. You took the tool from his hand and hopped aboard the boat, “but I’m going to finish this, and you are going to go and rest up. You’ll need your energy for dinner later,” you said with a flirtatious wink.  His eyebrows shot up at your boldness and it did not take him long to gather your meaning. He seemed frozen in place for a moment, before he turned on his heel and heading back up the steps and away from the dock. You had no doubt he was going to do some form of work on the Marauder. He'd be out of sight so you couldn't admonish him further.

With a smile, you set to work on the motor.

--------------------------

You’d fussed and fought over what to wear, what to serve, what to do before Tech arrived. You’d cleaned and showered. Settling on the black dress he’d complimented so long ago; you fixed your hair as best you could. In reality, it was no better than a messy bun. You sighed at your inability to even vaguely imitate a girly girl.

You heard a faint knocking sound as he arrived precisely on time. You jumped at the sound and moved to let him in. The door creaked as you opened it and with a shy smiled, you stepped to one side. Suddenly feeling the vulnerability of inviting another into your home.

“I…” you started as Tech entered your home, you suddenly felt vulnerable, “I hope this is okay. I notice you don’t eat excessively and I’m the same in that regard. I figured food we could just pick at with some wine would be okay?” You hadn’t intended that last bit to be a question. You knew he would be okay with whatever you offered.

“This is more than sufficient,” he seemed as nervous as you, “thank you. It was kind of you to invite me to your home. Again.” Had he truly thought you wouldn't?

“Well you’re quite special in that regard,” you responded as you began placing the food on the small table in your hut. The sun was setting over the harbour and it shone through the open window, lighting the table in a soft crimson glow.

“How so?” He queried.

“Well, I have never had anyone in my hut for dinner before.” Your response seemed to fall so easily from your lips that it startled Tech somewhat. He couldn’t understand what would make him so special. “I dine out, a lot.” You huffed a laugh at the stupidity of your own comment.

“Well, I am grateful to be considered special by someone such as yourself.” He didn’t realise he’d backed himself into a corner there.

“Such as myself,” you couldn’t help but ask.

“It is not often I find someone I consider to be intelligent,” he started, “not on a standard similar to myself. Of course, I have a slight genetic advantage, so I ultimately am always more intelligent. But you… you are quite something.”

Quite something, you thought to yourself, the heat rising to your cheeks. You’d both seated yourselves beside one another at your table as you’d spoken. You noticed how upright he was. It was clearly not that easy for him to relax. You then realised how much you were slouching, and you jolted to correct yourself.

A movement he did not miss. “Please do not adjust yourself on my account. This is your home.” You smiled at his gentle platitude. Your shoulders relaxed somewhat at that.

After a spell of silence, he questioned, “have you continued your sketching since I have been away?” He cleared his throat at the awkwardness of his question. You were panicking. Could you show him what you’d drawn? Would it trigger something inside him? Would it ruin this evening?

“Sort of,” you offered up vaguely. Deciding it would be best not to show him. “Nothing particularly special.” “Well, I could be the objective eye on that,” he retorted, knowing he was always objective to the point of brutal honesty. You reached behind him and handed him the notebook with a sigh. He flipped through it eagerly until his hands stilled. He’d found the latest drawing. A very clear image of the wreckage of that second car of his face as he fell into the clouds. It was all too accurate, and Tech was shocked. “How did you know this –“

“I saw it.” You sounded crazy. You sounded far too crazy. “It was a nightmare. A nightmare that plagued my mind and my heart was so sure it was real.” He simply stared at the drawing with a shaky hand. He’d never been more scared than he was in the moment he fell and here it was, from the other perspective.

“You did not think I was coming back.” It was a fact, he believed. You thought he had died in that fall. His heart lurched at the idea that this would affect you so. He knew that you would not have found peace in this drawing. Drawn so many times over, at different points in the fall. Until the drawing was almost entirely cloud. He did his best to push the memory back down. He did not wish to think of that now he was here with you.

“For fear of sounding crazy, I’m not going to say anything else.” He turned the page to face you, with an eyebrow raised.

“Based on this,” he pushed it closer just a tad to emphasise the madness of what he was seeing, “anything you could say, I would not find crazy.”

“I began meditating after I saw it. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. So, I meditated and as I began to focus on my own heartbeat, I eventually found another was beating with it. Something inside of me… told me it was you.” You looked away, through the open window. You found so impossible to meet his gaze. “I thought about you every day. I listened for that heartbeat every day.” Tech remained still and silent. He had thought of you every moment he had been conscious and he had drifted in and out of that frequently. He’d thought of your dresses, your tool belt and the feeling of your lips on his. But to feel his heartbeat? He didn't know such a thing was possible for those who were not Jedi. He knew you worked in the Temple but did that give you an understanding of the Force that he could not understand.

There was suddenly an odd atmosphere amongst you, as if there was some unspoken mystery between you and you could guess what it was. It was partly the intensity of the feelings you'd covertly just confessed which led to the other part of the awkwardness. The kiss you’d shared before he'd left. You had no idea how to broach the subject, nor did he. He had lay in his bunk imagining it over and over again to the point of extreme and painful arousal. The sort of arousal only a cold shower could alleviate. He’d even imagine it whilst they had been away on mission, which was new experience for Tech. To be so…distracted by another.

Instead of discussing it, you both simply began to enjoy the meal on the table. Picking gently at the different assortment of fruits and vegetables, as you'd expected. You poured him some wine and refilled your own cup. He reached out his cup to yours, “to good friends.” You repeated his words and the cups met with a gentle thud. You both took a sip. You couldn’t think of a single thing to say and Tech was being uncharacteristically quiet and you feared it was because of what you'd said. A long silence fell over both of you and eventually, all you could do was sigh.

“This is ridiculous,” you finally said and Tech looked at you, confusion etched on his features. “We have worked together for days in the past and there was barely a moment of silence. I felt your heartbeat, as if it were my own. I saw you fall and the Force guided me to know you were okay and now I struggle to find the words for normal conversation with you. I made the mistake of kissing you and telling you all that happened when you were gone and now it’s all messed up anyway.” You sighed, placing your cup down. You'd been nervously fidgeting with it in your hands for some time. Scraping your nail against the coarse cup.

“I am sorry if that kiss was not sufficient,” he adjusted his goggles nervously, “I confess I do not have much experience in these matters. Nor do I fully understand how you felt my heartbeat. It is all quite new to me.”

“Not sufficient?” You had to bite back your laughter. You had barely slept that night for memories of that kiss. “Tech, that kiss was extraordinary. I do not understand how I felt what I felt either." You were somehow having a conversation within another conversation. One about the physical and one about the mystical.

“Then I do not know what it is that I have done to make this awkward.” He tried replaying each moment in his head, trying to block out his bodily reactions to the memory.

“It’s not something you did,” you replied softly, grasping his hand in yours, “I simply worry that I ruined a friendship over a kiss you did not want, for feelings that you do not share.”

“That kiss was extraordinary for me too,” he squeezed your hand gently, “I apologise. I did not know how to respond to your previous statement. I do not know how to act. My brothers also informed me that this was definitely a date. They made some remarks on how I should act but I cannot seem to bring myself to say or do anything they suggested.”

“You do not need to say or do anything that isn’t what you want, Tech,” you reached up to brush your hand against his cheek. “I just want you to be Tech.”

“I am sorry that I left so suddenly,” he said quickly, averting his eyes to the floor, “I did not think it would affect me so nor did I think we would be gone so long. Then everything went a bit... awry.” You’d heard the tales of his fall, his time captured by Dr Hemlock, the whole shuddering tale had been retold to you by Omega once they’d landed.

“What I want is to kiss you again,” he murmured softly as he relished in your gentle touch, “though I do not know how to instigate such matters.” You noticed his eyes drop to your lips and he reached up to mimic your action. Brushing his bare fingers across your cheek. Then you realised he wasn’t wearing his gloves. That was new, you thought. His fingers reached the hair covering your ear and he gently brushed it behind your ear with a soft smile.

“I’d say you’re doing a good job of instigating it,” you replied before leaning in and placing a short, gentle kiss to his lips. As you pulled back, his eyes were filled with mirth as he looked at you. He leaned in and mimicked your action. Another fleeting kiss, so soft you could barely feel it. “Yes, you’re doing a very good job of starting things.” You huffed out the breath you’d be holding as your faces remained close to one another.

“The movement of your hair was Hunter’s idea,” he admitted sheepishly, and you giggled at that, pulling away from him. You reached for your glass and said, “to Hunter’s excellent advice.” He smiled and your cups met in the middle once more. You both took an urgent sip. Both thinking of the kiss. Both completely unaware that you shared the same thought.

After he placed his cup down, he whispered your name softly to get your attention; he’d noticed you lost in your thoughts. “What if I wanted to instigate something more intense.”

You tapped your chin comically, mimicking a thought that you’d had in your mind since you’d kissed him. Since you’d seen him last, walking up the gangplank of the Marauder. “Are you okay with me getting a little bit closer, a little more personal?” You’d rather ask; you wanted to afford him the opportunity to back off.

“I would say that I'd prefer it if you did.” For Tech, that was pretty damn smooth.

And so, you stood up. Lifting the hem of your dress slightly with your fingers, you positioned yourself to straddle his lap. He leaned back into the chair but not from discontent. Purely so he could watch every movement you made. So that he could watch this again later. With your permission of course.

You noticed his hands gripping the edges of the chair with such force that his knuckles were whitening under the strain. You knew what his hands naturally wanted to do but perhaps he feared overstepping too. With a soft smile blooming on your lips, you grasped his hands gently, and raised them to your exposed thighs. His eyes were watching the movement so intently and his lips parted as he felt the softness of your flesh in his bare hand. It wasn’t a sensation he had experience before.

You’d placed his hands in an innocent enough spot. You hoped that with the right amount of encouragement, biology may encourage him to do as he pleased with you. And he did. His brain seemed to be processing things a little slower and he decided to simply listen to what his body was telling him. His hands were at the edge of your dress, and he knew that if he grazed his hands further, more and more of your delectable body would be exposed to him.

And so he did. It was a feather light touch and it tickled; you couldn’t help but audibly gasp at the contact. He had only moved your dress mere millimetres further, but he found the sensation to cause his whole body to stir. He knew you’d let him raise this dress until you were fully exposed to him.

He suddenly looked up at you, with an innocent smile on his face but his eyes had glazed over with lust. Yes! You’d caused him to lose some semblance of his usual control. You moved your hands from his shoulders to his neck and pulled him into a deep and sensuous kiss. It didn’t take long for your tongue to glide over his lips and into his mouth. A deep growl escaped his throat as he did so.

His hands had pushed your dress up to your waist, simply so his hands could settle at your waist which he was now pawing at frantically. You pulled him as close as you could, feeling his chest heaving against your own heavy breathing. Your tongues danced around one another. Occasionally, you’d pull away just enough to tease his lips into chasing yours. Which they did.

What happened next was something you could not control. With his heavy grip on your waist, you rocked your hips against him and his heard lurched back with a heavy groan at the friction. Your lust filled eyes tried to feign innocence as he stared at you slack jawed.

“Was that the intense contact you had anticipated?” You asked him, sweetness dripping across the words like honey. When he nodded frantically, you rocked your hips once more. But just one more time. You wanted him to be sure of his need. To want it so intensely that he couldn’t help himself. Part of you knew that you’d be holding the reigns in this experience, but you cared enough for this sweet man enough to give him the chance to explore what he wanted.

“Please keep doing that,” his voice barely above a whisper. You complied immediately and his head swung further back in ecstasy with the first few rutting movements. After he adjusted to the pleasure, his head lolled down towards the movement. His hands began to help guide the movement so that the friction reached a heightened intensity for you both. You whimpered as you felt his now solid member rub directly against your clit.

Tech noticed.

Now his guiding movement ensured that he hit that point again. Every. Single. Time. You felt your body tingling and tensing, and you knew that your orgasm was close. “Tech, if you keep doing that, I’m going to cum all over your trousers.”

With a wolfish smile you’d never seen before, he simply continued the movement and said, “that was rather the intent, darling.” The pet name dripped from his mouth in his pleasure and you loved it. When he replayed it in his mind briefly, he realised he rather liked it too. He was grunting into the movement now, his pleasure pulsating through him. You were almost screaming by the time you came undone on his lap.

But Tech couldn’t stop himself, couldn’t give you a minute to recover. Not in the situation he was in. He was so caught up in his own lust, his own desire to finish that he continued rubbing you against his clothed member until he let out a strangled groan and came. Once he was done, you dropped your head to his shoulder, breathing heavily. You both simply sat there for a moment; his arms wrapped around you, holding you flush against him.

“I…” you heard him begin, “I find myself not knowing what to say. Again.” You giggled and lifted your heard.

“Leaving the infamous Tech speechless?” You placed a hand to his cheek, “well it must’ve been good.” He simply looked content in that moment. A slight smile, a starry gaze and all of his features relaxed. It was a good look in him. “Well, the first thing we should worry about is cleaning your clothes. They’ve been soaked from inside and out.” As he looked down between you, he realised how right you were.

You peeled yourself slowly from his lap, allowing him time to remove his bottom layers and as he stood before you partially naked, you couldn’t help but stare. But your staring made him blush profusely and so, he cleared his throat. Your eyes snapped up to his and you grinned sheepishly. You grabbed a towel from the stand next to you and threw it over to him.

With an accurate grasp, he whipped the towel down and around his waist, covering himself for modesty’s sake. Though modesty had long been abandoned when you’d rutted against one another. You took his clothes from his grasp and put them in the washer. Not knowing what to do next, you chuckled slightly. “I still don’t know what to say to you.” Thank you for rutting against me? Thank you for coming back alive? Thank you for saving your brothers? No thank you seemed to work as a next step.

“Let me say this, then,” he said, stepping towards you, “even though I will most likely have to leave again and soon. I will always come back to you. Or take you with us, if you would prefer. I do not wish to be parted from you in times as trying as these. If I ever feared for you the way you did over me, I do not think I could bear it. We become less like soldiers and more like people with every passing rotation.”

“I don’t want that either,” you affirmed, stepping towards him and taking both of his hands in yours. You raised them to your chest, “I realised something when you left. You’d taken a piece of my heart with you.” “I do not believe a person can live without a piece of their heart,” he replied, not knowing what you meant, “I also believe I would have noticed pieces of internal organs with me.” You giggled at that, though he had not meant it as a joke.

“It was a metaphor of sorts, Tech. Not a very good one I grant you,” you sighed and smiled all in one beat, “I simply meant that I realised I truly care for you. In a way I don’t think I’ve ever cared for someone.”

“In that case, the feeling is mutual. I care a great deal for you too.” Noticing you’d kept his hands against your heavily beating test, you pulled him towards your bed with a sultry smile.

“I don’t suppose you have anywhere else to be this evening?” He smiled and shook his head.

“No and I do not imagine I would get far in a towel regardless.” You both chuckled at that, you’d never heard him laugh before. It was a sweet and gentle sound. Barely louder than a whisper. You pulled him onto your bed, and he lay flat, almost beckoning you to him. You lay your head on his chest and listened to steady beat of his heart, with a soft and sleepy smile on your lips.

He clutched you close and decided on one final comment, "besides, I have only just begun to experience the amorous intentions I have had for you, for some time. I do not think I could give that up so easily now." You squeezed him tight, trying not to drift off to sleep too easily. But you couldn't help it because now you knew it for certain. The sound of his heartbeat was beneath your ear. He was safe… for now, at least.

---------------------------- FIN ------------------------------

Tags:

@jediknightjana @littlebluebatbrat @hitsugayarose @thenonsensebatch

[phantom-of-the-501st]

I'm excited and scared

Mild spoilers about TBB S2 from an interview with J. Corbett

°•°•°•°•°•°

Don't get me wrong, I love angst, but I don't need Echo and The Batch fighting all the time! That's too much stress.

Although I would love to see Echo talk more about his life in 501st and I think him confiding in Rex about their past could be really good. I feel like the conflict between the rest of CF 99 and Echo being a reg is something that I want to see more of. And something that needs to be explored more.

But the idea of Echo falling out with the rest of them stresses me out.😭

[chrissycantwakeup]

bad batch fanfic request

the ending of tbb finale was low key underwhelming so this is a call and cry for help for fanfics to give us better endings.

spoiler alert

cuz i need a better ending for everyone 😭 as in; i need to know what happened to cody, i need to see echo and crosshair talking about hands, i need to know where echo is in rebels, i need crosshair to make another sarcastic remark, i need CX-2 to have been tech. ok not necessarily all that but tech has to be like alive man. like. i’m not fine. we’re not fine. and that ending was so underwhelming and disappointing in some ways. like. they built all that hype up for us to think tech’s hiding out as a clone assassin or in tantiss and boom he’s gone. like i love the bad batch to pieces and the ending is fantastic but it was honestly quite rushed feeling in the way they left a lot of plots unfinished. so petition for more clone content with more closure but that’s impossible i guess so let’s get some fanfics please?

like:

letting CX-2’s helmet fall off or get kicked off or whatever would have taken like two dramatic seconds, and like 3 minutes to slowly pan from the helmet bouncing on the floor up to the looks of absolute horror on Crosshair and Hunter’s faces, stretching it out because pain! and pans from like legs or body up to Tech’s scarred but still recognisable face. we all start screaming and crying and dying because they both rush up to him and try to save him but it’s too late and Tech delivers some painful soul-crushing line that hurts more than “When have we ever followed orders?” and you see all three of them cry for a vulnerable moment before they have to start fighting again and we all die while trying to watch the show or maybe some of us pause it to cry. anyway it would have taken a total of like 3 minutes (imagine it in your head and time it). you could like cut out a few seconds of other random stuff (maybe Rampart’s yapping or whatever) or just ADD A FEW MINUTES. and everyone would be so much more satisfied with the ending even though our souls would be 100% crushed but at least all that leading on wouldn’t have just been a red herring.

so please. what on earth Filoni. they better release a deleted scene or something.

[kellygreeny]

MAYDAY! We've got an snow planet!

[heyclickadee]

I do have thoughts on “The Crossing,” I just haven’t had time to get them down. But I will.

Short version is that it means the world to me.

Medium version is that there are a couple parts of those thoughts I’m having a hard time articulating, but that Aaron Copland’s “Quiet City” and the second movement of Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony feel like what those particular thoughts are. To me, anyway.

The long version is probably going to be way too long.

[magicandmundane]

My brain just cursed me with this angsty idea, so I’m gonna toss it out here for you guys to see too.

Anyway, the Batch, especially Hunter, has always been very protective of Omega, even more so now after getting her back. She’s never been super bothered by it, but it seems like she’s getting more and more annoyed these days, and what if it comes to a head like:

*dicey situation*

Hunter: *grabs Omega’s arm and pulls her behind him*

Omega: Stop it! I’m not a little girl anymore, Hunter!

Hunter is visibly crushed then cut to Wrecker and Crosshair flinching, and the whole thing is just gut wrenching.

Classic, angsty teenage girl with her over protective father figures/big brothers (I would know, I’ve had a few) and I just ughhhh (*sobbing*)

And then the idea I had on top of that was afterward we get Crosshair telling Omega to go talk to Hunter as a callback to the events earlier in the season.

[princessconsuelapark]

oh my god kanan having the obi wan warning holocron, when HE was the one who made him think of the possibility the beacon could be used as a warning instead of a summon ????????? that destroys me, holy shit

[timetodiverge]

The Bad Batch Season 3, Episode 4: Dad and the Dog He Said He Didn't Want

(mild) spoilers

Puppy helping dad with his chores

Puppy trying to get to dad

"You're the one who wanted this damn puppy!"

Dad putting puppy outside

Dad starting massacre to rescue puppy

Dad and puppy re-united

[kiffobaby]

Star Wars The Bad Batch: Mild Spoiler

What if Tech really is dead (pls god no) and the significance of putting Lula with Tech's goggles is foreshadowing Wreckers' death (pls for the love of all no)

I know that Lula has become a symbol for Omega but just please no

[dystopicjumpsuit]

The Plant Prowler of Pabu

A/N: I’m scared that Pabu is going to be toast after this week, so I wrote a little fluff to make myself feel better. Also, this is the first time I’ve been able to finish a fic in six weeks, so… yay me!

Pairing: Crosshair x Reader (GN)

Rating: T (but MDNI as always)

Wordcount: 2.1K

Warnings and tags: mild language; fluff; a kiss; spoilers for The Bad Batch season 3

Summary: Exploring the island during his first morning on Pabu, Crosshair encounters a mastermind of botanical crime: you.

Suggested Listening: 

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Whoever said, “It’s darkest just before dawn” had clearly never woken up to go for a walk before sunrise. Even if Crosshair hadn’t had enhanced vision, it would have been easy for him to navigate his way down to the beach of Pabu in the dim half-light. Hunter had wordlessly watched him exit the Marauder, pretending to still be asleep, but Crosshair knew that his brother would have drawn his vibroblade in a flash if he’d even glanced sideways at Omega.

Crosshair didn’t exactly blame Hunter for his caution, but it didn’t make it any easier to swallow. The squad had arrived on the idyllic island the previous day, and Crosshair was immediately swarmed by a horde of curious locals. With Hunter determined to keep Crosshair in sight at all times, there had been no escape from their onslaught of hospitality, and by the time the celebrations had died down, Crosshair had been clinging to the tattered threads of his patience and sanity.

It was a hell of a thing to go from barely speaking to anyone for months on end to suddenly being plunged into the midst of a vibrant and chaotic crowd of nosy spectators. He’d escaped to the Marauder at last and pretended to sleep, keenly aware of Hunter’s eyes on him. He’d spent enough time under the microscope in the past several months, though, and he was ready for some privacy.

And so it was that he found himself wandering down the empty terraced walkways of Pabu, making his way to the shoreline in the pale gloaming. He didn’t encounter a single soul as he walked—barring the ubiquitous moonyos that seemed to frolic across the island at all hours. Pabu was the sort of place that seemed too flawless to be real. Too flawless to last.

Not quite as flawless as it seems on the surface, he acknowledged as he turned down a path that snaked through one of the sections of the island that had yet to be rebuilt after the catastrophic sea surge he’d heard about countless times at the welcoming party the previous night. The buildings had been reduced to rubble, and judging by the weeds sprouting in the cracks of the walkway, the locals tended to avoid this particular part of the island.

Perfect.

The gentle breeze off the ocean was chilly, and he told himself it was the reason his hand trembled more than usual that morning. He shoved both hands deep into his pockets as he navigated the last few levels before he reached the beach. As he stepped onto the sand, a gust of wind buffeted against him. It was bracingly cold, and it smelled like salt and aquatic vegetation and wet earth, and he closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply and focusing on the sensation.

When he opened his eyes, a flicker of movement in his peripheral vision had him snapping his head to the side. He froze. A figure meandered slowly down the beach, sticking close to the bottom of the hill where the lush foliage grew thickly right up to the edge of the sand. He was certain you had spotted him, but you didn’t immediately acknowledge his presence.

He watched for a moment as you paused and stooped down to examine one of the plants, then carefully plucked a few bunches and laid them in the basket you carried. Bizarre. What the kriff was this person doing out here so early? Nothing innocent, that was for damned sure. Why would anyone sneak down to such an isolated stretch of the beach at this obscene hour if they didn’t have nefarious intent?

Aside from me, obviously.

He squinted slightly. Even with his enhanced eyesight, it was dark enough, and you were far enough away, that it was difficult to make out your features, but he was reasonably sure you hadn’t been at the party the night before. 

Hmph.

He turned and walked the opposite direction, away from the person who’d had the audacity to interrupt his solitude by getting to the beach first. Better not to get involved.

Crosshair took a different route the next morning, arriving at the beach just as the sun rose. As bad kriffing luck would have it, you were exiting the beach just as he arrived, and your paths inevitably intersected. He braced himself for a conversation, but you simply met his eyes and nodded quietly as you passed him.

He suppressed a sigh of relief. Stepping aside to make room for you to pass on the narrow trail, he couldn’t help noticing that your basket was filled with a variety of neat bundles of leaves and twigs. Odd, but your hobbies were none of his concern. Even if they did involve herb rustling and grand theft shrubbery.

He continued his path down to the shoreline and wandered along the water’s edge, staring out at the horizon. Out of the corner of his eye, he could still see your solitary figure making its way up the steep slope and into Lower Pabu. He was now completely sure that you’d not been at the welcoming party, nor had he encountered you in the village. It wasn’t that surprising; after all, hundreds of people lived on the island, and he wasn’t in any particular hurry to meet them all—or any of them, if he were honest.

Of course, he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. Wrecker had flatly refused to allow Crosshair to isolate himself, while the gregarious mayor Shep Hazard seemed equally dedicated to the twin causes of thrusting Crosshair into the community and plying him with as much fruit as he could eat in a lifetime. He was starting to feel a tiny surge of violence every time he saw a jogan fruit.

On the third day, Batcher woke up with Crosshair and scrambled out of the Marauder, bounding ahead of him down the ramp and then turning to wiggle her entire body in anticipation as he followed. He let the lurca hound pick the path that morning, not bothering to hide his thin smile at Batcher’s endless curiosity and enthusiasm. She crisscrossed the walkways incessantly, sniffing and exploring, chasing the moonyos playfully down the hill, investigating every nook and cranny of the village, and easily running five times the distance that Crosshair traveled on their way down to the water.

The beach was empty this morning, to Crosshair’s relief. At last, some peace and quiet. Or at least as quiet and peaceful as it could be with Batcher rocketing back and forth across the wet sand, grunting and huffing as she charged into the surf and back up to Crosshair, crouching into a bow as she tried to entice him to play with her. When he didn’t immediately comply, she took off chasing a flock of seabirds, scattering them into the air in a cacophony of indignant squawking.

She chased the birds down the beach, barking joyously as she splashed through the surf. When the hound disappeared around a bend in the shoreline, Crosshair sped up slightly, not wanting to risk Omega’s wrath if anything happened to her pet on his watch. As he rounded the bend, he was greeted with a most unexpected sight: Batcher was lying on her back on the sand, writhing with delight as you rubbed her belly.

Your basket was overturned, and all the neat little bundles of herbs were strewn across the sand. It wasn’t hard to deduce the instigator of such carnage. Batcher spotted Crosshair and immediately jumped up and shook the sand off herself before rushing to greet him.

“Down,” he said sternly as she jumped up and swiped at him with her massive paws.

She dropped obediently, and trotted along next to him as he approached you. You’d already begun picking up your fallen bundles of leaves, and he quickly bent to assist you.

“Sorry about that,” he mumbled.

“No harm done,” you replied, shaking a bit of loose sand out of the bundles before you dropped them into your basket. “They all get washed before I hang them up to dry anyway.”

“So you’re not just engaging in botanical heists for the adrenaline rush?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah, it really gets the blood pumping,” you replied, deadpan. “My day just doesn’t feel complete without a little horticultural larceny.”

“I can see you like to live on the edge,” he said with a tiny smile. “The Plant Prowler of Pabu.”

“And I would have gotten away with it, if it weren’t for a mysterious stranger and his meddling dog.”

He liked you. Damn it.

Crosshair didn’t see you for the next several days. He assumed you’d moved your criminal enterprise elsewhere on the island, and after the team returned from Barton IV, he didn’t feel the same need to escape the Marauder as he had previously. Still, he wasn’t sleeping particularly well, and after an excruciatingly restless night, he slipped out of the ship not long before dawn and wandered aimlessly down the streets of Pabu until he found himself in the unstable section he’d discovered on the first day.

As he picked his way through the ruins, he spotted movement two terraces below, and he grinned. Forcing himself to walk casually so you didn’t suspect how pleased he was to see you, he sauntered down to your level, only to find you ripping weeds up from between the fragments of pavement with uncharacteristic abandon.

“What did those plants ever do to you?” he asked.

You must have spotted him before he arrived, because you didn’t even flinch at the sound of his voice.

“Invasive species,” you replied. “I try not to over-forage, but in this case, I’ll make an exception.”

“And I thought your crimes only extended to vegetational theft,” he drawled. “I had no idea you’d escalated to floral murder and agricultural vigilantism.”

“The hero Pabu needs,” you said with a smile that had no business being as charming as it was, considering you were currently covered in a fine layer of dirt and assorted bits of leaves and twigs. “If this plant gets established on the island, we might never be able to eradicate it. It will outcompete the native plants and could cause significant disruptions to the ecosystem.”

“How altruistic of you,” he remarked drily.

“Not at all,” you laughed. “It also happens to be delicious.”

Crosshair stooped down and pulled one of the plants up by the roots, examining it closely. “It’s on sight, then.”

“Exactly. No mercy.”

As the first rays of the sun appeared on the distant horizon, you packed the large bundles of weeds into your basket, then stood and dusted your hands off on your trousers. You stretched a bit, clearly a little stiff from your labor. Impulsively, Crosshair spoke.

“Want to watch the sunrise with me?” You looked surprised at his offer, and he cleared his throat, looking awkwardly away. “Or do you turn into a meiloorun if you stay out past dawn?”

“Yes,” you said. “I mean, no. I mean, yes, I’d like to stay. No, I don’t turn into a meiloorun.”

You bit your lip and stared down at the bundle of weeds in your basket, poking at it ineffectually as you muttered something unintelligible under your breath. Stifling a laugh, Crosshair climbed up onto the crumbling half-wall of a destroyed structure and extended his hand to help you up after him. You scrambled up and sat down next to him, gazing out at the tranquil ocean as the sun began to paint the high clouds in brilliant shades of gold and pastel.

“Not a bad view, is it?” you asked quietly. 

“Definitely worth waking up early,” he replied, watching your face as the light caught on your cheekbones and reflected in your eyes.

Without making a conscious decision, he lifted his hand and brushed a little loose dirt off your cheek. His damned hand trembled, and he mentally cursed. You didn’t seem to notice the slight tremor, though—or if you did, you didn’t say anything about it. Instead, you turned your head slowly, grazing your lips across his fingertips as you met his eyes. It seemed the most natural thing in the galaxy to continue to trace the line of your jaw until his hand curled around the back of your head.

Your lips were soft and warm in the cool breeze, and you tasted like sea salt and dew and something he didn’t quite recognize. Something new. He liked it. You leaned into his kiss, and when at last it came to its natural conclusion, he drew in a shaky breath.

“Hi,” he whispered. “I’m Crosshair.”

---

Want more Crosshair? I have another Crosshair x Reader ficlet here!

Taglist:

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[winniethewife]

Are you with me? (Commander Wolffe x F!Reader)

Words: 1135

Warnings: Mild Spoilers for The Bad Batch season 3.

Wolffe paced the room a few times. He couldn’t get the idea out of his head. Rex was alive, he was fighting against the empire, and so were other clones. He hadn’t even considered it. Rex’s voice echoed in his mind. “As your brother, I'm asking you to do the right thing.”

What is the right thing? The right thing…He needed to get out, he needs to leave. He starts to look around, fearful for a second as if someone could read his mind, but there was no one else in sight. Wolffe sighed, he knew he needed to leave, but he knew he couldn’t yet, not without her. He had to find her, convince her to leave with him. If he asked, she would go…Right? He needed to know.

He made his way to her sector of the base. Hoping he would be able to pull her aside. He thought about how they had met, when she was working with the republic as a intelligence officer, she had intercepted separatist transmissions and decoded them, but now that she worked for the empire she was practically s secretary, but working for the empire was the only way they could stay close, so she had continued the work. He thinks about the long nights they used to talk for hours about life after the war, this was not at all what they had imagined. There was no home in a nice town on her home planet, there were no small feet pattering around. How had he lost sight of those things so quickly? As he approached her desk he couldn’t help but feel the reality of their lives crashing down on him. The way she looked, the light in her eyes had faded away. The way she didn’t look out the window day dreaming as he walked up to her, she was focused on the data pad in front of her. He cleared his throat and she looked up, a slight smile on her face.

“Commander, how can I help you?” Her professional tone sounded wrong to him. Wolffe was beginning to realize how wrong it all was.

“Can we talk? Alone.” He said with urgency, her brow furrowed and she stood from her desk to follow him. He walked with her at a brisk pace to an alcove where he hoped they wouldn’t be noticed. He grabs her waist and pulls her into a close embrace. She gasps, this was unexpected, as they had not been very close as of late, since joining the empire, before she could ask what was happening she felt the cold wall on her back and his hot breath on her ear as he whispered to her. “I’m getting us out of here. I am so sorry I didn’t see it sooner, how wrong this is, how unhappy you are here. You deserve better, you deserve the best in the galaxy and you aren’t going to find that here, I realize this now. Cyar’ika, I’m…I’m so sorry.” He feels like these word are barely enough. Her heart flutters, this is exactly what she had dreamed of, but had given up on long ago. She leans in gently to kiss his cheek and whisper back.

“Let’s run, run far and fast away from all this, we’ll run so fast and far they’ll never see it coming.” She looks into his eyes, and he sees just the beginnings of a glimmer of the light that he had loved so much. He smiles at her, laughing softly.

“You know there’s no looking back, after this, are you sure?’ He asked as he reaches to gently caress her face.

“I’ve never been so sure of anything, just you and me. No one to stop us or tell us what to do.” She lets her face rest in his hand, gazing wistfully at him. He knew then for sure, that this was the only way to go. It was the two of them, and no one else. He pressed his lips to hers, feverishly needing that moment of closeness, the taste of her on his lips. It gave him the courage, his path seemed more clear than it had in a very long time. Wolffe knew just who to call. The face that had been haunting him, His brother. It was time to do the right thing. As he pulled away from the kiss he locked eyes with her for a moment before releasing her from his grasp. He took a step away, she straightened herself.

“Wait for my signal, and we’ll run.” He says softly. As he starts to walk away he looks back over his shoulder to see her smiling at him. She shakes her head.

“Don’t look back, Don't ever look back.” She says firmly.

~

After that day they never did. Rex was more than happy to arrange transport to get the both of them out of there. It was all going to plan, his hand wrapped around hers as they made it through the forest, trying to make it to the rendezvous point before they were noticed. Wolffe felt like his heart wouldn’t settle. Every mission, every success, every failure, it all came down to this. His nerves sky rocketed as he heard as sound far behind them, he didn’t look back, just held her hand tighter as they moved even faster through the trees. The darkness of the night covered their escape, their only hope to get away. She held his hand tightly as they took the unfamiliar path to the cliffside. She felt her heart in her throat as she could see the trees thin out ahead, they were almost there. Almost free. Just as the rocky ridge came into view so did a ship, and a familiar figure, in the darkness they were almost impossible to see, but Wolffe knew.

“Rex, thank the maker.” Wolffe said relived as they walked up to him. Rex threw his arms around the two of them for a brief moment before ushering them onto the shuttle. As they sat down and the ship flew out of view of the imperial base a sense of relief washed over them.

“Its good to see you both, especially given the last time we saw each other.” Rex chuckled. He looked at Wolffe. “I’m glad to see you found the right path.”

“I wouldn’t have without you, something I’m sure we’re both thankful for” He says wrapping his arm around her. She leaned into him as the two brothers continued to talk, for the first time, in a long time, they were together, and they were safe. As she started to drift to sleep she felt Wolffe pull her in closer and kiss the top of her head.

“Just You and Me, from here on out.”

~

Masterlist