I Love This! The Batch Getting The Life They Deserve.

I love this! The Batch getting the life they deserve.

never the same

POV Hunter, no pairing

summary: While Omega is on a mission, Hunter realises that it never will be like the good old times again.

warnings: a lot of nostalgia

words: ~1410

a/n: hello there! this is it. the final fic for @summer-of-bad-batch. with that i fulfilled all 28 of the offered prompts, and i'm actually very proud of myself for that. this event definitely was one of my favorite adventures this year, and it definitely motivated me to write a lot more. thanks for hosting this! prompts: radio silence and "yeah, kid, we're fine."

MASTERLIST

SUMMER OF BAD BATCH MASTERLIST

"Still nothin'?" is the first thing Wrecker asks when he comes down the stairs in the morning.

He looks still a little rough from sleep, his shirt is wrinkled and his short, gray beard still manages to stand up in different directions.

A grin appears on Hunter's lips. The familiar sight of his brother in the mornings isn't anything he'd ever like to miss. Especially since he's finally able to sleep in a bed that is big and comfortable enough for the giant.

"Good morning to you, too," Hunter smiles and eats one of the delicious cookies Crosshair brought over a day ago. He'd never thought the former sniper would find a liking in baking sweet stuff, but here they are, and he's sure it's not the last reason his tummy got so soft in the last years.

But he wouldn't complain: Crosshair's food is tasty and he actually likes the sight of himself in the mirror like that.

"Mornin'..." Wrecker muffles and starts to brew himself some tea, looking at Hunter expectantly.

"No, didn't hear of them. But you know how it is - radio silence means no com chatter," Hunter unnecessarily explains.

Wrecker just rolls his eyes, but also picks up a cookie, already sighing at the taste before he even put it into his mouth.

"I know, I'm just worried," he admits, after chewing and swallowing down.

Oh, how familiar Hunter was with this feeling, too.

He's always worried about Omega. She'll forever be his baby sister who needs some kind of protection, but at the same time, he also knows he just can't always provide it for her.

Besides, she's all grown up now. He taught her everything he could. She can protect herself just fine.

"What do you think, how long will it be this time until we hear from her again?" Wrecker asks and Hunter just shrugs his shoulders. "Last time it was a week, before that a few hours. Could be anything between that and even longer," Hunter says, as if they haven't had that conversation several times now.

Wrecker sighs.

"It's just so... quiet without her. Boring," the big clone says, and a shadow of sadness crosses his face.

Hunter knew. He knew so well. First Crosshair moved out. He and his partner found a beautiful little home a few houses over, and even though Hunter was genuinely happy for his youngest brother, he already recognized how much more quiet the house was. How empty his place at the table was.

Then Omega tried to just sneak away a few years later. He knew her reasons, but he was still glad he could properly say goodbye to her.

And even though Crosshair was just a few houses over, and even though Omega sometimes visited and called in regularly, the house just felt empty, quiet, and boring.

He was so glad Wrecker was still by his side, even though he sometimes asked himself if his brother really was happy with their current situation.

But every time he asked him, Wrecker immediately got defensive and almost scared of Hunter leaving him, so he just kept that question for himself.

If Wrecker was ready or wanted to move on, he would.

"What's your plan for today?" Hunter asks him, and Wrecker thinks for a few seconds, before answering.

"I'll go and help Phee with some crates she has on her ship. She requested my help specifically," Wrecker grins and Hunter raises his eyebrows. Just like everyone's enhancements, Wrecker's also faded over the time. Of course, he is still a lot stronger than the average person, but Hunter knows his brother and his habit of overestimating himself too well.

At the same time, he knows Phee, and he immediately is sure she'll look after his brother, too. If he's being honest, he thinks she already packed the crates in a way that they aren't as heavy as they used to be. He's sure she could probably transport them herself, and just wants to make Wrecker happy.

"Sounds good. I'll probably go and help Shep. Some new arrivals landed tonight, and they need to get settled down," Hunter nods, taking a bite of another cookie.

"You remember today is Batch day?" Hunter asks, and Wrecker nods excitedly.

It's a weekly occasion, that they'll meet at the beach, in a bar, a restaurant or their houses and catch up with each other and spend time together.

Even though the three of them see each other often enough, they still decided to spare this one evening during the week to indulge in nostalgia and make it feel just like the old times.

They'd never miss the day, not for anything in this galaxy.

Wrecker and Hunter complete their morning routine, say goodbye to each other and try to fulfill their tasks as best as they could.

Hunter manages to help settle down about three new villagers. One of them was an elderly lady who smelled weirdly like dried fruit and old books, a man about his age with a small baby in his arms who cried the whole time, and a young woman, about thirty years old, who smiled at him weirdly, and said goodbye with a wink.

The day is over faster than he thinks and soon he's sitting in the living room of his and Wrecker's house. The latter one is stretched out over the couch, complaining about his aching back, and Crosshair is sitting next to them, irritating Wrecker even more.

Yeah, just like old times, he thinks and smiles to himself. Almost, at least.

It's in exact that moment, that his comm beeps. First one, then two times. Immediately, the other two stop bickering, and looking at Hunter expectantly.

When he takes out the small device and checks the callers ID, a small smile appears on his lips.

"It's Omega," he announces and Wrecker groans, relieved: "Finally!"

Hunter opens the com channel, while he and Crosshair try to move Wrecker upwards to a sitting position.

Well, it wouldn't be Wrecker if he was easy, right?

He starts laughing and just takes Crosshair and Hunter, pulling them down on him, pulling them close and huddles them close to each of his side.

"Oh, maker, are you okay?" Omega asks from Hunter's com, surely able to just see blurry forms and colors, due to Wrecker's unpredictable actions.

"Yeah, kid, we’re fine," Hunter says when they're finally able to look into her sister's face again. Omega jokingly rolls her eyes at his little "nickname" for her, but doesn't say anything about it. She's always going to be his kid in his heart, and she knows it.

"Oh, Omega! I missed ya!" Wrecker immediately exclaims and grins from ear to ear, his back pain already forgotten.

"I miss you, too," the young woman starts to smile and Hunter's heart warms just a little at that.

It's been so long since she's been here with them already.

"How was the mission?" Crosshair asks next, and Omega immediately starts talking about what they did and how they managed to pull some secret data out of an even more secret outpost and that most of them made it out unharmed.

When they each catch themselves up on what's going on and what happens around them on Pabu and in the Rebellion, all of them always have a huge smile on their face.

And even though it almost feels like the old times again, Hunter realizes one thing in this exact moment:

It doesn't matter how hard they try to make it work like the old times again. The bitter truth is - they can't. It will never be the same again. Too much happened, too much time passed, and too many people weren't here by their side anymore, who definitely deserved to be.

But what they can do is try to make it all worth it.

Live their lives how they're supposed to do. Be proud of what they've overcome and of what they figured out for themselves.

Be proud about what they did and what they made of it.

They still can enjoy the moments they have with each other and make the best of it.

Instead of trying to make old times again, they should start to look forward to the new ones.

There's still so much waiting for him, for them, and it would be a shame to miss out on that.

Even though it won't ever be the same again, it doesn't mean it's bad at all.

TAGLIST

@isthereanechoinhere96 @trixie2023 @freesia-writes

Never getting over what could have been 😢

Late night doodle. Something sweet. Hope it brightens your day. These two love birds brighten each other's day. (I know it is a sketch but I want to fix it so badly, lol)

I’m obsessed with their relationship! 🥰

Y’all it’s crying about Hunter and Omega hours

Like what do you mean this hardened soldier crumbled like a Christmas cookie when a little girl looked at him like he was her hero? What do you mean she was there when he and his brothers were born and has spent years trying to find them again?? What do you MEAN he lost a part of himself every time she was taken?? What do you MEAN that even after half a year she never doubted he would show up when she called???? What do you mEAN HE STUMBLED AFTER HER AND THE MAD SCIENTIST WHO CAPTURED HER, HALF DEAD FROM TORTURE BUT STILL DETERMINED TO SAVE HER AS SHE HAS SAVED HIM AND HIS BROTHERS OVER AND OVER AND—

Love this adorable story. Just in time for Bad Batch Day! (yesterday)

Happy Bad Batch Day!

Have some fluff with a side of angst!

Omega rode on Wrecker’s shoulders, hands on his head, and peering forward excitedly at what he carried. With the lid of the box closed she couldn’t see or smell what they’d picked up from that strange place that smelled of sugar, and a million other sweet things she didn’t know of. The building had been out of the way, on the outskirts of the city, and looked much nicer than the majority of the buildings on Ord Mantell. She and Wrecker had been allowed a peak in the box to see if it suited their desires, and then it was all theirs.

“So what is that again?” Omega asked.

“Cake!” Wrecker answered, booming voice filled with enthusiasm. “Oh man, I can’t wait to eat it. I haven’t had cake in a whole year.”

“I haven’t had cake… ever.”

“Well that’s about to change.”

When they entered Cid’s place, Omega climbed off of Wrecker and onto the bar before kneeling on a stool.

Everyone in their squad gathered ‘round.

“You got it?” Hunter asked.

“It looks beautiful,” Wrecker told him.

Hunter opened the lid on the box to see for himself. From her vantage point Omega got another look at the white frosting, and the red 99 in icing on top. The large, round cake had red swirls all along the sides, and the red swirls circled the top of the cake.

“Wrecker, how much did this cost?”

Tech peered in, and adjusted his goggles. “Oh dear. We’ll be paying off Cid for life at this rate.”

Echo came over and put his arm around Tech. “Eh, it’ll be fine.”

“You don’t even like cake,” Tech argued.

“No, I hate whatever it was that you made last year.”

“Cake.”

“Not according to my taste buds.”

Wrecker laughed. “Who cares, we have a better one this year.”

“So what are we celebrating?” Omega asked as everyone set up, and Hunter was cleaning his vibroblade, perhaps to slice off pieces.

“Well, we don’t have birthdays,” Wrecker said.

Omega wrinkled her nose at the idea of birth. Gross.

“So we celebrate our decanting.”

“Hey, I was there for that!” Omega cried. “I… I really wanted to stay with you. All of you, till—till you’d know who I was.”

A tear slid down her face, surprising her, and she was shocked by the sudden, empty loneliness in her chest.

Wrecker put a giant hand on her shoulder, and wiped her tear away.

“It’s okay, kid. You’re with us now.”

Omega sat down. “And what about Crosshair?”

“Yes, it does feel odd doing this without him,” Tech said. “It’s… the first one he’ll miss.”

“Do you think that he’s okay?” Omega asked.

Hunter had a grim look on his face, and he responded honestly, “I don’t know. For now, there isn’t much we can do. We have to look at our losses, but celebrate what we do have. Yes, we lost one of our own.” His dark look turned into a smile, a loving warmth in his eyes as he beheld Omega. “But we gained something just as special.” He took her hand. “Do you want the first piece, Omega?”

She nodded, Hunter’s words drawing her from her melancholy. They were a soldier’s words, a leader’s words. And they were wise, and true.

Hunter gave a half-grin, and then said, “Actually, would you like to do the honors?”

He handed over his vibroblade.

Omega practically vibrated with excitement, and she was beaming at the blade, and Hunter, and the cake, and her family surrounding her.

“Would I ever?”

She took the proffered blade, and dug into the cake. She tried to make her slice proportionate, but she’d never done this before, so she ended up with an awkward triangle, the tapered point thin in comparison to the thick base. It wobbled onto the plate Echo held out, and flopped onto its side. Oops! Well, at least it was her piece she’d messed up.

Omega saw white frosting and some of the red icing on the knife, and started moving it towards her mouth.

“I’ll take that,” Hunter said quickly, grabbing it from her.

“What?” she asked, arms crossed in complaint until Echo handed her her plate and a fork.

“No licking knives.”

She stuck her tongue out at him. She was dying to try her slice, looking at the soft, dark color of the cake itself. It was probably moist, and sweet, and just perfect. The red icing complemented the red and near-black nicely. Yet she waited, making sure everyone had a slice.

They sat down at a table together, glancing at each other, seeing who would take the first bite.

Omega made sure it was her. She thought she was going to die from the perfection of her first bite. Contented sounds left all of them around the table.

“This… is so. Good,” Omega moaned.

Various nods, and mm-hmms met her.

“You got that right!” Wrecker said.

“I’m not saying this just because of the cake,” Omega started.

“Or are you?” Echo teased.

She flicked red icing at him, and they all laughed.

“What I’m trying to say,” Omega went on, “before I was rudely interrupted, is that… well, I’m glad you all exist. I… I’ve never had a family before, and that’s what you all are to me: a family. You helped me, gave me a home, and you’re super fun. I’m lucky to have you all.”

“And we’re lucky to have you,” Hunter said. “Now eat up. Come on, are we going to let this cake just sit here while we all talk?”

They laughed together, and dug into their cake once more, and Omega promised that someday, Crosshair would be celebrating with them.

Get him, Omega!!!

No wonder he left

I bet he does this all the time once they’re safe on Pabu!

You guys remember that scene in the bad batch when Hunter picks Omega up and twirls her around in his arms because he loves her so much