What A Duo!

What a duo!

TBB doodle😁 Hunter and Crosshair on a mission 👊

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

This is absolutely my head canon.

We talk a lot about how traumatized Crosshair is, how much he has been through, what he's had to overcome, and how much our man needs ALL the TLC and hugs and comfort and therapy (and boy oh boy he does!)...

But Hunter strikes me as the kind of person who is equally traumatized and scarred for life (just in different ways) but keeps it buried deep because he's supposed to be the leader and he WILL stay strong, he is fully aware Wrecker spent months barely holding him back from careening off the edge of the cliff and so he's going to work even harder to hold himself together now because Wrecker shouldn't have borne that responsibility, he's going to be there to hug Omega when she sobs from the nightmares and comfort Crosshair when he wakes up in a cold sweat clutching at the hand that's no longer there and convince Wrecker to take a break when he starts to wheeze while walking up the path to the Archium or gets that far-off look in his eyes as he stares at the mangled breastplate hanging up in his room...

He's going to do all this, and he's going to stay acutely aware of all their struggles and will help them through all of it, and he might quietly admit to having a bad dream when Omega talks about it, but he's never, ever, EVER going to tell anyone that he quietly goes to his room to hide his panic attacks and how hard it is to let Omega out of his sight and how difficult it is for him to convince his brothers to go out and try some new hobbies because he is so afraid they're going to get hurt but he can't tell them that and how his throat still feels like it's closing up every time he looks at his siblings and notices the one who isn't there and never will be again...

And the thing is, Omega and Wrecker and Crosshair know how much Hunter is struggling, but they don't know exactly how to help him because he keeps saying he's fine, and he's going to keep saying it because he's the older brother and he's supposed to take care of them and he failed at it so many times and he's NOT going to fail now...

But they keep at it, Omega insists that they all have a "camp out" in the living room all together at least once a week (Hunter doesn't have nightmares then) and Wrecker makes Hunter come with him to try a bunch of new hobbies until Hunter's discovered six new interests and Crosshair who has finally forced himself to go to the memorial at the Archium now somehow manages to drag Hunter along with him every few days and they sit together and remember their brother (until said brother finally comes home, of course)...

And by the time Rex contacts Hunter to let him know the vault kids' families have been found and asks for help getting them all relocated to safety, Hunter watches his family gear up to go, and he realizes... not only are they okay, but he's okay, too.

Happy Bad Batch Day!!!

Guys it’s Bad Batch day (9/9)

I mean, every day is Bad Batch day, but today especially. I better celebrate by watching TWO episodes of Bad Batch this evening.

This is so real!

"you're the writer, you control how the story goes" no not really. i wrote the first sentence and then my characters said "WE WILL TAKE IT FROM HERE" and promptly swerved into an electrical fence.

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)