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technical devotion, part one: a new life

a/n: ahhh so I'm actually scared to post this, I've never posted any fics on tumblr, it's kinda new to me. it's my first time writing an echo fic and I haven't really read any tbh either. I hope you enjoy :) content warnings: none :)

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Kan stared in awe as the swirling of hyperspace fell away, revealing the planet below. She had seen it happen a thousand times before, but each time it filled her with the same thrill as it always did, and after all, this might be the last time for a while. She peered down at the planet, swirls of reds, oranges and browns covering it’s surface.

Through the grapevine, Kan had heard about a band of rebels, an organised group of clones, and it had instantly piqued her interest. She had already been working closely with a senator, and had been stationed on Alderaan since the Republic had become the Empire, but she longed to be more involved in the fight, making a real difference. Hence, here she was, descending into the atmosphere of a new planet, to do exactly that.

She placed her water bottle back into the side pouch of her bag, and slung it over her head, adjusting the strap so it was laying comfortably across her chest. She tried to hide her excitement, but the pilot of the ship was secretly grinning to himself at the hurried actions of the woman aboard his ship.

Echo waited patiently on the landing platform, his hand and scomp arm folded neatly behind his back. He watched on as a ship carefully landed, a hissing steam erupting beneath it as the door opened. A Mirialan woman moved down the steps, and made her way over to him with a spring in her step.

“You must be Echo” She said as she came to a stop in front of him.

“That’s me, you’re Kan?” He confirmed, instantly taking note of the deep scarring across her shoulders.

“Yup” She replied, a lazy smile crossing her lips with a two-fingered salute at her temple, “At your service”

Echo was taken aback by her unabashed friendliness, not entirely sure how to respond. He began walking away from the ship and towards the compound.

“So you’re the technical specialist?” He asked.

“Mhm” Kan hummed, a smile pulling at one side of her lips, “Not very exciting, I know”

“Maybe not” He shrugged, “But it’s still important”

“Let’s hope” She chuckled slightly.

“We don’t really have anyone with your skillset here” Echo said.

“Hopefully that means there’ll be lots for me to do?” Kan said, and Echo turned slightly to see the clear excitement on her face.

“I’m sure there will. We’re growing by the day so with more people will come more work, I assume”

Kan nodded quickly, and they settled into a silence as they made their way inside the compound. There were many clones moving about the building, all of them looking in Kan’s direction. She saw few others like herself, recruits from outside the Grand Army of the Republic, but there were mainly just the identical men. Kan looked at the clone beside her, having taken note of how different he looked from the rest of his brothers.

“I must say, your scomp arm is rather impressive” She told him.

“Oh, um, thank you” He replied, noticeably awkwardly.

“I assume it’s tapped into your neural network based on your head gear, that must be very useful on missions” She said, as if thinking out loud.

“Uh, yeah, it can be” Echo was very clearly uncomfortable all of a sudden and Kan took notice.

“Sorry, did I say som-”

“Don’t worry about it” Echo looked to her quickly with a tight smile. Kan frowned and looked down to the ground, mentally kicking herself for making a poor first impression.

“This is the barracks” Echo said, and she looked up as he opened the door.

Kan peered inside. The room was large, and despite the numerous lamps, quite dark. There were many bunks, neatly lined up against the walls, some of them made up and others with the covers crumpled and half-thrown on the floor.

“You get your pick of the spare bunks, the ones with the blankets folded up are available” Echo said.

“Cool” Kan said simply.

“This way” Echo moved further down the corridor, and Kan followed after him. “That’s the mess, breakfast is at 0700, lunch at 1200 and dinner at 1800” He pointed to a large archway that lead into a brighter room, in which there were large tables lined with benches, and no-one currently occupying the space.

“Got it” Kan replied.

She noted Echo’s distinctly military disposition, carrying himself with a precise confidence and somewhat emotionless expression. The two of them then turned into a hallway, which darkened towards the middle, where there was a door, almost hidden in the shadows.

“This will be your… office, I suppose” Echo stopped at the door and turned to her. Kan nodded in understanding and opened it up.

Inside, there was a desk and a chair in the far corner, along with a computer that clearly needed fixing up. Most obviously though, there was all sorts of junk and spare parts of various denominations scattered about the floor, some of it piling up into what seemed like small mountains.

“Sorry it isn’t more organised, like I said, no one else deals with kind of stuff” Echo spoke.

“It’s perfect” Kan turned to him with a smile, “Is there anything I can be getting on with?”

“Uh… you don’t want to get settled first?” He asked, his plain expression contorting into one of puzzlement.

“Oh, yeah” Kan let out a light laugh, placing her bag down on the floor, “I suppose I can”

“I’ll leave you to it then, like I said, dinner at-”

“1800, I got it, thanks Echo” She smiled at him once more.

“No problem, see you around” He said, turning on his heel and walking back the way they had come.

Kan ventured into the room, pushing the various spare parts out of the way with her feet, making a sort of path through the chaos. She bent down as she got to the computer, turning it to get a better look at the damage to it, sucking a breath through her teeth at the hole that had burned straight through the motherboard. She got to work instantly, searching through the piles in the room and finding a new motherboard, then rewiring and soldering the components back into place. She found the cause of the problem by opening up the cooling system, where the regulator seemed to be completely broken. She huffed. That’s not a part that I’ll just find lying around. Kan ventured back towards the door and pulled her datapad from her bag. 1804, time for dinner.

Kan left her ‘office’, something she was uninclined to call it, in part because of the state it was in, but also because she didn't think of herself as someone who would ever have such a thing. She wasn't nearly organised enough. Kan wound her way back to where Echo had showed her the mess, standing in the doorway feeling moderately overwhelmed.

Echo took a sip from his cup as he noticed her standing there, looking too sheepish to enter. Her olive green skin stood out amongst the clones around her, as well as her head of long black hair, half of it messily tied back from her face.

“Hey, you must be Kan” A blonde clone walked up to her and said with a polite smile.

“Yeah that's me” She smiled back, “Are you Rex?”

“Sure am” He replied, “It's good to finally meet you, why don’t you come and sit with us?”

“Thanks, yeah” Kan chuckled, slightly embarrassed.

The line for food wasn’t too long yet, so the pair of them grabbed their food quickly and sat down, Rex next to Echo and Kan on the other side of the table.

“Hey Echo” She smiled, and he nodded to her in acknowledgement.

“So, how have you been settling in?” Rex asked, taking a bite of his food.

“Um, okay, I suppose. I’ve been working on that old computer, it needs a new regulator for the cooling system really, but I could maybe fix it with some rewiring. I’ll have to then program it myself as well, which will take some time, but I could probably do it within a rotation”

“Wow, so Echo’s put you to work already I see” Rex joked with a small smirk to his brother.

“Oh yeah, really working me to the bone” Kan grinned at Rex and then to Echo briefly, who went to protest before she continued, “I’m kidding, I just wanted to fix it, couldn’t help myself”

“Well that’s a good sentiment if ever I heard one, you’ll be an asset to the team I’m sure” Rex smiled.

“I try” She shrugged, looking down to her food and taking a bite, “So… you guys are like, the head honchos of this operation then”

Rex chuckled, “I suppose so, its a pretty lose command system at the moment, but me and Echo keep them in line” He put an arm around Echo’s shoulders, “Isn’t that right?”

Echo smiled slightly at his brother, “More or less”

“Lucky me then” Kan smiled, as another clone came to join them.

“Who have we here?” They asked, an eyebrow arched and a somewhat cheesy grin plastered across their face.

“I’m Kan, and you?” She held out a hand, and the clone shook it firmly.

“Ah, the new technical lady, the name’s Gregor” He replied, “Is Kan short for anything?”

“Yeah, it is” She said, and took a bite of her food.

“Well go on then, what’s it short for” Gregor asked again.

“Something very long that you can’t pronounce, I’m sure” Kan smirked slightly.

“Alright mystery lady, keep your secrets then” Gregor smirked back and dug into his food.

Kan just chuckled to herself and kept her head down as she ate her food. She listened to the clones around her chatting and joking with each other, and found them to be generally very endearing and funny. She had met her fair share of clones before, so she already knew what they could be like. She finished up her food and stood up to leave, Rex asking where she was off to.

“Back to my room, that computer’s not going to fix itself” She replied, gesturing to the exit with her thumb.

“Alright, we’ll see you later then” He smiled, turning back to his conversation with Gregor.

“See you later” She smiled, and left the mess quickly.

Kan worked on the regulator until she felt her eyes growing heavy with sleep. She rubbed them and stretched her back, sighing as she was yet to finish working on the cooling system. The parts of it were strewn around her as she sat cross-legged on the floor, and with sleep threatening to overwhelm her, she couldn’t focus on it any longer. She picked herself off of the floor and left the room, her feet dragging her towards the barracks. As she approached the door, she noticed Echo walking towards it as well

“Oh, hey Echo” She smiled at him sleepily.

“Hi” Echo replied flatly with a nod as she followed him inside.

Echo made his way over to his bunk in the far corner and sat down with a heavy sigh. He started unclipping his armour, starting with the gauntlet plates and working his way up his arms, as he watched Kan looking, once again, a bit lost. She looked noticeably tired as she peered around the room, and Echo smiled softly as she yawned and rubbed her eye. She then looked in his direction, and walked over.

”This is your bunk?” She pointed to the one he was sat on.

“Uh, yeah?” He replied.

“Cool” Kan slipped off her boots and placed them underneath the bunk next to Echo's.

“What are you doing?” Echo asked.

“Choosing a bunk” She smiled, unfolding the blanket.

“You had to choose the one next to me?” He said, a little exasperated at her persistent friendliness.

“Is that a problem?” She sat down on her bunk, facing him.

“Not as long as you don’t snore” He said, lying down and facing towards the wall.

Kan laid down on her bed and chuckled, “I can’t say whether I do or don’t, I guess we’ll find out”

Kan yawned, and Echo felt himself wanting to roll his eyes. Everything she did felt ridiculously theatrical to him. She was very cheery, in a way that somehow irritated and interested him at the same time. He then realised that she probably just wanted to feel welcomed to the team, and Echo was one of the few clones she had interacted with.

“So are you…” He rolled over to speak to her but trailed off when he saw that she had already fallen asleep. She was still in her clothes, the blanket thrown off of her, and she was neatly curled up against the pillow. Echo chuckled to himself at how easily she had fallen asleep, and sat up, reaching over and pulling the blanket over her sleeping form. He laid down himself and watched her for a moment. She looked so at peace, as if she had never known any hardship. Echo turned over and shut his eyes, wishing for a sleep so restful.

technical devotion, part two: boundaries

content warnings: none :)

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Kan had been at the rebel compound for a week, and she was itching for more exciting prospects to come about. Thus far, she had only really worked on small projects, specific things that needed fixing like comms and datapads, and she hoped that soon her expertise could be used to its full potential. She was still grateful to be in the position she was, and was pleased to be helping at all in the first place.

She had acquainted herself with Rex and Gregor the most, and Echo by proxy, though he didn't go out of his way to talk to her at all. She found Gregor to be extremely fun and charming, and Rex was very personable as well. She hadn't really talked to many of the clones apart from them, as she often kept to herself, holing up in her ‘office’ until it was time to eat or sleep. Though, that was nothing new, she had always operated like that.

Echo was still trying to become acclimatised to the addition of this new woman to his small circle of brothers he considered to be close to him. He didn't mind Kan's presence, but it still made him uneasy, and he often didn't know what to say to her, particularly around his brothers. He ended up keeping to himself more than he usually would. She would always greet him with a smile and he was polite and acknowledged her presence, but didn't stretch their interactions much beyond that.

Echo was on his way back to the barracks for the night, passing by the door to Kan's office, as he heard a distinct “Ouch” hissed from behind it. His curiosity got the better of him, and he knocked firmly on the door a few times.

“Come in” Kan's voice called, an irritated edge to it.

Echo opened the door, taking in the sight. The room was still a mess, piles of junk and both unusable and salvageable spare parts strewn about the place, and Kan was sat on the chair at the centre of it. She was slumped back, her spine curled up and her boot heels hanging on to the edge of the seat, the only thing stopping her from slipping off. She was fiddling with a small component in her hands, her eyes focused and eyebrows furrowed from behind a pair of large round glasses.

“Everything alright?” He said, addressing the cry of pain he had heard moments before.

“Oh, Echo, hi” Kan looked up and pushed the glasses onto her head, sitting up straighter, “Yeah, this is just a bit fiddly, it keeps- ow!” She shook out her hand and looked to him sheepishly, “Pinching me”

Echo had to supress a smile, “Alright, I'll leave you to it then” He spoke, his hand on the doorframe as he moved away.

“Wait!” Kan shouted out suddenly, and he pushed himself back into the doorway with a slight raise of his brow, “Sorry, I just wanted to run something by you, one minute”

Echo stayed silent as Kan knelt down, rummaging through various piles.

“Where is it?” She said under her breath, looking around and moving to another pile. She took a wad of tangled wires and threw them behind her, and Echo almost winced at the heavy thud as they smacked into the far wall.

“Ah, here it is” She pulled out a datapad and expertly navigated her way through the mess and over to Echo, “I drew this up for you. It's just the basic idea, but I was wondering if it would be something you were interested in”

Echo was certainly intrigued by her words, but his heart fell from his chest as he took the datapad from her and looked at what was on it. It was blueprints for some sort of attachment for his scomp arm, so that he would have a hand where his real flesh one used to be.

Kan watched Echo's reaction with worry, and felt the need to explain herself as he stared at her plans with a blank expression.

“Sorry it's a bit crude, I’ve never been the best at drawing” She spoke nervously, and she saw Echo's throat bob as he swallowed hard. “You'd still be able to use your scomp of course, it's just an attachment, but you'd be able to use it like a real hand” She continued, feeling herself rambling, her words falling over each other in her hurried speech.

Echo said nothing, and handed the datapad back to her, turning and walking away from her swiftly. Kan's cheeks flushed a good few shades deeper. She felt so embarrassed.

Kan slumped into the mess late the next morning, her head feeling heavy with her lack of sleep. She had remained in her office long past her usual bed time, finding anything she could to fix up so as to keep her mind from the mortification of Echo ignoring her simple act of compassion. She had only wished to try to connect with him in some way, and she had tried the only way she knew how; through her work.

When she had retired to the barracks, everybody was already asleep, and the sun had already begun to cast a gentle blue light through the windows. She had slid into her sheets, thankful for the sleeping form of Echo in the bunk next to her, and had finally allowed sleep to take her. Little did she know, Echo's nights were almost always sleepless, and he had heard her come in at the early hour of the morning.

“You look rough” Rex commented, taking a sip of caf.

“Why thank you” Kan joked, taking her seat opposite the clones but making sure to sit further away from Echo than she usually did.

“Bad night's sleep?”

“Mhm. Something like that”

Echo watched her slow and tired movements with intrigue, wondering what had kept her up so long the night before. She hadn't gotten any food, and instead poured herself a large cup of caf, taking a sizable gulp of it and then staring down into the brown liquid.

“There's something I was wondering about” Rex stated, gaining Kan’s attention once more, “Do you think you would you be able to build a device that would allow us to intercept long range comms? We have satellites and other technology that connects us to the wider galaxy, but having something like that could really give us an edge in the operation we're running here”

Kan's eyes lit up at the prospect of it, “Yeah I'm sure I could drum that up pretty easily”

“Really? I wasn’t sure if it was a big ask or not”

“No, its simple really, it will just take me a bit of time and fiddling about with satellite reception. All I will need is parts, but now I think of it, there's definitely a number of things I'll need already in my room”

“Okay that's good then, let me know the parts you don't have and I'll see what I can find”

Echo finished his food shortly after the conversation came to a lull, and left the table without saying a word. Kan let out a deep sigh as she watched him leave, which Rex took notice of.

“Do you know if there’s a particular reason why Echo doesn’t like me?”

“Oh, I’m sure he does, he’s just a bit weary of new people” Rex replied sincerely.

“Right” Kan took another large sip of her caf with furrowed brows, “I tried to show him my designs for a hand attachment for his scomp arm but he just… didn’t say anything”

“Oh” Rex said quietly, and Gregor sucked a harsh breath between his teeth.

“What is it?” She asked hurriedly.

“Well, I won’t say why, because I’m sure Echo wouldn’t appreciate it, but he doesn’t really like to talk about the parts of him that are… mechanical. The reason he has them… it’s not exactly a happy story”

“Oh no” Kan brought a hand to her mouth as she realised, “I complimented him on it almost immediately after we met, maker I’m so foolish”

“It’s okay, you didn’t know” Rex assured her, “Echo’s very professional, he’ll move on from it if you just forget about it”

Kan nodded, “Okay, I will”

Echo walked into the mess for dinner and got his food, taking a seat at his usual table. All day, him and Rex had been trying to work out the kinks of an upcoming mission, but there were many factors they had to take onto consideration, and so it was looking less and less likely that it was going to be happening any time soon.

Rex and Gregor joined Echo shortly, and they settled into their usual light conversation, trying to keep the more heavy topics for the command room. As dinner drew on, Kan didn't appear, just as she hadn't at lunch time, and Echo couldn't help but wonder why.

Then later as Echo sat down on his bunk, and the one next to him remained empty, he couldn't help the nagging feeling that he should go and see if she was alright. His feet carried him to her door, and he knocked on it once more, hearing a surprised yelp from behind it.

“One moment!” The door whizzed open a second later and Kan was standing right in front of him. He instinctively stepped back. “Echo!” She smiled, “What brings you here?”

“You weren’t at lunch or dinner, I was just checking you were still alive in here” Echo looked around the messy room, it seemed to somehow be a lot messier than it had been when she arrived.

“Oh yeah, I’ve just been pretty focused today” She admitted.

Echo nodded and left, but not before feeling Kan grab onto his arm lightly, “Wait!”. He looked down at the hand on his arm and then back up to her face.

“Sorry” Kan retracted her hand, “I just wanted to apologise for yesterday, I didn’t mean to overstep any boundaries”

Echo just took a deep breath, “It’s fine”

“Are you sure?” She looked at him with such intent, and he could see that she really wanted to be forgiven.

“Don’t worry about it” Echo gave her a small smile, and Kan cracked her own grin.

“Okay” She stepped back, and Echo remained in the doorway, “I just finished this, do you want to see if it works?”

“What is it?” He leaned inside, looking for a place to put his feet.

“The long range comms… interceptor, or whatever Rex called it”

“You’ve finished it already?” He raised his eyebrows.

“Well… yeah” She grinned, and Echo smiled a little again as he stepped in.

“Sorry it’s so messy in here” She said as she lead him through the mess, “Please, sit down”

As Kan crouched and began fiddling with the device, tuning it with headphones on, Echo really looked at her for the first time, taking in her features. He noticed the straightness of her brows, the soft curve of her jaw, the slight bump in the bridge of her nose, the way her jet black hair made her olive green skin stand out in the most brilliant way and how the beaded pieces at the front framed her face perfectly. He also dragged his eyes along the scar that stretched across her collarbones, silently wondering how she got such a significant injury.

The device crackled to life, and as Kan looked up to him with a smile he noticed the dark green colour of her eyes.

“Here” She passed him the headphones and he took them from her as her face fell, “Oh I’m sorr-”

“Don’t be” Echo said flatly, and took off his headgear that wrapped around the back of his head.

Kan looked at the piece in awe as Echo placed it down on the desk, very interested in its functionality and inner workings. Echo put the headphones on and listened through them, hearing some chatter.

“Where is this coming from?” He asked, noticing her staring at his head piece.

“Oh! um, looks like it’s between Ryloth and… somewhere in the expansion region, Shili sector maybe” She said, looking to the display on the device.

Echo nodded, listening in to the voices. It was nothing particularly interesting, seemingly just shipping information. He looked up and noticed her staring at his headpiece again, and he smiled faintly at her wonder. He picked it up and handed it to her.

“Are you sure, I don’t want to-”

“Take it” He said softly, and she took it from him slowly, being very gentle and looking over it in awe.

Echo felt his heart swell at someone being so genuinely interested in it rather than confused or disgusted.

“This is really rather amazing, I might have to get one” She smiled up at him, earning one back in return.

Echo handed the headphones back, and Kan swapped them for his headpiece, which he put back in its place. Echo stood up and made his way back to the door. Turning around, he saw that Kan was sat cross-legged in front of the device, tuning it again.

“You should get some sleep”

She looked up to him, mouth hanging open a little, “I’m just going to see if I can find anything interesting before I turn in”

“Alright” He went to leave, stopped again by Kan calling out.

“Echo” She said softly, and he turned back, “Thanks for checking on me”

Echo just nodded in reply and left.

He couldn't help but find Kan’s words and actions completely endearing. She was so gentle with his head attachment, as if it was a real living breathing thing. He could do without her mess, preferring a tidy and organised workspace himself, but he felt that it somehow suited her, and for that he didn't mind it too much. He could feel himself warming to her presence already, and he bit back a smile as he entered the barracks for the night.

technical devotion, part three: decryption

content warning: mentions of eating habits (not presented as an ED but if that sort of thing upsets you pls read with caution)

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Kan slumped down unceremoniously onto the bench, taking a large cup and filling it to the brim with caf. Echo and Rex looked to each other and then back to her in worried glances. She had prominent bags under her eyes, and a sloppiness to her movements

“Did you actually sleep at all last night?” Rex asked hesitantly.

Kan brushed past the question, “I didn't find anything yet” She yawned, “It appears that most imperial communications are under several layers of encryption, so I've been working to decrypt them”

“You finished the transmission intercepting device already?”

“Last night” She said, glancing towards Echo, taking a long sip of caf.

“And you were… monitoring it all night?”

“No” She said plainly, “I was trying to decrypt it all night”

Echo almost winced at the thought of it. He didn't get too much sleep, but no sleep at all, especially with so little the night before, She must feel awful, he thought.

Kan finished her caf and stood, “Well, back to it” She tried to sound more awake but it came out sounding somewhat slurred.

Echo barely saw Kan over the next few days. She turned up at lunch, marginally more awake than she had been at breakfast, but missed dinner, and didn't return to the barracks that night either. The next day she missed breakfast, turned up for lunch but got her food and took it back to her office, and then missed dinner again, not turning up for the whole day after that.

Echo had to admit that he was more than a little worried about her, which only intensified when he had periodically seen her ever-darkening undereye circles. After not having seen her in the mess the whole day, he decided that he'd take her some food.

As he approached her office, he found the door open, and Kan was sat cross-legged on her chair, bent over her desk and fiddling with something while simultaneously looking over the holoscreen of her computer.

Echo cleared his throat and she let out a short squeak, jumping at the noise, then looked back at him with her glasses hanging skewed on the tip of her nose.

“Echo” Kan smiled as she pushed her glasses atop her head, a warm and inviting expression that seemingly always accompanied his name when greeting him. He had to admit that he enjoyed the way his name sounded in her specific accent.

“Hey” He said, a small smile of his own making an appearance, “I brought you some food”

“Oh, thank you! That’s so kind, is it lunch already?” She said as she dropped whatever was in her hand and stood.

Echo looked at her with a mixture of amusement and worry, “This is dinner”

Kan’s eyes widened, “What?”, She scrambled to find her datapad, looking at the time, “Oh maker, I’ll try and keep a closer eye on the time from now on”

Echo held back a grin at her sheepish expression, then the part of him that was worried about her took over, “You should really make sure you eat, and sleep, you haven’t been back to the barracks in days”

“Yeah I’ve been staying in here” She said, stepping through the mess of her office carefully. It seemed that there were little foot holes, a path that would only allow her small feet to enter. Kan took the food from him with a smile and stepped back the way she came.

“How do you manage to sleep in here? let alone work” Echo said, and as Kan turned to him she was delighted to find a small grin on his face.

She shrugged, “I don’t know, I mostly just fall asleep at my desk”

Echo shook his head and stepped back, “Alright, well try and make it back into an actual bed tonight maybe”

“Yes sir” Kan gave a little salute, then settled back in her chair, going back to what she was doing before he arrived.

Echo watched her for a second longer, feeling, once again, completely endeared by her demeanour. He chewed on the corner of his bottom lip, trying to decide whether he should feel so charmed by someone who was, for all intents and purposes, a colleague. Echo had never been confronted with the issue before, given that he had always worked alongside his brothers. He then left without a word, leaving the door open as he had found it.

Despite Echo’s suggestion, Kan didn’t make it to bed that night, and Echo was almost of the mind to go back to her office and force her to get some proper rest. Almost. She then missed breakfast and lunch the next day, and Echo couldn't help but feel on edge.

It irritated him to no end that he couldn't focus on the task at hand. In the grand scheme of things, that being bringing down the Empire, but he couldn't even pay attention properly as him and Rex drew up a plan for his upcoming mission. Especially when said distraction came bursting into the room, a thin sheen of sweat coating her forehead and out of breath. Wasn't her office just down the hall?

Everyone turned and looked to the loud entrance, their questioning eyes landing on Kan.

“I decrypted the transmissions” She huffed out, taking a moment to breathe, “I've got something I think you'll want to hear”

“What is it?” Rex stood up straight, bringing his hands away from the central holotable.

Kan walked over quickly, and gestured to the holotable, “May I?”

Rex stepped back with a nod, and Kan quickly brought up a map of a sector in the outer rim territories, “They were talking about a planet in the Savareen sector, the Tyrius system I think… here!”

She zoomed into the unnamed planet and looked for the area they were talking about, “If I'm remembering correctly… yes, it's here” She pointed at a valley, “They've recently constructed a facility here, sounds like a prison of sorts, but they didn't use that word. They said they were sending clones there to be ‘processed’, but they didn't say what that meant. They implied that they would be sent elsewhere after this ‘processing’ though” She spewed out the words she had heard loud and clear through her headphones just minutes before.

“Did they say anything else?” Rex asked.

“No, just a lot of… nasty words about clones really” She said, then cursed herself for even giving that unnecessary information.

“Okay, thank you Kan, that's very useful intel, we'll get looking into it immediately” Rex smiled at her gratefully, but she could see that the information also weighed heavily on his mind as he looked back to the map.

“Alright, I'll continue to monitor this channel, see if I can find out anything else” She said, and turned on her heel to leave.

Echo watched her form slink out of the door, and the other clones in the room went back to whatever it was they were doing before she had entered. Echo looked up to Rex, who had taken a seat on the crate behind him, a slightly far-away look in his eyes. He could see that the weight of running this operation was finally beginning to wear him down.

“I think I'm just going to take five Echo, you do the same” Rex spoke, his eyes raising to his brother’s for a moment before he sat back against the wall and closed them.

Echo nodded with a pain in his chest for his brother, and wordlessly left the room, making his way to the person he couldn't stop worrying about.

“Kan” Echo called out from the end of the hallway, and she turned around, “You should eat something”

“I'll get something at dinner” She continued in the direction of her office, but Echo caught up to her in just a few strides, gently grabbing her forearm to stop her.

“You need to eat”

“I've got to monitor the chan-”

“Kan you haven't been taking care of yourself, you can't stop the Empire if you make yourself unwell” Echo kept the slight feeling of desperation out of his voice.

Kan saw a hint of something she couldn't place in his usual plain expression and bit the inside of her cheek. “Okay” She said quietly, and started walking in the direction of the mess. When she realised that Echo hadn't followed after her, she turned and looked at him, her usual smile making its return.

“Do you fancy joining me?”

Echo saw how eager she was and only hesitated for a moment before he gave in, walking over and falling into step with her as they made their way to the mess in a comfortable silence.

Kan entered the kitchen to see what she could find. She opened the door to the refrigerated room with a small grunt, it taking more effort than she had bargained for, having to put her whole body weight into it. Echo watched with a small amount of amusement, then rolled his eyes at himself for once again finding the most simple of her actions to be endearing, cute even. Maker, just shut up, he told the little voice in his head that brought the thought forward.

Kan and Echo took their seats opposite each other at their usual table, and Kan dug into the yoghurt pot she had taken. Echo was quiet, finding it equally awkward to watch her eat and to look away as she did so. Instead, he tried making some kind of conversation.

“You didn't come back to the barracks last night”

Kan looked up, “Yeah, I was decrypting all night”. Echo wanted to say something, but she continued, “I think I just get tunnel vision, you know? Like I can't stop doing something until I've finished it” She sighed, “This decryption has taken longer than I would've liked really”

“You should really make time to sleep and eat” Echo said, a reluctance to say that he was worried about her but still feeling he should express the sentiment.

“Okay, dad” She chuckled, giving him a playful look, and Echo supressed the amused smirk that threatened to take over his face. They settled into silence again for a moment.

“How have you been settling in?” Echo asked.

“Um, alright, I guess. I haven't really talked to many other people I suppose” Kan admitted, a shrug in her shoulders.

“You could maybe sit elsewhere at meal times if you wanted?” Echo suggested innocently, but Kan looked at him with a painfully noticeable amount of hurt.

“Right, yeah, I could” She said, looking down.

Echo only meant to offer a solution but instantly regretted his words, and especially when it came to dinner time and she was sat across the room, mingling with another group of clones.

“I've never been lucky enough to meet a Mirialan before” The clone who had introduced himself as Oscar leaned forward and said, a certain cockiness about him.

“Is it everything you dreamed of?” Kan smirked slightly at his expression

“And more” He sent her a disarming smile and she chuckled at him, rolling her eyes slightly as she ate.

“Steady on Oscar” Another of the clones laughed at his brother, elbowing him in the ribs as he took his seat, “Howzer, nice to meet you”

She went to shake his hand, but he took it and held it to his lips, kissing the back of it. The action caught her off guard and her face flushed slightly.

“Alright, leave some for the rest of us for once Howzer” The clone named Teddy said, pushing his brothers shoulder over the table.

Kan liked the way clones interacted with each other. They really brought out the more playful sides of their brothers, most likely in reaction against the percieved single-use purpose of their existence.

“Don't you usually hang out with the bigwigs? What's got you over here?” Teddy asked her.

“No reason” She shruged, not wishing to admit that she'd felt pushed out by Echo.

“Well, their loss is our gain” Howzer smiled charmingly, the smooth words dropping from his tongue easily.

“I was gonna say that” Oscar grumbled and Kan smirked to herself.

“So what do you guys do around here?” She asked the group.

“We're a retrieval squad. The Captain here fancies himself a command position though” Oscar gestured to Howzer.

“You're a Captain?”

“What, you could tell by his sense of self-righteousness?” Teddy joked, earning a laugh from Kan.

“Shut up you two” Howzer rolled his eyes with a smile, “Yes, I'm a Captain”

“Cool” She donned her usual smile.

“I'm guessing by your performance in the command centre earlier that you're the new technical hire?” Howzer raised an eyebrow to question her.

“Yeah that's me” She smiled, adding a small salute “Sir”. Howzer chuckled at the pretend formality.

“What kind of performance did you put on?” Oscar asked with a sly smirk, earning a kick under the table from his brother.

“Maker, get your head out of the gutter Oscar” Teddy groaned, but Kan just chuckled at him.

“I've been working to decrypt imperial communications, I finally broke through and yeah, found some pretty useful information”

“So you're like, really clever then” Teddy stated and she smiled to herself.

“Sometimes” She shrugged, her eyes wandering across the room to where she usually ate at meal times. Her eyes found Echo’s stern gaze, and she offered him a small smile as she always did. He didn't return it this time, and looked away from her, leaving her feeling dejected once again.

technical devotion, part four: call to action

content warnings: none :)

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Kan could hear somebody rapping on the door from inside her headphones.

“One moment” She called, stepping through the ever-growing mess that was her office.

“Oh hey Rex, what can I do for you?” Kan smiled up at the Captain.

“Hey Kan” He smiled, leaning against the doorframe with crossed arms, “I was just thinking about this upcoming mission, Senator Organa said you have you have some field experience, is that right?”

“Oh, well yes, I do. I have medic training as well” She replied, slightly cautious.

“Hm” Rex stroked his chin in thought, “We might need you to step into the field for this one. It would be just you and Echo, does that sound like something you could be up for?”

“Yeah, of course Captain, whatever you need”

“Okay” He smiled, “Well there's actually another mission that could possibly use your help with, so we'll see what Echo thinks and plan from there”

Kan nodded and followed him as he returned to the command centre, finding Echo already in there, leaning over the central holotable. He stood up straight as he saw Kan enter behind Rex, and she smiled at him as she always did. Echo made no move to return the warm gesture, instead his face painted with confusion.

“Echo, I’m thinking of sending Kan with you on this one” Rex spoke up.

“Is that really necessary?” Echo retorted, no hostility in his words though Kan certainly saw it that way, trying hard to hide her hurt.

“She could really streamline the whole process, and besides, she may be able to think of another way that we haven’t considered” Rex replied, a little short with his brother as he noted his unnecessary angst towards the Mirialan. Kan was pleased to see that at least Rex had faith in her. She enjoyed his company and found him to be an incredibly effective leader, a commanding presence that still felt kind.

Echo just looked at Kan, his regular blank stare piercing her. Though from his perspective, his mind was running wild. He was eternally frustrated at himself for the way he found himself acting around Kan, drawn to her but keeping his walls up. Echo was well aware that she was displeased with him, particularly now as he could see the dejected look on her face. He knew she liked to be useful in any way she could, even at the expense of herself.

“If you dont think it's going to work I'll send her off to Corellia with Howzer, he could really do with-”

“No” Echo said quickly, “It's fine, you're right, she would be useful”

Kan felt incredibly awkward, feeling as if she had interrupted a domestic of some sort, and because they were both speaking as if she wasn't stood right there.

“So…” She stepped forwards tentatively, “What’s the mission?

Rex brought up the map, “This is Haidoral Prime, mid-rim, there’s an imperial facility here that we believe is transmitting something to the planet that you found out about, where they’re sending clones”

Kan stepped up to the table beside Rex, “And what are our orders?”

Echo was slightly taken aback by the shift in her presence. She suddenly became strikingly military in her disposition, a seriousness that felt strange to see on her features. Echo once again felt drawn to her, finding this other side of her personality equally as alluring.

“I originally intended on Echo going in and just stopping the transmission, trying to find out whatever it was they were transmitting, but now I'm thinking that maybe…” Rex paused, “Is there anyway you could reroute the transmission?”

Kan's eyes flicked about the map projected above the holotable, her teeth subltely gnawing at her bottom lip as she seemed to be deep in thought.

“Permission to speak freely sir?”

“Yeah Kan of course” Rex almost chuckled at her professionalism.

“I believe a different approach would serve us better. I could easily reroute the transmission, but the Empire would surely catch on soon enough. Instead… It would take longer but… I could possibly find a way to duplicate the transmission. That way, the Empire would still be receiving the transmission, but so would we. I would of course make sure that the transmission to this base was undetectable and untraceable, create a path that made no sense and seemed like a mistake if discovered, but that still leaves the issue of the Empire receiving the information” Kan chewed on her lip once more, “Perhaps there is a way to corrupt the signal on their transmission, something that would wear it down over time, so that they don't suspect any foul play”

“You could do that?” Rex asked, glad he asked Kan to join this mission.

“Certainly, though… it would take me quite a bit of time, and I don't know what kind of tech they're working with. Do you know anything about the number of troopers they might have in there?”

“No, we have no idea” Rex sighed locking his hands behind his head.

“In that case…” Kan started, looking to Rex for conformation that she still had the floor, and he nodded, “I see there being two options, one of which is probably the obvious answer, but that's up to you Captain. First is, Echo goes ahead with the original plan by himself” She spoke confidently and looked at Echo for the first time in the exchange, noting his slightly awestruck look.

“The second is that we go in more than once. The first time purely to get an idea of the tech they're using and how I can replicate the signal. Then I'll need to go away and have some time to figure everything out, then the second time would be to actually input the changes” Kan said, then her confidence retreated a little, “I understand how that is a lot more effort and it may just be more worth it to disable it and have done”

Rex sighed deeply, “It would be a lot harder but… You're right, that could really give us an edge”. He paused for another moment, running over everything Kan had said in his mind, “Alright, I say we go for it. Echo?” He looked to his brother.

Echo was still looking at Kan, but his eyes flicked to his brother as he adressed him, “What?”

“What do you think?” Rex asked.

“About what?”

Rex gave him a confused look, “About going ahead with Kan's plan”

“Right, um” Echo looked to Kan and then back to Rex, “Yeah, it sounds like a good idea, I think we should go for it”

“Okay” Rex still eyed Echo suspciously, “It's going to take a little more planning then. Kan, I suggest you go and pack your tools now”

“On it” She nodded and quickly exited the room.

Rex turned to Echo, “What's the matter with you?”

“Nothing” Echo said, a hint of a sigh seeping through.

Rex just watched him for a moment, almost immediately coming to the right conclusion for his actions and sighing deeply. “For kriff sake Echo” He said with a slightly disbelieving laugh, “Look, just keep it professional for this mission okay?”

“What? I didn-”

Rex put up a hand to interrupt him, “I'm not interested in discussing this right now. Go and see if she can still shoot and I'll draw up this plan”

Echo ground his jaw in quiet defiance of what Rex was claiming without using the words, and Rex watched him amusedly as he left the room with a slump in his shoulders.

Kan stepped out onto the the tarmac, her bag slung across her chest and resting on her hip. She looked around for Echo, who had requested that she meet him for something before they left for their mission.

The prospect of going on a mission with Echo was exciting to Kan for a number of reasons. For one, going into the field in itself was something that she had missed greatly, and she felt entirely more useful for being so involved in foiling the Empire. She was also determined to break through whatever wall Echo continuously put up with her, and there was perhaps no better time than a mission where they were alone. She hoped that she could prove her usefulness and gain his trust in completing this mission efficiently and successfully.

Kan heard her name called and snapped her head to the left, where she saw Echo standing with a blaster at his side.

“I’m going to teach you how to use a blaster” Echo said as Kan approached him, and she realised that there were three targets set up a short distance from them.

Kan came to a stop in front of him and tilted her head to the side with a small laugh, “I know how to shoot, Echo”

“You do?” He replied, eyebrows raising slightly. He was sure that Rex had said she couldn't, but maybe he had been a little distracted at the time.

“Mhm” Kan said, clasping her hands behind her back, a small bounce in her toes.

Echo looked over her amused expression and bit back his own smirk, feeling almost exhilarated under her undivided attention. He held out the blaster in his hand, letting it hang on his first finger.

“Show me what you're made of then” He challenged, and Kan smirked as she took the blaster from him.

Kan stepped up to the mark, and took a deep breath, centering herself as she looked at the targets that had been set up. Echo watched closely, monitoring her form. She then swiftly brought up the blaster and fired off three rounds, hitting each mark perfectly. Echo raised his eyebrows, impressed and noting technique almost indistinguishable from his own.

“Wow, I'm honestly impressed I hit all of them. It’s been a while” Kan chuckled, lowering the blaster to her side.

“Where did you learn to do that?” Echo asked.

“Oh, um, you know… here and there” Kan said a little awkwardly.

Echo didn't take Kan as someone who kept secrets, usually seeming so open and happy to talk, but he didn't pry. If she didn't want to tell him then that was her business, not that the thought didn't gnaw at him anyway.

“Your form is good, exactly how they taught us in the GAR” He noted, seeing her stiffen minutely.

“Heh, yeah… cool” Kan said, handing Echo's blaster back to him and adjusting her bag across her chest a little. Echo watched her tense movements for a moment more, but quickly moved on.

“We can get going soon. I thought that was going to take longer to be honest” Echo said, a small smirk playing on his lips.

“Wow. What did I do to make you have so little faith in me?” Kan pouted in jest, then quickly matched his subtle smirk.

Echo just shrugged and holstered his blaster, moving away towards the ship they would be taking on the mission. Kan followed after him, and they climbed the ramp up into the ship. It was a modest size; two seats in the cockpit and a moderate hull, with a small refresher and bunk through two doors at the back.

“This is your ship?” Kan asked, turning to look at Echo as he sat down in the pilot's seat.

“More or less. I don't think anyone else uses it” He replied, powering up the ship.

“It's nice” Kan muttered, more to herself than anything.

The journey to Haidoral Prime was a few standard hours underway, and Echo had said all but 5 words to Kan the entire time. She opted to sit on the counter of the kitchenette in the hull, her fingers drumming against the surface as she chewed on her lip, thinking of something to say.

Kan had always got along with people quite easily. She was friendly and liked to form connections, however shallow, with everyone she came across. Echo's determination to meet her friendliness with some form of quiet animosity was starting to wear her down a little bit, and at this point, she just wanted to come right out and say how she felt about it.

“Echo?” Kan said, her voice no more timid than usual, despite the unfamiliar flurry of anxiety in her gut. Echo turned to look at her and saw her fiddling with her fingers in her lap. “Can we talk?”

“What's up?” He turned his seat to face her, leaning forward onto his knee.

“I'm just wondering…” Kan chose her words carefully, “It feels like you don't really enjoy my company very much and… Well, is there a way that I can make you more comfortable around me?”

Echo immediately frowned. “That's not true, I-” He started but the words got stuck in his throat.

“You don't have to like me I suppose, but if it's something I've done or something I'm doing then I'd like to know” Kan said assuredly.

“I-” Echo said, swallowing and forming his sentence before he spoke, “I do like you, and I enjoy your company. I'm sorry if it seems otherwise”

Kan’s lips quirked into a small smile. “Oh” She said simply, “Could've fooled me”

Echo let out a small laugh, suddenly feeling a tad insecure about himself, “Yeah, I guess I'm not as outgoing as some of the others”

“That's okay” Kan smiled, jumping down from the counter and walking up to the cockpit. She looked around all of the controls and couldn't stop herself from grinning.

“Who did all the upgrades in here?”

Echo was immediately bashful under the scrutiny of a proper technician, “Uh, I did"

“Right” Kan nodded.

Echo watched nervously as she took in his adjustments, waiting for her to say anything more, but she didn't.

“Is that a good ‘right’ or a bad one?” He asked, an amused smile being sent in his direction.

“Mostly good, I wouldn't have done the phaser like that, but if it works it works” She said, pointing behind Echo.

He turned and looked at the piece, then back up to Kan who was now leaning on the back of his chair, her face startlingly close to his.

“How would you have done it?” He asked, holding her eye contact despite feeling his palms become clammy as he did.

“You've got some wires crossed” Kan pointed, and he followed her finger as she somehow drew even closer towards him. “It's nothing that would cause problems of course, but if you're going to cross wires there are ways that would make it run more efficiently. I can do it for you after this mission if you like?” She suggested, looking down to Echo once more.

As he found her eyes again, their faces mere inches apart, he felt as if his throat had dried up completely, leaving him unable to speak. Instead, he nodded slowly, and his breathing became shallow as he noticed the small flecks of gold in her otherwise deep green eyes. Kan could see Echo's eyebrows had relented from the small frown they always held, his eyes brighter than she'd seen before. The sight made her heart stutter, and she realised how truly close she was to him when she felt his breath fan over her face.

Kan moved away with a shy smile, muttering an apology and completely unaware of the effect she had just had on Echo. The moment was mere seconds, but to Echo, it had felt like minutes, hours even, and he blinked a few times as Kan began talking about something, not fully able to register her words.

technical devotion, part five: objective

content warnings: elusions to violence

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Kan placed down her bag at the end of the bed she would be staying in for that night. She opened it up and took out the few tools she would be taking with her on the mission, and slipped them into a pouch on her belt, looking up to meet Echo's gaze.

“Ready?” He asked.

“As I'll ever be” She replied with a smile.

The weather on Haidoral Prime left much to be desired. The rain that endlessly poured from the sky smelled distinctly unpleasant, like something acidic, sharp. Kan threw on her waterproof poncho as protection as her and Echo made their way through town and towards the imperial facility.

Up until this point, Kan had never seen Echo in his full armour, and particularly not with his helmet on. She had to admit that the design fascinated her, but realised that it was probably best to ask him about it after the mission was complete.

Echo took the lead, having had the time to study the layout of the small settlement. He made sure to keep close to walls to hide their movements, even if they were under the cover of darkness. They came to a stop at the edge of town, the imperial facility just a short distance away.

“There's a vent up there” Echo pointed, “Just big enough for us to fit in”

“How are we getting up there?”

“I'll give you a boost, and then you can pull me up”

Kan looked up at the vent and back to Echo, “I'm not sure I'm strong enough"

“Sure you are, it's not too high”

“Okay, if you say so”

With that, Echo moved out, Kan close behind him, and they sprinted to the outer wall of the compound. They waited as a patrol passed around the corner and out of their sight, and then Echo locked his hands together, positioning them on his knee. Kan placed her boot into his gloved fingers, finding a good positioning as she looked up at her destination.

“Alright, do it” She spoke quietly.

Echo counted down and then launched Kan upwards, coming to rest under her in case she fell back. Luckily, her fingers found purchase on the vent ledge, and she hung on with one hand as she quietly unscrewed the outer cover. The screws dropped down as they came loose, and Kan cursed quietly as the hood of her poncho fell backwards, exposing her to the unpleasant weather conditions. Shortly after, Kan offered the covering down to Echo, who caught it when she dropped it down to him. He looked back up to her as she curled her arms up, pulling herself inside the vent.

Echo waited patiently, keeping an eye on his surroundings, as Kan manoeuvred herself around and held out her arm down for him to grab. He wasted no time in jumping upwards, his fingers wrapping around her forearm. Kan dug her heels into the edge of the vent, pulling him up with all the effort she could muster. He quickly grabbed onto the edge of the vent, and Kan fell back, taking a deep breath. Echo climbed up into the vent and took his helmet off for a moment to rid it of some of the foul-smelling rain, simultaneously taking in the sight of Kan laid out and breathing heavily.

“See, easy” He said quietly.

Kan looked up to see a mocking smirk on his face, “I'm glad to see one of us is having fun”

Echo then brought a finger to his lips, his smirk still evident as he shushed her. Kan just rolled her eyes, her lazy smile once again making an appearance as she rolled over onto her front and began crawling through the vent. Echo fixed his helmet back onto his head and kept his eyes down as he followed after her.

After a few minutes, Kan came to a stop and turned as much as she could to show Echo that there was a way down below them. He nodded, and Kan brought her datapad from the pouch on her hip, scanning for life forms. When she was satisfied they would not be caught, she carefully opened the hatch and dropped down, Echo following suit.

Kan quickly made her way over to the door panel nearby, taking a cable from her belt and hooking her datapad up to it. Echo stood guard as she did so, making sure no one was coming.

“Got it” She mumbled, taking back her cable, opening the schematics of the building. She looked over the maps, letting out a quiet curse at the information she found.

“What is it?” Echo turned to her and then to her datapad, looking over the plans.

“Comms is on the other side of the building” She pointed to the point on the map of the building.

“Kriff” He said quietly, a hum of agreement coming from Kan.

“We can continue via the vents, though it will take longer”

Echo sighed, “Probably our best bet. We won't be able to come back later if we go in guns a-blazing now”

“I agree sir”

Echo looked to Kan with an utterly confused, yet amused expression.

“Did you just call me sir?” He whispered to her.

Kan's gaze met the visor of Echo's helmet, “Uh- yeah, is that not…?” She trailed off, staying professional though her face felt like it was on fire, “Right, sorry, my bad. Let's get going”

Kan slotted her datapad back into its pouch and jumped up to the vent, grabbing a hold of it and pulling herself up with reasonable ease. Echo just shook his head at the interaction, moving on and hauling himself into the vent behind her, closing it after himself.

It took almost 15 minutes, but the pair of them made it as far as they could in the vents, and Kan had begun sweating profusely at the heated temperature inside. Echo was luckier, his blacks being thermoregulated and allowing him to stay cool aside from the small sliver of skin between the top of his blacks and his helmet.

Kan pulled her datapad and scanned for life forms, the device not reading anything. She motioned to Echo that the coast was clear, and she opened the hatch. This time, the hatch was at the top of a wall rather than in the ceiling, so Kan took extra care not to make any noise as she let the covering hang down against it.

She began to shuffle forwards, but Echo's heart started beating out of his chest as he heard footsteps. It was too late for Kan to slowly shuffle back, so Echo took drastic action, lurching forwards and grabbing her by the waist with his one hand, hauling her back into the vent. He reached ahead of her and hooked his scomp into the vent cover, bringing it back into place as quietly as he could.

Echo’s hand stayed resting on Kan's bare abdomen beneath her poncho, and the two of them held their breaths as a group of imperials passed them by, none the wiser. Echo was so painfully aware of the position that he had put Kan in, he couldn't ignore it even if he tried. He was on top of her, her back pressed flat against his front and breathing right into her ear in shaky breaths. He tried to lift himself off of her as much as he could, but in the confines of the vent, he didn't get far. He kept himself focused, blocking out any unwanted thoughts at the proximity.

Kan, however, was finding it exceedingly difficult to stop her mind from wandering. She already knew she felt somewhat drawn to Echo, but the modulated sound of his breathing in her ear was driving her insane. She was blushing deeply at the intimacy of their position, especially when Echo brushed his thumb gently across her stomach almost imperceptibly. She had to suppress a shiver, fearing moving at all in this position.

“I'm sorry” Echo whispered, slowly edging backwards as the noise of the imperials had passed them by.

“Dont be. Thank you” Kan spoke breathlessly.

She looked back at him, and Echo's heart leapt to his throat at the sight of her. Her hair was stuck to her forehead in a mixture of rain and sweat, her cheeks were a darkened shade of green, and her eyes were blown wide and swimming with something that Echo dared not define, particularly in this position. He was eternally gratefully for his helmet in that moment so that Kan couldn't see his slack jaw and bright red cheeks.

Kan scurried from his grasp and quickly made her way out of the vent. Echo shook his head violently, focusing himself on the task at hand once more, and followed her lead.

The room they were heading towards was undoubtedly going to be guarded, so they closely hugged the walls as they made the short distance there. Kan came to a stop around the corner from the entrance and took a peek, then turned back to Echo.

“Just two guards, I've got this” She spoke assuredly, setting her blaster to stun

Before Echo could even argue, Kan stepped out and fired two rounds, and he heard the guards drop to the floor. He looked at her perfect form, a domineering confidence about her, and had to remind himself to breathe. He laid his back against the wall, still somewhat reeling from their close encounter before, and tried to quiet his mind. When he saw Kan take off her poncho out of the corner of his eye, he gulped. Maker, get ahold of yourself.

“Echo!” Kan hissed from down the hall, and he snapped back into it, quickly rounding the corner and catching up with her.

The communication room was empty, and Kan immediately got to work unscrewing the front panel from the main console. She looked over the inner workings of the machine and mumbled some things to herself. She brought her datapad out from its pouch, took a few photos, and then put the panel back. She then hooked her datapad up to the console and searched for any possibly useful files first of all.

“There's nothing but the transmission” She muttered, then brought her datapad closer to her face, looking over the information, “The signal is definitely going to the prison”

Kan and Echo had managed to retrieve any necessary information for Kan to figure out how to replicate the signal without any issues, and they were now back at their motel. Kan was knelt at the end of her bed, resting her forehead on it and looking down at her datapad, making calculations that Echo had no clue the meaning of. He couldn't help but chuckle at her posture, and he realised that her strange sitting habits were more or less a quirk of hers.

Kan looked up upon hearing Echo's amused huff, “What?”

“You sure sit in some funny positions” He mused, and she let out a small laugh herself and rubbed the back of her neck, sitting back on her heels.

“Yeah I guess I do, I just go with whatever makes me get the work done really”

“I don't think I'd get any work done like that” He said as he sat down on his own bed, beginning to take off his armour.

“Whatever, to each their own” She rolled her eyes and looked back down to her work. It wasn't the first time someone had commented on her less-than-regular sitting habits.

“Indeed” Echo replied.

Kan looked up again to see that Echo had stripped down to his blacks. She chewed her cheek a little, “Are you turning in?”

“Yeah, you should too, you have all of tomorrow to figure that out”

“Yeah, I'll finish up soon” She smiled, and Echo laid down on his bed, turning away.

“Goodnight Echo” Kan offered, and he smiled to himself.

“Night Kan"

Echo awoke and rubbed his hand over his face sleepily. He sat up in his bed and saw that the moon was still spilling through the curtains, not the sun. He sighed. He was a painfully light sleeper nowadays.

Before his brush with the Techno Union, he slept wonderfully. Every night, he was out like a light and relished in a good long sleep after a particularly rough campaign. However now, since being rescued from Skako Minor, he woke up constantly throughout the night. It was frustrating, to know from his own experience how blissful sleep could be, only to never be able to find any peace in the action anymore.

Echo looked over to Kan's bed and saw that it was still made, untouched and clearly having not been used at all. He frowned and looked around the rest of the small room, not finding Kan anywhere. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and rose to his feet, taking the few steps towards the refresher door and knocking firmly. When he got no answer, he opened up the door and she wasn't in there either.

A panic rose in Echo's gut, and he stalked around the room, trying to calm himself and think rationally. There's no way someone could have taken her with me in here, I would have woken up. She's probably just taking a walk or something.

He kept running through his thoughts, but his eyes caught on something, or rather, nothing. Her bag and tools were gone. Has she left? In the middle of a mission? That seemed to be an impossibility to Echo, but the idea bounced around in his head nonetheless.

It was an hour before Kan returned, and Echo was beside himself. When he heard the door zip open, he whirled around, relief seeping into his body as he looked upon Kan’s soaked silhouette.

“Where have you been?” Echo asked urgently, striding over to meet her at the door.

Kan was taken aback, not expecting to find him awake. “Um, I went back. I completed the mission” She let a small smile creep onto her face at the admission.

“What?” He asked, his voice raised slightly in exasperation. He waited for her to say she was joking or anything else, but she stood looking at him in all seriousness. “That was reckless! You shouldn't have gone in without backup!”

Kan said nothing, her high from completing the mission coming crashing down at Echo's accusatory tone. She tried to keep her expression impassive, but the soft crease in her brow was betraying her. Echo noticed it almost immediately, and his own demeanour softened.

“I'm sorry, just- Kriff, when are you going to stop worrying me all the time?” He said, turning away and mumbling under his breath.

“What do you-”

“Nothing, ignore me” He waved a hand to dismiss her prying. He took a seat on his bed and relaxed his posture, feeling like he could relax now, knowing that Kan was safe.

Kan took off her bag and poncho, and approached timidly, sitting opposite him on her own bed, the first time she had touched it.

“I'm sorry if I worried you, Echo. I intended to be back before you woke up” She said quietly.

“Yeah well I dont sleep so well” He replied, a traceable amount of animosity in his tone.

Kan didn't really know what was appropriate to say and just settled on what seemed like the most obvious to her, “Why not?”

Echo looked up and met her eyes, her soft and gentle gaze watching him with no scrutiny, only genuine interest.

“I dont know, I just don't” He lied, something he'd never been good at, and Kan definitely picked up on it, though she didn't press. Echo sat back against the wall, crossing one leg over the other as he lay on his bed.

For a moment, they were both silent, and Echo realised his heart was still beating fast from the unease of Kan being missing. He couldn't quite understand why it had affected him so, but he assured himself that it was just because he felt Kan had a particular innocent friendliness about her that people could take advantage of. Nothing more.

“So… you did it? You doubled the signal?” He asked.

“Yeah, it wasn't too hard, just took a bit of time. I've rigged it so that their signal will break down eventually, so they shouldn't notice anything for a while” Kan laid down on her side and propped herself up on her elbow.

Echo mirrored her, sliding down the bed to meet her gaze, “Have you ever done anything like that before?”

“No” She said quickly, now struggling to hold back how excited she felt about it, “I've gotta say I found it pretty fun”

Echo smirked at the childish wonder in her eyes, “I can tell”

Kan rolled her eyes and flopped onto her back, looking up at the ceiling with a wide smile. She let out a deep breath, the bed was a lot softer than the bunk at base.

“Can I ask you about your armour?” Kan asked out of the blue.

“Uh, yeah” Echo said hesitantly, “What do you want to know?”

“How come it's… different from the rest of the clones?”

Echo was a little apprehensive, but he was beginning to understand that Kan was just inquisitive.

“I was part of a spec ops team” he admitted.

“No way” Kan rolled back over to face him.

Echo's breath hitched as her eyes locked with his again. He couldn't deny that she looked absolutely beautiful, her back illuminated by the light of the moon and dark hair spilling over her shoulders and waist.

“Yeah, I wasn't always, but I joined them towards the end of the war” He spoke before he could dwell on the flurry of feelings in his chest.

“What division was it?” Kan asked eagerly.

“Uh… Clone Force 99” Echo answered, though he wasn't sure it would really mean anything to her.

However, Kan's eyes lit up, “Woah, yeah, I heard about you guys”

“You did?” Echo raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Kan realised her familiarity was showing and pulled back a bit, “Yeah, I mean, you were known by a lot of people before the war ended”

Echo nodded, “I guess yeah”

“Wait, so you're like… genetically enhanced?”

“No. Like I said, I joined them later on” Echo replied, laying down on his back.

“Right, cool”

Kan desperately wanted to ask how he ended up with his cybernetic limbs, and if that's what landed him a place on the team, but she recognised it wasn't her place, and his reaction to her last comment had not been received particularly well. Something about Echo really interested her, and she just wanted to understand him and pick his brains about anything and everything.

She instead stood up and grabbed her sleep clothes from her bag, and went to the refresher to get changed. When she reentered the room, she made her way straight to her bed and slipped under the covers, revelling in the softness that she hadn't felt in so long.

Kan felt sleep gripping her quickly, her mind tired from the day's work, but she heard Echo speak through her hazy state.

“Kan?”

“Yeah?”

“Well done, for completing the mission. It's an impressive feat, you should be proud of yourself"

Kan smiled broadly in the dark, “Thanks Echo”

She only wished that he would've said that he was proud of her. I suppose we're not there yet.

technical devotion, part six: visitors

content warnings: none :)

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“Pliars please”

Kan held her hand out, and Echo placed the requested tool into it. The pair were sat in near silence as Kan worked under the control panel in Echo's ship.

Kan felt that she had broken through a small barrier with Echo. It had been a few days since they got back from their mission on Haidoral Prime, and she had noticed that he now seemed to be more open to spending time with her, even if he didn't say much while he did it. She was just glad that he wasn't avoiding her like the plague anymore.

Echo didn't mean to be so quiet around Kan, but something about her made him lose all ability to speak, to think. He couldn't form a coherent thought around her, let alone speak it aloud, and it was beginning to annoy him.

“So… I overheard Rex saying that your old squad were coming around here soon” Kan tried to spark up a bit of conversation.

“Yeah, should be here anytime now” Echo replied.

Kan nodded, even though the action was obstructed from Echo's view.

“What are they like?”

“Uh…” Echo didn't really know how to answer the question, “They're… different from the rest of the clones”

“How so?”

Echo could never get used to Kan's simple inquisitive nature, but he also couldn't get enough of it.

“I don't know how to describe them, they’re all very different from each other as well”

“Hm, sounds intriguing. Hydrospanner please”

Echo obliged, “Yeah, they're certainly that”

Just then, as if they had been summoned by the topic of conversation, the sound of a ship entering the hangar filled their ears.

“Screwdriver please” Kan held her hand out, but didn't feel the tool being placed into it. She looked out from under the control panel and saw that Echo was no longer there. Kan let out a huff, and reached for the tool herself, a string of unimpressed noises escaping her lips. She finished up with the Phaser rewiring, screwing the cover back into place, and slipped out.

Kan took a rag that was slung over the back of the pilot's seat and wiped her forehead as she stepped out of the ship, her eyes immediately catching the joyous scene of reunion across the hangar.

It was hard for Kan to look away from the Bad Batch's table at lunch time. Though, it wasn't the batch she was looking at, it was Echo.

His eyes were lit up in a way she had never seen, his smile fixed on his face and laughing with his squad, and she thought it was the most wonderful sight. She had seen him smile, but never like this. She almost felt jealous that they could illicit this response from him, and found herself watching intently to find out how she could replicate it herself, not that she garnered much information that way.

She caught herself completely drooling over the sight when Echo looked in her direction. She looked away immediately and sat up straight, taking her hand away from where she had been resting her head in it. She cursed the heat that she could feel creeping up the back of her neck.

Echo looked over at her extremely puzzled, wondering why she had been watching him so intently. He assumed that she was interested in the clones surrounding him, since she had taken an interest in them before, and he left it at that, joining in the conversation again.

Kan didn’t have any other tasks to be getting on with at the moment, so she was listening in on an Imperial comm channel with the device she had made. They used a lot of code names, so it was generally quite hard to decipher, but there were always those who would let protocol slip every now and then. She let out a small sigh as the signal cut out once again, and an even bigger one when it didn’t come back at all this time. With a grunt, she rose to her feet and headed outside to check out the satellite dish.

She could immediately see that it had come out of place and an even bigger sigh escaped her lips. How do I even get up there? She walked around the hangar and found nothing of use, so reluctantly took herself off to the command room, and knocked timidly on the door.

“Come in” She heard Rex shout, and she opened the door.

“Hey Rex, sorry to disturb you, the satellite’s come out of place. Is there a ladder or anything like that around here?”

“Uh…” He thought for a moment, “There should be one in the store cupboard just outside the hangar”

Didn’t know that was there, “Alright, thanks” She smiled gratefully and went and found the ladder.

It was a particularly rickety old thing, and not straight by any stretch of the imagination. Kan felt a little bit scared going up it, but once she was at the top, she felt more in control. Fixing the satellite dish would be easy, it would just take a bit of time doing it by herself.

The ladder swayed with each small change of the wind, and Kan was starting to regret even bothering with it. As she was making one of the final adjustments, reaching around the dish a little more, the ladder began to tip over, and this time Kan was sure she was going down.

“Woah there!” She heard someone call out, and she realised she had stopped tipping to the side. She cast a glance over her shoulder and saw a man - a clone, one of Echo’s squad - holding the base of the ladder. He was the shortest of the group, and wore a bandana over his long hair and blackout face tattoo. Kan finished her final adjustment and quickly scurried down the precarious ladder.

“Thanks for that, I’m Kan” She smiled broadly at him and held out her hand.

“Hunter” He shook it, reflecting her expression back to her, “You must be the technician that Echo told us about”

“Echo told you about me?” Kan raised her eyebrows. She had got little indication that Echo really liked her all that much, so it honestly surprised her that he’d mention her to his squad.

Hunter supressed a smirk at her reaction, “Only good things, don’t worry”

Kan laughed at that, and her gaze shifted when she saw the rest of the squad gathered in the distance. She saw that Echo was watching the two of them, a particularly prominent frown creasing his brow, and offered him a kind smile. His gaze softened marginally, but he was still watching intently.

“Alright, well I should get on” She gestured inside, though nothing desperate was really calling for her attention.

“Why don't you come say hi to everyone? I know Omega was interested in meeting you” Hunter suggested.

“Uh…” Kan hesitated. She was not great in big groups, but she also didn’t want to be rude and decline the offer.

“They don't bite” Hunter added with a small grin, sensing her slightly raised heartrate and the small bead of sweat that broke out from her hairline.

Kan laughed nervously, “Okay then”

Hunter led her over to his brothers as they chatted amongst themselves, and she stood next to Echo. She looked up to him and softly spoke with a smile, “Hey”

“Hey” He replied equally as soft, smiling back at her to try and ease her obvious nervousness, then he turned back to the group, “Omega, this is Kan”

Kan recognised the small blonde girl from watching their reunion in the hangar, and her eyes lit up when she looked to the Mirialan in front of her.

“You're the technician? Echo didn't say you were a girl” Omega gushed, seeming entirely pleased by the fact.

“Heh, yeah that's me” Kan replied, a small grin spreading across her face at the expression of wonder on the young girl’s face.

“Can I see your office? Echo promised me I could see it”

“I didn't promise any-”

“Of course” Kan smiled, “it's very messy though”

“I don't care about that” Omega said matter-of-factly, and grabbed Kan's arm, dragging her towards the compound.

“Omega!” Echo called after her sternly, but Kan just laughed delightedly, looking back at him, and his furrowed brow relieved a little as he watched them go.

“Oh Echo” Hunter chuckled, patting him on the shoulder.

Echo turned to see his amused expression, “What?”

“We leave you for a couple months and you've already found a girl?” Hunter raised an amused eyebrow at his brother.

“What? No! Don’t be ridiculous” Echo denied the claim, shaking his head.

“Oh yeah, how ridiculous of you to like a pretty girl” Crosshair sneered, smirking as he placed a fresh toothpick between his teeth.

“Aw, good on you Echo” Wrecker crushed his shoulders in a side hug, but Echo pushed him off immediately.

“It's not like that, she’s just a… colleague” He glared at his brothers, who all looked at him with matching smirks.

“Whatever you say” Hunter taunted, and walked off in the same direction that Omega had dragged Kan. Echo just rolled his eyes and followed after him, making their way to Kan’s office.

“And that there is the tuner, and you can see on the screen where the signal is coming from”

The two clones stepped into the doorway of Kan's office and saw her and Omega crouched by the transmission interception device.

“That's so cool, did you make this all by yourself?” Omega asked with wide eyes.

“Yeah, I did” Kan smiled, “Are you interested in this kind of stuff?”

“Yeah, my brother Tech taught me a lot of things, but I'm still learning”

Kan noted the use of past tense and the heaviness of her tone, “Well he certainly sounds cool, I can teach you some stuff too if you like?”

“Yes please!” She grinned, and Kan opened up the back panel of the machine

“This is where everything connects, you see that there? That's the main power source, and this bit connects to the satellite, which is how it's able to pick up the signals”

“How do you know where to connect the wires?”

“Let me show you” She grabbed another motherboard and started walking Omega through it, and Echo couldn't help but stare at her in adoration at the way she interacted with his sister.

“So… you said you didn't like this girl?” Hunter said quietly, gaining Kan's attention momentarily. Echo just sent him a stern look, but it was met with a knowing smirk, “Let's leave them to it” He patted his shoulder, moving away. Echo looked back to Kan who was once again teaching Omega about the connections, and comparing with the already completed device. He smiled to himself and walked down the hall after his brother.

Omega and Kan walked into the mess together at dinner time, still engrossed in conversation about anything and everything technical. Omega was definitely the most inquisitive person that Kan had met in a while, and she was enthralled about it. She loved to talk about her work, and to be able to impart any sort of knowledge to someone else made her feel extremely accomplished.

After the two of them collected their food, Kan tried to say goodbye and make her way over to her regular table, but Omega wasn't having it.

“Come sit with us” She said with pleading eyes.

“Oh, I don't want to impose”

“You wont” She smiled sweetly, “I know Echo would like it if you did”

Kan looked over to the table and saw Echo watching her once again. “Alright then” She said, and allowed herself to be dragged over by Omega.

She approached the table feeling a little sheepish and unsure of herself, and took the free place between Wrecker and Omega. Everyone else at the table were already entrenched in conversation, so Kan tried talking to the large clone beside her.

“We haven't been properly introduced, it's Wrecker, right?”

“That's me” He smiled happily

“It's nice to meet you”

“You too, clever lady” He took her in a crushing side hug, and she grinned up at him, feeling more at ease in the group.

The clones joked and laughed together over the course of dinner, as Omega continued to ask Kan questions about her work, completely enamoured by the inner workings of her brain and her profession.

“What's this? Have the Bad Batch stolen our precious Mirialan?” A clone voice asked and placed their elbows on Kan’s shoulders, and she looked up to see it was Howzer.

Kan let the corner of her mouth quirk into a smirk, “Precious? Really?”

“Come on, you know you're our prized possession”

Kan rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink, relaxing into the embrace of the clone behind her. Echo, on the other hand, was anything but relaxed. He felt extremely irritated by the simple fact that Kan was so physically comfortable with Howzer. This only led to him looking down into his food and searching for the reason why it annoyed him so much. Safe to say, he didn't find it.

“Howzer” Hunter nodded to him in acknowledgement, and he nodded back.

“Hunter” He replied, then he looked to crosshair, “Crosshair”

Crosshair glared at Howzer, and Kan looked up to him, seeing he wore his own scowl. She smirked, and a small laugh escaped her lips, accompanied by the roll of her eyes, “Men”.

Omega laughed at her comment, and Howzer shoved her a little.

“Anyway, you better come back soon or Oscar will go mad”

“That sounds like a tempting offer”

“I'm sure he'd have another tempting offer for you if you came back" He said as he moved away, and Kan scrunched up her nose.

“Not on his life”

“I'll let him know you said that”

“Please do”

Echo watched the exchange with an unpleasant feeling in his gut.

Kan was crouched and organising her office — her version of it at least, which entailed making haphazard piles all around her working space on the floor — when she heard a knock on the door. She called for them to enter and looked up to see Hunter stood in the doorway.

“Nice glasses” He grinned, and she realised that they were still on the end of her nose. She laughed and pushed them up onto her head so she could see him better.

“Thanks, what brings you here?”

He leaned onto the doorframe with his forearm, “We're heading off soon, but I just wanted to say thanks, for entertaining Omega”

“Oh it was no problem, she's an amazing kid, and very smart. It was my pleasure” Kan smiled

“Well, you've certainly made an impression on her, she's just been gushing about how clever you are” He raised an eyebrow.

“Ah, I'm sure she's exaggerating” Kan laughed a little, no sure how to respond to any kind of praise.

“I don't know, Echo seemed to agree” He grinned at her, and her cheeks flushed a little.

“Oh, well that was kind of him” She mumbled her words just as the person in question appeared next to his brother with Omega. Echo saw the grin on Hunter's face and the blush on Kan's and immediately assumed that he had been flirting with her. He felt his blood boil at the thought. I told him I didn't like her, I guess I can't be mad.

Omega made a beeline for Kan but Hunter grabbed her arm before she could enter the mess once again, “It's time to go”

“Aw, but Kanda was going to show me how to solder” She whined. Echo noticed that she called her ‘Kanda’ and wondered if Kan had let slip her full name.

“I can show you another time Omega, don't worry” Kan smiled at the young girl, but she just slumped her shoulders.

“Fine” Omega muttered, going back to the door.

“It was nice to meet you Kan, I'm sure we'll see you again soon” Hunter smiled.

“Yeah, it was nice to meet you guys too”

“Bye Kanda” Omega waved as they left the room.

“Bye Omega” She laughed slightly and called out.

Echo waved and remained in the doorway, looking back towards Kan.

“She's a great kid” Kan declared.

“I know” He smiled, a genuine, content smile.

“She reminds me of myself at that age” She noted, fiddling with the motherboard she was demonstating with earlier.

“How so?” Echo asked.

“I guess… always asking questions and wanting to know more” Kan started, a smile curving her lips as she thought fondly of her youth. She thought of working with her father in his workshop, making him detail every single thing he was doing, and then coming home to tell her mother everything she learnt. “And wanting to do something important with her life” She continued, looking up at Echo.

“Did you ever do anything important?” He asked with a little smile.

“I'm here aren't I?” She grinned, and he chuckled in response.

A silence enveloped them for a short moment before Kan spoke up again.

“Hunter seems cool” She admitted.

“Mhm”

Kan noted the tightening of Echo’s jaw at the comment and stopped what she was doing.

“What is it?” She asked, honestly feeling a little upset that she couldn't seem to ever get anything right when it came to him.

“Nothing” Echo turned to leave.

“Echo” She called out for him and he looked back at her reluctantly.

“Have I said something to upset you?” She asked and when he didnt reply immediately she went into nervous rambling, “I didn't mean to insinuate that you seem uncool in comparison or anything. Not that- I mean- I do think you’re cool, just that Hunter seems nice, you know?”

Echo’s jaw unclenched as he watched Kan stumble over her words, her brows pinched together in concern and eyes looking up at him with a startling intensity. He thought she looked incredible.

“Um, or is it something else?” She continued, sinking onto her knees, “I feel like I keep upsetting you and I don't know why”

“You haven't upset me Kan, you couldn't” Echo said softly and left immediately afterwards, not feeling like answering for what he said.

“Oh” Kan said, sitting back on her heels. What does that mean?

technical devotion, part seven: a new post

content warnings: none :)

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Kan was crouched in the far corner of her office when Rex knocked firmly on the door.

“Come in- AH!”

He found the cause of the shriek when he hurriedly opened the door and saw Kan laid out over the mess of her office, her hand clutched at her temple.

“You alright?” Rex asked, rushing over to help her up.

“All good just- ouch, yeah…” She revealed the trickle of blood down the side of her face, “Nothing a bit of bacta can't fix” She said with a toothy grin that looked more like a wince.

“Alright, sit down then, let me get you cleaned up” Rex said with a fond shake of his head. Kan was exceedingly clumsy, but he put it down to her excitable attitude, and she was too good at what she did to not keep around because of a few broken bits and grazes.

Kan did as the Captain said, and took a seat at her desk, retrieving the medkit from the drawer. Rex opened it up and took an antiseptic wipe to clean the blood from the small wound.

As Kan took a sharp breath in at the stinging sensation of it, she realised that Rex probably hadn't come to her office without reason.

“What had you seeking me out then Captain?” She asked with a grin, hoping for something exciting.

He almost laughed at her enthusiasm, “I've got a mission that's perfect for you, if you're interested, but I have a feeling you are”

Kan let out a self-deprecating chuckle, “I certainly am”

“Good” Rex smiled, “It's more of a… longterm thing really”

“Go on” She wheezed out at the feeling of the cool bacta hitting her wound.

“Sorry, should've warned you” He mumbled, pressing a bandage over the area, “I'll be posting you somewhere for a while. It's a hot-spot for imperials and we have intel that they're working on some kind of big technological development there. I want you to find out whatever you can, and we can potentially think about some kind of infiltration, but that's only once we know more”

“So I'll be spying for the most part?” She asked.

“Yeah, that sort of thing. I was hoping you could work out some kind of cover and talk to people under an alias or something like that, get the people to trust you, you know? That way you could get some really good info”

“Right, okay” Kan nodded, “Is it just me going?”

“No, I was thinking of sending someone else with you, either Gregor or Ech-”

“I'd like Echo to come” She said before he even got the name out. Rex narrowed his eyes at her with a skeptical look.

“Can I trust you to be professional if I send Echo with you?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

“What? Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” She asked, puzzled at what he meant.

“Hm, you're right, I guess it's Echo I'd need to worry about in that regard” He relented in his scrutinising gaze.

“That doesn't make sense, Echo's very professional”

Rex chuckled, “Mhm, okay. Well then, I'll go let Echo know you want him”

Kan’s breath stuttered and her eyebrows raised at the way Rex phrased his sentence, and he smirked. She had reacted as he had hoped.

“Alright, maybe don't phrase it that way to him though” She laughed nervously, though she really hoped he was taking on what she was saying.

“Don't worry” He said, patting her knee with a knowing smirk, “I won't”

Kan watched Rex leave, and tried not to think about how much his words rang true.

Kan waited patiently aboard Echo's ship, kicking her heel gently against the cupboard as she sat atop the kitchenette counter once more. Her thoughts dwelled on the fact that she hadn't really let Echo have any say in the matter of whether he came with her or not, and she just hoped that he was willing of his own volition. Her worries were soothed when she heard him walking up the ship's ramp, and he smiled softly at her as he came into view.

“Hey there” Kan smiled back at him.

“Hey” Echo replied with as much nonchalance as he could muster. He was truthfully very happy that Kan had chosen him to go with her on this mission, but he was trying hard not to show the full extent of it, not that Kan would've minded.

Kan hopped down from her place on the counter and joined Echo as he walked to the cockpit. She sat in the co-pilot seat as he started up the ship's systems, bringing her knees up to her chest.

“Have you ever done a mission like this?” She asked.

“No, I haven’t” Echo shook his head as he brought the ship into the air and piloted it into the upper atmosphere.

“Cool. We can figure it out together then” Kan smiled, and Echo looked over at her. The expression she wore could've had Echo melting to a puddle right where he sat. She looked so hopeful and full of positivity that she was practically bursting at the seems. He let his own smile creep across his face.

“Yeah, I guess so” He focused on plotting the course they would be taking through Hyperspace, and once he'd finished, he pushed the lever to send them there.

He sat back in his chair and breathed out a long breath. He noticed that Kan was fidgeting about a little bit and looked over to her, then catching a glimpse at the bandage that had been hiding underneath her hair.

“Hey are you okay?” Echo moved from his chair and stood in front of her, brushing her hair from her forehead. Kan's eyes widened as she looked up at him, and her breath became shallow as she felt his fingers brush against her skin.

“I'm fine, yeah” She breathed out, “Just a scratch, nothing to worry about”

“What happened?” He asked, looking into her eyes with concern.

“I fell over” Kan looked away out of embarrassment, “Knocked it on something in my room”

Echo then realised he had let his knuckles rest against Kan's cheekbone and drew back quickly, “You should really be careful in there if you're not going to clean it up”

“Yeah yeah, whatever dad” She grumbled, rolling her eyes.

“Sorry” Echo chuckled sheepishly, retaking his seat.

“I'm just kidding, you're right” Kan shrugged a little as she looked out into the swirling blues of Hyperspace. Echo couldn't help but notice the way it reflected in her eyes, almost a manifestation of the wonder he saw swimming in them so often.

The dwelling that Kan and Echo were staying at was a simple abode; from the outside it looked as if it had been built room by room, smoothed sandstone walls clearly marking the distinctions between each area. There were windows cut from the stone, boarded up with wooden shutters and curtains being the only things that separated the inside from the out. It was in a quiet corner of the town, around the corner from a small park and secluded from the other houses in the neighbourhood.

Kan looked over the dwelling with delight. It was a lot more simple in its construction, but it reminded her of her family home.

“We don't have a lot of funds at the moment, but this was something that Senator Chuchi managed to pull together for us” Echo said, approaching the front door with the manual key in hand.

“I think it looks lovely” Kan said simply, following him inside after her unlocked it.

The inside was as charming as the outside. A wooden table and chairs sat in the centre of the kitchen, checkered tiles and light green painted cabinets lining the walls. Though her specialty was anything erring on the technical side, Kan marvelled at the distinct lack of it in the house. Echo opened the door that lead into what appeared to be a bedroom.

“I'll take this room, there should be another upstairs” He said, placing his bag down by the door.

Kan nodded and climbed the stairs, finding two doors along the short hallway. The first was the refresher, matching the kitchen in style, and the other was a bedroom. It held only a bed and chest of drawers, but Kan loved it. She placed her bag down on the bed as she heard Echo call up the stairs.

“There's some rice in the cupboard, and protein solids, are you gonna be alright just having that for tonight?”

“Yeah of course, anything is fine” She replied from the top of the stairs.

“Alright, dinner in 15 minutes then” He smiled up at her, moving away and not expecting it when Kan accompanied him to the kitchen. “You can get settled in, I've got this”

“Okay well… can I keep you company?” She asked, her head slightly tipped to the side.

“I suppose so” He answered, turning to the stove and flicking it on. Kan frowned a little. For someone who seemed awful sure of themself, Echo sure did evade giving a definitive answer most of the time.

Kan brought a chair out from under the table and sat with one leg tucked under her, the other curled to her chest while she rested her chin on it. She admired Echo's handiwork, watching as he found all the spices and sauces he could in the cupboards to make their meal more interesting.

“Echo, where did you first meet Rex?” Kan asked him.

“Um… He was the Captain of my old legion” He replied, placing the rice bag in the heater.

“You were in the 501st?” Kan sat up straighter and Echo looked back at her, noting the way her eyes had lit up at the mention of it.

“Yeah” He replied simply.

“No way, that’s awesome” She grinned, and he raised a brow at her.

“You’ve heard of the 501st?”

“Everyone has heard of the 501st” Kan said, almost brushing off his surprise. “Did you know Fives?” She then asked and Echo tensed up.

“How did you know Fives?” He retorted, genuinely curious as to how Fives could have met her and not him.

“I met him once on Coruscant. A close brother of his had died recently and he was pretty upset about it” She said, so unaware of the heaviness that her words carried for Echo.

He gulped, “Yeah um, that will have been me, I guess” Kan looked at him purely puzzled, and he turned back to his cooking as he continued, “Uh, I was presumed dead for a while, Fives was my closest brother, my twin, we were from the same batch” Kan could hear the solemnity of his tone and decided not to ask what had become of his brother.

“You were presumed dead? That’s pretty badass” Kan said with a tinge of awe.

Echo actually laughed at that, “I don't know about that, Fives was always the more ‘badass’ one of us anyway”

“He was an ARC right?”

“Yeah, we got promoted together”

“You were an ARC too?” Kan asked, leaning forward on her seat even more, if that was even possible at this point.

“Mhm”

“Woah, I had no idea you had all this exciting backstory Echo”

Echo found himself laughing again, and he was revelling in the fact that he was talking about his past, and it wasn't dredging up any unpleasant feelings. He was just sharing himself with another human being, and they were listening to him, eager to hear more. He finished cooking, and plated up the simple meal, placing one in front of Kan.

“Thanks Echo this looks great” She smiled broadly up at him and he took the seat opposite her as they began eating. “I remember Fives had a super cool design on his helmet”

“Mhm, the Rishi eel”

“That's what it was?”

“Our first assignment off of Kamino was at an outpost on the Rishi moon. The rest of our squad got killed there, one of them by the eel, Fives got it on his helmet to honour him” He remembered his brothers fondly.

Kan nodded, almost hoping he would go on, but he didn't. “What was your armour like in the 501st?”

“Uh… It was pretty standard to be honest, I had a handprint here” He imitated the placement of it on his own chest, “After Rex killed the Rishi eel he wiped a handprint of goo from it onto me, I just painted over the spot in the end”

“That’s cool, so you were kind of honouring your brother too” Kan noted.

“In a way, I hadn't really thought about it like that” Echo replied, once again enamoured by the way Kan could be so positive about anything.

The next morning, Echo awoke to the golden light of the sun filtering through the curtains from the window, and sat up in his bed, rubbing over his face with his hand.

He swung his feet over the edge of the bed and stretched his back, feeling a tightness lingering there. He grabbed his headgear and slipped it on, before noticing that his chestplate was missing from the neat pile of armour in the corner. He frowned, slipping on a plain tunic and trousers, lacing up his boots and making his way into the kitchen.

He saw that Kan had opened up the shutters and had seemingly cleaned the space a little bit, and she already had an engineering project underway on the dining table. Echo saw Kan notice him as she walked past a window and went to intercept her at the door.

“Have you seen my-” He stopped talking as he saw her holding his chestplate with giddy grin plastered on her face. “What did you do?” He spoke hesitantly.

“Take a look” She handed it to him, turning it so he could see the new addition.

The chestplate now bared a red handprint, exactly where his blue one had been in the 501st. Echo's eyes went wide, and he looked back up to Kan, a warmth filling his chest at the touching gesture.

His pupils dilated and his breath shortened. The feeling that gripped him finally found its name, and as he looked at the newly painted armour, and up into the deep green eyes of the one who made it so, he realised - without question - that he cared for her deeply, and it certainly wasn't in any kind of platonic way. It never had been, and if he was being honest with himself, he had known the whole time.

He liked Kan.

Kriff. So much for keeping it professional.

“Kan… Thank you. This really means a lot to me” He said, his eyes conveying a deep emotion that Kan couldn't really decipher.

“It’s no problem, I think it looks cooler this way anyway” She smiled, “Take a look on the inside”

Echo looked inside, and turned it over to see that there was a small aurebesh 5 where his heart would be positioned if he was wearing it.

“So it’s like, he's there with you all the time, or something. I can remove it if it's too-”

“No. It's perfect” He looked at her with such feeling, he felt he could almost cry.

“Good” She smiled and moved away, beginning to talk about the mission, the reason they were here, but Echo couldn't hear anything over the quickened beating of his heart pounding in his ears.

technical devotion, part eight: playing the part

content warnings: minor description of panic around crowds

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“What the-”

Kan jumped as she reached the bottom of the stairs and looked at the droid that was sat lazily at the kitchen table. She then realised it was not a droid at all.

“Echo, you scared me” She laughed slightly, and Echo flipped up the mask of his disguise.

“Pretty convincing right?”

“Yeah, maybe if you weren't sat like a man” She smirked at his distinctly human posture and he chuckled. “I've gotta say, when you said you had a disguise this is not what I was expecting”

“Well maybe that bodes well for my disguise then” He smirked a little, “Are you ready to go?”

“Yep” Kan smiled, grabbing her bag, “Let's get going”

Kan and Echo ventured into town, having heard there was a market in the square today. They were yet to really meet anyone here, and Echo had decided it was easier for him to walk around as a ‘droid’, going unnoticed, instead of trying to explain to people why he was more machine than man, as he often put it.

The square was bursting with life. It was wonderfully decorated with banners and plants, and the large fountain in the middle served as a place of rest for parents and a play area for their kids. There were vendors selling an assortment of things, from food to spare parts and clothes, and it was positively a melting pot of people from all over the galaxy. There was not one presiding race, and Kan was thankful, her olive green Mirialan skin not making her stand out for once.

Despite the cheerful cast of characters in the square, it was lined by men in white plastoid armour, the only ones who managed to stand out in this environment. Stormtroopers.

“You should get talking to some people” Echo said quietly, his voice modulated by his mask. Kan almost didn't realise it was him talking to her.

“Yeah alright, give me a minute” Kan looked around, a little overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things going on. She figured she'd start at a food vendor, somewhere they could actually do with visiting.

“Hello there ma'am, how are you today?” The Weequay vendor smiled warmly.

“I'm well, how are you?” Kan replied.

Echo couldn't refrain from rolling his eyes as Kan got into a conversation with the vendor that could not be described as short. She asked about her life, how she had ended up on this planet and about her family. Though it was sweet how much she truly cared about other people and wanted to connect with them, this really wasn't the time for it.

As they walked away from the stand with a paper bag full of vegetables, Kan got distracted by another stand selling food, and Echo grabbed her arm subtlely to stop her.

“We’re not just here to chat and buy food, start talking to some of the locals” He said quietly.

Kan huffed, “Alright, fine”

“I'm gonna take a walk around, see what I can hear” Echo said, walking off to her right before she got the chance to reply.

Kan looked around the square, and decided to just take the plunge. She approached a friendly looking Zabrak woman who was sat by herself at the fountain, smiling at the children playing in the water.

“Excuse me, I'm sorry to disturb you” Kan began, and the woman looked to her with an openness that made her continue, “I'm new to town, could you possibly tell me a little bit about what goes on around here?”

“Of course” She smiled, and patted the place next to her.

Kan took the seat, and they fell into conversation about the customs of the town, market on every second and fourth day of the week, and a communal celebration every few weeks on the fifth day, which included mostly food stands and dancing, among other festivities. The Zabrak, who had since introduced herself as Rhidi, told her about the mayor, pointing them out amongst the crowd of small children that they were playing with.

“It's lovely here, the community seems to be really thriving” Kan said, looking back to Rhidi to see her hesitancy before speaking.

“It is, I must admit it has been different lately” She said, a twinge of indignance in her tone.

“How so?” Kan asked, feigning innocence.

“There's just… a lot more of an imperial presence here nowadays” She began, trying to gauge Kan's opinion on the matter, “Which is fine! of course, it's just… different”

“Oh right…” Kan said, looking around at the stormtroopers patrolling the square, “When did they get here?”

“Around two standard months ago, there was suddenly double the troops, then triple, it happened so quickly” Rhidi said, keeping her voice hushed.

“Something important must be going on then” Kan prompted her.

“They've set up some kind of base for experimentation, technological I think, but that's all I know about it” She said, then sat up straighter, “But anyway, that's pretty much there is to know around here”

Kan understood and followed suit, “Thank you so much Rhidi, it was a pleasure to meet you”

“And you…”

“Oh! I'm uh- Ech-a” Kan immediately cursed her stupid mouth for speaking before she could think properly about what she was saying. “Short for Gekavi” She tried to salvage her blunder with the reasonably common Mirialan name.

“Well, I hope to see around again Eka” Rhidi said with a smile, standing up and brushing off her skirt as Kan cringed at the use of the name.

“Me too” She managed to smile before Rhidi walked away.

Kan stood and looked around the square for someone who seemed like they might know something more about the imperial presence here. That's when she noticed a man in an imperial officer's clothing watching her, a subtle smirk on his lips. She tore her eyes away and made her way around the outside of the square, and then back towards the man, bumping into him with her shoulder a little too harshly.

“Oh! I'm so sorry, forgive me” She looked up at him with widened eyes and all the innocence she could.

“It's no worry miss” He smiled at her warmly, readjusting his uniform, “You're new around here aren't you?”

“Oh dear, is it that obvious?” She said, her hand on her cheek out of fake embarrassment.

The officer chuckled, “I just don't remember seeing you before”

“Ah well, I've just moved in. I'm Gekavi” She doubled down on the name while holding out her hand and he took it in a soft grasp.

“Captain Levy” He gave his own name. He was truthfully quite a handsome man, dark curly hair that fell over his forehead neatly, dark blue eyes, and a pleasant smile.

“Captain huh? That's impressive” Kan smiled up at him disarmingly.

“Should be Commander soon” The Captain smirked at her a little, and Kan could tell he was all too happy to show off to her. This is too easy.

“Woah, how come?” She asked innocently, a small smile quirking the corner of her mouth.

“Cant tell you that I’m afraid Miss, top secret” He said with a little wink.

“Aw, that’s too bad”

Echo looked around the square from the corner, trying to keep his appearance distinctly droid-like. He finally found Kan, but his breath caught as he saw her fluttering her eyelashes up at a man - an Imperial officer - and touching his arm gently. He couldn't help the feeling of jealousy and borderline anger that bubbled up in his gut, and he made his way towards them slowly.

Kan caught the sight of Echo over Captain Levy's shoulder and felt the need to wrap up the conversation.

“Well I should be getting home, it was nice to meet you Captain, almost Commander” She smirked up at him.

“It’s Drass, but it was nice to meet you too Gekavi” He replied with a charming smile, and Kan waved goodbye before she heard him calling out to her again, “Will you be attending the festivities tomorrow?”

“I'm not sure, I still have a lot of settling in to be doing” She replied a little nervously to invite him to try and convince her.

“Well, I hope to see you there nonetheless” He smiled.

She batted her eyelashes at him for a moment, chewing on her lip, “I'll think about it”. She smiled at him and then left, noting him watching her walk away. Echo came to walk beside her as she rounded the corner to their dwelling, and she jumped a little at his sudden presence.

“That was great” She grinned at him, and his heart sunk just a little.

“It was?” He looked at her, jaw grinding when she nodded, “We're not here to just flirt with Imperials you know”

“I wasn't really flirting” Kan screwed up her face at the accusation, placing down the grocery bag on the kitchen table, “But that man is one compliment away from spilling everything. I think we should go to these ‘festivities’ tomorrow”

“So you can flirt with this man some more?” Echo asked, and Kan looked at him with disbelief and apprehension to his strange line of questioning.

“Fake flirting, there's nothing attractive about being with the empire” She pointed out, “I think he's a good first try in any case, and if we go to this thing tomorrow we might find other opportunities”

Echo conceded with a grunt, “Okay, if you say so”

Kan frowned as Echo walked into his room and shut the door. She was getting a little tired of the way he would suddenly act different around her, and she couldn't help but feel that she had done something wrong, once again. She didn't like the way his mood affected her own thoughts, and didn’t understand why she would let it happen. Had it not been the right thing to do to get the attention of an Imperial Captain? Or soon to be Commander, if he was to be believed - that seemed like a good connection to have made.

“Echo, are you coming this thing tonight?” Kan asked from outside his bedroom door.

Echo had taken to staying in his room any time that he wasn't eating or out walking around town and listening in on conversations. That was the way he had found out where their main base of operations was earlier on in the day.

He opened the door, the crease in his brow softening as he looked down at Kan. She wore a short white sleeveless dress, a red waistcoat with the top button done up, and a pair of brown leather boots. Her collarbones were adorned by a small golden necklace, and her hair tied into two pigtails with white ribbons. She looked positively breath taking, and Echo's breath had certainly been taken.

“Uh- I, um- I might stay here” He stuttered out, rubbing his neck as he looked away from her.

“Oh, okay” She said, her shoulders slumping a little.

He noted her deflated tone, “Did you want me to come?”

“I mean… yes. I'm a little nervous about talking to this officer again… and people in general really. It might just be reassuring if you were there, I don't know” She spoke, looking down at her feet, “It's okay if you don't wa-”

“No, I'll come” He replied quickly, “Let me just get changed quickly”

“Okay” Kan smiled as he closed the door, and she sat down at the kitchen table waiting for him. Within a few minutes, the door opened again and Echo stepped out in his droid disguise. Kan desperately wanted to ask him why he had chosen to disguise himself as a droid for this mission, but she decided that another time would be better.

The pair left their dwelling, into the darkness of the night, and made their way to the park just around the corner, where the event was taking place. Echo noted the way that Kan's hands tightened into fists as she looked around the festivities nervously.

“Do you want me to stay with you?” He asked quietly.

“No, I mean- maybe stay close by, but you don't need to be right here if you don't want to. I- I'll be fine, uh- being by myself, um, if you're nearby” She replied, her brain scattered by the amount of people around.

“Hey” Echo said, pulling her around the corner and out of the view of everyone else. He flipped up his mask to talk to her, “If you're uncomfortable, we can go back, you're under no obligation to get information this way”

Kan looked up into his eyes as he leaned his hand on the wall next to her. She found them entirely captivating, a soft brown colour that was different from any of the other clones she had encountered. The intensity of his gaze calmed her from her previous worries, but his proximity had her heart racing.

“No, it's okay. I just- crowds can be a little much for me, but it's fine”

“Are you sure?” He asked, his eyes narrowing.

“Yes, It'll be fine” She assured him. and he stepped back, flipping his mask down.

“Okay, let's do it” He said, gesturing for her to re-join the celebration.

Feeling emboldened by his actions, and having a need to feel safe, Kan grabbed ahold of Echo's hand, and pulled him gently through the crowd.

Echo felt as if his body had been set alight by the simple touch, and he knew that his cheeks must be bright red under his mask. His knees felt weak just from such a small gesture, but he kept his form rigid, continuing his droid-like appearance. He looked down at their hands and smiled to himself. Kan's hand was so different from his own. It was smaller, with slender fingers, but that made it fit so perfectly into his.

As they emerged from the crowd, they noticed that they were at the edge of a dance floor. Couples danced around giddily, some old, some young. With Echo's hand grounding her in the uncomfortable situation, Kan looked around and truly appreciated the beauty of the moment.

Echo felt Kan slip her fingers between his, and he looked over to her to see her looking around the festival with a smile on her face. His heart lurched at the sight. The orange glow of the warm lights scattered around the park lit her face so perfectly, bringing out each curve and dimple there was to see. For the first time, he noticed a thin scar that ran along the back of her jaw, stretching towards her ear. The urge to reach out and trace his finger along it almost overtook him, but his thoughts were interrupted as someone approached them and Kan took her hand from his.

“Eka! It's good to see you” Rhidi approached Kan with a wide smile, who in turn cringed at the fake name.

“Rhidi, you too” She smiled politely.

“I'm just on the way to find my wife, but I'll see you later!” She waved as she made her way past them, and Kan waved back, though Rhidi wouldn't have seen it.

“Eka huh?” Echo said tauntingly from beside her and Kan rolled her eyes, “Sounds awfully like someone I know…”

“Ugh, I panicked okay?” She looked at the clone, “From now on, if anyone asks my name is Gek-”

“Gekavi! You came”

Kan turned and her eyes landed on Captain Levy, making his way towards her with a wide grin. She plastered a similar expression on her own face as she greeted him.

“Captain Levy, how lovely to see you”

“Please, just Drass is fine” He insisted, “And I must say, you look absolutely gorgeous tonight”

“Oh, thank you Drass” Kan replied shyly, “You look pretty handsome yourself”

Echo felt like throwing up.

“Thank you my dear” Drass held out his hand, “May I have this dance?”

“Oh” Kan said, genuinely surprised, and hooked her pinky finger with Echo's for a moment. The Captain had not acknowledged him at all, and still didn't as he slipped the rest of his fingers into Kan's and gave her hand a firm squeeze - a quick reminder that she didn't have to do this.

“Okay then” She said, and took his hand with her free one. She looked back to Echo as she did, her hand lingering in his as she let herself be dragged away by the other man.

Echo hated the sight of it with a burning passion. His hand dropping from hers and her walking away with another man. His infatuation with Kan was admittedly rather new, but the sight in front of him just felt wrong, and his jaw tightened with indignance. He watched as the man, perfect in all ways as far as Echo could understand, swept Kan off her feet figuratively, and then literally, as the dance called for it. He tried to reassure himself that Kan was just pretending, but either she was a really good actor, or she was genuinely enjoying herself.

Self-conscious thoughts crept into Echo's mind from the dark corners of his brain, clawing their way out from hiding. I could never dance with her like that. Even if she wanted to, I don't have a hand to offer her. She looks much happier with this man, and he's an imperial of all people. And the worst thought of them all, she would never want someone like me.

Echo's breathing became shallow and he struggled to keep his rigid exterior. Kan danced with Captain Levy for a few songs, and Echo just tried to focus on the music, the band playing instruments he had never seen before. If he wasn't so distracted he'd be interested in finding out what they were. It seemed that the pair were talking about something in depth, swapping thoughts on a subject.

Then, it was time for a slow number. Kan looked hesitant, but the Captain seemingly convinced her, and they took up a more intimate position, swaying to the music together. They appeared to still be conversing a lot as they did so, Kan asking lots of questions, as was her inquisitive nature.

Echo was so vividly jealous that he started feeling dizzy.

Luckily, the song ended, and Kan said goodbye to the Captain and made her way back over to Echo. She grabbed his hand and said firmly, “We're leaving”

The feel of Kan's hand in his once more dissipated the rage that his jealousy had caused. She gripped him tightly as she wove her way through the crowd and out the other side. She didn’t relent in her grip until they were back in their dwelling, and she was pacing back and forth.

“What happened? It looked like you were enjoying yourself” Echo noted, and Kan whirled on him, pointing a finger to his chest.

“I was not. That man is nothing if not vile. He-” She said angrily, and Echo was taken aback. He had never seen her be angry at all, let alone so fiercely like this.

“He what?”

“He was- It doesn't matter” She shook her head, “He let slip the nature of what's going on here, among other things”

“Oh wow, you work fast” Echo tried to ease the tension with a small joke, and she did chuckle a little before her face fell.

“It's some kind of weapon, something that can be fitted to one-man fighters, or used on the ground. He didn't say exactly what it did, but he definitely used the word ‘destruction’ more than once” She spoke solemnly.

“Oh kriff” Was all Echo could say.

“Yeah” Kan sighed, and slumped into a kitchen chair. She pulled her knees to her chest as she often did.

“Why didn't you enjoy yourself? What did he do?” Echo asked, taking a step towards her.

“He-” She huffed, “He was just saying some really nasty stuff” She looked away from him, and Echo knelt on the floor in front of her.

“About you?”

“No, about… clones” She admitted.

Echo sighed, “Well, that's to be expected maybe, he is an imper-”

“That's not the point. The clones- you're a person Echo, and people just talk about you like you're a piece of dirt on their shoe. It's disgusting that people can be so cruel”

Echo found his heart melting at Kan's words for the millionth time. Her anger on his behalf was admirable.

“It’s okay Kan, that's just how it is”

“Well it shouldn’t be” She pouted, crossing her arms over her knees. Echo couldn’t help but smirk at her childlike actions as he stood again. “You're laughing at me”

“I'm not laughing” Echo smiled wider, a small laugh escaping.

“Yeah yeah, and I'm the queen of Naboo” Kan rolled her eyes and stood from her seat, making her way towards the stairs.

“Kan” Echo called after her, and she turned to look at him. He hesitated a little before he spoke, “Look, that man may have been an idiot in the end, but… he was right, you look really nice”

Kan smiled broadly at the compliment, her cheeks darkening, “Thanks Echo”

He just smiled at her, “No problem, I'll see you tomorrow” He walked over to the door to his room and disappeared inside.

Kan stayed stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment longer, her blush only growing deeper. Though she would not admit it, she truly had Echo in mind when she dressed herself for the night's festivities, and despite the devastating news of this weapon the imperials were building, she felt elated that he had acknowledged her appearance, and even complimented it. Maybe I'm getting somewhere with him…

technical devotion, part nine: getting nowhere

content warnings: none :)

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Kan and Echo had been working undercover for almost two weeks now, and Echo was growing impatient at the lack of action they had seen. He never considered himself to be someone with an itchy trigger finger, but the days of just milling about town, listening in on conversations and watching stormtroopers rotate through their shifts was beginning to grate on him. He felt as if he were being useless, and that was something he really didn't like.

Kan on the other hand, had been plenty busy. She had constructed a sensor for their domicile that would buzz her comm when someone was approaching the house, thus far only having been triggered by Echo. She also put up a camera for the same reason, but she was yet to really use that. She had built a device that Echo had been using, to scan buildings for any sign of this weapon they had found out about, but so far it was not proving fruitful.

At the moment she was working on a new build, a more complicated one that had taken up all of her time from the past few days. The aim was to make a device that could disable anything technological. She had made a small version, which had worked on rendering her comm device useless until she re-configured it, but to make something that would work on a large scale was different.

Kan could tell that Echo was impatient. She often heard him sighing in his room and pacing about in the evening. She had taken to working at the kitchen table, much to Echo's chagrin. There were loose wires and spare parts scattered everywhere, and he'd started just pushing things off of the table when it came time to eat. He did enjoy seeing Kan so much, with her being right outside his bedroom door at all times, but the mess, combined with his agitation about getting nowhere with their assignment, was beginning to annoy him.

Kan was beginning to feel some irritation of her own. She was sat at the kitchen table as she always did, working on soldering together some coils, but she kept getting distracted as Echo sat down, tapped his foot, then stood up, paced about, then sat down and repeated the process. It was driving her insane, but because she felt empathy for why he was so irritable, she kept her mouth shut. Until she couldn't.

“Echo, I'm sorry but… that's really rather distracting” She stopped what she was doing and looked to him.

Echo grunted. He was in a particularly foul mood, and had been for days. Their conversations had not been as lively as they were at the beginning of the mission. He continued to go through his series of motions, and Kan just watched him, unsure of what to really say.

“I'm sick of this. It's time we did something” He finally spoke, voicing his concerns for the first time.

“Echo we don't know anything yet, we can't just go bursting into their base of operations with nothing but a blaster”

“That’s exactly what we're going to do” He said, leaning onto the table and looking at Kan with unwavering seriousness.

“No, we're not” She sighed, her own gaze even and as serious as his, “You know it's not a good idea”

“I'm past good ideas at this point” He spoke exasperatedly, his hand running over his face.

“Echo… we're going to find something soon, I'm going to see that Captain again, I'll try and squeeze some more information out of him” Kan said gently, trying to assuage his building anger.

“I don't want you doing that” He sighed deeply, his eyes trained on Kan.

“Well I don’t exactly want to either, but it's the only lead we have at the moment”

“Yeah, cause I’ve been so useless haven’t I” He grumbled, facing away.

“There's no point getting angry about it” Kan stated, her own irritation bubbling to the surface.

“But I am angry! I haven't been able to find anything out, and now you're saying we can't even try” He raised his voice slightly and Kan frowned deeply.

“It's not my fault” Kan spoke lowly.

“I'm not saying it's your fault, I'm saying that it seems like you don't even want to try” He was shouting now, and Kan stood up.

“What are you-?”

“Is this cause even important to you?” He drew in closer to her.

“Yes, of course it is, it’s just-”

“You don’t get it do you?”

“Echo-”

“No, you don’t know how this feels at all, how could you?”

Kan took a step back from Echo. He was acting so out of character. She could tell he was angry, of course, but the look in his eyes told her his words were coming from a place of sadness.

“You weren’t a part of the war, you don’t know what it was like to be fighting for something bigger than yourself. If you did you wouldn’t be backing down!”

Something in Kan snapped at that, “You don’t even know anything about me!” She shouted back at him, finally matching his tone.

“Then tell me!” He shouted back, complete exasperation taking him over.

Kan stayed silent, her chest heaving as she stared into Echo’s eyes from inches away. She then shook her head and moved towards the stairs. She wasn’t going to be berated over something so ridiculous. Echo grabbed her wrist before she could ascend the stairs.

“Tell me” He said, sternly, though he wasn't shouting this time.

Kan sighed exasperatedly. She was entirely worked up by the argument. She ran a hand over her face angrily and ripped her arm from Echo's grasp.

“I don’t owe you any kind of explanation, but I was involved in the war, so you're wrong. I do know what it was like, and what I know is that risking your life unnecessarily is pointless” Her tone was venomous, her words dripping from her mouth like poison, but her eyes held a deep and profound sadness that Echo hadn’t ever noticed before. As he took in her confession, he realised that he must have really struck a chord.

“You were involved in the war?” He spoke so gently now, his expression confused yet intrigued.

Kan let out an aggressive sigh, “Yes, look, I don't want to talk about it. Find out more about this base and I might actually consider it, but we are not going in blind” She said, the anger melting from her voice with each word, a sternness still lingering.

“I didn't realise you were the one calling the shots now”

Kan missed the small smile on Echo’s lips at his attempt to bridge the gap between them. “Sorry, sir” She said sarcastically and stormed off to her room.

It had been a few days since their argument, and neither Echo nor Kan were feeling man enough, or woman enough, to be the first to clear the air. They had talked, minimally, but it had been small jabbing comments accompanied by a lot of glaring. Mostly from Kan.

Kan tiptoed down the stairs. She didn't need Echo to see her slipping out to spend the evening schmoozing Captain Levy. He had already expressed his distaste for the man, and while she agreed with him, she didn't fancy a telling off for it. She grabbed her jacket and opened the door.

“Where are you off to?”

For kriff sake.

Kan turned to see Echo leaning against his doorframe, just in his blacks. Even in the dim light of the singular bulb in the kitchen, she could see the contours of his toned torso, the size of his biceps as his arms crossed over his chest. Kan ground her jaw. How dare he be looking this good when I'm supposed to be angry with him.

“Out” She said simply, turning to leave.

“Do you really think it's safe to just being going out at night?” Echo challenged.

“I don't think you're really in any position to say that, Mr let's go in guns a-blazing and get ourselves killed for no good reason” Kan replied, her hands on her hips.

Echo sighed and stepped forwards, closing the space between the two of them, “Kan… I don't want to fight with you”

Kan stayed silent. She wanted him to apologise to her.

Echo looked down a her. She had let her hair out, all of it falling down her back, aside from the two beaded sections at the front. She was wearing a tight long-sleeved top that showed just her collarbones, and a neat pair of trousers. A sliver of her hips was on show as the top rode up a little, and he focused his attention back on her face quickly. Kan thought she was going to feint as she watched him drink in her appearance.

“I'm sorry, for the things I said. I've just been so frustrated that we haven't got anywhere yet. I didn't mean to take it out on you” He said sincerely, and Kan immediately let out a long breath.

“I don't want to fight either, it's exhausting, my brain hurts” She held her head in her hands and Echo chuckled.

“I had no idea you played a part in the war, I would have never said-”

“Don't worry about it. I forgive you” Kan said, looking up him again, “I knew you weren't in your right mind to begin with”

Echo smiled, and paused for a moment, “You look really nice by the way”

“Thank you” Kan's cheeks flushed instantly, “I'm going out to meet Captain Levy”

Echo's smile dropped.

“I know it's not the best idea necessarily, and I don't really want to, but he's been asking me ever since we danced together and… you are right, we haven't got anywhere yet, I've just been too preoccupied to really dwell on it” Kan explained.

“Okay” Echo sighed.

“Okay? You'll let me go?”

He chuckled slightly, “You don't really need my permission, but yes, I'll let you go”

“Alright” Kan smiled, and then it faltered as she stepped outside, “I shouldn't be out for long, but don't wait up for me”

“Can’t promise I won't” Echo's mouth curled into a small smirk.

Kan bit back her own smirk, “Okay, I'll see you later then”

As she walked off, Echo called out for her, “Will you just do something for me?”

“Yeah, anything”

Echo hadn't expected that response, but continued despite the fluttering of his heart, “Tell him you have a husband or something, just to… deter him from being too overly friendly”

“Yeah that's a good idea, thank you” Kan smiled, and turned around to walk away.

Echo watched her go with a sigh. He was glad that they were speaking again, and now that they were, he endeavoured to find out in what capacity she had been involved in the war.

Kan stepped into the bar where she had agreed to meet Captain Levy. It was dimly lit, a strip of red lighting along the bar, and a humidity hung in the air as the many bodies inside moved about. Kan tried to think of the last time she had been in a crowd, when Echo had been there with her. She tried to remember the way his hand had felt in hers; safe, protective and comforting. It brought her heartrate down a little, but it was still no match for the real thing.

She looked around for the Captain, but the darkness of the bar had her peering around with narrowed eyes and no luck.

“Looking for someone?” A voice said into her ear from behind, and she jumped, turning to see the Captain with a smirk plastered across his face.

“Captain! You scared me” Kan laughed nervously.

“Please, it’s Drass” He gestured for her to take a seat at one of the booths, “And besides, it's Commander now”

“You got the promotion?”

“Mhm” He leaned over the table as Kan sat down, “Let me get you a drink”

He walked away before Kan could tell him what she wanted, and she sat back with a small exhale. This was not going to be pleasant by any stretch of the imagination.

For the entirety of the evening, the newly promoted Commander waffled on about himself, about how he got into the Imperial command position in the first place, though divulging no information that was of any use to Kan. He bought a few rounds of drinks for himself, while Kan sipped quietly at the unpleasant one he had bought her in the first round. After an hour of this, she resigned herself to just sitting and listening to him natter on, and after a while she tuned him out without him even noticing. She thought the bar was rather charming, dark wood tables and an assortment of local beverages along the back of the bar. Under different circumstances, she'd be enjoying herself in this environment.

Kan opened the front door and dropped her jacket on the floor beside it, sighing deeply. She trudged into the kitchen and slumped down into a chair, placing her head on the table.

“Kan?” Echo called, emerging from his room to see her sat in the darkness, “What's the matter?”

Kan winced as the light turned on, “It just didn't go well, I didn't find anything out”

“It's alright, we can figure out another way” Echo suggested, taking the seat next to her.

“Yeah” She replied despondently.

“Did something happen?” Echo asked, suddenly alarmed at the thought.

“No. No, just- ugh. Kriffing… men” She grunted.

“Um… I'm sorry?” Echo didn’t really know what to say.

Kan chuckled at that, lifting her head from the table, “It's not you”

He smiled just a bit, “What did he do?”

“He just- he wouldn't shut the kriff up for one second to let me ask anything, and then had the gall to suggest going back to his place afterwards as if he'd earned it or something” Kan rolled her eyes, sitting back in her chair, “It's just typical”

“Typical? How so?” Echo asked.

“I don’t know, I've just had one too many experiences like that. A lot of guys don't care to hear you talk at all and then expect something in return for buying you a few drinks. It's why I haven't done it in a long time to be honest” Kan sighed, her eyes focused on her fiddling hands.

Echo's brow creased in a small frown, “I don't know how anyone could not want to hear you talk”

Kan looked up at him, feeling her heartrate rising, “What?”

“Uh…” Echo trailed off, “You have a lot of interesting things to say, you know?”

One side of Kan's lips quirked into her usual lazy smile, “Thanks Echo, you too”

He chuckled nervously, “I don't know about that”

“I do” Kan said resolutely, “I love hearing your stories from the war”

Echo gulped, trying to form his next sentence without sounding too much like he was prying, “I'd like to hear some of yours too”

Kan took a deep breath, her teeth catching her bottom lip as she chewed nervously, “Maybe another time”

As Kan stood and went to her bedroom without another word, it suddenly occurred to Echo that whatever Kan was avoiding talking about, whatever war stories she wouldn’t tell, were probably deeply painful. It had seemed to him that Kan lived her life as if she had never known any suffering, always smiling and hopeful. If Kan, who was usually so open and positive, was hiding a part of herself, it was something she wanted to forget. That scared Echo, and it also intrigued him to no end. He wanted to know everything there was to know about Kan.

let me take care of you

Rex x F!Reader

word count: 5.7k

description: you have been suffering from depression for a few months and have shut yourself off from the world. a few weeks after getting laid off from your job, you get an unexpected knock at the door.

warnings: i'm gonna say this is 16+ just to be safe, heavily implied sex, depiction of depression, suicidal ideation, hurt/comfort, friends to lovers, mutual pining - let me know what I've missed !

a/n: okay so this is sooooo self-indulgent it's actually embarassing. I wrote the first bit of this when I was truly going through it and... yeah, it's just Rex taking care of the reader hehe, with a bit of suggestive stuff but not proper smut. if that's your kinda thing, I hope you enjoy! (also this is the first oneshot that I've actually posted so gimme constructive criticism pls !!)

Everything felt foggy.

For the past months, your life had felt like you were just going through the motions. Wake up, go to work, come home, struggle to sleep, and repeat. You didn't enjoy the things you used to anymore. It had been too long since you had taken a walk in the park, since you had sketched or written, and it hurt that you couldn't seem to even try and do them. Like there was an invisible force stopping you, and yet, there wasn't. It was just your own mind, lacking in whatever hormone would make you happy.

You couldn't find it in yourself to take care of yourself properly, and ever since being laid off from your job a few weeks ago, you had gone into the worst of it. You weren't eating properly, you couldn't sleep, sometimes staying up all night even though you would lay in your bed and just pray for it to be different. You hadn't seen your friends in months, though they would try and check in on you. You always told them you were busy, but you knew they knew what was going on. You had been like this before, though this time it was worse.

You shut yourself off from the world.

You hadn't been out of your apartment at all in days when you heard the knock. You made your way to your front door, and your breath hitched when you peered through the little hole and saw who was behind it.

Rex.

The clone stood in the hallway, his helmet at his hip, looking down the hall, and handsome as ever. There was no way you were letting him in while you were in this state. You hadn't brushed your hair in maker knows how long, you hadn't showered in… maybe a week? and the last time you had brushed your teeth was probably 2 days ago. Your personal hygiene was sorely lacking.

You watched the Captain through the door, your breath fogging up the glass, and jumped back when the knocking of the door reverberated around your small apartment.

What is he doing here?

You hadn't seen Rex since you lost your job, though he was among the few people who checked in with you regularly, trying to ask about how you were or convince you to come out of the house. Your stomach churned at the idea of people fussing about you, and now one of them was standing outside your door. A particular one of them that, in any given other state, you would be dying to see.

Your deep attraction and affection for Rex only made this situation more uncomfortable for you, the thought of answering the door making you feel physically sick.

You then heard your name called from behind the door in a deep, questioning voice, and your knees went weak.

“Are you in there?” He asked, followed by another knock.

You wanted to reply, to say anything, but you couldn't find your voice. What would I say? You elected to just go back to your bed, let him leave on his own, and pretend he was never here.

You scooted backwards but caught your hip on a table, sending a pile of your precious books hurtling to the floor. You held your breath, hoping Rex had not heard the noise, but it was no use.

Rex called your name again, and this time, it was gentler, “…Please let me in”

Your eyes watered as you walked up to the door, your finger hovering over the button that would cause it to slide open.

“I'm fine Rex, you can go” You tried to sound as resolute as you could, but the quiver in your voice was obvious.

“Cyare… let me in. I'm not leaving”

The nickname hit you hard, and you truly felt like clutching your chest as it pulled at the part of you that desired the clone on the other side of the door like no other.

You had met Rex years ago, at the job you had recently been let go from, working as a civilian medic on Coruscant.

The Captain could rarely be convinced by his brothers to take himself to the medbay, much more of the suffer in silence type. However, once you had begun working there, he had started making trips there for every little bump and scratch, and sometimes even when he was in perfect health, he would go claiming a cold or headache. He had always had a soft spot for you, and though he'd never admit it, he made it obvious. Everyone around him knew, everyone around you knew, but for whatever reason, you hadn't cottoned on at all.

He found you exceedingly beautiful, obviously intelligent, and just the most wonderful and bright spark of a person he'd ever met. Though, that was far from what you were feeling like at the moment.

You had also been enamoured by the Captain from the very start. The moment he walked into the medbay and made eye contact with you, you were done for. Whether it was his loyalty to his men, his commanding presence, or his wonderful smile that did it, you didn't know, but you were kriffed from the beginning.

“I can't let you in” You said, leaning your forehead into the door.

“Why not?” He said in a hushed tone that you could barely hear.

“I- I'm just not feeling well okay?” You choked out, vastly minimising the issue.

“I dont mind Cyare, just let me in. Please” He begged, but you just shook your head, squeezing your eyes shut.

You and Rex had grown into good friends quite naturally. In his needless visits to the med bay, he would often stay after hours and help you clean up, and you would fall into conversation about anything and everything. You shared many opinions about a variety of topics and would talk about your respective favourite things. Rex found that he learned a great deal about the wider galaxy from you, and he could hear you talk about art for hours upon end.

You were a fantastic artist, absolutely brilliant in any media, but Rex loved your sketches the most. You had brought him to your apartment once after work, when he had practically begged to see your work. He liked the simplicity of it, creating life with just a few stokes of a pencil. Your drawings held such character, such joy, such sorrow, and Rex thought that they were always so uniquely you. For that, he loved them.

“Rex I-” You didn't know what to say. You sank to your knees on the floor, letting your tears silently fall down your cheeks.

“Please…” He said one more time, and you finally broke.

You reached up and pressed the button, and the door zipped open to reveal your defeated posture to him. You dared not look up at him. You didn't want him to see you like this at all, but the thought of looking him in the eye when you knew how dishevelled, how weak you looked, you couldn't stomach it.

“Oh Cyare” He said softly and closed the door behind him, sinking to his knees in front of you. He tentatively placed a hand on your knee and began rubbing his thumb back and forth. “What's happened? You haven't been in the medbay for weeks”

“I was laid off” You replied quietly.

“What? Why would they do that?” He asked, genuinely confused. You were a talented medic. He could see no reason for it.

“Money is tight. We are at war after all” You chuckled a little bit, knowing that much was obvious to Rex.

“What are you upset about? I'm sure there's somewhere else that would take you, you're a great medic” He asked so innocently that you could almost laugh.

“It's not about that…” You sighed, running a hand over your face, still looking down.

“What is it about?” Rex said softly, shuffling forwards so his armoured knees touched your bare ones.

“I just… I can't do it anymore Rex” You whispered, the first time you had freely admitted it to anyone before.

Rex tensed up. He brought his other hand up and gently grabbed your chin, tilting your head to look at you properly. The look in your eyes already told him the answer to the question he was about to ask, “Can't do what?”

“It. Life. Anything. I just want to disappear” You said, choking on your tears and overwhelmed by the thoughts that weighed you down. Rex's amber irises burned into yours with such an intensity, but not for long, as his arms made their way around your body, and he pulled you into his lap.

You cried into his chest, with him stroking your hair and holding you close to him with the other arm, scared that you would somehow get your wish and disappear in his arms.

He was at a loss for words. He couldn't understand how someone he thought was so wonderful and incredible could be harbouring such hateful feelings about themself. He feared saying anything that would upset you, and the last thing he wished to do was deny how you were feeling by telling you that you were wrong, so he just held you in his arms, silently letting you know he was there for you, no matter what. The sound of your crying was making his heart break, but he stayed like that until it died down.

“How long have you been feeling like this?” He asked tentatively, drawing back and holding your jaw so he could see your face.

“I dont know… four or five months, maybe?” You replied, and it felt like he had been stabbed in the chest.

How had he not noticed anything was wrong? He felt like he had failed you, that your friendship was for nought if he couldn't even tell when you were upset. He didn't place any of the blame on you, but he had to ask…

“Why didn't you tell me?”

You sighed, “I didn't want to concern you with it. It's for me to deal with”

“What? It's not just for you to deal with, of course I'd want to know if you're not okay. I'm so sorry I didn't notice” He said, his tone so heavy with guilt.

“It's okay, it makes sense that you didn't”

Rex almost took offence to the comment, but the small smile on your lips didn't evade him, “Why does it make sense?”

“Uh, I guess I was always happy around you” You admit, “You- Uh we’re good friends, you know? I like spending time with you”

Despite the comment about being friends, Rex's heart soared, “I like spending time with you too Cyare”

“Why are you calling me that all of a sudden?” You asked. You knew what it meant, you'd spent enough time among the clones, and it was impossible to escape when you overheard their unabashed flirting on your few trips to 79s.

“Um” Rex gulped, not feeling like right now was the best time to admit that he was wildly in love with you, “I don't know, I care about you, you know? Like you said, we're good friends”

You nodded, seeming satisfied with the explanation, and Rex breathed out a shaky breath.

“I'm sorry you had to see me like this” You looked down, playing with your fingers as heat rose to your cheeks.

“It's fine, I really don't mind. Besides, you still look good to me” He said, and your eyes snapped back up to his instantly, your breath becoming short. Rex thinks I look good?

“Thanks Captain” You grinned shyly, your face feeling positively on fire at the compliment.

“It's no problem” He smiled, then he became more serious, “Have you eaten today?”

“Uh- no” You looked away again, feeling ashamed.

“Alright, let me fix you some food then” He readjusted his hold on you and picked you up, setting you down on your couch. Your head was spinning from the intimacy of feeling his breath fanning over your face.

“I don't really have any food here” You admitted sheepishly.

“Okay, how about this then” He crouched by the couch so that his eyes were level with yours, “Why don't you go and have a shower, do whatever you need to feel a bit better, and I'll go out and get us some food”

“Rex… I can't ask you to do that for me” You spoke hesitantly, but he shook his head.

“You're not asking, and in fact, neither am I” He said with a playful glint in his eye, “Go and freshen up, that's an order soldier”

You giggled at him and took the hand that he offered to help you up.

“Yes sir” You saluted him and marched off in the direction of the refresher, earning a laugh from the clone.

You stepped into the refresher and looked yourself in the eye for probably the first time in days. You did not look good. Your eyes held bags that looked so heavy that they could weigh down the skin they inhabited, your hair was a complete mess, and your skin was dull and lifeless.

You sighed, grabbed your hairbrush, and decided to start there. It took a few minutes, but soon, your hair was completely knot-free, and you stripped off and stepped into the shower. You took your time finding the perfect temperature, which ended up being almost scalding hot. You leaned your elbows against the wall, letting the water hit your back and relieving some of the tension you could feel there.

Now that you were actually in the shower, you didn't feel like leaving at all. Though, the idea of Rex being outside the door when you finished was enough for you to quickly wash yourself and your hair and hop out again. You brushed your teeth twice and moisturised your clean skin. Looking in the mirror, you looked a lot better than you did before you went in the shower, and you were eternally thankful for that. If you were going to see the person you had been in love with for years, you only wanted to look your best.

You stepped out of the refresher and headed for your bedroom with your dirty clothes in hand.

“Hey, are you-”

You jumped out of your skin when you saw Rex stood in the living area with a bag in hand, and he did too when he saw you with only a towel wrapped around you. Your eyes went wide, and you wrapped the towel tighter around your body on instinct, only fueling the less-than-pure thoughts that were spilling into Rex's brain. You looked so incredible, your hair dripping water over your body, which was seemingly glistening with its new cleanliness, and your towel left little to the imagination.

“Um yeah, you're out, cool, uh- I'll let you get dressed” He turned around and cursed silently to himself for being so awkward.

You just chuckled nervously, feeling utterly mortified, and made your way to your room as intended. You found a fresh oversized t-shirt and pair of soft shorts and slipped into them quickly, rejoining Rex in the other room.

He had taken off the top half of his armour, leaving just his blacks, the Republic insignia adorned proudly on his chest. The tightness of the top showed off his toned physique as if he wasn't even wearing anything, and you had to tear your eyes away from it.

“What did you get?” You asked quietly, sitting down next to him on the couch.

“Noodles, is that okay?” He asked, looking to you a little nervously.

You chucked at his demeanour, which was decidedly un-captain-like as he looked to you for approval, “It's perfect, thank you”

You both picked up the boxes that held your food and dug in, and your bodies turned to face each other as you rested against oppsite ends of the couch. It was good to have a proper meal, with actually nutritious foods. When you had eaten as of late, it had mostly been ration bars or random snacks you could find in your apartment. You hummed contentedly, and Rex smiled at you.

“Good?”

“Mhm” You smiled, swallowing a bite, “Thank you Rex”

“It’s alright” He said nonchalantly.

“I mean it, thank you for… taking care of me” You said, then looked down, “I'm finding that difficult at the moment, so it means a lot”

“Cyare” Rex moved towards you and placed a hand on your knee, “It's really no trouble, I just want to see you feeling better”

You looked up at him and gave a tight lipped smile, “Well, thank you anyway”

“No problem. You look a little more alive now, by the way” He teased.

“Hey! You're the one that said I looked good before, you cant take it back now” You challenged, and he smirked.

“I'm not taking it back. You just look even better now” He said, but his smirk dropped when you froze up at his comment.

“You dont have to say that just to make me feel better, you know” You said, looking down and taking your final mouthful of noodles.

“I'm not just saying it” He said quietly, and you looked up to see his light frown. You put down your food box as he continued to stare at you seriously.

“What is it?” You ask.

“It's nothing, don't worry about it” He said quickly and put his own food box down as he finished.

“Rex” You scooted closer to him so that your knees were almost touching, “What's the matter?”

“Nothing’s the matter” He avoided your eyes as he spoke, and you used the technique that he employed earlier on, gently taking his chin between your thumb and finger and guiding his gaze towards you.

“What is it?” You asked again, and his eyebrows pinched together as his eyes flicked between the two of yours.

“You're so beautiful Cyare” He said, tentatively placing his hand on your lower thigh.

Your breath hitched in your throat at the gentle touch, and you searched his eyes for any dishonesty but only found them to be as earnest as usual.

“I- I should've been telling you every day since I met you” He said, his voice breaking just a little as he spoke so softly, “I should’ve been telling you how much you mean to me, how much I care for you, how important you are” He stroked his thumb back and forth on your thigh, sending tingles up your spine.

“Rex” You breathed out in a whisper, your hand sliding around to cup his sharp jaw. He leaned into your touch, and you felt as if you could melt at the sight.

“Say something” He urged, his eyes pleading for a conformation that you felt the same way.

“I-” You didn't know what to say. You felt the same, but the words got caught in your throat. It felt wrong to truly admit to your affection for him after bottling it up for so long.

“Rex, I've always cared for you, far more than a medic should care for their patient” You admitted, and his eyes lit up.

“You have?” He asked, and you nodded in reply.

“And for the record, I think you're beautiful too” You let a small grin creep its way onto your face.

“That’s good to know” Rex smirked, bringing his other hand to your cheek.

He looked deeply into your eyes, the eyes that he always found so fascinating, and he leaned his forehead against yours before tilting his head towards your lips. You shivered with anticipation.

“Is this okay? I don't want to take advantage of you if you-”

“Just kiss me Rex” You whispered against his lips, your eyes fluttering shut. He didn't delay after that. With your permission, he couldn't say no.

His lips met yours tentatively, as if testing the waters, but as soon as he felt you kiss him back, he pulled you in more urgently. His lips moved against yours, melding together as if it was how they were made to be. You felt your need for closeness growing, and you pulled him towards you as you deepened the kiss. Rex slid his hand up your thigh, resting it on your hip and tracing small circles with his thumb as his other hand moved to the back of your neck, pulling you impossibly closer as he devoured your lips.

Rex pulled back, his teeth lingering on your bottom lip for a moment, and you both caught your breath.

“I can't tell you how long I've wanted to do that” You said, your breath still short.

Rex grinned widely, “Yeah? I can guarantee it's probably not as long as I have”

“Probably not” You chuckled, “Unless you somehow wanted to before you even looked at me for the first time”

Rex raised his eyebrows, “You've wanted to kiss me the whole time we've known each other?” He asked, and you nodded your head shyly. “Why didn't you say anything?”

“I dont know, I guess I just figured you wouldn't feel the same” You shrug.

Rex just shook his head with a smile and pulled you onto his lap “Oh, how wrong you were”

“Is that right?” You smirked, “I'd love to hear all about just how wrong I was”

Rex smirked back at you, and placed a kiss to your cheek, “I've wanted to kiss those pretty lips of yours ever since I laid eyes on you” He confessed, and your breath hitched as he continued to place featherlight kisses along your jaw. “I thought you were the most beautiful person I'd ever seen” He kissed down your neck slowly, gently nipping at you with his teeth at the point where your neck meets your shoulder, which earned a small whine from you, and you could feel him smirk.

“I've never felt the way I feel about you, about anyone else” He murmured against your skin, burying his nose in your neck and inhaling your scent.

His words were driving you crazy. They were all you had ever wanted to hear from him, and here he was, speaking them aloud as he kissed your skin so gently, as if you would break if he pressed any harder.

“Rex” You whispered, and he looked up at you, waiting for you to continue.

“What is it, Mesh'la?” He whispered back, his lips ghosting yours. You shuddered in his arms, your eyes fluttering closed, and he watched your every move with anticipation.

“Rex, I-” You leaned your forehead against his, needing an anchor before you spoke your next words, “I need you”

Rex's heart skipped a beat. Possibly a few beats. “What do you mean, Cyare?”

“Please, take me to the bedroom” You asked, begged, and Rex took action immediately.

He held you to him as he stood up, and you wrapped your legs around him tightly. He made his way to your bed quickly and gently laid you onto your back, crawling over you so he was holding himself above your body.

“You're sure about this, Cyare? If it's just a lapse in judgement because you're not in your right mind, I understand, no hard feelings” Rex stroked your cheek with his knuckles, looking into your eyes intently.

“Rex, please. My judgement is just fine. I want you. I've always wanted you” You said, the neediness so obvious in your tone. Rex's expression then settled somewhere between amusement and adoration.

“You want me?” He smirked, his lips hovering just above yours.

“Yes” You spoke breathlessly.

“Say it again” He commanded in a whisper, his amber eyes burning into your very soul.

“I want you, Rex”

He breathed out a shaky breath and brought his lips to yours, speaking between chaste kisses, “You have me, all of me. You always have. I've always been yours”

It was almost too much to hear. Your heart was pounding in your ears, and you thought you'd made it all up.

“I've always been yours Rex” You whispered against his lips, and his breath stuttered.

“You're mine?” He asked in a murmur. The flame of desire burning in his eyes was clear.

“Only yours”

He pressed his lips to yours with a newfound desperation, his hand trailing down your body and holding your hips in place as he slipped his leg between yours. You grasped at his body, your hands finding themselves underneath the top of his blacks, and he stopped kissing you to pull it off. You absolutely marvelled at the sight.

In all your time knowing Rex, mending up his various wounds, you had never had the honour of glimpsing at his form without a shirt on. You traced along a scar at the centre of his chest, “How did you get this?”

“I was shot” He shrugged with a grin.

“No big deal for a big important Captain like you, I suppose” You teased and matched his grin as he rolled his eyes.

“Shut up” He mumbled against your skin as he buried his head in your neck, leaving soft kisses and less soft bites. You struggled to keep small moans from escaping your lips at his touch, and Rex noticed you holding back. He wound his way up to your lips, pressing a short kiss to them before he spoke.

“Don't hold out on me cyar'ika, I want to hear you”

You bit your lip and nodded at him, then kissed a trail across his strong jaw, earning a soft groan. As your kisses made their way down his neck, and you brought your hands to trail down his body, he groaned more deeply. The sound was driving you insane. Before you could breach the top of his blacks, Rex gathered your wrists in his hand and held them above your head, your eyes blown wide with desire and longing, your breath ragged.

Rex just looked at you for a moment, committing the intoxicating sight to his memory. His other hand found your face as he shifted the leg that was between yours, earning a whimper, “Don't worry about that, just let me take care of you”

You shuddered at his words, your body tense with anticipation for what was to come.

He looked so perfect, angelic even.

Watching Rex sleep was never a luxury you imagined yourself getting the opportunity to indulge in, but with it right in front of you, you weren't going to let it pass you by.

You had slept for a little while, wrapped up in Rex's limbs, and held closely to his body. You had been completely at peace, every struggle and awful thought that usually plagued you was pushed to the back of your mind and there was only him, his presence enveloping you; his warmth, his scent, the feel of his skin against yours, his breath against your cheek and his chest rising and falling gently. Now, as you moved away from him and watched the cold light of morning creep across his features, you couldn't help but marvel at the sight.

You slipped out of his arms, a soft sigh escaping him in the process. Your heart clenched at the sound, only feeling your adoration for him growing once again.

You reluctantly tore your gaze away from him and went over to your desk, opening the left draw as quietly as you could. You took out your flimsi sketchbook and a pencil and made your way over to the chair that was against the large window overlooking the city. However, that wasn't the focus of your sketching today, not when there was a sight far more beautiful laying in your bed.

You opened up your small sketchbook and looked at the last thing you had drawn. It was a scene from the park. A couple sat on a bench at the edge of the man-made pond and smiling adoringly at each other. You smiled and pushed down the guilt at the realisation that you had drawn this over four months ago.

When you looked up to Rex again, your heart skipped a beat. The sun had risen a little higher in the sky and cast a golden light across the lower half of his face and chest. You took up your pencil and began sketching the view before anything could disturb it.

The sheets were pooled at his waist, showing off his toned physique in all its glory, especially as he slept with one hand tucked under his head. His features were relaxed, more relaxed than you had ever seen. His face often had a sternness about it that was undeniably militaristic, but that was nowhere to be found as he slept peacefully.

You had the outline and were now just adding the details. The small marks on his skin, some that you had fixed up yourself, and the large blaster burn in the centre of his chest. As you were adding some of the shadows to his face, you heard a small grumble, and your head shot up to see Rex opening his eyes, stretching his arms out.

“Don’t move” You spoke gently, and he looked to you, noticing your sketchbook in your hand as you sat curled up in your chair.

He smiled, a warmth spreading across his chest as he settled back into his previous position, “Like this?”

“Mhm” You hummed in reply, taking in the way the shadows on his face changed now that he was awake. “Relax” You laughed as you saw a small crease emerge in his brow.

He chuckled a little and relaxed with a contented sigh.

“Almost done” You said quietly, as if to not disturb your own work.

You quickly added the remaining shading, adding some small details of the bed and the room, wanting to capture the moment perfectly, so that should your mind ever forget it, which you doubted, it would be forever recorded. That was what you loved about using flimi over a datapad. The physicality felt more personal and permanent.

“All finished” You smiled as you closed your sketchbook and went to place it back in your desk.

“Hey! Aren't you going to show me?” Rex asked, and you looked back to him to see the crease in brow had returned.

“It's not very good, it's just a sketch”

“Cyare, I love your sketches. Please, show me” He spoke gently, an edge of seriousness to deny your self-deprecating words.

“Okay” You conceded, opening the sketchbook back up and sitting down on the bed to show him. Rex then grabbed you by the waist and pulled you into him, making you fall back into his chest as he laid down again. A delighted laugh escaped your lips at the sudden contact, and you looked up to Rex's face to see an equally elated expression.

He took the sketchbook from your hand and looked over the drawing of himself, his smile widening with each second.

“It's amazing” He said softly, meeting your eyes again.

“That's because it's of you” You smiled and brushed your nose against his, earning a small chuckle.

“No, it's… You make me look so…” He looked over the drawing and tried to find the right word to describe what he meant, “I'm not sure. It looks exactly like me, but… There's something else to it”

“Well, all the best things are made with love” You said before you could even really process what you were saying.

Rex’s eyes went wide as they snapped back to yours, “Love?” He questioned.

You shrank backwards, wanting the bed to collapse in on itself and swallow you whole, but Rex’s arm tightened around your waist, pulling you against him. You let the word hang in the air for a moment before clearing your throat and swallowing hard.

“Uh… yeah” You said awkwardly, looking away.

Rex said your name in a soft tone, pulling your focus back to him. He rested his forehead against yours, his amber eyes burning into yours, “You love me?”

“I do” You whispered, gnawing your bottom lip at the vulnerability of the admission.

Rex met your lips in a sweet kiss, slow and deliberate, and pulled away a few seconds later. He caressed your cheek with his knuckles before he settled his palm on the back of your neck. “I love you too” He confessed, and your heart leapt to your throat.

“You do?” You whispered.

“I do. I always have. It's like I said, I've always been yours” He confirmed, repeating the words he had said last night. You brought your forehead to his again and closed your eyes, taking in the sweetness of the moment.

“And I yours”

Nothing was fixed. You weren't back to being happy and full of life like you once were, but Rex had reminded you why life was worth living. You were reminded of all the things that made it worthwhile, all of the things you loved to do, the things that brought joy and colour into your life. If you could just take it one step at a time, one day after the other, you would get through this feeling, and best of all, Rex would be there to support you when you needed him.

technical devotion, part ten: unveiling truths

a/n: I have a form to join my taglist now if you want! content warnings: canon-typical violence, mentions of torture

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Echo entered the dwelling and slipped off his droid mask with a definitive sigh. Another day of nothing. Though his defeated expression was quickly swept from his face as Kan came running up to him.

“Echo, you're back!” She said quickly, excitement evident, though Echo was sure it wasn't just because he'd returned.

“I’m back… what's up?” He asked dubiously.

“I've been trying to comm you all afternoon” Kan scurried back to the kitchen table, rummaging through the mess on the table. “but I think I know why you haven't been replying, at least… you haven't been ignoring me right?” She stopped rummaging to look up and tilt her head to the side.

Echo smiled faintly, “No, I haven't”

“Okay, well” Kan continued her frantic searching, “Ah, here” She pulled out her datapad, “I was listening in on their comms, and it seems that the Empire are undertaking the exact same project that I am”

Echo frowned in confusion as Kan made her way over to him with the datapad, “What do you mean?”

“Technological shorting, disrupting, whatever you want to call it” She brought up the words she had typed up upon hearing them, “This is what they said”

Echo looked over the words. Electrical pulses… system failure… signal disruption… mining…

“What does this mean?” He asked, looking to Kan, who was now exceedingly close to his chest as she showed him the file over her shoulder.

“A lot of things” Kan started, leaning back into Echo's shoulder a little, “It means that the reason they're building this weapon here, on this planet, is because of the mining operation they're running 15 or so klicks from here. Where my project is entirely wiring-based and ecologically… well, not destructive, theirs is going to pillage this planet of whatever resource it is they've found helps in creating their weapon. It means that they intend to use this weapon, which would be some kind of canon, as something they could fit onto their fighters to shoot at other ships and short the entire system, bring down the ship in any and all senses. It's technological warfare at is finest, and mightily unfair and unethical in so many ways. Not that we thought the Empire were above that”

Echo tried so desperately to focus on Kan's words, but the feel of her leaning into him was frying his brain. She continued to rest even more of her weight into him as she talked, pointing at parts of the text on her datapad and talking in animated way as if it wasn't making Echo burn inside at the feeling. He so desperately wanted to just wrap his arms around her waist and bury his nose in her neck, fully taking in the scent that was teasing him. He didn't realise that he was just staring at Kan and trying to supress his thoughts until she had turned to look at him.

“Are you listening?” She asked plainly.

“Uh… yeah, sorry” Echo stumbled through the words, swallowing hard as he looked down into her eyes from only inches away.

“You okay?” Kan asked, her gaze flicking between Echo's eyes, which seemed full of alarm.

“What? yeah, fine” He said, finally having to look away from Kan as her stare became too intense to cope with, and he felt himself crumbling beneath it.

Kan just looked at him for a moment longer before stepping away from him and sitting on the edge of the table.

“Echo can I ask you something?”

He let his eyes find hers again, palms sweating, “I suppose”

Echo could see Kan's hesitance before she spoke, “Um, why disguise yourself as a droid?”

“Oh” Echo looked down at his disguise and the mask that was still in his hand, then back up, “I guess because I'm mostly mechanical as it is. It's easier than having to come up with an explanation as to why I'm like this”

Kan nodded, “I can understand that but…” She trailed off.

“What?”

“I don't know, I can't imagine it feels nice, mentally”

Echo was taken aback that Kan had even thought of that, his heart once again acting up as she proved her selflessness. She had thought about how it must feel for him, a man that was mostly machine, to present himself to the world as what many saw him as anyway.

“I mean… maybe, but what else could I do?”

Kan gazed at him intently, her brow setting in a straight line as she looked away sheepishly, “I didn't draw up that hand attachment for no reason”

“Why did you?” Echo couldn't stop himself from asking.

“Oh, I mean, I didn't know why you had the scomp but I figured that sometimes two hands could come in handy” Kan shrugged, then let out a little laugh at the accidental pun.

Echo chuckled, though he still pressed for more, “But… we didn't even really know each other then”

Kan looked to the ground, “Yeah, I guess I was just trying to make myself useful, and I actually had a dream about it” She chuckled, “Then I just got it in my head”

Echo’s heart skipped a beat, “You had a dream about me?”

“About making the attachment and giving it to you, yeah” Kan smiled at him.

“Did I like it? In the dream” Echo let a smile fall across his lips.

“I don't remember actually” Kan said with a finger in her chin as if trying to recall.

Echo chuckled softly, then drew his eyebrows together as his next thought formed, “I'm sorry I didn't say anything at the time, it was very kind of you to think of me and I just ignored it”

“It's okay, I know you don't like to talk about… stuff” Kan trailed off, cursing herself for even saying the words.

As Kan looked down shyly, Echo viewed her with only complete trust and adoration, and felt compelled to finally tell her the truth about himself.

“It was the Separatists, that made me like this” He confessed, and Kan's eyes snapped up to his. She stayed quiet to let him continue, “I got myself… blown up, on a mission, and the Techno Union took whatever was left of me and made me into…” He gestured to himself.

“I'm so sorry that happened to you Echo” Kan said with the utmost sincerity.

Echo was sick of the pitying looks, and now he especially hated it from Kan. He suddenly regretted saying anything, feeling weak in front of the one person he was determined to appear strong in front of. Though, by her nature, Kan had something else to say.

“But I'm very glad that you're alive. If you had died being blown up I never would have met you” She spoke so seriously, her eyes holding so much emotion. An emotion that, it seemed to Echo, appeared to be understanding.

“That's true I suppose, I am grateful to be alive, even if it's the Separatists I have to thank for it” He chuckled a little, and Kan joined him in the action, if a little sadly, then she grew more serious again as she brought her hand to her shoulder.

“The Separatists were monsters”

Echo instantly noticed the way her eyes glazed over for a moment, and how she was absent-mindedly tracing the outline of her scar. He tried to catch her eyes again for conformation of what it seemed like she was insinuating, however inadvertently.

“But I'm glad you’re here, and you know I think your attachments are pretty cool right?” Kan looked back to Echo and noticed him looking at her scar as she ran her hand along it.

Echo smirked a little, “You might have mentioned it”

Kan smirked back at him before taking a seat at the table and returning to fiddling with whatever contraption is was she was tweaking now.

“Can I ask you something too?” Echo asked, unable to help himself any longer.

“Is it about my scar?” Kan asked back almost immediately, without even looking back at him.

“Uh- yeah, but only if you feel comfortable talki-”

“It's fine” She sighed, “I got it during the war, I was on Felucia with the 41st. Apparently the Separatists had started taking prisoners by then”

“Wait, when you said you were in the war…”

Kan figured that the loth-cat was more or less out of the bag at this point, and decided that since Echo had trusted her with his secret, she'd let him into hers.

“I served as an engineer and then got trained as a field medic under Master Unduli, she all but saved me from the Separatists and I offered my services as gratitude. I don't think either of us foresaw it lasting the whole duration of the war” She ended with a small chuckle, but Echo was still stuck on what she'd said before.

“You were taken prisoner by the Separatists?”

Kan sighed, “Yeah, they insisted that I was Luminara's padawan, wanted information about her battle strategies but I resisted, which they didn't take too kindly to”

Echo sat down next to her, watching her with such understanding and a newfound reverence.

“What did they do?” He asked so quietly, almost in a whisper, as if afraid to even ask, or know.

“It was um-” She swallowed a lump in her throat, “Some sort of acid or something” She confessed, and looked to Echo to see his eyes go wide, “Yeah it wasn't fun”

“I'm so sorry that happened Kan”

Kan just smiled sadly.

Echo was floundering for the right thing to say. Instead, he just said what he was thinking, “For what it's worth, I think the scar is pretty cool”

Thankfully, her eyes lit up, “Really?”

“Yeah, makes you look tough” Echo's lips curled into a smirk.

Kan laughed, “Thanks Echo, that means a lot”

“Okay, so we're clear on the plan?”

Echo nodded, a smirk threatening to take over his lips as Kan stepped into the more militaristic side of her personality. The seriousness of her expression as she leaned over the kitchen table, pointing at a location on the holomap, was enough to drive him crazy. Now knowing where she learnt to act this way, it only made it that much more attractive to him.

“Can I get an actual affirmative on that” She asked, a little of her usual personality slipping through with the tilt of her head.

“Yes Ma'am” Echo said, unable to hold back his smirk any longer.

Kan rolled her eyes, her own smirk fighting it's way onto her face, “Okay okay, let's get going then”

Kan turned off the holomap and picked up her blaster holster from the table, slinging it around her hips and making sure it was secure. Echo watched her out of the corner of his eye as he secured his armour, and caught her eye when she did the same thing. Kan blushed furiously.

For all that she felt she made it painfully obvious, Echo seemed to be unaware of her affection for him, and unbeknownst to her, it was exactly as unaware as she was of his feelings for her. She felt that there was something unsaid between them, but she didn't know if Echo would label it the same as she would, so she left it alone.

“Alright let's go” Kan said after a moment, moving towards the door.

Echo and Kan stepped out into the dusk, a stillness hanging in the air that only felt noticeable as the rest of the world settled into sleep. They quickly made their way to the warehouse on the other side of the town, where the Empire’s main base of operations was located.

Despite Kan’s reluctancy to do it previously, they were really going in with a blaster and nothing else. It was risky, but they had figured out a way to reduce the risk a little. In Echo’s surveying, he had noticed that there was somewhat of a backdoor that was left unguarded for a few minutes when the guards changed from the day shift to the night shift, and it was something that happened everyday without fail. That would at least afford them a way inside, but from there, it was anybody’s guess as to what would happen.

They came to rest at the edge of the woods that the backdoor overlooked, and watched as the Stormtroopers there talked to each other, one of them checking the time.

“Any second now” Echo murmured, as if to try and quell his own eagerness.

A few moments later, one of the Stormtroopers nodded their head to the inside, and the other agreed, opening the door for them to finish their shift.

“Time to go” Kan whispered and quickly darted from their cover in the trees. Echo followed closely behind her, and they silently slipped inside. They found themselves in a corridor, the sound of far-off chatter bouncing around the walls.

“Where should we start?” Echo asked in a hushed voice. He figured that since Kan was the more necessary person in this mission, be able to slice through their encryption and firewalls with ease, that he would take her lead.

“In here” Kan figured they would start with the nearest door and see what they could find.

She turned her head to the door, and upon hearing nothing, opened it up. She held her blaster in front of her as she went inside, though relaxed when she saw that no one was there, and it appeared to be some kind of small barracks. She saw an imperial officer’s uniform laid out on one of the bunks and ran her fingers over the fabric, looking to Echo.

“I might as well, right? In case we get caught” She reasoned and Echo nodded, turning away to let her change.

He breathed deeply, his blaster held to his chest as he rested next to the closed door, listening for anyone incoming. Regrettably, the only thing he could focus on was the sound of Kan’s clothes falling to the floor and the rustle of her slipping on the new ones. Luckily for him, no one had come in the time that it took for her to get into the uniform.

“Okay, lets continue” Kan said, and Echo turned to look at her. She looked completely incorrect in the uniform. It fit her well enough, but even with the seriousness of her mission persona, it was far too devoid of any charm to match her in any way.

They moved out again, both of them with light footfalls and straining to listen for if anyone was coming. They made their way down a few narrow corridors before they came upon a door with a small window in it, and they could see the light of a holoscreen still lit up in the otherwise dark room. Kan entered and set her blaster down on the surface beside the screen, looking around for the computer. She found it underneath the surface and pulled out the datastick she had brought along.

“Watch the door” She spoke quietly, and Echo settled himself by the door, so that he could see out but anybody walking past wouldn’t notice him.

The computer wasn’t logged in to anything, so Kan had to slice through their decryptions, which the datastick helped with, but she hit a wall quickly.

“Kriff” She hisses quietly.

“What is it?” Echo asked, not taking his eyes away from the door.

“Nothing, it’s just going to take me a second to… nevermind got it”

Echo chuckled to himself, and Kan got to sorting through the files on the computer. There were a lot, far more than she was anticipating.

”Echo, get over here”

He obliged quickly, and came to stand behind her, leaning over her shoulder.

“There’s so many files. These one here pertain to this specific base I believe and they would take enough time to download as it is… We could really get a lot of information here, but…” She trailed off, her thoughts jumbled, “We could try and send a signal to Rex, send the files to him instead, but we don’t have the wherewithal for that right now, and it would take too long to-”

“Kan it’s fine. Lets just get the information on this base, at least for now. We can figure out more later if need be” Echo placed a hand on her shoulder and felt her relax beneath it.

“Okay, it’ll just take a few-”

Kan was interrupted by the door sliding open and an officer walking inside.

“Wha-?”

Echo acted on instinct before they could even finish the word, shooting a stun blast at them.

“Better get on with it then” He said in a strained chuckle, moving to pull the stunned body inside. He closed the door and resumed his previous position as Kan began downloading the files about the project onto the datastick. He kept half an eye on the crumpled form of the Imperial that he had positioned against the wall, and kept the rest of his attention on the corridor outside. A few people passed by; a patrol of Stormtroopers and a pair of officers, but none had noticed them inside the room. After an almost painful amount of time, Kan spoke up.

“Got it”

She removed the datastick and put it back in the pouch on her belt, and Echo checked the corridor once more before sliding the door open. Kan stepped out into the hall before him, but before he could even set one foot out the door, she pushed him back inside and closed the door. He was about to protest, open the door and ask what was going on, but he quickly saw the problem.

“I’ve not seen you here before” The officer spoke with suspicion, the Stormtroopers either side of him gripping their blasters a little harder.

“New transfer” Kan said calmly.

”What’s your rank and operating number?”

“Um… Lieutenant… Oh kark it” Kan whipped her blaster from its holster and fired a stun blast to each of the Imperials before her, then opened the door again, “We’ve got to go”

Echo clambered over the bodies that were collapsed in the hall as he followed after Kan, and they made their way back towards the way they came in, though when they got into the barracks where Kan had taken the clothes from, there was someone there.

“Hey! That's my uniform!” The woman pointed at her accusingly and Kan rolled her eyes, quickly stunning her.

She began quickly stripping off the Imperial uniform, “Didn’t suit me anyway”

Echo turned away, a small laugh escaping his lips at how relaxed she seemed in the situation that was anything but. After she was back in her own clothes, they left out the door they had entered, stunning the night shift guards who had since taken their post. The two of them ran back to their dwelling, circling around the outskirts of the town and through every secluded back alley and side street that they could.

technical devotion, part eleven: co-existing

content warnings: nightmares, canon-typical violence

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The light of the holoprojector flickered, the image of Rex quivering in the darkened kitchen, the curtains pulled and shutters bolted closed.

“So you’re saying they’ve already built this weapon?” Rex asked, his brow set in a straight line.

“I’m not sure. I believe they have fully realised the tech, as there was some disturbance to devices that were nearby to their warehouse, but I’d wager it would take a lot longer to figure out how to harness that power into a projectile of some kind” Kan replied.

“How do you think they would do that?”

Kan sighed deeply, pulling together her thoughts, “From what I can gather from their reports, the material that they have been mining here is something that draws electrical charge naturally, the material itself is recorded as having disturbed their equipment, and it is located in a place that is somewhat of a local legend. The people here believe that something, some kind of god perhaps, is behind the disturbance, but once the Empire began digging about, they found a repository of this… material, mineral, metal - I’m not sure entirely what it is exactly, their reports are rather vague. The issue is… well, a bigger issue, is that the material seems to store what electrical charge it takes to some extent, so if they were able to create some kind of canon for this, a projectile containing this material could disable a ship, and then implode on itself - especially with the collected power of an entire ship held within it - sending back the signal and thus possibly frying the ship’s circuits, and if it were big enough, perhaps even the people inside would be affected. It could be devastating. Especially to any kind of large ship such as a venator, or something of a similar size which would usually be able to fend off small fighters with no problems”

Rex blew out a long breath, “Kriffing hell”

“Yeah. Kriffing hell” Kan sighed, leaning onto the kitchen table to steady herself.

“This is certainly not what I expected when I sent you guys there, I would’ve sent others as well had I known” Rex said, and scratched the stubble of his five o’clock shadow. He looked particularly worn down, and Kan felt awful to have to put this weight on his shoulders as well. “I need to think on this. I’ll talk to the others and see what they think, and I’ll call you within a few rotations once we have a plan. For now, hang tight and do what you can, but don’t take any drastic action without consulting me first”

“Yes sir” Kan nodded.

“Alright. Good work you two, I’ll see you in a few rotations”

The image of Rex flickered and cut out, enveloping the room in darkness. Kan looked over to Echo, who had been mostly silent during the call, electing to let Kan explain her findings. He didn’t think of himself as stupid when it came to technological pursuits, but with Kan in the room it was hard not to feel that way. After all, Rex had chosen Kan specifically for this mission because of her knowledge of the subject, and with the information they had found, he was now definitely more than a little out of his depth.

“I’ll go and open the windows” He said quietly, and walked over to the door.

He made his way around the kitchen, opening up the shutters and pulling open the curtains from the outside to let some air into the room that had become stuffy, whether because the windows were closed or because the subject of the call was so heavy, he didn’t know. When he made his way back inside, Kan was already back to tinkering with her own tech disruption project, soldering together all the aspects that made up one part of it. Echo saw her lick her lips and instinctively filled a cup with water, placing it next to her working hands on the table.

Since they had been confined in the same space for so long, both Kan and Echo had begun to pick up on little things that the other did. For Kan, it was that when she licked her lips while she was working it meant that she was thirsty. Kan had no idea what her tell was, and was astounded that Echo seemed to realise she was thirsty before she even realised herself, placing a cup of water beside her without so much as a word. For Echo, it was that when he was cold, he would rub his neck a certain way, as if containing a shiver, and Kan would offer him a blanket or a heatpad.

It was these little actions that made their time together so seamless. They seemed to co-exist so naturally, never stepping on each others toes, always having pleasant conversation, and knowing when what was preferred was a comfortable silence.

“Thanks” Kan smiled up at Echo as he sat across from her, and he gave her a small smile.

Echo watched Kan work, admiring how easily her nimble fingers worked, how steady her hands were.

“How did you get into this sort of stuff” He asked after a while.

Kan looked up momentarily, “My dad ran a repairs shop, I just picked up a lot of stuff from him”

“Is that where Master Unduli found you?”

“No” Kan shook her head, dropping the tools in her hands, “When the war came about I left home, I guess I was searching for some kind of purpose but I was just travelling around doing repairs and odd jobs for people, when Luminara came along I figured there wasn't really any better way I could help the war effort”

Echo nodded and Kan resumed her work again. He really found her drive admirable, her desire to do the right thing, or to be a part of something important, something that meant something. She had joined the Grand Army of the Republic, and now she was here, fighting alongside him and his brothers once more, for seemingly the same reason as before - the Republic. He couldn’t help but want to know more about her, about her childhood and her time in the war, but he didn’t want to push, especially as he knew it could be a particularly sore subject for her.

“Kan, what's your real name?” He asked instead.

She smirked a little as she looked up at him, “It's Kandam'aira. Kandam'aira Hynzir” She watched as Echo’s mouth hung open, almost imperceptibly. “It's a lot I know” She shrugged, a little nervously as she knew people didn’t often try to use her full name.

“How do you say it again?” Echo asked, bringing a warmth to her chest.

“Kandam'aira”

He sounded it out by each syllable, “Kan-dan-ei-ra?”

“Almost” Kan smiled encouragingly, “This is how it's spelled”

She pulled her datapad from the mess beside her and opened up a new file, typing out the spelling in aurebesh. She turned the screen to face him, and Echo read it a few times, turning it over in his head, “Kandam'airra”

“It's more… -ŕa, small roll on the R”

“Kandam'aira?” He said perfectly, and Kan smiled.

“Yeah that's it”

“It's really pretty” He looked up to her from the datapad, and Kan blushed a bit.

“Thanks, it's not as cool as Echo but it's whatever” She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

“Echo isn't cool” He laughed, “It sounds better when you say it though”

“Oh? Why's that?” Kan asked innocently, her gaze inquisitive.

“Uh- your accent, you have a nice voice” Echo admitted, clearing his throat afterwards.

“Oh” Kan blushed again, “Thank you”

She got on with her soldering again, this time with flushed cheeks, and Echo smirked to himself upon noticing it. It made him feel like being a little bolder.

“Why don't you go by your full name?”

“It's just long and people get it wrong all the time. I won't correct them on it either, so it's just easier”

“Why won't you correct them?”

“I just don't want the confrontation”

Echo smirked, “You corrected me”

“Well you're different” She said with no hesitation.

Echo’s eyebrows shot up, “I am?”

His tone was curious in a particular way, and Kan looked up at him briefly to catch his smirk.

“Uh- Yeah” She gulped, looking down to her work again.

“How so?” Echo pressed, and Kan found it hard to keep her skin from blushing even further.

“I don't know, you're like, easy to talk to, or something”

“Or something” He mumbled with a smirk, “Can I call you Kandam'aira?”

She gulped again, refusing to meet his gaze, “If you want to”

“I think it suits you better than just Kan”

“Really? Why?” She looked up at him briefly, to see that his face was still maddeningly and enticingly pulled into a smirk.

“Because it's a beautiful name”

Kan’s heart hammered in her chest, unsure if Echo really meant what it sounded like he was saying. She just stayed quiet, not looking at him, and feeling her whole body heat up as her blush infected her.

Echo bit the inside of his cheek, following up with, “If that's okay to say”

“Of course it's okay, I dont think I've ever been complimented on my name before”

Echo chuckled, “I wasn't really talking about your name that time”

Kan looked to him, and he stared back at her intently, a small smile gracing his lips.

“Oh” She looked down to her work again with small smile.

Echo watched her, his heart soaring with adoration as she fumbled over her project. For the first time, Echo allowed himself to think, pretend even, that Kan maybe liked him in the way he liked her.

She was running, faster than she had ever run before. She had to escape them.

Their blaster bolts flew all around her as she wound her way around the large trees of Kashyyyk's forest. They were getting further and further away, but she didn't stop running.

Her lungs burned, her limbs ached, but she had to hide.

As she turned to look back at her pursuers, a bolt came straight at her head. She evaded it in time, enough to not be killed at least, but a sharp pain seared at the edge of her cheek. She brought her hand to the pain, and in her distracted state, she tripped over a root. Before she could scramble to her feet again, a foot was pressed to her stomach, keeping her back flat against the mossy undergrowth.

“Kandam’aira Hynzir, you are a traitor to the Empire and shall be dealt with as such”

Her best friend, her ori’vod, Spider, stood above her, blaster pointed at her head.

“Spider please. What’s happening? What Empire?” She trembled. It was hard not to let the fear wash over her like a tidal wave at the sight above her and the feel of his boot heel digging into her.

“Quiet!” He hissed.

She could see the tremble in his hands, and a single tear slipped from his eye. He should have taken the shot by now, but he just stood above her, waiting to find it within himself to do it, or possibly fighting that part of him with everything he had, she didn’t know which.

“Spider please, it’s me, it’s Kan”

“I know who you are, traitor” He spoke with such venom that she almost didn’t recognise him. Spider was soft, he was loving and he cared for her like nothing else. Who was this above her? He had the webbed scar splayed across his jaw that would set him apart from not only his brothers, but every other human, and yet, she couldn’t recognise him anymore.

“Spider” She whispered, her voice displaying every ounce of terror that she felt.

Spider’s first finger pressed into the trigger, still shaking, and a bolt flew right towards her head.

Kan sat up in bed, thrown from her dream. She took a shaky breath and raked her hand through her hair, unsticking the few small strands that had clung to the sweat on her forehead.

It had been a while since she had had a nightmare, and even longer since she had dreamt of that moment.

Kan lifted herself from her bed and tiptoed downstairs, filling a cup of water from the tap. She took a few gulps from it and settled herself in her usual chair, situating herself among the familiarity and comfortability of her work. It was still dark out, the stars of systems far away twinkling brightly at her through the window. She felt the gentle chill of the breeze passing through the window and sighed deeply, centring herself in the moment. That’s when she heard talking coming from Echo’s room.

She didn’t want to eavesdrop, but she wondered who he was talking to so late at night. However, when she pressed her ear to the door she could only hear incoherent mumbling, and she could hear Echo shifting around in his bedsheets. She cracked open the door, and her heart clenched at the sight of him. His face was twisted in agony, and writhing around as if trying to break free from something.

Kan approached the bed, “Echo, wake up” She gently placed a hand on his arm, but he didn’t wake, only breathing more raggedly. She sat down on the edge of the bed, her other hand finding itself on his face, “Echo! Wake up!” She said more firmly.

Echo sat up suddenly, his eyes wild and breath uneven. Upon realising Kan was there, he moved away from her, shame burning at his cheeks.

“I’m fine, go back to sleep” He managed to mumble out, trying to compose himself.

“I wasn't asleep, I heard you mumbling and just wanted to make sure you were okay” Kan spoke ever so softly, “You were having a nightmare?”

Echo refused to look at her, “Yes, but I'm fine, you should get some sleep”

“Echo” Kan placed a hand on his arm again, and he reluctantly raised his eyes to hers, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really” He mumbled, looking away again.

“Will it continue if you go back to sleep?”

“I- I don't know, maybe”

“Would you like me to stay with you?”

Echo’s eyes snapped up to Kan’s, “You don't have to do th-”

“Would you like me to?”

He could see such kindness and concern on her face and he desperately craved the comfort of her, so he nodded, “Yes, please”

Kan smiled and made her way around to the other side of the bed while Echo laid down again. She gently climbed into the bed beside him, with him faced away from her. The feel of the dip in the bed, the feel of her being there, was all too much and not enough at the same time.

“Echo”

He hummed quietly in response.

“Can you look at me please?”

He stiffened, but turned over in the bed, looking at her timidly

“Please never feel ashamed in front of me Echo. I would like you to trust me, if you can”

“I do trust you” He said without hesitation.

“I'm glad” Kan smiled. She then grew more serious and bashful, and Echo watched her toy with an idea in her head for a few moments, “Echo, would you…” She bit the inside of her cheek, and her sharp green eyes looked up at him, softened with tenderness, “Would you hold me?”

Echo melted at her expression, the last memories of his nightmare being chased away by the vulnerability in front of him. He nodded and opened his arm for her, and she quickly buried her face in his chest. He leaned into her as well, enveloping her in his embrace and sighing contentedly at the feeling of her gripping to his shirt. He then remembered something she had said previously and frowned.

“Are you okay? Why weren’t you asleep?” He asked, and felt her sigh against him.

“I had a nightmare too” She admitted and Echo instinctively tightened his arm around her.

He tilted his head so he spoke down into her hair, “Do you want to talk about it?”

She shook her head quickly, “No, just-” She nestled in closer to him, wrapping her legs in his mechanical ones, “Just hold me”

Echo’s heart swelled and ached all at once, and in that moment he decided that he must get Kan to make the arm attachment for his scomp, that he must feel her with two hands, and be able to hold her properly if she asked again.

“Are you comfortable?” He whispered, painfully aware of how cold his metal limbs could be.

“Yes, very”

He could feel her smile a little bit against him, and he let a small chuckle escape his lips. Kan could feel the vibrations of it in his chest and snuggled in as close as she could.

gone, but not forgotten

Fives x F!Reader

word count: 4.4k

description: you're a bartender at 79s when the 501st gets back from a gruelling campaign. the clones make a game out of seeing who can successfully hit on you, but the one that catches your eye is the one that doesn't try at all, the one whose shoulders are weighed down by a painful loss.

warnings: nothing much, a little fluff & sad fives (post citadel), mentions of death and war as expected, non-established relationship

a/n: i'm probably gonna do a part 2 to this because it was originally gonna have a lot more to it and I still kinda wanna see that play out, but anyway, enjoy :)

part two here: how to feel again

The low lighting and heavy bass that shook the very bar you were working at were no match for the ruckus that was caused whenever the clones of the 501st entered 79s.

You watched their entry from behind the bar with a small smirk. You spotted their Captain, already shaking his head at his men and bringing up the rear as the men filtered into a booth near the entrance, clearing out the clones who were already sat there.

You were familiar with a handful of the clones of the 501st, and when one of them - Jesse, if you’re remembering correctly - caught your eye, he sent you a wink. You instinctively rolled your eyes, though there was no animosity behind it. Working at a clone bar, people expected you to be sick of the clones, but you couldn't help but find them generally endearing. Sure, they all tried to hit on you, but most of their attempts were so harmless or pathetic that you couldn't find it in yourself to be irritated by it.

As you served a variety of customers, clones and nat-borns alike, you could see the 501st boys looking over at you and then talking amongst themselves, and you quickly realised that you were to be privy to some kind of game of theirs. Between pouring drinks and cleaning glasses, you watched them with suspicion, and you noticed that there was one particularly sullen looking clone among them, one that you hadn't met before. He didn't seem to be interacting with them much, just sitting back with his arms crossed over his chest and a far-away look in his eyes.

The first to approach the bar was Kix.

“Hey there” He said your name in a flirtatious tone, “What's a pretty lady like you doing working in a place like this?” He leant over the bar a little as he spoke, a charming smile painted on his face. If his words weren't so utterly ridiculous and overused, you might have even fallen for it.

“What should I be doing if not working here Kix?” You asked back innocently with a hand on your hip, playing into his game. For now.

“I'm not sure, but someone with a smile so radiant is surely made for greater things” He smiled triumphantly, as if he had just said the most flattering thing and not insulted your career.

“Hm” You tapped your finger on your chin a few times, as if thinking hard about something, “Yeah, it didn't work, nice try though. Can I get you something to drink now?”

“Ugh” Kix slumped down to his elbows in a huff, “I'll just get a fizzbrew”

You laughed at his defeated tone as you reached into the cooler below for his drink, “Come on, did you really think that was going to work?”

“I did! And it's true! Your smile is radiant” He argued as he took his drink from you.

You screwed up your face as he reiterated the compliment, “Kix stop, you failed already, go sit down”

“Alright alright, thank for this” He smiled with a small chuckle as he dropped his credits into your hand.

“No problem”

The next to try it was Dogma.

“Has anyone ever told you that you have the most wonderful hair?” He leaned on the bar and tipped his head to the side a little with a wide grin.

“Oh maker Dogma, that's awful. Is that really the best you've got?” You couldn't help but laugh at his attempt.

“Uh-” He rubbed his neck sheepishly, “Maybe”

You smirked at him and took a glass from the back, “Krilliz?”

His eyes lit up, “You remembered”

“Of course I did, nobody else orders this nightmare fuel”

“Hey! I like it”

“And I'm glad, here” You handed him his drink with a smile, “Enjoy”

He thanked you with a sigh and headed back to the snickering of his squad mates.

Over the next hour, almost every member of the group came up to the bar and tried to flirt with you in some way, and you honestly couldn't figure out what game they were playing. Though, it was hard to know, as you shot all of them down almost immediately.

When it came time for the last clone of the group, you were a little bit worn down by it all.

“I'll get a shot of that Shesharilian vodka stuff”

The regularity of the statement was refreshing, you almost weren't expecting it.

“You're not going to tell me how my hair is so wonderful or my smile is so radiant?” You asked with a smirk, earning a chuckle from the clone in front of you, but it held no mirth.

“I would be blind not to notice, but no, I'm not a part of their little game” He admitted, but you don't entirely buy it.

“Which one are you after then?”

“Which what?” He asked, confused by your question.

“Which lady?” You clarified, nodding out into the bar.

“Oh” He chuckled lightly, if a little sadly, “I'm not after that tonight”

“What are you after then?” You asked, and he paused for a moment before sighing.

“A strong drink”

You could see that there was a certain sadness behind the request, and realised that this was the dejected looking clone that you had noticed earlier.

“Coming right up” You said, offering him a gentle smile.

You sorted the drink, stealing glances at the man, noticing the way the coloured lights along the bar seem to make the bags under his eyes more pronounced. You placed the drink in front of him, but when he went to hand you some credits, you stopped him.

“It's on the house”

“What? I can't-”

“Don't worry about it” You smiled and pushed the drink further towards him, “I can tell you need it”

He looked at you for a moment and offered a thankful smile.

“That's… Thank you…” He trailed off, and you told him your name, tapping on your name tag. He repeated it with another thanks, and told you that his name was Fives.

“I couldn't tell” You smirked, pressing a finger to your temple, where he had an aurebesh tattoo. He chuckled lightly and thanked you again, taking his drink back to the 501st table.

You watched as his brothers all patted him on the back, and he rolled his eyes with a small smile as he settled back into his seat at the edge of the group. You wondered if he had just used the sad boy approach to appeal to your better nature, and win whatever game they were playing, but you soon forgot all about it as you got on with your work.

The bar was particularly busy tonight, so you had your hands full when it came to making drinks. It seemed that there were quite a few clone legions back on Coruscant at the moment, including the 104th, who got roped into the 501st game quite easily. A flurry of clones adorning grey armour sauntered up to you, offering a variety of compliments, and getting more ridiculous each time as you rejected each one of them. Truthfully, there were a number of them that appealed to you, but you weren't going to entertain their silly idea of a good time.

At some point between all the compliments and rejection, the sad clone you now knew as Fives had settled into a seat on the end of the bar. You noticed him sitting there as the bar area became more sparse, most people opting to make their way towards the dance floor.

You slid up to him and leant on the bar, your jaw resting in your hand as you address him. “So Fives, is this wistful look in your eyes authentic, or was it just so you could win this little thing you 501st boys have going on?” You asked with a cocked eyebrow, and he looked up, the ghost of a smirk crossing his lips.

“I meant it when I said I wasn't a part of their game, not that they believed me after you gave me a free drink” He replied matter-of-factly.

You chuckled slightly, standing up straight, “Can I get you anything?”

He looked behind you at the bar for a short moment. “I probably shouldn't, I hear drowning your sorrows isn't a healthy thing to do” He smiled sadly.

“Why ever else would you come to a bar when you're sad?” You teased slightly, and he huffed a laugh.

“Because I was dragged out of bed by my brothers”

You laughed with a warmth, “Ah well, how about just some water then?”

“Sounds good” He smiled genuinely.

You got him the water from the tap and he thanked you for it before you went about sorting drinks for the other patrons that had approached the bar in the time you had been talking to him. You kept an eye on him out of the corner of your eye as you did so, and he just drank his water at a slow pace, watching his brothers dance ridiculously with a small smile and that same far away look in his eye.

As the night went on and he settled into the chair at the bar more and more, a Pantoran woman approached him, and started flirting with him unashamedly. Fives replied to her questions, not wishing to seem rude, but was too distracted by his own thoughts to entertain the kind of ideas that she surely had about the night. You watched as the Pantoran started getting a bit handsy, placing her hands on his arm and his chest as she talked to him. You saw that Fives didn’t react to this very much, but then she got very close, her lips close to his ear, and he backed away a little.

As she was speaking into his ear seductively, he looked over at you and saw you watching. You averted your eyes as you saw his smirk grow, knowing he caught you looking.

You went about busying yourself with cleaning glasses, facing the back of the bar. When you turned around to serve a customer that called for you, you caught the Patoran woman dancing with another clone on the dance floor. You smiled at the sight, she got what she wanted after all.

Fives was still sat at the end of the bar as your shift came to a close and customers were dwindling a little, so you approached him again.

“You didn't fancy the Pantoran?” You asked and he looked to you from the dance floor, turning his body.

“Didn't want to make you too jealous Cyar'ika” He leaned forward with a smirk and you chuckled.

“How considerate” You rolled your eyes a little as you grabbed a cloth and begun cleaning up the bar. “How come you're still here? Doesn't seem like you're really enjoying yourself” You observed and he released a small sigh.

“Just distracting myself really” He admitted, and you felt yourself wanting to ask more.

You approached the subject tentatively, speaking in a gentle voice, “If it's not too much to ask… what are you distracting yourself from?”

Fives paused, and with a deep sigh, looked to your eyes, seeing only an honesty in them, “I lost a brother a week ago, my twin”

“Oh, I'm so sorry, this must really be the last place you want to be then” You offered him a truly sympathetic look, and he smiled a little.

“I don't know, the company's not so bad” He let his smile grow and you reflected the gesture back at him.

“You're not so bad yourself” You grinned, then your mouth dropped as you became more serious, “But seriously” You placed a hand on his, “I'm really sorry about your brother, I know how hard that is”

He gave you an appreciative smile and turned his hand over in yours, giving it a light squeeze, “Thank you, I really appreciate that”

You smiled, and continued wiping the bar, trying to ignore the warmth that lingered on your hand from his touch.

You started doing little chores before you headed off, sweeping the floor behind the bar. As you were doing so, a rather inebriated clone approached the bar.

“Hey there pretty one, three shots of dark lum please”

“Of course” You replied with a gracious smile, and took three shot glasses from below the bar. As you were pouring the customer's drinks, they tried to talk to you some more.

“Say, when do you get off work tonight beautiful?”

You chuckled, “In a few hours”

“How many hours?”

You shrugged dismissively with a polite smile, “A few”

He kept pressing, but Fives interrupted him before he could really embarass himself.

“She's already got company tonight brother” He told him, a hand on his arm to pull him backwards slightly.

“Fives! I didn't see you there” The clone said, surprised, only earning a grunt from his brother. “Alright, good for you man, nice score” He chuckled and took the shots away as Fives rolled his eyes.

“Sorry about him” He shook his head.

“Its alright, I'm used to it” You shrugged, an appreciative smile directed at him.

“I'm sure you are, but I'm still sorry. Some of my brothers can be a bit… crass”

You laughed at that, “I'm aware”

You watched Fives for a moment, then leant on the bar looking at him intently. “So what are we doing when I get off work then?” You said with mischievous glint in your eye.

“Oh, sorry about that, I just said it so he'd leave you alone” He spoke awkwardly.

You tutted, pursing your lips, “That's too bad, I was rather looking forward to it”

Fives’ eyebrows raised, “You were?” He unconsciously leaned forward a little.

“Perhaps” You said, then pushed back, leaning against the back of the bar, “If you were only joking though-”

“Hold on now, I didn't say that” He challenged, and you bit the inside of your cheek, trying to decide if what you had in your head was really a good idea.

“If you fancy it… there's a place I go when I want to be alone. I know there's not many places like that on Coruscant but I figure you could maybe do with some peace and quiet, just to think, grieve, whatever you want. I was thinking of going there anyway” You shrugged as if it was the most casual thing in the world, offering this almost stranger your safe space.

“That sounds nice” He said genuinely, a smile on his face “I'd love to”

“Alright, well I actually get off in 5 minutes, so be ready” You confessed and he laughed, standing from his seat.

You finished cleaning up and took your apron off, hanging it up in the store room out the back. When you exited the building, Fives was waiting, and when he spotted you coming towards him he pushed off the wall he was leaning against, “Where to?”

You gestured your head towards your speeder bike close by to him and got on. As you began getting it ready to drive, you noticed that Fives was just standing next to you.

“Well get on” You laughed and his ears tinged pink. He climbed on behind you, and you were about to depart but then you turned to him, “Are you gonna hold on or…”

He rolled his eyes a little, “Just trying to be respectful” He mumbled as his hands snaked around your waist holding your abdomen gently. You couldn’t deny the way his touch sent a shiver up your spine, a warmth spreading over the area where his strong arms brushed against you.

“Well you won't get the chance if you fall off, so hold on tight”

The speeder zoomed off as you rolled your hands forward on the handlebars, and Fives’ arms tightened around you as he pulled himself into you. The sensation of him being pressed up against you made you a little breathless, despite the thick layer of armour that separated you from the warmth you could feel emanating from him.

It served as a sudden reminder of the strangeness of the situation you had put yourself in. You saw clones in the bar every day, and while you certainly found them attractive, it had never occurred to you to actually seek any kind of companionship from any of them before. You weren't even certain that was what you were doing right now, every decision you had made up to this point suddenly seemed entirely spontaneous, misguided even.

Halfway through the journey, Fives gently leaned his temple onto the back of your head, and your stomach did a flip. Even at the high speed you were going, you could feel his warm, steady breath ghosting over the back of your ear, and you had to really try not to shudder at the feeling of it.

After around 15 minutes or so, you arrived at your destination. You brought the speeder bike into an alley, and lead Fives to the apartment building you were headed towards.

“Was this just a ploy to get me to come back to your place?” He smirked slightly, a look of disbelief in his eyes.

“No” You chuckled, “This isn't my building” You spoke confidently, walking through the front door. Fives followed after you, entirely confused.

“Hey there doll, late shift again?” The Gran on reception called to you as he noticed you enter.

“It was, I'm so tired” You said dramatically, and Fives' face contorted to one of utter amusement and confusion.

“Got someone with you tonight, that's new. Lucky man” The Gran winked at Fives and you laughed slightly awkwardly.

“Indeed” You said, giving a smirky side glance to Fives, who just stayed quiet throughout the exchange. “See you later Faadu” You called as you made it inside the elevator.

You didn't listen out for the answer, and after the doors closed, Fives turned to you, “I thought you said this wasn't your apartment building”

You smirked and shrugged “He doesn't need to know that”

Fives smirked back at you, and your stomach flipped as you realised how close he was to you in the somewhat confined space. You continued to look at each other, inspecting each other's features. There was definitely a certain charm to Fives that inexplicably drew you to him more than the other clones. His eyes were a deep brown, and as you found yourself lost in them, you couldn’t find it in yourself to remember that they were identical to the ones you so often saw in the bar. Fives went to say something, but the elevator pinged and the doors slid open.

“This is it” You stepped out into the darkened hallway, and traced the steps that were so familiar, though you hadn't been here in a long time.

You made it to the end of the hallway, and hooked your fingers into the door, struggling slightly as you pulled it open. You walked into the empty apartment and made your way over towards the balcony, already captivated by the familiar view out of the large windows.

“Woah” Fives spoke quietly, following you to the balcony.

“I know right” You pushed the doors open and walked up to the railing, leaning your weight onto it, “It's the tallest building in the district, but no one lives on the top floor”

Fives joined you, coming to rest beside you on the railing, and you both looked out on the cityscape. There was a gentle breeze, and you felt your hair shift gently. The view was undeniably beautiful, and being able to look upon the city from above was truly something spectacular, though it held some complicated feelings for you. You were glad that someone was here with you, it was nice to share the space.

“I just find that… When I'm here, it makes my problems seem small, insignificant. Like, I see all these tiny little dots that are really people, and all these different lives, and it brings me… comfort, or perspective, I guess”

Fives watched you confess with interest and you turned to see his expression, full of an emotion you couldn’t quite place your finger on.

“Not that your problems are small, they're not, but-”

“I know what you mean” He smiled, a hand resting on your forearm. He left it there as he recalled something you had said earlier, “How come you were coming here tonight?”

“What?” You asked, swallowing as you felt the warmth of his hand through his glove.

“Before, you said you were coming here anyway” He reminded you.

“Oh, I- um” You looked down to your feet, “I lost my brother a year ago today”

Fives viewed you with a newfound reverence and understanding, and his hand found its way down your arm. He interlaced his fingers with your own, and started rubbing circles on your hand with his thumb. It was certainly a welcome feeling, and it kept your tears at bay, staying as a glassy outer layer to your eyes.

“I know it's not exactly the same as with your brother, but… I came here a lot when I was grieving” You looked up to him, “If it would help you, feel free to come here whenever you want. I mean, it doesn't belong to me anyway” You said, ending in a chuckle and looking out to the view again.

“Thank you, it really means a lot” He smiled, though you weren't looking at him. He followed your lead and looked out to the city as he spoke, “Being in the GAR, losing brothers is part of the deal, and you're expected to just move on, but… It's not that simple, especially with-” He swallowed, “The brother that I lost, we'd been together since we came outta the tube, I don't know what life even means without him next to me” He admitted, and you looked to him to see that his eyes were full of sadness, his eyelids half closed as if weighed down by his emotions.

“What was his name?” You asked, and he looked up to you.

“Echo”

“Why was he called that?” You asked. You knew that often clones’ names held some kind of meaning, or a story behind them at least.

Fives chuckled sadly, “He was always driving us mad by repeating the orders we were given”

You smiled, “And… how did you get your name?”

Fives grinned, “Guess”

You thought for only a split second, “You have a lot of fives in your CT number?”

“Bingo” He smiled, then faltered, looking away wistfully “yeah, ARC-5555”

“You're an ARC?” You asked, a small smirk fighting its way on your face.

“Mhm”

“That's kinda hot”

“It is?” Five turned to you with an incredulous look, and you couldn't help but let your smirk grow.

“Oh yeah, I mean, it's not like, Captain or Commander or even Lieutenant-”

“Alright alright” He rolled his eyes, and your smirk transformed into a genuine smile.

“Was Echo an ARC too?”

His amused expression faltered a little bit, “Yeah, we got promoted together” He sighed, a fond smile gracing his features, “He was always more serious about everything, kept me in check”

“You don't seem like someone who needs keeping in check” You said, tilting your head as you looked at him.

He smirked, “I'm not always this reserved. On any other night I would've been performing for your attention like the rest of my brothers”

“That's ironic I guess” You chuckled.

“How so?”

“You're the only one that did get my attention” You admitted, blushing slightly, now feeling a little sheepish under his gaze.

Fives just smiled subtly and brushed his thumb over your knuckles, reminding you of the fact that he was still holding your hand, “I guess I've gotta keep up the sad and lonely act then”

You laughed, “I don't know about that. It worked on me but I'm not sure that other women are into it”

“That's alright, I wasn't really thinking of trying it on other women” He said, dropping his voice just a bit so that it held a slightly gravelly tone.

You bit back a smirk, “Smooth Fives, very smooth”

He chuckled, “I wasn't kidding, I don't just hold hands with anyone”

“Mhm, I'm sure” You shook your head slightly, looking away from his intense gaze.

The two of you fell into a comfortable silence, letting the noise of the city replace conversation. You could hear the whizzing of speeders and other transports passing by, the noise of the people below very feint from the height of the building. You sighed deeply, remembering your brother, the reason you had come here in the first place. Fives’ thoughts dwelled on the same thing, his own brother.

“Thank you for talking to me about Echo” He spoke just above a whisper and you turned to him, “Most people just give me a sad look and a hand on the shoulder at most. It's nice to actually talk about him”

“I know” You offered him a sad smile, silently telling him you knew how he felt, “Anytime”

Fives smiled and gave your hand a small squeeze.

Being here with Fives was nice, a relief to the mental torment you found yourself enduring when you had been here grieving your brother just after his death. His presence was calming, soothing, and his hand in yours even more so. You found yourself hoping that this wouldn't be the last time you shared this experience with him.

a tricky situation

Kix x F!Reader

word count: 2.8k

description: you're used to the antics of the 501st as a mechanic aboard the Resolute, but one clone takes it too far. when pulling one of his typical pranks on you, kix does something you never expected.

warnings: angst, swearing, miscommunication, kinda enemies to lovers I suppose, blood & injury but not in detail, not really proof-read

a/n: I maintain that Kix is a massive tease, but also a massive softie so... here's this. feel free to tell me my characterisation is wrong, I'll probably agree with you

You were grumbling to yourself once again.

It was something you found yourself doing too often, and you worried that soon enough your colleagues would stage an intervention and send you to get psychologically evaluated. You weren’t actually going crazy, but sometimes it felt like it.

Being a mechanic that worked aboard the Resolute, you frequently found yourself at the mercy of the clones of the 501st. Everyday, there was some new trick, some prank they were pulling. Today, it was the classic hiding your tools that they did at least twice a week, sometimes even twice a day. It was the first of the day, but it still had you ready to pull your hair out.

There was very few of them that actually let you get on with your job, and they were unquestionably your favourites. Though, that only amounted to being Captain Rex and Dogma. The rest, were positively menaces.

You had already searched through their barracks, unapologetically waking a few clones up, you had been to the engine room, the control centre, and through every side room you could possibly find, and you still hadn’t found them. You could use the ones belonging to the other mechanics, but it was late at night, and there wasn’t anyone else working. You stood in the middle of a corridor with your head in your hands.

Where haven’t I checked?

It then occurred to you who would’ve played this stupid prank on you, someone who would also be up this late at night, and you ground your jaw. Kix. You stalked off to the medbay, and if anyone had walked past you, they would have seen the steam coming out of your ears.

There was something particularly irritating about the clone medic, something you couldn’t put your finger on that made him be able to get under your skin like no other. He didn’t even try as hard as his brothers, but every single conversation with him felt like a game, an infuriating dance of taunting and tormenting. It didn’t help that you found him to be the most handsome among his brothers. Perhaps that was the reason you found him so annoying, but you weren’t going to analyse that right now.

You kicked the door to the medbay open with one swift motion and stormed inside, a surprised look on the face of the one you were after.

“Kix, so help me maker, I will shoot you if you don’t give me them back now” You growled at him, and he stood, setting down the datapad he held on one of the cots.

“My dear, I have no idea what you are on about” He said, a small taunting smile gracing his lips.

You clenched and flexed your hands at your sides, “Kix, this isn’t funny, I’m on a deadline with this one. Give them back”

The medic came to stand in front of you and placed his hands on your shoulders, running them down to your biceps. If it wasn’t him that had made you so angry, you may have even enjoyed it.

“Give what back?” He asked plainly, and you shook your head, your teeth grinding together so hard you were positive they would break. Kix could see the flame of anger in your eyes that he so loved. Winding you up was certainly his favourite pastime.

“You know what. I need my tools”

“Why would your tools be here?” He asked, cocking his head to the side, then came in closer, “You do know this is the medbay, right?”

You rolled your eyes so fast they could have rolled out of their very sockets. You ripped your arms from his grasp, and stormed around the room, turning over every single thing and huffing to yourself when you didn’t find anything. Kix watched you with utmost amusement. He would have to tidy up after you, but it was almost worth it to see you so worked up. Almost.

“Alright, alright. Relax. They’re in the closet” He called, and you rushed to the door that he was pointing at.

You switched on the light, which afforded little more visibility, but you saw your toolbox sat on the floor just by the door. You picked it up as you heard the door slide closed, and turned to see that Kix had closed you in with him.

“Get out of my way” You huffed, giving him your best withering look.

“What? No thank you?” He grinned. That damn beautiful smile of his.

“Thank you? You must be joking”

“I helped you find your tools, I think I deserve a little something” He reasoned, and you let out a disbelieving laugh.

“And what, pray tell, do you think you deserve?”

“I was thinking something along the lines of… a kiss?” He suggested.

All of your insides constricted as the word left his lips, and you were frozen on the spot.

“What?” You almost whispered out, eyes still burning with some form of rage.

Kix smirked, “You see, I know you think you’re pretty slick, but I see you looking at me when you think I’m not paying attention-”

“I do not!”

You do.

“- and I know the reason you pretend to hate me so much is because otherwise you’d just be falling at my feet-”

“I hate you so much because you do things like this!” You argued, holding up your recently stolen toolkit.

“Is that right?”

It was then that you realised that you were only a hairbreadth from his face, your nose almost touching his. You breathed heavily, not daring to utter even one word for fear of losing your composure in an entirely different way. Your eyes burned into his with an intensity that you couldn’t control, and his infuriating smirk only made it worse. After a moment, his mouth uncurled from the taunting expression, looking at you only with interest and nothing else.

Your eyes fell to his lips, and he leaned ever so slightly forwards, brushing his nose against yours gently. Your eyes fluttered shut on instinct, and you breathed out shakily. Your mind was screaming out and silent at the same time, it couldn’t make sense of what was happening, and your heart took precedent, giving into whatever it was.

Kix then brought his lips to your ear, brushing back a piece of hair behind it with his hand.

“Gotcha”

You were immediately snapped from your trance and recoiled, a look of absolute shock plastered across your features. Kix just watched you with his knowing smirk, and your anger flared once again, but this time, it was underpinned by an emotion he wouldn’t have expected. Hurt.

“You’re a cruel man Kix” You seethed out as you shoved him aside, opening the door and storming out of the medbay.

He watched you go, his insides twisting with guilt. He had only meant to tease you, but he had taken it too far, and now you were actually upset. You were usually too mad at him to ever let any other emotions slip through the cracks, but now he realised that maybe he had just never pushed you to a breaking point before. He was foolish to think that you didn’t have a limit.

You fought to keep tears from spilling from your eyes as you finished your work that evening. You were so frustrated with yourself for letting your guard slip, and even more for reacting this way to what was really a stupid prank, and nothing else. It hadn’t occurred to you before that your attraction to Kix was anything more than that, but now that he had truly embarrassed you, you realised it was more deep-set than that.

You actually liked him, he was right, and he used it just to trick you.

“Hey, I need to talk to you” You heard a voice, his voice, call out as you were slid under a gunship the next day, your arms elbow deep in wires and grease.

“I have no interest in talking to you” You stated plainly, all emotion stripped from your voice.

Kix’s heart clenched at the sound of it.

“Please” He said your name in such a pleading tone, “I need you to know I-”

“Just can it Kix, I don’t want to hear it” You slid from underneath the gunship and looked up at him sternly.

He didn’t intend for this at all. In truth, it was him that really wanted to kiss you. While it was true, he had caught you looking at him sometimes, he had no reason to believe that it was because you liked him, and he only really said it to hopefully push you to a confession. Every time he had wound you up, it was just an excuse to see you react to him, to grab your undivided attention. It was a cowardly approach, making you confess before he did, but now he may never even get the chance if you wouldn’t let him.

“You don’t understand, I-”

“I understand just fine, you used my feelings as fodder for another prank, how surprising” You rolled your eyes, “Leave me alone from now on, if it’s not too tempting to try and embarrass me again”

Kix was floundering for the right thing to say, “It wasn’t a pr-”

“Fuck off Kix, can you not hear me?” You almost shouted, gaining the attention of a few of the nearby clones.

His amber eyes burned into yours. You could see he was sorry, but you’d rather let him feel guilty for what he did than accept any apology he could offer. As you stared each other down with an intensity to rival the previous night, you could feel your emotions getting the better of you.

“Just go away” You said quietly, sliding back underneath the gunship without another word.

You could see Kix hesitate, but you watched him ultimately decide to leave you alone, and walk away. You sighed, feeling your eyes well up with frustration. You were embarrassed all over again.

It had been a week since what the other mechanics were just calling ‘the incident’. They had no idea why you had shouted at the clone, and you wouldn’t tell them, but that didn’t stop them teasing you about it. A silver lining about the whole ‘incident’ was that the clones had started leaving you alone, and your tools had not been stolen once. It was certainly peaceful, and you were reluctant to admit that life now felt boring, for fear that the clones would all suddenly come out of the woodworks with the worst prank of them all. Not that they could top the one already pulled by their medic.

You hadn’t even seen Kix since said ‘incident’, but your head was still maddeningly filled by him. The most maddening fact of all being that it wasn’t your argument that was stuck in your head, it was the way he looked at you as he pretended he was going to kiss you. It had felt so real, so sincere, and as it kept replaying in your head you found yourself wishing to go back in time and just kiss him.

But that would do no good, it was still a prank at the end of the day.

You were working under a ship, your hands buried in wires and a tool between your teeth. You heard someone call out for you and sat up, whacking your head on the underside of the ship in the process, the tool falling from your mouth as you shouted out in pain. You vaguely heard the person shout something along the lines of ‘nevermind, got it’ and cursed them for speaking in the first place. You brought your hand up to your head and felt small trickle of blood, or was it grease?

Then there you were, grumbling to yourself once again.

You stormed off to the medbay reluctantly, but this time you had no intention of speaking with Kix. You opened the door forcefully with your shoulder and made a beeline for the nearest cot, rifling through the draws next to it for a bandage or anything else.

“What are you-” Kix had watched you come in, and was utterly perplexed by your actions until he saw the mix of grease and blood trickling down your forehead. “What happened?” He asked, coming over to inspect the wound.

You just stayed silent.

He said your name gently, drawing your attention and you glanced at him briefly, “What does it look like? I hit my head” You said, finally finding a small bacta patch in the draw. You took it and peeled off the back, sitting down to apply it.

“Woah” Kix reached forwards and took your wrist before you could place it down, “Let me clean that for you first”

You grabbed your wrist back, “I don’t need any help”

“The grease will only infect the wound” He said, grabbing the patch from you, “Sit still”

You glared at him, “I don’t care, I’d rather let it get infected”

“Well it’s a good thing I care then isn’t it” He replied, pulling out an antiseptic wipe.

You sat in silence with what he’d just said. Is this part of his latest trick? Kix gently grabbed your chin, tilting your head to get a better look at the wound. He brought the wipe up to it, “This is going to sting a bit”

And it did.

You hissed as the wipe came into contact with your wound, moving away from the clone inflicting the pain, but he just kept going until there was no more grease or blood dripping out of it.

“Wait here. Please don’t leave”

You watched him suspiciously as he moved away to retrieve something. He was being uncharacteristically serious and kind for someone who loved to tease you. He returned a moment later with some bacta and a bandage, and applied it without another word.

“You know, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were avoiding me” He said, the corners of his lips turning up at the attempted joke.

“Well clearly you don’t know any better then” You rolled you eyes.

He spoke your name in a soft tone as he finished applying the bandage, “That hurts” He said in mock hurt, a hand resting on his heart.

“Good” You replied instantly, looking up to his eyes to find him now looking at you seriously. He just watched you for a moment, and your own scowl softened slightly without your permission.

“I’m sorry” He said softly.

You bit your lip a little, looking away, “I know you are”

He brought his hand back to your chin, forcing you to look at him as he spoke, “I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I-” He gulped, “I wanted to kiss you”

Your heart leapt to your throat and your eyebrows furrowed, and then scrunched up, going through a million emotions at once.

“Is this a joke?” You asked, your tone hesitant and unsure.

“No” He said firmly, stepping forwards and finding himself between your knees, “I’m sorry for… the way I went about it. I only wanted to tell you that…”

You looked up at him with widened eyes, hanging on every word.

“I wanted to tell you that I have… feelings for you, and it- well, it all backfired” He chuckled slightly, and you let your mouth form a small smile.

“And this is real? You actually like me?” You asked once more for conformation.

“It’s real. I like you, I really like you” He admitted, his hand moving from your chin to cup your jaw.

You leant into his touch a little, and his heart did a flip, “I… I like you too, but I think you already knew that” You grinned a little and his lips formed the smirk that you usually found so maddening.

“I might’ve had some idea” He spoke teasingly, then stroked your cheek with his thumb, “Care to try that kiss again?”

You didn’t reply, and instead pulled him down by his chest plate to meet his lips with yours. It was a slow and meaningful kiss, both you and Kix making no haste and just savouring the moment. You felt him hum contentedly against you, and you smiled into the kiss, breaking away to catch your breath a little. He placed his forehead on yours, but you pulled away quickly when your wound began screaming out against the action.

“Sorry” He chuckled then placed a light kiss on top of the bandaged area, “There, that’ll make it all better”

You smirked, “Is that a treatment you give all your patients?”

“No” He smiled, “Only my favourite one”

how to feel again

Fives x F!Reader

word count: 3.1k

part two to gone, but not forgotten

description: since meeting fives and showing him to your secret space on coruscant, he had come to 79s almost every day to spend time with you. when he doesn't come in for weeks, you realise how much of a hole his absence leaves in your life.

warnings: fluff!!! small amount of sad fives, I think that's pretty much it, perhaps friends to lovers

a/n: part 2 !! go read the first part or it wont make that much sense. also flirty fives is so fun to write omg p.s. I saw a @/katekenobi edit to this song on tiktok and it's lowkey what inspired this sad fives vibe I suppose, anyway I love it so you must listen too

Life had always felt as if it were passing you by, that you were just watching the days go by, doing the same things, day in, day out. Recently, however, everything seemed to have slowed down, and you knew the reason why. Ever since you had met Fives, things had felt different.

Perhaps it was that you weren’t used to getting so much attention from one person, and the regular appearance in your life had captivated your attention so naturally. You were reluctant to get close with anyone new, but you just couldn’t help it. Especially when he would turn up at the bar almost everyday and charm you so effortlessly by simply being himself.

That was how it was until a couple weeks ago at least.

You suspected that Fives and the rest of the 501st had been sent on another campaign, which you couldn’t blame him for, you just wished that you could have known before his absence left a sizeable hole in your simple existence. You hadn’t quite realised what an impact his presence had made on you until it was gone.

Talking with Fives was easy. Usually, he would just sit at the end of the bar and nurse a short glass of liquor, and you would have light conversation as you served drinks to other patrons. Then as people dwindled, he would remain, and you would get to talk properly. He told you lots of stories about his brothers, and you asked a lot about Echo. You loved to see the way his eyes would light up as he told you about him, the joy he got from remembering the good times he spent with him. You told him a lot about yourself, your everyday life, your family, your friends, and the conversation flowed naturally towards deeper topics, with you finding yourself telling him things you hadn’t fully realised yourself. He would ask all the right questions, and challenge your beliefs about yourself and the galaxy in such a simple way; by asking why you thought that way.

It occurred to you that no one had ever cared to understand the way you thought before, and that's what endeared you to him the most.

He had become a great friend in a short time, and now you missed him. You were cautious to assume any ulterior motives in his constant presence, as he was forever turning down the many advances from men and women alike. He was so insistent about it that you were convinced he must have a partner, though you assumed that if that was the case, they probably didn't live on coruscant, as he spent his evenings in your company instead.

You didn't think too far into it, you were just glad to have his company. Though you couldn't help the jealous pang that hit your chest when you saw the latest person flirt with him. He entertained them until they took it too far, and watching it unfold right next to you made your jaw grind.

Tonight was very busy. Your hands were completely full, both metaphorically and literally, every customer seemingly wanting the most difficult drinks to make. You could barely hear people to take their orders over the noise. Though still, the ruckus caused by the 501st was unmatched.

You caught the flash of blue in the low light and your heart skipped a beat, your throat going dry. You tried to look to see if it was Torrent Company, but your focus was quickly drawn by another demanding customer. You focused your attention on them, trying to forget how you had such a visceral reaction to the possibility of Fives being back.

It was a while before you saw him, but the crowd around the bar cleared as if just to make sure you could get a perfect view of the show. Your eyes caught him immediately, his charming smile and highly recognisable tattoo and facial hair standing out among his brothers. He was looking up at a sky blue Twi'lek, who was leaning her arm onto the back of his seat, her face close to his.

Your teeth ground together as you watched him talk to her, your hand tightening around the bottle you were holding. You crossed you arms as he looked her up and down subtly, his gaze settling on her face as he said something to her with a smirk. She seemed somewhat deterred by whatever he had said, and it was then that he cast a glance at you. He caught the deep frown settling over your features, and his smirk widened. You felt yourself go bright red, turning away and pretending to clean glasses to busy yourself.

Not even one minute later, Fives was at the bar.

“Something the matter Cyar'ika?” He spoke, and your heart stuttered at the sound of his voice.

“Hey Fives” You said simply, a smile adorning your features as you turned, as if he hadn't just caught you staring.

“You were giving me quite the sour look just now” He smirked, “Any particular reason why?”

You just shrugged. It seemed that neither of you wanted to acknowledge how much time had passed since you had seen each other last.

“Come on, you can tell me” He said in an almost mocking voice, though there was an undeniable fondness to it.

“Can't a woman have her secrets?” You asked teasingly, resting your hands on the edge of the bar.

“Hm, I suppose so” He replied, and sat in his usual seat towards the end of the bar.

You instinctively sorted his usual drink and placed it in front of him, and he thanked you, handing you some credits.

“That's too much” You handed back his change but he reached out and closed your hand with his.

“Keep it” He smiled, and you couldn't help the way your heart fluttered at the feel of his hand around yours and the kindness in his eyes.

“Thanks” You returned his smile and pocketed the credits, “Shouldn't you be sat with your brothers?” You asked.

“Maybe… But I prefer your company” He said simply, a small grin making its way onto his face.

You chuckled, “Aren't you a flattering one”

“Only for you” He smiled disarmingly.

You raised a brow at him, an amused twinkle in your eye, “You 501st boys doing another little game tonight or what?”

“I don't play games”

“Huh, funny. I remember you telling me how incredible you are at Sabacc”

Fives rolled his eyes, “That's not what I meant”

You gave him a little smirk before moving away to serve the onslaught of customers that were seeking your attention.

The hours were passing exceeding slowly tonight, your time filled by drunken slurring and impatient patrons. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but with Fives back in town and sat watching your every movement, it was more frustrating than usual. It was hours later when you got the chance to talk to him again.

“So…” You began, leaning on the bar in front of him, “Where have you been?”. You tried to sound inquisitive rather than accusatory.

“Just away on a campaign” He replied, then cleared his throat, “Uh, I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to tell you, we left with pretty short notice”

“I kinda figured as much” You shrugged with a smile, “It's fine anyway, you don't owe it to me to-”

You were interrupted by a customer shouting at you, and rolled your eyes as you went to serve them. You took their order and gave them their drink quickly, making your way back over to Fives.

“Where were we?” You asked, an exasperated sigh escaping you.

Fives gave you a sympathetic smile, “I was just about to ask how you've been”

“Oh, fine” You replied.

“Just fine? Come on, I want to know what's been going on in your life” He leaned forwards with a grin.

“Well, I'm not su-”

You gritted your teeth together as someone else called for you, and you moved away to serve them.

You didn't get another chance to speak with Fives for the rest of the evening, though you always let your eyes wander over to him in between taking orders and making drinks. You noticed that he became increasingly more dejected and out of it each time you looked at him, but before you could ask what was wrong, he had disappeared from the bar altogether.

You looked around the bar, and couldn't see him anywhere, and when it came time for closing you still couldn't see him. You had a small inkling of where he could be, at least, you hoped that he would be there.

When you approached the empty apartment, the door was already slid open. You peeked your head through to make sure it wasn't someone else, but as you hoped, it was Fives that had left it so. He was laying down on the balcony, staring up at the stars and traffic lanes above. You took a few steps inside, but as you got closer to him you could see the tear stains on his cheeks.

You felt awful for intruding on such a private moment, and immediately began backing away, but you could have no such luck as to make it out without a sound. You knocked your knee on one of the side tables that adorned the room and let a curse slip from your lips.

Fives’ head whipped around, leaning on his elbow for support, but his posture relaxed when he saw it was you.

“Sorry” You whispered, a blush creeping up your neck at getting caught.

“Don't be” He smiled, “Join me?”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to-”

“Please, I'd like you to” He spoke with a small hint of desperation, and you couldn't resist it even if you tried.

You walked over slowly and sat down next to him, stretching out your limbs to lay down. For a moment, you two just watched the sky, the speeders passing overhead and the stars that littered the sky. You had never thought to lay down before, but it brought a whole new perspective to the space.

“You never got to tell me about what you've been up to” Fives said, turning to face you. You looked at him, and though you weren't very close together, your stomach still flipped.

“It's okay. It's not very interesting anyway” You chuckled sadly.

“I'm interested” He insisted, and you looked back to the sky when your cheeks started heating up again.

“The last few weeks were very uneventful. I fixed up my speeder and that was pretty much it” You said with a heavy sigh, “Nothing ever really goes on in my life to be honest, like I've said before. The job at the bar is all I really have”

“I'm sure you could have some stuff going on, like friends? boyfriends? stuff like that?” He suggested, and you let out a small laugh.

“I have friends yeah, but they work during the day so I don't get to see them very often”

“Why don't you work somewhere else then?” He asked.

You sighed again, “I wish it were that easy”

A silence enveloped you both again, watching the sky that felt like it was only for your eyes, a special show for the two of you who were wrapped up in your own little world.

“What are you doing here tonight?” Fives asked softly.

“To be honest? I was kinda hoping to see you here”

He turns to look at you, his eyebrows raised, “You were?”

“Mhm”

Fives waited for you to say something, anything else, but when you stayed quiet he decided to ask, “Why?”

“I don't know really, I suppose I’ve missed you” You admitted, refusing to look at him.

“I missed you too” He replied after a short moment, “And I meant what I said earlier”

You finally looked to him, “Meant what?”

“I enjoy your company”

Fives just looked at you with an indescribably emotion, something you couldn’t define. You admired his features, the features you were so used to seeing, but they somehow seemed new when looking at him.

“I enjoy your company too Fives”

He smiled tightly and then looked up, feeling the urge to share what was on his mind, “Echo hated Coruscant”

“I don't blame him” You agreed, “What about you?”

“What about me?” He looked back to you with a questioning frown.

“Do you like it here?”

He sighed, “I don't know. I don't really know how to feel about anything anymore”

You hummed in understanding of what he meant, you recall feeling similar when your own brother died. In fact, it still felt like that sometimes.

He then continued, “But some parts are okay, some… people”

You didn't catch his emphasis, “I don't know, I haven't met many inspiring people here”

“I sure have” He said definitively.

“Really?” You raised an eyebrow at him.

“Only one maybe” He shrugged, “But I think she's inspiring enough for the whole planet”

You tensed up at his words, facing the sky once again with your thoughts swirling with jealousy. You swallowed hard and tried to keep your breathing steady. It was annoying that Fives being with someone else affected you so much, there was no real good reason that you should feel that way.

“What makes her so inspiring?” You asked, trying to keep the indignation out of your voice.

“She… makes me feel like I'm not alone”

“That's good, I'm glad you have someone like that” You nodded, your jaw tightening with each word. You meant it, but your jealousy was almost giving you a headache.

Fives just watched you amusedly for a moment, and then shifted closer to you slightly, leaning in to speak lowly to you, “You do realise I'm talking about you, right?”

You turned to look at him and he was a lot closer than you had imagined, so close that your nose lightly grazed his as you turned. Your breath caught in your throat as you looked into his rich brown eyes, “You… You think I'm inspiring?”

“Mhm” He hummed, and gently rubbed his nose against yours, purposefully this time.

You were frozen, “Why?”

He inspected the various tones he could see in your eyes now that he was so close, as if it was where he was finding his answer, “You remind me that there's good in the galaxy, something worth… fighting for. I-”

He took a moment to find the words, looking up at the sky, and you allowed yourself to breathe.

“I couldn't stop thinking about you when I was away. Even in the middle of the fight, I couldn't get you out of my head, that… people like you are the reason we have to fight, the reason that I have to fight” He moved his gaze back, rolling onto his side so his body faced you, “Without Echo, I felt lost - I still do, but… You, you give me strength in a different way, the strength to carry on”

You were absolutely stunned into silence. You had never had such an observation made about you before, and you found it almost crazy that someone thought of you as what was ‘good’ in this large galaxy. You weren’t sure what to say, completely at a loss for words.

“Thank you” You breathed out unsurely, the only thing coming to your mind.

“Anytime” Fives smirked a little, a small chuckle sounding in the back of his throat. He didn't leave the close proximity he had put himself into, and instead brought a hand up to your cheek to gently brush his knuckles over your cheek. You could feel your heart pounding in your ears at this point.

“Cyar'ika… Can I kiss you?”

Your heart stuttered, but you let a small smile spread over your lips. “Only if you tell me what that word means” You whispered.

Fives grinned, taking your cheek in his hand. “It means darling” He tilted his head, his eyes falling to your lips as his almost brushed against them. He dragged his thumb along your bottom lip, his eyes then finding yours again, swimming with adoration. “My darling” He whispered, just before he finally locked his lips with yours.

He kissed you deeply, simply taking his time to devour your lips as if the whole galaxy would wait on it. His hand slid to the back of your neck and pulled you closer, deepening the kiss. Your hand found the top of his chest plate, and you pulled him into you further, wanting to be impossibly close to him in this intimate moment. Everything in your body felt as if it had been set alight. Every nerve was electrified and buzzing with passion at the feel of his lips tangled with yours.

Fives pulled back after a while, pressing his forehead into yours his eyes opening to look deeply into yours. You bit your lip and your cheeks flushed a darker shade, feeling nervous under his intense gaze all of a sudden. He chuckled slightly at your reaction, running his thumb along your lip to stop you.

His demeanour then became more serious, “Cyar’ika… I know I can't offer you much, only as much as the war allows me to, and it seems cruel to even ask but… I want you to be mine”

You smiled broadly, a glint of mischief in your eye, “I’d be honoured, you are the most sought-after clone in 79s after all”

Fives rolled his eyes, and pushed you onto your back again, his face above yours as he gently held you waist, “And yet… you’re the only one that caught my attention”

“If you say so” You smiled, nudging his nose with yours.

“I do say so” Fives spoke resolutely, placing a kiss to your jaw, and trailing a few more down your neck. “And I’m going to make sure everyone else knows too” He hummed against your skin, sending a shiver up your spine. He could feel you shudder beneath him and smirked, “That sound good to you?”

“I think I could live with it” You tried to joke, but it came out far too breathless to pretend that he wasn’t having an affect on you.

It certainly sounded appealing for the rest of the patrons of 79s to know that you were his, and that he was yours.

technical devotion, part twelve: handy

content warnings: order 66 mentioned, echo being sexy (what's new)

last chapter | next chapter | master list | join the taglist

Echo awoke to the sound of clinking of dishes in the kitchen as he often did, though this time he felt more at peace.

He cracked open one eye and sighed, finding that Kan had already left his bed. He knew that much already, the sounds that had woken him making it obvious, but he was still disappointed nonetheless. He rolled over onto his front and took a deep breath, breathing in the comfort of the bed for one more moment before he got up. He could still smell Kan’s scent lingering on the pillow she had slept on, and his heart clenched. He couldn’t exactly place what it was, perhaps a mix of fried wires and something else, but it was undeniably her.

Echo rose from his bed, and stumbled into the kitchen to find Kan curled up in her usual seat, a cup of caf in one hand and datapad in the other. She looked up to him as he entered, a smile quirking the edges of her lips.

“Morning”

“Morning” Echo returned the smile, moving to get himself a cup of caf. He turned away from her as his thoughts from last night consumed him.

Before he fell asleep, the only thing he could think of, with Kan pressed up against him, was how much he wanted to get the hand attachment that she had drawn up before. He chewed on his bottom lip as he thought on how to bring it up, but came to the conclusion that there was really no way to ask without just coming out and saying it. He turned around and watched Kan for a moment as she scrolled through her datapad. She was usually already stuck into her work by this time, and Echo wondered if her sleep had been better than usual, as his had.

“Kandam'aira” He got her attention with the use of her full name, and she looked up from her datapad, a soft smile gracing her features as she waited patiently for him to talk. “I was wondering…” He trailed off for a moment, “Do you still have the plans for that arm attachment?”

Kan’s eyes lit up, and she placed her caf down on the table as she nodded quickly.

“Would you… Would you make it for me?” He asked hesitantly.

“I'd love to! Thank you Echo” She spoke excitedly, and Echo laughed at her eagerness.

“I think I'm the one that should be thanking you” He raised an eyebrow at her but she waved him off.

“Nonsense” She stood from her chair and dropped her datapad onto the table, “I'm going to buy the parts now”

Kan grabbed her poncho and rushed to the door, but Echo quickly strode after her, calling for her to wait. She turned and saw Echo rummaging around in his pockets, pulling out some credits.

“I've got credits” She smiled sweetly, turned and opened the door, but Echo put his arm in the way, blocking the exit.

“Take them, please”

Kan looked up at him, and her breath caught in her throat. She admired the way that the early morning sun hit his skin, carving out his cheekbones and sharp jaw, the warmth bringing out the honey tones in his soft brown eyes. She felt that he always looked at her with such purpose, a purpose which, maddeningly, eluded her. Sometimes it felt like she knew exactly what he was thinking, reacting to his actions and comments in the correct manner, but other times, she had no idea at all. This was one of those times. The emotion in his eyes was so loud, and yet, she couldn’t tell what it was.

“Alright” She smiled, and took the credits from his hand.

She slipped on her poncho as she stepped out into the morning breeze, smiling back at Echo. He watched her go with hurried steps and smiled fondly, biting the inside of his cheek to stop it from overtaking his whole face.

“Can I ask what changed your mind?” Kan asked Echo as she worked on his new arm that evening.

Echo knew he couldn’t tell Kan the real reason, and he suddenly felt ridiculous for even thinking it himself.

When he didn't reply, Kan looked up to see Echo staring at her, “What?”

He shook his head to refocus and shrugged, “I guess I figured that it would come in handy, like you said”

Kan nodded and resumed working, “I've been going over the design the whole time, just in case you decided you wanted it, I wanted to have figured it out already”

Echo's heart swelled, but he kept his voice plain as he asked “Have you made other cybernetics before?”

“Yeah, my mother has a cybernetic leg, I helped design it with my father when I was thirteen” Kan replied.

“Thirteen?” Echo said in surprise.

“Yeah” Kan chuckled a little, “I've done a few others here and there as well, a couple shoulders, an eye, but never an arm before now”

“Well, I'm honoured” Echo smiled sincerely and she looked up to him again.

“Wait til I've done it before you say that” She chuckled, “It'll only take me another two rotations, I think”

“I hope you're accounting for sleep in that calculation” He said knowingly.

“Alright, three rotations then” She grinned at him.

As they settled into silence, both Kan and Echo’s thoughts dwelled on the previous night.

“Do you have a lot of nightmares?” Echo asked, unable to stop himself.

Kan sighed a little, “Not so much anymore, but still every so often”

Echo nodded in understanding, “Me too” He said quietly, pausing before his next question, “What are they about?”

“Um, sometimes it's my time being tort- Uh, questioned by the Separatists, sometimes it's… order 66”

Echo sat forward in his seat, his eyes wide and searching hers “You were there for order 66?”

Kan looked away from his sudden intense stare, “Yeah, I was super confused, I tried to stop the clones but them um-” She gulped, “They fired on me instead, for being a ‘traitor’ supposedly”

Echo’s heart broke at her expression, and overwhelming sadness taking over her features.

“I ran away. I should've stood my ground and fought back but I couldn't- I couldn't hurt them, they were my friends”

“I'm so sorry Kandam'aira” Echo said quietly, wanting to reach out and comfort her.

Kan’s heart skipped a beat, still not used to hearing her full name “It's not your fault, you know that”

“I know but… I'm just… I'm sorry you had to go through that”

“I can't imagine it was any more fun for you” Kan said pointedly.

“My chip didn't activate"

“It didn't?”

Echo shook his head, “I guess I have the Separatists to thank for that”

It went quiet again for a moment, the two of them just looking at each other with a deep understanding of the other’s experience.

“What are your nightmares about?” Kan asked him softly.

Echo answered without hesitation, trusting her implicitly, “Flashes of what the Techno Union did to me, I don't really remember any of it apart from in my dreams”

Kan just nodded, she had assumed that might be the case.

“Well, I'm going to hit the hay” Echo stood up and walked over to his door. He desperately wanted to ask her to stay with him again, but held himself back for fear that it was only a one time thing to Kan.

“I'm just going to spend a little longer on this” Kan gestured to her work.

“Alright, make sure you get some sleep” He gave her a mockingly stern look.

“I will” She smiled, “Goodnight Echo”

“Goodnight M'aira”

Kan looked at him in surprise as his eyes went wide, “Uh, sorry, I mean… Kandam'aira” He finished quietly.

She smiled at him once more, “No, I like it” She said thoughtfully.

Echo breathed out, his own smile returning, “Alright then, goodnight M'aira”

Kan had to bite back the grin threatening to take over her face as she watched him retire to his room.

Echo couldn't sleep straight away, and laid awake just staring up at the ceiling. He couldn't get Kan out of his mind, partly because he could hear the feint sounds of her tinkering in the kitchen, making something for him, and also because her scent was completely enveloping him. It was intoxicating, he couldn't think about anything else. It occurred to him then that Kan had become an integral part of his life, and he could no longer imagine it without her in.

His heart almost hurt at the realisation. There was no guarantee that she would stay in it for any great length.

He was pulled from self-concious thoughts as he heard the scrape of a chair in the kitchen. He heard Kan's footsteps, walking up to his door and then stopping. He held his breath. He then heard Kan sigh and move away, trudging up the stairs to her own room.

Echo spent the rest of the night thinking of ways that he could keep Kan around for longer.

The next few days were quite quiet.

As they were waiting on Rex to get back to them, both Kan and Echo mostly remained at the house. Echo had taken to exercising just outside the house to occupy his time, which only distracted Kan.

She had a perfect view of the tree where he was doing pull ups. With his scomp, he only had one hand to pull up with, but he was still doing it as if it was easy. Kan simply couldn't look away, especially as he was only wearing a vest. She watched as his muscles stretched and contracted, in complete awe and a feeling she understood all too well settled in the bottom of her stomach. She had to close the curtain so she could get on with her work with no distractions.

She knew that Echo was a soldier, an ARC trooper no less, so it shouldn't be surprising to her that he was incredibly fit, but it was still a lot to actually see in action. He usually looked just lean, but when he was actually using his muscles, it sure didn't seem that way anymore. When he would come inside, body glistening with sweat and chest heaving from exertion, Kan became extremely flustered, and found herself unable to engage in conversation with him until he changed.

Kan found herself completely ridiculous. She should be able to control herself, her thoughts, but she knew that moments of rationality when it came to how she felt about Echo were few and far between.

Echo was completely unaware that he was driving Kan crazy, and continued with his workouts for the next few days. He noticed that Kan had started closing the curtains, but it didn't occur to him that it was linked. He asked her about it, but she didn't really seem to have a reason other than ‘Why not?’. He didn't press.

In those few days, Kan had managed to finished Echo's new scomp attatchment. She ventured outside with a wide grin, and found him doing one arm push ups.

“Echo” She gained his attention, and he looked up as he pushed himself from the ground, coming to kneel as she approached.

“Whats up?” He asked, his voice breathy as he breathed deeply.

“I finished it” She held out the attachment proudly, pushing down any unwanted thoughts about the way he looked right now. Echo stood up with an apprehensive smile, and Kan stepped forward, “May I?”

Echo nodded and Kan took his scomp in her hand and positioned the attachment at the end, sliding it on with ease. She had measured the size before she began so it would fit perfectly, and it did.

“I made it so that you can just twist this part back and use the scomp, rather than having to take it off all the time, and that disengages the hand so it won't feel weird when you do it. It also has this button here, which turns on the signal disruptor, and then this is the comm here” She explained, and Echo watched her hands work around his new arm, his heart beating at an elevated pace.

“You really think of everything huh?” He grinned, looking up at her, his head still tilted to the attatchment.

Kan looked up to his boyish expression and tried to fight the blush creeping up her neck. “I try” She said sheepishly, stepping back a little, “How does it feel”

Echo tried to give his new fingers an experimental wiggle, and the first two twitched slightly. They both smiled excitedly at one another.

“It will take a little while to get acclimatised” She informed him and he tried again, getting a little more movement, “Can you feel anything yet?”

“Uh…” He couldn't really tell too much, but reached out his arm, “Give me your hand”

Kan hesitated, but placed her hand in his new cybernetic one. It was cold and smooth.

Echo smiled a little, “I can feel something I think”

“Good” Kan smiled, gripping his hand a little tighter, “It will be like your legs I imagine, not fully the same amount of feeling but still, some semblance of it”

Echo nodded and tried to squeeze Kan’s hand, not getting much strength behind it, but Kan could feel him trying, and that was enough to make her stomach to fill with butterflies.

“Thank you so much M'aira” He suddenly said very seriously, and Kan dragged her eyes back to his to see them swimming with something she couldn't define. This was one of those times where she didn't know what to say.

“It's no problem, I hope it works well for you” Kan smiled. It was nice to have her work appreciated at the very least.

“I'm sure it will” He smiled, giving another test squeeze to her hand, this one stronger than the last.

Kan gasped at the feeling, and Echo's eyebrows raised a little, not expecting her to react in such a way.

“I’m sorry, I-”

“Don't be” She smiled tightly and took back her hand, “It's nice. I mean, it's good to know it's working, you know?”

Echo tilted his head a little, watching her nervously stumble through her words, “Alright, I'll keep testing it"

“Yeah cool” Kan rubbed her neck nervously, “Um, you can always try on my hand again if you want”

Echo couldn't hold back his smirk, “I think I'll take you up on that”

Kan just gulped and turned back towards the house without saying anything, and Echo laughed to himself. Kan had been extremely skittish the past few days. He had no idea why, but he couldn't deny he found her fidgeting to be extremely cute.

technical devotion, part thirteen: leaving

a/n: this is kind of filler. kind of. not my best work also but alas

content warnings: none :)

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“Hey Captain” Kan smiled at the small hologram Rex that sat atop the kitchen table.

“Hey Kan, Echo, sorry it took longer than expected to get back to you - there's been a lot of back and forth about what to do” Rex sighed, “We've decided to pull you out”

“What?” Echo frowned deeply.

“I'm sorry Echo, but we’ve decided that there’s not much more that you two can do on your own, and the information you've got for us already exceeds what we expected when we sent you, so you should return by the next rotation”

“Are you sure there's nothing more we can do? There was a lot of data in that base that we could still access” Kan tried to bargain.

“You've done enough, and we could use you back at base to be honest” Rex scratched his head, “There's a possibility of returning with an infiltration team later but that's a conversation for another time”

“Rex, please, there so much-”

“Echo look, if it were just up to me I'd let you stay, but it's not, so I need you back” Rex cut him off, “And I don't want you sneaking behind our backs and going back in anyway, alright?”

Echo sighed and nodded.

“Do I have your word?” Rex asked, knowing his brother all too well.

“You have my word” Echo said begrudgingly.

“Okay. I'll see you two back here soon”

The connection cut out and Rex's figure disappeared. Echo sighed deeply and sat down at the table, going to say something before Kan cut him off.

“I know” She said simply, giving him a sympathetic look, “I know, but you gave Rex your word”

Echo bit the inside of his cheek as he looked up at her, “Maybe I shouldn't have”

“Echo…” Kan sat down beside him, “We'll get another chance, we can push to come back”

Echo sighed again and looked away from Kan. He didn't want to admit it, but he was more reluctant to leave because of the living arrangements rather than the possible data they could obtain from the Empire's base. He enjoyed living with Kan, always being around her, and just her. He didn't want to go back to the base when everything felt as if it had changed so much here, that he had changed. He was so hyper-aware of his shifting priorities, but he couldn't stop it happening. He now cared more to keep Kan safe than to bring the Empire to its knees. Of course, he would like to do both, but he worried that one would eventually come at the expense of the other, and he couldn't bare the idea of either outcome.

“I have an idea” Kan said, interrupting his troubling thoughts. Echo looked up to see a glimmer of mischief in her eyes.

“Will I like this idea?” Echo replied, his eyebrow arched knowingly.

“Maybe not at first… but hopefully I can persuade you”

Echo turned to look at her properly, “What does that mean?”

“I figure that, since it's our last night here, we should do something” She said, a smile creeping across her face.

“Something…?” Echo questioned.

“Well, when I went out with Cap- Commander Levy, we went to this really charming bar, and I thought maybe we could get a drink there?” Kan said, trying her best to stay confident, but she felt shy in even asking to begin with.

“You want to get a drink with me?” Echo asked, a little surprised.

“Yeah why not? It could be fun” Kan shrugged, as if it was just a casual request.

“Um… I can't really drink in my droid mask” Echo stated.

“Well I really meant for you to go without your disguise” Kan subtly chewed on her lip.

“But I-”

“I just thought, you were worried about people asking about your scomp right? And you don't have it on show anymore so maybe you could come out as… you?”

The look in Kan's eyes was so hopeful that Echo couldn't deny her, “Okay, but- um, what about my… head stuff”

“It's fine, I'm sure people won't think about it” Kan smiled, “Besides, if anyone wants to comment on it I'll tell them to kriff off”

Echo chuckled, “I can't say no now I suppose”

“No, you can't” Kan smiled and jumped from her chair, “I'll go get ready, see you in like… 10 minutes”

Echo stifled a laugh as Kan scampered up the stairs and slammed the door to her room closed.

He breathed out a deep sigh and took off his headgear. Kan just asked me to get a drink? Together? He tried not to read into it. Kan is just friendly, we're friends, going out to a bar to have drinks. As friends. No big deal. Safe to say, he was making a big deal out of it anyway. He looked down at the floor, his head feeling heavy and weighed down by the sheer amount of things popping into his head. Kriffing relax.

Echo was pulled from his thoughts at the sound of Kan coming down the stairs, and his heart stopped when he looked up at her. She wore a simple red dress that hung around her figure perfectly and ended mid-calf, her boots disappearing above the hem, with a lacey white tie at the waist. She had applied some makeup that accentuated her eyes and cheekbones, and Echo found himself completely mesmerised.

“I got this dress the other day at the market, do you think it's appropriate for the bar?” She asked, doing a little spin.

Echo couldn't speak. His words caught in his throat until Kan looked up at him nervously.

“You look beautiful M'aira”

It was the only thing in his mind, the only thing he could conceivably say.

Kan blushed furiously, “Oh, thank you Echo”

Echo couldn't stop staring at her, and Kan became more and more nervous under his gaze. He looked completely awestruck, and it made her feel completely alive and frozen at the same time.

“Shall we go?” She peeped out, sounding more weak than she had wished.

Echo shook his head slightly and cleared his throat, “Yeah, let's”

The bar was dark, as it had been the first time Kan had gone there, and Echo was thankful for that. Despite Kan's assurances, he was still nervous about how people would react to the cerebral parts of his cybernetic makeup. He could imagine the things they were thinking as he walked in beside her, the most beautiful person he had ever seen. What's he doing with her.

Kan had no such thoughts in her head, she was only glad that this time she was at the bar with someone she truly liked, someone she felt comfortable with. She looked up to him beside her and noted his discomfort immediately.

“What's wrong?” She asked, gently placing her hand on his new cybernetic arm.

Echo looked down at her beside him and felt his worries ease just a little. “Nothing” He smiled weakly, “What can I get you to drink?”

Kan smiled at the stark difference between him and the last man who had accompanied her here. She didn't mean to compare them, but it just reminded her of why she liked Echo so much.

Kan shook her head, “I'll get the drinks, I was the one that suggested it after all”

“I don't think so” Echo smirked a bit, and placed his new hand on the small of her back, guiding her towards an empty booth near the back of the bar. She was startled initially, but relaxed into his touch and sat down in the booth once they arrived.

“Now-” He placed his hand on the table and leaned down to Kan's level as he spoke, “What can I get you?”

Kan was flustered by his behaviour but replied with her order, “I don't know, um, wine of some kind”

“Some kind?”

“Yeah whatever, I'm not fussy”

“Alright, coming right up” He replied, and walked over to the bar to order.

Kan's heart felt like it was trying to escape her chest, beating so fast she could feel it throughout her body. She couldn't say she didn't enjoy it when Echo was more physically comfortable with her, but it sure made her body act up. She couldn't help but think about what it might be like to kiss him, what her body would do then.

She shook her head to banish the thoughts as she heard someone call out her fake name. She looked up to see her previous date to the bar walking towards the booth.

“Commander” She greeted him with a gracious smile, one that Echo could see was forced when he came back to the table.

“Where is your husband tonight my dear” The Commander asked, almost challenging her it seemed.

“He-”

“I'm right here”

They both looked over his shoulder to see Echo returning with two drinks in hand. He placed Kan's in front of her and sat down beside her, placing his arm around her waist.

“It's a pleasure” Commander Levy spoke with a tight jaw, holding his hand out to Echo, “You're a lucky man”

“I know” Echo didn't shake his hand and instead held Kan tighter, pressing his temple into hers.

Echo and Commander Levy exchanged a few more words, but Kan tuned them out, albeit unintentionally. She couldn't focus at all. Echo was pressed up against her, and drawing small circles on her waist with the thumb of the cybernetic she had made for him. The intimacy of that notion wasn't lost on her, and she felt her body heating up as she dwelled on it more.

She didn't even realise Commander Levy was gone, or that Echo was talking to her, until he squeezed her tighter for a second. She met his eyes with hers and with how close they were, he could see how startled she looked.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, fine” She said, a little more breathless than she intended, “You didn't have to do that by the way”

“It's okay, I just wanted him to leave us alone really” Echo shrugged slightly.

Kan smiled up at him and then looked away as her cheeks heated up, realising that he was still holding her tightly. She edged a little closer to him as she took her wine glass in her hand, and they began talking as if it were normal for them to be in this position.

They talked as they usually did, swapping stories from their pasts, and as they drank more alcohol, their laughter turned to giggling and they became even more relaxed around each other, and Kan found herself leaning into Echo and resting her head on his shoulder when she felt tired.

“Shall we head back?” He asked quietly, speaking right into her ear, which made Kan hum contentedly and close her eyes.

“I like your voice” She replied, opening her eyes to look up at him.

Echo just chuckled, “You mean, you like clone voices?”

She shook her head, “No, yours is different. It's… warmer”

Echo had certainly never had anything about him described as ‘warm’, and he realised that even through his slightly altered state of mind.

“Alright, I think we should get home now” He said, gently taking Kan's head from his shoulder.

Kan huffed slightly, but followed him anyway as he left the booth anyway, a little unsteady before she found her footing. They exited the bar and into the cool air outside, winding their way back to their dwelling to spend their last night there.

Kan slipped her hand into Echo's as they walked, and he looked down at her suspiciously. They had had the same amount of drinks, but it was clear that Echo could handle his liquor a lot better than her, which made sense as she was at least half a foot shorter than him.

He decided to let himself indulge in the feel of her hand in his, even if it was for just for the walk home and never again.

Leaving the house the next morning proved more troublesome than Kan had realised, or was initially willing to let on. As they walked away, she turned and stood looking back at it.

“I'll miss it here, I'll miss-” She stopped herself, looking up at Echo who had stopped next to her, “You're a good housemate Echo, I'd live with you again”

Echo gave her a warm smile, “Well, we do sort of live together back at the base”

She laughed, “I suppose that's true”

“You know, if you actually slept in your bed like you're supposed to then you'd even sleep next to me every night” He smirked a little.

Kan's smile faltered, before it then got wider, “You're right” She said and moved away from the house, heading towards where they hid the ship, “That's as good a reason as any to sleep there”

Echo bit into his lip to stop himself saying anything more, for fear of misinterpretation, or overstepping any boundaries, but he was starting to think it was possible that it wasn't just him that harboured more-than-friendly feelings in his and Kan’s relationship.

technical devotion, part fourteen: changes

a/n okay so I have no restraint, I uploaded the last chapter and then immediately wrote this and am posting it immediately. also I am sorry I cannot write lingering conflict, I have no backbone. also new banner!! bc I'm indecisive. now that you know all my issues, enjoy!

warnings: depiction of a panic attack, smoking

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Echo had expected things to be different when him and Kan got back to base, but he hadn't expected it to be so immediate.

They had barely set one foot inside before they were whisked into command, where Kan was informed that her skillset would prove useful for mission planning, and that she would take on more responsibility from now on, gaining the unofficial rank of Sergeant. She had been honoured, of course, but it felt like something that was very much out if her comfort zone. She wasn't a leader, she was a follower, and that's how she liked it. Though, if Rex had faith in her, she trusted his judgement.

Echo was happy that he'd be working with Kan more regularly now, but so was almost everyone else in the room. He couldn't blame his brothers, she was gorgeous, and almost elusive to most of them, having never spoken to them. He watched on painfully as she reunited with Howzer, jumping into his open arms and hugging him tightly, and as they stayed touching each other, catching up excitedly.

Then he watched her reunite with her other friends from across the mess, Oscar ruffling her hair as he hugged her from the side, and Teddy high-fiving her and embracing her for good measure for beating Howzer to a proper command position.

Echo felt so foolish.

Foolish that he thought he was special because she was kind to him, foolish that he thought he was lucky to get to experience her touch, and foolish for ever even entertaining the idea that she could possibly harbour feelings for him.

Kan was kind, but she gave out her kindness to everyone without exception. That's what made it so hard for Echo to feel negatively about her - it wasn't her fault, it was his. His mistake.

And now it was too late to do anything about it.

He had fallen for her. Hard. And now he would have to carry on as if she was any other person at the base. He didn't know if he could, and so, reluctantly, he tried to distance himself from her.

Kan noticed immediately when Echo started pulling away. For one, whenever he had to address her in the command centre, he would call her ‘Kan’. She didn't mind of course, it was her name after all, but she had got used to him calling her ‘M'aira’, and she much preferred when he called her that. He was the only one who did, and that's what made it special.

He also never came to see her in her office, never said a word if she ever sat with Rex and Gregor at meal times, never spoke to her before bed, and she hadn't looked into his eyes since the day they got back. It hurt her a lot, and the only logical conclusion she could draw was that he was embarrassed of her. Embarrassed to call her M'aira, embarrassed to talk to her, and embarrassed to even look at her.

She didn't know why he felt that way, but it was obvious that whatever bond they had created during their time away from base was just a one sided thing. That it hadn't meant anything to Echo.

Between that and her new command position, Kan was extremely stressed out.

Her brain was going at a klick a minute, unable to shut off from either mission plans or Echo. She couldn't focus, and the only respite she got was sleep but that would elude her because the cause of half her problems was sleeping right next to her. She had begun sleeping in her office again, though her back certainly wasn't happy about it.

Teddy was a perceptive clone, and he could see how haggard she had become. He contantly asked how she was, but she would always just say she was tired, that was it. She had none of the usual spring in her step, and after a couple weeks of it not going away, and only getting worse, he finally did something.

He dragged her outside after dinner, with the aim of getting her to relax. He took her over to the edge of the platform, and they sat down, looking out on the view of the deep reds and browns of the rocky terrain that surrounded the base.

“Here” He offered her his cigarra after he'd taken a drag, “To help you relax”

“No thanks” She said simply, accompanied by a weak smile.

“Kan…” Teddy began. He didn't really know what to say, but he tried his best, “What's going on with you? And I want a real answer this time”

Kan looked up at him sadly, her eyes glistening, before looking out to the view again. “I don't know, everything is just too much at the moment” She took the cigarra from his hand and took a long drag before passing it back.

Teddy watched on in worry, “What is? It might help to get it off your mind”

Kan sighed deeply, exhaling the smoke, “It sounds so ridiculous when I say it out loud though”

“I'm sure it doesn't, come on” Teddy urged, and he could see her cracking, beginning to open up.

“Well… for one, being a Sergeant is absolutely no fun” She said pointedly, and Teddy chuckled.

“Why not?”

“It's so much responsibility, I can't stop thinking about how my actions affect everyone here, how I could be the reason for someone being killed or captured by the Empire” She explained, her shoulders slumping with each word.

“Have you talked to Rex about it?” Teddy asked.

“No” Kan laughed, “I couldn't, he's such a natural, he wouldn't understand”

Teddy shook his head, “Just because he's a natural doesn't mean he lacks empathy. I'm sure he'd be able to help ease your worries”

“Maybe about that” Kan mumbled, loud enough for Teddy to hear it.

“What else is going on then?” He asked, taking another drag.

Kan looked out at the view despondently, slumped forwards onto her knees. He gave her the time to answer the question on her own time, which took longer than he was hoping.

“It's Echo” She finally whispered.

“Echo? What about him?” Teddy hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary with him.

“It's- We-” Kan sighed aggressively, “We were getting on so well during our mission, but when we came back, it's like he hated me or something. He never talks to me unless it's regarding a mission but even then it's more talking around me to other people, and he never looks at me anymore, I just-” She stopped herself before she could get choked up.

“You just what?” Teddy pressed.

Kan chewed on her lip, “I really thought he might like me back, you know?” She said quietly, and Teddy understood immediately.

He placed his arm around her shoulders and hugged her into his side. “I know, I know” He spoke soothingly, rubbing her arm.

Kan rested her head on Teddy's shoulder, “It's just embarrassing, to be wrong”

“Yeah, but hey, that's on him. If he doesn't like you, he's a di'kut”

Kan looked up and saw the small grin on Teddy's face, and her own lips curled up, “Yeah?”

“Absolutely, you're a catch” Teddy said, earning a small giggle from Kan.

“Thanks Teddy, so are you”

“I know” He smirked, resting his head against hers as they looked out again.

“Thanks for bringing me here, I really needed this” Kan spoke sincerely.

“No problem K” Teddy squeezed her slightly before standing up, “Let's go inside yeah?”

Kan didn't respond immediately, looking over the setting sun, “I think I'll just stay here for another moment, watch the sun set”

“Alright, I'll see you later then” Teddy said, giving her shoulder a supportive squeeze before walking away.

When she knew Teddy had left, Kan finally let herself cry.

She let out a choked sob, the product of bottling up her frustration, anger, sadness and embarrassment for weeks. Now that she had popped the cork, she couldn't stop the flow of tears that fell from her eyes. She pulled her knees to her chest and buried her head in them, her vision blurred and her breath ragged.

She thought of her mother and father. She wondered if they would be proud of the work she was doing. She thought of Master Unduli, she thought of Spider, she thought of Senator Organa, she thought of Rex, Howzer, Gregor, Oscar, Teddy, and finally, Echo. Every insecure thought, every nasty thing she ever had to say about herself clogged her mind in an instant, and she felt as if she couldn't breathe.

She let her legs hang over the side of the platform again and gripped the edges tightly. Her eyes were screwed shut and her breathing was only becoming more unstable, no matter how much she tried to calm it. Her stomach was in knots, she was choking on the tears that wouldn't stop falling, and her body was shaking involuntarily. She knew what this was, she had experienced them enough, and she just hoped that if she could grip the platform hard enough that it would subside quicker. She had no such luck.

She heard her name shouted, but to her it sounded feint, like she was underwater. She curled up again, facing away from the voice. She heard them again, and felt someone touch her back gently, though they might as well have struck her with lightning for how she reacted.

She flinched away, trying to find her voice, managing to choke out “Go away”

Her own voice sounded foreign to her ears in this altered state of being, but she couldn't think about it for too much longer before she was enveloped by a pair of arms. She rested her forehead on the person's chest, heaving and trying to calm herself. As she came down from the worst of it, something about the person felt so familiar, and she soon realised exactly who it was when they brought a hand to the bare skin on her back, and it was exceedingly cold and smooth.

She knocked herself backwards, falling onto her backside as she looked up at him, the catalyst of all her problems. Echo was looking down at her with worry painted on his face, and she frowned as her breathing evened out more. She scrambled from the floor and uttered apologies as she ran away from him, back towards the base.

Echo followed after her, catching up to her quickly and moving around her so he could stop in front of her.

“M'aira, what's going on? What's the matter?” He asked, placing his hands gently on either side of her arms.

Kan didn't say anything. She just stared at him, her chest heaving and a deep frown settled over her features.

“M'aira?” Echo said quietly, stepping towards her, but Kan stepped back a few paces.

“Why are you calling me that?” She tried to speak plainly, but her voice was still thick with emotion.

“What?” Echo asked, confused as to why she would ask that.

“Aren't you worried someone is going to see us talking?” She asked, her voice breaking.

Echos heart fell from his chest, “What do you mean?”

Kan could feel her bottom lip begin to quiver and she instinctively dug her teeth into it to stop it. She wasn't going to let Echo see her cry. Well, anymore than he already had.

“What’s going on M'aira, why are you upset?”

The use of the nickname once more sent her over the edge, “Because of you!” She shouted, though her anger was swallowed by embarrassment as she barged past Echo and made her way inside.

Echo stood frozen on the spot.

Because of me? But I haven't even spoken to her in… oh.

He quickly followed after her again, not entirely sure where she was headed but he hoped it was towards her office. He saw the door close from the end of the hall and heard the lock engage immediately after, something he didn't even know the door was capable of.

He knocked a few times, and heard Kan sniffle but she didn't reply.

“M'aira, please open up” He said gently, leaning his forehead on the door.

“Go away Echo” She replied, and Echo sighed deeply.

“Kandam'aira… please, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you”

The door then zipped open and he fell forwards slightly, finding himself in the room as Kan closed the door again.

“What did you mean to do?” She looked up at him sternly, her cheeks stained by tears.

“I-” He couldn't admit to his feelings right now, that would only confuse her, “I just thought you might want some space”

“Why would you think that? I thought we were friends, Echo. Friends at least look at each other from time to time”

“I know, I'm sorry, I guess I just figured that we'd been together for a while and you might be sick of me” He stated, though it came out more like a question.

“Well I don't” Kan crossed her arms, and Echo blinked at her.

“Don't what?”

Kan rolled her eyes, “I don't want space”

“Oh, right” Echo said awkwardly, and Kan felt her undeniable fondness for him returning as she looked up at his blushing cheeks.

She then quickly wrapped her arms around his torso, hugging him tightly, “I missed you”

Echo could feel his heart ache as she gripped him tightly, and he matched her hold, resting his cheek on the top of her head, “I missed you too”

Kan pulled back, looking up at him sheepishly, “I'm sorry you had to see me all…” She wiped her cheek, “Panicky”

“I don't mind, I'm just sorry that I caused it” He said, bringing his own hand up to wipe the wetness from her cheek.

Kan sighed, “It wasn't just you”

Echo gave her a questioning look and she shook her head slightly, “I'm just stressed, but I'll be fine”

“What are you stressed about?” Echo pressed.

“Nothing, I think I'm going to get an early night now” She said, opening the door.

“Hey” Echo gripped her shoulders lightly, “We can talk about it if you want?”

“Another time maybe” She smiled up at him, “Goodnight Echo”

Echo sighed with a worried smile, “Goodnight M'aira”

Kan's smile grew at the use of the nickname as she stepped away from Echo, hoping its return was permanent.

make it feel better

Rex x F!Reader

word count: 4.3k

description: when scouting a new planet, you fall into a bed of flowers that you understand the effects of all too well. Captain rex is the only person around and the only one who can help you.

warnings: NSFW (18+) minors begone! sex pollen/aphrodisiacs, oral (f! recieving), pinv sex, almost voyeurism not really, some reader masturbation, swearing, little bit of praise, non-established relationship

a/n: okay so this is the first ever proper smut I've posted and I'm SCARED. do not judge me pls and thank you <3 I haven't seen any sex pollen with Rex so I thought I'd try my hand at it

The sun was only just clinging to the horizon as you made your way back to the ship, taking a shortcut through the forest. You and Rex had been scouting for a new, and safe, planet to move to, where the small rebellion you were a part of could operate without detection. This one had been uninhabited, and so far proved to be a solid contender. You had come along because of your in depth knowledge of various flora and fauna across the galaxy, and Rex deemed you the most qualified to ascertain whether or not the planet would be suitable. He also enjoyed your company but he wasn’t going to tell you that.

You and Rex had known each other for many years, as you were somewhat of a consultant to the jedi in the war. Your knowledge of different cultures and languages throughout the galaxy proved most useful, and you often became an intermediary between the Republic forces and the primitive beings you encountered. A lot of your time was spent in the field, which was where you met Rex.

The 501st had been part of a relief mission to Abednedo, where you were required for translation purposes. The Abednedo mostly spoke basic, but it was their written language that proved difficult for the Republic to understand, and with you understanding the Republic’s supply logging system, they opted to have you catalogue the supplies rather than teach the Abednedo to use it.

Rex had been uneasy around you initially, with you being someone from outside of the GAR, but he quickly warmed to you when he saw how well you integrated with the rest of his brothers. That was part of the reason that you joined his band of rebels in the first place - you definitely had a soft spot in your heart for the clones, and even more so for Rex.

Your feelings for Rex had grown steadily. Naturally, you found him to be handsome when you first met, his closely cropped blond hair making him stand out among his brothers, but your attraction for him really set in when seeing him on the battlefield, taking down almost a whole wave of droids with only two DC-17s and his own sheer will.

Though that was years ago. Now, you found yourself harbouring deeper feelings for him, feelings you had been reluctant to admit to yourself.

When Rex had found you after the end of the war, sending you a message on your encrypted comm channel, you felt like you had finally hit a stroke of luck. The transition from the Republic to the Empire was turbulent for you, to say the least. The Empire had uses for your intellect, but you had quickly become disillusioned with the whole regime when you realised the deception that they covered up in every corner of their reach. Rex had all but saved you from the Empire, and for that, you’d always be grateful to him.

Meeting him again after the end of the war, when you hadn’t seem him in some time, was like a breath of fresh air. You had never been exceptionally close with him, no closer than you were with any of the other clones at least, but upon seeing his tired and haggard figure on the other side of the hangar, you couldn’t help but speed over to him and embrace him in a tight hug. He had chuckled and returned the embrace, commenting something about ‘understanding the feeling’.

Since then, the dormant feelings you had previously harboured for him only grew. You worked closely with him, spending most of your days by his side in the command centre, helping however you could. It was an inescapable fate that you would fall for him, and now here you were, living out that very fated feeling. You had no indication from the Captain as to whether he felt the same way, and so you kept it close to your chest, electing to not tell him.

Rex had gone back to the ship to comm the others, to say that this planet you were on could be the one, while you had stayed out to investigate a few final things. The water from the natural springs was drinkable, and the small bug you had captured carried no known diseases, and so you were satisfied that this planet would do nicely. You commed Rex and let him know what you were coming back, not waiting for an answer before you switched it off. It didn't really matter whether he heard you or not, you'd be back soon.

It was dark in the forest as you cut through, but it was just bright enough to see where you were going. Mostly.

You found yourself disproved when your foot caught on a tree root and you were sent tumbling forwards with a small yelp. Thankfully, there was a thick bed of flowers that cushioned your fall, so the pain from the impact dissipated quickly. You stood and brushed yourself off, but immediately felt your nose itching, and before you knew it, you were sent into a sneezing fit. You had sneezed at least ten times before you lost count, and you stumbled forwards, resting yourself against a tree when you came to a clearing.

The orange tone of the sky cast a gentle golden light over you as you caught your breath. The sneezing subsided, but as you breathed deeply, you realised that something felt wrong.

You felt your insides burn hot, the heat spreading through your body like a wildfire. An uncomfortable feeling settled in your stomach, but it quickly twisted into a heavy pain. You doubled over, holding your stomach as it cramped up and sent shockwaves through your system.

You dug your hand into one of the pouches on your belt urgently, pulling out the small torch you carried with you. You switched it on and shined it over the bed of flowers that you had just landed in, and inspected their yellow petals and purple centre, your eyes going wide.

Fuck.

You knew exactly what flower these were, you had studied them and their effects in your time at University on Coruscant. You knew exactly what was going to happen to you, and you almost wish you didn't.

Aphrodisiacs.

You dug your heels into the ground in frustration as you threw your head back into the tree, your eyes screwed shut. The burning in your stomach was quickly transforming from a small flame to a full blown bonfire.

Somehow this was typical. This planet was so close to being perfect, and now you had to go and trip into some flowers that would cause you a pain so sensual you'd be driven out of your mind. It had to be you, didn't it?

As you were writhing against the tree, contemplating if you could really get yourself off right here, you heard your name being called and groaned quietly. Why did he have to come looking for you right now?

You tried your best to stay quiet, listening to him calling out to you and hoping that he wouldn't find you, but then he came through the treeline, his eyes finding your struggling form.

“What's wrong?” He darted over to you, at your side in an instant, and you instinctively flinched away from him. His gaze was filled with worry.

You we're clearly in some kind of pain, your skin damp with sweat and a deep blush across your cheeks.

He reached out for you as he called your name, and you moved away again, having to look away from the man that you desired fiercely at any other given moment, but especially this one.

“Rex” You breathed out, trying to keep your voice steady, “Please don't touch me”

“Why?” He asked quickly, “Is it your skin?”

“It's… everywhere, it's not going to go away, It hurts, it hurts so much” You spoke, though you weren't sure your words were even coherent.

“What hurts?” He asked more urgently, trying to get a read on the problem the best he could without touching you.

I can't tell him. I just need to get him away.

“You need to leave. Go back to the ship and wait for me” You pant.

“What? No, let me help you” He knelt down beside you, his hand itching to reach out and comfort you, “What can I do?”

“Nothing. Please go away” You begged, but he didn't understand what was going on at all. For all he knew, you could be asking him to leave you to die here.

“Please let me help you”

You let a small moan escape your lips, one hand stifling it and the other gripping at your clothes to resist from touching yourself right in front of him.

“Rex please go away” You said desperately, your head now in your hands and gripping at your hair to try and distract you.

“I can't! I can't leave you like this, are you crazy?” His voice was so exasperated, and you ground your teeth together as you shook your head in defiance.

“I need you to leave, now. Plea-” You were cut off by your own whimper escaping your lips.

The pain in your core was becoming unbearable. While you knew you couldn't die from this drug, you knew the only solution was to satisfy the intense desire that it gave you, but you would've taken death before pleasuring yourself in front of Rex.

“Cyar'ika let me help you” He said softly, coming closer to you again.

“Please don't call me that” You practically whined, your body acting without permission and splaying out of the floor, twisting back on itself.

“Tell me what's wrong” He ordered firmly, and you felt your desire for him only spiral further.

“The flowers” You exhaled, “They're making me… hot”

“Hot?”

“Yes, hot” You gritted through your teeth, your hand playing with the top button of your trousers. You had to relieve this pain soon before it became worse.

“What can I-”

“Just leave Rex!” You hissed, the pain becoming blinding, “Please leave” You were on the edge of tears, your frustration nearly matching your arousal. You continued begging, different sentence formations that included the words ‘leave’, ‘please’ and ‘Rex’ tumbling from your mouth in a last desperate attempt.

“Cyar'ika” Rex grabbed your chin, forcing you to look up at him, and another whimper escaped you at his touch, “I'm not leaving you”

You whined, “If you don't leave I-” You couldn't finish the sentence.

“You'll what?”

“I need to- you can't be here” You said already unbuttoning your trousers with shaking hands.

“Why not? Cyare you're not making any sense”

You'd were finally at your limit, the pain driving you insane.

“It's an aphrodisiac Rex!” You screamed, hands tightened into fists to hold yourself back.

Rex froze, “Oh”

“Yeah. Oh” You mustered up a desperate chuckle, curling up in a ball on the floor.

“What should I-”

“I don't know. I don't know, you just need to get out of here before I do something I regret” Your words tumbled over each other as you spoke.

He touched your shoulder lightly, and when you moaned at the simple gesture, he understood how bad it really was.

“Rex, leave!” You screamed at him again, your hand finally finding its way past the waistband of your underwear.

Rex immediately averted his eyes, “I'm just going to be over there, I don't want to leave you here like this”

“Whatever! Just do it!” You said, a loud moan escaping you as you fingers found themselves running easily through your slick folds.

Rex quickly moved away from you. The sounds of your moans spilling from your lips were driving him crazy, but he was also overwhelmingly worried about you. He wanted to help you, but he knew that wasn't something he could really do without… well, fucking you. The idea alone was working him up, and the sound of your moans growing more and more frustrated had his cock hardening and pressing into his codpiece uncomfortably.

“It's not working” You cried out and removed your fingers from working your clit to pull your top off, trying to at least ease some of the heat. You were at your wits end, your thoughts all blurred together.

“Rex!” You shouted helplessly, “Please come here!”

Rex ran back over to you in a flash, the sight of your body sprawled out on the floor making his heart beat out of his chest.

“It burns” You choked out, tears spilling from your eyes, “It hurts so much”

“Maybe I could help?” He suggested, letting his emotions get the better of him.

“Help?” You said in a disbelieving laugh, “Are you going to fuck me yourself Rex?”

The silence was so loud.

You looked up at him, standing above you, and his expression was absolutely flat.

“You're serious?” You practically gasped, and he just nodded.

You brought yourself onto your knees and cradled your head in your arms, mumbling under your breath. “Maker, this is so fucked up, I can't believe this is happening. I can’t-”

Rex interrupted your ramblings as he knelt down in front of you, placing his hands on your arms to take them away from your head. You looked up to him desperately, and you could see the pity in his eyes.

“Rex it hurts, it really hurts” You whispered, the pain continuing to burn into you.

“I know” He said soothingly, “I'm going to help you, okay? I'll make it feel better”

You whimpered, your breathing calming just the tiniest bit.

“Is that okay?” He asked, getting a confirmation that this is what you wanted from him.

“Yes” You breathed out, any shame now escaping you, “Please help me”

With that, Rex took you up in his arms, and darted back the short distance to the ship. He set you down on the bunk in the back area and pulled off your trousers and underwear in one swift motion. The sight that greeted him drew a deep groan from within his throat, but he was hesitating.

“Rex please” You begged in a strangled moan, needing to feel him immediately.

“I'm sorry Cyar'ika, I just didn't think it would happen this way” He said honestly.

“Wha-?”

Before you could even ask what he meant, his tongue found its place between your legs. You cried out, the pain in your stomach melting away into pure pleasure. He was eating you out as if it was his last meal, as if he hadn't eaten in weeks. It felt so incredible, and yet, your head still felt foggy, and your pulse was elevated to an unhealthy rate. Even as he worked at your clit, the sensation of him sucking and biting feeling divine, given straight from the maker, you knew it wasn't enough.

“Rex I need-” You began, your words getting caught in your throat.

“Tell me what you need Cyare” He hummed against your pussy, “Anything”

Your hips bucked, “I need more, I need you” You panted.

“I'll need a little bit more than that I'm afraid” He said, and you looked down at him to see the slight teasing smile curling his lips.

“Please don't make me say it” You whined as he licked a stripe from your entrance to your clit.

“Come on Cyar'ika, tell me” He cooed, his hands gripping at your thighs tightly.

“I need your cock! I need you inside me Rex! Please” You finally admitted, and felt Rex hum against your core.

“See that wasn't so hard was it” He rumbled.

He placed a kiss to your clit before he moved away, and you shuddered, feeling the pain begin to twist at your core once more. Rex made short work of his armour, his dexterous fingers working the clasps quickly, his brain on autopilot as he looked down at you writhing beneath him. He then slipped off his blacks and his cock finally sprung free. You moaned as you saw it, throwing your head back onto the bunk and trying not to think about how wrong this was.

“See something you like Mesh’la?” You knew Rex was smirking, you could hear it in his voice. It only drove you more insane.

“Shut up and fuck me Captain” You hissed, which pulled a deep groan from Rex.

He chuckled slightly as he replied, “Yes Ma’am”

He lined himself up with your entrance and looked up to you for confirmation, taking your face in his hand to make you look at him. You could see the question in his eyes, and behind all of your blinding arousal, your heart fluttered at the careful actions of the man you were undoubtedly in love with. You nodded.

“Please” You sounded so pathetic, and Rex brushed his thumb across your cheek tentatively.

“I’ve got you Cyare, don’t worry, I’ll make it better”

He breached you entrance and the moan that escaped your lips was the most sinful sound he had ever heard.

“Oh Rex” You whimpered sadly, and he stopped his movements to check that you were okay.

“What is it?” He rocked his hips back and then forward very gently, earning another moan. “What is it Mesh'la?” He whispered.

“I'm sorry” You whispered

“Why are you sorry?” He frowned, and pushed your hair from your face to get a proper look at you.

The pain burned hot inside you, but you needed to say this.

“You shouldn't have to do this, I'm so sorry”

“Cyare, I can stop if you don't want me to do this, I can let you finish yourself”

“No!” You said quickly, too quickly, “I mean-” You were floundering to find the right words but Rex just pressed a soft kiss to your temple.

“You don't need to say anything” He said gently and pushed deeper inside you, his cock now fully sheathed within you. You moaned gently at the sensation of the stretch, and it was music to his ears, “I'm going to fuck you now, and we can forget about it later okay?”

“Okay” You breathed out unsteadily.

He started to pick up the pace and it was heavenly. The feel of his cock dragging along your walls was divine, and if this was any other time it would have been perfect, but right now, you needed more.

“Rex, please-”

“Tell me Cyar'ika, what do you need?”

The underlying feelings that you already harboured for Rex were spilling into your words before you could stop them.

“Please, I need it harder, faster. Fuck me like you mean it Rex, please”

“Won't be a problem” He said breathily before he began pounding into you, and you could already feel the familiar coil tightening in the pit of your stomach, replacing any pain that once inhabited it. Rex slid his arm around you, arching your back so he could hit the deepest possible spot within you.

“Fuck” You hissed.

“That feel good?” He panted out, and you nodded hastily. Rex tutted slightly, “Use your words Mesh'la, tell me how it feels” He said, dragging his lips across your neck, leaving small markings behind as his teeth nipped at you.

“Fuck Rex, it feels so good. Please don't stop, I need you” You were whispering, as if it were a secret you didn't want to tell.

Rex groaned loudly, burying his face in your neck, “Say it again”

“Which part?” You said letting a small smirk onto your face at his reaction to your words. You knew exactly which ones he wanted to hear.

He looked up at you in disbelief of your teasing at this moment, then pressed his forehead into yours, slowing down his pace and making you whimper at the loss of intensity, “Tell me you need me”

You had no problem saying something as true as that. “I need you Rex, I want you” You emphasised, your eyes burning into his from a mere hairbreadth away.

He groaned, the distinction between the two phrases not lost on him. He quickly resumed his punishing pace, pulling away from you slightly to watch you. You felt the coil pull taught within you, just waiting to snap. You weren’t certain if the drug had something to do with it or not, but you had never been wound up to an orgasm so quickly by anyone else before.

“Stars, just like that” You moaned, eyes closing and head pushing back into the bunk.

“Fuck, look at you” Rex breathed out, “You’re so beautiful taking my cock like this”

The words hit you in the very centre of your being, and without thinking, you grabbed the back of Rex’s neck and pulled him in to your lips. His hips stuttered for one second, but then he was groaning into the kiss, his hips snapping to yours even harder, his fingers holding you down with bruising strength. You didn’t care at all. The idea of having his hands imprinted into your skin only sent you careering towards your orgasm.

“Rex I'm gonna-” You couldn’t even get the words out.

“That's it Mesh'la, let go, cum for me”

His words tipped you over the edge, the coil snapping suddenly and harshly, filling your system with intense pleasure. Rex wasn't far behind.

“Where-”

“Inside, please. I want to feel you Rex” You scraped your nails down the back of his neck as he rode you though your high.

“Kriff, you're going to be the death of me Cyar'ika” He mumbled, hooking his lips with yours as he snapped his hips to your one final time, spilling all of himself inside.

You both took a second to come down from your highs, breathing heavily against each others lips. The more your breath returned to normal, and the burning inside of your limbs subsided, the more the dread crept in.

Rex slid out of you without saying a word, without looking at you. You whimpered slightly at the loss and covered you mouth out of embarrassment. He left the room and your thoughts instantly spiralled out of control.

He’s never going to speak to me again. He’ll never look at me again. I’ve ruined everything. There’s no way we can just move on from this. I’m never going to be able to forget this. He’ll never look at me the same.

A moment later, Rex returned with a damp towel and knelt on the floor, placing a hand on your knee. “Open” He said gently, a kind smile across his lips as he guided your legs open to clean you up. You couldn’t look at him, opting to lay your head back and stare at the ship’s ceiling.

“Rex, I’m so sorry” You said quietly, tears pricking at the edges of your eyes.

“Don't be, I'm just glad I could help you” He replied, as sweet as he always was, and you felt the tears spill, running silently down the sides of your face.

Everything's ruined.

When he finished cleaning you up, Rex noticed your despondent expression and tear stained face and grabbed your hand tentatively.

“What are you thinking Mesh'la?” He asked, his deep voice exceedingly smooth.

“This isn't what I wanted, it shouldn't have been like this” You stared up blankly, blinking hot tears out of your eyes.

Rex's heart started beating faster, “Did I hurt you?”

“No!” You sat up, looking into his eyes, “It's not that it's-”

He brought a hand to cup your cheek and his thumb gently caressed your cheekbone, wiping some tears from under your eye, “It's what?”

You took a deep breath. Now felt like both the right and the wrong moment but you were past caring, your dignity was already laid outside in the bed of flowers that started this whole mess.

“I- I actually like you Rex, I might even love you, and now…” You looked down to your lap, shaking your head, “Now I've ruined everything. I'm just sorry” You buried your face in your hands, feeling ashamed of your actions, even if they weren’t entirely your own.

“Hey, hey” Rex pried your hands away from your face, “Cyar'ika look at me”

You raised your gaze to look into his eyes, your head still angled down as if it would stop the confrontation.

“You haven't ruined anything okay? Its not your fault, I-” He smiled a little, “I like you too, might even love you” He mimicked the way you had said it and your heart stopped.

“You do?” Your eyebrows pinched as you stared into his amber eyes, seeing only admiration and honesty swimming in their depths.

“Yes” He placed his hand on your cheek, “It's like I said, I didn't think it would happen like this”

“Oh, that's what you meant” You said plainly, and he chuckled at your expression.

“Yeah” He said, gently rubbing your thigh, “I'm sorry, I should've told you before all of this happened” He said, some kind of guilt creeping across his features.

“It’s okay” You took his face in your hands, “Thank you Rex, for helping me”

A smirk grew on his face, “Anytime”

a little while longer

Hunter x F!Reader

word count: 4.1k

description: your job keeps you away from pabu, your home, more than you would like, but when you return after weeks away, there's a certain someone eager to make you stay for good.

warnings: fluff, mutual pining, friends to lovers, all that good stuff, wet hair hunter !!!

a/n: been sitting on this for a little while and finally finished it lol, I'm pretty proud of how it turned out in the end. also I realised after that pabu's beach might not be sand....... just pretend it is okay

You brought your ship out of Hyperspace and sighed delightedly at the sight of the swirling blues of Pabu's surface. It was always such a wonderful sight after a long stretch of selling.

You owned a small vineyard on Pabu, though of course none of your customers from other areas of the galaxy knew that's where you operated from. The drinks you made were your main source of money, but you also owned a small wine bar on Pabu. Most of your time was taken up by travelling to other star systems and selling your wares, but your favourite times were spent back home, talking with customers across the bar.

As you entered the upper atmosphere, you were greeted by the wonderful orange and pink hues of the sun disappearing over the horizon. You quickly sped down to the surface, eager to watch the sunset from the town square as you often did when you were back.

When you set down your ship, you saw the flash of blonde hair as the young girl you had grown so familiar with rushed across the square. You smiled at her eagerness, and barely made it out of your ship before you were attacked at the waist by her crushing hug.

“You've been gone for so long!” Omega whined, “You've never been away that long before”

“It was only a few weeks Mega” You told her, but she still wasn't pleased.

“How long are you back for this time?” She asked, her eyes wide and shining up at you.

“I'm not sure” You ruffled her hair with tight lipped smile.

She groaned as she let go of you, “Alright, well I guess I should just make the most of it then”

“That sounds good to me” You smiled down at her as she slung her arm around your waist, pulling you in the direction she knew you'd be going.

Ever since the Bad Batch had arrived on Pabu, you had spent a lot of your time with Omega. For whatever reason, she was very interested by your work, and she often came to help you with some of the more simple parts of the process. She was fascinated that you could create such a mind-altering beverage just from simple fruits. She always wanted to try some, but she was many years away from an acceptable drinking age, and so you had to crush her dreams every time you said no. You thought that she probably continued asking because one day you might just break, and sometimes it felt like that. Her hopeful smile was just too precious, and the look of dismay that followed denying her a taste was enough to make most people do as she liked.

Omega let go of your waist to pull you down onto the ledge by your forearm, a little too close for your comfort but you knew she was smart enough not to fall off.

“Careful Mega” You reminded her anyway, and she rolled her eyes.

“I'm always careful” She said, shuffling closer to you so that she could rest her head on your shoulder.

“I know. Doesn't stop me worrying though” You sighed, leaning your head onto hers and pulling her in with your arm around her back.

“Maker, you're as bad as Hunter” Omega mumbled, earning a chuckle from you.

“Can you blame him? Chaos follows you wherever you go”

“That's not my fault” Omega shrugged.

“Hm, I'm not sure about that… but if you insist” You replied, and both of you settled into silence as you watched the sun setting.

The pink clouds circled and danced around the orange glow, and a deep red was bursting from the horizon line. As the sun sunk lower and lower, the air was filled with a haziness that only came on beautiful summer evenings such as this. It was still warm, a little light and people still moved about in the town, but the lack of wind made everything seem stationary, like a picture, a frame, frozen in time.

“You should get home” You mumbled to Omega, feeling calmed by the serene atmosphere.

“Probably” She sighed, and lifted her head from your shoulder to look at you, “Why don't you come with me?”

“I'd love to Mega, but I should be getting back to the bar really” You told her reluctantly. You had told the person working you'd be back before sunset…

“Awh, come on, just this once? You can come and see Hunter” She grinned up at you and you rolled your eyes. You had made the sore mistake of letting slip the nature of your feelings towards the Sergeant, and Omega saw it as a perfect opportunity to try and play matchmaker. “I'm sure he'd like to see you” She added.

“Yeah yeah, in my dreams right?” You chuckled, and held your hand out to help her up as you stood.

“You know, there's nothing stopping you from just telling him how you feel” She said matter-of-factly, looking up at you with her hands on her hips.

“Well, for now I've still got to go back to the bar. I'll see you tomorrow kid” You smiled at her, and she waved you off before running back home.

You chuckled to yourself, shaking your head as you walked in the direction of your bar. It was located down a small street, almost tucked away, but the people of Pabu all knew where it was, those that drank wine anyway.

You approached the building, flower baskets adorning the windows and metal chairs and tables outside, a few people sitting there and enjoying the last traces of light. You brought your lighter from your pocket and lit the candles at the tables, the people smiling appreciatively and welcoming you back to the island.

You absolutely loved it here. You hadn't lived here your whole life like many of the other islanders, but when you had arrived around seven years back, they took you in as one of their own. Everyone was exceedingly friendly, and your dream of running an orchard and wine bar was quickly taken up when you had mentioned it in passing to Shep. A lot of people had pitched in, and you would never be able to repay them for that.

That was partly the reason you spent so much time away, because you couldn't possibly cover the cost of running your business just through the wine bar and the sales you made on the island. There simply weren't enough people. Truthfully, you wished that you never had to leave at all.

“Heya Lenny” You smiled at the man currently working the bar.

“Hey boss, looks like you're late again” He smirked, knowing what had kept you.

“Sorry Len, you can go home now, I've got it from here” You chuckled, setting down your bag behind the bar.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, go spend time with that lovely husband of yours” You smirk at him, the emphasis coming from the newness of the title, as they had only got married a month prior.

“Alright, don't threaten me with a good time” He laughed, untying his apron and leaving out the back door.

You settled yourself behind the bar, looking up at all the bottles of wine that adorned the back of it. You smiled, looking at the labels from years gone by, as well as the new additions. You could honestly say that you were proud of yourself for how far you'd come.

“I heard you were looking for me” A voice spoke from behind you, and you instantly knew who it was. You turned towards the front of the bar, and met the soft brown eyes of your favourite customer.

“Who told you that? Wait- let me guess… Omega” You chuckled at the young girl’s attempts to get you two in the same space all the time.

“Oh, you weren't actually looking for me?” Hunter asked, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

“I wasn't, but it's nice to see you anyway” You smile.

“You too. When did you get back? You should've come said hi” Hunter leaned on the bar.

“Only as the sun was going down, I had to get back here anyway” You shrugged, brushing past his comment, “What can I get you?”

“Oh nothing, I was only coming to see why you were looking for me” He backed away from bar a little, “I'll leave you to it”

“To what?” Your eyes sparkled with amusement, casting a glance around the empty bar.

Hunter chuckled a little at the realisation, clearing his throat, “Right, sorry”

“Come on” You grinned, grabbing a bottle from a few years back off of the shelf, as well as two glasses. You held them up as you moved from behind the bar, heading outside, “Have a drink with me?”

Hunter smiled, following behind you, “Sure, why not”

The customers that were here when you got back had since left, so it was just the two of you when you sat down at the table outside. It was quiet as you set down the wine glasses on the table, and poured a sensible amount for both of you. You swirled the deep red liquid in the glass and took a sip, smiling as the different notes hit your taste buds.

Hunter watched you with interest, inspecting the way you enjoyed the drink. He took a small sip from his own glass and swallowed thickly to get it down his throat.

“So” You began, crossing one leg over the other as you looked to the clone across from you, “What's been going on since I was away?”

Hunter began going over everything he could think of that happened, which didn't end up being too much. Pabu was peaceful, nothing catastrophic ever really happened, not counting the sea surge that you still jokingly blamed the bad batch for bringing with them. He recounted how Omega had been doing more flying, and that she was pretty much better than him, Wrecker and Crosshair combined by now. He talked about his brothers so fondly, and you loved to listen to it. The way his mouth curled at the edges as if he was trying to surpress it, the creases at the edges of his eyes giving it away. It was clear to you how much he cared for them all, how he still felt responsible for them, and it always warmed your heart.

“And you? How have you been?” You asked, a knowing smile playing on your lips.

He chuckled breathily, “Yeah I'm fine”

“Just fine?” You arched an eyebrow at him subtly.

“Good, then. I don't know” He shrugged with a small smile.

You shook your head a little. You had told him before that he thinks of himself far too little, so you knew he knew what you were getting at.

“Sorry, I've just been rambling on, what about you? How were your travels?”

A sigh escaped your lips before you gave it permission, “Fine, as always”

Hunter knew you didn't like leaving. You had once drunkenly regaled him with all of the worst tales of your travels, an unfortunate memory your mind replayed often at night when sleep eluded you.

“Did something happen?” He asked.

“No, I'd just rather not have to do it”

“Why do you? Couldn't you get someone else to do it?”

“I wouldn't want to subject anyone else to it, and besides, I've gotta pay the bills somehow” You said with a tight smile.

“I'm sure Shep wouldn't mind helping out in some way” He suggested, but you shook your head forcefully.

“I've already taken too much from the people of Pabu”

Hunter could see the guilt written on your face as plain as day. He wished he could reach out and ease the crease that formed in your brow whenever you were reminded of how much had been given to you in your time on Pabu. You found it hard to accept help, Hunter had learnt that the hard way, but he could never find the right words to express just how much he felt you deserved. He would give you the galaxy if it was his to give, but that was far to obscene to just say in passing.

“It's fine” You blinked a few times, “The time I do get to spend here makes up for it”

Hunter offered you a sympathetic smile, “Omega misses you a lot when you leave”

You chuckled, “That sentence alone makes me want to never leave again”

Hunter huffed a small laugh, understanding completely what you meant. He, along with everyone else, had a hard time saying no to the small blonde clone. The only person he had seen handle saying no to her well, was you.

After a moment of silence, he spoke what was on his mind.

“I miss you when you leave too”

You just took a sip of wine and tried not to react in any sort of way, but that was always more difficult around Hunter, who could sense just about anything, any changes in your body.

“Yeah, I- I miss you too, all of you” You tried to act casually about it. Hunter smiled kindly and your eyes flicked away briefly.

“You not enjoying this one?” You asked, pointing to his almost untouched glass of wine

“Uh…” He scratched his neck, “To be honest, I don't really like any wine” He said cautiously and your mouth dropped open, “Sorry”

“You don't need to apologise, but… Hunter you've been coming here for the better part of a year, and you don't even like any of the drinks we sell?”

“Well… I wasn't really coming for the drinks” He said with a small smile stretching across his face.

You just looked at him puzzled, but he waited for you to figure it out, “I-” You frowned deeply, looking at him and trying to understand, “I'm confused”

He chuckled at your cluelessness, “I only come to see you”

“Oh” You said quietly, almost dumbfounded.

“Yeah, you're either always working, or away, so… I have to take what I can get”

You suddenly felt alive inside.

“I… I would have hung out with you if you had asked”

Hunter cocked his head slightly, looking vaguely amused, “I did ask”

“Well, I didn't know you were serious” You said, your cheeks heating up a little.

“I'm always serious” He replied, earning a laugh from you.

You chewed on the inside of your cheek for a moment, just watching him, and him watching you. He raised an eyebrow slightly as if to ask what was going on in your head. Truthfully, you didn't know.

You then stood up quickly, “Let's get out of here”

“What?”

“There's no one here anyway, let's go to the beach” You said, drinking the remainder of your wine and grabbing the other glass and bottle.

“What's at the beach?”

You shrugged with a grin, “I guess we'll find out”

You're body felt like it had been electrified as Hunter helped you take the tables inside, and your hands were almost shaking as you locked the door. You never did anything spontaneous, especially not nowadays, and the prospect of taking the evening as it came felt exhilarating. You were positively buzzing, maybe from the wine, but mainly from the nervous energy bubbling up inside of you.

Hunter could sense it. It was the strangest sensation, it's like your insides were trying to escape you, pent up with fizzing electricity, like static.

“Race you there?” You smirked up at him, and quickly ran off in the direction of the beach.

Hunter let out a surprised laugh, and for a moment just watched you sprint away from him, his smile taking over his face. He darted after you as you rounded the corner, not necessarily caring to beat you there, but just to engage in your sudden spontaneity.

The wind was whipping at your face, sending your hair flying behind you as you winded around the cobbled streets. You hadn't felt so free, so youthful, in such a long time, and it was nice to indulge in such a feeling.

When you reached the beach, you slipped off your shoes and sunk your toes into the sand. The sensation was strange but familiar, something you hadn't done for years. The sun had fully sunk beneath the horizon now, and the moon was shining proudly, casting a gentle blue light over the waves.

Hunter came to stand beside you, an intrigued smirk curling the edge of his lips. You looked up him, and couldn't help but mirror his expression. He could see the glimmer of mischief in your eyes and waited for whatever idea you had to unfold in front of him. Though, he was wholly unprepared when you grabbed the hem of your shirt and pulled it off.

“Woah!” He stepped back slightly, “Uh… What are you doing?”

“Going swimming” You said simply, unbuttoning your trousers and tugging them down.

Hunter's mind was reeling. One minute you were standing next to him, looking up at him innocently, and now here you were, walking away from him in only your underwear. He couldn't help but let his mouth hang open a little.

You turned to look at him from the edge of the water, “Are you coming?”

The moonlight illuminated the edges of your silhouette, your smirk undeniable even in the low light. Hunter was frozen, the sight in front of him making him breathless. As you turned your body towards him, hands on your hips with your brow arched questioningly, he gulped.

He didn't say anything, but he slowly reached back and took off his shirt. He didn't take his eyes off of you as he unbuttoned his trousers and left them in a crumpled pile with the rest of the discarded clothes. You bit your lip a little, turning back to the ocean and stepping into the water.

It was freezing, and you shivered violently, a small gasp escaping your lips. You waded in, getting used to the temperature, until the water came up to your mid-thigh. You heard a hiss as Hunter followed you in, and looked back at him, a genuine smile on your face.

“How are you in that far? It's kriffing freezing” He grumbled, moving away from the shoreline.

You laughed at him, “What's that? The big bad Sergeant can't handle a little cold water?”

The teasing look on your face was enough to make his knees fold in on themselves, but he kept a calm exterior as he shook his head and stepped into the water again.

“I'm not so bad, am I?” He said in reply to your mocking remark, finally reaching your position.

“Hm” You hummed, arms crossed over your chest, “That remains to be seen”

Hunter's eyebrows raised slightly, looking down at your teasing expression with a smirk. The longer he looked at you like that, the more you cracked, your confident streak fizzling out. He could feel your heart beating faster each second, and saw the light dusting of a blush across your cheeks, and his smirk faded into a more sincere smile.

“Come on” You nodded your head out to sea, “There's a place I want to show you”

You then dove into the water, submerging yourself completely. You broke the surface after a few moments, swimming out into seemingly - to Hunter - the open ocean. After a minute, you got to the rock that jutted out just above the water level, and hauled yourself onto it. Hunter followed after you, reluctantly at first as the freezing water chilled him to his bones, but seeing you sat atop the rock, body glistening in the moonlight, he soon forgot all about the temperature of the water.

Watching Hunter pull himself out of the water was unlike anything you had ever gazed upon. The moon cast a light on the drops of water that ran down his toned body, making it glitter, and highlighting every muscle as it moved to push himself to sit next to you. His hair was pulled down by the weight of the water, the pieces around his face falling over his eyes so that he had to push them away.

You couldn't look away. He was gorgeous.

His chest was heaving as his eyes found yours, both of you out of breath from swimming. The air between you felt different, charged with unspoken feelings that were quickly becoming apparent. Hunter's gaze was serious, a small crease in his brow as he looked at you.

“I don't want you to leave again” He admitted quietly.

You sighed, tearing your eyes away from him. There wasn’t really anything you could say.

“I don't want to either” You confessed, your shoulders slightly slumped.

“Then don't” He urged, and you tilted your head back to him. He looked at you with such longing, his eyes slightly wide and swimming with emotion. He reached out and gently placed his hand on your cheek, “Stay with me”

Your breath caught in your throat, “I can't promise something like that Hunter”

“Why not?” He asked softly.

“I-” You began, but hesitated when Hunter brought your face closer to his.

“Why not?” He asked again, looking so deeply into your eyes that he could be looking at your very soul.

“I- I don't know” You stuttered out, mesmerised by his gaze.

Hunter smirked, “Exactly”

He then immediately pulled away and slid back into the water, swimming towards shore faster than you could possibly keep up with.

“Hey!” You shouted after him, entering the water once more and racing after him. He stood in the shallows as you approached him, but before you could ask what that was all about, he scooped you up into his arms. His hands found themselves under your thighs and he pulled your body towards his, making you let out a small squeal at the sudden and unexpected closeness.

“You're going to stay here, on Pabu. I'm going to make you” He claimed.

“You're going to make me? How do you intend to do that?” You asked with a smile, feeling giddy from his words and the feel of his strong arms holding up your almost bare body.

“Like this” He mumbled before his lips crashed into yours.

The kiss was passionate, so much more so than you were expecting. It was a perfect climax to the tension that had been building all evening, possibly all year, finally bursting and dissipating. His lips moved against yours with an urgency, his plea for you to stay echoed by his actions. He held you close to him, one arm snaking around to your back as you wrapped your legs around his waist. You deepened the kiss, your hand finding itself lightly tugging on his hair at the base of his scalp. He groaned quietly as he devoured your mouth, his teeth gently nipping at your bottom lip. After a short while, you broke away to catch your breath, the kiss feeling like it had taken your very lungs away.

“Well, that was certainly convincing” You grinned, pulling a laugh from Hunter.

He pressed his forehead into yours, his gaze becoming more serious, “If I do it again, will you stay?”

You sighed slightly, but the look in his eyes made you feel like everything in the galaxy was right, exactly how things were right now, with you in his arms. It made you feel alive, and the intense urge to finally do something self-indulgent brought your answer from you.

“Yes” You replied in a whisper, “I'll stay”

His hands gripped you tightly as he brought his lips to yours again, and you completely lost yourself in the sensation.

The feel of his body against yours, his lips on yours, his tongue on yours, were enough to make you want to stay forever. You could figure out the problems this would bring later, but for now, you were eager to get a taste of what the rest of your life could feel like.