"Harmless" Adventures with the Bad Batch

A Compilation of Crosshair

A/n: It's Crosshair's turn now!  I must say, I had a lot of fun with it's this one!  I love crawling around sniper-boy's brain because he's such an interesting character.  Anyways, this chapter is 4 sections long and over 6000 words.  The last one is my favorite one :)  Love you all and I hope you enjoy!

Sec. 1

When Tech had a nightmare and Crosshair was a good big bro :)

Time: Bad Batchers are cadets

Notes: The idea of this one is that this is the first of many times Crosshair would comfort Tech during his nightmares.  SO COME GET YOUR FLUFF Y'ALL, IT'S ALL A BUNCH OF FLUFF

The barracks of Clone Force 99 were, for the most part, silent. Moonlight poured through the windows, where the familiar pitter-patter of raindrops was tapping. The soft succession of sounds had lulled the four cadets to sleep some time ago, leaving only Wrecker's deep snores to disturb the peace and quiet.  Until, a quiet, pitiful whine and soft sniffle disrupted the serenity. 

Crosshair stirred and rubbed his eyes, only half awake. Glancing around the room drowsily, he brushed off the noise to be his imagination. With that assumption, he had rolled over in his cot, lazily allowed for his eyes to drift closed, and tried to fall asleep again. But the unidentified snuffle repeated itself after only a few moments. Crosshair surveyed the room once again, this time more awake and certain that something was out of place. His attuned eyesight was able to see easily through the dark as he mentally checked that all his brothers were still in their beds and searched for the source of the noise.

'Hunter? Check.

Wrecker, check.

Tech? Che-...found it.'

Crosshair was a little surprised to see the Batch's newest and youngest member trembling in his own bunk. Although Tech was facing away from him, Crosshair could tell that he was crying.

'That would explain things.'

"Tech," Crosshair whisper-yelled over to him. "You okay?"

Tech jumped slightly when he heard his older brother's voice, but didn't move to face him.

"F-fine," he muttered, equally quiet. "J-just leave me alone."

At this, Crosshair slipped out of his cot, sighing to himself.  That was exactly what Wrecker would say whenever he had a nightmare. Chances were, young Techie was having a similar problem. Carefully treading across the room with muted footsteps, the older of the brothers was soon standing over the other with his arms over his chest.

"What's the matter with you?" Crosshair demanded, seeing that his earlier suspicions were confirmed by the tear tracks glistening faintly on his brother's cheeks in the dark.

"N-nothing. Go back to sleep," Tech tried to insist. But he avoided Crosshair's gaze and his voice wavered.

"Nightmare?" Cross guessed, though no contempt was in his tone, surprisingly.

Tech stayed silent, not acknowledging the hypothesis for several moments, before nodding his head mutely.

"What about?" Crosshair prodded.

"None of your business!" Tech sniffled defensively, finally glaring at him.

"Okay, okay. I'm just trying to help," Crosshair scoffed.

Simply by Crosshair's tone it was obvious that the cadet was rolling his eyes. His patience was already worn thin; mostly because he had woken up at a ridiculous hour and was spending the remainder of his self-control on trying to be helpful for once. After all, he could be a good brother when he wanted to be, but he preferred his stoic persona to be on the forefront. A defense mechanism, even if he wouldn't admit that.