Summer of Bad Batch 2024

Nightmares

Somehow, I managed to stuff three prompts into this bad boy. 

This was my take on literally my favorite type of fics; Echo being the newbie and Crosshair comforting him. I have so many that I always go back to so I thought I'd try my hand at a short little one.

Prompts:

Week 2 Alt Prompt: Comfort Zone

Week 3 Alt Prompt: "Forget I asked."

Week 5 Main Prompt: "You're a bad liar."

(I did change the last one a bit.)

Enjoy!!

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Echo awoke, gasping for air that couldn't seem to fill his lungs. Freezing cold in his dream turned to boiling, suffocation as he tossed the blanket off his bunk.

It's fine. It's all fine. He was safe. On the Marauder. His new brothers sound asleep in their bunks.

That was a good thing, he hadn't woken anyone. Sometimes the nightmares would be so bad, Wrecker would hold him down so he wouldn't hurt anyone, namely Hunter, while he tried to calm the former ARC.

He took deep, calming breaths, arms criss-crossing his chest while his hand gripped his shoulder in a self hug, his scomp resting on his collar bone. He thought of the view of the stars from his old bunk room on Kamino. Looking up at them each night with Fives. Stars twinkling. Maybe some pretty clouds. Rain on a window instead of stars. Water droplet races, both brothers picking a droplet and seeing which would get to the windowsill before the other. Sometimes the new shinies would join them but it was always him and Fives. 

Shifting from above Echo made his thoughts come to a standstill. Their bunks were similar to the bunk beds in the reg barracks, only theirs were attached to the walls for when they were flying. And thank the maker for that, Tech's flying would have them flying around the cabin. If he remembered right, the bunk above him was the bunk Crosshair had claimed that night.

Sure enough, an almost silent raspy whisper was heard above him, confirming it to be the sniper. "Nightmares?" Crosshair asked.

Echo could just lay back down, pretend he hadn't heard him. "No," he whispered back instead, "Just needed to use the 'fresher."

"You're a terrible liar, you know that?" Crosshair nimbly descended from his bunk, practically silent. He balled up the blanket on the floor and threw it back onto Echo's bed, 

Echo huffed a laugh. It wasn't the first time he was called out for his less than stellar lying skills. Fives had been the worst, but Echo was not much better than him. "So I've been told."

Crosshair sat on the edge of Echo's bunk, leaning back against his prosthetic legs. His younger brother shot him a quick look, almost asking if it was okay. Echo just smiled and nodded, unraveling his tangled arms to just wrap around his waist.

"So?" Crosshair asked, crossing his arms across his torso. Echo raised a brow, tilting his head in confusion. Crosshair leveled him with a face, one that said both 'Really?' and 'I'm about to strangle you.'

"Nightmares?" Crosshair reminded him. Echo looked away, fidgeting with his scomp. He felt like a cadet all over again. This was so stupid. 

"I'm fine." he said, picking at a metal part that was lifting up. He'd have to ask Tech about fixing it soon.

"Mhm. Clearly." Crosshair whispered back. He huffed before sitting up. "Do you want a hug?"

Echo nearly short-circuited. Crosshair? The grumpiest sniper he'd ever met, who's comfort zone most likely doesn't included hugs or anything affectionate, was asking if he wanted a hug? This had to be a trick, right? 

Crosshair rolled his eyes, moving to stand up. "Forget I asked."

"No, wait." His voice came out hurried, and he was grateful for the dark room hiding his embarrassment. "If you're offering..." He didn't finish his sentence, just stood up and accepted the hug. Technically, Crosshair and the rest of the batch were younger than him. His vod'ike. But the hug was nice. Echo felt warmth radiate throughout his body, where a chronic chill once was. He'd always liked hugs. After Skako Minor, he'd worried about all his metal ports being uncomfortable for others so he never tried to hug anyone. Crosshair didn't seem to mind the cold metal scomp wrapping around him or the metal down his spine under his hand. It was nice. Normal. Echo was the first to pull back. 

"Thank you, Cross." Echo said. He hoped the sincerity of it came across.

"Tell anyone, I'll kill you in your sleep." Crosshair threatened. Echo could still feel the warmth of the hug, canceling out the harsh words. 

"Yeah, sure." Echo replied, smiling. Crosshair climbed back up into his bunk. Echo adjusted the blanket a bit before settling down into his bunk. A moment later, Lula was launched into his face from above. Crosshair never missed, and this was no exception. Echo just smiled before cuddling Lula close to his chest, his chin between her ears, and fell into a dreamless sleep.