Summer of Bad Batch 2024

Stargazing

Week 9 Alt Prompt: Stargazing

Enjoy some Tech and Crosshair fluff!!

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"Crosshair." Tech loudly whispered into his youngest brother's ear. If it weren't for the higher pitch and slight Courscanti accent, he might've punched him with how close he'd gotten.

"The kriff you want? I'm trying to sleep." Crosshair questioned, rolling over and rubbing his eyes. Tech's face was barely illuminated by his datapad on its lowest brightness setting.

"Come on." Tech turned and made for the door, already inputting the code to unlock and open it.

"What're you doing?" Crosshair sat up, dragging his hands down his face in tiredness.

"What does it look like? I'm going outside. You wished to be notified if I did so again. I assume you wish to join?" Tech whispered back, successfully opening the door quietly. Crosshair had to remember to ask how he did that for future reference.

While, he had asked to be told when he left last time Tech had snuck off in the middle of the night cycle, that was not what he meant. He meant so he could stop him or convince to do whatever it is in the morning instead. But, he was curious, and Tech's eyes shining with excitement had him up and following the young genius before he questioned it too much.

Tech led them down hallways and corridors that Crosshair'd never seen before. There was a small hatch at the end of the last corridor and Tech pulled it open with minimal effort. With a welcoming gesture from his brother, Crosshair entered onto a platform. It was connected to the lower levels along the outside of Tipoca City. Splashes of water would spray every so often, the waves tame enough that they didn't drench them yet they still roared in a soothing sound.

"This is where you go in the middle of the night?" Crosshair asked, in awe of how the moonlight danced across the waves.

"Yes. It is often the best time to look at the constellations." Tech responded, setting up his datapad on the ledge, popping out the mini tripod attached to the back. He had it pointed to the sky and pulled up a program that showed which stars are visible at that exact moment and their movements. He unpacked his tools and a small invention from his pocket, placing them in front of him. "I want to one day be up there on those planets. For now, I like to study the planetary patterns."

Crosshair sat down next to Tech, watching in silence as his fingers flew over the program, inputting all the information into a document filled with lots of numbers and words that Crosshair could barely sound out.

It took a few minutes for his eyes to adjust from the bright lights of the hallways to the dim lighting of the night sky. Once they did, the stars twinkled brightly in the inky expanse of the galaxy. Different colors glinted from different galaxies. Crosshair would glance from Tech's datapad to the sky, trying to figure out which stars and planets he was seeing.

They stayed like that for hours, Crosshair leaning into Tech's side with his eyes dropping in exhaustion after awhile, careful not be in the way, and Tech logging the planets and stars into his document. The document was broken into segments for each night of recordings. And there were several of them. Crosshair eventually just focused on the datapad, exhaustion making it hard to keep glancing up.

Every few moments, Tech would shift, trying to reach for a tool that rolled away from his easy grasp. He'd be careful, only moving when necessary and being sure not to jostle Crosshair so he'd hopefully get some sleep.

As the sun came up, the sky lightening and the rays shining through the clouds, Tech packed up his tools and datapad. Crosshair stirred, waking and scrubbing at his eyes.

"It's morning?" he asked, voice tired and he stretched. Sleeping sitting up and leaned to one side usually made him sore, but his neck felt the worst.

"Yes. We should probably head back to the barracks. Unless we want Hunter to tear apart the bunks in a mad panic." Tech said, only half kidding. Crosshair nodded and followed Tech as he briskly walked back to the barracks. Both cadets tip toed back to their bunks and pretended to sleep for the next hour before they had to go to their simulations.

And if Hunter or Wrecker noticed their shared glances, they didn't say anything. Just chalked it up to the twins being twins.