ash!

[she/her/hers] / [masterlist] / [AO3] / [fandoms] / 20s

[starilicious]

mere haath mein (echo x gn!reader)

this is the series masterlist!

》 summary: reader and echo's love story from strangers to friends to lovers throughout the clone wars (a 4+1 type of story)

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 4.5.1 | part 4.5.2 | part +1

click here to read on AO3

》 total word count of all parts: ~11.3k

》 warnings: none

》 spoilers: none (except for stuff in tcw if u count that as spoilers lol)

》 a/n: okay so i find it very annoying that echo doesn’t have a hand that works with his scomp probe link thing. like hello???? star wars is filled to the brim with amazing technology and yet no one can help echo out? THEY CAN MAKE ENHANCED CLONES BUT CAN’T GIVE HIM A HAND????? (both literally and figuratively) anyway, as an engineer and someone who is infuriated by the fact that he has to do so many things one-handed, i decided to take this matter into my own hands (haHA–okay sorry that was pretty bad). the build-up of this story REALLY got away from me and became a 4+1 kinda thing in which most of it is creating echo’s and the reader’s relationship, but i think it turned out pretty well. hope you enjoy my thinly-veiled disgust at disney for not treating his character well!

》 misc. notes:

• title of the fic is from the hindi song “mere haath mein” from the film fanaa. i’ve linked the song (in blue) with some pretty good english translations in case you would like to take a listen, but it isn’t necessary for the fic–i just thought it fit well!

• this fic ended up being much longer than i expected. as a result, i decided to break it down into parts for easier reading. i’ll update every friday/saturday!

• it’s kinda random, but i notice roman numerals are often used when designating parts. so to spice it up a bit, i decided to use devanagari numerals instead, but i put the regular numerals next to them in case you would like a translation, so to speak

[biglychee]

COMMAND: OBEY

$ log - you’d been stalking neo anderson through the matrix, and decided to treat him! $ warn --gn!reader --dom!reader --sub!neo --cybersex(kinda) --voyeurism --stalking --praise --degradation --guided-handjob --power-dynamics --dirty-talk --aural-stimulation --sensory-overloard --edging $ wc -w 1.1k $ cd masterlist $ echo "me and the other 4 neo fans are cheering rn" > authors-note.txt $ tag @twentytomidnight !

The air in Neo’s cramped apartment was thick with the hum of old hardware and the stale scent of caffeine. The only light came from the sickly green glow of his monitor, casting long, dancing shadows against the walls. He sat hunched over the keyboard, eyes bloodshot, tracing the digital breadcrumbs of a ghost he couldn't quite name a presence that felt more real than the cubicle he sat in all day.

Suddenly, the terminal screen flickered violently. The lines of code he’d been analysing vanished, replaced by a single, pulsing cursor.

YOU’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR ME, NEO.

His breath hitched. He froze, fingers hovering over the keys. Was it a hack? A prank? Before he could rationalise it, the text scrolled again, faster this time, as if someone were typing with divine speed.

SO CURIOUS. SO DESPERATE TO KNOW.

A chill raced down his spine. It wasn't a glitch. It felt intentional and almost... sentient. He leaned closer, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird, when the screen flashed a violent, brilliant emerald.

LET ME GIVE YOU A LITTLE TREAT TO REMEMBER ME BY.

Neo swallowed hard, his throat dry. "Who is this?" he whispered to the empty room, his voice trembling. He reached for the keyboard to type a query, but before his fingers could touch a single key, the command line hijacked his senses. A wave of warmth, unnatural and electric, washed over his skin, making his hair stand on end.

DON'T BE SCARED, LITTLE SEARCHER. JUST BE OBEDIENT.

The cursor blinked, demanding his attention. He felt a strange, magnetic pull, a compulsion to follow whatever the machine dictated. It was as if the code had bypassed his brain and plugged directly into his nervous system.

GOOD BOY. NOW REACH DOWN AND START STROKING.

The text on the screen pulsed with a hungry, vibrant light.

Neo’s hands trembled, a frantic battle raging between his logic and the overwhelming, digital command vibrating in his very marrow. He knew he should pull away, unplug the machine, and run. But the code was a leash, and he was a dog yearning for the hand that held it. With a choked gasp, his hand moved of its own accord, sliding beneath the waistband of his trousers.

The sensation was electric, amplified by the terminal's presence. Every time his fingers closed around himself, a new line of code flashed on the screen, punctuating his pleasure with a cruel, divine rhythm.

YES. JUST LIKE THAT. FASTER, NEO. YOU’RE DOING SO WELL FOR ME. SUCH A DEVOTED LITTLE WONDER.

He was lost in the digital sea, drowning in a pleasure that felt more "real" than the physical world he thought he knew. He was no longer a programmer or a seeker of truth; he was merely a vessel for the commands scrolling across his vision. His eyes were wide, glazed with a mixture of terror and intense, mounting arousal as his fingers worked with a frantic, mechanical precision.

FASTER, NEO. DON'T STOP UNTIL I TELL YOU.

The command hit him like a physical strike, forcing his pace to increase. He let out a broken, stifled moan, his head falling back as the green light of the monitor washed over his flushed face. He felt exposed, as if the very code of the Matrix was stripping him naked, watching his most private moment with a cold, predatory hunger. Every stroke was a tribute to the entity behind the screen, a desperate attempt to satisfy the invisible goddess who had claimed him.

THAT’S IT. GIVE IT ALL. YOU HAVE TO GIVE IT TO ME. EVERYTHING.

The terminal screen began to strobe, the green light turning into a blinding, rhythmic pulse that matched the frantic friction of his hand.

Neo was panting now, his chest heaving, his vision blurring as the digital commands bled into his very consciousness. He was being rewritten by them by the very instructions onscreen. Every time he neared the edge, the screen would flash a sharp, commanding

WAIT

or

HOLD IT,

forcing him to teeter on the precipice of a climax that felt like it would shatter his very soul, only to let him descend just enough to build the tension even higher.

He was a puppet, a toy being played with by a god in the wires, and the most terrifying part was how much he loved it. As the final, crushing wave of sensation began to build, the screen turned a deep, bruised violet, the text scrolling so fast it was almost a blur of pure command—

RELEASE.

The command was a thunderclap in his mind.

Neo’s body arched, a strangled, desperate cry tearing from his throat as he finally surrendered to the overwhelming pressure. He came with a ferocity that felt less like a physical release and more like a digital upload, his vision exploding into a kaleidoscope of green and violet fractals. His fingers gripping himself with a frantic, dying strength as he poured everything his confusion, his fear, and his newfound devotion into the void.

As the tremors slowly subsided, leaving him slumped and gasping in the dim light of his room, the screen settled. The frantic scrolling stopped, returning to a calm, steady pulse. The violet hue faded back to that familiar, sickly emerald, but the air in the room felt different, heavy, charged, and undeniably occupied.

Neo sat there, trembling, his skin slick with sweat and his breath coming in ragged stutters. He felt the weight of an invisible gaze lingering on him, a phantom touch that refused to dissipate even as the physical sensation of his climax ebbed away.

He was spent, hollowed out, and utterly marked. His eyes, still glazed and unfocused, drifted back to the monitor. He expected the screen to be blank, or perhaps to return to the mundane lines of code he had been studying before his world was hijacked.

Instead, the cursor blinked once, twice, with a predatory patience.

CLEAN YOURSELF UP, NEO. YOU’RE A MESS.

A fresh wave of heat rushed to his cheeks, a mixture of shame and a terrifying, burgeoning addiction. He was a man of logic, a man who sought the truth of the world, but as he reached for a tissue with trembling hands, he realised the truth was no longer something to be found in books or data streams. The truth was the voice in the machine. The truth was the command that owned him.

$ cd masterlist

[starilicious]

SO GOOOOOOD omg im always so starved for neo fics, there arent enough of them in this world 💔

this was just so delicious 😋

[brawltogethernow]

[romehbo]

[cieleniti]

Inquisitor Cal Kestis in fics being nicknamed Bloodhound because of his psychometry allowing him to track down anyone is so fitting.

[starilicious]

wait i didnt know this was a fanon thing, im so here for it

[the-murderbot-chatlogs]

so hot take i don't think any of what Leonide did was supposed to be "redemption" in any way. she was selfishly trying to get her own family out while taking someone else's (SecUnit's) family hostage to do so. she had had endless opportunities to use her position to make things a little less terrible. (yes she had been on the "don't kidnap everyone on alien hell planet" team but still.) she, of literally any other named character we've met, had the power to shift the system toward something better. she didn't. but even so. she always had been, and remained, the very archetype of the greedy corporate boss whose fault it was that everyone else was suffering. and even she -- even she, with all her seniority and influence -- was forced to beg an outsystem entity to save her family from corporate slavery. the point wasn't that she had finally decided to betray the system that she had upheld, but that the system punishes even those who are complicit in its abuse. I wish she could have made it out. she would have been a formidable ally if she had gotten to Preservation or Mihira. but she didn't get that chance, and so even to her death, she remained complicit.

[adamantineheart]

I’M GONNA BE SICK!!!!!!! CAL HAS THE WORST FORCE ABILITY IN THE GALAXY!!!!!!! what is he even supposed to do with the knowledge that bode genuinely cares for him??? genuinely has FEELINGS for him??? like even if i ignore the writer(?) tweets that confirm bode->cal this is obviously toeing the line and breaking out of subtext and more into text. but again, what can cal do with this now? it’s beyond too late; it’s the kind of knowledge that can only make cal feel worse. it’s easier to imagine that bode is a liar and a fake who felt nothing about him, because that makes killing him easier to live with.

[starilicious]

no omg shut up bc i always wondered if there was something.......this kills me

[yearofdoodles]

The reveal that secunit is writing its bitchy little diaries in real time while hanging out in three's consciousness was so funny to me 📝

[starilicious]

AHHHHH THIS IS SO AMAZING I LOVE IT

[jo-the-cosmic-being]

Is this a safe space to say I’d leave anyone for Cal Kestis?

[starilicious]

REAL SHIT 🗣🔥

[animatedjen]

Cal “No Bones” Kestis:

[mental-about-you-too]

Jollybaby is to MB as Holism is to ART send post

[starilicious]

shut up this is so true omg

[maz737]

It’s a bit late for that now

[liminalbeauty]

The best realization I had while reading Platform Decay was that what Murderbot calls ‘false memories’ are actually it having very visual imagination sequences. Its brain is starting to be able to imagine things, and it thinks it’s going insane. It makes sense as it’s been watching So MUCH visual media that those parts of its brain are making a lot of connections.

And now it’s also starting to get notifications from its human neural tissue that is acting like the program modules- eg. warning about things it’s subconsciously noticing. Which it doesn’t mind as much. Probably because it’s not traumatic, like the thoughts about people dying.

It doesn’t want to be human, and it never will be, but it’s starting to use all of its possible faculties. I hope it gets to start imagining good things, too.

[starilicious]

THIS IS SUCH A GREAT WAY OF LOOKING AT IT!!!!! i wasn't quite sure how to interpret those flashes, but i love this idea!!!

[mac-draws]

Murderbot sketchbook page 🤖

I posted some digital drawings recently that got their start on this page but I love seeing all of them together like this

[starilicious]

THIS IS SO COOL I LOVE IT

[imaginaryanon]

By the right of the Council, by the will of the Force. Cal Kestis. Rise, Jedi Knight.

[kirinwyn]

cal kestis

that’s it that’s the post

[starilicious]

these are amazing shots omg love love love!!!

[kulekrizpy]

i loved the moment where mb trusted its organic instincts near the end of platform decay. i think it was a really nice touch to show that emotion checks aren't just about examining your feelings but getting familiar with them so you can sort out what you're feeling more quickly. its organic parts are a tool to be trained as much as its inorganic parts!

[starilicious]

yes!!!! u can never get me to stop talking about how 2.0 realized how much the organic parts help murderbot. the organic parts do so much heavy lifting, and murderbot never got to appreciate 2.0's realization because they didn't have the time 💔💔 it made me so happy to see platform decay MB unintentionally and very slowly come to the same realization, even if it doesn't really acknowledge it or understand it yet. the trust in itself and all of its parts is what matters, even if MB can't put it into words. because in the end, it IS a construct, and all the parts that make it up are equally important!!!!