#arc trooper echo x reader

[theforceiswithdinogoofy]

Sorry for being inactive guys, AO3 curse got me. aNYWAYSSSSS. Im slowly coming out of hiatus, and I want to know yalls thoughts!!!

Which fic do you want first?

Redacted, CH6: Juyo (Hunter/reader)

Movie night (Fives/Reader/Echo NSFW)

Voting ended onMay 21

[captainpains]

Hotsprings (Arch Trooper Echo x reader)

Here's a little treat for Valentine's Day! I hope you enjoy

Warnings: gn reader, established relationship, Jedi reader, swearing, I can’t write smut so coitus interruptious, Fives is a little shit.

~

A quiet day was rare for the 501st. In the mists of war nobody got a quiet, relaxing day. However, in the middle of a campaign on a small dustball, there was one of these rare freedays for the troopers. There wasn’t much to do, but the privilege of doing nothing was enough for many of the troopers. Fives, Hardcase, and Jesse were playing cards in the barracks. Kix, as a medic, didn’t get days off really. He was still held up in the medical wing, still working to the bone to keep people alive. Rex spent his rest days asleep. But no one knew how Echo spent his rest days. 

“He’s just reading the regs again.” Fives said with an eyeroll when asked what his brother was up to.

But instead, Echo was following you through the woods. 

“Come on! The hot spring is just a bit further!” You excitedly belted. 

Echo smiled as he trekked along the rough path. He could think of no better way to spend a free day than with you, his lovely partner. The sun was barely visible under the dense trees as you led them towards something you had seen on a map. When Echo asked if you were even allowed to take a free day with him, you had brushed it off. And who was he to question a jedi.

“Here it is!!” You exclaimed happily.

Echo looked towards the steaming hotspring. It was tiered with clear fresh water flowing into it from a small waterfall above. The area around it was quiet and picturesque, romantic. He could see why you had wanted to bring him here. 

“What do you think, love?” You asked, smiling.

“I think I want to get in that water with you and kiss you for the rest of the day…” Echo smirked as you looked away with a shy smile, your face no doubt warming.

You steadily began to remove your robes. Echo followed suit, making quick work of his armor. Once you were both naked, placing your clothing on a nearby rock, you approached the spring. You gently placed your hand in it to test the temperature, delightfully warm. You carefully climbed in, sinking into the water with a slight sigh. It felt amazing on your aching body after so long on the campaign. You were not a Jedi general, focusing on information rather than on the front lines. You were brought to the 501st in order to ensure the safe transfer of important data. You can’t complain because that was how you met Echo. 

“Echo?” You looked over your shoulder at your boyfriend. He was standing there, staring at you appreciatively. 

“Aren’t you going to join me?” You asked him, fluttering your eyelashes to entice him.

“I was just enjoying your beautiful self…” Echo answered as he climbed into the hotspring’s pleasant warmth. 

“Enjoying my ass you mean,” you quipped back.

“I do like your ass a lot.” He smirked, shifting closer to you. You smiled cheekily and gave a small hum in acknowledgment.

Echo leaned in and kissed you eagerly. You wrapped your arms around him, wanting him as close as possible. Echo grabbed your ass, pulling you astride his lap. You were happily grinding down on your boyfriend when you sensed something close by. 

You forced yourself to pull away, much to Echo’s displeasure. You stared over his shoulder, scanning the forest surroundings for what you sensed.

“Is everything alright, dear?” He questioned your sudden change in demeanor.

“I sensed someone coming…” You kept searching the foliage for any kind of movement.

“Yeah… Us in a few minutes.” Echo responded cheekily. 

You swatted at his head for the comment. Right when your hand made contact, you heard a muffled voice. 

“It’s up ahead!” The voice shouted.

You attempted to scurry off of Echo to save yourselves some embarrassment. His arms around your body prevented you from leaving. He looked at you with pleading eyes. You carefully removed his arms from your body and pushed yourself to the other side of the hotspring. Your boyfriend tried to follow you.

“What are you doing?!” You whispered-shouted, placing a hand on his chest to keep him from coming closer.

“We came out here for privacy. If someone interrupts us, that’s their fault.” He joked.

“Well, I don’t want to be caught.” You chastised him.

Echo opened his mouth in retort but was cut off by the booming voice of one of the intruders. 

“Well, what do we have here?” Fives’ voice cut through the air.

Echo fell back against the side of the little pool as Fives approached, his face hot despite his brave words moments ago. Fives had a mischievous grin on his face. He was closely followed by Jesse and Hardcase, who were equally as bemused by the situation.

“Well, well, well, it seems our dear brother was trying to get a certain something from one of the Jedi!” Hardcase chuckled. 

You glared at the three intruders, sinking slightly deeper into the water to maintain your sense of privacy. Echo slid further down, his cheeks warming as his brothers teased.

“Yes, thank you for cock blocking me.” You glared at them as they continued to joke and pester. 

Now, you are not normally one to abuse the gifts given to you by the force. You don’t pull objects towards you unless you physically cannot move and you certainly don’t use the force to prank or harass others. However, at that moment you couldn’t help yourself. With a flick of your wrist, Fives, Jesse, and Hardcase were flung a few meters back. All three of them caught off guard, fell and slid in a hilarious manner.

Fives scowled at you. You innocently checked your nails in response. 

“Fine, we know when we’re not wanted.” Jesse said, dusting himself off as he stood up. 

You gave a satisfied look as the intruders retreated. Echo watched them leave over his shoulder, watching them disappear behind the trees. When he was sure they were truly gone, he turned to look at you again.

“Shall we continue?” You asked coyly.

“We shall…”

[zonkedorchid]

Gorgeous ~ Bad Batch Echo x reader

Description: Shy!reader has a hard time talking to Echo because of their crush. Protective Echo comes to the rescue during a bad date. Gender neutral. Very loosely based on Gorgeous by Taylor Swift.

Lyrics:

~ You've ruined my life, by not being mine

~ You're so gorgeous/ I can't say anything to your face/ 'Cause look at your face

~ Ocean blue eyes looking in mine/ I feel like I might sink and drown and die

Words: 2.8k

Warnings: kinda but not really unrequited feelings, misunderstanding, confessions of feelings, icky man on date, violence (one line), suggestiveness (also one line), kissing, mentions of sex in a vulgar way so 18+

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You’re currently trying to focus on getting your hands to stop shaking as you’re wrapping the hand in front of you – that said hand belonging to the clone you’ve had a crush on ever since you laid eyes on him. Echo who sat in front of you is avoiding your gaze, which you don’t mind. You know if he looked at you with his big brown eyes, then you wouldn’t be able to focus on patching him up.

“You know you didn’t have to do that,” you finally break the silence, quickly looking up at him. Yet, he still doesn’t spare you a glance, and a small grimace appears on his face for the smallest second.

“Don’t worry about it,” he gruffly responds. Now, you feel your lips turn down in a small frown.

“I’m always going to worry about you, Echo,” you say softly, which makes him scoff. He finally turns his head to look at you, and you see hard lines set on his face. The type of lines that usually appear when he’s trying to figure out a complicated code. He looks away and shakes his head.

“Doesn’t seem like it,” he says so quietly, as if it weren’t meant for your ears. Your heart squeezes at the thought of Echo not believing you, but you can also understand why. You haven’t been the most open with Echo, but who can blame you? You’re already a shy person, but he flusters you even more. So much so, that you can barely get a word out around him without your body freezing up.

Echo is so kind, always asking if you need something, if you slept well, if you’ve eaten… He’s also so brave. There’s not many people you can think of who could go through what Echo did and still come out as a strong, compassionate man. The cherry on top being how handsome he is. You feel horrible when you answer his questions with a few quick awkward words due to your brain malfunctioning, but it’s all you can get out without completely embarrassing yourself. 

Even tonight, he never stopped caring no matter how awful you’ve been with him, which is how you ended up here bandaging his knuckles. 

------------------------------------------------

You and the guys are on Coruscant for a few days break, and, of course, that means a visit to 79s. Wrecker immediately took to the dance floor, while Echo, Hunter and Crosshair sat in a booth “listening” to Tech ramble about his latest experiment. You, on the other hand, were at the bar waiting for your date to show up.

You did not want to go on this date, but it was practically forced upon you by your friend who said the GAR was ruining your social life. You never told her about Echo because you knew she’d push you into asking him out, and you are not doing that. You can barely form a sentence around him, so you can’t even imagine going on a date with him and having to hold a normal conversation.

Well, you actually can imagine it. You imagine what your life would be like if you and Echo were more than teammates quite often before you go to sleep. You feel guilty for thinking about that as he lies a few feet away from you in his bunk, clueless about your inappropriate thoughts of him. 

You can’t function normally around him, so you accepted that it was just never going to happen with him. Plus, and more importantly, you don’t even know if he holds any feelings towards you that go beyond teammates. Sure, he cares about you, but he cares about all his teammates. 

So, there you were, scolding yourself at being pressured into this stupid date. You could feel the team’s eyes on you as you sat at the bar with your back facing them. You had told them about the date your friend had set you up on when they asked if you would be joining them tonight. Maybe you should’ve kept that to yourself, you argued with yourself.

First dates are always stressful, but then your team was about to watch you fail miserably — Echo getting the front row seat to it all.

You let out a stressed sigh before looking around the bar again. Your eyes glanced over at the table your team was at, all of whom were minding their business, except for Echo. Your eyes met and you felt your heart do the usual skip it does whenever you two lock eyes. You gave him a small smile, which made him nod back before turning his head away from you.

A few more minutes went by before you felt someone come up to your side and you turned your head towards him at your name being said. There stood a man who you presumed to be your date. He was tall and conventionally attractive, but not at all your type. No, your type was sitting in a booth across the bar, but you already told yourself to give this guy a chance.

You two introduced yourselves and started a conversation – well if you could even call it that. It quickly came to your attention that this man was not for you. He was rude and condescending. He barely let you get a peep out, and when you did, the guy didn’t even pretend to be interested in what you had to say. Usually you struggle with having conversations with new people, but you didn’t have to worry at all with this guy. He was droning on and on about whatever thing he had going on at work, while you swirled your drink around with your straw before he interrupted your daze.

“You know, your friend had said you were shy, but I didn’t think that meant boring,” he said with an even tone, as if that was a completely normal thing to say to someone. That made you shoot your eyes up to him and furrow your brows.

The audacity of this man.

You mentally dropped your jaw before sitting up straight, “Well, I guess my friend is a liar because she said you’d be a nice guy, and so far this date has been nothing but horrible.”

Sure, you’re shy, but you also don’t let people walk all over you.

“That’s rich coming from you, sweetheart,” he scoffed.

“What exactly is that supposed to mean?” you angrily questioned.

“It means that here I am buying you drinks and wasting my breath on you, and you can barely hold a conversation. I can see why you don’t have a partner, you’re not interesting,” he rolled his eyes, clearly irritated. You were about to start your line of insults before you felt a hand brush against your lower back.

“Everything okay here?” came a low voice behind you. You didn’t have to turn to know it was Echo.

“Yeah man, everything is fine,” replied your date who was shooting daggers at you.

“Really, it doesn’t seem like it,” Echo pushed back.

“Listen man, this ain’t your business, so I suggest you go back to that dark corner you came from.”

You looked back at Echo who had his jaw clenched and whose hand never left you. He finally looked down at you, raising one eyebrow in a silent question. You shook your head at him before you turned your head back to your date.

“I think we can both agree that this is not going to work out, so I think it’s time for me to leave,” you said calmly, trying to diffuse the situation.

You date scoffs at you, “What? You’re going to spend the rest of the night with him over me? I could at least give you a good fucking. It’ll make up for the money I wasted on you tonight.”

You felt your anger shoot to levels you didn’t know were possible for yourself, but before you could even say anything, Echo’s fist went flying at the man. The man fell out of his seat and laid there, unmoving, for a few seconds. You stared wide eyed at the scene in front of you, holding your breath. You released it when you finally saw the man move and let out a groan.

You weren’t even thinking when you grabbed Echo’s arm and quickly dragged him out of the bar, and you didn’t let go of him until you made it back to the Marauder. 

“Sit,” you quietly demanded, and Echo did not argue. You quickly sent Hunter a message letting him know what had happened and where you and Echo were. You, then, gathered supplies and rushed back to Echo. You took his large hand in both of yours and examined his knuckles. They were starting to bruise and there was only one small cut, but it still made your stomach twist. You quietly started cleaning his knuckles, doing what little you could for them, which is how you got to the conversation you’re currently having with him.

------------------------------------------------

It makes you feel awful that he thought you didn’t care about him, especially after everything he has done for you. 

You stayed quiet for a few moments, finishing wrapping his hand. Once you did, you didn’t let his hand go, but he didn’t try to pull it back either.

“Echo, I have something to tell you,” you say softly, not daring to look up at him, but you could see him turn his head towards you in your peripheral vision. You’re sitting next to him in another chair, your legs just barely touching. He doesn’t say anything, so you continue with a shaky breath, “I do care about you. I care about you a lot actually… more than what’s appropriate for teammates.”

You spare a glance over at him, and you feel your breath catch in your throat when you look into his eyes. They’re always so warm, but right now they look… disbelieving. Somehow you manage to keep your eyes on him though.

“I think my actions were mistranslated. I think it’s pretty obvious that I’m not the best at talking to you,” you grimace. His lips pull into a tight line before he releases a deep breath of his own, confirming your suspicions.

“I have a hard time talking to you because I like you,” you rush out. Maker, you’re going to throw up. The shock on his face nor the silence that follows helps, so you look down and start to ramble because you don’t know what else to do.

“I’ve always been a shy person, so talking to someone new or who isn’t close to me is not the easiest thing in the world. I also have trouble with talking to people who I like, and that’s you. I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. It doesn’t help either that my brain stops working whenever you’re near. You’re so kind and brave and everything I want in a man, but I knew I didn’t have a chance with you. I tried to push my feelings aside, but it doesn’t help either that you’re so handsome. Maker, I lose all my words when you look at me. You’re just so… so perfect and I’m just me-”

You hear your name being said but you’re rambling continues, “-and I’m so sorry if all this makes you uncomfortable-”

Your name is said again a bit louder this time, but your brain is still running a million parsecs a minute, “-I understand if you don’t want to work with me. I can have myself transferred or-”

You're finally broken out of your verbose confession when your name is shouted, which startles you back to Echo’s gaze. He doesn’t have that shocked look on his face, it’s more confused now.

“You like me?” he asks simply. You feel your cheeks burn up before you slowly nod.

“But you went out on that date tonight?” he asks with his brows furrowed. 

“Well, it wasn’t really my choice. My friend set it up, and I thought I might as well give it a try, since I didn’t have a chance with you,” you nervously explain.

“Who told you that you didn’t have a chance with me?” he asks frustratedly.

“I mean, no one. But like I said earlier, Echo, you’re just too good for me,” you mutter.

A few seconds go by, Echo seems to be taking all this in. You shift in your seat, waiting for the inevitable rejection. You feel your heart stop at the small laugh Echo lets out, and a wave of horror washes over you. You try to pull your hand away that was still holding his, but Echo quickly grabs yours before you can go too far.

“Sorry, I’m not laughing at you,” he says with a small smile on his face.

“I was laughing because it’s hilarious you think I’m too good for you. I’ve always thought you were too good for me, and I thought you ignoring me was just signs of disgust,” he quietly explains as his smile fades. Your heart clenches at his words.

“Echo, why would I ever be disgusted?” you ask at the same volume as him.

“Isn’t it obvious? You’ve definitely noticed how I look,” he shrugs as he looks down.

“Echo…” you murmur, reaching your hand out and touching his cheek. You guide his gaze back to yours, but you don’t drop your hand.

“Of course, I’ve seen you, and I still think you’re the most handsome man I’ve ever seen. Did you not hear the part where I told you that my brain literally blanks when I look at your gorgeous face,” you laugh lightly, trying to ease the tension in your chest. 

Echo scoffs, which makes you ask, “Have I ever lied to you?”

He shakes his head.

“Exactly. I have never and will never. I understand if you don’t feel the same, but nothing I said was a lie,” you say as you start retracting your hand. Echo, however, rests his scomp behind your elbow, indicating you to stay. 

You both sit in silence for a moment before Echo asks, “So, if I asked you out on a date, then you would say yes?”

That familiar feeling of your brain crashing again occurs, but this is the first time you’re able to find words, even if it is just a breathless ‘yes’. The wide smile that appears on Echo’s face makes your stomach flutter. He really is so gorgeous.

“Alright… well would you want to go on a date with me tomorrow?” he asks, and even though you just told him you would if he asked, you can still hear the nerves in his voice.

“Of course,” you let out a small giggle, which makes him let out a small chuckle of his own. You both stare at each other with giddy expressions, as Echo’s fingers rub over your knuckles.

“Could I kiss you?” he asks so quietly, you almost miss it. You don’t trust your voice, so you give a quick nod. He brings his scomp up your cheek to steady you. His eyes never leave yours as he slowly leans in, and when he reaches to where your breaths are mingling, he pauses to silently ask again. However, you surprise both yourself and him by closing the small space. This kiss is soft and sweet. Echo pulls back some to gauge your reaction, but your hands reach his head to pull him back down onto your lips again.

He lets out a soft groan at your boldness, and you two get in a few more slow kisses before your comm lets out a loud beep, making you both break apart. You reach down to check it and see a message from Hunter letting you know him and the guys are on their way back. 

“They’ll be back in 10 minutes,” you tell Echo, which makes a smirk appear on his face.

He slowly trails kisses across your jaw before making his way back to your mouth. You feel his hand start to play with your hair, which makes you giggle, breaking this kiss once more.

“Echo,” you playfully whine. His smirk then changes into a soft smile.

“You know, you are so beautiful,” he whispers, which makes you divert your eyes but you force yourself to look at him again.

“You are too,” you quietly countered, and that made him scoff.

“I’m going to prove how beautiful I think you are, and you’re going to have no choice but to believe me,” you whisper with a serious tone. His eyes widen slightly and you see his throat bob at the meaning of your words, however, he quickly regains his composure.

“Can’t wait then,” he teases.

When the team gets back, you and Echo don’t even try to hide the new dynamic between you two, but nobody says anything – except for Crosshair who rolls his eyes and mutters, “Finally.”

[snippy-tano]

Hi!! I hope you’re doing well, I saw that you had requests open and I wanna to ask if you can and interested to of course to do an established Echo x fem!reader? Something very cute and fluffy, maybe they’re on Kamino and it’s raining and Echo has seen that as a negative thing or he’s still coping with his altered body and the reader is trying to cheer him up and goes into the rain, he’s worried that she doesn’t get hurt but she looks so happy and doesn’t care and Echo just admires her and thinks about how there’s something better to look at things now and just falls deeper in love?🥺💙✨

heyooooooo I said I was back!

I'm going to try to work through as many of these as I can while inspiration is striking, so keep an eye out here! I hope you like this Anon! We love soft-boi Echo in this house and he deserves the galaxy.

masterlist is here!

taglist is here!

tagging: @pro-fangirls-unsocial-life; @marvel-starwars-nerd; @mackstrut; @dissapointingpancake; @padawancat97; @fractiouskat; @mandaloriandin; @bantha-shit; @katelynnwrites; @s1st3r; @leotatombs; @torchbearerkyle; @the-navistar-carol; @bombshe77; @social-mockingbird; @littlebluebatbrat; @get-wr3ckered; @flowered-bicycles; @idoubleswearimawriter; @eris-k; @goosewriting; @dangraccoon; @lucyysthings

Rain

Echo had always been one to adapt to any situation thrown at him. 

He was quick on his feet and smart enough to work his way out of everything. It was one thing that he excelled at, much to Fives’ annoyance. Many often thought the reg book was his specialty, but it was really his adaptability. He was good at assessing situations, determining the best possible action, and then completing the task in front of him. It’s why he survived so long, why he thrived as an ARC trooper. 

Until one day he couldn’t adapt quickly enough. 

Echo doesn’t remember much from the explosion that labeled him as K.I.A. nor his time with the techno-union. It’s all a hazy blur until the moment he sees Captain Rex urging him back to consciousness.

Those blurry days eventually turned into clarity and with that came the information that he was the only one left. The last domino to fall. 

That had been a blow he never expected. 

There was one constant however.

You.

Echo had met you by accident, bumped into you one day while on Coruscant. You were a medic on leave visiting the planet and had ran into the ARC trooper coming out of a bookstore. It was a bit awkward at first, but you had made Echo laugh, and the two of you had decided to keep in contact. 

It was just that at first, occasional contact when Echo and you had the time. You were a volunteer within the GAR and constantly deployed with different battalions, which made finding time to talk difficult. That didn’t deter either of you though and before you knew it, Echo was probably the one who knew you the best out of anyone. 

And by some stroke of luck, your next transfer had you wearing 501st blue. 

From there, your relationship continued to blossom. 

It was always professional when you were working, but it was with Echo that you took walks with around the ship during your breaks in the middle of the night. It was to Echo that you brought cups of caf to while on assignments. It was just you and Echo standing under the stars the first time you kissed him. 

After Captain Rex found him, Echo had been afraid to ask if you were still around. No one else besides Fives even knew about your relationship in the first place. Rex had only smiled and clapped him on the shoulder, which wasn’t the answer Echo was looking for. Mainly, it wasn’t really an answer at all and still had his stomach churning with nerves.

When he made it back to Kamino after being found with the techno-union, it had shaken him to his core when the doors to the medical bay opened and he saw you smiling at him, eyes shining. 

It had been a glimmer of hope, of happiness, in Echo’s life that had been one big question mark since the Citadel. For a second, he forgot about his losses and only thought about how he still had one positive thing to protect in his life. 

Things were a little confusing going forward. You both were cautious around the other, tip-toeing a delicate line both of you were afraid to cross. You gave him so much grace and allowed him to come to terms with his injuries and the changes he had gone through with immense patience. Despite his fear things had changed too much, you were a constant, steady presence in his life. You never once wavered in expressing your love for him and giving him all the time he needed to come to terms with what had happened.

As a medic, you had requested a transfer to the Bad Batch as soon as Echo returned and considering your long, nearly flawless history, it was approved without much hesitation. You integrated with the rest of the Batch almost quicker than Echo had and watching you laugh and continue living made Echo want to do the same.

He would have been able to survive and grow on his own, but he knew you being there made things more bearable, easier for him.

It was why, despite his own fears and reservations, your once romantic relationship blossomed once again.

It was hard at first, navigating what was once so simple and like breathing. So much time had passed and you both had changed so much, but you both were determined and quick to adapt. It was one of the many things Echo loved about you.

Presently, the Batch was on Kamino, restocking before heading back out on your next mission. The rest of the Batch were either at the mess hall (Wrecker and Tech) or at the freshers (Hunter and Cross). But the two of you were walking the halls and just talking.

You both had to be careful here.

But there was nothing wrong with walking the halls and chatting just the two of you, a luxury that was in short commodity aboard the Marauder. You both would take what you could get.

Your feet slowed and he matched your pace instinctively and came to a stop when you did. “It’s raining.” You said and he followed your gaze to see it was in fact raining.

“We are on Kamino.” He said and you gave him a look, which had him smiling softly in response.

Without saying another word, you walked over to the door leading outside, hit the panel, and stepped out into the rain. He rushed to the still open door and called your name.

You didn’t answer, instead you walked further out into the rain. He watched as your eyes closed and your face tipped up towards the blackened sky. Your face was calm, at peace. He could see your clothes slowly becoming soaked through, but you didn’t seem to mind.

The door beeped at him and he stepped outside, staying just under the awning as the door closed behind him.

He continued to watch as you absorbed the downpour around you. Your arms raised as you spun with a laugh. Echo couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped him as well.

Maker, he loved you so much.

You seemed to sense his thoughts and turned to look at him with a smile splashed across your face. Your eyes were crinkled and your nose scrunched.

In that moment, Echo knew that he’d love you for the rest of his life and he never wanted to be anywhere else but beside you.

You seemingly finished your dance in the rain as you rushed up to him, ducking under the small outcropping he was waiting under. You were still smiling, a laugh bubbling up.

Echo brushed aside some of your hair that was now soaked and stuck to your face. You smiled up at him and he couldn’t help himself and leaned down a pressed a quick kiss to your lips.

Rain had always been nothing special to him. Growing up on Kamino, rain was constant and Echo never really had any positive opinion of it. It was almost always raining and he learned to tune it out and ignore the pattering of raindrops on the buildings.

But ever since he met you, he started to understand the beauty of rain.

And Echo couldn’t wait to spend the rest of your shared lives together finding the beauty in new, mundane things, like the rain that was currently dripping off of you and your soaked clothes.

“Come on, let’s get you dried off and in some warm clothes.” He said, wrapping an arm around your shoulders as he opened the door and steered you inside.

You gave his arm a squeeze as you both hurried through the empty halls, whispering and giggling to yourselves.

Despite the freezing rainwater soaking his blacks under his armor, Echo had never felt warmer.

[orangez3st]

Call Shot

ARC Trooper Echo × GN!Reader

✧ Summary: Your roommate dragged you to a billiard game (despite your little knowledge about how the game actually goes) with clones they knew from Maker knows where. One of them, though, is kind and sweetheart enough to teach you so you'll have fun, too.

✧ Tags & Warnings: reader is kinda new to billiard game, clone shenanigans (of course why would i not include this), a little alcohol, sexual innuendo, suggestive themes, i may or may have not made this an 8-ball game tutorial for dummies, i mean look at that word count i got carried away, reader's roommate is also gn, no mentions of y/n, gn reader

✧ Word Count: 5.7k

✧ A/N: A result from the initial poll! For the warning, don't worry; there's nothing explicit. Lemme tell you I'm blushing the entire time I wrote this down *cries in cuteness aggression* *chews on table*. So without further ado, please enjoy! I so recommend listening to a typical bar electronic upbeat playlist of your favorite for the ambience.

Masterlist | Read on AO3 | divider by me

You don't even know why you agreed to come. All you know is that you're probably dreading to be here. Club music with heavy bass and electronic tunes reverberate from the speaker. Though the atmosphere is focused, it reeks of competitiveness. There's almost no chatter except for the resin pool balls clacking against each other and occasional playful laughter.

Oh, how it irks your nerves. But, as long as your friend's happy, you guess. They're right, though. You've been staying in too long, buried in your remote work, that Deven thinks you were actually laying eggs and sprouting children out of them. Okay, they've got a point. You feel stiff, you need something to help you let yourself loose.

And never, for the love of stars, a billiard bar. But here you are. It's not about… you don't like them, no. You just don't like how unfamiliar it is to you, and how small and clueless you look. You've played once in the past, and if you're offered to play now, you've already forgotten everything.

Deven plays almost regularly. That Zabrak roommate of yours makes pool their hobby they even purchased and took care of their own gears. Their modular cue, their glove – it's all in the cylindrical cue case slung over their shoulder. Told you they're a decent player. You believe them. With their own gear and fierce focus and also a mathematics research assistant? Yeah sure.

You stroll through pool tables, passing people that play. There are groups, there are singles, playing on their own. Deven told you about their boyfriend, a clone trooper of the Grand Army of the Republic. Their battalion is on shore leave here on Coruscant now as they told you, so upon their insistence, fine you're coming along. For the drinks, too. It's a bar, after all.

“There they are!” a loud voice shouts, bringing your attention to one of the crowded tables. “Our beloved pool champion!”

They're clones, alright. Still in their battle-hardened white plastoid armor, in fact. You notice their blue markings, a few of them donning a few extra gears; extra chestplate and double pauldrons.

“Starting without me, boys?” The excitement in Deven’s voice is palpable. This is their field, after all. They stride over to one of the troopers with pauldrons and kiss him in both cheeks. “Hey baby. So good to see you.”

The trooper grins. “Looking great tonight, baby,” he pecks them on the lips, arm winded across their back. “Missed you. You brought company?” He glances at your direction, eyes curious.

“Yeah, my new roommate. I dragged them out with me too.” Smiling, Deven pats your back gently, introducing you, and nods to their boyfriend. “My one year boyfie, Jesse.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” You shake Jesse's offered hand curtly. He looks like a sweet and nice guy. You can't help but keep glancing, between his big ass Republic cog tattoo that covers half of his bald head and the playing table. “You boys just came back today or what?”

“Oh yeah, but this idiot can't wait to meet his beloved.” Another pauldroned trooper marches over and smacks Jesse in the back, the latter bucks forward from the force. His cheeks stretch far and wide as he turns to you. You may… or may not blush a little. This one's quite charming. “Careful, don't get too near. We haven't showered. Straight from the larties to the streets,” he playfully tells you and offers his gloved hand. “Fives, by the way.”

You introduce yourself, smiling. “Nice to meet you.”

Leaning slightly on his cue, Fives glances at you up and down. “You play?”

Feeling sheepish and out of place suddenly, you drop your gaze, your face contorts to a light grimace. “No, sorry.”

“Whaaatt?” Fives' eyes are blown wide. You two are left together for a moment as Deven and Jesse move towards their playing table. “Then what’re you doin’ here?”

“Oh y'know, Dev dragged me out so I'm stuck here, I guess,” you shrug, and you can't help but scratch the back of your head. You decide to neutralize the awkward situation when you catch a terminal for ordering on the side table. “But I'm in for the drink too!”

Still grinning, Fives waves you off and returns to the table, immediately leaning over and taking aim – turns out it's his turn, just in time. Humming to the overhead music as it's familiar to you, you take a seat at the booth as you scan the terminal and grab your drink order for the night. Nothing heavy, just soda and some tropical syrup with a little splash of spirit.

Feeling bad for coming and not contributing much in the interaction, you add in a large portion of snack platter to your order for the boys. When the server droid comes sliding in with your drink and the snack platter, your spot gets crowded momentarily with grateful faces and fingers picking at the various fried stuff. One of the troopers, whose name is Tup, takes the moment to introduce himself, and the others follow suit, leaving you feeling warm and sated and it breaks down whatever bias of your opinion that stuck to these boys in white.

“Hey, roomie!” Fives shouts from the table while you swat Hardcase away from sipping on your drink. “Why don't you play?”

“Hell no, you play!” you yell back above the music's bass, muttering sorry for accidentally hitting Kix after Hardcase apparently skitters away. You turn back to the table. “Just here hangin’. Don't wanna ruin your competitive mood with my zero experience.”

“Relax dude, we're no experts ourselves,” Jesse walks in your direction for the snack, “My bridge is still wobbly, y'know?”

You… don't know what that means. “Uh-huh.”

“Echo can teach you,” your Zabrak roommate says suddenly.

The pauldroned trooper on the other side of the table breaks out of his focus, double taking in their direction with a combined expression of clueless and shock. “Dev, what?”

“Yeah, he's the best out of us all!” Fives not so discreetly plays along, his face splits into a grin and his eyes sparkle giddily under the light, “After Deven, of course!”

Echo looks at them in disbelief, but blinks away his stupor. “Sure, why not,” he shrugs, reaching for the little chalk square. Casually chalking his cue tip, he smiles towards you, and nods to the spot at his side. “Over here, please? You can use my cue, too.”

Rolling your eyes, you give in and make your way, but not before throwing a glare at your roommate, with whom Fives strikes a blatantly loud high-fives (heh).

Dogma is already leaning over the table and striking, the cue ball hitting and pocketing the 8-ball to one of the middle pockets. Jesse audibly groans in defeat, Deven immediately calming him down. Kix quietly pockets the balls to be gathered. Fives is off to the side to freshen up. Tup chuckles and pats Dogma in the back before heading to a little terminal on the side to record the scores. It's read 4-3 for you, Dogma's side, and whoever's with him, winning. The numbers almost immediately make you feel bad, meaning they've been here quite a while.

Almost immediately, an attendant droid hovers to the table (apparently your table too now since you're playing) and pulls out a tray of collected pool balls from underneath the table, about to set it for a new game.

“The triangle thing is called the rack,” Echo explains beside you, striking up conversation. “It's racking the balls for a new game.”

Nodding, you observe the droid racking neatly, its movement neat and precise. “The 8-ball has to be in the middle?”

“Yeah. And the 1-ball always in the front.”

“Oh,” you awe, “Just noticed.”

Echo looks at you, lips curling into a small smile of your simple show of wonder. “Mhm.”

“Tup,” Kix calls a bit louder above the music, “You break, brother.”

Tup wordlessly nods – you just know he's the shy type – as he hands his cue to Dogma and reaches for another one that rests by the seating booth. You notice that it's shorter in length, and thus sturdier.

“Break is the initial shot to spread out the racked balls,” Echo says again beside you. You turn to him, but his attention is intense at Tup chalking the new cue stick's tip. He glances at you, and smirks a little at the loss painted all over your face. He jabs a thumb at Tup, who's already aiming. “That's a break cue. Shorter than the reg ones to give more control and power. You want to break it clean, as hard and as straight as possible.”

As if cued (heh), Tup launches his strike – the sturdier break cue emits a loud crack noise as it hits the cue ball hard, and true. In a blinding speed, the white ball strikes and spreads the racked ball almost evenly and totally scattered across the table, but you notice there's no other balls pocketed yet. So that has to mean it's still free for everyone. You're sure there's a term for that.

“Nice one Tup,” you watch Deven praises, giving him a thumbs up as he passes by to return the break cue, “You're learning fast.”

Sighing, Echo's stance relaxes as the game begins. But you both make no move closer to the table yet – Echo and you put some distance from the edge and give more space to the others. Turns out, Deven is with Jesse (obviously), Kix, and Hardcase on a team while on the other hand Tup and Dogma are a package, just as Fives and Echo is. You and Echo are counted as one. With these many people, you're certain even one game is going to finish quite fast.

Realizing he should've been a little more vocal because he's supposed to teach you, Echo acknowledges your silence and finds you watching Deven strikes for their turn. Shifting his cue to the other hand, he nudges your elbow gently with his. “Sorry I forgot to ask; you know anything basic about 8-ball?”

You try to rake in your scattered knowledge from the teetering edges of your mind. It's been a long time since you've played, and you've only played once. “Sort of,” you answer, shrugging.

Oh resounds in Echo's head in realization. He thinks you've never played at all, but he intently and patiently listens to the ramble of your knowledge in possession.

“Solids against stripes, avoid hitting the 8-ball. It's for the last. Basically don't try to touch anything except you're given the, uh…” you catch his raised eyebrows at your loss of term, your voice growing smaller in sheepishness, “you can move the white ball… thingy?”

“Ball-in-hand?”

“Oh that's what it's called?” you let out an awkward laugh. Echo chuckles, nodding his head, prompting you to continue. You grin at his encouragement, comfortable ease floods in your chest. “Try not to pocket the cue ball. That's foul, you give your opponent a… ball-in-hand.”

Echo briefly turns to the table when Fives' voice calls for a shot at one of the stripes. Oh, no longer open table. With a quick visual sweep of his ARC prowess, he maps the striped balls and nods approvingly when Fives pockets his object ball, no rules broken. 

“It’s called scratch,” he then easily picks up where you both left off.

You silently awe at his multifocus – he was quiet and watching the table for more than 10 seconds until Fives struck for the second time, but he's able to continue your topic and provide the legal terms for the game.

“And that’s everything. Nice, for someone who doesn't even play. Occasionally,” adds Echo with emphasis after you give him a look, his smile breaks into a sly toothy grin. Forgetting one… or two, or more rules, his face lights up as he rambles, “Oh, almost everything. Cue ball must strike your object ball. If not, foul. Cue ball must hit the rail. If not, foul.”

You scrunch up your nose as you take the new stuff in. Echo can feel his heart do a mini backflip at your expression. “That's a lot of rules,” you comment.

“That's only two,” he chuckles, the noise sounding… kind of sweet in your ears. Invigorating, like music. Not the overhead electronic music, but a gentler one with the beautiful melodies of an acoustic string instrument. “Among others,” Echo says, gazing straight into your eyes, “We're just applying what's mandatory.”

You break his gaze first before you swim too far and too deep into his golden orbs. You realize his eyes are brighter than the rest. Curiosity strikes you and embeds itself in your mental list of questions to be asked later.

“Pool is one of those games where you watch and learn,” Dogma says the first time in that hour to you, who's taken to stand near you and Echo to observe the game from a better angle. His stare at you is hard, but with a note of friendliness. “You observe other people play. See how they aim, how they strike. Their stance, even.”

You nod, taking it in. “You play every time you're planetside?”

“Almost every time,” Hardcase chimes in as he passes by. His turn is already up and now he's reaching for more food and a few sips of (hopefully not your) drink. He hops onto the booth and picks up a fritter. “We haven't played for a month! Can you imagine that?! When the word came in that we're getting a week long leave, we hit this place immediately like a pack of mad rancors.”

“Cute,” you grin, turning to Echo upon instinct. “A clone haunt, huh?”

“Just us, actually,” he answers, smiling fondly, “And a few other squads from other battalions. It's a little secret, kind of.” He shrugs, then leans closer to you and lowers his voice, “The owner is, uh, a partner. To one of us, too. From our company.”

“Ah, got it,” you nod, smiling cheekily. “Lucky guy.”

“Oh yeah,” Dogma deadpans beside you, watching Kix pocketing his object ball but his cue ball doesn't even bounce against the rail. Dogma sighs, walking away from you and down the table. “That's penalty, Kix.”

The medic grunts in frustration. Jesse pats him in the back and points his cue subtly at Echo. “Your turn, brother.”

“Hey you can't give a ball-in-hand to a shiny,” Hardcase protests from his seat, still munching on his fritter, “That's cheating.”

You don't understand what shiny means, but it's definitely directed at you. While you let Echo silently lead you closer to the table by your elbow, you turn slightly at the blue-tattooed trooper. “Ya just don't like me ‘cause I didn't give you my better drink, Hardcase,” you stick out your tongue at him, and receive the same childish gesture in return. The group chuckles.

Echo tugs at your sleeve to recollect your focus to the game. “Here. I'll pick something easy for you yet,” he says, cue ball already in his hand. He observes the field for a split second. “13-ball, top right.”

You frown at his choice. At this moment, there's also 10-ball near the designated pocket by the rail, and it's closer to the pocket. “Why not the other one?” you ask him.

“Eh, it's a little trickier for you,” he shrugs, then places the cue ball behind your object ball within a considerable distance. You’d like to imagine the gears turning in his head as he does the math and stuff. “You gotta learn how to strike straight first,” Echo says again, turning to you and smiling encouragingly a little. “And true.”

“It wouldn't even pocket even if it's dead straight?”

He nods lightly, handing you his cue. “It’s a possibility.”

Echo watches you observe his cue (taken from the stands by the wall and not of his own, disappointingly) and test it for balance in your hands. “Alright, so,” you prompt – resting the cue by your foot and placing a hand on your hip, you smile sweetly at him (his heart is doing a mini backflip again), “What do I do, teach?”

It takes an extra second for Echo to break out of his stupor. You just suddenly look… daring and adorable to him. He praises your courage to even take part, albeit a little shy in the beginning. And now you're asking a lot of questions and his guidance, eager to play right. Probably not to embarrass yourself in front of the boys (it's true), but it's quite a courageous value, still, even if it's just a game.

Well, pool is a serious game, in his opinion. Every turn is precious and can't be wasted. No more of that only matters if I just hit mindset – feels like he just wants to wallop whoever says that in the back. It's always strike true and pocket.

But seeing you tonight, clueless and yet laid back, he can't help but follow your gait and mood. He's a little relaxed tonight because of you (usually he's even more tense, even more than Dogma, can you believe that, because of his pool is a serious game take), and well, it feels good meeting and talking with you. You're easy, you show that you want to follow, and you're eager to learn. Those traits captivate him naturally.

“Right, uh, here.” Standing next to you, Echo taps his own thighs, still encased in armor, and gestures for you to follow. “Stance first. Spread your legs a bit, so you get comfortable when you lean over the table.”

You can't help but suck your lips at the unintentional innuendo. Kriff, you need to get yourself together. You’ve only just played! You don't know if Echo notices too. If he does, he doesn't say anything. Blushing, you don't dare to turn around fully and look up at his… charming features. Just like Fives, minus the tattoo and goatee. Well, they're clones after all. But still…

You do as he told, putting your foot slightly behind, but not leaning over the table yet. “Next?”

Echo's expression is patient and gentle as he goes to explain, “You form a bridge. It's your hand position to rest your cue before you strike. Here, do this.”

You follow his direction; you hold out your non-dominant hand and glue your fingers together like you're doing a salute. Then you spread them out minus your thumb, its first phalange sticking out to the side.

You nod vigorously, excitement bubbling in your chest at finally getting the game right. “Uh huh?”

“Put it on the table,” Echo directs you again, “Then raise your fingers like this.” You copy his hand that's placed merely inches from yours; raising your knuckles so your spread fingers form arches. Kinda sore and stings, but you're sure you'll get used to it. “That's called open bridge,” Echo says, his cadence resounding his pride at you. “Now put your cue in between your thumb and your first knuckle. Ah, see? It's high ground advantage. Easy to strike the middle of the cue ball.”

You try to see the trajectory beyond your bridging hand. It's just as he said, the cue tip merely a couple inches right in the middle of the cue ball. “Ah, I see, okay.”

“Right, now you lean over and take aim.”

Nervously and suddenly aware, you glance around nervously, meeting the other's gazes who aren't sitting by the booth. “Sorry if this takes too long.”

“No worries, roomie. We'd been at your position too once,” Jesse nods reassuringly to you.

“Yeah, take as much time as you want,” Kix joins in, smiling a bit.

“You don't wanna be brief and just strike away after only two seconds of aiming,” Dogma lectures, his tone patient and his expression softens at you, “Aim right. This needs practice and precision.”

“Chillax, Dogma. They're just learning,” Jesse chastises him gently. The other man shrugs and moves away.

You shift your attention away and breathe your focus, leaning it and slightly bending over the table. Echo hovers by your side and slightly into your space above your body to see the trajectory. “Like this?” you ask just to be sure.

Your eyes straight at your cue ball, you can only imagine him nodding his head. “Mhm, just avoid being sore. Are you comfy?”

“Uh.” You shift your body. Yeah, uh, something's a bit not making you comfy, but all you're saying is, “I guess?”

Echo can hear the doubt in your voice, and he intends to help. Glancing down your bent body, he can feel nervous sweat gathering under his gloves. Yeah, he can spot the way your shoulders are too tense, your foot a little not right. There's a few seconds of silence – you wish you could hear his thoughts – then he pipes up, if not after gulping, “Do you mind if I–”

“Yeah yeah, go ahead,” you say easily, and you can hear a loud exhale of relief coming from him.

Echo's gentle hands on your shoulders are somewhat settling. There's a part of you hoping for a slight graze of the fabric of his gloves on your neck to feel the shivers that would feel so delic– OKAY stop. He directs you, shifting you to the side – gingerly, almost timid, but his grip is firm on you. Then he taps on your shoulder, prompting you to roll it back slightly and relax and– yeah okay that feels better. You've been too tense, just like he expected. Softly, he taps the inside of your shoe with his boot to fix your stance, his hand on your waist to steady you and lets go once he thinks it's perhaps comfortable for you.

“Okay there?” he asks.

You succeed in not glancing back at him because you're blushing furiously right now and you don't want him to see your reaction. Even a while after he lets go of you, you can still feel the ghosts of his gentle grip on your waist. “Yep, better.”

Echo sighs in relief. “Good. Now; is your dominant eyesight left or right?”

You try to squint each of your eyes back and forth. “Right, I guess?”

“It's supposed to help you. You lean over, take aim, that eye is parallel with the cue. Go try.” Batting away his nervousness and fully relying on his boldness now, Echo leans over you to line up with your eyesight – you can feel his armor pressing against your body, but he doesn't put on too much weight so he wouldn't mush you in. “See? Straight, yeah? You wanna strike as straight as possible. But get comfortable with however fits you, that's what matters.”

You relish in how proper this all looks, thanks to Echo. “Got it,” you grin, but pain strikes your arched fingers suddenly. “Uh, I think my hand's sore.”

“Just relax!” he laughs, and you enjoy the way his crow’s feet emerge in the corner of his eyes. It makes him even more charming under the light. He taps your bridge softly with his gloved hand, still smiling, “I can even see your muscles tensing.”

Nervously, you laugh along. “Well, it's my first time, trooper!”

“Kriff, if I close my eyes and sit back, pretty sure I'm listening to first-time porn audio.”

“FIVES!” the boys bark, except for Deven (who's snorting behind their hand), Kix (groaning and facepalming), and Hardcase (fallen to the floor, vibrating and clutching his stomach).

Both you and Echo bath in bashful redness, suddenly remembering that you haven't been playing on your own.

“What?! You both sound like it!” Fives protests loudly, his lips slowly split into his own trademarked shit-eating grin.

“That's still inappropriate! In public, too!” Dogma chastises.

Echo rolls his eyes. You swear you can see his cheeks darken. “Sorry about that idiot. Don't mind him,” he says in a small voice, apologetic and sheepish, his hand flying to the back of his head. Then his attention darts to your bridge hand and having just remembered your sore hand condition, he steps closer to your space and plucks off your hand by the wrist. “Here,” he offers, replacing your hand, “I'll bridge for you.”

You can't hold your giggles much longer, contained from all the completely unintentional suggestive talk and Fives' recent teasing. “So kind of you, Echo,” you remark gleefully as you side glance at him. You enjoy how his eyes widen and– yeah, that's him blushing like crazy.

Especially when both your faces are merely inches from one another.

He blinks rapidly. “Uh, just helping.”

“Right-o,” you chuckle sweetly. Blush creeps into your cheeks at his subtle nervousness. Well, there's no point of hiding from his dead-on gaze at your face now, is there? You hum, “So next? I just hit?”

As if remembering something, he twists his body to look across your back. “Nah, not yet. Your grip hand’s a little off.”

“Oh,” you breathe, consciously stretching your fingers that's holding the cue, already expecting him to help you, and yeah for sure, that's what he does.

“Here, scoot near the butt end.” Echo grips your cue instead to allow your hand to slide back experimentally. “Should allow a smoother motion. Feel it?”

You try to swing it back and forth, feeling it a little nicer and smoother for you to move, and careful for the tip cue not touching the cue ball ahead. “Oh yeah.”

He then gently hovers his hand above your elbow, tapping it a couple of times. “And you should move it– swing it by your elbow. Not your shoulder. You swing and you just kind of push, with an amount of force, then strike as straight as you can.”

The previous boldness dissipating not thanks to Fives for that unnecessary mature teasing, Echo can feel it returning, and boy is he grateful.

Because his damn bold curiosity is breathed back into him and it makes him intrigued to just… close the distance. Shame he's in his armor, the plastoid pieces preventing him from feeling the rush of your jacket’s fabric against his and the warmth emanating from the ridges of your body. You just look… warm to him. Your smile, your blush, and your eagerness. He would… perhaps, like to lean in to know more.

Also because he's about to lean over and put his arm around your body, his arm no longer hovering across your back but resting against, his gloved fingers wrapping around the cue, yours trapped beneath his palm. The grip wouldn't be tight and pressing at all, instead it would feel, hopefully, comforting. Safe. Because he's there ensuring you to actually pull this.

So he does just that.

With his other arm stretched out to form a flawlessly steady open bridge in your place, his position allows him to look down at you intensely, more than he expected that he almost reels back, but he stands his ground.

A smile forms in his lips. “Got it now?”

Again, he wishes he can feel the warmth of you.

Almost breathlessly, you meet Echo's gaze daringly, admiring the golden specks of his irises, glancing down to his lips but you too, stand your ground, as you utter, “Yessir.”

Having not expected that, he gulps audibly, his boldness faltering and he almost wants to smack himself for that. So much for– y'know what nevermind. “Uh. Yeah. Okay.”

“Keep it there, Echo, time's ticking!” Deven yells over, almost warningly but you don't sense harshness in their tone. Except probably teasing. You huff quietly as you shift your focus to your cue ball. “Another minute like that and they'll earn the Mon Cala shrimp pose.”

With your shoulder stretched far back… yeah, you won't lie. Deven's right. It's getting a little sore. But you never want to blame Echo for the time. This has been a very thorough teaching, thanks to him, and you're starting to get everything right away.

Fives jogs over on tippy toes lifting his knees (for what, nobody knows). Almost crashing onto Echo, he carefully observes the imaginary trajectory you'd pull. Then with a noisy rustle of armor, he appears by your other side and sticks his forefinger onto the table. “Here, try to hit here,” he suggests.

You frown. It's not even dead straight, but… well, these boys haven't done anything wrong to you yet, so you trust him.

“Ah,” Echo deadpans beside you, yet it sounds genuine, “Thanks for the help, twin.”

Twin? you wonder internally. Okay, already added to questions to be asked later.

“Ready?” Echo asks you, his tone back to being gentle and patient as you've known him. Is he different around his brothers? Around you? Added to questions to be asked later. Or probably, don't ask. Maybe you'll be on the lookout for a long while.

“Uh-huh. Yep. Ready.”

You breathe. Echo follows beside you, close, you can almost feel his exhale caressing your cheek. You follow his retracting arm, and the cue strikes with calculated speed and force that it sends your object ball hard into the pocket.

So hard, that the cue ball follows too. Not so calculated after all.

You laugh and mutter ah that's fine, but Echo burns with embarrassment. He could've been better. And he's supposed to be a pro after your roommate. Oh well. At least he gets to be near you.

“Foul.” Give it to Dogma to break the already sad celebratory mood.

“Thanks, Captain Obvious. Didn't know you're the referee,” Fives deadpans, arms folded across his chest.

“But still.” Hardcase raises from his spot at your targeted pocket (you don't even know when he got there) and wiggles his eyebrows at Echo. “Nice one, brother.”

Echo grunts, already gotten up and put some distance between you both. “Shut up, ‘Case.”

“That's fine! I got to learn,” you chirp, leaning against your cue stick smugly. Your sweet toothy grin and radiating positivity are sending Echo's heart on a series of cartwheels this time. 

The bald clone snickers at you both. “6-ball middle left pocketzzz!”

“Must you do that?” complains Kix, handing him the cue ball.

“Nope. Just wanna.”

Chuckling, you drown out their shenanigans and tug at Echo to move away from the table, giving some distance to the boys who've rejoined. You wonder how much time that had taken just for your turn alone, but judging by their indifferent demeanor, your insecurities deplete. Yeah, you can handle this. With Echo, you both can handle this.

You can't help but glance at the man. He's in his own world again, golden pair of eyes focused on the table.

Then you can't help but be reminded of your closeness earlier, too. His plastoid armor pieces pressing against you, but not pinning you down. You feel your chest blossom with warmth at his care and attention. He's such a gentleman. Even when he's focused to guide you, he takes precedence of your comfort, too. 

Not long after, Dogma calls out, momentarily gaining your attention, “10-ball, top right.”

You turn to Echo, noticing the pattern a little too late. “Do you have to call like that before you hit?”

He smiles at you. He doesn't think he'd get bored of your many questions – pool related or not. “That's call shot,” he explains, “Another rule we're applying in the game. It's when you have to call out your object ball and your target pocket. If you do anything other than that, it's foul.”

You backtrack to when Echo picks the target for you. “Oh you did that.”

He shrugs one one shoulder, the one blue pauldron shifting when he does. “Yeah, I did.”

Blue. A marking of his battalion? Which battalion? You don't even know the basics of their army structure and you didn't even wanna know which trooper from which battalion, but… now you wanna know, especially Echo's. You've heard it's numbers. Maybe you'd ask? Yeah, more to add to questions to be asked later.

Fine, there's a lot of questions already stored in that mental list. And now the atmosphere is relaxed, Echo is in his zone observing the others, and you can't help but feel the ghosts of his hands, his touch, on your waist earlier.

“You um,” you clear your throat. Man, here we go, the other side of you whines. “You want me to do the call shots?”

Echo glances at you, smiling. How many times he's smiled at you tonight, you don't count. You've been busy listening to his calming voice and staring at his sharp cheekbones, and mulling over his touch and his concern over your comfort. “Sure,” he says, “Just pick the easiest you think you can pocket.”

You bite your lip. “...On you?”

He double takes, brows furrowing deeper in each turn of the head. “Uh, what?”

You trudge forward fearlessly, barricading yourself from the intention of backing down as you dare, “Calling the shot on you?”

Echo's lips part in dumbfounded silence.

And you want nothing but crawl into a hole and die from embarrassment. “I– sorry I didn't mean you're easy, it's just you're… okay. You're nice and– just– kriff.” You stare at him, cheeks burning. Red, you're sure. Really red. Just… well done. You finally take the shot outright, “You wanna grab a drink?”

He hasn't said anything, but you're sure his cheeks are tinged with pink. You let out a breathy, awkward laugh because well that's not a 100% failed attempt but still.

“That was so bad I know–”

“I-I’d love to,” he interrupts you, “Grab a drink with you.”

It's your turn to be dumbfounded. “Oh,” escapes your lips, followed by another laughter that brings you back to his equally awkward smile and glimmering golden eyes. “Great! Take a break, yeah? Aren't you tired of your brothers?”

“Eh, they're alright. Got used to it. Brothers, y'know?” Echo laughs, the pleasant sound sends your stomach aflutter. He smiles sweetly at you, offering, “After this one?”

“Sure,” you grin, “After this one.”

Taglist: @yoursrosie @hellfiresky @msmeredithrose

A/N: You can request for x reader in my askbox! If you're interested in my clone x reader oneshots you can sign up as well to be tagged of future works. (Link provided)

[vodika-vibes]

Congrats on 800, vode!

I would love to request prompt #9 for either Alpha-17 or Echo. (I know, two completely different characters.)

No preference on genre, honestly. Just go where the clone-shaped muse takes you. 😁

Thank you, and I can't wait to see the stories from this event!

@dreamie411

As The Moon Rises

Summary: When you and Echo get stranded on a planet, he takes advantage of the stunning scenery and takes you on a hike. A hike that turns into a camping trip, as the sun sets when you’re on top of the mountain.

Pairing: ARC Trooper Echo x F!Reader

Word Count: 853

Warnings: None

A/N: I picked Echo because the idea I had was just too cute! I hope you like it! I also hope you don't mind that I picked ARC Echo rather than TBB Echo.

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“I can’t believe that they ditched us,” You grumble, loudly, as you scramble up the side of a boulder, trying to follow the path that Echo is making.

A hand appears in front of your face, and you gratefully take his hand to allow him to pull you up onto the boulder neck to him, “They didn’t ditch us, angel.” There’s an amused smile on his face as he helps you to your feet and ensures you haven’t gotten hurt while trying to climb up after him, “They didn’t have a choice.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know,” 

Echo grins at you, mischievous and boyish, as he drops your hand and presses his hand against your cheek, tilting your head slightly so you’re looking at him. “Besides, now we get to spend time together without my brothers looking over our shoulders.”

You make a face, “I could always kick them out of my office,”

“And that would only work for about 30 minutes before someone is knocking again.” He brushes his thumb against the corner of your mouth for a moment, a wistful look crossing his handsome face, “It seems like they don’t want us to have any alone time.”

You lean your head into his touch, “Well, they just don’t want us to accidentally practice multiplication, that’s all.”

Echo looks confused for a moment, and then he laughs and drops his hand, “Well, I suppose that’s fair.” He offers you his hand and you slide yours into his firm grip without hesitation, “I’ll try to carve an easier path from here on.”

“I’d appreciate that.” It’s no secret that you’re not the most physically fit person on the Resolute. In fact, seeing as you’re tech support, you might actually be the least fit person on the ship.

Still, Echo likes you, enough that he has a hard time taking his eyes off you, even in a crowded room, and that’s enough for you.

True to his word, the path that Echo carves up the mountainside is much easier, with a lot less climbing and a lot more weaving. The downside to taking a weaving path, though, is that when you reach the summit, the sun is already starting to set.

It’s kind of a romantic scene, you can’t help but think as you sit on a rock and stretch your legs out in front of you. The setting sun casts a golden glow on the valley below the mountain, and the sky is an array of pinks and purples.

Echo, too, is painted in the golden glow of the setting sun. And you can’t help but compare him to some of the paintings that you see in museums. It’s a silly thought, but you can’t help but think that, like this, Echo looks like he should be royalty.

He definitely shouldn’t be slumming it with some girl from the lower levels of Coruscant.

Echo turns to look at you, a broad grin on his face, and you feel your heart skip a beat. 

You love him. You’ve known this for a while, but this is the first time where you really and truly considered a future with him by your side. You always assumed that he would leave you when someone better showed their interest, but right here, right now, the idea of someone better seems impossible.

“You’re staring,” Echo teases, there’s something warm in his voice that makes you feel warm down to your toes. He’s also being a hypocrite because he’s staring at you too.

“You look happy,” You reply.

“I am happy.” Echo walks over to you and offers you his hand one more time. You take it without thinking about it, and squeak when he tugs you to your feet and into his arms, “I’m on the most beautiful planet I’ve ever seen, with the love of my life in my arms. How could I not be happy?”

“Love of your life, huh?”

He just grins at you in response.

“Well, I’m glad we’re on the same page at least,” You add as you reach up and lightly press your hands against his cheeks, your fingers lightly tracing his cheekbones.

The sky darkens, and Echo drops his hand to his belt to activate his flashlight, before sliding his arm around your waist again and pulling you tighter against him. His dark eyes scan your face for a moment, “We won’t be able to head back down until morning.”

You hum your understanding, “I don’t mind. You’ll keep me safe from the wild animals.” You lean up towards him and catch his lips with yours.

It’s not your first kiss, Echo steals kisses from you daily, but this kiss seems different. It’s deeper and quickly becomes the most heated kiss you’ve ever had in your life.

He breaks the kiss, almost grudgingly, and puts a little space between the pair of you. “I’m going to start a fire,” Echo murmurs, “And then we can continue this.”

Your heart is racing and your face is heated, not to mention you’re a little breathless, but you favor him with a bright smile all the same, “I can wait.”

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[ghostofskywalker]

2024 fictober roundup: part one

here's a list of days 1-11 of my fictober fics! you can see days 12-21 here and days 22-31 here!

a 👻 next a fic's title means it's one of my favorites, and i'm picking 1-2 per roundup post :)

october 1st: 'tis the season (wanda maximoff x reader)

october 2nd: the perfect date (501st!echo x fem!reader)

october 3rd: what are the odds? (jack thompson x fem!reader)

october 4th: what you want most (agatha harkness x fem!reader) 👻

october 5th: a necessary push (hunter x fem!reader)

october 6th: sweet & oblivious (clint barton x reader)

october 7th: may i have this dance? (rex x fem!reader) 👻

october 8th: droid diagnostics (poe dameron x reader)

october 9th: a moment's reprieve (katniss everdeen x reader)

october 10th: the surprising side effects of new bacta (fox x reader)

october 11th: challenges, risks, and a night to change everything (will turner x reader)

[ghostofskywalker]

The Perfect Date

501st!Echo/Fem!Reader

Fictober 2024 Day 2 of 31

Words: 970

Summary: While on a date, you can't help but notice things you couldn't quite explain. Echo catches it too, and he is the first to figure out what's going on.

Clone Troopers Masterlist

Being a bounty hunter meant that you were always aware of your surroundings. You had spent most of your professional life on your own, and never being able to let your guard down was an unfortunate side effect. If you allowed yourself to trust your environment enough to not keep a constant eye on who was coming and going at all times, you could be setting yourself up for attack, injury, or even death. 

Even if the environment in question was a fast casual restaurant on the mid level of Coruscant, and you had a date sitting across from you in the booth. 

“Is everything okay?” Echo asked, a look of worry coming across his face. “I can see if we can move tables if needed-” 

Smiling, you shook your head. “Sorry, it’s a habit of mine to always be scanning the surroundings.” 

Echo nodded, and it made sense that your actions might have worried him a little there. If you were on a date and the other person wouldn’t stop surveying the situation, you might have wondered if they actually wanted to be there in the first place. But for you, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Your work with the 501st meant that you were close to many of the clones there, but with Echo you had always shared a special connection. When he had nervously asked you out the last time you spoke, you had felt like you had suddenly been transported to a dream. 

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “It’s part of the reason why you’re the best at what you do.” 

A bashful smile crossed your face at his words (something wholly uncharacteristic to the hardened action-ready operative you were used to being), and you reached out to take his hand across the table. Right as you opened your mouth to speak, you caught something in your peripheral vision. 

The Republic cog vanished just as quickly as you had noticed it, and you knew only one person who had ever dared to get it tattooed in a place that conspicuous. 

“Did you see something?” Echo asked. 

Taking a moment to look around the dining room once more, you shook your head. “Thought I saw someone I recognized, but I guess not.” 

Echo smiled. “Just let me know if you see my general, because I didn’t tell him that I was turning off my comm device tonight.” 

You laughed. “Definitely. We can always pay and leave out the back door if necessary.” 

***

Maker, Echo was perfect. The date was perfect, and you had no other way to describe it. It wasn’t the fanciest restaurant on Coruscant, but that didn’t matter (as long as there weren’t any bugs in your food you had no complaints). So when he suggested that the two of you take a walk along the streets, you immediately accepted.

Despite the reputation of crime and violence on its lower levels, there were some areas of Coruscant that were truly beautiful. Maybe it was just because you were there with someone you cared about, but you couldn’t help but feel happiness swell in your chest as you walked hand in hand with Echo down the street. 

Out of the corner of your eye, you thought you saw a nearby bush rustle, but your lovestruck brain brushed it off as a stray loth cat or a trick of the wind. The night air, as charming as it could be in some case, also meant that some of the planet’s wildlife was starting to emerge as many residents retired to their homes for the evening. 

You whirled around when you saw a flash of blue, but nothing was there. You were just about to chalk it up to the food you had eaten before you heard something that sounded suspiciously like a human voice. 

Thankfully (for you, since it meant you weren’t going crazy), Echo heard it too. “Guys, I told you to knock it off,” he said, sighing as he spoke. 

You had to stifle your laughter as Fives, Jesse, and Kix all emerged from various hiding spots. “I knew I saw you back at the restaurant,” you said, pointing at Jesse. “You didn’t even think to wear a hat or anything?” 

“See, I told you!” Fives said, pointing at the stupid looking one on his head. “You should have covered up the tattoo a little!” 

Echo’s face was in his hands, and you could tell he was feeling embarrassed. “What part of leave me alone for the evening do you di’kuts not get?” 

“Come on, we were just making sure you were okay,” Fives said defensively.

“Yeah, she’s a top tier bounty hunter, what if this was all an elaborate ruse to kill you?” Jesse cut in. 

“Actually, he’s the one who asked me out to dinner,” you said. 

“Still, we wanted to make sure everything was okay,” Kix said, and you couldn’t help but smile. 

“Everything is fine, now can you all go back to the barracks?” Echo asked, and you squeezed his hand in a comforting manner. No matter how much you reassured him that this did not change a thing, you knew he was still a little sheepish about his brothers’ interruption of your evening. Honestly, you probably should have expected something like this to happen. 

Kix, Jesse, and Fives reluctantly agreed (but not without a few gentle jokes), and soon the two of you were along once again. 

“I’m so sorry about them.” 

Leaning up to place a soft kiss on his cheek, you just laughed. “Don’t be.”

Next time we’ll just plan everything in secret. If you’re interested in going out with me again that is.”

“Oh Echo,” you said, this time placing a soft kiss directly on his lips. “There will definitely be a next time.” 

- the end -

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