TBB Soulmate AU (pt. 1)
Hello there! Hi! I hope you’re having a good day after the events of 1x15! I started writing this before that, but I’m slow and it’s done now and hopefully the fluff can be of comfort!
I read a lot of fanfiction and something I really love is soulmate AU’s, so I thought: “Hey, I love the Bad Batch, I can do something with this!” and so this (and it’s part 2) were born. I’m focusing on the trope of ‘first words to each other are tattooed on your body’ soulmate trope. I hope you enjoy! If you do, please let me know. I love talking to other people here and maybe we can recommend fics to each other!
You POV is gender neutral with no descriptions.
Warnings: None, SFW with some NSFW alluded to. All fluff no bite.
Word Count: 2914
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At first, the Kaminoans wanted to see if they could get rid of the words and cut the clones off entirely from things that weren’t defending the Republic. Later though, thanks to some helpful Jedi and senatorial interference, the consensus was that the words would help inspire them to fight; giving them a glimpse of hope for a different life once this war was over. Different clones, of course, react differently to the words etched on their skin, and even more so to the person responsible for them...
Crosshair- ‘Something snarky,’ he snarked.
-So as I’ve heard others say, this man is 99% bite, and 1% soft.
-10/10 though it probably made him a little insecure to see the words arcing along his left rib cage because they were pretty sharp.
-He ended up growing into a bit of a sea-urchin of a person so maybe it was to be expected.
-You on the other hand, were always a little confused about the words on your ribs, they were rude, fightin’-words, and you weren’t going to take that from nobody.
-When the war started you enlisted to support the GAR as a mechanic.
-Despite the debriefing you got stating ‘you will mostly NOT be interacting with the clone troopers, you are to remain professional at all times, blah, blah, blah.’ the troopers would often approach the nat-born mechanics to talk, and how could you turn down their company?
-Despite what a lot of senators and other politicians said, they were not soulless automaton husks of men, they were all brimming with personality and plenty of charm and you loved to hear them talk about their brothers and adventures.
-Something that was often brought up by the ranks was soulmate words.
-Some were curious about them, others suspicious about the person on the other end, others endlessly happy that there was somebody out there for them.
-You wondered about yours, the insult you lived with your entire life stamped on your side, and hoped the banter was at least worth it.
-One day, a few of the troopers were buzzing about the new clone force that would be coming to the base, an experimental group of ‘defectives’ called Clone Force 99.
-You didn’t quite see the reason for all the excitement, but maybe they’d shake things up a bit.
-Later, you were trying to organize a bunch of equipment by the ship you were working on, and while you were moving a long piece of metal, you caught somebody with your swing.
-You looked, seeing a tall, thin man with silver hair in black and red armour, but before you could apologize he hissed: “Watch it! Or are nat-borns raised without being trained to look where they’re going?”
-You didn’t even hesitate before firing back: “If you don’t stop being an asshole I’ll whack you again and it won’t be an accident.”
-You were so miffed it took a second before it clicked, you could see the same realization going on in his own head as his eyes widened.
-Oh no. Oh no, no, no. “Not this asshole!” You exclaimed in unison.
-Jokes on you both though, the snark is hot and you find the banter is totally worth it.
Wrecker- A cheesy, cheesy, line
-Listen, we all know that one deleted scene in season 7 of The Clone Wars, when mans isn’t in dad mode, he’s ready to find somebody hot and go down (both figuratively and probably literally as well).
-I really don’t think he’s as easily flustered as some people write him, he’ll get embarrassed about his slip ups, but not about flirting and the horizontal bop.
-Wrecker was always a head, and later head and shoulders, above the other clones around him. There was no disguising the fact that when he stood in a doorway, he became the entire door.
-Because of this he always thought that his words were a little silly maybe? Then again, time and time again he kept hearing them from the various new people he met with the work his batch did.
-Actually, he started to become kind of anxious because of how often he heard his words and was worried he’d miss them by accident if he did actually meet his soul mate.
-You were quite confused when you were little because your words made your parents absolutely mortified. When you were older and finally got the innuendo, you also were for a while.
-Now you were just waiting for them to try that line on you.
-While doing some administrative work for your planet’s branch of the Republic government was when you first heard that an elite group of clones would be stationed at the local GAR base.
-It was a bit of a big deal because they would be working with the local government to best direct them in some covert operation or another, so they would be coming to your work directly.
-While delivering papers one day soon after you turned a corner and rammed into a wall that hadn’t been there 15 minutes ago.
-”Wrecker, that’s a prime example of why you should watch where you’re walking.” said a calm yet exasperated voice.
-”Yeah, yeah, Tech I get it.” Said a rougher voice. The owner of the voice, the person (not a wall) you had run into, was standing ahead of you, thick legs greeting you from your position on the floor.
-You looked up and saw him, he was handsome with a strong brow, a nose that looked as if it had been broken before, and a large scar spidering around the left side of his face toward his one white eye. When he leaned down to help you up, his hand consumed yours completely.
-It was probably rude but it just slipped out: “Kriff you’re big.”
-He looked you up and down and grinned, “That’s not the only thing that’s big.”
-The people with him, four of them, groaned at that line, but you could only laugh saying: “You know what, I’ve always wondered who I’d hear that line from, but at least you have the physicality to carry it off.”
-It took a moment to click in his head, but when it did you were swept up by the biggest man you’d ever met. Later on he did indeed prove to you that he wasn’t the only thing that was big… his bomb collection was quite impressive too.
Tech- Nerdy heart-eyes
-Unlike Wrecker, Tech is definitely more easy to fluster, especially when he’s treading new territory.
-Don’t get me wrong, with the things he’s familiar with he can take the reins and lead no problem, but new things, especially social situations, can throw him for a bit of a loop (even if he is eager to learn).
-That being said, it came as no surprise that as soon as he could understand what was written on his arm he researched it, and found the words actually referred to a type of word puzzle.
-Being inclined to that sort of thing anyway, he found an enjoyable pastime to fill the hours between training, eating, and spending time with his brothers.
-To you, your words were always kinda cute. There was a pronounced stutter there and you wondered if it was part of them or if your line was just that good.
-To be fair though, plenty of people stuttered for many different reasons, sometimes soulmate words were so innocuous that people missed each other. You really hoped that wasn’t the case with you.
-As you were working on rewiring part of the internal communications system at the base you were currently at you suddenly realized the time, so packing things away temporarily you went to stretch your cramped limps and find lunch.
-Grabbing some of the daily slop, you took it out to sit by the entrance of one of the hangers to get some fresh air and watch the ships come and go.
-As you approached a good spot, you suddenly saw a head of reddish hair poking up from behind the crates you were planning to sit on. Pausing briefly you continued toward them and thought that maybe they’d like some company.
-Coming up behind them, you saw it was a man in armour slightly hunched over a data pad with a display showing a grid of mostly blank squares, a key above it displaying-
-”Oh! Is that a penta-lingual crossword? I love those!” You enthused.
-Yeah, nerd. You loved words and loved the extra challenge of trying to determine which word in what language was the correct one to fit in the puzzle.
-He jumped and his head whipped in your direction, owlish eyes wide behind a pair of goggles.
-He was adorable, in a grown man way.
-”Ah- um yes.” He seemed a little taken aback by your presence.
-You felt a little bad for having surprised him, apologized and introduced yourself, then explained you were here to have lunch and would leave if he wanted his privacy.
-He shook his head no emphatically, “It is quite alright, I am Tech. You will not be disturbing me if you stay.”
-So you did, at first picking away at your lunch and periodically glancing at Tech. You noticed he would glance at you too from the corner of your eye. He was cute, so you decided to be bold.
-Setting your lunch aside you leaned closer to him and looked at the puzzle he was working on. “I think 17 down is ‘mesh’la’, and across is ‘mirdala’.”
-”Yes you are.” He softly mumbled before freezing at what he just said aloud.
-You laughed and slid down to sit beside him and started working through the puzzle together. Occasionally a word or a particular clue would bring up a topic and you would get lost in the conversation for a while.
-Suddenly you remembered time existed and you looked, groaning as you realized you were two hours late in returning to your shift. Your job probably wasn’t in danger, but you would get a talking to.
-You told Tech as such and went to rise, “It’s been fun, I’ve never met anybody else interested in these puzzles.”
-Suddenly his hand was on your wrist, stopping you from leaving, “I… enjoyed this as well. I most likely would never have heard of them if it was not for you though.” As he said this he shyly looked up at you through his top lashes.
-It took a moment for it to dawn on you, but when it did, the smile you felt come upon your face was so big it hurt.
-Tech spoke again: “If you want, I could tell your superior you failed to return to your post because I requested you help me with a mechanical problem, you would not receive any demerits for that.”
-”Thank you.” you said softly. “If you’re still here tomorrow… would you like to sit and do some more? I only have a quick thing to do in the morning if nothing else breaks here.”
-His gaze was dreamy as it met yours, “I’d like that very much.”
Mando’a note: Mesh’la=Beautiful, Mirdala=Clever
Echo- Easy, unexpected, unhurried
-Echo has been through, and seen a lot (understatement of the century).
-He’s at a point in his life where if he wants something, he will ask (because the worst you get is a no).
-His words reflect that, seeming to come from a perfectly innocuous social interaction.
-While he would be more than happy to meet his soulmate and see what sort of person they were, he understood and happily lived without them. Soulmates, despite what the holodramas said, were not the be-all end-all of the love you received in your life.
-Unbeknownst to him, you were of a very similar mind in regards to romance.
-You had family of all sorts scattered across the galaxy you were always happy to see, and you’d had plenty of experience and affection from previous partners to know what made you happy both in and out of relationships. You were secure to live without them.
-One night out in Ord Mantell, you were sitting alone at a table having a few when a sonorous voice asked: “Is this seat taken?”
-You looked up, taking in the voice’s owner. He looked like a clone, but different in several ways: his skin was a little paler, his face more sunken and angular, and most apparent were his cybernetics. All together intriguing and handsome.
-”Not at all.” You said nonchalantly, expecting him to take the seat and move it to one of the other tables occupied by patrons. Instead he put himself in the seat and took a sip from the glass he’d brought with him.
-You smiled and raised an eyebrow at him: you liked a little boldness.
-You ended up sitting and talking to Echo until the last call and closing time came, and you talked all the way to your place and into your room (where not too much talking was done after that).
-He was a busy man, apparently also not a friend to the new Empire and was often away, doing missions for your old boss Cid (small galaxy isn’t it?) with his brothers.
-Whenever you could though, you spent time together. He was a good man and you wanted to make that time for him (and how happy you were when he did the same for you).
-One night while luxuriating in the late afternoon light filtering in, Echo was tracing the black words on your leg: Is this seat taken?
-He no longer had his legs, but he told you how he remembered his own black words, clear as day: Not at all.
-Well, didn’t that sound a little familiar?
-Neither of you could really recall perfectly what was said on that first night thanks to the wine, but either way, words or no: you’d both made your choices and weren’t going anywhere.
Hunter- Caring father, loving man
-Ah yes, our sci fi-fantasy Rambo with the heart of a dad. Mr. ‘If anything happened to Omega I’d kill everybody else in this room and then myself’.
-Would be SOFT for anybody who likes kids.
-Your words worried you a lot when you were younger, the influence of holodramas ever present thanks to the obsessions of your close gaggle of friends.
-What if they were already in love with somebody else? What if, like a cheesy B-holo plot, you were the reason a perfectly happy couple separated?
-As an adult you didn’t think so much about it (or like that) anymore. Whatever happens, happens, adults make their own decisions.
-Secretly though you wanted somebody to love you as much as they obviously did ‘them’.
-Hunter was always very confused by his words though. Who was ‘she’? Who would they be and why did she need to be protected? Who was it that helped this ‘she’?
-There was only a very select group of people who he could say with absolute certainty that he loved, other than them, there wasn’t another soul whom he could name who he’d treat that way too.
-Also, as a professional soldier and elite clone squad member, the only times he spent time with potential partners were one-night stands. There was no love there.
-One day while restocking some of the shelves of the store you ran, you heard the bell above the door loudly ring, signalling somebody had entered.
-Turning you saw a small blonde girl who was breathing heavily with eyes darting madly as if looking for something.
-This of course made you very concerned as she did not look well at all. “Hello there,” you said calmly, catching the girl’s attention “is everything okay honey?”
-She shook her head “N-no, me and my family were just doing a job for somebody and now we’re all being chased!”
-You were shocked to say the least and ushered her behind the register and into one of cubbies below to hide while you kept watch. As she curled up, she lifted a comm device and called for somebody called Hunter.
-Some time passed and nobody came by, until suddenly the door was violently swung open by a man in a green shirt with half a skull tattooed on his face.
He looked around before calling, “Omega?!”
-You were about to tell him nobody else was here, but were interrupted by the girl scrambling up, running to the man, and hugging him tightly. He also wrapped his (well built) arms around her.
-”It’s okay Huntah’, the nice person helped me.”
-The man, Hunter, looked up from his protective hold of Omega and turned to you, a serious expression on his face: “Thank you, she means everything to me.”
-It softened you to see the obvious care and love this man had for his child and (also recognising those words and seeing an affection you couldn’t help but understand) you said, “I’m glad I could help protect her.”
-Still concerned for Omega, it took him a moment to also recognize what was happening, but when he did his eyes met yours again, wide and wondering.
-In the end, you were both equally loving and protective of Omega, and soon she had also adopted you as her new parent.
***
Pt. 2