summary — a mission unlocks memories in your brain you’d rather forget. tech helps, in his own way.
warnings — gn!reader, angst, fluff, mentions of childhood trauma, hunter’s a prick
note — i heard this sound on tiktok and it unlocked a memory i did NOT want unlocked lol so enjoy this self indulgent piece
𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐅𝐔𝐍𝐍𝐘 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐀 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐘. it’s funny how something as small as a child crying causes someone to fold in on themselves. you almost were shot because of it, and you definitely got an earful back on the marauder.
“what were you thinking? just standing there? you could’ve been killed!” hunter’s voice penetrated your clouded thoughts, scolding you for a poor job. he had a point; you were almost killed.
“but i wasn’t, hunter, so what’s the big deal?” you challenge, crossing your arms over your chest. what was next, was he going to question how you worked with the team? was he going to exclude you from future missions? you almost dared him.
“the big deal? y/n you nearly cost us the mission and you could have been killed,” he paused, taking a minute to think. though, given his next words, he should have taken more time to think, “i think you should sit out on the next mission,” his voice was still raised, breaths spilling from his mouth like he ran a marathon.
yet there it was.
exclusion.
“fine, it’s your call, you’re the sergeant,” your words were not short of being venomous, making hunter realize instantly what he just told you. you were a valuable asset to the batch, a sounding board, and he just told you to sit out.
there wasn’t a lot of places for you to go, so you sat in the co-pilot’s chair. you brought a knee up to your chest, resting your chin on it. the silence was comforting, but your mind still swam. hunter’s words, their words, the child crying…
“for the record, i don’t think you should sit out next mission,” tech was the first to speak, the softness and quietness of his voice illustrating just how unused to that he was. his words only earned a scoff from you.
“it was the child crying, no?” he guessed. tech noticed the shift in your demeanor when the child started crying to her mother, wondering why everyone left. you grew stiff, your eyes unfocused, and of course, you were nearly shot.
“what gave me away?” you asked him, still refusing to meet eyes with him. despite tech not being well-versed in comfort, he still knew how to read people. he could read them very well. interpreting those emotions was a different skill.
“the fact you were nearly shot, mainly,” he stated as-a-matter-of-factly, “but also the way your demeanor changed. your shoulders tightened, your eyes widened. not to mention your voice changed,” he went on to describe just how much your body changed. you didn’t think he paid that much attention to you.
“i didn’t think it was that obvious,” you shrugged, taking your chin off of your knee. you slid your eyes over to meet his, the softness of them underneath his goggles provided an odd place of comfort for you. he didn’t judge you, he was merely stating facts.
“it was,” he felt heat rise to his cheeks, a feeling he logically knew was because of his attraction to you. emotionally, he wouldn’t acknowledge it.
“at least to me,” tech added softly, attempting to make the situation better than what it was. your eyes widened again, unsure of how to feel about this. ever since you started working with the bad batch, talking about emotional experiences was hard with tech. so you didn’t. hearing him acknowledge your feelings and talk about his own shocked you. it shouldn’t have.
“when i was a kid, i was bullied a lot,” you started, pulling down the wall you’ve built up over the years, “their form of bullying was excluding me from things. i was invited to parties, but never talked to. i was never played with, and kids made fun of me for the stuff i liked,” you continued. you’ve never spoken to any of them about this. it was too sensitive. the fear of rejection and judgement was too strong.
silence followed, filling the space between you. tech didn’t know what to say, but he knew that this was sensitive information. he knew that it was hard for you to talk about, and so he didn’t want to say anything to potentially make things worse.
“hearing that little girl cry, asking her mother where everyone went, it just…i don’t know. it was under different circumstances but still,” you were failing to understand why the moment froze you. hunter was right, you could have been killed.
“it was a different circumstance, but,” tech started, his words coming out slowly as he processed them, “your fight or flight kicked in. it’s human nature whenever we come in contact with something that’s upset us or, dare i say, traumatized us,” his eyes searched yours, trying to read the expression on your face. tech knew what it was like to be ostracized for the things you’re good at. he was a defective clone, he knew almost exactly what you felt.
“when…when i was a cadet, still on kamino, i wasn’t treated very kindly by the regs simply for being different. the words they said, even some of the things they did, it was not kind of them,” tech’s words marinated in your mind for a moment. you found yourself completely facing him, engrossed in the man in front of you. you finally found someone to relate to, that knew what it was like to be excluded and bullied. for once, you could breathe.
“you didn’t deserve that,”
“neither did you,” he agreed, his warm, brown eyes cradling yours. he came to the same realization you did. he wasn’t as alone as he thought he was. as much as he wished neither of you went through what you did, it brought you two together, and he was grateful for that.
“we do need to work on your fight, flight, or freeze response,” he lightened the mood. you smiled and laid back in your chair.
“i know i know,” you smiled. you didn’t catch it, but tech smiled too.
here’s some tech! this was kind of self indulgent so i apologize for that, i still hope you enjoy though!
summary — he’s falling and you risk yourself to save him
warnings — bad batch finale spoilers, fem!jedi!reader, angst, fluff, this is a fix if fic i will not accept the finale until there is a body ‼️
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐊𝐘 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓. you voiced your distaste for the riskiness of the plan, but the eyes omega gave you gave you no choice. being this close to the empire put you at risk, especially since they’d still kill a jedi at the mere sight of one. the fear slowly waned, seeing as the clones were going out of commission and the new troops, stormtroopers, didn’t know what a jedi looked like when one was standing right in front of them. you knew not to get used to that comfort.
tracking hemlock to see where he was going wasn’t a bad idea. the bad part of the plan was the location. it was a heavily guarded and fortified base holding very important commanders and information. the goal was to track hemlock to see where he’d been taking clones who defected, but your gut was churning.
“you look ill,” tech’s voice disrupted your thoughts as you landed. your eyes moved to meet his, a sigh escaping your lips.
“i’ve just got a bad feeling about this whole thing,” you admitted softly. tech’s eyes shifted downwards, mainly at your hands. he’d been getting used to being in an established relationship with you, and it had taken quite some time for him to get used to it.
“we’ll be fine,” he spoke in the softest voice he could muster. he wasn’t good at hiding his bluntness, but he was sure of himself and the plan. though risky, it would work. you nodded your head and smiled, stepping off the marauder with the rest of the bad batch.
—
of course, saw gerarra had to mess up everything. he blew up the compound. you probably would have done the same thing in hindsight, but it was not the time. your anxiety doubled as sirens sounded, as stormtroopers flooded the halls. even if you were on a rail car, getting away, you were still having to deal with the troopers on your car. you held a blaster, firing at them before the car came to a stop. your breaths could only be heard as you waited. they’d found out, and no one needed to voice that.
“what’s going on?” wrecker asked. you looked out of the slats of the back of the rail car, sensing something in the air.
“three ships inbound,” came the voice of your boyfriend, who’d volunteered to get the power back on to the rail car. your eyes scanned the sky, not being able to see what tech was seeing.
“where are they?” omega asked, and just as she did, three ships emerged from the clouds, blasters firing at the rail cars. things blurred after that. you fired your blaster along with hunter of the car, everything started to wobble from the impact. it wasn’t until the ships were coming back for another shot that your mind cleared and realized what was going on.
“where’s tech?” you asked, eyes frantically searching the area. he hadn’t made it back inside the car and the ships were coming back towards you. you peaked over the end of the car. you saw now why attachment was forbidden to the jedi, your mind completely froze. your boyfriend was hanging beneath the car, attached by a cable. every step wrecker took caused the car to topple, which would send you all to your deaths. you swallowed, nerves and fear creating a forbidden cocktail in your stomach.
“tech,” you whispered as you stepped closer and closer.
“i have to do this,” he shouted, “plan 99,” he finished, and you barely heard him. your stomach dropped and your eyes stung with realization. you shook your head, unable to form words.
tech aimed his blaster at the cable, and with a squeeze of the trigger, the bolt freed both him and the rail car. before echo could get the power back online, which would be a few seconds, your stomach dropped and your instincts took over. you were not losing tech today. you reached out with your hand, the force flowing through you with a strong current, saying thank you.
“i’ve got you,” you whispered. you grabbed ahold of tech, tears rolling down your cheeks as you strained to pull him up and into the rail car. once inside, the power kicked back on and you lurched with the car, racing towards the other side. you wrapped your arms around tech, and surprisingly, he did the same. you melted into him, trying your hardest to keep it together.
“don’t ever do that again,” you muttered against his shoulder.
“i won’t unless i have to, even then apparently you’ll be there to catch me,” he murmured, which was one of the sweetest things tech said. the words were sweet on his tongue because they were true; you’d always have his back.
tech isn’t dead until i see a body. period.
anyways it’s been a while and i apologize! i know i have some requests to get to and i will get to those! i just had to crank this guy out because i am in mourning.
