When Wrecker comes to 99 crying after another nightmare, 99 starts looking for a solution to the bad dreams that are keeping the young clone awake.
Written for the @wrecker-week Bingo prompt "Lula"
Word count: 1,497
Read on Ao3
Work Text:
99 wakes to a knock on his door. Nobody comes knocking if he's needed to clean, 99 usually just getting a message on his comlink. This must be something else, likely not anything work related. 99's guess is it's a vode needing help in some way.
With a groan, 99 pushes himself upright. The person at the door knocks again, more insistently. "Be right there!" 99 says, not sure if they can even hear him from the other side of the door.
99 doesn't change into his work clothes, just slipping on his boots. Body still adjusting to walking again after laying, 99 makes his way to the door, activating the panel that makes it slide open.
He hadn't expected to see someone so small on the other side.
Wrecker, freshly named a few weeks back, is standing there, tears rolling down his young face. He's shaking, clutching at his shirt with unsteady hands. His sleeves are soaked through, proving that he'd been crying for a long while already. 99 wonders if he'd walked the entire way from the experimental squad's barracks to 99's tiny sleeping quarters whilst crying. He probably did by the looks of it.
“What's the matter?” 99 asks, carefully placing a hand on top of Wrecker's head. Wrecker's face scrunches up, then he bursts out in a sob, grabbing hold of 99's hand. It's hard to tell any of the mumbled words that burst forth from Wrecker apart, but from what 99 does understand, Wrecker's had another bad dream.
It's far from an uncommon occurrence. If anything, the dreams have been getting worse. But for Wrecker to be here, alone, something has to be wrong. He always goes to his brothers first and they can usually calm him. Wrecker tells 99 about the dream later during the day, since he finds it hard to forget the disturbing images his brain bothers him with.
“Are you and your brothers fighting?” 99 asks. That's the only option that 99 can think of. Wrecker shakes his head.
Wiping at his face, sniffing quietly as he tries to control his tears, Wrecker looks up at 99. “Don't wanna wake them,” he gets out, scrubbing hard at his face to rid himself of the tears. "They have to sleep," Wrecker sniffs. "They have training tomorrow!"
99 ducks into his quarters quickly to grab a tissue for Wrecker, handing it to him. As Wrecker wipes his face, 99 crouches down in front of him, ignoring his aching leg and back. "You need to sleep too. How about you tell me about your dream whilst we walk back to your barracks?"
Wrecker nods, putting the wet tissue in his pocket before taking 99's hand.
They don't walk very fast, 99 already slowed down by his bad leg and Wrecker walking slow because he's crying. 99 listens carefully as Wrecker talks, trying to offer ways Wrecker can push the bad thoughts aside.
The dream sounds like it was confusing, but seems to boil down to the Kaminoans taking Wrecker's brothers away, then taking Wrecker away too because he was too weak. There's not much 99 can say to assure Wrecker. Those are both things with a real possibility of happening, as much as 99 hates to admit it. He just tries to tell Wrecker that they're too good at training to be taken away. It only works somewhat.
At the barracks, 99 has to leave Wrecker, not wanting to wake his vode by entering. The young clone hugs him before he goes, clinging on to 99. 99 almost can't leave, wanting to stay and make sure Wrecker can sleep again. But he's not even supposed to be up, let alone staying here with Wrecker and his brothers.
Walking back to his own sleeping quarters alone feels long. 99 spends the entire time worrying about Wrecker. By not waking his brothers, he gives them a better chance at doing well during training, but what about Wrecker? The dreams are only getting worse, meaning he'll get less and less sleep. 99 needs to think of something and he needs to do so fast, before Wrecker's performance drops enough to warrant decommissioning.
-
An idea finally comes to 99 when he finds Hunter, Tech and Crosshair arguing about the very thing 99 is looking for a solution for. He bumps into them on the way to his sleeping quarters, Tech loudly declaring that stunning Wrecker would make him sleep but likely wouldn't be very good for his health.
“Don't say that,” Crosshair hisses. “We're not stunning Wrecker!”
“I was merely saying that it technically would be an option,” Tech says, holding his datapad to his chest.
“I'm going to have to agree with Crosshair, Tech'ika,” 99 says, repressing a laugh. He'd be worried, but at their age, they're not allowed real blasters anyway, so there's very little risk of any of them actually stunning Wrecker.
Hunter's face scrunches in concentration. “There has to be something we can give Wrecker to stop his dreams! He's falling asleep during training.” Despite only being a little older than the rest of the batch, Hunter already feels responsible for his vode.
“Nothing that hurts or involves doctors,” Crosshair spits, glaring at Tech. Tech in turn rolls his eyes.
“It was a hypothetical suggestion.”
Then 99 remembers a conversation he'd had with an injured trooper a while back. 99 had been cleaning the medbay, purposefully doing so late as to not disturb anyone. One of the troopers sleeping on one of the uncomfortable medical cots startled awake when 99 passed him. He was in his mid teens by the look of it.
After greeting 99, he seemed to look for something, coming up empty.
“Have you seen Dusty?” he'd asked. 99 thought he was asking for one of the medics at first, so he offered to get someone for the trooper.
A peculiar expression crossed the clones face as he clarified that he had been talking about a stuffed animal, a bantha to be precise. 99 still wasn't sure what the man was talking about, but when he spotted something furry on the floor he picked it up. It really did look like a bantha, just gray.
When 99 hands it to the clone he smiles. “Thanks. These narrow beds keep making me drop her,” he says, placing the bantha toy on his knees to brush her fur down with his hands.
99 ended up asking the trooper what the stuffed bantha was for. He explained that she helped him feel more comfortable falling asleep. 99 never got the clones name, but the chance encounter may just help out Wrecker. There's no guarantee it'll work, but it's certainly worth a shot.
“Do you know what stuffed toys are?” 99 asks the boys. Hunter and Crosshair shake their heads, whilst Tech starts typing on his datpad.
“They are usually animals sewn from fabric and stuffed with something like cotton wool. These animals act as comfort items, often aiding in sleep or stress reduction,” Tech reads out loud.
Hunters eyes go wide. “Do you think something like that could help Wrecker?”
“There's no harm in trying,” 99 says.
“Where are we going to get one?” Crosshair huffs.
“We won't. We're going to make one,” 99 smiles.
-
“99, 99, look!” Wrecker exclaims running towards the janitor as he works. He's got the stuffed animal 99 and Wrecker's brothers have been working on all week clutched to his chest.
“What have you got there?” 99 asks. He'd collected all the materials for the stuffed tooka and had done a lot of the sewing, but 99 hadn't seen it as necessary to take the credit for making it. She'd likely mean most to Wrecker coming from his brothers anyway.
“This is Lula,” Wrecker says, holding it up so 99 can see it. He briefly wonders if Wrecker or his brothers named her. 99 found the fabric in various places, but always made sure what he chose was soft. “She's a soldier, like we're going to be! But she fights bad dreams,” Wrecker explains.
99 smiles. “Is she good at her job?”
“Mhm,” Wrecker nods, hugging Lula to his chest again. “She's amazing.”
“I'm glad to hear it Wrecker,” 99 says, ruffling Wrecker's short hair.
“Hunter won't tell me where he got her, but I don't care,” Wrecker continues.
99 laughs. “Where ever she came from, I'm sure she's glad she found her way to you.”
Wrecker beams up at 99. “I'm going to take really good care of her,” Wrecker announces seriously. 99's sure he will. Standing there with a pleased look on his face, Wrecker just holds Lula for a while, then realization crosses his face. “I have training!” he exclaims, saying goodbye to 99 before running off.
99 laughs again, glad he could at least help Wrecker a little bit. He's not sure how long this will last, but even if it's just a little while, the effort will have been worth it.
summary: When Omega wakes up one morning to see a coating of snow outside, she wakes up Wrecker to explore it.
note: here is my contribution to @wrecker-week! this fic is full of weather inaccuracies but i don't care lol, i think it's fun to write pabu as having seasons 😂
He couldn’t tell if it was part of a dream or not, but someone was saying his name.
“Psst, Wrecker!”
“Hey, Wrecker!”
“Wake up!”
Along with the last statement, the feeling of someone leaping on top of him was what finally got him to open his eyes, only to be faced with a beaming Omega. “Hnnnng?” He grumbled, still not entirely sure if he was dreaming or not and still definitely half-asleep. “What time is it?”
“I don’t know, but look outside!” She said brightly. “It SNOWED!”
Well, that definitely caught his attention. “Really?” he whispered, a smile crossing his face.
Omega nodded, a grin to match her brother’s having completely taken over her face. “Wanna go out and see what it’s like for ourselves?”
Wrecked smiled, already putting Lula aside and beginning to get out of bed. “Of course!”
Careful not to wake the rest of the home’s sleeping inhabitants, the three of them (Batcher included) snuck downstairs and out the door to see the small backyard completely coated in a thick layer of snow, with fat flakes still falling from the morning sky. The path that led directly to the beach had the same covering, and Wrecker laughed as Omega opened her mouth to try and catch a snowflake on her tongue.
It wasn’t as cold outside as Wrecker was expecting, but he supposed that this snow would be a short-lived presence, unlike if they lived on a planet where this was the norm. He had heard that Pabu experienced different seasons throughout the year, and Shep had mentioned that occasionally they saw snow, he just didn’t expect to see it so soon. It was certainly a far cry from Kamino’s weather and landscape, which was always the same (and always depressing).
Batcher had already sprinted out into the yard and flopped down into the snow before Wrecker and Omega had stepped off the patio, barking happily as she tossed small piles of snow up into the air.
Omega grabbed Wrecker’s hand. “We should make snow angels!”
It took a few tries to successfully get up off the ground in a way that didn’t destroy the freshly made snow angel, but neither Wrecker nor Omega cared if there were a few strange-looking ones across the yard. Even Batcher joined in on the fun (though she didn’t exactly seem to grasp the shape they were going for, preferring to just wiggle among the snow before popping up and finding a fresh patch to attack).
For so much of his life, Wrecker had either lived among the too bright lights and boring gray walls of the clone facilities on Kamino, or had spent his time dodging danger and peril on the front lines of the war. Here, laughing with his sister in a place they could really call home, was quickly becoming one of his favorite memories in the entire galaxy.
“Hey,” he whispered loudly, and Omega immediately turned her attention to him. “We should throw snowballs at the others to wake them up.”
A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes. “Definitely. They won’t know what hit them.”
But before Wrecker could respond, or they could start assembling their snowy ammunition, a different voice entered the conversation. “Who won’t know what hit them?”
Freezing in their tracks, both Wrecker and Omega slowly turned to see Hunter and Crosshair standing a few paces from the door, clearly having just woken up. Batcher barked excitedly before sprinting over to them, and Wrecker could tell that Omega was trying as hard as she could to think of something to say. “Nothing,” was what she eventually decided on, but there was really no way to not sound at least slightly guilty in this situation. “We were just talking about what we wanted to do before the snow melted.”
“Really?” Crosshair responded, raising his eyebrows. “Because it sounded like you were going to hit us with snowballs.”
Omega’s eyes widened. “Noooooooo.”
“We were going to invite everyone out for a snowball fight later though,” Wrecker jumped in. Even if they no longer had the element of surprise, he didn’t want to give up the idea.
“What about now then?” Crosshair responded. “Unless you’re both too scared to go up against us.”
Wrecker and Omega exchanged glances as matching smiles began to grow on their faces. “Definitely not!” Omega said, and Wrecker nodded, pushing one of his fists against the other palm in a (mock) threatening gesture.
“Then you’re on!” Hunter said, him and Crosshair immediately taking off towards the side of the house for cover.
From that point on, there was no time to waste. As Omega began to pass (expertly formed) snowballs over to Wrecker to launch at Crosshair and Hunter, Batcher could be found running back and forth between the teams, barking excitedly and occasionally stealing some of the ammo for herself (to eat, not to throw).
By the time a truce had been called and everyone headed back inside to make a cup of hot cocoa, the perfectly smooth blanket of snow that had laid across the yard when Wrecker first looked outside was ruined, but he didn’t care. It was all going to melt anyway, and the craters and divots outside were only another reminder of the fun they had, and how special this moment had been for his family.
WEATHER WRECKER LIKES IT OR NOT by Aelfwynn on ao3
Wrecker is a big dude, but he can't stand the cold. While on a Clone Wars mission, he sets aside his own comfort when Clone Force 99 is stuck in the middle of a 'meteorological event.'
My first Wrecker centric fic, for @Wrecker-Week .
Bingo Card Prompt - "Warmth"
Here are the works that were posted for the event - you can also see some of these lovely creations in our AO3 Collection!
If you haven't already, please show some love to these amazing pieces of art and writing and their creators! Thank you to everyone who participated in showing Wrecker some appreciation this month :)
Art:
Armor Painting by @totallywizard07
Baking by @tlmtwelve
Choking Hazard (Wrecker x OC) by @separatistnightmare
Dragon AU/Protective by @squad-724
Dragon AU by @tlmtwelve
Dragon AU by @thecoffeelorian
Fight & Lula by @thecoffeelorian
First Kiss (Wrecker x OC) by @teesy738
First Kiss by @tlmtwelve
Free Space by @tlmtwelve
Goth Wrecker by @wings-and-beskargam
Hand holding by @vikushat
Hand holding by @thecoffeelorian
Hand holding by @tlmtwelve
Human Shield (Wrecker x OC) by @separatistnightmare
Imperial AU by @tlmtwelve
Lula & Hugs by @squad-724
Lula & Hugs by @tlmtwelve
Lula by @separatistnightmare
Medieval AU by @separatistnightmare
Monster AU by @tlmtwelve
Name Origin by @tlmtwelve
Nightmares by @tlmtwelve
Pabu Beach Day by @tlmtwelve
Pabu Beach Day by @electrikworm
Pabu Beach Day by @thecoffeelorian
Pirate AU by @tlmtwelve
Protective by @tlmtwelve
Scar Origin/Armor Painting by @totallywizard07
Scar Origin by @thecoffeelorian
Sketches by @deerspringdreams
Training (Wrecker x OC) by @deerspringdreams
Trans Wrecker by @electrikworm
Untitled by @vikushat
Untitled by @lonewolflupe
Warmth by @tlmtwelve
Warmth (Wrecker x OC) by @separatistnightmare
Wrecker's Nightmare by @vikushat
Wrecker Study by @vikushat
Writing:
Borgified by @gun-roswell
Hold on Tight by @electrikworm
Like New by @electrikworm
Lula by @electrikworm
My profile ever so pretty by @gun-roswell
Nightmare by @electrikworm
On the precipice, watching the storms by @gun-roswell
Snowy Surprises by @ghostofskywalker
“Thanks for keeping quiet, this one was ready to pop!” (Wrecker x Fem!Reader NSFW) by Crosshairs_dumb_pimp_gf (AO3)
Weather Wrecker Likes It or Not by Aelfwynn (AO3)
Wrapped in Love (Wrecker x Fem!Reader) by @ireadwithmyears
Wrecks and Lula - Here We Go Again! by @gun-roswell
Headcanons:
Explosions and Demolitions Expert by @sunshinesdaydream
Throwback Thursday:
Accidental First Kiss (Wrecker x GN!Reader) by @sunshinesdaydream
Knight in Plastoid Armor (Wrecker x Fem!Reader) by @ghostofskywalker
Playing Pretend (Wrecker x Fem!Twi-Lek!Reader NSFW) by @jetii
