tech's most pronounced love language would be gift giving
and not the kind of gifts where it's showy and extravagant—he'd bring you little things tied to sentiment or a memory: a smooth stone on some ocean planet where you both got up early to watch the sunrise; part of a scomp link from the droid you shot just before it could creep up on him; a pendant welded from various pieces of the marauder he'd saved each time you had to repair the hull; or some random leaf because he just "saw it and thought of you"
(you keep everything he gives you, and you remember each reason for why he had given them to you, but your lockbox is kinda getting heavy)
he braces his hand over your headrest when he backs out of the garage, and he takes you down those long roads, right when the sky starts to purple and dip dark into the night, one hand on the wheel and the other on your thigh. just you, him, and the sound of the engine under your feet as you drive with no destination planned.
sometimes you talk so much that your throat feels parched by the end of the drive from rapid-fire banter, off-key singing (more like belting, really), and the type of laughter that makes him pull off the road just so he can clutch at his stomach as his breathless laughter twines with yours.
other times, you just sit in a silence that reminds you of your favorite small comforts: the smell of an old book or the quiet glory of a setting sun cast from under the clouds. your eyes are fixed on the passing scenery blurring by, but every now and then, he rubs his thumb over your thigh, that gentle reminder, that soft and sweet: hi, hello, i’m here, i’m here before you drift off to sleep.
and when you get back home, stuck in that fuzzy limbo between wakefulness and sleep, you feel him unbuckle you from your seat, slipping his arms under you and lifting you close against his chest while he nudges the door shut. (and when you wake up, he’s right there beside you.)
the latest ep of tbb has me very emotional because wrecker gave omega a place with a full viewport of the stars bless his heart, but assuming that they have bunks on the marauder like the ghost, crosshair’s is still empty.
and i’d like to think they’ve left it exactly as it was when they first got off at kamino after order 66. it’s crosshair’s bed, so it’s still neat as a pin, but there are signs of life—a stray tin of toothpicks, a polishing rag, little odds and ends from past missions. no one fixes the sheets or tidies it up or tucks it away. it’s just left as it is: a little time capsule of when things were good and when they were whole.
the boys don’t clean it out because they don’t have the heart to, but mostly because they want to keep it ready for him when they finally bring him home.
tech spends his stipends on specialty caf beans and hand-grinds them himself (strong preference for percolation brewing)
tech also has absurdly terrible posture and will not sit properly on a chair unless he's manning the helm
crosshair has tmj and has to sleep with a mouthguard
crosshair collects small mementos from each mission in a lockbox (e.g. droid fingers, small rocks, gifts from natives)
hunter has auditory and tactile hyperesthesia and got his blacks refitted offworld to a less triggering texture (he'll rarely take off his gloves even around his brothers)
hunter keeps a picture of his brothers tucked under his chestplate
echo does, in fact, have a functional prosthetic arm/hand, but he generally avoids putting it on because he's more comfortable without
echo plays negotiator for the few actual arguments that arise (aka he smacks the boys upside the head and chews them out for an hour)
wrecker knows how to safely crack spines to relieve tension and is incredibly knowledgeable about kinesiology/pressure points
wrecker's the most sensitive to the emotional signals of his brothers and can easily pick up on when one of the boys is feeling off (though he isn't the most tactful about it)
body temperature-wise, wrecker and crosshair run hot, and hunter, echo, and tech run cold
hunter and wrecker wake up ridiculously early, crosshair and echo wake up at normal hours, and tech sleeps in because he stays up all night
echo’s a better splicer than tech, and tech will wake him up at ungodly hours to bother him about lines of code (sometimes echo calls him fives in his waking disorientation)
echo’s implant ports ache when it gets cold/dry and wrecker will massage any pain out for him
hunter and wrecker have a secret handshake (they all do, but they're the only ones who live by it)
crosshair and echo can have the pettiest, snarkiest exchanges that go on for hours, but it's all in good fun
tech has medical know-how but crosshair’s the one with steady hands, so tech dictates medical procedures to crosshair for minor excisions and stitches
the boys all pitched in to get hunter one of those fancy soundproof headphones and now he won’t sleep without them
when no one’s looking, they all babytalk the gonk droid
