Chapter Text
Echo found Fives sitting in the rafters of the hanger bay. He didn’t know what had guided him to that spot, but he had gone there with no hesitation. Hadn’t even stopped to check in their new barracks. It was like he had instantly, instinctively known where the other was, and had been right without question.The only thing that had stopped him from going directly there, was the sudden urge to put the gold clips in his hair. He had promised himself that he would wear them for a special occasion, and finally telling Fives his feeling felt pretty damn special.
Finding Fives sitting with his back to the wall and legs hanging over the edge of a large metal beam had him worried, though. The ledge was just wide enough that Fives’s knees hit the edge of it perfectly, his lower legs swinging out in the open. One hard push and he would be tumbling down to the ground far, far below him. Despite the precarious seating, Echo didn’t hesitate to join him. He would never hesitate to be at Fives’s side, no matter the danger.
So, he sat down without saying anything and immediately pressed his shoulder to Fives’s. They continued to just sit in a slightly tense silence for a long moment before Fives was letting out a sudden, very heavy, sigh.
“I’m sorry, Echo. I shouldn’t have behaved like that.”
Echo contemplated what to say to that. He didn’t want to tell Fives it was okay, because it wasn’t. He had hurt him, made him almost cry, even. And he wanted the other to know why he had been so hurt.
“I thought that you were mad about the corporal bars.” he admitted finally, hoping that it would give Fives a bit of perspective.
“You what!” Fives exclaimed, head twisting around to stare at him. “No! Never! Echo, I am so freaking proud of you! No one deserves those more!”
He flushed and just barely resisted the urge to duck his head. Instead, he firmly met Fives’s eyes and asked, “If you didn’t think they should have gone to someone else, then what is your problem? Why did you act like that Fives? It's not like you.”
Fives’s cheeks darkened as well and he gave a small shrug. “I just, well, I…ugh! I don’t want you to have a crush on the Captain!”
Echo blinked a couple times at his exclamation and then said as firmly as he could, “I do not have a crush on Captain Rex.”
Fives gaped at him for a long while. Long enough that Echo had just begun to contemplate reaching out to gently close his mouth when he spoke. “You, you don't?”
“No. Not at all. I admire him, he's a badass who wouldn’t, but in no way do I have any sort of romantic feelings for him.” he shuddered. “At all.”
“Oh!” Fives blurted out, his expression turning lost and embarrassed. “Oh, okay. Well, uhm. That’s good. Good to know.”
“Why?” Echo couldn’t stop himself from asking, a real, nearly desperate, hope growing in his chest. Despite feeling certain that the others saw Fives having feelings, it didn’t mean they were seeing the truth. He needed to hear it from Fives, and he wasn’t sure he could breathe properly until he had.
Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long as Fives was very quickly replying, “Because I want you to have a crush on me!”
His exclamation only hung in the air long enough for Echo to take in an excited inhale before Fives was quickly continuing as he twisted to face Echo fully.
“I want to mean as much to you as you mean to me. I want to be the one who makes you breathless and eager. I want to be the one you look forward to seeing every day, the one who always makes you smile. I want you to love me too, Eyayah, more than I have ever wanted anything.”
Echo felt as if he could have soared. Could have stood up and flown off the ledge they sat on. He felt weightless and alive . Free and whole in a way he never, ever had before. He felt right . All because Fives loved him. Fives loved him .
He beamed, an ear to ear grin spreading across his face that had Fives’s eyes widening.
“Eyayah? Are you just gonna smile at me? What’re you thinking? Is, is that okay?”
“I love you so much, you damned dikut .” he gushed with a laugh. “I’ve been in love with you for so long, I don’t remember a time when I didn’t. You leave me so breathless, I forget how to inhale. You are the person I want at my side, always. I love you, Fives.”
A grin to match Echo’s spread over Fives’s face as he let out a truly delighted laugh.
“You do?”
“Yes, you oblivious idiot! Wasn’t I obvious?”
“No! No, Echo, trust me. If you had been obvious I would have said something long ago! Wasn’t I?”
“Are you kidding me? Of course not! Droidbait even insisted you had feelings for me weeks ago, and I didn’t believe him.”
“Seriously!”
Echo nodded, suddenly much more bashful as he admitted, “I didn’t see how someone as perfect as you would see me like that.”
“Now you’re the one fucking with me! You’re the perfect one.”
“No I’m not!”
“Yes, you are!”
They stared at each other for a moment and then burst into delighted laughter together. Echo didn’t think he had ever been this happy, this carefree. And the feeling only kept growing as Fives kept talking.
“Oh, wow. We wasted a lot of time, didn’t we? We could have had so much more for so long if we had just kriffing paid attention.”
Echo nodded. “Yeah, yeah we really, really did. Hevy said that we’re both stupid. And called you a coward. He might have had a point, at least on the first one.”
“Hevy is an asshole.” he replied and then sighed. “But he’s not wrong. On either count. I was a coward. But screw that, not any more!”
He reached out to cup Echo’s face, his eyes suddenly widening as he did so. “You have gold clips!” he blurted out and Echo laughed.
“I do. They’re my special occasion clips.”
“You look beautiful,” he replied breathlessly. “Glad to know you think this is special.
“The most.” Echo agreed and then added, “That wasn’t what you were going to say, though, was it?”
He shook his head, and then with a determined look in his eyes, he asked, “Eyayah, can I kiss you?”
Echo was pretty sure he had never nodded his head so quickly before. Fives didn’t hesitate, either. As soon as he stopped nodding, he was bending forward to press their lips together.
He had no idea what to expect from a first kiss, but this beautiful sense of right was exactly what he had been hoping for. There were no fireworks, no butterflies. Not like Cutup’s romance novels. Fives’s lips were a bit chapped and the kiss was nothing more than lips pressed to lips. But it was the most perfect, galaxy altering contact that Echo had ever experienced.
Nothing would ever be the same for him now, because Fives loved him. Because Fives had kissed him. Nothing would ever be the same again, and he was more than okay with that. In fact, he was nothing but eager for whatever came next.