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Medics are pretty scary, Fives thinks.
Fives doesn’t know what the longnecks looked for when they tapped cadets for medic training, but he figures steadiness had to be pretty high up the list. Every medic Fives has ever met is the kind of dangerous that can sneak up on you. All specializations are like that, to an extent; every one has a type. Heavy gunners are loud and flashy. Pilots are cocky and quick. Marines are stubborn and serious.
ARC troopers are utterly confident in their own skills. They’re trained to think that way, to know honestly and intimately exactly what they are capable of. Fives never used to be like that, but it’s been a long time since Rishi Station. These days, he’s settled in his skin. He knows he fits the bill.
Medics, though, are steady. They aren’t flashy. They’ll get loud, and they’ll get in your face, but it can be hard to clock exactly how dangerous they are.
Of course, maybe some of that is just Kix.
When it comes to injuries, only an idiot crosses Kix twice. But Kix is a combat medic, and he’s just as capable as any other trooper when it comes to shooting a battle droid right in its immobile faceplate. More capable, probably. Fives is usually a little busy when there’s shooting going on, but he’s never seen Kix miss.
He has seen Kix reload, and what he’d give to see that again. In the shipboard medbay or on the battlefield, Kix has the steadiest hands Fives has ever seen.
There’s a saying Echo had picked up on one of their deployments, Fives doesn’t remember where. “Still waters run deep.” They’d looked it up. Kix might not qualify as still waters, exactly, but Fives thinks the sentiment stands up pretty well. There’s more to him than meets the eye, and while he’s a fairly talkative vod, he doesn’t say much about what he thinks outside of medical situations.
And maybe Fives finds that interesting, and maybe he’d like to hear a little more of what Kix thinks sometimes. Maybe that’s why he’s one of the last ones to head to the med tent, at the end of the post-battle rush when Kix slows down a little and falls into a more methodical rhythm before dragging himself off to crash.
“—ves. Trooper, you with me?”
Fives startles, spine jerking straight before he registers that Kix is just trying to get him to check in. “Yeah. I’m good.” He glances down at the leg Kix had been working on and asks, “Am I?”
Kix cracks a smile, there and gone. “Yeah, you’re good. Just try not to strain it too much. Keep thinking your deep thoughts. Maybe that’ll keep you out of trouble.”
Fives grins. “Captain would say my deep thoughts are what get me into trouble.”
“The trouble thoughts aren’t that deep, vod.”
Fives laughs a little. “Maybe all my thoughts are trouble.”
That gets Kix to look at him again, sidelong, as he turns to start packing supplies away. “Yeah? What are you thinking about today, then?”
Fives could tell him. Could say that he’s fascinated by the way Kix’s hands are just as steady saving life or taking it. Could say that his kind of dangerous is hard and unyielding, not like a fist to the face but like bedrock under boots. That it’s perfectly reliable but snuck up on Fives anyway.
“Personality types,” Fives says instead, because the battle has been over for a couple of hours, but Kix’s job is only just done. It’s true enough, if incomplete, and a bit less forward. Now’s not the time for Fives to smirk up at Kix and tell him how Fives likes watching his hands work.
“Oh?”
“Yeah. You think all heavy gunners are like that?”
Kix chuckles. “Seems likely. All the ones I’ve met, at least. You think all scouts are like that?”
Fives hums and lets his eyes focus on Kix’s hands again. “A little sneaky, a little spooky?”
“Perceptive,” Kix agrees. “And a little smug about it.” He slots painkillers, gauze, tape, and tools back into their places. Precise, even with a task as mundane as this. He knows exactly what he has on hand and exactly where it goes. No hurry, but no hesitation, either.
“Yep. Sharpshooters?”
“You know, I’d say cocky, but I’ve seen the Captain work. It’s not cocky if he’s right.”
“Oh, I’ll have to quote that next time I get booed for exaggerating.”
Kix snorts. “You can try, but it won’t help. The ARC trooper type isn’t exactly humble.” He slants a smirk sideways at Fives, who tries not to jerk his gaze away from Kix’s hands.
Fives raises his eyes to meet Kix’s and lets himself smirk back. “No point in pretending not to know what we’re good at.” Force knows they put enough sweat into figuring it out.
Kix hums, and it might be an agreement. He slides his eyes back to his work and doesn’t look at Fives as he says, “And what’s the medic type, then?”
“What, you don’t know?” Fives teases.
Kix smirks down at his pack. “I want to know what you think.”
“Steady,” Fives says. His voice comes out slightly too serious, not as teasing as he meant. “Not calm, maybe, but solid. Precise.”
“All good traits for a medic to have,” Kix agrees lightly. He closes the medkits, one after another. “Have to keep a cool head. Same for snipers.”
Fives blinks and reassesses the direction of the conversation. “Yeah? Makes sense.”
“I’m a fair hand with a sniper rifle,” Kix confides as he stacks the kits and tucks his personal med pack away. “Not officially qualified. I’m usually needed on the ground more than I am in a tower. But I was considered for a sniper specialization.”
Hmm. Maybe Fives doesn’t need to reassess that much. “Steady,” he says again, and again his voice comes out too thoughtful. That’s alright, though. “You seem like the type.”
Kix chuckles and doesn’t say anything else.
The med tent is as tidy as it’s going to get. Kix doesn’t move.
Fives stands, remembering at the last second not to hop to his feet when he’s just gotten a leg injury treated. “Thanks, Kix,” he says. He smiles. “Get some rest, yeah? I’ll see you later.”
Kix gives him a once-over, eyes narrowed slightly. “Hopefully not back in here.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it. The medic type is dangerous.” And with that, Fives ducks out of the tent.
He’s flirted more than he meant to, but that’s okay.
He’ll talk to Kix again later, when they’re back shipside. Maybe even ask him down to the range and see just how skilled those hands are.