Archive of Our Own

Ezra was worried. He knew that it had taken the existing Ghost Crew a bit to warm up to him, especially since his streetrat attitude tended to get him into trouble. He’d done his very best not to get in trouble with his most recent escapades though and had mostly succeeded. Only one Stormtrooper had noticed him slipping through the crowd with a meiloorun. And he’d gotten back to the Ghost with relative ease running across rooftops.

He had a gift for every member of the crew now and he hoped they would like them. He hoped they would accept them too. He didn’t know if they’d gotten him anything and…and it would be his first Life Day in a long time. The last one he’d had was quiet, and the setting had been tense. He hadn’t understood why at the time, but now he did. The Empire had been cracking down harder than ever. 

Ezra tucked the last item into his bag, taking care not to shake it up too much. He didn’t think Hera would be too happy if he had to ask for another bag. He crept through the grass out where they’d parked the Ghost and Ezra nearly stepped on a tooka, freezing before he could.
“Oope, sorry little guy!”
Ezra stood, managing to sidestep the little critter and not anger it. He’d done that before and Zeb had laughed at him rather than helping. Ezra wasn’t keen on repeating that experience. Now was the hard part. Sneaking onto the Ghost without anyone noticing or asking why he’d been gone. That was something he didn’t really appreciate about being with people and having a family…of sorts. Hera was lovely, so kind, and Ezra liked her, but she constantly wanted to know where he’d been or where he was going and it was exhausting. Sabine wasn’t quite as pushy, but she certainly was judgy. Zeb was super annoying about that kind of thing and Kanan was kind of Ezra’s Master and was teaching him to do Jedi stuff, so he had to listen to Kanan, even if he didn’t want to.

As much as there were things that Ezra didn’t like about living with Ghost Crew, there was an awful lot he did like about them, and he would always consider them his second family. He wouldn’t trade them for anything and he hoped they liked these things. What little he’d been able to scavenge. Sabine’s had been the hardest, the young Mandalorian was an expert in so much and Ezra doubted she would appreciate substandard items that would be a serious disservice to her talent. But the slightly explosive and delicate item in Ezra’s bag right this moment would solve that. It was a liquid explosive that could be mixed into paint. A perfect pair to the gift that Hera had gotten Sabine. 

Getting something for Hera had been hard. Which is why he’d hunted down the meiloorun. At least he knew she liked meilooruns and it was something he could snatch from a street shop easily enough without having to go to a full on factory. Ezra had debated getting a new piece for Chopper, their grumpy droid, but he’d seen that those pieces were extremely expensive and he probably wouldn’t be able to “borrow” that without being noticed. Oh well. He’d settled for the rare fruit. Jogan fruit was more common on Lothal, and hunting down a meiloorun had taken a while, but he’d managed it. He just hoped that Kanan hadn’t had the same idea. Speaking of Kanan, his gift was a bit more on the simpler side. He’d found the voice recorder with a few recordings on it already, but after listening to them, found they weren’t of interest, wiped it and hoped that maybe Kanan would enjoy recording something. Maybe his Jedi teachings?

Zeb had been hard to get for too. The lasat was pretty private, and when he wasn’t he was just a massive jerk. Ezra had even considered not getting something for Zeb, but he had.
Zeb was to receive a blaster polish and a new rag that Ezra had snatched. It was Imperial grade, meaning it was really good and hopefully good enough quality that Zeb would actually use it on his bo-rifle. 

Luckily for Ezra, no one noticed him and he could slide his gifts in his bag into the air vent and go to the common area as Hera called them together.
“As you all know, it’s Life Day..”
She started and Zeb groaned, causing the twi’lek pilot to glare at him.
“What? You do this every year! ”
Zeb grumbled and Kanan snorted.
“You’ve only been with us for two years, Zeb.”

“Yes! And she does this every year! ”
Zeb complained and Ezra sighed. He would’ve loved to be able to do this every year.

“I don’t know. I kind of like doing it.”
Sabine weighed in and Ezra smiled back at her.

Hera made a disgruntled noise and all attention turned back to the irate twi’lek.
“As I was saying, I know it’s a bit late notice, and we have Ezra with us now, but if you did anything for anyone else, please go fetch your gifts. We’ll head off planet once we’re done with the gift exchange.”
Hera instructed and everyone shot up, including Ezra, and Ezra was glad to see he wasn’t alone.

They scattered, and Ezra had to wait for Zeb to get what he’d gotten before he slipped in and retrieved his own stash, and returned to the common area.
Hera looked at him and smiled warmly.
“You didn’t have to get us anything, Ezra.”
She said and Ezra shook his head.
“I wanted to.”
That seemed to be good enough for Hera and Ezra was saved from anything more touchy feely as the others came back, an air of excitement filling the air. 

The gift exchange started in earnest and Ezra watched as Zeb kicked them off, giving everyone but Ezra something, and Sabine kept to that trend. Kanan did his gifts as well and finally Hera had finished giving her gifts out. Ezra’s stomach had sunk so low. Maybe they’d forgotten about him? Probably had. He wasn’t family to them as they were to him.

Ezra shifted a little, swallowing his hurt.
“I…uh…I got you all gifts too.”
He said quietly, not meeting anyones eyes.

Hera smiled, and her hand settled on Ezra’s knee and Ezra barely managed not to flinch.
“Alright, Ezra, you’re welcome to give gifts too.”
She prompted and Ezra slowly produced each present, quietly rambling as to why he’d chosen each thing.

By the end of it, he was holding back tears, only to have Hera smiling softly and Kanan nudging him.
“We didn’t forget about you, Ezra. We just wanted to give you it all together.”
Kanan explained and Ezra’s head snapped up.
“Wha? You didn’t…I’m…I thought that.”
The hot tears that he’d been holding back started to come and Ezra quickly and roughly brushed them away.

Hera moved closer, concern clouding her expression.
“Oh, I’m sorry Ezra. We should’ve told you we were saving the best for last. We weren’t thinking.”

Zeb nodded and Sabine shuffled guiltily. Kanan gently tugged Ezra to his feet and they led him down to the cargobay.
Ezra’s upset was forgotten when he saw what they’d gotten. They’d captured an Imperial scout speeder, and it looked like Zeb had fiddled with it. There was the helmet from his stint in the Imperial academy and it looked as though Sabine had painted it as well as the speeder itself. Ezra’s didn’t know how long it’d been since he’d had these emotions and he looked back at his new family with gratitude.
“ Thank you. Happy Life Day.” He croaked out, for once not caring that he was starting to cry.