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Echo entered the training ground. It was a small, enclosed course, in contrast to the large, open training grounds he and his brothers were used to running over and over again. He found Aris in the middle of it, taking down practice droids with precision and finesse. He was very nervous to speak to them, as it had been awhile since they last spoke. He saw they were very focused on their training, so he stood for a moment to observe.
They weren’t armed with their incredible lightsaber. Instead, they wielded one of the staffs that sometimes the clones would use in close combat training. Even with a blunt object, they could find just how to disable a droid in their proximity. He knew Aris had run this course countless times, so it seemed like second nature to them.
The difficulty of fighting droids in close combat, however, came when they were out of range. A turret was mounted on one of the transforming platforms high above the floor presented a difficult task to keep track of for Aris as they moved across the course. They struggled to be wary of stray laser fire alongside the droids they were currently dispatching. Aris ducked behind cover, trying to assess their next course of action as they were pinned down. Echo watched, holding his breath, silently cheering them on. There were only a handful of droids left.
They rolled out of their cover, sweeping the feet of a droid with the staff, knocking them off their pedals and using the force to push it into another droid. Once they hit the ground, they were out of the fight. They turned to the droids farther down the ridge, dodging fire as they rushed toward them. Echo was in awe how jedi were able to have such physical prowess and somehow make it look easy. In the few chances he saw them in combat, he noticed Aris had a flow and finesse to their movements, almost as if they were dancing with their weapon. It entranced him every time he had the privilege of witnessing it.
His admiration was cut off when he realized Aris was being overwhelmed on the course. As they tried to clear a group of droids, the turret managed to land a hit on Aris as they turned their back to it. Echo winced, knowing all too well how the sting of those practice rounds hurt. As they tried to recover from the shot, another droid took the opportunity to land another hit. Aris let out a yell as they collapsed, temporarily stunned by the blasts. Echo stepped forward without thinking, a protectiveness flashing over him, like a spark of electricity. He stopped, reminding himself this was only a training course.
The grounds’ AI disabled the droids and reset the floor to its normal setting once Aris was defeated. They laid there on the ground for a few more moments before dragging themselves up. Echo could see them trying to collect their breath as they rose to their feet.
As Aris finally stood, they surveyed the droids around them, a frustrated huff escaping their lips. Their eyes looked to the entrance of the training ground, spotting a clone waiting there. Aris recognized the clone, and a tired smile appeared on their face as they raised a hand.
“Echo! I’ll be up there in a second!” They called out to the clone.
Echo weakly raised a hand in return, an awkward smile on his face. Aris grabbed the staff from the floor and began to approach him on the entrance platform.
As Aris got closer, Echo saw that they weren’t wearing their usual robes, but only in the tight bodysuit that was under those robes. He fought to not focus too much on them, but was further distracted by the light sheen of sweat on them that made their clothes stick to the silhouette of their body. He could feel his face already start to heat up.
Aris passed him on the platform to put away the staff in a locker near the entrance. As they walked past him, Echo noticed the body suit revealed a deep v-cut into the middle of their back, revealing quite a bit of skin and pumped back muscles. His jaw became slack at the sight before him. So rarely had a clone seen this much skin on someone who wasn’t one of his brothers. He felt like this was a privilege, but he had to compose himself as the inappropriate thoughts clouding his mind were very wrong.
Aris turned to him, a subtle smile on their lips, eyes gleaming at Echo, “How long were you watching? Hopefully you didn’t see me fail horribly at the course.”
Echo closed his open mouth, words sputtering out of it. “O-oh no, not long. I just came in moments ago,” He lied.
Aris gave a hum, “You seem to forget my sense as a jedi. I was humoring you. I know you saw that.” Aris said with a slight smirk.
“Right…” Echo mentally scolded himself for forgetting that detail and lying to them.
“So, what brings you here? I assume you want to speak to me.” They leaned against the railing of the platform next to him.
“Y-Yeah, um, Captain Falco said I could find you here. I came here to… apologize.” A nervous hand came to rub on the back of his neck.
Aris looked confused, “Apologize? For what?”
Echo let out a sigh, “For my behavior the other day.”
Aris now knew what he was referring to. At the beginning of the week, Aris was visiting Echo and the rest of the Domino squad in their barracks. A rather rude clone from another squad came up to them and was making crude comments about them. He called them things like a “whore” and more vulgar words for being so casual with the clones. The comments did offend Aris, but they didn’t see it to be the right time to scold this clone. However, Echo quickly stepped in to defend them, even coming close to getting into a fight with the clone. His brothers egged Echo on and berated the rude clone, which made it difficult for Aris to defuse the situation.
Aris had to snap into a stern commanding officer to force all of the clones into submission, after all, they were the Commander. It was the only way to gain control and make sure a serious fight didn’t break out. The Kaminoans would not appreciate it and could remove Aris from teaching clones. But while they were berating the clones, they couldn’t help but ignore how flustered they were when Echo was protective of them and was the first to defend them. He genuinely wanted to make sure they were safe.
Now, they regretted being so stern with Echo after telling him to stand down. They didn’t like using their authority over him, and would much rather be on a more even level with him and his brothers.
Echo continued, “How I acted was uncalled for. I know you’re more than capable of taking care of yourself, and I acted without thinking about my actions.”
Aris knew there were serious consequences for disorderly conduct, and perhaps Echo was worried if they ratted him out. Maybe this was why he was apologizing.
“Echo, it’s okay. I didn’t report you, I know you were just trying to help me. I only reported the disrespectful clone. In fact, I should be apologizing,” Aris crossed their arms as they looked away from him, their face upset, “I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I’m sorry, I was struggling to handle the situation.”
His eyes widened, “I appreciate it, really, but I don’t need an apology. I wasn’t worried about you reporting me. It’s just–”
He cut himself off, struggling to find his words. Aris looked at him, trying to find the answer in his eyes. He took a brave step forward.
“I thought you were avoiding me the past several days because I hurt you in some way.”
It was Aris’ turn to have flustered cheeks. They realized why he was here.
“I wasn’t avoiding you. I was busy with a lot of duties this week.” Aris said, averting their eyes from his gaze. Push down the feelings , they reminded themself, echoing the words of their master.
“But you weren’t teaching any close combat training, you were never in the rec room, and you didn’t visit us at all in the cafeteria this week.” He said referring to him and his batch mates, but a chord struck in his heart. You weren’t with me, was what he really wanted to tell them.
Aris straightened their back and stated in a calm, corrective manner, “Jedi duties. Sometimes they come above my duties as a teacher.”
Echo blinked. He was sure Aris didn’t mean it, but that tone, it was cold . Not mean or harsh, but devoid of any emotion. This was not the Aris Echo knew. Sure, this was them standing before him, but these words and attitude was not their own. This was a poised, distant, and closed personality. Aris was not this. They had an air of familiarity and warmth. Above all, no other cadet was as close and open to them as him. This unfamiliar composure was vaguely familiar, but not from them. He was digging his memory to find where he saw this before. Until it dawned on him, the only other jedi in this complex from the few times he witnessed her.
“You sound like General Ti.” Echo said, feeling a little betrayed.
Aris broke from their facade, to their shock that he could look through that to the real them. They finally gazed upon his face, to meet his eyes. They were expecting him to be angry and frustrated with them, but didn’t find any of that. Instead, he looked hurt, his eyebrows in a tight knit. He couldn’t look at them.
Aris let out a sigh, regretting making him feel this way, “Echo…”
“Why do you keep doing that?” He asked, his emotions bubbling at the surface.
“Doing what?” Aris asked, confused.
“One moment you act like we are the closest of friends, you make me feel special, and the next you treat me just like the Kaminoans.” He said in a quiet hiss at the end, “It’s so confusing.” He trailed off.
Aris’ face turned hot when he said they made him feel ‘special’. This emotion was a rare sight from him. They knew that comment about the Kaminoans was from just how heated he was, he definitely felt hurt. Aris didn’t take it personally. This must have been really distressing for him. Not being around them was distressing to him. Like it was just as distressing for Aris.
“You are special, Echo. Don’t forget that for a second.” They sternly reminded him. His scrunched up face slowly started to loosen. “But, you don’t realize what you make me feel.”
Aris took a step toward him, “Truthfully, when I was avoiding you it wasn’t because you hurt me, it was because you made me feel dangerous emotions. I am a jedi, I cannot have attachments. But you… you make me want to risk that.”
They could feel their chest heaving at their confession. The lump in their throat and the mental block that fought to keep their words from spilling out was broken. Echo’s face and body was stiff, but behind his darting eyes he was processing their words. In the silence between them, it felt like the cold and sterile air froze in the training ground.
They took another brave step, hand reaching for his that was gripping onto the railing on the platform. They’ve felt the touch of each other before, either from sparring in training or bumping into each other in close quarters, but this was different now. The brush of their fingertips on Echo’s gloved hand felt like fire, one that he yearned more of, to be singed by their light. To feel their skin on his, devoid of that damn glove.
Aris was so close, the closest they’ve been to each other before. Echo didn’t realize he was unconsciously leaning down into them, slowly weaving his fingers in theirs.
“What are you saying?” He whispered, the breaths between his words could be barely felt on Aris’ cheeks. In his heart he knew already, but he could never put that into words. He was searching their gray eyes that reflected the blinding lights above them, making them gleam. That beautiful gleam. It complimented the white markings near their eyes so well.
Aris paused, admiring his eyes at this short distance. The way the deep brown of his eyes gave him that pure, adoring doe eyed look. How they wished they could spend more time staring into him, drinking up his presence and the way their heart tightened every time he spoke. They felt the fan of another warm breath of his on their face and let the words slip from their mouth.
“That I want to choose you.” They almost stuttered, finally winning the fight of admitting their feelings. These feelings they’ve struggled to bury by the advice of their master, but they couldn’t deny any longer. Not when he was standing right in front of them, only a breath away.
Aris only slightly tilted their head, barely inching toward him. Echo’s eyes flicked down to their lips and noticed they were agape. He didn’t know what to do, so he mirrored them. He was much more excited to lean into them, to meet their lips with his. He was nervous, but he wanted this so badly from deep within himself. They both let their eyes fall closed as they were so close to breathe in each other's presence. Only a moment they stopped, before closing that small gap.
Echo’s lips softly bumped into Aris’. He didn’t know what was the correct way to move them, so he only stayed there, relishing the feeling of their lips on his. He felt his heart almost burst with heat at their kiss.They were so warm and soft, just like he imagined. He struggled to keep down a noise in his throat that wanted to slip. His breathing through his nose was fervent as evidence.
Aris captured his lips in theirs, moving them slowly and carefully. He didn’t move, so they internalized the feeling of him. They longed to feel him more, closer. They took an inhale into the kiss, their heart racing at being able to finally embrace him like this. Aris placed a hand on his chest. The cold, hard touch of his armor met them.
As much as they wanted to stay here, to be with him in every moment like this, that armor reminded them of their predicament.
Aris slowly separated from Echo’s lips. Releasing from him left him breathless, even though he wasn’t exasperated. He moved his head forward, searching to recapture their lips, before opening his eyes realizing they were backing away. Just when he was reaching out to place a tentative hand on their waist with his hand that wasn’t entangled in theirs.
“But I can’t, Echo.” Aris said in a soft voice with a pained face.
They removed their hand from his, turning away from him and stepping to the lockers to retrieve their robes.
Echo almost reached out to them, uttering their name and asking them to stay, but he felt like he knew Aris was referring to something much bigger than him. The duties of a jedi , something like that. He watched their back as they grabbed their robes sitting by the lockers. He was frozen and couldn’t say a word, still in awe of the kiss only seconds ago.
They pressed a button on a console near the door, a comm channel opening with a beep.
“Ninety-nine, could you please send a cleaning crew to the training deck? Thank you.” They said defeatedly.
“Of course, jetii’ika.” Ninety-nine’s voice responded through the comm.
Aris looked up from the comm to Echo, still frozen beside the railing. They opened their mouth to say something, but closed it. Echo could see the affliction so clearly on their face.
Aris turned away from him with heavy shoulders and left the training grounds. The door that closed after them shut with a thud of finalization. They left, and he was still there, again. He reached a finger to his mouth, the ghost of them still on his lips and he softly caressed them. He was still barely admitting the fact that he kissed someone, and it was Aris. His heart, though heavy, pounded against his chest.