Work Text:
Moving to a bigger city wasn’t at all what Wrecker had been expecting. He had fallen into the mysticism of what a big city was supposed to be. He wasn’t at all expecting the sheer amount of loud, uncomfortable chaos. Things he thought he would be totally comfortable with! But the way these people were was just too much for even him.
He realized quickly that it was less the loudness, and more the rudeness. He thought that maybe his giant stature would keep him safe from the literal body checking that seemed to be so normal. But, no. He was shoved aside just as often as anyone else. Since moving to Coruscant, he honestly couldn’t think of a single person who had said or done anything kind for him. And whenever he tried to, he was just met with a disturbed look or literal scoff in response.
That is, until he found his safe haven. A find that was entirely by accident. It had been raining one afternoon, a literal torrential downpour he had been trying to find his way home in. It wasn’t a successful endeavor, though. And he just really wanted to be dry and warm and not potentially hit in the head by flying debris. So he ducked into the first shop on his left, one he had no idea what it was because the sign above it was waving far too quickly to be able to read. If he could even really see it through sheets of water, that is.
Once inside, he gave an exhausted sigh of relief and lowered his arms and his hood from his head. The moment he did, he was letting out a small gasp.
The place was beautiful. He couldn’t tell if it was a tea shop with a library, or a library with a tea shop. Right beside the door, there was a stone staircase with iron banisters that was roped off, but all around the staircase were book shelf after book shelf. Some were stacked full with the clearly modern best sellers, but many were full of old leather bound books. To the left of the books was a counter displaying pastries and teas, an espresso machine and tons of other cafe things Wrecker couldn’t name. Around the corner of the counter was a small seated area, all the tables and chairs different but cohesive. It was charming and comfortable. Most importantly, though, it felt like home more than anything else on Coruscant ever had.
He realized why when a familiar, Concord Dawn, accent called out from a back area that they would be there in a moment. How he stumbled on the one other person foolish enough to leave their small country home, he would never know. But he would always be grateful.
Especially when the owner of that voice appeared behind the counter. Wrecker might have actually swallowed his tongue at the sight of the tall, though not quite as tall as him, brunette. His curls were a bit of a mess, some flopping over into slightly yellow tinted round glasses. The dark brown eyes behind the glasses were staring at him in concern, and Wrecker was barely able to look away from them to take in his jeans, white and red plaid shirt, and fluffy gray sweater. The eyes were just too pretty.
“Hiding from the rain, or looking for a drink?” the man asked and Wrecker swallowed thickly.
“Drink. No, rain. Wait. Both?”
The man chuckled, a sound which had Wrecker making a very small whine. “Stay there for a moment. Let me get you a towel, no sense staying soaked.”
“Oh, uh, you don’t have to do that.”
“Nonsense, I don’t need you tracking water into my tea shop either, you know.”
He ducked back to where he had originally emerged from, and then came out of another door on the side of the bookshelves. His hands, which were just as long and slender as the rest of him, held two surprisingly fluffy towels. Towels that he handed off to Wrecker.
“Hang the jacket on the rack. It may as well air dry as long as it can. This isn’t supposed to be stopping any time soon.”
“Thank you.” he replied as he both accepted the towels and followed his directions. “I’m Wrecker, by the way.”
“Tech.”
“Interesting name.”
“I could say the same. The name I was given was Mirdala, which means…”
“Intelligent. Clever.” Wrecker interrupted, then flushed as Tech turned to stare at him. “Ah, sorry.”
“Do not be. I like when people show their knowledge. You are correct, as I’m sure you know. My parents had high expectations of me, which I met, of course. But as a child it was yet another reason for kids to make fun of me. So I began to go by Tech, and it stuck.”
“I like it.”
Tech hummed. “And what about you? Please don’t tell me your family decided naming their child Jariler was a good idea?”
Wrecker laughed. “Oh, no. It's a nickname from my sports days.”
Tech’s eyes danced across his chest and he blushed again, and even more, when Tech said, “Days that are in the past?”
“Ah, yes. No time, really. Not with work.”
“Sports work?”
“Nah, I stopped playing after an accident messed up my ears. I’m a weapons engineer.”
Tech’s eyes brightened. “You are!?”
Wrecker flushed again, but this time it was entirely in embarrassment. He was used to people thinking he was just some big dumb brute, and of course this clearly brilliant man would think that too. He had hoped not, but wasn’t all too surprised that he had. So, it was with a very small, shy, shrug that he replied.
“Yeah. I don’t look like it, I know, but I like making things. Designing them. Weapons were an easy thing to fall into, my whole family is military. So I’ve been exposed to them basically my whole life.”
“But not you?”
“Head injury wouldn’t let me.”
“Ah. Well, how would you like a cup of something warm on me as you tell me all about your work. I’ve never looked at weapons design, and have to admit to being intrigued.”
Wrecker beamed, delighted that Tech seemed less surprised and more intrigued by his choice in work, and nodded. “Yeah. I would like that very much, Tech, thank you.”
Since their first meeting, Wrecker had made an effort to stop in at Tech’s place nearly every day after work. Some days he only had time for a quick hello and a to go cup of whatever drink Tech was having him try that day. Most of the time, he had at least a few minutes to chat but not enough time to really hang around. The days he liked the best, though, were the ones where he had the opportunity to just sit and talk with Tech for hours.
They would talk about everything. Their jobs, their education (which was extensive in Tech’s case. Apparently he owned and ran the teashop so that he could work on yet another PhD in his downtime but still have steady income), shows, movies, poetry. The last wasn’t something Wrecker was super into, but he loved listening to Tech read it. Especially if it was something Tech himself had written. Really, Wrecker would sit and listen to Tech give a lecture on sea sponges if it meant he got to hear him speak.
At first, it was just the familiar accent giving him a sense of home. But that very quickly grew into him just wanting to listen because it was Tech. And Wrecker was very, very quickly falling for Tech.
It was impossible not to. With his kind eyes, soft touch and inquisitive nature. He was the sweetest, most wonderful person Wrecker had ever met and he was very quickly falling head over heels for him.
Wrecker had never been a person with shame. Not really. Nor did he have tact. Which was probably why he just ended up blurting that out in the middle of Tech telling him about the riveting new novel he had just gotten in.
“Let me take you out sometime!”
Tech stopped, his hands which were waving before his face, froze. He stayed perfectly still for a long second and then asked, “I’m sorry, what?”
“I want to take you out, like, on a date. Somewhere nice. Where I can show you how special to me you are.”
He slowly lowered his hands to the table, and to Wrecker’s delight, one of them reached across its round surface to lay over his. “I would really like that.”
Wrecker beamed. “Yeah?”
Tech nodded. “I was devising a plan as to how to ask you. I have to admit, I like your method a lot more. It is far easier.”
“You’ve been wanting to ask me?”
“For quite some time now, yes.”
“Ah, man. We could have gone out together so much sooner!”
Tech squeezed his hand. “I believe that we will be going out exactly when we were supposed to be, Wrecker. Remember what I was telling you about last week? How astronomy and astrology both are sciences of the stars and yet are completely different. That they only come together and meet when they are supposed to?”
He nodded and Tech gave his hand another squeeze. “I believe that we are like that. We met when we were supposed to, and now our relationship is advancing when it is supposed to. No need to be sad for what wasn’t, just be happy for what is.”
Wrecker gave him a soft smile that he knew was completely besotted and nodded. “Yeah. I can absolutely do that.”
He decided then and there that moving to Coruscant was the best decision he had ever made. It may have sucked at first, but without the move he wouldn’t have met Tech. He wouldn’t be where he was now. And there was nowhere else on the planet, in all of the stars, that he would rather be.