Work Text:
Crosshair didn’t try to be a bitter person. He wasn’t aiming to be caustic and disdainful. It was just really hard to see the beautiful colors splashed across his brothers’ skin and not feel resentful.
As kids, they were just things that existed on Wrecker and Tech. Tech’s chest and shoulders shimmered with a brilliant royal red while Wrecker’s neck, throat and head had a vibrant bright blue. They danced and shone and were just a part of them. Just another thing that tied the odd, but inseparable, two together.
It wasn’t until they were in their sixth year that they realized what the colors meant. Wrecker and Tech were soulmates. They were tied together by their very souls and the colors were a representation of that. They reflected the other’s very inner self, who they were and what mattered to them. They were more beautiful than Crosshair could have ever imagined.
Both he and Hunter were happy for them, but also eager to get their own colors. They saw other clones around Kamino with them. Even a couple of the trainers had them! Surely he and Hunter would get them too? They had too. Crosshair didn’t know what he’d do if he never got his own colors. Never saw his own soul splashed beautifully against someone’s skin. He and Hunter deserved to find that person too. Deserved to feel like Wrecker and Tech did.
Well, Hunter found his. It took a few years, but eventually Commander Cody had them come do an assignment alongside some of his Commandos. And the moment Hunter and Captain Gregor met, bright gold was spreading over his brother’s cheekbones and down his neck. The look on the Captain’s face was nearly euphoric. The stunned look in Hunter’s eyes was just as brilliant. Crosshair was happy for them. He was! But only for so long.
It didn’t take long for him to become truly resentful of his brothers’ beautiful colors. Of what they meant. Wrecker, Tech and Hunter all had someone. They had a soul that deserved to be completed. That was completed. But Crosshair? Crosshair had no one. The others insisted that he just hadn’t met them yet. He very quickly began to doubt that though. The much more likely option was that he just didn’t deserve to have one.
Why would he? He wasn’t kind like Wrecker. He wasn’t helpful and considerate like Tech. He wasn’t protective and caring like Hunter. He was just sad, lonely, bitter Crosshair. And as far as he was concerned, there wasn’t any point of being anything other than that. There were almost certainly no beautiful colors waiting for him, so why bother pretending to be anything he wasn’t.
His brothers noticed the change in him immediately, of course they did. Normally, he was only icy with the Regs and anyone else they ever interacted with. Now, though, he couldn’t bring himself to even be true, be kind with his team. What was the point? His brothers were good, caring people with complete souls and Crosshair just held them back. He may as well keep himself separate. Even if, in doing so, he saw Tech and Wrecker’s hearts break. Saw Hunter frown more and more often. It was all for the better. They didn’t need him. And he didn’t need anyone.
Crosshair told himself this, but the more he told himself the more he wanted to cry. The more he wanted to apologize to his brothers for being a selfish jerk and beg them to hug him, to tell him they loved him. That he was worth love, even if he didn’t feel like it. Even if he didn’t have a soulmate to prove it. It took every bit of his bitter anger to stop him from doing so.
He didn’t have to reach far for that anger on their current mission. Not when faced with Commander Cody and his crown of pale blue. Or that Captain Rex was gloveless to show off the gold that swirled on his hands. Or that the other two Regs were clearly soulmates, even if Crosshair couldn’t see their colors. He was surrounded by happy, complete people and he wanted to either be sick or cry.
Which was why it was far too easy for him to be antagonizing. To taunt the Regs, to insult the Captain, to question the entire mission. He knew he deserved the deck to the face that Rex gave him. He knew the disappointment in Hunter’s eyes was brought on by his own stupidity. It didn’t matter though. Both just caused his bitterness to rise.
Thankfully, the mission wasn’t easy and he was able to concentrate on killing droids and ignore the Captain and Skywalker. Ignore his team. Ignore the poor trooper they pulled out of that hell hole.
Well, he ignored him as long as he could. Being paired with the guy made it hard to ignore him. Especially when he was exceptionally bad ass. Out of cryo freeze for less than ten minutes and looking seconds away from death, yet still saving their asses with an escape plan and now shooting down flying droids like it was nothing.
He didn’t know what overcame him, why he did it, but he was so glad he did. Reaching out to touch the other man was the first time he acknowledged him, and the second his hand landed on the other’s shoulder, a deep almost purple red began to spread under and over his eyes. It covered the heavy shadows under his eyes and made the large golden orbs even more bright and prominent. As the red appeared on him, Crosshair felt a warmth spreading from his temples across his brow and he couldn’t help but gasp.
This man, this incredible, impossible man was his soulmate. He had been through hell and Crosshair had just been feeling sorry for himself. He would have been embarrassed, or even disgusted, at that fact if the only thing he was capable of feeling right then wasn’t wonder. He was nothing short of awed. Short of breathlessly ecstatic.
As was his soulmate, his soulmate, as his hand was reaching up to touch his cheek where the beautiful red was spread out. With wide eyes and a stunned voice he asked, “Did, did we just get soulmarks?”
Crosshair couldn’t find his voice, so he just nodded. The other man let out a breathless sound, eyes somehow going even wider.
“You’re my soulmate.” he whispered. It wasn’t a question, but instead a delighted, awestruck statement.
He made to reply, but shouting from below tore him back to where they were and what they were supposed to be doing. No matter how much all he wanted to do was stare at the red surrounding those golden eyes, they had a job to do. Brothers to keep safe.
So, reluctantly, he sighed and said, “Later. I promise. Later.”
Echo, (his name was Echo. Crosshair knew this why had he tried to forget?) nodded. “Yes. Later. As soon as we’re done here?”
“As soon as we’re done.”
Crosshair turned his attention back to destroying the giant ass clankers, though more of his attention was on Echo than it had been before. Which was saying something, as he had been subconsciously watching him from the moment they found him. Now that he knew why, he felt stupid for not noticing earlier.
Of course Echo was his soulmate. He was clearly strong willed and afraid of nothing. Willing to do things even when they were hard. Crosshair knew he needed someone like that. Someone who would stand toe to toe with him and not be afraid to push back. Someone sensible, intelligent and badass. All things Echo seemed to have in spades.
His strength was fading fast, though. Crosshair could tell. Not just because he was looking like he was ready to fall, but because he could feel it. Like an exhaustion at the back of his mind that wasn’t his own. It had him wanting to hold the other and never let him go. Something he was determined to do at the first change he got.
So, as soon as the huge droids were brought down, one solely by Skywalker and wasn’t that a horrifying thought, Crosshair was darting to Echo’s side and wrapping his arm around his waist.
“I have you.” he whispered.
Echo chuckled and sagged into him. “Thank you..-” he stopped and then huffed. “I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.”
“Crosshair.” he replied. “My name is Crosshair.”
“Crosshair. Nice. Suits you, since, you know. Sniper. I’m Echo, though I wasn’t named for being an echo. More just because I wouldn’t stop echoing? And woah, I clearly still haven’t learned when to stop talking.”
Crosshair chuckled and shook his head. “You don’t need to stop talking.”
“I’ll make a fool of myself.”
“No. You’re cute.”
He ducked his head and laughed quietly. “Cute, he says to the living skeleton.”
“Cutest skeleton.”
“You’re a shit.”
“So I’ve been told.”
Echo laughed, the sound carefree and delighted, and lifted his head to look at Crosshair once again. He was just as entranced by the flowing red mask etched into Echo’s skin now as he was when they appeared and was all too happy to stare at them, even as the other man’s expression turned curious and a little nervous.
“Would it be too much to ask to see you?”
“For you? Never.”
He lifted the arm not holding Echo against him and removed his helmet. Meeting Echo’s eyes without the visor in the way was even more breathtaking than he could imagine. Though he thought it might have something to do with the way that Echo gasped as their eyes met.
“Holy kriff you are beautiful.”
Crosshair choked on nothing and took in a shocked, hissing breath at Echo’s quiet exclamation. He had never been called beautiful before. That was Hunter. But Echo thought he was beautiful, and said it without so much of a second’s hesitation. It left him speechless and stunned.
“I mean it.” Echo insisted. “Really must be the luckiest guy in the galaxy. Rescued by a soulmate who looks like you. Never thought I would get this.”
“Neither did I.” Crosshair admitted in a whisper. “I didn’t think I had a soulmate.”
“I thought that too.” Echo admitted. “And part of me was happy. But that part was an idiot.”
He glanced down and added quietly. “I just wish I had met you before I was this.”
Crosshair frowned, not at all liking the self depreciation he heard in his soulmate’s voice. “The only reason I wish I had met you earlier was because it would save me years of being an idiot. And you years of pain.”
Echo’s head lifted and he rose an eyebrow, an action which accented his soulmark enticingly. “You wouldn’t rather a soulmate that is whole?”
“I just want a soulmate who is right for me,” he admitted. “We aren’t whole without each other, after all. It doesn’t matter how much of you is made of metal, Echo. Or how much healing you have to do. You're the strongest person I have ever met and are perfect. In general, and for me.”
He received a shaky, watery smile in return. The shock and awe that filled Echo was strong enough that even Crosshair could feel it. He gave him a soft, nearly shy smile and gently squeezed his waist.
“C’mon. Lets get you off your feet. You don’t need to prove how badass you are any more. You need rest.”
Echo didn’t argue. In fact, he nodded and easily let Crosshair begin to guide him towards the others. Something that he was sure wouldn’t happen often. But that was okay. He didn’t need his soulmate to always agree with him. Hell, he didn’t need him to ever agree with him. All he needed was Echo himself, and now that he found him, he wasn’t ever letting him out of his sight. He didn’t care what the others thought. Echo was his soulmate, so he was one of them. And he was staying right where he was now. At Crosshair’s side.