Work Text:
“I’m not so sure about it.” Hunter kept tapping his fingers against his vambrace, fighting the urge to play with his knife.
Echo had suggested seeking out a certain Cid for work, but the first impression hadn’t gone too well. They were all a bit … suspicious of her. But credits were credits, and they needed them.
“We need money for fuel,” Tech interjected.
“And food!” Wrecker piped up.
“But mostly fuel.”
“And Omega needs new clothes, again. I don’t know how she keeps growing, but she is determined to outgrow Hunter as quickly as possible,” Crosshair sighed. That at least softened the mood a bit, almost getting a chuckle from Hunter too. But it was also true - somehow, she kept growing faster than they could look. It was probably normal for girls her age, but still.
“And we need food!” Wrecker repeated, dead set on the thing most important to him. He wasn’t entirely wrong, but-
“We can hunt food,” Hunter complained. There it was.
“If we have to eat only roast meat for another day we'll riot,” Crosshair said and everyone except for Wrecker nodded along. It was fine, for a day or two but they were so sick of it. All of them.
Hunter had the audacity to look disappointed. “I am very good at cooking,” he complained.
“It is not complete nutrition. And I wouldn’t call roasting an animal over fire cooking,” Tech muttered, earning a shocked gasp from Hunter.
“You take that back!”
“Guys,” Echo chided, breaking up their squabble. “We need a decision here.”
Hunter sighed and took a look around, getting something like a shrug from everyone. “I guess it’s our only option right now. We can give it a shot,” he finally gave in.
With negotiations done and the prospect of a first mission that hopefully paid well, they settled for the night. Omega had vanished into her room pretty quickly, not even demanding a bedtime story, or a game or whatever else she wanted to do before finally being convinced to go to sleep. Maybe exploring the market on Ord Mantell with Wrecker had tired her out? But Crosshair had a feeling that it wasn’t it.
He approached the gunner's mount and knocked against the wall, waiting for the “Come in,” before pushing the curtain aside. Omega didn’t even have much of a room, they could give her some privacy.
When she saw him she lit up a little and immediately scooted over to make some space. Crosshair tried to get comfortable in it. It was a tight fit, at least not for his long legs, but that didn’t matter right now.
“You okay?” he asked, taking out a toothpick to chew on and then handing Omega one too, when she made grabby hands for it. She really was copying him too much. Crosshair didn’t yet know how much he minded.
She twirled the toothpick between her fingers without answering, but Crosshair was patient. Patience was in his very DNA.
She was usually so open about everything, so what troubled her so much that she felt like she couldn’t talk about it?
Finally she quietly asked: “Was it ... Okay that you took me with you?”
“Huh?” Very intelligent, Crosshair, good job.
“You are in so much trouble because of me …” She trailed off, not looking at him. Oh. Oh no.
“Omega,” he said a bit sharply, maybe too sharply by the way she flinched. “We are not.”
She looked at him with big eyes and his voice softened. “We’d be in the same situation with or without you.”
“But then you’d have more credits and didn’t have to worry about keeping me safe.”
“And we would be bored out of our minds.”
That made her smile a bit. Good. Crosshair still sighed.
“Omega, listen. It was a good decision to take you. You belong here, with us and - oof.” Omega hugged him so tight, she was rivaling Wrecker right now, only easing up when Crosshair tapped her several times.
“So you are really not mad that I’m here?”
“Never, kid.” He hugged back, pulling her a bit closer.
She sighed and snuggled into his side and the relief was obvious. It hurt Crosshair that she would even consider the possibility that she was a burden on them - he had meant every word he just said.
“Hey, Cross?”
“Hm?”
“Can you stay here tonight?”
He took one look at the small cramped space.
“Absolutely not. You’re coming with me.”
She giggled happily when he picked her up and hauled her out of bed towards his bunk.