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Their first kiss was after the only training sim they failed.
All of them were taking it hard and handling it in different ways. Hunter pored over their performance in the sim to see where they went wrong and figure out how to avoid the mistake in the future. He was gonna be their sergeant and be their leader, so he took it upon himself to find out what happened. Crosshair spent a lot of his time at the firing range, and when he wasn't doing that, he chewed on toothpick after toothpick, littering them all over the floor of their barracks. Wrecker did the only thing he could think of and worked out in the gym and in their barracks—more in their barracks, really. He needed to keep an eye on Tech.
Tech was handling it the worst. He had isolated himself from the rest of the batch; all he did was wear his headphones, blasting the music so loud that they could all hear it as he worked on whatever project had caught his interest. Hunter was in pure agony with his sensitive hearing. He wouldn't talk to them; he barely ate. Tech's silence—not taking care of himself—shutting them out—it was practically killing them.
It wasn't until Cross and Hunter were out grabbing food from the cafeteria to bring back to their barracks that Tech finally took off his headphones, turning them off and letting them fall onto the floor.
"Tech?" Wrecker asked, putting down his weights. "You okay?"
Tech shook his head—his shoulders shook and his fists were balled. "It was my fault."
"Huh?"
"It was my fault that we failed the simulation. It was all my fault." Words tumble from Tech's mouth with lightning speed. Obviously, this was what caused Tech to shut down. From what Hunter had told Wrecker, all of them messed up in one way or another; the fault did not fall on just one of them.
Wrecker needed Tech to stop. He tried talking over him, but it didn't work. A thought popped into his head that could get Tech's attention. It was something that Wrecker had been wanting to do for ages.
He crossed the room in a few strides, grasped the back of Tech's head, and then pulled him up into a kiss. Tech was still, and Wrecker filled with dread and started to back off when Tech moaned, wrapped his arms around Wrecker's shoulders, and deepened the kiss. It's nice, Wrecker thought. It felt intimate and new.
When they parted, Tech said, "Oh. I was hoping you felt the same as I do."
They kissed a few more times and cuddled in Wrecker's bunk until their brothers returned, arms laden with food. Hunter and Crosshair were happy that Tech was back and only made one comment about him and Tech holding hands.
Wrecker never wanted to let him go.
~/~
Everything was a blur—all of them running on more adrenaline than he knew was possible. But there was a really good reason for the rush of adrenaline. They had almost lost Tech. Lost, as in their brother could have died.
There had been a thin wire cable that Tech was attached to. If their brother had simply let go, then he would have definitely fallen to his death. Wrecker was not sure how he would have survived that if his brother had fallen. In fact, he is not sure how the bad batch would have survived it. They have already become broken and fractured with the loss of Crosshair, but at least Crosshair was still alive as far as they know. If Tech had fallen and if he had died right in front of them all… Wrecker is not sure if any of them would ever be able to recover.
But Tech had not fallen. Wrecker did not believe in miracles or anything like that kind of stuff. But it felt like it was a miracle that all of those ships broke off their pursuit all of a sudden. None of them were sure why it happened, just that it did.
Since the threat was now gone, the bad batch was able to pull Tech up slowly—oh so slowly, too slow for Wrecker's liking. But they were able to pull their brother back up and onto the rail car and to safety. Wrecker didn't think that he would ever be able to forget that moment until his last breath. He and their sister, Omega, holding out their hands for their brother to grab to haul him back on board. The look of complete terror in Tech's brown eyes was something that Wrecker had never seen before—had never seen that sort of look in any of his brothers before. Dry-heaving and trembling, Tech seemed to take in and process the trauma of near death. Then came the jolt of the train car coming to life and running down the track. Echo must have been able to finally get it working. Wrecker was not sure how much time passed between pulling up Tech from his near death to the rail car coming to a halt. Wrecker could only measure time in counting Tech's heartbeats as he buried his face in his boyfriend's chest. Wrecker cried so much that his eyes stung and felt like they were on fire. But the tears did not stop flowing down his cheeks.
"I almost lost you." Wrecker said, probably unintelligible as he sobbed. "I almost lost you," he repeated over and over and over until his throat felt hoarse and speaking became too difficult. His strong arms were wrapped tightly around his brother's slim frame. Wrecker never wants to let his brother go—never let him out of his sight ever again—not until the day he dies. It does not escape him that Tech is crying too, and if his brother says anything, Wrecker can not hear it over the sounds of sobbing from Tech, himself, and Omega. Hunter and Echo join them all at some point, and the sounds of sobbing didn't quiet down for a long time.
The way back to the Marauder was in complete silence, which Wrecker thought was weird. Maybe after all the noise they had on that rail car drained them all. The squad was nice enough to leave him and Tech alone in the cargo bay. They needed their privacy, and Wrecker was glad and thankful that neither of them had to ask for it. They all know them well enough. He will have to think of ways to thank all of them individually.
They found a spot on the floor and curled up. It wasn't comfortable at all, but he didn't give a shit. Tech was alive. Here. In his arms. Where he belonged. Where they both belonged.
"I almost lost you," Tech says, echoing Wrecker's words from earlier. "I am not going to ever let you go." He looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes. "I love you, you know that, don't you?"
He gasped. They've never said those words, but maybe after all this, it's time.
Wrecker nodded. "I know, Tech. I love you too." "I'm never letting you go," he mumbled as he held him tightly.
Today has taught them all a lot of things… for the better, he hoped.