#echo base

The white and blue globe grows larger and larger by the second, and Luke can't help but be amazed by it. As a farm boy raised on Tatooine, all Luke's ever seen in the past 19 years of his life was sand, dust, and reddish rocks. When he first landed on Yavin 4, the boy's eyes sparkled in amazement. The moon was so green, so verdant, so different from Tatooine. He was sad when the Alliance had to abandon the place, but it's not like they had much of a choice, as the Empire knew they were there, and for the past three years, the Rebellion spent their limited resources on building their new home - Echo Base, so named due to its strange acoustics.

In his three years as a Rebel (and Jedi Padawan), Luke's seen a few planets and moons, like Yavin 4, Balnab, Rion, Rodia, Fex, Devaron, Hradreek, Bogano, Lotho Minor, Kudo, Cymoon 1, Nar Shaddaa, Tureen VII, Skorii-Lei, Horox III, Ktath'atn, Crait, Jedha, Mon Cala, and Strokill Prime. These planets varied from being verdant and forested to oceanic and desertic, with some even crystalline while others covered in swamps and humid jungles. But none is like Hoth - covered in ice and snow, bright white like a young star who just came to life in the ever-expanding universe. A small, white ball floating in the Outer Rim Territories, so small and insignificant no one knows it's there - a perfect spot for the Rebel Alliance to hide from the Empire and for Luke to continue his Jedi training.

"Wow. It's so beautiful." Luke comments to himself in a whisper, raising the orange-colored visor of his helmet to admire the snowy planet.

"Focus, Skywalker. No daydreaming in the cockpit." A teasing male voice called Luke out of his trance. The blonde boy rolled his eyes in response. He could even hear the other pilot's smirk through the comlink.

"Watch it, Rogue Three, or I'll put you to cleaning the astromechs again."

"And I'll put you to sleep on the floor."

"(Y/N)!" Luke immediately blushed upon hearing the teasing retort from Rogue Three, A.K.A., his boyfriend. He hated when (Y/N) said things like that through the comlink, where everyone could hear them. The bastard did that to ruin Luke's reputation as squad leader. Luke can already hear Wedge, Dak, and Zev teasing him once they land.

"Get a room, you two." Han's voice chimes in from the comms, the teasing tone making Luke grumble as he sees the Millennium Falcon passing through him and disappearing amidst the white clouds of the planet's atmosphere.

"Bite me, Solo." (Y/N) retorts as he flies by one of the Hammerhead Corvettes of the flotilla, flying wing-to-win with Luke's X-wing.

"Language, (N/N)." Luke gently admonishes his boyfriend, rolling his eyes but unable to suppress a smile. He finds his boyfriend's sharp tongue and quick wit quite admirable, even if Luke disapproves of foul language.

"Aye, aye, Commander Skywalker." The other pilot replies. Through the window of his cockpit, Luke sees the other boy saluting him from his close X-wing, making the squadron leader roll his eyes again. How he ends up with the most sarcastic, witty, and unserious pilot in all of the Alliance Starfleet Luke will never know. But damn, the boy's the most handsome pilot in all of the fleet, too.

Echo Base command permitted the ships to land in the large south hangar. Luke led the flotilla down to the surface, expertly maneuvering his starfighter into the in-cave-built base, breathing a sigh of relief once the landing gears made contact with the ground.

The boy took off his helmet and ran his hand through his blonde locks, untangling them and turning off the ship's engines. When the X-wing's in-built heater shut off, Luke was already feeling the cold air of Hoth creeping inside the cockpit.

The second R2 opened the transparisteel canopy, Luke immediately shivered and hugged himself. The orange flight suit provided Luke with a fairly decent amount of protection from harsh climates, but the boy wasn't used to the cold. Tatooine was cold during the nights, but not Hoth-level cold.

"Is the Hero of Yavin cold?" The teasing voice made Luke groan and roll his eyes again. He looks down on the floor to see (Y/N) leaning against the fuselage of Luke's X-wing, arms crossed and a smirk on his face, his helmet resting on top of his astromech companion, R4.

"Shut up, (Y/N)," Luke mutters as he climbs down the starship, and rebel mechanics help remove R2 from his socket. "I'm just not used to the cold, alright?"

"Wow. You blow up a big-ass space station, defeats Darth frigging Vader in a dogfight, frees the Mon Cala king from an underwater prison, but gets defeated by the cold, cold air of Hoth?" (Y/N) snickers, his eyes following Luke's every movement, noticing his cheeks blushing from both the cold and his teasing. "Oh, please, this is nothing compared to Rhen Var. You should have been there when the Empire ambushed us on those ancient Citadel ruins. Bastards even brought an AT-AT to crush us."

Luke rolled his eyes slightly while blowing air against his hands and rubbing them to try and keep them warm. (Y/N) always has a weird battle story to tell. The battle of Rhen Var, the hijacking of the Harbinger, and the assault on Thule are a few of the many stories he told Luke.

"Well, sorry, (N/N), but I was busy fixing moisture vaporators on Tatooine at the time."

"Aw, my poor little farm boy." (Y/N) coos teasingly/affectionately, wrapping his arms from behind Luke to help keep him warm.

The blonde boy's cheeks blush even more at the display of affection in the middle of the hangar, where everyone can see them but doesn't break away from the hug. Instead, Luke leans back against (Y/N)'s body, mumbling a soft "better" in response.

(Y/N) chuckles softly and nuzzles against Luke's soft blonde locks, closing his eyes and breathing in the scent of his boyfriend's shampoo.

"Y'know." (Y/N) says, his voice slightly muffled by Luke's hair. "You've never seen snow before, right?"

"Hm," Luke denies with a tiny shake of his head, tilting his face up slightly to face his taller boyfriend. "Why?"

"Wanna play in the snow?"

"Play?" Luke echoes the question, raising an eyebrow in curiosity and confusion, his simple, naive mind unable to understand how one can play with frozen water.

(Y/N) smiles and nods in reply, brushing a strand of Luke's hair off the boy's face.

"Come with me."

Luke doesn't protest as (Y/N) interlocks his fingers with Luke's and starts guiding towards the slightly opened hangar door. He shivers a little at feeling the cold air against his body, unaccustomed to the frigid temperatures, and for a brief second, Luke considers running back inside the base and burying himself under the covers of his bed. But Luke is unable to say 'no' to his boyfriend - Obi-Wan would undoubtedly call him weak-minded and susceptible to mind tricks if he saw Luke right now.

"Brr, frigging cold air." Luke shudders, raising the collar of his orange jumpsuit to try and cover his mouth and nose.

"Oi, language, Rogue Leader!" His boyfriend mockingly scolds him. "You kiss your sister with that mouth?"

"I don't have a sister (Y/N)!" Luke retorts, frowning and making a disgusted face at the prospect of kissing a sibling if he had one.

(Y/N) merely chuckles at Luke's response and lets go of his hand to crouch down on the snow-covered terrain, using his hands to gather some snow and mold them into a small ball while Luke watches in curiosity.

"What are you doing, (N/N)?"

"A snowball!" (Y/N) proudly shows his work of art (the snowball) at Luke. "Come, try it, too!"

Luke blinks and cocks his head slightly to the right like a curious Loth-kitten, not understanding what's so fun in making balls of ice, but decides to humor (Y/N) and crouches down on the white terrain, mimicking the other boy's actions of gathering snow in his hands and molding it into a ball. He sticks his tongue out in concentration while trying to ensure the snow won't fall from between his fingers and wants to make it into a perfectly shaped ball like (Y/N)'s.

With some effort and a tiny bit of frustration, Luke manages to make a snowball. It is not perfect in shape, but Luke deems it a good result for his first try.

"(N/N)! I got it—"

POOF!

Luke blinks in surprise as a white, cold ball hits his face, spreading snow all over his hair, face, and clothes. It takes Luke a second longer to register it was a snowball thrown at him by (Y/N), who snickers a few feet away.

"HEY! What was that for?!" He pouts at the surprise attack.

"Oh, forgive me, o great Jedi Master." (Y/N) theatrically apologizes by bowing his head in mock shame, the corner of his lips twitching into a ghost of a smirk. "I thought you had your 'Luke tingling' thing."

"Don't call it that!" Luke's pout deepens as he removes some snow from his face. "And for your information, they're technically called 'Jedi senses.'"

"And yet your super senses didn't activate when I threw a snowball at you." (Y/N) teases, smirking and crossing his arms.

"Yeah, because they're used to detect threats (Y/N)! And my dummy boyfriend throwing snow at me is not considered a threat."

"Not a threat?" (Y/N) takes that as a challenge, his eyes narrowing and his competitive streak heightening. "We'll see, Skywalker."

"What are you— (Y/N), don't you dare." Luke points at his boyfriend when he sees the other boy leaning down to gather more snow in his hands and make more ammunition. "(Y/N), I'm telling you, don't— HEY! Stop— (Y/N)—!"

A barrage of snowballs is thrown at the Jedi padawan as (Y/N) laughs like a kid lighting candles for the Naboo Festival of Light. Luke uses his hands to shield himself from the snowy onslaught, but after getting hit square in the face for the third time in a row, he decides to retaliate and starts making his ammo.

Luke hurls four snowballs, one after the other, toward (Y/N). He dodges the first, but the second one hits his side, the third his knee and the fourth hits his forehead, covering (Y/N)'s hair in snow.

"Blargh! Son of a b—"

The boy has little time to finish his cursing as Luke lunges towards him, tackling (Y/N) to the ground as both boys roll down the snowy hill, laughing and getting themselves covered in snow.

Luke lands on top of (Y/N), holding him by the wrists and smirking triumphantly while blowing a strand of his blonde hair off his face.

"I win."

"Bite me, Skywalker!" (Y/N) retorts, his voice a mixture of playfulness and bruised ego at having lost in the snowball fight to his boyfriend.

Luke smirks at his words and leans down, "With pleasure."

"Huh—?" (Y/N) gets cut off by Luke's lips crashing against his in a kiss.

Damn, Skywalker got some rizz.

"ACHOO!"

"Force bless you."

"Amen or whatever."

(Y/N) blows his nose on a handkerchief handed to him by Luke, who sat next to him on the medical bay bed, both wrapped in blankets provided by the medical droids.

As it turns out, playing in the snow was not the brightest idea. But that's not even the worst.

"How could you two be so dim-witted to think it was smart to go outside with not enough protection against the cold, you laser brains?! Your flight jumpsuits are not suited for such weather!"

This is the worst part. Both boys grumbled and whined at the lecture and offense thrown at them, mumbling a "sorry, Leia" under their breaths.

Close by, leaning against the door with his arms crossed, was Han, snorting at the two Rebellion aces getting the scolding of their lives from the princess.