Last rare pairing for the masterlist! This are two of my fav ever characters. It's not on the fun side, but it's definitely sweet and fluffy, so I hope you like it!!
Xx, Blue.
"VIDEO CONFESSIONS" – REX/ECHO 💖
WARNINGS: clonecest (duh). Post-Order 66, first kiss.
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"Okay, we're filming" the woman announces, adjusting one last time the camera in it's tripod before taking her seat in front of him once again. "Just try to forget the camera is there though, okay? We're just two normal humans having a conversation".
Rex forces the snort away. There's nothing normal about this. Never in a million years he'd have imagined he would one day be interviewed like this; but alas, here he is. And voluntarily.
It had sounded like a good idea, honestly. The young rebel wanted to put together testimonies of survivors of the rise of the Empire, wanted to collect different versions and experiences –sort of chronicles– to be saved for posterity; and Rex had thought it would be a good way to explain the clone's part of the story, to make sure their sacrifices were remembered and the actions that were forced upon them somehow justified. He didn't want clones to be remembered as assasins. As traitors. They had fought with their own very soul in order to help the Republic, to protect the galaxy; and it broke his heart to think all of that may be forgotten.
The fact that he'd agreed doesn't make it any less weird, though. He feels like a fish out of water.
The woman smiles understandingly.
"Let's just start with you" she suggests, her own face almost hidden in the dim light of the room while his figure is bathed in a soft warm glow. "Who is Captain Rex?"
He stares at her; and then, an involuntary chuckle escapes his throat.
"And this was starting easy?" He answers, amused, and the woman laughs and shrugs guiltily.
"We have to start somewhere..." she drifts off.
Rex nods. He'll start with the basics, then. The obvious.
"I'm a clone".
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It get's progressively easier. The woman does a good job on making Rex feel at ease, as if he were talking with a friend; and soon the captain finds himself lost in memory lane, telling annecdotes about his time with the Republic and his fellow vods. What they had all lived and sacrificed.
"How would you describe them?" The interviewer, Sella, asks. "Try to make me feel as if I personally knew them too".
It's a difficult sugestion, but Rex tries. He knows what she's trying to do; bring light to their humanity, try to show others that clones were real, sentient people. Just like any of them. She's asking details of their individuality; and Rex jumps from one memory to the other one, explaining the uniqueness of each vod and sharing a few stories in between.
When Sella asks about the clones who have joined the Rebellion along his side, or the ones he had recently helped to rescue, Rex rants about Echo. His vod'ika had joined him just a few months ago –reluctantly leaving the Batch behind–; and something inside Rex had reignited with his presence. Perhaps it was because he had suddenly realised that, no matter how much he had lost, he still had some good things to keep. And he had always been fond of the Dominos; and specially of Echo.
"Seems like you admire him a lot" Sella comments, smiling gently.
Rex has no problem in admiting it.
"I do. He's the strongest person I know" he pauses, sorting out through his own thoughts, and then continues, voice candid. "He was physically and mentally abused and yet he still has this radiating warmth and kidness about him, this selflesness. He's fierce and smart, but also vulnerable and gentle. A good friend, a good person. He..."
Rex looses the trail of the conversation for a bit, thinking on his dear friend, and it's not until Sella points it out that he suddenly realises exactly why.
"Those were beautiful words, Rex" she says, softly. "Sounds to me like you're in love, Captain".
And Rex is stunned and shocked. A million thoughts and images run through his mind; confusion painfully visible in his face before transitioning to a warming realisation and a tired, fond smile on his lips.
"Can you cut this last part out?" He asks, surprisingly calm about it. "I don't think I'm ready for him to know".
Sella nods understandingly. Rex is glad that she isn't one of those reporters who would do anything for a good clip. They're all on the same team.
"Of course. I'll save the file in case you change of opinion, but I'll keep it out of the actual film unless you tell me otherwhise".
Rex relaxes back on his chair, relieved. He knows that if he wants Echo to believe him if he decides to confess, he needs to be sure of his own wants and feelings. He needs time to think about this.
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A month passes by, and Echo shares his worries with Rex; the fear of everyone around him finding their own little families and being left alone behind. Rex is quick to reassure him.
"We're free to do what we want now, Echo. There's not a single rule on fraternalisation" he reminds him gently. "You could form one too".
Echo gives him a bittersweet smile.
"I'm... Not sure if I'm precisely husband material, Rex. Who would put this..." he points down at himself. "Over everyone else?"
It breaks Rex's heart; to know how much Echo still struggles with his image and confidence. He had always been a little on the shyer side –though that didn't mean he couldn't be fierce or quirky, oh no–; and that trait had only been magnified by the traumatic events he had suffered on Skako Minor. He had done huge progress since then –Rex could tell with just the way he moved and talked–; but there was still a long way to go.
"You're a good guy, Echo" he gives his forearm a comforting squeeze. "You've got so much more to give than your image. Not that I think the picture looks any bad, though..."
It slips, Rex's afterthought; but it has a desirable reaction, because Echo chuckles and some of his sadness melts, turning into fond amusement.
"You just say that because we have the same face, vod. Saying otherwhise would be like insulting yourself" he continues with the "joke", and Rex quietly laughs as well.
Echo's bright eyes –they had somehow turned more amber after Skako, though Rex doesn't understand exactly how– flicker through his friend's face and then, impulsively, the younger clone cups the older's jaw and softly presses their forehead together. It's a familiar gesture between brothers; and yet, Rex shivers, finding more than that in the Keldabe kiss.
"Thank you, Rex" Echo whispers, releasing a sigh that the captain can almost feel brushing through his face.
It was expected; that Echo wouldn't take his comment seriously, that he'd think of it as a way of Rex trying to cheer him up. Rex needs to find a way to make him believe him... And he knows exactly who to ask for help.
Rex presses back into the gesture and hums.
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Echo is resting in his room on the Rebel base when someone knocks at his door. He groans, attaches his leg prothesis on his thighs again, and opens; expecting to find Rex or any other vod on the corridor. His face morphs to surprise, therefore, when he find a smiling woman instead.
"Hi!" She waves, a little too energetic for a half-sleepy Echo. "You know about that film I told you about? The one I asked you to participate in?"
The clone nods waryly. It had been an interesting idea; but the thought of his body being exposed for everyone to watch and analyse had pushed him to decline. He hopes Sella isn't here to insist.
"I filmed this a month ago" she continues, almost slapping a small memory-driver in his hand. "I think you're going to enjoy it".
The woman grins, and then turns around and takes a few steps away. Echo, a bit confused about the whole thing, just stares at her retreating form.
Sella suddenly stops and turns around, though, as if remembering something.
"Ah, in case you wonder, I did receive permision from the person interviewed to show this to you" she shoots him a last warm smile. "See you around, Echo".
The clone drops back on his bunk again and fishes his datapad from the bag under the bed; connecting the small driver to it and opening the archive with curious intrigue. He rests his back against the wall, and presses play.
The black screen comes to life; and Echo is surprised to find Rex talking with Stella. He wasn't even aware the captain had agreed to be interviewed; one would have thought that a man as private as him wouldn't want to be inquired about his personal life. As time passes by and Echo listens to Rex talking about his brothers, though, he understands exactly why.
Admitedly, Echo shares a tear or two while watching the vid. It's bittersweet; the raw pain and hurt from remembering his fallen brothers while also laughing and smiling at the small anecdotes Rex shares with Sella. When she asks him to describe them, and the older trooper gives his best, it's almost as if he's slowly drawing a picture of each one of them in his mind; with all their little details and mannerisms. Their personalities and traits. Their dreams. Echo can guess some of them before Rex even tells her their names.
And then Rex talks about him; and Echo's heart warms up and burns bright with the tender, reverent way his friend describes him. It's hard to think and accept it's him whom Rex is so sweetly refering too; but Echo can read the honesty in his eyes.
He's smiling without noticing it until he gasps in surprise when Sella carefully and very gently makes an observation out loud.
"Those were beautiful words, Rex. Sounds to me like you're in love, Captain".
The Rex in the video looks at her in surprise as well; but then his face fills with soft understanding.
Echo's heart speeds in his chest.
"Can you cut this last part out? I don't think I'm ready for him to know".
Sella nods, and Echo's mind drifts off with her answer while he continues to stare at Rex's figure in the screen. He... He's in love with him. He's in love with him? He's in love with him.
Echo sorts a hundred emotions and thoughts in a matter of a few seconds; from utter confusion to waryness to hope and back to denial and forward to unadulterated ecstatic happiness.
He reverently caresses Rex's shape on the screen; a happy tear falling down his cheek.
He needs to find Rex.
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Echo franticaly searches the base for Rex until he finally finds him right outside the mess hall talking with one of the most recently rescued vods.
At the risk of seeming unpolite and brash, he quickly cuts the conversation and closes his fingers around Rex's forearm; squeezing insistently, demanding all of his attention urgently.
"I saw the video" he blurts, eyes locking with his.
The fellow clone besides them understand there's something important happening between them and smiles before walking away.
Rex clears his throat and twists his forearm around so that his hand can move down to hold Echo's. Goosebumps appear on the small visible sliver of Rex's skin; while Echo shivers pleasantly.
"Yeah?" The older trooper manages to answer, a bit lost on what to say.
Echo nods. His heart is so full of love he can't stay in silence, and so he continues.
"That was..." he shakes his head and rephrases his thoughts. "It's beautiful, Rex, the way you see me".
The older trooper gives him a soft smile. He looks at him with uncharacteristical warmth.
"It's the way you are, Echo" he gently corrects him.
It's so sweet, and he's so happy, that Echo's vision blurrs with tears once again.
He takes a deep breath, and is brave enough to cup the Captain's left cheek with his hand.
"Rex I... I've always been in love with you. The same way I've always been connected to Fives" it's his time to confess, and soldiers through it firmly, burrying his insecurities and worries down and replacing them with fierce conviction. "Can I kiss you?"
Rex answers with a happy, relieved sigh. He softly nuzzles his head against Echo's gently hold before looking back at his eyes.
"There's no way I'd ever say no to that, cyare" he whispers in acceptance.
Echo's smile is so bright and his happiness so difficult to erase from his face, that Rex can still feel him smiling throughout their first kiss. It's a bit uncoordinated, and he chuckles too, uncapable of holding the emotions in as well; but then he learns how well they fit together, deepens the kiss, and Echo melts against his lips.
There's some cheering and clapping in the mess hall, the classic reaction for a heated public display of affection like this, and the two of them pull back laughing good-heartedly, closing their eyes and pressing their foreheads together tenderly. Grounding themselves.
They are still at war; but they are free to love. To give, to hold, to kiss.
THE END.
