Don’t imagine how long it takes Echo to regulate his breathing after the tests are done. How badly his hand trembles as it’s fisted in the blanket covering his lap. The machines around him beeps and he’s so sure this isn’t a dream but it could be and he can’t handle that not again. Not after the cold and the harshness of hands that didn’t care if they hurt him.

Don’t imagine how Rex doesn’t know what to say. He’s felt like this moment was coming since the Citadel but now it’s here and he doesn’t know how to comfort Echo without his voice cracking. He doesn’t know how to talk about what happened, or Fives, or… anything. Eventually he does have to go. There’s still work to be done and briefings to attend and flimsiwork to finish. And Echo needs his rest, no matter how badly Rex wants to keep his eyes glued to this man he thought he lost forever.

But above all, don’t imagine Echo stumbling over his words as he begs Rex to stay. That he can’t handle being alone. Not yet. Not so soon. His eyes grow glassy and wide as Rex stands halfway up from his chair. There’s a desperation he’s never seen in Echo’s face before and Rex thinks it’s mimicked in his own expression. Rex does really need to go. He’s got work to do and his presence seems to only be keeping Echo awake. But he sits backs down because his feet refuse to move any further. His hand slips into Echo’s open palm. He promises he won’t leave, not even when he falls asleep.

He has the biggest heart. He has this blood-built empathy that is impossible to separate from him. He has experienced so much cruelty at the hands of people who never saw him as a person. People who treated him like a product, like he was nothing. He was tortured, experimented on, used against his will. He knew cruelty. Looked it in the eyes. It broke through his skin, infiltrated his veins, cracked all of his bones. Cruelty is cold, like ice. Spreading and killing anything that wants to grow, to change.

Echo, however, is warmth. He is the sunrise, a sunny spring day, the first bloom of the year. He is a promise that a new tomorrow exists and is within reach. That other people's cruelty does not define you. He's the proof that you can choose kindness, and care, and loyalty, and you can stand with those who need you. It's a choice that often burns, that hurts like no other, but it is no less worth it. He will never leave those behind that need him and he has prove that time and time again.

Kindness is soft but it is often forged with bloody knuckles.

They make a game out of how long they can get it to happen until he notices. Tech managed half an hour once. Wrecker always immediately gets clocked but Echo pretends not to just to boost Wrecker’s score (he gets called out for cheating but always denies it.) Hunter has a pretty good handle on not tipping Echo off when he lays down but he often gets a bit too snuggly and gives himself away anyway. Echo tugs on a strand of his hair then keeps going. Crosshair is so quiet and sneaky that he’s a runner up to Tech but the second he’s found out Echo can’t resist tickling him instead of giving out more pets. He pretends he doesn’t know what he’s doing but grins the whole time while Crosshair complains and slaps him.

For example:

Crosshair often perches on surfaces nearby whoever he is trying to annoy so they always just have him and his hot breath breathing down their neck. Tech has pushed him off of a chair before because he was sick of him

Wrecker is an angel and never does anything annoying ever So Wrecker will straight up lift them up and move them to like the chair right next to them so he can sit in their chair lmao

Cody pokes Rex all. the. time. He’s walking by and Rex is in the middle of talking so he just pokes him on the back of the head. He’s speaking in a group setting and Cody jabs him directly in his ribs so he makes a very silly and indignant noise

Echo, my sweet boy, asks them what they’re doing. Repeatedly. He asks and they tell him and he goes ‘oh, okay.’ Then gives it a minute then goes ‘hey, what’re you doing?’ And does that on repeat until they get annoyed enough to go after him

Tech records embarrassing things they’ve said and plays it back to them when they’re on his nerves. The way they shut up soooooo quick

Until Echo mentions he likes strawberries. He didn't even say strawberries were his favorite fruit. Just that they had strawberries and when asked if he wanted some he said 'Sure, I like strawberries.'

The next day there are two cartons of strawberries in his locker on the Marauder.

He has no idea where they came from but he's not complaining about free fruit so he washes them and cuts them up and shares them with the rest of the batch. And every so often another carton of strawberries will show up in his locker. He has no clue who this mystery strawberry gift giver is, just that they seem to always know when he's out of strawberries. He knows its one of the batch but they all swear up and down it isn't them so he lives with these gifted berries until one night he catches Crosshair shoving another carton of strawberries into his locker.

The next day Echo washes the berries, cuts them up, puts some sugar on them (the way Cross prefers to eat them), and sits down next to Crosshair to silently share the strawberries between them. After a bit of silence he says "ya know, I like raspberries, too. If you ever can't find strawberries." Crosshair side eyes him but just hums in acknowledgment, continuing to share the little bowl of fruit between them until they've both had their fill.

Echo: *makes jokes two seconds after being unplugged from the Techno Union computer, jumps on the back of a keeradak without hesitation, fights with them and kicks serious ass, and comes up with a strategy so chaotic even Tech was like ‘what arE YOU DOING?’*

Counting.

Echo will just be minding his own and the batch are being annoying and they just won’t leave him alone and it often goes like this:

“You better knock it off.” Echo warns.

Hunter is the first to laugh, too comfortable lounging nearby. “Or what?” This draws a long sigh out of Echo who finally puts his datapad down.

“I’m going to count to three.” Echo says, casual, like he’s asking what they want for dinner. The four other men in the room look at each other, doubtful.

“So?” Wrecker asks with a playful lift in his voice.

Echo raises his eyebrow then says low and threateningly, “One.”

“Oh, yeah super intimidating.” Crosshair folds his arms over his chest, rolling his eyes.

“Two.” Echo ignores the way they brush it off, still goofing off and irritating him. Crosshair even throws a few more comments just to get under his skin.

“What are we, cadets?” Tech asks, but he’s unprepared for the next part.

“Three.” Echo smiles, a typically friendly gesture that now strikes terror into each of them. He stands and every one of them backs up and the ones that are smart run like hell.

The worst he does is chase them and use those well earned ARC skills (and his mischievousness) to take them down. He’s used his powers for evil and hidden just to spook them. He’s dropped down from the ceiling onto Wrecker’s back before which Wrecker found both terrifying and hilarious.

It’s all just an excuse to get some energy out and play a little. It’s so unserious even Echo can’t keep a straight face while counting sometimes but the excitement/fear/anticipation they feel when being chased by someone that literally doesn’t quit until he gets exactly what he wants is very real.