#sw echo

Twyla had sat herself near Echo as she worked on sewing on the sunflower emblem onto her head covering, every now and then she'd look up at him. Catching glimpse of his tired eyes and how he held himself, like a man who hadn't slept in days. She knew why he hadn't slept and it pained her, the idea that this man, the man that she had come to fall in love with was still plagued by the memories of what had happened to him on skako minor. She didn't want to think about the pain that he must have gone through, or the pain that he's still going through yet it's all she could feel every time she looked at him.

The shinies were outside Rex’s office. He could hear them, Echo and Fives, bickering about who should be the one to knock on the door and interrupt him. As if they hadn’t already done that just by being so close and so loud. He hadn’t written a word for the past five minutes, and had instead just been sipping his caf and staring at the door as he waited for the boys to actually open it. Their attempts at whispering were failing more spectacularly by the moment.

“You knock!”

“No, you knock!”

“I knocked last time!”

Rex was starting to wonder, just a little, if inviting them into the 501st might be something he would come to regret. They were good soldiers; brave on the battlefield. But if he had to listen to another one of their arguments he was going to lose it. And if he had to be the one to settle another one of those arguments–

Abandoning the report he was supposed to be writing, Rex stood, caf in hand, and walked over to the door. It slid open, interrupting Fives mid-sentence. Echo snapped into a salute, with Fives following a second later.

“Boys,” Rex greeted, leaning against the doorframe. “Can I help you?”

“Well, actually, yes,” Fives started, with Echo nodding beside him. “See, the thing is–”

He paused, sniffing the air, abandoning whatever it was they’d come to ask of their captain, and zeroed in on the mug Rex had in his hand.

“Fives,” Echo hissed, trying without much success to bring his brother back to the task at hand.

“What is that?” Fives questioned, leaning in closer to the drink. “It smells amazing.”

“Caf,” Rex answered, tipping the mug so he could see. “You want to try some?”

There was no caf on Kamino; at least, not for clones. That was a fact Rex always forgot until some shiny inevitably noticed the aroma of the drink, whether from Rex’s cup or just in the mess hall – or, one time, from a visit to the medbay when Kix was particularly slammed with patients – and asked about the stuff. A trooper’s first time drinking caf was always entertaining, regardless of the outcome, and always an event that Rex was happy to initiate.

Fives took the offered mug from Rex, ignoring Echo’s sigh. He lifted the mug to his face and breathed in the scent, then took a small sip. A surprised hum escaped him as he swallowed.

“That’s good!” Fives commented. He held the mug out in Echo’s direction. “You should try it.”

It occurred to Rex, too late as Echo accepted the mug, that he may have made a fatal mistake. These boys did not need more energy; they were already bouncing off the walls after being stuck on Coruscant for the last week. But from the reverent way Fives was eyeing the mug Echo held, the damage was done.

Echo took a tentative sip of the hot liquid and – to Rex’s slight relief – spluttered. He frowned, passing the mug back to Fives, who accepted it gratefully.

“Yeah, that’s not for me,” Echo stated.

“You can sweeten it,” Rex told him, “if that’s your thing. Sugar, cream, even hot chocolate powder.”

Fives’ eyes glowed at the possibility as he took another sip, but Echo just shook his head.

“I’ll pass. Thanks, captain.”

Rex nodded. That was probably for the best; he definitely couldn’t handle whatever chaos would ensue with both of them on a caf high.

“Thanks, cap,” Fives echoed.

The two of them wandered off, whatever problem they’d initially come with forgotten. It wasn’t until they rounded the corner out of the barracks that Rex realised Fives had taken the caf with him. He sighed, accepting the price he had to pay for a bit of peace, and retreated back into his office to make some more.