#tech thursday

It was late into the evening but the 79s was packed as ever. The deep base bounced off the walls and rattled the drinks on the tables. The floors were already sticky from drunk patrons dancing around and trying to pick up someone or another.

Looking at some of the soldiers having too good of a time, you were already preparing how many hangover cocktails you would need to have come morning. 

Being one of the medics for the Republic you got to know the men more personally than most civilians did. Like a good medic, you cared for each of their well beings but of course some took advantage of it more than others

"Doc!"

Your table was knocked aside slightly Fives presented you his hand, it had the smallest bruise forming near the thumb "I hurt myself"

"He isn't really hurt,Doc," Echo shoved himself in front of Fives as he presented a small cut on his hand that was already coagulating, "I think it may need stitches!"

You pinched the bridge of your nose sighing but also still chuckling.  You pulled a small med pack from your purse, "You don't need stitches," you yelled over the music as you gently swabbed an alcohol wipe on the cut, "Maybe don't try so hard to impress the girls."

"But how will they know we are tough?" Whined Fives as he took a small sip from your drink.

You placed a small band-aid on Echo's cut, patting him, "There you go."

Echo didn't remove his hand as he looked at you sheepishly, "It still hurts."

You rolled your eyes before placing a small kiss on the cut, Echo smirked, "Much better. You're the best doc!" As he punched Fives in the shoulder before going back to the bar. Fives stood in front of you, nervously rubbing the back of his head.

You smirked, "You'll just need ice, Fives." 

"Uh yeah...if you say so...I can't feel my fingers,there must be some nerve damage."

You huffed as you took his hand and gave the bruise a small kiss.

Fives flashed his signature cocky grin, "You have the magic touch, I feel everything again!" He kept his stupid grin on as he walked away with your drink.  You tried to call after him but it was no use. Though, not even seconds later a new drink was presented in front of you. 

"You baby them too much," Kix yelled in your ear as he handed you the new drink. 

"Don't tell me how to medic, medic," you winked as you took a long swig and nervously looked at your holopad.

"Got stood up again?"

Heat rose to your face as you shut off the screen.

"Their loss!" You spat as you took another long sip. This was the fourth time this month that you had tried to meet up with someone from one of the dating apps here in Coruscant. Being a medic with crazy hours it was hard to meet people face to face so you figured you'd give online dating a try. The conversations were always the same, the awkward hellos, flirty late night messages and then the dreaded 'let's meet'. They were always the one to propose it but once a time and a place was established; nothing. 

Kix laughed at you as he walked away. Picking up your holopad you began to check your message and send one out.

Y: Arghhhhh

T: Having that bad of a time?

Y: I wish I could even have a bad date instead of no date.

T: Well it is their loss. I did tell you statistically the probability of actually meeting was between five and seven percent.

Y: "You are soooo supportive." 

T: What would you prefer darling? A pat on the head and a 'there there'.

Y: You could just tell me how great I am and that all these people are losers and that they would've been a waste of my time.

T:You just said it. Why would I waste our time saying it again?

Y:You are just supposed to humour me and make me feel better about being ghosted again. That is what good friends do.

T:But then you'd just make the same mistake again. 

Y:Wow…remind me to give you bad dating advice when it is your turn. 

T:I have extensive knowledge on the matter. I don't see what additional information you could   provide.

Y: And how is that working out? 

You laughed to yourself as you waited for a response, taking another sip.

“That was an unnecessary low blow,”

You instantly jumped, as the drink dribbled onto your hand and down your arm. 

“Tech! Don’t do that,” you huffed as you grabbed a napkin from the table trying to clean yourself up. 

The trooper smirked at you as he handed you another napkin as one was clearly not enough. He then motioned to an empty booth in the corner where the speakers were pointing away from. 

You messily grabbed your things and sauntered over to the booth, sitting down on the plush bench next to him, shoulders touching.

“So, what brings you here?” you asked, motioning to the waiter for another order of drinks for the two of you.

“It had been a couple of hours since you last communicated with me. I wanted to make sure you didn’t need saving or had not been set up again. Though, my theory was correct that this would happen.” 

You nudged him in the shoulder, “And what if I was having a good time?”

Tech took the drink you had ordered for him, “That would be very unlikely given the messages you had shown me previously.”

“Are you saying I am boring?” you gasped in fake shock. 

Tech pushed his goggles closer to his face, “You know exactly what I mean,” he took a sip, his face scrunching a bit, you had asked for extra shots and he was not prepared. 

You giggled, as you shimmied your dress down your legs and adjusted the straps that aligned your shoulders. 

“That outfit seems unnecessarily complicated,” Tech observed, what you didn’t notice was how he held his gaze on you for just a moment longer than he probably should have. 

“Are you saying I don’t look good?” You pouted, crossing your arms over your chest.

Tech flustered, “N-no you look fine. It..it just seems that it takes a while to get on.”

You laughed, you loved teasing him and seeing the small reactions you could get out of him, “It is actually quite easy to get into...and out of,” You winked taking a long sip of your drink. The alcohol buzzing through you, numbing your senses and making you feel warm. 

Tech sighed deeply as he pulled out his holopad, “I don't even want to know what you had planned for tonight,” 

“Oh you knew what I had planned and I would’ve given you every detail down to the last strand of hair.” 

You leaned over, resting your head on his shoulder as you looked down at what he was looking at. 

“Those details are not wanted,” he murmured as he pulled up another article on the vegetation of a planet in another squadron. 

“Oh come on! I’d want to know how your sexy dates would go!” 

“Well lucky for you they have been extremely far and few in between.” he said rather quietly.

Your heart dropped, realizing what you had just done. You poked his cheek lightly, “Hey! I am supposed to be the sad one, remember? Also, anyone would be very lucky to go out with you.” 

Tech just patted your head lightly, it was his signature trait with you when he wanted to politely tell you he didn’t want to continue the conversation any further. 

“So, a new episode of Hyperspace Dates is out, can you pull it up?”

“Darling, if you think I am going to waste my power on your trashy shows again you have another thing…” he turned to look at you, cheeks blown out, eyes wide and glossy as he stopped mid sentence. You knew he couldn’t resist you begging and he always had a hard time saying no to you.

“Fine! But only one episode and then you are going home.” 

You let out a yell, wrapping your arms around him, “You’re the best Tech,” you say slurring your words at this point.

He smirked proudly, “Tell me something I don’t already know.”

                                                          ****

If anyone were to ask you who you felt the closest to or most comfortable with, you would say Tech without a moment's hesitation. You had grown close to him and his crew when the other medics or soldiers refused to aid them on missions due to their not so conventional style. You were new to the team and you didn't want to cause trouble so you naively agreed to whatever you had been asked to do which is how you ended up with them.

The first few missions were short and mostly resulted in you stitching up Wrecker or covering Crosshair in bacta gel. Afterwards the missions became longer and further. Tech would be the only one really comfortable piloting the Havoc Marauder and unfortunately you were a light sleeper,so, sleep usually wasn’t an option on the ship. 

You found yourself, often, in the middle of the night, sitting in the chair next to him as he would pilot in silence, watching the stars shoot by. You were always trying to be the one to initiate conversation, asking about the mechanics of the ship or what he was tinkering with when the ship was autopilot. In typical Tech fashion, he would respond with large words and short sentences, not feeling like you had actually wanted to hear what he was doing. 

People rarely enjoyed hearing him speak. You caught him by surprise, though when one time you started discussing the wildlife of the planet you had a mission on. You had a passion for animals of all kinds and you were explaining to him what you were most excited to see. 

He had humoured you, listening to you explain to him the survival characteristics of some species and how they protected themselves from prey. He of course knew everything but he allowed you to ramble on as he listened intently. He took notice of how you stopped paying attention to the world around you, your eyes brightened, hands clasped when you got really excited over one particular topic. When you finally realized he was actually listening to you and was engaging in conversation with you, you began to ask him all the things. 

You would sit with him for hours as you two would ramble on and you were even able to bring out his sense of humour. The type that many would groan over but you would burst out laughing every time.

 From that moment on, you two were inseparable. Rarely did you go on missions without them and when Tech had to hang back to repair the ship or do field research you would usually stay with him. These were on safer missions, of course.

Being a civ, you were able to show him how you lived, what your day to day activities were, when you weren’t working those crazy hours. He was fascinated by the amount of things you collected and was also appalled at your taste in holoshows but whatever you two did together would end up being enjoyable for the both of you. While you were enthralled in your reality shows, Tech would be criticizing the cast of the show, the unrealistic plot and would also try to predict who would end up in the finale. 

You couldn’t have felt more lucky to have found a friend like Tech and you didn’t think you would be able to ever properly express it to him.

                                                      ****

“We are here you two.” 

You jolted awake as the taxi had pulled up in front of your apartment. You didn’t recall leaving the 79s but you did recall the amount of drinks you had. Your body was kindly reminding you of it. You had fallen asleep against Tech, his arm loosely around your waist. 

You shook him awake quickly, “Tech! We are here! Get up.”

Tech mumbled something, his head falling onto your chest. You groaned, “Come on buddy, the driver has other places to be.”

You pulled Tech out of the cab and paid and tipped the driver generously for the delay. 

As you tried to get your card to open your apartment door, Tech was full upright and yawning. You stumbled in and he followed suit. He always insisted on bringing you home when it was late. He argued he wouldn’t feel comfortable not knowing you were home safe. You were a beloved medic and Kix would have a hard time finding another partner, he always stated. 

“Whelp!” you drunkenly yelled, “This was a waste of both of our times.” 

Tech chuckled, “I would say the time you spent getting ready and stressing over this was a waste of time.” 

“Pfftt, who needs them?” you spat bitterly as you walked into the kitchen, grabbing two glasses and grabbing a bottle of filtered water. 

Tech followed and leaned against the counter, taking a glass from you, he had the slight hiccups that he was trying to hide from you so he downed it in large gulps.

“Agreed! It is better to be alone, instead of with some loser,” 

You laughed, you loved when Tech became more relaxed with his speech, which mostly came out when he was drunk.

“Screw relationships, it’s not like any of us have time for them anyways!” you swirled your glass around, spilling some water onto the floor, “Oops,” you giggled.

Tech moved closer to you, taking the glass out of your hand. “Always so klutzy,” he smiled.

At this moment he had you cornered by your counter. You felt how warm he was near you, your eyes at chest height as you took in the features of his blacks. He had removed his armour once he had come in. You shook your head, making eye contact with him instead.

He had both arms by your side, his face flushed due to the alcohol in his system. “It is more favourable to be alone,” he whispered. 

You smiled up at him, “Well at least I have you,” you innocently responded. 

This time, Tech didn’t hide the fact that he was staring, he took in your features, the way your eyes twinkled a certain way whenever you smiled, how your eyes were currently a little glossy due to exhaustion and alcohol. Your tight dress did little to hide the fact that your breathing had increased as he took notice of the rise and fall of your chest. He ran one hand along your bare arm, goosebumps following in its wake.

“And I you, mesh’la.” 

You gulped slightly as a rush of excitement invaded your body, you loved hearing him speak in mando’a but this time it had some in-explainable effect. 

You caught yourself staring up into his golden eyes and you immediately tried to look anywhere but at him. Tech tenderly grabbed your chin, tilting your head upwards. 

“T-Tech, I-”

“Hush, we’ve done enough thinking for the day.” 

He then brought his face down to yours, his warm breath tickling your face. You leaned in, as he pulled you closer. You felt your eyes close as he sealed your evening with a kiss. 

                                                      ****

Next morning, you groaned as the late morning sun invaded your bedroom, cursing yourself for forgetting to close the curtains last night. You turned away from the wall length windows and snuggled into the warm body next to you.

Wait...warm body? You jumped away slightly as you took notice of the person waking up beside you. Your heart sank as realization had hit you on who it was.

You bit your lower lip as Tech let out a loud yawn, rubbing his eyes as he blinked a few times before freezing himself.  His eyes widened at your current situation and you felt the early onslaught of tears as your face warmed up.

"Oh…" was all he could muster out of himself 

"Yeah…" you replied,pulling your sheets closer to you, hyper aware of your naked frame.

"I am...I'm...my apologies for my inebriated actions." He bumbled as he tripped on himself getting out of your bed and quickly putting on his goggles,  blacks and bottom plastoids.

"Tech.." your voice was hoarse and weak as you cursed your hungover state as your brain failed to fire the proper synapses. 

"I need to get going," he stated, not looking back as he gathered his things and practically ran out. 

You were left alone with only the sound of your own heartbeat pounding in your ears and short, heavy breathing as a tightness overcame you. It invaded your body,knocking all sense or reasons aside. Your chest ached, your mind disconnecting itself as waves of regret pounded against you.

What have you done? 

You heard your front door open again, your body stiffening as Tech reappeared in your bedroom.

Tech noticed your uncomfortable posture and saw the familiar features of sadness creep along your face. You didn't know how badly he ached to touch you, tell you that everything was okay, that this was his mistake, instead,though, he picked something up at the foot of your bed.

"Apologies," his voice broke, "I forgot my helmet. Good day." And rushed back out, not allowing you anytime to react. 

Outside your apartment, something inside him, that for the first time ever he couldn't explain, shattered, as your muffled sobs could be heard through the door.

****