Chapter Text
“So, where to Sarge?“ Echo pulled Hunter from his thoughts. “Echo,” Hunter cleared his rough voice. “Just the ARC Trooper I was looking for,” he continued.
“Oh yeah? Sure hope I am not in trouble, Sarge,” he chuckled. Of course he knew he wasn't in trouble for anything. Echo only really got in trouble when he goofed around with Fives, but even then, Fives took the blame when he could. But those days had passed, he thought to himself.
Hunter, with his enhanced senses, could see that quick flick of sorrow on Echo's face. It came and went so fast, he almost didn't catch it. But Hunter always could tell what his brothers were feeling, no matter how hard they tried to conceal it. With one exception, Crosshair. He could never understand how his brother was so good at hiding his feelings. To his dismay, he decided a long time ago to accept that he wasn't always going to be able to tell what Crosshair was going through, just by looking at him.
Hunter decided to not ask if Echo wanted to open up right now, but he did make a mental note to ask him about it later. Instead, he decided to say, “Echo, I’ve got to be honest with you.” He gestured for Echo to take the seat next to him. “I…” he tried to look for the right words. “I have been seeing someone, and it has started to get a bit more serious.” Hunter paused to look at Echo. “Congrats Sarge, but I’m sensing there’s more to it,” Echo had just hoped it wasn't a Jedi General. It was actually, probably, depending who you ask, much worse than that.
“You’d be correct with that assumption,” Hunter just needed to say it, but he didn't want Echo to react badly and then feel guilt for putting him in an awkward position. “They’re from Earth. And.. they know that I'm not.”
Echo wasn't sure how to react. He knew he couldn’t tell Hunter how to live his life but, this was really stepping over the line he and the batch had already stepped over. He tried to not show his thoughts on his face but by the worried look in Hunter's eyes, he could tell he was failing at it. “I’m gonna be honest with you Sarge.” Echo looked down at his feet then back to the Sarge. “I’m not really sure how I should react to that. A part of me knows that this isn’t allowed and if this information fell into the wrong hands, that you wouldn’t be Sarge for much longer,” Hunter raised one eyebrow at his brother. “But the rest of me just wants to know… are they hot?”
Hunter stood up and laughed. Turns out he was worried for no reason. Echo had a great sense of humour. He knew this from the moment he met him, when Echo had joked about having a really big headache to his brother - and Captain - Rex. He had just been rescued from what must’ve been hell, and he didn’t cry, or scream from pain, he joked. That moment was the moment Hunter gained so much respect for Echo. He now felt guilty for ever doubting his brother.
”Well, I guess you are just going to have to wait and find out for yourself.” Echo stood up at this and the two grabbed each other's forearms in a hand shake. Echo started to walk to his seat beside Tech in the cockpit for takeoff. Hunter called out to him. “Echo? Thank you.” Echo returned a nod to him in response.
They both took their seats in the cockpit. “Where to?” Tech asked. Hunter shared a quick look with Echo. They both nodded to each other. “Earth. I’d like to introduce Echo to them.”