"Yeah and they eat these birds called Nunas," Cass sat cross-legged on Wrecker's back as he did push-ups, and relayed the information she had read a few hours before. "And there's even purple ones too, but those only live on Garel."
"I wish I could hold one," he grunted in between his moves. "They look so soft but...I'm never fast enough to catch one."
"Maybe we could get Hunter to buy one and we can keep it on the ship," she leaned down and whispered.
"Easier said than done, I think Crosshair might kill the thing," he shook his head.
"They can actually be trained, you know. We could teach it to snipe or something," she joked, though Wrecker was seriously considering it.
"Sounds good to me!" he cheered and raised one arm in the air for a high five.
She laughed and slapped her hand against his, then Wrecker continuing exercising. Tech was next to wake up and walk out of his room, already typing away on his data pad.
"Hey Tech, how'd you sleep?" her voice softy rang in his ears.
"Normal, I suppose," he stashed away his data pad and met her eyes. "And you? Are you feeling any better?"
Cass wanted to say no, for she only slept about fifteen minutes. Was she still exhausted? Yes, but that wasn't Tech's question. Her eyes glanced at her door, and she remembered the reassurances of Echo, and briefly of her master.
"Yes, much better," she looked back at Tech and nodded.
"Good," his shoulders relaxed a bit and he walked over to the pair. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a bag of dried pallie fruit, and offered some to Cass. He motioned for her to scoot up higher onto Wrecker's shoulders so he could join her.
"Is this something you do all the time?" Cass chuckled as Tech crossed his legs, their knees touching. He nodded nonchalantly and poured some fruit into her hand.
"Yes actually. Though it's usually Crosshair sitting where you are," Tech explained.
Tech watched Cass pop some of the berries into her mouth, and she exhaled happily when the flavor set in. He observed her and was relieved to see she was finally eating something. He felt compelled the make sure she was okay. He had laid awake that night, his head zoomed around thinking of her. Those thoughts began to replay as he observed her sitting quietly, tapping away on her own data pad with one hand and munching on berries with the other. He subtly tried to peek at the wound on her leg, and saw that the gauze had not darkened in color overnight, a good sign.
"I saw that you sent me a Jedi manuscript," he tapped away and looked back up to her. She nodded and held out cupped hands, to which Tech gave her another handful of berries.
"Yeah I thought it would be something you'd like to read. I don't know how much of it you would understand but, maybe we could read some of it together?" she mumbled in between bites, avoiding his eyes. "It's uh, been a while since I've read it," she lied.
"I would be delighted," he nodded and adjusted his goggles, he felt his face begin to heat up slightly. "I was able to look through the first couple chapters, and I was pleasantly intrigued."
Cass' face lit up and Tech mirrored her expression. "I'm glad you think so," she replied softly. She leaned over so their shoulders were touching, and she pointed to the data pad in his hands. Tech kept his eyes on her the whole time, memorizing every movement of her lips and hands as she spoke.
"And this chapter here, it talks about kyber crystals and the unique way they resonate with the force. I thought you might like that part," she leaned away and met his eyes.
Their gazes lingered on each other for a few moments too long, and Cass felt his energy fill the room. She could sense happiness and curiosity emanating from him.
He couldn't sense the force like she could, but from the lazy smile and the blissful calm in her eyes, he concluded that maybe she had more on her mind than Jedi texts.
"You guys okay up there?" Wrecker pushed up again and stopped, waiting for their answer.
Their eyes averted and they cleared their throats.
"Uh, yeah, we're good Wrecker, just...getting caught up in our data pads is all," Cass excused and bit her lip.
She glanced back at Tech, who had once again tried to hide his face. He felt her eyes on him and slowly craned his neck to see her. She had the same blush on her face, and a childish grin on her lips. Seeing her so happy to be with him made his heart race and eventually a smile ended up on his lips as well, though he tried to hold it in.
"Whatever you say," Wrecker laughed, and they could imagine the smirk he had by his tone.
"Oh by the way," she spoke quietly and changed the subject quickly. "Me and Wrecker were thinking of convincing Hunter to let us keep a tooka cat on the ship. What do you think?"
"Not a good idea," Tech answered bluntly.
Cass groaned as she hopped off Wrecker's back, and planted herself in front of Tech. Without a word he held his hand out, and she began absentmindedly picking fruit from his hand.
"I think," he raised a finger and stood up, "that Crosshair would immediately kill it on sight."
"What will I kill on sight?" Crosshair joined the group and shifted his weight on one foot.
"Nothing!" Wrecker denied and got up, heading straight to the kitchen to grab a snack.
Crosshair shook his head and didn't press on, because quite frankly he didn't care. Hunter was next to walk in. He straightened out and readjusted his bandana, then took a seat at the table. He saw Crosshair and Wrecker next to him, as well as Tech and Cass shoulder to shoulder, but still Echo was missing.
"Where's Echo?" he continued looking around until he set his eyes on Cass.
"He's uh, still in bed," she looked down and dusted the berry residue off her hands. "He didn't get much sleep last night."
It was easy for Hunter to know what was happening with her, he came to the conclusion the night before when she was avoiding going to bed. Sometimes his brothers acted the same way, especially Echo. Hunter had comforted Echo with his nightmares and knew how private he was about it, he assumed Cass to be the same. And she was grateful for him keeping his silence on it.
"Must have been too excited to have you back," Hunter knowingly responded.
Cass caught on to what he was doing and nodded, faking some sort of curiosity.
"Yeah, must have," she agreed and rubbed her palm.
"Heard anything from Skywalker?" Crosshair inquired and fiddle with a toothpick in his hand.
"Not yet, but we need to be ready when we do. We are low on fuel and rations so I suggest we make a pit stop," Hunter answered.
"There's a Republic station on Kidron, about half a parsec away," Tech informed the group. "We can refuel and restock rations there."
"Let's get going then," Hunter stood and gestured to the cockpit.
Tech ventured to the pilot's seat and pressed buttons strategically until the ship began moving again. Cass watched him fire the engines up, seeing how he worked so effortlessly and always with purpose. It was fascinating to watch, and perhaps she had been staring too long because Hunter soon cleared his throat behind her. Cass' eyes widened and she quickly flipped around.
"I'm uh, I'm just gonna go meditate until we land," Cass pursed her lips and shuffled hurriedly past him, slipping quietly back into her room as to not wake up Echo.
Hunter laughed under his breath and shook his head. Even without his heightened senses, it was completely obvious that Tech and Cass felt some type of way about each other. Tech didn't know the first thing about romantic feelings, and most likely didn't register it as such. And Cass was just as inexperienced, as Jedis weren't even allowed to entertain a thought like that. Altogether, the whole experience was something Hunter found quite entertaining to watch.
"How cute. Seems like our new girlie has taken a liking to him," Crosshair chuckled under his breathe and gestured to Tech. "It's so obvious, and disgusting."
Hunter wandered towards Crosshair and leaned against the wall. He kept his voice low enough just for the two of them to hear.
"Leave 'em alone," Hunter bit back a smirk. "Besides, it's fun watching Tech turn all red."
. . . . . .
cass and tech eating berries together and just being all around wholesome together:
sorry this was a filler that kinda just sets up the next chapter, but i hope it was still enjoyable! it originally was longer but there ended up being too much and i had to split the chapters! but you can expect a more intimate cass and tech moment soon!