I've never wrote a soulmate AU oneshot, so here I'm trying my hand at one for my first time! Hope you enjoy! (Also it's long~ Ahahaha! I had too much fun with it!) Apologies in advance too if there are errors... I'm finishing this up at 2 AM, so I frankly don't feel like editing it!
Edit: Did some editing of it today, now that it isn't 2 AM anymore.
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A sigh left the lean clone as he began removing the armor covering his body. He and the others had returned from a long mission, and he was glad to be back at the Clone Force 99 barracks once more. He knew the others weren't so fond of the place, but he had found himself vaguely missing the sound of Kamino's near-constant rain pattering on the roof.
He set his helmet on his bed, then went to remove his chestplate. As he slid it up over his head, it hooked on one of his gauntlets, pulling up the tight sleeve of his blacks underneath. He turned his gaze to his exposed arm, about to roll the sleeve back down. Shock caused him to abruptly drop his chestplate to the floor at an unexpected sight. He winced at the loud clang that followed.
"Hey, what's going on in here?" came the voice of Wrecker as he poked his head into the room to find Tech staring dumbfounded at his arm. Tech caught sight of the bulky clone and quickly pulled his sleeve over his exposed skin.
"It's nothing," he insisted quickly. "I was simply startled by something and dropped my chestplate." He inwardly breathed in relief. His first instinctive response hadn't been a total lie, and considering how his baffled mind was racing, he was surprised he hadn't said something completely stupid instead.
Wrecker squinted at him skeptically. "Are you sure-?"
"Yes, I am," Tech replied, his voice coming out more sternly than he had intended.
However, it did work, seeing as Wrecker mumbled, "Alright, well... Come join us in the cafeteria if you wanna eat something." Then he slunk away, leaving Tech be once more. Tech picked up his chestplate from the floor and placed it on his bed.
He glanced around, half aware it was out of paranoia seeing that he was the only one in the Clone Force 99 barracks at the moment. Only when he was sure nobody was around, he pulled up his sleeve to gaze upon the dark markings on his lower arm. It appeared to be black ink, and Tech idly attempted to rub it away with his finger. When it did not leave, he frowned curiously.
"I do not recall using ink recently... let alone getting it on myself..." he mused under his breath, adjusting his goggles thoughtfully. "Perhaps it is an oil stain?" He had done some repairs to the ship engine recently, but he hadn't recalled getting oil on himself. However, he had had his fair share of paper cuts in his lifetime to know you didn't need to notice it was there for it to almost magically appear on its own.
Frowning, Tech moved across the room to where the rations were stashed. He took a small wrapped bar of food he didn't mind the taste of, then seated himself down on his bed before unwrapping it. He didn't care for large meals anyways; his stomach typically couldn't take it. As his ate, he found his eyes kept drifting to the dark markings on his arm. He squinted, pausing mid-bite to hold his arm closer to his face. Tilting it this way and that, his eyes widened behind his goggles.
It was writing. There were entire words on his arm.
The food bar he had been eating was immediately abandoned as Tech went straight to work deciphering the code. It didn't take him long to see that it was not Aurebesh, the common written language across most species. "Not Mando'a either..." he told himself outloud, Mando'a being another language he was quite fluent in.
Tech pursed his lips thoughtfully, grasping his helmet and settling it over his head again to flip down his visor to scan the writing. The result surprised him, seeing that it was Huttese and he didn't know how to speak or write the language. It implied the only option left: that it had been written on his skin by someone else. But then he would have to had recalled it happening, and he surely did not remember someone doing such an odd thing. He removed his helmet again, scratching a spot just beside one of his eyebrows, staring at the Huttese writing quizzically.
By the time his brothers had returned to the barracks, Tech had already deciphered the message and now lay on his bed. His hands rested atop his chest, sleeves down to both wrists despite him now feeling acutely aware of the cryptic writing on his arm. It had translated into being a reminder to go to the market, which Tech was now completely certain he had not wrote. And it was something that made no sense for someone else to write on his arm either. But now he had even more bombarding questions as to how it got there then and who had written it.
"Tech?" came Echo's voice from nearby and the goggles-wearing clone snapped out of his thoughts.
"Yes... Echo?" he asked, still feeling a bit dazed by his bewildering discovery.
Echo, who stood next to his bed, arched a brow. "I was asking if you ate anything, but you seemed too zoned out to hear it."
Tech nodded vaguely, pulling himself up into a sitting position. While Wrecker and Crosshair were somewhat playfully fighting, Tech caught Hunter's stare across the room. "I was a bit caught up in my thoughts," he admitted, rubbing his head seeing as a headache was beginning to bloom. "I did start eating..." He trailed off, gazing at the food bar he had still left half-eaten next to his helmet. Both sat near the end of his bed.
Echo followed his gaze, then crossed his arms. "We're back on Kamino, we don't need to eat rations." Tech was about to object, but Echo wasn't finished. "Come on, get up and let's go get you some real food."
Tech glanced at Hunter once more, who held his gaze, seeming to share Echo's same opinion. Then he slid his legs off his bed, Echo stepping back to give him some space. "Alright," Tech agreed, somewhat reluctantly, but he followed Echo out of the barracks and down the hall towards the cafeteria.
It had been months since Tech had first discovered the writings on his arm. Now however, they had long faded away, only to mysteriously and spontanously be replaced with new messages. All of them hinted to mundane, everyday reminders. However, Tech had recently gotten one that cracked him up; it had read to 'shove my findings down Bearick's throat'. He had no idea who Bearick was, but Tech had a hunch that whoever it was had this coming to them for a while. He chuckled lightly under his helmet at the thought of it.
Even after all his research, he had nearly come up dry with what was going on with these ink markings on him... until a few days ago. He had been idly searching up variations of the questions on his mind on his datapad when he had come across something intriguing. There had been reports of people having similar situations across the galaxy. Some were more brutal than others, seeing that someone had splotches of blood mysteriously stain into their arm after having not been in any form of combat. It appeared to be related to a strange connection between two beings that saw any stains occuring to one person's arm would magically appear on the other's.
Many theorized it was fateful work of the Force to match ideal pairings together, but Tech was less certain about that. He did however know his mysterious matching person to him had a good sense of humor, at least.
But now, he was going to try making first contact back. Confined in the engine room of the Marauder for some privacy, Tech rolled up the sleeve of his arm, noticing the previous message stains were mostly faded by now. Dipping some ink onto the end of his pen, he hovered it over his bare skin. His hand trembled, and he found the unfamilar touch of the pen against his arm to be somewhat ticklish, but he managed to write a single word. It was a greeting in Huttese that he hoped was legiable, seeing that he wasn't used to writing on his skin.
"And now we await their reply..." he figured, covering up the message before climbing out of the engine room, hoping his brothers hadn't grown too suspicious of his brief disappearance.
It didn't take too long for him to get a response, and he didn't want to admit how giddy he felt when he had seen his mysterious soulmate's handwriting underneath his. And it felt especially good at the end of a rough mission that had left him bruised all over. He hadn't hesitated to write up another response.
Soon, his arm was covered with his and his soulmate's writing amongst one another. And now, at last, after some questioning he had a location to visit: Tatooine. Plus, his soulmate had kindly provided him with some coordinates to the location where they worked.
On a lucky situation of having to fuel up the ship on Tatooine, Tech took his chance. He felt hot inside his armor, and he gazed up at the twin suns through his visor. He was sure he had sand inbetween the joints in his armor too, but he wasn't about to complain. To finally meet his unknown penpal, it was a small price to pay overall.
He was surprised to see the coordinates lead him to a little bar, and as he entered, he noticed there were hardly any customers on top of that. Behind the counter stood an elegant figure, mixing up a drink in a most impressive manner that had the few customers clapping their hands. Tech lingered in the entryway, realizing he didn't know who he was here to see since a name hadn't been provided.
However, once his eyes met with the bartender, something instantly clicked.
An odd-looking stranger had entered the bar, dressed head to toe in white armor. It looked almost like how you had heard clone troopers to appear, except the unique features to it made it look different than what you had seen before. Their eyes met yours from across the room and you felt yourself stop. Stunned, you gestured them over to the counter. The armor-wearing figure nodded, approaching one of the various stools and sitting down. Both of your eyes met again, and close up, you were shocked to see he had the prettiest brown eyes you had ever seen.
Cheeks burning, you quickly spoke, "You seem... new here." You almost slapped yourself right after, seeing that this was quite obvious.
The man now lowered a visor on his helmet over his eyes, and to your disappointment, hiding those gorgeous eyes of his. "That does appear to be the case," he replied, speaking in Huttese but causing you to giggle slightly since you could tell he was not used to the language. But it was endearing, and you found the fact that he seemed open to learning new languages as fascinating.
To help him, you rolled up the sleeve of your arm and gestured to it before adding, "Is this... you?"
He paused. Then, he nodded. "My name is Tech," he introduced.
"Y/N," you answered pleasantly, holding out your hand to him. He politely took it, shaking your hand gently. Feeling a sudden whirlwind churn in your stomach, you realized his hand felt really nice in yours. The glove he wore had a soft fabric, and his hands provided a warmth that immediately put you more at ease.
"Can I ask the reason why most of your messages to me at first were about quite random things?" Tech asked, a curious tilt to his head.
Your cheeks flushed a little in embarrassment as you recalled the reason. "I didn't realized until your message that I had a soulmate," you explained to him, keeping your voice low enough to avoid the attention of your other customers. Wringing your hands together, you added, "I'm forgetful, see? So a friend of mine suggested I try reminding myself by writing on my arm." You laughed nervously. "I'm sorry for all the weird messages that would have given you... I wouldn't have done it if I knew."
Tech was quiet for a moment, taking a bit longer to translate your lengthy reply. Then he chuckled, a universal sound that made your heart race. "Could I ask who Bearick is then?" he asked, a hint of amusement in his tone.
You snorted. "Oh, him. He was a jerk who used to show up and always tell me one of the ingredients I used was being falsely advertised. So I set to work to find data to prove him wrong." You smirked, straightening and placing your hands on your hips. "And guess what? I was right." You smiled, leaning your forearms on the counter to bashfully meet your soulmate's gaze better. "He has come back since."
"Sounds quite entertaining of an experience," Tech figured.
"It sure was," you agreed.
Tech was quiet for a moment before he seemed to stiffen up a bit. "Wait... earlier you said 'soulmate'... What does that mean?"
You blinked, cheeks flushing a bit again. "You don't know about soulmates?" He shook his head wordlessly. You pursed your lips, trying to process how to explain it. "Well... It's someone you were meant for. Like someone you were destined to know, or to be with. Someone who is perfect for you."
"That sounds a tad superstitious, don't you think?" Tech asked, though his tone remained polite and ever so slightly curious, not judgemental.
You just shrugged. "I don't know. But either way, it has to mean something." Shyly, you continued, "And... I think out of anyone in the galaxy it could have been, I don't know, I think you turned out to be the best case scenario."
Tech straightened in his seat at that, taking hold of his helmet and finally lifting it off his head. You took in those warm brown eyes of his again, along with his gently tanned skin. He had a handsome face, really, with nice cheekbones and jawline. A soft blush also tinted his cheeks, a small smile you nearly missed seeing tugged ever so slightly at his lips.
Flustered and suddenly afraid to hold his direct eye contact, you instinctively moved to make a drink. You prepared the best thing on the menu, going through the motions of making such a drink before sliding it in front of him.
"It's on the house," you assured him, only to recieve a puzzled look. You frowned slightly, but when he tried to give you his credits, you had another chance. You covered his outstretched hand in yours, gently pushing his hand back towards him. Smiling, you shook your head. He seemed to understand immediately, another smile bringing an added light to his eyes.
"Hey, bartender!" called the gruff voice of one of your other customers. He slammed his empty glass on the countertop. "Get me another drink!"
You took one last glance back at Tech, who lightly gestured you to assist them, his small smile still on his face. You returned the smile, then turned to your other customers despite still being drawn to your endearing soulmate only a short distance away.