#mayday steals his bracelets

[spooderpunk]

"I have eight brothers and sisters, I'm used to someone running off with something that's mine."

[just-here-with-my-thoughts]

"Forget I asked"

@summer-of-bad-batch week 3 alt prompt

Fandom: The Bad Batch Characters: Crosshair, Hunter Set after the finale when everyone is living happily (?) on Pabu. Technically Part 1 of the Beach Days & Hair Braiding series. Word Count: ~1875 Read Here on AO3

Synopsis: Crosshair tells Hunter he wants to join the Resistance

“Your regrets will go wherever you are, Cross. You have to find a way to live with them.”

“I am. The Empire is still out there, Hunter. If I can help keep them at bay… If I can keep them away from you and Omega, that I can live with.”

Crosshair stared at the bed, the covers and sheets stripped, the end of the mattress adorned with the small collection of his belongings.

It wasn’t much. But then, clones had never had much in the way of personal possessions. Most of their ‘belongings’ were military issue gear, able to be recalled and replaced with the supply whims of the GAR.

What was there now was his. Really his. Clothes that had been gifted to him by the people of Pabu, even if he had balked at the charity. A pebble with dark veins spidering across it which Wrecker had found on the beach and brought back because ‘it has the same tattoo as you’. A beat-up datapad which Phee had sourced for him, and to which he had downloaded all the data from the recorder on Tech’s goggles – not that he had accessed the files since.

He was wearing the bracelets Omega had woven for him, dyed leather and coloured thread standing out against a grey-white fabric wrap bound round his left wrist.

That had been Mayday’s.

It felt like stealing to take the strip of bandaging from Mayday’s empty helmet when they had returned to the outpost on Barton IV, and he had kept it hidden for many months whilst guilt gnawed at him. When he had been ready he had taken it out and simply run it though his hands, remembering.

Recently the pain of those memories had instead faded to a bittersweet ache, and he had added the length of fabric to the bracelet stack Omega had made. When the rip-tide of his regrets threatened to drag him under, he pinched his thumb and forefinger to the material and rubbed softly, grounding himself with the rasp of the rough fabric.

His fingers left a grubby mark, but he didn't wash it. That would mean taking it off, and he couldn’t bring himself to do that.

He found himself worrying the knot of fabric now, right hand trembling slightly as he forced his breathing into the calm cadence Omega had taught him and gathered his thoughts for this next step.

Omega knew he was leaving. She’d worked it out – she was smart like that. She’d spotted the tell-tale signs of his inability to settle to life on Pabu, and had confronted him about it in that special oblique way she had that spared him any feelings of judgement.

“So when are you leaving?”

“Huh?”

“When are you leaving?” She kept her head down, gaze focused on tying yet another colourful string bracelet round his wrist. “That’s what you’re planning on, isn’t it.”

It wasn’t a question. She knew he was already decided.

He flexed his right hand, then crossed it to his left to adjust the new bracelet. He pinched Omega’s hand affectionately, touch lingering on the soft web of flesh between her thumb and finger.

“Don’t tell the others,” he said, voice low, not meeting her eyes. “I don’t know how they’ll take it.”

“They’ll be happy for you,” Omega said, but he could hear the sadness in her voice. “If this is really what you want.”

He shuddered an inhale. “We’ll see.”

It hadn’t stopped him feeling like he’d failed somehow. Pabu was a paradise, and he should have been happy. Instead he was anxious, restless, unable to adjust to the slow pace of life. It only made it harder to see how enthusiastically his brothers threw themselves into the island community, ready to put down roots for the rest of their lives whilst he was still tumbling like a wind-blown briar.

Wrecker had understood. His broad, honest face was a map of his emotions, and he had been unable to hide his disappointment – but he had understood all the same.

“Gonna miss you,” was the first thing he had said after the lapse of quiet when Crosshair first told him. Then, “But you can always come back, right? If you change your mind.”

Crosshair nodded noncommittally. He was fairly certain he wasn’t going to change his mind, but if it made Wrecker feel better, he could let him have that.

“Echo and I will still be in touch,” he reassured his brother. “It’ll be… better than last time.”

Better than last time they were separated. He didn’t need to say it.

Wrecker picked him up in a huge bear-hug, and for once he didn’t complain too hard.

“Promise me you’ll stay safe out there, vod.”

“Sure, Wrecker. I promise.”

That left Hunter.

And he had no idea how he would react. So he had put it telling him, and put it off and put it off, and now Echo was arriving to collect him today and this was his last chance to corner Hunter, alone, to break the news of his departure mere hours before he went.

An irregular patter vibrated against his thigh and he clenched his right hand to stop it trembling, hissing in a displeased inhale. Time to get this over with.

“Hunter.” He raised his voice so that the rasping edge of his call would reach through the small house. “Could you help me pack?”

He returned his attention to the pile of items at the end of the bed, and waited.

It wasn’t long before Hunter wandered into his room, sipping caf from a chipped mug. “Sure,” he said by way of greeting, taking in the neatly piled items. “Looks like you’re nearly done already. Where you going? Camping trip to the far side of the island again?”

Hunter knew Crosshair would retreat to solitary trips for a day or two at a time, when the pressure of socialising with the island populace got too much. Crosshair kept his gaze carefully on the mug in Hunter’s hand, so he didn’t have to meet his eyes.

“Bit further than that,” he confessed, voice dropping to a near-whisper. His volume didn’t really matter – he could scream it for all the difference it made, Hunter’s enhanced senses meant he would hear either way.

“Off to explore the atolls?”

“No.”

He jumped at the soft brush of Hunter’s hand against his elbow and turned to him, guilt twisting his gut as his brother squeezed his upper arm with a supportive smile.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Hunter said, his gruff voice low and reassuring. “I’ll see you when you get back in a few days. What do you need help packing?”

Crosshair raised his arm to clasp Hunter’s in return, taking a half-step closer and tilting his head to rest their foreheads together. He closed his eyes against the confused look on Hunter’s face, lips pressed thin in a grimace.

There was no way Hunter wouldn’t feel the trembling of his right hand where it held his elbow.

“Can you get my armour for me?”

Hunter didn’t pull away, but Crosshair felt the tense of his muscles under his fingertips.

“What do you need your armour for, Cross?” said Hunter slowly, his tone measured. There was a creeping note of dread in his words.

Crosshair tightened his grip imperceptibly, willing his brother to understand.

“I’m going with Echo.”

For a long moment they simply stood, foreheads pressed together, tense and unmoving. Hunter’s breath shuddered unevenly into the space between them.

“Not you’re not,” he whispered eventually, voice low and forceful. “You can’t.”

Reluctantly Crosshair pulled back, straightening to eke out his height advantage as he dropped their arms.

“I can,” he refuted, keeping his face carefully neutral, “and I am.” Then he softened his gaze, looking pleadingly at Hunter. “Help me pack?”

Hunter’s expression fractured, shock and grief breaking through his usual reserved mask.

“When are you going?”

Crosshair swallowed and dropped his gaze to the floor.

“Today.”

With a wounded exhale Hunter sat down sharply, the edge of the bed sagging under his sudden drop.

Crosshair shifted restlessly, not meeting his gaze. "I... I have to keep moving,” he ventured, struggling to voice the explanation into the tense space between them. “I've tried staying still. If I do, everything will catch up to me..."

He trailed off, and neither of them needed him to finish the unspoken sentence. They both knew about his nightmares. Maker knew Hunter had held him through enough of them.

“It’s better this way.”

“Better for who?” Hunter surged to his feet, pressing into Crosshair’s space once more. “You’re just going to… to leave? Without telling us, without telling Wrecker and Omega so we have the chance to…”

His words dropped away as he saw the guilt in Crosshair’s expression, and he shuddered in a deep breath.

“You already told them.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m the last one to know.”

“…Yeah.”

Hunter shoved him, hard, anger flashing in his eyes.

“And you thought you’d tell me… by asking me to help you pack?”

Crosshair grit his teeth and pushed Hunter away, turning to scoop up the single armful of belongings from the end of the bed, everything he owned in the world.

“Forget I asked,” he said bitterly. “I thought you’d be happy for me. I’m moving forwards.”

“You’re running away.”

“So what if I am?” Crosshair raised his voice in frustration, volume increasing as their argument escalated. “It’s better than staying here, waiting for it to consume me!”

“Your regrets will go wherever you are, Cross,” said Hunter, but he kept his voice low, and Crosshair felt a lick of frustration that Hunter wasn’t matching his anger any more. “You have to find a way to live with them.”

“I am. By helping Echo. The Empire is still out there, Hunter. If I can help keep them at bay…”

His voice wavered with uncertainty, and he forced his gaze up to meet Hunter’s eyes at last.

“If I can keep them away from you and Omega, that I can live with.”

Hunter’s arms folded defensively across his chest, and he tried and failed to wrestle his expression back to neutral. It was like now his mask had slipped, he couldn’t shove down the heartbreak that leached through.

Crosshair mirrored his position, the bundle of clothes and his datapad clutched to his chest.

A chasm of space yawned between them, a mere few feet wide, impossible to cross.

"I want you to stay.”

Hunter's voice ached with so much more than he was saying.

"I want you to stay,” he repeated, and now he gave a shaky, resigned sigh. “But I'm not going to stop you leaving if that's what you want to do."

Crosshair released the breath he hadn’t realised he was holding, the sound punching out of him in a relieved gasp.

“Yeah. It is,” he said softly, willing Hunter to believe him.

Hunter nodded slowly, eyes dropping to the floor.

He stepped forwards, and Crosshair flinched, but Hunter’s hand came gently to the back of his neck as he pulled their foreheads together once more.

“I’ll miss you, Cross. You can always come back, whenever. No questions asked.”

Crosshair squeezed his eyes closed, unable to answer beyond a nod. He leaned into the gentle pressure of their embrace, arms still wrapped tightly round his meagre belongings.

Hunter’s sigh gusted against his skin, warm and sorrowful.

“I’ll get your armour.”

Aand another prompt ticked off from my @sweetspicybingo card! Hot Drink to Bad News

[vagarius]

misukazu 21

(if you saw me fuck up the other one no you didnt)

EDIT I THINK THIS ONE GOT A LITTLE FUCKED UP TOO BUT IT’S... READABLE...

questions from this post, and answers originally written for this thread!!

If you had to change the pairing’s very first meeting, how would you change it?    their canon first meeting is already so good SHDGFLJASHG but if i had to choose a different one that's still within the context of mankai... meeting as kids and losing touch and coming back together completely different at mankai

What song fits your pairing the most?    uhhHHhhHHH i don't have a real answer but i do have a partial playlist for one of my misukazu aus and the only two songs in it are furaregai girl by sayuri and champagne's for celebrating by mayday parade and i feel like that says enough sldhgalsdhfalsh

What is your favorite AU/prompt idea/trope for your pairing?     ALL MISUKAZU AUS ARE GOOD but. i really love any au where their first meeting is in the future and both are still kind of lost but they're Older and it's hard to let themselves fall into the easy trust they find in canon. i just think that'd be neat.

Do you prefer canon ideas or do you have your own headcanons for them?     I'VE SAID THIS MANY TIMES BUT CANON MISUKAZU GIVES OFF MADE FOR EACH OTHER VIBES AND USUALLY I DON'T VIBE WITH THAT BUT THEY REALLY ARE WHAT THE OTHER NEEDS... AND I THINK EVEN IF THEY HAD TO PART THEY'D STILL BE ABLE TO BE BETTER PEOPLE BC THEY HAD MET

Favorite canon moment of them?     THERE ARE SO MANY but the one that immediately comes to mind is misumi carrying drunk kazu to bed (latest bday line) because drunk kazu is so soft and it implies that misumi wanted to wish happy birthday to kazu pretty late... what did he want to give him...

Least favorite canon moment of them?     hmm... there's not really one i can think of??? IM SORRY I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY I LOVE ALL THEIR CANON MOMENTS

Favorite headcanon trope/idea? (Your own or someone else’s)    this is somehow both vague and very specific but i think misukazu gives off this vibe: He's beautiful. I can't tell him. or "Kazu is always beautiful~" Don't call me that, Kazu thinks. I'm not. so... insecurities i guess ????? AJSHAJJD

Favorite aspect of them/their relationship dynamics?     THIS IS GOING TO SOUND SO CHEESY but i love how /real/ they allow themselves to be around each other. misukazu at their best is when one thinks "you're you. and i love that you" and the other knows this. i just. THEY VALIDATE THE OTHER SO MUCH CRIES

Least favorite aspect of them/their relationship dynamics? (Can be headcannon)     this isn't a "least fav" so much as "it makes me sad" but if either of them showed any sign of not being interested anymore the other is more likely to give up then push anything. sort of like "it was bound to happen, so i'll enjoy now until they drop me" or EVEN WORSE they think the other would be better off without them and pushes them away. so yeah the fact i can see one of these happening makes me sad.

If they aren’t a canon pairing, how would you get them together?     they give off "everyone knows we're dating but us" energy but at the same time i feel like they'd acknowledge there's something and just not define it bc a) they don't need to (misumi) or b) they're too nervous to (kazu). in other words i think one day they are holding hands and misumi says "kazu? is this dating?" and kazu holds his breath before asking "do you want it to be?"

If you had to take them and plunk them into another fandom, what fandom would that be? Why?     i think theyd be hilarious in any sports animanga (kazu is manager tho bc noodle arms but maybe they bond when misumi walks him through some of his usual training menu one night - ahem. anyway) BUT ALSO horimiya au...

How hard is it write/draw your pairing? Scale of 1-10.     AJDHAJDHSF I REALLY LOVE THEM SO IT COMES PRETTY EASILY... but sometimes you try to put them in tropes and realize they would Just Not Work Like That. idk where i'm going with this. but yeah. anyway 3 for sankaku.

Is there a pairing that you think rivals them?     in terms of what i ship, i tend to ship kazu and misumi individually with a lot of dif charas AJDHAKD. but in terms of like... in-universe "rival" pairings: kazu side: tsuzukazu (maybe, lbr it would take them 273924 yrs to actually get together), kazu x someone from winter (i... have my reasons but they'd take longer than what this answer entails) misumi side: ... surprisingly none that i can think of ahdjahd

Which character of the pairing do you like more? (Would you ever pair yourself with them?)     you know that tweet that's like "sometimes a ship is just your two favs"? yeah that's misukazu for me. but if i had to choose... misumi AJDHAJHDSF I HONESTLY WASNT THAT INTO YUME UNTIL THESE TWO CAME AROUND (NOT COUNTING 707)... but yeah if they wanted to hold me in their arms i wouldn't oppose

Which character of your pairing would be the one to break up with the other? Why?     OOOOOH BOY well. i think it could be either of them. i don't think they'd break up for lack of love but too much love and wanting the other to be happy and thinking that the only way to give them that is to let them go. so i guess the question is which of them would be more likely to be selfish and hold on. thinking this way, i think misumi would be more likely to break-up, bc kazu has lots of friends who are better than him!! and misumi is more ready to leave if he thinks he needs to than kazu is. now im sad.

Are they relatable as characters or as a pairing?     THE NUMBER OF TIMES I'VE BEEN CALLED KAZU KIN... in all seriousness kazu's struggles with speaking out and (shinobi spoilers) his uncertainty over his future hit real close to home... while i don't relate as much as misumi, his struggles always manage to tear my heart into pieces... ((oversharing alert) i guess what really separates me from misumi is his struggle with his desire to connect with family who has treated him poorly... whereas im more "lol fuck you") tldr i relate to kazu slightly more LOL

Did you once/ever dislike one/both of them?     i never disliked them but i was NOT expecting either of them to shoot up so quickly into my favs list ahdjahdjf. also i started shipping them Immediately After reading summer main story so there's that

On an estimate, how many posts have you made about them?    as of september 28th 2020 i make up 11/78 fics on ao3 in the romantic misukazu tag and 2/12 in the platonic one. i may have brainrot.

What made you decide to ship them?     TBH I FINISHED THE MAIN STORY AND WENT "OH MY GOD... THAT'S MY SHIP" but now that i'm here i continue to ship them because they have the potential to bring out both the best and the worst in each other and i'm all about that

Favorite genre for them? (Angst, fluff, etc.)     angst. i just. angst hurt/comfort all the way. im so sorry babies.

lol you thought there would just be 21 ANYWAY EXTRA 1: how do they spend breaks/vacation?    they'd travel a lot when they're older!! kazunari loves to travel and misumi would follow kazunari anywhere (also, new triangles!!) so they go somewhere new whenever they have the time. however i think eventually one or both of their future careers will take them anywhere and everywhere anyway, so their "ideal vacation" might turn into an evening in, cuddling and catching up (as if they didn't already send play-by-play updates over the phone of whatever they did during the day)

EXTRA 2: first date?     i don't they ever have an explicit first date, but if asked they'll cite the time they had a picnic in the park turned triangle hunt turned accidental dip in the duck pond. at least, kazunari will. misumi just tilts his head and wonders what you mean.

EXTRA 3: gifts?     IM FEELING REALLY CHEESY SO I'M MAKING THIS ABOUT ANNIVERSARY GIFTS they both end up getting each other jewelry (although kazu was really really nervous bc he wasn't sure if misumi would wear it). kazu gets misumi a bracelet (with triangles, of course although misumi only wears it sometimes because he doesn't want to lose it) and misumi gets kazu a pair of triangle earrings "so we can match!" and kazunari combusts at the implications

EXTRA 4: sharing clothes     THEY'RE ACTUALLY AROUND THE SAME SIZE (and tend to wear baggier stuff barring kazu's skinny jeans)... but they have completely different Styles so it's still really obvious when steal each other's stuff ahdjajdkaf. as cute as kazu would look in sumi's sweatshirt i think the much more likely scenario is kazu wrapping misumi in his jackets because this boy nEVER BRINGS HIS ANYWHERE anyway just. accidental shared wardrobe misukazu.

EXTRA 5: lake house au    consider: kazunari living in a house on the shore of a lake for a summer for Art Purposes (and a little bit for Dealing With Life purposes but he's not gonna admit that) and meets his lake neighbor misumi who kazu thinks might be a ghost or spirit for a while but he actually just lives further down the lake and misumi unknowingly helps kazu with his Life Issues and maybe they fall in love