#no srsly tho I am a SUCKER for this domestic stuff

[im-no-jedi]

MLWTBB: Messy Business

aka the (continued) journey into my self insert nonsense✨

chapter summary: Hannah and Omega have some quality time at the market together, and Omega asks a very important question. when they get back to the apartment, the boys have a big surprise waiting that will hopefully make Hannah feel better about what happened. Hannah also ends up getting her wish and finally finds some time to be alone with Hunter, if only for a little while.

notes: this is a continuation of my story, “My Life With The Bad Batch”; I highly recommend reading that first before this one! I created a few new planets for this story. I’m also not 100% versed in SW terminology, so forgive me if some things are labeled incorrectly! each chapter will be rated accordingly, as opposed to the overall fic. lastly, there is romance in this story. hope you enjoy! 💙

add. notes: this chapter was edited and proofread by my sis @jam-n-ham! thanks sis!! 😋💙 and if anyone is curious, I’ve actually drawn Hunter with his scars as I’ve described them in this story 👀

Chapter 3 (final), 5800+ words, rated G (pure domestic fluff in this one 💙)

previous chapters: Chapter 1 - Chapter 2

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Out in the market, Hannah and Omega took their time shopping for things, as Hannah especially was in no rush to get back to the apartment. It was easy to sense how she felt, and Omega tried to avoid any discussion related to what had happened. Omega hated seeing any of her family members upset, but it affected her differently when it was Hannah. Maybe it was because of what happened on Volruna. Maybe it was because they were both girls. She didn’t know. All she knew was that she was going to do her best to make her friend feel better.

“Ooo, look!” Omega exclaimed as they were walking. She pointed to one of the market stalls excitedly and ran over to it, with Hannah following at a distance. “They have flowers here!”

Sure enough, the market stall was decorated with several variations of flowers in different colors. Something about them was a bit off though. As Hannah got closer to the stall, her and Omega both had the same realization. “Are these made of... metal?”

“Oh yeah,” Omega responded with a laugh. “I guess they are. They’re pretty though!” She picked up one of the red flowers and looked it over with adoration. “Should we get some for the apartment? I bet they’ll look great sitting on the counter.”

“Sure, why not,” Hannah said. She chuckled to herself and added, “I need something to offset the rest of the disaster in there...”

Omega frowned a bit, but didn’t say anything else about it. She began going through the metal flowers and arranging her own little bouquet, with Hannah picking out a few she liked as well. The end result was mostly red and orange, with splashes of blue and white strewn in. A single yellow flower, larger than the rest, sat in the middle of the bouquet.

“Perfect!” Omega happily exclaimed, holding out the bouquet proudly.  

After Hannah paid for the flowers, Omega asked if there was anything else they needed to get. Her friend let out a sigh and looked through what they had already gotten with unusual slowness.

“Yeah... I’m not sure,” Hannah said, her tone a bit solemn. “I mean... I guess we could look around a bit more, see if anything looks interesting.”

Omega sighed. It was obvious what Hannah was trying to do. “Maybe... but we should really get back to the others soon, don’t you think?”

Hannah said nothing for a moment and kept her gaze down at what she was carrying. “Yeah... I guess.”

Never in all the time she’d known her had Omega seen Hannah look so downhearted at the idea of going to see her brothers. She knew it was more so the mess itself that Hannah was upset about, but the fact that everyone had been involved in it most likely was upsetting her more. She also knew how much Hannah hated cleaning. Which was ironic since she was always going to the effort to clean up her family’s messes, on top of cleaning up the parlor nearly every day. But Omega had a feeling she knew why Hannah did all that, especially for her family.

Keeping the metallic bouquet in one hand, Omega grabbed Hannah’s hand with her other and began walking with her back to the apartment. There was a lingering solemness on Hannah’s face as they walked, but Omega didn’t let that get her down. There had to be some way to cheer her friend up and make her believe everything was going to work out. Maybe some simple gratitude would do the trick.

“I never got to thank you, you know.”

Hannah’s lip quirked and she looked down at Omega curiously. “For what?”

“For everything!” Omega giggled a bit. “Well, mostly for today. Definitely for today. We didn’t even ask for help, but you gave it anyway. Like you always do.”

Hannah chuckled softly. “Well, what else are you supposed to do when five stinky troublemakers show up on your doorstep?”

Omega giggled again. “I guess that makes sense. But still... I don’t think we thank you enough for everything you do. I know we’re a lot to deal with.” She felt Hannah squeeze her hand and looked up at her. Hannah was smiling down at her with loving eyes.

“Omega, when you care about someone, it doesn’t matter the circumstance. You do whatever you need to do. I know you understand that.”

Absolutely, Omega knew that better than most people. She nodded in response and returned the smile, stepping closer to her friend. “I’m really glad you’re here, Hannah.”

It looked like Hannah was about to cry for a moment before she let out a soft chuckle and pulled her hand free to pull Omega closer to her. She held the little girl against her side as they walked and said, “I’m glad to be here too. And I’m glad you’re here, Baby Girl.”

Her hand now free, Omega wrapped an arm around Hannah’s waist and gave her a little nuzzle, giggling happily. She loved Hannah so much, she could barely contain herself. In her heart, Hannah was no different than her brothers. She was part of the family, no question about it. There had to be some way to express that to her that wouldn’t sound weird.

As they reached the stairs to the apartment, Hannah gave a heavy sigh. Clearly, she still dreaded going back to the apartment, but she seemed to have mostly accepted her fate by then. She began heading up the stairs, but stopped after realizing Omega had stayed behind.  

“Omega? Something wrong?” she asked the little girl.

Omega wrang her hands together anxiously. She didn’t know why she was so nervous. “Can I ask you something?”

Hannah chuckled softly. “Of course, Baby Girl.” She set her things down, came back down the stairs, and crouched in front of Omega, just like Hunter always did. “What’s up?” Omega was still nervous, which Hannah clearly caught onto, but she said nothing about it.  

“Well...” Omega began, unable to look Hannah in the face. “I just was curious to know what it’s like.”

“What what’s like?” Hannah asked, cocking her head curiously.

The little girl continued to wring her hands together, but was finally able to look at Hannah. “Having a sister,” she said with gentle curiosity.

Hannah’s eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat.

“I only recently realized what having brothers was like,” Omega continued. “I didn’t think I could even call them that at first. But... I know now. I... I have a family. It’s really wonderful.” A smile spread across her face, and she looked into Hannah’s eyes with all the love she could muster. “Could you show me what it’s like? Could... could you be...” She couldn’t get the rest of the words out. The look on Hannah’s face made her get choked up. Her friend was looking back at her with as much love in her eyes as Omega herself had given. Both of them were clearly on the verge of tears, but remained strong.

Then Hannah reached out and grabbed Omega’s hands, keeping them clasped together, and she pulled Omega’s much smaller hands to her chest. Hannah’s lip trembled as she spoke, but she maintained a cheerful smile on her face. “Well, lucky for you, I have experience being an older sister. I...” She sighed shakily and blinked a tear out of her eye. “I haven’t been one for a while. But if you really want...” She released Omega’s hands and cupped the little girl’s face into her own hands gently. “I can’t think of a better little girl to be a big sister for.”

A single tear ran down Omega’s cheek, and she threw her arms around Hannah’s neck, laughing happily. Hannah held the little girl in her arms tenderly, gently stroking the back of her head and joining in the laughter. Her laughter gradually turned to tears though, and she buried her face into Omega’s shoulder to muffle her sobs. Omega held her friend close, not questioning why she was crying. She didn’t need to know. Or maybe she already knew. What mattered most was that her new sister got the love she deserved.

After calming down a bit, Hannah pulled away from Omega and sheepishly began wiping her tears away. “Sorry,” she said meekly. “I just...” She let out a chuckle. “I really don’t want to clean up that stupid mess.”

Omega gave Hannah a smile and helped wipe away the rest of Hannah’s tears. “It’s ok. You don’t have to deal with it all by yourself.”

Hannah shook her head and looked away. “I can’t ask you guys to do all that... I don’t want you to--” Her face was suddenly squished between Omega’s hands and forced to look at her. The little girl gave her the most serious look Hannah had ever seen her make. Somehow, there was sympathy behind it as well.

“Hannah, as your new sister, I’m asking you to not worry about it anymore. Or did you already forget?” Omega’s face twisted into an overexaggerated scowl and she spoke in a deep, gruff voice. “It’s not a bother.”

Immediately, Hannah snorted and erupted into laughter. She laughed so hard that tears formed in her eyes again. “Ok,” she said, wiping her eyes again. “Your Hunter impression is so much better than mine, oh man...”

Omega beamed proudly and laughed. “Thanks! I’ve been practicing!”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that for one second...”

All that being settled, the girls picked up their things and finally began heading up to the apartment. Along the way, they joked about what sort of nonsense the boys had gotten into while they were gone. Hannah was positive they hadn’t done what she asked, which was do nothing. But she’d given up on getting upset about it and chose to make light of the situation for Omega’s sake. She owed Omega that much for helping to cheer her up, never mind the whole sister thing. It was still hard to believe Omega had even asked the question in the first place. Hannah had already been treating Omega on the same level as a sister the entire time she’d known her, but now that it was official... well, not much was going to change outside of how they addressed each other.

Then she wondered what Hunter might think about it. She hadn’t even considered it before. Omega wasn’t worried at all, as she was certain her brother would approve. All of her brothers thought of Hannah as a member of the family, especially Hunter, as he’d said so himself many times before. Hannah had nothing to worry about. That didn’t stop her from worrying anyway though. But that was just in her nature.

In all honesty, she was more worried about what awaited them in the apartment. Despite the jokes, she still feared for whatever disaster awaited her once she opened her front door.  

Her worries grew even more once they got to the top of the stairs. She quickly realized that all of the boys’ boots were missing, which made her groan loudly. Normally, she might���ve worried that someone had stolen them, but there was no way anyone would take those things with how horrible they smelled.

Then she noticed the smell. Or rather, the lack of smell. It was gone. Entirely. Neither her nor Omega had realized the smell which previously permeated the entire stairwell was completely gone. The two girls looked at each other with the same level of confusion and worry before Hannah opened the door to her apartment.

Immediately, she was confronted by the image of Tech walking in her direction, carrying two sets of boots in his hands. “Ahh, you’re back,” he said, noticing Hannah. “My prediction on the timing of your return was mostly correct, unsurprisingly.” He sat the boots down on a nearby crate, which seemed to have the other two pairs of boots already on top of it. “I hope you don’t mind me setting these here. Don’t worry, they’re completely clean.”

Hannah blinked in shock. “They... are?”

“Well yes,” Tech replied. “And they’re not the only things either.”

It was then that Hannah noticed the state of the rest of the room. She audibly gasped, which prompted Omega to look around and give the same reaction.

Like the stairwell, the nasty stench was completely gone. Not a single piece of Mantell Mix was on the floor, or anywhere else for that matter. Through the transparisteel of the back door, they could see Echo in the process of arranging all of the blacks on the banister of the porch; they appeared to be dripping wet as well. Various pieces of armor sat in different places throughout the room, clearly having been placed with care. Wrecker was sitting on the couch with a piece of his armor in his lap, which he was scrubbing intensely with a cleaning cloth. Hunter was nowhere in sight, but after a brief moment, he suddenly appeared in the doorway to the refresher with a sponge in one of his hands.

“Shower and sink are all scrubbed,” he informed Tech. “You get the armor cleaned yet?”

“Wrecker is just finishing up the last piece of it now,” Tech responded, gesturing to Wrecker on the couch. “And just in time too.” He then gestured to the girls, who were still standing by the front door in complete shock. Hannah especially couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.

“Oh hey,” Hunter casually said as he came up to the two dumbfounded girls. “You guys get everything you needed?”

Hannah was still too shocked to speak, but Omega said, “I think so, yeah! Did you guys really clean up everything already?”

Wrecker suddenly stood up and held his piece of armor out triumphantly. “We did now!” He walked over to the kitchen island and gently placed the armor onto it. “No more stinky, no more mess!”

It still felt like Hannah was in a dream. Her mouth was starting to go dry from how long her jaw had been dropped. She was afraid if she blinked again, it might all change.  

Then Hunter placed himself directly in front of her, which got her attention. “I know what you’re gonna say. And you have every right to get mad if you want. But just know that we agreed to doing this.” He gestured to the others, including Echo who had now joined the rest of the group. “All of us. Because we wanted to. For you.”

There was a moment of silence as Hannah looked between everyone in the room. The boys were all looking at her with adoring smiles on their faces. Her heart felt like bursting from how overwhelmingly elated she was. The last person her eyes landed on was Omega. The sweet little girl she’d just accepted as her adopted sister was looking back at her with pure joy and admiration radiating from her face.

Like her metaphorical walls had been reduced to crumbling sand, Hannah let her emotions overtake her and began to openly weep into her own hands. Over her sobs, she heard Wrecker exclaim something and suddenly felt his massive arms pull her into a firm hug. Omega followed suit, wrapping her small arms around Hannah’s waist and nuzzling into her side.

The other three boys simply watched all of this, not wanting to interfere with the moment. Hunter couldn’t help himself though and gently placed a hand on Hannah’s shoulder. He wasn’t even sure if she noticed, but it was the only way he felt like he could comfort her in that moment.

With her head still pressed against Wrecker’s chest, Hannah turned her tear-stained face towards Hunter in acknowledgement. He gave her a gentle, reassuring smile, and she in return managed a small smile through her sobs.

After calming down a bit, Hannah pulled back from Wrecker and began sheepishly wiping the tears and snot from her face. Wrecker kept his hands on her upper arms and gently asked, “ya alright, missy?”

Hannah nodded in response and sniffled loudly. “Yeah... s-sorry.”

Tech then came over and practically shoved a box of tissues into Hannah’s face, which actually made her laugh. As Hannah was blowing her nose, Wrecker asked, “so... you’re not mad then?”

“No,” Hannah responded with another laugh. “No, no. I’m...” She made a noise that sounded somewhere between a cough and a laugh. “I’m actually really, really happy. You guys...” She fondly looked between all of them. “You guys are the best.”

“We just wanted to do something nice for you, Hannah,” Echo said kindly.

Hunter added in an equally kind but bashful tone, “To, you know... show that we care.”

There was no way Hannah could contain herself after hearing that. She practically flung herself at Hunter and pulled him into a tight hug, which actually caught him off guard. Then she did the same to Echo, although she let one of her arms wrap around Tech’s arm and held it against her as she continued to hug Echo.

“Screw it, I’m just gonna say it,” Hannah confidently stated. “I love you guys. There. I said it. I don’t know if I can say it again, but who knows?”

Echo laughed and said, “Man, you’ll say anything when you’re emotional, huh?”

“Yes, I will,” Hannah responded. “And don’t you dare make fun of me for that.” She gave him a playful bop on the head, which made him laugh again.

After that, Hannah accepted her predicament and gave up on trying to stop the boys from helping her. Not only did she know there was no way of convincing them otherwise, but it was actually nice having some help doing her tasks for the rest of the day. And considering the boys had already cleaned the apartment for her, the only real major task left for the day was making dinner, which several of them offered to help with.

Once dinner was over, Wrecker asked if he could take another shower, which Hannah questioned in amusement. He made the excuse that he’d gotten dirty again from all the work he’d done, but it was obvious to all the others that he just wanted to play in the shower again, which Hannah didn’t mind at all.

Echo ended up grabbing the blanket off the couch and letting everyone know he was going to take a nap. He also told everyone not to bother him or make a ruckus, to which Hannah joked that as long as he stayed away from the refresher, he should be fine. Like he was known to do, Echo wrapped himself up with the blanket and cozied into a comfy little lump on the floor, with only his head visibly sticking out of it. Hannah had the overwhelming urge to stick something on top of his head as he slept, but he looked so cute and cozy that she decided to leave him alone. He’d earned it for all the hard work he’d done that day.

Eventually, Hannah began to lament about having to do the dishes, but Tech was quick to refute that. He insisted on taking over the dishes duty for the night, which was the first instance of Hannah gladly handing the reins over to someone else. Tech said he owed it to her for taking such good care of cleaning his goggles for him earlier, but also because he was well aware of how much Hannah despised doing dishes. To that, Hannah both reaffirmed her hatred of doing dishes and told Tech that she was giving him a metaphorical hug for being so sweet. Then to her surprise, Tech told her that if she would like to give him an actual hug, he wouldn’t be opposed to it. Hannah, of course, accepted the offer and gave her goggled friend a firm but gentle squeeze.

Then Omega, who had missed out on the day’s earlier chores, offered to help Tech with the dishes as well. Tech had no issues with that, but said it was more so up to Hannah if that was alright. Omega didn’t even have to ask again as Hannah promptly told her “little sis” to go knock herself out getting all those darn dishes cleaned up.  

As Omega skipped off to the kitchen with Tech, Hannah returned to the couch, where Hunter still sat. He gave her a curious look as she plopped down next to him with a loud sigh.

“Little sis, huh?” Hunter asked, his eyebrow raised in curiosity.

“Oh, haha, right, we never told you guys,” Hannah responded with a sheepish laugh. She began retelling the events leading up to Omega’s request, followed by her asking Hunter if he had any issue with it at all.

As expected, Hunter saw no issue with it at all, saying that nothing was really going to change about their relationship, except that Hannah now had yet another pet name for Omega, which made her laugh.

“I think it’s really great that Omega thinks of you that way actually,” Hunter told her. “She deserves to have someone in her life that isn’t, well, like the rest of us.”

“You mean a nice, soft girl instead of a rough, nasty guy?” Hannah joked with a snicker.

“Well I didn’t wanna say it like that,” Hunter responded with a snicker of his own.

“It’s fine,” Hannah said, continuing to laugh. “I know what you meant.” She let out one last chuckle and hummed thoughtfully. “I would ask if you’re jealous, but that would be completely pointless. I know you’re still Omega’s favorite. It’s fine. I don’t blame her.” A blush began to run across her face from her own comment, even more so after the smirk Hunter gave her.  

It was then that Hannah realized she was in the exact position she’d wished for earlier – she was alone on the couch with Hunter. Technically, Echo was asleep on the floor beside them, and Tech and Omega were just a short way away in the kitchen, but they might as well have had the entire apartment to themselves. It was the perfect opportunity to say something to him. Especially after everything he’d done for her that day. And he was just sitting there, staring at her with his arms crossed, still wearing the clothes she’d given him earlier. Her clothes. The air caught in her throat just at the thought of that.

As she pondered what she could possibly say in that moment, Hannah’s gaze drifted down to Hunter’s crossed arms. She wanted to give herself a pat on the back for choosing to give him the shirt he was currently wearing, which allowed the majority of his arms to remain bare. She hadn’t seen him that way since Volruna, and it was enough to make her want to melt into the couch.

Then something unusual caught her attention. As she was undoubtedly awkwardly staring at Hunter’s arms, she noticed a strange mark on his right hand. Had that always been there? Maybe she had missed it before. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen his hands, after all. This was the first time she’d actually gone out of her way to look at them though.

This, of course, didn’t go unnoticed by Hunter. “Something... wrong?”

His voice startled Hannah a bit, and she shook her head at him. “No, sorry, I just...” She pointed to the mark on his hand. “What happened there?”

“Oh, this?” Hunter held his hand up for Hannah to see better. “Nothin’ that weird, actually. Got it fighting off some Zygerrians here on Ord Mantell a while back.”

Hannah’s eyes went wide with shock. “There are Zygerrians here?” Her tone was absolutely dripping with disgust.

“Why are you surprised?” Hunter responded with a chuckle. “Every other kind of low life in the galaxy is on this planet.”

“Well you’re not wrong there...” In a surprisingly bold move, Hannah took Hunter’s hand and began examining it for herself. The scar ran across the palm of his hand and around his wrist, like something had coiled around it and singed it. Hannah had never seen a scar like it before.

As Hannah was examining his hand, Hunter began to detail the experience, saying it was during their very first mission for Cid a few months ago. They had been tasked with rescuing a baby Rancor – although they didn’t know it at the time – but ended up getting captured and had to fight their way out, ironically with the help of the baby Rancor. The scar on his hand was specifically from the electric whips the Zygerrians were using.

“Oh my gosh, they whipped your hands?” Hannah exclaimed in shock. “That’s terrible!”

“No, no,” Hunter corrected her. “I grabbed the whip so the guy wouldn’t whip me anymore.”

Hannah’s face contorted into confusion, and she looked at the scar again. “Why does it look singed then?”

“Because the whip was electrocuting me,” Hunter bluntly answered.

Hannah gave him an unamused stare. “You grabbed the whip... while it was electrocuting you...”

“Hey, don’t act like you wouldn’t’ve done the same thing.”

The groan that Hannah let out could’ve been heard across the street. “Believe it or not, I’m not as self-destructive as you are, Mister Vigilance.”

“And here I thought that’s why we got along so well,” Hunter snidely quipped with a snicker.

Hannah returned the snicker and jokingly said, “I thought it was because we both have greasy hair.”

Hunter let out a snort and shook his head. “I don’t have greasy hair right now, remember?” He pointed to his own hair for emphasis, which got another laugh out of Hannah.

In that moment, Hannah realized for the first time how different Hunter’s hair looked now that it was clean. Even with how greasy it was normally, his hair obviously had a natural wave to it. But now that it had been washed and left to dry, the wave was even more prominent; it actually almost looked curly in some places. It was also driving Hannah absolutely crazy how soft it looked.

Clearly realizing he was being stared at again, Hunter quirked his lip and awkwardly cleared his throat. “Not used to seeing me like this, huh?”

Hannah softly shook her head as a smile crept onto her face. “It’s a nice look...” She gave a light chuckle. “It’s actually kind of ironic.”

“What is?” Hunter asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“It’s just...” Hannah bit her lip and smiled again. “My hair looks the exact same way after I’ve washed it too. With the soft curls and everything.” As she spoke, her hand drifted up to the back of Hunter’s head, and she mindlessly began twirling some of his hair between her fingers. To her extreme delight, it was as soft as she thought it would be.

Hunter’s breath caught in his throat, and he immediately froze. He didn’t budge as Hannah continued to touch his hair, thankfully not noticing how incredibly flushed he’d gotten. The gentleness of her touch coupled with the pure sensation of having his hair played with was enough to send him into a trance-like state, and his eyes softly fluttered shut.

Neither of them noticed that they were being intently watched from the other side of the room. Elbows on the counter and chin resting in her hands, Omega was absolutely enthralled with what was currently going on at the couch. She almost wished she had the power to just smush their faces together right then and there. But she was also living for the softness of the moment. More than anything, she was happy that her two favorite people in the entire galaxy were enjoying their time together. Maybe this time they would actually finally confess their obvious feelings for each other.

Sadly, it appeared as though Hunter had managed to shake out of his stupor, which also made Hannah conscious of what she was doing as well. Per the norm, both of them broke out into an intense blush and awkwardly turned away from each other. Omega actually huffed out loud in disappointment.

“Don’t worry,” Tech said from behind her. He was in the process of drying some dishes, but was well aware of what had just happened. “It will happen someday. Just give them time.”

Omega said nothing and simply continued to pout as she leaned against the counter. She knew Tech was right... but she was also eager to actually have Hannah as a sister someday.

Later that night, much like they had done on several occasions before, everyone was gathered around the couch together in conversation. Even on nights when they weren’t staying over, Omega and the boys would come over to the apartment just to hang out with Hannah for the evening. It was something Hannah looked forward to whenever they were around, and it was always special to her every time. Those were the times Hannah really felt like she was a part of the family, and this night was no different.

At some point, Hannah realized the small girl clinging to her arm was feeling a bit heavier and looked down to see Omega barely keeping her eyes open. She made a quip about how Tech was putting Omega to sleep with his explanation of the plants they’d gotten stinked by, which made Wrecker laugh. With her free hand, Hannah began gently running her fingers through Omega’s hair and asked if her “little sis” was ready to head to bed. The long yawn Omega let out was all the answer Hannah needed. Practically picking her up, Hannah helped Omega to her feet and told her to go get ready for bed; she would come join Omega in a little bit.

Wrecker asked if that meant Hannah was heading to bed too, and she responded that she probably should due to having work tomorrow. The boys were welcome to stay up as long they liked, so long as they weren’t too loud, which surprised them. Echo asked if that meant Hannah assumed they were staying, which she responded by saying they absolutely were staying. There was no way Hannah was letting them take her clothes into the barf-covered Marauder. Thankfully, they all agreed with her.

As much as she didn’t want to, Hannah gave in to her intuition and told the boys she was going to join Omega for the night. The second she popped up from the couch, Wrecker came over and wrapped his arms around her in a tight but gentle hug as he wished her goodnight. Hannah eagerly returned the hug, laughing and saying, “goodnight, Big Guy. And... thanks.”

“For what?” Wrecker asked curiously.

“For being you,” Hannah replied with a giggle. She reached up and booped Wrecker on the nose, which made him grow incredibly bashful.

Then Hannah walked past Echo and Tech, proclaiming, “goodnight nerds” in a playfully affectionate tone. Echo returned the sentiment by proclaiming “goodnight troublemaker” in an equally playful tone, which earned him the response of Hannah sticking her tongue out at him like a teasing child.

When Hannah got to Hunter, she stopped and began to stare at him thoughtfully. 

“What?” he asked, quirking his lip in curiosity.

“Well, I was trying to think of a good nickname to call you, but nothing was coming to mind.” Hannah shrugged and quirked her lip back at him.

“What happened to ‘Mister Vigilance’?” Hunter asked with a chuckle.

“Nothing!” Hannah replied. “I just, you know, wanted to try something different. For funsies.”

Hunter cocked an eyebrow and squinted a bit at her. “You used the same name for Wrecker though?”

“So?”

Hunter’s eyes squinted even further. “You just wanted an excuse to stay up longer, didn’t you?”

Hannah tried her best to hold back a laugh, but to no avail. “I really can’t hide anything from you, can I?”

“Not really.” Hunter’s face quickly began to soften. The two of them once again were locked in equal fond looks towards each other. Then Hunter noticed Hannah’s gaze shift down to his arms again. Like usual, he had his arms crossed, but that apparently didn’t stop Hannah from reaching out and grabbing his right hand again. She seemed to study the scar on his wrist again for a moment and even ran her thumb across the one decorating the palm of his hand. Then in the biggest surprise of all, she took Hunter’s hand and gently placed a kiss on the back, just below the knuckles.

“Goodnight, Hunter,” she softly said, giving one last smile before releasing his hand and walking off towards the bedroom.

From the moment she’d taken his hand, Hunter was sure his heart had stopped. It felt like he hadn’t even breathed at all during that entire exchange, and he let out a deep exhale once Hannah was gone. The hand she had kissed rested on his chest in an attempt to make sure his heart was even still beating. It was actually beating so fast, Hunter was worried he might be having a heart attack.

Then he noticed the very intense stares he was getting from his brothers. All three of them had different but equal looks of curiosity and smugness, with Wrecker actually waggling his eyebrows playfully at him. Hunter was certain he was visibly sweating from how flushed he’d gotten and turned away from them with a loud huff. “Say. Nothing.”

All he heard in response was loud snickering between all three of them.

Unbeknownst to the four boys, Hannah was having a similar reaction in her room. Although she’d been confident during the gesture, her feelings had quickly overwhelmed her afterwards, and she was now faceplanted in her pillows, trying not to hyperventilate as Omega comforted her.

“I don’t know why you’re freaking out so much,” Omega told her. “It’s not like you haven’t kissed him before. Several times actually.”

“I know!” Hannah exclaimed from inside her pillows. “I don’t know why I’m the way that I am, Omega!” She let out a loud groan, which Omega couldn’t help but giggle at.

“Well, I think you’re a great big sister,” Omega said in an encouraging tone. “Despite how awkward you think you are.”

There was a brief moment of silence before Hannah’s head popped out of the pillows dramatically. Her face was still incredibly red, but she had a big smile and was giving Omega a grateful look. Then she suddenly reached out and grabbed the little girl, pulling her into a big hug and snuggling against her face. Omega erupted into giggles and did her best to return the affection.

The two girls fell asleep snuggled up to each other, with Hannah relishing in the smell of her own shampoo in Omega’s hair. She was absolutely going to make this a regular routine for her family from that point forward.

TO BE CONTINUED