Echo sat up straight on his bed, legs crossed, reading something on his datapad and leaving Fives to be impossibly bored on the bunk above and across from him. Fives groaned and flopped on his stomach.

"Echoo," he said. "Please?" Echo didn't lift his eyes from the datapad.

"No, Fives."

"Echo, I'm miserable!" Echo scrolled down on his pad, seemingly uninterested in Fives' plight.

"No, Fives."

Kix and Jesse ambled in, helmets in hand, chatting in low voices. Fives gave them a pleading look, but didn't say anything to them.

"Hey, Fives," Kix said, pausing and looking up at him. "Jesse and I were gonna change and head to the mess. Wanna join us?"

"Fives is unavailable at the moment," Echo said, still not looking up from his datapad. Kix raised an eyebrow and put his hand on his hip.

"Why's that, Fives?" Fives glared, but didn't say anything.

"He's grounded," Echo said. "Can't leave his bunk and can't talk to anyone besides me."

"Aww, Echo grounded you?" Kix gave Fives a sympathetic look. Echo sighed.

"Don't go getting soft on him," he said. Fives groaned again and flipped over onto his back.

"Why's he grounded?" Jesse asked. Echo's faced flushed slightly.

"Actually Rex grounded him. Fives has to stay on his bunk and quietly for twenty four hours," Echo explained. "Got in a rather heated argument."

Kix and Jesse exchanged looks.

"Well… I'm hungry," Jesse said. He shrugged at Fives. "Sorry, Fives."

Jesse and Kix didn't say anything else until they got to the showers. As Kix started soaping up, he glanced at Jesse.

"What's going on?" It wasn't really meant to be answered. Jesse shrugged.

"Fives isn't one to get in an argument that bad," he said. "He's smarter than that. And Rex wouldn't punish him like that either." Kix frowned, thinking it over, but didn't answer.

"Echo," Fives tried again. "Please? Please? Please? Please?" He kept repeating it, in the most annoying voice he could, but Echo wouldn't be deterred.

"No, Fives," Echo said, but Fives could detect the slight strain in his voice. He pressed on harder.

"Please? Please? Pretty please with sugar on top? Please please please?"

"No, Fives," Echo repeated. This was certainly the biggest test of patience he'd ever endured, but he had a lot of patience. Fives wasn't going to get anywhere with this, he'd tire his voice out eventually.

"Rex?" Kix addressed the captain in the mess hall, sitting down next to him.

"Hm?" Rex absentmindedly glanced at him as Jesse settled opposite.

"Rex, why's Fives grounded?" Rex chuckled, and waited a moment before answering.

"Fives isn't grounded." Jesse and Kix shared a glance.

"What?" Jesse asked. Rex shook his head, smiling.

"Fives and I were playing cards with Echo. It turned into a bit of a contest between Fives and me to see who could find the end of Echo's patience. That turned into a series of dares. I won last round, so now Echo has to sit with Fives and see who gives up first." The captain took a long drink. "I, for one, sincerely hope that Fives wins." He tapped his temple. "I'll go bonkers if I have to do that again!" Jesse and Kix were laughing now, shaking their heads.

"Oh, Captain," Kix said. "I don't think Echo has a limit." Rex sighed.

"That's just what I'm afraid of. And Fives' stomach is very real." Jesse snorted.

"He'll be crawling in here like a starved bantha soon enough," Kix said, laughing.

Rex, Kix, and Jesse made their way to the barracks, joking about Fives and Echo. They opened the door just in time to hear Echo's voice: "Dear God, Fives, shut up!" Seconds later, a triumphant Fives dragged an exhausted looking Echo toward Rex. Rex stared. Echo had his hands clamped firmly over his ears.

"I've beaten him, sir! And it only took me eighteen hours!" Fives declared.

"Echo?" Rex asked. Echo looked blankly up at him.

"Rex," Echo said, panting, "my brain's going to bleed out my ears." Fives let go of Echo, and to everyone's surprise, he scrambled to his feet and sprinted out of the room, still holding his hands over his ears.

"Uh, Fives?" Rex asked. "Want to explain this?" Fives grinned.

"Sure, Rex. YAAAHEYAYAYAYAYAY!" Rex took a step back. Fives continued. "REXY! REXY! REXY!" he chanted it loudly, making Rex wrinkle his nose.

"You can stop now, Fives," Rex interrupted. But Fives kept going.

"You can do it, Rexy! I believe in you! That's it, Rex! Stand there! Wow, look at em go! He's standing! Man is he standing! Look at that face! No sir, Rex is not backing down any time soon! That kama! Who am I kidding, have you ever seen a fancier kama? Man, look at em sport it! That's the way, Rexy! You sport that kama like nothing else!" Rex rubbed his hand over his face.

"Auuhh…" he looked at Jesse and Kix. "Anyone… hungry again?" all three of them dashed for the door.

"Never been hungrier, sir!"

A/N: Yay for finally posting something! This is basically fluff but I figured I had to get started somewhere. I tried to keep people in character, though. This would be before Echo and Fives became ARC troopers, I think, but obviously after they joined the 501.

By the way: "kama" is a Mando word, it's the skirt like thing that Rex wears in the show.

Also: I don't own Star Wars, or TCW, and I like it that way. XD