Chopper
Disclaimer: Nothing that you recognize belongs to me.
A.n. This is a continuation of The Syndullas which is a bunch of little snapshots in Chopper's life that are important!
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Chopper is three and a half months old when Hera and Kanan discover that the parenting books they got are useless. Sure it's handy to be reassured that the fact they are nervous is okay, but it'd be damn fantastic if it had some other information in there. Like the actual numerical temperature a baby's bottle is supposed to be, rather than the vague "warm". Or a tad bit more information about all things diapers. (Hera masters them first.)
"Stinky?" Hera asks as Kanan slides back into bed after putting Chopper back to sleep.
"Mhm," He replies because it's two in the morning and neither of them can remember what a full night of sleep feels like.
"Where does he store it all?" Kanan questions into the dark a few moments later and Hera giggles.
"He's three months old, how does such a little guy make so much?" He gestures his arms around vaguely. Hera leans her head on Kanan's chest and weeps because she's laughing, a slightly hysterical laugh that betrays how sleep deprived.
"I love him though. God I love him," Kanan says, feeling as if his heart's going to burst just thinking about it. Hera looks up at him and thinks that she's never loved Kanan more than in this moment.
"I do too," She whispers, twining her fingers with his. "And you." Kanan's eyes soften instantly and he kisses the back of her hand.
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Chopper is seven months old the first time he sleeps through the night, although neither Hera nor Kanan clue into this until Kanan wakes up to the sunshine on his face. He blinks a few times before he panics, firing out of bed and hurling himself down the hallway. When Kanan scoops up Chopper the latter immediately wakes up, begins wailing and waving his arms in abandon.
"Kanan?" Hera mumbles from the doorway, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. He gives her a sheepish smile.
"He slept through the night and he's never done that before and I panicked," Kanan explains and leans over so he can rest his forehead on Chopper's. Hera wanders over and grabs one of Chopper's hands.
"Sorry bud. Apparently your father forgot everything he read in those books," Hera soothes and Chopper's free hand karate chops Kanan right in the eye. Hera laughs as Kanan rears back.
"I deserved that." He states and Hera laughs harder.
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Chopper is five years old and into his second month of kindergarten when the principal suggests they take him to a specialist when they are picking the kids up from school.
"We all thought that he was just very shy. But he hardly associates with the other children and today he would only communicate in noises," Ms. Tua announces and Hera looks down at Chopper. They're all so used to Chopper's quirkiness that she forgets that it's different. (She will not say the words 'not normal'.)
"Just having one of those days, hey bud?" Hera asks.
"Beep beep," Chopper confirms with a few arm waves. Hera turns back to Ms. Tua and swallows carefully.
"Do you have any suggestions?" She requests as steadily as she can manage. Ms. Tua gives her a sympathetic smile and hands her a business card. Hera gives it to Kanan on the way home, holds Chopper's hand and watches the older three race each other home while Kanan puts the pieces together.
"Tried," Chopper announces out of nowhere, making Hera and Kanan stop to look down at him.
"Tried to be normal. They'll take me away if not normal," Chopper explains. Hera drops next to him and wraps her arms around him, holding him tightly against herself.
"They won't take you away. Not now not ever. Never ever," Hera whispers as Kanan wraps both of them in a hug as well.
"Never," Kanan echoes in a tone that brokers no argument.
Sabine, Zeb and Ezra quickly dub the specialist 'The Inquisitor' because his name is too complicated for them to say and he asks a lot of questions. After a few appointments The Inquisitor determines that Chopper doesn't have autism or Asperger's specifically but he is on the spectrum. When Hera and Kanan tell the kids at dinner, Hera bits her lip in worry.
"Not normal," Chopper says first before beeping dejectedly. Sabine's face gets sharp.
"Good," She states bluntly and Chopper looks up at her hesitantly before she continues, "I've got two normal brothers. I don't need another one."
"Yeah," Zeb and Ezra echo before the kids give each other a group hug.
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Chopper is ten when he asks Sabine for a very big favour.
"I'll describe feelings and you tell me what they are," Chopper requests and Sabine blinks at him before she realizes and pats her bed.
That first night they spend hours going back and forth, Chopper thinking of someone or something that makes him feel a certain way and Sabine tells him what he feels. Anger is the fire in his belly, sadness the lump in his throat, happiness the funny little tickle at the back of his head.
"Warmth," Chopper says as he looks at Sabine and makes a gesture of expansion going out from his heart. Sabine smiles at him and Chopper feels the warmth grow stronger. She wraps her arms around him and squeezes him gently.
"That's love Chopper," Sabine informs him so he wraps his arms around Sabine as well.
"Love you," Chopper whispers and Sabine hugs him tighter as she whispers it back.
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Chopper is fourteen when he gets into his first fight at school. He doesn't exactly get along well with the other kids his age, but he never has and since he has his family he doesn't particularly care either. But that was before he met Katia, the new girl who had just started coming to his school. Katia doesn't care that some days he can't make eye contact with people and she is the first person outside of his family to be able to interpret what all his beeps and boops mean.
"Hey Chopper!" Katia announces brightly as she sits across from him in the cafeteria. He gives her a small smile and she beams at him in return.
"Beep," He replies.
"I'm having a pretty good day so far. How about you?" She asks. Chopper shrugs.
"Boop beep beep," He answers and she opens her mouth to say something when Gabe from the next table interjects.
"Freak," Gabe fake coughs and Katia launches out of her seat.
"He's not a freak!" Katia cries and Chopper feels a wave of what Sabine has told him is affection. Gabe raises his eyebrow as his friends snigger.
"I wasn't talking about him. Gotta take a special kind of freak to speak robot," Katia visibly flinches at Gabe's words and Chopper feels rage. Before he can process what he is feeling he has thrown himself onto Gabe and begins beating the stuffing out of him. The boys begin chanting for them to fight, while Katia shouts for Chopper to stop.
When Mr. Kallus forcibly separates the two boys, Chopper's nose is bleeding and Gabe looks as if he has run into a brick wall. Katia sits next to Chopper in the office while they wait for Hera and Kanan to get here and she looks so sad that Chopper wipes the blood off of his hand and holds hers.
"Jesus Christ Chopper," Sabine stops dead in the doorway at the sight of him and immediately spins on her heel. Ezra flops into the chair on the other side of Chopper.
"We heard that you got into a fight," Ezra announces as Sabine returns with paper towel in hand and begins wiping his face off. Katia squeezes Chopper's hand.
"So did we," Kanan states as he, Hera and Zeb file in. Katia launches up from her seat as Mr. Kallus wanders in as well.
"Please don't be mad at Chopper! Please! It's all my fault!" Katia begs and everyone looks at her in confusion.
"Chopper why did you fight that boy?" Kanan asks as he pinches the bridge of his nose while Hera rests her finger tips on her forehead and they both shake their head at the same time.
"He's a piece of karabast that's why." Chopper mutters darkly and Hera turns an arched eyebrow towards Kanan who immediately holds his hands out in a defensive gesture.
"I didn't teach him that!" He sputters and Ezra coughs to cover his laughter.
"Well then who did?" She requests dangerously.
"Zeb," Sabine answers in an attempt to save Kanan. Zeb makes cut off motions in front of his throat as Hera's other eyebrow rises up as well.
"Zebadiah Syndulla," Hera warns just as Mr. Kallus clears his throat pointedly and looks at Chopper, who is now blood free and has made Katia sit down next to him again.
"We were talking and I thought Gabe called Chopper a freak, but he was actually talking about me. That's when Chopper started hitting him," Katia explains softly and Kanan's hands form fists.
"You should have punched him harder Chop," Zeb says and immediately takes a few steps backwards when Hera turns her glare on him again.
"Mr. Syndulla has detention this evening. Gabe has been suspended for the duration of this week," Mr. Kallus announces before ordering the various Syndullas to go to class before they miss something. Zeb subtly high fives Chopper as he leaves while Hera and Kanan tell him that they will be discussing this when he gets home.
"You didn't have to fight him," Katia says softly as they walk to their English class. Chopper stops her and shakes his head. She won't look at him so he does something drastic, he reaches out and lifts her chin with his fingers so that he can make eye contact.
"It's what best friends do," He states and smiles at her, feeling a funny new feeling that he's going to have to ask Sabine about, when she smiles back.
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Chopper is seventeen when he realizes that he has fallen in love with Katia. He just can't pinpoint the when, which doesn't make any sense to him.
"Dad, when did you fall in love with Mom?" Chopper asks and Kanan strokes his little beard in thought.
"Hell if I know. I can tell you when I realized," Kanan answers after a few moments. Chopper frowned because that answer was not helpful.
"How can you not know?" Chopper questions.
"Sometimes when you love someone you know in an instant. Like with you, I loved you the moment I saw you. But with your Mom it was slow, I fell in love with her in little baby steps and didn't realize it until I was head over heels for her," Kanan explains and Chopper nods, thinking of the little things that he liked best about Katia.
"Prom?" He asks Katia at lunch the next day and she looks at him in confusion while he blushes because he hadn't intended it to come out like that at all.
"What about prom?" She clarifies. Chopper's nerves get the better of him and he lets out a long string of robotic noises which only makes him blush harder. Katia gets a little crinkle in her nose as she deciphers what he means.
"You want to go to prom with me, but not as friends?" Chopper nods in relief and Katia grins.
"That would be utterly fantastic," She states before leaning forward and kissing his cheek.
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Welp. This one was a little longer than I thought it was going to be. Hope nobody minds too much. This is going to be followed by Zeb, Sabine, and Ezra's version of this as well as a special part after all of those. I am going to leave this under the completed tag though….
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO GAVE SUCH AMAZING SUPPORT TO THE FIRST PART OF THIS! IT WAS ASTOUNDING!
ALSO THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO READ/REVIEWED/FAVOURITED/FOLLOWED/LIKED/REBLOGGED THIS! I wish I could state how much it actually means to me.