After that day at the market, Ezra wasn't sure if things got better or worse in his relationship with Hiro. It was better because he knew that Hiro actually thought of him as someone important in his life, which was amazing. It was worse because, as much as Ezra was trying to deny it, dancing with Hiro had flipped some sort of switch in him that made his feelings for the teen almost double, and now he was finding himself with a near constant swarm of butterflies bursting into flight in his stomach every time he so much as looked at the other Hiro. He was in deep, and he had no idea how he was supposed to broach the subject with Hiro without destroying the already tenuous balance in their relationship. One wrong move could knock the both of them down off of the tightrope that they were currently balancing on, and that's the last thing that Ezra wanted to happen.

It was almost a relief when, a few weeks later, Hera announced that they were finally heading back to base in order to check in and also to see if they could finally get some information on Tadashi's whereabouts. Of course Ezra was thrilled that they'd finally be getting to help Hiro be reunited with his brother, and it was adorable watching Hiro practically dance around the ship with excitement. But Ezra had another reason for being glad for heading back to base. Being in the very heart of the rebellion, surrounded by so many other people, would hopefully give him a much needed distraction from the rather confusing feelings going on inside of his head. Better yet, maybe being off the ship, in an environment he and Hiro weren't constantly on top of each other due to the rather limited space, would allow him the distance that he needed to finally get some much needed clarity about all of this.

When they finally got to the base, Hiro was more than a little awestruck by the sight of the headquarters of the Rebellion, and not just because the facilities had more than enough tech to make any mechanic drool. This was one of Hiro's first experiences being off of his home planet, and the diversity of species from all over the galaxy mixing and working together in one place was something he'd never been exposed to before. He was clearly doing his best to not stare every time that he encountered a new species that he'd never run into before, but he couldn't hide his fascination in spite of his efforts. Fortunately most of the aliens who he ran into were very kind and greeted him cordially, and soon the overwhelming newness of it all seemed to be wearing off. Still, as well as he was holding up, after a little while Eza could tell that Hiro was getting a little bit worn out by the tour and so he pulls him off into a quiet side corridor to give him a chance to breathe.

"You doing okay?" Ezra asks gently.

"Yeah, fine," Hiro reassures him with a small smile. "I'm just trying to wrap my head around all of this…"

"Hey, don't feel bad-I felt the same way the first time I visited a Rebellion headquarters," Ezra tells him with a small chuckle.

"A Rebellion headquarters? There's more than one?" Hiro asks curiously.

"Well, we have a few outposts across the galaxy," Ezra explains. "But we've gone through quite a number of home bases over time. We can't seem to hang on to one for any length of time before the Empire destroys it."

"The Empire seems to have a habit of destroying things…" Hiro quietly mutters, a dark look crossing his face.

"Hey." Ezra reaches out without even thinking about the consequences and squeezes Hiro's shoulder. "The Empire may destroy a lot of stuff, but that's why we're here to put a stop to them and to put back together the stuff the things that they break apart. Just like we're going to help you put your family back together again."

"Thanks, Ezra…" Hiro offers him a small smile which reveals the tooth gap that Ezra loved so much and the young jedi has to do his best to convince himself that no, the other teen was definitely not blushing and his imagination was just getting the better of him.

He was just trying to think of a good reply that wouldn't make him sound like a total dork when suddenly he hears his com link crackling to life and he quickly grabs it, grateful for the distraction.

"Ezra, are you there?" Hera's voice comes out of the speaker.

"Yeah, I'm here!" Ezra answers. "Hiro and I are just taking a break from the tour. Is everything okay? Have you been able to find out anything?"

"Well, we've definitely had some interesting revelations," Hera answers in a tone that Ezra wasn't quite able to decipher. "Could you please bring Hiro to conference room 3B? I'd rather talk to him in person about all of this."

"Of course!" Ezra tells her. "We'll be right up there!"

"What do you think that means?" Hiro asks as he puts up his communicator, looking a bit nervous. "Do you think she found out something bad?"

"I don't think so," Ezra says carefully, not wanting to give him reassurances that he couldn't back up. "That didn't exactly sound like her bad news voice. Still, it wasn't her good news voice either. I think we'd probably better just get up there and find out what she has to say."

"Y-Yeah," Hiro agrees, his shoulders hunching and making himself look even smaller than he usually did.

"Hey." Ezra takes one of his hands in his own. "It's going to be okay. No matter what happens, I'm going to be here for you."

"Thank you." Hiro squeezes back and together they make their way to the meeting room where Hera was supposed to meet them.

"Hey," Ezra says when the door to the meeting room opens and he finds the pilot inside, looking through data files on a holo projector. "We got here as fast as we could. Is everything okay? Were you able to find anything out? I know that they haven't had a lot of time to try to figure out where Tadashi is but-"

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about," Hera gently cuts him off, gesturing for the two boys to sit next to her at the table.

"What do you mean?" Ezra asks, taking the indicated seat as Hiro does the same.

"It turns out that we're not the only ones who have been looking for Tadashi," Hera explains as she turns to Hiro. "Do you happen to know anyone by the name of Fred Lee?"

"Lee? Isn't that the last name of one of the senators who's a rebel sympathizer?" Ezra asks before Hiro can get answer out.

"Yes, Senator Stan Lee," Hera answers, giving Ezra a look that reminded him that he needed to give Hiro a chance to speak. "Fred Lee is his son."

"Holy shit…" Hiro quietly breathes, his eyes wide as he stares at Hera in shock. "Fred's the son of a senator? I had no idea…"

"Wait, you know him?" Ezra asks, looking at him in surprise.

"Not personally," Hiro answers, shaking his head. "But I know that he knew Tadashi. There was only one time that Tadashi actually went off planet on a mission-I remember being terrified the entire time that he was gone that he was never going to come back. He didn't tell me much about it after he came home-said whatever he'd done was classified. But after the mission he started getting calls on his holo communicator from a guy named Fred. I think- I'm not sure, but I think maybe they were romantically involved? I don't really know, Tadashi didn't tell me much about him. I used to tease him about it, asking him when his boyfriend was coming for a visit so I could finally meet him. Dashi would always say that it was too dangerous for Fred to know where we lived and so not to plan on him coming to see us any time soon. I thought maybe he was kind of too ashamed to let Fred see the tiny little shack we lived in. I guess if he was dating a senator's son then he kind of had good reason to be worried about him seeing how poor we were… But that's not important right now What does Fred have to do with any of this?"

"It turns out that Fred has actually been trying to find Tadashi as well," Hera answers, a small smile making its way onto her face. "He's been trying to get any possible information on your brother's location for over a year now. Apparently he's also been trying to locate you as well, but he didn't know where to even start looking since the signals your brother's communicator used were so well protected that he couldn't use them to trace back to his location."

"M-Me?" Hiro asks in disbelief. "Why would he be looking for me?"

"From what I hear he's as worried about you as he is about your brother," Hera tells him gently. "He knows how important you were to Tadashi, and he wanted to make sure that you were safe as well. He's even been offering a hefty reward for any information on the whereabouts of either of you."

When she sees the expression on Hiro's face, she quickly adds, "Don't worry, we have absolutely no intention of taking the money. But Fred did appear quite happy to hear that you were safe with us when I spoke to him."

"Y-You talked to him?" Hiro asks, his voice sounding a bit shaky now.

"I did," Hera confirms. "And it seems we got back here just in the nick of time-one of our intelligence agents was just getting ready to contact him with break in your brother's case."

"A break?" Hiro gasps. "D-Does this mean-?"

"It's not confirmed," Hera answers, keeping her tone carefully neutral. "But we have a pretty good idea of where your brother is being kept."

"That's great!" Ezra cries, beaming at the amazing news "Where is he?"

"That's the not so good news," Hera answers with a quiet sigh. "If he's where we think he is, it's not the easiest place to break into. I'm not sure exactly what Tadashi was doing for the Rebellion, but either it was something pretty serious to get him in that much trouble with the Empire, or else the Imperials were just trying to make an example of him."

"We're still going to try to get him out, though, right?" Hiro asks, his eyes desperately searching the pilot's face. "We can't just leave him in there!"

"Of course we're not just leaving him in there," Hera reassures him, a determined expression replacing the cautious one. "I've specifically asked for our crew to be given the mission to attempt to free him. I think we have the best chance of anyone here of getting him out of there."

"Did you hear that, Hiro?" Ezra grins down at the younger teen who appeared to have stopped breathing for a moment. "We're going to go save your brother!"

"Y-Yeah!" After a moment Hiro shakes himself, grinning back up at him. "We're going to save Tadashi! I-I'm finally going to get him back!"

"You are," Ezra agrees, without even thinking about it wrapping his arms around Hiro and pulling him close. "And I promise, I'm going to do everything in my power to get him out of there."

And he meant it-no matter what, he was going to get Tadashi back to Hiro or else die trying.

It took longer than Ezra would have liked to actually head out for the high security space prison where Tadashi was supposedly being kept. If he'd had his way, they would have set out the second they had the coordinates. But instead they had to sit through a full briefing on the mission, learning the ins and outs of the prison's security and strategizing the best way to get in. Of course he knew why it was important to discuss all of this, but Hiro was just so excited about finally getting to see his brother again that he wanted to make the reunion happen as soon as possible. After what felt like an eternity, they were finally given the all clear to go and Ezra was the first one back one on the Ghost getting ready for takeoff.

It wasn't until after they were almost halfway to their destination that a rather unpleasant realization dawned on Ezra. He'd been so focused all this time on just trying to get Hiro back together with Tadashi that he hadn't even thought about what would happen once they'd actually rescued the older man. Hiro would obviously want to stay with his older brother once they had him safely out of prison. But where would the brothers be staying? Ezra was at least fairly confident that they wouldn't want to go back to their home planet, so that was one thing in his favor. But as much as he'd like to believe that Hiro and Tadashi could simply stay here on the Ghost, it wasn't realistic. Things were cramped enough as it was-they didn't have room for yet another person living here.

And who was to say that Tadashi and Hiro would want to stay on the Ghost, even if it was a possibility? Right now the crew had instructions to bring both Tadashi and Hiro to Senator Lee's mansion once Tadashi was rescued. Did the senator's son, Fred, want Hiro and Tadashi to live with him? It made sense that he would want Tadashi to be close after almost losing him if they truly had been lovers. But did he have to want Hiro too? Ezra knew that he was being selfish-that he should be happy if Hiro had a safe home waiting for him where he could be with his brother. But he couldn't bring himself to be happy about it when the prospect meant losing the person who was slowly but surely claiming his entire heart.

"Hey, Ezra?"

"What?" Ezra is jerked out of his rather dismal thoughts by the feeling of Hiro gently tapping his shoulder.

"We're here," Hiro answers, a look of mixed excitement and nervousness on his face.

"We're…? Oh. Oh!" It takes Ezra a moment to realize what the other teen was talking about, but after a moment it clicks and he's brought back to the present. He stands up from his chair, checking to make sure that his lightsaber is firmly clipped to his belt as he does so before turning to face Hiro.

"You ready for this?" he asks, offering Hiro the best smile that he can manage and feeling extremely glad that the other teen wasn't been able to read his thoughts and so couldn't know how selfish he'd been acting only a minute ago. All that mattered was that Hiro was happy, and even if that meant letting him go then he was prepared to do it if it meant making sure that he stayed that way.

"As I'll ever be," Hiro answers, a hand resting on the blaster he'd strapped to his own belt-despite everyone's protestations that he should stay on the ship where he'd be safe, the raven haired teen had insisted that he wasn't going to be left out of the mission to save his brother, and somehow Ezra had managed to convince the rest of the crew to let Hiro come with with the proviso that he wouldn't leave his side the entire time so that he could keep him safe.

"C'mon, then." Ezra offers him, trying to sound a lot more confident than he felt. "Let's go save your brother!"

The plan was simple enough-Ezra, Chopper, and Hiro would sneak in through a side entrance while Sabine created a distraction at the main gates to the prison, Zeb and Kanan creating a diversion at another entry while Hera kept the ship running for a quick getaway. Two distractions would hopefully cause enough confusion that Hiro and Ezra would be able to get in with considerably less notice. That didn't mean that the little rescue party didn't run into a few guards as they made their way through the prison to the cell where Tadashi was supposed to be being held according to their intel. But the stormtroopers were quickly dealt with, and, in spite of getting turned around once or twice, the trio finally found themselves standing outside the door they'd been looking for.

"Chopper, get it open," Ezra tells the droid, glancing both ways down the hallway and keeping a wary eye out for any more troopers that might be heading their way.

"I can't believe this is actually happening," Hiro breathes as Chopper gets to work on the lock, his hand finding its way into Ezra's and squeezing it tightly. "I can't believe I'm actually going to get to see him again…"

"It's going to be okay," Ezra whispers, squeezing it back. "No matter what happens, it's going to be okay."

Just then, the door finally creaks open, and Hiro rushes forward into the cell, calling out, "Dashi? Dashi, please be in here!"

Ezra quickly follows him in, ready to defend him if they'd gotten the wrong cell and run into a less than friendly inmate. But from the expression on Hiro's face, it was obvious that they were in the right place. The younger teen looked absolutely thrilled to have finally found his beloved older brother. Still, it wasn't quite the happy reunion that Ezra had been imagining all this time.

The man they had found was slumped against the wall of the cell, looking more dead than alive. Half his body was covered in scars that looked as if they had never had the chance to heal properly, the burns so bad that one of his half open eyes was milky white, clearly blinded from the extent of his injuries. He looked almost frail in spite of having what must have once been a powerfully built frame. His skin hung gauntly off of his bones, as if he hadn't eaten properly in over a year, and his lank hair and the stubble on his face were a far cry from the clean cut young man Ezra had seen in the pictures Hiro had shown him of his elder sibling. It looked like the Empire had just thrown him in here and then left him for dead-which was probably exactly what they'd done.

Tadashi looked like a complete and total wreck. And yet, in spite of all of this, Hiro didn't show even the slightest hint of hesitation as he drops to the floor in front of his brother, gently taking one of the man's hands in his own and saying softly, "Dashi? Dashi, can you hear me? It's me, Hiro."

For a moment the man didn't respond, and Ezra was terrified that they had found a corpse and they'd been too late to save him. But slowly Tadashi stirs to life, a confused and almost dazed look on his face as he murmurs, "Hiro?"

"Yeah… It's me, nii-chan," Hiro whispers, lifting his brother's palm to his cheek and gently nuzzling into it. "It's Hiro."

"H-Hiro, what are you doing here?" Tadashi grows increasingly more alert, an almost panicked expression on his face. "H-How did you find me? No, that doesn't matter-it isn't safe, you shouldn't be here!"

"We came here to spring you, bro!" Hiro answers with a grin, seeming pleased by his brother's progress.

"We?" Tadashi repeats, seeming to finally take notice of the two others who were with them.

"Hey…" Ezra waves awkwardly, not really sure where he fit into this family moment and feeling a bit like an outsider. He was just debating giving them some privacy when Chopper's beeping reminds him that they weren't quite out of the woods yet.

"We need to get going," he tells the two brothers, coming over to help Hiro get Tadashi to his feet. "There are more troopers coming-I think they realized that the explosions were just a distraction and that someone actually snuck in!"

"Right!" Hiro agrees, helping his elder sibling stand and asking, "Can you walk?"

"I-I can try," Tadashi answers, stumbling out into the hallway with their assistance. "But where exactly are we going? And who are you?" He looks doubtfully at Ezra and Chopper, not seeming to fully trust them yet.

"They're my friends," Hiro explains quickly. "They helped me get here and find you, and now they're helping me get you out of here!"

That must have quelled Tadashi's concerns, at least for the moment, because he just nods and doesn't ask any more questions as they start off down the hallway together.

They were actually making good progress and had almost made it out of the compound when suddenly a small contingent of stormtroopers appears, blocking the path to their exit.

"Hiro, take Tadashi," Ezra tells the other teen, shifting the full weight of the older man onto him. "I'll deal with these guys."

"Right," Hiro agrees, doing his best to keep his elder sibling upright.

"He's a jedi?" Ezra couldn't help but be gratified to hear the tone of shock and almost respect in Tadashi's voice as he pulls out his lightsaber and starts fighting his way through the blockade. Even though this wasn't the best time for it, he did want to make a good first impression on Hiro's only surviving family member, and if this was one way of doing that then so be it.

"C'mon, let's go before we run any more of those guys," Ezra says urgently once he's taken care of the last of the troopers, coming back to help Hiro.

"Right behind you!" Hiro agrees as they start making their way down the hallway again, doing their best to assist Tadashi around the limp bodies of the guards.

Ezra was extremely grateful when they finally got back to the ship without any more delays. Even better was finding that the rest of the crew had already returned and so, as soon as the hatch was shut tightly, they were able to make for hyperspace, their mission accomplished.

Almost as soon as they were out of danger (and maybe even a little bit before that), Kanan insisted on taking Tadashi to the med bay to have the med droids look him over. Ezra helped get Tadashi onto a cot for examination and then quietly left the room, both to give the droids some privacy in which to work and because he needed to be alone with his thoughts.

He didn't regret rescuing Tadashi-not even in the slightest. It had been the right thing to do, and he would have done it all over again in a heartbeat. And Hiro was so happy to have his brother back that it almost made him forget that, in a very short period of time, he'd most likely be losing him.

Almost.

Somewhere in the quiet hours that followed, while the med droids looked Tadashi over and Hera guided the Ghost towards the planet where Senator Lee and his family lived, Ezra finds himself nodding off in the quiet corner of the ship he'd holed himself up in. He doesn't wake up until almost an hour later to find Hiro curled up against him, his head resting on his shoulder.

"O-Oh, hey!" Ezra stammers, feeling his cheeks turning bright pink as he jerks upright. "Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you! I guess the mission just tired me out…"

"It's okay," Hiro answers, smiling softly up at him. "I kind of ended up falling asleep too for a little while after I came and found you."

"How's Tadashi doing?" Ezra asks, realizing that he hadn't heard a status update on their new passenger since he'd been on board. "What did the droids say?"

"He's okay-he's resting now," Hiro tells him, relief showing on his face. "I mean, he's half starved, and those burns from when the Empire blew our place up before taking him away are kind of infected. But the droids are putting bacta patches on him and they said with proper care and good feeding he'll be all right. Not the same as before, obviously. But hey-he's alive, and that's the most important thing."

"Yeah," Ezra agrees, more than a little relieved himself to hear the news. "That's really amazing, Hiro."

"Thanks." Hiro presses against his side and fixes those gorgeous brown eyes of his on him, adding softly, "And thank you for-well, everything. If it wasn't for you, I would never have gotten Tadashi back."

"You probably would have," Ezra answers, flushing a bit at the praise and at the same time trying to keep resentment out of his voice as he adds, "I mean, it sounds like that Fred guy was already having the Rebellion hard at work trying to locate both of you. They probably would have found you both eventually."

"Maybe…" Hiro agrees with a small frown, and Ezra winces, realizing that his attempts to cover up his sour mood hadn't worked as well as he'd hoped. "Ez, is everything okay?"

Ezra finds his breath catching at the use of the nickname-Hiro had never called him that before-and then ducks his head to hide his sullen expression as he mumbles, "Why wouldn't everything be okay?"

"Ezra," Hiro presses, leaning down so that he can see the other teen's face. "Come on. If there's something wrong, please tell me."

"It's just… Now that you have Tadashi and you've got that Fred guy who wants you both to live with him, you're going to be leaving us, aren't you?" Ezra finally answers miserably, realizing that he couldn't hide the truth from Hiro.

"You mean leaving you?" Hiro asks softly.

"Whatever," Ezra quietly mutters-was Hiro trying to make this harder for him than it already was? "The point is you're leaving. A-And I…." He trails off, the words drying up in his throat. No, he couldn't say what was on his mind without being a horrible friend.

"Do you want me to leave?" Hiro presses.

"Of course not!" Ezra answers automatically before realizing what he'd just said and quickly trying to rectify his error. "I mean- Y-Yeah, I don't want you to leave... But I want you to be happy, and happy for you is being with your brother. And I can't be selfish and ask you to leave your family when you just got him back…"

"Ezra." The blue haired teen is startled to suddenly find Hiro climbing into his lap, straddling his legs and looking deep into his eyes.

"H-Hiro, what are you doing?" he stammer out, his cheeks burning.

"Please," Hiro answers softly, leaning in closer. "Right now-I want you to be selfish. I want you to be as selfish as you possibly can. Tell me exactly what you're thinking. I-I need to know if you… If you're feeling the same way that I'm feeling..."

Between the way that Hiro was looking at him and how very, very close they were now, Ezra finds all of his carefully constructed walls coming crashing down, and, before he can even stop to think, he finds himself leaning in as well. He leans in until they were so close that they were almost kissing, their lips were hovering only centimeters apart. But as badly as he wanted to, he resists the urge to kiss Hiro. After everything that the other teen had gone through, he couldn't bring himself to do anything of an even remotely intimate nature to him without having permission first. He didn't want to hurt him if he was misreading the signs. He didn't need permission, but he wanted it, and he wouldn't do anything more until he had it.

His patience is rewarded only seconds later when Hiro closes the gap between them, pressing their lips together in a slow, tender kiss.

Force it was amazing. It was as amazing as Ezra had ever dared to imagine it, if not moreso. He finds himself panting slightly as Hiro finally pulls away, a shy grin on the raven haired teen's face.

"So-what were you saying about being selfish?" Hiro asks, his tone playful but cautious.

"I-I don't want you to leave," Ezra breathes, unable to believe that what had just happened had actually happened but finding his arms naturally curling around Hiro's waist, as if that's where they'd belonged all along.

"Good." Hiro gently places a small peck on his cheek. "Because I don't want to leave either."

"Y-You don't?" Ezra stammers out.

"Nope!" Hiro beams up at him. "I mean, sure I'll want to stay with Tadashi while he's recovering. And maybe once he's better I can split my time between being with him and Fred and being with you guys. But I know more than anything that I don't want to lose you, Ezra. I don't want to lose what we have."

"You could never lose me, Hiro," Ezra reassures him, pulling him to his chest and beaming as he holds him close. "No matter what, I'll always be there for you, whether I have you right here next to me or if you're all the way on the other side of the galaxy."

"Good." Hiro contentedly nuzzles up against him. "But I'd rather be by your side than on the other side of the galaxy."

"Me too," Ezra answers with a quiet chuckle before pulling away just enough so that he could kiss the other teen again. "Me too."