Stay Ready -- Ekko
    𝟎𝟎𝟎 : 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐞
      (𝘼𝙧𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙚, 𝙥𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬)

EKKO had a big problem.

Though many people wouldn't view it as a "problem"—not in comparison to Zaun, which was still struggling through its recovery.

But to him, it was a problem nonetheless.

Powder had been his best friend for as long as he could remember. She was the first person he'd shared his wild ideas with, the one who always stood by him, even when the world felt like it was collapsing around them. It had always been just them: Ekko and Powder, Zaun's power duo. They didn't need anyone else.

And then she came along.

A small, frail sack of nerves and hurt—that's what Vander had brought home that day. Moon, they called her. Her dark eyes were wide and untrusting, her hands trembling even as she clenched them into fists, ready to fight off anyone who got too close.

Ekko hadn't thought much of her at first. Another broken thing in a city full of shattered pieces. He had no way of knowing how quickly she would slip past every barrier he'd built and leave him utterly undone.

He found himself watching her often, gazing at her as her pen gently stroked the weathered pages of the journal Vander had pulled from behind the pub counter. She was always glued to Vander's side, still far too frail and malnourished to roam the streets of Zaun like the other kids—or so Vander claimed. There was something about her quiet focus, the way she pressed her lips together as she wrote, that made it impossible to look away.

Ekko found himself at the Last Drop more often than Benzo appreciated, sneaking in during slower shifts and wandering off whenever he had the chance—just to look at her. Look, not talk. Moon, to him, was some kind of art piece—a living, breathing Monet. Beautiful, but distant, meant to be admired from afar, never touched, never disturbed.

Vi found that notion ridiculous. "Just talk to her, Ekko. She doesn't bite." She'd rolled her eyes countless times, sitting next to him as they both watched the quiet, enigmatic girl across the pub.

"No, but I'm sure Vander does," Ekko muttered, voice low enough to avoid unwanted attention. His remark earned a sharp snort from Vi, who leaned back against the bar with an amused smirk.

"Vander hardly lets that girl out of his sight," she quipped, shaking her head. "It's like she's on some invisible leash."

Ekko frowned, glancing at Moon, who was tucked away in a corner with her ever-present journal. "She could use some friends," he murmured, his brows furrowing.

"Exactly," Vi said, propping her elbows on the counter. "Powder's begged a thousand times to get her out of here, but Vander's too busy playing overprotective watchdog to see reason. Powder and Claggor can't be her only friends forever. That's gotta mess with her head eventually, right? Development and all that?"

Ekko shot her a skeptical look. "Since when are you an expert on child psychology?"

Vi smirked, shrugging. "I'm not, but even I know isolation doesn't exactly build social skills. Someone's gotta throw her a lifeline before she turns into a full-time recluse."

Ekko laughed at that, the sound light and genuine, earning a soft smile from Vi. "We just gotta be gentle with her," she said after a moment, her tone softening. "She's had a really hard life."

"What happened to her?" Ekko asked, the question slipping out before he could stop himself. His curiosity had gnawed at him for years. Vander had been tight-lipped about Moon's past, sharing the details only with Vi, and Moon herself didn't seem like the type to spill her secrets anytime soon.

Vi's expression shifted, the playful glint in her eyes dimming. She looked away, fidgeting with the edge of her glove. "Best if you don't know for now," she said finally, her voice quieter.

Ekko's brow furrowed, but he didn't push. The weight in her words told him enough: whatever Moon had been through, it wasn't something easily spoken of.

"But you should talk to her, Ekko," Vi continued, nudging him lightly with her elbow. "Go ahead. She's the sweetest—funny, and crazy creative. Having her as a sibling has been... different, but in the best way. I'm glad to have a new little sister, and she's glad to have us."

Vi's voice softened, her gaze flicking to Moon across the room, who was busy sketching something with a furrowed brow. "And I'm sure, more than anything, she'd be glad to have you as a friend."

Vi was right. If Moon's life had been as tragic as it seemed, she deserved some friends—people who'd make her feel at home. Ekko would be more than happy to be one of them. To talk to her, to get to know her. It had been five months since Vander brought her home. If there was a time to try, it was now.

Just... not tonight.

And for the record, he did talk to her eventually. That's where his little problem had started.

Well, big problem. He would very much like to push the "little" part of that agenda, though.

Moon had somehow become everything to him, and he wasn't even sure when it happened.

At first, it had been small—just little things. The way her laughter, so soft and hesitant at first, had started to become more frequent, more natural. The way she'd slowly started to trust him with her words, her thoughts. The way she smiled at him when he cracked a joke, or when he'd figured out some wild idea. Those little moments, strung together like beads on a necklace, had turned into something deeper.

He remembered the first time she opened up to him about something real—something that wasn't just surface-level chatter. It had been a quiet afternoon, and they'd both found themselves lingering at the Last Drop while Vander was off handling some business. She'd been scribbling something in her journal when he asked, just out of curiosity, about the meaning behind a sketch she'd made. The next thing he knew, they were talking for hours. He'd learned more about her in that one conversation than he had in the entire year they'd known each other. Her walls had started to crumble—slowly, gently. Moon, for the first time in ages, was letting someone in. And that someone was him.

Over time, Ekko had come to realize that this wasn't just friendship anymore. No, this was something else entirely. He'd catch himself staring at her sometimes—just watching as she'd help Powder with something, or sit next to him in silence as he worked on his latest gadget. She had this quiet way of being, as if the whole world could be falling apart and she'd still be able to find peace within herself. It was captivating. And every time she looked at him—really looked at him—his heart would skip a beat.

It wasn't love, though. He was fifteen. Fifteen-year-olds didn't fall in love, right? That was a silly idea, something reserved for the stories Powder loved to read and the daydreams kids like them had about their futures. Love was for older people, not kids like him who still had a lot of growing up to do.

But the truth was, Ekko was starting to wonder if he could at least feel love. Or something close to it. He wasn't sure how to even label it anymore, but Moon was always on his mind. There was an ache in his chest when he thought of her. It wasn't the kind of ache that was uncomfortable—it was the kind that made his pulse quicken and his thoughts scatter every time she smiled at him or spoke his name. There were times when he'd catch himself grinning like an idiot, his mind lost in a hundred thoughts about her, and he'd quickly shove the feeling away, pretending he hadn't noticed it at all. He wasn't in love. He was just... fond.

Right?

But as the years went by, those small feelings had started to grow. And by now, he wasn't sure if he could stop them.

Not that he'd try to.

He rather liked this feeling, though he'd never admit it to anyone. It was a fluttering thing, light and yet heavy, like a million butterflies taking flight all at once, filling his chest with something electric. He'd never experienced a feeling like this before—something so sweet, so consuming. It was like his heart was a drum, and every thought of her, every glance she threw his way, sent it into overdrive. He caught himself daydreaming, imagining what it would be like to just be close to her, to hear her laugh, to be the one who made her smile.

But that wasn't right, was it? Not when Powder had always been his everything, his anchor in this world of chaos. She was his best friend, his partner in crime, the one who'd stuck by his side through everything. It was supposed to be just the two of them, a bond unbreakable by anything—especially not by her sister.

And yet here he was, with this feeling he couldn't shake, growing more impossible to ignore with each passing day. He hated that he was hiding it, hiding something so simple and pure from Powder. She deserved to know. She deserved to have everything from him, the whole truth. But telling her? Telling her would change everything. It would risk losing the one person who had always been there for him.

How could he tell her that the one person he had begun to care for—had begun to fall for—was her sister?

He couldn't. So he didn't.

It didn't matter how Moon beamed at him with her big brown eyes, or the way she'd lean against him on her bed as they flipped through her sketchbook, her warm, soft presence next to him making it hard to focus on anything else. He'd let his fingers trace the edges of her drawings, their quiet laughter filling the room as she would shyly look away, pretending not to notice the way he lingered a little too long.

It didn't matter when she had his head nestled between her legs, her fingers working through his hair with a gentle but determined focus. He winced every now and then as the comb pulled at the knots, but he let her work, watching as her face twisted in concentration. The living room was scattered with an array of hair products—just like when she used to do this for herself in the brothel—and still, he did nothing. He was still. Silent.

Because he couldn't. Because it would be wrong.

He couldn't betray the unspoken promise he'd made to Powder, to the friendship they shared. Ekko prided himself on being a good friend—he couldn't be the one to ruin that. And besides, it was enough, wasn't it? To be there for her? To offer her the kindness and friendship she deserved, without crossing any lines?

Moon deserved someone better than this. Better than him. And Ekko? Ekko was stuck in a mess of his own making, with feelings he couldn't untangle and a heart that was too loyal to his best friend to act on anything that might shatter the delicate balance of their bond.

This was for the best. Right?

LOVE SPEAKS!

I considered going back and naming it Trouble after the unreleased Frank Ocean song but the song is mainly about him being in love with someone older.

Though it is still about him being in love with someone he can't have so I might still change it anyways. Free will.

This will be a short book I just wish I got to show more of alternate Ekko and Moon bc they're so cutie.

Fun fact: a difference between the original Ekko from our timeline and the Ekko from this one that you might have noticed from the first book is that the original Ekko befriended/talked to Moon after about six weeks of her being there. It took this one six months