Disclaimer- If we had created Star Wars, well, we'd be able to pay each other a lot more to be friends. Still, thank you George Lucas!
Authors' note- So here it is, the first chapter of our second story. Sorry for the length, but it's sorta the prologue so we just wanted to establish what we were going to write. Thanks again to anyone who has read An Unexpected Guest! We positively love you and we hope you like this one as well!
Reposted June 17, 2007
Re-reposted April 15, 2008
Closer
Prologue
It started with a conversation. A conversation so random and so completely dumb. A discussion with a distinct air of unimportance. A talk that only occurred for the sake of talking. What could it really amount to, this conversation – about nothing really – between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-wan Kenobi on a single, tired, uneventful night in the Jedi Temple?
Anakin was exhausted. After hours of sparring with his master, he was utterly dead on his feet. Unwilling to dredge up the energy necessary to carry him to his room, he threw himself onto the couch in his and Obi-wan's quarters, fully prepared to fall asleep right then and there.
Obi-wan, however, felt none of his young apprentice's weariness. In fact, he instead felt an unusual need to do something or talk to someone. Pushing away the thought that such a feeling was strictly not jedi-like, he plopped down in one jarring movement to sit beside his padawan. Anakin refused to move. Obi-wan Kenobi may be his master, but there was no way – no way – he was going to move from this spot, or recognize the older man's presence, or even speak a word. Unless….
"Anakin, do you think we're close enough?"
"W-what?" Anakin yawned with disinterested drowsiness.
"Do you think we're close enough?" Obi-wan repeated seriously. "You know, do we talk enough? Do we do enough? Do you feel like we have a strong bond?"
"Obi-wan, what in the galaxy are you talking about?" Anakin asked, silently cursing the other man for choosing this particular moment to be unintelligible and inquisitive.
"Well, for one thing, we just seem so distant. I've known you for at least nine years now and I still feel like I don't know you."
"Okay," Anakin began awkwardly, "so what, uh, do you want to know then?"
"I don't know…." Obi-wan said thoughtfully, stroking his beard in that annoyingly pensive way that had become so typical of him. "We should hug more."
"Huh?" Anakin responded in unintelligent shock.
"There are so many masters and padawans that can hug each other. They have a stronger bond. I know I've never been much for physical indications of affection, but I think it might be nice. You know, bring us closer as a team."
"Obi-wan, I'm not going to hug you," said Anakin, apparently repulsed by the very thought. "It would be too weird … and we could never pull it off."
Obi-wan paused for a moment. "Why not?" he said.
"Because we're Obi-wan and Anakin, Kenobi and Skywalker. You're like my father, my brother, and friend. We're close, okay? We don't need to be any closer. It would just look weird."
"I don't think it would."
Anakin had to give the tiniest smirk at this. Shifting his tired body to face his master better, he said, "Fine, let's put it to a bet. I'll bet you that within one week of hugging and demonstrating what 'close friends' we are, half the Temple will be on us for 'attachments,' and 'relationships,' or whatever other nonsense they can come up with."
Obi-wan thought about this for a moment. "Alright, you're on," he spoke finally. "But only because I think you greatly misinterpret the rules of the Jedi. Physical attachments are forbidden, yes. But the Council would highly regard a healthy camaraderie and comfortable connection between master and padawan. Physical contact and a close relationship do not necessarily indicate a more than platonic relationship my young padawan," he finished with a self-satisfied grin. "So what do I get when I win?"
Anakin tried very hard not to roll his eyes at his master's complete inability to grasp the more obvious facts of life. The Council would definitely take notice if they went prancing around hugging all the time, and the rest of the Temple's inhabitants would surely be suspicious of their sudden need to have an even more "comfortable connection." He shook his head with a laugh and said, "You mean if you win. If you win I will, I dunno, cook dinner for a week?"
Obi-wan chuckled slightly and sighed. "I don't bet, Anakin," he said. "You know that. So if I'm going to do this, the stakes are going to have to be a lot higher than you serving me unrecognizable lumps of blackened food for an entire week."
"Okay fine," Anakin said, looking up at his master through tired eyes, "what would you like me to do?"
"Hmmm," Obi-wan began as he started pacing back and forth across the room. "It's got to be good, seeing as you are wrong after all." Anakin couldn't help rolling his eyes this time. "And it should be embarrassing, something that you can learn from but that will still entertain me…. I know!" he exclaimed suddenly, causing Anakin to jump slightly out of surprise. "When you lose this bet, you must shave your entire head."
"What?" Anakin shouted in horror. "My head? My entire head?"
"Yes, your entire head," said Obi-wan smartly. "With the exception of your braid, of course. You are still a padawan after all. So no hair, but keep the braid … I figure you'll resemble a much younger, much whiter, Mace Windu."
"That's ridiculous, Obi-wan!" said Anakin, a slight whine entering into his voice from both frustration and fatigue. "As unlikely as it is to happen, as unlikely as you are to win, it's still a ridiculous term. The entire Temple will gawk at me. How am I supposed to learn from that?" he grasped as an afterthought.
"Fine," Obi-wan said with a small, uncharacteristic smirk. "I did say it should be educational as well as entertaining. So in addition to the loss of your hair, if you should fail to prove to me that our closeness would be misconstrued in this Temple, you will have to meditate with me. Every day, for a week, without complaint."
"You've got to be kidding me!" Anakin yelped, suddenly quite awake.
"You act like meditating is the Dark Side itself young one. But those are my terms. You can either accept them or throw this whole thing out the window."
Anakin gazed up at Obi-wan with the most reluctant expression he could muster. "Fine," he said through gritted teeth. "I accept your terms." Obi-wan gave a curt nod of approval and Anakin continued. "Now, if I win, I want to switch our roles as master and padawan. It would be temporary of course – let's say a week – but you'd have to do anything and everything I tell you during that time."
"Anakin, that is absolutely preposterous," Obi-wan began, giving Anakin that look of exasperation he always reserved just for him. "The Council would never approve -"
"They really wouldn't approve of any of this, would they?" Anakin asked with a knowing smile. "Look, I understand that there are boundaries. We wouldn't do it during a mission or any other time that you absolutely needed to be in charge. And I wouldn't ask you to do anything big. It'd just be nice, you know, to not have to meditate for once. Think of the possibilities, Master."
Anakin waited while Obi-wan contemplated. "Alright," the Jedi Knight said slowly. "But there will be conditions, Anakin. I'm not going to stand by and let you make a mess of things…."
"What do you think I'm going to do, blow up the Temple?" Anakin asked in mock indignation.
"Yes, well, I wouldn't put it past you," muttered Obi-wan.
Anakin ignored the barely audible comment and instead extended his hand for the older man to shake. "Do we have a deal then?" he asked.
Obi-wan, with every indication of doing so against his better judgment, took his padawan's hand. "Deal."