It had been a long day.
A long, long day, and all Obi-Wan Kenobi wanted to do was take a piping hot shower and forget about the negotiations and parleys and arguments.
But, of course, the Force denied his one wish. Again.
He paced impatiently through his quarters, brow furrowed in deep frustration. His Padawan had been in the shower for four hours. Four hours! Although Anakin had been apprenticed to him for several months thus far, Obi-Wan had never caught him taking such a long shower. What he was trying to do, drain all the rivers and lakes in Coruscant?
He continued to pace, thinking of reasons why Anakin felt the urge to take a four-hour shower, each possibility more lurid than the last.
Could he have drowned? Abducted by Gungans? Slipped and cracked his head open? Suffocated by the shower curtains? He knew he shouldn't have gotten the flower-patterned ones! Those fuchsia roses could distract any showering Jedi! Obi-Wan began to break out in a light sweat. Visions of a mangled Padawan flashed through his mind, his eyes staring accusingly at the Master that had failed to protect him...
Paranoia flared.
"I'M COMING, ANAKIN!" Obi-Wan roared, charging at the door with a fiery vengeance.
It didn't stand a chance.
In an explosion of wood, dust, and debris, Obi-Wan burst into the refresher with a manic look in his eyes. "Anakin!" he coughed, looking around wildly amidst the settling dust. "Anakin!"
"What the holy Sithspit is going on?!" came the indignant, bewildered voice.
Obi-Wan whirled around in panic to see his wide-eyed Padawan staring at him. Sheer relief swamped him to the point where he didn't even care that his Padawan had picked up foul language within his first few months in Coruscant.
Then he stared.
"What are you doing?" he said finally.
His Padawan was neck-deep in bubbles. Translucent, frothy, foaming, lavender-scented bubbles. If that were not enough, five loofahs lay strewn across the floor, along with a whole army of yellow rubber duckies.
They bobbed serenely in the water, ogling him.
"The door! You killed it!" Anakin exclaimed, awed. "Do I get to learn how to do that?"
"Er," Obi-Wan stalled, nervously drumming his fingers against his arm. "Jedi don't resort to overly violent acts of..."
He trailed off lamely. "Why weren't you answering me?" he exclaimed instead, running a hand through his dusty, rumpled hair. He was torn between utter relief and stupidity -- he could have sensed Anakin were alive had he thought to reach out and use the Force. I'm not ready for this, he despaired.
"I didn't hear you over the faucet!" Anakin replied, the picture of youthful innocence. "Why did you break down the door?"
"You've been in here for ages," Obi-Wan muttered defensively, "the Council is not going to be happy if they're called into an impromptu emergency session regarding lack of water in the Temple. And... I was worried you'd... died."
Anakin looked deeply affronted. "In the refresher?"
"Ani, if there was ever anyone who could meet their doom while in the refresher, it would be you."
The Padawan pouted in self-righteous indignation. Obi-Wan was constantly amazed at how far Anakin's lower lip could stick out, and equally exasperated by his innocently defiant young Padawan.
"Okay, okay, no need to go there," he sighed, unable to resist his Padawan's antics. "Do you find yourself sufficiently bathed?"
"But Master," Anakin said reluctantly, splashing about. "The water is so...warm. And...comforting! We never had baths on Tatooine."
Obi-Wan felt like he had been smacked upside the head with his own lightsaber. Sadly, he spoke from experience. That particular experience had also severed his Padawan braid, much to the amusement of the rest of the Temple.
"Is that's why you've been in here for four hours?!" he asked incredulously.
Anakin looked as sheepish as it was humanely possible while being surrounded by a myriad of miniature rubber ducks.
Obi-Wan stifled his amusement for as long as he could. "Anakin, we do have pools in the Temple, you know."
"What!" Anakin yelped, bolting upright. Thank goodness the bubbles obscured everything. "Pools? Of water? Clean water? Just lying around for anyone?"
He grinned. "Yes, Ani. Now, may I please take a shower?"
"Yes, Master," Anakin said humbly, grabbing a towel. "I'll be right out. Do you want me to leave the rubber duckies for you?"
*SW*SW*SW*SW*SW*
Once again, Obi-Wan found himself pacing through his quarters. So this is what it was like to have a Padawan, he thought drily, his mouth quirking into a slight smile. One thing was for certain: by the end of it, he would be lucky not to be bald like Mace Windu.
Chuckling slightly, he made his way into the refresher at last, craving the warmth of a nice, soothing shower. To his amusement, he found that Anakin had indeed left the rubber duckies for his Master's viewing pleasure.
If Qui-Gon had been alive, he and Anakin would have made an interesting pair. He imagined some of the scrapes the unorthodox Mentor and the troublesome Padawan would have gotten into, and managed to smile.
That is, before he cranked the shower knob and was blasted by a jet of frigid cold water.
"ANAKIN!" he roared. "YOU USED ALL THE HOT WATER?!"
The End.
A/N: Feedback is invaluable, so make a writer's day, will ya? Here's a shout-out to Eiladwyn, who stuck with me through the writing of this vignette -- or, as you say, "midget fic".