"Why do you call me Padawan?"
Anakin is eleven, and he has not yet gotten completely used to the Jedi Temple, even a year and a half later. He is standing in front of Obi-Wan, his arms curled protectively around himself. He looks even younger than he is, and Obi-Wan feels awkward.
"You are one," he states simply. But the boy does not look soothed. "Does it bother you?"
"It—it—it feels... it feels like it did when someone called me a slave." The child's voice is shaking and so very young, but Obi-Wan simply does not understand. The child was a slave, and now he is a Padawan, and for the life of him, he cannot understand why it upset the boy.
His confusion is evident on his face, and Anakin adds, almost inaudibly, "Like I'm inferior." Then louder, "Never mind, master. Goodnight." And he turns to go, but Obi-Wan calls him back, understanding dawning and sympathy and pity welling up inside of him.
"I will not call you a Padawan if it bothers you," he says softly, kneeling on the floor so they are eye to eye. "But all it means is that you are in training, that you are still learning."
"I know, I just..." He trails off and shrugs, not meeting Obi-Wan's eyes, and the pity threatens to make the Knight cry.
"I won't call you that," he repeats, not knowing what other condolences he can give. The boy seems to understand that, and he hesitantly wraps his arms around him and bids him goodnight again, and Obi-Wan watches him walk into the next room.
And for the first time, Anakin is not the boy his master wanted him to train or the boy who ruined his life. He is simply Anakin, a figure not unlike a younger brother.
And that's what he was forever more.
Author's Note: Inspired by Mathematica's "Five Times Anakin Fell In Love." Hope you don't mind I took inspiration for a section of your story. I think it's rushed but...