Pairing: Anakin/Obi-Wan
Disclaimer: Star Wars and all its characters are property of Lucasfilm Ltd. No copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: Written for Jedimastercait for having made me a lovely icon. Title inspired by the song of the same name by the Beatles, which is also an inspiration for the fic.
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Anakin holds Obi-Wan's hands. Obi-Wan's manicured nails are torn and packed with mud. Blood trickles from the gashes in his palms. Anakin wipes dirt away from them. Aside from the lightsaber calluses, Obi-Wan's hands feel as soft as a woman's. They do not look like a woman's hands, though, for they are strong and solid.
Using a moist cloth from the medkit, Anakin washes the dirt from Obi-Wan's hands. When he applies astringent to the gashes, Obi-Wan's hands twitch. Anakin wraps lilte-bandings across them. He can hear Obi-Wan exhaling, even as the wind rushes in through the open sides of the gunship. In the distance, a plume of smoke curls up towards the sky. Only Anakin, Obi-Wan, and the pilot survived.
Anakin raises his gaze to Obi-Wan's eyes. The cloudy gray clears to a sky blue. Anakin sees his own reflection in Obi-Wan's eyes, his tired face, his mud-splattered clothes. Anakin decides the loss of the clone troopers is acceptable, if only because their deaths meant Obi-Wan's life. Without their sacrifice, Obi-Wan would have lost his hands, perhaps even his life.
Obi-Wan does not speak when Anakin raises Obi-Wan's fingers to his mouth. He holds Anakin's gaze and runs his fingers across Anakin's lips. Anakin shivers, his pleasure stained with guilt. He thinks of his wife, of how she is never there when he needs her most. There is only Obi-Wan. Anakin hopes Padmé will understand.
"Will you sleep with me tonight?" Anakin whispers. Obi-Wan does not always sleep with him. Sometimes, Obi-Wan fights this thing between them, this thing that seems to have magnetized their relationship since the war began. Anakin does not know what it means when Obi-Wan's lips press against his or when Obi-Wan rests his head on Anakin's bare chest at night, still panting from their exertions. What it means does not matter.
Obi-Wan lowers his gaze. "Yes," he says. Every time they are surrounded by death now, their voices drowned out by the roar of ion cannons, Obi-Wan stays with Anakin at night. It is pleasing to know Obi-Wan desires Anakin's touch. It is a relief to know Obi-Wan desires at all.
Anakin kisses Obi-Wan's fingertips, drawing them into his mouth for just a moment, to promise more for when they are alone. Then he lets Obi-Wan go. Obi-Wan's cheeks flame red, and he settles back on the bench across from Anakin, his gaze fixed on the floor. He folds his hands on his lap, pale skin stark against the dark brown. There is a returned promise in the way Obi-Wan's hands slide across his robed thighs.
Anakin smiles and turns his face to the wind, listening to the sound of Obi-Wan's breathing blend with the whirr of the gunship's engines. They will arrive at camp soon, and when they retire to Anakin's shelltent, Anakin will take Obi-Wan's hands in his again and make their promises reality.
The smell of smoke still hangs in the air, even though they have left the battlefield far behind.