author:Hyyp Chick
Pairing:Obi/Ani
Rating:12
Disclaimer:I don't own them, George Lucas does
Obi-wan had had another long day in session with the council. Exhausted, he was heading back to his quarters with every intention of putting his feet up and falling asleep on the couch listening to something serene and pleasant fill the air of the lonely space.
As is the Temple way, Anakin had moved out upon his knighthood. Obi-wan missed his whirlwind of a presence and nearly a year down the line, he had found nothing to fill the void. The boy was a fireball of emotion and every night welcomed a drama of some sort or another. But since his departure the apartment had seemed so…empty. Lifeless.
That's why Obi-wan had begun to look forward to off world missions. It meant living out of Anakin's pocket again and that's just where he wanted to be. No longer the Master, Anakin no longer the Padawan, they were equals, friends, comrades, brothers in arms.
Back on Coruscant one would be hard pushed to track Anakin down. He was rarely in the Temple, except for when he had to be. But Obi-wan knew where he went. He had learned Anakin's deepest secret after rifling through his things on an assignment once. He had been desperate for just a molecule of chocolate, it had been so long since they'd been in the company of creatures that knew what chocolate was, and Anakin would have undoubtedly packed a whole factory of the stuff, and that's when he had found a love letter from her, and an attached holograph.
Obi-wan had never mentioned anything to Anakin about it, he should never have been going through his things without asking, but he felt oddly morose about it. He couldn't place the twinge of emotion that knotted around all his vital organs, and made him want to put the little tramp into a cruiser and send her sorry ass back to Naboo, but there was definitely something there. And he had a feeling it had nothing to do with the Jedi code.
As he approached his quarters, with the door in sight, his stomach lurched forward suddenly and without warning, sending his heart bouncing into his throat to cut off the oxygen trickling its way down his windpipe. He stood still for a moment to regain his composure, and work out what awful thing could have caused him such an affliction.
Then the Force whacked him like a speeder crash upside his head and the little light bulb flickered into being. Anakin was inside the apartment. Obi-wan stood in the corridor trying to figure out what Anakin could possibly want from him at this time of night, when she had everything he wanted, but as a smile threatened to betray him he thought he'd better just go in and ask.
He was all ready for the jovial welcome and cocky, dry banter that would follow it but as he entered the room a projection of nausea and fever washed over him so completely that he gagged himself. Anakin was sick.
Obi-wan quickly hung his cloak inside the door and rushed into the common room to see Anakin sprawled across his couch, matted sweat soaked curls clinging to his obviously over-heated skin, cocooned in a thick blanket, nose raw and red, and lips pursed sucking in dry, shallow breaths. His body shook with the effort of a laboured cough as Obi-wan entered the room.
"Obi-wan" Anakin whispered in a relieved and appreciative tone. His voice rasp and coarse.
"Anakin, whatever is wrong?" Obi-wan asked, a concerned furrow across his brow.
He crossed the short distance to the couch and knelt by its side, placing the back of his hand to Anakin's perspiring temple to check his temperature.
"I'm dying" He whined in a desperate tone, pleading for Obi-wan's sympathy with groggy but deeply beautiful blue eyes.
Obi-wan wiped the back of his hand off on the upholstery of the couch and looked at Anakin dubiously with his 'I know what's coming next' look.
"Dying? Is that what the healers said?" He asked sardonically.
Anakin closed his mouth and dropped his eyes in a resigned fashion.
"Well not exactly, but what do they know?" He huffed indignantly.
"That you've got a cold?" Obi-wan quipped sarcastically.
Anakin didn't reply he just looked up with those eyes and forced a shiver down his spine. Obi-wan sighed with a smile.
"Why haven't you just gone home and tucked yourself into bed?" He questioned, watching the pathetic life form cough and splutter all over his apartment.
"Because no-one likes to tuck themselves into bed, and nobody takes better care of me than you. Remember when I was little and I got sick from the change in weather, and when I caught that insufferably itchy pox, and when I lost my arm, and.."
"okay, okay, I get the message. I'll go and heat some water to make you my special brew, you need to take some layers off, you're over-heating." He demanded.
Obi-wan went through to the kitchen shaking his head. Anakin had always been a terrible patient, he was always dying from his symptoms, but he was also a greatly appreciative one, and Obi-wan allowed himself a smug grin. She may be able to please him in the bedroom but he'd still come home when he'd got sick. She couldn't care for him like Obi-wan could. She wouldn't tend to his needs and make him hot sweet drinks when he felt poorly. Obi-wan would always make time to get Anakin well.
He re-entered the common room and found that Anakin had made an untidy pile of Jedi robes on the floor by the side of the couch, atop the blanket he had first discarded. His boots seemed to be a parsec apart at either end of the room. He'd obviously kicked them off. Now the boy lay in only his leggings, his toes curling in the open air and his body cringing from the drop in temperature.
Obi-wan placed the drink on the small table and went off to the fresher. He returned moments later with a small wet towel. He lifted Anakin's head and sat under it, placing it, and the sticky mop of hair in his lap. He passed the mug to his former Padawan and proceeded to brush his locks back lightly with his fingers and run the cold compress across his brow to still his fever, just like he had when Anakin had been a child.
But Anakin was no longer a child, and the heaving chest just inches from his hands, and very much in his eye line were a not so gentle reminder of that. And all he kept hearing in his head was 'she wouldn't just sit there and mop his brow', 'she wouldn't waste her time trying to get him better'. Anakin's childlike smile let Obi-wan know that his actions were soothing and welcomed.
Anakin sipped on the drink and a deep gargled noise escaped his throat. He closed his eyes shut and breathed in the intoxicating aroma.
"Still dying?" Obi-wan asked with a mocking tone.
Anakin beamed up at him all smiles and teeth and eyes and snuggled into his Master's lap, closer to his stomach, by way of an answer. Obi-wan cleared his throat and turned the compress over.
Obi-wan hadn't noticed it before but the fingers of his free hand were still trailing through the boys sodden tussles, curling the strands around his fingertips and grazing his nails gently down the scalp. He swallowed, and then noticed that Anakin was shivering. Obi-wan smiled lovingly remembering how he had felt the first time he had provided comfort for the scared child from Tatooine. Ill at ease with him previously he had been forced to take care of him as he screamed in pain and anguish, as he threw up constantly, and Obi-wan had learned that water eased him. He looked over Anakin now and ran his thumb down the soft outline of his face.
"You should take a shower Anakin, you would feel better" Obi-wan stated in a soothing voice.
"I don't think I could stand" Anakin croaked back hoarsely.
"Then I'll run you a bath" Obi-wan offered, moving Anakin's head carefully so he could stand. He placed a cushion underneath it before laying it back down.
"Don't be long" Anakin whined at the loss of contact.
Obi-wan placed a plug into the bath tub and turned the taps on full blast to run a cool bath. As he perched on the edge waiting for it to fill he found himself chanting the Jedi code as a mantra in his head.
"Get a grip, Obi-wan" He said to himself "You're just feeling sorry for him, he's like your brother, you don't want him to be sick that's all"
Before Obi-wan had finished running the water Anakin had managed to drag himself into the bathroom, teeth chattering and long arms wrapped around his shivering torso. His nose was dripping gunk and Obi-wan instinctively got a tissue and wiped it for him. He felt suddenly foolish when he remembered that Anakin was actually a grown man, but Anakin's soft features appreciated the gesture.
"I'll um, leave you to it" Obi-wan mumbled, flustered by Anakin starting immediately to peel the sweat soaked leggings from his skin. Anakin climbed into the warm water, and after watching him dip his head under Obi-wan left, bottom lip worrying his teeth nearly to blood.
He went back to the common room and began to tidy up after his little whirlwind. Swirling the mug clean in the kitchen and placing it back in its spot, neatly folding Anakin's utility belt and resting it tidily on the table, and gathering up the clothes that oozed of sickness to dump them in the laundry bin in his bedroom.
He sat down at the dresser table and looked at himself in the mirror, disgusted by what greeted him. Obi-wan was a bad Jedi with bad Jedi thoughts.
"You're a dirty old man Kenobi" He sighed, practically spitting at his reflection.
Half an hour later Anakin entered the room wrapped in Obi-wan's bath robe. His wet hair had curled even more and darkened with the saturation, his eyes however finally held the glint that drew people into their wickedness.
"Feel better?" Obi-wan asked, his tone suggesting that he should.
Anakin nodded and ran his hand luxuriously through his locks.
"A bit, but my body feels like I'm stuck in a trash compactor, and my head feels like someone's blown a small planet up in it" He moaned.
"I'll get you some tablets, they'll stop your head from hurting and they'll make you sleep." Obi-wan offered. "You can spend the night here if you wish."
Obi-wan hurried out of the room to retrieve the magic cure. He returned with pills and water to find that Anakin had dumped the bath robe on the floor and had settled himself nicely under Obi-wan's sheets. Obi-wan smiled weakly and passed the boy the tablets. Anakin took his time in taking them and Obi-wan stared licentiously at his adam's apple as he swallowed. Anakin passed the glass back and Obi-wan received it with a shaky grasp.
"Thanks, Obi-wan" Anakin murmured in a husky growl, turning onto his side and letting his hair fall into his eyes.
Obi-wan kneeled to the side of the bed and brushed the stray strands back behind his ear. Stroking it flat he lurched forward and planted a platonic kiss to the poorly boy's forehead.
"I hope you feel better in the morning" He soothed, using all of his will to leave Anakin alone for the night.
Closing the bedroom door behind him he strode over to the couch and flopped down on it releasing a long sad breath.
"I hope you feel better in the morning, my love."