Splashing water over his face, Obi-Wan raised his head so as to see his reflection in the mirror before him. As one of the few remaining Jedi, Obi-Wan had known that he could not simply stride about in public if he wanted to continue surviving. So Cody had found them a room in one of the less reputable inns that charged by the hour. They wouldn't be staying long, only long enough for Obi-Wan to shave off his trademark beard and trim his hair to a length it hadn't been since he was a padawan. His Jedi robes were also exchanged for plain civilian clothes. Black leather trousers and a brown tunic, the shades far darker than any he would have worn only a few short days before.
Obi-Wan felt very strange in the new clothing. Even more so because it was a blaster strapped to his belt and not a lightsaber. However nothing was so surreal as the fact that Anakin had aligned himself with the Sith. The man he trusted with his life, his best friend, had become everything they'd fought to destroy.
"There has to be a reason," Obi-Wan murmured, leaning back in his chair and rubbing a hand over his now-smooth jaw.
He couldn't believe that Anakin would fall for no reason. There had to have been something that happened since he'd left Coruscant. Anakin had been worried about him, but that couldn't be a reason for what had happened. Anakin wouldn't abandon everything he believed in because of him.
Obi-Wan had no idea what to make of the kiss. He'd known that Anakin had been under a great deal of stress lately, but hadn't thought it would manifest itself in such a way. Obi-Wan would have been lying if he'd said that he hadn't noticed what an attractive man Anakin had become. He would have needed to be blind not to notice. It was not reacting to it that Obi-Wan had always struggled for. He had to constantly remind himself that he had been a father figure to Anakin; that he'd raised the younger man since he was nine.
Except that now Anakin had kissed him in a way that was far from chaste.
So it wasn't entirely a surprise when Anakin appeared at his doorway that night when he was preparing for bed. Giving himself a moment to ensure his own calm, Obi-Wan pulled down the blankets before turning around. He was the master, it was up to him to be the rational one.
"There's no need for you to be nervous around me," Obi-Wan assured him, turning the lamp up another notch in hopes that more light would ease Anakin's mind.
"I came to apologize," Anakin murmured, ducking his head down.
Obi-Wan smiled softly, crossing his arms over his bare chest. "If you feel that you must apologize, so be it. I will gladly accept it if it will ease your conscience. However, if you give it because you think you must..."
Anakin remained silent, tugging lightly on his padawan braid. Even if Obi-Wan hadn't been able to sense how uneasy Anakin was, his posture made it quite obvious. After noticing a particularly hard yank, Obi-Wan crossed the room and carefully pried Anakin's fingers from the dark blonde braid.
"I know you're desperate to have it gone, but there's no need to pull it out by the roots," Obi-Wan chided, his smile never wavering. "Soon enough you'll be knighted and you can cut it off properly."
"Would you be the one to cut it off?" Anakin asked, finally lifting his gaze to meet Obi-Wan's.
"I would be honoured, Anakin."
With that simple declaration Anakin relaxed considerably. He bowed his head forward, his chin resting against Obi-Wan's cheek. In years past, before Anakin's final growth spurt, the position would have left him with his forehead against Obi-Wan's chin. Sighing, Obi-Wan lifted his arms, winding them around Anakin's middle. He couldn't help but smile when Anakin returned the embrace.
And even though his lips were so very close to Anakin's, Obi-Wan refrained from initiating a second kiss. Regardless of the fact that Anakin was to take his trials soon, for the time being Obi-Wan was still his master. He was still Anakin's guardian and it didn't feel right to take advantage of that.
Jedi or not, he was still a man, and could not resist when Anakin's lips brushed against his in the briefest of kisses. A kiss that grew when Anakin realized that he wasn't going to protest.
Obi-Wan was pulled from his thoughts by Cody's return to their small room. He spared the clone a brief nod, his mind still turned mostly inward, trying to figure out what was going on in Anakin's mind. Obi-Wan had tried reaching out to them through their still surprisingly strong training bond only to find himself stumbling over mental barriers. There was simply too much darkness clouding Anakin's mind.
"What happened to Grievous?" Obi-Wan asked sudden, turning about in his chair until his eyes locked on Cody who was going through one of the packs of supplies they'd procured earlier.
"Grievous was ordered to stay on Utapau and continue commanding the droid army from there," Cody said automatically.
"Sidious wants Anakin to kill him," Obi-Wan corrected, easily reading the truth behind the order. "If he's still playing at being Palpatine he'll use the death of Grievous to bring the Separatist army under his command. He'll have control of the whole galaxy which has likely been his goal all along."
"And General Skywalker?"
Frowning, Obi-Wan scrubbed a hand over his forehead. "Anakin will legitimate his new position to the people. After all, if the Hero with No Fear follows the galaxy's new emperor…."
"What do you mean to do? The Jedi have been declared enemies of the Republic," Cody pointed out as he zipped up the first of the two packs.
"I'm going to Utapau. I have to see Anakin."
The sight of the solitary hyperspace booster hanging in orbit above Utapau's atmosphere caused Anakin's heart to clench. It was one of the many hyperspace boosters that had surrounded Coruscant for the use of both the Jedi and lately the clone army.
It was the one Obi-Wan had used.
Even though there was no markings that would distinctively mark it as being Obi-Wan's, Anakin knew that it was the one his lover had used to bring him to his death. For several long minutes Anakin remained hovering in place, staring at the ringed structure. It was surreal to see it there knowing that Obi-Wan's starship would be flying back to Coruscant attached to it.
Artoo's twittering pulled Anakin from his thoughts. Blinking a few times, Anakin once again turned his attention to the console. He locked onto the tracking signal from Obi-Wan's starfighter and began his descent into Utapau's atmosphere.
Anakin's whole body relaxed when he realized that Obi-Wan wasn't going to shove him away. Even so, he still pulled back from the kiss, meeting Obi-Wan's eyes to make sure he wasn't trying to hide something. No matter how many times Obi-Wan had tried to hide things from him over the past eleven years, Anakin had always been able to tell if Obi-Wan was lying just by looking in his eyes.
Once again, Obi-Wan's eyes told him the truth.
Obi-Wan loved him.
Despite his best efforts, Anakin could stop the smile that spread across his lips. He hugged Obi-Wan to him tightly, his face pressed against the other man's throat and finally allowed himself to react to the fact that Obi-Wan was safe and back with him.
He peppered kisses against Obi-Wan's neck, the kisses salty from his own tears. Obi-Wan's hands, meanwhile, were ghosting along his sides, tracing patterns that made Anakin shiver. As Anakin began to move his lips along Obi-Wan's throat up to his jaw, briefly nuzzling the underside before jumping his lips over the beard to the smooth flesh above. Obi-Wan twisted his head, initiating the second kiss.
Anakin shook his head, banishing the memories as best he could. Fond as the memory had always been, Anakin couldn't risk being sentimental then. He had to concentrate if he was going to kill Grievous. Because he wouldn't have Obi-Wan to watch his back. Leaning back in his seat, Anakin exhaled loudly, doing what he could to center himself. He had to be fully in control because if he let his anger take over there was a chance that Grievous would get away.
While normally Anakin would have found the beeping from the transmitter to be utterly annoying, but that day it was what he focused on. Anakin timed his breathing with the transmitter's signal. While it was still frustrating, it gave him something to focus on.
"Are you sure about this?" Obi-Wan murmured, cupping Anakin's face between his palms. "Completely sure, Anakin?"
Anakin didn't even hesitate before nodding his head. "I'm sure."
For all the times Anakin had teased Obi-Wan that the beard made him look old, in that moment Obi-Wan looked younger than he could ever remember. In that moment all of his cares seemed to have faded away leaving him worry-free for the first time Anakin could ever recall. It takes Anakin a moment to realize that it is Obi-Wan's wide, unhindered smile that makes him look so carefree then. For as long as Anakin had known him, Obi-Wan had always been the one taking care of things.
Taking a step back, Anakin held Obi-Wan's gaze as he stripped off the single tunic he'd been wearing that night. Then, with only a brief second of hesitation, he unfastened the drawstring on his loose trousers and let them fall to the ground. He became slightly uneasy when Obi-Wan only stared at him. Anakin feared the other man was having second thoughts.
Until Obi-Wan took a half-step forward and unfastened his own trousers.
The two of them had seen each other naked many times over the years, but it shocked Anakin just how different it felt knowing what was to come. Even though he still had a padawan braid, it was almost as though he and Obi-Wan were on equal terms for the first time.
There was an increase in the frequency of the transmitter told Anakin that they were getting close to the particular sinkhole that Grievous was hiding in. Or at least the one where Obi-Wan's ship was. Given Utapau's terrain, even if Grievous was no longer in the same spot, it wouldn't be very difficult to track the cyborg general down. Anakin would follow Grievous to the far reaches of the galaxy and into uncharted space if it meant avenging Obi-Wan.
"You will leave your ship with us and return home," Obi-Wan murmured, his eyes fixed on the smuggler seated on the barstool next to him.
"I will leave my ship with you and return home," the Corellian smuggler echoed.
"You will forget that you ever owned a ship called the Millennium Falcon."
"I will forget that I ever owned a ship called the Millennium Falcon."
Confident that there would be no trouble, Obi-Wan ordered another drink for the former smuggler then left the bar. He met Cody outside who, like him, was dressed in civilian clothes. While there were clone troopers stationed all about the spaceport, they had decided it was best that Cody be disguised as much as possible. A worn scarf covered the bulk of his features so that his identity was masked enough to pass a casual inspection.
"We have a ship, Cody," Obi-Wan informed the clone, not pausing as he strode towards the hanger where he'd been told the Millennium Falcon was docked. "We need to get to Utapau before Anakin gets himself killed."
"You mean to help General Skywalker even though he has abandoned the Jedi?" Cody asked, genuinely perplexed.
"Something happened while we were on Utapau," Obi-Wan insisted, his eyes never wavering from the path before them. "I will not believe that Anakin gave into the Dark Side so easily."
It was something that Obi-Wan had to believe. He would surely lose his mind if it was proven that Anakin had willingly chosen to side with Sidious, a man responsible for the death of so many Jedi including Obi-Wan's own fallen Master. Anakin had always been just as eager to destroy the Sith as he had.
"Palpatine must have played on Anakin's weakness," Obi-Wan rationalized, nodding his head briefly.
Kneeling in the center of the bed, Obi-Wan and Anakin faced each other as they gently explored one another's bodies with their fingertips, lips and tongues. Every so often their bodies would brush, causing both to shiver. Obi-Wan was surprised that he could even notice the shivers over the constant trembling of their bodies.
Obi-Wan lifted his right hand to cup Anakin's cheek, drawing the younger man's lips towards his own. Without even being aware of it at first, Obi-Wan's left hand moved to grip Anakin's hip, his thumb lightly stroking the ridge where hip met torso. Then both of Anakin's hands were framing his cheeks.
Both men gasped when their erections brushed together. Pale blue-grey eyes met startling blue ones as Obi-Wan and Anakin stared at each other, panting. Very slowly, Obi-Wan's left hand followed the line of Anakin's hip to his groin, cupping his balls briefly before gliding his palm over the heated shaft. He slid his hand up and down a few times before closing his fingers its girth.
The unintelligible sounds that spilled from Anakin's lips made Obi-Wan smile. It was so rare that he saw the younger man lose control like that. Still grinning, Obi-Wan leaned in to capture Anakin's lips once again. Only to gasp into Anakin's mouth when a hand wrapped around his own cock.
It was Anakin who drew away first, keeping a hold of Obi-Wan's erection as he leaned back onto the rather narrow mattress. Anakin's rather firm grip left Obi-Wan with no choice but to follow, settling himself between Anakin's spread legs.
Obi-Wan gasped as Anakin's hips arched up. Both of their hands fell away then, allowing them to thrust against one another without worrying about hands getting in the way. Delicious as the friction was it was not quite enough so Obi-Wan wiggled his hands between their bodies once again, wrapping his fingers around both their shafts so that when they thrust they filled the same tight place. Until Obi-Wan's hips slipped back a bit too far and when he brought his hips forward the tip of his cock followed the curve of Anakin's balls down to that sensitive patch of skin before his hole.
Anakin cried out, his entire body stiffening as a sudden surge of precum spilled from his cockhead. While Obi-Wan struggled to get his own breathing under control, Anakin lay in a rather wanton sprawl, gasping for breath.
"Plea... please!" Anakin moaned, his thighs falling open further. "Obi-Wan, please. No more teasing."
Anakin's body was flushed with perspiration, chest heaving, and his bangs plastered to his forehead. Obi-Wan couldn't recall ever seeing such an intoxicating sight and it was all he could do to concentrate enough to call vial of ointment towards him with the Force. Obi-Wan hadn't planned for something like this and the only thing he could think of to use as a lubricant was the ointment that had been given to him to heal the injuries he'd received on Jabiim and Riflor that were too old for bacta to mend.
Obi-Wan toyed with the outer edges of Anakin's hole at first, giving the younger man a chance to pull away. Obi-Wan was not so far lost to his passion that he'd do anything Anakin didn't truly want. The thrust of Anakin's hips told him what he needed and he slipped his index finger past the tight ring of muscles and into a clenching suction. Very slowly and very thoroughly, Obi-Wan stretched Anakin with first one then two and finally three fingers until the blonde was whimpering and mewling with restrained need.
Finally, Obi-Wan could take it no longer and he removed his fingers, reaching once again for the vial so that he could coat his cock with the stuff. Leaning forward on his right elbow, Obi-Wan guided his shaft towards Anakin's hole with his left hand. Their eyes never wavered and when Obi-Wan's cockhead breached those tight muscles they both cried out.
It was almost like being swallowed into each other's minds. Their bond had always been rather strong, even by master/padawan standards, but in that moment it was as though a floodgate had opened and they slipped in and out of each other's consciousness with each breath. Even in their minds the pledges of love and devotion they exchanged were breathless, their bodies moving in a rhythm that came from many years of fighting side by side.
Anakin was the first to climax, reaching his only a few thrusts before Obi-Wan. He held Anakin's gaze for a few rather endless seconds before slumping into the younger man's arms. Obi-Wan hugged his sides, fingertips gliding over sweat-dampened skin, as Anakin's arms came around to hold him. The two men lay panting in a heap, Anakin's semen squishing between them. Uncomfortable as it would be later, neither of them had any plans to move in the immediate future.
At the moment Obi-Wan was far too relaxed to worry about the ramifications of what they'd just done. It didn't matter. Their bond was humming with love and contentment, and filled Obi-Wan with a sense of peace he hadn't felt in very many years. If ever.
"I know that Anakin would turn to the Dark Side unless he had no other options," Obi-Wan insisted, clutching at that one certainty with everything in him.
It was all that he had.
Anakin knew that it was only his imagination that was allowing him to feel a flicker along his bond with Obi-Wan. It was his own desperation that was creating the sensation because he knew that Obi-Wan was still dead. Breathing in deeply, Anakin pushed those feelings away, banishing them to the deepest recesses of his mind for the time being. Anakin needed every bit of his concentration then if he was going to stand a chance of defeating Grievous and avenging his fallen lover.
"I love you, Obi-Wan," Anakin whispered as he guided his ship towards the small docking bay on one of the lower levels of the sinkhole. "No matter what happens."
The Millennium Falcon was just leaving Corellia's atmosphere when Obi-Wan found his breath stolen from him as his bond with Anakin was severed. Seating in the co-pilot's seat, Obi-Wan hunched over so that his head touched the console, gasping for breath. It had been so long since he'd been without that bond that it felt as though a chunk of his very being had been hollowed out when it was severed.
"Anakin, no…." Obi-Wan moaned, squeezing his eyes shut tight against the pain of it.
"Boss? You all right?" Cody asked, his voice tinged with worry.
His body still bowed forward, Obi-Wan nodded his head. "Get us to Utapau. We need to be there now."
Stealing himself, Obi-Wan rose to his feet and sluggishly made his way towards the lounge further back in the ship. He slumped onto one of the benches, breathing deeply in hopes of centering himself. He had to find a way of function cut off from their bond.
"I love you, Anakin," Obi-Wan whispered as he composed himself to begin meditating. "No matter what happens."