It was a quiet day in Coruscant, which was strange since the planet was always bustling with speeders, senators, and people who were running late. Even the Senate building was quiet, no debates or meetings were taking place. There were some senators in their offices, catching up on some last minute work. The Jedi Temple was silent, with the occasional soft laughter of a few younglings. Masters and padawans walked through the halls, either going to their quarters or training rooms. It was quiet everywhere, the usual sounds of Coruscant muffled.
The sun was starting to set, bathing the city in soft pinks, oranges, and yellows. The sky was cloudless, the first twinklings of stars peeking out. The moon was barely present, but you could see the faint outline of the crescent in the darkening sky. The glare of the sunset bounced off the skyscrapers, but it just added to the beautiful scene. If you looked hard enough, you could see the faint worry lines permanently etched on the citizens' faces. For now, though, there was no war. No sound of distant gunshots, or rumbling of tanks. No cries of agony from clone soldiers, or corpses scattered about on the ground. No screams of kids as they wake up from nightmares. In fact, tonight was peaceful. It was perfect.
Everyone was enjoying the peace and quiet. Couples headed to restaurants or theaters, hand in hand. Friends talked and laughed, taking selfies and making jokes. It seemed like everybody was happy, even normally grumpy Jedi Masters were in a good mood. The Jedi Council had let every Jedi in the Temple have a day off. Some of them were meditating, some were training, and some were just talking with other Jedi. This day off prompted a certain young Jedi Knight to speed walk to his quarters, searching for his padawan. If they got one day to enjoy themselves, then he was going to force Ashoka and Obi-wan to spend the last hours of the day with him.
No one dared cross his path as his face was set into that of determination and his eyes never strayed from the direction he was going. Some of the younglings quieted they're talking as he walked by, assuming he was angry with someone. A few Jedi stopped short of waving to him when they saw his face. Anakin felt their judgemental gazes, but he didn't care. He was on an important mission and no one was going to stop him. After what seemed like hours to him, he walked into his quarters that he shared with Ashoka. He scanned the room until his eyes fell upon his padawan, who was currently reading something on her datapad. Her eyes flicked upwards at the force presence of her master.
"Hey master," she smiled, "did you hear the news? Apparently, the Jedi Council has-"
"I know," he cut her off, "they've given us a break. I also have some news."
Ashoka suddenly looked concerned, "did something happen?"
Anakin paused for dramatic effect, "I was thinking. Since we have a day off we should do something. Not just you and I, but also Obi-wan too. No matter what he says I'm dragging him into this. He needs a vacation anyway."
Ashoka put down her datapad, "okay well...what do you want to do, master?" she asked with some suspicion in her voice. Usually her master's plans ended in a ship crashing. Otherwise known as, disaster. She almost didn't want to hear the plan he had come up with.
"Before you protest," Anakin said, "hear me out. As I was thinking about this, I got a surprise call from Senator Amidala."
Ashoka almost rolled her eyes then. She knew he deeply cared about Padme, more than just a friendship. It was obvious something was going on between them, but Ashoka never mentioned it to him. Of course he would jump at any opportunity to help the senator.
"She has invited Obi-wan, you, and I for dinner at her place," Anakin paused again, "we wouldn't want to pass up on an invitation from a senator now would we?" He said it jokingly, but Ashoka could feel him begging her through their force bond.
It was true, she didn't want to pass up the offer. She also knew that he didn't get a surprise call from Padme. They had probably planned this together, so it was really an offer from her master as well. She could use the break and besides, Padme was her friend. She would gladly head over to her apartment to visit her. It would be much harder to convince Master Kenobi, but she was up for the challenge.
"I would love to visit her, master," she said enthusiastically, "let's go find Master Kenobi and tell him the news."
Anakin grinned at her and they both started walking to Obi-wan's quarters. "How are we going to convince him to come with us?" Ashoka looked up at her master.
The Jedi Knight just shrugged, "we'll just have to wing it. I'll think of something." Ashoka rolled her eyes at her master's antics. It seemed like he had been doing an awful lot of 'winging it' lately. Soon they came to Obi-wan's quarters and Anakin knocked on the door. "Come in!" they heard the Jedi's muffled voice call out.
Master and padawan entered and they found Obi-wan sitting on his bed reading something on his datapad. He looked up at the sound of footsteps entering his chambers. "Anakin, Ashoka what brings you two here?" he asked with a smile.
"Well master," Anakin started, "as you know today everyone has a day off."
"If you're asking me to participate in one of those pranks on Rex again," Obi-wan lifted an eyebrow, "think again. I won't want to make the Captain miserable."
Anakin smirked at the mention of that event, "I promise that's not what we're doing. This is something you'll probably like."
"Oh I doubt that," Obi-wan said teasingly.
"Would you just let me finish?!" Anakin frowned, "Anyway, as I was saying we have a day off. I was thinking we could do something relaxing today. Then what do you know, Senator Amidala calls me to invite the three of us to dinner at her place. What could be better than that? A quiet evening with the Senator complete with food and maybe a holovid to top it all off. Doesn't that sound inviting?"
"It does sound tempting." Anakin and Ashoka looked at each other in triumph. "Unfortunately," Obi-wan said, "I have some work to do. You two can go have fun though." He smiled at them and returned to his datapad. However, Anakin Skywalker would not back down easily. Many people would have just given up right then, but not the Chosen One.
"Now listen here Obi-wan," he said firmly, "You might outrank me, but that doesn't mean I can't boss you around for once. You need to relax or else you're going to get sick. There is such a thing as overworking yourself you know. Now, Padme invited all of us to dinner and I can't just show up with two people. She'll be disappointed!"
Ashoka almost gawked at how her master was speaking to a Jedi Master, but she didn't try to protest. It was true Obi-wan needed to relax once in a while. Hopefully, Anakin could get him to listen. "Anakin you know very well we're at war here," Obi-wan put down his datapad slowly. "We have to work even if it's a day off!"
"No, the Council ordered us to relax! There's no threat from the Separatists and no one is leading an attack anywhere. If the Jedi Council thinks there's no reason to be worried then I think we're in the clear." Anakin and Obi-wan were now face to face, neither one backing down.
"But Anakin-"
"No buts," Anakin said with the tone of a mother scolding a child, "you're coming and that's final." Anakin poked a finger in his friend's side, right above his ribs. It was almost too quiet to hear, but Obi-wan made a small strangling sound like he was trying to hold back laughter. They all fell silent, staring at Obi-wan like he had grown two heads. "What was that?" Anakin asked curiously.
"I didn't hear anything," Obi-wan said innocently, trying to look anywhere but at Anakin.
"Was that you?" Anakin narrowed his eyes at him and when he got no answer, it confirmed his suspicions. Quickly, he shot two fingers out and wiggled his fingers in between Obi-wan's ribs. As a result, an inhuman squeal came from the Jedi Master's mouth. He sidestepped away from Anakin and held out his hands in front of him as a last ditch effort to protect himself. Ashoka could not believe that Obi-wan Kenobi could make a sound like that. She glanced at Anakin and snickered, "Ashoka please guard the door." Anakin didn't want his master to escape. Where was the fun in that?
"Now Anakin, there's no reason we can't be civilized about this. How about a deal, or a trade of some kind?" Oh no, there was no way Obi-wan could wriggle his way out of this one and he knew it. "I'll give you your favorite dessert, or I'll let you do all the pranks you want on me and Rex!" Obi-wan desperately tried to reason with his best friend, all while he was backing up slowly.
"I won't tickle you if you agree to go to dinner with us," Anakin smirked. He was going to tickle Obi-wan anyway, even if he agreed with the deal. However, Obi-wan paused and grit his teeth.
"Anakin," he said in an almost pleading tone, "I have important work to do and you know it! I have to focus or else-" apparently that was the wrong thing to say because the next thing Obi-wan knew, Anakin was lunging for him. Before he could escape, Anakin trapped him with the force and held his arms by his sides. "No Anakin!" Obi-wan yelled, "please have mercy!"
"You asked for it!" Anakin chuckled and pushed a struggling Obi-wan Kenobi down on his bed and began wiggling his fingers up and down his ribs. As a hilarious result, the great (seemingly emotionless) Jedi Master was howling and squealing with laughter. Ashoka had never seen her grandmaster act like this and she was absolutely loving it. If she had a camera, she would've recorded every minute of it.
"Do you want to go to Padme's now?!" Anakin shouted with a smile, enjoying torturing his master.
"N-Never!" Obi-wan said between laughs.
"Wrong answer!" He went back to tickling Obi-wan, this time in between his ribs and on his stomach. Obi-wan squirmed and kicked his legs violently to try to escape, but it was no use. He laughed even harder, much to his embarrassment. His face was bright red and tears were pouring out of his blue-grey eyes. Eventually, Obi-wan couldn't handle it anymore.
"A-Alright...I-I-I'll g-go! Just g-g-get off m-me!" Obi-wan shouted in between bouts of giggles and squeals.
"Look at that, all you had to do was say so," Anakin grinned and got off of his best friend. Obi-wan sprang up from the bed and dusted himself off in an orderly fashion. He fixed his beard and bangs and rubbed the tears away. Then, he cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak. If looks could kill, Anakin would be dead and in the grave right now.
"Anakin Skywalker, don't you dare pull a stunt like that again or else I will get my revenge!" Obi-wan pointed a finger at him, but Anakin just smirked.
"I thought revenge wasn't the Jedi way," Anakin ducked when Obi-wan playfully tried to swat him. Even though he was scolding Anakin, he had a wide smile on his face. Ashoka chose this moment to interrupt.
"Pardon the interruption masters," Ashoka said, "but if we want to meet Senator Amidala, we better leave now or else we're going to be late."
"Ashoka's right, we don't want to keep the Senator waiting," Obi-wan threw one last glare at Anakin and walked out the door with his hands behind his back. Ashoka and Anakin glanced at each other and then followed the Jedi Master out of the door. In the end, the night was a complete success. Their meal was fantastic and the holovid they watched was full of action, comedy, and romance. It turns out, Anakin had been right all along. Having a relaxing evening was just what Obi-wan needed, even if Anakin had to resort to tickling to get him to go.