Obi-Wan and the Completely Good, Wonderful, Very Happy Day

by Mercutio (mercutio@europa.com)

SUMMARY: Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon. Sexual situations. Romance, Other. Obi-Wan has a good day.

NOTES: All of my stories are available on my website (http://www.europa.com/~mercutio/Stories.html).

This story was inspired by Krychick, who wanted a happy story to read instead of angst. She would have been content with angst followed by happiness, but I felt the need to write a story in which absolutely nothing happens other than things going right. :)

ARCHIVE: Please. As often as possible and wherever you like.

Obi-Wan yawned, coming slowly up from his dreams.

Innate time sense told him that he was running right on schedule, just where he liked to be. He had the time to wake up gradually, as he preferred when his preferences could be indulged.

He pushed his hands out from under the covers, luxuriating in the feeling of stretching muscles, and sunlight against his skin.

The sunlight blanketed him with warmth not unlike that radiating from the cuddlesome warm form sleeping next to him.

If he hadn't had a smile before, he had one now.

Obi-Wan turned, looking at his love, Qui-Gon, sleeping quietly beside him. Yes, that was a wonderful sight to wake up to. Very inspiring.

With Qui-Gon's presence to look forward to, in training and ritual and meditation and meals, the coming day appeared very bright indeed.

He left the bed quietly, then, once outside the sleeping chamber, stopped resisting the urge to bounce. He needed a shower. Humming to himself, he made for the bathroom, content with his life.

The water falling over him was a great luxury. Sonics were the order of the day in space, and he and his master spent more time traveling than they did in any particular place. To be at home, at rest in the Jedi Temple, and under the pinpoint needling of real water was a joy indeed.

He stretched under the water as he had for the sun, letting the water discover all of him. The sheer pleasure of it delighted him, and he took the soap with a light heart and began washing up.

When he was done, he stepped out, and took the waiting towel to dry himself with. He felt exquisitely sensitive today to texture and sound and light -- the rough nap of the towel invigorated his skin, finishing the waking process and leaving him energized.

After he dressed, he checked on Qui-Gon. His master was just beginning to stir, and Obi-Wan left to collect their breakfast from the dining hall. Whenever possible, they took breakfast alone together. There often was little time in the duties of a negotiator for themselves, even the little precious time needed to communicate important mission information. But no matter where they were or how late they'd gone to bed, both men arose early, and that earliness gave them time together.

Time Obi-Wan cherished. The trivial exercise of the walk to the dining hall got the oxygen racing in his system. The spring of his step only added to his light-headedness.

The dining hall was still and quiet at this early hour. Not many of the Jedi rose this early, and those who did appreciated the morning time as he did. The cool hushed chamber made him take deeper breaths, as though to inhale all of the freedom and serenity he could feel in this place.

After selecting their breakfast tray carefully, Obi-Wan made his way back to their shared quarters. Once upon a time, he'd had his own room. But he had wanted to be close to Qui-Gon and Qui-Gon had wanted him close. Obi-Wan shook his head slightly. To be wanted -- to know all the way through that you were loved and needed, and that you always had a place -- that was the essence of emotional security, and Qui-Gon had given it to him early on, perhaps sensing how much Obi-Wan had needed it. For he had. Life as a student had left him with doubts and insecurities that he had not been able to conquer on his own, not even with the memory of his loving family.

No longer.

He had Qui-Gon, and he knew every moment, every heartbeat that he was loved.

He would have had to use Jedi controls to suppress his smile, and Obi-Wan did not bother. The expression warmed him from the heart out to his extremities.

He maneuvered through the door to their quarters, using pure physical skill to manage it and the tray. He could have used the Force, but there was something pleasing about being able to do it with sheer dexterity.

Obi-Wan let the door close behind him, and set the tray on the table.

Nonsensically, for no reason at all, he made a formal bow to the table, the one he'd practiced most recently, that of an unbonded male, of the rank of warlord -- a curious rank for a Jedi to be assigned, but considerably better than, say, 'head eunuch'. The flourishes came easily to him, as did the deep obeisance.

"Very good," a voice said from behind him. "You've mastered that."

If his smile had touched his lips before, it now touched his eyes, his torso, and his limbs as well. He turned to Qui-Gon. "Good morning, master. I trust you slept well."

"I slept very well, padawan."

Qui-Gon padded toward Obi-Wan. His master was dressed for the morning, not for the day, in his light sleeping trousers and a midweight outer cloak. His chest was bare underneath it, as were his feet.

"I slept well also."

"Good."

Qui-Gon stopped directly in front of him, then opened his arms.

Obi-Wan dived within their circle, face nuzzling against Qui-Gon's chest. He had never gotten enough of the affection his master offered so easily. He rubbed his head back and forth against that broad chest, enjoying the feel of the soft skin beneath his cheek.

Qui-Gon's arms enclosed him, and he was held the way he liked best to be held, cloak enfolded around him, hidden from the rest of the world. He felt safe and infinitely precious when held like this, as though Qui-Gon would protect him from anything that might harm him.

And Qui-Gon would. Anything his padawan could not handle, Qui-Gon would be there to assist and advise.

Obi-Wan was safe. Profoundly safe.

"I love you," he said quietly, then looked up, smiling with all of the joy and welcome in his heart. "I love you."

Hands came down to cup his cheeks. "As I do you, my Obi-Wan."

And then lips were on his, touching, tasting, and in the end, claiming.

He belonged to Qui-Gon. And the Jedi master belonged to him.

"Your breakfast is getting cold," Obi-Wan teased as he nuzzled Qui-Gon's face in between kisses.

"So it is."

His master showed no signs of stopping, and Obi-Wan giggled, feeling like a small child again with the mildness of his master's tone and the knowledge that they were breaking routine in this small way. "Are you sure you don't want to eat it? I picked it out myself."

"If we let it become cold, then eating it in that state will be an excellent lesson in surviving under inhospitable conditions."

Obi-Wan laughed at the teasing glint in Qui-Gon's eyes. "Must we have lessons even at breakfast?"

Qui-Gon drew back, one finger pressed to his chin, as if to consider. Then he pulled Obi-Wan close, giving him another long kiss. "Yes. At least at breakfast, I know where to find you."

Obi-Wan grinned, but when Qui-Gon released him, he went straight to the table. Teasing was all well and proper, but they did have tasks to do today. And Obi-Wan looked forward to that work as much as he looked forward to the sensual teasing he received in his master's arms.

"Shall I make a point of hiding at mealtimes?" Obi-Wan asked as he began peeling his fruit. "I know a number of very good hiding palaces on the Academy grounds."

"As do I," Qui-Gon said, tone full of his own happiness. "In fact, I think I know the hiding places better than you do, padawan."

"How is that?"

"Not only was a I child here, but I have had three padawans. I am much experienced at the art of locating missing persons."

The grave tone in which Qui-Gon pronounced those words did not match with the dimpled cheek and hint of a smile. Obi-Wan grinned openly.

They finished their breakfast and set themselves to meditation, side by side.

Obi-Wan found his still center easily this morning. His happiness washed through him, and with it came a sense of the galaxy being completely in balance, all truths known, everything accepted, even if it could not all be understood. He was one with something greater than himself, and Obi-Wan was only too happy to abandon himself to that swirling fountain of joy, that coil of peace and emotion and passion and life that was the essence of the Force.

He felt exalted when they came out of their meditative trances. Fed on happiness, and full to bursting with it. It felt like everything would go right today, as if even the worst catastrophe would only be as a leaf falling in the center of a garden. A necessary, right action, and the dying leaf as beautiful as the blooming flower.

After the meditation, Qui-Gon went to dress and shower as Obi-Wan cleared away the remains of breakfast. Then came a part of the day that Obi-Wan truly loved -- physical exercises designed to hone his mastery of the living Force, teaching him to tap the energy inside him even as he walked, or fought or danced. There were other, more intimate, lessons to be had in the subject, ones that he also enjoyed, but never in public. Obi-Wan was content with that, and eternally fixated on bettering himself, for becoming more one with the Force was like coming closer and closer to Qui-Gon -- the always bearable heat of the one sun that centered the universe. His sun.

They trained together this day, instead of Obi-Wan training separately while Qui-Gon critiqued, or Obi-Wan bouting with another partner. He would have done any of those things with a glad heart, but he felt most alive in his encounters with Qui-Gon.

Those encounters were not battle, not war or imitations of war, but instead the rhythms of the closest dance, a point they reached where they were no longer two, but one, the closest thing to wholeness they ever achieved even in bed where they touched this moment for fleeting seconds only.

He stretched his muscles, then waited for Qui-Gon's signal, unknowing which kata or form they might practice, and both ready and not-waiting all at once.

Qui-Gon did not say the name of the kata, but Obi-Wan grinned as he recognized it. Not from the steps -- the first few were interchangeable, and often similar between work-outs. But the energy between them spoke clearly, and Obi-Wan listened. Qui-Gon was honoring him with a truly difficult exercise this morning.

Obi-Wan did not think about doing his master proud. Did not concern himself with being right or thoughts of failure. Instead, his mind turned to that energy, to what they would create between them, and he gave himself up to it with a will, immersing himself as fully as he could in the finest kind of dance he knew.

After their exercise, they parted ways for a time. Obi-Wan knew that his master experienced the aftereffects of their workouts more strongly than he did, and wished that he could be part of his master's healing routine. Perhaps someday. For now, another hot shower, renewed stretching, and a hearty meal cured all of his own aches and would-be pains. He pressed himself harder and harder each time he and Qui-Gon passed blades. Not to rival his master, but to be with him. To match him well enough to blend with him in the circle of the Force.

This must be what is meant by 'There is no death, there is the Force,' he thought. When he and Qui-Gon were that close... nothing mattered. Nothing at all.

Even now, sitting in the dining hall, surrounded by the midday noise, he could feel echoes from Qui-Gon, from places where they had twisted too tightly together in the exercise, and only time would return them completely to themselves.

Obi-Wan had no objections to fading into his master forever.

He met Qui-Gon in their rooms after the noon meal. This was the time usually reserved for their diplomatic work when they were on a mission. No matter what hours a culture might keep, only the truly nocturnal did not make use of the afternoon hours. It was their custom, on Coruscant, to spend the same block of time discussing their upcoming mission, should they have one, or other points of manner, law, customs and philosophy.

It was quiet exercise, of the brain rather than the body, and Obi-Wan enjoyed it. His master could force him into deeper thought than anyone else he knew, even Yoda. Qui-Gon, he thought, knew him too well, and must be preparing himself in order to challenge his padawan constantly. That was the conclusion he had come to -- he would be more awed than he currently was of his lover if he thought that Qui-Gon needed no aid to provide occupation for his padawan.

He nodded to his master, then, his mind alert, Obi-Wan settled into a reflective position on the floor, waiting for his master to speak.

Qui-Gon settled behind him, legs to either side of Obi-Wan's body, his chest resting against Obi-Wan's back.

"I'm not sure that I will be able to concentrate this way, master," Obi-Wan said quietly.

"All the more reason to practice, padawan." Qui-Gon's arms came around him, moving under his own. Hands clasped around his chest.

Obi-Wan sighed softly. He liked the embrace. "If you don't wish to talk, I believe I could find another way for us to spend the afternoon."

"I wish to talk."

Obi-Wan nodded, and held himself still. He'd been teasing mostly. He found he could not begrudge any time spent with his master. No matter what they might be doing.

Qui-Gon rested his chin on Obi-Wan's shoulder. "You seem very happy today. Perhaps you could tell me, which is the greater good? The happiness of one, or the happiness of many?"

"Many, of course." Obi-Wan would willingly share his happiness with as many people as could appreciate it. However one did that.

"You think so?"

"You don't agree, master?"

"Why is the happiness of many more important than the happiness of one?"

Obi-Wan would have shrugged if it would not have disturbed the head resting against him. "The more people who are happy the better."

"You would trade your happiness for the happiness of the rest of the Jedi? Discard our happiness to gladden the Council?"

It was a hypothetical question. If it had not been, Obi-Wan might have panicked. Instead, he still felt securely enfolded in his master's love.

"I suppose it would depend on the reason. If it were better for the Jedi as a whole, then I would."

"Better in what way?"

Obi-Wan considered that. He wasn't sure what precise conditions would mean having to give up his happiness for the Jedi, but knew at least one thing, and told his master so. "I wouldn't sacrifice the future of the Jedi in order for us to be happy together."

"That was not my question. Would you give up our happiness together to make the Jedi happier?"

"Just happier? An emotion only?"

"Yes, padawan."

Obi-Wan considered. What would be the point of that? The other Jedi were responsible for their own emotions. For he and Qui-Gon to deprive themselves of the deep happiness they shared... "I would not."

"And why is that, if the happiness of the many is more important than the happiness of the one?"

Obi-Wan frowned. He felt the answer, but didn't quite know how to put it into words. "You... I... feel the way I do. Right at this moment, today, I have felt so filled with joy that nothing could sway it. To give that up... it would be like killing something precious. The happiness of the Jedi... it would not be worth killing that joy merely for happiness' sake. It would be like justifying the killing of an innocent child in order to save him from growing up to destroy the universe. There must be a better way to accomplish the same goal."

"Then do you still believe that the happiness of many is more important than the happiness of one?"

"Yes."

He felt Qui-Gon flicker with surprise. "And why is that?"

"It would be wrong to destroy what already exists, but happiness deserves to be shared. It is still a good goal."

"An interesting decision, my Obi-Wan."

"You expected me to go for the easy answer," Obi-Wan said, mouth quirking.

"I shall know better the next time."

Obi-Wan smiled, and leaned back against the sheltering bulk of his master, prepared to answer more questions, delighting in the chance to match his wits with his master, and expand his personal horizons.

They relaxed physically in the long afternoon, while keeping their minds alert. This sort of mental communion was as satisfying and essential as the kind they had indulged in earlier, while practicing katas.

He felt solid and grounded when they left their quarters for dinner. Obi-Wan would sit with the other padawans while Qui-Gon dined with the masters. He could stay as late as he liked, his master would not mind. Indeed, these were the times when Qui-Gon learned the most about Council business and the concerns of the Republic.

Obi-Wan found quiet contentment in the routine. Today had been a day well spent, performing his duty, paying diligent attention to his training, and the reward was more than worth the labor.

He savored his dinner, and took part in the conversation around him. It seemed as though the gravest issue on everyone's minds tonight was who was sleeping with who, a topic he preferred over discussion of which world was likely to collapse next, although the gossip did not particular interest him. He listened, but didn't contribute. He was involved in his own relationship -- he didn't need to vicariously participate in other people's love affairs.

After he finished eating, he was ready to go.

He caught his master's eye when he stood up to leave the room. Instead of a nod of acceptance that he was departing, Qui-Gon motioned to him, and with a surge of pleasure, Obi-Wan went to Qui-Gon.

Qui-Gon smiled up at him when he arrived. "I believe I'm finished with dinner also, padawan."

"Would you like me to return your plate to the kitchen with my own, master?"

"Please."

Obi-Wan performed the small service. When he returned to his master's side, Qui-Gon was standing, ready to leave with him.

Obi-Wan acknowledged the welcoming gleam in Qui-Gon's eyes with a nod of his head, then fell in step at his master's side. They were retiring early. A perfect end to a very good day.

When they entered their quarters, they parted without a word needing to be said. Meditation first, that was the rule.

Now at the end of the day, the glowing happiness had subsided to a comfortable warmth. In his meditation, Obi-Wan still felt perfectly balanced within the Force, moving with it, as though it were Qui-Gon moving with him in the patterns of their dance earlier today. He immersed himself in that feeling, knowing now yet another answer he could have given Qui-Gon about happiness. The answer was not one he was comfortable with putting into words, but he felt it to be true nonetheless -- it did not matter how many people were happy, only that he now was, within this moment. One moment, perfectly experienced -- that was the answer.

Obi-Wan slipped up from his meditation, finding Qui-Gon still deep in thought. Quietly, he went into the bedroom and exchanged his day clothes for a soft robe, and light trousers. He might be sleeping in them, or they might simply be something to be taken off later when Qui-Gon came to bed. He was content either way. Either way, he would sleep in his lover's arms, cherished and cherishing throughout the long hours of the night.

And then, dressed for sleeping, he laid down on the bed, back where he started, now at the end of his completely good, wonderful, very happy day.

-the end-