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“We don’t have a fire- fireplace!” Leia declared suddenly from Qui-Gon’s lap, breaking the relative peacefulness of the room.
“Do we need one?” Anakin asked seriously as he finished adding water to the tree stand.
“How will Santa come?” she asked, clearly distressed at the thought.
“We didn’t have one at our last house either,” Anakin reminded her, trying to stave off a meltdown. He could see Luke already looking distressed at the thought from where he sat on Ahsoka’s lap. “And Santa always came anyway.”
A look of relief spread across her face and Anakin could tell Qui-Gon was trying not to laugh.
“May I continue?” Qui-Gon asked lightly, a look of mirth clear on his face.
Leia nodded seriously and settled her head back against Qui-Gon’s chest.
“He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot,” Qui-Gon read in a clear voice.
Obi-Wan peeked his head around the corner from the kitchen and tried to get Anakin’s attention. When Anakin seemed completely oblivious to Obi-Wan, he waved his hand.
Anakin, however, seemed determined to miss Obi-Wan’s signs.
“Anakin,” Obi-Wan sighed, finally relenting that he’d have to disturb the idyllic scene in front of him.
Snapping his head up from watching Qui-Gon read to the twins, Anakin smiled widely and rose from his spot on the floor.
“What’s up?” Anakin asked quietly as he made his way into the kitchen.
“Are you sure that you and Ahsoka are going to get the presents wrapped tonight?” Obi-Wan asked hesitantly. He had tried not thinking about the fact that the twins’ presents were just sitting in their closet, completely unwrapped on Christmas Eve, but the anxiety was eating away at him.
Anakin made a face of fond amusement and placed his hands on Obi-Wan’s shoulders. “I promise you that we are going to get everything done tonight,” he said patiently. “It’s our tradition and it always gets done.”
Obi-Wan was clearly not assuaged. “It’s just-”
“Obi-Wan,” Anakin interrupted gently. “I know you’re freaking out about this being our first Christmas together in this house, but I promise it will be great.”
Huffing a small laugh, Obi-Wan dropped his head forward and sighed. “Okay,” he said, much more calmly this time. “Okay, you’re right.”
“And if it doesn’t go as planned, who cares?” Anakin whispered. “We’re still all together.”
“Well, I would rather have it go as planned,” Obi-Wan frowned.
“Oh, my g-” Anakin chuckled and pushed Obi-Wan into the stool at the island. “Obi-Wan, you have to listen to me.” He placed a hand on Obi-Wan’s shoulder and one on his thigh. “It’s going to be great because it’s us. The presents will be wrapped and the kids will like the wrapping paper more than the toys. They will eat the frosting off the cinnamon rolls, but not the actual rolls themselves. And then we’ll spend the rest of the day trying to find batteries for things and then ‘losing’ the batteries because we get tired of hearing the same noise over and over again.”
Obi-Wan laughed and his shoulders relaxed.
“Okay?” Anakin asked and pressed a kiss to Obi-Wan’s forehead.
“Okay,” Obi-Wan nodded with a small smile.
“Besides, your Christmas is already ruined because you can’t beat what I got you,” Anakin teased. “So you might as well just give in now.”
“So I should just not even give you your present then?” Obi-Wan smirked.
“No!” Anakin smiled and covered his mouth with his hand. “You still have to give it to me! It just isn’t as good as mine.”
“I don’t know about that…” Obi-Wan teased back, clearly relaxing at Anakin’s comfort. “Mine is pretty great.”
“I guess we’ll see, old man,” Anakin grinned. “But when I win, and I’m gonna win, you have to admit that you lost.”
“I guess we’ll see,” Obi-Wan echoed with a small smile, confident in his gift-giving abilities.
Anakin handed Ahsoka her mug of hot chocolate and settled on the floor next to her. “You ready for this?” he whispered as he pressed play on Die Hard.
“Always, Skyguy,” Ahsoka said simply and took a drink from her hot chocolate.
“Obi-Wan was worried we wouldn’t get the wrapping done,” Anakin laughed wistfully at the memory of the panicked look on Obi-Wan’s face.
“He should know us better by now,” Ahsoka said seriously and took one of the toys from the pile.
“You would think, right?” Anakin chuckled. He took a roll of wrapping paper and set it on the floor before placing one of the unwrapped presents on it.
“He didn’t want to help us wrap?” she asked casually.
Anakin stopped what he was doing and looked at her. “This is our tradition, Snips,” he said seriously.
“Well, yeah, but-”
“And I didn’t want it to change,” Anakin interrupted. “He understands that.”
Ahsoka allowed a small smile to spread on her face. “What did you get him for Christmas?”
“Same as I got you,” he shrugged. “Boxers.”
Ahsoka covered her mouth to muffle the laughter and let the scissors she was holding drop to the floor with a dull thud. “I’m serious!”
“Me too!” Anakin smirked and taped a side of the wrapping paper down onto the toy.
“Well, I know what he got you,” Ahsoka said enticingly.
“It can’t beat boxers, Snips,” Anakin shrugged. “So I already know my gift is better.”
“You’re impossible,” she said, shaking her head as she wrote “Luke” on the present she had finished wrapping. “How he puts up with you, I don’t know.”
“You’ve put up with me for longer than he has,” Anakin pointed out.
“Yeah, well…” She let the sentence trail off. “I guess I like you or something.”
Anakin pretended to look surprised. “Wait,” he said seriously. “Can you repeat that?”
“No,” she frowned.
“Doesn’t matter,” he grinned. “I’ll take it,” he said cheerfully. “And I guess I like you too sometimes, Snips,” he teased.
Ahsoka snorted and continued wrapping. “Stop being so sentimental,” she mumbled.
“That was barely sentimental,” Anakin defended. “If you want sappy sentimentality, you haven’t seen anything yet.”
“Oh, my god, no,” Ahsoka started quickly, but was barely given time to stop the horror of her own making before Anakin started in.
“Because I’ve been really wanting to tell you that I couldn’t have done any of this without you,” Anakin said, his voice soft. “And I don’t think I can say ‘thank you’ enough.”
“Having kids made you soft,” Ahsoka murmured, pointedly ignoring him and taking a big drink from her hot chocolate.
“That’s just it, Ahsoka,” Anakin insisted, this time clearly very serious about what he wanted to say. “ You are the person who made it possible for me to even be a semi-decent dad.”
“You’re a great dad,” Ahsoka said simply. “I didn’t do that.”
“Only because you were there to help me.” Anakin was not going to let this point go. “So I really hope the boxers I got you convey the appropriate amount of thanks that I feel,” he said with a small grin, trying to ease Ahsoka’s discomfort at the compliments lobbed at her.
“They better be silk or something because I am pretty great,” Ahsoka said with a short laugh.
“Only the best for my sister,” Anakin nodded.
“Why are you still awake?” Anakin asked as he softly clicked the door shut.
Obi-Wan set down his phone and looked at Anakin. “Couldn’t sleep without you maybe,” he whispered in the darkened room.
Anakin rolled his eyes with a smile and turned on his lamp on his bedside table. “You’re as bad as the kids,” he teased. “I think it’s good Ahsoka is sleeping on the couch because I made them promise that they wouldn’t wake her up early.”
“Think that will work?” Obi-Wan chuckled and sat up in bed, waiting for Anakin to get changed.
“No,” Anakin laughed. He checked the time on his phone before pulling out his pajamas from the dresser. “Merry Christmas,” he grinned.
“Merry Christmas,” Obi-Wan smiled warmly.
“Do you want to open your present now?” Anakin asked eagerly as he slipped on his pajama pants. “It’s officially Christmas so it’s legal.”
“Don’t you want to wait until we open them as a family?” Obi-Wan asked softly, sitting up a little straighter.
Anakin was glad the room was bathed in subdued light as a wide smile spread across his face. Family, Obi-Wan had said. He probably didn’t even notice he had done it, but Anakin did.
“No,” Anakin shook his head, now more determined than ever. “I want you to open it now.”
Obi-Wan shrugged. “Okay, but you’re going to have to wait to open the one I got you.”
“That’s okay,” Anakin said quickly, pulling out a present from the drawer of his nightstand. “I’ll let you concede your loss in private. Then you won’t have to admit it in front of the rest of us.”
“So confident,” Obi-Wan teased, taking the package from Anakin.
“Well,” Anakin mumbled, “I know what I’m talking about.”
The package wasn’t particularly big, but it wasn’t exactly small either and it did have a bit of weight to it. Shaking it, Obi-Wan tried to guess what it was. “Socks?” he teased.
“Yes,” Anakin said flatly. “You guessed it. I got you socks.”
“Just what I needed,” Obi-Wan smirked and began to slowly peel away the tape.
Anakin tried to sit patiently on the bed as he watched Obi-Wan painstakingly unwrap the box, but eventually couldn’t stop himself from saying, “Obi-Wan, just open the damn present.”
“You did such a lovely job wrapping it!” Obi-Wan chuckled. “I don’t want to just tear into it.”
“Obi-Wan, just open it or I will open it for you,” Anakin said impatiently, wrinkling his nose.
“Okay, okay,” Obi-Wan laughed softly and tore into the paper. “It’s a box,” he said, taking out another wrapped present, this one slightly smaller than the other. “What I always wanted.”
Anakin nodded, clearly giddy at Obi-Wan’s reaction. “Open it,” he insisted quickly.
“Yes, sir,” Obi-Wan nodded seriously and ripped the paper open this time. Opening the second present, he peered inside - a small velvet box was surrounded by Christmasy tissue paper.
“That’s the actual present,” Anakin whispered, clearly almost vibrating off the bed in his excitement.
Obi-Wan didn’t say anything as he opened the small box. “You win,” he said, his voice cracking.
“Hey, Obi-Wan,” Anakin whispered, his voice cracking too. “Will you marry me?”
Nodding, Obi-Wan looked up at Anakin.
“I know you’re nodding, but I kind of need to hear you say it,” Anakin said nervously, biting his lip.
“Yes,” Obi-Wan laughed and barely had time to breathe before Anakin practically tackled him to the bed.
“Qui-Gon is going to think we’re doing something not quite so chaste,” Obi-Wan chuckled as he sat back up when Anakin had backed off.
“Oh, yeah,” Anakin said, suddenly looking like he had remembered something serious. “Before I had this planned, I tried to ask him if you had ever mentioned marriage to him and you know what he said to me?”
“Go ask Obi-Wan?” Obi-Wan guessed with a wry grin.
“Yeah!” Anakin said, clearly still bewildered at the interaction. “I was just trying to sneakily gain some insight and he just”- Anakin mimed an airplane falling from the sky -”shot that down instantly.”
“He does that,” Obi-Wan said, still laughing.
“Well, I guess now I’m stuck with him,” Anakin shrugged. He took out the ring from the box and held it up for Obi-Wan to observe. “Did you look at it?”
“It’s lovely,” Obi-Wan said honestly. He took it from Anakin and held it between his thumb and forefinger.
“This gold part here,” Anakin started and pointed to the center gold band overlaid on a slightly wider silver metal, “it’s from a compressor vane on the Cessna 152 we flew. If you remember that.”
“Distinctly,” Obi-Wan said, barely above a whisper. “Doesn’t the plane need that? It sounds important.”
Anakin let out an abrupt laugh and tried to muffle it quickly. “I replaced it!”
Obi-Wan was half paying attention as he gazed at the ring again.
“You do like it, right?” Anakin insisted.
“I love it,” Obi-Wan said, glancing up. “And I love you.”
“You better because you just agreed to marry me,” Anakin teased with a small shrug. He cleared away the tissue paper and boxes and climbed into bed next to Obi-Wan.
“Put it on,” Anakin insisted.
Obi-Wan slipped it on his finger, gazing thoughtfully at it. “Did you get one for yourself?” he asked suddenly.
“Mine isn’t done yet,” Anakin replied mildly. “I waited a bit too long to get them both done in time for Christmas,” he admitted a little sheepishly. “But I did buy this,” he said, getting out a black silicone ring from his nightstand. “Also, I can wear this one at work.”
“Why can’t you wear the other one to work?”
“Do you really think it’s a good idea to wear something like that when working with machinery?” Anakin asked as if it were obvious.
“Okay,” Obi-Wan said, realization dawning on him. “Yes, wear this one to work, please.”
“I will,” Anakin promised with a half grin and reached over to shut out the light. He turned on his side facing Obi-Wan, barely able to see his face in the dark.
“Ahsoka’s going to be mad that I gave you your present early,” Anakin whispered.
“Did she know?” Obi-Wan asked quietly and ran his fingers through Anakin’s hair.
“Nope,” Anakin said, popping the P. “No one knew.”
“That’s more of a surprise than the proposal,” Obi-Wan teased softly.
“Obi-Wan!” Anakin whisper yelled, pretending to be offended.
“Well, it’s true,” Obi-Wan laughed and pulled Anakin close.
Tucking his head underneath Obi-Wan’s chin, Anakin breathed in deeply, feeling the weight of the relatively light silicone ring on his finger - a sensation he hadn’t felt for years and one he never thought he’d be able to feel again.
But here was, held tightly in an embrace and a promise for a better future.
All because of Obi-Wan.
“Daddy!” Luke said loudly as he entered their bedroom and climbed on their bed.
Anakin woke up with a low “oomph” as Leia hopped on his stomach.
“I thought we told you not to wake up Ahsoka,” Anakin said, putting a finger over his mouth in a shushing motion.
“You’re not Ahsoka,” Leia said very astutely while Luke sat down between Obi-Wan and Anakin.
“Get up!” Luke said eagerly.
“Ask nicely,” Obi-Wan said in a hoarse voice as he rubbed his eyes.
“Please!” the twins said in unison.
“Qui-Gon is still sleeping,” Anakin pointed out.
“He woke me up plenty of times,” Obi-Wan chuckled. “It’s payback time.”
As if sensing Obi-Wan’s impending revenge, he heard Qui-Gon open the guest room door. “I guess that means it’s time to see if Santa came,” Obi-Wan yawned and sat up in bed, twirling the ring on his finger.
“Why don’t you follow Qui-Gon downstairs?” Anakin suggested. “And go wake up Ahsoka.”
“But you said-” Luke started.
“But now I’m telling you to do it,” Anakin said seriously, very sure Ahsoka was already awake. “Go wake her up just like you woke us up.”
He waited until the twins had bolted out of the door and turned over to look at Obi-Wan. “Good morning,” he whispered.
“Morning,” Obi-Wan murmured. “And merry Christmas.”
“Still a yes today?” Anakin grinned widely.
“Oh, well now that I’ve slept on it,” Obi-Wan teased, pretending to think, “it’s a double yes.”
Anakin let out an exaggerated sigh of relief, wiping his brow.
“How are we going to tell the others?” Obi-Wan asked.
“I think they’ll notice right away,” Anakin said confidently with a small laugh. “I kind of doubt we’ll have to say anything and I don’t think the twins are really going to understand.”
“That’s a good point,” Obi-Wan chuckled and was interrupted by loud laughter from downstairs.
“I think Christmas is calling,” Anakin said and sat on the edge of the bed.
“Coffee?” Obi-Wan whispered, sitting up behind Anakin and kissing his shoulder.
“We’re going to need it,” Anakin promised.
“Daddy!” Luke said loudly when he saw Anakin walking downstairs.
“Look at the presents!” Anakin said, hamming up his surprise.
“Santa ate the cookies too!” Leia pointed to the half-eaten cookies on the plate on the coffee table.
“No way!” Anakin said with exaggerated shock, walking into the living room while Obi-Wan made his way to the kitchen where Qui-Gon was setting the kettle on the stove.
“Good morning,” Obi-Wan said cheerfully as he made his way to the coffee maker.
“Merry Christmas,” Qui-Gon smiled back.
Obi-Wan had barely turned on the coffee machine when he heard Ahsoka say loudly, “Anakin!”
This was followed by a very loud, “I told you, Obi-Wan!” from Anakin.
Qui-Gon cast Obi-Wan a curious look and Obi-Wan ducked his head, feeling oddly bashful. Taking the ring off his finger, he held it up for Qui-Gon to see.
Silently, Qui-Gon pulled Obi-Wan into a tight embrace.
“I’m very happy for you, Obi-Wan,” Qui-Gon said quietly and released his hold.
“Thank you,” Obi-Wan whispered back and cleared his throat, straightening out his t-shirt.
“Should we open presents?” Qui-Gon asked gently. “I don’t know if Luke and Leia are going to be able to wait any longer.”
“We probably should,” Obi-Wan chuckled and poured a cup of coffee for himself and one for Anakin.
“Do you only bring coffee for fiances?” Ahsoka asked with a wry grin when Obi-Wan handed Anakin his cup.
“Yes,” Anakin said flatly and sipped his coffee obnoxiously as if to drive home the point. “Go get your own.”
“Tsk,” Obi-Wan teased. “Be nice.” He set his cup down on the coffee table and went back to the kitchen, emerging with a cup for Ahsoka.
“Thank you,” Ahsoka said simply, staring at Anakin with a teasing grin.
“Who wants to open a present first?” Obi-Wan asked, sitting on the floor in front of the tree.
“Me!” Luke said, raising his hand.
As Anakin had predicted, the twins loved the presents, but the highlight of the morning was the two of them throwing balled up wrapping paper at each other.
When it was Anakin’s turn to open his present from Obi-Wan, he said with a smirk, “I don’t think it can possibly beat what I got you.”
“Just open it,” Obi-Wan chuckled.
“Holy shi-” Anakin started, staring wide-eyed at the watch. “-eez,” he finished.
“It actually connects to the app you use to fly-” Obi-Wan started.
“This is amazing,” Anakin interrupted, taking it out of the box and ignoring the instructions before he started fiddling with it. “It almost beats my present.”
“I was pretty confident,” Obi-Wan laughed and leaned over to kiss Anakin’s cheek.
Leia did not let the moment continue, however, because it was her turn.
When all the presents had been unwrapped and the pile of wrapping paper a messy behemoth in the background, the rest of Anakin’s predictions for the day were put to the test.
And Anakin proved once again to be right.
“Can I have another please?” Luke asked, pointing to the counter.
Obi-Wan peered down at the plate Luke was holding with the frosting licked off of the cinnamon roll and small bite marks in the top of it. “But you didn’t finish this one,” he noted.
“Please, Bee?” Luke asked again.
“What does your dad say?” Obi-Wan asked, giving him a skeptical look.
Luke shrugged, apparently thinking Obi-Wan was the easier target.
“Well, since it’s Christmas,” Obi-Wan conceded and set another cinnamon roll on the plate.
Out of nowhere, Leia appeared holding up her plate.
“You want another too?” Obi-Wan asked, hands on his hips.
“Please,” she smiled.
Obi-Wan placed her second cinnamon roll on the plate, right next to the half-eaten one and Leia marched happily back to the living room.
“The twins get second helpings but not me?” Anakin yelled from the living room.
“If you want one, you have to come get one!” Obi-Wan called.
“What happened to the Christmas spirit?” Anakin pretended to be offended as he came into the kitchen.
“It died with the incessant sirens on the firetruck we got for Luke,” Obi-Wan deadpanned, but his straight face only lasted a few seconds before breaking into a teasing grin.
“For $50 I’ll lose the batteries,” Anakin whispered with a laugh.
“A tempting offer,” Obi-Wan pretended to consider and served Anakin another cinnamon roll. “What about losing them for a kiss?”
“Nah,” Anakin shook his head. “I get those all the time.”
“What about a kiss from a fiance?” Obi-Wan asked seriously.
“Deal.” Anakin leaned over the counter and awkwardly pressed a kiss to Obi-Wan’s lips.
“Get a room,” Ahsoka said as she walked into the kitchen.
Anakin glared at her and kissed again. “ You walked in on it,” he accused lightheartedly. “We were already alone.”
“Another cinnamon roll, Ahsoka?” Obi-Wan asked genially and served her another one while the sirens from the firetruck played in the background.
The lights of the Christmas tree illuminated the living room - there was no other sound in the house, no other lights, no other distractions.
Anakin sat on the couch with Obi-Wan’s arm around his shoulders, content with the simple act of just looking at the tree and sitting in silence.
“Did you have fun today?” Obi-Wan whispered.
“Any day with you is a good day,” Anakin replied quietly.
Obi-Wan laughed softly. “Even when we fight?” he teased.
“Especially when we fight because it gives me the satisfaction of winning,” Anakin said matter-of-factly. “Like when I won best present.” He took Obi-Wan’s left hand in his own and twirled the ring on Obi-Wan’s finger.
“You are the best present I could ask for,” Obi-Wan whispered playfully, letting Anakin play with the ring on his finger.
“I know,” Anakin said seriously and snuggled in closer.
“So humble,” Obi-Wan teased.
“You love it,” Anakin smiled.
Obi-Wan huffed a short laugh. “I do,” he admitted. “And I love you.”
“I love you too, Obi-Wan,” Anakin murmured and rested his head on Obi-Wan’s shoulder.