Work Text:
When Obi-Wan awoke in the middle of the night, what he didn't expect to feel when he draped his legs over the side of the bed was something warm and squishy beneath his feet. For a lingering moment, Obi-Wan just sat there, his sleep addled mind slowly trying to process what in the galaxy was on the floor. He was pretty sure that the floor did not normally feel like soft linen, or possess the ability to rhythmically move up and down as if it were breathing.
Obi-Wan rubbed a hand over his face and blinked down to the floor, only to find—
"Anakin!" he gasped.
The young boy let out a yelp, before Obi-Wan quickly pulled up his feet from where they had been resting upon what he now realised was Anakin's back.
Oh force—If he had stood up he could've... Obi-Wan shook his head. He shouldn't dwell on the “what if's”. Certainly not while Anakin was frantically scrambling to his feet in front of him, newly-buzzed hair sticking up in all directions, his legs tangled in a blanket.
"Anakin, i'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..."
Obi-Wan stared into a pair of wide eyes before lowering his gaze to the blanket in a tangle at Anakin's feet. That's when he realised… had Anakin been sleeping on the floor?
"Anakin, were you..." Obi-Wan rubbed his eyes again, blinking back up at Anakin's face. "Were you sleeping on the floor?"
Anakin only dropped his gaze to look at his own feet, shyly rubbing his arm. Through the gaps in the window shades, the faint lights of speeders drifted across Anakin's face between the shadows; speeders bustling towards the centre of Coruscant's nightlife, which still thrived even at this late hour.
"Is there something wrong with your bed?" Obi-Wan pressed, trying to think of what could possibly have prompted Anakin to take residence on the floor for the night—his floor, for that matter. When Anakin still didn't speak as much as a word, Obi-Wan reached out for Anakin's arm, gently rubbing his thumb over the soft linen fabric of his nightshirt. "Anakin, what's wrong? Please tell me."
Anakin lifted his head to meet Obi-Wan's eyes. "I... I wanted to make sure you would still be here when I woke up," he whispered, ashamedly lowering his head.
Obi-Wan's heart broke. The last few weeks had been so hectic and strange since, well, everything. Obi-Wan had been so caught up dealing with Qui-Gon's death, becoming a Knight, gaining a Padawan and having to figure out how the hell he was supposed to take care of said Padawan when he had just been a Padawan not even two weeks ago. And now he realised that with everything he had been trying to do for him, he had neglected to see what Anakin was actually dealing with himself. Anakin had just been separated from his mother, and the only other familiar face that would have been in the temple was... gone. Obi-Wan was the closest thing Anakin had right now. No wonder he was afraid that he'd wake up to find him gone, when that was what seemed to be happening to everyone the boy cared about.
"Oh, Anakin," he murmured. For a quiet moment, Obi-Wan only looked at the boy in front of him, with the emerging thought that he had already failed Anakin and really wasn't ready to teach him and guide him at the forefront of his mind—but as quickly as the thought came, a voice in the back of his head—which sounded awfully like Qui-Gon—whispered to him: You haven’t failed, Obi-Wan.
Pulling his mind back to the present, Obi-Wan moved his hand to Anakin's shoulder.
"Anakin, listen to me," he said. He took hold of Anakin’s other shoulder, and Anakin lifted his head, looking up to meet his eyes. "I am not going anywhere. I'm right here. I'm not going to leave you."
"You promise?"
Obi-Wan’s heart almost shattered all over again at Anakin’s quiet, soft-spoken question.
“I promise,” he affirmed. A feeling of warmth thrummed across their newly-forged bond, and a moment later, small arms had wrapped themselves around Obi-Wan’s waist as Anakin buried his head into Obi-Wan’s chest. Obi-Wan tensed for a moment at the unexpected embrace, but then he eased into it, returning the hug and smiling as he wrapped his arms around Anakin, rubbing gentle circles over his back.
After several moments, Obi-Wan pulled away. Anakin stepped back—but his foot was still caught tangled up in his blanket, so as he took a step, he started to trip, falling backwards. Instinctively, Obi-Wan reached out, catching Anakin before he could hit the floor.
“Woah there—I’ve got you.”
Anakin looked befuddled for a moment as his brain seemingly tried to register what just happened.
“You okay?” Obi-Wan asked with a slight grin, still loosely holding Anakin upright.
“Yeah. Sorry, I—”
"It's alright," Obi-Wan said, reaching down to untangle the blanket from where it was still bundled up around Anakin's ankles. "Now, let's get you untangled from this..."
After untangling the blanket, Obi-Wan lifted up the blue fuzzy fabric and placed it snugly around Anakin's shoulders.
"There we are," he whispered. It was quiet for a few moments, the only sound being the quiet hum of speeders zooming past the temple. Anakin shifted awkwardly on his feet, taking a look at the door behind them as if debating wether or not to go back to his own room. Though, he didn’t make any move to leave, staying put where he stood in front of Obi-Wan’s bed.
"Well, we can't have you sleeping on the floor now, can we?" Obi-Wan said after a long moment, lightly patting the space on the mattress beside him. Anakin sheepishly bit his lip, pulling his blanket tighter around his shoulders. “Come on. If you’re going to be sleeping in my room, then you might as well just sleep here with me.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” Obi-Wan replied, shifting back to give extra space for Anakin to climb in beside him, and beckoning for his Padawan to join him. “Now, come here.”
Heeding Obi-Wan’s words, with a small nod and a relieved-looking grin, Anakin clambered onto the mattress with his blanket and crawled up towards the pillow. Obi-Wan laid down on his side, when suddenly Anakin reached out and wrapped his arms around Obi-Wan’s middle. Obi-Wan tensed for a moment at the unexpected motion, but then Anakin buried his head into his chest, and Obi-Wan couldn’t help but find their current position rather adorable, and somewhat… comforting. Comfort was something he got very little of these days.
“Oh, hello,” he whispered, bringing his hand up to rest in Anakin’s buzzed hair. Anakin’s only response was to burrow even closer to Obi-Wan and snuggle up to him, lightly grabbing hold of the fabric of Obi-Wan’s nightshirt with his fist. Realising that they were probably going to stay like this for the rest of the night, Obi-Wan dragged the covers over themselves, tucking the fabric in around Anakin’s neck before readjusting himself slightly to get more comfortable. Even as he moved, Anakin clung to him tightly like a kowakian monkey-lizard, not wanting to let go.
“Padawan?” he murmured, once they had settled again. That word still felt strange on his tongue, when he was the one who had been called by that moniker not even a month ago. But now things were different. And he had his own Padawan now. “You know that i’m not going to leave you, Anakin,” he continued. “I’ll always be right here for you.”
And even if those words wouldn’t always be true, for now, it was enough.