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"Go to sleep, Anakin," Obi-Wan sighed, not bothering to look up from his datapad. Anakin had already left his room three times in the last fifteen minutes since Obi-Wan first chased him to bed. Each time, Anakin said that he couldn't sleep, so Obi-Wan had suggested that he try counting shaaks, but Anakin had only wrinkled his nose at that apparently outrageous idea and demanded that Obi-Wan tuck him in.
So Obi-Wan had tucked him in—three times already. But now, Anakin was standing in the doorway of the living space yet again, and Obi-Wan felt his patience beginning to crumble.
"I can't keep tucking you in," Obi-Wan said, glancing up from his datapad to see Anakin leaning against the doorframe, a sheepish smile on his face. "I'm busy."
"With what?" Anakin grumbled, slumping forward as he slowly padded closer to Obi-Wan, dragging his feet across the floor.
"I'm reading something—but that's none of your concern," Obi-Wan replied, setting the datapad down onto his lap before he met Anakin's gaze. "Have you tried just laying there... and closing your eyes?"
"Of course," Anakin whined dramatically. "But it doesn't work. And it's boring."
"Sleep isn't meant to be fun, my Padawan."
"But why can't it be fun?" Anakin said. "It would be fun if..." Anakin's voice faded, his eyes shifted down to his feet.
"If what?" Obi-Wan pressed, curiously.
"Never mind."
Obi-Wan paused for a moment, studied Anakin's face. But then he breathed out an exasperated sigh. He was getting tired of this.
"Anakin, can you please just try to go to sleep? I'm getting tired of this—of you constantly getting up and nagging me to come tuck you in. You are not going to fall asleep if you continue to get out of bed every five minutes. Just get back into bed and lay there, then you'll eventually fall asleep."
"But it won't work."
"Well, not if you don't try." Obi-Wan placed his hand on Anakin's shoulder. "Come on, off you go."
Anakin whined and stood firm on the spot, as steady as a rock, not allowing Obi-Wan to move him.
"Anakin," Obi-Wan warned. He tried to push Anakin back towards the door, but Anakin only sank to the floor and laid on his back with a dramatic sigh. "What are you doing?"
Anakin crossed his arms, huffed.
"I don't have time for these silly games." Obi-Wan hooked his arms under Anakin's shoulders, lifted him up from the floor, but Anakin let himself go limp in Obi-Wan's arms. "Come on, Anakin. Get up."
"No."
"Now," Obi-Wan said firmly. Anakin didn't reply; just stayed there, limp in Obi-Wan's grip.
"Anakin, don't make me ask you again: Go to bed."
Anakin regained his balance, stepped out from Obi-Wan's arms. He shot Obi-Wan an exaggerated frown, his nose twitched. Obi-Wan would have laughed if he wasn't so exasperated by Anakin's display of petulance.
"Fine!"
And then Anakin was storming across the room, feet thumping on the floorboards—until he suddenly came to a halt.
Anakin slowly turned around, adorning an apologetic look on his face.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. Obi-Wan raised a curious eyebrow. "Can you tuck me in?"
The question lingered in the air for a moment, while Obi-Wan thought it through. He could just kindly go tuck Anakin into bed one last time, with the hope that he doesn't leave his bed again. Or, he could just tell Anakin to go back to his room himself, and leave him to fall asleep on his own.
He chose the latter.
"No. I've already tucked you in three times already. Just go back to your room and lay in your bed until you fall asleep."
"But I can't fall asleep."
"Just try, Anakin. Now, Go. To. Bed."
"But—"
"This isn't up for debate. Go to bed. End of discussion."
To that, Anakin whined, then begrudgingly padded back to his room. When Obi-Wan heard the door close across the hall, he lifted his datapad up from his lap, let out a sigh of relief. Now, where was I...
It hadn't even been a minute, when Obi-Wan heard Anakin's door creak open again, followed by the sound of tiny footsteps padding down the hall. Oh, for the love of—
Obi-Wan let out a long, exasperated sigh.
"Anakin, what now?"
For a moment, there was nothing but silence. The footsteps had stopped. But then, with a small voice, Anakin replied: "I don't wanna go to sleep."
Taking a moment to quell his mounting annoyance with his Padawan, Obi-Wan closed his eyes. He let out a breath. Force, give me strength...
Feeling slightly calmer than he had a few moments before, Obi-Wan opened his eyes again. Anakin was standing in the doorway again, nervously biting his lip.
"Anakin," he said softly, sensing that there was maybe something deeper to all of this nonsense, "Is there any particular reason that you don't want to go to sleep?"
Anakin shifted on his feet slightly, looked down at his feet. "I...I just...when I was on Tatooine, my mother...she...she would sometimes read to me before I went to sleep. And I...well...I was wondering if maybe you would read to me?"
Obi-Wan felt a warmth in his chest at his Padawan’s request.
"Anakin," he said, giving the boy a soft smile as Anakin glanced up to meet his eyes, "Of course i'll read to you."
Anakin's eyes lit up at Obi-Wan's reply. Obi-Wan could feel joy and appreciation radiating through the force surrounding his Padawan, but there was something else. A sad feeling, underneath it all.
Deciding not to press any further, Obi-Wan summoned the boy toward him, scooting over slightly to make room for Anakin on the couch.
"Come on, then."
Anakin bounded towards the couch with a grateful grin on his face, and, instead of taking a seat in the space Obi-Wan had made for him right by his side, he climbed right onto Obi-Wan's lap.
"Oh—” Obi-Wan stiffened for a moment, stunned, before he relaxed, surrendering to the fact that Anakin was now using him as a place to sit. “Alright then... just make yourself at home."
Shifting into a more comfortable position on his lap, Anakin settled, letting his head rest against Obi-Wan's chest.
"Thank you, Master," he whispered.
Feeling his heart clench with warmth, Obi-Wan brought up his datapad in front of themselves so that Anakin could see it too.
"So, what story would you like me to read?"
"Mm... can I choose?" Anakin replied, craning his neck to look up at him. Obi-Wan smiled, nodded his head.
"Here." He tapped the screen to make it display the library of books he had downloaded. "You can scroll through and pick any one you'd like. I can also download anything else if you have something else in mind."
Looking back at the screen, Anakin began to swipe through the collection of books. After a minute or so, Obi-Wan felt a tap on his arm.
"Master?"
Obi-Wan looked down at the screen to see that Anakin had selected a book.
"The Jungle Book," Obi-Wan read. "Is this the book you'd like me to read you?"
Anakin nodded. "Mmhm."
Obi-Wan smiled back. "Alright then. 'The Jungle Book' it is."
Anakin gave him another sheepish grin before turning back to face the screen. Obi-Wan readjusted themselves to sit a little more comfortably, then tapped the datapad to open up to the first page of the book.
"Chapter one," Obi-Wan read. "Mowgli's Brothers."
Obi-Wan began to read the story to Anakin, who watched the screen intently as he seemed to take in the picture illustrations on the side of each page with awe as the story went on.
“Mowgli was sore and angry as well as hungry, and he roamed through the empty city giving the strangers’ Hunting Call from time to time, but no one answered him, and Mowgli felt that he had reached a very bad place indeed…”
Suddenly hearing a quiet snore sound from the boy in his lap, Obi-Wan trailed off, realising from the way that Anakin’s eyes were closed that his Padawan had fallen asleep while listening to the story. Obi-Wan couldn’t help the smile that graced his lips at the sight. Gosh, he must’ve gotten a little carried away while reading—who knows how long the boy had been asleep for at this point.
Shutting off the datapad and gently setting it aside, Obi-Wan decided that it was probably best to take Anakin to bed, despite the fact that he really didn’t want to disturb his Padawan now that he looked so peaceful resting in his lap.
Gently gently manoeuvring Anakin into his arms, Obi-Wan carried Anakin through the living space, and down the hall, all the way to his bedroom. Pulling back the covers on Anakin’s bed just slightly, he carefully set the sleeping boy down onto the mattress, positioning his head to rest comfortably on the pillow.
And just when Obi-Wan thought he had successfully transferred Anakin from the couch to his bed without waking him up, Anakin started to shift as he tucked the covers over him, letting out a quiet groan.
Bracing himself, Obi-Wan watched as a pair of tired eyes blinked sleepily up at him.
“M’ster?”
“It’s alright, Anakin,” Obi-Wan whispered. “Just go back to sleep.”
Furrowing his brows, Anakin weakly reached up to rub his eyes with his fists.
“Hmm…what…”
“You’re in your bed now,” Obi-Wan whispered again. “You fell asleep while I was reading to you. But just you go back to sleep now.”
Reaching out, Obi-Wan gently brushed his hand through Anakin’s buzzed hair. Anakin immediately seemed to relax at the touch, and his eyes swiftly fluttered closed.
“Goodnight Anakin.”
Obi-Wan lightly tucked in the blanket around the boy’s shoulders, and he was about to move away, when he heard a quiet whisper.
“Thank you…”
Obi-Wan paused.
“…for reading to me.”
Obi-Wan swallowed. There it was again; that warm, achy feeling in his chest.
"You're very welcome, Anakin," he managed to reply in the faintest whisper.
He watched his Padawan for another few moments, not daring to leave until he was sure Anakin was asleep. And when he was sure that Anakin wasn’t going to wake again, Obi-Wan quietly tiptoed out of the room.
“Goodnight.”
Taking one last look at his snoozing Padawan, he gently shut the door behind him.