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“I love how you make friends with the coolest, most generous people, Obes!” Quinlan yelled, laughing, as they careened down a mountain in a metal tube.
“Yeah! But Bail isn't insane enough to try stuff like this!” Obi-Wan yelled back, hanging on for dear life as he tried to steer the tube on the marked path. It was far harder than it looked, and he heavily relied on the Force to help him.
Quinlan cackled madly from behind him, holding on as well. “Well, you made friends with him, and he thought we'd enjoy this!”
“You're nuts!” Obi-Wan broke and started laughing as well. He was finally getting the hang of the steering.
Naturally that was when they crashed into the tree. They spilled out of the sled, tangled up and laughing.
“Still a long ways down,” Obi-Wan noted, staring down the slope.
Quinlan was righting the sled. “Yeah. I want to try driving.”
Obi-Wan eyed him warily. “You want me to trust my life to you?”
“Hey! I have the Force, I can handle it!” Quinlan grinned at him. “Come on, no one will believe us when we tell them about this.”
“Alright, alright.” Obi-Wan was about to get in the tube with him when there was a sharp warning in the Force. Both padawans straightened with alarm, looking around.
There was a rumbling from above.
Both froze.
“Avalanche... Run!” Quinlan grabbed Obi-Wan's hand and started running.
Obi-Wan frantically kept up, but then Quinlan skidded to a stop and lost his balance, falling over the edge of a cliff. Obi-Wan was dragged with him, but he snagged the edge, yelping when that led to his shoulder popping out of place. He didn't dare let go of the cliff, or of Quinlan.
The snow spilled over the cliff above them, showering them with snow and sometimes bigger chunks of snow, sometimes even frozen snow. There was some rocks and vegetation. Thankfully because they were hanging right up alongside the cliff they missed the bulk of the avalanche.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of pain and white later, the rumbling came to a stop. By then Obi-Wan's fingers were numb but he grit his teeth and helped Quinlan up to grab the cliff edge himself. He sighed in relief once the worst of the pressure was off of his dislocated shoulder.
Quinlan stared at him, then looked down. “Well... that could have been worse?”
“I dislocated my left shoulder.”
“Oh... I'm sorry Obes.” Quinlan clung to the edge of the cliff, not sure what to do. “So... uh... we're just gonna keep hanging here until someone finds us?”
“You got a better idea? I think maybe we could use the Force, but since there's a lot of loose snow up there, we won't have a solid landing.”
“...good point.” Quinlan sighed. “We should have better ideas than this. I'm twenty two! I'll be a Knight in three months!”
“Yes, yes, I know, you won't stop talking about how your Trials have been scheduled,” Obi-Wan grumbled. “If we can figure something out, I will happily take it so I can pop my shoulder back into place. You remember how to do that?”
“Yep. That ones pretty easy.” Quinlan nodded. His fingers were now going numb.
The terror of the avalanche was fading and now he was looking around. Taking in the changed landscape, seeing if there was anything they could use.
“I suppose if we don't know what our landing above would be like we can't land below...” Quinlan sighed, eyeing a few ledges they could at sit on and at least not be hanging.
“Probably not the best idea, yeah,” Obi-Wan agreed.
“Well, when I said I wanted to hang out with you and jumped on this vacation, this isn't what I had in mind, Obes.”
Obi-Wan leveled him a flat look. “It's not what I had in mind either, Quin.” He shivered. “Is it just me or is it getting colder?”
“I think the sun is moving towards setting, it's dropping behind that other mountain. Safe to say... we're at risk of frostbite, assuming we don't freeze to death.”
“Quinlan Vos, always cheerful at the prospect of death.”
“Obi-Wan Kenobi, always the realist yet the most pessimistic person I've ever met.”
They snickered.
Obi-Wan tried moving his fingers. “My fingers are totally numb in my left hand. I'm not sure I can move them. Right hand... they're getting there.”
Quinlan tested his own fingers carefully. “Yeah, I'm losing feeling in my fingers too. They were not kidding about the layers and hand warmers being needed out here. My toes are getting numb, I can barely feel them wiggle.”
Obi-Wan sighed. “So frostbite is definitely getting to be a possibility. Great. Let's find something to keep our minds off this pain.”
“How did you make friends with Bail anyways?”
“We got stuck together on a mission recently, and he freaked out, and now we're friends. He prefers not to fight, says he leaves that up to his wife, but he's actually decent at it when he tries.”
“His wife the Queen?”
“That's the one. If she is the fighter, remember not to anger her.”
Quinlan shuddered. “That kind of person is the scariest. Calm, the longest fuse you can imagine, but when they lose it... you better hope they have strong morals. Like you, Obi.”
“I think you and me view me entirely differently,” Obi-Wan said dryly. “I do not have a long fuse and I certainly did not when I was younger.”
“Oh, you did. It took Bruck longer and longer to provoke you into losing it though, and it's hard to say you didn't have a long fuse when Bruck bullying you was basically a daily ordeal.”
“Huh. I hadn't considered that.”
“You really think too little of yourself, Obes,” Quinlan sighed. “You're good at that stuff. You just keep ending up in situations where you don't look good.”
“How did you get so wise?”
“Watching you.”
“Watching me?”
“Oh, uh. Yeah. Uh.”
“You're acting like you have a crush on me.”
Quinlan closed his eyes and put his forehead on the cliff.
“Wait... you do?” Obi-Wan stared at him in astonishment. “Huh.”
“Let's move onto something else?” Quinlan was desperate to think of anything but that.
“Oh. Sure.”
Why did Obi-Wan sound oddly disappointed?
There was awkward silence when neither of them could come up with something.
Quinlan decided to try pulling himself up, getting onto the surface that way. He was startled by the two, maybe three feet of snow that greeted him at the top. He had to concede that just wasn't about to work.
Obi-Wan kicked at the wall, then winced when it jostled his shoulder. He really needed to get out of this situation so that he could get everything treated. There had to be a way off this cliff.
Quinlan dropped back to hanging from the cliff. But the change was so abrupt and his fingers so numb he just... Lost his grip.
Obi-Wan gasped and watched him, reaching as he realized it was too late. Quinlan was falling, screaming, and there was nothing he could do. Quinlan was out of his reach.
“QUIN!” Obi-Wan screamed, clinging to the cliff, watching his friend fall.
Quinlan's face was frozen in shock and horror as he tried to control his fall, but he smacked into a ledge and rolled off before he could. Dazed, he could only scream and wait for the impact, barely able to even think about what was happening.
Obi-Wan saw Quinlan hit the bottom and not move. He reached out with the Force, and could feel that Quinlan was alive, but barely conscious and in pain. He bit his lip. He couldn't just hang here. He had to help Quinlan. If help didn't arrive soon, Quinlan would freeze on his own.
But he had to be careful. Obi-Wan couldn't get injured too. That would not be good for either of them. He already had a dislocated shoulder that was useless until he could pop it back into place. And he shouldn't be using it even after he did.
He eyed the ledges below carefully, still hanging from the cliff as he thought it over. He had to time it perfectly and his control on the Force had to be perfect. There was no room for error.
He let go with his left hand, nearly prying it loose after it had just about frozen in place. He hung on with one arm, taking careful aim for the nearest ledge. Once he was ready, he swung to the side and let go, using the Force to slow his fall into a gentle landing. With a sigh of relief, Obi-Wan took a moment to lean back on the rock wall and pop his shoulder into place. It felt a lot better immediately. He rolled it around. It would work for now, so long as he did not do anything worse to it.
Now that he wasn't hanging, it was far easier to navigate his way to the bottom, to where Quinlan was sprawled on his back, breathing shallowly, eyes closed.
Obi-Wan took a deep breath. He crouched down next to his friend. “Quinlan?”
Quinlan groaned, eyes fluttering for a moment before he managed to open them. “So... cold...” he shivered. “And.... ow.”
“Where does it hurt, Quin?” Obi-Wan asked worriedly.
“Head. Back. Arms. Legs. Ow.” Quinlan couldn't stop shivering.
Obi-Wan looked around. “Okay, stay still I'm going to use the Force to move you over to that little cave. It should shelter us until people can find us.”
“Ow... okay Obes...” Quinlan closed his eyes again. He hissed at the pain of moving, but otherwise did not react.
Obi-Wan carefully laid Quinlan down on the floor, then went back to where he grabbed Quinlan from. He looked for the place most visible, then he took the brightly colored hat he had been wearing and a stick and made sure the hat was visible. If they came to the hat, he could get their attention. It wasn't the perfect plan, for one his ears were only protected by his hood, but it was the best one he had.
He retreated back to Quinlan and found that Quinlan was still shivering with the cold. Still freezing. Obi-Wan checked him over with the Force. He winced when he realized that Quinlan's back was broken. He couldn't move Quinlan again. That was risky. So he did the next best thing.
Obi-Wan laid down with Quinlan and cuddled with him, hoping to help keep Quinlan warm. He couldn't remember all of the cold survival tips... but there was one. If desperate, better to strip and share body heat, that would help them far more than staying bundled.
He just hoped he wasn't misremembering that. He might be. But hopefully he was not. He didn't want to risk their lives needlessly.
He shivered with the cold himself. It was getting colder. And darker. More time must have passed than he realized. They had been hanging for a long time it felt like. And then he had to be careful with Quinlan.
“Quin?”
“Yeah?” Quinlan mumbled without opening his eyes.
“You have to stay awake.”
“I don't... want to... so tired... and Obes... it hurts...” Quinlan looked at him, the pain evident in his expression.
“I know. I know, Quin. But we're freezing. If you fall asleep... you might never wake up.”
“Oh. Right.” Quinlan shivered and leaned into Obi-Wan. “What do we do? How are they ever going to find us?”
“I left that bright orange hat where it should be visible from the air, they'll start looking in this area and hopefully find evidence that we were here and by then we'll hear them and can call back.”
“Alright. Thank you for coming for me.”
“Compared to just hanging off the cliff?” Obi-Wan responded dryly. “I'm sure we would have figured out our plan to get down if we'd thought about it more before you fell. We'll be okay, Quin. You have to believe that.”
“I think my back is broken and I can't tell if that's why it's hard to feel my legs, or if something is very, very wrong.”
Obi-Wan knew his friend and could tell he was hiding fear, that he was close to panic, he just wasn't sure he wanted Obi-Wan to know.
“It will be okay, Quin. We'll see healers soon.”
“Okay. Can we talk about like. Anything else? I need something to keep me awake.”
“Of course.”
And so, they talked about other things. Their last missions. Their classes. Old memories of pranks and mischief. Hopes and plans for the future, as knights, raising padawans, one day obtaining the rank of master.
But then they ran out of things to discuss. There was an awkward silence where both padawans shivered.
Obi-Wan sighed and started removing layers carefully. Once he was down to bare skin on his upper body, he started slowly and carefully stripping Quinlan of his clothes.
“Obi? Have you lost your mind?” Quinlan asked frantically.
“We're freezing. Sharing body heat is supposedly better. There's no telling how much longer we're going to be waiting.” Obi-Wan pressed himself against Quinlan, bare skin on bare skin. Then, with the help of the Force, he wrapped their discarded layers around them, hopefully trapping the heat inside.
“O-oh.” Quinlan looked away, oddly embarrassed.
Actually... “Quin...” Obi-Wan started uncertainly, “I wanted to talk to you about your crush on me?”
Quinlan let out a noise. “Can we please pretend that's not a thing?”
“Why?” Obi-Wan was hurt. “You don't want to have a crush on me?”
“You're my best friend!”
“But...” Obi-Wan bit his lip, trying to figure out how to approach this.
“I knew it would bother you. You're not interested in relationships.”
“Because there's only one person I'd ever consider it with!” Obi-Wan burst out.
“What?” Quinlan stared at him, eyes opening wide.
Obi-Wan blushed. If his face wasn't red before, it was certainly red now. “I'm not interested in relationships, mostly. But... I wouldn't mind one with you... Been thinking about what a kiss with you would be like lately...”
“Oh.” Quinlan stared at him some more. “Wait, you're serious? Me?”
“Yeah. I think maybe I do have a crush on you Quin? I don't know. Whenever I think about doing couple things, I can only think about doing them with you, otherwise... I get the usual disgust. And anyways, even if I did... I trust you. You've never pushed that stuff onto me so even knowing you have a crush on me wouldn't have changed things.”
“But you do want to... try, at least?”
“Yeah. I think so.” Obi-Wan smiled at him shyly.
“We could do worse than a first kiss in a cave, both of us with some sort of injury, and sharing body heat. If... if you're ready to try it?”
“I think so...” Obi-Wan leaned forward pressed his lips to Quinlan's.
Quinlan let out a surprised squawk that was quickly muffled by the kiss. He closed his eyes and smiled. “That was great, Obes.”
Obi-Wan hummed, staring at Quinlan thoughtfully. “It was nice. I'm not sure I get why everyone loves kissing so much, but I can keep doing it.”
Quinlan grinned. “Great. We can lay out better boundaries when we're not freezing. I don't want you to be uncomfortable, okay?”
“I know. And I appreciate it. One of the best parts of you. People think you don't care about boundaries, but you know where they are and are always careful not to go too far, especially if they ask. And you've always been especially careful with me.”
“Okay.” Quinlan wished he could cuddle but he didn't dare move when his back hurt so much.
“We'll sort it out. After we get out of here.”
“Alright... another kiss?” Quinlan asked hopefully.
“Well, it is keeping you awake,” Obi-Wan teased before leaning in again.
Quinlan hummed happily.
They had kissed a few more times when there was a rumbling and dust fell from the ceiling.
“Oh no.” Obi-Wan gasped, wide awake again.
“What's going on?” Quinlan asked, staring up at the ceiling.
“I don't know...” There was a warning in the Force and Obi-Wan threw himself on top of Quinlan to protect his head from the falling rocks.
Quinlan gasped in pain but when he saw the size of the rock that hit Obi-Wan's arms as they covered his head, he was rather grateful. Better to jostle his existing injuries than get his head bashed in.
Obi-Wan cried out as other rocks hit his body. He curled his head into Quinlan's neck to protect it somewhat with the hood covering his head. His arms stayed over Quinlan's face no matter how much they ached.
As suddenly as the rumbling started, it stopped. Obi-Wan waited a few minutes with bated breath, then lifted his head carefully, whimpering from the pain of the rocks digging into his arms and back. And legs.
“You okay, Obes?” Quinlan asked worriedly, under his arms.
“Ow... I think there might be a few fractures and cuts... mostly bad bruises though... I'll be okay. Just not pleasant to add to the dislocated shoulder.”
“Okay... thank you for protecting me... I don't think I would have liked getting one of those rocks on my face. Are you stuck?”
“Yeah. I'm going to see if I can get the rock off my arms, but I'm not sure I can get the others. I don't want to make things worse.”
“Alright.”
Obi-Wan concentrated and got the rock to move, relieved to be able to move his now very sore arms from Quinlan's face.
Quinlan smiled at him weakly. “We'll be okay.”
They kept talking but as time moved on they slowly got colder and colder, huddling together, injuries getting numb.
Both of them were having trouble keeping their eyes open when they heard noises nearby. Finally!
“IN HERE!” Obi-Wan yelled, though it was not as loud as he could have yelled hours ago. He looked down at Quinlan to find that Quinlan had fallen asleep, giving in after so long of fighting it.
Obi-Wan fought his drooping eyes, listening to the noise of the search party head their way. They closed, he forced them open. The search party shined a light in the cave... His eyes slid closed and he didn't open them again.
.
The two padawans recovered nicely, though it did set Quinlan's Trials back a few months. He had to let his back heal entirely before he could take them.
Neither of them ever forgot their time hanging from a cliff, or the time afterwards.
After all, they started dating that day, and eventually ended up bonding. They never looked back.
.
Years later, Obi-Wan sighed, watching Cad Bane get away again. “I never did like hanging out with you.” He sighed, looking at Quinlan.
Quinlan raised an eyebrow at him, smirking as he tilted his head. “I can't forget that painful day either. I do not want to just hang out with you like that again.”
“I think it's a good thing it's been fifteen years and this is the first time this has happened since.”
“That's a fair point. And it's not like we're injured, and there's nothing stopping us from using the Force to get up.”
“Then why are we still hanging?”
“...”